Ours
Catalina
Iopened my eyes.
Both marks warmed at once, left and right, Dominic’s and Rhain’s, and the pressure that had been pulling at me for four days swung toward them, finally given a direction.
Dominic’s thumb brushed over my mark. Rhain’s breath caught. Neither of them moved too quickly.
Rhain lowered his mouth to my hand first, a soft press of lips against my knuckles, while Dominic leaned in and touched his mouth to the bond at the left side of my throat. Just the flat of his lips against the mark, taking nothing.
The bond rang once and went quiet. Waiting.
Rhain’s mouth came to the right mark next, careful and warm, and the second channel answered in the same deep tone.
Rhain’s hands came to rest at my ribs, waiting beneath the loose hem of my sweater. Dominic’s mouth stayed close to the left mark, not touching now, only breathing there, and the breath went down my spine instead of out of me.
“Tell me where to start,” Dominic said.
My eyes opened. “What?”
His thumb traveled along my side, slow enough to make the bond pull toward him. “Tell me where to start.”
Heat climbed into my face so fast I almost got light-headed from that alone. “Dominic.”
“You said you did not want to be treated like a problem.”
“I remember.”
“Then do not make us guess.”
Rhain hummed from in front of me. I looked down at him. He was still kneeling, both hands at my waist, mouth close to the right mark, eyes dark and entirely too awake for a man who had been silent for this much of the conversation.
“Don’t help him,” I said.
“I’m simply observing,” Rhain said.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Also observing.”
Dominic’s mouth touched the left mark again, no more than a brush. The bond answered immediately, hot and rising, and my fingers clenched in the sheet.
“Little Spy,” he said against my skin.
My throat went dry. “Start there.”
Dominic lifted his head enough to look at me. “Where?”
I stared at him. He waited. Patient. Merciless. Civilized, allegedly.
“My neck,” I said, and my voice sounded like it had been dragged through gravel and poor decisions. “Your claim.”
Dominic’s eyes darkened. “Good.”
Rhain’s hands tightened at my waist.
“And me?” he asked softly.
“The other one,” I said.
“My claim?” Rhain asked, with a gentle precision that made me want to smother him with one of Yuki’s tasteful pillows.
“Yes.”
His mouth curved. “Useful clarification.”
“I hate both of you.”
“No,” Dominic said.
“No,” Rhain agreed.
Then they lowered their mouths together.
Dominic kissed the left mark with slow, firm pressure, the kind that did not ask whether I remembered who had put it there. Rhain answered at the right, softer at first, then warmer, his lips parting against the bite until the second channel lit beneath my skin.
For four days, the channels had been pulling in different directions, each one asking for an answer the other could not give. Now both marks were awake at once, both mouths steady over them, and the heat that had been running sharp under my skin changed shape.
A moan slipped out of me. Dominic’s mouth pressed more firmly to the left mark. Rhain answered at the right.
The two bonds met in the center of my chest and dropped straight to the base of my spine.
The pleasure broke so fast I did not understand it until my body was already inside it, my spine bowing between them, my hands catching at whatever they could reach.
Dominic’s shoulder. Rhain’s sleeve. The sheet beneath me.
I came with both claims under their mouths and both bonds open, the release bright and sudden.
Both of them went still.
Dominic lifted his mouth first, barely. His breath was hot against the left mark. Rhain did not move at all except for the slow tightening of his hands at my ribs.
For one awful, stretched-out beat, no one spoke.
Then Rhain said, very softly, “Oh,” and leaned down to touch his mouth to his claim on me again, lighter this time, and the aftershock hit hard enough to make my knees jerk.
He stopped immediately.
Dominic’s voice dropped. “That answers one question.”
“Congratulations,” I said. “The protocol works.”
Dominic’s hand flattened over my ribs. Rhain’s thumb moved beneath the edge of my shirt.
“Again,” Dominic said.
My eyes drifted open. “Again, what?”
“Tell us.”
Rhain kissed the right mark, almost apologetically. Almost. “We are very good at following instructions, kjaere, but we do require them.”
“Since when?”
“Since we were informed that dragons are less efficient than dogs.”
A rough note broke in Dominic’s throat, and my entire body tightened.
Rhain noticed. Of course he did. His gaze lifted to mine, and his mouth curved.
“You liked that.”
“I liked nothing.”
Dominic’s lips moved against my skin. “Lie.”
The word landed somewhere beneath my ribs, and my breath caught. His hand slid to my hip, holding me still as Rhain drew my shirt up another inch.
“Tell me what else,” Dominic said.
My breath was coming too fast now. “I want your hands.”
Dominic’s hand flexed at my hip. “Where?”
I closed my eyes.
Mistake.
With my eyes closed, there was only them. Dominic at my side, warm and solid. Rhain in front of me, his breath touching the right mark. Both bonds open. Both waiting. Both of them making room for me to choose the shape of what happened next.
“Tell us, Little Spy,” Dominic said. “Or we will find out another way.”
My eyes opened.
Dominic’s hand spread at my ribs, five steady points of contact. His thumb rested against the bone above my hip, his fingers along the line of my ribcage, and the bond at the left of my throat warmed the moment he set the pressure.
Rhain watched my face as his hand found my other hip, lower than Dominic’s, his fingers slowly tracing the seam where my waistband met my skin.
He did not move beneath it. He only waited. My hips lifted on their own.
Rhain’s eyes darkened. “There,” he said softly.
Dominic’s mouth touched the left mark, and the bond pulled so hard at the center of me that the next breath came out broken.
“That is one,” Dominic said against my throat. “We can work with that.”
Heat climbed into my face, but embarrassment had started to blur at the edges. There was too much contact. Too much warmth. Too much relief in the bond every time one of them found a place my body knew how to answer.
Dominic peeled the shirt up by inches. His knuckles brushed my ribs, careful, while Rhain’s hand slid beneath the cotton, just the heel of his palm finding the underside of my breast.
My breath left me.
Rhain’s mouth came to my jaw, the slow press of his lips against the line of bone. He moved one inch and pressed again. Another inch, and again.
When I caught his eyes, they had gone vertical. He let me see them. He let me see what lived underneath the patience. The patience was not patient. It was restraint with its leash gone slack.
Dominic worked the shirt over my head, his thumb brushing my nape as the fabric cleared my hair. The room was warm. The bra came next, one clean motion at the clasp, no fumbling, no production.
Dominic’s mouth came down at my collarbone. The flat of his lips touched bone first, then skin, then the place just beneath the mark. His tongue followed, slow and careful, and the left bond answered with a deep ringing pull that went all the way down through my ribs to the base of my spine.
Rhain’s mouth moved lower at the other side, lips brushing the line of my throat until he reached the right mark. He did not touch it yet. He breathed there. Waiting.
My body arched toward him.
Rhain’s hand tightened at my hip. “Another one.”
Dominic’s voice was rougher. “Good.”
A small, desperate sound slipped out of me before I could stop it.
Dominic’s mouth hovered over the left mark. “Show us what you need next, Little Spy.”
My hips lifted.
“Please.”
The word arrived before I knew I had decided to say it.
Rhain hummed, quiet, against my jaw. Dominic’s arm tightened around me from behind.
“More,” Dominic said.
“Lower.” My voice caught. “Both of you. Lower.”
Dominic went still. “Be specific.”
My face burned. “Dominic. Please.”
“Specific.”
I whined. There was no other word for it.
Rhain’s mouth came to my ear. “He wants the word, kjaere. Give him the word. He’s being good for you.” His lips brushed the shell of my ear. “Be good for him.”
My entire body went hot.
“His hand,” I said, barely. “Yours too. Please.”
Dominic’s thumb left the bone above my hip and moved down slowly, and the bond followed the motion exactly. Rhain’s hand moved with him on the other side, just as careful, just as deliberate. The seam of my waistband gave under their fingers before I caught up to what they were doing.
Dominic found me wet.
He set his fingers where I had been asking and did not move. He held me and that was enough.
I came on nothing but the pressure of his hand and the heat of Rhain beside it. No warning. Just the right touch in the right place with both bonds open enough to turn stillness into a pleasure my body could not survive quietly.
My breath broke. Dominic’s hand stayed where it was, steady through the small aftershock, while Rhain’s mouth remained at my jaw, his breathing uneven against my skin.
“That’s two,” Rhain said, quiet and approving. “Good girl.”
The words went through the right mark before they reached the rest of me.
My body answered him again, softer this time, but clear enough that both men felt it.
Dominic’s fingers flexed.
“Interesting,” he said.
I groaned.
Rhain’s mouth curved against my jaw. “I think she likes being praised.”
“I think she likes being asked,” Dominic said.
My eyes opened. Dominic was watching me now. The look on his face was controlled, but not cold. Focused.
“Little Spy,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Who first?”
My breath stopped. My eyes moved to Rhain.
“Rhain,” I said. “First.”
Rhain went still.
Dominic’s thumb moved against me, almost a reward. “Good. And what do you want him to do?”
Heat moved up my throat. “Take me.”
Dominic did not soften it for me. “Specific.”
“Take me,” I said, and made myself keep looking at him. “While you watch.”