Return to Darkness

by Rebecca Royce

  I shivered and crossed my arms. No. It wasn’t a bad view. But I wasn’t quite ready to admit that yet.

  Chapter 3

  I sort of expected someone to join me in the shower. In fact, I waited a little bit longer than necessary under the stream. Stupid me. I should have just told them what I wanted. After my tirade in the airport, no wonder they were giving me space.

  Damn. That would teach me to throw a hissy fit.

  I finally turned off the water and dried off with the nearest towel. I could get used to a house like this. I’d never lived in luxury. My heart panged for the little house that had been mine for a while. I’d always miss it. This was just a rental, but I was going to enjoy how the shower was big enough that I could have fit my entire bathroom inside of it.

  Coming out wrapped in a towel, I discovered I wasn’t alone. Colton had waited.

  He narrowed his gaze. “I considered coming in. Wasn’t sure if that was a good idea or a bad idea.”

  I dropped my towel. “I waited.”

  He jumped up. “Sorry, wrong choice.”

  Colton wrapped me against him. He was warm, and he smelled like cinnamon and coffee.

  I dropped to my knees, and he stared down at me. “Lacey?”

  “Can you stand there and take it?”

  Colton flared his nostrils. “You’re for real?”

  I nodded. I’d never been so serious in my life. I pulled down the zipper on his pants. We never had time for this type of thing. Make love, run for my life from a demon or a nightmare or whatever, and spend the next day stressed. We were hardly out of danger now. Who knew what the fuck was going on?

  But what I wanted to do—yes, a lot—was take his hard, getting-more-erect-by-the-moment cock and suck until he came in my mouth. My mouth watered.

  I wanted to pretend that I was just on vacation in this big, beautiful house, which meant that making love to Colton was all I had to do that day. I tugged at the waist of his pants, letting them pool around his feet. He stepped out of them. His cock jutted out of the waist of his boxers. I could reach the tip, and I stroked it for a second before cupping it in my palm.

  “Lacey, you’re on your knees in front of me, totally naked. I’m not sure if I’m really awake. But if I’m sleeping, I never want to wake up.”

  I smiled. “Oh, I’m real. Flesh and blood. And totally hot to do this right now.”

  I yanked his boxers down, hard. He sucked in a breath. It almost felt like I was playing a role. I wasn’t this girl. This confident, sure of her sexuality woman, who had no qualms about getting on her knees.

  I stroked him once from tip to shaft before I put him in my mouth. He let out a moan, and his knees wobbled before he righted himself. Could he manage this? Or were we going to move to the bed so he didn’t hurt himself? I guessed we’d find out.

  It wasn’t something I had a ton of experience with, so I was going to rely on Colton to tell me what felt good.

  I moved closer. My towel had fallen to the floor, and I knelt on it. I held his dick in my hand and made one slow lick up the side before flicking my tongue over the smooth head. Colton gasped, tripping backward. I glanced up and found him, eyes closed, chin tipped toward the ceiling. He’d gripped the dresser behind him as if both to keep himself upright and stop himself from touching me.

  Well, that wasn’t what I wanted. I took one of his hands and moved it to my head. “Show me,” I whispered, and he shivered.

  Gently, he threaded his fingers through my hair until he held either side of my head. I went back to him, licked from one side of him around to the other, and then sucked the head into my mouth.

  His hands tightened minutely as he guided my head down. Using my hand, I gripped his base. When my lips touched my fist, I lifted off, my hand squeezing and trailing after me.

  I pushed down, twisting my wrist at the same time, and then lifted.

  Colton groaned, the sound filling the room. I held him a little tighter, bobbing up and down on his length. Between my legs was hot and throbbing, and I opened my knees a little to cool myself down.

  His strong thigh muscles twitched beneath the palm I used to brace myself, so I skimmed my hand up and down his leg. Then around, until I could cup his balls in my hand.

  I wanted to be careful, not make him come too soon or squeeze him too tightly. Cupping him, I massaged and rolled his sac. He cried out and held onto me even tighter. He began to move then. Up to that point, he’d let me set the pace, but something about what I’d done forced him to action.

  He rolled his hips with each dip of my mouth, speeding up until all I could do was hold on. I tightened my lips around him, swirled my tongue around his tip, and reached around with both hands to grip his ass.

  “Lace.” Tremors raced through his body, and he tried to pull my head back, but I held on even tighter, wordlessly telling him to let go.

  And he did. Warmth erupted from him, filling my mouth, and I swallowed. His movements became jerky, and he suddenly collapsed to his knees, yanking himself out of my mouth.

  He wrapped me in his arms and sat back against the dresser. Thank god Thorn had found a place with radiant flooring, because sitting my ass on cold tile would have really ruined the nice buzz I had going.

  “Fucking a, Lacey.” Colton was out of breath. He kissed the top of my head and held me tighter. “I—I have no words.”

  Mission accomplished.

  I smiled at him for all of a second before he carried me over to the bed and laid me down. “Colton, you don’t have to—”

  He didn’t let me finish, instead he pressed his nose against my core, breathing me in. “My favorite place.”

  My cheeks heated. I must have been bright red. But I didn’t care because a second later, he kissed my clit. I gasped. Yes, that was heaven. He moaned, pushing his hips into the side of the bed when he did.

  “Colton…” I sighed. “You’re killing me.”

  “Then we’ll both die from pleasure and go to heaven and do this some more.” He went back to what he was doing with his wicked, wicked tongue. I was wet, hot, ready, and I squirmed as he pleasured me. My heart rate shot up. I grabbed on to the bed, pulling at the sheets, looking for anything—anything—to anchor myself, afraid I really might explode and float away from this.

  I needed it.

  And then it happened. My body seized as pleasure flew through me like it had always been there, ready to release, and yet as though it were the first time, too. None of my thoughts made sense. I didn’t care.

  We both panted.

  I ran my hand down the side of his face, trying to breathe. He must have been doing the same thing. Eventually, he lifted his head to grin at me. “That was unexpected.”

  Winking at him, I wondered if I’d ever felt so relaxed in my life. “Stick with me, Colton. We’ll have a ton of unexpected moments.”

  His mouth met mine in the softest kiss. “I’m going to count on it.”

  Thorn looked up as I walked in the room. The house was quiet, and I guessed the Chees had left and gone to search for their dad. Colton was in the shower, but he’d be heading out, too.

  Smiling at me, Thorn put out his hand. “Hey, come on. I was just going to start reading about your heritage. Maybe we can figure out why they want you so much.”

  I should have been hungry, but I wasn’t. I’d eat later. My stomach was feeling funny, tense, despite how wonderful I’d been doing earlier.

  I winced. “Is it the kind of thing where I’m going to feel lucky that I don’t have horns and a tail?”

  “Maybe.” He shook his head. “No, in all seriousness. Once we know why they want you, then we can figure out how to get you off their radar.”

  “Do you think that’s possible?” I sat on his lap. “I’ve always been on their radar.”

  He shook his head. “Not true. You made it ten years in Alaska with almost no issue. So clearly you weren’t on the radar there in the same way. Anyway… let’s look. Don’t be scared, Lacey. All we’r
e seeing is what is true. It always was. Better to know about it than not, right?”

  I snorted. “Don’t discount the power of true self-denial.”

  He adjusted the computer monitor so it faced me properly, but I glanced at him instead. “I wasn’t exactly off the grid in Alaska, you know. I did all that work for Rick, identifying the paranormal.”

  Thorn wagged his finger at me. “I thought of that, too. The extra sense that lets you do the identifying. Anyway, here is what I think.”

  He motioned toward the monitor as he settled his free hand on my waist to grip me tighter before he placed a gentle kiss on the back of my neck. Thorn smelled like soap. He must have showered around the same time I had. In a gentler world, I could just lean back on him and rest in the heat of his body right now.

  But we had things to do. I had to believe there would be time. Didn’t people get that?

  I looked at the screen instead of closing my eyes to sleep. “Um… Thorn, that’s some kind of horse, right? I mean, it looks like a horse. That can’t be my ancestor.” I wanted to puke. “Can it?”

  He laughed, and I elbowed him. “No, that form is not your ancestor. They didn’t fall in love with a horse. But it could have been a horse and then shifted into some muscled, kilt-wearing male model that would appeal to your human ancestor.”

  I let out a long breath. “I shouldn’t be surprised. There are shapeshifters? Like werewolves? Or werehorses…”

  “That kind of thing, yes. But it’s in every culture. Travels through all different nations’ stories. Shapeshifters. We probably all have a little bit of it in us. Yours just may have come more recently, making it more potent. Or… you had more than one pouque in your past. I don’t know. And none of us are genetics experts. I can’t look under a microscope and go ‘a-ha!’ Much as I’d like. So we speculate and do the best we can.”

  I hated this so fucking much. “What can the pouque do? When it’s not looking like a horse?”

  “They’re seen as bringers of either good or bad luck to rural or marine communities. Funny, you lived in a rural community and then a marine one, sort of. Anchorage is a port city. Interesting.”

  I got off his lap. “No, it’s not. I can’t be making decisions based on my pouque blood. And what does that even mean, that I bring good or bad luck? Oh fuck, I am bad luck. I’ve always known it.”

  Thorn rose. “Baby, you are good luck.” He drew me to him even though I was stiff as a board and about to explode any second. Thorn never did have any sense of self-preservation. “Good luck. Not bad. You went ahead and rid the world of Erdirg for a while. All of us who know you are better because of it.”

  I kissed his cheek. “Thorn, this is a lot. Being back here. Learning about the fact that there is this other creature in me. I mean… am I to believe that I am going to shift?”

  “Doubtful. No, it’s a drop of blood. But think about it. What did you use to take out Erdirg? Your blood. No one even told you to do that.”

  Good luck and bad luck mixed. On one hand, Erdirg with all his murdery tendencies had been put to sleep. On the other hand, my blood had awoken him in the first place. “Maybe this is why my cousin Christopher was always going with Gran to bingo.”

  Thorn canted his head, eyes narrowed in confusion. “Huh?”

  “Good luck. She tended to win big at bingo. Pretty sure that was how she paid off the trailer in the first place.”

  He blinked at me, and a second later, a smile cracked his lips. He grabbed me, forcing my chin up so he could kiss me. “I fucking love you, Lacey Madison.”

  I loved him, too. Deciding to hammer the joke into the ground, I went on, “Such good luck.”

  He groaned, and I let myself smile as I shut my eyes and leaned against him. We sat there for a moment, swaying gently as I thought about what I’d learned. The shapeshifter stuff? I wasn’t surprised by it. Erdirg had changed shapes, and so had Mara. But having a little bit of luck in my veins? That bit floored me.

  But I’d take anything that could work in our favor.

  Chapter 4

  Thorn and I spent as much time cuddling as I did reading up on pouques. Or pookas. Or púcas. There were a lot of names for this thing that the guys thought was my ancestor.

  I snorted as I read aloud, “‘Notions respecting it are very vague.’ Great. Have you happened to do an image search on this thing?” I asked Thorn. “I’m afraid I’m going to give birth to some Muppet-looking creature.”

  He only shook his head and turned the page in the book he was reading. I glanced at the title. The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, and Other Little People.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me,” I muttered, and when he glanced at me sharply, I indicated the book. “What year was that book written?”

  Skimming to the front, he read, “Eighteen-eighty. And slow down, Judgey McJudgerton. This is a collection of folktales. Not an encyclopedia.”

  “Oh.” Feeling duly chastened, I went back to my internet searching. “It’s just that this seems like such a waste of time.”

  “More than half of research is ruling things out,” he mumbled. “For example, I can discount the part of this folktale that says pouques are known for jumping on people’s back. You haven’t done that since we were kids, and only when there was a scorpion skittering across the floor.”

  “Ha-fucking-ha,” I deadpanned. The thing was, I knew what he meant. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to take every bit of information about these creatures literally. There would be things here that rang true, and things that didn’t.

  “These stories were meant to explain things that frightened people. Or to give them a sense of security. Isn’t it nicer to believe that the shadow you see in a dark field at night is some benevolent creature?”

  Yeah. I’d read something about pouques being guardians of the land. That was a nice thought. I’d rather be a guardian than a piggybacking goat-person.

  He held up his hand. “Don’t. I know you’re about to make another goat joke. No more goats. You are mostly human. You know that. I can feel it.” He roamed his hand over my body, touching me everywhere, and stopping right over my right breast. I caught my breath. “Really, really human to me.”

  I had trouble speaking, which he had to know because he lifted an eyebrow in a challenge. “Maybe I’m just a shapeshifter who has been plotting this whole time to steal your sperm. Ever think about that? Maybe I’m a sperm stealing monster?”

  Thorn flipped me over, and I squealed as he pushed me down on the couch. “Then I give in. Willingly. Steal my sperm, Lacey. I give in. You win.”

  I laughed, throwing my head back. “Don’t you think about tickling me. I know you are. I can see that gleam and…”

  The door slammed open and then closed. Aaron stormed into the room, stopping abruptly when he saw us. We both looked up at him, and he laughed, a smile crossing his face. “Well, hello there, you two.”

  Thorn glanced over his shoulder. “Join in or get out.”

  I gasped. Um. It had only been one of them with me. Aaron took a step forward. “You okay with that, Lacey? What if I wanted to come and… play… with you and Thorn right now?”

  Swallowing, I had to force myself to think. Clearly, Thorn was okay with it or he’d not have brought it up. He must think I’d be fine with it if he wasn’t questioning me about it. And the truth was if they were game, so was I.

  “Are you two going to be… touching each other or just me?”

  Thorn smiled down at me. “Just you, Lacey. Even if we had those feelings for each other, and we never have, I can tell you that these days every man currently living in this house only has eyes for you. Aaron, Lacey here is having a hard time believing she’s a lucky pouque and that she isn’t about to turn into a goat.”

  Aaron approached slowly. “That so? Maybe we should check. I’ve heard that really, really good sex is a great way to get a shapeshifter to shift.”

  Sitting up further, Thorn winked at me. “I’ve heard that
, too. Maybe she just needs two people to make her come at once. Maybe that will trigger the shift.”

  I pulled my shirt over my head and discarded it. “Okay. Challenge accepted. Both of you make me come. If you can. Maybe you’re all talk and no action. You’re going to have to show, not tell.”

  My hands shook, so I crossed my arms to hide it. Then I stood, turned my back on them, and made my way to the bedroom. If we were doing this, it wasn’t happening where anyone could walk in. What happened if the other guys showed up? Was I somehow supposed to manage four at one time?

  I didn’t think I could. I was good, but not that good.

  Aaron and Thorn padded behind me, their feet quiet on the stone floors. My mind was full of possibilities, and my stomach was full of butterflies. I didn’t want to mess up, or do something unsexy.

  God. I hoped I could get out of my head enough to be good at this.

  Someone grabbed me, swooping me up and tossing me over their shoulder. I caught sight of Thorn’s smile as Aaron flung me again, and I landed with an oof on the bed.

  He came over me, smiling, propping himself on locked arms. As he studied me, the smile disappeared. “Nervous?”

  I swallowed and held his gaze before I nodded. Yeah.

  “It’s just us,” Thorn said from next to me.

  I glanced over as Aaron knelt back on his heels. Approaching me, Thorn studied me like I’d up and leave. I wouldn’t. I wanted this. It was just a little out of my comfort zone.

  “What do you need?” he asked.

  Good question. How did they do this? How did they put everything aside and just feel? “Get me out of my head,” I said. “Don’t let me think too much.”

  Aaron dove toward me, wrapped his hand gently around my throat, and kissed me. He didn’t give me a chance to breathe, let alone think. All I could taste was him. All I could feel were his lips moving against mine, his calloused hands rough, but not tight. He controlled the kiss, changed the angle and the depth of penetration until I was chasing after him. I fisted his shirt, pulling it up so I could put my hands on his skin.