Rated: X-mas: Twice Blessed (7 page)

Another growl, this time at her crotch. Jenny looked down. As she watched, Damien’s face broadened, his nose lengthening into a muzzle, fur sprouting from his skin. His tongue thickened and became rough, rasping against her labia as he drank her juices. Her pussy spasmed in excitement. Damien nuzzled her roughly, running his tongue between her cheeks, licking from her anus back up to her pussy. His hands, where they rested on the seat, seemed to spread out, becoming great, hairy paws tipped by five-inch claws that tore into the leather.

A howl sounded behind her. Damien raised his head and backed away. Jenny sat up, turning to discover Devlin, fully transformed, sitting on his haunches, muzzle raised to the sky.

Jenny stepped out of the truck and knelt between his forelegs, wrapping her hands around his furry cock. She stroked him, hard and fast. When the sheath began to move, the first hint of red flesh glimmering in the moonlight, she stood and turned, presenting herself to him, bracing against the truck seat.

The truck shivered as his broad paws pressed down on the running board. She could see Damien sitting just outside the other door, panting as he watched. And then heat invaded her once more, as Devlin plumbed her pussy with his slick, rippling cock, and she shuddered, losing herself in the feel of him as he plunged into her again and again, his breath hot on her back. Then she felt the knot swelling at the base of his penis, and shivered in anticipation of his release. His essence flowed, hot seed spilling into her. Jenny arched, pleasure sparking through her again and again as his cock pulsed within.

Rated: X-mas: Twice Blessed

49

Slowly, the swelling abated and his member retracted. The truck shuddered as Dev’s paws dropped heavily to the ground. Jenny shivered, closing her eyes and spreading her legs as his snout pressed between them, his warm tongue lapping at their mingled juices. She moaned, pressing into his touch, her pussy throbbing. Devlin gave her one last lick, then trotted around the truck.

Jenny followed. Devlin flattened an area of snow with his paws, then lay on his side, panting. Damien watched Jenny, blue eyes gleaming in the moonlight. She moved before him, and would have knelt and taken his cock between her hands, but he backed away, shaking his great head.

Puzzled, she reached out to him. “Damien, please. I want to have both of you inside me tonight.” She heard Devlin move behind her, but she only had eyes for Damien.

Damien hesitated, nose quivering. Jenny felt the moisture between her legs, and knew he scented her arousal. “Please. I need to feel you.” She took a step forward. “Ride me, Damien,” she whispered huskily.

Jenny blinked as, without warning, Damien leapt. But suddenly, Devlin was there, standing between them, and Damien stopped short.

“Dev!”

Damien growled, a low, basso rumble that made Jenny’s teeth ache. Devlin held his ground, facing Damien. His head was lowered as though in submission, but he snarled back at Damien.

Damien lunged, snapping at Devlin’s neck, but the smaller wolf dodged away, then flowed back, keeping himself between her and his brother. Damien’s eyes narrowed, and he snarled, baring his fangs.

“No.” Jenny pushed past Devlin. “Don’t do this.” She turned her back to Damien, looking into Devlin’s eyes. “I want this, Devlin. Why are you --”

50 Rachel Bo

Damien’s paws hit her back, driving her to the ground, knocking the breath from her.

She rolled over. Damien was straddling her, facing Devlin, the both of them snarling and snapping at each other. “D-Damien?” she stammered. She could hardly hear herself over the noise.

He must have heard, however, because he looked down at her, and his eyes widened.

He stared for a moment, then whimpered, backing away. Devlin stepped forward, planting his paws to either side of her waist, still snapping at his brother.

Damien hung his head. He began to change -- his great bulk diminishing, skin replacing fur -- until he knelt before them. A man, one arm braced against the ground.

Dev subsided, backing away, reclining on the ground again, but with his head up -- alert, watching Damien closely. Jenny pushed herself into a sitting position. “Damien?”

He moved quickly, full of the same liquid grace she admired in the wolf. His strong hands grasped her arms, raising her to her feet. He wrapped her in his arms and held her close.

She caressed his head where it rested on her shoulder. “What’s wrong? What just happened?”

Damien took her hands in his and settled to the ground alongside Devlin, drawing Jenny down with him. Dev curled around them.

“We have to talk,” Damien said.

She nodded, eyes searching his face.

“Forget everything you think you know about weyrwolves,” he said. The way he pronounced it was funny, not the way she’d always heard it. “We’ve been around for centuries, all over the world, and we’re part of the land, in a way no other living creature is.

Each weyr line is Bound to a particular tract of land. Bound to watch over it, to increase it if they can. But always to protect that land from those who would spoil it.”

Rated: X-mas: Twice Blessed

51

He leaned against Devlin’s flank, beckoning Jenny into the crook of his arm, and she settled in beside him. She felt Damien’s nose in her hair, heard him breathing in her scent.

Then he sighed. “You have to make a decision, Jenny.” He ran a hand through his hair. “If you were a normal female ... but you’re not.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember what you told us when we met? The first time.”

“You mean, when I said I’d marry you if you could catch me?” Jenny gazed up at the stars. “Is that what you’re asking, Damien? For me to marry you?”

Damien grunted in frustration. “I’m not doing this very well. It’s more complicated than that.”

Devlin’s head rested on his huge paws, his eyes half-lidded, but Jenny could tell he was listening very closely. She wondered what he thought about this proposal. Was he jealous?

“We’re not human, Jenny. Don’t think for a moment that we are, just because we resemble humans on the surface. We live by different rules.” He rubbed a hand through his hair again. “Okay. Weyr bear two kinds of young. One is a breeding pair. A set of male twins who will be Bound to that weyr’s land, and carry on when the alpha passes away.

“The other is a female. If a weyr female mates with a weyr male, all her offspring, of whichever sex, will be weyr. Able to shift, like we do.

“If a weyr female mates with a human, their children will appear normal. They won’t be Bound unless they mate with another weyr. But the Blood still flows in their veins. They aren’t able to shift, but they’re healthier, stronger, more in tune with the pulse of the earth.

Sometimes, they’re aware of their difference. Sometimes, they’re completely oblivious to it.”

Jenny shifted restlessly. “What does this have to do with me, Damien?”

His arm tightened around her shoulder. “You’re weyr, Jen.”

“What?” She sat up and stared at him.

“You’re weyr. The Blood runs in your veins.”

52 Rachel Bo

She shook her head. “That can’t be.” But even as she denied it, she felt a stirring inside.

“How can you know?”

Damien shrugged. “There’s more than one sign. We can smell it on you, for one thing.

And there’s a ... a pull. The Blood whispers, when you’re near.” He smiled. “We feel and hear so many things, Jen. Things that humans are blind to. I know a million things about you that you don’t know yourself. Like the fact that you’re ovulating right now.”

Jenny stared. What an odd thing to choose to tell her. “I’m ovulating.”

Damien nodded. “Yes.” He noticed her expression and tried to explain. “That’s why Dev and I have avoided having vaginal intercourse with you on the same night. Weyr reproduction is different from humans. Individually, our sperm can’t impregnate you -- they’re inert. But together, intermingled within your body, each acts as a catalyst for the other.” He leaned forward. “And it wouldn’t be a question of whether you would become pregnant, only what type of litter you would bear.”

He started to say more, but Jenny cut in. “So, you’re telling me that if I ever have sex with you both, that particular way, on the same night, I’ll definitely get pregnant.”

Damien nodded.

“What about using condoms?”

Devlin snorted, as Damien shook his head. Thinking back on their size, and the ferocity of their encounters, Jenny figured they were probably right. It wouldn’t work.

“Well, that’s all right. Dev was protecting me from getting pregnant. I can understand that.” Even as she said it, she felt a deep foreboding. Damien was working his way up to something big, but she couldn’t imagine what it could be. Devlin rubbed his cheek against her leg, looking up at her with compassionate eyes, as though he sensed her anxiety.

Damien’s next words confirmed her thoughts. “Jen, it’s not just that. Dev hasn’t shifted.

That’s because he’s still protecting you.”

Rated: X-mas: Twice Blessed

53

“From what? You?” She shook her head. “Quit beating around the bush, Damien. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“Dev and I want you. To make you ours. Forever.”

Jenny’s heart did a joyful flip, but she forced down the sudden elation. She barely knew these men, and they weren’t even human. “This is happening fast, Damien. Can’t we just keep seeing each other for a while? Get to know one another better, before we talk about making this kind of decision?”

“I wish we could.” Damien sighed. “If you were fully human, it would be easier. But you’re not. Weyr Blood has much of the beast in it, and the Blood in you speaks to us stronger each day. Devlin and I try to keep that part of us controlled, but it’s very difficult.

Especially since we’ve been looking for you for seven years.

“I meant it when I said there are no accidents. We were fated to meet, Jen. The three of us belong together.” He took her in his arms again, burying his face in her hair. “We never forgot you. Your voice. Your scent. We walked into that party and knew instantly that you were there. And when we saw you in the garden, and realized for the first time that you were of the Blood …” She felt him tremble slightly. “We almost Bound you, then and there.”

He drew back, looking into her eyes. “You have to understand. Devlin and I can Bind you to us whether you want it or not. And once made, this Bond is broken only by death.

But we love you. We want it to be your choice. But the longer we see you, the harder it gets.

Devlin was able to stop me tonight. He might not be able to next time. He might not even want to. That’s what he’s afraid of. That’s why he hasn’t Changed.” Damien’s gaze bore into hers, and the depth of the desire Jenny saw there sent a chill down her spine. “Because the danger hasn’t passed.”

“You’re the alpha, aren’t you?” she whispered. “That’s why it’s harder for you, isn’t it?”

Damien nodded. “The urge to Bind you, Jen, it’s --” He shuddered and turned his face away, as if to hide what she might see there.

54 Rachel Bo

Jenny felt a terrible fear building inside her -- not a fear of Damien, but of what he was trying to tell her. “What’s the bottom line, Damien?” she asked softly.

His voice was hoarse when he answered. “If you’re not willing to make this relationship a permanent one, we can’t see you any more.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Ever?”

Damien’s silence was her answer.

“When do you have to know?”

Jenny started shaking her head even before he said, “Tonight.” He caught her face between his hands. His eyes were full of pain, but his tone was determined. “We can’t take another chance. We love you. If Devlin and I ended up forcing the Bond on you, it would destroy us.”

She looked down. Saw her nakedness and suddenly felt very vulnerable. “I’d better get dressed.”

Damien let go reluctantly. Jenny stood and walked to the truck. While she was gathering her clothes, Damien reached behind the driver’s seat and pulled out a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt and tugged them on. Jenny dressed, her mind racing, while Damien gathered his and Dev’s torn clothes and stuffed them into a plastic bag.

How could she say yes? Her heart ached at the mere thought of turning them away, but how could she be sure this was love? She might have been dreaming about Devlin and Damien for seven years, but the reality was a whole new ball game. There were things stirring inside her, knowledge barely sensed over the years, and often repressed. The Blood was singing to her now, and she knew instinctively that the Bond was not just a different word the weyr used for marriage. The Bond was something much more complicated, an immense commitment and responsibility. Something so completely different from the plan she had envisioned for her life that she couldn’t take it in. Couldn’t accept it. Couldn’t submit to it.

Rated: X-mas: Twice Blessed

55

When she was dressed, she turned to face Damien. Devlin stood and shook himself, then padded over to sit beside his brother. Jenny had to swallow several times before she felt she could trust her voice not to betray her. “I’m sorry.” She stared at a point past their heads, unable to look them in the eye. If they saw how hard this was for her, she wasn’t sure what they might do. “I’m just ... I’m just not ready for this.”

Devlin’s claws dug into the ground, but Damien only nodded. “Okay.” His voice was neutral. Empty. “We’d better head back.” He swung up into the truck.

Jenny walked to the passenger side, blinking back tears. “What about Devlin?”

The vehicle shifted as Devlin jumped up and sprawled in the pickup’s bed.

Jenny climbed into the truck and shut the door.

The drive home felt like a wake. She felt a mixture of relief and dread as they pulled up in front of her parents’ home. Damien shifted the truck into neutral, staring straight ahead.

Jenny reached out to touch his arm, but drew back at the last moment. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right, Jenny.” Damien’s voice was raw with pain, and suddenly she wanted to beg him to Bind her. To promise him anything, if he would just make her his and Devlin’s forever. And that, more than anything, convinced her that she had made the right decision.