by Hazel Hunter
Hailey found her own fingers clenched in Kieran’s hair. She couldn’t figure out if she wanted to watch his face or if she wanted to watch the way Piers was devouring the meal in front of him. She saw him swallow Kieran’s cock until she was certain he would gag. The sight made her whimper, squirming a little.
“Are you going to last long?” she whispered to Kieran. “Do you think you can?”
Kieran groaned with frustration, shaking his head. Hailey dropped her voice even further.
“I want to see him swallow.”
Those words were all it took for Kieran to spill over the edge. She saw his finger’s tighten on Piers’s hair, but he didn’t shove or try to gag the other man. Hailey had always thought there must be something at least a little submissive about loving someone in this fashion, but there was nothing controlling about Kieran’s motions. He was laid out and exhausted by pleasure. He shook so hard she wrapped her arms around him until he stopped.
Piers sat up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. The expression on his face was, if anything, even hungrier than it had been when he was just looking at the pair of them. He stroked Kieran’s chest gently.
“Are you well?” he asked.
Kieran nodded, still getting his breath back. He grunted with surprise when Piers landed a light slap on his hip.
“On your hands and knees now. Hailey and I haven’t had ours yet. Hailey, spread your legs for Kieran.”
His words brought a fresh rush of heat through her body. Hailey hastened to do as Piers said. In a matter of seconds, Kieran was positioned over her, his mouth bare inches from her tender flesh.
“Not yet,” Piers was saying. He came back from his nightstand and settled behind Kieran.
“You can have her when I’m in you, and not a moment before.”
Hailey couldn’t take her eyes off Kieran’s face as Piers prepared him. She knew he was using his fingers just as he had used a toy on her when they made love in the Shadow Walk Prison. She knew how open and vulnerable it must feel.
Kieran’s expression was a cross between fascination and discomfort. She could see it when he relaxed, opening fully for Piers. Hailey stroked his face, sliding down to kiss him for a moment before returning to her position.
“All right, that’s open enough, I think. Isn’t it, Kieran?”
For a moment, Hailey didn’t think Kieran would be able to say anything. Finally, however, he managed to nod.
“Yes, Piers.”
“Good.”
She saw Piers rise up on his knees behind Kieran. She could see Kieran bite his lip as Piers slid inside him. For a long moment, Piers was utterly still. The only sound that Hailey could hear in the room was Kieran’s rough breath.
Finally, Piers twined his fingers in Kieran’s hair, pushing him down to Hailey’s waiting flesh.
“Pleasure her,’’ he said.
Hailey cried out when Kieran’s mouth laved at her most sensitive flesh. She had been aroused when Piers had done this for Kieran. Now it felt as if her nerves were turned all the way up. The pleasure sizzled through her, making her buck up against Kieran’s mouth. Her fingers landed in his hair, where they twined with Piers’s.
She opened her eyes to look up at Piers, who was moving against Kieran with a rough stroke. His eyes were closed with pleasure, and he was so beautiful she could have cried.
Kieran’s mouth had absolutely no mercy on her. She could feel her nerves wind tighter and tighter. She couldn’t get enough, but it was too much, all at the same time. She didn’t want her climax, not yet. She wanted more of these sensations. She kept it off as long as she could, but then she couldn’t help herself.
With a loud cry, she tipped over the edge. It felt like she was going to shake to pieces, but the sensations drew out longer and longer, sweeping over her with the force of a hurricane. She could hear Piers shouting as well. She was aware that he was thrusting into Kieran harder and harder, pushing Kieran harder against her.
For a single moment, she could feel both of them, the bonds between them and the energy that they had given to her and now to each other.
Her climax faded slowly. She wrapped her arms around Kieran’s shoulders as Piers gently pulled out and disposed of the condom he had put on. With gentle words, Piers directed all three of them into his enormous shower.
The stream of warm water was pure pleasure, and Hailey giggled at the feel of being surrounded by naked slippery limbs.
“Everyone feeling all right?” Piers asked.
There was a hint of vulnerability in his voice. Hailey remembered that one of his darkest dreams was of taking his command too far, of hurting those he cared about.
She started to reassure him, but to her surprise, Kieran landed a heavy hand on Piers’s shoulder.
“Better than all right,” he said softly. “You did well by me.”
Piers’s smile was shy but brilliant. Hailey felt her heart swell with love for the both of them. They were so different, but the places where they came together and loved each other were beautiful. She didn’t know whether they would last as long as Liona and her lovers. She couldn’t see the future. All she knew was that she had them right now. That was all that mattered.
CHAPTER SIX
THE KNOCKING ON the door was loud and unwelcome. Hailey roused from under Piers’s heavy arm, disentangling her legs from Kieran’s.
They were both awake, but she urged them back to bed while she stomped to the door, dressed only in Piers’s shirt. It came down to her knees, and she reckoned it was enough for anyone who cared to bother them at six in the morning.
“What in the world is it?”
To her surprise, it was Liona at the door, her face grim.
“Sorry to interrupt, but the Castle has visitors from the Magus Corps, and they seem to have brought a demon with them.”
Liona’s bald words felt like buckets of ice water had been dumped down Hailey’s spine.
“They can’t have!”
“They most certainly can. Get your men up. I figured it was better me coming for you than the Magus Corps themselves.”
Hailey thanked her friend hastily. Kieran and Piers, aware of her distress, were up, and she explained what Liona had said. Kieran in particular looked a little pale, but Piers looked positively thunderous.
“The Castle is not a Magus Corps holding. They have no right to bring danger within these walls.”
All three of them dressed hurriedly, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they were down in the training field where two Magus Corps officers and a man looped in chains were waiting.
Hailey couldn’t take her eyes off of the man who was chained. He wore nothing but a tattered loincloth. She could see the way his muscles bulged unnaturally, and how spurs of bone jutted from his elbows and his knees. The skin of his feet was thickened until it resembled horn. Every few moments, he let out a great gust of air, as if he could not breathe. He kept his face down, his hair running down around it, but she could occasionally see a maddened glimpse of a reddened eye. She could tell that he had been beaten badly. He crouched on the ground, and though he would growl if anyone came close, she could see that he ached with violence.
There were two Magus Corps officers with him. To Hailey’s surprise, she recognized one of them.
“Stephan?”
She had met Stephan when she first came to the Castle. During time off, he had come to take advantage of the Castle’s workshop resources. Though he was a major, the same rank as Kieran, he was as skinny as a rail with a mop of brown hair. His rank came from his skills at creating magical devices, things that could turn the tide of a battle or detect a hint of magical talent in a recently awakened witch. With his slender frame, Stephan made an unlikely warrior, and he looked unhappy to be there.
“Hey, Hailey. Wish we could be meeting under better circumstances.”
The man standing next to Stephan made a sound that was remarkably like a growl. He was a bear of a man, only a hair smaller than
Kieran. His hair and cropped beard were iron gray, and his gaze wandered over the group contemptuously.
“Our business is with Major McCallen,” he snapped. “We’ve got nothing to say to the vampire.”
The word stung, but it stung less than it would have even a few months ago. She knew her worth and her value now, and not even a member of the vaunted Magus Corps was going to take it away from her. Piers looked like he was going to boil over, but Kieran stepped forward.
“General Vancleave. What brings you to the Castle?”
“We were the officers closest to Wyoming when we got the call. We were meant to rendezvous with you in Casper when we realized that you wouldn’t be meeting up with us.” Vancleave didn’t bother to hide the disgust in his voice. “Still we’re doing our job. We caught this one wandering the snow line, and we knew that you were here. We thought you might like to have a crack at it.”
Piers couldn’t take any more. He strode towards Vancleave, his eyes full of fire.
“You have no authority here. You have brought a danger within these walls, and you have shown yourself to be every inch the–”
“Piers.”
Stephan’s voice was curt, but there was enough force in it to turn Piers towards him. Hailey thought that it would only have taken a very slight twist of fate to make Stephan into a loyal coven member at the Castle instead of a major with the Magus Corps. She thought that Piers knew it too.
“The General has questions. If you answer them, we can get out of here faster. Get this guy out of here too.”
“You’re not here to bargain,” Piers said coldly.
“We don’t really want to be here at all,” Stephan replied. “Look, just…just hear us out, okay?”
Piers’s eyes narrowed at that, but he turned back to the general. If anything, his calmer voice was actually more frightening.
“What do you want here?”
“Major McCallen has seen fit to abandon his post and his brothers. I wasn’t the one who gave him permission to stay, but I heard why it was permitted. I was told it was because he was working on something powerful, something that would win this fight for us.”
Kieran was silent. She knew that the events of Costain were fresh in his mind. She didn’t know what he would do right now. She only knew that whatever he did, she would love him.
“Major McCallen has offered us his help in creating something that might protect people when the Templars come,” said Piers sharply. “We are not looking for help from the Magus Corps when that inevitably happens.”
“And yet here he stands,” Vancleave said sourly. “I want to see what he’s doing out here with my own eyes. I want you to prove to me that what you are doing is so very worth it.”
Kieran, to his credit, didn’t flinch.
“I don’t answer to you,” he said. “General Aroqua gave me the leave I requested. If you are so intent on seeing what we have, however, I can show you.”
Vancleave’s gaze landed on her, making Hailey feel as exposed as if she were naked. She could see what he thought of her, what he thought of perhaps every witch or warlock who wasn’t in the Magus Corps. She tried to put his distaste out of her mind when she turned to Piers and Kieran.
“There is something I very much do not like about this,” Kieran muttered softly. “I want to show him what we can do, but directly after that, he needs to leave.”
“We don’t owe him anything,” Piers spat. “The only reason that man is still standing here is because of your patience. When that wears out, he will be leaving.”
Hailey reached for both their hands, as much to calm them as to draw power from them. She could feel the difference right away. The power that the three of them generated was fuller and smoother. She could pull it into herself without thinking of it, and when she had it, it was fluid in her control. She hadn’t realized how much they were fighting each other before, even if they had no intention of fighting her. It came with an ease that made her smile.
“You want to see what I can do, general?” she called. “Here, I’ll show you.”
She stepped away from Piers and Kieran, looking up into the sky above. It was just coming on dawn. She had always loved the beauty of the Castle and the mountain peaks that surrounded it. Right now, she was struck with a wonder for it all over again. She thought of the colors of the dawn, and the way sunlight bent to cradle the world.
Hailey took a deep breath and opened her hands, sending the power up. She wasn’t trying to hide a simple tree. This time, she was hiding the Castle. She could feel the power flowing through her. A small part of her cried that it was not enough, that it would never be enough. She would burn herself to nothing but ash to do this. Another part of her laughed at the idea.
What I have touched goes on forever. There is no end to it, and there will be no end to us.
Distantly, she was aware of shouting. Through half-closed eyes, she could see a golden glow that lit the sky. She imagined power pouring out of her and arching into the sky, creating a dome that surrounded the Castle in its embrace. The powers that she used threatened to overwhelm her more than once, but she reminded herself that this was power that loved her. It was a part of her, just as Piers and Kieran were.
Above her, the dome closed, and she closed her hands, shutting off the power like a tap. She was light-headed and shaky, falling to her knees on the ground. In the space of a second, Kieran and Piers were by her side.
“Are you all right?” Kieran asked anxiously. “Was it too much?”
“Never,” she whispered. “What have I done?”
“Look up,” Piers suggested.
When she could focus again, she looked up at the sky. It was still the dawn sky, indigo with streaks of pink and purple. However, now overlaid with it all was a shimmer of gold. Through it, she could see the dark trees beyond the Castle’s wall. When she looked at the gold shield, she felt protected.
As if on cue, Piers’s smartphone rang. He picked it up, and to Hailey’s surprise, he grinned.
“No, no I know what’s going on. Get on the road coming up to the gate. It is still there even if you can’t see it.”
He glanced at Hailey and Kieran.
“That was Jasper and Kittridge. They were out on patrol, and while they were heading back, they saw the Castle disappear.”
Vancleave was staring up at the golden shield, his mouth slightly open. Stephan, for his part, was openly in awe. When he glanced at Hailey, he gave her a thumbs-up gesture, a wide grin on his face.
“How long will this last?” Vancleave demanded. “How strong is it?
“It will last until I take it down, I think,” Hailey offered. “I don’t know how strong it is. People should be able to walk right through it, but since they’re seeing a gorge, I think they will be very disinclined to do so.” At her lovers’ stunned looks, she grinned. “I didn’t want to just hide, I also wanted to misdirect. I think we’ve done it.”
She felt a deep exhaustion take over her body. It felt as if she had been running for a week. Despite her weariness, she was exultant. Here finally was proof that she wasn’t just something that took from others. She leaned against Kieran’s bulk, feeling his comforting arm come around her.
“That has to be worth it,” she whispered to him. “That must be enough for them.”
Vancleave was nodding slowly, looking up at the shield with calculating eyes.
“You need both the major and the coven master to do this?”
Vancleave’s question shocked Hailey out of her pleasant haze.
“I do,” she said. “Theoretically I could do it with others, but it might harm them in ways that we don’t even understand yet.”
Vancleave was silent for another long moment. Then it was as if he had come to a conclusion.
“Major McCallen, you are now under orders from a superior officer. You will take both the coven master and the witch, secure them, and bring them with us. That is an order.”
Piers immediately strode up
to the man, furious enough that he was utterly silent, but it was Kieran’s growl that filled the pre-dawn air.
“I will not do that,” he snarled.
Suddenly, he looked bigger than he ever had. Hailey realized that the temperature was dropping suddenly and there was ice forming on the tips of his fingers.
Vancleave’s face was red. He ignored Piers, looking instead at Kieran.
“That is a direct order, Major. In case you have forgotten the oaths that you took, there are orders that cannot be disobeyed, not and have you keep your place. These two are undeniable assets in the war that we are fighting, and you will secure them for us.”
“I will not,” Kieran said, his voice even more furious. “They are not members of the Magus Corps, they have taken no vows, and they are not going anywhere that they do not wish to go.”
Vancleave’s eyes glittered with a cruel light. Kieran was a terrifying man when he was roused, but Hailey knew that you did not attain a high rank in the Magus Corps by being a coward.
“We are the Magus Corps, and we do what must be done. These two can save far more lives, kill far more Templars where we are going than they can hiding in this little mountain fairyland. You should understand that. We do what it takes to win our wars, Major.”
“We do what we must do to protect Wiccans as a whole,” snapped Kieran. “What I see now isn’t going to protect anyone. What I see is a man hungry for a slaughter.”
Vancleave started towards Kieran, but Piers got in his way, shoving him back with a strength borne of fury.
“You are no longer welcome within these walls, if you ever were to begin with,” he snapped. “Now get the hell out before I haul you over the wall and drop you down a gorge.”
Vancleave’s temper seemed to snap then, because his hand dropped to the sword by his side. Whether he meant to use it or he only meant to threaten Piers with it, Hailey wasn’t sure. Kieran on the other hand, who had been fighting for centuries, only knew one way to take a weapon that was being drawn on someone he cared about.
