Feverish

by Amanda N Richardson

  “I know.” Eden ran his hands through his hair and sighed before nodding. “Wake her.”

  Dix nodded and knelt in front of the couch with his knees planted the floor. He could feel Eden’s eyes transfixed on him as he laid a hand across her forehead and closed his eyes. He was powerful and could heal just about anything which came in handy. And even though their mate wasn’t injured she was unconscious. Heat filled the tips of his fingers as a bluish white light shimmered beneath his hand. He mentally pushed his power into their mate’s body. Magic hummed in the air and Dix relaxed his body. This was his gift, and he felt completely in his element. Her eyes shot open and she gasped looking at him widely. Then she screamed knocking his hand out of the way and scrambled to the corner of the couch shaking in fear.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  Dix stood up from the ground and backed away from her. He held out his hands to show that he wasn’t going to hurt her. He lifted a foot to step closer but the look on her face warned him away.

  He froze. “It’s okay we aren’t going to hurt you.” He hoped his voice would calm her down. She should feel a connection, even if she didn’t know what it meant.

  3

  Dara’s eyes rounded and shifted from one man to the other. Both of them were huge and she had no fucking idea who they were, but they expected her not to be afraid.

  Yeah right.

  She took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes daring them to make a move. Her mouth hung open ready to scream bloody murder if they so much as laid a hand on her and her voice packed a punch. Neither of them moved.

  Smart men.

  “We won’t hurt you,” one said.

  His voice washed over her, instantly calming her. She closed her mouth and licked her lips. A growl echoed in the room and she looked at the other man. Heat flared in his eyes and she shivered.

  “What the hell is going on?”

  The man with one gray and one golden eye took a step in her direction but not too close. “May we sit?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  The other man laughed and she narrowed her eyes further. He stopped laughing, but the smile didn’t leave his face. “You’re perfect.”

  Dara’s eyes widened by the adoration in his voice and she sunk back further into the couch. “Who are you?” There was something familiar about them, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

  The one with multicolored eyes smiled and bowed. He really freakin’ bowed.

  “I’m Eden, and that’s Dix, and you are?”

  “Dara.”

  Eden nodded as if he already knew and asking was only a courtesy, and his eyes shined with something—excitement? She wasn’t sure, but she couldn’t look away from him. His eyes, though strange, were beautiful. Something about him was so calming that all rational thought left her. The more she stared, the more she fell into his gaze. Tilting her head to one side she said, “You’ve been following me.” It was a statement. Somehow she knew these two were the ones following her.

  “Yes,” the other man, Dix said. “We’ve been watching over you, waiting for the right time to”—he glanced around the room before bringing his heated gaze back to her— “introduce ourselves.”

  “Stalking me you mean?”

  Again Dix chuckled as if she was the funniest person in the world, but she didn’t find any of this funny. She didn’t find his husky chuckle funny either. No, instead her nipples hardened and she mentally cursed herself. How the hell did they manage to turn her on? They were strangers for hell’s sake.

  And just like that, it was as if they could tell she was aroused because both of their eyes intensified, and she saw them sniff the air. Yes, they tipped their heads back and their nostrils flared as they took in a deep breath before two sets of eyes narrowed in on her. She gasped when they closed in on her, but she didn’t actually fear them. She wanted them, both of them, and deep inside she yearned for their touch. She wanted them to take the ache away. It was all too familiar, as if her dreams were coming to life.

  “Oh no, this isn’t happening.” It was just like the dreams. The ones she’d been having for the past month. They were the most erotic dreams she’d ever had. So much so she’d wake up drenched in sweat and panting in need. Her body was feverish each and every time. Other than that and the earth shattering pains, which were noticeably absent, those were the only symptoms she suffered from.

  Both men dropped to their knees kneeling before her. Dix’s hands rested on the couch cushion closest to her knee, and he watched her with so much emotion her stomach clenched. He seemed to be the more relaxed of the two with an easy smile and lines around his eyes and mouth indicating he laughed a lot. There was something about him that made Dara want to curl up on his lap.

  Eden on the other hand, clenched his fingers on the cushions gripping it until the fabric tore. His chest was tight and the muscles in his arms strained against the fabric of his shirt. It was as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, and though he spoke in calm tones she could hear the underlining tension.

  “What’s not happening?”

  Dara shook her head. “Nothing is happening. This is just too weird. For weeks I’ve been freakin’ out. I knew I was being followed, but how come I never saw you?”

  “We’re good at blending in,” Dix answered, “and if we don’t want to be seen we aren’t.”

  “We didn’t mean to scare you. We knew you weren’t ready for us then,” Eden said a bit calmer.

  “Ready for you?” she asked and her voice squeaked. She had an idea where this was going, and if she was right, her wish was going to come true after all.

  Eden nodded. “You feel it.” His lifted a hand edging it towards her like he worried she would freak out. She gulped as his large palm flattened against her chest. He didn’t touch her intimately, but the heat coming from the tips of his fingers soaked through her body. Her heart skipped a beat and her jaw went slack. No touch had ever felt better.

  Licking her lips she nodded. “Why do I feel this way?” She stared at Eden until she felt another warm hand on her thigh. Okay so she was wrong, his touch was just as enticing as Eden’s. She looked over at Dix and gasped. He watched her with such a fierce hunger she gulped, and it didn’t escape her notice how his eyes tracked her every move.

  ‘They want me, but why?’

  “Because you’re ours,” Dix said.

  She hadn’t realized she said that out loud. “Yours?”

  “Yes,” he said bringing his hand up to her cheek. One finger grazed her jaw and drew a path from her neck to the dip between her breasts. Her nipples tingled and hardened from his touch.

  She hadn’t even realized Eden had moved his hand from her chest to her waist. His thumb rubbed small circles on her lower back in a comforting move, but she shivered as desire shot up her spine.

  “We need you, and you need us. It’s fate,” Eden said. Their arousal was building, and she knew they weren’t lying, but she didn’t understand how it was possible.

  “How?” she asked then moaned when Dix cupped her breast through her shirt. He rubbed his thumb across her nipple and her skin flushed from their touch. Her temperature spiked until she felt feverish. Her body was on fire for them. They were really there, touching her, and this time she could see them because the niggling thought in her head told her that these were the men who had been starring in her nighttime eroticism.

  She recognized their touch. The feel of their fingers sliding along her bare skin, light and enticing. Sensual touches to build her up for release, yet in her dreams it never came, and she wondered if it would be different now that she wasn’t dreaming anymore. How this was possible she wasn’t sure, but she knew she’d somehow been with them in her subconscious.

  Dix groaned and his eyes fluttered shut when her nipple hardened and the sound of her moan seemed to snap him out of his stupor.

  He dropped is hand back to the cushion. “Sorry,” he mumbled. Then he sat on the co
uch pulling her onto the middle cushion. Eden took the other side and they flanked her. Sitting between them both felt right. She had never felt so safe in her entire life, but she had a feeling what they were about to tell her was going to change her whole life.

  4

  Eden’s energy and arousal was amped up higher than Dix had ever felt it. The attraction and sexual energy was so overwhelming that he had found himself palming Dara’s breast, and he hadn’t even known he’d done it until she moaned. He hadn’t meant to, but Eden was driving him crazy with his lust. Normally his best friend was the one with more control, but he wasn’t putting enough restraint on his emotions. It wouldn’t be the first time they had shared a woman, but this was different. She was their third, and it was forever. Still he needed to chill the fuck out before he lost his goddamn mind.

  Dix couldn’t lie, touching her was probably the most amazing thing ever, and he was in heaven. Being near her woke his beast. His tiger paced inside his head begging to come out and play, but it wasn’t the time—not yet. His tiger sighed and lay down waiting for his turn.

  ‘Soon my friend,’ he said hoping to relax his other side.

  He glanced at Eden who was struggling to gain control and sighed. His love for him had grown exponentially over the past few weeks as they followed their third insuring her safety. Their bond had grown, and it was stronger than ever. Now all of the piece of their puzzle could be put together.

  The woman he’d been dreaming of for almost ten years was sitting between them, and even though she seemed to be warming up to them, she still didn’t know what was going on or why. It was the part he dreaded. He worried about telling her that he and Eden weren’t human. There was no way to tell how she would react, and even though it was uncommon for destined mates to refuse a bond, it was possible.

  He didn’t want that to happen to them, and he knew Eden didn’t either. He and Eden had their whole lives to bond. They grew up together knowing they were two out of three parts of a whole. Eden was the technically the oldest, so therefore the leader. He was the care giver since he was gifted with the power to heal, while Dara would be their anchor when the bond was complete. It was complex and for most of their young lives they assumed they were only going to be mated to a female as her partners, not mated themselves, but as they grew older their attraction to each other built. That’s when they started to learn more about the triad bond that all white tigers formed.

  Even knowing him and Eden were just as much mates to one another as they were to their female anchor; they hadn’t completed their bond with each other—yet. They agreed to wait until they met their female mate. He hoped their bonding would be even more special because after 32 years together, they would be able to share their built up passion for one another. Nothing would hold them back.

  He scrubbed his hand on top of his head and then dropped his hands onto his lab. “What I’m going to tell you will be hard to believe, but I need you to understand and stay calm, can you do that?”

  “I don’t know. You stalk me for weeks, and then you tell me I’m yours like you own me or something.”

  “We would never hurt you. You’re everything to us.”

  “But why, you don’t know me, and I certainly don’t know you?”

  Eden put a calming hand on Dara’s knee and her heart automatically slowed. “It’s a long story, and we really don’t have time to explain it all right now, but we will.” He gave Dix a look, and he nodded. They had already agreed that Dix would be the one to tell her what they were. They hoped because he appeared less threatening and was calm by nature that she would be more receptive to his tiger first.

  “The truth is we aren’t human.” —Dara went to speak but he held up his hand— “We are tiger shifters, white ones to be exact, and I know this is going to be hard to believe so I’m going to show you.”

  Dix went and stood in the center of the room and closed his eyes calling to his beast. His feline half yowled in excitement to meet their mate. He’d been waiting too long and was becoming impatient prowling in Dix’s head. His body shimmered and in a matter of seconds he had shed his human half leaving behind a large white tiger.

  Now he saw Dara through golden eyes and pleaded for her not to scream. He wanted her acceptance. Her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. He cringed and waited for her scream of horror, but it didn’t happen.

  She didn’t look away from him but asked Eden, “You change too?”

  “Yes.”

  “He’s still here though right, in control?”

  Dix blinked and nodded his head before advancing towards her. He made sure his claws were sheathed butted his head against her knee and then followed it by licking her as a show of respect and love. As if she couldn’t help herself she lowered one hand towards him. Her fingers were gentle as she petted his head.

  Pure Heaven.

  “Oh my god, you’re so soft.” She continued rubbing his fur. He purred and closed his eyes. It couldn’t get much better than that. She didn’t appear to be afraid. At the very least she wasn’t freaking out and her eyes shined in excitement.

  “See he’s in complete control. The tiger is another part of him, our beasts literally roam inside of our head, but we are essentially two halves of a whole. Dix wouldn’t be Dix without this beast right here, and they both like you very much,” Eden said and then chuckled as Dix laid his head on Dara’s lap and peered up at her with his golden eyes.

  Dara slid one finger behind his ear and scratched, like she would a house cat. He purred louder and licked his nose. She laughed and scratched him more. He hoped this would be a normal occurrence. He and his beast were in heaven.

  “This is so surreal.”

  “Dix you can change back,” Eden said and he growled. He didn’t want to change back. Not when she was comfortable with him. As a beast she was at ease with him—as a man—not so much. Even though she seemed okay with his tiger, she didn’t know everything, and the worst was to come. Telling her about the demons wasn’t going to be pleasant especially because it was because she was their anchor that she had to worry about being kidnapped by vile monsters in the first place.

  “Don’t growl at me. We need to finish talking.”

  Dix chuffed in aggravation but backed away far enough from Dara to change back to man. His beast wasn’t happy, but Dix shook his head taking control. He sat on his hind legs and closed his eyes. The change was exhilarating. It was like stretching his muscles in a really pleasant way. He always felt rejuvenated when he changed. His body shimmered and vibrated with magic as he changed from feline to human.

  When he stood before Dara he was worried. He’d never shown a woman his other side, and her opinion meant the most, but she was apprehensive—

  “You’re beautiful, really.” Dara smiled and he could tell it was genuine. No fear showed in her eyes and when he listened he could hear that her heart beat hadn’t risen.

  Inside his tiger beamed in pride. “Thank you.” He came back over to the couch and sat by her. “But I’m afraid there’s more we need to talk about. Now that you know that other creatures exist.”

  She gulped. “You’re about to tell me something bad aren’t you?”

  “We have enemies. One’s who will do whatever it takes to make sure our kind dies off, and because of that you’re in danger now.”

  “What do you mean danger?”

  He sat next to her and picked her hand up in his thankful when she didn’t fight him. “Shadox demons want to steal our power and possess us, because if they can successfully do so than they can take over our body, leaving our soul to roam the earth forever. We'd never be able to move on, and we'd never rest. It would be an eternity of hell. Once they know any of our kind has found their third, they’ll do anything to stop the bond because once it has been completed there is nothing they can do. There are some lines even they won’t or can’t cross, but before the mating you’re fair game to them.”

  “Fair game?”

  “Yes,
they’re going to try to take you. They probably know that you’re our third by now. Their magic allows them to see things, sense things, and we’ve be shadowing you for weeks now.”

  “No one has attacked me.”

  “Probably because they weren’t sure if you were ours or not, since we hadn’t made contact, but now we have and we need you to be very careful. The sooner we form the bond the better.”

  “But I don’t know you, and I’m going to take a wild guess that forming a bond with you is going to be— sexual.”

  “In a way, but it’s so much more than that. Our souls will become one, but yes that happens during sex—between all three of us.”

  Dara’s eyes widened. “I don’t know about all that. I’ve never been with more than one man at a time, and well, you two are huge.”

  Eden chuckled. “Don’t worry Dara, you were made for us, and you’ll be so aroused you won’t feel any pain.”

  She blushed and cast her eyes to the side and bit her lip. “I can’t have sex with two men I don’t even know. I don’t know anything about you or your history. Your likes and dislikes.” Turning her eyes towards Dix, she glared. “I’m not that type of girl. I don’t sleep around with random men I just met. Where I come from that would make me a whore.”

  Eden growled low in his throat not at all happy with how she referred to herself. “We aren’t saying you are, and I understand your concerns, really, but you have to realize this isn’t some random fuck and you’re not a fucking whore. We’re mates, and once we bond it lasts forever. You’re the only one for us, and we’re yours.”

  “Eden, calm down. She doesn’t understand, and she deserves to know something about us before she takes our word for it.”

  Dix tried to rein him in before he scared her, and he was pretty sure she was scared, or pissed. Either way it wasn’t helping matters. Eden was the leader and needed to chill the hell out before she walked away from them. He wasn’t used to being the responsible one, and he found he didn’t like the pressure. No wonder Eden spent most of his time all tied up in knots.