NecessaryDecision (5 page)

Caleb threw his arms around him, his body warm through his
clothes against Kylar’s skin. The contact only lasted a few seconds, but it
felt good, a mercifully uncomplicated embrace. “Thank you! We’re having a party
to celebrate next week. You’ll come, won’t you?”

“Of course. Just tell me when, and I’ll be there.”

“Great. We’ll call you.” And with that Caleb was off,
running farther into the woods, still shouting his happiness into the trees and
sky.

Kylar stood there for a long moment, watching his friend’s
body disappear into the forest. Stranger things could happen than the
fulfillment of the secret wish that had crept into Kylar’s mind. Caleb and
Kerrick had taken a chance. They’d asked for a female mate and they’d gotten
one. Who would have ever thought a warrior-mated couple as devoted to each
other as Caleb and Kerrick could open their hearts to a third, and that their
love could shine even brighter for the addition? But they had, and they did.
The three-way mating hadn’t diminished their connection, it had simply added to
it. Kylar had never seen three people so happy in his life.

So if they could do it and grow their love…why couldn’t
Gable and Varek? Was it possible that’s what they wanted? Was it possible for
him to put aside his own emotional baggage and let them speak their truth?

He had to find out. If he didn’t, he knew it was something
he’d regret for the rest of his life. He turned and headed back into the woods,
back the way he’d come.

Chapter Four

Varek dove—down, down, into the icy water at the bottom of
the creek bed—forcing himself to hold his breath until it was almost painful,
until his lungs ached and burned and his chest felt it would implode. Only then
did he shove his feet into the sand and surge upward, heart racing as he
wondered if he would make it to the surface in time.

One stroke, two, three—

“Ahh!” He sucked in a desperate breath and—for a moment—the
sweet bliss of oxygen pouring into his lungs was the only sensation in his
body. He was light and free, purified by his swim.

The free feeling lasted all of a minute and a half. As soon
as his breath leveled out and the urgency and need of those last moments under
the water faded, the fear crept back in. Would Gable succeed in his mission?
Would Kylar ever give Varek the chance to prove he was more than an obstacle to
be overcome? Was his and Gable’s dream of a permanent partnership just that—a
dream, one that would never be more than a phantom that came in the night?

Anxiety pinched at his shoulders, made his stomach cramp.
What was going on across the woods at Kylar’s house? Not knowing was maddening,
and even a swim hadn’t helped as much as it usually did. But maybe if he swam
harder, stayed down longer…

Varek was about to dive back down into the depths when he
saw him—Kylar. He stood near a clutch of trees on one side of the bank, silent
as a shadow, watching him. The hair on Varek’s neck stood on end, the animal
part of him wondering if Kylar had come as a friend or a foe. It was too dark
to judge by Kylar’s expression. Night had fallen and the rays of moonlight that
illuminated the swimming hole didn’t penetrate the thick foliage near that part
of the bank.

“I thought you were in trouble,” Kylar said, his voice soft
and deep, lacking the hostility from earlier in the evening. Varek felt a bit
of the tension ease from his shoulders. So he hadn’t come as an enemy then. “I
was going to dive in and save your life if you’d stayed down another ten
seconds.”

“I can hold my breath for a long time.” Varek silently
cursed himself as soon as the words were out of this mouth. He sounded like a
fool! Couldn’t he have thought of something more charming to say, something
that would help change Kylar’s opinion that Varek was three hundred pounds of baggage
Gable needed to drop at the door to the slave quarters?

“You can hold your breath for an eternity.” Kylar laughed,
just the smallest chuckle, but still enough to lift Varek’s spirits. “I
couldn’t help but imagine what other…uses you might find for that skill.”

Varek smiled and strode slowly toward the shore. “Well,
yes…there is that.”

“There’s always that,” Kylar said with a sigh. Varek could
feel the other man’s eyes on him, trailing down his water soaked chest. “You
and Gable have been lovers for over a year.”

It was a statement, but Varek could feel the question
lurking beneath. “We have. Since we were not much more than boys. At first, I
offered him my protection, but then…” He shrugged, the movement easing some of
the tension in his shoulders. “It’s impossible not to love him.”

“I know. I…I know.” There was pain in Kylar’s voice. He
stepped out of the trees and the moonlight kissed his strong face, revealing
pain there too.

Varek stopped, letting the water lap around his waist.
“Gable loves you, Kylar. He told me as much, and then he went to look for you.
He told me he’d always love me, as well, but…well, it’s still not easy to see
the man you love run off after another man.”

“You’re telling the truth?” he asked, almost as if he were
afraid to believe.

“I have no reason to lie.”

Kylar grunted beneath his breath and took a few slow steps
toward the water. “So that’s why you’re half-drowning yourself?”

Varek smiled. “Yes. Only half-drowning. I wanted to be alive
when Gable came back to give me the bad news, to tell me you…” Varek’s words
trailed away as Kylar waded into the swimming hole, and his strong body was
fully illuminated by the moonlight. He was truly gorgeous. Tall and strong,
with that impossibly silky brown hair hanging down to his shoulders.

“I can still smell him on you,” Kylar said, wading deeper,
until only a few feet separated them. Kylar’s potent energy surged in the air
around them, making Varek’s skin prickle and his cock swell between his legs.
He was so different from Gable, this man, not a bit of playfulness in him. But
still, Kylar affected him.

Powerfully, instantly.

“I guess I should keep swimming then,” Varek said, standing
his ground, even drawing up a bit straighter when Kylar closed the last of the
distance between them.

“No, I like it.” Kylar had to tilt his head up just the
slightest bit to meet Varek’s eyes. “I’m not sure I like you, but…”

Surprised laughter burst from Varek’s lips as he realized
Kylar had made a joke. He had a very different sense of humor than Gable’s, but
it was a relief that he actually had one. “I’m not entirely sure how I feel
about you either. Gable insists I’m going to love you as much as he does,”
Varek said. “But you seem kind of like a cranky asshole.”

Kylar’s lips twitched at the edges. “Is that right?”

“It is.” Varek reached out and wrapped his arm around
Kylar’s waist. His cock swelled even thicker, harder, when Kylar allowed the
touch. “But being in your asshole… Well, that was a different thing altogether.
Fucking you was…amazing.”

Kylar’s strong fingers mirrored Varek’s grip on his waist
and pulled him close, until their twin erections pressed tight, pulsing against
each other as their excitement grew. “I’m man enough to admit I enjoyed it a
hell of a lot more than I expected I would.”

“Enjoyed? Is that all?”

Kylar moved one hand to Varek’s thick neck, urging his mouth
closer, closer, until Varek could feel Kylar’s breath rushing across his lips.
“My head felt like it was going to blow off when I came,” Kylar whispered, the
heat in his voice making Varek’s cock twitch. “It was that fucking good. Is
that what you want to hear?”

“Actually, I think talking is overrated.” Varek smiled, and
finally dared to believe.

“I agree.” Kylar circled his hips, grinding against Varek’s
cock, drawing a gasp from the other man.

It was a sound of passion, but not submission. There was
nothing submissive about Varek. His hands were commanding, not questioning, as
his fingers dug into Kylar’s skin, tugging him in for a heated kiss. Their
tongues twined together, jaws working, power meeting power and coming away
frenzied. Kissing Varek was like kissing fire, something that consumed and
devoured, daring Kylar to burn just as bright.

Gable was a shiver of joy that filled him to bursting with
fullness. Varek was a storm that blew fierce and strong. They were as different
as two men could be, but each completely entrancing, captivating.

And arousing, so goddamn arousing.

Kylar fisted Varek’s cock and jerked as they continued to
kiss like the world was ending, stumbling toward the bank through some unspoken
agreement that the water wasn’t the best place for what they wanted to do next.

“Fuck,” Varek groaned and worked his hips in time, as eager
for Kylar’s touch as Gable had been since the first.

“Yes. Fucking is exactly what I had in mind.”

Varek laughed, a short, breathless sound that quickly turned
into another moan of passion. He brought his big hands to Kylar’s cock, tugging
his shaft with one hand while cupping and rolling Kylar’s balls with the other.
He was as shameless and eager as Gable, ready to reach for pleasure with both
hands. They were both such passionate men, so in tune with their bodies and
desires.

“You are…amazing. I can see why he fell so fast,” Varek
panted against Kylar’s lips.

And their hearts. They were also in tune with their hearts.
Kylar knew he could stand to learn a thing or two from these amazing men. But
first, he wanted to learn more about Varek, about this strong, masculine body
and that tight ass the other man had so eagerly presented for him earlier in
the night.

“I want to fuck you.”

“Then fuck me,” Varek said, a challenge in his voice Kylar
couldn’t resist. He crouched, sweeping his arm under Varek’s legs, knocking him
in the shallow water. Varek let out a sound of surprise—half laughter, half
shout—and tackled Kylar, wrestling him to the riverbank. There they rolled over
and over, first Varek pinning Kylar and then Kylar, Varek, and again and again,
until they were sweating with exertion and Kylar’s cock throbbed with the need
to shove between Varek’s legs.

When Varek faltered for a moment, leaving his back
unprotected, Kylar pounced, digging his fingers into the other man’s thick
shoulders, spreading his legs with a rough jerk of his knees. Varek arched his
hips with a moan, presenting his ass, giving Kylar the last encouragement he
needed to thrust into his second hole. Varek cried out in pleasure-pain as
Kylar drove deep, deep, deep, stopping only when he was buried to his aching
sac.

“You feel amazing,” Kylar whispered against Varek’s neck,
scenting the spicy hint of Gable’s sweat on the larger man’s skin and finding
it sexier than he could have imagined.

He wanted to fuck this man, wanted to ride him while the
smell of Gable rose between them, uniting them, sealing the promise that
lingered in the air. The promise to try, to explore, to see if Gable was right,
if Varek could love Kylar, and maybe Kylar could love Varek as well.

But for now, love came second to lust, to the pulse-pounding
desire that made it hard to go slow, to ease in and out of Varek’s ass, giving
him the chance to adjust to Kylar’s length and girth.

“Is this what you call fucking?” Varek asked, shoving his
hips back with a sharp movement. “I’m not made of glass, Kylar.”

“Oh yeah?” Kylar asked, digging his fingers into Varek’s
hips, not sure whether to laugh or growl at the other man. Instead, he smiled
and sped his rhythm, driving into Varek with increasingly punishing thrusts.
Faster, faster, so hard he could feel the bruising contact of Varek’s ass bones
stabbing into his thighs, until Varek cried out and his hand went between his
own legs, jerking himself with the same frantic pace.

The next few seconds were blinding, a blur of bliss and
torment that culminated in an orgasm that ripped through Kylar’s body with the
force of a hurricane. He threw his head back and howled his pleasure to the
treetops, his heart soaring as Varek’s own cry joined his. Together they gave
thanks to the night and the moon and the gods of love and passion.

“That’s what I was…talking about,” Varek said several
seconds later, still not quite recovered of his breath.

Kylar laughed. “Glad I could please you.”

“I’m glad you could please each other,” came a voice from
the bank. Kylar turned to see Gable standing on the shore, glorious and
beautiful in the moonlight, smiling at them both, not a trace of anger or hurt
in his shining brown eyes. “Did you two save any energy for me?”

Varek turned over his shoulder, catching Kylar’s eye. A new
understanding passed between them, something so certain it didn’t need to be
spoken aloud. Of course they had energy for Gable. They always would. They both
loved Gable. But maybe…after what they’d just shared… Maybe there was room for
more love, for something bigger than two…

Gable held his breath, not quite ready to allow himself to
believe the miracle in the water. Varek and Kylar had found each other, and
just finished up quite the “getting to know you” session if their entwined
bodies and satisfied expressions were anything to judge by. They’d made love,
without him there to talk them past themselves and into pleasure. It truly was
a miracle.

A part of Gable realized that the average man might be
jealous that his lovers had sought each other out in the night while he’d been
fruitlessly searching for Kylar, but he couldn’t summon up the glimmer of envy.
He wasn’t that sort of man. He was the sort who seized upon any spark of hope
and held tight, wringing every bit of joy out life that he possibly could.

His childhood had been hard, his early life as a slave even
harder and if he hadn’t learned to look for the goodness in every situation he
would have lost his mind and maybe even his sense of humor. Gable truly didn’t
know which would be worse.