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Remy sets me on the counter. While shadows flick the taps to draw a bath, he drops to his knees. As if everything is normal, he pulls my foot against his lap and starts to untie my boot-laces.

I shiver through the aftershocks of the sudden shift.

“Where’s Vhex?” I can’t let Remy restart this habit—he’s been better about winking us in a group.

“Bathing. In the lake.” Single-focused, Remy pulls off my boot. “Let him shed a layer of spider blood before he dirties your water.”

I shudder. Fair . “A warning would be nice.”

“He was warned,” Remy says absently. “Many times.”

His cool thumbs press along the arch of my foot, making my toes curl. I fall forward with pleasure, digging my fingers into his shoulders.

“ Mmm .” He leans into my grip as he massages my foot.

I let him work out my knots.

Vhex will find us soon.

He always does.

While I have Remy to myself, I switch my grip and softly rub the back of his neck. His silks are still vibrating. “Is the egg bothering you? Or something else?”

“Egg.” Remy’s so bothered that he regresses to single syllables. “Danger. Threat. Male .”

“Male?” My fingers pause in his hair. It takes me a minute to roll through his tangled emotions, but I finally pluck out their underlying thread. “Wait. The threat isn’t another monster attack? You’re just worried about the egg hatching and… hitting on me?”

“It’s old,” Remy says. “Older than I.”

That doesn’t answer my question, but it does confirm my suspicion. I deflate, finally letting out of the last of the ready-to-save-the-world-again adrenaline that’s always on tap these days.

“Don’t worry,” I reassure Remy, patting his neck and stroking his silks. “No one’s going near that thing, least of all me.”

I’m not looking to add a creepy, ancient monster baby to my growing list of responsibilities.

For once, I’m convinced that I’m doing enough.

“Yes. You’ll stay. With me.” Remy pulls off my sock and kisses the top of my foot. Then he moves to unlace my other boot.

Touching me, joining our silks, he reminds himself that I’m still here. His thoughts relax back to a Remy-flavored normal.

Seeming cold and hard to read, somehow both demanding and apathetic, Remy can feel like several men and monsters shoved inside one skin—but every one of his sides is always obsessed with me .

Slowly, carefully, Remy peels off my uniform, piece-by-piece. When I’m bare, and he’s kissed every inch of skin revealed, he carries me to the bath.

“No more work, my love.” He lowers me into the perfect water. “Your menstrual phase is here. I can’t have other Sentinels tasting your scent.”

“Tomorrow is my day off.”

“We need more time. A week, at least.” Remy’s shadows strip off his uniform in one smooth motion. I tilt back my head to watch him climb into the tub. Water sloshes against his lean frame, leaving his pale skin glistening.

Remy slips behind me and pulls me onto his lap. Sweeping aside my wet hair, he kisses my pulse. “I’ll drink every drop of you.”

Finally content, he strokes my belly with his thumb.

My head falls against his shoulder.

The Farguard has survived this long without me.

It won’t fall apart just because I take a sex vacation.

I’m on call if crisis strikes.

But if it’s not on fire, it can wait.

Gentle shadows scrub my skin. I wiggle when they tickle between my toes.

One circles my ring finger, snugly settling into the divot where I used to wear my ring. It solidifies into a band.

Remy plays with the shadow, twisting it around.

I sigh, feeling so close to complete.

My heart chugs a little faster as I catch an incoming psychic pulse.

The last piece is almost here.

Vhex flames into the bathroom, his bare chest heaving as smoke curls off his horn.

Anger crackles from his soul.

“You—”

His lips purse, ready to unleash his favorite bat-themed curses at Remy.

He spots me first. That whole thought tree withers when he sees my boobs, rising from the bubbles.

His anger goes poof as all his heat flows south.

The tension tingles in my belly and my ass. The pleasure bounces between us.

Their cocks swell.

My thighs part.

Once it starts, it’s hard to stop.

I reach for Vhex. “Are you coming in?”

His pupils contract.

Vhex vaults into the tub that’s big enough for a group.

His tidal wave rolls me deeper into Remy’s lap and boils the water, creating his own jacuzzi whirlpool as he dives for me. Vhex crushes our mouths as he worms into my silks, hot and clinging and everywhere .

“Fuck.” he curses against my lips. “Firefly. I’ll come anywhere you want.”

My jaw throbs in time with his fang. Remy’s thirst bites.

My heart speeds.

My body softens.

Ready to feed and be fed, to fill and be filled, I stretch to bare my throat. “Come here.”

Fangs tease my skin.

I shiver at the heat of their breath as they kiss and lick my neck, searching for the sweetest spots.

Their bites are addictive, and their touch is everything I thought I’d never have, but their focus is what finally melts me, leaving me trembling in their arms.

When I reach for their hands, they grab hold.

I’m not just any Guide.

I’m theirs .

No take-backs, no returns, and absolutely no replacements.

* * *

ELSEWHERE…

In the empty cavern, a dusty egg sits perched on the skeleton of a dead array. A weak wave of energy rolls beneath its scales.

Earlier, there was a response.

There was hope .

Alone, the egg rocks.

Guide? A voice echoes from far away.

It remains unheard.

The rocking stops.

The egg stills.

Its last gold leeches into gray, its energy nearly drained.

No more time.

No more hope.

It can only wait.