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CHAPTER8

"We need to find the person who tattooed me," I said the next night, brushing creases out of my pillow until it was a perfectly flat surface before I laid my head. "Or a curse expert like Ashboren told us to."

"Who's Ashboren?" Wane asked, laying on his side facing me, with a chunky wrap of bandages around his chest. It did nothing to stop the wounds on his back bleeding, and neither had any of the lotions or salves we'd tried. Neither had Harvey's healing power.

"An alchemist," I replied.

"Grumpy old fucker," Kai muttered, knocking Harvey's hand aside so he could touch me.

"He was only grumpy because you all broke his shit," I pointed out, relaxing into the expensive mattress. "And he helped us. The stone he gave us worked."

"The stone youboughtworked," Emlyn corrected. Yeah, he had a point. Ashboren hadn't given us it out of the goodness of his heart. I still needed to thank that old bastard, though. He'd given me my mates back.

"So we find a tattooist or a curse scholar," Harvey murmured, his soul aching and voice subdued.

I felt the weight too, the press and crush of Wynvail's absence. The remembrance ceremony we held tonight had helped, but barely. At least we acknowledged what he'd sacrificed, even if Kaididgo off on a rant about all the ways he'd fucked with them and allowed others to torture them.

I had to make it convincing. I couldn't let Cronus realise I only took you three so he couldn't keep you.

But that excuse only went so far. Wynvail should have protected them. Instead, when we first met he'd been so dead set on claiming me as his that he'd been willing to let my other mates die. Or kill them himself.

He was a bad person and a good person in the same body. I hated him. Loved him. Missed him.

"And then what?" Harvey finished.

"We threaten them into helping us," Kai suggested seriously, making Wane laugh softly, his breath ruffling my hair.

"We could try asking," he suggested with a yawn.

"He's right," Emlyn agreed, stretching his arm carefully across Wane's body so he could stroke a light touch down my wing. "We'll ask first, and threaten them if they refuse."

Kai grinned, like he'd won. I pinched his hand where it rested on my side, earning a hiss. He flicked out his forked tongue, eyes narrowing like I'd challenged him.

"Whatever you're planning," Em said tiredly. "Don't."

"I’m not planning anything," Kai replied innocently. Not a single one of us believed him.

I was surprised by the sudden scorch of desire through Wane's soul; he guessed Kai's intentions long before I did. My body responded to his lust, heat travelling through down my body until it reached my clit, making it throb.

"Whatareyou planning?" I asked Kai, turning to face him and absently brushing Harvey's wing where it rested on my thigh. He shuddered.1

"I'm undecided," Kai replied casually, as if his red eyes weren’t smouldering with heat. He flicked his tongue out again, tasting me on the air. Or teasing me with what he had planned. "I'd be interested to get the guys' opinion. Do you think we should fill all her holes with cock, or get my tail involved? Either way, we should give her so many orgasms that she can't speak."

"Or until she passes out," Wane added mildly.

I slid a smirk in his direction, remembering how fucking good his shadow cock felt.

"Wait, what?" Harvey blurted, his eyes wide. His hand flexed on my hip.

"Yeah, he fucked me so good I passed out," I told him, with a grin curving my cheeks.

"Nice," Kai praised and lifted his hand. I shot thembotha glare when Wane high-fived him.

Even Emlyn looked impressed, and something like affection softened his eyes when he looked at all of us. "Would you rather sleep, Hales?"

I snorted. "No. When have you ever known me to turn down orgasms?"

"Never," Harvey answered my hypothetical question, wrapping his wing around me and tugging me closer. His breath rippled down my neck, making me shiver, suddenly sensitive. "Our mate is a greedy girl when it comes to pleasure."