by Ophelia Bell
At the moment her body was not her own, but belonged to all of them. The realization let her give in completely, every delicious sensation another message that she was only the vessel for their salvation, and that the culmination of their shared essences was the seed. Aurum’s words rang in Rowan’s ears again as Rafe’s cock and balls quivered under her tongue and his salty semen flooded her mouth from Racha’s spasming pussy. “Fate has a way of asserting itself.”
Whichever cock was asserting itself in Rowan’s pussy now moved with gentle, deliberate strokes, its velvet heat urging the magic into a knot like a ball of flame in her belly. Above her lips more silken folds of flesh surrounding a pulsing, needy clit descended. Aurum moaned with Rowan’s first lick, but the sound wasn’t enough to drown out the familiar growling groan of the dragon fucking her.
“Your cunt is as perfect as Erika’s, sister.” Her brother’s delighted words sank into her mind. Far from shocking, they incited the most explosive release yet. She threw her head back in a harsh cry, her pussy grasping hungrily at the shaft that pierced her, pushing her further and further into oblivion.
The Verdanith seemed burning hot against her back, its pulsing need as urgent as Aurum’s clit, so hot it forced her back to awareness. She surrendered to them both, unable to do more than accept her role. The energy from Geva’s climax had passed straight through her into the Verdanith, but she was left with the lingering sense of him. She had no time to be confused or even disgusted. And how could she be anything but grateful for his attention and gentle urgency in the midst of everyone’s desperate need?
As though sensing her confusion, Rafe returned to her head, caressing her sweat-soaked temples even as she continued to service the immortal Gold with her tongue. There was no time to be confused or worried. She’d known Geva for two days. And he wasn’t her brother now, he was only a small part of the seed to her vessel.
Geva departed and another wholly otherworldly cock took his place, the thick, hot length of him stretching her nearly to the point of pain and almost obliterating the feel of her brother’s cock with a tingle that seeped into her. She resumed her guessing game, deciding that with the pleasant, refreshing sensation of him, it must be the White immortal, Aodh, who fucked her now.
It took a mere half a dozen strokes of Aodh’s tremendous length before she was flying, her tongue lashing with abandon at the presence of a new quivering snatch that pressed against her lips. Both immortals climaxed in unison, their power flooding her with blinding energy that seemed to sear every cell in her body before it was absorbed by the stone talisman beneath her back.
She recognized Gavra by his heat, so similar to her brother’s. He fucked her more urgently, as though he sensed the powering of the Verdanith was close to complete. Numa pressed a gentle kiss to Rowan’s lips and murmured words of encouragement before moving to spread her nether lips over Rowan’s mouth.
The immortals each left Rowan buzzing from head to toe with the intensity of the power their climaxes flooded her with.
Ked was the last of them, and began with an attentive lick, picking up where he left off before it all began. He found her clit with his tongue, swirling around it in tight little circles before he plunged the agile length deep into her. She writhed against the hands that held her, beyond the bounds of sanity from all the orgasms, but in spite of sending her over the brink yet again, Ked wasn’t content to leave it at that. While her muscles still clenched, he moved up and slid his thick, hard shaft deep into her. The heat of his huge body hovered over her, closer than the others had been, and she felt the warm exhalation of his breath sweep over her skin with a very deliberate caress. The hands of the others disappeared, replaced with the cooler sensation of Ked’s shadowy hold. Rather than coils of inanimate ropes, they became delicate caresses that covered every inch of her skin, sliding and probing to find the points that gave her the most acute pleasure. The caresses moved lower, driving her mad with desire so intense she sent an incoherent plea to Rafe, the only one who could keep her grounded.
“You enjoy what he’s doing, don’t you? I can do the same for you, if you’d like,” he said, and she heard his own exhalation. Soon, Ked’s shadowy caresses were joined by another set, but Rafe’s were bolder, taking advantage of his intimate knowledge of what pleased her. Rafe’s mouth teased her nipples, and one hand slipped between her and Ked to find her abused clit still throbbing and needy. His breath slid down her thigh and over the curve of her ass, brushed past the steady smack of Ked’s balls against her asshole and teased around the tight barrier that as yet had remained unpenetrated today.
Ked grunted in a kind of recognition when Rafe’s shadowy touch pressed into her. He held his cock halfway out of her, his hips seeming to press backward more than forward.
“You’re a brave one to be so presumptuous, Shadow,” Ked’s deep voice said.
“Neither brave nor presumptuous,” Rafe said. “I’d like to have her back soon, that’s all. If I have to fuck one of you to get her, then I will.”
Ked laughed, the sound rolling out of him and sinking into her bones like thunder. “I can take more of your Shadow than you’re giving her. If you want me to speed things up, you’ll have to try harder.”
Ked’s breath came out in a sharp gasp. At the same time, he slammed hard into her, his strokes suddenly moving quicker and more frantic than before. “Yes, just like that,” he panted.
“Oh, God, yes, like that,” Rowan sent to Rafe when his shadowy touch penetrated her ass deeper, becoming thicker and more tangible with every slow thrust. “You’re doing the same thing to him, aren’t you?”
“Just a little bit more for him. Or a lot more. He’s getting properly fucked while he fucks you.”
Ked’s swift strokes into her seemed to grow more determined and measured. Rowan wished like hell she could actually see the immortal come undone from Rafe’s attention.
Rafe’s clever touch never ceased, winding her up in ways only he knew. She let out a plaintive moan when the waves of pleasure grew almost too much for her to bear. Rafe kissed her then, and she devoured his mouth with her own, the contact sending her spinning and gasping for breath when he pulled back.
Ked’s cry of climax mingled with her own, both leaving her ears ringing. The Verdanith’s ever-present heat increased with the surge of energy that passed through her into it. After the violent flood of Ked’s semen ceased, he slid slowly out of her.
“She needs one more, Rafe. Make it good.”
The binding grip of Ked’s shadowy hands left her and she let her aching legs drop to the ground. The blindfold of white fog dissipated. She blinked into the sky, mesmerized for a moment by the ethereal glowing circle that hovered far above, throbbing with the same heat as the stone beneath her back. From her low vantage point she had the oddest sensation that they were trapped inside a bubble.
Rafe’s face came into view, his brow creased with concern. He moved to lie on his side next to her, propped on one elbow, and rested a gentle palm against her belly.
“We should to do this soon, but you can rest for a moment if you need.”
“I get to have you all to myself?” Rowan asked, dazed and still buzzed from the almost constant flow of energy that had used her body as a conduit. She struggled to sit, but Rafe placed both hands against her shoulders.
“Not yet. When we’re finished you can rise and I will take you home.”
Rowan reached up and laid a palm along the side of his scruffy cheek, urging him down to her. The kiss was the sweetest he’d given her yet, more gentle and reverent than their first morning together. He pressed closer, his erection undeniable against her hip. She slid her hand down his chest and belly, enjoying the tightening of his abs beneath her fingertips when she reached lower.
Rafe groaned against her lips when she gripped him, his velvet length hot and hard in her palm. She stroked him once, eliciting a sharp gasp from his lips. His arousal was all she needed for her own well of desire to crave him.
>
“I need you,” she whispered. “Make love to me, please.”
“I submit,” he murmured back as he moved above her.
Rowan spread her legs one last time and raised her hips to meet his thrust. She wrapped her legs around his waist and held him tight against her, gazing up into his eyes. He stared back with those bottomless black eyes that always seemed to draw her in. His expression was somehow amazed. “I submit to you, too,” she said with a smile.
Rafe laughed and kissed her. “Sweet Mother, I need to fuck you. Holding me hostage isn’t getting us anywhere.”
She released her tight hold on him just enough to let him slide out, then lifted her hips to meet him as he plunged back in. Every sensation she’d experienced over the last day came flooding back under his touch. They moved together in the only way that made sense after everything, and his voice seeped into her mind with each thrust, each word a promise. “I love you. What you did today was beyond my wildest dreams. You are my heart.”
“You shadow-fucked an immortal,” she said.
“He liked it.”
“Do it to me again,” she whispered. With his breath, her pleasure grew exponentially. He watched her raptly, his face tight with the need to let go, yet he didn’t. She loved him for his need to see her fall apart beneath him, but she loved seeing him do it, too. She let go then, let the pleasure take her. Every muscle tensed and she arched into him. He held perfectly still, holding her caged between his arms just as his hips were trapped between her thighs, her heels pressed hard into his ass holding him deep inside her.
“Fuck me hard, so I can watch you, now,” she said.
At first his brows drew together, then he smiled. He braced both hands beside her head, his elbows locked, and bent to kiss her.
“Hold on.”
The first stroke was a test, but after that Rafe’s jaw clenched and he slammed into her relentlessly. Every emotion seemed to pass through his eyes and Rowan caught pieces of all of them through their bond. Some were heartbreaking for their intensity. His love for her, and the torture she’d put him through after running. She felt his anger toward her, which he took out on her with a vengeance now, but mostly she simply felt his love and desperation, and finally relief that they were together again.
Through it all, her own responses welled up, blasting back at him in full force until his eyes grew wet with understanding. They kept hold of each other’s gazes, their bodies moving more frantically as the pleasure built up, until neither of them could hold back any longer. Rowan’s skin prickled with power and through the narrow slits of her eyelids she could see the same glow around Rafe. The energy was pulled off him as though by a vacuum, every bit of it flowing through her and into the stone at her back.
The heat of the Verdanith grew agonizing, in spite of her tolerance for heat. Before, it was only a hot presence that was mildly uncomfortable. Now it actually hurt.
She tried to sit, but the others moved to hold her down again.
“Not yet, Princess,” Numa said. “When the pain subsides you can move. But the Verdanith is fully powered now, which means we can channel energy to the Twins.”
“What’s happening?” Rowan asked, alarmed both by the pain and the six immortal dragons linking hands around her. Light channeled down through their bodies and into the stone at their feet, converging beneath her with even more heat.
“It’s marking you, little one,” Gavra said. “You and the seed you carry will be connected to it. And through the power we’re channeling now, we are forging your child’s connection with the Twins. From this moment on, our child and the Twin Catalysts will have the Verdanith’s power to draw from, as long as the Verdanith remains whole.”
Our child. He’d said the words so casually, like the child was his.
“It will be my child. I hope you guys realize this. Mine and Rafe’s. We will raise her. We are her parents.”
“Yes, that is best, but we have a final condition,” Ked said.
“Jesus Fucking Christ, you and your conditions. What is it?”
The large, black-haired man seemed amused by her irritation. “We’d like to see you again, this time each year. Not for any ritual, just to… debrief us on the state of the race. We tend to retreat when we’re not needed, but we’d like an opportunity to be more involved.”
“More involved with my ass, you mean?” she shot back at him.
Ked smiled. “No other ass would do.”
Chapter 9
Kris gently closed the door to Issa’s chamber. She was still unconscious, which terrified him. With every second her energy seeped away into the children in her womb. He scrubbed his hands over his face and looked around the sitting room at all the expectant faces of the Court’s mates.
“How is she?” Camille asked.
“Not good.”
“Tell us what you need us to do,” Dimitri said, resting a comforting hand on Kris’s shoulder.
Kris looked back at his friend, at a loss for words at first. They were all here to help. To give what they could to ensure his mate’s survival along with their babies. But Issa was in no condition to entertain another in their bed. He would have to do it for her—take their Nirvana and transfer it to her while she slept. He wished desperately that he was more than just a conduit. His capacity to store the energy absorbed during sex wasn’t as strong as other dragons, yet he could channel it through himself for days, and what little he could store, he could give away at will.
He wished for an altar like the one in the temple, but they were far from there and nothing of the sort existed at the Monastery. Transferring enough energy to his mate would take time, so he had to be smart about it.
“You are the Udara the Council spoke of, aren’t you?” He looked at Dimitri and the petite, dark-haired woman by his side. Thea, Kris had heard the others call her. Their auras were stronger than the others, which was evidence enough of what the Council had said.
Dimitri placed his palm at Thea’s back and their auras pulsed with even stronger magic as though they fed off each other. If he could channel their Nirvanas to Issa, that might be enough. Or at least a good start.
“We’re something, that’s for sure,” Thea said. “The Twins were willing to break laws to have us both.”
“The Twins?” Kris asked. He looked at Dimitri and then at Thea. “You were with him and his brother before, weren’t you? I remember Dimitri talking about you during the expedition. Have you always been with twins?”
Thea opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again, giving him a curious look. “What does that have to do with this?”
“My children are twins. Please, come with me.”
He opened the door again and led them into the chamber. Lanterns glowed around the large bed where Issa lay. She appeared so peaceful and beautiful, her face smooth and free from worry. Kris moved up onto the bed and gestured for Thea and Dimitri to follow.
Without speaking, Kris took Thea’s hand and placed it on Issa’s swollen belly. Beneath his own palm, the warm presence of the babies surged and pressed outward. Thea gasped.
“Dimitri, feel this!” she whispered, urging Dimitri to place his own hands next to hers.
Issa’s belly visibly shifted, the unseen lives within her seeking out their hands.
“They are killing her,” Kris said. “There is only so much I can do alone. They are drawn to you. If I can transfer your Nirvana to her, it could save her life.”
“Do you mean like the ritual when we woke them?” Dimitri asked. “We just have to—ah—have an orgasm while we touch her, right?”
Kris grimaced. “She’s not in hibernation. She’s weak and depleted of power. If it weren’t for the babies, she’d have shifted to her true form, but they keep her from doing so. She needs to be conscious before sex can help her directly. But I can channel your power to her.”
Thea and Dimitri shared a long look.
“What is it?” Kris asked. “You will help, won’t you?”
> “Of course we will,” Thea said. “It’s just that we haven’t been together without the Twins in a really long time. And it’s never been just the two of us.”
“It won’t be the two of you now,” Kris said. “You have me.”
Thea smiled and lowered her gaze. “Right, I’m still getting used to how you guys work. Um…should we just start, then?” She raised her head again and met his worried gaze. Her eyes were bright with determination and excitement.
Before Kris could answer, Dimitri wrapped his arms around Thea from behind and whispered. “Remember the first night we were together?”
Thea’s eyelids drifted closed and her lips parted. Swirling eddies of power tangled with their auras, growing bright enough that Kris had to shift his eyesight to avoid the blinding glow, but even with the magic hidden from his sight, his body was aware of the power filling the air around the two. His cock swelled in response, as hard and erect as it had been in the presence of the Council’s nearly overwhelming power.
Dimitri unfastened the buttons of Thea’s shirt enough to slip one hand inside and tease fingertips along her breasts beneath the fabric. She gasped and tilted her head back against his shoulder. Thea’s eyes drifted over Kris’s chest, the gaze tracing his tattoo. The design sparked to life in response to the simple look from her. She reached out a hand, beckoning him to come closer.
Kris closed the gap, tentative at first. He hadn’t been with any woman besides Issa since they had mated, in spite of her suggestions to leave the mountain once in a while for fun. Then, when she became pregnant, he had vowed to stay with her through it.
Thea’s power drew him to her as much as the soft pull of her hand when he gripped it. Her lips were cool and soft under his and her fingertips gentle as she raked them through his thick hair. The kiss was both tender and patient, as though she were waiting for him to take it further. Her arousal was so undeniable he didn’t have a choice and plunged his tongue between her lips in a desperate sweep. He would take everything they could give him.
