by Ophelia Bell
She lost the sense of any boundaries between them, even emotional or psychic ones. When they began to move in earnest, it was like the three of them were one, instinct taking over entirely. One soft, insistent mouth found hers, melding with her so deeply she forgot she even needed breath. Soon enough she realized she was kissing the Wind and needed nothing more than their touch to sustain her.
Three thousand years out of touch was far too long when she forgot such amazing details about the other races. Particularly the race these two men belonged to—men she’d fallen for wholesale, and who were wrapped around her so tightly now, the friction of their bodies caused her own core to heat even more.
She relished every slow thrust of their cocks as they gave themselves to her. Their love infused each deep plunge, making the sweet sensations even more wonderful.
Her very essence responded to them in a way she’d forgotten it could. Fire blazed in her belly, the banked ember of her Dragon soul ignited by the Wind they shared with every stroke. Their lovemaking alone could have satisfied her, but this new sensation was like nothing she’d ever felt before. Heat as intense as a furnace rose inside her. Subconsciously she understood it, and accepted it for what it was, but didn’t want to slow their pace to examine it too closely.
She simply craved them. Words weren’t necessary to convey that craving. With a breath from her lungs, she could communicate everything. If they’d only inhale her breath, they would understand her message.
“We hear you loud and clear, honey,” Iszak said. “I could hear you before you took a breath. But damn, you are on fire tonight.”
With a grunt he shoved back into her in tandem with his brother, the combined thrust carrying a searing heat with it that set her alight from the inside. She cried out and they joined her, fucking even harder in response until she lost every sense of where she ended and they began. Lukas’s face was stricken with intense emotion as he moved, and the heat reached its peak.
Abruptly the room grew bright orange and the scent of smoke hit her nostrils. A very tangible heat brushed along her skin as the sheets beneath her caught flame.
Her lovers faltered for a second, as surprised as she was, but unwilling to cease moving when they were in the midst of their climax. Their Nirvanas were laced with even more—the adrenaline of the fire erupting around them.
“What the fuck!” Iszak yelled, then laughed. “We’re on fire!”
“Please don’t stop,” Belah said. “It feels amazing.”
He didn’t stop, and neither did Lukas, in spite of the crazy laugh he let out before kissing her and shoving into her again with a deep, shuddering thrust. Iszak groaned behind her as he climaxed alongside his brother.
Belah’s entire body seemed to meld with the flames around them when their essences merged with hers, their energy flowing through with a hot rush that left her skin tingling all over as though she’d been standing inside a furnace all along.
She clung to them both in the aftermath—one hand clutching Lukas’s head to her breast, while the other held onto Iszak’s behind her, his lips nuzzling at her neck. In spite of the rush of ecstasy subsiding, the heat didn’t dissipate.
“We’re actually on fire,” Iszak said. “We might want to take care of that before the neighborhood goes up.”
Lukas groaned as though it were an ordeal to shift his attention from kissing her chest. She wanted to hold him there—hold them both close for as long as possible—but they were lying on a burning bed. Small, orange flames licked around them, and the two men didn’t seem any more concerned than she did.
“How is it not burning us?” Lukas asked.
“Fire can’t burn the wind. It just consumes it—or vice versa, depending on the mood,” Belah said.
“It’s gonna burn the rest of the world if we’re not careful,” Iszak said. “Brother, a little help?”
They both sat up, and Belah joined them, staring down at the charred outlines they’d left on the white sheets. The flames eagerly filled in and skittered up the walls behind the bed.
The brothers linked hands around her and puffed their cheeks out, sending a howling gust at the fire. The wind was so strong it made her waver unsteadily, but they both caught her and held her.
The flames extinguished in the gust, leaving them sitting in the dark again, in the middle of a charred bed.
“You forgot to sing Happy Birthday,” Lukas said to her.
“I am sorry,” Belah said, unsure what he meant, but she’d happily figure it all out later.
Chapter Fifteen
“Are you guys okay?” Belah asked, checking each of them over for burns, but finding none. They both brushed off a layer of ash and looked at her.
If two pairs of eyes could disarm her, theirs did the job. They glanced at each other and Iszak said, “I think you burned me a little … right here.” He pointed at the tip of his cock with a grin. “And even more, right here,” he said, holding his hand over the center of his chest with a more earnest look in his eyes.
Belah laughed softly and kissed him, then fell against him when he wrapped his arms around her and devoured her mouth with his in response.
Seared sheets prickled her skin, but she didn’t care, and they didn’t seem to, either.
When Iszak released her Belah let her back rest against Lukas’s chest with a satisfied sigh. She entwined her fingers with Iszak’s and slung a leg over his hips. The scent of burned cotton and wood around them was somehow comforting. Fire had been one of the ways dragons held dominion over the earth for so long during the early centuries. They were the most fearsome predators, capable of collecting immense riches, worshiped by multitudes. When they’d retreated after her mistake, they’d ceased using their flaming breath, but Belah still loved the scent of smoke. Of charred things.
“Why didn’t we set the bed on fire last week?” Lukas mused. “I mean … you were hot as hell with me.” He sounded just a little disappointed, and Belah sensed his worry that it was Iszak’s presence that had been the catalyst for what had occurred.
“It takes the right ingredients to make something combustible, doesn’t it?” Belah said. “Apparently it required two measures of North Wind along with my own power for it to happen.”
The men both laughed. “Incendiary, is what I think you meant,” Iszak said. “We’re well acquainted with explosives after the human wars we’ve lived through, and honey, you’re the most volatile thing I’ve come across.”
She frowned, unhappy with the description. “It’s the two of you who make me volatile, I think. Mixing me with another … it was a mistake when I did it before. I’m just grateful I didn’t breed with Nik.”
Lukas’s hand slid down her middle and rested below her navel. He nuzzled at her neck and said, “You’re happy you chose us, right?”
Happy was too tame a term to describe the elation she felt when she examined the situation. Her entire body itched for more of what she’d experienced and she firmly believed she’d never get tired of the two of them. She rested her hand on Lukas’s.
“I’m beyond happy, as long as the two of you understand what it means to be my mates.” She met Iszak’s frowning gaze and looked behind her at Lukas, who simply seemed confused. Her senses told her that neither of them knew what she meant.
With a heavy sigh, she said, “You’re immortal now, too, as long as you’re loyal to me. It isn’t permanent like a Turul mating. But as long as we’re happy in our union—as long as you are my lovers—you will never die. Never.”
Lukas was the first to ask the inevitable question. “And if we decide next week that we can’t stand what a slob you are?”
“Then stop fucking me and be prepared to live out your normal lifespan.”
Iszak frowned down at her. “We will never leave you. Please know that. Especially not now.”
His dark gaze bore into her, with a depth of knowledge she’d never seen.
“Why not now?” she asked.
“We did it,” he
said, pressing a hand over his brother’s where it rested on her stomach. “I see her already, and she’s beautiful, our daughter. She burns like fire inside you, sustained by your power combined with the power of the North Wind. She will be a force for the Hunters to fear. Neither dragon nor falcon, but a lot of both.”
Belah fell into tears at his words, then succumbed to their comforts. She tried to shed the awareness that she didn’t deserve such love or happiness. She didn’t deserve forgiveness for what she’d done or the blessing they’d given her with the child growing even now in her belly. But the touch of their hands on her skin made her reevaluate her ideas.
As they both bent their heads to pleasure her again, she couldn’t help but think that if they could love her and not betray her, perhaps there truly was hope.
***
“I keep thinking we’ve missed a step,” Lukas said some time later as they languished in each other’s arms. “I finally figured out what it is.”
“What, brother?” Iszak asked.
“The Turul mating ritual. She hasn’t done it with us.”
Belah looked between them both, confused. She knew how Turul mated, but thought it was an outdated practice that they’d abandoned by now.
“Do you still do that?” she asked.
Iszak laughed. “Only the hardcore of us do it. The ones who are so crazy in love they have to make a bigger statement. I think we fit the bill, though.” He pulled her into a languid kiss that reminded her exactly how crazy in love she was.
“We should plan it,” Lukas said when she finally caught her breath. “Mom and Dad would want to be there if we do the whole traditional thing.”
Belah simply lay there while the two men made plans for their wedding, not sure if she should give input or not. Dragon matings were very informal. There was no fanfare or ceremony involved aside from the giving of the marks. It was always a very intimate event, and the three of them had already done the deed.
Turul matings, on the other hand, were spectacular. At least the ones she’d attended before she’d sequestered herself. She was immensely curious how they’d evolved, though.
While a dragon mating was only to ensure the conception of a child, a Turul mating was meant to proclaim love between a couple in front of the entire race. They loved being public about it. Reckless, but not unusual.
“Don’t let on that I’m a dragon, okay? That’s all I ask,” she said as Lukas hopped out of bed and grabbed his phone. “It’s just a normal mating.”
Lukas nodded as he started talking.
Belah stared at him, anxious about the proceedings until Iszak pulled her down to him.
“You’ve given us everything already. Your body, our child. I would make love to you for years to make you understand that it wasn’t your fault what that man did to you. Together we can beat him. But for now, we just need to celebrate. Let us have that, okay?”
“You don’t even know if it’s your child, Iszak. Why doesn’t that bother you?”
“It is mine, as far as I’m concerned. And it’s Lukas’s. We’re your mates—any child that grows inside you is ours.”
“Oh.”
The concept was alien to her. Dragons were far more proprietary. It’d been only in the current generation that any had chosen to share a human mate. Until now, the idea of two dragons being tied to one human had been so alien to her as to be an abomination. But sharing herself with these two men made her understand that it was possible.
Being with these two men made her believe anything was possible.
“So, explain this mating ritual to me?” she said.
Chapter Sixteen
The music blared from the ground, tinny from the distance, but Belah could hear it all clearly. She stood naked in the plane, already itching from the height. Wind tangled her hair from the opening behind her. The opening she was meant to jump through in a few moments, and fall without her wings long enough to make love with her two mates.
“Fuck, I hate being in planes,” Lukas said. “I’d rather just fly.”
He gripped her hand just as hard as Iszak did on the other side. This would be the biggest mating in Turul history. Two Princes of the North mating an immortal dragon. Everyone in their circles were watching. Likely the Ultiori were watching, but they’d kept Belah’s true identity out of the mix. Her brother, Ked, had suggested it, just so he could see who tuned in.
The cameraman was on the other side of them. “Whenever you three are ready, I’m going. Give me a sign.”
Belah just wanted it done. “I’m ready.”
Before they could object, she grabbed the hands of her lovers and simply fell, using her legs to push off from the edge of the plane.
The bitter cold air seared her bare skin until she shifted. She turned in the air to see two huge falcons regarding her. They were much smaller, though, and she felt a little conspicuous at her true size, which was immense. Emphasized by the fact that Iszak landed on her shoulder and teased his beak over her brow, then whispered. “You’re gorgeous, but I can’t fuck you like this.”
“Are you ready to do this?” she asked.
Lukas flew to her and landed on her other shoulder. “The Wind’s got us, baby. I’m as ready as ever.”
“Just tell me the name of the song we’re doing this to?”
The pair shifted without answering, their naked bodies clinging to her as they floated in the air. She shifted, too, relishing the feel of them and the way their human limbs tangled with hers.
“It’s Old Blue Eyes,” Lukas said. “If you’d ever shown your face on Earth in the sixties you could have met him. But you’re our Old Blue Eyes now.”
“I don’t get old,” she said, offended.
“You’re older than Frank.”
“Fuck Frank, whoever he is,” she said, trying her best to avoid stretching her wings, but enjoying the wind gliding past them as they plummeted toward the earth. The brothers plunged into her just the way they’d done before they’d set the bed on fire. Both at once, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Except she had nothing but air to grab hold of in the heat of it. And in spite of the three of them being naked, they still caught flame at their peak, their skins shimmering with the power of their union.
***
News Report: A meteor was reported over Hudson Bay earlier today, but seems to have crashed into the water without causing any harm to city residents.
“We’re a meteor.” Lukas held his phone up to show her, laughing. “I love this.”
Belah only felt the burn in her belly—the baby they’d made that urged her to hide. “We need to go. Now.”
Iszak was at her side almost instantly. “Honey, we’ve let the Enclave know we’re coming. We’ll be there tomorrow.”
Enclave … Turul Enclaves were very secure, she knew, but she’d never been in one. She wanted to go home right now. To the Glade. But they couldn’t go there.
“Baby, don’t cry, we’ll take care of you,” Lukas said. She hadn’t realized she’d been crying. Everything was happening too fast.
The coolness in the room suddenly shifted to downright arctic and her emotional anguish disappeared, leaving behind a hollow feeling.
Goddamn her brother.
“Sister, you’re coming home with me, now that you’ve conceived,” Ked said. He’d appeared out of the blue right in front of her. Her saviour again, she guessed, though she didn’t need saving now.
“No, I want to be with them. Do you even know what love is? You need to learn, brother.”
“You need to be in the Glade,” he said, his deep voice brooking no argument. She hated that about him.
“Why should I? I’ve already seen how our retreat has damaged our race. Iszak and Lukas’s sister died because we hid. I should be here. And so should you.”
Ked frowned and the entire room grew a few degrees cooler. “There’s something you need to know. Evie North is not dead.”
Belah froze, and her lovers abruptly walked close aga
in after their polite avoidance of the brother-sister conversation to hear what Ked had to say.
“After hearing the story, I started looking into it,” he said to the three of them. “There was no evidence of her death.”
“We had evidence!” Lukas said. “Her effects … a feather …” He petered out.
“Not real evidence is it?” Ked asked. “We have real evidence that she’s alive, and in one of the Ultiori strongholds. I want to find her, but I needed to make sure my sister was in good hands first.
Belah stepped toward her brother, too aware of his own tortured investment in their endeavor. But something in his eyes told her this was more than just a favor to her lovers. She rested her hand on his cheeks and understood.
Ked sought a mate, too, as did the rest of them. And the dream they’d shared showed them that it couldn’t be a human mate. He was meant to mate with a Turul. And that Turul was Evie North.
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Books by Ophelia Bell
Sleeping Dragons Series
Animus
Tabula Rasa
Gemini
Shadows
Nexus
Ascend
Rising Dragons Series
