First Beast

by Faye Avalon

  Silence thundered through the air, their bodies frozen in space, until he finally spoke. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to work.”

  At Caleb’s menacing tone, Joshua’s hands tightened on her hips in a possessive move. “Why don’t you take a hike while I fuck my wife, asshole.”

  Caleb’s gaze narrowed and he took three steps into the room. “Need I remind you she is now my wife?”

  Aware that neither of them would back down any time soon, Talia extracted herself from Joshua’s hold and stooped to pull up her panties. “And need I remind you—both of you—that I’m not a possession you can squabble over? Nor do I appreciate you talking about me as if I’m not here.”

  She started to walk past Caleb, intent on getting to the bedroom and closing the door on them both.

  His hand curled around her wrist. “We need to establish some ground rules.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You don’t let him touch you without me around.”

  Talia stared at him, openmouthed. The arrogance and effrontery of the man never ceased to amaze her. “In case it’s slipped your mind, he’s my husband. He was here first. If anyone doesn’t get to touch me, it should be you, without him around.”

  Realizing what she’d said, Talia shook off Caleb’s hand. “In fact, neither of you get to touch me unless I want it.” She glared at both men in turn. “Got that?”

  When they said nothing, she whirled around and left the kitchen.

  Damn men. Who did they think they were to tell her who could and could not touch her? She was in charge of her body. Her. And only her. She might have agreed to this farcical arrangement, but that didn’t mean they could control her, give her orders and expect her to carry them out.

  She flung the bedroom door closed, her body shaking with fury. If either one of them came storming in with the intention of exerting their power, they could go to hell.

  Bad enough she’d taken this step, but she was damned if they would treat her like something to bargain over. Taking a few deep breaths, she tried to steady her thumping heart. God, she was mad. At them. At herself. But she needed to calm down. She needed all her thinking skills to stay on top of the situation. If she gave either one of them an inch, she would be lost.

  She ran herself a bath and considered locking the bathroom door. Maybe they needed to realize she had boundaries beyond which they could not cross. Her bath time being one of them. But for some reason, she didn’t lock the door. Maybe to test them? She didn’t know. There didn’t seem to be much she did know right then.

  With that thought reverberating in her head, she stepped in, sank down and tried to drive all thoughts of exasperating men, and their demands, out of her head.

  Wrapped in a towel, Talia walked back into the bedroom and stopped dead when she saw Caleb sitting on the end of the bed. His elbows rested on his thighs, hands clasped between his legs and his head bowed. He looked up, piercing her with that dark green gaze. She hated that her body reacted so fiercely whenever their eyes met. The way her stomach trembled and heat flared between her legs.

  In the deepest recesses of her heart, she hated that she never felt that way with Joshua.

  Clutching the edges of the towel tight to her breasts, she jerked up her chin. “What do you want?”

  “I came to speak with you.”

  “Where’s Josh?”

  “He agreed to give me a minute.”

  That jerked her back a pace. That Joshua had agreed to give Caleb anything was pretty surprising, but alone time with her? She didn’t feel inclined to press the issue, certainly not while she stood there in a towel, her body glistening from the lavender-scented oils of her bath.

  “You’d better get on with it. Knowing Josh, he’ll be barging in here as soon as your time is up.”

  He ran his gaze down her body and slowly up again. “Joshua and I have been talking.”

  Well, it was preferable to them beating the hell out of each other, which was what she’d expected. “And?”

  “We’ve decided that the only way this can work is if we set up ground rules and stick to them.”

  “Oh really?” Her voice dripped sarcasm. “I’m so glad that’s what you’ve decided.”

  He rose and walked toward her. Blood sped through her veins and the heat between her legs intensified. For a heady moment, she thought he would reach out and touch her, but he slipped his hands into his trouser pockets. “Like I said, we need to establish how we want this to work.”

  “Well, for the record, I don’t want this to work at all. But seeing as it’s done and dusted now, you’re probably right. Do I get a say in things?”

  “Of course.”

  A smile stretched across his lips, softening his expression from uncompromising to almost…human. The thought brought a smile to her own lips.

  “Something funny?”

  She searched in a drawer for fresh underwear. “I’m reminding myself that you’re different. That I’m married to two men and as if that’s not weird enough, they’re shapeshifters. I really shouldn’t expect anything close to normal.”

  “Is that what you want? Normal?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” She selected a simple cotton bra and panties. “But my grandmother always said that once you’ve made your bed, the only thing left is to lie on it.”

  “I think I’d like your grandmother.”

  Strangely, Talia thought her grandmother would like Caleb. She’d liked straight-shooters, people who knew their own mind and acted on their beliefs and principles. “She died a while ago.”

  “I’m sorry. You were close?”

  “She was the closest to a mother I had. My real mother died when I was young.”

  He stepped close and ran his fingers lightly down her arms, making her temperature rise. “That’s tough. Did your grandmother raise you?”

  She ignored the flames licking through her body. “Pretty much. I lived with my father and older brother, but my grandmother was the person I turned to.”

  “You aren’t close with your father?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve always thought on some level he blamed me for my mother’s death. I think my brother did too.”

  “Then that’s on him, and your brother.”

  “I know.” The conversation was becoming far too intimate for her liking. It stirred things inside her that she didn’t want to feel. And what gave him the right to console her and yet punish Joshua for his mother’s failings? “It’s all too easy to blame someone for another’s wrongdoing, isn’t it?”

  It took him a moment to click in. “Perhaps sometimes it’s justified. But not for a small child with no control over what happens.”

  The hard uncompromising expression returned, signaling the end of their brief tête-à-tête, which suited her just fine. Better to face the outer beast than the inner man. It wasn’t half as unsettling.

  As if on cue, Joshua walked in and stood beside Caleb. She stared at the two men, both standing there with their chests puffed out, legs astride and hands in their pockets. She would love to know exactly what form this talk of theirs had taken, because Joshua’s belligerent expression had disappeared to be replaced by a kind of resigned acceptance.

  Caleb had no doubt reminded him that his mother’s wellbeing relied on this ménage working without any hindrance on Joshua’s part. The realization angered her, made her aware that with Joshua’s reconciliation to the situation, she was in effect alone with her open resentment of it. It seemed she no longer had an ally. At least not overtly.

  Wanting to hold on to her anger, Talia was tempted to tell them both to get out. She wanted to get some clothes on, to feel less exposed to their hungry gazes. But overriding that anger was another more powerful feeling.

  While two pairs of emerald eyes devoured her, tiny chills erupted over her body, her pussy
throbbing with the realization of what being married to two men would entail. She couldn’t quite reconcile the bizarreness of her situation with the impossible lust that reverberated through to her very core. She had experienced sex with both of them on separate occasions, but what would it be like being with them at the same time? They were passionate, demanding…insatiable.

  “We’ve decided it’ll probably work best if we’re all present when we have sex.” Joshua stepped forward. “It’ll be easier that way and there’ll be less bad feeling than if we take you separately.”

  “Just a minute.” Talia moved back as discomfort skittered down her spine with a spiky edge of anger riding it. “I don’t recall being party to this decision.”

  Caleb levered his way in front of Joshua. He reached for the underwear she clutched like a lifeline, and tossed it back in the drawer. “You’re new to this. It might be better to let experience determine how it should play.”

  His voice, throaty and deep, sent her heart thumping wildly against her ribcage. “What do you mean, I’m new to this? Does that mean you’re not?”

  She kept her gaze on Caleb, but noticed Joshua’s brief glance at his brother.

  “Apparently,” Caleb said, running his fingertip along the top of her breast, “we’ve both ventured into the world of threesomes.”

  What?

  Caleb caught hold of one edge of the towel. Her breasts tingled, her nipples hardened against the soft cotton of the towel. The room felt hot, but still she shivered. They were experienced at this whole ménage thing? She didn’t know whether to be appalled or enthralled.

  While she was still deciding, Joshua moved behind her and ran his hand beneath her arm to catch hold of the opposite side of the towel. In unison, the men drew the edges of the towel away and she gasped in a breath as cool air brushed over her sensitive breasts.

  “If there’s anything you don’t like, or want, you just need to say.” Caleb threw the towel onto a nearby chair and moved up close to her. At the same time Joshua pressed against her back. It was unsettling but wildly erotic being pressed naked between two powerfully built men who were still fully clothed. The denim of Joshua’s jeans scratched against her backside as Caleb’s shirt-covered chest brushed her nipples.

  Her pussy felt soaked with her own arousal and her fingers itched to touch Caleb’s heated flesh. Before she could move, he slid his hands around her hips and caught hold of her backside, easing her against him so that the bulge of his cock pressed against her core.

  Keeping her eyes on Caleb, she gasped as Joshua’s hands slid up her sides to cup her breasts, his thumbs brushing lightly over her hardened peaks.

  She raised her chin as Caleb’s head lowered, offering herself up for his kiss. She felt as if she were floating outside her body somehow, as if this was happening in a dream, a peculiar yet pleasurable dream.

  Caleb slanted his mouth over hers, and she closed her eyes. The kiss was surprisingly gentle. So gentle that some of her nerves disappeared. Lost in his kiss, she only vaguely felt Joshua brush aside her hair, his mouth pressing against her neck, tongue sliding up to flick at her earlobe.

  Her pussy throbbed, her hands moving seemingly of their own accord to rest on Caleb’s hips. She felt the slide of cloth against her palms, her fingers brushing the edge of his belt.

  With adept ease, Caleb hoisted her up and she wrapped her legs around him. She grabbed frantically for his neck, pressing her pussy hard against his erection. He kissed her again, turning with her in his arms and moving to the bed. She heard a sound to the side and knew it must be Joshua, although she was so lost in Caleb she couldn’t bear to open her eyes and break the magic.

  Somewhere inside her the little voice sounded off loud and clear. Her focus should be on her husband. Her real husband. Making sure Joshua was okay. She and Caleb had spent last night together. Alone. While Joshua had gotten into a fight. It was only fair that Joshua should take the lead now, that he be the one to carry her to the bed, that he be the one to drive this need in her.

  Yet, for some reason, she couldn’t give voice to the nagging of her conscience.

  Caleb lowered her to the bed and still she felt reluctant to release her hold on his neck, to fall bereft of his kiss. As they stared at each other, Caleb straightened up and Joshua leaned over her.

  His kiss wasn’t as gentle as Caleb’s. Instead, he took her mouth with a ferocity that usually thrilled her, but now only paled when compared to what she had experienced with Caleb.

  Before she had time to reason it out, Joshua trailed his mouth down her neck, across her collarbone and farther down until he captured her breast.

  As his tongue flicked across the hard bud, her gaze slid to Caleb. He stood rigid beside the bed, his eyes hard and uncompromising. A tick started along his jaw and she knew he was grinding his teeth together. Keeping his eyes on hers, he reached over his head and grabbed the back of his shirt. In one easy movement, he pulled it off, his muscled chest slick and heaving with each deep breath he took.

  She imagined his mouth on her breast. The flick of his tongue across her nipple. The weight of his body above hers.

  Beneath the deep green, his eyes glowed golden. She wondered if it was from lust or anger. Perhaps a little of both, her fevered mind decided, and she closed her eyes against Caleb’s heated stare. This was his idea. It was because of his demands, his insistence that they share her. He’d simply have to get used to seeing Joshua make love to her.

  She opened her eyes as Joshua moved farther down her body, his hot mouth grazing a languorous path to her pussy. She wouldn’t think. She would only feel.

  Emptying her mind, she opened her legs for Joshua, jolting as his mouth pressed to her core. A deep groan came to her as if in a dream. She didn’t know if it belonged to Joshua or Caleb. Told herself she didn’t care.

  The pressure built fast, her pussy lips vibrating beneath her husband’s mouth. She felt strangely distanced, as if what was happening was outside her, beyond some invisible barrier that helped form a distance between the physical sensations and the pull of an emotional connection.

  The barrier shattered when Caleb’s mouth closed over her breast, when his hand cupped the other and his thumb brushed determinedly across her tight nipple. His tongue lapped roughly across the hardened peak, pushing chills of desire through her body and down toward where Joshua’s tongue pressed urgently.

  She glanced down at Caleb. He worked his tongue roughly across her tight bud, before taking her nipple between his teeth and nipping lightly. She met his meaningful gaze, the possessive look in his eyes. He bit down harder, breaking the final thread of her control. She came on a startled cry.

  Joshua’s tongue pressed deep into her pussy. She arched, cried out. Her orgasm was relentless as the two men kept up their ruthless pace. Desperately, she tried to focus on Joshua, but it was Caleb who invaded her thoughts. It was Caleb’s image that shone bright in her imagination. Caleb’s arms she wanted around her. It was Caleb’s touch her aching body needed as she shivered down from lusty heights.

  She squeezed her eyes shut in the hope she could dismiss Caleb from her head.

  Oh hell. What was happening to her?

  The sensation of two strong arms lifting her cut off her thoughts. On her knees, she opened her eyes and found Caleb in front of her. At some stage while she’d been deep in her post-orgasmic stupor, he’d removed his trousers and now his erection pressed large and determined against her pussy.

  From behind, Joshua wrapped his arms around her and tugged until she was lying in his arms against the pillows. Joshua’s cock pressed against her ass and he shifted her slightly so that his length slid along her crease. Sliding his hands down her stomach, he settled his fingers against her inner thighs. Slowly, he drew her legs open, pulling up against her thighs and encouraging her to bend her knees. Fully exposed to Caleb’s hot scrutiny, she tried to draw her le
gs together, but Joshua’s hold tightened.

  “He gets to go first, babe,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s his right…as leader.”

  Talia knew she should protest, or at the very least make it known that she should have a say in who got to go first. But right then, as Caleb wrapped his hand around his cock and pressed forward to guide it into her, she seemed to be struck dumb.

  The dull press of his head against her heated entrance made her gasp. He met her gaze and, determined not to give in to the desire for his possession, Talia turned her head away.

  “Look at me,” he demanded, his cock pressing forward another inch. “Damn it, you’ll look at me.”

  Determined to hold out against the intense desire for him that stormed through her, Talia refused to comply. Joshua still held her legs apart, although the pressure eased. Her pussy throbbed, fierce heat flooding her pelvis so badly that she positively ached for Caleb’s penetration. For the release that he could give her.

  Damn it to hell and back. Why, oh why, did she feel this way?

  “You agreed to this.” It was Joshua’s voice echoing in her ear. “It’s too late to change your mind.”

  She knew that, but it didn’t stop her annoyance levels rising at Joshua’s reasonable tone. What had happened to the man who had seemed so against this arrangement? The one who had gotten into a fight because he couldn’t stand the thought of her with another man?

  If he could behave as if this was suddenly acceptable and reasonable, then why shouldn’t she? While part of her felt guilty that she could actually enjoy the physical side of their bargain, perhaps there was no real need to put up that barrier any longer.

  That proverbial bed had been made, so why shouldn’t she simply allow herself to enjoy lying on it? Literally.

  She turned her head and met Caleb’s gaze. Reaching down to where Joshua’s hands lay on her thighs, she covered his hands with her own and widened her bent legs.

  Only a hint of a smile softened Caleb’s mouth. He brushed the head of his cock against her heat, and her belly tightened, her pulse escalated.