by Ophelia Bell
He touched her face with his fingertips and she clenched her eyes shut, shaking her head.
“Look at me, Astra,” he said. “We can do this together.”
Placing a finger under her chin, he urged her to face him. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, her heartbeat reverberating in her ears when she met Javin’s gaze. She’d craved his touch for so long. The look he gave her now was something she’d wished for, dreamed about, but never believed she’d have again.
But the fact was, she had no idea how to deal with this new urge. Wanting him from afar had been easy. It had given her a source of energy to channel into her fighting. Her unrequited desire along with her need to honor her brother had propelled her to be the best solo female in the entire league.
Now to have that feeling multiplied threefold should have made her feel invincible, yet on the contrary, she felt weaker than she had right after her injury.
“I’m afraid,” she said in a soft voice, giving him a pleading look. “What if it doesn’t work for me? What if I forget him, forget the arena and all I worked for?”
“We won’t let you forget, Midnight.”
Her gaze snapped to the door, where Simon and Val stood waiting in the darkness beyond.
“I’m pretty sure I might have a monopoly on reminding you of your brother’s death. Not that that’s a good thing,” Val said, shrugging.
She shot Val an incredulous look. How could she not love him? She’d stopped blaming him the day after they met.
Javin’s soft laugh drew her eyes back to him. “You know me, baby. Talon kicked my ass on a regular basis. I expect you to do the same.”
“The point is, we need this as much as you do,” Simon said, entering her house with Val close behind. “I thought getting my link to my animal back would be enough, but it wasn’t. I still need you, Midnight.”
“More than that, we want this.” Javin eased closer and cupped her face in his hand. Peering deep into her eyes he said, “Please be honest with me now. Do you want us as much as we want you?”
She turned and stared at Simon, her breathing shallow. He’d managed to summarize her feelings so perfectly. Taking the counteragent, finding synchronicity with her dragon again, was supposed to have fixed everything, but over the past three months she’d felt even more untethered than before. She was terrified of that feeling ruining her performance in the arena once the season began. She wouldn’t always fight opponents willing to lose to her the way Simon had been.
As she let her gaze travel between the three of them, her dragon uncoiled within her, rumbling its own answer to Javin’s question. Listen to me. We are not whole yet. They will make us whole, as we will do for them.
Something inside her seemed to shake loose with her dragon’s statement. A heavy weight disappeared from her conscience and she took a deep breath, mentally nodding to her dragon.
“Yes,” she said, directing the statement to all of them. “I may be crazy to say this, but I’m tired of holding back. I love you. All of you. And I want you more than I can say. Just promise me you won’t let me forget what matters, okay?”
“As long as you don’t forget that you matter to us,” Javin said. “We’ve got you.”
34
Astra
After her confession, the seconds seemed to stretch for an eon as Val and Simon closed the distance. She needed them close now and every millisecond without them seemed to magnify the ache inside her. Her palms burned with molten heat by the time they rounded the kitchen island and stood beside her.
“Take off your shirts because I’m doing this now before I fucking chicken out.” She held up her hands so they would understand exactly what she meant.
There was a flurry of undressing as they tore off their shirts, and within seconds all three men stood bare chested in an arc around her. She surveyed her bounty, not quite believing this was happening. But her dragon urged her on and she took a step toward Val first, leaning up on her toes to press a kiss to his lips.
“You were the biggest surprise,” she said. “I hope my love can make up for what you lost.” She rested her hand hesitantly against the center of his chest, fingers still curled.
Val’s expression turned fierce and he gripped her hand, pressing it hard to his sternum. “We are more than square, I promise you.”
Light flared beneath her palm where their skin came into contact and she gasped at the surge of triumph from her dragon.
She moved to Simon, whose cocky expression failed to hide the fear in his eyes. She pressed her palm to his chest before he could speak, and his eyes flew wide. Covering his mouth with hers, she stole his startled breath and he encircled her with his arms, holding her tight as they kissed.
“You’re a fucking dream come true, Midnight,” he murmured against her ear when the kiss ended. “Thank you for choosing me.”
“It was meant to be and you know it, Ironfang,” she said, smiling at him as yet another piece of her puzzle fell into place.
Then she turned to Javin and paused, breathless at the awareness that this man she’d longed for all her life was waiting for her to choose him. His dark skin gleamed in the warm light of her kitchen, his golden eyes sharp with anticipation.
“You need to get ready for us,” Javin said, nodding at the other two. Two pairs of hands tugged at her clothing, untying the belt of her comfortable robe, then slipping the straps of her tank top off her shoulders. Another pair of hands tugged her pajama bottoms down and helped her step out of them.
Javin reached for her hands and lifted them up, splaying her palms open for him to kiss the center of each one. When she was naked, she closed the distance, placing both hands on Javin’s chest.
When their lips met, her dragon sent its power through her palms, branding his skin with her marks, and Javin let out a rough growl of satisfaction against her mouth.
The kiss went on and she relaxed against him, sliding her hands up to grip the back of his neck. Simon and Val remained behind her, teasing her skin with mouths and hands. One man glided a palm up her inner thigh and grazed deft fingers between her folds, provoking a moan of pure desire from her throat. Another nipped at her backside with his teeth.
She tore away from Javin’s kiss and glanced down to see Simon was the one sinking his teeth into her ass. “Mark me,” she said breathlessly. “Make love to me and mark me while you do it.”
Simon’s eyes blazed with desire and her dragon roared, recognizing the hungry beasts within each of the men who surrounded her. He tugged her hand and she dropped to her knees before him, then pushed at his shoulders, toppling him back onto the tile floor and straddling his waist. Grinning down at him, she pushed his arms over his head.
“I really hope you’re not always such a pushover in a fight,” she said. “Because you’ll have a short career that way.”
Simon growled and arched beneath her, his belly grazing her core. “It’s a ploy, Midnight. I’ve got you right where I want you.” He darted a quick glance behind her and a second later, Javin knelt behind her and unfastened Simon’s pants, yanking them off swiftly.
Val appeared at Simon’s shoulder and stripped out of his own pants, revealing a thick, beautiful cock that Astra was eager to suck, but there would be time for that soon enough. She released her hold on Simon’s hands and shimmied down his body until her ass brushed against his erection. Reaching between them, she took his thick length in one hand, positioned it at her opening, and sank down.
The pleasure of their joining made her head spin and she paused when she was fully seated with him deep inside her, acclimating again to his girth. Behind her, Javin settled close, wrapping his arms around her and brushing his lips along her throat.
“Fuck him, baby. I’ve got you.” He cupped her breasts, holding and teasing them as she began to move, rocking her hips atop Simon and moaning with each delicious stroke. Javin held her from behind, anchoring her body while she moved her hips. He drifted one hand down between her thighs to stroke her clit,
sending her heat blazing higher and her dragon roaring with every rise and fall of her hips.
Simon met each stroke with a lift of his hips, pushing up onto his elbows to watch. Val rested on his knees beside Simon, his erection weeping as he watched her move.
Bending over, she reached for Val and he rose up, murmuring soft words of utter gratitude when she wrapped her lips around his shaft. He tangled his fingers in her hair when she slid down his length, tonguing the underside until his tip hit the back of her throat.
Simon shifted beneath her, twisting just enough to rise and kiss her shoulder while still keeping their hips solidly joined.
“I want to fucking sink my teeth into you, Midnight,” Simon growled. “You ready?”
She hummed her assent around Val, gripping his hips with both hands as she bobbed on his cock. Behind her, Javin lowered his mouth to her shoulder, kissing and nipping. Then she felt his cock rub against her ass and he gripped her hip, halting her motions.
“I need to be inside you, baby. Can I take your ass?”
Her body lit up with a buzz of anticipation, and she slipped her mouth off Val’s cock. “Please, yes!” she said, then thinking quickly, flung open a nearby cabinet to reveal her oils.
Simon chuckled. “I love a woman who can improvise.”
She descended on Val’s thick length once more, hyperaware of the return of Simon’s mouth to her shoulder and his teeth elongating as he continued to plunge his cock deep into her.
Javin took control of her ass, and the room filled with the fragrant sent of her cooking oil, pressed from the most exclusive olive groves on the planet.
Cool oil trickled over her ass and Javin’s deft fingers teased her hole, distributing the slick fluid around and around, then pushing a digit beyond her barrier. She moaned around Val’s cock, taking him deeper as the pleasure drove her hunger higher. She wanted to bring them with her when she climaxed, but more than that, she ached to feel their marks on her skin.
Javin toyed with her ass until she was ready to beg, but Simon seemed to sense her agitation. “Fuck her already,” he snapped.
Javin’s cockhead probed at her opening for only a second before he pushed inside, torturing her with the delicious stretch while Simon fucked her harder. The pair of them found a quick rhythm and soon the pulse of her desire matched their thrusts. She fell into a trance of pleasure, her dragon in complete command, and she was dimly grateful that she’d already marked them.
Their noises grew more feral the closer she got to her peak. Val’s nails dug into her shoulder and he groaned. “I can’t hold back.”
She only moaned in acknowledgment, lost to the pleasure and eager to feel them give in.
“Me neither,” Simon growled against her shoulder. He pressed his teeth against the flesh with a groan.
Javin’s mouth settled against the side of her neck, inches from Simon’s, his pistoning cock filling her ass over and over until she couldn’t think straight. Then he bit down hard, the sharp spike of pain making her body seize for a second before the rush of their bond took over, sending her into an instant climax.
Javin growled around her flesh, his cock spasming in her ass. At the same moment, Simon’s jaw clamped down on her shoulder and his cock flooded her core with hot seed.
Val let out a roar as his orgasm filled her mouth in hot, salty spurts and his claws raked an agonizing trail across her other shoulder.
After the first jolt of pain, none of it hurt, however. She released Val’s cock and licked her lips, panting and dazed. Javin cradled her hips as he eased out of her and grabbed a towel to wipe them both up.
Astra collapsed on Simon’s broad chest, sighing in contentment.
“We aren’t finished yet, Midnight,” he murmured against her ear. “But if you need a break, you can watch the rest of us.”
Just then her doorbell rang and she broke into hysterical giggles. “I completely forgot I ordered food. I hope you guys are hungry.”
* * *
After they shared the feast she’d ordered, the men followed her into her bedroom.
“So what exactly is it that I get to watch?” she asked, climbing onto her bed and reclining against the mound of pillows. Her wounds stung but they’d already closed, leaving distinctive scars she’d treasure for the rest of her life.
Simon was already kneeling at the foot of her bed, and when Val came close, Simon hooked an arm around his waist and pulled him down with a show of strength. Val grunted and glared up at Simon.
“Did you do that for a reason?” he asked, moving to sit again.
Simon pushed him back down and kissed him so suddenly Astra gasped.
Val let out a little grunt of surprise, but relaxed into the kiss, hooking an arm around Simon’s neck and rolling them both. They kept kissing, but soon their hands moved over each other’s bodies, their legs twined together. Both men were aroused and oblivious to their observers.
Javin settled at Astra’s side with a sigh, snuggling close and slinging an arm around her waist. “It’s our turn to mark each other,” he said. “You didn’t think we’d leave those bonds untied, did you?”
“It honestly hadn’t occurred to me,” she said, tilting her head to watch as Simon dropped a hand between their bodies and wrapped his fingers around both their cocks. “But I get it. And I have absolutely no issues with being allowed to enjoy the show. Honestly, it takes a lot of the pressure off me. Are you going to join them?”
“Not yet,” Javin said. “One of us needs to make sure you’re well attended at all times, I think.” He gave her a sly look and dipped his head, teasing his tongue around her nipple.
“Even better,” she said, arching into his touch with a sigh of pleasure. “Why in the world was I ever afraid to say yes?”
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About the Author
Ophelia Bell loves a good bad-boy and especially strong women in her stories. Women who aren’t apologetic about enjoying sex and bad boys who don’t mind being with a woman who’s in charge, at least on the sur-face, because pretty much anything goes in the bedroom.
Ophelia grew up on a rural farm in North Carolina and now lives in Los Angeles with her own tattooed bad-boy husband and four attention-whoring cats.
Ophelia loves to hear from readers. Feel free to contact her at any of the following locations:
Website: http://opheliabell.com/
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Also by Ophelia Bell
AURORA CHAMPIONS
(A PARANORMAL DATING AGENCY SERIES)
The Way to a Bear’s Heart
Hot Wings
Triple Talons
Midnight Star
SLEEPING DRAGONS
Animus
Tabula Rasa
Gemini
Shadows
Nexus
Ascend
RISING DRAGONS
Breath of Night
Breath of Destiny
Breath of Memory
Breath of Innocence
Breath of Desire
Breath of Love
Breath of Flame & Shadow
Breath of Fate
Sisters of Flame
Dragon’s Melody (A Standalone Dragon Novel)
BLACK MOUNTAIN BEARS
Clawed
Bitten
Nailed
The Stonetree Trilogy
IMMORTAL DRAGONS SERIES
Dragon Betrayed
Dragon Blues
Dragon Void
Dragon Splendor
Dragon Rebel
>
Dragon Guardian
Dragon Blessed
Dragon Equinox
Dragon Avenged
FATE’S FOOLS
(A REVERSE HAREM SERIES)
Fate’s Fools
Fool’s Folly
Fool’s Paradise
Fool’s Errand
Nobody’s Fool
Eye of the Hurricane (Breath of Air Collection)
STANDALONE EROTIC TALES
After You
Out of the Cold
OPHELIA BELL TABOO
Burying His Desires
* * *
Blackmailing Benjamin
Betraying Benjamin
Belonging to Benjamin
* * *
Casey’s Secrets
Casey’s Discovery
Casey’s Surrender