NecessaryDecision (6 page)

“What are you smiling about?” Kylar asked, a teasing note in
his voice as he pulled from Varek’s body, his cock coated with his own fluid,
glistening in the moonlight.

“You two.” Gable smiled wider. “I’m glad you got past the
fighting cock stage.”

“I’ll never be past the fighting cock stage,” Varek said,
getting to his feet, water dripping from his strong body. Between his furred
thighs, his cock thickened, as if to add its own emphasis to his words.

“I don’t know, Varek.” Kylar’s hand curved over Varek’s
shoulder in a gesture that was sexual but also…affectionate. Something real had
happened between Varek and Kylar, something that had brought all three of them
closer to Gable’s dream of a three-way mating, of a family. It made his heart
ache in his chest, but it was a good ache. A beautiful ache. “You shouldn’t
underestimate the power of teamwork.”

Varek laughed softly beneath his breath. “What did you have
in mind?”

Kylar started through the water, prowling closer to Gable,
bright blue eyes all for Gable’s nude body though his words were still for
Varek who followed close behind him. “I was thinking one of us should fuck
Gable’s ass and one should suck that perfect cock of his.”

Arousal zipped through Gable’s body. His cock swelled even
thicker, until he was so hard his shaft stretched up to kiss his navel and his
hole pulsed with eagerness. He couldn’t imagine anything better than being
pleasured by both of these men at once, being the focus of all that intense,
male attention. Already his skin burned, even before Varek came to stand behind
him, the heat of his enormous body banishing the chill of the night.

He was suddenly so much warmer, but still, Gable
shivered—with arousal—as Varek’s hands wrapped around his chest and pulled him
back into his strength. Kylar came to stand in front of him, his fingers
teasing down Gable’s flat stomach to trace the ridges of his swollen length.
Fluid leaked from the tip of his cock and a trembling sigh escaped his lips as
Kylar leaned in to claim his mouth, tongue teasing along the seam of his lips,
carrying the taste of Varek and the promise of love that could last.

Behind him, Varek groaned softly in his ear and his cock
swelled against the small of Gable’s back. “You two are… Damn.”

Kylar smiled against Gable’s mouth before he pulled away,
catching Varek’s eye over Gable’s shoulder. Without a word the two men moved
closer, mouths meeting, tongues twining, making Gable’s heart swell. Seeing the
two of them reach out to each other, seeing the eagerness with which their lips
met and parted and came back together again, was more than he had dared hope for.
In that moment, he believed it could happen. They could have their happiness.

“You’re smiling again,” Kylar said, moving his lips back to
Gable’s as his hand cupped Gable’s balls, rolling the skin of his sac, pinching
and tugging until Gable’s head spun.

“I think I have a lot to smile about.” Gable’s words turned
to a moan as Varek’s hands kneaded his ass, spreading his cheeks, teasing at
the tight ring of his hole.

Soon the edges of the world blurred with bliss. Gable was
dimly aware of Varek and Kylar lifting him, of Varek lying back in a bed of
pine needles and pulling him on top of him. He felt the burning perfection of
Varek’s thickness shoving inside of him, the strength in Varek’s arms as he
moved him up and down on his shaft. And then the wet heat of Kylar’s mouth
closed around his aching length, sucking and licking, and all hope of rational
thought fled.

With a sigh, Gable gave himself up to the two men he loved,
to the two men who loved him, to the two men he knew were going to learn to
love each other.

Chapter Five

Five weeks later

The Grossman home wasn’t the largest dwelling on the Pride
lands, but it was one of the most impressive. The gray two-story structure
crouched on the top of a rock outcropping and stared out across the valley,
perpetually on the lookout for enemies trespassing on Orion Pride lands.
Kylar’s father, Baron, had lived in the home his entire life.

Even after Baron passed the rigorous sexual testing required
by the Orion Elders and won himself a female mate—a time when young Pride
members were usually eager to move out on their own—he’d chosen to stay with
his parents. He’d forced his new wife to move in with his own cantankerous
father and cowed mother and done his best to teach his bride to submit to his
will in all things.

Regina, an orphan from the Pride wars who had no one else to
turn to, hadn’t rebelled, but she hadn’t submitted either. Instead, she’d
maintained a passion-filled silent protest, taking passive aggression to
extremes that were torturous for her family.

At least torturous for her only son.

There were times—when his father’s temper raged on and his
mother sulked and pouted for days—that the fine house on the hill was little
better than a prison. Kylar had moved out as soon as he earned his first bonus
for service to the Pride, and only returned when family obligations absolutely
demanded it.

“Are you ready?” Gable squeezed his hand, the gentle
pressure making Kylar realize how cold his fingers were. Despite the fact that
fall had only just begun to burn the edges of the leaves brilliant reds and
golds, Kylar felt chilled to his very bones.

“I doubt I’ll ever be ready.”

“I can come with you,” Gable said, sliding closer, pressing
his slim body against Kylar’s side. Behind them both, Varek’s warmth flared. He
had stepped closer as well, silently offering his support, no matter what
decision Kylar made.

Kylar shook his head. He was too lucky. These two men
were…everything he’d never dared to hope for. There was no way he could expose
them to his father, at least not until Kylar made it clear that behaving
cruelly to either of his future mates would be unacceptable. Baron wanted his
son to have a female mate, but that wasn’t going to happen now, no matter what
threats Baron made. Kylar had penetrated both Varek and Gable, he was no longer
fit to continue with the sexual testing. Hopefully, once his father understood
that, he would be reasonable about Kylar’s plans for his future…

Or…not.

“Come on, let me come.” Gable nudged him in the ribs. Kylar
could hear the smile in his voice. “I’m very charming. I’ll have Baron thrilled
that you’re taking a slave as your warrior-mate before your mother’s poured the
coffee.”

“Two slave warrior-mates,” Varek corrected, “and I think we
all know how ‘thrilled’ Baron is going to be about this decision.”

“Indeed,” Kylar sighed. Varek’s strong hand fell on his
shoulder, offering comfort, strength.

“Maybe we should wait,” Varek said, “and let another group
of three be the first to take advantage of the new law.”

The new law. Just last night, the council had announced that
all matings between three Pride members—whether they consisted of two men and a
woman or three warrior-mates—would be legal and valid. The response from the
Pride had been varied, but Kylar’s own father had been one of the loudest
dissenters, insisting that the new law spelled the end of the Orion way of
life. He was going to be about as thrilled to hear Kylar intended to claim two
warrior-mates as to wake up and find all his teeth had fallen out.

Kylar’s jaw clenched so tight his own teeth began to ache.
This wouldn’t end well, but waiting would accomplish nothing. His father was
set in his ways. Better to break the news now and take comfort in the fact that
he, Gable and Varek hadn’t wasted even a small portion of their lives waiting
for approval that was never going to come.

“No, I’m going to go. And I should go alone,” he said,
releasing Gable’s hand and stepping away from Varek’s kind touch. “I’ll meet
you at the house in a few hours, and we’ll celebrate.”

“I’m cooking salmon,” Gable said. “And Varek got a bottle of
champagne. Isn’t he romantic?”

Varek shrugged and looked embarrassed. “I’ve never had
champagne before…and I thought…”

“It’s perfect,” Kylar said, laughing at both of their
faces—Gable with his mischievous grin and Varek with his full lips set in a
stern line. The two of them had become home to him.

Varek and Gable had only moved in with him a week ago, but
it already felt like they’d been there forever. They had filled his house—and
his life—with such light and love. There was joy in his heart for the first
time, and it was good and right. It didn’t matter what his father said to him
tonight. All that mattered was that he knew he was making the right decision.

On impulse, Kylar leaned in, claiming Gable’s mouth for a
long, slow kiss. Within seconds, Varek’s arms were around them both and his
full lips joined the fray. The kiss went on for only a few seconds—ten at
most—but by the time they all pulled away Kylar’s cock was thickening in his
dress pants. His father always required that he “dress for his family”. The
thought helped ease the tightness below his belt. It was impossible to maintain
a hard-on while thinking about anything remotely connected to that mean old
bastard.

That mean old bastard who would be even crankier if Kylar
was late to his first dinner engagement of the evening.

“See you soon.” Kylar nodded to Varek and Gable before he
turned and strode up the trail toward the house, reaching the steep steps far
sooner than he would have liked. Today, his strength and stamina were a bane on
his existence, allowing him to mount the two hundred steps in a matter of
minutes. Before he could quite screw his courage to the sticking point, he was
at his parents’ front door, lifting the heavy knocker and letting it drop with
an ominous clunk.

Almost immediately, footsteps sounded inside—dull clicks
against the hardwood. His mother was answering the door. Kylar’s skin prickled
and the hairs on his neck stood on end. Something was wrong.

His mother never answered the door. She left that job to his
father or simply let Kylar stand outside in the cold until he got tired of
waiting and let himself in. Kylar knew his mother found it offensive that he
didn’t feel comfortable enough in his childhood home to simply open the door
and come inside. But Kylar couldn’t seem to help himself. This place had never
felt like home, not even when he was a boy. At least not the same way his own
house felt cozy and safe now that Gable and Varek slept in his bed every night.
They had brought love to his home, to his life. Kylar hadn’t even realized how
frozen he was inside until their fearless care had warmed him.

Now he drew upon that warmth to calm his racing pulse, to
help him stand up a little straighter as his mother wrenched open the door and
stood facing him with cold, glassy eyes. They were his eyes, but even bluer,
bleached by years of living in a house where she was outnumbered by the enemy.

“Your father knows,” she said, the lack of emotion in her
voice not fooling Kylar for a moment. The more upset his mother became, the
more she shut down, muting her external reactions until she was more automaton
than human or were. “And he has a few things to share with you. He’s waiting in
the study.”

Kylar nodded, took a deep breath and began to move past his
mother into the dark, quiet home. She reached out at the last moment, grasping
his wrist and squeezing, shocking Kylar into stillness. He couldn’t remember
the last time his mother had touched him. It must have been years ago, before he
began the sexual testing as a teenager, back when his cheeks were still soft
and his legs short enough to swing in the air when he climbed into his big
chair at the dinner table.

“Don’t believe everything you hear,” she whispered. “Some
things might be facts, but that doesn’t mean that they’re true.”

Kylar shook his head. “I…I don’t understand.”

“I know.” Her blue eyes filled and—for a split second—Kylar
thought his mother was going to weep. Instead, she pressed her lips together
and gave his wrist one last gentle squeeze before releasing it. “Just know that
I love you. No matter what.”

The tightness in Kylar’s chest became a clutching so fierce
that for a moment he couldn’t draw breath. His mother’s obvious distress, her
kind words, her soft touch—they could only mean one thing. His father was angry
with him. Very, very angry. So angry his mother feared this evening might end
with Kylar no longer being welcome in this home.

He knew. He
must
know about Gable and Kylar. In a
Pride the size of the Orion Pride, it was only a matter of time before word got
around. Still…Kylar had been hoping to break the news to his father himself.
But now his father was waiting for him in the study, his intimidating domain, a
place where he had always brought Kylar when he wanted his son to feel small,
foolish and worthless.

Kylar forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat and
lean over to peck his mother’s papery cheek. “I love you too,” he said,
realizing he meant the words with all of his heart. Despite how hard it had been
growing up in this house, he still loved his mother. And his father. He knew
his father would be wrong to shut him out because of his love for two men, but
it would still hurt him to see disgust in his father’s eyes.

Better to get it over with. No sense dragging your damn
feet.
Kylar stood up straighter and pointed his feet toward the back of the
house. In a few minutes, he had crossed the smooth wooden floors of the
entryway and family room and was striding down the carpet-covered hall, bound
for the big, wooden door at the end. It stood ajar, daring him to open it and
see what horror waited on the other side.

Of all the things he could have imagined, however, his
father sitting in front of the fire with two slaves from the slave quarters was
the absolute last. He froze in the doorway, not certain whether to stay or go.

“Kylar. We’ve been expecting you for half an hour,” his
father said, not bothering to rise from his wing chair. “I’m sure you know
Hendrix and Job.”