Page 14 of Pregnant With Their Babes

Oz cocked his head in Dagr’s direction. “You feel it, too?”

Dagr nodded.

“I considered putting my fist in the middle of your face when you touched him.”

“So I noticed. I’ve never felt jealous of you… or anger toward you when it came to another. I don’t like it. Yet I want him.Desperately.”

Oz sighed. “I didn’t like it either, my love. I’ve never experienced jealousy, and I reject it now. No man will come between us.”

Dagr flinched, clutching his bundle of dry clothes and weapon closer to his chest. “Only a woman can do that.”

Pain flashed in Oz’s eyes, and he immediately deemed himself terrible for causing it. Their predicament was no more Oz’s fault than his own.

“No one will ever truly come between you and I,” Oz murmured. “No one.” Oz paused, sorrow in his gaze. “Definitely not him.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Why would webothfeel the same urgent need to have him? A stranger to us?”

Dagr shook his head. “I don’t know. But this thing we’re experiencing… it’s dangerous. We need to fight it.”

“A spell, perhaps?” Oz asked.

“There’s most definitely magic involved, but it’s nothing like I’ve ever sensed before. It’s only on Llyr—I don’t experience it in or on myself—nor you. Yet what else could it be for us to both feel this strange attraction?”

Merfolk might be legend, but the same couldn’t be said of witches. For the most part, they were fairly innocuous and practiced white magic. They healed the sick, helped put blessings on harvests, and the like. Yet there were a few who’d proven dangerous over the eons. A witch practicing the dark arts could conceivably be convinced to create a love enchantment, though they were against most laws of the land.

While he had no magic of his own, Dagr had always had the gift of sensing it around him. He didn’t know how or why—but he’d been able to know the sensation all his life. “If we’re spellbound and I can’t feel it, we’re dealing with something dark and dangerous.”

“Either way, we should beverycareful around him.”

“So we both agree to keep our hands off Llyr?”

From the look on Oz’s face, he wished to disagree. No way in hell did Dagr wish to say yes, either. Every fiber of his being rebelled at the thought, but they had to protect one another. That reason alone was why they needed to back off.

“Whatever we’re sensing… it’s not real. Itcan’tbe,” Dagr added, his voice but a murmur.

“Agreed,” Oz finally whispered.

Dagr concentrated on Oz, the need to drag the man close as strong as the need to breathe. Only now he was confused whether it was his love of Oz or the lingering effects of what he’d seen and experienced with Llyr. “The same. We keep hands off.” He took a deep, cleansing breath and exhaled slowly. “And we watch out for one another and ensure the other doesn’t slip.”

“No slipping.” Oz’s stare drifted back to his cabin’s door—a room they’d shared themselves often on their many journeys.

“If he’s unbalanced or experienced a blow to the head—I guess we should find someone to check him over. Too bad our physician has already departed.” Their medical officer’s home was in Franglaterra. They’d assumed they could survive two ports of call without him, so Oz had bid the man adieu. “I’m sure there’s one at the next port. We can see what the doctor thinks of Llyr’s crazy story. We should also make some inquiries around town. See if anyone’s recently come up missing. By his accent, he’s from a good family. Someone’s likely searching for him.”

“We’ll work on solving the mystery…” Oz took a step closer, his warm, musky scent filling Dagr’s nose. His voice lowered to barely a whisper. “Then we celebrate,as planned. Just the two of us.”

Need slammed into his already abused body. Dagr winced, desperately hungry for Oz’s kiss then and there, but he held back. While the crew likely comprehended what happened in Oz’s quarters on dark, lonely nights, they’d vowed to never show their affections in the light of day. “As planned.” He glanced down at his wet clothes. “I still need to change.”

Oz cocked an eyebrow. “Methinks this conversation needs to continue. Inyourcabin.”

Dagr grinned, liking the way his lover thought. “Follow me,sir.”

The second the door was closed, Dagr dropped his belongings to his cot and spun to pull Oz into his arms. The kiss they shared was heated, burning through them both—and sparked by the beautiful man in the cabin next door.

They didn’t speak of Llyr as they freed their hard, aching cocks. They never murmured his name as their lips swept down over stubbled jaws and thick, corded necks. Nor when they took each other’s shafts between their lips, sucking one another with fevered motions—both starving for completion as they writhed on the hard, cold floor.

Images of Llyr between them haunted his mind as Oz stroked his flesh and suckled his cock. When he cried out moments later, it was all he could do to stop himself for calling for their supposed merman. Guilt so thick it nearly took his breath away flooded his veins. He suckled Oz’s cock all the more, seeking to redeem himself in some small way. Oz soon cried out, his back arching—and he came into Dagr’s mouth.

After, it was silent in the small cabin—all but for their strangled breaths. The quick release had been necessary. Now they could both hopefully think straight and with the brain above their neck. At least, that’s what Dagr told himself.

“Youarebeautiful, you know?”

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