The Moon, the Madness, and the Magic (20 page)

“Yeah, yeah, sounds great, but I sense there’s something more I should know.”

She was reluctant to answer. “You and Rourke have to complete your bond. You will take one another’s blood during sex.”

“Okay.”

“Dane—”

“So, what’s the problem? I didn’t mind it. We exchanged blood when we had sex.”

“Uh, that would be sex with each other.”

“Like you, me, and Rourke?”

“No. Like
you
and Rourke. You and I are already bound, and Rourke and I are bound. That leaves only the two of you.”

“You’re kidding right?”

“This isn’t a joking matter, Dane. If what I believe is true about Aryan being the threat to the prophecy, our very survival and the survival of the Lore depends on us being able to resolve our issues and form a complete ménage.”

“You think Rourke and I— That’s sick. We’re brothers.”

“No, actually, you’re not. You, better than anyone, should know that.”

“Oh, okay. Technically, you’re right, we’re not brothers—maybe very distant cousins, if that.” He shook his head and turned her to face him. “Celeste, honey, I don’t think he’ll ever agree to this.”

“You would?

“I’m not sure.”

“We’d all have to mate. Together, you, Rourke, and I have to share blood and sex to complete our union. The sharing of sex and blood between all three of us will create the eternal ménage bond.”

“Ah, does Rourke understand this?”

“Not exactly. Not all the intimate details. But he’s got the idea from my thoughts. I think he’s leaving the final decision up to you.”

“Great. How much time do we have?”

“Until the full moon wanes. By then, our bond must be completed.”

Dane shook his head again and turned to walk away. He shifted like he’d been doing it all his life. He glanced toward the forest with renewed interest. “
Come, we have to find Rourke.”

Chapter 18

Celeste could barely keep up. Dane was coming into his own power. The two wolves raced through the tight woods, following Rourke’s scent as he climbed higher up the mountain trail. Magic filled the air with the mist. She could feel Celia’s mark on all this. What was she hiding?

Rourke turned his wolf’s body, bunched his massive chest, and lowered his head into a defensive stance when he sensed their approach. It took a moment before he relaxed and lowered his guard.

“I’ve been wondering. This eternal union between the three of us—what exactly does it entail?”
Rourke mentally asked Celeste.

The wolf’s amber eyes were a paler version of his human dark brown eyes. They were less disconcerting than the silver, swirling irises they turned to when he changed into the larger, more dangerous dragon.

“More of what you two have been doing over the years, from what I gather. Sharing women.”

She glanced up into the sky and marked the moon’s progress. They would see him turn into the beast again at the height of the full moon. Celeste couldn’t help but notice how Rourke’s arrogant, suspicious disposition glared back at her from behind those eyes whether he was man or wolf or dragon.

“You?”
He snorted.

“You’ve shared plenty of women so far. What’s one more?”

Then s
he nuzzled Dane, hoping the reminder of how they’d been together in the past would make him feel more at ease with the knowledge he’d have to sexually submit to Rourke.

“We share women we don’t care about. There’s nothing at stake.”

“Sorry, let me correct one important thing and make this one point perfectly clear
.
In the future, you will be sharing only one woman.
Me.”
She rose and whipped her body around Rourke’s, rubbing her scent all over him.
“If you didn’t know it before, I’m warning you now—my succubus doesn’t share.”

Rourke said,
“Then there are two major differences.”

“Really?”

“We’ll be sharing you with no one else, either.”
Rourke didn’t finish.
He shook his massive head and body. Dane followed suit.
The men shifted back to their human forms so quickly Celeste would have sworn they didn’t even realize they’d done it.

“And the other thing?”
she asked.

Dane stepped between them and interrupted. “Rourke and I have never purposely touched each other during our ménages. We’ve never, you know, been like that together.”

“Okay, I understand, but you’ve also never made love to a succubus together, either.”

In a hushed voice, she asked Dane, “Can you honestly admit you’ve never wondered what being with a man would be like?”

“Will admitting my darkest fantasies affect our relationship?”

“No. Are you worried about your lifelong friendship with him surviving this admission?”

“Honestly? Yes.”

“So you have fantasized about having sex with men?” Celeste murmured into his ear.

“No, not men in general.” Dane lowered his voice even more and admitted in a low whisper, “Actually, with Rourke, specifically.”

“When?” Rourke’s head shot up.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Since all this, my sense of hearing has improved. Spit it out. When?”

“When we did Simone. And then again one other time when we did Michelle. Every once in a while when we’ve fucked some of those women together, you brushed your hand against me, or I accidently touched you. I wondered what it would feel like to really caress you.” Dane paused and looked away. “Sometimes I imagined your hands on me the way you touched them.”

“Shit.”

“Does it bother you?”

Rourke shrugged. “I don’t know how it makes me feel. Surprised. Not really. I figured something like that crossed your mind when you left in the middle of our last three-way with Amelia.”

“Well hell, it surprised me.” Dane looked away and talked to no one in particular. “I never thought I’d enjoy being dominated, and at the time, I just thought I was confused, aroused, caught up in the moment.”

He turned back and stared straight at Rourke. “You know, Rourke, when you get all dominant, you’re pretty damn awesome. Imagining you dominating me the way you did those women made me harder than I’ve ever been.”

“I didn’t know you felt that way.” Rourke sounded sympathetic, but his jaw clenched. A thoughtful expression crossed his face. “But there’s another issue.”

“What?”

“Don’t go getting all girly on me—”

“Fuck you—”

“Yeah, wouldn’t you just love that? Now don’t go getting your feelings hurt, because you know I love you, Dane, and I wouldn’t have a problem tying you up or spanking you, but more? I haven’t ever given it a serious thought. You know, touching you that way. No offense.”

“None taken. No problem, my ego isn’t damaged.” Dane waved his hand at Rourke. “I prefer the ladies anyway. As long as they keep lining up, I can live without your interest.” He smiled, then frowned when he looked at Celeste. “Except from now on, no more other women.”

“This conversation is all unnecessary. I’ve already made my decision.” Rourke set up a wall of determination in the air around him.

Dane stared. “Let me guess. You aren’t up for sharing, I know.”

“You’re right. I’m not up for it, but I’m willing to share Celeste this time with you under one condition. You have to agree to accept the submissive role in our relationship.”

“You want me to bottom for you, Rourke? Is that it?” Dane’s lips curled around the snarl, a low, menacing sound. “I didn’t know my ass tempted you so much.”

Rourke’s eyes narrowed, and he growled a low warning rumble in his chest. “Trust me, like I said, your ass holds no interest at all for me. I want your vow of submission…in all things.”

Dane paced side to side, never taking his eyes off Rourke. “Why does it have to be all one way? Your way?”

“You know why. I can’t change my makeup. I need to dominate to come.”

Celeste interrupted them.
“Why don’t we wait and see how we feel once we’re involved before we start wrangling for positions?”

Dane’s head snapped around, and he glared back at Rourke. “Just promise one thing...you will share her equally with me.”

Rourke turned narrowed eyes on Dane and frowned at his question. A wave of jealous greed swept across his face, one Celeste and Dane couldn’t miss. It was obvious that every possessive instinct had Rourke’s beast warring with the concept of sharing her.

“No, I can’t promise anything,” he finally admitted.

Celeste calmly shifted. Now, the two men stalked naked around the mountain pond while she dipped her feet into the water and waited for them to stop posturing and come to terms with the inevitable.

“What about you? You haven’t agreed. Can you promise to submit?” Rourke’s eyes narrowed, and a low warning growl rumbled through his chest.

“Will I have a choice?”

“Do any of us? Should I risk losing you and her, along with my soul, to the dragon forever?”

Celeste watched Rourke closely. He was having a hard time holding on to his humanity. The dragon’s jealousy controlled him. His eyes kept changing color and shape. The fiery energy exuding from him transformed his skin to that exquisite, multi-colored, pearled luminescence. It was both beautiful and fearsome to watch him.

The tenor of his voice dropped to a gravelly-sounding rasp. His hand trembled when he pointed his finger at Dane and spit out, “Remember this, the next time you fuck her will be after you submit to me. Once I establish dominance over you physically, we can fuck her together. Then and only then, we’ll see how I feel about sharing. If that doesn’t work,”—Rourke jabbed the finger into Dane’s chest—“the beasts inside us can fight it out.”

Dane inhaled, expanding his chest against Rourke’s touch, and took a step closer. His livid anger whipped through the air, a tangible thing, but he said nothing.

“You broke the trust, Dane, when you fucked her. I would have died before breaking our trust.”

“I would have killed innocents. I would have become the thing you fear.”

The unfathomable rage rose up in Dane’s alpha wolf, and she expected the men to shift back into the wolves they were growling like and start fighting, tumbling into snarling balls of teeth and claws and fur. But although Dane looked like he was ready to knock the shit out of Rourke for putting the horror of it all into words that way, Dane held back. He was capable of being submissive to Rourke, after all.

Celeste felt the toll it took on him to pull the wolf back and hang on to his control. She was surprised by his strength of character and his ability to fight back his beast.

Rourke didn’t blink. “I’m trying to come to terms with this thing between us, but trust doesn’t come easy when my life as I knew it is turned upside down. I’m not even who I thought I was, let alone what I thought I was.”

Dane stuck his chin out and came almost nose to nose with Rourke and snarled through clenched teeth. “Sorry, Rourke, but we all just had a change of plans. Apparently we will share her or turn into monsters. Without each other, where’s our choice here?”

Celeste reinforced Dane’s point. “Our destiny is together. Fate bound us all to one another. Surely there’s a reason and a solution.”

The muscles in Rourke’s jaw tensed. He ran a hand down his face and shook his head. “You’re right. There’s never been a choice, has there? We’ve been trapped in this situation with no way out since the day his father shot my mother. Maybe even before.”

She wanted to touch him, needed to touch him. But she didn’t dare while his skin shimmered and his body trembled. “Together, we’re complete, three interconnected parts that can’t function without each other.” Celeste tried reasoning with him, but he was still lost somewhere in his mind, fighting his beast for control. “I never wanted you to feel trapped. Love shouldn’t be a prison.” She blinked to keep the tears at bay.

“Don’t, Celeste. My anger isn’t about you or Dane or our feelings toward each other. It’s about having that choice to love taken away and made for us that’s pissed me off. The why, the how, the damn intimate details of our sexual relationship are being dictated by fate.”

Rourke turned on Dane again, his eyes swirling with the dragon’s quick-silver warning. “I’ll agree to this on one condition. I will only share her with a submissive male, and I will never relinquish my dominant position or take part in a submissive role in any way.” Rourke’s face flashed a sign of the dragon’s muzzle beneath the surface. “Is that clear?”

Celeste pulled Dane back, but he managed to spit out his comment. “Pig-headed prick. I figured as much.”

Rourke held his ground. “Will you accept the terms of this arrangement?”