Burned In Shadows

by Eden, Tigris

  “Feel the burn, and know its sending signals to your body. Feel it at your clit baby.” Royce said against her back.

  Said burn was now racing through her body. The feel of Ronin filling her pussy and the burn from Royce’s fingers in her ass felt wanton. It broke her down into a sexual ball of bliss.

  “We would never hurt you Belinda.”

  She believed Ronin. Knew they only wanted to make her feel treasured. Royce placed warm kisses up the back of her spine. Too many sensations were bombarding her body. The sounds of their harsh breath at her ears made her skin tingle. Ronin on the right and Royce on the left. It was a drug that would kill her in the end.

  “Breathe deep for me Belinda. Push out through your mouth.” Ronin said as he nipped her ear. On her exhale, she felt the broad, thick head of Royce’s cock begin to ease inside her. There was no pleasure or pain; instead her body pulsed. Deep shudders attacked her on every nerve ending she had available. It continued to build and as it did, Bells relaxed further, allowing Royce to slide in. A cacophony of emotions mixed with the deep pulse of her body crashed over her. A bright blinding light of ecstasy detonated where the three of them were now connected as Royce began to move.

  Ronin’s hand stilled at her hips, and Royce’s hands settled above her shoulders on the back of the seat. The feeling of being filled, possessed but cherished brought tears to her eyes. They weren’t rough with her at all during this new experience. Quite the opposite. Ronin who usually said no more than a few words had talked her through it. He’d held her and made sure she was aware of everything happening around her. They were giving her time to adjust

  The fullness was almost too much. There was an invisible tight rope, so stretched, if anyone moved to fast, she’d spiral down to her demise. Kisses were being placed down the side of her neck, and she couldn’t tell which one it was. Her eyes were tightly shut as she moved forward deeper into Ronin’s arms. Both men groaned at the same time, and she had to admit, the intensity of her feelings were escalating. Royce pulled back slowly, then eased forward again. The tight rope that connected them wobbled and Bells let out a sharp hiss of pleasure as she tried to balance her mind, body, and soul to the rhythm they were now creating. They were working in tandem, Royce pushed forward, and Ronin would pull back. They were going entirely to slow. She needed faster, harder, deeper. There was a place hidden inside that was gearing up to go off, and she wanted to get there before it exploded.

  They picked up the pace, and her back arched on its own. The rope was now increasingly tighter. The vibration of the strings jarring her insides, stirring that place deep inside that was threatening to spill over. When Royce glided out, and Ronin slid back in, she broke. The rope snapped, Belinda lost her balance and fell head first into the vortex that was her deep dark place. Her body bucked, and an orgasm seismic in nature broke loose.

  “Fuck.” Both men said at the same time as her body became unhinged. They didn’t stop moving, sliding back and forth, pulling in and out, just as one orgasm was coming to a halt, another built and spilled over, prolonging the effect. Spirals of ecstasy began spinning and spinning until she was dizzy with pleasure, and all at once it seemed to cave in on itself and then expand outward until she burst. It sent mini explosions skittering over her sated body. She chanted both their names over and over again until her became a whisper.

  Belinda didn’t understand how any of this was possible. No one had ever made her feel like this. In the fog that was her mind she could hear both men panting. Their strokes became faster and deeper. She was hanging on for the ride of her life, boneless and drained. She could feel both men throb inside her, their connection powerful, and complete.

  They’d possessed her in such a way that was not only gentle and sweet, but raw, and primal. This was final. There was no leaving them after something this strong. When she felt their bodies relax against hers, she smiled. They were covering her, keeping her safe. Bells felt her power flare fierce and hot inside her. Before she could get away from them, her fire ignited and combusted from the inside out. As her body and mind began to shut down, she felt and heard the ending result. Royce was propelled back onto the other side of the car, and Ronin was trying to hold on to her as fire consumed them both. Her last coherent thought before she was enveloped in darkness was, she wasn’t supposed to die yet, and she still needed time to explain.

  Part II

  The Phoenix

  The Sacred Order of the Phoenix was founded by the Macedonian Prince Alexander the Great. When his father Philip II died he became king, conquering most of western Asia and moving forward to Egypt where he approached the Oracle of Amun-Re. There was only one question he asked.

  “Who is my father?”

  To that the Oracle replied. “The end of your beginning.”

  Some say the Oracle named Amun, the supreme deity and most ancient of Egyptian Gods. Alexander went on to become an influential man, conquering his enemies and building the city of Alexandria.

  The masses believed he died in battle. That he was killed and buried in an undisclosed location. What they didn’t know was he was buried, but only slept for three days. On the third day, he rose from his funeral pyre a brilliant majestic Phoenix. When he returned to Alexandria he found his kingdom spilt and the neighboring countries strife with war. Instead of taking back what was rightfully his he travelled throughout the many countries and established the six houses of Ignis. There was House Benu founded in Egypt, House Simurgh of Persia, and House Ziz from Israel. The last land he visited was deep in the Carpathian Mountains and stretched as far as the Byzantine Empires, there he founded House Turul. The Order of the Phoenix were human in nature at first until Alexander bedded the human females. The females of the order began what would later be known as the nesting phase, resulting in offspring that were of his nature.

  He continued to spread his seed far and wide within his sacred order until a lone female became angry of his indiscretions and captured him. The lone female from House Benu who’d felt betrayed by his other women, came to him in the night and took from him a single feather, that lay at the base of his neck, rendering him mortal once more. She took him back to the oracle so that judgment would be past.

  When he returned he asked another question.

  “Why have I been forsaken?”

  The oracle’s answer was simple and to the point.

  “What you were given is sacred and has now been taken into more capable hands. Only a feather plucked can undo the deed. The men can no longer lead.

  Understanding dawned as he realized his immortality was passed, to the female who took his feather.

  Alexander returned home with the mistress of House Benu where she later died, but, not before giving birth to their daughter, Cleopatra the last ruler of Alexander and Matria to House Benu. As the years progressed he became old of age passing on to the in-between. He watched as his daughter rose to power when her adoptive father perished in a battle. He watched when the Romans came to take her and her lovers life but did not succeed. His punishment was to watch as his kind was hunted and persecuted for their feathers. The Order of the Phoenix perished under the tutelage of their female leader. Their kind to be whispered about and spoken as if they were a myth. To other immortals they were.

  Cleopatra was later captured after the Romans infantry pillaged the lands killing her people. Appearing dead she was brought in front of her lover, Antony to torment him for deserting his post. When he roared in pain throwing himself over her charred body, she rose from her ashes, taking out the Roman’s army in her wake, never to be heard from again.

  Chapter 22

  The drive back to the compound was tense. Enri wore a smug grin on his face that scared Zea to her core. There was something seriously fucked about him. She was back in her temporary body. And sitting in between both men once again. Black, who was no longer Draven was back to glaring daggers at her. She was sure he was planning her death.

  Takin
g a deep breath she sat back in her seat and calculated her next move. She had to convince him he wanted to go back to base with her. How, she wasn’t sure yet.

  “What was the purpose of today Black?” She asked.

  “To weed out the bullshit.”

  Enri clicked his tongue and watched Black with a curious eye.

  “Don’t forget to tell her how you really feel boss man.” Enri laughed.

  Zea watched as Blacks eyes seemed to get darker, blacker than they were before as he sat brooding in the car.

  “Mind your business Enri.”

  “Why do you want me dead?”

  A year ago she would never have pictured herself in a situation where she had to come right out blurt out the obvious. She was non-confrontational or had been. A year ago, she wasn’t with Draven. Her life hadn’t been the best. Now that she knew what she had, she wasn’t about to let it get away from her. Mission be damned. She was getting her man back. She was tired of this game and wanted off the fucked up express, like now.

  “You bother me, and to be quite honest I don’t think this gig is for you. You have issues with authority, and for some reason you think I should be interested in you.”

  Ouch.

  “Bother you? How?”

  Black ignored her question and pulled his cell from his pocket and dialed a number. She could hear their conversation as if she was right there in the room. Ice with sharp glass punctured her veins at the sound of Melissa’s voice.

  “I’m going to need your services tonight.” Black said to Melissa’s voice on the other end of the phone.

  Zea lost what little control she had left. She allowed her claws to sharpen and knew Enri wouldn’t do anything to her as long as she held up her end of their bargain. Anger was nasty business to anyone who couldn’t control their temper. She noticed with her new found abilities, she could snap at the drop of a hat.

  Black eyed her closely as he put his cell away.

  “I had no idea faeries could change their eye color. What type did you say you were again?”

  “I didn’t.” Zea said around a mouth full of teeth. Before she could rethink her actions, her hand grabbed Black by his throat. She was half-in-half-out of her seat as she released her anger on him.

  “You do not require her services!” She said quietly in his face. She was serious. Deathly serious, and the sad part about it all was she couldn’t seem to reign in her anger. That had bad news written all over it. “We’ve had this conversation Black, you touch her, you lose me.”

  “His black eyes flared a moment and some of the green came through as he calmly narrowed his eyes on her.

  “Remove your hand recruit.”

  She didn’t let go but pressed harder against his throat. The contents of the car began to shake from her anger. She needed to get the hell out of here before she lost all control of her actions. The shit they were feeding the recruits at the compound was to easily getting inside her head. She was not going to be any ones puppet again.

  “I said. Remove. Your. Hand.”

  She did, and let out a frustrated sound. She was going about this all wrong. Violence was not the answer, but allowing him to touch Melissa was not going to happen either.

  “I never truly agreed to your terms, earlier today Zea. And I see that by allowing you to think you were going to get what you wanted was a poor decision on my part. I don’t want you, and I sure as hell don’t need Melissa. But a man has needs, and from what I can tell of you. She can handle what I aim to give her.”

  She was about to attack his ass again when the car stopped in front of the gates to the compound. Enri stepped out whistling to himself, and she followed with Black fast on her tail. He didn’t even look at her as he passed her, headed off into the direction of his office.

  “This is going to be harder than I thought.” She said out loud.

  “Things always are, especially when you want something. You didn’t think I’d given you the deal of a lifetime? Did you cupcake?”

  “Fuck you,”

  She was getting sick and tired of people telling her things were not going to be easy. She wasn’t expecting to get a “get out of hell” free card, but she also hadn’t counted on Black being such a dick either. She needed to up her game.

  The lights were off in her room, but she felt Adam before he came to her.

  “You okay?” He asked. Zea knew Adam harbored misguided feelings for her, and on any other day she’d know how to hold him of, but today she was tired.

  “Interesting outing if you ask me,”

  Ronin trained her well, and she knew she could handle the unexpected, she’d even prepped for it. Mentally and emotionally, a large part of her refused to acknowledge she might fail. She knew the entire effort to extricate Black to base wasn’t an easy in, easy out. She even knew things could end badly for everyone involved. But she had to take the risk. Had to give Faith her father back, and for purely selfish reasons, she needed him more than her next breath. It hurt that Adam would still think there was hope for them. They were friends, teammates. That was all. The only person she could ever see herself with was Draven, and it killed her every moment of every day she couldn’t hold the two most prominent people in the world to her. She wasn’t prepared for was the overwhelming anger and hurt she felt towards Draven. His betrayal ran deep, and she couldn’t even fault him because he didn’t know who she was. He’d been tampered with, just like she had. They both needed to find themselves, and somehow come out of it better, healed. Seeing him day in and day out for these past few weeks was doing a serious job on her mind and her emotions.

  “I asked if you were okay, not whether or not you found the outing interesting.”

  Adam walked up to her and slid a stray lock of hair off of her forehead. Which was unnecessary, considering she was sporting the pixie do.

  “Adam.” She was losing her patience and knew Adam could hear it in her voice.

  “Yeah,” he stepped closer and grabbed her tightly around the waist. There was nothing exceptional about his touch, and regardless of how he felt, he was dead wrong about them. She tried to pull back from him, and allow herself some space.

  “You’re in my personal space, Adam.”

  “It’s where I want to be,” he spoke softly into her face. She couldn’t mistake his intentions now, he’d plastered the hard length of his erection against her pant leg. Completely unacceptable. This didn’t feel right, only Draven could manhandle her this way. She could smell him and the desire he had for her blood. She knew from all the tests she’d undergone when she was still a mystery to even herself that she was compatible to Vampiri’s. She could even be turned, which went against everything she’d been told. It wasn’t something she was signing up for. Ever. Adams skin was cold, a sure sign he needed to juice up and quickly.

  “I’m not your juice box, and I’ll never volunteer.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing darling,” He said, bending into her neck. Zea pushed back, breaking away from him completely.

  “Adam, I don’t want to know what I’m missing. Go get yourself fed. You’re cold.”

  He stepped back and placed his hands at his sides and slowly walked out of the room. She followed so she could latch the door, but his hand shot out gripping hers on the side of the door frame as she tried to push it closed.

  “When you need me, I’ll be here.” His whiskey brown eyes locked on her green ones

  “You’ll be waiting more than twenty lifetimes, Adam.” Quickly, she moved his hand before closing the door.

  Zea jumped into the shower to wash off the day’s grime and sort her shit out. She needed a solid plan. Royce and Ronin would know what to do in this situation. They always seemed to know.

  Royce you out there? I need some advice.

  She waited for a response and tried to connect with Royce again. Nothing. He must have been caught up in something. She knew they were on their way to her Belinda�
��s home. She tried one more time to connect with Royce but failed. She was tired and needed to face tomorrow’s impending encounters with Black. Somehow she’d work on getting Draven back to the unit.

  # # #

  “What the fuck was that?” Ronin asked as Belinda’s body went limp in his arms? Royce had been flung to the other side of the car when the burst of fire exploded from Belinda’s body. She’d actually burst into flames. The heat was intense, but it didn’t mar his or his brother’s flesh. He’d heard of exhausting ones sexual energy, but never like this. He’d nailed a succubus once, and all she did was give a minor jolt of energy. What Belinda did was something different. He could still feel the concentrated energy course through his body.

  “She okay?” Royce asked as he righted himself in the seat across from them. She was limp in his arms. Her body flushed from her orgasm and hot to the touch. Carefully, he placed her long ways across the seat gathering her legs across his lap. He couldn’t feel anything, no pulse, no breath, but she was still burning hot. Ample amounts of heat radiated from her body. Ronin shook his head and carefully moved her legs to the side so he could dress.

  “Get dressed.”

  Royce immediately began pulling on his clothes, and as he did that Ronin dressed himself and dressed Belinda. He was trying to put the pieces together of their current situation. He wasn’t going to panic because each immortal was different. They hadn’t touched the primary at the base of her neck so it couldn’t be that. What he did know is that during their rebirth, a Phoenix would go into what they called a nesting phase. Some referred to this as the “Sleeping Beauty” effect. A phoenix would go into a deep sleep. Not dead, but sleep.