“Get us out of here!” I screamed at Linford, but whatever was making him shriek in pain, making my mates yell too, took all his attention. I stared at him, saw he was struggling to hold my grandmother in place.
Calling on the wind, I sent a surge toward them, letting it settle under her feet, propping her up to give him some relief. The desperation on his face, the sweat on his brow, told me how he’d been struggling, and the instant relief told me I’d helped him.
As the lava began to spit and spurt upward, I realized I’d triggered the volcano’s eruption. What didn’t make sense was why my men were howling and looking at their fucking arms as though they were about to drop off…
Of course, that was when I saw their gold bands. They were alight with heat, shining just as hotly as the lava, and as they scrabbled to remove them from their wrists, tearing at flesh to relieve the pain of the burn, I knew it was useless.
In the distance, so far away that I shouldn’t have been able to notice them, I heard similar screams. There were so many of them, so fucking many, that I knew this wasn’t happening only to my grandfather and my Virgo.
It was happening to all Fae in the vicinity.
Maybe even everywhere.
What I’d just done…
It was the start of change.
The catalyst.
Only the gods knew what lay next for us.
Only they knew what they’d truly started.
❖
Dan
The pain was like nothing else I’d ever known. It tore through me, burning me as though the heat didn’t just come from an exterior source, but from an interior one too.
I’d grabbed a hold of Riel with Seph, and though she was tightly held between us, sandwiched almost, I struggled to free my wrists from the gold band that I felt sure was trying to amputate my fucking hands. No matter what I did, though, nothing worked.
Nothing helped me get rid of the bands that were the instruments the Fae used to call on witch magic.
As agony tore me to shreds, I didn’t even really notice when the light around us began to pulse. It might have even been a trick of my eyes, because all I was focused on was the sheer, gut-wrenching pain that was centered around the bands.
Just as the throbbing began to disperse, it was like someone had turned off the light switch, turning our world from bright sunlight to endless darkness. It was like night had fallen, as though…
But the sun had been nowhere near setting!
If anything, it had felt like it was midday.
With the sudden pitch-black having overtaken everything else, I gasped, “What’s happening?”
The ache was still there, the burn as prominent as ever, but I could speak. My tongue felt too thick in my mouth, and damn, everything hurt, yet I managed to work those words out of my throat.
“I think this is what was always supposed to happen,” she whispered, and when I stared at her—my eyes blurry as I tried to focus—I saw enough to realize her head was tipped back. When I followed her line of sight, I blinked, certain my eyes really weren’t working this time.
The night sky wasn’t dark. In this light-poor place, somewhere with very little light pollution, I knew the sight of the stars would be phenomenal. But this? These things… they weren’t stars.
“A meteor shower,” Riel rasped, her voice thick and husky as she watched the display overhead.
I’d never seen anything like it, and I remembered the Leonids shower back in Tucson when I was a kid. I’d only been like six or some shit like that, but Sol, I’d been old enough to remember just how awe-inspiring that had been. Over a thousand meteors soaring through the night sky in an hour that evening, yet this? It was enough to make me think Sol and Gaia were having a firework’s display of their own.
Maybe they were.
If this was what they’d been working toward for centuries, maybe this was their idea of a party.
I just wished that idea didn’t include me feeling like my hands were being lopped off with a poorly sharpened meat cleaver.
“Can you get us out of here?” Matt screamed at Linford, and I realized why.
The scream was because the eruption was noisy. Noisy as fuck. I blinked down at the volcano, saw that it was definitely not dormant, and understood my troupe brother’s agitation.
Linford, who along with his mate, had been gaping up at the sky, jolted at Matt’s holler, then muttered, “Certainly.”
And like that, we were no longer at the volcano. Instead, we were…
I frowned.
Where were we?
My confusion outweighed even my discomfort, and I kept a firm hold on Riel as we all fluttered down to the ground as he’d transported us midair, I guessed it made sense that we’d arrive midair too.
“Where are we?” Matt demanded, whirling around a garden that looked vaguely familiar.
“My home,” Linford muttered, sounding perplexed as Sol, and I couldn’t blame him.
“We’re in Honolulu?” Seph asked.
Linford blinked. “I-I thought we were.” He eyed his wrists, then raised them. “This happen to you as well?”
I stared at the scorch marks on my wrists. Literal burns from where the gold had… My stomach churned as I rubbed a finger down the small length of skin that had gold bubbled into it. Figured that’s why it had hurt so fucking much.
Shuddering at the sight, I cast a glimpse at Seph and Matt, saw they were similarly afflicted, and mumbled, “What in Gaia’s name is that about?”
“I don’t know,” Linford inserted, “but this was my home. I figured maybe the band had messed with my magic, taken us someplace else, but that kukui tree is mine. Definitely.” He pointed to a tree he was scowling at.
“So where’s the house?” Riel questioned, her voice low and hoarse.
“I don’t know,” Linford drawled, before tipping his chin back and saying, “It’s dark here too, and look at the sky. Full of meteors. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“Thought coincidences weren’t even in your vocabulary,” she sniped back, but there was little heat in the words, and I knew that for a fact because her focus was on the sky too, and there was no way, in the face of such beauty, that anyone could start bickering.
“It worked,” Gabriella breathed, out of the blue.
“I have to think it did,” Linford concurred. “I just never imagined when you told me what you were bound to do all those years ago that this would be the end result.”
I cut him a look. “What did she tell you?”
“She’s my Virgo mate. We share everything.”
“Hardly,” Seph retorted. “Don’t think my father was—”
Gabriella snorted. “Of course he was. I told them everything. Every last thing. But when Noa decided he couldn’t handle the mate bond, and when I agreed that I wasn’t a natural fit for the Virgo connection either, Linford did a little magic of his own. Everything was cleared from my mates’ minds. It was safer for them that way. Safer for you too, Riel.”
She pursed her lips, not giving her grandmother any quarter, and considering we’d been working blind when Gabriella had evidently known some of what was ahead of us, I couldn’t exactly blame her.
“What now?” I muttered, staring up at the sky once more.
“I don’t know,” Gabriella admitted.
And wouldn’t you just know it?
Kismet got involved again.
The ringtone from Seph’s phone burst into the clearing where Linford’s property had once stood. He cut Riel a look. “That’s my father’s ringtone.”
“Pick it up, then,” Gabriella told him softly. “Let’s see what he has to say.”
The second Seph connected the call and put the phone on speaker, Noa was screaming, “Son? Your wrists, did they…?”
“Yes, Father. They did. Is it dark where you are now?”
“Yes. It’s dark when it most definitely should be early morning. The sun had just started to rise, and from out of nowhere,
it grew dark. Have you seen the meteors?”
“Can’t miss them, Father.”
“Where are you?”
“Hawaii. The same thing happened here.” He hesitated a second. “Pitch-black all around. What about the buildings around you? Are you at Landgow?”
“No. I’m with the Assembly still.” He grunted. “I appreciate you asking me to gather them together then failing to show up—”
Seph rolled his eyes. “Something came up.”
“Something more important than the Assembly?” Noa probed, his tone dangerously low.
“Yes. Way more important,” Riel retorted waspishly.
Seph talked over Noa’s bluster by saying, “Father! Did the same happen to you? Our place just… disappeared.”
Noa cleared his throat. “Yes. It’s pandemonium here. The Assembly moves, you know that. It’s a Fae construct. It disappeared about ten minutes ago. We… we can’t seem to reconstruct it.”
Seph shot Riel a look. “And the gold bands are burned into your wrists too?”
“Yes,” Noa hissed. “What in Sol’s name is going on?”
“We’ll get the first flight back. Is the Assembly still at the same coordinates you sent earlier?”
“Yes.” He huffed. “We’ll be heading to the local town hall though. The humans have agreed to let us work from there for the moment.”
“You arranged that in ten minutes?” I demanded.
“Every city in which we work knows that we may overtake their main administerial building in an emergency. I think this can be considered an emergency, don’t you?” he retorted dryly, but there was no panic in his voice… I guess that made sense. Only Sol knew what Noa had seen in his years as a warrior and head of his family.
Still, I’d have thought this beat all that.
“We have news for the Assembly,” Riel butted in, her voice cool and calm… It was also loaded with an authority that was bound to get Noa’s back up. “It would be wise if you give us an audience. We’ll travel to you now and should be with you in the morning.” She eyed Seph who, ignoring his father’s spluttering, disconnected the line.
“Was that wise to rile him up?” Matt queried.
Her lips curved. “I don’t have to listen to the likes of him anymore. Nor does any witch.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “Look around you, boys. There’s no magic in the air.”
“What are you talking about?” Seph insisted.
“I’m talking about the gold that’s everywhere… it’s nowhere in sight, is it? I’d seen it before. How couldn’t I? But back at the volcano, it was in the air like a stream of glitter. Then it wasn’t. Now I know why.” She reached down and grabbed my hand. Angling it so she could see my wrist, she murmured, “Does it still hurt?”
I blinked. “Yes.”
She winced, then began to trace her fingers over the band. When I felt heat from the tips sink into my skin, I yelped, and she jerked back in surprise.
“I hurt you?” Her eyes were huge in her face. “I’m sorry! I meant to ease the pain.”
I reached for her shoulder with my good hand. “I know. Don’t worry.” I shook my fingers to dispel some of the ache. Not that it worked.
What she’d done had made it burn as badly as it had before.
Her face was pale when she looked at me, and I sensed she knew what she’d done without me having to say a word.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, reaching up to cup her chin. “You meant well.”
“I hurt you.” Her bottom lip quivered. Fucking quivered. I stared at it, and her, aghast. Was she about to cry?
Unsure of what to do, because I’d seen Riel do a lot of shit, most of it pretty kickass of late, so I just gaped at her, then, because I was at a loss, I pressed my mouth to hers to stem that tremor.
The second our lips connected, I breathed into the kiss and felt like I was coming home. I grunted, tilting my head to the side, and slipped my tongue into her mouth. As she accepted my caress, I began to flutter mine along hers, tempting her away from tears and urging her toward a different kind of emotion.
Her hands came up to hold my waist, and for a second, I tensed, waiting for pain, but when none came, I relaxed into her kiss once more.
A groan escaped her, and in my periphery, I saw Linford and Gabriella step away, their feet brushing at the leaves and soil on the ground as they left us alone. Around me, Seph and Matt circled us, and Riel sighed into my kiss before relaxing into them.
When their hands moved between us, one to shape the swell of her breast, the other going for gold right off by aiming between her legs, she squirmed in place. The air felt turbocharged for an instant, and the next thing I knew, we were naked.
That sensation of ‘turbocharged’ was weird though. Weird because I knew she’d just cast magic, and yet my body had responded to it as though it were alien. I might not have had much of the witch’s magic tithed to me, but I knew it well enough for it not to come as a surprise…
Pondering that thought then shoving it aside when she pushed into me, her hands moving down over my hips to cup my ass so she could haul me into her, I ground my dick into her belly before separating our lips.
“You sure you’re ready for this?” I rasped.
“I’ve been burning alive all day,” she growled, arching her hips when Matt’s fingers rubbed her in just the right spot.
I beamed at her. “You behaved very well. I thought the Rut would be a lot more…”
“Bestial?” She cocked a brow. “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Fifteen
Seph
She threw down the words like they were a challenge, and maybe they were. She shifted then, lifting one leg and hooking it onto Dan’s hip before hauling herself upward until she was leaning back against us and had mounted Dan—not that he looked too perturbed by the situation.
With their sexes aligned, it figured that Dan was going to thrust into her, but when he did, I swore to fuck that I could feel the instant their connection bloomed to life inside my very being.
I shuddered, my semi going to full mast in an instant. Arousal no longer just twitched inside me, but became as much an agony as what had happened to my wrists.
For a second, I focused on that pain, thought about how alien it had felt, then Riel moaned, her head tipping back as she began to ride Dan.
There was no doubt in my mind that she was in charge at that moment, no doubt that she needed this more than she needed anything else.
I realized that Linford and Gabriella were just as aware of that, because I didn’t think it was likely they’d let us get away with a quickie if it weren’t imperative.
We still had shit to do. That much was evident from my father’s call.
A deep, low moan escaped Riel, forcing my concentration back to where it should be. I groaned as I reached down and grabbed my cock, squeezing it to stop myself from getting overexcited, when a scent suddenly blossomed through the air.
She smelled like fire and rain, wind and earth. It was insane, I knew that. How could she scent of the elements? And yet, that fragrance felt like it was keyed into me. Keyed in like it was a code to unlocking the very heart of me.
And maybe that was fitting, considering she was my heart.
I sucked down a breath, trying to get a handle on things, but the more of her scent I breathed in, the more I felt like I was going to lose it.
When Matt growled and began pushing them forward, Dan staggering from the move until he was pushed up against a tree, I wasn’t surprised when he leaned against Riel and ground out, “Now would be the time to will some lube into being.”
His request had me frowning. I went to will some of my own into being, and when I couldn’t, when the magic wasn’t there, I realized Riel was right.
What the fuck?
Where was the magic? Where had it gone?
I stared up at the meteors for a second, watching the strange phenomenon that came with the lack of light. Was that our magic being seede
d back into the soil? Soaring overhead only to hit the ground to change the way the world worked?
The lack of balance between the Fae and the witches was beginning to be redressed, but that brought with it a shit ton of problems that I couldn’t even start thinking about now. Not without getting a headache, and I already had enough aches to worry about.
With a grunt, Riel did as bid, and a bottle appeared in Matt’s hand. When he greased up his shaft, I watched as he moved to part her ass cheeks and slipped his finger down the crack of her butt. When she tensed, I knew he’d hit gold, and I smiled a little as she moaned deeper, working herself on Dan’s cock until Matt controlled her movements by sticking his cock against that tight pucker.
Despite myself, I had no choice but to watch, to revel in what I was seeing. Weeks ago, this would have been repugnant to me, but now, this was everything.
My whole fucking world.
Everything narrowed down to this, and I watched in delight as Matt slipped into her ass and began to fuck her. Slowly at first, making her take every last inch. When she was speared on his shaft, I felt the moment her body aligned. It was a weird way of phrasing it, but it fit.
Made sense.
I knew the exact second when she began to orgasm around Dan’s cock, and I waited for his hoarse hollers as he, too, exploded into her. Impaled on Matt’s cock, she was going nowhere, but I headed over to the fray, and said, “Help me, Matt.”
He grabbed her legs, kept them spread wide apart, as he pulled her off Dan’s spent shaft. My brother stood there looking dazed but happy, his smile an amusing mixture of cocky and dopey. I laughed at him, then shoved at him to move him out the way. He staggered over to another tree, his cock still dripping from Riel’s slick and juicy sex.
My mouth watered, and maybe it was gross, but I couldn’t stop myself from dropping to my knees and giving her what I needed—a taste.
As I licked her clit, she screamed into the quietness of the garden, and it felt so right for her to be shrieking her pleasure as the Gods watched over us, anointing us with whatever those meteors were spreading around.
The Ascended: The Eight Wings Collection Page 62
