Breathing Her Air (3 page)

“And we would never ask you to. As our mate we will expect you to go everywhere we do and the clothes you are already so comfortable in will only make that easier on us all.” His voice was deeper and his expression seemed pained as he rubbed himself against her. “You are the perfect little warrior for us.
Strong and brave.”
At her startled look he gave another small laugh. “I can see the courage in your eyes.
Courage and so much more.”

Another body moved behind her and she found herself between them, encased, trapped, but somehow sheltered as well.

Drew’s voice was soft behind her. “Why were you and Vulcan alone in the woods? Do you travel that way often, little warrior?”

“No. I slipped away in the chaos after the prince’s body was discovered.” She leaned her head against
Sorran’s
chest and shuddered as she remembered the sight of her uncle broken and gone. But more than that sight was the sound of her aunt
Asme’s
grief ripping through the air. It was a sound that
Alea
had never before heard, a sound of grief that she prayed to the goddess she would never feel. It was as if her aunt had died with Prince Micah and the woman in her place had been filled with a fire that left even the strongest warriors backing away from her. Only her sons had knelt with her and joined her. Only they would have dared.

“You sought to find the trail of the killer,” Drew whispered above her and instead of the censure she expected, it sounded more like awe. “You are indeed the perfect mate for the prince’s men.” She was turned once again to face Drew and there was fire in his eyes, which were
a molten
silver at the moment. “Never again will you have to walk alone. Never again will you find yourself facing risk without us by your side.” His lips were warm against hers as he bent to her. It was just a gentle brush of flesh against flesh but it was wondrous to her. “You were meant for us and only us. We were meant for you and only you. Together we will be all that we are destined to be.”

His lips were a warm pressure on hers and she sighed when she felt his tongue lick across her bottom lip. He used that small gesture to slip inside her mouth and taste her everywhere. It was delicious and without thought she lifted her arms around his neck and held on. He tasted divine and she wanted more. With every swipe of his tongue, heat filled her body, her pulse raced, and the spot between her thighs grew lush and wet with her body’s desire.

Her top slipped from her to land at their feet and she barely registered that fact as
Sorran
took her breasts in his hands, cradling and caressing them with his palms and fingers. Her nipples were hard points and
Sorran
took them carefully between his thumb and fingers and pinched gently. Pleasure rocked through her body and she cried out into Drew’s kiss. This was what she had feared and run from?
This pleasure?
These men?
Perhaps in battle they were ruthless and barbaric but with her in this moment they were perfect.

Drew released her mouth and dropped to his knees before her.
Sorran
released a breast and Drew’s mouth wrapped the nipple in lush velvety warmth. It was the most wonderful thing she had ever felt. Ripples of heat seemed to trace a path from her nipple down to the spot between her legs and she could actually feel the folds of her pussy swell and widen. Drew sucked eagerly on her flesh, drawing more of her breast deep inside his mouth. His hands were at the ties of her pants and within moments he had them opened to his touch though he left the pants on.

Sorran
nudged her head back against him so that she could look up into his eyes. Where Drew’s were molten silver,
Sorran’s
were a metallic grey, reminding her of the weapon she knew would be used to place their seal of ownership on her lower abdomen. His hand continued to work her other breast, tugging and pulling at the nipple. His lips brushed softly against her temple, her cheek and finally her lips.

“There is no denying that we want you. You are a fire in our blood, a need that goes deeper than any we have ever known.” His lips tortured as well as enticed as he licked and nipped at hers, never quite giving her the deeper taste of him that she wanted. “Tell me that you are okay with this.” His voice was pleading, not demanding, and she knew in that moment that Willow had been right. Warriors could indeed be different with the woman they chose as mate. “Tell us that you want this as much as we do.”

“Yes,” she admitted and cried out when she felt the first swipe of Drew’s fingers between the folds of her cunt. “Yes, I want you.” It was more than she thought she would ever be able to say and mean. But she did mean it. She wanted them.

Drew’s mouth left her breast and he licked his way down over her abdomen as he used his hands to push her pants down and off.
Sorran
finally took her mouth and it was her first taste of uncontrolled passion. Where Drew had explored there still had been
a gentleness
in the act. With
Sorran
, all
pretense
was gone. He took, he claimed and ravaged. His tongue was an invader that conquered her with
every stoke
inside her mouth. His hands became just a little rougher on her breasts, the pinches harder on her nipples.

Then Drew’s tongue lapped at her folds, his hands pressed against her knees until her legs opened to admit his head. He used his fingers to spread her cunt wider and his tongue caressed every inch of her, swirling around and around her folds. His groan rumbled against her nub and she felt sparks fly inside her as if they were just waiting to drown her in the fiery pleasure she felt growing with each passing moment.

“You taste better than anything I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating,” he spoke against her flesh. “I want to dine here every night for the rest of my life.” And then he wrapped his lips around her nub and sucked gently on it. That small suckle shifted something inside her and the fire waiting in the wings was let loose. It burst inside her, traveling from her womb outward until there wasn’t an inch of her that wasn’t tingling with a newfound awareness. Her eyes closed and she relaxed further into
Sorran’s
strong presence behind her.

Hands lifted her and the sensation of floating consumed her. She heard the rustle of clothing, the splash of water and then she was passed from one strong warrior’s arms to another’s. And then she was floating for real, in the gentle sway of the pool within the safe arms of a man who would soon become her lover, her mate for life. Another splash and she felt her other mate join them. Felt him with her soul before she felt his hands against her skin. Four hands that soothed and enticed as they moved over every inch of her body, learning all her secret places and ticklish spots. These were the hands of her future.

“Open your eyes, little warrior. Open your eyes and show me your soul.” It was
Sorran
who spoke to her, his lips that caressed the skin of her shoulder, and she flicked her eyes open to see the smoldering hunger barely kept in check in his. “Show me your desire, your fire. I want everything you are. I want you inside me before I am ever inside you.”

It was a whisper against her skin, a promise between fledgling lovers. She reached for him, rising from her floating position in the water and straining to climb him in her need for his kiss. Hard hands gently helped her, cradling her ass and lifting her to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist and this time there was no fabric between them. It was warm flesh against warm flesh. Her nipples rubbed against his chest, his erection pulsed against her stomach and the hard strength no longer threatened her. Now she was eager to feel it inside her though she still wondered at her ability to accept him fully within. She wondered but she no longer truly feared. It was amazing how so quickly she was comfortable with them. They relaxed her with the gentle way they soothed and wooed her.

Finally she reached her goal and this time she was the aggressor, taking his lips and claiming them. She thrust her tongue inside his mouth, exploring and tasting as much of him as she could reach. It was a powerful moment for her when she felt him trembling against her. This strong warrior who could take what he wanted at any time trembled at her touch. She felt the power in him and reveled in the fact that he kept it in check with her.

Drew moved behind her and his lips moved from her shoulders down her spine to the small of her back. He dipped lower and she felt his tongue explore the flesh of her buttocks just above the water. He lapped at them and then nipped her with his teeth, causing her to clench her thighs around
Sorran’s
waist. She broke from his lips and latched onto his shoulder with her teeth, gripping the strong flesh and sucking at it. He cried out and bucked against her and she felt the first drops of fluid leak from his jutting cock to coat them both.

“Take me,” she moaned. “Claim me now and make me yours.”

“And me yours, little warrior,”
Sorran
whispered.

Hands pulled the band from her hair, Drew’s hands. He untied the braid and used his fingers to free the lush tresses.

“Such fiery hair,” Drew said as he held the locks in his hands. “Such fire and passion reflects here.
A true shining glory.
You are more beautiful than any sunset I have ever seen. I do not feel worthy of such beauty. But I cannot stop myself from wanting you, from needing you. I want to be the very air you breathe.”

Drew eased from the water as
Sorran
continued to hold her in his strong grip. She watched with hooded eyes as Drew spread the blankets and made a bed for them.
The bed where she would become a warrior’s woman.
She undulated against
Sorran
again and felt his response in the pulse of more fluid from his penis, heard it in the catch of his breath.

Drew turned back to face them and she shook off the languor of passion to focus on the beauty of the naked man before her. He was big and strong and she knew that he would always protect her. His cock jutted from him hard and thick, reaching upward toward his belly. His palm closed around the turgid flesh and he stroked it as she watched.

“Do you like the look of my cock, little warrior?” he asked her with a smile tugging his lips. His hand looked so comfortable there and she guessed he must do that a lot.

She nodded her head and licked her suddenly dry lips. Groans filled the air at her unconscious act of seduction.

Sorran
eased from the water with her still wrapped around him and walked toward Drew and the pallet that awaited them.

“Who?” she tried to ask but as the moment finally came upon her she found that she had very little moisture left in her mouth. Maybe she was still a little scared after all. Fear of the unknown.

“Which of us will claim you first?” Drew asked. “I believe it will be
Sorran
. He has a way about him that tends to soothe,
a gentleness
that I fear I may not be able to utilize when first I feel your sweet pussy clasping my cock.”

She reveled in his words, enjoying the dirty words that warriors used. She had spent as much time spying on her cousins as they had spent watching over her. These were words that she was more than familiar with. “You mean to fuck me and not make love to me?” she queried.

Drew grinned at her and
Sorran
chuckled as he lowered her to her back on the pallet, using his knees to spread her wide before him.

“I mean to make love to you with a passion uncontrolled.
More than fucking, more than a mere mating.
I mean to claim you, every inch of you. To brand you with my very essence long before you wear our mark on your belly.”

“Yes,” she breathed and arched into
Sorran
as he bent over her and licked and sucked at her breasts.

It amazed her how the two men switched in and out of roles so easily. Where Drew had been the gentler of the two earlier now it was
Sorran
who gentled her under his touch while Drew looked on with fire in his eyes. She would eventually know both sides of passion with both men—the gentle lover as well as the conqueror. And she would relish them both she was sure.

“Close your eyes now, little warrior, and feel the fire burning inside you.” Drew’s voice washed over her as
Sorran’s
hands did and she let her eyes drift shut, ready to begin her new life as the
Xandova
warriors’ woman.

* * * * *

She saw him in the gardens, just a shape in the darkness but one that she would recognize always. He knew she was there but still he refused to turn and face her. Perhaps hindsight showed him the mistake that he had made, one that could never be undone. Perhaps finally he felt shame for where his actions had led them, for what he had destroyed and killed just as he had committed murder. Her love, which had first belonged to him, was tainted, destroyed by a jealousy she could never understand. And she remembered that night so long ago when Micah had first spoken of betrayal. Had he known then the person responsible? Was that part of the reason why he was gone from home so often and for so long?

She stopped just behind
him,
loathe to touch what once she had treasured. “Why?” she cried to him but it was merely a whisper from her lips. “For the love of the goddess, why did you kill him?”

“For you.”

Chapter Three

Sorran
explored the body spread before him and fell more under her spell with each new inch of flesh that he touched and tasted. She was everything he had wished for and yet more than he could have ever imagined. Yes, he was known for his ability to soothe and calm even the wildest of creatures and men with his voice, his touch. But this woman called to the primitive in him, to his own animal instinct. He wanted to mount her and take her hard and fast, and eventually he would.
But not this first time.
He wanted to make it as beautiful for her as he could. There would be
pain, that
was something beyond his control. But if he did everything he could to bring her to readiness then hopefully it would be a fleeting pain easily gone and forgotten.

He loved the feel of her skin, the taste that was uniquely her own. Her nipples were red and swollen from both his and Drew’s sucking, her skin abraded from the caress of their whiskers. Her red hair was a riot of curls around her, framing the beauty and perfection that he saw when he looked upon her. And it was all he could do to control the need building inside him, the need to mount and fuck, leaving no question in either of their minds who was claiming her.

“Your skin is the softest blanket I have ever felt.”
Sorran
rested his head on her abdomen, rubbing his cheek against her skin. “I could rest here forever.” He slowly began to trail kisses downward, stopping at the top of the juncture of her thighs and letting his tongue trail slowly between her swollen lips. “If only you didn’t tempt me to explore every inch of you.”

She cried out as he continued to slip his tongue in and out of her folds and he reveled in her expressive cries. There would be no guessing for him as to whether or not
Alea
liked what he was doing. He moved his hand lower and spread her sweet flesh wide to his view. Her clit was thick with need and he couldn’t resist the desire to lean down and suck it into his mouth. Flavor exploded across his tongue and he felt her buck beneath him. She was wild and he sucked greedily at her flesh while his finger played around her weeping opening. Finally he thrust a finger inside her flesh and he didn’t know exactly who cried louder, him or her. She was tight and wet and so damn hot that she would burn him alive. He couldn’t wait to be inside her. But he would.

He worked her pussy with his mouth and fingers, leaving no inch of it untouched, unexplored. He could hear his brother whispering words to her but had no idea what it was he said.
Sorran’s
entire world consisted of the red, lush flesh in front of him. He breathed her in, tasted her in his very skin as if they were already one. And soon, so soon they would be. She undulated, pushing her pelvis closer to his face, and he felt her orgasm around his finger. He quickly lapped up all the bounty she spilled and worked her to another higher, stronger peak.
Once more and she was exactly as he wanted her, as he needed her.
She lay there boneless, sated from his loving, and finally wet and relaxed enough to receive the part of him he was dying to give her.

Sorran
crawled up between her legs, spreading them wide with his knees. With one hand he guided his shaft toward her wet pussy and nudged the head inside. He leaned over her and shuddered as the head slipped in a little farther. Her eyes fluttered open but before she could tense beneath him,
Sorran
possessed her lips and took her back to the place she had been. When he felt her tongue slip into his mouth he gave another shudder and slowly began pressing deeper inside her. Inch by agonizing inch she encased him, the lush wet heat killing him with ecstasy. He sensed her tension and, seeking not to drag out her pain, pulled back only to surge forward with one fierce thrust that seated him to the balls within her.

Alea
arched beneath him, her breasts stabbing against his chest. Her cry echoed around them. A mixture of the pleasure and pain she was feeling reflected in the green pools of her eyes. Her hands reached up, her fingers digging into his shoulders. Her knees lifted and clung to his hips. They clung together, neither moving for that one moment in time as they both adjusted to the feel of the other. It was the single best moment of
Sorran’s
life, one that he would treasure always.

“
Sorran
,” she whispered his name and he bent to kiss her softly.

“Yes, little warrior?” he replied, willing to give her anything she desired in that moment.

“Make me yours. Give me your passion. Drown me in it.”

It was a request that he would gladly spend the rest of his life completing. “Always, mine
Alea
.
Always.”

He moved, pulling slowly out of her sheath until only the mushroom-shaped head remained and then surged back inside her. He could feel her pussy rippling around his cock as it tried to adjust to this first invasion. He moved again. Thrust and retreat. And again until the rhythm was set and there was no holding back. She took him without complaint, her body as accepting as if it was made for him. His pace quickened and still he struggled to be gentle, to hold back. Her green eyes widened and he felt her clench tighter around him as she closed in on another orgasm.

He reached one hand down and stroked his thumb in a slow circle around her clit and that small touch was all it took to send her over the edge, taking him with her. Their cries mingled as he spilt his cum deep into her womb. Her eyes fluttered up to his and there was more than amazement, more than contentment in her eyes. If he wasn’t mistaken or confused by his own pleasure there just might be the beginning of love there. And he was pretty sure that the same thing was in his gaze as well.

Drew watched his brother claim their mate, watched him take her body and bring them both to pleasure and it was all he could do to keep his seed from spilling from his body. He tried to allow
Sorran
the moment after, just to hold
Alea
and revel in what they had shared, but he was hard-pressed not to shove his brother aside so that he could share the same thing with her. He had waited long enough and even one breath more was more than he could stand.

Sorran
glanced up and Drew knew that his brother read him well. With a nod he slowly eased from
Alea’s
body and both of their gazes dropped to her sprawled thighs now wet with this first act of passion between mates. Soon Drew’s desire would rest there as well.

He replaced his brother between her thighs and lost himself for a brief moment in the welcoming smile on her lips. This was a woman he could love, might already be falling in love with. This was where his future would begin and end, with this woman. His solace and comfort, his hope, his dreams all culminated into this one person and how being with her would change him and his perception of everything around him as well. Without thought he bent and engaged her in a full-body kiss, rubbing her nipples with his chest and her pussy lips with his cock.

She moved her arms, grasping his shoulders, and her knees rose to cup his hips. Still doing a slow glide along her wet pussy, he reached down and spread her lips, allowing his cock to kiss the opening of her channel. With one long, slow thrust he was seated, his hips flush to hers, his balls hard against her buttocks. She was wet, so wet that he could drown in her. She was tight, so tight that he felt sure he would never pull free of her. But he did, again and again as he rode between her thighs with a fiery intensity that set them both ablaze with the beginnings of orgasm.

Harder.
Harder.
Faster.
Faster.
He couldn’t stop, couldn’t fight the need to take, to claim, to mark. He bent to her shoulder, his hips
pistoning
, and sucked at the tender skin where her neck connected, branding her with his teeth and tongue. She cried loudly and bucked, driving him further than ever before. He was so deep that it felt as if her very womb was sucking his shaft, eager for the fluid it held. With a harsh cry he came, his seed spurting from him to her in hot bursts.

She clung to him, her body trembling in the aftermath of what they had shared. And he held her tightly against his chest, rolling so that she rested atop him. He knew
Sorran
knelt beside them, knew that he ran his hands up and down her spine. It was a moment that they all needed to share, a linking of more than bodies—of minds and souls and yes, even hearts.

“You will mate with us?” Drew murmured against the top of her head, breathing in the scent of her and them, of sex and passion. “You will wear the mark of the
Xandova
on your belly for all to see?”

Alea
lifted her head and moved her hands so that they rested on his chest before tucking her chin atop her clasped fingers and looking him straight in the eye. “Yes, I will wear your mark. Yes I will be your mate. I’d like to ask one thing of you in return.”

“Anything,
Alea
.”
It was
Sorran
who breathed the words from behind her, his hands stroking her so softly that if she were a cat she would be purring.

“I’d like you both to wear my mark as well,” she stated.

“What is your mark?” Drew asked calmly, as if it were nothing for a woman to ask such a thing of a warrior.

She reached down and tugged at the sleeve that still rested on her arm from elbow to wrist and slowly removed it. Underneath, in the middle of her forearm was a silver band that encircled her arm and when Drew lifted her arm and looked closer he was able to see that they appeared to be tiny feathers interlocking.

“Where did you get such a mark?
How?”
Drew asked her, moving her arm so that
Sorran
could take a closer look.

“Vulcan. He gave it to me by placing his beak on my flesh,” she told them. “I’d like you to share it as well.”

“If Vulcan wishes to mark us as well,”
Sorran
whispered, “then we would be honored to wear it.” He gently placed his lips against her mark and traced it with his tongue.

“He wishes it,” she assured them and it didn’t surprise her when they just nodded and accepted her words. They didn’t ask her how she knew such a thing or scoff at her. Perhaps it was because of their relationship with Caspian. Perhaps, she hoped, it was because of the blooming of love between them.

“We will do a ceremony of our own,” Drew stated, “right here. We will place our brand on you and then Vulcan will place his on us. Then we will all be united as we should be and none shall ever doubt the bond we share.”

Alea
nodded and tucked her head down against his chest. She was very tired and her body was already floating toward sleep. She felt Drew shift until they were on their sides and then
Sorran
was snug against her back. The last thing she felt was both of their hands stroking soothingly over her body.

Then Drew placed a kiss on her forehead and
Sorran
one on her shoulder and one of them whispered to her, “Sleep.” And she did.

* * * * *

Bram glanced toward his brothers and shook his head. After an entire day of talking they had finally calmed everyone down and made them see the increased importance of moving quickly to unite everyone in one central location on the island. As soon as possible the warriors would be leaving to ensure that their families and villagers began the trek toward the palace that had once been known as the Temple of the Goddess of Altair. It was what had to be done. At least until the mystic’s call sounded and the Island Guardians united. But that was one thing that Bram couldn’t tell the warriors. Not if he wanted them to accept him and his brothers as the new leadership.

“So where do we go from here?” Finn questioned, automatically turning to the brother who happened to leave the womb first, Bram.

And just as always Bram took the lead and set the course for them all. “I think it best if we split up for just a bit. I think one of us should head back to the palace, see if Mother is there, and speak with Father. One of us should travel with the men from village to village and oversee the moving of our people. And one should remain here to ensure that no one is left behind or allowed to change their minds about how important this is.”

“And which do you suggest that I do?” Finn asked matter-of-factly.

“I’d like you to go to the palace and deal with ensuring its readiness for the influx of people headed that way.” Bram turned to Tanner next.

“You want me to go from village to village?” Tanner asked.

“No. I’ll do that. I think of all of us you are perhaps the most persuasive and easygoing. It will be best if you stay here and oversee everything.”

“You really think it should be me to stay?” Tanner seemed surprised at this but Bram just smiled and nodded.

“You have the charisma, the charm. Our warriors trust in you and you will be able to reassure them with calm. I am more of a strategist so I am best placed in the villages. And Finn is a born organizer, so obviously he should be at the palace.” Bram looked at both of his brothers and they all nodded in agreement. “The last village I will head to
is
the one in the east where Mother sent
Farrah
, and where the Guardian of Earth is. You should both meet me there to assure the safety of the Guardians.”

“And what of
Alea
?”
Finn asked.

“We have to trust in what Mother said, that the
Xandova
have arrived to take care of her.” Bram shook his head wearily as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders, or perhaps just that of one small island. “I pray to the goddess that Mother is well.”

“She will be fine, Bram,” Tanner said with confidence that didn’t quite make it into his eyes. They all knew that their mother could care for herself, but none of them was exactly sure of what she might do in her grief over the death of her husband and mate, Prince Micah.