by Ophelia Bell
“I have loved you for so long. Please tell me this is really happening,” he pleaded through their telepathic link. He clung to Cato, desperate for this almost chaotic turn of events to mean what he hoped it did, what his heart wanted it to mean.
“Alchemy, brother. All the ingredients have come together. There’s no turning back for any of us, not even her.”
Body thrumming with need, Veryl reluctantly pulled away from their heated kiss to look over his shoulder at Simina. The kiss opposite them had evolved into a full-on makeout session, and Dez now held Simina cradled on his lap, her fingers threaded through his short hair while his hands roamed her body.
“How?” Veryl said, voice rough with lust. “How did you figure it out?”
“Dez,” Cato said simply.
Veryl watched as the red dragon in question released Simina’s lips and trailed his mouth over her jaw and down her throat. Dez’s gaze shot to Veryl’s, and his red eyes sparked with humor. Through their link, Veryl heard his friend say, “Took you scaring the living daylights out of us. We thought we’d lost you to her, so we took it out on each other for about twenty-four hours. I’m so fucking glad we were wrong, but the sound of Cato begging to be fucked is something I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
“You fucked him?” Veryl blurted, casting a shocked glance at both men in turn. Pain tightened in his chest and helpless hurt made his throat close up. “Why wasn’t I there?” was the only thing that went through his head.
“You were off with your future mate, remember?” Dez said, then gave Simina a look that made it clear Dez had changed his decision on his favorite dessert of the evening. “I’m pretty sure you’re ours, baby.”
Simina shook her head and the dazed look in her eyes cleared a tiny bit. “N-no. The three of you belong together. I’m not part of it. Veryl loves you, not me.”
Veryl’s heart thudded hard in his chest at the forlorn sound of her voice. How could she think that after the night they’d shared? With a start, he realized he had loved her from the second he’d laid eyes on her, as though loving her were a primal instinct the same way it had always been with Cato and Dez. He couldn’t not love her. She was the missing piece to their puzzle—the keystone that held it all together.
“I love you, Simina. We all love you. The four of us belong together.” He slid over into her vacated seat and cupped her cheek in one hand. “I know you felt it the second Dez and Cato got here. Until the four of us were together nothing made sense. It all makes sense now.”
She still looked doubtful, but her eyelids fluttered when Dez brushed his lips down her throat again. As he moved, he murmured, “If you didn’t want us, why are you on fire for me, baby? I want you so bad I can taste it, and it tastes better than any of this shit we’ve been eating. Fuck, I need to taste you.”
Simina’s brows drew tight in confusion. She was still fighting it for some reason. Was it still fear over betraying her old lover’s memory? How could she not see how badly her dragon wanted this? “I don’t think I can.”
“Just let your dragon take over, baby,” Dez said. “Give her what she wants. You’re already halfway there.”
Veryl saw the struggle in her silver eyes. The same resistance he’d met the day before, the first time he’d made love to her. He’d agreed to compromise for the rest of the day and that night, giving her the level of carnal abandon she seemed to need, in exchange for her allowing him to do things his way once they came down from the rush of rough sex. Her tastes had grown on him, he had to admit, even in such short a time. And yet with each round of gentle lovemaking, she’d melted a little for him too, letting him in until he hoped she’d open up to him fully, but she hadn’t quite made it that far.
He scooted his chair closer and rested a hand on her thigh. Her flared skirt had ridden up almost indecently since she’d moved to Dez’s lap, and her bare skin was hot to the touch. The temperature alone was evidence enough of her dragon’s need to be heard, but Simina was too frightened to let her have free rein.
“Starshine, I’m here. Nothing’s going to hurt you, not as long as I live. There’s nothing to fear.” He stroked her thigh gently and she relaxed a little, but the apprehension lingered. “What can I do?”
Simina was flushed and breathless. Her lips parted and she struggled to form words. She swallowed once and her eyelids lowered. Then she opened her eyes again and looked at him with brave determination.
“When you make love to me, I’m not afraid.” She shifted her thigh on Dez’s lap, opening her legs a little. “I want you to do it like you did the first time,” she added in a near whisper, as though she lacked enough breath to speak.
She dropped her hand to cover his, pulling it up her thigh until his fingers grazed the slick juices that had soaked through her panties and coated her skin.
The scent of her made him lose all reason, all purpose, outside of fulfilling her wish. He was hyperaware of his friends, but his every instinct told him this was right. Having her on Dez’s lap while she begged him to make love to her was the most natural thing in the world, and having Cato lean back in his chair to oversee the proceedings made perfect sense.
“Don’t keep her waiting,” Cato said.
“Please,” she said, shifting on Dez’s lap until she faced him. She lifted her shaking hands to Veryl’s face and brushed her fingertips lightly over his cheeks, then leaned in and kissed him. Her lips were cool and velvety soft, the kiss feather-light the way he had kissed her when initiating lovemaking the day before.
Behind her, Dez let out a soft curse. “Ver, if you don’t, I will.”
Veryl pulled back from Simina just enough to shoot a sharp look at his friend. “She needs to be made love to, not fucked.”
Dez brushed the back of a finger down the side of her neck, his gaze filled with both raw need and tenderness. “I’d sure as fuck give it my best. I’m a quick study, so why don’t you show us both how it’s done?”
Veryl looked deep into Simina’s eyes again, and her almost desperate yearning for exactly what he wanted to give her astounded him. “Starshine, are you sure? This isn’t exactly the ideal place …”
He glanced around at the secluded dockside dining spot and the table laden with empty dessert dishes. Then he remembered the first time had begun on their table in the mountaintop cabin. She wanted it like that again.
“Nevermind,” he said, then leaned in and kissed her with every bit of tenderness and passion he had in him. If she wanted to forget her fear, he’d make sure she knew how much love they had to give her.
Chapter Sixteen
The weakening tether Simina had on her dragon was stretched to its limit. Her self-control had unraveled to an alarming degree in only a matter of minutes, ever since Dez had offered her a taste from his own plate of dessert and she’d taken it. It had seemed like such an innocent gesture at first, until she’d clumsily wound up with a smear of frosting on her lower lip and he’d leaned in to help clean her up.
His touch had sent a jolt of lightning through her body, rousing her dragon to a fevered state. When he leaned in to kiss her, her only thought was how much she needed a taste of his lips even more than she’d craved sweets. The fact that her own date was only a foot away hadn’t stopped her. On the contrary, Veryl’s presence somehow made Dez’s kiss feel even more perfect, like he was merely an extension of Veryl. One piece of a whole package that she longed to discover every new facet of, and intended to take advantage of every opportunity to do just that.
None of it made sense to her rational mind, and yet her dragon was in her element, roaring her agreement with every action Simina made that took her closer to intimate contact with all three of these men.
Yet it still terrified her rational mind that she’d give in so easily. For the first time since she’d met Talon, she was almost entirely at the mercy of the spirit within her. This wasn’t how she’d envis
ioned the night would go, but her objection was only met with more of Veryl’s sweet endearments, softening her will further. When he touched her, she just wanted more from both Veryl before her and Dez at her back, whose arousal pressed hard into her backside.
Every cell in her being and every glimmer of energy in her soul wanted to follow through to see where this led.
Her plea for Veryl’s touch had been answered, and she reveled in the tenderness of his kiss. He was gentle, yet forceful in a way he hadn’t been before, and she loved the change. The love she felt from him was just as strong as ever, his lips hot and deliberate against her own as he pushed his tongue between her lips and along her tongue in measured sweeps guaranteed to set her body alight.
When he’d kissed her this way before, it had roused her instincts only a little. Not enough to make her believe they had the kind of undying bond she’d known she could have had with Talon, had they taken their relationship to that final step. But now … with these two other men so close … everything had changed.
Her desire had become a living thing, a bright presence in her soul that roared in harmony with her dragon, and it was all because of that kiss from Dez. Crossing that line had done something to her. Where she’d previously had only a low ember of affection for Veryl—enough to pursue a mutually beneficial mating—now that ember burned exponentially hotter with each of their shared touches. But it had been Cato’s voice urging Veryl on that finally pushed her beyond the brink of self-control.
She needed Veryl’s touch to ease that wild panic. While her dragon rejoiced, her rational mind wasn’t ready to take this step—but she wanted to be, and she knew he could get her there.
“I’ve got you, starshine. I’ll give you what you need.” He glanced past her to Dez at her back and amended his statement. “We’ll give you what you need. Talk to her, Dez.”
Dez slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against his chest so his mouth brushed against her ear. “Baby, you’re a dream come true, do you know that? No lie. What you’re doing to us, just by being here, is so long overdue. We never fucking knew what we were missing until you showed up, now it’s all so fucking crystal clear. You’re it for us.”
Cato came around to crouch beside her and gazed up at her with those deep blue eyes. “He’s right. We wouldn’t have come together the way we were meant to without you, Simina.”
Before her, Veryl’s expression still had that enraptured look he always got when he was on the verge of making the entire world fade away for her. He leaned in to kiss her again, a slow, sensual melding of their mouths.
While they kissed, three sets of hands roamed her body. Dez’s slid up her arms and hooked the straps of her dress, pulling them down so they fell to the sides. Her bodice loosened and he spread both big palms over her chest beneath her collar bone, sliding down beneath the top of her dress. The fabric slipped to her waist and his hands replaced it, cupping her breasts gently. He simply held her, still murmuring constant sensual endearments in her ear. Beneath his palms, her hard nipples ached to be touched, but she wasn’t about to interrupt their hypnotic process.
Another set of hands—Cato’s—began at her feet, tugging off her shoes and gently rubbing each foot before moving higher. As he moved, he pushed her legs apart and rucked up the hem of her dress to her waist.
Veryl kept his hands at the tops of her thighs, thumbs tantalizingly close to her core. When he moved, it was to grip her hips and catch the top of her panties to pull them down. Cool air rushed over her hot, soaked pussy, and she gasped when Veryl finally released her mouth from their never-ending kiss. He brushed his lips over her jaw, down her throat, to her chest.
No words were spoken between the men, but she got the sense they were attuned to each other. No sooner had Veryl’s mouth reached the tops of her breasts than Dez lifted one mound and bared her nipple to the other man. Veryl wrapped his lips around and sucked and at the same time Cato leaned in to take her other nipple, sliding a hand up her thigh while he teased her pebbled peak with his tongue. His fingers brushed her outer folds and he let out a low growl, slowly delving deeper within her tender core.
Then another hand joined Cato’s between her thighs, and Veryl spread her open while Cato pushed into her. He didn’t just test with one finger, or even two, though. She gasped, and her eyes flew open at the sudden invading stretch to see Cato gazing back at her intently. He glanced down between her thighs where all but his thumb was pushed into her aching sheath.
“Good girl,” he said. “I plan to share this part of you with one of them tonight. Would you like that?”
She mumbled a barely coherent affirmative before Veryl admonished his friend. “Slow down. This is all about her for now, remember?”
Cato nodded. “Just one more thing for me,” he said, then captured her mouth in a kiss that was so rough and desperate she wondered if he wasn’t the one who needed making love to instead of her. His experimental penetration of her eased until only two fingers remained and slowly began moving in and out of her, each time hooking just enough to rub at her inner walls in that spot that made her feel like she was flying.
He took her to the edge until her hips bucked into his thrusting fingers, then eased back and pushed her legs farther apart.
Dez gently massaged her breasts as he tweaked and pinched her tender nipples, causing her to arch into his touch. “Baby, watching you come undone for them is the fucking sweetest thing in the world. I’m going to love taking care of you myself.”
Cato moved away, and Simina’s eyelids fluttered open in time to see Veryl bend down and kiss the top of her bare cleft as reverently as he’d kissed her mouth. He lingered for a second as Cato shifted his hand to make room, the adjustment causing him to push deeper into her. Then Veryl’s tongue slid out and probed her clit, teasing the sensitive tip beneath her hood with tiny licks.
She cried out at the sudden, sharp pleasure that rushed through her like wildfire. Veryl grasped both her thighs in his hands, squeezing and pushing them wide. Cato gripped her thigh closest to him, pressed a kiss to her knee, and pushed her leg up. He slipped his fingers out of her and rested his hand at the back of Veryl’s neck as he bent low and took over, covering her entire engorged pussy with his mouth and pushing his tongue deep into her.
“Let me taste her, brother,” Dez growled, his gaze fixed on Cato’s fingers, still glistening with her juices. Cato raised his hand and touched his fingers to the other man’s lips. Dez opened up and sucked them in, his moan sending a shiver down Simina’s body that heightened the throbbing heat of her flesh beneath Veryl’s talented tongue.
She clung to them, one arm hooked behind her holding onto the back of Dez’s neck, and the other over Cato’s shoulders as he bent in to kiss her once more while Dez diligently cleaned her essence off Cato’s fingers.
Veryl’s tongue fluttered expertly over her clit, taking her to the edge yet again and holding her there. When she was so close she didn’t think she could stand it, he pushed his fingers into her in a slow, deliberate thrust and rubbed that spot that took her to heaven in a split-second. She let out a harsh moan into Cato’s mouth and he hummed back, deepening their kiss and cupping the back of her head with one big hand to keep her steady as her orgasm tore through her.
Veryl shifted his grip to her ass, holding her tight to his mouth while he continued strumming her pussy with his tongue, drawing out the orgasm until she was forced to break the kiss with Cato just to breathe. She let out a rough yell, her body arching and tensing as the last peak gripped her.
Dez held her close, his strong arms wrapped around her and his lips nuzzling at the side of her neck. “That’s right. Let go, baby. Fuck, you are so beautiful like this.”
She lost herself to the utter perfection of the moment, of relinquishing control of her body and soul into their hands. Deep inside, her dragon purred in contentment. The agony of grief and solitude w
as at an end, and everything was right in her world again.
Chapter Seventeen
Simina drifted in a hazy afterglow for a moment until Dez groaned roughly into her ear, his hips tilting against her ass. “You’re driving us insane, baby. We need more of you than just a taste.”
Forcing herself to focus, she looked at Cato and Veryl, meeting their fevered gazes. Cato knelt beside her, his blond hair a tangled mess from her fingers clinging to him. Veryl licked his lips and raked his gaze down her disheveled body, looking more like he wanted to ride her rough than make love to her like he’d insisted on doing so many times the day before.
The crazy thing was that she wanted more too. She wanted everything they had to give her, and her dragon roused and rumbled her agreement.
“Of course you do,” she said, sliding off Dez’s lap and dropping to her knees between Veryl’s legs. “You first?” she asked, gazing up into those violet depths that had wormed their way into her heart.
“Not like this,” Cato said, grabbing her elbow and urging her up again.
Simina gave the big, blond dragon a bewildered look. “I thought you needed …”
“Oh, we do, love,” he said as he gently straightened her skirt and pulled the straps of her dress back up to cover her breasts. “But I think we need more room to move and a more comfortable place to completely defile that delicious cunt of yours with all our cocks.”
Breathless, she could only nod. His language was so reminiscent of something Talon might say, yet for those words to be spoken by such an angelic-looking man seemed incongruous.
The other two men stood, and Veryl swept her into his arms. She let out a startled yelp and smiled up at him in response to his chuckle. “Where to?” he asked his friends. “My cabin’s on the other side of the lake.”
