Chapter Twenty-Two
Pierre released his grip on Melinda’s thighs as she struggled to rise.
The uncertainty in Louis’ eyes matched the sensation swirling in his gut.
Would she retreat from them again now? Like she had on the plane?
He backed away, letting her slip down from the counter.
He’d never be able to come into this kitchen, make tea, or sit here and eat again without thinking of this night.
Of her splayed between them, writhing and moaning as they worked her body to a crescendo.
He did not want this to be the end, or their last time touching their mate, but as she headed for the door, he feared it might be.
She paused in the doorway, naked, beautiful, her skin flushed. She glanced over her shoulder at them and tipped her head toward the stairs, a hesitant vulnerability in her eyes. He shared a glance with Louis. She was asking them for something, but what?
They followed her up the stairs, his balls so tight and his cock so hard each step was a pain all of its own. He would have walked through hellfire for Melinda if she’d asked him to.
In the main suite, she paused beside the bed. Another look shared with his twin. This wasn’t goodbye. She wanted them. Thank fuck. They surged toward her, but she held her palms out, stopping them in their tracks.
“Twice now, you’ve given me what I needed.” There was a tremor in her voice, and a stutter in her heartbeat as her gaze bounced between the two of them. “Now I’m going to give you what you need.”
What they needed? Their needs were simple. Her.
She placed a palm on his chest, his body responding in an instant, ready and willing. His wolf pushed forward.
Her fingers rubbed against his chest, almost petting him, soothing him. “Pierre, you like to watch, yes?”
Pierre. Not Louis. Not you. His heart beat a loud drum in his chest. “Oui.”
Her tremulous smile almost stole away the remnants of his control.
Her attention fixed on him, she took Louis’ hand. “Then watch.”
She turned Louis toward the bed, pushing him so he sat on the edge. Louis went willingly, if somewhat confused. He reached for her, but she took his hands and placed them beside his hips.
“I’ve had my turn. Now it’s yours.”
Before he could protest, she cupped his face and slanted her mouth over his. Louis took her offering, keeping his hands where she’d put them as Pierre palmed himself through his jeans, rooted to the spot. She broke the kiss, guiding Louis’ shirt up over his head.
She gasped, small hands fluttering over his brother’s chest to his shoulder, to the puckered pink scar. “This was where you were shot?”
Louis shrugged. “It’s almost healed.”
Sad eyes found his. “And you too, Pierre?”
He’d all but forgotten a bullet had gone through his thigh. By tomorrow, it would be nothing more than a memory. “I’d take a hail of bullets for you, Melinda. We both would.” And it was the truth.
She leaned in and kissed Louis’ scar, her attention fixed on him, and putain, didn’t the bullet wound in his thigh burn as if it was his injury she was kissing.
Over his brother’s chest, she forged a trail of kisses.
Pierre moved in for a better angle. She flicked her pink tongue out, laving his twin’s nipple.
Watching her with Louis was like watching himself with her in the mirror.
His own nipple was on fire, as though she’d touched him.
Licked him. Blunt human teeth clamped around the taut bud, and both he and Louis moaned.
“Melinda, you don’t have to—”
She cut Louis off with a finger to his lips. “I want to.”
Louis’ shocked gaze found his. Melinda wanted to seduce them? A slow grin spread across his face. The fates had chosen their mate well.
Melinda pushed Louis back onto the bed, her fingers working at the button and zipper of his jeans. She dragged them off, with a willing hand from Louis, and tossed them aside. His boxer briefs followed.
“You too, Pierre.”
Oui. He toed off his boots and had his shirt off and his jeans around his ankles before she could blink. He kicked them aside, enraptured.
She gripped his brother’s swollen cock. Louis’ stomach muscles bunched, and Pierre’s own cock throbbed, a bead of pre-cum glistening on the end.
With her gaze on him, she licked Louis’ length from base to tip.
The urge to take himself in hand made him tremble, and when she took Louis in her mouth, it took every ounce of control he had to stop himself.
It wasn’t his hand he wanted, it was hers. Her hand, her mouth, her minou. Anything else would be a poor substitute. So he stood there, rooted to the spot, his nails digging into his palms, and watched as Louis reveled in her attentions, his twin’s eyes closed and his hands fisted in the duvet.
It was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen in his life.
Their mate on her knees, her arousal thick in the air, her dark gaze locked with his as she pleasured his twin.
The intimacy of it, the generosity. Pierre had never been so close to the edge.
The connection sizzled in the air between them, but it was more than that.
She saw them. Him and Louis. Recognized their differences.
Their needs. She understood his need to relish in the sweet torture of watching her with his brother.
The build up, the test of his control over his own body.
And she accepted that. Accepted him. Wolf shifter and all.
What a precious gift. He would give her the world right now if she asked it of him.
“Melinda, I’m going to—” Louis stiffened, and a guttural groan ripped from his mouth. He abandoned the duvet for her hair, tangling his fingers in the silky black strands, holding her still as he roared his release. He collapsed back on the bed, his skin flushed and his chest heaving.
Louis, still catching his breath, heaved himself up and Melinda with him. She squealed, clutching at his shoulders.
“Mon amour”—Louis took her mouth in his, kissing her deep, before releasing her lips—“Pierre has had enough of watching.”
Fuck, yes.
His brother handed Melinda to him, and she wrapped her legs around his hips, grinding his erection between them. Merde. She was ready. More than ready. Slick with her need. He was not going to keep her wanting. Not after what she’d done for them tonight.
“Wait.” Concern rippled across Melinda’s face. “What about condoms? I know shifters can’t carry diseases, but…”
Putain. There would come a day when wearing protection to ease Melinda’s very human concerns would no longer be necessary.
When they’d had the conversation, spelling out for her exactly who she was to them, her claiming, her turning.
How he would love to put a pup in her womb, once she was one of them.
That until then there was no possibility of either of them getting her pregnant.
But he didn’t think Melinda was ready to hear about fated mates.
Or them biting her. And right now, talking wasn’t what he wanted to be doing.
Louis pressed a condom into Melinda’s hand. His twin was of the same mind as he was. Pierre sat on the edge of the bed, balancing her on his knees as she rolled the prophylactic over his length. No more waiting. He lifted her up and lowered her onto his shaft.
For a moment, he lost all ability to breathe.
Her head dropped back and her mouth parted on a silent gasp.
Louis closed in behind her, palming her breast and devouring her mouth, and Pierre rolled his hips.
Slow, steady, with each stroke telling her what she meant to him.
What she would always mean to him. He would spend the rest of his life showing her, making sure she never had cause to doubt it.
* * * *
The sensation of being watched had Louis opening one eye.
Nestled between him and Pierre, the covers tousled around her legs, lay Melinda.
Her breathing even, she didn’t stir. His brother, his body wrapped around their mate, a protective cocoon against the dangers of the outside world, slept on.
If not Pierre or Melinda, what had awoken him?
He sensed no threat, but with Cordelia out there somewhere, free to wreak havoc with some very powerful magic, Louis wasn’t going to ignore the sensation.
He blinked, scanning the darkened room before settling on two eyes, a greenish glow to their amber depths, staring at him from a furry face. Melinda’s cat.
Manchu had paused on the end of the bed, one foot suspended in the air mid stride, his eyes narrowed on him. Louis pushed his wolf down, resisting the urge to respond to the animal’s aggression. Melinda cared for Manchu. Louis cared for Melinda.
More than cared. She was everything he’d ever hoped for, and more. She’d astounded him tonight. Bowled him over with each light touch of her hands, each press of her mouth on his body.
She’d given them far more than pleasure. She’d seen them. Him and Pierre. Acknowledged their different needs. Catered to them. They’d waited for her, searched for her for years. A pint-sized ginger furball was not going to get in their way. Somehow, they would have to make peace with it.
Though his wolf protested at any show of submission, Louis dropped his gaze, breaking the standoff between them.
Every sense attuned to the tiny animal, he followed Manchu’s slow progress up Melinda’s leg, one hesitant paw after another.
The cat crested Melinda’s hip and paused again.
Louis risked a peek. Amber eyes regarded him, accompanied by a furious swish of a ginger tail and a hiss.
Louis kept his breathing steady and his body still, avoiding eye contact. His wolf wanted nothing more than to put this impudent feline in its place, show it who was the dominant animal, but that would achieve nothing except reinforce the cat’s fear of them.
Manchu continued his journey up Melinda’s body, dipping at her waist, then climbing up her arm and onto her shoulder.
There, he settled, wrapping his tail around his little body and tucking his paws beneath his chest. Sitting there between him and Pierre, guarding Melinda. Brave little fucker. Loyal, too.
Keeping his movements smooth and slow, Louis reached for the bag of fishy cat treats he’d stashed in the bedside drawer. He held one out to Manchu.
Suspicion flickered in those amber eyes. Louis kept his hand steady, and stretched a little closer to the ginger furball. Manchu sniffed the air.
“That’s a good boy. Take the treat. It’s tasty.” Louis wouldn’t eat it, but he hoped it would appeal to a cat.
“What are you trying to do, Louis?”
He should’ve known his brother would be awake, too. Nothing much got past a wolf. “Tempting Manchu with food.”
“Just because the way to your heart is through your stomach doesn’t mean that approach will work with the cat.”
“No,” Louis conceded. “But the way to Melinda’s heart is through Manchu. Have you got a better idea?”
Manchu extended a paw, then retreated. Louis held his breath. Manchu made another pass, this time snagging Louis’ hand, drawing it closer, until he could snatch the treat.
Louis lay back down next to Melinda. Manchu eyed him with slitted eyes, but Louis caught the subtle rumble of a purr.
Louis closed his eyes. In this moment, he could believe all was right in their world.
It wasn’t, but that was a worry for tomorrow, and morning would come soon enough.
Cordelia was still out there. Their deception yet to be revealed.
When it was, when everything came to light, Louis worried it could destroy everything.