I refocused on Razik and Salem, but watching wasn’t going to be enough. What was it about these three that called to me? I didn’t understand it. Need warred with fear that I was playing with fire. I knew better than to let myself fall for dragons again. Dragons were made of fire. They would burn me, of that I was certain. But was I willing to forego attention like this out of fear? One of the clearest memories I had from my life before was the raw pleasure I’d shared with Ked that no other lover had been capable of offering. I longed for that again so much, perhaps the risk of being burned alive again might be worth it.
But was I anything close to alive? Did it even matter if they burned me now? Still, to have this dragon’s touch, to begin to feel alive, truly alive again for the first time in eons, I couldn’t be satisfied without striving for more.
I reached out to the other two, aching for contact with them, but my incorporeal fingertips only passed through their flesh. Watching was all I could do for now.
Salem was pinned against the counter, already half-naked, his shirt gone and his pants down around his knees. He had black markings etched all over his muscled chest, shoulders, and arms. His head was back, his lips stretched into a blissful smile while Razik rested on his knees, dragon tongue busily licking the length of his friend’s impressive shaft.
I let out a little whimper at the recollection of what a tongue like that could do. “Make them see me,” I whispered.
“Hm, not yet, I don’t think. I’m enjoying the show. Perhaps I can help you enjoy it more too? It seems you can feel me just fine, can’t you?” He squeezed my hand.
“Yes. Please let me have more.” I pulled his hand lower, pressing it over my mound. He emitted a low, rumbling growl against the side of my neck.
“You feel so real. So perfect. Where did you come from? What do I call you?”
He glided his other hand up my bodice, hooking his fingertips over the neckline. The fabric tore like paper, and my breasts spilled out. He plucked at one nipple as he rucked up the skirt. I wished he would tear the garment to shreds. It would reform on its own anyway. I didn’t remember ever owning a dress like this. My last memory was of being naked in the arms of a dragon. Both my best and worst memory because that dragon had only made love to me with such fervor because he knew it would be the last time before he killed me.
My death served a purpose, which I was all too aware of at the time, and who I was needed to remain in the past. That woman was madness, death to dragonkind, just as their fire might mean a second death to me.
“Your name, lovely. What is it?” he asked again.
“Just touch me,” I begged, reaching behind me with both hands. I found solid hips clothed in rough denim and the bulge of an erection straining to break free. When I was alive, Shadows didn’t have such precise power to transfer details like this to their shadow forms. It added to the illusion that my body was whole and real again to be able to touch and be touched.
“Whatever you desire, I will give you.” He tweaked my nipple again, and I clenched my thighs together with the need that rose in my core. His fingers finally found their way beneath the heavily draping skirt of my gown and brushed the inside of my thigh. I found his cock and stroked him through his pants. He groaned and pushed against my touch.
My wish on its way to being granted, I allowed myself to watch the other two again. Razik’s hair looked longer in the light than it had in the shadows before. The ends brushed across his cheekbones as he wrapped his lips around Salem’s cockhead. I reached for him with one hand, playing at threading my fingers through his hair though it was Salem’s hands that actually did it.
Errol grabbed my wrist and lifted it up, placed it against the side of his head. I eagerly combed my fingers through the short, silky strands, luxuriating in their softness.
His fingers finally grazed my core and I froze, a gasp caught in my throat as a spasm of pleasure shot through me unbidden. It was the tiniest of climaxes, and only served to make me crave more.
“Sweet Mother, but you do feel just the way I always dreamed my mate would feel.” The sweet words slipped into my ears just as his fingers slid between my folds and began to stroke. He parted me wide with two fingers and dropped his other hand down to tease my aching clit. Another orgasm built quickly and surged free before I could enjoy the touches that brought me there, but he didn’t seem eager to stop.
“Will you let me feel you around my cock next time you come, lovely?”
He raised his hand and grazed my nipple again with fingers glossy with my juices while continuing to stroke me slowly with his other. This time, he pushed two fingers into me.
I clutched my fingers harder around his cock, then released to blindly seek the button of his pants with both hands. The closure came free, and I reached inside and pulled him out. His shaft rested hot and thick in my palm, so real I could imagine we were both flesh and blood and not a pair of incorporeal creatures, merely complicated illusions of magic.
My clumsy scrambling was enough of an answer for him. He spun me around and pushed me back against the counter. I stared up into eyes that flashed purple-black and hungry. The amiable smile I’d seen on this man’s face before was gone, replaced by something close to feral. He’d called me his mate a moment ago. It couldn’t be, but I could still enjoy the way it sounded. Whatever this was, this shadow tryst… I wasn’t about to let the chance slip through my fingers like the ashes in the only real world I knew anymore.
“This fucking dress has got to go. I hope it isn’t something you love.” He sliced a claw down the remaining section of bodice that hadn’t been torn and kept going, the edge of his talon grazing past my navel and the cleft of my mound. The dress fell away and I smiled, all too happy to be rid of it and naked for his eyes. Eyes that could fully see me.
“That’s better,” he said, shifting back enough to stare down at me. His gaze made everything warm even more than before.
“Your turn,” I said, reaching out and tugging at the hem of his thin, form-fitting shirt.
Before my eyes, his clothes disintegrated, banished with a thought and leaving him gloriously naked. He looked almost solid now, but with a tilt of my head, I could still see some light through his dark frame.
Then he closed the distance again, reaching down to grasp the backs of my thighs and lift me up. I wrapped arms and legs around him, and when his cock met my core, he shoved in hard and fast, causing me to gasp in surprise. My gasp transformed quickly into a moan of pure pleasure as we rocked against each other.
Beside us, the other two had switched positions. Salem was bent over the counter entirely naked, while Razik tongued between his cheeks. “Hurry up and fuck me,” Salem demanded.
Errol let out a low chuckle as he fucked me, his lips nuzzling beneath my ear. “Next time I’ll bring them, and we can share you instead of having sneaky sex in the shadows. They haven’t even noticed I’m not there, the bastards.”
Share me. The thought of having all three caused a wildfire of need to rush through me, and I grabbed him tighter, bucking my hips harder into each of his already punishing thrusts.
He pushed me to the very edge again, and this time I held on, the first two orgasms giving me the endurance to wait just a little longer. He groaned, and the thick weight inside me pulsed. Then a rough roar erupted from his throat, a flash of black fire along with it, searing my cheek before I could dodge. Like Razik’s accidental outburst the other night, Errol’s fire didn’t hurt. On the contrary, the heat of it was even more acutely real than, anything and it shocked my orgasm out of me just as his cock exploded inside me.
My head flew back, and I let out an incoherent cry, clinging to his broad shoulders, half aware of the pair of writhing, bucking men beside us. But something more than pleasure bloomed hot on my cheek.
Pain sank in finally, a sensation I remembered vividly as being the last thing I felt before oblivion took me, but something I hadn’t experienced in forever.
They could burn me.
No one had ever been able to burn me but the Void. And if Errol and Razik could burn me, they could kill me again. I couldn’t let that happen, not when I was so close to the real world after being dead so long.
Before I could answer the question I knew was on the tip of his tongue, I whispered one final word and then retreated. I couldn’t stay, but at least I could give him my name. With that, perhaps he would understand why I had to run.
Razik
“Benedetta.”
The name floated through the air over the sounds of our panting breaths. Salem’s cock spasmed once more in my fist, his semen coating my fingers and his ass still clamped tight around me, milking me dry.
“What was that?” he asked, casting a fevered look over his shoulder at me.
A second later, Errol’s immense shape materialized beside us, naked and just as sweaty, his cock hard and glistening, arms curled in a strange arc as if he’d been fucking the empty air.
“No!” Errol yelled, grasping at a remnant of gardenia-scented smoke. “Benedetta, come back!”
“What the fuck? Was she here?” I extracted myself from Salem, and we both turned to face Errol. He stared in shock at his empty hands, then ran to the window, yanked up the sash, and peered out into the darkness.
“She was right here. I could touch her, talk to her. I was inside her! Benedetta!” He bellowed the name out the window, and I cursed, rushing across the room to yank him back inside.
“Dammit, you sound insane. How the fuck do you think it’s going to look to Cassandra to have you hollering a stranger’s name out the window?”
He looked frantic. “It worked. She came just like we hoped. She was here! I could touch her, talk to her, I… I…”
“You fucked her. Just like that,” Salem deadpanned.
Errol swallowed and raked his fingers through his hair, leaving the neat waves in complete disarray. He looked sheepish. “She was hot, and you two going at it had us both worked up so …” He shrugged and smiled.
“Fucking hell, Errol,” I said, walking back to the sink and turning on the faucet to wash Salem’s spend off my hand. “You were supposed to tell us if the plan worked. Not fuck her.” I grabbed a hand towel and turned, glaring at him as I dried off my hands then proceeded to wipe down my flagging dick.
I wanted to strangle the fucker, but he was so distraught about her departure, I just sighed. I already knew what he was going through, being so close to her, able to feel the heat of her touch, the lovely fire-tinged gardenia scent of her skin. It had been hell to have her run from me the way she had, and now she’d done it to him too.
“What the hell is she?” Salem asked. “Some kind of ghost succubus?”
Errol sighed. “We didn’t exactly talk. She didn’t even share her name until right when she disappeared.”
I snorted. “Well, aren’t you a regular Romeo.”
Errol’s cheeks reddened and he took a deep breath, exhaling a dark cloud that clung to his skin, soon covering him in a pair of conjured black jeans and a T-shirt. With a shake of his head, he slumped down on one of a pair of long sofas arranged around the fireplace near the window.
“I just wanted her. Nothing else mattered. It was like something inside me was answering a call. You guys saw how special she was, didn’t you? It wasn’t just me, was it? You especially, Raz. You actually got to talk to her.” He gave us both a beseeching look. His helplessness was endearing, and I couldn’t help but sigh and nod. Salem looked troubled, his aura the pale blue of disappointment. I guess he’d hoped for more.
I sat down across from him. “I’m kind of pissed at you, to be honest. If she trusted you enough to fuck you, why did she leave before giving us a chance to talk to her?”
“Or fuck her,” Salem said. I shot him a dark look, and he raised his eyebrows. “What? It’s true. He got to fuck her, why shouldn’t we? As much as I loved being nailed by you just now, I did it out of necessity more than desire. I’m the only one who hasn’t had a chance to touch her.” He paused, and a spark of realization flashed in his eyes. “Oh shit, I think I know what this is.”
I decided to let slide the “by necessity” comment. I thought we’d made a deeper connection over the past week, but whatever. It was still good sex. “What is this?”
“When we’re in our shadow forms, we see the world differently. We can see her, for example, when we can’t see her like this.” He waved a hand down his body, and I took the invitation to tilt my head and appreciate his physique with a lewd grin. Salem rolled his eyes and grabbed his jeans, pulling them on and buttoning them. “When I was on the ferry last weekend, I slipped into shadow to take a look around …”
“To spy on us,” Errol said.
Salem had the audacity to look hurt by the accusation, and I laughed. “Dude, don’t deny it. We could sense you listening. We all do it when we’re on rounds too, so it isn’t just you. So, what did you see?”
“Fate hounds.”
Errol and I both stared, gape-mouthed. Finally, Errol managed to find his breath and stuttered out, “Y-you could see them? I thought they were invisible.”
“Evidently not when we’re on that plane. I can’t imagine what else they could have been. They looked like enormous purple fu dogs. And they were nosing around all three of us, howling…or something like it.”
I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. This was big. A little scary too. “Two fate hounds targeted us, and you’re only telling us now? Cassandra said they had a pair assigned to the island to help locate Bloodline strong enough to need training. Did they use them to find us too? Maybe that’s all it is?”
Errol shook his head. “By the time we were on the ferry, they’d already hired us. There wouldn’t be a need to follow us around like that.”
“What if they marked us for her?” Salem asked.
“You said they howled at us, right?” Errol asked.
“Sort of… It was more like a whale song or something. Kind of pretty,” Salem said.
Errol stared at the floor, thinking. “Maybe you’re right. Fate magic is how the turul mating songs work. It makes sense that fate hounds would operate in a similar way. When Belah found the North brothers, they called to her with music. A turul mating song. I heard the song myself, but something about it affected Belah differently. It drew her to them like a magnet. I don’t think she could have ignored it if she wanted to. She admitted that Fate had marked the pair of them for her, so there was no denying the call.”
He met my gaze then, an almost desperate look in his eyes that I instantly understood. When I looked at Salem, I saw the same need in his eyes.
“I don’t think I’m wrong,” Salem said. “She appeared to us that first night, and neither Cassandra nor Andrew had a clue she existed. The fate hounds following us on the ferry is too big to be a coincidence. And then your encounter with her the other night. Now Errol… What the fuck did you do to scare her off, dude? Why’d she leave?” He turned a pointed look to Errol.
“I wish I knew. We were… You know… And I came, and she came—for the third time, I might add—and then she freaked out and left.” He winced at some piece of his recollection.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I might have flamed her a little bit, right across the cheek.” He swiped one hand over his left cheekbone. “It didn’t seem to faze her at first, but she had her hand over it when she disappeared. Shit.” He buried his face in his hands.
“Great, so you breathed fire on her and scared her off. You knew she was spooked by fire when I was with her, and you couldn’t hold it back? We need to go find her,” I said.
“We need to find out who she is and why she’s here. We know that strange globe on the tree is linked to her somehow,” Salem said.
I nodded, conscious of a niggling sense at the back of my mind that I should already know the answer. We had her name now, and it was a name I should have been able to remember if I’d heard it before, but I still couldn’t quite put my finger on why it
was so familiar.
“Errol’s shift starts in a couple hours. Let’s give her time to cool off tomorrow, then meet at the tree when Salem’s shift ends and see if we can get her to come out and talk to us. Eight tomorrow night.”
Errol only stared at me, then at Salem. “You two are on board with this theory? That she’s, ah, ours? No ‘I saw her first’ bullshit?”
“We kind of saw her at the same time, didn’t we?” Salem asked. “I’m not accepting you fucking her first as any sort of claim, at any rate. I hope you understand that.”
“No! I mean, yes, I understand. She wanted you both as much as me. I think, if it was the fate hounds, that they chose us three for a reason, and not just because we could attune to the tree.”
“I think they brought us here to help her,” Salem said.
“You two are assuming she both needs and wants our help. What if she’s just a ghost who can only get laid when a Shadow’s around to do the deed? For all we know, Errol scratched that itch, and she’s done. She did run, right, Errol?”
His brows scrunched with worry, but Salem shook his head. “No, I don’t buy it. I haven’t had the depth of contact you two have, but in the moment I did get to see her, she sounded like she was waiting for us. I want to find out why.”
Benedetta
The pain in my cheek had subsided to a dull heat, and when I gingerly touched the spot, my fingertips came away with black smudges. An involuntary moan welled in my chest. This couldn’t be happening. Not with them. When I’d made contact the first night, I was so sure they were here to bring me back. Razik’s fire had been one thing; he’d only managed to ignite my dress. But now Errol had managed to actually burn my flesh, such as it was. I was already dead, so how could a Shadow’s fire turn me to ash again?
I stared at my reflection in the glass wall of my spherical prison. A pale face looked back, the shadows of death visible beneath my nearly translucent skin. Except for the spot where he’d burned me. That spot glowed like a banked ember lay beneath the surface, vivid ultraviolet with Shadow dragon fire. I rubbed at it, but it wouldn’t go out. It felt alive under my skin though, no longer painful like it had at first. It tingled, as if his fire had given me a taste of what it was like to live again, but for how long until it burned me from the inside out?
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 25
