They also agreed that it was best, for the time being, that they should bathe one at a time, separately, once they’d cleaned and dressed their wounds as best they could with leaves and herbs from the jungle. Cressida wondered privately how they thought they were going to mark her together, which she had come to understand meant making love to her together as well, if they couldn’t stand to bathe together with her. But she didn’t want to push the issue. She believed that they would do what needed to be done when the time came. Still, she was personally a little disappointed that she didn’t get to see the two of them gloriously nude at the same time. As she soaked herself, she smiled a little, just thinking of it.
Kelly with his thick, bulging muscles and broad shoulders, the dark hair that curled soft across his chest, into that delectable vee, and downward. And Reza, all bronze and gold, muscles harder and more lean, with his clever hands and long dark hair. Cressida relaxed back against one of the stones that lined the riverbank, thinking of the two of them, and found herself incredibly aroused just by the water lapping at her thighs, and her imagination. A woman’s gift, to be sure, her imagination. Kelly had gone into the jungle to hunt for food and Reza had gone to scout their way up the mountain, and Cressida was alone in the sunlight and the river’s cool water.
Tilting her head back against the stone, she shifted a little, let one hand drift up to cup her own breast while the other slid down between her legs, caressing herself as she thought about her two mates, and the future they might have together. The ache of desire turned into a sweet pang of devotion, of love, as she fingered herself gently towards a climax. She imagined it was Reza’s fingers slipping inside her, curling lightly, his thumb rubbing gently at her clit. And Kelly’s hand squeezing her breast, massaging in rhythm with Reza’s clever digits. She could imagine it was both of them and not desire one more than the other. The fantasy didn’t feel complete without them both. The love didn’t feel fulfilled without them both.
She came with a soft gasp, arching her back in the sunlight, hips lifting out of the water, and then relaxed back with a contented sigh. Unlike her wedding night, when she had reached inside herself for satisfaction, this brief interlude felt more like anticipation, more like the beginning of something instead of the end. She could love them both completely, evenly. She smiled and began to believe that all things were possible, truly.
Chapter 8
Kelly watched Cressida in the sunlight and felt a fire of desire ignite inside him. He wanted to go to her and bury himself inside her, as she arched and writhed, but he knew he couldn’t. He knew that would drive Reza into a frenzy and they needed to keep themselves under control, especially now. It could just as easily have been Reza who had returned to the bank in time to see Cressida pleasuring herself, and Kelly had to believe that Reza would stop himself as well. That was the trust. That was the faith. And, most importantly, it was the respect they had to afford each other if this was going to work. So Kelly stood there and watched, his desire for her so powerful that it hurt, but he made no move to let her know that he was there.
He waited until she was finished bathing and had gotten dressed, then tromped out of the jungle with the pair of hares he’d caught to roast whenever they decided to stop for the night. She looked up from where she stood by the edge of the water, ringing out the long, pale lengths of her hair, and smiled at him. He let out a thick breath and smiled back.
“Did you see Reza?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I’m sure he’s being thorough.”
“James,” she said, as he set down the hares. He looked at her again. She didn’t often call him James. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and came towards him. “I really do believe we can do this.”
He sighed, nodding, and looked down. “I know you do, Cress.”
“I love you,” she told him.
He felt his heart constrict again, his smile turn bladed in defense. “I love you too. You know I do.”
“This will work,” she promised him. “And we’ll get the jewel and save your den.”
“And you?” He reached for her, even though he didn’t mean to. His hand found her waist quite of its own volition, and she didn’t push it away. “Will you live with me and my den?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “And Reza.”
“What if he won’t?”
“He will.”
“Cressida, what if he won’t?” He met her eyes, an eyebrow arching faintly.
She frowned. “We’ll figure it all out, Kelly. One thing at a time.”
“Two things,” he reminded her, tapping a fingertip to his chest, above his heart. “Two alphas.”
“I know. I can do this. So can you.”
The determination in her eyes gave him heart. He wanted so very badly to believe her, to believe like she did that this was all possible. From moment to moment, he felt torn in half over it. He wondered how she could be so sure of them both, and envied it. He lifted his hand from her waist, fingertipping a bit of damp golden hair from her face, behind her ear, and nodded.
“If anyone can, love,” he murmured, smiling again, “I do believe it’s you.”
Her eyes moved past him then, and he turned, and there was Reza walking from the tree line, down the bank towards them. He took his hand from Cressida’s face, and then with a start he realized that Reza was not alone. Coiling about one of his arms was a long, thin, bright green snake.
“They found me in the jungle,” Reza explained as he arrived before them.
Kelly couldn’t help baring his teeth a little. “They found me too once.”
“It’s all right,” Reza said. “They are the Keeper’s people. They protect the jewel and the jungle itself. They won’t hurt us. They’ll guide us.”
“To the Keeper?” Cressida asked.
Reza nodded. “Come on. They’re waiting.”
Kelly was not a fan of snakes, no matter how guidelike they might have been. Once they were back in the jungle, away from the river, the snake on Reza’s arm slithered down to the ground, where it was joined by nearly a dozen of its brethren. Like one great green coil of rope, they writhed a path through the jungle and up the mountain, and Kelly, Reza and Cressida followed.
It seemed to Kelly like the jungle was breathing all around them, expanding and contracting, and that the jungle’s demeanor seemed to change once they were following the snakes. The light seemed cleaner and brighter, the colors of the flowers and even the little frogs and buzzing flies popping, as though the Keeper of the Jewel and the mountain itself were finally welcoming them in. He began to see the beauty of the island that had not been there before. Before it had been a wilderness of wicked vines and murderous poison, but he was at last being allowed to see the stunning breadth of life that flourished here. A creature of the forest and brook himself, he found it all a little humbling in the end.
The snakes led them, at last, past a wall of blooming orange flowers that Kelly had no name for, and he was surprised when his feet hit stone. A clearing made of rock, with a cave at one end and what looked like a bathing pool at the other. The cave was the thing that Kelly stared at, though, because it was plainly carved into the mountain itself, a sculpture in relief, the mouth of which was an open maw with bared fangs. To Kelly, it looked like the roaring face of a bear. And as far as he knew, there were no bears, and had never been any, on this island. The snakes roiled forward, every last one of them disappearing into the darkness of the cavern. He looked at Cressida, and her expression was expectant. Even Reza was looking around the space like he’d never seen it before. But Cressida had plainly already been here. This must have been where she’d met the Keeper.
Kelly felt his skin prickle with gooseflesh at the sound of all those snakes hissing in unison, and they all turned to look at the mouth of the cave at once. And then a small, gorgeous woman emerged from the cave in robes of dark green and brown, twisting and pinned with dried leaves and dead flowers and braided
with fading vines. Her black eyes gleamed with old, old intellect, though her dark face was young. Reza sank immediately to his knees, head respectfully bowed, and at something of a loss Kelly followed suit, settling on his knees on the stone floor of the clearing.
But Cressida did not kneel. She stood between them, watching the woman approach, and as she got closer, Kelly saw her lips curve in an interested smile. He determined that she was definitely the Keeper of the Jewel.
“Thessse are your alphass,” the woman murmured.
Cressida nodded. “Yes.”
The Keeper tilted her face up, eyes closing, and licked at the air with her long, pink tongue. “But you are not yet marked.”
“We haven’t had time,” Cressida explained. “The tigers are hunting us.”
The Keeper nodded. “They are making their way up the mountain as we speak.”
“Please,” Cressida said. “Can you help us?”
The Keeper laughed softly. “You ask for so much. But since you have proven yourself worthy, I will give you the time you seek. My people will misdirect and confuse the tigers. This is our territory, not theirs. You have until dawn to complete the marking and claim the jewel. That is all I can offer you.”
Cressida nodded. “Thank you. That will be enough. We’ll make it enough.”
The Keeper smirked. “I admired your determination.” Her eyes ticked to Reza, then to Kelly, and Kelly felt his skin prickle again. “I hope your alphas prove as worthy.”
She stepped back, extending a hand to indicate the cavern, and Cressida dropped a hand to Reza’s shoulder, and then to Kelly’s. Kelly got to his feet as Reza did, and they followed Cressida into the cavern.
“No pressure,” he muttered under his breath.
Reza let out a soft snort of agreement.
Once inside the cavern, they were swamped in darkness, but Kelly caught sight of a glimmer of light a little ways ahead. It was a torch, in a sconce, and he reached over and lifted it, waving it to get a better look at the interior of the cave. Smooth walls, worn over time. A labyrinth of tunnels and little alcoves. The snakes must have gone down one of the tunnels, because they were nowhere to be seen, and he couldn’t even hear the echo of their hissing and slithering.
“Here,” Cressida said, pointing to one of the archways.
Kelly brought the torch forward, illuminating the little room. The floor was covered with skins and furs, and there was another sconce on the wall. He went to it, settling the torch there, and then looked back at Reza and Cressida. Lit by the flickering gold and orange of the torch, Cressida looked so beautiful that it made his heart ache a little, and then his blood began to burn in his veins. This was it.
“I’m ready,” Cressida assured them both, looking between them. “Reza, James. I’m ready. I want this. We need to do it now. No more doubts. No more wasting time.”
Kelly tore his eyes from her and looked at Reza. After a moment, the tiger looked back at him, and Kelly could tell that he was burning for her as well. A spark between them, the first sizzle of an alpha’s rage and desire crackling towards the flame of destruction that they both feared would devour them whole. But Kelly nodded. And Reza nodded tentatively back. And as they watched, the tension bristling, snapping taut between them, Cressida began to undress.
Chapter 9
She could tell that they were both struggling, as she slipped her blouse up and over her head, to control themselves. But she didn’t stop, or give them a moment to change their minds. Her breasts bared in the torchlight, she dropped her blouse to the skins on the floor and sank down, unlacing her trousers as she lay back on the furs and tugging them down her hips and off her legs. Once she was naked, she pushed her clothes aside, presenting herself to the two alphas, and watched them gaze at her, saw the lust and appreciation fire into each of their faces.
It spurred desire in her, just watching their eyes change, the animal need in them bright. They exchanged a glance and then they came forward together, discarding their trousers as well. She drank in the sight of them. Kelly with his thick muscles and barrel chest, the firm ridges of his abdomen and the vee that led down, down to his familiar manhood. And slender, graceful Reza, all gold and black in this light, more tiger in his heart than man. They were the fulfillment of her fantasies now, at last.
Kelly sank down to his knees in front of her, and Reza settled at her back, and it struck her how like her dream in the Keeper’s pool this had suddenly become. Her heart galloped in her chest. The warmth of desire and anticipation flooded through her.
“I will take you first,” Kelly said, his voice thick in this throat as he looked at her. “And I will bite you, Cress. And you will have to bite me back. And then the same with Reza.”
She nodded. “I can do it.”
“We’ll help you,” Reza murmured. “But if it seems we’re losing control, please, you must try to run. Perhaps the Keeper will put us down before we can hurt you.”
She shook her head. “No, no running.”
Kelly sighed. “Cress, please.”
“No running,” she insisted. “I love you both. We can do it.” Kelly reached down, skimming his fingertips up the length of her inner thigh, and she shivered a little. “No more talking.”
She sat up as Kelly’s hand curved, fingers fanning out across her thigh, and turned her head to look up at Reza behind her. Then she leaned up and kissed him, and Kelly gripped at her thigh as Reza’s mouth answered hers, his hands settling on her waist. She knew that this had to be a delicate dance; she had to love them both at once. Any perceived preference could destroy them. So as Kelly touched her, as he crawled forward and then between her legs, she kissed Reza deeply. And she closed her eyes, body humming between them, as Kelly eased her thighs apart and Reza’s tongue slipped into her mouth.
Reza’s hands drifted up from her waist to cup her breasts, and then with a jolt of pleasure she felt Kelly and gasped, realizing it was not his hand or his cock lapping at her sex, but his tongue. She opened her eyes, but did not stop kissing Reza, and caught sight of Kelly’s head between her thighs as he tasted her, felt his tongue slip inside her, and had to reach back and grip at Reza’s legs so as not to buck her hips against Kelly’s face. Reza hauled her back against his chest, bowing his head to kiss her throat, and her breath quickened towards a groan but she clenched her teeth on it, pleasure singing through her from her wet clit under Kelly’s mouth to her reddening breasts beneath Reza’s hands and her thudding pulse beneath his lips.
Then Kelly lifted his head and her eyes met his as he pulled her legs forward, hands at the backs of her knees. He held her eyes, and she saw something golden flash into their dark depths, something of the bear that lived in his heart, as Reza held her and then Kelly slid his cock at last inside her. She arched between them, lifting her hips to meet Kelly’s, and he growled his satisfaction as he thrust back, deeper into her. She nodded, gasping a yes to let them both know that she was all right and still very much wanting this. Kelly began to thrust in earnest, and Reza took one hand from her breast and slipped it down between them, fingering her clit as Kelly pumped in and out of her. Then she did moan, loud and long, and she felt Reza’s erection at her back, his desire a soft sound in his throat that echoed her moan.
“Soon,” Kelly gasped, his thrusts faster and faster now.
Reza gripped Cressida’s sides and lifted her between them, and Kelly suddenly lunged forward, his mouth at her throat. Cressida cried out as his teeth sank into her flesh, but it was with a combined burst of ecstasy and pain, of determination most of all, as she felt Kelly shudder and climax, and her orgasm rushed upon her as well.
“Cressida,” Reza hissed. “Bite him.”
She grabbed at Kelly’s shoulders, lowered her lips to his neck in kind and bit as hard as she could. Another shuddering breath moved through her bear as she tasted blood on her tongue, and he came again, and then there wasn’t time to waste. She got her arms about his neck and lift
ed herself, pulling him from inside her, and pushed him down onto his back on the furs as Reza rose behind her. Kelly tried to grab for her, but she pinned his hands back to the furs by the wrists.
“No,” she told him, breathless. “His turn. Kelly, look at me.”
He shook beneath her, jaw clenched tight, but finally opened his dark brown eyes and looked up at her. He let out a long, shaking breath and nodded, and she nodded back, and then she felt Reza’s hands at her hips as he slid into her from behind. She held on to Kelly, on all fours above him, as a new sizzle of pleasure rippled through her and Reza slid in and out of her, his cock filling her again and again.
Kelly seemed to recover himself a little, and she let go of his wrists. He pushed himself up to his elbows, and she gasped again as his mouth found her breast, his lips closing over one nipple as he licked and suckled her, and Reza drove into her. Cressida was certain that she had never known such pleasure as she did now. She had never been so completely filled and satisfied, so worshipped, as she was now by these two men. She had never been so wholly loved, so deliciously fucked, or so perfectly adored. They were the loves of her life.
She heard Reza make a guttural sound of warning behind her, and Kelly took his mouth from her breast and sat up, boosting her. Reza withdrew from her as Kelly turned her about to face him, and she settled instead with her legs straddling Reza’s lap, her eyes finding his as he fit himself back inside her and started bouncing her atop him. Now with Kelly at her back and Reza’s nose brushing hers, she moaned and smiled and kissed her tiger, and Reza’s hands gripped her hips, and he groaned desperately in reply. Then he pulled his lips from hers and bucked one last time, sharply, into her and ducked his head, biting her in the exact same place Kelly had.
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