Dragon Storm (24 page)

“Nobody will hear it from me. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that. Darius and Connor told me stories about you—about all of you—while we traveled.” Her gesture included all the dragons as well as the men.

“We have heard tales of you as well, milady,” Drake added with a sly grin. “As a bard, I would love to hear more about your world and your people sometime.”

She looked to her mates. She didn’t see anything wrong with telling him about her world, but maybe they had some objection. They looked at her encouragingly, which she took to mean they supported the idea.

“I’d be happy to.”

“But not this minute,” Mace broke in with an apologetic smile. “Prince Nico sent us to get you. The dancing cannot start without the guests of honor.”

Drake laughed and added to Mace’s words. “The younglings have been sent off to bed and all within that hall are eager to start the adult portion of the evening.” An audacious wink made her blush. This one was a charmer, indeed.

“Truth be told—” Darius took her arm, “—so are we.”

The dancing was even more raucous than Josie had been led to expect. The first thing to go was her ornately designed brocade robe. As the first few dances ended, she lost more and more of her outer layers of clothing. The great hall was filled with merrymakers but the newly mated trio was the center of attention.

The dances were athletic and became increasingly so as the beat sped up and the movements became more intense. Josie was tossed between her mates in the steps of the dance but after a while, she decided to add her own acrobatic flare to the moves. She began to add little twirls and flips to the moments in mid-air when she was between her two mates, and the crowd cheered as the twins beamed.

If she was going to live here, among these people, she had to distinguish herself in some way. They had to know that although they had mighty dragons, the snowcat was nothing to be trifled with. For the first time in her life, she was dealing with people fully aware of magic who had no idea of the snowcat’s legendary reputation. She owed it to her clan and to herself to make them understand just how formidable the snowcat could be, but she had to do it in a friendly way.

If a few acrobatic moves began the process of their realization, so much the better. She’d prefer they came to understand her true nature in their own time. She did not, however, wish to be underestimated. She wanted to be on equal footing—or as close as she could come to it—with her mates. The people of this medieval-esque world were going to learn the prowess of the snowcat. She would do her people, and her grandfather, proud.

The throbbing pulse of the music had her giddy. It was created with a myriad of stringed instruments, whistles, flutes and drums. Simple music that made her heart pound. It was gorgeous and the handsome blond troubadour-knight was right at the center of the creation of it. After the first few tunes, he gave up his place to the delicate blonde, Shanya, who surprised Josie with how fiercely she participated in the creation of the incredible sounds the small orchestra produced that filled the room and then some.

By the time they’d gone through about three-quarters of her layers of clothing, Josie was feeling decidedly hot. To be sure, her temperature had risen along with the athleticism of the dance patterns, but she was also getting excited by the body contact between her and her now bare-chested mates. Rubbing along their muscular bodies as they tossed her back and forth between them was getting her hot and bothered. She was more than ready to take this to the next level…somewhere private.

But there were more dances to perform and a few more layers of clothing to unwind from around her body before they could go off to be alone. She put her all into the dancing, enjoying her moment in the spotlight. Josie had never been so free to be herself in public. She’d never had the opportunity to show what she could do physically in front of a crowd. Oh, she’d been tested by her snowcat teachers, but being only half snowcat and raised mostly in the Western world, she had never excelled at the martial arts skills her full-snowcat relatives took for granted.

This was a special night. She felt truly accepted by these people and welcomed. Certainly, some probably still had reservations about her. They also had open minds, and she had the freedom to be herself. Fully herself.

The freedom was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before.

And the arousal her mates inspired with these lascivious dances was even more freeing.

They twirled her between them, unrolling the last of the winding layers of cloth around her body. She was left in only a skimpy micro-miniskirt and a sort of halter band tied around her chest to support her breasts. Her men were wearing only leather pants, their gleaming muscles bared and beckoning her.

There were other trios around them, similarly involved in the dancing, including Drake, Mace and an athletic woman who must be their mate. Josie felt like part of the group in the truest sense. She sensed their acceptance, their joy in the union of her and her mates. The feeling was indescribably good. Sustenance for a soul she hadn’t known was craving just such feelings of welcome and acceptance.

The final dance was even more provocative than all that had gone before. The music was a pounding beat, driving them onward, driving her arousal higher. Around them, trios were leaving the floor, seeking privacy. She wasn’t surprised when Connor caught her in his arms and carried her off the dance floor. Darius followed close behind.

They made a beeline for their quarters. When they finally reached the doorway, she was surprised to see that someone had been there in their absence. A garland of flowers framed the huge doorway and when it opened, she discovered the main room had been decorated into a decadent love nest. A feast had been laid out on a side table—foods that would keep well without refrigeration and looked divine.

Darius laid her gently on the nest of furs that had been set up in the middle of the room.

“Who did this?” Her gesture encompassed the whole room and the way it had been transformed.

“Who cares?” Darius was focused on removing the rest of her minimal clothing, while Connor was removing his own trousers.

“I suspect it was some of the ladies of the Lair,” Connor said as he joined her on the nest of fur and pillows. “We will thank them for their thoughtfulness…tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she sighed as Darius freed her breasts and moved down to remove her skirt while Connor stalked over her prone body. One hand on each side of her head, he lowered his mouth to hers, capturing her lips with his.

Darius succeeded in removing the skirt, but didn’t leave her lower body. While Connor kissed her mouth and rubbed his chest against her breasts, Darius spread her legs. Connor was on her right, Darius to her left. One mastered her upper body while the other started to do incredibly wicked things farther down.

“Now we take you together, love,” Connor said in a husky voice.

“It’s traditional for the wedding night, although that’s usually because the dragons are spurring their knight partners on.” Darius had a teasing light in his eyes. “In our case, we simply want to. Will you accommodate us?”

“When have I ever denied you two anything you wanted?” She cupped each of their rough cheeks in her palms. Sweet Mother of All, she loved these men. They were her equals, her partners, her perfect mates. “Come to me now. I don’t want to wait any longer. That so-called dancing has made me more than ready to handle you. Both of you.” She purred at them, letting a little of her beast out to play.

Dragon growls were much more intimidating, and much hotter, both literally and figuratively, she found out a second later. Connor’s body radiated the heat of his dragon as he came over her. He entered her in one long, powerful thrust as she cried out. Damn, that felt good.

“You’re mine, Josie. Say it.” He was like a man possessed, but she understood the biological imperative of the act of claiming. Her snowcat loved the heat of him, the power and the dominance. “Now and forever.”

“Now and forever, Connor. I am yours.” Total surrender. That’s what he wanted and what she and her snowcat longed to give.

“Good.” He grinned suddenly and flipped them. She was sprawled over him, her ass in the air and his cock still crammed high up in her pussy. It was a delicious feeling.

She felt something slick drizzle between her butt cheeks. It made her jump, but the liquid was warm—as warm as the hands that followed, stroking the oil into her skin and between her cheeks, down into the dark crevice that held a secret desire.

Darius slid one finger into her back entrance as Connor held her, splayed out for his brother’s pleasure. The two were working together to drive her crazy with need, and she loved them for it. Like a well-orchestrated play, they prepared her to take them both at the same time. They played her body, stroking her to within an inch of bliss time after time, but they wouldn’t let her come.

By the time they judged her ready, she was ready to climb the walls. She hungered for them. They had driven her to a state where nothing existed but her desire, her need for them. She was beyond ready. She was desperate.

“Please, Darius. Please, now!” She cried out her need, hoping this time they would answer her pleas.

Darius climbed into position and replaced his fingers with something much larger and much more desirable. Pushing steadily, he claimed her, filling her beyond full with the two of them at once.

All through this, Connor had remained still beneath her. The moment Darius was seated fully they both began to move. A steady pace soon became frenetic, pulsating thrusts that drove her out of her mind.

As she became more incoherent, they sped their pace. Eventually, she couldn’t even form words any longer. She screeched her pleasure, her desire, her need to the heavens as her men grunted and rumbled along with her.

They were close. Closer than they ever had been to explosion at the exact same moment.

Then there was no Darius, no Connor, no Josie. They existed only together as parts of a whole. They came together, roaring their release in unison. It was the most magical, majestic and draining release of her life.

It made them one. Now and forever.

Chapter Twelve

When they finally left their chamber the next day, it was well after noon. The twins were grinning like fools, even as they asked around to discover who had taken the time to decorate their suite the night before. Josie took special care to thank the group of ladies, who were mates to knights living in the Castle Lair.

One of them was Krysta, the athletic woman Josie had seen with Drake and Mace the night before. Krysta was their wife and a warrior in her own right. In fact, she taught hand-to-hand combat techniques to the Guard and was a high-ranking member of that elite group.

They had taken the morning to tour the castle and thank the other ladies, then had run into Krysta near the castle gates. She’d been on her way into Castleton, so they walked together into the town.

“I’m glad we ran into each other,” Krysta said as they walked. The two women were side by side, while the men walked behind, giving the girls a chance to talk. “I have heard that you are a snowcat. We Jinn have had dealings with your tribe in the past.”

Josie’s heart sped at the implications of her words. There really might be more of her kind in this world somewhere. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what Jinn is. My mates have told me a lot, but the more I see, the more I know there are big gaps in my knowledge. And I got the impression that there were no other snowcats here, or if there were, they were just a legend. Sort of like the legends of dragons in my world.”

“Oh, there are snowcats. At least, there were as of a hundred years ago. That is the last I have heard of their mention in our histories anyway.” Kyrsta shrugged. “The Jinn are—or were, I should say—a nomadic people. We have different clans that roam in different parts of this world. We are led by the Dragon Clan, and they recently sent out the invitation, through the new queen, for all Jinn to come and make their home here in Draconia.”

“Queen Lana invited them all to live here?” Josie was trying to piece together the facts in her mind.

“Not Queen Lana. Her sister, Queen Arikia. You know her as Riki. She is Queen of the Jinn as well as Princess of Draconia, just like her mate Nico is Prince of Draconia and King-Consort of the Jinn Brotherhood. It’s complicated. Suffice to say, we Jinn would follow her anywhere and protect her to our last breath. Nico too.”

“Wow.” Josie didn’t know what to say to that. The passion behind Krysta’s words was palpable. “The Jinn are like Gypsies, I guess,” she thought out loud. “There are stories about a nomadic group of people in my world. We call them Gypsies. They are known for being fortune tellers, entertainers, musicians and the like.”

“That is a very apt description of the Jinn. We are also a network of spies.” Krysta gave her a theatrical wink that made them both chuckle.

“Then I’m not surprised Prince Nico is their king.”

Krysta patted her shoulder. “Now you’re getting the gist of it. He’s not known as the Prince of Spies for nothing.”

“Do the Jinn also wear colorful clothing and gold hoops in their ears?”

Krysta gave her a sharp look. “I think your Gypsies and our people have much in common. But you can see for yourself, readily enough. There are many Jinn living in Castleton. Actually, we’ve taken over a section of adjacent land to build our own section of town that will, in time, be as populated as Castleton itself. Much planning has been done to ensure we will have room for everyone, if they decide to come. We expect many will come to see the queen and king-consort, at least to visit. Many others will wish to live here permanently, though giving up the roaming life will be hard for some. Still, we do need our agents in other lands, so not all Jinn will settle here permanently.”

“This is fascinating.”

“And all top secret,” Darius whispered in her ear, making her shiver.

“Much of what I tell you, I say because you are now a member of the royal family. I would not be so open with others. I also tell you this—” Krysta turned to her as they paused on the road, “—because you are snowcat. My people once knew your people, and we believe you will have a key role to play in the snowcats’ return.”