Page 37

Chapter 37

Andy

One Year Later

I lay back on the blanket we’d spread over the long grass and gazed out at a softly swaying sea of wildflowers. Mountains rose up faintly on the far horizon, and the first scattering of stars were beginning to appear, as dusk gave way to a perfect summer night. The Planus realm might not have as much magic as other realms, but it was here, in the wild places, and tonight it sang.

It was surreal, sometimes, the way the realization struck me at times like this… how different my life was now than it had been a short couple of years before. I had spent most of my life hiding who I was, denying my heritage, denouncing my family, and just trying to find my place in the world. Now, everything was different. For the first time in my life… I was at peace with who I was. And with where I came from. I had seen and done terrible things, and I was still working through that at times. But I had this solid core inside me now. An unshakable home base to return to whenever doubts or new hardships reared their heads. I was me . Fully, unapologetically, and proudly. Darkness, light, death, life, power, vulnerability, vengeance, love… I was a little bit of everything all at once. And that was just as it should be.

Everything, for once, felt like it was just as it should be. Fucking finally.

Niamh nibbled up the side of my throat and nuzzled beneath my ear, pulling me from my thoughts, I let out a soft snort of laughter as I pretended to fend her off. Zhong chuckled at our antics from where he sat on my other side, propped back on his hands and looking up at the sky. Ambrose had Dyre’s head in his lap as they shared some private joke. Elijah and Hasumi were just finishing up a game of cards while River lazed nearby, stealing treats from the picnic basket and occasionally strumming his guitar between bits of advice for the next card game.

If you’d asked me a couple years ago what I thought my life would be like right now, I never could have dreamed up something like this.

“Hibiscus!” River called, with laughter in his rich voice. I glanced over to find the little rodent climbing into the picnic basket. “Wait for Aahil or he’ll set you on fire!”

“…won’t…” came the muffled reply, muttered around bulging cheeks full of shortcake.

I shook my head. But before I could reply, the soft sound of the backdoor banging shut reached my ears and I sat up to watch Aahil, humming softly to himself as he strolled toward us. The sight struck me, as it always did these days, with how relaxed and at ease he seemed.

But he stopped abruptly when he saw Bis stuck half in, half out, of the picnic basket. “Rat,” he murmured in a warning tone. “If you’ve eaten all the cake, I will roast you on a spit as if we were making camp in the old days. I’m certain you’d be as tolerable a meal as any scrawny rabbit.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down his perfect nose at our furry child. But we all knew he was all hot air.

“There’s plenty more,” Bis informed him, holding out a paw full of strawberry-soaked cake. “Here.”

Aahil huffed and came to plop down on the blanket next to River.

“I take it the kids put up a fight?” I asked, fighting a smile when Aahil wrinkled his nose at Bis, but took the soggy piece of cake and popped it into his mouth anyway.

We all took turns putting the kids to bed at night, and Aahil liked to pretend he didn’t enjoy it. But I knew better. Aahil loved those kids as much as the rest of us, and his fierce protectiveness of them was second only to Dyre’s. Goddess help anyone who ever so much as thought about harming Moon or Sky.

“Five,” he said in reply to my question. “ Five stories. And I had to read the one about the idiot baby horse three separate times before they finally gave in and went to sleep.” He wrinkled his nose in that adorable way that made me want to kiss the tip. “Children are awful.”

River nudged him with his shoulder. “Aww, come on, they aren’t that bad. You’ve got a lot in common with kids, Aahil. Especially the bratty ones.”

The jinn turned toward him, and his glare melted into something far more dangerous. “Are you suggesting something, cat?”

We all watched as River and Aahil interacted like they had been a couple for ages, rather than a few brief months. When the banter ended with River kissing Aahil breathless and the little jinn biting him playfully in retaliation, I felt something inside me unwind.

He was okay. Aahil. Oh, he was still a snarky little brat, but he had healed. He probably had more healing to go, still, but…he was okay. We all were. And that was fucking amazing, given everything the people sitting on this blanket in this field of wildflowers had been through.

Seeing everyone so happy and at ease, and so in love, made my heart overflow with an aching sort of feeling that was some combination of yearning, relief, joy, and powerful, deep love.

Hasumi moved closer and threaded their fingers through mine, letting that feeling spread from me, through the water weaver, and outward to all of us through the strange, powerful bond we all shared.

Zhong kissed the top of my head, then leaned over to snatch a chocolate from the plate near the picnic basket and press it to my lips. “Sugar?” he murmured softly, raising one brow. I chuckled and took the candy. Sweet Zhong, always looking out for me.

If this evening was headed where I thought it was, I could use the boost to my blood sugar.

Zhong winked and reached past me to stroke his fingers through River’s silky tangle of dark waves, drawing River’s attention away from Aahil momentarily. The jinn pouted, but Ambrose spoke up, his dark voice full of taunting promise. “Aahil, come here, flame.”

The jinn looked like he might argue, but I knew deep down he loved being so adored by everyone. Eventually he crawled over to where Ambrose sat with Dyre. But he paused on the way by to draw me into a scorching kiss that left me panting with need. “Enjoy,” he murmured against my lips, the primal heat of his sensual magic pulsing through me.

Aahil knew I liked to watch them all together. That I got off on sharing the love. The degenerate.

Hasumi’s graceful hands danced over my body, urging my clothes off, then drawing me back against their lithe body to watch my other lovers enjoy themselves. Niamh had taken the opportunity to get rid of her own clothes, and she slid her hands up my legs as she crawled between my thighs, pressing slow kisses to the soft skin as she went.

Her talented mouth found my core at the same time as Aahil reached Dyre and Ambrose. The necromancer reached up and cupped the back of Aahil’s head, unflinching and confident as he took what he wanted, drawing the feisty jinn down into a kiss.

Elijah’s wing branches glowed with soft golden light as they spread behind him illuminating our orgy for the stars to see. His big hands stroked over Aahil’s head and back, through Dyre’s long red hair, before he drew Ambrose into a slow, sweet kiss that rapidly turned heated.

I gasped as Niamh circled my clit with her tongue, the need inside me building to a fever pitch. River moved up beside me, his leanly muscled body smooth and hard against my curves. His sweet kiss was accompanied by a surge of love and warmth down our bond.

He bent his head and licked along my neck, his tongue half-rough and catlike, the texture making me break out in goosebumps. Niamh slid two fingers inside me while River worked his way to my tits, suckling and swiping at my sensitive nipples with that textured tongue in a way that had me gasping and lifting my hips up, grinding into Niamh’s face.

My fae gripped my hips and pinned me to the ground with the strength of a hunter, and continued to devour me. Zhong’s big hand in my hair guided my head to the side, where he held his massive cock in his free hand. The look on his handsome face was intense, focused solely on me as he dragged the tip of his dick across my lips. “Master…”

I darted my tongue out to lap up the precome that was already leaking from his monster cock. My whole body thrummed with lust, a Pavlovian response to the sight and taste of him, and to the knowledge of what it would feel like to have him inside me, stretching me to my limits.

But not now. Not yet.

I licked and sucked, nibbling at as much of his shaft as I could fit in my mouth, while Niamh and River worked together to make me come. The first orgasm built slowly and burst over me suddenly, but Niamh didn’t let up until I cried out again, spasming between them.

When she came up for air, the fae slid up my body to lie over me, looking down at me with a hungry, feral expression that did it for me every time. Her soft lips brushed mine, and her words went right through me like a bolt of lightning. “Go fuck them,” she murmured. “Then, when you’ve come a dozen times and they’re all spent and limp with the effort it takes to please a goddess, come back to me.”

I huffed a laugh, but I wasn’t fooling anyone. Niamh wasn’t into men, but she got a certain thrill out of watching me use them for my own pleasure. And there was something so wildly, powerfully feminine in the idea that when all was said and done, she and I could keep going until we collapsed from ecstasy, in a way the men—even with their supernatural endurance—never could. Hot and empowering. That was Niamh for you.

River overheard her instructions and chuckled from beside us. “I volunteer as your first sacrifice,” he purred, patting Niamh’s ass in a purely platonic way and sliding over me to take her place.

“Oh? Feeling up for the challenge, are you?” I asked with a grin as he nestled his hips between my thighs.

He smiled back, leaning down to kiss me thoroughly before he pulled back and gave me an exaggerated wink. “Oh, I’m up for it.” He undulated his hips, pressing his long, hard cock against my slit, grinding lightly against my clit and sending little jolts of pleasure through me that fanned the coals of Niamh’s attentions back into a flame.

I huffed a laugh and rolled my hips against his. “All talk.”

He let out a little growl and rose up slightly, slotting himself against me, then surging into me with one long, smooth thrust. We both groaned and shuddered at the perfection of it. Then he started moving with that supple, catlike grace of his, rolling through me and against me in all the right ways. I could feel Niamh nearby, watching, drinking in every gasp and sigh as River gracefully, enthusiastically fucked me into the blanket.

I wrapped my legs around his hips and clutched him tight when orgasm washed over me, bringing him over the brink with me. My lips found the base of his neck and I reveled in the salty taste of his skin. Mine. And the pulse of affirmation and agreement that echoed down the cord tying us together. All mine. Always.

When River withdrew, planting soft kisses to the corner of my mouth and my chin, Ambrose was there, drawing me up and into his dark embrace. “Mistress witch,” he murmured against my lips, pulling me into his lap so I straddled his hips while he sat up, braced with one hand behind him.

I smiled and nibbled at his full bottom lip as I took him deep inside me, my legs wrapping around him, letting him hold me up with one hand as I took what I wanted. I threw my head back and gasped as he thrust up from beneath me. More hands touched my skin, caressing, coaxing, murmured words of encouragement and adoration raining down on me. I felt akin to the goddess in moments like these. In touch with my body. With my primal wants and needs. With the wild self that was our nature.

Warm hands cupped my breasts from behind, and I was braced by a warm body and a glowing golden aura at my back. “You are so beautiful,” Elijah whispered as he ran his thumbs over my nipples. All meekness and hesitance was gone from his touch. He belonged here with us. With me. And he knew that now. Embraced it wholeheartedly.

Ambrose curled forward to kiss and nip at my neck, gripping my hips to help me grind down onto his thick cock. “Mmm… so beautiful, mistress witch. So perfect like this.”

The dark tentacles of his magic enveloped me in a sweeping caress, the boogeyman calling to me, tempting me to dance with the darkness. His shark-like teeth clamped down on my neck, part threat, part playful taunt, and I lost myself again, moaning as climax rippled through me.

The darkness swept over me in one last parting caress, his soft lips touching my shoulder as I was lifted and spun around, held in powerful arms, cradled in a startling light that pushed back all but a faint, lingering outline of darkness. Elijah.