“I changed my mind,” I said, propping myself on one hand as I stroked his cock and balls, spreading the viscous liquid over every inch of him.
He stared at me with fevered eyes flashing deep purple with his need. “What do you mean?”
“I was gonna let you fuck me again, but I think this time I’ll fuck you. How would you like that?” I emphasized the question by dropping my hand lower, stroking past his balls and parting his cheeks. I pressed two slick fingers to the tight ring of his anus and pushed in. Surprisingly, he gave in, relaxing for me as he tilted his head back and moaned.
“Sweet Mother, yes. Just don’t fucking tease me anymore.”
His need bordered on beautiful, and I was tempted to make him beg a little harder, but I wasn’t a sadist. I gave his cockhead one more sweep of my tongue before pushing his knees higher. He gripped the backs of his thighs, spreading himself wide. I positioned my cock at his glistening hole, and at his urging, slammed in hard and fast.
Pleasure rocketed through me at the tight clench of him around my cock, and I kept my gaze fixed on his face for any sign of pain. His eyes were closed, a mask of ecstasy and need still contorting his features as he wrapped his legs around my waist and rose to meet my steady thrusts. I held onto the headboard, matching his fevered rhythm as my own desperation grew.
“Fuck yes,” he muttered, opening his eyes to look at me. “Make me come.”
Breathless with the effort of chasing my own release, I obeyed, gripping his cock between us and stroking him hard and fast. He grunted, and our grinding rhythm increased, the bed banging so hard against the wall I hoped we weren’t waking the whole house. He saw my glance toward the headboard and laughed, then expelled a dark breath. I grinned, realizing his intention, and added my own, the two black clouds condensing together and slipping between the bed and the wall.
The noise became muffled, but our frenzied fucking only increased in tempo. He released the headboard and grabbed me by the neck, hauling me down to his mouth for a hungry, desperate kiss filled with biting teeth and lashing tongues. Then with a sudden explosive burst of magic, we both hit the pinnacle.
My cock spasmed hot and hard in his ass just as his flexed and erupted in my fist, hot semen spilling over my knuckles and onto his belly. His nirvana rushed into me just as hard, so potent it must have been building up all night. I released him and fell flush against him, grinding into him a few more times for good measure as his cock kept pulsing between our bellies and mine gradually grew soft inside him.
Spent and panting, I rolled off him onto my back and lay there with his cum cooling and drying on my belly.
“Fucking hell of a way to wake up,” I commented, glancing down at the sticky mess on me, and then the matching one on him. “Want to explain what happened to get you so worked up? You weren’t like this last night.”
He sighed and draped a forearm over his eyes. “You’re right. I saw her again. I touched her. She felt so fucking real, but I think we can only interact with her on the shadow plane for some reason.”
I absorbed that information silently, a small seed of jealousy taking root. He’d touched her.
“Did—did she touch you?”
He was silent after my gruff question, and I was sure he’d heard the faint tinge of bitterness. He dropped his arm to his side and looked at me.
“Don’t do that, dude. Don’t get pissy about this. As far as I’m concerned, she’s part of the job, a mystery we have to solve together. When Errol’s off, I plan to tell him too, unless he manages to find out himself.”
“She did, didn’t she? Come on, man, don’t be stingy with the details. I’ll behave.” The twitch of his dick caught my attention, and I narrowed my eyes and pointed at it. “I guess that’s a yes.”
He chuckled, glaring down his belly at the traitorous appendage. “Yeah, she did. It was like she’d never seen a naked man before. Or not in a really long time, at least. I think she’d have let me fuck her too, except she wouldn’t tell me her damn name, so I told her no.”
“Did you find out if she was watching us last night like we thought?”
We’d all agreed that we’d sensed her the night before, but kept the conversation in our minds to avoid letting her in on the fact that we knew. Believing she was watching had made the whole experience even hotter.
“We were right about that too. I just wish I knew who the fuck she was. I can only form a theory based on what she said tonight, but I need her to confirm the truth.”
“Oh? What’s this theory?”
“She’s a ghost of some sort, or at least the spirit of someone who was killed, and I have a feeling whoever killed her was a dragon. She’s definitely spooked by dragon fire.” He sat up and turned, setting his feet on the floor as if he was about to get up, but paused. He shook his head, pounding his fists on his knees. “I feel like I should know who she is. It’s like a memory that won’t come, you know? And she was warm, but not alive-warm, if that makes sense. She felt like fire. Dragon fire.”
My eyebrows rose, though I had no idea what to make of that. I really wanted a chance to experience her for myself, but my visit to the tree during my first official shift the afternoon before had been uneventful. Maybe she only came out at night?
I rose and padded into the bathroom Errol and I shared, frowning at the array of toiletries scattered over the counter. For someone so put together, he was kind of a slob. I ran a washcloth under cold water and wiped Razik’s cum off my stomach, then cleaned off my dick. “Why do you think she’s spooked by dragon fire?”
I glanced at him, and he grimaced. “I said I was frustrated. I wanted her, but she wouldn’t tell me her fucking name. So I got mad.” He shrugged and gave me a helpless look.
“You breathed fire at her?”
“It just fucking happened, all right? And she said she was done with fire-breathing assholes, or something along those lines, and ran away.”
“Fucking hell, dude! Now we’ll be lucky to get her to come out again if she thinks we’re a danger to her.” I finished washing my hands and stared at my reflection, pondering whether I looked like a “fire-breathing asshole” or not. If I got the chance to see her again, I’d have to be sure to hold back my fire. But I remembered the sensation of that presence the other night. As a dragon, we could sense auras as well as see them, and even though I hadn’t actually seen hers, I’d felt it. She’d been curious, even excited about watching the three of us fool around.
“Fuck you. You try letting her man-handle you and then not get pissy when she won’t say the one word you need to give her what she wants.”
“I’m not sure I’d care so much about having her name before nailing her, if she doesn’t want to give it to me.” I shot him a smirk then laughed at his withering stare. I guess Razik was the honorable sort, which was actually some comfort, though it made me feel dirty for just admitting what I had. I shrugged. “Maybe we can draw her out somehow so all three of us can talk to her. This weekend before the students arrive? Cassandra said she and Andrew would take Fridays and Saturdays, so we’d get a couple days off. I didn’t see the point at first, but now maybe it’ll work in our favor.”
“Yeah, good idea. But how?”
I wet another clean cloth and turned to the doorway, tossing it to him as I leaned against the jamb. He caught it and wiped himself off.
“Same way we lured her the first time. She likes to watch. And evidently, we can see her when we’re on the shadow plane. So two of us act as bait, and the other hides in the shadows until she comes.”
He looked thoughtful for a second, then a smile spread across his face. “I like it. I’ll get with Errol while you’re on your rounds, and we’ll work out details.”
Errol
After Razik outlined his idea to lure our ghost out to talk to her, Friday couldn’t come fast enough. None of us were fortunate enough to catch another glimpse of our mysterious ghost for the rest of the week, despite making a point to lurk around her tree
in shadow form for a little while every night.
The circuit of the island’s protective glyphs didn’t take that long, so there were always plenty of opportunities to stop. I tried talking to the strange little globe but got no response and would have believed the encounter on our arrival was a figment of my imagination if it hadn’t been for Razik’s nearly manic behavior after that night. He’d touched her, the bastard, and let her touch him. I had to know what that felt like for myself.
The house was a chaotic flurry of activity, with April and her mates still handling last-minute details for the arrival of the new students in two more days. They spent most of their time organizing the various workshops and studios where they taught, so the house was empty except for the staff they’d hired to handle meals. Both staff and students shared the big dining room for three meals a day, apparently, though so far this week, it had just been the two dozen staff who lived on the island full-time.
After breakfast, Razik, Salem, and I slipped away, with the excuse that we’d check out the various recreational sites on the island to make sure the paths were clear and the equipment was in working order. There was a volleyball court, a climbing rock, and a beach with a floating dock, along with a network of walking and climbing paths through the lush forests that blanketed most of the island. We made a point to pass by the tree as conspicuously as possible, making suggestive comments to each other while surreptitiously eyeballing the faintly glowing white globe.
It was a strange contrast to all the others, which glowed with a variety of autumnal colors from shimmering gold to a deep coppery red. Our ghost’s was silvery gray, with the faint silhouette of a tree inside. I couldn’t see her in it when I looked, but I didn’t want to be too obvious, so I only gave it the briefest glance on walking by.
Every time I did, a shiver of awareness cascaded down my spine. I was sure she must be aware of us too, watching us from inside, and the other two agreed when I sent a mental question whether they felt it too.
We’d decided to wait until after dark when the shadows were deeper, so the one hiding in the shadow plane would be less likely to be seen. The wait was killing me. As was the uncertainty whether I’d get to be the one to confront her. Razik didn’t think he should be the one, since he’d already spooked her with his fire. So Salem pulled a quarter out of his pocket and flipped while I called heads, bracing myself for the outcome.
The coin landed, and Salem smacked it down, revealing heads when he pulled his hand away. He sighed but tossed a wicked smirk toward Razik. “I guess you and I get to flip next to see who’s top and who’s bottom.”
“Brother, it’s your turn on the bottom, unless you weren’t already keeping track.”
Salem winked at me. “Guess you get to watch with her, lucky bastard.”
I hoped I’d get to do more than just watch.
The three of us went for an afternoon swim, but not even the chilly water of the Puget Sound could calm the heated agitation we were all feeling. Both Razik and Salem’s auras maintained a nearly constant red, tinged with violet impatience. I was sure mine looked the same. When I suggested blowing off a little steam together, neither one was interested. “Too fucking wound up to enjoy it,” Salem said, and Razik agreed with a gruff grunt.
When dinnertime rolled around, we joined the rest of the staff for the elaborate spread. April had hired a Gold dragon chef to prepare meals for the school. Her dishes were designed to satisfy every craving, but I don’t think she’d grasped how deep our particular need went, so the food only went so far to sate our true hunger.
It was the first time Salem was present at dinner since his shift usually spanned the evening meal. Each of us typically only had two meals a day and replenished our energy with snacks or sex in our downtime. There were benefits to having dragons doing this job, beyond the necessity of our bloodline. Dragons could go for long stretches without food for sustenance, as long as we had a willing partner to fill our well. When we did eat, we had enormous appetites though, as did most of the staff, including April’s six mates. As a result, there wasn’t a scrap of food to speak of by the time the meal was over. Our anticipation of the night ahead no doubt had something to do with our hunger too.
Finally, dessert was finished too, and one by one we slipped away. I waited until Razik and Salem were gone before excusing myself. I took my time ascending the wide mahogany staircase, deliberately taking in the gorgeous hand-crafted design of the banister and the high windows that graced the first landing. The window looked out onto the back patio and the sloping hillside down behind the house. The tree stood just beneath, all its beautiful globes flickering like candles in the darkness. Hers was lit brighter tonight, and I couldn’t help wonder if it was a sign of her growing interest in our activities. I hoped she’d take the bait.
The staircase was narrower leading to the third floor, and I cocked my head, listening for Razik and Salem. They were normally quiet when they fucked, at least if they believed someone might hear them.
I admit, I’d spied on them a little. The other residents were off-limits, but I had no qualms about slipping into the shadows of our rooms while on my shift to see what they got up to. I knew for a fact both of them did the same, at least the first few days while we were getting to know each other. They were pretty fun to watch and would probably provide a compelling scene for our ghost.
I was probably too vanilla. I lacked the baggage and hang-ups they had, I had no markings on my body like Salem, and I didn’t have piercings or a penchant for brooding like Razik. Their histories gave them both a sense of beautiful desperation when they came together that was captivating.
A rough moan sounded from beyond the door to our lounge, and my lips twitched in a smile. They were starting right on schedule. When I reached the top of the stairs, I paused in the shadows and exhaled all the air from my lungs, dematerializing until I was one with the shadows before slipping down the hall to the closed door.
I flowed beneath the door and resumed my shadow form in a dim corner on the other side, watching and waiting, only half my attention on Razik and Salem and their increasingly heated embrace. They were up against the counter on the far side of the room near the open window, in the same spot where we’d fooled around our first night here. Razik had Salem pinned, shirtless, his pants unfastened as he bit his chest and jacked his cock. Salem’s head was tilted back against the cabinets, mouth open and knuckles white where they gripped the edge of the counter. But his eyes were half-open, gaze darting around the room, probably wondering if I’d arrived and whether she was here yet too.
I debated announcing myself telepathically, but then she appeared, drifting in like the mist, a maneuver any well-trained Shadow understood. Except instead of a ribbon of darkness, she was a dull silver-gray cloud, coiling through the air like smoke.
She didn’t see me at first, her attention homing in on the other two. Her misty form remained shapeless, hovering a few feet from them before coalescing into a more solid-looking female shape.
Her intake of breath was audible from across the room. The other two weren’t aware of her, which we’d expected. But I could see her just fine and remained where I was, holding my breath and simply taking her in.
She was beautiful when the creepy skull-shadow I’d seen the first night was obscured. Her black hair cascaded in a shining sheet down her back and her skin luminesced silver, but her eyes were a vivid, glowing violet. She wore a flowing lace gown that barely concealed generous curves accented by toned muscles.
“Oh, but you boys are perfect,” she murmured, stepping close and placing a ghostly hand on the side of Salem’s face. She leaned in and kissed him, but he didn’t react.
I couldn’t resist commenting. “You’re kind of perfect too, you know.”
Benedetta
I whipped around in shock, not expecting to be seen, much less spoken to.
The pair locked in an embrace before my eyes were oblivious to my presence, but the third one, the biggest of
the trio, had taken on his shadow form and now stood looking straight at me.
“Errol? You can see me?” It was a ridiculous question to ask. Razik had seen me the night we’d talked, but being seen by one didn’t necessarily mean they all would.
Errol’s shadow was a dark, ghost-like version of the original, semi-translucent, with softened edges. But his expression was as real as anything. He smiled, and my heart thrummed in a way it hadn’t in so long I couldn’t remember. If touching Razik the other day had primed me, Errol’s smile set me fully alight.
He slipped closer, his feet moving as if he were walking yet not touching the ground. He moved the way Shadows move, gliding cat-like toward me.
“I can more than see you, lovely. I can hear you …” He paused when he came close enough to dim the light behind him and dipped his head close to mine, inhaling deeply. “I can scent you. Mmm.” Then the most delicious thing. A touch. His hand on mine, light as a feather yet there. “I can touch you.”
I let out a shuddering breath, the pair of wanton dragons beside us forgotten in favor of the experience of letting him thread his fingers through mine. I stared down at our hands, one dark, one ashy gray, light shining through them both. Shocks of sensation raced up my arm, through my shoulder, and down. The other night I’d had the chance to touch Razik but hadn’t let him return the favor. Now that I was the recipient of such attention, I could barely contain my need. My nipples pebbled beneath the lace gown I’d been perpetually stuck in since regaining awareness. Wet heat pooled between my legs.
He slipped behind me like we were in some dance, sliding his arms around my middle while his hand held mine, fingers twined and pressed against my belly. I held so tight I didn’t think he could let go if he wanted to.
“Don’t stop watching on my account,” he said. “I was enjoying the show too. I just hoped if I slipped into the shadows I might find you here. I’m glad I wasn’t wrong.”
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 24