7. Beren

Falling asleep with both of my mates in my home is the easiest thing I have ever done. It will only be made easier when Lyath and I can show Nia that she can ask us for help with her female desires. Yes, then I will be living the most perfect life. It is the life I am dreaming of when I am pulled from my sleep much too early.

I do not know why I have woken long before the clouds have begun to lighten, but I can feel a buzzing underneath my scales like I am ready for a fight. My claws are fully extended, and my body is tense. I begin to roll Lyath off me as gently as I can so I do not wake him if my instincts are wrong. My feet have just hit the floor when I hear a cry from Nia’s room.

My head snaps in the direction of her room. She’s so close but still much too far away. We closed the door to her room last night so we were not intruding on her privacy if she wanted it, but now I am regretting that decision. I cannot just see into her room to see what is distressing her. Not that I have any issues with barging in, because I most definitely do not.

“Get me out!” Nia screams the words as I throw the door to her room open. “Please, make it stop!”

I kneel next to Nia, not wanting to wake her since we’ve always been told waking someone from their nightmares only makes them last longer. The twisted pain on her face, the way her body thrashes against the mattress, and the tears streaming down her face have me wanting to forget all that I have been told and wake her.

“Get me out!”

“Nia.” Her name is out of my mouth before I can silence it. I place one hand on her shoulder, the other cupping the back of her head as I begin to shake her. She whimpers a terrible sound that has my scales burning and feeling tight. I shake her harder, making sure to support her head so she does not get hurt. “Please, mate, wake for me.”

A warm glow engulfs the room as Lyath joins me in trying to soothe Nia. He places the torch in a bracket on the wall before kneeling down on the other side of the bed. Worry mars his face, but he says nothing about me trying to wake her. His eyes flicker between black and red, and I wonder if mine are not stuck in red with how much fury is coursing through me at not being able to help my mate right now.

“Get me out! Please, make it stop!” Nia’s hands wrap around the arm I have on her shoulder. Her nails try to cut into me, but they are much too fragile. A hiss rumbles deep in my chest. I lift my mate into a sitting position and move my body behind hers so I can hold her close against my chest.

“Wake for me, Nia.” My words are desperate and edged in anger as I try to keep myself calm. “Now,” I bite out the command as I nuzzle my head into her thick curls.

One final whimper, and then Nia’s body jerks in my hold in a new way. Lyath’s body relaxes, and that is how I know that Nia has woken. My face is still close to her as I keep my arms wrapped tightly around her chest and abdomen. I want to keep her pinned to my body so I can make sure she does not hurt herself now that I have woken her.

“Lyath?” Nia asks, her head lifting toward him. “Where? What?”

“Shh,” I whisper against her hair, hoping to keep her calm enough so we can figure out what just happened. I do not want her to have many nightmares, not when she is safe now. Wherever she was trapped, whatever was done to her, it will never happen again. Not while I am here to protect her. “You are safe, Nia.”

“So safe.” Lyath nods. His eyes are black again as he sits on the mattress next to Nia.

She reaches one of her hands to him, and he wraps his fingers in hers. With her other hand, she reaches up behind her, patting around on my horns until she finds my cheek and rubs it. It is a wonderful feeling. I want her to do it when she wants to be intimate with me, not when she is just making sure her surroundings are real after a terrible fright.

“I’m sorry,” Nia says. Her body relaxes further against my scales, and it has my chest swelling in pride that even if she does not want to be with me in the way mates are, she will at least allow me the pleasure of keeping her safe and protected. “I should’ve warned you about the nightmares, but I was already such a hard sale with the probably infertile thing.”

“Shh.” This time, it’s more of a hiss as it leaves my lips. I do not like my mate talking down about herself. I do not allow Lyath to do it, and I will not allow Nia to do it either. “You were not a hard sale, whatever that means. My brothers are fools not to want to mate you as soon as you offered.”

“Such fools.” There’s a smile on his lips as he speaks. “Allowed us a chance to take you for ourselves, though, did it not?”

Nia lets out a huff of a laugh before shaking her head. I cannot tell how awake she is or if she is in that part of her wake where she will remember very little of what we talk about tonight. I hope she remembers it all. I hope she recalls how her body relaxes into mine, how Lyath brings her ease, how we both wish for her to be my mate in all ways.

“Why are you so hot?” Nia asks, her words slurring and slowing.

Yes, she is most likely going to remember very little of this conversation. She might even think all of it is just more of her dreams. Not that I am not curious about where this conversation will lead, because I most certainly am. I just wish it was a conversation we were having with her when she was coherent.

“We are colder than humans,” Lyath says, tilting his head to the side in confusion. His eyes meet mine, and I give him a small shrug.

Nia doesn’t seem to mind his confusion. She reaches up for him, and when he offers his hand again, she shoos it away and reaches for his bare chest. We both sleep without clothing, so I am completely bare beneath her, whereas Lyath must have pulled on a pair of pants before coming into Nia’s room with the torch.

“So hot,” Nia says as her fingers run over the scales of Lyath’s chest. I suck down a deep breath of air and force my cock to stay firmly planted in my pocket and not harden and press into Nia’s backside. She does not need to know I crawled into her bed naked.

“We should go,” I say to Lyath, but I am mostly talking to myself.

What I want is to stay in this bed all night, rouse Nia a bit more so she is fully awake, and then ask her to expand on Lyath’s warmth so we can understand what she means.

“We should,” Lyath agrees with me, even as he keeps his chest bared for Nia’s inspection of him.

Her hand traces down a long length of scales that run from the center of his chest down to his lower abdomen. Her fingers trail the scales until she is at the waistband of his pants, and then she lowers them even further down the fabric. Lyath is hard, and his length is straining against the fabric.

“Do not touch my mate without permission,” I hiss and grab Nia’s hand to still her movements.

I will enjoy watching her and Lyath play with one another, but tonight is not that night. Not when she still might be thinking this is part of her dreams. I want her fully conscious when she decides to lay with us in the way lovers do, and I want my cock to be the first one she wraps her hand around. She is my mate, after all, and I am a greedy male.

Lyath groans deep in his throat as I pull Nia’s hand away from where it is about to graze his cock. I expect him to whine more than he does, and I am surprised when he stands from the bed and cups Nia’s cheek.

“Another time, perhaps,” he tells her with a stroke of his thumb. “I think you need to sleep now.”

“Another time,” I agree.

It takes everything in me to lift Nia’s small body away from me and slide out from behind her. Lyath’s eyes fall down the length of my body, probably seeing if I was successful in not hardening against her. I was because I am a good mate who does not use his mate’s nightmares as a means to slide inside of her.

“I want you to sleep now, Nia,” I say as I tuck her back underneath her covers and push her hair away from her face. It does not want to cooperate, but Nia seems used to it being in her face. Her eyes are already closed before she’s back on the pillow, and I know she has drifted back off to sleep as I press my forehead against hers. “No more nightmares tonight.”

She doesn’t respond to me, but that is okay. I know she will follow my command. Her mind wants to be my mate, and her soul yearns for it. I only need her to see that she fits perfectly with Lyath and me. Then we will be the happiest of mates in the whole tribe.

“You were a good mate,” Lyath says to me when we creep back out of Nia’s room. I leave the door open this time, wanting to make sure I can get to her quicker if she has another nightmare.

“I am always a good mate,” I grunt.

I drag our bed from where it is tucked in one of the corners furthest away from the door and move it so it is against the opposite corner with the foot of the bed only a few feet from the open door. Now, if I lie in bed, I have a clear view into Nia’s room, and it will help keep my mind at ease.

“Yes, you are,” Lyath agrees, extinguishing his torch and crawling into bed. He sleeps against the wall. This is how it has always been. “She will see it soon.”

“Mhm,” I murmur, sliding into bed beside him.

He eyes me curiously like he is unsure what kind of mood I am in. Yes, it could be easy for me to be unhappy because one of my mates has not asked to be with me in the ways she wants another male, but I am happy because I at least know she is interested in us. Not to mention, I can now handle my other mate who was going to allow someone who is not me to touch something that is mine.

“What is wrong?” Lyath asks. He tries to roll onto his side to face me, but I push him back down and press my horns against his. His body tenses in panic but settles quickly since he knows he has done nothing wrong.

“Would you have let her touch your cock?” I ask, my hand trailing down his body and grabbing hold of where he is still stiff from Nia’s inspection of his chest.

“I would have,” he groans as I begin to pleasure him with my palm.

“You would have let her touch what is mine,” I growl, pressing his head further into his pillow as our horns scrape against one another. Lyath does not answer this question. His mouth is too busy making soft whimpering sounds that mean he is close to releasing in my hand.

“You are mine, Lyath.” I punctuate the words by stopping my movements and holding his cock in a soft grip. “Mine to pleasure, mine to touch, mine to share when I want.”

“Beren,” Lyath’s eyes are wide in panic now because he knows what is about to happen. “Do not be cruel.”

I release his cock from my grasp and pull his body close to mine. I do not miss the hiss that escapes his lips or how his eyes flicker to red. The smile on my lips is a mockery, but I cannot help it when I am such a blessed male. Lyath grumbles some more under his breath before allowing his body to relax against mine.

“Such a good mate,” I nip at his shoulder, eliciting another whimper from him. It is my favorite sound that he makes, and I cannot wait to hear it more when we wake because I will continue being cruel to him for almost letting Nia touch him.

He will be begging me for release by the time I actually give it to him. Maybe I will make him wait until Nia decides to be shared between us. Yes, that seems like the perfect punishment for my mate. It is such a good idea that it is all I think about until darkness takes me back to sleep.