by Connor Crowe
"Listen to me," he commanded in a voice that was all alpha. "You. Are not. Broken. Do you hear me?"
I opened my mouth to say something, but he cut in.
"No buts. I won't have you believing that about yourself."
Shocked as I was from the sudden forcefulness, it felt actually...good. He wasn't rejecting me like I'd been so afraid he would. He was fiercely defending me, in fact. And the conviction I saw in his flaming eyes gave me the strength to go on.
"No matter what your family told you," Hugo continued. "No matter what kind of bullshit they put into your head, I want you to listen to me. And believe me. You are not broken because you're an omega. You are not broken because you're infertile. None of that matters, Tristan. None of it. And those that think it makes you less of a person?" He growled. "I'll toss them off the edge of The Flying City myself."
"I'll help!" James piped up.
I stared at them both for a few seconds. My heart thudded but this time it wasn't from fear. It was joy. Pure, unfettered joy. It soared out through my heart and down each of my limbs. The tingling sensation I felt this time wasn't from the cold. It was the knowledge that this was right.
This was home.
I wiped my eyes, still not knowing what to say. There was still something on my mind, though, and I wouldn't be fully at peace until I could get it out there. "Hugo, I don't know if you know this, but I overheard you talking one night. You were talking about wanting children, and I..." I shrugged helplessly. "I knew I couldn't give you that. No matter what I felt, I figured it didn't matter. We couldn't be together if I couldn't give you that. You deserved better, and I figured if I just stayed away..."
Hugo took both of my hands in his own. His gaze, still fixed on me, was no less fiery. His voice no less alpha. "Tristan." His voice rumbled through me with a delightful chill. "You think that matters to me? I want you, Tris. Not for the purpose of making a baby. Not because you're an omega. I want you. Does that make sense?"
I blinked away tears and nodded. I squeezed his hands, letting the feeling of his warm skin on mine ground me. This was everything I had wanted. Everything I had dreamed of, and was too afraid to pursue. It was too good to be true...wasn't it?
"Yeah," I said at last. "That makes sense."
"Do you know how scared I was when I saw you pass out in the library?" Hugo's face grew haunted. His grip tightened. "Do you know how helpless I felt when I couldn't revive you? James can tell you, it's because I cared about you. No matter how I may have acted, I cared about you, Tristan. I still do."
"It's true," James said. He looped his arm around my shoulders from the other side. "He was freaking out, if I'm being quite honest."
"Hey!" Hugo huffed, but his grin gave him away.
"He's not wrong, though," James pointed out. "It wasn't until we both worked together that we were able to reach you. Just like how we did when Hugo was falling. Whatever is going on between us, it doesn't work unless all three of us are in tune. That has to count for something."
If the soaring feeling in my gut wasn't enough assurance, the feeling of two men's arms around me sealed the deal. It wasn't just one of them or the other that I wanted. Things didn't feel right or complete without them both, and being here, like this, made that part all the more certain.
"You really think..." I started. "All three of us?"
"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" James shot me a smile. "After all, we're heading into the belly of the beast, as it were." His gaze flickered upward, and my stomach dropped at the thought of our morning mission. "Something tells me we're going to need as much support as we can get."
I choked out a rueful laugh and held them closer. "Isn't that the truth."
"You know," Hugo whispered. He was right next to my ear now, his voice deliciously deep. "There's something I've been meaning to try."
"What's that?"
Hugo gave James a knowing smile, and before I had time to think or react, they both leaned in and planted a kiss on my cheeks.
The feeling of both their lips on mine ignited something within me. The fire in my chest exploded into a full-blown inferno, and I craned my head to catch James' mouth with my own. Hugo rumbled with pleasure and moved to my ear and the side of my neck. All the while, I tasted the young wolf omega next to me.
How strange it was, making out with two men at the same time.
But how arousing.
Kissing James was different. Where Hugo was forceful and dominant, James was soft and pliant. He opened his mouth and let out a little moan of pleasure. I took that as an opportunity to go deeper, and our tongues brushed.
"Still doubting?" Hugo whispered in my ear. He moved down to nip at the earlobe slightly, soliciting a gasp from me in return.
I pulled away from James just long enough to answer. "Not anymore," I breathed.
"Good."
Before I could capture James' lips again, he pulled away, standing and taking a few steps back. I looked up at him, mouth open, missing his touch already. Had he changed his mind?
"What are you doing?" I asked. My voice was still husky from arousal. My cock still ached against my pants, desperate for release. "Where are you going?"
"I just got up to go to the bathroom, remember?" He reminded me. "And if we're fooling around, who's going to keep watch?"
I let out a sigh and one of my signature pouts. "We were just starting to have fun..." I muttered.
"And we won't get to have any more fun if we get ambushed in the night."
I swallowed my retort and stood up, scrubbing a hand over my face. "Fine," I said. It took a few moments to awkwardly adjust my pants, but he was right. I couldn't let us get caught. Especially not because I couldn't keep my pants on.
"I guess you're right," I conceded. "I'm feeling pretty sleepy anyway." That wasn't a total lie.
"Go get some rest," Hugo said. "I'll stay up."
"You sure?" I asked. "You didn't get much sleep either."
"I'll be fine," he promised me. "Go rest."
"Okay," I relented. Before I could turn away, Hugo grabbed my hand and pulled me to him, planting a last kiss on my lips.
"Something for you to dream about," he whispered with a grin. "Now go."
The playful swat on my ass was so not necessary, but boy did it have me rushing back to my bedroll.
I had some...ahem...matters to attend to.
9
Hugo
Morning came much too early for my liking.
The rest of the night was uneventful and I spent it watching the stars trace their paths across the sky. I kept one eye out for any signs of intruders, but none came.
The much more pressing thought on my mind was what had happened between Tristan, James, and I.
Mates.
I tasted the word. Whispered it to myself.
Mates. It didn’t have a bad ring to it. Sure, I’d never heard of anyone having two mates instead of just one before, but who was to say it couldn’t happen?
After all, we’d seen plenty of crazy things recently. Plenty of things I thought would never happen. I found my brother after long years apart. I was able to access both my dragon and my phoenix form, albeit unreliably. And a shifter pack had accepted a human as one of their own.
I never thought I’d see the day.
The more I saw of the world, the more I realized how narrow my view had been when I was stuck on the Emerald Isles. There was so much more out there. So much to experience.
So much to enjoy, I thought with an inward grin. The feeling of not one, but two men’s hands on me ignited my spirit in ways I didn’t know possible. My cock definitely took notice, and even though we agreed that getting some sleep was best for all of us, I couldn’t wait to do it again.
I couldn’t wait to do more.
My hand wandered idly to the growing bulge in my pants, pulling at the fastenings. It was almost sunrise, but if I made things quick, no one would notice...
“Hey.” I heard a voice behind me. I flinche
d despite myself, crossing my legs and trying to look innocent. When I whirled around, I saw Tristan standing there, yawning and watching me.
“What are you doing?” I hissed.
“Couldn’t stop thinking about me, could you?” Tristan teased. He walked over to where I was sitting with slow, deliberate steps that made my cock ache with each movement. He sat down next to me in a fluid motion, his eyes alive with mischief.
“You’re not helping,” I grumbled, looking away. “The team’s gonna be awake soon.”
“Then we’ll have to make it quick,” Tristan whispered. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you either.”
“Tris...” I sighed, but my body reacted before I could.
My body melted into his embrace, easy as breathing. I claimed his lips with my own, knowing that this time, I couldn’t let myself get out of control. This time, I would be the man—the alpha—that Tristan needed. That they both needed.
“I need you,” Tristan rumbled, and the delicious scents pouring off of him wasn’t helping me keep a cool head at all.
“Are you in heat or something?” I asked, but it came out as more of a moan. “What’s got you so worked up?”
“You,” Tristan said, then he went to his knees.
My eyes widened and my cock throbbed at the gesture. I watched him for a moment, then glanced around the campsite. Sun wasn’t up. No one was watching.
Oh, the hell with it.
I loosened the ties on my trousers and gave Tristan a nod. This was crazy. This was totally crazy.
My mind swum with lust and surprise and adrenaline. Were we really going to do this, right out here in public?
And if Tristan really was in heat, my shifter would know, right? Would want to claim him. Mark him.
Knot him.
I swallowed.
I definitely wasn’t trying to do that right now. My dragon growled, flapping his wings and pacing.
Take him, he chanted in time with my heart. Mine.
But there was something else there, too. A jealous possessiveness. Not over James, which I had thought would be the case, but over everyone else in camp.
Mating with another shifter was a very sacred, private moment. I wanted to remember it forever, and however, whenever it happened, I wanted it to be with all three of us.
Alone.
I gasped and pulled away from Tristan, panting.
“What is it this time?” Tristan pouted. His swollen lower lip poked out in the most adorable pout I’d ever seen, but I held up a hand for silence. My body tensed.
“I hear something,” I whispered. I fastened my pants as quickly as I could and Tristan stood up and looked around. Some of the lust had gone from his eyes, but not all.
“What?” Tristan mouthed.
“Just...shh.” I motioned for him to come closer and pointed upward, toward the source of the sound.
It was a metallic, grinding sound, like someone scraping cogs together that didn’t fit quite right.
The progression of emotions over Tristan’s face was something to behold. His nose scrunched. His eyebrows furrowed together. Then they parted in recognition, his mouth opening ever so slightly.
“It’s them,” he whispered. “But something’s wrong...”
“What’s going on?” Markus stepped into the growing sunlight. The noise must have woken him as well. “Are we being attacked? Have they discovered our presence?”
“No.” Tristan shook his head. “Nothing like that. It’s just different than I remember it.”
I could still feel the unease pouring off of him, but I didn’t want to cause a scene by asking him what was going on while Markus was around.
“Then are we ready to ascend?” Markus asked, crossing his arms. All business.
Tristan’s face twisted for a moment, but he composed himself quickly enough. I needed to get him alone and figure out what was going on. “We should be about ready,” I piped up. “Why don’t you go make sure the others are all woken up and ready to go?”
Markus nodded in acknowledgement, and stepped away.
I let out a breath and looked over at Tristan. “What was that about?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Tristan muttered. He didn’t meet my gaze. “Just nervous, is all.”
I knew that there was more to it than that, but we didn’t have time to argue. I reached out, took his hand, and gave it a squeeze. “Keep it together, okay?” I said under my breath. “We’ll get through this.”
Tristan nodded just in time for Markus to return with the others.
“So,” Lionel said, stretching and yawning between words, “what do we need to do to get up there?”
“If I remember correctly,” Tristan started, “There’s an incantation that brings down the ferry.”
“Is that why only an Ataraxian can call it forth?” I asked. I knew if I kept him talking, he would have less time for worry.
“Yes,” Tristan nodded. “It’s in our old native language, of course.”
“Of course,” Markus said. “Do you remember it?”
“Vaguely.” Tristan squinted. “It’s been years since I spoke that tongue, but I think I can stumble my way through it.”
“Let’s hope you can,” Markus said. His voice left no room for argument. “For all our sakes.”
I sighed. No pressure, right?
I watched as Tristan planted his feet firmly on the grass to ground himself. He took in a few deep breaths, eyes closed, and then he began to speak.
The words were unlike anything I’d heard before. They had a soft, melodic quality to them. More like music than words. I couldn’t pick out individual syllables, but from the way he was scrunching up his face, I knew it had to take a lot of concentration.
A slight rumble passed through the ground, radiating out from the spot where Tristan stood. It wasn’t enough to make me lose my balance, no, but it woke me up to the latent power he held. I glanced up at the sky again. The shadow of the flying city loomed over us, but no “sky ferry” appeared to take us upward.
The ground vibrated again. The mechanical grinding and squealing echoed through the air once more. I winced at the high-pitched whine. Covered my ears.
Still nothing happened.
Tristan tensed next to me. His breaths came quicker now. More labored. He grunted with the exertion of it, speaking the words again and again.
A cold slice of fear seized me. What if he couldn’t do it? What if it didn’t work? Poor Tristan was wearing himself out, with still no sign of success. I had to do something.
“Do you think...” I made a vague hand gesture. “Do you think maybe they...you know...made it so you couldn’t come back?” It wasn’t a possibility that I wanted to consider. None of us did. But based on what Tristan had told me about his exile, it wasn’t out of the question.
“No,” Tristan grunted. “I don’t think that’s it. If I could just get the inflection right...”
He tried once more, panting. The words came out the same as they had every other time. The ground mildly shook, the gears above clicked and ground, but no sky ferry.
After a few more moments, he let out a frustrated growl. His shoulders slumped and he swayed on his feet.
I ran to his side and caught him before he fell. We stumbled over to a flat area and sat down. He was still breathing hard.
“I don’t know,” Tristan repeated over and over. He buried his head in his hands. “It should have worked.”
“Well, it’s not.” Markus interjected. I knew he was trying to be helpful, trying to look only at the problem at hand, but really...did he have to be so blunt?
“Maybe it’s broken,” I suggested. “The ferry, I mean. You said yourself that grinding noise wasn’t normal. Could just be a mechanical failure on their end.”
“Maybe I really am blacklisted,” Tristan muttered. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a breath. “I wanted so bad for this to work.”
“We haven’t failed yet,” Kit reminded us. “What are our oth
er options?”
“We could try flying,” James suggested. “I mean, theoretically it’s possible, right? Only problem is there aren’t enough winged shifters to go around.”
I gulped. He had a point. There were six of us here—myself, James, Tristan, Lionel, Kit, and Markus. And out of that six, only two of us could fly.
The numbers didn’t work out.
And that was a much bigger problem.
Lionel spoke up next, with that inquisitive “what if?” voice he used whenever he’d been thinking about something. “If anyone can just fly up there, why would they even need a sky ferry in the first place?”
“Mostly for cargo,” Tristan said. He huffed out a short, amused laugh. “How else do you think they have such opulent parties? You can’t exactly make much out of clouds.”
“True,” I said. Hadn’t thought of that.
“Yeah, the import business is crazy. What do you think, Markus?”
Markus considered for a moment, chewing his lip in thought. “Well, it doesn’t look like the sky ferry is going to get us anywhere. Time is of the essence, so maybe flying is the only option.”
My stomach sank. I knew what that would mean. We would have to leave someone—several someones—behind.
“Tristan,” Markus spoke up. “I’ll let you decide on this one. You and Hugo are the only ones with wings, and it is your homeland, after all. You know what we must do.”
And there it was, the impasse I’d feared most. We could take along one other person on Tristan’s back, but as for me? I didn’t trust my shift enough to let anyone ride. It was too dangerous.
My first thought was to take James, of course. But that would mean leaving our Pack Alpha behind. As well as Lionel and Kit.
Ultimately, our fate rested in Tristan’s hands.
I just hoped he made the right decision.
“What we are about to do is very dangerous.” Tristan spoke slowly, considering each word. “And it is true that we cannot take everyone if we fly. My thinking, though, is that it will be easier for us to get caught if we all barge in at once.” He rubbed the back of his neck, anxiety still vibrating off of him. “Perhaps it would be best if Hugo, James, and I go it alone. I can carry James on my back, and Hugo will come with me. We will carry out your wishes, Alpha. That I promise you.”
