“I’m sure he isn’t,” Kane chuckled ruefully, glancing at where Gabe was quietly sitting.
“He also said his species was thinking about banding together to do something about you land creatures’ habit of making the water a mess,” she replied casually with a twinkle in her eyes.
Kane leaned forward. “He really said that?” he asked with an incredulous stare.
Magna burst out, laughing. “No, not really! I could see evidence of your pollution in my swim. You should see your face!” she said with a giggle.
“I’ll show you my face,” Kane growled as he pushed back his chair.
Her squeal of delight rang through the room as Kane came around the table and she dropped her fork and slid out of her chair. Racing to escape, she made it as far as the living room before he scooped her up in his arms.
“You looked so funny,” Magna laughed, feeling light-hearted and young again.
“Yeah, well, take this,” Kane teased, tickling her sides.
“Oh! No fair,” she gasped.
“How about this?” Kane asked, his voice deepening.
She opened for him the moment his lips touched hers. The combination of everything that had happened melted into this one moment. She wanted him. She wanted Gabe. She wanted something that she could hold onto and never let go.
Wrapping her arms around Kane’s neck, she threaded her fingers through his hair. She kissed him as if there were no tomorrows. When he reluctantly pulled back, she continued to press desperate kisses along his jaw.
“Love me, Kane. Please. I want you and Gabe,” she murmured, running her tongue across the tip of his ear. “I have been alone for so long. I don’t want to be alone any longer.”
“Kane,” Gabe’s voice behind them sounded taut with need.
Magna partially turned in Kane’s arms. Her eyes were luminous with desire. She wouldn’t take no for an answer. She was stronger, healthier now. Her body had healed, and her mind was in a better place than it had been in centuries.
“Love me, Gabe,” she requested, not looking away from him.
“Bedroom, now,” Gabe ordered, his fingers moving to his shirt.
“Gabe,” Kane said hesitantly.
Gabe shook his head. “I don’t need to be told how to make love to a woman, Kane. You should know that by now,” he said, his shirt already hanging open.
Kane took a deep breath. “Remember she is a virgin,” he reminded Gabe in a quiet voice.
“I’ll remember,” Gabe said.
Magna gasped when Gabe suddenly pulled her out of Kane’s arms and into his. He bent and scooped her up. “Coming?” Gabe asked Kane, grinning mischievously. Magna looked over Gabe’s shoulder excitedly as he walked toward the bedroom.
“I’d really like for you both to be there,” she called.
“Well, shit,” Kane muttered as he reached down and pulled his sweater and the thin, black shirt under it over his head.
Magna’s eyes widened in appreciation at the display of Kane’s hard muscles and flat stomach. He might be leaner than Gabe and not have the same amount of hair on his chest that Gabe did, but he made her mouth water. She swore she had found the perfect combination between the two men.
Her appreciation grew as Kane continued to shed his clothing as he followed them down the hall. By the time they reached Gabe’s bedroom, Kane was nude. He walked over and jerked the covers back down to the end of the bed.
Magna held onto Gabe’s strong shoulders as he placed her feet on the floor. Her toes curled into the thick rug next to his bed while he shrugged out of his shirt and tossed it to the side. Within less than a minute, he, too, was standing proudly naked before her.
“There’s only one person with too many clothes on,” Kane commented to Gabe. “Do you want to remove them, or do you want me to?” he asked.
“I’ll take the top, you take the bottom,” Gabe countered.
Magna’s heart raced as Kane stepped behind her, unsure of exactly how they were going to do this. He gripped her sweatpants and pulled them and her panties down at the same time. Her breath hiccupped when he followed the movement with his lips. The feel of his lips moving over her bare buttocks made her body heat up. Moisture pooled between her legs.
It didn’t help that Gabe reached down and pulled her long sweater off over her head. He tossed the top aside and reached for her breasts, lifting them up. His hot mouth closed over her right nipple at the same time as Kane slid his hand between her legs.
She felt his fingers pressing through the soft folds protecting her channel. Her hips jerked when she felt a slight sting as he bit her left buttock. The hot moisture increased until she swore he had ignited a fire in her belly. The ache between her legs grew, as did the throbbing of her nipples. She didn’t realize that they could be both super sensitive and painful at that the same time.
“I want to lick her,” Kane groaned, pressing his finger deeper.
“Kane,” Magna panted, her arms tightening around Gabe’s head so he couldn’t pull away from her breasts. “Harder, Gabe.”
She cried out when Gabe nipped her distended nipple, making it throb even more before he transferred his attention to her left nipple. While Gabe was driving her crazy by making her breasts ache for more, Kane was making her weak in the knees.
“Get her on the bed,” Kane ordered.
Magna gasped, her body stretching upward when she felt Kane stand behind her. She could feel his cock throbbing against her buttocks. Her body instinctively melted against his, seeking relief from the empty feeling he had left when he had removed his fingers.
Gabe released her nipple and straightened. He climbed on the bed, drawing her with him. She followed, crawling on her hands and knees when he sat with his back against the headboard and his legs spread. Her eyes were glued to the thatch of dark curls and his long, thick shaft. His penis pulsed with his desire. His cock was long, thick, and the bulbous head had a light film of moisture beading on the tip.
Magna wasn’t even aware that she was bending down until her mouth wrapped around the end of Gabe’s cock. It was as if some primitive instinct was guiding her. Pleasure poured through her when she not only heard Gabe’s reaction, but felt his response.
Her own breath caught when she felt Kane’s fingers again. This time, he was rubbing the small nub that had grown to the size of a pebble. His touch was both excruciating and exquisite. A shudder ran through her and she opened for him, spreading her legs even more.
Gabe tangled his left hand in her hair while his right hand played with her breasts which were gently swaying in time with the movement of her mouth. He leaned his head back against the headboard and watched her slowly slide her mouth up and down his cock.
A whimper escaped her when Gabe began guiding her head up and down faster while at the same time Kane stretched her with his fingers. It was as if the two of them were working in unison to make her body ignite into flames. She could feel the moisture of her desire begin to run down the inside of her thigh. Kane growled in satisfaction and tweaked her swollen nub with his finger, drawing a prolonged cry from her.
Magna was locked in a world of pleasure when Kane rose up behind her and aligned his cock with her feminine channel. He leaned forward enough to wrap his arm around her and once again torment her nub as he pushed into her.
Unwilling to break the connection she had with Gabe, she moaned around his cock as Kane’s long, smooth shaft stroked the lining of her channel. She felt the slight hesitation when he came to the barrier marking her maidenhood.
Another whimper slipped out when he started to pull back, as if to withdraw from her. The feel of Gabe’s hand releasing her hair and reaching down so he could pinch both of her nipples had her bending forward to suck him all the way down. At the same time, Kane surged forward and through the barrier, claiming her with a loud groan as he sank his cock as far as it would go inside her. He continued to play with her clit until she was bucking, trying to throw him off as her orgasm built.
In a double assault on her body, Gabe rocked his hips while playing with her throbbing nipples. Kane, sensing she was close to having her first orgasm, grasped her hips, his shaft moving in and out of her with increasing speed now that her body had adjusted to him.
Kane drove deeper and deeper into her which caused Gabe’s cock to slide farther down her throat, and Magna was overcome. Her mouth and body tightened around both men, pulling long moans of pleasure and a flood of seed from them as they all came.
“Yes!” Kane groaned, his head falling back as he emptied himself into her.
“Beautiful,” Gabe uttered in a hoarse voice, watching as Magna swallowed his cock, his hands still holding her breasts firmly in his hands. “Aw, baby, yes!”
A shudder went through her. Her body trembled when she felt Kane slowly pull his cock out of her. Her lips tightened, trying to hold onto Gabe when Kane reached down and wrapped his arms around her waist.
“What are you doing?” she whimpered, reaching for Gabe.
“Shower time, baby, then Kane and I will trade places,” Gabe chuckled.
“Yeah, we are not letting you off this easy, sweetheart,” Kane added, sliding off the bed and reaching for her.
Magna looked back at both of the men and grinned. “Thank the Goddess for that!” she giggled as they pulled her to her feet.
Later that night, Gabe pulled free of them, and said he needed to check on the dogs. Twenty minutes later, Magna was sleeping contentedly in Kane’s arms, but Gabe still hadn’t returned.
Kane slipped from the bed, threw on his jeans and a shirt, and walked into the kitchen. Grabbing a beer out of the refrigerator, he opened the back door and stepped out onto the deck where Gabe was standing, looking out at the ocean over the treetops. He walked over and leaned against the railing.
“She asleep?” Gabe asked.
“Yeah, finally,” Kane replied. “You should have stayed with us.”
Kane watched as Gabe lifted the beer bottle to his lips, taking a long swig before he lowered it. He knew his friend well enough to know that Gabe needed time to accept what was happening. Things were moving fast, even for them. This wasn’t like any of their other relationships; this one was serious.
Gabe finally looked down at his hands and spoke. “I needed to think,” he finally admitted. “That isn’t easy to do with her lying between us.”
“So, what are we going to do?” Kane asked, turning around so he was facing the house.
“We aren’t letting her go,” Gabe retorted in a harsh voice.
Kane glanced at him before turning his attention back to the darkened living area. He could see the hallway leading to the back part of the house. It had been hard for him to leave Magna, but he knew that he and Gabe needed to talk. Magna’s safety and all of their futures were at stake.
His gut tightened when he realized what Gabe was alluding to.
“Ross could be trouble,” Kane said moodily.
Gabe shrugged. “He has no proof of anything. If nothing else happens, he won’t have any fuel to start something,” he muttered. “Without fuel, a fire can’t burn.”
“What if he doesn’t let it go?” Kane insisted. “She’s been through enough.”
Gabe looked down at his hands before he straightened and turned to stare into the house he had built with Kane’s help. The house and the boat had always been his pride and joy. He loved living along the coast and being out on the water.
He had been twelve the first time he’d seen the view from the side of the mountain. He’d been out late, as usual. His old man hadn’t cared what he did as long as he didn’t get into any trouble with the law. He had sat in almost this exact spot and made a vow that one day he would build a home here so he could stare out at the water.
He had worked and saved every dime he made from that summer on. When his dad became sick and couldn’t fish anymore, he had taken over running the boat. His gaze moved to his rough hands. When he was eighteen, the economy tanked, and his dad had sold the boat. He got his high school equivalency and enlisted in the military.
He had also married. That had been the biggest mistake of his life. Louisa was a small-town girl looking for a ticket to the easy life. He had been young, horny, and she’d said the right things, at the right time.
Less than a year later, he was divorced and being shipped off to another base while his ex-wife took the last dime they had in their checking account. Life was a bitch, but he’d found out a week after the divorce that if you sold the puppies, it wasn’t so bad.
The month after the divorce was finalized, he received two letters in the mail. The first certified letter was from an attorney for his dad who had died a week after the divorce was final. It turned out that his dad had known about his obsession with the property and purchased the land with the money from the sale of the boat.
The second certified letter stated the mother he’d never known had died soon after his dad and had left him a modest inheritance from her life insurance policy. Free of Louisa, he’d been able to focus on the money he would need to build the house of his dreams and replace the boat he had sold.
During his tour of duty, he had discovered a love for learning. At first, he had just been content to read anything he could get his hands on, but soon he had wanted to know more. He fulfilled that hunger by enrolling in online classes.
Meanwhile, he had taken any assignment that offered a bonus. On his second of four tours, a fire fight had left him with two bullet wounds, which had brought him to the base where Kane was stationed.
Their friendship grew enough over the course of their deployment that Kane was drawn to Lincoln County when he got out. Gabe had returned two years later with enough money to buy the materials to build his house and buy the boat he now had. Together, they had outfitted the boat, then built the house. He had stayed with Kane at his place on the outskirts of town while his house was under construction. He had moved in after they finished it a little over a year ago.
Kane divided his time between both places. When his friend was on call or had to work, he stayed at his own place. Otherwise, Kane usually hung out at his, since they were usually working together on a project or out on the boat anyway.
Gabe sighed and answered Kane’s question.
“If he doesn’t let it go, we disappear with her,” he said.
Chapter Fifteen
“So, how long did you say you were going to be staying?” Patty asked, rocking on her heels and looking pointedly at where Asahi was sitting at Mike’s old desk.
“I didn’t,” Asahi stated.
He ignored Patty’s glare. She had been doing that a lot since he arrived late this afternoon. The one thing he couldn’t ignore was her tapping the pencil against the notebook in her hand. It might have been a nervous gesture, except for the glare she was presently shooting at him, which almost certainly made it an intentionally irritating gesture.
“He’s coming back,” Patty stated.
Asahi looked up and replied, “No… He is not.”
Patty’s eyes widened and filled with tears. “You can’t know that for certain,” she insisted.
“I do not require any more assistance at this time, Miss…,” Asahi said, resting his forearms on the desk.
A flash of rebellion flickered across Patty’s face. “You’re the CIA, you figure it out,” she snapped, turning on her heel. “I’m late to pick up my son. Don’t forget to lock the front door when you leave.”
Asahi waited until the bell over the front door of the police station jingled and the door slammed before he sat back in the chair. Patricia ‘Patty’ LaBelle had not been pleased to see him when he walked into the police station an hour ago. The receptionist had been like a chihuahua nipping at his heels. He pursed his lips when a slight shudder ran through him at the visual.
He looked down with distaste at the tattered state of the file he had requested from Patty. Coffee stains, a few oil marks, and what looked like crusted frosting covered the ext
erior of the folder. His memory flashed to the empty donut bag in the trashcan next to Patty’s desk and he wondered if she had purposely coated the file before bringing it back to him.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have been quite so blunt when he ordered Patty to provide him with the files he needed and leave him alone... and he probably shouldn’t have turned into Mike Hallbrook’s office instead of the empty storage room she’d tried to direct him to. Oh well. He was here now… with this disgusting folder.
Carefully gripping the folder by the corner, he opened it. Inside, he discovered the papers were in pristine condition and chronological order. He turned the pages, pausing when he saw the photograph of a local fisherman. Lifting it up, he recognized the name. Ross Galloway had been a suspect in each of the previous disappearances. He scanned the information, noting that Ross liked to visit The Underground Pub.
Asahi looked up at the clock on the wall. His eyebrow rose at the message written across the black background of the clock in iridescent white letters: The White Pearl. Below that was the owner’s name – Pearl St. Claire – and the address. Shaking his head, he decided that the entire office had been decorated with local thrift shop blue light specials.
Another glance at the clock told him that if he left now, he would have time for a quick visit to Mike Hallbrook’s former home before stopping at the Underground Pub for dinner. He removed the stack of papers from the ruined folder. Testing the file drawer on each side of the desk, he was surprised when they both opened. Inside one was a green tennis ball, dog bowl, and leash. In the other drawer were empty folders and an assortment of forms. He pulled out one of the new folders and inserted the stack of papers before closing both drawers and tossing the soiled folder into the trashcan.
Asahi rose out of the chair and exited the office. There was something special about Yachats. This was not the first time an unexplained phenomenon had occurred in the area. There had to be a connection. He was determined to discover what it was and solve a cold case that had lingered unexplained and unresolved for more than forty years.