Total Eclipse of the Heart: In the Heat of the Night, Book One

by Crystal Jordan

  All the words I’d mean to say, all the apologies I’d practiced in my head slid away. I scrambled for something—anything—to say. “We spoke to the pack. You need to go before the Alpha tomorrow, but from what he said, I’m pretty sure they’re going to accept you as a member.”

  “And that makes everything okay?” She swung the door to shut it in my face. “Goodbye, Rachel.”

  I caught the door in my hand, each of us applying a bit of our superhuman strength. It stayed half-open, neither of us strong enough to overpower the other. “No, it doesn’t make it all right. I just wanted you to know.”

  She glanced over my shoulder into the hallway. “Where’s Jerrod?”

  “Downstairs.” A weak smile curved my lips. “He’s giving me ten minutes to get my foot out of my mouth before he comes up.”

  “Why bother?” Bleakness entered her eyes, and she relaxed her grip on the doorknob. “I know where his loyalties lie.”

  My hand snapped around her wrist. She tensed, a shudder running through her. “With us. His loyalty is to both of us. Could you really ask him to choose? He’s mated to us both.”

  She shook her head until her ebony curls whipped around her shoulders. “I know who he would choose.”

  “I don’t.”

  “What?” Shock flashed across her face. Good, I had her attention. Now if I could just make her listen to me, forgive me for being a royal bitch.

  I shook her arm lightly. “Why do you think it would be so easy for him? He needs us both.”

  “But the two of you—”

  “Were incomplete without you. As much as I love Jerrod—and I do more than anything—he can’t fulfill all my needs. I want men and women. It’s always been that way for me. Always. But when Jerrod came along, I thought that was it. Game over. Fate had decided I was going to be straight for the rest of my life, and things were so good between us that I accepted that—Jerrod, too. We didn’t have any secrets, so he knew what I gave up to mate with him.” A wicked grin teased the corners of my mouth. “He did everything in his considerable power to make it worth my while.

  “Then…then you showed up, and it terrified me to think that fate was going to give me everything I ever wanted, but it might come at the price of everything I’d ever worked for. I was scared that we’d lose our home, and I didn’t stop to think that you weren’t as attached to it as we were. I also didn’t stop to think that a home isn’t the most important thing. Yeah, it would suck to have to leave everything, but losing my mates would be worse than losing any material thing. I was cruel, and I was wrong.” I swallowed back tears. “I hurt you.”

  “Yes.”

  I nodded, met her gaze with the all the open honesty I could muster. No shields, no more room for doubts and fears. “I’m sorry, Lena.”

  She stared at me for long moments, tension running through her body. She sighed and closed her eyes, sagging a little. “Don’t do it again.”

  “I won’t.” I offered up a wry smile. “I’ll probably make other mistakes, but not that one.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes.” Her lips pressed together, and she looked away. Stepping back, she let me inside. She turned and led the way to a big couch upholstered in black leather. Her arms crossed tight over her ample breasts while she propped herself against the arm of the couch.

  I reached out and cupped her cheek, running my thumb over her silky dark chocolate skin. Leaning forward, I rested my forehead against hers. “I’m sorry, my mate.”

  “Rachel.” Her full lips brushed against mine when they moved, and I didn’t bother to fight the shudder that ran through me. My eyes slid shut. God, the feel of her, the smell of her. I wanted her, but I savored the warmth of her lush body pressed against mine. This was precious. This was what was important. My mate. Both of my mates. I wasn’t foolish enough to think this was the only hurdle we’d have to get over before we managed to balance the complexities of a three-way mating, but it was worth it. This feeling, this peace that wrapped around me. This wholeness, like the halves of my sexuality, of my soul, had finally come together. For so long, I’d been denied this side of myself, and I needed to embrace it.

  Her mouth whispered over mine again, and heat shot through me, pulsing through my sex. She slipped her hand into my hair, twining her fingers through the length of it. Tugging on the dark strands, she angled my chin up so she could kiss me. Her tongue flicked out. “I’ve missed this. Not even a day and I crave it like an addict.”

  “That’s how it is between mates.”

  She sighed against my lips. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it.”

  “You will. Jerrod and I will help you.” I pulled back a little to look at her. She was so lovely.

  “Are you sure that you can handle this? I don’t—I couldn’t stand it if I made you unhappy.” Her dark eyes shimmered with tears, but she coughed and blinked them back, glancing away.

  I cupped her jaw in my palm and pulled her around to face me. “I have issues with change. You didn’t do anything wrong. I want you. I want to be mated to you. Jerrod and I went before the pack leaders to make them see we belong together. Forever. You’re ours now.”

  She nodded. “I can only trust that you mean it.”

  “I do. You can tell me to pipe down if I say anything like that again. That’s Jerrod’s favorite approach. That and fucking my brains out until I forget about what I was freaking about. I prefer that approach, frankly.”

  A small huff of laughter erupted from her throat. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Good.” I cupped her hips in my hands and slipped down until I knelt before her. “In the meantime, I think I should really make this up to you somehow.”

  Her eyes widened, and she sucked in a breath that lifted her breasts. I wanted my lips on them, wanted to suck them deep into my mouth and bite her nipples. “Wh-what did you have in mind?”

  “Can’t you guess?” My fingers hooked in the waistband of her yoga pants. She lifted her hips from the couch so I could ease them down her legs.

  “Show me.” She grinned, her teeth flashing white against her cocoa skin.

  She wore nothing under her pants. No underwear. Well, my mate wasn’t shy. Come to think of it, neither of them was. Then again, I wasn’t wearing panties either. We were well-suited, the three of us. I smiled against her skin as I moved forward to kiss the slope of her belly. Her breath caught when I moved lower.

  Slipping my hand between her silky soft thighs, I tugged one of them up to rest over my shoulder. She was wide open, and I could see how slick she was for me. Juices glistened on her pussy lips. I glanced up to meet her gaze. A moment of sheer heat and anticipation spun between us. My heart raced so fast I could hear it pounding in my ears. “I’m going to make you scream for me, Lena.”

  A naughty little grin lit her face. “You can try.”

  I licked my lips, letting my gaze fall to her sex. The musky scent of her filled my nose. I slipped my fingers up her thigh to rub over her wet folds. She moaned and arched her hips a little to open herself further for my touch. A gasp strangled out of her when I plunged two fingers deep inside her, beginning a fast pace. She fell back on her hands, clutching the leather of the sofa arm tight. Her hips lifted into my thrusting movements. I leaned forward to press my lips to her sex. The flavor of her burst over my tongue as I licked her clitoris.

  Cream pooled in my sex, slipping down my legs. The taste of her turned me on so much, I could almost come right now. I closed my eyes and shuddered. My nipples peaked tight, thrust against the front of my silk shirt. The prim calf-length skirt I’d worn to meet with the pack leaders rode up to bunch around my thighs as my knees slid apart on the slick tile floor. Cool air brushed over my pussy, contrasting with the heat rushing through me.

  “That is the hottest thing I have ever seen.” The rough edge of Jerrod’s voice caressed my ears. When had he arrived? I’d been so focused on Lena, I forgot he was following me up, forgot we hadn’t locked the door behind us.
I heard the bolt slide home and the heavy tread of Jerrod’s boots as he walked toward us.

  “Hello, Jerrod.” Lena’s tone was Sunday morning casual. Grinning against her slick flesh, I nipped her clitoris hard. She squealed, her fingers twisting in my hair to the point of pain. I winced as fire spread down my scalp, but somehow it was more of a turn on than anything else. The muscles of her thighs quivered against my shoulder where I held her open.

  Jarrod kneeled on the couch behind her, sliding her shirt over her head. His palms covered her large breasts, tweaking her dark nipples. She moaned while he bent her over the arm of the sofa to suck the tight crests deep into his mouth. I knew from experience how his teeth would nip and his tongue would sooth the erotic sting.

  Her body twisted when I chuckled against her damp flesh. I suckled her hard little clit while I worked my fingers deep inside her. She writhed in my arms. Her walls clenched around my fingers, and I could tell she was going to come. I angled one finger to rub over her G-spot and she screamed, a long, high, keening sound. Her pussy milked my hand while Jerrod grazed his teeth over her tight nipples. She sobbed, her body shaking as she collapsed in our arms.

  Jerrod tugged her onto his lap and cuddled her close while I climbed onto the couch with them. She reached out an arm to pull me in, and we curled together, nothing but the sound of her soft sobs cutting the silence. My heart clenched with each one, knowing whatever pain she felt was my doing. I took a breath. I wouldn’t hurt her like that again…but the love that made people vulnerable was what broke their hearts, so there was no guarantee I wouldn’t hurt her again at all. I could try, though. And I would. Her breathing quieted to soft hiccups while I rubbed her naked back.

  She sniffled, wiped her eyes, and leaned back in Jerrod’s lap. “You’re hard.”

  He coughed, a flush of passion racing under his skin. She rolled her hips against him, making him shudder. His fingers bit into her soft flesh to hold her still, and his eyes glittered with hard passion. “I said watching the two of you was the hottest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. I wasn’t kidding.”

  “I have an idea.” Her eyebrows arched, and that wicked look I was beginning to associate with her returned to her eyes. She scooted off his lap and stood. Jerrod and I followed her lead, and he reached out to pull my back to his front. I could feel the rigid heat of his cock pressed to my bottom. Lena’s gaze went over my shoulder to look at him, a little smile crossing her face. Oh shit. This did not bode well for me. Molten heat rushed through my body. God, I knew how creative Jerrod could be, I couldn’t imagine what he would do with help.

  He leaned me forward, his big palms cupping my ass. His hands gathered my skirt up until it was around my waist, and then he slid his fingers in until they spread my cheeks wide. I shuddered, pressing back into his touch. He dipped in further to swirl around my anus, and further still to push inside my ass. He withdrew to move to my pussy where he gathered my wetness and trailed it back to my anus. Again and again until his fingers slid easily in and out of my ass. My muscles shook with need. I wanted more. Anything and everything he could give me. “Please.”

  “I’m going to please you. Don’t I always?” He stretched me wide, sliding two and then three fingers into me.

  “Yes.” I shuddered at the impact as he thrust in and out, each push faster and harder than the last. Desperation clawed at me, fierce and insatiable. “More. Please, more.” He pulled his hand away, and I moaned aloud. I arched my back to try and keep his thrusting digits inside me. “No. I need more. Please.”

  The head of his thick cock nudged against my ass, pushing steadily in until he was seated to the hilt within me. The stretch bordered on pain, but I didn’t care, I needed to quench the fire that burned through my veins. It consumed me, made me rock my hips towards him even as I sobbed for breath. He grasped my hips, holding me still, and I choked on the need to move. The muscles in my body tensed as I tried to wriggle in his grasp. Lena cupped my breasts in her palms, moving her hands down my body as she knelt before me. Oh God. Want exploded hot wild inside me.

  “Let’s make it interesting. You need to try new things and change a bit…to learn balance, right, Rach?” One of her fingers slipped between my legs, dipping inside my pussy. One finger, two, then the hard ball of her fist. I whimpered at the stretched sensation. I hadn’t been fisted since my last female lover—years before I’d mated to Jerrod—and I’d almost forgotten how much I’d always liked it. How I reveled in the feel of each knuckle caressing my inner flesh, how it made me whimper, but I was so wet it made the slide possible. How it was almost too painful to bear, but the ecstasy was so worth it. That it was Lena’s hand inside me, my mate, made it so much better than it ever had been before. Jerrod nudged in deep so that they were both inside me at once. I was so full, so taken by them. Reality slid away into nothing but the feeling my mates pulled from me. They set a slow, maddening pace for me. First Lena’s hand would fill me, then Jerrod’s long, hard cock. Over and over and over until I wanted to scream.

  “Yes.” My hips rocked back and forth as their rhythm picked up speed. Balance, just as Lena had said. I was caught between them, balanced on the razor’s edge of pleasure and pain, only able to follow their lead toward the promise of ecstasy. God help me.

  I reached one hand back to clench on Jerrod’s thigh and the other forward to twine in Lena’s thick curls. They anchored me in the wild storm that ripped through my system. My entire body was more alive than it ever had been before, every inch of me tingling, shaking with the sensations I couldn’t control. They controlled them, controlled me. And I trusted them both to take me where I needed to go. With that I let go of everything but my need. Heat boiled inside me, consuming me. I closed my eyes and rested my head back on Jerrod’s shoulder, tears leaking down my cheeks as I twisted my hips to move with them. His tongue flicked over my collarbone, over his mate mark. I choked, my sex clenching hard. His hand rose to cup my breasts and pinch my nipples, rolling the tight tips. Lena’s fingers moved to stroke me just so, and a scream tore from my throat as I came.

  My pussy fisted around Lena’s plunging hand while she worked me harder and faster, pushing me higher than I’d ever gone before. She leaned in and bit the inside of my thigh, sinking her fangs into my flesh. I jolted in shock, shuddering over the edge into orgasm again. Jerrod slammed deep once more and froze, his come pumping into my ass. He groaned low in his throat, the sexy sound echoing in my ear. It was too much, too fast. Blackness swam through my vision, and I swayed on my feet. One moment I was shivering in the aftereffects of orgasm and the next the world went dark as I fainted.

  When I resurfaced I was alone in an unfamiliar bed, but before I could panic, the mattress dipped as my mates crawled in on either side of me. Lena curled against me on my right, her leg looping over my thigh. I scooted so that my head pillowed on Jerrod’s arm, and he idly toyed with my nipples. Slow desire coiled through me, and I knew we’d soon be rolling together on the wide bed. For now it was just us and the quiet that surrounded us. For the first time in my life, I felt whole. Replete. All the pieces of my soul were in place. Jerrod and Lena fulfilled me.

  His hand slipped down to circle my belly button. Tears filled my eyes as Lena reached out to twine her fingers with his on my stomach. Emotion flooded my heart, made my breath hitch with the sweet intensity of it. I laid my palm over their hands. The three of us—joined until death. A grin tugged at my lips. Contentment ballooned inside me. “I love you, my mate. Both of you.”

  I wasn’t naïve enough to think that Malcon’s approval would make everyone in the werewolf community accept us, but I would fight tooth and claw for my mating. Of that much I was certain. It was that simple and that complicated. Jerrod was right. I couldn’t force the world to agree with us. Not that I’d ever admit to a male out loud that he was right. It just wasn’t seemly. I could only work to strengthen our bonds. The rest we would solve later. Together. For now, I had them in my arms, and I would make the most of every second
we had. With any luck it might be another fifteen decades before we parted.

  A huge smile spread across my face. I’d been right. It had been one hell of an anniversary. And I was glad the three of us shared it.

  About the Author

  Crystal Jordan began writing romance after she finished graduate school and needed something to fill the hours that used to be eaten away by homework. She is originally from California, but has lived and worked all over the United States. Currently, she serves as a librarian at a large research university in the Rocky Mountains and writes paranormal, futuristic and erotic romance.

  To learn more about Crystal please visit http://www.crystaljordan.com. Send an email to Crystal at crystal@crystaljordan.com or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Crystal! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crystal-jordan

  Look for these titles by Crystal Jordan

  Now Available:

  Treasured

  Coming Soon:

  Big Girls Don’t Die

  A love for which even time stands still.

  Treasured

  © 2008 Crystal Jordan

  Graduate student Rebecca Small is so obsessed with the past—especially the Golden Age of Piracy—she doesn’t mind her unglamorous job preparing museum displays. This display is about her favorite subject, James Morrow, a famous pirate who mysteriously disappeared without a trace.

  Becca touches the pirate’s antique sword, and finds herself on a ship in the middle of a sword fight, saving the sexy captain from being stabbed in the back—literally. Once the smoke clears, the man who claims he’s her husband is more than eager to reward her for her timely assistance.

  James Morrow knows very little about the woman he was forced to marry five years ago, but the woman who saved him doesn’t fit the portrait he’s painted of her in his mind. She’s strong, brave, and submits to his every dark desire. She seems the perfect woman for a pirate, but he makes his living among the dishonest and disreputable—trust isn’t a commodity he trades in.