“He’s not saying no.” I attempted to smooth the ripples of anger drifting off Betha like waves. “He’s saying a novice fighter, such as yourself, would be ill-equipped against battle-hardened Jötnar.”
Her smile appeared to me more a promise of reprisal than amusement. “Is he?”
“No,” Raynor repeated. “I am saying a battle is no place for you. You’re human, Betha. Fragile.”
“Am I?” With each word she spoke, the air around us grew colder. Fenris’s face was pale, suggesting he was barely holding his magic at bay, while Raynor’s hands were pure white. Mor, however, did not seem bothered by magic and watched Betha with what I feared was anticipation.
“Raynor,” I whispered. It was unlike my more careful twin to be oblivious to danger.
“No,” he snapped. “You have to understand, Betha. You aren’t as powerful as they are. They will crush you.”
All at once, Betha’s eyes turned white and the air seemed to snap around us. She dropped her hands, and a burst of wind and ice flew from her body, covering my twin from head to toe. Never, in all our fights, had I managed such a move. Just as quickly, the ice shattered, tinkling like glass as it hit the floor. Before he could shake the snowflakes from his hair, Betha had released her magic again, this time shackling Raynor’s hands and feet together, unbalancing him so he tumbled to the ground.
It was a beautiful thing to watch, and I couldn’t help myself; my sides ached with the force of my laughter. “Ha!”
Even Fenris broke into a smile while our solemn brother struggled with his bonds like a fish caught on a hook. Finally, he slammed his hands and heels on the floor. The ice cracked enough he could muscle his way out of the manacles.
“Teach me to fight.” Ignoring me and Fenris, our breathtaking skaoi knelt before Raynor, reached for his hands and covered them with hers. She held on tight, knuckles whitening. “Please, Raynor. I want to learn.”
Once, Raynor had been a rash young Jötnar. One who enjoyed pranks and jokes as much as I still did. Then one day, showing off in front of our friends and tribesmen, his attention broke and a shard of ice slid across his throat. It was a harsh lesson from our Elders.
Since that day, he’d become meticulous and precise. He did nothing without painful forethought. Now, he was tasked with weighing the desires of our skaoi against his desire to protect her.
I wanted her safe, and no doubt Fenris did as well. If anything, Fenris was more deliberate, more careful than Raynor. It would kill the two of them to put a human like Betha in harm’s way.
Except, she wasn’t exactly human anymore. The skill she’d shown earlier in the forest—her speed and her strength—if honed, could be as deadly as any Jötnar who’d been training for battle since they could walk.
“The thing is”—I squatted next to them, easing myself onto the ground to sit cross-legged—“you are asking us to risk what we value most in this world. I believe, with training and time, you are a force to be reckoned with. But in battle? With the elders, even my prowess”—I winked at her—“which is legendary, will be tested. I can’t do it. I’m sorry.”
Her blue eyes twinkled as I spoke, and when I winked, she chuckled, knocking into my shoulder with her own. “Cocky,” she muttered.
I knew that word, and accepting the invitation to prove myself, I moved fast, drawing her face toward mine with a hand behind her neck. The first touch of her lips against mine was like standing naked in a snowstorm. All my senses were swamped. I forgot about everything except her cool lips on mine. When we kissed, there were no elders to worry about, no decisions to be made except whether or not to deepen the kiss.
There was so much to explore. Her lips were smooth, but her magic added a chill that traveled from our mouths into our blood. When her tongue touched my lower lip shyly, licking as if to take a small taste, I jerked myself away, ready to growl at my brothers to get out. Mor and Fenris were long gone, but Raynor stood at the door and along the connection we’d had since babyhood, was a tug, a yearning I couldn’t deny.
Before I could glance at Betha to help her understand what it was we’d always shared, needed to share, she reached out a hand. “Raynor,” she whispered, shaky voice betraying her nervousness and hesitancy.
If I hadn’t already been on the floor, her understanding would have brought me there. She was so perfect. Made for us. My thoughts went briefly to Fenris, but I knew the connection between him and Betha was as strong as the one between her and me. When it was their time, Raynor and I would give it to them. But right now, the stars aligned for us.
In the heartbeat of time it took for Raynor to grasp her hand, he’d clutched her to his chest. Her mouth fused to his, and my already hard cock ached with need. Watching her with Raynor was like standing outside my body. Through our bond, his desire flooded me, doubling my own.
Lifting onto my knees, I molded myself to her back, and swept her hair to the side to kiss along her neck. Her scent was strong there, near her ear. Sucking gently on her skin, I let my teeth pinch her and was rewarded with a deepening spice of arousal. My gaze clashed with my brother’s, and without words, I nudged her off balance and into his arms. Sweeping her away, he strode toward our room, kicking open the door and laying her on the bed.
The sun filtered through the windows, muted and soft. Betha’s chest lifted rapidly, her breathing audible from the door. Crossing to them, I placed one knee on the bed, looked across to my brother and nodded.
It was time to make her truly ours.
9
Betha
Now, I wasn’t a virgin, but I grew up in a household where sex was not discussed and where the birth of cousins and siblings was treated like spontaneous generation. So while I wasn’t a prude by any means, the place Raynor, Grim and I were headed was uncharted territory.
For me.
These guys, from the loaded glances and subtle gestures, knew what they were doing, and I wasn't sure if I should be jealous or grateful.
As if he could hear my thoughts, Raynor focused on me. With gentle fingers, he swept my hair away from my face and kissed me. Lips firm, tongue delving inside my mouth, he mastered me. My eyelids fluttered closed, enhancing each sensation. His mouth was cool, like he’d been drinking ice water before kissing me, and I shivered. At the same time, a cool hand tucked beneath me, urging me upward. Grim slid behind me and a different set of lips touched my skin. The hair Raynor tucked behind my ear was flicked forward, and Raynor chuckled.
“Grim,” he warned. I opened my eyes, trying not to smile.
“I’m really enjoying all the kissing, but if you want to pick a fight with each other, I can wait outside.”
The offending twin stiffened behind me, his arm wrapping over my collarbones, drawing me back. Breath tickled my ear, and I twisted my head toward him to kiss the shell of his ear.
“Let’s go back to kissing then,” Grim whispered and lightly bit my lobe. His tongue swept over the tiny pinch he gave me.
Not willing to be left out, Raynor grasped my chin, holding me steady to return to my mouth. Grim had left my ear to suck the skin of my neck. He shifted. Worried he was going to leave, I reached behind me, wrapping an arm around his lower back to pull him hard against me. With a groan, he arched into me, and I felt him, long and impossibly hard, against my butt.
All at once, my body overheated. Raynor devoured me, tongue swirling around mine, lips moving, sucking, pursing. All his intensity was solely on me, and Grim, my laughing, joking man, worked in tandem with his twin. When one relented, the other escalated.
Grim’s hands scaled my body, tracing my curves, sneaking beneath my clothes. The light, grazing touches felt like an extension of Raynor’s kiss. They were the waves that lapped my body while the cold ocean stole my breath.
Eventually though, Grim’s touch became firmer, and the clothes he’d been content to push out of the way, seemed to hinder him. He growled, reaching for my shirt and tugging it over my head. His vehemence caught me off guard, and
I jerked back.
“Careful!” Raynor ground out, before the word cut off. He stared at me, eyes roving from my neck down to my breasts and stomach.
Grim’s chest felt cool against my back. His rough hand smoothed from my ribs around to my stomach and dipped under my pants. Raynor’s eyes flashed white, but he held as still as a statue. Shoulders heaving, he stared at me while Grim’s long fingers parted my folds.
“So warm,” Grim whispered, and Raynor swallowed.
Grim’s fingers, wet from my arousal, trailed upward, circling my clit with languorous strokes. My head fell back, eyes closing, the breath leaving my body again when Grim bit down on my neck. I pushed back, rubbing myself against the ridge in his pants.
With a rending, Raynor tore my pants off, while simultaneously, Grim dragged me back, knees hooking with my own to spread me wide open. Raynor moved fast, lowering himself to his stomach. His lips touched the inside of my thigh, and he breathed in. At the same time, Grim’s fingers continued their sensuous motion, and my body bowed.
Through long black lashes, Raynor peered at me. A slow smile touched his lips before he dropped his head and licked me, tongue circling my entrance before spearing inside me with hard, thick thrusts.
I cried out, and Grim grasped my chin, twisting my head so he could kiss me, swallowing any sound I made. His fingers left my clit, drawing over my stomach and leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. I was on fire, but Raynor and Grim’s magic cooled their bodies. It was like the bite of frost on a spring morning.
Grim cupped my breasts, massaging and lightly pinching my nipples between his fingers. Raynor took advantage of my distraction. His hands held me tight, pushing me open even wider while his tongue glided along my folds, tasting and nibbling. He blew a cold breath of air across my clit, and I nearly came off the bed. Grim’s fingers squeezed harder, and then Raynor pulled that small fleshy nubbin into his mouth, sucking hard.
I came with a cry, a blast of icy wind surrounding me like a vortex before exploding. Snowflakes landed on my eyelashes and cheeks, and I reached up, catching them on my hand. For a moment, they stayed as they were, perfect and unique, before melting and dripping down my palm.
Grim continued to knead my breasts while Raynor kissed his way to my stomach, nibbling across my hip. I reached for him with damp hands, holding his face and tugging gently so we could be face-to-face. I could still feel Grim, a small wet spot at my back evidence of his arousal. Raynor’s cock stood erect, the tip leaking clear fluid.
Wondering if Grim was suffering as well, I wriggled between them, lifting onto my knees to face the twins. They’d taken advantage of my distraction to shed their clothes. We stared at each other in wonder. They were unique, and utterly beautiful. Their pale skin gleamed like it was dusted with snow. I thought back to when I first met them, how I’d needed the scar above Raynor’s eye to tell the two apart, but not anymore. If it had been dark, I think I could have felt the difference. Raynor was tightly coiled, stoic. Whereas Grim was strength wrapped in joy. He smiled at me, his hand drifting toward his cock and encircling it. As I watched hypnotized, he dragged his fist down the length and back up. Without thinking, I reached for him, wanting to know if he was as smooth as he looked.
The first clasp of my hand had Grim moaning, and, not wanting to leave Raynor out, I immediately reached for him. Soon the cabin was filled with the long, low groans of my men. A trail of pre-cum dripped down my hand, and reflexively, I bent down to catch it, licking it off my skin before tonguing Raynor’s slit.
“Betha!” he cried out, and I sucked him into my mouth. Coordination was never my strong suit, but I had determination on my side. Using one hand on Grim, I worked Raynor with my mouth. His hands cupped my face, smoothing my hair back, keeping me steady as I bobbed along his length.
Raynor flexed, and his tip touched the back of my throat. I held him there, swallowing around him. “Your mouth,” he groaned, and a second later, I heard Grim echo that groan.
Grim’s hand touched mine, uncurling my fingers. I let Raynor pop free of my mouth, glancing over at his brother in confusion. With a loaded smile, Grim moved behind me, pressing a hand against the small of my back, urging me to lean forward while he positioned himself at my entrance. The idea of sucking off Raynor while Grim fucked me from behind, made my pussy clench with anticipation.
Holding himself there, tip poised at my entrance, it seemed Grim was waiting for something. The smooth mushroomed head of Raynor’s cock touched my lips, and I opened, twirling my tongue around the head before pushing down as far as I could get him. Simultaneously, Grim thrust into me with a grunt, hips slapping mine to force me forward. I choked a little, and Raynor immediately drew back, but I reached for him, using my hand to make up for the length I couldn’t fit in my mouth.
We found a rhythm. Grim pumped into me, one hand resting on my hip to steady himself, the other reaching around my belly and to my clit, where he held two fingers. The motion of my body rubbed his fingers against me. I rocked my hips back and forth, letting the natural momentum work my mouth along Raynor’s cock.
The twins overpowered every sense I had. Their scent, woodsy and biting, surrounded me with every breath, and their voices, one hoarse, the other smooth, moaned and grunted in tandem with my own breathy gasps.
My body was no longer under my control. They ruled it. Raynor reached for my breasts, tweaking my nipples as he fed me his cock while Grim continued the long slide in and out of my body.
“Grim,” Raynor’s voice was tight.
“Right there,” his brother answered. “She’s right there. So tight, and she just got so much wetter. You like that, Betha. You like when we talk about how you feel. How wet you are. How much you love having my brother in your mouth while I take you.”
I did. I loved it, and his words pushed me over the edge. This orgasm was different than the first. It went on and on, wrapping around the twins and wrenching them into the storm of sensation.
Fire and ice dueled; Raynor erupted in my mouth and I swallowed, over and over, trying to catch every last glacial drop. Behind me, Grim shuddered and jerked, filling me up until his head fell to my back, and his breath drifted across me like an arctic wind. It was the perfect match to the fire raging in my veins. All at once it was doused, and the breath left me, pouring out of me like steam.
“Oh no.” Raynor’s voice seemed far away as the cold threatened to encase me. Blue eyes filled my vision, and for the first time, I couldn’t tell whose worried gaze held mine.
“Don’t go to sleep,” the smooth voice demanded. Grim.
I waved him away. I was so comfortable. The air, which had been comfortably chilly, continued to cool, and from a distance, I could hear the snap and crack of ice creeping along the surface of the windows and cabin.
“Betha.” Someone shook me hard and my head flopped like a rag doll’s. “Stay awake.”
But I couldn’t. Oblivion tempted me, and my eyes shut even when the anxious and frightened voices of the men I loved urged me to open them.
10
Fenris
Mor left me as soon as Raynor closed the door. Knowing my brothers were about to share Betha filled me with less jealousy than I expected. Maybe because I knew they loved her as much as I did, or maybe because Raynor and Grim needed her more in this moment than me.
And I would never be able to share her. The last thing I wanted when I finally got Betha beneath me was to see my brothers naked. When we were together, there would only be her and me.
My mind wandered as I walked through the woods toward the shore, the problem of Betha and the elders turning over in my thoughts.
Her show of strength astounded me. I was well grown before I was able to use ice and wind as she had. The magic she wielded seemed instinctual and linked to her emotions. Each time they’d surfaced had been in moments she’d been overwhelmed or angry.
Thinking back, her powers manifested most often when my brothers and I fought. I chuckled. No do
ubt, we were going to try our skaoi’s patience.
The larger problem continued to loom. Appealing to compassion didn’t work with the elders. They responded to strength, and they wouldn’t see Betha’s potential, but her weakness, namely, being human.
Not that I would change her for anything.
It was Betha’s humanity which added to her appeal. Jötnar rarely changed. Our technology was an example of our stubbornness. It had taken years to bring power this far north. Many continued to light lamps or make tallow candles rather than use generators like the ones we had at our cabin.
A beam of sunlight reflecting off the snow distracted me, and I stopped short. This clearing was my favorite spot. At first glance, it seemed to be buried deep in the forest, but it was actually close to the cabin and the shore. If we felled trees to the north and east, we could clear a path and have a view of the white-capped waves.
This was where, when I allowed myself to dream, I imagined building a home for myself. At the edge of the clearing was a fallen tree. Seating myself upon it, I envisioned our future. I would use smooth rocks from the shore to build the foundation and floor, and then the twins and I would fell as many trees as needed to make our skaoi the perfect home. In my mind’s eye, the roof sloped, overhanging a seating area where Betha would sit and watch our children play. I pictured a path from our door to the sea, lined with shells, white against the green grass.
Visualizing my home passed the time easily. As the day had grown colder, my skin had hardened, taking on the blue-white luster of my ice. I stood, stretching my arms over my head, and frowned. Had I wasted my time? I’d built my skaoi a home she may never live in if I didn’t solve the problem of the elders.
As if my thoughts conjured them, at the edge of the wood, the elders appeared. Even compared to me, they were huge. With their advanced age, they stayed in their ice forms, a form meant to intimidate.
The Ice Bride Page 5