by Fiona Starr
I know Tobias a little bit, but only as a wolf. He’s been appearing in my visions since my magic sparked. He’s huge and white, like Van’s wolf, but where Van’s cool and watery, Tobias feels sharp and edgy, almost rough.
I turn Angus’s forearm and trace my fingers over the tattoo he has in Tobias’s memory. It’s almost the exact scene I saw when Tobias first appeared to me and told me that their blood calls to me.
“I feel like I’ve overstepped somehow,” I say, weaving my fingers through Angus’s. “Like Van doesn’t want me here and now I’m in his head.”
We try to pretend that Van hasn’t come home, and but I know that they feel the weight of him. I know it because I feel it too. I felt all of them before they gave me the medallion, but now it’s like I am part of them. Like I’m no longer just receiving the signals, they are all around me all the time.
Marco lifts another slice of pizza from the array of scattered dishes at the foot of his bed. “I don’t think that’s it. I think he’s struggling with all of it.”
“All of what?” I ask.
“All of you.” Marco smiles and offers me a bite of pizza. He leans forward and eyes Angus on the other side of me and the two of them smile.
“You feel like sunshine and soft puffy clouds. You know that?” Angus says.
“That’s exactly it. Right on,” Marco says. “Like I’m lying in the sunshine.” He grins as if he’s been struggling to quantify the sensation and just found the words to describe it.
I laugh and realize they are describing my energy, my essence. “Really?” It’s oddly reassuring to know that they experience me in that way, just like I do them.
Angus closes his eyes and runs a finger down my arm. “It feels exactly like the sun on my skin, only there’s power behind it. That’s the puffy part. You’re not just warm, you’re strong and firm.”
Marco nods. “Firm. Right.”
“So, you’re saying I make you feel firm?” I bite my lip and look sideways at the two of them, placing one hand on each of their thighs in a very suggestive way.
Marco snaps his fingers, and the room lights switch off, leaving the three of us illuminated by a string of colorful twinkle lights Marco draped over the headboard as a holiday decoration.
“Clothes off. Both of you. Now,” I whisper.
“Yes ma’am,” he says.
I shimmy down onto the pillow as Angus helps me out of my leggings. He makes a point of leaving my panties in place because he knows how much Marco enjoys taking them off me. I can't help but smile. It’s something he just started doing the other day, but I know it’s because of Marco. As strange as it is being with two men at the same time, it's interesting to watch how they care about each other's experiences with me together. They don’t talk so much as they just seem to know what the other wants to do. And they both read my cues like masters.
Marco pulls off his sweatshirt and steps out of his jeans and boxers. The muscles in his arms and his ass bunch and flex as he leans back onto the bed to give me a quick kiss. I run my hands over his torso, tracing the lines of his many tattoos which run from his waist to his shoulders and then down his left arm in a sleeve to his cuff. He draws my mouth to his and plunges deeply with his tongue, then he trails along my lips to my chin and across my jaw, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in his wake.
Marco kisses his way across my collarbone and down between my breasts, taking a moment to say hello to each of them with a quick nibble before continuing downward across my belly, to my navel, and to the lacy edge of my panties. He growls with pleasure as he licks and kisses along the edge of the lace, his hands warm through the fabric as he moves his hand between my thighs.
A flash of the three of us flickers through my mind. I see our bodies arranged with Angus behind me and Marco in front of me, inverted so he can taste me while I take his cock with my mouth.
Angus groans and pushes me onto my side as Marco slides my panties down my legs.
“Oh. My. God,” I say, leaning up on my elbow.
“What?” the two of them stop and turn and say in unison.
“You’re communicating with each other. With your… with your hive mind. That’s how come it’s always so perfect, isn’t it?”
Marco arches a brow at his brother and shrugs. “I guess. I don’t mean to.”
“Hive mind?” Angus says. “We aren’t bees. We’re wolves. And why shouldn’t we use every tool at our disposal while we worship you?”
“Worship me?” I ask.
“Do I hear a complaint?” Angus asks.
I shake my head. “I’ve never had anyone say it quite like that.”
Marco raises his finger and dangles my panties in the air. “Can I get back to what I was doing here?”
I nod my head, pretending to be serious. “By all means. As you were.”
The flash of our threesome strobes behind my eyes and Angus eases me onto my side. He kisses my shoulders as he presses his hardness against my backside, teasing me with his hot length.
Marco’s runs his hands along my thighs, spreading them wide as he kneads the soft skin there. He touches me with his mouth, gently at first, tasting me before plunging inside my slick opening with his tongue.
Marco’s cock is heavy and thick and inches from my mouth. I reach for him and run my hands over his length, guiding him to me.
We move as one being.
Marco slides forward to focus on my clit as Angus takes over where his brother left. He thrusts inside me, his cock stretching me with heat and pressure as he pushes in to the hilt. Marco eases his shaft into my mouth, letting me control the pace, making sure that I’m the one who moves us forward.
Every nerve in my body tingles as my mouth pulses in time with my clit. I grab Marco by the hips and pull him to me, taking him in and letting him fill my mouth as Angus fills my core. A moan rises from deep inside me, or maybe from Angus, or Marco. I can’t tell anymore where each of our bodies ends and the other begins.
We’re chasing the wave. Pushing and coaxing each other to the precipice, urging the other up and up toward the crest and the promise of blissful, perfect release. Marco’s cock tenses and I know he’s close. I suck harder and urge him on as his mouth devours my clit, holding my thighs and working with increased urgency.
Angus grabs my hips and thrusts faster, again and again, harder and harder. The three of us writhe in unison, our rhythm advancing with our need, the tension increasing as we ride higher and higher and higher. Pleasure explodes from every part of my trembling body. The heat of Marco’s release fills my mouth as Angus holds our bodies together through and over the peak.
Chapter Five
VAN
I pad through the forest, imagining myself disappearing completely. I know that my wolf is hard to see against a backdrop of snow, but I must be impossible to pick out during a snowstorm. The sky is thick with clouds and the air is full of powder and I am in agony.
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. The look on their faces when the medallion activated was not what I was expecting. The feeling that overcame us caught me completely off guard. Salma said that the medallion should be given when I knew we had found her. That it would be a symbol of our bond and that when it was given, she would also know.
I thought I could convey how much we needed her by giving her the medallion. I wanted her to feel welcome, even if I can’t give that to her myself. I had no idea that it would actually do that. I wasn’t expecting to feel her in my mind so fully, so totally. And Tobias…
Fuck.
Fuck!
That’s what I get for panicking.
I thought Joely was about to tell us goodbye. I don’t know what made me think it but when I saw her face at the bottom of the stairs, she looked the way most animals look when they realize my wolf has spotted them. Frozen. Heart racing. Eyes wide. I picture her face in my memory and I have no doubt. Zero. She was afraid.
Joely was afraid, and I assumed it was because she was going to tell
us she had to leave.
The way she ran to her bag and hurried back with her presents. It all felt wrong. The timing was off. I watched her the whole time from the stairs, feeling her racing heart and yes, I could smell it on her body. Fear. She was definitely afraid. My mind went immediately on alert. What was she hiding? What could make her afraid? Then I moved right back to myself and what I needed, which was how to make sure she didn’t leave. I didn’t take the time to consider the ‘why’ of her fear.
I thought she was going to give us a keepsake. Something to remember her by. I thought she was going to leave and in that moment all I could think of was myself. I had to make sure she stayed because we are so close to finishing this.
Fuck.
The guys wanted to give her the medallion weeks ago, but I wouldn’t allow it. They threatened to take over. Marco actually used the word mutiny until I reminded him that I wasn’t their leader. The days of me being their alpha are long gone. But I guess those instincts are so deeply ingrained they will always look to me for leadership and permission on things.
After everything went down with Angus and the near-miss with Dahlia that destroyed the Vessel… ever since Damon disappeared… nothing has felt right. Joely is supposed to be the Nightbird. According to the prophecy, she’s supposed to be the key to it all. She’s supposed to be fierce and strong and wise and powerful. She’s supposed to help us put an end to all of this agony.
That’s what this is. I resigned myself to this quest long ago. I knew I would make good on my promise to Tobias, even if it killed me. But since Joely arrived, that single-mindedness has been sheer agony. It’s absolute torture to push her away, to build this barrier between us. It’s torture, but I know myself too well. If I let her in and something happens to her, I don’t think I’d survive.
Fuck.
I push myself harder, racing as fast as my wolf can go, my paws gripping into the dirt through the snow. I need to go faster than them. I need to outpace their energy. But I know there is no hope of that. Especially not now that she’s wearing the medallion.
Fuck.
I can feel them right now. All three of them. They are in Marco’s bed like they usually are and their bodies are moving and feeling and…
Fuck!
I get to the edge of the trees and I stop running, my wolf heart banging against my ribcage. I can’t outrun them any more than I can outrun my thoughts. They are inside me. She is inside me and I want her so badly I can’t find the words to explain it even to myself.
I need her. I need Joely Everstar. I need to possess her and at the same time I need her to own me. I want her to claim me the way she has claimed my brothers. I want to give myself to her.
But I can’t. There is too much at stake. We are so close.
Fuck.
I don’t know how to modulate my needs. I have never been one to do things half way. I learned that the hard way years ago and fell so deep that I almost got us all killed. I can’t risk it now. Not now that we are so close to settling this score once and for all. For us. For Tobias.
I wish I could turn off my mind. Running is the only thing that comes close but tonight, even that isn’t working. Now that I’m standing still, I can feel my brother’s energy. The vibe is not as strong now as it was when Joely activated the medallion, but that doesn’t make it feel any less bizarre. When his essence flashed back at the house, it was so visceral and so heady that it seemed like I could turn around and he’d be standing there.
How many times have I looked in the mirror begging to feel my twin again? I used to worry that I had forgotten what he felt like, but once it actually happened I wanted it to stop. He isn’t here, and feeling him around me isn’t a comfort—it’s a reminder of my failure. It makes me feel like he is stuck in some kind of limbo, haunted by my promise that is still unfulfilled after all these years.
A quick glance around the forest tells me I have ventured off the usual path. I take a moment to get my bearings as I move to the top of the rise. I’ve been running so long and the snow is falling so thick it’s made these familiar paths and trees seem alien.
I crest the hill and take in the view and realize I am on the opposite side of the woods from the cliffs we usually roam. This part of the national park loops along the campus and edges the back of the Society’s vast estate. The Society’s mansion sits among the trees off in the distance to my left. I am about to turn and head home when I realize the entire place is lit up.
Adrenaline zings through my body. Every light is on inside the mansion, and as I get close I can make out movement of people. Is Damon Underwood back? Has he brought reinforcements?
Fuck.
Sticking to the trees, I head toward the Cottage to get a better look. I keep reminding myself that without the Vessel, Underwood has no way of knowing I’m standing a few hundred yards away. I may be a dire wolf, but a vampire is not easy to fight off, and even harder to kill.
I get as close as I dare and nestle down into the snow, watching as two mages repair damage to the back of the mansion. They stand on the roof and appear to be throwing magic down into the room through the ceiling into a room on the upper level, above the conservatory.
That’s where they held Angus. That’s where that weird portal to the Vessel was before Joely saved Angus and Dahlia fell, destroying the Vessel.
A woman shouts up from the balcony to the mages on the roof. The two mages on the roof—I can tell at least one of them is a man from his beard—ignore her. She shouts again, but the snow and the wind obscures a lot.
I wish I could get closer, but I can’t risk it. When the woman shouts a third time, one of the mages on the roof turns and throws a spell down to her, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying over the stone balcony and into the snow.
What the hell was that?
Two more mages rush out of the ballroom onto the balcony and a magic battle ensues. One of the mages is thrown from the roof and drops into the garden. He lands next to the fountain, his body bent at an angle that tells me he isn’t alive. Several more reinforcements rush outside.
Flashes of white magic whip through the air like strobes. Three more mages appear on the roof, and another two race around the back of the yard, cornering those on the balcony. I have no idea what’s going on but I don’t think I should stick around.
And if what I am thinking is actually happening, I need to be far away from here, fast.
I hurry back to the house, my mind racing with all the scenarios I’ve come up with during my run home. I dress as quickly as I can, not even taking the time to lace up my boots for the hike back through the snow. I take the stairs two at a time and I’m about to knock on Marco’s door when I realize they are not asleep. They aren’t anywhere near sleep. The three of them are less than ten feet away, enjoying a closeness I’ve been denying myself.
I figured being gone for hours would give them time to do their thing and fall asleep, but I guess they are going for another round.
Fuck.
It’s all right. This will be okay. They can’t have sex forever, and once they are done, I’ll knock. I sit down outside the door, pretending I can’t hear them. Pretending I can’t feel their pleasure and the deep satisfaction being together brings them. I will master this. We’re all too close. I will not be distracted. I lean my head against the wall, closing my eyes as I work to block out the flashes of the three of them that spring to my mind. I don’t want to see this. I don’t want to feel this. I can’t allow myself to let them in. Focus!
But the feelings from the three people on the other side of the door are too hard to ignore. They are the three people in this world I care the most about, and the way they feel about one another is nothing short of amazing. The trust Joely has for my brothers… it is absolute. They are giving her everything they have and taking everything she offers. There is no hesitation. No doubt. It’s just them, being together fully, completely. They are so together they’re oblivious to the fact that I am right here,
only a thin door and a few short paces between us.
Did she decide to stay because I gave her the medallion? Because there’s not even the slightest hint of her fear now. I hate that I don’t know what she’s thinking.
I slide down the wall and close my eyes, trying to push every thought, every feeling aside. It still doesn’t work.
Fuck.
Chapter Six
JOELY
“Wake up! Happy Solstice! If you sleep all day, Yule be sorry!” Marco’s breath is warm in my ear as he nudges me.
“You’re too young for dad jokes.” I groan and roll over, right into Angus’s arms. “I know you’re all older than dirt, but you’re still too young for dad jokes.”
“Mmm.” Angus wraps his arms around me and pulls me close without opening his eyes, nestling me into his chest.
Marco slides off the bed. “Angus promised to help,” he says. “We have lots of work ahead of us.”
Angus opens one eye to look at Marco and then smiles at me. “He’s right. It’s part of the deal.” He plants a kiss on my mouth and then sighs heavily. “I vote that we start a new tradition of sleeping in for Midwinter.”
“Nope. Nope. And nope,” Marco says. “Salma would have your hide if she heard you say that.”
“All right. I need five minutes to shower.” Angus fishes his jeans from the pile on the floor.
“I’ll make coffee,” I say as I get up. I am unwilling to complain about being tired after the night the three of us had. I press my hand over the medallion, enjoying the weight of it against my chest. Something happened when Van put this on me that made our connection to each other stronger.
Even while he was running last night, I knew Van was struggling. His anger and frustration were a constant hum at the back of my awareness for the whole night, even while Marco, Angus, and I made love, which we did several times. Last night was beyond incredible. And it wasn’t just about the sex. I mean, well, the sex is fantastic with both of them individually, and with them together its simply breathtaking. But now it feels like we’ve moved to a whole new level of closeness as a result of whatever this medallion unlocked.
