by Alex Lidell
I throw a glare at him. “Coal, you’ve met. And River—”
“Is right here.” Dressed in a wine-red coat over a snowy, open-collared shirt, River towers over even the other males as he approaches and gives Tye’s mother a wholly royal bow. He looks breathtakingly handsome, as fresh as if yesterday never happened. For a moment, I remember his pale skin, the deep bags under his eyes, and have to swallow back tears. River straightens. “It is an honor to meet you, mistress.”
“River.” Releasing my hand, Aliaanadora repeats the name as if tasting it. “So you are the final one of Tye’s friends mixed up in this newly woven mating bond? I’ve never heard of such a thing myself, but given that you five are a quint as well, I imagine it is less awkward to have Leralynn mated to all of you rather than just one. Males get so very territorial with their mates.”
“Indeed.” River clears his throat, the tips of his ears coloring slightly as he tugs down an already perfectly straight jacket.
“Mother.” A flash of panic lights Saritta’s eyes, her fingers straying toward a scar at her temple. Grabbing the older female’s arm, she pulls her closer, her voice dropping. “That is King River. The ruler of Slait. You can’t talk to him that way.”
Aliaanadora flinches, memories flitting over her face so vividly that I know exactly what haunts her. What’s haunted Tye for centuries—the cruel damage of some royals’ power. My heart breaks as I watch the female who called me her daughter shrink back.
“Forgive me,” she says quickly, stepping away from River. Her hand rises, filling the space between them as if her thin, aging arm might ward off the large warrior. A slight shift of weight has Aliaanadora positioning herself between River and his path to Tye and Saritta. “I meant no disrespect, Your Highness. I was only speaking as . . . I’d forgotten who I was addressing.”
River is in motion before anyone can speak, closing the distance to cup Aliaanadora’s elbow with a gentleness I’ve only rarely seen. “Wait. Please.” His voice softens, his gaze oddly shy as he studies the female’s face. Not a royal addressing a commoner, but a younger male inquiring of a matron. “Might you tell me what you were going to say? You were speaking as . . . who?”
Aliaanadora swallows. “As a mother.” She sighs, shaking her head ruefully. “After losing a son for centuries, I’m eager to fill my supper table with more children. My new daughter’s mates. Too eager to consider what I was saying.”
River stares, his gray eyes glistening in the firelight for long heartbeats. “I’m the commander of Tye’s quint,” he says quietly, his throat bobbing. “I’m the reason he’s been away for three hundred years. If you can see past that to invite me to your supper table, you can call me whatever the stars you want. And send me to chop firewood.”
A corner of Aliaanadora’s mouth twitches, and the palm she’s been holding back from River now extends to rest on his cheek.
My own throat tightening, I step forward and wrap my arms around them both. Autumn adds her own arms a moment later, then Tye and Shade, hugging first with a tentative shyness then with full strength. Finally, only Saritta and Coal stand outside the group.
“What’s wrong with you?” Tye’s sister asks the dark warrior.
“I don’t hug,” Coal says.
“Thank the stars,” she mutters. “This new family was getting entirely too sentimental.”
“Aliaanadora isn’t truly expecting us all to come home by eleven, is she?” I ask Tye as the four males and I find a patch of privacy in a small hillside park overlooking the celebration. Between the tree branches protecting our clearing, firelight flickers in every direction, and pounding music lifts into the night sky. Despite the darkness now fully settled and the moon a mere sliver, my new immortal eyes see the warriors beside me clearly. The night’s sharp air carries the scent of burning hickory, the glittering stars whispering tales about the future where I am immortal, and River rules Slait, and Aliaanadora welcomes a rowdy bunch of unruly warriors to her dinner table, complaining about Shade’s shedding.
“Oh, aye, she was.” Tye cringes, though his eyes sparkle with joy. “We’ll need to discuss that with her.”
“I know better than to wage a war I won’t win,” River says, his hands settling on my shoulders, heavy and warm. A reminder that, for the first time since leaving the Gloom, the five of us are alone. River’s gray gaze traps my face as firmly as his hands hold my body. “I do have a thought on how to make the most of the next couple of hours, however.”
His words zing through my mating bonds, all four of them at once. My heart quickens. Four. And I want them all. How do I explain that? Heat rises slowly through my spine then shoots down to pool in my lower half. I press my thighs together, caught in River’s gaze as surely as a mouse in a snake’s. Far beyond River’s broad back, Samhain fires lap at the sky, the figures around them dark, barely visible silhouettes.
River glances over his shoulder, a knowing smile on his face. “They can’t see us,” he whispers into my ear, his voice deepening at the very end. “But I imagine they can smell us. If not now, then certainly once we give that bond of ours something to sing about.”
Wetness coats my sex, slithering into my underthings. Stars. My heart thunders, my mind racing to form words I can’t manage. Yes, I want you, River. Now. But I want you all.
River hooks a knuckle under my chin, raising my face toward his. “Your scent says you aren’t opposed to my plans. So what is it, luv?”
That word again. My bones go soft.
“Answer me,” River orders, the whole of his attention cocooning me. Making nothing outside of us exist.
My mouth is dry, the tops of my ears burning. “What about . . . the others.”
“What about us, cub?” Shade’s velvet voice says on my right, his broad body stepping up beside River’s to form a corner, adding the scent of damp earth to River’s woodsy freshness.
“Aye,” Tye drawls, stepping up on River’s other side. Despite the chill, Tye is dressed in a vest hanging open over bare skin, and the heat of his body rolls over mine like a lover’s touch. In the star-filled night, the outlines of lithe muscles speak to the predator behind the easy smile. “Do tell about the others. In as much detail as ye’d like.” The words are a purr, the song-like accent deeper than usual. “Ye can start by describing me.”
“Better yet,” Coal says, the dark, quiet warrior stepping up behind me, closing the box of muscle. “Say nothing at all, mortal.” The slight emphasis on the last word, a challenge and a claim, takes my breath.
Four. Four? Yes, the mating bond inside me whispers, its voice of another world. The cords shift, weaving tighter. Together. Us. Now.
A shudder races along my nerves, my body already throbbing with an ache low in my belly. Moisture fills my sex, soaking my underthings just from the males’ presence around me. Their very scents excite and shelter me, the pine and citrus, earth fresh from rain, deep woods, and unyielding metallic musk all coalescing into a single cocoon of them. Of us.
Too much. We can’t. We shouldn’t. I want to. My mouth opens to protest . . . A strategic mistake, given the breath River and I now share.
His wide palm cups the back of my head, his mouth descending upon mine. Sweet for a moment, then insistent. Possessive.
The mating bond purrs its pleasure, my mouth surrendering to the demanding intrusion. Heat rushes through my blood, waking my nerves to the tantalizing possibilities.
Right up until I remember where I am. Who else is here. Watching. Smelling. Growling softly under their breath as River claims possession. My hands twitch toward River’s chest, determined to push him away even as my body screams for more and my sex clenches on nothingness.
Two iron grips clamp around my wrists from behind. With no effort, Coal forces my arms back down, his muscled body stepping up to brace my back, his manhood hard against my bottom. I pull against the restraints, softly at first then with all my immortal muscle, excitement roaring right alongside indignation.
“Payback, mortal,” Coal whispers very quietly into my ear, snorting his amusement at my attempt to free myself from his grasp. “I remember a certain barn and a certain post. And I am going to savor every moment of this evening.”
Tye’s and Shade’s hands slide confidently down my body, expertly separating the hooks and laces of my dress until it pools on the ground, my bareness exposed to the air. To the males, who can do anything they wish. With Coal holding my arms, Shade’s hand closes around my right breast, squeezing firmly.
I gasp from the pressure. The vulnerability of standing naked between four dressed warriors as they take command of my body sends a shiver through me. A shiver that ends right at the apex of my sex, turning it wetter still. Making it throb. Stars.
Tye’s hand finds my mound, resting intimately against my dripping sex. As if my sensations, my body, are as much his as mine. More. The heat of my desire and their bodies crashes over me, igniting the mating bond to burn as hot as the distant bonfires. My muscles tremble, my sex pushing against Tye’s hand, my mouth yielding to River’s with thirsty desperation.
Tye draws a finger through my folds, touching my apex with the tiniest of brushes that brings me to my toes. The onslaught of need arches my body, my lungs closing around a whimper. I shift my weight, unable to hold still for the pressure building between my legs.
37
Lera
When River finally releases my mouth, I’m so dizzy with need that the world sways, my legs weakening. Except that the hard wall of Coal’s body behind me won’t let me fall. Or shift. Or do anything to escape River’s sensual caresses along my breasts, his thumbs circling each darkening peak. To ease Tye’s much more direct game below.
The male’s cool fingers slide leisurely through my folds, up and down, forward and back, brushing the sides of my bud with each pass. The ache of longing in my sex builds impossibly, and when I try to clench my thighs together, two strong feet kick my legs apart, baring my sex to the air. Rendering me helpless to ease the relentless stroke, stroke, flick of Tye’s experienced touch, or the zing of unfulfilled need that each of those flicks sends right down to my core.
Tye’s thumb shifts to scrape across my apex, the sensation so sharp that I rise onto my toes, gasping for breath. Coal’s hands tighten mercilessly, giving me no choice but to feel every moment of the night and the males it brings. He bites the side of my neck, his breath hot against my skin.
A whimper escapes my throat.
“Cub.” Shade’s voice pulls me toward him, his hand caressing my hair twice before tangling in it. Forcing my gaze to meet his piercing yellow eyes, which glow with predatory intent. An intent that Shade keeps in check as he brushes a gentle knuckle across my cheekbone. “Is this too much for you?”
Tye’s finger slides inside me. Out. Stops.
Shade’s grip on my hair tightens, sending a shiver down my scalp. “Answer me, cub. Do you want to continue?”
“I want so, so much more.” My words escape in a mixture of plea and demand, a truth that I can’t believe I’ve just voiced. The magic inside me sings, the mating bonds begging to be stroked and worked and strengthened.
Shade grins, the wolf inside him growling with intent. Pleasure. The bulge in his trousers is so full I can see it throbbing beneath the fabric.
I snap my teeth at him, the only part of my body I’ve any control over still.
Shade moves so quickly I don’t feel the answering bite of my breast until the sting ripples from the puncture. Shade’s tongue laps away the tiny pain, breath hard and warm against my skin. Taking charge of both my breasts, the shifter rolls my sensitive nipples between his fingers. Already hard from the chill, the pink points throb, the ache pooling between my opened legs.
Still in front of me, River chuckles, sliding one hand along the inside of my thigh. Higher. And higher until he reaches the entrance that Tye is so gleefully teasing. Coating his fingers in my wetness, River raises his hand and licks them one by one, holding my gaze. “You taste of female,” he says. “A gorgeous taste.”
Before I can reply, his mouth closes around my left nipple, Shade moving his hand aside and taking the right between his lips. I moan loudly before I can help it, my voice quickly swallowed by the sounds of festivity. Two tongues swirl around my sensitive nipples before the males suckle together, their mouths firm and hot.
My sex clenches reflexively over Tye’s fingers, now moving in and out quickly enough to make my breath come faster, but not so quickly as to let me tip over into the approaching abyss. Growling in frustration, I try to force the issue, undulating my hips against Tye’s hand in greedy demand.
The sharp bite of Coal’s teeth on my neck makes me jump, the magic inside me rising. My magic, not an echo of Coal’s. I buck wildly against the restraints, the pressure of magic and pleasure a self-feeding loop that’s taking my breath.
The rebellion earns me twin nips from River and Shade, the sting from my breasts morphing into exquisite pleasure just as it reaches my sex. My channel tightens around Tye’s fingers, my moans and the males’ heavy breathing now filling the air. As a mortal, I might have held back, but it’s too overwhelming now. Things that used to feel good now positively swamp my senses, my every nerve firing. I want to scream into the night and I haven’t even taken one of them inside me yet.
“I like those sounds.” River’s low voice vibrates with danger and promise, his thumbs caressing my full nipples. When I open my mouth to curse him, he leaps atop it, plundering so deeply that I can hardly breathe when he finally sets me free. His callused thumb brushes my swollen lips. “I think I’ll enjoy discovering what other sounds this new body of yours makes.”
I realize Shade is naked only when River yields the ground to him. The shifter’s dark hair is loose around his muscular shoulders, the fires behind him silhouetting the lithe predator that his low growls name him. The male’s cock is full and hard, so large that I’d swear it was a trick of the night if I’d not laid eyes on it before. The velvet head tilts slightly to the right, a thick pearly drop already beading at the tip.
Shade’s hands move behind my thighs, gripping so hard and possessively that even Coal and Tye step away. The sudden emptiness inside me is maddening, but Shade gives me no time to complain before hoisting me up and sheathing himself inside my wetness in a smooth motion. His eyes flicker and I seize his mouth with mine, inhaling his heavy breaths. The size of him stretches my channel, filling a need as deep as the mating bond itself. Wrapping my legs hungrily around Shade’s waist, I dig my hands into his muscled shoulders, allowing him to lift me up and down along the great length of him.
Up, down. Up, down. The pumps stoke my arousal as Shade’s cock drives into me. Faster. Harder. Until my sex is pulsing with need and wanton hunger consumes my core. The abyss of release approaches as fast as lightning, promising an explosion along my nerves. Up-down, up—Shade slows, trailing me maddeningly slowly along him.
“More,” I demand, my breath as desperate as my aching, screaming sex.
The wicked spark in Shade’s eyes says he did all this on purpose. That he was waiting for this very demand. A nod to someone behind me, and a second set of hands is suddenly on me, rubbing my sensitive skin, massaging my backside, the pine-and-citrus scent naming Tye the culprit. When Tye’s roaming fingers slide along my wetness, teasing my apex even as Shade continues his powerful rhythmic strokes, I have a feeling I know what’s coming and I squirm away like a captured rabbit.
Tye chuckles into my ear, his intrusive finger already circling my spread back hole, ignoring my body’s protest like a predator toying with captured prey. A thrill races through me even as my reflexes roar to fight. Rolling my hips forward, I force Shade’s cock deeper into me while removing Tye’s target from reach.
“Be still,” River commands, his gray eyes piercing mine over Shade’s shoulder. The male’s unyielding tone makes my stomach quiver, the heat pooling in my sex igniting to a searing fire. That the warrior can do such thing
s to me with his voice alone is bloody unfair. His eyes narrow, making my body obey despite my mind’s shouting.
My hips relax, a whimper escaping me as Tye draws them back firmly, his hard shaft pressing against the opening. Need and fear mix impossibly, my body craving the very thing that my mind doesn’t want.
“Breathe, Leralynn,” River instructs, as Tye’s impossible size breaks through the rim, the stretch intense enough to make me gasp. He groans, holding himself still for a moment to enjoy the sensations, fingers tight on my waist.
Then he’s teasing my apex, the distraction powerful enough that my channel spasms around Shade’s cock, the world blinking around me. Unrelenting, Tye advances, slowly enough to let me adjust to his size but never so slowly as to be fully comfortable, his breath warm and unsteady against my neck. His quiet grunts of pleasure tickle my skin, driving me mad. Each time the male pauses, his fingers tease my throbbing apex until I can’t tell where the ache ends and pleasure begins, only that they magnify each other tenfold. Make my whole body quiver with the need for release.
“Not yet,” River says, his eyes still gripping mine, steady despite the slight tremors raking his muscles, his cock. Stepping closer, the commander pries my hands from Shade’s shoulders and wraps my fingers around his instead.
I squeeze his hands tightly as Tye begins to thrust in tandem with Shade, working in and out in an escalating rhythm. My mind fades away, leaving only sensations. Shade’s fingers digging almost painfully into my bottom, my heels into his. Tye biting and sucking my neck as he thrusts, massaging my breasts with callused palms. The dual fullness amplifies each motion, my bud throbbing with each thrust-slip-thrust, thrust-slip-thrust of the pulsing cocks.
The abyss whose edge I ride gapes open inside me, the mating bonds adding their own chorus to the coming fall. My hands spasm around River’s as a release so strong it hurts shatters through me in waves. I scream, the aftershocks zinging from the soles of my feet to the tips of my ears. “Stars, stars, stars.”
