Page 26

Nox

I don’t sigh with relief when Bastian turns from the door to face us; there’s not enough air in the room for that. I feel strange and boneless, dizzy with fear and joy in a way I didn’t know I could experience. I’ve been so damn afraid of being hurt again that I’ve put up walls between myself and my lovers, but there are no walls to be found when it comes to Siobhan and Bastian. They both see me too clearly in their own way. That seeing terrifies me, but when your life is numbered in days, hours, minutes, a broken heart is barely worth mentioning. If I experience it, then at least the pain has an end point this time.

No matter what they think, no matter the confidence I’ve portrayed to my crew, there’s a part of me that doesn’t believe the horn will do anything.

That’s a worry for another day, another me. Right now, Bastian is crossing to stand before me, Siobhan on my other side, her perfect body on full display. Even as Bastian takes my hand, I drink in the sight of her, doing my best to memorize every line, every curve. She’s every inch a warrior, strong and solid and fierce.

And she’s looking at me like she wants to take a bite out of me, her honeyed eyes shining in the low light of my cabin.

“I—”

“What terms would you like me to use?” she asks softly. When I don’t immediately answer, she motions to my body. “Do you have preferences?”

Shock makes my knees buckle. I manage to stay on my feet through sheer habit, grounded by Bastian’s hand in mine. I usually take the lead when it comes to sexual encounters. It’s easier that way, to tell my lovers what I need from them before they have a chance to disappoint me. For Siobhan to ask this now shows a level of care that I don’t know how to deal with.

Bastian squeezes my hand, but is otherwise silent. I appreciate that. I was still feeling out my identity when he and I were together, and what I wanted from him then is not the same thing I need from lovers now.

I clear my throat. “Uh, chest.” I press my hand to my chest and then slide it down my stomach. “Sex.”

“Good.” Siobhan makes a rumbling sound somewhere between a growl and a purr. She takes the single step that brings her close. She surveys us for a beat. “Let’s get cleaned up before we begin.”

I’ve never been at a loss for words in my life, but I can’t seem to draw forth the breath required to speak. Bastian presses a kiss to the sensitive spot on my neck, right behind my ear, and chuckles against my skin. “Best not argue. Siobhan always gets her way.”

Argue? I can’t even think properly as she leads us into the bathroom. The sensation only gets worse—better—as she catches the hem of my shirt and pulls it slowly up, her knuckles coasting over my stomach and chest, sending little zings in their wake. I’m so distracted, I almost miss Bastian’s hands on my belt, effortlessly tugging it free and sliding my pants down my legs. He gets tangled up in my boots. “Well, fuck.”

Siobhan makes that delicious rumbling sound again. “I have a solution.” She bands her forearm under my ass and lifts me, pressing me tightly to her naked body.

Distantly, I can feel Bastian freeing me of my boots and pants, but all I can focus on are her honey eyes and the fact that her mouth is…right…there. Just like that, I’m not frozen any longer. I wrap my legs around her waist and dig my hands into her hair. Then I kiss her the way I’ve wanted to for years, a slow savoring of the simple press of her lips to mine before I nip her full bottom lip and tease her mouth open.

Gods, her taste . It’s as wild and heady as faerie wine—and just as quick to sweep me away.

My back hits the cold tile wall, and not even that is enough to shock me out of the need for more. I lock my heels against the small of her back, grinding against her mindlessly as she kisses me back like she wants to consume me, bite by bite.

The sound of water running is a distant thing, even as steam fills the room. And then there are more hands on my body— Bastian’s hands—soft palms and clever fingers running up my legs to cup my ass, squeezing and parting me even as Siobhan keeps kissing me like her life depends on the stroke of her tongue against mine.

Bastian’s touch changes, becomes less exploration and more guidance as he tugs us back into the shower and beneath the hot spray. It feels so good, I have to break the kiss just to moan a little. “Nothing better than a hot shower after a long day.”

“ Nothing better?” Siobhan laughs roughly. She shifts her grip on me so she can palm my sex. “Are you sure, Nox?”

I moan again, grinding against her touch. It’s been so long since I had a lover, and never like this; never in my space, my cabin, my shower. Sex was strictly for our times ashore, in rooms in inns or brothels. Allowing someone so close to where I spend my days and nights was an intimacy that I shied away from.

There’s no shying away from this. From them .

Siobhan turns us and then Bastian is at my back, his naked chest pressed to my skin. He’s not quite as tall as Siobhan, but all that means is that his cock lines up quite nicely where I’d like it, and he has easy reach to press open-mouthed kisses along my neck. He slides his hands between my and Siobhan’s bodies, cupping my sex over her touch and, from the way she shivers and moans, stroking her pussy with the other.

We’re a mess of questing hands and writhing bodies. It’s fucking divine. For all the desperation that pulses between us, no one is rushing.

At least not until the hot water abruptly goes cold.

“Fuck!” Bastian slips around us to scramble at the knobs. “Holy shit. That’s freezing.”

Siobhan loosens her grip, allowing me to slide down her body, until I’m standing on shaky feet. Her lips are swollen from my kisses, her eyes both sharp and hazy with desire. She hesitates. “Second thoughts?”

“No.” It’s the truth. It’s not just because of the lust throbbing through my body in time with my racing heart. Lust is simple. This feels like fate. “I want you in my bed.” I look past her to where Bastian has pulled down a few towels. “Both of you.”

He looks…I don’t know if I have the words. Bastian is always gorgeous to the point of being pretty. But wet, with his longish hair slicked back, water droplets making their slow way over his warm, light brown skin? I shiver. I want to follow those rivulets with my tongue. I want to see if Siobhan tastes as wild and free everywhere. I want .

We towel off quickly and there’s another moment of awkward transition from the bathroom to the cabin. I pause long enough to lock my door. When I turn around, Siobhan is stretched out across my bed and Bastian is standing a nearly polite distance away. He looks like he’s about to try to be honorable again. This is something that hasn’t changed in the years since I loved him with my whole—if bruised—heart. Bastian has always been aware of the power he wields as a Dacre; even a second son holds more value in the eyes of the Council and the rest of Lyari than a street kid. He could do anything he wanted to to those less powerful than he is.

And he never has.

I close the distance between us in a single step and press my fingertips to his lips. “Do you want to stop?”

His dark eyes go hot enough to chase away what little fear remains. Bastian holds my gaze and shakes his head slowly. “No,” he says against my touch. “I don’t want to stop.”

“Me, either.”

Kissing Siobhan was as inevitable as the tide. Kissing Bastian feels like the best kind of recklessness. There’s no exploration here; we don’t need it. The years fall away as if they never happened. Somewhere deep inside me, I can admit that a part of me will always know this man, will always recognize him as holding a part of my heart.

He backs me toward the bed and then Siobhan is there, tugging us both down. Being between them is like being caught in a violent storm. I lose all track of myself, of time, of everything. There’s only her and him and me. Today, yesterday, tomorrow? It all ceases to exist.

Bastian kisses his way down my body, pausing to nip along my chest, to lavish my nipples with his tongue until I squirm and moan. Touching him again is…like coming home. He has new scars and his body has shifted over the years, the softness of young adulthood and a life lived easy have been burned away, leaving carved muscles and a strength that makes my mouth water.

And Siobhan? She’s a force of nature. Her strength makes me quiver. Her touch is sure and skillful, moving in perfect harmony with both mine and Bastian’s. She grips his cock and runs one careful nail down his length. “Have you missed this, Bastian? Missed us ?”

There it is again. That terrifying, exhilarating word. “Us.”

“Yes,” he grinds out, his head thrown back, the long line of his throat exposed.

It’s the most natural thing in the world to kiss that throat. To push him down onto the bed next to Siobhan and continue exploring his body with my lips and tongue as Siobhan lazily pumps his cock, a satisfied smile on her face.

Having them this close together is a fantasy I’ve been too afraid to even entertain. Now that it’s truly happening, I can’t stop touching, tasting. I cup Bastian’s balls with careful fingers. I shift over to rub my face against Siobhan’s strong thigh and bite her just hard enough to make her gasp. Her pussy is right there , and even as I keep fondling Bastian, I dip down and drag my tongue through her folds.

I was right. She tastes just as wild here as her kiss did. Wilder, even. Especially when her thighs quiver on either side of my head. Siobhan is as unshakable as a mountain, but she’s shivering for me ? That’s an addiction I could spend the rest of my life in service to.

Bastian jerks and hisses out a breath. “Gods, I’ve missed you.”

I tell myself not to look up, not to witness the fact that I’ll be forever on the outside of their relationship—no matter how short my forever is meant to be—but Bastian doesn’t appear consumed with Siobhan alone. He has one hand fisted in her hair, tugging her head back so he has full access to her throat. Even as I watch, he licks her there and reaches down to create a V with his fingers, parting her folds to give me unrestricted access to her.

He meets my gaze. “I missed you, too, Nox. So fucking much.”

I don’t have a response to that that won’t break my ribs open and expose my racing heart. So I don’t answer with words. Instead, I shift my hand up to join Siobhan’s around his shaft and go back to making her come all over my face.