Maiden Flight (9 page)

“We’ll see you later, Lars. Thanks for your assistance.” Gareth’s words were formal but his tone was warm. She realized he knew exactly what afflicted his friend as he fit her bottom against his own raging hard-on.

After a long moment Lars nodded, bowed slightly to her, and left the chamber.

“Will he be all right?”

Gareth chuckled behind her, pulling her soft body closer against his.

“Nothing a few strokes of his hand won’t cure. Would you like to help him?”

She was shocked, but also titillated by the teasing remark. “Would you want me to?”

Gareth turned her in his arms. “Oh, yes. I’d enjoy watching that.”

She stiffened in his arms. “You’d enjoy seeing me pleasure other men?”

“Not just any other man. Only Lars. He will be our family soon, Belora.

It’s only right that you should be able to share pleasure with him. It’s normal and healthy for our kind.”

“I don’t understand your ways at all.” She shook her head but relaxed once more against his hard body.

“It’s all right. We have time yet.” He hugged her close, tucking her head under his chin. “Does the idea repulse you though? Could you make him welcome in our family, do you think?”

She snuggled into him. “He’s so quiet, yet I sense in him a great well of feeling kept tightly under wraps. He’s so alone.” Her voice was quiet with thought and sympathy.

“Lars has been alone for a long time. His parents and siblings were killed right in front of him during the Northern Wars when he was only a small boy.

His partner, Rohtina, found him among those left for dead a few days later. He was badly injured, but managed to cling to her back until she could get him back to the Lair. For years he spoke to no one but Rohtina, his dragon partner.” Gareth sighed as he tucked her hair behind her ear and held her close. “He’s only a year or so younger than me and we became friends early on when we were still just boys really. Others thought him strange and it was hard for him to find welcome from some of the other knights, but we’ve been close friends for many years. I love him as a brother though I’ve never said the words to him I know he feels the same, though he rarely speaks at all.”

“Now I begin to understand what lies beneath.” Her mind spun and her heart opened with sympathy and a nurturing kind of love for Lars. It encompassed Gareth too, for the protective way he spoke of his heart-scarred friend.

“Because Rohtina will be Kelvan’s mate, our friendship will now become a true partnership. We will be family, a fighting unit when on duty and a partnership in whatever we do. All five of us will live together in one large suite and any children we have will also be his to nurture and raise. When the dragonets come, likewise we will all help in whatever way Kel and Tina need us to. The five of us will be family in the truest sense.”

“Am I expected to… uh… to have sex with him?” She didn’t really know if she was nervous about the answer or excited. Either way, her breath was coming faster and something inside her womb clenched in anticipation.

“Neither of us will ever force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“But is that how the other mated pairs work?”

“Most, yes. There are so few women among us that it’s normal for one woman to be wife to both knights if their dragons are mated. Kel says the Mother of All knows what She’s doing when She pairs off the dragons and their knights. But not all matings work the same way. There are no real rules about it. Each woman pretty much decides for herself what she’s comfortable with and how the relationship will work. It’ll be up to you if you accept Lars in your bed or even how far you will go with him. You could limit yourself to just kissing him, which is a common enough courtesy. Or you could move further into sharing oral pleasure and the like. Or you could take him as you take me, or take us both at the same time.”

His words and the deep tone of his voice made her squirm. She pressed her legs together and felt the wetness already on her thighs from this hot conversation. She realized it wasn’t fear that made her feel this way. No, she rather liked the idea of what Gareth was proposing. She felt the same instant attraction to Lars as she had felt the moment she had seen Gareth.

Something about both men called out to her heart and her very soul. It was not logical, but it was, nonetheless. Something about them felt right and good.

She would be a fool not to explore where this might lead.

“Do you really want this? Wouldn’t you be jealous if I took him as my lover?”

Gareth stared down at her with serious eyes. “If you took any other man as a lover I would kill him outright.” She gasped at the deadly intent in his eyes. “But Lars is my brother. Our dragon partners are going to be mates. It’s inevitable that the three of us will be caught up in the fever as our dragon partners mate, and they’ll do so often now that they’re finally free to join. I couldn’t let Lars face that alone. I must admit the idea of watching you with him, of filling you at the same time as he does, excites me. There’s no other man I would share you with. Only him. I know that if I should fall in battle, he’ll be there to take care of you and vice versa. We’re a team now. The Mother of All has ordained it. We’ll both love you until the day we die, if you let us.”

* * * *

Belora thought about Gareth’s shocking words as they ate and later as he led her to the communal hot baths. She had heard about them, of course, but had not visited the hot springs yet herself.

The chamber was large and the main pool absolutely huge. It could have qualified as a small lake, she thought idly, but the bubbling, effervescent surface and slightly metallic smell of the water made it much different from any other lake she had ever seen.

There were a few men there before them and they all looked up as Gareth and Belora entered. Several shouted greetings to Gareth or lifted their hands to wave while eyeing Belora with great interest. She began to wonder just how this bathing business was supposed to be accomplished without great embarrassment. She tugged on Gareth’s hand and he stopped to look down at her. “I hope you don’t expect me to get naked in front of all of them.” Her whispered words carried to him alone though she knew all the men present watched them closely.

“There’s no shame in nakedness, Belora. Besides, remember what I said before? I think I’ll enjoy knowing that my friends and comrades can look but never touch my mate. Many of them may never find mates of their own.

Seeing the happiness of others is the only real glimpse of joy left to them besides the momentary pleasure they can find with a whore or some other random woman who doesn’t mind the great huge dragon lurking about outside in her garden, scaring the neighbors.”

Belora giggled at the picture he painted with his words and his lips softened into a loving smile. He stroked back her hair and caressed her cheek.

“Besides, we won’t be in the main pool. There are smaller pools designed for a bit more privacy. We’ll use one of those, okay?”

“Will they be able to see us?”

“Maybe. If they were in the right spot.”

She chuckled. “How much do you want to bet they’ll all want to move suddenly to the one area from which they can see me naked?”

“You’ve got a point there.” He chuckled as she did. “But then, you’ll be seeing them naked too, so it kind of evens out.”

“Hmm.” She looked around his broad body to get another exaggerated look at the muscular men sitting or wading in the fairly shallow water near the edge. “I hadn’t thought of that. That blonde man has a spectacular ass.

Do you think he’ll mind me ogling him?”

“He might not, but I certainly will.” Gareth growled with a grin as he chased her toward the far end of the cavern where the more private pools lay.

A bit breathless from both the exertion and the heat of the cavern, she came to a sudden halt before one of the pools. Lars was there. Already naked and in the water.

“And when were you going to tell me about this?” She arched her brow and looked from Lars to Gareth with teasing accusation in her eyes. She gasped aloud when Lars stood from the water, his nude body gleaming wetly in the low light of the cavern. He was solid muscle and had a long, thick cock that was rock hard and aimed right at her.

“I’ll leave if you wish it.”

He made to step out of the pool but halted when Belora took one almost unconscious step toward him, her eyes entranced with his waving cock. She realized this was a further part of Gareth’s plan to make her aware of the things that would be expected of her as his wife and get her used to Lars as well. As far as plans went, she had to agree it was a good one. A woman would have to be dead not to be attracted to the masculine perfection and puppy-like eagerness of them both. They wanted so much to please her and for her to accept them. It was touching really. And very flattering.

“Don’t leave, Lars. If I’m really going to marry into this world, I need to know if I can handle it, right?” She turned around and punched Gareth in the arm. “Don’t think I don’t recognize your plotting hand in this little scene, but in this case, you’re probably right. I’m willing to try and see where this goes.

He can stay and watch, but if I want to call a halt at any time, you have to promise to stop.”

“Of course!” Gareth pulled her close and hugged her. “Your wishes will always come first. Always!”

She nodded against his chest and stroked his arms. “I thought you’d say that, but I had to be sure. This is kind of scary for me.”

He soothed her and hugged her tightly. “You’re so brave, my sweet.” He bent to whisper in her ear. “I love you so much. Do you realize how very special you are to me? I will never love again. Only you, Belora. For the rest of our lives.”

He kissed her then, pouring all his love into his kiss and she clung to him. Before she knew it, she felt the wafting warm air of the cave against her bare skin. Gareth had tugged her robe away until she was standing naked in his strong arms. Her eyes shot to Lars as Gareth pulled back, easing from their kiss.

Lars watched her every move, his eyes dark turquoise in the dim light, his gaze intense as he saw her nude body for the first time. Gareth spun her in his arms and pulled her back against his front, wrapping one muscular forearm around her waist as the other hand moved up to cup her breast, displaying her for his friend.

Entranced by the look on Lars’ angular face, Belora felt a slick wetness seeping down the insides of her thighs. She had never been so excited by the mere look of a man before. Lars eased back into the water, seating himself on an underwater ledge at the far side of the small pool, one hand disappearing under the transparent surface to curve around his hard cock, stroking slowly as he watched Belora in Gareth’s arms.

She licked her lips, thinking of forbidden things. But perhaps they weren’t so forbidden after all. If she were going to go through with this, she could have both of these handsome, heart-strong men all to herself for the rest of their lives. Something in her heart felt warm and secure at the thought yet her mind worried over how such a relationship would work.

“Don’t think so hard, sweet.” Gareth’s warm breath puffed against her ear as he spoke and his hands caressed her, the one at her waist slipping down to tease the neat curls at the juncture of her thighs. “Just feel.”

He slipped his fingers into her folds and her knees went weak. One hand squeezed her nipple, the other her clit, and her eyes closed in yearning ecstasy. Slowly, he moved his fingers over her clit, pressing and rotating in little swirls over the sensitive flesh, making her squirm. His other hand dropped down and then he was spreading her pussy wide, allowing Lars to see everything he was doing, showcasing her responsive clit for the other man.

“See how he looks at you? If you let him, he would suck your clit while I sucked your nipples.”

The words inflamed her and she groaned, shivering in his arms. Her eyes opened to see Lars stroking himself under the water more firmly now, his eyes feasting on the sight of her feminine core as Gareth used two fingers to probe deep inside her. She was slick with excitement and his passage was made easier by the fact that she was near peak from nothing more than his stroking and Lars’ hot gaze.

He pumped his fingers into her tight core a few more times before she came hard on his hand, stifling her cry against his shoulder as he supported her spasming body. He held her, crooning to her as he pulled his fingers from her body, bringing them to his lips and licking them.

“Mmm. Delicious.” He turned her slightly in his arms and brought the still wet fingers to her mouth. “Taste,” he whispered. “Suck them clean.” She opened her lips as his fingers pushed inside. She tasted herself on his flesh and the look in his eyes nearly drove her wild.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

He removed his fingers and kissed her deeply. A moment later, her world spun as he hoisted her up in his arms and stepped into the pool. He lowered her into the warm water, supporting her as she learned the feel of the warm mineral springs. She smiled at him, still a bit nervous of the other man sharing the wide pool, watching them from the other end. There were a few feet between where Gareth held her and Lars sat watching. It would be so easy to bridge that space physically, but mentally she just wasn’t quite ready.

“The water’s so warm and bubbly.” She marveled at the feel of tiny bubbles bursting against her skin, leaving her feeling clean and relaxed.

“It’s fed from the earth below with just a bit of magic to keep it warm and flowing.”

“It’s wonderful.”

“Not nearly as wonderful as you, Belora.”

She smiled as he levered himself away and sat on the ledge of the pool, his raging hard-on out of the water. She licked her lips again, wanting nothing more than to taste him as she had once before. Her eyes must have spoken of her desire because he chuckled and pulled her between his spread knees, his legs wrapping around her and crossing at the ankles behind her back.

“Oh, yes, I can see we both want the same thing. Taste me, Belora. Take me in your sweet mouth.”

He guided her head gently toward his cock and she liked the way her breasts felt caressed by the millions of tiny bubbles in the water. She tingled all over as his hands tangled in her hair, urging her to do what she wanted.