The Moon, the Madness, and the Magic (11 page)

One of his hands held her in place around her waist, and the other caressed her, breasts to mound. She was so preoccupied with the pleasure of his touch she hardly noticed that the hand at her waist looked almost iridescent, shimmering like colorful, beaded scales.

She wanted to focus, but the volcanic, heated pressure rising inside her was ready to explode.

The low growl in his chest started getting louder when he lowered his mouth to her neck. The soft brush of his lips conflicted with the bruising force of his cock thrusting inside her. Then surprise—his teeth scraped the tender skin on her neck, and she realized he was going to bite her. Mark her.

She squirmed uselessly beneath him, trying to turn, to stop him. The urge was instinctive—he didn’t understand what he was doing or the consequences. He held her in place.

The power inside him surged, and his teeth elongated into fangs and punctured her jugular. The sensation of him siphoning her blood brought on her climax. Unable to prevent the pleasure riding her as he suckled at her throat, she came in an explosion of light and sizzling, electric shocks shooting through her system. The faery dust drifted around them like a sandstorm. The spontaneous waves of her orgasm gripped his cock. He plunged deep within her until he could go no farther, emptying his seed into her as he drained her blood from her neck.

Tiny dots danced across the black veil behind her vision. She had to stop him or die. “R-red,” she whispered.

He stopped sucking, pulling his mouth from her vein, and collapsed on top of her. He pushed her slightly to the side, but he didn’t withdraw his cock. She felt the tremor of his orgasm still seizing within her. “I love your cunt, babe.”

Well, he’d marked her with his words and with his teeth and then, finally, well and good with his seed. He was going to be really pissed off when he realized what he’d done and that he’d come inside her twice without a condom.

He’d bound her to him. This time, totally bound her. By words, seed, blood, and deed. Rourke’s essence filled her and bound them ever tighter. Even though she hadn’t fully bound him to her by blood yet, they were connected. Something else besides her blood-taking was missing in their bond, though.

Strangely enough, she sensed the answer was close by. The missing piece to their puzzle was a being. Not human. Someone or something of the Lore hovered just barely out of her reach. Wolf. He called to her. A void, an empty longing, drew her to the aching soul like a bee to honey.

Rourke had called to her that same way, and now this other soul ached with hopeless, jealous pain. She’d been meant for Rourke, but she’d wondered about her connection to Dane. What did it mean?

She didn’t understand.

Chapter 10

Dane

Dane closed his eyes and waited outside her room in the enclosed private garden. He’d been in big trouble from the minute he’d caught Celeste’s scent in the air and then again from the minute he’d seen her. He was a scientist. He of all people understood imprinting, and damn if he hadn’t imprinted on her. Fisting his hands at his hips, he dropped his head against the pine wall and allowed the pain to sear through him. It made him feel better about acting like a fucking voyeur listening to them.

Rourke had called her first. Claimed her. This time, Rourke was adamant about possessing and keeping this woman to himself. He’d made that damn clear.

Neither of them had ever been so set on a single woman. Hell, if they’d both wanted the same one in the past, the women had been happy to have them both. No one cared much one way or the other. The women didn’t want a relationship, just the kind of great sex that he and Rourke could provide. A ménage—different approaches, different styles, different tastes—a sampling of everything.

Strange thing was as far as Dane could remember, neither he nor Rourke had ever been serious about any of the women.

Why now, why her, and why had they both zeroed in on this one woman?

He didn’t know what to do. He felt like he was losing his mind. Rourke had taken her for himself. Not just taken, but to Dane, it seemed like a claiming. He wouldn’t share the one woman Dane had to have, and he believed he had to have her or die.

Nothing like this had ever happened before. He’d never felt like this, but then, the DNA tests proved you can’t believe everything you’re told. Something was wrong. Something was off.

His stomach churned. The thought of never having her made him physically ill. That realization sliced his soul into irreparable pieces while he waited outside the room where he knew Rourke touched Celeste the way he wanted to touch her, to kiss her, to bury his cock inside her and give up his soul for her.

Tense and upset, he couldn’t tear himself away from their presence despite the turmoil churning through him. He felt at a loss as Rourke seduced Celeste deeper and deeper under his control with his compelling dominance.

Standing there listening, imagining Rourke kissing her, touching her, sinking his hard cock deep into her tight, hot pussy, was pure torture, yet he couldn’t move away. The guttural sounds of pleasure seeping from the room nearly drove him to distraction. While Rourke fucked the woman Dane ached to possess, her damn emotions and something else called to him, dragging him here to agonize through the act. The impossible link he endured with her threatened to gut him.

Dane wished he could walk away, cover his ears to the sound of sex, and erase the visions of the two riding each other to climax, not once but two, three times. With a deep breath, he tried to wipe the scene away. He ran a hand over his eyes and felt the wetness. With a pass of his arms, he wiped away the dampness with his shirt sleeve.

Even with his internal pain screaming at him, nagging him to leave, he couldn’t walk away. Try as he would, he couldn’t close his mind to the images or his ears to Celeste’s satisfied moans and squeals of pleasure. Her husky, aroused voice stirred the fire in Dane’s blood like nothing ever had. Heated pressure pooled low in his belly.

He needed to be involved in this relationship. As much as he resented it, and although he didn’t understand how, he was mentally and emotionally linked to her. Nothing had rung normal in his life or Rourke’s for the last year, so why not add one more freaky thing to the rest?

Hearing Rourke’s deep voice encourage her to climax made Dane harder, so hard his cock ached. But nothing hurt as much as hearing her scream out Rourke’s name when she came. His stomach lurched, wishing it was his name. The corrosive envy built in his heart like a jealous acid eating away at his soul.

Some deeper need in him called out to her, too. Something made him aware that Rourke brought her around again, suckling her nipples and encouraging her arousal with his talented hands.

When Dane didn’t think he could stand the jealous pain any longer, suddenly, Celeste filled his mind with tantalizing images of the three of them.

Hell, she was aware of him and his need.

He felt the heat of her mouth on his, her lips nibbling, her tongue tangling with his as her mind probed his, touching memories and uncovering secret desires. Still, he didn’t really understand where she was headed—not until he felt her hand replace his on his cock. He sensed her soft, naked skin dragging down along his as she went to her knees and took his cock in her mouth, sucking, stroking—drawing him deep down her throat and close to the edge. He groaned as her lush body brushed against his and his hands tangled in her long, flowing hair.

He cupped his balls and ran his hand up his cock, stroking his hard-on to ease his need, and adjusted himself. He knew she felt him touching himself while he waited outside her room, and he couldn’t resist the next stroke or the next. The whole time she resided in his mind and participated, her tongue teased and her hot mouth engulfed him, sucking his cock with a tantalizing stroke and rhythm he’d never experienced before. Near to bursting with desire, Dane pumped his hips harder, faster, and finally exploded, cum filling his own hand inside his shorts.

There’d been no stopping it.

God, what a hot mouth. Hell, he’d come like a rank amateur with her inside his head while he’d listened to his brother riding her to completion inside the room.

Yeah, he was disgusted with himself, but her body and mouth had felt so real. Almost as real as the mental link between them. A part of her called out to both of them. Although he couldn’t ever remember being attracted to anyone the way he was toward her, his feelings were more than pure sexual attraction. He couldn’t deny he felt like he belonged with her. She filled a part of him he hadn’t known was missing until he’d met her.

When he realized she could touch his mind, he didn’t bother to wonder
how
it was possible anymore, only
why
if he couldn’t have her. She’d searched him out, desiring the mental attachment to him as much as he had.

How could she do this when she obviously belonged to Rourke?

He heard them inside his mind. He felt what they felt. He ached as she whispered kisses over Rourke’s chest. He burned while Rourke tasted her. He died a little inside knowing she was engaged with Rourke, really fucking Rourke, not him.

She wasn’t his. Didn’t belong to him.

If so, then how did he feel Celeste’s desire reach out for him, too?

How? No. What he really wondered was why. The how was through the strange bond he and Rourke had formed the summer the teens had made their blood-brother pledge. The why was that maybe she felt it, too.

Chapter 11

Celeste – Rourke finds her

Dane.
Celeste couldn’t stop. She almost choked when she realized what had happened, what she’d just done. What they’d done. It’d felt like he’d really been in here with them, the three of them together, and she’d taken his cock in her hand and in her mouth and feasted on him.

He was gone now and hurting. His pain still lingered and made her throat tight. The entire incident confused her. Two males. She’d been linked to both men during her last orgasm, and it had felt incredible. How was this possible, and why?

“I’ll be right back. Then we can take a little nap.” Rourke left her in bed and went to the bathroom. “Is this woodsy shampoo all you have?”

She squirmed out of the bed and walked to the window, needing a moment alone. “Besides the floral-scented one? Yes.”

No nap.
Her succubus was gaining power, coming into herself. At this point, until Rourke shifted and grew in strength, she couldn’t sleep with him. He’d never withstand mating with her in his dreams. She had to leave Rourke before he started to doze. If his human essence fell asleep with her, she was afraid her uncontrolled nature might consume him.

Now that she’d seen his true human side, she wasn’t sure she could control herself, and she wouldn’t risk losing that loving side of him. Her control was never much good when she was as distracted as she had been lately. Perhaps now wasn’t the best time to test her ability to hold back the succubus since everything seemed to distract her at the moment.

What had happened to all her good intentions and her plans, and why the hell hadn’t Rourke used the condoms?

She snatched her bathing suit, putting it on as she ran from the room. Where could she hide from him? Nowhere, since he’d taken her blood.

For now, she’d go into the nearby forest to think, and maybe later, she’d call for Celia. Fat chance she’d get a reasonable explanation. The one fae who knew the future couldn’t see how the present fit in, and that could be maddening. No one ever expected a straight answer from Celia. Celeste didn’t know why she expected more. Her aunt would rather have everyone figure out their own fates for themselves.

* * * *

After running for a half hour, Celeste escaped behind the faery Veil, hoping for a break. If Rourke was what she believed, he’d be able to track her and pass through the invisible Veil that led to the Other world portals. She collapsed on the bank along a nearby brook, hidden away from him for now.

The ground beneath her vibrated, practically hummed with delight as Rourke approached. The Veil wouldn’t protect her from him for long, not if he intended to find her. A little time, that’s all she’d wanted—or needed—to sort out her feelings about the bond she’d discovered she had with both Dane and Rourke. Unfortunately, Rourke had a different idea in mind, and his very alpha attitude affected the Veil.

The leaves on the trees whispered, and the forest animals scampered to safety. Apparently even the Earth goddess recognized the man’s inner powers. He’d already learned how to use his strength to his advantage and didn’t even know he was doing it. Celeste had to admit he was a quick study.

So why wasn’t she surprised?

Nothing about him surprised her anymore. He’d passed through the Veil without a ripple. He was definitely Other.

She wasn’t shocked by how easily he’d found her, only by how quickly. After taking her blood, he could track her anywhere, even if he didn’t know it yet.