The Lightning Bearer Read online

  “I didn’t see enough,” she told him honestly and looked him up and down. “I have beaten your last score on Candy Crush, though.” She grinned.

  Shaking his head, he sat on the end of the bed facing her with his leg bent up slightly. “It’s fine, I rarely play it. Usually only when the guys get into a serious debate. I find waiting until they are winding down easier to get my two cents in than jumping in the middle of it all.” He shrugged slightly, and rubbed a hand through his hair.

  “I’m a total addict. I guess that being alone so much it’s given me something to do.” Typically, when her laptop was open she was doing school work.

  Lincoln moved closer to put a hand on her thigh, and squeeze gently. “You’re not alone any longer, sweetheart,” he said softly. “You have a family waiting with open arms for you to come home. And you have us on top of that, two guys who will do whatever is necessary to ensure you have a damn long and happy life.”

  “Thank you. I look forward to that as well. I really do. I know that we are going to have a good life.” Because she would work damn hard to ensure that they did. “I was coming to you guys anyway. Well, to Kasper’s that is. I graduated with my bachelor’s a few days ago, so I was coming home so that I could take up that job in St. John Industries.”

  “Well, that explains that,” he said. At her look he shrugged. “Ares had Athena looking for unusual weather patterns, and she found some that were oddly enough coming from the direction of Rhode Island toward us. We couldn’t figure out why, but were semi-hopeful it was you. The fact it was eases the lump of dread I’ve been carrying around since the gods said they couldn’t find anything about who the last one was.”

  “Did you know that it was me before this?” she asked and watched him. “Did you have a feeling that it was me when we met four years ago, that I was one of the gods’ descendants or something like that? I felt something for both of you when I met you. I just want you to know that. I had feelings for both of you that I was surprised that I had.”

  He looked like he was trying to choose his words. “Yeah,” he finally said. “I definitely felt something when we met you. It was a seriously toned-down version of that zap I feel each time I touch you now. We’d made a promise to behave. Actually, I made a promise to try to keep Thomas reined in at least a little so you didn’t go into complete shock at his behavior. Thomas sort of promised not to go full bore on you. Kasper is mildly terrifying, and knowing she’s Mik’s half-sister only reinforces my opinion of her scariness.”

  She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. “I’m glad that you both were there to meet me at least that time. I wish that we would have known we belonged together back then. It would have been wonderful to have spent the last few years with you.” Although, now that she thought about it, she was also glad for the years because she had been able to obtain her degree and find herself.

  “We couldn’t have known back then. Knowing now that you’re one of the keys, it makes sense we would have felt something, but not the full zing because it wasn’t yet your time. You needed the time for yourself, and apparently we needed the time to drive ourselves insane.” He paused and stared down at the hand he had resting on her leg. “At the time, when we met you, I had no idea what that little sensation of a connection meant. It worried me that eventually we were going to meet this woman that was going to be ours, and she wouldn’t be you. I didn’t know what to do about that, since I’d felt a pull to you. It’s something that has kept me up more than one night since we met you.”

  “I felt something for you as well, both of you. I can’t imagine how you felt wondering who the key was, especially if you felt something for me.” She wished that they had acted on it, but then again, she had been barely legal when they met her last time so it wouldn’t have been something that they would have done.

  “Now I don’t have to wonder any longer. Believe this, it’s a huge weight off my shoulders to know that we get to spend the rest of our days with you.” Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her lips right as his phone went off in her hand. He fell back to a seated position with a grumble, and took his phone. “It’s like the fucker knows,” he mumbled.

  “Yeah?” he answered. “Hang on, let me put you on speaker. All right, time to pick.”

  “Pizza sounds good to me. It’s good both hot and cold so we could take it with us as well if we have leftovers.” And it wouldn’t give her the big D either, she thought to herself. “Maybe get some sandwich baggies from the gas station? That way we can take it with us when we leave.”

  “I can do that. What about toppings, darling?" he asked. She heard some voices before someone asked for five bucks and change. Thomas was muttering into the phone about highway robbery.

  “Meat pizza with extra cheese and light sauce.” That was her favorite kind at least. “Oh, and make sure to get extra napkins and some of those little packs of parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.”

  “I can do that,” Thomas said. “I’ll be back to the room in about twenty-five. We’ll eat quick, and then head out. Be ready to rock and roll once we’re done. Talk to you guys in a bit.” He made kissy noises before laughing and hanging up.

  Lincoln was rubbing at his temple when he tossed his phone aside. “Some days,” he muttered flopping down on the bed on his back.

  She snickered. “So, I think that we were in the middle of you kissing me, right?” She felt so good right there where she was with Lincoln. “I really think we should get back to that?”

  Good idea,” he said. Not that he moved. Instead, Lincoln crooked a finger at her, and grinned up at her from his position. “This time you get to control the kiss. At least until I feel the urge to take over.”

  “Oh, I love how that sounds.” She moved so that she was straddling his lap and leaned in so she could brush her lips to his, then took the kiss deeper. Pepper moved so that every inch of her upper body touched his. Her pussy was against the straining front of his jeans, her nipples were hard peaks against his bare chest, and her hands were holding onto his shoulders and neck while she kissed him.

  His lips were curled into a smile each time she brushed her lips to his. He slid his hands up and down her thighs until she rocked her pussy against the hard ridge of his cock. Then he grabbed her ass to still her, or that was the intent she guessed. It didn’t really stop her and earned her a smack to her bottom.

  “Behave,” he breathed out against her mouth.

  “And if I don’t want to behave?” She nipped his lower lip with her teeth and then licked the injured lip to help soothe it. “I rather love feeling you growing larger and harder against my pussy. I feel like I’ve been waiting for the two of you forever. I got more use from my vibrator than anyone should be allowed to. All I had to do was think of you or Thomas and his looks. Or both of you,” she confessed.

  “Fucking hell,” Lincoln groaned out, letting his head drop back. He blinked slowly up at her, and then suddenly she found herself on her back with him looming over her. Catching her hands, he pushed them up over her head so her back arched to press her aching breasts closer to his chest. “What all did you think about?” he asked. Slowly, he lowered his head to press a kiss to her jaw before biting lightly, and then licking the sting away.

  “I thought about both of you.” She turned her head slightly to give him better access to her neck. “I would sometimes use the butt plug I bought and the dildo at the same time because all I could think about was having you both inside of me.” She never thought she would give her dirty little secrets away, but she was, freely. “Thought about how good it would feel to have you both seesawing in and out of me.” She shivered. He had pushed his hips against her clit through her jeans and had her seeing stars. Damn, but she was close. “Sometimes I would use the little nipple clamps I bought, but not often, because they didn’t feel as good as I’m sure they are supposed to feel.” Because she was doing it to herself.

  He muttered something against her throat before she felt the kiss of
his teeth to her skin again right over the tendon. “You’re killing me here, Pepper.” Lifting his head, he stared down at her, letting her hands loose at the same time. He ran his own hands down her arms and body until he was rubbing his thumbs to the curve of her breasts. “What else are you keeping from me, sweetheart? Tell me all your fantasies.”

  “There was that moment, four years ago, that you said you would paddle my ass. I don’t even recall what it was for now, but the thought of that gave me such vivid dreams of how good it would feel to have your touch like that. Because of the beatings that I had as a kid, no floggers or paddles or whips, but your hand?” She wrapped a leg around his hips. “Your hand on my ass sounds so good to me.”

  For a moment he frowned before he brushed a finger lightly over her cheek. “We would never do anything that you didn’t want. Doing anything, like a spanking, between us is okay because we would have boundaries. We would never, ever hurt you for the sake of hurting you, Pepper. All you should ever feel with us is pleasure, no matter how we achieve it. Personally, I like the idea of the feel of your sweet ass under my hand when I spank you while I fuck you hard and fast. Or maybe slow and steady to make you really beg for more.”

  She shivered. “Holy shit.” She pulled him tighter to her body. “I know that you two wouldn’t do anything that would hurt me. Not now and not ever. You both care for me. I think that even all of those years ago I knew. I know people say that you can’t fall in love at first sight, but I think that you can fall into lust very quickly.” And they had been there for a few weeks while the others worked on keeping Kasper safe. “God, that feels good.” She was lifting herself up against his bulge, essentially dry humping him while she spoke.

  “I don’t know, I fell for you pretty hard,” he said softly, pressing a kiss to her chin. He shifted his weight slightly and ran a hand over her belly. Next thing she knew he had the button on her jeans open, and his fingers on the zipper. At his look she nodded, needing to see what he’d do. Easing the zipper down, Lincoln slipped his hand under her panties until his fingers slid over her wet folds. “Holy hell, you’re sopping wet,” he got out on a groan.

  “I can’t help it. You do that to me.” She moved her hips slightly so his fingers moved over her clit. “I will have to find a place near where we will call home to go so I can continue to wax though.” She shivered when his fingers moved again over her folds and found her clit. “Lincoln.” His name slipped from her on a long breathy moan of pure need.

  His chuckle sent chills over her skin. Pushing his hand deeper, he flicked her clit before slipping a finger into her pussy. He took her lips in a hard kiss while pumping his finger in and out a couple of times. Then he added a second, and a third to fill her up more.

  At this point Pepper was riding his fingers, his thumb brushing her clit over and over again. “Lincoln, God, I’m going to come if you keep this up.” She felt deliciously full and wanted more. “Feels so good.” So much better than anything she had put into her body before him.

  “Then come for me, Pepper. Come all over my hand, drench my fingers for me, sweetheart.” He was nibbling on her neck again while moving his fingers faster. “I can’t wait until I can strip you naked, and put my mouth on your pussy. I’m going to feast on you for hours. Lapping up all this cream you’re giving me.”

  Pepper arched her neck, and when she tightened her legs she cried out his name loudly. Who would have known that all she needed to go over that edge was him talking to her and telling her what he wanted and what he was going to do? She yelped his name in shocked surprise as the first small orgasm turned into another massive one, thanks to his far too clever fingers.

  Chuckling against her skin, he withdrew his fingers, and lightly petted her pussy as she quivered. “Now, wasn’t that much better than some rubber toys?” He kissed her lips gently, and slipped his hand free from her panties. Then he began to lick his fingers clean while holding her gaze, making sounds of enjoyment the entire time.

  “God, that’s hot.” She had felt marvelous with him finger-fucking her, but watching him lick the cream from his fingers had her shivering even more. She reached up and pulled him to her so she could kiss him. She tasted herself on his lips, but it didn’t turn her off. It only made her hotter. When they pulled apart she licked her lips. She didn’t think she could have felt any better if she had tried. She felt relaxed and calm, and totally happy, even if she was missing something, someone, that was.

  Lincoln brushed another light kiss to her lips, rubbing his hand gently up and down her side. After a while he shifted enough to do her jeans up before settling in place with his arms bracketing her. “I like the soft look you have right now. The little smile, the color in your cheeks, and the sleepy look in your eyes. Beautiful.”

  She felt relaxed and utterly calm. “I like the look on your face right now. The way that you are looking at me. I feel the need that you have deep down inside of yourself. That banked need that you are keeping back by sheer will alone. Thank you. That was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced.”

  “First of many,” he said with a slow grin. “At least that’s the goal.” As he lowered his head to kiss her, a knock on the door had him stilling, and seemingly out of nowhere he had a gun up and pointed at the door, the look on his face entirely different.

  “Shoot me, and I swear to the gods I will bleed all over the pizza just so you can’t eat it,” Thomas’s voice called through the door.

  Cursing, Lincoln pushed up off the bed. Not once did the weapon waver as he went to the door to take a look through the peephole, and then when he eased it open. Only when he saw the other man did he finally lower the piece. “I thought you were going to text when you got back so shit like this doesn’t happen?”

  “Right, because I had a finger free by the time I remembered.” Thomas held up the pizza, a grocery bag with a gas station logo on it, and a bottle of pop. He rolled his eyes as he came through the door leaving Lincoln to secure it. He paused to look her over and grinned. “Well, aren’t you looking delightfully rumpled, darling? What did you two get up to while I was out braving the big bad world for our sustenance?”

  Pepper was leaning up with her arms propping her up. “Well, you know, Lincoln is just irresistible, and I couldn’t keep my hands off of him and he couldn’t keep his off of me. I only wish we could have done something more than the little bit that we did.” She turned and looked at Lincoln. “Although what we did was amazing.”

  “Good on you, darling,” Thomas said with a laugh. He handed her the box of pizza when she sat up fully, and tossed the gas station bag onto the table. “The water and snacks I left in the car. Picked up a halfway decent sized cooler, and some ice from the gas station so we can keep the pizza cool when we head out.” From the bag he pulled out cups that he poured the pop into before handing her one.

  “You are too good,” Pepper stated and pulled out a piece of pizza for herself and began to munch on it.

  Chapter Five

  They had been on the road for several boring hours until they stopped once more at a rest area and Pepper went in to the bathroom to do her business. She walked out of the stall and saw a woman standing there. She wasn’t doing anything other than standing, leaning against the cinderblock wall, and watching Pepper. As gross as it was, Pepper didn’t turn her back on the woman to wash her hands. Instead she walked out. She had hand sanitizer in her purse, and that would work.

  The woman followed her out of the bathroom, but instead of following Pepper she walked to a group of men and they all turned to give her a look. When Pepper looked up she saw Thomas, and without even hesitating she raced to his arms and hugged him close. She knew she was being uber-paranoid, but there was just something that felt so wrong about those people. She jumped when the thunder cracked and the deluge of rain started. “Crap, sorry.” She tried to calm herself.

  “Shh, it’s okay,” he said softly. When she pulled back a little she saw he was watching the group closely. A
look across the top of the car showed her that Lincoln was watching them also. “Slip into the car, darling. No need for you to get wet even if you did start it.” Grinning he pressed a kiss to her lips, but she noticed he never once took his gaze from the group.

  She nodded and raced for the car. She slipped into it and buckled in, waiting for the guys to join her. She saw the way that they moved. At least one of them kept their eyes on the group as they moved away. So it wasn’t just her that was feeling all kinds of intense then.

  Lincoln slipped behind the wheel, and started the car before Thomas eased into the backseat. Pulling out of the lot, she noticed they kept their attention on the group. Lincoln reached over to take her hand, lacing his fingers with hers as he rubbed his thumb to the backs of her knuckles. “You okay?” he asked quietly. He was switching lanes, taking random turns, and slowly working his way back to the interstate.

  “I’m good. That was just really weird. The woman didn’t say anything. She just watched me. She looked so creepy. It was like I was in one of those horror movies or something. I didn’t like it. At all.”

  Nodding, he gave her fingers a squeeze. He didn’t say anything until they were on the interstate, and he shot Thomas a look. “Better call it in. Don’t want them surprised if we suddenly have to call for the big bad to come deal with the fall out.”

  Thomas gave a grunt, and shifted around until he could pull his phone out.

  “You really don’t think that they would try to do something on the interstate with all of the people that are on them with us, right? I mean there are all sorts of innocent people around.”

  “You’d think something like taking out an innocent would stop people. Amazingly enough it really doesn’t seem to be much of a deterrent to them. More often than not they see it like the more they take out, the higher their fucking score.”

  Thomas shifted around in his seat. “Ares, hey. Yeah, so far we’re okay. We picked up some interest at our last stop for our tiny bladdered, yet so damn cute, female person. What?” He snorted out a laugh. “I don’t know, bro, but you’re a god, you really should check into this shit. Anyway, we’re clear at the moment but be ready in case one of us screams for help. Right, talk again soon. Yes, I will tell her.”