ClosertoFire Page 14

  “Dammit,” she said.

  Darek raised an eyebrow. “Bane messing with your head?” She nodded. “He does that. Sorry.”

  “You don’t?” she asked.

  “He’s the more powerful psychic,” Darek answered. “It comes with age.” His voice lowered, a wicked look crinkling the edges of his eyes. “But at the moment, Amazing Kreskin powers or no, right now I have something he doesn’t.”

  Lily had a second to notice that he was hardening in her again before she was on her back on the cool sheets, covered and pinned by his big body. She laughed.

  “A boner?” she guessed. He growled, pinching her much-abused butt hard.

  “Ow!” She protested and then moaned and sighed as he buried his fully erect cock in her. A few moments ago she’d been completely sated, so the surge of need she felt surprised her. She reached eagerly for his teasing mouth even as renewed waves of slick, wet heat bathed his cock in welcome. He kissed her softly, his gentle lips a delightful contrast to the merciless rhythm of his steel length pounding into her.

  “Make that two things then,” he purred in her ear after he broke the kiss. She wrapped her legs around him, urging him deeper. “A hard-on, and you to fuck with it.” His gaze never left hers, holding her captive as he took her. Lily watched the flickers of red in the depths of his dark eyes, entranced, meeting him thrust for thrust.

  She held out as long as she could, but something about his dark, intense gaze made her wild. He brought her to climax quickly, her core gripping him so hard that they both gasped. She relaxed beneath him, panting. It took her a moment to realize that he was very still, his eyes closed in concentration.

  “Again,” he said at last, the single word a command. He drew out of her slowly, giving her time to want, and then thrust forward, hilting in her in a single stroke. At the same time, he drew his tongue across the mark at the base of her neck. The speed and force of her climax left her shaking in his arms.

  “How did you—” He shook his head, pinning her with that dark, uncanny gaze of his.

  “My turn,” he said, drawing out of her. She waited, breathing shallowly. “Come with me.” This time her climax began before his tongue touched her mark. Even as it took her, bowing her spine and tearing a shout from her throat, she felt him jerk and pulse in her, taking her in feral, hungry strokes as he came.

  She was trembling all over with fatigue beneath Darek when Bane returned, bearing a tray with water and—and—were those strawberries? He set it down at the foot of the bed and moved up beside them, stretching out against Lily’s side. Darek lifted himself off her, lying down on her other side.

  “Water,” Lily said weakly. Bane chuckled and reached for the tray. She sat up and took the glass he offered. In a moment, her thirst satisfied, she turned an interested eye to the strawberries. “Where did those come from?”

  “My methods are my own,” he said, smiling.

  She grinned back at him. She loved strawberries. “Very well, Sherlock.”

  “I see Darek has been experimenting with your mark,” Bane said, his tone one of academic interest. “You know,” he continued, “some of the older memoirs refer to it as ‘the lady’s friend’.” She munched a strawberry and said nothing, peering at him impishly from beneath her lashes. “One young twentieth-century male jokingly referred to his mate’s mark as her ‘O-Button’. He said they could be doing anything at all and if he touched it a certain way…” He trailed off, reaching up for her neck. Lily yelped and drew back, covering her mark with her hand.

  “Not now! I’ll choke!” she sputtered, covering her mouth to avoid spitting strawberry on the bed. Bane and Darek laughed hard, their mixed baritones a carefree, musical sound in the room.

  Lily tried to share the strawberries with the men, but once they saw her obvious relish, neither would accept one from her. She ate most of the bowlful and Bane refilled her water glass several times from the pitcher he’d brought. He’d also brought several hot, damp washcloths, which they insisted on using to bathe her entire body. When they finished, she lay back on the bed and they drew the covers around her. The lights in the room dimmed.

  “Go to sleep, Lily,” Bane told her.

  She frowned. “You guys aren’t staying?”

  “Darek and I just want to plan for tomorrow. We’ll just be in the grotto,” he replied, gesturing toward the hallway.

  “Shouldn’t I help with that?” she asked, struggling to speak clearly in the descending fog of sleep. She sensed them both in her mind, nudging her toward unconsciousness.

  “Nah,” Darek told her. “We won’t be long, love. Just sleep.”

  “Okay,” she murmured, turning on her side. She reached for Bane, who was closest to her, and he took her hand. The last thing she remembered before she slept was the velvet feel of his lips as he placed a kiss in the center of her palm.

  * * * * *

  Sometime during the night, Lily roused from a vaguely disturbing dream. She’d been running from something, she remembered, but the details were already escaping her reach. She was trying in vain to chase them down when she became aware of Bane’s tall, powerful form stretched against her left side and Darek’s compact, muscular body on her right. The last remnants of the nightmare faded at once. As she grew sleepy again, she thought distantly that she’d never felt so safe and content as she did now, ensconced between the two of them.

  Chapter Nine

  Lily woke, disoriented, to the sound of an unfamiliar female voice.

  “Oh look at them, Kai. How sweet. And I’d forgotten how pretty this place is.” The sound came from somewhere just beyond the foot of the bed. Too confused to be truly alarmed, she sat up, holding the covers just above her breasts. Beside her, both men moved so quickly that she didn’t see it happen. One second they were lying next to her and the next her eyes were confronted with a bizarre tableau.

  Darek was on the bed before her. Or at least, she assumed it was Darek. He seemed to have partially shifted shape. Though his features were the same, the rest of him looked like a demon from an old textbook. His mouth was full of poisonous-looking fangs and a deep, threatening growl rumbled continuously in his chest. His body was covered in shimmering red scales and long, razor-like claws extended from his hands and feet, cutting into the sheets beneath him as he crouched protectively in front of her.

  Her gaze traveled to the source of the voice and the sight that confronted her made her blink. Bane, his scarred chest coated in a smooth, diamond-hard mosaic of blue scales, held a man she didn’t recognize by the throat. The man, who equaled Bane’s unusual height, had lifted his hands in a nonthreatening gesture.

  Regarding the whole picture with mild scorn was a tall, stunningly beautiful woman with raven hair and black-on-black eyes. “Gentlemen,” she said in a silken voice, “you’re scaring your lady.” Her curves shifted beneath her slinky red dress as she made her way smoothly to the side of the bed.

  Darek crouched lower, his dark eyes flashing red as he watched her progress. Unfazed, she sat down on the bed. “Aren’t you a sight, lovely girl,” she said gently. “You have Mara’s eyes.” The dark woman turned her attention back to the men and rolled her own eyes.

  “Bane, for the love of God, release my mate before you tear each other to bits,” she told him. Bane backed away from the man, making a gesture of apology. His body became fully human, as did Darek’s.

  “Lily, is it?” the woman asked. Lily nodded, speechless, accepting the woman’s proffered hand. Instead of shaking her hand though, the woman drew her in for a hug that left her breathless.

  “Savara,” the man said in an angry near-shout, “I told you to sift us into the aerie…not directly into the ever-loving bedroom.”

  She sniffed disdainfully, holding Lily at arm’s length and looking her over as one does a child she has not seen in many years. “Oh you grew up to be so beautiful. Pay my master no mind,” she purred. “He gets all upset about the tiniest things.”

  “Master, my
ass,” Kai growled. He came around the edge of the bed and lifted her to her feet, holding her shoulders firmly as if preparing to deliver a stern lecture—which quickly morphed into an embrace so passionate that Lily blushed and turned away. She turned her baffled gaze to Bane, who stood naked at the foot of the bed, pinching the bridge of his nose as if staving off a headache.

  “Lily, meet my friend Kai and his… Uh…” He gestured impatiently. “And Savara.”

  Savara turned from a flushed, disoriented Kai to look at Lily. “It’s complicated.”

  Finding her voice at last, Lily replied, “I gathered.”

  “Come, Savara,” Kai said, sounding as if he were striving for an authoritative tone. “Let’s go to the main room and let these three get dressed. We’ll make breakfast.” He put a hand at the small of her back and guided her from the room. Savara turned, waved at Lily and winked. Kai smacked her bottom soundly and she yelped, a high-pitched sound that descended rapidly into a hellish growl that set Lily’s teeth on edge. Kai didn’t even blink, leading her calmly from the room.

  When they were both gone, Darek rounded on Bane. “I thought you said we were meeting them elsewhere, not here in the goddam aerie,” he said in a low, dangerous voice.

  “That’s what I thought was going to happen. It’s also probably what Kai thought. Savara must have guessed we’d be in here.”

  “You think?” Darek said, standing and facing Bane.

  “Um…guys…” Lily interjected, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but can we get dressed and go talk to them? They can help us, right?”

  Bane nodded, still looking dazed.

  Darek grunted. “In theory,” he mumbled grumpily, heading for the bathroom. In a moment, she heard the water running. Bane picked up the duffel and set it on the bed, rooting around in its contents, presumably for clothes.

  Lily dressed quickly, her fingers shaking so badly from nerves that it took her three tries to button her shirt properly. So much was riding on the next twenty-four hours. Savara interested her, but after all she’d heard and what she’d just seen, Lily wasn’t sure she trusted her.

  Part of Lily wanted to spend time with her, get to know her, ask her a billion questions. The rest of her wanted to run the other way. Good God, was she going to be like Savara if she embraced her idana blood? Lily tugged on a pair of denim shorts, buttoning the fly with fumbling fingers. The shorts were new, the denim tough and she had trouble with the top button.

  She was growling at it, cursing under her breath, when Bane’s hands pushed hers away. He buttoned it smoothly and tugged the hem of her shirt straight. She looked up to meet his cool, assessing gaze. He had shrugged on a white Oxford shirt. The front of the shirt was open, revealing his bare chest down to the waist of the black slacks he wore.

  He buttoned the cuffs, not taking his gaze off hers. “It’s going to be fine, Lily,” he said gently.

  She wasn’t so sure, but she appreciated the gesture. “Thanks.” She laid her palms on his bare chest and bit her lip, trying to find the right words. “Bane, I don’t know Anthony Ciruelo and I don’t know how this Inquiry will go. Before we go in there and get involved in strategy talk, I need you guys to know how much you mean to me—”

  “Lily—” he began, but she shook her head.

  “No, I mean it. I’m going to tell Darek too. You guys are so important to me…” He smiled down at her, blue light flickering in the backs of his eyes. A little thrill of electric warmth went through her at the sight. It occurred to her that she’d never seen Darek’s dragon form, not in the flesh, and she decided to ask if he would shift for her before the Inquiry.

  She bit her lower lip anxiously. “Bane, what happens if your sovereign—”

  “Anthony,” he corrected her. “But don’t call him that when you first meet him, okay?

  “Okay, okay. But what happens if he doesn’t believe us? Would he separate us?” Her eyes felt damp. The thought of losing Bane and Darek, of being condemned to a life without them… Her stomach flipped.

  Bane shook her shoulders. “Lily, you’re not listening to me. Hush. Stop it. Listen.” His smile was gone, his expression fierce. She pressed her lips together tightly.

  He opened the collar of her shirt, placing his finger in the center of her mark, pressing down. She tried to reach up for him but she couldn’t move. He’d caught her with a simple touch as surely as if he were pinning her body with his full weight. She stared at him, dumbfounded.

  “This isn’t decoration, Lily. I don’t think you understand what it really means. Do you know why Darek and I have hunted the idani for so long?” She tried to speak but couldn’t.

  “We have hunted them because they killed the wyrmates of dracambri. Their other halves,” he said. His voice softened a little and he asked, “Do you know what happens to a male when his wyrmate dies?” He lifted his finger from her mark, releasing her.

  She sat down on the edge of the bed, her limbs weak. Damn, what had he just done to her? “You said you knew some warriors who’d lost their mates,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself.

  He sat down beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. The warmth that surrounded her came from him. She looked up gratefully. “Yes, I do know a few who lost their mates and survived. A handful. Out of hundreds. Once formed, the bond is beyond profound, both spiritually and biologically. The náladon discovered and exploited that fact. They were losing the war until they realized they could target our wyrmates instead of our warriors. They drew out the warriors with an attack on a human city, and while we were out fighting that battle, they attacked the home aeries of all four sovráns. We lost hundreds of wyrmates that day. Within hours, their warriors followed them into death. Even death does not part us. That,” he said, tapping her mark, “is what this means.”

  Lily clutched his hand, gasping for breath. “Please don’t do that right now.”

  “Sorry.” He withdrew his hand. “My point is, it doesn’t matter what Anthony says. We’re seeing him only in hopes that he’ll make our lives easier.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Lily, if I truly thought Anthony would do something foolish, I wouldn’t have agreed to do this. I know him very well.”

  The bathroom door opened and Darek emerged in a cloud of steam, a towel wrapped loosely around his hips.

  “What if you’re wrong? You said there would be others at the Inquiry. You’ll be outnumbered.”

  Darek shook his head. “Lily, Anthony’s family didn’t become powerful by being stupid. Bane is on the Council of warriors who conduct these things. He knows them too.”

  “Oh.” Well, that did put things in perspective.

  Darek strode to the bed, tossing his towel aside.

  Lily’s blood heated—she couldn’t help it. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?” she asked, trying hard to focus her thoughts as Darek hunted, naked, for clothes in the duffel bag.

  He ran a hand through his hair, spiking the damp strands. Noticing the direction of her gaze, he grinned wolfishly.

  “Sorry,” Lily mumbled, feeling awkward in spite of herself. Beside her, Bane chuckled.

  “It’s okay, Lily,” he said softly, tipping up her chin with his knuckle. “Look all you want. He’s yours, and so am I.” He spoke the words so close to her mouth that her lips parted in a reflexive invitation. He accepted, kissing her and drawing her carefully onto his lap.

  “And I’m yours,” she murmured, sitting up in his lap to button his shirt.

  A cough came from the doorway, making Lily jump.

  Kai was leaning against the jamb, looking calmer, his clothing slightly rumpled. “I was just going to say that breakfast is ready, unless you’re going to be busy awhile.”

  When they came into the great room, Kai had dragged a large picnic table nearer the fireplace. Bane and Darek bracketed Lily on one side of the table. Kai sat down across from them. Savara brought plates of food in from the kitchen. Lily offered to help her but she refus
ed, insisting that they sit and talk.

  “She’s a superb cook,” Kai said, watching Savara with obvious affection as she brought various dishes to the table. Lily hadn’t realized how hungry she was until she saw the feast Savara had prepared emerge, dish by dish, from the kitchen. When the table was set, Savara settled down in Kai’s lap. He didn’t object until she began feeding him bites of food from her plate. Lily tried not to gawk at the brief, tempestuous interchange that ensued, which Kai won.

  At first the conversation primarily centered around the fact that Savara was not, as Darek and most of Anthony’s council thought, holding Kai captive—nor, obviously, had she murdered him.

  As the story unfolded, Lily reflected that Savara had been right about one thing—it was complicated. Even after hearing the entire story, Lily was still fuzzy on many of the details. It seemed as though there were some things the couple deliberately left out, but she didn’t want to ask questions.

  At one time, Savara had been a part of la vedova’s breeding program. Like all idani in the program, she’d had her pick from a stable of dracambri males. Most idani changed partners almost nightly, but Savara had claimed Kai for her own early on. She’d never let another female near him.

  Eventually, Savara helped Kai escape and even defected with him, but she had never gained Anthony’s trust. Shortly after Kai’s escape, Savara led a group of dracambri to the facility where Kai and other captives were being held. Anthony’s new wyrmate, Chloe, had been a part of the rescue party. They had freed the captives but things had gotten complicated in the fray and Chloe was caught fighting a náladon alone. It was at this moment that Savara took Kai and vanished. It was this decision that sealed Anthony’s mistrust of her.