by Anna Lewis
“Do you do this often?” I asked suspiciously. They both laughed and looked at each other.
“We may have done this once or twice,” Aiden admitted, his eyes wide and innocent. “But that was back in the fourteenth century, dearest.” He crouched down in front of me, placing a hand on my knee. I felt my body react to his touch. I bit my lip. “Play with us, love. Pretty please?” I sighed and looked at Ben.
“Oh, no,” Aiden said. “Benny is not innocent. He wants to play, too.” Aiden pouted a little, and Ben shrugged a little guiltily.
“Okay,” I said calmly. My insides were screaming out in lust. I wanted them. And I would have them—both.
“Atta girl!” Aiden said excitedly. “You’re in charge. Where do you want us?” He stood up straight. I thought for a moment and looked Aiden in the eye. I gestured toward an armchair in the corner. He grinned at me and stalked over to a chair in the corner. I looked at Ben and beckoned for him to come over to me. I stood and walked around the table to meet him. He reached down, kissing me. His beard brushed lightly against my skin. His kisses were soft, tender. I wrapped my fingers in his beard, pulling him in closer to me. I could feel Aiden’s eyes on us, and it added an element to the action that I’d never experienced before. I glanced over at Aiden as I kissed Ben. Aiden’s eyes were burning with desire. My insides caught fire.
As Aiden watched from the chair in the corner, Ben lifted my shirt, his fingertips brushing my nipples as he raised the stretchy black fabric away from my skin. I raised my arms as he pulled the shirt over my head, and then let it drop to the floor. He leaned forward, licking and then sucking my nipple, toying with the other with his fingers. I closed my eyes, leaning my head back in silent ecstasy. When I opened my eyes, I glanced over at Aiden. His eyes were glowing golden, irises turned to reptilian slits in his lust. As I watched, his skin shifted to golden scales.
I let out a small sigh, then returned my focus to Ben. Sweet Ben, who was gently tugging my shorts down, his fingertips running over my skin. My shorts dropped to the floor. Ben touched me through my panties, his fingers rubbing my slit, a soft, teasing gesture. I felt a pulse in between my legs, a deep throbbing of desire. Ben looked up at me and smiled as he pulled my panties down. He then picked me up, kissing me deeply, yet gently. I wrapped my legs around him, beginning to unbutton his plaid shirt. He set me down on the table, pushing on my knees, so that my legs were wide open. I sat up straight, back arched and breasts on full display. My nipples were puckered and flushed red.
Ben stood back, looking at me with eyes that spoke of his need—gentle and caring. Aiden sat in the corner, his look dangerous and hungry, desire rolling off of him like flames.
“You’re beautiful,” Ben whispered. Aiden let out a low growl, tendrils of smoke softly curling out of his mouth. He got up on the table, his legs folded beneath him. He pulled my legs up and on the table, placing each over his shoulders. He leaned down, his eyes on mine as he began to pleasure me with his tongue, light touches, exploring. I inhaled and moaned, leaning back on my elbows. I arched my back so that my breasts stuck out, and then looked over at Aiden. I held up a hand, beckoning to him and then closed my eyes
Aiden’s hand traveled along my sternum, his skin hot to the touch. He caressed my breast, cupping it in the palm of his hand. His other hand caressed my hair, grabbing a fistful of it and tugging lightly. I faced him. Placing his index finger beneath my chin, he stuck his thumb in my mouth. I took it between my teeth, then sucked on it. I kept my eyes on his, wanton, hungry. His look was hot—he was all heat and passion where Ben was soft and tender. They were opposites—but each possessed the best of the extremes. Aiden was unbuttoning his black shirt. He took it off to reveal perfect, toned abs covered by taught, caramel-toned skin. I watched him as he took off his jeans. His body was rock hard, toned to perfection.
Meanwhile, Ben’s tongue was driving me over the edge. He licked expertly, adding pressure to places that were particularly sensitive and causing me to pant with desire as I looked at Aiden. He placed a hand on my stomach.
Aiden stepped toward me, and I took him into my mouth. He was rock hard. He placed his hand on my head, guiding me. He exhaled deeply, a thrumming sound echoing through his chest. Ben’s tongue was insistent—my body responded. I came hard and quick, my mouth opening as I cried out. My whole body writhed in pleasure. Ben continued, his tongue pushing me onward. Aiden caressed my head with one hand, the other went to my breast, cupping it, rolling my nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
As I began to come down from my orgasm, Ben stopped. I looked down at his face, poised between my legs. He gave me a small smile, his gaze sultry. He kissed my stomach and sat up. I did, too. I reached forward, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. Sliding off of the table, he removed them for me.
They both stood next to each other, naked, their gaze on me. The hunger and desire in their gaze was clear, and made me feel sexy. They both looked at each other, as though trying to decide who was going to go first. But I had just gotten a large infusion of daring.
“No,” I said. “Both of you.” Aiden cocked an eyebrow with a wicked smile.
“At the same time?” I nodded.
“You heard the lady, Benny.” Ben nodded, motioning that I get off the table. He went to the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of lavender essential oil mixed with baby’s oil. He poured some in his hand before he sat on the table and pulled my hips toward him. I inhaled as he slowly entered me. He held me up by the hips, his arms wrapped around my mid-section as Aiden opened my legs wide with the palms of his hands. Aiden looked at me, his eyes dangerous as he placed his cock at my entrance. My body was screaming out for him. He entered me, slowly. I gasped. I had never felt so…full.
Behind me, there was a deep thrumming sound coming from Ben. They both began to move, and I cried out. Ben stopped.
“Are you okay?”
“Don’t stop,” I commanded. They moved in unison, one entering me as the other retreated. I felt as though I would come at any second. Aiden ran his hand over my body, looking at me with heat in his eyes…literally, they looked like twin wheels of flame.
“How much do you want us?” he taunted me in a husky voice.
“Very much,” I gasped. Ben’s hand snaked down over my abdomen, reaching down to massage my clit. I yelled out as Aiden pushed inward. All of my nerve-endings were alive. I was quickly coming to the crisis; my whole body being shaken by an immense orgasm. Aiden placed a finger on my bottom lip. I bit it.
“Come on, baby,” he said. “Let go.” My body reacted on his command, and I threw my head back as I felt the waves of my orgasm crash through me. Ben’s arms held me around my middle tightly, and Aiden ran his hands over me. I panted as it subsided. Aiden rolled my nipple in between his fingers and gave me a naughty smile.
“Again?” he asked. I smiled.
“Again,” I agreed.
***
MEROE:
I closed my eyes. The demon was still pinning me. His attention, however, was on the place where Aurora had just disappeared. I felt for the silver threads, grasping for them with my spirit—they were my only hope for escape. I could feel myself slipping away from the demon’s grip. I heard him scream in anger.
I rushed along the threads, hearing the clear sound of the one that led to Samara. I found her in the library, where I had seen her last. It was night, and she lay between the bodies of two sleeping men—no, they were something other; their cores shone too brightly. The three of them were naked, their limbs entwined. The scene was clearly post-coital. I arched my brow, impressed. Get it, girl.
Samara’s eyes opened. She gasped, flushing bright red as she sat upright, wrapping her arms across her chest. She coughed.
“Uh—Meroe,” she began. I held up a hand.
“There’s no time,” I replied. “Lex knows, roughly, where you are. You need to get to the safe house. It’s where you will have the combined protection of the whole coven.”
�
�How did he—” I shook my head sadly.
“He broke in to my memories,” I explained. “I’m so sorry.” My voice cracked.
“You tried,” she said, smiling at me lopsidedly. I nodded.
“He’s stronger than we assumed,” I added. “You need to get to safety now.”
“She is safe,” said one of the men. He had a clean-shaven face. “We can protect her.” I shook my head.
“Not against a high demon. I have faced him. He is more than he seems.”
“We’re dragons,” the man insisted. That explains some things.
“You can come,” Samara said to him. “If I have the strength of my coven combined with you and Ben, think of how strong that would be.” He squinted, considering it, and nodded.
“We should go now, then.” He shoved the other man, who had a beard, with his hand. “C’mon Benny! The demons are coming!”
* * *
SAMARA:
Dora looked frazzled. She raced around her kitchen, preparing tea. Ben and Aiden stood by the door awkwardly. She paused, sighing deeply. She looked at the two dragons.
“Check the perimeter wards,” she instructed them. “I think they’ll hold for a little while, but we will need every second.” They nodded. Ben turned and walked off, but Aiden came over to me, pulling something from his back pocket. He handed it to me.
“Why are you giving me this?” I asked him, looking at the Mayan Hanging Lady, which sat heavily in the palm of my hand.
“In dragon-form, I won’t have a jeans pocket,” he explained sheepishly. He shrugged. “Gotta keep my two best girls together.” He winked at me before walking off and into the building. I placed the statue in my jacket pocket.
Dora said, “It’s a good thing that I don’t have any guests. I wouldn’t know where to send them. Have a seat, Samara. It’s going to be a long wait.” She brought over the teapot and several cups.
“Dora? Can I ask you a question?” I asked, biting my lip nervously.
“Anything,” she replied kindly.
“Is it possible to be in love with two people at the same time?”
“Oh, honey, you can love many people.”
“I mean…romantically,” I said. She glanced at the door where the two dragons had exited the room before looking back at me. Her left eyebrow was raised.
“Do they love you too?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive,” I nodded, eyes wide. She thought for a moment, sitting down across from me at the table.
“Well, it’s certainly a different situation…” she mused. “But, if there’s one thing that I do know about love is, that it’s big. It grows to fill all of the gaps if you let it. If you love both of them, and they aren’t jealous, then I see nothing wrong with it. I don't think jealousy will be a problem. I think that after several centuries, a half-dragon, half-man tends to mellow a bit.”
“You think so?”
“I know so,” said Dora. She smiled and winked at me. “Those two are so protective of you. I can just feel the anxiety about your safety just rolling off of them.” She laughed. “What’s life without a few eccentricities?”
“Thanks, Dora.”
“Sure.”
“I’m just…worried for them. I’m essentially asking them to fight a major demon with me,” I paused, worry flooding my gut. “I don’t want them to get hurt.” Dora smiled encouragingly.
“They are doing it because they love you,” she said.
“I hate this waiting,” I complained. “Why can’t I just go out and confront Lex?”
“Because then you might end up on his turf,” she reminded me. “When you’re here, you have the strength of the coven.” She leaned forward, placing her hand on my arm. I felt her empath's powers flood me with a sense of calm. “You are far from alone, Samara. The coven is, right now, performing a ritual to send you their strength.”
“Why are they doing it?” I said.
She looked at me, her head cocked to the side.
“You’re one of us. You know this. We are all one heart, that beats together,” she explained. “Even the two dragons are part of us, although, they don’t know that.”
I nodded.
Just then, we heard a large crash and a loud, low growl come from the front of the B&B. Dora looked at me gravely.
“It is time.”
***
SAMARA:
When I arrived at the front of the B&B, the whole front of the building had been ripped open. Aiden’s large, golden form loomed before it, and as Ben stepped forward, his skin shifted to bright emerald scales, and there was a loud crackling noise as his whole frame shifted into dragon form. I looked at him in awe—where Aiden was humongous and muscular, Ben was lean and sinuous. His wings were smaller, but still like stretched lace. His head was triangular, and more reptilian and with a longer snout than Aiden’s, whose head was shaped more similarly to that of a horse. Side-by-side the two of them were breath-taking. Every line of their musculature spoke of power and strength. I felt protected. I felt loved, as well, as they both looked at me. A dragon’s eyes are far more expressive than that of an ordinary lizard. I could see human emotion etched on both of their faces as they looked at me. I inhaled, feeling my heart swell with feeling.
You love us, Ben’s voice sounded in my head, and I looked at him in shock. There was a deep thrumming sound coming from within his massive chest. He turned his magnificent head in my direction, his vibrant green eyes peering into my own. Sorry, he apologized. I am telepathic in dragon form.
Useful, I replied. What happened to the B&B?
Aiden shifted before he was all of the way out of the building. He kind of burst through the door…in the literal sense. Ben made a huffing noise, which sounded like a laugh. Smoke curled out of the corners of his mouth.
Oh. I suddenly wondered if Aiden was telepathic, as well. Is Aiden— Aiden’s head swung toward me, and he lowered his face, so that his enormous golden eye was right next to my face.
Yep. The other day, I heard you when you called me beautiful. His voice dripped with inflated ego.
Remind me not to think around you.
You totally want my hot bod right now, he boasted, and I shook my head in disbelief.
What happened? I asked, changing the subject. Has Lex found me?
She has come, Ben replied, his voice angry. I looked past him. I could see the wards put up by my coven—they appeared as a bubble of pale blue light around the B&B. Aurora stood with her hands pressed up against them, squinting as though she were trying to see in. My heart clenched uncomfortably—her mouth was dripping with fresh blood, and her hands were covered with gore. She had fed. Very recently.
“Oh, no,” Dora whispered, her hand over her heart. “She’s a child-eater.”
“Yes, a Lamia,” I confirmed. Dora looked at me sadly
and said, “There’s only one child in this town.”
My heart dropped into my stomach like a lump of lead as I remembered meeting the woman who I met at Ben’s shop with her baby daughter, who had been dressed in blue. I had no time to think because there was a loud crack and Lex appeared beside Aurora. His face was alight with triumph.
He stepped forward confidently, and my heart began to pound within my chest. My palms were sweating as he placed his hand on the protective ward that my coven was keeping in place.
“It won’t hold,” I looked beside me to find Meroe’s ghost standing beside me. She looked sad and worried.
“What?” I asked. She shook her head.
“He’s too strong.” I looked back at Lex to find that the protective bubble of warding spells had evaporated at his touch. His eyes flashed bright red fire when he saw me. He opened his mouth to speak, and all of his teeth were sharp fangs.
“Samara!” he said in a deceptively warm tone. “Darling, I’ve missed you.” I didn’t buy it. I realized that the beautiful man whom I had dated did not exist—in his place stood a being w
ith burnt, leathery skin. Bright, fiery sigils had been carved with nasty, jagged cuts into his desiccated flesh. He raised his hand. His nails were long and sharp, yellowed. He cocked his head to the side.
“Do you not still love me, dearest?” his voice was rough. The two dragons roared, dashing toward him immediately. He held his hands up, and both dragons were stopped, mid-lunge, hanging in the air. They fought against his force, snarling wickedly. They began to revolve slowly in the air. Aiden twisted his head, aiming at Lex. He opened his large mouth and let out a gout of flames. Lex laughed maniacally as he was drenched in the firestorm.
“Flame cannot hurt me, dragon,” he cackled, stepping out of the flames untouched. Ben lunged against the force holding him and snapped at the demon with his fanged maw, but Lex was able to hold him off with a wave of his hand. The two massive dragons fought against his unseen force field in pure fury. Their might was awesome, yet no match for Lex…who is also Malak, I thought to myself. I had his name. But I did not have a way to trap him. Lex began to walk toward me. I began to panic, my heart racing in my chest. I felt like I was exposed, naked in the dark, standing alone.
Samara! I heard Ben’s voice in my mind.
I’ve got this, I assured him, glancing to where he and Aiden were suspended in the air. In my mind, my voice sounded more certain than I felt. Ben’s massive, triangular head was contorted on his long, slender neck, so that his eyes were on me. Both dragons struggled against the force that kept them there, clawing and twisting in space as though they were being pulled about on marionette strings, with Lex as the puppeteer. I looked at the being whom I did not recognize in any way.
“Samara, my little goose,” he cajoled. It was a menacing voice that was so unlike Lex’s that it seemed to belong to someone else entirely. “Come here, love.” Dora bravely stood in between me and Lex. With one hand, he brushed her away like a rag doll.
“No!” I screamed, panicking. Unable to go and check on her, I faced down my demon ex. Fear blossomed within me, but I would not let it show. I had his name. I had the ultimate weapon against him. Not only that, the Dead would come to my aid. I began to summon the spirits of my ancestors using my powers as a Necromancer. I closed my eyes as I began to open the silver roads between Life and Death, calling out to all who would come.
