Runestone

An eRedSage Publishing Publication

This book is a work of complete fiction. Any names, places, incidents, characters are products of the author’s imagination and creativity or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is fully coincidental.

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Runestone

An eRed Sage Publication All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2011

eRedSage is a registered trademark of Red Sage Publishing, Inc.

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ISBN: 
9781603106931;  1603106936 
Runestone  Adobe PDF

ISBN:  
9781603106962;  1603106960 
Runestone  MobiPocket

ISBN:  
9781603106979;  1603106979 
Runestone  MS Reader

ISBN:
9781603106955;  1603106952 
Runestone  HTML

ISBN:  
9781603106948;  1603106944 
Runestone  ePub

Published by arrangement with the authors and copyright holders of the individual works as follows:

Runestone © 2011 by Em Petrova

Cover © 2011 by Rae Monet

Printed in the U.S.A.

ebook layout and conversion by
jimandzetta.com

***

By Em Petrova

TO MY READER:

After
Runes
was released, I realized these characters, Will, Evangeline and Sean, had more to lose and discover. I’ve laughed with them, shed tears for them, and even gotten pretty damn hot and bothered with them. In
Runestone
, the true mystery of Evangeline’s immortal tattoo is revealed, along with new passions and emotions between the two hunks she loves.

“When are you going to tell her?” Will Cochran leaned against the granite kitchen countertop, ankles crossed, muscular thighs straining against his jeans, and his arms folded so his biceps flexed beneath his fitted shirt. His stance appeared casual, but Sean knew better.

Across the room, he met Will’s level gaze. “Soon. She’s not going to be happy.” He jammed a hand through his hair. Keeping his and Will’s mutual lover, Evangeline, from knowing that he’d been summoned to America by his art dealer was misery. Being immortal, she was fiercely protective of his mortal flesh, and had confessed her terror that tragedy would befall him, and neither she nor Will, her immortal mate, would be around to Make him immortal too.

Yet, they refused to change him.

Sean opened his mouth to argue this point, but Will guessed what he was about to say. He held up a broad palm to silence Sean. “You know it’s out of the question, man.”

After throwing a glance at the kitchen doorway to ensure Evangeline wasn’t standing there to overhear, Sean dug in for battle. “My mortality is like quicksand, ready to pull me under any moment. She’s afraid of losing me. This is the only answer.”

Will shook his head. Auburn hair tumbled onto one smoldering brown eye and he knuckled it away. “We’ve discussed this. We can’t do it. Why do you want to upset a perfect situation?”

Sean slashed the air with a hand. Irritation burned in his chest, but so did fear. Fear that he’d be involved in a fatal accident on the twisting Argentinean roads, or be bitten by a poisonous snake while trekking through the wilds, and leave Evangeline truly devastated. They had a special connection—a connection akin to the immortal Calling. Her soul had chosen Will as immortal mate, but her heart and head had refused to let Sean go.

“I could go to Los Angeles for this trip and be a drive-by shooting victim. How would Evangeline handle that?”

A sharp puff of breath burst from Will as if Sean had struck him in the gut. His mouth twisted in pain, and he pulled away from the counter and crossed the room to Sean. Honestly, Sean lived for this man as much as he lived for Evangeline. Both of them would be stricken by his loss.

All the more reason to share their immortal blood.

Will stopped inches away, and his masculine scent filled Sean’s head. “Nothing’s going to happen to you, Livingston. Got that? Because Evangeline needs you. I need you. Now let’s deal with the real question here, and that is when are you going to tell her about your trip?”

“I said soon, dammit,” he snapped. He swung away and strode for the brand new industrial coffee maker. Their villa was still in construction phase, but the kitchen had been one of the first rooms to be completed. It was tricked out in top-of-the-line appliances and the latest gadgets. Since Evangeline was a coffee connoisseur, they’d spared no expense on this contraption.

But only Sean knew how to brew her favorite drink. He measured a precise amount of coffee beans, put them through the grinder, and then dumped them into the machine and added purified water. He could hear Will’s noisy, irritated breathing, but ignored it. Let him churn a little at the thought of Sean leaving, of dealing with Evangeline’s hysterics. For the past six months they’d cohabitated, she had grown increasingly more nervous about Sean being parted from her, and now wouldn’t let him leave the house without her or Will.

Down the hall, a door shut, and he knew his beautiful lover had finally awakened. While the upper floor of the villa was being finished, the three of them were sharing a smaller guest room downstairs.

“Either tell her or lose the attitude until you’re ready, Sean.”

He fixed Will in his stare. “I will,” he said through his clenched jaw. In minutes, she would walk into the kitchen, following the smell of fresh coffee, her hair mussed, and a sleepy smile on her face. Would she sense the tension humming between him and Will?

As he stared at the rich dark brew filling the glass pot, he struggled to think of a way to break it to her. His agent needed him. A big show. Better for him to appear in person. Huge group of collectors present. A lot of money on the line.

After he’d chased Evangeline to South America to save her from that sick fuck Marcus, he’d abandoned his career as a deejay and taken up his art full time. A few months before, the three of them had returned to America to close up his apartment and sell a few pieces of art to an important Chicago gallery owner, who had immediately contacted his colleague, an influential L.A. dealer.

“Got a grip, Sean? ‘Cause she’s coming.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He reached into an upper cupboard and withdrew Evangeline’s favorite mug.

“Let’s talk about the construction crew.” Will’s voice was pitched low, and a shiver of need ran through Sean. His dusky tone drew Sean into the memories of their encounters in bed.

Hardly a day passed that the three of them didn’t make love. With the extra person in their lives, they continually came up with new configurations. He didn’t think they’d ever recreated the same session.

“Looks like the crew will finish up the villa before the new year. We can have that rocking party,” Sean said, going along with the guise that he and Will weren’t bottling enough tension to dynamite a portion of the Andean Mountains away.

“Only if you deejay it, man.”

Sean spun at the sound of Evangeline’s light step, and was rewarded with her sweet smile. He returned it, unable to hold onto his worry when she was in the room. She was a sun, and he and Will were locked in her orbit.

Will reached her first, and she turned into his arms, face upturned for his kiss. Sean knew her mouth would be minty from toothpaste, and her flesh still heated from the layers of blankets they needed here in the mountains.

Abandoning the coffee, he went to them, lured by the sight of their entangled bodies and soft brushing of their mouths. Their arms unfolded simultaneously to draw him into their embrace. He hugged them tight, and dropped a kiss to Evangeline’s lips. They gave way beneath his, and with a growl, he pressed harder, demanding more.

Will’s hand snaked around his nape and added his dark, musky flavor to their kiss. She opened her mouth wide to admit both of their tongues, and they shared a moan.

A flame of desire kindled low in Sean’s core, and his cock hardened. The mere thought of boarding a jet and leaving the two people he loved most in this world terrified him too. Because last time Evangeline had been pulled from him, she had soul-bonded with Will, leaving Sean crazed with hurt. And the last time, she’d been kidnapped.

They’ll be here when you come back. It’s only a week.

He withdrew from the kiss and looked directly into Will’s eyes. The golden brown depths urged him to tell her. That now was a good time. That the clock was ticking, and in less than two days, he’d be on a flight to L.A.

But she wasn’t going to like it. And Sean just couldn’t bear to see the tears and worry on her gorgeous face.

He cradled her delicate jaw, thumbs probing the tender flesh behind her ears. Will squeezed his bicep as if to say, “Go on.”

“Evangeline. . . . "

She gave him the full force of her gaze, and his heart stuttered. She was everything he wanted in a woman—soft and feminine and witty and giving and absolutely glowing.

Glowing with immortal life.

“Yes?” Her hair had grown over the past months, and was no longer pixie-short, but curled around her ears in a dark halo. The violet streak she dyed at the front fell over her forehead, and he brushed it away.

He brushed the immortal tattoo at the corner of her eye. Inky blue runes and stars wove out of the neckline of her tiny T-shirt, trailed up her throat, curled around the front of her ear, and ended in a spattering at the corner of her eye. If another immortal touched it, she would receive a sort of electric shock. If her immortal mate Will touched it, she’d experience erotic sensations. But she and Sean were so attuned to one another; his touch could calm her or excite her too. Sean wore a more masculine version of her tattoo on his forearm with the phrase 'a love like ours never dies' intermingled with the runes and stars.

But if they made him immortal, an immortal tattoo exclusive to him would appear somewhere on his body.

He lowered his mouth until he could taste her breath. Again, need raged through his veins.
Possess her. And Will. Let them know how much you love them. Prove your importance in their lives.

And maybe they’ll Make you immortal before you go.

He pressed her lower back until their hips collided. “I want you,” he growled, and then claimed her lips. He swept her off her feet, and Will stepped aside to allow them to pass. Evangeline’s curves molded to him as they all made their way to the bedroom.

The cool tile transitioned to plush carpet beneath Sean’s bare feet. The weight of his lover in his arms, and the touch of her lips on his throat brought him to a boil. When he laid her tenderly on the king-sized bed with Will pressed close, he didn’t know how he’d ever climb out and board a flight.

He hovered over her, supported on his elbows, as he gazed into her eyes. Brilliant blue. Will called them hyacinth blue and he was absolutely correct.

Will ran a hand down Sean’s spine to rest at the top of his ass. A shiver ran through him, and his balls clenched tight. His cock ached, demanding to be touched. Will drew him close and kissed him. The rough feel of his unshaven jaw and the hard demand of his mouth filled Sean’s head with visions of Will’s beard on his abs, scraping a path to his cock.

Evangeline moaned as their kiss deepened, and they broke away to include her, taking turns nibbling her lush lips. As Sean worked his tongue against hers, he skimmed her breast with his palm, cupping the full mound, his thumb circling the tip. Her nipple swelled at his touch, making her nipple ring evident beneath the fabric of her T-shirt. Will dipped his head and captured the other nub, suckling her through the cloth. She arched, her sigh ragged against Sean’s mouth.

“How’s it feel to have two men pleasure you?” he whispered, leaning back to look at her.

Her dark lashes fluttered against her cheeks, and her hips lifted to grind against his. “Love it. Love you.”

Will’s warm gaze penetrated his, sending a spark of need through him. He focused on his tongue against her white T-shirt, how it grew wetter until her pale pink nipple was visible. Sean edged the hem of her shirt up over her taut belly. Her navel ring gleamed in the morning sun slanting through the windows, and her skin was rendered golden. He let his fingers creep up her torso, baring her to Will’s kisses.

Sean drew the shirt over her head and it fell to the floor with a whisper. He cupped her breasts, holding them together so Will could lave each. The tip of his tongue skimmed Sean’s thumb, and he shuddered as a spike of heat hit his core.

“More,” Evangeline gasped, writhing from Sean’s hands and Will’s mouth.

Without a word, they began to strip each other. As Sean pulled off Will’s shirt, his hair flopped into his eyes. He tossed his head with a grin, and reached for Sean. His shirt was discarded, and Evangeline’s delicate hands played over his chest, making him throb. When their jeans were abandoned, Evangeline spread her palm over Will’s lower abs where his immortal tattoo lived—rows of numbers so crowded, they looked like graphic art.

He sucked in a breath at her touch, and his eyes hooded with desire. What would it feel like to share a bond with Evangeline like that?

He and Will each hooked a finger in the elastic of her lavender lace panties, and slowly twitched them down her narrow hips.

The sight of her bare, juicy sex made Sean groan. “I’ve gotta taste her.”

“No,” Will said, eyes dark with emotion and lust. “You hold her while I fuck her first.”

“Yes,” Evangeline moaned.

Sean’s fingertips tingled in anticipation. Her face was alight with eagerness, her eyes wide and soft. He kissed her long and deep, angling his head to drink from her delicious mouth. The scents of sandalwood and vanilla filled his nose, coated his brain with a blanket of desire.

Will prodded his shoulder, and Sean lifted his head to give Will his fair due. Their mouths collided. Hard. Demanding. Will’s flavor excited him as much as Evangeline’s. Sean’s cock bobbed on his abdomen and his two lovers reached for it simultaneously.

With a groan, Sean’s world narrowed to the warm feel of her fingers at the base of his shaft, and Will’s rougher touch on the head. Rolling it between his fingers. Driving him mad.

Will’s tongue flipped against his, and he snaked an arm around him, yanking him closer.

Abruptly, Will backed off and pressed him down with a palm on the chest. His expression was fiery and full of intent. He might want to bury his cock in Evangeline first, but Sean knew he wouldn’t be left wanting.

He sank back on a bed of pillows, arms open to receive her. She positioned her ass against his groin and he shifted until his rod lay against the seam. Using one arm under her breasts, he brought her to rest against him as she spread her thighs for Will. Sean held Will’s eyes for a long minute as he rubbed the tip of his erection over her juicy slit.

Sean’s cock stiffened against her ass. Watching them make love was a huge turn-on for him. To hold her and feel her splinter from Will’s thrusts would threaten to send him over the edge.