The thought of sending Joshua away sent an ache to the pit of her stomach and she couldn’t stand it anymore. She turned her back on Michael and threw herself at Joshua, wrapping her arms around his neck to cling to him. Their mouths met and once again his taste exploded through her. He supported her tenderly and she wanted to shake him. She didn’t want tenderness right now.
She wanted to be possessed.
A loud crash behind them made Joshua spin her behind him protectively as they turned to face the sound. Michael was once more on the floor. This time it was Anthony who hovered over him, fists at the ready. Joshua would have moved to swing at Michael and continue the battle, but Alexia had had enough. In spite of the rollercoaster of emotions sweeping through her, she finally knew what she needed to do.
“Michael, you aren’t welcome here. We’ll have a civilized discussion about this sometime in the future, but I want you out of my house immediately.” Alexia laid a calming hand on Anthony’s shoulder, soothing his anger.
“I just want what’s best for you,” Michael insisted.
“Go!” she ordered in the same tone she’d heard her Gram use earlier in the day.
He scrambled to his feet and straightened his clothing with dignity before he bowed slightly in her direction. The menacing look he threw at his younger relatives was less respectful but Alexia let it go. She wanted Michael out before she lost all control.
Chapter Six
The click as the door shut behind Michael echoed in the room, Anthony’s agitated breathing loud in the silence. Joshua swept a hand through his hair and took a calming breath himself. He’d never thought Michael would resort to violence to try and claim the Keeper.
Delicate fingers slipped into his hand and his heartbeat doubled. Alexia was here, he was here.
Anthony was still here.
His cousin’s expression held a mix of anger and awe, and Joshua empathized deeply. With Michael’s departure, the sexual tension returned, a heady sensation that tangled Joshua’s limbs and clouded his mind. In her every move and glance, Alexia sent a clear message of arousal and need, one he wished nothing more than to answer immediately.
Completely. Forcefully.
He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it lightly, tonguing the tender flesh between her knuckles.
“You have a good right hook, my lady,” Joshua said, soft and low, his voice gravelly as lust raced through his body.
Alexia’s eyes were huge in her pale face. She moistened her bottom lip with her tongue and a flush covered her skin.
“Now what, Joshua? Now what do we do?” He had to strain to hear her quiet voice, embarrassment coloring her prettily.
He raised a brow, his fingers stroking hers. “Anthony explained. You are the one who must decide what you need. We will do whatever you ask, whether it’s a walk on the beach or a game of cards. We could sit by the fire and tell you stories about what it’s like to travel underwater.”
As he spoke Alexia pulled away from him to stare out the window at the ocean. Her body sagged and she hugged her arms around her body tightly. Her head dropped to the cool glass for a moment and Joshua hesitated. Perhaps it was all too much too fast.
She knew what she needed to demand of them. It was a part of who she was, the heritage in belonging to the line of the matriarch. Now that the medallion had begun to awaken her body to the change, there was no turning back. Her longing for transformation would drive her need for sex higher and higher to the point of overwhelming lust.
Every inch of Joshua’s body urged him to step forward and take her into his arms, but he held back. He had to let her be the one to decide. “We could say good night, and let you sleep and think about things until the morning,” he said, attempting to keep the reluctance out of his voice.
Anthony cleared his throat. “We could…” His gaze flicked to Joshua as if asking permission. “We could…”
“Hold me?” Alexia whispered. She turned her back to the windows and squared her shoulders.
“Ummm, yes.”
“Kiss me?” she breathed as her head tilted to the side.
Anthony swallowed hard before nodding.
Alexia smiled, a mischievous expression crossing her face. She stepped closer to Anthony but looked at Joshua. “Make love to me?” she purred.
Groans tore from both their throats as she reached for them. Joshua stayed back, letting Anthony take Alexia into his arms first.
The anger he expected to flare at seeing anyone touch Alexia arrived, but far more tempered than he’d believed possible. Anthony’s tender adoration for her was so clear in his every movement Joshua felt a tentative peace as he watched their lips meet. He didn’t want it to happen. He’d give anything to be all she needed.
But he wasn’t. Not yet. Perhaps not ever.
Anthony kissed her again, a hesitant caress. Joshua watched a trickle of blue shoot from his cousin to brush Alexia’s skin. The magic of St. Elmo’s fire would make her strong. Along with the chemicals from both of them, she would able to transform and survive underwater and lead their people.
What Joshua could give alone wasn’t enough.
This night had to happen. He would share, for her sake, this one time.
Please let it be only this one time.
Joshua moved to stoke the fire higher, pull cushions to the floor and open the curtains to let the ocean witness their lovemaking.
Alexia wondered briefly what she was doing in Anthony’s arms while Joshua wandered the room behind them. It was so different from anything she’d experienced before, the need welling from deep within calling her to keep these two men at her side. More than called, demanded. She longed for Joshua, a heady all-out desire that shocked her to the core, but she wanted Anthony as well. Alexia had never been one to fool around indiscriminately, always keeping sex in the context of long-term relationships. But there was no denying the urges sweeping through her now, harder and hotter than she’d experienced before.
It had to be something to do with the medallion, with the dolphins.
Did she want to be out of control like this? She’d accepted the medallion as a gift from her Gram. A trinket. Not some life-changing “now you are one of us” commitment. Yet here she stood in Anthony’s arms. Her hand throbbed from the smack she’d delivered to Michael’s face. Her body tingled from head to toe with the need for…something.
Kissing Anthony felt right. Sweet, tender kisses that turned her inside out. Anthony’s touch teased. Tentative at first, his lips on hers like a brush of the ocean on the shore at its very calmest. She stroked his lips with her tongue, and he drew a hand around her neck to adjust the angle of their mouths to bring them closer together. He nibbled on her lips, along her cheek to the V of her neckline and a shiver ran through her. Anthony was softness and intimate caring.
Then Joshua returned and the heat skyrocketed. Twisting her in his cousin’s arms Joshua took possession of her mouth and controlled her. Tongues met, teeth bit. This was what she’d been longing for and she urged him on, her lips hot and moist on his. She wrapped an arm around his neck to lock him in place, the fingers of her other hand still tangled with Anthony’s.
Three bodies close together, the rough fabric of their jeans brushed the bare skin of her legs and made her want more of their touch everywhere. Joshua’s hands held her hips firmly to his groin, his erection a hard ridge against her belly.