Taming Tabitha
Virginia Nelson
Book 1 in the Bond of Three series.
As a Seer, Tabitha has always known the day would come when she’d have to face her destiny and succumb to her future mate, as only then would her powers fall fully under her command. Tradition dictates that Tabitha run, forcing her intended to prove his worth—and his desire. But it is the discovery that Tabitha is destined for two mates, creating a bond of three—unheard of among her people—that sends her running faster than she’d ever expected.
Gage and Lancaster have been chasing Tabitha for over a decade. Though sharing goes against their basest instincts, the primal urge to find and seduce Tabitha overrides any desire to fight between themselves. As Gage and Lancaster close in, Tabitha must face the truth—though her people may scorn a bond of three, there’s nothing on earth strong enough to destroy the chemistry and soul-deep longing Tabitha feels when she finally stands her ground and faces her men.
A Romantica® paranormal ménage erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave
Taming Tabitha
Virginia Nelson
Acknowledgments
For All the Heathers
I can thank Shell, Jfab, Ma and Dad a thousand times and it wouldn’t be enough for the random things they do to keep me sane and well fed, but I’ll thank them again because they deserve it. Thanks to the bratpack for being the world’s most amazing kiddos and So Many cups of coffee. Thanks to the Schommer fam for giving us such a wonderful and unique home and extended family. Also, big thanks to Mardi and Ami…since donuts, alcohol and chocolates sometimes magically appear and make everything just a little nicer J
Chapter One
Tabitha Hoffman peered into the darkness, willing her eyes to see the mate she knew paced her steps in the velvety cover of night. The mating ritual wasn’t a new or complex one. A female Seer reached fertile age, her body ripening like fruit on a vine. Once she’d gained full maturity, instinct drove her to run—literally—and only the male destined for her could catch and claim her. Regardless of the simplicity implied by the race, it only guaranteed the woman would find a man biologically suitable and thereby perfect to continue their species. A year after the Seer was claimed, she’d become ready for seed to implant, bringing rise to the next generation of their kind.
Suitable didn’t mean happy. Biology didn’t care whether or not a couple made sense out of bed. She’d seen women mated to men who spent their lives with lips compressed in dislike until their hunter touched them and hormones drove away logic. She’d met men married by destiny to women they loathed, but couldn’t resist.
Their kind, the Seers, had formed their ways back when the stars were newly hung in the sky and had solidly clung to them, even though the rest of the world would find them more than archaic. Tabitha might be fated to repeat an age-old life cycle but she didn’t have to like it.
The times might change but the old things of the Land stayed the same. They could afford to, since times would simply change again if they hung around long enough. She understood the ways, even if she’d spent most of her lifetime rebelling against them. She’d met a couple of men who tempted her to end her race, to succumb to them—two came to mind as she paused for breath and looked down the mountain. But her fantasies weren’t for a man…at least, not only one.
In the distance, city lights glittered. The pink glow against the horizon promised a feast for her senses—humans drowning in overwhelming pools of emotion and trying so hard to distract themselves from their miseries. She could simply walk up and eat the emotions without even fearing them noticing her presence. If she could run far and fast enough, perhaps she could make it to that beacon of lights and lose herself to the beat of life. An emotional vampire, that was what she considered herself, plagued by visions of what would be. Her kind were useless in an era without a bit of belief in magic or power, forgotten in a land of technology and instant gratification.
Her path would be nearly untraceable amongst the tidal wave of diversion the humans in the city would provide. Although she’d fed and felt stronger than ever, the pulse of life still tugged at her and might become irresistible up close. The one hunting her would surely be as tempted as she to feast rather than hunt.
She didn’t think her pursuer would allow her quite that much of a lead, though. He’d been following her for too many years. Perhaps even the city wouldn’t be enough of a distraction, not with the hunger growing more powerful every day.
Scenting him, a smell like brandy on a thread of breeze, she skipped farther into the dense forest. She knew her way led up the mountain. A vision long ago foretold this night, even if she’d run from it. She’d escaped other would-be mates while the moon turned and time passed. Her age, for her kind, meant she should have taken a lover years ago. Never before, in all her lonely nights of racing against her own fate, had she wanted to just sit down in the underbrush and allow her destiny to catch up. Even though her dreams and visions warned against her marathon—foreshadowing a dark figure who might destroy their people—she’d never second-guessed her choice to elude capture. Until tonight. Then again, she’d always known she couldn’t outrun fate forever.
The temptation, the sweet scent of the one dogging her steps, wasn’t new. He’d found her before, though she’d slipped away. She knew his name, Lancaster, and they’d met and mingled at the yearly gathering—a time when all Races were suspended so they could go home and see family. His laugh could shiver over her skin even in a room full of people and she’d been drawn to him even while refusing the sexual offer in his gaze.
In that neutral space, she’d learned enough about him to know he’d make a good mate. Strong, funny, attractive… But could he catch her? Her few exchanges with him had branded her soul with his mark, the quirk of his smile planted in her mind like a fertile seed. She licked her lips and her heart raced and her palms sweated at the thought of how he might claim her if she didn’t manage to dodge destiny. Just because she’d resisted the bonds of mating didn’t mean her body didn’t crave it on a base and primal level. Tonight, she felt like an overripe fruit, bursting with the need to be plucked from the tree and tasted.
In the distance she sensed another presence and she knew she’d drawn in a second hunter. Her status as an unclaimed Seer would shine to them in the night, brighter than the far-off city and far more compelling. Gage, the second hunter, had been at the gatherings as well. Not as strong as Lancaster, but clever. Where she knew she might outsmart Lancaster, she didn’t have such illusions about Gage. His ice-blue eyes framed by chill white hair seemed to look inside her, to know what she wanted and needed. He’d plotted when he’d stared across the fires at her. She’d known he would come for her. Both men awakened fantasies she’d resisted but couldn’t ignore.
But the chances of them both finding her in the same remote forest?
Her breath quickened. Did she dare hope for the impossible? Closing her eyes, she allowed a moment for the idea of her body, golden with her power, sandwiched between the darkness of Lancaster and the frozen white of Gage. If liquid desire readied her body for the Claiming at just the thought of the two men, how much would she react to their actual touch?
Hunters never shared their mate, so even thinking such things was forbidden. Their people would never condone such a match, even if two hunters could be kept from fighting to create one, or so she told herself when she imagined just such a pairing. Not to mention her inability to satisfy two men rather than only one mate. She could think of hundreds of reasons why her fascination with the two men wouldn’t work and only one reason it could—she craved it. She hungered for them both in a way that might be sick and wrong but remained irresistible and, with time, had come to seem inevitable.
&nb
sp; The chances of two hunters being this close and not realizing it were less than impossible. The men, she knew, could speak amongst themselves. While the women Seers could hold life in their body and therefore see the future, the men were grounded in the now. They could touch a mind, hear a mind—making their feeds off the humans so much more intimate—but it trapped them in the current time rather than wandering the time stream.
It made sense, really, why the women mated young and few made it so long as she without seeking a lover. Her mind rocked back and forth, trapped in a constant seesaw throughout time, since she’d come of age. All women did, until a man planted the very present sense in them. The constant flood of possibility drove some to madness, but she’d teetered unbalanced out of worry for her future for a very, very long time. What if she wasn’t enough for her mate? What if she hated him? What if she couldn’t be what he needed?
As if drawn by her consideration of her conflict, a vision overtook her and she stumbled. Landing on her knees, she dug her fingertips into the mossy loam, trying desperately to keep from falling into the future. She needed to run, not see.
Unfortunately, the ground wasn’t enough to keep her from sliding away. Darkness crept like a fog over the land surrounding the castle back home and formed into a single man, glaring up at the ramparts. Moonlight illuminated his red eyes and three lights flickered as if readying to attack him. That image faded to be replaced by sunshine, and her focus swirled in circles, like a camera swiveling into zoom.
A blue sky hung overhead, scented by wildflowers—the same wildflowers she could smell around her in reality. She turned and looked back at the two men lying naked on the blanket and—
As the dregs of vision dissipated, a mosquito bit her, bringing her firmly back into the present, and she sucked in air. They were both closer, having used her distraction as a time to catch up.
Pushing to her feet, she sprinted off. Although her breath burned in her chest and her heart raced, she refused to give in so easily. If they wanted her, they’d chase. It was their way.
The image from the future warned she’d not be fast enough. It warned that no matter how hard and far she ran, they’d catch her before the sun broke the horizon and lit the sky with streaming color. It didn’t matter, though. Even if she knew the outcome, she’d not give into a mate who didn’t win her fairly.
The whish of sound warned her, but not in enough time for her to dodge the net that snared her feet from the ground and whipped her into the air. The breath pushed out of her wheezing lungs and she gripped at the sides of the net, seeking some kind of stability as the whole thing waved back and forth between the trees.
A laugh sounded far below, and she craned her neck to try to see them in the dark. “Hey, Tabitha. You ran into a trap.”
She recognized Gage’s voice even if she couldn’t see him lurking in the shadows. “Yeah, I noticed that. Don’t suppose you’d be a pal and cut me down?”
“Oh don’t worry. We’ll let you down.” His amused tone confirmed both her visions and her supposition. The men were working together to catch her.
“We?” She asked the question aloud, as if she didn’t know Lancaster closed in on the clearing even as they spoke.
While Lancaster smelled of brandy and wicked pleasures best saved for the cover of night, the scent of Gage teased at her nostrils. As crisp as the white of his hair, Gage smelled of mint and the cold breath of frost from a snowy morning. The combination of the two males, both so obviously ready to mate based on the heady fragrance in the wind, left her a little dizzy and almost drunk on repressed passions.
“You knew we’d come for you.” His tone was a jagged shard of vocal power, meant to ready her body for his claiming. It took her a moment to scrape enough logic together past the shivers the sound caused on her skin to discern his meaning. When she did, her lips curled. Apparently, Gage wasn’t in the mood to play coy.
“Did it seriously take two of you to catch me?” Just because he was shoving power around like he had it to spare didn’t mean she wasn’t in the mood to play verbal banter.
“You knew it would be us. And since we both won you…” He let the sentence dangle and her nipples hardened in reaction. With one hand, she rubbed across them, hoping to lower her reaction, and instead amplified her own need. Technically, since they’d both caught her, they could share her.
Men of their kind weren’t willing to share a mate, none she’d ever known of in all her travels. Too possessive, too dominant… They didn’t want someone else to touch their mate, certainly not for the remainder of their whole lives. Mates were for a lifetime and their lifetimes were longer than most creatures.
The idea of two men, though, had long fascinated Tabitha, even if it was taboo. She’d seen mortals in such relationships and something about the idea of being sandwiched between two men, their scents twined and both determined to please her, caused a forbidden thrill.
Not that she’d admit it. They’d have much power over her already as mate. No sense giving them big heads on top of it. “You have to admit, Gage, it’s pretty badass that it took two boys to take down one girl.”
“He doesn’t have to admit anything.” The rumble of sound echoed through the trees, laced with power and vibrating through his barrel of a chest. Still unable to see them, Tabitha didn’t have a problem imagining Lancaster below, speaking in his deep bass up at her. Huge shoulders, giant hands and a voice like a foghorn, Lancaster was as big as he was dark. Dark skin, dark hair and chocolate-brown eyes—many other women wished for him to claim them. She’d seen her friends watching him, whispering, but he’d stayed as unclaimed as Tabitha as years rolled by. Just the sound of his voice sent a shot of liquid heat to pulse between her legs. She shifted with growing arousal, causing the whole contraption they’d caught her in to sway even faster.
“Well, it’s awful uncomfortable up here, so if you boys are done playing around…” She ran out of words, closing her eyes to the onslaught of fantasies that flooded her. Would they really share her? Just the thought of Lancaster’s giant hands pinning her, pushing her closer to the icy heat of Gage, caused a ripple of electricity to riot through her senses.
“Yield first. We’re not chasing you any more tonight, so let’s just clarify for the sake of propriety. Do you yield, Tabitha?” Gage made the question a demand, but he wasn’t as close as Lancaster was to her, based on scent.
“What if I don’t? Are you guys just going to hang out and wait?” Forcing bravado into her voice when she wanted to beg them to lower the net and ravish her was her last lingering bit of independence flaring up. Once she was mated, she’d travel with them. She’d eat with them. She’d make love to them. Never again a single entity, never again alone.
The idea thrilled and daunted her in turns. On one hand, she wanted them. Her body demanded them and besides that…she liked them both. If she had to spend forever with anyone, they were both challenging, funny and intriguing men. It also got kind of lonely walking through her days alone, which couldn’t be discounted, and she longed for the stability their grounding her powers in the present would bring.
On the other hand…what if she wasn’t enough to satisfy two such virile hunters? What if she didn’t like being claimed? Forever seemed a long time to risk doing something any of them might find unpleasant.
“Yield to us, Seer. We have won you.” Lancaster echoed the unflinching surety she’d heard resonate in Gage’s tone and another wave of unbridled lust washed over her. If she didn’t yield, there was a chance she would hit the ground running when they lowered the net—yet again trying to escape the snare of fate. The rules of the Race insisted she yield of her own free will, so even captured she could choose to elude them…
She’d put off the mating for too long. Her body didn’t care about her doubts or worries. It didn’t care if she might not like them, respect them or even share common priorities. Her flesh was only concerned with their viability as fathers, their genetic matchup with fragments of her
self so microscopic no eye could see them. While her personality might have reservations, while her spirit might doubt her ability to surrender to them, her body registered no doubts and its demands were overwhelming. She wouldn’t be able to hold out, fears notwithstanding—not tonight. “I yield.” She whispered her submission through gritted teeth, closing her eyes as the knowledge of what those two words would bring wakened the gnawing hunger only the men below could satisfy. As if uttering the words etched it in stone, the finality resounded through her like a box being unlocked—freeing all the demands she’d so long controlled.
Neither man ribbed her further. Instead of a response, she could feel the ropes securing her to the trees shift, tossing the net into swinging motion. In moments, she found herself lowered to the ground. She shoved away the loose netting and stood, brushing off her legs. Her body ignited, beginning to adjust to a temperature for mating, and her clothes suddenly chafed.
Standing, she still couldn’t see them. “Gage? Lancaster?” She turned slowly, trying to determine by scent where they hid.
“We’ve been chasing you for over a decade, Tabitha.”
The quiet calm to Lancaster’s voice sent a chill up her spine yet increased the warmth between her legs. Her knees nearly buckled at the need it wakened. “Has it been that long?” She managed to pant out the words even as she fought dizziness. She wanted flesh, needed skin. Fast.
“At first we were amused. How powerful our mate, how clever that she could run so far and so fast.” Gage’s voice sounded just as eerily smooth, but her reaction to it was anything but calm.
Giving into the need to drop, she landed on her knees and panted, finding her fingers back in the dirt for a second time. The ache for them changed from need to white-hot hunger she couldn’t think past. “So you’ve agreed to share and what? Torture me for making you wait?” She didn’t fear them, not even with their proximity driving her into a frenzy, but she stalled for time while trying to find reins to chain her physical response.
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