Fury drove Galen’s need for penance as much as guilt. The things he cared about most in this world were unraveling around him and he couldn’t do a single damn thing to stop it. If it was as simple as putting a bullet in his old man’s head… Well, it wasn’t as easy as that anymore. It hadn’t been in a long time. Dorian’s reach was too overarching, the tentacles of his influence dug too deep.

They might lose Meg over this, and it might not even be because he failed to protect her.

She sat in that chair like a fucking queen who deserved to be worshiped, and he had to clamp down hard on the insane desire to demand her forgiveness. She couldn’t grant it over something he wasn’t even fucking sorry about. He’d lie to her and worse to ensure she stayed safe. From the look in her hazel eyes, she knew it, too. She tilted her head to the side, so regal it made his chest ache. “Problem, Galen?”

“No.” He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside, quickly followed by his jeans. Beside him, Theo stood silently. He hadn’t bothered to get dressed after chasing her down in the pool, and with his hair wet and slicked back he looked sharper, as if somewhere in the last hour he’d cut away a layer of civility he usually kept as close as a second skin.

They went to their knees as one, and fuck if it didn’t feel right.

Meg never topped. Not really. She liked to run her mouth and push them, and occasionally that included a flare of a dominant side he liked to provoke when the mood suited him. But usually he or Theo took the reins and she was happily along for the ride.

Not tonight.

Tonight had tipped them over the edge into completely new territory, and he didn’t know where they’d end up. The thought rankled. Galen liked to be ten steps ahead in any given situation, and he didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, let alone further down the timeline.

It scared the shit out of him.

“You’re thinking too hard, Galen.” Meg taped a finger against her knee. “I don’t think he’s as committed to this as you are, Theo.”

Theo shot him a warning look, the faintest flaring in his blue eyes. “Maybe you should give him some incentive.”

“Maybe so.” Meg took a short breath, as if bracing herself. “Come here, baby. I need your mouth on me.” When Galen shifted, she pointed at him. “Not you. You can sit there and think about what you’ve done, and watch while Theo tongues my pussy.” She gave him a mocking smile. “Or not watch, as the case may be. I doubt you’ll get much of a show from that angle.”

She was right.

Galen clenched his fists as Theo moved to kneel before Meg and spread her thighs wide. Sure enough, from his current position, he could only see the back of Theo’s dark head as his best friend dipped down. Meg arched her spine and reached down to lace her fingers through Theo’s hair. Her breath hitched the way it always did when one of them touched her, and Galen didn’t have to see everything in explicit detail to know Theo had just dragged his tongue over her clit. A flush spread over her cheeks and down her chest as her eyes met his. She lifted her chin in challenge, daring him to break ranks even as her breathing picked up.

He forced his hands to relax and dragged his gaze over the lines of Theo’s back, the bunch of his muscles under his skin as he gripped Meg’s thighs with his hands and fucked her with his tongue.

I need to see.

“That’s enough, Theo.” Meg pushed him gently away from her and used her foot to urge him back. She considered them. “I am so mad at both of you.”

It was hard to think with her naked and wet from Theo’s mouth. Galen forced himself to meet her gaze. “Do you want an apology?”

“What would be the point?” She twisted a strand of her dark hair around a single finger. “Neither of you are actually sorry, and you’d both do the exact same thing again if given half the chance.”

She wasn’t wrong, but he’d never meant to cause her pain. Galen protected. It what he did. It was who he was. He didn’t know how to balance that against the softness Meg needed sometimes. Theo was better at that shit, but he’d been so damn distracted lately, their whole triad had shifted out of balance.

“Tell us what you want, princess.” Theo ran a hand through his hair, the movement nowhere near as carefree as it usually was. He shook, just a little, barely holding it together.

Neither of them took to submission naturally. The power games and fucking around with each other and Meg was never quite so defined as it stood in that moment. They needed her trust. They needed her forgiveness, even if neither of them deserved it. Theo practically shook with the strength of that need, and Galen instinctively reached out to press his hand to the center of his man’s back. “Breathe. She’s not leaving us.”

“Isn’t she?”

“She is sitting right here.” But something in Meg’s gaze softened. She crooked a finger at Theo. “Come here, baby.”

He crawled to her, the King of Thalania willingly on his knees for one of the loves of his life. Galen had never seen a more unnatural thing in his life. Theo wasn’t meant to be subservient to anyone—not even Galen. He stood above all others when he walked into a room, his presence announcing him as much as his position.

Meg urged him up on his knees in front of her, Theo’s height putting them nearly even. She leaned forward and captured his chin. “I’m not leaving you. Either of you.”

Theo shuddered out a nearly silent breath, but Galen heard it all the same. Meg stroked his bottom lip with her thumb. “But if you pull this shit again, I’m going to tie you up at the end of our bed the same way you did to me that first time, and I’m going to play with myself until your cock is so hard, you can’t string together two words.” She kissed him lightly. “And then I’m going to go fuck whichever one of you I’m less pissed at while the other watches. It will be torturous and maybe a little painful, and not at all fun. Do you understand?”

“Yeah.”

She looked at Galen, clearly waiting for a response. He snorted. “Baby, I like to watch. That doesn’t sound like much of a punishment to me.”

“You are so damn difficult. You like to watch, Galen? Then watch.” She stood and motioned for Theo to take her place. He’d barely gotten seated before Meg straddled him and took his mouth. Theo gripped her hips, but she grabbed his hands and guided them to the arms of the chair. “No touching.”

She rolled her body against Theo’s, giving him one hell of a lap dance. He dug his fingers into the wood of the chair and clenched his jaw as Meg turned around to face Galen and wrapped her fist around Theo. “Such a lovely cock.” She gave him a stroke. “So hard and needing what only we can provide. Who do you want to take care of you, Theo?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“Maybe.” She laughed, the sound pulling at Galen despite his best efforts to play this game to the very end. “I’m so empty, baby. I need you to fill me up.” She guided him into her and sank down in a single smooth stroke.

Both their faces went fucking blissful and despite himself, something like jealousy spiked through Galen. He wasn’t the one who put all the fucked up plans into motion. Theo was. And yet Theo was buried to the hilt in Meg’s sweet pussy, and Galen was left here, the cold floor digging into his bare knees and his cock so hard, he wasn’t sure he had any blood left in his body.

Meg lifted her arms over her head, turning her body into one rolling line, drawing his gaze from her hands to her mouth to her tits and down to where Theo’s cock disappeared into her pussy. She met his gaze and spread her legs wider, giving him more of a show. From this angle, he could see how wet Theo’s cock was, how wet she was.

“Fuck.”

He hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud until Meg grinned. “Got you.” She cupped her breasts, an offering he couldn’t accept unless she gave an explicit order. “Tell me, Galen. Is watching really better? Or do you want to be over here? Touching me?” She pinched her nipples and then stroked her hands down her stomach. “Your hands all over me?” She reached down and cupped Theo’s balls. “Driving Theo out of his goddamn mind?”

Theo cursed. “I’m hanging on by a thread here, princess.”

“Keep hanging on. You don’t come until I say so.” She gave him one last squeeze and released him. “Come here, Galen.”

Galen’s place wasn’t normally on his knees, and crawling created an extension of that unnatural feeling, but hell if it didn’t feel a whole lot like the apology he wasn’t sure he planned on offering. Meg, somehow, knew exactly where his mind had gone. She shivered a little and cupped his face when he finally made it close enough to touch them. “You make me crazy.”

“Feeling’s mutual.”

“Mmhmm.” She released him and leaned back to brace herself on Theo’s arms. “Make me come, baby.” She guided Theo’s hands to her hips. “Both of you.”

Galen didn’t need to be told twice. He leaned down and dragged his tongue over her as Theo drew her down hard on his cock. Meg made that cute little whimpering sound she did when she was in danger of losing it, and it drove Galen wild. He sucked her clit hard, setting his teeth against the sensitive bundle of nerves. Once. Twice. A third time. That was all it took. Meg’s back bowed as she came, her cries loud enough to shake the room.

It wasn’t enough.

Fuck it, but he had fucked up. If this was his penance, then so be it, but he’d damn well do it right. He lifted Meg off Theo’s cock and slid her higher onto his chest so he had better access to her pussy. What little control he had left after watching her play with Theo snapped. He couldn’t get enough of this woman—and this man—and he wasn’t interested in trying. Meg might not be thinking of leaving now, but if they kept fucking up, she would eventually get tired of their shit and walk.

He wanted to chain her to them, to bind her with pleasure and need and love until she couldn’t stand the thought of a life lived without them at her back. It wasn’t a battle for tonight alone. No, it would take Galen days and weeks and months and fucking years to convince her to stay, to build up a strong enough foundation that nothing could rock them.

And he couldn’t do it alone.

He looked up Meg’s body and met Theo’s gaze. Understanding flashed between them, as monumental as a lightning strike. They would start tonight. They would make things right, and they would wake in the morning as a whole unit, stronger for the shit they were about to walk through.

Meg had lost control. She hadn’t had a game plan going in to this, but if she had, it wouldn’t involve Galen fucking her with his tongue, the frantic possessiveness of his mouth against her pussy already driving her toward another orgasm. She reached back, and Theo caught her hands, pinning them easily on either side of his head. He buried his face against the side of her neck, kissing and nipping, something akin to desperation in every touch. He shifted his grip so he held both her wrists in one hand and cupped one of her breasts with the other. “I’ll never get enough of you.”

She could fight this, could reassert herself into the game he’d laid out at the start…

Meg didn’t want to.

She didn’t want penance. She wanted their version of normal, for the balance to be restored, for them to reclaim them.

Letting go was the only way. She shivered under Galen’s mouth. “Don’t stop.” He didn’t. He kept up his thorough tongue fucking, driving her closer and closer to the edge.

“Do you feel how much he loves you, princess? How much he needs you?” Theo’s voice curled around her, more seductive than any devil. “He’d be lost without you. We both would.”

Galen sucked on her clit hard, just the way she liked it, and she lost her breath as an orgasm rolled through her. Her brain shorted out and her body went limp. She lolled her head to Theo’s for a kiss, and then Galen was there, dragging his mouth along her neck on the other side.

She never felt safer than when pinned between these two men.

She needed more, for them to overwhelm her and banish the last of the bad feelings that had lingered over the last few days, growing stronger with each realization that they had shut her out. Never again. I won’t allow it. “More. I need more.”

“Greedy little thing, aren’t you?” Galen murmured against her skin.

She grabbed the back of his neck. “You’re as angry at him as I was.”

Galen hesitated for the barest hint of a second. “Yeah, I am.”

“We purge it all tonight. All the bad stuff. We work it out on each other.”

Behind her, Theo had gone still. “It’s not that easy.”

“It’s as easy as we make it.” There would be time for conversations and bickering and plotting in the morning. Tonight was theirs and theirs alone. She nudged Galen back and climbed to her feet. Her legs wobbled a little, but they held her. Meg padded to the bed and climbed onto the tall mattress, all too aware of both their attention on her. She turned and sat on the edge of it. They stood there, her two men, so alike and so different at the same time. They loved her. She never doubted that for a second. It was just all the other bullshit that got in the way.

“What do you need, princess?”

She licked her lips, need already coiling through her again. “I want you to fuck me. I need to lose myself in you.”

The men exchanged a look and then Theo stepped forward. He kissed her and pressed her back into the mattress, his hand delving between their bodies to push a finger and then two inside her. As if his cock hadn’t spent part of tonight already buried inside her. But that was Theo, careful to the very end. Meg grabbed his wrist and brought his hand up so she could suck his two fingers into her mouth. She gave them both a long lick and sat back. “I don’t want you to be careful with me tonight. I want all of you.”

She wanted him there with them, just as raw and open and honest as Theo always required of them. He loved to dig in deep and pick them apart at the seams, but he held himself back even when in the midst of the most intimidate lovemaking Meg had ever experienced. She could count on one hand how many times she’d seen him lose control and still have fingers left over. Tonight, he hovered on the edge. There was something dangerous in his blue eyes, and she wanted to light the match that would send it up in flames.

Galen knew. Galen always knew where she was headed. They were too similar for it to be any other way. He crawled onto the bed behind her and pulled her away from Theo’s touch, only stopping when they were out of reach. “You’ve gone too easy on him, baby.”

She leaned against him, his solid presence at her back making her heart beat harder. “You want to punish him.”

“Fuck yes, I do.” He pointed at Theo. “You want to apologize. What just happened was barely a start. Stand right fucking there and don’t move until we give you permission.”

Theo looked from one of them to the other. He finally nodded, the movement jerky with pent up emotion. “So be it.”

“You need it rough, baby.” Galen carefully bracketed her throat and bent her body against his, bowing her back and putting her on display. “You want me to pound that pussy while Theo drives himself crazy wishing it was his cock buried inside you, feeling you clench around him like a fucking fist, knowing how wet he’s got you?”

She couldn’t see Theo’s face from her position, but she didn’t need to. His soft curse as Galen dragged a finger over her was truth enough. Meg shivered and rolled her hips, inviting Galen in. “Yes.”

“Mmm.” His finger continued its path south, circling lower. “Or I’ll fuck your tight little ass while he watches, knowing your pussy is waiting for him, aching for him, and he’s not allowed to touch.”

Oh god.

She wanted it. She wanted it all.

Meg swallowed hard, the move pressing her throat more firmly against Galen’s palm. “Or maybe you should flip me over and fuck me while he fantasizes about fucking your ass while you’re inside me.”

Galen’s hand spasmed and he pushed two fingers into her pussy, cupping her there possessively. She didn’t need to look to know he was watching Theo as he finger fucked her. “She knows what you like.”

“Of course she does.” Theo’s voice barely sounded like his own. “She’s ours. How could she not?”