Embrace the Wind (3 page)

mouth. The moment he felt the first ripple of her orgasm, he increased the speed of his

fingers’ thrusts and went as deep as he could, holding them inside her as the waves of

undulations squeezed him and she screamed into his mouth.

When it was all over save for the readjusting of clothing and the mumbled “Thank

you”, he unlocked the door and stepped outside, in a hurry now to be rid of her. For a

reason he could not explain, the tryst had left him feeling soiled, dirty, and what he

wanted most was a long, hot shower. He wanted the smell of her off his body and the

taste of himself out of his mouth.

It didn’t help that he passed the silver-haired beauty on the stairs on his way to his

quarters. She stopped in her descent as he ascended and watched him, a look upon her

face that said she knew precisely what he’d just done.

Eanan mumbled something unintelligible as he passed her and would have gone on

his way had she not called out to him.

“Lord Eanan?”

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

He groaned and stopped, squeezing his eyes together, clenching his fists before

turning as politely as he could to face her. “Aye, milady?”

She cleared her throat and gave him a withering stare that would have crippled a

lesser man. “You are to report to the
Shamyr Failt
within the hour.”

His eyebrows slashed together over his hawkish nose. “The audience chamber?

Why?”

“Just do it, warrior!” she snapped at him, and flounced the skirt of her dark blue

robe. She looked away and continued down the stairs.

“For what?” he called out to her but she ignored him. “Lady…?”

He didn’t know her name. If anyone had told him, he couldn’t remember what it

was. He thought her one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen but Lord Kheelan

had made it clear she and her duo of sister Gatekeepers were off-limits to him or any

other Reaper.

“Touch one of them and suffer the consequences,” Lord Kheelan had warned. “And

believe me when I tell you the consequences will be dire, Reaper!”

Cursing under his breath, he took the remaining stairs two at a time, his lips

pursed, his jaw tight.

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Embrace the Wind

Chapter Two

They were sitting there glaring at him with steady eyes that never blinked. He was

perched atop a fragile-looking black velvet cushioned chair that was both

uncomfortable and noisy as he shifted—nay, squirmed—under their silent regards. His

fingers were laced together in his lap, his legs slightly spread as he sat with his back

straight, shoulders squared. His chin was up, his eyes revealing the confusion his

presence in this strange room was causing him.

When he’d been escorted in by Sir Giles D’Brickashaw, who was the Primary Guide

at the Citadel, he had been ordered to sit and be quiet. He had done exactly as ordered

until the Gatekeepers had entered the room. Like the gentleman his mother had trained

him to be, he came to his feet, smiling politely as they took their places behind the long

desk.

“Be seated, Reaper,” the silver-haired beauty commanded.

That had been half an hour earlier, not one word had been said and he was godsbe-damned sure not a one of the women had blinked. Gray, green and blue eyes were

locked on him, and three very beautiful faces were carefully blank as they regarded

him.

He shifted again, his ass growing numb. His gaze shifted from the silver-haired

lovely to the redhead then to the blonde. Though he smiled, they did not so much as

move a single muscle in their pretty faces. His smile withered away to be replaced with

the look of perplexed concern tugging at it now.

When he could no longer suppress the urge to speak, he did so, his voice a bit

harder and rougher than he intended.

“What’s this all about?”

They did not answer.

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

“Why am I here?”

Again no answer.

Eanan narrowed his eyes. They knew, he reasoned. They knew precisely what he’d

done with the woman in the supply closet and they were punishing him for some

reason as yet to be explained.

“What I did was not against any rules,” he defended, looking from one set of chilly

eyes to the next. “There are no regulations that say I cannot find comfort as long as I do

not… If I don’t… If she only… If we…” He found he couldn’t say it. He flung out a

hand, fumbling for words. “You know.”

“No, we do not know, Reaper,” the one in the middle replied. Her gray eyes were

frosty as she glared at him.

The blonde speared him with a look that said she might slap him silly if he were

close enough for her to do so. “We are virgins, milord. Pray tell us what it is you did
not

do with the whore who serviced you.”

He swallowed hard. Virgins? By the gods, he didn’t know there were such things in

this day and age and on this planet. He now understood why the High Lord had issued

his warning.

“Begging your pardon, milady, that is not something I should be discussing with

you,” he said, feeling a moment of panic as he wondered what Lord Kheelan would do

to him if he knew the subject had even been broached with the Gatekeepers.

“Oh, but it is, Reaper,” the red-haired one insisted. “We are
Breitheamhtái
, Lord

Eanan. We are judges. It is within our realm of duty to evaluate any mortal sin you

perpetrate against the female inhabitants of the Citadel.”

“Sin?” he echoed, brows clashing together. “Milady, I have committed no sin. The

sex was consensual and the last I heard, consensual sex between a man and woman is

not a sin in the eyes of the goddess or Alel.”

“It is if one of those involved is a
Graihaltagh Reiht,”
the blonde stated.

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Embrace the Wind

“A Chosen…?” He stopped, shook his head. “To whom does she belong? She led

me to believe she was free of attachment. If she belongs to a warrior, I will make

amends to him and…”

“You will make amends to us,” the silver-haired woman interrupted.

He stared at her a moment then the confusion lines smoothed from his face to be

replaced with a look of slight disgust. “Oh, so that’s the way of it then,” he said. “Well, I

didn’t know she belonged to you ladies. I would never have…”

“Be quiet, Reaper!” the woman in the middle snapped with irritation.

He clamped his lips shut, annoyed now, and crossed his arms over his chest, a

muscle working in his cheek as he stared back at the trio. It was bad enough he’d been

summoned before the harpies. Now he had to endure their degenerate gazes passing

over him as though he were yesterday’s cow droppings. Anger began building within

him—an anger he knew he’d better not unleash.

“Stand up, Reaper.”

For a moment he considered ignoring the silver-haired woman’s orders but

unfolded his arms and got rigidly to his feet. He stood with his arms hanging at his side

but his fists opened and closed—the only outward sign his temper was rising.

They sat there watching him for a long time, but if they expected him to rail against

their silent assessment of him, they’d be disappointed. He fixed his gaze somewhere

above the prettiest one’s head and concentrated on a small speck on the wall.

“Reaper?”

He shifted his gaze down to the silver-haired temptress. “Aye, milady?” he snarled.

“Take off your clothes.”

Eanan blinked and his lips gradually parted. He turned his head slightly to one

side, eyes narrowing. “I beg your pardon?” Surely, he reasoned, he had misheard her

words.

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

Her next words were clear and precise, spoken with just a hint of warning. “I did

not stutter, milord.”

His attention slid from her to the blonde to the redhead, back to the silver-haired

beauty sitting between them and held. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“Oh yes, you did,” she disagreed. “Now strip.”

He raised his chin, his gaze hardened. “No.” He shook his head slowly as though

emphasizing his denial and repeated, “No.”

The woman in the middle leaned back in her chair and a slow, retaliatory smile

crept over her lush lips. She put her elbows on the arms of the chair, steepled her

fingers and gazed at him over the tips. “Would you prefer we have guards brought in

to strip you instead? You might not enjoy the spectacle but I can assure you we would

find it most entertaining.”

“I’m dying to see him naked,” the redhead declared.

His head snapped toward her, eyes wide.

“And stretched on the bed at our mercy,” the blonde added.

His mouth dropped open as he shot his shocked expression to the obviously

youngest of the three.

For a moment he thought they were toying with him, and in his anger marched to

the desk, placing his balled fist on the top.

“No!” he hissed directly to the woman in the middle. “This isn’t funny, wench.”

“It isn’t meant to be, warrior,” she replied. “Now take off your clothes or we’ll have

them taken from you.”

Eanan’s eyes turned molten gold with fury and his lips peeled back from his fangs.

“I’ll rip the throat out of any man who tries to take my clothes off me.”

He wasn’t prepared for the power that zapped through the air. One moment he was

standing there with black silk uniform shirt and black leather pants in place and the

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Embrace the Wind

next he was as naked as the day he was born with nothing standing between him and

the three women save air.

Gone was the desk. Gone were the chairs. The room was without a single break in

the walls. No door led from the accursed chamber and upon the floor was a thick fur

that stretched wall to wall. In one corner sat an oversized brass bed with black silk

sheets and a silver comforter embroidered with black roses.

“You are the
Graihaltagh Reiht,”
the silver-haired witch proclaimed. “Our

Graihaltagh Reiht
.”

“You belong body and soul to the
Breitheamhtái
,” the blonde announced.

“And it is your destiny to serve us, warrior,” the redhead put in.

Eanan looked wildly around him, his hands cupping his cock and balls as best as he

could as he backed away. There was no escape from the room, no portal through which

he could flee. He’d never felt so vulnerable in his life.

Or as frightened.

“Don’t do this to me,” he said, anger gone to be replaced with fear of what the

Shadowlords would do to him if he so much as touched one hair on the heads of these

women.

“Tell him, Argent,” the redhead insisted.

They were looking at him as though he were the main course at the evening meal

and he shivered, scrunching down in an effort to protect his privates from their eager

view.

“Aye, Argent, tell him,” the blonde agreed.

The silver-haired lass bestowed another wicked smile upon him.

“He knows we have claimed you, Eanan Tohre,” she said. “He was not pleased and

our other brothers were not pleased but we have the
Cur Chied Da
, the Sanction of
mo

Regina
, to have you.”

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Charlotte Boyett-Compo

“The goddess?” he gasped. “She… She…” Her words to him on Mantanuska came

back like a lightning flash.
“You have insulted Me one time too many. It is time you learn who

owns you, Reaper!”

“Where the fuck are you taking me, bitch?” he had demanded.

“Where you will behave for a change.
”

He groaned, seeing Her evil hand in this. “She brought me here for you?” he

managed to ask.

“Answer him, Corallin,” Argent ordered.

“Indeed She did, warrior, and we have not only Her sanction to have you but the

sanction of the Great Lady as well.”

“So you are ours and we are yours,” the blonde one said with a twinkle in her blue

eyes.

“Oh, you think so?” he grumbled, and backed farther away from them. There was

no place to hide, no place to run, nothing behind which to stand and he was feeling

very exposed. There was gooseflesh on his arms and thighs. “Well, I don’t!”

“Oh, come now, warrior,” Argent said in a reasonable voice. “What man would not

want three nubile virgins for his mistresses, right, Aureolin?”

“The key word there being three,” Aureolin said with a giggle. “How many men do

you know who would turn down such an offer?”

“We’re willing to share you between us and have you teach us to pleasure you as

no woman before us has been able to do. Why would you not want three willing bodies

at your beck and call?” Argent inquired.

“And three tight sheaths into which to slide your shaft?” Corallin asked.

“Stop it!” Eanan shouted. His eyes were wild as he desperately sought a way out of

this mess. It wasn’t that he didn’t find the women alluring. Each in her own way was

prettier than the other. Each was voluptuous and eager to have him, and yet all he

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Embrace the Wind

could do was back away and cower with his hands slapped tightly over his privates.

“This isn’t right!”

“What isn’t right, warrior?” the blonde queried. “We’re offering you what no other

man will ever have and you will garner the companionship of three women who will

give you nothing but devotion and love in return.”