Dragon's Melody (25 page)

“Not with me, or with Skye just now, love,” he murmured, turning the corner and ascending the stairs. “And it should be with Skye when you do. He’s the one who needs you more.”

She tried to object, to clarify her meaning, but her tongue had gone numb and her vision was too blurry and she was oh, so tired now. The softness of her pillow was like heaven against her cheek, but if there were a more blissful paradise than heaven it would be in their arms. She gave into oblivion with that wish foremost in her mind and dreamed of the three of them, encompassed in their love for each other.

Chapter Forty-One

S
kye sensed Melody’s receding aura and her emotions faded to the muted din of deep sleep. He finally excused himself from the table where the others were polishing off the wine. He left them engrossed in conversation, making plans for a weekend trip the next day after their work was done.

Work would be a nice distraction, and the physical labor Julia had in mind promised an even better distraction than the normal tasks he performed for Kol. Working for the Shadow was both physically and mentally exhausting, requiring extensive flying—in a plane as well as under his own power—to conduct business for Magnus Securities. His skills as a Blue definitely didn’t go to waste, but it left him wishing for solitude at every moment, and some respite for the constant barrage of emotions he was expected to focus on during business meetings.

He’d wished for solitude until he’d met Melody. After that, all he wished for was to let his senses be immersed in every bit of her. He replayed their last night in his mind—her surprising responsiveness followed by the overwhelming love she exuded in spite of his effort to push her feelings in the opposite direction—and then the sadness that chased him from the apartment as he retreated from her.

What a fucking coward he had been to leave her like that. He’d been a coward all along, even with Garen. Especially with Garen.

The staircase creaked and he followed the sound to find Garen coming down the stairs, a solemn look on his face.

“Thank you,” Skye said. “I wish it didn’t have to be like this. Sweet Mother, it’s torture to be around her without knowing who she’ll choose. Worse is being able to feel how difficult it is for her. We need to find a way to help her, but I’m too tired to see straight right now.”

“I can give you the same, if you’d like. It won’t put you out like it did her, but you’ll be able to relax,” Garen said. “I’d want an exchange, though. A glimmer of willpower to resist her, maybe? Something I should have asked for at the beginning.” He gave Skye a sad smile.

“Sounds ideal,” Skye said, stepping close to Garen at the foot of the stairs and resting a hand on the larger man’s shoulder. They were the same height, but Garen’s wider shoulders and thicker arms always made Skye feel small by comparison.

He rested his other hand at Garen’s waist and his skin tingled when Garen did the same, tugging him closer with both hands. Garen’s pale breath seeped out in smoky tendrils, mixing with Skye’s in a swirl just before their mouths came together and the exchange began. The process was one of the most intimate things a pair of dragons could do, aside from exchanging their Nirvana. They breathed each other slowly, their mouths locked, until the tension began to seep out of Skye’s limbs leaving behind a pleasant, euphoric sensation.

The blue breath he sent into Garen’s lungs was the opposite of what the Guardian had wished for, however. Skye couldn’t outright compel a particular reaction from any other dragon, but only act on existing desires, using the influence of his breath to nudge in a certain direction.
Away from me, my love. Be with Melody if she chooses you. Let me go.

Most humans would cave easily, but a dragon’s resistance could be strong enough to withstand the suggestion. He’d never attempted it with Garen before, so he couldn’t be sure how his friend would react.

Garen groaned against Skye’s lips and the exchange subsided, becoming a full-blown kiss. Skye let his arms slip around the other man, his familiar hard body and warmth welcome after the emotional stress of the day. The waves of need that pulsed from Garen were misplaced, however, and Skye pulled away, breathless.

“I won’t be with you when all we’ve been able to think about is her for the last three weeks,” he said, his throat tight. “You take the upstairs room. I’ll stay on the sofa tonight. Tomorrow we will have to help her decide.”

“We will need to replenish our energy soon,” Garen said. “Even if it isn’t with her.”

Skye sighed. “I could easily make love to you now, you know this. But not when she’s mere feet away from us. Go sleep now. We still have time.”

He watched Garen turn and ascend the stairs again, only slightly more relaxed than before. He remained at the foot of the stairs a moment longer, waiting, following Garen with his senses and holding his breath when Garen paused outside Melody’s door again. A confusion of emotions swelled in his friend—love, desire, sadness, regret—ultimately his determination won out and he moved on, stepping through the doorway further down the hall and closing the door solidly behind him.

Chapter Forty-Two

B
eing rested and refreshed managed to help Melody’s mood for about ten minutes the next morning. She got up, dressed, and headed out into the hallway, her mind made up. She would tell them her decision today. They would leave, and she could get on with her life. She had no real idea what “getting on” meant at the moment, but she’d flown solo for years. She could do it again.

Smacking into the wall of Garen outside her door succeeded in knocking her frame of mind back to the day before. She stumbled and caught his waist for balance, but he was quicker, wrapping one arm around her to hold her up.

“A little wobbly today?” he asked, concern washing over his face. “My breath shouldn’t have any side effects. Are you all right?”

“I—I’m fine,” she said, her resolve crumbling once again under his gaze. “Just waking up. Mama wants us to get to work, though, so we should get started if we want to finish by sunset. Her greenhouses need the winter covers before a cold snap hits.”

“The work is done, Melody. Alec, Skye and I handled most of it, along with Viki and Anya.”

“What?” she blurted, staring up at him in disbelief. “Why didn’t you guys wake me up? And how the hell did you get it all done so fast?”

He pursed his lips, avoiding the question. “We worked fast and got it done. Julia and Alec wanted to power through so they can take off early for the weekend—they’re headed to the Turul Enclave where Alec used to live. A honeymoon of sorts, I take it. Anya and Viki are driving.”

“And we weren’t invited?” she asked, her gut clenching with a tiny surge of panic. Even though she knew it was a petty thing to be upset over, she dreaded being left alone with the two of them. Her conviction faltered at the prospect of actually having to
tell
them what she’d decided.

“Melody,” he said gently. “You know why we’re staying here. The three of us have to work this out.”

She sighed and nodded. “I know. I just …”
I just need to fucking stall.
If her mom and Alec weren’t around when she told Skye and Garen to go, she’d be dealing with the aftermath alone. Fuck, she couldn’t tell them today. She needed her parents for an emotional safety net, otherwise she feared she’d take a nosedive into despair once the men she loved were gone. “I’m starving. We can talk when they’ve gone … work things out.”

She avoided looking in his eyes as she brushed past, shaking her head to try to dispel the scent of him that inundated her senses. He was all warm, golden muscle, shining hair and spicy musk. And she wanted him just as much today as she had every day since they first met. The kiss he’d given her the night before hadn’t helped her sanity any, either.

Conversation stopped when she entered the dining and kitchen area. She pointedly ignored everyone, aiming for the coffee. Her skin prickled under Skye’s gaze as he watched her walk past, and she couldn’t shake the sense that he was imagining her naked. She hazarded a glance to the side, but his expression looked too grim for him to be thinking quite such salacious things, at least until he cut a slice off a large peach, popped the juicy golden flesh in his mouth and licked his lips.

A sharp surge of arousal shot between her thighs. The breath left her lungs and she nearly dropped the coffee mug in her hand. She was sure she heard Skye let out a soft curse a second before he turned away, heading out onto the deck to finish his peach in the early morning sun. Thankfully, Garen joined him out there so she just had her mom and Alec to contend with.

She took her time filling her mug so she could attempt to gather her wits before sitting down at the table and snagging a piece of buttered toast.

“So I hear you guys have a trip planned? Where exactly is this place and will there be adults there?” She gave her mother a scrutinizing look.

“Oh, I’m not sure about that,” her mother said, feigning worry. “Alec, who’s the chaperon this weekend?”

“Mel, I assure you no one at the Enclave behaves like they’re any older than fifteen, even though I think the oldest is beyond fifteen centuries by this point.”

“Ugh,” Melody said, wrinkling her nose. “I’m so glad you guys don’t act your age. Have fun for me, please.” She did her best to put on a smile for them.

Alec excused himself to go shower and Melody got up to preempt her mother from doing the dishes. “Mama, I’ve got this, you go pack.”

Her mother hesitated, glancing out toward the deck before leaning on the edge of the counter with her arms crossed, giving Melody a very maternal look that she didn’t think she’d seen in about a decade.

“Alec gave me all the details last night. It isn’t the first time we’ve disagreed, either. I don’t give a crap what those two are asking you to do. A decision like that is impossible to make, especially considering how strong your feelings are for the both of them.”

“Don’t you think I know that already? I’m the one who has to decide! And besides, I’ve already made up my mind.” She shot a glowering look out the window at the pair of blond heads that were enjoying the view beyond her mother’s garden. “They won’t like what I’ve decided, either.”

Her mother studied her for another moment, nodded, and pulled her into a tight and very welcome hug. “All right, honey. Whatever happens this weekend, this will always be home for you, don’t forget it.”

“How could I ever?” she said, smiling and brushing an errant tear from the corner of her eye.

***

After Alec and her mother drove off in the back of Anya’s Suburban, Melody stood staring out the window at Garen and Skye, trying to work up the guts to finally go talk to them. She still wasn’t quite sure what she would say. It was ridiculous to try to pretend she was still trying to make a decision. Every part of her rejected the options she’d been given, so she’d had to come up with her own.

God, she wished she could think of some way to stall, but short of simply avoiding them all weekend, she was at a total loss.

They were speaking quietly between them and both turned when she finally forced herself to open the door and step out into the sunlight. Their eyes flickered in unison with that inner glow she’d come to love so much. She tried not to dwell on the way her skin heated and her nipples grew hard under their gazes as she walked around the picnic table where they were seated, facing out toward the railing and the mountain view beyond.

Taking a few deep breaths to gird herself, she turned to face them both, leaning against the railing and grabbing hold of it with both hands as though her mother’s house would somehow keep her grounded while she gave up the first thing in her life she’d ever really wanted to hold onto.

Their faces nearly made her crumble into a pile of rubble. Skye’s eyes always told her what he felt somehow, and today was no different. In spite of the forced posture he had, now that she had his attention, his eyes were a turmoil of feeling. She resisted the urge to reach out and tell him that she would never stop loving him.

Garen’s face was harder, stronger, and more serene than Skye’s, but his languid slouch was more of a signal than anything that he was trying too hard. He didn’t stall unless he intended to.

She fixed her eyes on Skye’s shoulder and parted her lips with the intention of imparting words.
I made a decision
, went through her head, but didn’t quite come out.

Under the fabric of Skye’s t-shirt his skin rippled in an alien way that threw her off entirely. She let out the breath that had been meant for truth and stared at the rippling beneath the thin cotton of the old shirt he’d borrowed from Alec.

He’d borrowed it … not conjured it. Neither of them had conjured clothes today, she realized.

“Skye … Why is your skin doing … what it’s doing?” she asked, pointing at the shoulder and moving her aim down to follow the line of the rippling effect.

“It’s nothing, Melody. Something we deal with.”

“Tell me,” she said, raising her gaze to his and stepping toward him. Touching Skye could very well be like touching a landmine where her emotions were concerned, but he was hiding something.

His shoulder twitched under her light touch, as though it pained him. Under her fingers she felt something more than human skin.

His true form … but he didn’t want it for some reason.

“You feel me, don’t you?” he asked, his breath shallow and quick.

“Have you been this way all along?” she asked. “Torturing yourselves?” She reached out and slid a palm down Garen’s arm beside her. His skin shimmered under her touch, pale velveteen scales becoming visible and receding again. His large hand covered hers and held it tightly.

“It wasn’t torture, Melody. Both of us would do it again for you.”

“This is why you needed me, isn’t it?” she asked.

Skye leveled his gaze at her for a few seconds before shaking his head. “My need for you goes far deeper than that, my love. True, that’s why you were offered the contract at first. I need you or Garen to replenish my energy. But after you …” He paused, his mouth open and his throat working silently like something was caught in it. Melody’s chest tightened at the desperate look in his eyes. “Until you decide, I have no will to seek sustenance anywhere else.”

She drew her hand out from under Garen’s and rested it on Skye’s cheek. “Don’t you … you know. Take care of each other?” She glanced between them.

Garen’s tone was abrupt, his voice gruff. “Not in your mother’s house, we don’t. Not when you’re here and one of us is Fated to mate with you. It would be disrespectful.”

“Are you in pain?” she asked softly.

“Melody,” Skye said, taking her hand away from his cheek and holding it tightly between his own. “We are hungry, but the pain we’re both feeling has nothing to do with that. Seeing you tear yourself to pieces over the choice hurts me more than anything. I wish I could change our laws, but you have to choose.”

She tore her eyes away, afraid of crying in front of him. His touch was too much, yet she savored the warmth of his smooth palm under hers. She could help them before she sent them away. It would be the hospitable thing to do, after all. She told herself that, knowing that what she really wanted was simply to be with them once more before she said farewell.

“I have made a decision,” she said. “But before I tell you what it is, I want you to let me help you. Can we put aside this fucking
choice
for a day?”

They both stared at her, their faces almost twins, even though Skye’s was more angular, with a layer of rough stubble on his chin, and Garen’s was far sweeter and smoother. Their eyes held the same surprise.

God, would she have to spell it out for them?

Skye’s hand tightened over hers and his free hand went to her hip. The light contact nearly destroyed her. His fingers clung tightly and his thumb grazed the swath of bare skin just above the waistline of her pajama bottoms.

“Do you truly want this?” he asked.

“More than you can imagine,” she whispered.

His grip tightened on her hip and his fingers hooked the elastic edge of her pajamas.

“One day, Melody,” he said, his voice so fervent and tight she could feel the desperation in it. “One day and then you choose.”

“Yes,” she said, her breathing coming out in rapid gusts. She stood over him, looking down, but Skye had all the control in that moment. He tugged harder at her waistband.

“I really need you now,” he said, the words spoken in a low, deep tone that wasn’t quite human but that made her core exponentially hotter.

“You have me,” she said. “Both of you have me for today.”

His self-restraint dissolved as beautifully as a sunset falling past the horizon. One second it was there, the next she was pulled into his lap, his lips hot and gloriously urgent against her mouth.

Garen didn’t move a muscle but a quick glance was enough for her to know he wasn’t oblivious. His eyes had sprung wide and his posture was tense.

The saying of those words, “you have me,” turned him into another creature and for the first time she saw a glimmer of what they really were. Garen stood at the same moment Skye wrapped both arms around her and stood, turned them both, and set her on the tabletop.

Skye’s eyes told her everything, all the buried desire, need, and love she’d held inside herself were plain on his face, but Garen’s expression was filled with dismay.

“The bond … Skye …”

Garen’s objection was halfhearted but he said no more when Skye rose up and turned to him, pulling him into a tight embrace, bestowing on the other male a kiss every bit as filled with raw need as the remnants of the one that still tingled on Melody’s lips.

“We have one day, let’s not waste it. If it’s the two of us together, the bond will stay balanced.” To Melody he said, “You’ve needed us so much these past few weeks, haven’t you? I wish we hadn’t stayed away.”

“I need you more now. Please don’t stop.”

She wasn’t quite sure what she wished for him to keep doing. Whether it was kissing Garen or kissing her—Garen’s reaction to Skye’s touch was too beautiful a sight to deny. Skye left his large palm resting against Garen’s face, his thumb grazing the hard line of his jaw. Garen’s eyes fluttered and he turned into Skye’s palm, grazing the skin with his lips.

Skye took her hand in his free one and raised it to his lips, closing his eyes as he reveled in the kiss he gave her palm.

“You both do this to me,” he said gruffly, lowering her hand and pressing it first against the center of his chest where his heart beat steady and hard, then sliding it lower down his taut stomach to the front of his jeans. She gasped at the even quicker throb of the massive erection that rested hotly beneath the rough fabric.

The craving to have his bare skin under her touch overwhelmed her and she leaned forward, frantically tugging at the button and zipper until his glorious erection came free. With his shaft heavy in her hand she reached toward Garen, her hand shaky but needing him to not be so far away at that moment.

“Please,” she said, staring up at him and pleading.

Catching her meaning, he stepped forward and rested a knee on the bench beside her.

“Anything for you, Melody,” he murmured, bending to kiss her as her fingers made quick work of his button. A second later both of their cocks were hot in her grip, one in each hand. The mere contact made her entire world shrink down to a bubble that contained only the three of them and their love.