Hidden Depths (23 page)

Ty remembered coming here as a boy with other aristocratic students from the palace school. The duck pond had enthralled him, and the rough-trunked oaks with the acorns that plopped on his head. He recalled wishing he’d been an ordinary person so he could have ridden there on the yellow school subs and run wild about the place. To make up for that, he and Anso had snuck off. Anso had saved the crusts from his sandwich to feed the geese. It was one of Ty’s first memories of Prince Anso as a real person. God help him, the die might have been cast for him to fall in love with him then.

Today, that stupidity didn’t matter. Every cell in his body seemed to have achieved a rare state of peace.

“This is perfect,” he said. He was stretched on his back beneath a tree in the wooded area known as the Ramble. The security guard he’d bribed wouldn’t intrude on them here.

“Mm,” Olivia lazily agreed.

She was a good sport, Ty thought, someone who enjoyed winning but wasn’t obsessed like men could be. She lay on the blanket too, with James on her other side. She’d traded her fancy clothes for a nearly clean shirt of Anso’s and a pair of lady’s button-fly jeans she’d somehow convinced Harrison to scrape up for her.

She looked relaxed in them. James’s dark head rested on her shoulder, his arm slung across her belly. From what Ty could tell, one of the benefits of being married was being really comfortable with each other.

Ty would have given a lot to rest his head on her other side.

He wasn’t sure he had the right to touch her, but her hand was only inches away. Giving her an opportunity to resist, he pulled her fingers gently into his.

She squeezed his hand enough to let him know the hold could stay.

“We made a good team,” Anso said. He’d been pulling off his boots in preparation for lying down. That taken care of, he reclined on his side. Ty liked how close he was. Anso could see across him to the others.

“We did,” Olivia said. “I’m glad the dragons are safe.”

“Why did they smell like flowers?” James asked. “For that matter, why does everything in Oceana smell a bit spicy-sweet?”

Anso’s chuckle warmed Ty’s ear. “I wasn’t kidding back in the church. That’s the scent of magic. Because faeries created the Pocket, everything smells like faerie dust.”

“
Noo
,” James said, but not like he really doubted.

“Yes,” Anso said. “Species like dragons, which originated in Faerie, carry a stronger scent than half-mundanes like weres. You probably didn’t notice when you first came here because your change hadn’t fully taken hold. Now you’ve got magic in you too.”

“We’re not going to turn into seals, are we?” Olivia asked.

Ty had a feeling if she weren’t so mellow, she’d have sounded more worried.

“No,” Anso said. “I’m afraid that’s a gift we don’t have the power to share with humans.”

Olivia seemed to realize she might have insulted him. Her hand shifted inside Ty’s. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to -”

“No.” Anso reached across Ty’s chest to touch her. “You don’t need to apologize. Shapechanging must be a strange idea if you’re not used to it.” She rolled onto her side to look at Anso, which caused James to grunt and roll after her. Though Ty didn’t move himself, he saw Olivia and Anso lock gazes.

The atmosphere between them turned more electric, still relaxed but with a hint of the sexual. That hint added weight to his groin.

Anso and Olivia stared at each other for a long moment before she spoke.

“The four of us being together feels good. Like when Ty told us to hold hands at the church.”

Olivia’s left hand had tangled with Anso’s right. Both rested on Ty’s belly, just over his navel. A tingle ran into him at the point of contact, too strong and too erotic for him not to react. Anso’s hand curled farther around Olivia’s just as James slung his upper leg over hers. He wore the same buckskin trousers as Anso and Ty. Whether he intended to or not, his bare toes touched Ty’s ankle.

He felt as if an electric circuit had been closed. He touched everyone, and everyone touched him. His breathing and pulse came quicker, which both Olivia and Anso had to notice.

“If we’re
all
mated,” Anso said, the first time he’d put it this bluntly, “it makes sense that we’d enjoy being in a group.”

Anso’s voice was huskier. Ty turned his head and found a flush on his face.

Anso’s eyes held Olivia’s, but where his hips rested against Ty’s, a definite swell was forming.

“Could I kiss him?” Olivia asked.

Ty’s heart fluttered in his chest. No way was she asking permission to kiss James.

“Is that what you want?” Anso’s voice was even more gravelly now.

“Yes,” she said. “Ty’s mouth is beautiful.”

Ty looked at her, and she looked back. Her eyes were big and solemn, their so-familiar color affecting him physically, as if that deep blue and only that deep blue could reach inside and touch him.

“I want more than a kiss,” he said gruffly.

Her smile was unmistakably delighted. “So do I,” she admitted.

He touched her cheek and stretched up. He swallowed, because he really didn’t want to do this wrong, but the instant their lips sealed together the kiss was pure magic. He made a sound he wasn’t sure he ever had in his life. Hunger.

Longing. Pleasure at it being completely met. She tasted delicious - like Anso a bit, but also brand new. Her mouth was tender and sleek inside, her tongue a temptation he couldn’t resist suckling. She sucked his in return, and all the hairs on his arms stood up.

“You taste like cherries,” he murmured against her lips.

“I do not,” she laughed. “Why are all the men in my life romantics?” He loved that she included him among her men, loved that she called him romantic. A pressure welled inside him that was about so much more than sex. He had to roll her onto her back, had to watch the dappled sun hit her face to make
his
mark appear in her eyes. Somehow, James wasn’t in the way when he pushed her over. He was making room for Ty to take her.

As Olivia squinted against the light, the yellow inner ring appeared in her irises. Ty’s cock stretched so full at the sight it stung. He pushed up on his elbows. Olivia shivered at whatever she saw in his eyes, someone who wanted to maraud her probably. Ty dropped his gaze to her breasts. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her nipples were extremely aroused and pushing out Anso’s shirt.

The reaction was trite, but Ty couldn’t keep from licking his lips.

“Take this off me,” she whispered.

He realized he wouldn’t have if she hadn’t asked. The bull all the wereseals wanted was too nervous to take the lead with his first woman.

Nervous or not, he couldn’t pass up the invitation. He freed her buttons with shaky hands. The other men didn’t help. James and Anso lay close enough to touch but were just watching. The sound of their breathing added heft to his arousal. He bared one warm breast and cupped it, his thumb sweeping across her tight red nipple. He tested its hardness with the pad of his thumb, finding the contracted flesh fascinatingly substantial. Wetness trickled from his prick, his excitement already at its edge. He couldn’t speak except hoarsely.

“You fill my palm perfectly.”

Her hand curved around the ridge of his groin, gently cupping its straining shape. “You more than fill mine, Ty.”

Why did her saying his name send his lust soaring? Groaning, he dropped his head to the breast he held, surrounding that tempting peak and pulling greedily at it. This was something you couldn’t do with men, a thrill that after so many years of wondering and not doing felt forbidden. Her nipple was warm and smooth, and he knew he’d never get enough of it. His enthusiasm was pretty hard to hide, as were the rooting noises he was making. Olivia stroked his hair and arched closer, so he guessed he wasn’t doing it too hard. Giving in to what he wanted, he sucked in more, flicking her with his tongue until she gripped one of his thighs between both of hers and rolled her pelvis against his quadricep.

That nearly made his head explode with triumph. He ran his hand around her taut little waist, under her open shirt. The jeans she wore gapped enough to wedge his palm down around her butt.

Olivia’s grip on his crotch tightened. The pressure of her hand felt so good he knew he’d better tug it away.

“Okay,” he panted, easing back from her. Her lips were swollen from their kiss and the same red as her nipples, a comparison that momentarily shorted out his brain. “Okay ... I ...” He dragged his eyes back to hers, where the swelling of her pupils had once again drowned out the yellow ring. “I know this is my first time with a female, but I’d really like to get my dick inside you before I come.” Olivia bit her lower lip, not quite hiding her smile. “I’d like that too.” The dent she made in her mouth couldn’t be resisted. He kissed her again, which led to long dizzy minutes of driving his tongue in and out of her clinging mouth. Each time she sucked him back, he shivered uncontrollably, which would have been embarrassing if it hadn’t felt so good. Finally, he remembered he wanted to pull off her pants.

“Shit,” he said. “Stop distracting me.”

She laughed, then gasped when he bent to nuzzle her soft belly. Thankfully, his fingers recovered enough of their usual skill to undo her button fly. That exposed more temptations, but he managed to pull the denim and her panties down her strong curvy legs. Then she lay in nothing but Anso’s unbuttoned white cotton shirt, the sides fallen around her breasts, the cuffs rolled up many times to keep them at her elbows. Her pubic curls might have been the prettiest red Ty had ever seen, their charm surpassed only by moisture that glistened among them. His chest was tight, his lungs resisting his efforts to fill them.

Olivia seemed to know what the sight of her did to him, and some of the reasons why. She ran her fingers up one side of Anso’s parted shirt. “Shall I leave this on?”

Ty shuddered, his hands flying to the leather ties at the front of his own trousers. “Yes,” he rasped. “You wearing that after he did mixes your scent and his.”

“I know something else that would,” she said.

Ty saw from Anso’s thunderstruck expression that he guessed what she meant.

“Kneel up,” she said to him.

It was an order, but he didn’t object. He knelt up, making shorter work of his trouser laces than Ty ever could. His big cock was free and being stroked by her pretty hand before Ty was halfway through undoing his sailor’s knot.

The sound of Anso moaning at her caresses didn’t help Ty’s fingers work.

Clearly, the king was in heat again.

“I know you need to come,” Olivia panted, her hand small but strong on his reddened skin. “Tell me how to make you come quickly. I want you to be able to watch him take me without your instincts getting upset.”

“Suck me,” he groaned, his head falling back. “Lick me with the tongue that kissed him.”

Ty was staring so openmouthed at Anso’s abandon that he didn’t notice James had moved until his hands joined Ty’s on his trouser front.

“Let me,” James said quietly, his gaze straying to the others and back to Ty. “I used to sail when I was in college. I’m good at undoing knots.” He was good. He had Ty’s aching cock in the open air even as Olivia swallowed Anso down. Both circumstances made Ty’s organ jerk violently. She was kneeling, and the king was standing, his hips surging into her mouth. This caused the upper half of his erection to disappear. The pleasure he was feeling was obvious. His hands were buried in her gorgeous hair while hers gripped his root and balls, sparing him from worrying about thrusting down her throat too far.

Ty could tell his friend would have if she hadn’t taken the precaution. Anso’s motions were jerky, his expression veering between ecstasy and torture.

Ty had to admit this heat thing was a blinking big turn on.

“She’s good at giving head,” James said, like a server recommending the best entree. “Somehow she lets you know she cares about you with every suck.” His fingertips touched Ty’s cock, lightly pulling up the swollen strut on his underside. His eyes remained on the other couple, his profile flushed but calm.

“Are
you
okay with this?” Ty realized he ought to ask.

James’s face turned to him, and for a second all Ty could think was that those cobalt eyes looked amazing with black hair. James’s spirit was still behind them: his own individual and somewhat mysterious thoughts.

“More than I ought to be,” he answered.

“I
do
love him,” Ty admitted, dropping his voice even more.

“You could fall for her too,” James said. “Sometimes she’s so sweet she’s hard to resist.”

Ty couldn’t tell if this was a warning. James’s fingertips had reached the knob of his penis. Along with his thumb, they half plucked, half stroked the sensitive stretched skin. A fat drop of precum squeezed from his slit, the wetness dragging James’s attention down. The other man’s respiration grew choppy as he watched the effect his hand was having. The caress was very exciting, but Ty didn’t tell him to stop. He remembered a time when other men’s cocks were all he could think about.

“You’re pretty hard to resist yourself,” Ty said.

The compliment caused James to release him, or perhaps he was distracted by Anso’s cries of pleasure kicking up a notch in pitch. Olivia was making good on her intent to wring a quick orgasm out of him. Ty found himself swallowing in time with her, as if he could help her suck off the king.

“God,” James breathed. “God, he’s going to go.”

He went with a long rough cry. Olivia swallowed the first two spurts, then pulled free and pumped his cock fast and hard directly toward her breasts. Semen shot from Anso’s penis over their perfect curves, inspiring all of the men to curse.

Now she’d really smell like him.

Heat crashed through Ty. He was tearing off his shirt as he stepped to her, yanking at the sleeves to get free of them. Her hands fell from Anso, and she turned to Ty on her knees. The blanket she knelt on was blue and silver, the Vitul eel clear on it. He couldn’t deny the image exerted power over him. Ty’s cock bounced higher, so hard and thick it could have been a weapon. Olivia looked at it, flushed, then tilted her face to him.