ClosertoFire

by Alexis Reed

  “You’re even tighter this way,” he murmured and she felt him playing with whatever he’d put in her. It was uncomfortable but the thought of being able to take them both made her more than willing to tolerate it.

  “Are you okay?” Bane asked, studying her from beneath half-closed lids.

  She nodded. “It feels weird but it doesn’t hurt.”

  She returned her attention to his erection, licking him from balls to tip. Darek fucked her slowly from behind, playing with the toy he’d put in her as he did so. It felt unexpectedly good and she moaned around a mouthful of Bane’s cock, relaxing her throat as Darek had shown her earlier, letting him slide in until her lips were wrapped around the base of his shaft.

  Darek sped up, his breathing getting ragged, and she sucked Bane hard, wanting to feel him come. She didn’t have to wait long. With a shout that rang through the room, he stiffened and bucked, his fingers digging white-knuckled into the cloth of the couch, the length of his cock throbbing in her mouth and throat as he came in long, sweet pulses. Behind her, Darek’s shout echoed Bane’s as he climaxed deep inside her. Her own renewed orgasm wasn’t far behind.

  Bane watched as Darek gathered Lily’s weary, pliant form into his arms and stood, inclining his head toward the entrance to the bedroom wing.

  “The garden room?” he asked. Bane nodded, attending to his fly. He stood, picked up the duffel and followed Darek through the archway.

  The garden room had originally been designed several hundred years before by the sovrán of the water dracambri for his new wyrmate. All in all, it was one of the more stunning architectural feats the dracambri had to their credit—and very few of them had ever entered its locked doors. In his role as a physician, however, Bane had made many friends, the sovrán among them. His handprint would grant him access to the wing.

  Darek led the way down the long hallway, stopping at the oak double doors that led into the suite. Bane laid his hand on the surface and the doors swung inward. Darek followed Bane through the doorway with Lily. As they entered, Bane illuminated the torches along the walls. The water dracambri’s sovrán had a taste for the medieval and the décor reflected it.

  The suite’s most impressive feature—and the one that Darek likely had in mind—was the grotto. With the help of the fire dracambri, the sovrán had created a perennial hot spring. Around the stone-lined spring he’d built the impossible—an underground greenhouse, complete with a perpetual irrigation system and an ingeniously engineered lighting system. With the lights off, the bioluminescent moss on the ceiling even created a skylight effect. All of the females had been forced into hiding, sometimes spending months in underground locations like this one. The sovrán wanted to give his mate a retreat.

  Bane smiled. At the time, he remembered thinking that the suite, which took months to build, was beautiful and a kind gesture. But he realized now that he hadn’t really understood the sovrán’s profound need to see his mate happy. Watching Lily’s sleepy eyes widen as she took in the room’s grandeur, he thought he understood now. A massive canopy bed lined with featherlight tulle curtains dominated the room. Brilliant, richly colored swaths of silk and velvet were fastened above the chandelier at the room’s center and ran from there across the ceiling in great, sweeping, feminine arcs attached at the walls, where the fabric seemed to spill down to the floor in a river of inviting texture.

  Lily roused in Darek’s arms, eyeing the inviting bed. “Wow. That looks absolutely scrumptious,” she said, turning at the waist as she looked around the room in awe then wincing, frowning up at Darek suspiciously. “You left that toy in my…”

  Darek gave her a wicked smile. “And you didn’t notice it until now, did you? Don’t worry—the discomfort will lessen as you get used to it.”

  “Used to it?” she repeated, wriggling in an effort to get down.

  Darek held her tight. “Be still, Lily. Now.” She stopped struggling, her eyes wide. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” he added, his voice softer.

  “Lily,” Bane said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, “you agreed to do your very best to do exactly as we said. Which means that unless you want to stop for tonight, the plug stays in a while longer.”

  She stilled, looking up at Darek, whose gaze was carefully blank. She’d find no sympathy there, Bane thought ruefully. Darek was a more demanding Dominant than Bane had ever been.

  She pursed her lips, a hint of belligerence in her eyes. “How much longer?”

  “Until I decide it’s time to take it out,” Bane answered, his voice lowering as he closed the distance between himself and Darek. He tipped up her chin with one knuckle and spoke his next words directly over her lips, “And replace it with a bigger one—or my cock.”

  She whimpered, framing his face in her hands, parting her lips to accept his exploring tongue. He broke the kiss quickly, wanting to leave her hungry. Mission accomplished, he thought, returning her frustrated gaze levelly. The small victory came at a price though—his balls were aching.

  Lily wanted down—she wanted badly to look around the opulent room—but she curled against Darek’s chest instead. Maybe it was for the best. She wasn’t sure how well she could walk with the plug in anyway. Following Bane, Darek carried her through the main room and into another side room.

  “Wow,” she murmured. At first she thought they’d somehow gone from the underground bunker to a forest, but then she saw the ceiling, high and dark and illuminated with some kind of sparkling substance. Vegetation and flickering torches lined the short walkway to the stone edge of a small pool.

  Steps led down into the water and steam rose invitingly from its surface. Bane paused at the water’s edge and took off his shorts. The firelight played over his golden skin, the ridges of his musculature casting appealing shadows. She lounged in Darek’s arms, admiring Bane’s naked body as he entered the water.

  “Like what you see?” Darek asked, startling her.

  Heat rose in her cheeks.

  “You don’t have to be shy,” he said. “Stare all you want. He looks pretty good for an old man, doesn’t he?”

  Her interest piqued. “How old is he?”

  Darek glanced at Bane, seeming to consider. Lily wished she could see his dark eyes better in the torchlight. “Why don’t you ask him?” He carried her down into the pool.

  The water felt as good as it looked. Darek set her on an underwater ledge that ran along the side of the spring. He stepped away, took off his wet clothing and dipped under the water. She lowered her bottom carefully to the stone, conscious of the plug inside her—and of Bane watching her from across the pool.

  He sat on what she assumed was the ledge on the far side, his arms stretched out at shoulder level along the stone rim. His short wet blond hair was spiky, as if he’d just run his hands through it. Lily smiled at him uncertainly, her mind still filled with questions. The damp air clung to her face and Lily realized she was still sticky with ocean salt. She searched for the bottom with her toes, found it and stood gingerly. Closing her eyes, she let herself drop into the hot water. The heat soothed her sore muscles.

  When she surfaced, Darek was sitting behind her and Bane had left his spot on the opposite side, moving through the shallow water toward them. “Darek says you want to ask me something.”

  “I do. You guys talk about decades like I talk about years. How long do dracambri live?” she asked.

  Bane studied her, his expression circumspect. “Are you sure you want to know?”

  “I’m sure,” she replied.

  He brushed his thumb over the entwined red and blue dragons at the base of her neck. The effect was electric, but not in the way it had been before. This time, she saw them both in dragon form in her mind’s eye, winging through a blue sky. Beneath them lay a landscape untouched by humanity—a vast, untamed woodland that stretched to the horizon.

  “I was born in the year 1328, just outside what is now the city of London,” he said.

 
Lily reeled. He’s almost seven hundred years old. It wasn’t just the number that set her mind on fire but the implications. “You’ve seen everything.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve seen a lot. Not everything.”

  “I have so many questions,” she said. “So many things I want to know.”

  He grasped her jaw between his thumb and finger and drew her close for a kiss. “I will answer them all, and with pleasure. But not now.” His lips brushed against hers and a series of images flashed through her mind, visions of the world as it had been. He showed her a world untamed, where the darkness of night was complete and the daytime sky was the clearest blue she’d ever seen.

  “More,” she begged. “I want to see more.”

  Bane shook his head. “Another time.” Fragments of his memories bled into her consciousness—fire engulfing entire villages, the stench of burning flesh, blood and disease, a heart heavy with despair and a young man’s rage. I could have stopped this. The voice in her mind was an ancient echo. “Not only because I’m in the mood for other things tonight, but also because you’re not yet ready.”

  Lily wrung her hands. “I understand.” Hesitantly she looked up at Darek. “I’m scared to ask but I have to know—when were you born?”

  Darek sat beside her on the ledge and raised his arms, clasping his hands behind his head. “Oh I’m a strapping youth compared to him.”

  She thought he would say more, but he didn’t. “Well?” she prodded.

  “1653. Britain,” he answered. “And that’s all I’m gonna say tonight.”

  Lily could respect that. She had to. His expression mirrored his words.

  Chapter Eight

  “Enough about us. Let’s play a game,” Darek said, drawing closer to her. “See if we can understand how this trio thing works. If you had to choose right now—him or me—could you do it?”

  Lily thought about it and the strength of the objection that arose in her was startling. “Of course not. Could you? Choose him or me?” she asked.

  He cocked his head as if deep in thought. “I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

  “Is it weird, watching me pleasure him?” she asked.

  Darek rose from the ledge and lifted her by her waist, standing her in front of him and pulling her close. When he spoke again, he leaned close so that his mouth was beside her ear. “Watching him with you, it’s not like waiting my turn. Bane and I, we’ve competed all our lives, but not in this. I don’t sit back and think of ways I could turn you on more or get you away from him. When I think of him stuffing that sweet little cunt of yours full of his cock, this happens,” he murmured, taking her hand and putting it on his sizeable erection.

  Lily’s body responded, desire pooling low in her belly. She wrapped her hands around his thick girth and stroked from base to head, pausing to brush the pad of her thumb just below the tiny slit at the tip. He groaned, his eyes drifting closed. Lily drew closer to him, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder as she explored his hard length under the water, enjoying the closeness of his body. Bane’s hand stole around her waist from behind, and then his body pressed warm against her back, the ridge of his hard cock settling along her spine. Being bracketed between them felt good…close, safe…and right somehow.

  All of her life, Lily had searched for a place where she belonged. How very odd that she should find it here. She smiled broadly, suddenly elated, and tilted her head to kiss and nip Darek’s neck, pushing back against Bane’s thick girth as she continued to stroke and please Darek. Groans resonated in both men’s chests, deep sounds of male pleasure.

  She was so lost in sensation that it caught her off guard when Bane’s fingers found the plug and he pulled it out slowly then pushed it back in. Lily inhaled sharply, her body tensing. The toy felt bigger going back in.

  “Likewise,” Bane said, seating the plug deeper in her so that she gasped. “Watching him lick you, having you gasping and twitching in my arms because of the things his tongue is doing to you… It’s amazing.”

  He reached around to slide his fingers into her slick pussy. “I want to see you suck his cock for the first time, to watch you make those first, tentative licks at the head, to see those beautiful lips of your wrapped tight around him.”

  He began to thrust his fingers in and out of her, a rhythm he echoed with the plug, giving her a foretaste of what was to come. Lily keened softly, relaxing her grip on Darek for fear she would hurt him in her excitement.

  “Thinking of you with him, watching you with him, it’s the sexiest goddam thing in the world,” Bane said, his voice low and rough in her ear. His next words came out as little more than a growl. “On the other hand, thinking of you with anyone else is, well…”

  Even drifting in her own little world of sensation, Lily could feel the water getting uncomfortably warm.

  “Let’s just say that’s different,” Darek finished, a warning note in his voice.

  The heat receded and Bane closed his teeth down lightly on her earlobe. “Lily, I really, really want to feel him fucking your pussy while I fuck you back here,” he whispered, pushing the plug as far in as it would go.

  Lily cried out, very close to coming on his fingers.

  “Can we try that?” Bane asked.

  Lily shuddered all over, her core clenching so hard it hurt. She reached down and cupped Darek’s heavy sac, finding it drawn tight with arousal despite the heat. She met Darek’s gaze, saw the now-familiar red light flicker in the back of his eyes as the dragon in him peeked out at her. Something feral inside her responded to the sight.

  “We can wait if you want,” Bane said. The thought made her want to wail. “But don’t forget that you have…the benefit of your mother’s blood.”

  “No,” she managed, “don’t want to wait. Want you both. Now.”

  Low chuckles came from both men. Bane took his hands away slowly and moved them to her shoulders, urging her to turn around in the water to face him. Where before his touch had made her wild, setting her body on fire, his hands were soothing now, gentle, calming. He took her face in his hands. His kisses were light, almost reverent, beginning on her forehead and tracing a line down to the tip of her nose. When he reached her mouth, he took her with care and patience, his tongue brushing her lips in an unspoken request. She opened to admit the tender exploration of his velvet tongue, meeting him halfway.

  She’d begun to think of desire as a consuming wildfire, a tsunami, but the need he brought out in her now was altogether new. It was like the tide—subtle, inevitable and powerful. He’d claimed her body. Now, by slow degrees, he was claiming something more. Something deeper.

  He broke the kiss, his gaze drowsy and possessive, and grasped her shoulder again, this time turning her to face Darek. The smile beneath his dark eyes wasn’t the devilish one she’d seen so many times before. He looked… She searched for the word. Content.

  “My turn.” Darek’s low voice was like satin, soothing and arousing her at the same time. He drew her tight against him, trapping his hard, velvet length against her belly. The mark at the base of her neck tingled and warmed as his soft mouth slanted over hers. “Wrap your legs around me,” he said after a moment.

  She did as he said, holding on tightly. He lifted her against his powerful body and carried her out of the water, setting her on her feet on the warm stone. Bane got out behind them, pulled three towels from a stack in the corner and tossed one to Darek.

  Dripping and naked, the men took their time drying her off, Bane taking charge of her back, Darek her front. Feeling warm and hazy, Lily watched drops of water find their way down the scarred landscape of Darek’s muscular chest. Noticing the direction of her gaze, Darek smiled, pausing to cup her breasts in the thick towel, kneading gently. She put her palms flat on his chest, exploring the scars with her fingertips.

  “Does each one have a story or do they sort of blend together in your memory after a while?”

  He followed her gaze to where her fingers were tracing three
parallel white scars that ran from his right collarbone to just above his left nipple.

  “Some have stories. Some I forget. They fade over time. That one I got in Europe a few years back.” She waited to see if he would say more but his gaze became shuttered. She didn’t press the issue but she had to admit she wanted to know more. Had one of “her kind” given it to him? Was that how he saw her? How Bane saw her?

  “Shall we adjourn to the bedroom?” Bane asked, wrapping a towel around her securely. She nodded, woozy from the heat.

  Bane wrapped a towel around his waist, observing Lily. He’d seen the worry emerge in her expression when she asked Darek about his scars and wondered at its source. She likely needed a moment to collect herself, he thought as they walked together down the short hallway into the bedroom.

  Lily perched on the edge of the bed, her hands at her sides. She looked adorably self-conscious, shifting her weight slightly, trying to get used to the plug he’d put in her. He liked this side of her as much as he liked the wild, hungry little idana—the one who knew exactly what she wanted and precisely how to get it. He got occasional titillating glimpses of that one in the back of her eyes.

  In the water, he’d slipped a larger plug into her when he’d been playing with her. He hadn’t told her, not wanting her to tense up and cause herself unnecessary pain. Instead, he’d used a little sleight of hand. Her breathing and body language had given him no cause for worry but he’d been prepared to stop all the same. She might be half idana but he didn’t want to hurt her.

  He got the bag Savara had packed and brought it to Lily. “The bathroom’s right through that door if you want to use it,” he told her.

  She took the bag, smiling gratefully.

  “If you’re uncomfortable, I can help you take the plug out,” he added.

  She wriggled her hips experimentally and reached back, resting her fingertips on one smooth, round cheek. He knew she didn’t quite dare to touch the plug. The corners of his mouth twitched.