by Susan Hayes
Nails raked across his chest with just enough pressure to sting. “Stop it,” Anya said.
No. She couldn’t do this to him so soon. She wouldn’t… “Stop what? Needing you?” He ground out the words between gritted teeth.
“Oh no. Please don’t stop that bit.” She flashed him a soft, knowing smile and reached up to smooth a gentle finger between his brows, drawing his attention to the fact he was scowling. “Stop listening to whatever voice is in your head right now, telling you this is too good to last.”
“How did you know?” He didn’t try to deny it. There was no point. This female saw through him in ways that intrigued and terrified him.
“Because I’m hearing the same voices.” She moved her hand so she could lightly tap his temple. “And I’m ignoring them. I don’t know what the future holds for us.” She reached back to take Tra’var’s hand. “But I’ve finally accepted that whatever else happens, there will be an us.”
He caught her hand gently in his, drawing it down to his mouth so he could suckle on each finger in turn, his gaze never leaving hers. Then he pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her palm.
“I think what my silent and broody anrik is trying to say is that he appreciates your words and would very much like to take you to bed now but he’s lost the ability to form words at the moment.” Tra’var smirked at him. “Or something like that.”
He flicked up the fingers of one hand in an obscene gesture, making sure to do it hard enough the spray struck Tra’var in the face.
“Get the cleanser. Will you? I have something I need to do.”
“So that’s how this is going to be? First you leave me to secure the forge, and now I’m supposed to fetch the cleanser?”
He brushed his lips to Anya’s and winked at her before lifting his head to look at Tra’var. “As you have so often pointed out. I am the higher-ranking male.”
“I’ve been telling you that for more than half your life and you chose now to decide I’m right?” Tra’var managed to grumble and grin at the same time.
“I’ve always been a bit of a late bloomer.”
Anya’s delighted laughter bounced off the tiled walls of the shower. “You two are adorable when you bicker.”
“I’m adorable. Damos is a grumpy lump of lead.” Tra’var filled his hands with cleanser and then handed the container to Damos. Both of them lathered it into a rich, fragrant foam before turning their full attention back to Anya.
“Top to bottom or side by side?” Tra’var asked aloud.
“Side by side I think,” Damos replied.
“If this is about what I think it is? I vote for side by side.”
“Our mahaya has spoken.” Tra’var moved a few steps one way and Damos moved the other, keeping Anya between them. Each claimed a shoulder and began spreading the cleanser over her skin, matching each other’s movements as they worked their way slowly down to her fingertips.
They repeated their ministrations for each body part as she did the same for them. It was exquisite torture for all of them, the most perfect pain he’d ever experienced.
By the time they reached the apex of her thighs their movements were no longer slow or gentle. They coaxed her legs apart, both of them wrapping an arm around her back to keep her steady as they slid their fingers into the sweet, slick heat of her pussy.
It was messy, chaotic, and the most erotic experience of his life. They worked in tandem, Tra’var fucking her with his fingers while Damos focused on her clit. He had to be careful to keep his claws away from her delicate flesh. He didn’t want to hurt her. Could never hurt her. Anya seemed to know this because she rode their fingers hard, trusting them with her pleasure as she bucked and gasped between them.
His cock was hard enough he could have used it as a forging hammer and he wanted nothing more in the worlds than to bury himself balls-deep in her body. Every cell of his being demanded that he claim Anya. Bite her. Mark her as his inside and out.
“Soon,” Tra’var subvocalized to him. “She needs our protection. Our nanotech. She’s too vulnerable.”
Those words echoed in his head as Anya came apart in their arms. She cried out as her orgasm tore through her, clinging to both of them for support as her knees buckled.
He bent down and gathered her into his arms, kneeling on the floor of the shower as Tra’var drew out the last of her release with his fingers. He bowed his head, using it to shield her from the fall of water as she gasped and trembled in his arms.
She was perfect, beautiful, and theirs to protect. He knew what he needed to do to keep her safe… but she wasn’t going to like it.
Anya almost never relinquished control of anything. Not until she came to Haven. Now she was lying boneless in the arms of her lovers while the small part of her brain that could still form coherent words was suggesting she hand over the running of her tavern to her staff for a few days.
Days.
Crazier still, the rest of her thought that was the best idea ever.
“Pheromones are weird,” she announced out of the blue.
Both males chuckled and the next thing she knew she was out of the shower and draped against Damos’ chest while Tra’var dried her with a warm, fluffy towel.
“Pheromones are only part of it,” Damos told her. “Your body has been reacting to us since the moment we met, and ours has been reacting to you, preparing for this moment.”
She raised a hand to touch his cheek. “So, if we’re all prepared, why aren’t we in bed already?”
“Because Damos is the slowest damned male on the planet.” Tra’var gave his anrik a light shove. “Do as our mahaya says.”
She hadn’t really looked around the last time they’d been in the main living area. She’d been too focused on her mates to register anything else. This time, she saw what they’d done. The floor was almost completely covered in bedding materials. Mattresses, pillows, sheets and blankets had been gathered to make one oversized bed.
“I guess that answers the question about whose bed we’re using.”
“You will have your own room eventually, and if you wish to sleep alone, you can. But it’s our hope that you will want to spend most nights together with us,” Tra’var said.
Damos carried her to the far edge of the bed and then turned so his back was against the wall. He lowered them both to the mattress, adjusting her limbs so they were face to face with her straddling his thighs. His golden skin was still wet from the shower with droplets of water beading on his scales.
He was stunning, like a statue of living gold sculpted by a master of his craft. His thighs were so thick with muscle her knees didn’t reach the mattress, a potential issue that was quickly rectified by Tra’var and several pillows. She let them arrange things the way they wanted them, even her.
Both of them stole kisses and caresses, keeping her distracted and adding fuel to the fire that burned in her veins. It didn’t matter that she’d come only a few minutes ago. She needed them again.
Tra’var knelt beside them, knees spread, his cock fisted in one massive hand. He was close enough to touch, so she did, leaning over just enough to place her hand on the wide crown of his cock. He let his eyes fall partially closed and groaned as she stroked him with her fingertips, circling the flared head and passing her thumb over the slit at the tip. His hand moved to cover hers, guiding her down his shaft and showing her how he liked it best.
While she gave Tra’var what he needed, Damos took what he craved. He steadied her with one hand on her hip, his mouth trailing fire as he kissed his way down to her breasts.
She rocked in his lap, the heavy bar of his cock a steady pressure against the seam of her pussy. She draped her free arm over Damos’ shoulder, letting her fingers tangle in the wet locks of his hair as he tormented her breasts with his wicked mouth.
Damos reached between them, gently parting her folds with his fingers and easing himself into position to claim her.
He was so careful not to catch her with his cla
ws it took longer than she wanted. “Hurry,” she whispered and then slid her hand down his back. She followed his spine down to the point where it intersected his wings, exploring the raised ridge of his scales. He growled, his cock growing impossibly thicker.
“If you don’t stop that…” he trailed off and gave her clit a warning flick with a callused fingertip.
“Then you’ll what? Fuck me slower than you already are?” She threw her words down like a challenge, eager to see the big male’s control finally break.
Tra’var uttered a bark of laughter that ended in a low groan as she tightened her grip on his shaft, her other hand still deliberately stroking the spot between Damos’ wings.
He snarled something unintelligible and surged upward, giving her what she craved. His newly freed hand landed on her hip, his grip firm and the tips of his claws pricking at her skin. He didn’t stop until he was fully sheathed inside her body, her inner walls rippling around his cock.
This was what she wanted. “Yes!”
Tra’var moved closer, his hand over hers as she pleasured him. She kissed Damos and then him, trusting her lovers to keep her balanced as she dove into a sea of carnal pleasures.
Damos’ tongue tangled with hers, hot and demanding, consuming her and branding her at the same time. He lifted her into the air and then brought her down on his cock as he thrust upward. She moaned and closed her eyes, her hand moving to his shoulder to brace herself. He dominated and controlled her, dictating the pace of their lovemaking and leaving her with nothing to do but enjoy the ride.
Tra’var’s hips bucked, thrusting his cock into her hand faster and faster yet somehow managing to match his pace to Damos’.
She fought to make the moment last, not wanting to lose the magic, the sense of connection to these two incredible males who had somehow become hers. She could blame the sharhal or her lust-fogged mind, but she was certain it was more than that. This was right. She knew it the same way she’d known she had to accept Phaedra’s invitation to set up shop in Haven.
Damos took her to the edge of her control and then pushed her past it, dropping his mouth to the side of her neck as the first surge of her release tore through her.
She clamped down hard on his cock as Tra’var leaned in and bit her at the point her neck and shoulder met. She felt a moment of pain that was almost immediately swept away by a tidal wave of pleasure.
Damos came next, his cock thickening yet again, increasing the pressure to all her most sensitive places at once. She cried out in surprise and delight as her orgasm intensified, and then Tra’var’s seed was scalding her hand as he spent himself against her fingers.
As she slumped against the sweat-slicked expanse of Damos’ chest, she smiled to herself. For better or worse, they were now bound to each other—from this day and for the rest of their lives.
That thought didn’t scare her anymore.
11
Her new life as a mated woman started off in the most unexpected way. She woke up and discovered it was still dark outside. Normally this meant she’d woken because of some sort of alarm or dire emergency.
Concerned as to why she was awake, she tried to rise only to discover she was partially pinned down by her two sleeping bedmates.
At least, they had been sleeping until she’d woken them.
“What is it?” Damos asked, his voice still thick with sleep.
A handful of dim lights came on as the house’s AI detected voices, allowing her to see better.
“I’m awake. I’m never awake this early unless something is on fire.” She wriggled free of their embrace and sat up, trying to determine why in the name of gravity she was awake before dawn. Worse. She was wide awake, the kind of mental clarity that didn’t usually kick in until she’d had her second mug of tea.
“Only thing on fire is me. Too hot.” Tra’var threw off the blankets, giving her a stunning view of his naked body even though the lighting was too dim to make out many details.
Snuggling with the two of them had kept her warm enough that the air of the room felt cool on her bare skin, but maybe Vardarians ran hotter than humans. That would explain his comment. “You two are just naturally hot. Sleeping with the two of you means I’ll never be cold again.”
Damos grinned at her, looking more relaxed than she’d ever seen him. “We will see to your every need, mahaya.”
Tra’var grunted in agreement but didn’t move. She left their makeshift bed and padded to the sanitation room but only got halfway before she noticed that the usual stiffness and aches weren’t so noticeable. That was odd because hours of sex with her two lovers should have had the opposite effect.
Was this the nanotech at work?
She did her business and went to wash her hands and face. Her reflection showed a woman who had been well-loved. Her hair was a mess and her lips were still puffy from all the kissing she’d done. Despite the long day and late night, she didn’t have more than a trace of dark shadows under her eyes. The nanotech had to be responsible.
Curious, she brushed her hair back to look at the marks on her neck. Tra’var’s had mostly healed, leaving a scar they had assured her would last the rest of her life to mark her as their mate. It was still a little bruised and sensitive to the touch, but in another day or so it wouldn’t bother her anymore. Then she turned her head to look at Damos’ mark.
There wasn’t one.
The skin of her throat was smooth on that side. No scar and only the slightest hint of tenderness. All the joy drained out of her, replaced with a sense of dread. Something was wrong. Why hadn’t his claim taken? What did it mean? Was she only mated to one of them? She had struggled to accept this mating. Had finally come to terms with it. She’d embraced it, even. And now… She touched Tra’var’s mark again and then the spot Damos had bitten her. She ran back through the events of last night in her mind. He had bitten her. She’d felt it.
So much had been going on, and she’d been nearly out of her mind with the sharhal and the pleasure of being with them both it was difficult to recollect clearly. Damos had bitten her as she’d come, sending her into an orgasm so intense that even the memory made her shiver with remembered pleasure.
Then Tra’var had claimed her, sending her even more out of control. That bite had stung a little, but the pain had blended with her pleasure and she’d forgotten about it until now. Damos’ bite hadn’t felt the same.
She turned on her heel and stormed back to the main room. Both her males were still in bed, but she didn’t feel like joining them anymore. Now she wanted answers.
She pointed at Damos and then at the unmarked side of her neck. “You didn’t claim me.”
His smile faded. “I didn’t claim you yet.”
His hairsplitting defense just infuriated her further. “What does that mean? Are we mates or not? I trusted you, and you tricked me into thinking I’d been claimed by both of you.”
Tra’var lifted his head to glare at Damos. “You bakaffa. You didn’t claim her? Why the fraxx not?”
“Because my nanotech is inferior to yours,” Damos shot back. “So much so that your parents insisted on a clause stating that the blood-bonding ceremony had to be done with purified blood.”
“What? No!” Tra’var started to sit up but then fell back onto the mattress with a low groan.
Damos kept talking. It was as if he couldn’t stop himself. “You and I are anrik. I carry some of your nanotech, but you have none of mine. This way Anya is protected by your more advanced nanotech. It’s her best chance.”
Anya flew between them to crouch at Tra’var’s side. The moment she touched him she knew why he’d been complaining about the heat. He was burning up.
“Lights on! Damos, I’m still mad as hell but we have a bigger problem.” She stroked Tra’var’s shoulder. “He’s ill. We need to talk to the healers.”
“I’m not sick. I’m just dizzy because it’s too hot in here.”
Damos was already scrambling to his feet. “It’s
not hot. In fact, it’s cold enough my balls are threatening to retreat into my body in search of warmth.” He leaned down, scooped up a blanket, and then tossed it over her shoulders. “Too cold for you to be naked. Explain to me why he thinks it’s warm?”
“Because he has a fever.” She caught Damos by the hand and tugged him over so he could touch Tra’var’s shoulder.
“What causes that?”
“Infection. You really have no idea. Do you?” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine living such a blessed life that you don’t know what a fever is.”
Now that the lights were brighter, she could see that Tra’var was showing more symptoms than just his temperature. His eyes were bloodshot and his silver skin had turned a dull gray color.
“Tra’v. What else are you feeling? You said you were dizzy?”
“Little bit.” He’d stopped arguing with her, which was both a relief and a cause for concern.
“What else? Sore throat? Can you breathe through your nose? Do you have a headache?”
He blinked at her blearily. “Throat’s fine. I’m thirsty, though.” He took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth. “Breathing is good. I’m just tired and hot.” His brow crinkled. “And now you mention it, my head hurts. Back, too. Like I went a few rounds at the practice arena and my nanotech hasn’t had time to repair the damage.”
She nodded and then turned to glower at Damos. “Are you sick?”
“No. I’m fine. I don’t understand why he’s ill and I’m not.”
She didn’t get it either, but right now she was just happy at least one of her Vardarian lovers was healthy—even if it was the one she was furious with.
“You need to call the healers and find out what we can do for him. Do they want to see him here or should we go there? While you do that, I’m going to make him comfortable and then call Saral. She was tired and aching yesterday, too.”
She’d nursed enough friends, coworkers and crewmates through various ailments to know what to do. She dressed quickly and then went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water from the kitchen. She brought it to Tra’var and set it down beside him. She put two of the blankets back over him, ignoring his grumpy protests about being too hot already. Then she returned to the kitchen and tore through the cupboards until she found some towels and a bowl. She filled the bowl with cold water, added some ice cubes, and returned to kneel beside her patient.