A burst of nervous laughter bubbled out of her. “I’ve done this before, my friend. Why would I panic?”
“You’ve not done this with dragons.” Beau carefully worked the head inside her and slid a little farther.
The first harsh stretch made her groan. Hot damn, it burned. She rolled her hips to alleviate the searing tension skittering up her spine.
“Don’t move,” Beau commanded.
“Just sink in,” Devon pleaded. “I can’t take the hovering at the ring.”
Beau took firm hold of Devon’s hips and sank to the hilt in one long, slow stroke.
“Oh.” She melted limply against the rim of the pool. It hurt to stretch so quickly, but it also sent a screaming siren of a signal to the rest of her body that she was about to arrive at the next stage, which was a heightened sensory alertness she found extremely exciting. A heartbeat later, pleasure and pain were switching partners back and forth in their arousing dance.
“Devon.” Beau’s voice was a low rasp. He thumped his thighs against hers. “You feel so good. I hope you can take more.”
She closed her eyes and arched beneath Beau. She was already on fire and fully stretched, and she was taking all of him. What was he talking about?
“My turn.” Jace’s voice was husky.
Devon heard the faint snap of a condom being rolled down Jace’s shaft, followed by the now-familiar click of the lubricant cap. He gave the bottle a hard squeeze that made the thin plastic crackle. The juicy slurp of a slick fist spreading lubricant followed.
A worried little shiver gripped her. In a moment Beau was going to be on the receiving end, and she prayed he wouldn’t go ballistic when Jace penetrated him.
Beau leaned forward, almost covering Devon’s back, and wrapped his arms around her waist as he glided in and out of her with rising tension. “Stroke yourself.” His voice carried a hint of desperation. “Finger your clit and speed yourself along. I don’t know how much of this I can take.”
“You’re going to take it, all right.” Jace braced himself against Beau. “In a single, hard stroke.”
Devon felt Jace crowd close and press down on them. Beau writhed on top of her, arching his back to keep from crushing her.
Jace seemed to be struggling to hold Beau still as a pleased growl rose low in his throat. “Stop moving around so I can fuck you right.” As he mounted Beau, his toes kicked against Devon’s heels.
A muffled cry escaped Beau’s lips. “God, that’s fierce.” He trembled as he gripped Devon’s shoulders with tensed fingers. His hips pumped against her. “It’s starting.”
She moaned as Beau’s cock thickened and stretched her. “What the hell?” The shaft swelled against her tight ring of muscle and burned like hell. She tried to squirm away but was trapped beneath Beau as he bore down on her. Panic crept into her voice. “How big are you going to get?”
“That’s the worst of it.” Beau held on to Devon as he stroked faster. “The only way through it is to finish.” The burn of the stretch made her whimper, but the strokes of Beau’s heavy cock were incredibly exciting. Jace pounded on top of them, leaving her shuddering at the bottom of the pile.
Beau sensed her anxiety. “I can give you a dragon bite. It will help.”
Her ass was on fire. “Do it!”
Beau bit down on Devon’s nape with just enough pressure to make two tiny punctures.
“Ouch!” Devon howled.
Beau swiftly swept his tongue across the twin wounds.
A euphoric tingle of erotic abandon spread across her skin, which made all panic and pain flee. A rolling tumble of beautiful sensations took their place. Her nipples were too sensitive to brush against anything, especially not the stone she lay on. It became impossible to remain still. Devon rocked her hips against Beau, loving the feeling of being taken. Dragon bites were wonderful.
“It worked,” she whispered. “We’re good.” A sharp buzz of desire pushed her closer to the edge. “Fuck me.” She reached between her thighs and stroked herself with a wet fingertip. The dragon bite coursed through her bloodstream, making her skin tingle and almost unbearably sensitive to touch. The first heated contractions of climax rolled through her in unstoppable waves and she released a long, ragged moan as a scorching orgasm overtook her.
Beau’s strokes sped. “Push back, Devon. Move with me.”
She knew Beau was at the limits of his control and glanced over her shoulder just in time to see his tense teeth-gritted expression melt to one of lash-flickering bliss with softly parted lips. Gripping the edge of the pool, she took Beau’s last furious strokes as a cry, like iron scraping stone, crossed his lips. He locked his hands around her hips and came hard.
Jace’s eyes were closed too as he pumped into Beau. The pace appeared brutal. “Oh fuck!” He arched back as he came.
As the final ripples of climax faded, she felt drained. “Damn,” she muttered. It had been the stormiest, most exciting thing she’d ever engaged in, and she knew she’d soon want more. The sensation of two solid bodies sliding against her, combined with the added heat of the dragon bite, was almost too much. Sex with Marduko was a sweet intoxication she could become addicted to. She gave Beau’s thigh a playful smack. “Why didn’t you warn me your cock was going to get thicker?”
“It doesn’t always happen.” Beau shrugged. “I wasn’t sure. I’ve never taken a female mate this way.” He slid free of Devon and helped her stand.
“You both keep calling me mate.” Devon turned to face her two dream men. “Is that the same as a lover in this trio?”
“It’s more than that.” Jace was breathing hard as he straightened and slid free of Beau and rolled the condom off. “A Marduko mate bond is….” He hesitated. “Extremely binding.”
Devon’s gaze honed in on Jace. The telepathic properties of the tea seemed to have lessened but a hint of Jace’s troubled thoughts remained. “There’s more going on in your mind. I can sense it. You’re worried about something, and that worries me.” Devon dipped her body into the bubbling warm water to rinse. “Where the Marduko are concerned, there seem to be a lot of sneaky surprises.”
“She’s right.” Beau leaned over Devon and kissed her nape. His face lingered near her throat. “The dragon bite is going to leave a bruise for a day, but they heal quickly.” He gazed possessively at Devon’s throat as if he wanted to bite her again. “I have to admit, I love seeing my mark on you.”
Devon splashed a little water against the tiny wound and searched for the exact location of the bite with her fingertips, but it was hard to find. The bite had already closed and was not the least bit sore. “Let’s recap: Marduko cocks thicken on penetration. Your sperm counts soar. A Marduko bite is like a fast-acting bliss drug. I’m more than a lover.” She cautiously approached Jace. “I’m sure there are a few more surprises. What else are you not telling me?”
Beau’s face grew somber.
“We’ll share everything with you.” Jace reached for Devon and glided his fingertips across her arm. “This is new for us too. I want to go slowly and do things right.”
“But we haven’t gone slowly.” Beau cupped his hands and splashed water on his face. “And we haven’t done things right, whatever that means. We should be upfront with Devon. She’s a grown woman.”
What was Beau saying? She’d observed enough about Beau and Jace’s dynamic to know that when Beau had mentioned anything it was because it was damn important. “Hell yeah! I’ve been a good sport through dragon abductions and other unplanned thrills. Considering this is all outside my comfort zone, I think I’ve handled everything really well.”
“You have,” Jace agreed with a tense smile.
“Obviously you know a lot more about the Marduko than I do.” Devon focused on Jace. “So tell me, how many more startling surprises am I going to get tonight?”
“Do you like what you’ve been surprised with?” Jace edged closer. “Do you think you could bear a little more?”
“I love wh
at we’ve shared.” Devon studied Jace’s face, sensing he was withholding something major. “I want you to know that if you have something more to tell me, you should say it now.”
“I will.” Jace answered almost too quickly to sound sincere.
“Okay.” Devon shrugged. “I hope you’ll tell me whatever it is that’s lurking below the surface. You do understand the dragon leaf tea is giving my feminine intuition a boost, don’t you? I can’t read your thoughts with precision, but your anxiety is right at the top ready to spill your secrets.”
A defeated expression collapsed Jace’s face.
Devon sensed Jace pulling away emotionally. Within an instant, he slammed a mental door shut in his mind, and she was unable to feel or gain a clear sense of Jace’s emotions; all was blank. “I felt that! You just shut me out. Why did you do that? That doesn’t seem fair.”
Jace’s gaze softened. He looked almost like an apologetic little boy. “I’m sorry, but I’m trying my best to be fair to you. I want you to have your own experience of me—us—and make your own decisions without my wants or desires getting in the way.”
Did he just say he’d shut her out for her own good? She wasn’t buying it. “You don’t have to shut me out. Maybe we want and desire the same things.” The sting of exclusion bothered her, especially after feeling so connected to Jace earlier. The moment carried shades of their dating life when an evening of intense intimacy ended the next day with cool distance and guarded conversation at work. “Jace, I’ve made myself vulnerable to both of you and made an effort to be understanding and open-minded. This is a huge risk for me to take on an emotional, physical, and even career level. I want this. I put my anxiety aside to explore something special. I know this isn’t normal. I need you to understand how confusing it feels to share you and Beau, even glimpse inside your hearts and minds, and then be locked out. It feels bad, like I had a warm blanket snatched away from me when I was just getting comfortable. Don’t you trust me?”
“I’m not doing it to hurt you.” Jace smoothed Devon’s hair. “You need time and freedom to make your own choices, independent of mine.”
“Right off the bat there’s going to be secrets between us?” Devon tensed. “That’s not good.”
Jace hesitated. “I have one secret I have to keep until you’ve had a chance to figure out if and how you fit with Beau and me.”
Devon’s gaze darted between Jace and Beau. “And when I make that decision, the door magically opens again and you let me back in?”
“Yes, I promise.” Jace drew Devon near and kissed her cheek. “I can’t tell you any more than that.”
Both Beau and Jace tossed the condoms into a paper trash bag next to the backpack. “Throw those in the fire when we return,” Jace tersely commanded Beau. “Let’s get out of the pool.” He climbed over the ledge, hauling his long legs out of the water then turned and offered Devon his hand.
Devon rose from the pool and immediately reached for Jace’s discarded shirt, slipping her arms into the sleeves. The flannel carried the faintest hint of Jace’s warm scent. “I’m assuming this shirt is standing in as my pajamas tonight.”
“You don’t have to wear pajamas or anything at all if that’s what you’d like.” A crooked smile lit Jace’s lips.
She wrapped the voluminous shirt tightly around her. “If you’re going to maintain a safety boundary, then I guess I need one too.”
“You don’t.” Jace shook his head. “You just need time to think.”
Beau stepped out of the pool and stood dripping wet on the cave floor. “It’s been a long day. I think we all need sleep.” He picked up the backpack, gathered the foil condom wrappers and bits of trash into the trash bag, and strode from the cavern.
“Wait.” Jace swung the flashlight toward Beau.
Devon’s gaze followed the beam of the flashlight as it illuminated a niche in the cave wall that contained a row of large birdlike skulls that had not been visible earlier. She gasped. “What’s that?”
“Those are our Marduko ancestors.” Jace looked away as if the sight pained him. “The originals.”
Devon gazed in awe at the immense, time-bleached skulls stacked in layers along a high, rocky ledge. “How many are here?”
“Not many.” Jace stepped toward the cavern’s sole exit. “Certainly no more than fifty complete skulls. The oldest ones crumbled years ago, and the Marduko have long spread out into the world. Persecution made it too dangerous for us to live together in large groups, or frequent sacred places. We became too easy to spot. Except as an ancestral memory, this cave was all but forgotten.”
“Could I look at the skulls up close?” Devon asked with caution. “Perhaps photograph them?”
“Not now,” Jace said quietly. “Maybe later.”
“Okay.” Devon tried to disguise her disappointment. “This place feels sacred, like a sepulcher beneath an old church.”
“That’s exactly what it is.” Jace motioned for Devon and Beau to follow him.
Devon gazed back at the pool. “Maybe we shouldn’t have done what we did here? Was it irreverent or taboo?”
“It was perfect,” Jace corrected her. He pointed the beam of the flashlight away from the ancient skulls and the pool. The cavern reverted to its natural state of utter darkness. “Come.” He placed his hand on Devon’s back and guided her forward. “I want to go back to the fire.”
They ascended the twisting volcanic corridor more quickly than they had come. For Devon, walking a path was much easier the second time. A certain tension hung in the air, and little was said beyond the most neutral of Jace’s commands, such as, “Step left, or Watch your toes near those rocks.”
When they reached the main floor of the cave, Devon saw that the fire had burned to an orange smolder.
Beau was quick to add more wood while Jace stacked and rearranged a pile of blankets to make a single sprawling, thickly padded bed. He dug through a backpack, retrieved a plastic bottle of water and a small packet of toiletries that included a toothbrush and toothpaste, and handed them to Devon. “Take a moment to get yourself ready for bed.” His gaze never broke from hers. “I want you to sleep beside me.”
Devon looked at Beau as he crouched beside the fire. “Where will Beau sleep?”
Beau didn’t even blink. “On the other side.”
“That sounds good to me.” Devon opened the bottle of water and took a long drink before wandering toward the mouth of the cave. The idea of being shared and cherished by two wonderful men was exhilarating, and far more than she’d ever expected life to offer. Two dragons had claimed her, and there were a few things she had to get used to, like where the hell to go to the bathroom in a cave. “I’m walking onto the ledge.”
“Be careful!” Jace lunged forward. “I’ll go with you.”
Beau brought Jace to a halt with the light tap of his hand. “She’ll be all right. Devon needs a moment alone.”
“I’ll be fine.” Devon stepped outside the cave onto the ledge. The cold night air was too much on her bare legs and left her shivering. She knew she couldn’t stay out there long, and inched her way toward the far side of the ledge to squat and pee while wondering how her life had gotten so weird so fast. That odd meeting with Witch Casey had turned into a prophecy fulfilled.
She gazed outward at the clear night sky. The ledge was perhaps only halfway up the mountain, but it was impossible to get a sense of scale at night. Except for a crescent moon, it was so dark that the stars shone bright almost to the horizon. That was something she’d never seen near a city.
As quickly as possible, she finished peeing. She stood and decided to brush her teeth closer to the fire and warm up, so she walked back into the cave.
Jace was already facing the entrance of the cave, waiting for her to return with an anxious expression on his brow.
“See, I’m fine.” Devon opened the toiletries bag, stripped the plastic wrapper from the new toothbrush, and squeezed a small amount of toothpaste onto its br
istles. She stood near the fire and halfheartedly brushed her teeth.
Jace glanced at Devon from the corner of his eye. “What are you thinking?”
“That’s an ironic comment coming from you.” She tried to speak clearly without spitting out the foamy toothpaste. “If you really wanted to know what I was thinking, maybe you shouldn’t have shut me out.”
“That’s not fair, Devon.” Beau was quick to defend Jace. “Jace could have been completely selfish with you. He could have dragged you here and done as he liked. He has a whole arsenal of things he could use to keep you off-balance and distracted. He could have kept you incapacitated with swoop spells, or lust-drugged with kisses, and you already know what that feels like. Once a Marduko’s tongue has stroked you and the pheromones have entered your bloodstream, you can’t even think clearly, let alone walk away—you can only lie there and beg for more. What do you think several dragon bites in a row would do to your judgment?”
“All right, I got your point.” Devon spat toothpaste into the fire and it hissed.
Beau’s cheeks colored. “Jace’s fighting all his strongest Marduko instincts, and so am I.”
“Why?” Devon wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Obviously you can get away with whatever you want.”
“Because it’s not right for humans.” Jace patted the blankets beside him and motioned for Devon to join him. “That’s not how humans build relationships. If I took complete advantage of you, you’d only grow to resent it. I want your trust, and I’m willing to earn it.” He held out his hand to Devon. “Come over here.”
Slipping the toothbrush back into the bag, she set it down. They’d made mistakes but they were trying. She walked toward Jace, knelt on the blankets beside him and offered a shaky smile. “This has been one crazy working vacation.”
“I know it has.” Jace wrapped his arms around Devon and pressed her down onto the bedding as he stretched out beside her. He pulled a blanket over them both. “Do you think you could sleep for a few hours?”
Devon nodded. “Yes. I’m exhausted and jet-lagged.”
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