Kai

I wake between them.

The thought lands slow, soft as the moonlight through the boathouse window. My body is warm, anchored on one side by the solid heat of James, on the other by Bree’s softer curves. For a second, I forget. I just feel. Then it all rushes back—the run, the clearing, bringing them here. My secret place.

I almost didn’t. My nerves were a live wire the whole walk back. What if she thought it was pathetic? A hermit’s den on a hidden lake James knows about but has never slept in. I look outside. Just past midnight. We haven’t been asleep long.

I turn my head. Bree is curled into my side, her long black hair a spill of shadows across my chest. James is on my other side, his breathing deep and even. They’re both here. Really here. A feeling cracks open in my chest, so sharp and sweet it steals my breath. I’ve dreamed this. Wanted this. Hidden it so deep I convinced myself it was just a story I told myself in the dark.

A soft, unguarded smile touches my lips. I can’t help it.

Carefully, I reach out. I slide an arm around Bree, my other around James, and pull them gently closer. They shift in their sleep, molding against me. Bree’s arm comes to rest across my chest, her hand coming to rest against James’s side. James’s arm drapes over my lower stomach, his forearm brushing—oh.

It brushes the top of my cock through the thin fabric of my pants.

A low moan escapes me before I can catch it. Heat floods up through my belly, immediate and shocking. I squeeze my eyes shut, willing my body to settle. Don’t wake them. Just let this be enough. The bliss of their weight, their trust, their presence in my space.

That’s when I feel James shift beside me.

His hand moves. Not away. Down. His palm cups me fully, a firm, deliberate weight through the cloth.

Another surprised sound punches out of me. My eyes fly open.

James is looking at me. His green eyes are hooded with sleep, but there’s nothing sleepy in them. Desire moves there, a dark, determined current I’ve never seen directed at me. Before I can speak, he props himself up on an elbow, leaning over me. His hand doesn’t stop. It rubs up, then down, a slow, teasing stroke that makes my hips jerk.

I clap a hand over my own mouth, my eyes wide. Bree needs to rest. She can’t—

James sees the struggle. A smile curves his lips, wicked and new. It’s not his usual calm, knowing grin. This is something else. Predatory. Playful in a way that makes my blood roar.

He reaches up and pulls my hand gently from my mouth. “She’s asleep,” he murmurs, his voice a gravel-rough whisper. “Let me hear you.”

Then he kisses me.

It’s deep and hungry, all at once. His tongue sweeps into my mouth, and I’m lost. My hand flies to the back of his head, my fingers tangling in his dark, tousled hair, pulling him in. I nip at his bottom lip, a whine building in my throat. Primal. Needy. Everything I’ve held back.

James moans into the kiss, a low vibration that sends ripples of pure pleasure straight down my spine. We break apart, breathing ragged. He doesn’t pause. His mouth finds my jaw, then my neck. I bare my throat to him without thought, a shudder wracking me.

He bites down. Not hard enough to mark, but enough to sting, to claim. The sharp burst of sensation makes me cry out, the sound loud in the quiet boathouse.

“James,” I gasp.

His only answer is to kiss lower. Down my chest. My free hand—the one not trapped under Bree—slides up his side. I feel the hard planes of his abs, the smooth skin over muscle I’ve watched for years and never dared touch. My fingers dig in, holding on.

He moves down, and down, his lips blazing a trail over my stomach. His other hand works the button of my pants, then the zipper. He pulls the fabric down, slow, exposing me to the cool air. I’m shaking.

He kisses my v-line, his breath hot against my skin. I watch, mesmerized, as he hesitates for just a heartbeat. This is new. For both of us. I feel the moment his resolve solidifies, a shift in the energy around him from curious to determined.

He licks a stripe up the length of my cock.

“Fuck,” I choke out, my head slamming back against the pillow. The warmth, the wetness, the sheer sensation is like nothing I’ve ever felt. Electric. Consuming.

He takes me into his mouth.

I bite back a shout, my body bowing off the bed. I can’t keep still. My hips rock up, seeking more of that incredible heat. I’m panting, one hand fisted in the sheets under Bree, the other still in James’s hair, not guiding, just holding.

Then I feel her.

Lips, soft and knowing, press against the side of my neck, right over the pulse hammering there. A gentle bite follows James’s sharper one. A hand splays over my chest, right over my pounding heart.

Bree.

She’s awake. She’s been awake. The realization floods me, not with embarrassment, but with a dizzying wave of permission.

“He’s beautiful like this, isn’t he?” Bree whispers, her voice thick with sleep and something else. Wonder.

James pulls off me with a wet sound, looking up. His lips are swollen, his eyes dark. “Yeah,” he says, the word raw. “He is.”

Her hand on my chest strokes softly. “Don’t stop on my account.”

James holds my gaze for a long second. I see the question there, the care. I nod, frantic, desperate. Please.

He lowers his head again, and Bree’s mouth finds my ear. “Let go, Kai,” she breathes. “We have you.”

It wrecks me. The last of my control shatters. My moans are loud, open, as James’s mouth works me, as Bree’s whispers and touches stoke the fire higher. I am completely, utterly theirs. And for the first time, I believe they are completely, utterly mine.

My hand finds Bree’s hip, the fabric of her shirt soft under my palm. I don’t think, I just feel. I slide my hand up, over the curve of her stomach, the dip of her waist, the swell of her chest beneath cotton. I feel her heartbeat, a frantic echo of my own. My fingers trace her collarbone, then cup the back of her neck, pulling her down to me.

Our mouths crash together. I growl into the kiss, a sound of pure, ragged need. My other hand is still tangled in James’s dark hair, holding on as his mouth works me, as pleasure coils tighter and tighter in my gut. My hips are trembling, losing rhythm, every nerve ending screaming.

We break for air, both panting. “Off,” I rasp against her lips, my fingers tugging at her shirt. She helps, lifting her arms, and I pull the fabric up and over her head, tossing it into the dimness. Our mouths find each other again, hungrier now, with nothing between our skin. I slip my hands down, pushing her pants over her hips. She kicks them away.

My palms skate up her naked thighs, feeling the muscle, the heat. I grab her hips, pulling her closer, and she moans into my mouth, the sound sweet and devastating.

James sees. He pulls off me with a wet, ragged breath, his eyes flashing up. They burn, those green eyes, usually so knowing and calm. Now they’re wildfire. He doesn’t speak. He just reaches up, one hand still wrapped around my base, the other sliding up the back of Bree’s thigh, over the curve of her ass, finding her.

A sharp, shared gasp cuts the air. Bree arches against my hand on her hip, a tremor wracking her body. The sensation—feeling her react, seeing James touch her while his hand is on me—sends another violent wave of pleasure crashing through me. I cry out, my head falling back.

“Look at me, Kai.”

Bree’s voice. I force my eyes open. Her storm-gray eyes are dark, pupils blown, watching me with an intensity that pins me to the bed.

“I’m here,” I choke out.

“I see you,” she whispers. Her hand comes to my cheek, her thumb brushing my lower lip. “All of you.”

James moves then. He shifts, rising up on his knees beside us. He’s breathing hard, his gaze locked on where his hand is still touching Bree. “Can I?” he asks her, his voice gravel.

Bree turns her head, looks at him. A slow, soft smile touches her lips. “Yes.”

He kisses her. It’s not like our frantic clash. It’s deep, deliberate, a conversation. I watch, mesmerized, as his fingers move, as her breath hitches into his mouth. My own need is a drumbeat, urgent and consuming, but this… watching them… it’s a different kind of heat, filling a hollow place in my chest I didn’t even know was empty.

James pulls back, resting his forehead against Bree’s. “He’s close,” he murmurs, his eyes sliding to me.

“I know,” Bree says. She looks back to me. “Do you want…?”

“I want you,” I gasp. “I want both of you. I don’t know how, I just—”

“Shhh.” James’s hand leaves Bree, comes to my chest, right over my heart. His touch is grounding, steadying, even now. “We’ll figure it out. Together.”

Bree leans down, kisses me softly. “How do you want me?”

The question undoes me. The choice. The offering. My mind whites out for a second. “Here,” I finally manage, my hands on her hips guiding her. “Over me. I need to see you.”

She moves, straddling my hips, her knees on either side of me. The sight of her above me, backlit by the faint moonlight from the porthole, takes my breath away. James shifts behind her, his hands settling on her waist. He’s watching me, too, his expression fierce with protectiveness and desire.

Bree lowers herself slowly. The first touch is electric, a shock of wet heat against my stomach. I groan, my hands flying to her thighs. “Bree…”

“I’ve got you,” James says, his voice a low rumble. One of his hands slides from her waist, down, guiding me. “Easy.”

The pressure is exquisite, unbelievable. I’m shaking, trying to hold still, to let them set the pace. Bree sinks down, taking me inside, and the world narrows to the feel of her, the tight, hot clasp of her body, the look on her face—eyes closed, lips parted, a quiet sigh escaping her.

“Oh,” she breathes, her eyes fluttering open. They find mine. “Kai.”

I can’t speak. I just look at her, drowning in the feel of her, in the reality of this. James’s chest is pressed against her back, his mouth on her shoulder. I could feel his cock slip up against mine. He’s moving with her, a slow, deep roll of his hips that presses her down onto me, again and again. The feeling of all of us connected making me loose control.

“Is this…” I gasp. “Is this okay?”

James meets my gaze over her shoulder. A smile, real and unguarded, touches his lips. “It’s perfect.”

Bree begins to move. It builds slowly, a rhythm that’s part her, part James, all of us connected. My hands roam her body, learning her—the slope of her back, the weight of her breasts, the tense cords of her neck. James’s hand joins mine, our fingers tangling over her stomach.

The coil in my gut winds impossibly tight. “I’m not… I can’t last…”

“Don’t,” Bree whispers, leaning down, her lips brushing mine. “Let go. We’re right here.”

James’s arm wraps around her, holding her close as he drives into her, the motion pushing her down onto me, over and over. And his cock against mine unraveling me. The sounds are raw, skin against skin, ragged breaths. Our moans sounded like a melody.

“Look at him, Bree,” James murmurs into her hair. “See him.”

She opens her eyes. Holds my gaze. In hers, I see no storm, no fear. I see home. I see belonging.

It shatters me.

My release tears through me with a force that whites out my vision. I cry out, a raw, unfiltered sound, my body arching up as I spill into her. I feel her clench around me, hear her own sharp cry, feel James stiffen and shudder against her and his own hot cum shooting deep inside her with a low, guttural groan.

The world bleeds back in slow waves. The rock of the boat. The smell of us, salt and sweat and sex. The heavy, shared panting of three bodies spent.

Bree collapses forward onto my chest, boneless. James follows, sinking beside us, his arm still draped over her, his hand splayed on my ribcage. We are a tangled, breathless heap. I can feel both their hearts beating against me, out of sync, then slowly settling into a similar rhythm.

For a long time, no one speaks. The only sound is our breathing, slowing, deepening.

James is the first to move. He presses a soft, lingering kiss to Bree’s shoulder, then to the corner of my mouth. “Okay?” he whispers.

I can only nod, my throat too tight for words. More than okay. Wrecked. Found.

Bree lifts her head, her hair a dark curtain around us. She looks from James to me, her gaze soft, wondering. “No one’s ever…” she starts, then shakes her head. “I’ve never felt…”

“I know,” I say, my voice rough. My hand finds hers, laces our fingers together on my chest. “Me either.”

James shifts, pulling the rumpled blanket up over us. The night air is cool on our heated skin. He settles back, one arm under Bree, the other across me. “This is real,” he says, quiet, certain. “This is ours.”

Bree curls into my side, her head on my shoulder. Her fingers trace idle patterns on my skin. “Your home,” she murmurs. “It feels different now.”

“It is different,” I say. I look around the small, familiar cabin. The worn wood, the dusty porthole, the faint scent of diesel and lake. It’s been my hiding place, my secret. Now it’s a sanctuary. “It’s ours.”

Silence wraps around us again, but it’s not empty. It’s full of everything we didn’t say, everything we just showed each other. The trust. The surrender. The sheer, terrifying rightness of it.

Through the window, the first faint hint of gray lightens the sky over the water. Dawn is still hours away, but the absolute black of midnight has passed.

“The run,” Bree whispers, a thread of anxiety in her tired voice. “The pack…”

James’s hand strokes her hair. “Later,” he says, firm but gentle. “Right now, this is the only territory that matters.”

I close my eyes, breathing them in. Bree’s scent of ozone and vanilla. James’s of pine and deep earth. Underneath it, the new scent of us, together. My chest aches, but it’s a good ache. The ache of a wall coming down, one I didn’t even know I was leaning against.

“I dreamed of this,” I admit into the quiet dark. The words feel dangerous, fragile. “For so long. I never thought…”

Bree’s hand stills on my chest. “What did you dream?”

“Just… this.” I tighten my arm around her. “The weight of you both. The quiet after. Feeling like I wasn’t taking up space I wasn’t allowed to be in.”

James is silent for a long moment. Then he says, his voice thick, “You belong in the center, Kai. You always have. We were just… waiting for you to get here.”

The truth of it lands in my gut, warm and solid. I don’t have a poetic answer. I just turn my head, find his lips in the dimness, and kiss him. It’s slow, deep, full of a gratitude so vast it has no words.

When I pull back, Bree is watching us, a sleepy, contented smile on her face. “My anchors,” she murmurs. “Holding me to the earth.”

“And you,” I say, brushing her hair from her face. “Holding us to the sky.”

Her smile widens. She snuggles deeper, her eyes closing. “Don’t let go,” she whispers, already half asleep.

“Never,” James says, his voice a vow in the dark.

I look at him over her head. Our eyes meet, and in the green depths of his, I see my own reflection. Not the trickster, not the shadow. Just Kai. Seen. Wanted. Home.

“Never,” I echo.

Outside, the water laps gently against the hull. Inside, tangled in the warm, breathing silence of our shared skin, I finally, completely, let myself rest.