Eria's Ménage (7 page)

An arm came out of nowhere and whipped around her neck. It pulled her against a male body and squeezed until she could hardly breathe. This man didn’t give off her mates’ clean scent but instead had the smell of old sweat. She clutched at the muscles. Pale skin and soft, but strong enough to hold her.

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Eria’s Ménage

- 47 -

She dragged in a breath. “Let me go.”

“We don’t want to, Excellency.”

“We?” She could scarcely squeeze the word out past the pressure against her throat.

“We,” another male voice said. “You’re supposed to give us all an honest chance at mating.”

Two of them. How could she have missed two men lurking in this corridor?

Especially with the odor. She must have been completely lost in her thoughts of Tad and Brath.

“Guards!” she called, but her voice came out as a croak. Nothing anyone could hear from more than a few feet away.

The man’s hand went over her mouth, and he pressed his lips to her ear. “Don’t make any noise. We wouldn’t want to gag you.”

Gag her, would they? She’d have them killed -- painfully -- if they even tried such a thing. She hooked her foot behind his and yanked his ankle out from under him.

He toppled backward, pulling her with him. They landed hard, and all the air went out of her lungs, leaving her gasping. Before she could catch her breath, the other man was on her. He wrestled her to the floor and shoved his hand over her mouth.

Now she could see him. The narrow eyes of a pair she’d received in the council chamber. They’d stood in the back, sulking. Aside from the general unpleasantness of their nature, not much had stood out about them. “We would have mated with you the normal way,” he said. “Not an option now, but we will mate with you.”

She stared at him in astonishment.

“A bed would be easier, but this floor in the corridor will get you pregnant just as well.”

She struggled beneath him, but he weighed too much to flip him off. The other man -- the one who had grabbed her first -- yanked her head backward by her hair and placed his palm over her mouth while the one on top of her sat up. He still had her legs
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pinned. He reached to the fastening of his pants, fumbled for a bit, and pulled out a limp cock.

“I’ll get it hard soon enough,” he said as he pumped the shaft. “Then, after I’ve had you, my brother will follow.”

They meant to force themselves on her. Both of them in rapid succession. Only that would get her with child. Once they’d impregnated her, she couldn’t reverse the process. By raping her, they took the choice away from her.

She fought back. They could overpower her. They already had. But they couldn’t make her submit. When he did get that puny cock hard, it’d have a moving target.

He did manage to get it erect. While the other one held her hair and her mouth, he pulled her dress up to her hips.

Suddenly, his head jerked backward, and he grunted as an arm pulled him up and off her. Tad jerked the man to his feet and slammed him against the wall.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Tad shouted.

“This is none of your business,” the man answered.

Before Tad could shove him again, the second man was on him, sliding his arm around Tad’s throat and pulling tight against his windpipe. Eria scrambled to her feet and launched herself against the man. She pounded against him with her fists, and when that accomplished nothing, she gouged at his face with her fingernails. Parallel lines of red appeared -- droplets of blood against his cheek.

“Bitch!” He released Tad, turned, and slammed his fist into her face. Her vision swam, darkness clouding the edges. Before she could clear her head, the man had pressed her against the far wall. His fingers went around her throat, and he squeezed.

“Like it rough, do you?” he snarled. His other hand went under her dress to her crotch, and he thrust a finger up inside her. “I can do that.”

She twisted in his grasp and brought her knee up hard, aiming for his groin. He sidestepped, though, and she missed. His fingers closed tighter around her throat, and she had to struggle to breathe. Another few moments of this, and she’d black out. He might really take her then, and if his brother followed right after, they could force her to
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have their child. Tad couldn’t overcome two of them. Right now, the other one might be holding him off while she could only stare into the fury in this one’s eyes.

Those eyes narrowed as he stared back, and a vicious gleam entered them. A light of triumph. He’d won, and he knew it. She struggled, but she couldn’t get free.

Her lungs burned for lack of air. Finally, the strength oozed from her limbs, leaving her weak.

No, not this way. Deities, don’t give me a child this way
.

A howl sounded, bouncing off the walls. In an instant, the pressure eased around her throat. She steadied herself and swallowed air in huge gulps. Tad had pulled the man off her and now fought them both. His eyes filled his face, wide with anger so livid it might have been madness.

“Guards,” she called, but the word came out not much stronger than a whisper.

She took a breath and tried again. “Guards.” Not much better that time. She’d have to find a way to help Tad, because she would
not
leave him to the mercy of these two.

She threw herself into the fight again, swinging her fists. With no way of knowing where her punches landed, she kept on. Someone let out a loud “oof.” Not Tad, thank heaven.

A cry of pain almost deafened her, and something warm shot over her side.

Blood. The man beside her slumped, and soon, the reason came into view. Brath stood behind him, his knife red. He’d opened a gash in the man’s side.

The other man backed away from Tad, who fell to the floor, clutching his stomach. She dropped down beside him and pressed her hand to the side of his face.

“Did he hurt you?”

He shook his head in answer.

After wiping his knife on his leggings, Brath slid it back into the top of his boot, then dropped that man to the floor and turned on the other one. The man’s face went white, and he backed up. Before he could escape, Brath growled and lunged at him. He caught the bastard around the throat and shoved him against the wall with enough
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force to make his skull crack. His neck twisted in an unnatural angle. Snapped. His eyes went vacant in death as he collapsed in a heap.

Brath turned and crouched beside Eria. He took her face in his hands and searched her eyes, questioning.

“I’m all right,” she whispered. “You two saved me.”

They had. Two men she’d only met days before, but they’d loved her with their bodies and protected her from the unthinkable. They’d become a part of her, and the connection would only grow when they mated. How would she ever tell them goodbye?

Brath nodded and looked to his twin, clapping him on the shoulder.

“I’m fine too,” Tad said.

She looked around at all the blood and the vacant stare in the dead man’s eyes.

“Deities, what a sight. I could be sick.”

“Take those two away, Brath,” Tad said.

Brath grunted and rose. He grabbed each of the others by their collars and dragged them away, lifeless, from all appearances. The first might not have bled to death yet, but he would. The other would have a brain full of bone fragments. Both bodies left a trail of gore as they disappeared down the hallway.

“Are you really all right?” Eria pulled at Tad’s arm. “Tell me. Did they hurt you?”

“Nothing serious.”

“Let me see, damn it.” She managed to pull his hand away. No blood. Thank heaven.

“I think they bruised a couple of ribs.”

“What were you thinking? They could have killed you.”

“I couldn’t let them force themselves on you.”

No, of course not. If those men had raped her, Tad and Brath would have no reason for staying here. The alliance would fall apart, and they’d go back to their planets without having fulfilled their mission. For a while, she’d thought he came to her
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rescue out of some tender feelings. Maybe even love. The two of them had stirred up her hormones to the point where she’d mistaken her own feelings for theirs. She sighed.

He took her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes. “What about you? They handled you roughly.”

“I’ll recover.”

“I’m glad they’re dead.” His jaw tightened with anger. “I wish I’d killed them.”

“Brath’s taken care of that.”

He scooted back against the wall and hung his head between his knees. “Yes.

Brath.”

She studied him. “What’s wrong?”

He shrugged. “Nothing.”

“All I did was mention Brath, and you…” She’d said his twin’s name, and all the air had gone out of him. What the devil? “You’re jealous.”

He didn’t say anything but looked at his fingers as if they were the most fascinating things he’d ever seen.

“You are,” she said. “You’re jealous of Brath.”

“So what if I am?”

Something inside her did a little jump step and skittered to the side. He did care about her. Enough to envy her admiration of another man. Even his twin. How sweet.

She sat beside him and pushed his hair from his face. “I don’t prefer him over you.”

“It would be only natural if you did.”

“How could I? How could I possibly choose one of you over the other?”

He glanced up, and his crystal eyes went wide. “Do you mean that? You care about me as much as you do about him?”

She put her hand on the side of his face. “I love you.”

“Oh, my darling.” He curled his fingers around hers and kissed the tips. “Does this mean we’ve won your heart as well as your body?”

“Can you doubt it?”

The ceremonial bedchamber stood open to the warm breezes on three sides. In a secluded part of the royal gardens, the pavilion lay out of reach to everyone but the queen and her mates. No one would dare encroach here even on an ordinary day. On the day their monarch would conceive the next generation’s ruler, an intruder would face execution. After the deaths of the two who’d tried to rape Eria, no one had the stomach for more of the same.

So, when she joined Tad and Brath, her feet bare against the smooth tiles, she had complete privacy to enjoy the encounter to the fullest. Two glorious male specimens --

more virile, more desirable than she’d ever imagined -- and she’d have them both until they gave her the ultimate gift.

They stood apart, one near the bed and the other turned away, looking out over the lawns and flowerbeds. The scent of hundreds of blossoms filled the air. Traditional, as were the gowns all three of them wore. Hanging loose from the shoulders to the floor, the garments allowed freedom of movement. With only one clasp at the neckline and one more at the waist, they would come away easily. They’d all be naked soon.

“Which one of you is which?” she asked.

The man who’d been looking away turned at the sound of her voice. He smiled, but neither of them said anything.

“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

Neither moved. They could have been statues.

“I could command you to tell me,” she said.

One eyebrow on the man near the bed went up. Amusement, bordering on insolence. Once, she would have assumed only Brath would dare. Now, she knew
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better. Both of them knew very well she couldn’t command them to do anything. She’d lost the ability to command this pair a long time back.

“All right, we’ll do it your way,” she said. The moment she agreed, the right of it settled in her chest. She could never choose her favorite between them. Not Brath with his raw power or Tad with his intellect.

She brought her hands together in front of her chest and bowed in the traditional greeting for mates. Well-coached, the men did the same.

The one who’d contemplated the grounds earlier walked to her, his hand extended. She took it and gazed up into his face. His expression held her there. The tenderness in his eyes softened his entire face. Surely, this must be Tad, the one who cared enough to feel jealousy. But when the other one joined them and took her other hand, he showed the same tender regard.

Could they both have arrived at the same feelings for her? What of her own emotions? This was supposed to be an alliance of planets. Political convenience, nothing more. Once they’d gotten her with child, they’d return home. They had to. Her people would never accept the authority of outworlders.

A finger slid under her chin and tilted her head up. Ice blue eyes searched hers.

She answered without words.

I love you
. She’d come to cherish them both. For the pleasure they could give her in bed and the affection in their touch at all times.

She closed her eyes and parted her lips, inviting his kiss. He obliged and pressed his mouth to hers.

Birdsong floated to her as she sampled him, and the perfume of the flowers grew more intense. All her senses came alive, and she stepped into his warmth. After a moment, he pulled away to let the breeze dance on her skin. Before she could protest, the other man took her into his arms and nestled her against him while his lips moved over hers.

Both of them so sweet, as their breath mingled with hers. Her breasts pressed against the muscles of his chest, the tips growing sensitive. She whimpered and swayed
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into him. This was just the beginning, only the smallest sample of what lay before her.

Once they’d shown her all the pleasures of their bodies, how would she bear losing them? How did you settle for ordinary experience once you’ve tasted the sublime?

He broke off the kiss finally, and she opened her eyes. Smiling, he reached to the clasp at her throat. When he had that done, he unfastened the other one. With one push, he had the gown over her shoulders, and it fell like a whisper over her body to the floor.