Royally Entangled

by Catherine Banks

  Shouldn’t I be able to feel the connection between us? Hadn’t they said that it was just harder for humans to use magic, not impossible?

  Try as I might, I couldn’t feel anything.

  I’d fallen asleep at some point, because when they did come back, I was on my side on the couch. I jolted up and jumped over the couch, hugging the first one who came inside, which turned out to be Deryn.

  “Hey,” he said softly and hugged me back.

  I pushed away from him with a fist to his chest, glad that he was back, but also pissed that they hadn’t messaged me. Glaring, I asked, “Why didn’t you text me?”

  “We don’t have service there,” Rhys said softly, approaching as though to hug me.

  I stepped back and said, “Whatever.”

  They frowned at me. It was frustrating to have four males frown at you at the same time.

  I glared at them. Then, turning, I went to the spare room and climbed into the bed. They were safe, which was what I cared about. I wanted to touch them all, but I was letting my anger take over instead.

  The four of them stood in the doorway to the room and looked at me.

  “We’re sorry,” Fox apologized. “We would have messaged you or called if we could.”

  “It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize,” I muttered and pulled the blankets up to cover the bottom of my mouth.

  “We do,” Nico said adamantly. “If the roles had been reversed, we would have been frantically trying to get ahold of you.”

  “I’m weak. You guys aren’t.”

  They moved forward, and to my shock, all of them climbed onto the bed so they could all surround me in a square.

  “What?”

  They didn’t talk, just placed their hands on my legs, arms, shoulders, whatever they could reach and closed their eyes. Almost instantly, Nico’s breathing evened out as he fell into a deep sleep. Obviously, they weren’t going to talk, so I got more comfortable and fell asleep too.

  I sat between Nico’s legs on the couch with Rhys and Deryn on either side, and Fox sitting between my legs on the floor in front of the couch. They’d been overly affectionate ever since they returned from the Elders three days ago. Every night, they slept in a square of protection around me, making sure to touch me as they slept. No one tried anything sexual, not even more than light kisses were exchanged.

  It was frustrating to be celibate again. Okay, I was being childish and selfish since it had only been about a week since I’d slept with one of them, but I was surrounded by gorgeous men and none were trying to fuck me.

  The guys laughed at the comedy we were watching, but I wasn’t really paying attention. There had been a search for my dad by the four clans, but of course, they hadn’t found him. He was exceptional at hiding and disappearing when he needed to.

  Nico slid his arms around my waist and squeezed me in a hug. “What’s wrong?” he whispered in my ear.

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  “Liar.”

  He stood up, disturbing the other three, but they didn’t complain, just moved out of his way as he carried me to the spare bedroom. He set me on the bed and stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe.

  “What’s up?” he asked, his brow slightly furrowed in worry.

  “I don’t want to tell you,” I muttered in embarrassment and looked down at my hands in my lap.

  His hands covered mine and he squeezed them. I looked up into his eyes. He knelt in front of me and smiled. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. You can tell me anything.”

  “You’ve all been exceptionally affectionate lately,” I whispered, staring at his chest. “Which is great. But, none of you have done more than kiss me. What changed? Did I do something?”

  His warm hand slid along my cheek, and he rubbed my cheek bone with his thumb. “You’ve done nothing wrong. We all agreed that we would be okay with all of us sleeping in the bed together and touching you at the same time. However, having other males so close, does make arousal nonexistent for us. That’s just not something we are into. We are all wildly attracted to you still.”

  “I’m being needy and self-conscious,” I muttered. “I tried to cure myself of that when I was a teenager. I thought I had, but clearly-”

  He kissed me deeply and slid his hands into my hair, gripping the back of my head so that I had nowhere to go except to surrender to him. His tongue slid across mine and I moaned into his mouth, but immediately pulled away, surprised that he let me go.

  “The others are right there,” I reminded him. “They likely heard that.”

  Nico flicked his hand towards the door and it shut and locked on its own. He held his fist in front of him and blew into it. A bubble formed out the other end, continuing to grow in size the more he blew on it. The bubble slid along my skin as it engulfed the bed. When it went past my head, I could no longer hear the TV in the living room. Nico stepped into the bubble and pulled his shirt off.

  “The others-”

  “This bubble keeps the sounds we make from being heard by others. It also keeps the sounds from outside from being heard by us. We can be as loud as we want and they won’t hear us,” he explained. To prove his point, he yelled loudly and then smiled.

  No one came running.

  The sight of him shirtless was making it harder for me to remember why I was objecting in the first place. Crawling across the bed, he leaned over me, his bare chest right there for me to touch. Without even thinking, my hands went to touch his chest and stomach, stroking the muscles there.

  “You’re so handsome,” I told him and looked up into his eyes.

  He smiled and leaned down to kiss me while his hands slid up beneath my shirt and frustratingly stopped at the bottom of my bra. I sat up and ripped my shirt off over my head, then unsnapped my bra. His eyes lowered as the bra slipped off my arms, my nipples already hard from my arousal. He unbuttoned my pants and slid them off with my underwear in one motion. Cool air hit me and I shivered. His pants were still on, which was definitely not what I wanted. Before I could voice my objection, he opened my legs and his tongue swept across my most sensitive parts.

  I arched up into him and gasped in pleasure. The amount of sexual frustration and desire I had been feeling made his tongue only necessary for a few swipes before an orgasm ripped through me. His eyebrows rose and he pulled his pants off.

  “You should have told us you were so horny,” he chastised me.

  “Then what, you ro-sham-bo for who gets to fix me?” I asked breathlessly.

  His pants gone, he pushed himself into me in one quick movement. The task easy since I was so incredibly wet.

  “Yes,” he replied. “Or we ask if you have a preference between us.”

  His mouth closed around one of my nipples just before he slammed into me hard enough for our skin to slap and sting a bit. Too worked up for it to matter, I could only moan my pleasure at the movements. His tongue swirled around one of my nipples while his fingers squeezed and teased my other one. It had been a long time since I’d been so far gone that my orgasms came so quickly. He was gentle with my nipples, but hard with my lower body. He pounded into me so hard that I knew I would be sore tomorrow, but I didn’t care. It felt amazing and I was screaming his name and moaning louder than I ever had before.

  “I’m really close,” he admitted to me. “If you want to switch positions, now is the best time to tell me.”

  I pushed his chest and he leaned back, letting me get up. He put a condom on and sat back in front of me. Pushing his chest again, he lay on his back and I climbed on top of him, lowering myself until he was fully sheathed inside of me.

  He groaned loudly and gripped my hips with his eyes rolled back in his head. I shared the sentiment and took it slow, moving my hips back and forth.

  “You are fucking gorgeous,” he told me as I rode him.

  I smiled at the compliment and rode him harder and faster.

  “Goddess, yes!” he moaned.

  I screamed as ano
ther orgasm tore through me and he groaned.

  “You’re so wet,” he told me. “It’s amazing.”

  With a few more movements, he and I finished at the same time and I lay forward, my head resting on his shoulder with him still inside of me.

  “I don’t know if I’ll be able to tell you when I want one of you,” I admitted to him. “I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make you guys think that I have a favorite. I don’t.”

  He rubbed my back and said, “We know you don’t have a favorite.”

  “It’s still weird,” I told him. “Four males all bound to me. I don’t even feel the bond.”

  “How do you feel about us?” he asked, turning his head so he could look at me.

  “Way more than I should for only knowing you such a short time,” I admitted.

  “Come on,” he groaned. “Give me more than that.”

  I cared deeply for them. I was falling in love with all of them. Admitting it out loud wasn’t something that I wanted to do though. I didn’t want to admit that I had developed such feelings for them.

  His phone rang in his pants and he rolled us over until he could stand up and answer it. “Yeah? Okay. We’ll be out in a minute.”

  “Who was that?” I asked, glad for the distraction from the conversation that we were having.

  “Rhys. We’re going to go out for dinner and he wanted to also check to make sure that you were okay.”

  I blushed and whispered, “Doesn’t he sense my feelings through the bond?”

  Dressing took a bit because my legs were jelly-like. Soreness was already setting in, which did not bode well for tomorrow.

  “Yes.”

  “So, he knows that I was, uh, happy a minute ago.”

  Nico laughed and kissed my cheek as he put his pants on. “Yes, Jolie. They all know what we did in here, even if they couldn’t hear us.”

  My face was on fire. How could I go outside and face them? This was not something I was going to get used to.

  We finished dressing and he pulled me into a hug, resting his head atop mine. “It’ll take some getting used to, but eventually, we will all grow accustomed to this and it won’t be awkward at all.”

  Eventually? Even though I knew the bond wasn’t something I could break without dying, I hadn’t really thought about them being with me for the rest of my life. “You’re all stuck with me for the rest of my life?” I asked him softly.

  “Not stuck,” he said adamantly. “We all chose this.”

  “Not really,” I reminded him. “You all did it, but not really on purpose.”

  “We all care deeply for you,” he whispered. “None of us regrets it.”

  Not yet, but what would they feel in six months or a year or three from now?

  Chapter 9

  We’re going on an overnight trip,” Fox informed me with a wide smile as soon as I answered his knock at Rhys’s apartment. He and Deryn came in at the same time, while Nico lounged on the couch. Rhys had taken a call in his bedroom and had yet to return.

  “Really? Where?” I asked, excited to get out of the apartment.

  “Camping,” he said.

  “Camping?” I scrunched my forehead.

  “What’s wrong?” Deryn asked.

  “I’ve never been camping,” I admitted. The thought of sleeping under the stars was nice, but being surrounded by bugs was not something I particularly had any interest in. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t go and enjoy myself, but I was definitely taking bug spray.

  “When are we going?” I asked, already making a list of supplies I’d need in my head.

  “Today,” he said and smiled wide. Fox was perpetually playful, reminding me of a puppy a lot of the time. He was also incredibly smart and quiet most of the time, letting the others make decisions and only voicing his opinion if he really felt strongly about it.

  I blinked. Scratch going to the store. “Can you take me to my apartment?” I requested.

  “Sure,” he agreed. “Rhys! I’m taking her to her apartment!”

  “Okay!” Rhys called back from his bedroom. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was already packing.

  Fox and I took the elevator and walked to my apartment in silence. His aura and presence were incredibly relaxing and I preferred being alone with him.

  “Fox?”

  “Hm?” he asked and turned towards me.

  “How do you feel about this whole situation? Being bound to me and the others?” Aside from not talking much, he rarely expressed his feelings.

  “I would prefer to have you to myself,” he admitted with a smirk. “However, I love my brothers, and sharing you with them isn’t so bad.”

  “So, you’re fine with sharing me as long as it is with them?” I questioned.

  He scowled. “Are you wanting to see other men?”

  The absurdity of his question made me burst out laughing. I had to stop walking, resting a hand on the wall as I doubled over in laughter until tears streamed down my face.

  “What’s funny?” he asked.

  “Foxfire, I feel terrible for being shared among the four of you. There is no way in hell I could even begin to consider other men.”

  He pinned me to the hallway wall and all of my laughter died at the sight of the heat in his eyes. “It makes me very happy to hear you say that,” he whispered. His eyes searched mine a moment and then lowered to my lips.

  We hadn’t kissed in too long, and he seemed to waver on his decision, so I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him, sweeping my tongue along his lips so he would open them. He pressed me into the wall and returned my kiss, opening his mouth to me and surrounding me in his scent, jasmine and freshly cut grass.

  The kiss ended too soon for my liking, but the beautiful smile on his face made it all worth it.

  “Come, we need to get you packed quickly so we can be on our way.”

  The hallway was still burned and there was just a tarp stapled over the hole of my apartment.

  “Do you think anyone stole anything?” I asked nervously.

  “No, the apartment manager is very good about not letting anyone inside who isn’t supposed to be in,” he assured me. “If you’re worried, you can put whatever you want inside of my apartment. We’ve been staying in Deryn’s apartment most of the time anyway.”

  “I would appreciate that,” I replied and pushed aside the tarp that now made up my door. I longingly gazed at my gaming console, but since Deryn already had one and had agreed to let me put my log in on his, I looked away.

  “Would you like me to take your games and console over?” Fox wrapped his arms around my shoulders and whispered in my ear.

  I chuckled. “Am I that obvious?”

  “No, but it’s probably the most expensive thing you have, so it makes sense that you would want it to be safe,” he explained, squeezing me once and releasing me before heading toward my games.

  He was right, the console and all of the games were the most expensive things that I owned. Was that sad? Should I have other more expensive things? I had never been obsessed with jewelry or makeup. I liked wearing dresses, but hated shopping for them or anything else really. I liked buying presents for people, but hated buying anything for myself.

  I was ecstatic that I hadn’t had anything against the wall that had been blown up, so I hadn’t lost anything in the explosion. Except my privacy.

  I headed toward my bedroom and realized that I had nothing on my mental checklist for camping, but the bug spray. “What the hell am I supposed to bring?” I yelled into the other room.

  “Clothes!” he yelled back and then laughed.

  “Asshole,” I muttered. Packing took me a long time, but I figured out to pack jeans, t-shirts, warm pajamas, and underwear.

  When I walked out to the living room, I realized that I was alone.

  “Fox?” I called.

  “Coming!” he called from outside of my apartment. The tarp moved a minute later and he was there.

  “What were you doing?�
��

  “I was putting some of your stuff in my apartment,” he explained.

  I looked around and was shocked to see that all of my valuable items were gone now.

  “Wow. Thanks, Fox. I really appreciate you doing that.”

  He kissed my cheek. “Anything for you, my queen.”

  He pulled my bag from me, and pressed a finger to my lips when I went to protest. He hurried back under the tarp before I could say anything. I sighed and followed him to the elevator where I took my bag back. Amused, Fox put up his hands in surrender before we stepped out on the first floor. When we walked into Rhys’s apartment, the other three standing in the living room, with a pile of supplies between them.

  “Got your stuff?” Deryn asked, looking at my black duffle bag.

  “Yep,” I said and tossed the bag onto their pile. “I’m sure I’m forgetting something, though.”

  “Always happens,” Nico said with a chuckle. “You get there and realize that you’ve forgotten something important.”

  I hadn’t noticed until then, but all of them were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Damn they looked amazing. Deryn had the largest biceps, and his shirt accentuated them nicely.

  Rhys’s chest was the most sculpted, visible through his shirt.

  Nico and Fox were sexy too, and I couldn’t stop staring.

  “Jolie?” Rhys asked.

  “Huh?” I replied, looking up at their faces.

  They were all smirking.

  Shit.

  “Ready to go?” I asked and turned towards the door.

  “Our eyes are up here,” Deryn whispered as he walked by me.

  They all laughed and grabbed the supplies. I walked down in the middle of them, glad to be getting out of the apartment. There was a SUV waiting for us outside the apartment building with Martin leaning against it.

  I pushed past the guys and rushed towards him. Martin pushed off the SUV, a wide smile on his face, and pulled me into a tight hug.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked from within his hug.

  “Deryn called in the request for a driver, and I was the only one available, so Dan asked me to come,” he explained.

  “Jolie,” Deryn growled.