Shadow Lovers

by Jenny Penn

  “What the hell do you think you are doing?” Khal roared. “Trying to kill yourself once again?”

  “No!” Cookie shot back, puckering up indignantly. “And don’t take that tone with me. I’m not the idiot here. You two are.”

  “Excuse me?” Khal went still, and Cookie knew she was going to be punished for interfering like this in front of his men. Too bad for him, she liked getting spanked.

  “You heard me.” Cookie held her ground as she turned to pin a smirking Ryder with a pointed gaze. “You said it yourself. Your souls are torn from the same cloth. You’re brothers, and brothers don’t kill each other. They love and protect one another.”

  “Oh, if that isn’t the stupidest⎯”

  “Here.” Cookie cut off Khal’s mutter as she thrust the two candles at both men. “These belong to you.”

  They both blinked at her hands, neither reaching for the candles.

  “It’s not up to me to bring back the light,” she stated simply, feeling the truth of her words all the way to her soul. “It’s up to you two.”

  Typical of his nature, Khal frowned while Ryder smiled and nodded.

  “Maybe you are right about that, princess.” Ryder reached out to take his candle. “Even if you’re not, you’re my goddess. So your will is my command.”

  Then they both looked at Khal, who was still scowling as he snatched the candle out of Cookie’s hand.

  “I won’t let you go,” he told her, as if that had ever even been an option.

  “I won’t let you let me go,” Cookie assured him before adding on, “but you have to hold on to Ryder just as tightly.”

  That had Khal heaving a heavy sigh and jerking forward as Ryder fell in step beside him. Cookie followed along behind them, all but giggling with glee. She knew this was going to work. She just knew it.

  The doubt, though, was heavy in the air and coming mostly from Khal’s pack. They were clearly grumpy, pessimistic men, but like Khal, they’d learn. Both Khal and Ryder came to a stop before the glowing trio and knelt, bowing their heads.

  Cookie didn’t know if she should do the same, but she didn’t get a chance to make that decision before each man thrust their candle into the glowing light. Then they dipped them down to the fire pit beneath the God and goddesses. Flames roared to life, flaring hot and bright.

  Malsumis took the shape of a white owl once again as his mates merged into his wings and lifted him high. There was silence for several long seconds as they all watched the owl fly away before they turned their attention to the flame that now burned brightly, casting a light across the men. Then, with a great roar, a full-on brawl broke out.

  Chapter 11

  Ryder took in the sight of the bloodbath erupting all around them and shared a look with Khal. They’d expected this kind of reaction, and they’d planned to do absolutely nothing about it. It was natural that the men would battle for their new positions and statuses within the combined pack. They would have to sort this one out on their own. They’d give them the night, and then tomorrow, they’d round up all the men and lay down some new rules…or maybe they’d do that the day after tomorrow.

  Ryder smiled as he glanced over at Khal, just thinking of how they could spend all that extra time. Khal caught his look and frowned, but he wasn’t fooling Ryder. He could all but read Khal’s thoughts, and he was wondering about the oldest of the flame’s legends.

  The one where those bound by it shared in each other releases, making them all that much stronger and addictive. It was hard to believe that they could get any better, but Ryder surely did want to find out.

  “Time to go,” Khal growled, his eyes glowing with a need best not given in to in the middle of a battle.

  “What are they doing?” Cookie turned toward them, her eyes wide with fear and panic. “You’ve got to stop them. They’re going to kill each other.”

  Ryder highly doubted it, but it was obvious that, like most women, Cookie didn’t understand the men’s need to vent. It wasn’t even worth trying to explain. Instead, he nodded at Khal, and together they swept Cookie up in the shadows they still commanded and flew her back across the lake to the cabin they’d shared last night.

  Cookie stumbled as they materialized, but she shook off her disorientation quickly and turned on both him and Khal, wearing a frown they knew well. Cookie was about get bossy.

  “What did you do that for?” she demanded to know, her tiny little hands balling into two cute fists on her hips.

  “I don’t think Little Miss Cookie understands the situation,” Khal commented, a hungry growl darkening his tone.

  Ryder could read the wicked intention in Khal’s gaze as he cast a rare smile at him.

  “What? What don’t I understand?” Cookie shot back, her arms splaying out before her. “Please, explain it to me and, then you can explain things to the police chief because I’ve got news for you two. He doesn’t like your kind, and we shouldn’t be here.”

  “Fuck the chief.” Ryder shrugged, not the least bit concerned about some human. “If he bothers us, he’ll figure out he made a mistake.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean? No, wait. I don’t want to know.” Cookie held her hands up as she shook her head at them. “It doesn’t matter. You’re not picking a fight with the cops.”

  “Not a fight, bastards wouldn’t even be worth the effort.” Khal snorted. “But bribery normally works better than most people wished it did.”

  “Well then, go buy your men a round of cars, but you have to do something. You can’t just leave those men back there to kill each other. You’re the alphas, so go take command.”

  The woman actually had the audacity to point toward the door, but neither Ryder nor Khal made a move toward it. Instead, they shared another look and shrug before turning back to offer her twin smiles.

  “Okay. We’ll take charge,” Ryder assured her as he faded into the shadows with Khal.

  They moved like one as they wrapped bands of darkness around Cookie’s ankles and wrists and lifted her off her feet. Cookie shrieked and squirmed, cursing at them even as she demanded to be released, but that wasn’t happening. The little Cookie could carry on all she wanted. Ryder could smell her need and knew just how excited she grew as they carried her across the room and strapped her spread-eagle to the bed.

  Then they shredded the very clothes from her body, allowing her to feel the scrape of their claws, even as they left no mark behind. Cookie responded to the erotic threat by gasping as her skin flushed pink and her cunt creamed. As the last strip of fabric fell to the floor, leaving Cookie’s beautiful curves laid bare, there was no hiding the proof of her arousal. It was there in the puckered tips of her nipples and swollen folds of her pussy, glistening with her want.

  It would have been so easy to give in and take a taste of that cunt, but Khal stepped up first to give it a resounding smack that had Cookie squealing beneath the impact.

  “This is your punishment for being so reckless with your life,” Khal outrageously declared, which kind of shocked Ryder. Cookie wasn’t shocked. She was outraged.

  “That’s…that’s idiotic!”

  * * * *

  He had to be kidding, but Khal didn’t look as though he was about to bust a smile open. Instead, he snarled and spanked her again, leaving Cookie arching beneath an indescribably sharp pleasure that left her panting and desperate for more. Of course, Khal reminded her of the old adage of watching what she wished for when he barked his next moronic command at her.

  “Silence! You have three hundred years worth of punishments to endure, woman. It’s going to take a lifetime to get to them all.”

  “Three hundred years? Man, she’s got some stuff to make up for just the past few days, like inviting a strange wolf into her apartment,” Ryder tacked on, looking and sounding unusually serious, which left Cookie gaping at him as he continued on with his complaint. “Then she gave me a strip show and a free ride.”

  “You two are so full of shit,�
�� Cookie shot back, not believing either one of them had a right to be mad at her. “I know what you’re doing. You’re just making up excuses to paddle my pussy.”

  “I don’t need an excuse,” Khal all but purred, his lips quivering slightly with his amusement.

  He began spanking Cookie’s pussy with even slaps that lingered on occasion as he fucked his fingers up into her cunt, making her moan and twist. It was too much and not nearly enough. Then Ryder joined the party. Gathering the shadows and slipping them beneath Cookie as she arched up into another blow, she found herself settling back onto the cushion he’d made for her. Then the cushion began to move.

  Ryder pumped the shadows deep and thick into her ass, making her jerk back up, squealing with the forbidden pleasure. There was no escape. He and Khal began to work Cookie between them, driving her straight toward a release that took her by storm and had her coming hard enough to leave a wet spot on the sheets. Every one of Cookie’s muscles strained under the assault, arching her high into the air before she collapsed in a trembling pile on the bed, but Khal wasn’t done with her.

  Shadows snaked across the trembling muscles of Cookie stomach to twine around her breasts until they were completely enshrouded in the warm, suckling depths of a kiss that covered her entire breasts and set each one on fire. The delicious delight wound through her, echoing back out of her cunt as the shadows stretched back down to cover her pussy and trap her clit beneath the endless stroke of a lapping tongue.

  Cookie cried out that it was too much, but the truth was she didn’t want it to stop. Not now. Not ever. Thankfully, neither man was listening to her whimpers.

  Instead, they were taking advantage, filling her with shadows until both her ass and her cunt were stretched wide and pulsing with a smooth motion that had her coming quickly once again.

  “Please…please,” Cookie panted out as the rapture tore through her. “I can’t…no more.”

  She whispered out that plea with her eyes closed and her head rolling across the pillow. It felt as though the room was spinning away. Thankfully, they listened. The shadows receded, and there was a heavy moment of silence before Ryder was giving her just what she wanted.

  Cookie moaned in welcome as he filled her with his thick cock, proving that the real thing was better than the shadows they still commanded. Now they were taking command of her.

  Not to be left out, Khal came around the edge of the bed to bury his fingers into her hair and guide her to the cock weeping for kiss.

  “You’re such a good little suck, princess, and you’re going to show me just how good you are again. You’re going to get me nice and hard and then bend over and beg me to fuck that ass.”

  Khal’s tone deepened with every word as his excitement clearly grew. So did Cookie’s. Emboldened by his praise and the flood of pleasure pumping out of her pelvis with every steady stroke of Ryder’s cock, Cookie parted her lips and let her tongue lick out over his swollen flesh. Khal growled, his fingers tightening on her head as he forced her downward over the long, wide length of his dick.

  They started slowly, going nice and easy and driving her completely insane. Cookie bucked and twisted, using her tongue and lips to punish Khal, even as she pulsed the muscles lining her sheath to tease and taunt Ryder. That was all it really took to snap either man’s control.

  Quickly things spun out of control, but it wasn’t enough. Cookie wanted more. Jerking free of Khal’s hold, she glanced up to capture his gaze and whisper her heart’s true desire.

  “Fuck me.”

  * * * *

  Khal needed it. Needed Cookie. Needed to experience the glorious bliss he’d only ever touched when he was buried deep in her body. He knew Ryder needed it, too. The legend was true. He could feel Ryder’s pleasure at fucking himself into Cookie’s tight cunt and it heightened every other sensation Khal was feeling.

  He wanted more.

  Without any hesitation, he released Cookie from the shadows binding her and directed them to shove her up and almost onto Ryder’s lap. The other man caught her in his arms as Cookie moaned and twisted against him. Then Ryder was reaching around to latch on to the fleshy globes of Cookie’s ass, spreading them wide in an invitation Khal didn’t have any intention of rejecting.

  Kneeling behind Cookie, he guided the flared and flushed head of his cock to the dark entrance clenched against his invasion. Khal pushed past the tight ring of muscles guarding her ass and sank into heaven with a groan. His eyes fairly rolled back into his head as he felt the exquisite pleasure of sinking deep into her fisted channel and also the sense of absolute rapture that flooded Ryder as Cookie’s sheath clamped around him.

  Smirking slightly, Khal pumped his hips, making Ryder snarl and flex inward in a hard stroke that only stoked the fires consuming the two of them higher. There was no controlling the flames. They needed to be fed, stroke after stroke. Ryder set a fast pace that had both men lifting their heads in a howl as they came in a hard, heaving rush within minutes.

  Still, it wasn’t enough. Even after Khal had filled Cookie’s ass with his seed and Ryder had unloaded into her cunt, they still kept fucking her, their hips refusing to be still.

  They swayed and pumped and ground against the woman caught between them, savoring the fine thrills of aftershocks that began to twine and build as they wound back up. Khal didn’t know how much more he could take, but he knew he couldn’t stop right then. Not while he still had strength in his bones.

  * * * *

  Through the hazy blur of pleasure and lust, Ryder could feel Khal, feel his pleasure, and it was the sexiest damn thing he’d ever experienced. Or it was until Cookie’s cunt pulsed around him in a release that bathed his cock in the heated wave of her arousal. She was so damn tight, so damn giving, that he couldn’t stop.

  “This is going to be rough.” So was his voice, but neither appeared to bother Cookie, who, through a saucy smile, managed to tease him back.

  “It wouldn’t be fun if it wasn’t.”

  Ryder felt the bolt of instant arousal that shot through Khal. It mirrored his own. Both emotions were twined with affection. Then the bond that bound them ignited with a pleasure so intense that Ryder wondered if he wasn’t dying because this was surely heaven. He felt the ripples of ecstasy racing up Khal’s spine as his dick sank into the tight, hot grips of Cookie’s ass.

  Ryder stilled, unable to move as he simply experienced Khal’s joy. It was the most amazing thing, a thing of beauty that demanded motion. Slowly, Ryder began to ride Cookie once more, setting the pace for both him and Khal. Pleasure was beyond words, beyond control. As the tendrils of molten rapture wrapped around him, once again Ryder found his control melting away as he drove them all to the euphoric explosion of bliss that had them all collapsing onto the bed.

  It wasn’t long before Cookie was complaining about how heavy they were once again. Ryder knew she was probably having trouble breathing, but he was having trouble moving. Every motion had his cock throbbing. He was still hard, and Cookie’s cunt was still wonderfully tight. That thought was about to lead to no good when Khal reared back, twisting and shoving Ryder off.

  “You heard the woman. Move.”

  “You’re bossy, you know that?” Ryder muttered before flopping down on his back and giving in to the urge to black out for a moment.

  * * * *

  Cookie sucked in a deep breath the first moment she could, and when her strength returned, she even managed to push herself up. She glanced to where Ryder lay sprawled out and frowned. The man’s dick was sticking straight up. It seemed impossible to believe that he was still hard, but the evidence was undeniable. Ryder wasn’t the only one who hadn’t calmed down.

  Cookie eyed Khal’s impressive erection as he rose back up to his feet in a graceful display of muscles that made her heart melt. He really was a gorgeous man, and he was all hers. There was no denying that or the love shining in his gaze as he held a hand out to her.

  “Come on. Let’s get cleaned up for ro
und two.”

  “Round two?” Cookie smirked as she slid her hand into the strength of his much larger one. “Isn’t it more like round two thousand by now?”

  “Not even close.” Khal returned her smile with his own contented one. “But don’t worry, we’ll get there.”

  Cookie imagined they would. They’d get there and beyond because they had a lifetime to fill with love and passion. Filled with contentment at that thought, she eagerly followed Khal into the bathroom. The wooden shower stall reminded her of her childhood summer camp, only summer camp had never been this fun or this hot.

  Finding a thrill in taking the washcloth and soap from Khal, she washed him with a slow thoroughness that had him clenched and straining by the time she slid the washcloth down between his thighs.

  “You liked riding my ass, didn’t you?”

  Khal didn’t even hesitate to answer. Instead, the words rushed out of him in a heavy breath. “Oh God yes.”

  “I liked it, too.”

  “I know you did.”

  There was no denying the smug satisfaction buried in those words, and Cookie couldn’t help but laugh. Khal was such a big, tough guy, but beneath that rough exterior lived the heart of a marshmallow. Still, Cookie didn’t push him, but she slid the washcloth over his hips and carefully cleaned the thick length of his dick.

  When she would have sunk to her knees to give the matter her thorough attention, Khal shook his head and held her upright with a grip on her waist. He didn’t have to say a word. His look said it all. Cookie knew just what he was thinking as he slowly backed her into the side of the stall. When he reached down to grip her hips, Cookie was all too eager to let him lift her up.

  Her legs wrapped around his hips, even as the bulbous head of his cock began to press against the swollen folds of her pussy lips. Then he was sliding into her sheath, stretching her nice and wide and making Cookie moan as she arched into his invasion. He was big and went deep, and the feel of his hardness grinding against her sensitive walls ignited flares of intense heat.