Quickening, Volume 1

by Amy Lane

  We all nodded. Cory swallowed a bit of apple and peanut butter, then went for another one. “One more thing,” she said while trying to clear her palate of peanut butter. “School and students. We usually take one big SUV down and back, but this year it’s going to be crowded to the gills. Do we want to take two and throw in a couple of extra people, just to keep an eye out while the rest of us are going to class?”

  “Be still my heart,” I said, clutching my chest. “Did you just suggest extra bodyguards?”

  She stared at me as though I’d been speaking in sprite. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped. “We had civilian casualties the last time this happened during the school year. I want to have people acting as eyes and ears on the ground, and maybe a couple in place to protect the civilians, okay? I don’t know who’s going in the Tuesday-Thursday van, but come see me and I’ll try to make out a schedule, okay?”

  There were general nods of assent, and then she held up a finger.

  “Max?” she asked. He turned in the act of standing up. “Did we ever find out what Connor was in for?”

  Max shook his head. “Honestly, he didn’t know himself.”

  Cory frowned. “You know what? Get us the numbers of his counsel. I think I know what I’m doing on Tuesday, since I’m not doing the school thing. I may even need to dress up.”

  She looked at me, and I raised my eyebrows suggestively. Why not? I’d love to see her in a power suit.

  OUR LITTLE war council broke up, and Cory finished her apples and peanut butter. Then she stood, put her hand on Green’s shoulder, and whispered in his ear. He shook his head and regretfully kissed her knuckles, then nodded to Dylan, Connor, and Cami.

  She didn’t try to mask her disappointment, but she did lean down and kiss his temple in blessing.

  We watched some TV in the common room for a little while after that, with Nicky sprawled on the floor in front of us. Teague and Jacky sat on the loveseat kitty-corner to us, and Katy sat on the couch, her legs tucked under her as she embroidered something on a piece of muslin. Cory was knitting something in spectacularly purple yarn. The lulls in the movie were punctuated by Cory, Nicky, and Teague snarking at the screen, or Cory and Katy comparing needlework projects.

  Such a simple thing, that—sitting on the couch with my beloved leaning against me.

  But she was quickening with our children. All of her brightness and fury, laughter and pain, it was all doubled and tripled by the knowledge that every beat of her heart was our children’s heartbeat as well.

  I waited for the moment she would stop pushing the knowledge away, when it would descend on her, raw and full force. If I hadn’t known her so long, I would be hurt by how little she seemed affected by her pregnancy.

  But I did know her.

  She was terrified. Once she got over the fear, the joy and excitement would come.

  As the movie continued, her restless hands stilled. Her body became pliant against mine, and I felt my desire spike. At my feet, as though he’d scented the rush of our blood, the dampness between her thighs, the damp at the end of my cock, Nicky sat up and leaned against my knee, his hand wrapped around my calf.

  This summer, Nicky and I had come to a reckoning. Yes, he still loved our little Goddess, but truth to tell, he preferred men in his bed to women.

  That didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy both.

  Suddenly that solid, no-nonsense touch on my calf sang to me. I could have easily given up all lovers simply to be with Cory. I would not have regretted it, not once. But Goddess give thanks that Cory thrived with more than one man in her bed.

  And a close encounter with a vampire this summer had reminded us both that so did I.

  Nicky was always there, of course. When Green was busy with another member of the hill, Nicky sometimes slept in his own bed—often with his boyfriend, who lived in Austin but came to visit.

  But more and more, when Eric wasn’t there, Nicky slept with us.

  Tonight I thought I would very much enjoy having him in our bed.

  Cory leaned over and nuzzled my ear. She probably would have whispered something, but Jack and Teague would have heard. She didn’t have to say anything—the room had suddenly become charged, the fine hairs at the nape of my neck standing up at the electricity.

  Teague cleared his throat, and I focused on the television.

  “The credits are running,” Cory said, smiling a little.

  “Yeah—tomorrow’s your last free day,” Teague said. “Make hay, you three—the well is about to run dry.”

  I could smell Cory’s blush. “The day Jack doesn’t have enough energy for you and Katy is the day the hill falls,” she said tartly.

  And now I could smell Teague’s blood. Served him right for baiting us.

  It was difficult to break the spell by standing up, but I offered Cory a hand, then Nicky, and deliberately didn’t let go of either hand as I began backing up toward the hallway.

  Cory and Nicky met eyes, surprised, and then Cory looked at me slyly.

  “Bracken,” she said softly, “are you in a mood?”

  Her voice held sultry undertones, a playfulness, but also some dead seriousness as well. She was so very conscious of what she felt she’d robbed me of when we’d become bound together. My kind was not known for monogamy.

  “Yes,” I said. She smiled, all triumph, and winked at Nicky.

  When we got to our room, Cory opened the door and darted in, but I kept hold of Nicky’s hand. As soon as we got inside, she shut the door behind us. I whirled, pinning Nicky to the wall and lowering my head to rasp in his ear.

  “What say you, little man? Do you want to be our plaything tonight?”

  “Oh Goddess, yes,” he breathed. “By all means, play with me!”

  He was very pretty—cherry red lips, freckles across pale skin, rust-colored hair, and a hawk’s golden eyes. I nuzzled his neck to see what he’d do, and he lifted his chin and let me. Ah, yes. I’d seen Green mount him, drive him into the mattress screaming, and I’d felt his mouth upon my cock, cleaning up. He was not weak—was, in fact, a warrior in the sky—but in bed?

  He was made to be tenderly used.

  “Is there anything you want from me?” I asked, kissing down his stubbled chin and licking the neck of his trendy tight T-shirt. “My mouth on your cock? My fingers on your body?” I emphasized by pinching his nipples. “We are playing with you tonight. What games shall we play?”

  He moaned, and there was an echo of the sound. Cory had shed her bike shorts and underwear but had left on the tremendously sized T-shirt that flapped around her body. She lay on our bed with her head propped on her hand and watched us, her mouth open a little. I met her eyes and licked my lip, and she smiled and put her hand on her heart.

  “You think you are just going to watch?” I asked, feeling a flood of power at the thought of her doing just that. So in charge, such a leader—would it not be a rush just to let somebody else invest in the emotion and physical activity that was sex? Just so we could perform for her pleasure? I knew she enjoyed it when Green or I took charge, allowing her to be human and vulnerable, caring for her in bed. Here was her chance to see what it looked like.

  “Yeah,” she said, her eyes limpid. “Oh… yes, Bracken Brine, I think I want to see that very much.”

  I turned my attention back to the man in my arms. He stood, hands held loosely at his sides. I seized them and pinned them above his head in one fluid move.

  With a breathless whoosh, he bit his lip. “Oh Goddess.”

  “She will not help you,” I said with satisfaction. “Now I need you to focus. We will be on the bed, and Cory will participate, but first you need to tell us—what game do you want to play?”

  Nicky whimpered. “The game where you’re inside me,” he begged. “The game where Cory holds me and you’re inside me… oh!” I reached down and cupped his manhood through his jeans. He was erect, and I squeezed.

  “Will you taste her?” I aske
d near his ear. “Her body has changed this last month. I can taste it between her thighs.” Pregnancy had made her sweeter there—but Nicky had been gone when Cory had conceived, and we’d been busy since. I didn’t know if he’d had the chance to savor that sweetness.

  “Yes….” He bucked his hips, grinding against my palm. “Yes, anything, Bracken. Oh God….”

  I unsnapped his jeans with one hand and shoved. His cock sprang free—not sidhe-size, no, but human-size and red with arousal.

  His hands were still pinned, so I let it hang there, bobbing and hard, as my hand roamed his body, pinching his nipples and cradling his balls. Oh, yes. Andres had reminded me what being with a man was like. I would not trade Cory for all the men, sidhe, vampires, or shape-shifters in the world—but bless her, I wouldn’t have to.

  He whined softly in the back of his throat, a submissive sound, and I reached down to stroke him—firmly, but not firm enough.

  “You’ve seen my cock, little man,” I taunted. “Are you sure? Are you sure I will fit? You’ll be bent over the bed, your face buried in our beloved’s thighs, and I’ll lick you first, and stretch you, and then….”

  He shivered. “Can I suck you first?” he begged. “Your precome… it’s so sweet.”

  “Not too much, or there won’t be enough to make me slick,” I cautioned, tugging on him hard enough to bring him close. He moaned.

  “Undress,” I told him. “Bend over the bed. But don’t touch Cory, not until I return.” It sounded as if I was simply prolonging his pleasure, but the truth? Cory and I were bound. Cory had been bound to Nicky and Green before me, so she could make love with them independently of me. I assumed that we had all been together so much—rolled around like puppies, possessing Cory, the three of us, until she’d screamed and changed the face of the earth—that consummating my touch with Nicky wouldn’t be lethal. I assumed—but I didn’t want to stake my life on it.

  If I guessed wrong, and I unintentionally violated the bindings of our marriage, the bindings of my body would become unmade.

  It would be a terrible way to die.

  I didn’t want to bring that into our bed. I was not afraid so much as cautious.

  I left Nicky bent over and naked, his slender body pale against the rose-colored sheets Cory had just exposed. Cory was propped up on her elbows, her knees spread, the T-shirt covering her to her thighs. I could hear her talking to him as I went to fetch a damp washcloth.

  “Are you ready for this?” she teased breathily. “He’s huge, you know. He’ll stretch you, and he’ll pound—relentlessly. You’ll be screaming into my….” She stumbled there, the word for the sweetness of her sex still making her blush.

  Nicky chuckled, looked her in the eyes, and said the word.

  I watched as her breathing quickened, just from the power of one… crude… word….

  I bent over and breathed softly on Nicky’s exposed crease. He shivered beneath me, teased and primed. “Cory,” I said, letting my breath tickle him some more, “take off your shirt.”

  Her outrage was almost comic. “But—”

  “My game,” I said, taking in her flushed cheeks, the smell of musk that permeated the air. “I want to see your breasts.” I dragged my tongue between Nicky’s cheeks. “I’ll be tasting them when I’m done here.”

  Both of them moaned, at my mercy, and I licked again. Nicky buried his face in the sheets and groaned. I looked up at Cory, who was wrestling out of the bulky T-shirt, for once not arguing, for once letting me take charge of her pleasure, her person, the things I could control and make better.

  “Move forward,” I directed, and she blushed and nodded, scooting on the bed. I grabbed Nicky’s rust-colored hair and pulled his head up. “Lick.”

  Oh, Goddess, the sounds they made, his face buried between her thighs. I could come, shoot my spend across the room, just from the sounds alone.

  But I had other things to do. In charge, even in the bedroom, meant I had responsibilities. I spread Nicky’s lean cheeks and licked some more, and some more. He tried to thrash, but I pressed on his back, just once, and he stopped. I pulled his cock down and licked the head so I could taste the tang of his precome, then went back to preparing his entrance—sloppy, wet, covered in spit, and stretched gently with my fingers. The howls he made between my beloved’s thighs made me yearn to mount him.

  The gasps she made as he thrust his tongue into her body made me tremble, threatening to explode, if I didn’t do just that.

  Cory let out a little shriek of completion and rolled to her side, her fingers still knotted in his hair, but her tender bundle of nerves obviously pleasured to their maximum.

  Oh, yes—it was time.

  My cock was drooling pre, thick and slippery. Humans needed lubricant—Grace bought it by the caseload, so there was some in every room. But sidhe bodies were made for pleasure—for male pleasure, for female pleasure—we secreted more than enough lubricant to ease our way into a lover’s body.

  Nicky’s body was so ready for mine.

  I breached him, hot and tight, and thrust slowly in. He gibbered some more into the sheets, and Cory, still naked, turned around so she could hold his head and whisper into his ear. I heard the things she was saying—about how beautiful we were, and how she needed to be filled, and how she loved seeing me thrusting into Nicky’s body, how large I was, how powerful, how she loved having me inside her when we made love.

  Nicky trembled more with every word, shook, then flailed a hand down to take his own cock. I buried myself inside him to the hilt and shuddered. It had been so long since I’d done this particular act—the very familiar strangeness seemed to yank a cord in my balls and scream for me to come.

  For a moment we both stayed there, shaking. Then I took mercy on Nicky and helped him find his cock before bending over to put my head near Cory’s. “Are you ready?” I rumbled, and Nicky mumbled something in response.

  “Yes,” Cory said, her eyes half-hooded. I licked my lips and leaned, and she grabbed my head and pulled me into a voracious, needy kiss.

  Oh, yes. Nicky would be fucked blind, pleasured to screaming, but she had no doubts who this was for.

  Nicky was begging beneath me, and she let me out of the kiss. I straightened and laid one hand flat on the small of Nicky’s back, then pulled my hips back.

  And snapped them forward, hard enough to make Nicky howl.

  Ah, Goddess, he begged. He screamed, he wept, and I answered every prayer. I thrust inside him savagely, hitting his pleasure spots, stretching him beyond endurance, and he welcomed it. The slap of our flesh together overrode his breathless pleas for orgasm, and he clenched his body around my cock.

  I drove in harder as Cory stroked his hair off his forehead and sprinkled kisses along his back and shoulders. She looked so sweet tending to our Nicky that my skin washed cold with the need to come.

  “Nicky!” I commanded. “Climax now!”

  Oh, yes! He shuddered around me, gripping my cock so roughly and so sweetly that I had no choice. I shouted and poured myself into him, the pressure around me so exquisite I could have cried.

  This was glorious. This was sheer animal pleasure and fucking, and to do it with my beloved’s eyes on me, glowing with arousal and pride—this was why sidhe believed they were gods.

  Nicky’s whimpers, our tortured breathing, my own heartbeat. I collapsed over his back and ruffled his hair. Cory nuzzled my temple, and I turned to kiss her. Soft, warm, female—the contrast between men and women in my bed had always been one of my favorite things. Nicky’s lean, muscular body underneath me and the taste of her in my mouth went straight to my groin.

  I began to harden again, and Nicky groaned. I pulled out and let him flop to the side, still breathing hard, his eyes dilated and dreamy from the internal submission needed to allow me entrance into his body.

  I broke the kiss with Cory just long enough to use the washcloth, then lunged forward, pinning her to the bed and entering her in one smooth stroke. She gasp
ed and arched into me, keening and wrapping her legs around my hips.

  The part Nicky had aroused beyond endurance with his tongue and the part that I pounded into now were two very different things, but fiercely related—and watching her give in to pleasure the same way Nicky had drove me even higher. Goddess in my arms, around my cock, moaning breathlessly in my ear… my Goddess!

  Aroused beyond sweetness, beyond pain, she turned her head, eyes squeezed shut as her short nails scored my back. Her hair tumbled around her face, such a picture of wantonness that looking at her while I was inside her drove me toward orgasm.

  Thrust, thrust, Yesssss….

  She convulsed around me, the expanding muscles in her womb clutching me even more tightly than usual. I became light, became sound—a rocket into space, exploding as silence roared in my ears.

  I fell to my elbows, feeling the smoothness of her skin against mine. We were both sweaty in the satisfying way of energy well expended, and I nuzzled her neck, licking the salt there.

  She laughed breathlessly.

  “Full of yourself?” she asked.

  “Nope. You’re still full of me.” I thrust my hips for effect, and she peered shyly at me through her lashes.

  “Sort of, uhm, double full, right?”

  So uncertain. She thought in terms of “fault.” It was her “fault” she was pregnant. Humans needed assurance. It was my job.

  I lowered my mouth to her ear. “I love that you are carrying our children,” I whispered, and I could feel her relax around me as she accepted that as truth. For a moment she glowed, the praise flushing her with peace and well-being. I nuzzled her some more, and she relaxed into me. As it often did when we relaxed our guard, the shadows stretched long.

  “Green still—”

  “Isn’t ready to talk,” I supplied grimly. I shoved gently at Nicky to roll over, and he burrowed into the comforter, which was wadded up next to him. Then I rolled off Cory, shivering sensually when my spend came with me and coated her thighs before I pulled her into my chest.