by A. K. Koonce
Aric tenses, his entire frame going into beast mode as he prepares to unleash hell on earth… or whatever fucking realm we’re currently in, because it’s definitely not the mortal one I grew up in.
Latham eyes Torben who nods in response, an entire silent conversation passing between them.
Probably about me.
“She’s powerful,” Torben replies out loud, and there’s a hint of awe behind his informational tone. Though if I pointed it out, he’d never confess to it.
“Let’s hope that serves her well in the future.” Latham swallows, and the three men share a look I don’t understand.
“Let’s get to higher ground. We’ll take shelter until sunrise.” Torben carries me out into the darkness, and I hate that we’re pausing to find shelter. All of us are beaten and bruised, but I can’t help the sinking feeling in my stomach at the idea of not continuing on.
A heavy yawn overtakes me, and I lean into Torben fully, my arms draping over his wide shoulders. I accept his decision.
But only because I’m too worn and tired to oppose that decision.
I just hope I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life. Because I think I trust these psychotic assholes.
Chapter Fourteen
If You Dare
Rhys
Pain stabs through my drowning lungs and my eyes fly open with a gasp. The shitty dream fades slowly as my heartbeat returns to some semblance of normal. Darkness is still heavy in the sky as I stare out of the mouth of a cave. The sun hasn’t yet fought off the night and saved me from the nightmare that is this mountain.
I lift from the frigid ground, but a warm hand slinks over my hip. That feeling drifts through my chest, filling me with magic, calmness, and most importantly, warmth. I lean back into that delicious feeling of a hot bath that the mysterious fenrir offers me.
My head tilts to the side, and I meet his starry blue eyes. Galaxy eyes. Gray swims within the deep blue there, and I could get lost staring at this man.
“Hey, go back to sleep. You’re safe here,” Latham whispers while the deepening shadows under his eyes paint a story of this protective man in front of me.
I peer slowly around at the jagged walls of the cave. A small circle of embers just a foot away from me lights up the space. I don’t remember coming here.
I fell asleep… on Torben.
My eyes blink slowly as that thought settles in. Twelve hours ago I didn’t trust these hellions with my cat, and now I’m snuggling up and turning into Sleeping Beauty in their arms…
A lot has passed in twelve hours though.
Life and death and everything in between.
“You haven’t slept.” I look at Latham, judging the haziness of his gaze.
He shakes his head.
He’s been watching me, watching over me like a guardian of Hell. At my feet, a different guardian of Hell rubs up against me. A small gray house cat looks up at me. Loki watches me with wide, strained eyes.
My fingers run through his soft fur, feeling the life thrumming through him as I try to forget how he looked just a few hours ago. I can’t let that happen to him again. He may be my guardian, but I feel very much responsible for the ferocious hellcat.
A quiet cough shakes through the silence, and I look up to find Aric leaning into the shadows at the mouth of the cave. His silhouette is all hard angles and curving muscles of a man who doesn’t seem to fear anything.
Not even death.
I pull out of Latham’s intoxicating warmth and wander toward the entrance of the cave. Wind flicks at my hair and bites at my exposed thighs where my large tee-shirt doesn’t cover nearly enough. It’s like Aric knows I’m cold, because the moment he spots me, he reaches out, wrapping me up in his fiery scent. He pulls me against his side, and I steal away a bit more of that hellfire warmth they hold inside of themselves.
“You should be sleepin’,” he murmurs as he pulls me tighter against his body. Tattooed fingers are firm against my shoulder, like he’s afraid something in the night might steal me away.
Again.
“Have you seen anything?” I ask seriously.
What if they come back? What if they find us? What if dead isn’t really dead when you’re already a fucking skeleton?
“No. They don’t go toward the peak. They avoid the mountaintop as much as they do the base near the living.” His rough tone is a reassurance, and I don’t think even he realizes it comforts me.
I nod as the pressure in my chest eases.
Latham saunters over and leans against the wall near my side, his body heat spreading into me. I snuggle between the two of them, and the hype I’ve heard from men in my pack about threesomes finally makes sense. The body heat alone is worth the awkwardness I would surely bring to that kind of party.
“Truth or dare?” Aric asks, and my eyes fly open fast.
This isn’t the kind of game that ends well. Especially with two sinfully sexy men like Aric and Latham. Or a woman who is too damn tired to care about things like pants or even underwear for that matter.
No, it ends stupidly. Someone always ends up naked running through a neighborhood, and quite honestly, I have no plans for getting naked on this mountain ever again!
I pull at the thin hemline of my shirt, but it sadly stays the same short length.
“Truth,” Latham answers, skirting past my anxiety with his simple reply like it doesn’t exist.
Frost kissed wind flings my hair against my face as I look up at one man and then the other.
“Is it true that wolf sex feels better than human sex?” Aric arches his scarred eyebrow at his friend as he clearly waits with intense interest on this subject.
That was… not what I thought he was going to ask. But I can’t lie, I’m actually insanely curious what the answer will be.
A shy sort of smile lifts at the corners of Latham’s cheeks, and a buzz of energy flits through me at how bashful the hellish man suddenly seems.
“Definitely true,” he whispers in a gravelly tone that’s a mix of sin and molten heat.
My thighs shift strangely, reminding me of my lack of panties.
Would it be weird if I asked Latham for a pair of underwear right now?
A pulse throbs there when those starry eyes peer down at me.
Yeah. It would be awkward as sinful fuck.
“Truth or dare, Love,” Latham asks me like a promise.
A promise of naughty, terrible things to come.
Apparently this is the distraction I need to bury the shitty memories of everything that’s happened tonight. They seem to know it too.
I dip my head forward and spot Torben sleeping with his back firmly against the far wall of the cave. He’s sleeping off the terrible night just as he should.
As I should.
I swallow hard.
“Uh… truth,” I say as evenly as my slamming heart will allow me.
Aric’s fingers drift up and down my arm, calming me as well as making me completely insane by his minute touch of distraction.
“Is it true that mortal women often fake orgasms?” A line forms between Latham’s dark eyebrows at how concerned he is about this issue.
My lips part, but I can feel how hot my cheeks are getting. I tip my head out from between the two of them just to let the painfully stinging wind hit my face.
I lied. Being between these two isn’t bliss. I’m fucking burning up. It’s too hot here now.
Way too hot.
“Um, from what I understand…” I bide my time, but every woman I’ve ever heard talk about it said the same thing—they didn’t come. Or at least, they didn’t think they did. “From what I understand, women like the feeling of it. It feels good to be wanted. Touched. Loved. So I guess they don’t care as much about, um… actual orgasms as much as men do.”
“What the fuck?” Aric hisses so loudly that a disgruntled snore echoes in the back of the cave.
The line between Latham’s eyebrows is so deep now it’s grown from
curiosity to outright concern.
“They don’t care about coming?” he asks blatantly.
I half shrug, half shake my head.
The few dates I’d been on in the past never lead to actual sex, but the fun times we did have in the back of cars and movie theaters didn’t lead to an orgasm either. But it was still nice. It was nice to be with someone who actually wanted to spend time with me… to kiss me… to touch me…
Orgasm wasn’t important compared to that.
“And the men, they don’t care about making their partner come?” Latham’s tone grows more and more outraged as he speaks.
Once more, I do that stupid shrugging shake.
“Lazy is what it is.” Aric grunts. “Fucking is an event. Make her come before, and it’ll be better during. Make her come during, and it’ll be even better after. And shit, make her come after and—”
“Okay! I get it. You fucking drown in orgasms, I get it!” My cheeks are so damn hot I have to shove out of his embrace and stumble into the abrupt coldness.
Both men stare at me, bewildered.
“Um.” I swallow harshly, but my pussy is pulsing so hard there’s clearly not any blood flow left for my brain. “Uh… truth or dare?” I swing my attention up to the cocky dragon shifter.
A smile tips his lips.
“Dare.”
Of course he chooses dare.
Of course he does. He doesn’t give one flying dragon fuck about streaking across the snowy mountain naked. Probably does it all the time just for a bit of exercise.
Asshole.
“Fine.” I fold my arms and try to regain some control over this game.
Words flit through my mind like a grown woman playing flower girl, tossing words at me that I know I shouldn’t say.
I dare you to kiss me. She tosses a few petals of ideas into my brain.
I dare you to fuck me. She scatters more merrily.
I dare you to make me come before, during, and after. She sprinkles the stupid petals all around like a raining parade of bad ideas.
My wolf practically purrs, loving the sound of each dirty, sinful thought.
“I dare you to kiss Latham,” I blurt.
The grown-ass flower girl drops the basket of petals as she glares at me and the words I just spoke that don’t benefit my throbbing pussy whatsoever.
Aric blinks at me in confusion, and to be honest, I’m fucking confused at myself too. Latham smirks to himself as Aric lifts his hands in what appears to be frustration in front of him. Yeah… I turned our sexy talk of wet orgasms into a dry two-man sausage fest.
I hate me too, buddy.
Latham steps forward, and though Aric seems flat-out confused about my choice of dare, he slides his long fingers through Latham’s messy black hair and pulls him in good and close. My mouth falls open as the two men lock eyes, even as their lashes lower ever so slowly, the space between them slipping away with every passing second. Aric’s fingers tighten as he claims the kiss. Latham’s hand slides up, pushing at his friend’s shirt until it lifts slightly and hard lines and inky swirls of tattoos glide beneath his palm. Their tongues meet with a single delicious flick just before their lips seal sweetly.
I think I just discovered a new part of me I didn’t know existed.
My throat closes. I can barely breathe. I don’t blink, not willing to miss a second, and my thighs shift against one another so hard the pressure only frustrates the neediness that’s already rising.
Aric tugs lightly at Latham’s inky locks as he kisses him once more before both men pull back with a pair of slicing smiles clinging to their lips.
Deep down, I know I should close my mouth. I shouldn’t leave it open and gaping as I watch the two of them like a total fucking creep. But I just can’t reasonably think clearly enough to actually do it.
Then they’re looking at me, still huddled close, still touching lightly as the two of them turn their heads and appraise me like I’m their next meal.
“Truth or dare?” Aric asks with a rumbling tone full of sinful want.
I somehow remember to close my mouth and take an actual breath of air.
Dare.
Dare.
Dare.
“Truth,” I squeak.
Fuck!
No!
Ask for a redo! And panties, for fuck’s sake!
Aric’s smile is a cruel, predatory expression filled with bad, bad decisions.
“Is it true you want me to kiss you like I just kissed Latham?” His sexy, gravelly words are carefully spoken, and I can tell he simply rephrased his original dare into a truth that will screw me either way.
Yes.
The answer is a hard, irrefutable yes.
My tongue slips over my lips, and both men follow that small movement like they can taste me just by watching. There’s always been this back and forth, double-sided coin of a personality inside of me. The quietness is that little girl who was never accepted in life. The one who loved deeply but never received it in return. And the fearlessness inside of me is the wolf who wouldn’t let me shrink away into the submissive servant everyone wanted that little girl to become.
I want to be the latter. I want to be her so fucking badly.
And that’s all I think about as I stride forward, my steps assured and dominant as I walk right up to the intimidating dragon shifter, and run my fingers up his worn shirt to feel the hard lines of his chest underneath as I hold his taunting fiery gaze. Anxiety and recklessness run rampant within me. Even as I stretch against him as high as I can reach and hover my lips just over his.
“It’s true,” I whisper against him. His eyes flash with a dare. His head lowers closer. My back arches so hard my breasts meld against him. My lashes flutter. Then his tongue slides torturously slowly against mine.
He claims me with a single thrust of his fingers through the locks of hair at the base of my neck. The dominating feel of his hand takes control of my entire body as he pulls me as close as he can get me, his hard body colliding with mine in a rush of power that sparks all across my flesh. My hands slide beneath his shirt just as Latham’s had moments ago, and the hot spark of his skin meeting mine is an addiction I didn’t know was possible. Deeper he kisses me. His mouth taunts mine just as much as his words always have. His other hand jerks at my hip, his fingers digging into my flesh until I’m lined up just right to feel the hard bulge beneath his jeans.
A whimper slips from my lips on a gasp of breath that my manic dragon eats right up as he consumes my lips, my tongue, the very air I breathe.
From behind me, a gentler touch skims up my waist and over my ribs before stopping abruptly at the curve of my breasts. Warm breath kisses the back of my neck as hesitant lips hover along my ear.
“Rhys,” Latham rasps against my skin, his nose running the length of my jawline and down the curve of my neck.
Another needy breath hums through me as I grind my ass against the man who holds me so sweetly from behind.
“Rhys,” he whispers once more, and my lashes flutter as I pull away from Aric to look into his bright, sun-kissed blue eyes.
Because the sun has risen.
The night has passed.
And that spell of complete confidence within me wanes as I realize what we have right now won’t last. Not even for a minute longer.
“We have to go, Love,” Latham says as his gaze dips from my eyes to my lips.
His hand is still warmly beneath my shirt, his thumb skimming the tender curve of my breast.
The air in my lungs ceases to exist.
I watch him as he studies me. Aric smooths my hair down intimately as his hands slowly fall away. The two of them steal away their delicious touch like magic dissipating in the cold icy wind.
A heartbroken look shines more than ever in the tragically beautiful gaze of the fenrir in front of me.
And then he walks away.
Chapter Fifteen
Ass Masks
Aric
Climbin
g the Ice Mountain has never been this hard. And neither has my cock.
A grunt growls through me as I adjust my jeans for the third time this morning and follow the halo of an ass that’s leading me to the top. A better man wouldn’t look.
But a better man is a bitch for missing the sight I’m basking in right now.
The tight black jeans she pulled on this morning cling to her curves as a heavy coat blankets nicely around her frame. Honestly, part of me is just thankful her lips aren’t blue anymore. And the other part of me…
I peer up at the godsend of a view above me and adjust all over again.
Latham lingers at her side, offering her a hand here and there when she bends at the waist to get a better grip on the icy rocks. I pause every time, occasionally lifting her boot up with my palm to get her to the next handhold. My face is nearly buried in her ass each time, but it’s a price I’m willing to pay. I’m a gentleman through and through.
Latham arches a brow at me after the second time it happens, but I earn a sweet ‘thank you’ as well as an ass mask while he just gets forgotten and a bit of hand holding as a reward.
I wink his way, but he just shakes his head and ignores me.
Or pretends to.
The wind snaps around her frost-kissed blonde hair, and she’s so tired I can see it in the dullness of her blue eyes when they meet mine. She looks down at me for far too long, and I can’t stand it anymore. I storm up the steep incline, and her confusion only deepens when my hands slide around her thighs and I haul her up. Her legs lock all the way around my hips as she stares down on me with parted lips.
Mmm. I like this.
I think I’ll keep her here for the rest of the trip.
Until her cold hand snaps across my cheek.
“Put me down! You’re going to get us both killed.”
Ouch. Weird way to say thank you…
Torben stops, and the sun circles around his hard features like the gods are looking down on him and him alone.
“Quit fucking around. We’re close.” He doesn’t pause for us though. He just keeps going.
