NecessaryDecision (4 page)

It was the incredible sensation of dominance. He’d had
another man, another were-panther, completely in his control. Crying out,
arching his back, spreading his legs. Gable had been completely in his control.

Yes, Gable was a slave. Varek was a slave, they both were.
But there was a difference between sexual dominance and the sort of dominance
the Pride-born had over all Unfree as a matter of course. That was a dominance
of spirit, a dominance born from superior numbers and tradition and from the
normal behavior of were-panthers. The Orion Pride had defeated those men and
therefore were dominant, period.

But plunging his cock into Gable’s ass, digging his fingers
into Gable’s hips, watching Gable’s head drop and rise as he cried out and the
muscles in his back flex as he bucked against Kylar’s hips, begging for
more…that was a different kind of dominance. It wasn’t animal and it wasn’t
related to the Pride. It was a singular dominance, a silent acknowledgment that
he, Kylar, was Gable’s master.

How much more exciting would it be to dominate Varek, that
enormous man? To watch those incredibly powerful shoulders move with Kylar’s
every thrust?

His cock burned just thinking of it. His ass, still tingling
from their earlier play, clenched. To have that kind of power over a warrior as
strong and immense as Varek would be incredible.

And there that ass was, practically in his face. He could
reach out and touch it. He could grab his now-hard cock and plunge it in, and
Varek would cry out when he did. That cry would vibrate against Gabel’s
erection. The three of them could—

No. That was the problem.

The three of them. It wouldn’t be the three of them. Varek
and Gable were in love with each other. He, Kylar, was in love with Gable. If
someone had told him he’d be out of his mind with love for a slave two weeks
ago, Kylar would have called them a liar and laughed them out of the room. But
no matter how unlikely, it was true. He was in love, filled up with need and
longing for Gable, amazing, loving, playful Gable. But Kylar heard the
tenderness in Gable’s voice as he sighed Varek’s name into the cool night air.
Gable might care for Kylar, but he cared for his slave lover more.

It would be the two of them, Varek and Gable. And he, Kylar,
would be the third wheel, the one who served whenever one of the other two were
bored and wanted variety.

They didn’t love him. They never would.

He was surprised to find that one hand had risen into the
air, reaching for Varek’s ass, and that his other hand had slid down his
stomach, almost touching the head of his throbbing erection. God, how he wanted
to finish both movements. It would feel so good. It would feel tremendous.

But it wouldn’t last. If he fucked Varek now the way he
wanted to, it would be giving in. It would mean letting them treat him as a
mascot, a sex toy. An extra appendage to their primary—their
dominant
—relationship.

Kylar Grossman would never be a third wheel, and he would
never submit to being less important in the eyes of his lover. He simply
couldn’t. Everything in him, every bit of warrior strength and pride in his
blood rebelled against the very idea.

He sat back on his heels. Gable stopped stroking Varek’s
cock and looked up, his wide eyes meeting Kylar’s.

“Join us,” he said. The urgency in his voice was so
tempting, but was it because of Kylar or simply because he was getting near the
edge of release? “Kylar, join us. Varek is ready for you. He’s waiting for you.
Come and be with us.”

Varek groaned. His ass moved again as he shifted his knees
farther apart. It was like being offered heaven.

But at what cost? Was heaven worth betraying himself and
everything he wanted? Betraying his pride and sense of place and becoming the
sex toy of a pair of Unfree? Not even a pair of Pride-born men, men of his own
class and status, but two mere slaves. Two of the defeated, who spent their
lives serving the Pride-born men who had defeated them.

Kylar was a man. An adult, not a boy. He knew there would always
be willing men. Hell, he could get up, walk back to the Unfree cabins and take
the ass of any man there. This wasn’t exactly the only chance he’d ever have,
and part of being a man was being able to exert control and overcome base
desires for the good of his heart and soul.

Knees shaking a little, he stood up just as Varek slid his
hand around to cup his own left buttock and pulled, opening himself up further.
A lesser man would have given in at that moment.

Kylar was not a lesser man. He was a Pride-born warrior, a
son of Orion.

He kept reminding himself of that as he shifted and ran
away, his sensitive were-panther ears hearing Varek and Gable calling his name
from an ever-increasing distance.

Gable could feel his heart breaking, robbing him of his
bodily pleasure. His cock grew even limper between his legs. They had failed.
Kylar didn’t want them, at least not both of them together. Gable had seen it
in his lover’s eyes, his unwillingness to open his mind to the idea that he
could truly be a part of what he and Varek had. It was too soon. Gable had
known they should wait.

Still, he couldn’t be angry with Varek. He knew why his
first love had done what he’d done.

“It’s my fault. I’m sorry,” Varek said. He sat back on his
heels, his own cock sagging between his legs. It seemed neither of them found
abandonment a turn-on.

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.” Varek sat up a little straighter, his brow
furrowing before he rolled back onto his toes and sprung to his feet. “I’ll go
to him. I’ll find some way to—”

“I think I should go.” Gable rose, laying a gentle hand on
Varek’s thick arm. “I’ll talk to him. I think he might listen to me.”

“But not to me.” Varek’s brows furrowed even deeper, until
Gable wanted to reach up and smooth the worry from his love’s face. “He doesn’t
want anything to do with me.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” A grin teased at Gable’s lips, the
memory of how Kylar had relished being claimed bringing some hope back into his
heart. “I heard him cry out when you penetrated him. I know the way he sounds
when he’s enjoying himself. He loved it, he loved the way you made him feel.
He’s just not ready to admit that he loved it. Kylar’s a very proud man.”

Varek reached up, stilling the hand Gable stroked across his
arm. “When you talk about him… When you say his name…”

“It makes you jealous?”

“It makes me jealous. And…afraid.”

“You don’t ever have to be afraid.” Gable stood on tiptoe,
claiming Varek’s lips for a long, slow kiss that had them both breathless by
the time he pulled away. “But neither does he. I love him. It’s not just about
finding a Pride-born mate to get me out of the slave quarters…It’s about more
than that now.”

“I know.”

“You are my first. I will always love you, but I’ll always
love him too. Once I start loving someone like this…”

“You can’t turn it off. I know…it’s one of the things I love
most about you.” Varek cupped Gable’s cheek in his strong hand, his gentleness
as amazing as always. He was so strong, but capable of such tenderness, such
openness. As soon as Kylar realized what an extraordinary man Varek was, he’d
have to love him. Gable wouldn’t settle for anything less. He pulled himself up
to his full height, steeling himself as he would before any battle. Varek saw
him straighten and smiled. “Go to him then.”

“I will.” Gable stepped back, but paused when the shimmering
of the waterfall caught his eye. It wasn’t full dark yet, but it would be soon
and Varek loved swimming in the dark. Perhaps a swim would help soothe him.
“Why don’t you stay here and enjoy the water? I’ll come back and join you after
I talk to Kylar.”

Varek nodded. “All right. Good luck, I’ll see you soon.”

“You will.”
And maybe I won’t be alone
, Gable
silently added, praying that Kylar would let him in and listen to what he had
to say.

* * * * *

Kylar’s legs still shook beneath him as he wandered through
the woods, back in human form, wanting the chill wind against his bare skin and
not his fur. It didn’t cool the fire in his blood though. Now that he’d left
them, walked away, he had a hard time understanding why.

Well, no. He knew why. The problem was that—the farther he
walked away, the more undesirable loneliness became. And the more undesirable
loneliness became, the more he began to see this situation from Varek’s and
Gable’s points of view.

He knew the two of them enjoyed having other men in their
bed. Most warrior-mates did. Varek and Gable weren’t allowed to mate—being
Unfree slaves—but surely their relationship wasn’t so different from the
Pride-approved matings. In those relationships, everyone understood that
inviting another man to your bed didn’t mean anything beyond having a bit of
fun. It was wonderful to have your mate in bed with you. But to add another
man, another cock to play with and suck, another ass to bury your own cock
inside…it was just triple the fun.

He knew Gable and Varek occasionally asked a third man to
their bed.

But as far as Kylar knew, they’d never invited any man back
for a second visit. And neither of them had taken a lover on the side. Gable
and Varek didn’t play alone.

So what did it mean, that Gable had become Kylar’s…well, his
lover? The man he loved, the man he wanted. And Varek had become the man he was
curious about, and the other man he wanted.

And Varek obviously wanted him.

Was it just possible that they wanted to be a
permanent
threesome? He never would have thought such a thing was possible in the strict
mating rules of the Orion Pride, but ever since Kerrick and Caleb had been
allowed to bring a female into their bed, to claim her as mate to both of them,
things had changed. No one had tried to initiate another three-person mating
just yet—it had only been three weeks since the first announcement—but Kylar
knew it would happen eventually. There was a definite sense in the Pride that
attitudes about unconventional matings were shifting.

But did he want to be part of such a mating? And did he want
to be part of it knowing that he might not ever be as important to them as they
were to each other?

No.
No, as much as he wanted to he couldn’t. It felt
like a heavy weight on his shoulders, the longing for them both. To be
surrounded by their hard hot bodies, to have a cock in his mouth and another in
his ass, to kiss them, stroke them and to be stroked. It would feel amazing. It
would feel like truly belonging to a family for the first time in his life.

Talk to them, you fool. Quit sulking like a damn boy!
He
stopped, took a deep breath.

Maybe he
should
just ask them what they wanted from
him, what they hoped the future would hold. Yes, it would hurt like hell if
they said they were only looking for a little fun, or simply thought it would
be exciting to have a third playmate of a more regular nature. But it would be
a disappointment he could handle. At least then he would
know
, and could
make the choice to give in to those luscious lips and tempting cocks if he
wanted to.

But if he gave in, could he ever trust that—

A shout interrupted his thoughts, but not a scared shout or
a battle cry. This was a whoop of joy. Someone was celebrating. When he turned
in the direction it had come from, he realized immediately who it was.

Caleb. Caleb, whom he’d just been thinking of, one of the
first people in the Orion Pride to have both a warrior-mate and a female mate.
Caleb leapt into the air, his face split in one of the biggest grins Kylar had
ever seen him wear. When he met Kylar’s eyes, his grin grew even bigger.

Caleb crossed the forest between him and Kylar at a run.
Strangely, Kylar felt himself blush a little at his nakedness. Nudity never
mattered much in the Pride. They saw each other naked all the time, especially
in the woods where it wasn’t uncommon for Pride members to shift into
were-panther form to run, or for couples to spend passionate hours on the soft
ground.

But for some reason seeing Caleb fully dressed, seeing the
absolute joy on the other man’s face, did embarrass him a bit.

No, actually…it shamed him. It shamed him because, for a
second, for one split second when he’d seen Caleb running toward him, he’d been
envious. Two weeks ago, Kylar had cynically believed Caleb’s new happiness
would never last, but now…seeing him so full of joy, it was easy to believe it
would. Well, it was obvious Caleb had everything. Two mates who loved him. The
respect and admiration of so many and the friendship of almost everyone. Yes,
Kylar had respect and admiration and friendship too. But he didn’t have even
one mate who truly loved him.

Gable loves you.

No. Gable
wanted
him. Love? He wasn’t sure about
that.

And this wasn’t the time to think about it. Instead he
plastered a smile on his own face and said, “Caleb! You look happy.”

“I am!” Caleb almost sang the words. “We got the best news
today, Kylar, the greatest news!”

Kylar knew what it had to be. He just knew. And when Caleb
spoke, he wasn’t surprised by his revelation.

“Kerrick and I are going to be fathers! Mercy’s pregnant.
Isn’t it wonderful? I can’t believe it. We both thought it would never happen
for us. Well, being warrior-mated it couldn’t, but now…” He tossed his head
back, laughing with pure joy. “We’re all so excited. I can’t stop telling
everyone.”

“I’m excited for you too,” Kylar said. And he meant it.
Better Caleb than himself. Having children had never been something Kylar
wanted. As much as he envied Caleb his happiness, he didn’t envy him the road
he was about to follow. Kylar’s own father had taught him how difficult it
could be to rear happy children and made him a firm believer that parenting was
a job better left to the other members of the Pride. To men and women who
didn’t have quite so many…issues. “That’s great news, Caleb. Tell Kerrick and
Mercy I’m happy to hear it.”