by Helen Scott
Footsteps sounded behind us, and within seconds, Knox had me up in his arms and back behind one of the walls where Shadow and I had seen the two women enter. We both stood silently, and I could feel the tension running through his body. And what a body it was. Not that the moment of a possible attack was a good time for thoughts like that, but what was a woman to do when something as decadent as Knox was pressed up against her? I wasn’t sure what had gotten into me, but I needed my guys and soon or I was going to tear my hair out.
“Angel, stop it. Thinking naughty thoughts while I’m trying to protect you is unfair.”
“I can’t help it. I’m feeling needy.”
“Probably has something to do with you not healing those wounds when you had the chance, hum?”
I wanted to deny it, but thinking back to the ferocity with which Shadow and I had made out in the passageway, I couldn’t. Last time, it had happened while I was passed out, but the guys were convinced I was some kind of succubus, using the bonds I had with them to absorb their energy and heal myself.
“You guys can come out. It’s just our missing members,” Emmett called.
Knox kept me behind him until he could confirm what Emmett had said. As soon as he stepped to the side, I knew it was safe and barreled past him to greet my other men. Nolan had a nasty black eye, while Derek and Cass were both sporting split lips, black eyes, and other sundry bruises. Hunter was holding the scraps of what must have been his clothing over his groin while the rest of him was as naked as the day he was born.
“That’s a new look for you, Hunt. I like it.” I winked at him, which just earned me a scowl in return as he stalked off, presumably to find some clothing. I turned back to my other three men and asked, “Are you okay?” My hands went to their faces, gently tilting them this way and that as I examined the bruising.
“We’re fine, aren’t we?” Nolan asked as he looked over at Derek and Cass.
They both nodded, although Cass’s was a little more reluctant than the others. My gaze flicked up and down his frame, and I could tell he was in pain just from the way he was holding himself. It must have been why they were behind the others.
“Were you followed?” Knox asked, coming up beside me.
“No one could get in here, anyway; at least, not without being a resident of the Underworld or having our okay,” the younger woman said.
Knox and I turned to face her and her friend, while I felt the others fan out around us as they all came further into the cave-bar thing.
“Cin, Megaera.” Knox nodded to each woman in turn. “Lovely to see you as always, and thank you for coming to our aid.”
“So this is the new queen, hum?” Megaera asked, looking decidedly unimpressed.
“It is. Poppy, I would like to introduce you to two of the furies who serve Hades. This is Cin and her aunt Megaera.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I said, pulling out my best polite voice.
“Girl, you’re going to need a spine of steel to deal with all this crap,” Cin said. A lock of her green hair had fallen and was framing her face. The woman was like a gorgeous Amazon from legend, if they were legend. I made a mental note to ask Hunter about them later.
“No worries there. Poppy here has been under assault since she put the damn necklace on. She’s more than strong enough to handle this place,” Emmett piped up from the couch.
I hadn’t even seen him sit down, but now that he was, he looked exhausted. So did most of the guys as I looked around the room. “I’m sorry if this is rude, but we’ve been fighting for the last day or so. Do you happen to have some rooms the guys could use to rest?” I asked before anyone could start quizzing me about my adeptness at running the Underworld.
“Of course. I’m sure they need the rest. It sounds like taking care of you is a full-time job right now,” Megaera said. I didn’t miss the slight dig at my apparent ineptitude for protecting myself.
“Thank you,” I said, plastering a fake smile on my face.
She led us from the room and down the hallway they had appeared from. Caves had been carved out on each side. They reminded me slightly of the room I had woken up in with Shadow, except more personalized. Each one contained a variety of objects, and as we passed, I couldn’t help but sneak curious glances.
“These are the rooms for the furies who live here,” Cin said as she sidled up next to me.
I felt especially short sandwiched between her and Knox. There was something about her phrasing that made me ask, “Do you have one?”
“No, I live with my mate.”
I nodded, unsure what to say to that.
“How is Thad doing?” Knox asked.
“He’s good,” Cin said, her smile beaming out of her. Her body language changed as she thought about her soulmate, becoming more relaxed and easy going. I wasn’t sure if she’d noticed her hand fluttering over her belly, but I got the distinct impression the warrior woman next to me might be carrying a tiny warrior inside her.
“Good. I’d love to introduce him and the others to the new guys when they have a chance.”
I turned my focus from the pleasantries they were exchanging to where we were going. Wherever it was, it had to be warm if my body temperature was any indication. All I wanted was to get to a room, bandage myself up, and take a nap.
“Here we are,” Megaera announced. “All the rooms in this hallway are open for you to use however you see fit. There is a hallway that opens up on the left as you head back the way we came. I would not recommend you go down there, as it will lead you to Tartarus.”
I had to bite my tongue from exclaiming about wanting to see Tartarus for myself. It still seemed unreal for it to actually exist.
“We’ve got some food around, and some of the souls who like to have purpose but are not yet ready to move on do some odd jobs around here. I promise you everything you see is safe to eat, and your rooms will probably get cleaned if you’re not around, so make sure to let someone know if you want them to stay out,” Cin added before the two women said their farewells and left.
My mind was starting to feel like jelly. Souls doing dishes and cooking? Weren’t they supposed to be all ghosty and filamenty or something? A giggle burst out of me as I pictured dishes falling through ectoplasm, breaking on the ground but covered in ghost goo. There wasn’t anything especially funny about it. I knew that logically. The problem was, my brain was starting to give up and was making me slap happy. I heard the guys muttering around me, but I paid them no mind.
We had made it through another fight, over another hurdle, and we were still together. I had to hope tomorrow, not that I even knew what time of day it was, would be better. We could plan, Hunter could give me a history lesson, or we could even try to take the throne using all our sneaking abilities, if we had any. I didn’t care what we did so long as no one tried to kill us for a day. It wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
6
Poppy
The guys had all made their way into one of the rooms, too exhausted to do much else, until only Shadow, Knox, and I were in the hallway. I looked at the two men. One was Mr. All-American boy next door with a badass side, while the other was practically a golden Polynesian god.
Knox’s long wavy hair only further accentuated the difference between them, but I loved it. When we were together, I could wrap my hands in it and pull him to me before wrapping the rest of my body around him, laughing with him about some stupid joke or another. Shadow’s hair was short, and he was beyond serious most of the time. The only time I’d seen him lighten up was when we were in bed together, and I couldn’t wait to see that again.
“You okay, angel?” Knox’s voice snapped me out of my comparison.
“Yeah, just overwhelmed,” I said honestly. I knew down to my toes that it was true, because this was what I did when I felt inundated by life. I focused on the small things right in front of me, like two men’s haircuts, instead of the big picture, like how the hell we were going to move forward from h
ere.
“You want me to walk you to your room, love?” Shadow asked next to me.
I could feel Knox’s longing through our bond, but I also knew that I needed to strengthen my bond with Shadow, and one way of doing that was spending more time with him. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. The problem was, both were equally as tempting, so maybe the rock and the hard place wasn’t the best metaphor. On the other hand, judging from the emotions coming through their bonds, hard places might be exactly what I needed.
“That would be lovely, Shadow. Thank you,” I said before turning to Knox. “I’ll see you tomorrow night, okay?”
Knox nodded, but I could sense the sliver of disappointment that wound through him. Without a second thought, my hands grasped his face and pulled him in for a kiss. The moment our mouths met, it was electric. My need became a thing with claws living in my skin, but that need wasn’t meant for him tonight. As our tongues wrapped and tangled with one another, I had to stop myself from climbing up his body.
Lust flared through my bond with Shadow, and I knew he was remembering our earlier encounters. I pulled away from Knox and whispered, “Tomorrow.”
He nodded and gave me a quick peck on the cheek before whispering, “I can’t wait.” As Knox strode down the hallway and disappeared into a room, I turned to Shadow.
My all-American man was looking slightly bashful, which sent a thrill up my spine. “Shall we?” I asked, wrapping my arm around his waist.
“I think I know which rooms aren’t taken,” he said quietly. Something about me kissing Knox had confused him, and I hated that.
“I’m sure together we can figure it out.” I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, not wanting to be too presumptuous.
As we started walking down the hallway, Shadow said, “Poppy, I—” He paused and pushed out a breath. “I need to know you don’t have a favorite.”
“I don’t, I swear.”
He guided us into a miraculously empty room and stopped just inside the doorway. “I should let you get some rest,” he said as he released my arm and turned to leave.
“I was hoping you would stay.”
He froze mid-step. “Really?”
“Of course really,” I said as I walked around to face him. “I want you just as much as any of the other men here. Right now, more so. At least come and cuddle for a bit. We don’t have to do anything. I just want to get to know you better.” It wasn’t a line. I swear on my best friend’s life I didn’t mean it that way, but if he initiated sexy times, I wasn’t going to turn them down.
I tugged at his hand, and he followed me back to the bed. Before I could get in, though, he spun me around and picked me up, taking me through to the en suite bathroom. A giggle burst from me as we stumbled onto the tiled floor.
“Before we do anything else, I’m looking at those wounds,” Shadow said in his Mr. Serious voice.
“Fine, but can we shower at the same time? Now that I’ve had a moment to think about it, I want to get some of this grime off me.”
He nodded, but fire blazed in the depths of his eyes. His bond told me exactly where his mind had gone when I’d mentioned the shower, and I couldn’t wait to see where the temptation led us. I peeled off the T-shirt I’d been wearing and let him take a look at the wound on my side.
“Our little make-out session stopped the bleeding, I think,” I said, my voice tripping over the words as I spoke. Exposing an injury was in some ways more intimate than sex to me. It was already something that hurt, a weakness, and I was giving him access to it. Sex was enjoyable—at least, most of the time—and could be just as intimate when emotions were involved, or it could be as simple as scratching an itch. There was nothing itch related about sex with my guys, though. They all meant the world to me, and not only could I not imagine my life without them, but I was afraid that if something happened to one of them, it would throw off the equilibrium of the whole thing, or break me. One of the two.
“I think once we get these clean, we should be in good shape, especially if you take some energy from me like you were supposed to with that little make-out session.” His emphasis on the word little made me laugh. The man was amazing, stunning in every way, but was almost as touchy as Hunter when it came to his ego.
“I’m sure we can improve on it,” I said, goading him as I stripped off the rest of my clothing and turned the shower on.
Shadow grumbled behind me as steam began to fill the glass-walled cavity almost immediately. I guessed the furies liked things warm. As I stepped under the steaming water, I turned around to wet my hair just in time to see Shadow getting naked. His body was a symphony of movement, each muscle clenching and releasing as he went through normal movements, but seeing it for the first time like that, seeing Shadow in all his glory, made my blood run hotter than the shower water.
“I can feel you watching, you know.” He chuckled as he straightened, a lazy grin stretching across his face.
“If you’re going to put on a show, then I’m happy to be your audience.”
“Didn’t realize I was show worthy,” he said, and although I knew he was joking, there was a thread of truth to it as well. I couldn’t wait to learn more about him and his life, to take that thread and pluck it from existence, leaving a stronger, more confident thread in its place. Shadow was unstoppable when it came to combat or something active, but our interactions had left me with the distinct impression that he had a deep vulnerability that he hid away.
“Sweetie, you’re a star. I’d give you a whole damn series of movies or the longest-running TV show ever, but the problem is, I want you all to myself.”
“Well, you’ve got me.” He shoved his boxers down, and I was able to fully appreciate the show he’d been putting on. It wasn’t that he’d saved the best for last, because he’d already shown me the best part of him with that oversized heart of his, but his package was certainly a showstopper.
My breath caught in my throat as he moved into the spray of the water with me. “Shadow . . .”
“Poppy.” He sighed as his hands trailed from my shoulders to my wrists. “I’ve waited for you for so long.”
He stepped into me then, pressing his body against my own, as his lips crashed down on mine. It was like the kiss in the tunnels, but now he was able to take his time. Hands cupped my face while his lips, tongue, and teeth bent my mouth to his will. I clung to him while lightning bolts of pleasure shot through me all the way to my toes.
“Shadow, I need you,” I gasped as he pulled away from me, releasing my face as his hands went to my chest. I wrapped my hand around his cock, running it up and down the water-slicked skin so he couldn’t mistake my request.
“Poppy, you aren’t ready yet,” he whispered before nipping my ear.
“You sure about that?” I asked, arching my back so my breasts were firmly pushed into his hands.
He paused and raised an eyebrow at me. When I raised one back, he gently squeezed my nipples without breaking eye contact with me. I bit my lower lip for a moment before a moan escaped me. Shadow’s eyes tracked the movement of my mouth while he released one of my breasts and his hand slid down my stomach to the apex of my thighs.
I widened my stance, allowing him access to the most sensitive part of me. His fingers slipped between my folds and found my bud of pleasure, circling it and driving me mad with need. When his fingers left my clit, they move deeper toward my core, testing the waters before he sank them into me. We both groaned with pleasure.
“God, Poppy, you’re so wet already.”
I whimpered, actually whimpered, as he began thrusting his fingers in and out of me. It was good, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t what I really wanted.
“Shadow, I need you inside me. Please . . .” I was unable to keep my train of thought as kisses rained down my neck while he stroked my pussy and played with my breasts.
When his hand left my aching core, I looked at him, sure that the question was dancing in my eyes.
�
��You sure?” Two simple words, but they melted my heart.
“Of you? Always.”
He gripped my hips then and picked me up, pressing me against the wall of the shower. Water sluiced down his back, and I couldn’t get a good hold as I felt his cock nudge at my entrance. I knew it was big—I had seen it and held it, after all—but as he pushed into me, I felt just how big he was. Every square inch of nerves that he touched tingled with pleasure. As the ridge of his cock slipped in, I realized exactly how much more there was to go, and I bit my lip in anticipation. I could feel his eyes on my mouth again.
“If you don’t stop that, I won’t be able to hold back,” he said through gritted teeth as he slowly pulled out.
“Don’t,” I said, letting my lip pop from between my teeth.
“You’re too tight. I’ll hurt you,” he whispered as his whole body froze. The apprehension in his voice let me know how serious he was.
“I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions.” I cupped my hand to his jaw and looked him dead in the eyes, letting my sincerity shine through my own. “Trust me, Shadow. I can handle you at your worst and at your best. I’m never going to run from you.”
He leaned in and kissed me then, but it wasn’t the crushing kisses I’d experienced with him before. This time, when his mouth connected with mine, it was tender and loving. I curved my spine, rolling my hips toward him, showing him what I wanted. He didn’t need any further temptation.
After pushing between my folds, the head of his cock was inside me once more, and when I curved my hips again, he thrust into me in one hard stroke. I screamed for him. Never in my life had I felt so close to coming just from having a cock inside me. Everything was brighter. Pleasure rippled through me, ready to explode out of me, but something kept it locked down.
“I love you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, my sex-addled brain letting my subconscious take control for too long.
He pulled back and stared at me. Part of me felt compelled to justify it, but I didn’t want to lessen what I’d just said. After everything the two of us had been through together, I needed him to know how much he meant to me. He swallowed thickly before saying, “I love you, too.”
