May

My consciousness slams into my body at the same time my body slams into the cold ground.

“Oww.” My butt’s bruised, but I landed on moss, so it’s not as bad as it could have been.

“May!” Naomi’s worried face blots out the sky. “Are you okay?”

“I just got shouted at by a god.” I touch my throbbing temple and wince. “But I didn’t pass out this time, so that’s something. Go me.”

“What?” Her hands dive under her cloak to pat at her clothes. She pulls out a couple of red crystals and presses them to my icy cheeks.

The pain instantly recedes, the loss of it making me a little giddy.

“Is this the new facial that all the best spas rage about?” I joke, adopting a commercial announcer’s voice. “Our aestheticians will massage you with Faerie crystals, imparting a magical glow you can’t get anywhere else.”

She chuckles, then shoots me a mock glare. “Stop making me laugh when I’m supposed to be worried about you!”

“No regrets. I love making you laugh,” I say. “The extra crystals are helping, thanks. I have a couple on me, just in case, but maybe I need to carry even more?”

“Maybe. The rest of us aren’t dealing with celestial beings. Taylor would probably say you need a god-level power up.”

A roar jerks my attention back to the battle. Aldronn! He’s trying to get to me. He clocks a fist to his opponent’s head, sending the silver-haired fae reeling, but shadows snap toward him from the burly one.

Severin lands in front of the door. All of his shadows suck back into his tattoos like a video run in reverse. He gives an impatient come-along wave. “With me!”

Right before he dives through the door, his voice fills my mind. “All I wanted was to show them the trees.”

The other two fae break off their attack and dart for the door, Starfall cantering after them the entire way.

Then Aldronn’s racing toward me, his sword sheathed with a flick of his wrist, freeing his hands. He slides onto his knees and scoops me into his arms. “May.”

“I’m okay,” I say, but I cling to him, needing to feel he’s alright, needing his solid strength.

He presses hot kisses to my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, murmuring my name between each.

“I learned things about the dark fae,” I say, my teeth chattering as I start to feel the cold.

“Later,” he growls, kissing me with a ferocious intensity that curls my toes.

“Get a cave,” Starfall says from nearby, her tone amused.

When we pull apart, the unicorn nuzzles the side of my head, and I reach up to pat her cheek, holding her to me for a moment.

“Excellent idea.” Aldronn surges to his feet with me in his arms. “Which cave is ours?”

“That one.” Naomi points to an opening and shoots me a knowing smile. “It’s pretty special. I thought you might like it.”

“Thanks!” I give her an answering grin over Aldronn’s shoulder as he stalks away from them. “Don’t wait up!”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Naomi says as Wranth picks her up and starts for one of the other caves.

“Are you kidding me?” Starfall grumps. “The last thing I need is to hear all of you. I’m going to go and graze very, very far away.”

I chuckle, and Aldronn’s lips twitch as he ducks under the thick ice of the cave opening and carries me into an ice chamber lit by a single glow stone. It immediately feels warmer out of the wind, but this room is bare. The same golden glow shows in a smaller opening ahead.

He leans over to set me on my feet and nips the side of my neck with his tusks, sending shivers racing through me straight to my core. Impatient hands aim me at the opening. “Go.”

This is one order I’m more than happy to obey. I duck and hurry down a short tunnel that opens on an inner chamber. The air feels surprisingly warm on my face, heated by a small pool at the back, which has steam rising from it. Our bags sit against one of the walls, and furs are spread across the middle of the floor.

“It really is perfect!”

Aldronn straightens from the crouched position he used to get through the tunnel and gives a pleased grunt. “It’s about to get even better.”

“Hell yeah, it is.” I eye the furs.

Instead of immediately dropping me onto them like I want—I pout a little at that, not gonna lie—he walks over to the glow stone and strikes it, turning off the lights.

“What?” I say, immediately blinded. “You know I can’t see in the dark like you can, right?”

“Patience, my bride.” He wraps his arms around me from behind, his fingers lifting my chin until my head falls back against his chest.

Light flickers in the ceiling, a gorgeous neon green outlined with streaks of purple. It grows quickly, a rippling, moving swirl of colored brightness that makes the ice of the cave glow as if we’re inside a magical lantern.

“It’s so gorgeous,” I gasp. “What is it?”

“It’s the aurora. The ice overhead is clear enough for us to see it. It’s the best thing I’ve heard about the Northern Wastes—that the aurora shines every night.” He turns me around, stripping my cloak from me and tossing it aside along with his. “All the better to see you, my bride.”

Then his hands are on me, pulling at my clothes.

An answering need rises within me, all the adrenaline and worry for him turning into something sweeter but just as intense. I rip open the buckle on his sword belt, slowing only enough to make sure it has a soft landing on our cloaks before my hands return to the front of his leather pants.

I need him alive and on me and in me. I need to celebrate that we’ve made it through yet another shitty thing the universe threw at us.

That I still have him whole and with me, this man I’m falling for.

This man I think I already love.

Aldronn growls as I sink to my knees. I grip his boots to let him step out of them, then shove off my own. I lean forward to press a kiss to his bulge, grinning up at him.

“No.” His hand fists in my hair, pulling me upright. “I need to be in you now . Nothing else will do.”

I whine a little, but it’s not a real protest. My panties are already wet.

He pulls my shirt off, his huge hands gliding over my skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful.” Aldronn palms my breasts through my bra, the linen so thin and soft it feels almost as good as being naked.

But not good enough for him. With a loud rip, he tears it in two.

“That was new!”

“I’ll get you another.” He smirks and drops to his knees. His mouth closes over my nipple, sending heat lancing through me as his tongue starts to flick.

I groan and bury my hands in his thick hair, hanging on as my knees go weak.

Aldronn nips at my other breast, scraping my skin with his tusks over and over as he unfastens my pants. The rough abrasion sensitizes my skin, making it sing, and I arch into him.

He pulls back, eyeing the mark he’s left on me and grunting with satisfaction. Then he peels the leather pants from me, his gaze so intent I feel like the most beautiful woman in all the worlds.

My panties rip, and his nose presses against my mound as he breathes deep.

I remember myself just enough to tug on his hair. “I thought you wanted to be inside me.”

He smirks, hot and wicked, and gives my clit one single lick, sending a zip of pleasure racing through me. Then he stands and strips off his pants to show off that gorgeous cock of his, already hard and leaking thick, creamy fluid. Magic shivers in the air, and blue light flashes across his stud as it grows into a second dick.

My thighs squeeze together, and I know exactly what I want. I need all of him.

“I want both your cocks in me,” I say. “I’ll need some preparation for my butt.”

“You will have it,” he growls, his gaze so heated it makes my core clench. “Get on your knees.”

His strong hands push me down, arranging my body until I’m on my hands and knees with him behind me. Then he covers my back, his huge body surrounding me, his scent of male and leather and pine all I can breathe. Everything is firm muscle and coiled strength pressing against me, making me feel tiny and overpowered in a way that’s amazingly erotic. This is the flip side of all my issues with authority—when I do let a guy take control, it’s hot as hell, and no one’s better at it than my bossy king.

He strokes the head of his cock up and down my folds, coating me in orc seed.

Fire rages through my blood, and I let out a choked sob, already on the edge of orgasm. I push my butt back toward him, my body begging.

“So needy, so greedy, my little queen.” His deep voice vibrates straight into me from where his chest covers my back. “I love it.”

His main cock keeps rubbing over my clit as the magical one teases the entrance to my core. It starts to vibrate, the sensation shaking through me.

“Say it, May,” Aldronn orders, command ringing in his voice. “Say you want my cocks.”

“No,” I tease one last time, then add, “I need them.”

“Minx.” He pushes the magical cock into me only a single inch, then pulls it out.

My core clenches, trying to grab onto him, wanting more. “Please, Aldronn.”

His hips slam forward, filling my core with his vibrating cock, the magic of it humming deep in my body.

Our telepathic connection snaps into being, the one that rides the mate bond. We both stay present in our bodies, and our feelings of desire and pleasure double, echoing back and forth and growing with each pass.

My first orgasm roars through me, hot and sharp, and I scream, my hands fisting in the furs.

“Fuck, May. The noises you make.” He pulls out of me and immediately returns with his larger cock, sliding back into me with a deep groan.

My core clenches around him, stretched tight—so deliciously tight—that I can feel the extra texture of his piercings. Just when I think nothing can feel better, his vibrating dick presses against my ass, slicking it with my wetness. It pushes in, as narrow as a finger at first, the initial burn turning into an intense sensation that feels exquisite.

Aldronn pulls out and slams forward, riding me. With each thrust, the magical cock in my ass grows a little in size until I’m stuffed completely full. It’s better than I ever imagined, the feel of him filling me everywhere overwhelming in the very best of ways.

Holding his pushup with only one arm, he splays a hand across my stomach. As he rides me harder, each thrust rocks me forward so strongly that only his grip keeps me in place.

I feel him in me, and I also feel the incredible sensations he’s feeling—the desire to bury himself deeply over and over.

“Goddess, you feel so good, my little queen,” he groans.

The hand on my stomach spreads wider, his lowest finger brushing over my clit. He pounds into me, our bodies slapping together with wet sounds that only make me hotter. The tingling in my ass adds to that of my core, the sensation spiraling higher and higher.

I pant, the smell of sex so heady it coats my tongue.

Pleasure grows and grows, tingling warmth coiling deep in my belly. It’s all so much. His cock stretches me so full, the vibrating dick fills my ass, and his finger presses on my clit in bursts of delight.

Whimpers of need pour from me with every thrust, and I rear back into him with all my strength, my body straining. The sensations of his excitement echo back to me, increasing my own.

“Aldronn!” I scream as pleasure explodes through me, coloring the world in an aurora of pure bliss.