Barrack lowered her to her feet but kept his hands on her. She loved the power coursing through her at being able to ignite such a response in him with just a touch of her hands. Sliding them up his chest, she fingered the fastenings at the neck of his shirt.
One at a time, she released them, revealing more of his skin. Her breath hissed out when she felt Brogan sliding her sweater up and pulling it over her head. With agonizing slowness, they removed their clothes.
Brogan was driving her insane with his wandering hands. Her head tilted and she moaned softly. The twins rumbled their approval. Between Brogan’s hands and Barrack’s lips, her body was a trembling mass of need. They were a lethal combination.
“You two must have driven all your girlfriends crazy,” she groaned when Brogan lifted her breasts so that Barrack could worship them.
“We’ve never shared loving together with a woman other than you,” Brogan replied in a thick voice laden with desire. “Our dragons would not tolerate it.”
“Well, cover me in chocolate, lick me clean, and call me one lucky bitch,” she replied, feeling a sense of selfish glee at being the only woman to have enjoyed this with them.
Pleasure coursed through Brogan as his hands slid upward over Delilah’s ribs to cup both of her breasts beneath her nipples. Barrack took advantage and bent to suck on first one taut, mocha-colored nipple before nipping at the other. A shuddering gasp sounded in the room. Delilah enjoyed having her nipples stimulated.
I enjoy doing the stimulating, Barrack replied to Brogan’s silent observation. I can smell her desire.
I plan to taste her sweet nectar, Brogan replied.
For the first time in their lives, they were able to use their connection in a way they had never done before – with their true mate. They coordinated their caresses to maximize her pleasure. Each caress heated his blood until he was sure he had fire running through his veins. Her acceptance of them sent a piercing shaft of intense emotion through him.
“Whoa, I can feel someone is definitely hot!” Delilah moaned, rolling her hips against his crotch.
Brogan’s lips parted to give her a teasing retort, but his dragon had a different idea. Before he realized what he was doing, his teeth had pierced the tender skin at the curve of her shoulder and neck and he began to breathe the Dragon’s Fire into her blood. Her body stiffened and bowed, pressing her against Barrack.
His brother’s dragon reacted to her thrust. Barrack’s lips parted and his teeth grew. Still holding onto Delilah’s breasts, he watched Barrack sink his teeth into the soft flesh near her right nipple. Their combined Dragon Fire swept through Delilah’s body, beginning the changes that would bind them together as true mates.
His arms tightened under her breasts and he pulled her against his long form, holding her as the fire coursed through her veins. Her hands gripped Barrack’s shoulders and she tilted back her head, pressing her cheek against his and releasing a loud cry as she came for the first time. Barrack supported her when her legs suddenly gave out from under her.
Barrack reluctantly released her, his eyes blazing with emotion. “We should not have breathed at the same time,” he said, his voice thick with self-reproach.
Delilah’s head rolled forward and she gave him a crooked grin. “Yes, you should have. Damn, that was…. Well, hot damn,” she giggled before moaning again, her body moving in an erotic dance against both of them. “I swear I feel like my horny-bitch mode has kicked into overdrive.”
“Horny-bitch mode?” Brogan asked, sliding his tongue over the mark he had left on her shoulder.
Delilah tilted her head again and gave him a goofy smile. “I read it in a book,” she said, before undulating against him when the wave intensified. “Ahhh! I hope you guys know how to put out the fire in me because I swear I’m about to go into a major meltdown.”
Brogan’s hands slipped from around Delilah as his brother led her to the bed. A smile curved his lips when she looked over her shoulder and held her hand out to him. He grasped it, chuckling when she eagerly jerked him toward her.
Mate impatient, his dragon chuckled. I like!
I do too, my friend. I do too, Brogan replied, following them down onto the bed.
Barrack laid back on the bed as Delilah clambered up his body. Brogan’s eyes flared when he saw her broad hips lift in invitation. He could see the effects of the Dragon Fire already working on her body. Brilliant, rose-colored scales appeared and disappeared along her back.
Barrack, I see her dragon, Brogan groaned, sliding his hands along her hips.
I do as well. Her eyes, they are beautiful, Barrack replied in a strained voice. The fire is building.
Wait for it, Brogan commanded, knowing that if they took her at the moment the Dragon’s Fire peaked, it would spread faster, but also give her a better chance of surviving the changes already transforming her.
He held her hips, his fingers sliding along her buttock to her saturated core. He could see the sheen of moisture on the black curls covering her womanhood. He pressed into her, testing and stretching her.
“Oh, yes!” she groaned, pressing her lips against Barrack’s chest as she tilted her hips so Brogan could slide more deeply into her.
“She is ready,” he said, gritting his teeth when she squeezed her vaginal muscles around his fingers.
“Yes… she is,” Delilah panted, rocking her hips. “I need you both. The fire…. What is happening to me? I’ve never been so horny in my life!”
Brogan slid down along the bed when she pressed against him. Her lips were running down Barrack’s body. He could see how close his brother was too losing control. Barrack’s hands rose to thread through Delilah’s hair when she suddenly wrapped her lips around his cock.
Grasping her hips again, he aligned his cock with her heated core. His bulbous head, slick with his own seed, slid deep inside her, impaling her on his long, hard cock. He watched as he buried himself in her as far as he could go. Her muffled cries echoed with Barrack’s as she gripped his cock in her hand.
Connected with her now through the Dragon Fire and their symbiots, Brogan began moving with the waves of fire building inside her. He wanted to bite her again, to breathe more of the fire building inside himself, but was afraid to. The powerful waves building in him crashed against the fragile control he was trying to maintain.
He bowed his head, focusing on the sensations rushing through his body. The sounds of their heavy breathing, the slapping of their flesh as they connected, and the deeper caress of her vaginal walls against his cock sent him spiraling out of control. The primitive need of the male to claim his mate seized them both.
Her body tightened around his, swelling as the heat crested inside her. Throwing his head back, his strangled shout joined with his brother’s as she came around him. His eyes blazing with elation, he pulsed deep inside her. He could see her throat move as she swallowed Barrack’s release.
Pride and pleasure coursed through him as he watched the scales of Delilah’s dragon take shape, growing more visible, and rippling across her skin before fading. The change had begun. Before the night was over, he and his brother would have their true mate over and over and over again.
We have a lot of years to make up for, he thought.
“Our claim has just begun,” Barrack said out loud, his eyes flashing with fire and his voice harsh with desire.
Brogan watched as Delilah slid her mouth from around Barrack and shuddered. “It’s… coming… again…,” she warned.
“Barrack, stretch out under her. This time, we both will take her at the same time,” Brogan ordered with a wicked smile curving his lips as he ran his hand down over her ass.
Delilah hummed under her breath as she pulled the sheet of fresh baked cookies out of the oven. She placed them on the stove and turned the oven off, then leaned over, and sniffed the delicious smell of hot chocolate chip cookies baked to perfection.
These will taste almost as good as the guys, she thought with amusement.
She tilted her head and listened to the soft footsteps on the ceiling above her. Barrack was showering while Brogan had taken the dogs outside after he had come downstairs grumpy and growling that she had been missing when he’d come out of the bathroom. What could she say? She had woken up starving!
Now, the whole-house generator was running, she was freshly showered, was wearing some comfy sweats and a tattered sweater that had belonged to her father, and she had a batch of freshly baked cookies. Life was absolutely perfect. Of course, having two of the sexiest guys in the universe who had taken her to the stars and back last night might have been the real reason she felt so good.
She worried her bottom lip as she transferred the cookies to the wire rack to cool. As good as she felt about what had happened between herself and the two men upstairs, she wasn’t oblivious to the complications that her new relationship with them caused. There was no doubt in her mind that the local residents would have a heart attack if they knew she was having a relationship with not one, but two guys. Throw into the mix that the brothers were aliens, add a dash of fire-breathing dragon, and a sprinkle of gold, shape-shifting creatures, and she could see the entire state of North Carolina being quarantined by the government.
She looked up when she heard Barrack talking to Brogan as they walked towards the kitchen and passed by Moonshine and Rum wrestling with Whiskey – Barrack’s symbiot – and Gin – Brogan’s symbiot. She had decided last night as she lay in bed between the two men that their symbiots needed names.
She had kept with the theme that she had started with the Rottweilers, and had grinned when both symbiots had sent vivid impressions of approval. She had come up with the name for the Rottweilers by accident a few days after she had brought them home when she’d discovered her granddad had had a little side business of making moonshine back behind the old smokehouse. She couldn’t help but wonder if her grandmother had known about his illegal enterprise.
“Whatever you have made smells delicious,” Brogan commented, running his hand over his hair to remove the last of the snow.
“Cookies,” she grinned, holding up a plate.
Brogan grabbed several off the plate – ate one, then grabbed several more. Barrack grunted that Brogan needed to learn to share. She laughed and shook her head.
“I have plenty,” she replied, leaning up to press a kiss to Barrack’s lips. “You taste as good as the cookies.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Brogan teased. “These are delicious. They remind me of mother’s sweets.”
Delilah looked at them, startled. Why had she never thought of them as having a normal family with a mother and father? Hell, they could have a large extended family! The thought of them with a mom who had made cookies for them as a child made her chest feel tight. What must their parents have felt when they lost both of their children?
“I’ll get some more,” she said, noticing the plate that she was holding was already empty. “Just make sure you leave room for breakfast.”
She started to turn back toward the kitchen when an intense pain hit her. The plate she was holding fell from her suddenly numb fingers. Her hand started to rise to her chest as the world began to tilt sideways. Deep inside her, she heard the faint but desperate cry for help. For a second, she wondered who the feminine voice belonged to before another wave of pain struck her hard enough to knock her knees out from under her.
Help me! Pain. Help me.
The sound of Delilah’s dragon in distress caused Brogan and Barrack to instantly reach for her. Belatedly Brogan realized the shattering sound was from the plate hitting the kitchen floor.
She was tilting toward him unnaturally, and he caught a glimpse of her eyes wide with pain, fear, and confusion, her hand beginning to rise to her chest before it fell limply to her side as her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.
He registered her soft, anguished moan seconds after she uttered it, and vaguely heard Barrack cry “Delilah!” Time felt displaced and disconnected as they caught her. The twin symbiots on her wrists and the one around her neck dissolved and slid beneath her skin.
The two larger symbiots burst into the room with such force that the dining room chairs and table tumbled like dominoes before stopping next to the window. Barrack’s symbiot shifted and flowed over her while his became a floating bed. Brogan gently laid Delilah’s unconscious body down.
Barrack reached out and ran his hand down over her face, trying to follow the information that their symbiots were conveying to them. Brogan paled when he saw the damage to Delilah’s heart. The organ struggled to continue to beat.
“Her heart,” he whispered, his hand trembling as he caressed her cheek.
Barrack’s face was tight with tension. He was following the symbiot’s progress. Brogan could see the strain on his brother’s face. Neither of them had the knowledge of a healer, but Barrack knew more than he did. He could feel Delilah’s frightened dragon connecting with her human half. The pulsing light of her dragon was the only thing keeping Delilah alive at the moment.
“Can they heal her?” Brogan asked, looking up at his brother.
Barrack’s face became grim with determination. “If they can, it will take time,” he answered.
That was not the ‘yes’ Brogan had been desperate to hear. Barrack’s symbiot had threads of gold piercing Delilah’s chest that were pulsing, sending tiny bursts of electricity to her heart.
But he no say no, his dragon insisted, feeling his mate’s distress.
No, he did not say no, Brogan agreed, his hand tightening on Delilah’s as the symbiot bed began to move through the room.
His fingers slipped from hers when the space became too narrow. Forced to follow, he slowly climbed the stairs. In the space of a few seconds, his world had gone from intense contentment with their true mate to spinning dangerously close to imploding.
She has to live, he thought, his heart slowing to beat in time with hers.
Show me the damage, Barrack instructed his symbiot.
Images of Delilah’s heart appeared in his mind. He could see the muscle struggling to contract, but it couldn’t. Sweat beaded on his brow when her heart slowed to the point it was barely beating. The symbiot sent small filaments into Delilah’s heart and began sending pulses to keep it beating.
Once upstairs, the symbiot moved over her bed and dissolved before reforming. Both creatures worked on Delilah while he and Brogan stood to the side, watching, waiting, and clinging to the small spark of life inside her. As the symbiots worked tirelessly on her, he was able to piece together what had happened.
We hurt mate, his dragon mourned.
No, her heart was weak. The Dragon Fire may have caused it to weaken further, but it is also what saved her life. She would have died if she did not have her dragon inside her, Barrack said.
Hear mate cry. She in pain, his dragon replied.
We will heal her. We did not come this far only to lose her, my friend. You will have your mate. She will fight to be with us, Barrack replied, his voice filled with determination.
She fight. She strong, his dragon said, growing quiet.
“Yes, she will fight,” Barrack murmured, unable to believe anything else as he pulled the chair closer to the bed so he could hold Delilah’s hand.
Brogan sat at the end of the bed. Neither man spoke. Their entire focus was on the beautiful, feisty, yet fragile woman fighting for her life – and theirs.
Chapter Seventeen
“How is she?” Brogan quietly asked, stepping into the room.
“Resting,” Barrack replied, looking up from his place on the bed next to Delilah.
Brogan sat down on the edge of the bed and cupped her limp hand in his. Her fingers were warm. He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. Her expression was peaceful.
“Has she woken at all?” he asked, looking at his brother.
Barrack shook his head. “No,” he replied.
Brogan bowed h
is head. It had been over twenty-four hours since Delilah had collapsed and stopped breathing. She would have died immediately if not for their symbiots’ swift reactions.
At first, they had believed her collapse was due to a delayed effect of the Dragon’s Fire. The changes had been hard on her body. Guilt had plagued him most of the night. Maybe they had been too energetic with her. Their symbiots had worked on her throughout the night, repairing and healing each damaged muscle and checking each valve in her heart.
The symbiots showed them that the damage was not caused by the change, but from a weak heart that had gone undetected since Delilah was born. He looked down at her chest. Lifting his other hand, he gently laid it over her heart.
“We came so close to losing her,” he murmured, looking up at his brother with tortured eyes.
Barrack’s gaze moved to Brogan’s hand resting on Delilah’s chest. “Our symbiots are checking everything. We are fortunate that they were able to reach her in time and repair the damage before it was too extensive. Once it is safe to leave, I want all of us to return to the ship and have the healer examine her,” he said.
Brogan nodded in agreement. Pulling his hand away from over her heart, he enfolded her hand in both of his. He could feel his dragon reaching for her. A part of him knew he should prevent his dragon from touching his mate, but he also realized that most of Delilah’s healing came from their connection. Delilah’s dragon needed to know that the twin dragons were there for her as well.
Feel mate. She sleep, his dragon quietly said.
Let her heal, my friend, he gently murmured, understanding his dragon’s desire to wake and call his mate.
Delilah drifted in and out of sleep. She could feel the changes going on inside her body but didn’t understand them. Curious, she tried to focus. Her mind felt fuzzy, and thinking for long periods was difficult. Losing her train of thought, she was unable to pinpoint what felt different from before.
Waking again, she felt a small movement inside her that caused her body to twitch. It felt like something was sending tiny electrical shocks to her heart. She tried to move her hand to cover her chest but something was holding it and refused to let go. She couldn’t understand why it was so difficult for her to wake up. Every time she tried, it felt like someone was pressing down on her chest with a heavy weight. She soon became too tired to fight against the relentless pressure, so she gave up. Sleep was so much easier.