by Tara Rose
“Well it hardly matters now, does it? Because in a few minutes you will no longer be alive. You’ll never have the chance to ask them about what I’ve just told you. Yes, I’m in the League of Exitium. I’ve always been in it. So was your uncle. And so, you might be quite surprised to find out, are many of your former neighbors and friends. But none of that matters now. You’ll never have the chance to blab this to your two jaguar lovers or to their meddling father.”
As he began to advance toward her again, a sound like thunder reverberated throughout the house. Valerie crouched down and covered her head as the room seemed to explode around her. She heard shouting and more curse words in the space of thirty seconds than she normally heard uttered in a year.
Stomping boots and more sounds of thunder assaulted her senses, and when she dared to open one eye and survey the scene in front of her, two jaguars knelt on top of her father, each holding a lepidolite stone, one against his chest and the other against his forehead. Both were shouting an incantation over her father’s barrage of curses and empty threats. Valerie could only assume they were bothering with it because they wanted to make sure he couldn’t shift or use the magic of his own stones once he was outside this house.
She glanced around for a familiar face, and spotted Drake, Gary, Austin, and Galatyn, all standing in the group that now hovered over her father. But where were Stephen and Micah? Finally she heard their voices in the hallway. They were telling someone that everything was ready in the village square. She stood up and walked toward their voices, tears streaming down her face and each breath difficult.
When she crossed the threshold, both men turned toward the sound of her whimpering and rushed forward to embrace her. She fell into their arms, not knowing or caring who was holding her, or stroking her hair. She heard only their voices, telling her that she was all right and had done an exceptional job.
She was okay. Her Doms were here. It was over. The words ricocheted in her brain, but it wasn’t until she glanced up into their faces that she believed it. “I love you.” She exhaled deeply. “Both of you. I love you both so much. I’ve been so afraid to say it, but I have to now. I love you and I want to be with you. Always.”
Stephen whooped so loudly that Drake came into the hallway and asked if he was all right, but Stephen didn’t answer his father. He was too busy twirling Valerie around until she was laughing and dizzy. She caught a quick glimpse of Drake as he smiled and returned to the bedroom, just before Stephen placed her back on her feet and kissed her.
When he released the kiss, she was dizzy all over again, but the look of love in his eyes was worth that feeling a hundred times over. “I love you, too. I’ve loved you since the first time I kissed you. I was afraid, too. Afraid this would turn out badly, or…I don’t know. I should have told you that. You shouldn’t have had to do this today without knowing how much I love you.”
“Thank you, Sir,” she whispered.
Before she could even begin to process what he’d just said, Micah embraced her and kissed her as well. When he released her mouth, he cupped her face and gazed at her with nothing short of adoration in his eyes. “I love you, too. We couldn’t say anything. We were advised not to. But I wish I had now. Can you ever forgive us for not telling you what has been in our hearts for four months now?”
“Of course, Sir. I mean, there’s nothing to forgive.” She swiped at the fresh tears coursing down her cheeks. “We’re together now. It’s over. I can be with you both, right? This is real now. Please tell me that I belong to both of you.”
She couldn’t even think straight. She was still trembling, but as they gazed at her, the fear and uncertainty started to abate. “You are the woman we’ve been waiting for,” said Micah. “Stephen and I want you with us forever. As our lover, our sub, and our mate.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Oh, yes.” There weren’t enough labels for the joy she felt as they embraced her again. She had everything she wanted, and all her fantasies had just come true.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Valerie watched the execution in the village square because it would have been considered odd had she not done so, but she felt nothing except relief as her father died before her eyes. Drake stood before the entire town and made a proclamation that included her father’s confession. He adamantly asked each of the residents to hold Abby in the same high regard as they’d done before she’d been forced to admit the truth of her parentage.
He also asked everyone to join him in congratulating his two youngest sons, who were to be formally mated with Valerie the next morning. They were holding the ceremony outside next to the lake, despite the cold, because Drake and Emme wanted the entire village to be able to attend.
That night, Stephen and Micah presented Valerie with the collar that Micah had bought the day he’d surprised her with the earrings. “Remember when I told you we’d choose these colors for you?”
“I do remember that, Sir.” They’d told her that at Saffron, Landon, and Nevada’s party.
She knelt and Micah placed the necklace on her. “Stephen and I wanted to give you this in private. But tomorrow, the entire village will see that you are now officially our sub as well. I love you. I promise to cherish and protect you always as one of your Doms, for the rest of my life.”
Stephen stepped in front of her and cupped her face, smiling down at her. “I love you, too. I also promise to cherish and protect you as one of your Doms, for the rest of my life. Do you accept this collar from both of us?”
“Yes, Sir.” She had to clear her throat before she continued. She could barely contain the emotions spilling over inside. “I love you both. I accept this collar as your submissive. I promise to love you, serve you, and obey you for the rest of my life. I will cherish your love as the most beautiful gift anyone could have ever given me.”
She was crying so hard that Stephen had to help her stand up. He embraced her and then kissed her, and Micah did the same. Both men were all over her, and she simply closed her eyes and gave over to them, heart, body, and soul.
* * * *
The next morning, with the falling snow and bitter, howling northwest winds as her backdrop, Valerie knelt next to the lake on a raised platform the men had hastily constructed, and formally pledged her love, honor, and obedience to Stephen and Micah again, this time as their mate. Almost every village resident was in attendance. Even Austin and Galatyn had stayed for the ceremony.
Drake and Gary made sure everyone had a glass of champagne, and as soon as they all had toasted Valerie, Stephen, and Micah, as many people as possible crowded into the Jargonian home. It was crowded, noisy, and Valerie could barely move among the residents admiring her collar and wishing her good fortune, but she didn’t mind.
She was safe and deliriously happy. All her fantasies had come true and then some. Her father and uncle were dead and Abby’s name had been cleared. She now had the rest of her life to spend loving her two Doms.
When most of the residents had left hours later, she managed to sneak away for a moment in Micah’s room with him and Stephen. They stood in front of the window and watched the snow fall.
“Tell me again how happy you are,” said Micah.
“Sir, if I were any happier, I’d burst wide open and it would spill all over the floor.”
He embraced her from behind. “Me, too. I love you so much.”
She turned in his arms and looked up into his eyes, then held out her hand so she could touch Stephen as well. “And I love you, too. I love you both more than I can even put into words.”
“We’ll move our things over to the new house tomorrow.”
She knew he was referring to the house next door where Saffron, Nevada, and Landon had stayed while they’d been in hiding, but Valerie had a different idea. “I want to live in the house that I shared with Abby. What do you say?”
Micah raised his eyebrows, and then he and Stephen exchanged a glance.
“Why do you want to live there?” aske
d Stephen.
“Because it was the home where I felt safe for three months. We can paint it again if you like. The spells and charms can be reversed, right? I don’t care what we have to do to it to cleanse the aura, but I think it’s only fitting that I spend my life there with you two.”
Stephen nodded and Micah smiled. “Then it’s settled,” said Micah. “We’ll live in that house instead.”
Valerie snuggled against his chest and smiled. She was the happiest girl in the world right now, and as long as she had her two sexy alpha Doms to love and cherish, she would never want for anything more. Love had conquered hate, fear, and every insecurity imaginable. And now she had the rest of her life to thank them both for it, and to show them how very much she loved them.
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tara Rose loves to write about small towns and the quirky people that inhabit them. You’ll find engaging characters, budding romance, intrigue and plenty of hot, steamy ménage sex within the pages of her books. You never really know what goes on behind closed doors, but her books will take you there, and leave you panting for more.
When she isn’t writing, Tara spends time with her husband—her real-life hero. She loves to cook, collect antique pottery, and she will read just about anything. Tara also plays the cello, and loves decorating her house for Christmas.
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