Every Night Forever (17 page)

The pile consisted of three pieces of black clothing:  a corset, a skirt, and a cloak.  The corset was stretchy and laced up the front with a black ribbon.  When it was on, she stepped into the skirt made of the same material and skimmed it up her legs.  It was short, barely covering her cheeks, but comfortable.  She fixed the cloak at her throat, lifted the hood up and smoothed the material so it slipped forward over her shoulders and pooled on the floor.

Hyena ceremonial clothing is a lot like goth club clothing.

Excitement and nerves mixed together as she walked down the winding staircase to the first floor, through the dark kitchen, and out through the French doors that opened onto the back porch.  The cool evening air made her skin prickle, but she was focused on her boys, who were standing on the grass at the bottom of the porch.  They wore cloaks as well, their gloved hands clasped in front of them, shirtless and barefoot in only dark slacks.

She stood on the porch and looked down at them, meeting each of their gazes in the dim light flickering from torches planted in the yard, which led to a circle where a small fire glowed.

Dante, in the middle, extended his right hand to her.  “Do you come tonight, Alyssa Hannah Morgan, to join to this clan as their treasured bride and mate, of your own free will?  Answer carefully, knowing this bond cannot be broken, carried even into the afterlife.”

Her voice was as clear as she hoped it would be.  “I do.”

She took his hand and stepped down off the porch, walking with them through the torch-lit path until they reached the circle and the fire.  The fire came from a small square brick that burned brightly on a raised iron plate standing waist high.  Dante stopped her a foot back from the fire and moved across from her.  Cairo was on her right and Mason on her left.  They slid their hoods off and she did the same.  The crackling of flames was the only thing she could hear over the beating of her heart; the world around them had gone reverently silent.

Dante pulled a small bowl from the ground and handed it to Cairo, who held it with both hands, close to the fire.  Dante lifted a sprig from the ground and held it a few inches from the flames as his eyes met hers.

“Rosemary is sacred to the hyenas.  The legend of our people says that when the first hyena clan found their mate, they draped her in rosemary so she would remember the strength of their love.  It preserves, the way a clan’s love for their mate lasts throughout all eternity.”

There was a pause.  She saw Mason lift a knife and cut off one of his curly locks and hand it to Dante, who wrapped the length around the rosemary.  Mason turned the handle of the knife towards her, and she knew without any words being spoken that a lock of her hair was required, too.  Without reservation, she grasped a narrow section and cut off a few inches from the underside of her hair, handing the knife and lock to Mason.

Dante wrapped her hair around the rosemary and dipped the end into the flames.  It sparked immediately, tongues of fire licking upwards.  He placed it in the bowl that Cairo held and they began to chant in what sounded like ancient Greek.

Dante stepped around with his brothers and she turned to face them.  The flames in the bowl had gone out.  Dante smoothed the edges of the cloak over her shoulders and untied the corset slowly, his dark eyes holding hers.  He folded the corset and tucked it into his pocket.  He took off his right glove and dipped his fingers into the bowl that Cairo held.

With a stroke of his ash-covered fingers across her chest, just over where her heart pounded in excitement, Dante said with a low voice, “I, Dante Marcellus Stone, do hereby vow myself to you, Alyssa Hannah, for the remainder of my days on this Earth and for the remainder of time in the afterlife.  I vow to cherish, honor and protect you for all eternity.”

He stepped back and slid the glove on, taking the bowl from Cairo, who stepped up to her, and following in Dante’s example, stroked ash across her chest and vowed to love her forever.  The light scent of rosemary tingled in her nose as Mason took Cairo’s place.  His eyes were glistening with unshed tears, and although he was calm, he was struggling and that made her own eyes sting.  When Mason finished the vows, Dante took the bowl and dumped the contents on the brick.  They watched the flames devour the last bits of rosemary.  A small domed lid was placed over the plate, extinguishing the fire.

The only light for them now was from the torches that made up the circle.  One by one, those were extinguished by Mason and Cairo before they joined Dante and Alyssa.  With a voice like steel, Dante said, “What we’ve vowed this day, no creature can undo.  You are ours forever, Alyssa,
mas karda enai liro
. 
Our heart is complete.”

Their faces tilted up to the night sky and their howls pierced the silence, a combination of commitment to her and warning to others.  Her wolf growled in agreement, panting in her mind for her new mates, and when they dropped their heads and the silence returned to surround them in a rush, she jumped into Dante’s arms and kissed him.

He chuckled in his throat but didn’t stop her kiss, walking forward and carrying her back towards the house.  He only paused in their kiss long enough to step onto the porch before sliding his tongue back into her mouth and squeezing her tightly.

As they descended the stairs, she broke the kiss long enough to nip his bottom lip with her teeth.  “Mine.”

The corner of his mouth lifted roguishly as he dug his fingertips into her thighs.  “There won’t ever be anyone else for us, baby. It’s just you.”

When they stepped down into the den, after Mason and Cairo had cleaned things up and locked up the house, Alyssa was amazed at the transformation.  All the furniture had been pushed back against the walls and panels of dark fabric hung from the ceiling, obscuring everything.  It looked very much like a real den.  The open area left by the fabric was a large circle, about ten feet around.  Although there were no lights inside the open area, illumination came from lights hidden behind the fabric, which lit the whole area with a warm amber glow.

“This is our den,” Dante said softly, undoing the clasp of the cloak and tossing it behind her.  Three other cloaks followed hers to the floor.  “In this place, there is only us, only our clan and our love.  It’s here that we will finish our clanning ritual by sharing blood and marking you and then making love together.”

Large hands slid the skirt down her legs and she knew they were Cairo’s.  She stepped out of the garment and watched as Dante dropped his slacks and then tossed them away.  She shivered as the reality of the situation settled onto her.  She was soon going to be mated to these three wonderful men!

Dante walked backwards slowly, holding her hands in his as he led her into the center of the open area.  A thick, black fur was stretched out on the floor and he stopped just at the edge of it.

“Are you ready, sweetheart?”  Dante asked as Mason and Cairo joined him in front of her.

“Yes.”  She smiled, her whole body trembling as all three of them drew her onto the rug.  They settled on their knees, the three of them in front of her, and they began to take off the gloves from their left hands.  As the leather was stripped away, they revealed a band tattooed around their ring fingers.  They held their hands out to her, and she touched all three tattoos, tracing the identical designs.

The top and bottom was a simple lock and key design, underscored by a narrow, straight line.  In the center of that were symbols she didn’t recognize, that encompassed the whole finger like a ring.

“What does it mean?” she asked.

Cairo said, “It’s a declaration that you are our mate; your name and our vow to you.  Our kind does it instead of traditional wedding bands.”

Happy tears welled in her eyes.  The gloves on their right hands came off and they showed her another tattooed band on their ring fingers.  This one, also done completely in black ink, had only two narrow lines top and bottom, with symbols filling in the center.  Dante explained that it was their clan ring, a vow to each other that they would do everything in their power to keep her and their future children safe.  For them, their mate and off-spring were more important than their own lives.  The clan was everything. 
She
was everything to them.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she stared at the permanent symbols of their love for her and each other, and their future children.  Mason stroked the tear from her cheek with his thumb, a sweetly sincere smile on his handsome face.

The air in the open area shifted, warming as if lit from an unknown source.  She could feel their arousal on the air, three separate but similar dark, wild scents.  They moved her around gently, until she was leaning against Dante’s chest with Mason on her right side and Cairo between her spread legs.  Dante’s erection was hot against her back, but she quickly forgot about how uncomfortable he must be.  Cairo’s warm mouth kissed up the inside of her leg as Mason tilted her face so he could kiss her mouth.  Dante began to nuzzle under her ear and cup her breasts.  Sensations overwhelmed her.  The sensual lash of Cairo’s tongue as he licked up her pussy.  The firm pressure from Dante’s fingers on her nipples as he pinched and tugged until they were tight, hot peaks.  Mason’s lush mouth pressed against hers, his tongue claiming every inch of her mouth.

Cairo slipped a thick finger inside her body and sucked her clit into his mouth, lashing his tongue against the captured nub.  His finger wiggled inside her, easily finding the place to send her into orbit.  They’d learned her body so quickly, almost desperate for her to know pleasure every time they were together.  And tonight was no different.   Mason ate her panting moans until she felt dizzy from lack of oxygen.  He let her mouth go free, only to latch onto her neck and nibble and suck with the same fervor as Dante attacked her other side.  Stomach tightening with pleasure, she closed her eyes and dug her fingers into Mason and Dante’s arms, as if she were afraid she would float away from the ground in the throes of her passion.  Even though her eyes were closed, they still rolled back in her head as her climax thundered down on her in a hot wave of pleasure that made her body tighten and her toes curl.  She cried out wordlessly as Cairo fingered her harder and rolled her to another blistering climax.  She was dimly aware of three low growls seconds before they sank their fangs into her body.

Cairo settled his teeth into the inside of her thigh, curling his hand around her leg to hold it still while he marked her.  Dante and Mason each marked one side of her neck, holding her captive between their jaws like true predators.  She felt their strength in their collective bites and the power that she gave to them in allowing them to touch and mark her in such a primal way.  She felt them each swallow some of her blood before they disengaged their fangs, licking the wounds to help them heal into the faint scars that would permanently mark her as a mated female.

Boneless and blissed out, she sagged against Dante.  “Do you want to mark us now, sweetheart?”  He whispered huskily into her ear.

She opened her eyes and blinked until her vision cleared.  Cairo smiled at her encouragingly.  Shaking her head, she said, “Not now.  I don’t want to rush through it.  I want it to be something we do separately, if that’s okay?”

Mason stroked her cheek with his finger.  “Whatever you want, baby.”

She hummed in her throat, and said, “I want to make love.”

Cairo and Mason moved away from her as Dante tipped her face back and kissed her gently.  “Turn around, baby.”  His voice dipped low with arousal.

She turned to face him and dropped her eyes to his cock.  Her fingers wrapped around the thick length as she leaned forward and kissed him.  He moaned into her mouth, his hands traveling up her arms to her shoulders, as she explored the satin-over-steel cock that had been pressed against her during the marking.  When her free hand cupped his balls, he jumped and pulled away from her mouth with a shaky laugh, extracting her hands from him.  Kissing her palms, he chuckled, “If you make me blow now, the whole thing will be have to put on hold until I recover.”

She blushed as he grinned.

She felt Cairo and Mason’s hands on her as Dante urged her gently forward until she straddled his lap as he sat on the rug.  She guided his cock into her throbbing pussy, the thick crown breaching her, stretching her, until the burning eased to pleasure as she worked herself down onto him.  They both groaned as she moved down, until the back of her thighs were flush to his body and his cock filled her up.

Moving her hips experimentally, she felt his cock twitch inside her, and when his fingers tightened on her hips to keep her from moving again, she realized at that moment just how much they’d all been suffering as they waited for her to come to her senses.  Cairo’s mouth moved across her shoulder as he leaned in close behind her.  “Have you ever done anything like this?”