“What is your business with Ishaya?” Braxas could sense no apprehensive tone in the man’s voice, but, though he and Gabe were known friends of the Fae, he knew Grahame still needed to perform his role as a guardian of the forest folk.
“Our business is actually with Corrine,” Braxas told him. “A guard at the realm gate informed us she was with him.”
“And your business with Lady Corrine is?” Grahame asked, continuing with his due diligence.
This time it was Gabe who replied. “Our business is to locate her so that I can take her over my knee and make her fine ass red for running away from her two mates.”
Braxas smiled at Grahame and gestured between himself and Gabe as he added, “We’re her two mates.”
Grahame threw his head back and let out another loud booming laugh and slapped his own knee. “Well, now that’s as good a reason as any I’ve ever heard.” He turned on his heel and led them down a narrow pathway, chuckling to himself periodically along the way. About fifteen minutes later, they came to a dead end, and Braxas had to do a double-take. Where there had been nothing but a mossy stone wall, now sat a small cottage.
Grahame clapped Braxas on the back, making him nearly lose his footing. Gabe thought he was being sly by taking the large man’s hand, but Grahame, with a twinkle in his eye, shook his hand and then clapped him on the back anyway. Braxas could barely hold in his chuckle as Gabe stumbled forward.
“Good luck with that one,” Grahame said before inclining his head toward the door. “She’s a feisty one. I’ll be expecting all three of you for a visit soon.” With a final wave, he turned and walked back down the pathway, disappearing from their view moments later.
Braxas was about to do the polite thing and knock, but Gabe threw open the door instead and immediately bellowed Corrine’s name.
And there she was, her face momentarily frozen in shock, some sort of pastry looking thing held midway to her mouth. Ishaya sat across from her at the large kitchen table looking … amused.
Corrine dropped the half eaten dessert back on her plate. “Overbearing Alphas,” she mumbled shaking her head. She turned away from them, staring at her plate instead, and Braxas thought she looked as if she were trying hard not to cry.
“Yes, by all means, come in then,” Ishaya muttered with a smirk. He may have said something about manners, but Braxas’s sole focus was centered on Corrine.
Gabe stepped closer to Corrine. When he reached her, he knelt down on one knee in front of her and took her hand in his. This time, instead of being a quiet observer of the two and feeling like an outsider, Braxas moved to stand beside Corrine.
Gabe spoke first. “I understand why you ran, Corrine. I said things to you out of anger. I can’t deny that I am still angry, but it pales in comparison to everything else I feel for you … in the present tense.”
Corrine smiled sadly at Gabe before looking up at Braxas. “I messed everything up,” she whispered. “My visions … I panicked. I—we—”
Braxas put his hand on her shoulder and felt her shudder beneath his touch. Her eyes widened. He understood all too well what she was feeling from their first contact. Electricity shot all the way up his arm, and his cock hardened at the thought of the sensations he would feel from skin on skin contact. He had to clear his throat before he spoke. “Gabe had already figured that part out, sweetheart. Perhaps we would have met sooner, perhaps not, but the three of us are here together now.”
“They don’t look to be at each other’s throats to me, Lady Corrine,” Ishaya said. He stood and went to place his cup in the sink.
Corrine looked from Braxas to Gabe and then back again, before finally looking down to stare at her lap. “I am going to fix this. I promise.”
“We are going to fix this,” Gabe said, gently tugging on her hand, prompting her to look at him. “All three of us. And, Corrine, you will never run from us again. Do you understand me?”
When she didn’t answer, Braxas chimed in. “Gabe asked you a question, sweetheart. I think you should answer him.”
“There is something Ishaya and I need to take care of first.”
Braxas was about to protest the fact that she was trying to exclude them once again, the stubborn woman, and so was Gabe by the looks of him, when Ishaya cut in. “I could not have chosen better mates for you, Lady Corrine. The Goddess herself has chosen two of the bravest, fiercest, and most loyal Alphas. I will help, of course, in any way I can, but it is their duty to protect you, and I’ll not be party to excluding them. They are your mates, and they deserve to know everything.”
Gabe stood, but kept Corrine’s hand firmly in his. Braxas remained touching her as well. “What do we deserve to know?”
“There is a darkness poisoning her from the inside. It prevents her from fully bonding with you, and all three of you will go mad from it if you can’t fix this.”
Corrine looked down, but Braxas tipped her chin up. “Your intentions were noble. Do not bow your head in shame.” Braxas then braced himself for the rest of what Ishaya had to tell them.
“If she does not purge the darkness poisoning her soon, it will kill her.”
He and Gabe had already suspected that whatever it was she had done was killing her, but hearing Ishaya say the words felt like someone had ripped through his chest and placed a constricting hold over his heart. He had to momentarily shut his eyes.
“I’ll give you some privacy,” he heard Ishaya say before finally opening his eyes again. “Make yourselves at home. I have some business to attend to.” He mouthed the word “brew” to Braxas before exiting his cottage.
Braxas took a seat next to Corrine while Gabe went to sit opposite her in the chair that Ishaya had vacated.
“It appears that the two of you have kissed and made up then,” she remarked.
“We have,” Braxas said.
“Tell us the rest of it, Corrine.” Gabe folded his hands on the table. “All of it.”
Corrine nodded and took a deep breath before she began. She told them everything, starting with the first vision she had of Gabe lying dead on the ground in a pool of his own blood. She barely contained her tears as she described his glassy lifeless eyes. In this vision, she’d also heard two men laughing, taunting her heartbreak. Braxas reached over and took her hand. Gabe mirrored him with her other hand.
The three of them sat there connected as she described the final vision she had before hastily taking action to prevent it. She saw other dead bodies of faceless men scattered around Gabe’s. Though she could not identify them, she felt each and every one of their losses, almost as if she had known them. “They must have been the members of the pack I hadn’t yet met.
“My visions started to alter years later after I had already tampered with the dark magic. I saw Gabe rising from the ground, bloodied, but the fire of life and battle were still very much present. I felt someone else in my visions, but they’d end before I could see the rest.” Braxas squeezed her hand. “My punishment, I suppose for tampering with magic that was not mine to possess.” She then told them about the fascinating origins of the Dark and Light Fae as Ishaya had just enlightened her with.
“So we start with these two Dark Fae,” Braxas said. He was relieved that they at least had a plan in motion. He would not be able to bear the knowledge of her looming death without a prospect to prevent it.
Gabe nodded. “Agreed.” He let go of Corrine’s hand and pushed his chair further out from the table. “But before we go, there is something I have been meaning to do for quite a long time, Corrine.”
“Oh?”
Braxas let go of her hand as well, and she looked from one to other with suspicion.
“I think you need to be reassured that you belong to Braxas and me. That we are both fully committed to you.”
“I believe you,” she threw in quickly. Braxas assumed that she did not need her seer abilities to know where this was heading.
Gabe however, continued as if she hadn’t spoken. He held up
his right hand in a fist, his knuckles facing forward and popped his forefinger up. “You ran from us.” Next up came his middle finger. “You didn’t tell us where you were going.” His ring finger followed. “You lied.” Then his pinky. “You’re very haughty.” And finally his thumb. “You are way too stubborn for your own good.” He tilted his now open and raised palm to the right, poised to strike a particularly beautiful derriere.
“Anything else?” she responded in exactly the haughty manner that Gabe’s fourth finger had coincided with.
Gabe smiled slyly. “That’s reason enough for now.” He lowered his hand and placed it on his knee. “Hike up your dress and come lie across my knees.”
Corrine leaped to her feet. “So you can spank me like some wayward child? I think not.”
“No, so I can spank you like a lover spanks his woman when she aggravates the hell out of him.”
Corrine’s mouth opened on a silent O, and a blush swept over her face and neck. Braxas inhaled her sweet scent of arousal and felt the pressure of his cock straining against the zipper of his jeans. Gods, he wanted to be inside of her. “That shade of rose looks lovely on your cheeks.”
Corrine’s head whipped in his direction. “You’re just going to let him do this to me?”
Braxas chuckled. “Let him? Hell, I encourage him. I have no doubt that all three of us are going to enjoy it immensely.” He smiled widely at her. “Especially if that lovely rose color blooms across your ass as well.”
She opened her mouth as if she had something to say, but shut it just as quickly. She took one step towards Gabe and paused, looking from one to the other. Braxas knew she was excited by the prospect of being spanked by Gabe while he watched, but he also sensed her trepidation. In the end, fear won out, and their little doe, temporarily mesmerized by headlights, broke her own spell and bolted out the door.
Gabe stared at the empty doorway as he spoke. “Tell me something, Braxas. Do cougars like the chase as much as wolves do?”
Braxas smiled widely again, but more for himself since Gabe still stared straight ahead. “Indeed we do.”
It took only a few seconds before the pair of them, in unison, chased after her.
Chapter Seven
Corrine had the biggest smile on her face as she bolted out the door and ran frantically towards Ishaya and Grahame, who were both sitting on a couple of wooden deck chairs with large drinks in their hands. Both men laughed and pointed her to a well-worn path to the left of the cabin, and she sprinted off down through the bushes. Obviously, she knew she didn’t have long before her wolf and her cougar gave chase, but that was part of the thrill, wasn’t it?
She gasped when the forest gave way to a beautiful pond. Rays of sunshine filtered through the canopy of trees. The soft breeze was laced with the sweet scent of wildflowers, and the clear water beckoned her to linger and explore the breathtaking waterfall at the far end. She didn’t have long to look as a rustling noise drew her attention to the woods once again, and then Gabe and Braxas stepped out of the brush with predatory smiles.
“Well, look where our little mate has led us.” Gabe began to unbutton his shirt as they both walked towards her. “Did you know this paradise was here when you led us on this merry chase?”
“No, Ishaya pointed me in this direction,” Corrine answered distractedly as Braxas also began to disrobe.
“I guess we really do owe that big bastard a round of drinks then, don’t we?” Braxas said right before he undid the button on his pants.
Corrine was mesmerized as both men stood gloriously nude before her in the warm summer sun. They were works of art, their shifter genes ensuring the most beautiful male forms she’d ever seen. She took in the chiseled muscles, covered in lovely tanned skin. Braxas was a more golden tone, his body mostly smooth of hair, whereas Gabe was still darker tanned than her own moonlit shade, but he had a sprinkling of dark blond hair covering his pectorals and stomach—which led her to gaze directly towards his straining erection. Her body began to heat up, arousal making her heart beat faster, and the low growls that came from her men only stoked the fires higher.
“Undress, baby.” Gabe’s voice was strained with lust. “Let us see what’s ours.”
Corrine’s brain wouldn’t work. How could she think to respond with her usual witty banter while their bronzed skin taunted her to reach out and run her hands all over their chiseled bodies? She looked back up at Gabe, trying to remember what he’d just said to her.
“Cat got your tongue, baby?” he chuckled.
“Not yet,” Braxas answered for her, “but I’m about to.”
When he stepped up and ran his hands through her hair, she had to stop herself from sighing. Goddess, it had been so long since she’d felt the intimate touch of a man. But the touch of her mates was something else altogether, and when he finally brought his lips gently to hers, she did let the sigh escape into his mouth.
It was a revelation the way Braxas kissed her. He explored her mouth as though he wanted to taste every single inch of her, as though he needed to. Corrine had no choice but to return his passion. She could have kissed him for hours and was so distracted that she jumped a bit when she felt Gabe snuggle up against her back.
“You have entirely too many clothes on, my love,” Gabe said as he reached in between them and undid the buttons on her blouse, “and I think it’s my turn to finally have a taste of my mate.”
Braxas slowly pulled away from her lips, and as he turned her in his arms, Gabe peeled away her top and let it fall to the ground at their feet. When Corrine looked up into Gabe’s blue eyes, her breath left her for a moment. There had been so many times in the years since they had met that he’d almost been this close. She had known instinctually that he’d wanted to kiss her, and she’d also known that if she had allowed herself to taste him just once, that there would have been no denying what was between them. She would not have had the strength to keep him at arm’s length.
Her eyes closed as he leaned in closer. She could feel the heat of Braxas’s bare skin against her back, his hands softly caressing her hips. Gabe’s hands came up to tangle in her hair as she felt the heat of his breath against her lips, but he didn’t give her what she needed. He teased her with barely-there brushes of his mouth against hers. His tongue would dart out for a quick taste before he would move away, never giving up his control.
“Gabe, please…” She finally broke, moaning as she wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to pull him closer. The soft warmth of his chest hair felt incredible against her nipples. Having his skin up against hers was intoxicating in its decadence.
“Now and forever, Corrine,” he growled in a low whisper, “you are ours.”
“Yes.”
Corrine felt the release of the waist of her skirt as Braxas got rid of the barrier that separated them, and as the material fell away, so did the last of her reservations. She would finally know the touch of her mates today. For the first time since her life had fallen apart all those years ago, when Alefric had slain her King and Queen, Corrine would take something just for her.
Her surrender was apparently exactly what the Alpha had been waiting for, because as soon as the word had left her lips, Gabe’s mouth descended upon hers with determination. He kissed her like he’d been waiting a thousand years to taste her lips. At least that’s how long it had felt like to her.
“By the Goddess,” she heard Braxas purr in her ear as he rubbed himself along her naked back, “I can smell your desire for us, sweetness, and I can’t wait to eat you up.”
The soft warmth of his tongue as he licked her shoulder sent shivers down her spine, and she imagined how that tongue might feel in other places.
“We don’t have to wait.” Gabe pulled away from her mouth, leaving her breathless. “I want to taste you right now, baby.”
Both men drew her down to the soft grass beside the water, and immediately Braxas claimed her mouth once again as his hands moved along her skin to caress her breas
ts and nipples. Corrine moaned when she felt Gabe’s strong hands move up along the outside of her legs and softly urged them apart to make room for him in between them. The sensation of having their hands all over her at the same time was overwhelming. She desperately grabbed at the soft golden hair of the man who was now licking and nibbling his way down her neck, and when he finally reached her chest and sucked one of her erect nipples deep into his mouth, she involuntarily thrust her hips up, the sensation zipping all the way down to her aching clit. Corrine was soaking wet, and they’d barely just begun. She was having the damnedest time getting her hands to function properly, though she wanted to explore her mates as well.
Her hips bucked again when Gabe’s hands finally reached the apex of her thighs and his fingers brushed up against her wet folds. A low grumble resonated in the back of his throat. The Alpha in him must have had enough of her wild thrashing. “Braxas, please restrain our mate while I make her scream for us.”
The smile that bloomed over her golden mate’s face was stunning, and she was distracted just long enough for him to trap her wrists and move them above her head before both of their attention was drawn back to Gabe as he lowered himself to rest between her very wet thighs.
Chapter Eight
“Damn, baby, look at you,” Gabe whispered, and he could hear the reverent tone in his own voice. “Spread out before me like the most delicious temptation.” Unable to hold himself back a moment longer, he lunged forward, placing his mouth on the most perfect pussy in the world.
“Oh, Goddess!” Corrine keened, and Gabe felt her body buck as she tried to move against him.
“Now, now, mate of ours,” there was a definite thread of amusement in Braxas’s voice, “there will be none of that. You will lie still and take only what Gabe gives you.” Gabe heard Corrine start to curse aloud for a brief moment before her voice became muffled, no doubt by Braxas’s kiss.
To take his mind off his own spiraling arousal, and the intense orgasm building within him, Gabe concentrated on pleasuring his woman. He used his mouth, his tongue, and his teeth to learn exactly what Corrine liked most. He took mental notes on what moves had her quivering on his tongue and which techniques had her rolling her hips forward to meet his mouth. Then he employed a mixture of all of them to drive her to the brink, over and over, before edging back a little, keeping her hovering on the periphery of orgasm.
Bound to Their Faete Page 4
