Survivor Read online

  “Still carrying that idea around, is he?” a woman with close-cropped grey hair shook her head. “I’m Daphne, one of Peter’s grandmothers. I… I’ve kept my distance since his fathers died, but it appears I need to get more involved.”

  “We told you…” several women said.

  “Lois didn’t want anyone interfering,” another woman said. “I’m his maternal grandmother,” she explained. She eyed the women around the table. “My daughter…hasn’t been right since her husbands died, and poor Peter has borne the brunt of it, I think. We’ll talk to him.”

  “Whoa, whoa!” I said holding up my hands. “With all due respect, ladies, I think I have this handled.” I snickered involuntarily as I had indeed handled it, then looked up guiltily when I realised I’d been laughing at my own dick joke.

  “Your beast is rising,” the hazel eyed woman said with a satisfied nod. “I’m Rhoda, and many of my grandsons are similarly gifted. You should speak to Jules. Her Aaron is one of mine, and she worked her way around it.”

  “Right,” I said. Jules had been the nice woman I’d met when I came here, but I didn’t think we were at the ‘compare dick size’ stage of a friendship.

  “Put her in the single mess,” another woman said. “She needs to start meeting the unmated men before the moon rises, and that affords her some protection.”

  “I’ll have Finn lay down the law with the men,” Ophelia said. “Make sure they understand that the usual hijinks do not apply. Like those miscreants, Darren and Brett.”

  There was a chorus of censorious noises at that.

  “Making comments like that in the married mess. Not done,” one said with a disapproving tut.

  “I’ve let them know they are on their last warning,” Ophelia said. “Though we do need to discuss what to do with them if they do reach the point of exile. Sending them through the gate is less politically palatable than it was.”

  “Just need the hand of a good woman to pull them into line. Look at what Jules did with your Jack.”

  Ophelia nodded at that.

  “Perhaps we can see what those women from Leifgart could do with them? They need mates.”

  “OK,” I said, having no idea about most of what they were talking about, “so the job?”

  “Report to the head of the kitchen once Kade has been dropped off at school,” she said. “I’ll let you know which days they need you.”

  “I think a structured meet and greet would be the best way to introduce the Leifgart women to the single men. This sudden influx of unattached women and little chance to compete for their hands is creating unrest amongst the men,” Daphne said.

  “Finn is reporting the same,” Ophelia said. “Well, we’re running out of time, with only a bit over a week until the full moon. Let's set up something for Friday. Speak to your families, have them nominate a single male member for inclusion. One only.” She held up a finger to emphasise the point when most women began to speak at once. “Too many will be overwhelming. We’ll need some families to look after the children as well.”

  “Jules should spearhead that,” Rhoda said. “She was their first point of contact and has the best relationship with them. Though word is Flick has an in with their leader.”

  “Um…what?” I said, straightening in my chair.

  “You struck up a conversation with Arelia?”

  “Um…yeah, like half an hour ago. How did you…” My voice fell away as the lot of them smiled and looked down the table at me.

  “Arelia and her kin came to Sanctuary much as you did,” Ophelia said, her eyes warm. “They fled men who would rule them and tear them apart. Now they struggle to put the pieces back together.” I thought of the shadows I’d seen in the other woman’s eyes at the playground, ones I was well acquainted with. “You seek a purpose. Perhaps that’s somewhere you can help?”

  When I swallowed, I felt a great lump shift in my throat, threatening to choke me. Help someone? I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water as it was.

  Barely? my Tirian snorted. You dealt with your mate with aplomb. Do you not wish to help others achieve the same levels of satisfaction?

  Something warm expanded within me when I thought of Peter, my mate. It was like dropping down into a hot bath. I felt my spine sag a little, my muscles going all floppy and relaxed.

  There was nothing wrong with doing things on your own, being single, or wanting independence, but the sadness came when it wasn’t wanted. I could’ve spent some time just being, and that wouldn’t have been a bad thing, but this…

  When you bit me, my heart stopped and then it started beating again. For you, Flick, always for you. Peter’s words washed over me in a wave of love, care, concern, and need that seemed to heal wounds I didn’t even know existed.

  Don’t they deserve that too? my beast asked.

  They do. Everyone does.

  “Sure,” I said. “I’d be happy to help.”

  18

  Aidan’s intake of breath was harsh.

  We lay on the bed, Peter cradling my body against his with that great lump of a cock pushed up into the softness of my butt, his hand stroking my flank. His lips went to my neck, an encouraging rumble vibrating through me as I reached out for Aidan.

  We’d talked when we got home and got Kade his dinner and put him to bed. Then we’d filed automatically into the bedroom once we saw he was deeply asleep. I’d described haltingly what had happened, until Peter pulled me into his lap and then pushed my hair to one side, kissing the bared skin, then it’d all gotten a bit ‘Letters to Penthouse’. The words came tumbling out about what we’d done, but I’m not sure if they were well phrased or not. I couldn’t see them past the technicolour playback of what had just happened in this room hours earlier.

  Aidan was hard when we finished, his hand straying to the straining bulge in his jeans. And my eyes went with it, unable to look away, until he said, “Is this… Could we… Will you touch me?”

  For a moment, I felt stung. I wasn’t sure why. I knew there was an attraction between all three of us and I had acted on it with one of them. I shifted forward, hand outstretched, as if finally acting on a task that was on my to do list.

  “Not yet, not today,” Aidan said, catching me by the wrist. “But…if you feel like it? Later?”

  It turned out several days passed before later arrived, but now it was here.

  We’d come back to bed after we’d dropped Kade off to school, probably to distract me. I still felt the tension in my bones at letting him go and run off, joining the friends he’d already made and ready to make more. He’d seemed so little and fragile as he walked through the school gates, but I’d grabbed Peter’s hand and held on ferociously tight as Kade went, waving when he turned around to make one last goodbye. Peter’s hands roamed like his lips did, bringing my consciousness back to the here and now, grounding me.

  And what a place to come back to.

  Aidan wasn’t as broad in the chest as Peter was. I don’t think I’d ever met a man of his size, but Aidan’s body was a masterwork of muscled perfection. I found my eyes wouldn’t settle, taking in the tight pecs, the cobblestone stomach, and that sharp V of muscle at his hips. I looked for so long, it took Peter saying, “It’s OK. You can touch him. We want you to,” to wake me out of it. He thought I was feeling reticent, but really, I was just stunned.

  How is this real? I thought. How can this be where I landed?

  Aidan seemed to take pity on me, covering my hand with his and bringing it to his chest.

  “It’s OK, Flick. We have all the time in the world. We can—”

  His eyes went wide when I swept in and kissed him, but he responded readily enough. I’d read enough about kisses meaning a million things other than just the press of mouths, so I tried to inject that somehow. I caught his lips between my teeth, sucked them, scored them, thrust my tongue between his.

  He’d been so fucking patient. He’d had to be, I refused to apologise for that anymore, but rig
ht now, I didn’t need that. I needed him.

  He was sneaky in a way, getting under my skin while I healed, sorting things out with Peter. He just was there, making sure we were OK, all four of us. If you’d told me when I was young that the way to my heart would be getting my son a yoghurt and making sure he brushed his teeth before bed, I’d have laughed at you, but here I was. I felt a tremendous feeling of rightness when his arms wrapped around me and our kisses slowed. He held me cradled next to him, and for a moment, we just were. Each of my mates covering my body with theirs.

  Mates, my Tirian agreed. They will fight to the death to protect you and the cub.

  That’s not why I… That’s not why I care about them.

  It was in Peter’s never-ending gentleness, the way he held the power of his body at bay, being careful when he played with Kade’s LEGOs not to break any of his crazy constructions. Peter could have strode in here, thrown his considerable weight around, and had all of us scurrying. Instead, he watched—his proximity, his occupation of space, making sure not to crowd any of us, force any of us into a corner.

  And Aidan was born to be a father in the way he watched all of us, anticipating what was needed and stepping in to get it done. The easy way he smiled and was able to cheer the two of us out of almost any mood with his almost boyish antics.

  I looked up into his eyes as I slid my hand down his chest and abs, feeling the muscles tense when it reached his waistband.

  “Flick, you…”

  His words fell away as I continued to stare into his eyes, my fingers working the button free and then peeling the fabric away. When I was met by bare skin, my eyes jerked down.

  “Commando?” I rasped.

  “I fucking hate—uh!”

  He groaned as my hands slid down and around his considerable length, my thumb sliding up to rest on the sensitive spot just under the head.

  I smiled when I watched him pant, his eyes going wide.

  “Good, brother?” Peter said.

  “I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole fucking life for this,” he groaned.

  “Worth the wait?”

  He could only make out one quick nod before my hand began to move.

  I liked Aidan’s expressiveness, that I knew exactly how this felt for him, what he liked and what he loved. I loved how he cradled me closer as I stroked him, his kisses peppering my head. I loved how he thrust up into my grip, how he groaned, how he made this sound like a simple hand job was the most amazing sexual experience in the world. I even loved it when he pushed my hand away, putting me down on my back, looming over me.

  “You OK?” he asked, settling between my legs. I nodded. “Tell me if this gets too much, yeah?”

  “Squeeze my hand,” Peter said, smiling when my eyes flicked to him. His gaze was as warm as butterscotch, and I could just dive right into it. He took my hand and then kissed the knuckles as Aidan took advantage of my bared neck. His teeth closed on the skin for a second, leaving a stinging caress before kissing that away.

  I tried to hang on, to hold Peter’s gaze, but as Aidan’s kisses went lower, seeming to trace my collarbone anew, I couldn’t. I surrendered, a feeling so odd, it took me a while to recognise it. That constant need to question and anticipate what he would do, to pull away or stop him fell to one side.

  Mate. The word rang inside me like a bell.

  I realised then that I’d never had anything like this with any man before Peter and Aidan, even when I was younger and more naïve. Only with them.

  I was free, to gasp when he unbuttoned my shirt, when his hands delved in, pushing my bra aside and over my breasts, when he watched me twitch as the calluses dragged over my nipples. I could tangle my hands in his silky hair as his lips closed around one aching tip, sucking it in. I could relax as his hand roamed what I felt was my flawed body, knowing he’d seen enough of it to decide he was into it. And he was. I could feel it in the desperate rake of his fingers, the animal like grunts. He was losing control, I could feel it, all that easy-going composure being tossed to one side and something a whole lot sexier rising up.

  He pulled back, resting on his heels, and my hand went to his erection as a matter of course. Because I liked the way it stopped him in his tracks, made him surrender to me, staying oh so still, as if his reactions would somehow stop me.

  But finally, he did. His eyes opened a crack, and he smiled, slow and lazy, moving slowly to my jeans’ waistband.

  “Can we take these off?” he asked. I nodded, going to do just that, but he batted my hands away. “Let me,” he said, and I realised how often he said that to me. That concerned me for a split second, as if maybe I was becoming the arrogant partner that took the other for granted, but I couldn’t think about that for too long. He peeled my jeans off, and then my underwear, in what felt like seconds. Then his hands went to my thighs, sliding them open with gentle but firm hands, and his eyes dropped down.

  I fought the need to thrust a hand down, place a barrier between him and me, but I was rewarded with a hot smile when I didn’t.

  “Mmm…” he said, reaching down and sweeping two fingers through my folds, forcing my back to arch under that brief caress. “So fucking wet.” And then he sucked them clean. “Like honey,” he said to Peter in wonder.

  “I told you. It’s been killing me, keeping my head out from between her thighs,” Peter replied.

  “Don’t hold yourself back on my account,” I said, the words out before I could think otherwise. Everyone paused, freezing for the moment, then the two of them burst out laughing.

  "We’ve woken a beast, have we?” Peter purred, kissing me once, then more, until my head was spinning with the slow, drugging sensation.

  “One I’d gladly feed, often,” Aidan said, shifting, and then there it was.

  Peter’s mouth followed mine, his tongue slipping in as Aidan’s did also, somewhere much more intimate.

  Ohh…fuck. Peter had been hungry, using a brutal efficiency when we’d gotten naked, but Aidan was a much slower, sensual animal. He dipped his tongue in and out again, just enough to sensitise me, moaning when he got my taste. Then he kissed the sensitive skin of my inner thighs, covering every inch until I was twitching with need, my hand shooting out and grabbing his hair. He chuckled when I pushed him closer to where I ached, then rewarded me with a long lick along my clit and its hood, making my hips follow him.

  “So plush and soft,” he murmured as he stroked a finger through my folds, circling my aching entrance, as if to draw my attention to the need to be filled. His other hand landed on my leg when I tried to move closer. “I know what you need, love, and I’m gonna give it to you.”

  It was as if they had planned this. Aidan’s fingers slid in, his tongue flicking out as Peter’s mouth closed around my nipple.

  “Oh!”

  I couldn’t formulate any other response. A part of me that had been beaten down and almost extinguished roared up and out through my body as I got to experience the singular pleasure of being caressed by two men simultaneously. I felt like I was strung out tight between my clit and my nipples, each aching and throbbing with a truly incredible pleasure, one that had me twitching uncontrollably.

  I remembered this. Not this exactly of course, but this feeling of being swamped by intense sensation, of being completely and utterly in your body. I gave in to their expert hands, letting them drag me higher and higher, until I knew I needed more.

  I ached deep inside, something only one of them could satisfy. Aidan panted, catching his breath when he drew away, his face and beard smeared with my juices. His eyes went wide when I grabbed his hips and drew him forward.

  “Wait…Flick, I was gonna—unh!”

  The big blunt head of his dick slid through my sodden seam like a knife through butter. I just worked it back and forth, all words falling away, unneeded.

  “You sure?” Aidan finally ground out, stabbing forward, giving me a taste of what was to come. Our eyes flicked up to where Peter lay. He smiled, as if
pleased that we’d ask him.

  “Are you ready?” was his answer.

  Was I? I felt comfortable with both of them, felt the need to connect with them like my heartbeat. Of course, stopping allowed a million questions to rise up. Are they really into me? Would this last? What would Kade do if we split up? What would I do? What would this mean for our relationship?

  It’ll be the same as always, but with more mating and perhaps more cubs, my Tirian replied in her customary dry tone.

  I snorted at that, something that probably wasn’t what the guys wanted to hear, but I flipped over onto my hands and knees, Aidan’s hands landing on my hips, even as I heard sounds of concern from him.

  “Flick, we—”

  “We’re going to do this together,” I finished for him. “Peter…” I patted the bed in front of me. He was going to argue, I could see it, but this was what I wanted. And he wanted it too. I could see his rigid length pulled up hard against his belly. We all wanted this, if they could just trust me. “I’m not doing this without you, and I need Aidan inside me, like…now, so get your arse over here.”

  His smile was a tentative thing that grew bolder as he shuffled under me. Feeling him, his weight, his warmth with Aidan’s at my back, helped relax any remaining tension. I closed my eyes and did what Ophelia kept telling me to do—take a deep breath, and tap into what I was feeling.

  There was something scarily decadent about all of this. My mind had been caught up doing so much mental work for my relationship with Rick, to manage the house, Kade, our lives, all to try and appease him. Then there was the usual failure, no matter how hard I tried, and then the completely unaided recovery from that, because Kade needed me. But right now, no one needed me to do anything but enjoy. Our phones were on the bedside table, each of our numbers with the teacher in case Kade was showing any signs of distress. This was all about pleasure.