by Heather Long
An evil grin took over his face as he hoisted me up into his arms. I wound my arms and legs around his body right as the now familiar bursts of vibrant indigo flares around us. When the room formed around us, Tarus and Seth jumped up from the couch, staring at us with a mixture of surprise and jealousy. But only a little jealousy.
“I wanted to make sure you saw how well I pleasured her before her glow fades.” Zhan grinned as he set me down. The feeling was back, but my legs were still weak, so I had to use him as leverage to hold myself up.
All three brothers laughed, like they were delighted about something. At least they weren’t shooting nasty looks at each other.
“You boys have fun. I’m going to shower.” I wobbled on weak legs toward Seth’s private bath, knowing full well they were all watching my ass.
I grinned. For once in my life, it was good to be me.
20
Surprisingly, none of my angels had the feather pattern of a peacock. They should have though, with the way they strutted around. Proud bastards, the lot of them. - Dahlia
Tarus
The last four days had been some of the best in Tarus’ life for as long as he could remember. Definitely since his fall. They took Dahlia everywhere, hitting ancient cities, bustling hubs, and a couple of the seven wonders of the world. There was so much they wanted to show her. So much they wanted to give her in such a short amount of time.
At first, Tarus worried they would exhaust her like the day she passed out, but maybe that had been a fluke. She’d had no more episodes since that day, and they’d all been watching her like hawks for any signs she was about to go down.
He looked at her now, smiling wide, clapping and laughing as she stood on the edge of the cliffs, while Zhan and Seth showed off their aerial tricks. When was the last time he’d experienced anything close to her wild abandon and thirst for life?
Probably never.
But even just experiencing it through Dahlia felt like the most precious of gifts.
“Wow,” she said, her cheeks reddened from the bite of wind, and her eyes sparkling from her excitement. Then she turned to him. “What can you do, angel boy?”
Tarus smirked at her taunt. Seth was the one who was easily offended over the human term. It didn’t bother him so much. “There is one trick we can do. You’re probably going to love it.”
From the short time they’d known her, Dahlia displayed a truly reckless side, enjoying the more thrilling things they’d planned for her. A good adrenaline rush was one of his favorite feelings, and he loved that Dahlia shared that sentiment.
He issued a sharp whistle, immediately drawing the attention of his brothers. Both Zhan and Seth pulled out of their trajectory to hover above the water. Making a series of hand motions after pointing at Dahlia, he waited to see if they would go for it. What he had planned would be completely safe, and she’d love it.
Zhan shrugged good naturedly, but Seth gave a barely perceptible shake of his head. Even from this distance, Tarus could see he only had eyes for Dahlia. Out of the three, Seth was the most irrationally protective. He tried to curb her fun at every corner if it seemed slightly dangerous.
What Tarus wanted to do was absolutely dangerous, if they were any other Keepers. He trusted his brothers implicitly and didn’t doubt for a minute they’d keep her safe.
“Come on, Seth! Don’t be such a coward!” Tarus shouted over the wind. Trusting his brother’s exceptional hearing to catch the words.
Zhan flew over to Seth and lightly slapped his shoulder in a come on gesture. Now that Tarus had put the idea out there, both he and Zhan wanted to show off for Dahlia.
Seth came back to the cliff, landing lightly in front of Dahlia but staring at Tarus. “No, not today.”
“What’s not today?” Dahlia asked with a smile, still high on watching them show off.
Zhan must have realized the flying was done for the moment and came down to stand beside Tarus.
Seth didn’t even acknowledge her at first, he merely restated his previous answer.
“Don’t be a dick, Seth! Tell me what they want to do. I should decide, since it’s how I want to spend my time, right?” She slapped his chest.
He tilted his head down, and Tarus watched with avid fascination like always, when Seth’s entire demeanor changed.
Softened.
Brushing hair over her shoulder he replied, “They want to toss you around the sky like a football.”
“What?” she shrieked, and at first, Tarus thought she was offended, until she started jumping up and down while holding onto Seth’s shoulders. “Yes. Yes, yes! That sounds like so much fun, and probably the closest I’ll ever feel to flying on my own.”
Seth frowned. “You wouldn’t be flying, Dahlia, you’d be falling. And not today. Think about it, and if you still want to do it in two days, after you’ve had time to weigh all the possible ways that could go wrong, then we can do it. Only then.” His tone was final.
“Like any of you would let me crash into the ocean for a painful death. I don’t think that for a minute. Tarus,” she said, turning to him, “would you let me fall?”
“Never, Beauty,” he said with conviction. He would never, in any circumstance, allow her to fall. He would always be there to catch her. And it comforted him to know if for some reason he failed, Seth or Zhan would succeed.
“See, what’s the problem? Sounds like a damn good time to me.” She pushed up to her toes while anchoring herself on Seth’s shoulders, grinning up into his face.
For a moment, Tarus was sure he was going to waver. He was pretty sure Dahlia even thought she would win from the way she started bouncing in place.
Then his face shut down, and she shook him a little harder this time. “No, two days, if you still want to do it, then we can. After these two do some flying drills with me. It’s been over a thousand years since they’ve flown with any regularity.”
Ouch.
Tarus tried hard not to be offended by that, but the comment still stung. He may not have flown during his separation from Seth, but he’d done just fine when he’d taken Dahlia to the cliffs before. They were immortal. His ability to fly had never been forgotten.
“Fine,” Dahlia grumbled. “I can’t even be mad at you when you’re putting your foot down for my safety.” Her bottom lip almost stuck out, but she caught it before it turned into a pout.
The corners of Seth’s lips twitched. “Glad to know that for future altercations.”
She rolled her eyes and turned around. “Okay then, I’m not hungry yet, so what’s next?”
Amused, Tarus considered the question. What next? They’d taken it easy on her in some ways, though Zhan had been almost insufferable after their sojourn at the ranch. While Dahlia danced a little circle, Tarus found himself smiling. He wasn’t alone.
They were all doing it more. Zhan had been more Zhan than he had been in countless centuries. As for Tarus, he had both of his brothers back, and even his beast seemed to be willing to cooperate. While the chasm he’d used to segregate Punishment from him had begun to stitch closed, his grace didn’t shred at the inside of his skin.
As long as Dahlia was present, it was as though even his beast was content.
“Dancing,” he said abruptly, and Dahlia whirled to him. Seth stared at him as though he’d grown a second head, but it was Zhan who looked intrigued. They’d been easing a plug into her each day since the ranch, too. Stretching her because sooner or later, he and Zhan planned to sandwich her between them, and unlike Seth, who seemed to constantly crave her, and Zhan, who seemed to be falling down that route, Tarus had chosen, actively, to wait, even if his cock seemed permanently hard.
When he took Dahlia, he wanted her to truly fly apart. He wanted to give her everything. The sweetness of her submission had been near absolute, but she had also collapsed just a few hours later. If having her meant restraining himself, then he would be more than content to tease her while she enjoyed his brothers. Her open sensuality
was an intoxication all its own.
“Dancing,” he repeated, but Dahlia narrowed her eyes. Did she not like the request?
“The last time someone offered to take me dancing, they did it after busting me out of Seth’s,” she said the last bit with a little elbow toward his brother who had wrapped his arms around her.
“Who offered to take you dancing?” Even as he asked the question, Tarus had a flash of Kindle and Karmen at Sinner’s. “Nevermind,” he said, waving a hand. “This is real dancing. The three of us and you. Put you in whatever you want to wear, and we take you out to dance the night away.”
“Hmm.” She didn’t look convinced.
“What’s wrong, Lovely?” Zhan asked, tilting his head. “I’m with Tarus on this one, you love to dance.”
Very true.
“It’s because she thought I was out with fucking Kindle,” Seth said abruptly. “While I left her locked in the apartment for three days.”
“And nights,” Dahlia reminded him, her voice climbing even as her eyes flashed.
Tarus shook his head. “He didn’t have sex with Kindle.”
That earned him Dahlia’s ire. “How do you know? You two weren’t even talking to him then, this was in the middle of the great Dahlia-napping.”
Because Seth would never take on the Keeper of Kindness. She didn’t often approve of Judgment’s decisions. The only reason Tarus could see his brother even seeking her out would have been for Dahlia. He’d been looking for a way out of Dahlia’s situation. That knowledge crashed in on him, and he jerked his gaze up to meet Seth’s.
His brother’s ice blue eyes chilled a few degrees, then darkened with suppressed sorrow as he gave Tarus a quick shake of his head. If any Keeper might know a way to extend Dahlia’s dramatically shortened life past the expiration of Seth’s shared grace, it would be Kindness. Granted, while she truly could kill with her grace, she could also bestow such gifts.
Disappointment crushed Tarus. The brief flare of hope dashed against the rocks of reality. He let out a long sigh, and even his wings drooped. Damn Karmen and her kisses. It was like Dahlia was being made to pay for all of their transgressions. His. Zhan’s.
Even Seth’s.
“We can go dancing,” Dahlia said abruptly as she slipped out of Seth’s arms and wrapped hers around Tarus. Looping his around her waist, he pulled her close and buried his face against her hair. “I was just teasing you. Well, not about the Dahlia-napping or the fact that I didn’t end up getting to go dancing.”
“Karmen was taking you to find a cock to ride,” Seth stated in a frigid tone, and Tarus raised his eyebrows.
“Yes,” Dahlia retaliated without pulling away from Tarus. “After Zhan took me to the green room of sexual frustration and tied me up. And after I spent three days stuck here alone. It was all very frustrating, but I did eventually find a cock to ride.” She peeked back at Seth and stuck out her tongue. “So let’s not muddy the issue.”
“It’s not raining…”
“Don’t,” Zhan said with a barely suppressed laugh. “Seriously, brother, you have got to not let Dahlia rile you.”
“Awww.” Her playfully plaintive complaint followed by a fit of giggles pulled equally indulgent looks from both of Tarus’ brothers. He probably wore one himself as he gazed down at her. While the laughter came at the oddest intervals, it was just impossible to stay angry or upset or even in a bad mood of any kind when she laughed like that.
Even at their own expense.
“Yes, we’ll go dancing,” Tarus said. “All of us. Whatever kind of dancing you like.”
“Hmm.” She considered, curling her fingers under his shirt to play with the skin along his back. The caress sent little skitters of electricity through him, but he could withstand the sweet torment if it meant holding her. “I’m not really an expert dancer. So something sexy and fun, lots of bouncing, and maybe some dirty dancing thrown in.”
“Sounds delightful.”
Seth frowned, but for once, didn’t object.
Not looking a gift brother in the mouth, Tarus swept her back to the apartment to change. There were dozens of outfits filling the closets now. They’d been buying her new things from every place they went. Zhan was the worst, if she looked at something with even a hint of a smile, he bought it for her promptly.
A fact Dalia caught onto very swiftly. More than once, Tarus had caught her trying to school her reactions to not betray that smile. It was impossible for her, thus the overflowing closet. With his brothers merely seconds behind them, he lifted her for a solid, tongue twisting kiss that sent his system zinging and left her wreathed in the perfume of desire to go with the sweetness of the sea breeze, the sunshine, and the ineffable purity that was his Dahlia.
The little sound in her throat tangled him more effectively than a snare. The slow drag of her body over his as he lowered her to her feet left him aching. Glancing up at him from beneath her lashes, Dahlia smiled. “Maybe you and I could escape for some dancing of our own?”
“Maybe,” he said, eager to just steal away with her entirely, but unwilling to rush losing her or to see her tumble again. “Let’s dance first, yes?”
Curiosity flared in her dark decadent eyes. All at once, unreasonable irritation flash-fired through him. After she slept later that night, he would hunt down the bastard who’d killed her. It was time he rendered the punishment the human so richly deserved.
Hot on the heels of the fury came the guilt. If he hadn’t stopped Zhan, Dahlia would be alive for much longer.
Or maybe not. The soft voice of doubt crept in, and he ground his teeth together to hold back the growl.
“Fine,” Dahlia said with exasperation. “No need to be all pissy-faced. Dancing first, and then you can watch me and your brothers since that’s what you seem to enjoy so much.” Frustration danced along the edge of her tone. She made it one step past him before he caught her and delivered a stinging smack to her ass.
A soft cry burst out of her, and he met her shocked gaze. “That’s one. Keep it up, and I’ll make sure your bottom is very red before my brothers get a chance to play.” The fact she seemed to melt at the promise left his dick complaining at still being confined.
“Okay,” she whispered, all demure and sweet. It was Tarus’ turn to laugh, particularly when she turned to shake her ass at him. He delivered another sound smack to the other cheek, and she let out a groan. “This has all kinds of potential,” she tossed over her shoulder as she stripped her clothes off on the way to the closet.
Movement at the door had Tarus glancing to find both his brothers watching with a kind of slack-jawed hunger he empathized with deeply. Zhan recovered first and shot him a puzzled look when Tarus kept his arms folded rather than follow her into the closet and pin her to a wall while he fucked her stupid.
The fact that he could picture it, especially her nipples going taut from being forced against the cool surface of the walls and how hot her pussy would be when he slid into her, didn’t help. Her ass had been a delightful rosy red after their session on the balcony.
They could have a repeat of that before he spent himself, though he highly doubted once would ever be enough. If he had her how he wanted her? It could push another episode. Already, he regretted landing the first spank, even if his hand tingled with the rightness of it. Dahlia’s eyes sparkled, and her breathing came in soft little pants.
But he couldn’t risk her.
He wouldn’t.
His brothers could satisfy her, and he would protect them all.
It was what he should have done to begin with.
His beast bucked against him for the first time since they’d come to their accord here. Punishment wanted Dahlia. Tarus understood that desire, intimately. As she sashayed out of the closet wearing a body-hugging, black strapless dress with a V that dipped between her luscious breasts and a split that cut right up to near the top of her right thigh, Tarus nearly swallowed his tongue.
Dahlia had no panties on w
hen she went in, and the boning on that dress suggested she wouldn’t need a bra.
It was only that scrap of cloth between her body and the rest of the world.
Dancing suddenly seemed like a terrible idea. Her rich, dark hair tumbled in free flowing waves. She must have pulled it down when she’d gone. Her electric smile zapped him as she gave his cock a squeeze on her way past. “You boys should get ready.”
An hour and two arguments later, Tarus glared into his drink as Dahlia and Zhan moved together in a sinuous kind of harmony. Seth leaned against the bar next to him, quite possibly in a worse mood than Tarus, but Tarus doubted by much.
Seth had fought to get her to change her outfit. Zhan had argued they could just stay in. The fact that he’d fucked her right up against the sink hadn’t deterred her, even if she’d had to redo her makeup.
It was why Tarus was positive she wasn’t wearing panties.
Zhan hadn’t even needed to shift her clothes much.
“Great,” Seth said with a growl pulling Tarus out of his musings. “Why does he have to be here?”
They’d come to Sinner’s. They could have chosen any of a thousand locations, but this one was safer in some ways. Fewer humans to pull at Tarus’ and Zhan’s grace.
And also infinitely more dangerous, because Bish had arrived. He shot them a smirk as he made his way to the bar. The fact that he’d already seen Dahlia in that almost nothing there dress sent a possessive rage singing through Punishment’s veins.
Even as Punishment roused, Judgment went stiff next to him, and Justice abruptly shifted from grinding with Dahlia to laser focusing on the couple at the far side of Sinner’s.
