Chapter Eleven
Hannah’s gaze flicked between Ryker and Bastian. Ryker had just basically called her out. He was asking for an admission of emotion, and that was something that would have ordinarily had her running scared. But not now. Not when she knew how they saw her and knew what a mate meant to them.
“Oh, there is feeling, Ryker,” Hannah said in that voice that didn’t sound like hers but was one she seemed to adopt more frequently lately. “I have felt a connection to you both from that very first day. I won’t lie to you and say that it didn’t scare the shit out of me because it did. I am not a woman who gives of herself that easily. The only person I ever really connected to on any level was my dad. When I lost him, I retreated into myself, and I never thought I would find another connection that meant so much to me. But I have.”
Both her men’s expressions seemed to soften, and the looks they gave her, with love shimmering in their eyes, gave her the strength to continue. “I am already more than a little ways down the road of falling in love with you both. You call me your mate, that I am the one woman destined for you? Well, I have to tell you, that I think you might be destined for me, too.”
“Too fucking right, we are,” Ryker said with a grin, right before he reached out, lifting her from the floor and throwing her down on the bed. She landed with a squealing laugh, and even before she’d finished bouncing, both men had joined her on the bed.
Ryker stalked closer to her, crawling up the bed to lie at her side, his face close to hers. “There’s only really one thing that I wanted to address in what you just said to us, sweetness.”
Hannah gasped as Bastian lifted her hips and plucked her boy shorts and underwear from her body. “What’s that?”
Ryker leaned down and licked into her mouth in a sexy as all hell, open-mouthed kiss before pulling back to stare at her. “You said that you were on your way to falling in love with us. Bastian and I fell so damn hard it left our heads spinning. Shift gears a little faster, sweetness. Fall. We'll catch you. We want you to love us, as much as we are in love with you.”
Hannah’s heart swelled within her, and she almost felt like it threatened to explode. “You’re in love with me?”
“We both are, baby,” Bastian said from where he was settling between her legs. “And by the time we let you up from this bed, you’ll know that for sure, in every—” Hannah gasped when he leaned in and flicked his tongue against her clit. “—part of your—” This time she cried out when he sucked her clit into his mouth, before pulling back. “—body.”
With that promise hanging in the air, Bastian leaned down to put his mouth on her and began to drive her crazy. She cried out but then was unable to do anything other than lie there and take it when Ryker took her mouth. His kiss was dominant and strong, just like the man himself. She wanted to relax into the kiss and be an active participant, but Bastian chose that moment to start using his fingers along with his tongue to drive her to the abyss of pleasure that stretched out before her.
Hannah lost herself in a sensual maelstrom as Bastian expertly played her body, biting, licking, and sucking her into a frenzy that had her desperately trying to impale herself on the fingers he used to stroke deep within her. Ryker kept her mind in a constant state of disorientation with his powerful kisses and the strong way he plucked her nipples, in complete unison, it seemed, with Bastian’s movements. It was too much. She found herself flying toward completion with a speed that left her breathless, and then without warning, she flew off the edge of that abyss, falling headfirst into her orgasm. It was so powerful, her body shuddered and jerked between her two men, and she screamed into Ryker’s mouth as it rolled over her.
Hannah had no idea how long it lasted, but Ryker and Bastian stayed with her for the entire time, easing her through and then down from her release, until she could breathe again without screaming. When they edged off her, she looked between both men, and the last piece of her heart, the small sliver that she was holding back in fear of being irreparably hurt, became theirs at the look in their eyes.
“I do,” Hannah whispered breathlessly, desperately trying to still her pounding heart. “I do love you. Both of you. As much as you love me. I do.” She watched as their expressions filled with wonder and then bloomed with joy.
Ryker leaned down to press his forehead to hers as Bastian moved up the bed to lay beside her. “You know, sweetness, I really do love hearing you say those two words. Not as much as I adored hearing you tell us that you love us. But ‘I do’ sounds fantastic on your lips.”
Ryker pressed a sweet kiss to her mouth before pulling back, and Bastian took his place, pressing a kiss of his own to her lips. “You should get used to saying that,” Bastian said with a grin. “You’ll be saying it in front of a preacher someday soon.”
Hannah filled with joy even as she arched a brow at her mate. “Is that right? Well, that all depends on how nicely you ask me, now doesn’t it?”
Bastian swept her hair from her face, and Hannah sighed. Marriage was a big step, but she had a feeling when the time came, and the question was indeed asked, she would say yes. It might seem quick to others, but for her, that connection was formed when they first met and was somehow forged into steel through that short amount of time. She had the feeling that if there were such a thing as reincarnation, then she and her mates would have been mated in the lifetimes that had been, and all those left to come.
She frowned when that brought a question to mind. “Marriage is a human thing, right?”
“Yeah, but shifters get married, too, baby,” Bastian said as he began to nibble on her neck, and Ryker swept his hand down over the soft swell of her body.
“So, what’s the shifter equivalent?”
Ryker sighed as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to the other side of the neck. “A claiming bite seals the mating bond between us, sweetness. Bastian and I would take you together, one of us in your ass, the other in that sweet pussy of yours. Right in the moment you surrender to us, and come hard, we would deliver the claiming bite. I would bite you right here.”
Hannah shivered at the light kiss he pressed again to the sensitive skin at the side of her neck.
“And I would bite you right here,” Bastian murmured against the other side, and Hannah shivered again.
Hannah nibbled on her bottom lip. “Do we have to wait until we are married for that to happen?”
Both men froze for a moment, and the room filled with twin deep chuffing noises that she knew were her bears communicating their thoughts on that question. When both men pulled back once more to look down at her, she was almost left breathless at the raw need in their eyes.
“I’m going to take that look, and the happy chuffs from my bears, as an indication that neither of you is opposed to not waiting,” she said smugly as she snuggled between them.
“Your bears, huh?” Bastian teased, then simply stared at her as if she had hung the moon and the stars. It was most definitely a heady feeling. “No, baby, we don't have to wait for that part. Some might think it is too soon, but for us, it can't come soon enough. The claiming bite would tell everyone that you belong to us, as we belong to you.”
Hannah took a deep breath. “I like the sound of that.”
Ryker reached out to place his hand against her cheek. “I am a dominant Alpha bear shifter, sweetness, and there is not much in this world that I fear. But in this case, I am scared shitless that I might be misreading your mild curiosity for positive intent. You are going to have to spell it out for us, Hannah, because I refuse to rush you or to take something that is not freely given.”
