All three of the men flinched at that thought and I stared down in horror at Cursed, realizing Jace and Gareth weren’t the only men in the room that could hear my thoughts. Damn... must be the Elf in me! I released him, letting my hand drop as I stepped back and away. Gareth reached for me and pulled me back in against his chest. Jace stepped toward us. Cursed watched me go, his face calm, patient.
“I don’t like him,” Jace remarked to no one in particular.
Cursed turned his black eyes on Jace and seemed to consider him. “I have no quarrel with you, Dragon,” he replied, as he stood and crossed his arms over his chest. Gareth tensed behind me and I lay my hand over his where it encircled my waist.
“I think the question that needs to be answered is, what has changed and why do I suddenly rate a guard sent by the Queen?”
Cursed turned his face to me and he looked…nearly offended. “Forgive me,” he replied stiffly. “But I have never had a taste for children and I have been waiting these twenty three years for your invitation. Had you called to me, I would have come sooner.”
What? Called him sooner….I didn’t call him at all! Gareth’s breath was a little harsh as he leaned his face next to mine and his arm squeezed almost painfully around me. I turned my head to look up at him and winced at the angry look he gave me. I didn’t get it, why was he mad at me?
“I told you … no flute!” Jace muttered, then covered his face with his hand. He turned away and walked over to the nearest chair and plopped down in it, leaning his elbows on his knees and staring at the floor.
“I’ve been playing the flute since I was two!” I practically yelled back at him. I didn’t understand what was happening, but obviously Gareth and Jace did. “If it was my flute playing he would have shown up way before now!”
Cursed looked like he’d swallowed something bitter, but pursed his lips and didn’t say anything. I had to wonder if my dirges hadn’t struck home.
Jace continued to look at the floor and replied, “I suspect it was more what you played than the fact that you played.”
What I’d played? I thought blankly.
Behind me Gareth took a deep breath and the pressure eased a little around my waist. “Your music filled the caverns,” he remarked.
Jace scoffed and added with a weary sigh, “Your music caused every man in this structure to stand at attention!”
Somehow I didn’t think he was referring to them being on their feet and I blushed and shifted uncomfortably in Gareth’s arms. His lips whispered over my temple. “You’ve turned our dance floor into a sex pit,” he added softly. “I’m not sure if I should thank you or wring your neck.”
I sputtered and twisted to look at him. “You are kidding, right?”
“Don’t we wish?” Jace added. “You’ve given an entirely new meaning to the club’s name! Why do you think it took us so long to get here? You know, Lexi, you could have just called either or both of us on the communicator,” he told me with an exasperated look as he pointed a finger at his own wrist. “We would have got the message. You didn’t need to call for backup.”
“Wait!” I demanded, holding up both hands palm out. This was terrible. If what they were saying was true, then there was an orgy going on upstairs and I’d called Cursed, not as a guard, but as…I couldn’t even think it. My mind just shied away from the thought.
“I am here to guard your… person, My Lady” Cursed added with a grin. “As I told you, I am yours. I assumed you understood my meaning.”
“If I had understood your meaning I would have sent you back to Faerie with a message to my Grandmother!” I told him angrily. “As you can see I am perfectly capable of picking my own lovers! And stop calling me that. My name is Lexi!”
He actually dipped his head, though he was still smiling. “As you wish, but consider, twenty three years ago that was not the case. Without you, there is no return to Faerie,” he warned me bluntly.
“Twenty three years ago I was two!” I nearly shouted.
“And had the Princess not refused to answer our Queen’s summons, you would have been under my guard since then. And it would not have taken you twenty three years to call to me,” he told me and his tone of voice held almost a seductive edge to it.
In shock, I stared back at him and considered what he’d said. My Mother had been called back to Faerie and because of me she had refused to go. “They cannot want me….they called me an abomination,” I whispered and couldn’t miss the look of anger that flashed deep in his eyes.
“The court assumed you were… human,” he told me gruffly.
“They wanted to kill me.”
A fine tremor ran over his skin and I could sense the force of will he exerted to control his emotions, yet his face remained neutral. He made no excuses, nor tried to defend them in any way. And I knew without a doubt that he’d felt the same bigotry aimed at him his entire life. It elicited a small sense of kinship, and I looked closer at him trying to see beneath the blank face and tightly controlled emotions.
“Yes, and you’ve been very angry with us ever since,” he remarked politely as he stood there looking back at me. He was standing with his hands clasped behind him, his legs spread slightly, as if at parade rest. His hair had slipped over one shoulder and spilled down his chest and I had the strange urge to entwine my fingers in the length of it and wrap it around my wrist.
I swallowed and realized the room had gone unnaturally quite.
“Was that him or her?” Jace demanded harshly as he rose from the chair and glared at us.
In answer, Gareth growled and the hair stood up on my arms. Cursed seemed to perk up and his eyes just sort of burned black fire as he stared back at me. My skin started tingling and my breath caught as the tension ratcheted up about twenty degrees inside the room.
I swallowed again and asked, “Cursed, would you step out into the hall?”
His body tensed but he responded neutrally, “If My Lady requests it of me.”
“Ah… consider yourself requested,” I told him softly, forcing myself to breathe shallow. “And could you um…close the door behind you?”
He stood there for a second as if hoping I’d reconsider but I pressed my lips together and turned my cheek to Gareth’s shoulder. “As My Lady desires,” he replied with a bow. He glanced at Gareth over my shoulder and reached for the knife, slipping it into the holder between his shoulder blades and then he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.
I pulled the scent of Gareth deep into my lungs and turned into his arms. A moan escaped me as his hand slid into my hair and pulled my head back, as his mouth crashed down on mine and his tongue thrust itself into me. My dress gave as he grasped it in one fist and gave it a sharp yank. It slid to the floor. Behind me Jace pulled the shoulders of my sweater from me and then my bra and panties were gone. We ended up on a small rug on the hard floor, the urgency of our need too intense to allow for the time it would have taken to reach the bed. I ended up on all fours with Jace beneath me, his shirt buttons torn from their holders, his pants half off. Gareth spooned me from behind, his erection pressed between us. I made mewling noises and leaned back against him while my lips and teeth worked their way down Jace’s stomach and into the nest of curls between his legs.
He raised his hips to me as my mouth slid over his head. He was so hot and silky and he tasted salty and sweet. I growled deep in my throat and took the entire length of him in, sliding my tongue over and around him, feeling him jerk as I worked him with lips and teeth and tongue. His fingers dug into the carpet and his eyes flashed to crystals as they started a slow whirl that excited things way down deep in me. I ran a hand up his chest and into his crisp hair and stared back at him, opening myself to him and sharing my excitement.
Gareth slid a hand over a breast and gently squeezed my nipple. I moaned around Jace’s cock and pressed back against Gareth, begging him to take me. He hummed and pulled back and my body followed his so that he raised his hands to my hips so he could force
me away from him while he positioned himself between my legs. Jace reached for my shoulders. “Hurry,” he told Gareth, his voice sounding strained. I held my breath as he worked his way into me, pulling my hips back and onto him. I struggled for a minute trying to find a rhythm as I tried to concentrate on both working Jace with my mouth and feeling every inch of Gareth as he worked his way into my tight body. And then we had it, as the two of them pressed into me together… Jace’s hard cock sliding down my throat, while Gareth ground his long thick length into me from behind.
One hand on my hips and one on my shoulder, Gareth rode me, his movements quickening, becoming more forceful. Beneath me I reached for Jace’s hands and twined my fingers into his, holding on to him while he bucked against my mouth. As the excitement built, I felt their shields drop away and was swamped in pleasure so intense it rocked an orgasm through me. Jace threw back his head and called out my name as he plunged into my mouth and I felt him spill his seed down my throat. Waves of pleasure rolled over and though me, amplified by the three of us, and Gareth drove deep inside one last time and came with a strangled yell. I exploded again, shuddering and pushing back to them every ounce of ecstasy they had given me. When I could move, I swallowed, and breathing heavy as I slid from Jace, dropped my forehead onto his thigh.
Jace brushed back the hair from my face and pulled me up his body, hugging me tenderly. Gareth moved with me and the three of us ended up lying on the carpet, me with my cheek on Jace’s chest, my fingers buried in his dark curls. He ran his fingers over my arm while Gareth snuggled in at my back, kissing my shoulder and neck with his arm draped over my waist, splaying his fingers to cup my breasts. I made happy ‘mmm mmm’ noises in my throat and winding my leg over Jace’s, closed my eyes and reveled in our considerable afterglow.
There was a sharp rap on the door and it swung open. I yelped and pressed myself against Jace just as Nick stuck his head into the room and averted his eyes from the three us on the floor. “Excuse me,” he told us. “There are some… ah… folks in your living room and the cat has informed me they aren’t leaving until they speak to Lexi.”
I blinked several times and tried to process what he’d just said, but Jace beat me to it. “Is the cat tan and grey with big amber colored eyes and a smart mouth?” he demanded, his voice sounding annoyed.
Nick nodded and continued to stare at the walls, obviously there was more. Gareth took a stab at it this time and asked, “You mentioned folks as in plural, who else is with the cat?”
Nick actually flicked his gaze to us, his eyes looking almost nervous. I’d never seen him look that way and it made my muscles twitch … who could make this man nervous? “Your Mother….” he replied in a very small voice. “And…..him” he continued, jerking his thumb at the painting on the wall, the one with me and all the men.
“Which him? I asked, my voice bordering near hysteria. My God, my Mother was in the living room!
He stepped into the room, marched up to the picture and pointed to the pale haired Elf kneeling at my feet. “That one,” he told me bluntly, and then marched back to the door. “I’ll let them know you’ll be out shortly.” And he closed the door behind him quietly while I lay between Jace and Gareth and started to shake.
I rose from the floor and stood there thinking she was out there! I’ll admit, I panicked and slammed shut my shields, all of them! Jace winced and nearly went over as he stood up from the floor. Gareth actually sucked in a breath and held out a hand to me. I was standing there staring down at him in horror when the door slammed open and Cursed ran into the room, knives in both hands and his own look of panic covering his face. He skidded to a halt and stared at me, his eyes doing a slow once over that was abruptly cut short as Jace stepped in front of me and I realized I was stark naked. I squeaked and clung to his sides, pressing myself up against him from behind.
“What the hell do you want?” Gareth demanded, rising from the floor behind me like some sort of vengeful god. My shields were still firmly in place but I didn’t need them to know rage was rolling off both of them like some kind of tidal wave.
Cursed bowed abruptly and answered. “My apologies, I sensed My Lady’s abrupt… withdrawal.”
I peaked around Jace’s arm and looked at Cursed in surprise. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Jace told me, reaching for my fingers which were digging into his side and wrapping them around his body, so that my fingers were now buried in his chest hair. “That when you shielded he could no longer feel you,” he told me, and I could swear his voice sounded rather smug. Obviously Cursed couldn’t sense my outer shields like Jace and Gareth could.
“Can you sense me now?” I asked, dropping my outer shields and watching the frown ease from his face. He nodded and I raised my shields again. Jace flinched but didn’t make a sound, and neither did Gareth, who had come to stand on the other side of Jace. When Cursed frowned again and shook his head, I smiled and dropped my outer shield. He nodded and looked just a little…irritated, or maybe that was just because Jace and Gareth were grinning back at him. Or more precisely, maybe it was because the three of us were standing there naked and they were grinning at him. I wasn’t sure.
Jace pulled my fingers to his lips, then smoothed them back onto his chest and worried at them until my fingers curled into his hair of their own accord. Then he leaned down and whispered loud enough for all of us to hear, “Mmm, that’s nice.” I yanked my hand away from him, turning red as he chuckled softly. “She just loves a hairy chest,” he told Cursed in a nasty voice.
Beside us Gareth snorted and remarked, “Guess that’s something Elves or Goblins wouldn’t know about.”
Behind Jace I bit my lip and wondered what the two of them were blathering about. It took a few seconds but it finally dawned on me and I glanced around Jace’s arm to see Cursed glaring back at us with his arms crossed over his chest….his hairless chest. That was just… mean! I frowned and bit Jace on the back of the arm. He cursed and frowned back at me. I gave him a dirty look and stepped away from him and flounced off toward the bathroom, giving them all a view of my pert backside. I heard Cursed laugh and Gareth growled and scooped me into his arms.
By the time we reached the bathroom I was shaking again. My Mother was still out there and Cursed had just confirmed he could “hear” me from the hallway. Jace told Gareth, “I think she’s gone into shock.” Then I was in the shower and it took the two of them to wash my hair and bundle me into a couple of towels. The whole while I just kept shivering and wondering how long she’d been there and how much she’d heard. Can you actually die from mortification? If so, I didn’t have long to live!
Jace chuckled and Gareth made ‘tsking’ noises at me as they rubbed me dry and combed out my hair like a five year old. I so needed to get control of myself; here I was falling to pieces because my Mother had arrived unannounced. It wasn’t that bad, except….except I’d been in the midst of making love with two men! And I started to hyperventilate. Jace was actually laughing at me as he shoved my head between my knees and Gareth wasn’t much better. When I managed to catch my breath I noticed he was standing in front of me bare naked with his arms crossed over his chest, grinning. I groaned and put my hand over my eyes. “Areth?” I called. “I need help!”
Tinkling laughter preceded the beautiful little Elemental into the room and she dropped a curtsy to me. “How may I assist you?” she asked, glancing up at Gareth with an appreciative smile. I couldn’t help following her gaze and had to shake myself to stop my mind from wandering. “Ah… my Mother is here,” I told her and frowned at the breathless quality of my voice. Behind me Jace gave me a squeeze and I realized I was sitting on his naked lap. I knew they were only teasing me, but honestly it wasn’t going to be very helpful if we ended up in a pile on the bathroom floor!
Areth cocked her head to the side, her little body going still as she seemed to listen to something I couldn’t hear. She looked back at me and said, “Come with me,” as she flitted of
f toward the bedroom. Jace gave me another squeeze and put me on my feet. I left my towel in the bathroom and the three of us trailed along.
Clothing for all of us was laid out on the bed. For Jace and Gareth, tailored trousers and silk shirts, as usual, but the shirts were high collared and purest white and came with cravats, and the jackets laid out next to their shirts looked like velvet with brocade down the front and around their collars. Each had one in his signature color and I couldn’t wait to see them in them.
Areth motioned me forward and held up for me a velvet dress of my own in palest gold with swirls of emerald and sapphire. The dress had long fitted sleeves, a low scooped neck and was backless. In fact it looked like it would barely cover the tip of my spine. Apparently all my back material had gone into the mini train that swept the floor behind me when she helped me into it. Dainty high heels accompanied the dress and when Gareth had strapped me into them I looked at Areth, who was holding something behind her back and wearing a secretive smile on her cherry red lips. “Come into the bathroom,” she told me and the three of us filed back in. Gareth seated me on the vanity chair and Areth propped herself on the counter directly in front of me so that I couldn’t see what she had in her hands. “Close your eyes,” she told me. I smiled and did as she’d asked.
I wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but I relaxed when I felt her apply makeup to my eyelids and cheeks. I think she may have used a little mascara, too, because when I opened my eyes my lashes looked long and very dark and accentuated, making them appear even more up-tilted than they usually did. She bounced around behind me and pulled several strands of my hair away from my ears, piling it like a mini crown on the top of my head, while the rest of it cascaded down my back in red-gold curls. When she was done with me I looked….like my Mother! My breath caught in my throat and I leaned in to the mirror for a closer look. I’d never noticed the resemblance before but the person staring back at me would never be mistaken for anything but the daughter of the woman in the other room. The other room!
Dragon Lust Page 22
