by Ivy Asher
I look back at my guys, glad that it’s just us for now. I’m antsy with the need to see Ryker and ensure with my own eyes that he’s okay. Enoch and Becket are down the hall in Sorik’s room, and Kallan headed off to find Ryker and send him our way when he saw how many of us were in need of healing.
Knox and Bastien both whip off their shirts and wipe at various wounds on their chests and torsos with towels that Siah hands out. I try to do the same, but I wince with pain as I try to pull my shirt higher than the bottom of my ribs. Valen comes to my rescue and helps me take off what’s left of my ratty, stained sweater. I smile at him, and he gives me a peck as he pulls his shirt over his head. He turns to toss it on the ground, and I see a massive cut down his back that’s bleeding. I hiss at the sight of it.
“You look a hell of a lot worse than me, Vinna, so don’t go getting any ideas to shove me at Ryker first when he walks through the door,” Valen warns.
I would probably argue if I couldn’t feel warm blood dripping down my front and back right now. I place my hands on Valen’s back and shove Healing magic into him. He gasps as my teal magic surges through him, and I can feel all of his injuries as they quickly heal. The cut in his back knits together, and when I can’t sense so much as a bruise anymore, I release my hold on my magic. A wave of dizziness hits me, but I mask it.
“Ryker can heal us, Vinna. Save your energy,” Valen scolds.
“You were bleeding, and you’re welcome,” I snark, and he rolls his eyes at me.
“Thank you,” he tells me with a cheeky smile and then flicks my nose.
Sabin chuckles at our exchange and then calls dibs on the shower. He sprints through the doorway Siah motions to before Knox or Bastien can rob him of it. Torrez blinks into a man, and Knox groans his dissatisfaction.
“Abracafuckyourself, sparkle wand, I’m a shifter. This”—Torrez smiles and motions down his body—“is part and parcel. Just don’t look at my dick if it intimidates you.”
I crack up and immediately regret it. Now that adrenaline isn’t flooding my system, I can feel every bruise and scratch. “Sparkle wand,” I repeat on a giggle, and Knox glares at me playfully.
“You let Ryker call me Squeaks,” I challenge, and he cracks up.
“Yeah, but Squeaks is so cute and accurate.”
“Sparkle Wand is cute too,” I argue, loving how his face cringes at the name.
“But it’s not accurate. Do you need me to pull out my wand and remind you, Killer?” Knox wags his eyebrows at me, and my stomach gets all fluttery. Torrez’s nostrils flare, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“Keep it to yourself, Wolf,” I order as I reach out and place my palm on Knox’s huge pec. I drown my thirsty libido in Healing magic and press the power into Knox. His injuries take less time than Valen’s, but when I pull my hand away, the room around me fades.
“Shit, Killer, you okay?” Knox asks as he reaches out to steady me.
I try to shake away the floaty feeling I’m experiencing, but I can’t rid myself of it.
“She’s lost a lot of blood. Where the fuck is Ryker?” Bastien demands, his voice soaked in worry.
Siah flashes behind me, and Knox jumps in shock. “By the fucking stars, warn a dude before you do that, will ya?” Knox puts his palm over his heart like the movement will somehow convince the organ to calm down.
Siah pulls me against his body and leans my head back against his chest. He brings a wrist up in front of my face, and I know exactly how he’s going to solve the problem. Excitement sparks through me as he slices his wrist open and brings it to my mouth.
The guys all swear and take a threatening step toward us. “What the fuck are you doing?” Knox demands, but when Siah’s blood hits my tongue, I can’t help the moan that escapes me, and I take a deep pull.
His blood tasted incredible to me before, but I swear, every time I have it now, it gets fucking better. Siah holds me tightly to him, and I feel his cock hardening at my back as I suck on his wrist until my mouth is full and then swallow. He rubs his nose against the skin of my neck, and I feel the faintest hint of fangs scraping the sensitive skin that’s no longer hidden underneath the collar Adriel put on me. I press my ass back into him, not at all bothered by the fact that the guys are watching the two of us together.
They look intrigued and unsure of what to think about this new blood drinking development. As soon as violet magic flashes across my chest and connects with Siah’s forearm, the concern in their eyes starts to leak out. Siah moans against my neck, and Knox reaches down and adjusts his growing hard-on.
“Fuck, I’m not sure if I’m freaked out by this or really fucking turned on,” Knox confesses, and the others nod.
I take one more hard pull that has Siah grinding into me from behind. I close my eyes and take another moment to get lost in the feel of him. His blood is rich, masculine, slightly sweet, and complex, and I take one last sip before I pull away. I feel a million times better, but I have to work to slow my breathing and actively fight the need to fuck Siah right now regardless of who’s watching. Torrez’s pupils are completely blown, and he lets out a distinct canine whine as he sniffs the air and all the need now saturating it. Purple magic moves down my arms and torso, and I start to pant against the heat that’s surging through me.
Ryker walks in, and all of our heads snap to him. He looks confused for a second, but it morphs into relief when our eyes meet. He steps further into the room, and I tackle-hug him hard. He lets out an oomph as I slam into him, and I can’t help the pained groan that slips out of my throat as he wraps his arms around me. Ryker puts his palms on my back, and Healing magic rushes into me.
My cuts and gouges start to knit together as I bury my hands in his blond hair and tell him how glad I am that he’s okay. I fight the urge to grind against him, even though the need is riding me hard. I roughly remind myself that he’s been helping the injured as well as fighting today, and my need to pounce can wait, but when Ryker moves his palm to my chest to heal the wounds there and on my shoulder, I almost lose it. I let out an involuntary noise of frustration, and Ryker looks at me and then the others.
“What’s going on?” he finally presses, and Bastien chuckles.
“Vinna’s magic is pushing her to mark Siah,” he explains like it’s a normal everyday occurrence. “He got her riled up, she got the rest of us riled up, and then you walked in.”
Ryker nods and moves his hands to my arms where he starts to heal the nicks and cuts all over them. “So are you ready to be marked?” Ryker asks, his questioning gaze locked on Siah.
Siah looks shocked by the question, and his eyes bounce from me to Ryker. He looks at each of the other guys in turn and then lands back on me again. “Just like that?” he asks, his features perplexed.
Sabin walks out of the bathroom, a towel tied low around his hips. He dries his hair with another towel and stops in his tracks to take in the intense looks on everyone’s faces. I run my greedy gaze all over his sculpted chest and abs, the sleeve of tattoos on his left arm are dark and delicious against the creamy skin of his abdomen. Water droplets fall from his hair down his chest, and I whine from the self-control it’s taking me not to move toward him and start licking the trails of water up.
“What’d I miss?” he queries.
“Vinna’s magic needs to mark Siah,” Ryker fills him in.
Sabin nods, and I’m once again thrown by how cool they all seem to be about this. “How do you feel about it, Vinna?” Sabin asks, but I’m so busy studying the V of his lower abdomen like there’s going to be a pop quiz on it at any moment, that it takes me a minute to process that he just asked me a question.
“Well, judging by the way she just gulped down his blood, I’d say she’s on board,” Valen announces with a smirk.
“That’s new,” Ryker observes as he wipes at blood on my hip. “Anywhere else hurting, Squeaks?”
I unbutton my dirty as fuck jeans and push them down my hips. I peel them off and reveal a nasty bl
ack bruise on my thigh from where a piece of the cell wall nailed me when Becket was practicing with his mace. My knees are cut up and badly bruised too, and Ryker crouches down in front of me and places his palms on my thigh.
“How long have you two been exchanging blood?” Sabin asks, his tone clinical, and I turn to stare at him, confused.
“I’ve only fed from her the one time in the barn. She’s had my blood maybe five times now, but this was only the second time she’s fed directly from me,” Siah explains, and Sabin nods like all that information is important to know and not simply a case of TMI.
“What does his blood taste like to you?” Sabin turns to me and asks.
Ryker trails his hands from my thigh down to my knee, and I close my eyes and bite my lip against a moan. Knox snickers at my obvious struggle to keep it together. I ignore him and focus on Sabin’s question and the feel of Ryker’s hands on my legs.
“Um, I don’t really know how to explain it,” I admit.
“Do you like it, or does it just taste like blood, and you choke it down because it helps you to feel better?” he clarifies.
“Oh, um…I definitely like it,” I tell him, but the response comes out a little squeaky, and I feel like a fucking psycho admitting that I like drinking blood. Like is really an understatement in this case because I fucking love the taste of his blood. It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted, and I’d like to pack it into little Capri Sun pouches and sip on that shit all day, every day. Or better yet, sip on him when he’s fucking me hard and then beg him to return the favor by sinking those sharp little teeth in my neck. I shake away that sudden and deliciously graphic train of thought and refocus on Sabin.
He’s staring at me like he’s asked me another question and he’s waiting for the answer. “Um, what?” I ask. I have no clue what he might have just said to me.
“I asked if you’d read any of the books in Lachlan’s library about lamia,” Sabin repeats to me.
“No, I only stole the ones about the different branches of magic,” I admit.
“A lamia knows his mate when he starts to crave the magic in their blood. It changes the flavor of the blood itself and holds a different quality to them, they develop a need for it. The same can also be said for their mate. The fact that you like his blood, or rather the taste of his magic which is in his blood, since really that’s where the flavor comes from, is a big deal.”
“Meaning?” I ask, not exactly sure where he’s going with this.
“Meaning you two are mates.”
“So was a written in the stars thing, and not my Sentinel magic teaming up with my greedy vagina to be an asshole again? I ask, a little too much excitement in my voice.
“Yeah, that’s probable,” Sabin tells me.
Guilt drops away from me as I realize that this wasn’t another case of my magic just taking what it wanted with zero fucks about who was impacted by it.
“You get to blame fate for all of it,” Ryker agrees. “Well, that and your greedy vagina.” He stands up with a laugh and brushes matted hair off my shoulder. I shoot him an indignant glare, but it’s ruined by the chuckle that escapes me at the same time. “Good as new, Squeaks, or you will be after you shower,” he teases.
The sound of a lava hot shower sounds amazing, but I know I’m not going to be getting one until this whole new mate shit gets sorted.
“You didn’t answer my question,” Ryker tells Siah, and all eyes are once again trained on him.
“I knew she was my mate after we got here and I started craving her,” he tells them, and his words cause more heat to pool between my thighs. “Lamia are very territorial and protective of their partners. We’re not like casters. We’re not sharers.” Siah shakes his head, and he gives me a pained look. His words and the struggle in them tug at me. I try to think how fucking hard it would be for me if I had found my mate, and they were already mated to someone else.
When the guys told me about caster culture and the whole multiple mate thing, I was on board. Who wouldn’t be though when you’re being told that multiple hot men are going to more or less worship you for the rest of your days? It was like a dream come true to me and my thirsty vagina. But what if it had been the other way around? How easily would I have been on board to becoming one of many for my mate?
“I never saw this as being for me,” Torrez admits and gestures toward the guys. “Wolves mate for life, and it’s very rare that a female would have more than one mate. It shocked the fuck out of me when my wolf marked her the first time I met her. Yeah, she was a supe, and we were technically compatible, but she wasn’t a shifter, and I found out quickly she was already coven claimed.”
“Wait…” I interrupt. “You marked me the first time we met?” I ask, confused.
“Yep, my wolf sunk his teeth into that very same spot,” he tells me, pointing to my left shoulder.
“Okay, you did bite me, but then you tried to rip my head off. That doesn’t exactly scream you complete me, be mine.”
“Technically, I was going for your throat,” Torrez corrects. “Not to rip it out, but to force you to submit. That’s very typical for shifters. If you had been a wolf, your animal would have accepted the bond and submitted.”
Bastien snorts and pats Torrez on the back. “How’d that whole submission thing go for you?” he teases, and all the guys, except Siah, laugh.
Torrez shakes his head, and an amused smile takes over his face. “She broke my jaw,” he fills Siah in. “Anyway, my point is that I fought it, just like you are fighting it now,” he tells Siah. “I spent weeks convincing myself that somehow it was a mistake. That there was no way that I was mated to a caster female. Especially not one who already had five intended mates,” Torrez adds, putting a dramatic emphasis on the number five as he shoots me a cheeky grin.
“She’s greedy, our mate,” Knox teases, and I can’t help but grin.
“But you’re here,” Siah points out, and a beaming smile takes over Torrez’s face.
“I’m here,” he agrees. “The little vixen showed up at a pack function, and I was a goner. I followed her around like some lovesick pup the whole night, and there was just no denying it after that. I’m new to all of this. Before, I couldn’t even begin to process how it will all work, but they feel like pack to me. More than that really, because I don’t feel territorial or competitive with them. I don’t know if the magic in our bond helps with that or if my soul just recognizes that this is where I was always meant to be, and that helps me to be at peace with whatever happens. I can’t say for sure, but are you feeling protective over her now?”
Siah’s brow furrows at Torrez’s question.
“Your mate’s in a room with other males, one of which just had his hands all over her. Did you need to rip his throat out?” Torrez presses.
“No,” Siah admits, and I can hear the surprise in his voice.
“Listen,” I say and take a step toward him. “There’s no pressure.” My magic chooses that exact moment to send a purple flash across my forearm. “Ignore that,” I prompt. “It has a mind of its own and no fucking tact. So I happen to like your blood, and you happen to like mine. Clearly, my magic is drawn to you, but that doesn’t mean you have to force yourself into a situation that you’re not comfortable with. We’re all new to this mate thing. We’re all getting to know each other more and more every day. And we all know this is going to take a lot of work. It’s not for everyone, and if it’s not for you, that’s cool, no hard feelings. Okay?”
I give Siah a reassuring smile and then do this awkward snap clap thing with my hands before I turn to the rest of the guys. “I’m going to go shower. I make no promises about there being any hot water when I’m done,” I announce and then sprint to the bathroom and slam the door behind me.
Yells of protest fill the room on the other side of the door, and I can’t help but laugh. I feel flushed all over from all of this mate talk. I also feel confused as fuck and overwhelmed by everything in general. I don’t k
now what will happen if Siah decides this isn’t for him. I don’t know if I’ll feel like there’s a missing piece or if my magic will just tag the next eligible bachelor, but even as I think that, the notion doesn’t sit well with me. I rub my dirty hands over my dirty face and make my way over to the large glass enclosed shower.
I thought at first that maybe my magic just tagged strong options for me, Chosen who were magically a good fit. But now I don’t think that’s actually how it works. Each of the guys feels like they’ve been handpicked just for me. The way I fit with each of them is unique. Our personalities mesh and complement one another, and there’s an ease with them that doesn’t exist just anywhere. It’s like I’ve known them forever, even though I haven’t. I’ve never believed much in destiny and fate, and yet when Torrez said that maybe his soul recognized that this is where he was always meant to be, I felt that. Felt the truth of it resonate in the deepest part of who I am.
Siah’s fangs on my neck, Ryker’s hands on my body, and Sabin in just a towel flash through my mind, and I stare at the temperature dial in the shower. Fuck, maybe I’d be better off taking an ice bath at this point. Stupid-ass hormones and hot mates. A strike of purple magic blinks up my torso, and I roll my eyes at it. You mind your own damn business, magic, and just so we’re clear, hoarding is not an attractive trait. Violet magic sparks up on my arm and moves across the back of my hand and blinks out at the tip of my middle finger. I stare at my hand, open-mouthed, not sure if I should laugh or be offended by the fact that I’m pretty sure my magic just told me to fuck off.
I laugh. Cheeky fucking magic!
28
