Page 72

IRIS

Vhex and Remy’s hunger never stops.

Neither does their fucking stamina .

I come until my thighs are pudding. Vhex picks me up, already ready for another round.

“Enough, enough,” I groan and push him off. “Help me find clothes, and let’s get out of this hole.”

“Allow me,” Remy drawls. He drapes me in a cloak of shadows that secretly caresses my skin. My badges are pinned to the chest.

I shiver, and my legs quake, sparking a sharp pull that radiates from my knee.

As the buzz of venom fades, pain returns. Vhex and Remy licked all my scrapes closed, but the deep bruises and strains need a healer’s touch.

“I’ll carry you.” Vhex drops to a knee, his candy cock still glistening.

I bite my lip and look away. “ Just carry?”

“Yeah, but you’d want to latch on. For safety.”

“I’ll walk,” I answer breathlessly. “Has anyone seen my glaive?”

“Here.” With a twist of shadows, Remy offers the weapon plucked from who knows where.

“Thanks.” I take a cautious step and hiss.

My joints feel like stretched-out rubber bands. My knee is one thing. But every movement leaves me exquisitely aware of the gush between my thighs.

“Problem?” Remy asks.

As if his shadows aren’t smugly rubbing the wetness into my skin.

“No problem,” I answer firmly. “Let’s move.”

Someone has to pretend to be in charge.

Using my pole as a walking stick, I pick carefully across what’s left of the chamber. Blast pits pock the ground. Scattered corpses finally lie still.

“Want me to torch the place?” Vhex asks, pooling a fireball in his palm.

“No.” I snag his wrist to cut the flames. “Don’t touch anything yet.”

Unbothered, he hooks his arm in mine. “You’re the boss.”

Am I?

My gaze skates down his abs. I bite my lip and force myself to watch the floor instead.

Speaking of hunger…

Vhex’s meridians will need my attention for weeks or months—and probably forever, at the rate his power burns. Sensing the damage makes me itch to dig in, but I’ve graduated from needing the excuse to touch his skin.

I’m already craving more.

Later .

After a shower, I’ll take my Sentinels to bed. Somewhere with soft surfaces and no undead.

Just because I want to.

Just because I want them.

At the edge of the cavern, we find Tan draped over Simms’s lap, both of them half-buried in sand from a collapsed earth wall.

Hearing my slow approach, Tan cracks open one eye. “Tell me it’s over.”

“The lich is handled. How’s Simms?”

“Passed out,” Tan answers as he disentangles, moving as creakily as I feel. “He’ll be fine. Just overstretched his power.”

“We’re on vacation after this.”

“Vacation?” Tan finds the energy to snicker. “Not for you, Commander .”

“We’ll see how long that lasts. Come on,” I say and offer him a hand.

With Vhex and Remy’s help, we dig out Simms and recover what’s left of Kevan and Luca.

Remy bags their bodies in shadows for an easy return to the Deathguard.

I’m not looking forward to that hand-over.

Thankfully, we don’t have to find our way back to the place we entered the maze. Once we hit the tunnels, the arrays blocking Remy’s shadow-walking have weakened enough that we can take the shortcut back to the surface.

We wink out as a group.

I shudder in the dizzy place between spaces.

We’re lucky the arrays held on as long as they did.

There must be a serious power source hidden somewhere close. I put it on my list of things to deal with—after cleaning up these corpses, treating all my Sentinels, and rebuilding our defenses in time for the next kobold spawn.

If I’m still in charge?

Do I want to be in charge?

Of all this mess?

Before I can wrangle my thoughts, we pop into open air with a sunrise view.

Light hits the hump of mountain rubble below us, surrounding the collapsing pit. It would be peaceful if not for the carnage of scattered skeletons and decomposing monster flesh. You can barely see the rocks under the crazy biomass gathered after centuries of warfare.

I cup Remy’s mouth and nose before the stink sets off his bloodlust.

He chuckles richly, then licks my fingers. “The stench can’t harm me. I’m sated on your blood.”

My fingers twitch from the warm rasp of his tongue. “Good, but we need burn teams here before the next spawn.”

Vhex steals my glaive to free my other hand.

“Burn team?” he says, caressing down my arm.

His nails are black and mostly human, maintaining just enough of a claw tip to tickle as they scrape my skin.

Goosebumps ripple in the wake of his unhurried touch.

His broad hand slides until he swallows my palm from behind.

Vhex firmly knits our knuckles, then lifts our joined fists.

His power surges through my soul, all syrup hot and twinkling.

My shoulder blades tingle in recognition of the gentle heat flowing between us. The energy pools into a pretty, pink fireball that glows from our clasped hands.

“We’re the burn team now,” Vhex says, deeply satisfied.

“Hold on.” I need to check his condition before I play with his power.

Vhex’s meridians are holding onto a bit of brisket crust, but his soul-silks glow lively and vibrant, mostly untangled and free to roam. I run a few quick cycles to comb through the damage. The freed silks rebound to coil around me.

His excitement bubbles, lighting me up.

He wants me to use his power.

He wants me to use him . Any way I can.

“How is it?” Vhex asks, teasing a fanged smile against my throat.

“Good.” Really good . I lift our hands a little higher and lean past my toes, lining up a target on the ground. “Together?”

“Always.”

Vhex tightens to my back.

His power surges, just as hot and addictive as his venom. I guide the rush like I’m navigating rapids.

He’s so fucking strong.

And wild.

But stars .

There’s safety too.

Vhex feels like mine.

For all the Sentinels I’ve guided, he and Remy are the only ones who ever let me in so deep I have free rein of their magic.

Giddy with the rush, I toss a test fireball.

I’m forever underestimating Vhex’s sheer fucking power—especially after my guiding has amped his flow.

What’s meant to be a tiny fireball splits into a meteor shower that pummels the ground below. Liquid hellfire rips through the mummified monster corpses and uprooted trees.

More and more magic sucks through our conduit to fuel the raging flames.

“Whoa.” I start to pull back.

“Don’t stop.” Vhex squeezes our knuckles and buries his face in my shoulder. He hugs tight, his voice muffled. “It feels so fucking good, Firefly. No more pain.”

“It’ll get even better.” I lean sideways, resting my head against his ear. I don’t forget to squeeze Remy, keeping them both reassured. “Give me time.”

Vhex’s emotions sizzle with his magic.

He fucking loves the sensation of unloading into my body, whether with his flames, his fang or his pretty, candy cock.

I sweat.

Vhex offers overflowing power to my fingertips.

It’s hard to say no.

It’s even harder to stop after I let myself fall into his flow.

We turn the mountain into a volcano basin.

Something untangles inside me as the undead melt.

I may never have to see another walking corpse.

When there’s nothing left to burn, gentle shadows tug my knuckles. I finally release Vhex’s power.

The loss feels like disconnecting my adrenaline drip.

I sag.

Remy shoulders in for the catch, deftly twisting me out of Vhex’s arms and into his.

His eyes shine dark but bright.

He strokes my cheek. “You’ve worked hard.”

“Yeah.” There’s so much more to handle first, but soon, I can have the hot shower of my dreams. “Take us home?”

“Home?” Remy’s fingers freeze beside my ear. Emotions pinwheel from his soul, spinning faster than I can read. I catch something hot and greedy as Remy’s eyes flicker between black and red.

“Back to the keep,” I clarify as tendrils wiggle around my heart. “Help me find Cherise.”

“Hold on,” Remy whispers and drags me to his chest.

I tug Vhex along for the ride.

Remy must’ve sent Tan, Simms, and the baggage ahead while I was playing purgatory.

We wink back to the keep’s courtyard, appearing just above the outer walls. The main gate hangs open. Outside, squads are hard at work, piling and burning the undead.

Tense little pulses of power pepper my senses from Sentinels on high alert.

They relax, spotting me.

Then they see Vhex and Remy and run the other way.

Cherise looks at her limit, tending to a crowd of wild-eyed Sentinels. Snarling and shoving, they’re half out of their minds and refusing to wait in line for the next available Guide.

I wince at the auras raging with pain and violence.

My fingers twitch.

They need me.

As soon as I think about freeing up my silks, Vhex and Remy dig into my soul, not willing to share a single piece.

They step between me and the other Sentinels, blocking my view, and muffling the chaotic, conflicting swirl of sensations until all I can read is their single-minded desire to monopolize me.

“I’m sharing with you a fucking bat ,” Vhex snarls. “Isn’t that enough?”

“I hate to agree.” Remy’s shadows squeeze me into a full-body hug, secure as sausage casings. With extra pressure on the thighs . A shadow tilts my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. “It seems I’m a possessive monster.”

My insides flutter.

Hands roam from my thighs to my ass and my throat to my hair. I can’t tell whose. They all have claws.

Vhex and Remy sense the tremble I can’t stop.

Their silks boil and warp, trying to twist into the perfect shape to make our weave permanent.

“You already have me,” I moan helplessly. “We can’t imprint.”

“Keep trying.” Vhex singes through the shadow gripping my chin. I’m dragged into a melting kiss, hypnotized by the heat of his tongue and the smoky taste of his lips.

My legs start to give again.

The kiss is nothing like our first—Vhex using me to fill a hole.

He’s so wide open. I can control his power, his breathing.

I can shatter his soul with a thought.

I pull away to gasp. “We don’t need it.”

We’re so intertwined.

Is it even possible to go deeper?