"Talk to me," I said. "Both of you. Keep me grounded as long as you can."
"What do you want to talk about?" Luca asked, his hand stroking my hair.
"Anything. Everything. Your lives. What I missed."
So they talked. Took turns telling me about the last twelve years. About being drafted. About the rivalry that developed between them. About the games and the wins and the losses.
About the women they'd dated and couldn't bond with.
About the nights they'd thought about me and wondered where I was.
I listened, soaking in their voices. Letting the sound of them ground me even as the heat built higher.
But eventually the talking stopped making sense. The words blurred together. All I could focus on was their scents, their warmth, the feeling of their hands on my skin.
"Reina?" Luca's voice came from far away. "Are you still with us?"
I tried to answer. Couldn't form words.
The heat was taking over. Rational thought slipping away.
I turned to him, grabbed his face, pulled him down for a kiss that was more desperation than technique.
He kissed back, careful and controlled even as I could feel him shaking with the effort of holding back.
Then Jaxon's hands were on me, turning me toward him. His kiss was different. Rougher. More demanding.
I moaned into his mouth, pressed closer.
"She's going under," Jaxon said against my lips. "Heat's taking her."
"I know." Luca's hands were in my hair. "Reina, sweetheart, can you hear me?"
I managed a nod.
"We've got you. Both of us. We're not going anywhere."
"Need..." The word came out as a whimper.
"We know. Soon. I promise."
But soon wasn't good enough. My body was on fire. Every nerve ending screaming for relief.
I reached for them both, tried to pull them closer.
They came willingly, surrounding me with their warmth and scent and strength.
This was it.
This was the moment I'd been afraid of for twelve years.
And I'd never felt safer.
"Together," I managed to whisper. "All three of us."
"Together," they promised.
Then the last of my rational thought burned away in the heat, and there was nothing left but need.
