Deciding Her Faete (Beyond the Veil Book 2) (7 page)

She put her head in her hands and cried, knowing she may never see her mates again. She needed to rest, just for a moment, so she hid under the branches of a bush next to the flowing water and closed her eyes.

“April!”

She woke suddenly when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

Jason.

Oh my God, how long was I asleep?

She lifted her head to see Donovan, followed by Jason, running toward her. She then crawled out of her not so hidey-hole and stood on shaky legs, trying to convince herself that she had to run in the other direction. Her traitorous legs, exhausted as she was, ran to them instead, and she launched herself into Donovan’s arms. Jason caught up and hugged her from behind.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” Jason fervently whispered in her ear, relief at having her in his arms clearly evident in his tone. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

“Me either,” Donovan echoed just as passionately. “I’ve barely even had the chance to have you
in
my sight. Do they know that you’re missing?”

April nodded into his chest.
At least they will when they regain consciousness if they haven’t already.

“Let’s get going then,” Donovan said, prompting them to pull apart from their embrace. He cupped her cheeks and gently traced the bruise on her jaw. He looked murderous as did Jason who came to stand in front of her as well. “How badly are you hurt, angel?”

“Just pick her up and carry her,” Jason said impatiently, “before I go up that mountain and tear apart every single one of those fuckers now.

“Patience, brother. We’ll come back and do recon, but we need to get April somewhere safe first.”

“No,” she whispered, her voice shaky.

“What?” Donovan asked, surprised, his brows furrowing in confusion. “As much as I want to rip them apart along with my brother, I am not risking your safety and we need to make sure to be prepa—”

“I meant, no, I am not going with you two,” she replied more firmly.

“Excuse me?” Jason asked. “What the hell do you mean you’re not going with us? Did we not just make it clear to you that we are not letting you out of our sight again?”

“Don’t you see?” she cried out, startling them both. She held her hands out, palms facing forward and let her blue spark gently fizzle out of them. “I am what Kheelan said. Fae. A monster just like
them
. He hurt you because of me,” she continued, tears pouring down her face. “I don’t deserve to be your mate, and I won’t let him hurt you again.”

Jason got right in her face. “Are you done now?” he asked matter-of-factly.

She opened her mouth to speak, but he turned his back on her.

“Let’s go,” he said walking away.

Before she even had time to ponder if that meant they were going to listen to her and leave without her, Donovan scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder and then he and Jason made a run for it.

Chapter Eleven

“We’re home,” Donovan exclaimed when they pulled up to a cozy-looking ranch style cabin surrounded by deep lush woods. His words had been the first ones spoken since they carried her off, caveman style.

“I already have a home,” April muttered before stepping out of the car.

“It’s not safe for you there, angel.”

“Regardless of whether or not it’s safe for her,” Jason interrupted, looking none too pleased with her comment, “her place is with us.” He stormed off ahead and opened the door to the cabin.

“I’m filthy,” April said once they were all inside and Donovan had closed the door behind them.

“April, you are not filthy.” It was Donovan’s turn to be displeased now. “Listen, we need to talk about what hap—”

“I meant I haven’t showered in over two weeks,” she said quietly. Both Donovan and Jason looked at her with pained expressions. It was glaringly obvious that the lack of bathing was the least of their concern of what had been done to her.

Donovan held his hand out to her. “Come. The shower’s this way.” He jutted his chin in the direction of the hallway.

“I think I can find it on my own. Unless you mean to carry me again?” She gave them both a pointed look.

Jason stepped forward, but Donovan placed a hand on his chest, halting his movement. “Use the one in the master bedroom. It’s bigger.”

April nodded and walked off.

“Just give her some time, brother,” she heard Donovan whisper to Jason. “We have no idea what that bastard did to her yet.”

The rest of their conversation was cut off to her recently overly sensitive ears when she finally reached the en suite bathroom and shut the door. She threw her clothes in the trashcan by the sink, making a mental note to burn them later. Her nightmares of being held captive would be reminder enough of what she had gone through at the hands of Kheelan. She certainly did not need the clothes she wore as a second reminder.

The spray of the hot water soothed her aching muscles, and as she stood there, washing away the dirt and grime that had accumulated on her body, a sudden pang of guilt set in. She realized she had been unfair, cruel even, to Donovan and Jason. They came for her, would have found her if she hadn’t escaped, and all she did was push them away and snipe at them. She felt even less deserving of them now, and she wondered how they could still possibly want her after what she had revealed to them earlier.

She grabbed the nearest towel and dried herself off and realized that she had no clothes to put on. Fortunately, she spied an oversized sweatshirt hanging on one of the hooks and put it on. She inhaled deeply, immediately recognizing the owner’s delicious musky scent. Donovan. She also knew that the woodsy-scented towel she had just used belonged to Jason.

She felt a sudden twinge of longing and desire for her two men and allowed herself one fleeting moment of hope that Jason would forgive her for what was done to him because of her and that Donovan would forgive her as well for what was done to his brother. The moment passed, and self-hatred along with doubt took the place of hope. How could they possibly forgive her when she could not forgive herself?

When she stepped out of the bathroom, Donovan and Jason were waiting for her in the bedroom. Donovan sat at the edge of the king-sized bed while Jason looked at her from the armchair next to it. She didn’t miss the fact that they both ogled her bare legs as she stepped closer to them. She felt her entire body heat up from the intensity of their stares.

“I like the way my shirt looks on you, angel.” Donovan’s voice was low and husky. He got up suddenly from the bed to stand in front of her. “Talk to us, April. Please.”

“How could the two of you still possibly want me?” April’s words came out rushed and strangled. She closed her eyes, swallowing the rest of the speech she had prepared for them as if her vocal cords stubbornly refused to say goodbye to them.

“Cut that shit out, April,” Jason bellowed before he, too, stood before her. She flinched at the harshness of his tone. “I’m the one who failed you. Not the other way around.”

“How can you say that? It was me Kheelan was after all this time. Not you. He took Dee and God knows how many others, all to get to me. Oh God, Dee! Have they found her yet?”

“No,” Donovan said quietly. “But we will. I swear it.”

“He’ll just keep coming for me.” She reached out and placed her hand on Jason’s cheek. “I felt so helpless when you were in that cell. I can’t bear the thought of him hurting you like that again.” She turned to Donovan and put her other hand on his cheek. “And it’s not only Jason’s screams I dreamt about. Sometimes it was you I pictured Kheelan torturing. I’d rather die than to ever let him get his hands on either of you. Not when I can prevent it.” She took a deep steady breath. Her words would not fail her this time. “You both have to let me go.”

“Fuck that!” Jason growled. Before she even had time to blink, she found herself tossed on the bed. Her hands were held above her head by Donovan while Jason fiercely, unyieldingly took her mouth in a fiery kiss. She returned it with the same fervor, unable to help herself.

April had no time to think, to collect her thoughts, for as soon as Jason released her lips, Donovan took his place. He released the grip he had on her wrists, but instead of pushing him away, she wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him closer to her. She’d only had a brief taste of him when he came to rescue her from the dungeons, so this felt like their first real kiss. She found her resolve quickly fading because she sensed their pain at the thought of her leaving them. She knew she didn’t have the strength to walk away from them on her own, and it seemed that neither of her stubborn men was willing to let her go.

When Donovan ended their kiss, he looked deeply into her eyes and cradled her face. Like that first night with Jason, she felt as if he could see the inside of her soul. He wasn’t repulsed by her or angry. Instead, he looked at her with longing and adoration.

“That’s not the way this works, my angel. Whatever happens to one of us, happens to all three.”

“And we would chase you to the ends of the Earth, April,” Jason added. “So don’t even think about running from us.”

She felt hope flaring inside of her once again. She understood now. She would never stop fighting for Donovan and Jason either. She remembered Jason telling her in the limo that he didn’t care what or who she was, but still, she had to be sure. “You don’t care that I am Fae like Kheelan?”

“Not all Fae are monsters,” Donovan replied. “Just like not all shifters are good. You had the misfortune of meeting some pretty nasty ones, but I believe you also met Erica.”

“Who?” Then it hit her. “The woman in the dungeons with me?”

Donovan nodded. “A healer, like you, something very rare and sought after amongst the Fae. She’s also the True Queen and now sits on the Fae throne, and she is one of the strongest, bravest women I know, second to you. She and her mates were gracious enough to forgive me for what I did to them. So was Jason.”

“What did you do?”

Donovan explained how he had assisted Erica in her cause to face Aelfric alone, once again because of Kheelan, who had threatened to kill her and Jason and left Donovan with very little choice. April wasn’t the least bit surprised that Donovan did the right thing immediately after, and she couldn’t blame him for his choice. She saw him as nothing less than a brave man, who loved and protected fiercely. She told him so.

“Thank you, angel.”

“You give me too much credit, brother,” Jason said. “I’m not sure I
wouldn’t
have done the same thing as you.”

“I want him to hurt so badly,” April said through gritted teeth. “He murdered my parents, and he and my father…”

Maybe there had been something good in Kheelan once if her father had loved him, but she could see nothing but darkness in his soul as he stood looming above her, delighting in her pain.

“Tell us what happened, April,” Jason gently prodded.

She nodded. Jason and Donovan were her mates. They deserved to know it all, so she told them everything he had done to her, how he and Frederych had tried to pull her powers from her. They both tried to hide their pained expressions, but she saw them and instantly regretted telling them that part. She moved on to the conversation she had had with Kheelan about what she had learned about her parents, including the fact that she possessed some wolf genes. She swatted them away as they both surreptitiously tried to sniff her during her storytelling. Throughout all of it, though, she only saw compassion in their eyes for what she had lost and anger at how she had suffered—or perhaps it was more like murderous rage.

In any case, it made her feel closer to Jason and Donovan, free, with no secrets left between them. She knew who she was now and so did they, but none of it mattered or changed the fact that they belonged to each other.

After she had told them her story, they had all just quietly lay together, her snuggled in between Jason and Donovan, but after a little while of silent reflection, something in the air had changed. An undeniable electric charge had started to pulse between April and her men.

“Let us show you how much we want you, angel.” Donovan nuzzled her ear as he spoke.

“Yes,” she whispered, closing her eyes, prompting Donovan to continue with his assault on her ear. He licked her inner shell then proceeded to torment her ear with soft bites and kisses, eliciting a few successive moans from her. He moved onto to delivering the same attention to her neck while Jason’s warm hands caressed her bare legs.

Donovan cupped her face. She opened up her eyes for a brief moment and saw him hovering over her. His lips quirked in an adorable sly smile before he pressed them to hers. He kissed her softly at first, their tongues barely touching, but when she hugged him to her tightly, he deepened the kiss, moaning into her mouth. His hand cupped her breast over the thick sweatshirt, but she felt it searing into her skin as if she had been wearing nothing at all.

She felt Jason shift in between her legs. His hands roamed up her thighs, and under her shirt, stopping at her hips. He placed his forehead on her lower stomach. “Do you have any idea how difficult it has been lying here, not touching you, knowing you had nothing underneath this sweatshirt?” His voice, muffled by said shirt, sounded strained.

Donovan hummed in agreement and moved on to kissing her neck. She nudged him a little so that he could give her room to sit up. She then lifted her hands in the air. It didn’t take long for them to catch her meaning. Donovan peeled off the sweatshirt from her body, slowly revealing every naked inch of her to their gaze.

Jason pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. He cupped her ass and brought her flush against his body. She felt his hard cock against her skin and ached for him to put it inside her.

“You’re breathtaking,” he murmured against her lips right before he laid her back down on the bed with him on top of her.

“Isn’t she, brother?” Donovan lifted up her hand to kiss the inside of her wrist as Jason trailed kisses along her jawline, down to her neck and chest.

April panted heavily as he continued kissing and licking down her body. His warm hands cupped her breasts as he kissed in between them. Then he sucked her nipples into his mouth in turn before continuing his downward path.

She turned her head to see Donovan remove his shirt, revealing a solid muscular chest with rock hard abs. She made a mental note to ask him about his uniquely stunning tribal tattoo, but now all she wanted were his hands touching her as well. As if sensing her desire, he leaned into her for a kiss while his hands roamed her breasts and stomach.

He then moved back to kissing and licking her ear. “I’m going to memorize each and every one of your freckles and play connect the dots with my tongue,” he whispered in her ear causing her to giggle, not just from his words, but from the sensation of feeling his warm breath on one hell of an erogenous zone.

Her laughter cut off immediately when Jason’s lips connected with her clit. He sucked it into his mouth, his hand pressing against her flat stomach to keep her from bucking, and she threw her head back, releasing a loud moan. Donovan took advantage of her exposed neck and alternated kissing and sucking every inch of it, while his wicked hands massaged her breasts and plucked her nipples.

April lifted her hands over her head to grasp the pillow as Donovan kissed a path down her neck all the way to her breasts and Jason continued to lick and suck on her clit. When he added two fingers into her core and expertly massaged her inner walls, she lost it. She opened her mouth in a silent scream as an earth shattering orgasm ripped through her body. Both Donovan and Jason continued to drive her wild, quickly building her up again. When she felt her second climax closing in on her, they stopped.

They didn’t leave her bereft of their touch for long, however. Donovan stripped off his jeans, revealing the fact that he had gone commando. His long thick cock stood at attention, his thick mushroomed head purple. April licked her lips.

“Not now, angel. I need to be inside you.”

Jason shifted on the bed to make room for Donovan between her legs. He kissed her sweetly on the cheek before lying down next to her. Donovan spread her legs and massaged her thighs as he looked at her. “We’re going to show you who you belong to. We’re going to make you ours.”