Page 8 of Malice: The Mate Games (Apocalypse #3)

Chapter

Six

MERRI

T he antique wardrobe’s door creaked as I pulled it open, once again making me yearn for the walk-in closet at Grim’s penthouse.

It was so much larger, with a wider variety of camming outfits.

Reaching inside, I trailed my fingers over a few options but cast them aside. I needed black, lace, and over-the-top.

I shoved several hangers to the side, on the hunt for the perfect teddy/robe combo, when the scent of the ocean hit my nose. I paused, checking behind me to ensure the window was still closed. We were on an island, but this was the first time I could recall being able to smell the sea.

Another waft of salty air overtook my senses, but this time it was accompanied by a decidedly cool breeze... from inside the wardrobe.

“What the heck?” I muttered, pushing the hanging garments out of the way so I could see the back of the large piece of furniture. Or at least, I tried to.

Instead of finding the back of the antique wood, I was met with a second row of clothing. Then a third. At this point, I was literally inside what was arguably a wooden box. Except it wasn’t a box. Not anymore.

“What in the Mary Poppins bag of furniture is this?” I grunted, pulling a coat sleeve off my face.

The cry of a seagull pierced the air, followed by the unmistakable sound of waves.

Oh. Oh, I understood now. This was a dream.

I’d never had a portal to Narnia dream before, but that had been one of my favorite movies as a kid.

I didn’t know why my subconscious was choosing this precise moment to bring it back around, but hey, might as well enjoy it.

I pushed through the last of the clothes until I was standing in a field of swaying grass.

The sun was high overhead, but it wasn’t hot.

The cool ocean breeze was more than enough to mitigate the powerful rays.

Seeing a normal sky after a week of one filled with fire was incredible.

That alone was worth the price of admission.

“Stop fighting me, you menace.” The male voice floating through the tree line sent my pulse skyrocketing. I didn’t recognize it. Normally in my dreams, I recognized the people and places. Well, except that first time I met Luc.

I guess, come to think of it, it wasn’t that unusual to have randos show up in our dreams. It certainly happened now and then. Usually it just meant they were some sort of amalgamation of traits used to represent something—or someone—else.

“Well, let’s see what all this is then,” I murmured, heading off toward the voice.

A strange sound, low and almost cow-like, grew louder the closer I got.

“You guys are ridiculous. Stop complaining.” That voice again.

As I snuck through the trees, a figure came into view in the distance. A tall man with shaggy blond hair was crouched over a large box, from which more of the weird cow-chainsaw sounds were emanating.

“How are there so many of you? You’re only supposed to have one egg at a time, you know.”

He scooped something out of the box, a little fluffy black bird who squirmed in distress as the man chick-napped him or her.

“All right, Staypuft, you’re up.” The birds in the box squawked in protest. The man gave the box a glare. “Listen, you know we have to do this. You’ll all be reunited in a matter of minutes. Just let me live, broskis.”

Oh my God, what was my brain making me witness?

“This hurts me more than it hurts you. Believe me,” he grumbled before winding up like a pitcher and hurling the flailing little bird off the cliff.

“What the hell are you doing?” I shouted, rushing up to the man and his potential victims.

He spun toward me, his face set in a scowl. “The job I hired you for,” he snapped. “Nice of you to show up, by the way. Do you have any idea how hard it is to do all the testing and returning by myself? It’s not like we’re trying to save the world or anything.”

“I’m sorry? What are you talking about?”

He stepped closer, his white lab coat flapping in the wind. Then he pointed at my chest. “Operation PFFN. It’s right there on your shirt. God, where does Remi find these people? Mars?”

I looked down my torso, and sure enough, the logo he’d indicated was splayed across my tits. Well then. He was still looking at me expectantly, so I shrugged. “Must have mixed up the start time.” Because seriously, what the hell else was I supposed to say to my dream boss?

“These puffins aren’t going to catalog themselves, lady. Grab that clipboard and start checking off their names, would ya?”

Before I could irritate him further by asking where I was supposed to find one out here in the wild, I noticed a table on my right. A table that definitely hadn’t been there a minute ago.

“Dreams are so fucking weird,” I muttered, heading over to pull on a lab coat of my own and grab the aforementioned clipboard.

The man picked up another bird, this one looking to be a full-grown puffin. “Dragon, Puff the Magic.”

It took me a second to realize he was talking to me. “Huh?”

“That’s her name. Mark it off.”

“You named a puffin Puff the Magic Dragon?”

“No, I named it Dragon, Puff the Magic.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Likewise.”

I found the name on the paper and marked it with a little check. Then screamed as he hurled little Puff off the cliff.

“Why are you murdering them? Are you a puffin serial killer?”

He could not have been more offended. “Exqueeze me? Murder a puffin? Are you out of your mind? Lady, do you have any idea what we’re doing here?

We are saving these puffins. If it wasn’t for me”—he forcefully pushed a finger into his chest before flinging his arm back toward the box—“these absolute badasses would all be dead. That’s why we’re testing them.

The puffins are the key to the vaccine.”

I had officially lost my mind. The words coming out of this dude’s mouth barely made sense.

“The vaccine. Riiight.”

“We are trying to stop the...” His face contorted in confusion as the words died on his tongue. “Wait, where did they go?”

I looked over the edge of the box, and sure enough, nothing was there, just brown cardboard. Not even a stray feather.

The man whipped his head from left to right before focusing on me once more. “What are we doing here? What the fuck is going on?”

Oh great, was this about to turn into a nightmare? Had my subconscious gifted me an encounter with a crazed puffin enthusiast?

I held up the clipboard. “Uh, saving the puffins?”

Confusion swept across his face. “That does sound like me, but...” He dragged a hand through his hair, leaving several strands sticking straight up. His gaze was unfocused, and he was muttering under his breath. “Nope. No. This isn’t right.”

“Operation PFFN?” I offered.

His eyes went wide as he jumped on the name. “Right. Operation PFFN.”

“Save the puffins.”

His eyes latched onto mine. Fierce and clear. “No. Save the world.”

I shot up in my bed, eyes wide, gasping for breath as I looked around my bedroom. What the fuck had that been about? Puffins? A handsome weirdo on a cliff? I could still hear the echoes of the waves and the odd sounds those birds made.

Strange as it was, I should have been thankful that it had been just a normal run-of-the-mill dream and not a dreamwalk. Small mercies, I supposed.

Not that the dream could erase what had happened leading up to it.

My cheeks burned with embarrassment. I hadn’t lost control like that in a long time.

Actually, I’d never lost myself so completely I’d ended up in a full-on fuck fest with a bunch of hotties.

The last time I’d lost control, my succubus decided to start a sex riot so she could feed.

Stupidly, I’d thought that I finally had a handle on her, but boy did she prove me wrong.

Gluttony, thy name is Merri.

Standing, I stretched my pleasantly sore muscles and gasped at the sensation of warm wetness running down my thighs.

“Ugh.” I grimaced.

I didn’t have an issue being marked by their cum, but there was nothing fun about the sticky aftermath.

“Right. A shower is a must. Then we face the music,” I muttered to myself as I awkwardly shuffled to the bathroom.

No one talked about the effect of gravity after sex without a condom. Add three extra dicks to the recipe, and the mess required more than a simple wipe-down.

I started the water and took stock of myself in the mirror as it heated up, muttering as I did, “Fellas, we’re gonna have a little chat about aftercare.”

I wasn’t upset that they’d left me to sleep it off, but a warm washcloth went a long way.

A moan slipped out as I stepped under the hot spray of the shower, memories of last night surfacing in flashes every time I closed my eyes.

My succubus had been in control, forcing the issue of my hunger and giving me what I needed, but I’d still been a willing participant.

I mean, sure, I’d been attempting to keep my distance from the horsemen because of the whole manipulating them into wanting me due to a totally accidental bond.

But it was never like I didn’t want to sleep with them, so I could hardly complain about getting to enjoy the ride.

The problem was, I hadn’t truly understood my hunger or seen it as a living, breathing thing.

I’d gone so long doing the absolute bare minimum to keep myself going, but now that I was actually feeding myself properly, I’d gotten a little addicted to the power that came with feeling truly full.

Camming had stopped being enough pretty much the second I’d joined up with the horsemen.

What used to last me a couple days was barely sustaining me for an hour. I needed it regularly.

Oh, fuck. Would it eventually reach the point where I had to feed three times a day to stay healthy?

But how could that be the case? Lilith didn’t live on her back in a bed with people fucking her multiple times a day. Did she?

Iniquity is a sex club, dummy.

Lilith may not be actively fucking twenty-four-seven, but she was certainly surrounded by sexual energy all day, every day.

And then there were Lilith’s demon marks.

Any deal done with Lilith was in exchange for them bearing her mark and allowing her to siphon lust magic from them when she chose.

Which meant that Lilith was feeding nearly constantly.

I paused mid-soap-up as realization dawned. I couldn’t keep acting like things were business as usual. My life was seriously going to have to change if I didn’t want more episodes like last night springing up on me.

Assuming, of course, the world didn’t end first.

A shiver that had nothing to do with apprehension raced across my skin when I ran the loofah over my breasts. Grim’s shadow hands cupping them as he moved inside me took the spotlight in my thoughts. God, I could almost feel him even now.

What a revelation that had been. I didn’t even know I could do that. Manifest a whole-ass shadow person, I mean. Was that something I could do to anybody? Or was it unique to Grim’s deathiness?

It was probably a question for Sin. Or maybe Malice. The first knew the most about being a sex demon, and the other was an expert in the mental side of my power. Surely one of them could tell me what the hell I’d done.

I shampooed my hair with deliberate slowness, taking the time to make sure every inch of my scalp was clean. The slight ache at the base of my skull reminded me of Chaos’s firm grip on my hair as he drove into me. Then I recalled the sensation of him and Malice both working in tandem.

I licked my lips at the memory of Malice’s taste on my tongue. As far as first times went, ours was certainly memorable, but not perhaps the way I’d have chosen for us if necessity hadn’t won out over all else.

His voice whispered through my mind. “Allow me, hellcat.”

Fuck. My whole body clenched in response, and I licked my lips again.

My heart gave a pained throb for what he and I could have experienced without the cloud of my hunger over us. Honestly, I wondered if all of us would have more than lust.

Immediately, I remembered Sin’s anger when I’d tried to convince him sex was all that existed between us.

When he’d all but asked me to be his girlfriend.

I smiled to myself as I thought about him asking if I’d deleted my apps or wanted to wear his ID bracelet.

Those weren’t the words of a guy who just wanted to get in my pants.

My sweet Sin wanted more with me. And it wasn’t just because of the bond I’d unwittingly created. At least, I didn’t think so. It certainly felt real when he’d let down his mental walls for me to peek inside. But was that just because my magic made him think so?

I groaned in frustration as I worked the conditioner through the ends of my hair. Those stupid dreamwalks had ruined everything. I couldn’t trust that any emotions they showed me now truly originated from them. But what about my own feelings? Could I trust those?

I craved them. Not just physically, but emotionally. Each one of them called to me in a way I’d only experienced once before. With Jimmy. And the way I’d wanted him in my life didn’t hold a candle to the magnetic pull between me and these four horsemen.

What is wrong with you? They’re literally having a secret contest to see which one can knock you up fastest. That should be a deal breaker, Meredith. Where is your feminism?

I snorted. “Joke’s on them. Pretty sure it’s never going to happen anyway. No matter how hard they try.”

As I rinsed the last of the conditioner out of my hair, I couldn’t help but wonder why they would even want to get me pregnant.

What the hell were the four of them going to do with a baby?

Was it just a game? A way to pass the time while they hid me from the denizens of hell? Some inane display of their virility?

Getting out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and rolled my eyes as Chaos’s obvious breeding kink replayed in my mind. Even veritable gods could be victims of toxic masculinity.

I should be angry. Honestly though, the connection I felt with each one of them dulled that flame of outrage into nothing but an ember. Why?

We had a lot to discuss, the five of us. Their plot. The bonds they didn’t know about. And whatever else they’ve been keeping from me.

Mind made up, I beelined for the wardrobe. It was time to get some answers. Whether the horsemen wanted to give them to me or not.