Pieces of Three (8 page)

“You want me to walk through a forest alone?”

“You are never alone.” He kissed her cheek. “Never.”

As if she were under some sort of spell, she did as Julian requested. Shifters, especially Lykans could sense or smell emotions, maybe he figured out her inexperience or uncertainty and sent her away to not be bothered.

Unsure of what she was doing, she took her time walking through the trees, noticing all the different shades of green from light to dark, each blending in with each other. For the most part buildings had taken over Anthros, leaving little room for unplanned nature except for the mountainous side of her island.

“I know you’re here.” Porter’s voice guided her.

She made her way through the last couple of rows of trees and stopped. He sat at the edge of a small pond with his back to her.

“Are you spying on me?” He didn’t bother turning.

“No.” Truth be told, she didn’t know why she came here. Still, she tiptoed toward him.

“Well warden, since I’m not a prisoner, may I have a stay for the night?”

She approached and though she didn’t exert herself, she found herself gasping for air as if she’d run a race by the time she reached him. “ I just came to check on you.”

“I’m fine. I don’t need checking on, I do the checking.” He picked up a stick and threw it into the water. “Do you find yourself in need of more medical attention from a non doctor?”

“I am fine.” Again, the question of why she came here entered her mind. With no good answer, she spun on her heel and stomped away, glancing back at him only to have her foot catch on something.

Her body hit the ground. “Oh!” The sting of her palms and something scraping across her forehead resonated throughout her and she swore her wrist twisted. She shut her eyes, refusing to let any tear loose and lowered her head. No wonder their island had pavement. Smooth, foot-friendly pavement.

“Alyssa.” Porter appeared and put his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m fine.” She tried to shrug him off her. “We’re all fine.”

He didn’t let go. Instead he tightened his hold and turned her over. “I’m not fine.”

His gaze traveled over her, her forehead, her mouth, her neck and finally her eyes. Porter’s eyes were yellow, a shining gold that took on a glow that matched the setting sun. She swallowed, not sure if he was going to bare his fangs or do something else.

“Why aren’t you fine?” She breathed the question more than spoke it.

“Humans don’t feel it.” He shook his head.

“Don’t feel what?” Her throat dried, and her words came out brittle and broken.

“How can you not feel it?” He put his hand on the crook of her neck, running his thumb across her jaw. “It’s killing me, now worse than ever.”

As if beyond her control she moved her face toward his touch and her stomach bottomed out. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m in pain, and you’re causing it, and you don’t even know.” He closed his eyes.

“What am I doing?”

“Shh.” He put his fingers to her mouth. “Give me a minute.”

In an effort not to speak, she pressed her lips together. She couldn’t ask him the thousands, maybe millions of question that sped through her mind, not the least of which started with why wasn’t she kicking, screaming and pushing him off her and ended with wanting to know why he needed a minute.

A deep, long moan escaped his throat and vibrated through her. The hold he had on her turned into more of an embrace. Their shallow, jagged breaths evened out and matched each other.

What pain did she cause him? All she knew was she resisted the urge to pull him closer and wrap her arms around him. “Do you feel better?”

“You are making it worse.” He opened his eyes halfway.

“What am I doing?” She put her hand on his chest, preparing to push him away.

He placed his hand over hers. “Being around you for is affecting me in ways I tried to forget.”

“What do you mean?” She slipped her hand out from under his and she dug her heels into the dirt to move back.

He held her in place. “I’m going to show you”

She wanted to turn away, kick him off her and run. Instead, she faced him. His gaze met hers, her cheeks and her body heated.

He moved his face closer to hers, and as if she were on automatic, she tilted her chin up.

Rather than his mouth melding to hers, and before she had time to consider what she was allowing, Porter lowered his face to her neck and kissed her there.

Shudders ran though her and she arched her back.

With his tongue he traced an abstract design behind her ear, creating chills down her spine. His light ministrations were not nearly enough, and she curled her arm around him, taking in the way his muscles moved beneath her hand.

Gentle and soft, he kissed, nibbled and caressed her, moving down her shoulder. Show her pain? Nothing hurt, in fact quite the opposite. He prodded her body into pleasure, running his fingers over her breasts on the outside of her shirt, sucking on her earlobe, and giving her an open mouthed kiss on her shoulder.

No pain. Like earlier with Julian her body took off and flooded with desire, she had to have more and squirmed beneath him. “Porter.” A small amount of relief found her as the evidence of his own need ground against her.

His hand slid down the length of her body, taking in her waist, her hip, her thigh.

Every reason why she shouldn’t be even glancing in the direction of Porter or Julian entered and left her mind. Her focused remained solely on Porter, what he doled out, what he denied her, what she wanted. His lips drifted to different parts of her body until they reached her jaw line. She held her breath, waiting for him to connect their mouths, anticipating his taste, and soothing the ache he created.

Suddenly, Porter pushed himself away, and the heat vanished to be replaced by a cold breeze as if someone threw icy water over her.

“Porter?” She inhaled, choked on the air and coughed.

He stood, towering over her. “How do you feel now?”

She covered her mouth with her hand. Anything she answered would come out as a plea for him to quench her desire, ease the pain.

“Understand now?” He crossed his arms, turned and resumed his seat by the water’s edge.

She forced herself up and ran into the forest, away from Porter and away from Julian. With a quick glance at the sky, she tried to heed Julian’s words and remember she wasn’t alone, though she’d never felt more isolated.

Chapter Five

Porter kept his lock on Alyssa and walked backward onto the beach, joining Julian at the fire.

“You reek.” Julian continued to stare into the fire. “Where is she, cleaning up?”

“You don’t even have a clue.” He leaned back on his elbows and took in the full moon. The burning ran rampant through his body, made more acute by the fact he took a taste and the small sampling wasn’t nearly enough. Too many full moons had passed since he touched another female. Even though the animal side of him longed for satisfaction, he couldn’t let go, no one would compare to what he once possessed. Then along came a little human, someone who should be disposable, but something drew him to her.

“Don’t take me for a fool, she’s been all over you.” Julian ran his hand through his hair. “You can go to the boat with her. I’m going to stay out here and make sure the two of you stay away from me.”

It appeared the politician had it as bad as he did. Porter couldn’t even muster a smile, but he would ease Julian’s pain. “Then take a good whiff and you will realize that I merely toyed with her. Do you honestly think if I mated with her I would be sitting with you now?” At their core they were both animals, ones controlled by cycles and connected to the earth, once he had her, the need would become even more fierce.

Julian turned to him. “Where is she?”

“For someone who claims to be this great liaison she forgot that even though she may think she’s hiding, I know exactly where she is. She also doesn’t realize we both know when she’s aroused.” Porter continued to stare into the trees. “She’s not very experienced.”

“What did you do to her?” Julian grabbed his collar.

He didn’t flinch, only plucked Julian’s hand off him. “I suppose the cycle is finally hitting you hard. It’s torture, isn’t it?”

“I sent her to you, you should be in total bliss.” Julian clenched his teeth.

“I’m in pain, you’re in pain. Breathe in. I never mated with her. I merely tried to demonstrate how this felt and she’s not too happy with me at the moment.” He shook his head. “I could have had her in an instant. The desire was dripping from her.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Tell me why you sent her to me.” He glanced at Julian out of the corner of his eye.

Julian jutted his jaw out.

He waited. Eventually Julian would reveal what he didn’t want anyone to know.

“You needed her more than I did.”

They faced each other.

“Why didn’t you mate with her?” Julian crossed his arms.

“Because she was aroused before she found me.” He turned back to the trees. “For someone who has never mated she wants to mate with both of us.”

“Simple solution.” Out of nowhere Julian laughed. “It was right in front of us and we didn’t even see it.”

“What? Are we going to put her on rotation? Humans are funny, especially females, they like to be the only one.”

“Not too far off from Lykan females.” Julian hit his arm. “You’re missing the point. We don’t put her on rotation, we make her the only one for both of us. We share her.”

“How is that different?” He held up his hand swiping Julian’s words away as if it were an unwanted pest. “Lykans don’t share females.”

“Untrue. Someone doesn’t listen to the elders.” Julian’s tone mocked him. “Noah once told me that in times where females have been scarce it has been done. Encouraged even.”

“You have nothing better to do than listen to him, he needs to be put out to pasture.” He shook his head. Their whole life they engaged in a bizarre competition, pitted against each other as their places in the pack solidified. What would it be like to share? Could he watch as Julian pounded into her, brought her to a release? The image of the two of them with her wasn’t unpleasant, in fact, quite the opposite. He crossed his legs in an effort to hide his growing erection.

“Remember just as we can sense her arousal, I can also sense yours.” Julian leaned back. “Also having two males gives the female extra protection, especially when they are extremely rare and special like a human. Speaking of which…”

They both turned toward the forest. Alyssa’s scent and her warmth radiated toward him.

“Humans find it painful to go unfulfilled.” He decided to let him in on why their human wasn’t with them. Their human? “She stomped away and took a field trip through the trees. I allowed it because we know the its only some birds and bugs on the island and we know she won’t swim away.”

“She wasn’t that happy with me either.” Julian held his hand out. “Do we finally play nice?”

“Is this just one of your campaigns? Why do you want her?”

The fact Julian paused before spewing out words at least let Porter know he gave the question some thought.

“I think I finally understand what everyone means when they mention a connection.”

“Yes. I’m finally ready for someone.” He understood. “She’s a human and she’s a virgin.”

“We all have our faults and we will be careful. At least we’ll have each other to keep us under control.”

“Fair enough.” He raised his chin. “Here she comes. Keep quiet about the lunar cycles. Humans are more emotion driven.”

Alyssa came out from around the trees. The moonlight illuminated her form and she stopped when she saw them on the beach. An assortment of various items overflowed from her arms, some leaves, flowers and what appeared to be fruit. Fruit? “Damn it!”

They both bolted up and dashed for her.

“Stay away from me.” She held out one hand dropping several of her treasures.

“Did you eat?” Julian swiped her hand away.

He skidded down on his knees and scanned what fell, tensing when he spied the tell tale hourglass shaped fruit. Sweet enough to make any human smile before they became violently ill, and that was the best scenario. “Did you have anything to eat?” He kicked the fruit aside. At least the one on the ground didn’t have any bite marks.

“Leave me alone.” Alyssa hugged the remaining items to her and tried to pass them.

“Stop!” Julian grabbed her arm.

She resisted and jerked away, succeeding in dropping the rest of her things. “Jerks!” She freed herself and fell to her knees, scrambling to pick the items out of the sand.

Porter stopped her from touching anything else. “Alyssa.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“Did you or did you not eat anything?” He picked up one of the fruits.

“What do you care?”

“Answer, Alyssa.” Julian joined him in the sand and rifled through the items, making two piles.

She reached over and retrieved one of the flowers and a stick, pressing them to her chest. “Just a piece of fruit.”

“What did it look like?” He held up the hourglass fruit. “Please be honest.”

Julian stopped his sorting.

“That one.” She pointed down at the sand.

“How much did you eat?” Julian reached over and with one side of his mouth twitching to abate a smile, held up a different fruit, a plump pink one, round, juicy and known for a whole different set of side effects, but ones they could handle. The two of them stared at each other for less than a second, but it was enough to exchange an entire conversation.

“One before, and that one.”

Certainly enough to do the job and then some. Before celebrating their good fortune, Porter needed to ask the next question. “What about this one? Did you even take a taste?” He lifted the hourglass fruit and held his breath.

She glanced between them and shook her head.

“This will make you sick.” He threw the fruit away.

“You make me sick.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

“At least I won’t have you throwing up.”

“That is debatable.” With the scant few items she decided to keep, she stood.