by Lina Jubilee
I screamed happily. “Please,” I said, my breaths growing shallow. “Please.” All I could think about was my intense need to have him inside me.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, removing his fingers. Slapping his hands on either side of my waist, he twirled me around in the water. “That’s my girl,” he said into my ear as he smashed my ass against his thighs. With a little bit of maneuvering, he—hard as a rock—slipped between my labia and inside my welcoming pussy.
I moaned, the sound permeating the steam and echoing throughout the bathroom. He kissed the top of my shoulder and for a moment, we both shuddered as my powers went to work, flowing from inside me and into him. He let out a gasp as the power flowed between us.
“Fuck, yes, darlin’!” he said, pulling out slightly.
“No,” I moaned. “More, more!”
He obliged, plowing back in, causing me to stumble. His hand shot up around the front of me and caught me by the breast. “As much as you want, darlin’.” He gyrated, pulling slightly out, and went back in again. Again and again, squeezing my breast, splashing the water over the side of the tub.
He shot his seed inside me and I trembled, screaming, “Zander!”
He chortled. “I made you say my name,” he said. He pulled out, the suction from the movement causing my jelly legs to quiver. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and started swaying. “I’ll always share you because I know you’re meant for more than just me. You’re too important to Natchkind. But when you’re with me, you’re mine. Got it?”
Nodding my head numbly, I relished the feeling of his body against mine for a moment more. The room went quiet, the only sound the fizzing popping of the bubbles.
Then his arms tensed. “I found them!” he said. “I spoke to them through the powered-up bond.”
I whipped around to face him, caught up in the impossibility of the moment.
“I know where they are,” he said. “I can feel that other dimension. Darlin’, I think we can save them!”
Chapter Eight
“You have a lot of nerve showing your face here,” spat Nash as he reached forward to grab me by the wrist and tug me to his side.
Zander regarded him amusingly and shoved past him into the old community center. His Dodge Charger waited outside, his team back at their temporary headquarters, on standby for a message from Zander if need be. Not that he’d bonded with any of them the way he’d bonded with Jayden and me, but with my day-long super boost in him, it’d be child’s play for him to send a message to any one of them, whether or not they were actively thinking about him at the moment. He’d figured it’d be perceived as less threatening if we came alone—though since two of the other Renegades had once lived here as well, it wasn’t even a matter of secrecy.
“Nash, you knew they were coming. Just let it go.” Jayden approached from the end of the hallway, rubbing his temples. He took his glasses out of his front pocket and affixed them to his face, his gaze flicking from smug Zander to the place where Nash gripped me on the arm. A jaw muscle twitched as his lips went thin.
Zander tucked his thumbs into a pair of non-existent suspenders running up his chest, walking down the hallway as if he owned the place. “I take it Wade’s laboratory is still where it’s always been?”
Jayden sighed and sent me a look—pleading, perhaps, or forlorn—and turned to follow his former best friend. “He’s waiting for you. He’s got some of his tracking programs up and running.”
“Don’t take too long to join us, darlin’,” said Zander over his shoulder.
Though he could have easily said that in my head.
Nash closed the front door, never once letting go of my wrist. Then he smashed me against him, resting his chin atop my head. “I was so worried about you,” he murmured.
I didn’t know what to say. It hadn’t been my idea to go with the Renegades, but I’d stayed long after I’d—probably—been able to go. And then I’d… Well…
Even though I’d always made a point of us keeping this relationship wide open, it was also the first time I’d actually had sex with someone besides Nash. Not for lack of trying with Jayden or an openness to try with someone else on the team if it really became necessary. And then there was that almost-day with Zander almost two years back. But still… This made it real. My open relationship.
And I knew that Nash never took advantage of that. He was an open book, and he wouldn’t have been able to hide another occasional sex partner even if he’d wanted to.
Was it wrong that I didn’t feel guilty—that I wanted them both more than ever? That I still wanted Jayden, despite all the lies I told myself? That on occasion an image of that bastard elf king staring me down even popped into my head?
Damn, if my disgusted parents could see me now. They hadn’t even waited to find out what exactly the full depths of my powers were and they’d already been turned off.
Nash swayed us back and forth and I reached out to embrace him as well. “I’m sorry about Rou,” he said. “And Darien. I wish I’d been with you—”
I brought us to a stop. “This has nothing to do with you having been there or not. It just happened.” I pulled away, my gaze darting to the toned calves jutting out of his workout shorts. “I don’t want to live my life thinking elves could pop out at any minute—”
“Though they honestly could,” said Nash, his hands falling to my elbows. “I think today proves that.” I winced as he bumped a bruise and a sour note appeared on his face as he examined my arm. “Let’s get some ice on that,” he said, sliding his hand in mine and guiding me to the kitchen. Murmuring voices echoed from Wade’s lab down the hall.
Chastity was on the nearby living room’s couch, a bandage on her head, zoning out in front of the TV.
“Chastity!” I said, breaking off from Nash’s grip. He puttered into the kitchen behind me as I sat down beside her. “You’re awake?”
“Just barely,” she said, covering her ear as I slid in next to her on the couch. “Take the energy down a notch, will you?” She glared at me out of one eye, taking in that too-small tank top and another set of leggings Zander had wrangled from Lila’s room. He said she’d muttered something about me owing her for all this laundry I was making, but that just reminded me that I needed to get to my own room ASAP and put on some clothes that didn’t threaten to pop my boobs out with every movement. And I needed some underwear or my every curve and dimple was going to stay on display to everyone.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” I said, taking Chastity’s hand in mine. She grimaced but nodded. “Sorry I—I couldn’t stop them.”
Nash came back and handed me an ice pack wrapped in a dish towel.
I took it from him and looked from him to her and back as he slid in on the couch on the other side of me. It made for a tight squeeze. “Both of you,” I said. “Stop blaming yourselves. You did what you could as soon as you could. I don’t want us stuck at home, huddled in the corner just waiting for a call to go out and fight. We’re Natches, but we’re people, too. We can have lives. Besides, last time, Chastity, you were on a call when another call came in.”
“Yeah, a call to stop your bad boy boyfriend from breaking the law,” snapped Nash.
Chastity’s non-puffy eyebrow jutted upward. She grabbed the remote and switched off the TV. “You know, I think I’m going to get some rest. Just call me if something happens.” She gave my hand a squeeze before she went. “Thank Lila for getting us out of there if you see her,” she said. “I know it was her, even if I was unconscious.”
Nodding, I bit my lip and watched her return to the hallway.
“I always thought she had a thing for Lila,” said Nash. “Though Lila was only ever crazy about Kouta.” He put an arm atop the back of the couch and around my shoulder as I jostled the ice pack against my biggest bruise. “She was always less puppy dog about it than you were with Jayden.”
“You act like you were here from the start,” I said. “I was long over my puppy dog days
by the time you walked into Veras.”
“So you say,” he replied. His eyes traveled up and down my body, affixing on my breasts. At his proximity, my nipples had hardened and threatened to burst through the tight fabric. The fingers on his free hand traveled up under the tank top to take a breast into his palm. His hand was hot against my icy skin and I shivered.
He leaned into my ear. “I’d say you need to put on more clothes because it’s cold in here,” he breathed. “But I can think of a more pleasant way of warming you up.” His hand moved up from under my tank top out the top, tracing his calloused skin across mine. He stopped then, his eyes focused on the side of my head, and pulled away, removing his hand from under my shirt. He sighed and clasped his hands together between his legs as he leaned forward, his thighs spread. “You have teeth marks on your ear,” he said.
Instinctively, I went to feel, the slight indentation of Zander’s love mark still there. Zander must have been focusing on Roulette and that other world, though, because he didn’t burst into my brain with some sexy observation.
Nash tapped the bottoms of his palms together and turned to face me, a faltering smile on his face. “I know this thing between you and me, it’s not the same thing for you that it is for me.”
I grabbed him by the chin, shifting his face toward mine. “That’s not true,” I said.
He chewed on his bottom lip, his eyes darting down. “No, it is, Aurora. And I told myself I’m okay with that. I will be okay with that. I have to be okay with that.” Our eyes met. “Because I love you. And loving you means accepting that other people need to be on the receiving end of your powers.” He sighed and pivoted himself to fully face me, taking my hand in his. “You think I don’t care about Veras’ mission of keeping the peace, but I do. Just because I offered to run off with you doesn’t mean I don’t get that.”
“Nash—”
“No, let me finish. Please.” His fingers traced lazy circles over my palm. “I’ve prepared myself for Jayden to get over whatever’s holding him back and to finally make love to you—”
I opened my mouth to object, but he sent me a withering glare that got me to clamp my mouth shut.
“And I knew that when that happened, your heart would really be in it. In a different way than it is with Roulette or Chastity or Darien or anyone else you kiss or might consider doing more with if the situation called for it.” He guided my hand to his thigh, resting it mere inches from the bulge threatening to pop out from his shorts. “I didn’t care,” he said huskily. “As long as you still cared about me—as long as I had you to myself when I had you—I didn’t care.”
I swallowed then, shifting toward him, ready to rip those pants off and slide that thick, juicy member I knew so well down my throat.
He chuckled then and put a hand to my chin, tilting it upward, his other hand still keeping my palm dangerously close to his crotch. “But him, angel? He betrayed us.”
Gasping to try to tame the tingle in my too-tight leggings, I leaned back. “You know.”
He rolled his eyes, letting my hand loose so I could cradle the ice pack again. “Jayden told us you were both on your way, that Zander had boosted his powers beyond what he’d ever done before—the boss was none too pleased to report that, by the way—and there was no mystery how.”
Muttering to myself, I played with the dish towel covering my ice pack, the nippy cold sending jolts down my body and helping to cool the fire between my legs. “Can I speak now?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said quietly.
“Nash, you don’t know how much you mean to me. Not just your friendship, which is, like, one of my biggest sources of comfort, but the sex we have…” I cocked my head. “It drives me wild.” I faced him again. “You’re hot and amazing and I love you so much that I wish you weren’t in love with me.”
He scoffed, though his cheeks darkened. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“No, it does,” I admitted. “Because I know—I don’t know why I’m this way, but I know. I can’t love only one person. And that’s not fair to you.”
“Did I ever say I didn’t think this was fair?” he said, shaking his head. “Angel, I just told you I accept that I’ll share you—”
“But only if you approve of my partners,” I added.
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “So you love him too?” he asked quietly. “Zander?”
I gnashed my lips tightly between my teeth and nodded. “Not enough to run off and leave you or Jayden behind to join his cause because I won’t compromise who I am or what I believe for any man, but… yes.”
Nash laughed. “You just admitted you love Jayden, too.”
Gasping, I squeezed my ice pack. “I love him from afar,” I said. “I’ve accepted that. I’ve tried not to be bothered by that. I mean, how greedy can I be?” I tried to smile.
Nash let out a breath and rolled his eyes. But then he snapped back to attention. “And Mr. Traitor Bad Boy, he can share you?”
Nodding, I gripped Nash’s hand with my cold fingers. He winced, my flame boy up against ice. “He does. I won’t say he doesn’t wish I would join his team, but he won’t force me to stay with him and he knows I have others in my heart. He accepts that.”
“How magnanimous of him,” muttered Nash. He took a deep breath and scratched the yellow stubble on his chin. “If you’ll stay with us—in Veras,” he started, “I’ll accept your love for him. But only if he doesn’t take advantage of it and start using your boost to commit his crimes.”
“He wouldn’t,” I said assuredly. “He understands how that would hurt me. Besides, there are ways we can be together that don’t involve my actual boost—”
“Oh-kay,” said Nash, removing his hand from mine and rubbing it behind his neck. “Maybe it’s best I didn’t think about that right now.” He must have seen something like disappointment on my face because he slid forward really quickly and pushed his lips against mine. The small surge of power danced between us. “That doesn’t mean I don’t love you, angel,” he whispered. “Or that I won’t share.”
I leaned back, ready for him to take me despite the high probability that any number of people could walk in on us out here in the living room at any second.
But as he shifted into position, hovering over me, his warm hand sliding down the front of my pants, sending a shudder up my spine, a huge rumble shook the ground and thundered clear across the air.
“Shit!” called someone—Wade I thought—from down the hall.
Nash’s hand popped out of my pants and he jumped to his feet, a fireball already forming on the tips of his fingers. “What is it?” he shouted.
I got to my feet behind him, letting the ice pack fall to the floor and tugging on his elbow. “Wade’s lab,” I said. “Let’s go.”
We did, running into a groggy Chastity in the hall. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“We don’t know,” I answered—and then there was another rumble and I had to grab on to Nash’s arm to anchor myself. When it subsided, Jayden popped out of the door to Wade’s lab. “It’s the Nelians!” he shouted. “They opened a portal right outside our front door.”
We all exchanged a look. “How?” I asked as we drew closer to our team leader. “I thought they could only do that once a day at most.” Then again, that was just a theory. We had no idea how they opened these rifts, really.
Jayden swallowed and looked over his shoulder to Wade, who was furiously typing on his computer as Zander looked aghast.
“They caught him talking to Roulette and Darien in his projected form,” said Jayden. “He might have tried talking to the elf king himself—”
My eyes widened. “Why?”
Zander snapped back to the moment. “To see if I could get him to reveal anything,” he barked. “And I did—they figured out Roulette’s healing powers can boost their plants, make them grow more vigorously.” His eyes narrowed. “But then they realized it wasn’t working quite as well as it did downtown today and they sc
ared her somehow into revealing the role of your kissing boost.” His eyes met mine. “They want you, darlin’. Her healing powers strengthened their plant life. But they need you to make it even stronger.” He swallowed visibly. “And that elf king has a real unhealthy obsession with you.”
This from Zander? I blinked. I didn’t know if I wanted to find out what Zander had read in Alarik’s mind in detail.
Chapter Nine
I kissed both Nash and Chastity just before they launched themselves out the front door, taking approximately no time to gape at the giant vine weaving down the street and around the old, rusty swing set that had been there from the community center’s active days. I did take note that the vines seemed determined to leave the big oak tree in our front lawn alone, twisting and turning around either side of it and leaving it untouched.
A hand on the small of my back made me scream, but I turned to find Jayden, his eyes focused on the battle that had begun between fire, light, and vine-wielding elves. “Is the princess with them?”
My eyes darted about. There were only four elves in sight—including Alarik. He stood next to another elf who tightly gripped a form in front of him—Darien!
“No,” I answered. “Not that I see. But look!” I pointed to our comrade.
Jayden’s lips went tight and he tugged me to his side. Confused, my mind went to inappropriate places, considering what was unfolding around us, but I felt Wade’s stealthy presence pass us by and I realized even he was getting in on the action, probably aiming to sneak up and take Darien back before Alarik could notice.
My hands rested on Jayden’s chest. “He’ll need help,” I whispered. “A distraction.”
Zander padded up behind us. “They’re on their way,” he said, referring no doubt to his own team. “Twenty minutes at most.”
We didn’t have twenty minutes, though.
I grabbed either side of Jayden’s face. If both Nash and Zander were right—and Zander visited Jayden’s brain, for Pete’s sake—Jayden needed to get over this distance he put between us and just deal with it. “Let me boost you,” I whispered.
