He lowered his head and licked around the bud before lapping at that nipple. He played with it. His tongue licked around the sensitive tip before grazing it with his teeth. He savored the heat and softeness of her skin. His hand swept in teasing forays back to the other taut globe and then retreated just as she pressed up into his touch. Her taste was intoxicating. He knew that stepping back from her when she came was going to cost him. His cock already throbbed with the need to drive into her. He wanted to feel those inner muscles squeezing his cock again.
“Don’t you love those sounds?” Linc asked.
Colm looked up and didn’t try to hide his smile when another of those low, sexy moans rolled from her throat. The sound reminded him of a purr. He promised himself he’d hear that sound one day. They’d satisfy her so much that she wouldn’t be able to stop that contented rumble as she snuggled in their arms.
“Oh, yeah, but I want to hear her come.” He leaned over and took her lips in a swift, hungry kiss that only spiked his own need.
She whimpered when he pulled away and returned his lips to her breast. He drew the nipple into his mouth and sucked. His other hand squeezed the neglected breast. He flicked the hardened nipple with his thumb as his tongue swiped at her other taut peak. He’d liked to have given that one equal time with his lips, but knew the risk was too great. It would mean leaning over her. He didn’t want to make her feel trapped now.
Her back arched, pressing the peak deeper into his mouth. He scraped his teeth over it and plucked at the other nipple simultaneously. He felt her muscles tense as her climax rippled through her body. She tensed and a broken cry flowed from her lips. Shivers racked her body. He kept licking and sucking even as the pleasure washed over her, wanting to extend the bliss for as long as he could. His hands stroked over her belly in a slow, soothing motion.
When her breathing finally slowed and her heartbeat calmed, he lifted his lips and looked up at her. She blinked. Her gold eyes still held the slumberous heaviness of desire. Gods, she was beautiful.
He wanted to stroke his hand over her face. That would have to wait until she was a little more relaxed around them. He didn’t want to press her too much after the progress they’d made. She’d been very conscious of that scar on her cheek, he didn’t want to make her think about it now when she was so relaxed.
Linc helped her to sit and she swung her legs off the arm of the chair. Colm moved a little to the side so that she had a way out of their embrace if she wanted. Now that her desire had faded, her fear might return. Linc’s hand ran over her shoulder and he pulled her against him in a quick hug.
Colm wished she could be at ease with them all the time. The cautious distance she put between them at most times frustrated him. He wanted his mate at his side. Part of him wanted to drag her into their bed every night, but she had to realize that it was where she belonged. She had to claim them as much as they claimed her.
She looked up at him and a blush flared over her cheeks. He liked the rush of color and the shy smile she gave him. Rising to his full height, he backed away to give her room. She stood and smoothed her skirt down. Her eyes skittered away from his and she fidgeted a little. The nervousness was cute, but he didn’t want her embarrassed with them. He planned to have her flushed and aroused as often as possible.
“Now, are you ready to learn what to do with that focused energy you had earlier?” Colm asked with a smile. He was trying to keep her relaxed and at ease with them. He suspected that if he waited for her to say something, she’d try to put some distance between them.
She looked a little surprised and her eyes drifted down his body. He knew she was looking at the ridge of his cock. That look caused the throbbing ache to build. The temptation to stroke his palm over the bulge as she watched pushed at him. He knew doing that would cause more pain, but he wanted her to be comfortable with them as well as know the effect she had on them.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather wait?” Her eyes rose to meet his before skittering away as her cheeks darkened again.
“This is normal. Do you think we can pleasure you without becoming aroused ourselves? Impossible. I simply look at you and I want to take your clothes off and feast.” Colm shook his head. Even before he’d thought of her as his mate, he’d wanted her fiercely, but the intensity of the feelings had kept him from pursuing it. She was right. He hadn’t wanted to chance a true mating with a female. Somehow, he must have realized that the strength of his attraction to her was beyond normal lust.
“And it will become more intense once we finally manage to talk you out of the tools you’re using to hide your scent. We always want you and know you feel the same. The magic lesson is necessary. You’re focusing your power now without meaning to do it. We don’t want an accident to cause any setbacks to the confidence you’ve gained.” Linc rose easily from the chair, but stayed where he was.
“You mean that I might hurt someone if I get angry.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
“That’s a possibility, but it’s not going to happen. We’re going to work with you and you’ll control it just as you do the rising power now.” Linc’s tone was firm and assured.
She looked between them for a moment and didn’t seem certain of what they’d said, but nodded. “What do I do?”
“It’s not too different from what you’ve been doing up to this point.” Colm stepped back, giving her room. As much as he’d like to be close to her, she’d need the space when she worked on this. He didn’t want anything to go wrong simply because he was too concentrated on her. She needed to learn this, not only to control her magic, but it would increase her ability to protect herself from Laed and Kynar.
“Focus is the first element. What were you thinking of when your hands became hot out there on the stairs?” Linc joined Colm, but his eyes never left Cami.
She tilted her head and Colm saw her straighten as a little of her earlier anger returned. He hadn’t wanted to remind her of that. It had been necessary to make her realize how she had done it. Aside from that, he knew that making her come wasn’t going to take away her anger.
“I wanted to blast you down the staircase.” She bit her lip as she made the admission.
“Doesn’t surprise me. We were being demanding and you didn’t want to follow orders. We knew you’d be furious.” Linc shrugged.
“So I’m supposed to become angry again?” She frowned and her hands flexed at her side. “I still am, but I don’t think I can get it up to that level again.”
“No, you don’t need to be angry. You won’t need any emotion fueling this and we’ll go with something that doesn’t involve bodily harm to either of us. We have plans for you. Injuries would interfere.” Colm raised an eyebrow wanting to see if she’d respond to his words.
“Can’t have anything interfere with your plans.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Now, how do I do this and what’s my target?”
Colm looked around and his eyes locked on the pillows on the floor. He went and picked a few. Taking them over to the wall near the doors, he lined them up. Looking back, he saw her smiling. It didn’t take much thought to know why she liked the idea of destroying those cushions.
“There are more pillows in the castle, you know.” He didn’t fight the grin curving his lips. “If we want you here again, you will sit in front of us.”
“We’ll see. Tell me what to do. I focus. I know there’s more than that. I want to be able to do this and more. I want to do everything.” She tilted her head and stared at him.
“Well, we need to teach you some basics before you can do everything, because what we’re going to do is relatively simple. Now focus on the pillows. I want you to visualize a circle of power in your palm. Concentrate, because the magic isn’t going to naturally form a ball,” Linc instructed quietly. “Focus, visualize and mold it to your will.”
It took her a little while. Colm watched as the energy formed in her palm, golden and glowing. It pooled and wavered in her ha
nd. The details were important in building shields and more complex constructs.
“Cami, you’re not concentrating. Push it into a ball. It’s your magic. Make it do what you want it to do.” Linc’s voice was firm but encouraging.
She shot a glare at Linc before looking down at her palm. Colm pressed his lips tightly together to keep from chuckling at her expression. She was so damn cute with that determined frown and the narrowed eyes. The magic pulsed in her hand and tightened into a pulsating oval. She growled as it collapsed into a blob again in her palm.
“You’re trying too hard. It’s not what you see with your eyes. Picture a ball in your mind and then fill the ball with the magic,” Colm suggested.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment then straightened her shoulders. When her eyes flickered open again, she looked down at her palm. This time the power pulsed and jumped only once before flowing upward into a tight ball. A smile curved her lips. He thought she was going to lose her focus with the success, but she managed to keep control. The glowing ball of magic remained in her palm.
“Now what do I do with this? Throw it?” She looked over at him and then Linc.
“Throwing it isn’t necessary. Visualize and then will it to do what you want. It’s much easier and more accurate than physically hurling the ball. Concentrate.” Linc nodded toward the pillows. “Now, show us what you can do.”
“The reason I’m here is because I don’t know what to do,” she muttered. “Will it to do what I want, I know…”
She continued muttering beneath her breath. Colm didn’t catch the rest of what she said, but knew it was probably something a little violent. Her temper was definitely showing lately. He didn’t mind it. That emotion heralded healing and deeper feelings. Both very good things.
The ball hovered over her hand for a moment and then slammed into the pillow. Colm nodded. She’d picked it up fairly fast. It didn’t surprise him. She was serious and determined to master something once they introduced it to her. With practice, he knew she’d be able to strengthen it and make it into a formidable weapon. Without waiting for them to tell her, she formed another orb and slung it at another pillow.
“I think you have the idea now. We’ll practice and teach you more, later.” Colm walked over and brushed his fingers across her cheek. “Ready to go out and get back to hiding from us?”
“I wasn’t hiding from you.” She frowned and put a hand on his chest. “Just trying to get a little time away from something I felt was going to cause a change that I might not want.”
“Same thing.” Colm smiled, simply to see the flush of temper rise on her cheeks.
“It’s not. If I wanted to hide from you, I could have.” Her finger poked right above his nipple as if emphasizing her words. “Now open the door and remove whatever you did to keep me in here. I think I’ve had enough alone time with you two.”
“You know, I think I might have to make you eat those words one day.” Linc brushed his hand over her hair. “The shielding spell is gone. You’ll be able to get out the door now.”
“We’ll talk and more again after we eat tonight.” Colm reluctantly stepped away from her.
“Maybe.” She grinned and began to walk toward the doors.
Colm watched the sway of her hips. They’d definitely spend some time with her, maybe even convince her to spend the night with them.
Chapter Nineteen
Cami still felt a little stunned even after a night to sleep and think about things. She headed for the stairs. Gods, she needed to get outside. It had been a long day already and she’d just finished the midday meal. She hadn’t expected Colm and Linc to push her into that kind of position when they’d seemed prepared to wait for her to take the next step for so long. Things had changed. Colm and Linc had taken their pursuit public and were in full hunt.
Shaking her head, she focused on what she needed. Sturdy shoes, because the slippers on her feet wouldn’t do even for a sojourn within the walls of the Thent. The tan skirt could stay. She didn’t expect to get to go outside of the defense walls, but even the thought of feeling the sun on her face was enough to lighten her mood from the heavy thoughts and anxiety that had plagued her since she’d woken.
It didn’t help that she couldn’t stop thinking of last night. Colm and Linc hadn’t pressed beyond asking if she’d sleep with them, but she knew they were impatient to tug her fully into their lives. The little touches on the way up the stairs last night definitely had her thinking of them and sex. Small brushes of fingers over her arm or down her back sent sparks sizzling over her skin. It hadn’t been easy to say no when she wanted those touches all over her body without clothes getting in the way.
Today, she hadn’t done more than walk through the main building yet, but she could already tell there was a distinct change in the way people viewed her. She felt a growl building low in her throat. There was a respect in the gazes of most of the men now.
Not that there had ever been any disrespect. It was simply that they saw her as Linc and Colm’s Lady now. It was a higher position than guest or even member of the Thent. She shook her head. It wasn’t so much the men that irritated her though. They wouldn’t cause her trouble.
It was the females. So far she’d only seen a few women. They had looked at her with a little confusion as if they didn’t understand the sudden change. She expected to be confronted with more than that.
She’d received some icy stares from a few women before Linc and Colm had decided to take this step. Those women wouldn’t be merely stunned. She knew that their reactions could be much worse than the confrontations she’d had before. The women who’d confronted her before had been a little angry at her sudden appearance in Linc and Colm’s life, but after the initial confrontation, had seemed to move on to other things. Cami expected anger had been simmering in one or two women. It was going to explode now.
Today, one woman in particular glared at her. As long as she kept it to mere stares, Cami didn’t care about that. Judging by the intense anger in that gaze, Cami suspected that the woman wouldn’t be content to hate her from afar. She didn’t think she’d have long to wait either.
In one of life’s unfair twists, she was going to have deal with it. The men who caused this entire mess wouldn’t have to deal with anything except the aftermath. Well, and her anger, because if there was more drama with the women, she was going to be pissed.
She shook her head. Just as she turned to start up the stairs, someone barreled into her, shoving her against the wall. The force was too great and the impact too direct to be anything other than intentional. The impact into the wall stunned Cami, but it also knocked the woman back a step.
Claws sprang from the tips of her fingers and her teeth lengthened at the unexpected attack. Even though she’d expected something to happen, she hadn’t thought anyone would attack her this way. Cami spun in the small space available. When hands tried to grab for her, she dug the sharp tips of her nails into the slender forearms.
The black-haired woman yowled as Cami’s claws sunk deep. The woman jumped back. Cami slipped out of the corner and put a little distance between them. Cami eyed the petite female with distaste. She recognized her as the one who’d glared at her from across the room earlier.
Cowardly bitch. Cami didn’t linger too long in thoughts of the attack from the back. Her eyes narrowed. The woman wanted to make things physical, Cami would definitely oblige her.
“Well, you’ve got my attention now and you’re going to pay for it.” Cami’s lips pulled back in a snarl. She wasn’t going to back away and try to talk this woman out of any further violence. This type of woman would only see it as weakness.
The woman growled and if she’d been in tiron form, her hackles would have raised. “You don’t belong here.”
Cami shook her head at the woman’s words. She could practically hear the burning jealousy there. “Funny. I didn’t know you had any say in that.”
Shock and fury flashed ove
r the woman’s face. She jumped forward with a scream of rage. Her fingers flexed as if to slash and claw at Cami. Cami moved out of the way. Her hand caught the woman’s shoulder, propelling her into the opposite wall. Since she didn’t have a good grip on the woman’s arm, she backed away and waited. She didn’t hold out much hope that her opponent would see that this was stupid.
Cami was a little surprised at the woman’s quick reaction. She hadn’t expected one comment to make her lose control, but was astounded that she didn’t feel more fear. Even though she’d known she was slowly recovering from the attack, she’d thought that a situation such as this might give her trouble. Maybe it was the fact that she was facing a woman. All she felt was determination and a slow, building anger over the woman’s initial attack. What did astound her was that men weren’t here already in response to the scream.
“What’s the matter? Can’t decide what to do now that your craven sneak attack failed?” Cami didn’t try to hold back the disdain in her voice or expression.
The woman swung her claws at Cami’s face. Cami jumped back from the swipe, but immediately glided forward and sliced a punch up toward the woman’s jaw. The blow glanced off the woman’s jaw as the black-haired woman instinctively flinched back. She saw a little surprise in the other female’s eyes.
“I’m not so easily intimidated.” Cami shook her head, but never took her eyes off the woman. She knew she couldn’t afford to let her guard down a moment.
“I’m going to make you afraid. I’ll hurt you and keep doing it until you leave this Thent. They’re mine,” the woman snarled.
“Yours?” Cami shook her head and bit off a laugh. “I doubt you were even under consideration. I dreamed of them with more than a few of the women in this Thent, some more than one time. I never saw you. I didn’t even know they touched you.”
“They want me now!” The woman rushed at Cami.
Cami twisted out of the way of the furious woman. She grabbed the petite woman’s shoulder and then slammed her head into the wall before she could spin around to come at her again. She was getting tired of dealing with Colm and Linc’s angry past lovers.
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