Lost Paradise

by Tara Fox Hall

  “Yes!” Theoron yelled. “When does the movie start?”

  “In about an hour and a half,” Devlin said happily, eyeing me and grinning. “Theo and Danial should be back within the hour.”

  “Why aren’t you going?” Elle asked, her eyes narrowed.

  “I and your father have business with your mom tonight,” Devlin answered.

  Elle glared at him. My cell phone rang suddenly.

  It was Terian. “Sar, can you come over to the lab? I need to talk to you.”

  “Now?” I said, trying not to be abrupt. “I’m kind of in the middle of —”

  “Now!” Terian said forcefully.

  Sigh. “I’m coming now,” I said. Hanging up, I faced Devlin, Elle and Theoron. “I need to go talk to Terian. I’ll be right back. Call his lab if you need me.”

  “Okay,” Elle said, pleased that I was leaving and Devlin wasn’t going.

  He was not pleased. “I’ll walk you over.”

  “No, I’ll be right back. Please, stay here and watch the kids.”

  Devlin gave me a smoky glance, then nodded.

  I arrived immediately in Terian’s lab. He was waiting for me, his suitcases near him.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  His cherry wood colored eyes were determined. “I read the letter from Leri.”

  It took you this long? I’d have read it that same night with a bottle of wine handy. “Where are you headed?”

  “Leri didn’t know much about Keriam,” Terian said sadly. “Except that his real name was Matt Mairek. That’s why she called him Keriam; it was an anagram of his last name. She liked that it was similar in sound to her name, too.”

  “Do you want to talk?” I said, sitting down and hoping he didn’t.

  Terian sat down in a nearby chair. I shifted, uncomfortable. This little alcove he kept for reading in his lab was comfortable enough for one, but close quarters for two.

  “Leri knew she was going to deliver soon. She teleported to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and went to a community campus in one of the surrounding towns, searching for someone to entrust with my care. She wanted to find a smart young man. She was worried about leaving me with a woman, that a female wouldn’t be strong enough to handle the kind of baby I’d be. She finally found a medical student. He had just gotten off the night shift at the local hospital, and was walking home to his fiancée.” He swallowed hard. “She told him she was scared, that she was going to deliver soon. He could see both of those things were true.

  “He took her back to the hospital. She went into labor before he could do more than secret her into an unused room. She put a compulsion spell on him when he tried to leave to get help—”

  I grasped and squeezed Terian’s hand.

  “She used her magic to help speed up the birth. She was able to heal herself, though she lost a lot of blood. He cleaned me up. While he was occupied, she performed another spell, a very complex one she’d worked on for months, taking a bit of his hair and blood. She told him his name was Keriam, that he was her son, and I was his brother. She told him to take care of me, then gave him a few hundred thousand dollars. Teleporting him to Texas, she got him settled in a hotel there. Then she left.

  “The potion she gave him made him forget who he had been, though it didn’t change the kind of man he was, or his hopes and dreams. Leri made him forget everything he’d been before they had met. He lost his fiancé, his entire life, everything he’d wanted! It was all my fault!”

  Terian was crying now openly. I hugged him, though his tears were almost boiling in their heat.

  “It wasn’t your fault,” I soothed. “It was hers.” I handed him some tissues.

  “We’ve come full circle,” he said, using them. “I remember that first day we met, that day I handed you those tissues. I felt so bad that day that I’d made you cry.”

  “I needed you to tell me what you did back then,” I replied. “But sometimes crying is good. I always feel better afterward. You must feel better too, to finally let it out.”

  “I’m leaving tonight,” Terian said, standing. “Sundown is coming with me. This time I’ll find my brother’s family, and put his spirit to rest.” He hugged me hard. “Thank you. I owe you one for this. You need some spell or a potion for something, just let me know.”

  “Thanks,” I said automatically. “You don’t have to—”

  “I want to,” Terian said firmly. “You’re my best friend, Sar. I’ve never had a friend like you. I love Sundown, but it’s not the same.”

  “You’ve been there for me too, my gallant sorcerer always ready to save me,” I teased.

  “I always will be,” Terian said gently, kissing my forehead. “I just wish you wouldn’t get into all the trouble you do. I’m good, but there’ll come a day when even I can’t save you.”

  A shudder went through me. That day had come: it had been today…Quickly I masked my feelings. I didn’t want him to know any of it. “Hopefully not. When will you come back?”

  “I’ll be back in a week or so,” Terian said. “If I’m longer, I’ll call. Danial knows. He said he’d work out something with Brian and Theo.”

  “That’s okay,” I said steadfastly. “Do what you need to do. I can arrange to have Lash guard me if I have to. Dev won’t mind—”

  Terian gave me a look. “You won’t mind?”

  “He’s not a jerk,” I said defensively. “Lash takes his job seriously.”

  Terian shrugged. “Maybe he’s not the fuck that Theo has told me he is.”

  I thought of several descriptive replies, but held my tongue, mostly out of surprise that Terian had sworn so casually. Maybe he was spending too much time with Theo.

  Sundown came in. “Hi Sar. Tears, we’ve got to go,” she said, shooting me a polite smile. “We’re going to be late if we don’t leave right now. That fucking plane will leave without us.”

  Maybe it wasn’t Theo that was influencing Terian’s language. “You’d better go. Be safe.”

  I teleported back to Danial’s kitchen. Elle was packing the cookies into bags. Being used to Terian popping in at odd times and places, she didn’t even flinch when I appeared.

  “Dad’s back,” she said neutrally, her eyes upset.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, concerned.

  She shook her head, and didn’t answer. I went to go to her and muscular arms enfolded me from behind.

  “Sar, are you feeling any better?” Theo asked tenderly

  I turned to him instantly and hugged him, his wet hair cold against my arms. “Yes.” I took a deep breath, smelling prairie grass, pine woods, and wide blue skies. “I’m glad you’re—”

  “We need to go,” a hissing voice said.

  I turned to see Lash there, regarding us, dressed in a grey shirt, his weapons at his sides. Elle threw down the cookies, and stalked out, growling at Lash as she went by him.

  Someone had let slip to her that Lash had been my lover. I went after her.

  “No one told her,” Theo said, grabbing hold of me. “Lash still smells like you—”

  Lash shot Theo a smile, then slipped out the door.

  “—Elle smelled your scent on him. She accused him of hurting you. He didn’t know that she didn’t know about the two of you, so he told her the truth. She was very angry. Danial heard the shouting from inside his bedroom and came out to see what was the matter.”

  God, this was a nightmare. “What does she know?”

  “He told her that what Lash had said was the truth. She’s been in the kitchen ever since, trying to come to terms with it.”

  I sat on the kitchen stool and put my face in my hands. “Jesus Christ.”

  “I’ll talk to her later tonight,” Theo said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “She’s old enough to understand what happened, and that it isn’t your fault.”

  It wasn’t, but that didn’t matter, did it? At least Theo was being nice this time. “Okay.”

  “I’m going to go now,” Theo ad
ded. “I’ll probably be gone until at least three a.m. Danial’s arranged for Ivan to go and watch our pets tonight. I’ll come back here after the movie with the kids and crash in the basement. Tomorrow, we’ll go home.”

  I wanted to tell him to take me home tonight, that I just longed to go home with him, watch a TV movie, and have him hold me. I was tired of all the intrigue, The Lust, and Devlin’s constant demands. But I couldn’t. There was no way out of what had to happen here, and I had my own duties to perform. He couldn’t save me from this.

  I gave myself a sudden mental slap. What the hell was wrong with me? I didn’t need a savior; I was strong enough to deal with my situation on my own. “Be safe,” I cautioned, hugging him. “I’ll make you breakfast in the morning.”

  “You’re on,” he said. He shot me a last grin, then left.

  There was a soft meow at my feet. The black cat Theo had saved from our woodshed was there looking up at me. “Are you hungry?” I said, reaching down and picking him up. “You want some food?”

  “I gave her several cans of cat food this morning,” Danial said, flashing me a smile from the doorway. “Plus a few bites of ham. She’s well fed.”

  I petted the purring cat. “What did you name him?”

  “It’s a her,” Danial said, coming over. “Her name is Briar.”

  “Briar,” I said, stroking her. She purred, kneading my shoulder.

  “They’ve left,” Devlin announced gleefully, coming through the door and over to us. “It’s about time, too. I thought they were never going to go.”

  Danial shot him a nasty look. Devlin ignored him, putting his hand on mine. He ran it up my arm to clasp my neck loosely. “Sar,” he whispered. “Why don’t you slip into something more comfortable?”

  Startled, Briar leapt out of my arms and ran out of the room, ears flattened.

  “Knock it off,” Danial said, giving Dev a shove. “We have hours. You don’t have to rush things.”

  Devlin snarled, baring his fangs. “Why don’t Sar and I go to Hayden, then, and leave you here? It’s my night anyway.”

  “Did it ever occur to you that Sar might not want to have sex?” Danial said, clearly exasperated. “She had a full day already with what she went through.”

  Devlin was quiet, looking from Danial to me and back. It was obvious he had not thought about it, just of himself. “Do you not want to be with me?” Devlin said tentatively.

  Despite myself, him, and everything that had happened today, I found it humorous that he could be so full of himself one moment, and so vulnerable the next. It was one of the things I loved most about him. “Are you ever not in the mood?” I said with a roll of my eyes.

  “No,” Devlin said, grinning. He pulled me close and began kissing up my neck.

  “He is always in the mood,” Danial said, irritated. “You’d think after centuries, after thousands of—”

  “Shut up,” Devlin ordered, breaking away from me. “Or I won’t let you join us, Danial.”

  I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Devlin had said he and Danial had business with me. As I suddenly understood what that meant, my eyes got as big as saucers.

  Devlin caught my look in my eyes and nodded. “Danial told me about your fantasy,” Devlin purred, kissing my cheek. “Both of us at once. Your fantasy is going to come true tonight, Sar.”

  Suddenly, I was in the mood completely, the desire all my own. I pulled Devlin close and kissed him hard, slipping my tongue into his mouth. He responded instantly, kissing me deeply, his hands roaming my body.

  Danial pried us apart. “Hey,” he said firmly. “I’m not doing this in my kitchen, and I’m part of this tonight. Let’s go into my bedroom where we can all get more comfortable.”

  Devlin looked at me, his eyes melting gold now, hot with love and lust. “That sounds good,” he purred. “I’ve brought something for Sar to wear.”

  Looks like I wasn’t the only one who had fantasized about this.

  “I have something I want her to wear,” Danial said mildly. “And it’s my bedroom, Dev.”

  That was a surprise, yet on reflection, it shouldn’t have been. I hadn’t been the only one getting hot and bothered over the idea of a threesome when Danial had first broached the delicious idea. “No fighting, gentlemen.”

  “Fine, you can have your fantasy first,” Devlin said easily. “Mine can be later, when we can take longer.”

  First? Later? Longer? What was I getting into? I followed Danial and Devlin into Danial’s bedroom. Danial locked it behind us. “Go and change Sar. What I’d like you to wear is on the back of the door.”

  I went into the bathroom. There on the back of the door was a bra and panty set, made entirely out of bits of red lace. There was almost nothing to it, it was so scanty. Closing the door, I put it on with trepidation. To my surprise, it fit fine. Those daily treadmill workouts were working to control my pregnancy weight gain. There was only the small swell of my tummy to give proof I was pregnant at all.

  I wrapped myself in my robe, then looked in the mirror. Could I do this? It was one thing to take several lovers. It was another thing entirely to have lovers plural at the same time.

  Screw it. I wanted to try it. I took a deep breath, then opened the bathroom door.

  The light had been turned off. Now several candles burned around the room. Danial and Devlin were both on the bed, reclining there naked in the flickering light, their eyes on me. The sight of them together waiting for me was enough to make me pause.

  We watched each other for several minutes in the candlelight. I wanted to remember this always, to capture the moment and commit it to memory. It didn’t matter what the night brought, or if other nights like this one followed. I would never feel this way again; eager and shy equally, hesitant as a virgin.

  Danial got up from the bed and came to me. “You’re trembling. What’s wrong?”

  “I’m a little afraid,” I whispered, awkward. “Just nerves, I think.”

  Devlin came to stand at my back. He clasped my arms with his hands, then slid them up my shoulders to my neck, massaging gently. “Why are you afraid?” Devlin whispered, kissing my neck lightly. “Is it because of the last time you and I were together in this room?”

  The night he’d tried to drain me dry. “Stop it, Dev,” I said angrily, tensing. “I’ve been trying like hell to forget that other night, and you casually bring it up...”

  “She’s not scared of us, or you,” Danial said calmly, as if I’d not spoken. “She’s afraid of having her fantasy come true.” He kissed me on the lips. “Don’t be.”

  “Yes, don’t be scared,” Devlin added. He began kissing me on the side of my neck.

  Feeling their familiar touch, my fear passed like it had never been. I knew these men. I loved them both. Nothing was going to happen tonight that I didn’t want to happen.

  Danial deepened his kiss, sliding his tongue into my mouth as his hands slid up under my robe. He undid the sash and pushed my robe off my shoulders, revealing the red lace outfit. “You look beautiful,” he whispered, his dark eyes hungry. “Just as I imagined.” He kissed me again.

  Devlin kissed the nape of my neck, his naked body pressed against mine, his erection hard against the small of my back. With a groan, he held my hips and rubbed, flexing persistently. Letting go of my hips, he moved his hands upwards to cup my breasts, squeezing gently. I groaned loudly, breaking away from Danial’s kiss. God, this was already overwhelming and we hadn’t gotten past the foreplay...

  “Let’s move to the bed,” Devlin said huskily. As one they lifted me together, setting me down in the middle of the bed on my knees. They immediately took up positions; Devlin behind, Danial in front. Devlin unhooked my lace top, and Danial slid it off my shoulders. I was momentarily uneasy, remembering that long ago night with them. Then Devlin gripped my head with his hands, turning it to kiss me from behind as Danial kissed and caressed my breasts. Overwhelmed by pleasurable sensation, I relaxed into them, luxuriating in
the feel of their lips.

  Devlin intensified his kiss, his tongue darting into my mouth to taste me. He reached down with his hand and opened me, rubbing the head of himself on my wet folds.

  “Please.” It was too much to have to wait any longer. “Please—”

  “She’s ready for you, brother,” Devlin growled throatily. He kissed me again, sighing gently, then drew back as Danial lay down. His breathing hard, his hands urgent, Danial guided my hips to straddle his. Danial thrust upwards, burying himself in me with a loud cry. I arched my back, pushing back against Devlin, who slid his hands up to hold my breasts, as he began to kiss me hungrily, his erection throbbing against my back.

  Danial thrust slowly and deeply into me, crying out each time, watching me kiss Devlin above him. His hips held mine, moving me in rhythm, helping me to stroke him over and over. I began to moan softly from all the pleasure I was feeling, my breaths ragged. Devlin was breathing hard now, too, his hand tangled in my hair, his mouth devouring mine, his swollen shaft moving against me in rhythm with Danial and I.

  Danial lost his rhythm suddenly, shaking a little as he tried to resist climax. I didn’t want him to. At once I bore down with my hips hard. In two strokes, I pushed him over. He soared, arching his back as he clutched my hips hard, screaming out my name. “Sar!”

  Devlin drew me off him at once, pulling me to one side. Danial let out a gasp as he came free. Devlin quickly lay down beside Danial, then settled my body on his, penetrating me with a loud cry. I was relaxed and open now; Devlin’s length entering me easily. Closing my eyes in bliss, I let my head fall back, a sigh of pleasure escaping my parted lips. Devlin gazed up at me, his fangs bared slightly, every move deliberate as he gave himself to me again and again.

  I was so close now from what they had done to me it was almost torture. “Now,” I moaned, clutching at Devlin’s chest. “Yes.”

  Arms came from behind, pulling my upper body back from Devlin. Danial had taken up Devlin’s former position; caressing and kissing me as Devlin made love to me. I began to tremble with tiny jerks, the pleasure so good, so total…God, this was just as mind-blowing as I’d dreamed…