Rule (The Draax Series Book 2)

by Elizabeth Kelly

  I deepened the kiss, our tongues tangling together. As Evelyn began to make those soft and intoxicating sounds of need, I considered urging her toward the bed. Bella would be waking soon from her nap, but there was enough time for me to eat her sweet pussy.

  “Am I interrupting something?”

  Evelyn and I broke apart at the sound of Court’s voice. Evelyn smiled at him and held out her hand. “Of course not, join us.”

  “It seems you are enjoying yourselves just fine without me,” Court said.

  Evelyn frowned, giving me a quick look of confusion. My temper flared but I held my tongue. I knew why Court was upset. I’d been very careful to make sure that I was rarely alone with Evie and most times I didn’t kiss or touch her if Court wasn’t in the room with us. I also knew that he didn’t want Evelyn to leave, just like I didn’t, and that his emotions were starting to get the best of him.

  “What’s wrong?” Evelyn broke away from me and crossed the room to Court, putting her arms around his waist. “Why are you upset?”

  “I am not,” Court said.

  “You are.” Evelyn pressed a kiss against his chest. “Tell me why?”

  “I am not upset,” Court repeated.

  Before Evie could reply, Bella appeared in the doorway. Her hair was sticking up and she was holding her favourite doll. “Hi, Papa.”

  “Hello, meena. Do you feel better after your nap?”

  “Yes. I want juice, please.”

  “All right, meena,” I said.

  I walked toward her, smiling when she gave me her sweet smile and held out her hand toward Evelyn and Court. “Uda and Evie girl come too.”

  * * *

  Evelyn

  “Court?” I leaned against the doorjamb in the kitchen.

  Court was staring out the kitchen window and he didn’t turn around. “I thought you were joining Bella in her sleep ritual.”

  “I just finished,” I said.

  “Where is Bran?”

  “He’s having a quick shower.”

  He didn’t reply. I joined him by the window and rested my hand on his back. The poffin bread he’d made earlier was sitting on the counter and I said, “The poffin bread was delicious. Maybe I’ll get you to show me how to make it tomorrow?”

  “There is no point. As the queen, you will always have someone else cooking for you.”

  Court’s voice was sullen, and I rubbed his back. “Look at me, honey.”

  He turned and I studied his face, my heart aching at the anger and sadness etched into it. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  “There is nothing wrong.”

  “Court, you shouldn’t bottle up your feelings. It isn’t healthy to – oh!”

  Court had picked me up and I didn’t say anything as he carried me down the hallway to his bedroom. He set me down next to the bed, cupped my face, and kissed me hard on the mouth. I returned his kiss but when he tried to unbutton my shirt, I caught his hands.

  “Court, wait.”

  “I want you, Evie,” he said.

  “I want you too, but Bran is still showering.”

  In the last two and a half weeks, I’d never had sex with one Draax without the other being present. There’d been more than once when Bran or Court had woken me in the middle of the night, or early in the morning and we’d had sex, but the other was in the bed with us, even if they didn’t wake up. It was always the three of us together and, truthfully, that was the way I liked it. I didn’t want to sleep with one without the other with us.

  Court’s face turned dark green and his tail thumped angrily against the floor. “Earlier today, you were more than happy to have sex with Bran without me.”

  “We weren’t going to have sex without you,” I said. “You’re overreacting because you’re upset and -”

  “The last two times we have been together, you have fucked Bran but only sucked me off.” His tail thumped against the floor again.

  “Stop, honey. You’re reading too much into it.”

  “I am not!” Court’s anger was radiating from him in thick slow waves. Three weeks ago, I would have been terrified and backing away while trying to protect my kidneys.

  Now? Now, I knew without a doubt that Court and Bran would never hurt me, and I didn’t feel a lick of fear. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed his chest.

  “Honey, it’s okay,” I said. “I want you as much as I want Bran and -”

  “Do you?” he snapped.

  “Yes,” I said. “I do.”

  “Why should I believe you.” He pushed away and glared at me as his tail wacked the floor.

  “What is going on?” Bran walked into the room, and he stared at the stiff posture of Court’s body before stepping in front of me protectively. “Stop it, Court, you are frightening her.”

  “He isn’t.” I touched Bran’s back. “I’m not afraid.”

  “Why did you bring Evie into your room?” Bran said to Court.

  Court’s nostrils flared. “Why do you think?”

  “You would act so childish as to have sex with our female without me?” Bran said.

  “You had no problem fucking Dana without me around,” Court snarled.

  “You have fucked females without me as well,” Bran snarled back. “What is your problem?”

  “I have never fucked a female without you!” Court’s voice was low but thick with fury. “You may have been fine throwing away our friendship for a female, but I was not.”

  “What are you talking about?” Bran said. “Neither Dana nor I asked you to leave. You made that decision.”

  “I left because I knew Dana did not love me and did not want me in the house.” Court stalked back and forth, his tail whipping across the air like an angry snake. “My presence upset her, and when we discovered she was with child, I did not want her to lose the baby because of her emotional state.”

  He stopped, his gaze flickering to mine briefly before he turned back to Bran. “You always wanted Dana just for yourself anyway, and now you want Evelyn for you and only you. You cannot have her, Bran! I will not give her up just because you want her.”

  “You are being ridiculous,” Bran said. “Evelyn is not mine nor is she yours and she never will be. She belongs to the king, and you must control your emotions.”

  Court’s hands clenched into fists and I stepped around Bran, ready to move between them.

  “Perhaps,” Court said, “if you had shown more emotion, Dana would not have left, and Bella would not be without a mother.”

  I gasped and grabbed Bran’s arm when he staggered back a step. His face had gone a pale green and he looked like he’d taken a punch to the kidneys. Without speaking to either of us, he pulled away from my grip and stumbled out of Court’s room.

  I faced Court. His body slumped and his tail drooped at the look on my face. “Evelyn, I did not mean -”

  “No,” I said. “Don’t say anything else. I need to talk to Bran, to make sure he’s okay and then we’ll talk about what you just said.”

  I turned to leave, and Court said, “Evie, please.”

  The sorrow and regret in his voice made me return to him. Hating how upset and defeated he looked, I put my arms around him and hugged him hard. He buried his face in my neck and I kissed his broad shoulder.

  “I am sorry.” His voice was muffled against my skin.

  “I know, honey.” I kissed his shoulder again. “I need to check on Bran. I’ll come back in a bit, okay?”

  He nodded and when he let go of me, I cupped his face and tugged his head down so I could press a kiss against his mouth. “It’ll be okay, honey. We’ll fix this, all right?”

  He nodded again, and I gave him a final kiss before leaving his room and heading to Bran’s. He was sitting on the side of the bed and I sat next to him, putting my arm around his waist and kissing his upper arm. “Are you all right, Bran?”

  “He is wrong,” Bran said. “I did not want Dana for myself. I hated that she did not love Court.”<
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  He took a shuddering breath and checked the empty doorway before saying, “I would never tell Court this, but Dana told me once right before she left that she had never loved Court. That she only agreed to be with him because she knew it was the only way to be with me.”

  “I’m so sorry, honey,” I said. “That was a terrible thing for her to do and say.”

  “She turned cold toward him only a few moons after she moved in with us. She stopped letting him into her pussy and would only let him fuck her ass. She said it was because we had decided that our first child would be fathered by me and she did not want to risk the condom breaking. But only a moon or so after that, she would no longer allow him to touch her at all. Court tried to be patient with her, and he tried everything he could think of to make our mate want him again, but she refused to let him join us in the bed.”

  “That must have been so difficult for both of you,” I said. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

  “She kept putting off the mating ritual, said that we would do it later, but she did not mean it,” Bran said. “After Court left, she wanted to go ahead with the ritual to mate us, but I,” he paused, his throat working hard to swallow, “I could not do it. It made her angry, she was already pregnant with Bella by then, but I could not force myself to do the ritual.”

  I kissed his arm again and made a soft soothing sound under my breath. “It isn’t your fault, Bran.”

  “It is,” he said. “It is my fault. Dana left because of me.”

  “I doubt that,” I said. “Court was just angry and didn’t mean -”

  “She left because I could no longer please her in bed,” Bran blurted out.

  “What do you mean?” I honestly couldn’t even picture a woman not having an orgasm when Bran was in bed with her. He had to mean something else.

  “A few weeks after Court moved out, I could no longer,” he stared at his crotch, “maintain an erection when I was with Dana. Eventually I could not grow hard at all, even when Dana used her mouth and hands. She was angry and upset with me, but I did not know why it was happening.”

  He gave me an embarrassed look. “She thought it was because she was growing larger with Bella. I let her believe it, even though it had nothing to do with that. She was even more beautiful with my child growing inside of her. But after she gave birth, I still could not get an erection. A moon after Bella was born, Dana returned to Earth. I begged her not to go, told her that Bella needed her, and I needed her too, but she said that she could not live with a man who could not fuck her.”

  My mouth dropped open and I stared in silent shock at Bran. He was staring at the floor, his fingers drumming out a nervous beat on one thick thigh. “Dana left because I could not please her in bed. Court is right. It is my fault that Bella has grown up without a mother.”

  I cupped his face and made him look at me. “No. That isn’t true, Bran.”

  “It is,” he said miserably.

  “It isn’t.” My voice was firm. “Bran, no woman who wanted to be a mother would leave her child because her mate couldn’t have sex with her. Do you hear me?”

  “She said that was the reason.”

  “She was lying to you. Look, I don’t know this Dana woman at all, but she sounds like a real asshole. I’m not surprised you couldn’t get an erection after all the ways she screwed you over. You stopped being attracted to her because she was horrible to you and to Court. You and Court made it clear to her that you guys were a package deal, right? That you wanted to share a mate?”

  Bran nodded. “Yes. Court and I used to go to Earth to…”

  I smiled at him. “It’s fine. I’m not gonna judge you for coming to Earth to get laid.”

  “We met Dana at one of your bars and spent the night with her. Over the next few moons, we returned often to spend time with her. We were honest with her about sharing a female and that we wished to have one mate between us. She said she was fine with that.”

  “But she lied,” I said.

  He nodded and I squeezed his arm. “It sounds like she lied about a lot of things, honey. If she truly wanted a child, she would never have left Bella, even if you and her never had sex again.”

  Bran studied my face. “Do you mean that?”

  “Yes,” I said. “I know I don’t have children yet, but I couldn’t imagine leaving them for anything. Dana was a selfish liar who didn’t care who she hurt. What happened was entirely her fault. Not yours or Court’s. She should have been honest with you from the beginning and she wasn’t. That isn’t your fault.”

  He was still staring at me like he didn’t believe me. I cupped his face and pressed a kiss against his mouth. “She was a fool, Bran. If I belonged to you and Court, I would love you both equally. You are both amazing, and I would be happy to carry yours and Court’s children.”

  I kissed him again, staring into his dark brown eyes. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “Evie is right.”

  I made a startled gasp and Bran’s tail thumped against the mattress. Court was standing in the doorway and Bran said, “How much did you hear?”

  Court stepped into the room, looking a little uncertain. “Why did you not tell me any of this before?”

  “Because I chose Dana over you, and I could not expect you to understand or sympathize with me,” Bran said.

  I held out my hand and Court joined us, easing down onto the bed beside me. I took both their hands and held them in my lap as Bran sighed. “I should never have chosen Dana over you, and I will never forgive myself for doing so.”

  “You should have chosen her,” Court said. “She is Bella’s mother and you were right to try and make her happy.”

  “I failed,” Bran said. “Our friendship is destroyed for nothing.”

  Court shook his head. “Our friendship is not destroyed, Bran. If it was, would I have moved back in after Dana left?”

  Bran finally looked at him. “You moved back in because you knew I needed help. Knew that I could not look after Bella and work at the same time.”

  “I moved back in because I missed my friend,” Court said.

  I blinked back the tears as Bran said, “I am sorry, Court. I am sorry that I believed Dana’s lies, sorry that I did not object when she no longer allowed you in our bed, sorry that I chose her over you.”

  Court took a deep breath. “I know, my friend. I am sorry too. I know that you did not desire Dana for yourself and that you did not want me to leave. I left because Dana told me that she had never loved me, and she would never mate with me or bear my children. She said that because she was pregnant with your baby, I needed to do the right thing and leave the two of you alone to raise your children.”

  Bran made a low sound of anger. “Why did you not tell me she said that?”

  Court sighed. “You were about to be a father, and I knew that you loved Dana. If I told you that she had lied, you would have been angry with her. I did not want to ruin your chance at happiness with her. So, I left.”

  “I am sorry,” Bran said.

  “I was jealous,” Court said abruptly. “I was jealous and angry that Dana loved you but did not love me, and I have been taking that out on you since I moved back. I am sorry. I should not have done that. It is not your fault that Dana did not love me.”

  “She did not love either of us or even her own child,” Bran said. “She was a selfish human who only cared about herself.”

  They were both squeezing my hands so tight, that my fingers were starting to ache, but I didn’t say anything as Court stared at Bran. “I want our friendship to be the way it was before. Can it?”

  “Yes,” Bran said.

  They smiled at each other and I waited a beat before saying, “That’s it? You’re not gonna like hug it out or something?”

  “Hug it out?” Court said.

  “It means, like, well, when people are angry with each other and then make up, they hug each other,” I said. “It’s a gesture of goodwill and apology, and any lingering ange
r or frustration is taken away by the hug.”

  Bran cocked his head at me. “I have apologized and so has Court. We are no longer angry with each other. What need is there to hug?”

  I laughed and shook my head. “There isn’t. Forget I said anything.”

  We sat in silence for a few minutes before Court said. “Did you mean what you said earlier, Evie? That you would be happy to carry mine and Bran’s children?”

  “Yes,” I said. “You guys are incredible, and you will make one lucky woman very happy someday. I promise you.”

  Thinking of them with another woman brought on a wave of sadness and jealousy that was so painful, I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to be that woman, wanted it desperately. I loved them both and the thought of them being with another woman…

  Shit. Girl, you fell in love with them. What is wrong with you?

  I choked back my bitter laughter. I was a fool. I was in love with Bran and Court and in about a week, I’d never see them again.

  No, you won’t. So, are you going to spend that week moping around or are you going to spend it with the two men you love, and make every moment count?

  I straightened my back and swallowed down the lump forming in my throat. I would make the most of every damn moment.

  I squeezed their hands and smiled at them. “I want you both tonight.”

  Court glanced at Bran. “Are you certain, Evie?”

  “Yes. I’m ready.”

  “We can use the plugs for a few more nights and then -”

  “No,” I said, cutting off Bran. “I want to make love to both of you together. Right now.”

  Bran pressed a kiss to my temple. “Sadora, do not feel like you have to do this. If taking two Draax at once is something you do not want, the king will not force you to do it. I promise you.”

  I smiled at him and traced my fingers over his jawline before doing the same to Court. “I’m doing this because I want you both inside of me, together. No other reason.”

  Court rested one big hand on his thigh. “We want that as well, sadora.”

  “Good,” I said. “Shut the door and let’s get naked.”

  * * *

  I fell back against the bed, my blood whooshing through my ears and my pulse beating out a frantic rhythm. The last aftershocks of my orgasm were still radiating through my body, and I smiled weakly when Bran lifted his head from my dripping pussy and grinned at Court.