“Oh, I’m sure of that, love. But I would
feel better if at least one of us were with you when you left the cove, at
least until we can resolve the issue with this Barnard person.” Liam sped up
just the tiniest bit, and Aidan could see Nick gasping now as his balls
tightened, heralding the onset of orgasm. “But if you don’t want us with you—”
He slowed, loosening his grip until it
was a loose fist around what had to be an aching shaft by now. Nick squirmed,
trying to find traction against Liam’s hand, but with his legs over their
shoulders he had no leverage.
“Fuck. Please,
Maighstir
.”
Liam glanced at Aidan, then at Nick’s
balls. Aidan took the hint and started licking them, keeping his strokes
maddeningly light. The string of curses that burst out of Nick’s mouth was
impressive.
“
Chuisle
,
it’s for your own safety,” Liam said encouragingly. “Not only are you important
to us, you’re important to your friend Ian, and it looks like Gaia has plans for
you. Let us be your bodyguards.”
Aidan took one ball in his mouth, laving
it with his tongue. For added torture, he started humming.
“Oh,
fuck
,”
Nick said, the words long, drawn out, and totally breathless. “Okay, okay, you
can be my bodyguards, please stop teasing me,
Maighstir
, please, I’m begging you, let me
come
.”
“All right, boy. Come for us.
Now.”
Liam tightened his grip, stroking Nick’s shaft firmly
once, then again. Aidan felt the fine muscular convulsions under his tongue as
Nick groaned and
came
hard, thick pearly fluid
spattering in a low trajectory across his stomach.
Liam smiled, milking the last of the semen
out, before rubbing it into Nick’s skin and treasure trail. “See? Wasn’t that
easy,
chuisle
?”
Nick made an indefinable noise that was halfway
between a growl and a sigh. Content, Aidan gave the downy sack a last lick and
grinned up at their human. “There’s a reason why he’s going to be an Elder,
baby. He can be damn persuasive when he wants to be.”
“So I noticed,” Nick mumbled.
Nick lazily surfaced out of a pleasant
dream where he was sitting on the beach and sipping a beer while Liam and Aidan
chased a naked, bleeding Barnard up and down the sand with tridents.
He stretched, and felt two warm bodies
bracketing his own.
Speak of the devil.
Smiling, he settled back into his pillow. The pair had shown amazing delicacy
in their impromptu scene last night, skillfully avoiding the trauma caused by
Barnard and giving him a mind-blowing orgasm to boot. He hadn’t gone into
subspace, true, but he felt the soft promise of it under his new Doms’ hands.
My new Doms?
It was easy
enough to think of them that way, now. Definitely his new bodyguards, thanks to
Liam’s wicked method of persuasion. Part of that still
rankled
his pride a bit, but in the light of morning he had to admit that if Barnard
was willing to bring his hired muscle down to Florida in an attempt to
“persuade” him back to Chicago, having some backup of his own made sense.
On his right, Liam stirred, then opened
those gorgeous eyes and blinked sleepily at him. “Morning,” he said throatily.
“How did you sleep?”
“Like a log,” Nick admitted. When Liam
spread one arm invitingly, he rolled against the tall mer’s body, snuggling
into him. “I didn’t think there was any way I’d be able to sleep last night.
But you two got me to relax. Thank you for that.”
Liam tipped his chin up, giving him a
soft kiss. “Thank you for trusting us, Nick. I promise you, it’s an honor
neither of us will ever take lightly.”
Another kiss,
and then another one, deeper this time.
Nick felt a stirring between his
thighs, and the growing hardness pressing against the crease of his hip
indicated that Liam felt the same way.
He tore himself away from those perfect
lips, gasping a bit. “Liam, please.”
Understanding, the tall mer rolled him
onto his back, sliding over him and spreading his legs until their erections
slotted against each other. Liam started a slow, delicious roll of his hips,
bending low enough to kiss Nick senseless while they rubbed languidly against
each other.
“Hey, no fair
starting without me.”
They both looked over at a sleepy Aidan.
The green-eyed mer had kicked off the covers, and the morning sunlight bathed
his nude, muscled body in a soft glow. His erection was a cheerful diagonal
across his lower belly, and already there were clear drops of pre-cum forming
at the head.
Nick’s mouth watered at the sight. “No
one’s stopping you, gorgeous. Get over here and I’ll suck you.”
Aidan smirked at him. “Nuh-uh,” he said,
lazily stroking himself. “Ask that big bad mer on top of you first.”
Shamelessly, Nick batted his eyelashes
up at Liam. “Please?”
The tall mer laughed. “Get over here,
you idiot.”
Aidan scrambled onto his knees, cock
bobbing in front of him as he positioned himself next to Nick’s head. “How do
we want to do this?”
“Well, I’m not moving,” Liam said,
rocking his hips against Nick and sending a hot burst of pleasure arrowing
through his groin.
After some experimentation, Aidan wound
up straddling Nick, knees bracketing his shoulders. It brought the mer’s groin
into licking distance, and after adjusting his pillow to support his neck
properly Nick got to work. He ran his tongue around the plump, slick head,
teasing the corona with the tip of his tongue and relishing the musky, salty
taste of the mer.
Sucking
the head into his mouth, he
continued running his tongue around and over it while increasing the suction.
He wrapped his left hand around the thick base, straining to push his mouth
down the shaft and meet his own fingers.
Over him, Aidan closed luminous eyes and
moaned long and loud. “How do you make that feel so damn good, baby?”
Nick hummed around the thick flesh in
his mouth, and was rewarded with an even louder moan. “Keep that up and I’m
gonna make you do this every morning,” Aidan said, already breathing hard.
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Nick
heard Liam say. He rolled his hips again, making Nick groan. “How does that
sound to you, love? Starting every morning off by sucking us off?
And maybe a spanking for good measure, just to keep you in line?”
Nick moaned and sucked harder, stroking
Aidan with a firm, squeezing grip.
“Fuck, Li. You keep saying things like
that to him and I’m gonna come,” the green-eyed mer ground out.
Liam paused,
then
his weight lifted off Nick. Nick let Aidan’s cock slide out of his mouth,
twisting his head to peer around Aidan at the other mer. “What’s wrong? Why did
you stop?”
The big mer’s lips pursed. “Because I
just realized if the three of us come together, we’ll be mated.”
Aidan glared over his shoulder at Liam.
“Godsdamn it, isn’t that what we wanted?”
“You and I do, yes. But Nick hasn’t said
yet if he wants to be mated to us.” There was hesitation in those jeweled eyes.
“We can stop this now,
chuisle
, and
you can finish with Aidan, then I’ll make love to you afterwards. That won’t be
enough to trigger the mating marks.”
Nick licked his lips, trying to think.
“You’d do that for me?”
“Of course.”
Liam glared at
Aidan when the other mer growled softly. “It isn’t a true mating if he’s forced
into it,
chuisle
.”
“I know, dammit.” And now Aidan gave him
the same regretful look. “I want you to stay with us forever, baby, but it’s up
to you. We can wait as long as it takes until you’re ready. And if that’s
never, well, that’s okay, too.”
Nick stared at the two gorgeous men
hovering over him, remembering how they’d stood up to Barnard’s bodyguards,
ready and willing to fight for him to the death. They’d waited so long for
this, and were still willing to put it off until he was ready.
Now he understood what they’d meant when
they said he made them feel complete. He could feel those same gaps in his soul
filling in with warmth and joy. The last longings for Chicago faded away. This
was home, right here with Aidan and Liam.
He reached up, grasping their hands. “I
don’t want you to stop, either of you.”
Liam opened his mouth, and Nick cut him
off. “No, Li. I know you want me to be sure, but I’ve been thinking about this.
I want to be with you, both of you.”
Liam gave him the most blinding smile
he’d ever seen. “And we want to be with you,
chuisle,
more than anything.”
“We do,” Aidan echoed, green eyes
shining with unshed tears.
He glanced at Liam, then Aidan. “Okay,
then. Make me your mate.”
Laughing, the mers pounced on him. Nick
shifted onto his side and started sucking Aidan again, greedily swallowing the
pre-cum flooding his mouth and trying to bring the mer back up to the edge of
orgasm. Liam knelt between his legs scissor fashion, grabbing both their cocks
in one large hand and stroking them together.
Aidan finally bucked, shouting his name.
Thick, warm liquid flooded Nick’s
mouth,
and he
swallowed again and again, marveling at the salt-savory taste. He ground
against Liam, moaning around Aidan’s shaft as pleasure erupted through him and
he started coming, coating Liam’s hand with creamy stickiness. Liam growled
,
hazel eyes wide and glowing as he kept rubbing their
shafts together, before his back arched and he added his own load to the slick
mess.
Panting, Nick grinned as he let Aidan
slide out of his mouth. He licked his lips for any stray drops, looking up at
an equally breathless mer. “By the way, did I say good morning?”
“I think you did, baby.” Aidan leaned
down, kissing him deeply, then over to kiss Liam. “Love you. I’m so glad you’re
ours.”
“So am I, gorgeous.” He eased up onto
his elbows, wincing a bit at the crick in his neck. “Hey, do we have time for a
swim before Sparkles gets here and starts bossing me around? I don’t know why,
but I
really
want to be in the water
right now.”
“You’re picking up on us, love.” Liam
squinted at the sunlight streaming through the window. “If we go now, we can
get in a swim and have breakfast afterwards.” He slid off Nick, rolling into a
seated position on the edge of the mattress.
“Wait!”
The tall mer paused. “What?”
Nick sat up, staring at Liam’s back.
Between his shoulder blades was a stylized tattoo of two mermen facing a
familiar rod, as if guarding
it.
“Your
back.”
Liam strained to look over his shoulder.
“Can’t see it.
Aidan, show me.”
A stunned-looking Aidan turned, exposing
his back to them. He carried the same mark in the exact same
place,
skin that Nick knew had been uninked the night before. “Is it…” he said, his
voice choked.
“It is. It really is.” Tears filled
Liam’s eyes, even as the mer laughed.
“Oh, gods.
We’re
mated. The Fates blessed us.”
Mated.
Nick remembered
Ian’s tattoo, and the explanation about mating marks as signs of approval from
the Fates. “Do I have one, too?”
Liam wiped water from his eyes, still
grinning blissfully. “Of course you do. Turn over.”
Nick flipped over onto his stomach,
feeling the mers’ fingertips trace something in the middle of his back. “Oh,
that’s just gorgeous,” Aidan said, kissing his shoulder.
Liam silently urged Nick to roll back
over again. “Are you sure this is all right with you,
chuisle
?” the mer said.
Nick reached up, cupping the mer’s face.
“Li, don’t. Yes, this is all happening fast, but sometimes that’s just the way
things work out.” He took a deep breath, sorting through his emotions. “I’m
happy
with the two of you. This feels
right to me, if that makes sense. Everything’s going to work out just fine,
okay? Don’t over-think it.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen any
time soon,” Aidan said, chuckling.
Nick grinned. “Are you going to let him
talk to you like that?”
“Oh, trust me, he’ll get his later on,”
Liam growled happily. “But right now, I think you’re going to get yours.”
His Doms—his mates—tackled him, laughing
and kissing him with delighted ferocity. He responded with joy, sending up a
thank you to whatever gods were listening that something had finally gone right
in his life.
****
After a far too brief swim, where Nick
found out being sandwiched between two mers and kissed senseless was even
better than his dream had suggested, the three of them went back in for
breakfast before Chiron’s arrival. They were in mid-meal when Liam got an odd
look on his face. Rising, he went to the kitchen window that overlooked the
beach.