Upon the Threshold (18 page)

Curling up close to Kraven, Eli smiled. “Lukkis is going to be so very upset that he left you to tell me about your life.” It hadn’t gone the way either man had assumed it would—she was certain of that with the way Lukkis acted and the way Kraven had acted as well.

“If you tell him about this part, likely.” He nodded. Kissing her cheek, he pulled her closer, tucking the blankets around her. “I’m almost positive he believes he will need to come back and clean up blood and help you hide a body. I was a little more hopeful that maybe I’d still be alive at the end of it all.”

Eli just grinned and shook her head. “Well, then it’s a very good thing that I didn’t kill you? We will just have to tell him what he missed out on and then maybe he will want to play too.” She rubbed her hands together happily. “I like this idea. A lot.”

“Of course you like this idea. It involves more sex,” he said softly. But he was smiling, she’d say indulgently at her. Taking her hand in his, he pressed it over his chest and let out a breath, his eyes closing. He wasn’t asleep, she knew that, but what exactly he was doing… Not a clue.

“Well, yeah.” She rolled her eyes at him and curled up closer to him. Rubbing her cheek to his chest, she too closed her eyes and let out the breath she was holding. “I do love you,” she whispered very, very quietly before drifting off to sleep.

Chapter Thirteen

“She is a better female than most of those we call our family,” Eli heard Lukkis saying to Kraven, somewhere nearby.

“She is amazing, Lukkis, and unique,” Kraven’s rumble replied. “I was sure that she would hate me for not telling her before our mating. But I hurt her, that I know, and I will have to live with that for the rest of our lives. I do not like seeing such pain in her eyes.”

Whatever Lukkis said was too soft for her to hear. All she got was a soft rumble of his voice.

Shifting in the bed, Eli slowly sat up and wrapped the bedding around her. Sleepily she looked around their bedchamber and frowned. “Hey, what’s going on?” She didn’t like hearing Kraven being so down on himself, at all.

Silence, deafening, silence. Then footsteps as both of her mates came into the bedroom and one sat on either side of her. “I was just telling Lukkis that I’d told you everything. Did you sleep well? You’ve been out for quite some time. You didn’t even notice Lukkis coming in and tripping over his own boots earlier.”

“I did. I slept wonderfully.” Eli smiled and shifted in the bed so that she could lean against the headboard. “I don't like that you were being hard on yourself, Kraven. Why was that?”

“Because I was in the wrong and shouldn’t have kept this from you,” he said, shrugging a shoulder. “Lukkis cautioned me from keeping it from you, but I didn’t heed him. I should have though. I realize that now that I’ve hurt you, Elisabeth.”

“I am a big girl, and I will survive. We are clear now. There are no more secrets between us, so that is what we need to focus on. No more on the negative, simply positive from here out. Please?”

Nodding, he squeezed the hand she moved to his arm. “As you wish,” he said quietly.

“We are good now?” Lukkis looked to them both. He watched Kraven and then Eli nod. “Good. Way too much tension for such a day. But since he’s not dead, I figured you had managed to work things out.”

“Well, of course, he isn’t dead. He holds a part of my heart and my soul. I would no sooner harm him than I would you. I need the two of you in my life far more than you need me.”

“As I said, you worked things out.” He smiled at her. Then he frowned and looked her over, then looked to Kraven, who sat without an expression, and back to her, eyes narrowed. “Just what exactly did the two of you get up to after working it out?” he asked, very suspiciously, she thought.

“Sex,” Elisabeth said with a happy smile. “He had me screaming, a lot. It was very nice.” She tried to sound as if she was just telling of her day, and instead the intensity of her emotions covered every word she spoke, the joy and happiness that she felt from her time with Kraven. “He’s truly amazing with his hands, and he was able to get me very, very clean,” she finished with a nod.

Lukkis was grinning, and Kraven… Well, Kraven was blushing, really blushing. “So you had lots of sex, that is good. Very good use of all the time I stayed outside the vessel, finding projects to keep me out of the way. Next time”—he smacked Kraven’s arm—“let me know, and I’ll return.”

“Who’s to say that next time it won’t be you?” Eli asked with a smirk. “I’m all for one-on-one time with either of you. I just will never tell who made me scream loudest. I will leave that for the two of you to figure out.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lukkis said with a chuckle. “As long as you are screaming and happy, that’s all that truly matters to either of us. Besides, I’m sure the neighbors could tell us better. Even with all the soundproofing, I’m sure some of your screams get through.”

Eli looked at Kraven with wide eyes and said, “Tell me that he’s kidding. Please tell me that he’s just joking with me. Oh, I won’t be able to face them if they heard us. Okay, new rules: no more making me scream like that.” Her face was flushed but then she smirked. “Then again. Why would I care? At least they would know I’m well pleased and would assume that you were as well, right?”

“He may be kidding with you,” Kraven said with a frown. “But as I’ve been in here with you, I couldn’t say one way or another. And you are correct. They will probably assume that you are pleasuring us well.”

“Or murdering her,” Lukkis murmured with a smirk.

She snorted. “Hardly. I seriously doubt anyone would think that either of you would harm a hair on my head. The both of you care for me far too much, and they all know it—admit it—everyone knows that you care for me and I for you. They know that we are good together, right?”

“Given that Danykia has been singing your praises all day, yes, they know it,” Lukkis told her with a grin. “She’s quite happy that you’ve chosen to be her friend. And she wants me to remind you that, when next you can tear yourself away from us for a time, she would like to sit and have lunch with you. I warned her that you wouldn’t be discussing anything of a sexual nature with her, but she doesn’t seem to be all that deterred. So be warned.”

“Well, that makes me happy. I happen to like Danykia as well.

“She is quite fond of you,” Kraven said softly. “Not a bad thing, as she will know things about our society that are only a worry to a female. She will assist you where we wouldn’t know how to.”

“I’m very happy that she enjoys my company as much as I do hers.” Elisabeth was happy to have a friend in the woman, very happy to have a friend in her. The woman was sweet and kind, and Eli enjoyed her a great deal.

Lukkis was looking at her and tugging on the sheet she had tucked around her. He smiled when she looked to him but kept up his light tugging. She didn’t realize what he was up to until the sheet slid free of her hold, and poof, she was as naked as the day she’d been born. “I’ve been wondering what you were hiding under this sheet.” He grinned at her.

“I was just trying to see how long it would take you to actually become curious enough to tug the sheet off of me.” She didn’t cover her body. She simply watched him and grinned. “What is it that you plan on doing now that you see me naked?”

“I was thinking that I would send Kraven off to get us some food, and while he’s away, I will ravish you,” Lukkis said with a shrug. “But I wasn’t going to share that part with him so he wouldn’t try to rush back.”

“I think that is a very, very good thing. Kraven should go and find us lots of food. I think that we should get you naked as well.” She looked at Lukkis and licked her lips. “Kraven, can you give us time alone too?”

“Of course,” he said. Leaning into her, he brushed a kiss across her cheek. “I will return when I have enough food to feed a small army. Until then, don’t do anything that we haven’t already done at least once.” She felt him get off the bed, the move rolling her toward Lukkis a little more. Once the door was shut behind Kraven, though, Lukkis stood and began to strip.

Eli grinned. “Oh, boy. Now you just are going to have to do everything that you can think of in order to see if it is something that Kraven and I did or didn’t do.” She wanted to do everything, needed to do everything. “So use your imagination?”

“Yes, Elisabeth,” he said. Then he jumped her and rolled her around the bed. Laughing, he caught her hands and kissed her hard, sucking on her lip gently before giving it a little nip. “What would you like first?” he asked softly. Sliding one hand down, he cupped her breast and, plumping it, leaned down to suck on the tight nipple.

“Oh, that is a start.” Eli put her hand on the back of his head and held him close. Whimpering she lifted her body to rub against him. “I think a little fast and hard loving would be good. How does that sound, love?”

“Whatever you want, little mate.” Lifting his head, he kissed her again, and lifting off her, he flipped her over onto her stomach. “Keep your shoulders down but push your ass up into the air, Elisabeth.”

Doing as she was instructed, Eli put her ass in the air and shoulders to the bed. Widening her legs, she looked back at him. “Like this?” She reached under her body and grabbed for his cock and grinned. “I want you, Lukkis my mate. Now, please.”

He caught her hand and, leaning over her body, pressed her hands out over her head. “Keep your hands up there and hold on,” he told her. He eased back, his body rubbing hers, his hands sliding down her body and ending on her hips. He rearranged her a little more before she felt his cock pressing to her pussy. One hard thrust, and he was seated deep inside of her. “You are so hot and wet and tight,” he growled out.

“Always for you and Kraven. Only the two of you.” Which was the utter truth. When it came to these two men, she would always, always need and want them. “That feels so very good.” She lifted her ass just a bit in the air, needing Lukkis to fuck her harder, wanting harder.

The move earned her a smack to her ass as he slid out and then pushed back in. “Behave, Elisabeth,” he said, a lot of growl in his voice. He gave the other side the same light smack, just enough to make her clench as he drew out, but not to hurt her. There was barely a sting at all to his smacks on her ass.

She just grinned and pushed back harder on him. “Why behave? I like it so much better when I’m not behaving, because then you smack my ass.” She hadn’t thought she would ever like something like that, but she did. A lot.

“So you like having me warm your ass, do you?” he asked. Her nod got her four sharp smacks, two on each cheek before he thrust into her over and over. Then he smacked her a couple more times as he moved slowly in and out.

Eli moaned. “Yes.” She pushed back against him again. “That feels so good.” Kraven wouldn’t have given in like this, but she was finding that Lukkis would give in and give her that bite of pain that she liked, more often than Kraven would. “I’m so close. Please, can I come?”

“Not yet. Hold on longer,” he told her. He was slamming his cock into her harder and faster. Several sharp smacks to her ass had her clenching but trying hard to resist coming. Then he reached around to play with her clit as his cock began to enlarge inside her pussy. “Come now,” he whispered in her ear just as he pinched her clit hard.

That was when Eli gave in, and she exploded. She came with a scream, pleasure washing over her as she shuddered in pure and intense satisfaction. “Oh, heavens.” She whimpered an old-world saying while her entire body shuddered in satisfaction.

Lukkis lowered her body onto the bed, following her down as he continued to pump his seed into her pussy. “You all right?” he asked softly, nuzzling at her neck as he held her. When his cock began to shrink, he pulled out of her and rolled her onto her back to face him.

She had a grin on her face, the look of a woman well satisfied, she was sure, and with a smirk said, “Oh yeah. That was amazing.” She still felt the sting on her ass and loved it. “I never thought that I would enjoy something like that, but I did. A lot. I really think we should try that with all three of us together.”

“I’m sure we can manage that,” he said, settling in at her side. He draped the blanket over her and, leaning on an arm, watched her. “You like having a little pain mixed with the pleasure. I wasn’t sure if you would.”

“I wasn’t sure that I would either until you did it, and then it sent me through the roof,” Elisabeth admitted to Lukkis as she snuggled in next to him. “I think it’s because of how much I trust you that I am able to give in to that desire, that need.”

“We will have to explore other things then, see what you might also like, and what your limitations may be. Not now, but in the future,” he said. Reaching over, he brushed some of her hair back from her face and leaned in to kiss her.

She loved the tenderness that Lukkis gave her as well. Sighing when they parted, she licked her lips. “Amazing. You are amazing to me. And yes, one day I would like to see what else it is that you like that I might as well. I want to be everything that the both of you could or would ever need.”

“You are already,” he said, gently stroking her cheek with a finger. “Broaching this with Kraven will be a little…” He paused and wrinkled up his nose. “It will be interesting. He has many dark desires that he tends to bottle up because of the nature of the Beast within him. He has a sometimes tenuous hold on the Beast and worries about harming any he might be with, so he tamps down his urges. I think, though, that you may well be able to break through to him and perhaps ease that strain he usually takes out on the equipment in our workout rooms.”

“He was able to get a little rough earlier, but I could tell he was holding back,” Eli admitted with a slight blush. “And I wanted more. When he bit my shoulder, I wanted more. I wanted him to give over to the Beast. I know that neither of you would ever, ever harm me, so I was desperate, but he pulled back just at the last moment.” But he had still given her powerful orgasms.

He sighed and lay down, pulling her in to lay her head on his chest. “It’s his way of protecting you. We need to find a way to snap that tight leash he has. But at the same time, you need to be prepared for whatever may happen, Elisabeth. I have never known him to lose any of that control, so I can’t even forewarn you. So, if you really want everything from him, you need to be truly sure before we figure out what it will take to break him free fully with you.”