The Infamous Beast

by T Shadow

  Giving one last look to Neptune, I nod my head and turn to leave without saying anything further. The guys look at me like the whole situation was anticlimactic, but my issue isn’t with someone who was only doing what they were told. No, my issue is, and always has been with my sister. The guys part to let me through but as I turn the corner, he speaks one last time.

  “If you hadn’t covered the orb, she wouldn’t have ever asked me to repay the favour. You know that, right?”

  I glance over my shoulder, my gaze harsh and unyielding. I don’t pity the idiot who makes a deal with my sister, I pity the person who falls at the swing of my blade. Maybe I should pull it out from hiding and swing it around from time to time to make sure that people know not to fuck with me.

  “I pity the sword you fall on Neptune, especially if it’s mine.”

  I exit the house with the guys on my heels; home a grateful escape that draws me back like a salior who craves the calm of the sea.

  Coming home is the best thing in the world, but playing twenty one questions with Mika isn't. As soon as the door opens, she shoots off a novel of questions without taking a breath in between. It’s an art form that takes years to perfect, but let me tell you, Mika’s got that shit down. I move past her in a daze, not really hearing any of the questions she asks as I make a beeline to my bedroom. Well, formerly my bedroom, now our bedroom. I’d like to hide in my sea of duvets until the cows come home, but that seems like a distant reality that not even I can chase. For now, I make peace with the idea that I can only hide myself in my fabric Neverland for just a night. The outside world would survive fine without me, but my mates might lose their minds if I became a hollow version of myself. Mistrust and deceit does that to you, I suppose.

  I look at my bed with a longing so strong that it hurts. I start peeling my clothes away from my body like they’re soaking wet. It’s a struggle, and after I’ve managed to rid myself of my jacket, shirt and socks, the only thing I’m having to struggle with is my insanely tight jeans. I sit on the edge of my bed with my jeans pulled down to my ankles, but I lack the urge to use my hands to push them down the last little inch. Instead, I opt for using my feet to push the jeans off, even though it takes a little longer. Now fully undressed, I crawl into bed and curl up into the fetal position, pulling a pillow over my head to block out the low murmur of noise from the lounge. With the pillow pressed firmly against my nose and mouth, I allow myself to truly let go. I scream into the cheap polyester pillow with enough force that my lungs physically hurt, they tighten with the loss of oxygen and then burn as I inhale enough air to allow me to breathe again.

  I repeat the actions a few times, the pain bringing on a new dimension to my feelings. It takes all of my strength to remain awake, but even after using all my energy to scream at my moral dilemma, my fire has died down to a small ember and I can no longer fight the pain or stop the errant tears from escaping. I feel my eyes closing, the need to keep them open physically taxing, but in the end I surrender myself to the undying urge to sleep. As I lay suspended in the half awake, half asleep state, I hear a noise like someone’s coming in the room and then the bed dips slightly behind me. Not able to dangle for much longer, I relish in the feeling of the hand brushing through my hair, across my temple and behind my ear repeatedly. It’s so soothing that soon, I don’t even realise that I’ve fallen asleep.

  •°•

  I open my eyes to a room shrouded in shadows. For once, one of the guys managed to close the curtains before they all climbed into bed and fell asleep again. Savouring the darkness, I keep my eyes closed for a little longer, reaching out to run my palms along the bedsheets. I’m surprised that I don’t encounter any warm bodies, but I do feel the residual heat from the sheets underneath my fingertips. Basking in the glory of having the bed all to myself, I spread out. My feet touch the end of the bed and then both corners before I manage to curl up with all of the duvet, not leaving any to spare.

  It’s a nice escape for a little while, but only until the memories come flooding back from the night before. I remember walking into that house and having my seemingly small world ripped out from underneath me. Not only was the old man who loved trains a Roman God, but he deceived not only me, but Finnegan, Leland and Mika. It’s a betrayal that surely cuts all of us and not just me, but I feel it the most. Isolation does that to a person, I suppose, makes their feelings ten times more receptive.

  Swaddled up in my blanket bundle, I let the hurt wash over me like unrelenting waves against a rocky shore. Everytime I think that I’ve gotten over it, that I’ve let go, it comes back again and punches me square in the face. I might be strong on the outside, but on the inside, my demons know how to drown me. They do it with a sinister smile on their face and an eerie calm. The only thing that holds them back is the people who the voices belong to that are just outside of the bedroom. I used to embrace the demons but now, I wish they’d drown themselves instead.

  All of a sudden, the corner of my duvet pile moves and a face looks in from the outside. It’s Finnegan, my caring ginger giant. Without saying anything he picks up the duvet a little more and crawls under it, forcing me to make room for him under my blanket fort. As he slips in I scooch over to make room, but he pulls me back to him, holding me close to his chest in a crushing hug that somehow, ironically, pushes all my suffocating demons far, far away.

  We lay like that for a while, cuddled up in our cocoon of warmth. Nothing is said and the only sound is our breathing that surrounds us. I feel the tickle of a long beard, the imprint of lips as Finnegan kisses my forehead, it’s only then that he speaks. “Don’t be too upset, Remi. We all heard your pained screams last night, but it’ll pass.” His large hand moves from my arm to my hair as he sweeps the strands behind my ear, a calming motion for the both of us.

  “We’re all here, for you… with you.” He chuckles dryly, “you don’t realise that you’re the glue that holds us together and without you… we’re nothing.” He sounds hurt by that, like he’s imagining what life would be like without me. “I don’t want to think about that, but now I have you, I’ll do anything for you. I’d burn down whole villages to find you, find the most priceless jewel to show how much I love you, and I’ll remind you everyday for the rest of your life of how much I need you.”

  My breath stops. I think Finnegan heard the hitch, the break. He pulls my face away from his chest to look me in the eyes, his expression a little worried. “What’s wrong? Was it something I said?”

  “You said you love me.”

  A smile grows on his lips. It stretches across his face in a way that makes him look ten times more attractive. Moving his hand from my hair, he drags his thumb down my face, along my jaw and then rubs it slowly over my lower lip. It’s the simplest action, but it makes my lady bits downstairs burn like a raging inferno. His voice is intentionally husky as he leans closer to me, “I’ve made you my universe when I am only a star, Remi. I do love you. Was it too early to say it?”

  “Never. I think I’ll never get tired of hearing it,” I feel myself smile, my cheeks aflush with happiness and I bury my head in Finn’s chest to hide my physical tells before quickly pulling back for one second. “If you tell anyone I said that, I’ll put your balls in my purse.”

  That smile remains on his face, but he sounds confused when he replies, “but you don’t have a purse.”

  A laugh escapes me, but I still manage to fist my hand in his shirt and pull him closer, his lips a breath away from mine. “I’ll buy one just so I can put your balls in it.” I crush my lips to his in a show of dominance and he submits willingly, letting me push his back into the bed as I climb on top of him. As I straddle his waist, I feel his rock hard length press into that sweet spot and I moan into his mouth. I feel him grin against my lips and in retaliation I move my hips against him, causing him to hiss and groan louder than I did. It’s an audible tangle of limbs and tongues before I manage to bite hard on his lower lip, causing him to shake and moan like the acti
on alone is his personal tipping point. As I reluctantly let go, I notice his aftershock shivers, the way that his hands refused to let me go and his tightly closed eyes. The sight makes me smile and when he opens his eyes, he looks at me cockily, like his hunger for me grows beyond normal means.

  I’m not too comfortable in a blanket fort, sweaty and turned on, so to break the tension I lean forward and poke his nose with my forefinger with an emphasised, 'boop!' the same way that Mika would with Lucius. I can see his surprise, and the action makes us laugh together until we’re out of breath and clinging onto each other. It’s a nice break in my thoughts, that is, until they come crawling back. Finn notices the small change in me and instead of making a big deal out of it, he just whispers, “what’s caught your mind in it’s trap?”

  “I’m just thinking, why now? Why did she wait,” it’s a thought that has plagued me for the last day and a bit, maybe longer, probably ever since Leland mentioned being visited in his dream. “I’m trying to figure out why. You said you were sent here because of the hoard, why you guys, why now?”

  “We were unsure ourselves. I mean, I don’t personally work with Lord Draconis, so I can’t attest to his behaviour but Remington did mention his behaviour has been a little off lately. Probably worried that someone’s finally got the balls to take him down. I wouldn’t know, but that old codger has been sitting in his glass castle throwing stones for God-knows how long, so he’s bound to have some enemies.” He pauses, before adding, “he’s looking for something that he thinks would be detrimental in the hands of someone else, as far as I’m aware. But even that old prat doesn’t know what it is.”

  As Finn tells me the most important, most helpful piece of information, I feel the duvet to the left of us move, and Remington climbs inside wearing just a pair of long shorts and a thin, v-neck t-shirt. “I heard my name.” His raw, husky voice sends shivers down my spine just as his lips touch the back of my neck and his hand grabs onto my hips in order to move me in between the two of them. Now, instead of straddling Finn, I’m stuck in between the both of them like a sexually-charged sandwich. I know what they’re doing, but for the love of God, I’d wish they’d hurry up and do it already.

  “Remi asked about Draconis’s behaviour. Do you know why he sent us on this expedition now, of all times?”

  “I’m not sure. He normally struts around his home like a proud peacock, smug and smarmy, but for the last few weeks before we left, he hadn’t been the same. Looking around, jumping at the smallest of noises. I think he knows his time has come, that someone is coming for him. We just don't know, and to be honest, don’t really care, who it is.” His fingers walk slowly up my side, tickling the sensitive skin along my hip and my ribs, “he’s been a little demanding over the phone, but with no evidence found, there’s bugger all we can do. We only know that if we go home empty handed, we probably won't survive.”

  “Well, that settles that, then. You’re not going home.”

  He smiles, his face taking on his water-dragon’s features, “we’d always stay with you, Remi. We couldn’t leave now even if we wanted to.”

  “Not that we want too,” Finn adds quickly.

  I think to myself for a moment about what Finn said. Something that could be detrimental in the wrong hands. I think back to what I took when I left, but none of it seemed life-threatening or worth hiding. “I can’t remember exactly what I had, but nothing I took with me was what I’d deem to be life altering. I took that damn orb, my journal and some food and clothes to help me survive for as long as I could.”

  “I don’t think it’s anything you have,” Remington purrs, his lips close to my ears again. His breath hits that sensitive area and I push back into him as I feel my floof wake up and stretch her arms in anticipation. “If it was, we would’ve figured it out by now, but you don’t want to go back, so it wouldn’t be you. You’re not vengeful enough.”

  “You haven’t seen a vengeful me yet, Alpha.” The nickname makes him go still beside me before he forcefully pulls my hips back against his, his dick grinding into the curve of my arse like he has something to prove, or something to say. The action only stokes the flames I feel inside of me, and I welcome it.

  “No, I’ve seen the crazy version of you, and I think that’s enough for me.” Skirting his fingers around the front of my thigh, he heads closer to the apex of them before drawing his fingers away again. “Speaking of crazy… Do you want to play a game?”

  I’m so turned on right now that I could seriously injure a dick if it came within close reach of me. All this unbridled tension could make me snap a dick in half with my vagina if I tried really hard. I wanted this years ago, but I need it now. “W-What game?”

  “It’s an easy game. It’s called Fire Engine. I’ll pretend to be a fire engine, and when I get too close, you say red light, and I stop. Got it?”

  Feeling intrigued, I nod silently. Finn pushes me flat on my back as Remington moves himself down the bed a little. Settling himself between my thighs, I watch as he slowly pulls down my underwear, making sure he trails his fingers all over my legs, on the insides of my knees and when he finally gets there, the soles of my feet. The way he does it is weirdly erotic, but not enough to spur me into a random foot fetish. I stifle the moan that comes out of me, trying my best to be quiet. I’ve never played this fire engine game, so I have no idea what to expect, but from the way that Finnegan holds my shoulders down to keep me from moving, I can only expect it to be a certain type of good, or a sought out kind of bad. I try desperately to remember the rules of this fucking game as Remington smiles at me, that hungry, predatory smile that makes me shiver and my floof scream in anticipation at the same time.

  “Now remember Remi. I’m the fire engine. You only let me get as close as you want me to, but I have to stop at a red light, okay?”

  “O-okay.” I watch as he wraps his hands around my ankle before his lips meet my skin at a sobering pace. It’s slow enough to be considered a tease, and he makes his way slowly up my calf, but manages to kiss all the sensitive spots I never even knew I had. As he reaches my kneecap, he strokes the inside of it again but also nips the skin trailing his lips along it. I could handle the kissing, that I could keep my calm with, but it's when he starts gently biting me whilst moving closer to the golden garden at the middle of my thighs that my subtle dampness turns into a roaring waterfall that floods the surrounding foliage. I wouldn’t be surprised if my underwear was soaked from back to front, but we’re gonna find out real soon if they actually are.

  I wait for him to clasp my knees and wrench them open, like a someone who has found a good book, but no. He stuns me completely when he opens then slowly, continuing with my prolonged torture. I never knew that I could be corrupted so easily by someone else’s touch, but as he descends into the madness that houses my crown jewels, I shriek with a wild abandon.

  “Red light! Red light!”

  He pops up like a damn whack-a-mole from between my thighs with a smirk on his lips and a glint in his eyes. Finnegan’s body shakes behind me, laughing silently at their version of a private joke. I don’t get it, but soon, I realise that I’m the world's biggest moron.

  “Remi babe, fire engines don’t stop for red lights.”

  Tricked into a game that I’d never win, I’m unable to stop the onslaught of actions that lead up to my sexual demise. The slow torture stops as I lose the game and both Finnegan and Remington shift their speeds into hyperdrive. Instead of being deprived of a firm touch, I’m now having my senses heightened by every fingertip, every kiss, every lingering touch and every lick of a tongue or a touch of freshly wet lips. Remington pushes my thighs apart so that they’re parallel to the bed, exposing my soaking flesh to both of them as we’re hidden under this duvet fort. I watch with bated breath as he gets closer, I feel his warm breath against my girl seconds before his pink tongue pokes out and licks along my wet slit in one long, unbroken stroke.

  With my lips already parted, I gasp as I feel his
heated tongue press against my exposed vagina. All rational thoughts escape my brain when the contrasting temperatures collide and cause fireworks to explode in my lower regions. As I’m on the comedown from the first mouthwatering action of this whole endeavour, I feel Finn palm one of my tits in his large hand, his fingers pulling on my nipple long enough to border on pain, but it only heightens my pleasure.

  I lose myself in between the perfectly timed nipple tweaking, the long unending strokes and the neck biting, which was a new addition however many minutes ago. I’m assuming those dick-holes didn’t close the door behind them when they came in, so I’m desperately attempting to keep my voice down as to not to attract the other two. That wise decision is ripped away from me as quickly as I thought of it because Remington adds a finger, swiping it around my wet cunt before pushing it in and hooking it as he moves it back and forth within me. The pressure that mounts is sensitive and too much all at the same time, and as I try to hide my mouth against Finn’s shoulder, he moves my head back so everyone at home can hear the delicious moan that rips out of me when Remington puts enough pressure on that spot to cause a wild mass of sparks across my body, eyes and soul.

  I’m on one of those glorious comedowns— you know, with the uncontrolled shaking, the goose flesh and the part where my eyes roll back into my skull. Unfortunately for me, I manage to be ripped out of my heavenly reprieve by the sound of glass smashing. It’s close enough to scare the living shit out of me and without thinking, I rip the covers away from our bodies to face the commotion on the other side of the duvet. It’s not what I expected, I thought that it would be a fox knocking something over, but no. Somehow it’s Landon and Leland who are standing in the doorway to the bedroom with grocery bags. Well, Leland is holding a grocery bag, Landon’s one has split and spilled onto the floor, so that’s probably where the smash came from.