Claimed by the Elven Brothers: Decision (An Elven King Novella Book 1) (5 page)

“I have something to confess,” I said as soon as Jenna answered her door.

“O—kay,” she said, flashing me a bewildered look as she stepped back to
allow me to enter her apartment. It was nine o’clock on a Saturday morning
after a girl’s night out, so I wasn’t surprised that she was still in her
pajamas. “I thought you had to work the drive-thru this morning.”

“I called in sick,” I said as I plopped myself down onto her couch.

She bent down to scrutinize my face. “Yeah, the bags under your eyes
aren’t doing you any favors. If you’re still sick, then what the hell are you
doing here at this god-awful hour?”

“I’m not sick. Well, at least I don’t think I am.”

Jenna sat down beside me and gave me the evil eye. “You didn’t have a
headache last night, either, did you?” she said flatly.

I shook my head, and her scowl deepened.

“All right, spill. The last time you flaked out on us was because you
were doing something incredibly stupid in regards to a certain asshole.”

“It has nothing to do with John, I promise,” I hastened to assure her,
and her icy expression began to melt somewhat.

“It better not,” she warned.

No, this could probably be worse than me begging my ex for a second
chance
, I thought with an inward grimace.

“I met someone last week,” I said. “Things happened, and now I don’t
know what to do.”

“Oh my God!” she yelled, grabbing me by the arms. “You’re pregnant,
aren’t you!”

I flinched back when confronted by her unexpected ferocity. “What? No!
I can be stupid sometimes, but I’m not
that
stupid.”

I had never seen a person look more relieved than in that moment. Jenna
let go of my arms and sat back with an exasperated sigh. “Next time stop to
think about what you’re saying. ‘Things happened, and I don’t know what to do.’
How
else
was I supposed to take that?”

I made a face. “I see your point.” I rubbed at my eyes wearily. “Sorry.
I didn’t get any sleep last night, and I can’t think straight right now.”

“Were you with him all night, this mystery guy of yours?” Jenna
demanded. “Megan, didn’t you say you were through jumping into bed with guys
you just met?”

“It’s nothing like that. Yeah, I was with him yesterday, but we didn’t
meet at my apartment, and I went home before it had even gotten dark.”

“Can you tell me his name at least?”

“Seren,” I replied, deciding that his name sounded less strange than
Locien’s.

“Sounds like the name of someone in a Goth band,” she said with a
laugh.

Well—maybe not…

“That’s because he’s foreign—um, French,” I lied.

“Really?” she said, her eyes suddenly lighting up with interest. “Where
the heck did you meet someone like that? Did he go through your line at the
bank or something?”

“Nobody that interesting ever goes through my line,” I scoffed. “It was
while I was out jogging at the park. I tripped on a root along the path and
sent my phone flying into the trees. He saw me and stopped to help me look for
it. We ended up going out to dinner afterwards.”

“Somehow, I’m not seeing the problem in all that,” Jenna said.

“The problem,” I replied, “is that he doesn’t live in this country. He’s
only here for a couple of weeks on business, and he has to go back to France in a few days. He—wants me to come with him.”

Jenna looked at me sharply. “If things are serious enough that he’s
asking you something like that, then why in the hell am I just hearing about
him today?”

I looked down at the hands I was wringing nervously in my lap. “Because
I didn’t expect for anything to come of it except for a short little fling,” I
muttered, “and I knew what everyone would say, that I had to stop hooking up
with all these impossible guys.”

“But
is
he an ‘impossible guy’? I don’t know how much help I can
be at this point since I’ve never even met the guy. Do you at least have a
picture?”

“Not yet.”

Try never as I don’t think finding out Seren was an elf would go over
well with my friends. I wondered if it was even possible to take a picture of
anyone while in the Inbetween. My phone had likely passed between the two
trees, and yet, it had been lying on the ground behind them as though the
doorway wasn’t even there. For all I know, the elves had fixed it so that only
people could enter that dream-like realm.

“You’re seriously considering going with him, aren’t you?” Jenna said
slowly.

I nodded. That much at least was true. After thinking and thinking
about everything Seren, Locien, and Emily had told me, I realized, somewhat
shockingly, that I really was interested, that I could actually see myself in
the crazy relationship they were proposing. It all sounded like it could be one
hot adventure, and lord knows that I needed a little spice in my life right
now.

Unfortunately, that was also the problem. Was I so disillusioned with my
mundane life that I would make such a monumental decision about my life with so
little to go on just for the chance at something special, no matter how crazy
it was? Would I actually forget about a lifelong promise to myself about never
having children for it? That’s why I had found myself at Jenna’s door this
morning and not packing my things. I needed to know if I was completely out of
my mind for even considering it before I met the elven brothers this afternoon
to do what I planned to do.

“I would miss you and the girls tons, but for the first time ever, I
have the chance to do something exciting. He lives in Paris, and that’s one
place I thought I would never get to see in person, never mind live. Besides,
if things don’t work out in the long run, then it’s not like I can’t come
back.”

I wasn’t entirely sure if that part was true. I had been so overwhelmed
by everything Emily had told that I had forgotten to ask her one of the most
important things—how exactly the elves would go about changing me. Looking at
Emily, at how utterly inhuman she now appeared, it didn’t seem like something
that could be undone. Of course, having no idea what she had looked like before
she had entered the elven realm, I couldn’t really say for sure just how much
of her had changed. I would definitely need to grill Seren and Locien about the
process before I made my final decision.

“Well, it sounds like you’ve already made up your mind, so don’t let my
good sense stop you,” Jenna said dryly. “Can I at least meet the guy so I’ll
have a description for the police if you suddenly drop off the face of the
earth?”

I felt my face instantly freeze in momentary panic. I knew she was
joking, or at least half-joking. She had said pretty much the same thing to one
of our other friends who had met some guy from California on the internet when
he had driven down to pick her up for a two-week stay last year. However, in
this case, she had hit the nail on the head, uncannily so. I held no delusions
about the kind of mayhem I would potentially leave behind by disappearing so
completely if I decided to leave this world for the elven realm.

“I’ll just have to text you a selfie from New York because that’s where
Seren is right now, and that’s where I’ll probably be in a couple of days, too.”
I paused and then amended, “Maybe. That’s where I was yesterday, at the airport
saying goodbye. I thought that was going to be the last time I saw him and was
expecting to come straight home afterwards to cry my eyes out because I didn’t
want it to be.”

Jenna sighed noisily. “Well, at least you had a good excuse to blow us
off last night. I take it this is where he proposed?”

My eyes widened. “I never said anything about proposing! He just said
that he really wanted to keep seeing me and asked if I would move in with him.”

“After just a week…” She shook her head. “That’s just as insane. Either
he’s as crazy as you or you two just might be made for each other, after all.
I’ll reserve judgment until I find out whether or not you’ll be sleeping on my
couch after a month or two.”

“I still haven’t said yes, you know. He’ll be in New York until Tuesday
night, and the plane ticket he bought me is for an eight o’clock flight Tuesday
morning. He agreed that taking the weekend to make up my mind would be best.”

Tuesday night was the real deadline I had given myself. If I still had
severe reservations about the elven brothers’ proposal, then I would end it
right then and there. Emily had been right. It wasn’t fair to string them
along. After twenty years of searching, giving them false hope would just be
too cruel.

“I still wish you would have introduced him to us,” Jenna groused. “All
this just seems so sudden that I can’t quite wrap my head around how I feel
about it.”

“Sorry. I just don’t want any more regrets,” I said.

Jenna nodded and then reached over to hug me tightly. “Can’t argue with
that.”

It was almost scary how normal it now felt to step between two trees and
see an entirely different landscape appear around me in the blink of an eye.
This time I had traded my work clothes for a loose-fitting, cobalt-blue cotton
sundress that fell to just above my knees and a pair of heeled sandals that
were totally inappropriate for a jogging path as the many strange looks I
received by several joggers continuously reminded me.

As before, Seren was waiting for me at the entrance. His eyes
immediately swept the entire length of my body, but all he offered me was a
friendly “hello” as he cautiously offered me his hand, obviously not expecting
me to take it. He was still walking on eggshells with me, and that had to
change today.

I smiled and accepted his hand without a hint of hesitation, giving it
an affectionate squeeze. Surprise flashed in his eyes briefly.

“I hope that I didn’t keep you waiting long today.”

“No, not long,” he replied, though he probably would have said that if
I had kept them waiting for days.

“Is it just you again today?” I asked.

The ever-present fog was particularly thick today, and I squinted a bit
as we walked, trying to see into the distance without much luck.

“Locien is here as well,” Seren replied. “He awaits us in the usual
place.”

“Why is it so foggy today?”

“The Inbetween reflects our moods,” he explained. “Things have been
quite—turbulent today.”

I frowned. “You two didn’t get into a fight, did you?”

His lips quirked up slightly in amusement. “No, nothing like that. We
were just very anxious,” he admitted. “I hope the Royal Wife was able to answer
your questions to your satisfaction yesterday.”

“I enjoyed talking with her,” I replied sincerely. “She brought up a
lot of important things I hadn’t even thought to ask, so I’m really grateful to
her.”

“Emily will be relieved to hear that. She said you were upset when you
left and was worried.”

“I was overwhelmed,” I corrected. “I just needed some time to myself to
think about all of this rather than just react to it.”

I could now make out the faint outline of a person seated on a very
familiar blanket of white silk just a little bit ahead of us. Seeing him was
like a switch that triggered a sudden nervousness within me. I had come here to
meet them today with a very specific agenda, and now that the moment of truth
had come, it was all I could do not to start shaking with nerves.

As we stepped up to the edge of the usual blanket, I noticed that Locien’s
eyes were staring at our joined hands with a thoughtful expression. It made me
relax a bit. Maybe if the brothers saw that I was no longer being so
standoffish and suspicious, what I was about to ask them wouldn’t be so
shocking.

Seren released my hand so that I could sit down across from Locien. I
made a big show of stretching my legs out and arranging my skirt to give myself
time to calm down. I wanted to be able to speak without my voice shaking with
nerves so that there would be no doubt as to my sincerity.

“I am pleased that you decided to visit with us today,” Locien said,
flashing me the smile that made him look so much like Seren.

“I have a lot of things I want to talk about, a lot of things I
realized we
need
to talk about,” I said.

“Ask us anything,” Seren encouraged as he settled down next to his
brother.

I took a deep breath and just went for it. “There’s one issue that we
all have kinda been ignoring, one that, at least for me, is really important.”

“Ah, the change,” Seren said with a nod.

“Huh?” I said, momentarily thrown off my game. “Oh—well, yes, that’s
really
important, too, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Not yet, anyway.
You see, when I was thinking about everything last night, I couldn’t help but
wonder if we all weren’t just jumping into a yes or no too quickly, but
especially you two.”

Locien frowned. “I do not quite understand.”

“We just met a few days ago,” I struggled to explain. “I guess I don’t
really get how you can ask me to fill such an important role in your lives
without even knowing if you’re—if we’re
compatible
with each other. You
know—sexually.”

Locien suddenly grinned. “Would you like to find out?”

Once again, I was thrown off. I never once considered that either of
them would be so blunt about the sex part, but what did I really know about
them except what they had allowed me to see during our short interactions?
Hell, for all I knew, elves could be highly sexual beings and I had just opened
up a bigger can of worms than I had initially intended.

I forced myself to look him straight in the eye as I answered just as
boldly, “That’s exactly what I’m asking.”

The older elf laughed, sounding utterly delighted. “You are certainly
full of surprises today.” He turned to Seren. “Well brother, what say you?”

Instead of answering, Seren turned to me, his expression both curious
and piercing. “This is what you truly want?”

A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as I absently fiddled with the hem of
my skirt. I hadn’t meant anything by the gesture, but the movement drew his eyes
like an eagle honing in on its prey. A shiver of anticipation flowed through my
body, and I couldn’t help but think that I had never wanted anything more in my
life than to have these two gorgeous creatures take me into their arms, to
touch me, to kiss me, to feel the warmth of their bodies as I took my turn with
each of them.

Yes, I had definitely gone off the deep end.

“I couldn’t sleep last night because it was all I could think of,” I
confessed.

Seren’s answering smile was every bit as eager as Locien’s. “Then come.
Let us all make love freely and without worry that you will conceive before you
have given us your final answer. You are not fertile today.”

His words threw me for a loop. “You mean, like a
threesome
?” I
asked tentatively. That was definitely
not
the impression I had meant to
give them, but…

Seren nodded, looking far more serious than should have been possible
given the topic. “One of us must never have an advantage over the other.”

“But you just said that I didn’t have to worry about getting pregnant
right now,” I accused.

“You will not,” Locien said. “However, you did say that you wished to
see if we would be compatible, and given that this is the way we must make love
henceforth should you agree to become our mistress, what better time to become
accustomed to the act than now?”

That was certainly news to me. I was suddenly feeling as though I had
jumped into a pool only to realize I hadn’t thought to check it for sharks
beforehand. Well, a lot of people
did
have a fantasy about sleeping with
twins, and even I had joked about its appeal with my friend Mel back when she
had dated an identical twin. This certainly was close enough, and I had already
decided before I came here that I would sleep with both of them today if they
agreed. Why not try it this way?

I climbed onto my knees and then paused as a sudden problem occurred to
me. Although I had never seen anyone else other than the brothers and Emily
here, that didn’t necessarily mean that we were alone. Just because I was keen
on experimenting with a threesome didn’t mean I also wanted to jump headlong
into exhibitionism, too.

“We’re the only ones here right now, right?” I asked anxiously. The
foggy atmosphere had thinned significantly during the little time we had spent
talking, so I couldn’t count on it concealing us anymore.

“No one will disturb us,” Seren assured me. “The Inbetween is so vast
that it is almost impossible to enter another’s portion of space unless it is
through the doorway they have constructed.”

“Somehow, that ‘almost’ part doesn’t make me feel any better,” I said
wryly, but I still pulled off my sandals and moved over towards them on my
knees.

“When you are here with us, we always close the doorways,” Locien said.
“The odds of someone wandering into this space from another within the
Inbetween are so astronomical that we might as well say it is impossible.”

“Okay.” I took Seren’s outstretched hand and allowed him to pull me
forward until I was half-sitting, half-reclining across both his and Locien’s
lap. I pressed my back up against Seren’s chest, wanting to feel his heat, and
as if he had read my mind, he immediately wrapped his arms around my waist.

I grinned a little nervously as Locien leaned in and raised a hand to
cup my cheek. I could feel my heart already hammering in my chest as he leaned
in even farther, and I closed my eyes and parted my lips slightly in
anticipation. I had already gotten a brief taste of Seren’s lips, so I supposed
that it was only fair that Locien get the first kiss this time. Not that I was
complaining. I would no doubt have my fill of both elves’ mouths and more by
the time the day was over.

There was no hesitation in the firm mouth that pressed against my own,
nipping roughly at my bottom lip a couple of times before a hot tongue licked
across the sensitive flesh, demanding entrance. I opened my mouth to him with a
small sound of pleasure, tangling my hand into the hair at the nap of his neck
as I pushed his head closer towards me.

Soft lips abruptly pressed against the bare skin of my shoulder next to
my dress strap, making me gasp into Locien’s mouth in surprise. They slowly
kissed a gentle path towards my neck as Locien’s tongue twined slowly,
sensually, against my own.

I felt Seren’s hands loosen around my waist and slowly begin to move up
the front of my body until they were firmly cupping, then kneading, my breasts
over my dress. My mind was quickly falling towards meltdown mode with so much
stimulation at once, wanting to focus on the feel of the hot mouth that had
latched onto the side of my neck and was currently sucking at my skin with
enough force that it bordered on painful, but also needing to focus on the
other mouth that was doing its best to suck the breath out of me.

Then suddenly I felt a hand slowly begin to caress up my inner thigh
beneath my skirt until it reached my groin where his fingers just as slowly
teased up and down my crease over my panties, sending jolts of pleasure
throughout that entire area every time they rubbed over my clit. Was it Locien?
I was rapidly beginning to lose track of whose hands were doing what as the
elf-brothers slowly and steadily worked my body and mind into a frenzy.

Before I knew it, my panties were being pulled off and my dress lifted
up over my breasts. Locien pulled back from devouring my mouth, and Seren
finished tugging my dress the rest of the way over my head. Seren’s hands were
unsnapping the clasps of my bra before I could even catch my breath, and my
breasts soon came tumbling out of their wire and satin confines to be greedily
admired by two sets of vivid green eyes.

Suddenly sitting naked between two fully-clothed men, I knew I should
have felt terribly exposed and vulnerable, but all I could feel was a rising
anticipation for what was about to come. I couldn’t remember ever being this
excited about sex. Who knew that ménage would turn out to be my thing?

“Will you both undress for me?” I boldly asked a bit breathlessly. “I want
to see you, too.”

As Locien nodded with an amused quirk of his lips, Seren kissed the
side of my neck softly one last time before he drew away. I was a bit
discomfited at the feeling of loss I abruptly felt once his body was no longer
warming my back.

I watched both elves undress with divided attention. I was pleasantly
surprised when Seren finished unlacing the shirt he wore beneath his tunic and
pulled it off to reveal a much more finely-toned chest and abs than his slight,
though tall build had suggested. I itched to run my fingers along the ridges of
those muscles, and had to clutch my hands into fists at my sides to restrain
myself.

Not yet.

I turned to Locien and was equally pleased that he had a build very
similar to Seren except he was probably a bit broader in the shoulders. Like a
spectator at a tennis match, I watched them both take their pants off, and I
was not disappointed when the final prize was revealed.

For a long moment, I simply sat and admired those exquisite bodies from
only an arms-length away. From the length and width of their fully erect cocks,
I was in for quite the ride, and for the first time, I started to feel a little
bit intimidated. It had been well over a couple of months since I had last
slept with a guy, and I had never really liked using sex toys like dildos as
they always made me feel empty rather than satisfied in the end.

However, those very real concerns soon vanished once both men had
reached for me, and I felt the silkiness of their strangely soft skin and the
firmness of the muscles beneath pressed up against both my back and breasts for
the first time. This time the lips that met mine were Seren’s, and I eagerly
accepted them. Where Locien’s kiss was much more aggressive and commanding,
Seren’s was powerful, yet savoring, his full lips moving over mine in long,
drawn-out caresses that immediately had my mind swimming with pleasure.

I blindly grabbed onto his shoulders and half-climbed into his lap,
straddling a leg as he sat back onto his haunches. Locien surged forward as
well, his cock slipping for a moment between the crack of my buttocks as he
gripped my hips tightly and began to slowly roll his hips against me, his
rapidly increasing breaths hot and tickling against my neck as he rested his
chin atop my shoulder.

I groaned and began to alternate between pressing back into Locien’s
shallow thrusts and rubbing the center of my throbbing heat back and forth
along Seren’s thigh as I sucked eagerly on his tongue.

The pressure was building rapidly between my legs, too much so, and I
pulled back from his kiss with a groan of need. But no, I didn’t want to climax
like this.