“No, he didn’t, but that doesn’t mean he won’t change his mind as it suits him. He is a wildcard. Unpredictable. Which means even if he tells the truth one moment, he can find an opportunity to twist the truth the next if it gives him an advantage, gets him what he wants. And what he wants might change with the wind.”
“Then we’ll just have to make sure the wind doesn’t change,” he said, holding my gaze.
A chorus of moans carried from across the big suite, and Ozzie winced. I tore my shirt off over my head and tossed it aside, then unbuttoned my pants. When Ozzie glared at me, I laughed.
“Let’s fly for a while. Aside from the uneasy feeling I get in this place, it seems like my kind of city.”
He nodded. “It is exactly your kind of city, but up there is not the best way to see it. Put your clothes back on and follow me. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
We didn’t have the benefit of dragon smoke to conjure us new outfits at the moment, but the clothing Willem had supplied for dinner was still holding up, and Ozzie insisted it would do just fine until we could get out from under the oppressive atmosphere of the resort we were in. He took us first to a boutique in another resort, where we bought more lasting garments that suited us better.
“May as well look like rock stars if we’re going to be on stage tomorrow night,” he said, slapping down his card to pay for the clothes. I had to admit the new jeans the store clerk had chosen for me were comfortable, and the admiring look she’d given me when I’d asked her opinion was enough to indicate they did the trick. The soft button-down shirts and jeans were comfortable and less conspicuous on the street than the fancier clothing we’d been in.
Then we trekked to a tattoo parlor, and Ozzie conferred with the artist for a moment while I perused a tattered stack of binders on a coffee table in front. Ozzie unbuttoned his shirt and tugged one side open, showing the man his tattoo and pointing at me.
“Can do.” The man motioned to me and pointed to the chair. “Shirt off. This should only take half an hour or so.”
“Who, me?” I asked, wandering over.
“You’re part of the band now. You need a tattoo,” Ozzie said, his shirt still hanging open as he settled on a nearby stool. “Or you could get my name on your ass, your choice.”
“Fine,” I said, remembering the marks on the other men, though theirs all glowed from the addition of Deva’s magic.
I stripped my new shirt and jacket off and settled into the chair. When the artist began his work inking my skin, I stared at the tiny needle penetrating my flesh, fascinated by the way it infused my skin with dark color.
I wanted more than this mark, though. I wanted what the others had, and as the design took shape on my chest, I met Ozzie’s gaze and the longing in his eyes was so strong it left an ache in my own chest.
Only a few miles away from the tattoo parlor, I yanked the bandage off. It had healed almost instantly, but I didn’t need the man knowing that. I’d faked a little blood by sweating red to make it seem more human.
The next stop was a posh club with decadent lighting and comfortable booths. The hedonistic aura hit me the second we walked in. Desire and abandon filled the place, and I took in the undulating female flesh with interest. Once the nymphs finally decided to venture out of the Haven, this city might be an ideal place for some of them to land, or for Kyril and my other Thiasoi brothers to seek out mates.
We settled down with drinks, and for the first time since leaving the hotel, I finally felt like I was in my element. Sweet-scented, nearly naked women visited us several times, but I wanted nothing more than to watch. Being surrounded by the excess was enough to calm me down. I didn’t need to get wound up by allowing myself to indulge in any offers.
“You aren’t mated yet,” Ozzie said when I politely turned down yet another proposition of a private dance. I licked my thumb and peeled another crisp bill off the roll Ozzie had handed me before we came in, thanking a pretty young human woman for simply asking.
“Neither are you,” I said.
“You’ve been hard since we walked in. I wouldn’t blame you for taking advantage of the offers.”
“You’ve had as many as I have. And the fact that my cock is aware of its surroundings isn’t an excuse to follow through. Those twenties I’m giving the girls have just a touch of my saliva on them, so none of them will lack for offers for the rest of the night. Watching is enough for me.”
Ozzie nodded and took a long swallow of his drink, the ice clinking at the bottom of the glass when he set it down again. “Is it our blood meld holding you back?”
“The link doesn’t control me any more than it controls you. I just know that any pleasure I take would be empty. I’d rather not touch any woman who isn’t Deva. But I did get to fuck her yesterday. It wasn’t the ideal situation, but still, being allowed to have her fall apart in my arms again was enough to satisfy me until this wait is over.”
I gave him a sidelong look, but felt no shame for taunting him that way. If it pushed him closer to revealing the truth to Deva, it was worth it.
His jaw clenched and he immediately downed the fresh drink the waitress set in front of him. “I don’t have that luxury. I can’t fucking turn it off . . . the love. I wish I could, but I can’t.”
I chuckled. “I would happily strut around in primal form to avoid feeling anything but the need to rut, but I wouldn’t make a very reasoned protector if I did that. Love makes you a better man, Ozzie. Even though I fucking abhor your secret, if all goes well, it will only remain a secret for a little longer.”
He sank back into the cushy seat and rubbed his hands over his face. “Can you see the outcome? Will tomorrow night be the end of it once and for all?”
I pressed my lips together and braced myself for what I needed to tell him. “With Chaos involved, my link to the River is unsteady. I’ve been trying to glean some vision of the future from the others where I can. Willem is the only one whose future I can even get a hint of. He will come out of this happy. As for the others and you, I only see disjointed pieces, so I can’t tell when the events occur. I’ve been trying to sort them out in my mind all evening, to figure out what the pieces might mean.”
“What do you see?” he asked.
“I see you making love to her. I see us both, in fact. And it feels like a celebration. A victory. But I am afraid to trust it. While it may be true—my visions always are—it lacks enough context to know what the true scope of the outcome will be. And with the fragmented scattering of other visions in the mix, I see enough pain to concern me. I see Deva hurting. I see you hurting. But I can’t tell whether those painful moments are before or after the pleasurable ones.”
He took a deep breath, nodding. “Thank you for telling me. If it’s all the same to you, I think I need to be optimistic, for her sake.”
“Fair enough, but just be warned: It could go both ways.”
He was silent for a few moments, staring at the drink the over-attentive waitress had delivered a moment earlier. Through our meld, I could sense a decision brewing and wasn’t sure if I would like it. Finally he looked at me, his normally blue eyes gone pale gray and stormy.
“I want you to see the full truth so you understand. I know you’ve held back, even though you could have dug into my memories a dozen times since we melded. I’m giving you permission to view that night. The night I shared my soul with her.”
“But you won’t show it to me yourself,” I said.
“I can’t live through it again so soon. The memory . . . it’s too much for me to play out in detail, but you can go in and get it, can’t you?”
“I could, yes. But I feel like we’ve had this conversation. You’re saying you want me to take something from you because you don’t have the strength to give it. I can’t do that, and I think you know I can’t. You and I are partners now, whether we like it or not. If I take that memory from you, it throws the balance off. I become a thing I hate. Only creatures like Meri would tak
e advantage of an offer like that.”
I grimaced at the very idea of the nymph who had nearly destroyed our world before we’d killed her. “No, Oz. I’ll wait until you can share it with me willingly.”
I just hoped that when he did, it would be after the memory had been returned to Deva too.
38
Bodhi
Apparently, Keagan hadn’t realized that sleep wasn’t going to happen—not with Deva’s soft curves pressed up against me and our souls all tangled up inside her the same way our limbs were tangled together on the bed.
I couldn’t stop touching her. It was like some hungry beast had awakened inside me. My dick was rock-hard again and I was wide awake. The relentless desire from the night before hadn’t waned a goddamn bit, and spending all day trapped on a bus with my mom a few feet away had driven me mad. All I’d been able to do was hold Deva when what I’d wanted was to make love to her over and over.
“She’s a fucking addiction, isn’t she?” Keagan rumbled from behind me, reaching across and slipping his hand beneath mine to palm Deva’s breast. I moved my hand lower, caressing the dip of her waist and continuing over the swell of her hip.
My fingertips itched to slide between her legs, but I wasn’t inconsiderate enough to wake her up after the day we’d had, and after almost no sleep the night before. Besides, she looked fucking angelic sleeping on her side with her back to me, her cheek resting on her upper arm and her outstretched hand tangled in Rohan’s hair.
Rohan was no more asleep than we were. He gazed adoringly at her, his fingers entwined with her other hand against his chest. “She’s more than that. She’s vital. You guys know we’d be dead without her, right?”
I swallowed thickly and nuzzled her hair, taking a deep breath to control the overwhelming flood of feelings making it impossible to speak.
Rohan’s golden eyes saw straight through me. “Yeah, it’s just like that,” he said. “For all of us.” He tilted his chin toward the door. “For those two fools too. They can’t hide what they feel from me any more than you can.”
Deva’s breath hitched on an inhale and came out as a soft sigh. “Are you guys talking about me?” she murmured sleepily. She pressed her soft, round ass back against me and I grabbed her hip, holding her still.
“Angel, don’t get me started again or we won’t sleep.”
Deva rolled over to face me, her eyes bright. She rested her hand on my arm, sliding it down to my forearm, her gaze following. When she traced a line on my skin, I felt the strange tickling sensation I had the night before when I witnessed my tattoo move. I held it up, unsurprised to see the dim red glow of the dragon design twisting around my arm. Her hand remained on it, fingers lightly caressing, and my dick twitched with each touch.
“Who says I want to sleep? You guys all filled me up so completely before.” Her eyes twinkled and her mouth twitched alluringly at her double entendre.
I was bound up in the effort to resist my urge to kiss her when it hit me that she was mine now. Why the fuck should we hold back? I hooked my fingers around the back of her head and pulled her close, capturing her mouth with a moan of pure hunger. With surprising strength, she pushed me flat on the bed and slung her leg over my hips, still kissing me.
Her soaked pussy slid up the length of my cock and I pulled away with a gasp. “Are you sure? You’re not too sore from Rohan?”
“No. I need you,” she breathed, her hard nipples tickling my chest.
She sat up, and I groaned at the pressure of her hot core against my hard cock. In the ever-changing lights from the Strip filtering through the windows, she looked like a goddess, her skin still shimmering from all the magic she’d absorbed earlier. It made her look like she was carved out of black opal, fire flowing under her skin. I reached up and traced a fingertip around one nipple, marveling at the way my touch caused her skin to brighten and her aura to swell.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get tired of seeing you this way,” I said. I glanced at Rohan. “Does she look the same to you?”
He was on his side, his head propped on one hand, gaze still fixed on her as though simply looking at her fulfilled him in every way. He took a deep breath and smiled dreamily. “Yeah, if you mean her aura and the fire in her veins. ‘Resplendent’ is the word you’re looking for.”
“Fucking gorgeous,” Keagan said, lifting a hand to toy with her other breast. “Let her fuck you already.”
Deva’s aura was already wild with arousal when I gripped her hips and urged her to rise enough for me to position my cock between her legs. She threw her head back and let out the most decadent moan as she sank down on me, the sound echoed by a similar one escaping my own throat.
I let her set the pace, meeting her slowly undulating hips with my own, and when she lifted her gaze to mine again, I caught an unexpected glimmer of what looked like gratitude. It was only a flash, but suggested a deeper desperation than I understood lurking beneath her need to make love again so soon.
I didn’t know what had happened to provoke her need to forget Ozzie, but I understood the feeling perfectly. It had only been a few days since Keagan and I had been in the same straits over her. But it didn’t take Rohan’s empathic powers to see the broody drummer was as messed up over Deva as we’d all been at one point or another. There had to be a way to fix whatever was broken between them. As much as I loved her this way, I hated the idea of her hurting for any reason.
She rode me harder, the slick friction of her channel milking me so perfectly I saw stars. It was all I could do to hold on and keep up, but I did. I’d happily repeat last night if that was what she wanted, but was a little relieved to have two other men to tag team this increasingly wild woman who’d captured our hearts.
Rohan dipped his head and took one of her nipples in his mouth, and Deva let out an ecstatic, “Yes!” Then Keagan followed suit with her other breast.
They teased her until I was sure she’d lose it completely—hell, I was about to lose it just watching her, forget what she was doing to my dick. But they pulled away at the same time and Keagan sat up, moving around to position himself behind her. Her movements slowed and she sighed when he reached around to cup her breasts, his mouth close to her ear. He whispered something I couldn’t hear, but the hum of approval from her told me it must be good.
At Keagan’s urging, she bent over me, reaching for the headboard. The position forced me to lift my hips higher to spear her from beneath, but also put her breasts at the perfect level for me to suckle at each dark nipple.
My field of vision was so filled with her, I wasn’t prepared for the abrupt pressure within her channel, accompanied by her cry of anguished pleasure. I tilted my head to see Keagan’s big body behind her, holding her hips as he thrust forward.
Jesus fucking Christ, he was fucking her ass, and I felt every stroke through the barrier between us so acutely I thought I’d lose my mind. My own ass clenched with each of my thrusts up into her, and though I’d forgotten it until now, the slight soreness reminded me of the epic orgasm I’d had just a little while ago from Keagan’s dick inside me. It wasn’t something I’d get used to any more easily than I would witnessing the beauty of Deva’s aura, but I didn’t think I’d ever not love it now that I’d tried it twice.
“Goddamn, that’s fucking hot,” I said, meeting Keagan’s gaze. He grinned at me and slid his hands up Deva’s back, gripping her shoulders for better leverage.
Her mouth fell open with a strangled cry as we both slammed into her, our balls smacking together between her thighs. The crazy kaleidoscope of our mingled auras flashed around us like a light show, brightening with every movement.
“It’s beautiful is what it is,” Rohan said, echoing my inner observation as he bent over to kiss Deva’s shoulder next to Keagan’s fingers. He scooted down on the bed, lying close to me and slipping his hand between Deva’s legs, his knuckles against my pelvis as he began to toy with her clit. She let out a shuddering moan, her head falling forward so
her hair fell like a curtain around both our faces.
Her gaze locked onto mine, and in those multi-colored depths I heard music as clearly as if she’d sang. It resonated so deep I had no doubt it was the song our shared soul sang, something only the two of us could hear.
A moment later there came another sound that was just as much music to my ears: Deva’s orgasmic cry rang out, her pussy clenching so tight around me I couldn’t hold back any longer. I slammed up into her with a grunt as I came. Keagan cursed, bending over Deva’s back as he thrust hard into her a few more times, then stilled, his cock spasming inside her alongside mine with the force of his own orgasm.
We didn’t move for several seconds, merely clinging to each other and panting. But the need flared again within only a few moments. This drive was intense, consuming, and never-ending, but I was ready to ride it for the rest of my life.
39
Deva
The hounds buzzed around our group as we worked through a rehearsal early the next morning. They sensed us getting closer to our goal; that much I could tell when I linked to their minds. Mostly they watched and soaked up the magic flowing off me and my mates, but every so often Boots would become agitated and interfere with our practice, making insistent little warbling sounds and bouncing around the stage until I paused long enough to interpret his message. It always resulted in a slight rearranging of bodies that would change the overall effect of the show.
Not that there were many bodies to arrange. Ozzie, of course, was on drums and Keagan on bass. Bodhi would play piano, and Willem and Rohan guitar, except during the more dance-heavy routines when Rohan would join me and Llyr for a few moves. Maddie and Bodhi were my main backup singers, except for the finale when Maddie would sing her rendition of Sandor’s mating song with Willem filling in the other half of the duet. It was certainly an unconventional shift in the plan, but we needed her to sing the song, not me.
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