And when Nic had sunk as far as he could go, she felt like she’d explode with the force of their desire.
Then Duke began to pull out and lightning flashed through her at his slow retreat. She began to think she couldn’t live through this, that it would be too much for her. She couldn’t open her eyes, couldn’t move, her body under the control of these two men.
Nic and Duke began a wicked dance, rough and unsure at first, but all the more enticing for it. Their labored breathing filled the air around her, their hands held her steady as her body wanted to shift and move.
And when they finally found their rhythm and quickened the pace, she began to burn.
It started between her legs but spread from her thighs and down to her toes and up through her torso and arms. Her fingers tingled and her lungs tightened.
Her love for them, theirs for her, made her heart fill to bursting. They moved together and when one groaned, each of them felt it. She was sure of it.
They were one and she never wanted it to end. Their bodies connected, they moved as one until, finally…
She burst into climax. The force of it caught her off guard and her cry echoed throughout the room. Her body bore down, drew them in, closed around them.
And triggered Duke’s and Nic’s orgasms as well.
She felt their release, felt their seed fill her.
Nearly insensate now, she closed her eyes and drifted in the heat created by the two men she loved.
Chapter Eight
Nic dragged himself out of a deep sleep, knowing by the struggle that he hadn’t slept as long as he should have.
But he wanted to waste as little time as possible unconscious today.
Turning his head, he checked the clock on the bedside table. 9:38 a.m. Three hours down. Twenty-one to go.
Tira’s warm body curled into his side and behind her, Duke was plastered against her back, his face partially hidden by the golden length of her hair.
Duke looked exhausted and Nic knew he hadn’t slept as much as he’d needed to heal completely. Duke hadn’t been as injured as Nic but the guy had been hurt. His body needed some downtime.
So he wouldn’t wake Tira or Duke just yet. He’d wait a few more minutes then he’d slide down her body, pressing his mouth against every inch of skin he could reach. He wouldn’t linger until he reached his destination. He wanted to wake Tira with his mouth on her pussy while Duke filled her mouth with his cock.
Wanted her to be lost to desire and naked in this bed that he’d built specifically for her. For them.
He refused to believe today was all he and Duke would have with Tira. No way was he giving her up now that he’d had her.
Even though she believed it, he’d make her see the error of her ways. And she’d enjoy every second of it.
Tomorrow morning, he’d make her understand that this is where she belonged. No matter how much time he had. Or didn’t have, as the case may be.
He and Duke had let her run for years. Utter stupidity on their part.
He intended to cure that.
Right now, though, he just wanted to savor the feel of her in his arms, her silky skin pressed against his. Her deep, rhythmic breathing brushed against his chest, raising gooseflesh and his body temperature, not to mention pumping blood into his cock. Her breasts pressed into his skin, warm and soft, and the trimmed hair on her mound teased his thigh.
Behind her, Duke stirred, his breath feathering her hair, his hand tightening on her hip. Even in sleep, Duke never really lost that guarded expression, as if he was always looking behind him, waiting for an attack.
It sucked that his best friend, a man he considered his brother, felt he had to be so damn wary all the time. Duke never stopped being a soldier. Not for five minutes.
Even now, Nic was sure the guy was dreaming of ways to keep Tira safe, to figure out who had kidnapped her six months ago, how it was linked to the kidnapping of the eteri Kaine was currently obsessing over…and how to find a way to cheat Nic’s death.
Nic knew Duke’s greatest fear was failing to save Nic when the time came. Since Tira’s vision all those years ago, Duke had been holding a silent vigil, watching over Nic like a guard dog, making sure Nic didn’t do anything stupid to bring about his own death.
Nic sometimes felt like a child on a short leash with overprotective parents, of which he already had two. Well, three, if you counted Duke’s mom. But Kathryn… Well, he didn’t want to think about her now. He didn’t want to be pissed off and whenever he thought about Kathryn, he got pissed off.
The woman had been as close to him as his own mother growing up. She and Duke’s dad, Varro, had loved him like a son. And as much as he loved his own parents, there’d been something special about Varro.
The guy’s laugh had lit up a room. Nic had never had any doubts as to why Kathryn and his own mom, Roni, loved him so much. Nic’s dad, Frank, would have done anything for Varro.
When Varro and Frank had been sent in to deal with the Malandante bastard who’d been kidnapping and raping young lucani females, the Mal had gotten one spell off before Frank had torn the guy to pieces. Varro had thrown himself in front of the bastard’s latest victim, saving her life but forfeiting his own.
Before he’d died, Varro had made Frank promise to take care of Kathryn and Duke, something Nic knew his father would’ve done even if Varro hadn’t asked.
It had nearly driven his parents mad when Kathryn had disappeared with Duke shortly after Varro’s death. Nic and his parents had felt betrayed, abandoned. Devastated. They’d lost Varro, the glue that bound their nontraditional family, and then they’d lost Kathryn and Duke.
And even when they’d returned, months later, things hadn’t been the same.
Duke and Kathryn had just appeared one day after almost six months away. Duke had refused to talk about the scar on his face and Kathryn… Kathryn had been different. She’d changed even more than Duke.
Duke had come back a soldier. Hardened. Almost unemotional. Battle scarred.
Kathryn had trained him to be invincible. They’d spent so much of their time away as wolves, Duke had had trouble holding his human form during the full moon, something they’d learned to do by the time they were fifteen. Duke had been twenty by then.
And Kathryn hadn’t stayed. She’d spent a few days at the house, talking to Nic’s parents while he and Duke began their legion service. But she wouldn’t sleep at the house. She left every night in her pelt to run.
Then one morning, she just didn’t come back. She disappeared for months and when she finally returned to check on Duke, the veneer of humanity she’d clung to after Varro’s death had faded to almost nothing.
Duke sighed again, snapping Nic back to the here and now. He watched as Duke shifted, crowding against Tira, pushing her even more fully against Nic. Trapping her between them.
Where she should’ve spent the years since she’d turned eighteen.
More than eight years lost. And only one day to spend together?
Fuck that.
If he was going to buy the farm in a matter of weeks or months, then she was damn well going to stop running and make a few memories to remember him by.
Okay, maybe he was holding on to a little anger at the fact that she’d kept him and Duke at arm’s length for eight fucking years.
But they’d been just as guilty for letting her get away with it. Yeah, there’d been extenuating circumstances. Her mother. The boschetta. Duke’s guilt.
And Nic’s death wish.
That’s what Duke said he had. A death wish.