by Ophelia Bell
“You need to lose control, baby. Just let go, let us take over.”
Evie nodded. Yes, that was exactly what she needed. She found herself lifted off Sterlyn and bodily turned, positioned face down in her pillows with her ass high in the air. Her pussy ached to be filled and soon enough it was. She had no idea whose cock it was, but she didn’t want to know. She knew it was one of them, and that was enough.
A hand steadily stroked her back and kneaded her ass and thighs while she was pounded from behind. A bold finger even pressed between her ass cheeks, slid down to gather moisture, and back up again, swirling around the small opening, and she let out a little cry of encouragement.
The finger delved deeper and another joined it. Another hand slid between her thighs in front, finding her throbbing clit and rubbing in slow circles. Still more hands found her breasts and a warm mouth pressed against her ear.
“That’ll be my cock in that tight little cunt of yours in a few minutes,” Naaz said. “I’m going to fuck you so well you’ll forget your own name. Maybe I’ll even take that pretty ass of yours while Sterlyn fucks your pussy again. We’ll fill you up with our hot spunk until you’re overflowing, then fuck you again.”
His voice was as smooth and seductive as the man himself, his warm fingers tugging and pinching her nipples until she was nothing but a swirling bundle of sensations, inside and out. Sterlyn’s thrusts sped up, his hips smacking hard against her ass, his balls brushing against her thighs with each rough shove into her.
Every sensitive inch of her inner flesh rejoiced at the pleasure. It swelled inside her, growing more potent with each caress, each kiss, each plunge of Sterlyn’s invading cock and fingers. He let out a desperate groan and slammed hard, the head of his cock reaching so deep she imagined she could taste him. With that last thrust, hot fluid flooded into her along with a familiar tingling current of the sweetest magic. Evie flew to pieces then, coming hard and slamming back against the cock that filled her.
Evie clenched her eyes shut tightly, bewildered at the sensation of the magic that was so similar to Marcus’s, yet so different. The fact that Sterlyn had shared it with her at all meant he was even more like Marcus than she’d realized.
Then it clicked—all three of them were Blessed. All three altered in the same way. It had to be dragon blood that had changed them, and from Naaz’s story of how he came to be here, how old he really was, it had to be immortal dragon blood.
Still dazed at the realization, she found herself being pulled off the small bed into a pair of strong, comforting arms. Naaz cradled her against him, stroking her gently while she came down from her orgasm and her revelation. He bent his head to kiss her, and she responded with ardor, wrapping her arms around his neck and moving against him, eager for more. She wanted to feel his power filling her now, to confirm her belief as much as for the pleasure of it. The magic made her feel alive for the first time in years. It reminded her of who she was and what her purpose was. This was only a piece of her journey and as inevitable as the sunrise, which she knew still occurred daily, even though she hadn’t seen it in what seemed like eons.
She let Naaz shift her and moved to straddle his hips with his huge cock sandwiched between them. She lifted up and gazed into Naaz’s perfect face as she slid down onto him, her pussy slick and dripping with the combined juices of both Sterlyn and herself.
“You’re a genius,” she whispered.
Naaz looked too enthralled to even answer, his expression lost. “You’re the genius,” he whispered as he thrust into her. “This is the first time I’ve come close to forgetting that I can’t save her.”
Evie pressed her tender lips against his and stroked his cheeks as she fucked him. “We will,” she whispered. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll make sure we save them all.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nikhil
Ultiori Headquarters, Canadian Rockies
Present Day
“Maybe she knew something we didn’t know, even back then,” Naaz said, shaking his head as he bent to pick up a bloody feather from the floor of Evie’s cell. He and Sterlyn stared at it almost reverently, making Nikhil wonder if there was something he was missing.
“Why does the turul’s knowledge matter to either of you?” he asked. “She wasn’t your mate. Marcus was always the one who loved her. Otherwise I’d have caught one of you in her cell with her last night, instead of obediently sitting outside in the hallway.”
The two men looked at him in confusion bordering on offense. Their postures both tensed and Nikhil realized he should have chosen his words more carefully.
“You were the one who ordered us to get close to her, then eventually try to breed with her,” Naaz said. “Same as you ordered Marcus and Sterlyn to bed my sister, and myself and Marcus to do the same with Zamirah. You couldn’t bear to let either of them close to their own mates. Or me to my sister.” Naaz’s jaw clamped tight, the muscles flexing to keep from spewing the anger Nikhil could easily sense bubbled just beneath the surface. He knew what Naaz left unsaid was Nikhil’s refusal to allow him or Neela close to those two treasures that he now knew were their intended mates.
Nikhil shook his head. “I would never do such a thing,” he said, though some faint shadow of a memory niggled at him. The image was like a dream, the sound of his voice experienced like an echo reaching his ears again seconds after already leaving his mouth. He had done what Naaz said, but it hadn’t been his desire driving that order.
Neela stepped between Nikhil and the pair of men who looked ready to rip him apart. She pressed a hand against his chest and looked up at him with a gaze filled with understanding and compassion he didn’t deserve. “You did many things, Bennu. Things the old Nikhil never would have done, but not even that darkness that was in you could control every outcome. Those orders you gave my brothers only made the six of us closer. Our bond is strengthened because of it.”
“Did you think we wouldn’t talk while we fucked?” Naaz interjected. “We may have been careful about hiding our thoughts from you, but as long as you weren’t in earshot, we had no qualms about saying the things out loud. Evie knew how we felt. That first night Sterlyn and I had her, the number one thought in all our minds wasn’t getting off, it was getting out, and getting our lovers out, too. That includes…” He snapped his mouth shut, baring his teeth at Nikhil, the unsaid words as loud as a yell.
“That includes her,” Nikhil finished for him. “The treasure you found that day we drifted off course. The one I kept from you ever since.”
Neela’s face pinched with pain. “Keeping us away from them hurt worse than separating us from each other. At least Naaz and I could sense each other’s presence. We found some comfort with the others, but there is still an empty space inside me that aches for my mate. If I could just sense him in the world it wouldn’t hurt so much, but I can’t. It’s like you made him stop existing, even though I know that can’t be true. If he stopped existing, this hole he was meant to fill would have no reason to exist, either.”
Her eyes welled with tears and Nikhil watched her struggle to swallow down her emotions while his own anguish rose into his chest.
“It’s… oh, fuck.” He swiped a hand over his face and stared at the ceiling, trying to gather his thoughts to offer some consolation that wouldn’t sound entirely hollow. Anything now was too little, too late, but he had to try. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he said, “For three thousand years Belah was gone… hidden away, because of me. And I felt empty. I wonder if maybe that empty place is what made me weak enough for the… the thing that took over to bind me with its power so thoroughly. The moment Belah returned to the world again, I knew, and it was like the sun came back out when I’d finally given up and decided night would never end. Belah is the only thing that lights that dark place inside me. Simply knowing she is in the world right now helps me feel whole, even though I don’t believe I
deserve that feeling.”
Neela regarded him with far more understanding than he was due. In his mind, he felt a subtle link with her that reminded him she still carried Belah’s blood. It was what had kept her alive all this time. Ever since he’d locked her up he’d seen no point in giving her the same infusions he gave her brother, but she still received just enough of Belah’s blood to keep her alive.
Through that link he sensed her hopefulness along with her hesitance to ask for what she really wanted. Nikhil said nothing because he couldn’t give her what she wanted. Not yet.
Finally, Neela sighed and nodded as though his thoughts had silently reached her.
“We will follow your lead, Bennu,” she said. “We were all wronged by the thing that held you, and we will work by your side to get revenge. Just tell us what you need us to do.”
Glancing between Neela and the others, he saw them each nod in turn.
Nikhil accepted the role of commander even though he didn’t yet feel like he deserved that level of respect from them. He set Neela and Zamirah the task of releasing the remaining prisoners. The dragons and turul that were being kept would be able to fly away under their own power. The ursa captives would be given the option of being released into the wilderness that surrounded the compound, or flown home by one of the dragons. Aside from Calder, they had no nymphs or satyrs held captive, and he had a sinking feeling that somehow the satyrs they’d captured over the years had seen some worse fate than simply being executed when their usefulness expired.
With Neela and Zamirah off to the other wings where the less valuable prisoners were held, he returned to Calder’s cell with Sterlyn and Naaz and had the satyr repeat his plan to them. Once the plan was set in motion, he turned to his two remaining Elites, meeting their wary looks head on.
“Speak your minds, please. If I am going to earn your respect again… if I ever even had it… please let us have an open line of communication. You both know I can get into your heads to find the answers, but I need to trust you both to tell me what bothers you, and I need you to trust me to be faithful to your loyalty now that you know the truth.”
“Where is she,” Naaz said without even hesitating. “I know you still hold my mate somewhere. I want to know where.”
Nikhil winced wishing Naaz still had that link with him through Belah’s blood, but that power had long since been replaced by a cocktail mixture of her brothers’ blood. “That is the one thing I cannot share with you, Naaz. She is safe with her brother for now. When your task is done, I won’t stop you and Neela from seeking them out, but it is not my place to lead you to them.”
Naaz’s hand shot out and grabbed Nikhil by the throat, slamming him back against the wall with the preternatural strength of the dragon blood he carried. “Where is she!” he yelled. “She is mine! You cannot keep her from me!”
Nikhil stared the other man down, controlling his own anger at the affront and channeling it into his carefully chosen words. “She happens to be my daughter. She is safe, and you will find her in good time. If it makes you feel better, godson, Sterlyn will be coming with me to ensure she and her brother are secure, and that their mother is reunited with them. It will be Belah’s choice where they are kept. If you don’t trust me to see them safe, trust their mother.”
Naaz blinked at him in confusion, his fingers relaxing. He dropped his hand to his side.
“Belah… our godmother is her … her mother? You’re sure of this?”
Nikhil tamped down the surge of emotion that rose every time it hit him that he and Belah had succeeded in creating a child together, but he couldn’t keep it entirely out of his voice. Shakily, he said, “Yes. When we were together, Belah told me the truth. Asha is her name… I can at least tell you that. Zorion is her half-brother, who I presume Neela is meant to be with.”
“Asha…” Naaz breathed, his tension receding. “When can I see her?”
“That I don’t know. It’s up to her mother.” He shrugged, giving Naaz a somewhat sheepish look but secretly enjoyed the warm glow he felt at the very thought of fending off his daughter’s suitor and the secret glee at making Naaz jump through hoops to prove himself. The one thing he regretted was not being there for Asha from the beginning.
Naaz opened and closed his fists in apparent frustration, then looked at Sterlyn. “You’ll tell me whether she is safe, won’t you? And Neela’s mate, too… she’ll want to know.”
Sterlyn nodded solemnly. “You have my word, brother.”
With that, Naaz’s eyes closed and his head tilted back. His body shimmered slightly, the image rippling as though seen through the surface of a lake. A moment later he was gone, the drift carrying him off to the first of several dozen Alexandria Institute facilities throughout the world to carry out their plan and to glean what knowledge he could about who had given the order to evacuate the staff of this facility.
Nikhil turned to Sterlyn. “I would not blame you if you decided to tell Naaz the secret of where his mate is being kept, but he must not know for her sake. It isn’t my choice to keep the information from him. It’s hers.”
Sterlyn gave him an understanding smile. “I know. They’ve both talked to me during the few visits we had. Mostly Asha—she’s the talkative one. I offered to bring their mates to them even though I knew it would likely get me killed, but they explained why I couldn’t. They didn’t belong in the place you kept them. For their true ascensions to occur they need a dragon temple.”
“They were in no such temple when we found them,” Nikhil said.
Sterlyn shrugged. “I wasn’t there, so I can’t offer any insight. All I know is that Zorion believes the twins stumbled on them prematurely thanks to the power of the nymphaea blood you gave them. They weren’t meant to be found so soon. Keeping them hidden away was probably the best thing you could do.”
“I hope their mother thinks so when I take her to them. But first I need your help securing the temporal bubble they’re in now. I don’t want to take any chances of them being discovered by our enemy.”
After that, Nikhil would have to take the next step—one he dreaded as much as he longed for it.
He would finally keep his promise to the woman he loved, and bring Belah to her children.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ked
Dragon Monastery, Sunda Islands
Present Day
Ked gritted his teeth in outrage over what Evie had endured. The memories of her pleasure did nothing to overpower the despicable nature of what they had all been compelled to do. Nikhil had outdone himself and Ked’s darkness surged forth again with the desire to rip the man to pieces.
“It wasn’t him,” Evie said.
“Wasn’t who?” Ked bit out, his gut churning with rage.
“Nikhil. Most of the experiments weren’t done by him. Sometimes he would watch, but it was almost like he wasn’t really there… like he was an empty shell, a puppet, whenever the doctor was in the same room with him. The doctor was the one who did all the procedures up until shortly after the last round. I think she must have died, because after my second miscarriage I never saw her again. She was quite old by then.”
“You said you’d been pregnant twice before.” Ked squeezed her arm more to comfort himself than her. “How many times were there?”
Evie let out a shuddering sigh and shook her head. “If I don’t count all the times before that barely even lasted a day, there were only two. After that first night with Sterlyn and Naaz, I became pregnant, and it almost seemed like it would be viable. I can’t say any of us were particularly happy about it once we found out, but they’d done their job as far as Dr. St. George was concerned, and I started to have hope, if you can believe it.”
“But it didn’t last.” In the shadows of his mind, he felt Marcus withdraw again in shame and anger, erecting a new wall between them.
Evie looked up at
him with wide eyes glistening with unshed tears. Her eyelids slid closed and she shook her head. “No. Nearly two months later, I miscarried. And the second time was the same, but the pregnancy failed sooner.”
“Did they come to you any other times without their leader’s instructions? Together or apart?”
“After the first time, yes, but only once. They didn’t want to risk Sayid starting to think they had a soft spot for me, or I’d wind up collateral just like Neela and Zamirah.”
Evie grew quiet and sank limply in his arms, as though she were exhausted. She’d been wound so tightly Ked found it difficult not to lay a comforting hand on her, but if he had, he’d distract her from the telling and from Marcus’s reciprocation of his own part of the story.
Now that she was done, Ked’s body was on high alert. His cock raged to take her, yet he simply held her, happy that she was in his arms. She wasn’t fully his, though, if her distant look was any indication. As comfortable as she was resting against him, her gaze out over the high balcony told him she was imagining something else.
He brushed his palm over her cheek and urged her to look at him.
When her gray eyes met his, her instant recognition struck hard inside him, triggering his power before he could control it. The room went black except for the two of them. Evie glowed brightly, her aura a stark contrast to the shroud of his power, and her shock was apparent.
“What did you do?” she asked.
Ked let out a low grumble. He needed to keep better control if he was going to be able to wait until Marcus came around before he marked her.
“You do this to me, Evie. But it isn’t just you and me in this little bubble right now. Marcus is too important to deny. If it were just you and me, I would make love to you now, mark you and make you mine. You still need him, though, because he’s the biological father. Your child carries my blood mixed with his. It is part dragon through the part of me that infuses his body, and unborn dragons need their parents’ energy to survive until birth.”
