Spirits Shared (18 page)

"Sure thing." Tenino grinned. "It'll be like
striking gold to hear Tekoa say,
I owe you one
."

"True, especially if you sell the marker to
one of the cousins."

"You know what we're talking about doing?"
Ukiah asked Jess.

She nodded. "Clay was injured. Tekoa did a
sing for him."

"We'll get started then," Ukiah said,
shedding his jacket and spreading it on the wet ground.

Tenino's jacket joined Ukiah's and Jessica
lay down. "Eyes closed?"

"Yes," Ukiah said.

She closed her eyes and Clay heard a drum
beat. And that beat was joined by chanting, the same sounds he'd
heard before opening his eyes and seeing the old Native American
guy squatting on the other side of a campfire, crushing a tobacco
leaf and rolling it into a cigarette.

There was a sharper tug this time, and this
time he was ready to follow it. He wanted to get to Jess. He wanted
to hold her in his arms and make love to her. He wanted her to say
yes all over again to marrying him, to let him put the ring back on
her finger.

Focus
, Tekoa had said before leaving.
Clay wasn't sure whether he needed to
refocus
or do the
opposite of focus.

Christ. He wasn't sure he was cut out for
this mystical shit.

The gray coldness closed in on him, more
tightly this time, and though he didn't have lips that'd form a
grin, inside the Thunderbird's form his spirit managed it. Hell,
who was he kidding? This was the ultimate adventure—or it would be
when he could experience it while Jess was safe.

He opened his eyes in the cruiser's
backseat. Sat and said, "We getting close?"

Tekoa cut him a look. "That your version of
'Are we there yet?' because if it is, we're taking separate cars
when we go on vacation."

"If I promise not to ask for at least
another mile, will you let me out of the cage?"

"Make it five miles."

"Done."

He pulled over and let Clay out of the
backseat. A quick kiss and a dash around the cruiser and Clay was
in the passenger seat. "How far?"

Tekoa groaned, but he didn't blame Clay.
Even knowing Jessica was safe, healed, and heading toward them,
they were both going to be strung out until they got her home. And
even after they got her back to the cabin, he wasn't sure how long
it'd be before they'd let her out of their sight.

He'd been a cop long enough to have
experienced some dicey, dangerous situations. But nothing had ever
scared him as badly as seeing Jessica defenseless and kneeling as a
would-be rapist and murderer walked toward her with a gun in his
hand.

If they'd arrived a few minutes later…maybe
a few seconds later… Tekoa closed his mind against bloody,
might-have-happened scenarios. She was safe and according to both
his brother and cousin, she was handling what had happened well
enough to say she'd drive the truck back.

There was no chance of that happening. Ukiah
would take the truck to his place and stash the groceries there.
Tekoa figured he and Clay and Jessica would get around to
collecting them—eventually.

Technically he should go to the crime scene
but with the escaped felon dead by natural causes and his latest
carjacked victim soon to be in extreme protective custody, Tekoa
was content to let others deal with the body.

The radio chirped and Tenino's voice said,
"I'm passing the road to the old Briggs' place. Visibility is
almost zero but I think I'm seeing lights. That you up ahead?"

"That's us."

Clay reached for the door handle. Tekoa
shook his head and said, "Looks like I've got my work cut out for
me. You and Jess both seem to have a habit of wanting to leap from
moving vehicles."

Ahead of them, Tenino in the Sheriff
Department's Jeep, stopped and turned on his flashers.

Tekoa hit the gas, as anxious as Clay was to
get to Jess.

The instant he braked, Clay was out of the
cruiser.

Tekoa was a heartbeat behind him though he
spared a glance toward the Jeep's driver side window.

Tenino mouthed
You owe me
then turned
off the flashers and drove away, leaving the road clear, and
finally Jess was in their arms, held between them.

"Don't think you're going out on your own
anytime soon," Tekoa said, voice husky and eyes stinging, kissing
her thoroughly each time Clay took his mouth off Jessica's. Only
yielding her completely to Clay because someone needed to drive
them all back to the cabin.

"Let's go home," he said, giving Jess a
final kiss before returning to the driver's seat.

They got into the cruiser, her on Clay's
lap, and for a heartbeat Tekoa felt apart from them, but then she
took his hand, his eyes met hers, then Clay's, then returned to
hers and he knew he'd never feel separate again. They were his
mates. He was their mate.

Her hand tightened on his and he read a
question in her eyes, the hesitation, as if in the warmth of the
cruiser and in Clay's arms, she doubted what she'd seen.

"When we get home, I'll show you what it
means to belong to The People."

She nodded and he hit the gas, flicked on
the lights and siren.

Clay laughed, nuzzled Jess's hair and said,
"Guess the Sheriff is in a hurry to get you in the sack."

Jess tugged Clay's hair. "And you're
not?"

He cupped her breasts, eliciting a moan from
Tekoa and sending a lightning strike of need to her sex.

"Always, babe. You know I always want you."
He parted the jacket, the oxford shirt she'd put on what seemed
like a lifetime ago, spread the fabric and grasped her nipples.

"You two are going to force me to bring out
the handcuffs," Tekoa said, carrying her hand to the front of his
pants.

The soft material of his sweats didn't
shield his hard length.

"So he missed me?" she teased and Tekoa's
smile was the bright flash of fireflies on a summer night.

"Oh yeah, you'll find he's every bit as
devoted to you, and dependent on you as Clay's cock. He's
definitely a guy ready to stand at attention at a moment's notice
and serve in the line of duty."

"I'm gagging over here," Clay said, then
went back to nuzzling and kissing her neck, concentrating on making
her moan with the tug and twist and squeeze of her nipples.

Eventually the totem poles came into view.
They stood tall and stark, darkened by the storm and fiercer than
before, as though they would guard not only against real danger but
any that might ride in on a nightmare.

Tekoa's hand squeezed hers. "You're safe
now."

She nodded, not only safe but whole in a way
she hadn't been before entering Thunderbird lands.

They passed between the poles, through
forests of cedar and fir, parked in the spot they had when Clay lay
across the back seat. But this time he got out of the cruiser with
her in his arms.

Tekoa reached the front door first and
opened it. Stripped out of his clothes on the way to the
fireplace.

Clay carried her to the desk, released her
so she slid down his body and stood. His eyes met hers, full of so
much emotion that her throat clogged.

"Marry me, Jess."

Tekoa finished stoking the fire and joined
them, standing behind her. Strong, possessive hands stripped her of
the wet jacket and shirt, cupped her breasts before sliding over
her stomach to the front of the jeans.

"Among The People, the three of us are
already married."

The drink. The lovemaking in front of the
fire, when she'd imagined he'd brought the Thunderbird to life—only
she hadn't imagined it.

"Works for me," Clay said, his hands joining
Tekoa's, undoing her jeans, pushing them down, her heart swelling,
need flaring in a hard burst between her legs.

He knelt in front of her, tugged off her
shoes and socks, rid her of the jeans then pressed his mouth to her
sex. Her breath caught with the lap of his tongue.

Tekoa's laugh was a soft puff against her
neck. "I've been warned, he'll use any advantage, won't he?"

"Yes," she said on a moan, hips jerking as
Clay stroked his tongue over her clit.

Tekoa placed hungry, sucking kisses and tiny
nips along her shoulder and up her neck, thrust his tongue into her
ear. "Tell him you'll marry him. Let him put the ring on your
finger and then the three of us can soar."

"Yes," she said, hands grasping Clay's hair
and drawing him back to her mouth. "Yes, I'll marry you."

A hard kiss, the shared taste of her
arousal, first with her and then with Tekoa, and Clay picked up the
ring she'd left next to the grizzly family and slipped it back onto
her finger.

Tekoa swung her up into his arms. Kissed her
as he carried her toward the bed and Clay shed his clothing.

She shivered at the touch of sheets against
her back. Shivered again at the press of hot skin and the welcome
weight of her two men as Tekoa lay on her right, half on top of
her, while Clay lay on her left.

Tekoa plundered her mouth. Every kiss a
possessive claiming, and her heart sang,
I'm yours, yours,
yours
.

He yielded her lips to Clay and kissed down
to her breast. He laved the nipple, bit then pulled it into his
mouth. She moaned and arched her back, her hand encircled Clay's
cock, slid up and down in time to Tekoa's sucking.

Clay's tongue became more aggressive. His
fingers rubbed her stiffened clit.

She bucked under the assault and Tekoa's
fingers pushed into her channel and filled her with rough
thickness. "Please," she begged against Clay's mouth. "Please."

"Not yet. Not after what we've just been
through."

He kissed her again, a long wet declaration
of devotion. Then he left her lips to join Tekoa at her
breasts.

She trembled at having them both sucking her
nipples. Her hands gripped their hair. Her thighs widened further,
silently pleading for them to touch everything, to love her
everywhere. She couldn't control the whimpers, the breathless
pleas, the sharp cries.

Tekoa's face lifted though he held her
nipple until it popped free of his mouth. His eyes met hers and in
them was the same heartfelt caring she'd seen in Clay's so many
times.

She didn't know how it had happened so
quickly. She was cautious by nature, fearful of getting hurt
emotionally, but he'd already claimed her heart and soul, along
with her body.

She tugged his hair so his mouth returned to
hers. She needed to say the words. "I love you."

His smile was like sunshine. His happiness
so open and honest that it brought tears to her eyes.

"I love you too," he said against her lips.
"You're my mate, my wife."

He kissed her gently, tenderly, reverently,
as though the kiss was an unspoken covenant. He kissed her again,
then lifted his head, amusement in his eyes. "Clay's going to take
a little more effort, but you I already adore."

Her laugh became a moan of pleasure as his
mouth took hers and Clay's pressed to the wet, needy place between
her thighs. They kissed her deeply, thoroughly. Their tongues
probed and stroked, licked and rubbed, pushed her higher until
there was only wave after wave of searing ecstasy.

Her body shuddered with the force of her
release. Gray fog crowded in at the edges of her consciousness and
she fought against passing out.

It took effort to open her eyes partway.
Clay's face was above hers now, his eyelids lowered, his mouth a
sensual line that begged to be explored. She kissed him and tasted
herself.

The need that had coalesced into a
mind-blowing orgasm returned with a vengeance, only this time she
wouldn't truly be satisfied until their cocks were inside her.

She became aware of Tekoa's arm then, how it
rested across her pelvis so his hand could wrap around Clay's
shaft.

Dark fantasies crowded in and she wriggled
downward and out from underneath Tekoa's arm. She rose onto her
knees and for a long moment looked at her two men. They were beyond
gorgeous. They were everything she'd ever want.

She chased Tekoa's hand away from Clay's
cock and replaced it with her own. He was hot, hard steel.

She took possession of Tekoa's cock and it
pulsed against her palm. She used her grip on them to maneuver them
closer and their anticipation heightened her own.

They wanted their cocks to touch. They
wanted her to see them touching.

She leaned down and licked the head of
Clay's cock, then did the same to Tekoa's.

They panted. Their hips jerked.

She continued teasing, sucking one of them,
exploring the slitted tip, then doing the same to the other.

Only when they were both straining,
quivering, threatening her with punishment and hoarse promises of
getting even did she rub the slick, swollen tips together.

"Jesus," Clay panted, but she wasn't done
with them yet.

She loved them with her mouth and tongue,
caressed and sucked their cocks. And the pleasure drove them into
each other's arms, into a kiss that was hard and hot and wetly
passionate.

When it ended their breath shuddered in and
out of their chests. Their eyes glittered with male intention.

Clay rose to his knees. His face was taut,
the demand in his eyes so familiar she licked her lips to tease him
further. "Suck my cock, Jess, or Tekoa's going to watch you get a
spanking."

Her pussy clenched and liquid arousal leaked
from flushed, parted lower lips. Another day, another time, she'd
gladly take the spanking. But right now she wanted their cocks
inside her more.

She got on her hands and knees, hyperaware
of Tekoa positioning himself behind her.

"Now, Jess," Clay said, his hips giving a
small thrust toward her mouth.

She obeyed and was immediately rewarded by
Tekoa's hand between her thighs, cupping her mound, pressing his
palm to her clit before sliding his fingers over her opening.