Three of Hearts

by Lillian Lark

  “If I’m not mean then who will be?” Asa’s smile is small at that and I think I might be offered leniency, eventually. Zeph has a way to soften Asa that I haven’t seen before. At one time, he would have given me a similar softness, but it wasn’t quite like this. This feels indulgent. Maybe it’s because Zeph is so much more submissive than I am?

  Zeph runs her fingers through Asa’s dark hair and I itch to do the same. She’s still a little loopy. “I thought you guys loved each other.” Her words make Asa stiffen slightly before he continues his strategic touches.

  “Love is cruel,” Asa says. Zeph and I snort at that, Asa looks exasperated. I don’t think he’s going to be as merciful as I hoped. Oh well.

  Asa arranges Zeph to straddle him and she becomes more aware. An instinctive reaction to having a predator between her legs. “Well, if you aren’t interested in being mean to Gregory—”

  “No! Please, I’ll do what you want.”

  My cock swells at that. I don’t blame her one bit. One day I’m going to help Asa punish Zeph and it will be marvelous.

  “Very good,” Asa says. He brings his mouth to hers, Zeph melts into his kiss and Asa groans at the taste of her. I just tasted her mouth in the dark kitchen, I know exactly what I’m missing. Watching them, I remember the kiss Asa gave me before I left tonight, and my heart aches to be with this man again. Zeph runs her hands over Asa’s bare chest.

  “You’re wearing too many clothes,” Zeph teases. I hold in a laugh, she just wants to see where the lines of runes on Asa’s skin go. Asa smirks and lifts her from straddling him before standing next to the bed and tugging off his pants. I can’t help the sound I make when I get to, once again, see Asa in all of his glory.

  His body is lean in the way of hardened muscle and power. His cock is hard and thick. Before meeting Asa, I hadn’t been very interested in other men but my attraction to him is undeniable. Zeph makes a sound of admiration and reaches out a hand, running it down a line of runes that runs along his hip bone. Asa allows her exploration before interrupting.

  “Ready to go to work, Zeph?”

  Zeph’s breath catches. She isn’t new to sex, but the sensual innocence she projects draws us both. My wolf wants to bite her, fill her with seed. Mark her for everyone else to see. Mark her for Asa.

  “Get undressed, Gregory.” Asa’s words break into my reverie.

  I clumsily remove the pants I borrowed from Asa. I had gotten some spare clothes from my family but hadn’t wanted to forfeit the closeness offered by wearing something of Asa’s. It’s like a safety blanket. Even though we haven’t succeeded in working things out yet.

  The brush of fabric against my erection hurts but it’s a small hurt compared to whatever Asa has planned. Asa gestures to me to kneel; it’s a vulnerable placement to balance on my knees on the mattress. Zeph’s eyes eat me up, wide and fascinated. Asa walks to the nightstand on the other side of the bed, where we store lube.

  A frisson of anxiety hits me. I haven’t done anything like this since leaving him. Asa comes onto the bed behind me, the huff of his breath hot on the back of my neck. The contact of his body to my back, skin to skin. I let myself lean back into him.

  “Easy, Gregory, I won’t hurt you. Much.” At his words, I want to object, balk purely from nervousness but I try and calm my breathing instead. Asa can read my worries; he’s pushing on purpose. Not just out of cruelty. He knows I like it when he pushes me. His hands running up and down my back calms me a little.

  “Something you might not have noticed yet, little bird, is that Gregory never swears,” Asa croons. Zeph’s brows raise in surprise. “So, what we are going to do is drive Gregory crazy until he does.”

  This is going to be rough.

  I could just say a swear word but that isn’t the game and Asa will know. Asa wants to incite me past the point of control. His hands run down my thighs and I jump.

  “I know you said you had never had oral, but have you sucked a cock before?” Asa phrases the vulgar question in his matter-of-fact tone and Zeph blushes but nods. Asa makes a sound in the back of his throat in frustration. “I don’t much like your previous sexual partners, little bird.”

  We can both agree about that.

  “It was just once.” Her voice is quiet, and I want to pull her into a hug and comfort her. We aren’t frustrated with her. Asa pulls me back to reality when he grabs my cock.

  “Do you want to try it with Gregory? He won’t come in your mouth. Not tonight.”

  I grunt, following where Asa is going with this. Zeph hesitates but agrees. I want to kiss her for her bravery but weep from what she’s condemned me to.

  “That’s it, brave girl.”

  I close my eyes to block the sight of Zeph crawling toward me, only to open them when Asa squeezes my cock in a way that makes me want to thrash. I keep myself still. Asa’s breath on my neck makes all the fine hairs stand up.

  “Be a good boy and let Zephyrine get her fill of you, Gregory. We don’t want to be rude,” Asa teases.

  I have to pant at that. Asa’s hand moves from my cock. There is no relief from his absence because Zeph’s small hand gently grips around my hardness. The softness in her touch in contrast to Asa makes me want to beg. The pain that Asa applied had made it easier to keep myself from climaxing. Now there is only pleasure in the soft way Zeph brushes my cock with her cheek before engulfing it in her hot mouth.

  I moan and try to think of awful things. Reciting recipes only gets you so far. Instead, I think of Asa’s face when I told him we were over. The way he looked so disbelieving and hurt. It helps until I hear the click of a bottle and Asa’s lube covered fingers run over my asshole, rubbing the sensitive tissues there. I jolt forward then, driving my cock deeper into Zeph’s throat than she was ready for, making her choke.

  “Gregory.” Asa grips my hair and pulls in punishment. I already know I’ve messed up; the added weight of Asa’s disapproval adds to my desperation.

  “I’m sorry Zeph, I didn’t mean to.” It comes out a whine. Zeph wipes away a tear. I am the biggest bastard.

  “I’m sorry darling, do you just want to use your hands? I don’t want you getting injured.” Asa sounds uncharacteristically guilty.

  Zeph’s eyes sparkle. “No, I… kind of liked it.”

  I can’t control my groan at that, and Asa’s chest shakes against my back. “She is going to be the bloody end of you, of both of us.”

  He’s right because her mouth is back on my cock, taking it deeper than she had before. I tense my thighs trying to keep from thrusting forward again when Asa’s finger enters me. The stretch burns and he adds more lube. I can tell that he isn’t trying to stretch me enough to take him with ease. He wants it to hurt.

  Asa knows I’ll stop him if it’s too much, but my pain is a small price to pay for his happiness. Will it make him happy? I hope so. My breath stutters at the dual sensation of Zeph’s mouth and Asa’s penetration. It feels too good.

  Asa removes his fingers and replaces them with the head of his cock. I try not to tense; the pressure is unreal as he thrusts slowly in. I gasp, it’s not slow enough. I attempt to relax around the invasion, but I can’t stop a grunt of pain.

  The whisper of breath on my heated skin has a whimper escaping me. Asa bottoms out. I can’t breathe, the burn is all-consuming. My body is so tight from the strain of accepting him that I can’t differentiate between pain and pleasure.

  Asa doesn’t give me time to adjust, viciously sliding out and in again with a rough thrust. At the same time my cock hits the back of Zeph’s throat, I know it’s too much. I’m too far gone.

  I pull Zeph from my cock and kiss her as I fall forward, unable to stop my hips from thrusting against her stomach and painting both of our bodies with my climax.

  “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I break. My cursing is from distress, not pleasure. Tears sting my eyes and the shame from failing Asa clogs my throat. My only consolation is that Zeph is under me. Asa’s cock is still hard in my a
ss and I throb from the intrusion.

  All my hopes about earning Asa’s forgiveness drain and I hide my face in Zeph’s citrus scented hair. I wanted to give him everything he asked of me and it was all for naught. I broke both our hearts when I left, I didn’t go to him with my problems to protect him from my fears. It had all been for nothing and now I can’t even do as he asked to make amends.

  I try to hold myself tense so I don’t sob but I’m gasping from the climax. The result is a stuttering breath that might as well be sobbing. There is no mystery to how I’m feeling. I’ve been shattered into pieces and will never be enough to satisfy my mates. I squeeze my eyes shut to stop the tears from flowing because the added shame of crying on top of failing would be too much.

  Asa pulls my hair again to get my attention and I realize I’ve been so focused on wallowing that I haven’t heard anything either of my bedmates has said.

  “Let it go, Gregory.” Asa’s voice is soft, and I’m confused as to what he means until his hand rubs my back. I shake my head. It isn’t just the two of us here. Zeph, who would depend on me for protection … I don’t want her to see this when we’ve just met. Her hands run through my hair and she places her lips on the side of my face in comfort.

  “Please, Greg.”

  I crack then and my body shakes from the sobs that I’d fought so hard against. Zeph makes soothing sounds in my ear and Asa runs his hands over my back, making therapeutic circles. It’s only a few minutes but by the time my crying subsides, I feel stripped and exposed. Like my chest is open and my heart is waiting to be torn out.

  “I’m sorry,” I rasp out, my throat still thick with emotion. “I’m so sorry. I tried my best and I still hurt you.” The apology is supposed to be about failing his directives, but it morphs when I open my mouth and I’m apologizing for leaving with all the feelings I had hidden before. Soft lips on the back of my neck make me want to start crying again.

  “I forgive you,” Asa murmurs. It’s loud enough for us all to hear and the snarled emotions inside me finally loosen at the absolution. Asa moves inside of me then and I gasp at his slow thrusting. The sensation is raw from my emotional state, making everything more intense. “It had been my intention to make you break. Knowing that, do you still offer me your body?”

  Asa had intended to make it impossible to follow his orders. The punishment was to compel me to lose control when I ached so badly to please him. The emotions afflicted from his actions are so raw they practically bleed, but I know that I still trust him. Pain or no pain, he’s still my mate and he’s given me the absolution I so desperately sought.

  “Yes.” Please.

  Asa begins taking what I’m offering and thrusts in a way that drives me to moan and sigh. The hard thrusts of his body into mine force my cock to rub against the mess I made on Zeph’s stomach and I realize she’s panting and squirming. My cock hardens again. Zeph reaches a hand down and I groan at the contact.

  Asa huffs a laugh punctuated by the smack of his hips to my ass. “Darling, Zephyrine is as needy as you are. Perhaps you should give her what she wants.”

  I’m already so exposed emotionally and physically that the idea of sharing more of myself is like pulling on cold taffy, leaving me tight and wrought. But the opportunity to join Zeph’s body and mine together causes a wild thing in me to forge ahead, no matter the possible breakage.

  Zeph’s eyes are full of want when I help her position herself for what she’s asking for and a moment later her hot pussy swallows my cock and I’m thrusting inside my mate for the first time while my other mate impales me from behind.

  The oneness of the action is like magic, but my wolf rides me hard. I have no moment to appreciate the heat and stretch. Instead, I’m driven to fuck myself on Asa before plunging into Zeph and repeating the process. A snarl escapes my mouth as I drive for completion. The need to mark is a base instinct that makes my canines descend.

  Zeph goes over the edge first, squeezing me tight and crying out. My eyes roll and I can’t keep from being dragged over with her. Grunting as I thrust deep, knowing that I’m filling her causes a primal sense to seize me.

  My wolf wants to bite her, but Asa holds me back by my hair. His hold is tight enough that I don’t mark her without consent. I’m so grateful that he can hold me back until Zeph agrees to accept us.

  Asa mercilessly fucks me. It hurts but in a way that feels like redemption. The violence of his body meeting mine ends with his groan and throb of his heat. I hiss at the sting of it and hang my head.

  We’re all gasping and interconnected. My wolf calms inside me, as if he didn’t just go feral to mark, and I hold the majority of my body weight off of Zeph.

  “I think you were hiding a baseball bat in those sweatpants,” Zeph says as she winces, still intimately wrapped around my cock. I kiss her neck and feel complete.

  Asa

  “Would you rather have Asa fuck you in the ass?” Gregory jokes and I chuckle.

  “I only took you so hard because this was a forgiveness fuck,” I say. Zephyrine’s eyes catch mine over Gregory’s shoulder and she lifts a brow.

  “You’d fuck my ass in punishment?” she asks in a flirty way. Most would be nervous at such a proposition and maybe she would be when she wasn’t riding high on an orgasm. Only time will tell.

  It takes real effort not to smile and I don’t have the effort to give, so I smile. Gregory hisses in pain when he moves slightly under me and shifts my cock. The friction on the oversensitive flesh has me inhaling before I realize that he’s trying to keep most of our weight off the lady at the bottom of the pile. Good man.

  I abused his ass; he’ll feel it tomorrow. He once told me that is his favorite part of being taken hard is the ache in the morning. Gratefully it wouldn’t last long since shifters heal faster than most and in my house that healing is accelerated.

  I gently pull myself from him and use my fingers to give him an intimate massage that I know stings but soothes. Slowly, Gregory starts to relax. I gesture him to move from atop of Zephyrine, but the big man just shakes his head, not wanting to move.

  I sigh in exaggerated impatience; it’s actually cute how he’s acting like a dog unwilling to give up a favorite toy. Zephyrine looks too blissed out to argue. Instead of separating them, I rub Gregory’s neck. It serves as an easing gesture and to communicate dominance to his wolf. Gregory looks up at me, at attention with a glimmer of yellow letting me know the wolf is listening.

  “Take her to the bathroom so we can clean up.” It gives me a thrill to have control during sex, but the after part is just as gratifying. Gregory heaves a sigh and lifts Zephyrine from the bed with her legs still around him and their bodies connected. Zephyrine makes a sound in disagreement but snuggles her face into his neck. Seeing them together amplifies the soft feelings around my heart.

  I always thought I was as happy as I could ever be with Gregory, but Zephyrine being here added a new dimension to our relationship. The woman is at turns sharp and soft, forceful in her determination and alluring in her obedience.

  Not for the first time I have a pang of worry that I’m going to lose both of them. That Gregory’s and Zephyrine’s souls will bind together and they’ll have no need for a bitter old demon. I hadn’t let Gregory mark Zephyrine in the heat of the moment because Gregory would want to ask her first. A mating mark is a significant thing and I try and not to feel neglected that he never attempted to mark me.

  I strip the top blanket from the bed and put it in the wash before stepping into the bathroom. Steam curls around my naked body and my pair stand under the water of the shower. Gregory has taken over the role of caretaker in my absence and washes soap suds from Zephyrine’s golden skin. My cock starts to harden at the sight of them stroking each other and kissing.

  “Not starting anything without me I hope.” I open the glass door of the shower and step in.

  “Just cleaning up,” Gregory says with a relaxed smile.

  “Greg was telling me that
you have magic hands and if I do everything you say, you’ll show me.” Zephyrine looks up as she speaks and gives me a smile that eases my earlier worries. As does the way she reaches for me. I take a moment to enjoy her body on mine and the way her hands find the lines of runes that seem to fascinate her before directing her back into Gregory’s arms for him to hold while I get cleanser and massage Gregory all over.

  “I do have magic hands and I give punishments as well as rewards.”

  It is a warning for Zephyrine to remember when her walls came up again. Her walls are down now, something a round of good sex usually accomplishes. But I have no doubt that when the haze fades, her previous concerns will make themselves known.

  Gregory knows my penchant for punishments well. Tonight’s punishment had been harsher than most. The big man’s body relaxes as I care for him and the memory of his distress in breaking the way I had wanted him to is like a decadent dessert. It had been a beautiful agony. I had known how hard it would be for him to fail me in that way.

  No physical punishment could have evoked as much pain as that. It had been cruel, but the distraught emotions had gone a long way to appease the viciousness in me. I hadn’t wanted Gregory to ever experience that part of me, but this night was one of revelations.

  Zephyrine is falling asleep on her feet as I move my care from Gregory to washing the last of the suds from her. Gregory still seems unwilling to let go of her so I let him hold her while I dry the three of us and direct them to the bed. By the time we slide between the sheets she’s asleep. Gregory spoons her before looking back at me with a ruddy blush marring his cheeks.

  “Will you hold me?” His request makes my throat tight. Another indication that he missed my presence in his life as much as I had missed his.

  “Always.” My voice cracks but the appearance of weakness is worth it when I get to feel his body relax against mine. I bury my nose in Gregory’s wet hair and let my guard down to bask in the success of being with the man I love and the woman who intrigues us both.