by Ophelia Bell
“Thank you. Thank all of you for this.”
Through most of it, the ursa merely watched, stepping in and opening furnace doors or handing tools to April when she needed them. But their auras betrayed their interest in her and their excitement to be part of a team again. During our kiss, I’d tasted some of the constantly bleeding earth energy she produced thanks to her estrous, and it had grown less concentrated than before. The pieces she was creating were infused with the magic. She was channeling her excess magic into the glass.
“How do you feel?” Tate asked when he closed the annealer door on the chunky glass bear sculpture she’d crafted.
She grinned up at him. “Like I could go all night. You up for it?” She bit her lip coquettishly and teased a finger at his top button as if she’d just propositioned him for sex.
Tate’s cheeks reddened, and he cleared his throat, his aura flaring. The other two ursa had similar hungry expressions, but despite their desires, they would never act on them unless April explicitly requested them to.
“I’m at your service for as long as you’ll have me,” Tate said, keeping his gaze fixed on April’s face.
“Same here,” Chayton said. Eddie rumbled in agreement.
April shifted her gaze between each ursa, studying them as if taking their measure, but she was still crap at shielding her thoughts. I exchanged a covert glance with Stuart and Murdoc to see whether they were picking up on it too.
April wasn’t just sizing the men up for assisting her with a project. She’d seen enough evidence of their competence in a hot shop. No, she was thinking about loopholes to allow her to fuck all three of them, and it was all I could do not to steer our group back to the house and up to the bedroom to get down to business.
Thankfully, Stuart intervened before I could impulsively toss April over my shoulder and run. “You have something specific in mind to work on? I caught a glimpse of some drawings at the gallery we visited before we were attacked. A tree of life.”
April’s face lit up. “Yes! Oh my god, I can work on my show! At least I think so…” She disappeared into the supply room, leaving the six of us staring after her.
“You knew about this?” Stuart asked, slipping up to my side to watch the closed door. It was quiet inside, but enough of April’s thoughts reached me to understand she was taking inventory to make sure she had all the materials she would need. The place was well-stocked, so I hoped it would measure up.
“I found it this afternoon when I was setting wards. But there’s more. It’s about her mom. April believes her mother has been dead all this time, then we find this, plus all the knickknacks in the house that April made. Something doesn’t add up.”
“Do you think her mother is alive?” Tate asked.
“Even if she isn’t, I want to find answers. All April’s power had to come from somewhere.” I shifted my attention to April, who emerged from the supply room more energized and excited than she’d been when she went in. From that moment on, she was entirely in her element. Or elements, since she proceeded to demonstrate skill with both earth and fire magic beyond anything she’d shown thus far.
She started at the enormous blackboard that covered one wall, making quick chalk sketches of the sculpture I’d seen the framework for the day before. The thing had been destroyed by chaos magic when Vesh had come, but April evidently wanted to recreate it from scratch.
Tate, Eddie, and Chayton perked up, infected by her enthusiasm, and within only a few more minutes, she had them working the metal at the forge into the filigree cages to house her glass globes.
Stuart, Murdoc, and I helped where we could, but as soon as the first housing was complete, April shifted gears to the hot shop, directing us to follow.
From then on, the seven of us worked in tandem, the ursa completing the pieces that required smithing and metal-work, and us dragons and April collaborating on the glass. We lost track of time and didn’t stop until the sounds of bickering rose up from the forge.
“You’re moving too slow, Ed,” Chayton grumbled.
“I’m moving just as fast as you, dickhead.”
“It isn’t a goddamn race!” Tate interjected.
“She needs us to keep up with her pace,” Chayton said.
Eddie threw up his hands. “I’m not a dragon, for Gaia’s sake. I’m working as fast as I can!”
I stopped to stare at the blonde ursa who barely ever raised his voice. His aura was weak with weariness but flickered with the unmistakable desire to impress. They were all just a little desperate to make sure they pleased her enough.
April had been ready for another gather but stopped, propping herself on the blowpipe like it was a walking stick. “What’s up, guys? Is there an issue?”
“They’re just tired,” Stuart said. “We had a long trip and haven’t rested.”
“You seem just fine, and you were the one who got shredded,” April said, looking Stuart up and down.
Eddie grunted and glared at Stuart. “Like I said, we aren’t dragons. On top of healing Stu, you topped him off when he got here. All the three of us have had is one meal. We don’t have a bottomless well of magic that gets refilled when we fuck.”
“Fine, I get it,” April held up her free hand. “It’s late anyway. You guys have been amazing.” Her voice hitched, and she cleared her throat. “Really fucking amazing. Let’s head in for the night.”
She turned back toward me, her head bowed, and handed me the blowpipe to put away.
“You all right?” I asked in a subdued voice.
“Nah, just got something in my eye.” She waved me off, but I couldn’t mistake the thicker timbre of her voice. She shuffled into the supply room ahead of me and busied herself rehanging tools and organizing the metal rods used for the filigree.
“It’s about your mother, isn’t it?” I asked, leaning against one of the steel counters that bordered the small room.
“It’s like she knew me, but how could she? She was gone almost my entire life. Dad was the one who taught me to love art.”
I pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head. “I haven’t seen or spoken to my parents in over five centuries. Trust me when I say I know how you feel.”
She pulled back and looked up at me. “Is that a dragon thing? Having absent parents?”
“Sort of,” I said with a small shrug. “Each new generation of dragons goes into hibernation for five hundred years while our parents continue to live among humans and increase their wealth so they have a worthy legacy to leave behind when they die. The purpose of the hibernations is to avoid the younger generation competing with the older, which is basically a recipe for disaster. We don’t want humanity to discover we exist, and in-fighting risks that. But the human population is so immense now, it’s easier to blend in. Not to mention, we’ve had a common enemy for long enough that we know better than to start wars among our own kind.”
“An enemy? Do you mean Chaos?”
“No, actually, Chaos usually isn’t such a dick. That’s a new thing. Our old enemy is dead now. Has been for a few years. We called them the Ultiori. They were led by a creature who possessed people’s minds to make them do her bidding.” I mulled over explaining further, that as Bloodline, April herself was descended from the humans who had been subjugated by that enemy. They’d been infused with higher races blood for generations upon generations to observe how the blood affected humanity, and to turn them into soldiers capable of fighting a war only one person in the organization really cared about winning. We’d considered them all our enemy even though we learned later that they’d all been mind-controlled. Very few managed to break that hold.
April shivered. “Glad they’re dead. I think this Chaos asshole is enough of a problem without having to watch our backs against other threats. Let’s head inside before I get the itch to keep going. I have a few bearded hotties who I need to find a way to thank for all their hard work.”
She gave me a wink and slipped back out the door w
hile I smiled after her, too excited for words that she was embracing the idea of being with us all.
21
April
“How are you feeling?” Tate asked, falling into step beside me on the way back to the house. Gray fell back, a pleased look on his face as he pretended not to eavesdrop, but I was pretty sure he’d hear my thoughts anyway. Somehow, I didn’t mind a bit.
I bumped my shoulder against Tate’s and took his hand, wanting to send a clear message that touching was allowed. “I’m fantastic. Not tired even though I know we’ve been at it for hours.” I stopped short halfway up the path and stared up at him, the realization finally hitting me. “I haven’t had sex in hours! You were right! Oh my god, I think I love you.” I tackled him in a hug, catching sight of Gray’s grinning face just beyond while Tate held me tight, his body shaking with a low laugh.
“I hope you don’t love me so much you’re happy to go without,” he rumbled against my ear, letting his hands slide down low on my waist. He didn’t move any lower, but he held me a little tighter to his big, solid torso for a few seconds before I slid down and stepped out of his embrace. Being near him gave me the same sense of absolute comfort as the first time I hugged Gray, like his every intention was to provide shelter, ease my worries, make me happy. For most of my young life, Dad had been that for me, but ever since I finished high school, it’d just been me, exposed to the elements.
For the first time in about a decade, I remembered what it felt like to be near someone whose only desire was to keep me safe. And not just one someone—six someones.
I held him at arm’s length, studying his face, sighing exaggeratedly as I let my eyes wander the length of him. I shook my head. “My love does have limits.” I gave him a wink, then turned back to the house, keeping hold of one hand and leading him behind me. But it wasn’t lost on me now that it might not be too long before my body’s needs took over and I’d have no choice in the matter. Not unless I opted to stay awake working on my sculpture to keep the buildup of magic at bay.
At the moment, I could revel in being clear-headed enough to know I wanted him for my own reasons. He was an enormous mountain of bearded, sexy fun. Eyeing the two other ursa who waited for us on the back porch in the ring of light by the back door, I could rationally admit that I’d be happy with either of them too. Was it enough that I felt that way now, but would have no choice later? Could I reconcile my very real, completely sane desire in this moment with the fact that in a few hours I might not be coherent enough to say no, even if I wanted to?
I stopped just inside the house, a second thought occurring to me. Eddie was holding open the screen door, and Chayton had his back against the main door, holding it open from the inside for Tate and me to pass through. I looked at each of the ursa, who returned my gaze with questioning looks of their own.
“You aren’t allowed to fuck me, are you?”
Chayton dropped his eyes and cleared his throat, then laughed. “No. No, we aren’t. Did Gray explain that to you?”
“Stuart, actually. But I think it just hit me why. It’s because I can’t rationally consent, isn’t it? Not with all the…” I wiggled my fingers around my head, “…magic, right?”
They exchanged glances, then Tate sighed and took my hand again. “There’s a lot more to it than that. You want to come in and let us lay it out for you?”
“Yeah, preferably with a stiff drink. It’s a bit involved and a little scary, if you ask me,” Eddie said, crowding in behind me as he let Gray enter, the screen door swinging shut behind him.
“It’s already been a bit scary even without the constant need for dick,” I said. “But let’s see if I remember where Dad stashed the good stuff.”
I headed back through the house, past the kitchen, through the wide arch into the library. I was struck again by the presence of all the handmade knick-knacks of mine my mother had collected over the years. This room felt like all the love I’d missed from her growing up, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. If she’d been alive, why hadn’t she come around? Why stay away, when she clearly cared?
I went to the built-ins to the left of the fireplace and squatted, pulling open one cabinet, then reaching in and around to the corner section that was too tough to access to bother storing anything important in. Stretching back blindly with one hand, my knuckles bumped a dusty bottle, and I pulled it out, grinning proudly.
The blue glass gleamed, and I tilted the bottle, the liquid clearly near the top. Cracking the lid, I sniffed, and my eyes immediately watered from the strong aroma of vodka. I took a quick swig then handed it to Chayton and plopped down in the center of the oversized twill sofa that faced the fireplace.
Chayton eyed the bottle then stared at me. “Um, maybe you shouldn’t drink this stuff. It’s not meant for humans.”
Stuart leaned in to look when Chayton held the bottle up. The room filled with soft curses and deep chuckles, and I glanced around, waiting for someone to share the punch line. Gray took mercy and sat down beside me.
“It’s turul vodka, which is distilled from a magic berry that only grows inside turul enclaves. It tends to be highly effective at getting our kind drunk. It’s stronger than human vodka.”
“I’m a bit more than human though, so I should be fine, right? Now, who wants to start explaining the whole ‘no fucking’ thing?”
I looked around the room. Tate had disappeared, but the others just stood around looking uncomfortable.
“This is your territory,” Stuart said, gesturing to Chayton.
A moment later, Tate returned with an armload of firewood and proceeded to stack it in the fireplace. “Go ahead,” he said, glancing up at Chayton.
The dark-haired ursa pursed his lips and raked his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, well, consent isn’t actually a factor…”
“Of course, it is,” Eddie interrupted. “You want something, you have to ask for it. Explicitly. Ursa law.”
Chayton scowled at his friend. “I didn’t finish. You’ve already felt how the magic builds when you’re having an episode, right? Well, without a way to offload that power, you could actually self-destruct. Unmated females typically don’t leave the Sanctuary until after their first estrous is complete, because they need to be near males who can help get them through it. We just act as conduits to funnel the magic back to Gaia.”
“So if we were mated, it’d solve the issue?”
“No, you’d still go through it every four years. Being mated just means you’d have easier access to a couple male ursa.”
“And then we could legally bang, right? I don’t quite get why we can’t do it now, as long as you’re available.”
Tate stood and brushed off his hands, leaning against the side of the mantel while Murdoc knelt and breathed flames into the fireplace.
He speared me with a grave look. “Because the only thing more dangerous than an unmated ursa female in estrous is an unmated ursa female who is pregnant. The power generated by the new life inside her is potentially catastrophic without having mates who are committed to helping her manage it. Consent is crucial, of course. We require all our females be explicit with their needs and desires because it is so delicate a state for her to be in, whether pregnant or just in estrous. But the bigger worry is avoiding the destruction that would result by not managing the magic.”
I blinked up at him and took another swig from the bottle that had made its way around our circle. “Destruction? Like, how dire are we talking?”
“Atom bomb level catastrophe,” Stuart said.
I sat in silence, staring at the odd characters painted on the bottle as I absorbed all of this. “So, I don’t suppose you guys have ever heard of condoms, have you?”
Eddie laughed. “Honey, I’m flattered that you want a taste of us so badly, but those don’t work. Something about our body chemistry just destroys the latex, and the higher races don’t exactly have an R&D division to invent a prophylactic that works. Or, we did have a science divisio
n of sorts, but not by choice. We spent centuries trying not to get caught by them. Besides, they were more about breeding us in captivity than keeping us from breeding.”
“Yeah, the last time someone tried doing research on us, their intentions weren’t exactly good,” Chayton said. “But I suppose something good came out of the Ultiori’s experiments in the end.” His voice lowered, and he smiled at me.
I lifted my eyebrows. “What? Am I the good thing? How am I connected to your ex evil mastermind?”
Chayton grimaced, shooting a pleading look at the others. The fire crackled brightly as the other men suddenly decided the books and artwork around the room were more interesting than the conversation. Gray remained a comforting presence at my side and let out a soft laugh. “Brother, you dug yourself into this hole,” he said.
With a sigh, Chayton sat back, rubbing his palms against the tops of his thighs. “You already know you’re Bloodline, but did you ever wonder whose Bloodline that meant?”
I looked into the fire, trying to remember the night of the strange midnight message that woke me out of a sound sleep a little more than a year ago. But it hadn’t included an in-depth explanation.
“Um… I don’t suppose you’re going to say Targaryen, are you?”
Somewhere behind me, someone snort-laughed. Chayton smirked. “No. Though you do have a trio of dragons happy to kill or die for you, but that’s all you. The Bloodline are creations of the Ultiori. Or, more specifically, the leader of the Ultiori, a woman we knew of as Meri, but who went by hundreds of other names over the course of history. She stole people’s lives, possessed the minds and bodies of wealthy intellectuals to carry out her experiments on the higher races. She stole our blood, infused her human subjects with it to see what kinds of effects it would have. She always included a drop of her own blood, because all it took was ingesting a drop of her blood and a human would become her mind slave. Over the centuries, those humans reproduced until she had an entire army she could control with a thought.”
