Dragon Clans Bk. 01 Pt. 17

Michael slumped against the women's arms, his breaths coming in ragged gasps, he felt his body covered in sweat, never had he experienced such an outpouring of emotion.

'Aoife,' he thought with a shudder. Tears sprang forth from his eyes, slipping down over his cheeks like miniature creeks swollen from a spring snow melt.

It is one thing to experience your own pain, rage, desire, etc. We all temper your own emotions within the boundaries of what we can handle.

Being exposed to another's; a rage and terror that felt ancient as the foundations of the world and as fresh and powerful as the birth of a new sun all in the same instant was an experience Michael was not, and never could be...prepared for.

The sensory overload still fresh in his mind he allowed Tera and Valerie to lower him back to the couch, his body trembling between them as they encircled him with their arms.

With a helpless look into Tera's eyes he slipped from consciousness falling towards her, his head resting on her shoulder, his hand twined around her waist in a grip that would not be loosed.

"My god what happened," Valerie said, the fear obvious in her voice.

For Tera it was a bit different. After years spent in combat, going through the hellish reality that it provides, Tera was well aware that there are terrors in the world that we are simply un-prepared to face.

She had seen Michael's look before, the realization that limits we thought impossible to endure, were found and stepped over with the ease of stepping off a curb.

She held him tightly in her arms, gently rocking him as Valerie got up to get a cold towel for his head, wondering at this odd turn of events, among so many others from the past several weeks.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry," Michael murmured as he fought for consciousness.

Valerie had taken over for Tera, holding Michael so she could change her shirt; it was drenched in Michael's sweat and tears.

"Shhhhh, It's ok, your fine, you have nothing to be sorry for," Valerie said, misunderstanding who Michael was addressing.

His eyes slowly slid open, blinking a few times his vision cleared, he felt someone holding him, opening his eyes he saw Valerie looking at him with worried eyes.

The kiss shocked her, one moment he was coming awake, the next his arms were curled around her, he was clutching to her as if he was a drowning man in search of his last breath and then his lips were on hers.

Needy, pressing, burning, she tasted the salt as one of his tears breached the gap between their lips; she pulled him closer as the kiss broke and his forehead found her shoulder.

Tera walked back in the room to see Michael awake, clutching Valerie, his head resting at her neck.

She stood there for a moment, watching the way his body tensed and then relaxed, only to tense again, the heaving breaths, he was awake, he was dealing with whatever the nightmare had held.

She walked over to them, sitting down next to Michael. Valerie had a wild look in her eye, like a deer stuck in the headlights. Tera patted her friend's hand where it lay on Michaels shoulder.

Michael felt the shift in energies when Tera touched Valerie.

He slowly released his grip, turning slightly, eyes still closed, head downcast.

Then he felt her hand on his cheek, warm, strong...knowing.

He opened his eyes, looking up at her from under heavy lids. 'Tera,' he thought and then he was in her arms, pulling her too him, his lips, as they had with Valerie, seeking hers.

She was harder, stronger, more in control that Valerie was, different, not better or worse.

Her tongue slipped between his lips, their tongues meeting in a sensuous dance as they slid together.

Pulling back he looked into her eyes, her passions were stirred, she had a feral look as she regarded him.

Taking her face in his hands he watched her for a moment then with an intensity that surprised her he simply said, "I love you."

He turned from her, repeating this with Valerie, she being touched and awed by the intensity of it just as Tera had been.

Michael slipped back to the couch, eyes closed, one of their hands in each of his. ...............

Michael and Tera had spent the night at Valerie's.

Tuesday morning had dawned bright and cool. None of them had brought up the previous evening; none of them really knew what to say. Valerie and Tera assumed that when Michael could talk about it he would.

Michael knew that when he had some fucking clue as to what had happened he would share it with his mates.

Mates; that descriptor for what he considered Valerie and Tera had come to him unbidden that morning, and now sitting in the cab on the way to London he let it play through his mind.

It was the proper term for what he felt for Valerie and Tera, they were more than lovers, although only a few kisses, which held the promise of depthless passions and pleasures, had passed between them.

More than friends, he would gladly give everything he was to protect them.

More than partners, the depth of feeling that flowed between them was something that defied description.

He shook his head, glad to be out and about, glad to have some time alone.

Valerie had a day full of meetings, Tera a mid-morning meeting with Nigel.

"Why don't you wait and I'll ride into London with you when I am done," Tera asked as she dried her hair with a towel that morning.

Michael watched her with a curious eye.

Behind her, Michael could see Valerie expertly blow drying her hair, with the occasional upside down dips to get not only the top but, he surmised, the much important bottom of her hair dry as well.

It was an interesting contrast watching the two of them get ready for their days in such disparate ways.

"No, I'd like to get going early so I can get back, I have an idea of what I'm looking for so it shouldn't take too long," Michael said as he took the towel from Tera's hand replacing it with a fresh cup of coffee.

She smiled at him, took a sip and then disappeared into Valerie's bedroom.

"How about dinner out tonight," he asked to both of them, as he got ready to head out the door.

"Sounds good, why don't we meet at Valerie's office then we can decide where from there," came Tera's response from the bedroom.

"I'll see you then," Michael said from close behind her, as his lips gently brushed her shoulder. "I love you," he said over his shoulder as he went to tell the same to Valerie.

Now almost to London, Michael was becoming more and more comfortable with his feelings for these two amazing and very different women.

He hoped that the conversation he was going to have with them tonight over dinner would go as well as he felt it would.

A small smile at the thought of the evening played over his lips as he stepped out of the cab in front of Stratstone of Mayfair.

Paying the cabbie, Michael's smile turned into a grin as he faced the dealership in front of him.

Cars had been Michael's one indulgence through the years.

From his first car, that cobalt blue Trans-Am, through corvettes, a Ferrari, two Porsches and a brief, albeit fiery, affair with a Lamborghini, Michael had always thrilled at the simple pleasure he derived from driving an automobile that was built to be...driven.

One of the cars he always wanted, but, for reasons of availability or garage space had not procured, was an Aston Martin.

Now standing in front of the high glass walls, looking over the sensuous lines of several examples of the marque's rich lineage, his heartbeat increased just a bit as he grabbed the door handle and stepped inside.

The purchase had gone much quicker than he had thought.

In the past Michael had spent an inordinate amount of time around the purchase of the various cars that had caught his fancy. Spending weeks on research and comparisons, looking for the best deal, trying to ensure that it was as close to "perfect" as could be.

The midnight blue DB9 Volante made all of those past purchases seem as simple warm ups, for the main event.

The lines are what grabbed him first, there is a sensual nature to the DB9, its curves are very similar to the curve of a womans hip, soft and lush.

Running a hand along her, starting at the front moving up over the hood, across the door frame to her tight, supple rear quarter, it is almost as if you can feel residual heat coming off her from the fires that formed her exquisite body.

Inside, surrounded by plush black leather that gripped at the outside of his thighs and exotic hardwoods that glistened in the noonday sun, it's as if it was made for only him, the fit is simply that...right.

The test drive was not really necessary but a joy nonetheless.

The salesman was a little taken aback as Michael threw the car into turns, accelerated hard from every stop and, while staying well within the cars limits, definitely put the spurs to her.

So often people bought cars to be looked at, loaded onto trailers and surrounded with plastic chains and DON'T TOUCH signs.

This was ridiculous in Michael's opinion.

Automobiles such as this were meant to be driven, meant to have scraped up rims and sidewalls, meant to have little chips on the rear quarter panels from rocks thrown up by the sheer power of the beast. For only in being driven are these works of art truly to be...appreciated.

The process was wrapped up in less than two hours.

With the top down and Bon Jovi playing on the stereo, Michael pointed the cars nose towards Oxford.

The throaty growl she gave him as he popped the clutch and slammed down the accelerator was reminiscent of a she wolf, finally emerging from her den, crying to her mate that she was ready for the hunt.

That bright afternoon returning to Oxford...the hunt was glorious. ............

"I would like to ask you both to move in with me," Michael said, causing the women's light chatter to come to a screeching halt.

They looked at him, noted the shy but confident look in his eye, understood that he was asking them to take a leap, a leap he had already decided he had to, and wanted, to take.

"I...just don't know," Valerie said honestly. She took a drink of her merlot, the deep earthy flavor helping to calm her now surging emotions.

"I want you both to understand," Michael paused, unable to contain his smile, offering it to both of them along with a look that conveyed volumes about his feelings for them, before he continued.

"I...am in love with both of you, I can't explain why, I don't know how it will work out, but I know in my heart that having you both with me, fills me with a joy I never knew or hoped existed."

Looking deeply into Valerie's eyes, taking her hand in his, his thumb playing over her palm he said, "Valerie, from the moment I met you there was a connection. I know that you felt it just as I did. That first afternoon, in your office, I was overcome by that connection. It was so familiar, I had only felt it with Sasha and finding it again with you was...overwhelming." Michael paused, taking a sip of his drink, eyes moving between the two women, tentatively he continued.

"I worried that I was imprinting what I felt for Sasha onto you. I kept questioning, making sure that what I felt was in the present, the now, not an after image of my love for her. Then, that day on the road, looking into your eyes as the realization that I may not see them again slammed into me, I knew, I simply knew that what I feel for you is yours...totally and completely. I love you Valerie Smyth," Michael finished, placing his hand lightly over hers on the table.

Turning to Tera, Michael's smile became a grin.

"And you, my warrior, my protector, your place in my heart was secured that morning on the bridge, when I felt your intentions, knowing that your one goal was to protect me."

"Then you were in my arms and my only thought was to protect you, to make sure you were safe. You who have seen so much, and come through it retaining the ability to love."

"My need for you is two fold, I need to be there for you, to protect you from those monsters that go bump in the night and creep towards us intent on our destruction. But also my love, I need you at my back, as much as I want and need to protect you, those wants and needs are balanced with my own desire and primal understanding that you can do the same for me. Tera Cole, I love you." Michael said, squeezing her hand as he finished.

Michael took a deep breath, both women were crying, he didn't understand exactly why but he knew there was more to say. Moving his eyes between the two of them, finding strength in their depths he smiled, starting again.

"I am...passionately in love with both of you. I don't know how it happened, and I honestly have no idea how to deal with it. I know that all of us are still...getting to know each other."

"We have said that there is love between us, but I wanted to tell you that...I want you both, equally. And I have absolutely no idea what to do with that. But I also wanted you both to know that I want nothing from either of you, aside from being close to me. The thought of either of you not being at my side just feels...wrong. I don't know how it will work, I do feel in my heart and soul that it is...right."

Michael took a deep breath, trying to get his racing heartbeat under control. Giving voice to his feelings, letting out all those emotions that had been swirling in his head and heart for the last few weeks, he was moved to continue, to lay it all out at these amazing women's feet.

"I want you both with a desire I had never known possible, but I don't want to hurt either of you. If the only way that I can have you with me, of not having to choose, is that our relationship remains...non-physical...I can live with that. It is more important to me that you are both simply there...than there...in my bed."

Michael let out a deep breath as he finished, it had taken more courage to allow his feelings to be given voice than it had to jump into the river with Tera, or save Valerie in the middle of the fire fight.

Michael sat there, a half smile on his face, hoping that they would accept, wondering what would happen if they did, knowing that something...magic...lay just over the horizon of an us that include both...of them.

Tera and Valerie were both crying openly, and Michael was getting the distinct impression that he had made a mistake.

"I'm...sorry," Michael whispered, feeling as if a truck had hit him.

The last thing he wanted to do was hurt them and it seemed as if that was exactly what he had done.

"Shut up Michael, just...shut up," Tera said with a smile, her eyes glistening, the look she gave him was filled with love and hope.

Her hand tightened around his, giving it a hard squeeze, trying to comfort him, reduce his own perceived worry.

"I love you," Tera said to him, slipping her gaze from him, looking over at Valerie.

"As do I Michael, with a depth I.... never imagined," said Valerie, her own hand playing over his.

They sat there like that, hands joined, happy lingering smiles shared between the three of them.

They understood that something had been wrought in this moment, tempered by their deep and abiding feelings for each other, none knowing what the outcome would be, but aware that for this moment, that was...ok.

The rest of the evening passed quickly, Tera and Valerie, after a trip to the ladies room decided that perhaps for this evening, it would be best if Tera stayed at Valerie's.

Michael was disappointed but understood that they would probably both need some time to think about how the three of them could structure a life.

Driving back to his flat, the top down, the light cool fog playing through the interior of the car as he slipped through the night, he felt relief. That he had told them, been true to himself, and made it clear to his two amazing women that they were loved. ............

"I want him so badly that I ache," Valerie said to Tera as they drove home.

Tera smiled, glancing at the woman's silhouette beside her, getting glimpses of her hair, the curve of her cheek as they passed under the streetlamps on the way back to Valerie's'.

Tera was a bit surprised, and please by Valerie's admission.

"I think we are both in the same position. We are in love with Michael, I know for me that is an emotion that comes from my heart, soul and definitely my body," Tera said, slipping a bit sideways in her seat so she could look at Valerie.

"Can we do this without jealousy, can we really have our cake and eat it too," Valerie asked with a quick glance at Tera.

"I don't know Valerie, in concept, I have no issues...sharing," Tera paused, wondering if she really wanted to say this next bit, but knowing that it was only right that everything be on the table.

Taking a deep breath she continued. "Valerie, I need you to know that my...desires...have never been limited only to...men. I am not asking for, nor do I expect any kind of response from you, I wanted you simply to know that it is a part of me. I don't want to hide anything from either of you if we are going to try and make a go of this." Tera finished, closing her eyes, very unsure of what the younger womans response would be.

After a brief pause it was Tera who asked the next question.

"Do you...find me...attractive," Valerie asked, her response shocking Tera.

She didn't answer her for a long time. When she did they were just pulling up in front of Valerie's flat.

"Yes, I find you very attractive Valerie," Tera answered as she opened the door and fairly leapt from the car.

Valerie smiled and shook her head, wondering how her life had become so very interesting.

She slipped from the car, walking behind Tera towards her flat, looking at the woman with a different perspective than she had only moments before. ...............

Michael's intro class on Wednesday had been fun. The seventy-five students were interested and engaged in the subject; their questions were intelligent and well thought out. It was an interesting and enlivening experience and Michael looked forward to next week's class.

"That went well," Valerie said as she walked down to him at the lectern. Both she and Tera had showed up just after the class started, along with a few other professors he did not know.

"Yes, I thought so to, we shall see how it goes," Michael answered as he slid his arm around her giving her a light kiss on the cheek.

"I missed you," he whispered to her as he released her and repeated the process with Tera.

The women smiled at him, the silence that extended between them was, surprisingly, not awkward, all of them noted this curious fact.

"Tera is going to come to the festival with us on Friday," Valerie said with a smile in Tera's direction.

"Excellent, I am really looking forward to seeing your uncles home, especially the maze," Michael said with an enthusiasm that had both women giggling.

Blushing, Michael asked about dinner that evening.

"I've got meetings till almost nine," Valerie said with more than a bit of angst.

Smiling, Michael said, "What time do you have a break, Tera and I will bring you something."

"About 7:30 at my office would be wonderful, I won't have any time through the rest of the day and I would love to see you both," Valerie said to both of them

"It's a date, I've got to run. Tera I'm going to a meeting that will be done in about an hour, I'll be in my office for awhile after if you want to come by," Michael said as he kissed both women and made for the door.

"I'll find you," Tera said to his retreating back as she and Valerie walked out after him.

The day was busy for all of them, Michael and Tera took Valerie dinner, they ate in her office, talking over their day, Michael wondering how his advanced class would go tomorrow.

"You'll be fine, just don't let them bully you," Valerie said with a smile as she looked at her watch and picked up her coat.