Ice and Lightning Ch. 04

CAED

The second I looked at her, I knew she had moved beyond her previous depressive state and into complete, all encompassing rage. I watched as she sank back on her heels and took deep breaths to calm down and collect herself. Once she was able to stand, she left for the bath without looking at me or saying a word.

When she returned she went into the kitchen, made food, and ate, while she sat glaring at me. She finally took a deep breath and croaked out "why?"

I turned and met her eyes and had no choice but to spill it all. I began at the very beginning. I told her of how Yelarians used to live high in the mountains, far from human lands. "We started experiencing avalanches and were forced to move to lower altitudes, into human lands. Human men coveted the beauty and power of the Yelarian females and thought they could capture it for themselves by breeding with them. They kidnapped them, but did not know that the females had been unable to conceive since moving to lower altitudes. Once the men found the females 'useless,' they were discarded, some murdered, some abandoned in the wilderness to die."

I continued after searching her face and getting nothing from it. "We have always been a cruel, barbarous society. Nearly all our males, like Gabriel, are bloodthirsty mercenaries, who fight battles for others. They will kill for anyone who pays the highest price. Yelarians are not emotional, but they are fiercely territorial, possessive, and protective. The wrath of the Yelarians for the sins of the few humans was hard and swift. They killed indiscriminately with every intention of wiping out the human race."

Still no reaction behind her eyes. I became apologetic. This next part was going to be rough, as she would understand how and why she came to be here. "As is often the case in wars, and definitely in our society, human woman were captured and held hostage and raped. When it was revealed that human women could conceive with Yelarians and the babies had wings, a way was seen to replenish our numbers. Unfortunately, the human women could not give birth to the winged babes and they died, usually the babies dying with them. So the Yelarian priestesses went to work honing the magic so humans could give birth to Yelarian babies, without either of them dying. The babies had to be cut out, but both lives could be preserved."

She knew the importance of what I was saying. She knew this would be the revealing of her future. "After cleansing the world of so many humans, and after the humans went to the caves, it was difficult to capture enough women for all Yelarian males. That is when the Rite was established. It was decreed that all human breeding had to be sanctioned by the council and that the male members of a Yelarian family would be allowed one human per three males. Since Yelarians are so territorial and possessive, the council wanted to take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of any children born to the family. This meant there must be no way of telling exactly who was the father of the child. In other words, any time one male took the human female to bed, the others did as well." Her face finally started to show some emotion and, as the realization of her situation, our situation, began to set in, her lip began to quiver.

"The practice had basically died out over the last century because our numbers had increased sufficiently." Lyra's eyes were wide and she was barely breathing. She tried to form words and finally whispered "Why now? Why me?" I answered "A baby has not been born into my family since my birth, over 500 years ago."

I could see her awe as she learned my age. I continued. "That was fine for quite some time, but my family, the council, and Yelarian society in general, now say they 'require a new heir to the bloodline.'" There was nothing but confusion in her eyes. I thought maybe she had enough for one night, but she found her words and told me to keep going. I did not want to get into all the courtly and political drama just yet, so I got back on the course of explaining the Rite.

"Since the early days, between the magic and studying both Yelarian and human biology, the process was perfected and there is a very strict protocol involved in getting a female pregnant. It is called the Rite, and we are required to participate. I fucked up completely when I bedded you without dealing with Gabriel first. I am so sorry, Lyra. I was so thrown off guard when you told me you were 'ready,' and my total lack of self control was most likely due to the fact that you are my true mate. I could not help myself. You know how right it felt. That is probably the only reason one or both of us are not dead." I could tell she believed that. I could tell she believed all of it, but her mind was still working hard to absorb it. Then I had to say the hardest words of them all. I leveled my eyes at her and very quietly said "After what happened today, with Gabriel, you now know what the Rite requires us to do. If we do not, he will kill us both."

She surprised me by getting up and walking to the bedroom. She was trembling, but was working hard to keep her fear under control and maintain her anger. She let me undress her and I laid her gently on the bed. I attempted to make eye contact, but she had her head turned away from me. I wanted to spend all night making love to her but I knew she hated both of us at that moment and I did not want to do anything to continue her suffering. I propped myself up onto my elbows and lightly pushed her thighs open. She wasn't excited and eager as she has been every time before. This broke my heart. What if she no longer wanted me? What if our love making became only performative sex like it was in the majority of Yelarian households.

I entered her as gently as possible, as I knew she had to be sore from the earlier brutality. I barely moved inside her for the same reason, but as I moved into a light rhythm, I felt her raise her hips, ever so slightly, to grind up against me. I felt the rush of her wetness envelope me and I was undone. I held her tight as I came inside her and whispered "I love you" into her ear. With that, her body bucked against me as she moaned my name and gasped as she came with me.

LYRA

Godsdamned my body! I wanted to punish them both. I wanted to stay angry. I wanted to have some control over my life, but I had none. If it wasn't some ritual contract, it was some otherworldly bond that I didn't really understand, but I felt. When Caed told me he loved me, it unraveled my body and my soul. The anger I had for him melted away and I could see clearly how much this all had traumatized and devastated him, and that he really had no more of a choice than I did.

We did not speak for the rest of the evening but there was a feeling of easiness between us that had not been present since the day of Gabriel's first attack. Gabriel returned later that evening and I knew Caed felt it when I tensed at Gabriel's presence, but that asshole merely walked into the bedroom, breathed deeply through his nose and said "I am pleased to know you are holding up your end of the bargain, Brother." and he was gone. Caed looked at me with relief and asked "what now?"

I had to get on board with this. I had to get my head back on straight for both mine and Caed's survival. He had explained the protocol of the Rite to me. To put it bluntly, every four days they both got to fuck me. It made me sick, but not as sick as thinking of what my life would be like if Gabriel killed Caed and I belonged only to that monster. Caed said Gabriel's only true interest was producing offspring. Because Caed and I were mated, he said we could demand Gabriel perform the Rite and nothing else, no talking and no touching besides what was required to come to completion inside me. Caed knew Gabriel would not abide by that strictly, but we did have some bargaining power with regard to how the Rite would go. Big breaths, Lyra. Big breaths.

CAED

Gabriel resumed checking in regularly to evaluate the status of our sexual relations. We had not been together since "that day." I knew she would have let me take her, even wanted it, but there was no way I was going to do that and force her to give herself to him. I wanted to give her time. Gabriel however, was getting increasingly volatile. He wasn't wrong about what had to be, and it was going to have to be addressed sooner rather than later, before he rained his wrath down upon us.

Knowing we had to move forward, Lyra and I worked together on a plan that would allow Gabriel "his rights," and allow us to live in relative peace. While he had the law of the Rite on his side, we had the fact that we were mated on ours, and that was no small thing. There was also the fact that she was already here and he was not going to get another human if he killed her. Lastly, was the issue of the council's stand on rape and mistreatment of the humans. My fuck ups were much more grave than his, but he would be risking far too much if he abused her when she was performing her duties in good faith. I knew he was smart enough to have figured that out.

The next time Gabriel showed up, I told him I was ready to move forward but I had conditions (he did not give two shits whether or not she had them). After a long and heated discussion, Gabriel finally agreed that if Lyra were to make a true effort to conceive and perform the Rite every four days, he would maintain control over his abusive compulsions and allow me to dictate how the "dates" would progress.

Lyra told me she wanted me to make love to her without Gabriel in the house and that she didn't want to be alone with him. I had no intention of allowing that anyway and informed Gabriel in no uncertain terms.

I had been patient in waiting to be with her again due to the fact that I knew it would require her to be ready to deal with him, but now that the day had come, I was dying to be inside her again, making love, and feeling her soul. I did everything to make the night perfect. I romanced her to the best of my abilities and by the time we went to bed, I had been whispering in her ear most of the day and she was wet and panting within the first few moments. I started by using my fingers to make her writhe. She came quickly and I knew I had to taste her. It had been so long. I used my tongue to make her gasp and shudder, When I finally entered her with my cock, she was so warm and wet and swollen that I was ready to come on contact. We held each other's eyes and continued making love in a slow, steady rhythm for quite some time. I held control of myself until I saw the signs of her slipping again and we both let loose, clenching and throbbing and moaning and her screaming as I bit down on her neck and marked her as mine.

I stayed inside her as long as I could. Parting with her was painful enough, but the thought of turning her over to him was sickening. When we were ready as we could be, I left the room to find Gabriel in the house, impatient, and looking as dangerous as always. I growled at him, reminding him how the council would react if he continued to abuse her, but in addition to that, I made it clear that I would fucking kill him if he harmed her again.

Lyra said she wanted to have me in front of her while he took her so she could focus on what really mattered. She had drank plenty of wine throughout the evening and didn't even get out of bed between the two of us. She was comfortably laying on her stomach when Gabriel came in. She did not want to see him. I stayed in front of her, our eyes locked on each other.

Of course, the first thing Gabriel did was grab her ankle and try to drag her toward him. I saw the panic rise in her eyes and I yelled his name. He dropped her ankle and growled, then in the exact move she learned to expect from him, he hooked his arm under her stomach and pulled her to her knees. He pushed apart her thighs and commented how pleased he was that she was so wet.

She clenched her teeth when he moved his fingers into her folds and then inside her. He worked her with his fingers in a motion and rhythm that allowed her to begin to relax. He continued this motion as he ran his other hand over the rest of her body. He pinched at her nipples and she yelped, but I could tell it wasn't from true pain or fear. The wine was working for her beautifully. If he could keep himself under this level of control, we were going to be okay. I was constantly watching to see how she was doing but she really seemed to be fine and I thought I even saw a hint of her moving her own body along with the rhythm he had set.

LYRA

Caed and I had started off our evening with a bottle of wine and then had a couple more. I was still feeling fuzzy from the alcohol and my lovemaking with Caed, so I was surprisingly relaxed when Gabriel came in. I had one moment of panic in the beginning, but Caed yelled at Gabriel and he behaved after that. I was just letting him do what he was going to do and kept my full attention on Caed.

His eyes were so soft and full of love. I was lost in them when Gabriel put his fingers inside of me and started working them slowly. Without even being aware, I started to move myself along with the rhythm of Gabriel's fingers. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped cold. I felt like I would be betraying Caed if I responded to this. Caed knew what I was thinking and just pulled in closer to me and mouthed that he loved me.

Gabriel removed his fingers and replaced them with his cock. He was holding very still and I could tell it was because he was ready to come but didn't want to. He did not hurt me this time, but when he came, he pulled me tight against him and whispered "begging" into my ear. That made me shudder with dread, but I was relieved in knowing it was over for now. Gabriel left and i breathed deep, relieved he was gone.

It had been so long since I had been able to enjoy Caed, that earlier had not been enough and we still had the rest of the evening. I got cleaned up and we continued to fuck and make love for several more hours.

CAED

As per our agreement that Gabriel would clear any diversion from the plan with me first, he told me he was going to make Lyra come and he wanted her on her back so he could watch. I had to fight the urge to kill him right then and there. Two nights in and he was already pulling this shit. I not only told him no, but fuck no. I reminded him that she was there for the Rite with him. Nothing else. She was MY mate and he had no business thinking anything about her in any way other than a means by which to produce offspring. I knew Lyra still didn't like him, but alcohol helped her fear and complete revulsion begin to wane. She had done so well last time that I didn't want to change it up, plus he was so godsdamned unpredictable. Gabriel was a fucking sadist and I wasn't sure he could keep it under control if she showed anything on her face that might unleash him.

LYRA

I had another amazing day with Caed, and wine, of course. I was laying on my stomach with Caed in his place, facing me. I still felt electricity shooting through my body from the rolling orgasms he had given me just before Gabriel came in. I didn't even wait for Gabriel to pull me up to my knees. I mindlessly adjusted myself so I was ready for him. I was still throbbing inside and I needed the void of Caed's absence filled. I ached even more as I looked into his astoundingly beautiful eyes.

I felt Gabriel's hands on me. I tensed up but relaxed soon after as he gently slid his fingers into me and started working them in just the right spot. I was aching and hot and my body started to respond with slickness between my thighs, but I was worried about the effect it would have on Caed if I let my body take control. The wine was what was really taking control, and I couldn't stop myself. I closed my eyes and started to rock back and forth with Gabriel's fingers. I was grinding my ass up against him as he started to explore the rest of my body with his hands. He massaged my breasts, making them heavy as my nipples hardened and my pussy clenched. This was enough to have Gabriel replacing his fingers with his cock and grunting to maintain control.

As he started to fuck me, I was losing more control of my body. I searched Caed's face for any sign of jealousy or concern but he knew what was happening and he gave me a half smile. He leaned in, nibbled on my ear, and whispered "it would be so much easier on me if you enjoyed it." His permission and caring flipped a switch that put my body completely in control. I arched my back and started moving back and forth, fucking myself with Gabriel's cock. His hands grasped my waist and he pulled me in closer. He bent down to lick my neck and I ground even harder against him.

As I was tipping over the edge, I heard Gabriel murmur in a husky voice, "Brother, you did not tell me."