Once Upon A Midnight Read online

  Gav nibbled her ear, working his way to her neck. His hands massaged her breasts, kneading their way down her abdomen. She lifted her hips to meet his fingers as they slid over her aching clit.

  Eric’s tongue delved into her channel while Gav stroked her swollen clit.

  The sensation of both men touching her, pleasuring her, drove her to the edge. Gav pushed her sports bra up and over her head so he could get to her nipples. He laved the sensitive tips, his teeth scraping the tightly drawn nubs.

  Mina moaned. She felt alive. Alive and on fire. “You feel so good. You both feel so fucking good.”

  Eric inserted his finger into her molten core, then another. His mouth covered Gav’s finger, his tongue snaking around to the swollen nub. Gav took his hand away and rubbed her slick juices across her nipples, as Eric sucked her into his mouth, milking her until she cried out for more.

  Gav’s hand joined the leiol’s, his fingers sliding into her channel. Her body clenched around them, and the pressure inside her bubbled. “I’m going to come,” she panted. Their thrusting, licking, sucking, nibbling. It all became more insistent. Urgent.

  “Oh, God. God. Ahh!” Her whole body bucked forward, but the men, her men, were relentless. She cried out again. “Fuck!” Her thighs squeezed involuntarily, trapping Eric’s face between her legs. She grabbed Gav’s head, holding it tight against her breast as he bit, gently but firm.

  Their fingers continued working in and out of her, rubbing against the bundle of skin just inside her. They brought her to climax once more, and she jerked against the spasms, moaning through the rapture.

  Gav and Eric kissed her sensitive areas. Mina stared at the ceiling, her body tingling like one big nerve ending.

  God, she ached to be filled, to be fucked, by her men. It was a desire so intense, she said, “I need you to take off your clothes. I need you to do it now.”

  She squirmed, her body still on fire, as both men hurried to do as she asked. She imagined their speed was in direct relation to her desperation.

  Eric was on the bed first, and Mina crawled on top of him, straddling his groin as she guided his rigid length into her waiting heat. Gav came over the top of her, his chest pressed against her back in a rush of hot skin and sex. Eric’s building thrusts coincided with a chuffing noise coming from Gav, animalistic, from deep in his throat. He pushed her forward, her breasts pressed to Eric’s naked chest, and Gav’s palms flattened on the comforter—his nails were thick and pointy, his fingers elongated, but not yet furred. He was shifting.

  She felt the head of his shaft slide past her core, and she stopped moving. Both, her body sang out. She wanted both of them inside her. Possessing her. Claiming her as theirs. She had to know if this was real. If she could really have it all. If they both meant to stay.

  “Forever?” she asked.

  “Forever,” Gav growled.

  Eric looked up at her, his face awash with desire and love and more desire. “Forever,” he said.

  “Yes, yes,” Mina agreed.

  She closed her eyes, biting her lip as Gav joined Eric inside her. It hurt, as their combined cocks threatened to split her wide. Neither of them moved once they were completely in. They waited for Mina.

  When she could catch her breath, she began to move. Just a little at first. She didn’t want either of them to slip out. She needed them to fuck her. To do it as one. She needed them to be hers.

  A low keening moan filled the room, and she realized she was making the sound, her throbbing sex aching, pulsing, as Gav and Eric’s cocks felt enormous within her hot slick channel, sliding forward and back.

  Eric’s mouth found her breast, tugging the nipple, licking it until her breath hissed from between her clenched teeth. Mina tilted her head, her brain sex-fogged as she watched his eyes widen, dilate. A quiver low in her stomach told her she would come soon.

  Gav’s arm looped her waist, lifting her ass up. His arm was hairy. Dear Lord! Hairier than normal. And unexpectedly, that turned her on even more. “Hurry, oh, sweet Jesus, hurry,” she said to anyone listening.

  She should have felt like she was being ripped apart. Instead, she felt completely turned on. Her head rolled to one side as both men, slowly, and as one, stroked their rock hard cocks in her.

  “Oh. Oh. Ah!” A tingling rush pulled against her stomach and down into her groin as another orgasm took life. Her body shook against theirs. Tears were in her eyes, a physical response as ecstasy played over and through her. When it subsided, she collapsed onto Eric. “Nothing should feel that fucking good.”

  “Fucking should,” Gav said, his voice a rough growl in her ear.

  Mina couldn’t believe she’d just let two men have sex with her at the same time. She’d been with both of them, but not like this. It was strangely more intimate, especially since they were both still in her. Also, she realized, she felt stronger. Her aunt’s call was gone, and the earlier weakness had abated.

  Eric moved first, his arms wrapping both Mina and Gav as he rolled them over so that Gav was on the bottom. She rocked over Gav’s cock as Eric began to thrust with earnest, both men grunting, moaning their pleasure of her shared heat.

  “Oh, God, yes.” They were not in unison, one moving slowly, the other quicker, and it felt even better than before.

  Eric’s arm wrapped her waist and Gav’s hands cupped her breasts. Mina slipped her hand down to her sex, her fingers sliding to feel the two rigid lengths as they moved inside her. Eric bucked forward, smashing her down.

  Burning heat spread rapidly through her body. Mina grasped Eric’s length, stroking him fast and frantic, no finesse as ecstasy rode her body and the pressure of her building climax exploded.

  She screamed, bucking against both men, needing it to end, wanting it to last forever, the pleasure so intense as wave after wave of rapture rippled through her.

  Eric cried out against her, and he came, the hot spray of his lust coating her hands. She stroked him faster, milking him, as she braced herself against Gav’s thrusting assault.

  A moan, like a roar, but still human, drowned out the sound of Mina and Eric. Gav used Mina’s thighs like handles, pulling her tight against him as he came. The sound he made was triumphant, sad, and angry all at once. When he finished, he let her go and staggered back, withdrawing quickly, leaving Mina to mourn the loss of sensation.

  Sighing heavily, she collapsed on top of Eric and then rolled off to the side. “Wow.”

  Eric leaned back against the headboard. “You can say that again.”

  “Wow.” Mina began to laugh. She couldn’t help it. The entire thing had been surreal, frightening and wonderful. “And just in case I didn’t say it before. Wow.”

  A hand slipped across her shoulder. Eric. She entwined her fingers with his. Something inside her had clicked. I’m meant for both of these men, and maybe neither of them. Something else clicked as well. “Oh, my God, oh, my God. We didn’t use condoms!”

  “We are truly as one now, Mina,” Gav said. “You are my mate, as is Eric now. You are my Pride. Both of you.”

  Eric tilted his head. “I felt it when it happened,” he said. “We are tied together now. All three of us. What happens to one, happens to all.”

  Mina didn’t know how to react to this news. In the heat of sex, she’d joined her life force to these two very different men, and somehow they accepted it without question. So why did she feel hesitant?

  “Eric is half leiol, I can see him going along with our little threesome, Gav, but you? I hadn’t thought…” Had she really been so wrong about Gav all this time? Could he really accept her love on her terms?

  “Leogenus often bond in threes, Mina. When I understood that you loved us equally, I opened myself to him. I love you, Mina Vail. I’ve made no secret of it. And I’ll do whatever I have to in order to keep you in my life.”

  No one spoke for a couple of minutes.

  Her heart pounded as if it would break through her chest.

  Finally, Mina said
, “Eric?”

  Eric nodded. “I’m in.”

  Mina smiled. “I guess you have a Pride, Gavriil Doyle.”

  Gav kissed Mina. “That makes me really happy.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “MEETING TONIGHT. Between Tolliver and unknown. Twelve midnight. Mayweather’s Food and Drink. 958 Wyandotte.” Mina played Bobby’s message again then looked at the clock. Eight-thirty, plenty of time to shower and digest the day’s events. The cleaners had done a great job on her apartment. No one would ever know the wall had a huge hole in it or that blood had soaked the carpets.

  “I’m going with you,” Gav said, coming up the hallway behind her.

  “Damn you and that super-sonic shifter hearing.”

  Eric stepped out from behind Gav. “We’re both going.”

  “No. Tolliver knows you.”

  “He knows you too,” Eric said with a sigh. “I’m coming, Mina. End of discussion. Someone is hell-bent on ruining my life, and you have a crazy aunt out there trying to kill you. There is safety in numbers.”

  “Agreed,” Gav said. He’d put on his shoulder holster, and seeing him strapped with a gun made her girly bits dance.

  He raised a brow.

  “We don’t have time for that. Again.”

  Eric smiled. “There is always time for that…”

  She was still sore from earlier. “I might need a little break between rounds.”

  They both put out some very pleased-with-themselves vibes. The testosterone in the air surrounding the two gorgeous, if disheveled, men was palpable. Rolling her eyes, Mina smiled.

  “Okay. You both can come. But I’m leading. We have a few hours, so you guys go get cleaned up, and meet me back her at eight.”

  ***

  IF HIS MOTHER had thrown a fit over him dating Mina, she was going to have a real conniption over him bonding with leiol as well. He didn’t care. If they shunned him from the Pride, so be it. He had created his own Pride now with Mina and Eric. He didn’t know the man, but he’d seen the love, the concern, and the fear that had been mirrored in himself when they both thought they were losing her. Before he’d left, Keane Silvertail had told them the “gift of Qetesh” was rooted in three. She was, after all, the goddess of three. He’d felt Mina getting stronger when both he and Bishop had touched her. And at that moment, the moment she was once again breathing on her own, Gav took a leap of faith.

  He’d showered and changed into jeans and a tee shirt, something inconspicuous for an evening of stealth. There was something about what Mina had said. Or more what the seer had said, about the betrayer controlling the snake. He’d heard a legend once, something one of the Pride elders had told him.

  He picked up his phone and dialed the Grayman’s office.

  “Destan, here,” the man who picked up said. “How can I do you?”

  “Uhm.” The odd greeting startled Gav, but he recovered quickly. “Do you know the real story behind the legend of Medusa?”

  “You’ve called the right place,” Destan Gray said. “Hold on. I’ll look it up.” A minute later, he was back. “Jesus, you’re pretty fucking smart, Doyle.”

  He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Tell me.”

  “Medusa was the child of a basilisk and a human. A species called the negasa. Instead, of a tail of a snake, she grew snakes from her head. What the mythology got wrong, really wrong, was that Medusa didn’t turn her victims to stone. Yes, she could paralyze them with her venom, but she had the tail covered in thick scales and a hammer-like end that she used to strike her enemies from behind. It made a strange crisscrossing pattern.”

  “My killer is Medusa?”

  “Not the Medusa,” Destan said. “I can’t believe there is one still in existence. After her death, all of Medusa’s children were killed as well…or so history believed.”

  “How do you take down a negasa?” Gav asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Destan paused for dramatic effect. “You have to cut off its head.”

  ***

  BOOT HEELS CLACKING and the soft pad of men’s dress shoes were the only noises in the alley behind Mayweather’s as Mina, Gav, and Eric headed to the back door entrance. Mina opened her bomber Jacket, pulled out her gun from the shoulder holster, checked the clip, replaced it, took the safety off then put it back.

  She glanced at the guys and gave them a once-over. “I know I said this already, but you two clean up good.”

  Gav wore a deep blue button-down shirt and dark blue jeans while Eric dressed in a silver button-down shirt and black leather slacks. Both men knew exactly how to accentuate the positive. Not that she’d ever noticed any negatives in their looks.

  “Thanks,” Eric answered. “You clean up real nice yourself, Ms. Vail.”

  Mina beamed a radiant smile at the green-eyed man.

  “Agreed,” Gav replied. “You smell nice.” He snapped his teeth. “Good enough to eat.”

  “It’s vanilla,” Mina said.

  “I know, but it’s not the smell I’m referring to.” This time, Gav smiled, his teeth shining in the moonlight sending naughty shivers down her spine.

  “We’ll pretend it’s my shampoo and move on.” They had work to do, and she didn’t want to spend the whole night distracted. She took a lock-picking tool from her front pocket and put it to the keyhole on the door, grasping the handle with her free hand. It turned. “Huh,” she grunted. “Not locked.”

  Pulling the 9mm, Mina carefully opened the door and peeked in. A shadowed figure leaned against the wall. “It’s about time you got here.”

  “Goddamn, Bobby. I almost shot your ass off.” She holstered the weapon.

  “I can think of worse places to get shot.” Bobby’s hand ghosted to his groin then he waved them in. “Come on. Tolliver is in a corner booth away from the windows.” His gaze traveled to Gav and Eric. “What’s with the entourage?”

  “They can handle themselves.” Gav was a trained cop, and Eric had managed to fend off a lion shifter.

  They all shuffled past the “his and hers” johns in a tight line. The smell of beer and stale cigarette smoke filled the place. It was nearly midnight, and Mina motioned the boys to stay back while she positioned herself at the end of the bar. It was out of sight from Tolliver’s booth, but Mina could see him and a woman having an intense conversation through the mirror.

  “If only I could read lips.”

  Bobby came up behind her and placed an ear bud in her hand. “Don’t have to. The table’s bugged.”

  Pleasantly surprised, Mina placed it in her ear. Sure enough, she heard the woman’s voice. There was a little static, but the signal was clear enough that Mina heard her say, “You worry too much, Tobias.”

  Mina grinned at Bobby. “How’d you know where they’d be seated?”

  “Didn’t. Just bugged all the tables and numbered the receivers.”

  Mina smiled and cuffed his shoulder. “Smart man.” She settled into her seat, her sights once again on Tolliver and the woman. She wore a scarf over her head, and Mina couldn’t see her face. The voice was unfamiliar as well. Who was Tolliver talking to?

  “I’ll take care of Bishop and Mina Vail,” the woman purred. “You need to distance yourself from any trouble.”

  “And the detective.”

  “He is a non-issue.”

  “My contact in the state department says the Feds are trying to get a warrant for a forensic accountant. They don’t have probable cause yet, but if Bishop isn’t convicted or silenced, he’ll give it to them.” He paused. “Look, I only went along with your plan because your people have given me access to overseas ventures that have been lucrative. But between the Feds and the murder, I am having some second thoughts.”

  The woman leaned forward, and Mina could see her profile. There was something familiar... “Don’t be foolish, Tobias. You don’t want to cross my friends.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “It is not a threat.”

 
Tobias’s face blanched as he looked past the woman toward the door. Mina turned her gaze in that direction. A man, dark hair, average looking, white streak on the right side. Could he be the negase? Or was it the woman? Neither looked like that had snakes for hair. But if Gav was right, it was a negase that killed Samuel Wilson. He was human passing, and Mina could feel the confidence roll from him as he closed the distance to the booth.

  The skunk, as Old Helma so named him, scooted into the seat next to Tolliver.

  The woman flashed him an annoyed look, and Mina finally saw her face.

  “Oh man.”

  “What?” Bobby asked.

  “Eric,” Mina said. “Come here and look.”

  He moved close behind her, and she resisted pressing her back against his chest. No distraction. “You recognize her? From the party.”

  “Jesus,” he whispered. “That’s Jennifer Wilson.”

  “The victim’s wife?” Gav asked.

  “Yes.” Eric shook his head. “She wanted to meet with me yesterday. I almost forgot about it after everything…” He let the sentence hang.

  She knew what he meant.

  “You don’t want to betray me, Tobias. I can hurt you in ways you can’t even imagine.” She leaned forward, looking terribly and horrifyingly beautiful. Her dark hair had taken on a shimmer, lights dancing under her skin.

  “What the fuck?” Eric asked.

  Mina shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like that. A sorcellarie, maybe?” She held up her phone and took a picture and forwarded it to Keane Silvertail. He might be able to find out what kind of OW Jennifer was.

  Jennifer’s head turned sharply in Mina’s direction.

  “Oh shit.” She had no idea what she was dealing with in Jennifer Wilson, nor was she certain who or what her man Greer was. A confrontation now would be stupidly ill-advised. They needed more info. “We should go.”

  “Good idea,” Gav agreed.

  Unfortunately, intention wasn’t always a determining factor.