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“Theo?” he says casually. Theo responds by pausing for a moment, his ragged breaths brushing the outside of my ear. I try to move my own body, to continue the sweet, delicious movement sending me into a tailspin, but he holds me firmly, his cock poised to pull out if I so much as breathe wrong.

“Shedidtake both of us with her hands tied behind her back,” he laughs, grazing the side of my neck with his teeth. Every muscle in my body clenches as I let out soft, whining breaths, begging them both with my eyes if not my voice. Ben lifts himself up, pulls his shirt and clerical collar off, then moves over so I am trapped between them. He grabs me by the jaw, forcing me to look him in the eyes.

“Do you know what you did wrong, Annie?” he asks, voice low and heady.

“I-I tried to get Theo to fuck me while you were gone.”

“You didn’ttrustme,” he murmurs, nipping at my lower lip. “You didn’t think I was coming back, and you were so needy, you just couldn’t wait. You aren’t going to do that again, are you?”

“No, Ben.”

“I’ll always come back to you. Both of you. So, Annie, you either take both of us, or neither of us. Understand me?”

“Yes, love,” I whisper. He presses against me, holding my body firmly between his and Theo’s as his mouth meets mine. Theo lets out a soft sigh in my ear, then plants a few soft kisses on my shoulder before Ben pulls him up. Their lips lock together beside my cheek, and I cannot imagine anything more than this.

I cannot imagine anything better, or more beautiful, or so perfectly made for me; the creature I am now, who feelslovedfor the first time in all her centuries of existence.Loved–something I never thought I could be. Something I did not think was meant for me. Something that ignites a spark so deep inside my body, I can no longer contain it. A loud rushing sound fills my ears, coming from the shadows that have begun to swirl and churn around my hands, face, and back. I cannot control them, just as I could not control when my claws appeared in the car, but now I think I understand what my magic truly wants. I understand why it has hidden itself in moments when I experience the rawness of human emotions.

“Annie?” Theo asks warily. “What’s going on?”

“Do not be afraid,” I whisper. “My magic. It wants me to be known, to be seen…to be loved, for exactly what I am.”

“I don’t understand…” Ben mutters. The shadows begin to coalesce around my body, forming into deadly claws at my fingertips, then into a pair of sleek, black rams’ horns that curl around my face. Finally, they form into a long, black tail, capped with a pointed barb, which sprouts from my lower back and wraps itself slowly around Theo’s waist, tugging him closer to me.

“Holy fuck,” he whispers.

Ben reaches out to grip his shoulder, steadying him. “It’s alright,osito. Safe, right, Annie?”

“Yes,” I answer as Ben runs his fingers over my horns, then down my body and over the base of my tail.

“No goat hooves?” he asks with a grin, and I give a breathless laugh.

“Please, Theo, do not be afraid of me,” I murmur, turning my head to try and look at him. His vice grip on my body has loosened, and he does not answer immediately, but the connection between us still burns and sparks like a livewire. Finally, his hand snakes back around my throat and his lips graze the top of my shoulder.

“I’m not, Annie,” he whispers, and he slowly begins moving his hips again, his hard cock filling me again and pushing a loud moan from my mouth.

“Good,” Ben growls, “because this issofucking hot.” With a hungry smile, he grips the front of my tank top with both hands and tears it open to expose the rest of me. His teeth sink into the side of my breast and I cry out, but he does not stop, and neither does Theo.

They devour me–their fingers and teeth marking every inch of my body. Pressed between them, bound and helpless, I can do nothing but watch and breathe and beg them not to stop. With every spark of pain, every wave of pleasure, every kiss and thrust and whispered word of praise, they push me closer to what feels like madness. Surely, there will be no returning from this. Surely, their touch has burned away everything I was, leaving me raw and reborn. Ben seems to sense when I am on the precipice, but this time he directs Theo to keep going, then grabs my jaw and kisses me hard.

“You want to come now, sweet Annie?” he rasps into my mouth as his hand drifts down to rub my clit.

“Please,” is all I can say. Theo’s hands wrap around my horns and he uses them to jerk my head back as he thrusts into me again. Then, his movements become absolutely torturous, slowly sliding his cock all the way out and reentering, again and again, allowing me to feel every inch of him every time. My tail is still wrapped around his waist, but when I attempt to use it to direct his pace, he pulls out and growls a rough warning in my ear. He will only fuck me again when I loosen the tail and allow him to retake control.

My low whines turn to whimpers, then moans, and when they finally release me, it feels almost the same as my flight out of Hell. I am soaring, burning, and rising all at once, seeing things I have never seen before as I climb. Finally, I burst through the barrier between worlds, bathed in soft sunlight. Theo and I fall sideways together, his face buried in the back of my neck as he comes too.

He whispers my name over and over, like a penance or a prayer, and we lie there tangled up in each other, my tail swishing softly over his hip, the barb gently teasing up and down his spine. After a minute, the rosary beads around my wrists loosen and he pulls them away, dropping them onto the floor. I roll to face him and he opens his eyes. Blue, like the sky on a clear day. Blue, like the lake at the park. Blue, like the flowers he calls forget-me-nots. He runs his thumb over the curve of one of my horns, over my cheek, and over my lips. Then, he kisses me, and I am lost again.

Lost, until I feel it inside him: a glimmer, an opening, an emotion. Something real and raw and new. Something not muddled by sadness or loss. Something powerful beyond comprehension.

A horrifying voice echoes from the back of my mind.Take him,it commands.

“No,” I whisper out loud.

Theo’s eyes flutter back open, and he looks at me with a strange expression. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

I can feel her claws. The demon. The part of me I have held back all these weeks. The creature that has somehow separated from what I am now—Annoth’zagoz of the Seventh Tower. She tears through me, ravaging and raging, scenting Theo’s weakness, and my own. She wants to take him, use him, hurt him. She wants to make him hurt Ben. She will destroy everything I have come to care about.

“No!” I whimper, and try to scramble away from Theo, but she seizes me by the throat. “No, please, do not hurt him! Theo…no…”