The Alpha's Onyx & Fire (11 page)

She could tell Leontis was trying to hide his grin, obviously knowing it would only serve to find him in more trouble. Wise man.

“Are my mates enjoying themselves?”

Sage unexpected whisper near her ear caused Tessa to squeak. Damn cat was too stealthy. “Oh, we’re something all right.”

Leontis cleared his throat. “We, ah...might have forgotten to mention a certain prophesy to our mate.”

“Oh shit.”

“Oh shit, is right,” she muttered.

Chapter Nine

Sage fumbled for words at the furious look on Tessa’s face. “I honestly wasn’t keeping it from you.”

“You know, that might mean more if I actually knew what
‘it’
is.”

He shared a look with Leontis, then sighed. Moving around the chairs, he planted himself on his knees in front of his mates. Reaching out, he laced his fingers in each of their hands.

“The prophesy is one that was spoken of centuries ago. It states when the last family of White Tigers find their mates, their children will become more powerful than anything the world has seen. They will protect the earth from an ultimate evil, which lays in rest.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me this?” she hissed. “Christ, Sage. We haven’t exactly been the poster kids for
safe
lately.”

He paled a little.
Damn, she was right
.

“Seems you’ve been a little distracted lately, Alpha.”

The familiar and censored chuckle had Sage trying to tamper down a blush, his gaze shooting to Ruth’s.

Clearing his throat, he stood. “Ruth. You finally made it. I was beginning to worry.”

Ruth waved his concerns away. “You know very well I can handle myself, boy. So, I hear you have a few questions, starting with your new mate.”

“Ah yeah, like why I smell different?” Tessa muttered. “No one can seem to answer that.”

Ruth gave Sage a droll stare, “Honestly, you tigers are a bit dense sometimes.”

Sage bristled. “What is she, Ruth?”

The older woman studied Tessa, and Sage could feel his mate fidget. “I’m not exactly sure, I can’t quite seem to get a lock on her.”

There was something about the way Ruth said that, that didn’t sit right with him. He felt the seer knew more than she was letting on. “What does that mean?”

“It means whatever she is, is not unlocked yet.”

He frowned. “Like Evan?”

Even as he said it though, it didn’t seem right.

“Not quite. Whatever she is cannot be unlocked by mating like Evan’s, but by something greater.”

“What the hell is greater than mating?” Sage asked incredulously.

Ruth sent him a curious look. “You will see.”

Crap
. He really didn’t like it when Ruth went all cryptic on him. Things never ended well.

*****

Tessa was still struggling with the revelations Ruth dumped on them an hour or so ago. Needing space, she excused herself from her mates and made her way over to get a drink. The night air was cool, the breeze washing over her as she attempted to steady her breathing.

Everything felt like it was spinning out of control.

She flicked her gaze over to the small granny flat her siblings were in. Chase had offered to help look after the kids while Tessa mingled with the Pride. As the Alpha’s mate, it was expected for her to attend, even if things were still new.

A snigger off to her left caught her attention, a niggling feeling crept over her when Tessa saw a small group of people eyeing her off. The looks she received weren’t exactly pleasant, which just served to rattle her more. Tempted to turn back and find Sage, Tessa steeled herself. No. She wouldn’t allow anyone to make her feel uncomfortable.

Reaching for the nearest unused cup, Tessa let out a startled sound when the jug of juice was abruptly yanked out of her hand. “What the hell?”

“What the hell, is right,” spat the woman in front of her.

“Excuse me?” Tessa gaped. “Is there a problem?”

Surely these people wouldn’t think of attacking her? She was the Alpha’s mate. Tessa didn’t know much about Pride law, but she was fairly certain that was a no-no.

The rude woman, shifter, gave an exaggerated sniff. “Christ. She smells like prey, like a bird.”

A tall man with green eyes and a number of tattoos behind her chuckled, “Cats eat birds.”

“This isn’t funny, Travis. How is that a good fit for an alpha mate?” another dangerous looking man snarled, hands formed into fists.

By that point Tessa had been surrounded. She didn’t know how many there were, enough that her view was completely blocked off from the rest of the gathering.

“Bricker is right. How is she supposed to help produce the prophesy children?”

Bricker, the dangerous looking one, let out another growl. “Christ, it’s bad enough the other is a guy, but at least he is a lion. A fucking black one too. What is she? A diluted bird who can’t even shift to fly away from the big bad putty cats?”

Tessa’s pulse beat frantically when Bricker reached for her, his fingers digging into her arm hard enough to hurt. They clearly were not impressed with her and seemed to be of the mind to do something about it. Their actions contradicted everything Tessa had been told about Prides and Packs.

“What the fuck?” the snarl was abrupt and almost savage.

Tessa turned her gaze to Leontis, claws already extended and vicious sharp looking canines protruding.

“Back the fuck away from my mate now, before I tear you limb from limb.”

“You against all of us? All right then,” Bricker taunted, looking as though he were about to shift.

“Oh, you really are stupid, aren’t you?” Leontis ground out, before slowly stepping to the side. Tessa gasped. In the distance she could see an enormous, familiar White Tiger darting toward them, a low rumbling sound coming from the animal's chest. Sage.

Most of the little bunch that had closed her in made a run for it, though Tessa notice the one called Bricker idiotically stood his ground. As if he somehow thought he had the ability to take on the Alpha himself.

Everything happened within the blink of an eye. She watched in detached horror as Sage took Bricker down before he had even had the chance to shift. Jaw clamped on the prick who had been tormenting her, Tessa could see Sage’s sharp teeth digging in and piercing the skin.

“Sage?”

Leontis thrust out his arm, dragging her to him and effectively stopping her from moving forward. “Don’t,” he whispered into her ear. “The bastard was threatening his mate. He is Alpha. He can’t let that go.”

“So what do we do?” she asked bewilderedly.

“Come with me.” Leontis ushered her away even as a crowd began to gather. Summer stopped them briefly, as did Veronica to make sure she was okay, but Leontis barely gave them a chance. In fact, her mate didn’t stop until they were not only safely inside Sage’s home, but had made their way down the hall, into the main bedroom. Leontis situated her on the bed before heading toward the bathroom.

The sound of water running hit her ears and then Leontis return, washcloth in hand. Tessa frowned when Leontis moved to sit next to her, lifting her arm. Only then did she notice the small mark littering her skin where Bricker had held her too hard, obviously having broken the skin.

“Ouch,” she winced as Leontis dabbed the area. “Why is it things don’t hurt until you see them?”

Her mate didn’t answer, his sole focus seem to be in the tiny marks. Tessa jumped when she heard more snarls and growls before a small, pathetic whimper filtered through the air.

“Was that…”

“Don’t.”

“You keep saying that.”

“Because you don’t need to think about it.” Tessa’s eyes zeroed in on Sage. The Alpha leaned casually against the door frame in a pair of sweats as if nothing were the matter. She knew though, could see the fire burning in his gaze, the tension running through his body.

She stood, beckoning him forward. “Come here. See, I’m okay. Just come here.”

Sage pushed of the wood and walked, no prowled, to her. Her breathing kicked up a notch when he dropped to his knees in front of her, undoing her jeans and easily pulling them down. She automatically lifted each foot, allowing him to remove the denim. Leontis follow suit, relieving her of her shirt as Sage slid his hand underneath her underwear and between her legs. “Open up, sweetheart.”

Her nipples hardened as Leontis pushed her bra aside and freed her breasts. He tweaked them, making her cry out. With a wicked smirk, Leontis bent and took one into his mouth. She whimpered again as his tongue danced from one nipple to the other.

Her clit started to throb even harder as Sage’s fingers found it and started massaging the sensitive muscles. She clenched her thighs, trying to capture his hand and keep it there. She gasped as Sage used the ball of his hand on her clit and thrust fingers inside her pussy. Her body heated even more as she reached forward and grabbed a hold of Leontis’s shoulder for support.

Every part of her body hummed. They were owning her, claiming the very last part of her she had held onto.

Leontis pinned her with his golden eyes. “You’re ours, Tessa. No more leaving in the middle of the night, sneaking in once the kids have gone to school. You’re our mate, we love you and are never letting you go. Admit it. You love us too.”

Oh God!

She couldn’t deny it anymore, didn’t want to. “Yes. Yes, I love you both.”

She gasped as Sage thrust his fingers in, then out, quickening his movement. “Marry me!”

Both men paused their movements and Tessa wanted to growl.

“What?” Sage sounded as shocked as Leontis looked.

Tessa growled. “Seriously? You claim me, talk about forever and love, and yet freak out when I ask you to marry me?”

“Ah, no?” Leontis appeared unsure how to answer her. Her expression must have indicated how very wrong that answer was and he corrected himself. “Of course we want to marry you. If that’s what you want. We’ve claimed you, to us as shifters, we are more than married now, but I get it. We get it. And yes.”

“Sage?”

“Yes,” Sage’s voice was rough, deep. “God, yes. I’ll take you any and every way I can get you.”

She sighed. “Great. Wedding plans later. Sex now.”

“Bossy,” Sage muttered as he went back to his ministrations.

She cried out in pleasure unable and unwilling to hold back. “Please.”

“Please what, honey?”

“Please, fuck me.”

He tangled his hands in her hair, tugging her head to expose her neck. Leaning in, he nipped at her delicate skin. “Oh, we plan to.”

“Now!”

He smiled, pleased at her shout. “Not yet.”

A hard tug from Sage and her panties tore away. His tongue pressed against her clit stole the strength from her legs. She cried out again, on the verge of a climax. He sucked on her, tugging her clit into his mouth as he continued to plunge his fingers into her. Her walls clamped around his digits.

She’d wanted them. So bad. Maybe she hadn’t fully realized it at first, but now she understood. They wanted to own her, but they wanted her to own them as well. She was theirs and they were hers equally.

In desperation, she reached out to Leontis, taking his long, dreadlocked hair and trying to pull his mouth back to her nipples. He took one inside, then reached around her to skim his hand along her butt cheek. She tensed, never having had a man from behind.

“Relax, honey. I know you’re not ready for that. We need to work up to it.”

She let out a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t want them both like that, Tessa just wasn’t sure if she was ready.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. We have you.” Sage kept his eyes pinned on her as he moved his fingers between her arse cheeks then down to tease her hole. She flinched when he ran his fingers around the puckered entrance, but the more he did it, the easier it was to relax.

“That’s it. Take it easy. I’m not going to do anything you can’t handle.”

She didn’t care what he did to her just as long as he didn’t take his hands away. Her body trembled.

She whimpered when Sage pulled his fingers from her and she suddenly felt her body being nudged, her feet stumbling. The bed. Before she could work out what her men had in mind, Sage was spinning her around forcing the top half of her body onto the bed. Leontis climbed up, settling in front of her. She blinked up in confusion at the sight of his naked form.

When the hell had he taken off his clothes?

Within seconds all thought left her as Leontis cupped the back of her neck, bringing her mouth to his cock. Just as Leontis nudged at her lips, she felt Sage slowly enter her from behind. She moaned, taking Leontis in further.

“Yeah,” Leontis grunted. “That’s it, honey.”

They worked in tandem, both taking her in a way she had never been before. Sage thrust hard into her, pushing her toward Leontis. One of his hands clamped firmly onto her hip, while the other trailed over the top of her arse and sliding down in between her cheeks. Her pleasure began to spiral, Tessa lost herself in the enormous feeling of completion being with these two men.

The closer Sage’s fingers drew to her back entrance, the louder her whimpers grew. God, she wanted it.

Leontis chuckled. “Sage, put her out of her misery.”

Sage groaned. When his finger slipped just inside of her, her body reacted, exploding with her climax. She sobbed out her release, feeling them lose themselves in her. Drinking down as much as she could of Leontis, Tessa’s body milked Sage. When they were spent, Tessa collapsed to the bed, panting heavily. Peeking up at her mates above her, she couldn't contain her moan as Sage leaned over her, claiming Leontis’s mouth thoroughly.

“I think she likes that,” Sage chuckled.

Tessa made a noncommittal noise, feeling herself drift off.

“Sleep, sweetheart. We can take care of everything else later,” Sage reassured her. “Including the wedding plans.”

Later. She was all for later.

Chapter Ten

Sage and Leontis walked Tessa back to the granny flat sometime later. Sage had called Chase to check in on the kids and he knew everything was running fine, but the moment Tessa had opened her eyes, she had needed to see them.