Ice and Lightning

LYRA

I had no understanding of how I was fortunate enough to have both of these exceptional males as my mates but I was beside myself with happiness. I put my hands on either side of Gabriel's face and kissed him hard. It looked like he was going to break down in relief. Gods he was beautiful. I had known I was falling in love with him but where could that possibly go? I had been wondering what our relationship would be once I was pregnant and he had no "use" for me. I could not imagine not seeing Gabriel every four days. I had found myself wanting to see him every day. I did not feel complete unless he was here with us.

Raw emotion slipped out of me and tears started sliding down my face. He moved so we were forehead to forehead and then licked my tears away. This time I was the aggressor. I pushed him back on the bed as I bit him, claiming him as mine. I bit him several more times, hard enough to break skin, and he yelled with pleasure and got harder with every bite. I couldn't wait any longer as I slid myself down onto his cock and started to ride him. His hands reached up to torture my breasts and nipples.

He planted his hands on my waist and started to push further into me. His eyes were foggy and I heard him mumble "my mate." Gods. That was like an aphrodisiac and I couldn't handle it any more. I was going to burst into flames. Just as he saw I was getting ready to come, he grabbed the back of my neck to hold me still and he pushed his thumb up against my clit and let his lightning finish the job. I bucked and screamed for what felt like an eternity and collapsed.

I seriously thought something was wrong with me. I couldn't even put my arms around his neck as he placed me down onto my back. I couldn't move my legs so he propped them up, and situated them just how he wanted them; knees bent and spread wide. He teased me a little with his fingers and his sparks. I started to think maybe he had done some kind of magic to paralyze me. I could feel every single thing he did, but I was pinned to the bed and could not respond. He came back up to my face and started to push into me at a slow, steady pace. It didn't take long until it built into a hard, fast, desperate pace and he roared as my arms flew up around his neck and my legs wrapped around his waist, and we bit into each other as his wings carried us up off the bed.

When we came out of the bedroom, Caed looked at us with a contemplative gaze. He smiled, looking from one of us to the other and asked "Where do we go from here?" All I could think was that I knew everything was going to be ok, and I was happy.

When we sat down to talk I expressed my concern, yet again, about jealousy between the brothers. They both assured me that would never be a problem; the magic of the mating bond was never wrong. They did not choose it and it could never be disrespected nor broken. They could not do anything but be together, even if they wanted to do something differently. We were all in it for life.

An idea that had been festering in a little corner of my brain hit me full force and nearly brought me to my knees...life. With tears in my eyes again, I looked at my mates and whispered "my life will be very, very short compared to yours." Gabriel gave me a devastated look and pulled my head in to kiss it. Caed held my hand and smiled. He knew something we didn't.

CAED

When my mating bond with Lyra had come crashing into my world, I had a lot of worries, Gabriel being the biggest, but I had also been thinking about her lifespan compared to mine. I knew I was going to love her for as long as I could and cherish every moment of it, but I had accepted that she would be gone in what was a blink of an eye on my timeline. It was known that often, when one Yelarian mate died, the other followed not too long after. Did that mean when she died, I would follow? That actually was a much better outcome to me than spending the rest of my life without her.

Then I stumbled upon gold; there were a handful of cases where humans who were mated to Yelarians gained immortality. Immortality... Lyra could become immortal! I waited and waited for it to happen. I was distraught that it hadn't and I could not possibly share the information with Lyra because it would completely shatter her. So I held onto it, just in case there was a perfect time.

There could not have been a more perfect time than right then. I had seen his bites on her, and when she told me about the wings, I was as astounded as they were to learn we were both mated to her. When I saw that the bites were nearly healed in the course of only two days, I knew that when her mating bond with Gabriel snapped into place, so had her immortality.

LYRA

Immortal. Tears slid down my face and I was nearly hysterical with relief and love and happiness. I would say goodbye to my old life and spend all my days with my two beautiful mates...and children! It finally felt right to say that. I had fought my mind the whole time I had been here, trying to not panic about getting pregnant. In the human world, pregnancies were rarely a happy development. Since the war, people had not wanted to have children and bring them into the hell that was our world. Now, I couldn't wait.

CAED

I had time to get used to some of these ideas and I could see that both Lyra and Gabriel were spinning. Lyra and I had not yet had each other today. Though I didn't know how to help my brother, I knew I could at least clear Lyra's head a bit by taking her to the bedroom. I told them as much and as I grabbed her hand to lead her that way and Gabriel said, "I have to fly."

My mating bond with Lyra was not new, so we were a little more controlled, but it didn't mean we didn't crave each other any less. She walked into the room and was naked and on the bed within moments. She pulled me toward her and started working my cock with her hands, then her mouth. When I was threatening completion, she told me to lay on my back.

She straddled me and impaled herself onto my cock. She sat all the way up and rode me frantically for a few minutes. My cock started to swell and she knew my excitement was building. She abruptly stopped and held very, very still. When I regained control she started to rock back and forth slowly. She was so hot and wet and tight. She began working her own fingers against her clit. She clenched down and moaned as her orgasm rocked her and then she started again.

I had not felt great about her getting pregnant before now. I knew Gabriel would want more than to just share fatherhood with me; I knew he would want to share her, and I was not ok with that. For all the restraint he had been showing, I still had not trusted him. Him being mated to her though, had changed everything. I saw the love in his eyes and the way they looked at each other and, not only was I not worried, everything just felt so right. And the way Lyra felt right now, riding my cock, nothing could be more right than that. When I came, I had a glimpse of a fantasy about creating a life with her, within her, and the thought that had terrified and disgusted me all long, suddenly felt like the sole purpose of my existence.

GABRIEL

I flew higher and faster than I ever had. I knew we were all reeling from this, but I couldn't help but feel like it hit me the hardest of us all. They had been decent beings before they were forced into this situation. I was a nightmare on wings. They had known, for the most part, what they were getting into, and were prepared. I only found out just before I smashed through that bedroom door. They had been mated from the first time they had sex. I had to follow their rules, and control myself, and be jealous of what they had before our mating bond snapped into place. They had each other, while I only had my rage and violence. I knew this would all work itself out because Caed was right, the magic always knows, and I trusted whatever magic Lyra had worked to turn us into our new selves. The love came from her. Was I worthy?

I got high enough that I could barely see anything on the ground and I dove straight down. As the ground came closer and closer, my mind started shutting doors on the past. I was not that monster any more, unless I needed to be. I was not going to ever hurt her more than she wanted to be hurt. A life I had never wanted was in front of me and I found myself wanting it, being excited about the possibilities. At the very last second, I pulled out of my dive. I had shed a life on the way down and a new one was born on the way back up.

CAED

A new mating bond is no joke. Males get furiously territorial and, whether they like each other or not, the male and female are in physical pain unless they are in close physical contact, preferably joined together in mating activities. Gabriel had shown no aggression toward me but I knew he was on edge when he wasn't inside her. As Lyra and I had time to be together constantly when our bond was new. I wanted to give them the same, so I decided to take some time and travel around, dealing with responsibilities I had been neglecting for nearly a year, since Lyra had come into my life.

When I approached them, I could see how tantalizing an idea it was to them. They were concerned about her getting pregnant while I was gone but I explained that the four day rule was optimal for pregnancy because it took that long for viable sperm to reach the numbers and maturity required for conception. With a wink at Lyra I told them she could not get pregnant as long as they promised to have sex every day. Lyra giggled as Gabriel, giving her a look like he was going to eat her alive, picked her up and carried her off to his bedroom.

The day before I left, Gabriel told me he was going to take care of some things. I knew he appreciated what I was doing for them and he wanted to give us some time. Lyra and I were able to go flying and make love in some of our favorite places. We enjoyed each other's company all day and all night and when Gabriel came back the next morning I could tell he thought he was going to die with need for her. They held off while I was still at home. He told me he felt bad that while he and Lyra were fucking themselves out of their minds, I had to deal with our parents. He had no small part in making that situation worse, but I always accepted my role in our family, that of the least favorite son. I was the one who got the most pleasure in pissing them off. I would miss Lyra, and Gabriel even, but I was happy they would have this time together.

Mine and Gabriel's parents knew some of what was going on. They were the ones who decided we needed to expand the family. Of course it was not because they wanted grandchildren or out of love and concern for our happiness. They were Yelarian through and through. If an arrangement was not beneficial to the family status, it was not worth their time.

So they got us a human. I almost wanted to laugh, reveling in how thoroughly that had backfired on them. They had always enjoyed pitting me and Gabriel against one another. They had also always favored him tremendously. He had the brutal, murderous nature of a Yelarian. I was always researching and arguing and thinking. If the situation had been reversed and Gabriel was keeping a human a secret from me, no way in hell would they have told me as they did him.

I couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they heard both their sons were mated to, and in love with, a human, the human they had bought for us. While the "old" Gabriel would have had no second thoughts about handing his children over to them, there is no way in hell he would consider handing Lyra's children over to them. No, I felt very confident my parents would never be in a room with their grandchildren.

I walked into the throne room fighting the smile I could feel spreading. I greeted

the king and queen of Yelaria and lowered my head to them. "Father. Mother." I knew they were looking behind me for Gabriel and our human. I savored the moment I told them Gabriel and Lyra were newly mated and I had left to give them time with their new bond. My mother gasped. My father turned so blue I thought his head would shatter. I was giddy as I continued on to tell them I was also mated with her and we weren't currently attempting to concieve. Gods, this was the second best thing to sex with Lyra. I knew it would be wise to escape before they could recover and release their wrath. I bowed again, bid them farewell, and left as quickly as I could. I would continue to do the family business as I always had. Their only concerns were about status and the bloodline; they never paid attention to how I ran things anyway. They had no power beyond that of their social gatherings and titles.

The council had ruled the Yelarians since before my birth and I had handled our family's businesses since I came of age. They didn't care what I was up to, but I didn't know what they were going to do without their soldier/mercenary/angel of death. Gabriel could help them figure that out, which I imagined would consist of him telling them to fuck off. I knew they saw the births of their children, and then our children, as their chance to bring back the glory of the royal family, but that hadn't exactly worked out for them.

GABRIEL

I had spent my life doing the evil bidding of my family. I was a psychopath and had no problems with it. Now that Lyra opened my eyes to see what a real life could be, I had spent weeks confessing my sins to her. I told her I would be ok if she could forgive me, but she had to hear it all. It was clearly very hard on her, but she listened to all of it. She let me know in so many ways that she believed the old Gabriel did all that and more, but it did not matter because the male I was now would never do those things. I believed her and knew I would not do them again, until the day my family came for us.

Lyra and I went flying often. She actually showed me my own lands. I had always been off fighting and had never explored any of them. She took me to most of the places Caed had shown her. I knew they had several more that were special and only for the two of them. We did not run out of places to take each other, but we did revisit many of them multiple times. Our promise to Caed to have sex at least once a day was a joke; we could have promised him ten or more times a day.

Lyra had gotten more and more adventurous as we pushed ourselves in the bedroom, and everywhere else. I knew she and Caed made love most of the time and considering the way things started with me, I did not expect her to get to the point where she would even attempt to fulfill my cravings. I vowed to her that I would never commit violence again unless it was in defense of this family, but she knew urges still existed and I could tell she wasn't pushing the limits just for me. She accepted every level of wickedness and debauchery I brought her way. Her pain tolerance was off the charts and she loved experimenting with her new immortality and how quickly marks healed. I really had no craving for cruelty anymore, but gods, did I have a raging hard on when she let me shock her and cut her and whip her and bite her. Then I would lick the blood off her body and start again. I had tortured every inch of her body with my electricity as she bucked and screamed and begged. Of course she had begged.

She was concerned we would have to tone it down once Caed came home but I assured her he was raised in Yelarian society and if he knew she was enjoying herself, he would have no problems with any of it. He would just want to have her first so I didn't mark up his canvas.

CAED

I returned after six weeks. Gabriel and Lyra seemed to have gotten the most intense lust out of their systems. They were able to hold off for four days so I could be with her as soon as I got home. I had been away from her far too long.

Things were much more relaxed than they had ever been. We fell into a schedule of doing whatever the hell we wanted, whenever the hell we wanted. Since Gabriel had settled into our lives, he was not demanding a pregnancy. We were thoroughly enjoying having sex as much as we could. We were all so wrapped up in each other that there was no waiting four days. I was also getting to know my "new" brother. We all went flying and had dinners together. Gabriel had moved back into the house and Lyra was alternating between bedrooms. She had two sides now, just as she had two mates. I still bit her when I claimed her, but we made sweet, tender love as I explored every bit of her. She and Gabriel had taken things to another level. I would not have imagined she would have wanted to have that kind of sex with Gabriel after the way things started, but they were both obviously reveling in it. I was just so happy to see them happy. The possibilities of our futures were endless.

LYRA

Gabriel and I had fucked each other silly during the six weeks Caed was gone. As it was with Caed in the beginning, we could not be away from each other. Before our mating bond, Gabriel always had to work to be gentle, but after, I craved his violence and he was more than happy to oblige. The more intense he got, the more it turned me on, and he truly did have a blood lust that would cause him to get hard every time he licked the blood from my wounds.

Immmortality allowed me to heal quickly but if I were being honest, I loved the marks my mates left on me. Gabriel told me some Yelarians had permanent mating marks. He told me it was a ceremony with magic that sealed the marks so the scars were left and never healed. I wanted that. I wanted the three of us to all have sealed marks. At dinner I told them both I wanted the sealing.

CAED

How was it Gabriel was always opening a can of worms with her? She wanted the sealings, I understood, and I know Gabriel wanted them or he wouldn't have told her. I explained to her that the difficulty was that our situation had been kept secret and I needed it to stay that way. I was worried about "going public," and she and Gabriel should have been as well. "Going public?" she asked, confused.

Of course she wanted to know what that meant and now I had another huge fucking reveal to deal with. I had not told her any more about our family than the fact that they were horrible. As far as I knew, Gabriel had not talked to her at all about them or she would have brought it up with me.

I fumbled with words, trying to think of how to break this news to her. Gabriel watched me, looking surprised, and blurted out "you never told her!" "What?" she practically yelled at me. Fuck. I looked at Gabriel for help. He looked back at me, amusement on his face. He knew I couldn't do it.

GABRIEL

I grabbed Lyra's chair and spun it to face me. How he had not learned that in keeping things from her, he was just digging a deeper hole for himself, I could not comprehend. I had not told her because quite frankly, he was the talker and I counted on him for that. My mistake. I just went at it head on. "Lyra, our parents are the king and queen of Yaleria and somehow this idiot failed to mention it to you." Her jaw dropped and she said nothing. Caed started in. "I didn't tell you because..." She looked at him incredulously, and held up her hand in a motion that clearly said "STOP." She turned her stare back toward me, eyes on fire, and said "neither did you." Oh shit. We were both in trouble. She got up and went to the bath without saying a word. After a couple of hours, she came back out and said "Ok. Go."

CAED

"Lyra, I wanted to keep you and our mating a secret forever and pretend we would not have to deal with this. When you became mated to both of us, I knew it would eventually come out. Gabriel was brutal, cruel, and lethal, even by Yelarian standards and someone was certain to notice a change in him plus, he can't keep a secret." "Well, no one will certainly accuse you of that," she spat.