"You know, I've been meaning to ask. You speak awfully well for a wolf. I noticed that with our mindspeak. I thought animals communicated in images."
"Maybe I've listened to humans jabber too much and I'm a fast learner. Or maybe I'm different--I don't know. Maybe I've got this gift for languages." He chuckled.
And he made her laugh. She shook her head and then turned to focus on the wound on his thigh. "You were lucky," she said as she examined the area. "It's not too deep. A little higher though and that animal might have hit an artery. A little antiseptic and a bandage and you should be just fine. At least until we get back home."
"When we get home I'll be a wolf again."
Poppy looked up at him and they stared at each other for long moments. How had she become so comfortable so quickly with Gray in human form? It was almost as though they had always been together--working as a team. Making love.
She turned back to her task and the moment was broken. Once she'd bandaged his leg she moved to get up, but he stopped her. He looked at her with his big brown eyes and suddenly Poppy felt like she was freefalling through the sky.
"I want to make love to you, Poppy. My body's is burning up from need. Maybe it's just afterburn from that tussle, but right now what I need most is some hot loving. With you, with Will, both of you. Right now."
And then his mouth crashed down over hers and before she knew it, she found herself flat on her back and Gray wedged between her thighs, his cock, hard and snug against her pussy. How she wished it were her who was naked right now.
It was then that Will chose to enter the tent.
"Everything's all set--"
His words died away as he looked at Poppy and Gray.
"Help me out here, Will. Our Little Red needs a bit of comfort. Those big bads gave her a scare."
"I thought she was tending to your wounds," he said as he began removing his coat. As he undressed, Gray removed Poppy's pants and underwear.
"He's fibbing, Will. He's the one needs some loving after that bout with those arctic big bads."
Gray kissed her before she could say anything else.
"What do you like, Red? How do you want us?" Will asked.
Poppy's breaths came hard and fast, the atmosphere in the small tent was heating up rapidly. "I liked what you did to me the other morning. All of it."
Gray lifted her hips and fastened his mouth to her pussy. "Oh God, yes." She felt the scrape of his teeth across her sensitive flesh and she shuddered with pleasure.
And then Will knelt next to her head, wrapped his hands in her hair, tilted her head back and kissed her. Oh yes, this was it, exactly how she wanted them.
Will lifted her and wedged behind. And then Gray's long wolfish tongue probed deep inside her and she cried out as she came, pulse after deep, satisfying pulse.
After one last swipe that left her gasping, Gray lifted away and then pulled her toward him. Her breasts crushed against his lean, hard chest, his mouth sucking the breath from her.
Dizzy with passion, she then felt Will's rough, callused hands at her waist, spinning her around until she faced him. Thighs spread wide, he lifted her and then impaled her with his thick cock. Gray was behind her, pressing close. Her eyes shot wide open as he sank his fangs into the soft flesh at her shoulder. The climax that shattered her was enough to have her seeing stars. Then they were both inside her, causing her the most sweet, arousing pain.
Gray, still locked to her, cupped her cheeks and lifted her. Will's cock frictioned inside her pussy, making her shudder. It was Gray who controlled her, his teeth still buried in her flesh. He carefully slid one hand beneath her, a finger circling her stretched lips, and she could feel him reach for Will's hard rod half buried inside her cunt.
The growl that erupted came not from the wolf, but from deep within her. She felt his big hand press between Will's cock and her stretched opening. His fingers danced over her flesh, driving her higher and higher.
Will's hands cupped her breasts, tweaked her hard nipples, and tugged lightly. So many sensations rocketed through her, colliding until lucid thought escaped her. She growled like an animal as she rocked her hips, wanting more and more from both of these men. An animal instinct reared inside her--something that in all these years had lain dormant and asleep. Perhaps it was watching Gray fight those damned prehistoric animals and observing that fine line between life and death. All she knew was at right this moment all she needed was these two men to make her feel alive.
Will and Gray rode her, owned her, fucked her. They were both inside her in ways she had never known they could be, touching her soul, possessing her heart. She screamed as she climaxed yet again.
And then it was Will thrusting deep, fast and hard. She felt him climax, when he buried himself and then groaned as his release claimed him. She collapsed against him, boneless and replete. Gray carefully released her and yet still the throb in her neck only seemed to increase her sensitivity.
Will carefully placed her back upon the blankets and lay down beside her. Gray came over her, smiled down at her and then began to lick her. All over her body. Her feet, her legs, her sweat-slickened torso. He wedged himself between her wet thighs, took his time with her breasts, and even more time with her pussy. He licked and licked until once more she shuddered with release.
"Don't go to sleep just yet. You have to dress," he growled as she turned onto her side and curled into a ball, quite replete with satisfaction. She protested when Will twisted her back around and the men proceeded to redress her.
"This isn't the type of country to lose your edge," Will said as he slipped the silky stretch bottoms over her hips.
"There's water beneath this ice--lots of it," said Gray as he pulled the warm crewneck shirt down over her breasts. "This land is always moving. If the ice breaks, we'll be in the water, and I doubt even the izilene will be able to adjust your temperature fast enough to combat the hypothermia. We're not taking those kinds of chances. If we have to move fast, you need to be ready."
She watched through half-closed eyes as they dressed. And then the men lay down beside her, cocooning her between them. Will zipped up the sleeping blanket.
Gray's arm trailed around her waist as he curled up behind her. "This kind of reminds me of when I was a pup. All nice and warm and cuddly."
"Did you have brothers and sisters?" Poppy asked.
"Yeah. But I lost track of them a long time ago. Just a lone wolf now."
She heard the tinge of sadness attached to his words. Poppy wiggled her ass. "We're your family now. You aren't alone."
Gray's arm tightened. "Yeah, I guess you're right. And right now I wouldn't want it any other way."
There was still something in his voice, something she should have been alerted to, but right now she felt totally drugged and in need of sleep. Poppy couldn't help the purr that escaped her as she cuddled closer to her men and fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter 7
* * *
Poppy awoke feeling refreshed, full of energy, and ready to go. This land was playing games with her mind. She realized they hadn't used any protection when they'd made love yesterday. And surprisingly, she wasn't the least bit concerned about that fact just at the moment. She looked at the two sleeping men sprawled out on the sleeping blankets and then she ducked her head out of the opening of the tent and her gaze widened at the sight she encountered.
What was standing there wasn't human, but it wasn't fully animal either. It was tall, covered in luxuriant white fur. Its face was that of a white arctic fox. Yet it had arms and legs and a body shaped more like human than animal. It sat cross-legged next to the tent facing sideways. It played some sort of game that looked like jacks, but done with bits of ice and round black--stones maybe? He stopped playing and then looked at her with enormous black eyes. At the tip of his elongated snout his shiny black nose wiggled, then he shoved aside the pieces of the game he'd been playing.
"Good morning," he said in a slightly English-accented to
ne. That was when Poppy was certain she'd lost her mind.
"You didn't just speak--I mean really talk--to me did you? You're real?"
"Of course I did. And yes I am."
"What's going on?" Will ask as he joined her.
"This--person--at least I think it's a person."
The furred creature stood and pulled his shoulders back, puffing out his chest. "I am a foxman, born and bred here. I speak the English language very well, along with several others, all learned from my mother who came from your world. She was a linguist and arrived here to study the ice world culture. I'm to be your guide to the queen's palace at Shivadeen. They did tell you I'd be joining you, didn't they?"
"Guide. A foxman? Do you have a name?" Did Poppy really have any other choice but to go with the flow? Obviously things were all turned around in the place. Lou had warned them. Sort of.
"Just call me Foxx. That will do. Now come along, pack up your gear as we must be going. It's a bit of a journey and I have other duties that require my attention. So let's make this quick."
It was another day of traveling over rough and jagged terrain, of crossing frozen leads of icy water, of climbing over mountains made of ice and snow. Finally, Foxx called a halt and Poppy dropped onto the ground, all of her usual energy exhausted.
"Wait here," Foxx said. "Take a break. I'm going on ahead for a bit. I have business to attend to. I'll return shortly."
Poppy looked at Gray.
"You know, Gray, you saved our lives the other day," she said. She looked at him hunched on the ground, gnawing at a pemmican bar. He made a face and tossed it away. When he turned his attention on her there was such a lean, primal look about him that just seemed to get her juices stirred real fast.
Then she looked over at Will. She'd known him for most of her life. More than a few years older than her and yet she still found him to be the sexiest man she'd ever been with. Combine the two and...wow.
Poppy had a hard enough time committing to a relationship with one man, let alone two. And yet there was something about the two of them together--these two--that make it seem right.
Gray looked at her with his big brown eyes that made her want to melt. He grinned at her and his long white teeth gleamed beneath the brilliant sun, reminding her how truly un-human he was. And that when they returned to their own world he would revert to his animal form. "Just doing my job, Red. Here to protect."
"Is that what Moira said you were here to do?" Moira's magic was certainly going to complicate their lives even more so after their return, considering the intimate turn their relationship had taken.
He shrugged. "She mostly just said I'd know what to do when the time was right."
Will got up. "I'm going on a bit to see what's ahead. I know that foxman is supposed to be our guide and all, but I'm not exactly the trusting sort. At least with someone I don't know. It could be a trap. I want to see if I can spot where we're headed. I won't be gone long." He walked away, his attention focused on the direction they'd seen Foxx take.
"Will never has been one to stay in one place too long," Poppy said. "Sort of why I don't know if we'd work together as a couple, you know?"
Gray eyed her. He stuffed the wrapper for his bar into his pocket. "Do you love him, Red?"
That caught her attention. "This isn't exactly the time to ask me a question like that."
"I've watched you with him. I think you do love him. And I know he loves you. Honey, that man would die for you if it came to that."
"What about you, Gray? What are you going to do when you go back to being a wolf? You going to pine away for unrequited love?"
"I figure we got to take what we can when we can. I'm not looking to live with regret. I'm just going to enjoy the time I've got."
"Won't it make it harder for you? Being wolves tend to be monogamous."
"Don't know. I'll worry about that later. And right now you're trying to change the subject. You're not answering my question."
"Why do you want to know?" She didn't want to answer him. The thought of Will dying for her sent a shiver down her spine. She couldn't think of a life without Will in it--she didn't want to even consider it.
"Let's just say I'm getting comfortable with the two of you. Maybe you both meet a need. You make life comfy for me at the cabin--I like lying in front of that fire watching you with your routine."
"What routine?"
He grinned and his eyes sparkled with a mischievous glint. "My favorite's your bath time. You've got this ritual see. You run the bath, pull out that fine-smelling bath salt. You put on that mellow music, light the candles, then pour yourself a glass of wine. And that black robe you wear." He leered at her. "Not bad at all. But that's not my favorite scent on you."
"You're embarrassing me. I didn't think you noticed all that stuff."
"Well, maybe you take me for granted. I think folks don't realize what animals notice. I'm attuned to you. And that scent I'm talking about?" He looked beyond her to where Will had disappeared. "It's when you're wearing his scent. Makes me want to lick you all over--like I did the other day. I love the taste of your skin--I love the taste of your sex. I adore the taste of his--can't get enough of it."
Poppy jumped up. "Okay, I think that's enough of that. And I'm not going to answer your damned question."
"All right then, everyone, let's get moving. It won't be much farther." The directive came from behind her.
Poppy spun around. Foxx was there and Will stood right behind him. How long had Will been standing there? And why hadn't Gray warned her? She tried to decipher the look on his face but the snow goggles hid at least half of it. She whirled away and fussed with the supplies on the sled. Today it was Gray in the harness.
"Fine. Let's get going." At least that was the end of that conversation.
Gray slipped into the sled harness. He chuckled. "I think I'm getting a bit of a taste for how Lou's dogs feel hooked up to these things."
They walked for another hour, Poppy lagged behind and watched the two men as they moved ahead. She couldn't hear what they were saying and she wondered if Gray was questioning Will the same way he'd questioned her. Damn he was a curious animal with a whole lot of questions she didn't have an answer for.
She looked toward the left, thought she saw some movement, and veered in that direction to get a better look. Suddenly, she heard a crack and it seemed the earth shifted beneath her feet.
"Poppy!"
A sudden mighty wind crashed through her and the ice beneath her feet shivered and began to buckle. She caught a flash of Will as he sprinted across the ice, a look of sheer horror, and determination on his face. He slammed into her, shoving her forward, knocking the breath out of her. And then the ice opened up. Right beneath Will's feet. Poppy lunged forward just as Will slid through the break. Desperately digging her toes into gouges in the cracked ice for leverage, she grabbed Will's jacket, holding tightly with both hands, keeping him from falling full force into the surging ice-cold black water of the newly opened lead.
"Gray!" she screamed as she clutched at Will. Somehow Will had managed to gain footholds in the ledge, balancing himself with the barest hold and keeping him from plunging into the water. Poppy knew she didn't have enough strength to pull him up. She had to have help. Will's hands gripped the edge of the fissure, but Poppy knew that it wouldn't be enough to lever himself up. He looked up at her.
"Let go," he said tightly. "You can't pull me up by yourself and I don't want you falling in. Let go."
She looked at him and fisted her hands tighter into his jacket. "I'm not letting you go. Not now, not ever, damn you. You go in, so do I."
"Poppy, dammit--"
And then Gray was there, helping her tug Will up over the edge and back onto the ice. They fell together, wrapped in a huddle and Poppy didn't think she would ever let go. She closed her eyes and hugged them both to her. How close they had come--too close. And in that moment she realized just how precious Will was to her. What a fool she'd been for
so very long. And how dear Gray was to her for being there to save them once again.
Long moments later they drew apart and stood, staring down at the new lead. They walked along the break for a ways until it narrowed and they could cross back over to join Foxx, who had managed to drag the sled along with him until they could get back across. Will looked pale beneath his tan. "That was too close. Don't lag, no more wandering off--this terrain is dangerous."
"Yeah, I know," Poppy said and there was a bit of tremble to the words. "I do not want to be here," she muttered as she relived those moments of sheer terror when she thought she was going to lose Will forever.
"Don't take chances and stay close," Will said as they waited for Gray to put on the sled harness.
Poppy was shaken, not just by the experience, but the revelation. Will had saved her life. First Gray faced those dangerous animals, and now this. Silently, she followed the sled closely.
It seemed she had trusted Will all her life and that would never change. She wasn't so keen on trusting her life to a wolf, no matter how great a lover he was. And even though she had this telepathic connection with Gray, she still kept herself distant from him. But he sure was changing her mind about some things. This whole trip was altering her perceptions.
She thought of all the times when she came home late at night and Gray would be waiting on the porch. It made her curious as to whether there was more to his presence than just a warm spot before the fire, and a full belly. Was there more loyalty built into his wolf nature than she ever gave him credit for? Had she held back from giving him the same respect and consideration he deserved because of what his kin had done?
His actions on this trip certainly were making her reconsider her feelings for the wolf-turned-human. Was there more happening on this mission than just returning a son to his mother? She shied away from thinking what it all could mean. How this was all going to change her relationship with Gray once they returned home and he reverted to being a wolf.
Fantasmic Tales: Poppy Rider And The Glass Shards Page 7