Dragon storm, p.7
Dragon Storm, page 7
It was true that her shifting ability was more magical than others, but Josie didn’t particularly think that made her any closer to heaven or enlightenment, or whatever you wanted to call it, than any other being. Just because she had a little more magic than most was no reason to idolize her. When other shifters started acting weird around her, Josie felt uncomfortable in the extreme.
If they couldn’t handle her—a mere snowcat—how in the world would the locals deal with two dragons in their midst? Now there was some serious magic. Josie had felt it tingle through the air as her men shifted and ever since, she had noticed it around them. They were never entirely free of it. The magic buzzed around them in a low-level hum. It was a comforting sort of hum she hadn’t noticed until she’d felt it escalate into a symphony as they shifted form.
It was actually kind of beautiful. And very, very magical.
If snowcats were revered, these two dragons ought to be deified.
Firming her resolve, she turned toward the kitchen. The smell of sizzling meat and vegetables tantalized her nose and made her stomach growl as she walked into the small room. The kitchen table was set as if for a state dinner, except of course for her paltry stoneware dishes and mismatched utensils. The men apparently had good manners and knew how to set a table. Maybe their world wasn’t so backward after all.
The roast sat in the center of the table, just waiting to be carved. Heaping plates of mashed potatoes, green beans and other vegetables she’d had in her refrigerator and freezer sat around the main platter. Her mouth watered.
“This looks delicious.” She tried to keep the surprise out of her voice but saw the smirking grins on the twins’ faces. They knew darn well that she’d expected far less when they insisted on cooking dinner for her.
“Allow me.” Darius pulled her chair out for her. Connor moved to carve the roast while Darius brought each of the side dishes to her, spooning servings onto her plate at her direction.
Connor served the roast in thick, savory slices while Darius took his seat. Solicitous didn’t even begin to describe the way they treated her. Unctuous might be closer, but it didn’t quite capture the very real concern for her comfort she saw in their eyes.
After she was served, the men took huge portions for themselves. Josie had been surprised by the sheer amount of food they’d prepared, thinking perhaps they’d overdone it. Now she began to understand just how much these two men could eat.
“This is really delicious,” Josie complimented them both as she sampled everything. They really were good cooks. “Where’d you learn to cook like this?”
“We don’t often get the chance to prepare meals indoors,” Connor began.
“When we’re on patrol, we often shift and cook outside rather than eat game raw in our dragon forms.” Darius finished his twin’s thought. “Our brothers laugh at us sometimes, but I think they all prefer cooked meat.”
“Though they’ll never let on.” Connor picked up the thread again, grinning at his brother and then at her. “They enjoy teasing us too much.”
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Eight,” Connor answered. “Roland is the eldest, then Nico, Hugh, the other twins Collin and Trey, Trent, us, Jon, then the baby, Wil.”
“Although, since his adventure on Gryphon Isle, Wil is closer to our age now.”
Josie didn’t understand how that could be, and the look on her face must’ve telegraphed her puzzlement.
“Wil was kidnapped by servants of the wizard Gryffid and taken to Gryphon Isle. Gryffid did something to change the way time flows on the island and Wil spent five years there, learning from Gryffid and training with the fair folk warriors before our people got to him and brought him back. Only a week passed for us while Wil aged five years,” Darius continued.
“It was quite a shock. He’d been captured as a gawky teen and came back a man grown.” Connor raised his glass and took a long swallow of water. “At first we didn’t believe it was him.”
“I can see why. That’s…amazing.” Josie was more than a little alarmed at the idea of such powerful magic. Things like that just didn’t happen. For that matter, a girl didn’t have dinner with two dragons every day either. She felt hysteria loom near the surface again, but tamped it down.
She’d seen magic. Hell, she was magic. She knew its flavor and understood as much as she could about it, having lived with it almost her whole life. This was something else altogether. What they were talking about in such a matter-of-fact way, was impossible in her world. The stuff of legend.
“I fear we are distressing you again,” Connor said in a tight voice. “Please forgive us. It is hard to know what topics will cause you discomfort.”
“No, it’s okay. Really. I’m just a little… I guess overwhelmed would be a good word. The kind of magic you’re talking about doesn’t exist here. Not to my knowledge, at least.” She firmed her resolve and her backbone. “Which is all the more reason to get you two to my grandfather. If anyone will know about this kind of stuff, it’s him.”
“It will be an honor to meet your grandsire,” Connor said formally.
They finished dinner in silence, only talking again as they cleaned up the kitchen. Darius and Connor wanted to do it by themselves, but Josie insisted on helping. She didn’t want to be left alone with her thoughts. They were too disturbing.
When Darius came up behind her at the sink and slipped his arms around her waist, she didn’t object. In fact, she felt a wave of relief come over her. This, she could focus on. The passion that was between them would take her mind off her worries and allow her to be at peace—if only for a little while.
Connor joined them as Darius moved to her right, crowding close. Her men surrounded her, buffeting her on both sides so that she was pressed into the counter in front, with one of them on each side.
“Do you want us, love?” Connor whispered in her ear, his tongue slipping inside to tease the whorls and make her squirm.
“Yes.” Her voice was a mere gasp of sound, but they heard it. She reveled in the fire of their touch, the way they grasped her and moved with her toward the kitchen table, shedding clothes as they went.
Darius tossed Josie’s jeans under the table as Connor kissed her. They took turns. One twin would distract her with kisses and heated touches while the other removed another piece of her clothing. She tugged at their shirts, but aside from those being loosened, the men were clothed while she was…well…naked.
She had to hand it to them. They were very efficient when they worked together toward a goal.
“I want to touch you,” she complained as Darius placed nibbling kisses down her throat. He straightened.
“Your wish is my command, sweetheart.” He tugged his shirt off over his head and let it fall on top of the pile already on the floor. The medallion around his neck flashed in the kitchen light, catching her eye. Unconsciously, she reached out to touch it and was jolted by the buzz of magic that leapt from the metal to her hand and up her arm.
“Whoa.” She pulled her hand back quickly while Darius frowned.
“Are you all right?” He took her hand, examining it for injury. “It’s never done that before.”
“It’s okay. Just a sizzle of magic. Or something. That thing really packs a wallop.”
Darius tilted his head as if trying to decipher her words, but grinned as he moved close once more. “So do you, my love.”
She laughed at his outrageous tone. Darius was the ultimate rogue, she was learning, while his brother was more like still waters that ran very deep, indeed. They looked so alike, yet they had unique personalities that made each stand out in her mind. She liked them both and needed them with a biological compulsion. The mating call was strong. It would not be denied.
Love, though, was something else. She needed them. She wasn’t quite sure about the love part yet. What she felt seemed like love, but it was new, fresh and…scary. She couldn’t really be certain.
Her mind was in turmoil about taking two mates. Heck, she figured she’d have a hard enough time finding one man to put up with her mixed parentage and odd ways, let alone two. While three-partnered relationships weren’t unheard of among shapeshifters, she’d never even entertained a fantasy that such a life could be meant for her.
The way they made her feel was starting to make her a believer, though. She was swept away by their arousing touches, their attention to every last detail of her pleasure.
Darius distracted her while Connor lifted her off her feet, positioning her near the kitchen table. He bent her over a chair, then stepped away, making room for his brother. They worked well together, and she reaped the benefits.
Darius stroked her bottom while Connor moved to stand off to one side, as she leaned over the chair’s back. She looked up at him, meeting his gaze as he reached out to caress her shoulders, then moved lower, to cup her swaying breasts in his big palms. She loved the way he stroked her, gentle one moment, rough the next, then soothing and always considerate.
Darius’s fingers moved downward, sinking into her wet heat. He didn’t play games, but went straight for her clit, tickling the aroused flesh with a knowing touch as she gasped. Connors fingers pinched her nipples while Darius slid two thick fingers into her pussy. She needed them, and she needed them soon. She couldn’t take much more of this without exploding and she wanted them with her when the climax hit her.
“Fuck me, Darius. Fuck me now.” She was a cat-shifter in delicious heat. The snowcat inside didn’t understand why its mates were making it wait. It screeched inwardly, willing them to fuck her.
“As my lady wishes.” Darius’s words brushed past her ear in a breathy whisper as he leaned over her, removing his fingers. She felt him lift away only to replace his fingers with something much bigger. He paused at the mouth of her pussy, one hand on her ass and one hand between them, guiding his way, she imagined. But she couldn’t imagine why he was waiting. Didn’t he know she was desperate to be fucked?
Then Connor got her attention with a soft touch to her cheek. She opened her eyes to find his bare cock bobbed right in front of her face as he stepped forward.
“Take me in your mouth,” he ordered, and she liked the rough edge to his voice.
“Do it. I want to watch you take him,” Darius cheered her on. She knew why he’d waited. He wanted to watch her swallow his brother’s cock before he got inside her pussy. It was just kinky enough to set her on fire.
Josie opened her mouth and received the tip of his massive cock on her tongue, taking a moment to swirl around him a little before she took the rest of it. He was big, but he was also considerate. He never gave her more than she could comfortably handle.
“Look at me, baby. I want to see your eyes while I’m in your mouth.” Connor’s guttural words turned her on even more as she did as he asked.
Without warning, Darius shoved home, pushing her forward a bit, onto his twin’s cock. It was sheer heaven being stuffed from both ends by them.
Darius began a fast rhythm that made her want to cry out. Instead, her cat alternately purred and growled, the vibrations working up through her throat to surround Connor’s cock and making him groan.
He pulled out completely as Darius began to pound her in short digs. Connor fondled her breasts as he watched his brother make her come so hard she cried out. She climaxed over and over around Darius’s thick cock. He gave her his warm come in powerful spurts that only heightened her pleasure. She was dripping by the time he was done.
She trembled, her arms barely supporting her as Darius pulled out. She only had a moment’s rest before Connor slid a soft cotton kitchen towel between her wet thighs, cleaning her with a few impatient strokes.
Josie saw the striped towel join her clothes on the floor a second before Connor lifted her like a rag doll and sat her on the kitchen counter a few steps away. He really was incredibly strong.
He positioned her just the way he wanted, her pussy at the perfect height as her ass slid forward on the polished countertop. Without preliminaries, he shoved into her, parting her slick tissues with little difficulty. This time, his rhythm felt like one long, orgasmic climax that started when he began to move. He was already primed. It wouldn’t take long. She’d already almost blacked out from the sheer force of the pleasure he gave her.
Josie could see Darius over Connor’s shoulder, watching. She’d never thought of herself as an exhibitionist before, although she knew all shifters were to some extent, but seeing the rapt look on Darius’s face sent her over an even higher cliff of ecstasy as Connor fucked her on the kitchen counter.
She’d never seen or done anything as raunchy as this in her life, but she already wanted everything they could give her. The spasms of pleasure hit her again as Connor pushed hard into her in fast jabs that made her whimper and moan. She screamed when he came, his hot spurts of come sending her into the largest tremor of completion yet.
She and Connor gasped for air. Darius looked ready for action again as he stalked toward them. He looked deliberately at the place where she and Connor were joined.
“I want more,” Darius said simply. The growl in his voice stoked her fire once again. She wouldn’t have believed it if she wasn’t living it.
Connor pulled out slowly, letting the sensations linger, then stepped away as Darius lifted her into his arms and headed toward her bedroom.
She looked around quickly at the kitchen to make sure nothing potentially dangerous had been left unattended.
The rest of the kitchen cleanup could wait.
There were much more important things to do at the moment.
Stewart Mathieson and his mate Cindy greeted the trio as they left Josie’s Jeep in the parking area a few yards from the big main house. Several of the cougars were outside, preparing a barbeque pit. It looked like the Alpha and his mate had been overseeing the setup when Josie had pulled in. They walked forward to meet her with cautious smiles on their faces.
Stewart held out his hand to her first. Josie surmised it was because he knew she was a snowcat and despite the fact she was only half-shifter, it was enough to draw unwanted attention from other cat shifters.
“Greetings, Alpha. I’m Josephine Marpa. We spoke on the phone.” They shook hands.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Ms. Marpa.”
“Please, call me Josie. And these are Darius and Connor. My mates.”
Stewart’s eyebrow rose. His wife, bless her heart, gave Josie an envious wink.
“Are you also snowcat?” Stewart asked as he shook hands with the twins.
“No. We are dragon.”
An uncomfortable silence stretched as the Alpha pair looked at the twins in confusion.
“Dragon?” Stewart echoed finally.
“That’s one of the things I came here to talk to you about. You see, Darius and Connor aren’t from around here.”
“Not from Oregon?” Cindy asked hopefully.
“Not from this world,” Connor answered politely. “We were brought here from our own world during a magical storm.”
Stewart backed up a step and grinned. “You’re kidding, right? This is some kind of joke.”
“I assure you it is not.” Connor tried to be polite. Josie could tell both twins were near to losing their temper. Apparently dragons didn’t like to be questioned.
“We have no time for this. I will demonstrate.” Darius stepped away and headed for the fire pit the cougars were trying to light.
Josie wanted to stop him, but he was too fast even for her. Between one blink and the next, the walking figure of Darius was replaced by a hulking black dragon that sent cougars in human form scurrying in fear as he breathed a stream of fire into the prepared coals. They burned to perfection in five seconds flat.
Darius, in dragon form, turned to look at them, propping one clawed hand on his hip as if waiting for their reaction, and Josie couldn’t help but be amused. A single hiccupping giggle turned into outright laughter as Connor grinned with her. She turned back to the stunned Alpha pair.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s a lot to take in.” She talked as she tried to stop laughing. “They really are dragons, and they really aren’t from this world.”
“I believe you.” The Alpha turned back to her, his jaw slack with shock. “You’re a dragon too?” he asked Connor.
“Yes. Darius and I are twins in every respect, though I am a few minutes older.”
“Son of a gun.” Stewart watched, transfixed, as Darius walked back toward them, shifting form as he moved. The black dragon was replaced by a man wearing black leather clothing in a matter of moments. “Your clothes go with you?”
Connor seemed surprised by the question. “Is that not how it is with you?”
“No. We can’t take anything into the shift with us. We go in naked and come out the same way.”
“That would cause logistical problems if you did not have clothing handy wherever you landed. Or is public nakedness acceptable in this world?”
“It is among shifters, for the most part,” Josie answered. “Not among humans. You could get arrested for appearing nude in public. Most shifters have to plan ahead or stay in animal form until they get someplace safe.”
“That must be very limiting,” Connor agreed. “I know for a fact Darius could never plan that far in advance. He’d wind up being naked wherever he went.”
Josie thought privately that with a body like his, very few women would mind, but wisely kept the comment to herself. Slowly, the scattered cougars crept back toward them. Josie looked up to find they were surrounded by curious cats in both human and cat form. Connor seemed to recognize it at the same moment.
“This is a cougar?” he asked, pointing to the nearest feline. “They look very much like the mountain cats of Shindar, though their ears aren’t as pointy.”
“Another name for cougar is mountain lion.” Josie supplied the information, surprised to hear of any kind of similarity between Earth animals and those from their world.
“I hate to ask this of you, especially after seeing that, but we need to see you are who and what you claim to be.” The Alpha gave her a serious look that she understood. These people didn’t know her. They needed some kind of proof before they extended the full hand of friendship to her.
