by Willa Hart
“What the hell is all of this?” I asked as I looked around.
Danic came up behind me and helped me out of my jacket, then kissed the crook of my neck softly, sending arrows of desire to my core.
“It’s for you, Favor,” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear in the most tantalizing manner. “It’s all for you.”
Hale handed me a glass of wine and dropped a kiss on my cheek. “Why don’t you take a load off.”
I still wasn’t sure what was going on, but I suspected I’d like it. A lot. So I sat in the nearest chair and waited for whatever was to come next. Hopefully me.
Hale kneeled before me and pulled off my shoes. Thank god I managed to set my wine glass down before his thumbs dug into my instep and sent me into paroxysms of delight. Then Danic’s strong hands started working on my shoulders.
Heaven!
I was almost sad when Ryen interrupted us. “You’re entirely too overdressed for what we have planned, little missy.”
It took superhuman effort for me to crack open one eye. “Think so?”
“Know so,” he said, pushing past his cousin to help me stand.
Thankfully, that’s all I had to do as various hands and fingers made quick work of my clothes. Once they were in a pile on the floor, they all took a step back and looked pointedly at my stomach. The Heart. I took the pouch off my waist and tucked it under the mattress, the best place in the little cottage to keep it safe and somewhat muted. Once that annoying task was complete, Ryen swept me into his arms and carried me to the bathroom, where the tub stood full of steaming bubbles and every other surface was covered in flickering candles.
The scented, fizzing water swallowed me up to my neck and I sank into the warmth of it. I have no idea how long I’d lain there, letting the hot bubbles ease the tension from my muscles, but when I finally opened my eyes again, every last one of my boys stood stark naked in a semi-circle around the tub.
I smiled softly at Kellum as he stood over me, then bent low enough to kiss me. His fingers worked deep into my hair, cradling my head to keep me close. I sighed into the kiss, letting my eyes fall closed, and before I knew what was happening, fives pairs of hands dipped into the water and began touching me, oh…everywhere.
Hands massaging my feet, my calves, my thighs. Fingers slicking down every curve, valley, and peak, teasing and tantalizing me with their expert movements. I gasped against Kellum’s mouth when someone’s fingers slipped inside me and someone else’s found my clit. More fingers found my nipples. I had no idea whose hands were doing what and I never wanted them to stop.
When Kellum finally pulled away from me, I said, “I think bath time is over.”
“Are you sure?” Hale asked, concern flickering over his face as his hands rubbed my legs.
I gave a soft laugh. “If I get any hotter, I’ll spontaneously combust. Besides, I can think of other ways for you guys to help me relax. Can’t you?”
“You heard the lady,” Ryen cried far too loudly, grabbing a big fluffy towel while Danic pulled me from the water and into his arms.
The guys took turns drying me off, rubbing me until my skin glowed pink. They thirsted for me, eager to get their hands on as many parts of my naked body as they could, and I wanted to give it all to them.
As Danic gingerly laid me in the middle of the bed, Ash looked at me as if he were inspecting me. He cocked his head to the side and asked the others, “So how do we do this?”
“Excellent question,” Hale said, his gaze hungrily devouring my damp form.
“I know,” Ryen said. “Let’s experiment on her. Whaddya say, Party Favor? Wanna find out what it means to be the mate to five dragons?”
My heart jumped into my throat and I couldn’t stop a slow smile from spreading. “Best offer I’ve had all day.”
All five climbed onto the bed and I had the distinct impression I was about to become the main course to a flock of dragons. My brain was far too fuzzy with desire for them to try recalling what Ryen called a group of dragons.
Ash was first out of the starting gate, bruising my lips in a passionate kiss that set my very skin aflame. A growl rumbled up from deep within his chest, hinting at the aggressive and powerful beast that lurked inside him. I reached between us and gripped his rigid cock in my hand, pulling a groan from him as I stroked him.
Someone’s lips wrapped around my right nipple. I gasped at the sensation and peeked to find Hale tending to me there. His teeth grazed my tender peak and I squirmed in response.
But I didn’t squirm for long. A pair of strong hands latched onto my hips and held me still. My legs were thrown over Kellum’s shoulders as his tongue drove me to distraction.
“Oh god,” I moaned into Ash’s mouth.
Kellum flicked and licked and kissed and nipped, matching the rhythm of my gyrating hips. He wanted the kill, and I was his prey. I actually felt his smile on me.
And Hale’s on my right breast.
And Ryen’s on my left.
Ash even smiled when he broke away from me.
Only Danic seemed impassive — Resting Danic Face for the win — but one only needed eyes to see the evidence of his enthusiasm jutting out as he stood watching. All my boys were loving this and it reflected off me like the sun gleaming off gold.
Tension built in me so quickly I thought our little “experiment” would be over before it even started, but it had only begun. Ryen pulsed in my hand, desperate for release but managing to hold back. I knew he — all of them — would wait to satisfy their own pleasure until I was completely sated.
I tried to hold back myself, but Kellum was far too talented with his tongue, and the others only deepened my pleasure. My breaths grew fast and shallow, and my entire body flushed. Then another pair of lips demanded my attention on the other side of my face. Danic had finally joined the party.
“That’s it, babe, just let yourself go,” he cooed.
That was more than I could take. I drew in a sharp breath and felt warmth spreading out from every spot my boys were touching. As an intense orgasm hit me like a freight train, my body tried to convulse and thrash around, but their strong hands held me down so they could continue tormenting me. Their attention and care made me feel so warm and loved…and we weren’t done yet.
Not even close.
When the climax passed its crest, I gazed up at Ash as Danic peppered my neck and ear with kisses. Wordlessly, I tugged at his cock, and he got the message, moving so the bulging crown of his cock brushed against my lips. My lips parted for him and my tongue danced along his length as he slowly seated himself fully in my throat.
I moaned as I reached for Danic’s cock. Once I found its thick, robust girth and stiff readiness, his huge, powerful body shuddered and his cock thickened in my hand. Now that I’d been satisfied, I wanted to drive them all to the finish line as hard as they’d driven me.
Sensation and delight drove me to the brink of insanity. I could no longer differentiate between the pleasures my boys were doling out, they all just seemed to combine into one massive display of love, and I couldn’t get enough.
Movement from down south finally stood out. Kellum was kissing the length of one thigh draped over his shoulder. Then I felt the head of his cock hot against my desperate opening. The most I could manage, what with four other guys attending to my every sexual need, was to lift my hips slightly, giving Kellum better access.
It was all the permission he needed.
When he slid into me all the way to the hilt, my cry of pleasure was muffled by Ash’s cock, which sent him over the edge of bliss. One hand fisted in my hair and he plunged deeper into my mouth as I lapped up everything he could give me. Ash’s body and balls twitched as the last of his climax faded, and he eventually pulled away from my greedy lips.
With a frustrated whimper, I turned to Danic, who seemed more than happy to take Ash’s place. I gobbled him up as Kellum fucked me hard and fast, then I reached out blindly and fumbled for Hale and Ryen’s cocks.
Even Ash returned to murmur sweet nothings in my ear as the rest of us worked off the frustrations and fears and anxiety of the last few weeks.
It was the first time we’d all been together, despite having slept in the same bed since leaving L.A., and the feeling of connectedness lifted all burdens from me. My brain said it wouldn’t last, that I’d have to face all the tough stuff soon enough, but my body told my brain to shut the fuck up and enjoy the ride while it lasted. Besides, strengthening our bond could only help us in the long run. I had no clue if this was the best way to do that, but it certainly was the most fun.
Stray fingers found my clit and my body reacted instantly. Arching against the mystery hand gave Hale and Ryen better access to my breasts and urged Kellum on as he pounded me into oblivion. The universe sucked in on itself, and with the intensity of a supernova, we all exploded at once.
We rode our mutual wave of ecstasy together, each person’s rapture communicated to the others psychically as well as physically. Love poured from each one of us in a flood that lifted me to new heights of euphoria. Each stroke, thrust and clench led me up a seemingly never-ending staircase until I thought I might black out. The experience was so intense, I almost welcomed it.
But before my world went dark, my brain took over and thought one word: Zoe. Since love had led me to Max, I figured there was no better time than now to try to find Zoe again.
To my utter shock, it worked.
Chapter 15
“Oh my god!” I gasped myself awake, my hands reaching out for the sleeping bodies surrounding me. “Guys! Wake up!”
My boys stirred, all of them as exhausted as I’d been a short time before. Good sex did that to a body. Only Danic jerked himself upright, his gaze darting around in search of an impending threat.
“What is it?” he snapped, his tense body relaxing a bit when he didn’t see anything that needed immediate killing.
“I just saw Zoe!”
That woke up the others in a hurry. I let the blanket fall away and crawled to the middle of the bed, so they were surrounding me. After the vision I’d just seen, I needed that comfort.
“What happened?” Kellum asked, rubbing his eyes with one hand, while grasping my hand with the other.
“I’m not entirely sure,” I explained. “After…you know…I was sorta floating in outer space, thinking how much I love each and every one of you. How strongly we’re bonded. How fucking happy I am. Then it dawned on me that the last vision I had — the one of Max telling me to keep the Dragon’s Heart safe — happened when I was full of love and happiness. I’ve never felt more loved than a few minutes ago, so I thought I might as well give it a shot…and it worked!”
Ryen stretched his lithe body languorously and gave me a sleepy smile. “So what you’re saying is that we fucked you so well we reactivated your vision powers?”
I was too happy to pretend to be offended. “Sure, if that’ll get your ass out of bed and on the road.”
Ash yawned as he pulled himself onto one elbow, ignoring my hint. “What did you see?”
“It was just a quick flash, like a snapshot. Every vivid detail is etched into my memory. First, I was outside, looking up at this really depressing, drab apartment building. It had a very distinctive, Soviet-style architecture and was made of concrete. Very mid-century. Then I blinked and found myself in a really dark, dreary hallway, with heavy doors on either side. I walked through the door of apartment 509 and there she was!”
“And this was one of your visions, not a dream, right?” Hale asked.
“Definitely. I can tell the difference now, and this was a vision. We have to go find her!”
I scrambled between Danic and Ash, and tossed our discarded clothes around until I found my own. Then I pulled the Heart from its hiding place and got dressed. The guys were a little slower to get moving, but I sensed their excitement.
“How’d she look?” Hale asked as he dressed.
I tried not to look too happy, even though I knew they could feel it in me. I didn’t want to jinx anything. “Better than I expected, actually. Not happy, naturally, but she’s alive and appears to be healthy. For now. They must have moved her because the room she’s in is cleaner than the cell I’d seen her in before. So what’s taking you so long? Let’s get moving!”
“You heard the woman!” Ryen shouted, hopping off the bed and pulling on Kellum’s shirt. “Up and at ‘em, boys!”
They all groaned, but at least they were getting dressed. As much as I’d wanted to lie in a big pile of sweaty limbs and other body parts, a fire had been lit under my ass and I wasn’t about to let this chance to find Zoe slip through my fingers. We’d been waiting too long for this moment.
“Okay, so where are we going?” Kellum asked as he tugged on his jeans, excitement lighting his eyes. “Where’s this apartment?”
I froze in the middle of pulling my shirt over my head. “I don’t know.”
“I thought you said you saw the building,” he said.
“I did, but I don’t know where anything is around here.”
“Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand and heading for the door. “If anyone’s going to know, it’ll be Tamar.”
Kellum called Lazlo as we drove past their stone house, and soon they followed along in their own rattletrap Bronco. My heart galloped along as fast as the SUV did, the flicker of hope that had been in my heart finally blazing bright. I’d caught Zoe’s scent on the wind and I wasn’t going to lose it this time.
The sun blazed high overhead by the time we reached Luka’s house. Kellum hadn’t even pulled to a full stop before I flew out of the passenger seat and sprinted for the door. My incessant knocking resulted in a very annoyed Alek throwing caution to the wind and opening the door wide.
“What do you want?” he griped.
Luka joined him, his frown softening into curiosity when he saw all of us gathered on his front stoop. “What are you doing here? We called off the search for the melot hours ago.”
“We know,” I said, trying to peer past him into the house. “I had a vision of my friend.”
He and Alek exchanged a doubtful look. “Really?”
“Yes, really,” Danic growled, challenging them to question my abilities again. “Where’s Tamar?”
Luka sighed and stepped aside. “Inside. She will want to hear about this.”
We found her in the kitchen, deep in conversation with Mariam at the kitchen table. They looked startled to see us so soon.
“What’s going on?” she asked in Balaur, for Mariam’s sake.
“There’s been a break in the case,” Kellum said, dropping a hand to my lower back.
It was a show of commitment to me, for Mariam’s sake, as well as mine. I no longer needed the reassurance, but she needed to know to back the hell off my man. Not that I was jealous or anything. And notice she did. Her perfectly plump lips pursed and her eyes held far too long on Kellum’s casual, yet intimate, gesture.
“What?” she snapped, carefully avoiding my gaze.
“I finally had a vision of Zoe,” I said to Tamar, ignoring Mariam’s pout. “I couldn’t see an address, but the building is one of those ugly cement apartment blocks from back in the day. Sound familiar?”
Mariam blew out a derisive snort. Tamar took a more diplomatic approach.
“Sure, it does. There are at least three different low-income neighborhoods in Turdzi with such standardized buildings — what I believe you call tenements — and they’re all basically identical. Did you see any more details?”
I thought back to my vision and tried to recall every tiny characteristic of the building. It stood five stories high, sported a kicky beige and cream color palette and had about eight million windows. Every other set of windows boasted a tiny balcony with a rusted railing. I couldn’t recall much more about the exterior, other than a feeling it was one of several such structures.
“That could be any of them,” Mariam grumbled and crossed her arms in a huff.
&
nbsp; Sore loser.
I turned my attention to the interior of the building, the hallway I’d seen. It was just a standard grungy hallway, with no identifying features, but outside the window at the end stood a huge, long-dead pine tree. The bark was gray and black, and the spindly branches had been stripped of all its needles, giving it a depressing, almost ghostly vibe. The top veered off to the right at a looping ninety-degree angle, looking like the tail of a shaved cat. Tamar looked flummoxed but Mariam’s eyes lit up.
“I know that tree,” she said, turning her excitement on Tamar. “It’s in the Bravu neighborhood.”
Tamar nodded. “Yes, yes, that has to be it. But which flat is she in?”
“Five-oh-nine,” I said proudly. “I saw it on the door.”
Tamar jumped up from her seat and ran around to pull me into her arms for a brief hug before turning a bright smile on her brother. “Well, what are you waiting for? We have a human to rescue!”
The small house erupted in organized chaos. Lazlo jumped on the phone and called in every last one of our enforcers, who would no doubt be grateful for the chance to finally do something other than wander around our lonesome bit of mountainside. Luka barked out orders to his crew, then he and Mariam huddled at the table to work out a plan of attack.
“There’s a back exit in that one, isn’t there?” Luka asked Mariam, who nodded. “And if I recall correctly, that flat, being odd-numbered, would face the street out front.”
“Exactly,” Mariam confirmed. “You, Alek and I should hang around outside in the front to act as a diversion. Meanwhile—”
“Meanwhile,” Kellum broke in, sitting at the far end of the table, “my team will rush in through the back.”
“Makes sense,” Ryen said, draping an arm over my shoulders. “A thunder of dragons milling around out front might tip off the bad guys for sure.”
Tamar, Luka and Mariam gave him a curious look at his terminology for a group of dragons, then turned their attention back to planning the assault. The rest of us exchanged pointed glances as we silently approved of the plan. Not only did it make perfect sense, but we still couldn’t be sure who to trust and we had a direct order from our acting casique to trust no one. None of us wanted to rush into a trap with potential enemies flanking us the entire way. I caught Lazlo’s eye and he gave me the subtlest of nods to confirm we were all on the same page.
