“I need you to do something for me, fairy princess.”
“Anything, my Liege.”
“Go to him. Tonight. Go to him and show him, tell him.” I swallowed hard. “Love him.”
Another tear fell, breaking my heart.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I reassured her. “I’m right here. Always.”
“But—”
I put two fingers over her lips. “No buts. There’s nothing for you to think about here.” I lowered my hand to cover her heart. “I love you, fairy princess. You know that here. It’s not up for debate, either. And if I hadn’t been so selfish, I would’ve seen that you have more than enough to give in return.”
Forcing myself to release her, I took a step back.
“My Liege?”
I turned my back to her. “Go to him, Everly. Don’t make me tell you again.”
I thought she would leave, follow my instructions as she always did. When her soft hands slid up my back, moving around to my stomach as her arms encircled me, I sighed.
“I don’t want you to be upset with me, my Liege.”
I placed my hands over her arms. “I’m not.”
I was upset with myself, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Then why are you turning your back on me?”
I turned, wrapped her in my arms. “Do you want to go to him?” I asked.
She didn’t lift her head, her arms squeezing me tightly. “Yes, my Liege. I do. And not because you instructed me. Because … because I know it’s where I’m supposed to be.”
“That’s something we can both agree on,” I admitted. “Even if I’ve been too blind to see it.”
Her eyes lifted, imploring me without words. She needed my reassurance as much as I needed her love.
“It’s what I need as much as you.”
When that had become the truth, I wasn’t sure.
Perhaps it had been the case all along.
And they weren’t the only ones pretending otherwise.
Everly
Walking away from Isaac should’ve been hard but it wasn’t.
I trusted him, knew he wouldn’t lie to me. Initially, I’d thought he was pushing me away to punish me. Deep down, I knew he wouldn’t do that. It wasn’t in his nature.
That was what he’d said in the very beginning. That I would always know where I stood with him. He hadn’t gone back on his word, even now as he urged me to go to Ian.
Ian.
My heart squeezed as it always did when I thought about him.
These past few days had been hell. I knew he was ignoring me, though he wasn’t rude about it. When it came to Ian, his moods were pretty simple, and I’d never seen him so withdrawn. That was Isaac’s forte. Ian was the one who opened up, was quick to smile, and had a plethora of questions. He hadn’t been himself these past few days.
I made my way to the opposite end of the hall, paused outside his bedroom with my hand fisted, ready to knock. Before I could work up the nerve, the door opened.
His eyes, so beautiful despite the misery I could see churning there, settled on me.
“May I come in?”
He glanced down the hall briefly before stepping out of the way.
“Is something wrong?” he asked when he turned to face me.
“Everything’s wrong,” I told him truthfully. “You know it. I know it. Isaac knows it.”
“Did he send you in here?”
“No. I came because this is where I want to be.” I swallowed hard. “Where I need to be.”
Ian didn’t move, didn’t speak.
I could see his disbelief, knew it would take more than that to convince him that here, with him, was the only place I wanted to be right now.
A minute passed, then another.
“I love you,” I told him simply.
“Do you?” he asked, skepticism dripping from his words.
I ignored his reaction. I didn’t blame him for asking that, for thinking I was trying to soothe him.
I wasn’t.
“Truth is,” I began, “the short time Heaven was here, I was jealous of her. It’s not an emotion I’m familiar with. One I know isn’t appropriate. I have no claim to you, despite what my heart has wanted all along. Those moments I got to spend with you…” I swallowed hard. “I cherished that time, wished it wasn’t all I was given, but I loved you enough to accept it. To trust you were following your own heart.”
His lips formed a hard line, as though he was holding back whatever rebuttal he had.
“And I know I’m overstepping here,” I continued. “You’re in pain, that much is obvious. You won’t talk to me. Most of the time you won’t even look at me. I’ve done something, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out what. But you owe it to me to tell me. Give me a chance to fix it.
“At the club. Back when this first began, you and Isaac scared me. No. Not the right word. Terrified is better. I knew what would happen. From that first night we played together, I fell a little bit in love. With both of you. It wasn’t right or fair. Not to the two Dominants who were training me. I kept telling myself I was confusing lust with love. That it was normal, and I needed to put distance between us. So I did. As much as I could. But there was no way I could deny either of you. So when you requested I scene with you, I gladly accepted, pretending it was a role I was playing. Only it wasn’t.”
Ian’s feet shifted, his hands sliding into his pockets, but still he didn’t speak.
“The day that man attacked me, I’d been getting ready to go to Zeke’s because I had been invited. Thought it would be a good thing to spend time with people outside of the club, see how they interacted, get a feel for the dynamic. I knew you and Isaac had been invited, looked forward to the chance to see you. When that man attacked me, my only thought was to go to Zeke’s because I knew the people there, knew I would feel safe for a little while.
“Though I secretly wished for it, I didn’t expect you and Isaac to care for me. I swear it. I hadn’t been thinking at all, driven mostly by fear, pain. Then I felt it. While I knew any Dom at that party would’ve ensured no man hit me, they weren’t going to care for me the way you both did. And yeah, I’d been a little in love with you both before then. But it was that night that I fell all the way.”
I took a deep breath, willed myself not to fidget. I had to get this out. He needed to know the truth.
“When you invited Heaven to come back here, I was jealous. But not enough to put myself above her safety. She was my friend. She still is. And I’m versed enough in this lifestyle to understand it. I saw the interest in your eyes when you looked at her. There was chemistry there. I also knew it wasn’t my place to interfere. And while I sat back, wishing like hell you would take me as your submissive, I kept my mouth shut. But my love for you didn’t subside like I expected. It grew, intensified.
“Every now and then, I would catch you looking at me. I imagined that you had the same feelings for me that I had for you, but—”
“Stop talking.”
His rough command shocked me into silence.
Ian didn’t move, his hands still tucked in his pockets, his emerald eyes locked on my face.
“You didn’t imagine it, Everly. But I thought I’d hidden it better. Tried to pretend it wasn’t true because…” He exhaled deeply, looked away.
I held my breath, hoping he would elaborate, to tell me I wasn’t an idiot for standing here, laying it all on the line for him.
When his gaze shifted back to my face, there was something else in his eyes, something deeper, warmer than I’d seen in recent days. “I love you. No matter how hard I tried to deny it, the feeling only grew stronger.”
He took a step closer, stared down at me.
“It didn’t take long to realize I was so far gone, so in love with you, there was no turning back.”
His hand was warm and gentle when it curled over my cheek. I leaned into the touch, tears forming.
“No one will ever replace
you.”
While protocol dictated that I stand there, wait for his command, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I threw my arms around his neck, buried my face there as the tears broke free. He lifted me, as though I weighed nothing. My legs wrapped around him securely and I held on, let the emotion I’d bottled up for the past few weeks loose.
His hand cupped the back of my head, his cheek pressing against mine, and in that moment, I’d never felt quite so complete. Whole for the first time since I’d walked into their house.
“I see the way you look at Isaac,” Ian whispered.
I lifted my head, stared into his eyes, willed him to see it because it was there. I loved him as much as I loved Isaac.
A small smile tipped the corners of his mouth. “Yeah. Like that.”
“It’s always been there,” I whispered.
“Fuck. What am I going to do with you?”
“Love me,” I pleaded. “Not only with your body.” I smiled, couldn’t help myself. “Though I’d like that, too.”
He moved then, closer to the bed. His strong arm banded around my back and I held on tightly as he lowered me to the mattress, his mouth settling over mine.
I was almost positive my body was glowing with the warmth that spread through me. Not lust. Love. Pure and primal, given freely, accepted and returned.
Ian’s mouth was strong, firm, dominating mine with every stroke of his tongue. He wasn’t rough or rushed, but it was different than before. As though everything he’d been holding back had been set free.
When he pulled back, stared down at me, I was overwhelmed by the emotion I saw there.
He rasped out a few words in Irish, the gruffly spoken words making my chest swell.
I could only stare as the words processed. I was familiar with them because Isaac called me that.
“It means—”
“Pulse of my heart,” I filled in.
Ian smiled. “Aye.”
They both called me that, and it was the way they said it that got to me.
Not simply the beautiful lilt of their Irish brogue, but as though it had come from their heart. More accurately, they sounded identical.
That was the moment I realized I was meant to belong to them both. They might’ve been two separate men, but they were one. And there was no way to love one without loving the other.
“Are you tired?”
“Not in the least, my Alpha.”
He smiled and I knew right then that he was going to find a way to ensure I slept soundly that night.
IAN
The moment she stepped into my room, my heart had lodged in my throat.
I’d seen it in her eyes before she’d even started to talk.
Then, when the words came, I hadn’t been able to stop her, needing to hear that she felt what I was feeling, had all along. At first, I’d tried to find the untruth, looked for the explanation that didn’t fit. I was a skeptical man, I wouldn’t deny that. There hadn’t been any untruth in her gaze, and now, as Everly stared up at me, I could see everything I’d been wanting to see all along.
And while my love for her was powerful enough to steal my breath, there was something stronger than that. A primal heartbeat, a need to claim her in a way I had yet to do.
Her soft hands cupping my face held me in the present.
“My Alpha,” she whispered, “I’m yours. Now. Forever.”
The words I’d longed to hear.
I rattled off words in my native tongue, words I’d longed to get out. Then I smiled when her eyes clouded over, prepared to translate for her.
“I love you, too.”
Evidently it wasn’t necessary.
Crushing my mouth to hers, I hovered over her, my hands sliding under her back, over her shoulders. Our clothes were in the way, but I couldn’t stop long enough to do anything about it. I didn’t want to let her go, not for a second. The way she moved beneath me, her arms twined around my neck as our tongues searched, sought everything we’d denied ourselves, it stirred the beast.
My muscles coiled as I crushed her to me.
I needed to be inside her. Nothing between us.
With one arm beneath her back, I dragged her across the mattress, needing more room. It took tremendous effort, but I managed to drag my mouth from hers long enough to all but rip her clothes from her body. Her back arched when I took her nipple between my teeth. Her sweet cries, her perfect surrender fanned the flames and I knew this would have to wait.
It was all I could do to push my jeans down my hips before I settled between her thighs, aligned our bodies and drove my cock into the sweet heaven that was her pussy.
Everly cried out, the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard in my life.
My hips pumped furiously, thrusting into her again and again, taking what she offered without apology. It was as though I hadn’t been able to fully breathe until that moment.
“Hold on to me, mo grá. Don’t let go.”
Her arms wreathed my neck, her head falling back, exposing the soft, smooth skin of her neck. I sucked and bit, knowing I would mark her but not caring. I pounded into her, robbing us both of all sense as I claimed her as mine.
She didn’t ask permission to come, Everly simply fell over the edge, crying out my name again and again as her pussy milked me. I didn’t stop, didn’t falter, thrusting harder, deeper, faster. I would never be sated, I knew it then. I would never get enough of her. I could spend the rest of my days buried balls deep inside her and I’d still want more, need more.
I focused on making her come again. Those sweet cries were a drug swimming through my veins. An addiction I knew would never go away.
The out-of-control feeling consumed me, became more potent the longer I fucked her, unable to stop myself. I knew in that moment what Isaac felt. That night he’d sent me and Dante away … it was this. The absolute driving need to have her all to himself. Nothing compared to this. Nothing.
“One more,” I growled. “Let it go, little fairy.”
Everly’s pussy contracted over my cock, her body trembling sweetly as her breaths rasped against my neck.
“I love you, Ian.”
Her words, spoken directly in my ear, shattered me, split me entirely in two as I slammed into her, coming with such fury I thought my head would explode.
A few hours later, after drifting off into exhaustion, I woke, Everly still curled up against me, her thigh resting over mine, her arm over my chest as though I was her own personal body pillow.
The thought made me smile. I wanted to be her body pillow.
Hell, I wanted to be her everything.
That thought had me thinking about Isaac.
For the past three weeks, Everly had slept in his bed every night. He’d kept her close, the same way I was now. The thought of my brother sleeping alone bothered me on some level. It wasn’t difficult to put myself in his shoes, to think of the nights when I would be alone in my bed without her.
Of course, I could convince Dante to sleep in my bed. He’d done it before, but I saw what it cost him when he did.
I wouldn’t pretend to understand his need for solitude because I didn’t share it. However, I also wouldn’t pretend I didn’t love him because of the man he’d become, stronger than any and all I’d ever met.
Dante would never become a regular fixture in my bed or Isaac’s, although we would both welcome him at any time. Perhaps one day, the dynamic would shift, and he would get used to living with people, interacting day after day, accepting the love the three of us offered him.
Everly was the exact opposite of Dante. She wanted comfort, constant touching. The way she slept was proof, burrowed against my side as though this was the most comfortable place to be.
I glanced down at her, the moonlight slipping through the blinds, caressing her face from above. She was at peace, possibly more so than I’d seen her since she came here.
As carefully as I could, I shifted out from under her, then lifted her into my arms.
Complete and utter trust. That was what she gave us, and it humbled me.
“To bed,” I told her.
She rubbed her cheek against my shoulder, smiled, her eyes never opening. “We were already in bed.”
“I know.”
Without explaining myself, I carried her down the hall to Isaac’s bedroom, turned the knob, and pushed it open, holding her securely in my arms.
Just as I thought, Isaac wasn’t asleep. He was propped up on a pillow, his television on but muted.
He sat up, worry dragging his brow down.
I shook my head, then walked over to the other side of the bed before easing Everly into it. He watched me closely. Without asking whether he was okay with it or not, I crawled in beside her, nudged her toward the center.
Isaac’s eyes met mine and he knew the same as I did that this was the only way this would work. There was no separating our love for her, sharing it by way of rotation. When she was with him, I would feel the loss tremendously and vice versa.
Everly rolled to her side, curled up along Isaac’s side, then reached back for me. She, too, knew this was the only way this played out.
She took my hand, tugged until I was pressed up against her back.
“I love you,” she whispered.
We didn’t need her to clarify who she was speaking to.
Both of us.
The way it had been since the beginning.
There was only one obstacle left for us to tackle where this situation was concerned.
Taking her at the same time, overcoming that driving need to possess. The beast was fierce, independent, and as far as I was concerned, would have to find a way to share.
This was exactly where we’d been meant to be all along.
THIRTY-ONE
Dante
When I woke up on Monday morning, showered, then sauntered into the kitchen, I was surprised to see Isaac working at the stove, Ian perched up on the counter, Everly straddling his lap.
She tipped back, smiled at me.
There was such pure elation there, I couldn’t help but smile back as I took it all in.
Their Fairy Princess (Office Intrigue Book 7) Page 35