by Ophelia Bell
He had a point, and Aodh was loath to argue, but their trip was purely about helping Aurum get to her mate. He and his siblings had agreed to regroup after they’d each found their mates to decide how to proceed on the Ultiori front.
The truth was they’d been on the defensive for so long, that was all they knew how to do. Simply protecting their children was still at the top of their agenda. Except that only two of his siblings were breeding, at the moment. The rest of them were still free to engage in this potential war that was brewing as long as they were childless—if a war was indeed what they were headed for. Or they were free to track down their enemy and ensure a war never occurred. But to go on the offensive after thousands of years in hiding? He wasn’t sure how to begin.
Sensing the dark gaze of the other man, a buzzing sensation began at the base of Aodh’s skull. He remembered in the beginning when he and his brothers and sisters walked the Earth like gods. They held dominion over humans back then. They fought each other for territory for eons before Belah’s descent into oblivion, and this very man who faced him now was one of the most revered military commanders from that era.
There was a reason they had all looked up to Belah during the last few decades of her reign in Egypt, and why Aodh was glad his lands never bordered hers. Nikhil was that reason, and despite whatever memory loss the man claimed to have suffered, he was still dead-set on vengeance and seemed to know exactly how to achieve it.
“I can’t unilaterally volunteer the others for anything,” Aodh said. “And I won’t interfere with my sister reaching her mate. But perhaps there’s a way I can help you. You’ll have to wait until I can do some recon in the Sanctuary—I need to learn how well-guarded the Source is and find out if that really is the only way inside. Meanwhile, you should go see Belah. She’s in the Southeastern turul Enclave in North Carolina. Then wait for me outside the Stonetree portal—it’s only a few miles away from the Enclave’s entrance.”
“Belah isn’t going with you?” Nikhil asked.
“Not in her state, no. Passing through the Sanctuary’s barrier is risky enough for the rest of us. The barrier feeds off the most potent life energy, so we’re not about to risk Belah’s baby.”
Nikhil shook his head. “I can’t see her until this is done. Now that half my memories are gone, I’ve had some time to examine what Zorion left behind. Maybe I should be grateful that the things I was just along for the ride for have been erased, but I still remember all the horrible shit that I did under my own power. The only way for me to atone for any of it is to make sure Meri pays. I need you on my side for this, brother. If Belah isn’t going, you know I can get into their heads as well as she could … unless you’ve got Ked along too. But if I were him, I’d never let that angel of his out of my sight.”
Aodh regarded the other man for several moments, reevaluating his opinion of their former enemy yet again. Confronting the nymphaea hadn’t been on their agenda. In fact, it made him anxious just to imagine how close he would be to the Haven’s only known entrance once he and his siblings made their way into the ursa Sanctuary. If he took Nikhil into the Haven, how would his old lover respond to seeing him again? It didn’t matter that the man was a regular star in Aodh’s dreams, right alongside the fertile ursa maiden Fate kept showing him.
Who was he kidding? Neph probably had a dozen nymphs for mates now. Shaking his head to dispel the fantasies, he said, “I hope you know this won’t be easy. The nymphaea and the ursa have always been our allies, but I wouldn’t say we’ve exactly been close. The last time we had anything in common with their leaders, it was … well, it was you. We all had a stake in seeing if those blessings we gave you on your wedding day made a difference in allowing you to mate one of us. An immortal, I mean. Do you even remember any of that?”
Nikhil stood again and gave him a nod. “My memories don’t start getting spotty until the day after … which is when Meri started in on me. I remember the wedding clearly, and I’m hoping to get the chance to prove the blessings weren’t wasted. Speaking of not wasting time, when should I meet you?”
“We’re heading to the Sanctuary at Midwinter, through the Rainsong portal, since it’s closest to the monastery. But the Stonetree portal will be where I come out, once I’ve made sense of things inside. Get there by Midwinter and wait for me.
“And if you really do consider yourself my brother, go see my sister. Martyring yourself for love is pointless. We’re immortal, but you don’t see us taking our time to get to our mates, do you? If there’s one thing I’ve learned stuck in the Glade all these centuries, it’s that I’d rather spend eternity with someone I love, and I don’t plan to wait to get started on eternity whenever I find that person.”
He bit his tongue, hoping Nikhil didn’t catch the twisting of the truth he’d just done. He knew as well as Nikhil that circumstances were often not ideal for love to take precedence. Even if he found the ursa female from his dreams, and somehow miraculously managed to get to Neph at the same time, circumstances might prevent him from staying with them.
Nikhil chuckled, “You don’t love your brothers and sisters?”
“You try living with the five most opinionated creatures on the plant for three thousand years. You know what? That’s what we need to do when we find Meri. Lock her up with my siblings for a few millennia. She’ll commit suicide.”
“I guess she got lucky picking my head to inhabit all that time.”
“The woman did have excellent taste in men, didn’t she?” Aodh said, suppressing a smile. Sharing a moment of camaraderie with the man who used to be hated by his kind felt strangely liberating, but he was painfully aware of how inappropriate congratulating themselves for being chosen by that despicable creature really was.
With a self-satisfied smirk, Nikhil said, “If I have my way, I’ll be so deep in her head when this is over she’ll beg me to slit her throat.”
Chapter 10
Nicholas
Thoughts of Aurum inundated Nicholas’s mind as he jogged back toward the pool. If there was one thing he had to say for her and being in this place, it’d certainly helped him forget his worries. But was it really any better to substitute one debilitating craving for another?
Reaching the shore, he waded in and dove beneath the cool water. The relief from his arousal was immediate, even though thoughts of her didn’t abate. His balls still ached unbelievably, though, and he remembered her saying that while the magical aspect of his pheronesis would be relieved by the water, the physical part needed a little help. Help that she clearly didn’t seem willing to give.
That was just fine. He’d spent nearly two centuries being intimately acquainted with his palm. He’d last a little longer. She may not be willing to sate his cravings directly, but she could still help … whether she knew it or not.
Besides, it was impossible to get the sight and scent of her out of his senses, even after swimming laps around the island until he was worn out. He hauled himself out of the water onto the fixed, disc-like island that he was convinced floated on the surface, even though it didn’t seem to budge when pushed. Lying back, he closed his eyes to block out the disconcerting emptiness of the sky above and instead pictured Aurum in her kitchen.
The gold-colored dress she wore left very little to the imagination. It clung to her soft curves like liquid, so alluring that he’d barely heard a word she’d said about the history of the Glade. All he’d been able to do was imagine walking over to her, lifting her up onto the counter, and peeling that dress off while kissing every inch of her skin. She’d wrap her legs around him, let out a soft moan and say his name … wait, no, she would call him that word she liked to use that sounded so good in his ears. Zhrihiva.
He slid his hand down his stomach and gripped his erection tightly, letting out a soft groan at the pleasure and picturing her lips speaking that name she called him. She’d tangle her fingers in his hair and kiss him back while he carried her to her huge bed.
That was where he
paused, his hand stalling at the base of his cock for a moment. The scene had shifted as though he no longer had control over his own fantasy. When he reached her bed, Calder waited for them, naked and hard, his blue eyes bright with desire.
Nicholas’s balls tightened and he stroked himself faster, bending his knees and bracing his heels on the stone beneath him so he could jack his hips up into his fist. He let the fantasy play out on its own, somehow not feeling the least bit of that painful ache of loss now. In his mind, he carried Aurum to the bed, kissing her the entire way, then climbed on and lowered her down into Calder’s waiting arms.
He sat back and watched while his old lover took over, cupping her breasts from behind and kissing her when she tilted her head back against his shoulder. Knowing that the pair of them belonged together somehow made it easier to imagine. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t pictured it before—poking at the painful image the way he prodded at old bruises to test their tenderness. Except this time, it didn’t hurt so much as heighten his hunger for them both.
Calder caressed her, teasing her until she moaned. He slid one hand down her belly and Aurum spread her legs for him as he dipped his fingers between her glistening folds and opened her up.
“Want to find out if she tastes like sunshine?” Calder asked, directing the question to Nicholas.
Fuck yes.
Nicholas licked his lips, his eyelids tightening to keep that image going. In his imagination he met Aurum’s needy gaze, waited a second to hear her say, “Please put your mouth on me, Nicholas,” then bent his head and pressed his lips to her sweet pussy in a long, lingering kiss.
She tasted like the juice of the luscious fruit he’d eaten earlier, which just served to enhance the fantasy. Gaia, would he love to know how she really tasted, but this was probably the only taste he’d ever have.
His mouth worked her slick flesh for a moment, and then he slipped his hands beneath her ass, lifting her up enough to release Calder’s erection from behind her. He lowered his mouth to Calder’s cock, taking the hot, thick flesh deep and sucking, reveling in the groan that escaped the satyr when his tip hit the back of Nicholas’s throat.
“Nicholas, please …” Aurum said. He smiled at the raw need in her voice, which was reflected in a similar plea from Calder. Nicholas controlled their pleasure now, not the other way around. Their gratification was entirely in his hands.
He gave her delicious pussy another long lick, then gripped Calder’s cock and pressed it against her flesh. Aurum moaned and lifted her hips far enough for Nicholas to position Calder at her opening.
In his fantasy, he shared a look of understanding with the other man. When they’d been together, she had always been between them. The knowledge of her existence and Calder’s eventual fated union with her had hung over their heads since early in their relationship. But until the last few days, Nicholas had never had a face—or body—to put to the invisible presence that had existed like a shadow over his love for Calder.
Now that he knew her, and now that he was once again gripped by the undeniable cravings his pheronesis caused, he couldn’t stop picturing her literally between them. It was like she belonged there, even though the reality was that Nicholas had always been the one who didn’t have a place in the mix. At least in his fantasy, he could pretend he belonged.
He held the tip of his cock in his fist, squeezing as he pictured Calder’s thick, ridged head pushing into Aurum’s tight channel. He imagined the moan of pleasure she’d make being filled by Calder’s cock. And then he pictured himself hovering over her, her legs wrapping around his hips as he added his own cock to Calder’s, pushing into her alongside his lover.
With one more stroke of his fist, he cried out, his reverie extending no further than a single thrust of his cock into her tight pussy before the entire image shattered into glorious sensation. He pumped for another second, hot jets of semen landing on his stomach, and his eyes flew wide.
At the sight of all that empty sky above him, vertigo struck. He slammed his eyes shut again and took a deep breath, releasing his grip on himself as he came down from the high of his orgasm. Fuck, he knew what gravity was and how it worked, but he couldn’t get used to all that damn space above him.
It was just the sky. Dragons and turul flew in it all the time and survived just fine. Calder had said that he could fly too, when he chose to manifest the shape of a winged creature—he preferred water birds, like herons, though. Nicholas had once hoped to see Calder in that shape, flying, but knew better now. He’d be lucky if he ever saw Calder again. After leading Aurum to the Source, he’d be done with them both, but at least he’d be home, and hopefully the ursa Sanctuary would feel like the home he’d always imagined.
He would have the Earth and trees and all the waterfalls Calder said were scattered around the Sanctuary. The dense, wooded paths and pools to swim in like this one. Thanks to the one infusion of memory his mother had given him as an infant, Nicholas had vivid images of the place that was the home he’d never visited. He’d also toured the Sanctuary a multitude of times through his lover’s memories of it, which enhanced the images his mother had gifted him with. The Sanctuary was a place made for ursa like him. This place … this dragon Glade … was mostly sky, and he really wasn’t crazy about all that emptiness.
Keeping his head down, he slid back into the water and cleaned himself off. He retrieved the sarong Aurum had conjured for him and wrapped it back around his waist to cover his now thoroughly punished cock.
His morose mood was back, but somehow he did at least feel better than he had when he arrived. The physical need that had gripped him was no more than a lingering buzz at the base of his spine, and the emotional ache in his chest had a strange, new aspect to it. Seeing Aurum and Calder together in his fantasy hadn’t hurt the way he believed it might—not when he was right there with them, hearing her murmur the pet name she’d given him while both he and Calder buried themselves inside her.
A fantasy that vivid would never go stale. On the way back to her house, he thought of all the different ways he could switch things around. Taking her from behind while she tended Calder’s cock with her mouth—lying back while she did the same for him—nailing Calder from behind while Calder went down on her. It helped that Calder had often encouraged those same fantasies when they were together, probably to help Nicholas accept that Aurum would eventually become a reality.
It never hurt to plan ahead, if this was how he’d be spending his afternoons for the next few weeks while he was in here. He certainly knew better than to believe his pheronesis had run its course. This time it had come on so fast he had no idea what to expect, but it had never dissipated in less than a week before.
Whatever Aurum had planned with her own magic, it had better help obliterate his need to picture her on her knees in front of him every waking moment, while Calder’s toned, olive-skinned hips pounded into her from behind. There was clearly no chance in hell of Aurum choosing a hands-on approach to helping him with his physical issues.
By the time he walked back up the steps to her house, his cock was half-hard again and the desperate ache for his old lover’s company had returned. The idea of sharing Aurum had helped ease it somewhat, but the fact remained that he wouldn’t have either of them in the end. All he’d have were these ridiculously futile fantasies and his own fist.
The aroma of delicious food obliterated thoughts of anything else just then, and his stomach took over control of his body. Aurum’s beautiful, smiling face lit up the room from her kitchen. She greeted him and laughed at his single-minded reaction when he grabbed the full plate she offered.
He was about to reach for the delicious-smelling concoction with his bare hand when she stuck a utensil into his palm. The first bite was already in his mouth when she shoved a chair behind him and made him sit.
Nothing else existed in the next half hour but the delicious flavors of the food, and the fruity bite of the wine she poured for him to wash it down.
> “More?” she asked, when he stood with his empty plate and found her standing beside his seat, ready to dish out another huge serving. “You can sit and enjoy it. I’m the one taking care of you in here, remember?”
Without a word, he held out his plate and let her refill it. He gave her a giddy grin and impulsively swept her up with one arm and laid a kiss square on her lips. She let out a little squeak of surprise when his lips found hers, her hands pressed against his shoulders. It was only a quick, enthusiastic peck, but that split second lapse was all it took for a sudden jolt of desire to shoot through his body. Desire for her, not for her food.
Nicholas released her abruptly and stepped back to his seat, staring pointedly at his food as he sat and shoveled another bite into his mouth. He said nothing, focusing entirely on the act of eating, though his attention was no longer on his dinner.
Aurum stood frozen in place for a few seconds, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps like she was struggling to breathe. Her citrus and sunflower scent was shot through with the sweeter aroma of her arousal that Nicholas had been keenly aware of since that morning he’d found her watching him spar with her brothers.
And fuck if every bite he tasted didn’t taste like her now. He groaned and closed his eyes, chewing and swallowing as he tried to banish the thought. But it didn’t subside, even after he washed down the food with a huge swallow of wine and took another bite. She’d moved back to the other end of the table, but it was like she was inside him now.
“What’d you put in this?” he asked. He kept his eyes on the food, afraid that the desire he scented from all the way across the table would be reflected in her golden eyes.
“It’s infused with my breath—my magic. I thought you might prefer to ingest the magic you need that way … rather than directly from my—my mouth.”
The sound of her swallowing hit his ears through the silence between them, and it registered that she wasn’t eating or drinking. Was she as on edge from that kiss as he was?
