“This is easy, trust me.” He smirks.
“I can’t do it.”
“Oh princess, you just opened up a can of worms.” He laughs and snaps his fingers.
As I look down I’m wearing a sexy red lingerie set. I gasp and try to cover myself up.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting the first look, he can’t see me all the way out here. No one can.”
“He?”
“Lucian.”
“Put clothes on me please, and then tell me why on earth you guys keep talking like I belong to him or something. When last I checked he thought I was a threat,” I point out.
He snaps his fingers and now I’m wearing a slender pair of jeans and a V-neck t-shirt that is super tight. So tight my breasts feel like they might pop out.
I give him an exasperated smile and he rolls his eyes, wiggling his fingers to loosen the fabric. It feels better.
“Remember I’m the fun one when the time comes.”
“What time?”
His eyes flash silver and he looks sexier. It’s not scary and definitely not when he smiles at me like that. Like he thinks the same way about me too.
My God, what is going on with me? This is guy three and look at me.
He leans forwards, so close, too close, going straight to my ear. My nipples harden from the gentle caress of his hot breath and I turn my face, brushing my nose against his cheek.
“Soon. Just wait,” he breathes. “Remember when you’re choosing, I want first dibs on your ass.”
My eyes widen and I swallow hard against the sexual tension that’s formed a lump in my throat. I think I know what he might mean, but I’m not sure. He wants first dibs on my ass. That could only mean one thing Laila.
When he moves back and looks straight at me, I know what I was thinking was completely right. He gives me a lascivious smile that makes my whole body blush with delight.
“Don’t tell me you’re the shy girl next door type,” he states and lifts his chin.
“I don’t know what type I am.”
“Well by the time we’re finished with you’ll have some idea.”
“We?” I’m not able to keep the quiver out of my voice.
“How about we focus on your powers for a little while, questions later.”
“Will you answer the questions?”
“Yes.” He grins wide and toothy.
“Okay.”
“This is the cradle of dreams,” he says looking around. “People come here for ideas or sometimes they take a magical quest to rejuvenate their magic.”
“Does it have some kind of power here?”
“Quite the opposite. Natural magic doesn’t work here. It’s neutral ground. That means everything you do comes from within. You have to want to do it, desire it, and make it happen.” He speaks with eloquence and passion.
“How do I do that Caleb? I’ve been trying. I thought by nurturing my ability to cast spells it would improve my natural talents.”
“It does, but only to some extent. It’s like adding all the flavors to a stew hoping to create something spectacular but then you just get a muddle of flavor that might not taste great.” That makes sense. “Marcus said you were on the dream plane. Your powers worked well there. I think that was because you were forced into a dormant state where you weren’t overthinking things. All the focus was there, and your powers were able to take the form they wanted. That’s probably why your visions come to you in your dreams.”
I stare back at him, taking in his words. It makes sense that it would happen that way.
“How do I bring my visions out of my dreams?”
“Emotion. Asleep an emotion will cause you to have a dream or a nightmare. Cast a spell for me, anything and I’ll show what I mean.”
I look to the water and decide to cast a water based spell.
“Castera, kesena, astora….” I chant and water flows from the river to me. It takes the shape of a horse and gallops across the path toward us. I lift my hands when the horse comes near and I send it to the sky.
It disappears and I smile wide. Mom taught me to do that.
I return my gaze to Caleb and he’s already looking at me. “That was really cool. How did you feel when you did that?”
“Happy.” It’s a no brainer.
“One emotion at a time. Let’s do this. In your dream how did you feel when you saw the warlock?”
I bite the inside of my lip and drop my head. “Fear. I felt fear.”
He steps forward and lifts my chin. My gaze meets his. “Fear is not always a bad thing. Fear is an emotion just like happiness. You can control it with your desire for what you want most. Focus. What are you afraid of, Laila?”
What am I afraid of?
It’s not that hard to answer that question.
“Losing my sister. Losing the last family member I have left. Losing the last person in this world I love,” I answer.
As soon as the words leave my lips the scenery shifts before us. I gasp when I see where we are. The murky grayness surrounding us swallows us and my throat tightens. This is the dream plane.
“Control it Laila. You can do it,” Caleb says.
He’s here. He’s right here with me. He nods and then I see the warlock. He just appears in the sky just like he did the other day. That long white hair flows out around him and those awful eyes grip me.
I watch him go into the kitchen and I see myself with Larissa. What happens now though is different to what I saw before. Now I see what actually happened.
I watch myself open the portal and send Larissa through it. Then I fight the warlock with an energy ball. I cast Grams spell, open a portal for myself and go through. Then I see myself touching the necklace, calling for help. The bright blue takes me and I’m falling. The warlock leaves and goes back to Salem. I can’t see him anymore. What I can see though is three massive wolves running through the air coming to my aid.
The vision shifts and then a man appears before us. I recognize him. He’s the man from the vision we saw from the necklace.
“Well what is this?” Caleb says under his breath.
The man comes closer, holding my gaze. My hands shake when I look at his eyes. They’re the same color as mine. Autumn. That’s what Mom used to call the color.
“Laila,” he says. “Do you know who I am?”
I stare back at him and it’s like I just know the truth. I feel it. “My father,” I answer and he smiles.
“Yes.” He nods. “My name is Cornelius Matterson. I am a Lycan. I met your mother while helping her escape the man you came to call father. I imagine he would have forced his way into your lives after he killed me and you had to do as he said. I’m sorry for the way things turned out. I’m sorry I couldn’t see you born, and couldn’t do anything besides what I’m doing now.”
“What are you doing?”
“You’re seeing a vision of the past. This is a vision I left of myself with a message for you.”
I can’t even comprehend what he’s saying.
“Can you do that?”
“Yes, and so can you. It’s part of how your powers work. The message I wanted to give you is this: do what your heart tells you, always. When you do that you can do anything. Be brave my girl. And choose wisely. Choose with your heart. I love you.”
Those words fill me with so much strength. I rush to him and hug him.
“I love you too,” I say. “Thank you so much.”
A warm smile brightens his face then he fades away. Disappearing right before my eyes like he was never there.
I stare, watching the empty space. Our surroundings go back to what they were before.
Caleb comes to me and rests a hand on my shoulder.
I can’t help the tear that runs down my cheek. He catches it and takes hold of my shoulders.
“You got this. Be grateful you had parents who loved you that much.” He nods and I smile.
For so long I believed my father was a monst
er, but that man wasn’t my father. Cornelius was.
“Thank you for making this possible,” I tell him, feeling so much stronger, despite the sadness in my heart from not knowing my father.
“My lady,” he answers, dipping his head reverently.
I smile at him. “Why do you think I’m a mage?”
“Not sure, maybe I just like calling you my lady.” He releases me and takes a step back. “Ready to go back?”
“Yeah. I think I am.”
He turns back into a wolf and lowers so I can get on his back.
Caleb
I ride hard with the beauty on my back. Her arms around my neck arouse me. That happened from the first moment she touched me. I’m the rebel so I find it hard to concentrate when I have my mind set on something.
I have to admit though that today held a sentiment that was different to anything I’ve experienced.
Maybe I feel like this because hearing her father speak such encouraging words to her restored something inside me that broke when I watched my parents sacrifice themselves for the pack.
I was always in two minds about it. On the one hand seeing their bravery in the hour of need to seal the breach from hell that came to claim more than half the pack. On the other hand, feeling selfish that they would leave me. I’m the youngest of the three of us.
Lucian is thirty, Marcus twenty-nine, and I’m twenty-seven. Ten years ago when my parents died I was seventeen. The youngest of five brothers. All died that dreadful day.
Lycan’s live for a long time, through the ages. We however have had to step up to a level that most haven’t.
When we approach the house, Laila’s heart quickens. She’s nervous. Nervous and excited about us. I sense it. I know I shouldn’t push forward because she’s in a thoughtful state, and I know I shouldn’t push because of Lucian. It’s been hard all day to focus on not doing something with her to piss him off.
I did however promise to answer her questions, and I consider myself a man of my word. I won’t lie to her. If she asks me a question, whatever it is, I’ll answer it.
To make sure she’s comfortable asking me whatever’s in that pretty little head of hers, I teleport right into her room.
She gasps as we step through the astral pocket and appear right there in the bedroom.
Lucian and Marcus are downstairs.
I hope they stay down there long enough for me to get this time with her. I have a feeling things are about to turn up a notch.
She gets off me and I shift back into my human form. Unlike the previous time when I opted for casual clothes, I just conjure a pair of pants and leave myself shirtless.
Her eyes go straight to the tribal tattoos lining the thick, deep muscles of my abs. She wouldn’t have seen men like me or the others before. We’re built like warriors. Built for major battles against the forces of hell and other evil dimensions.
We have to look the part.
Her cheeks flush as she looks at me. The color rose gracing her skin and racing down her elegant neck. The rise and fall of her chest draws my attention to her breasts and I find that I can’t look away.
At least I don’t until she steps closer and touches me. A light finger to my chest, has me lifting my gaze back up to meet hers.
“What is this?” she asks. “Or maybe it’s a that. That feeling. Energy. I don’t know.”
I smile back at her. “Magnetism,” I answer.
She shakes her head not understanding. “Like attraction?”
“More powerful than that. We’re wolves my lady, we don’t hide how we feel.”
“We?” She gives me an exasperated look.
“We. But it starts with him. Lucian gets the first taste. We respect him that way,” I answer. “We aren’t like this with every woman we meet.”
I knew within seconds of meeting her though that we’d end up sharing her. We wouldn’t be possessive over her the way we’ve been with others.
“I think I’m confused.” She touches her fingers to her cheek.
She’s right, she only thinks she’s confused. She’s not really. She knows what I’m talking about but where she’s from it’s not a norm. Fuck, it’s not a norm here either, but in Estaria we do what we want to do. Passions and inner desires are part of what makes us who we are. I’ve never held back without a good reason. Right now it’s respect.
“You aren’t,” I answer and I almost laugh when surprise suffuses her face. “You aren’t confused, but if it helps why don’t you ask me the question on your mind.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“Try me,” I insist.
She considers her words for a moment then sighs, bringing her hands together.
“You keep saying we. Like I can be with all three of you. I can’t.”
“Why?” Here’s where the tide changes and I’ll plant the seed of seduction and wild sexual thoughts in her head. I’m so glad I got to do this part.
Her eyes grow wide and she stares back at me like she can’t believe the question.
“Three of you?”
“The three of us, my lady. Let’s be real here. We know you like all three of us and I think you know without a doubt that we like you too.”
We have. Even though Lucian was a complete asshole to her, she’ll remember it was he who saved her when she first arrived. He could have actually died from the height he fell from. The spell that brought her here made her come in fast and it took all of us working together to get her to safety.
She looks uneasy but curious. The combo is sexy as fuck.
“How can I do that?” she asks.
“My lady, I think if you’ve learned nothing else in your stay here, it’s that you should follow your heart and what you desire most. You owe no allegiance to anyone but yourself. That goes for everything. In short you do what you want to do.”
“Is it that simple?”
“That’s for you to decide. But I’ll tell you a secret,” I say leaning closer with a wide grin. “You can have us if you want us. The choice is yours. I certainly know I want you. Things work differently here. We don’t question what we want, we just take. I hope that helps.”
I back away and conjure a t-shirt. I can sense Lucian growing rage at my half nakedness. I can also sense too that he wants to know what happened at the cradle of dreams. What I’ll tell him will assure him that this woman is no threat, and I hope like fuck he does his best to persuade her to stay here. I mean for good.
One last smile and I leave her to her thoughts.
I won’t do anything else, or say anything else. She needs to come to a decision on her own.
I find Lucian and Marcus in the study. Lucian looks at me, giving me a long hard stare.
“Fucker,” he hisses and I smile. “I should knock your teeth down your throat for practically stripping in front of her.”
Marcus smiles. “Caleb, pay no attention to his jealous ass.”
“I’m not.” I sit right next to Lucian and even pull my chair closer. “I’ll tell you what, I think you should fuck her first and get it out of your system. You can warm her up.”
“Tell me what happened,” he demands, ignoring me. It’s a show. I saw the way his eyes lit up when I made the offer. He wants to fuck her as much as I do.
“She’s Cornelius’ daughter. She’s basically one of us,” I say, then go on to fill them both in on the details. “She’s not a threat Lucian. The thing about it is, the necklace came back to Estaria because it went to the safest place it could take her and that’s home. But even without the necklace she would have been able to find the place because it’s her home too, whether she knew it or not. I agree that the focus is the warlock. My thoughts are however more selfish than that. I don’t want her to go. Each of us connected with her, the first fucking state of bonding. That means something. It meant something for her too.”
They both look at me, knowing I’m right.
Lucian sighs and the tension recedes from his face. “We can’t force
her to stay.”
“Maybe not, but how about dropping the alpha act and cutting to the chase. You knew she wasn’t a threat. I know you would have felt it. The way I see it is this, I can’t see the Oracle taking her time to give us an answer with a powerful warlock on the loose, doing fuck knows in the human realm. She’ll come back soon and tell us what we need to do to fix the situation. We all saw that guy. We’re going to have to help her in some form of way. But we have this time in between with her. Let’s make use of it.” I smile and the fucker stands.
Marcus looks at him with a smile too.
“Hey,” Marcus says. Lucian turns to face him. “If you do fuck her, you make sure you give us a proper turn when we get together. I mean it. I want your word.”
I look at Lucian and see the man drop his guard.
“You have my word,” he answers. He does his best to be boss and bite back a smile but fails.
I shake my head at him when he leaves us and return my focus to Marcus.
“Good call. I like that demand. I want to go last and take my time with her,” I tell him and he raises a brow.
“Alright, how about we switch that on the second round. I want to go last and get my own turn to enjoy her.”
“Deal.” I smile to myself. I really hope she stays.
Laila
I walk out to the balcony and look out at the beautiful sky. It must be late afternoon but it already feels like the day is gone and what a day.
What a damn day. There are so many parts to this day that reach me. I think that’s the best way to describe it. Reach me.
Seeing my father made me feel complete, like I’d always had something missing and it came back to me. I don’t even have that element of tension and fear anymore that made me feel like I was always walking around on eggshells.
That is a result of everything. Seeing my father and getting to know the guys.
Well… I tend to feel like I know Marcus and Caleb more than Lucian, but that first spark started with him.
It began with him and grew with them, almost like it was with the same person, but split into three personalities.
Lucian the alpha in every sense. The protector. I remember how he held me when he saved me from falling. I remember how he cradled me in his arms. Then I sensed that inner turmoil of not knowing what to do with me.
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