Raven: Guarded Hearts Book 3

by Claire Marta

  Cayden shared a look with Killian and nodded. Her body might be willing but it was her mind they needed to convince. Would she let her guard down enough for them to seduce her?

  “In here,” he told her, opening the door to their apartment. “Down the hall. The second door on your right is the bathroom.”

  “Thanks.” Hurrying past him, she headed in that direction. “I can find my way down to the party. You don’t need to wait around for me.”

  “What did Tobias say?” Killian questioned the second she was out of earshot.

  “He wants us tae assure her silence and mate wie her tonight,” Cayden whispered in reply.

  “Does he know that she can’t have children?”

  Cayden nodded. “The whole cadre kens, but she’s still ours and I will accept what we hae been given—including the child already in her life.”

  The Irishman clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Aye, I’m not giving her up either.”

  With their sensitive hearing, there was no keeping secrets from their brothers. The moment she’d spoken about her medical history, every one of them—including Tobias—had known. That same sense of hearing was letting them listen to her in the bathroom… but the sounds she was making weren’t those of a woman in need of relief but release.

  Raven was masturbating.

  Soft pants and telling groans. Fingers rubbing, circling, diving, no doubt filling her passage with something far less fulfilling than what they had to offer.

  She ground her teeth and groaned with frustration.

  She’d failed to get herself off.

  Holy Mother.

  Raven was primed and ready and desperately craving release. What kind of men would they be to ignore her needs?

  “Come on,” Cayden told his partner, moving purposefully toward the bathroom. The closed door was a hindrance, not a barrier. He was reaching for the handle when Raven flung open the door and stepped out, colliding with Killian. Cheeks pink with color, she looked more frustrated than before. Taking her arm, Killian pivoted with her and pulled her back into the bathroom. Cayden followed, watching as Killian led her to the smooth tile wall at the corner of the shower, stepping inside while she stopped short with her left shoulder braced against the edge.

  “We can’t,” she said, refusing to step all the way inside where they could get naked and clean up after.

  “We can,” Killian crooned, adding enough of his true voice, her resistance melted like ice in August. Sensing it, the Irishman cupped her face and bent his head, angling it for perfect alignment and sealing her fate with a kiss.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Please. I need… I need…”

  “Us,” Cayden murmured, his true voice arousing her further. “Both of us. But before we touch you, we need words, little dove. Do ye trust us tae take care of ye, tae gie ye pleasure and no pain unless it ends in pleasure, too? Ye’re hurting now, I can tell. Will ye let us gie ye what ye need?”

  “You’re both clean?” she asked.

  It was a valid question and one that showed she wasn’t lost to all reason.

  “We are,” Cayden assured her, knowing that his word as a medic carried more weight than Killian’s when it came to matters of health.

  “Good.” Raven took Cayden’s left hand and pushed it to cup her breast. Unzipping her jeans, she caught Killian’s left hand and shoved it into her crotch.

  Sweet Jesus.

  Cayden groaned, feeling the firm mound of female flesh. Tightened into a diamond point, its crest was hard with arousal. He tormented it with his fingers, pinching, plucking, pulling, twisting. She moaned against Killian’s mouth and flexed her hips, riding his hand.

  Abandoning her nipple, Cayden hooked his fingers in her waistbands and pulled down her jeans and panties, helping her to step free of them. On his knees, he straightened to the sight of her perfect arse. Her pussy lips were swollen and drenched with her juices. The dark rose behind it begged to be plucked.

  If not tonight, later.

  Killian jacked his arm, pistoning his fingers into her, letting her ride the hand that teased her clit while his other hand played with her right breast.

  Unable to help himself, Cayden stole a taste of her from behind, licking her fanny batter, and rimming her hoop with his tongue. Rather than avoid it, she pushed back against him, silently begging for more.

  He gave it to her. Straightening, he opened his fly, took out his cock, wet it on her juices, and forged inside her cunny. The size of his erection made her gasp and go still. He flexed his hips and pushed in deeper, marveling at how perfect she felt.

  Once there was a time when he’d gotten sick of humankind, witnessing their gullibility, their selfishness, their greed. He’d all but given up hope for them as a species when the call went out, offering a chance to earn redemption by taking on a robe of flesh with directives to mate and procreate. The Eden Foundation was certain to be less than thrilled with their choice. The corporation headquartered in Rome funded the Next Genesis Project that he and Killian were a part of, and Eden expected results. They wanted them partnered with a fertile female capable of producing viable young.

  They had no idea how right it felt to be with Raven. This is how sex was supposed to be.

  “Mo chridhe,” he whispered in his true voice. My heart…

  She was that—to both of them. They just needed her to see it.

  See it and believe it.

  She and Willow belonged to them. The sooner they could persuade Raven to move to the Citadel and live with them, the happier they would be. And the safer she would stay from her mobster ex, in case he realized what a treasure he’d lost when he’d let her go.

  Cayden pumped his hips and forged in deeper, making her gasp when he hit bottom. They needed to do a better job of stretching her out next time. That’s the only way that she’d be able to take them to the hilt. Eventually, he made it there, driving in until she was filled with him. The way that her tight walls clung to his girth made him wonder how long it had been since she’d made love.

  Made love.

  That—that—was the difference. This wasn’t mindless sex but a mindful joining of bodies, minds, and spirits. Three hearts connected with hers in the middle, the center of their universe.

  Their fated mate.

  If there had been any doubt, it vanished when he came inside her and filled her with his seed. The immediate change in her scent confirmed that she was a fated mate in flux, starting the week-long transformation process triggered by his sperm. As much as he mourned that she would outlive her daughter, he was selfish enough to not regret what they’d done.

  To every thing there is a season.

  For better or worse, their time had just begun.

  Raven panted, her shortened breaths growing sharper until she stiffened and broke, coming on his cock and Killian’s hand. Killian took her mouth in a ravenous kiss, breathing almost as hard as she was.

  He was the only one of them who hadn’t come.

  Cayden pulled out of Raven. His seed ran down the insides of her thighs and dripped onto the floor. He reached for a hand towel, intending to offer it to her, and turned to find her on her knees, her hands gripping Killian’s hips while she took his cock into her mouth and down her throat.

  The Irishman had his fingers fisting her silky hair, his face twisted in pleasure as she sought to give him the finish that the two of them had just shared. It didn’t take long. Jacking his hips, Killian fucked her face until he came down her throat with a grunt.

  Releasing him, she licked her lips, a sheen of cum glistening across them. Her cheeks were flushed with color, brown eyes hazy from her orgasm.

  “Here.” Cayden handed her the towel when she started to move.

  Taking it, she grimaced, cleaning herself up.

  “We should shower,” Killian suggested, fastening his fly.

  “No…, I’m… if you guys could give me a minute to straighten up…? I should really be getting back to my daughter,” Raven mumbl
ed. Glancing anywhere but them, she looked shy and embarrassed.

  An awkward silence stretched.

  Regret. Cayden could practically taste it in the air around her.

  The knowledge that she had misgivings over what they’d just shared killed his mood in seconds. Hadn’t they given her what she wanted? Hadn’t they pleased her? Or was something deeper responsible for her swift change?

  “Aye,” he agreed, motioning for Killian to join him.

  “Why does this feel wrong?” the Irishman muttered after they closed the door and headed for their room’s ensuite to clean up. “We shouldn’t have left her.”

  “She needs space.”

  “Space my arse. She needs to be held. Reassured. She needs to hear that she’s pleased us and trust that she did the right thing, saying yes. Listen,” he hissed.

  Both men did. Raven was talking to herself.

  It was worse than Cayden feared.

  “Oh, my God! What have I done? I abandon my daughter… leave her in the hands of strangers so I can have sex. Sex! With two men! Jaysus! What kind of slut does that with one man, let alone two? And they’re not even men. They’re… they’re… Prodigals! With wings. And cocks. God, their cocks...”

  She moaned, doubtless remembering their tryst.

  “No!” she chastised herself sharply. “This should never have happened! It was a mistake. A terrible, awful mistake. They’re supposed to be finding mates and having babies and earning redemption. They’ll never find it if they settle for me. I can’t let them mess up their mission. They’ll just have to understand, this can never happen again. Never,” she said more firmly.

  Cayden felt his stomach drop. He could picture her now, standing in front of the mirror, trying to convince herself that she was doing what was best for them, willing to sacrifice her desires for the Highest Good.

  “No matter how much I wish otherwise...”

  With her next words came a sense of renewed hope. Cayden and Killian looked at each other. They had their work cut out for them, but Raven was Casey’s midwife. She’d keep coming back. She would be here during the long hours of labor and delivery. Her daughter would beg to return, wanting to see the dragon and sit in the crystal cave and talk to the squirrels. There would be time to woo her. Time to win her. Once she was through her flux, she’d have their longer life expectancy. What did a few days or weeks or months matter when they had three hundred years to get things right?

  Three hundred years without children.

  The weight of disappointment settled on his shoulder but he shrugged it off, refusing to accept it. God had brought this remarkable woman into their lives for a reason. Her fatherless daughter, too. He and Killian would be her helpmeets. Her partners. Her lovers and her friends. Given how guarded she was, knowing about her ex-husband, she probably could use more friends. Chances were, she had too few. But the Citadel had two fated mates. Two women who could help her understand and accept her destiny.

  Casey owed him after helping Malik and Iosefa with her urethral sounding.

  The sound of running water came from the hall bathroom. Raven was performing post-coital ablutions.

  Cayden was still a mess.

  “Stay here and watch fer her,” he told Killian. “Dinnae let her leave if ye can. We need tae talk.”

  “Aye, that we do,” his partner hummed in agreement. “I’ll delay her if possible but ye heard the woman. She’s worried about Willow. The mother in her won’t rest until she’s seen her daughter.”

  Try is all either of them could do. How well they succeeded was up to one dark-haired midwife who’d already half-convinced herself that they couldn’t be together.

  Chapter Six

  Friday, May 1, 2020

  Raven looked over her shoulder, unable to shake the feeling that they were being watched. Willow had wanted pizza and a visit to the zoo for her fifth birthday. Raven and her cousin—Aunty Darcy—had obliged. They planned to open presents and eat cake once they returned home.

  There was no real reason for her paranoia that she could tell. She made certain that Willow was always in sight of one of the adults. She might not look like she belonged with Darcy, but having a half-Japanese “aunt” was helping her to grow up trilingual.

  Right now, her daughter was talking to a kangaroo, hoping to cheer him up after the fires in Australia had claimed so many of his kind.

  Poor Willow had been traumatized. She’d cried at every image of animals begging humans for water and wanted to visit the joey nursery and hug all the baby kangaroos that had been rescued. Raven and Mrs. Myers, their next-door neighbor and Willow’s babysitter, had had their hands full for weeks, trying to shelter her empathic daughter from the tragedies taking place halfway around the world.

  She never failed to protect her daughter.

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t say the same thing for herself.

  Raven was still cringing over what had happened at the Citadel between her, Cayden, and Killian. She hadn’t been able to get out of there fast enough. Never had she been so reckless. The men had tried to talk to her. Convince her that what they’d done was perfectly fine, which only made her feel worse. They hadn’t stopped her from taking her daughter and leaving, though. Eventually, she’d have to face them again. Her next visit to see Casey was coming soon. Raven was not looking forward to it. She’d never been the type to share her body so easily. A desperate need to feel special and wanted had driven her to a choice she never should have made.

  Jaysus.

  She hadn’t been thinking at all. She’d been driven by pure sensation, nothing rational.

  “Earth to Raven?” her cousin’s voice sang in her ear. “Button wants to bring a ‘roo home but I’ve convinced her to settle for a stuffed one from the gift shop.”

  Raven blinked, her mind still filled with images of two handsome men and the pleasure they’d given her. “We have plenty to do before then but we’ll see what they have.”

  Willow beamed happily, skipping off ahead of them, her pretty sunflower yellow dress swirling around her ankles as she moved.

  Darcy fell into step with Raven. Dressed in yoga pants, trainers, and a loose top, she moved with a natural grace, her body lean and muscled from martial arts training and yoga.

  Raven wished she had more time for the gym. With her daughter, career, and being a single parent, working out on a regular basis remained an elusive goal.

  “Are you alright?” Darcy eyed her with concern, the healer in her ready to help where she could. A Reiki massage would help her body feel better but it wouldn’t erase the sting of guilt. “You’ve been distracted. Did something happen with Colin?”

  “No,” she assured her quickly. “I haven’t heard from him for months.”

  The sound of her ex-husband’s name made her stomach twist with discomfort far worse than the cramps she’d had last week. Raven had put it down to the Mexican food she’d ordered in one evening on a whim. It had been spicier than she was used to. Determined not to waste it, she had managed half a plate before giving in.

  For three whole days, she had paid for it.

  “Then what’s bothering you?”

  “Nothing,” she lied, flashing her cousin a smile.

  Darcy’s chrysocolla eyes narrowed. A stunning mix of blue and green, their almond shape and unique coloring proclaimed her racially mixed heritage. “You’ve never been a good liar. Even when we were small, you couldn’t pull it off. As an adult, you're worse.”

  Raven huffed out a breath. Her cousin would never leave it alone now that she’d caught the thread of something.

  “I might have done something I shouldn’t.”

  “You robbed a bank? Slashed Colin’s tires? No wait. Let me guess. You’ve… joined some kind of cult and are moving to Siberia?”

  A chuckle left Raven’s throat. “Jaysus, no… I might have slept with someone.”

  “A man?” Darcy’s perfectly plucked eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. “After you swore off me
n?”

  “Two men,” she admitted in a mumble.

  The woman beside her halted, her expression bewildered and disbelieving. “Raven…”

  “I don’t know what happened,” Raven continued in a rush. “I’ve never been this attracted to someone before…. two someones… it all happened so fast and before I knew it, the three of us were doing things we shouldn’t have been doing.”

  Darcy made a strange choking sound. “You had a threesome with two hot strangers? Okay, who are you and where’s the real Raven?”

  Her cousin was right. Never in a million years would Raven have thought she was capable of something like this. It was so out of character. But she’d been sex-deprived. That and the relief of finally being free of Colin had to be the cause.

  “Where’s Willow?” she asked, noticing her daughter was no longer in front of them.

  Suddenly, her earlier sense of unease seemed prescient.

  “Willow!” she called, breaking into a sprint with Darcy by her side. Rounding the bend, she scanned the crowd, looking for a munchkin with blonde hair and a sunflower dress, but there was nothing. Nothing.

  She’d vanished without a trace.

  Her stomach pinched, sickened by every horrific news story she’d ever read about missing children and the fear that Willow’s Amber Alert was next. She prayed like she hadn’t in years, begging God to spare her daughter. They forged on, looking, calling, a growing sense of panic threatening to overwhelm her. But Willow was nowhere to be found. Her worst nightmare was coming true.

  “Raven!”

  Hearing her name, she turned to see Cayden and Killian hurrying towards her, concern on both of their faces. It’s like they’d heard her prayers… or maybe they were an answer to them. Two extra sets of eyes to help search for her missing daughter.

  “Willow’s gone!” she cried. “We were walking and she skipped ahead and just… just vanished. Oh, my God! Can you help us look for her? Please? Her hair’s down and she’s wearing a long dress with sunflowers.”