by J. Kearston
A breath whooshes from my lungs. “So this place should be safe for at least a night?”
“We’ll fill you guys in as we eat,” Lucien interjects. “Atlas, you want to start dinner? Cambria, why don’t you take first dibs on the shower, since I’m not sure how long the hot water will last.”
She gives him a mocking salute before snagging a towel from one of the grocery bags and heading towards the bathroom, not about to argue with the temptation of a hot shower calling her name. While I wait for my turn, I dig through some of the bags, seeing what can be pulled out and put away, and what’s better off just staying there unless we need it so that we don’t have to waste time packing it back up.
Lucien grabs the small container of fish food and hesitantly shakes it above the open tank, waiting to see what will happen. But just as they ate the food from the greenhouse without changing into walking eggplants, they devour the fish food flakes rapidly while staying in their fish forms. He adds another half of a container before calling it enough, all of us just figuring this out as we go. Aversion to water, don’t feed them after midnight...
It’s almost like foreshadowing that we’re in over our heads and this will all end terribly.
Forty-five minutes later we’re all sitting at the table, tearing into food as soon as we can get our hands on it. We used to give Cambria a hard time about it when we met her, but I understand now. After you’ve experienced being on the verge of starvation, not knowing where your next meal will come from or how long it’ll be until it appears, it changes something in you. You take what you’re given before it can be snatched away, praying it’ll be enough to last you until you get to eat again. You grow accustomed to those hunger pains like an ominous, familiar presence constantly looming over your shoulder.
Lucien pulls a bottle of rum from a bag on the counter and brings it back to the table. Cambria and I exchange a loaded glance, but it doesn’t stop her from reaching for it, not waiting for him to come back with glasses.
“We celebrating or commiserating?” she asks, taking a long pull straight from the bottle.
“Bit of both,” Luce admits, taking the bottle from her lips and pouring glasses of it straight for all of us. “The cabin is Belinda’s son’s, and she agreed to let us use it as long as we need and field things so that he doesn’t make a trip out here any time soon.”
“So we can stay a day or two because it’s still safer than the prison until we figure out how to get that barrier up,” Atlas continues, slamming back his shot and holding his empty glass out for another. “Jer’s been digging, and to make up for the accidental drugging incident, he found out about that bullshit witness protection excuse that you and Luce concocted to get your fake paperwork and decided to help us out by feeding into it to explain all of our sudden disappearances. He spun things so that it made Victor look like he was caught up in it and targeting you. So there are people looking into what remains of Victor’s assets and employees.”
Lucien finishes off his drink just as swiftly. “Everyone assumes the four of us had to bail in the middle of the night as witness protection forced us to move to a secure location because of Cambria. So Belinda’s been keeping things running, thrilled to confirm the gossip.” He takes another drink, taking the heated edge off as he became too animated. “So I gave her a massive raise and instilled her to officially run things in my absence to make things easier.”
Atlas sighs. “Isn’t all he dug up either.” Shooting a nervous glance at Lucien, he explains, “He tracked down the guy Graham went through to get the paperwork set up for him and Lucien.”
I lean forward in my seat as Lucien slams back his drink and takes over the conversation. “Maddox's mom was going through him so she could run from Victor’s dad, but needed somewhere to hide the baby in the meantime. So he gave her our address as a temporary place to hide him since my father still owed him a favor.” He exhales a long, slow breath. “But she was killed before the man could finish working out her escape plan, and my father volunteered to keep the baby. So the guy just handled Maddox’s paperwork on the house and called them even.”
There’s a heavy silence as we all process the story. Honestly, I was half expecting to find out at some point that Maddox was also a fae and never Victor’s brother at all and the whole thing was a convoluted misunderstanding stemming from interdimensional refugees.
Eventually, Atlas rocks back in his chair. “So as much as I don’t want to think about it, I know ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. Are we seriously going to try and round up the feral beasts and save the people that want our heads on spikes?”
“I don’t think of it as saving the fae so much as saving the changelings from their retaliation. Achlys said that they found out if they killed them that the land reacted, which means that they slaughtered Lord knows how many of them before coming to the imprisonment decision. And right now, when tensions are already high, and being able to prove that locking them up isn’t an actual long term solution-” I glance at the fish tank, at how deceptively harmless they appear. “They might very well kill them all and just worry about the fallout later, when it’s too late to do anything about it.”
Cambria sighs. “If we can erect a new barrier around the prison to keep the fae out, it won’t matter if everyone still wants to kill us. We can grab as many changelings as we can and hole up there until the rest of the world forgets about us again or they kill each other off. But it might be the closest solution to ‘opting out’ of this whole bullshit as we can get.”
Lucien tips his head from side to side slowly as he weighs things in his mind, considering. “We can set up a ring inside of a new house here, like a basement portal, and just move directly from the prison to a secure location here so that we can keep a steady stream of supplies coming in. It won’t matter if Elorie and everyone want to kill us if we’re on a closed loop system that they can’t get into.”
Tentatively, I voice, “But she’s seen the inside of the prison. So logically, she could use any ring to get into the one we created.”
Cambria rubs her temples and groans. “But we managed to create one that wasn’t there before inside the prison so we could portal in.” She thumps her forehead on the table. “There are too many things we don’t know, and the people that have the answers can only parrot words back at us.”
Giving up, she takes her plate to the sink and I grab the others’ since they went through the effort of actually shopping and cooking. But I’m not worried about tackling the dishes right now; that’s tomorrow Dorian’s problem.
“It’s not like the fae bothered to get any of your names,” Cambria points out, switching gears. “So as long as we’re careful and keep our heads down, don’t use any of the rings that they know about and create a new one for us to use, they can’t track us down easily.”
My head feels like it’s going to explode from information overload, and I find myself not faring much better than Atlas was earlier. “So if things are good for a couple of days, can we just take a breather? We have a game plan and no one should be able to find us here. Let’s just take a day to decompress before we all burn out before tackling the next thing on our endless list.”
As if he were just waiting for someone else to agree, Atlas heads over to rummage through a bag before withdrawing a deck of cards. “Not a hell of a lot to do out in the woods besides being murdered, so I made sure to grab a couple of things to keep us busy. Figured if they didn’t come in handy here, we’d be grateful to have them at the prison until we get a chance to smuggle over a TV and a DVD player. I didn’t see a fridge there either.”
Lucien pours another round of drinks. “There was a kitchen in one of the tunnels that had some stuff. Obviously outdated and we didn’t want to risk opening the door to see what hell two decades of not cleaning out the fridge resulted in, but something to start with.” We settle in around the table, Atlas shuffling and dealing cards without hesitation.
“What are we playing?”
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He grins. “Poker.”
I don’t need to see Cambria’s face to know that her eyes will have lit up with the challenge. “Kicking your ass last time wasn’t enough to scare you off?”
With a wink, he takes a look at his hand. “Bold of you to assume I wasn’t just letting you get me out of my clothes. How else was I supposed to let you know that I liked you?”
The next hour is spent laughing and drinking, and by the time she’s stifling her third yawn, Atlas and I are down to our boxers and Lucien a step above us, still in jeans. “I think I’m going to call it for the night,” Cambria declares, fully dressed and sliding her chair back.
“You’re cheating somehow,” Atlas accuses, resting his arms on the table and leaning forward. “There’s just no other explanation. The cards don’t favor one person that often, it’s just unrealistic. Spill.”
Her eyes twinkle with mirth, but she keeps her poker face on, appearing unfazed. “Nobody likes a sore loser, Atlas. You just need a little more practice; nothing to be ashamed about.”
He narrows his eyes, but drops it for now. I get to my feet and stretch my stiff muscles before following her. I make it halfway towards the bedroom before realizing that only Lucien is following us.
“You coming to bed?”
Atlas shakes his head, rocking back in his chair and reshuffling the cards. “Nah, I’m going to stay awake for a bit until I sober up some more. I don’t like the idea of all of us passing out without any safeguards in place around here. If we’re going to sleep at the same time, I’d feel better if I knew one of us would wake up at the first strange footstep, you know?”
Grimacing, I nod. “Wake me up when you decide to crash? That way I know to keep an ear out.” He shoots me a thumbs up before I disappear through the doorway and promptly kick it shut behind me.
Lucien’s just finishing tossing her shirt off to the side, recapturing her mouth. “Want me to take the other room?” I offer, used to walking in on things like this by now, but never wanting to be presumptuous about what direction it’s going to go. Sometimes we need one-on-one time, and others, the more the merrier.
“Would rather you stay.” Cambria turns to look at me over her shoulder, and I certainly don’t need to be asked twice, not where this girl is concerned.
Sliding my hands over her hips, I dip my thumbs beneath the waistband of her pants, gently brushing over her skin until working to unfasten them. Lucien takes half a step back to give me room to work, cupping her face and kissing her breathless.
As they fall to the floor she starts to step out of them, and I slide my palm down the back of her thigh, gripping behind her knee to capture her leg. Hooking her leg over my arm, I spread her open between us, my other hand slipping down her stomach to between her legs.
A small murmur of pleasure as I start circling her clit, and a sharp intake of breath as I plunge two fingers inside of her. She grinds her ass back against me, using me as a wall of support. Lucien takes a step back and I take the opportunity to kiss a path up the side of her throat as I continue to toy with her, pumping my fingers only to withdraw them and play with her sensitive bundle of nerves. Her breathing increases as she arches into my touch.
Luce returns a moment later completely naked, sliding something into my hand at her leg as he bands an arm around Cambria’s back, plucking her from my grasp. He makes it all of three steps with her plastered against him before tossing her onto the bed. Dropping to his knees, he grips her hips and drags her to the edge, throwing one leg over his shoulder and pressing one spread thigh into the mattress. With a low growl, he starts to devour her, her eyes closing as she fists the sheets.
Confused, I glance at what he subtly passed me before flipping him off with my free hand without a word. As if he can feel my attention, his body shakes with silent laughter that just has Cambria moaning and writhing against his mouth.
I both love and hate the man as I look at the tube of desensitizing cream. One, because it means we don’t have to fight over who gets to fuck her in the ass since he all but gave me his blessing, and two, it’ll make it less painful for her since we don’t have any toys to work our way up to that out here. But the downside of threesomes means I don’t get to keep it a secret between her and I that I never last long with anal.
Assuming that if he went out of his way to pick this up while he was out, I head over to the dresser and pull out the top drawer he went to for this in the first place, unsurprised to see a bottle of lube in there too. After coating my dick, I toss the original tube back in there before heading over towards the bed. Cambria groans in protest as Lucien pulls away with a smirk, crawling up her body with predatory grace to kiss her before rolling them so that she’s straddling him.
Sinking onto him, she rocks her hips with a soft, blissful sound of relief, nails digging into his stomach as she finds a rhythm. Turning to me, her gaze flicks down to the bottle in my hand and she chuckles down at Luce. “Pretty confident how tonight was going to go?”
He grins back up at her. “Not confident, hopeful. Better to have it and not need it, and all that jazz. Figured it would come in handy sooner or later, and we need to stock up the prison with essentials.”
Her palm slides up to his chest as I step in behind her and run a hand over her spine. “Glad to see you have your priorities straight.” Her laugh turns into a groan as I start working a single finger into her ass, then another.
Lucien slowly thrusts into her as she stills, reaching up to pinch and roll her nipples in a bid to distract her. I slip my free hand between her legs to toy with her clit for the same reason as I start pressing my cock inside of her, gently working my way deeper. I withdraw just a bit before pushing in another inch.
After a few minutes, it’s clear that the desensitizing cream coating my cock starts to affect her as much as it is me, my dick feeling not too different than when my leg falls asleep. The pressure and sensations are there, but aren’t as overwhelming as usual, making it easier to hold out. She relaxes a bit more, and I finally situate myself fully inside of her, biting the inside of my cheek to help draw my focus from how damn good she feels, even with the sensations muted.
Without fully unsheathing myself, I keep my thrusts gentle at first, giving her time to adjust. With Luce buried inside of her, it makes everything that much tighter. We start to find a rhythm, the two of us alternating driving home as she pants between us. Her nails pierce the skin on Lucien’s chest, blood welling, the coppery scent in the air dredging up far too many fresh memories. But the alcohol helps me push them right back down before they can dig their claws in, keeping my focus on the beautiful sight beneath me.
Sliding a palm over her back, I tangle my fingers in her hair, gathering it together for a solid grip. Fisting her hair, I pull her up a bit, her back arching as a moan tears from her throat. Lucien wastes no time lifting himself up, reclining on a single elbow as he takes her nipple into his mouth, laving at one breast and then the other.
Flesh slaps against flesh as I pound into her ass, my grip on her hip tightening until I worry it’ll leave a bruise. She starts rocking between us quicker, each of my thrusts met with a snap of her hips. A steady string of soft curses leave her lips as she starts to come, driving me harder, faster.
“Atlas should be here-“ she shudders as aftershocks wrack her body “-he’s been getting more withdrawn lately. We should invite him, at least.”
Luce reluctantly tears his attention from her breasts, speaking with amusement. “A lesser man might be offended that you’re asking for another guy while he’s balls deep inside of you.” To emphasize his point, he grips her other hip and slams her down, impaling himself to the hilt.
Her sharp intake of breath morphs into a moan. “Things have just been so tense lately. I don’t want to undo all of the progress we’ve made by making him feel stuck on the outside again, you know?”
I slow my thrusts, toying with her clit as we catch our breath to keep her squirming while we mull it o
ver. Luce and I were already close, so it wasn’t a hard leap to develop the dynamic between the three of us like this. And as close as we’ve all gotten, it’s not like we haven’t been sharing showers or sleeping in the same bed as Atlas, but we haven’t shared Cambria like that with him. Well, I haven’t; I couldn’t tell you what she’s done behind closed doors with the others. But by Lucien’s quiet contemplation, I’d wager he hasn’t either. His jaw tightens as he comes to a decision, glancing at me for confirmation. With my brief nod, he hollers for Atlas.
I hear him open the door behind me a moment later, followed by an annoyed grunt. “I could have gone my entire life without that view of Dorian’s asshole. What’s wrong?”
By this point I’ve stopped moving, remaining buried inside of Cambria and just toying with her to keep a semblance of the mood, though it’s admittedly dulled to a low simmer at this point.
“Do me a favor?” Lucien drawls, and Atlas takes a few steps inside of the room and not-so-subtly cants his head to the side to study the view from his new angle at the side of the bed.
“I know we’re close and all, but if you’re stuck, the best I’m doing is driving you to the hospital,” he tosses out there. “And before you ask; yes, I will be taking pictures to hold against you for years to come.” Cambria rocks her hips, maintaining eye contact as his pupils dilate.
Lucien rushes out a breath before continuing. “Will you give her something better to do with her mouth besides instigating?”
Atlas licks his lips, but isn’t easily sold on the idea. “You three can enjoy your kink fest. Don’t need a pity boner thrown my way.”
Cambria slowly runs a hand from her throat, between her breasts, and over her stomach before covering my fingers. “The cards are small enough that I can glamour them,” she admits and his nostrils flare.
“I fucking knew it,” he growls, and she simply rolls her hips, her voice displaying her grin.
