by Tate James
“Sweetheart, you listen here, and you listen well. How dare you not think of us as family? How dare you think we would give up on you after only six weeks? I waited three long-ass fucking years in another realm just to get back to you. Do you honestly think I would abandon you now?” The first speaker no longer sounded like the nice guy. He sounded mad as hell—and still so damn familiar. He reminded me of someone...
“Yes, it’s working!” someone said with excitement as I screwed my eyes shut, then peeled the lids apart to see who the hell was trying to talk me to death.
At first, all I saw was darkness. Empty, never-ending darkness as the shadows crowded my vision, begging for more blood. But after blinking a couple of times, a face swam into focus.
A face with cornflower blue eyes and scruffy blond hair. A face that was scowling at me like I had just run over his puppy or something.
“Wes,” I breathed, finally regaining enough of myself to recognize who was speaking to me. But he couldn’t be here. I’d left because I didn’t want them involved; they shouldn’t have to shoulder the weight of my decisions when it came to seeking vengeance.
“Fuck that,” someone muttered, and I turned my head slightly to see Austin lying beside me. “The whole point of having dianoch is to support you, is it not? So why would this be any different?”
“Kit,” Wesley snapped, drawing my fuzzy attention back to him. “Your eyes are doing something weird. What’s going on? They keep flickering between normal and all black. Like all black, not even any whites left.”
“It’s the darkness,” I whispered, feeling totally disconnected from my own body. Like I wasn’t totally in charge anymore. How long had it been like this? How long had I been letting that oily blackness control my actions? “It wants more violence.” I shuddered hard enough to make my teeth chatter. “I can’t stop it.”
“Like hell you can’t,” Caleb responded from my other side, and I gasped as a hot, wet tear ran down my face.
Already the shadows were fighting me, demanding I listen to them, that I continue with my reign of blood and terror. That I didn’t need dianoch. Not if they wouldn’t join me like River.
“We’re losing her again,” Austin announced, and he was right. My vision was darkening with shadows once more, and I knew my eyes would be reflecting them.
“Fuck,” Wesley cursed, using his grip on my chin to drag my face back to his. “Please don’t bite me,” he muttered, like he was praying, and then he kissed me.
His lips met mine with a shock of heat, which I now identified as my magic replenishing from their energy. For a moment I was stunned. All I could think of was blood and death, flesh tearing from bone and screams of pain, and yet here was Wesley kissing me with so much passion it quite literally took my breath away.
Pushing him back, I gasped for air and frowned into his eyes. What the fuck was he playing at? This wasn’t the time for sappy reunions.
“There she is,” he whispered with adoration as he gazed back at me. “Don’t leave again, sweetheart. We miss you so much.”
“Wes,” I started to argue, but he cut my protests short by pressing his lips back to mine. This time he kissed me with more urgency, like he knew it was the only thing keeping me me. Our lips crushed together; he coaxed my mouth open and delved inside with determination, touching his tongue to mine with an expertise only six men seemed to share.
I groaned against his kiss, feeling the darkness in me fighting to squash out these new emotions, this softness and love that was pouring through me from Wesley’s kiss.
Inside me, the shadows raged harder, and my control began slipping again, my mood turning angry and violent as I shoved Wesley away from me.
“Kit, snap the fuck out of it,” my sweet tech genius yelled at me, his brow furrowed with frustration as he searched my eyes. “You need to bond with me. My magic can help you.”
“How?” Austin demanded. “And why didn’t you mention this sooner?”
“Because we only just found her, and does it seriously matter right now?” Wesley barked the words at Austin with an anger I had never seen in him before. It was startling. Enough so that I could see the hope in his suggestion.
“Yes, do it,” I agreed in a breathy voice as I struggled to push myself upright on the bed. Somehow, I’d ended up in my underwear with three half naked men surrounding me, yet all I could think about was blood and death.
Was this what accepting the darkness had done to me?
“Quickly,” I added. “Before I change my mind.”
Wesley hesitated only a second before nodding and sticking his hand out to Caleb.
“Help me out,” he asked the Blood Mage. “I don’t have anything sharp on me.”
Caleb didn’t waste time with questions, pulling a tiny lancet from his jeans’ pocket and stabbing Wesley’s finger with it.
Shaking with the effort, I extended my ringed hand to him, silently encouraging him to hurry the hell up. It was taking all I had to keep control of myself and not blast the three of them off the face of the Earth. Every ounce of strength I regained, so too did those shadows inside my mind.
The only thing I was clinging to was fear. Fear of what I had become, what I had let myself do in the name of vengeance and retribution.
Wesley quickly chanted out his part of the bonding spell, which I hadn’t even known he’d memorized, then dripped his blood onto the stone of my ring, just the same as my other four dianoch before him. Magic flared, and I sucked in a few deep breaths before rushing through my reciprocal verse.
At my last syllable, the rune circle flared to life around us, bathing both Austin and Caleb in Ban Dia runes that made them both cringe. There was no time to ask them if it hurt. Wesley’s magic slammed into me like a freight train hitting a cow on the tracks.
A soul-splitting scream tore from my throat, and my muscles all seized up, arching my back off the bed to an angle that shouldn’t be possible anywhere but inside a horror movie. I knew instantly, even through the excruciating pain, what Wesley had meant about his magic helping me. I knew. And the shadows knew.
As bad as it was, Wesley’s potent magic battling for a place inside my own, seeking to carve out a space for itself alongside my four other borrowed powers… It was absolutely nothing compared to the fight the shadows pitched against us all.
The babdh magic was ancient, as old as Ban Dia even, and the core of it was centered around mastery of consciousness. It made so much more sense experiencing it for myself, and not only how logical and intelligent Wesley was. I suddenly gained clarity on how the babdh magic worked. How they were able to dreamwalk.
It was this mental control that would allow me to control my magic, the shadows, and my raging anger over the deaths of Lucy and Jonathan.
Lips pressed to mine, and I gasped with the instant relief it provided. Wesley was taking back a bit of the magic overloading my soul, but he didn’t understand. I needed that overload. By balancing it out, it was giving the shadows an upper hand.
Bloodlust and fury spiked inside me, filling the space that Wesley’s magic had just occupied, and I screamed again. This time, though, it was a battle cry. Windows shattered, exploding outwards with a sudden rush of my magic that almost sent the guys reeling back off the bed.
“Hold her arms,” Wes shouted to one of the twins, and seconds later my wrists were clamped tight to the bedcovers as firmly as any handcuffs. “I need to help her. Just try to keep her from killing me in the meantime.”
“No promises,” Austin panted from above my head where my wrists were held captive.
His response must have been good enough for Wes, though, as he gripped my face between firm palms and pressed his forehead to mine.
“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he murmured to me, “I’ve got this.”
His reassuring blue gaze was the last thing I saw before my whole world turned to mist and he dragged me straight into a waking dream with him.
The total absence of anything, except mist, was my first hin
t that we were somewhere else. Not just an absence of things, but the absence of pain. Within that mist I was just me. No heartache, no anger, no overwhelming need to inflict the pain I was feeling onto others—whether they deserved it or not.
For the first time since holding Lucy’s lifeless body on the floor of that cursed room, I could breathe.
“Where are we?” I asked, startled as my voice bounced back at me in an echo.
“An in between place,” Wes replied. “It’s a safe space that babdh use for dreamwalking exercises. This mist, something about it saps all extremes of emotions from you and lets you think clearly, rationally, you know?”
I nodded in agreement. “I feel that. It’s incredible.”
“It’s only a Band-Aid.” He shrugged apologetically. “But from here you can gain the clarity and strength to do what you need to do.”
“And what is it that I need to do?” I asked him, feeling a flicker of panic before the mist smudged it out.
“See all that?” He pointed over my head, and I craned my neck up to look at the dark cloud above us. “That’s what’s been controlling you. That’s a huge, nasty concentration of every negative emotion you’ve ever had, amplified and given life.”
“What? That’s... a bit fucking scary. Who gave it life? I swear, sometimes it feels sentient.” I shuddered, then went back to feeling calm.
“No shit,” Wesley teased me. “That’s because it is sort of sentient. Or it’s damn close to being, anyway. You’re the only one that can control it because you’re the one who fed it magic to start with.”
I eyed the dark cloud warily and swore I saw lightening flash deep inside it somewhere. “I did this?” I repeated. “But where did it come from? Is this something Bridget caused?”
The look Wes gave me then was halfway amused and halfway pitying. “No, sweetheart. This is just a part of you. I suspect it is just a bit more... uh... dangerous because of who you are. Remember when Bridget said Tasha went insane from taking on too much of her dianoch’s powers?” I nodded, feeling sick with dread. I had avoided thinking about it, if I was honest. “I think she was wrong. Tasha wasn’t insane, per se. She was just dealing with all of that.” He waved a hand at the black cloud and gave me a half smile. “But you have something she didn’t have.”
“Uh-huh, I do, do I?” I gave him a teasing smile. “That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?”
He grinned at me then. “You bet your ass it’s me. We’re going to do this together because alone we are strong, but together we’re invincible. Right?”
My heart fluttered at his words, an echo of what both myself and Vali had said throughout the heartbreak of the past months. For where we were in our shared lives, truer words had never been said.
“You’re damn right we are,” I agreed in a whisper. “After this, we need to help River.”
“Cole and Vali are working on him now, but I agree. He needs to complete his bond with you too. We are way overdue to become complete, don’t you think?” He gave me a shy smile, and I returned it.
“Well, let’s do this then. I’m going to need a whole hell of a lot of recharging before I take on a fucking hellhound.” Just thinking about handling River’s demonic form when I was no longer under the influence of that darkness made me nervous. It needed to be done, though. He was suffering; I knew that.
“That’s my girl,” Wesley encouraged. “Now listen up, this is going to be an advanced course in mental manipulation condensed into a nutshell. But if it works, you’ll be back with us in minutes.”
My fingers grabbed for his, threading together and squeezing. “I’m ready.”
When the mist and darkness faded again, I was back in the real world. Strong hands gripped mine above my head, pinning them tight to the bed but stroking gentle circles against my skin. Warm lips were pressed to mine, and a heavy body pressed down on me from above.
At any other point of my fucked-up life this far, I would have panicked. But I knew those hands, I knew these lips.
I was back.
Wesley’s instructions had helped, and I finally, finally felt like myself. Enough so that I returned his kiss with an eagerness born of regret and shame.
My actions of the past month weighed heavy on my freshly scrubbed mind, but I shoved them aside. Now wasn’t the time.
I just needed to be in the moment and reassure my lovers that I was back and that I was theirs, heart and soul.
“Kitty Kat?” Caleb asked hesitantly from somewhere beside me on the bed, and I turned my face slightly toward his voice.
At my move, Wesley released my mouth. He turned his lips to my neck and kissed down the line of it to suck at my sensitive pulse point, allowing me the space to open my eyes and give Caleb a weak smile.
“Hey, Cal,” I whispered in a hoarse voice, and my smile spread wider at his look of relief.
“You’re back,” he breathed. “Aus, she’s back!”
“I know,” his twin replied from above me, but his grip on my wrists didn’t let up even the slightest bit. “I’d just rather be safe than sorry.”
Caleb frowned, opening his mouth to argue, but I gave him a small headshake, arching my body into Wesley’s hands as he groped me. “It’s fine. He’s right. Don’t let go, Aus,” I pleaded, tilting my head back to look at the surly Ink Mage above me on the bed.
“I’ll never let you go, baby girl. You know that.” His voice was gruff and his eyes damp when he met my gaze and held it, even as Wesley pushed my bra down to free my breasts and I moaned with pleasure when his mouth met one tight peak.
“Is River...” I could get no more words out as Wes bit gently down on my nipple, sending shockwaves of both magic and pleasure shooting through me.
“He’ll be fine,” Austin replied, glancing over to where I assumed he could see the others. “The lizards will keep him busy until you’re strong again. Just let us do that for you, okay?”
“Uh-huh.” That was the most coherency I was able to manage thanks to Wesley’s long fingers hooking into the sides of my panties and stripping them down my legs in a flash.
Holy fucking coffee, it’s been too damn long...
I was torn between demanding he hurry the hell up and fuck me stupid, versus begging him to take his time. Thankfully, I was too far gone for real words, so the choice was out of my hands. They’d do whatever they wanted, and I would enjoy every damn second of it.
“Jesus fuck,” Caleb hissed from beside me, sounding pained. “This is torture.”
“You’re telling me,” Austin agreed, “You’re going to need to get on with it, Wes.”
Wesley didn’t bother responding but did shift back to undo his own pants before spreading my legs and settling between them. The heat of his rigid shaft pressing against my core was almost too much when adding the continuous tingle of magic passing from his skin and into mine.
Desperate for more, I arched against him, lifting my heavy legs to wrap around him and pull him closer.
“Wes,” I groaned, “Please...”
His blue eyes widened with excitement as he looked up at me, and he bit his lip. “Anything you want, sweetheart. I’m yours.”
With that oath, he reached between us, positioning his tip at my already throbbing center. Not waiting for him to enter me slowly—like I knew he would—I used my legs to pull him in hard, arching my hips up to meet his so that he was fully sheathed in just one thrust.
“Fuck,” he cursed with a breathy moan, and I fought a grin of satisfaction.
“Bossy minx,” Austin snickered, still holding my hands tight.
Caleb groaned again, rolling onto his side and reaching out a hand to cup my breast. “That was insanely hot, Kitty Kat, but you’re supposed to be building strength, not using it up.” His fingers found my tight nipple and rolled it in just the right way to send flutters all the way to my pussy where Wesley was buried deep.
“This isn’t fair,” Wes complained as he shifted his weight and began to move inside me. His
thrusts were long and slow, gentle but passionate—just like him.
“What isn’t?” Austin replied, bending down to kiss the bend of my neck.
Wesley’s brow creased, even as he increased his pace a little. “It’s been over three years since I’ve... you know. I don’t think you fully appreciate how different this is to just imagining it and uh, well, you know.”
Even as he fucked me, his cheeks flamed with embarrassment at admitting he’d masturbated to the memory of me. It was too sweet.
“Spanked the monkey?” Caleb supplied, teasingly. “Wrangled the one-eyed snake?”
“You’re hardly one to talk about snakes, bro,” Austin retorted, and Caleb grunted agreement.
“Oh my God, shut up and fuck me harder,” I blurted out in a rush, then bit my lip when I realized I’d said it out loud. “Uh, please?”
Thankfully, all three of them laughed and Wesley did as I asked, gripping the backs of my thighs to angle my hips up and give him a deeper angle.
Words left the room as the twins worked on my top half, tweaking and rolling my nipples, then kissing and biting at my sensitive neck. South of the border was all Wes, and holy shit he was making up for lost time. It was barely long at all before I was screaming out an orgasm and his abs tensed as he tried to fight off his own climax a little longer.
Three years was a long damn time, though, and when Austin turned my face so he could kiss me long and hard, Wesley lost it.
“I’m sorry,” he groaned, pulling out of my still fluttering center and kissing my belly. “I need to rebuild my stamina.”
“Lots of practice,” I panted with a small laugh.
Caleb released my nipple from his mouth and grinned up at me. “So fucking sexy,” he murmured. “How are you feeling?”
“Uh,” I licked my lips, glancing past Caleb to the doorway of the room. I couldn’t see anything from where I lay, but I was conscious of Cole and Vali being trapped out there with a raging mad hellhound. I’d seen firsthand what that creature could do...
“They’re fine, we promise you,” Wesley assured me.
