Page 43 of Gods and Graves

Everett would threaten the gods. And if that didn’t work, he would sneak up to the stars and steal them straight from the sky.

And Rafe? He would torture every god and goddess until they have no choice but to declare me Goddess of Stars. One star wouldn’t be enough for my psychotic blood fae.

The knowledge of what they would do for me isn’t just a revelation; it’s a damn homecoming.

Is it possible to fall in love in the span of days? Maybe. Or maybe it’s the emotions we felt for each other hundreds of years ago—the emotions that have been eradicated from existence—making an emergence, clawing their way out of the grave.

I…love these men.

At least, I think I do.

Lust bleeds through the longer I stare up at Zaid, taking in the smooth column of his neck. His high cheekbones. The sweep of hair across his forehead that doesn’t seem to want to settle.

“Thea…” Zaid whispers, taking a step closer.

And then we’re meeting in the middle in a flurry of tangled lips, gnashing teeth, and battling tongues.

“What the fuck are you two doing… Oh fuck,” Everett says, but we ignore him as we burst through the door of the empty bedroom.

Zaid kicks it shut behind us, his lips still on mine, his hands roaming my body. His touch is fiercely possessive, burning my skin.

I gasp and whimper, arching my neck to grant him better access. He swipes his tongue across the skin there, a guttural, sexy moan building in the back of his throat.

“Fuck, Thea. I don’t think you know how badly I want you. How badly I need you.”

“Show me,” I whisper, already reaching for my top and pulling it over my head.

We hungrily rip at each other’s clothes and throw them on the ground behind us. I crash onto the bed, Zaid looming over me, his touch lighting my skin on fire. His hand trails down my stomach to find that sweet spot between my legs. I gasp against his lips as he curls one finger deep inside of me.

“Fuck, you’re so wet already, sweetheart,” he whispers, the words slightly muffled since his lips are still pressed to mine.

I kiss him ravenously, desperately, raking my fingers down his back.

When a second finger joins the first, I rip my lips away from his to gasp, pleasure coursing through me in liquid waves.

“Zaid…” I whimper.

“I know, sweetheart. I know,” he soothes, continuing his relentless assault on my pussy.

He lowers his head to kiss my breast, his tongue flicking my aching nipple repeatedly.

Fissions of electricity ripple across my skin as I convulse around his fingers, screaming out his name—a benediction and a cry for mercy all at once.

“Fuck, Thea.” Zaid continues to finger me through the aftershocks of my orgasm, his pupils dilated with lust.

“Zaid…” I whisper, gently grabbing his arm to pull his fingers away from my wet cunt.

He watches me in confusion, frown lines knitted between his eyes, and I feel a zing of excitement sizzle along my nerves.

Slowly, I move onto my knees and straddle his body.

“Let me make you feel good too,” I whisper, kissing the hollow of his throat.

His right pec.

His left pec.

His toned stomach.

His inner thigh.

“Holy fuck.” His cock jerks against his stomach, and I smirk at him before licking at the precum gathered on the tip.

I take my time with his cock, memorizing every inch of it with my tongue. The slit on the top. The vein on the right side. I lick every last inch of him as he moans and begs for more.

“Please, Thea. Please. Fuck.” His hips gyrate upwards.

Fuck, I like it when he begs.

Really, really like it.

I wrap my hand around the thick girth of his cock and begin to stroke him as I suck on his balls. I have no idea what I’m doing, but he seems to like it, if his breathy moans and pleas for mercy are any indication.

“Thea, you need to stop, sweetheart. Fuck, you need to stop.”

I slowly pull my mouth away from his dick, his steely shaft brushing against my cheek as I grin at him.

“Do you really want me to stop?” I ask, remembering Rafe’s words from the other night.

“No, but…I won’t be able to last much longer, and I want to fuck you. I need to. I haven’t done this, and…”

He swallows convulsively, his hooded eyes trailing across my face with a worshipful reverence.

“You haven’t…had sex?” I whisper, my heart thundering.

A blush stains my wraith’s cheeks. “Maybe I did before I was put to sleep, but I don’t remember it.”

He gives me a pointed look, letting me know he believes that we may have had sex hundreds of years ago.

The thought makes my stomach flutter and my heart pick up speed.

“But since I’ve been awake, I haven’t… I haven’t felt the need.” The excitement in his eyes lightens the blue-gray to a cerulean color.

Beautiful.

Intoxicating.

Mine.

Zaid is truly a handsome man, though his looks are different from the others.

Krystian is traditionally beautiful, with perfect features and long, thick lashes.

Everett encompasses an unmerciful kind of beauty I’ve only ever seen in predators before. He’s a lion waiting to pounce and tear through the unsuspecting zebra entering his domain.

Rafe is sexy in a rugged, dangerous type of way. One glance into his fathomless dark eyes would have you running and screaming in the opposite direction. However, a twisted part of you wants to know him, save him, banish the demons in his eyes.

Zaid, on the other hand, is softer than his counterparts. Smaller too, though not by much. His features may appear unassuming at first glance, but then he smiles at you, and you wonder why you ever thought this man was ordinary.

Lust curls through my veins like flames at the knowledge that…at least subconsciously…he waited for me. I don’t judge the other guys for their past, but it’s nice to know that at least one of them doesn’t have a body count a mile long—and I’m not talking about dead bodies.

“Say something,” Zaid pleads. “Is it weird? Fuck, it’s weird, isn’t it? I know I shouldn't have?—”

I shut him up with a kiss.

When I pull away, I’m smiling. “You waited for me.”

“I did,” he agrees, his hands moving to my hips. “Maybe I didn’t consciously know about you, but a part of me realized that other women couldn’t add up to the woman in my head. A woman I now realize is…you.”

The warmth in his eyes is a blazing beacon that calls to my soul.

“I think… I think I love you,” I confess in a rush, my heart damn near close to bursting.

Zaid’s eyes light up, and a breathtaking smile overtakes his face. Beautiful. So fucking beautiful. “I think I love you too.”

He flips us then, so I’m underneath him and the length of his body is overtop of mine. He uses one hand to grab the base of his cock and line it up with my entrance.

“Is this okay?” he asks hesitantly, his hand still wrapped around his throbbing dick.

“Fuck me, Zaid,” I plead.

He bites down on his lower lip hard enough to draw blood as he pushes inside of me.

“Yes. Fuck, yes,” he whispers, his cock twitching inside of me. But my sweet wraith cares more about my pleasure and comfort than his. Instead of moving his hips, he pauses, his fingers digging into my waist. “Is this okay?”

I nod again.

Zaid begins to move his hips—slowly at first, like he’s gauging my reaction—and then faster. Harder. Each thrust hits that spot deep inside me that makes me see stars.

“Yes, Zaid. Yes .”

Zaid uses one hand to grab both of my wrists and pin them above my head, forcing my breasts into the air and closer to his face. He wastes no time licking and sucking at my nipples.

His pace increases, and dark spots speckle my vision as I feel my orgasm approach.

And when his free hand lowers between our bodies to strum my clit? I detonate.

I come with a scream, but Zaid doesn’t let up, continually flicking my clit to extend my orgasm and steal my breath away.

It isn’t long until he comes as well, thrusting deep inside of me—so deep that my vision tinges red and gold—and roaring his release. He grabs my tit in a punishing grip, holding on for dear life.

He collapses on top of me, both of us breathing heavily, then shifts us so I’m nestled on his chest with his arm coiled around my waist.

For a moment, we lie in silence, and love for him coils through me. I absently trace patterns on his chest as I struggle to find my breath again.

“So…do you think the others know what we were up to?” I ask lightly.

His husky chuckle causes me to vibrate. “I think they may have an idea or two.”

“And they didn’t want to join in?” I ask, only halfway teasing. A quarter teasing.

Zaid freezes underneath me, and his gaze sharpens on my face. “Is that something you’d be interested in?”

I don’t blush often, but right now, heat seeps into my cheeks and crawls down my neck.

“I mean, as you know from before, I wouldn’t be opposed…”

I half expect the door connecting the two rooms to burst open and the men to file inside. After all, I know Everett can hear just about everything we’re saying with his enhanced hearing.

Then again, maybe he doesn’t want his first time with me to be in a group. Maybe he’s waiting until we’re alone.

A flush spreads through me once more—but this time for an entirely different reason.

“It’s something we can talk about,” Zaid says, chuckling. He kisses my temple. “I don’t think any of us would be opposed either.”

“Have any of you…shared a girl before?” I ask, unsure if I actually want the answer to that question. “Besides yesterday, I mean.”

“You already know I didn’t,” Zaid says, his hand smoothing up and down my arm. “And as for the others? I’m not sure, but I honestly don’t think so. Actually, I’m ninety-nine percent positive they’ve never even considered it.”

A thrill shoots through me.

Is it wrong that I feel pride at being the first one they would be willing to share? That I want to find all their past lovers, give them the middle finger, and scream, “Suck it,” at the top of my lungs?

Zaid continues to hold me as I process that revelation.

“So…” Zaid begins.

“So?” I tilt my head to stare up at him.

“What are your thoughts on what Hades said? About you being the final member of our team?”

I anxiously lick my lips. “I…I don’t know how I feel about it, to be honest. None of us have any memories of all this time we apparently had together.

How can I miss what I don’t remember? But at the same time, it pisses me the fuck off.

Whoever is behind this hurt not only me, but also you guys.

We could’ve had a life together, and it was just… stolen.”

I take a deep breath, struggling to speak. “Then I wonder if this is all secretly a blessing in disguise. What if we hated each other before I went missing? What if we were only friends, or you guys had girlfriends, or I had a boyfriend, or?—”

Zaid cuts off my ramblings with a heated, passionate kiss I feel all the way in the marrow of my bones, imprinted on my very soul.

“None of us have memories of that time,” he begins, his voice raspy.

“But I can promise you that all of us were in love with you. I know it, they know it, and I think you know it too. I refuse to believe there was ever a timeline we weren’t all ardently devoted to you.

We loved you then, we love you now, and we’ll love you in the next life.

Don’t you feel it? We’re…connected. Our souls are tethered together.

It’s why you were drawn to us in the first place—and I don’t think it was to reap my soul.

You’re ours, Thea, and we’re yours. Always. ”

The vehemence of his statement brings an unexpected lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. It’s impossible to disagree with him when he’s staring at me like that—like I own him, heart, body, and soul.

“Always,” I agree, snuggling against him.

It’s the only thing I can think to say.

Always.

Always.

Always.