“I’m really enjoying all the kissing, but if you want to pick a fight with each other, I can wait outside.”
The offending twin stiffened behind me, his arm wrapping over my collarbones, drawing me back. Breath tickled my ear, and I twisted my head toward him to kiss the shell of his ear.
“Let’s go back to kissing then,” Grim whispered and lightly bit my lobe. His tongue swept over the tiny pinch he gave me.
Not willing to be left out, Raynor grasped my chin, holding me steady to return to my mouth. Grim had left my ear to suck the skin of my neck. He shifted. Worried he was going to leave, I reached behind me, wrapping an arm around his lower back to pull him hard against me. With a groan, he arched into me, and I felt him, long and impossibly hard, against my butt.
All at once, my body overheated. Raynor devoured me, tongue swirling around mine, lips moving, sucking, pursing. All his intensity was solely on me, and Grim, my laughing, joking man, worked in tandem with his twin. When one relented, the other escalated.
Grim’s hands scaled my body, tracing my curves, sneaking beneath my clothes. The light, grazing touches felt like an extension of Raynor’s kiss. They were the waves that lapped my body while the cold ocean stole my breath.
Eventually though, Grim’s touch became firmer, and the clothes he’d been content to push out of the way, seemed to hinder him. He growled, reaching for my shirt and tugging it over my head. His vehemence caught me off guard, and I jerked back.
“Careful!” Raynor ground out, before the word cut off. He stared at me, eyes roving from my neck down to my breasts and stomach.
Grim’s chest felt cool against my back. His rough hand smoothed from my ribs around to my stomach and dipped under my pants. Raynor’s eyes flashed white, but he held as still as a statue. Shoulders heaving, he stared at me while Grim’s long fingers parted my folds.
“So warm,” Grim whispered, and Raynor swallowed.
Grim’s fingers, wet from my arousal, trailed upward, circling my clit with languorous strokes. My head fell back, eyes closing, the breath leaving my body again when Grim bit down on my neck. I pushed back, rubbing myself against the ridge in his pants.
With a rending, Raynor tore my pants off, while simultaneously, Grim dragged me back, knees hooking with my own to spread me wide open. Raynor moved fast, lowering himself to his stomach. His lips touched the inside of my thigh, and he breathed in. At the same time, Grim’s fingers continued their sensuous motion, and my body bowed.
Through long black lashes, Raynor peered at me. A slow smile touched his lips before he dropped his head and licked me, tongue circling my entrance before spearing inside me with hard, thick thrusts.
I cried out, and Grim grasped my chin, twisting my head so he could kiss me, swallowing any sound I made. His fingers left my clit, drawing over my stomach and leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. I was on fire, but Raynor and Grim’s magic cooled their bodies. It was like the bite of frost on a spring morning.
Grim cupped my breasts, massaging and lightly pinching my nipples between his fingers. Raynor took advantage of my distraction. His hands held me tight, pushing me open even wider while his tongue glided along my folds, tasting and nibbling. He blew a cold breath of air across my clit, and I nearly came off the bed. Grim’s fingers squeezed harder, and then Raynor pulled that small fleshy nubbin into his mouth, sucking hard.
I came with a cry, a blast of icy wind surrounding me like a vortex before exploding. Snowflakes landed on my eyelashes and cheeks, and I reached up, catching them on my hand. For a moment, they stayed as they were, perfect and unique, before melting and dripping down my palm.
Grim continued to knead my breasts while Raynor kissed his way to my stomach, nibbling across my hip. I reached for him with damp hands, holding his face and tugging gently so we could be face-to-face. I could still feel Grim, a small wet spot at my back evidence of his arousal. Raynor’s cock stood erect, the tip leaking clear fluid.
Wondering if Grim was suffering as well, I wriggled between them, lifting onto my knees to face the twins. They’d taken advantage of my distraction to shed their clothes. We stared at each other in wonder. They were unique, and utterly beautiful. Their pale skin gleamed like it was dusted with snow. I thought back to when I first met them, how I’d needed the scar above Raynor’s eye to tell the two apart, but not anymore. If it had been dark, I think I could have felt the difference. Raynor was tightly coiled, stoic. Whereas Grim was strength wrapped in joy. He smiled at me, his hand drifting toward his cock and encircling it. As I watched hypnotized, he dragged his fist down the length and back up. Without thinking, I reached for him, wanting to know if he was as smooth as he looked.
The first clasp of my hand had Grim moaning, and, not wanting to leave Raynor out, I immediately reached for him. Soon the cabin was filled with the long, low groans of my men. A trail of pre-cum dripped down my hand, and reflexively, I bent down to catch it, licking it off my skin before tonguing Raynor’s slit.
“Betha!” he cried out, and I sucked him into my mouth. Coordination was never my strong suit, but I had determination on my side. Using one hand on Grim, I worked Raynor with my mouth. His hands cupped my face, smoothing my hair back, keeping me steady as I bobbed along his length.
Raynor flexed, and his tip touched the back of my throat. I held him there, swallowing around him. “Your mouth,” he groaned, and a second later, I heard Grim echo that groan.
Grim’s hand touched mine, uncurling my fingers. I let Raynor pop free of my mouth, glancing over at his brother in confusion. With a loaded smile, Grim moved behind me, pressing a hand against the small of my back, urging me to lean forward while he positioned himself at my entrance. The idea of sucking off Raynor while Grim fucked me from behind, made my pussy clench with anticipation.
Holding himself there, tip poised at my entrance, it seemed Grim was waiting for something. The smooth mushroomed head of Raynor’s cock touched my lips, and I opened, twirling my tongue around the head before pushing down as far as I could get him. Simultaneously, Grim thrust into me with a grunt, hips slapping mine to force me forward. I choked a little, and Raynor immediately drew back, but I reached for him, using my hand to make up for the length I couldn’t fit in my mouth.
We found a rhythm. Grim pumped into me, one hand resting on my hip to steady himself, the other reaching around my belly and to my clit, where he held two fingers. The motion of my body rubbed his fingers against me. I rocked my hips back and forth, letting the natural momentum work my mouth along Raynor’s cock.
The twins overpowered every sense I had. Their scent, woodsy and biting, surrounded me with every breath, and their voices, one hoarse, the other smooth, moaned and grunted in tandem with my own breathy gasps.
My body was no longer under my control. They ruled it. Raynor reached for my breasts, tweaking my nipples as he fed me his cock while Grim continued the long slide in and out of my body.
“Grim,” Raynor’s voice was tight.
“Right there,” his brother answered. “She’s right there. So tight, and she just got so much wetter. You like that, Betha. You like when we talk about how you feel. How wet you are. How much you love having my brother in your mouth while I take you.”
I did. I loved it, and his words pushed me over the edge. This orgasm was different than the first. It went on and on, wrapping around the twins and wrenching them into the storm of sensation.
Fire and ice dueled; Raynor erupted in my mouth and I swallowed, over and over, trying to catch every last glacial drop. Behind me, Grim shuddered and jerked, filling me up until his head fell to my back, and his breath drifted across me like an arctic wind. It was the perfect match to the fire raging in my veins. All at once it was doused, and the breath left me, pouring out of me like steam.
“Oh no.” Raynor’s voice seemed far away as the cold threatened to encase me. Blue eyes filled my vision, and for the first time, I couldn’t tell whose worried gaze held mine.
“Do
n’t go to sleep,” the smooth voice demanded. Grim.
I waved him away. I was so comfortable. The air, which had been comfortably chilly, continued to cool, and from a distance, I could hear the snap and crack of ice creeping along the surface of the windows and cabin.
“Betha.” Someone shook me hard and my head flopped like a rag doll’s. “Stay awake.”
But I couldn’t. Oblivion tempted me, and my eyes shut even when the anxious and frightened voices of the men I loved urged me to open them.
10
Fenris
Mor left me as soon as Raynor closed the door. Knowing my brothers were about to share Betha filled me with less jealousy than I expected. Maybe because I knew they loved her as much as I did, or maybe because Raynor and Grim needed her more in this moment than me.
And I would never be able to share her. The last thing I wanted when I finally got Betha beneath me was to see my brothers naked. When we were together, there would only be her and me.
My mind wandered as I walked through the woods toward the shore, the problem of Betha and the elders turning over in my thoughts.
Her show of strength astounded me. I was well grown before I was able to use ice and wind as she had. The magic she wielded seemed instinctual and linked to her emotions. Each time they’d surfaced had been in moments she’d been overwhelmed or angry.
Thinking back, her powers manifested most often when my brothers and I fought. I chuckled. No doubt, we were going to try our skaoi’s patience.
The larger problem continued to loom. Appealing to compassion didn’t work with the elders. They responded to strength, and they wouldn’t see Betha’s potential, but her weakness, namely, being human.
Not that I would change her for anything.
It was Betha’s humanity which added to her appeal. Jötnar rarely changed. Our technology was an example of our stubbornness. It had taken years to bring power this far north. Many continued to light lamps or make tallow candles rather than use generators like the ones we had at our cabin.
A beam of sunlight reflecting off the snow distracted me, and I stopped short. This clearing was my favorite spot. At first glance, it seemed to be buried deep in the forest, but it was actually close to the cabin and the shore. If we felled trees to the north and east, we could clear a path and have a view of the white-capped waves.
This was where, when I allowed myself to dream, I imagined building a home for myself. At the edge of the clearing was a fallen tree. Seating myself upon it, I envisioned our future. I would use smooth rocks from the shore to build the foundation and floor, and then the twins and I would fell as many trees as needed to make our skaoi the perfect home. In my mind’s eye, the roof sloped, overhanging a seating area where Betha would sit and watch our children play. I pictured a path from our door to the sea, lined with shells, white against the green grass.
Visualizing my home passed the time easily. As the day had grown colder, my skin had hardened, taking on the blue-white luster of my ice. I stood, stretching my arms over my head, and frowned. Had I wasted my time? I’d built my skaoi a home she may never live in if I didn’t solve the problem of the elders.
As if my thoughts conjured them, at the edge of the wood, the elders appeared. Even compared to me, they were huge. With their advanced age, they stayed in their ice forms, a form meant to intimidate.
The elders were indistinguishable as male and female; they merely were. With their powerful magic, they lived well beyond any other Jötnar. These were the original settlers to these lands. The ones who broke with their villages and tribes and sailed across the sea in open boats to make their home here.
Their children, and their children’s children were so far in the past, they were no longer even a memory.
For a split second, I considered talking to them, making my case, but then dismissed it. They could well be a distraction, and others could be—
Shielding myself, I tore through the woods, back to my home. The cold breath of their magic raked along my heels and back, and I redoubled my speed. A blue smudge formed in the corner of my eye, and an instant later, cold arms wrapped around my waist, throwing me to the ground. Leaves and dirt kicked up around me, covering my face and landing in my mouth. I spit them out and jumped to my feet. I didn’t want to fight. I wanted to run. Betha needed me. The twins would need me.
If only I had the same ability as my brothers. Their connection, while not allowing them to communicate, was strong enough to send impressions or warnings. Diverted as I’m sure they were by Betha, they’d never sense the elders coming.
A second elder joined the first, circling around me, cutting off the path to the cabin. I feinted to one side, flinging a wave of ice and water when they moved to intercept me. One of them roared, but I had the opening I needed. I took it, sprinting to Betha.
Crashing through the trees, I arrived in time to see four more elders, hands lifted toward the sky, directing their ice toward the cabin. Raynor yelled, his voice hoarse, and I knew whatever it was the elders had done was focused on Betha.
Warriors like me trained their whole life for battle, but four, no—behind me I heard the other two arrive—six Jötnar elders against one warrior was certain death.
It didn’t matter though.
Deep inside me, something came to life. A cold blue spark. It hadn’t been there before Betha, but fueled by my rage at seeing the elders attack her and hearing my brothers cry out for her, the spark burst—white hot. It chased my ice through the air and hit the elders. Wherever the spark landed, it melted the ice.
As one, the elders faced me, expressions a combination of surprise and horror, but I didn’t let myself think. I aimed spark after spark at them until they forgot about Betha and turned their anger on me.
Six arms raised in the sky, and about me, thunder rumbled, and the wind howled. They were calling down the elements. In a moment, I’d be nothing but ash.
But I didn’t let it slow me. I used this new power, hitting them as many times as I could, moving from one to the other only to find when I hit one, the last one’s ice had reformed.
It was hopeless. For me.
Not for Betha. If my brothers were smart, they’d have taken advantage of this skirmish and rushed our skaoi to safety.
A blast of electricity hit the ground next to me, and then another, and another, filling the air with the smell of ozone. The elders froze the air, sucking up the moisture, turning it to snow, and the next flash of lightning hit the cabin, igniting it. Betha!
I tried to run, but I was struck by the successive bolt. All control left me, and the ice melted from my body, leaving me writhing on the ground.
The flames moved fast, faster than was natural. Unable to move my limbs, I tracked the line of fire skipping along the roof and down the eaves, consuming everything.
Betha! Inside my head, I screamed for my skaoi over and over. Please be alive. Please have run.
“Fenris!” her beautiful voice cried. I shut my eyes.
I wanted her alive, but I didn’t want her here.
11
Betha
I fought against the unnatural exhaustion and lethargy suffusing me. Arms, legs, eyes—none would obey me. Like swimming against the current, I persisted, focusing my energy on one body part at a time until I came awake with a start and gasped. Cold air filled my lungs, and the arms around me tightened.
“Betha!” Grim’s usual lightness was gone, and his face, outlined against the gray smoke curling behind him, was stark.
Smoke?
Move! I commanded my eyes, and head, to move. But I merely flopped in the direction of the smoke, staring in horror at the flames completely engulfing the cabin. My vision bounced and danced, and I realized Grim carried me away from their home. But the flames, tall orange-red fingers, stretched above the trees.
“Wait!” My voice was a croak, but Grim heard me and slowed.
“What are you doing?” Raynor demanded. Arriving at my side, face pale, he grasped me
as if Grim had tired and needed his help.
“Wait!” I repeated, this time a little stronger. “What’s happening?”
“The elders,” Raynor explained. “They came. We barely got out in time.”
“Fenris!” I cried. I’d been so selfishly caught up in the twins, struck stupid by their sexiness, I’d left him unprotected. “And your mother! We have to go back. We have to help them!”
“No,” Grim answered. I’d never seen him so emotionless. “Fenris would want you protected, as would Mor. We will return after we find a safe place for you.”
Panic gave me strength, and I shoved my hands against Grim’s chest, a sign for him to put me down. I wasn’t sure until my feet hit the ground that they would hold me up, but they did. Standing up was step one. Step two was finding Fenris.
Anger and panic warred inside me. Who were these people who thought they could hurt me? And then—finding me unavailable for death-meting, went after my husband?
Or skaoi.
Or ice giant.
Whatever. He was mine.
Using my rage to fuel me, I burst into motion. Raynor and Grim cried out after me, but I ignored them, rocketing through the forest, using the trail of smoke to guide me back to the cabin. Above me, the sky roiled and snow began to fall, fast and thick. It blinded me, but still I ran. A crash of thunder and series of lightning bolts shook the ground, which split in front of me. I leapt over the chasm, crashing to the forest floor only to roll and leap up on my feet again.
Part of me was impressed by my roll, and a teeny tiny part of my brain made a mental note to try it again when death wasn’t on the line. A cool hand brushed mine, and I spared a glance over my shoulder. Grim and Raynor ran behind me, faces harsh in their focus. Grim’s hand wasn’t a clutch of support. He was trying to stop me. Putting on a burst of speed, I managed to outpace him and exploded through the trees into the clearing in time to see Fenris struck by lightning.
Married. Wait! What? Page 23