Aeran & Rhys (Dragon Hearts 7) Read online

  “No—” Cristina had barely had a chance to pull up the sweats and turn on her heel, with the intention of running, when a steely arm was place about her waist, knocking all the air from her lungs as she was brought to a sudden stop. “Put me down, you—you big gorilla!” She struggled against that steel band about her waist as her feet left the floor and she was carried across the room.

  “Gorilla?” Rhys echoed mildly as he once again made himself comfortable on the couch, Cristina still held securely in his arms. “I think you deserve an extra five spanks for having just insulted us and our dragons.” He swung her over easily so that she was lying facedown across his thighs, his arm now placed firmly across her back as he pulled the back of the sweats back down to expose her bare bottom.

  “At least five,” Aeran agreed, sitting forward in his chair.

  Cristina turned to glare at him, her cheeks burning with embarrassed color, both at being placed in such a humiliating position and being so intimately exposed. “Sure you have a good enough view?”

  He shrugged without apology. “I can always move if I don’t.”

  “You— Oh bloody hell!” Cristina cried out as a huge hand landed painfully across her exposed bottom cheeks. “That hurt, damn it!”

  “No point in doing it if it doesn’t hurt.” Rhys landed another painful smack. “You’ll never learn to listen to the two of us if you don’t feel and remember our displeasure. One day, your life might depend upon you doing exactly that.”

  “You’ll pay for this,” Cristina bit out between gritted teeth. “Both of you.” She glared at the seemingly entranced Aeran as he stared unashamedly at the flesh his brother had just spanked.

  “I’ll look forward to it,” Rhys taunted as he began to spank her in earnest.

  Quite when those blows ceased being painful and became pleasurable instead, Cristina wasn’t sure. Only that they had. Her bottom stung from those blows, yes, but between her thighs was hot and aching, and very, very wet. Her breasts felt swollen, the nipples engorged and pressing against the T-shirt as she balanced inelegantly over Rhys’s thighs.

  Cristina squeezed her eyes tightly shut in an effort not to cry out and beg for more friction on those sensitive buds than the occasional brush of the cotton T-shirt gave her. Just as she longed for an easing of the pressure between her slick thighs, her clit swollen and throbbing. Just the brush of Rhys’s fingers against that turgid flesh would be enough to tip her over the edge into climax. But the only way that was going to happen was if she asked for it and—

  Her lids flew open as she first felt the brush of cold air on her overheated breasts before one of her nipples was sucked into a moist and satisfying heat.

  Aeran looked up at her from where he lay on the floor beneath Rhys’s legs, one of his hands curved about her dangling breast, his cheeks hollowing out as he sucked hard and long on her nipple while the fingers of his other hand tweaked and pulled on its twin.

  Cristina had barely gotten over the shock of that arousal before she felt Rhys’s long fingers stroking through the wet and swollen folds between her thighs. This dual assault on her senses by two different men was… “Oh, please.” She tried to position herself so those long fingers between her thighs touched her aching and throbbing clit. “Please!” She no longer cared if it sounded as if she was begging—because she was!

  Rhys gave her bottom another hard smack before returning to stroke his wet fingers along the seam of her pussy, over the perineum and all the way back to the crease of her bottom. He lingered there to stroke the sensitive nerve endings around that tiny rosette before reversing those caresses. His fingers were nice and wet again from her cream by the time they stroked lightly around but not quite touching her clit.

  Cristina’s jaw tightened as she turned her head to glare at him. “You’re a bloody sadist!” she accused heatedly.

  He grinned unrepentantly. “Nice things only happen to little girls who listen and do as they’re told.”

  “I hate you! Both of you!” she added vehemently as Aeran drew her attention back to where he was sucking harder on her nipple, having taken all of the areole into his mouth now as his fingers and thumb pulled and elongated the other nipple just short of pain.

  It was… She was…

  She screamed as Rhys’s fingers finally touched her clit, pressing, stroking that erect nubbin. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded as the climax swelled inside her. “Please don’t stop!” She cried out as that pleasure broke in a maelstrom of sensations, causing Cristina’s body to quiver and shake for several long and ecstatic minutes as the climax washed over and through her.

  But even the most earthshattering climax of her life had to come to an end sometime, and along with it came the realization she had just allowed two men, not just one, to make love to her.

  Two men who could shift into dragons.

  “Wow, the two of us making love to Cristina at the same time was so much more enjoyable than I could ever have imagined,” Aeran murmured in appreciation.

  “I’m not sure our mate would agree with you.” Rhys glanced across at the closed and locked bathroom door, where Cristina had once again fled the moment Rhys allowed her to get up from her position across his knees. Not that she would be escaping through the bathroom window a second time; Rhys had locked it earlier, removed the key, and safely stowed it away in his jeans pocket.

  Aeran chuckled, still sitting on the carpeted floor with his back against the couch. “Cristina is just embarrassed because she enjoyed it as much as we did.”

  Rhys nodded. “The positions we can have her in, and the pleasure we can give her together, are limitless.”

  Aeran had so many images of those positions inside his head, he knew they weren’t all originating from him. He could already feel the tendrils of the mating bond between the three of them. Not in a sexual way with Rhys, of course, but the two of them had communicated telepathically as they worked together to give Cristina the ultimate in pleasure. As they were doing now, thinking, imagining, the pleasure they could both give their mate while she was pleasuring both of them with her mouth, pussy, and that delicious rosette between her bottom cheeks.

  As for their bond with Cristina…

  Even now, Aeran could sense that her distress was caused more by embarrassment and a little shock at what she had just allowed to happen rather than any feelings of revulsion toward having both men make love to her at the same time. He was sure Rhys was just as aware of their mate’s emotions.

  “I could get used to this.”

  “Me too.” Rhys leaned back against the couch, more relaxed than Aeran had seen him in years. “She has the most deliciously soft arse.”

  Aeran nodded. “And responsive nipples.”

  “We’re two lucky dragons.”

  “I’m going to enjoy spanking her next time,” Aeran stated with satisfaction.

  Rhys chuckled. “She hasn’t done anything wrong yet.”

  “She will,” Aeran stated with certainty. “Once we complete the mating and Cristina can feel how much we both love her through the claiming bond, the happier she’ll be.”

  Love.

  It was a given between mates. As natural as breathing. And yet Aeran knew their feelings for Cristina went much deeper than just the bond. She had shown spirit and bravery when she pointed that gun at both of them in Fescaru’s apartment. Shown her continued defiance earlier when she left the castle.

  Qualities Rhys had shown he approved of when he called her “little warrior.” For a hardened fighter like Rhys, it was the ultimate compliment.

  Add Cristina’s beauty to that fighting spirit, her flawless skin and delectably responsive body, and she was more and everything a dragon could ever wish for in his mate. Aeran knew through their bond that Rhys felt the same way about her.

  Mate or not, they would have both wanted her.

  Happiness swelled in Aeran’s chest at the years of happiness he envisaged them all having together.

  Cristina, because
she would be loved unconditionally by both of them.

  Rhys, because he was no longer in danger of becoming feral and having to be destroyed. Aeran could already feel that anger and savagery draining out of his brother. Rhys was always going to be arrogant and forceful—it was a part of his nature—but the boiling fury that had churned inside him for so many years, centuries, was fading and being replaced with humor and tolerance. And so quickly, their brothers would no doubt have a field day with Rhys’s new relaxed and laid-back appearance and attitude after making love to their mate only once.

  As for Aeran… It was already difficult to imagine his life force had ever been anything but joined to Cristina’s and Rhys’s. The two of them were now his life. The three of them were now joined, like a never-ending triangle, with no beginning and no end, irrevocably and for eternity.

  Chapter 6

  “I don’t see what the problem is, as the two of you don’t seem in any hurry to let me leave anytime soon, with my wanting my own bedroom while I’m here.” Cristina restlessly paced the sitting room as she glanced from Rhys to Aeran. “This is a big castle. I’m sure there must be a spare bedroom somewhere I can use. Even the attic will do.”

  “As long as you aren’t sharing a bedroom with us,” Aeran drawled knowingly.

  “Exactly!” Her chin was raised in challenge as she glared at both of them.

  “Except for the obvious,” Rhys drawled from where he was still seated on the couch. “Our mate sleeps where we do,” he stated evenly at her frowning glance.

  Cristina had stayed in the bathroom for as long as she thought it was safe to do so without one of these men actually breaking the door down to get to her. She now knew them both well enough to know either was capable of doing exactly that.

  She had been totally mortified earlier, once she regained her scattered wits after the most incredible climax of her life, at the realization she had actually begged for these two men to give her release. So mortified, in fact, she had just wanted to hide herself away from their knowing eyes, but always in the full knowledge she wouldn’t be able to hide from them forever.

  As she had suspected, both men were sitting waiting for her when she finally emerged from the bathroom ten minutes later. As she had also expected, the bathroom window was locked and the key was missing. It didn’t take two guesses to know that Rhys was probably responsible for that. He was by far the more rigid of the two men.

  Although perhaps she shouldn’t be thinking about how rigid Rhys was when she was still totally aware of the long, hard press of his cock against her thigh earlier when he spanked her. The very long and hard press of Rhys’s cock. The thick length of Aeran’s cock had been equally impressive when she got back to her feet.

  “The castle doesn’t have an attic,” Aeran dismissed with a grin.

  “But it does have a dungeon,” Rhys added in warning.

  Cristina breathed out her frustration. “Are you trying to frighten me?”

  “Am I succeeding?”

  Her chin rose. “No. And I’m not sleeping in the same bed as either of you.”

  “You’re right, you aren’t.” Rhys was also grinning now, and if anything, it made him look more predatory than usual. “You’ll be sleeping in the same bed as both of us.”

  Cristina gave a shake of her head. “All this talk about dragons and dragon mates is just a front, isn’t it? You’re really just a load of perverts.”

  “Did our dragons look real to you earlier?” Aeran reasoned gently.

  “Well…yes. But drugs would bring about that same— What are you doing?” Cristina gasped as Rhys stood and crossed the room so quickly, she was barely aware of him having done so until she felt the firm pressure of his fingers about one of her wrists.

  “Do you take drugs?” he demanded.

  “Of course not,” she snapped. “I was referring to the possibility of one of you having given them to me.”

  “Absolutely not.” Aeran joined them, both brothers now standing altogether too close for Cristina’s comfort. “Maybe if we tell her the whole story, it will be a little easier for her to understand?” he prompted Rhys.

  “I doubt it, considering how our brothers’ human mates reacted.” Rhys returned to his seat. “But I suppose it’s worth a try.”

  A parallel universe would have been preferable to the things Aeran and Rhys told Cristina over the next few minutes.

  An invisible island where the Welsh Underworld lived. The ten brothers, Grigor, Nathaniel, Rufus, Gideon, Deryk, Bryn, Dylan, Garrett, Rhys, and Aeran, all born of their father, Uther Pendragon, and their Welsh goddess mothers. They had another brother, apparently, the King Arthur of legend. The centuries since Arthur died had been spent fighting more wars and searching for their one true mate. Two of their brothers had died during those years, Rufus and Gideon, but six of the remaining eight had finally found their mate in the last eighteen months. All of those mates were human but with traces of dragon DNA in their blood. Cristina could only assume she had that same trace in her own blood.

  She winced. “The two of you now think I’m that to both of you?” She was many things. Cristina Petran. Cezar Fescaru’s daughter. The proud owner of a university business degree she had hoped might get her into banking.

  But the one true mate to two dragon shifters?

  No, that simply wasn’t possible.

  Was it?

  “We don’t think it. We know it,” Aeran assured lightly.

  “And we aren’t letting you out of the castle again until the mating has been completed,” Rhys added firmly. “Until we have both claimed you. Together.”

  Cristina didn’t even want to think about how that was going to be possible.

  “We can give you a little time to become accustomed to the idea.” Aeran, predictably, was the one to reassure her.

  “But only a little,” Rhys, also predictably, added in warning.

  “Maybe you would like it if we were to join the rest of the family downstairs for dinner this evening?” Aeran prompted kindly. “You haven’t eaten all day, and it would give you a chance to be introduced to and talk to our brothers and the other mates.”

  “That way, you can see for yourself our brothers don’t keep their mates chained to the bed so they can have their wicked way with them whenever they feel so inclined,” Rhys taunted.

  “Well, there was that one time Grigor—”

  “He hasn’t done it since,” Rhys reasoned. “Unless it was for their mutual pleasure.”

  “All of your brothers and their mates live here too?” Cristina decided it was time to cut off that line of conversation.

  “Nathaniel and Chloe lived on the other side of the mountain for a while, but it wasn’t a good idea once they had Amelia.”

  “One of your dragon shifter brothers has a daughter?”

  “Two of our brothers are now fathers.”

  “And Grigor likes to chain his mate to the bed?” It was all too easy, Cristina realized, to imagine the arrogant and austere Grigor chaining a woman to the bed and then making love to her until she screamed with pleasure.

  Unfortunately, after what had happened earlier, she could also imagine Aeran and Rhys doing the same to her too…

  An image that caused her nipples to swell and between her thighs to dampen.

  “Only if Gayle agrees,” Rhys assured. “We are all completely dedicated to the pleasure and safety of our mate.”

  Aeran eyed her knowingly. “I believe our own mate liked the idea of being chained to the bed.”

  “I believe she did.” Rhys’s gaze on her was one of pure hunger.

  How could they know that unless… “Can you smell arousal too?”

  “Yes,” Rhys confirmed.

  “That’s just… Does this mating thing also allow you to know what I’m thinking and feeling?”

  “Thinking? No? Feeling? Yes,” Aeran acknowledged with satisfaction. “The thoughts will come too once the mating claim—”

  “Is complete,�
� she finished impatiently. “How come I can’t sense any of your feelings?”

  “I’m sure you can if you concentrate.” Rhys nodded. “Close your eyes and just allow your mind to go blank. Then tell us what you’re feeling.”

  Cristina didn’t want to follow a single dictate either of these two men made, but it was too much of a temptation to resist trying to see if she really could sense what they were feeling.

  Her lids flew wide seconds later, and she turned to glare at both men. “That’s— Surely not…?”

  Rhys chuckled at her lack of speech. “What did you feel?”

  Her cheeks blazed with heat. “You were— Both of you— One in front of me, one behind, and both of you were— Is that even possible?”

  Cristina had sensed hands caressing the length of her thighs as she straddled lean and powerful hips. She’d felt a long and aroused cock entering the slickness of her pussy inch by slow and pleasurable inch as those big strong hands continued to caress up her thighs until long fingers stroked her swollen clit. A fresh gush of juices lubricated the walls of her pussy as she instantly became lost in the euphoria of the climax that hit her like a tidal wave.

  She’d come back to full awareness as she felt the hot press of another body behind her. A hot, muscled chest, and another thick, lengthy cock, this one gliding against the seam of her bottom as the one inside her pussy continued those slow and leisurely strokes inside her wet and convulsing channel. A large, hot hand rested on her hip, the cock inside her pussy stilling to allow the second cock to slowly breach her—

  Cristina’s bottom cheeks now clenched, as did the slick heat of her pussy, at the thought of being taken by both those two enormous cocks at the same time.

  She also knew, from the emotions Aeran and Rhys were projecting and the pleasure she could feel emanating from them, that the cock in her pussy belonged to Aeran and the one pressing against her bottom hole, about to breach that tight ring of muscle, was Rhys.