by Lacey Thorn
She inhaled deeply almost choking on the oxygen-rich air. She was hugged tightly and then pushed back and shaken.
“Are you okay?” It was Tanner in front of her and at her nod he pulled her close again. “I saw you go under and then you didn’t come up. You just scared a thousand years off my life. Don’t ever do that again, Reanna.”
She smiled and snuggled as close to him as she could. She loved the feel of his hard muscular body against hers. Especially with both of them naked and just the soft flow of water between them.
“I didn’t mean to scare you, Tanner,” she told him. “I was looking for something and got so lost in the moment that I didn’t realize how long I’d been down. I’m very lucky that you showed up when you did.”
“What were you looking for?” he demanded. “And why were you here alone? You know better than that.”
She laughed. She just couldn’t help it. “I know. Honestly I do, but this was important and I just wasn’t thinking.”
“You always need to think,” he whispered against her hair. “If anything happened to you it would destroy all of us, not just you.”
She pulled back and brushed a kiss over his lips. “I’m sorry, Tanner. You’re right. I promise I’ll think from now on.”
“Good,” he agreed before taking over the kiss and plundering her mouth with passion and fire.
She lost her self in him. His touch, his taste, the feel of him, all converged on her and stole her senses. So lost was she that she hadn’t even realized that they were moving through the water until suddenly they were no longer in it.
She felt other hands as she was lifted and carried to a blanket that had been placed on the grass. She peered up at them and was awed by the sheer beauty of her three warriors. All appeared like bronzed gods. Their seven-foot-frames rippled with muscle and made her mouth water. All exact images of each other and yet she could tell them apart easily. Bram, Finn and Tanner. Her warriors. Her mates. She could already feel the swell of love deep within her for them. Their ebony black hair and deeply tanned skin was the perfect foil to her creamy skin and golden-blonde hair.
They stood above her naked and very aroused. And she couldn’t just lie there looking up at them. Smoothly she rolled up to her knees, lifting up to align her mouth with the pulsing flesh jutting out toward her. She started to her left with Finn, licking over the crest and catching the drop of fluid there with her tongue. He groaned and she laughed letting the sound travel from her mouth up his shaft. But when he moved to reach for her she moved away to her right and Tanner.
She glanced up at him and while holding his gaze swirled her tongue around his cock head. He didn’t groan like his brother. No. Tanner just grinned and with a quick move he had her head in his hand and thrust his cock into the back of her throat. She was unprepared, caught by surprise and couldn’t master the gag reflex. He pulled back a little just until she was comfortable and began to shallowly thrust in and out of her mouth.
“No teasing me,” he warned her but the grin was still on his lips and she knew that she could move away at any time. Yet she was enjoying it just as much as he was. She lapped and sucked at his flesh trying in vain to keep him from pulling it out. Then finally he did pull out and with his hand turned her toward his brother.
Bram was in the middle watching her and there was no misreading the hunger in his eyes. She didn’t disappoint. She was as hungry as they were at this point. She wrapped her lips around his cock and sucked him as far in as she could. He was delicious and more than her mouth could handle. She was on fire, burning with unquenchable desire and she wanted to pull them all into the flames with her.
Hands were behind her, whose she didn’t know or care. She just craved the stroke of the fingers on her flesh. Her buttocks were spread and she felt the wash of the fire oil just before the first finger breached her anus. She cried out around the cock in her mouth inciting the lust higher in all of them.
The oil dripped lower and she felt it wash into her cunt. Two fingers were working in and out of her ass now and her pussy was clenching on air. She wanted it filled, wanted them to take her and fuck her now. But hands held her and the only cock she had was the one in her mouth.
So she ate it, ravaged it with her full mouth using teeth and tongue to work him into a lather of desire to challenge her own. She wanted to smash his control, to push him into what she wanted. But he never relented, never lost rhythm or changed his pace of slow strokes. And she realized that he already possessed the control of a prince. It awed her and annoyed her at the same time. And then he opened his mouth and said the words that were destined to set her free.
“I can’t last much longer,” he panted. “Is she ready?”
She nipped him, catching him by surprise and pulled back letting his cock slip free. “Hell yes I’m ready. I’ve been ready.”
He grinned and she heard Tanner chuckle behind her. She was on her knees and she wondered how they would arrange themselves and her. Who would take her where? And how would they decide? But it was as if they had already decided and had it planned out.
She felt movement behind her and turned to see Tanner stretched out on his back one hand wrapped around the shaft of his cock.
“Want to bring that pretty little ass over here and have a seat,” he said with his grin still in place.
“I’m not sure how to do that,” she answered.
“We’ll help you,” Finn stated. And they did. With Bram and Finn to help support her she straddled Tanner’s thighs and slowly lowered over him taking his cock slowly into her ass. Finally when she was flush against his abdomen with his cock so deep inside her that she swore she could feel it in her stomach, they helped her so that she lay atop Tanner.
He wrapped his feet inside hers and spread her legs incredibly wide making room for one of his brothers there. His breath in her ear was jagged and she knew that he was close to the edge, overcome by the pleasure just as she was.
Then Bram was there, kneeling between their legs and lining his cock up with her pussy. He caught her gaze and held it while he worked inside her clenching cunt. In and out he pushed giving her another inch or more with every inward stroke. Finally he was all the way in and she was so full of cock that she felt like she would burst. But there was one more that she needed.
And turning her head slightly to the right she found it. Finn knelt right there beside them his rigid cock in his hand as he stroked up and down his shaft.
“Mine,” she said and he slowly moved closer so that she could reach him with her mouth. Tanner’s head was on the other side so that when she turned to Finn, Tanner began to lick and suck along the column of her neck.
Bram was sucking at her nipples while Tanner’s hands were holding her hips, desperate to keep her in place on his cock as his brothers’ movements had her moving on him. It was the most euphoric moment of her life. Never had she been so consumed with a pleasure like this. Never had she even dreamed that such pleasure existed.
Tanner’s cock buried in her ass, pulsing and throbbing. Bram fucking in and out of her pussy rocking her on Tanner’s cock while he took her. And Finn in her mouth filling her with his girth and length. Nothing could be better than this. Nothing.
She was on fire with hunger and need stronger than she had ever known. She wanted more and yet getting more just might kill her. It was a pleasure that was painful in its totality. It overtook her, stripped her of everything and yet gave her everything. It was glorious and yet terrifying.
She felt Tanner stiffen first. Heard his breathing change just before he told them that he was going to come. Bram breathed harder above her, his strokes came harder and faster. She shattered. She would swear that in that moment she ceased to exist that she flew off into the nothingness as waves of pleasure crashed inside her like water against the shore. Harder and faster they came carrying her with them.
Bram cried out above her while Tanner flexed his hips and lifted them all with the intensity of his orgasm. She could
feel the heat of their cum wash inside her. Tanner’s in her ass and Bram’s in her cunt. And she loved it. With a harsh sigh Bram pulled away and she wanted to reach for him until Finn popped out of her mouth and with a harsh cry sank into the spot Bram had just left.
He thrust into her quickly taking her hard and fast, making both her and Tanner cry out as the sensations became almost unbearable. But within a few strokes Finn was joining them, his cum joining with Bram’s inside her.
As they stilled around her finally spent, she couldn’t help but smile. This was only the beginning for them. There would be many more nights just like this one in her future.
“She is smiling at least,” Finn stated but Reanna couldn’t manage to open her eyes.
“Do it now,” she told them and everyone knew what she was asking.
Finn moved from her and Tanner wrapped his arms over her, taking her hands in his and wrapping them across her chest. She felt the slide of cold metal over her skin, just over her right lower abdomen and slowly let her breath out.
“Do you willingly agree to join with us? To proudly wear the eagle as a symbol of your union with the house of Verbani?” It was Bram’s voice that asked but she knew that he spoke for all of them.
“Yes,’’ she breathed more sure of this than she had ever been of anything else in her life.
“Then we claim you,” Bram said.
“From this day forth you will be known as the mate of the Verbani warriors,” Finn added.
“And we will give you all that we are, guard and protect you with all that we have, and love you with every breath we take,” Tanner stated.
There was a flash of pain, almost like a burning and then she did open her eyes and glanced down to see the eagle so beautifully displayed on her. Its wings were widespread as if in full flight and she knew that this was how she would be from now on. With these three men she would be allowed to spread her wings and fly free knowing that they would always be right beside her. Content and thoroughly sated she closed her eyes again and relaxed fully against Tanner’s chest. His cock was still inside her but not as hard as it had once been.
She turned her face and kissed his jaw as he was the only one she could reach. She turned up and briefly opened her eyes to capture both Bram and Finn.
“I am proud to be your mate, your lover, and your friend. I will give you all I am and be fiercely protective of you. And I will love you with everything inside me until the day that I no longer walk beside you but wait with the goddess for you.” And with that she let her eyes slip closed again and gave in to the pull of sleep.
Chapter Six
She awoke to total darkness lying in her bed with three men all piled around her. She would have smiled, would have gloried in the delicious sensation of waking that way if not for what had awoken her. A hum in her blood, a calling for aid from one of their own. Alea. She and her warriors were so close and had fallen under attack. One of them was hurt but who was not clear. Alea was a guardian and her warrior mates, the Xandova, were warriors in a class all their own.
But they were surrounded, outnumbered by odds of at least twenty to one. And they needed help quickly.
“Awake,” Reanna cried as she moved to leave the bed.
Bram stayed her with his hand. It amazed her how quickly all three men came awake around her, tensed and poised for a fight.
“What is wrong?” Bram asked of her.
“It is Alea and her mates,” Reanna said quickly tugging free and moving to pull on her clothes. “They are under attack. Someone is hurt but Alea’s fear and pain is blocking me from seeing if it is her or one of her mates.”
All three men moved silently to don their clothes as well beating her though she had started first. It was Tanner who spoke next.
“Where are they? How far? Will we reach them in time?” The questions flew from his lips as she finished tying her top in place and stepped into her sandals.
“We must alert the others,” Bram added.
“They know,” Reanna stated. “The Guardians received the same call that I did. Even now they rush to aid them.”
“We must go,” Finn said turning to her. “Lead the way.”
“All the women must be protected at all times,” Bram reminded them though Reanna thought it was more for his brothers than for her.
“Even unto my life,” Tanner stated as Finn nodded. And for some reason those words sent a chill of extreme cold up her spine. There was still one blood sacrifice required before all could be set right again.
Reanna could hear the battle long before they arrived on the scene. Only a guardian and her mates could have held the enemy off for so long. Plus it helped that Alea had her bird of prey, the aqua-phoen, Reanna’s mates said she called Vulcan. And the Xandova warriors had their animal companion, a lion they had named Caspian. So even on their own they were a formidable group. But still they could not stand fully alone.
So it was with this thought that the others had all met on the edge of the village and headed as one unit to the aid of the Xandova clan. Together there was a group of fourteen, still not great odds for most battles. Except for the fact that the women all came with an arsenal that none other possessed.
Erika, and her power of earth. Farrah with flames at her disposal. Willow who could pull water from anywhere or anything. And Reanna whose powers were just beginning to show themselves to her. They would all join with Alea, who controlled the very air that flowed over the island. Yes, together they could do anything. And would.
With shared looks and few words they made their plan and hurried to where the team of three was still standing their ground. Even at this close range it was hard for Reanna to connect with just who was injured. But she could feel the power at her fingertips and was eager to use it at last.
They were there. The sounds of battle were louder. A clash of weapons, cries of pain or injury. The flapping of wings and the call of the bird of prey that was so obviously attacking. The roar of the lion. They split up, surrounded and then converged as one coming at those who still fought to spill the blood of the Xandova. But not this time.
Erika gave a sharp cry and the earth trembled beneath them causing many of the enemy before them to fall or lose their balance. Luckily a guardian’s power had no effect on her fellow Guardians or her own mates and only on the mates of the others when desired. But each guardian would protect their mates in battle. In response the air swirled around them, gaining speed, knocking weapons from hands and lifting some into the air and sending them flying out of the circle they had now created.
The ones who remained standing were given a hell of another kind. There was Willow who so easily pulled water from beneath their skin leaving them dehydrated and weak. Or even worse was Farrah who could either burn them with flames that she created or just make them think that they were on fire.
And that was when Reanna stepped within the circle and a sudden hush seemed to settle over the group. The sounds of battle faded for her until all she could hear was silence. The earth no longer moved beneath her. The air was still. No fire or water was upon her. Only silence in the void where she was. She lifted her hands to the sky and spoke the words of her people, ancient words that few still recalled. But she had the wisdom of the Mystic and in that moment all was revealed to her.
She embraced it all and stood tall and proud as she invoked the power of the elements. Lightning flashed around them. Thunder rumbled in the sky above them. And then it all came back to her in a rush. The shudder and rumble of the earth beneath her, the wild breeze that circled them. Rain began to fall and yet the flames went untouched as they blazed in the darkness.
Her eyes took it all in. And it clicked. This was the prequel to what they would all be doing in just another night. This was the trial run before the show. And while this was all clicking into place for her it was as if everything went into slow motion. She could see everything. Her friends fighting alongside their men, or perhaps it was the other way around. And they wer
e beating back the enemy even though the numbers were on their enemies’ side.
They were the Guardians, the ones chosen to protect the Isle of Altair. They were the ones granted powers by the goddess herself. And she was the Mystic. She held power over the elements and even life and death. She took it all in and was awed and amazed at what she witnessed.
Then she heard the shout, watched as the man broke through the circle and ran toward her. He seemed fixated on her, as if spilling her blood would save him. He wore the mantle of a man who was no stranger to power, as if he expected all to bow and obey his every command. His weapon was high in the air, ready to plunge toward her. And she was ready for it, ready to let him see the full extent of what she was capable of. And then one of her mates came, and stood between them, taking her place and leaving her without a clear shot.
Tanner. She cried out in fear and felt shame at the very human emotion. For it brought his gaze to her leaving him unprotected for just a brief moment. But it was all that was needed. The sword plunged low and embedded in Tanner’s chest. He fell with a cry but not before plunging a dagger into the man’s chest, into his heart and taking him down as well.
She threw her head back and bellowed her rage to the world. Her legs moved as she spoke the words that came into her mind. There was an explosion, a pulsing in the air and then there was nothing but silence and the only ones remaining were the Guardians and all the warriors who stood with them. But she was focused only on Tanner and the dark red of his blood as it soaked into the ground beneath where he lay.
She knelt beside him, ignoring the hands that pulled at her. She grabbed the sword form his chest and screamed her rage to the sky. He cried out as the cold steel pulled free and looked up into her eyes. And his words made her anger crackle and surround her like a mantle.
“If I must die, then I will,” he whispered. “As long as you and the Guardians remain unharmed.”