Legend of the Feral 3: Passion's Roots (Siren Publishing LoveEdge)

by Jenny Penn

  “That’s a good question,” Kragen muttered. “I don’t know why we got cursed. We didn’t do anything.”

  “That’s not what she meant.” Jaxon shot down his brother’s complaint, irritated enough with Kragen to not feel the least bit of sympathy for him, even if Jaxon was just as cursed.

  “No, it’s not.” Jezie frowned and glanced over at the balcony for a bare second before turning her attention back on them. “The curse you describe would have been made out of anger and spite, but this land bleeds. It’s sad, very, very sad.”

  “It’s sad?” Kragen repeated, almost sounding as if he was laughing. “Really? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “That may be,” Jezie ground out her words as her brows angled down in a frown, “but it’s still the truth. The land’s heart is broken. So, either the Shardars’ hearts broke at her betrayal or great-grandmother was the one wronged, and if she loved them enough for the land to take on her pain, then she wouldn’t have cheated on them,” Jezie reasoned with absolute assurance, only to get taken down by Kragen’s snort.

  “You are so naïve. Love and sex don’t have much to do with one another.”

  This time Jaxon really did kick Kragen. They had to win this woman’s heart, and here they were trying to do that with sex. Now Jezie was looking at them as if she were seeing them in a whole new light.

  “He didn’t mean that,” Jaxon rushed to assure her, but it was too late. The damage was done, and Jezie was already retreating back into her shell.

  “Of course, Shardar,” Jezie murmured, and it couldn’t have been clearer that her tender feelings had gotten crushed. “I guess we know now whose heart was truly broken, and that means I can’t break the curse.”

  “Don’t worry about the curse.” Jaxon smiled at her, knowing it was going to take time and a lot of encouragement to undo Kragen’s stupid comment. “Just eat your dinner.”

  “Yes, Shardar.”

  * * * *

  The rest of dinner passed in relative silence. It was followed by a buffet of delights that left Jezie weak and trembling as Kragen pulled off her harness and inserted larger dildos into her body. That was just the way she woke up⎯penetrated and being teased by her two men.

  Kragen was at her breasts, his lips camped around one tender tip while his hand massaged her other swollen mound. Jaxon’s hands were busy pulling her harness free as he licked and nibbled his way down her back. Jezie squirmed between them, gasping with the sweet rush of pleasure flooding through her body.

  That pleasure blossomed into rapture so pure that it had her moaning with need as Jaxon pulled the harness free of her body. His teeth scraped over the curve of her ass, sending a thrill racing up her spine as his hands gripped her hips and arched them backward. Jezie went from lying on her side to having her face buried in the mattress as Jaxon pulled her up, her knees bending beneath her as he raised her ass high.

  Then he was forcing her thighs wide, opening up her pussy to the cool air and the hot wash of his breath. Jaxon’s tongue licked out through her molten folds to curl around her clit in a motion that made sparkles of delight shower over her. The pleasure only grew more intense as he circled her sensitive bud, winding the need and tension through her until Jezie cried out as her body exploded with an ecstasy so powerful it had every nerve ending in her body dancing.

  While she panted through her release, she felt Jaxon shifting behind her. His lips lifted from her creaming folds as his hands tightened on her hips, holding her steady as the thick, bulbous head of his cock came to brush up against the clenched opening of her body. He hesitated there, allowing one hand to slide back down over her mound.

  A second later he caught her clit beneath the press of his thumb and began to roll the pulsing little bud even as he pressed forward, stretching her sheath wide over the thick length of his cock. Jezie gulped up great gasps of breath as a searing heat sliced through her. The sensation was nearly painful, but the pleasure radiating out of her clit dulled it enough to be bearable as Jaxon finally stilled.

  He was only halfway in, but gave her the moment to adjust to his hardness and the strange sensation of taking a man into her body. Then he slid back in a delicious stroke that ignited a chaotic frenzy of pure, molten bliss that left Jezie moaning for more. That was just what Jaxon gave her as he pressed back in, feeding Jezie an extra inch before he retreated once again.

  Over and over, he stretched her slowly, driving Jezie insane as the pleasure thickened within her. It grew into a pulsing need of want that could only be satisfied with a harder, faster pace, but Jaxon held back until she whimpered and bucked beneath him in a demand for more.

  Then he started to move once again, pumping slowly and steadily into her aching sheath and setting her on fire. The flames licked out, growing stronger with each thrust. Still, she needed more, needed it harder, deeper, faster and that was just how Jaxon gave it to her as he pounded into her with a feral relentlessness that had Jezie clawing at the sheets.

  It was amazing. It was spectacular. The sensations flooding through her were beyond description and only kept getting better as the thick, flared knob of his cockhead brushed against the sweet spot buried deep inside of her. Jezie’s eyes bulged as the rapture shot straight out of her cunt and right down into her soul, stripping away any inhibitions that might have lingered. She found herself bucking beneath him as she rode Jaxon just as hard he rode her.

  Together they moved in a rhythm as old as time, groaning and grunting as they each strained to go faster. It felt like they couldn’t go fast enough, but it didn’t matter. The ecstasy blooming through her veins rushed to life under its own force, igniting into a release that was unlike any Jezie had known before.

  It consumed her whole, stealing a scream right off her lips as her whole body flushed and convulsed with a pleasure that was indescribable. She wasn’t alone. Behind her Jaxon roared out, slamming into her as his dick swelled and flooded her body with his seed. Then he was pulling back, falling to his side as Kragen took his place.

  Out of breath and exhausted from the orgasm still pulsing through her body, Jezie whimpered as he mounted her, taking her with a quickness that left her little time to catch up. Amazingly she did as her body bloomed again with a second climax that had her screaming out as it hit.

  Kragen was every bit as thick and hard as his brother. Every inch felt just as good, and she came just as hard. Only this time as the rapture swept over her it washed her straight into heavens. The brilliant stars shined all around her, sparkling with a magnificence that nearly overwhelmed her.

  Then they faded away into the darkness as Jezie passed out. She woke up later, alone and slightly sore, but certain of one thing. She was falling in love.

  That revelation frightened Jezie because she knew that, to them, she was just a prisoner, a new toy, one they’d eventually grow tired of. Just that thought made her heart ache, but there was nothing she could do about it.

  It or the curse. The land was broken. It was as hard and dead as the Jaris heart. They were the only ones who could breed life back into the soil. All Jezie could do was bond with it. That was exactly what she was trying to do when Bridget reappeared. This time she was carrying clothes.

  “I didn’t know what size you were,” Bridget explained as she dropped the bundle of shirts, shorts, dresses, and pants onto the bed and turned to offer Jezie a big, bold smile that lacked any depth of sincerity. “So I just asked everybody to pitch in… Of course, they weren’t willing to give up anything good. So I’m sorry about the fashion misstatement you’ll be making.”

  No, she wasn’t. The words coming out of Bridget’s mouth belied the aura surrounding her. Bridget was happy. Very happy, and at the same time, her happiness wasn’t pure, wasn’t clear. It was muddled, mixed with emotions Jezie couldn’t begin to understand. All she knew was that the woman wasn’t to be trusted.

  “Thank you.” Jezie forced a smile as she nodded to the other woman. “You can tell th
em all that I appreciate their gifts.”

  “Sure thing,” Bridget assured her, but Jezie knew the other woman was lying.

  She had a sneaking suspicion that Bridget’s sunny disposition was a cover for a much harder heart. Jezie didn’t know what she was hiding. Her sense told her, though, that the other woman was hiding something. That made her leery of Bridget as she settled down into one of the chairs by the table they’d dined at last night and nodded to the pile of clothes. Bridget encouraged Jezie to go ahead and try everything on.

  “Whatever doesn’t fit I can take back,” Bridget offered helpfully, though Jezie sensed that there was something more she wanted.

  What that was soon became clear as Jezie turned to go through the pile of clothes. Everything was either too small or too large. Nothing actually looked as if it would fit, and Jezie suspected that was the point. Bridget was trying to make her feel fat. She wasn’t the first woman to enjoy toying with Jezie in such a rude manner.

  Bridget was just the only one who was trying to hide the fact that she was silently snickering as Jezie pulled out everything from a size two to a size twenty-two. The disparity was meant to shame her, but Jezie felt nothing but annoyance as she turned to offer Bridget a fake smile of her own.

  “Actually, if you’d bring me some needles and thread, I’m sure I make all these pieces work.” Jezie knew it. Sewing was one of her great hobbies. She made most of her own clothes, finding satisfaction in knowing that she could provide for herself everything she needed.

  That wasn’t an exaggeration. She could garden, and she could cook. She could make soaps, perfumes, and makeup, build the furniture she needed, and take shelter beneath the trees that bowed to her command. Jezie needed no assistance to survive in this life, but she did need the needle. The thread she could pull from the fabric at hand.

  “Are you sure?” Bridget lifted a brow, sounding concerned but not fooling Jezie. The other woman was disappointed, and it showed in her eyes as she glanced down at the pile of clothes. “If you don’t think any of it will fit, I can always go ask the ladies for more. I mean there are a lot of ladies around here.”

  That was meant to make her jealous. Bridget was so transparent that Jezie couldn’t help but smile. “A needle. That’s all I need.”

  “If you say so.” Bridget sighed and shoved out her seat, obviously disappointed that her attempt to humiliate Jezie had failed. “I guess I’ll go get that then.”

  “And, Bridget?” Jezie called out, bringing the woman to a stop and causing her to glance back at Jezie. “A sewing needle, if you please.”

  The other woman’s gaze twitched, and Jezie knew they understood each other perfectly in that moment. In the next, she dismissed Bridget from her thoughts and headed out to the balcony and the piles of dirt the men had brought up the other afternoon.

  The dirt cried out to her, a desperate lonely call that sought only understanding. Jezie knelt before the planters and opened herself up to the pain. She might not be able to break the curse, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t help heal the land. It had suffered. Jezie didn’t know what had caused the pain and fear to infuse the soil, but the hurt went so deep it left Jezie’s heart racing and her eyes welling with tears as she took it all in.

  Within moments, she was sobbing, taking in the agony and releasing it as her tears poured over the barren soil piled up high in the planters. She didn’t know if it would help, but all she had to give it was her tears. Her tears and her understanding.

  Chapter 10

  Kragen was frustrated beyond belief. No matter how many times the recruit in front of him tried, he still couldn’t seem to flex enough to kick out high enough to reach Kragen’s hand. The little punk was another candidate for yoga. Of course he could always just break the boy and stretch his leg out for him.

  That thought sounded too good, and Kragen had to walk away from the training session before he gave in to the urge. He didn’t actually have the patience for the younger recruits. That was Khan’s specialty, even if he did complain a lot about getting stuck with the young ones.

  As Jaxon often pointed out, that was more fun than all the paperwork and administrative bullshit that came with running the pack. He was right. Kragen sure as hell didn’t want to join his brother in the office, wading through the messes that came up daily. Neither did he care to pass his time with any of the women that came on to him as he cut through the house.

  He wanted only one woman.

  Kragen wasn’t exactly thrilled with that admission. Just the opposite. He was worried, worried that Jezie had come to mean too much to him in only two short days. Two short days that were about to span into a lifetime because, if he’d doubted that she was his mate, the proof now was irrefutable.

  Only Jaris had never taken mates before. While giving up the other women wasn’t a very big deal, having an open vulnerability was. Mates could be taken. They could be hurt or used as leverage. That was why it was so important that nobody figured out just how much he cared, especially Jezie.

  Kragen knew what women did with that kind of power. He’d seen it often enough. No woman was going to make a slave out of him. Jezie would understand her place, and she’d respect it. Until she did, it was imperative that she not find out the truth of his devotion.

  It was for that reason that Kragen allowed the women to lie to one another and brag that they’d been the one to seduce him away from his new pet. Appearances had to be kept up. People would start to wonder what was going on if they actually figured out he’d grown faithful to one single woman.

  He masked the true depths of his feeling by forcing himself to stay away from Jezie during the day and not doing the one thing he really wanted to⎯Jezie. Instead, he focused his attention on the more mundane tasks of helping Jaxon run both the house and the business until finally dinnertime arrived and they were mounting the stairs with another platter of food for their wench.

  Jezie seemed subdued that night, as if a little sad, though she easily gave in to the passion that sprang up between Kragen, Jaxon, and her. Still, Kragen could tell by her responses that she was holding something back, something she had given freely the first night. She was cautious, and that unnerved him.

  By the end of the week, as Bridget’s reports grew grimmer, Kragen knew what they had to do. He also knew his brother wouldn’t agree. Jaxon was just as concerned as him, but whereas Kragen was willing to take a risk, his brother was more likely to smother their mate than let her roam free.

  He wasn’t about to let his brother interfere in what needed to be done. So Kragen didn’t bother to inform Jaxon of his intentions and, instead, took the stairs two at a time to reach the top landing, where the guard they kept posted outside the bedroom door was seated in the corner staring at a skin mag. He glanced up as Kragen hit the landing and frowned.

  “Something wrong?”

  “No.” Kragen shook his head as he headed for the double doors. “But I think I’ll spend some time with Jezie, so you can take the rest of the afternoon off.”

  “Huh.” The man watched him with a look that was more amused than grateful. “Thanks…I guess.”

  “Just leave,” Kragen snapped before shoving into the room and calling out to Jezie.

  She hollered back from the balcony, which didn’t surprise him at all. What did knock Kragen for a very big loop were the small green sprouts poking up out the dirt that now filled the planters. The sight had him freezing in his spot as his eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat.

  “What is this?” Kragen finally managed to get out as he stepped up to admire the tiny shoots of life. Actual life.

  “A few herbs,” Jezie answered, setting aside her sewing and rising up from the chair she’d pulled out there days ago.

  Slowly but surely Jezie had been making herself a whole new wardrobe out of the clothes the other women had donated. Kragen thought that was all she’d been doing out there, but he’d been wrong. She’d been performing a miracle.

  “Bu
t how?” He turned to glance up at her in amazement. “Nothing grows on our land.”

  “I told you that’s because your land is sad,” Jezie explained patiently, making no more sense than she had when she’d first revealed that concept.

  “How does land grow sad?” Kragen finally asked, having to accept that she was right, even if he didn’t understand. After all, the sprouts poking out of the dirt spoke for themselves.

  “It doesn’t grow sad,” Jezie corrected him. “It’s poisoned with the sadness.”

  “No.” Kragen shook his head, knowing just where she was going once again. “I’m telling you the witch that laid down this curse did so out of spite.”

  “And I’m telling you that you are wrong, Shardar,” Jezie insisted, daring to argue with him. While she might not have grown more open over the past week, she had grown bolder with her comments during dinner when they continued to allow her to speak freely.

  It pleased him that she was, at least, growing a little more confident around them, and really what did he know? He had only old tales to go by, having been nothing more than a babe at the time when the curse had been created. The truth was in the proof. That was all that really mattered.

  “So then you can…fix the land?” Kragen didn’t know if he worded that right but did know the answer before she shook her head. It was there in the downward arch of her lips.

  “No. I can maybe help a little, but you and Jaxon are the only ones that can break the curse,” Jezie said simply, confusing Kragen even more.

  “I don’t understand.” That was a hard thing to admit to, but hard didn’t assure him results.

  “Neither do I really.” Jezie shrugged. “I just know that the land needs to be loved.”

  “The land needs to be loved?” That made even less sense, and now she was starting to give him a headache. Of course, that was what came sometimes from talking with witches. They were a weird lot. This one a little weirder than most.

  “Fine.” Kragen held up his hands in defeat. “Why don’t we start smaller? Why don’t I have men build you a garden?”