by Amira Rain
"Liz, what-"
"Layla paid me a little visit this morning, and she told me that the real reason you brought me here was in hopes of getting me pregnant. She basically told me you knew I probably wouldn't have success with the fertility problems, so your ultimate plan was to seduce me in hopes that I'll get pregnant and produce a baby to add to the people of the island. She said everyone has known all along that you brought me here under false pretenses. Everyone except me."
Still a bit breathless, I crossed my arms over my chest, having a difficult time keeping my gaze from Eric's full lips, which I desperately wanted to kiss again, to my extreme irritation.
With his dark eyes glassy, he heaved a sigh. "Layla. I should have known she'd try to meddle somehow. She'll do anything to interfere with me moving on with another woman. I made the mistake of thinking I could finally trust her to behave maturely. However, this will be the last time I make this mistake. I'll have her banished from Clearwater, right now, today."
"Well, great. But, bottom line, you're not denying that what she said is true."
Wincing, Eric sighed again, running his large hands over his handsome, square-jawed face. "I wasn't a hundred percent forthright with you, yes, it's true. I was going to come clean with you last night and tell you my intentions. I was going to ask you if you'd be willing to stay on the island and mate with me in hopes of producing a child."
"And this was your plan all along. Even back in New York."
"I can't deny that when I met you I wished with every fiber of my being for the chance to mate with you. I won’t even begin to deny it, because that would be an absolute lie.
“I knew I had to try to get help for my people, and although I knew it was a slim chance that you'd be able to figure out the fertility problems immediately, I still wanted to hire you to try. I want you to try to find a solution, even if the problem is somehow supernatural. Maybe there’s some way we can work around it.
“But in the meantime...yes, Liz, I want to mate with you. I want to try to produce a child with you. I think you could be very happy here on the island with me. I have a strong feeling I could be very happy with you.
“If it works, if you do become pregnant, it's possible that I could bring more women here to the island to mate with some of my men who are single, and in that way, it might be possible that my people won't die out, even if the existing fertility problems can never be solved. Please try to understand, Liz. I was trying to do what was best for my people. Though at the same time...I want to mate with you. Badly."
Surprising myself, I realized that I hadn't completely abandoned my plans from that morning.
I looked Eric right in his coal gray eyes, which were glinting with sparks of red and orange from rays of the sunset slanting in through the windows. "You want to mate with me badly? Fine. Then prove it."
I couldn't imagine that he wanted to mate with me more than I wanted to mate with him at that moment. One kiss simply hadn't been enough. I wanted more, and I wanted all of him. I wanted to see if he was as well-endowed as he was rumored to be. I wanted to feel every inch of his reportedly long length inside of me.
I didn't need to issue another challenge. Immediately after I'd spoken my words, Eric pulled me close and began kissing me as passionately as I'd kissed him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, running my hands along his back, feeling every hard, muscular ridge under my fingers. Now that it was finally happening, I couldn't stop myself. I didn't want to stop myself.
Still locked in embrace, still kissing, we began making our way down the hallway to my bedroom, briefly breaking our kiss a few times to lose our clothes along the way. By the time we reached my room, we were both completely naked, and I broke our kiss once again to rake my gaze up and down the length of Eric's long, hard body.
What I saw was that his body wasn't the only thing about him that was long and hard. What I saw made me whimper with desire.
To say Eric was well-endowed was absolutely correct, though maybe very well-endowed would have been even more so. His manhood, which was rock-hard, was also long, straight, and thick, so thick, in fact, that I couldn't even get close to wrapping my fingers around it. Though, when I tried, Eric groaned appreciatively and pulled me into bed with him.
I ended up on top of him, straddling him, and the feel of the head of his thick rod bumping against my slick feminine lips made me moan with anticipation and pleasure. I was ready for him, ready to slide down the length of his granite-hard pole and take every inch of him inside of me, but it soon became clear that he had other plans.
After lightly kneading my breasts, then teasing my stiffened nipples with his thumbs, making me whimper, he moved his large hands to my hips and gripped them. "I want to show you, Liz, just how beautiful I think you are. Just how gorgeous I think you are, every inch of you."
Displaying his shifter strength, he then lifted my hips, and with one smooth motion, he pulled me up to his face so that I was straddling his mouth. Somewhat surprised, because I'd never received pleasure while positioned like this before, I gasped while I felt his warm breath tickling the throbbing sensitive bud between my feminine lips. A moment later, when he slowly and gently began stroking it with his tongue while gripping my rear, I cried out, the sensation more pleasurable than anything I'd ever experienced before in my life.
He obviously enjoyed his task, making low growls and grunts of pleasure, which served to increase my own pleasure even further. I straddled his face, sighing and squirming, while the glow from the last rays of the sunset painted the bedroom in soft shades of gold and peach. When he increased the pace of his tongue, running his strong hands up and down my legs, I reached forward and grabbed the ornately carved headboard, moaning, then moved my hands to tangle my fingers in Eric's thick dark hair, pulling his head and face even closer to the source of my need.
After several minutes, a sudden, powerful climax crashed over me in waves, making me cry out, throwing my head back. With a low, long growl, Eric continued pleasuring me with his mouth until the very last spasm of my ecstasy had passed.
Panting, I sat back on his chest. "More. I want to feel you inside of me now."
Seemingly all too eager to comply with my request, he immediately lifted me by the hips and moved me down the length of his body to straddle his manhood. More than eager myself, I quickly positioned the head of his thick shaft at my entrance, then slid down the length of it slowly, inch by inch, making Eric dig his long fingers into the softness of my rear, growling.
I began riding him just as slowly as I'd slid down his rock-hard length, feeling as if I was entering some sort of a pleasure trance. While the bedroom became increasingly dim, time felt like it was slowing down, or speeding up, I wasn't even sure which. All I was aware of was the feeling of my body joining with Eric's, both of us moving rhythmically as one.
After however much time had passed, I felt an urgent need to increase my pace, and I did so, moaning. Seeming to realize I was approaching another climax, Eric began gently stroking my most sensitive spot with a single fingertip, increasing my pleasure and sending me over the edge. While I rode him hard, bouncing, I cried out, seeing stars; at the same time, Eric grunted and groaned his own release, filling me with the warmth of his masculine essence.
We rested in an embrace for a while before beginning another round of intimacy, this time with both of us on our sides, facing each other, my leg hooked over Eric's hip while he worked his long pole in and out of my slickness until I cried out with release yet again.
Once he'd also experienced the same, we held each other, listening to ocean waves crashing in the distance. Eric began stroking my hair, and I soon fell asleep, thoroughly exhausted and more satisfied that I'd ever been in my life.
The next morning, we showered together, then somehow found ourselves back in bed, where we enjoyed at least an hour of intimacy before we finally both rolled onto our backs, satisfied for the moment.
Once his breathing had returned to a normal pace, Eric began strok
ing my cheek, looking into my eyes intently. "Please tell me you'll stay. I wasn’t a hundred percent truthful when I told you why I wanted you to come here to the island, and that was wrong of me, and I'm sorry. If you want to go back home, I understand. I'll pay you your full fee for your medical services for the women as well. But I don't want you to go. I want you to stay here on the island for at least a while longer."
With my mind going in a few different directions, I thought briefly before responding. "All right. I'll stay. Under one condition. And that condition is that you make a fantasy I was thinking about yesterday come true."
"Anything. What is it?"
The next words out of my mouth absolutely shocked me with their boldness.
"I want one night with you and Nate, both. Both of you together at the same time."
With his coal gray eyes widening in surprise for just a split-second, Eric hesitated before responding. "All right. If that's what it will take to get you to stay, then so be it. You can have one night with us both at the same time. I've seen the way Nate looks at you when he's on guard patrol. I'm sure he'll very gladly agree to this.
“But, Liz...before we fully commit to this ménage a trois idea, you have to know that shifters possess sexual appetites and stamina far greater than the average man. If you really want to go through with this, I want you to be very well aware that you'll be having two very healthy, very sexually hungry shifters in your bed at the same time. You have to be prepared for anything and everything that might come along with that."
With a thrill racing through me, I thought about his words for a long moment or two. "I realize what I'm getting into, and I still want to do it. In fact, I still insist that this is the only way I'll stay on the island, if this demand of mine can be met."
"All right, then. We'll indulge your fantasy tonight."
Eric was soon called away to deal with another situation involving the Gray Forms, and I was left in bed alone, contemplating if I really was prepared for what was to happen that evening.
CHAPTER FIVE
It was a bloodcurdling scream that pulled me out of my reverie. It made me sit bolt upright in my chair in my little office in the clinic, gasping. Someone was in serious trouble. Someone was possibly being hurt.
All that afternoon, while attempting to review some test results, I'd been in a lazy, dreamy mood, deep in thought. I'd been deep in fantasy thoughts, really, unable to stop myself from recalling what Eric had said that morning. Somewhat to my surprise, he'd agreed to "share" me with Nate that evening. My fantasy about sharing a bed with two men was going to come true, and I could hardly believe it. I could hardly stop thinking about it. Though now, as the bloodcurdling scream I'd heard faded, I could hardly remember what I'd been thinking about two moments before. My entire focus was now bent on finding and helping the person who'd screamed.
As most days were on the island, the day was clear, sunny, and warm but not humid, and I'd opened all my office windows so that I could enjoy a little sun and a salt-scented breeze while I attempted to put my thoughts of Eric and Nate aside and do some work. Now, with adrenaline pumping through my veins, I jumped out of my desk chair and raced over to one of the east-facing windows, sure the scream had come from that direction. I peered out but didn't see anyone, just the rocky, sandy terrain adjacent to the clinic, thick copses of palm trees, and, to the east of the trees, the glitter of the ocean beyond the soft, sandy beach.
Despite not seeing anyone, I was sure I'd heard someone scream, and I was sure it had come from the direction I was looking.
So, I cupped my trembling hands around my mouth, praying that the person who'd screamed would be able to hear me, praying that they hadn't been knocked unconscious or something. "Hello! Is there anyone out there by the trees? Can you hear me?"
After a few seconds, there was no response, just the distant crashing of ocean waves, so I tried again.
“Is there someone out there? Are you hurt?"
Still no response, though after a long moment or two, my office door flew open.
Dr. Merriweather, or Bev, as she liked non-patients to call her, stuck her head inside, her normally rosy cheeks devoid of all color. "I heard you shout. What's wrong?"
I glanced from her to the window, then back to her. "I heard someone scream outside...like a scream of someone hurt or terrified. We've gotta go outside by the palms and investigate." I began striding out of my office, breaking into a sprint when I heard another scream. "We've gotta hurry!"
I began running down the clinic hallway, not even turning to check and see if Bev was following me or not, but maybe halfway down the hallway, she grabbed the back of my white lab jacket to stop me.
"Slow down, Liz! Just wait!"
I couldn't. There was no way. Someone was hurt, or being attacked, and they needed help. Bev had a pretty good hold on the fabric of my lab jacket, so I simply shrugged out of it and kept running, my wedge-heeled sandals clacking on the painted cement flooring.
"Someone could be hurt, Bev! We don't have a second to waste!"
"But just wait! Don't you think we should call Eric or one of the other men first? Don't you think-"
"No! There's no time! Eric and most of his men are dealing with a situation by the lake today!"
Specifically, they were dealing with a situation involving the Gray Forms, the supernatural beings who apparently lived in Black Lake, the lake the island was named for, if lived was even the right word. No one really knew exactly what they did, if anything, beneath the dark, murky surface of the lake. All anyone knew was that they frequently rose from the lake in shadow form, then eventually became solid and attempted to kill people.
While I raced down the hallway toward the main entrance, Bev continued shouting at me.
"The fact that most of the men are at the lake is precisely why you shouldn't go outside right now, Liz! One of the Forms could have escaped them and could now be-"
"I don't care!"
I really didn't. Throughout my entire life, I'd never been able to look away, slow down, or pause for even a moment when someone needed help. That just wasn't me.
What was me was to quickly take off in the direction of the person calling, and maybe that was reckless, and maybe that displayed a lack of prudence on my part, but I couldn't not do it.
Along with two men, I'd once helped pull an elderly woman to safety after she’d fainted and fallen on the subway tracks despite dozens of onlookers yelling for us to just wait for the police to come. But the two men and I hadn't waited, which had turned out to be fortunate. A subway train had come roaring over the tracks mere moments after the two men and I had pulled the woman out of harm’s way. The police, although they'd responded speedily, didn’t arrive until two minutes later.
Nearing the end of the long hallway, I glanced over my shoulder at Bev. "Whoever screamed out there by the palm trees can't wait for the men to return home!"
Bev, who'd stopped in her pursuit of me, grimaced, pushing a few strands of her shoulder-length gray hair out of her face. "Just wait until we can call some of the men back
to-"
"No time!"
I'd reached the two heavy double doors at the end of the building, and I now heaved one of them open and dashed out into the warm sunshine.
Earlier that day, Laura and I had been planting bright red hibiscus bushes in terracotta pots lining the walkway leading to the main entrance. Though we'd finished our task, we hadn't put away our planting tools yet; and I snatched up a fairly sharp garden trowel in one hand and a pair of pruning shears in the other, barely even slowing in my run. Glad to have these makeshift weapons, I tore around the building to the back, heading toward the palms.
I hadn't been bluffing when I'd told Bev that I didn't care if one of the Forms had escaped the men. If it was in the village, attacking people, I was going to try to stop it, no matter if it was in shadow form or solid form, and no matter if it was a woman Form, or a shifter Form.
Also, it didn’t matter
if I was a mere mortal woman. I couldn't deny that I was more than a bit frightened, but not to the point that I was going to let my fear stop me. However, my hands were trembling so badly that I had to really work to keep a good grip on my weapons and not drop them.
The terrain behind the clinic was more sandy than rocky, and my sandals began to really slow me down, so I kicked them off. Not a moment later, I heard a very clear and distinct call for help coming from the direction of the palms. Accelerating my pace, I opened my mouth to shout that I was coming, but then thought and didn't. If there really was a Gray Form attacking someone, I didn't want to alert it to my presence. Ideally, I wanted to take it by surprise.
Though as I neared the palms, now walking stealthily, and could see what was going on, I realized that a sneak attack wasn't going to be possible. A dark shadowy figure shaped like a bear was circling a tall palm just a short distance into a dense copse of trees, and it saw me, and I knew right away that it saw me. However, it didn't seem to care, soon turning its focus back to something near the top of the palm. Clutching my weapons, I continued creeping closer and quickly saw what the Gray Form was looking at.