Ryden knew that it was time to fully mark her.  Their teeth needed to pierce her skin, drawing her blood into their mouths, the ultimate in claiming.  He pulled her back against him fully and lifted her hair from her graceful neck, sniffing along the hairline, trapping her scent in his nose.  Licking a spot just below her ear, his canines dropped and he pierced the tender flesh.  Sweet blood rushed into his mouth as she jerked, the pain just barely registering to her in her heated state.  As the blood rolled down his throat, he watched as his brother lowered to a nipple, pulling it into his mouth.  Rayne’s canines also extended, ready to taste her essence, and Ryden cradled their woman as she jumped at the piercing of her breast.  The two pulled pure life and energy from her, as she writhed between them.  Her moans heightened as her body tensed, and her cries of pleasure echoed off the stone walls of the cave.  Both men released their mouths and licked the wounds they had created.  Rayne began to orgasm immediately after, throwing off the tempo, speeding his thrusts, before screaming his release.  Ryden settled back, grasping her breasts as he pulled her lengthwise across him, continuing to pump into her ass as Rayne pulled from her body, resting along the back of the bed.

Karli turned her head, capturing his mouth with her own before looking into his eyes.  They stared at each other as he pumped within her, her hand rising to rub against his jaw.  The tenderness broke him, a creature of war, the years of fighting, hardening him to not expect comfort.  Her tender touch did him in.

Crying out his satisfaction, he pumped wildly into her, clamping his arms tight around her body to prevent her from being thrown from him.

Rolling onto his side, still within the confines of her body, he pulled Karli close.  Rayne scooted along her other side, gripping a breast softly in his hand.  Utter exhaustion struck Ryden at that moment, and he closed his eyes, knowing that they were safe and sated.

The three awoke several more times throughout the night, the males giving Karli what she needed to get through the night, filling her with their bodies and giving her their souls.

****

Karli awoke, no idea how much time had passed since the experience in the park.  Part of her still wondered if it had all been a dream, but Ryden’s thick stalk of a cock was still buried within her pussy, and random arms and legs were draped over her, locking her in place.

The low light of the nearly depleted torch across the room left most of Ryden’s face in shadows as she gazed at him in slumber.  The strong lines of one side of his face, the regal bridge of his nose was visible, but not much else.  Glittering light fell across his large bicep, which had to be nearly as big as her thigh.  Running a finger across the tight skin, she wondered at how something so strong could be so soft.  Not unlike the thick shaft inside her.

She rotated her hips, the feel of him inside her enough to bring a wave of need through her again.

“Keep that up woman, and I will take you again.”  The whispered retort whisked across her skin.

“Is that supposed to be a threat?  I just might have to push to see where my boundaries are.”

“No need in whispering you two, I am awake.” Rayne pressed close to her rear, his hardening length nestled between the cheeks of her ass, as his teeth nuzzled her shoulder.

Suddenly sobered, Karli stilled.  “Will it be like this everyday?  An overabundance of sex and gratification?”

Both men stilled, Ryden captured her eyes with his.  “You are in heat; it is only one time a year.  We only gave you what you needed.”

“Why have I never felt like this before, if I am a mate?”

“You wouldn’t feel it if we were not close.  Our pheromones trigger your need.”

Karli thought for a moment.  “So if you weren’t around me, I wouldn’t feel this?”

Ryden’s eyes grew large, and he inhaled deeply.  He looked away from her, unable to hold her gaze.

“No, my lovely, you would feel nothing if a Berserker male was not close.”  Rayne spoke, and then rested his forehead on her shoulder.

“Is that what you want, Karli?  To leave us?”

Karli felt the pain radiate off Ryden as he asked his question.  His sorrow was a tangible thing, and it made her chest ache that her simple questions could cause him pain.  Running a hand along his chest, she closed her eyes.

“You haven’t asked me to stay.”

Rayne laughed, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.  “It was implied.  This is the Nave.  You are now mated to us.”

“Assumptions get us nowhere, Rayne.  The last time you made love to me, you dumped me back in my bed.  I was half expecting to wake up there again when I opened my eyes.”

Ryden grasped both sides of her face, looking deeply in her eyes.  “You saw what came after you last night.  There are things much worse than dragons who will seek you out if it is found out that we have you.  We offer you protection.”

“I walk away from everything in my life, to protect myself from the dangers you brought to me, and in return you both get to use my body?  Somehow that doesn’t seem fair.”  Pulling from their grasp, anger filled her body suddenly, her mind struggling with what the pair was asking of her.  In the midst of her need, it had all seemed so right.

Now, fear overwhelmed her.  And her instincts told her to flee.

Ryden and Rayne steadied her, holding her flailing arms and legs, wrapping her in a cocoon of her body.

“We gave you a choice the first night.  If you had said no, I would have returned you to your home, and walked away.”

Rayne had to throw his two cents in.  “Liar.  You and I both know we would not have been able to walk away from her.”

Karli stilled.  After a few heartbeats, she asked the one question that was foremost on her mind.  “Am I yours because I am a mate or yours because you want me?”

Rayne kissed her shoulder once more, his nose nuzzling her heated skin.  “Your difference was the reason we noticed you.  But in our culture, the woman chooses her mates.  You chose us.”

“And just when did I do that?”

“The first night we met.  There were five Berserkers standing in front of you, and you only had eyes for the two of us.  Your attraction to us was your choice.”

“Still, that doesn’t answer my question.”

Ryden pressed his lips against hers.  “We noticed you for being a mate.  You chose us, and we chose you in return.  We are linked, bonded together now, forever.  Rayne and I will give our lives to protect you.”

Is that enough?  Karli closed her eyes as Ryden kissed her again, a feather light touch to her lips.  It was more than she had ever been offered in her life.  Two strong men to protect her, to bring pleasure to her body, and to lay down their life for hers.

It would have to be enough, because she couldn’t imagine existing without them.  Is that love?  Or perhaps just the start of it?

“You didn’t like my answer?”  Ryden caressed her chin with his lips, rubbing against her as he spoke, and he twisted his pelvis, pressing his cock deeper as well.

“I didn’t say that,” she sobbed on a sigh.

“You didn’t have to; your body language was enough.”

“I want…more.”

“More of this?”  Rayne pressed his cock flush to her puckered rear.

“More…of…what is….outside….this bed.”  Karli tensed as the head of Rayne’s cock pushed past the tight band of nerves, entering her fully, stretching the muscles wide.  “And more of….that too.”

Ryden surged forward, his cock pushing tight against her cervix.  “We can’t promise you happily-ever-after, Karli.  But the thought of you not being here leaves a hole in my chest.  We want you with us.  I want you with us.”

Rayne echoed his brother’s words.  “Love is a gentle thing.  It needs time to grow and flourish.  I can see the seeds.  Can you?”