A Shade of Midnight

by Renee George

  For someone who could read the emotions of other beings, she’d never been very good at deciphering her own. So, she decided to approach the question of love from a different vantage. She asked herself, could she live without them? Maybe. Could she stop thinking about them? No. The final question forced her to truly confront her feelings. Would she give her life for them?

  “Yes,” she said aloud. “I love them.”

  “Then you must join with them,” Keane said. “Only a true joining will give you the strength you’ll need.”

  “The strength for what?”

  “To kill your Aunt Aalia, my sister, before she kills you.”

  “This is an unexpected turn of events,” Benie said. “I thought Keane was droganos.”

  “Half,” he said to his queen. He turned his focus to Mina. “I’ve tried my best to protect you. To keep my promise to your father.”

  “My father.”

  “Wow, this is getting more and more twisted,” Benie said. “I think that’s our cue to go. Keep us clued in on rebel activity, and if you need any help with this…situation…”

  Trace walked to Mina, but he stopped shy of actually touching her. “Sometimes fate is its own reward.” He walked back to Benie and Ian, and the three of them passed through the portal door to Caledon. The door closed behind them. Mina was left with Eric, Gav, and Keane. The emotions in the room were high, scattered, and overwhelming. She shut down her empathy, or as much as she could.

  She stared at Keane. “Tell me everything.”

  “I am the half-brother to Malia and Aalia Amat. We shared the same father. He was an aural with an aural wife, but he took a droganos as a mistress.”

  “Malia?”

  “You’re mother.”

  Mina rocked on her toes. “I need to sit down.” Under the shock, a simmering anger brew. Keane knew about her past, and apparently he was her uncle. She couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d have told her that Darth Vader was her father.

  Eric and Gav put themselves on either side of her as she lowered herself to the couch.

  “I hoped you’d never have to find out.”

  “Obviously,” she retorted. “What happened to my mother?” It was a question she’d pondered over the years, but she’d never dug too deeply. She had worried if she picked the scab off that wound it would never stop bleeding. But now she needed to know.

  “Aalia killed her.”

  “Her own sister.”

  “Her own identical twin,” Keane said. “They’d been close growing up. Aalia loved Malia, which made the betrayal more horrific.”

  “The betrayer,” Mina said, remembering Helma the seer’s prophetic words. “Go on.”

  “Aalia found an ancient text, supposedly a path, set by Qetesh herself, to a kind of immortality. An ascension. She became obsessed with studying the tome. The path required a sacrifice…” He shook his head. His fingers clenching into a fist. “She was certain Malia’s death at her hand would open the way for her. I was already Chief Warden at that time, and I had spies in my father’s home. When I found out what Aalia planned, I helped Malia escape. She was safe for nearly a decade.”

  “Then what happened? How did Aalia find her?”

  “Malia fell in love with a human. Your father. You were born, and the years passed. She let her guard down. Forgot about the danger she faced. She missed Aalia. She’d struggled to believe her sister would actually kill her. She knew Aalia loved her.

  “But she didn’t realize that true sacrifice requires love,” he said.

  “And Aalia killed her,” Mina said. “And my father?”

  “He brought you to me after Malia’s death. Aalia didn’t ascend with the sacrifice, but she’d found out that Malia had a child, and she believes that the reason the sacrifice didn’t work is because a living piece of Malia still existed. It’s why your father gave you up.” He put his hand on Mina’s shoulder. “He didn’t abandon you, Shade. He protected you.”

  “You know where he is?” Her chest tightened.

  Keane shook his head. “He died of cancer three years ago.”

  She put her hand to her mouth. “I can’t,” she said. “I can’t deal with this. I need…” She needed to lie down, to crawl under the blankets, and bury herself until she could distance herself from the overwhelming feeling of heart-wrenching grief. She stood up, walked down Gav’s hall to his bedroom, and slammed the door behind her.

  One week, she thought. One week. That’s all it took to completely turn her life into something unrecognizable. One. Fucking. Week.

  Chapter 11

  Invisible hands slid over her flesh, starting at her ankles, slipping up her shins, calves, lingering for a moment over her hips as she raised them to meet the touch.

  “That’s nice,” she mumbled. The hands were heated, hot tub temperature, as they continued up her abdomen, her breasts… “So nice.”

  “Mina?” She could hear the alarm in the voice, but ignored it.

  Finally, she was feeling no pain. No pain. No pain.

  “Her heart rate is increasing,” another man said.

  The invisible hands caressed her shoulders, massaging the tiny aches gently.

  “Yes,” she murmured again. She should have been alarmed. It would have been smart to be alarmed.

  “Her respirations are dropping. There is something seriously wrong. This isn’t normal sleep.”

  She didn’t know who they were talking about, and frankly, she didn’t care. She just wished they’d be quiet and let her enjoy—

  “Mina? Can you hear me? Semina Vail.” Someone rubbed their knuckles hard over the middle of her chest. “We have to get help. We’re losing her.”

  Join me. The voice was female. She couldn’t respond verbally any more, but inside she was nodding in agreement. She felt really good, peaceful, and calm.

  “Her pulse is thready. Shit! She’s stopped breathing.”

  Poor woman, whoever she was.

  Join me, Mina. The woman’s voice soothed her. Forever.

  Hard plastic formed around her nose and mouth. She barely felt the whoosh of air being pumped into her lungs as a hungry mouth took hers in a kiss. She wished the extra hands pushing on her chest would just stop.

  No, the voice said. We must join.

  Air forced into her lungs, expanding her lungs. She ignored everything but the bursts of light and color that enveloped her as she floated upward toward a dark shadow waiting, its arms held out.

  Come to me.

  Mina turned back once.

  A woman lay on a bed.

  Two men frantically worked at giving her CPR. The scene was wrong. Really wrong.

  Why won’t you join? the voice asked.

  Looking back to the dark shadow, she wanted to listen to her, to comply. But the figures on the bed drew her back. There was something so familiar. The men shouted, but Mina couldn’t hear them anymore. Their faces. Eric. Gav. Their fear ate away at her dream.

  She tried to cry out, to tell them she was okay, but she couldn’t make a sound. Eric and Gav, Gav and Eric. She wanted them, needed them. Nothing made sense. She needed them to help her make sense.

  You need me.

  I need them.

  Mina turned from the shadow, swimming through the mist, floating above the body.

  No! the voice cried out.

  Confusion surrounded her.

  The shadow reached for her, but Mina escaped its grasp.

  “Stay with us, Mina.”

  I’m trying.

  Pain exploded through her. Air poured into Mina’s lungs and she sat up, coughing, sputtering, and rubbing her sore chest. “Fuck, Christ. Fuck.”

  “Jesus, Mina,” Gav said, his hand stroking her hair. “You had me so worried. So goddamned worried.”

  Mina felt faint again, like earlier when she’d first touched the flower in her apartment, but she willed herself to stay upright. “What happened?”

  “We came in to talk to you, but we couldn’t wake you
up.” Eric held her hand. “It just got worse from there.”

  Gav's eyes were red with stress and worry. “You’re turned white as a ghost.”

  Eric leaned her back in his arms. “Your lips went blue.”

  The dizziness started to go away. “I almost left,” she said. “You both brought me back. You saved me.” She swallowed at the lump in her throat. “It was Aalia. I can still feel her calling to me.”

  “She can’t fucking have you,” Gav growled.

  “No fucking way,” Eric agreed.

  She reached out, putting her hands over both their hearts. “You touching me, both of you. This helps. Keeps me grounded.”

  “Did you mean it?” Gav asked.

  “What?”

  “Earlier, when you said you loved us both.”

  “Yes,” Mina confessed, the word almost breathless. “I’m sorry.”

  Mina caressed his Gav’s face, heartsick at his worry. “I’m fine now, honest.”

  Eric and Gav both stretched out on the bed next to her. Gav’s body felt so warm against her, his full lips red and flushed. She ached to kiss him. She ached to kiss them both. Leaning in, she brushed her mouth against Gav’s. He responded with an unexpected need. She felt Eric’s lips on her neck. Soft kisses, meant to be reassuring, but her body reacted with more than comfort.

  She felt Eric’s hardness against her back, and her own desire swelled. Were they doing this? Really? She couldn’t see Gav as a man who shared, but when he pushed his own thick erection against her hip, she decided she needed to reevaluate her assumptions. Slick heat swelled in her core.

  Eric moved against her from behind, still kissing her neck as his hand slid up her side to her breast. She moaned into Gav’s mouth. She felt his hand now moving down and slipping along the band of her panties.

  “I want you, Mina.” Gav’s forefinger grazed against her clit. “I need you.”

  “Oh, God,” she groaned. “I need you. Need you so much.” The connection between them was the most real thing she’d ever felt.

  “You are my mate,” he said.

  “I am,” she whispered.

  “And mine,” Eric said. “You are mine.”

  “Yes,” Mina said. She expected to feel jealousy from both men, but all she felt was love, acceptance, and even something akin to joy.

  How was this possible?

  Closing her eyes, Mina leaned her head back against Eric, fighting the urge to protest when he moved down her body.

  Eric moved between her legs, sliding her yoga pants down with his hands as he used his teeth to tug at her wet panties. His green eyes were hungry with lust, but also… worry. She’d been scared, but at that moment, she realized they were afraid as well. They needed to touch her, to make certain she was real and whole. He placed one of her legs over his shoulder. The glide of his tongue along the slick, swollen fold of her sex rushed instant warmth to her lower stomach.

  Gav nibbled her ear, working his way to her neck. His hands massaged her breasts, kneading their way down her abdomen. She lifted her hips to meet his fingers as they slid over her aching clit.

  Eric’s tongue delved into her channel while Gav stroked her swollen clit.

  The sensation of both men touching her, pleasuring her, drove her to the edge. Gav pushed her sports bra up and over her head so he could get to her nipples. He laved the sensitive tips, his teeth scraping the tightly drawn nubs.

  Mina moaned. She felt alive. Alive and on fire. “You feel so good. You both feel so fucking good.”

  Eric inserted his finger into her molten core, then another. His mouth covered Gav’s finger, his tongue snaking around to the swollen nub. Gav took his hand away and rubbed her slick juices across her nipples, as Eric sucked her into his mouth, milking her until she cried out for more.

  Gav’s hand joined the leiol’s, his fingers sliding into her channel. Her body clenched around them, and the pressure inside her bubbled. “I’m going to come,” she panted. Their thrusting, licking, sucking, nibbling. It all became more insistent. Urgent.

  “Oh, God. God. Ahh!” Her whole body bucked forward, but the men, her men, were relentless. She cried out again. “Fuck!” Her thighs squeezed involuntarily, trapping Eric’s face between her legs. She grabbed Gav’s head, holding it tight against her breast as he bit, gently but firm.

  Their fingers continued working in and out of her, rubbing against the bundle of skin just inside her. They brought her to climax once more, and she jerked against the spasms, moaning through the rapture.

  Gav and Eric kissed her sensitive areas. Mina stared at the ceiling, her body tingling like one big nerve ending.

  God, she ached to be filled, to be fucked, by her men. It was a desire so intense, she said, “I need you to take off your clothes. I need you to do it now.”

  She squirmed, her body still on fire, as both men hurried to do as she asked. She imagined their speed was in direct relation to her desperation.

  Eric was on the bed first, and Mina crawled on top of him, straddling his groin as she guided his rigid length into her waiting heat. Gav came over the top of her, his chest pressed against her back in a rush of hot skin and sex. Eric’s building thrusts coincided with a chuffing noise coming from Gav, animalistic, from deep in his throat. He pushed her forward, her breasts pressed to Eric’s naked chest, and Gav’s palms flattened on the comforter—his nails were thick and pointy, his fingers elongated, but not yet furred. He was shifting.

  She felt the head of his shaft slide past her core, and she stopped moving. Both, her body sang out. She wanted both of them inside her. Possessing her. Claiming her as theirs. She had to know if this was real. If she could really have it all. If they both meant to stay.

  “Forever?” she asked.

  “Forever,” Gav growled.

  Eric looked up at her, his face awash with desire and love and more desire. “Forever,” he said.

  “Yes, yes,” Mina agreed.

  She closed her eyes, biting her lip as Gav joined Eric inside her. It hurt, as their combined cocks threatened to split her wide. Neither of them moved once they were completely in. They waited for Mina.

  When she could catch her breath, she began to move. Just a little at first. She didn’t want either of them to slip out. She needed them to fuck her. To do it as one. She needed them to be hers.

  A low keening moan filled the room, and she realized she was making the sound, her throbbing sex aching, pulsing, as Gav and Eric’s cocks felt enormous within her hot slick channel, sliding forward and back.

  Eric’s mouth found her breast, tugging the nipple, licking it until her breath hissed from between her clenched teeth. Mina tilted her head, her brain sex-fogged as she watched his eyes widen, dilate. A quiver low in her stomach told her she would come soon.

  Gav’s arm looped her waist, lifting her ass up. His arm was hairy. Dear Lord! Hairier than normal. And unexpectedly, that turned her on even more. “Hurry, oh, sweet Jesus, hurry,” she said to anyone listening.

  She should have felt like she was being ripped apart. Instead, she felt completely turned on. Her head rolled to one side as both men, slowly, and as one, stroked their rock hard cocks in her.

  “Oh. Oh. Ah!” A tingling rush pulled against her stomach and down into her groin as another orgasm took life. Her body shook against theirs. Tears were in her eyes, a physical response as ecstasy played over and through her. When it subsided, she collapsed onto Eric. “Nothing should feel that fucking good.”

  “Fucking should,” Gav said, his voice a rough growl in her ear.

  Mina couldn’t believe she’d just let two men have sex with her at the same time. She’d been with both of them, but not like this. It was strangely more intimate, especially since they were both still in her. Also, she realized, she felt stronger. Her aunt’s call was gone, and the earlier weakness had abated.

  Eric moved first, his arms wrapping both Mina and Gav as he rolled them over so that Gav was on the bottom. She rocked over Gav’s cock
as Eric began to thrust with earnest, both men grunting, moaning their pleasure of her shared heat.

  “Oh, God, yes.” They were not in unison, one moving slowly, the other quicker, and it felt even better than before.

  Eric’s arm wrapped her waist and Gav’s hands cupped her breasts. Mina slipped her hand down to her sex, her fingers sliding to feel the two rigid lengths as they moved inside her. Eric bucked forward, smashing her down.

  Burning heat spread rapidly through her body. Mina grasped Eric’s length, stroking him fast and frantic, no finesse as ecstasy rode her body and the pressure of her building climax exploded.

  She screamed, bucking against both men, needing it to end, wanting it to last forever, the pleasure so intense as wave after wave of rapture rippled through her.

  Eric cried out against her, and he came, the hot spray of his lust coating her hands. She stroked him faster, milking him, as she braced herself against Gav’s thrusting assault.

  A moan, like a roar, but still human, drowned out the sound of Mina and Eric. Gav used Mina’s thighs like handles, pulling her tight against him as he came. The sound he made was triumphant, sad, and angry all at once. When he finished, he let her go and staggered back, withdrawing quickly, leaving Mina to mourn the loss of sensation.

  Sighing heavily, she collapsed on top of Eric and then rolled off to the side. “Wow.”

  Eric leaned back against the headboard. “You can say that again.”

  “Wow.” Mina began to laugh. She couldn’t help it. The entire thing had been surreal, frightening and wonderful. “And just in case I didn’t say it before. Wow.”