Beneath the Earth

by Laura Greenwood

  "Only at the end," she replied, pulling away from Flint a little. "But I'm glad to be able to see you now." The effort of stringing her sentence together had been a surprising amount but she didn't care. She could see them now. She would be part of this.

  "Good," Flint said, running the back of one of his fingers down her cheek in a surprisingly tender moment given how naked the three of them were.

  He reached out and pulled Macey's head back to his so their lips met once more. His kisses were different this time, full of more urgency. She enjoyed the demanding side of Flint, he didn't show it quite as often as the others, but she liked when it came out to play.

  "Sit on me," he instructed.

  Macey nodded and straddled him as he lay down and looked up at her. Nerves fluttered in her stomach. She knew what was going to happen and she wanted it, but for some reason, she was still a little apprehensive.

  "Relax, Macey," he said, stroking the insides of her thighs. She trembled, but not in fear this time.

  Slowly, Flint guided himself into her while Cam watched from behind. Or at least, that was what Macey presumed he was doing. She had no real way of knowing, but the body heat he was throwing off suggested he was still close to them. Plus, she could hear his breathing and the pounding of his blood in his veins.

  Pushing herself down, she took Flint into her completely. He made her feel just as full as Cam had, but in a slightly different way. It was amazing how different her men could make her feel, even if they were technically doing the same thing as before.

  She cried out as he hit that place inside her which was almost too pleasurable. He slowed down in response, which just extended the blissful agony.

  Leaning upwards, Flint cupped the back of her head and drew her down to him so her breasts were pressed against his chest. Her nipples scraped against his skin as they moved together in time, the sensation of which crashed through her. She was able to hold off on letting go, but only just.

  Cam's hands touched her back and he trailed them down. His touch was feather light as he seemed to explore every inch of her before cupping her ass and running his finger over the crease between it and her thigh. She shivered against his touch as Flint continued to move beneath her.

  Moving his hand inwards, Cam's fingers grazed across her opening, just where Flint was at the moment. He drew her wetness back and circled his fingers around the bud of her ass. Dark pleasure filled her. She knew this was seen as wrong by a lot of people, and that she probably shouldn't want it, but the part of her which begged to ignore those facts was winning at the moment and she had no desire to change that.

  Slowly, Cam pushed his finger inside her. At first, her ass resisted, but Cam rubbed her lower back.

  "You need to relax," he said softly.

  "I'm trying," she got out through pants. She wanted this, she really did, but it was hard to relax like he wanted when Flint was moving inside her still.

  "Flint, I might need you to slow down," Cam asked through gritted teeth, his impatience making itself known a little.

  "Sorry," Flint murmured, coming to a halt within her but not withdrawing. The slightest movement in any direction would remind her he was there.She was that filled by him.

  Cam began to work her ass again, this time slipping his finger a little further inside her. She moaned as he circled it around and added a second finger. The burn was both uncomfortable and one of the biggest turn ons she'd ever experienced, which made the pain all the worth it. She almost couldn't wait to feel his cock buried deep inside her, but knew he had to build her up for that or it would hurt far too much.

  Cam's fingers moved in and out of her faster and she bucked against Flint beneath her, who let out a groan.

  "Macey, please don't do that," he managed to ask, though he didn't seem too convinced either way.

  She tried to still herself but was writhing again in seconds. Flint's cock and Cam's fingers together were creating too many sensations for her to deal with. If she wasn't careful, one single movement would be enough to send her over the edge and she wasn't quite ready for this to end yet.

  "I think she's ready," Flint said through bated breath.

  "I think so too," Cam replied, an eager note in his voice.

  He withdrew his fingers from her ass and a disappointed whine slipped from Macey as she was left feeling so empty. Her protests were cut short seconds later when he pressed his cock against her ass.

  Needing him more than she wanted to admit, Macey pushed back, urging him onward. The burn returned as his cock pushed past the ring of her ass. Cam moved slowly, but within a couple of minutes, he was fully seated within her.

  Neither of her men moved as the three of them got used to their positions. She hadn't felt this full since they'd done this last time, but needed to catch her breath before they continued.

  In unison, the two men began to move gently, rocking in and out of her with a caution which she knew would disappear soon. It wasn't that their care for her would disappear, but from experience, she knew they'd all get caught up in what they were doing.

  When they didn't speed up quite quick enough for her, she began to thrust back and forth between them, hoping they'd get the message.

  Both men were hitting just the right spot, eliciting whimpers and moans from her as she came close to her peak once more. She tried to hold off for as long as she could, but it was too much and she began to shudder and quake between her men.

  Sensing her impending release, the two of them picked up their own paces.

  Pleasure crashed through her just as she felt the two men begin their own releases. The three of them writhed together before collapsing into a tangled heap and slipping into a deep sleep.

  Nineteen

  "Macey?" Jared shouted, rushing into the room. "I see you had fun then." His whole demeanour changed as he took in the three of them tangled in bed.

  "What?" Macey mumbled, her eyes barely cracked open. She barely had the energy to think and it was all Cam and Flint's fault.

  But they could do it again. Any time they wanted to. She'd take it any time.

  "I think Rónán needs your help," he said.

  She sat bolt upright, worried for her man. "What?" she demanded again.

  "He doesn't seem to be getting anywhere with Cara. She just keeps coming on to him."

  "She keeps doing what?" Macey hissed.

  "Coming on to him."

  "I heard you." She glared at no one in particular. No one should be coming on to her men. No one. Not even the perfect selkie, Cara. "What do you need me for?"

  "She's clearly not going to give him his skin back, so we need to get it another way."

  "Do you even know where it is?" Flint asked, sitting up more slowly than Macey had.

  "Not really, no. I'd ask Rónán, but he's busy being flirted with."

  Macey's scowl deepened but Jared didn't really seem to notice. Flint did. He rubbed her back soothingly, which she had to admit actually helped.

  "Do you have a plan?" she asked.

  "Not as such," he admitted. "They're stood in front of Cara's house and the only other way in is through the chimney..."

  "And you want me to do the Air thing and float down into it," Macey said, giving him a look that she hoped he took as him being completely crazy.

  "Pretty much, yes."

  "Great, okay then."

  "Good, we'll get going." Jared turned around without waiting for Macey to confirm and she frowned. Was he seriously going to walk away while she was completely naked?

  "Right..."

  "We don't have much time," he said.

  "What makes you say that?" she asked, noticing he hadn't actually walked away, just turned his back. That was odd behaviour for Jared, though maybe she just wasn't with it properly yet. Cam and Flint really must have done something to her brain. Was there such a thing as losing brain power from too much sex? If not, then she might be the first patient ever.

  "Just a hunch." Jared shrugged and Macey s
ighed in response. Ignoring hunches was normally a bad sign.

  "Fine. Cam, Flint, can you go find Amber and Izban and make sure they're ready to leave. Jared and I will go steal back Rónán's seal skin, grab him and then come join you by the bonfire."

  "Not a good meeting spot," Jared said. "It's right by Cara's house."

  "Alright then, where do you suggest?"

  "Did you see the stone hut when we came into the village?" Flint asked.

  "Yes." She'd noticed it because it was different from the driftwood homes the selkies seemed to favour. It had seemed a little out of place, though she hadn't thought too much of it. Her whole world was a little bit out of place.

  "That's where we should meet. There's an entry to the Staran there," he said.

  "Okay, that sounds like a good getaway plan. If anyone asks what the four of you are doing, tell them we have a Wardens ritual to do or something."

  Cam snickered slightly, but didn't move from his spot on the bed. "Funny how you didn't even want to believe you were a Warden at one point. Now you're using it as an excuse."

  "I can't exactly deny it now," Macey muttered, scooting herself away from the warm embrace of the two men in bed and towards where she hoped her clothes were.

  She scooped up her clothes from where they'd been discarded all over the floor and threw them back on, not giving a second thought to how she looked.

  "Right then. Let's go," she said to Jared, leaving the other two completely behind.

  She couldn't help it, she had to see how Rónán was getting on. Peering around the side of Cara's hut, she was just in time to see him pull a face and narrowly avoid the female selkie's forced embrace again.

  Some of the jealousy within Macey settled down. He wasn't going to abandon her for this woman. Not when he was looking so displeased about being in her company.

  "Macey," Jared hissed. "Not now."

  "Sorry," she shot back. "But I have more at stake than just a seal skin."

  "I know, but the sooner we get that skin, the sooner he'll be out of her clutches for good."

  She frowned, hating he was right.

  "What do I need to do?"

  "I was hoping you knew that. You made the disk we travelled down to the sea on, right?"

  "I suppose." Macey pondered what to do. On the one hand, she had Air magic within her. On the other, she had absolutely no idea what to do with that magic or how to wield it. Every time she'd used it so far, it had been about using it or dying. And apparently the Air Warden came with some kind of self-preservation mode installed. Admittedly, that was pretty helpful.

  She clasped her hands together and concentrated on calling out to the other Warden.

  Talia? I need your help.

  She didn't get an answer. She hadn't really expected to.

  Dismissing her first plan, she had to think fast. This had to work. One of her men was in danger, if Air wasn't going to work, then she'd find a different way.

  Clasping her hands together, she focused on her water magic, calling it to the surface and picturing a geyser. She'd never made one appear before, but if she could create a whirlpool, then a spurt of water into the air should be nothing. She didn't even have to worry too much about making things wet. The selkies were water creatures anyway and Flint was far enough away not to even get hit.

  Water shot up from beneath her, catapulting her into the air. All she had to do now was get off at the right point. Well, and hope there wasn't anyone about to watch the geyser and come investigate the cause. If they did, she just had to hope Jared would turn on his incubus charm and they'd forget what they were looking for. It was probably a good thing he'd have been able to snack on the residual sexual energy she'd created with Flint and Cam.

  When the water was about the same height as the roof, she leapt off it, landing lithely on the roof and somehow managing to avoid falling.

  A quick climb took her to the chimney pot, which was mercifully a large one and big enough to fit a small person down.

  Trying not to think about it, Macey threw herself through the chimney and landed on the floor with a slight crash and jarring her ankle. There wasn't enough pain for it to be broken and she doubted it'd even be a sprain. But it would probably ache in the morning. Still worth it if it meant she could save one of her men.

  Limping slightly, she looked around the surprisingly small hut. It wasn't unlike the one Rónán had taken her to, with a sleep section separated by a screen.

  "If I was a power grabbing bitch, where would I keep the skin of the man I wanted to love me," Macey asked herself, realising just how crazy she sounded. No one would believe her situation if she told them, it just kept getting weirder by the second.

  Closing her eyes, she listened to her gut and crept around behind the sleep screen. If it was her and she wanted someone to love her who didn't already, she'd keep the skin as close to her as possible. And if that wasn't actually on her person...

  Her eyes fell to Cara's pillow and she snatched it up. Despite having an inkling it was there, Macey was surprised to actually spot the pendent lying under where the pillow had been.

  She picked it up carefully and turned it over in her hands. It was smaller than she'd expected and smoother. There also didn't seem to be much power coming from it, which surprised her. She'd have thought it'd contain at least a little bit of it since it allowed the selkies to shift, but maybe it was because she couldn't use it herself that she couldn't sense it.

  She dropped the pillow back into place, hoping that Cara wasn't the kind who checked on it every hour or so. If she did, then they didn't have long to get away. Turning, she looked for an escape route but found none. It was either back up the chimney or out of the front door. Somehow, the latter option seemed the safest. If she created a geyser in here and left it flooded, it'd be a dead giveaway that there was something up.

  She crept forward, reaching the front door a little sooner than she would have liked. Peering through it, she spotted Rónán and Cara talking, with the former appearing more and more agitated by the moment. Even so, she couldn't tell what they were saying. Probably because they seemed to be talking in selkie language rather than in English.

  Cara's back was to her. As long as she was quiet, she could get out of the house without raising any suspicions. Maybe.

  Deciding there was no time like the present, she slipped through the door and hugged the side of the hut. She needed to get back to Jared and then approach Rónán from a different angle. That way, she could avoid at least a little suspicion.

  She was too busy paying attention to the selkies that she ran straight into Jared's chest as she rounded the side of the hut.

  "Oomf." The sound escaping from Jared sounded almost painful, though she doubted he was really hurt. It would take more than someone of her tiny frame to make a dent in Jared.

  "We need to hurry," she whispered.

  "You got it?" he replied.

  She nodded rather than saying anything.

  Holding out her hand, she was relieved when he took it.

  The two of them began a leisurely stroll towards where the selkies were standing. They didn't have very far to go, but hopefully it'd be enough to look convincing.

  "Rónán!" Macey called.

  The selkies turned to look at her, one with a smile, the other with a glare. It seemed Macey wasn't the only one with jealousy issues.

  "Everything okay?" Rónán asked.

  "Yes. But we need your advice on something back at the hut." She smiled sweetly, hoping he'd get the message and that it would annoy Cara. Two birds with one stone and all that jazz. Or maybe she should use two seals with one stone. Though that did sound unnecessarily violent.

  "You do?" He cocked his head to the side, a puzzled look on his face.

  "Yes, urgently." She tried to put as much of an explanation into her eyes as possible, but worried he hadn't known her long enough to pick up on that.

  Indecision warred over his face before he nodded. "Okay, coming.
Thank you for your time, Cara."

  "We weren't done," the female selkie protested.

  "Yes, we were," Rónán replied. "I'll see you later." He turned away from the woman and closed the distance between him and Macey.

  "You okay?" she asked him when he was close enough for her to whisper to.

  "Yes. Are you? What's the problem?"

  "Not here," Macey whispered, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from Cara's hut.

  When they were far enough away for it to be safe, Macey pressed his necklace into his hand. Rónán's eyes widened in disbelief. "Is it? It is!" Joy lit up his face as he opened his palm and studied the necklace. "Thank you." He looked at both Macey and Jared with clear wonder on his face.

  "You're welcome," Macey replied, going up on her toes and giving him a swift kiss.

  "You're part of the team," Jared added. "We protect the team." He shrugged as if that was all there was to it and Macey supposed that was true.

  "Even so, thank you," the selkie said.

  "We should probably get going though. I don't want to even consider what Cara will do when she discovers it gone."

  "Where even was it?" Jared asked.

  "In her bed," Macey replied.

  The incubus let out a hearty chuckle. "The one place Rónán would never have gone willingly."

  "Too damn right, I wouldn't," Rónán muttered darkly while slipping the necklace over his head so it settled on his chest. He sighed with relief.

  "Now...to the others?" Jared prompted.

  "Yes, to the others," Macey acknowledged.

  "About time," Flint called as they approached the stone building. "I was starting to get worried."

  "No you weren't," Jared countered. "It's barely been an hour."

  "That's still long enough," Cam said. "We should probably get going."

  "I agree." Macey glanced over her shoulder, still half expecting to see Cara storming towards them with a murderous look on her face. "Does anyone actually know where we should be going next?"

  "Wherever the Mahoun is?" Amber suggested.

  "If that means the Keep then count me out," Macey replied. "But do we really want to go into the Staran and ask them to take us to Mahoun? I can come up with a dozen reasons why that's a terrible idea."