by Sarah Marsh
She stepped closer and placed her hand in his, shivering when he ran his thumb gently across her palm.
“In this form, we are much denser than any other shifter,” he explained before he placed his wrist in her hand and let the weight of his arm go. “See? I’m still holding approximately seventy-five percent of my own weight.”
Marisol was shocked when her hand dropped under the weight of his arm. There was no way she could have held it up with one hand at all, maybe not even with two.
“Wow, you guys must weigh a ton. That would explain your muscle mass, as well, then. I guess you’d need all of them just to haul your bodies around and keep everything from pulling itself apart.”
“You are very observant, Mari. What was your occupation on Earth?”
“I was a nurse.”
The surprised look in his eyes made her laugh.
“Not what you were expecting?” she asked.
“You’re a medic?” Bae joined her in the water up to his ankles.
“Not a doctor, but I assisted the doctors at the hospital.”
“That explains why you’re such a capable female. I’m impressed.” Baelion was close enough now to reach up and slowly caress her cheek once again as his eyes met hers.
Mari knew she blushed at his compliment, why it seemed to please her so much coming from him wasn’t entirely clear. Even Marisol could figure out that he was flirting with her at this point. Baelion’s approach was so different than Luca’s had been last night. He was sweet and gentle, while his partner was blatant and direct. The combination of the two of them was a potent force indeed, and if she wasn’t careful, they might find their way past the high wall around her heart.
Was a little passion worth the risk? These two men were already mates, and they loved each other. The last thing Mari wanted was to get attached to two men who were looking for a casual third to spice up their love life, but damn if they weren’t awfully tempting.
Just as she was certain that Baelion was going to kiss her, Luca strode out of the bushes with some kind of animal thrown over his shoulder.
“The provider has returned!” He winked at her before taking a second look at how close they were standing. “And what have you two been up to in my absence? Hmm?”
Marisol’s blush was instant, but she couldn’t help but be charmed at this somehow lighter, teasing version of Luca.
“I will cook if you start the fire, mate.” Bae surprised her by stealing a quick kiss before he left the water and took the carcass from the other man.
Luca’s laugh in response to Baelion’s words shocked her almost as much as the chaste kiss from his partner. She stood there stunned.
“The look on your face, Mari. It was just a kiss.” Luca made short work of gathering some broken tree limbs and setting the fire. “And not even a very good one, at that.”
“Hey!” Bae laughed and threw a stick back at the other man.
“But since you allowed him to kiss you, I demand equal rights.”
“He stole that kiss and you know it,” she teased, unable to stop her smile as he stalked closer.
“Do I?” He grinned at her before offering his hand to help her from the water. “What harm could one little kiss do? I braved the jungle to bring you lunch. Surely that deserves a reward?”
“A reward, huh?” She grinned, enjoying teasing him. “Well, I suppose rescuing me from crazy space pirates deserves a tiny kiss.”
As soon as the words left her lips, he dove forward and captured her mouth in a devastating kiss. This was no sweet peck or chaste gesture. He brought his hands up to the base of her head, allowing him full control as he moved his lips over hers. When he finally released her, she was breathless as she looked back up at him. The carnal hunger she could read on his face did all sorts of things to her already heated-up body.
“Well”—Bae’s voice was thick with desire as he spoke—“I’ll be looking forward to collecting the rest of my kiss tonight then.”
“You should, love.” Luca’s gaze never left hers as he walked back over to his mate. “She tastes delicious.”
Mari was almost certain some kind of moaning sound left her lips as she watched Luca lean down and slowly press the same lips that had just been against hers to Baelion’s in a seductive display. It was one of the sexiest things she’d ever seen, the two of these men together. There was so much strength between them, but the tenderness of their affection was obvious.
“Mmm, delicious,” Bae whispered, licking his lips as Luca pulled back.
“I shall go find us some fruit while you cook lunch,” Luca added. He grabbed up the satchel and strode back into the jungle.
“Wow.” Mari touched her lips with a preoccupied smile. She couldn’t find any other word to sum up what had just happened.
“Yes.” Baelion chuckled as he lifted the meat onto the spit he’d made and draped it over the now roaring fire. “He has that same effect on me, as well.”
Chapter Twenty
Luca was quite pleased with himself as he sought out more fruit for their meal. He knew that his kiss had affected Marisol and his dragon was preening in triumph. Now that he knew Bae would be on board with pursuing the female, there was no reason for them to play coy. He’d gotten the impression their first night on this planet that she had no idea how desirable a female she really was, but he was determined to make her realize it—they would show her together.
He gathered just enough fruit to make sure they wouldn’t need to find more tomorrow before heading back. They needed to push harder to get to the resort. His instincts were telling him it was only a matter of time before they ran into more trouble with the locals.
“Just in time, Luca. Our meal is ready.” Bae gave him a smile as he returned to their makeshift camp, but there was seriousness back in his eyes. “We need to eat and then move on. I’ve smelled a few animals moving closer.”
“Agreed.” Luca walked over to where Mari was enjoying her lunch and trying to keep the cub from climbing up her arm to get her food. “Here, I’ll take him so you can eat, Mari. We need to leave shortly.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, looking suddenly nervous.
“Yes, but the longer we stay in one place, the more curious the local animals become, and we just want to avoid them.” He didn’t want to worry her, but he wouldn’t lie. “We also still have several more hours of flying until we hope to encounter some of the treetop camps.”
They had to fly almost four hours before he finally noticed an anomaly in the canopy below. The structure was clearly man-made, and he let out a roar of relief and banked left before gently landing atop the mass covered over with vines and foliage. He gave it his full weight and it didn’t make a sound. Obviously, the resort engineers had been top notch and spared no expense on what they built here. Luca shifted and motioned Bae down to land as he looked for an entrance. The roof latch was covered in vines, but with a little attention from his half-shifted claws, he was through and peering into the dark space below.
Once again he was grateful the creators made sure no larger creatures could move in, with all the vents and windows covered in fine mesh. There was, of course, no fire pit, as it would have been too hazardous to risk that the floating embers would ignite in the surrounding trees. They would have a much colder night than last night and would need to keep Mari warm. Luca cleared the space of any bugs or smaller reptiles and popped his head back up through the hatch to look at his companions.
“It’s safe. You can come down, Mari.”
“Umm, I think I’m stuck again,” she murmured from atop Bae’s back. “My entire ass and legs are numb from that ride.”
Before Luca could climb up to assist her, Baelion had shifted and turned so that Marisol suddenly found herself astride Bae’s naked torso, him looking up at her with a smile.
“Christ, Baelion!” she screamed. “Give a girl a warning before you do that, will you?”
Bae’s smile quickly turned into a frown when
he moved his hands farther up Mari’s legs, taking her dress with it.
“Hey, cut it out, Mr. Handsy.” She smacked his hands away before she awkwardly tried to stand and ended up falling to the side.
“Your skin is chafed, Mari,” Baelion stated unhappily before looking at Luca. “We should not have pushed so hard today. Mari’s hurt.”
“Mari’s fine,” she muttered as she made it to her knees. The little pouch strapped to her chest began to make an awful yowling sound, and she finally gave up and sat back to remove the cub. “Luca, is there somewhere he can go to the bathroom up here?”
“Can I hang him off the side?”
She looked at him as if he were crazy, but what did he know about gula cubs?
“He won’t go like that. We just need some leaves for him to scratch at on the ground. Is it far?” she asked before looking over the edge through the canopy of branches. “Holy crap, we’re high. Is there a shower thing up here like in the cave? We could just put some leaves down and then wash it away.”
“There are the same facilities as the cave. I will take him.” Luca reached out to grab the cub, and then Baelion helped Mari to the door hatch and lowered her down.
“Wow, how long ago did you say they built these?” She wandered around, opening the cabinets. “This is actually not too bad in here for a tree house.”
“They would only be about six years old now. The engineers would have built them to last for many, many years,” Bae answered as he dug through what was left of the emergency supplies. “Ah ha! I’ve found the med kit. It should have something to help your legs, Mari, and here, Luca, I think it’s a map of the resort.”
“I think they’re okay. Really, Baelion,” she insisted as Bae approached her with the anti-bac hypospray after he’d thrown a small tablet toward Luca to catch.
“If you won’t let us check your health, then at least take a look yourself. Please, Mari,” Luca added as he returned and let the cub loose on the floor to explore his new surroundings. “The water in the reservoir will still be warm from the sun. You can bathe after you check your legs.”
He had a feeling the lure of a warm shower would convince her, and he wasn’t wrong. Her eyes lit up at his words.
“Okay, I’ll take a look.”
As soon as their charge was out of earshot, Luca’s mate turned to him.
“She’s so stubborn, this one,” Baelion whispered as Mari took her time in the bathing room. “If she’s not in pain right now, she certainly will be tomorrow when we wake. Even my muscles are aching from this pace.”
“I know, love,” Luca answered, turning Bae around so he could try and loosen his mate’s aching shoulders, “but I have a bad feeling, and I just want to get to the resort as quickly as possible.”
“I have that same feeling.” Bae sighed at his touch. “More than one time today, I could have sworn I saw a beast that looked like the one that attacked you in the trees below us. I know it doesn’t make sense that she would follow us this far, but there’s just so much we don’t know about the animals here.”
They heard Mari’s footsteps before she came around the corner, and Luca could swear he saw a look of lust pass over her face when she took note of him massaging Bae’s back.
“How are your thighs, Mari?”
“What?” she asked, blushing adorably, making him wonder what images popped into her head at his question. “Oh, my legs. They’re a little red but seem okay. I’m just really tired.”
“We should all get as much rest as we can.” Bae moved to get her some of what was left of their lunch. “Eat up, and then we’ll all sleep.”
Luca was happy when the tablet Bae had found started without any issues and did indeed appear to be a map of the full resort, including all of the premade habitats.
“It seems that we may be able to get to the main resort with two more days of travel. The resort is huge—it was lucky we found the map, or we could have ended up on the opposite side away from the shuttle bays. We’ll also be able to fly directly to the next habitat, so our travels tomorrow will be easier.”
He just hoped that nothing stood in between them and their ride off this planet.
* * * *
Mari was completely and utterly exhausted. Hanging on to a flying dragon was way more of a workout than she thought it would be. Luca had found some rolled-out sleeping mats for them while she was still eating her meal of leftover meat and fruit from lunch, and it felt like only seconds after her head hit the mat before she was out like a light.
The next time she stirred, it was her bladder that first complained, but when her brain caught up, it soon became apparent that every muscle in her body felt as though it was on fire.
Good God…it hurts. This was worse than the time she’d had the grand idea to sign up for the two-week boot-camp workout. After two days of punishment, she had almost been in tears lowering herself into the car to get to work.
Muscle pain didn’t seem to be her only issue, however. Somehow in the middle of the night, Bae and Luca had ended up moving closer to Mari in her sleep. As she dozed between bouts of wakefulness, she had to admit that they were toasty warm and she didn’t really mind at all with the chill of the room without a fire to warm them. Then slowly, Luca rolled in his slumber and draped a heavy arm around her waist. It was almost as if Baelion somehow sensed he was missing out on some snuggling, because not seconds later did his actions mirror Luca’s. He draped one of his legs over hers, pinning her down, while one of his hands moved higher on her rib cage as he grumbled and snuggled his nose into the crook of her neck.
Still, not a huge burden to have two super-hot men snuggling up to her in their sleep, right?
But as their hands began to wander, Mari was surprised at the reaction in her body to their touch. As much as she’d tried to deny her attraction to both Baelion and Luca, the warming of her body and the slow build of her arousal couldn’t be stopped as Luca gently cupped the side of her breast. His contented sigh as he also snuggled into her neck had Mari wishing that these men were hers to enjoy, especially when she could feel their impressive erections insistent against the sides of her thighs.
Enough of that, though. She needed to get up and out of their arms for two reasons. If they woke up now, they would surely be able to smell how turned on she was, and that would be mortifying, as they had no idea it was her they were snuggling with and not each other.
The other reason was she really, really had to pee, and now that she was effectively pinned down under two huge dragon shifters, her bladder was beginning to panic. So Marisol tried to wiggle her way up and away from the men, only to have their arms tighten around her more firmly, and when Luca murmured in his sleep and a low, menacing growl slipped out of his chest, Mari went still in shock.
Shit. Her experience with shifters was pretty nonexistent. Was disturbing a dragon in his sleep like trying to take away a hungry dog’s meal? Was she going to lose some fingers over this?
After both men had settled and pulled her back close to them, their hands began to once again wander. Sure, the growling stopped and Mari’s muscles relaxed a bit, but despite how good it felt, nature’s call would not be denied.
So once again, she tried to get loose, gently moving Bae’s hand down off of her breast and shimmying up slowly. The growls were louder this time as both men burrowed their faces deeper into her neck and hair. Her heart rate jumped up as she froze midmotion.
Well, what the hell was she supposed to do now? Waking them up was going to be embarrassing, but if she didn’t, she was going to wet herself. So she took a big breath and tried to gather her courage.
Surely waking a slumbering dragon can’t be that dangerous, can it?
Just as she was about to shake Bae’s shoulder, she felt the vibration—and then she saw it.
Both of their shoulders were beginning to shake, and then Baelion began to giggle like a little girl before he rolled onto his back, laughing.
“I think we’d better le
t her get up, Luca,” Bae said as he stretched and laughed. “I wouldn’t want her to pee herself because she thinks we’ll eat her in our sleep.”
“You jerks,” Mari answered, trying to sound mad even though she had a hard time keeping the smile off of her face. “I can’t believe you were trying to cop a feel and pretend you were sleeping!”
“Don’t worry, Mari.” Luca finally released his hold on her but not before he pushed his hips harder against her leg so she could feel how affected he was. “When we eat you up, you’ll know that we are wide awake and know exactly what we’re doing to you.”
That felt more like a promise than a threat, and heaven help her, Mari was looking forward to cashing it in.
Chapter Twenty-One
Mari was still smiling to herself as she walked into the washroom. Apparently, her little Tigger wasn’t a morning kitty, because when their talking woke him up, he abruptly hissed at all of them before he moved away to his own corner and curled back up to sleep. It had been the perfect escape opportunity for her after Luca’s bold words. If her bladder hadn’t been about to burst, Mari doubted she would have had the strength to leave their warmth at all.
Maybe she was overthinking all of this? She hadn’t really been with anyone since Jordan, and that was too long ago. It seemed as though she could barely remember what it felt like to have a man touch her with lust and desire. Why shouldn’t she indulge with Luca and Baelion if they all wanted to explore it? She was a big girl. Certainly, she could let her body have some satisfaction and not have it affect her plans for the future—that’s what she told herself, anyway. She wasn’t sure how true it was or not.
Once they got off this forsaken planet and back to Sirus, she would simply collect her contracted wage that would have been surrendered by the Dolovians for leaving her to die with those pirates. Then she would head to the fertility clinic to make her dreams of a family come true. Maybe this way would be even better than her original plan because she wouldn’t have to leave Sirus and her friends.