Lords of the Were (17 page)

“Push out, Allie. Take him into you,” Rafe whispered against her lips as he nibbled his way over her cheek to her ear.

His sharp teeth scraped against the cords in her neck, shooting her excitement higher as she followed his instructions, and suddenly Tim was in, the head of his cock pushing past the tight ring of muscle. The feeling was amazing. With Rafe inside her pussy and now Tim pushing his way into her virgin ass, she felt indescribably full. It burned, but it

was a good burn, an exciting burn that eased into a kind of pleasure she’d never known.

“Almost there, baby.”

“Fuck!” Rafe cursed against her throat as Tim pushed all the way home, the brothers separated by only the thin wall of her body.

“That’s one word for it.”

Her mumble made them all chuckle, even as the men started to move inside her. They picked up a rhythm that had one thrusting while the other retreated, one filling her while the other gave way, one pushing in while the other slid out. She felt her excitement rising higher and higher.

It was the most incredible feeling!

She also felt them connecting on a different plane altogether. She was still a novice in her abilities, but after the way she’d been called upon to shield Rafe and herself, and the high-level healing Betty had performed with her help, she was more aware of the ethereal plane than ever before.

Allie felt the twin souls that were Rafe and Tim—joined together as they had always been—now moving to encompass her spirit as well.

Their light welcomed her, their power warmed her, their love made her soul their own as theirs joined with hers, never to be separate again.

They were three, but now they were truly one.

She was awed by the feeling as their souls moved into alignment, even as their bodies strained together toward some unreachable star.

She was with them every step of the way, beyond pain or worry, moving into a realm of pure passion, pure sensation, pure love.

“Now, Allie,” Rafe coaxed as her eyes opened. “Come with us now, my love.”

“I love you both so much!” she cried as she felt herself being swept up in the wave of desire.

Tim bent down over her back, his teeth going to the other side of her neck as Rafe’s returned to bite down, gently at first, then harder as his

canine teeth lengthened in a partial shift. Vast and uncontrollable powers guided their actions as the twins shifted only a tiny bit to pierce her tender skin with their teeth, marking her as their own for all to see.

Her blood smeared across their lips as all three of them reached a magnificent, simultaneous orgasm. They were joined now, fully and completely, on every level. They knew each other’s needs and desires, even as they knew their own.

The twins came hard inside her welcoming body and Allie reveled in each groan of pleasure, each tremor of her own spasming womb. She cried as she came, shouting her love for them both over and over as they rode her body to the highest point it had ever achieved.

They lay there, replete and utterly exhausted. Tim made the effort to roll them all to their sides so they could recover enough to disengage.

As he laid her gently on her side, his cock slowly deflated inside her, Tim licked her neck, bringing his lips up to her ear.

“I love you, Allie.” The whisper sounded as if it were wrenched from the depths of his soul. She wanted to turn and face him, but he stilled her. “I’ve never said that to a woman before. I’ve never wanted to say it.

But I love you with all my heart, Allie, and I always will.” Tim kissed her ear, her cheek, her neck softly as he settled behind her.

She was speechless. She’d felt the love radiating off both men, but Tim was so much more reserved than Rafe. She’d doubted he’d ever find the wherewithal to voice the feelings she hoped lay inside. He’d just given her a gift—a rare and priceless gift.

Allie felt tears tracking over her cheeks and Rafe licked them away with gentle kisses.

“I love you too, Allie. Don’t be sad.”

“I’m not sad.”

“Then why the tears?” Rafe asked.

“She’s crying?” Tim leaned over, his beloved face tight with concern.

“Dammit, baby, did we hurt you?”

“No,” she protested as Tim and Rafe both pulled slowly, as gently as they could, from her cooling body. “No, you didn’t hurt me.” Both men stared down at her as she swept the stray tears from her face.

“Then why are you crying? Didn’t you like it?” Tim stroked her hair with gentle fingers.

“I loved every minute of it.” She took each of their hands in hers. “I love you.” She kissed their knuckles in turn, loving the confused expressions on their identical faces. “I’m crying because my heart is overflowing with happiness. I’m overloading on joy.” She sat up and the tears flowed even more freely as Rafe supported her on one side, Tim on the other. “I never dreamed I’d have love like this in my life.”

“Neither did we,” Rafe said softly, stroking her thigh almost absently with one large hand.

“I’d given up on it completely,” Tim admitted, shocking her gaze up to his. “But then I met you. Allie.” His hand stroked her cheek as his head dipped. “I do love you.”

He kissed her then, long and deep, warming her from the inside out.

When he released her, he passed her comfortably into Rafe’s arms for a similar salute. Rafe’s tongue probed and prodded at hers in a sensual, almost lazy way that comforted as well as aroused.

“I love you, baby,” Rafe said as he released her.

Tim took over then, tucking her in between them as they all lay back on the big bed, exhausted from the energetic sex and emotional revelations of the morning.

“How are you feeling, Rafe?” Allie worried again, now that the overwhelming arousal had been sated.

“Better than new. Between the healing and our joining, I’m a new were wolf entirely.” He scratched at his healing chest. “An exhausted were wolf, but a happy one. I’ve got my mate joined to me now and no one will ever part us.”

Tim’s voice sounded from her other side. “That’s what the joining is all about. Now that we’ve had our teeth in your skin, your blood in our mouths, your essence merging with ours, we can never lose you. You bear our mark and our scent and on a deeper level, we’re joined soul to soul. Or so the priestesses say.”

“I felt that,” she remembered with a bit of awe. “When you bit me, when we all…when we came,” she felt her cheeks heat with the memory,

“I felt our souls bond. It was so beautiful.”

“No more beautiful than you, my Allie,” Rafe whispered as he stroked the last of the tears from her cheeks, lying on his side looking at her. As she lay on her back, both brothers flanked her, propped up on their elbows, just watching her.

Tim bent to examine the bite marks on her neck. They were tender, but not painful, surprisingly.

“You’re already almost healed.” Tim’s voice rang with satisfaction.

“When we bit you, some of our abilities transferred. Over the next few days, they’ll begin to manifest.”

“I won’t become a were wolf, will I?” She was only half joking. All those old movies she’d seen as a kid said the bite of a were wolf would turn you into one yourself.

Rafe chuckled. “Only if we’re really lucky. But most likely you’ll just notice you heal quicker. Maybe your senses will sharpen a bit. You might notice scents more strongly or be able to see farther or in darker surroundings than before. Maybe all of the above.”

“Don’t you know for sure what to expect?”

Tim sighed. “Not really. Our kind don’t mate with humans very often.

Each case is different, and being that you’re already half-were and half mage, we can’t really say what will happen.”

“But we’ll be with you through it all,” Rafe promised. “If you find you can suddenly shift, we’ll help you through it, even if you do turn into a cat.” The disgust in his voice as he said that last word was something he couldn’t quite hide and she had to laugh.

The idea of being able to shift both appealed to her and scared her half to death. It was such an awesome thought! But she was mated to were wolves. Her ancestry was cougar. If she did gain the ability to shift, would she turn into a big cat? And how would that work if her mates were wolves?

“Don’t worry about it now, Allie. It’ll all work out,” Rafe promised her, dipping to place a kiss on her hair.

“I hope you’re right.” She lay back and closed her eyes, letting the satiated weariness take her into the land of dreams.

The sorcerer Vabian licked his wounds, employing some of his magic to speed the healing of his broken arm. The vampire would pay, he vowed. How dare he turn on Patrick Vabian? Dante d’Angleterre didn’t know who he’d messed with, but he would find out.

In the meantime, Vabian did careful reconnaissance. He knew if the young priestess were here, the old one wouldn’t be far behind. If he couldn’t get to the young one right away, he might yet be able to pull off a coup by killing the hag. Then he would gain the power he so desperately wanted among the Venifucus.

Vabian’s chance came later that day when he caught the old woman coming out of the local grocery store. She was alone, though she usually

had company of one sort or another. This time though, she was blessedly alone for at least a few minutes.

Vabian made his move. Stalking the older woman quietly, using advanced magic to hide his presence, he came right up to her in the crowded parking lot behind the store.

“Stop right there, witch.” His voice cut through the silence, stilling the woman’s steps as she turned to face him.

Funny, she looked younger than he’d thought she’d be. All the data he could find on her in the Venifucus records—which admittedly wasn’t much—indicated she’d been active as a priestess for quite a number of years.

“What did you call me?”

“I know what you are. Priestess, witch, it’s all the same. And you’ll die all the same.”

The woman laughed, hurting his ears with her tinkling trill. She made him angry too, with her disrespect, but he would show her.

Calling on his magic, he launched a preliminary fireball at her, just to test her shields. Stronger than he’d expected, his energies rolled off and away from her. Away from him too, as she shrewdly directed the power away from them both, back down into the earth.

“Think you’re smart, huh?” Vabian launched his next attack, a piercing stab of energy that he was happy to see, weakened her shields considerably, causing the woman to jump back as his energy burned her just slightly.

“Now you’ve done it,” she said, balling her little fists. She really was a tiny thing, he mused, not much to look at to wield so much power. “I warn you now, boy. Turn around and go home. Leave me and my people alone. The were and those who serve the Lady are in no danger from the likes of you. Leave us be and we might be persuaded to let you live.”

“You talk tough for an old broad.”

“Oh, no need to be insulting. You wouldn’t want to make me angry.”

“Why not? You priestesses are all bark and no bite.”

“I may not bite,” she had the audacity to chuckle, “buy my protectors will, when they learn what you’ve done.”

“They’re not very good protectors if I managed to get you alone.” The woman sighed dramatically, annoying him. He realized in that moment she was stalling him for some reason—probably hoping those

“protectors” of hers would come save her skinny little ass. Patrick Vabian wouldn’t fall for that!

“Enough talk, witch. Prepare to die.”

She laughed in his face, pissing him off. “Now that’s rich. What are you going to do? Talk me to death?”

“No, witch. I have better plans.” Pulling the silver blade he’d prepared specially for this task, he pointed it at the witch, satisfaction running through him as he watched her face pale.

This was the blade that had already tasted both were and vampire blood. This was the blade that he’d consecrated to the darkness, the Venifucus and the Priori. This was the blade that could harness and direct enough power to kill even a High Priestess.

He called his dark energies to him, funneling them into the blade and outward to slice a ragged path through her gossamer shields. She fell to the ground moments later as he laughed, drunk with the power this special blade gave him. The glory of the Priori would soon be his. He could taste it!

A noise from across the lot alerted him. Humans were coming around to claim their cars and he had to go. Pity, though. He would have liked to watch the woman die, but with such a wound as he’d just dealt, it wouldn’t be long before she breathed her last. Vabian turned and walked away as if nothing of any importance had just occurred, while inside he crowed in triumph.

Mark Beauchamps, one of Betina’s were coyote protectors found her in the parking lot when she failed to meet them at the prearranged time.

She’d asked for some private time and he’d grudgingly agreed, though he’d watched her from across the street as she went into the local grocer, shopped, and then left the store. His partner was supposed to watch for her car. Only she never drove out of the parking lot.

She was out of their direct view for only about five minutes, but apparently that’s all it took. Sending up the alarm when she didn’t reappear in a reasonable time from behind the store, the were coyotes ran back there to check on her. They found her on the ground, near death from a gaping slice to her abdomen. Mark got on his cell phone, mobilizing the pack and alerting the prime alphas, Tim and Rafe, immediately.

Signaling for his partner to bring their truck around, Mark lifted Betina carefully into his arms, suppressing the need to howl out his rage and sorrow. He’d done this. He’d allowed it to happen and blood would be spilled to avenge this wrong. He vowed it with every fiber of his being.

How he ached to follow the faint trail left by her attacker that very moment!

But for now he had to do all he could to save Betina’s precious life.

Healing her was beyond his meager skills, but perhaps the young priestess could do something. As the truck squealed to a halt in front of him, Mark climbed gingerly into the wide extended cab, cradling Betina’s fragile body with his, holding her securely while his partner drove the distance to the prime alphas’ home up the mountain. That’s where the young priestess was.