WarriorsApprentice (25 page)

“I’ve got two fingers inside you, Tybor. You feel so good.
So tight and warm. Just let me put in one more…one more,” Huon whispered. “Then
I’ll spread them out like…”

“Fuck me,” Tybor moaned.

“Oh, I will.” Huon chuckled. “I will.”

He raised himself up and Judie felt Tybor’s cock move inside
her, pushing forward at the same time he let out a long drawn out, “Aah,” the
sound echoed in Huon’s softer voice behind him.

For a moment the three of them held themselves suspended, then
they exploded into action, Huon driving into Tybor, the force of his thrusts
pushing Tybor forward, rocking Judie, pushing her down into the mattress. She
had had both men before, but this hard, driving pressure was new and powerful. Every
thrust, surging through all three of them, cemented their bond, confirmed the
love they shared.

Her blood raced in her veins, her vision blurred and her
heart galloped, but she refused to surrender to oblivion, wanting to extend the
moment, the indescribable pleasure of their union.

“I love you,” she heard Huon shout, and he bucked, driving
Tybor hard into her. Tybor’s hands clamped around her sides and she knew he
felt, for the first time, the man he loved spilling himself inside him.

Tybor’s cock pulsed and he gave a wordless cry. Hot splashes
of cum spurted against the walls of her vagina and she gave herself up to her
own orgasm, coming in an overpowering rush.

Tybor’s arms collapsed and he slumped over her, Huon
plastered against his back, all three of them tangled together.

Judie couldn’t breathe but it didn’t matter. If she died
here, she would die of ecstasy. Even as the thought crossed her mind, Huon
leaned over Tybor to kiss Judie. Then he smiled.

Judie wanted to smile, but the weight of the two men made it
hard to breathe. Tybor arched his back and withdrew, dislodging Huon at the
same time. Huon rolled Tybor over and kissed him, slow, deep and infinitely
tender. Just watching it made Judie’s toes tingle.

“Are we good?” Huon asked him.

“Yeah,” Tybor sighed, “we are.”

Huon nudged Tybor with his hip and he in turn nudged Judie.
She wriggled over and all three of them lay side by side on the bed.

Huon rolled onto one elbow and looked at them both. “What do
we do next?”

“Sleep, I hope,” Tybor muttered. “You both need to remember
I’m over eight hundred years old. If you’re planning another bout like that,
I’m going to need more energy.”

Huon cupped his hand over Tybor’s penis and laughed when it
began to stir. “You’ve got plenty of energy,
old man
.” He yawned. “More
than me, I suspect. But I wasn’t talking about that. What do we do in the long
term? As nice as it is, we can’t stay in this apartment for much longer.”

“We can go anywhere we like. I can get a job to support us
until you two find something to do,” Judie said.

“On the surface?” Tybor asked, his voice somber.

“It would be best, wouldn’t it?” Judie asked. “Aren’t the
Dvalinn authorities looking for you? And I don’t think your people would accept
me or…our relationship. On the surface, no one would know and it would be…”

She trailed off as she noticed both men now looked grim,
their mouths set in hard, tight lines. “I know I’ll grow old and die long
before you do. As long as we have what time together we can, I’ll be content.”

“We
can’t
stay on the surface, Judie,” Tybor said,
pushing himself up and rolling across Huon to get out of bed. He paced up and
down across the room, unconcerned by his nakedness, a frown creasing his
forehead. “Huon and I could not stay here indefinitely. We need to have a
connection with the Underworld. You saw what happened to Huon before.”

“But I thought that was only because his powers had been
taken away. He has them back now, so he’ll be all right,” she insisted. “You
didn’t get sick, Tybor.”

“Because I wasn’t here long enough. Eventually I would
have.” He stopped and turned to face them. “Sooner or later we will have to go
back and once we do, we will have to face the consequences of our actions.”

“Will they jail you?” she asked.

“Probably,” Tybor replied.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll wait for you.” She looked from
Tybor back to Huon. “You can go back when you need to and I’ll wait for you to
return.”

The agreement she expected didn’t come and neither man’s
face lost an iota of its grimness.

“There’s more, isn’t there?” she whispered.

For a moment she thought they would refuse to answer, then
Huon spoke quietly. “We are Dvalinn. You are human.”

“I know that,” she exclaimed. “We’ve been through that.” She
gestured to the tangled bedding. “I thought this proved it didn’t matter. I
thought we’d moved beyond that.”

“Our feelings have nothing to do with it. This is a matter
of physiology.”

A shard of pain pierced her chest. “Because Dvalinn age
differently to humans. I know.” She looked from one to the other.

“No, you don’t know, not all of it. Time passes differently
in the Underworld. What may seem a short time there will be years for you. If
we go back and are imprisoned, you may wait in vain for us to return.”

“You mean you wouldn’t come back to me?”

“We would come back,” Huon said starkly.

It took a moment for Judie to understand. “But not to me.
Because I wouldn’t be here. I’d be dead.”

Tybor’s grim silence answered her.

“Hopewood was the most dangerous Gatekeeper,” Huon said.
“But there are others. If we stayed with you and they tracked us down, you
could be killed. I…” He looked at Tybor. “
We
cannot take that risk.”

“If there are other Gatekeepers, you can’t stay here,” Judie
cried. “I saw what Hopewood did to you—I’d rather be without you than risk them
finding you. Leave me here. Go back where you’ll be safe.”

“It’s your safety I worry about,” Huon replied, his fists
clenched, his expression bleak.

The heavy weight of despair settled over Judie. Her chest
ached and her eyes stung. Her body felt as if it had been tossed about in the
stormy seas of love lost and regained, and to have that hope and joy snatched
away from her left her feeling battered and broken.

Huon’s hand clutched hers, his misery plain in the slumped
lines of his body.

Tybor was still standing, feet planted shoulder-width apart,
arms as usual folded across his chest, his face expressionless. His body
language gave nothing away. He’d given her and Huon more of himself than she’d
ever expected. Had it been all he was capable of giving? Had regret for his
moment of total abandon already set in? Perhaps the need to return to the Underworld
gave him an excuse to escape once more from the emotions that overwhelmed him. He
stared into some far-distant place where Judie could not follow.

At last he turned his head and looked at the two of them
clinging together on the bed. “We’re going back. Now.”

Judie’s heart plummeted. She wanted to protest but her lips
wouldn’t form the words.

Huon’s already pale face bleached bone-white. “No.”

“Yes,” Tybor insisted. “It’s the only way.”

“But Judie…” Huon began.

“Judie has more courage than anyone I know. She’ll survive,”
Tybor said.

Tears sprang to her eyes, spilled down her cheeks. “If I
have to,” she said at last. “But couldn’t you wait just a little longer? A day?
An hour.” Her voice shook pathetically.

“What difference will an hour make?” Tybor replied.

“Are you so keen to go back to face our punishment?” Huon
asked.

“Who said we’re going back to face punishment?” Tybor
growled. “We can go somewhere isolated, avoid the authorities and any other
Dvalinn. I can disguise myself enough to get what supplies we need whenever I
have to. It will work.”

“Will you come back to the surface world sometimes?” Judie
asked with a tiny flicker of hope, hope that Tybor’s next words doused.

“No. Why would we risk it?”

To see me
, she wanted to say, but the words died
unspoken.

Suddenly Tybor laughed. The cruelty cut her like the sharp
edge of a razor. But then he took one stride across the room, sat on the edge
of the bed and gathered both her and Huon into his arms.

“The pair of you look like Hopewood himself has just
materialized into the room. You don’t understand, do you?” He grinned and the
room seemed to warm. “I love you both and I will not be separated from you. Not
in this world or the one below us. I’ve worked out a way we can live the way we
want to. The three of us—together. We will find ourselves a space on the
outskirts of one of the areas Hopewood destroyed in his attacks.”

Huon gasped. “Will it work?”

“I hope so,” Tybor replied. “Any Dvalinn who survived
Hopewood’s attacks moved to a city for protection, so it won’t be hard for us
to go unnoticed. And I think if Judie is living underground with us, it will
eliminate the problem of time passing differently.” His smile wavered. “It
won’t stop you aging faster than us, though.”

“As you said, it’s a matter of physiology. We can’t change
that,” Judie said. “It’s the best plan we have. I want to do it.”

“It won’t be easy,” Tybor told her. “Once you’re there, we
won’t be able to transport you back to the surface for a visit. The risk of
detection would be too great and I don’t know how it would affect your response
to the passing of time. You’ll miss the upper world and the sunshine more than
you know.”

“Not as much as I would miss you.” She looked around the
room. “When do we leave? And what do I need to take with me?”

“We leave now,” Tybor replied. “And you take nothing. Huon
and I can work together to transport you, but it will be easier without any
surface artifacts. We can get anything we need once we’re home.” He arched an
eyebrow. “Although looking at you now, I may not include clothes in the lists
of necessities.”

A week ago she would have blushed at the thought of
appearing naked around these two men, now the idea only made her eager to begin
her new life. “Let’s go,” she said.

* * * * *

Two hours later they stood together in the shadow of an
ancient tree on the island of San Michele. Tybor held out his hands. They
formed a triangle, fingers linked to hold them together through whatever they
faced.

“I’m ready,” she said, and she meant it with her whole heart.

She kept her eyes wide open and clung tightly to the hands
of the two men she loved as the world she knew shimmered away.

About the Author

Alysha Ellis is a multi-published author who lives in
Australia. When she isn’t busy drinking champagne, eating chocolate and letting
her inner tart run free, she writes erotic fiction. Her favorite quote comes
from Mae West… “A hard man is good to find.” Who could argue with that? Alysha
tires very hard to be bad, because bad girls have all the fun.

Alysha welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and email addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
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Warrior’s Apprentice

ISBN 9781419934889

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Warrior’s Apprentice Copyright © 2012Alysha Ellis

Edited by Rebecca Hill

Cover design by Dar Albert

Photos: Yuri Arcurs, Sapandr and Zacaria Pereira Da
Mata/Shutterstock.com

Electronic book publication May 2012

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