“What do you say, greedy woman?” came Gaelfr’s ragged voice, and oh, he was now thrusting in earnest, skin slapping against skin. And with every thrust, Kalfr juddered and gasped, spurting out a fresh flare of white onto Raye’s belly, marking her with their pleasure. “Are you jealous?”
Raye’s mouth let out a hoarse, betraying sound, and her head nodded, all on its own. “Yes,” she gasped back. “So jealous.Fuck.”
Gaelfr’s eyes flashed with more triumph, with something else Raye couldn’t name. And as if to dig the wound deeper, he again gripped at Kalfr’s swaying cock, pumping out more spurts of white, all over Raye’s gasping body. “Keep speaking this, woman,” he rasped. “Tell us.”
Kalfr’s hazy eyes were flickering on Raye too, holding her gaze through long fluttering lashes, and her hand slipped down her front, slid into his slippery warmth on her skin. She was still part of this, she could still trust them, be brave…
“Kalfr is — soright, like this,” she gasped, again drinking up the sight of his lean arching body, his rich gleaming skin, the halo of shimmering curls around his face. “With you beside him, behind him, inside him. I should have seen it. Should have realized.”
The triumph flared harder across Gaelfr’s eyes, his hand still pumping Kalfr’s shaft, his teeth now scraping at Kalfr’s throat. Again taunting Raye, rubbing it in, perhaps, but beneath the eye of the goddess, she could keep trusting them enough to know they needed it, and maybe she needed it, too.
“It’s just — not something any woman wants to face, is it?” Raye whispered. “Knowing that her mate already has a gorgeous, powerful partner who can give him something you can’t. And even if your mate tries to deny it, you know how much he needs it. He needs someone else to help him, and uphold him, and fuck him, someone who isn’t you, and you just —”
Her mouth twisted, her hand clutching against her slick belly. “You just wish you could have that, too,” she croaked. “Goddess, how couldn’t you?”
Her other hand waved shaky toward them, toward Kalfr’s beautiful body, lit up with all his power and pleasure, and with Gaelfr’s stubborn, bulky strength behind him. With Gaelfr giving this to him so freely, offering up such love and care and fealty, with no conditions, no demands in return. No need to keep a vow, to atone, to prove it, to obey, to give him a son…
And suddenly, Raye was flooded with the desire to weep, to cover her eyes, maybe even to jump up, and run away. Because she didn’t have this, she couldn’t compete with this, and why was she still even trying —
But then, something shifted. Stuttered. Gaelfr’s movements slowing, perhaps, because Kalfr was finally leaning forward toward her, and it was — Gaelfr’s hands, guiding him. Giving her this.
“Ach, but now that you have witnessed our truth, woman,” Gaelfr said, his voice gruff, his eyes intent on Raye’s face, “we will yet grant you all this. Now take what is ours,ástin mín.”
Kalfr’s breath heaved out, his weight falling to his elbows over Raye, his arms bracketing her face. Flooding her with thescent of him, the strength of him — and as she found his eyes, so raw and bright and desperate on hers, there was yet more comprehension, swirling through her scattering thoughts. Yes, Kalfr needed this — but not just with Gaelfr. He needed it with her, too. With both his bondmates, together. And Raye didn’t know whether to laugh, or cling to him, or weep. Her beautiful, clever, goddess-kissed mate, trusting her, touching her, wanting to show her his truth, to make her his.
He held her gaze as he eased closer, his dripping cock now nudging between her legs, asking the silent question. And Raye urgently nodded as she clutched her arms around him, drawing him down closer. Welcoming his slow, steady slide inside, carving her open, thrilling her from the inside out.
But it still felt different, too. The angle sharper, his shaft thicker, his slit spurting out wetter than she could ever remember. And the way he shuddered and bobbed, too, flexing with surprising strength inside her, because — right. It was stillGaelfr. Still Gaelfr buried deep inside him, lighting him up, guiding him into Raye’s waiting, quivering body. And Gaelfr now hovering over them both, too, his hair falling in a long, glossy curtain around them, closing them in dark and safe, while his body rocked Kalfr in closer. And fuck, that felt so good, Kalfr’s invading cock still flaring and pouring as he pressed deeper, his eyes still shimmering so bright on Raye’s face.
“Good?” Kalfr whispered, and Raye frantically nodded, and yanked them both down closer. To which Gaelfr gave an approving grunt, thrusting in harder, making both Kalfr and Raye moan at once. And Kalfr’s expression was shifting again, into something between affection and ecstasy as his lips lowered to Raye’s, kissing her with such soft, gentle sweetness, while his cock kept grinding in hard and hungry below.
It was unlike anything they’d done together yet, a close, precious intimacy so powerful it felt about to shatter with everybreath. Kalfr was taking her in a way he never had before, not even back then, and Raye had never imagined how much better it could be, with Gaelfr behind it. With Gaelfr fucking her mate into her, flooding them all with such dizzying safety and pleasure, with the gifts and blessing of the goddess, pouring out upon the vows they’d sworn, brimming with truth and trust. And when Gaelfr’s mouth settled into the curve of Kalfr’s throat, and he guided Kalfr’s head down into Raye’s throat, too, it trembled like something momentous, something unspeakably sacred, something that could never be undone.
Raye nearly sobbed at the sharp cut of Kalfr’s teeth, the flash of fleeting pain — but then, just like so long ago, it soon slipped into smooth, swirling euphoria. Into the truth of her mate finally returning to his vow, reinforcing it, drawing it out through her very lifeblood, as hisástvinurdrew out his own in return. A pure, circling bond between them, growing and crackling with every breath, with every deep, decadent swallow from Kalfr’s throat. And with the way his body inside hers kept flaring and firing, filling up more and more, fucking in faster and fiercer. Until they were slamming together, burning to a fever pitch, Gaelfr driving and urging them on, calling, praying, pleading —
The blessing poured in a furious, clashing rush, howling all around them, breaking the rest of the world away. Pummelling them all with pure, divine exultation that bled all the light white, and convulsed Raye with spike after spike of shocking, staggering bliss. Until there was no reality at all, no fear, no hurt, no regrets. Only the truth of her beloved mates above her, inside her, one with her and the earth. Their blood and sweat and seed all freely given, made light and safe and whole.
Raye couldn’t have said how long it lasted, or when it faded. But at some point, she found herself blinking up at the darkened sky, with tears streaking down her cheeks. And the silent prayer she’d been speaking rose to her voice, escaping up to that silverywatching eye above them. “Thank you, goddess,” she whispered. “Thank you for blessing our union, and making us a family, together.”
The goddess’ eye softened as it gazed back at her, deepening that blessing — because that was what this had been, right? It wasn’t like the first blessing on the altar, which had been for her and Kalfr, or the second, which had been for the clan, or the third, for the son. No, this one had been for them. For all three of them.
Only then did Raye realize that Kalfr and Gaelfr were both blinking at her, both with red smeared across their lips. And she smiled as she gazed back up at them, and reached both hands to stroke at their sweaty faces. “You feel it too, don’t you?” she whispered. “We’re settled now, aren’t we? We can trust each other, and be a family? For good?”
But maybe it was only the pleasure still speaking, hoping, praying — because Kalfr stilled beneath her touch, and Gaelfr betrayed a narrow, searching look toward him. And there was enough of that lingering warmth to blunt the alarm Raye should have felt, to make her hand keep stroking at Kalfr’s face.
“Oh, come now, Kalfr,” she murmured. “What is it? Please, tell us.”
Gaelfr nodded, his eyes sharpening, his nostrils flaring. Surely knowing there was something to this, something important, and Raye could feel the deepening weight of it too, the grim resignation settling in the air around them.
“Joarr gave me the latest report, whilst he was here,” Kalfr said, with a slow exhale. “Sybil is yet only two days away, and she again asks to meet with me. She will accept naught else, but this.”
Right. Sybil. Raye’s heart began thumping, her body suddenly feeling cold against the earth. But no, damn it, noneof this was new, was it? They’d known the deadline, they’d been planning for this, they could trust Kalfr, he’d promised…
“And?” Raye asked, as steadily as she could. “That doesn’t change anything… does it?”
But Kalfr… hesitated. Closed his eyes. While Raye’s heartbeat thudded faster, and her eyes found Gaelfr’s, found her own rising alarm staring back toward her. No. No, Kalfr wouldn’t, and…
“I wish to go meet her,” he said. “Tomorrow.”
