Oracles' Light [PUP Squad Alpha 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (5 page)

Dyson watched Kristen put the finishing touches on an evening meal that smelled delicious. She was a talented cook, and his mouth watered just at the sight of the food, but it didn’t stop him from getting pissed off. For the past two weeks, the woman they were protecting had cooked three meals a day for them, almost running herself ragged making certain they were all fed. It just didn’t sit well with him.

She wasn’t here as their housemaid. They were supposed to be taking care of her. Not the other way around.

“You know you don’t have to cook,” Dyson said as he helped her carry the plates to the dining table of the cabin they were renting.

“I like cooking,” she said, managing to avoid his gaze as if she didn’t truly believe her own words. It was just one more reason for him to worry that she felt she owed them somehow.

“But you don’t have to. We’re quite capable of feeding ourselves and you.” He glanced at the annoyed looks worn by all three of his teammates. It was true that Kristen cooked better than all of them, but it still didn’t mean she should.

“I know,” she said, still avoiding looking him in the eyes. “I suppose I can…um…” She seemed to hesitate, and he felt like an asshole for upsetting her. Angus even looked angry enough to test the assumption that they were evenly matched in a fight. Dyson raised his hands, willing to back away, but as he opened his mouth to apologize, Kristen took a deep breath and did that thing that he’d noticed her do over the past couple weeks. It was almost as if she was fighting her own nature. Her instinct seemed to be to apologize, yet each time she took a moment, seemed to gather her courage, and then would say the exact opposite of what he’d been expecting. In this instance, her words were very vehement.

“I like cooking. I enjoy being busy, and I am damn well going to do it. If you’ve got a problem with that, you can just get over it.”

She nodded once, a visual signal that in her opinion the conversation was over, and then took a seat at the table beside Angus. The ice demon seemed quite amused by Kristen’s response, but for the first time in a long time showed enough restraint not to open his mouth and make an awkward situation worse.

Adam and Thomas, who had seemed unusually subdued in the past few days, grinned at him but thankfully didn’t say anything, either. The meal was rather awkward in a silent sort of way, but as always his squadmates were quick to compliment Kristen on her wonderful cooking. When the meal was finished, she stood up to gather their plates as usual, but this time Dyson was right beside her.

“You cooked. We’ll clean. It’s only fair.”

He watched her closely. Again he saw her immediate instinct to be polite, but then she took the deep breath, glared at him, and took the plate from his hands. “I will do as I damn well please,” she said in a tone of voice not nearly as confident as her words.

“At least let me help,” he said, trying for a compromise. He wasn’t certain why she was reacting this way, but even after a short acquaintance he would swear that it was out of character for her.

“Fine.” The way she huffed the word out through clenched teeth suggested that it wasn’t really fine at all.

He gathered the rest of the dishes and followed her into the small kitchen. She worked efficiently, filling the dishwasher and then scrubbing the pots in hot, sudsy water. The task was finished in only a few minutes, and for the most part Dyson just stayed out of her way. He did dry the pots as she washed them, but since he had no idea where they belonged spent most of his time searching for the correct cupboard.

“Thank you,” she said quietly as she turned on the dishwasher and went to leave the room. Without really thinking about it, Dyson reached for her, grasping her wrist before she could escape through the door.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Again she did that deep-breath thing, but this time she seemed to change her mind and go with her first instinct. Instead of fighting him, Kristen relaxed into his embrace instead. “I know you were just trying to help, but I…I feel…I don’t know…strange….out of sorts, maybe. I’m not sure I can describe it. I just know that…” She blushed, turned her face into his shoulder, and let out an embarrassed laugh.

Dyson hooked his fingers under her chin and looked into her eyes.

“You just know what?”

He didn’t think she was going to answer, but then she closed her eyes and breathed out a deep breath. “I just know that I like cooking for you guys. It’s nice to be appreciated.”

He watched her closely again, wanting very much to strangle whoever had made her feel that her efforts had gone unnoticed. “Who didn’t appreciate you?”

She laughed a brief, sarcastic sound and gave him a crooked smile. “Most recently my boss. After six years of working for the same transport company at the same desk for the same pay I suddenly found myself retrenched. Considering that my supervisor couldn’t even get my name right, I was almost surprised to find it spelled correctly on my termination letter.”

“Wait, you worked for a transport company?”

She nodded.

“Rhode’s Overnight Transport?”

She looked a little surprised, but nodded again.

“We went there several weeks ago trying to find you. They said they’d never heard of you.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted to kick himself. She’d just told him her supervisor had never gotten her name correct. Fuck, they were probably the reason she’d gotten retrenched. The owner of the transport company had sworn black and blue that he’d had no idea who she was or why she was on the payroll. Her employment had probably been terminated before they’d left the damn building.

Kristen went to pull out of his arms, perhaps having come to the same conclusion that he had. He held her tighter, pressing her face against his chest as he wondered what the hell he could say to make this better. The fact that she would have needed to give up her job to go into protective custody didn’t really make up for getting the woman fired.

“It’s okay,” she said quietly, her effort to comfort him making him feel even more miserable. “It wasn’t much of a job anyway.” She pushed against his chest, and this time he let her move away slightly. She felt too good in his arms for him to let her get too far away. “I don’t know what I’ll do once this is over, but it’s unlikely I would have gone back there anyway.”

“I’m still sorry we got you fired.”

She gave him a sad smile and pulled away from his arms. “I think I’ll go to bed early. Is it yours or Angus’s turn tonight?”

* * * *

Kristen winced at her poorly chosen words. As much as she’d fantasized about both men, she hadn’t meant to sound like that was some sort of come-on. Although, considering that every instinct she’d ever followed before in her life had proven to be wrong, perhaps being more bold would get her what she wanted.

Before she could overthink it, Kristen stepped back into Dyson’s embrace, lifted onto her toes, and brushed her lips over his. She nearly sighed in relief when his arms closed around her, pulling her closer as he deepened the contact and kissed her like she was the most desirable woman in the world.

He lifted her onto the countertop, wedged his hips between her thighs, and then went back to kissing her like she’d never been kissed before. She was practically breathless by the time he lifted away. He grinned down at her, but froze when he realized someone had entered the kitchen behind him.

“Don’t mind me,” Angus said in his usual jovial tone. “Heard my name. Came a-runnin’.” He stepped closer, almost elbowing Dyson out of the way to press a finger against Kristen’s kiss-swollen lips. “You look very beautiful like this, baby girl. Are you ready for bed, then?”

“Um.” She glanced at Dyson, unsure how she was supposed to handle this situation. Yes, she was attracted to both of them. No, she didn’t want to choose between them, so the sensible solution would be to walk away from the whole thing.

But instead of the jealous reaction she expected from Dyson, the man merely winked.

“Sorry, Kristen,” he said when he finally registered her confusion. “Sometimes I forget that you’re human.” He glanced at Angus beside him, then turned back to her and cupped her cheek in his warm hand. “Demon males outnumber demon females three to one. Sharing is in our nature, but if that freaks you out, I’m certain we can come to a compromise.”

“Absolutely,” Angus said with a wide grin. “Of course we’re all certain she’s going to pick me. Don’t you have some paperwork to do, Dyson?”

“No,” Dyson ground out through clenched teeth, obviously not enjoying Angus’s teasing. It seemed that even though sharing was in their nature, waiting patiently for a female to choose was not. Kristen bit her lip, worry gnawing at her gut as she tried to find the courage to ask for what she wanted.

“I…um…can I…um…” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and prayed she wasn’t making a fool of herself. “Can I choose just you two?”

“Just us?” Angus asked with a neutral expression. She had no idea what the man was thinking. Hell, what she wouldn’t give for a little more worldly experience about now. She wasn’t a virgin, but asking two men to make love to her was definitely new territory.

“Y–You said three to one, but I don’t know any other demons—unless werewolves coun—”

“They don’t,” Dyson said, cutting off her worried words.

“Just us, baby girl,” Angus whispered as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. “The big question is do you want one at a time or both together?”

“Huh?” Okay, now would be a really good time for her to confess her small amount of experience ran along the lines of missionary position in a dark room under the bedcovers. Considering how quickly the relationship had fizzled, she wasn’t even certain it could be called actual experience. She might not be a virgin, but she wasn’t actually practiced in these matters.

“We’ll take it slowly,” Dyson said as he lifted her into his arms and carried her through the main area and into the bedroom designated as hers.

“We’re going to bed,” Angus said to Adam and Thomas as they strode past the two werewolves watching television. “See you in the morning.”

“Good night, Kristen. Sleep well,” Adam said with a grin that suggested he knew exactly what the three of them planned to do behind the closed door.

Now if somebody could just tell her.

For the past week, Dyson and Angus had taken turns lying beside her while she slept, but they’d both stayed firmly above the covers. Considering the fact that Dyson placed her on her feet and immediately lifted the shirt over her head and then unsnapped her bra, she was fairly certain they had something else in mind for tonight.

She moaned as Angus dropped to his knees in front of her, capturing the hard peak of her nipple in his mouth. He used his tongue to flick over the hard nub as Dyson undid her jeans and pushed them and her underwear to the ground. She tried to step out of the material, but Angus wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her as if she weighed nothing. He continued tormenting her nipple even as he got to his feet and carried her toward the bed.

Kristen was nearly rambling incoherently when he laid her gently in the middle of the mattress and then slid lower to press kisses to her belly, her hips, her inner thighs. She moaned as he pushed her legs wide, his cool hands and warm tongue touching her intimately. She squirmed as need overrode embarrassment, her breath catching as Angus pushed thick fingers into her pussy and sucked her clit into his mouth.

She arched off the bed, the incredible sensation taking her by surprise. Never had she imagined anything like this. Kristen panted, her body shivering all over, her moans no longer under her control, as Angus fucked her with his fingers and drove her arousal sky-high.

“I think our girl likes that,” Dyson said as he stretched out on the mattress beside her. He was naked, his cock thick and hard as he leaned over her and pressed a kiss to her lips. He ran a hand over her forehead, the touch gentle, tender, endearing. “Come for us, sweetheart.”

“What?” she asked, not entirely sure what they were expecting.

But then, almost as if her body had a mind of its own, heat burst in her midsection and swelled outward. She gasped, trembling, shivering as bright lights swirled in her mind and every muscle shook uncontrollably. She moaned low and long as the shaking, rocking roller-coaster ride seemed to go on and on and on.

She panted, finally heaving a great lungful of air into her body, trying to slow her heart rate as a feeling of deep contentment, of completion, seeped into her soul. Was this the thing she’d read about? Had she never truly experienced orgasm in her life? After that revelation she was starting to think that the gentle clenching and releasing of the muscles in her pussy that she’d assumed was an orgasm before today was definitely not even close.

A soft touch on her face made her realize that both men were watching her.

* * * *

Angus glanced at Dyson and saw his own emotions reflected on the man’s face. Surprise. Delight. Mind-numbing fear. It was obvious by her reaction that Kristen didn’t have much experience, but it left them with a question that needed an answer right now.

“Are you a virgin, Kristen?” Dyson asked, clearly following the same thought process as Angus.