The Lion's Shared Bride (10 page)

CHAPTER TEN

Aedan sprawled on the couch in the living room, head tilted back, to the eye relaxed; but his muscles coiled underneath his skin, ready to spring into action at the first stimulus.
We have to win her,
he thought, remembering the scent of her skin, the way she had begun to respond to him before her wariness and memory had interrupted. Soren had had her all day—right up until the moment when he’d had to leave to deal with the Pride. And when Aedan had done what was needed; when he had gone to prevent Nina from fleeing, he had scared the poor woman.

Soren was also waiting, a few feet away; they had let Nina go into the bedroom she had taken for her own, making sure she didn’t take the opportunity to try and make her escape, and then they had both settled down to wait. “What exactly happened when you intercepted her?” Soren had asked.

“I pinned her down on the bed at one point,” Aedan had confessed. “It scared her. I didn’t do anything to hurt her—you know I wouldn’t. But she was scared.” He had seen the grimace that contorted Soren’s face; he hadn’t had the moral courage to confess the words that Nina had spoken to him.
“I hate you.”
They haunted him still; even though she had begun to warm up to him again, the chill in her voice, the bitterness, the fear—it stuck with him.
Time enough to fix that later, as long as she stays.

Aedan’s ears, acute and sensitive to the tiniest sound that Nina might make, heard her voice from the bathroom; she was singing, and underneath that he could hear the sound of water sloshing around in the tub. He smiled to himself. If she was singing, splashing around, she was relaxing. That was the best that they could hope for at the moment, the sign that she was beginning to come back around, to lose her wariness and concern. “We’ve got to convince her,” Soren said. Aedan sat up, opening his eyes, and looked at the Alpha.

“I’m inclined to agree. If we haven’t messed everything up already.”

Soren shrugged.

“She’s more upset that we lied to her than that we’re—what was it you said she called us? Shapeshifter freaks?”

Aedan chuckled.

“You caught that too?” Soren nodded. “Okay, so how do we overcome lying to her?”

Soren shrugged, glancing in the direction of the hallway where the guest room lay.

“We convince her that in spite of lying to her, she can trust us.”

Aedan let out a low whistle.

“Tall order, don’t you think? I mean—basically we’re telling her, ‘We know we’ve lied or omitted the truth every step of the way so far, but we promise you everything else we’ve said is true.’”

Soren sighed, nodding to acknowledge the truth of it.

“Then we show her that her best interest is in staying with us anyway.”

Aedan considered it. That had been their original strategy; they’d suffered a setback, but there was no reason that between the two of them, they couldn’t manage to convince her once more.

“How much space do you think we should give her?” he asked. Aedan could feel the spurs of desire digging into him; the memory of the way that Nina had responded to them both gave him an idea of how to get over her lingering shock and wariness at the knowledge of what they really were. She had—on more than one occasion—reacted more favorably to when he had been assertive and aggressive than when he had been cautious and slightly submissive. Soren could afford to be generous, to coddle Nina a little bit, pamper her and protect her more fragile sensibilities. Aedan had to establish himself in a different way.

“What are you thinking?” Soren looked at him with sharp interest in his bright eyes and Aedan smiled slowly.

“I’m thinking that she was pretty well satisfied when we both had her at the same time,” he said. “I’m thinking that she knew what she wanted well enough when she was getting it without us doubting it was the right thing to do.” Aedan shrugged. “And I’m thinking that if I don’t have her again soon I’m going to rip right through my pants from all the rude thoughts I’m entertaining about what I’d like to do with her.”

“She does have that way about her,” Soren said, smiling.

“That she does. Shall we go pluck her from the water?” Aedan stood quickly. “Your room or mine, Alpha?”

Soren considered the question for a moment.

“Her own turf. We’re not going to want to go far anyway.” Soren followed Aedan as he walked out of the living room and into the hall, listening to the sound of Nina’s singing. His heart was beating faster, and memories of her in the same tub, only the night before, filled his mind; Aedan shuddered slightly at just how good it had been to have the woman to himself, to bring her to a fever pitch of desire again and again until she finally fell into a satisfied, sated sleep curled up to him. The trusting way that she had curled up against his body, one arm draped lazily over his chest, her face pressed lightly against his shoulder, stuck with him just as strongly as the look of betrayal and fear when she had discovered exactly what they were.
If anyone else had made her look that way, I’d feed him his own entrails.

Nina’s voice faltered as he and Soren came into the bathroom, and Aedan caught the flicker of apprehension in her eyes as she shifted instinctively to cover herself. “Love, we’ve already seen every inch of you, no need for modesty now,” he told her, smiling.

“It’s not modesty,” she said, her voice stubborn and slightly petulant.

“Then why are you trying to deprive us of the glorious sight of your delicious body?” Aedan asked her, crouching down next to the tub. “Especially when you know we’re only here to make you feel like the most-beloved woman on the planet.”

Nina sat up quickly, frowning and looking from Soren to Aedan, her lips pressed into an almost-pout. “You told me you would never force me,” she reminded him. “You said you would never hurt me or let anyone else hurt me.”

“I also said that I reserve the right to figure out what you really want, in spite of what you say.” Aedan sensed Soren moving closer to the tub, saw him in the corner of his eye, leaning against the wall, watching. “I’m sure you remember how good I am at that, don’t you?”

“If you can smell my pheromones, you can smell my fear,” Nina said defiantly. Aedan nodded.

“We can at that. Do you smell any fear on her, Soren?” Aedan glanced at the Alpha with amusement.

“I don’t, actually. I smell a little bit of anger, and a lot of desire.”

Aedan made a show of sniffing the air around them, grinning broadly as he let his gaze fall on Nina once more.

“You can’t lie to us about being afraid, little love. You can’t lie to us about being turned on or not, either. Wouldn’t you say there’s been enough lying between the three of us for at least a week?”

Nina shifted defensively in the tub, sliding away from them.

Aedan stood in a quick movement, glancing at Soren for confirmation before he reached into the tub. He lifted Nina up out of the water, and deposited her on her feet carefully, even as Soren snatched up the towel and wrapped it around her dripping body. “You told me you’re not afraid of anything, you know,” Aedan murmured, nuzzling into the damp skin of her neck. “I think it’s time to remind you of just what you’re getting out of this deal.” He wrapped his arms around Nina tightly, pulling her face around and kissing her hungrily on the lips. She trembled for a moment, but as Aedan deepened the kiss, he heard and felt the soft, almost needy moan roll up from her chest, felt her melting into him as she began to respond.

He lifted her up into his arms, breaking away from the kiss in time to see Soren moving out of the bathroom, one glance over his shoulder reminding Aedan of what they were there to do. Aedan carried Nina into the bedroom she had claimed and towards the bed, depositing her on the lush softness of the mattress as Soren sank down onto it himself. Soren pulled Nina towards him, bringing her face up to his as the towel fell limply away from her body, kissing her with a hunger to match Aedan’s.

Aedan could feel the throbbing heat of his desire as Nina’s and Soren’s pheromones swirled through the air, painting it with musk and vanilla, sweetness and warmth and spice. He tugged and pulled at his clothes, stripping them off as quickly as he could, unwilling to miss even a moment of the developing situation, to spend any more time than he had to removing whatever barriers stood between him and the woman he had claimed. He watched as Soren deepened the kiss with Nina, his hands beginning to wander over the lush curves of her body, lingering at her breasts, trailing down to her hips, slithering between her thighs to cup her pussy, rubbing slightly.
One good thing about sharing her: free porn,
Aedan thought as Soren finally, reluctantly, pulled back slightly, his fingers lingering against Nina’s labia.

“Which one of us gets to get her off first?” Soren asked, glancing at him.

Aedan shrugged.

“Got a coin in your pocket?” He was panting slightly as the heat of his desire built up inside of him. The scent of Nina’s arousal filled his nose—he knew she was already wet, that she was more than ready for whatever Soren and he could do to her.

“Pick a number between one and ten,” Soren told Nina. Aedan almost chuckled at the dazed confusion in her eyes as she frowned, shaking her head slightly. “Don’t tell us what it is,” Soren added.

“Six,” Aedan said without prompting.

“Eight,” Soren countered.

Nina chuckled.

“It was five, actually.”

Soren shrugged and pulled back a little more, looking at Aedan. Aedan easily read the message behind the silent glance:
don’t mess this up.

“You were closer, Aedan,” he said.

Aedan nodded and climbed onto the bed on the other side of Nina, his hands moving as if with a will of their own to touch and caress her. He cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples, rolling and twisting them until she gave a little breathy cry, arching into his touch. Aedan nuzzled against her neck, dragging his lips along the column of her throat and brushing them against the fluttering pulse-point just underneath her jaw.

“You are the most gorgeous little love any man could ever have,” Aedan murmured in her ear. He could hear the slightly growling purr in his voice, the possessive tone that came into his words from instinct. “Lie back like a good little thing for me.” He gently pushed her onto her back; Aedan smiled slightly as Soren snatched up one of the pillows from the head of the bed and slipped it under her, leaning in to kiss her lightly on the lips.

Aedan worked his way down her body slowly, kissing and nipping with his teeth playfully. He buried his face against her breasts, nuzzling, marking her with his scent before he claimed each of her nipples in turn, sucking and licking them until Nina moaned and writhed on the bed underneath him. He continued down, his hungry glance taking in the sight of Soren’s hand trailing up between her legs, his fingertips brushing along her slick labia, teasing her. Looking up again, he saw that Soren was nuzzling Nina’s neck, kissing and nibbling, murmuring something in her ear that Aedan didn’t care to focus enough on to make out.

He spread Nina’s legs wide, slipping down between them, and Soren’s hand retreated. Aedan groaned at the scent of Nina’s soaking wet pussy, the thick, sweet pheromones filling his nose as he moved closer to her labia. He took a deep breath to steady himself, feeling the rippling magic of his second nature vibrating along his bones. Aedan gently spread Nina’s slick folds, glancing up to watch Soren kissing and caressing her before he buried his face against her. The taste of her fluids filled his mouth as he lapped at her inner labia hungrily, eager to devour her. Nina moaned, her hips pushing down for better contact, and Aedan settled himself against her, holding her legs pinned and nuzzling against her slick skin as he probed the well of her pussy with his tongue. He teased her relentlessly, bringing the tip of his tongue to barely swipe at her clit and then dropping back down to her dripping folds, over and over again as she squirmed and writhed.

Aedan rubbed himself against her leg, his body moving of its own will as he became more and more aroused at the taste, the smell, the feeling of Nina’s body.
God’s blood I’m humping her like a damned dog,
he thought idly as he glanced up to watch her face contort with pleasure. Aedan moaned against her skin, his avid gaze lighting on the sight of Nina’s hand moving down, wrapping around Soren’s hard cock to stroke him. He pulled back slightly. “If you want to keep him involved,” he said, his lips barely parted from her labia, “you could use your pretty little mouth.” He draped one of her legs over his shoulder, and chuckled lowly as he saw Nina twisting at the waist, Soren moving to bring his cock up to her eager mouth.

In a matter of moments, as Aedan turned his attentions back to Nina’s body, lapping up her fluids and teasing her pleasure center with his tongue, he heard the rising pitch of her moans, muffled as they were by Soren’s cock between her lips. He heard his own slurping, swallowing, devouring wet sounds echoed in her attentions to the other man, and found himself rubbing his hips against her legs more and more feverishly as her increasing arousal set hot hooks somewhere deep down in his belly.
You’ll have her soon enough. Soren has to give you that. She has to give you that. You have to convince her…and it’s very, very easy to enjoy convincing her.
Aedan felt Nina’s body tense, and then groaned as her fluids gushed onto his tongue, filling his mouth. He swallowed, lapping even more hungrily as he felt the spasms of pleasure working through her body. Aedan slowed down as he sensed her orgasm cresting and then beginning to abate, backing off from her in time to watch Soren reach his own climax, groaning long and low.