Gates of Paradise

by Tianna Xander

  Sighing, he carried their plates through the darkness to the river to wash them. Whatever his 54

  problem was, the answer lay with the woman in their tent. He was afraid he knew. After washing the dishes, he returned to sit with Griffin in the darkness. “I see you set the safeguards.”

  “Yep.” Griffin leaned back and crossed his legs.

  “I don’t want to take any chances with her safety.”

  “Me either. What do you think?” Drace gestured toward the tent. “Did she have enough to eat?”

  “Hell no. She’s been starving for a while. That much is obvious.” Griffin growled. “I’d love to get my hands on her father. The man has no business trying to force her into marriage.”

  “But if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t be here now.”

  “True.” Griffin glanced toward the sleeping woman. “She wants you, you know.”

  “She wants you, too.” Drace sighed. “She’s determined to choose between us. Given enough time she may be able to.” That was the last thing either of them wanted.

  “Then maybe we shouldn’t give her any more time.” Griffin stood and took off his shirt. “We don’t want her to want just one of us, do we?” He glanced at Drace. “You want an arrangement like Adam and Nick have, don’t you?”

  Drace sighed. “You know I do. I just don’t know if I can mate with a human. You know you can mate with her. You’re a cat like the rest. I’m something altogether different. Hell, Griff. I don’t 55

  even know what my base form is.”

  “I also know the scientists said any shifter can mate with a human. Human DNA is less dominant.” He removed his shoes and pants.

  “What are you waiting for? Let’s go make her ours before she can get away.”

  “I hope you’re right about this,” Drace said, removing his clothing. “The last thing I want is for her to wake up and run away screaming.”

  Griffin held the tent flap back. “I don’t think there’s a chance of that happening.” He crawled inside and waited for Drace to join him. An Aliana sandwich. Mmm… Doesn’t that sound good?

  Sounds just delicious to me. He glanced over at her. Immediately mesmerized by the beautiful woman before him, he remained still. Taking a deep breath, he breathed in her wonderful scent.

  The scent of her soap and her arousal.

  Reaching down, he rubbed his shaft through his underwear. What the hell were they going to do?

  Just wake her up and inform her they were going to fuck her brains out? That would be just this side of rape.

  We can’t do this, Griff. What if she thinks she has no choice? We can’t let her think we intend to take her whether she wants it or not.

  Drace wasn’t sure Griffin even heard him. His expression was tight, filled with the unrequited passion he knew they both felt. It had practically 56

  killed them to have this woman in the same house with them. How in the world would they ever handle being in the same tent, basically the same bed?

  * * * *

  Griffin finally glanced up at Drace. Hell, I can’t hardly think anymore. I can barely function. Jerking off does nothing for me. My head is filled with nothing but thoughts of her and how my cock would feel buried deep in her sex. Let me try to enter her dreams. I can’t read her thoughts awake. I tried to earlier while we ate. I wanted to know if she was capable of accepting us. Don’t worry. I remember our vow, he added at Griffin’s sharp look. Perhaps I’ll have a better chance asleep. If I didn’t know better…

  If you didn’t know better, what?

  I’d think she was a shifter herself. I haven’t been able to read her like other humans. Have you? Drace frowned down at Aliana. She was so beautiful lying there with her hands beneath her cheeks, her blonde hair tousled, her full lips moist. She’d just licked them. What was she thinking with her cheek flushed and her channel filling with her sweet cream? He could smell her growing arousal.

  She’s dreaming of someone or something who excites her. He took a deep breath. Can’t you smell her arousal?

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  Nodding, Griffin moved to lie down next to her. His gaze devoured her. His eyes filled with desire. It was obvious for anyone willing to look that the other man worshipped the ground where she lay. Cross the threshold into her dreams and see if she dreams of only one or both of us. He glanced up, his expression bleak. You know if she dreams only of me, I cannot accept her without you.

  As I cannot without you. Pray she dreams of us both.

  At Griffin’s nod, Drace lowered himself on Aliana’s other side and concentrated on her thoughts. He’d never had such difficulty entering another’s thoughts before. Even most other shifters were like an open book to him. Why would she be different? Relaxing, he concentrated on the center of his forehead. Visualizing the center of Aliana’s, he imagined himself leaving through his third eye and entering hers.

  It was dark. Fog-like ethereal mist surrounded him. In the distance, he heard a low moan.

  Turning in a circle, he tried to find direction.

  Where did the sound come from?

  Another moan gave him a course to bear. As he walked toward the muffled sound, his feet moved from soft pine needles to concrete, to carpet. He soon found himself in a room he’d never seen before.

  Lit with scented candles and lined with sheets 58

  of white, the room seemed almost otherworldly. A subtle breeze blew through the room, the white cloth billowing out. It brushed his skin like silky fingers as he passed, following the soft sounds that led him here.

  The way seemed almost endless. The sounds he could hear had his heart pumping and his blood surging through his veins. He could only hope to find what he wanted in this strange place her mind had concocted. After rounding a corner, he stopped in his tracks. A huge bed sat in front of him and on it were three people. He swallowed thickly as he recognized himself, Griff and Aliana in a tangle of arms and legs.

  Keeping himself on the sidelines, he watched for a moment as both he and Griffin suckled the tips of her breasts. Looking up with lust-glazed eyes, she gasped as Griffin thrust his fingers inside her while his double’s fingers circled her clit.

  * * * *

  The shirt they’d left for Aliana to wear rode up, exposing her thighs and stomach. It was unusually warm in the tent due to the spell he’d cast earlier and she’d managed to kick the sheet from their makeshift bed. Griffin was enjoying the view when Drace sat up with a gasp. “What the hell? Are you trying to wake her?” Even his whisper 59

  seemed loud in the shadows.

  She’s dreaming of us. Swallowing, Drace took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before releasing it slowly. It was obvious what Drace had seen was at least as hot as what he could imagine doing with the lovely woman he’d so quickly become enamored with.

  Aliana made him harder than any woman ever had. He ached with the need for release, his balls drawn up tight. Griffin had the nearly overwhelming urge to reach down and pull himself from his shorts, but he refrained. He had to keep himself under control. Aliana still hadn’t agreed to mate with them. Even if she only agreed to have sex with them once, it was still her choice.

  But that didn’t mean they couldn’t do everything in their power to convince her to stay with them.

  He conveniently dismissed the fact that he’d thought of her as mate material and instead, concentrated on how to wake her to their best advantage. He lowered himself to her side and placed his right hand on her stomach. The smooth skin quivered a bit before she sighed and shifted.

  Drace, following his example, rested his left hand just above her hip. Groaning aloud, she shifted, splaying her legs wide.

  It was all he could do to keep himself from her as her scent wafted up, making his cock jerk.

  Looking down the length of her torso, he 60

  wondered how many pairs of underwear she carried in her pack. The filmy white l
ace barely covered her, showing the darker triangle at the apex of her thighs.

  How do we wake her?

  Like this, Drace replied as he leaned down and covered her lips with his.

  She returned the kiss, her hand trailing up over her breast to tangle in Drace’s hair. Her hips undulated on the sleeping bag, rolling up toward him as though begging for his attention. Instead, he leaned down and placed his lips against her throat and suckled. Griffin knew the exact moment when she came awake.

  Her body stiffened and she let out a little squeak of surprise. She pulled her lips from Drace’s. “What…” Quickly sitting up, she scrambled away from them. Cornering herself, she drew her legs up, hugging them to her chest.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Was it fear, desire or outrage he heard in her voice? He waited for the telltale signs that she didn’t appreciate their advances. There seemed to be no obvious outrage. She didn’t wipe her mouth or her neck. She merely sat and stared at them through large, luminous eyes that said more about how much she enjoyed what they’d done.

  Her lips still glistened from Drace’s kiss. Blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders in sexy disarray.

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  Her startling green gaze darted between them as though she was trying to decide which of them to trust.

  “I know this will sound totally unbelievable to you, but I know what you were dreaming, Aliana.” Drace leaned back, making himself appear more vulnerable. Griffin followed suit. She was scared and they needed to make sure she understood they wouldn’t harm her.

  “Yeah, right.” She tried to laugh but it came out more like a nervous cough. She pulled the shirt down over her, trying to cover herself as much as possible. “I should have known better. I suppose you really work for my dad, too, don’t you?”

  “No.” Drace shook his head. “We don’t work for your father. I’m what our people call a Dreamrider. I can enter another person’s dreams and see their innermost desires.”

  Her face glowing red, Aliana interrupted, “Or their nightmares.” She frowned. “If what you say is true, how would you know the difference?”

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  Chapter 4

  How could they know the difference? If what they said was even true. Her mother had told her of people with special powers who lived in a place that wasn’t a place through a gate that wasn’t a gate. Whatever that meant. Aliana had always assumed they were fairy tales though her mother always swore the stories were true.

  Could she, by some strange twist of fate, have found the people who her mother said were invincible? She glanced at the two men before her and almost laughed aloud. She would have if she wasn’t sitting in a tent with two half naked men, wondering if she’d get out with her life, never mind her virtue.

  Her mother always told her the men had honor that ruled them above all else. She glanced between the two men she traveled with. If they had such honor, where the hell was it while she’d been sleeping?

  “I’m sorry, Aliana. We never meant to make 63

  you do something you didn’t want to do.”

  She watched as he folded his arms beneath his head.

  “After I entered your dreams and saw that you dreamed of Griffin and I pleasuring you, I thought it was what you wanted whether you would admit it to yourself or not.”

  “That’s why they’re my dreams. I can’t help what I dream. I have no idea I’m going to dream them, let alone control what’s happening in them.

  Perhaps that was a nightmare for me.” Aliana felt a little twinge of guilt at that last remark. She’d enjoyed herself in her dream. She just never expected it to come true. Her mother’s words had also come to her in her dream.

  Don’t let the conventions of others keep you from happiness, love. Two is always better than one and, in case I didn’t prepare you well enough, there are things on this Earth that can’t always be explained. Keep this in mind when you get to know your new friends. They will protect you and care for you as no other ever could and, though they may be loathe to admit it so soon, they love you more than life itself. Accept their help and, in turn, give them what they need of you. Believe me, my darling, you will find there are many things that are hard to explain. We are one of them.

  Aliana had watched as her mother’s skin turned an iridescent purple before she disappeared. What had that meant? Had her mother come to her in that dream to tell her it was 64

  all right to act on her unnatural attraction to these two men?

  At least she knew they both wanted her now. A thrill of both fear and desire slid down her spine at the thought that they both wanted her. Together.

  Should she give in to her temptation? The thought was absurd, but maybe she would be safer with them just because she was positive Doug Hamill would turn his nose up at another man’s leavings.

  She didn’t know how she knew that, but it struck her with a certainty she’d never had before. Doug Hamill would not want to take her as wife knowing she’d willingly lain with two men at the same time. The thought was rather freeing.

  Squaring her shoulders, she lowered her legs and moved forward. Literally. Somehow she knew that taking this step would take her so far from her father’s clutches that he would never come near her again. He could try, but she knew by looking into these two men’s eyes that he would never succeed.

  “I don’t believe I’m doing this.” She nervously licked her lips, then pulled the shirt off over her head. Her nipples pebbled when the warm air kissed them. Goose flesh rose on her skin and she glanced between the two men she was about to accept into her life. “Show me what you saw in my dream.”

  It came as no surprise when Drace reached for 65

  her. He threaded his fingers through her hair and took her lips, laving his tongue along the seam, begging entrance, until she opened for him. He pushed his tongue inside to slide sensuously alongside hers.

  Moaning, she arched into the kiss. The sound stopped abruptly when she felt Griffin’s hands sliding along her side and stroking over her waist.

  His hands moved up over her rib cage to cup her breasts in his hands. He stroked and petted each one, pulling and twisting gently on her already swollen nipples.

  She groaned into Drace’s mouth as Griffin continued to torment her already sensitive flesh.

  The invisible strands of desire that connected her breasts to her nether region stretched tighter and nearly snapped as Griffin leaned down to suckle one tip and Drace nibbled his way down to the other. Her back arched, her body drawn tight as they both laved the pebble-hard tips.

  Aliana closed her eyes, her head thrashing on the blankets. One of them, who she wasn’t sure, slid his hand beneath the waistband of her panties, slipped through her folds and stroked her quivering flesh. Her body’s cream coated his fingers. They slid through her sex easily as they both continued to suckle her. Mindless, she rolled her hips upward, reaching for the release she knew would soon be hers. She could feel it within 66

  her, increasing with each expert stroke.

  She threaded her fingers through their hair, holding each of their heads to her breasts. It felt so good, she wanted to scream. She came on a tide of desire that pushed her so hard, she was sure she would fall off the edge of the world.

  “God, baby, you’re so perfect.” Drace lifted his head to blow cool air across her nipple.

  Impossibly, it hardened even more. “It feels like I’ve waited for someone like you forever.” He pushed his hips forward, his hard cock pressing against her hip.

  Griffin did the same on her other side. He pressed his thick length against her. She let her hands drop, wanting to take them both in her hands. Drace moved his arm out of the way, his fingers still buried between her legs.

  Now she knew who brought her to her first real climax. She may be no virgin, but she’d never come before. At least not like that. Every woman had her toys.

 
Drace squeezed her sex. “You feel so wet, so slick. I can’t wait to slide inside you. Do you want that?”

  “Yesss,” she whimpered, undulating her hips, mindless. “I want you. I want you both inside me.”

  “Not yet, baby. First we’re going to make sure you’re ready.”

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  Ready? She couldn’t be more ready. Aliana only wished they would get to it before she lost her nerve. She’d never contemplated anything like this before in her life and, now that she’d decided to do it, she didn’t want the chance to change her mind.

  Leaning down, Drace pressed his lips to hers while Griffin drew the tip of her breast into his mouth. The sensations were so new, so intense that she could barely think. She could only feel.

  Aliana arched up toward them. Pushing her breast to Griffin’s mouth, she tunneled her fingers through their hair as Drace thrust his tongue into her mouth.

  “You’ve never lain with two men before, have you?” Griffin raised his head.

  Aliana wished she could see his expression.

  Would telling him that she’d never been with two men at the same time make them leave her wanting? She didn’t think she would survive if they decided she was too innocent or naïve. Yet Aliana didn’t want to lie to them either. If this was the beginning of something special, something lasting, she didn’t want to start it with lies. Licking her lips, she slowly shook her head. “No. I’ve never been with two men at the same time before.” Please don’t let them leave me like this. She may beg if it came down to it.