Raven: Guarded Hearts Book 3

by Claire Marta

  “Have mercy!” she cried, feeling her pussy gush.

  Cayden gave an evil laugh, sounding like a pirate most foul. “No mercy. No quarter,” he sneered. “You’ll take it and like it, wench. Fight us, and there’ll be a price to pay.”

  Raven knew exactly what it was. Mirabella had been stripped naked and tied to the mast of the ship for all to see. The crew wasn’t allowed to touch her but they took in their fill and jacked off to the sight of the captain bending her over a barrel and fucking her freshly whipped arse. Paulo made her suck on the handle, then blow him, exploding deep in her throat.

  Maybe she should fight them after all.

  Hmm.

  Not tonight—not while she was pregnant—but one of these days, she could see them doing some consensual nonconsent. They were close to it now, even if the scene was torn from the pages of a book. The thought made her crave the future. She only hoped when it came, her mates would still be willing to play scenes out for her. Some men had a thing about nursing mothers. They started treating them like Madonnas, look but don’t touch, relegating them to the role of baby-making and milk machines. Then again, some men had lactation fetishes. She’d seen ads for hoo-cow erotica even if she’d never read it.

  “With us, wench!”

  Killian’s growl pulled her back to the present. The first mate’s thrusts had slowed, waiting on his captain to join them. Once they had her full attention, she felt the head of Cayden’s cock press against her hoop and push inside.

  Raven groaned to feel them both inside her, moving together, stretching her, filling her as only they could. Cayden fisted her hair and used it like reins, the silky dark strands wrapped around his hands. He tunneled into her, dredging her dark passage, building in momentum until he was reaming her out. After doing so long without, their dual penetration brought her quickly to her first climax.

  “Is tha’ guid?” Cayden growled and bit her neck. “Killian and I hae been dying tae do this fer weeks. We’ve been reading yer books. Taking notes. Fourteen days and we hae months and months of ideas,” he told her, his hips churning, his pelvis thrusting. “Aw manner o’ things that we can do wie ye..., do tae ye....”

  Jaysus.

  The feel of Killian’s fingers wedging between them to find her clit silenced any objection about breaking character.

  “You should know that we can go all night,” Killian added, slipping back into Paulo’s role. “So far, we’ve taken it easy on you. Shown you mercy. Allowed you to sleep. Made certain you could walk. No more. Not after that stunt today. Tonight, we shall plunder your treasures and drive you mindless with pleasure. Spoiled for other men, you will beg for our cocks in the future.”

  They showed her no mercy. Trapped between them, all Raven could do was fall into the bliss. Bodies moved together, skin against sweat-slickened skin. One orgasm crashed into another. She lost count of how many they gave her. Somewhere along the line, she must have passed out because the next thing she knew, she opened her eyes to find Cayden staring down at her.

  “Are ye awright, lass?” he questioned, his lips hitching up in a half-hearted smile. “We lost ye there fer a time. Killian was in full swing o’ his character and the next thing we kent, ye were limp on his chest.”

  Raven blinked. Her body felt languid despite the ache in certain places. She’d never felt this satisfied before.

  Killian was standing at the end of the bed, wearing a sheepish expression. “I think we might have gone a wee bit too far this time. We got carried away. It’s only been two weeks. Maybe we should have waited longer…”

  “No.” She cut him off before he could continue. “It was perfect. You were perfect. Both of you. Thank you, Captain. Thank you, Sir.”

  Cayden nodded, looking a little smug. “We should warn ye, Killian’s been learning to use the whip and I hae been practicing knots. As soon as the castle outside is done, plans are to build a pirate ship that the wee ones and the grownups can play on, ye ken? Now that the dome is in place, we can use the space year-round, children by day and the adults at night when no wee eyes are watching.”

  “Build a pirate ship? And whose idea was that?”

  Killian rubbed his beard-scruffed chin. “Well, we might have had some say in it,” he admitted. “But Malik, Emmett, and Theo were all for it after building the captain’s cabin set in the dungeon. It seems you’re not the only mate who likes her naughty pirate books.”

  “Aye,” Cayden told her. “Only they’re going all out this time, with a full-size cabin and twin masts with furled sails and rope ladders that the children can climb on. There’ll be hammocks for napping. A captain’s wheel that moves the rudder. Charts, compasses, and sextants tae plot courses. Emmett’s ordered a telescope tae teach them stars. The way he looks at it, the Black Swan will provide another learning experience for homeschooling in addition to being… fun.”

  “The Black Swan?” Raven fought the urge to roll her eyes. “Don’t tell me.”

  Killian poked his cheek with his tongue. “Aye, that would be on Cayden and me, but the rest were fine with it. They figured where ye were Raven, a black bird of the air, it was fitting to name it fer a bird of the water, eh?”

  “Swim lessons,” she sighed. “I was going to give Willow swim lessons this summer. But with Etienne still out there…”

  “Dinnae fash,” Cayden crooned. “Building the boat, the need fer learning water safety was brought up. Tobias has been getting bids for an indoor pool—one we’ll be able tae use year-round, safe from spying eyes.”

  In case their babies were born with wings.

  As impossible as it sounded, she’d come to accept that her new reality defied all logic. Prodigals, gargoyle shifters, Fae princes, vampires… If she thought that marrying into the Irish mob was dangerous, living with organized crime was nothing to what she’d faced since she’d come here. But after the first week away from Willow, she realized that danger existed everywhere. Their forced separation wasn’t fair to Willow or to her or Cayden and Killian. With babies on the way, they needed to learn to be a family. They should be building a future together, not letting unseen threats tear them apart.

  “We were thinking,” Killian began, “after the bairns are old enough to travel, we could take the family on a real ship. Sail the Atlantic to Ireland. Visit yer parents. Meet yer Nanna.”

  Tears smacked Raven’s eyes at the thought. Colin would never take her. Would never let her go visit. These two incredible men welcomed the chance to embrace her past and her family with it, what was left of them. Darcy and her mother in Japan were her mother’s only other blood relatives. Her maternal American grandparents were long gone.

  “We can visit Alba after that,” Cayden added. “Ye and Killian can show me Ireland and I’ll show ye Scotland. I’ll warn ye now, we can spend weeks there and only begin tae see it.”

  Raven framed her abdomen with her hands and bowed her back. “You hear that?” she asked the new lives growing inside her. “Your sister isn’t even back yet, and your fathers are planning a trip to the Old Countries.”

  Killian knelt down in front of her and reverently kissed her belly. “Aye,” he admitted. “We’ve been talking on it. What we wish fer. What we hope fer. Starting with this. Since I’m already on my knees, ‘tis only fitting. Raven O’Malley, ye’re our fated mate and the mother of our children, these and those to come. Both of us love ye and after talking it over, we decided—all things considered—to ask ye to be my wife. Make it legal so ye don’t have to hang yer head in shame when we meet yer family. What do ye say, lass? Will ye do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  Bursting into tears, she cursed her pregnancy hormones. “Y-y-yesss!” she blubbered, frantically waving at the tissue box. Cayden fetched the whole thing for her, knowing how it would be after watching her cry half of one night when she was missing Willow and feeling sorry for herself.

  But she had every reason to be happy. She was pregnant with twins. She had two men who loved her. Killian woul
d marry her.

  When Willow came home tomorrow, their family would be complete.

  “We can hae the wedding wherever ye wish, but Killian and I hae spent hours setting the chapel to rights. Think about it,” Cayden told her. “Whatever ye decide, that’s what we will do.”

  She’d already made up her mind. She’d seen the chapel. Seen the stained glass windows that Cayden had made. The stone gargoyles that Killian had carved. The old stone walls had been repaired, the flagstone floors swept clean. A bank of candles could be lit for prayers, their golden light reflecting off the lemon-polished pews.

  “It’s perfect,” she sighed, feeling it to her core. “The chapel is perfect. We just need to pick a date.”

  “June sixth is a Saturday,” Killian suggested. “Enough ahead of Father’s Day, there’ll never be a conflict, but will that give ye enough time? Ye only need a dress and flowers. Gael can make the food and bake our cake. Ye saw Casey’s on her birthday. He has a fair hand. Show him a picture of what ye want, and he will make it so.”

  “I had a college friend who put together his wedding in a week, complete with dinner and a dance. If we plan for June sixth, that gives me eleven full days to find a dress. Darcy will be happy to do my hair and be my maid of honor.” She cast a calculated look at Cayden. “I can guess who’s going to be our best man. If Elijah can do the flowers and Gael takes care of the food, the only thing left is deciding if we want to keep it private or invite guests.”

  Killian rubbed his beard-shadowed jaw. “We’ve talked about that, too. We were thinking, we can have yer family flown over or have a video call to be part of the day. We’ll need to meet them at some point.”

  Raven’s excitement dimmed. She’d just gotten divorced and was jumping into another marriage. Not knowing what Killian was like, her mother would be worried sick. Nanna, too.

  Her lovers were nothing like Colin, but Killian stood a better chance with her parents than Cayden. She could imagine the lectures when she was finally brave enough to introduce the Scottish medic to her family. She was expecting them to accept two men in her life. Acknowledge that she was in a ménage relationship.

  Her conservative parents might never approve.

  They might grudgingly accept, though, for the sake of the grandchildren. The news that they’d be getting more was certain to come as a shock. Her family knew about her hysterectomy. What would they say when they learned she was expecting twins?

  “What is it?” Cayden asked, seeing her troubled expression.

  “How do I explain my pregnancy? They know I can’t have children.” She bit her lip, unable to hide her worry.

  “Science,” Cayden told her. “There’s such a thing as uterine transplants and pregnancies after. If ye show them the science and tell them ye were given a uterus, ye tell no lie and they can believe what they will, aye?”

  What he said… it could work. She’d have to tell them she couldn’t give them details, that she was sworn to secrecy, but that was the truth, too.

  “All right. I’ve been given a womb. But that still doesn’t help how I’m going to explain both of you. They won’t understand me getting married to someone I’ve just met. But two men whom they haven’t met? My mum might faint and my da…? No. No. Jaysus. I wish they weren’t so far away. They hated Colin when he barely let me speak to them. We’ve only just started to strengthen the ties between us that he frayed. I don’t want to lose that connection again.”

  “Breathe,” Cayden told her, taking her hand. “Ye can hae the honeymoon in Ireland wie Killian and Willow. Visit wie your family. Show them how big she’s gotten and how happy ye are. We’d never keep ye from them. Let them ken that. Get our daughter away from here. Maybe by the time ye return, I’ll have found Etienne and put an end to him.”

  Raven frowned. “And you? What about you? One of you might be putting a ring on my finger but you're both my husbands.”

  “Ye're right. Both of us might be too much at the moment fer yer parents. Besides, one of us must stay tae staff the infirmary and keep an eye on Casey. We can hae our own honeymoon when you return. Killian can keep Willow. It will be just the two of us, even if it’s the guest suite or aboard our pirate ship. We hae all the time in the world, Raven. My partner and me, we’re in it fer the long haul—three hundred years, give or take. I’m nae going anywhere. Neither is Killian.”

  And neither was she.

  These two incredible men had captured her heart just like the pirates in her favorite book. Now that she was theirs, she’d become as much a part of the cadre as her lovers. Her fated mates and future husbands, one recognized by law, the other by God.

  The powers that had brought them together, no earthly man could put asunder.

  Heaven help anyone who tried.

  EPILOGUE

  Stroking the soft tail feathers of his minion, Etienne watched through another raven’s eyes. He saw the blonde-haired child and the handsome Fae prince. Observed them strolling hand-in-hand through the garden of the Citadel toward the open arms of the woman who shared the name of his favorite pets.

  He saw the love on their faces. The happiness shining from their eyes only fed his hate… and his rage for those who lived within the Citadel walls. They’d destroyed what he’d built and kept him from what was rightfully his. They were going to pay with blood and tears. He’d teach them a lesson none of them would ever forget.

  “You broke your promise, Colin,” he told the naked corpse at his feet. “You said that you would bring her to me.”

  Meeting the glass-glazed eyes of the dead man, he took in the mottled bruises on the white skin and the odd angle of his broken neck. He’d almost drained him before snapping his spine, denying him the chance to be reborn into darkness.

  Consigning his soul to hell, if one believed in such things.

  As pawns went, Colin had been expendable.

  It was a shame the opportunity had been missed to take the girl, but there would be others. This one was touched by magic. Twisting her up for his own means would be a pleasure.

  Etienne sighed, abandoning the raven to snatch up a cigarette.

  The falcons now guarding the Citadel posed a problem for his feathered minions and thus for him. Driving the ravens away left him nearly blind to what went on behind the high stone walls.

  It was a problem he needed to fix.

  That and his other, greater problem. He was no closer to his golden boy than he’d been in the first place, but things were about to change.

  “It was better this way,” he told the corpse, flicking a lighter. Dancing the tip of his finger through the flames, Etienne smiled. “You might have failed me one way but in another, you gave me a new ally.”

  One new player in his game.

  A wildcard not even he had seen coming.

  What fun they were going to have…

  And now for a sneak peek at

  RILEY (GUARDED HEARTS BOOK 4)

  by Claire Marta and Nia Farrell

  Coming September 12, 2020

  Amazon link http://mybook.to/GH4

  Riley knew better than to argue. Skinner was the puppet master, pulling all of their strings.

  Retreating to the cafeteria, she took a seat and waited, watching the clock and observing others who came in for coffee or something to eat. Skinner’s pet, Dr. Lewis, gave a nod of acknowledgment and disappeared through the kitchen door. When he didn’t come out, she assumed that Skinner had sent him to make certain his orders were followed to the letter.

  A short time later, the chef with a laden cart and Dr. Lewis appeared. Mouths shaped with knowing smirks, the two men eyed her like a piece of breakfast meat.

  Christ. Did everyone know what Skinner wanted? He was no better than a pimp, expecting her to use her sexuality to get the results he wanted, samples of body fluids he could test for DNA.

  “Here’s everything you requested,” the chef announced, pushing the stainless steel cart into place beside her.

  The top held thr
ee trays with covered dishes and three steaming mugs of hot beverages.

  Riley arched an eyebrow. “What’s this?”

  “Black coffee, Earl Grey, and a mocha latte for you,” Dr. Lewis answered smoothly, pointing to each in turn. “I advised Skinner that sharing a meal with the specimens would make them more at ease around you.”

  It made sense. Eating together might allow her to form a bond with the subjects—or at least help Emmett to lower his guard and let her explore things with Theo. It was a unique opportunity, giving her an excuse to spend time with them and providing the means to study them up close.

  Dr. Lewis followed her, whistling softly, making her feel increasingly leery about this whole thing. Skinner had sent him to observe her interactions with their subjects. The cameras were impersonal, something she was aware of but had learned to ignore. Having a witness seemed… lurid. Voyeuristic rather than scientific, despite what her rational mind said. Skinner expected results. It was in her best interest to see that he got them. If she failed, she feared that all three of them would suffer.

  One of the guards reached to open the door.

  “Dr. Walker.”

  Hearing her name from Skinner’s minion, she fought the urge to cringe with dread. “Yes, Dr. Lewis?”

  “Good luck,” he said smoothly. “We’ll be watching your interactions closely.”

  Riley’s stomach somersaulted unpleasantly at the thought. Taking a deep, steady breath, she wheeled the laden cart into the cell, suppressing a shudder when the door clanged shut behind her.

  Emmett and Theo were waiting for her.

  The Englishman cocked an eyebrow above his glasses when he saw the cart. Moving to inspect the contents, he lifted the plate covers and nodded in approval. “Well done, Miss Walker.”

  Theo beamed, his teeth flashing white against his tanned skin. “Thank you.”

  “I thought we could share breakfast together,” she told them. “Why don’t you have a seat, and I’ll serve you?”