The brothers shared a look before their eyes settled back on her. Yep. Ryan felt it all right. Both of them did.
“Carmen,” Royce said. “What are you doing here?” He tried to hide the growl in his voice, but it was hard to push back. She already looked nervous, and he didn’t want to scare her.
As she stared at him, he realized his stupid question. What was she doing there? Did he really just ask her that? As if he had no clue.
It was the fucking Firewick Festival, for crying out loud. She was probably there to find her warlocks, just like every other witch there.
“You got an invitation from the Elemental Board?” Ryan asked.
Royce wondered if Carmen could hear the desperation in his brother’s voice, or if it was just him who knew what his brother was thinking because he shared the same thoughts too. If they saw any warlocks claiming her, they’d be dead warlocks shortly.
He tried to rein in his possession and desire because he knew Ryan wouldn’t. His brother was an act-first-think-later warlock, repercussions be damned.
Royce noticed Carmen tense up. “Didn’t you?” she asked back. “That’s why you’re here, right? To find your witch?”
“Um...” Ryan mumbled.
His brother’s response surprised Royce. His brother was anything but a speechless kind of guy, but given the circumstances, he understood it well.
Never once did they think they’d have to explain being there without a proper invitation, and a blast from their past was doing just that.
“This has to be a mistake,” Carmen said, shaking her head.
She seemed to be talking more to herself than to them.
“I have to go,” she said.
“Go?” Ryan finally said. “You just got here.”
Good, Royce thought. He and his brother were on the same page.
Seeing her was a surprise, yes, but for some strange reason, they didn’t want to see her go.
No, Royce couldn’t let her leave. She needed to stay with him, with them.
Royce shook his head. Where were these thoughts coming from? It had been years since he last saw the woman who was already starting to make him obsessed. Again.
He remembered how taken he was with her in senior year of high school. The girl he tutored on mathematical equations and variables was nowhere in sight. In her place stood a woman who he could see warming his bed at night and keeping the warmth there way past morning.
“I can’t do this,” Carmen said. She turned around and walked away from them. On instinct, they followed her.
“Carmen,” Royce said. “Don’t leave.”
The woman was putting some distance between them, and Ryan and he had to pick up the pace to catch up with her.
She was passing the second bonfire when he heard her say, “I never should have done that stupid spell.”
That’s when chaos woke the hell up.
Royce saw the flames in the bonfire react to Carmen’s presence and remembered she was a fire witch. When the large fire lowered into the pit, he felt a surge in his own fire magic. He knew the fire was simmering down to prepare for something bigger. Something dangerous.
He reacted and sped past Ryan.
Royce yanked Carmen out of the way and onto the sand just as a fire backdraft emerged from the pit and expanded outside its stone boundaries. The heat flowed over them and roared like an angry beast.
It must have recognized both of their fire elements, because instead of burning Carmen and Royce, it rolled over them as if they were a part of the extended flame.
He felt power like he’d never known before, something that knocked against his skin and begged to be let in. It didn’t take Royce long to realize this powerful force came from Carmen, the witch who was now snuggled safely beneath him.
The fire flowed with them and through them, as if realizing their kindred essence, until it retracted back into the bonfire pit.
That certainly wasn’t normal.
He looked down at Carmen, whom he still had his arms wrapped tightly around.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
Her eyes were wide, and her breathing came out shallow, but she nodded her head.
He stood and pulled her up with him, refusing to let go of her even as she gained her composure.
Being that close to her, he realized energy was pouring out of body and making her skin glow with the fiery color of her element. It felt like warm tingles passing from her to him, and he instantly figured it out.
From the way Carmen stared into his eyes, he knew they were reflecting the same color of his magic. It was like an instant energy boost laced with sex and power he’d never known before.
Carmen had caused the fire to expand that way. The witch wasn’t just beautiful. She possessed a strength he’d never seen before, and it drew him in even more.
With Carmen there in his arms, he suddenly remembered his past with her. One thing stood out, something that had been gnawing at him for the years they were away, a piece of information Ryan shared long after they had left Kala West. It was information that made him more than jealous.
His brother had kissed Carmen.
Royce had warned his brother to stay away from her, and he’d gone and done the exact opposite. It seriously pissed Royce off that Ryan was the one to kiss her first.
He had wanted to do it himself on numerous occasions, while she was close to him as he went over her homework, feeling her skin brush his as she guided her pencil over paper.
He was tempted many times. She’d nearly driven him crazy with longing then, and his poor teenage hormones could barely stand it.
The icing on the thick, magical cakefest was that Carmen was a fire witch. He found it out the first time they touched.
As they talked about their shared magical ability, he realized he was becoming enchanted by the girl, and he was certain it wasn’t from intentional magic on her part. No, it was something stronger and beyond both of their control.
That’s when he realized he needed to put some distance in their sessions. He did his best to avoid touching her and to keep their talk to schoolwork. It was the only way to protect her, to keep her safe from him ever losing control.
The poor girl was young and vulnerable. She didn’t need the overwhelming desire he had for her scaring her off. It was better for her if he kept his distance.
He wasn’t stupid, and Carmen was far from it herself. He knew Carmen felt him pull back too, but she was also a freshman. She didn’t deserve the intensity he was feeling to be thrown at her, not when he was her senior tutor. He had a responsibility for her, one he wasn’t going to ruin.
Royce made his first mistake of telling Ryan about Carmen. Knowing his brother’s “leap before you look” attitude, Royce should have thought that one through more. Ryan immediately wanted to meet the girl that had his brother on edge. However, Royce knew his brother’s reputation. He was a serial dater, and he’d die first before allowing his brother to date Carmen and leave her like his past high school trysts. She was too special for that.
Royce knew he had to set boundaries. It was the only way to protect Carmen. The only way to protect her from them both. He forbade his brother from ever talking to her.
That was Royce’s second mistake.
Ryan didn’t like to be told he couldn’t do something. He had a habit of breaking those rules just to defy them.
Ryan found their study room and made sure he played it up as a coincidence.
Royce knew him better than that. They were twins, after all.
Now that Royce had Carmen in his arms, he wasn’t about to let another opportunity pass him by. He had to taste her. He had to make up for not doing it all those years ago.
He pulled her in close, even as the shock of it filled her face, and he took that tempting mouth of hers with his own.
She was the very embodiment of heat and passion that she appeared to be, her lips a succulent softness that made him deepen the kiss until she opened up fo
r him, receiving him as he took in her essence.
If he thought she was strong before, he was mistaken, because he was no longer in control. Carmen possessed him in body and soul all through that one kiss.
Vaguely he sensed Ryan come up behind Carmen. His brother did something to make her moan into him, and that only made Royce deepen their kiss.
He took all she offered and still wanted more. His fingers dug into her hips and melded her to him.
A battle raged in his head between logic and insanity, but for the moment, everything felt right with his world, and the center of it was Carmen Brixton.
Chapter Six
Carmen felt like a pool of lava, nothing but heat melting everything in its path, and it was all because of the way Royce kissed her. No one had ever consumed her mouth the way he took in every inch of her.
Only Ryan’s kiss when she was a teenager came close, but Royce was ensuring his brother came in a distant second. This wasn’t a kiss done by a teenager. Hell to the no.
The kiss that currently overtook her body was done by a man who wasn’t afraid to take what he wanted, and if Carmen was going by the sensual way he took her mouth, Royce wanted her. Any doubt of that vanished when she felt the hardness of him press into her belly.
Not to be upstaged by his identical sibling, Ryan had sandwiched her in from behind to stake territory on her neck, a sensitive area Carmen didn’t even know existed until Ryan’s tongue explored it.
Her body was no longer her own. She was nothing but sensation at the mercy of two adamant warlocks, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. No, her head had no thought outside of how the brothers kissed and caressed her like they’d been doing it their entire lives.
This was what she wanted, right? The passion and sensation that they gave her that no other guy had been able to provide,
Their arms encased her, making her feel small against their solid frames. Hands grabbed at her waist while another set hovered underneath her breasts, as if waiting for permission.
She wanted them more than she ever had. Both of them. She craved them equally and wanted them to devour every inch of her until they reached her soul.
Her eyes opened with the thought of being so vulnerable with two men she always wanted but still barely knew.
A small fear crossed her path and grew like a watered seed as she remembered that she was very inexperienced in all the ways they were leading her. Although a large part of her wanted to see where they took her, that tiny seed was enough to make her pause.
She may have been a virgin, but these two were far from it.
The brothers were all height and muscle, and Carmen was sure she would have fallen if not for the support of her warlocks.
Wait. Huh? She was a possessive witch all of a sudden. Her warlocks. She’d been saying it before she even had anyone.
Yet it sounded so natural in her head.
Royce quickly pulled back from kissing her, making her dizzy and still longing for him to continue but happy that she had a moment to think.
She was not the rational sister. Claire and Charice had rubbed off on her more than she thought. Didn’t she want two warlocks to love and cherish her forever?
But that was it. Even with the primal urges she had for Royce and Ryan, she wasn’t sure if they felt the same for her, and that was the scariest part of all.
“What’s wrong, Brother?” Ryan asked above her head, his voice filled with a heaviness that could only be desire.
The thought of being desired by anyone, let alone these two, made warmth grow in Carmen’s belly. Was she really close to getting what she always wanted?
“We shouldn’t do this,” Royce said. “This is too fast.”
Maybe not that close, Carmen thought.
She was completely out of her lust haze, and that seed grew into a damn-ass tree of fear, snuffing out the warmth.
Were they upset that she could be their witch? Maybe they were expecting someone prettier. Someone smaller.
No, she wasn’t going there. She’d finally gotten to a place where she appreciated her curves. Every last one of them. She would go warlock-less before binding herself to men who couldn’t appreciate her for all her bountiful and witchy glory. No matter how hot they looked in bonfire light. No matter how much she wanted them.
Carmen tried to move away from Royce, but Ryan’s solid chest was firm and steady against her back. He wasn’t moving away from her.
“You know it’s her,” Ryan said. “I won’t let you do this. Not again.”
“Do what?” Carmen asked. She was beyond confused. Heavy make out sessions seemed to do that to her.
“We’ve always known you were our witch, Carmen,” Ryan said as he tightened his arms around her protectively. “Royce knew early on when he was with you, all the way back in high school. That’s why he tried to keep you away from me, away from us. He thought with us being older, we’d overwhelm you. I certainly wasn’t a gentle guy back then. Then I kissed you, and I understood what he meant.”
“Are you saying you backed off because you were trying to protect me?”
“Yes,” Ryan said, so close that his breath brushed her ear.
She looked up at Royce. “Is that true? Is that why you were so distant?”
His silence was enough to prove it absolutely was.
Carmen wiggled away from Ryan, swung back her hand, and slapped Royce right on the face.
“Ow,” he said. “What was that for?”
“For not telling me, you jackass.”
Royce rubbed his reddening cheek. “You heard the part where he said I was trying to protect you, right?”
“I don’t care. You should have told me. I had the right to hear it from you.”
“I tried. I came to your house, but you wouldn’t see me.”
Carmen remembered all right. One of her biggest regrets was not seeing him that day she had Charice lie for her. If she’d known she wouldn’t see him for years, she would have listened. But he could have tried harder too. It wasn’t all her fault.
“Can you blame me?” she asked.
“Carmen—” Royce started.
“No,” Carmen said. “Don’t do that. You don’t understand what it was like for me.”
“Enlighten us then, babe,” Ryan said. He looked down at her. “Please.”
Any other time she would have hated being called that, but the way Ryan said it made the word more endearing.
She tilted her head back to stare back at him. Damn he was tall.
Her head rested on his firm chest as she met his gaze. Those sharp grays of his eyes softened, and she tried not to melt into a ball of stupid staring into them.
She still felt the heat and strength of him as he pulled her closer to him with her back against the muscles of his chest.
No, she wasn’t falling for it. She wasn’t some love-struck girl anymore.
She wiggled away so she could have both men in her view.
“When you left, a part of me broke,” she said, meeting their eyes. “I get that you had no control over it. I mean, after what happened to your...” She couldn’t bring herself to speak the words.
“Our parents,” Ryan said. “You can say it, Carmen.”
“Yes. Your parents.” Her voice was somber as she thought of the tragedy her men went through. No. Why was she calling them her men again? Her head was trying to fight both her heart and body, and she wasn’t sure which side she wanted to win. “I understood why you had to leave, but it still hurt me. Now I just...If this bond is meant to be, I have to know I won’t get hurt again.”
Royce shook his head. “I’m sorry, Carmen. I’m not going to deny that we have something here. It’s too late to avoid it, but Ryan and I may not be what’s best for you.”
Carmen felt air stir around her and immediately knew it was coming from Ryan. She was happy not to have been on the other end of that look he gave his brother.
“What the fuck, Royce? Are you really doing this?”
The look on Royce’s face was one between confusion and something else. Something she was familiar with. Fear.
Carmen realized then that she wasn’t the only one afraid of what could be between them. Royce was scared, and it was probably some macho bullshit keeping him from admitting it. She may not have had experience with men, but she got male language, or the lack of it.
Fine. Maybe if she fought her fears, Royce would be man enough to do the same.
She took in a deep breath of night air and released it.
“I want both of you,” she said, fighting the tight knot in her belly. “I always have, and if you’re the ones I think you are then I want you to be my warlocks.”
There. She said it. All cards bared face up on the table. Poker stare not needed.
She should have felt relieved. Instead, it felt like her heart and soul were entwined in a knot that even she couldn’t untangle. Goddess help her.
A smile filled Ryan’s face, and the knot loosened a little.
“That’s what we want too, gorgeous,” Ryan said. “Right, Royce?”
Then she turned to Royce, and the twisting sensation balled up even more.
“Right, Royce?” Ryan prodded. His voice was insistent, and Carmen had no doubt as to what he wanted.
“I can’t,” Royce said. “I just...can’t.”
Carmen wasn’t going to cry. Not here on a night she’d been waiting her whole life for.
She pulled strength from fire and took another deep breath before exhaling.
“Then I’m done waiting,” Carmen said. She stayed as calm as she could, turned her back on the only men she ever really loved in her life, and walked away.
She said a silent prayer to the gods that when she finally started running, she was far enough for them not to see her.
***
Ryan had the urge to chase after Carmen, but Royce was keeping him from it. He also had the urge to hit his brother on his ass.
“What the fuck was that?” Ryan yelled. He felt the air swirl around them. He was so pissed even his element was stirring.
“I couldn’t lie to her,” Royce said. “Just give her time, and maybe you and her—”
The Alpha Warlocks' Own: An Alpha Warlocks of Kala West Story #3 (A BWWM and BBW Paranormal Ménage Romance) Page 4