Two Times the Trouble

by Mellanie Szereto

  He shifted to lie beside his brother, and she gave his hand a squeeze. “Thank you.”

  “Any time, honey.” A grin tickled his lips.

  Liam chuckled, a sound Ivan hadn’t heard often over the past year. “I’m gonna need a little while to recover, but you’re welcome.”

  His brother’s swift response surprised Ivan. With the Apryl fiasco had come a major distrust of women. Had Liam finally realized not all of them were like that bimbo? Considering his reluctance when they’d discussed it earlier, his easy sense of humor suggested he’d also come to terms with sharing with Jolán.

  After a quick kiss to her neck, Ivan sat up. “Damn, I’m starving. I think I’ll get cleaned up and grab a snack. Want me to get something for you, Jolán? Liam?”

  She levered around to peer at him through the shadowy dimness. “You’ll come back and rest with us, won’t you? I hope you don’t think I was playing favorites, because I—”

  “Ah, honey, I know you weren’t.” He leaned in close to bury his nose in her hair. A flower garden. “I promise to come right back after I recharge. I’ll bring you a cup of water. We all need to make sure we get plenty to drink.”

  “You’re a nurturer.” The smile in her voice sent a tickle through his gut. She ran her fingers along Liam’s jaw. “And you try to protect everyone. You take care of each other, don’t you?”

  Ivan shrugged as he pushed to his feet. Moving to the shower, he turned on the spray. “We’re more like brothers than stepbrothers. Liam’s the best friend I’ve ever had.”

  Pushing up on his elbow, Liam grinned at Ivan. “I guess that means you’ll bring the whole basket of food.”

  I’d climb out of this mess and bring you a damn steak if I could. Neither of them could’ve given Jolán what she needed on his own, and Ivan couldn’t imagine denying her anything. “Unless you know how to get out of here, that food has to last us at least a couple days.” He worked up a thick lather with the bar of soap. “Speaking of which—now that you’ve had your wicked way with us, Jolán, I think we should finish our discussion about the chanting thing you were doing.”

  Glancing at her as he rinsed off the suds, he couldn’t help but notice her posture become rigid. She was hiding something from him and Liam, and her lack of trust bothered him more than the secret. He shut off the water and reached for towel while he waited for her to respond.

  “I’m not wicked.”

  He almost missed her quiet rebuttal. The hurt in her words made him regret the casual cliché he’d used. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he strode the five steps to the makeshift bed and knelt at her back.

  Liam raised his eyebrows as if to tell Ivan he better start groveling.

  Groveling wouldn’t get the truth from her. “I know you don’t have an evil bone in your delicious body, sweetheart. I just wish you’d give us the benefit of the doubt and tell us about your powers.”

  Her shoulders sagged. “I don’t have any powers. They...disappeared.”

  As certain as he’d been in his assertion, having her confirm his suspicion unsettled him. “What kind of stuff can you—were you able to do?”

  She sighed and tried to slip to the other end of their bed, but he pulled her onto his lap as he sat.

  Rolling on his side to face them, Liam clasped her hand. “You aren’t the only woman in your family to have two men for lovers, either. Talk to us. Tell us about yourself.”

  With a frown, she looked back and forth between him and Ivan. “If I tell you, you have to become my mates or have your memories wiped when you leave.”

  Leave? Ivan’s heart skipped a beat. “I can’t speak for my brother, but I’m not going anywhere.”

  Liam nodded.

  She seemed to relax. “Okay. My sister Kata, my cousins Lujza and Rebeka, and Rebeka’s sister-in-law, Orsolya, all have two mates. They have borne or will bear two children at a time—one from each mate.”

  I was right about the babies having different fathers. “When we’re ready to have kids, you’ll get pregnant by both of us?”

  Pressing her lips together, she shook her head. “My fertility cycle is happening this week. If you don’t impregnate me, you aren’t my...true mates.”

  “Now?” Liam sat up. “You said you couldn’t get pregnant. You lied to me?”

  She spun away from them. “I didn’t think you were my mate when we had sex in the barn. Besides, we weren’t in love.”

  Rendered speechless, Ivan was glad Liam still had his voice. “Love has nothing to do with getting pregnant. This isn’t a fairytale, Jolán—unless you’re a...fairy.”

  She shook her head again, sending her long, dark hair swaying. “No, I’m a witch.”

  Chapter 10

  There. I told them the truth. Jolán had no idea what reaction to expect from Ivan or Liam. They could hardly get up and walk away since they were stuck in a hole beneath a jumble of lumber, but that wouldn’t stop them from saying they’d changed their minds about leaving.

  After several moments of telling silence, she reached for the skirt and tank top near her feet as she climbed off Ivan’s lap. Being naked, with tears so close to falling, left her too exposed to bear rejection. She slipped on her clothes with shaking hands and a lump in her throat. Of all the times for her abilities to vanish, this had to be the worst.

  Remove us from these broken walls,

  And take us to the mansion halls

  To the cover of witch protection,

  Where all shall witness their defection.

  Keep us safe and blessed be.

  Harm to none. Please set us free.

  The spell rushed through her thoughts in a desperate attempt to escape the painfully awkward hush. If only she had the power to actually perform the transportation charm.

  “Jolán?” Liam’s wary tone made her want to cover her ears.

  Goddess, he’s going to say the sex was fantastic, but he isn’t interested. Again. She’d witnessed the telltale tick in his jaw once before, and had no wish to turn and see it now, to know what was coming. A hand on each of her shoulders didn’t comfort her. Tears blurred her vision, and she closed her eyes to stem the flow of wetness down her cheeks. Both of her mates had chosen erasure of their memories over staying with her and becoming joined. A profound ache radiated out from her heart. Hope is for fools.

  “What’s happening? Is that shifter thing back?” Ivan’s panic was clear in the tightening of his grip on her shoulder and his whispering hiss from behind her.

  She blinked to force away her tears, and flashes of color and swirling lights sent her pulse skittering. The incantation was working? Saved from a long, humiliating night alone with my rejecters.

  The sudden vortex whipped her hair into her face, keeping her from having to meet either of her soon-to-be-former lovers’ gazes. They clutched at her, more likely from fear than wanting to protect her from what they must have considered an unknown power. When they reached their destination, Ivan and Liam would probably leave without a backward glance.

  Shadowy blurs morphed into a brightly lit hallway with a low hum of murmurs carrying from a nearby room, assuring Jolán that they’d arrived in the mansion. Great Grandmother’s calm voice stood out among the worried fretting of numerous aunts and cousins. Konrad’s soft baritone carried indistinct words to the corridor.

  “How did we get out?” Liam’s question sparked the last remaining fragment of Jolán’s patience.

  “The witch spelled you out.” She jerked away from his grasp, scrambling to her feet and striding toward the open parlor door.

  No footsteps sounded on the hardwood floor as if they followed.

  “So, you do have powers.” The statement held more than a hint of awe, suggesting Ivan might ask her to perform another trick. “Told you, Liam. And, um, not that I don’t enjoy being naked, honey, but is there any chance we could have some clothes before your family gets a free show?”

  She stopped dead in her tracks three steps from the entrance to t
he parlor, resisting the urge to roll her eyes and pull out her hair. Men are so confounding! Turning around, she marched to a towel-clad Ivan and his fully nude stepbrother. “Fine, follow me.”

  Without checking to see if they trailed her, she led them through the foyer and up the staircase to her third-floor apartment. She ushered them inside and pointed to the master bedroom. “There’s a bathroom in there. I’ll have one of the guys bring up some clothes from your trailer, and then you can go. Obviously, you won’t be working on the new wing anymore.”

  Steeling her heart against their inevitable agreement, she started to leave.

  “Go?” Liam braced his hands on hips with his half-hard cock pointing at her, contradicting the seriousness of his stubborn jaw and frown. “Hell, no. You said we’re your mates, and I’m staying.”

  Why were they prolonging her pain?

  Ivan crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Nobody’s messing with my memories. I’ve made my choice.”

  Their auras glowed orange with stubbornness. As badly as she wanted to stomp her foot and scream from frustration, she didn’t. Logic had to be the answer. “But I’m a witch. You have to accept who and what I am, and you can never tell anyone my family’s secret.”

  “Why are you trying to convince us to go?” Ivan narrowed his eyes at her, but her gaze drifted to his bare chest and lower to his tented towel. “Don’t you want us?”

  A knock at the door rescued her from asking why they always seemed to ignore her when she burned for their attention and acted offended when she gave them an out. Picking up the throw pillow from the armchair, she tossed it to Liam. “Cover yourself.” Who could be knocking? Everyone thinks I’m trapped. “Come in.”

  Shocked that Jolán would invite someone into what had to be her private rooms with a naked man standing in plain sight, Liam hurried to place the pillow in front of his dick. His worst fears were realized.

  Romána stepped into the room. Her scan of its inhabitants was slow and deliberate. “Your time in the ruins of the addition to our home was productive.”

  He held his spine straight, determined not to be embarrassed by his lack of clothes or by the fact that she seemed to know why they were gone. How had he never noticed the power that emanated from the old woman? Jolán might be a witch, but her grandmother was clearly the leader of her coven. She could probably turn his balls to rocks with a mere look.

  Her half smile and gentle laugh surprised him. “Would you care for help bringing your belongings up from the trailer? It was damaged during the destruction. I believe my granddaughter would prefer to keep her men close now that she has found them.”

  Ivan moved next to Jolán, draping his arm around her shoulders even as she stiffened. “I like that plan. I’m a little curious, though. How do the women in your family get around the issue of polygamy being against the law?”

  “You are observant. We do not break the laws, as our joining ceremony differs from marriage. I will defer the telling of how to Jolán.” Romána approached her granddaughter, kissing her on the cheek. “Trust your heart, daughter. You’ve proven your mind’s worth in battle, but your strength will grow with love.”

  Jolán’s doubts came through in the way she bit her lower lip and gathered the fabric of her skirt in her fists. “Yes, ma’am.”

  Romána smiled. “Believe.”

  Liam couldn’t be certain to whom the old woman had spoken, but she could’ve easily meant all of them.

  “I’ll have Ilona bring up a tray.”

  “Thank you, Great Grandmother.” As soon as the door clicked shut, Jolán plopped in the chair and dropped her head to her hands. “Orsolya was so right about men. You two are going to drive me crazy.”

  Sitting on the corner of the coffee table across from her, Ivan grinned. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “Isn’t she happily mar—um, joined to more than one mate? And pregnant with two babies? Sounds to me like crazy isn’t such a bad thing.”

  After struggling with the choice of perching his naked ass on the arm of the chair or going in search of a towel in the bathroom, he opted for the latter. “I’ll be right back.”

  He strode in the direction Jolán had pointed when they’d entered the suite, slowing as he reached the end of a king-sized bed. Two doors stood slightly ajar on the opposite side of the room from the entrance. Not wanting to invade her privacy but in a hurry to locate the bathroom, he stopped at the opening to the right of the fireplace.

  With a light push, the door swung inward. A pair of empty cribs, two small dressers, and a shelved table-like piece of furniture lined the walls. His chest tightened—not from the panic that Jolán could be pregnant. The anticipation came from the possibility that she might be pregnant with his and Ivan’s babies. No wonder Jolán seemed to have contradictory feelings about sex and relationships. She had a constant reminder of what her family expected of her. Or she thought she had to produce a child or two. Of course, he’d probably contributed to the problem by blowing her off after their first time together in the barn. They had a hell of a lot to discuss before the next round of lovemaking.

  Returning to his search, he tried the second door, hitting the jackpot when he found a linen cabinet in the fully equipped bathroom. He wrapped a thick blanket of a towel around his waist and headed for the living area.

  Neither Ivan nor Jolán had budged an inch while he was gone, so Liam followed his instincts. He lifted her into his arms and settled her on his lap as he sat in her chair. When she tried to escape, he gathered her closer. “We have to talk. I’ll start.”

  She leaned forward, hiding her face behind a curtain of her hair. “Fine.”

  “I want to apologize for the way I treated you yesterday. There’s something about you that scares the shit out of me and pulls me to you at the same time. I regretted telling you I wasn’t interested in a relationship the second you walked out. I hated watching you flirting with Ivan, and...seeing you with him last night almost killed me. To be clear, I want you, Jolán. I’m willing to share you and risk getting hurt for you.” He brushed the hair away from her forehead to kiss her.

  His brother straightened, shoving his hand through his hair. “You saw us?”

  “Yeah.” Saw. Watched. Ivan and Jolán didn’t need to know the pathetic truth of his voyeurism.

  “Damn, I figured you’d guessed. The plan was to make you jealous so you’d realize you screwed up, but I couldn’t stop myself. Everything felt so right.” Reaching to take one of Jolán’s hands in his grasp, Ivan furrowed his eyebrows. “Honey, this ‘having two mates’ thing...Do you really care for both of us, or is it something your family expects you to do?”

  She finally looked up. “My family would never force me to choose a mate, or two. I meant what I said. I want both of you.” Her eyes darted from Ivan to Liam. “I guess I should explain how the mating works since you’re claiming you’ll stay. My birthday was on the day of the full moon this year, marking the beginning of my fertility cycle. My sex drive peaks, and my hormones take control. If I find my mate by the third-quarter moon, we’re joined—assuming we take the vows of love, loyalty, and life. If I don’t find my mate or my mate refuses the vows, I have to wait seven years for the next fertility cycle to seek another mate.”

  Ivan frowned. “Sounds complicated. You said something about only true mates being able to get you pregnant. How will you know it’s us before the joining? And what’s the vow of life?”

  Her voice softened. “A couple of my cousins possess the ability to know if a woman is expecting. We won’t be allowed to go through the joining ceremony if I’m not carrying your children. Only true mates may speak the vows and be joined for life. No divorce. No annulment. The commitment is until parted by death.”

  “Wow, your joinings are a hell of a lot stricter than marriage laws.” Ivan seemed to consider the seriousness of taking that leap.

  With his heart in his throat, Liam mulled over all the requirements for binding himself to Jolán
. “Even if we love each other, we can’t become joined if you aren’t pregnant? That isn’t fair. How would anyone but us know whether or not what we feel is real?”

  She heaved a sigh. “My emotions during the fertility cycle can be confusing. When my body is telling me to mate, it doesn’t discern between love and lust. Sexual attraction blurs the lines. Even now, desire is all that matters.”

  That explained her aggressive nature during their encounter yesterday morning, and the love-lust line was a bit blurry from his perspective as well. “I guess getting pregnant protects you from joining with the wrong guy then, but I still don’t get why some of the woman in your family have two mates instead of one.”

  “Great Grandmother says it has to do with the balance of power in our fight against Kazmer. The final confrontation is building. Every time one of us finds a pair of mates, he tries to prevent the joining from taking place. Before that, he hadn’t interfered since the prophecy predicted the uniting of our family with Sandor’s and Konrad’s clan of warlocks. Great Aunt Magdolna and her true mate, Boldizsár, are finally together after seven cycles of separation.”

  A quick calculation of the time Jolán’s aunt and her love had spent apart cramped Liam’s stomach. “They waited forty-nine years to be together? Wait—Sandor and Konrad are warlocks? Okay, I get why you have to erase the memory of anyone who leaves.” Did he dare ask what other not-quite-ordinary people lived in the mansion? “The guys with the swords. Amalric and Ranulf. What are they?”

  Her breathy exhale warned him the answer wasn’t one he expected. “They, um, hitched a ride with Lujza when she returned from rescuing a spellbook from the, um, fourteenth century. They’re knights. Grant and Ethan are pirates from the early seventeen hundreds...sort of. They’re also Protectors. Men trained to protect certain witches and their families. Orsolya is their charge.”