Claimed by the Elven Brothers: Decision (An Elven King Novella Book 1)

by Cristina Rayne

  “Were you with him all night, this mystery guy of yours?” Jenna demanded. “Megan, didn’t you say you were through jumping into bed with guys you just met?”

  “It’s nothing like that. Yeah, I was with him yesterday, but we didn’t meet at my apartment, and I went home before it had even gotten dark.”

  “Can you tell me his name at least?”

  “Seren,” I replied, deciding that his name sounded less strange than Locien’s.

  “Sounds like the name of someone in a Goth band,” she said with a laugh.

  Well—maybe not…

  “That’s because he’s foreign—um, French,” I lied.

  “Really?” she said, her eyes suddenly lighting up with interest. “Where the heck did you meet someone like that? Did he go through your line at the bank or something?”

  “Nobody that interesting ever goes through my line,” I scoffed. “It was while I was out jogging at the park. I tripped on a root along the path and sent my phone flying into the trees. He saw me and stopped to help me look for it. We ended up going out to dinner afterwards.”

  “Somehow, I’m not seeing the problem in all that,” Jenna said.

  “The problem,” I replied, “is that he doesn’t live in this country. He’s only here for a couple of weeks on business, and he has to go back to France in a few days. He—wants me to come with him.”

  Jenna looked at me sharply. “If things are serious enough that he’s asking you something like that, then why in the hell am I just hearing about him today?”

  I looked down at the hands I was wringing nervously in my lap. “Because I didn’t expect for anything to come of it except for a short little fling,” I muttered, “and I knew what everyone would say, that I had to stop hooking up with all these impossible guys.”

  “But is he an ‘impossible guy’? I don’t know how much help I can be at this point since I’ve never even met the guy. Do you at least have a picture?”

  “Not yet.”

  Try never as I don’t think finding out Seren was an elf would go over well with my friends. I wondered if it was even possible to take a picture of anyone while in the Inbetween. My phone had likely passed between the two trees, and yet, it had been lying on the ground behind them as though the doorway wasn’t even there. For all I know, the elves had fixed it so that only people could enter that dream-like realm.

  “You’re seriously considering going with him, aren’t you?” Jenna said slowly.

  I nodded. That much at least was true. After thinking and thinking about everything Seren, Locien, and Emily had told me, I realized, somewhat shockingly, that I really was interested, that I could actually see myself in the crazy relationship they were proposing. It all sounded like it could be one hot adventure, and lord knows that I needed a little spice in my life right now.

  Unfortunately, that was also the problem. Was I so disillusioned with my mundane life that I would make such a monumental decision about my life with so little to go on just for the chance at something special, no matter how crazy it was? Would I actually forget about a lifelong promise to myself about never having children for it? That’s why I had found myself at Jenna’s door this morning and not packing my things. I needed to know if I was completely out of my mind for even considering it before I met the elven brothers this afternoon to do what I planned to do.

  “I would miss you and the girls tons, but for the first time ever, I have the chance to do something exciting. He lives in Paris, and that’s one place I thought I would never get to see in person, never mind live. Besides, if things don’t work out in the long run, then it’s not like I can’t come back.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure if that part was true. I had been so overwhelmed by everything Emily had told that I had forgotten to ask her one of the most important things—how exactly the elves would go about changing me. Looking at Emily, at how utterly inhuman she now appeared, it didn’t seem like something that could be undone. Of course, having no idea what she had looked like before she had entered the elven realm, I couldn’t really say for sure just how much of her had changed. I would definitely need to grill Seren and Locien about the process before I made my final decision.

  “Well, it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind, so don’t let my good sense stop you,” Jenna said dryly. “Can I at least meet the guy so I’ll have a description for the police if you suddenly drop off the face of the earth?”

  I felt my face instantly freeze in momentary panic. I knew she was joking, or at least half-joking. She had said pretty much the same thing to one of our other friends who had met some guy from California on the internet when he had driven down to pick her up for a two-week stay last year. However, in this case, she had hit the nail on the head, uncannily so. I held no delusions about the kind of mayhem I would potentially leave behind by disappearing so completely if I decided to leave this world for the elven realm.

  “I’ll just have to text you a selfie from New York because that’s where Seren is right now, and that’s where I’ll probably be in a couple of days, too.” I paused and then amended, “Maybe. That’s where I was yesterday, at the airport saying goodbye. I thought that was going to be the last time I saw him and was expecting to come straight home afterwards to cry my eyes out because I didn’t want it to be.”

  Jenna sighed noisily. “Well, at least you had a good excuse to blow us off last night. I take it this is where he proposed?”

  My eyes widened. “I never said anything about proposing! He just said that he really wanted to keep seeing me and asked if I would move in with him.”

  “After just a week…” She shook her head. “That’s just as insane. Either he’s as crazy as you or you two just might be made for each other, after all. I’ll reserve judgment until I find out whether or not you’ll be sleeping on my couch after a month or two.”

  “I still haven’t said yes, you know. He’ll be in New York until Tuesday night, and the plane ticket he bought me is for an eight o’clock flight Tuesday morning. He agreed that taking the weekend to make up my mind would be best.”

  Tuesday night was the real deadline I had given myself. If I still had severe reservations about the elven brothers’ proposal, then I would end it right then and there. Emily had been right. It wasn’t fair to string them along. After twenty years of searching, giving them false hope would just be too cruel.

  “I still wish you would have introduced him to us,” Jenna groused. “All this just seems so sudden that I can’t quite wrap my head around how I feel about it.”

  “Sorry. I just don’t want any more regrets,” I said.

  Jenna nodded and then reached over to hug me tightly. “Can’t argue with that.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  It was almost scary how normal it now felt to step between two trees and see an entirely different landscape appear around me in the blink of an eye. This time I had traded my work clothes for a loose-fitting, cobalt-blue cotton sundress that fell to just above my knees and a pair of heeled sandals that were totally inappropriate for a jogging path as the many strange looks I received by several joggers continuously reminded me.

  As before, Seren was waiting for me at the entrance. His eyes immediately swept the entire length of my body, but all he offered me was a friendly “hello” as he cautiously offered me his hand, obviously not expecting me to take it. He was still walking on eggshells with me, and that had to change today.

  I smiled and accepted his hand without a hint of hesitation, giving it an affectionate squeeze. Surprise flashed in his eyes briefly.

  “I hope that I didn’t keep you waiting long today.”

  “No, not long,” he replied, though he probably would have said that if I had kept them waiting for days.

  “Is it just you again today?” I asked.

  The ever-present fog was particularly thick today, and I squinted a bit as we walked, trying to see into the distance without much luck.

  “Locien is here as well,” Seren repl
ied. “He awaits us in the usual place.”

  “Why is it so foggy today?”

  “The Inbetween reflects our moods,” he explained. “Things have been quite—turbulent today.”

  I frowned. “You two didn’t get into a fight, did you?”

  His lips quirked up slightly in amusement. “No, nothing like that. We were just very anxious,” he admitted. “I hope the Royal Wife was able to answer your questions to your satisfaction yesterday.”

  “I enjoyed talking with her,” I replied sincerely. “She brought up a lot of important things I hadn’t even thought to ask, so I’m really grateful to her.”

  “Emily will be relieved to hear that. She said you were upset when you left and was worried.”

  “I was overwhelmed,” I corrected. “I just needed some time to myself to think about all of this rather than just react to it.”

  I could now make out the faint outline of a person seated on a very familiar blanket of white silk just a little bit ahead of us. Seeing him was like a switch that triggered a sudden nervousness within me. I had come here to meet them today with a very specific agenda, and now that the moment of truth had come, it was all I could do not to start shaking with nerves.

  As we stepped up to the edge of the usual blanket, I noticed that Locien’s eyes were staring at our joined hands with a thoughtful expression. It made me relax a bit. Maybe if the brothers saw that I was no longer being so standoffish and suspicious, what I was about to ask them wouldn’t be so shocking.

  Seren released my hand so that I could sit down across from Locien. I made a big show of stretching my legs out and arranging my skirt to give myself time to calm down. I wanted to be able to speak without my voice shaking with nerves so that there would be no doubt as to my sincerity.

  “I am pleased that you decided to visit with us today,” Locien said, flashing me the smile that made him look so much like Seren.

  “I have a lot of things I want to talk about, a lot of things I realized we need to talk about,” I said.

  “Ask us anything,” Seren encouraged as he settled down next to his brother.

  I took a deep breath and just went for it. “There’s one issue that we all have kinda been ignoring, one that, at least for me, is really important.”

  “Ah, the change,” Seren said with a nod.

  “Huh?” I said, momentarily thrown off my game. “Oh—well, yes, that’s really important, too, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Not yet, anyway. You see, when I was thinking about everything last night, I couldn’t help but wonder if we all weren’t just jumping into a yes or no too quickly, but especially you two.”

  Locien frowned. “I do not quite understand.”

  “We just met a few days ago,” I struggled to explain. “I guess I don’t really get how you can ask me to fill such an important role in your lives without even knowing if you’re—if we’re compatible with each other. You know—sexually.”

  Locien suddenly grinned. “Would you like to find out?”

  Once again, I was thrown off. I never once considered that either of them would be so blunt about the sex part, but what did I really know about them except what they had allowed me to see during our short interactions? Hell, for all I knew, elves could be highly sexual beings and I had just opened up a bigger can of worms than I had initially intended.

  I forced myself to look him straight in the eye as I answered just as boldly, “That’s exactly what I’m asking.”

  The older elf laughed, sounding utterly delighted. “You are certainly full of surprises today.” He turned to Seren. “Well brother, what say you?”

  Instead of answering, Seren turned to me, his expression both curious and piercing. “This is what you truly want?”

  A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as I absently fiddled with the hem of my skirt. I hadn’t meant anything by the gesture, but the movement drew his eyes like an eagle honing in on its prey. A shiver of anticipation flowed through my body, and I couldn’t help but think that I had never wanted anything more in my life than to have these two gorgeous creatures take me into their arms, to touch me, to kiss me, to feel the warmth of their bodies as I took my turn with each of them.

  Yes, I had definitely gone off the deep end.

  “I couldn’t sleep last night because it was all I could think of,” I confessed.

  Seren’s answering smile was every bit as eager as Locien’s. “Then come. Let us all make love freely and without worry that you will conceive before you have given us your final answer. You are not fertile today.”

  His words threw me for a loop. “You mean, like a threesome?” I asked tentatively. That was definitely not the impression I had meant to give them, but…

  Seren nodded, looking far more serious than should have been possible given the topic. “One of us must never have an advantage over the other.”

  “But you just said that I didn’t have to worry about getting pregnant right now,” I accused.

  “You will not,” Locien said. “However, you did say that you wished to see if we would be compatible, and given that this is the way we must make love henceforth should you agree to become our mistress, what better time to become accustomed to the act than now?”

  That was certainly news to me. I was suddenly feeling as though I had jumped into a pool only to realize I hadn’t thought to check it for sharks beforehand. Well, a lot of people did have a fantasy about sleeping with twins, and even I had joked about its appeal with my friend Mel back when she had dated an identical twin. This certainly was close enough, and I had already decided before I came here that I would sleep with both of them today if they agreed. Why not try it this way?

  I climbed onto my knees and then paused as a sudden problem occurred to me. Although I had never seen anyone else other than the brothers and Emily here, that didn’t necessarily mean that we were alone. Just because I was keen on experimenting with a threesome didn’t mean I also wanted to jump headlong into exhibitionism, too.

  “We’re the only ones here right now, right?” I asked anxiously. The foggy atmosphere had thinned significantly during the little time we had spent talking, so I couldn’t count on it concealing us anymore.

  “No one will disturb us,” Seren assured me. “The Inbetween is so vast that it is almost impossible to enter another’s portion of space unless it is through the doorway they have constructed.”

  “Somehow, that ‘almost’ part doesn’t make me feel any better,” I said wryly, but I still pulled off my sandals and moved over towards them on my knees.

  “When you are here with us, we always close the doorways,” Locien said. “The odds of someone wandering into this space from another within the Inbetween are so astronomical that we might as well say it is impossible.”

  “Okay.” I took Seren’s outstretched hand and allowed him to pull me forward until I was half-sitting, half-reclining across both his and Locien’s lap. I pressed my back up against Seren’s chest, wanting to feel his heat, and as if he had read my mind, he immediately wrapped his arms around my waist.

  I grinned a little nervously as Locien leaned in and raised a hand to cup my cheek. I could feel my heart already hammering in my chest as he leaned in even farther, and I closed my eyes and parted my lips slightly in anticipation. I had already gotten a brief taste of Seren’s lips, so I supposed that it was only fair that Locien get the first kiss this time. Not that I was complaining. I would no doubt have my fill of both elves’ mouths and more by the time the day was over.

  There was no hesitation in the firm mouth that pressed against my own, nipping roughly at my bottom lip a couple of times before a hot tongue licked across the sensitive flesh, demanding entrance. I opened my mouth to him with a small sound of pleasure, tangling my hand into the hair at the nap of his neck as I pushed his head closer towards me.

  Soft lips abruptly pressed against the bare skin of my shoulder next to my dress strap, making me gasp into Locien’s mouth in surprise. They slowly kisse
d a gentle path towards my neck as Locien’s tongue twined slowly, sensually, against my own.

  I felt Seren’s hands loosen around my waist and slowly begin to move up the front of my body until they were firmly cupping, then kneading, my breasts over my dress. My mind was quickly falling towards meltdown mode with so much stimulation at once, wanting to focus on the feel of the hot mouth that had latched onto the side of my neck and was currently sucking at my skin with enough force that it bordered on painful, but also needing to focus on the other mouth that was doing its best to suck the breath out of me.

  Then suddenly I felt a hand slowly begin to caress up my inner thigh beneath my skirt until it reached my groin where his fingers just as slowly teased up and down my crease over my panties, sending jolts of pleasure throughout that entire area every time they rubbed over my clit. Was it Locien? I was rapidly beginning to lose track of whose hands were doing what as the elf-brothers slowly and steadily worked my body and mind into a frenzy.

  Before I knew it, my panties were being pulled off and my dress lifted up over my breasts. Locien pulled back from devouring my mouth, and Seren finished tugging my dress the rest of the way over my head. Seren’s hands were unsnapping the clasps of my bra before I could even catch my breath, and my breasts soon came tumbling out of their wire and satin confines to be greedily admired by two sets of vivid green eyes.

  Suddenly sitting naked between two fully-clothed men, I knew I should have felt terribly exposed and vulnerable, but all I could feel was a rising anticipation for what was about to come. I couldn’t remember ever being this excited about sex. Who knew that ménage would turn out to be my thing?

  “Will you both undress for me?” I boldly asked a bit breathlessly. “I want to see you, too.”

  As Locien nodded with an amused quirk of his lips, Seren kissed the side of my neck softly one last time before he drew away. I was a bit discomfited at the feeling of loss I abruptly felt once his body was no longer warming my back.