ClosertoFire (5 page)

Darek got on the bed and stretched out on his back on her
other side, opposite Bane. “I won’t hurt you, Lily.” She looked at him
doubtfully.

Bane nudged her toward Darek. “If you ride him, it’ll be
easier for you the first time.”

Lily frowned. “What about you?” She didn’t want him to be
left out.

Bane smiled, unzipping and sliding his jeans off. Unable to
help herself, Lily stared openly at his cock as it sprang free. If she’d been
hoping for a less intimidating option, she was out of luck. Darek rolled on his
side, grasped her hips and lifted her easily on top of him. Lily gasped with
surprise and planted her palms on his broad chest for balance. Carefully, Darek
positioned her slick, wet pussy over his waiting cock.

“Take it at your own pace, Lily,” he said. Slowly she slid
down over him, taking him in inch by inch. He fit perfectly. Something inside
her—something she’d been holding tightly in check for a very long time—let go.
The relief was beyond words. Her spine relaxed and she dropped her head back,
reveling in the silken heat of him as he filled her so completely she wanted to
shout with joy. She heard Darek groan, a mixture of pleasure and agony, and she
looked down at him.

Sweat beaded on his brow, his handsome features taut. “God,
your little cunt is so sweet and tight,” he ground out.

“Mmmm,” she murmured, sliding up and down on him
experimentally. “And you are…” She trailed off. She could swear that red light
was flickering in the back of Darek’s eyes. He dug his fingers into her hips,
holding her still.

“Be still a second. I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, his
voice desperate. She could see the pain in his features and instinctively
responded.

“But I want to ride you,” she protested. She’d intended the
words to be mild but her own voice emerged breathy, unfamiliar.

His cock jerked inside her at her words. “Oh Christ, Lily,”
he hissed.

Every cell in her body was screaming. “Please, Darek,” she
whispered. Breathing hard, he lifted her hips, sliding halfway out of her, and
then lowered her over his cock with a deliberate, torturous slowness until he
hilted in her. He was watching her carefully. Lily heard plaintive, keening
sounds and realized she was making them.

“For God’s sake, man, fuck her,” Bane said next to them.

“Does it hurt?” Darek asked breathlessly.

She shook her head hard. “Only when you stop.” His fingers
dug into her hips with a bruising force that satisfied something primal in
Lily. “Yes, like that,” she breathed. “Do it just like that.”

With a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a roar,
he bucked hard beneath her, driving his cock into her over and over. A sheen of
sweat coated his chest. Her hands slipped, but strong hands caught her
shoulders, drawing her back. Confused, she turned her head and found Bane’s
gentle blue gaze. He’d moved behind her, kneeling on the bed between Darek’s
legs to hold her. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly from
behind as Darek thrust into her. The steel length of his cock rested along her
spine. Lily grasped his biceps, allowing the rhythm of Darek’s powerful thrusts
to rub her lower back hard against him.

The flicker of surprise in Bane’s eyes detonated something
deep in her core. Darek’s cock pounded into her with a force that matched her
need, fueling a building storm within her. She heard herself scream as the
orgasm seized her mercilessly, taking the breath from her lungs and every sane
thought from her mind. Release, pleasure like she’d never known, exploded
through her. For an eternal second, her world narrowed to Bane’s possessive
gaze and the hot length of Darek’s cock driving into her. There was no thought,
no fear—there was only sensation, and the two men holding her were its beating
heart. Three words fell from Bane’s lips straight into her soul—

“
You. Are. Ours.
”

Darek stiffened beneath her, a shout tearing from his
throat. Bane’s hands clamped down on her shoulders, his cock pulsing against
the small of her back, spilling slippery, wet heat. Content at last, Lily
smiled up at Bane and let the darkness edging into her vision take her, knowing
she was safe in their grasp.

* * * * *

When Lily next became aware, she felt the welcome coolness
of a damp cloth on her back. She lay on top of Darek, his cock still semi-hard
inside her. She propped herself up on her hands. Bane lay on his side next to
them. He folded the cloth and set it on the nightstand. She looked from one of
them to the other, wonderment filling her. They were whole. Intact. Okay. They
were both really, really okay. And she was… She was much more than okay.

“Thank you,” she burst out, feeling tears brim in her eyes.
Darek’s languid expression turned to one of surprise as she cupped his face in
her hands and kissed him soundly, deeply. Then, lifting herself off Darek, she
straddled a shocked Bane and did the same. “I never,
ever
thought…
You’re both just so amazing… I want to do that
again
,” she finished in a
wondering voice.

The men exchanged a glance.

Her mind drifting, she felt more than heard Bane’s chuckle.
His abdomen grew taut under her thighs. She looked from one of them to the
other.

“Well, I think that answers that question,” Bane said, his
voice mellow. He traced a light circle around her navel until she giggled and
made a grab for his hand. Dodging her, he reached instead for her hair, toying
with a strand.

Darek rested his hand possessively on her hip. “Yes, I think
so,” he agreed.

Lily raised an eyebrow. “What question?”

“You weren’t lying about being a virgin,” Bane answered,
grinning.

Her jaw dropped and she felt a twinge of annoyance. “Are we
still on that?”

Darek shook his head. “No, sweetheart. He’s kidding. I’m not
going to hold your heritage against you.” His tone was mild but Lily saw hurt
flash through his expression.

“Ignore him,” Bane said. “He’s been burned by idani before
and it’s made him a doubting jackass.”

There was that word again, Lily thought—
idana
.
Succubus. She’d made only a couple of friends in her life. She couldn’t imagine
trying to explain this to them.
Did you know there are men out there who can
turn into dragons? They’re fantastic in bed too. I found two of them and I’m
crazy about both.
Yeah. Her friends would tell her she’d lost her mind,
recommend a therapist or five and shuttle her off to the funny farm. Do not
pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars.

With an appreciative glance, she took in Bane’s striking, refined
features. How remarkable it was that she found the strong, angular lines of
Darek’s face equally irresistible.

The corners of her mouth twitched. She could add to the
story while they waited for the guys with straitjackets.
You know why men
follow me around like lost puppies? How they explode like C4 lust bombs if I
touch them? It’s because I’m half succubus. Explains a lot, doesn’t it?

It did sound insane. At the same time, nothing about her or
her life was
normal
, so abnormal made a hell of a lot more sense.

“So tell me more about them—the idani,” Lily said.

The men exchanged a glance. After a pause, Darek gestured at
Bane—
go on then.

Bane seemed to consider for a moment, then he spoke slowly.
“Lily, your mother’s name was Mara, yes?”

Lily raised her eyebrows. “Yes. Mara Sinclair. How’d you
know that?”

Bane paused, as if considering. “Lily, your mother was an
idana. Your father was human.”

Lily bit her lip. “Okay.”

“I have a friend who knows a lot about the idani’s history.
According to her, Mara’s story is quite well-known. She had a passion for rare
books. Your father owned an eclectic bookstore that she often visited. Over
time, they developed a deep affection for one another. She knew how dangerous
she was to him, but he knew nothing of her nature. Around him, she kept her
glamour muted—toned herself down. All the same, he pursued her relentlessly.”

Books
, Lily thought. Her life always seemed to return
to books. Her mother’s collection of first editions had been her treasure trove
and her greatest solace.

Bane continued, “Unable to stay away from him, she agreed to
see him. Theirs was a platonic relationship—Mara kept it that way because she
knew he would not survive the consummation. Afraid he would reject her if he
knew what she was, she told him she was very religious and wouldn’t touch a man
to whom she wasn’t married.”

Lily grinned ruefully. “Ironic that a succubus would say
that.”

“Unfortunately, her plan to keep him at arm’s length
backfired and he became determined to marry her. Her heart breaking, Mara
turned him down again and again. Finally, lost and alone, she pursued the
advice of a powerful sorceress who lied to her. She told Mara that the
sacrament of marriage would protect her human lover. Thrilled, she wed him in
secret.”

Memories flooded into Lily’s mind. “It didn’t, did it?” she
asked.

Bane shook his head, his blue eyes sympathetic. “Not long
after, he died and Mara vanished. At the time, no one knew for sure, but some
believed she was carrying his child.”

He paused and reached up to brush his thumb across her
cheek. Lily hadn’t realized she was crying. “You, Lily.”

Darek rested his hand on her knee. “I’m so sorry, love.”
Lily sought the comfort of Darek’s arms, letting herself crumple against his
chest. Bane’s story explained so much, yet her new understanding was not a
comfort.

Lily recalled the wedding photo her mother kept by her
bedside. Her father had been a tall, slender, bookish man, handsome in his
tuxedo, his smile shameless and giddy beneath his small, round glasses and wild
shock of blond hair. In the photo, the couple appeared unaware of the
photographer, having eyes only for each other. Her mother was smiling with a
happiness that Lily never witnessed during her lifetime, her long, raven hair
spilling in wild curls down her back, shining with a sultry radiance against
her white wedding dress.

“She told me he died in a car accident,” Lily whispered. It
made so much sense now, the way her mother looked away when they spoke of her
father, how she looked at the floor and wrung her hands in those awkward
moments.

“Why didn’t she ever tell me any of this? And now it’s too
late—she’s gone,” she cried. They would never make up. She could never tell her
mother that she understood. She’d never have anything but a stranger’s
fairytale account of what her father had been like.

“I’m sorry, Lily. I wish I hadn’t been the one to tell you,”
Bane said. Darek turned on his side, placing Lily between himself and Bane.

Feeling helpless, Bane held Lily gently and stroked her
back. Darek sat up and drew the sheet and blanket over the three of them.
Together, they held her while she cried, her face pressed tightly into the
curve of Bane’s shoulder. Darek gathered her hair at her nape, smoothing it
down against her back, and molded his body to hers.

Neither of them said a word. Bane didn’t know what to say.
His own chest was tight with a sadness he hadn’t felt when he’d first heard
Mara’s story from Savara. At the time, he’d reveled in a sort of academic
satisfaction—he’d found one more piece of the puzzle that was Lily. Now he
almost wished he’d left well enough alone.

As though reading Bane’s guilt, Darek met his gaze over
Lily’s shoulder and shook his head.
There is nothing you could have done
,
his expression said. Bane nodded, understanding, but it was an unsatisfying
knowledge. He didn’t want to see her suffer like this—certainly not because of
something he’d told her. Something he’d risked his skin to discover.

Closing his eyes, Bane reached for her mind and bent his
will over hers. “
Sleep, Lily,
” he whispered. She frowned up at him
through her tears, then half turned to look at Darek. Her lips parted as if to
speak.

Darek put a finger over her mouth. “Sleep,” he said, adding
his will to Bane’s.

Her eyes grew languorous and she relaxed, but Bane felt her
resisting them.

“Will you stay?” she asked.

The question touched Bane. “Yes, Lily, we’ll stay.” Still
she did not yield. “
Sleep
,” he repeated, leveraging more power behind
the order.

“Both of you?” she added, tapping his chest with one finger
to emphasize the point.

He grinned. Her words were a little slurred but her defenses
were pretty strong.

“Both of us,” Darek answered.

She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, seeming to
compose herself, and nodded. “Okay then.”

Only then did Bane sense her surrender. Her eyes closed, her
struggle subsiding. Within seconds, her breathing was deep and even. Darek
propped himself up on an elbow and ran his fingers through her hair, his eyes
full of wonder. Bane drew the edge of the sheet up and dabbed her reddened
cheeks. Her fingers twitched against his skin but subsided when he shushed her.

“Well,” Darek said in a hushed voice, “congratulations. You
made a girl cry.”

“Shut up,” Bane snapped. Seeing his friend’s sympathetic
expression, he softened. “
Our
girl,” he added.

Lily twitched in her sleep, murmuring. Two distinct bands of
colored light encircled Lily’s sleeping body, weaving over and through her
skin, illuminating the sheet as they traveled from her head to her toes. The
first was brilliant red, the second a swirling mixture of blue and gold.

It was a moment before Bane remembered to breathe.

“Damn,” Darek whispered. “The
sovrán
’s going to kill
us.”

“We can’t take her in for the Inquiry,” Bane remarked, his
jaw tightening. Darek was right—Anthony would be staunchly against an
idana-dracambri mating. Then again, he was mated, and to a human. He would at
least understand that a dracambri’s soul, not his heart or mind, chose his
mate.