Authors: J. Rose Allister
Drew, who had been scowling almost as hard as Russell, actually cracked a half smile. “You used your bridal veil as a chastity belt?”
She blinked at him. “I don’t know exactly what that is.”
“It’s a kinda wide strip of leather worn between your thighs so a man can’t penetrate you.”
The warmth in her face flared hotter. “I suppose that isn’t far from wrong.”
“What did he do then?”
“He passed out, but not before striking me in the face first. Hard.” She fingered her cheekbone as she remembered the sharp, stinging blow. Then she returned to the chair and sat down on the edge. “I took my black eye and the veil and went straight to my father. I expected him to be angry with Yoska for harming me. Instead, my crime of denying him was the one that was declared a matter for the kris. I was accused of breaching my father’s contract with Yoska’s family.” She saw Drew shake his head with a disgusted look. “I threw the veil down in front of the krisari and called it a line I would not be forced into crossing again. That earned me the nickname ‘vala,’ meaning ‘veil.’ Not to mention others that were worse.”
“And they dissolved the marriage,” Drew said.
“Some agreed with me. Many didn’t. His family wanted the
dàrro
repaid, of course, but they also wanted more than just the bride price. They wanted restitution for the
abiàv
—the wedding. And they wanted money awarded for Yoska’s suffering and humiliation.”
“What about your father?” Russell asked. “What did he want?”
She gave him a bitter smile. “Father was furious with me. The daughter of the clan leader, showering him with such embarrassment. The clan divided into two camps. One did not condone what I did, but felt that because of the circumstances I should be allowed to resume my life among them after a time of cleansing and punishment. The other did not condone what I did, and insisted I either be forced to accept the marriage or banished for my refusal to obey the clan leader. My father.”
The men stared at her, Russell with open incredulity.
“The rift between the clan members became a physical division,” she went on, “and eventually Yoska’s family took over rule of those who had sided with them. They packed up their tents and left. We have not crossed paths since.”
“Good riddance,” Drew said.
She shook her head. “Not for me. The problems did not leave with Yoska. I may have been forgiven on the surface, but it was not forgotten.”
Russell nodded. “All the more reason for you to break ties, free yourself to explore our life together.”
She sighed. “I dreamed of a handsome gadje who would save me from a dull, narrow-minded existence. He looked like you. But you never came.”
A shadow crossed his angled features. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. Eventually, I realized that I could not sit around waiting for a fantasy to save me. I had to create the life I wanted on my own.”
“But now you don’t have to worry about that,” Russell said. “I’m here.”
She shook her head. “And it’s like Yoska all over again, don’t you see?”
He recoiled as though he’d been slapped. “No. I don’t see.”
“All my life, my father told me what my life would be. I would marry Yoska because he had decided it, even though I knew deep down that was not who I was meant for. Then you came along, barely managing a hello before you told me I was meant to be yours because you said so. When do I get a chance to decide my fate? When do men stop telling me which of them will be stealing away my innocence?”
Drew and Russell exchanged glances. “She’s right,” Drew said.
Russell shook his head, but heaved a sigh. “I suppose when you put it like that, I might have come on a bit strong.”
“Might have?”
“Fine, so I came on strong. There seemed little reason to play games. Werewolves know our mates on sight. It’s a part of our magic. And I could tell you had already sensed it, too.”
She swallowed. “I knew I’d seen you in my dreams. But that doesn’t mean I have to accept that you are some grand destiny.”
“No.” He moved closer to her. “Your heart will have to tell you that.”
“It can’t change the truth that this is wrong.”
Russell lowered his voice to a near whisper. “Close your eyes.”
“What?”
“Just for a minute. I want to try something.”
She snorted. “I’ll bet you do. Forget it.”
“Talaitha.” The hypnotic timbre of his velvet tone was back. “Just close your eyes.”
His eyes implored her even as the words did, and after a moment, she sighed. “Fine.”
She did as he bid her, feeling ridiculous as she stood there with her eyes squeezed shut and her fists clenched at her sides. She shouldn’t have been the least bit surprised to feel the brush of his lips on hers. Nevertheless, the tender kiss startled a muffled gasp from her. She’d thought Drew’s kiss was electric, not that she’d had any to compare it to aside from Yoska. But she felt she might literally drown in this kiss.
She felt his tongue tracing the outline of her lips, and another little gasp of shocked pleasure opened them so he could sweep that hot, wet fire into her mouth. Jolts of need flooded through her in waves, muddying her thoughts until she couldn’t quite remember what they’d just been arguing about. Her fists gradually unclenched at her sides and rose to slide around the back of his neck.
To her disappointment, he pulled away—but not far. “Tell me that this feels wrong,” he murmured while he tipped her head back and nibbled down her jaw and throat. “Tell me there is even one single, solitary bit of this that doesn’t feel a hundred and fifty percent right.”
He kissed his way along her shoulder and flicked his tongue along the hollow of her collarbone.
“I can’t,” she said, breathless, her hands still threaded through the back of his hair.
She felt him tense up. “You can’t what?”
Moments passed when she tried to form words. “Talk.”
Then Drew was behind her, his hot flesh molding to her back. His shirt had come off, too, and his hard chest burned desire through her as he pulled her close. He took hold of her jaw to turn her face to his and kissed her hungrily. She matched his fervor, her tongue pushing into his mouth to taste sexy male and beer. It was an exciting taste, one that drove her longing into lust and sent a hot wetness between her thighs. Russell sank to his knees in front of her, and she felt the elastic of her blouse give way as he tugged the fabric down beneath her breasts. Her nipples already tingled from the men’s kisses, and exposing them to the cool air of the cabin brought them rapidly to stiff peaks. She remembered the cover of her romance book and the time she tried to imagine herself as bold as the heroine. Now here she was, baring her flesh to Russell while kissing Drew—and loving every moment of it.
Drew’s hands came around to circle her breasts, lifting and kneading them as a groan rumbled deep in his throat. Her nipples were somehow practically screaming for attention, and it was a need Russell seemed to feel. His mouth went to work, kissing and licking her nipples while Drew squeezed the flesh around them. She cried out against Drew’s mouth, and the legs growing wet with her juices threatened to buckle beneath her.
“I can feel your need,” Drew said. “I can smell it, too. Your scent is like hot desire, and I’m goin’ to see just how high I can fan that flame.”
She felt her skirt being yanked down, and before she could react, her panties were peeled over her hips as well. Now she stood naked between two men, and yet she felt only the smallest twinge of shame. The rest was swallowed by her utter, uncompromising need to feel Russell inside her, to let the men do to her what she could never allow herself to give in to before.
Russell’s lips against her navel prompted a strong, steady throb in her clit, and before long, his tongue dove into the cleft between her thighs to find and stroke that throb into a mad, heady passion.
Drew’s fingers rolled and pinched her nipples, and she could feel his hard cock pressing against her. Pushing her hips forward drove Russell’s talented tongue deeper along her slit, and pushing back let her rub her ass against Drew to feel how amazingly rock hard his cock was for her. How to decide which pleasure to surrender to first?
Her moans joined theirs until the tiny cabin was filled with the sounds of breathing and growls. Soon, her thighs began to quiver and weaken, and she had to lean her weight against Drew’s hot, muscled perfection to keep from falling over.
“I want my cock in you so bad I can’t fuckin’ stand it,” he whispered to her. “But I’ll try to be a gentleman and give Russell the honor.”
She couldn’t even respond. The sensations in her body were fast overwhelming her, claiming her for a role in womanhood she never thought she’d experience, let alone crave with every inch of her being. Her hands slid into Russell’s sweat-dampened hair, fingers curling around the strands to fist handfuls and press his mouth firmly against her aching, dripping clit.
“Lick me harder, Russell,” she managed.
His moan in response, vibrating against her pussy lips, was what undid her. A powerful tremor rocked her body as an orgasm slammed into her hard. She cried out in shock as much as in desire. Never had she imagined such exquisite, almost painful pleasure existed, though her romance book had spoken of an explosive moment. Her legs gave way as the waves of climax crashed over her, and while she was still reeling, Russell pulled away and sat on the recliner behind him.
“Straddle me, darlin’,” he said, his voice thick.
Drew had to help her onto his lap as she shuddered with the enormity of her release. When she managed to open her eyes, the golden fire in Russell’s sent all-new pangs of want through her. She’d never seen such feral, undisguised lust in a man’s eyes before—not even at the height of Yoska’s desperation to claim her. And this time, she wanted nothing more than to be the woman Russell ached for. She wanted to give him the unbelievably intense pleasure she’d just experienced.
His erection was hot and throbbing between their stomachs as she straddled his lap. They locked eyes and stared for a moment, breathing in tandem. Drew was still behind her, and she knew the knob of flesh she felt rubbing up and down along her back was his cock.
“Take her,” Drew said, and a flare of excitement ran along her spine at the insistence in his words. “Take her now, before I do.”
“Lift up that luscious ass,” Russell said to her. “That’s right. Just a bit higher.”
She took hold of his shoulders and wriggled her hips, feeling both scared and desperate for what was about to happen to her. There would be pain, she knew, since she’d heard talk in the women’s tent. But she was really going to do this. She would give herself to a man who was not only a gadje, but a werewolf. And she couldn’t wait another minute to make it so.
The feel of Russell sliding the mushroom head of his dick along her wet slit sent a moan of need from her, and she rose up higher so he could position himself. The moment his cockhead slipped just inside her tight hole, however, she froze.
“Slowly now,” he murmured. “Lower that beautiful cunt over my cock nice and easy. Don’t rush it.”
“Will that keep it from hurting?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“No. I just want to savor every inch of your wet heat.”
She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. Then she did it. She took his cock inside her, marveling at the way his bulk stretched her as she sank down on him. His cry of need set gooseflesh on her arms, and her legs shook with the effort of lowering in a slow, steady descent. Her fingernails dug into his arms, but she couldn’t stop. All she could feel was Russell breaking through the last barrier between her and a woman’s secrets, spearing her virginity with his hot, pulsing cock.
Halfway in, she couldn’t take it anymore. She dropped her bottom straight down until she was sitting on his thighs. She was full of Russell’s erection now, up to the womb. She sat still, feeling her pussy walls grip his shaft as she wondered what to do next.