Freedom's Fall

by DJ Michaels

  She smiled at him with all the joy she had inside her. “It was perfect. Both kisses were perfect.” And not anything like a normal wedding kiss. Thank god for that.

  Rye came up behind her, wrapping his arm around her waist. “Behr is handing off the proctor to his escort back to town. And that means we can give you our wedding gift now.”

  Tansy hoped it was a ring. Chelsea and Sorcha both sported black diamond wedding rings, though calling them diamonds was a misnomer. The gems were made from dragon scales. According to Sorcha, the scales had to be freely given, and they were transformed into a precious gem by exposing them to prolonged dragon fire. The one Chelsea wore had been created by Benmonth and Annlyss. Sorcha’s diamond owed its existence to Tengale and Jaysada. If Tansy’s private hopes came true, she would receive her precious gift at the behest of Fellescend and Zenbaylan.

  Truthfully though, at that point she would have settled for any kind of ring at all. She wouldn’t care if it was a plain silver band, as long as it came from her men.

  Dev reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red silk bag, and Tansy knew her thoughts about not caring were a lie. She wanted a black diamond so badly her mouth had gone dry. Not because they were rare and priceless—apparently you couldn’t even buy them on the black market—but because her dragons wanted to give something of themselves to her.

  Loosening the opening, Dev tipped the contents of the bag into his hand. Then he closed his fist so she couldn’t see. He held his other hand out, palm up, silently inviting Tansy to place her hand in his. Nervously, she slipped her fingers over his palm.

  With a slow smile he placed the ring on her finger. Tansy sucked in a noisy breath as the cool, gray metal came to rest against her skin. Then Dev moved his hand and she got her first unimpeded view of the ring they had chosen for her.

  There were three black diamonds. An oval in the center flanked by two smaller, rectangular stones. The diamonds were held together by the finest, most delicate filigree she had ever seen. The symbolism of the stones was so beautiful it made her eyes sting and her chest squeeze tight. The fact that Fellescend and Zenbaylan had made the stones for her caused her eyes to well up, and she couldn’t stop the tears overflowing.

  Rye stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Leaning down, he placed his chin on her shoulder so he could admire the ring. “We’ll always keep you safe between us, honey. You’re the center of our world.”

  Too choked for words, Tansy reached for Dev and pulled Rye in tight behind her. Aligning their bodies with hers, they pressed tight enough that she struggled to breathe, and that lack of air was glorious.

  The wedding reception turned out to be one of the best nights of her life. Unfortunately Mac left early, taking Behr and Finn with her when they volunteered to fly her down to Sapphire. But that was the only dim spot in Tansy’s night of stars. Her friends were genuinely thrilled for her, the Enforcers seemed ready and willing to take her in as one of their own, and her mates rarely strayed from her side. She might not have her blood family with her, but she was beginning to realize that she had a family of a different sort. Not the same, but not any less valued or appreciated.

  And like regular family members, they weren’t worried about over-staying their welcome. They ate, talked, drank, laughed, hugged and stayed. For ages. It was late when Dev finally cracked under the pressure and booted them all out, and by then Tansy was dead on her feet.

  Stumbling to the bedroom, she stood like a mannequin and let her men strip her out of her finery.

  “You know,” she said, half smothering a yawn, “lots of brides and grooms don’t have sex on their wedding night.” She yawned again. “Too tired.”

  Rye tossed her corset aside, stepping in close to press his nakedness against her back. “Good thing you’re mated to us, then.”

  He reached up to pinch her nipples and she hummed low in her throat. “Mmm. I suppose my desperate need for sleep isn’t going to sway you.”

  Yanking off her chemise, he cupped her now-naked breasts and offered them to Dev’s hot mouth. Dev licked and sucked at her, his fingers pushing between her legs to circle her clit. “I think our desperation to fuck you outweighs your desperation for sleep.”

  She flexed into his hand and threaded her fingers into the thick silky length of his hair, holding him tight to her breasts. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to think I was being selfish.”

  “Open your legs, honey. Show me how unselfish you are.”

  Tansy closed her eyes in bliss as Dev eased in a thick, delicious finger. Her head dropped back onto Rye’s shoulder as Dev spread her wider…and for a split second everything went black.

  She lost feeling in her body, she couldn’t sense her men, and then the images of those disgusting photos played against the backs of her eyelids. Filthy, degrading, repulsive images that made her want to puke.

  Pushing away to give herself distance, she scrambled sideways, landing up against the wall as she heaved in air that couldn’t fill her lungs. Sweat beaded her brow and slithered down her spine, and her knees weren’t quite up to taking her weight. Placing one hand on the wall to steady herself, she took a few moments to gather the courage to turn and face her men. They were just where she’d left them. Beautiful, naked and utterly at a loss.

  “Tansy?” Dev took a half step forward, but she halted him with a wave of her hand.

  “Give me a minute.”

  So they did. They stayed where they were even though she knew every instinct they owned would be driving them to fix things, to comfort her, to hold her and stroke her until her fear went away. She knew how hard it must be for them to give her what she needed, and it only made her love them more.

  She hated the uncertainty in their eyes and it drove her insane that they couldn’t be free and easy with her. They were taking her as she was, freak-outs and all, yet they weren’t getting the same from her.

  Well fuck that.

  Straightening up, she levered herself off the wall and walked back to them. “Sorry.” She wiped her sweaty palms on her thighs. “Everything was good, really good, and then I had a flashback of those photos.”

  “Tansy…”

  “No, Rye, let me finish.” She wiped her hands again, the images of the photos crowding into her mind despite her best efforts to block them out. Never one to cling to a strategy that wasn’t working, Tansy decided to forget about trying to ignore the images and resolved to find a way to overwrite them.

  She looked into Rye’s face, strained with concern for her. “You were right about the desperate, frightened woman in those photos. The woman with fear in her eyes.” She closed the distance, taking Dev’s and Rye’s hands in hers. “I don’t want to be that woman anymore. I don’t want that image to be the one you see when you look at me.”

  “Baby, we don’t. We never have.” Rye lifted her hand to his lips. “When I look in your eyes, all I see is love.”

  And just like that, the solution presented itself to Tansy, if she had the courage and will to see it through. “You see love when you look in my eyes?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then keep looking.”

  Pulling her hands out of their grip, Tansy took a breath, praying to a god she wasn’t really sure existed as she dropped to her knees.

  The look on Rye’s face was pure horror. “Tansy, no, you don’t need to—”

  “Yes, I do.” Palms flat on his thighs, she inched closer. “Let me. I want to, for all our sakes.”

  Gripping the base of his shaft firmly in her hand, she stroked him root to tip. “Look into my eyes, Rye. See how much I love you.”

  His lavender eyes darkened with desire but the panic didn’t fade as she opened her mouth and closed her lips around the head of his cock. Keeping their gazes locked, she circled him with her tongue, rubbing on the underside before swirling him in her mouth again. It didn’t take long before the panic was replaced with a glaze of pleasure and his body started to relax.

&nb
sp; Still fisting him, she pushed forward, taking as much of him as she could into her mouth before she pulled back, sucking hard and deep. He jammed his fingers into her hair, uncaring of her elegant updo or the fact that his grip was yanking at her scalp.

  She sucked harder and faster. Rye’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and his grip grew rough. He thrust his hips, forcing himself farther down her throat, and Tansy reveled in it, gloried in the fact that he was treating her like his woman and not like some broken shell that needed to be handled with kid gloves.

  Cupping his balls with her free hand, she rolled them in her fingers and squeezed his shaft even harder. Holding her mouth still and doing nothing but providing suction, she let Rye fuck her mouth, harder and wilder until he was on the brink of orgasm. Moving her hands to clutch his ass, she tilted her head back and surrendered to him completely, giving him control over everything. Her arousal was at fever pitch, but the sense of freedom in letting go left her floating on a wave of contentment.

  Her heart was full and happy, her body burned and her soul gloried in the power she had even though she was on her knees.

  Rye’s thrusts became erratic, his hand gripped her like a vise, and with a strangled shout he came, pulsing into her mouth in hot, thick jets that she swallowed as quickly as she could. His orgasm stretched out, and she held him in her mouth, taking the sweet, clean essence of him deep inside her.

  Gradually his body slowed, then stopped completely. He relaxed but didn’t soften and she kept her mouth tight around him, unwilling to relinquish him or this moment.

  Rye cupped her face, stroking gently along her jaw. “You were right, honey. This is a much better memory, and it’s an image of you that I will take to my pyre.”

  The stroke of his hand, the feel of him in her mouth and the taste of him on her tongue all rolled together to form a kind of benediction that only he and Dev could give her. Releasing him and easing back onto her heels, she looked up to see her men standing shoulder to shoulder, a wall of love and protection that was hers to command.

  “Every time you touch me,” she said, “you erase one bad thing that happened to me.”

  Dev leaned down and scooped her up from the floor. “Then let’s get to bed and erase some more bad memories.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  As he watched Tansy and Rye together, Dev vacillated between desire and anxiety. Seeing Tansy on her knees, taking Rye into her mouth, was beyond doubt the most erotic sight he’d ever witnessed. But he knew the content of those holos as well as Tansy and he was terrified she was setting herself up for another meltdown.

  She seemed more determined than amorous at the beginning, but as her natural generosity took over he could see she was receiving pleasure as well as giving it. And when Rye slipped his leash and forgot to be gentle with her, Tansy’s whole body softened and she responded to him like a siren.

  That was when it occurred to Dev that she was taking her cues from them just as much as they were taking them from her. When he and Rye trod too gently, she became self-conscious, and Dev suspected she felt like they didn’t trust her to hold it together.

  Yes, she’d had a meltdown, but her response to that, her way of healing, was to resaddle the dragon and try again. She just wanted to be normal, to be treated as any male would treat his mate, and Dev respected the fuck out of her for that. It seemed that he and Rye would have to find a way to prepare for her meltdowns without her feeling like they were expecting them.

  Piece of cake.

  Tansy was still kneeling on the floor, not quite recovered, when he scooped her up and carried her to the bed. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, nuzzled into his neck, and it was all he could do not to crush her to his chest. Fighting the possessive urge, he lowered her to the sheets, but when she retained her grip he stayed where he was, crouched over her.

  He nipped lightly at her lips. “Something you need, honey?”

  “I was going to ask you the same question.”

  Lost, he raised a questioning brow.

  “What do you want, Dev?” she asked, her voice a husky whisper. “What’s the one thing we can give you that will blow your mind?”

  He grinned. “The way you just blew Rye’s mind?”

  She gave him a shrug and an uncertain smile and he realized she didn’t want his choice to be about her, not directly. She wanted to give him and Rye something special, something meaningful on their first night together as mates. She’d gotten on her knees for Rye and now she wanted Dev to take something for himself too.

  He suspected that if he made it about her she would be disappointed in him—he could see that in her pretty eyes. There was only one way he could think of to give her what she wanted while still taking care of her pleasure.

  Without breaking her hold on his neck, he maneuvered onto the bed beside her and stretched out body to body. Rye positioned himself on the other side a moment later and they crowded Tansy between them.

  “What I would like,” Dev said, reaching out to stroke her body breast to thigh, “is for us to celebrate the triangular nature of our relationship.”

  Tansy’s face lit up. “How?”

  Dev’s stomach fluttered in a surge of anxiety but he didn’t want to let his mate down. “I want the three of us to fuck together. I want to be inside you while Rye is inside me.”

  Her eyes went wide and the pulse in her neck leaped into double time. “You mean you in my…um…and him in your…at the same time?”

  Dev looked over at Rye, who at this point was the resident expert. “That’s doable, right?”

  Rye blinked a couple of times, then broke into a smile that was part joy, part evil bastard, and Dev’s anxiety jumped up a notch.

  “I’ll get the gel.” And with that Rye scrambled off the bed so fast Dev opened his mouth to call him back. Tansy’s hand over his lips stopped him.

  “Too late now, my love—our mate’s on a mission.” Her laugh was uncomplicated and happy, the sound making Dev feel like he was bathing in sunshine.

  Rye sprinted back to stand at the foot of the bed. “On your back in the middle of the mattress, Tansy. Dev, get in between her legs.”

  Dev didn’t move, but he couldn’t help smiling at Rye’s enthusiasm. “Eager much?”

  His denmate snorted. “Are you kidding? I’ve been thinking about this since we first decided to make Tansy our own. I thought I’d have weeks of convincing to do before you let me anywhere near your ass. I’m taking advantage before you change your mind.” He gestured to the center of the bed. “Hurry up.”

  Tansy laughed again as she wriggled into the center of the bed, and Dev knew he’d do whatever it took to keep that lightness inside her.

  Crawling between her legs, he drew his knees up, put his ass in the air and hoped his denmate was the accomplished man-whore his younger self was reputed to be. Then he realized he was a breath away from Tansy’s tight little nipples and he decided they’d make a good distraction.

  At the first touch of his mouth she arched up, gripping him tight by the hair and pulling him close. He sucked hard, taking in as much of her as he could before easing off with little nips and licks. Working one breast with his mouth and the other with his hand, he set about driving his mate wild.

  Then he felt Rye move between his legs and Dev’s concentration faltered. The warm, confident stroke of a male hand across his ass felt strange but good, and he tried to relax into Rye’s rough-skinned touch. There was a momentary pause, and Dev flinched when Rye’s slicked finger circled the most private place a male had.

  Giving up the pretense of distraction, Dev dropped his head to Tansy’s chest and did his best to relax. The circling went on and on. It was…nice…but Dev needed more, so he pushed back a little, arching his spine and tilting his ass higher. Another pause. This time when Rye came back he pressed his finger against Dev’s ass. Press, release, press, release, until finally he pressed hard enough to breach that first ring of muscle.

  “Just brea
the,” Rye said. “This gel has a muscle relaxant in it and it will do most of the work for you.”

  Easy for him to say—he wasn’t the one whose virgin ass was about to be breached.

  Dev fought the need to clench, panting against Tansy’s breasts as he struggled to relax. The sensation wasn’t painful, but it was uncomfortable. Rye pushed in farther, then retreated a little, pushed again, each time going deeper until Dev felt the press of knuckles against the cheeks of his ass. Rye didn’t stop the movement, and with every stroke the discomfort eased…to be replaced by a pleasant kind of tingle. Then the tingle grew into something more, something dark and pleasurable. Dev picked up his rhythm, and when Rye added a second finger, Dev groaned in pleasure at the burn.

  Eventually Rye used a third finger to stretch him, and by then Dev was pushing back hard, biting and sucking at Tansy’s breasts to relieve some of the sexual tension. Rye kissed his way up Dev’s back, his fingers fucking as hard as his lips were soft. When he got to Dev’s shoulders, he kissed his way from one side to the other.

  “Lean back, Dev. I want to watch your cock disappear inside our woman.”

  Rye’s fingers slipped from Dev’s ass, but his denmate still lay almost shoulder to shoulder, his hot, hard body pressed against Dev’s back. He straightened up, pressed Tansy’s legs high and wide and looked over his shoulder at Rye. “Guide me in.”

  Rye pressed closer, wrapped one hand around Dev’s waist, the other around his cock, and lined him up. Slowly, so they could both see every increment, Dev flexed his hips and forced his cock into the tight, silky heaven that was Tansy’s core. When he was as deep inside her as he could go, Dev put one arm under her ass to lift her up and then wedged himself onto his knees.

  Rye put a hand on Dev’s shoulder to push him down, and barely a breath later Dev felt the broad, round head of a cock at his back entrance. He fucked into Tansy, slow, soft and shallow, allowing his movements to ease him back onto Rye’s cock.

  The gel did its work. Even though Dev’s ass burned and it took a bit of getting used to, his dormant nerve endings woke with a vengeance. The stretch of Rye in his ass and the tight squeeze of Tansy on his cock were like opposite sides of the pleasure spectrum. It was raw, beautiful, and so far beyond any pleasure he’d ever experienced that Dev wasn’t sure he could hold it together. Rye seemed determined to go slowly, and it took everything Dev had to hold back enough to match his pace.