by Zandria West
‘One day, maybe…’ I hear the smile in his voice as he bites again, pulling at my lip with his teeth before plunging his tongue deep into my mouth, my own tongue dancing eagerly in return. His fingers trace a line around my jaw, down the side of my neck, along my collarbones. I’m suddenly intensely aware of my body. Of where Gabriel’s hand is resting on my hip. Of the curve of my breasts just beyond where Alex is touching me. I hold back a moan. Alex’s hand slowly edges lower, stroking the rise of my breast through the material of my t-shirt and then gliding down to where my nipple is rapidly hardening. He circles my nipple and squeezes it. I bite my own lip this time, hard enough that the ache almost counterbalances the growing heat between my legs. I lie as still as I can. I don’t want to wake the others.
Then Gabriel stirs again, his hand moving from my hip across my lower abdomen, his fingers brushing over the mound of my pubis. He rolls to face me, his lips so close to my ear that each breath he takes makes my skin rise in goosebumps.
‘Lana,’ he whispers. I turn and watch him smile. He looks deliciously sleepy and relaxed, his eyes like molten dark chocolate, his skin so pale. Desire builds within me.
Oh god, I have no fucking idea what I’m doing right now.
‘Hi,’ I say, my voice coming out kind of wobbly.
Gabriel looks across and I see him see Alex. For a moment they just study one another. I can’t read their expressions. Then Gabriel looks back to me again. ‘Are you comfortable with this? With the two of us?’
I swallow. Comfortable is not a word I’d use right now.
Overwhelmed. Terrified. Incredibly turned on.
I nod mutely. Alex smiles and nibbles on my ear, then presses kisses on my cheek and the corner of my mouth. Gabriel places a hand on the flat of my stomach and gently bites the side of my neck. I run my fingers through Gabriel’s hair, grab hold of a handful and pull him closer, so he’s kissing my mouth. I vaguely feel Alex moving his kisses down my neck, and then he lifts my top to expose my breast and takes a nipple between his teeth.
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
A day ago, this kind of contact would have made my Bondmarks sing with energy. Since Clarissa tried to rip them from my body, the binding is deeper: the energy hums all through me. It isn’t constrained to my forearms and my back. I feel zings of powerful pleasure travelling down my spine, sparking in my chest, shivering along the backs of my legs and into the soles of my feet. Even my toes tingle. I moan – I can’t help it. Then I sense movement on the bed, from further away. Reuben is waking up.
I hear a low growl and feel Reuben shifting his weight. He’s the furthest away but despite his bulk, he somehow manages to climb past Gabriel. I feel hands easing my legs apart and I’m suddenly very aware that I’m just wearing a t-shirt, which Alex has pulled up, and a pair of thin cotton underpants. I feel utterly exposed.
Reuben settles himself into a kneeling position between my legs. I look up at him. His hair hangs long and loose over his shoulders. His skin is like burnished gold, but his body is marked with myriad small pale scars that I guess he got from living in the wild. His eyes remind me of light flickering over a forest stream – their colour is a complex play of green and grey and gold. Despite the easy access his position offers him, he doesn’t touch me. He just watches as Gabriel and Alex play with me. They’re massaging one breast each now, Alex biting so that I’m on the edge of pleasure and pain, and Gabriel teasing, circling my nipple with his tongue, pulling at it with gentle kisses, flicking it. The sensation is too much, it’s too overwhelming. It’s perfect.
I don’t know anything about magic really, but I know that whatever magic Gabriel has used to bind us, this is part of it. We’re floating on the power that joins us: strengthening it, clarifying it. I feel an intense connection with each of them - even Reuben, though I’ve known him such a short time. He’s keeping his distance still. This isn’t the time for distance. I struggle to sit up, pushing Gabriel and Alex off me as I do, then reach forward and take Reuben’s hands.
‘Kiss me,’ I say, drawing him to me.
I see an instant of shock in his eyes, something wild and animal. He moves forward slowly, and as he does I feel the powerful bulk of his body shifting above me. He’s so strong and so graceful. He places an arm behind my shoulders, supporting my weight. He looks into my eyes. His gaze is penetrating, like he can see everything I think and feel, every fear, every secret longing. And then, slowly, he leans forward. I feel the sudden warmth of his lips as they meet mine, the strength in his arm as he holds me. He dwarfs me with his size and strength, and I love it. We kiss, slowly at first, deep, warm kisses that I fall into like a sweet summer rain. I sense the excitement of the other two as they watch, and then I feel hands on my hips and someone pulling my underpants down. I lift my butt to make it easier for them and wriggle my legs free.
Half of my mind is in shock that this is happening at all. I’m in bed with three men. I’m in bed with three incredibly gorgeous, physically powerful, fucking magical men. And I don’t care what happens next; this is as close to heaven as I can imagine.
‘My turn,’ I hear Alex say, and Reuben shifts to allow him room. I feel hands on my breasts again, and I raise my arms as someone – Reuben I think – pulls my t-shirt over my head.
I’m naked now, and I’m not afraid.
Alex nestles himself into me, licking the length of my slit and then teasing it open, stroking my clit with his broad, soft tongue, and swiping down to where my centre is dripping wet. Reuben bites my neck, mounding my breasts with his huge hands, while Gabriel strokes my stomach with gentle, slow strokes. I let my legs drop a little wider apart, and hear Alex let out a moan.
He holds my lips apart and begins to suck and bite, letting first one finger, then another slide into my entrance. I lift my hips to allow him easier access.
‘Oh god, I wish more than anything that I could fuck you right now,’ he groans.
I laugh. Restraint seems as odd on Alex as an ugly hand-knitted sweater would. ‘What’s stopping you?’
He pulls away, leaving me tingling on the edge of some ridiculous abyss of pleasures.
‘Grayson, that’s what,’ he says, frowning.
I push the other two off and sit up. ‘Grayson? What do you mean?’
‘I can’t do it – we can’t do it – until Grayson is bonded to you too…’
I frown. ‘Hang on, explain that to me?’
It’s amazing how quickly my mood can turn from verging on ecstatic to fairly fucking pissed off.
‘We must be careful not to form an incomplete bond,’ Gabriel sighs. ‘Otherwise there might be weakness that cannot be eradicated, and our enemies will seek to exploit it. The bond is not complete with just the three of us here. We need Grayson, the magic requires it…’
‘Pity about that,’ Alex mutters, casting a daggered gaze at Gabriel like it’s all his fault.
‘A necessity, as you well know Alexander. The strength of the protective magic is derived from the union of what each of us brings – human, warlock, vampire, shifter and…’
‘Grayson,’ Alex says, shaking his head.
‘Why? What is Grayson?’ I have that sense that there’s something they’re not telling me.
Again, I see Alex and Gabriel exchange a meaningful look. This is getting to be irritating.
‘I think we’ll let him tell you that himself,’ Gabriel says.
‘Is it some kind of secret?’ A thought occurs to me that makes my stomach clench. ‘Is he, like, a proper demon? You know, horns and claws and empty black eyes? Like the Griearg?’ I think of the demon that Gabriel killed, moments before he would have killed me, on my first foray into Darktown. Call me fussy, but I definitely wouldn’t want to fuck Grayson if he looked like that.
‘No, he’s not like the Griearg,’ Gabriel says.
‘And Gabriel’s right. Unfortunately, we need him,’ Reuben says gently, taking my hand and kissing it, then gazing into my eyes. There’s something so soothing a
bout his gaze.
‘Grayson’s a mess,’ Alex says bitterly.
‘He’s the strongest of all of us,’ Reuben says, and I believe him.
‘Well, we’d better find him soon, whatever he is,’ I say, frowning with frustration. ‘You can’t be leaving a lady in the lurch like this…’
Alex scans the length of my naked body and smiles dangerously. ‘Oh, we have no intention of leaving you in the lurch, angel. We can’t fully consummate our relationship without Grayson. The magic’s funny like that. But that still leaves plenty we can do…’
Part of me feels disappointed at this news, but honestly, part of me is relieved. I’ve slept with a few guys before, but only one at a time. To be with all three of them at once… Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to the idea – at all – but I’m not entirely sure what I’d do with all those penises. Or is it penii? I don’t even know the correct plural terminology…
Alex snorts so hard the bed shakes. Reading my mind, as usual.
‘I’ve got an idea of what you need right now, and spoiler alert, it’s not a dictionary…’ he murmurs, then presses me back onto the bed, hooking my legs over his shoulders and lifting my hips, parting my legs wide.
Reuben growls, a low, desperate sound as Alex returns to licking. The sight of my werewolf watching so openly turns me on something crazy. Alex’s tongue and fingers are doing all kinds of black magic on me and in me. Gabriel is squeezing my breasts and punishing my nipples with his teeth and tongue. I moan as the pleasure builds. The magic fills me, throbbing and burning, so intense that for a moment I’m scared that it’s too much. I’m not strong enough to contain all the sensation that is pouring through the bond. I’m coming apart at the seams.
‘Stay with us, Lana,’ Gabriel whispers, biting my earlobe and trailing kisses down my neck as he flicks my already-aching nipple, sending judders of electricity through to my core. I can’t hold it anymore. I drop my head back and cry out as a wave of intense, bone-rattling pleasure pours through me, wiping me clean of every fear, every grief, every thought. For a few seconds, I barely exist, the aftershocks of the orgasm are so intense. Then I vaguely sense Alex’s hands easing my legs from his neck, which I’ve gripped so tightly in my release that I’m just about strangling him, like the villainess in some James Bond movie.
‘Sorry,’ I murmur, smiling blindly as he lowers me back to the bed.
He places a last, gentle kiss on my tummy, then meets my gaze and smiles, his lips still glistening with my juices. ‘Don’t apologise, angel. That was one of fucking hottest things I’ve ever experienced. And I’ve been around a while. How about you, Reuben? Had your fill of watching?’
‘Not in a million years,’ Reuben growls. I see the huge shape of his erection pushing against the light cotton pants he’s been sleeping in. That looks really uncomfortable. I lick my lips; I have an idea of how I might help.
‘Can’t I just….?’
‘No.’ Reuben and Gabriel answer simultaneously and definitively.
‘I can bear it a little longer, Lana,’ Reuben says, his voice gravelly but gentle. ‘Just until we find Grayson.’
‘Fucking Grayson,’ Alex mutters.
And then, a moment later, heaviness washes over me as the intensity of the pleasure recedes. I feel my body settling into the mattress, my eyelids becoming leaden.
‘It’s alright, Lana. You’re safe. We’re here.’
Gabriel’s words are the last thing I hear before I drift into unconsciousness.
2
GABRIEL
Eventually Lana falls back to sleep, resting on a wave of pleasure that makes all of us feel light-headed and easy for the first time in days.
I have told her part of what my mother told me, but not the whole of it. I have not shared the Great Witch’s command with anyone. I know I must, but I don’t know how. Lana has so much troubling her; she is facing danger and loss with such bravery. I cannot bear to add to her burden.
I leave Lana sleeping and make a strong coffee, then drag out the map chest that we keep locked in the storage closet. As I enter the code, the chest clicks open and the lid rises, a scent of dust and mystery filling the room. It’s been a long time since we’ve had reason to open it.
I hear a shower running – Alexander undertaking his daily ablutions. From experience I know that could take him some time. That suits me; I need to think. Reuben comes and silently sits across from me, his expression grave.
‘You have a plan?’ he asks quietly.
I frown. ‘There are a number of options.’ I shuffle through papers until I find the correct parchment and unroll it, using a coffee cup to weigh down one corner so I can settle it properly onto the table. ‘We can cross back over and make the journey to find Lana’s mother in the human realm, but I feel… uneasy about the idea. It’s a long journey through wild and difficult country. And we still haven’t found Grayson. With the binding incomplete, we’re vulnerable…’
‘And if we travel on this side?’
‘It will be quicker. Though I’m concerned that your movements yesterday crossing the Barrier to meet Lana’s brother might have been reported to the Council. If so, we need to stay out of sight. The last thing we want is to be picked up for a breach and thrown into prison…’
Reuben grunts again.
‘There is one path that I keep returning to…’ I pause.
Lana’s father entrusted me with her safety, and with helping to find her mother. I regard the trust he has shown me as sacred. I spent most of the night running over the possibilities in my mind, hoping for wisdom, for foresight. I prayed to the Goddess. In all the sleepless hours there was only one choice I kept coming back to, a vision so forceful I can only think that it was planted in my mind by the Goddess herself.
‘We could go through the Arvonne Forest. There’s a breach in the wilds just past its northern boundary that would take us close to where Lana’s mother was last seen. It’s not guarded, few know of it. Last I heard, the Council were not aware of it…’
I watch Reuben closely. His face is expressionless, but I sense a tightening throughout his body, as though in response to some apprehended danger.
‘And Grayson?’ he says gruffly. ‘You won’t find him in the Arvonne.’
‘True. I do not know what to do about Grayson.’
‘Lana’s sure he’ll come.’
I frown. ‘I hope she’s right. When I try to reach him through the bond all I feel is… a kind of dull grey emptiness. It worries me. I’m sure he’s out there somewhere, I’d know if he wasn’t, but it’s as though something were preventing him from joining us. We don’t have time to wait, though.’ I look up and meet Reuben’s eyes, and ask for a second time: ‘Would you lead us through the forest?’
It’s the only way. Reuben would have to agree to this route, he would have to help us find our way, and he would have to barter our safe passage. I expect that last part will prove the most difficult.
Reuben frowns and looks down at the map, studying it as though it might contain the answers we need.
‘How long has it been?’ I ask gently.
‘Not long enough,’ he says, his expression dark.
I know the pack did not make it easy for Reuben to leave them. When he first came to me, almost ten years ago now, his injuries were terrible – and that was just the damage I could see.
‘Would you lead us through the Arvonne?’ I ask again.
I cannot force him. If he refuses, I will find another way. But the visions of the Goddess seem clear to me: this is the path we are to take.
‘Let me think,’ he says, then pushes the chair back from the table and stands. I do my best to appear unconcerned. I go back to studying the map and hear him returning to where Lana lies sleeping.
I was worried about how the bonding would hold with Reuben, but I can sense already how deeply he has connected to Lana. The fiercely protective way he watches her, the gentleness of his words and touch. Whatever disagreements may ha
ve come between he and I, he is willing to overcome for her sake.
I feel hopeful.
Turning my attention back to the map, I trace a finger along the path that I keep returning to. Through the rugged foothills to the west, along the lower flank of the Arvonne range, into the densely forested region that remains the territory of the Grey Pack, one of the last remaining werewolf packs that retains its independence and has not yet come into the city or accepted the “protection” of the Demon Council.
Would they be ready to forgive their past differences with Reuben and allow us to pass through their territory?
It’s a gamble, but one that may prove worth taking. I can’t even let myself begin to think about what will happen should the Council find us. If the Council discovers the truth about Lana, they will tear her apart rather than risk her learning to use her power.
I take a sip of my coffee, which is cold now and so bitter it makes me shudder, then return to my maps. The weight of responsibility lies heavily on me.
I hear the murmur of voices and a minute later Lana approaches, wearing one of Alex’s t-shirts which hangs down almost to her knees. Her cheeks are still flushed, her hair is a brilliant blue mess, and Reuben walks behind her, watching her protectively.
‘Morning Gabriel,’ she says and smiles.
For a moment, all thought evaporates.
‘Good morning, Lana,’ I say, memories filling me of her soft skin, her warm lips, the sounds of pleasure she made as the three of us touched her…
Then she sees the maps. ’What are you looking at?’
I swallow, reminded sharply of the choices and hardships that lie ahead of us. ‘A route to reach your mother.’
She walks forward, the intensity of her interest filling the bond between us. She looks at the map more closely, and frowns. ‘Where is this? I don’t recognise anything.’