by Susan Hayes
Jess opened her eyes slowly and found herself staring straight into the face of a dark angel. His black hair fell to his shoulders, and his eyes were the color of onyx. She could tell he hadn’t bothered to shave in a day or so, and the dark stubble added to the surreal sense of danger the man projected. Even stooped over to fit inside the strangely configured room. He looked absolutely huge and more than a little intimidating.
“Hi, Jess. I’m Rory.” The dark-haired man gave her a slow smile and she felt her insides turn to molten mush. That smile transformed his face and softened the impact of his powerful presence.
“Uh, hi.” She tugged the blankets tighter around her and glanced over to Evan again. He was like sunshine after the storm when she compared him to Rory. He had sandy blond hair and a friendly smile that she recognized from the tumble of terrible memories that were all jumbled up inside her head. “You were the one that pulled me out of the water,” she said to Evan and he nodded, still watching her with concern gleaming in his sky-blue eyes.
“That’s right. Rory was there, too, but he was dealing with the boat, so I was the one who took you down here and got you warmed up.”
More memories came back and Jess blushed as she remembered being undressed and then burrowing into Evan’s arms.
Evan grinned and she found herself dazzled by his smile. “Oh yeah, it’s all coming back to you now, isn’t it?” he chuckled. “Now that we’ve established the fact that no one here’s an ax murderer, why don’t you lie back down and finish getting warmed up while I check to make sure you didn’t just give yourself a concussion.”
“I’ll do it,” Rory offered and the two men exchanged a look Jess didn’t quite catch the meaning of. It must have meant something, though, because Evan grinned and nodded before flopping back down on the mattress and patting the spot beside him.
“I’ll leave the first aid to Rory’s gentle touch, then. Come here, sweetheart. You’re nowhere near recovered yet. You need to rest.”
A fragment of another conversation popped into Jess’s head and she grinned at Evan as she carefully made her way back to his side. “I thought you said he was heavy-handed?”
Rory growled and Evan groaned with laughter. “Oh sure. You didn’t remember getting rescued, but you managed to remember me insulting his driving? You’re just going to be a world of trouble for us, I can already tell.”
Jess was intensely aware of Rory as he moved around behind her, and she felt a shimmer of heat dance over her skin as he gently stroked her hair and explored her scalp just around where she’d bumped it.
“You gave yourself a nice goose-egg, but I don’t see any blood.”
“So I’ll live?” She tried to keep her tone light, but she could hear the tremor in her voice. She hoped they’d think it was from the cold and not because of the effect the two of them were having on her.
Rory’s hands stroked over her wet hair and came to rest on her shoulders as he leaned down so his mouth was just beside her ear. “You’ll live, but only if you stop wandering out on the rocks during storm season. Promise me you won’t do that again.”
His breath was warm as it fanned over her skin and Jess had to focus hard to form a coherent response.
“I didn’t know it was dangerous.”
Rory’s hands tightened around her shoulders and his voice rumbled like distant thunder. “Promise me, Jess. I don’t want you taking that kind of risk again.”
Annoyance burned off some of the warm fuzzies she’d been feeling and Jess spun her head to snarl at him, forgetting he was only a few inches away. “I don’t have to promise you anything!”
“Uh oh, wrong thing to say, sweetheart.” Evan chuckled somewhere to her left, but Jess barely heard him. She was staring into Rory’s dark-chocolate eyes, his mouth hovering a finger’s breadth away from hers.
“Yes, you do,” Rory told her.
“Like hell I do! I’m grateful for both of you for rescuing me, but whatever it is that you think is going on here, it’s not. So just get your hands off me and I’ll be on my way!”
“No,” Rory growled and then he was kissing her, his mouth hard and hot as he slanted his lips over hers. The stubble on his cheeks rasped against the sensitive skin of her face and that friction blended into the heat that flowed from him where his lips touched hers.
As quickly as he had taken her, he retreated again, and Jess found herself following his mouth as he pulled away. She knew she should have been angry, or scared, but instead she couldn’t feel anything past the driving need to feel his lips on hers again. This time she kissed him and she heard one of the men groan. She wasn’t sure which it was, and she didn’t care. Jess turned on the bed so she was facing Rory and speared her fingers into the dark waves of his hair, tugging him closer to her as she explored his mouth with hers.
Rory tasted dark and smoky, like autumn leaves and bonfires. She ran her tongue along the seam of his lips and he opened his mouth with a groan that inflamed all her senses. His hands circled her hips and hauled her up against the solid wall of his body.
Again Jess’s brain tried to send up a warning flare, reminding her that this was a stranger she was so recklessly kissing, but she ignored everything but the need to touch and be touched. Their tongues tangled and a flame sparked in Jess’s womb, sending a flood of liquid heat gushing between her thighs and soaking her pussy.
Another groan, and this time she knew it was Evan that was giving voice to his arousal because he was behind her a heartbeat later, the bare skin of his chest pressing up against her back as he swept her hair aside and blew a puff of air across her ear before sucking on her earlobe. For one perfect moment the three of them were in harmony, but then Jess’s brain screamed in denial at what was happening and tore her out of her reverie.
She broke off the kiss with Rory and let her hands fall from his hair as she found herself sandwiched between two of the hottest men she’d ever met, wearing nothing but her underwear. How the hell did this happen?
“Jess?” Evan’s voice was a soft caress that flowed over her rattled nerves. “You okay, sweetheart?”
Her answering laughter had a brittle edge to it that even Jess could hear. “No, I’m not even close to okay. I damn near drowned a while ago, and now I think I’m hallucinating.”
“What makes you think you’re seeing things?” Rory asked, his voice still a husky with desire. He stroked his thumb down her cheek and she felt her pulse race at that simple contact.
“There’s no way this can really be happening. I don’t—I’ve never even dreamed of doing this.”
“Doing what?” Evan purred and brushed several delicate kisses from her ear to the top of her shoulder.
“This! You, me, him! This isn’t happening! It can’t be, because I would never do something like this.” Jess took a deep breath and struggled to make sense of what was going on.
“Sweetheart, I promise you, this is as real as it gets.” Evan chuckled near her ear as Rory tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her head so she was looking in his eyes.
“You’re not the only one wondering what the hell is going on, but believe me, it is happening.” Rory gave her a smile and kissed her. It was a sweet, soft kiss that was nothing like the passionate possession she’d experienced from him only minutes before.
Jess shivered with cold and confusion and both men reached around to hold her, nearly crushing her between them. She idly noticed they didn’t seem bothered by the fact they were holding each other as well as her, and then she shut down that line of thinking before she ended up jumping one of them again. Or both of them.
“Uh, guys? We’re docked, right? So you can take me back to my cabin now.”
“Not yet,” Evan murmured as he nuzzled her neck. “You need to rest a bit more first, and Rory needs to find you something to wear.”
“Rory isn’t going anywhere, thank you.” The big man arched a brow over Jess’s shoulder to glower at Evan.
Evan ignored Rory and kept talkin
g to Jess as if the other man hadn’t said a word. “You’re shivering again, Jess. Get back under the covers and let us take care of you. I promise, nothing is going to happen without your permission, okay?”
Something deep inside her whispered that she should do as they wanted. That she could trust them. She wanted to, so badly, but she needed help to make the leap.
“Promise me. Both of you promise me you won’t hurt me.”
“Hurt you?” Rory sounded horrified at the idea. “Never, baby. I would never hurt you, I promise.”
“Me, too,” Evan stated solemnly. “Now will you please lie down and rest some more? You’re not ready to be up and around yet.”
Jess smiled tiredly as she nodded and let the two men guide her back down to the mattress. They had her lie down on her side and then settled down on either side of her, cradling her between them like a pair of warm, muscular bookends. She closed her eyes as they covered themselves with the blankets again, her cheek resting on Evan’s chest and with Rory spooning up behind her. She’d never felt so protected in her life, and when Evan’s arm wrapped around her shoulders and Rory’s hand curved around her hip, she didn’t do anything but sigh in contentment and let herself drift deeper into sleep. When she had recovered from her near-death experience she’d have to decide what she was going to do about the fact she was attracted to two men at once, but for now her instincts were insisting she could trust them, and she was simply too tired to do anything else.
Chapter 5
Rory could tell the second that Jess fell asleep, because her body finally relaxed completely and her breathing slowed and deepened. Evan cleared his throat very quietly and Rory finally met his blood-brother’s gaze and asked, “Do you know what the fuck is going on?”
Evan nodded once and then tapped his temple.
Great, Evan wanted to do this telepathically. Rory sighed inwardly. He tended to keep his mental shields up at all times, and not even Evan was allowed past them for more than a few sentences, usually when one or both of them were in seal form and all other communication was impossible. All selkies could relay their thoughts when in seal form, but only blood-bonded selkies could read each other’s thoughts and emotions when human. Still, Rory had learned early that as the future leader of the colony, it was important that no one be able to get into his head or influence his decisions.
Rory opened the link to Evan, and the strength of the thoughts that flowed at him were so strong he winced. “Ease up, dude. You’re giving me a headache.” He sent the thought back to Evan.
“Sorry, it’s a bit hard to be calm at the moment.”
“Is the naked woman in bed between us distracting you?” Rory added a mental snicker to his message.
“She’s not just any woman, Rory. Can’t you feel it?”
“I’m feeling something, sure. But I have no idea what the fuck it is.”
Evan’s next thought came with a surge of emotion so strong it made Rory’s breath catch. “She’s a true mate, brother. For us.”
“No.” Rory’s first reaction was denial. She couldn’t be. True mates were rare these days, and they were always selkies, no exceptions.
“Yes,” Evan argued back along the link between them. “How else do you explain what’s going on? She feels it, too, and she doesn’t understand it any more than we do. Less I think.”
“She can’t be. She’s human!”
“Human or not, I think she is. Try imagining letting her get up out of this bed and walk away from us so we never see her again.”
Rory did, and the idea of letting her go had him seeing red. His arm tightened around her and he knew there was no chance in hell he’d ever let her out of his sight, never mind out of his life.
“Yeah, I feel the same way. So, I’d say we found ourselves a mate.”
Rory’s mind was reeling. They’d found her. After years of looking, they had finally found the woman destined to complete their lives, and she was human. Fuck. Dad isn’t going to like this.
Evan picked up on his stray thoughts. “I know. The prince has to marry a selkie from one of the old bloodlines. But not even your father can’t make you marry someone else if you’ve found a true mate.”
Evan’s blue eyes met Rory’s as they stared at each other across the sleeping form of their very human mate. “If he tries to do that to us, you know what will happen.”
“That’s only a legend.”
“True mates are only supposed to be a legend, too, and apparently we’ve got one sleeping between us right now.”
They both glanced down at Jess and Rory could feel Evan’s feelings were the mirror to his own. Neither of them were willing to give her up, but to keep her they were going to have to break with traditions that went back to ancient times.
“The things in life truly worth having are worth fighting for,” Rory said the words out loud and their exhausted mate stirred and then settled back down with a sleepy sigh that pumped all the blood in his body straight to his cock. As Evan chuckled Rory realized that the telepathic bond between them was still in place, and his blood-brother had felt his response to Jess’s sigh.
Rory severed the link, but as he stared down at Jess he couldn’t help but wonder what life would be like if she agreed to stay with them. Mated trios often formed intimate bonds, even when one of the group was human. He had always kept Evan out of his head as much as he could, but if Jess was theirs, then those days may well be coming to an end. Rory had kept part of himself a secret, and he wasn’t sure how Evan would feel after he knew the truth about the darkness in Rory’s soul. Finding Jess might be the answer to their prayers, but she could also destroy what they already had. He hoped like hell that she was strong enough to deal with all the changes that were coming, and then he amended that thought. He hoped they were all strong enough to cope with the changes her arrival heralded.
* * * *
Jess woke up and found herself cradled between her rescuers. They were still, but the moment she moved she felt both tense and she realized they were awake.
“Hi,” she whispered, feeling shy despite the fact she had already traded toe-curling kisses with one of them and the other had actually undressed her not very long ago.
“Hey, sweetheart, welcome back.” Evan’s sky-blue eyes gleamed with warmth as he lifted his head enough to smile down at her. “Feeling better?”
“Well, at least this time she didn’t wake up and start screaming.” Rory rumbled from behind her and she blushed at that memory.
“Sorry about that, but, well…can you blame me?”
Rory laughed and his voice flowed over her like melted chocolate, dark and sweet.
“Not really. I’m still glad you seem calmer this time.” He feathered a kiss to her bare shoulder. “And warmer. I swear you were halfway to being an icicle by the time I got you back to the bo—” He stopped talking for a second. “I mean by the time we got you into the boat.”
Jess frowned as she tried to remember the details of her rescue, but it all seemed like one big blur of cold and fear and waves. “I don’t really remember much after the wave hit me. I just remember thinking that I was going to die, and then Evan was pulling me up into the boat.” Another fragment of memory popped into her head. “And there was a seal, there, too.” She rolled onto her back and glanced at Rory. “Did you see a seal?”
“A seal?” He got an odd look on his face and then nodded. “Now you mention it, I think there was a seal out there. They’re pretty common around here.”
“Is it common for seals to grab people and pull them around, too?” she asked.
“What? No. Seals don’t do that. They’re playful sometimes with divers, but they’re not aggressive.” Rory shook his head. “And I didn’t see a seal pulling you around.”
“Well, it did.” Jess folded her arms over her chest. “And that’s not the first time it’s happened, either.”
The two men looked at each other and then down at her with such intense expressions that Jess wond
ered if she’d said something wrong.
“What do you mean, it’s happened before?” Evan asked, his usually gentle voice rife with tension. “When? Where?”
“Here, when I was a little girl.”
“You’re from here?” Rory interjected.
“Well, no, but my cabin has been in the family a couple of generations. We used to come here for summer vacations when I was a girl. We stopped coming when I was six or seven. The last year we came was the year I saw the seals. I remember thinking they wanted to play with me. They were pulling on my life jacket like the seal today was doing. It’s strange that I didn’t remember that until recently. I never remembered why we stopped coming out here. I guess my parents got a little freaked out. And here I am twenty-odd years later, and my first time in the water there’s another seal. Weird, huh?”
“I’d say so.” Evan grinned. “Maybe it’s your perfume?”
“Ha-ha.” She stuck out her tongue at him, only realizing her error when she saw the flare of lust in his blue eyes.
“If you stick that out at me again I’m going to put it to good use, sweetheart. As I see it, you still owe me a kiss. Right now Rory’s one up on me.”
Arousal collided with panic somewhere in the vicinity of Jess’s chest and suddenly it was very hard to breathe. She managed to choke a single word past the iron bands squeezing her lungs up through a throat gone completely dry in a matter of seconds. “What?”
Evan’s lower lip stuck out in an overly dramatic pout. “You’ve kissed him twice.”
“Please tell me you’re kidding.” Rory clapped a playful slap up the side of Evan’s head. “Don’t you even think of keeping score, Ev, or I swear I’ll dropkick you off the back of this boat the next time we’re out in deep water.”
Jess hugged her arms tighter across her chest, her gaze bouncing from one to the other and back again.
“So you two…” She trailed off and tried again. “I mean the three of us—hell, I have no idea what I’m even trying to say here!”