by Jade Allen
“That depends on how she feels about all this when she wakes up,” Dov said, leaning back in his chair. “If she freaks…” he cringed slightly.
“If she freaks, we’ll have to tell Sasha.”
“We’ll have to tell Sasha anyway,” Dov pointed out. “Have you noticed anything, Ben?” Dov raised an eyebrow and Ben frowned in thought, wondering what his friend was referring to. All at once it occurred to him; he could feel Daphne—a little bit, not as clearly as he could feel the mind of his best friend, or one of the other members of the Nita clan, but the sense was there all the same. Ben opened his mind more thoroughly, seeking the small, faint coil of thought. He sensed warmth, satisfaction, tingling pleasure—pleasure that wasn’t just his, but was Daphne’s.
“Oh, shit,” Ben said. “She’s bonded to us already?” Dov chuckled.
“Well you have to admit it was pretty intense out there,” he pointed out. “So…,” Dov took a deep breath and exhaled. “We need to explain to Sasha that we’re sharing a mate. I’m sure we can’t be the first bears in history to do that.”
“Are you willing to share her?” Ben felt a flicker of something like jealousy; it hadn’t bothered him to share Daphne with Dov as a fling—but could he really share her as a mate? Did he have a choice, if Dov was also hearing and sensing her thoughts?
“After what just happened in the woods? If she’s willing, I’m willing. And brother, I’m feeling like this is one willing female.” Ben snorted.
Before he could pursue the subject any further, Daphne stirred on the bed, and Ben felt the shift in her mental signature as she awakened. After a few moments, she opened her eyes, glancing around in confusion. “Where am I?” she asked, frowning in thought. Her gaze fell on Ben and color flooded into Daphne’s cheeks. “Oh god, that wasn’t a dream, was it?”
Maybe a wet dream. Ben bit back a laugh at the thought that Dov projected. Daphne’s eyes widened again and she turned from looking at Ben to look at Dov, the color draining from her face. “You—that—that was your…oh god. Not only are you bear-men, but telepaths too?” Ben pressed his lips together; Daphne probably wouldn’t appreciate his amusement.
“Only with members of our clan,” Dov told her gently. Ben watched as his clan-brother crossed the room, approaching the bed slowly and then sinking down only a few feet away from Daphne. “What happened, in the forest out there,” Dov said, gesturing idly towards the woods. “We bonded with you. We weren’t expecting it—but it happened.”
“We’d like you to meet the rest of our clan,” Ben told Daphne. “We’d like to present you as our mate.”
“Wait—wait. So I’m…both of you guys’ mate?” Daphne blinked, glancing from Ben to Dov in deepening confusion. You can hear my thoughts too, right? Ben raised an eyebrow as he sent the thought to Daphne. She nodded.
If I can hear their thoughts then—oh god! You guys can hear me right now? Dov snickered, and Ben fought back another laugh.
“Hear you, feel you… yep. You’re bonded to us.”
Daphne groaned, burying her face in her hands.
“It’s not a bad thing,” Ben said, rising and joining the other two on the bed. “I know you can still remember how good the sex was just a little while ago. I can feel it in your mind. You can have that whenever you want it.” He grinned, gently pulling her hands away from her face. “In fact, one of the great things about being with a couple of bears like me and Dov is that whenever you want sex, we’ll want sex. Automatic reaction.”
Ben felt his words take effect in Daphne’s mind; she had awakened with a lingering sense of arousal, her pheromones as well as her mind showing signs that as satisfied as she had been with their tryst, her body still wanted more. Now he felt the pulse of her lust intensifying as pictures flitted across her mind: different ways that she could be with both men at the same time, different positions, different acts. “We could do all those things, and then invent some more,” Dov said, obviously receiving the same images.
“Oh, god,” Daphne said again, throwing herself back against the bed as she blushed a deep red.
“You’ll find we don’t really have much shame,” Ben told her with a grin. “We’re part animals, after all.” Ben leaned in close to her, brushing his lips against her ear. “We can even do that thing you’re thinking about right now,” he murmured lowly. Daphne’s eyes widened as she looked at him, and in spite of her lingering embarrassment, Ben could feel her arousal intensifying at the thought.
“Definitely,” Dov said, glancing at him. “I want front this time, though.” Ben chuckled. He reached out, running his hands all over Daphne’s body slowly, caressing and teasing her. Ben pulled Daphne’s face towards his and kissed her hungrily; he was already feeling the heat flowing through him, a mixture of regular mating need and the feelings he was receiving from both Dov and Daphne’s minds. He pulled back, giving his clan-brother the opportunity to taste their mate’s lips, and glanced around the cabin in search of something to make the idea Daphne had thought of a reality.
Ben climbed out of the bed quickly, even as Dov went into action, moving and shifting around, pulling Daphne down on top of him as he leaned back against the headboard. Ben took in the sight of Daphne straddling his clan brother’s hips, Dov’s hands resting at her soft waist as she rocked back and forth on top of him, rubbing herself against his swiftly hardening cock. Just the sight of them together was enough to complete Ben’s arousal as he located a bottle of massage oil and clutched it firmly in hand.
Daphne’s moan filled the air, and Ben received a backwash of impressions from her and Dov both: the slick, wet feeling of her pussy, the full feeling as Dov’s cock filled her up inch by inch, slowly pushing past the resistance of her body. He climbed back into the bed, moving closer to the two, taking up his position behind Daphne as she began to ride his best friend in achingly slow movements. Ben let his hands trail all over her body, caressing and exploring her curves; if he and Dov were able to convince her to stay with them, Ben thought that he would never tire of exploring her delicious body, but if they didn’t, he should take every opportunity she granted. Slowly he worked his way down to the curve of her ass, kneading the plump flesh there, carefully trailing his fingertips along her cleft. Ben kissed along her shoulders, pulling Daphne’s hair lightly aside to nuzzle the base of her neck as he opened the bottle of massage oil and carefully dripped some onto his fingers.
Daphne let out a half-whimpering moan as Ben began to swirl his fingertips against her tight pucker, pressing lightly. He knew from her thoughts that she’d never done this before—but he also knew that she was eager to try it, at least with the two men she was with. Ben slowly, steadily teased her, coaxing her body to relax, coaxing her to accept the penetration as Daphne continued to move on top of Dov, taking his cock deeper and deeper inside of her. Ben could feel her pleasure mounting, and knew that none of them would last very long—he sent a private request to his best friend to slow down, just enough to let them all get what they needed.
Ben worked Daphne’s tight pucker, sliding first one and then two fingers inside of her, spreading the oil thoroughly and wriggling along the tight, flexing muscles. He felt her ambivalent desire, felt her gradually giving into the strange pleasure his touches were giving her. He stretched her as carefully as he could, knowing that he needed to prepare her, but knowing that it was not something that could be rushed. When he finally thought that she was fully ready, he withdrew his fingers, pouring a little more of the oil into his hand and applying it to his throbbing, aching cock.
Ben pushed Daphne gently forward, positioning himself behind her. He spread her ass cheeks, and pressed the tip of his cock against her, hesitating only a moment before he thrust his hips. He sank into her slowly—achingly slowly—filling her up from behind as Dov continued to thrust up inside of her, and Ben groaned, a bear-like growl rising up in him, as their mutual pleasure washed through his mind. He moved inside of her, starting as slow as his impatient desire would allo
w and then gaining speed, his hands wandering, colliding with Dov’s all over Daphne’s body. The three of them moved together in a rhythm that none of them could resist, and Ben’s pleasure mounted faster and faster as Daphne’s tight muscles flexed around him, as he caught the sensations she was feeling: the thrill, the excitement, the deliciously full feeling.
Ben was never certain which one of them reached orgasm first—but as Daphne’s muscles fluttered around him in erratic spasms, her moans and Dov’s filling his ears, he could hold back no longer and groaned out his pleasure as he came, buried deep inside of her. After a few moments that felt like an hour, Ben sagged against his mate and clan-brother, utterly spent, pleasure and satisfaction crackling through his body. As Daphne’s breath gradually slowed, he felt the acceptance in her mind. “Yeah, okay,” she said, panting slightly as she squirmed free of her position between the two men. She flashed them both a mischievous grin. “I think I can definitely do this.”
THE END
Mated By The Dragon Boss
“Ms. Bancroft, why are you always so cold?”
April looked up from the ever-changing constellation of dates and appointments and blinked at her boss, Mads Durkheim. “What? I’m not cold.”
“How many layers are you wearing?”
“Three.”
“Does that include the blanket?”
She looked down at the afghan her grandmother had knitted for her over twenty years ago. It was the perfect size for her lap and she took it everywhere with her. It might be strange for a grown woman to have a security blanket, but she was, in fact, always cold.
“No. I sit under that vent, and it’s always on.”
He held his hand up to the vent. “It feels fine to me. Here, feel how warm I am.” He turned, swinging his bare arm in front of her face so she could touch him, as instructed. She registered the heat—against her cold fingers he felt like a living fire—but that wasn’t all she noticed. His smooth skin covered thick muscle, and the tendons twitched under her brief touch. She pulled her hand away quickly.
“You’re very…” She swallowed the rasp out of her voice. “Warm.”
“And your fingers are like ice! You really are cold, aren’t you? Here, let me show you something.”
He leaned over her to reach for the computer mouse, minimizing her screen and double clicking on another icon. Misty, the woman who had trained her to be Mads’ personal assistant, had warned that that program accessed the climate control for the entire building. “Never touch that,” she’d said. “He’s very particular.”
“Look, just drag this here. Then you can adjust the temperature.” He demonstrated by raising it from 67 degrees to a more toasty and tolerable 78. “Better?”
Better? How could she even begin to notice when the scent of his skin was filling her head? Her boss was a very attractive man—a fact she had done her best to ignore in the eight weeks since he hired her as his personal assistant—and he smelled very, very good. He wasn’t quite touching her back, but she could still feel the heat coming from his body, and if she leaned back just a little—less than an inch—she would feel the solid muscle of his chest.
“Well?”
She glanced upward to meet his golden-green eyes and had to look away just as quickly. “Much better, thank you. But won’t it be too hot for you?”
“No, my office is set to my personal preference.” He straightened and the heat disappeared—much to her disappointment. “Reschedule all my meetings for the next three days.”
“Reschedule…?”
“Yes, I’m going to Los Angeles.”
April frowned and checked the calendar. “On business?”
“Yes, and you’ll be accompanying me. We’ll be flying out tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be forwarding the itinerary. Make sure to pack a cocktail dress. We’ll be going to at least one event.”
A cocktail dress? She didn’t even own a dress, much less one for an event in Los Angeles. Her mind raced for an excuse—any excuse—to get her out of the affair, if not the whole trip, but she came up with nothing. There was nothing holding her in town, and she couldn’t explain to him that girls her size didn’t have cocktail dresses lying around. At least he paid her well enough to go buy one.
“And April?”
“Yes?”
“One more thing.” He leaned in close—so close that she could see the strands of golden-blond hair in his beard and eyebrows—and flared his nostrils. “What is that scent?”
“Scent?”
“What are you wearing? I was thinking of buying a new scent for my....mother.”
“It’s just my body wash. Or maybe the orange I had for breakfast?”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “Well, it’s an intoxicating combination.” He straightened again, and she hoped he didn’t notice the sudden flush on her cheeks or the way her pulse quickened. Her body betrayed her every time he stood within touching distance. Apparently she needed more than eight weeks to get that under control. “I’m going to the club, I’ll be back this afternoon.”
“Would you like me to forward your messages?”
“Only if it’s urgent.”
She didn’t release her breath until the door closed behind him. Turning her attention back to the calendar, she tried to forget the texture of his skin, the smell of sandalwood and pine that always surrounded him, the color of his eyes—green with the brightest flecks of gold. She tried to forget everything except the task at hand—the impossible task at hand. Mads was a very busy man, and his schedule was a careful balancing act without surprise meetings taking them out of town.
The thought of going out of town made her stomach flutter. He’d warned her at the beginning of her interview that the job would require frequent travel. She’d quickly assured him that travel would not be a problem—she didn’t even have a plant in her small apartment. But this was the first trip since he hired her. How long would they be gone? What should she pack? Where were they going? Would they be alone together?
“That doesn’t matter,” she muttered, squaring her shoulders. She had a job to do. Three days of meetings were not going to reschedule themselves.
****
It wasn’t just the smell of her body wash or her breakfast fruit that clung to Mads and drove him a little bit crazy, no matter how much distance he put between himself and his pretty assistant. The first time their hands touched, a chill went down his spine and he actually quivered. In that moment, he knew two things for sure—one: he would absolutely hire her, and two: he absolutely had no business hiring her.
She wasn’t even the most qualified applicant. A recent graduate from a tiny state school out in the middle of nowhere with no previous office or administrative experience, she showed up with a bright smile and a recommendation from his previous assistant, Marie. He had to look up the school to verify it was an accredited university and not just something she made up for her resume. But her references had been effusive, her grades perfect, and she looked him in the eye with a boldness that he hadn’t seen in a long, long time. Maybe even in centuries.
Inviting her touch was not the best idea. Her soft fingers cooled the fire constantly burning beneath his skin, bringing him a moment of peace that the ubiquitous air conditioning never produced. She soothed him and then it was over, and he was left with nothing but a deep longing. Where else could she touch him? What other relief could she bring him?
He shook his head. No, no, no. He wasn’t going to think about that, wasn’t going to allow those images—as delightful as they were—to fill his head. He had too many other things on his plate to be distracted by personal pleasure. Like Charles and Savannah Maelstrom, owners of the most powerful media conglomerate in the nation and the assholes trying to negotiate a hostile takeover of his own media interests. He only owned a handful of cable channels and three newspapers, but he wanted to keep them.
The trip to California would be tedious at best. The
y’d throw him a party and try to find a way to buy him, though their billions meant nothing to him and they owned nothing he coveted. Strictly speaking, April did not need to accompany him, but just being near her brought him a sense of peace. And he would need all the help he could get if he had to spend a long weekend with Savannah Maelstrom. The fact that the world hadn’t yet figured out her secret was a miracle to him.
It took him nearly thirty minutes to reach the club, and he resented every single second he spent confined in the car; if only he could stretch his wings, he would have been there in less than five. He would have soared over the skyscrapers and all of these little ants, scurrying around in their little ant lives, ignorant of their own insignificance. How terrified they would be to catch a glimpse of his immense power.
What would April do if she could see him? If he shed his human suit and allowed her a glimpse of his true self, would she run from him? Or would she take a step closer? Would she place her fingers on his brow? Would she place a kiss on his inhuman lips? Would she fear him or would she understand that she would never have anything to fear from him?
And how long would he be able to pretend that he didn’t long to show her?
****
April had imagined the cocktail party as a smallish event full of boring business talk. Why else would he want her to accompany him, if not to take notes and keep track of who said what? But once they arrived, she realized there was nothing small about the party, and there would be no business discussed that evening. For the briefest of moments, April considered that maybe he simply meant her to be his date, but that hope was dashed when the most gorgeous woman she had ever seen attached herself to Mads’ arm.
“Darling, it’s so good to see you again.” Her long red hair glowed under the chandeliers and her skin had the beautiful golden hue of the California sun.
