Makara Ch. 10

Author's note: Thanks to everyone who clicks and reads! This story is a continuation of previous installments, so if you'd like to know what's going on, I suggest making sure you're up to date.

Feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think, and I have a special appreciation for anyone who takes the time to let me know!

Enjoy!

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~Makara

I was alone when I left my room, and I breathed a small sigh of relief that I wouldn't have to face Silas. I didn't know what to say to him. Although I still wanted to believe it, I wasn't confident he was saying things he didn't mean, his stare while he was threatening my mate was too intense to brush aside as empty. But I still didn't want him. If anything, I wanted him less, and pitied and feared him more.

His door opened as I put on my shoes, his usual shirtless chest drawing my attention before I pulled my gaze away. I didn't have to look at him to know he was smiling, but he didn't say anything, and I slid out the door without breaking the silence.

'That was stupid,' I thought as soon as the door closed behind me. 'Ignore the Alpha whose home you're living in,' I admonished myself inwardly, positive I had just offended him, although I could have sworn I heard him chuckle from inside.

Using the door as a barrier to block out everything wrong on the inside of the suite, I focused on the hallway, wondering how I would block out everything outside it. Based on the time, I was sure I could find Cade and Bash training again. Maybe I could pretend nothing happened yesterday. Or maybe we could talk about it and work things out. I shook my head.

I wasn't necessarily angry anymore, as Silas' aggressive reaction put a bit more stock into Cade's words, but I still didn't think I was ready to talk to him. I wouldn't know what to say to him either. Besides that, Cade had stressed how it was HIS issues that prevented him from revealing himself as my mate, so was it my place to decide when we'd talk about it?

After a few frozen moments outside the suite, I decided to go on a run, and hoped it would turn out better than the last run I went on.

I tore through the forest, the impact from my pounding feet vibrating up my body in a way I found liberating. The trees blurred beside me, and I tasked myself with identifying their scent as I ran by. My wolf howled and pranced in joint excitement, jumping when I crossed over large stones or fallen trees as if it were her own muscles that carried us. I laughed, untouched by the stresses in my life, as if I had left them all behind, and stopped only when a small, crystal clear lake offered a tempting contrast to my overheated body.

I kicked my shoes off, but entered the water fully clothed, having been so drenched in sweat the moisture from the lake would have made little difference. Fully refreshed, I laid on a large rock outcropping that jutted out over the lake, letting the sun warm my skin comfortably, and dry my clothes. It didn't take long, and I was soon walking back to the hotel in near the same condition as I had left it in.

I took my time on the way back, stopping at every interesting plant or flower, and fawning over every tiny creature that crossed my path, but eventually I found myself entering the hotel and riding the elevator to the top floor.

I rounded the corner towards our suite, almost dreading going back inside, and was pleasantly surprised when Atlar's presence offered me a few more minutes of procrastination. We greeted each other, and I questioned him on why he was there.

"Silas just wanted to go over everything that happened with the humans," he told me.

"Right, of course," I responded, torn between being offended that I hadn't been included, and being relieved that I wasn't forced to be in the same room as him right now.

"Everything alright, Makara? You look a little pale."

"I don't know. Things are weird." I thought about lying, but realized quickly that I wanted to tell him. I wanted to put it out there, and since I had already developed a habit for telling him things I probably shouldn't, I gave in. "I found my mate, but he already knew and didn't tell me. I don't know if that means he doesn't want me, or-," I trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

"I'm sure it doesn't mean that," he said supportively. "He probably just has a lot going on. You should try talking to him."

"I thought of that too, but I'm not sure that he wants to talk to me."

A feeling of surprise enveloped me, foreign and confusing, as nothing had happened to initiate such a feeling.

"Did you tell her?" Atlar asked, clearly not to me.

I turned around to see who he was talking to, slightly shocked to see Cade there watching us. That surprise felt natural, like it was a part of me, but a slight annoyance crept through that was distinct, similar to my wolf's emotions when she pushed them on me, but a quick check with my wolf told me it wasn't her annoyance either. I brushed it aside, deciding it was probably nothing.

"No, he didn't tell me," I reminded Atlar, not questioning how he knew I had been talking about Cade. "I found out on my own."

Atlar smirked at me, and raised a questioning eyebrow to Cade, who set his jaw in response.

I looked between the two men. Cade stood with barely concealed anger threatening to bubble through his quiet facade, and Atlar, forever unphased, stared back casually, amusement tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" I questioned.

Cade sighed, and some of the tension released from his body, as if some weight had been lifted, or he had finally made a difficult decision.

"Not here," he said, not waiting for either of us to answer before he turned around and left.

Atlar followed him first, confident strides carrying him quickly down the hallway, and I scurried after them. Cade brought us to his own suite, holding the door open until we were all inside.

There was an awkward pause, until I broke the silence.

"What the hell is going on?" I demanded.

"Cade?" Atlar looked to him for an answer.

"Stop it," Cade chastised him.

"Why? Are you denying it?"

I watched the men argue with each other, desperately wanting to hear Cade's answer.

The strange annoyance appeared again, stronger this time, almost angry.

"Is it because I'm a man?" Atlar chuckled.

That confused me more. I thought we had been talking about me. I didn't have time to dwell on it, emotions swirling through me that I could barely identify before they fled. Anger, confusion, longing, defiant resolve, and other, more complicated ones. They continued as the men argued, and I only vaguely registered what they were saying.

"You're a vampire."

"That doesn't make me any less of a man, I assure you."

"I'm not attracted to-" Cade's voice was cut off mid sentence, and for a moment, everything went quiet as Atlar stepped forward, claiming Cade's lips as if they belonged to him.

My lips tingled with familiar electricity, the sensation spreading throughout my body like a shadow of memory. I could almost imagine what it would feel like to be in Cade's place, to have Atlar's hands on the back of my head, holding me close in a locking embrace as we kissed. A warring torrent of feelings barraged me, conflicted but determined, and although Cade was reciprocating the kiss, I knew he was about to push Atlar away.

"You're at least a little bit attracted," Atlar spoke, making a show of sniffing the air, which was indeed thick with the scent of both of them.

I tried to pay attention to what they were saying, but I heard without listening, too distracted by the feelings that were so obviously not mine. Cade had looked to be enjoying the kiss, had put his own hands in Atlar's hair and pulled him closer. How had I known he was about to pull away?

"That doesn't mean anything," Cade denied through heavy breaths. "Everyone knows that Vampires can manipulate arousal."

I hadn't known that, but regardless, Cade didn't believe that was the reason for his reaction, and I felt his desperation in trying to explain it away, as if I were floundering in my own search for an excuse. I felt it as if it were me. My eyes snapped up to Cade as I realized the cause of my confusion. I felt Cade's emotions as if they were mine.

I sent him a mental prod, the same as my wolf did to me when I wasn't paying her enough attention. He looked at me, the slight surprise I saw on his face quickly melting away to realization.

"Maybe," Atlar started, undeterred by Cade's protests, and oblivious to our silent interaction. "But we can't create it from nothing. All we can do is magnify it, and we can only do it with a bite."

Atlar hadn't bitten Cade. It was clear Cade's reaction had been genuine, and although Cade acknowledged the fact, I could tell he still wanted to deny it. He stayed quiet.

I thought back to everything I had felt since Cade appeared in the hallway, sorting through what belonged to me and what didn't. The anger was his, the defiance, the hesitation, the longing, all of it was his. We shared the confusion, although admittedly for different reasons.

I replayed the kiss, feeling the tingles again, and realized with surprise that it hadn't been my own memory of the mate bond I felt, the igniting kiss from Cade still fresh in my mind, but Cade feeling the mate bond with Atlar, and unknowingly sending the sensation over to me.

Before I knew what I was doing, I reached out, grabbing at Atlar's hand as if it held all the answers. I gasped as the mate bond exploded up my arm, filling my chest and stomach with butterflies, and my veins with heat. It felt right as he squeezed my hand and smiled brightly at me, before his mouth settled into a casual smirk.

I stared at him, unable to look away from the strange realization that Atlar was my mate as well.

"Vampires know their mates by sight," Atlar told me, not bothering to pull his hand away. "I knew the moment I saw you, you were both mine. What I didn't know is that you were each other's too, not until the meeting. I saw the same face Cade gave me when he touched your arm."

I remembered the night at the bar, how Atlar appeared to pin Cade to the wall with one hand. Not with pure strength, apparently, but surprise, as even the slight brush of Atlar's thumb on Cade's collar bone was enough to trigger the bond.

"It's a mistake," Cade spoke quietly. My hand fell from Atlar's as I turned to listen. "The mate bond has crossed the species barrier before, Vampires, and even humans sometimes, but it's never been three, not that I know of. It's a mistake, it has to be."

"Do you think the Moon Goddess makes mistakes?" I asked him.

"I think she plays jokes."

The pain that radiated through me when he spoke, his pain, was immense. He severed my connection to it as quickly as it had come, but it was too late, I already knew what was wrong.

"You don't think you're supposed to want us, it's easier if you don't, so you're pushing us away. You push me away because I'm the woman your father is in love with, despite the fact that I don't feel the same way about him, and Atlar-" I paused. "Well, I don't know why you're pushing him away, but I know that you don't actually want to."

Cade watched me quietly, unable to deny it.

"So your saying all I have to do is seduce him," Atlar stated bluntly.

"See, that's the point, right there," Cade blurted uncharacteristically, stalking across the suite to put some distance between us. "This doesn't work. Politically, you know your place, but privately you always have to be in control, the one leading the way. I'm meant to be the next Alpha of this pack, I don't know how to follow you."

Atlar smiled, a devilish intention pulling at the corner of his mouth, made clear by his following words.

"So you want to be dominant. Alright," Atlar started, sitting directly in the middle of the couch, his arms splayed out along the back on either side. "Dominate me."

A handful of images that fit that description, and a dozen more that didn't, flashed behind my eyes and although I couldn't tell if they had originated with me or Cade, I knew he had seen them too.

Unbidden images weren't really new for me. I had often thought about Cade and I, and more recently, Atlar and I, involved in various...situations. But the idea of them TOGETHER, the three of us-, I couldn't even finish the thought for the puddle it melted my brain into.

Cade seemed to be in a similar position. He watched Atlar with a carefully blank expression, the novelty that his problems could be solved with a simple conversation clearly hitting him like a slap to the face.

His whole body tensed and his chest rose with calculated breaths, no doubt intended to offset his pounding heart, so loud I could distinguish it easily.

Atlar, smirking proudly as he watched us both, moved his hand to rest on his leg, a mere inch from the clasp on his pants.

I nearly groaned as I picked up an aroused scent other than my own, recognizing Atlar's distinct aroma immediately. Cade's followed moments later, and I swallowed to wet my dry mouth.

Atlar shifted his hand again, playfully toying with the clasp that kept him hidden, his gaze darting between us, waiting for a reaction.

It was an interesting dynamic Atlar had set up. His words asked for someone else to be in control, but the power in this situation clearly remained with him, as Cade and I watched impatiently for what he would do next.

All progress of our earlier conversation was put on hold, Cade and I too distracted by Atlar's hand slowly pulling down the zipper on his pants to even remember what we had been talking about. I was flooded with feelings of desire, both Cade's and my own, and my wolf watched from behind my eyes, hungry with anticipation.

Atlar lifted his hips just enough to tug down the hem of his pants, confidently displaying his full length, grasped in a loose fist.

I looked between the two men, the lust on their faces, one barely contained and the other as free as Atlar's cock, fueling my own, before I let my gaze fall to Atlar's lap.

I needed to be closer, but I waited, knowing this particular display had been for Cade's benefit, I wanted to see what he would do. He shifted his gaze back and forth, to me, and then to Atlar, scarcely able to tear his eyes away from the other man.

Cade was hesitant, but he wanted it, I could feel it. He ached to give in and cross the distance to the couch.

"You can do whatever you want to me," Atlar told Cade in a sultry tone, but the way he looked at me immediately after told me the invitation was open to me as well.

An image of myself by Atlar's side forced itself into my mind, more obtrusive than the other thoughts. Although I didn't object to the idea, I knew it hadn't originally been mine, and I wondered briefly if Cade had meant to send it to me.

Whether intentional or not, I knew what he wanted; he wanted to see us together. I started forward slowly, excited by the situation, and hoping that cooperating with Cade's unspoken desires would help him feel more comfortable.

Atlar's hand made long, slow strokes as I approached, my heart nearly pounding through my chest. Cade's anticipation was a constant source of encouragement, not that I needed a reason to continue past the view in front of me.

I lowered myself onto the couch beside Atlar, and he pulled his hand away from his cock, his arm going around me, and his lips finding mine a second later. I shuddered as the mate bond ignited again, allowing myself to sink into Atlar's embrace. He kissed me hard, as though he needed it to live and the intensity of it set me aflame.

He kept one arm stretched along the back of the couch, an open invitation for Cade to join us whenever he was ready.

Atlar trailed his lips lower, kissing and licking at the sensitive skin along my neck.

"I've been waiting for this," he told me, his voice a low whisper in my ear. I didn't respond, too focused on my goal as I gripped his shaft. It felt exactly as I had expected from my dreams. He hissed in pleasant surprise, and nipped at my jaw as I began my tentative movements. "That's it, Makara," he encouraged, sensing my insecurity, and I shuddered at the sound of my name on his lips.

I pictured taking Atlar into my mouth, and must have unwittingly sent the image over to Cade as I received an enthusiastic approval from him, despite his hesitation to join us on the couch.

My heartbeat thundered distractingly, sounding a beat too erratic to decipher. I was nervous, my only experience with oral sex coming from my dreams, one incident that I had been a mere witness to and...that thing...with Rodan, if that could be considered experience.

A sudden memory from that night blasted through my lust filled mind, Silas snarling as he pulled Rodan away from me, his fervent demands to know if my brother had entered me with his cock, and the sickening shade of purple that Rodan's oxygen deprived face had turned.

'I nearly killed the last man who touched you,' I heard Silas repeat the words in my mind, and shook the thought away, refusing to finish his statement. I didn't dare think what would happen if he found out about this.

I almost pulled away for fear of it when I felt Cade sit on the opposite side of Atlar. He put a comforting hand on the back of my head, and Atlar let out a soft groan as Cade pulled me forward to kiss him, as if in answer to an unasked question.

"No penetration," Cade said to the room when our lips broke apart, my eyes still closed in enjoyment. "If she's penetrated, he'll know, and he'll be angry."

Atlar nodded, no need to question who Cade was talking about.

They both stared at me, waiting for me to agree before we continued. There was no pressure in their eyes, only blatant, unrelenting desire. I stole a quick kiss from each of them before shifting onto my knees beside Atlar, and bending forward to taste him.

I heard the breathing of both men get heavier as I explored Atlar with my tongue, letting saliva build in my mouth before I slipped my lips over his head.

"That feels so good," he rasped. An exaggeration for my benefit, I knew, but I let his exclamation bolster my movements anyway, drawing my confidence from the low moans of approval above me.

Almost immediately, Atlar's hand began to wander, lifting my shirt to caress the soft skin underneath, cupping and squeezing my ass as it stuck obscenely into the air, and winding through my hair as he helped me gain a rhythm.

My eyes were closed most of the time, concentrating on the feel of Atlar on my tongue, but the sound of another zipper snapped them open. Heat flooded to my core as I watched Atlar undoing Cade's pants, completely unhindered as he worked the clasp with one hand. I could hear them kissing, their wet embrace only stopping when Atlar had successfully freed Cade's cock, already rigid, giving it a slow stroke. Cade groaned, the sound still muffled by Atlar's lips, and a matching sound threatened to escape from me.

"Do you like that?" Atlar asked him in the same low whisper he had used on me. "Do you like watching Makara's mouth around me while I stroke your cock?" The words were meant for Cade, but they sent excitement through my body just the same.

Cade didn't answer, and a low gasp and a loud gulp told me it was simply because he couldn't muster a response, enthralled as he was by Atlar's ministrations, and I nearly rolled my eyes backwards into my skull trying to get a look at the ecstasy on his face. His head fell back on the couch, quickly lifting again when he realized he no longer had a good view. I smiled, as best I could around the warm length in my mouth, and focused again on Atlar's pleasure.

"Makara, I'm gonna cum," he warned me, amidst the gasps and moans that filled the air. New nerves flared in me as I thought about what that meant, but it paled in comparison to the sudden need to fully taste him, to feel the essence of him as I took him down my throat, and I instantly knew that I couldn't pull away. "Makara, you don't have to-" he tried again to give me an out, but was interrupted by his own primal grunting as he stiffened between my lips, coating my tongue with his satisfaction. A strange sort of pride welled up in me, and I swallowed everything I could, swirling my tongue around his head to collect every last drop, then made a show of licking my lips as I lifted from his lap.