Page 45

~Kai~

I stirred with a disgruntled groan.

Disgruntled, because I felt fully refreshed, meaning that I’d slept for a long while, and hadn’t merely taken a brief nap like I’d intended.

So much time had been wasted.

And now I had to wait longer before I could get to my lab and begin on the long and complicated path to dealing with what had been revealed last night, because I had classes to attend.

I’d already missed a couple yesterday to take Vorzyr to Cornelius.

And I’d even missed a night class, because when news of the Guardian Compound attack had reached me, I hadn’t been able to focus, and I’d had to put V down and stay by his side at my lab to monitor him.

I eyed the gold-rimmed clock hanging on the wall at the far end of Ariana’s dorm room. If I left now, I could get in an hour’s worth of work in my lab.

Warmth pressed against my side as I laid on the right side of the bed at the edge.

Warmth that was urging me to remain sinking into it.

I fought past it, focusing on what needed to be done, and then I went to get to it, shifting in bed to get up—only to find resistance.

Frowning, I looked to see that it wasn’t just Ariana’s body pressed against me and wrapped around me, it was her wings.

What the—

One of them was draped around me, folded over my side and waist, the golden edges brushing my ribs and thigh with each slow and easy breath she drew.

They were denser and heavier than feathers were expected to be, like velvet, really. They emanated warmth and I could feel them tinged with her power.

I looked closer, seeing the gilded primaries flush against me, one hooked slightly over my hip like they were trying to prevent me from moving, from leaving.

Her other wing arched outward, half-flared behind her back where it rested against V’s chest.

Ariana looked so peaceful in sleep, so utterly relaxed.

Or maybe it was the impact of our foursome that was enabling that.

V was pressed against her back, his face buried in her hair, while Nyx was curled around him over on the other edge of the bed, his arm draped all over V’s chest, his leg hooked around Ari’s.

The two of them were in just their boxers like me, while Ariana was clad in a sexy silver negligee that did amazing justice to her breasts, and rose up sexily on her thighs as she slept surrounded by the three of us.

After we’d agreed to take a beat last night, we’d come to her dorm room and just crashed right away, no sex, not even any fooling around. All of us had been too mentally and emotionally drained for that. And that was really saying something.

Looking out at them all, the warmth and comfort that infused through being here wrapped up in them, the last thing I wanted to do was to have to leave that. Even for a little while.

We had class together soon, all four of us. Yet, even knowing that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to be fucking immersed in them, in what we’d built together.

It was the only time when the outside world went away, the weight of it all, the tribulations, the expectations, knowing I had less than a year to go before my freedom would be forever compromised, before I was slated to engage in rigorous training to become Coven Head for my parents.

Before the real me, who I felt like I’d only just properly started to get to know since V and Ari had drawn close, had to dissipate and make way for the version my parents wanted, that our Coven needed.

With our foursome was the only time I could stop the voices urging me to keep pushing and fucking pushing on my quest to obtain ultimate knowledge—another, more viable route to power for me.

Power that would prevent anything from being out of my control again.

It was the only time I even came close to feeling peace.

With them . With them all over me. With them bringing out in me what I’d always thought of as a weakness before. With them cutting through the darkness that lurked within me.

I cursed inwardly. Because as much as I didn’t want to leave, I really should get to my lab and continue my research.

I grasped Ariana’s wing carefully and moved to lift it off me so I could quietly slide out of bed.

I didn’t get more than two seconds into it, before the hold tightened around me, and then she dragged me more tightly against her.

“Not yet,” her sleepy voice sounded.

“Not yet?”

“You’re so cozy, do you know that?” she murmured, nuzzling against my back. “You’re all so cozy.”

Fuck me, she was killing me. Ari having her guard down like this, all relaxed and adorable, did things to me. Because I knew what it meant, how much she was trusting us to reveal this side of her, to sink into the three of us like this without any of those walls up anymore.

“Is that right, sweetheart?” I said, turning in her hold to face her. “Tell me more.”

A little smile spread over her face and she opened her eyes, those enchanting blues sparkling at me with a mixture of mirth and flirtation.

She stroked her wings over my bare back, sending sparks of need through me.

“Not just cozy,” she breathed, brushing her fingers over my pecs and trailing down to my abs, making me groan at her deliciously arousing touch.

Just from that, and she almost had me completely.

“So incredibly sexy. I’m so lucky to wake up to the three of you surrounding me, warming me. ” Her eyes flamed. “Being mine.”

She slid her hand beneath the waistband of my boxers, but I caught it, stilling her.

“Any further, any more, and I won’t be able to hold off.”

“I don’t want you to.”

I took her other hand and brought it to my lips, kissing her fingertips, which had her beaming out at me adoringly. I loved that fucking look more than I could even quantify. “I need to get to my lab. We have an hour before class and—”

She grasped my wrist. “No, Kai.”

I arched an eyebrow. “No?”

“The four of us are going to wake up together, have breakfast and just be, before we then head to class.”

“You know the complications of what needs to be done, how long—”

She covered my hand on hers. “I do know. I know all too well. And that’s why this matters, baby.

This, right here. Us taking these moments together, to savor the good and the happiness, the fun and the comfort.

It matters more than ever. Because with what we’re up against, especially if there is actually another True Celestial operating on this plane, times like these will become fewer and farther between. ”

Fuck me. I pushed into her until her lace-covered breasts in her sexy negligee were pressing against my chest, loving the little gasp that escaped her as she felt the heat of it. “Are you trying to manage me, sweetheart?”

Her wing around my back slapped against me, hitting my ass.

“Did you just spank me?”

The corner of her mouth turned up. “It worked, didn’t it?

It jarred you out of heading down that paranoid road.

” Her mirth vanished then, earnestness taking her over as she pulled her hand free from mine and slid both of hers up to cup my face.

“You don’t need that with me anymore, Kai.

Forsake that paranoia. You don’t need to be on guard anymore, not with us, not with me.

I have your best interests at heart. I promise you that.

” She stroked my cheeks with the pads of her thumbs.

“I called my wings forth last night for you , because you were calling out in your sleep, having nightmares. When I wrapped them around you, it soothed you. With everything that’s happened, it’s impacted you more than you’ve let on, because you believe you need to hold everything for the rest of us, to rise above it all.

But that approach is hurting you now. Don’t go it alone anymore.

Because you’re not alone. It’s certainly not all on you.

Those days are over. We’re all in this together. Pull on that support.”

Nightmares?

I hadn’t experienced nightmares since I was a young teen, just after my parents had told me the story of their near demise at Draco’s hands.

She was right then, I was internalizing too much if that was happening again now.

“Okay,” I murmured.

“Yeah?” she asked, obviously hesitant at my easy agreement, wanting to make sure. It was me she was dealing with after all.

“Yes. I heard you.”

She smiled and retracted her wings, and then she was brushing her lips over mine.

Her thigh came up and hooked my hip, and she pulled me closer still, her eyes hooding in undisguised need.

In the next moment, I was on her, straddling her and taking her in a deep kiss.

She sank her fingers into my hair, tugging and stroking, while she rolled her hips beneath me, making me groan as she teased my now rock-hard cock in an absolutely head-spinning way.

When she eased her mouth from mine to suck in an unencumbered breath, I trailed my hand up her thigh, making her eyes spark and her undulate for me.

“Besides,” I said, gazing down at her. “I did promise you a cunt-eating train.”

She slapped my chest. “Kai!”

I chuckled. “You fucking love my dirty mouth.” I nuzzled her neck, making her gasp and giggle. “Admit it,” I said, licking her throat. “Tell me how much it gets you off.”

She angled herself, giving me better access, a sexy little moan escaping her. “Fuck… yes… yes.”

“Mmm… call me baby again.”

A familiar rumble sounded. “Love it when you get all needy, sorcerer.”

I looked to see V had woken up and he was eyeing us with a whole lot of heavy-lidded lust.

“It’s so rare that when it does come about, I can’t get enough of it.”

“Morning, my dragon,” Ari said, reaching out and stroking his long hair.