Untamed Hawaiian Heat (Rift Hunters)

by MacLean, Shay

  “I need to go check on my men and find out what happened after I became incapacitated.”

  Tiaki released his hold on her and sat up. “You’re not going anywhere until I have a look at your leg. I want to make sure the poison Mateo and I had to take out didn’t do any lasting damage.”

  Kiana rolled onto her back and almost gasped aloud at the sight that greeted her.

  Tiaki had taken his shirt off before lying down beside her. His skin glowed a warm brown in the early morning light filtering though the gaps between the tightly woven grass bundles that made up the walls of the hut. The muscles of his chiseled chest rippled as he took her leg in his hands.

  The tattoo on the left side of his upper chest looked like something had ripped through his skin from the inside, like it was made of paper. The edges of the design were peeled back, miniscule tears formed around the outer rim as though something huge was about to step through and didn’t have enough space. At the center of the opening, there was a planet surrounded by brilliant red stars shimmering against a deep purple sky so dark it was almost black. Curling through the rift and twining around the jagged edges of the tear, she could see a swirling pattern of energy gently pulsing.

  She reached out a fingertip and traced the tendrils. At the touch of her finger, it sparked and twinkled even brighter. Her eyes widened. Tiaki’s magic. She glanced up to find him watching her.

  Tiaki held her gaze for several long moments before he gained control of the desire she glimpsed burning in them. He gently lifted her leg and leaned closer to look at it, stroking her skin with his warm, strong hands.

  She shuddered at the contact. She knew the puncture wounds were gone, since she’d done a full body scan before she’d opened her eyes. There was no need for him to give it such a lengthy inspection, but she couldn’t seem to form the words to tell him so.

  She gasped when he bent his head closer and skimmed his lips across her skin, his hot breath scorching her. He shifted his position and traced a lazy pattern along her leg as he stretched out beside her.

  Leaning on his forearm, he closed the scant distance separating them until his breath feathered over her lips. “You gave us quite a scare the other night.” He punctuated each word with a brief kiss.

  Kiana tried to clear her mind to respond, but she felt the magic inside her responding to his proximity. It spiked higher with each brush of his lips. “I—” She was cut off when his mouth covered hers, consuming her with the same hunger she felt building inside her. She’d been dying to taste him again. Recalling the kiss she’d shared with him and Mateo threw fuel on the fire he ignited inside her now. She opened her mouth and met his tongue with a ravenous desire that should have scared her. Yet it didn’t.

  Tiaki moved his hand from her leg to the hem of her tank top. She trembled in anticipation when he pushed it up to expose her breasts. He kissed his way along her jaw, leaving a path of fire blazing in his wake.

  She arched her neck to give him better access.

  Accepting the invitation, he backed up long enough to pull the shirt over her head, teasing every inch of skin as it was exposed. Placing a kiss at the indentation of her collarbone, he lifted his head just enough to hold her gaze as he released the last button.

  Kiana’s breath caught in her throat. His eyes had turned a deep blue; the desire reflected there was fathomless and all consuming.

  A forgotten remnant of a dream seeped into her consciousness, of seeing those eyes in her dreams when she was younger. A memory of them flashed by, of unleashed passion as the owner of those eyes took possession of her…body, heart, and…soul.

  Tiaki held her captive with his gaze as he threw her shirt on the floor. All thoughts of the dream vanished as he glanced down at what he’d uncovered and inhaled sharply.

  “Ātanga—beautiful. Such a treasure to behold,” he whispered, then leaned down and brushed his lips across the tops of her breasts.

  Kiana speared her fingers through his hair. The texture caressed her hands and teased her sensitive breasts as he nuzzled them, heightening her desire.

  He caressed the skin peeking over the edge of the lacy cups of her bra.

  She arched beneath him, offering herself. “Please.”

  The word came out so soft, she thought he might have missed it. Then he was pushing the material aside and baring her nipples to his gaze. He moaned. She felt her skin flush with the rise in her desire. She closed the distance between them, brushing the sensitive flesh across his lips, urging him to take possession.

  He needed no further invitation. Taking the bud into his mouth, he sucked, swirling his tongue over it. He moaned again as though it were the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted.

  Kiana twisted restlessly under his ravenous assault. She was on fire and didn’t care if she burned to a crisp as long as he didn’t stop. It wasn’t enough. She needed more. She trailed her hands along his shoulders and back, scoring his flesh lightly with her nails, wanting to mark him.

  Tiaki pushed her pants down over her hips. How she’d missed him unbuttoning them, she wasn’t sure and didn’t really care. All she wanted was more of him…pressing against her…in her. She lifted her ass and helped him take them the rest of the way off. She didn’t want any barriers between them.

  He returned to her lips and feasted on them like a starving man.

  Kiana met his tongue thrust for thrust, twining her arms around his neck. Lost in the pleasure he’d unleashed. She broke free of his kiss, gasping for breath when he plunged a finger into her drenched pussy. Oh God, I’m dying…she thought when he added another.

  Tiaki worked his fingers inside her snug, slippery channel, breathing hard as though holding a tight leash on his own desire.

  Kiana cried out, her magic surging inside, enhancing every sensual stroke of his fingers. Reaching out, searching for something. Her breathing came in shallow pants as her climax neared. Briefly she wondered if she’d survive this tempestuous assault on her senses, and then there was no thinking. A tidal wave of exquisite pleasure crashed over her as she screamed Tiaki’s name.

  She was vaguely aware of Tiaki moving to shed the remainder of his clothes. She floated in a sea of sensation, realizing she’d never felt this way with anyone else except…Mateo.

  Mateo. Oh God! What would she say to him?

  She scanned with her link and sensors to locate him, unable to mask the emotions roiling inside her. She wasn’t surprised to discover Mateo heading for their quarters. The anger she felt through the emotion link burned with a frightening intensity. Another emotion she couldn’t define pulsed through the link as well.

  She pushed against his chest in a plea for him to move, even as she relished the slick heat of his skin as he pressed her down on the pallet. “Tiaki, Mateo…”

  “Mateo, what, Kiana?”

  Kiana and Tiaki both gazed at the entrance to the hut. Mateo stood there, silhouetted in the opening, his face shadowed. He stepped in and let the flap fall shut behind him.

  Kiana sat up and reached for her pants, grateful Tiaki had moved to lie beside her of his own accord. “Mateo—” she started but fell silent when he held up his hand.

  “Imagine my surprise when I returned to camp a few hours ago, exhausted from chasing those OS assholes halfway across the island, only to sense him”—he gestured at Tiaki—“curled up next to you like he has the right, while I’m bringing in the prisoner we caught so we can find out what the fuck the OS is up to. The only thing I wanted to do was come check on you, but before I get the chance to do so, I’m bombarded by lust. What the hell is going on, Kiana?” Mateo asked, his tone low and husky with emotion.

  Kiana glanced over at Tiaki as he pulled his shirt on. She didn’t know how to explain what she felt whenever Tiaki was near. How he caressed something dark and forbidden inside. When those feelings combined with what she felt for Mateo, she feared the intensity of them might consume her. She buttoned her pants, then scooped her shirt off the floor.

  “Mayb
e we should take a few minutes to collect ourselves before we discuss this,” Tiaki suggested as he tugged the bottom of his T-shirt down.

  Mateo stepped closer to him. “Like hell. You’ve only been here a week, and you’ve already tried to fuck my woman twice.”

  Kiana finished buttoning her shirt, then sat to put her shoes on. “I refuse to have this discussion while the two of you are acting like Neanderthals.” She stood and moved toward the doorway.

  TIAKI STEPPED TOWARD Kiana. “Kiana, wait—”

  Mateo grabbed his shoulder. “Where the hell do you think you’re going, Hunter?”

  Tiaki eyed the hand on his shoulder. His magic tingled beneath his skin, yearning to join with Mateo’s again, but he kept a tight rein on it. He lifted his head and met the other man’s eyes. “I’m letting my mate know she hasn’t done anything wrong.” He glanced to see Kiana standing completely still in front of the door, the fabric affording them privacy clenched in her fist.

  Mateo tightened his fingers, digging into the muscle hard enough to leave a bruise. “Your mate? She was about to fuck a virtual stranger in the bed we share. Her and me. You don’t figure into that equation. I’d say that’s pretty fucking wrong,” he whispered, his voice hard and unyielding.

  Tiaki inhaled sharply. The need to connect with Mateo grew stronger by the second. “You don’t even realize what was begun two nights ago when the three of us joined hands, do you?”

  “We saved Kiana’s life with whatever the hell it is we command.”

  Tiaki gaped at Mateo. He’d gleaned enough knowledge about Mateo from his energy patterns when he’d healed him to know a close relative, a parent, or maybe a grandparent had been a Rift Hunter who’d most likely traveled here somehow and had been unable to return home. He couldn’t believe that the knowledge of who and what they were hadn’t been passed down for their descendants.

  Tiaki let his gaze flicker between Mateo and Kiana for a moment. “Our magic acknowledged the soul bond,” he said softly.

  Mateo looked at him expectantly, and he thought he saw Kiana’s eyes light with recognition when she turned to face them.

  Tiaki took a deep breath. “The soul bond is what happens when a Rift Hunter encounters his soul mate. Their magic reaches out to one another to join. Especially when they’re intimate.” He waited for them to process that before continuing. “When I healed you, Mateo, our magic made a connection despite my best effort to keep the contact to a minimum. I was also given a glimpse into your memories. Not much. Vague images, really, but the impressions, combined with a scan of your energy patterns, were enough for me to discern you are the descendant of a Rift Hunter.”

  Mateo advanced on him, his eyes blazing with fury. “You invaded my mind?”

  Tiaki held his ground. He shook his head. “No. I was able to catch a brief look through the link of our magic. That link was also how I was able to communicate telepathically with you and Kiana.”

  “But you said when the three of us clasped hands. Not when you healed Mateo,” Kiana said softly, drawing both of their attention.

  “Yes, I did. When the three of us joined our magic to create the energy shield, there was a subtle shifting in our magic that triggered the soul bond. I’ve known a few Rift Hunters whose soul bond formed a tribus, with three people instead of a coniugibus with two. Even rarer is the quattuor with four souls; in fact, I’ve only ever heard of one of those.” Tiaki smiled at the thought of Arthur, Gwen, Lance, and Merlin.

  Mateo looked back at the bed he and Kiana shared, then returned his gaze to Tiaki. “So let me get this straight. You think I’m a descendant of one of these Rift Hunters, and Kiana and I are a part of some soul bond with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And just how is the completion of this bond achieved?”

  Tiaki looked at him and slid his gaze down Mateo’s body. He returned his gaze to Mateo’s face, not bothering to hide the desire that was surely evident. “The bond is sealed when the two forming the coniugibus—or in this case, the three forming the tribus—speak the binding vows and then…consummate the bond.” His voice had grown husky with barely leashed desire at the thought of the three of them together.

  Mateo blinked.

  Tiaki could feel the shock crash through Mateo when he realized what he meant. Though Mateo tried to ignore the slow burn of anticipation that ignited in his soul, he couldn’t hide it. Tiaki could tell. Kiana could as well.

  “You are fucking out of your mind if you think I want anything to do with you or your soul bond.” He stepped closer. “I thank you for helping me save Kiana the other night, but stay the hell away from her! I’ll let what happened here this morning go, because of what you did for her and for the Resistance.” Mateo moved to step past him. It took a moment for Tiaki to realize Mateo didn’t know he could still hear his thoughts and feel his emotions through the connection their magic had forged when they’d saved Kiana. He even caught a glimpse of a memory…Mateo locked in a passionate embrace with a man.

  Aware of Kiana watching the byplay between him and Mateo, Tiaki sensed the need to meld with both of them rising inside her. The knowledge of her hunger sparked the fire inside his blood once more. Gathering his renewed energy, Tiaki sent a pulse of energy through the ground to bring up a shield in front of Mateo at the entrance. He couldn’t let him leave.

  Mateo slammed his hand into the invisible wall and cursed. He spun around. “Lower whatever the hell you put up,” he said, his tone low and menacing.

  “Let him go, Tiaki. He’s not going to listen right now.” Kiana’s whisper was barely audible.

  Tiaki held his ground. “No. He needs this.” He watched as Mateo stalked toward him. “Just as much as we do, Kiana. Even if he won’t admit it.”

  Mateo swung a fist at his face, but it never connected.

  Tiaki stopped his balled hand with the palm of his, which was engulfed in golden flames. Instead of burning Mateo, though, as it would have anyone else, the flames licked greedily at his skin before sinking beneath it. “You really don’t want to do this.”

  Kiana headed for the door again. She glanced over her shoulder. “I refuse to watch you two fight over me like I’m a possession.”

  Mateo shuddered visibly in response to Tiaki’s magic. He grabbed hold of Tiaki’s arm with his other hand and twisted it behind him. “Like hell I don’t. You’ve been begging to be taught a lesson since the moment you showed up.” He wrenched the arm higher.

  Tiaki winced in pain as his muscles protested the movement. It had been quite some time since he’d sparred with anyone. Calling to Earth for a surge of power, Tiaki poured the energy into his strength, turned, and reversed their places, twisting Mateo’s arm up against his back. Tiaki pulled Mateo to him, Mateo’s back flush with his chest.

  He brushed his lips along the outer rim of Mateo’s ear. “Are you running because you don’t believe you and I are meant to share Kiana?” He nipped at Mateo’s earlobe. “Or is it because you’re too scared to admit you’re as attracted to me as you are to her?” The words came out more strained then he’d intended when his cock rubbed against Mateo’s ass.

  He had to make Mateo understand the importance of the soul bond. Having known people who had completed the bond, he’d seen how it increased not only the strength of the intimacy between the soul mates but their connection with the planets as well. Tiaki felt Mateo’s muscles bunch as his magic fought to reach Mateo’s.

  Mateo twisted, throwing his other elbow into the side of Tiaki’s head.

  Tiaki immediately loosened his grip.

  Mateo took the opportunity and spun about to face him. “I’m not attracted to you, Hunter,” he roared.

  Chapter Ten

  Kiana had had enough. She had no desire to listen to two grown men fight over her as though she were an object.

  When Mateo had wrenched Tiaki’s arm behind his back, she’d headed for the door again. She’d come back and talk to them once they’d cooled down. She had just grabbe
d the door flap when a wave of lust had blazed through her link with Mateo. The intensity of it froze her to the spot.

  When she felt the phantom glide of a hard cock brush against her ass, she gasped and turned to face her mates.

  Her mates?

  She shook her head, unsure where that thought had come from. She focused on the men.

  Mateo had broken Tiaki’s hold—she hadn’t even known that Tiaki had reversed their positions—and was saying something about not being attracted to him.

  Tiaki took a step back and rubbed the side of his head. “Like hell you’re not. I can sense the heat building inside you. Your magic is rising to a fever pitch. Just like it did when you and I held Kiana between us at the Com Center…stroking her skin.” He moved forward. “You yearned to feel my touch and hers…teasing you…tasting you.”

  Kiana felt a response to Tiaki’s words spark to life inside Mateo even as he drove his fist into Tiaki’s jaw.

  The sound of crunching bone echoed through the room. “Shut the fuck up!” Mateo roared.

  Tiaki ducked the next blow and landed one of his own on Mateo’s cheek, splitting the skin. “There is only one way for the Resistance to gain the upper hand. Control!”

  Mateo wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Those who can wield the magic must learn to control it.” He ducked Mateo’s right jab and pushed him backward. “Then and only then will you have a chance to eradicate the Syndicate from your home.” He gestured to the three of them with a wave of his hand. “The pull of the ‘soul bond’ we have going on? That’s just going to make things harder.” He swung at Mateo, catching him in the stomach.

  Mateo grunted. “Not if it means I have to bond with you. Whatever you think you sense in me is merely a remnant of the desire Kiana sent through our emotion link.” He caught Tiaki in the brow with a left hook. Blood spilled across his knuckles. “She and I can feel what the other is experiencing. The desire you sense is hers. Not mine.”