by Ophelia Bell
The humans would remain behind, but the dragons would be joining the excursion back to the cursed place she and Marcus had been prisoners for so long.
Evie’s body was alive with the need for contact, as though the simple presence of the new life inside her had lit an unquenchable fire that either needed fuel to burn brighter or water to cool her from its incessant flames.
She needed to burn tonight and paced restlessly around the bungalow while Ked and Marcus plotted with the others.
When she heard footsteps, she dropped her robe to the floor and went to meet them.
So perfect, they both were, simply greeting her naked presence with deliciously hungry expressions and not asking questions or even speaking. They just undressed right in the doorway, tossing their clothing to the side and accepting Evie’s single comment as though they’d expected it.
“I need everything tonight.”
What “everything” meant, she didn’t know, but she was confident they would figure it out.
Marcus came to her first, his warm, soft skin brushing against her. Her skin came alive from his heat and her nipples pricked into hard peaks. He slid a hand up her arm and cupped her jaw, tilting her head so he could taste her lips. His tongue teased slowly between them and she opened with a sigh as Ked’s anise-scented body enveloped her from behind.
Ked’s hands rested at her hips, holding her tight against his erection like he just needed to feel her for a moment, then slid up to cup her breasts and tease her nipples.
Wet heat pooled between her thighs, accompanied by a painful ache. Just as she thought she couldn’t bear the discomfort, they acted together. Ked pulled her back against his solid chest and lowered her to the floor, holding her against him.
In front of her, Marcus knelt and slid his palms up her inner thighs, spreading her knees as he bent between them. He kissed slowly along the sensitive flesh around her core and finally pressed his mouth to her swollen, throbbing cunt and gave it a long, slow lick.
Evie moaned and spread her thighs wider, leaned back against Ked’s shoulder and gratefully accepted his mouth when it found hers.
This place she found herself in, between the two of them, was nothing short of heaven. Ked’s warm body supporting her, his hands on her skin, and Marcus giving her languid pleasure as though they had an eternity to make love, were all she needed in that moment.
The hard weight of Ked’s erection against her back incited a fresh craving. Evie twisted in his arms, forcing Marcus to lean away and watch her. Evie came up on her knees between Ked’s thighs, her mouth already watering with the thought of her intentions.
Ked’s cock felt thick and so very present in her hand, like this was how and where he was meant to be. She stroked him slowly, loving the way his dark eyes closed and his head fell back. He could be so severe sometimes—so broody—but now he exuded nothing but pure need for what she could give.
She shifted lower and licked at his tip, tasting the salty moisture that had seeped from inside him. Ked twitched a little, then threaded his fingers into her hair, keeping his hand at the back of her head.
Evie bent again and wrapped her lips around the tip, then encompassed his length into her mouth, tasting every hot inch as she went. She loved the flavor and scent of him. Sweet and musky, and like no other man she’d ever known. He smelled like the darkness he exuded and she craved another taste of his essence.
Between her thighs, a hot, slick teasing began again. Marcus’s tongue went to work, distracting her from her rhythm on Ked’s cock, but in the best way. Her clit throbbed with his licks, his tongue delving deep into her and then pulling out to flick repeatedly over the sensitive bundle.
Ked’s hand clutched her tighter, pushing her head down onto him while his hips rose up until his tip hit the back of her throat.
Evie’s eyes watered with the need for relief. For a breath or for an orgasm, she couldn’t decide. She needed something.
Ked’s hand gripped her head and pulled her off his cock. She watched him, her swollen lips still wet from her saliva and his residue. The lustful look in his eyes told her what he needed and she moved. She spread her thighs to straddle him and sank down, closing her eyes as his massive girth stretched her.
Behind her, Marcus shifted close again, slipped his fingers between her thighs and encircled Ked’s cock as it slid into her. He stroked her spread lips, teasing her clit in tiny circles while his tongue found her puckered opening between her cheeks and teased.
She moaned in encouragement. She wanted that. She wanted everything, just like she’d told them.
His fingers moved between her thighs, stroking over and over from where she and Ked were joined and up to circle around her ass again. After the third stroke, he pressed a wet fingertip at her opening and plunged it beyond.
Evie let out a soft gasp at the invasion, but wanted even more. Marcus gave it to her, adding another slick finger and pressing deeper.
Her entire body clenched with the addition of another finger that stretched her even wider. Ked’s hands clutched the sides of her face and forced her gaze to his.
“Everything, you said,” he whispered, then kissed her, his tongue filling her mouth and his lips pulling hotly at hers.
Then Marcus was behind her, his cock pressing against her ass and she pressed back, urging him inside her. His thick tip breached the barrier and they both emitted sharp cries of surprise. When he pushed deeper, all Evie could think was how much she loved them both. There was pain, but it swiftly turned to pleasure as Marcus sank into her. Then she felt suspended between the two of them as they fucked her, buoyed by the pleasure.
Ked’s orgasm was the most beautiful thing she’d ever experienced. He always took a deep breath and seemed to pause, as though in suspended animation while his cock surged inside her, flooding her with his semen. In that second, she might believe he was simply a statue carved from pale marble. His lips and cheeks grew too flushed for her to believe he was anything less than alive, however. This time she didn’t resist the urge to kiss him and he kissed her back, hungrily, while his cock still frantically thrust into her.
Her own orgasm hovered close, and the combination of Marcus’s bruising slams into her ass and his finger slipping between her thighs threw her far beyond the realm of reason. She let out a harsh, surprised cry and bit down on Ked’s lip, drawing blood with her teeth.
Ked clutched at her and refused to surrender her mouth, his cock growing hard again and pushing deep.
Evie’s body soared without even air or wings, her orgasm carrying her across the winds in the arms of the two men she loved. They filled her more than just physically in that moment. Every cell of her being held a piece of them inside that would never be relinquished.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Evie
Dragon Monastery, Sunda Islands
Present Day
A sense of dread filled Evie for the next day, but she clenched her teeth during their preparations to leave.
Maybe it was the baby in her womb making her feel this way, but it all seemed so surreal.
Her overwhelming happiness at having both her mates kept bumping up against the possibility of losing them. She’d spent so many years away from Marcus, finding happiness and pleasure in the cracks between… now that she’d had a solid span of time to enjoy peace and love, the prospect of losing it utterly terrified her.
She kept it tamped down, though. They needed to do this for the others—the ones they’d left behind.
“Sister, thank you,” Aurum said, startling Evie out of her concentrated packing to make sure her gear was dragon-worthy.
She looked up at the golden beauty, dazzled as always by Aurum’s presence. The very proximity to the gold Immortal made her happy and she said a silent thank you for the respite from her worries.
“Why thank me? It’s your brothers who are the m
asterminds of this excursion.”
“Thank you for going with us. I know you’re only going to stay close to them, but your powers are something my siblings and I don’t have.”
“My brothers could have done, as well,” Evie said, shrugging.
“Bullshit.”
Evie’s head shot up at the curse spilling from Aurum’s perfect mouth. She stared, blinking, at the woman like she’d grown another head. Had she just said that?
Aurum laughed softly. “I’m several thousand years old, Evie. You don’t think I’ve learned how to curse?”
“I—don’t know what I thought about you, to be honest. That you were in another league entirely. I mean… I know your brother… brothers, but somehow you, Numa, and Belah all seemed so… perfect.”
Aurum walked to the bed and smoothed the cover out carefully, then turned and sat, as primly as someone immortal might.
“We can’t die,” Aurum said. She frowned, her face contorting in a way that seemed distinctly wrong for her features. Her blonde waves slipped over her shoulders when she slouched and rested her elbows on her knees. “I don’t wish for death,” she said, looking at Evie, “But I wish for a respite sometimes.”
Evie didn’t quite know how to respond. Their races were all long-lived, and had adapted. But thousands of years as opposed to a few hundred? Immortality didn’t sound so fun, after all.
“Well, this trip is supposed to give you that, isn’t it? I mean… you and your siblings are looking for your Ones now, right?”
Aurum looked at her, confused for a second. “Our Ones. Oh! Yes, something like that. Fate likes to fuck with us too much. If my dreams are any indication, mine apparently has four arms and legs, but I haven’t heard of any race who turns into spiders.”
She shivered and grimaced.
Evie chuckled. “No. You’re probably reading it wrong. Tell me what you saw. Let’s see if I can find the truth in it.”
She walked to Aurum and stood in front of the woman. Aurum looked up at her, golden eyes studious before she took Evie’s outstretched hands and her eyelids closed.
She took a deep breath and her expression shifted inward, her eyes moving behind her closed lids. Evie held tight and waited for Aurum to speak.
“I’m swimming in a river, my eyes are open, blinking through the current. I test the flow, pushing against it and it pushes back. The stronger the current, the more I must test my strength. But then when I’m swimming upstream and reaching out, fingers thread into mine and pull. I swim against the current until I get to him. And he is beautiful. Blue-black hair flowing in the water, long and wavy, and he smiles and pulls me to him. His words sound like forest rain when he speaks in my ear, and it makes me want him.”
Evie raised an eyebrow. If forest rain were words, she’d lose herself, too.
“But he isn’t the only one. Another hand pulls from the other side and I wind up on the shore. Then it all gets very confused. Too many arms and legs.”
“Story of my life,” Evie said, laughing. “Can you handle more than one man? Because I think that’s what your dream is telling you. There isn’t just one. There are two.”
Aurum’s face transformed with a delighted smile. “Two? Oh, that makes more sense. How can you tell?”
“I’m good at hearing the air between the words. The first man is a water nymph—a satyr—which is rare enough, isn’t it? How many of them even exist anymore? The second is an ursa, tied to the earth. You may have to choose between them, or you could mediate to have them both. A female as powerful as you are might manage it.”
Aurum closed her eyes and sighed. “It’s true. He should not even exist, but your grandmother insisted my mate was still held captive and my brother confirmed that he saw a satyr in one of the cells when he went in to rescue you. The trick is finding the other one. I need your help with that, sister.”
“That’s what I’m here for.”
Aurum gripped her hands suddenly, and Evie stared at her, surprised by the familiarity of Aurum’s caress. The woman lifted a hand to Evie’s cheek and leaned close.
“Let me give you a gift in return.”
Evie snatched her hands away and stood, walking away a pace. “Not yet. I know what you were thinking, but we don’t need it yet. Ked mentioned blessings might be needed to make sure the baby lives. Right now, I promise the baby is very vocal about what he wants, and that’s the only sign I need about its health.”
Aurum laughed. “Yes, the young ones are needy early on. If you need anything from me, you have it.”
Evie smiled back and sat down again, gripping Aurum’s hand. “If you need anything from me, you have it, too.”
“What I need is both of these men to materialize in front of me now. I’m not used to having to go hunt down a mate. Is it crazy that it scares me what kind of baby might come of this union?”
Evie closed her eyes. Her baby had such dubious origins she couldn’t deny them, but it wouldn’t be nice to let Aurum worry about that.
“You’re not a new mother, Aurum. I know that much. Why does this bother you so much?”
The golden dragon stood and paced across the room. “My first child was conceived from a god. My second from a peasant. Those two were born nearly a century apart, and I loved both of them dearly, along with the four who came after. They sated my maternal urges, and I’ve enjoyed not being a mother ever since. The role we play as Dragon Council is enough. But now that the world has changed so much, I want it again. You have the power of foresight that your grandmother has. When we get there, please don’t hesitate to tell me everything you hear on the Wind.”
“You have my word, sister.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Evie
Canadian Rockies
Present Day
Being able to fly again under her own power would have been heavenly, but Evie didn’t want to chance shifting until after the baby was born. It had taken enough convincing for her mates to agree to let her join them, she made the concession to ride on Ked’s back with Marcus rather than cavort in the wind with her brothers.
Her sense of dread increased from moment to moment, the closer they got to the North American mountain range where the compound was hidden. Not even Marcus’s comforting arms wrapped around her from behind could dispel the chill.
“I don’t want to go back any more than you do, but this was the last place Aurum’s satyr was seen. If there’s a chance we can get him out, I agree we need to take it for everyone’s sake.”
Evie squeezed his hand and turned to kiss him on the cheek, trying to dispel the dread through her intimacy with Marcus.
“I’m not worried about being captured again. I just hate the idea of being that close to him as long as the baby’s doing well.”
They soon landed in the same clearing Evie remembered from her rescue, but the place had changed even in the short time since they were there last. It was late Fall, so there shouldn’t be many leaves on the trees anyway, but even the evergreens surrounding them were bare of needles, the entire area as silent as a grave. When the others shifted around her, she heard a collection of soft curses from the dragons.
“Nikhil is either here, or has recently departed,” Ked said, his darkness pulsing around him.
He seemed far too eager to fly to the compound and confront the evil bastard. Thankfully his brothers kept him reasonable.
“Let the Norths reconnoiter and tell us the situation first, brother,” Gavra said, placing himself between Ked and the direction of the peak the Ultiori lair was nestled behind.
Evie’s brothers flew away again, disappearing into the gray November sky. While the rest of them waited, Evie closed her eyes and listened for any secrets that might be carried on the wind. Around her the bare, dead branches of the trees rustled eerily, causing her to shiver. The Wind herself spoke of sadness and pain, but t
hat was nothing new compared to what Evie had experienced when she’d been there last.
Deep in the undercurrents, she could hear other notes. Abandonment, deep regret, loneliness, hunger, despair. The notes came from the direction of the compound but sounded like two different instruments, their songs dissonant echoes carried on the wind.
Her brothers returned a few moments later, grave looks on both their faces.
“It’s abandoned,” Lukas said. “I could hear nothing inside. No life. Last time we were here, the place was full. Mostly with prisoners, but not even a rat is in residence now.”
“There are two still,” Evie said, surprising herself at the ringing strength of her voice. She was even more surprised when Lukas abruptly stopped talking and turned to stare at her, along with everyone else. “I may be out of practice, brother, but maybe fifty years of trying like hell to hear anything has refined my senses. There are still two inside. I don’t know more than that, but everything I can hear suggests that they were left behind. Abandoned with the compound.”
“Two?” Aurum asked, grabbing Evie by the arm. “Is it both of the males from my dream, or only one? Can you tell?”
“No,” Evie said, gripping the dragon’s hand and squeezing. “I can’t tell who it is. The place is deserted otherwise, though.” She turned to tell Ked she believed it safe to go in, but he was already flying away, with her brothers close behind.
“Climb on my back, sister,” Aurum said, her eyes wild with excitement and worry as she shifted and bent low for Evie to climb on.
They flew together, following the others up over the ridge line covered with dead pines and rocks. Aurum’s massive wings pulled them through the air and in spite of Evie’s elation at being aloft at all, she could sense the female’s apprehension as though it were her own.
Aurum made a slow circle around the roof of the sprawling building that had been constructed into the mountainside over the rapidly churning river. Evie had only seen that view once in the dead of night when Ked had taken her away. Her only other memory of the river was from the view she’d seen the day she and Marcus had arrived. That day she’d thought it beautiful from within the glass trap she’d let herself walk into unknowing.
