by Woods, Erica
I knew what they meant. I’d seen and heard things during my captivity that—
No. There’s no space for the past here.
I forced my thoughts back to the present. “No, I . . . I’m ready. For you. Both of you. You make me feel . . .” Words failed me.
Ruarc leaned down and captured my mouth in a kiss so tender, so heart-wrenchingly lovely that I almost sobbed into his mouth. “You . . . done this before?”
“No,” I whispered. “You . . . you will be my first.”
Jason’s relieved exhale was matched by Ruarc’s. They exchanged a strange look, and when they turned back to me, it was as though their human masks had been peeled back, revealing a predatory interest and a hunger so vast my back bowed with the desire to let it consume me.
“Say stop and we will.” Ruarc stroked a finger down my cheeks. “Anytime.”
I nodded, unable to speak as Jason used his lips on my neck to re-ignite my arousal.
With one last lingering look, Ruarc stood and chucked off his clothes. My breath caught as I took in his powerful frame, the massive chest, the broad strong shoulders, and the ripples of toned mass that was his stomach.
He was magnificent.
My gaze drifted lower.
Lower.
Until it caught on the hard length of him rising proudly below the thick V of his hips.
Air rushed out of my lungs.
Ruarc. Was. Huge.
I gaped, stomach dancing. It would never fit. It couldn’t.
Ruarc’s jaw tightened, his eyes shuttered. A low curse, his hand dragging through his hair, and then he moved as though to shield me. From himself?
He thought . . . he thought I was scared. Of him?
Before he could leave, I grabbed his hand.
Wherever his mind had gone, I wanted it back. Especially if he was dwelling on the ugliness of the wife who’d sold him out, the spiteful, wrong things she’d told him, things he’d taken as truth.
I had to explain, had to fix this before it was too late.
“Ruarc,” I whispered, heart in my throat. “You’re beautiful.”
He snorted, angling his body away to block my view.
“It’s true. You’re like a wild animal, beautiful and savage. Strong enough to keep me safe, yet gentle enough to make me feel cherished. I love how you only let yourself be tamed for me.”
He looked at me, truly looked, and whatever he saw made his teeth unclench and his shoulders lose that horrible tension that curdled my stomach.
“Animal,” he said. “Doesn’t sound like what a woman wants.”
Jason laughed. “Then you don’t know women, mate.”
Ruarc made a rude gesture then turned back to me. “You were scared. Could smell it.”
I sent a pleading look to Jason, thinking maybe he understood my hesitancy. If Ruarc was my savage animal, my beautiful protector then Jason was someone who got me. Someone who could always make me laugh—an amazing accomplishment I’d thought impossible during my years of captivity. He always seemed to know what I was thinking, able to make me see the light even in the most dire of situations.
“Ruarc, mate . . .” Jason’s lips twitched, spreading into a full blown grin when Ruarc glared at him. “You are, how do I put this? Big. Very big.”
Ruarc snarled, those terrible shutters creeping across his eyes again. “I’m the enforcer!”
“No, you misunderstand.” Jason and I shared a look, heat smoldering in Jason’s eyes as he took in my naked form. Heat and humor. A combination I wouldn’t ever have understood if I hadn’t met him. “You’re big. There.” Jason lowered his gaze, pointedly staring at Ruarc’s member before throwing up a hand to cover his eyes like he’d been blinded.
“What?”
The previous fear leeched from my body as I looked from Ruarc’s incredulous expression to Jason’s grinning one.
“My savage wolf,” I murmured to Ruarc, the words falling out of my mouth before I could think them through—and judging by the surprised pleasure on Ruarc’s face, he liked that I’d called him mine. “I was scared because . . . I haven’t”—I swallowed hard—“haven’t done this before. And I’m scared you won’t . . . you know . . .” I blushed, waving my hand in a vague gesture between us.
“She’s scared you won’t fit, mate.”
For the first time since I’d known him, a barely discernible blush stained Ruarc’s cheeks, and I erupted into laughter, my embarrassment and fear forgotten.
There was nothing to worry about here. Not with them.
“Oh.” Ruarc’s lips flattened into a frown. “It will.”
“It . . . it will?”
At the squeaky quality of my voice, Ruarc’s frown was replaced by a look of tender affection. “It will, mo chridhe.” He leaned over me, a soft light shining in his gaze. “Would never hurt you.”
I melted. “I know you wouldn’t.”
He groaned, and then he kissed me. Kissed me so deeply, for so long, that time ceased to exist.
When I next opened my eyes, Jason was naked, lying on my other side. I barely had time to run an appreciative gaze over his strong limbs and tight muscles—the golden tan kissing each inch of his skin—before they descended upon me.
If they’d whipped me into a fever-pitch before, it was nothing compared to what they did now. There were lips, hands, teeth, tongues . . . everywhere. They took turns lapping at my core, my breasts, my mouth. Their hands roamed over every sensitive part on my body, paying special attention to my nipples, neck, mouth, and the excruciating center of pleasure between my legs.
Not a single part of me went untouched. Nowhere was neglected.
“Mine.” Ruarc’s gruff voice vibrating against my neck. “My female.” His stubbled cheek rasped against my neck, lips finding my jaw, teeth scraping against the skin before his mouth soothed the slight sting. “Never let you go.”
My heart gave a painful lurch, speeding and speeding with each word, each touch.
I was so very aware of my breathing. The way my lungs contracted, the air tickling my chest on the way out; first slow, then fast, then at uneven speeds that left my head swimming, my mouth gasping, my stomach somersaulting.
“I can’t wait to be buried inside you, love.” Jason bit the inside of my thigh. Groaned. “How does your skin taste so fucking good? Like sunshine and beauty and the most delicious sweetness.”
My hips bucked, and he grabbed them to keep me still. His hot breath fanned against my overheated flesh, mouth so close to the most private part of me I thought I’d die.
“Jason . . .”
“And this”—scorching heat, his tongue lawing at me, pushing into me before he drew back and closed his eyes—“this tastes the best of all.” He ducked his head back down and devoured me like a starving beast.
Lightning danced in my belly, the want so sharp it curled my toes with the need to make it stop, make it continue, make it explode.
And still, they continued—relentless in the pursuit of my pleasure.
Their voices mingled, Ruarc’s possessive claims mixing with Jason’s wicked words—telling me in detail all the things they were going to do to me, all the ways they would make me lose my mind. They stoked the flames higher and higher, until it hurt with how good it felt.
By the time Ruarc lay on his back, lifting me to straddle him, nothing mattered except chasing that elusive explosion from before.
I was desperate. Needy. About to shatter.
A hand snaked around my waist.
Jason.
He lifted me from behind while Ruarc lined up his impressive erection to my opening.
Then Ruarc stopped; face grim, jaw hard, lips peeled back in a pained grimace. “You sure?”
The fact that he’d asked, that he’d stopped, teeth grinding with the effort of holding back and muscles stiff with tension, meant everything.
“Yes,” I whispered and Ruarc’s hands clenched on my thighs.
A soft whimper escaped me when J
ason slowly let my body lower down onto the thick, waiting length.
“Easy,” he breathed. “Let yourself get used to it.”
It burned. Even with just the tip inside of me, it burned. But it was the kind of burn I’d let consume me any day, the kind I’d sit still for, relish and savor while it turned me to ashes.
Jason lowered me another inch, the drag of flesh inside me making me gasp. It was tight, pinching, but then Ruarc growled and pushed his thumb against the hard pebble of flesh straining for attention, making slow, maddening circles, and my insides turned liquid.
Another gasp.
Soft lips and the drag of short stubble brushed across my neck. My hands dug into Jason’s forearm—a steel band across my stomach—as my body slowly adjusted to each new sensation.
Jason took his time, ignoring my soft sounds and Ruarc’s hoarse growls, and waited until he was sure I was ready before letting me slip down that last inch.
The fullness was . . . excruciating. Titillating. Explosive.
Ruarc pulsed inside me, his breathing choppy and shallow as he swallowed half-spoken curses. I threw my head back and moaned, Jason’s broad chest rubbing against me while his lips worked their way down my neck, sucking over the skin just where my pulse was pounding.
“Fucking heaven.” Ruarc’s growled expletive was followed by a deep groan.
When the tight pinching was a distant throb and pleasure was all I could feel, I opened my eyes and stared down at the savage male in front of me. Something dark and dangerous flashed behind his eyes when he met my gaze.
He was pure animal. Pure feral want. He was need and hunger fighting for dominance.
And he was all mine.
Heady arousal rushed through me at the clench of his hands, hoping they’d leave bruises. I wanted him to mark me, wanted to carry the proof of this powerful, dominant male on my skin, this feral beast who was letting me do what I wanted, allowing me to be in control.
I pushed my hips down, a needy sound tearing from my throat at the fiery pleasure that seized me.
A rumbling growl erupted from Ruarc, and he flexed his hips. Just a little, but it was enough to roll my eyes back in my head.
Another rumble, this one from the hard body pressing against my back.
“Ready?” Ruarc hissed, burning silver eyes staring up at me with so much untamed need it did something to me. Awoke something inside. Something that stretched with decadent pleasure and used my eyes as its own.
“Yes,” I moaned, tilting my hips forward.
Pleasure flared at the ravenous growl that ripped from Ruarc, and then Jason bit down on my neck. Hard. Hard enough that I snarled in reaction, pushing my ass against Jason’s thick length behind, taking dark satisfaction in his answering groan.
Ruarc’s fingers dug into my hips, and his eyes met Jason’s over my shoulder. “Now,” he snarled, lifting me so high he almost slipped out before driving back into me, touching so many nerve endings that I momentarily lost my sanity.
My head lolled onto Jason’s shoulder, my nails dug into Ruarc’s thick thighs. I moaned.
Jason answered with a sound of his own, something desperate and filled with wild desire. His free hand swept over my breast, pinched a nipple; the other delved down to my center. He spread me wide open with two fingers—Ruarc’s gaze riveted on the revealed flesh—and used his middle finger to tease me. Taunt me.
“Fuck, you smell good.” He nipped at my exposed neck, breathed deep, swirled his finger in a way that made me want to shatter.
No matter how much I moaned, how much I twisted and tilted my hips, I couldn’t control the pace. Jason’s strong arm wrapped beneath my breast, his other hand between my legs, while Ruarc gripped my hips from beneath.
I was trapped. Out of control. Mindless with need, with chasing that explosive sensation I knew only my guys could provide.
Ruarc’s hips moved faster, his touch like a brand.
Jason tilted my head back and claimed my lips in a harsh, breathless kiss. Ruarc snarled, sitting up and wrapping his arms around my waist, moving me up and down his hard length while his stubbled cheek dragged over my neck and his mouth feasted on my sensitive skin.
I throbbed and ached and clenched around him. I couldn’t move, squished between two powerful bodies. I couldn’t think.
Higher and higher I climbed, surrounded by my guys, my lovers, my protectors. Each thrust was countered by Jason’s swirling fingers. Each time Ruarc sucked and bit on my neck, Jason ate at my mouth.
I soared. And soared.
“Please, please, please,” I chanted, body shuddering as I got closer and closer to the—
Ruarc bit my neck, Jason pinched the pebble between my legs, and my world finally shattered.
I cried out, spasming and jerking. My whole body flooded with pleasure so intense that my vision went white, then black. I couldn’t see. Couldn’t hear. All I could do was feel. Feel the four arms around me, the hands on my body, the part of Ruarc still buried inside me.
And I could smell.
Ruarc’s feral, woodsy scent mixing with Jason’s dark, rainy scent and then . . . then there was me. My scent, whatever it was, mixing with theirs until we were one.
Something shifted inside me, another presence throwing its head back with the same joy I was feeling.
Eventually, my body stopped trembling and I heard two loud groans. Ruarc’s face was buried against my neck, and Jason trembled. Warmth flooded my insides; something equally hot hit my back, and satisfaction unlike anything I’d ever felt curled in my chest.
Unable to see, I rested my head on Jason’s shoulder and just concentrated on breathing. On being alive.
None of us spoke.
Minutes ticked by, the only sounds that of our ragged breathing; our hearts thumping in our chests.
A hand stroked my damp hair. “Hope, love . . .” Jason panted behind me. “Amazing.”
I tried to respond but it came out as an exhausted moan.
Ruarc lifted his head from my neck, fisted my hair and stared deep into my eyes. “You’re mine.” Satisfaction and possession mixed in his silver eyes.
“And mine,” Jason whispered against my ear, his voice just as harsh.
I let my body go limp, trusting them to take care of me. “And you are both mine.”
Gentle hands cradled the back of my head, and then I was lifted, one arm around my back, one just under my butt, my legs dangling. My eyes had closed at some point, and they stayed glued shut as I drifted through the air, as warm water cascaded over my skin, as calloused palms glided over sore muscles, the scent of soap washing over me.
A towel. Being patted dry.
Drifting, drifting, drifting . . . and then back in bed, snuggled between two hard bodies, my head on a wide chest, my leg hooked over a thick thigh, arms around my waist and heat at my back.
Safe. Safe and sleepy and satisfied.
I slept.
14
Hope
I stood on a field of battle.
I couldn’t see who was fighting, if they were even human—their shapes were distorted, blurry, leaking along the edges like paint sprinkled with water and running down a canvas.
But I knew it was a battle.
The noises surrounding me were deafening. Roars. Painful wails. Shouts. Meaty thuds of fists and feet hitting bodies splintered to make room for moans of agony.
And the scents . . .
Death. Death everywhere.
I turned in a circle, disorientated, trying to make sense of it all.
Who’s screaming?
Then my gaze found a giant amidst the chaos, a male fighting with such brute strength and ferocious wildness that I immediately recognized him.
Ruarc.
My heart gave a hard yank, almost as if it were trying to pull me toward him. I tried to move, but my feet were stuck. I reached out—
A flash of steel so fast I couldn’t scream. Couldn’t warn him.
Air turned to glass in
my lungs as a spray of red arced from Ruarc’s throat. His eyes widened, surprised, baffled, not understanding.
Something in my chest cracked. Cracked wide open.
The slash of his scar paled, or maybe it was just that his whole face grew white. Our eyes locked and held.
He collapsed to his knees.
Mine buckled with him.
I couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak. Couldn’t crawl through the muddy ground to reach him. Frozen, the only thing I could do was watch. Watch as every nerve in my body screamed in pain so raw that no torture at the hands of the Hunters could ever come close.
The crack in my chest grew jagged edges that thrust through my skin like spears.
Those hard lips—lips that could be gentle, hungry, vicious and sweet all at once—moved, shaped words I couldn’t hear, but that somehow resonated inside me all the same. ‘Mo chridhe.’
My heart my heart my heart my heart.
Then he fell face-first into the dirt—the dirt. My male, my Ruarc was lying facedown in the dirt.
My fingers dug into the ground, tried to pull my body toward him.
I had to get him out of the dirt. Had to get him . . .
Red pooled around him. Growing. Faster and faster. Spilling from him like a wide-open faucet.
I tried to yell for someone to help, but a rock was lodged in my throat.
He was drowning! Ruarc was drowning in his own blood! Why didn’t he move?! Why was no one helping?!
I threw my head back and screamed, but my grief had no sound. My throat swelled to a hundred times its size.
The rock swelled with it.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t swallow. Couldn’t do anything but feel the crack splitting down the middle of my body, feel the anguish throb in a heart that suddenly felt empty. No, not empty. Speared through with thousands of knives. Cutting. Sawing. Trying to rip, rip rip Ruarc out of my chest.
Ruarc was dead, and I was dying with him.
* * *
I woke with a sob. It spilled from my mouth with such desperation to be free that several others chased its tail.
