Tasty Treats, Volume 3

CHAPTER 1

«Lina!» Edgar's shrill scream rolled down the hallway.

Lina cringed. Damn it, not even five minutes into her workday and he was pitching a tantrum already. She pushed back from her desk and walked to his office.

«What is it?»

He'd torn his desk apart. Papers on the floor, file drawers open– he'd only been in there fifteen minutes. How the hell did he wreak that carnage in such a short amount of time?

He looked desperate. «I can't find it!»

«Find what, Edgar?»

«Bella's birthday card. I can't find it!»

She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath to force back her biting reply. She walked over to his drafting table and picked up the pink envelope. «This one?»

He looked up, startled, a huge grin breaking out across his face.

He sighed, relieved. «Oh, baby! You are the greatest! Did I ever tell you that?» He rushed over to her and hugged her, planted a kiss on her cheek before snatching the card out of her hand and racing out the door.

Leaving a huge mess behind.

Lina crossed her arms over her chest and surveyed the disaster. If it wasn't for her, Edgar would be awash in a sea of paperwork and eraser rubbings.

She sighed.

«Oh…man.» Paula's voice from the doorway made Lina turn. «What the hell happened here, girlfriend?» Paula looked elegant, her ebony skin and almond eyes set off by tasteful makeup and designer clothes that perfectly fit her exquisitely chiseled frame. Lina always felt frumpy, underdressed and fat next to her friend, even though that was no fault of Paula's.

«Hurricane Edgar. What else?» She leaned over to pick up a file from the floor.

Paula walked in and helped her straighten up the office. «When you gonna give up on him, honey?» Paula softly asked.

Pavlina-Lina to her friends and coworkers-Zaria knew there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell of her boss and friend of ten years ever looking at her «that way.» Not with her pale skin, freckles, and five-six, size sixteen frame. «It's not like I've got any other guys in my life. Edgar needs me.»

Paula tapped a perfectly painted fingernail on a folder. «You've got that right. You hold this place together. But don't you ever get tired of playing second fiddle to Edgar's slut of the hour?»

Lina shrugged and brushed back a loose strand of hair. This morning her long, naturally red locks had decided to be especially unruly, frizzing in the muggy Florida July heat. She'd given up trying to style it and simply pulled it back with a ponytail holder. «He needs me,» she lamely repeated.

«Honey, what do you need? You're thirty years old. When's the last time you went on a date?»

«I've been on dates.»

«Pity parties with Zack while sucking up gallons of Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia on his couch and crying over Sleepless in Seattle is not a date. You have a better chance of getting laid with Zack than you would Edgar.»

Lina rolled her eyes. «You know damn well Zack's gay.»

«Uh, duh! That's my point!»

Thirty minutes later, Paula and Lina had the mess cleaned up. Until the next time Edgar blew through, at least. Paula leveled her gaze at her friend. «You know what your horrorscope said this morning?»

«That's horoscope.»

«Not the way yours reads. It said, 'Time for a change. Your way isn't working, so face the facts. Bosses who like bony bimbos won't change their stripes and aren't worth your heart anyway. Go find a guy on Craigslist and get your freak on.'»

Lina snorted. «It didn't say that.»

«No, it said you'd meet someone who would change your life. Time to let Hurricane Edgar spin his wheels on his own, honey.»

Callaway and Associates employed over thirty people, including architects, designers, and support staff. They'd come a long way from the days when it was just Edgar and Lina in a small garage office in his old house in north Carrollwood. Now they took up over half of an entire floor in a downtown Tampa office high-rise.

Her office overlooked the St. Pete Times Forum where the Lightning played hockey. Edgar had given Lina her pick of offices when they first moved in. She fondly remembered that day, just the two of them, when he'd surprised her after taking her to lunch. So what if she'd gotten her hopes up that his special surprise was confessing his feelings? He'd taken her hand and led her to the elevator. When they walked into the empty space, he had hugged her.

«This wouldn't have been possible without you, sweetie. Whatever you want, it's yours. That's why you get first dibs, any office, and I mean that.»

She'd forced a smile and swallowed her disappointment. «Thanks, Edgar.»

She couldn't complain about him as a boss or even as a friend. He was damn good to her, generous, never forgetting their history or failing to recognize and reward her accomplishments. The shortcomings in their relationship were on her shoulders, not his. Paula was right. He would never see her as anything but a friend. Even when they were in college, he treated her almost like a little sister.

Lina gathered everyone in the conference room for the morning planning session. She tried to focus on the meeting. Edgar rarely made them anymore. She suspected the only reason he'd shown up at all was because of the lost birthday card. Normally, he didn't come in until after ten. She'd been surprised to see him breeze through the door that early.

Paula went over the daily list of appointments. «The only one I'm concerned about is Edgar's two o'clock, Janek Alexandr. Edgar's having lunch over on Harbor Island with some Rotary buddies at twelve-thirty. What do you want to do?»

Lina silently swore. That meant they probably wouldn't see him until four. «Okay, I'll take him. What's he want?»

«House.»

«Oh, good. That's easy. I can deal with that.» Even though she was the general manager, she'd spent enough time with Edgar that she could intelligently speak about less complex structures. If it was an office or commercial building, she'd have to slough it off to someone else.

When the meeting adjourned, Lina returned to her office and tackled the most pressing items on her to-do list. On a Friday, she'd normally try to get out of the office early, meaning three o'clock instead of her usual eight. But with a client to deal with, that wouldn't happen.

At noon Paula stopped by her door. «You going to get something to eat?» Usually Lina went out to lunch with her best friend, Zack.

«No, I called the Silver Ring Cafe. They're delivering a Cuban.»

Paula grinned. «Oooh, a hunky straight and single one, I hope?»

Lina groaned at the bad joke. «Sandwich.»

«Oh. Well, I knew that was too much to hope for with you. See you later.»

Lina shook her head. Paula could afford to joke like that. She never had a problem snagging a guy. Not with her model body and Mensa brain.

At least I've got the brain.

Lina had given up trying to diet herself into a single-digit clothing size two years out of college. She exercised regularly, swimming, walking and light weights. Unfortunately, her father's sturdy Slavic genes stubbornly refused all attempts to become svelte. She was healthy and couldn't be called obese, but she would always be a «big girl,» broad across the beam.

Breeder hips, her old Grandmother Danika had once joked.

Stupid old bat. Apparently in the «old country,» they liked 'em roomy.

She sat back and scrubbed her hands over her face. She'd forgone makeup today after the hair fiasco. She started to chew one of her nails before catching herself. At least her hands didn't look horrible. She had long, graceful fingers that tapered from her thin wrists and elegant arms.

What a twisted sense of humor Mother Nature had. Lina had long since quit counting the times she'd been asked if she played piano.

At a quarter till two, Lina took a few minutes to freshen up, attempted another battle of the braids, and gave up when it was obvious nothing short of a gallon of hair gel would force her unruly locks into submission today. Back to the ponytail. She applied a little powder, blush, eye shadow, and tinted lip gloss.

Good enough. If she had to look fancy, meaning Zack was dragging her somewhere nice, she would put on mascara and foundation for him.

If Mr. Alexandr didn't like how she looked he could pucker up and kiss her fat ass. Her day had started off-kilter to begin with after Edgar's blast of disorder, and she had yet to regain her footing.

Promptly at two o'clock, Lina's intercom buzzed. «Ms. Zaria, your two o'clock is here.»

«I'll be right out.» Her gaze swept around her office, found it tidy, presentable. She walked to the reception area to greet Mr. Alexandr.

CHAPTER 2

«You are the laziest fucking man on the face of the planet.» Rick looked up as his brother walked into the kitchen. «What?» Jan shook his head. «That. Why don't you cook them?» Rick grinned. «I am. What the hell do you think I'm doing?» He had a frozen sausage link skewered on a fork. «I meant like a normal person.»

Rick focused on the sausage and brought it close to his mouth. He breathed on it. After a few seconds, grease dripped onto the plate in front of him as the sausage quickly cooked. Twenty seconds later, it was done. He tentatively tasted it, then popped it into his mouth. «Why sood I do dat? Dat's borwing. Dis is easy.»

Jan looked disgusted. «Don't talk with your mouth full.» Rick grinned, chewed, and swallowed. «Deal with it. You're the one who insisted on moving in together.» «Um, sort of have to.»

Rick leaned back. «Frankly, I think the prophecy is a bunch of bullshit.» He shook open the Tampa Tribune. «Two hundred and twenty-six years old we are, brother, and no evil badasses in sight. I think we're safe.» He glared at Jan. «You, however, have put a major crimp in my lifestyle. The literal wet blanket.»

«Oh, excuse me. I didn't know living like a filthy pig was a lifestyle. I thought it was a personality deficit.»

«Fuck you.»

«Bite me,» Jan shot back.

The brothers glared at each other for a moment before laughing. Rick rolled his amber eyes. «We're going to end up killing each other at this rate. You realize that, right?»

Jan ran a hand through his blond hair. «Yeah. Look, let's give it a couple of years. It'll get the Elders off our asses. Once nothing happens we can go our separate ways again, okay?»

Rick turned the page. «Deal.» The twins looked nothing alike. Jan's blue eyes, wavy blond hair and pale complexion stood in stark contrast to Rick's straight black hair, smoky amber eyes and tan skin. «And quit turning the fucking thermostat down. You had it like a meat locker in here.»

«It's too hot.»

«Hey, I got outvoted on moving here to Florida. I'd be happy opening the windows. It's freaking stuffy in here.» Rick gave up on the paper. «The new house gets dual-zoned A/C, agreed?»

«Agreed.» Jan poured a cup of coffee. «Jeez, a week and we're at each other's throats already.»

«Brings back memories of the good old days, doesn't it?» Rick stabbed another sausage link and roasted it with his breath. Mostly to deliberately torque Jan. Yes, it would be easy to nuke all of them at once, but it was much more fun to yank Jan's chain.

Jan smiled. «Yeah, I have to admit it does.» He sat at the table. After a few minutes, he finally said, «I missed having you around.»

Rick snorted. «Yeah, right.»

«No, I did. Seriously. No bullshit.»

Rick blushed and looked at his plate. «Well, yeah, I guess I sort of missed you, too.» He cleared his throat. «Okay, Hallmark moment's over. What time's the appointment?»

Jan smiled. His hot-headed brother wasn't so much on the mushy emotions. «Two. Callaway and Associates. Highly recommended.»

«Tile floors.»

«Yeah, with you and me, I'd say that's a must.»

Rick nodded. He started to say something when his cell phone rang in the other room. «Crap.» He went to answer it.

Jan looked at Rick's full and steaming coffee cup. He reached over and wrapped his hand around the mug. He held it for a moment, then sat back before his brother returned and sat at the table.

«Speak of the Devil, that was Uncle Andel wanting to see how we were doing.» Rick picked up his coffee, sipped it, then glared at Jan. «You're a fucking dick.»

Jan smiled as he stood. «I don't know what you're talking about.»

«This was hot. I just poured it a couple of minutes ago.»

«Maybe you can nuke it while you cook your sausage.» He left the kitchen before Rick could angrily reply.

«Goddamn ice dragons anyway,» Rick muttered. He held the mug to his mouth and breathed. After a moment, his coffee was hot again.

Jan closed his eyes as the cool water flowed over him. Florida hadn't been his first choice of locations, but the Elders' Seer insisted on it. Why, they couldn't tell them, because they didn't know. Rick had wanted to move out west, and his logic was good. Hot summers and cold winters, they could both be happy at least half the year.

At least Florida had humidity. While Rick hated that, he loved the heat. The humidity and proximity to water satisfied Jan. The property they'd bought, thirty acres north of Tampa with its own private lake, had a little something for both of them.

Jan loved his twin even if he wanted to kill him half the time. They were always close, even when living apart. Still, forced togetherness for two opposing Elementals-especially when one was an ice dragon and the other a fire dragon-was never a recipe for harmony.

Jan stepped out of the shower twenty minutes later feeling refreshed. He had plenty of time to make the appointment, but he wanted to be ready. He dressed in khaki slacks and an Oxford shirt with loafers.

He'd done his research. Edgar Callaway was the best man for the job. Rick and Jan had very specific requirements for their new house, requirements that would probably be seen as odd under most circumstances. With two brothers as drastically different as they were, they needed a designer who could get the job done.

Truth be told, Jan wasn't sure he believed the prophecy either. Okay, so neither brother had found a mate, although Rick made sure to get himself laid on a regular basis. That didn't mean anything. The world was a big freaking place.

And they were supposed to share a woman? Puhleese. They could barely share a kitchen.

Jan spent the morning in his home office, gathering his paperwork and design notes, as well as the site plans and surveys he'd take with him to Callaway's office. He was supposed to go out with Grace that evening, a cutie from the post office. Rick wasn't the only one allowed to get a piece of ass now and then. It'd been too damn long for him, over a year.

He found the office building in downtown Tampa and timed his arrival perfectly. The receptionist took his name and paged someone. Jan studied the waiting room walls, pictures of projects Callaway and Associates had built. Elegant, beautiful, as well as functional and sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of Florida's hurricane codes.

«Mr. Alexandr?»

The woman's voice, low and melodic, startled him. He turned, his eyes widening in surprise. «Yes. Hello.»

She was beautiful! Flame red hair like a sunrise, green eyes, creamy skin.

When she offered her hand he fought the urge to kiss it. He slipped his fingers around hers and felt the strength in her grip.

«My name's Lina. I'm Mr. Callaway's assistant. He's been unavoidably detained. I'll be assisting you today, if that's all right.»

He dumbly nodded. Sweet Goddess, hell yes, it was all right!

He realized he still held her hand and released her. «That's…yes, that's fine. Thank you.»

«Are you all right, sir?» Her eyes narrowed, studying him.

He quickly nodded again. «Yes. I'm fine. You can call me Jan.»

«Okay, Jan. If you'll follow me, we can go to my office.» She turned, and he studied her ass as she led the way. She wore navy blue slacks that weren't tight, but they didn't hide her voluptuous curves, either.

Was she single? He mentally smacked himself. He was supposed to go out with Grace in a few hours. Grace's toothpick frame was a total turn-off compared to this beauty. She had to be taken, a woman as sweet looking as her, didn't she?

He dumbly followed her into an office and sat as she closed the door behind him. When she was seated behind her desk, he started to ask her if she was single when he spotted the nameplate on her desk.

Lina studied Jan Alexandr. Okay, this guy was a cutie even if he acted like he was a few brain cells short of an IQ topping his shoe size. He had to be at least six-four, wider through his shoulders than she was in her ass. His grip had felt firm and comfortably cool.

«What did you say your name was?» he asked.

She sat back in her chair. «My full name's Pavlina Zaria, but everyone calls me Lina.» He looked a little stunned. «Are you all right? Would you like me to get you some water or something?»

He shook his head. «No, thank you. I'm fine. Pavlina, that's beautiful.»

She snorted in disgust. «My father's genes and apparently unintentional sense of humor. It means-«

«I know what it means. It means small. I still say it's beautiful. I think it suits you.»

She felt the blush creep into her cheeks. «How did you know what it means?»

Jan smiled. «My family hails from eastern Europe.»

«Well, as you can see, I'm anything but small.»

«I think you're beautiful.»

She blushed more deeply. «I think we're straying from the subject, Mr. Alexandr.»

Jan heard the edge in her voice. He'd pushed her too hard. «Zaria is also a beautiful name.»

«Did you bring sketches of what you have in mind for your house?»

He met her gaze and finally nodded. «Yes. I brought them.» He hoped she couldn't see how his hands trembled as he opened his portfolio. He handed the papers over and realized it was impossible for him to keep his eyes off her face as she looked everything over.

Zaria. Son of a bitch.

It was her.

Lina looked up and frowned. Jan Alexandr still looked like something was bothering him. «Are you sure you're all right?» Jesus, she hoped he didn't keel over in her office. That would really suck. Although she wouldn't mind doing a little mouth-to-mouth on him.

Of course, she was sure he would mind.

«I'm fine. As you can see, my brother and I have some very specific requirements.»

She nodded. «That's no problem. This looks like a large property.»

«We like our privacy.»

«What do you do?»

«I'm a writer. Novels. My brother is taking a sabbatical for a little while. He's a travel writer.»

«Oh, that's interesting.» She felt his eyes never leave her. Did he find her so grotesque that he couldn't stop staring?

She was about to ask another question when Edgar tapped on her door and opened it. «Hey, Lina! I made it back after all.»

She felt both relieved and irritated. Relief that Jan Alexandr wouldn't be staring at her anymore.

Irritation that she couldn't stare at him. He was a handsome hunk of man.

«Mr. Alexandr, this is Edgar Callaway.» Edgar strode over and shook hands. Was that irritation she spotted on their client's face?

«Nice to meet you,» Alexandr said.

«I'll take over from here, Lina. I know you wanted to get out early.»

«Thanks, Edgar.» Another quirk. Edgar always tried to be considerate. She quickly gathered up the paperwork and handed it to Edgar.

Jan Alexandr's mind raced, desperate to stay with Lina. Shit! He tried to make an excuse, anything that wouldn't sound totally bullshit, to stay there with her. «If you're busy, Mr. Callaway, I don't mind dealing with Ms. Zaria.»

«My girl's been running herself ragged this week. She's earned an early afternoon.» He indicated the door. «Why don't we go to my office?»

Jan felt a wave of irritation at Callaway's term of endearment for Lina. He reluctantly stood, and turned to Lina. «It was a pleasure meeting you.» He extended his hand across the desk. After a brief hesitation, she shook with him.

Lina noticed again that his skin felt cool. Not clammy or damp, like a dead fish, but like the kind of guy you wanted sitting next to you on a hot day. «Thank you, Mr. Alexandr.»

«Jan,» he insisted.

«Jan.»

Alexandr closed the door behind him. Lina let out a huge sigh of relief at his departure. He had gorgeous ice blue eyes. No doubt he also had a skinny, big-boobed cutie who hung off his arm despite lacking a wedding ring. Gorgeous guys had gals, as many as they wanted or needed.

He certainly wouldn't want someone like her. Unless he was one of those evil fucks who liked to screw with a fat chick's head for shits and giggles.

She shuddered. With her luck, that was probably it. Wouldn't be the first time it had happened to her.

She quickly packed her stuff and skedaddled.

Jan barely heard two words Callaway-«Call me Edgar»-said to him. He couldn't stand it. After five minutes he finally broke in. «Tell me more about Lina Zaria.» What a perfect name! The morning Goddess.

Edgar frowned. «I'm sorry?»

Jan leaned forward. «Lina Zaria. Is she single? Dating?» He knew he sounded eager and was beyond caring. She was gorgeous, perfect, even Rick…

The stunning thought hit him. Even Rick would agree with him.

«I'm sorry, but I'm not comfortable discussing my employees' personal lives.»

Jan tried to think fast and salvage the situation. «Of course. I'm sorry.» He managed to make it through the meeting, and they agreed to another consultation in a week.

Goddamn it, a whole week?

He sat in his car and tried to clear his mind. Rick would love her.

No, that was stupid. The prophecy was just an old poem, a bunch of bullshit mumbo jumbo. The rational side of his brain tried to argue that point.

Then the other side of his brain chimed in that most people in the world thought dragons and shape-shifters were a myth, too. Stunned, he drove home.

Lina stopped by Publix after she left work. She'd already packed her weekend bag and brought it with her so she could head straight to Zack's after work. Zack had texted his grocery list to her BlackBerry. She scrolled down the screen as she pushed her cart through the aisles.

Fetzer Gewurztraminer… box of Eggo chocolate chip waffles… frozen lasagna…

She grabbed the bottle of wine first. It was her favorite. Leave it to Zack to ask specifically for that, even though he preferred a good Pinot Grigio.

three garlic cloves… cheese garlic bread… chocolate syrup… bubble bath… toothbrush…

She called him. «Toothbrush?»

«Yeah.»

«Why?»

«I dropped mine in the toilet. I'm not using it again.»

She laughed. Poor Zack. «You're really having a crappy week, aren't you, babe?»

«Fucking sucks. Where's our food?»

«I'm almost done. Did you want milk or dark chocolate syrup? And why do you want bubble bath? You're not supposed to get that leg wet.» He was stuck with a thigh-high cast on his left leg for the next six to eight weeks, the result of an unfortunate tumble over a toy dog outside his condo building the day before. In the same fall he'd sprained his right wrist, requiring it to be splinted for several days.

«Dark, if they have it. That yutz, Moskowitcz? I realized his hot tub is right below my damn balcony. We're going to dump the bubble bath in there tonight, make him pay for my broken leg. His goddamn dust mop isn't on a leash and trips me, sends me to the fucking hospital, and he bitches that I almost stepped on the little furball? Fuck him.»

Lina laughed. «All right. I'll be there shortly. Anything else?»

«No. I'll see you when you get here, shortcake. You packed for the weekend?»

«Of course. I'm not driving back and forth to Brandon five times a day to walk you to the bathroom, honey.»

Okay, so she had Zack. He could get a date anytime he wanted, but he was choosey. His mother not so secretly hinted and hoped the two of them would get together and give her grandchildren. Lina and Zack didn't have the heart to break her heart. His mom knew he was gay, she simply chose to willfully ignore that little factoid and kept hoping he'd change his mind. Lina was happy to help him keep his mother's fantasy alive a while longer.

They'd been closer than best friends since they were kids. She was the first one he'd come out to when they were fifteen. In college, the two of them had made a pact that if they were still single at thirty-five, they'd throw in the towel and settle down with each other.

At least they enjoyed watching the same kind of porn.

«You realize you're going to have to come home with me Sunday night, right?» she asked. He was supposed to stay off his feet for at least a week according to the doctor. Edgar had already told her she could take the days off and work from home without dipping into her vacation time if she wanted. It was easier to bring Zack home than to tote all her work stuff to his condo. And it wasn't like he was a stranger to sleeping at her place. They spent every weekend and quite a few weeknights together, alternating where they stayed.

«Yeah, I know. I really do appreciate this, Lina.»

«I know. See you soon.» Thirty minutes later she pulled into her usual parking spot in front of his building. She let herself in with her key and dumped the groceries on the counter. «Where are you?»

«I made it to the bedroom,» he called out.

She walked back there. «How did you get here?»

«It's as far as I could flop after the toothbrush-in-the-toilet incident.» His face looked pinched with pain as he tried to sit up, his sweet brown eyes nearly the same color as his hair.

Lina helped him limp out to the sofa. «When did your mom leave?» She'd babysat him after they'd brought him home from the hospital.

«A little after three. Her cruise leaves at midnight.»

Lina made sure he was comfortable and found the remote for him. She was about to go put the groceries away when Zack grabbed her hand. «Hey. Where's my sugar?»

She smiled and leaned in, bussed him on the cheek. «Better?»

«Yeah. Too bad I'm gay. You'd make a great wife.»

She blushed. «Yeah, well, remember your promise.»

He tuned the TV to MSNBC. «Honey, at this rate, no guy lives up to you. I just might marry you yet, if I'm lucky enough. I'm simply biding my time.»

Lina busied herself preparing dinner. She'd also bought salad fixings. While the lasagna was in the microwave, Lina toasted the garlic bread and made them each a bowl of salad.

She carefully settled herself on the couch next to Zack, trying to not jostle him too much.

«What's wrong, babe?» he asked.

«What?»

«You look a little distracted.» He gasped. «You didn't meet a guy who's gonna steal you away from me, did you?»

She rolled her eyes and laughed. «Not hardly.»

He gently nudged her. «C'mon.»

This was the spooky little special thing she had with him. They could always read each other's moods. «I had a weird day capped off with a weird client.» She related the day's events.

«Paula's right, babe. Edgar's a moron.»

«You're jealous.»

«Damn straight.» He paused and laughed. «Yeah, uh, you know what I mean, kiddo.»

Just her luck. Zack was the kind of guy she could never have if he was straight. But they even slept together several nights a week– literally, not figuratively-when they stayed at each other's place. Just sleep. Although they'd fooled around a little in high school before he came out.

Hell, at least she had a vibrator. She could pretend.

«So tell me about Mr. Alexandr,» he prodded.

She shrugged. «Weird vibe.»

«Serial killer weird, leaves his socks on for sex weird, or dressed like a stuffed animal for sex weird?»

She nearly snorted wine out her nose. When she recovered, she said, «I don't know.» She studied the dregs of salad dressing in her bowl. «Probably disgusted by the fat chick weird,» she mumbled.

«Hey!» he angrily said. «No! I thought we had a rule about that.» He grunted in pain as he set his bowl on the coffee table, grabbed hers, and stacked it inside his. Then he pulled her into his lap as far as he comfortably could and stroked her cheek. «Babe, you're beautiful. Really.»

«How would you know?» she sobbed. «You're gay!»

«Uh, yeah, but I'm not blind or stupid, chica.» He laced his fingers through hers and kissed her hand. «You ever look at some of those painters from a couple hundred years ago? They digged girls who wouldn't break in half if you gave them a hug. You're not fat.»

«I'm not skinny.»

«Yeah, and if you were skinny, you'd be making yourself sick with the anorexia or some shit like you nearly did in high school.» He glared at her. «Remember that?»

She nodded. How many nights had she spent crying on Zack's shoulder over her weight struggles?

«You've been the same exact weight for how long now?»

«Four years.»

«And you don't have to kill yourself anymore, do you?»

She pouted. «No.»

«Honey, it's not like you're buying dresses from Omar the Tentmaker, okay? You're healthy. And you're beautiful, whether you believe me or not. When do you finally let yourself be happy?»

The microwave buzzer sounded, saving her from answering. She sat up, grabbed their bowls, and returned to the kitchen to dish out the rest of their food.

CHAPTER 3

Jan raced home. Halfway there he remembered his date with Grace. He called her. «I'm sorry, I can't make it tonight. I've had a family emergency come up.» He barely waited for her reply before he hung up on her. Well, if he couldn't come up with a plan to talk Pavlina Zaria into seeing him, it's not like he was a stranger to blue balls.

Rick looked up from the table when Jan walked in. While Rick sat in the same chair he'd occupied when Jan left, Jan knew from his brother's change of clothes and the fact that the lawn was mowed that Rick hadn't idly sat around.

«What's wrong with you?» Rick asked

Jan sat. «I think I found her.»

«Found who? And don't you have a date tonight?»

«I cancelled it. Wait until-«

«No! Aw, fuck no. I've got a girl coming over tonight!»

«Listen to me!» He told Rick about Lina.

Rick shook his head. «Fuck me. You're an asshole, you know that? So she's cute. So what? If you like her so much, go do her.»

«You don't understand! I mean, that's Fate, right? Her name, everything!»

«She's most likely not the only person on the face of the planet with the last name of Zaria, dude.»

«You have to go back there with me next time and meet her.»

«Uh, yeah. I can see that going well. 'Hey lady, me and my brother are dragons, and by the way, we think you fulfill this bullshit prophecy we're supposed to be a part of.'» He snorted in disgust and a small plume of steam emerged from his nostrils. «I don't think so. No thanks.»

Jan angrily stood. «If you met her, you'd understand.»

«You make a stalker look normal, you know that?»

Jan glared.

Rick finally rolled his eyes. «When's the next appointment?»

Lina had a good weekend with Zack. By the time Sunday evening rolled around and she got him moved to her place, she was in a much better mood. She'd quit thinking about Jan Alexandr and his killer ice-blue eyes. She conducted the Monday morning meeting as a conference call, with Zack attempting to get her to laugh by making faces at her from the couch while he watched SpongeBob.

Paula volunteered to bring a few files home to her that evening, so Lina was surprised to find Edgar standing on her front porch when she answered the door a little after seven.

«Hey, didn't expect to see you.»

He kissed her on the cheek as he walked in and handed her the files. «No reason to make Paula drive all the way out here.» He crossed the living room and shook Zack's good hand. «How are you doing?»

«Not playing soccer anytime soon.» Zack was, at least, being polite to Edgar. The two men usually didn't get along all that well. Lina knew the only reason they tolerated each other was because of her.

«Yeah, I bet.» Edgar sat on the other end of the couch. «Lina, I need to talk to you about something.»

Lina's heart caught in her throat. «Yeah?» He looked reluctant to talk in front of Zack. «Did you want to go out back onto the lanai?»

He shook his head. «No. Zack should probably hear this too.»

Oh my God, oh my God, ohmyGod! Her heart raced, eagerly anticipating what he had to say, hoping her prayers were finally answered.

Edgar looked at her. «The other day, something happened that bothered me. I think I should tell you about it.»

Oh my-fuck. «What?»

«Jan Alexandr, the client you were dealing with? He asked me if you were seeing anyone.»

OhmyGod! «He did?» Disappointment quickly blended with another strange sort of hopeful anticipation.

Edgar nodded. «Yeah.»

«What did you tell him?»

«I told him I wasn't comfortable discussing my employees' personal lives.» Zack now intently watched Edgar.

Shit. «Oh.» She had a chance to let that sink in. «Why did it bother you? And why did you want Zack to know?»

«I don't know why it bothered me. I wanted Zack to know so he could keep an eye on you.» He shrugged. «If you want, I'll drop Alexandr in a heartbeat. Did he make any passes at you?»

God bless him, Edgar did care about her in his own way, even if she would end up as Zack's fag-hag wife in five years. «No. He was-«

«Hang on, kiddo,» Zack interrupted. «You told me he was a little on the flirty side.»

«Well, flirty can be anything.»

«You were a little wigged out Friday afternoon.»

Edgar frowned. «That settles it. I don't need the business so bad that I'm willing to risk your safety over a client.»

«Whoa!» She stood. «Edgar, I appreciate the concern, really, but I think that's a huge overreaction. This guy's a writer. We don't know what kind of connections he's got. You drop him like that, it could be bad for business. I'm okay with it for now.» She shrugged. «Honestly? I got the impression maybe he wasn't comfortable with me.»

Zack snorted. «Oh, jeez. Here we go again, Ed.»

At least the two men had this much in common. They never failed to gang up on her to boost her ego when her spirits were down.

«Considering he seemed interested in dating you, I don't think that's a problem.» Edgar checked his watch. «I've got to run, sorry I can't stay. I'm taking Bella to a movie, need to go pick her up.» He shook hands with Zack again, hugged Lina, and kissed her on the cheek. «Don't worry about working from home. Seriously, it's okay.» He pointed at Zack. «Take care of my girl.»

Zack cocked the fingers of his left hand at Edgar like he was shooting a gun. «You mean my girl, but yeah, no worries there.»

By Friday morning, Zack was going stir-crazy. Lina was about ready to kill him. «You think you could survive a trip downtown?» He could hobble around on his crutches without too many problems, but he still wasn't completely steady.

«Hell yeah. I'll take my laptop and work on your office couch. You've got cable there. I won't miss my cartoons.»

She smiled. «Okay, let's go to work.» She gathered her things, loaded Zack's gear, then carefully loaded him in her Accord. She called ahead, and Edgar met them in the parking garage to help them upstairs. Once Zack was settled in her office, she caught up with Paula, got her and Zack coffee, and returned to her desk.

«Edgar's not so bad, I guess,» Zack snarked. «You know what's weird? I realized the other night after he left, he doesn't look a day older than when we were in college.»

Lina shrugged. She hadn't really thought about it. «I guess you're right.» She soon lost herself in her daily tasks.

Jan repeated the words over and over in his mind. He'd spent three damn days trying to find the old book in one of the hundreds of boxes stashed in the garage. They were renting the house until their new house was built, and he hadn't felt like unpacking anything.

«You know what you have to say, right?» he asked Rick.

Rick nodded. «And if you're wrong, we look like a couple of morons.»

«I'm not wrong. I know I'm not.»

«I hope you're right.» Rick had also memorized the ancient words. The words in the old language that the prophecy claimed would somehow convince her of who and what they were. And who and what she was.

Theirs.

Jan tried not to pace while they waited. Edgar Callaway walked out and greeted them with what looked like a forced smile.

Shit. «This is my brother, Jarek.»

«Call me Rick,» he said, extending his hand.

Edgar shook. «Let's go to my office.» He turned and led the way.

Jan and Rick followed Edgar. When they passed Lina's office, Jan nudged Rick and tipped his head toward the closed door.

Jan forced himself to walk past and not stop and knock.

During the meeting, Jan couldn't concentrate. Rick shot him a disgusted look and took over. An hour later, Jan was dying to go talk to Lina.

While Callaway was talking with Rick, Jan slipped his phone off his belt and dropped it to the floor by his chair. When they finished, they followed Edgar down the hall.

Her door was still closed.

«Oh! You know what?» Jan said, «I think I dropped my phone. Do you mind if I go back and look?»

Callaway nodded. «Go right ahead.»

Rick shot him another disgusted look. «Please, that's the best you could do?» Rick silently snarked.

Jan shrugged, walked back to the office and retrieved his phone. When he returned to the hall, Callaway and Rick had walked past Lina's door. Jan took a deep breath and knocked.

Zack and Lina looked up from where they were sitting on her sofa and looking at his laptop. «Come in,» Lina said.

Lina's heart raced when Jan Alexandr stuck his head into her office. «Hi, I just wanted to say…» His eyes fell on Zack. «I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt.»

Was that a frown on his face?

It was definitely a frown on Zack's face.

«Zack, this is Jan Alexandr.» Lina hoped she wasn't blushing. Alexandr looked just as handsome as he had the other day. She hated that her body seemed to respond to this man, her pulse racing, skin flushing as his eyes met hers.

Zack nodded. Alexandr stepped in and across the room, cautiously shook Zack's hand. «Pleased to meet you.» He seemed to weigh his words. «I wanted to say I'm sorry if I came off wrong the other day. Would you allow me to make it up to you with lunch?»

«Lunch?»

Another man appeared in the doorway. Jeezus pleezus, another hunk! As tall and broad-shouldered as Alexandr, only with black hair and warm amber eyes.

«Jan?» the other cutie said.

Edgar also appeared in the doorway. He wore an odd look on his face.

«Ms. Zaria, this is my brother, Jarek,» Jan Alexandr said.

The amber-eyed angel stepped forward, his eyes on her, intently studying her. She felt another warm flush race through her body under his heated gaze.

«Please, call me Rick. Nice to meet you. My brother spoke very highly of you.»

Lina shook hands with Rick Alexandr and immediately noticed how warm his grip felt compared to his brother. «Pleased to meet you.»

Edgar started to say something when Rick spoke. «Could we interest you in lunch, Ms. Zaria?»

«Lunch?» She looked at Zack, who was, she noticed, still studying the brothers. «I was just going to order us some sandwiches. Zack's not very mobile.»

«We'd be happy to help him get around,» Jan offered.

«Lina,» Zack interrupted, «I don't mind eating in alone.»

«I'm not leaving you here by yourself.»

Edgar again started to say something, but Rick spoke over him. «We'd love for both of you to join us for lunch. Seriously.»

She felt impaled by Rick Alexandr's eyes. They were gorgeous! Even though she had a feeling maybe this was a bad idea for a reason she couldn't fathom, she nodded. «Okay. Only if Zack comes with us. I'm not leaving him alone.»

Zack rolled his eyes as he shut down his laptop. «Hold on a minute. Let me get everything gathered up. I'm guessing we're going home after lunch?»

She looked at Edgar, who'd apparently given up trying to talk. «You don't mind if I take off early, do you? I know you said you were heading out with Bella to Key West tonight.»

He still looked odd. She couldn't put her finger on it. «Of course I don't mind. You've damn well earned an afternoon off.» He smiled, but it looked forced. «I'll see you on Monday.» He shook hands with the brothers, then waved to Zack. «Hope you're feeling better soon.»

«Thanks.»

Edgar left. Lina gathered her things and helped Zack finish packing. The brothers helped Lina and Zack down to her car and agreed to follow them to the Columbia Restaurant over in Ybor.

Safely ensconced alone in Lina's car, Zack turned on her. «You didn't say he was gorgeous!»

«I said he was handsome.»

«If you don't do him, I'm willing to chase him.»

She started the car. «Not on that leg you're not.»

He smiled and settled back in his seat. «You've got a serious problem though, sweetie.»

«What?»

«Both of those brothers want you. You know I hate bullshit cliches, but they looked at you like they were broke and starving and you're a free all-you-can-eat Mongolian barbecue.»

Lina didn't want to contemplate Zack's astute observation. It was bad enough she felt like she was walking funny. Her panties had to be damp from her body's traitorous reaction to the double-yummy Alexandr brothers. When they were all seated in a large corner booth with Zack's leg propped up, Lina on his far side, the waitress took their drink order. Jan immediately declared he was paying for everything.

When the four of them were alone again, Jan looked at Zack. «How did you hurt yourself?»

Zack gave the quick version of the dust-mop dog story. Rick smiled in amusement. «Bubble bath? I like you.»

Zack smirked, an expression Lina recognized as his «maybe he's not so bad» look. «Good thing I couldn't get around, or I'd have done something else.»

By the time they'd finished their meal, the brothers had learned all about Lina and Zack, courtesy of Zack. Lina felt too discombobulated to carry on her end of the conversation. Like her brain had fogged over. Usually she was never at a loss for words. Something about the brothers' intense eyes on her took away her capacity to speak like an adult.

Toward the end of their meal, Zack pushed his plate away and stared at the brothers. «Let's cut the bullshit. You guys want Lina.»

Lina gasped, mortified.

The Alexandr brothers both sat back and looked shocked.

Zack laughed and sipped his iced tea. «Come on, quit wasting time. We could all grow old and die waiting for you two to grow a set of balls and speak up.»

Lina wanted to strangle Zack.

Jan regained his voice first. «Is that a problem?»

«Dude, she's single, and she's an adult. Why would it be a problem?» He set down his glass of tea and leaned forward, dropping his voice. «But if you two want to come in and play with her heart, that is a problem, and you'll have to go through me first. Believe me, despite what you see, I'm not someone you want to fuck with where she's concerned.»

Lina noticed Zack's voice deepened, a different tone she'd never heard before. She stared at him in shock.

Rick Alexandr's eyes narrowed. «You're full of surprises, aren't you?» he asked in a low voice.

«Fuckin' A, buddy.»

Lina's mouth gaped. Zack touched her chin. «Gonna catch flies, sweetie.»

Her jaw snapped shut.

Zack studied the other two men. «Pama caska treznalinsk appareo.» He took another sip of tea.

«Holy fuck!» Jan whispered.

Lina stared.

Rick shook his head. «You got that right. You sure as hell aren't what you appear.»

«What the hell is going on?» Lina finally managed through clenched teeth.

Zack squeezed her hand and smiled. «I've got some explaining to do, babe.» He looked at the men again. «Well?»

Jan nodded. He reached across the table for her hand. Before he could touch her, Zack grabbed his arm.

«Trama dominae pasnatea?»

Jan nodded again. «With our lives. We swear it.»

«What the hell is going on?» Lina asked again.

Zack ignored her, his gaze never leaving Jan's face. «Say it again, with feeling this time. In the old language.» His eyes bored into Jan's. «Otherwise, you don't get any closer to her than you are right now, I don't give a rat's ass what you are.»

Jan immediately replied, «Pama dominae pasnatea.»

Zack looked at Rick. Rick repeated, «Pama dominae pasnatea.»

«You three better tell me what the fuck is going on right now!»

Zack released Jan's arm and took Lina's hand, stroking it. He kissed her cheek. «I'm not going to be able to keep that promise to you after all, babe,» he sadly said.

«You're not making any sense!»

He brushed a stray hair from her temple. «You've met the men who are taking you away from me.»

«What?»

Zack's gaze didn't drift from her face. «Go ahead, boys. Say it. Let's get it over with.»

Apparently still battling their own surprise, Jan spoke first. He recited a long, lyrical passage in a language Lina didn't understand. She suddenly felt as if she'd been mentally broadsided by a baseball bat. A floodgate exploded in her mind. Overwhelming images and visions she couldn't begin to explain flowed through her consciousness. Partway through Jan Alexandr's monologue, Lina realized she could understand the strange language.

«…and forever, with our lives, we swear to you we will.»

She felt like she was going to fall over. Zack scooted closer– thank goodness for the booth-and slipped his arm around her to steady her.

He looked at Rick. «Your turn, buddy.»

Rick nodded. Now she could understand everything even though she was aware he wasn't speaking English.

«Forever in our hearts, eternity in our soul, our one and true we shall cherish and love and defend. Everything we have and are, is yours. But this we swear, our love will never waiver, and we will protect you forever and forever, with our lives, we swear to you we will.»

The air rushed out of her chest as she swooned against Zack. The Alexandr brothers started to stand, but Zack's growling tone stayed them. «No. Leave her alone for a minute.» He tenderly brushed a stray hair away from her forehead as he cuddled her close to him.

She worried the entire restaurant had to be watching, but no one was.

«What's going on?» she whispered.

Zack pressed a kiss to her temple. «These guys'll follow us back to your place so we can talk in private.» He looked at them. «You have a few things you need to show her, too.»

The other two men silently nodded.

When Zack was confident she wouldn't faint, he shifted position with a pained grunt. «Damn human form. I'm telling you, it's a real bitch sometimes, boys.» He grinned. «I guess this means we've got some interesting times ahead of us.»

Jan knew Rick wanted to drag Zack outside and beat the shit out of him until he gave them answers. Lina stayed mostly silent, looking at Zack, then at them, then studying her plate. Jan desperately wanted to talk to her, to hold her.

Yes, and fuck her.

The prophecy was right all along. Unfortunately, that also meant a bad nasty around the corner. He suspected their problem wasn't Zack, although he obviously wasn't truly a human.

The men spent the wait for the check talking about any and everything except the metaphorical flaming pile of crap in the middle of the table. Apparently still in shock, Lina remained silent.

Jan couldn't hold back his deeper questions. «What are you?»

Zack smiled. «Come on, fire face-« He stopped, then looked at Rick. «No, that's not right, is it? He's fire. You're water.»

«Ice,» Jan said, his voice sounding strained.

Zack grinned. «Cool. Bet that'll lead to some interesting times.»

«You didn't answer my question.»

Zack rolled his eyes. «You lizard boys are a little dense, aren't you? Elementals aren't the only ones with prophecies to fulfill. I'm a Watcher. Her Watcher. You should know that if you paid attention in Prophecy 101.»

Lina regained her voice. «What did you call them? What did you call yourself? What the hell is going on?»

Zack patted her hand. «Shortcake, we'll get the rest caught up at your house. I don't want to fry your brain.»

The waitress returned with Jan's credit card. Twenty minutes later, Lina was driving Zack back to her house, while Jan and Rick followed close behind.

She felt too shocked to speak, unable to process what had happened.

«You okay, babe?»

She shook her head. «Do I look like I'm okay?» she whispered.

«No. You look like you just went through the world's worst mind fuck.»

«I'm glad you can joke about this! What the fuck is going on?»

«There's my girl. Welcome back, feisty.» He patted her thigh. «Let's just say that there's a lot to explain. I think those two brutes need to give you a demonstration first.» He grinned. «Baby, your life just got pretty wild and wooly.»

Then his expression turned sad. «No more overnights for us, though.» He looked out the window and remained quiet for the rest of the ride.

CHAPTER 4

Lina didn't speak again on the drive home. She lived in Odessa, in an older home comfortably nestled on five tree-shaded acres on Lake Keystone. The insurance settlement from her parents' death over ten years earlier had more than paid for it. It was quiet and secluded.

The Alexandr brothers helped Zack out of Lina's car. He made it inside on his crutches before collapsing onto her sofa with a pained grunt. Lina stood, staring at the brothers. Her nerves were shot, she felt like she was crawling out of her own skin, and maybe she'd just lost her mind.

Not to mention the two hot men were simultaneously playing hell with her ability to concentrate and unintentionally making her feel fat and ugly just by their very presence in her living room.

«Will one of you please tell me what the hell is going on?»

Zack settled back on the sofa and held out his hand. «Come here, sweetie,» he softly said.

She reluctantly went to Zack and cuddled next to him.

«We've got a lot to talk about.» He looked at the other two men. «Take a seat, boys. Let's get this over with.»

The men sat in chairs on the other side of the coffee table.

«I'll go first,» Zack offered. «You boys have a prophecy. You're not the only one. I'm one of the Watchers. I'm sure the Elders of your flagyer told you what I am.»

The Alexandr brothers looked shocked.

«Oh yes, I know what that means and what you are,» Zack continued. «Your prophecy, our prophecy. How the hell do you think we kept your One safe all these years? Lina wasn't the first. Wouldn't have been the last if she hadn't met you two. The cycle would have continued until two Elemental brothers, twins, and the Goddess were united.»

Lina spoke up. «Whoa. They're twins?»

Zack laughed. «Babe, now I know your brain is fried. Yes, they're twins. Not identical, obviously. Elemental shifters. Ice and fire.» Zack arched an eyebrow. «But you're dual Elementals, aren't you?»

The other two men silently nodded.

«That's what I thought. If Rick is fire, that means he's also air.»

Rick nodded.

«Which means if Jan is ice, meaning water, he's also earth.»

Jan nodded.

«That is really cool,» Zack said.

«What are you talking about?» she shrieked.

He pressed a kiss to her temple. «Shh. Just watch.» To Jan he said, «I think your demo would be safer indoors. Kitchen's through that doorway. Glasses are in the drainer. Go bring some water in and show her.»

Jan silently stood and walked into the kitchen. They heard glasses rattle, the tap running, and he returned with a full glass of water.

Zack reached for it, offered it to Lina. «Normal glass of water, babe. Right?»

She nodded.

«No, put your finger in it. Check it.»

She did.

He handed it back to Jan. «I'm guessing you can freeze it?»

Jan held one hand lower than the other. He started pouring the water into his free hand. Lina sat up to tell him to stop when the water froze even as he poured it. In seconds, he held a flowing chunk of ice in one hand, and an empty glass in the other.

Her eyes widened. «What?» she gasped.

«That was sooo cool, dude,» Zack said with a grin. «You could hire yourself out for birthday parties.» He nodded at Rick. «Can you poof that away without setting fire to the place?»

Rick reached for the large icicle and held it between his hands. In just a few seconds, it had disappeared in a cloud of steam.

Lina's mouth gaped. Whatever these two men were, besides gorgeous hunks, they were far from ordinary.

She stared at Zack, then Jan, then Rick. The men remained quiet while she tried to digest what she'd just witnessed.

After several long minutes she softly said, «Zack, I don't feel so good.» He reached for her as the world went black.

She awoke with the three men staring down at her. From the angle of Zack's face, she suspected her head was in his lap.

«You're okay, honey,» he said. «You finally fainted. I'm surprised it took this long.»

«What's going on? Why do I feel like this? Why do I feel like there's suddenly all this new crap in my brain? Memories of stuff, like I lived it?»

He took a deep breath. «It's going to take a long time to explain it all, but they are memories. I come from a long line of Watchers. I've protected you throughout your lives over the centuries. My job was to keep you safe until you met these two brutes in one life or another. They've lived several lives, too, over the eons, although they don't remember theirs like I do, and like you do now.»

She carefully sat up. «I don't understand.»

«I know. It's okay. You don't need to understand right now. You just need to trust us and believe.» He glanced at the brothers before speaking again. «They've got a prophecy, their flagyer does.»

«What does that mean? You said it before.» God, these two men were gorgeous. And right now…

She realized that was concern on their faces. Concern for her.

She shivered.

«It's the name of their…family unit.» Zack stroked her cheek. «It won't do any good to tell you what they are. You won't believe me. They need to show you.» He took her hand and gently nudged her to her feet. «Let's all go outside. If you boys could help me out here.»

They got Zack outside and comfortably seated on the lanai in a lounge chair. «You'd better sit, honey,» he suggested. «I don't want you cracking your head open if you faint again from the shock.»

Lina studied him for a long moment. Her friend, the man she had honestly thought she'd be spending the rest of her life with, seemed changed, nearly a stranger. This was the man she thought she knew better than herself. She pulled a chair next to his lounge, and Zack laced his fingers through hers.

«Okay, boys,» he said. «Give us a really big shew.»

Lina couldn't help but nervously snicker at the familiar imitation. Zack always cracked her up.

Rick and Jan exchanged glances and started unbuttoning their shirts. Lina's heart fluttered, racing as they shrugged them off, exposing their yummy torsos.

When Zack started humming bow-chicka-wow-wow music under his breath, Lina yanked on his hand to make him stop.

Wow! They were firm and broad-shouldered, not muscle-bound, but definitely in shape. Jan's chest was lightly dusted with pale curls, while Rick's tanned skin set off his fine dark hair. A quick mental image of being helplessly sandwiched between those firm chests set off another flurry of need between her thighs.

She fought back her flush of embarrassment.

«How many forms do you have?» Zack asked.

Lina was surprised to see the other two men redden, as if they were now embarrassed. «Several,» Jan said. «Depends on the circumstances.»

«Do you fly?»

Lina turned, startled. «What? What are you talking about?»

Zack squeezed her hand. «You'll see. Well?»

Rick nodded. «Yeah. We rarely take that form for obvious reasons.»

«That's why you bought that huge-ass place, a little privacy.»

«A lot of privacy,» Jan agreed.

«How big?»

«Thirty acres,» Rick said.

Zack rolled his eyes. «No, duh. How big do you guys get? Can you do the winged form for her here?»

«No,» Rick said. «Too big, and too much risk.»

Lina gave up trying to ask questions and simply stared. Both men were now working on their slacks. She gulped when she realized they had gone commando, and they seemed totally comfortable stripping in front of her and Zack.

Holy crap! She'd only been with one guy before, and that guy hadn't been even a fraction as well-endowed as these two hunks. Zack, she knew from miscellaneous contact and their little bit of teenage fooling around, was generously endowed and had been her benchmark before this.

These two men, however…

Yum.

Zack grinned. «Ooooh, baby. You are a lucky, lucky lady.» He sighed. «I don't suppose either of you boys…»

The Alexandr men shook their heads.

Zack sighed again. «Yeah, I didn't think so. I'm never that lucky. Okay, do your stuff. Show her what you are so you guys can get busy. We've got a prophecy to fulfill, you know. Well, a couple, actually, if you count yours and mine.»

Rick and Jan exchanged a glance. Lina thought something was wrong with her eyes because it looked like the two men blurred, changed, and grew in size. On her lanai, next to her pool, now stood two four-legged…well, dragons, truth be told. Both around seven feet tall. The one standing in the space formerly occupied by Jan Alexandr was covered with iridescent scales that shifted and shimmered color from emerald green to pale sky blue in the dappled sunlight. He had a long, graceful neck and finely shaped head, and his eyes were the same icy blue of the man.

The other dragon's scales were a rich, opalescent reddish orange, changing hue from the color of a deep red sunset to the light, pale orange of a candle flame. His neck was stockier, shorter, capped off with a boxy head bearing Rick's amber eyes.

Lina's breath escaped her in an explosive blast as she cringed against Zack.

«It's okay, babe,» he reassured her. «Go on, they won't hurt you.» He snickered. «Well, you're going to end up bowlegged after a few days, I bet-«

She turned and slapped him, hard, on the shoulder. «That's not funny!»

«Yeah, it is, baby doll. You're not getting it. You're fated to be together. These are your men.»

«What?»

He kissed her hand and squeezed. «Listen to me. These guys are your future. Your mates. The reason they look like they could eat you up is because they want to. In the metaphorical sense of the word, not the literal one. They love you.»

She stared at them.

They both nodded.

«They're…dragons.»

«Yep.»

The two dragons remained silent, watching her.

«Can they talk when they're like this?»

«I don't know. Ask them.»

It seemed like the blue dragon's eyes impaled her soul. Lina felt herself stand, as if she wasn't in control of her body. On leaden feet she walked over to him, warily watching him. He lowered his head so she could pet him.

Hands trembling, she cautiously reached out and ran a finger along his scales.

The blue dragon's body vibrated as a low chuffing sound escaped him.

Lina jerked her hand back, but the dragon didn't move.

Zack laughed. «Honey, I think he was purring.»

Lina and the blue dragon glared at Zack. The orange dragon looked amused but didn't move or make a sound.

She reached out again, this time laying her palm against his neck. Now she realized while graceful, it was also well muscled. His body felt cool, much as Jan Alexandr's handshake had.

He closed his eyes, his body once again vibrating. This time she didn't jerk away. Instead, she carefully ran her hand down his neck, along his back where a thick ridge of armored scales began.

«You can ride him in more ways than one, sugar,» Zack quipped.

«That's enough!» she shot over her shoulder at him. A few more of his one-liners and she was going to strangle him. Or go crazy.

Or lose her mind and scream.

The ridge along the dragon's back tapered into a three-foot tail.

Lina turned to study the other dragon. Conscious thought eluded her. She suspected maybe that was for the best. If she tried to think about it too hard, she might faint again.

A whirlwind of images and foreign memories spun through her mind, other dragons, like these, feelings and thoughts and…

Oh yeah, baby, desire. How could she not desire these two guys? Well, okay, not like this, but…day-amn.

The red dragon dipped his head. When she touched his neck, she felt the heat radiating from him, much as she had from Rick Alexandr.

He also closed his eyes and purred at her touch. After a few minutes, she stepped away from them, turned and promptly fainted again.

«You've got to quit doing that, baby,» Zack snarked. «You're gonna hurt yourself.»

She was lying on the lounge. This time, Zack was in the chair, his leg propped up on the end of the lounge. Rick and Jan Alexander had whatevered back to human form.

Still naked.

She gulped.

«Are you okay?» Jan asked.

Now enough sense had returned for her to realize they were holding her hands. Jan on her left, Rick on her right. Warm and cool.

«No,» she whispered.

«Lucky for you, Jan realized you were going down and shifted in time to catch you,» Zack said. He motioned for Rick to hand him his crutches. «I'm going inside to lie down on the sofa for a while. I think the three of you need to hash some shit out.» He carefully stood. Then he hobbled into the living room and closed the sliding glass doors behind him.

Lina sat up, but when the world seemed to spin around her, she closed her eyes and grabbed her head. «I don't understand any of this.»

She sensed Jan walk around the lounge. When she dared open her eyes, both men were kneeling before her, longingly staring up at her. Lovingly.

«We're meant to be with you,» Rick said. He rested his warm hand on her knee. «We're yours.»

«My what?»

Jan wryly smiled. «Yours. Your men.»

Just when she thought nothing else could shock her any more than what she'd already experienced and witnessed, they managed to top themselves. She pushed Rick's hand away as a wave of rage washed through her. «You can quit fucking with me anytime,» she spat. Her gaze narrowed in anger. «Fuck with the fat chick's head, yeah, I get it now. I don't know what you assholes slipped into my drink or how you got Zack to go along with this crazy scheme-«

She couldn't continue. Jan grabbed her, his hand roughly cupping the back of her head, his lips grinding against hers.

Lina fought him at first, for a moment. Until his tongue traced and breached the seam of her lips and something inside her broke free. She grabbed him, kissing him back, feeling desire and power coursing through her, disabling her rational thought. There was something sexy about how coolly powerful his lips and tongue felt in contrast to how warm she felt.

Vaguely aware of Rick moving to sit on her other side, she eagerly kissed Jan, with both her arms wrapped around him.

Rick pressed his lips to the back of her neck. «We're going to show you how beautiful we think you are, Pavlina,» he whispered. Something large and firm and very warm rubbed against her hip. She realized it was his rigid cock.

She shivered, breaking her kiss with Jan as she gasped for breath.

Rick turned her to face him and kissed her, hard. Where his brother was cool, he was hot. Her mouth felt cold against his scorching lips and tongue as he explored her, teasing, tasting. Jan's mouth did something delicious to her earlobe, making her moan.

Rick stood and scooped her into his arms as if she weighed nothing. «Where's your bedroom?» he hoarsely asked.

She pointed through the sliding glass doors leading into the dining room. «Last door on the right, at the end of the hall.»

Jan led the way, holding the door open for them. Lina kept her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around Rick's warm neck, her face pressed against his firm shoulder. He smelled vaguely like sandalwood. The men quickly strode down the hall to her room.

She heard the bedroom door shut behind them. Rick gently placed her on the bed.

Lina dared crack her eyes open. Both men stood looking down at her. Both very erect.

Heart pounding, she nervously licked her lips. «What now?» The squeaky voice escaping her lips didn't sound like her. She suspected she had a damn good idea what they wanted to do, but was she ready to do it?

The men climbed into bed with her, one on each side, and laced their fingers through hers.

«What do you want to do?» Jan asked. He tenderly brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. «I know what we want to do.»

«Really?» she gasped, not daring to hope.

Rick laughed. He brought her hand to his mouth and slowly sucked each of her fingers between his lips, his tongue erotically warm against her flesh as he sensuously laved each digit. «Really.»

Rational thought tried to break through and take over. Tried to tell her, Hey, this is a really bad idea.

She shoved it aside. There were already way too many strange, new thoughts floating around in there. For a little while, at least, she would damn well take the path of least resistance.

Giving herself to these men was a wide-open, well-paved trail compared to the alternatives of making sense of what had happened to her over the past few hours.

Jan rested his hand over her navel. «You're beautiful, but there's just one problem.»

Lina frowned, her heart chilling. «Oh, let me guess, this is where you tell me I need to lose weight?»

The brothers looked at each other and laughed. Jan leaned in and kissed her, short-circuiting her anger. «No. I was going to tell you that you need to lose these clothes. They're not letting us see enough of your beautiful body.»

She felt her face flush. She was probably beet red by this point.

Jan's fingers carefully worked on her lowest blouse button until it popped free. He nuzzled the base of her throat as Rick kissed her. «We want to make love to you, baby,» Jan murmured against her flesh.

She closed her eyes and tried not to hyperventilate at the thought of having both of these hunks. «I'm not…you know…real experienced.»

«Even better,» Rick softly said. «You're a virgin?»

«No,» she squeaked. «Close enough, though.»

Jan sat up and lowered his mouth over the small, pale patch of flesh now exposed by her open button. «Mmm. Lucky us.» He traced random circles across her flesh as he released the second button, revealing more tantalizing real estate. «We want you all to ourselves.»

Her fingers slipped through Jan's hair, weaving tightly there as she hoped he didn't stop the delicious things he was doing with his tongue.

«Shit,» Rick muttered. «I didn't bring any rubbers.»

«I'm on the Pill. I get migraines.» She had a horrible thought. «Unless you guys think you need them.»

Jan laughed but didn't lift his head from her belly. Now three buttons had fallen victim to his persistent fingers. «Not because of us, baby. Stuff like that's not a worry for us. If you're on the Pill, that's all we need.»

At his words, reality tried to slip past her brain again. Just met them. Don't know them. But it felt like she'd known them all her life. Lives. Countless lives. Had she?

Getting laid by two hunks versus contemplating if she'd just had a psychotic break and imagined the whole dragon thing? Hmm. No-brainer. She shoved conscious thought back into its cage and locked it. She wanted to go with this, see what happened, and deal with the rest later.

After she'd gotten laid.

A soft moan escaped her as Rick kissed her again, his tongue tasting, teeth nibbling, his mouth hot and moist and damn good. She knew she was drenched between her legs.

Another button acquiesced under Jan's slow, teasing onslaught. Now the bottom of her bra peeked through. «Relax,» he softly encouraged. The feel of his cool breath against her skin sent a pleasant wave of gooseflesh racing over her.

«Easy for you to say!»

She moaned again, this time in disappointment as Rick untangled himself from her and climbed out of bed. A moment later, she heard his voice from the other side of the room. «Hey, Jan. I've got an idea.»

«What?»

«You should see her bathroom. Huge ass tub.»

«Yeah?» He sat up. «Let's get you relaxed, little one.»

That made her open her eyes. «Don't call me that!»

He pulled her into a sitting position. «Why not?» Her heart skipped a beat as his face hardened. «You are beautiful. I can't believe we get to spend the rest of our lives with you.»

«You could have anyone you want.»

«We want you,» Rick called from the bathroom doorway. She heard water running and realized he'd started filling the huge, deep sunken tub. She rarely used it by herself. Even she felt small in it.

Alone.

She'd thought about having it taken out and renovating the bathroom when she bought the house, but Zack had talked her out of it. Sometimes the two of them took long bubble baths in it together when he stayed over, but that's all the use it'd gotten.

Before she could protest, Jan scooped her up and carried her into the bathroom. Sheesh, these guys are strong!

She held on to his neck. When he looked into her eyes, she didn't ever want to look away. This blue-eyed angel wanted her. In the bathroom Rick pressed close, his fingers trailing up her bared skin where her shirt fell open. She shifted her gaze to him. His amber eyes burned into hers.

Jan carefully set her onto her feet. Rick stepped behind her and nuzzled the back of her neck with his lips while Jan opened another button. Two more and her shirt would be totally open. Rick slipped his hands around her waist. She closed her eyes again.

«No,» Jan said. «I want you to look at me.»

Lina forced her eyes open.

«I want you to see what you do to us, Pavlina.»

Okay, so the way he said her name sounded pretty. Both brothers had the slightest trace of an accent, not really noticeable unless you listened for it.

His eyes never wavered from hers as he worked on the next button. Rick's hands gently settled over her navel, pulling her against him.

Her knees weakened.

Last button, and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. Jan's hands pushed the fabric down her shoulders. Then he released the front hook on her bra. She shivered as he gently pulled the fabric apart.

«You're beautiful.»

Her nipples hardened as the air brushed them. Jan bent his head to her right breast and wrapped his lips around her nipple, flicking it with his tongue.

Her soft cry of pleasure brought a chuckle from Rick. «She liked that. Do it again.»

Jan moved to her other breast, his cool, moist mouth sending a ball of heat straight to her core as he teased her. She wrapped her fingers in his hair and threw her head back against Rick's shoulder.

«You like that, baby?» Rick asked.

«Yes!»

«Wait'll I have my turn. We're not turning you loose until we know for sure you completely understand you belong to us, and we belong to you.»

Jan worked his way lower. If it wasn't for Rick's arms around her, she'd collapse. Jan unhooked her belt, then opened her slacks. When he pushed her slacks and panties down, she fully felt the heat from Rick's body wash through her. Then she realized his stiff cock throbbed against her hip.

Jan looked up at her. «You're ours. Do you understand?»

Lina nodded. She was beyond the point of coherent speech and would let them do whatever they wanted to her as long as they didn't stop.

Jan helped her step out of her slacks. Then he pushed her legs apart, exposing her to his gaze. When he slipped his hand between her legs, Lina lost control of her body. Rick held her, obviously not struggling to keep her vertical, not even shifting his weight as he supported her. They were strong!

She gasped as Jan's thick finger parted her folds.

His low, appreciative sigh when he found her wet sent yet another wave of passion through her. Her clit throbbed, but he barely brushed against it as he teased her.

«Our cocks are going to go in…here.» He pushed one finger inside her and slowly pumped.

«Oh!»

His palm pressed against her mound, flatting the short nest of curls between her legs. «I love seeing proof that your hair color is totally natural, babe, but I think we're going to shave you smooth and bare down here. We don't want anything hiding you from us.»

She reached up and behind her and hooked an arm around Rick's neck. Betrayed by her body, she felt her hips rocking against Jan's hand, trying to get traction against her clit.

Rick nipped her earlobe. «I think we're getting through to her.»

«I know we are. She's beautifully wet.» He removed his hand, making her moan. Both men laughed. «Sweetie,» Jan said, «you will get as much of us as you can handle, believe me.»

Rick maneuvered her over to the shower. A moment later, he was leaning against the wall with her securely nestled in his arms, her back against his chest. Jan had rummaged through her cabinets and grabbed a fresh disposable razor from a package under her sink.

He pushed her legs apart again. «Hold very still, sweetheart.»

She couldn't help but watch as he quickly applied shaving gel and made fast work of her curls. When he finished, he carefully ran his fingers along her smooth mound, drawing another moan from her. Then he used the handheld showerhead to rinse her, playfully aiming the water at her clit but not long enough to get her off. She whimpered, trying to wiggle into the spray.

Both men laughed. «Not yet,» Rick teased. He kissed her as he scooped her up again and they moved from the shower to the tub. Jan and Rick switched positions. Rick knelt in front of her in the water and kissed her, his fingers slipping between her legs.

Jan's cock pressed into her lower back as he cradled her against his chest. She wanted one or the other of them inside her, and soon. When Rick pushed two fingers into her, she bucked her hips against him as Jan reached around and gently tweaked her nipples.

«Yes!»

Rick stilled his hand. «No. I want to feel you come with my cock inside you, baby.»

She whimpered.

Her legs rested outside Jan's. When he spread his legs wider, she had no choice but to open herself. Rick withdrew his hand, despite her protests, and caressed her cheek.

«Do you want it, sweetheart?» he softly asked.

She nodded.

«Ask me for it.»

She forced her eyes open again. «Please fuck me!»

A sultry smile lit his face. «Those are the words I've been dying to hear.» He lined up the thick, rounded head of his cock with her passage. Jan leaned back, pulling her with him, lengthening her body and giving Rick even better access.

«Gorgeous!» Rick gasped. He pressed forward, slowly, carefully. Lina gasped as he filled and stretched her, his heated, hard shaft claiming her.

When she rocked her hips, trying to take him in faster, he reached down and grabbed her hips. «No, baby. Take it slow.» He leaned in and kissed her again. Every nerve in her body felt on fire, alive.

His slow progress continued as he fully sheathed himself inside her. With her now-bare mound, she could easily feel his body rubbing her.

She moaned again.

His eyes dropped closed. «Oh, fuck, baby. You're so tight!»

«Don't take all afternoon,» Jan growled. «I'm dying here.»

She shivered, heat and soothing coolness sandwiching her, the contrast driving her closer to release.

«Don't rush me,» Rick hoarsely replied. Without withdrawing, he ground his hips against hers, rubbing her clit with his pubic bone. «How's that feel?»

«Uh-huh!»

Jan laughed. «She likes it.»

«Wrap your arms around me, baby,» Rick ordered.

She did.

He found a motion that drew a sharp gasp of pleasure from her. «You like that?» he asked through clenched teeth.

«Yes!»

He repeated the motion, his body sliding over her clit just enough to push her closer to release. Jan spread his legs wider, opening her further, and that sent her over the edge. She cried out as her climax started, sobbing at the pleasure rolling through her. Her muscles milked Rick's cock, bringing him along with her.

«Fuck, yes, baby!» Rick slammed into her, his fingers clamped on her hips as he pounded his cock into her depths.

She held on while Jan murmured in her ear and then Rick came with a final cry. The liquid heat of his seed pumped into her, claiming her, branding her. He fell still with his forehead touching hers as he tried to catch his breath.

Lina cried. Sobbed. The men held her, softly talking to her, reassuring her. Rick slid his hands down her legs, pulled them around his waist, and took her from Jan. He turned and leaned against the edge of the tub, still inside her, holding her.

Jan pressed against her back and kissed her shoulders. He traced the gentle bumps of her vertebrae with his tongue. «Talk to us, sweetheart. Are you okay?»

She nodded but didn't speak.

After fifteen minutes she quieted, her head still nestled against Rick's shoulder. «Why do you want me?» she whispered.

Jan kissed the back of her neck. «Because we love you. We were fated to meet and love you.»

«So, you have to love me?»

«No,» Rick insisted. «We want to love you.»

Jan stroked her back. His hands slid down her flesh to her hips as he nudged her off his brother and closer to him. She felt a pang of disappointment as the connection was broken with Rick, but Jan's comfortably cool body enveloped her.

He pressed his hand between her shoulders and coaxed her to relax against Rick. Then his hand skimmed down her back, over her rounded bottom, between her legs.

She moaned.

«That's it,» he said. «Enjoy it. You'll get as much as you want, anytime you want it, sweetie.»

Lina wiggled her hips, and both men laughed.

«I think she's finally loosening up a little,» Rick teased.

Jan's cock was as large and thick as his brother's. When he pressed forward, she shivered with pleasure as he impaled her. «You're going to let me feel you come now, aren't you?» he asked her.

She wasn't so sure about that. In fact, the first one had surprised the hell out of her. She'd climaxed with Rick's cock inside her a hell of a lot harder than she ever had with a vibrator. «I want to.»

He bottomed out inside her slick channel and held still. «I hope you want to.» He reached around her, found her clit and started rubbing it. «God, you feel so fucking hot, baby!»

Rick's hands slipped to her breasts, cupping them, his thumbs rubbing her peaked nipples and adding to the sensations raging through her. «I thought she felt wonderfully cool.»

«You would, toaster breath.»

«Guys, you're killing the mood.» She didn't have time to consider the freakiness of the conversation. She was too busy trying to come again.

«Sorry,» the men apologized together.

Jan did a sexy bump and grind against her backside. «Just wait until we get you back in bed and I get to lick that sweet pussy of yours.»

His body might have felt cooler than his brother's, but his deep, hoarse voice sounded hot and ready. His talented fingers plucked her clit, teasing it, quickly pulling her toward another release. She braced herself on Rick's thighs, feeling the short, coarse hair slipping under her palms in the water.

Rick lightly pinched her nipples, rolling them. «Don't be bashful, baby. Let's hear you yell that beautiful head off again.»

Jan curled his body around her as he played with her clit. «I can't wait to feel your mouth on my cock.»

Rick moaned. «Holy Christ, I'm hard again.»

Lina closed her eyes and focused on the sensations assaulting her from every direction. The mixed, musky scent of the two hunks. The feel of Rick's fingers on her nipples. The wonderful, filling sensation of Jan's cock inside her.

Jan rested his chin on her shoulder, his lips by her ear. «Or maybe I'll lick your pussy while you're sucking his cock. Would you like that?»

She whimpered and shifted her hips against him, trying to thrust. The sudden image of being possessed on both ends by these two men made her pleasantly shiver.

«Answer him,» Rick persisted. «Tell us what you'd like.»

«Yes!»

Jan's fingers teased her swollen clit. «Come on, sweetheart. Give it to me. Don't torture me like this.»

His playful tone finished her. All the strength left her body as her climax ripped her apart. She cried out and fell against Rick.

«That's it!» Jan let go of her clit and fucked her with long, deep, powerful strokes. Overwhelmed by the physical and emotional feelings flooding through her, Lina sobbed as Rick held her. She felt Jan's cock throb as he came, the sensation of his juices flooding her, marking her as his brother had.

Theirs.

She closed her eyes as the world went black.

Lina awoke in bed, both men hovering over her.

«Are you okay?» Jan asked. His smooth brow looked furrowed with worry.

She tried to sit up. The men grabbed her arms, steadying her as she wobbled. «Yeah, I'm okay. What happened?»

Rick caressed her cheek. «You fainted on us again, baby. Are you sure you're okay?»

«I thought that was just bullshit.»

The men exchanged a frown. Jan spoke. «I thought we'd convinced you we want you.»

She smiled. «No. About really good sex making a girl pass out.»

Rick rolled his eyes and laughed, long and hard. «She got us.»

Jan leaned in and kissed her. «Not just really good. The best.

Ever.»

She felt her face grow red again, but this time in a good way. «Really?»

«Really. The best.» His eyes traveled her face. «And we get you all to ourselves for the rest of our lives.»

«How long is that?»

Rick grinned. «A long time.» He leaned in and kissed her.

She looked at him, then at Jan. A niggling buzz-kill thought from reality-land tried to intrude. «I can't believe I just jumped into bed with you two.»

«It's the prophecy.»

«What the hell is that? You keep talking about it.» Another thought. «And what the hell is Zack?»

«Let's handle one thing at a time,» Jan said. «We've got a prophecy. Apparently, so does Zack. Part of our prophecy is we find the woman who will join us.»

Her mind reeled. «How many other women have you shared?» Maybe she didn't want to know that.

«None,» Rick assured her. «We meant it when we said you're ours, and we're yours. No one else.»

More phantom memories coursed through her brain, threatening to send her spinning into unconsciousness again. «What did you say to me? Back at the restaurant?»

Jan raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. «The old oath. As soon as you responded to me, we knew you were the one. If you hadn't responded, it would have meant we were wrong about you.»

She studied the two men for a long moment, their earnest eyes, their…sigh…handsome faces.

Their large cocks and talented fingers.

Okay, that was enough reality for a few minutes. «Someone said something about licking me?»

Jan grinned and gently pushed her back to the bed. «I sure did, sweetie.» He dove between her legs and pushed her thighs apart with his palms, then used his thumbs to gently part her lips and expose the swollen pink nub he sought. «This is what I wanted.»

He dipped his head and gently swiped his tongue along her clit.

Lina's eyes rolled back in her head. «Oh, Jesus!» she breathed.

Rick cradled her in his arms. «You like that?» he asked.

«Yeah!»

Rick kissed her forehead. «So, how many guys have you been with before?» he playfully asked.

«One.» She squirmed as Jan's tongue probed her core. «Not counting Zack.»

Jan's mouth suddenly disappeared. Both men sat up. «What?»

Were they glaring?

«What's wrong?» she gasped.

Rick's eyes darkened. «What do you mean, not counting Zack?»

«I mean, we didn't do that.» Her pleasant buzz from their passion slipped away as she sensed the men's sudden tension. «We just messed around a little when we were kids.»

As one, the men leaped off the bed and raced for the bedroom door.

Uh-oh. This couldn't be good.

She scrambled out of bed and snagged her bathrobe from the bedpost as she ran after them. «Wait!»

Zack sat on the couch, his laptop in his lap and headphones on, iPod no doubt cranked loud. He looked up with a smile, then a frown, as the two naked Alexandr brothers stalked across the living room toward him.

He pulled the headphones off. «What's wrong?»

Rick jabbed a finger at him. «What the fuck did you do to her?»

«What?»

«If you're her Watcher, you're supposed to protect her!»

«Have you two lost your freaking minds?»

Lina, still trying to belt her robe, pushed between the two brothers and turned to face them. «I already told you, we didn't…we never had intercourse, okay? We were teenagers. We fooled around a little.»

Zack cautiously eyed the two men. «Ah. I see. A little jealous, boys?»

Jan glared at him. «Answer us!»

«She just did,» Zack said. «You've got no room to take a 'tude with me, asshole. She's my girl, and she'll always be my girl. I'm sharing her with you, not the other way around.»

Lina turned, shocked. «What? You're gay!»

«Yeah, well, sort of.» He moved his laptop and pulled her down to the couch. «You don't get rid of me just because Frick and Frack here have staked a claim to you.»

He smiled, but it looked sad. «I still love you. I'm always going to love you. I just don't get a happy-ever-after this time with you like they will.»

Zack glared at the brothers. «Deal with it. I've loved her for countless centuries. You don't know shit about her. You're going to make me your new best goddamned friend when I'm the only one with the ability to talk her off the ledge as her powers kick in this time around.»

Zack's words and angry tone shocked Lina into silence. He stroked her cheek. «The truth is, I'm not exactly gay. The reason I could promise you we'd get married when we turned thirty-five is that the prophecy says you'd find these guys before then, if at all. We've always gotten married.»

«You're talking reincarnation?»

«You're starting to catch on, kiddo.»

If she searched the new batch of memories in her mind, she could see it, her past lives with him.

Happy lives.

«What about your mom?»

«What about her? We're an old line. Older than these guys. If the prophecy isn't fulfilled in one life, we keep doing it all over again until it happens. Looks like it's happened.»

She frowned. «You let me sleep with Bill Chattham back in college. You encouraged me to go out with him!»

Zack smirked. «Yeah, well, it didn't seem fair to deny you that. I knew it wouldn't last with him, thought at least maybe it'd make me look better in the long run.»

She shoved him, hard. «You played me?»

He caught her hands. «No! Never. It was fucking murder waiting for you to call me that night so I knew you were okay, fighting the urge to kill the bastard. Listening to you talk about him.»

Jan looked like he relaxed a little. «He's bi.»

«Give that man a prize. Yes. The Watcher doesn't… Let's not dick around. The Watcher can't fuck the Goddess until she's thirty-five, dig? After that, it's obvious the prophecy's not happening in that lifetime, and he claims her. My lucky streak finally ran out.»

Deep sadness filled her heart as more old memories bubbled to the surface. They'd had…

«Children,» she whispered, tears slipping down her face.

Zack smiled and gently brushed her cheeks dry with his thumbs. «Yeah, sugar. Nearly every time. But the Watcher can only have eyes for his Goddess, so I guess I'll need to take up a hobby now.»

«You've been out before. With guys.»

«You went out with Bill Chattham. Did it mean anything to you?»

She shook her head.

«Same here, sugar. Not when it wasn't with the one I loved.»

She sobbed and fell into his arms. He held her, trying to soothe her.

Rick angrily stepped forward to pull her away from Zack, but Jan grabbed his arm and shook his head. He forcibly spun Rick around and pushed him down the hall toward the bedroom. Jan softly closed the bedroom door behind them.

Rick turned on him. «Why are we letting her cry on his shoulder?» he growled. «Why are we even letting him touch her?»

Jan sat on the bed. «How would you feel if the woman you've loved literally forever walked off into the arms of two other guys who she just met, and you knew you'd be spending the rest of your life watching her love them and not you? If you were the one who handed her over? Personally, I think he's taking this rather well. I can't say I'd be as magnanimous as he's being. He's right. He's sharing her with us, not the other way around.»

Rick closed his eyes. «Shit.» He sat next to Jan.

«Yeah. I think the least we can do is give him some time alone with her.»

«Yeah.» Rick was quiet for several minutes. «I never really believed the reincarnation stuff before. He said we lived before, but we don't remember our past lives. Why do they?»

Jan shrugged. «I don't know. He said she didn't before all of this. Maybe we should ask him at a more appropriate time. Like when we're not standing there naked and trying to boink the woman he loves.»

«Yeah. True.»

CHAPTER 5

Thirty minutes later, the men quietly exited the bedroom. They couldn't see the couch from the hallway. Walking out the back door, they made their way onto the lanai and dressed.

They didn't want to intrude.

They waited another twenty minutes. When they walked into the kitchen, Zack softly called to them. From the kitchen doorway they saw Lina cradled in his lap.

Neither man said anything about Zack's red, puffy eyes. «She's asleep,» he whispered. «I think we've hit critical meltdown for a little while.»

Rick stepped forward. «We're sorry-«

«I don't need your pity and bullshit apologies, dude,» Zack said, cutting him off. «I knew the gig when I signed on.» He stared down into her sleeping face. «I just hoped we'd have some more time.» He sighed. «All these years. You know what's funny? Some things don't change. She's always terrified of spiders. She hates getting up early in the morning.» He stroked her cheek. «She's always beautiful.»

The men retook their seats. «Thank you,» Jan said.

«For what?»

«For taking care of her.»

Zack's eyes never left her face. «She always dies first. I've never lived more than a day or so, if I'm lucky. Our last life, I was lying there in bed with her after she passed and just praying for it to happen quick. I heard one of our sons say I was dying of a broken heart. He was sort of right. She had cervical cancer. She was only fifty-eight. I felt myself dying with her the whole six months from when we received the diagnosis until she went.»

«You never died first?» Rick asked.

«No. I'm tied to the Goddess.» He sighed again. «Maybe this time Fate will be kind and take me first.»

The men quietly sat for a few minutes. Jan had a thought. «What happens if you die first?»

«I already said-«

«Listen to me. If you die, will she die?»

He shrugged. «I don't know. I never thought about it before.»

«Do we really need to think about this today?» Rick asked.

«No,» Jan said. «I guess not.» He was quiet for a moment. «Does she have any other family?»

Zack sadly shook his head. «Nope. Just me.» He stroked her hair. «Her mom and dad were killed in a car wreck our freshman year of college. Hit-and-run accident one night. They never caught the other driver.»

She was still asleep nearly an hour later. «Instead of us staring at each other,» Zack softly snarked, «why don't you two run to the store and pick up something for dinner? There's a Publix just down the road. She's got a gas grill. Get some steaks. She likes hers rare. Get salad fixings, make sure to get Portobello mushrooms, grape tomatoes, and carrots.»

He glanced at her sleeping face. «She loves those on a salad. And pick her up a six-pack of Bud Light Lime. She's going to need something to take the edge off. If we give her wine tonight on top of everything else, it'll knock her out.»

The brothers quietly filed out.

The phone rang a little after they'd left. Carefully stretching, Zack was able to reach it. It was Edgar.

«I'm getting ready to leave the office. Does Lina need me to bring her anything, files or something? And uh, how was lunch?»

«Oh, it was fine.» Zack laced his fingers through Lina's and fought the urge to lean over and steal a kiss. She wasn't his anymore. Not like that. Never again.

Edgar sounded more strained than usual. «Is Lina there?»

«She's taking a nap. Had a little too much to eat. Full-tummy coma. You know how she gets.»

«Oh.»

«When are you leaving?» Zack asked.

«What?»

«Key West. You and Bella are going to Key West, aren't you?»

«Oh, yeah. In a bit.»

«Well, I'll tell her you called. Do you need her to call you back?»

«No. Tell her I'll see her Monday.» Edgar hung up and looked down the deserted road. From the shady place he'd parked, he could see her driveway, had watched the Alexandr brothers drive off a few minutes earlier.

Had followed them back to her house from the Columbia hours before and waited.

How to handle this? He didn't want to risk fucking things up. Perhaps he should wait until they were together again. Better to do that than move too soon. His entire life was spent getting to this point. It would be foolish not to prepare.

He smiled as he started his car and drove off.

Lina awoke a little after Zack hung up with Edgar. She felt disoriented and tried to sit up, but Zack kept his palm on her tummy. «Stay there, sweetie. You don't need to get up yet.»

«Where are they?» Part of her was afraid what his answer would be, that it had all been a dream.

«Publix. They'll be back shortly.»

Her eyes widened, then filled with tears as she laughed until she cried.

Zack smiled and brushed the hair back from her face. «You're feeling a little whacked-out right now, aren't you?»

She sniffled. «Yeah.» Whacked-out didn't begin to describe it. Surreal with a pinch of psychotic, perhaps that came close. Apparently her mind had processed some of the afternoon's experiences while she was unconscious.

«They are coming back, sweetie. I promise.»

«I love you,» she whispered.

He smiled. «I know, babe. I love you, too. I always will.»

«It doesn't seem fair.»

He shrugged. «Life's not fair. Destiny sucks. That's the breaks. Don't feel guilty because you've got two hunks panting after you.»

«Three.»

He arched an eyebrow at her. «Really? You think I'm hunky?»

«I always have.»

«I'm flattered.» He kissed her hand. «You know I'm always going to be here for you, right? You don't get rid of me that easy.» He glanced at the time. «Go get some clothes on. They'll be back soon. We can talk over dinner.»

She grabbed a quick shower and had changed into shorts and a T-shirt by the time the men returned. She was standing in the kitchen and offered up a nervous smile when they walked in, loaded with groceries. The men immediately put down the bags and surrounded her.

«Are you all right?» Jan asked as he hugged her from behind.

«Yeah. I'm okay. I guess I needed a nap. A little too much to process at once.»

Rick pressed in close and kissed her. «It's okay. We understand.»

«It's just that this doesn't seem real.»

«No arguments there,» Jan said. «We can't believe how lucky we are.»

Dinner was good. Lina eventually loosened up with a beer in her. Jan and Rick grilled the steaks while she prepared the side dishes. Her earlier encounter with the brothers almost seemed like a dream.

Zack hobbled into the kitchen on his crutches and rested his chin on her shoulder. «They are cute.»

She stared out the kitchen window to the lanai, where Jan and Rick were tending the steaks. «Yeah.» She didn't know what else to say. «When does this weird whacked-out dream come to an end?» she finally asked.

«It's just starting, sweetie.» He poured a glass of water and washed down a couple of Tylenol.

«If you're…whatever you are, how come you got hurt?»

«I'm still mostly human. I have a feeling with the three of you getting your freak on, though, things will be changing.»

«What are you supposed to do now that I'm with them?»

«I'm still your Watcher. Shit's going to happen. You'll start taking on a lot of their powers, coming into your own powers. My job is to protect you and help you not wipe out the world in the process.»

She shivered. «You really think I'd be dangerous?» she nervously asked.

«Babe, seriously? I've seen you PMSing. They could have sent you over to Iraq, taken away your Starbucks and chocolate, and the war would have been over in a week. I sooo don't want to be on your bad side once you're juiced up on dragon juju.»

After dinner they gathered in the living room. Jan and Rick nervously exchanged a glance. As always, Zack's snark came to the rescue. «I'm assuming you boys are spending the night?»

«If it's okay with Lina,» Jan said.

Lina had settled at Zack's side on the couch. «Tell me about the prophecies.»

Zack spoke. «Well, these two were predicted to meet you. They're opposing Elementals, primarily. You unite their powers, balance them, make them even more powerful. Which is a good thing because there's really bad shit coming down the pipe.»

«What?»

Zack shrugged. «Don't know. That's the problem.» He looked at Jan. «I'm assuming you guys don't know either?»

Jan shook his head. «No. Our prophecy said two hundred and twenty years. We're six years over that already.»

«No shit? I would have said you weren't a day over one-eighty.»

«Zack, please!» Lina said.

«Sorry babe.» He squeezed her hand and prompted her to stand. It was already seven-thirty. «I suggest you three go to bed and have some fun.»

«What about you?»

He laughed. «What about me? I'm going to sit here and watch House reruns, work on my next blog post, and chill out before I hit the hay.»

She didn't respond. Normally he would sleep in her bed with her. She'd never bought a guest bed. Never had reason for one because…

Zack always slept with her, or she slept with him.

He forced a smile he knew wasn't fooling her. «I'm okay, sweetie. I've got pillows and a blanket. I'll be fine out here tonight.» He stroked her cheek. «This is how it's supposed to be,» he reassured her. «Come give me my sugar, then go. I'll see you in the morning.»

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. She fought the sad pang in her heart as she caressed his face and he gently nuzzled her hand before shooing her out of the living room.

With her initial meltdown out of the way, Lina wanted to start sorting things out. She sat, dressed, in the middle of her bed and stared at the brothers.

«Can we back up a few steps?» she asked.

The men nodded and sat on the end of the bed, facing her.

«Tell me about the prophecy.»

Rick and Jan exchanged a glance. Jan recited the prophecy for her.

«What does it mean?»

The men shrugged. «We don't know,» Rick said. «To be honest, a week ago we thought it was total bullshit.»

«Obviously Zack never thought it was bullshit,» she quietly said.

Both men reddened. «Yeah,» Jan softly agreed. «Obviously.»

Part of her felt guilty that the man she'd spent her life-lives– loving was sitting out in the living room while she was in here with two men who'd somehow completely stolen her heart in a matter of hours.

Part of her wanted to finish what they'd started earlier.

And part of her wished she'd never gone into work that morning. Not if it meant hurting Zack.

«Do I start doing that now?»

«What?» Rick asked.

«Shifting.»

«We don't know,» Jan said. «We don't know what your latent powers are, how they will be mixed with ours, any of that.»

«Do I have to quit my job?»

The men frowned. «No. Why would you have to?» Rick asked.

«I didn't know if you'd suddenly tell me I had to stay home or something.» She set her jaw. «And I'm telling you right now, I won't quit being friends with Zack.»

«I doubt he'd let you anyway,» Jan said.

«You two can't go getting all territorial over him either.»

Rick reddened again. «We won't. We're sorry about earlier.»

She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling. «What do we do now?»

«Do you mean literally or figuratively?» Rick teased.

«Where do we go from here?»

The men stretched out next to her and held her hands. «Wherever you want,» Jan assured her. «You tell us. You can move in with us, we can move in with you, we could build you the house of your dreams, whatever you want. Anything you want.»

«Can we finish what we started earlier?» It was either that or think. She didn't want to think. Thinking hurt, because it meant thinking about Zack and how he had to be hurting.

Rick grinned. «We thought you'd never ask.»

Jan slid her shorts and panties down her hips while Rick parted her from her T-shirt. Jan settled between her legs again. «Okay, I think I was about…here,» he said, then circled her clit with his tongue.

«Mmm hmm!»

Rick kissed her while Jan slowly flicked her nub back into its former swollen state. She wiggled her hips, encouraging Jan to go further. He teased her with two fingers. «Like that?»

«Yes!»

Slick muscles grabbed at him as he stroked his fingers inside her. «You're so wet, baby.»

Rick's moist, hot mouth closed over one breast. He gently bit at her nipple, drawing more hungry cries from her. It was easy for Lina to shove conscious thought aside when these two men melted her body like this. Before long, she was rocking her hips against Jan's hand and mouth.

He spread her legs wider and lifted his head to look up her body. Positively gorgeous, with her eyes closed, head thrown back, lower lip clamped under her teeth, her body flushed with passion. When he withdrew his hand, a disappointed moan escaped her lips.

Jan licked her sweet taste off his fingers. «Don't worry, it's not over yet.» He settled over her mound again, his hands wrapped around her thighs, his tongue buried deep in her sex. He was dying to fuck her again, but for now he wanted to let her lie back and enjoy the pleasure without having to lift a finger.

Rick released her breast with a wet pop. «We're going to make you come hard, sweetheart.» He latched on to her other nipple and gave it a similar treatment.

Lina whimpered and fisted her hand in Rick's hair. She felt her climax approaching and shivered between the contrasting heat and coolness of the brothers' bodies pressed against hers, even through their clothes. A ball of hot electricity shot from her clit all the way up her spine, engulfing her body. Her back arched as Jan held on and continued laving and sucking her clit, refusing to let go.

Rick's mouth over hers muffled her cries. She devoured him, her tongue dueling with his as Jan relentlessly kept her climaxing.

On the TV, Dr. House was insulting one of the doctors on his team at a fairly loud volume. Zack couldn't hear it, however, because of Aerosmith blasting in his ears at a deafness-inducing level. He focused on his laptop, trying to work on his next blog entry.

Trying being the operative word.

Fortunately he'd been able to keep working from home, his web design and consulting business able to operate without him in the office. In another few days he could go home.

A blessing and a curse.

Home alone, to a bed he knew he'd no longer share with her. While she could curl up here with the brothers in a bed he'd never share with her again either.

He tried to ignore the painful blossom in his heart. Jan's earlier question, what would happen if he died first, was one he tried not to revisit. He didn't know. If he thought he could off himself and she'd safely go on, he'd do it in a heartbeat. Very tempting, beyond belief.

Except he knew it would hurt her to lose him.

He closed his eyes against the prickle of tears. He shouldn't complain. All those years and lives they had together, he'd never forget them. He always knew this day would come.

Forcing his eyes back to the laptop, he reread the same three paragraphs he'd been focused on for the past thirty minutes. Nothing had changed there. At first he didn't look up when he felt the brush of air against his cheek. Then he realized it was warm, not cool. Like the front door had been opened.

He looked up into the barrel of the gun in Edgar's hand.

Edgar grinned, that sight more than the gun chilling Zack's soul.

Edgar placed a finger to his lips. Zack slowly, carefully reached up and slid his headphones off. «Hi, Ed. What's up?»

«Where is she? Has she mated with them yet?»

Zack's brain whirled. Well, no wonder they'd hated each other all these years. «What's going on?»

«Don't be stupid, Watcher, and I'll let you live. You and I both know you've got no loyalty to the Elementals. It's her you need.»

Zack held still. «What are you talking about?»

Edgar pressed the muzzle of the gun against Zack's forehead. «I have to take them out after she's mated with them but before her own powers take over. Their powers will pass to her. Then I can claim her and absorb their powers from her. And then you can have her. I won't kill her, I promise. All I want is the Elementals' powers. After I mate with her and take their powers, I'm done with her.»

This was new information. For the most fleeting of seconds, Zack was tempted to let Edgar go in there and blow the brothers away. Except that he knew it would rip Lina apart emotionally. She loved them. She was fated to love them, not him.

And there was no fucking way he'd let this slimeball's dick anywhere near his Goddess.

He had to buy time. «That's a tempting offer.» Zack breathed a slight sigh as the pressure of the muzzle against his flesh relented. «Talk to me, Ed. Tell me more. I'm listening.»

Edgar grinned again, apparently falling for it. «I've been tracking the two of you for centuries. I had a feeling this life would be it. That's why I moved in and stayed close this time around. I wanted to make sure I was there.»

A horrible thought struck Zack. «You killed her parents, didn't you?»

He shrugged. «I had to. Nothing personal. Needed to make sure she was glued to your side, didn't I? Makes her easier to find.»

Zack hoped he hid his ever-growing anger from Edgar. It had nearly killed her losing them both. Lina had sunk into a deep depression for weeks, nearly dropped out of school. Zack had moved her in with him to take care of her while she'd recovered.

«Look,» Edgar continued, wrongly assuming Zack was on board with his plan, «you can have her. I just need the one time with her to get the powers. Then she's all yours.»

«You won't hurt her?»

«Of course not!» Edgar looked shocked that Zack could even think such a thing. «I really like her, seriously. I see why you're in love with her. She's a little chunky for my tastes, but I can close my eyes and think of Hooters to get the job done.»

Zack swallowed his rage. «What are you? Why are you doing this?»

«It's nothing personal, buddy. It's an old family grudge, you might say. Goddamn Baba Yaga and her fucking meddling anyway. The dragon Elementals were given the powers taken away from my family line when one of my ancestors pissed her off.»

«You're a dragon shifter?» How had that escaped his notice?

«Fuck no. I'm a cockatrice.»

«Killer halitosis, huh?» He held his breath.

Edgar grinned. «Yeah, I wish. That's a myth.»

Okay, this was definitely left field. «I thought you guys didn't exist.»

Edgar snorted, then lowered his voice. «Yeah, neither do dragons or Goddesses or Watchers or reincarnation. Or shape-shifters or…shall I continue?»

«Right. Gotcha.» He studied Edgar, trying to buy time. «How can I be sure you won't hurt her?»

«She has to stay alive or I'd lose my powers. State of Florida doesn't recognize supernatural power matings as legitimate weddings, buddy. She's all yours. Live long and prosper.»

Zack had no way of warning the three of them. With the TV volume turned up loud, they would no doubt be too distracted to hear anything. And he wasn't exactly in a position to fight.

«Don't kill them in front of her. It'll kill her. Literally.»

Edgar frowned. «Really? No shit?»

«Would I lie about something like that?» Fuck yes, I would. Maybe it would buy him an extra few minutes and give the boys a chance to escape.

Edgar finally lowered the gun. «No, you wouldn't. Your entire mission is to protect the Goddess. Damn it. That changes things.» He turned, pacing. Zack quickly moved his laptop and iPod to the coffee table, freeing himself. «Any ideas?» Edgar asked.

«Yeah. I'll pretend like I've fallen. You can go hustle the boys outside.» Maybe they could shift and take Edgar if they had some fighting room. «You can't do it in the house, seriously. She can't be close enough to hear them die.»

«You're right. I didn't think about that. Good plan.»

What a fucking moron. Zack stood and hobbled across the living room while Edgar ducked into the kitchen. They couldn't see the couch from the bedroom doorway. Zack needed a line of sight. Hopefully the brothers could pick up his thoughts.

He carefully sat on the floor, then picked up his crutches and dropped them on the tile. «Motherfucking son of a bitch!»

Lina sat up, startled. «What was that?»

Rick groaned. He'd been ready to shuck his pants again and fuck her. She pushed him off her and grabbed her robe before racing out the bedroom door. Zack lay on the living room floor. «Oh, Zack! Are you okay?»

«Not really.»

Zack looked up and saw the brothers, still dressed, crowded in the bedroom doorway. He mentally screamed at them. «Run, right now! Out the back door!»

Jan frowned, but Rick looked clueless. Zack tried again.

«Edgar's here, and he's whacked out, and he has a gun. He wants to kill the two of you. Run! Out the back door, now! Go shift! I don't have time to explain, but he's one of us!»

Jan's eyes widened as he clearly heard Zack that time. He grabbed Rick's arm and pulled him toward the back door.

Lina was trying to help him sit up, fussing over him. He sensed Edgar had been too stupid to go outside, and was instead circling around from behind them to sneak down the hallway. Zack knew what would probably happen, but he leaned in close when he hooked his arm around Lina's neck.

«Babe,» he whispered. «Go, right now, and lock yourself in the guest bath.» He pressed his cell into her hand. «No matter what you hear, do not come out until me or one of the brothers comes for you. If Edgar knocks, call 911. Never forget how much I love you.»

He pressed a kiss to her cheek.

«What?»

«Edgar's got a gun, and he's gone off the deep end. I don't have time to explain. Go!» He shoved her toward the other side of the living room.

She ran.

Edgar started for the hallway. Zack rolled over, grabbed one of his crutches, and swung it at Edgar's legs. Edgar turned and fired.

CHAPTER 6

Jan heard the shot but didn't have time to contemplate it. All he knew was he could still feel Lina in his soul, so she was okay. They ran toward the lake in the deepening gloom. Jan ripped his clothes off, already engaging the shift into his largest form.

«What the fuck's going on?» Rick asked, also quickly stripping.

«No time,» Jan silently replied. «But I think Lina just lost her Watcher.»

«Fuck!» Rick started shifting. By the time Edgar raced out the back door, he was facing two twelve-foot-tall winged dragons.

Edgar pulled up short. «Shit! I should have known that was too fucking easy.» He fired, but Jan deflected the bullet with an ice ball made of water he'd drawn from the lake. He could hold Edgar off all night from this vantage. Or at least until Edgar ran out of ammo.

Rick howled with rage and unleashed a blast of fire. Edgar dropped the gun and threw up his arm. Jan expected to see charbroiled Edgar, but instead an eight-foot cockatrice stood there, shaking off the sooty remains of his clothes.

«You shouldn't have done that, buddy,» Edgar squawked. He launched himself at Rick, but Jan threw another barrage of ice balls at him.

Lina screamed when she heard the shot. Then there was nothing but the sound of the TV. Despite what Zack told her, she cracked the bathroom door open. She heard sounds of a fight outside in the backyard.

Zack lay on the tile floor, in a puddle of blood.

«No!» She ran across the room and knelt beside him, cradled his head in her lap. He opened his eyes and smiled at her, put his hand over hers when she tried to dial 911.

«No, babe,» he croaked. «Won't do no good anyway. He gut-shot me. I can't feel my legs.»

Lina sobbed. «Zack, shut up. We'll get an ambulance.»

«No.» He wouldn't let go of her hand. «Just sit here with me. Tell me you love me. And then you can let me go.»

«Don't be stupid. You're going to be fine.»

«No, I won't. Time to let me go first.» He coughed, then groaned.

«I love you, Zack. I love you so much.»

He kissed her hand. «I love you, too.»

«I won't let you go. You can't leave me. I love you.»

«The boys will hopefully kick Edgar's ass. He told me when he snuck in that his plan was to kill them, fuck you to claim their powers, then give you to me. Apparently I had a damn good reason to hate him all these years.»

«You're not dying on me!»

Zack ignored her protests, wanting her to know the full story. «I stalled him when he came in and pulled the gun on me. I had to come up with a way to get the boys outside and get Edgar away from you. Give them a running head start.»

More crashes and angry bellows from outside. It looked like a tree had caught fire.

«Lina, babe, listen to me.» His voice sounded weak. «It's okay.

It's time. I guess this was the prophecy after all, waiting for Edgar to try to get his revenge. On the off chance he wins the fight, don't let him fuck you. You'll get the boys' powers if they die, and if Edgar fucks you before you get strong, he'll claim your powers. Apparently he's thought this out pretty well over the years.»

«You're not dying!» she screamed.

He closed his eyes. «Give me some sugar, sweetie. Then you need to run and go hide until the dust clears. Promise?» He tugged on her hand. She leaned over and kissed him on the mouth, lovingly, tracing his lips with her tongue.

He smiled as she sat up. «That's what I'm talking about. Love you, babe. Now go.» He released her hand after giving it a final squeeze.

She carefully got up and gently lowered his head to the floor. «I love you too, Zack. Always.» Rage blossomed inside her. Revenge. She would have her revenge.

She ran for the back door.

Even though the cockatrice was smaller than the two of them, it worked to his advantage. Edgar twisted and turned, dodging the dragons' attacks, slinging rocks and trees at them and trying to get the upper hand.

Finally, enraged, Edgar headed for the house again. He sensed the dragons wouldn't dare unleash around their precious Goddess. It would cause them to be cautious, give him the advantage.

He tore through the pool cage screen and pulled up short when Lina ran out the back door. She looked…

Pissed.

Really pissed.

He started to shift back to grab her when she snagged the aluminum pool brush from its holder. With an enraged howl, Lina lunged at him, handle first.

When the handle pierced through his abdomen, he'd already half shifted. Unable to complete a shift in either direction, he screamed as he grabbed the handle and tried to wrench it from her grip.

Using her momentum, she forced him into the pool. From somewhere deep inside her, rage and supernatural power coursed through her veins like liquid electricity. She followed him into the pool, jamming the pool brush through the concrete at the bottom.

Edgar thrashed, fought. Lina held her breath and maintained her grip on the pool brush, beyond thought and reason. She registered the splash in the water next to her and watched Jan swim over to her. He laid his hands over hers, then forced her to let go of the brush while he maintained his grip. Edgar's keening wails sounded loud even underwater.

Gasping for air, Lina broke the surface. She was going to duck back under when Rick grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the pool. She fought him, snarling until he kissed her. Whatever rage she'd been caught in snapped. She collapsed into his arms.

«Zack!» she gasped.

Rick helped her back into the house. She dropped to her knees next to Zack, checking for a pulse.

Nothing.

«No!»

On the lanai, Jan climbed out of the pool, then quickly turned and muttered a low incantation. After a moment, the pool turned into a huge block of ice. He shook the water off his body and raced inside to join them.

«How is he?»

Rick shook his head.

Lina screamed, over and over, sobbing for Zack. Rick closed his eyes, but Jan had other ideas. «You carry him. I'll take her.» He pulled Lina into his arms despite her thrashing against him as she tried to stay with Zack.

«What?»

«Think about the prophecy. We're not done yet, brother.»

Rick's eyes widened, but he grabbed Zack, grunting a little under the man's bulk.

The brothers raced outside. Rick clutched Zack with one arm, Jan held Lina with one, and the two shifters joined hands.

«You think she's still pissed off at me for setting fire to her fence that time?» Rick snarked.

«Yeah,» Jan said. «Let's hope she doesn't hold it against Zack.»

The men shifted.

Lina was vaguely aware of the world melting around them. Her stomach lurched. The smell of burning cypress trees was replaced by cool, deep pine forest. She opened her eyes and found they were standing in a forest clearing outside a cottage. Here it wasn't almost night, it was mid-afternoon. The brothers returned to human form.

An old crone standing in the front yard, inside the picket fence, walked to the gate to greet them. «Wondered how long it'd take you to get here. Where's the Dark One?» The crone's black eyes looked cold, calculating. She spoke with some sort of old, rolling accent. After a moment, Lina realized the crone wasn't even speaking English, but somehow, she could understand her words.

«He's frozen in her pool,» Jan said. «Not sure how you want to deal with him.»

«I shall handle it.» The crone studied all of them.

Lina felt herself slipping toward emotional shock as she stared at her friend's body still cradled in Rick's arms. Zack. How would she ever live without Zack? She shivered in her wet bathrobe as a breeze blew through the clearing.

«Do you two love her?» the crone asked.

The brothers nodded.

«Enough to let her go?»

The men hesitated, but looked at each other, then Lina.

Rick spoke. «Whatever will make her happy. We're willing to sacrifice our own lives if necessary, Baba.»

The crone looked at Jan. He nodded. «Yeah. Whatever it takes. We'll trade ourselves for his life.»

Lina broke her silence. «What are you talking about?»

«Your men are willing to release all claims to you to make you happy. To give you back your Watcher. To trade their lives for your Watcher. What are you willing to relinquish?»

«What?» Maybe the events of the past few minutes had finished frying her brain. «What are you talking about?»

«I can save your Watcher. What are you willing to sacrifice in return?»

Hope bloomed. «Save him?»

«Think fast, child. Time draws short.»

«Anything.»

«Your life? You'd stay behind here, with me?»

Lina nodded. «Save him! Please!»

«You would give up all, including these two men, and this other man you love, all of them, for eternity?»

Lina cried but nodded as she stroked Zack's forehead. «Please. Just let them go on and be happy. Please.»

«Do you know who I am, child?»

Lina shook her head.

«I'm Baba Yaga. But of course that means little to you right now. I am known as a cruel taskmaster. Fickle, evil, harsh. You sure you care to sign away your future to a bitch like me?»

«Can I say good-bye to him? To them?»

«Of course.»

Lina kissed Zack one more time, then Rick and Jan. «Okay,» she whispered.

Baba Yaga stepped through the gate. «Put him down,» she ordered Rick. Now Lina realized it wasn't a picket fence, but one made of bleached bones periodically topped by skulls. Supernatural flames danced and flickered inside the skulls.

Rick gently laid Zack on the ground. The crone straddled Zack's body and closed her eyes, muttered low under her breath. Then Zack jerked, his eyes popping open. He gasped for breath.

Lina cried out and started forward when hands grabbed her arms. Two robed, hooded men-she assumed they were men-had appeared and held her back, led her through the gate inside the fence.

After a moment, Baba Yaga climbed to her feet. Zack lay there, staring up at them.

«What happened? Am I dead? That fucking asshole shot me. He's a cockatrice.»

Lina sobbed with relief, falling to her knees. The robed men stood nearby but let her go. «Thank you!» Lina cried. «You saved him. Thank you!»

Jan and Rick helped him stand. «No, you're not dead,» Jan softly said.

Zack looked around, confused. «Are we where I think we are?»

«Yeah,» Rick said.

Zack looked at the crone. «That would make you…»

Baba Yaga nodded. «Yes. Been a long time since last we met, Zachary.»

Zack closed his eyes and swore. He looked at Lina, his tears falling. «Sweetie, no. I can't let you do this.»

«It is done,» Baba Yaga said. «It was her wish.»

«She didn't understand!»

«Yes, I did understand. I'd rather the three of you live and be happy than me be alive with you dead. I can't live without you, Zack.»

Baba Yaga smiled. «Such powerful, true, pure love for you. She truly is the Goddess. I knew you'd be a good Watcher for her. I've enjoyed observing you take care of her all these ages.»

«Please!» Zack begged. «Let me take her place. I'll stay, fulfill her debt.»

«Hmm.» Baba Yaga shifted from crone to a beautiful middle-aged woman. But her eyes still looked hard and cold. «Tempting.» She circled Zack, touched a finger to his cast. It split with a ripping sound and fell away. «You no longer need that either, Watcher.»

She completed her circle of him. «You would be nice in my bed every night.» She grinned. «Although I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy it.»

Zack smirked. «And you'd make sure of that, I bet.»

«Of course.»

Baba Yaga considered them for a long moment, then walked through the gate. She turned to Lina and transformed back into the crone. «All right. I tell you what I'll do. This prophecy is nearly complete. There are others for these two to fulfill. They must go on. However, your Watcher, he would be a fair trade.»

She pointed at the cottage. «You walk through that door, and I guarantee these three men will go on to find happiness. True happiness for their lives. But if you walk through that door, it means you walk into whatever cruel torture I can possibly think of for you to endure forever. And believe me, it will be a very cruel torture. The cruelest.»

Lina nodded.

«No!» Zack begged. «Please, let me take her place!»

Baba Yaga held up her hand. «Or. This one is willing. Such a good Watcher he is, such love. I knew when I placed him with you that he would fulfill his prophecy. Twice now he willingly volunteers to sacrifice himself for his Goddess. I will let him stay here, but I won't torture him like I will you if you stay. I can promise you he won't object to what I have in mind, although he will miss you. And you can go be with your men. Those two will be happy.»

Lina stared at the stone cottage. It looked dark and primitive. Foul-smelling smoke drifted from the chimney.

Lina turned to face the three men. Baba Yaga stepped closer. «Choose quickly,» she dangerously muttered. «My patience wanes.»

Lina took a deep breath. «If I stay with you, you guarantee, you swear they will be happy? All three of them?»

«Absolutely, child.»

As Zack loudly protested behind her, Lina quickly strode to the door, opened it, and walked through.

Baba Yaga turned to the men. «Choice chosen. Good-bye.»

Jan could barely choke out the words through his crushing grief. «What do we do now?»

«For starters, I suggest you find your clothes. You men are yummy, but you draw attention to yourselves. I shall take care of the Dark One. Now go. Scram.»

She disappeared in a fog of foul grey smog.

The three men looked at each other and cried.

Lina drew in a sharp breath as the door closed behind her. She was standing in her living room, as it had been not…shit…minutes ago? Hours? Only there was no puddle of Zack's blood on the floor, her pool cage was intact, her backyard wasn't on fire, and her pool didn't look like a hockey rink with Edgar impaled and frozen like a bug in an ice cube at the bottom.

Lina was still dressed in her bathrobe, but it was now dry again.

Her heart shattered. Cruel. She'd been warned. This was devious cruelty of the harshest measure. To torment her with what she could no longer have.

Lina sank to her knees in the foyer and sobbed. Even Zack's laptop sat on the coffee table. Dr. House announced another improbable, last-minute, out-of-his-ass diagnosis on the TV.

Baba Yaga appeared, this time as the middle-aged woman and dressed in a chic designer pantsuit. «Why are you on your knees?» She leaned against the wall.

Lina shook her head and wiped her eyes, carefully stood. «You're good. Real good. I thought I could handle anything. Forced labor, torture, pain, Herculean tasks. I was actually looking forward to that.

It would have kept my mind off the boys. I didn't imagine you'd sink this low.»

«I warned you I am cruel.»

The sliders to the lanai opened. The three men walked in. Jan and Rick had already pulled on their pants and carried their shirts. Lina's heart jumped, soared, and she raced over to them.

Then she realized they couldn't see or hear her.

«No, child, they can't see you.» Baba Yaga grinned. «Cruel? Yes. Very.»

Jan and Rick were buttoning their shirts. They both looked sad. Distraught. They didn't speak.

Zack collapsed on the sofa, his head in his hands. Lina ran over to him, but it was like he had an invisible force field around him. She couldn't touch him. He looked like his heart had been run over by a truck.

«You said they'd be happy!» Lina screamed. «You promised! I swore to do what you wanted.»

Baba Yaga shrugged. «Who says they won't be?» she said mildly. «I warned you I would torture you.»

«Then they're happy?»

«Do they look happy?»

Lina screamed, enraged. She wheeled around and turned on the other woman. «You fucking bitch! We had a deal!»

Baba Yaga smiled again, cold and calculating. «Are you threatening me, Zaria?»

Zack sat up and looked around. «Did you hear that?» Jan and Rick paused. «No. What?» Rick asked. Zack shook his head. «Never mind. I thought I heard…never mind.»

«So when does the happiness kick in?» Rick snarked. «Right now,

I feel like shit.»

«Join the club,» Jan agreed. He sat on the couch next to Zack.

«Well, at least the old bat took care of the clean-up operation. Saves us the hassle,» Rick observed. He walked into the kitchen and retrieved a beer from the fridge, then returned to the living room. «Where do we go from here?» he quietly asked.

Jan took a deep breath. For the first time in his life, he had no answer.

Lina stalked toward Baba Yaga, her anger bubbling deep inside her. «You promised they'd be happy.»

«I never promised when, Goddess.»

«Don't fucking call me that!»

«Would you rather me call you Zaria? That's what you are. Goddess of Sunrise. Protector of Warriors. And you've squandered your powers over a man. Over three men. How pitiful.»

Closer to the surface, Lina's blood literally boiled. «Stop!»

Baba Yaga's eyes narrowed. «What's going on inside you, little one? What do you feel?»

«I feel like I'm going to pound your ass for lying to me, you goddamn bitch!»

Lina lunged at the woman, who deftly dodged her.

«You feel angry at me?» the woman asked, still in a cool tone of voice.

Lina snarled, felt heat coursing through her. «I'm going to fucking kill you-« Her words cut off in a visceral growl that seemed to start somewhere around her ankles before rolling out of her. Her vision went red, literally red, and she felt her body shift and change in ways she couldn't comprehend.

Baba Yaga grinned. «Excellent. You do that. Or try, at least.» She held up a hand and made an odd gesture. Lina drew in a sharp breath as everything inside her suddenly shifted back to normal.

«What just fucking happened?»

«A little test, Zaria.» Baba Yaga stepped forward, her eyes glowing red. She held out an open palm. Lina's eyes widened as she realized a glowing ball of flame was taking shape inside Baba Yaga's palm. «And this is another.» The other woman pitched the flame like a baseball.

Lina squeaked in fear and protectively threw up her arms. The ball of flame disappeared in a cloud of steam against the sudden shield of ice in front of her.

Shocked, Lina stared through the icy wall at Baba Yaga's triumphant face.

«Excellent!» Baba Yaga made another gesture, and the icy wall disappeared. She stood in front of Lina. «You did mate well with them, even if not completely.» She produced a large, ornate, thick scroll tube and handed it to Lina. «Prophecy complete. Here you go.»

Lina hesitantly took the tube. «What is this?»

«New prophecies. Enjoy!» She stepped back. Lina had a feeling the woman was about to disappear.

«Wait! What the hell am I supposed to do with this?»

«Read it. Your men will help you figure it out.» She smiled.

«My…my men?»

«Of course. You're the Goddess.»

«But…what about…»

«I promised they'd be happy, did I not?»

Lina nodded.

«I promised to torture you, did I not?»

Lina nodded.

Baba Yaga shifted back into the crone. «There are many kinds of torture. Some of them crueler than others.» She grinned, but it was hard and cold. «I had to make sure you were worthy, that they were worthy of you. They are. And I needed to make sure your powers were truly awakening. Your men will help you through the changes and trials ahead of you. Especially once you finally complete the connection with your two mates.»

What the fuck did that mean? Lina's brain spun as she clutched the scroll tube to her. «But what about Zack?»

«I promised them all happiness. I decide how and when.» She disappeared into a foul, grey, smoggy cloud.

Lina felt the world spin around her.

The men stood, looking around. «Okay, you did hear that, right?» Zack asked.

Rick nodded. «Yeah.»

A blast of air swirled through the room. All the men closed their eyes against it. When it stopped seconds later, they saw Lina, looking confused and standing in the middle of the living room.

Lina looked around. The men seemed to be staring at her. When they walked over to her, she didn't dare hope. «Guys?»

Zack whooped with joy and threw his arms around her. «You're back!» He crushed her against him, hugging her, the scroll tube painfully digging into her gut. «Oh, Goddess, baby, you're back!»

Jan and Rick waited their turn to hug and kiss her. Jan noticed the tube first. «What's that?»

«She…she said it's new prophecies.»

Zack took it from her. «Aw, fuck. Should have known that was coming. Why did she let you go?»

«She said it was a test. To make sure I was worthy. And something happened.»

Jan frowned. «What?»

«She was provoking me. Something happened. I changed or something. And then she lobbed a fireball at me, and I stopped it.»

Zack grinned. «Awesome!» He hugged her tightly again, burying his face in her hair. «Oh, baby doll, that's great!»

«But what about you?»

He laughed. «What about me?» He handed the scroll tube off to Jan and Rick to figure out how to open it.

«She promised me you'd find happiness.»

He playfully rolled his eyes at her and grabbed her hands. «Honey, this is what we've been waiting for all these lives. This moment. The Goddess Zaria awoken. Awakened. Risen. Whatever.» He kissed her hands. «If you're worried about me being lonely, don't. We're going to be too busy playing with your new powers for me to even have time to worry about that.»

Jan and Rick had opened the tube. There were a bunch of parchment scrolls nested inside. «Um, yeah. I'd say,» Rick quipped. «Between that and these, we're going to have a full schedule. I need to call Uncle Andel and give him an update.»

Torture. Yes, she had two hunky, delicious studs who only had eyes for her.

She rested her head on Zack's shoulder and closed her eyes as she inhaled his familiar scent.

Then she had Zack. And lifetimes of memories of loving him and being with him. And she knew she could never have him again.

That goddamned bitch. That was truly torture of the cruelest kind.

EPILOGUE

Lina looked up as Paula knocked on her office door. «Yeah?»

«You want me to interrupt his royal highness?»

Lina grinned. «He's lost track of time, hasn't he?»

«Yep.»

«Yeah, tell him we need to get going. I'll get my computer shut down.»

«Will do, boss.»

Paula walked down the hall to Zack's office. Eight months later, Lina was in charge of the company. Edgar, in his infinitely shortsighted and overconfident wisdom, had set up everything naming Lina executor and sole recipient of the corporation and his assets in the event of his demise. She'd had no idea until the lawyer told her two weeks after Edgar's «disappearance.» She'd been able to step right in.

Stupid fuck.

He'd obviously expected his plan to work and she would have been his, tied to him and keeping his powers strong.

Two months after Edgar's «disappearance,» some alligator hunters in an airboat located Edgar-in his car-three miles south of Alligator Alley in the middle of the Everglades.

Authorities were still scratching their heads on how the car managed to get there.

Worked to Lina's advantage, at least. She «hired» Zack to come in and help out, to take over her former position while she concentrated on growing the business.

She was packing her things when Rick knocked on the doorway.

«Ready to go?»

«Almost. We need Zack.»

«And here I am.» Zack stuck his head into the doorway. «Hey, Smoky. Where's Frosty the Snowman?»

Rick grinned at the familiar jab. The three men had formed a deep, solid friendship, much to Lina's relief. A week after all «the events,» as they euphemistically referred to what happened, one of Rick and Jan's cousins had arrived to help decipher the prophecies on the scrolls. Kael was also a dragon shifter, but not an Elemental.

He was also pretty damn hot. And definitely gay.

Lina kept her mouth shut and watched Zack fall in love.

Fucking torture.

She knew she couldn't complain considering who she shared her bed with every night. But she realized she would always carry a deep pain inside her heart that no amount of loving from her two men would ever heal. It was worth it to watch how Zack smiled when Kael walked into the room, how his eyes lit up.

How much he was in love.

The new house was ready for move-in. They'd changed the original plans, adding a new master bedroom suite for themselves and a whole new private wing for Zack and Kael. Tonight they were all spending their first night there. After grilling steaks and having a nice dinner, Zack and Kael disappeared to their private wing.

Jan walked up behind her as she watched the two men go.

«You okay, sweetie?» he asked. He brushed his lips against the nape of her neck as he slipped his arms around her waist.

«Yeah.»

Rick's temper and mood was as hot as his body, quick and bold. Jan was her calmer, more thoughtful man.

«It's okay that you still love him.» She'd confessed only to Jan what had happened and her suspicions about the true nature of her «torture.» She knew he'd understand. She didn't want to risk hurting Zack or Rick's feelings.

«Yeah.»

«Can you say something besides yeah?»

«Yeah.»

He snorted in amusement. «What?»

«How about we leave the dishes for morning and the three of us go upstairs?»

Jan scooped her into his arms and whistled out the back door for Rick. «Goddess declares dishes can wait until morning.»

«Hot damn!» Rick finished shutting down the grill and ran back into the house.

The two men swept her upstairs. Within seconds, they all landed with a bounce in the middle of their large bed. She'd ended up on top of Rick, with Jan kneeling behind her. One thing she'd quickly grown accustomed to was the two men lusting after her. It wasn't hard to put her self-consciousness aside about her less than perfect figure when these two hunky men spent so much time running their hands over her in a most appreciative way.

She was a lucky, lucky lady. And she damn well knew it.

Jan slipped his hands under her T-shirt and pulled it off over her head while Rick worked on her shorts. Jan nipped her shoulder. «I've been wanting my cock inside you all night long.»

«Join the club,» Rick hoarsely said as he slipped his hand inside her shorts. «I've been fucking hard all day long. Who gets to go first?»

Their first night in the new house, she wanted to do something special she hadn't had the nerve to ask for before. «How about both of you?» she nervously suggested.

The men froze. «What?» they asked together.

She closed her eyes. They had introduced her to the pleasures of anal sex, but she hadn't been brave enough to ask for this before. «How about both of you, together?»

Rick touched her chin. «You sure?»

She nodded. «Yeah. Something special because tonight is special.»

Rick nudged her off of him and quickly stripped, then helped her remove her shorts. Jan also got naked. «You say stop if it doesn't feel good, okay?»

She nervously nodded.

Lina straddled Rick again, teasing his stiff cock for a moment by rubbing her slit along his thick, veined length. He grabbed her hips and thrust, sinking deep inside her with a satisfied grunt. «That's what I wanted, baby. Don't tease me.»

She smiled. He loved to take charge like that.

Jan had stepped out of bed for a moment and returned with a bottle of lube. «I love looking at your ass when he's fucking you, baby,» he moaned. He caressed her smooth, rounded globes.

Rick thrust hard. «You're gorgeous. You've got such a beautiful body.» He skimmed his hands up her sides and cupped her breasts. He played with her nipples, pinching them, making her gasp as bolts of need shot through her core.

«Hold her open for me,» Jan said.

Rick released her breasts, causing her to moan with disappointment. He slipped his hands down to her ass. With his fingers splayed across her cheeks, he gently held her open, exposing the vulnerable puckered ring of muscle to his brother.

Jan's sharp intake of breath stirred another ember of desire within her. «Gorgeous!» He drizzled lube down her cleft and slowly worked a cool finger inside her.

She gasped. The feeling was amazing. Wiggling her hips and taking Rick's thick cock a little deeper inside her, she encouraged Jan to continue.

He worked another into her, then a third, slowly stroking and making her moan with need. «Please do it!» she begged.

While she'd taken both men before, it had always been with one inside her while she went down on the other, never like this. As Jan withdrew his fingers and replaced them with his pulsing cock, she shivered.

«You okay?» Jan asked.

«Yes!»

He pressed forward. She sucked in a breath and carefully blew it out as she wiggled her hips again. His thick, hard shaft slowly penetrated, tightly sheathed in her ass.

He stopped. «Oh, fuck, you're so tight like this! I need a minute or I'm gonna blow.»

Rick held still beneath her, his thumb finding her clit. «I can feel you sliding inside her. Jesus, that's great!»

Lina had traveled into a realm of passion beyond speech. The men had learned how to draw every ounce of pleasure from her body, making her explode with screaming release she never dreamed possible before. Rick teased her, bringing her close but not far enough to push her over the edge.

On purpose, she knew. The two of them stretched her, filling her with pleasure and just a pinch of pain to add a little bite to the exquisite enjoyment.

Jan finally continued his progress until his shaft was completely and tightly fisted by her ass. «If I move, I'm gonna come.»

Rick pushed her up into his brother's arms. «You play with her up there. I'll take care of things down here.» He continued teasing her sensitive nub while Jan cupped her breasts and tweaked her nipples. The incredible contrast of heat and cool only served to drive her harder and faster toward the edge.

Deep within her core, passion unhinged, like an over-wound spring snapping under tension, the recoil shooting her over the top, and she screamed as her body shuddered. Her muscles grabbed their thick cocks, milking them.

«There she blows,» Rick joked. He grabbed her waist and thrust as Jan grabbed her thighs and frantically pounded into her from behind. Lina collapsed on Rick's chest, her body limp from the explosions still robbing her of strength. She thought it was over when Rick's cock glided along her already sensitive clit and a second wave shot through her.

She closed her eyes and hung on.

When Rick, then Jan came, she felt them both inside her, Rick's liquid heat and Jan's soothing coolness-and that's when her world imploded.

Bright images, clear and vivid, assaulted her, random scenes she couldn't make sense of. Like sticking her finger in a light socket, her back arched as another crushing avalanche of pleasure and passion seared her nerve endings. She could only cry out as she gave in, what felt like waves of icy heat running up and down her body. She knew she didn't imagine the steam rising from their bodies as all three were gripped by a last shuddering climax.

Just when she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she blacked out.

Lina looked up to see Jan and Rick staring down at her, worry on their faces.

«Are you okay, baby?» Rick asked.

She nodded. «Wow!»

Jan laughed and shook his head. «You scare the crap out of us, and all you can say is wow?»

«Fucking wow?»

Rick looked up at the ceiling and blew out a relieved breath. «Holy shit. You scared us, girl! Your eyes rolled back in your head and you sort of looked like you died on us.»

She remembered. But it wasn't death.

«I think something happened.»

«No shit!» Jan exclaimed. «You passed out.»

«No. I mean something else.» The residual waves still washed through her. «Wait. Where's the original prophecy?»

Both men frowned. «What?»

«The original prophecy. Where is it?»

«Okay, not the weirdest segue, but whatever.» Jan got out of bed and grabbed the three-ring binder with the printouts. They'd translated and printed all the prophecies, including the original ones from Zack and the brothers, as part of their research.

She looked at it and pointed to the fourth stanza. «'When together brothers bind firmly.' That's what it says.»

Jan looked at the line. «Yeah, so?»

She shivered, then felt sweat break out across her brow. Whatever happened had triggered something inside her. «Baba Yaga said we hadn't mated completely, and we still had to finally complete the connection.» She shivered again, followed by another hot flash. «I think we just did.»

The brothers exchanged a look. «Fire and ice,» Rick snarked. «You must have hit your boiling point. How do you feel?»

She nodded. «I feel…weird. But good weird.»

Jan leaned in and kissed her. «Let's get some sleep. We can deal with this in the morning.»

She nodded and snuggled tightly between her men. They said their «I love yous» and «good nights,» and she closed her eyes.

Lina started drifting to sleep as she heard Jan and Rick's slow, steady breathing on either side of her. Before she realized it, her mind was racing downstairs, as if she was running. Startled, she opened her eyes and found herself still in bed.

She closed her eyes. Again, she found her mind heading downstairs.

Eyes open. Bedroom, her body serving as the filling in a hunk sandwich.

Eyes closed. Out of body.

She kept her eyes closed and worked on controlling this scary new talent. She managed to slow her progress, then found she could direct it.

To the far wing.

Zack's bedroom door was closed. She felt only a moment's guilt before passing through the heavy paneled oak. Zack was tightly spooned against Kael's back, wrapped around his lover in sleep, Kael holding on to Zack's arms. Kael looked peaceful.

Zack looked happy. Truly happy.

Torture of the cruelest kind. She missed the nights when she was the one safely nestled where Kael now lay. But Baba Yaga had kept her promise. Her men were happy, all three of them. Lina also knew that now, with this new facet to her powers, it meant more of the prophecies would kick in and life would get pretty complex.

She knew she couldn't touch Zack like this. She leaned in anyway and pressed a disembodied kiss to his lips.

«I love you, Zack,» she whispered in his ear.

His eyes didn't open as he softly mumbled, «I love you too, my sweet Goddess.»

PROPHECY

Where winter and summer face off through the field And fire and ice join powers and yield One soul to bind them, to bring forth their truth

Pure, perfect love, from a heart so aloof.

Fragile soul of wounded fate, Who despairs of love, without a mate. To her the winds of change shall blow

Elemental love, like fresh-fal'n snow.

Deep in the heart love knows the way though her mind and will may balk and stray. Elementals speak words old, deep and true, which shall bring her home to you.

When together brothers bind firmly to their one so dear Evil they shall vanquish that quickly draws near Two ages and twenty close shall be the day,

When elements harnessed force Dark Gods to pay.

Betrayal deep, wounds slow to heal Trust and devotion the Dark Gods will steal. Bonds forged with love shall light the dawn and when one falls, all shall go on.

Victory comes with no small cost, and p'haps in the end all shall be lost. When love forges strength, a bond so vast, To Baba Yaga their fates are cast.

–Old Slavic Prophecy.