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  Neela didn’t want to share either of them. Today they were hers. “I’ll take the antidote before I leave. First, I want to know everything.”

  Neela dropped a hand on his bare chest. It trembled slightly as though she weren’t sure of her decision, or was second-guessing it. She didn’t have doubts.

  Thrax slid his large hands down her arms to her wrist without breaking eye contact. He seemed to be waiting for her to change her mind. A surge of gratitude tightened her chest with emotion. She’d never questioned her bravery. She’d always looked passed her fear, but her body wasn’t familiar to her at the moment. It wasn’t behaving the way it had always done. Looking into Thrax’s clear green eyes gave her the anchor she needed.

  She’d trust him. And she’d trust Tarrel.

  “Take her waist,” Thrax told Tarrel.

  Tarrel’s fingers clasped her loosely. He moved in close behind. The heat from his body was as much a support as his hands were. She wondered if he knew that she needed him there, as close as possible, in order to trust herself.

  Tarrel’s chest brushed her back, and her shoulders relaxed. Nothing in the way he stood felt like he was on guard, which eased her conscience further. Thrax lifted her wrists and clasped them behind Tarrel’s neck. She sank her fingers into his short hair and rested against him as Thrax’s regard drifted over her exposed body.

  She affected the king. His eyes had dilated and Thrax’s lips had parted as though breathing through his nose was no longer sufficient. She shifted, watching him watch her. When she opened her legs, his breath rasped heavily. Not quite a sigh, or a gasp, or a grunt, but all three conjoined in a timeless utterance of hunger.

  The king untied his draping, and the cloth fell away. Neela bit the inside of her cheek. Where Tarrel’s cock had been generous in length, Thrax’s was full and smooth as it filled.

  He reached for the deep vee of her covering and roughly ripped it down the center. She gasped, but held to Tarrel. In this position, her breasts pushed up and out. Tarrel groaned and leaned in to nibble her ear. She turned her head to the side, feeling every pull of his lips track answering tugs in her pussy.

  Thrax took one of Tarrel’s hands and pushed it under Neela’s breast. He tapped the tip of his own finger on her nipple, jolting her with sensation she didn’t know how to categorize. Thrax leaned down and claimed her lips with a savage kiss.

  She arched to reach him, wanting to hold him closer, but enjoying the position Thrax had put her in, as it heightened her urgency to do more, have more, yet denied her the pleasure of taking it.

  Thrax plundered her mouth, suckling her tongue and lips with the gentle edge of his teeth. It left her gasping and wet, and he seemed to know exactly how kissing him had affected her.

  Already aroused from the hands-on bath, the subsiding ache began its dull, pounding return. She heard herself whimper almost as though it were some other pathetic woman, not a battle-wise warrior.

  But the hidden world of her mind was no longer her own. By choice, she’d made it available for sharing. Perhaps she’d think it a mistake when she came back to herself, but at the moment, her own soft sighs and eager sounds were a revelation of desire. She craved the invasion of these men upon her body.

  “Touch me,” she pleaded.

  Her body ached for hands to move on her. Yet Tarrel hadn’t changed his position, and Thrax’s rough kiss had grown soft, plying her lips and wakening secret tender parts of her body and mind she didn’t know she had.

  Neela tried to curl her leg around Thrax’s waist to encourage him closer, but he held his ground. She wanted to feel the hot prod of his cock against her folds, feel his hands clasp her breasts. Why wouldn’t he begin?

  “This is madness,” she rasped. “Why don’t you touch me?”

  Thrax’s low chuckle spilled across her ear as he kissed the shell. “And rush your experience? I think not. Delaying the inevitable heightens your pleasure, my love. I must insist that you never forget what happens between us here.”

  “I won’t forget. How could I?”

  “I’ll see to it all the same,” he murmured.

  His hot breath sent shivers over her body. Her nipples tightened almost painfully. The dull throb between her legs became a building sting as need filled her pussy and found no release. She squeezed her thighs together, but Thrax kicked them apart. “Tell me, little dove. Do Elaran men adequately torment your body before sex?” Thrax asked.

  Had he entered her mind when he said he wouldn’t? She’d been on a similar line of thought just now. “Elarans do what is necessary to reach satisfaction. They do it well and quickly,” she said a bit defensively.

  “As with anything, I’m sure. Elarans are efficient and well trained in every activity.”

  Thrax finally touched her, his hand sliding over her drenched pussy. Her eyes nearly rolled back in her head when his light touch didn’t come close to satisfying what she truly wanted from him.

  “There’s something to be said for clumsy and inefficient,” he teased. “Or so your body would lead me to believe.”

  The king nipped her neck. He moved Tarrel’s free hand to cup her other breast as Thrax bent to flick his tongue over the needy buds.

  “Touch her,” he told Tarrel. “Fondle her. I want her much wetter than she thinks is necessary. Keep your legs open, Neela. Don’t deny me.”

  Thrax stepped back. Neela offered a wordless complaint. Still he backed away, watching almost leisurely as Tarrel’s fingers found her nipples and began to play.

  She cried out. Tarrel lightly bit her shoulder then soothed the bite with the tip of his tongue.

  “Want me,” he whispered for only her to hear.

  “I do,” she rasped back

  His thumb and forefingers caught the tight peaks and pinched rhythmically. He rolled them and plucked, stroked her full, aching breasts. Neela writhed against him, feeling the hard ridge of his erection at the base of her spine.

  She rocked against it, wringing a long grunt from him. Moisture touched her where his cock rubbed and she knew he was as painfully aroused as she was. Neela thought she might explode if Thrax didn’t put them both out of their misery soon. But the king calmly lifted a glass of water.

  “Touch her cunt,” Thrax told him next. “Push your fingers inside her. Hold her pussy lips apart so I don’t miss anything.” He dragged a chair over and sat eyelevel to her apex. He leaned back as though he had all day to watch her beg to come.

  Tarrel reached around her with one hand and parted her pussy. His other hand eased between her legs from behind and two thick fingers speared her trembling channel.

  Her hips rocked automatically. She blushed at the telling sign of her need. Control was a dream that had long fled. The men had grown just as intoxicated with her, it seemed. Thrax wrapped his fist around his shaft and Tarrel’s hips canted forward to push against her. Her need sparked theirs.

  She no longer feared herself, she realized. There was power and strength in feeling everything these men had to offer.

  Her thoughts were stripped from her as Tarrel pumped his fingers. He circled her clit, and Neela’s mind dropped into a swirling pit that spiraled out of control. She clung to Tarrel, giving her body over to his skill. She rocked into each thrust, crying and panting as each sensation took her closer to that precipice she’d been longing for.

  “Come for me,” Thrax growled. “Let go. Give me everything you have, Neela.”

  His words loosened something in her she hadn’t realized she’d been hanging on to. Her body shook, swallowed itself in all-consuming ecstasy as passion swelled and devoured her in wave after wave of erotic bliss. She screamed, her knees gave out, and someone kept her upright until there was nothing but black and her lungs begged for air.

  Dazed, she felt herself lifted and carried. Thick blankets greeted her as her garment slid off her arms, and she was laid out.

  “Wake, sweet Neela. There’s more,” Thrax murmured.

  Chapter Five

>   Tarrel ached with need. He’d already endured more stimulation without relief than he ever had before. The stress was beginning to wear on his nerves, but he’d kept himself together for her. Each new experience for Neela felt like an awakening for himself. He’d taken pleasure in her pleasure. The fact that there would be more discovery made him eager to continue, regardless of his own discomfort.

  Thrax had instructed him to lay Neela across the bed, instead of propped on pillows. Tarrel watched the other man, wondering what came next. This was his game, his moment. Tarrel hadn’t expected to be included. He wasn’t sure he’d have shared if the roles were reversed.

  Neela blinked, tipping her head back to see Tarrel, and smiled. She reached for him, arms over her head. Tarrel looked to Thrax.

  Thrax nodded back. “If she’s ready for more, don’t deny her.” He moved to the side of the bed where her legs stretched. “Are you, Neela?” he asked.

  Her attention left Tarrel to answer Thrax by way of parting her legs to him.

  Thrax easily took her ankles and pressed the wider. “Tarrel, catch her under the shoulders until her head tips off the edge.

  Tarrel didn’t miss the excited flare in her eyes. He did as the king asked. Neela snaked her arms around the backs of his thighs and guided him toward her face.

  “You don’t have to,” he told her. “I’d be happy to see to your pleasure.”

  “Then don’t argue with me,” she countered.

  Neela pressed soft lips to his inner thighs. She encouraged him to stand over her. His balls grazed her nose and lips. She captured them, flicking her tongue to the seam, nuzzling him until they drew tight. The deep ache began again, and if his condition wasn’t cared for soon, he knew he’d have difficulty walking the next day.

  She seemed to understand his long shuddering groan because she shifted to place sucking kisses along the side of his cock. He looked down at himself and his angry reddened shaft. Her perfect lips suckled the top like a child’s candy.

  Wet, hot, teasing, she took him deeper, tickling the slit with her tongue, rimming his cockhead with the edge of her teeth, hard enough to feel without causing him pain. It made him nervous all the same, but the tradeoff scrambled his mind into a haze of lust.

  He looked down the length of her nude body. Her full breasts pressed against her ribcage looked like tempting pillows with crinkled rosy morsels he wanted to feel against his lips. They were just out of reach of his mouth in this position, but every once in a while when the bed shifted, or she arched her neck, they jostled.

  Unable to resist, he covered them with his hands. The buds poked his palms as he swished his hands back and forth across their tips. Her belly hollowed sharply and he knew he’d divided her focus.

  Further down, Thrax crawled onto the bed between her legs. His shoulders kept her thighs apart and he slipped his hands beneath her ass, tilting her pelvis to him like a precious dish. The king’s eyes met his.

  Neela grabbed Tarrel’s ass and tugged him closer still, his cock sliding fully into her mouth and hitting the back of her throat. She hummed her approval, sending riptides of vibration along his cock, and straight up his spine. He’d spill any second if she continued.

  “Slow, Neela,” he gasped. “I don’t want to come yet.”

  The king chuckled, thumbed open her pussy lips and dragged his flattened tongue through her folds. Neela shuddered. Her throat constricted, and Tarrel saw stars streaking through his vision at light-speed.

  Tarrel pulled out of her, allowing her to breathe even though she quickly pulled him back. She let him thrust carefully, and he took his time while he watched her react to Thrax’s attentions.

  Her lower belly tightened and her hips flexed. Thrax looked pleased, then buried his face in her cunt with a satisfied growl of a wolf settling in to dine. Tarrel’s cock flexed. Cum exploded from him and Neela’s nails dug into his ass to keep him in place.

  Tarrel rocked hard, his balls pressed to her nose as he shuddered through his release. It stung painfully, yet shards of cold pleasure laddered his spine. The next time wouldn’t be as rushed.

  He pulled away, but Neela had other plans. She cleaned him off distractedly as Thrax intensified his work on her pussy. Her body undulated and stiffened as she cried out in ecstasy.

  Tarrel stepped back as Thrax crawled up her body. “Shall we allow Tarrel some moments to recover?”

  Neela laughed. “If I can walk.”

  “No need. I’ll carry you in, dove.” Thrax helped her sit. “Tarrel, join us in the baths.”

  Tarrel had his own difficulty walking. His balls still ached and after burying his cock in Neela’s wondrous mouth, he wasn’t sure his legs were stable, either. He followed them, feeling like he’d left more than his essence with the woman in Thrax’s arms.

  Thrax cuddled her close, fearful that the warrior in his arms was more delicate than he’d previously believed. She tucked her face into his shoulder and other than the arms looping his neck, her body rested limply.

  “Are you well?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “You have me at quite a disadvantage,” he admitted to her. “I had hoped there would be a time when you would come to me of your own choice. But this is never how I imagined it would be.”

  She lifted her head. Water dragged against Thrax’s calves and he continued until he stood waist level in the warm pool. Tarrel joined them, helping Thrax bring her to her feet. The pool had been renewed since the previous use and an anchored, floating tray of cleansers bobbed on the surface within reach.

  “How is it different?” she wondered aloud. “I came to you. I’m here willingly. Doesn’t that complete your hope?”

  “Not in the least,” he murmured, catching her curious gaze. “Because the rest of that hope was that in seeking me out, you’d never leave. But I’m obligated to let you go once our time together is ended.”

  Her brows pulled together. “When this,” she said gesturing between them, “is over, I’ll take the antidote. I won’t be as free to express my feelings. It wouldn’t be the same.”

  “I don’t believe that. What’s being shared here is unique to you. I think that having experienced lovemaking with all the trappings of emotion, you’ll have it branded on your memory. Emotions change people. They make us better or worse in the face of our true selves.”

  “Weak,” she added.

  Tarrel gently massaged her shoulders. “Stronger,” he argued without sharpness.

  “Yes,” she agreed, covering one of his hands as she glanced at him over her shoulder. “Weakness which is strength. Such an odd paradox,” she said, returning her gaze to Thrax’s.

  “Well said,” Thrax told her. “What will you do when your full faculties are restored? Will you go home, changed but living the life you arrived with?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She leaned against Tarrel, like she’d done before. The man seemed to offer her strength on a subconscious level. He seemed almost an extension of her. For as much as they’d served together, would she be the same person separated from him?

  “Will you stay?” Thrax asked. “Take the antidote and stay with me?”

  Her expression turned troubled. “It’s not something I’d considered.”

  The possibility that she might filled his chest with hope. He watched Tarrel’s frown deepen. He wouldn’t be eager to let Neela go, even to attach herself to royalty. A kingdom had one king, though. Not two. Thrax didn’t mind sharing Neela with the other man today, perhaps because Tarrel had always been in Neela’s presence, and it seemed as though one did not exist without the other. Their bond was close.

  But could Thrax share her indefinitely? He had no interest in the man for himself. But witnessing their interaction, he knew he wouldn’t fully have Neela without Tarrel.

  Would the other man share her? Thrax couldn’t tell.

  He didn’t mean to tap into Tarrel’s head, but the aura around the other man let him know the pilot would be like a
flightless bird without Neela in his life. She was as much a part of him as he was of her, despite the only recent physical bonds they’d shared. They had deeper ties. Ties that left Thrax a bit envious, and ties he respected for their strength.

  “Would you consider staying?” Thrax asked her. She started to speak. He placed a finger across her lips. “Not yet. I need to believe for a little while longer.”

  Neela’s eyes softened. Her hands slid to his shoulders, wrapping her fingers in his dreds. She rose up on her toes, pulling him down to her as their lips met. He tasted the lingering saltiness of the other man, a flavor that should have disgusted him. On her, he accepted it as part of her essence.

  She took her time kissing him without deepening the contact to something dark and sexual. This was just for him, an admission of her own that perhaps her coming to his realm under the guise of the agreement was more an excuse than a reason. He prayed that was so.

  Chapter Six

  Neela pressed her forehead to Thrax’s jaw, surprised at the way a single kiss could make her feel. Or perhaps it was how a single kiss could express the way she was feeling. He had to know she wanted him. He had to have felt it in that kiss.

  She closed her eyes, no longer wishing for her reserve but hoping her heart stayed intact when the men were done with her. She wanted them both. Not for an encapsulated time, but for the foreseeable future.

  She had a life on Elara. As a decorated lieutenant, she had missions to run, negotiations to protect and the only way of life she’d known. But this newness was addictive. It called to her. As yet, she didn’t know if this experience would change her or just awaken her to new emotions. Her feelings were genuine, but could she trust them to last? Beyond now? Beyond the antidote?

  Tarrel’s hands trailed down her back. “Melon,” he noted. “What does melon colored mean?” He drew a finger over one spinal bone.

  She smiled. “Something different on every Elaran. It’s not a map to what I’m thinking,” she chided.

  “Too bad. I’d really like to know what you’re thinking,” Tarrel said.