The Lion's Shared Bride (11 page)

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Nina came back to herself gradually, becoming aware of two pairs of arms draped around her, two pairs of lips trailing over her body. She tingled all over, aftershocks of pleasure dancing up and down along every nerve ending. “I will hand it to you,” she said, still panting slightly. “I think you’re both pretty much the most talented oral sex practitioners I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with.”

Aedan chuckled.

“Told you, love: either of us could go down on you for hours and love life.”

Nina opened her eyes, turning her head to look at him. She could feel the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her.

“It’s not entirely fair that you’re getting left out,” she said, reaching down tentatively to touch him. On the other side of her body, she felt Soren shift, his arm tightening around her.

“We don’t want anyone left out,” Soren said.

Nina nodded, glancing at him for just a moment before turning her attention fully onto Aedan. She wondered, as she wrapped her hand around his thick, hard cock, just how it was that they’d managed to manipulate her so readily into forgiving all of her misgivings about their proposal, about their true nature.
“Wouldn’t you say there’s been enough lying between the three of us for at least a week?”
Nina shivered.

“Your hands are lovely,” Aedan murmured, kissing her hungrily. “But I can think of something I want much, much more.” Nina gasped as his fingers brushed against her slick labia, caressing her lightly. “Have I earned that privilege, little love?”

Nina shivered, her hips pushing down instinctively, her body immediately heating up once more with arousal. She nodded, too dazed to speak.

“You should let her be on top this time,” Soren suggested. “That way we can both enjoy the view.” Nina made a half-protesting sound as two pairs of hands lifted her up off of the bed, one falling away as Aedan brought her up, pulling her on top of him. She straddled his hips, able to feel the heat and hardness of his cock against her drenched folds.

“Ah, now that is a pretty picture,” Aedan said, his eyes darkening with lust as he looked up at her. “Easy to see why you’re the man in charge, Soren, with ideas like that.”

Nina felt Soren move behind her, felt his hands trailing over her body, his lips brushing against the back of her neck as she balanced, settling her weight on her knees. One of Aedan’s hands gripped her hip, the other slipping down between their bodies, and Nina moaned as she felt him guiding his cock up against her, rubbing the tip along her folds, pressing it against her clit and rubbing slowly.

He thrust into her, pushing down on her hips at the same time, and Nina gasped as Aedan filled her up in one fast, sharp movement, pushing past the initial resistance of her body. She sank down onto his cock, her head falling back, her eyes closing at the heat and hardness of him pushing deep and deeper inside of her. “Jesus,” she murmured, holding herself absolutely still for just a moment. Soren’s hands played over her, teasing her nipples, cupping her breasts, as his lips trailed over her neck and shoulders from behind.

“He’s not wrong, you know,” Soren murmured in her ear. “You are the most gorgeous woman any man could ever have as a mate.” He nipped sharply at the base of her neck and Nina cried out softly, tensing for a moment before the muscles in her body went lax in a kind of automatic reaction. “Show him how good a job he did getting you off, Nina.” Soren’s low voice was almost a purr in her ear; she felt his fingers digging into her soft flesh, felt his hot breath tickling against her skin.

“Yes,” Aedan said, staring up at her with undisguised lust in his dark eyes. His hand tightened on her hip; he pushed up just a fraction of an inch deeper inside of her and Nina moaned out, her muscles tightening around him convulsively. “Show me, little love.”

Nina licked her lips, taking a deep breath as she lifted herself off of Aedan’s thick length slowly. She closed her eyes, lost in a wash of sensations: two pairs of hands touching her, Soren’s hot breath caressing her skin, Aedan’s heat and hardness teasing her in the instant before she sank down onto him once more, rocking her hips. He began to move in counterpoint underneath her, pushing up to meet her descent, his hard cock rubbing along her inner walls. Nina panted, reeling and struggling to keep her balance as her body slipped and dragged between the two men, her pleasure mounting moment by moment.

Aedan picked up his pace gradually, and Nina fell into his rhythm, reaching out blindly to grab at his shoulders, at Soren behind her, fighting for balance as her legs became increasingly unreal beneath her. She could feel Soren’s erection stirring, hardening, pressing against her back as she moved, faster and faster, rising and falling on Aedan’s cock, moaning louder as he brushed up against some secretive pleasure center deep inside of her body. Hands moved everywhere, touching and teasing, caressing and kneading, and Nina felt all capacity for thought dissolving in the white-hot pleasure that burned everything else away, even the concern of what she would do about Soren after she had finished with Aedan.

She cried out as she felt Aedan’s fingers brush against her clit, touching her lightly at first and then stroking her steadily in time with his thrusts. Sweat beaded up and slithered down her body from the radiant heat from both men, the friction between their three bodies building up a static charge she couldn’t resist even if she had wanted to. Nina held herself back, dimly remembering that the goal was Aedan’s pleasure, that he was the only one who hadn’t gotten off before.

Somehow, Aedan was sitting up, his cock shifting inside of her, rubbing deep along her inner walls with the change of position as he continued to move, faster and harder. He kissed her hungrily, one hand locked onto her hip, the other working away at her. “Come for me, little love,” he murmured against her lips. “Let me feel you coming, let me know you’re loving this as much as I am.” Nina whimpered, shaking her head, confused and dazed, nearly consumed by the pleasure that crackled along her nerve endings. “I can’t come until you do, little love,” Aedan told her, his voice low, a growling purr that made it impossible for her to resist.

Nina cried out, arching and twisting, as wave after wave of pleasure rushed through her body, leaving her reeling as she somehow continued to move, pressed between Aedan and Soren, sandwiched between their bodies. She was only barely aware of the feeling of Aedan’s cock twitching inside of her, of the hot, sticky-slick liquid slap as he groaned, his face pressed into her breasts, his body shaking slightly as he reached his own orgasm just a few instants after her. She tumbled down into darkness, moving until her body could no longer support her, moaning and so thoroughly filled with pleasure that nothing seemed to matter at all anymore.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Soren sprawled gracelessly over his bed, staring up at the ceiling as his breathing slowed. Ever since Nina had started to show some signs of coming around to the fact of him and Aedan being were-lions, they had re-initiated the strategy of winning her over completely by means of keeping her fed, keeping her wine glass full, and making sure that Nina had as much pleasure as her body could stand. She was with Aedan now; the other man had collected her from his arms only moments before, intent on carrying her into the kitchen for a meal.

Technically, it was Monday; the time period specified in their contract had ended. But as they had sat around the table the night before, Soren had made it clear to Nina that it was in her best interests to remain at the house until the situation with the Pride was settled. His motivations were twofold; Soren did have a legitimate fear that one of the members of his Pride, acting under orders from his rival, would attack Nina—if they had caught her scent and realized what it represented, and if they could find her quickly. He also wanted to give her more time to consider the proposal he and Aedan had made. There was no mistaking the feeling that he had—that he was sure Aedan shared; whether or not Nina had accepted it, she had to be their mate. The scent of her, especially mingled with the scent-marks from Aedan and himself, was impossible for him to give up. He wouldn’t go so far as to actively hold her hostage or force her to accept being the shared mate of two were-lions, but almost anything up to that was almost acceptable in his mind.

Soren tilted his head back against the pillows, closing his eyes. In spite of the fact that for most of the past twenty-four hours, either he or Aedan had been with Nina, touching her, teasing her, bringing her to one orgasm after another or just giving her increasingly potent affection, he could still feel a low thrumming of desire along his bones, the itch to find where she was and snatch her up, carry her to bed once more. But he needed some time to himself to consider the problems he was facing.

In a few short days, he would be facing a challenge from Alex. Walking around his yard in the early morning hours while Nina slept, Soren had caught scent of one of the junior members of his Pride; Elise, one of those he had seen ranged with the renegades who supported Alex, had apparently come through—doubtless scouting, sniffing the terrain, trying to discover what the Alpha was up to. It was unusual for Soren to be incommunicado for a full weekend—and if he hadn’t had Nina’s persuasion to manage, he probably would have confronted the members of his Pride who were against him now the day before. As it was, he had started damage control; he had sent out text messages to the members of his Pride who he was fairly confident were still on his side, informing them of Anna’s murder, and of the strong possibility that he would have a mate to present to them, for both himself and Aedan.

The responses had been cautious; Soren’s mind pictured wary lions slinking through high grass, scenting the air to see if there was a weakness in their leader’s pheromones. An inter-Pride war was something everyone wanted to avoid, and blood ties were so complexly interwoven in his Pride that Soren didn’t doubt that every one of his supporters had a family member—even a close one—in the opposing camp. By pointing to Anna’s murder, informing them of the brazen nature of it, he was making a statement; not only was he going to face Alex’s challenge, but there would be justice for those involved. Though they might support Soren simply because he was the Alpha of the Pride, they were worried as to what punishments he might see fit to hand out.

And well they should be
, Soren thought bitterly. There were some of the people on Alex’s side who would be driven out of the Pride entirely—men and women both. They would have to wander until they found another Pride to accept them; some of them were single males, which would put them in the quandary that Aedan had dealt with for so long. The single females, and the mated pairs, wouldn’t have as difficult a time, but they would know that Soren was on good terms with most of the Prides in the country—they would have to tread carefully. It would not be a comfortable existence for them. Others, on the periphery of the mutiny, would merely be barred from several future hunts, forced to stay behind while their friends and family indulged in their animal natures on the carefully set-aside and maintained preserve.

That opened up another issue in Soren’s mind. He would have to present Nina to the Pride on the eve of the hunt, before Alex formally issued his challenge. Somehow, he and Aedan would have to contrive to get her to the preserve, to present her to the rest of the lions, and extricate her before the hunt itself started. There was time enough for her to witness the brutality of lion hunts once she had become more accustomed. He didn’t doubt for a moment that exposing her to the reality of how they behaved in that form, amongst themselves, hunting prey, would quickly change her mind about accepting himself and Aedan as mates. He wouldn’t blame her; the part of him that remained human, buried deep in the animal consciousness of his lion form, occasionally felt revolted at the expediency of hunting. But he could no more fail to indulge that need than he could cease to eat when he was hungry, or drink when he was thirsty.

Soren stretched, twisting and turning his body against the sheets in a limber sprawl before he sat up. Whatever was currently happening between Aedan and Nina—whatever they were doing at the moment—was of secondary importance to the issues at hand. He plucked his phone from the bedside table and checked his text messages; there was one from Jonathan, one of the members of the Pride from his father’s time as Alpha, who had accepted Soren’s leadership readily.
If Alex has murdered a member of the Pride, he does not deserve the title of Alpha. You have my support.
It was one of the most straightforward declarations that Soren had yet received, and for a moment he smiled. Jonathan couldn’t fight the battle for him, but if it became an all-out war of factions, he could at least count on the older lion to back him against the mutineers.

It may come to that
, Soren thought; particularly if he could not bring Nina to the hunt as his and Aedan’s mate. The challenge from Alex was no longer the sole issue. Even if he put Alex down, even if he not only defeated the rebel but killed him outright—something that Soren did not want to do, but which may be necessary, particularly with the death of Anna at the other lion’s hands—one of the cadre that he had managed to get on his side might rise up against Soren next. And he would be forced to kill amongst his own people until they either admitted defeat or he was killed.

He slipped on a pair of loose, comfortable pajama pants before leaving his bedroom. Soren followed the scent of his shared mate and the man he was sharing her with through the hall from Aedan’s room, past the living room, and into the kitchen. He smirked to himself at the sight of them; Aedan had, once again, talked Nina out of her clothes. She straddled his lap, arms wrapped around his shoulders, head buried against his neck. The scent of their lovemaking filled the air, leaving no doubt at all that Aedan had just gotten her off again, that she was in that hazy afterglow of pleasure that came from multiple orgasms in a short span of time.
Perfect,
he thought, no longer even envying the other man his ability to please the woman he loved.
She’ll be in exactly the right state of mind to listen without arguing.

“If you don’t drink some Gatorade or something, you’ll both start getting cramps,” Soren said, moving to the fridge. Aedan opened his eyes, glancing at Soren with a little grin.

“Be a chum and bring it here then,” Aedan said. “I don’t think Nina’s legs will carry her that far, and I dare not disturb her.” Nina’s head lifted and she looked up, her dark eyes hazy with lingering desire—a look that made Soren want to take her all over again. She smiled dreamily, bringing up one hand to sweep her disheveled hair away from her face.

“If you two don’t stop fucking me constantly, we’re all going to have chafing issues,” she said airily, shifting on Aedan’s lap. Aedan let out a low growl, closing his eyes for a moment and Soren knew the other man was still buried deep inside of Nina’s body, that the movement had reawakened the arousal that was always simmering in any Alpha lion’s veins.

Soren reached into the fridge and retrieved three bottles of Gatorade: lemon-lime, cool blue, and riptide rush. He sauntered towards the table, showing the other two the options before them, and allowed them the first pick; as he expected, Aedan murmured for Nina to take the one she wanted first. “If you can let her up,” Soren said, smiling to himself as Nina grabbed for the riptide rush, cracking the seal and taking a long drink, “we can have a chat about the state of current affairs. I wouldn’t bother you but I think Nina would rather have her brain in regular functioning order while she’s trying to make decisions.”

Aedan chuckled, reaching out and taking the lemon-lime Gatorade.

Unsteadily, Nina lifted herself off of Aedan’s lap, turning her head and finding one of the empty chairs. She walked with legs that Soren was sure felt like jelly underneath her, sinking down into her seat with a satisfied sigh. Soren cracked the cap on the cool blue flavored Gatorade and took a long sip, glancing from his mate to the man he shared her with.

“So tell us about current affairs,” Aedan said, sitting back. Soren watched as the other man brought his arousal under control by force of will, shifting his chair so that his erection was not quite so visible. Nina’s eyes were regaining the lucid, slightly tense quality he associated with her attentiveness—she was coming out of the afterglow, but Soren thought there was probably enough pleasure zinging through her body that she couldn’t fully shake it even if she wanted to.

“It’s Monday,” Soren started. He glanced at Nina. “Did you have work today? And did you remember to call in if you did?” He realized he had only the slightest knowledge of her life outside of their situation.

Nina laughed.

“I sent an email by phone sometime in the morning when it was still dark, saying I’d spent the night in the bathroom and would be far too exhausted to be of any use at work today,” she said. Her dark eyes glinted with mischief. “Part of it was true.”

Aedan snorted and Soren felt himself grinning.

“So your life hasn’t totally fallen to shambles; good.” Soren took a deep breath and another sip of his drink, hesitating at the enormity of the question before them. “I suppose you know what time it is, then.”

“Well, when you say it like that,” Aedan said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like she can leave now anyhow, is it?”

“Well, no, now that you mention it, she wouldn’t be able to leave until after the hunt at the very least.” Soren glanced at Aedan, thinking of the truth of the matter; whether or not she chose to be their mate, to be shared by them, the fact that she knew about their true nature meant that they couldn’t let her leave at all. The risk was too high.
Although who would she really go to with the story? It’s not like anyone would believe her. One person claiming that there are people who transform into lions is going to be thrown into the loony bin.
But the rules were the rules; any human who knew about were-people had to either be eliminated or taken into the group—whether it was a group of were-bears, or a pack, or a Pride. Soren couldn’t stand the idea of Nina being eliminated—and he doubted that Aedan could either.

He looked at Nina. She was deliberating carefully, not looking at either man, her attention visibly riveted on the label of her drink. Soren watched her swallow and instinctively sniffed at the air; there was anxiety in her pheromones, but not the kind of deep fear he would associate with her deciding that she wanted to leave them.
There is hope then
, he thought.

“I think,” Nina said slowly, worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth, “that I am… mostly okay with being shared.” She looked up from her bottle, stealing furtive glances—prey glances—at Aedan and Soren. “And I think I’ve mostly come to consider the whole… were-lion… thing as real. And not—you know—something out of a bizarre horror flick.”

Aedan chuckled.

“So then you’ll agree to be our mate?”

Nina chewed on her bottom lip for a moment longer and Soren smelled the intensification of her anxiety pheromones. She was worried; and well she should be, he thought.

“You’ll let me work or not work, as I like?” she asked, glancing from Soren to Aedan.

Soren nodded.

“Absolutely,” he said.

“And you’re not going to, like… try and make me some kind of sex slave.” It wasn’t quite a question.

Aedan laughed.

“Love, it would be hard for us to get it up if your pheromones were full of revulsion. We’re tuned into you now; if you’re not into it, we’ll know, and that’s just not hot for either of us.”

Nina smiled slightly. Soren watched her take a deep breath.

“But you will expect me to have children; that’s not negotiable.”

Soren shook his head.

“If you don’t want to raise them, we can work something out, but you definitely have to bear us each at least one child.”

Nina looked down at her hands once more. She was clearly weighing the benefits and the costs of what she was about to decide on; her lips pressed together, her brow furrowed. She finally looked up from her drink and took a large gulp of the beverage, setting it down once more.

“Then yes, I’ll be your mate. For both of you.” She frowned sharply. “You know, the English language really needs a way to indicate ‘your’ in the plural.”