by Meg Xuemei X
There were only us in the high sky, the land a brownish patch beneath.
“No one can see us,” Max said. “You can scream all you want, doll. I’m gonna fuck you real hard. Think you can take it?”
“Bring it on, vampire,” I breathed.
He thrust into me, raw and hard. It was marvelous.
The only sounds were our fucking, kissing, the wind, and the flapping of Max’s obsidian wings.
Max drilled into me again and again, relentlessly and mercilessly.
“Yes,” I half-moaned and half-screamed. “Your big cock is so deep inside me, Max! Yes, just like that. Fuck me just like that, vampire. Claim me again.”
“I love fucking this tight pussy more than anything in the world,” Max growled and thrust into me with his hybrid strength.
I cried out another round of pleasure as he combined long thrusts with short, rapid ones.
I tried to ride on the length of his hard shaft, but I had limited room to maneuver in the sky.
“Let me do the hard work, doll,” Max said, chuckling, picking up his speed until his thrusts were a blur of movement. “You just enjoy being fucked by your horny mate.”
I stared down, watching my pussy glove his cock and pull it in possessively.
“Will you fuck me forever, Max?” I let out another lustful moan.
“I’ll never let you go.” He panted, his thrusts erratic. “You’re mine. Mine to cherish and mine to play and fuck.”
Pressure built hard in me. Max pounded into me faster, if that was even possible.
Just as I thought this was the peak, my mate brought me even higher.
“I’m coming, Max!” I moaned breathlessly.
“Not yet, little mate,” he said. “Only after I fuck you sideways, then fuck you from behind.”
He pulled out of me. I was about to protest vehemently, but then I also wanted to experiment and be fucked sideways in the sky. Max turned me around at a ninety-degree angle as if I weighed no more than a feather and lifted my leg.
My pussy was now exposed to him sideways. He gazed down at my sex, letting out a curse that sounded so carnal and base it boiled my blood. He aimed his cock at my slit and thrust in brutally. I cried out at the slight pain and great pleasure.
“Like being fucked sideways, woman?” he asked roughly.
“I like however you fuck me. I liked you bending me over and screwing me on that bronze bathtub, too.”
“You dirty little minx. I like you talking dirty. When we get to the ground, I want to thrust my cock down your throat and see how dirty you can get.”
His eyes turned all dark. His cock grew large and harder, stretching me to the limit. I could no longer move as I hung in the air, supported by his one hand as he thrust into me again and again, for his full enjoyment.
I was at his mercy.
“As dirty as you want,” I challenged.
“Is that so?” he said, and slammed his cock into my depth, sending another wave of pleasure to my horny core. “I need to pierce your neck and drink from you. May I have your permission, little mate?”
He’d held back for so long. I knew that he couldn’t go on without feeding anymore, especially after today’s battle.
“Do you have to ask, you stupid, horny vampire?” I said. “Just give me the big orgasm you promised.”
I felt a sharp pain on my neck as Max’s fangs punctured my skin. But the next second, incredible pleasure tossed me high into the peak of heaven.
Max drank from me while he thrust wildly in me.
I could no longer hold back the dam. The pressure and pleasure were too much, hitting my every nerve until I exploded around his cock and screamed his name.
Max extracted his fangs and licked the wound in my neck to seal it.
He thrust into me with bruising speed and great strength, riding through my waves of climax.
As my pussy milked his cock mercilessly, his eyes rolled back and he roared my name, finding his release.
I rested my head on his shoulder and laughed in joy.
CHAPTER 19
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I slept in both Ash’s and Max’s arms in a fairy garden full of bright flowers under the starlit sky, an illusion Merlin provided as a gift for me. The druid sent Guy and his men back down to the cave and guarded us alone.
He’d tried to do nice things for me ever since he arrived in the Underworld, to make up for his sins, I bet.
Part of me urged me to go to him, talk to him, and get to know him more, yet the other part, which was vengeful, proud, and stubborn, pushed me away from him. I kept telling myself that the last thing I wanted was another complicated relationship.
And I was in no hurry of suffering the humiliation by succumbing to the mating fever and letting the druid do whatever he wanted with me.
I woke up in the wee hours of the night, and Merlin’s loneliness slammed into me. He didn’t mean to, but his magic was leaking, despite his efforts to put his emotions on a short leash.
He’d been so lonely for eons, as the only one of his kind.
I almost called him to join us and share our warmth, but Ash murmured something in his dream and tugged me against his broad chest. Exhausted, I drifted back to sleep until the sound of thunder jerked me awake.
Max and Ash had already shot up from their spots beside me, shielding me, ready to charge and fight.
Merlin’s illusion dropped, and he strode toward us.
“Thunder has never struck the Underworld before,” I said, rising from my bedroll and gazing up at the sky.
“The Guardians of the Shades know we’re coming,” Merlin said. “That thunder was their magical manifestation.”
“To scare us off?” I asked.
Then we heard the increased shouting from the cave beneath.
“It’s fine,” Ash shouted back. “It was just some thunder. Get ready. We’re setting out soon.”
No one could sleep anyway, after that thunder.
“Pack now!” Jonathan barked.
The clans in the cavern started their preparations.
“Ayanna,” Merlin said. Suddenly he stood very close to me, and I hadn’t even seen him move. “May I have a moment with you alone?”
I looked at him warily. “What do you need?”
“To get past the Shades, I need to help you activate the mating bond between us.”
Ash and Max narrowed their stormy eyes at Merlin. They hadn’t forgiven him for kidnapping me to the Underworld. My mates were less forgiving than I. Still, they left the choice of accepting Merlin or not to me.
My heart pounded violently. I wasn’t ready to mate with Merlin, despite my body’s urging.
“I’m not ready,” I said, my voice terse, my pose stiff.
“I’ll make it easy for you,” Merlin said.
“She said she wasn’t ready,” Ash snarled. “Just fuck off, druid.”
“We don’t have time for this continued grudge and pettiness,” Merlin said, and he attacked.
A magical wind tossed Max and Ash away from me. My two mates charged back toward me, only to meet an invisible barrier. Max pounded the barrier with his wings and fists, and Ash tossed his ice storm at it. Both males cursed Merlin profusely.
I put up my hands, red lightning sparking on my fingertips, as I was determined to defend myself.
Merlin sighed, his violet eyes holding an ocean of remorse and sadness.
“I’ll never harm you,” he said.
But my expression told him that I wasn’t as confident as he was.
“I don’t deserve you,” he continued. “I know that. I accepted that when I sent you away and robbed you of your birthright and made you live through all the hardships one can’t even imagine. I won’t claim you the way it was supposed to happen between us, between a man and a woman. I’ll activate the bond between us with a kiss, so you can access your full power when we enter the Shades. The Guardians will test you, and they aren’t exactly nice beings. You’ll need y
our flame to light the path and burn the shadows to protect your people.”
“Just one kiss?” I asked, a hint of suspicion tainting my voice.
“I’d prefer to do more,” Merlin said. “But we’ll settle for one kiss under the circumstances.”
I dropped my hands, and the red lightning vanished.
I wasn’t exactly sure if the lightning would hurt the druid if I moved against him. But it was a relief to know I didn’t need to fight him. And I hoped that I wouldn’t have to fight Elijah either. We’d just go through the Shades and not cross paths with my first mate. But then, how could I abandon him like that?
Yet I couldn’t find any other solution. I tore my mind from Elijah and focused on Merlin.
“You could have just said so instead of being so dramatic,” I told him.
Merlin flashed me a feral grin, all white teeth. “I think Max’s and Ash’s styles rubbed off on me. Besides, if I didn’t toss them away, they’d never stop bugging me. I hate the constant argument with them that goes nowhere, which is from personal experience.”
On the other side of the barrier, Max and Ash cursed Merlin.
“We need to do it quickly, Ayanna,” Merlin sighed. “Those two have brutal strength. They’ll soon break through the barrier. They’ve learned how.” He shook his head ruefully. “I have fewer tricks against them.”
“You prick,” Ash hissed.
“I won’t do anything with you until you drop the barrier,” I said. “My loyalty stays with them, now and forever. They’re my mates and my team, and we decide everything together, including the kiss you offered.”
Max and Ash grinned, and then they pounded the barrier with their combined strength and brought it down.
They charged at Merlin like two enraged bulls, but I moved fast, too, and cut in between the three males.
“This isn’t the time to get into another fight,” I said, putting my foot down on their aggression.
Merlin spread his arms. “She’s right. And I didn’t come to the Underworld to fight you. I came to solve the problem.”
“Shut up, druid. Max and I need to discuss this with our mate,” Ash said, excluding Merlin.
I regarded Max and Ash. “So what are we going to do about the kiss he mentioned?”
Max sighed. “The fucker is right about the magical stuff. I say we get it over with.” He turned to Merlin and snapped his fingers to instruct him. “Press your lips to Ayanna’s and let your magic flow into her to boost hers. Make it as quick and brief as possible.”
“Like you’re the expert on how to conduct magic.” Merlin schooled his face into a sneer. “It takes effort to prepare and make it happen.”
Although he tried to do all these nice things for me, I could tell that it hurt him to see the three of us pose as a united front and exclude him from our tight circle.
From what I’d glimpsed into his thoughts and angst last night, I knew he had always been an outsider, despite his power, despite his blood oath with my other mates, despite the fact that I was his destined female.
“If we need to do it right, we’ll do it right,” I said. “It’s just a kiss.”
Yet we all knew that it wouldn’t be just a kiss.
I didn’t know what to expect. The thrill of anticipation and anxiety fluttered in my stomach. Part of me craved for Merlin to kiss me and then do much, much more.
“So I’ll just stand here, right, while you, uh, do it?” I asked, wheeling toward Merlin.
I wondered if I should part or close my lips. It might sound dumb to ask a question like that, though.
Ash and Max flanked me, two pairs of hard eyes glaring at Merlin.
Well, this wouldn’t be a hot kiss but a very awkward one. I was sure now.
For a second, I wished Ash and Max weren’t around. If I hadn’t demanded Merlin drop the barrier, he would have enhanced it, and then by the time Max and Ash broke the barrier, Merlin and I could have enjoyed a hot, unsupervised kiss.
I might not get another kiss from him again.
I darted a quick glance at Merlin’s curvy lips, then at his warrior/scholar body. It looked hot and delicious. Mating heat raced in my bloodstream, urging me to go to my last mate, to claim him and be claimed.
Merlin’s eyes glowed violet.
There was no denial of the strong pull and chemistry between us.
Sexual tension whipped the air—the tension wasn’t just between Merlin and me, but Max, Ash, and me. But right now, with Merlin, it was thicker, because the mating call demanded I fuck my last mate at all costs.
Merlin advanced toward me. I tensed, and my lips parted automatically.
“Just don’t do something stupid, druid,” Ash said. “Get it over with quickly.”
Merlin rolled his eyes, controlled anger in them, on top of his thick desire for me.
Max gave me a look, then dragged Ash away with him.
“Don’t be a dick, fae,” Max said, shoving Ash away while the Winter Prince tried to fight back. “This isn’t for him but for Ayanna.”
“We must stand guard to protect her from him,” Ash said.
“Do you really think he’ll hurt our mate?” Max said exasperatedly. “We may not like his past methods and dick moves, but what he did might have kept our mate from falling into the enemy’s hands.”
“Fine. We’ll give the druid two minutes to get the job done,” Ash said.
“Make it ten. That’s all I ask,” Merlin said. “Ayanna is my mate, too, no matter how I wronged her. I won’t have many moments with her in the future. So indulge me for once.”
My heart skipped a beat.
I knew there was a big gap between Merlin and me, but as much as I hated to admit it, I’d started to warm up to him when he’d come to the Underworld for me, risking being trapped and even killed here himself. I’d thought he would court me just like my other mates, no matter how long it would take to get me to accept him. I hadn’t expected him to give up on me already.
I meant so little to him. That was why he’d arranged to have me stolen and shipped to the Underworld to fit his agenda, even though I was supposed to be his mate.
I thought I’d dealt with him and that he could no longer hurt me emotionally. Yet hearing that all he wanted with me was ten minutes and then he’d be done with me still hurt like a burning knife twisting my innards.
“Just tell me what I should do to get this over with as soon as possible,” I said coldly.
“Ayanna,” he said softly, peeking into my eyes with the tenderness and pain and passion of the vast universe. “You have no idea how much I want you. I’ve never wanted anyone or anything as much as I want you. Sending you away and not keeping you by my side is the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I did it anyway. I have duties and responsibilities that supersede my innermost desire. If I satisfy my selfish need, I’ll disrupt the balance of the world. I see that possible outcome in my vision, and I see that you’re truly hurt in every sense, and I won’t allow it to happen to you. I’m not saying this to gain your sympathy or manipulate you to forgive me. You’re more than I hoped for, yet I can’t have you. At least not for a long while. My moments with you are limited. I’m saying this now like a sentimental fool because I need you to know how important and valuable you are to me. You’re everything to me.”
I sucked in a breath as I heard the heartbreaking truth in his words.
He held my chin up with his thumb and forefinger, and our gazes locked. His heat radiated to me, and I responded, echoing his desire.
His hand trembled.
“Ayanna.” He whispered my name as if it was divine to him, as if I was the only link to his lonely soul, and as if he would only go on as long as I lived.
My existence and happiness in the end was his true reward, and that was the depth of his feelings for me, though we hadn’t spent enough time with each other.
He’d had me in his heart all along.
I was amazed that those profound feelings were even possible since
we’d never had physical intimacy.
“Merlin,” I whispered. “If you hadn’t sent me here, my people here might never have seen the light or freedom. They’d eventually die out. A whole race in the Underworld would go extinct. If you hadn’t taken me before Cain found me, we’d have lost more. And my parents might lose me forever.”
And Merlin kissed me.
It was feather light at first, then images that I’d never seen before wheeled in my head like a slide show—spectacular waterfalls; snowcapped landscapes; long-tailed, colorful birds chirping in a fairytale-like forest; sunrise, sunset, and twinkling stars filling the night sky…
They were the wonders of Earth, and my heart ached with longing.
Then I was flying with Merlin through galaxies to reach his home. I saw the birth of the stars, then their death, then their rebirth, unfolding before me like a terrifying yet wondrous mystery.
I saw precious lives unfolding with pure purpose, and death entwined with life like an unending dance.
I saw worlds beyond my wildest imagination, and in the vast universe, Merlin treasured me the most, despite the fact that I was but a dust mite in infinity.
Merlin’s kiss deepened, scorching my lips and stoking my feminine fire.
I suppressed a moan.
His tongue invaded my mouth, sweeping over my teeth and hard palate to taste me before seeking my tongue. This time, a moan of pleasure escaped from the depths of my throat, demanding more of the druid. Demanding he give me everything he possessed.
Merlin groaned, grabbing me to him tighter, and I inserted my shaking hand into his thick mane, pulling him down, pulling him closer to my core. I no longer wanted any space between us. I no longer cared about shielding myself against him.
Merlin thrust his tongue toward mine, mating with me.
I moaned and whimpered and answered his call with my every raw need.
I’d give anything to have him claim me. I wanted him to bury his cock deep inside me and to imprint me forever. Every part of me had forgiven him, and now I wanted to fuck him.
A rough sound rumbled in his chest.
Lust and power formed an energy beam and poured into me.
