Shane: Dragon’s Savior – Ménage Erotic Fantasy (Dragon's Savior Book 4) (5 page)

There you go again. How can an establishment not be welcoming? By their very nature, they are supposed to make you feel as if you need to enter. They nearly lay down to welcome you into their establishment.
Lelani told him to hush.
You know what I say is true. But you must tell me, why does that man stare at you as if you are an all-day sucker and he has to have a lick?

Apt description.
He laughed with her, then stiffened, his fur on end as he stood up.
What is it? What do you feel? Roger, what is it?

Dragon.
She wanted to tell him that there were several in the room with them, but she felt it too. Standing up to stand beside him, the fur on his body stiff with so many emotions that she didn’t know which one to grasp, she drew magic around her and waited. The man standing in front of her suddenly startled her to whimper.

“Don’t hurt him.” She nodded, not sure how he knew what she’d been about to do, but watched him. “His name is Silco. He and his mate, Yviene, have come to pay homage to the new princess. Take the magic down and I’ll let you go.”

He’d been touching her; his hands weren’t gripping her hard, but they held her firmly. When she backed from him, thinking to fall into the chair, her body was pressed tightly against another one behind her. Another male, this one a dragon. She didn’t turn to him, but stood as still as she could when they both stepped closer, enclosing her between them and their heat. Her heart began beating so hard that she was sure they could feel it; they were that close. And when she put up her hands to push them away, he grabbed her hands in his and held them to his chest.

“Is she? Keion, is it her?” The man behind her might have answered the one in front of her, but she had no clue. When hands touched her again, rubbing her arms, her back, it was all she could do not to beg them to touch her more, to touch her in places they were missing. “My name is Shane Benson. The man behind you is Keion, my other half. A dragon.”

“I know what he is. I need to breathe. Back up.” Neither of them moved, but she tried again. “Please, you’re too close. I’m not used to people touching me, standing this close to me. It’s too much right now. I like to be alone.”

“You’re our mate. I’m sure you know what that means.” She nodded, then shook her head. “I see. About the way I feel right now. I want you in my life, in our lives, but we’re not sure what to do to make you feel welcome.”

“You can start by letting me go. I only came to see why my sister hated me so much.” They didn’t move, not that she thought they would, but she was starting to panic, her body burning to be free. She felt trapped, buried alive and drowning all at the same time. “You have to back up. I can’t…you’re too close.”

Roger was there, snarling at them, but she was beginning to panic; a meltdown was coming. Tearing from both men, she ran through the big house and to the front door. She made her way to the yard and fell to the ground, even as her magic overpowered her. She wasn’t able to hold onto it any longer, and when she released it, not if but when, there was going to be trouble.

“Breathe.” Lelani jerked from the woman who grabbed her chin. “I said to breathe. In your nose and out of your mouth. Do it damn it, before I have to knock you out to help you control it.”

“I can’t.” The woman said that she could and she would. Lelani tried to breathe, bringing in the air that smelled of the two men. Closing her eyes, she tried to level out, to make things better, but the woman laughed. “This isn’t fucking funny.”

“It is from where I am. Keep breathing, and I might not have to get myself hurt by knocking you on your ass. You should have more control over yourself. You’re too old to be like this. What happened in there that put you to this point? Did those two say something to you? Did they hurt you?” Lelani told her to fuck off. “Yes, that’s good. Focus yourself on anger and not on whatever it is that took you under.”

As her breathing leveled out, so did her heartrate. She was still stressed by it all…the men, the crowd, her sister. It was too much in too little time. Lelani looked up at the woman she’d seen in the house with one of the other men. A witch. A strong one, but a witch all the same.

“There are too many of them. I’m not used to being around so…well, anyone but Roger. It was just too much.” The woman said something like there are more, but Lelani thought she might not want to know for sure. “This was a mistake. I shouldn’t have come here.”

“I doubt that. But I would like to thank you for bringing Essie’s baby into the world. The rest of us were with Lindsey and we hadn’t any idea. It’s my fault that they couldn’t get in touch with us. We were so focused on her that I sort of shut out the rest of the world for a little while. But I’m to understand that you got it done, and without killing anyone too.” Lelani sat down now and so did the woman. “Ariannona Benson; my mates are Elam and Casdon. You’d be Lelani Wayne. And from the way that Shane was acting, I’d say you’re his and Keion’s mate.”

“No, I’m sure you’re all mistaken. Maybe my sister might have been, but not me. I’m not the sort that people mate with.”

Ariannona asked her why not. But before she could come up with a reason, even one that made sense to her, Roger came and sat beside her. Rubbing her fingers through his fur, she felt herself calm down more by just having him close. She looked at the beautiful woman who was leaning back on her hands regarding her. When she smiled, Lelani had a feeling that things were not going to be as easy as she had hoped.

“I remember you. Not you really, but your family. Your mom, if you don’t mind me saying so, was a flake.” Lelani didn’t say anything. It was the truth, so why try to make her out to be something that she wasn’t? “I also remember your sister, Erin. I often wondered why the king and queen had given her what they had, but then today, after meeting you, I think I understand what they did. You’re not a thing like her, are you? Thank goodness.”

“What is it you think you understand?” When Roger stiffened, she looked to where he was looking. The men, all of them, were standing on the porch and staring at her. “My mother and sister lived near here. Not close, but within walking distance. I lived there as well, but not for long. I think I was about ten when I sort of gravitated out on my own. I knew about the Bensons as well. Never saw them; I don’t think I was ever.... My mother and sister saw them when they were younger. They would often come to the edge of the property here to get a look at them. They’d actually pack a luncheon to bring to sit here and watch them. Kind of creepy if you ask me, but then that was my mom. That’s what got her killed, not doing as she was supposed to, as she’d been warned to do. She was to stay where she was supposed to so that the magic would keep her safe.”

“She was burned at the stake when you were about…I would say about thirteen or so, right?” Lelani nodded and looked at the other woman. “You were the one that they gave the most magic to…you are aware of that, aren’t you?”

“Yes. After a time I was able to figure it out. I didn’t understand it then, and still don’t to this day. But I knew that was what had happened. It was a mistake that my family never let me forget. Erin was the firstborn, she should have had it all, not part of it. I don’t think they knew about me, the king and queen anyway. At least that’s what my mother always thought. I think.... I think that is why she never cared for me. I was a mistake, and the king and queen would never have approved of my living and taking from my sister. Not that either of them were all that willing to give anything easily, but I survived, I guess.” Ariannona said nothing, but did look sad. It was the one thing that Lelani hated more than someone being fake…someone feeling sorry for her. Standing, she decided that it wasn’t worth finding out about her sister’s hatred for her. “I should be going. As I said, this was a mistake.”

Ariannona didn’t move but did look up at her. There was that smile again, sort of a cross between I know something you don’t and you’re in deep shit. It was a feeling that she’d had for the greater part of her life. And the main reason she was alone a great deal.

“You have a mark, don’t you? A dragon on some part of your body that you have tried to hide all your life.” Lelani looked at the man on the deck, Shane he’d said his name was, then back at the witch. “And the closer you got to here, the larger it got…might even be in color now. Mine is. And so is Keion’s. I would imagine that when they touched you, the two of them up there, things in your body started to go a little nuts. Right?”

“Yes, but I have no idea what it means if you’re going to ask me. I thought that it was there as a spell. A protection spell that the king and queen gave me that was meant for me to have because Erin was to get the magic. She wasn’t marked that I know of. I’m sure that had she been, then my mom would have crowed about that as well. I think something happened and I messed with their plans, whatever those might have been. As I said, I was a mistake.” Shane stood up now, having been seated on the steps. As he made his way to her, she backed up. Keion moved toward her with him, and she felt her body tense up again. But she felt it was important that the witch knew what she felt. “Erin and I didn’t see each other a lot over the last few hundred years. I heard about her, but didn’t have a lot of contact; not that she would have allowed it. She would tell anyone she knew that she had been chosen by the royal family. Chosen as what? Who knows? I’m pretty sure that’s what got her into trouble. That and her inability to stay low.”

Keion was standing with them now. Ariannona had stood up as well. They looked like friends, she supposed, embarking on some adventure together to have some fun. But they were anything but that; she wasn’t even sure that she liked them yet. Lelani didn’t have any friends. She’d been without them for too long to know how to have fun with these people.

“She didn’t have one. A mark, I mean.” Now Lelani looked at Kiaran when he spoke. “She sent me her thoughts, memories, and magic, so I know just about every detail of her life. She had a little magic, so you know. Not nearly as much as you, but there was no mark on her. Not from my parents at least. She’d had a tat put on when she was about fourteen, but it was painful for her so it was never finished. But she knew about yours. Her tattoo would have been pretty, colorful, and well done, but it wasn’t put on her by magic, and she certainly didn’t have the power that you have, as I said. I think, as do the rest of us, that you were meant to have it all.”

“No, I wasn’t born first.” The other man, Essie’s mate and holder of the dragon, Asher, asked her what that had to do with it. “You’re king, king of the dragons, right? And the firstborn. Do you suppose that you’re king simply because you’re stronger? Braver? Or that simply because, as I said, you’re firstborn?”

Asher, clearly embarrassed, said he had no idea how that would have worked had he been second or last, but it did. He nodded to the others, Kiaran and Ariannona, and they all three moved away from her. She nearly turned to leave, thinking that she’d had enough, when she was boxed in again. She found that Roger, too, had left her when she looked for him to help her. Her mates; she knew as well as they did what she was to them.

Shane was standing too close again, and so was his other half. She knew what they were, how they were one person when need be. It was all her mother had spoken of when she’d come back from her trips to see them. When Keion touched his fingers to her arm, Lelani felt her sigil burn, not painfully, but like it needed to be touched. Like all of her needed to be touched.

“Do you have any idea how long we’ve waited for you? How we’ve thought of you coming to us? Since the others have gotten their mates, it’s been all we’ve talked about. It was scary, I will admit that much to you, but we were excited as well.” Keion moved closer, and Shane, now at her back, was touching her as well. Keion touched his mouth to her throat as he continued. “The two of us, we’ll take very good care of you if you’ll let us. You will, won’t you, Lelani? We’ll share you too, with each other, whenever you’ll have us.”

“I don’t want you, either of you.” Even to her own ears, it sounded breathless, like whatever words spilled from her mouth were in direct contrast to how she really felt. “I’m not what you think I am. I’m rude and mean. I don’t like people, and I hate being confined. You’re touching me again.”

“We are. I think you’re enjoying it too, aren’t you? How do you feel with us touching you? Overheated? I am…hard. I bet that your nipples are as hard as stones right now.” She felt wonderful, like she was being pressed between two very warm blankets. But they were missing the point. She wasn’t their mate. When Shane rocked into her ass she wanted to moan, and only just caught herself from doing so. “Can you feel how hard I am to take you? To lay you out on our bed and feast on every part of you? I can smell you.”

“Don’t do this.” But she had a feeling it was much too late for that now. When one of them picked her up—she wasn’t sure who because they were both touching her, tugging and pulling at her clothing—she felt the cock between her legs, the hands at her breasts. And when Keion—she knew it was him because of the heat billowing off him—when he kissed her neck, then her breast, she came.

It was a short powerful punch to her system, nothing at all like she’d ever felt before during sex. It was as if they were teaching her things, making her feel…well, feel everything. Lelani felt it everywhere…her head, her eyes, even her toes seemed to have been touched by it. But it wasn’t enough. Need clawed at her, made her hurt with it, and she started pulling at their clothing too.

The softness of the bed beneath her made her realize that they’d moved to a bedroom, in a home that she’d not been in before. Her clothing was gone, she wasn’t sure when that had happened, but the men were naked as well, their bodies hard—and Christ, were they hard—as they stood over her and fisted their cocks. Neither of them moved; she was sure they were waiting on her to…Lelani wasn’t sure what they were wanting her to do. But when she licked her lips, thinking of tasting them, Keion moved closer to the bed and she sat up.