Rated: X-mas: Twice Blessed (9 page)

She studied the fence again. Another post ran across the top of each section, between the uprights. Sighing, she got back into the car and pulled up as close to the fence as she could. She killed the engine, clambered up onto the hood, and reached for that top bar, praying fervently that the fence wasn’t electrified.

Her fingers didn’t fry, so she pulled herself up, scrabbling with her foot until she got her leg over, then dropped to the ground on the other side.

There was at least three feet of snow on the ground and she shook her head as she slogged up the drive. She seemed to be making a habit of freezing her butt off in the snow for these two.

Except that she wasn’t cold any more. As a matter of fact, she was extremely warm.

Too warm. She stopped and tugged off the light jacket that had seemed so inadequate up to this point.

That was better. A stiff breeze cooled her fiery cheeks. Jenny opened her arms and raised her face to the sky, closing her eyes.

The ground beneath her feet seemed to pulse in time to her heartbeat. She opened her eyes and sat down, pulling off her shoes and socks. Standing, she buried her feet in the snow until she felt the hard earth beneath. Yes. She could hear it now, a rhythm that sang in time with her Blood.

She was on fire. She tugged off her sweatshirt, panting as the cold mountain air dried the sweat on her skin. Damien, she thought.

A sound traveled up through the bottom of her feet. The scrape of a claw against stone.

It came from the northwest, and she turned in that direction. Abruptly, she was running.

Flying between the trees like a hart, she opened herself to the song, letting the Blood guide her.

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She ran into the center of a clearing, surrounded by great, tall trees the likes of which she had never before seen. Her feet refused to move, frozen in lush, green grass that couldn’t possibly exist in these temperatures. A warm breeze caressed her face. She felt a surge of joy so strong it brought tears to her eyes. She had felt this way when she stepped back into her father’s house a few weeks ago. It was like being welcomed home.

She enjoyed the serenity for a moment more, then grew anxious. She tried to feel Damien again, and couldn’t. “Devlin,” she whispered. The clearing was still and silent. Even the breeze had stilled. It was as though the earth itself were waiting. Waiting for something from her.

“I don’t know what you want,” she cried. “Please!” The words disappeared as soon as she spoke them, deadened by the still air.

She tried to move again, but the earth held her, silent and patient. “Please,” she whispered. She dropped to her knees.

When she looked up, she noticed a stone slab, half-buried in the circle’s center, that she hadn’t seen before. Without thinking, she stood and stepped toward it. A warm tendril of air touched her cheek. She took another step, and another, until she stood before the stone slab.

There was a shallow depression in the center of the stone, from which a sliver of obsidian gave back the light of the moon. She reached for the sliver and picked it up carefully. A sudden image of blood, running in thick rivulets over the stone, made her drop it. Jenny knelt before the altar, resting her head against the cool stone. She was frightened, but more afraid of losing Devlin and Damien forever. “All right,” she whispered. “If that’s what it takes.” She closed her eyes, shivering as the image of blood sprang to her mind again.

“I love them.”

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She opened her eyes, and the grass, the trees, the stone were all gone. She was kneeling on a snow-dusted trail, staring at a circle of moonlight on the ground. She stood. She’d been tested. Had she passed?

She started walking, the fabric of her wet pants clinging to her flesh, seeming to drag with every step. Jenny stopped, removing the cumbersome garment. A shaft of moonlight dappled her form. She removed her bra and panties, as well, turning with her arms held out, allowing the moon’s radiance to bathe her.

A twig cracked behind her, and she turned. Bright blue eyes regarded her steadily from beneath the trees. A branch creaked to her left. Another set of blue eyes studied her from the shadows.

“Catch me,” Jenny whispered, then turned and ran.

Her Blood sang. She leapt through the trees like a forest sprite. Damien appeared in front of her, and she laughed, dancing away. Devlin pounced toward her from the right, and Jenny twisted between shadows. When she came again upon the clearing, she wasn’t surprised. This time, the grass sprang beneath her feet, adding its own buoyancy to each step.

She ran up to the altar and took up the dark blade. She hesitated for just a moment, feeling again a sharp tongue of fear, then lay back upon the cold stone.

Damien and Devlin bounded into the clearing, then stopped abruptly when they saw her. She sat up, cross-legged on the altar. She raised her hand. The Blood pounded in her head, and Jenny drew the obsidian blade along the thick, blue vein in the crook of her arm.

The blood flowed, dripping from her arm, pooling in the recess between her legs.

Devlin and Damien walked forward slowly.

Devlin reached her first, putting his great forepaws onto the stone, looking her in the eye. Jenny swayed, feeling light-headed. Damien nudged her arm. She brought up her hand, gazing at the blade. Devlin looked up at the sky, baring his tender breast. She shook her head, but Damien’s mouth closed lightly around her arm, tugging gently. Closing her eyes,

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Jenny slashed from left to right. Felt Devlin’s essence dripping on her legs. She opened her eyes, breathing deeply to stave off the darkness that threatened to engulf her. Watched his life-blood join hers in the hollow.

Devlin stepped off the stone, and Damien took his place. Jenny’s hand shook as she brought the blade to his skin. With a quick motion, she made the cut, and his blood flowed over her, as well, filling the shallow depression to the brim. Damien backed away, and the moonlight seemed to coalesce into a solid, brilliant shaft, hovering above the altar. Jenny looked up, and saw something she would never be able to describe -- a creature stunningly beautiful, yet incredibly ancient, compassionate and terrible, loving and vengeful.

The vision gestured and a soft pattering began, rich dark soil raining onto the stone, splashing into the hollow. A moment later, the dark fall stopped. A bright hand passed over the depression, and it disappeared, replaced by an earthenware bowl. The vision picked this up, offering it to Jenny. A voice filled the clearing, though they were words without sound, felt rather than heard. “What the Goddess has Bound, only Death may part.”

Jenny reached out with trembling hands and grasped the bowl. She took a deep breath, then brought it to her lips.

The thick, rich liquid went down like honey, sweet and ripe. She drank until the bowl was empty, but when she rested it upon the bright hand, it was full once again. Devlin padded forward, and the bowl was held out to him.

Jenny lay back against the altar, savoring the Goddess’s beauty while Devlin drank.

Then he was finished and it was Damien’s time. He stepped up, and as he drank, the Goddess’s hand smoothed his fur in benediction.

And as he lapped the last drop from the bowl, the world spun. Jenny clutched the edges of the stone. She could feel everything. Her body was the earth. Every breeze caressed her skin, every tiny foot and claw found purchase in her soul. She felt the night creatures

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scurrying in the darkness around the clearing, drawn by the Goddess. Devlin flowed onto the altar. Jenny parted her legs, offering herself to him.

His rough tongue touched her, and she shook with ecstasy, her heightened senses feeling every tiny bump like a separate caress. He growled, and shifted, his hands spreading her wide, his tongue slipping inside her as she cried out in pleasure.

He moved, covering her body, taking her mouth with his, her essence a salty tang on his tongue. The Goddess hovered over them, watching. A million eyes watched, from out of the darkness, and Jenny didn’t care. She pushed Devlin aside and down, rolling over to straddle him. His eyes clouded with need as she scooted back, running her tongue lightly over his bulging cock. She held him with one hand as she impaled herself, sighing with contentment as he filled her. Jenny melded herself to him, moving quickly, frantically. His breathing became ragged, his mouth jutting out, tiny hairs sprouting from his brow.

Devlin arched as she sat up, impaling herself on his cock, gasping at the sheer depth of the penetration. He pushed up, wrapping his arms around her waist, and looked at her. Half-human, half-wolf, his eyes searched her face, his lips drawn back from bright fangs gleaming in the moonlight. Jenny felt his heart beating fast and strong, its rhythm matching hers.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Mark me. I am yours.” His teeth pierced her shoulder, and the heat in her core flamed into incandescence as Devlin’s seed and her blood flowed, joining them.

Making them One. Feeding the flames of desire until the pleasure was more than she could bear, and she raised her head and howled at the night.

Jenny shivered as the feeling passed, Devlin’s warm flow slowing inside her.

Reluctantly, she eased herself off of him. “Thank you,” he whispered, and cupped her cheek lovingly, his kiss on her lips soft as a rose.

“I love you,” she said, and he held her tight. “Don’t ever let go,” she whispered.

“I won’t.” And he released her, moving from the altar, but she felt him deep inside, his grasp on her heart a tangible, living presence.

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Jenny’s already racing heartbeat quickened as Damien approached. He seemed more majestic than ever, a lord in his element, and she marveled at the idea that she would be the one to have his heart, for all time. He placed his forepaws on the slab, and his magnificent shaft gleamed in the moonlight. She looked at him from beneath her eyelashes and turned, lowering her head to the slab, pushing her butt high, parting her legs so that she presented her dripping sex to him. She felt a tiny prick as the tip of a claw touched the hollow of her back, then glided between her cheeks to tickle the tight pucker there, the tip sliding in as Jenny moaned.

She reached back and held her cheeks wide, and he slid the claw, smooth as glass, in and out, until Jenny gasped and let go, her muscles clenching tight around him as pleasure danced in her core.

When it had passed, he drew his tongue between her legs, then placed his great paws to either side of her. He pressed himself against her, and damp fur tickled her pussy. She gasped, looking over her shoulder at him, as he slowly, very slowly, worked the tip of his fur-covered sheath between her lips.

Jenny clung to the altar, her pussy stretching, the pain of his entry only speeding the rapid tattoo of pleasure thrumming through her veins. He stopped when she drew in her breath with a sharp hiss.

He melded his body to hers, his soft underbelly tight against her back, his huge muzzle hanging over her shoulder. His hot breath gusted in her ear, and a spiral of pleasure twisted in her belly. Her pussy tightened, and he drew in a deep breath, his throat rumbling. The tip of his sheath expanded, and then Jenny felt his cock, slick and hot, growing inside her.

She started to pump her hips, but Damien nipped her lightly on the shoulder, and she subsided. She moaned as his flesh filled her, his flexible member undulating, sending hot streaks of pleasure throbbing through her pussy. She felt him meet resistance as his cock extended to its full length, filling her completely, and then it moved, and she couldn’t think any more.

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His cock moved. Not his hips, but his cock, extending and retracting inside her. Slowly at first, as Jenny whimpered with pleasure, only able to keep still because Damien nipped at her shoulder every time she moved. Then faster, plunging in and out, and Jenny uttered sharp cries of delight as the short, coarse hairs that covered his sheath pricked her pussy with each penetration, sending delicious shivers of sensation through her.

Damien’s breathing changed, exciting her. Jenny’s pussy clenched and unclenched in time to his shallow, rapid panting. “Yours,” she whispered. “Yours, forever.”

Damien raised his head, loosing a deafening howl, and then his fangs pierced her.

“Yes. Oh, Damien, yes!” His great mouth closed on her shoulder, gently, as he licked and suckled.

She screamed his name as she came, over and over, Damien’s cock hammering in and out so rapidly, it was like nothing she’d ever felt before, creating a heat that drove her again and again over the brink, each climax building before the previous one faded. Higher and higher he prodded her, until the base of his cock expanded, and he froze. His hot essence poured into her. The world seemed to explode, and Jenny felt as though she were floating in a sea of stars.

When she came to, the only light was the pearly evanescence of the moon. The Goddess’s manifestation was gone, though Jenny could still sense her presence in this sacred place. Devlin and Damien lay beside her on the altar, their flesh warm against hers. She moved and they stirred, Dev sighing in his sleep. Damien’s eyes opened. Jenny smiled.

“You came back,” Damien said.

She nodded.

“I’m glad.”

“There are no accidents,” she whispered. “The three of us were meant to be.”

“I know.” His eyes gleamed in the dark. “I’ve always known.”

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“You can’t stay in California,” Dev murmured in her ear. “It’s too far. Now that the Binding is complete, you can’t live away from the land.”

“I know,” Jenny said. He rose up, leaning on one hand as he studied her face in the moonlight. “It’s all right. I have no regrets.” Her mother’s words echoed in her head. She grasped his hand and brought it to her lips, kissing his palm. “I had nothing. Now I have you.”

Their hands caressed her body, worshipping her in the light of the moon. Desire rose in her belly, that fiery heat that only they could ignite. She sat up, engulfing Devlin’s cock with her eager mouth as her fingers closed around Damien’s rock-hard shaft. She laved Devlin with her tongue, getting him good and wet. She took his hand and guided his fingers into her pussy, coating them with her warm juices. Then she shocked him by parting her cheeks. She licked his cock as she murmured against him, “Stretch me, Devlin. I want to take you. Help me be ready.” His cock jumped. “Mmmm. Do you want that?” she whispered.