Marking Melody (7 page)

His grip tightened on her knees.

The first time they mated with Melody was going to be the most incredible time together because it was the most important.  Today they were taking Melody as their mate, and there wasn’t anything short of death that was going to separate them.

Running his hands up the backs of her thighs, he spread her legs apart and leaned forward.  The heady scent of her arousal beat at him, and he ground his teeth together for a moment so he didn’t lose it like a teenager with no self-control.

Then he pressed his lips to the top of her pussy and snaked his tongue around her clit, grinning when she panted and flexed her hips forward.  He smiled inwardly and licked her again.  Today was the first day of the rest of their lives, and it was going to be a very good day.

Chapter 7

Tristan’s arm was tight around Melody’s waist, holding her against his chest with his erection pressing into her back.  He nipped her neck and she shivered, digging her fingers into his arm as Micah continued to stroke her pussy with his amazing tongue.

“You smell so good, sweetheart,” Tristan whispered in her ear.  She curled her toes into the carpet and tipped her hips forward, grinding into Micah’s mouth.  “I can’t wait to eat your pussy and lap up all your sweet cream.”

“Fuck, Tristan,” she groaned softly.

He pressed his cock into her back a little more at the same moment that Micah slipped a finger into her pussy.  His tongue rubbed the underside of her clit as his finger wiggled into her.

“Fuck you?  Never.  Make love all night?  Absolutely.”  Tristan’s warm breath teased her ear as much as his words made her desire ratchet up another notch.

His free hand cupped one of her breasts and he squeezed her nipple between two fingers.  The gentle pressure and the rasp of his teeth down her neck made her skin sizzle with pleasure as Micah turned his finger inside her and rubbed against her inner walls.  Micah’s devilish tongue flicked rapidly against her bud as his finger rubbed against a place that made her whole body tremble.  Tristan growled and Micah rubbed her again.  And again.  Until the trembles increased and her stomach clenched.  With a soft purr, Micah sucked her clit into his mouth and rubbed his finger inside her fast and hard.  Her eyes slammed shut as she cried out when she came, clutching Tristan with one hand and reaching for Micah with the other.  His hair was too short to fist, so she settled for palming the back of his head and holding him close while she rubbed her body shamelessly against his tongue.

Micah stood slowly.  His mouth glistened with the evidence of her arousal and he licked his lips with a soft purr.  His eyes were beautiful caramel-colored, bright with excitement.  Bending slightly, he picked her up in his arms and carried her the short distance to the bed.  He laid her down and stripped his shorts off.  His skin was lightly tanned and smooth.  The muscles in his arms bunched as he moved, and his eyes never left hers as he dropped his shorts to the floor and straightened.  Tristan moved slowly around the bed.  She turned to watch where he was going, but Micah climbed onto the bed and moved over top of her.  He settled into the cradle of her hips, his cock trapped between their bodies.  His skin was hot, and it warmed her to the core.

He kissed her.  Slowly.  Sweetly.  Running the tips of his fingers up and down her throat and across her collarbone.  Her skin prickled, and she curved her legs around his hips and hugged him close.  She swept her hands up his sides.  His skin was smooth and soft, and she traced his spine, smiling inwardly as he arched like a cat beneath her touch.  Slipping her hands up his shoulders, she wiggled under him and lifted her hips toward his.  She was rewarded with a groan.

His hands tangled in her hair as he lifted his lower body off hers, angled his hips, and drove himself deep.  She arched her back and broke the kiss as she gripped his hips tightly with her legs.  Her nails dug into his shoulders.  He held her eyes as he shifted his hips back to slide out of her, his beautiful whiskey-colored eyes shining with happiness.  He stroked in and out of her body; each thrust into her was heaven, each pull out made her tremble.

His hand slipped between them, and his thumb began to rub in time to his thrusts.  An orgasm bloomed inside her as the rough edge of his thumb teased her swollen bud.

As pleasure swarmed her, she felt her fangs elongate, and she lifted her head and bit Micah in the neck, sinking her teeth into his flesh.  He grunted and then growled.  His strokes increased as he worked into her faster and faster.  He planted his hand next to her head as she released her hold on his neck and licked the edges of her fangs.  He snarled, and she caught sight of his fangs as he bared his teeth.  He bit her and she gasped.  She sank her nails into his back with a soft cry as his cock spasmed inside her and he groaned into her neck.

He shook slightly as he released her neck and then stroked his tongue up the mark he’d made.  She looked at the side of his neck and saw the bleeding mark she’d made in the throes of passion.  Pride filtered through her.  She’d never marked anyone before, and now Micah would wear her marks forever, and she would wear his.

He cradled her close and kissed her lips.  “Mine.”

She smiled against his mouth and whispered, “Yours.”

After a thorough kiss, Micah slipped away from her and rolled to the side, his face a mask of masculine pride and satisfaction.  Her skin felt sensitive and flushed, and for a moment, all she wanted to do was curl into Micah’s side and cuddle.  But more than cuddling with her whiskey-eyed mate, she wanted to make love to Tristan, too.  Tristan was stretched out on the other side of the bed, close enough to touch but not touching.

He seemed to be waiting for her to tell him that she was ready, and she
so
was. “I’m yours, too, Tristan. Make love to me and mark me.”

Tristan rolled to his knees, his hands splayed over the comforter.  He looked like a predator.  His brown eyes were bright and serious.  The corner of his mouth was turned up in a small smile.  And every inch of his tanned skin rippled with muscles that were tense.  He reached for her and wrapped his hands around her knees and pulled her down the bed towards him.  She laughed as she slid over the comforter.  He spread her legs apart as he drew her close and settled into the vee of her legs.  Leaning forward, he planted one hand next to her head and nuzzled her chin with his nose, dropping light kisses along her jaw.  Her body relaxed slightly, and she felt the tickling tingle of his slightly calloused fingertips as they made their way up the inside of her thigh.

His lips touched her mouth and she sighed, opening to his questing tongue and drinking down the heady taste of him.  He stroked his tongue inside her mouth possessively, and she felt as though he was branding her straight in her soul.  She moaned and he ate the sound.

She scratched her nails lightly over his skin, tracing the muscles of his stomach and arms.  He stroked his fingers along the swollen lips of her pussy.  His touch was light, but didn’t soothe the fires of passion that still burned in her.

He lifted from her mouth and looked into her eyes for a long moment before he thrust into her.  Her back bowed and she dug her fingernails into his skin as she moaned.  He didn’t move, but stayed buried to the hilt as he pinched her clit between his finger and thumb.  Then he began to tug on her clit.

“Oh, Tristan,” she groaned, as heat flooded her and the incessant, firm tugging of his fingers on her sensitive clit rushed her towards another climax.

“Come around my cock,” he said, his voice deep and rough.  “Fuck, baby, I want to feel you.”

He tugged faster.  Heat raced through her and pleasure pooled in her stomach.  She moaned loudly as her body flooded and the orgasm bloomed deep inside her.  Tristan’s free hand covered her mouth as she screamed.  The climax thundered down on her, and everything inside her went white hot.  She pushed her head back into the mattress as his hand slipped from her mouth and he began to move inside her.  Frantically, he fucked her, driving into her hard and deep.  She scored his back with her nails and he trembled, never stopping his fast pace.  Curling her legs around his hips, she lifted her head and sank her fangs into his neck.

When she slid her fangs from his flesh, he gripped her hair in his fist and tugged her head to the side with a snarl.  He drove into her hard and pressed his body against hers, and bit her neck.  She wrapped her arms around him as he came, releasing his hold on her neck, as he clamped his teeth together and groaned his pleasure as he filled her.

Panting for breath, he lifted his weight from her and caressed her cheek, meeting her eyes.  “Mine.”

“Yours,” she promised, licking her lips and tasting him and Micah together on her tongue.

Both sides of her neck ached, but she didn’t care.  Her mates had marked her, and she would wear the marks with pride.  Tristan stroked his tongue across the mark he’d made, a possessive growl rumbling in his chest.

He rolled to his back and pulled her with him.  She reached behind her for Micah who had been sitting near the top of the bed, and he joined them, tucking himself against her back and holding her close.

Sandwiched between her mates, she drifted off to sleep, happier than she’d been in a long time.

Chapter 8

Tristan stood at the breakfast buffet in the dining room of the B&B and filled Melody’s plate.  He glanced to where she sat with Micah, her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed, a dreamy smile on her face.  She wore her hair up today, and he could see the mark he’d made on the left side of her neck.  Seeing the mark made him want to throw her over his shoulder and take her back upstairs and ravage her some more.

He ground his teeth together and mentally leashed his libido.  She was starving.  They’d eaten the dinner that Dana had sent up last night, but it had been stone cold and unappealing.  He’d found it difficult to get out of bed this morning, with Melody tucked so perfectly between himself and Micah, but her stomach rumbled, and he immediately felt like a bad mate.

He filled her plate with four slices of cinnamon French toast, sausage links, and home fries and carried it to the table.  She peeked up at him out of one eye and a small smile curved her lips.  He was falling in love with her.  Was this how it happened to the males who found their mates?  He couldn’t imagine being without her.

Straightening from Micah’s shoulder, Melody stifled a yawn and picked up her fork.  She made a small humming sound as she waved the fork over the contents of the plate and said, “It’s perfect.”

“What is?” he asked, pausing before he returned to the buffet to get his own plate.

Her eyes met his and her small smile broadened.  “You picked exactly what I would have chosen for myself.”

He grinned.  He was positive he looked like an idiot, but it was all he could do to not dance a jig that he’d made her a perfect plate.  He dropped a swift kiss to her lips and returned to the buffet.  Micah joined him, and they moved down the long table and filled their plates.

They kept their voices low and discussed their plans for the day.  Although what he really wanted to do was keep Melody locked up in the suite, naked and sated, it wasn’t realistic.  She needed to spend time with her uncles.  He and Micah needed to talk to their dad and uncle.  And together, the three of them had to decide where they were going to live.  He just wasn’t sure if King was the right place for them.  Torrin’s and Cole’s responses to meeting Melody made him wary of her being around any other pride males.

Micah agreed.

They rejoined Melody at the table, and after salting his scrambled eggs, Tristan said, “Our dad wanted us to bring you to dinner tonight.  Your uncles aren’t joining us, but they want us to bring you to dinner tomorrow night at their house, and we can spend the night there.”

She nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.”  She swirled a wedge of cinnamon French toast through syrup and glanced up at him.  “Whatever shall we do with the rest of the day?”

A rumbling, happy growl erupted from his chest, and she laughed, rubbing her foot along his calf under the table.  “Down boy.”

After their meal, they returned to their room and spent the afternoon making love and talking.  He’d never had a more perfect afternoon.

Melody tugged a silk navy blue tank over her head and fluffed her ponytail.  The shorts she’d pulled on that covered her adorable ass were light brown and short enough to make him think of wicked things when he looked at her.  Aside from how sexy she was, it made him proud to see her in clothes that he and Micah had bought for her.  He’d clothed his woman.  It made him want to thump his chest like a caveman.

His and Micah’s childhood home was a small Cape Cod style, with two bedrooms on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second floor.  His father had the master on the first floor, and for much of their lives, he and Micah had shared the other bedroom on the first floor.  When they were teenagers, they’d moved upstairs and each taken a room of their own.

Micah opened the front door and called inside, announcing their arrival.  Their dad called from inside the house, and they walked through the small foyer, past the staircase, and into the living room that joined the kitchen.  Their dad and Uncle Mark sat at the oval kitchen table that was a relic from the seventies, with a laminate wood top, pastel padded chairs on rollers, and pale, butter-colored metal.  They stood and everyone hugged, and their dad gestured to three chairs he’d set along one side, encouraging them to sit.  Positioning Melody between them, Tristan and Micah sat down across from their dad and uncle.

Their dad had made his and Micah’s favorite grilled chicken.  While they ate, their dad and uncle peppered Melody with questions about her childhood, and Tristan enjoyed hearing more about her.  She was passionate about photography.  Her dad had given her every advantage in life that he could and had been her biggest supporter.

“Before I found photography, I’d tried just about everything else,” she said, grinning.  “I couldn’t hack soccer because I couldn’t kick the ball straight.  After I got beaned by a wayward ball, I was afraid to play softball anymore.  I love music but my fingers just wouldn’t cooperate with piano or guitar no matter how much I tried.  And then I found Dad’s old Polaroid camera and took a few pictures, and then he let me have another one of his cameras, and after spending quite a bit of money on film and developing, he decided to buy me a cheap digital camera.  Then I took courses at the community college over the summer and was totally hooked.”

Tristan was pleased that their family was accepting Melody.  Although he’d been disheartened that at first they’d believed him and Micah to be under some kind of sexual spell by a nefarious female, he was glad that they could see now that she was different.  By the time the meal was done, she was on the receiving end of their uncle’s gentle teasing, and Tristan knew that meant she was now truly a member of the family.

Tapping the tines of his fork against the empty dessert plate in front of him, Tristan’s thoughts roamed.  Micah and Melody were in the kitchen with Uncle Mark, gathering what was needed for dessert.

“What’s on your mind?” his dad asked.

“Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Why things are the way they are.”

“Ah,” his dad said, raising a brow.  He smiled in a sad way.  “Melody is a sweet girl, Tristan.  I’m glad that you and Micah found her and are happy.  But the whys of our people aren’t for us to know now.  Maybe someday we’ll know why the males are loving and the females are cold.  All we can tell for certain is that Melody is different because she was raised away from females.  You should celebrate the differences that made your mating possible.”

“I know, Dad.”  Tristan put the fork down and leaned back in the chair.  “Do you think you’ll ever find a mate?”

“Oh, I don’t know.  Mark has dated a few humans and even a she-wolf, but he never felt connected to any of them.  I haven’t dated anyone, though.”

“You might share a mate with Uncle Mark.”  His dad made a face.  Tristan laughed.  “Or not.”

Looking thoughtful, his dad said, “If we were to meet the right woman and both feel compelled to share her, then that would be the way things are meant to be for us.  But maybe not all lions are meant to share.  Daniel Parker is perfectly content with his mate and doesn’t share her.”

Tristan wasn’t sure if Daniel was the sort of male who would share his mate even if he knew for sure she was meant to belong to another.  That was for Daniel and his mate to deal with.  All that really mattered to Tristan was that Melody was safe and happy, and she was happiest when she was with both him and his brother.

Micah carried out a pie plate, and the scent of apples and cinnamon filled the air.  Melody held a serving knife and a roll of napkins, and Uncle Mark carried a tray of tall glasses of milk.  After the pie was served, the conversation drifted to plans for the Fourth of July which was Sunday.  Tristan explained that Tom and Dana had already invited them to their barbecue at the B&B, and their dad and Uncle Mark agreed to join them.  After what had happened at the lake, there was no way that they were going to take Melody to see the fireworks display the town put on there.

Saying goodbye to their dad and Uncle Mark after finishing dessert and chatting awhile longer, they headed back to the B&B, made love to their mate, and went to bed.

* * * * *

Tristan spent the morning trying to figure out a way to tell Micah to take a hike so he could have some private time with Melody.  He knew he couldn’t outright tell his brother to leave because it would hurt his feelings.  But tact just wasn’t in his wheelhouse.  He was saved from figuring out how to kindly tell Micah to hit the bricks when Tom came up to them after breakfast and asked if Micah would be willing to help him trim the hedges on the back patio in preparation for the barbecue.

Before Micah could come up with a reason to refuse, Tristan said quickly, “That’s no problem.  I was going to take Melody on a driving tour of town anyway.”

Micah’s brows rose suspiciously.  “You were?”

“Sure.  It’ll be fun.”  And it would give him a chance to be alone with her.

“Alright,” Micah grumbled, kissing Melody goodbye and casting a rue-filled glance over his shoulder as he followed Tom out of the dining room.

“A driving tour, huh?” Melody asked as she stood and pushed in her chair.

“Sure.  It’s a beautiful summer day.  Why not enjoy it?”

“By driving around in your truck?”

Grinning at her teasing, he smacked her ass lightly and said, “Get in the truck, woman.”

She laughed and took his hand as they strode outside where he opened the passenger door for her.  After shutting her in, he jogged around to the other side and got in.  He started the truck and left as quickly as he could without squealing the tires.

“In a hurry?” she asked with a chuckle.

Yes
.

“Nope.”

King was not a big town by any stretch, but he’d spent all but the last few months of his life living there.  He drove by the school he and Micah attended, the fancy restaurant that had once been a bank, the car lot where he bought his first car, and past the tire factory where he and Micah worked after graduation.  At a stoplight, he leaned over and kissed her.

“I have a confession to make,” he said, sighing loudly as he turned down the street where the B&B was.

“Oh?”  She leaned on his shoulder.

“I was glad when Micah left so that we could be alone, but now we’re back to the B&B, and I didn’t even get to do much besides kiss you.”

“Aw, that’s cute.”  Her voice was filled with amusement.

“I wasn’t trying to be cute, Melody.”

“Oh.  Sorry.  That’s very sexy, then.”  Even though her voice lowered in a sexy way, he could tell she was smiling, and he snorted and squeezed her knee.

“I’m glad it amuses you that I’d like to get you alone.”

She hummed in her throat and opened the truck door after he parked in the B&B lot.  He came around to her side and took her hand.  “What’s wrong with wanting to be alone with me?  I know we’re in a ménage relationship, but that doesn’t mean we always have to be a threesome.  I don’t think Micah would be offended, as long as you’re also willing to let him be alone with me, too.”  She tilted her head to the side and chuckled.  “Man, that made me sound selfish.”

Jerking her against him with a soft growl, he said, “It’s not selfish.  We’re your mates, and we want to be everything to you.”

She fit perfectly against him, and his brain almost stalled out when she inhaled and her breasts pushed more closely against him.  “Then the same goes for you and Micah, too.  I want to be everything to you both, whether we’re all together or just couples.”

“I want you so badly.”  His voice was rough and his hand flexed on her back, drawing her even tighter against his erection.  The delicious scent of her arousal pulsed in the air around them.  Her hands were like firebrands as they rested on his chest.  He could feel the heat of her skin through his shirt, and it scorched him, hotter even than the July sunshine overhead.

“Then take me to bed, Tristan,” she said, her voice a bare whisper.

He almost forgot they were outside.  It took some effort, but he clutched her hand and marched into the B&B.  He could see the patio through the lobby, and it was empty.  Dana sat behind the check-in desk, and she looked up from the magazine she was reading.  “Micah and Tom went to buy some new planters.  They’ll be gone awhile, I suspect.”

Tristan’s cat pranced with glee.  “Thanks, Dana.”

“Do you want some lunch?” she called as Tristan walked with Melody to the stairs.

“Maybe later,” he said over his shoulder.  Right now, he just wanted dessert.

If Melody had longer legs, he would have taken the steps three at a time, but even in spite of what he felt was a snail’s pace, they made it to their room and he had her inside and the door locked with the Do Not Disturb placard hanging on the outer handle in record time.

She jumped into his arms, and his back crashed against the door.  Her mouth crushed his, and her tongue slipped between his lips.  Her arms and legs wound around him, and he cradled her butt with one arm and slid his hand through her hair, fisting it and pulling her away slightly.

“Want you,” she panted, squeezing his waist with her legs and pressing the apex of her thighs against the fly of his jeans.