by Emma Dawn
I stared at him, my heart hurting as I spoke. “From my mind, I cast thee.”
He sucked in a sharp breath and I made myself say the rest of what I had to say. “You would not come with me if I asked, so why should I face the rejection? I understand now, Preacher. As I pointed out to you, I am no child, no girl expecting her white knight to save her. I will do what I can to save you all, whatever that takes.”
Celt and King caught up, and there was no laughter between us. No soft touches. I felt used, duped by the lust and emotions that had flared between myself and all five of them. Even Spartan. He’d promised not to lie to me.
Perhaps from him I felt the most hurt in his deception. They encircled me in a protective form, and with nothing but silence between us we walked to the hive.
It took several hours, and through it all, I kept my mouth shut. To say the strain between us was heavy in the air was like saying a two-ton truck was on the large side.
Finally, the entrance to the hive opened before us.
It was not what I would have thought. A massive set of stairs made of thick steps dropped into a hollow in the ground. At the bottom of the steps, a wide set of doors stretched open. This was it, this was my last moment with any chance at freedom, of escaping this world, but even that was a pretense.
I found myself sinking onto the stairs, my skirts billowing out around me. Once I walked through those doors, there would be no leaving. I knew it.
Either I would fight and win against Terra, and four of the vampires who’d stolen my heart would die, or I would die and at least one of the vampires standing with me would die as well.
There was no way I could win this. There was no happily ever after, no fairy tale magic.
But that didn’t mean I was giving up, or that I wouldn’t keep fighting for them. Even if they didn’t care about me. I felt too much, far too deeply for each of them to just stop trying to figure out a way around this. Really, the best I could do was win against Terra, and then demand that the old rules be cast out.
There was that continuing silence between us. Celt helped me to my feet, and then more silence as we worked our way through the narrow tunnels of the hive.
What seemed like far too soon, my bedroom door stood in front of me. I couldn’t move. “Is this where the other girls were kept, too?”
Spartan nodded. “It is.”
I balked. “I don’t want to stay here, then. I don’t care if you stick me in a closet while I wait, but I will not step foot back into a room where four women spent their last hours.” With my men. That was the unspoken bit.
“You can stay in one of our rooms, lass,” Celt said softly. “You know we still are with you in this.”
Oh, the things I wanted to say, that I kept to myself in that moment. Like, had they been with the other girls to the end? This jealousy of mine was nothing like I’d ever felt before. Even when Mike had cheated on me, there had been no raging need to ask if the other woman was better than me, prettier, funnier.
Here, though, all I could think of was that once more I’d allowed myself to be duped by the vampires in front of me. I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter to me which room.”
In the end, they took me to King’s room. It had the biggest bed, and nicest trappings. More suited to me, one of them said.
I stepped through the doorway and before any one of them could step through with me, I slammed it shut in their faces and threw the lock. I knew it wouldn’t truly hold them back, but it was the point I was making. They were no longer allowed to hurt me. Not like this. I would save them. I knew I would.
Because I had nothing else left. I crumpled to my knees and covered my face with my hands as the tears flowed down my cheeks.
Sobbing, I couldn’t seem to get control no matter how many times I reminded myself they’d fooled me. That I meant nothing to them. I needed to be the same way, to make my heart stop feeling everything it was feeling.
Because all of it had felt real and true. From Celt’s laughter, to King’s caress, to Preacher’s need for me, to Wick’s teasing, to Spartan’s honesty. No, not honesty. That slowed my tears and I did all I could to hang onto the anger. It helped to keep the sobs at bay.
A knock rattled the door, and the object of my anger called out.
“Open this door, Ally, right fucking now.”
I was on my feet in a flash, and I scrambled with the lock, and flung the door open wide. “Why, so you can lie to my face again?”
Spartan bared his teeth at me, fangs flashing. “I told you the truth as much as I was able.”
“Bullshit!” I spit the word at him and tried to shut the door. He stuffed his foot into the doorway and I slammed the door on it.
“Son of a bitch!” he snarled, but kept his foot there, and I slammed it again.
“Get out. I don’t want to talk to any of you.”
“You forget something.” He shoved his way into the room and threw the door shut behind him. He stalked toward me and I found myself backing up until I was against the far wall. For the first time, I was a little bit afraid of one of them.
“And just what am I forgetting?” I arched an eyebrow at him, doing my best to keep my head up and my confidence intact.
“You still owe me a fucking.”
“I owe you nothing.” I glared at him. “And to think I would just strip down for you now when the five of you have lied to me from the beginning, when you let me believe I was someone special to you, when you didn’t tell me that I was your last hope to live, and that was why you were going out of your way for me. That I was nothing but the end of a long line of whores sent to slaughter. You are out of your goddamn mind!”
My chest was heaving with the adrenaline pumping through me, my fists were clenched at my sides and my body was literally vibrating with energy and anger.
Spartan’s face went from snarling to one filled with shock.
“Is that what you truly think?”
“Well, unlike you, I am actually honest when I speak my mind.” I pressed against the wall, using it to hold me up because if I wasn’t careful I would dissolve again once more into tears.
Spartan took a step, and then another. When I didn’t protest he drew very close to me. “Shit, Ally, you could not be more wrong about what is happening here.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Will you...let me try to explain?”
I waved at him with one hand. “Be my guest. But don’t expect me to fall for it again.”
His shoulders slumped under the straps of his armor. “There were four other girls, that is the truth. Each of them chose one of our other brothers. Daemon. Prince. Hawk. Remington. They died with those women. Those women...they never touched the rest of us. They bedded one man, the strongest of us always, and ran from the rest of us.”
My eyes widened. “You mean you offered to them?”
“And they turned us down. They chose one, and they died with that one.”
I looked down at the hem of my skirt, hating that I was happy that those other four women hadn’t touched the other brothers.
Spartan went on. “You are our last hope, but you are also the first who has embraced all of us. And I...I think that may be why you can do this. We will all stand with you. Live or die, we do it together. I cannot speak entirely for my brothers, but you are everything I have ever wanted in a woman at my side. Beauty and fire, laughter and love, a passion in your soul, and a burning lash in your tongue. We are the five youngest brothers, considered the weakest of the group, and now you have given each of us a piece of you.”
There was a thump on the door and Wick called out. “He stole the words out of my mouth.”
There was a second thump that made me think he’d been cuffed for saying anything. I tried not to smile at the image.
I lifted my eyes to see Spartan smile before he went on. “What I tell you now I know will not make you believe I am any more honest, but I hope you will see I am trying to make right what I’ve done wrong.” He swallowed hard.
“I was a fool, in the beginning. I thought if you died, that would save all of us.”
I stared at him, his words sinking in slowly. “You were the one who knocked on the door? After my time with Wick, so he would leave. You set up the other vampire to draw me out?”
His jaw flexed and tightened. “I did. And I...I didn’t think of it at the time, but I bitched at Malcom about you, and told him you were in the training arena alone.”
We stared at each other, and he dropped his gaze first. I didn’t know what to say.
The door behind us burst open and his four brothers were on him in a flash, tackling him to the ground. I put my fists to my mouth, torn.
He had tried to have me killed. Twice. But it was to save his brothers. Would I have done less for Dominique? I would have given anyone’s life for hers. That was my job, to take care of her.
“Stop!” I yelled over the sounds of fists hitting flesh. “I said stop!”
I put my hands on Celt, the closest to me, and pulled him back, then King and Wick. Preacher was the last, holding Spartan down by the throat.
I crouched beside Preacher. “I don’t know how to reverse you not being able to look in my mind, but I want you to be able to see my thoughts.”
I wanted him to see I didn’t blame Spartan, that I understood why he’d done what he had, and I forgave him. I wanted Preacher to see what he meant to me, what they all meant to me.
Slowly, his hands released his youngest brother. “Allianna. You cannot see in his mind.”
I snorted. “Apparently neither can you, since you didn’t see this coming.”
Celt snickered. “Ah, she has you there, lad.”
Preacher looked to me, his dark eyes full of concern. “I don’t want to leave him here alone with you. It’s not safe.”
I touched Preacher’s cheek. “What if you sat outside the door? Would that be close enough to hear our thoughts?”
He nodded. “It would. Are you sure you...still want to go through with this?”
Spartan groaned. “You say that like I’m a rutting pig that she is being forced to fuck.”
Celt took a swing at Spartan with his foot. “Close enough, you idiot. She’s not like the others, we tried to tell you that.”
“So you did,” Spartan admitted. “But I’m not known for being particularly bendable once I set my mind on something.”
“Go,” I stood up and waved for them to leave, then I paused. “No, actually take me back to the other room. I’m okay with being in there.”
“Why is it okay now?” King asked, his green eyes meeting mine, then darting away. I smiled at him, drew close and took his hand.
“Because I thought those other four women had their way with you in that room. I couldn’t bear the thought of sharing both your bodies and the beds you shared with them.”
“Possessive little lass, isn’t she?” Celt said, but there was no ire in his voice, more like a sense of pride. I turned and winked at him.
“Never before, but apparently, now, I have a jealous streak right up the middle of my back.”
Wick grabbed me around the waist. “I think we should check that streak for infection. It could be contagious.”
I squealed as he swung me over his shoulder, my voluminous skirts billowing out so wide there was no way he could see anything. Still, the five of us managed to make it back to my bedroom without tumbling. He carried me all the way into the middle of the room and the other four followed, circling around once more.
Wick set me down and I kissed him. “Thanks for the ride.”
He chuckled. “Anytime.”
Celt slipped in beside me, and bent me backwards over his knee for a deep tongue-tangling kiss that had me digging my hands into his hair. He pulled back only enough so that our noses touched. “Lass, Spartan be right, you are everything I ever did want in my own lassie.” He let me go, handing me off to Preacher.
My quiet Preacher, so unsure in his own way, but the rock of our group. He stood a little straighter and I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
I looked up at him, and he bent his head so I could whisper in his ear. “For loving me.”
He closed his eyes. “You are not supposed to be able to read minds.”
I shrugged. “I’m a woman of many talents.”
Next was King, and he turned his face from me, cutting through the joy that was slowly blooming. “I’m sorry, King. I’m sorry I turned from you in the woods. I was so hurt, I thought...well, I thought I was just a pawn to you.”
His eyes whipped back to me. “Allianna, that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
I lifted a shoulder. “I know that now, but I didn’t then and I was trying to protect what was left of my heart.”
I tipped my head and he took the invitation, planting his lips on mine, gentle and sweet and every bit my King.
I stepped back from the other four. “I trust Spartan. You can stay at the door if you like, but I trust him.”
“Why?” Spartan asked the question before the others could leave. “Why do you trust me after all I’ve done?”
I looked him straight in the eye. “Because it is exactly what I would have done to save those I loved.”
Chapter Seventeen
My words filled the air of the bedroom. I looked at each of the men. “I would have done the same to protect my sister. That is family, that is love, that is just the way it is. I understand you, Spartan, maybe because I see so much of myself in you.”
“Except for the whole cock and armor bit,” Wick offered.
“You think I was hiding a cock between my legs?” I grinned and arched an eyebrow at him.
Wick laughed. “The only cock that I saw there at the time was mine. But to be fair, I was so lost in you, I didn’t notice much except how good it felt.”
His words seemed to ignite a firestorm in my belly, reminding me of how much pleasure had already ridden in this room between me and the first four brothers, and that there was more to come. The brothers all took a step forward at once and I held my hand up.
“Hang on. I am game for a...what would that be, a six-way?” I looked to Preacher for help, and he shrugged, a pull of his lips curling into a grin.
“You’d be willing to bed all of us at the same time?” he asked.
“Would all of you be willing?” I looked around, surprised to see them all nod in rapid-fire agreement, even Spartan.
Now that would be a fuck-fest of epic proportions. Preacher coughed and looked away. “That it would be.”
“To answer you,” I said, “I would be willing, but not until I’ve had Spartan to myself.” I might have blushed, more than a little with those words, which was ridiculous after all I’d done with them. But blush, I did.
I blushed and the others’ laughter surrounded me as they filed out.
“Another time, and we will see who lasts the longest then,” Celt said, saluting me as he closed the doors behind them.
I slowly turned to Spartan. His burnished gold eyes were locked on me. “I’ve wanted you from the beginning. I hated myself for wanting you.”
“Well, I am irresistible.” I grinned and then looked down at the dress. “I hate to ask you, but there is no way I’m getting out of this on my own.”
I looked over my shoulder at the intricate lacing down the back of the corset top. “It’s too nice to just tear off so don’t even think about it.” I looked back at him in time to see a knife in his hand as he stepped toward me.
“What about cutting it off?”
I rolled my eyes and twisted so my back faced him. “I suppose the laces can be replaced.”
From the other side of the door, King hollered, “Do not cut those ties!”
Spartan laughed quietly and I joined him. “You heard the boss, get to untying.”
He slid the knife into its sheath at his waist and closed the distance between us. Contrary to what he seemed to think, his fingers were deft at loose
ning the ties, and pulling them through the loops until the dress ballooned around me. I pushed it down, forgetting that he was behind me and that I had zero underclothes on, and only the tall red leather boots.
He ran a hand from my lower back downward over my ass cheek. I swallowed with difficulty and turned so I could see him over my shoulder. He looked at me, his eyes dilating as he slipped his other hand over the other cheek.
My pussy tightened with a speed that made me gasp. I made myself step out of the dress. There was something I had wanted to do with him since I’d first seen his body covered in dirt and sweat.
“Wait here.” I pointed at his feet, and left him standing there, a look of confusion on his face. I hurried to the bathroom and went straight to the giant tub. I flicked on the water, testing the temperature and then set it to filling. I found some bubble bath that smelled like fresh cotton sheets off the line, and poured a healthy amount in while the water frothed it into a cocoon of bubbles.
I went back to the doorway and peered out at Spartan. We should have been training, but we all knew no amount of training would make up the difference between Terra and me, not at this point. We might as well enjoy the time we had left to us.
I crooked a finger at him and he stepped toward me, his eyes narrowing. I put a hand on his chest, sliding it under the thick leather bands. “Do you need help taking this off?”
He shrugged out of it, leaving him only in the metal banded kilt armor. Though kilt wasn’t the right word. I wasn’t about to ask him what was. I was on a mission to get it off, not get a history lesson on what it was called.
I had a giant tub filling with hot water and bubbles, and a Spartan in front of me that I had craved from the moment I’d met him.
“You know we’ve never even kissed?” I looked up at him. The sensation of being engulfed by his body was sudden and caught me off guard. He was broader than the other men, both in shoulders and in every aspect of his limbs. Next to him I felt petite, and more feminine than in my whole life.
“We should fix that then,” he said, dipping his head. He paused when our mouths were hovering above one another, a breath apart. I flicked my tongue out and ran it over his bottom lip, to the corner of his mouth. His tongue met mine, tangling in midair before we closed the gap between us. His mouth was hot, and tasted of fire, as though I could breathe him in and he would sear my insides, branding me as his own.
