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T he water had been scalding, but even as steam filled the bathroom, the heat couldn’t wash away the chill settling in my bones. I stood under the spray, letting droplets trace paths down my skin, each one counting down to midnight when everything would change.

My mother’s ring rested heavy on my finger, a constant reminder of my duty to our people.

I dried quickly and wrapped myself in a silk robe, catching my reflection in the fogged mirror. My features were sharper, my eyes brighter, as though channeling Selene’s divine power was changing me, much like unleashing Bastian’s inner beast changed him.

Before I even opened the bathroom door, I knew my consorts would be waiting for me in the bedroom, drawn by the storm of emotions I couldn’t hide, even if Ren’s temporary spell had concealed the source. My bonds with each of my immortals thrummed with tension—save for Gavin, which ached like a festering phantom limb.

Blowing out my breath, I pulled open the door.

My immortals stood like sentinels in my bedroom. Moonlight filtered through the arched windows, casting their faces in silver and shadow.

“What’s wrong?” Javier said, his voice carrying that perfect balance of command and devotion. He approached me, his movements deliberate, controlled.

“What aren’t you telling us, Soph?” Bastian moved closer, the gold in his tattoos rising to the surface, mingling with the black ink. Anxiety blazed through our connection. He ran a hand through his dark curls, amber eyes flickering with gold. “Is it Ren? The kiss…?”

I shook my head, smiling sadly.

The air in the corner rippled with silvery energy—Wes trying to manifest. He’d been flickering in and out of view for days, ever since I’d reinforced the wards. He could hold his form better outside the house, farther from the Selenarium, long enough to let me know he was fine and that the wards were the issue. Now, his ghostly form appeared in the corner of the room just long enough for me to catch his expression of concern before he dissolved again.

I couldn’t do anything for him right now. So I focused instead on the four immortals whose blood and devotion had reshaped my very being. My consorts. My protectors. Each bond between us pulsed with a different signature, but all carried the same desperate need to keep me safe.

A need that would drive them to try to stop me if they knew what I planned to do.

“What are you hiding?” Javier asked, his voice low, intimate. His hands settled at my waist, the touch both possessive and steadying.

I couldn’t meet his eyes, not with guilt burning through my veins. He knew me too well. Of course he would recognize the signs of me preparing to do something reckless.

Ren’s words about Veris echoed in my mind—about using his obsession with breaking the curse as leverage, about offering myself as bait. About going alone because bringing my consorts would only give Veris more hostages to use against me.

“I’m just processing everything,” I lied, the words tasting like ashes. “So much has happened…”

Javier’s hands shifted lower, settling on my hips. When he pulled me closer, I went willingly, letting the familiar heat of his body chase away some of the chill in mine. His lips traced the curve of my neck, finding the spot where my pulse thrummed beneath my skin.

“You’re lying,” he murmured against my neck.

I sucked in a breath, my heartbeat erratic. But before I could respond, his fangs grazed my throat, making heat pool low in my belly despite the gravity of what lay ahead. When his teeth finally sank into my flesh, the sharp sting of pleasure-pain made me gasp, my hands flying up to grip his shoulders.

Our bond blazed brighter with each pull, memories flooding between us—him whisking me away from the massacre, teaching me to survive in the human world, helping me grow into someone who could bear the weight of a crown he’d always known I would wear.

“You are mine, Luna,” he growled against my broken skin, his voice rough with possession. “My queen. My purpose. Mine .”

The raw emotion in his voice nearly broke my resolve. Through our bond, I felt everything he couldn’t say directly—his fear of losing me, his frustration at threats he couldn’t simply eliminate, his desperate love.

His free hand slipped under my robe, pausing below my belly button, like he was giving me a chance to pull away. When I didn’t move, his fingers slid lower, delving between my legs with practiced ease.

I gasped, my hands clutching his shoulders as my knees threatened to give out. He stroked my clit, his touch both reverent and commanding, knowing exactly how to make my body respond.

“Javier,” I whispered, his name a prayer and a plea. My fingers tangled in his hair, holding him close as the world narrowed to his mouth on my skin, his hand between my thighs, the bond that tied us together.

He pulled back slightly, his lips brushing my ear. “I will never let you go,” he vowed, his voice a rough growl. “No matter what happens. No matter where you go.”

My breath hitched. Did he know? Could he tell I was planning to make a deal with Veris? To steal away in the middle of the night, without them, into the lion’s den? The thought of leaving him—of leaving any of them—twisted in my chest like a knife.

“I love you, my Luna,” he murmured. His words sent a shiver through me, desire and sorrow tangled together.

I surrendered to the moment, letting the shadows hide the tears in my eyes. I felt the others drawing closer, each bond burning with the same desperate need to hold on to me before something tore us apart.

Javier’s fingers moved faster, his rhythm relentless as he circled my clit with expert precision. His mouth returned to my throat, tongue lapping at the wound he’d made, and I felt the pleasure coiling tight in my belly. My body trembled, balancing on the edge of release, and I clung to him like he was the only solid thing in a world turning to liquid.

Pleasure crashed over me, sharp and consuming. He held me as I trembled, his arm wrapping around me like he could shield me from fate itself. But he couldn’t shield me from myself.

Bastian closed in, his hand settling on my back, heat bleeding through the silk of my robe. Ash and Thane moved in sync, taking up positions that enclosed me in a protective circle.

I leaned into Javier, the silk robe slipping off one shoulder as I surrendered to this. To them. “Help me forget,” I whispered. I needed this—needed them—before I did what had to be done. “Help me forget everything .”

Bastian turned me around in Javier’s arms and knelt before me, his hands sliding up my thighs beneath the silky robe. His touch sent shivers cascading over my skin. He looked up, his gaze locking onto mine with an intensity that made my breath catch.

His hands pushed the robe further aside, baring me to his hungry gaze. His lips followed, trailing kisses along my inner thighs. I gasped as his teeth grazed me—a hint of the beast he kept carefully contained. A promise of what lurked beneath his human form.

His mouth moved higher, teasing me with deliberate slowness until I wanted to scream. When his tongue finally found my clit, pleasure jolted through me like lightning. My fingers tangled in his dark curls, holding him against me as he devoured me with primal intensity.

Ash and Thane’s hands claimed my breasts, teasing and pinching my nipples while Javier lapped at the bite on my neck, the telltale tingling telling me he was healing the wound with his blood. The onslaught of sensations ricocheted through me, pushing me toward another peak with devastating precision.

Bastian worked my clit until my legs trembled and my knees threatened to give out. With a growl, he gripped my thighs and hoisted my legs onto his shoulders, opening me to him so he could lick the length of my slit in long, slow strokes.

I groaned, grinding against his face, wanting more of him. More of all of them.

Javier pressed his wrist against my lips, offering me his blood. I bit down without hesitation, his taste exploding across my tongue, tangy and bittersweet, like raspberries and dark chocolate. Power surged through me, ancient and wild, igniting every nerve ending just as Bastian refocused his attention on my clit. He sucked it, hard, and I came undone.

My orgasm hit like a tidal wave, pleasure ripping through me in violent waves that made silver light pulse beneath my skin. Bastian’s arms were like steel bands around my thighs, holding me against him as my body shuddered, Javier’s blood sliding down my throat and the endless assault on my clit making the climax stretch on and on and on .

Javier finally pulled his wrist away, and Bastian released my clit, instead grazing his lips back and forth along my inner thigh. Ash moved behind me, taking Javier’s place as the aftershocks of the marathon orgasm racked my body, his large hands settling on my shoulders with firm tenderness. His warm body pressed against my back, solid and reassuring. His lips found the nape of my neck, sending a shiver straight down my spine.

Ash’s hands traced down my arms, fingers drawing patterns on my skin that left trails of heat in their wake. Thane pressed in on my side, dark eyes burning as he lowered his head. He cupped my face, his thumbs brushing my cheeks as his lips captured mine in a kiss that stole my breath.

The silk robe slipped further open as Ash gathered the fabric at my hips, exposing more skin to the cool air. His teeth grazed my shoulder, sending another jolt straight through my core. I moaned into Thane’s mouth, surrendering to the sensations.

Together, they carried me to the bed, laying me down so the gaping silk robe pooled around me like dark water as they surrounded me. I lost myself in them—in how they surrounded me, consumed me, claimed me as theirs. Thane offered me his blood as Ash made sweet love to my pussy with his mouth, the two of them drawing out my next orgasm until my nerve endings felt singed from the overexposure to pleasure.

Finally, they released me from the chokehold of ecstasy, only for Bastian to position himself between my legs, his hungry eyes, pulsing gold, never leaving mine. The hard length of him pressed against my entrance, and I gasped as he thrust in, filling me completely. His hands gripped my hips, holding me steady as he began to move with slow, deliberate strokes that dragged against that secret spot inside me just right.

Ash and Thane settled on either side of me, their hands exploring every inch of exposed skin. Ash’s lips found my breasts, his tongue teasing a nipple with gentle flicks that contrasted with the intensity of Bastian’s thrusts. On my other side, Thane’s fingers slid between my legs, stroking my clit with steady pressure.

Javier claimed my mouth, his kiss deep and demanding, and his fingers tangled with Thane’s between my legs, and I jerked at the jolt of intensified pleasure.

Bastian’s thrusts quickened, his grip on my hips dragging me onto him even as he pushed forward. Ash’s mouth joined Javier’s, tasting of sex and blood, and I moaned into the tangle of lips and tongues and teeth. My body tightened around Bastian as another orgasm tore through me.

I was drowning in sensation, lost in the storm they created around me. Every touch, every kiss, every taste of blood blended into a symphony of shared hunger.

Bastian withdrew with a reluctant groan. My body clenched at the sudden emptiness, but Ash was there immediately, filling me with that massive cock. I cried out as he pushed in, in, in, my vaginal walls tingling at the rush of immortal blood coating him.

His hands settled on either side of my head, his massive frame caging me as he began to move with controlled power. I reached for him, my nails digging into his shoulders as my hips rose to meet each thrust.

Bastian didn’t retreat, crawling around me so his throbbing cock was within mouth’s reach. I licked my lips and opened wide, taking him in until I was nearly gagging. He was so hard, his shaft slick and salty with the combination of his precum and my arousal. I moaned around the mouthful, knowing it wouldn’t take much to make him explode.

“Fuuuuck, Soph,” he groaned, his fingers tangling in my hair as he thrust into my mouth again and again until… His whole body stiffened, his tattoos flaring gold, and he shot his load down my throat. His come had the same effect as his blood, and my magic flared in response to the completed communion , moonlight radiating from my skin as pleasure rolled through me in waves.

“Sophie,” Ash gasped, my clenching pussy pushing him closer to the edge. His rhythm faltered, then changed, becoming slower but deeper. He withdrew almost completely before sliding back in, the delicious friction making my eyes roll back.

“Mmm…yes,” I purred.

With a deep, dark, masculine chuckle, Ash wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the bed, hugging me against his chest.

I grinned, dragging my lips along the length of his collarbone and wrapping my arms around his neck, already anticipating where this was heading.

Thane moved in close behind me, his lips at my ear, whispering promises in a language I didn’t understand as he rubbed the head of his cock back and forth along my ass crack. I felt the dribble of something warm and knew he’d spilled his own blood to use as lubricant. My insides fluttered in anticipation.

I rested my head back on Thane’s shoulder, relaxing as he oh-so-slowly pushed into my ass. He whispered against my temple, praised me, kissed me. And then he was inside me, and Ash and Thane were moving together, finding a primal rhythm that seemed to sync with my heartbeat.

Bastian supported me on one side, holding my leg and dusting my shoulder with kisses.

I sensed Javier farther away on my other side, and I turned my head to find him standing beside the bed, stroking his cock, his eyes on fire as he watched us. I reached for him. “Come here,” I begged, desperate for him to be closer.

He climbed onto the bed and stood on the mattress, balancing against the rocking motion from Ash and Thane’s combined thrusts. I opened my mouth and stuck out my tongue, welcoming him into me. I needed him in me. Needed all of them in me.

He did not disappoint.

I was surrounded by them, held by them, filled by them. Every inch of my skin came alive under their touch, every nerve ending singing with pleasure. Ash’s thrusts grew more urgent, Thane’s grunts more animalistic.

I was close—so close—the pressure building to an almost unbearable intensity.

Bastian wedged his hand between my body and Ash’s, sliding his fingers on either side of my clit and pinching them together. The additional sensation made me cry out, my body tightening around Ash and Thane as I dove headfirst into an ocean of mind-numbing pleasure.

Javier pulled out of my mouth, pumping his hand along his length.

The world narrowed to sensation—to the places where their bodies connected with mine, to the bonds that linked us, to the silver light building beneath my skin. I was theirs, and they were mine, and in this moment, nothing else existed.

My orgasm crashed through me with devastating force, magical moonlight exploding from my skin as pleasure ripped through every nerve ending. Waves of release shuddered through me, making my body jerk and spasm. Ash and Thane followed immediately, Javier right behind them, spurting hot come on my neck and chest. Their emotions flooded me through our bonds until I couldn’t tell where their pleasure ended and mine began.

They held me as aftershocks rippled through my trembling body, their arms forming a fortress around my sweat-slick skin. My light dimmed as ancient power settled beneath my skin once more. I breathed them in, storing this moment away like a treasure I could revisit when I needed strength.

For a heartbeat, everything else faded away—the weight of prophecy, the fear of what was coming, the dread of the choice I had already made. In that moment, there was only them, their love, their devotion, their fierce need to protect me.

“I love you,” I whispered, the words tiny against the storm building in my chest. “All of you.” I spoke a silent apology in my mind as I climbed atop Javier, straddling him and rubbing my swollen sex against his hardening cock. If this were going to work, I would have to fully wear out my guys, which meant more . More sex. More communion . More blood. I had to take and take and take from them as I had in the graveyard.

I groaned as I slid onto Javier’s cock, his fingers digging into my hips. At least, in terms of betrayals, this was one we would all enjoy.