by JJ King
I froze in place, wanting to rush to him, to reach out and touch him, but afraid that any movement would spook him back into stubborn silence.
“Do you need to go home?” The question ripped from my soul. The thought of him leaving, going back to Russia even for a little while, created a chasm in my chest that ached instantly. Lucian sat up and leaned forward.
Chase shifted from where he sat on the floor to watch his friend intently. “What do you need?” he asked quietly.
"I can't go home," Dimitri murmured, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his jaw. "They won't let me."
I did move now, crossing the room to kneel next to the chair. I rested my hand on his leg and gently squeezed. "Who are they? Your family?"
Dimitri opened his eyes, which were dark once more with shadows of pain. There was so much anguish in those eyes.
He nodded. "They sent me here, as far away from home as possible, to keep me safe. My parents, they were afraid something would happen to me, to my brothers and sisters, so they split us up and sent us to different academies around the world." His hands balled into fists. "I need to go back, I need to make sure they’re safe, but they refuse to listen. They made me swear not to return." He lowered his chin to his chest and sighed. "I swore an oath, but now…"
"Why did they send you away?" I asked, squeezing his leg harder as unease turned into fear for my mate's family. I didn't know them, but they were part of who he was, they were in his heart, so they were important to me, too. "What's the danger?"
Dimitri shook his head and murmured, "The man they work for, he's insane, dangerous, and deadly."
"Can't they just quit?" Chase asked
Dimitri barked a laugh. "Nobody leaves, nobody quits. That's why they sent us away. My mother had a friend who ran away. She couldn't take it anymore, the constant fear. She was found dead several days later, with her entire family. Her youngest child was only three years old."
A shutter ran through me. I knew evil like this. I knew it didn't stop until someone stopped it.
No one spoke. No one knew what to say.
"It was a message. My parents began preparations to send us away immediately. They begged us not to fight back, to respect and accept their decision. It nearly killed me to get on that plane, but I did it for them, so they could know I was safe."
"So, what's changed?" I asked quietly.
"Everything." Dimitri whispered. "Something’s happened, something bad, but they aren’t sure what. They’re afraid.” He blew out a shuddering breathing. “My father says it's safer to stay and fly under the radar, but…" He raked a hand through his hair. "It's like I can't breathe, knowing they could be hurt, murdered." His voice rose until he was shouting and shaking. Tears glistened in his eyes, of fear, frustration, and rage. He surged to his feet and began to pace like a trapped animal.
My mind and heart raced. It hit too close to home, dredging up memories I was trying so diligently to forget. I pushed at them, knowing Dimitri needed me now. My trauma could wait.
Besides, mine wasn't the only trauma in the room.
My gaze shifted from Dimitri to Lucian, whose dark vibrant skin had gone ashen. Of course, I realized, suddenly stricken. Lucian's parents had been murdered, and he'd lost everything. I couldn't imagine how difficult it would be not to project that pain and loss onto this situation. Part of me wanted to go to him, to take him in my arms, but I couldn't change his loss, and couldn't affect the outcome of his story. Dimitri's parents were still alive and needed help.
"What if I asked Rose?" I blurted, barely taking a moment to think the words through. "Maybe Liam could help, or Katherine, or Sylvie." I ran through the list of names of important wolves I knew, however vaguely, desperate to find something concrete to offer Dimitri. "They have connections all over the world. Maybe they could smuggle your parents out, get them somewhere safe so you and your family could be reunited." The thought that that place wouldn't be with me, brought pain that I ignored.
Dimitri stared at me, his mouth opening and closing several times before he managed to say, "You would do that for me?"
I blinked. "Of course I would do that for you." I took a hesitant step towards him. "Dimitri, I would do anything for you."
He inhaled deeply, closed his eyes for a moment, and swallowed. When he opened his eyes and looked at me, I saw appreciation, respect, and love. My chest burned with the need to say it.
"I love you," I whispered, hoarsely, finally releasing everything I've been feeling in those three little words.
Dimitri stopped breathing for a long moment, then his breath whooshed out and I was in his arms. His mouth crushed mine in a kiss that branded me. When I could barely remember my name, he pulled back, framed my face between his hands and murmured, "I love you, too."
Pure joy, exquisite and overwhelming, flooded me, pushing aside all the darkness. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him again, then pulled back and turned in his arms to face my other mates.
They were watching me, watching us, with wide eyes filled with longing and hope. My heart expanded in my chest, pressing against my ribs until I wondered how it didn't burst. There was just so much love inside me, I couldn't hold it back anymore. I didn't want to.
I stayed where I was, with Dimitri's arms wrapped around my waist, and held out my hands. "I love you," I said, looking from Chase to Lucian, then glancing back over my shoulder at my dark Russian.
For a moment, no one moved, then my mates, as one, encircled me.
Chapter 14
The mood in the room changed instantly.
Lucian's breath hitched and Chase's eyes went impossibly molten. Both men moved forward, arms outstretched, as words of love tumbled from their lips.
"Old Ones, Lexi," Chase murmured, reaching me first. His hand cupped my cheek, so gently it nearly brought tears to my eyes. And then his lips, pressed against mine, trembling. "I love you so much. I didn't know it was possible to love someone like this." His hand slid behind my neck, tilting my face up to meet his kiss as he deepened it.
Lucian nudged him out of the way, his eyes wide now. I stared into them, half-drunk with desire and love, and saw no trace of grief for his parents. Relief swelled in me, mixed with lust and every unspoken emotion I'd had since meeting them. I reached for him, arching my neck to give Chase better access while Lucian claimed me with his lips.
The taste of him, the feel of teeth against the curve of my neck, and Dimitri's fingers dipping beneath the edge of my waistband to skim the top of my panties, it all came together, swirling in a mist of sensation that sent my mind reeling.
Incoherent moans broke from my lips as I arched, shivered, and undulated beneath their mouths and hands.
"Mine," Lucian growled, moving his mouth away from mine and fitting his lips to my collarbone. His hands captured my breasts, drawing mewling sounds from me, while his teeth sunk possessively into my flesh.
I threw back my head and cried out in a mixture of pain and pleasure.
"Mine," Chase echoed, following Lucian's example. He nipped first, letting me know what was coming, then sank his teeth into the exquisitely tender skin of my neck.
Dimitri wrapped his arms around my waist and held me as I bucked and growled for more.
There was a wildness in me, trapped only by the human flesh keeping me contained. My wolf wanted to burst free, to bite, to howl my need, but I wanted to touch skin, to press my hands against their slick flesh and taste the salt gathered at the base of their necks. I wanted them inside me.
They ignored my demands for "More!" and moved their hands over me in agonizingly slow strokes. They moved as if it were a dance, each touching a part of me, exciting my nerves, driving me absolutely insane.
Still in Dimitri's grip, I twisted my head to look up at him. "Aren't I yours, too?" I asked in a breathy tone.
He growled, snapped his teeth at me, then lowered his mouth to the back of my neck and bit just as he dipped a finger into me.
He took his t
ime exploring my slick heat, skirting around that bundle of nerves that thrummed with awareness and need. I sighed at the sweet pleasure of his lazy strokes, then gasped when his thumb encircled my clit, around and around, until my breath came in quiet pants.
I lifted my hips, pushing into his fingers, and incoherently murmured when Lucian slipped my pants off my hips, taking my damp panties with them, leaving me bare.
I spread my legs further for Dimitri.
But it was Lucian’s lips that moved over my thigh, inching closer and closer to where Dimitri’s fingers drove me wild. It was Lucian’s hands that gripped my thighs and widened them, hoisting them onto his shoulders and tilting my hips to give himself better access.
And it was Lucian whose tongue started low and licked the entire length of me, just as he plunged fingers into my body and began to thrust.
My eyesight went fuzzy, fading in and out until brilliant lights exploded behind my eyelids and pleasure rolled through me, driving me up, up, up, until there was nowhere left to go but over the edge.
An orgasm ripped through me, sending shock waves of pleasure that built until I screamed and pulled away from the exquisite torture. My muscles shivered and shook, inside and out, making me feel like jelly. Someone lowered me to the floor, then multiple hands moved over me, removing the rest of my clothes, one piece at a time.
I was spent, destroyed, unable to think straight, but my nerves woke anew and danced with each caress, lighting fires everywhere my mates touched. It seemed impossible, this much pleasure. I had no idea how I could stand it.
“Lexi,” Dimitri rasped. “Look at me.”
I opened my eyes and pulled myself back from wherever I’d floated off to. My lips lifted in a lazy smile.
He brushed a hand over my cheek, smiled down at me, then plunged his length inside my body with a groan of triumph.
He filled me with one long hard stroke, stretching me impossibly, and began to move as Lucian and Chase stroked, kissed, and licked over every inch of exposed skin. I dug my fingers into skin, hair, and clothes discarded beneath me, and rode the waves of sensation.
Hands lifted me, stroking me, making me groan with loss when Dimitri pulled out. A moment later, after he’d pulled me on top of his slick body, he slipped back inside me, filling me again, and wrapped his arms around me tight.
And someone else knelt behind me.
All the languid dreaminess disappeared in an instant as hands moved to my waist and began slowly running over the curve of my ass. I twisted and realized it was Chase, my southern playboy, my devilish mate, and that he wore an evil grin right now.
“Dare you,” he murmured, gently pressing his erection against my tight opening.
My stomach exploded with nerves that even Dimitri’s smooth thrusts couldn’t banish. They did cloud my mind, though, sending liquid pleasure coursing through me with each move. I’d never done it before, but I’d thought about it. A lot.
Fuck it, I thought, letting my lips turn up in a reflection of Chase’s daring smile. “Be gentle,” I whispered, still fighting back nerves. He’d be gentle, I knew. I could trust him.
Chase’s eyes flared with need. He swallowed hard and reached past me to pull something from my bedside table. Then he was touching me softly, encircling me with his finger, dipping inside and shooting pleasure through my entire body as he prepared me.
Chase’s fingers found purchase in my curves a moment later, and a sound of ecstasy escaped his lips as he pushed into me, all the while murmuring my name and words of love.
My body tensed at the intrusion.
“Relax, love,” Dimitri murmured into my ear. He’d stopped as well and was just holding me.
I looked into his dark eyes and nodded, breathing in, then exhaling all my nerves. My muscles loosened, just a bit, just enough to let Chase slide deep inside.
I moaned at the sensation of fullness; beyond anything I could ever imagine. Inside, I imagined the intimacy of Chase and Dimitri touching each other except for a thin layer of skin separating them. The thought was so erotic, it nearly brought me to orgasm right there.
Then they began to move.
It was an epiphany. My mind fractured as unimaginable pleasure washed over me, with no time to gather before it crested again. I tried to hold on to my thoughts, to stay with them, but it was impossible.
I let go and floated, almost disconnected from reality because reality couldn’t possibly be this encompassing. I heard my moans and felt my spine arch high as they moved, setting the pace. I hung on and let them take control.
Screams tore from my throat as an orgasm started and didn’t stop. My muscles spasmed, clenching around them, as brilliant colors flared behind my closed eyelids, fisting them inside me. I felt them come inside me, together, filling me as their bodies jerked and then went boneless.
We slid to the floor, naked limbs, covered in sweat, too exhausted to move or think. Lucian slid in beside me, nudging Chase aside, and gathering me in his arms.
“Sleep,” he murmured, pressing his lips to my temple.
I drifted off with a smile on my lips and wasn’t entirely sure if I were dreaming or not when I heard Lucian’s husky whisper, “You’ll need your strength.”
Chapter 15
"I wasn't going to say anything, but you're giving off a decidedly 'cat who's had her fill of cream' vibe," Cam commented as they piled out of class and into the hallway. "In fact, from the looks of you, I'd say the cat was well fed this weekend." He wagged his eyebrows and grinned.
Heat and color suffused my cheeks, but I didn't deny his observation. There was nothing to deny, he was right.
"Well," I said, drawing out the word. "Since we're wolves, I can't lay claim to so feline a description, so let's just say, I held once or twice this weekend." I couldn't stop the devilish grin from lighting my face up.
Cam chuckled and bumped me with his shoulder. "I'd say it was more than once or twice, but the real question is, which of your three young gentlemen suitors is responsible for loosening up all your too-tight nuts and bolts?"
"Since when have you known anything about nuts and bolts?" Greg mused aloud, earning him laughter and a quick shot to the arm from Cam.
I flashed him a secretive smile and tapped a finger to my lips. "A lady never tells."
They all stared at me for a moment, then broke into loud hoots of laughter.
"I needed a good laugh," Dina said, still chuckling. She wiped tears from her cheeks and shook her head. "Now, for real, which of those three hunks did you fuck this weekend?"
I froze, not sure if I should spill the beans of my sexual exploits. Wolves were sexual beings, we liked being physical. Having group sex wasn't taboo, not exactly, especially not at University. It was risqué, though, and not altogether inside my usual wheelhouse. Then again, I'd only met Cam, Dina, and Greg a few months ago. They had no idea what was inside or outside my wheelhouse. Maybe I was a group sex kinda gal, you never know.
But, as I turned a vicious shade of magenta, I knew that they'd know this was a new experience for me.
"Holy shit!" Dina blurted a moment later. Her eyes went impossibly wide as she stared at the pink spots on my cheeks. "Did you…" She gaped wider and grabbed my arm. "Did you have sex with all of them? At the same time?" Her voice rose several octaves with each question.
"Shhh!" I hissed, pulling her to the side of the hallway. "Privacy, Dina. I kind of like it if the entire campus didn't know my business."
"You mean, like Dimitri, Chase, and Lucian know your business?" Greg said in a deadpan tone that was betrayed by the sparkle of delight in his green eyes.
I smacked him on the chest and blushed even harder.
"Old Ones," Cam whispered reverently. "You did it, didn't you? You had them all." He lifted a hand to his forehead and padded imaginary sweat. "I think I need to sit down. It's all too much to think about."
"Then maybe don't think about it," I muttered, half enjoying the repartee and camaraderie of my small group
of friends. The other half of me was mortified, but I was sure I'd get over that with time and more experience in sexual deviancy.
My lips quirked up. I was one hundred percent down for more experience in sexual deviancy.
“What was it like?” Cam asked in a breathless voice typically reserved for meeting the Queen or Lady Gaga. “My mind can’t even fathom. Old ones! How did you ever manage to leave your room for class this morning? I’d have stayed wrapped up snug as a bug in Southern playboy with a side of French Canadian and Russian.” He fanned himself with a hand, looking for the world on the verge of fainting.
I rolled my eyes. "Cameron, you are, without a doubt, the single most dramatic person I have ever met in my entire life." I reached out and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Never change." I took my hand back and tapped it against my lips, remembering how swollen they'd been all weekend. Finally, on a sigh, I relented. "Fine," I murmured. "I'll spill the tea, but some of my guys are more reticent to share detail than others, so you really need to keep this just between us, okay?"
They all nodded vigorously.
"And you're buying me lunch," I decided with an Imperial bob of my head. "As a bribe for talking." It seemed like a good deal to me.
"More than fair," Greg agreed. "But which one of them has the secretive soul? My bet is on Lucian. Still waters run deep in that one. How deep, is the question." He looked at me with a sly grin that made the double entendre very clear.
"Then it's a date," Cam announced, linking his arm through mine to pull me along. "What are you in the mood for, darling?"
Dina hooked her arm through my free appendage, then waited for Greg to join forces with her. "Onward, friends," she said with a bright smile. "Let's go somewhere with alcohol. I may need to drink and, possibly, a cigarette."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "You don't smoke."
Dina shook her head. "I don't, but I may need to start after you give us all the details." She licked her lips and shivered and excitement. "Mmmm, Dimitri Baskin."