Page 18

CHAPTER

FIFTEEN

Bex

It took another three days before the last of the surviving Challengers crossed the finish lines and reentered Praxis city limits. Two innocent lives were claimed during the Transportation Trial. Dominic, the one the Grey siblings had told me about, and Winnie of Steelheart. Poor woman never had a chance. Her age put her at a disadvantage before she even hit the ground, but I still wished her end hadn’t been so brutal. No one deserved to go out like that.

I didn’t watch the coverage. Couldn’t bring myself to. Zaffir kept me updated though, even though he’d been a little standoffish since our return, assuring me that my little makeshift adventuring party had come across surprisingly well. Apparently, people were already calling us the ‘The Wildguard.’ Praxis citizens rooting for the four of us, together.

I didn’t hate the sound of that. Actually…it was kind of nice.

The idea of facing what was ahead as a team felt like a bloom of hope. I found my thoughts drifting toward them more than I probably should’ve. The memory of Briar’s careful, steady hands tending to my wound. Thorne’s infuriatingly charming grin and the way he made me laugh when everything else felt like it was crumbling. Ezra’s relentless search for me, the ferocity in his protection when he finally did.

And in the quietest hours of night, when the weight of it all pressed too heavy against my chest and those memories refused to leave me alone, I’d let my hand wander lower, chasing a release that was never quite enough, but dulled the ache for a little while.

Ezra and I had slipped into a quiet, unspoken rhythm. Every morning, without fail, he’d appear in the kitchen as if summoned by my presence. We didn’t exchange many words, we didn’t need to. The silence was comfortable, stretched soft between us. He’d move around me with that crooked, knowing smirk, his eyes lingering a little too long, and I’d pretend not to notice the way my pulse kicked up every time our shoulders brushed or our hands grazed reaching for the same pan.

There hadn’t been a repeat of that night in the hallway after the party… not yet. But it hovered between us, thick and electric in the quiet moments. In the glint of his gaze when I bit my lip. In the drag of his hand along the counter when I passed too close. We were both waiting. For what, I wasn’t sure. A safer moment, or maybe a more reckless one.

And maybe, selfishly, I was waiting to figure out how to tell him about my night with Zaffir when his eyes feasted on my core as I pleasured myself to his words. Or maybe about how a sinful part of me also wanted Briar and Thorne to kiss me in the heat of the trial too. About how messy and tangled my heart had become inside this chaos. I knew it wasn’t fair to him. I owed him honesty before either of us reached for something more.

This morning though, when I padded into the kitchen on bare feet, the space was empty. A small, selfish sigh of relief and disappointment left me. I made my way to the cabinet, reaching up on tiptoe for my favorite mug. The silk of my nightdress whispered up my thighs as cool air brushed higher against my skin.

And then, the warmth of a body at my back.

A firm chest pressed against me, trapping me between him and the counter. A hand reached past mine to pluck the mug from the shelf, and his hips pressed flush against my barely-covered backside. I gasped, my body going rigid and then trembling, goosebumps erupting along my arms.

“Morning,” Ezra’s voice rasped in my ear, low and rough from sleep. It sent a shiver down my spine, and my thighs clenched involuntarily, heat blooming low in my belly.

He set the mug down in front of me, but didn’t step back. I swallowed hard, feeling the question hanging unspoken in the air between us.

Maybe we weren’t waiting anymore.

“Good morning,” I replied, breathlessly, trying to turn in his arms, but he kept me pinned there.

“What’s for breakfast?” He asked, but his tone was deep, dark, promising.

“I.. uh… haven’t chosen yet.” I replied, flustered and heated. My cheeks were hot with anticipation.

“Hmmm, well, you look delicious,” he said, brushing his nose against the column of my throat, drawing a downright vulgar moan from my lips. “Maybe I should have a taste.”

Wetness pooled in my core, and I instinctively arched my backside against him, he groaned, his hardened cock pressed against me .

With a flat hand, he applied light pressure on the space between my shoulder blades, forcing me to bend over the counter. My breasts pressed against the hard surface and the move only jutted my ass into him even more, and we both released satisfied sounds at the friction. I was folded completely across the counter, my cheek pressed against the cool marble countertop, and I felt his hands slip to my hips, gripping me like his life depended on it.

I needed to tell him about Zaffir, Briar and Thorne. Needed to tell him I wasn’t sure if I could choose just one of them, but the words died in my throat as I felt him lower himself to his knees behind me. His breath dusted over my thighs and the minute his fingers hooked in my panties and pulled them down my legs, I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to speak again.

I felt his breath dance across my now exposed pussy, which I knew was glistening with wetness. Then his tongue swiped through my wetness and I bucked into the counter.

Ezra groaned with appreciation as he dove his tongue in through my folds again, and the vibration was deadly. I felt my fingers try to dig into the countertop beside me, but I couldn’t find a grip.

He flattened his tongue, pressing it deep inside of me and then gently flicked it, reaching desperate parts of me with even more desperate parts of him. His fingers trailed up my legs until one found my clit and pressed down in soft commanding circles as his tongue continued to slide through my center like a ravenous man.

“Fuck, you taste even better than I remembered, Bex,” he whispered against my core, pressing gentle teasing kisses to the sensitive skin that surrounded my soaked folds as his finger continued its slow, sensual circles on my clit.

I pressed my hips back, searching for him again. Needing him to bring me to the mountaintop and jump with me over the edge.

“This is mine,” Ezra growled before diving back in with ferocious, feral licks, working in tandem with his fingers to bring me to an absolute blissful moment of tension.

But my mind was screaming at me through the haze of pleasure. He thinks I’m his, and I need to tell him now…

“Ezra,’ I forced out, as he slid a finger into my pussy along with his tongue. The fucking bastard really knew how to do this. “Ezra…” I started again. “I need to…tell you...” I gasped out, pressing my hips back against his face, my skin tingling with pleasure.

“Tell me what, sweet girl?” he asked between devilish swipes of his tongue.

“I… oh my,” I cried out as his finger hooked inside of me and pressed against that perfect spot.

“I.. fuck,” I tried to focus. “I need to tell you about Zaffir.” I yelled out, and to my shock, he didn’t stop his pursuit of my pleasure. His tongue pressed against my core, deeper, slicker.

“You wanna tell me about how he watched you fall apart on your fingers?” he whispered, and I felt my whole body stiffen, only to immediately come unraveled under his expert touch again.

“How did you-” I began.

“How does she taste?” I heard another voice call out from behind me, and I knew it was Zaffir. His presence fell over me like a blanket, and I knew he was getting a clear shot of exactly what Ezra was doing to me. I didn’t shy away. I liked feeling his eyes on us.

“Like nothing I’d ever tasted before,” Ezra said, dragging his tongue up along my slit to press against my tight puckered hole. I gasped, and bucked against the counter, my hips digging into the edge .

“Is our girl needy?” Zaffir teased, and I couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped my lips. “I take that as a yes,” he said, and I could hear the smirk in his voice. “Brexlyn, do you like it when Ezra puts his tongue there?”

I was too lost in sensations to even contemplate being embarrassed or confused at this situation. All I felt was pure lust and desire.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Hmm, I’m a little jealous,” Zaffir teased. “Ezra’s gotten to taste you twice now, and I haven’t.”

Ezra pressed his fingers in deep curling them. I moaned. My mind was a lost storm of sensations and heightened emotions. I didn’t know where my pleasure began or ended, it just was. I was mindless with desire, which is probably why I said what I said next.

“Then come and have a taste,” I said, low and breathy. The sultry tone felt simultaneously like nobody I’ve ever known and so much like the real me.

“Is that what you want, Brexlyn? My tongue in that perfect cunt of yours?”

Fuck, his mouth was dirty. I think I loved it.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Do you want both of our mouths, baby?” he challenged, and my whole body clenched around Ezra’s fingers which were pulsing lazily in my pussy.

“Oh, fuck,” Ezra whispered. “I think our girl really liked that thought.”

Our girl .

They’ve both said it now. And there didn’t seem to be any animosity in it.

“Ezra, sit down and put your back against the cabinet,” Zaffir ordered in that commanding tone I remembered so well from our night in my room. Ezra’s fingers and mouth slipped from my core, and I missed the touch instantly. I felt Ezra reposition himself between my legs, his head leaning against the cabinet below me. Zaffir gripped my hips, and pulled me back, repositioning me so that my clit was pressed directly against Ezra’s waiting and willing mouth.

“Oh!” I cried out as he ravaged my clit with his expert tongue.

“That’s it, Brexlyn,” Zaffir murmured, his voice rough, low, and threaded with a hunger he wasn’t even trying to hide. “You’re doing so well.”

I felt him move behind me, his body brushing against mine, heat radiating off him, his breath at my ear. My pulse stuttered, then quickened, my skin alive with every place we touched.

“Are you ready for me?” he asked, and there was something almost reverent in his tone.

I nodded, the air thick and electric between us.

But he didn’t move right away.

“Are you sure?” he whispered, voice tightening, as if it hurt to ask. “You know who I am. You know what this is. Praxis and Collective…”

I whimpered as Ezra continued to swipe his tongue against my clit.

“People would hate us for this… punish us for it. You’d be at risk. We both would,” Zaffir whispered, somehow making the warning feel seductive.

There was a flicker of hesitation in his touch then, like some last-ditch instinct to pull away before we crossed a line neither of us could ever come back from.

But his words didn’t douse the fire in me, they fed it.

I turned my head enough to meet his gaze, my voice steady even as my heart pounded .

“I’m sure,” I said, meaning it more than I’d ever meant anything.

Something in his expression shifted then like a storm breaking open behind his eyes, lust and defiance crashing together.

“Good,” he growled, lowering to his knees. “Because I’ve never been the best at following rules.”

Then his tongue swept through my slit and I bucked against the two of them as they both drank my pleasure from me. Their faces must have been close, I felt them fight against each other for the honor of devouring me, their tongues trying to reach for the same spots in my core. Then I heard the most sinful sound in the world. Their tongues clashed against each other and for a moment they stopped drinking me, and drank each other.

“Oh my God,” I whispered. Feeling my whole body shiver at just how much the thought of their mouths locked, and their tongues fighting against each other with my arousal on their taste buds turned me on.

“Hmmm,” Zaffir hummed, and Ezra’s tongue returned to my clit. “Did you like hearing me taste your cum off of Ezra’s tongue, Brexlyn?”

“Yes!” I screamed out.

Zaffir’s tongue danced along my opening, dipping inside gently, and reverently. It wasn’t rushed or ferocious. It was delicate and searing. Then he licked upward, traveling to the puckered hole, his tongue dancing around it, soaking it with his saliva and my slick arousal that coated it.

Someone pressed a finger into my slick opening just as Ezra sucked my clit into his mouth and Zaffir pressed his tongue against the tight opening. The sensations were overwhelming, all consuming, and the orgasm slammed into me with a weight I was glad I didn’t have to carry alone. Their strong hands held me in place as I fell apart.

My release wracked through my body for several long moments. I had no idea how long I was sitting there, my core dripping onto the man beneath me, but they let me sit there and ride wave after wave of delicious release. Then I stood slowly. I carefully stepped over Ezra, and then turned to face them for the first time.

They were both staring at me, their eyes dark and searching. Hungry. Ezra stood and pressed his shoulder against Zaffir.

I flicked my eyes between the two of them and saw evidence of my release glistening on their lips. I couldn’t stop myself. I sprang forward, pressing my lips to Ezra’s, desperate for a taste of us. His tongue danced along mine, and the burst of flavor was so sinfully us. I pulled back, and his wide eyes with blown pupils watched back. Then I turned to Zaffir and kissed him. This was a rather filthy first kiss, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. His hands wrapped around my waist and he kissed me like he’d been waiting years to do so.

When I pulled back, all three of us were breathing heavily, our shoulders heaving with exertion and excitement. We watched each other for a few deliciously silent moments, then Zaffir turned to look at Ezra. The same hunger in his eyes. My nipples pebbled beneath the silk and almost painfully pressed against the fabric as I waited for them to show me what I only heard before.

“You want to see what our mouths did when you couldn’t see them, don’t you?” Zaffir asked me, but didn’t pull his eyes from Ezra who had turned to meet his gaze, his body tense, but in an anticipatory way.

“Yes,” I answered. “Show me. ”

Zaffir grabbed Ezra’s neck, and pulled him forward, latching his mouth onto his. All three of us groaned at the same time at the erotic and perfect display. Zaffir took charge of the kiss, but Ezra pressed back with fervor and eagerness. I pressed forward, unable to help myself and brought my mouth to theirs. As my eyes closed, I didn’t know who’s lips were whose, or who’s tongue was where, but for a few blissful moments we did nothing but chase sensations.

A knock at the door had us all breaking apart, taking a few steps from the erotic hold we just had on each other.

Our eyes met in a sort of playful and reverent agreement. No words had to be spoken yet, but we knew that there was something here. Something building and it was as special as it was dangerous.

The knock sounded again, and Zaffir cleared his throat. “I know you’re in a nightgown babe, but you might be in the best position of all of us to open the door,” he said with a smirk, indicating the thick outlines in their pants. God, if we hadn’t been interrupted, I would have loved to get a look at those up close and personal.

I forced a smile, smoothing my hair down as best I could while padding across the room toward the front door. My pulse was still thudding from Ezra’s proximity, and Zaffir’s dirty words, my skin prickling with leftover electricity. I took a steadying breath and reached for the handle.

When the door swung open, my jaw damn near hit the floor.

“Hey there, roomie,” Thorne grinned, standing shoulder to shoulder with Briar, both of them lugging duffel bags. His eyes did a quick, unabashed sweep of me, and his grin widened. “Damn, that’s one hell of a welcome outfit.”

It took me a beat too long to register what he meant, until I remembered the silk nightdress, the way it barely covered anything, and the glaring fact that I wasn’t wearing a single thing beneath it.

“We were told you knew we were coming,” Briar said, her voice softer, carrying a faint note of apology as her heated gaze flicked down, then respectfully back to my face. God, I probably looked like a wreck. A well-satisfied wreck, but a wreck nonetheless.

“That’s my fault,” Zaffir called from the kitchen, amusement in his voice. I turned just enough to see him leaning against the far end of the island beside Ezra, both of them looking entirely too pleased with themselves. “I was on my way to tell you, but,” he shrugged, smirking, “got a little distracted.”

I felt my face flush hot, the kind of deep, traitorous blush that climbed down my neck.

“Can we come in?” Briar asked, one brow raised, polite despite the whole situation.

“Oh, yeah, of course. Come in,” I stammered, stepping aside as gracefully as one could while half-naked in front of three very attractive men and one stunningly beautiful woman.

The two of them brushed past me, carrying the scent of cool air and woodsmoke, and I quickly closed the door behind them, pressing my back to it for a moment longer than necessary.

Briar and Thorne dropped their bags by the couch, both turning to face me at once. The sight of them hit me harder than I expected, like something in my chest unspooled all at once, and I hadn’t even realized how tightly wound I’d been. I hadn’t seen them since we were yanked apart after crossing the finish line three days ago, and now that they were here, standing in my living room like no time had passed, it hit me just how much I’d missed them.

Without thinking, I rushed forward and threw my arms around Thorne’s waist. He let out a surprised laugh, his arms wrapping around me without hesitation as I melted into his warmth.

“Hey there, love,” he murmured, one hand sifting gently through my hair, smoothing it down like he’d done it a thousand times before.

I pulled back, my eyes immediately finding Briar. She was already watching me, her expression softer than I’d ever seen it. I didn’t hesitate. I stepped into her, burying myself in her arms. She held me tighter than Thorne had, like she was afraid if she let go, I’d vanish.

“I missed you too, Hollis,” she whispered against my hair.

When I finally stepped back, I offered them both a small, bashful smile. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but… what are you doing here?”

“I believe I can explain that,” Zaffir’s voice cut in, smooth and infuriating as ever, as he stepped out from behind the kitchen island. “I may have… accidentally gotten their camera operator fired.”

I blinked. “You what?”

“There’s a long version,” Zaffir said, a flicker of something unreadable crossing his face, “but the short of it is I’m officially their new camera op. And since it’s easier for the camera team to live in-house with their Challengers for daily check-ins, interviews, b-roll…” He gestured vaguely at the room. “Well, here they are.”

“You got him fired?” Briar asked, one brow arched.

“Accidentally,” Zaffir corrected smoothly.

“Because you asked to edit our footage too?” Thorne pressed, his tone somewhere between suspicion and amusement.

I whipped my head toward Zaffir, narrowing my eyes. He what?

“Yeah… something like that,” Zaffir admitted quickly, offering me a crooked, unapologetic grin. “What can I say? The fans are desperate for more Wildguard content.” He shot me a look that sent a fresh wave of heat rushing through my bloodstream.

I glanced around the room, acutely aware of four sets of eyes fixed on me, each carrying their own brand of heat. It was the kind of attention that made me want to both bask in it and bolt out the nearest door.

“So, Ezra, buddy,” Thorne started, his grin all sharp teeth and trouble as he tossed an arm over the back of the couch. “You wanna be bunk buddies? Unless, of course,” he turned to meet my eyes, “you want to open your room to me, love,” he added, sending me a wink that made my stomach flip.

“No,” Ezra bit out, his voice low and rough, eyes narrowing on Thorne like he was seconds away from lunging and finishing what they started in the woods.

Zaffir raised a brow, glancing between them like a man watching a match he didn’t mind betting on. “Okay, okay,” he intervened smoothly. “Ezra can crash with me. You two can take his old room.”

I didn’t miss the flicker of shock, followed quickly by interest, that passed across Ezra’s face. My mind went straight to ten minutes ago, and I wanted a repeat performance immediately.

“So,” Thorne drawled, kicking his feet up on the coffee table like he owned the place. “What’s for breakfast? I’m starving.”

Ezra didn’t look away from me. His gaze pinned me where I stood, heavy with everything unspoken and sinful. His lips curled into a smirk.

“We already ate,” he murmured, voice dark and loaded.

I could’ve combusted right there.

This was going to be… very interesting.