Rising Dragons Omnibus (23 page)

Breath of Desire:
Chapter 3

D
imitri was as prompt as any date. He’d had a haircut since the day before, which disappointed Thea a little. She preferred the shaggy, unkempt version of him. This version looked too much like Alex. Her stomach lurched at the sight of the living replica that stood in her doorway just now and she forced herself to find the subtle differences she knew existed, features that were wholly Dimitri. She’d loved discovering their differences and learning how few there were. Identical in so many ways, she finally gave up. But there was always one method to figure who was who, and she could do it with her eyes closed.

She swallowed hard and pulled her door closed, trying to ignore the look Dimitri gave her. Would he still make love that way? So different from his brother. So much more present. She always felt like she had been given all of him. Not just his body, but his soul, too. His brother had always kept something in reserve for some reason she had never discovered.

Those blue eyes seemed to know her too well still, so she stared at the floor.

“What’s for dinner?” she asked, lamely.

“Whatever they make. It’s always a surprise.”

“Who are ‘they’ anyway?”

“My friends. They enjoy entertaining. You’ll be the highlight of their year, I bet.”

“Fuck. No pressure.”

Dimitri laughed as he steered her toward the lift.

“You’ll love them. Nobody doesn’t, after meeting them.”

He remained quiet during much of the drive, but slightly tense, his eyes flicking away from the road to look at her every few minutes as though he had something to say but couldn’t find the words. Thea knew how that felt. She’d had the urge to ask him about the kiss the night before, but was at a loss as to how she should frame the question without it sounding lonely and desperate. She finally forced herself to ignore him and gazed out the window at the passing scenery. It was full summer and the city bustled with life. In spite of her anxiety over seeing Dimitri, she began to feel a sense of eager anticipation. This could be a good trip for her if she could just let herself get past those old wounds. If the project was of the scope Dimitri had hinted at, it could be just the thing she needed.

“I honored his memory on this trip,” Dimitri said, startling her out of her fantasies.

“Oh?”

“You know how much he loved dragons. The idea of them.”

“He said the dragons were your dream.” His flustered look entertained her. “You never knew?” she asked.

“Knew what?”

“He hunted for signs of them to please you. Everything Alex did was to please you.”

That shut him up for a long moment. Eventually he replied, slowly and carefully, “Everything
we
did was to please
you
. The expedition would have been for all three of us. We had a spot on the team for you already guaranteed. It was strange going without you, at first, but by then I didn’t know where else to go. I couldn’t stay.”

She watched him in silence for a moment, then gazed back out the window, seeking that bright hope she’d grasped at earlier. A cloud must have crossed in front of the sun, because the day somehow seemed dark again.

“It was better that you left, I think. You seem happier now.”

“If you had come with me, maybe…”

“Dimitri, no,” she said, cutting him off. “It wouldn’t have mattered where we were. We were spinning our wheels at that point. Staying together would have only made things worse.”

He nodded and sighed, cutting the wheel of his small car hard to the left to descend into the shadows of an underground parking garage. She glanced up in time to view the pale walls of a stately and meticulously maintained apartment building before the shadows overtook them.

His subsequent brooding silence made her regret snapping at him. But she couldn’t exactly tell him everything was okay, because that would have been a lie. She was far from okay, though if she could manage to not think about Alex for more than a ten minute stretch, she might at least pretend.

Soon enough his dark demeanor dissipated into one of agitated eagerness. He fidgeted with his keys on their way to the lift at the far end of the garage. A few paces from the shiny doors he clenched them tightly in his fist and stopped short.

“Fuck! Aurin wanted me to stop at the market on the way back.” He dug into his pants pocket for a second and produced a folded piece of steno paper. He held it up sheepishly. “She gave me a list.”

Thea quirked her mouth. “You forgot. That is so…”
So Dimitri.

“So, we’re here…” He hesitated, glancing between the lift and his car. “You can come with me and we can collectively avoid her wrath, or you can go on up and run interference for me?”

“You go. Just tell me which apartment and I’ll introduce myself.”

“You can’t miss it. It’s the penthouse.”

When he kissed her goodbye that time, she just smiled after him. His excitement had always been infectious, and to see that certain things about him hadn’t changed a bit was more a comfort than a worry. Perhaps the casual kiss was really just his way of showing she fit in his life regardless of their relative level of intimacy.

The elevator opened a few moments later into an airy foyer with a bright skylight. Another set of closed double doors were before her. She rang the bell.

A lilting laugh greeted her through the opening door, followed by a teasing voice, “Did you forget your key, love? Oh!”

The young woman couldn’t have been any older than Thea. She was petite, with striking golden eyes almost too big for her face. Haphazard tendrils of blond hair fell around her bare, tan shoulders, mingling with the artfully crinkled silk of a sheer summer dress. The dress itself was cinched high, just beneath the girl’s small breasts, and the skirt just brushed the tops of her thighs.

Thea stammered a greeting, suddenly self-conscious about her own darker appearance in the presence of this golden beauty. She had almost forgotten the undenied suggestion that Dimitri had a new lover. Somehow she’d developed the impression that today was merely about meeting her new employers. It had never occurred to her that they might be one and the same.

Or two, come to that.

A wave of dizziness came over her when a much larger, male figure came into view. He could have been the woman’s twin, with his identical golden eyes and mane of thick, almost unkempt hair. She caught herself staring between the pair, with an odd sense of puzzle pieces clicking into place.

He greeted her warmly, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then dashed toward the elevator with a sense of purpose as though propelled by some unspoken command. Thea was left with the oddest impression of being blessed by the sun. Her cheek tingled from the warmth of his lips and the soft brush of his golden goatee. Her heart raced as she watched him go. She only had a moment to recover before the pretty blonde woman pulled her into a fierce embrace. For the first time in more than a year she entirely forgot what it meant to grieve.

***

Aurik’s heart pounded so fast he felt a little lightheaded on the way down the lift to catch up with Dimitri. The image of the petite, dark, and strikingly beautiful Thea had seared itself onto his eyelids. This was the lover Dimitri had told them so much about. The woman who had been Dimitri and his brother’s balance—their fulcrum—the same as Dimitri had become for Aurik and his sister.

Aurik had known about Thea for months, including many of the details of her relationship with Dimitri and Alex, even some more intimate details. He felt like he knew her as well as Dimitri did, but it had always been in an abstract way, like how he now knew about many of humanity’s most popular celebrities. He hadn’t expected to be so affected by her—or by any woman, for that matter. Only Dimitri had ever truly made him feel that way. Not even the women he’d known prior to hibernation came close, though there were a handful he may have claimed to love in some fashion.

He’d only had a moment to greet Thea. Just long enough to catch her sweet jasmine aroma and the underlying lush, fertile scent of her sex that lingered in his nostrils now.

He cursed himself for not taking a few seconds longer to test whether he was imagining things or not. The softness of her cheek beneath his lips had left tingling warmth behind. Her beautiful, dark-fringed eyes had widened in surprise followed by instant understanding. How much had Dimitri told
her
about Aurik and his sister? Not much, he would wager, but Thea was likely intelligent enough to work out most of the details.

Dimitri had just started the engine when Aurik caught up and slid quickly into the passenger’s seat. He shrugged at Dimitri’s raised eyebrow. “Aurin was worried you’d get lost and forget where you lived.” Aurik turned his gaze forward again, afraid that if he met Dimitri’s eyes, he would see the conflict that had risen inside him.

“Did you meet her?” Dimitri asked, steering his way around the narrow streets.

“She seems lovely,” Aurik said, hoping his tone didn’t carry anything telling along with it.
So lovely I may be hard pressed not to have her for dinner.
The thought emerged unbidden and he clenched his eyes shut to suppress it, but his mind chose that moment to display an image of Thea naked and spread open beneath him, her delicious scent inundating him, her milky skin supple and silken under his touch, her breathy moans music to his ears.

“I can see that…” Dimitri said. He glanced at Aurik’s lap, then chuckled. “I had a feeling you would like her.”

Aurik snapped back to reality, realizing belatedly that the front of his trousers seemed painfully snug, and for good reason. He grimaced and attempted to readjust himself.

“I can’t even bring myself to be jealous,” Dimitri said. “Do you suppose Aurin likes her as much?”

Aurik sent a mental thread to his sister but only felt a slightly playful push back. He kept trying.

“Aurin and I are usually of like minds, this is likely no different.”

“I should remind you both that she is here for work. And Thea is pretty single minded when it comes to her work, too. Alex and I used to have to take drastic measures to pull her away sometimes.”

“You’ll have to remind Aurin when we get back. She’s shut me out. Something about
girl talk
, she says.”

“Girl talk? I think she’s been watching too much television lately.”

“I’m sure it’s more than that. She’s up to something.”

Breath of Desire: Chapter 4

T
hea wandered through the large, open, loft-style apartment, marveling at the decor and the view. It was situated to take maximum advantage of the sunlight throughout the day, with a multitude of skylights and high windows. She paused in front of one east-facing window while she absently fielded question after eager question from Aurin. The view of the city beyond rivaled the view from her hotel balcony. Finally she had a question of her own, having had just enough wine to gain the courage to ask it.

“Dimitri lives here, doesn’t he?” She turned and wandered back to the bar counter and perched on a stool to watch Aurin cook.

The pretty blonde smiled suggestively and popped a fresh piece of mango in her mouth before setting a plate of succulent slices in front of Thea.

“Yes. You know what it’s like living with him, I’m sure.”

There was something purely sensuous about the young woman that Thea would have considered blatant if it hadn’t been for how comfortably Aurin carried herself. Aurin’s brother, Aurik, had given a similar impression. His golden eyes had taken Thea in with an oddly penetrating intensity before he left to catch up with Dimitri. The juxtaposition of the two in that brief whirlwind of a moment had made Thea just a little dizzy, and the impression still lingered of being on the verge of the kind of experience so rare few people could claim it.

Twins,
Thea kept repeating to herself, marveling at the serendipitous nature of this trip. Where the hell had Dimitri found these two? She was curious beyond reason to see the three of them together. She didn’t want to assume he was with them both, but somehow she absolutely
wanted
that to be the case. It would have been a kind of validation to learn he’d given in to a need so similar to her own. So much so that she didn’t even feel a scrap of envy that he had found something so amazing in her absence.

“I do know, very well. I practically lived with
two
of him.” She smiled conspiratorially. God, it was liberating to be able to share even that small detail about her relationship with Dimitri and Alex. One she had been compelled to keep secret while it had existed, but she threw caution to the wind and divulged that small detail to Aurin, believing—hoping—that her new friend already knew at least that much.

Aurin raised an eyebrow as she refilled Thea’s wine glass. She leaned her elbows on the counter. “Two Dimitris might be too many. Better to have to share him, I think. Or I might overdose.” She took a sip of her own wine. “But I would die happy.” She grinned, the bright glow of her smile infusing Thea with warmth.

Thea laughed in response. “They were never too much for me. He and his brother were different in just the right ways.” She speared a chunk of mango with a small fork and savored the slick, sweet juiciness while she pondered those particular differences in more detail than she had in ages. How she’d missed that part of their relationship sometimes above all else. She’d avoided sex at all costs since Dimitri had left, knowing in her heart that nothing could ever compare to the two brothers.

“You want to know what I like most?” Aurin asked, moving around the long, polished granite of the kitchen island. She stopped next to Thea and leaned casually against the counter. “It’s how slow he starts. Like he’s…hmm…savoring every moment. When we met it was like that. A touch…”

Thea sat still as Aurin ran a fingertip lightly along Thea’s jaw, across her lower lip, and back, following along the curved outline of her upper lip. The touch left Thea’s mouth tingling and she involuntarily licked her lips, tasting a remnant of the mango juice.

“Yes, he always did take his time,” Thea said, her words coming out as only a whisper. Her chest seemed too full of anticipation, her heart beating wildly. She swallowed hard, watching Aurin’s head tilt and the pretty blonde’s odd eyes drift lower.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been touched quite like he did. So slow. So perfect.”

Thea was enthralled by Aurin’s rapt expression, the way her gaze fixed on Thea’s chest. Thea didn’t look down, but her breathing quickened when she felt the gentle tug of Aurin’s fingertips at the top button of her dress. It must be the wine going to her head, a subtle euphoria that grew more pronounced with each second. It couldn’t be Aurin’s touch, though the light caress down the center of Thea’s sternum made her inhale sharply. More buttons popped open. The built-in support the dress provided disappeared, her heavy breasts released, their weight pushing the sides of her dress further apart.

She could almost see herself in Aurin’s eyes. Her pleased half-smile, the lovely tilt of her head, the gaze tracing over every inch of her skin reminded her of how
her
twins had looked at her.

With a small, delicate palm, Aurin cupped one of Thea’s breasts, the touch so gentle, deliberate, and so slow Thea almost believed she was dreaming.

“He touched me like this at first,” Aurin said, finally raising her gaze. Their eyes met at the same instant Aurin’s thumb brushed over Thea’s taut nipple. The startling rush of sensation made Thea gasp out loud.

Her gasp turned into a muffled moan against Aurin’s lips when she shifted closer and pressed her mouth against Thea’s. The sweet taste of mangoes hit Thea’s tongue, mingling with the fresh scent of citrus. Her mind reeled at the newness of Aurin’s touch. It had been so long since she’d been touched so intimately. Dimitri had been the last, so long ago, during an encounter she later wished she could forget. He hadn’t been his deliberate, gentle self. He’d been angry, hurt, and full of so much despair. They had hurt each other that night—both physically and emotionally.

Aurin’s touch reminded Thea what tenderness felt like, and how much she had missed it. The novelty of kissing another woman barely registered aside from a glimmer of curiosity that rose in Thea with each new caress of Aurin’s hands on her body.

Thea’s dress spread farther apart, her breasts fully exposed to Aurin’s gentle cupping and squeezing. Thea hazarded a reciprocal touch, placing her hands on Aurin’s shoulders. She threaded fingers into the silken gold strands at the back of Aurin’s neck, and pulled her into a deeper kiss. Aurin responded eagerly, a light moan vibrating from her throat, so resonant it almost sounded inhuman.

Thea’s palms tingled with each incremental pass over Aurin’s warm, silky skin. Thea pushed the thin straps of Aurin’s dress off her shoulders, exposing small breasts with a luminous and pale tan, so perfect they seemed to shimmer as if gilded. She pressed her palm against one erect nipple, then flattened her hand, letting the hard nub rub in a circle against the center of her palm. Some foreign urge overtook her, and she tugged harder at Aurin’s dress. Thea needed to see Aurin entirely naked, to see what Dimitri saw, to find a sense of communion with her old lover in her experience of this woman. The need to share this kind of abstract intimacy with Dimitri overwhelmed Thea. What would he have done?

The question propelled Thea into action, and she urged Aurin back a step so she could stand. Thea felt awash in a glow of certainty mixed with desire as she let her gaze trail down over Aurin’s lithe body. Aurin’s dress draped precariously off her round hips. With one light tug, Thea sent it billowing to the floor. The lack of any undergarments excited her and made her wish she’d been so confident in herself. She also wished she’d had even a scrap of forethought to shave or get waxed before coming, aside from the basic necessity of her legs and the most cursory trim between her thighs.

Aurin’s bare pussy glistened with wetness already. The instinct to touch drove Thea on. Dimitri would have touched lightly, so that’s what she did. He would have taken her nipple in his mouth, so she bent and lightly sucked Aurin’s in between her lips, relishing the young woman’s quiver of ecstasy as she rolled her tongue against the hard nub. The rest came naturally. She sucked a little harder, switched sides, sucked again. With a slight nudge from Thea, Aurin moved to sit on the nearby barstool.

Thea’s sight seemed to narrow, her entire world seeming nearly lost in the pair of golden eyes that watched her as she lowered to her haunches between Aurin’s spread thighs.

The shock of noise that interrupted their heavy breathing when the front door opened only barely penetrated her rapt focus she had for the dewy pink folds that beckoned before her.

***

The familiar, pungent aroma of sex hit Aurik’s nose before he opened the door to the apartment. He paused, inhaling deeply, then handed Dimitri the bag of groceries he carried.

“What is it?” Dimitri asked.

Aurik was too buzzed from the scent of Thea’s arousal to answer. It presented itself as a steady flow of magic in the air around him, that familiar, invisible web he’d tried and failed to explain to Dimitri. The energy seemed drawn to a sexually primed human as to a magnet, sucked in during sex, then released again at the moment of climax.

The magic seemed even denser the closer he got to Thea’s scent. Even through the door it nearly overwhelmed him, mingling slightly with his sister’s familiar scent, so like his own he rarely even registered it. But Thea’s was bold, earthy, and potent. A tentative whiff of Dimitri’s arousal emerged and Aurik turned his head in response.

Dimitri’s eyes were wide. “Dude, you’re hard again. You know what it does to me when I see you like this, right? It was all I could do not to pull the car over a little while ago and suck you off.”

“It’s her. Why didn’t you tell me she had so much pull? Sweet Mother, she’s even more potent than you.”

Dimitri blinked at him. “Who, Thea? I told you she was irresistible. I didn’t expect her to affect you this way, though.”

“It never occurred to me before. There was a reason she was able to keep a pair of twins sated. Humans that open to the magic are rare.” In truth, Dimitri was the first Aurik had encountered who had such a strong pull, and he had believed Dimitri was unique. To have two at once would be a magical feast beyond Aurik’s dreams. More than that, he believed she might be the answer to his worries. Once he was gone, she could easily fill the void in his absence.

The dizzying draw of the magic flowed around him as he stepped through the door, Dimitri close on his heels. When they rounded the wall that separated the entry from the living space, Dimitri let out a low curse. They both paused to watch, the bags of groceries forgotten on the floor at Dimitri’s feet.

Aurin rested on a bar stool, entirely naked, chest arched forward and head tilted back in ecstasy. Thea’s dark, short-cropped head was between Aurin’s thighs and one hand covered her breast, thumb and forefinger teasing at her nipple. A brief impression of Aurin’s pleasure hit Aurik when she opened her eyes and smiled smugly.

Thea was only naked to the waist, but her dress had ridden up to display the twin creamy arcs of her ass framed by pale lace. Even without a touch, her arousal was so intense Aurik could almost taste her from where he stood. He craved the surge of magic he was sure would be present if he
were
touching her.

Suddenly, Dimitri’s face obscured Aurik’s view, his lover’s own need a harmonious addition to the web of magic that surrounded Thea. Dimitri’s blue eyes were bright with lust and excitement, his kiss urgent, though a little clumsy and rushed. Aurik quickly came back to himself, responding to Dimitri’s kiss and the tug of his fingers on Aurik’s clothes. They made quick work of each other’s clothes, their kisses deepening and the sweet warmth of Dimitri’s cock brushing against Aurik’s hip arousing him further and reminding him there were two very potent attractors to the magic that sustained him, and he meant to have them both at once.

“Go to her,” he whispered to Dimitri, who kept glancing back at Aurin between caresses and kisses.

His lover went, and Aurin’s eyes brightened at his approach. Aurik watched and waited, holding his hard cock loosely in his hand, stroking it in time with the light tilts of Thea’s head between his sister’s thighs. Aurin seemed content to receive the pleasure without responding in kind, and eagerly accepted Dimitri’s kiss when he reached her. Dimitri bent to tease Aurin’s nipple with his tongue, gently grasping Thea’s hand and clasping it atop Aurin’s thigh.

Thea seemed to shudder slightly at the touch, her shoulders rising and falling, but she didn’t halt her rhythm.

Dimitri whispered something in Aurin’s ear, the breath of words too faint for Aurik’s keen hearing to pick up. To his amazement, Aurin nodded and urged Thea to stop.

Thea’s flushed profile came into view when she turned her head to look at Aurik. Her lips glistened with Aurin’s juices and she darted out a pink tongue. Her eyelids fluttered as though the flavor had her mesmerized. The sight caused a burning craving inside Aurik for Thea’s flavor on his own lips.

He moved as though pulled by her gaze, every movement of his body seeming to register by the shift of her eyes from his head to his toes. Then another graze of her tongue over her lips when her avid glances rested briefly on his erection before moving back to meet his eyes.

She smiled and looked up at him when he reached her, but didn’t rise, so he lowered himself to her level, resting on his knees just behind her.

The magic vibrated in the air around her. Aurik raised a hand and tentatively brushed it down the curve of her spine, enjoying the warm tingle of the power that enveloped her like a cloud of static electricity. She turned back to Aurin, let out a soft sigh, and bent to her previous task again, but this time she reached one hand behind her to brush it along his bare thigh.

Wordlessly he urged her to stand, shifting back slightly to make room. She released her mouth from Aurin’s pussy just long enough to rise up, then bend at the hips. Dimitri had spoken of her eager willingness to accommodate her lovers, but her reactions were akin to mindreading. She glanced over her shoulder again and spread her legs slightly. Aurik tugged her dress and panties over her hips, enjoying the silken fire of her skin beneath his palms as he slid the garments down over her naked thighs.

He realized abstractly that he hadn’t touched a woman this way in centuries, and never one so vibrant and alive with energy. The dark fringe of curls perfectly framed her glistening pink folds. With both hands he cupped the full, round swell of her ass cheeks, grazing his thumbs between along the edge of her rosy puckered opening in the center and along the juncture of her thighs. Aromatic moisture had gathered and felt slick beneath his thumbs. He teased her delicate folds apart, enjoying the slight clench and opening of her before his eyes and the stronger surge of magic that coalesced around her in response to
her rising pleasure.