by C. R. Jane
I shivered between them. Sensation poured over me. The rasp of Kharon’s body hair. The gleaming coolness of Hades’ velvety skin. The glide of his hair like silk on my back. The tingling flow of his energy lapping against mine.
Finally, it dawned on me. I was actually feeling again. I could feel them both. Touching me. Overloading my senses.
Kharon growled. “Because when you find something beautiful and precious amongst the death and horror, you take it. You fucking cup it in your hands like a delicate butterfly with paper-thin wings, and you shelter it. You keep it safe.”
Hades rubbed against me, his dick sliding effortlessly between my cheeks. I could feel the coolness of his skin, but also a slicker sensation, as if he secreted some kind of oil instead of pre-cum. The analytical side of my brain recognized and appreciated such an alien trait. The animal side of my brain burned with lust, as if that secretion was an aphrodisiac that inflamed my senses.
Their scents rose stronger and hotter with their desire, inflaming me. Leather and fur. Woodsy green spice. Thick muscle beneath me. Silken hair trailing like a curtain. Long, elegant fingers gliding over my skin. Demanding fingers pulling my lips back down to Kharon’s. Hands. Too many hands. So wonderful.
Still gripping the back of my head, he slowly pushed inside me. My body instinctively arched, grinding my clit against his thick shaft as he teased me, ever so slowly. Hades hummed softly against my ear, a sweet melody that broke goosebumps down my arms. I dug my fingers into the thick muscle running down Kharon’s shoulders, fighting to contain my need.
I’d never felt like this. So out of control. Desperate. I wanted to sink my teeth into that thick slab of muscle and grind against him until we both shouted with release.
“Fuuuuuuck,” Kharon muttered against my lips. “Get ready.”
I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to me or his friend as he pulled my head down against his shoulder.
Yes. Muscle against my mouth. Scorching hot skin. I sank my teeth into that rock-hard muscle, gripping him tighter. Marking him with my teeth. Deeper, nearly breaking his skin. I wanted to leave an impression of my teeth on him like a tattoo.
Hips jerking upward, he roared with release. Surprised, I started to pull back. I’d never imagined in a million years that a simple love bite would make him come. But he gripped my head tighter against him, refusing to let me lift my mouth from his skin. And he tasted so fucking good. Better than chocolate, his essence melting on my tongue and sliding down my throat.
I could taste his musky scent, as if he’d spurted into my mouth. He moved inside me, and it was like his winged beast had crawled into me, winding through my organs and tickling my bones. I could feel him everywhere. The brush of wings and fur where he couldn’t possibly touch.
Fireworks exploded in my entire body, setting off a cascading meltdown. Nerves fired up, screaming with sensation. His dick expanded inside me, pumping me full of semen, but he didn’t relent. His erection didn’t fade.
It only grew with his release.
Bigger. Thicker. Harder.
I couldn’t. Think. Or breathe. He filled me completely, pushing deeper into my womb, though I knew that was impossible. I shattered against him. My brain completely overloaded. All I could do was pant and writhe on top of him, impaled by his impossible erection that gave me no quarter.
Hades groaned against my ear and inhaled a deep, shaking breath as if he could taste my pleasure. Face buried against Kharon’s shoulder, I couldn’t see, but I felt the sudden dip in my energy. Hades breathed me in, taking the flaring indigo power into his body.
My stomach dropped like I’d jumped off a cliff. My head buzzed, ears ringing with alarm. For a moment, yeah, I was fucking terrified. My first instinct was to rip someone’s head off. Fight. Roar. Bite. I had to protect myself before I was too weak. Before I died.
Kharon took the brunt of that instinct. My jaws clamped down harder on his shoulder, my teeth tearing at the thick muscle desperately.
Luckily, he loved it. He arched up beneath me, driving deeper inside me. I came again, or maybe it was the same climax reaching a new, dangerous level. My heartbeat thudded in my skull like a jackhammer and I tasted copper in my mouth. My blood. Kharon’s. I wasn’t sure. If he wasn’t already contaminated…
:He’s fine,: Hades whispered in my head. :I’m fine. We already lived through hell and are still here. So are you, Thanatos.:
With his touch in my head, the sinking feeling bottomed out. My heartbeat steadied. I was alright. I was better than alright. Pleasure still hummed through my body, lighting up my nerves, but even more, I could feel what my climax was doing for Hades. He drank me in just as he’d promised. The stroke and glide of flesh. The heavy throb of my clit. The involuntary clench of my muscles around the massive dick inside me. He pulled every sensation from me, savoring my desire. Kharon’s cum. The sweat of our bodies. The quiver of every muscle.
Suddenly, I was inside Hades, sliding through his mind like an indigo river. A giant tree rose like a sentinel, towering above regular-sized trees that carpeted the hills. The large tree’s trunk and limbs were dotted with glowing lights that looked like fireflies. It took me a moment to realize they were actually windows. An entire city gleamed inside the giant tree, glowing with soft, warm light.
His heart ached every time he thought of that tree. Which was exactly why it was rooted so deeply inside him.
In a hushed whisper, I asked, :Is that your homeland?:
He didn’t throw up thick walls to keep me out. He didn’t backpedal or shut down. His silver power spilled down the giant trunk, lighting up leaves that shimmered like jewels. :Yes. My family’s house and all our people. Lost before I ever stepped foot on your planet.:
:Why? What happened?:
The tree caught fire. Screams and pleas for mercy echoed in his mind. Voices that shredded him. People he’d loved, that he’d been powerless to save. :The Megaskyr happened. She punished them for my failure.:
Flames died down inside him, leaving a burned-out hull. Ash fell from the sky, the forest ruined and blackened in all directions.
Hades walked that scarred landscape, pausing to look back over his shoulder. Offering his hand, he smiled at me, silver hair falling about his shoulders. He wore soft pastel robes that changed colors like his eyes, swirling from mercurial silver to pink and blue and purple. :Now, look what you have wrought.:
I threaded my fingers through his. Bits of green shot up from the ground. Tender grass and trees, growing much too quickly to be real.
None of this was real. I knew that on some level. But it was beautiful just the same.
He turned, his free hand palm up. A delicate butterfly fluttered its wings, as if it had just crawled out of its chrysalis and didn’t know how to fly yet. There were white dots on its blue wings. Narrowing my eyes, I looked closer. Not dots. Skulls.
:You claimed my drakon and marked him as your mate. I ask that you take me, too. Please. I’ll do anything you ask.:
I asked him the same question I’d asked his friend. :Why? Why me?:
The butterfly flew from his hand, catching my attention. Its brilliant blue wings sparkled like stained glass shining in the sunlight. I watched as it danced upward, catching the breeze that sent his hair sliding against my cheek. The butterfly flew straight toward the devastated tree, and when it landed on the charred wood, a geyser of indigo shot upward. A massive amount of power that restored the tree. Instantly.
:With you at my side, I can reclaim all my family has lost.:
:But how?:
:You’re a sarissa, what we skyrs call a spear. You’re a natural weapon, because you magnify power. I’ve never been so strong after a single feeding, and we’ve only just begun to explore each other. With Kharon’s navigation, my skyr power, and your spear, we will actually be able to power the ship once we find it. We can return to Nyxos.: He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, his fingers gentle on my cheek. :Or we can stay here and clean up your planet. Save a
s many as we can. It’s your choice.:
I didn’t like the idea of being a spear or weapon. Something that was used. Held in someone else’s hand and thrown at their direction.
At his direction.
I didn’t know much about who I’d been before I woke up at the bottom of a mass grave. Maybe the old me would have been perfectly happy to be used to rebuild his home and whatever else he wanted. Like topple the Megaskyr from her throne, since she’d destroyed his family’s tree.
But I liked that he didn’t try to sway me one way or the other. He gave me the choice. Though I could feel the subtle weave of his silver power flowing against me. The gentleness of his fingers on my cheek. The glide of silken hair on my shoulder. I wasn’t naive.
Everything he did had a purpose. Down to the way he’d allowed me to see past his shields in the first place.
This was a dangerous man. A man who recognized that being vulnerable and open was sometimes the greatest attack of all. Or the greatest lure.
:You don’t have to decide now. We have time.:
Though I heard the kernel of doubt in his words. Did we? How long until I died from the horrible virus speeding through my cells? Sure, I had this magical indigo power now… but how long would it last before I entered stage two? Or before I lost the ability to even speak?
Fingers tangled in my hair and jerked my face up.
The vision Hades had shared with me dissolved in a rush. I stared into Kharon’s gleaming golden eyes, his mouth a hard, vicious slant. Hand fisted in my hair, he gave me a little shake. Pulling my hair, making my eyes burn.
Small pain. A show of dominance. It lit the fire in my blood all over again, reminding me of his cock buried deep inside me, still swollen and hard.
“Do you have any idea how fucking rude it is to disappear off into la-la land while a drakon is trying to fuck your brains out?”
I tried to laugh, but it came out a moan instead. I couldn’t laugh with so much dick inside me. “It’s his fault.”
“I take full blame, my drakon.” Hades chuckled, a musical dance of wicked tones that made me shiver. And groan. And sweat. Every nerve ending shrieking with sensation as Kharon thudded inside me. “Allow me to make it up to you. To both of you.”
He pushed against my asshole and my lungs seized. My brain froze.
Kharon twisted his fingers in my hair until I blinked and focused on his face.
“I’d better be bleeding from a dozen scratches and bites by the time he’s fully inside you.”
Chapter 8
Surely I couldn’t hold any more.
Kharon was so thick and hard inside me that I couldn’t breathe. With Hades pushing his way inside me too…
I dug my fingers into Kharon’s chest. I smelled his blood, but I couldn’t stop clawing at him, holding on for dear life. Goosebumps flared down my arms, making me shiver, which only sent another ripple of pleasure shimmering along my nerves.
So much pressure. So full. My jaws ached with the need to bite. I wanted one of them in my mouth. Not a dick, because I was afraid I’d seriously hurt them. I just wanted to feel them in my mouth and taste their skin on my tongue. A strange urge that I never remembered feeling before. A side effect of the virus? Or did I just have a biting kink that I couldn’t remember?
Or, more likely, was this an element of Kharon’s species coming out to play in my infected DNA?
Pinned between them, I could only gasp and shudder and hope to god I didn’t die when they came inside me.
Locking his forearm around my throat, Hades pulled me up so we both sat astride the other man’s hips. “Look.”
For the first time, his voice growled with deeper bass undertones closer to Kharon’s. I forced my eyes open, wincing at the brightness. Silver and blue gleamed in the cave, illuminating everything so well that I could see as clearly as broad daylight. The power swept around us, a tornado of swirling, colorful flows.
No. Wings. Not feathers, though. The blue power swept along my arms and shoulders like a second skin, as transparent as fine, delicate silk. Curtains blowing in the wind—or gossamer butterfly wings.
“This is your power, manifesting from your spirit. Your true heart and soul. When I sensed your life force today at the gorge of bodies, I saw the butterfly in you. Death on your wings—but beautiful in the midst of the death. You are truly Thanatos.”
“So fucking beautiful,” Kharon whispered. “Fly for us, Thanatos.”
Hades nudged deeper inside me. Everything inside me stretched, hovering at the very edge of a treacherous precipice. One false move…
Gripping my thighs, Kharon pushed up beneath me. And I fell. The ground rolled away. Wind swept around me. Hair in my face, blinding me. Silver hair, silver power. I felt Hades’ arms around me. Kharon’s powerful body lunging beneath me, and suddenly, I wasn’t falling, but soaring. My skin caught blue fire. I screamed as power rolled from me, an indigo hurricane that devastated everything in its path.
I had a moment to fear that I’d slipped my skin and turned into one of the half-animal contaminants. I didn’t want to hurt them. Kill them.
Hades plunged deeper inside me on a low cry of release and I could taste his scent on my tongue. Silver power flowed inside me, a deluge that swept through me and into Kharon.
He roared and bucked beneath me, pushing me ever higher.
While Hades drank us down like a man dying of thirst.
I must have passed out, or at least lost some time. Crushed between them, Kharon’s chest against my cheek. Hades’ hair in my face. Both of them still breathing hard.
“Fucking hell.” Kharon groaned. “If I could walk, I think I could open a gate to Nyxos without a ship. That’s how much power I feel simmering inside me.”
Hades released a soft humming tone that rippled in the air between us. “We can’t risk it. Even if you could port us that far without killing yourself, we need the ship as a bargaining chip. I’m fully restored. No, I take that back. I’m stronger than ever. I will be able to find the ship now. I’m sure of it.”
He kissed my shoulder. “All thanks to you.”
I had so many questions. I wanted to know everything about his past, why the Megaskyr had destroyed his tree, why they’d come to Earth in the first place.
But more…
I wanted to know who’d been experimenting on me. Who’d contaminated me? Why would they do such a thing?
And what the fuck was going to happen to me? How long would I live?
Hades cupped my cheek and turned my face toward him. “You’re not going to die.”
I swallowed hard. “How do you know?”
“Because I won’t allow it. I’ll use every drop of this power to save you first.”
Kharon tucked me closer, wrapping himself around me so I was covered in his scent and surrounded by a protective wall of muscle. “You thought you were dead today. Buried in a mass grave, lost in darkness. But maybe you were simply changing, Thanatos. Somebody planted you in that darkness, but you changed. You lived. Now there’s only one thing left for you to do.”
“Fly,” Hades whispered against my temple.
I closed my eyes, slowly slipping back into darkness. But this time I wasn’t afraid. Not with them holding me. “And kill whoever did this to me.”
About Joely Sue Burkhart
Joely Sue Burkhart has always loved heroes who hide behind a mask, the darker and more dangerous the better. Whether cool, sophisticated billionaire, brutal bloodthirsty assassin, or simply a man tortured by his own needs, they all wear masks to protect themselves. Once they finally give you a peek into the passionate, twisted secrets they’re hiding, they always fall hard and fast. Dare to look beneath the mask and find love in the shadows.
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Chapter 1
Sage
My feet landed silently on the tiled stone floor. The soft soles of my shoes were worth their weight in gold sometimes. As quietly as po
ssible I crept around the hallway, keeping to the carpet where I was able so that my footfalls were muffled even more. No one was around, which wasn't surprising considering that it was about three in the morning, but I could never be too careful, at least when it came to this.
The open door at the end of the hallway made my stomach twist with foreboding. I hoped he was happy, that he wasn't going to be upset with me. There was no way to know without going in and finding out though. I just wasn't looking forward to it.
A warm glow emanated from the room. It would have been comforting if it wasn’t deceiving. I knew the occupant was as cold as ice. He was my keeper, my controller, the finger that pulled the trigger. And I was the gun. He took his role very seriously. I would have admired had I not found everything about him repulsive.
I found the cold, detached part inside myself, which wasn't hard since it was most of me, and let it rise to the surface as I stuffed that weak, open-hearted version of me down deep where he couldn't reach it. He wanted me vulnerable, feminine, warm, and malleable. I wouldn't give him those things, couldn't. I may have to do his bidding, my body and life may be his, but my soul and mind weren't and never would be. He knew that as well as I did.
My gaze sought him through the crack between the door and the wall in his office. I couldn't see him immediately, so I crept around the door to his office knowing that he would be too absorbed in work to notice. I almost made it all the way to his desk before he looked up and saw me. One of these days I'd get the drop on him, and when I did he'd... No, I couldn't think like that. I had a sentence to serve, a debt to clear, and the only way to do that was through Thurston.
"Welcome back, little flower. How was your client tonight?" he asked as he steepled his fingers under his chin.
"He met his fate with less dignity than a turnip, but the mission was a success."
