Hidden Dragons (20 page)

“
Why?” She echoed Robert’s earlier
question and Bear was a bit confused.

Didn’t she already know that they were destined
to be together? Didn’t she feel the same pull whenever they were
near to each other? Didn’t she know they loved her more than life
itself?

A frisson of doubt crept over him. If she
didn’t feel those things, did it mean she wasn’t their mate? Could
they have fooled themselves so completely into believing she would
feel the same things they did? Did she not care for them at all?
Did she not love them—at least a little?

Bear’s heart sank. He knew he had to lay it all
on the line, but suddenly he was truly unsure of the entire
situation. He could lay his feelings bare and be
rejected.

But he had to do it. He had to try. He took a
deep breath and plunged in, knowing this time, Robert would be even
more reticent than he was to take that final step.

Bear reached out and stroked her hair, drawing
her attention to him, holding her gaze with his own. She was so
beautiful to him.

“
Why do we want you to be our
mate?” he repeated the crux of her question, gently. “I can speak
only for my own feelings, though I’m pretty sure Robert feels the
same. I want you to stay because…I love you. I will love you for
the rest of my days, whether you decide to share your life with us
or not. You are the only woman in the world for me, and if you
leave, my heart will shatter, never to be healed.”

Tears welled in her eyes and he used his thumb
to wipe away one that fell down her cheek. He tried to smile at
her, even as his future hung in the balance.

Robert’s hands settled on her shoulders and
Bear let go of her face, knowing they could never be complete until
both knights had committed to their mate. She turned to Robert and
Bear silently encouraged his friend to seal the deal. Robert was
the eloquent one. If he couldn’t convince her to stay, then no one
could.

Robert opened his mouth and then seemed to
freeze.

“
Tell her, you fool!”
Bear sent urgently to his fighting partner’s
mind.

Robert started as if he’d been poked. “I love
you too,” he blurted out.

Bear wanted to shake his head and
groan. His supposedly silver-tongued partner didn’t seem to have
much to say.
Idiot.

“
I’ll love you forever,
sweetheart,” Robert added, whispering as emotion filled his
gaze.

And then Bear understood. Robert was so
overcome with the intensity of his feelings, it scrambled his
brain. That was the only excuse Bear could give him in this
situation. Bear, on the other hand, was pushed by emotion to say
things he normally kept inside. Love gave him courage, whereas it
seemed to steal all of Robert’s usual polish.

“
You see what you’ve done to him?”
Bear whispered, leaning close to Isabelle’s ear. “I’ve never seen
Robert at a loss for words. You did that to him. Loving you has
wiped away all the pretense, and left him speechless. And it seems
to have given me the freedom, for once, to say what’s in my heart.”
Bear turned her head with one finger under her chin and kissed her
deeply.

When they broke apart, he saw the happy tears
in her eyes and his heart rejoiced. “I love you with all my
heart.”

“
I love you too. Both of you,” she
said, lifting his spirits and giving him confirmation that his love
life was not about to end in a bright ball of flames.

“
Then I think we have an accord,”
Bear dared to say. “Do you agree to be our mate?” He had to have
the words, just as she had needed to hear them speak of their love
plainly. So there could be no chance of confusion.

Isabelle’s smile lit his world. “I
do.”

Happiness filled him as the realization hit.
They were going to be a family. She loved them.

“
Then I suppose we’d better start
planning a mating ceremony,” Bear said, thinking more about the
wedding consummation than the actual ceremony.

“
But we don’t have to wait until
then, right?” Isabelle said with a shy little smile that made him
want to purr.

“
No, milady,” he agreed, moving
closer to her on the couch and untying the closure at her neck that
kept her blouse together. “As long as we all want the same thing,
nothing is forbidden to us. You do want us, don’t you?” Bear asked
playfully as he noted the way her breathing hitched as he cupped
her generous breasts in his hands.

“
I do,” she repeated her earlier
agreement. “Sweet heaven, I do.”

Her voice trailed off as he lowered his head
and licked his way down over her throat to her breasts, playing
there for a good long time. When he looked up sometime later,
Robert had turned her head and claimed her mouth. The sight of his
fighting partner kissing their mate was incredibly
exciting.

Bear had known for a long time that he would
end up sharing a mate with Robert—if they managed to find one—but
they had never before shared a woman between them. That was
something they had agreed to preserve for their mate alone. Bear
was glad now that they had waited. Most knights didn’t, but they
had both wanted to keep something special for when they found their
mate.

It was special all right. Bear had never felt
the level of excitement that was riding him now. And the dragons
weren’t even involved yet. Bear could only guess at the frenzy
their mating flight would induce in their human counterparts. All
in all, it was a good thing that the three of them get a little
practice in before the dragons reunited. Bonding with their mate
now might mean the difference between having her join
wholeheartedly in the mating flight frenzy—or being scared out of
her wits by their possible aggression.

Neither Bear nor Robert knew how they were
going to react when the backwash of lust from their dragon partners
hit them. He hoped they would be able to keep their heads, but
stories abounded in the Lair of near-mindless coupling inspired by
dragons among the mated trios. With Isabelle so new to passion,
Bear feared frightening her with the intensity that was said to
develop to an inhuman height when the dragons became
involved.

Better to start off slow. Well, as slow as they
could manage. It felt like the three of them were about to reach
heights of passion Bear had never quite realized existed. Just the
fact that they were all together. Mates. He couldn’t get over it,
and that one thought added a new dimension to their time together
that could never be replicated by any of the encounters he’d had up
to this point.

Robert moved to the far corner of the couch,
pulling Isabelle downward to lie with her back to his front,
serving her up for Bear on a platter, as it were.

“
You take the front this
time,”
Robert sent to him privately. Bear
could feel the tension in the words—the shaky control in his
tone.

Bear rid Isabelle of the rest of her clothing,
kissing his way down her body. Robert helped by serving up her
breasts in his hands, holding them while Bear sucked at first one
peak, then the other. When Bear moved lower, Robert continued to
pluck at her distended nipples, making her writhe and moan in a
most satisfying way.

Moving lower, Bear spread her legs and zeroed
in on his target, smiling against her clit when she gasped as he
licked her, then moved even closer. Nibbling on her most sensitive
places, he was careful with her, but still strove to push her just
a little bit higher with each movement.

When he stuck his tongue into her
channel, her hips rose as she cried out, coming against his
mouth.
Oh, yeah.
That’s just what he wanted. He wanted to drive her out of her
mind—into new realms of desire and lust—before they all joined in
their first adventure as a trio.

He rode her through the small orgasm, gentling
her with his hands on her hips. Then it was Bear’s turn to move
back to his corner of the couch, taking Isabelle with
him.

She smiled at him when he pulled her over his
body.

“
Do I get to have my way with you
now?” she asked playfully. Her eyes sparkled in a way that made him
want to see that same expression on her face over and over again.
He’d make it a goal.

“
You can have your way with me any
time you want, my heart,” he replied, nearly groaning when her soft
hands started to undress him.

He felt movement at the other end of the couch
that told him Robert was getting ready for the next part of this
encounter. They hadn’t exactly planned this, so they were
improvising. Still, one item in particular would make this all go a
lot easier, and Robert was smart enough to go fetch it before they
moved any farther along this path.

Meanwhile, Bear had to try to keep it together
long enough for the triple joining they were working toward. With
Isabelle’s hands roaming all over his body as she undressed him, he
wasn’t entirely sure he’d be able to hold back.

“
Better get a move on,
Robert,”
Bear sent to Robert, who was
making noise in his bedroom. It sounded like he was tossing things
around, probably looking for what they needed.

“
I can’t find the jar,”
Robert sent back, his tone tinged with annoyance
and a hint of panic.

“
Get the oil in the bathing
chamber. That’ll work. Even cooking oil in the kitchen would work,
for heavens sake.”

“
Right.”

Bear could hear Robert’s footsteps padding
around the perimeter of the suite and then he was back, the couch
dipping at the other end as Robert rejoined them. Isabelle was on
her hands and knees, licking her way over Bear’s bare chest in a
shy, but determined way. He loved the feel of her hands on him and
her mouth was driving him wild.

She squeaked and lifted her head when Robert
touched her from behind. Bear couldn’t see exactly what Robert was
doing back there, but he had a good idea of what Robert was about.
He was kneeling on the couch behind Isabelle, his hands at her
hips, most likely spreading her cheeks and rubbing oil into her, to
ease his way.

Isabelle nearly jumped out of her skin when she
felt Robert’s fingers slide between her cheeks from behind. They
were slick with something. Some kind of oil, she guessed, and she
knew what that meant now.

A little shiver of anticipation went through
her at the memory of what she had experienced with Robert, when
he’d taken her there. It had been unlike anything she could have
expected, but she enjoyed it immensely. She had spent some time
talking to Silla about intimate things and was prepared as best as
she could be, for what her two knights might ask of her. Deep down,
it was all a matter of trust. And she trusted Bear and Robert not
to hurt her, or push her beyond what she could give
them.

They loved her. That’s what mattered
most.

She pushed back into Robert’s hand as he sought
and gained entrance. It felt good. Almost better than she
remembered. He didn’t rush her, but he did increase the tempo and
pressure, adding more fingers until she was rocking against his
hand, seeking another release.

All it took was Bear’s hands on her breasts to
set her off again. She moaned and closed her eyes, enjoying the
sensations that spiraled through her body.

The climax went through her and the men let her
have it. Only when it began to dissipate did Robert change tactics.
He removed his hand and a moment later, replaced his fingers with
something more solid—more enticing. She felt his hard cock slide up
into her, bit by bit, taking it slow, but demanding entrance she
did not want to deny.

When he was fully seated inside her, he paused.
She took a moment to bask in the sensation. Oh, that felt good.
Full. Stretched. Exciting.

And then Bear pushed lightly, but firmly
against her shoulders, raising her up so that Robert’s chest was
against her back, his rod firmly ensconced within her while he held
her hips. Bear took a moment to gather some of the throw pillows,
placing them in front of her—even going so far as to lift her knees
and put a few under her, so she was a little higher. Perfect
height, it turned out, for their possession.

Interesting. And inventive. She liked what they
were doing and looked forward to see what might come next. She
hoped it involved Bear’s cock, but she was willing to wait and see
which of the many variations Silla had told her about, they might
choose.

After he seemed content with her placement,
Bear rose to his knees in front of her. His hands went to her
waist, caressing as he looked deep into her eyes.

“
Are you all right?” he asked,
melting her heart with his obvious concern.

“
It’s good,” she replied, barely
able to catch her breath. She wanted to scream for him to go
faster. To get on with it. But she couldn’t. This was a voyage of
discovery and she had to be patient.

“
I’m going to take you now, joining
the three of us as one,” Bear warned in a soft tone. “I want you to
tell me right away if it’s too much.”

“
I want it,” she gasped as he moved
closer, lifting her thigh to wrap around his hips. “I want you.
Both of you.”