When he released her mouth, he moved back slightly so Eric could lean in and kiss her just as thoroughly. She felt Striker raise her shirt and undo the front clasp of her bra, running his hands over her sides then up to cup her bared breasts. Eric released her lips only to trail down to her neck, running the tip of his tongue over the shell of her ear. She moaned as she raised both her hands to lay one on each head of the men kissing her.
She moaned again, when she felt Striker's tongue run up the underside of her breast and then gasped as his lips closed over her nipple. She arched her back when Striker sucked her nipple in and rolled it to the roof of his mouth. Eric chose that moment to whisper in her ear all the things they wanted to do to her and she wanted to let them.
Then Striker had raised his head and smiled at her, reaching up to cup her cheek. To her horror, his face had frozen and then blood had begun to drip out of the corner of his mouth. Mia immediately had turned to Eric, who she saw was just as frozen in shock and when she saw the blood blooming on his chest, she had screamed. She kept screaming as the blood from her two lovers had poured over her body, horrifying her.
Eric and Striker both reached the room at the same time, looking around in confusion. Mia was thrashing on the bed, screaming their names.
‘Nightmare,’ Eric said through their link.
Both men approached the bed, one on each side, and Striker reached out to shake Mia awake. "Mia, wake up. Mia,” he said firmly to try to draw her out.
Eric reached over and fed her a little bliss when he smoothed his hand over her cheek. Mia quieted almost at once. "Mia, älskling, can you wake up for us? Come on."
Although Mia had been given a dose of bliss, whatever the dream was, it was terrorizing her. She was thrashing on the bed and Eric was afraid she would hurt herself. He reached out and scooped her up into his arms. Striker took her lower half and held her on his lap. Mia immediately curled into Eric's chest, burying her face into his neck. She began to cry softly and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
Striker began to rub her legs in a slow caress. 'What was that you did to her?'
'I shared with her, gave her a little bliss to calm her,’ Eric explained. 'It's a Fae thing.'
'I see,’ Striker answered.
"I'm so sorry.” Mia began to moan over and over again.
"No, Mia, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Eric crooned to her. "You are safe. We are with you."
"Don't leave me, please don't leave me,” Mia begged.
"We won't leave you, love,” Striker told her as he rubbed her legs.
Mia began to wiggle on Eric's lap as she tried to burrow deeper into his arms. He moaned as her little bottom wiggled into his lap, which was barely covered by a towel, waking up certain parts of him he was already having trouble controlling. He felt her warm lips brush his neck and stiffened in shock. What was his little Mia up to? he thought.
'She is still half asleep,’ Striker's amused voice came into his head. 'I am listening to her heart. It is slowing down like she is waking slowly.'
'You are enjoying this, aren't you?’ Eric knew Striker was enjoying his predicament.
'Very much. I was in the same situation when she lost it earlier today,’ Striker told him.
Suddenly, Mia's arms tightened around Eric's neck and then she stiffened. The men froze, waiting to see what she would do. "You are safe now, Mia. We are here,” Eric said reassuringly.
"Eric? Striker?” Mia's voice came out in a whisper.
"We are both with you, love,” Striker said.
Mia leaned back from Eric to look around her. "What happened?"
"You seemed to be having a bad dream. Are you okay?” Eric answered.
Mia was quiet for a minute. Then she said sounding confused, "Eric, why are you wet?"
Eric chuckled. "Well, I was in the shower when a young lady began to scream. Of course, being the dashing hero, I immediately jumped out of the shower to hurry to her side."
Mia laughed softly and then gasped. "You're naked!"
"No I'm not. I have a towel on.” He sounded affronted.
Mia heard Striker chuckle and looked over in his direction. They both noticed that she never really looked them in the eye. "Well, I appreciate you coming to my aid, but I am sure Striker will stay with me so you can go get dressed."
"Of course, Mia. Come over here and I will hold you to keep you safe,” Striker assured her. Eric groaned as Mia scooted off his lap as delicately as she could. Striker stretched out on his side, patted the bed next to him, held his arms open to her and she laid down on her side beside him.
Eric rolled his eyes, as he made sure the towel was covering him before he got up to get dressed in the bathroom. Once changed, he stepped out and saw Mia was laying on her stomach with her eyes closed while Striker gave her a backrub. 'How did you manage that?’ Eric asked Striker.
'I told her she seemed tense,’ Striker answered.
'Ah, I see,’ Eric said, just then Mia let out a moan and Eric saw Striker frown. 'What's wrong? Is she in pain?’ he asked concerned.
'No, but I am. Those little moans she's making are driving me crazy,’ Striker told him.
Eric walked over to the bed and sat down on the side. Mia lifted her head and said, "All dressed, Eric?"
Eric smiled at her. "Yes, ma'am."
"Mm...” Mia answered.
"You feeling better?” Eric asked her.
"Yes, much. Striker has magic hands,” Mia told him.
"Do you want to talk about your dream?” Eric questioned.
There was silence from her and Striker said, "We are here to help you, Mia. You can talk to us."
Mia continued to be quiet and then she sighed softly. She turned slightly and then sat up between them again. "Um…well, it was just a bad dream."
"Do you want to tell us what happened in the dream? It might help,” Eric said to her.
Mia blushed and both men knew they had to know what happened in her dream. "Tell us, it will make you feel better,” Striker encouraged her.
"Well, we were all on a picnic. It was nice,” Mia started. Wondering how much to actually say, she looked up and waited to see what their reaction would be.
"We? The three of us?” Eric was surprised. Striker smiled as well at her comment.
Mia nodded. "It was a beautiful day. We went out and sat on a blanket on this hillside.” Mia blushed again. "Then we were enjoying ourselves when you both began to bleed. I mean seriously, one moment everything was great, I was thinking…well never mind, basically you like spontaneously began to bleed. You were bleeding all over me. There was so much blood.” Mia began to cry softly and Striker took her in his arms, whispering to her that she was safe. She cried for a few minutes and then stopped, giving a few sighs of sadness.
"Are you okay now?” Eric said as he reached over and rubbed her back.
Mia nodded but kept her head tucked under Striker's chin. She did unhook one of her arms from around Striker's neck to reach back and hold Eric's hand. 'It's odd, but it seems like even though she is human, she knows we are all mates,’ Eric sent to Striker.
'I agree. You said earlier she was upset I wasn't here at dinner. That she said we all had to be together,’ Striker said. 'She is feeling the mating call.'
"I'm really tired now. Can we all lay down and get some rest?” Mia asked them. Shit, had she really said that aloud? Now it was official, she was a whore.
She once again surprised them both, seeming to know they would all lay down in the bed together. That they were meant to be together. "Of course, love, let's lay down. You need some rest,” Striker said.
"Do you want a drink or anything before I shut off the lights?” Eric asked.
"No, thank you. I'm fine,” Mia said as she watched Striker stand next to the bed to strip off his clothes. He left his boxers on for her modesty.
Her head swung over to Eric, it seemed she didn't want to miss seeing his body being exposed either. He didn't disappoint as he
took off everything but his boxers as well. Then Eric walked over and shut off the light. Fuck a duck, she thought, where the hell was she supposed to look. She couldn’t tell because she wanted to make them stand side-by-side until she had her fill. Damn, this was so not the time for this, but what would any normal red-blooded woman do? Whistle and pump her fists. Mia thought and then sucked in a deep breath. She needed to act non-whorish or they would leave, and she didn’t want that. Mia smiled at them and nodded.
There was a built-in nightlight in the bathroom that gave off a small glow as he made his way back to the bed and climbed in. As they all settled in the bed, Mia reached for each of their hands, then softly said good night and fell asleep.
Chapter Six
Mia woke slowly and refused to open her eyes. She was snuggled down into the most incredible warmth and she didn't want to leave it. As she became more aware, she realized there was a large, male arm around her waist and a muscular, hairy leg between hers. She froze and didn't know what to do, everything in her screamed to get away from that bed but she just couldn't seem to make herself move. Shit, she remembered the night before, Eric and Striker coming into her room. They were in the same bed as she was. She silently thanked Roarke for that, but fuckity fuck fuck, what was she going to do?
She thought about the night before and how the two men looked undressing. They both were so well built and sexy, she just wished she could go back and kiss them like she had wanted to. It would have made waking up frustrated so much better. Mia would have been able to do what she wanted to right now, and that was to roll over and kiss them senseless as they woke up. Her sub-conscious would know what to do with them. Actually, not so much, but Mia would have at least been open to trying to find something with them, if she wasn’t on the run for her life. For some reason she knew they were supposed to all three be together.
The arm around her shifted a little, the hand splaying on her stomach began to move in circles. She tensed again and stopped breathing to keep herself immobile. She had kept her eyes closed, trying to be in the moment, enjoy the feel of these two men on either side of her. As she had her eyes closed, she saw flashing images of Roarke and his men, attacking her. They were doing horrible things to her. She squeezed her eyes tighter, trying to block out those images, those memories.
"Stop thinking so hard,” Striker's gruff voice came from behind her, tickling her ear.
Lips collided with her forehead as she heard Eric's voice say softly, encouragingly, "Just be in the moment."
She slowly opened her eyes, knowing that pretense wouldn't work anymore. She had thought they were asleep, but it was obvious they were very much awake and waiting on her to wake. As her eyes opened, they collided with Eric's green ones and she felt like she had fallen into them. They seemed so full of understanding where Striker's deep brown eyes seemed to see too much, seemed to know what was going on inside of her. She shivered as she felt Striker nuzzle her neck.
"Stop thinking about it all and like Eric said, be here,” Striker ordered.
"How are you feeling this morning?” Eric asked her.
She slowly licked her dry lips and saw that Eric's gaze followed the movement with heat in them. "Okay."
Eric's face broke out in a wide smile as he said, "That's good. Did you sleep well?"
She nodded instead of answering him because her breath had stalled in her throat as Striker's hand at her stomach had begun to move again. It was slowly moving in circles, getting wider and wider until his thumb brushed under breast. She went to try to wiggle out of their grasp, she needed to get out of that bed. When she went to move, two things happened, one, the arm around her began to tighten, two, the leg between hers shifted upward, and she involuntarily tightened both her thighs on it.
Eric groaned, "You are killing me, Mia, wiggling like that. You are gonna get a little more than you bargained for and I don’t want to scare the shit out of you this morning."
"Yes, your skin is so soft. I can't stop myself from caressing it,” Striker added.
"Please let me up.” Mia's eyes were wide as she looked at Eric. "I...I need to get up."
Eric must have seen her begin to panic as he reached up and cupped her face in his hand. "Breathe with me. Remember how we did it before? Come on."
"Let me feel you breathing with Eric, sweet.” Striker firmed his hand on her stomach and she covered it with her own.
"That's it, honey, breathe slowly. You are safe with us. Nothing happens that you don't want,” Eric assured her and kept breathing with her.
Slowly, Mia's panic went away. She felt better with both men, it frustrated and embarrassed her that this had happened again in front of the men. She wanted to be strong, she wanted to be worthy of being able to see where a relationship with these two men would go, but she couldn't. She kept having these attacks.
'She seems to be calmer,’ Eric said to Striker.
'Her breathing is back to normal, but she is still tense,’ Striker observed.
Eric met his eyes over her head. 'At least she didn't bolt.'
'True. Unfortunately, we need to get moving. It's not safe here,’ Striker told him.
Eric's eyes shifted back to Mia. "Better?"
Mia nodded. "Yes, thank you,” she whispered.
Striker slowly rolled her over on to her back so he could look her in the eyes. He stayed on his side so he wasn't leaning fully over, frightening her. "Good morning,” he said with a smile, trying to lighten things up.
"Good morning,” she answered as she put her hands up against his chest, whether to hold him back or touch him, neither knew.
Striker looked deep into her eyes, keeping her attention solely on the moment. "May we kiss you good morning, Mia?” he asked softly.
Mia was so surprised that he asked instead of just taking, she could only nod her acquiescence and close her eyes, waiting. Striker moved slowly, not wanting to scare her and cause her to change her mind. He lightly brushed her lips with his, slowly adding pressure. He slid his tongue along the seam of her lips, asking for permission to enter her mouth.
Mia felt his tongue along her lips and opened her mouth so he could plunder it. He left no part of her mouth unexplored as he kissed her thoroughly. He didn't grope her or try anything more than to kiss her. She kept her hands on his chest and could feel Striker's muscles ripple as he breathed. She marveled at how hard his body was but how gently he treated her. She felt Eric at her other side and slowly slid one of her hands off Striker's chest to reach out to Eric. His hand immediately clasped hers and she felt his lips touch her palm.
Mia brought up her other hand to cup Striker's cheek as the kiss continued. Striker was slowly exploring every part of her mouth and taking his time doing it. She had to admit that she was getting aroused, which surprised her and she knew they both would know it too. Then just as she thought she could kiss him forever, Striker slowly released her lips, taking one last nip at her bottom lip as he moved away.
"Thank you for trusting me, Mia,” Striker said softly. "That was incredible."
Mia shivered as Striker backed away and turned her toward Eric. As she shifted, she looked into Eric's eyes and saw that he waited for her and would continue to wait until she was ready. She smiled at him to let him know she was okay with him kissing her. He continued to stay still, as if waiting for her to make the first move. Mia reached up and cupped his cheek slowly. He turned his head and kissed her palm. She felt tingles run down her arm then further through her body.
She began to feel bold as she slowly slid her hand into his hair, weaving her fingers into his long, blonde locks. She tugged slightly and saw the happiness shine in his eyes as he seemed to know that was as far as she could go. He leaned down and took her mouth in a kiss of tenderness and caring. He moved slowly, thoroughly seeming to enjoy being able to kiss her. Then he touched her lips with his tongue and she immediately opened to him. The kiss was different from that of Striker's, yet no less potent. Eric took her softly where Striker was bold
er.
As Eric pulled back slowly, he looked into her eyes and then kissed her again while keeping eye contact, saying, "That was just as I knew it would be. Thank you."
Mia smiled, somehow feeling happiness spread inside her at their praise and thankfulness that she had let them kiss her. She realized it was their first true kiss and she knew she didn't want it to be the last. That thought shocked her as she lay there between these two potent men. She had to get up and move before she had another attack, which she could feel coming on.
She didn't want to ruin the moment they had just shared, so she sat up and scooted to the bottom of the bed. She stood and calmly walked to the door of the bathroom, she didn't want to show her fear was coming back by running. Once she had entered the bathroom and closed the door, she let the feelings wash over her as she leaned against the door. She let a small smile come through as she fanned herself, damn those men were hot.
When the bathroom door closed, both men got up and began to get dressed. "I can't believe how far she has come,” Eric said to Striker.
"She is doing much better than I thought she would at this point,” Striker answered.
Eric nodded. "I think we just need to slowly chip away at the wall and soon it will come crumbling down."
"I agree. We just need to make sure we don't scare her into regression,” Striker said with a grimace. "Which will more than likely happen against our wishes."
"Yeah,” Eric said dejectedly. "I guess we need to prepare for that."
Striker nodded. "I am going to go check email one more time and then we need to head out. We have to put some miles behind us today."
"Okay. I am going to make sure everything is packed up and that Mia gets ready,” Eric answered as he finished getting dressed.
Mia quickly showered and then realized she had no clean clothes with her in the bathroom. She rolled her eyes at her stupidity but had to quickly forgive herself due to the lack of oxygen to the brain from the kisses she had received. Once again, she wrapped a large bath towel around her body and then opened the door to the bedroom. She quickly glanced around and saw no one was there. Just as she stepped out and was debating on whether to call out or not, she saw a pile of clothes laid out on the bed. She smiled at their thoughtfulness and began to dress.