Elements of Ruin (Hijinks Harem Book 2)

by C. M. Stunich

  My right hand reached out and curled around the edge of Warden's underwear, dragging him close. He didn't resist, following my instructions as Billy slowed even more and then stopped.

  “I don't know about this,” William said, and I could sense that edge in his voice. “Last time I let you do something I wasn't so sure about, you fucking bailed.”

  “I had that fight with Shane and …” Warden stopped when I yanked his underwear over his shaft and freed the long, hard length. “I …” He stared down at me with his stupid spiky black and red hair, his gorgeous hazel eyes.

  Suspended in mid-air with Billy's dick inside of me wasn't exactly the place to have a heart to heart, but when Warden curled his fingers in my hair and guided his cock to my lips, I felt like we were having a moment.

  He slid into the hot, wet heat of my mouth with a desperate, rumbling groan.

  Lightning bolts shot from the ceiling toward the floor, but Warden waved them away with a lazy hand, using my hair to hold my head. He slid between my teeth, resting against my tongue as I sucked him with vigor, enjoying this way more than simple incognito etiquette might suggest.

  Behind me, Billy was panting and thrusting with increased frenzy, building us both up toward a brilliant crescendo. After this, we wouldn't have to worry about being sniffed out by some weirdo called the Baron that I nearly punched in the nuts. Our desire … would probably be obvious to anyone, sex demon or no.

  Either I was going crazy with missing him, or Warden tasted really good when he tensed up and came in the back of my throat, fingertips digging into my scalp and driving me over the edge. My body did what came naturally, fluttering and tightening around Billy, making him come with a very masculine little grunt.

  Lightning traced over my skin, down my arm and into the floor. It flickered up Warden's leg just before he knelt down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, banishing the electricity like it'd never been.

  “Don't worry, Ari-Vampari,” he told me as Billy pulled me back and put my feet on the floor, unhooking the harness and helping me stand up. Warden rose from his crouch and smiled sadly at me. “We'll get it all figured out.”

  I hoped he meant both the marking … and our relationship.

  All of our relationships.

  After our sex session—there were courtesy wipes like everywhere, sort of like those doggy cleanup stations at parks except … you know, for semen and stuff—we were able to wander the mansion unmolested (literally speaking) until we found that fucking weirdo Baron guy again.

  “Hello again,” he said, giving me a smile that made my skin crawl and my hands curl into fists by my sides. I so desperately wanted to know where the rest of my men were in that moment. “Ready for that tour?”

  “Um, definitely,” I said with an over exaggerated wink that wasn't fooling anybody. “Especially, you know, like any actual dungeons you might have hiding in underground catacombs or something.”

  The Baron cocked a way overly manicured brow at me as Warden elbowed me in the side and gave me a mumbled, “opStay onyay ethay upidstay, okeySmay.”

  Stop on the stupid, Smokey in Pig Latin. Because, you know, nobody in the world spoke Pig Latin anymore—except for Warden “Max” Cornwall.

  I grinned at the crazy incubi man and then felt my entire stomach bottom out when I spotted them.

  The bio parents.

  Walking right into the sex party.

  I wasn't sure if I was more freaked out because they were here and might kill me … or because my bio moms were wearing matching beaded tankinis and Daniel … had on hot pants.

  “Shit,” I swore and tried to duck behind an absurd marble statue of a naked man bent over and parting his butt cheeks. The letter W was printed on each cheek and I snickered. It, like literally spelled out WoW where the 'O' was the, um, you know.

  “Ari-Vampari?” Warden asked, raising an eyebrow at me when I poked my head out to check where Bio Dad was now. Sure wish we'd worn those damn masks, huh, Ari? Real smart move on your part, deciding against the incognito approach.

  “Shh! Get back here!” I snatched both Billy and Warden by the hand and dragged them behind the amusing statue with me. “Daniel and his harem just arrived.”

  “Where?” Billy exclaimed way too loudly, and popped out again to look around before I yanked him back.

  “Seriously, Billy? Ever tried subtlety?” I rolled my eyes. “They were just walking through the front door a second ago. You seriously can't miss Daniel—he's wearing the gold hot pants from Kylie Minogue's Spinning Around video. Probably the same size too because they are tight.”

  “Oh, I see him,” Warden murmured, peering between the statue's spread legs. “What do you want to do? Grab and torture?”

  “In the middle of an entire mansion full of CUM? No, we need to avoid them, and find Dustin first. We already know they're here for him so this must mean we're on the right track.” I joined Warden in peering between the statue's legs, but when Baron the Bloodhound popped up in my line of sight, only scant inches from my face, I screamed and fell on my ass.

  “Hello, was I boring you?” he inquired with an open, curious look to his face. “I looked around and you were not following me, and then I found you here inspecting Jonny's Johnson.”

  “What?” I glanced at the marble sculpted Johnson in question then back to Baron. “No, we're … ah …”

  “Admiring the exquisite attention to detail,” Warden filled in for my fumbling smoothly. “A friend of mine is a welder, and he sculpts with metal, so I can appreciate the artist's ability here.”

  Billy snorted from behind us, then covered it with a cough when Warden threw an elbow into his gut.

  “Oh, an art lover. Well, now. Didn't you just become more attractive, hmm?” The incubus waggled his eyebrows at Warden, then threw him a saucy wink. “Come on, hot stuff. I'll show you the dungeons like your beautiful breasted friend requested and then maybe I can show you my dungeon?” He dragged his gaze over Billy and me again, this time sniffing the air as he did so. “Maybe I can show all of you my dungeon. With your owner's permission, of course.”

  This time when Billy snorted, it was me that threw an elbow into his gut before smiling brightly at our guide and host.

  “That sounds just lovely. But, could you show us that room first?” I pointed to the door nearest us, in a bid to get out of the path of Daniel and his hot pants. Shudder.

  Baron raised an eyebrow at my request but shrugged and opened the door for us. We scurried from behind the statue and ducked into the room, then gaped at what we saw.

  “Aren't they beautiful?” Baron sighed, closing the door behind himself and stroking a hand over Michael Jackson's hair. “They were the mistakes from Madame Tussauds' wax museum. They're all just a little bit flawed, but aren't we all?” He sighed wistfully, his leathery wings quivering as he looked over his room stacked full of wax figurines.

  “Um.” I was at a loss for words. It was creepy as fuck and I literally had not had enough wine to handle this situation well. At all.

  “This one is my favorite,” Baron continued, not caring that we hadn't responded to him. His hand stroked over Olivia Newton John's face then cupped her wax breast while he tried to sort of tongue-kiss the mannequin. It was … next level creepy weird. The small flaw that Grease's Sandy was sporting was a somewhat deformed left eye. It looked like it was melting out of her face, it was that much lower than her right one.

  “She's lovely,” I coughed, and both boys snickered this time.

  “How long have you been, er, collecting?” I had no idea if that was the right word for what was happening here, but seeing as he had maybe twenty or thirty deformed wax celebrities crowded into the room, it sort of seemed like a collection?

  “Ah my dears, that is a long, sad story, and this is meant to be a party! Shall I show you the dungeon now?” He smiled at us, then sniffed, and his smile faded. “Why do you smell … scared?”

  “Scared?” I huffed a nervous laugh. “Nop
e, not us. That's probably just the er, arousal. From earlier. It hangs around like a bad fart, you know.”

  “No … no, I know that smell and yes it's there too, but you,” he speared Billy with a sharp look, “you smell scared. Why? Were you trying to hide from someone out there in the lobby? Is that why you wanted to look in here at my lovelies? I knew there was something fishy going on with you three, you're all too damn good looking to be humans—”

  “I'm scared of dolls!” Billy blurted out, cutting the Baron's suspicions off and making him gasp in horror.

  “How … why … no, no, no, that can't be right. How can anyone be afraid of these beauties?” Baron stroked a loving hand down the side of a slightly melted David Hoffman and looked like Billy had just run over his puppy.

  “I'm sure Billy didn't mean your dolls,” I tried to placate our host, who looked on the verge of tears. Nudging Billy with my foot I gave him a fix this glare while Warden choked back giggles.

  “No, of course not,” Billy muttered, with his jaw clenched tight, “it's just … when I was a kid I watched Chucky with my … friend … and he deliberately scared me with a doll. Now they just … creep me out.”

  The shade of red that Warden was turning as he smothered a laugh in a cough didn't leave me many doubts who the friend had been, but this seemed like a pretty funny story.

  “I think you need to elaborate, Billy. Scared you how?” I prompted, forgetting for a second where we were and taking the opportunity to tease my gruff, fire elemental husband.

  Billy threw a glare at Warden, who was now halfway hiding behind Delta Goodrem while he snickered quietly. “He had a life-size doll that he'd picked up at a garage sale, and that night when I was asleep, he stood her up right beside the bed so when I woke up she was just like … standing there, staring at me with her beady eyes and creepy ass smile.”

  “Well, I never. I think it's time we left this room before my babies are anymore offended by your inflammatory accusations against innocent dolls,” Baron huffed, and flounced out of the door. Not before pausing to plant a noisy kiss on Olivia's cheek though. Gross.

  We had no choice but to follow him, so I let Billy peek out into the lobby first to ensure Daniel and his sparkly hot pants were gone, before he gave us the all clear. We scurried to catch up with Baron just as he was starting down a narrow flight of stairs which would hopefully lead us to the dungeon.

  “You know, you all seem awfully interested in my house, for guests at a sex party,” Baron commented as he led the way down a short corridor and into a larger room which had old-fashioned looking shackles hanging from the walls. They were, unfortunately, empty.

  “What can we say?” Warden responded in a sexy, flirty voice, “architecture really revs our rowboats.”

  Baron spun to face my ex-lover—current lover? I didn't know—and narrowed his eyes. “Yes, that's fair enough. Different strokes for different folks and all that! But I do expect a pay off from this little Homes and Gardens tour.”

  “Pay off?” I squeaked, suddenly nervous about what this incubus was going to expect from us. Really something we should have considered sooner, given this was where the evil CUM was blocked up.

  “Yes. I host these parties once a year because it provides me with the sexual energy power boost I require to retain my position within CUM. Without these boosts, I am no better than any other Tom, Dick or Nigel.” He sniffed dismissively, and I figured those were actual incubi he was talking about, rather than just a saying.

  “So … you want us to …” I raised my eyebrows at him and he shrugged.

  “Have more sex? Yes. Please. Oh gosh, not with me! My interests lie … elsewhere … but I am able to soak up the energy created by sex anywhere in my mansion, so I expect you to be paying me back at the end of this tour. Preferably a longer session than that quickie you had upstairs; I barely got a contact high from that one. Oh, do you have any friends? I do love all the swirling emotions created by a good old-fashioned gangbang. Especially when there's a bit of tension between sword fighters … if you catch my drift.” He waggled his eyebrows and winked at both Billy and Warden.

  Huh, guess I wasn't the only one picking up on what was going on there.

  “Uh, we'll see what we can arrange,” I murmured, then looked around the conspicuously empty dungeon. “So, this is where you'd keep any prisoners? I mean, if you hypothetically had someone you were holding prisoner, this is where they'd be?”

  “Oh lord no!” Baron chuckled, “What do you take me for? A barbarian? No, my prisoners get something much more high tech than this antiquated mess. Hypothetically, of course.” He winked at me and spun on his heel to lead the way through a different door, wings bouncing as he walked. “Come along, let me show you how I treat my hypothetical prisoners and then maybe you might feel inspired to give me an energy treat!” He was facing away from us, but I swear I heard him lick his lips.

  “This guy is like beyond creepy,” Warden said, sliding his fingers through his hair and casting a glance over at me and Billy. The fact that he'd just had his dick in my mouth didn't seem to bother him. Didn't bother me either. Like, seriously, I didn't care. Nope. Did not care one bit. “I mean, even more so than most chaos are anyway.”

  He noticed me staring at him, pursed his lips, and glanced away sharply.

  “Y'all are slipperier than a greased hog,” Shane said, appearing from a nearby hallway and making me jump. He put his big hands on my shoulders and fell into step between me and Billy, giving Warden a very clear 'she's mine' sort of a look.

  “Oh?” Baron asked as he paused near another door and pulled a key out from … well, shit, somewhere I didn't want to know about considering he was sporting, like, zero items of clothing on his person. “Another helper? Maybe this time, the four of you can actually serve up a little sexual energy worth capturing?”

  “This time?” Shane asked, narrowing his dark brows and giving me a look.

  “Later,” Billy said as the incubus stepped through the doorway and continued on, expecting us to follow. I highly doubted he was going to lead us straight to this Dustin guy because, seriously, as much as I'd joked around out there, nobody was that …

  “Oh shit,” I whispered as we walked down a narrow hall with decorative wood railing on one side, a wall of … uh, 'tasteful' nude photos on the other and paused, looking down on a raucous in the room below. “What is … how did we miss out on the auction?” I asked, swallowing hard and trying not to feel sick to my stomach.

  It was like a romance novel in the room below … except, you know, instead of a bunch of misogynistic billionaires bidding on a young virgin woman, there were a buttload of winged succubi and incubi bidding on some dude in a metal collar.

  Some dude … man, I was pretty sure he was my dude.

  And … so yeah, Baron really was that stupid.

  And this Dustin guy, he really was that hot.

  I stepped forward and curled my fingers over the handrail, gazing down at the wild crowd, their leather bidding paddles looking suspiciously like … you know, spanking paddles with numbers drawn on them. It would've been funny if they hadn't been using them to bid on my man.

  Er.

  Well, I hadn't met the guy yet, but staring down at him from on high, I knew.

  I just fucking knew.

  “If I were to … say, find a traitor in my midst,” Baron Douche-Nugget said, trailing a finger across my collarbone, “then hypothetically, I might do this to them.” He paused and his smile, it was all shark, just teeth with no lips. Sharp, sharp, sharp looking teeth. “But of course, the man down there is a very willing participant.”

  “If he's such a willing participant,” I blurted, “then why is he in a collar? And you know, chains and stuff.”

  From all the way up here, it was hard to make out the little details, but I could see that Dustin was one ripped motherfucker, sporting a seriously nasty scowl and one long, sleeve of colorful tattoos. His green eyes glimmered with rage and the blood tr
ailing from his back down his legs sort of gave the impression of uh, imprisonment? Yeah, no, there was no willing participant in this scenario.

  “Dub-con,” the Baron explained, waving his hand dismissively. “They're bidding on who, exactly, will get the privilege of being this man's Dom. Enjoy the show.” The man sauntered off, his firm butt cheeks and flexing wings the last I saw of him before he rounded the corner at the end of the walkway and disappeared, leaving us to the spectacle happening below.

  “What's dub-con?” I whispered and Shane shuddered next to me.

  “Dubious consent, Sugar. Meaning, the participant may or may not want the sexual advances coming their way.”

  “So, rape then?” I asked as I looked down at Dustin and tried to reach inside for the last soul that was connected to mine, the only one I hadn't identified yet. But the thread was frozen and when I plucked at it, all I could got was a faint, weak echo. I could sense that it was connected to Dustin, but just barely.

  Apparently we'd need to, uh, fuck before it would ring as loudly as the others.

  How magical.

  “Exactly as it sounds, sweet thing—dubious,” Shane said on the end of a long sigh. “And you know Dom is short for Dominant, right?”

  “I know that much at least,” I mumbled under my breath. “I suffered through those Fifty Shades movies like everyone else.” I took a deep breath and looked over at Warden. “That's Dustin, right?”

  “That's him,” he said, his voice tight and uneasy as he gazed down at his friend, standing with his ankles shackled to the floor, that big metal collar looking tight and uncomfortable around his neck. That, too, had a chain attached to it. A succubus woman in a beautiful gold evening gold was holding the end as the auctioneer ran the bid up, up, up to numbers that were, frankly, staggering.

  I couldn't afford to buy my sixth soul mate back, not at those prices.

  “So, basically, now we have to figure out how to get him out of here without any money, without blowing our cover, and without dying. Am I right?”