“Yes, but look at how long it took us to find you!” Sylan exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.
“Only because of the separation between humans and Rumilus. But now, with the crystal restored, it should make everything as it was before. If we could rectify the rift between the humans and your kind, then you could go to The Above once more and find mates easily. A new Queen could be found if anything happened to me.”
“No, no, no!” Rowen burst out angrily. “We can’t go to The Above, and that’s that!”
“Why not?!” I snapped, furious that for once I had the opportunity to make things right and they weren’t backing me.
Rowen stomped over, his hands shaking my shoulders gently to punctuate his words. “Because I can’t lose you!” The sheer desperation in his eyes and voice spoke volumes of the pain he felt at the thought.
“That’s not a good enough reason,” I parried softly. I was touched by his words, but this was a matter of life and death—of right and wrong.
Rowen let go of my shoulders to cup my face.
“Sera, I can’t lose you because…I love you. You aren’t just the Queen. You are our everything, gem.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ROWEN
A palpable silence hung in the air at my declaration, and I immediately regretted my words. I wished I could take them back—erase them from ever being uttered—because they left me weak and vulnerable. Everyone in the room froze for a few seconds.
Sylan and Axton looked away, but Sera just stared at me, wide-eyed. Minutes ticked by, and still she said nothing. A cold sweat dotted my neck, and my stomach churned anxiously. I wanted to shake her, demand that she say something…but at the same time, I dreaded her response if it wasn’t one she could give me easily.
Her lack of one was enough. Sera clearly didn’t feel the same way, and I was a fool who spoke from the heart too soon, exposing my true feelings that should never have been revealed. I knew my Trifecta would never mock me, but I was the one who usually kept my emotions hidden.
I had been the one to rebuff the instant connection to Sera when it felt like things got too deep and emotionally raw too quickly between us all. Yet here I was, the first to admit what each of us felt for her.
“You…love me?” Sera repeated in what sounded like an incredulous voice.
Swallowing thickly, I just nodded in response. There was no use in denying it—I couldn’t if I tried, now that I had admitted it. I loved the gorgeous human woman who was brave enough to be my mate, and who was even braver to be our Queen, but she simply couldn’t go back to The Above.
There was too much at stake.
Clearing my throat, I reaffirmed stoically, “Yes. I love you.”
Sera continued to stare with an almost blank look in her eyes, and I shifted uncomfortably.
“Are you sure?” she prompted, and I couldn’t help myself—I tipped my head back and laughed.
It was so Sera to question everything.
The sound bounced off the walls of the grotto and echoed merrily around us. Sylan grinned at the sound, and even Axton seemed amused at my predicament. Our world had been so dark and bleak that we rarely were happy—we couldn’t find joy without a mate.
Sera definitely surpassed any expectation I might have had for a mate. She brought so much delight to my life—to all our lives. She was our light in the darkness, and I wouldn’t let anything snuff it out.
“Of course I’m sure,” I snorted, still feeling foolish. “I might regret admitting my love out loud if it scares you, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”
“But how do you know?” Sera urged. “Have you loved someone else?”
“Like another woman?” I asked in disbelief. “Obviously not—my heart never came alive until I laid eyes on you. I know because it felt like that organ was dead inside of my chest, the same as our land was. But just as you’re doing with our lands, you breathed life into me. You make me feel alive, Sera. You give me a reason to want to live.”
Fuck, I had already scared her with my proclamation, and here I went word-vomiting my feelings again.
The cold sweat that had erupted along my neck suddenly became unbearably warm, and I wiped a hand nervously across my clammy skin. This conversation was not going how I had planned—not that I had planned this at all.
Oddly, Sera looked smug at my words.
“What’s that look mean?” I demanded, stepping into her space.
“And if I don’t tell you?” she teased.
Getting her pregnant was off the table now that she was Queen, and I knew our mate loved to be filled with our cocks. She’d be thrilled. Maybe that’s exactly what I needed to change the subject.
A wicked grin slowly overcame my face as I declared, “Then I will fuck you slowly and gently.”
If she knew me at all, she would know slow and gentle were not things I was capable of.
She gasped in mock horror, eliciting more laughter from me and the two others.
“You wouldn’t dare!” she scoffed in challenge.
“Try me,” I purred, grateful for the change in topic, but of course, Sera was tenacious and steered our talk back to more murky waters.
“Well, that’s what people in love do, I’ve heard—they enjoy one another, gently and slowly.”
Sylan and Axton lost it, hooting hysterically at my expense while Sera moved a hand over her mouth to hide her giggles.
“That’s it!” I exclaimed in exasperation, mostly for the dramatic flair. “I’m never telling you that I love you again!”
“I’m sorry!” she wheezed, still chortling. “I swear I’m not making fun of your words. It’s just that…I never expected you to be the first to say it. Sylan, yes. Axton, maybe. You? Never.”
Even though I know she didn’t mean to, her words wounded me. I supposed that was my own fault for being so standoffish in the beginning, but Sera was the most special person in the whole world to me now. Feeling guarded, I pondered how to respond without sounding like a lovesick fool, or worse, insincere.
“I…don’t like talking about feelings,” I whispered. “I’m sorry I gave you the impression that I didn’t like you at first. You and the others are the most important people in my life.”
Her cheeks tinted with a beautiful blush as she smiled softly and walked up to lay her hands on my abdomen. Tilting her head back to look up at me, she admitted, “I know that you care for me, Rowen. I feel it. I just never expected you to admit it so soon. It surprised me, that’s all, and it actually does make me feel better.”
“Better? Why’s that?” I wondered, confused. I wasn’t sure how it could make her feel better after she had just stared at me like her brain malfunctioned.
She nibbled on her bottom lip gently before taking a deep breath and exhaling. “Because now I don’t feel so silly for admitting that I’m falling in love with all of you.”
Her words sent a thrill through my body. Even though she hadn’t said the exact words back, Sera still said that she had similar feelings. With time, she would love me as I loved her—could I ask for anything more?
“You never have to feel silly for telling us how you feel,” Sylan reminded her, and I just shook my head.
Sera and I were too alike to ever feel one-hundred percent comfortable in airing our true feelings. It took rash decisions like I had made to spill what we were holding in. Perhaps, with time, this is something we would overcome, but for now, our relationship was still too new. We were charting unknown waters together.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
SERA
Rowen’s sweet words had stunned me, to say the least. I knew how much it took for him to admit what he was feeling, and his admission touched my heart, confirming I wasn’t insane for my own feelings that were rapidly forming for my Trifecta—but it did nothing to sway my mind about going back to The Above.
I was going, and I was making this right. I was the Queen, after all, and I had a duty to my Trifecta, to the Rumilu
s, and to all the human women and men who had been oppressed and lied to. If not me, then who? Who was going to liberate them?
“I’m not backing down, despite your sweet words,” I stated calmly, in an assured voice that I hoped conveyed that there was no use in arguing with me anymore.
Sylan’s shoulders drooped and Rowen looked frustrated, but Axton surprised me. He looked thoughtful, as if he were seriously considering what I wanted.
I hoped they knew that I understood how astronomically special I was to them and that I didn’t take it for granted. I knew that my plan to try to unite our kinds was a gamble that came with a high risk of myself or one of them being injured. But our four lives were not more important than the rest of the damn world.
What my mates didn’t understand was the crushing fear I’d lived with every day for nearly twenty-five years. A fear that I thought was obsolete when I was so close to my birthday, thinking I had reached freedom. I had tasted it in my mouth, only to have it yanked cruelly away.
I was going back to The Above to free all those poor girls who were living in a constant state of fear. I would free the parents that had no choice but to watch their daughters be cruelly ripped away from them.
Because no one should have to live their life that way.
Heroes to me aren’t special people who have superpowers. Heroes are the people who just choose to do the right thing, not expecting a reward in return. They make their choices because they wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that there was something they could’ve done to help and hadn’t acted upon it.
I didn’t want to be called a hero, but it was what these two lands needed.
As much as Sylan, Axton, and Rowen disagreed with my choice, going to The Above was the right thing to do. I realized it could come at a great cost, and there was also a chance we might not win.
A shudder ran through me, not wanting to think about that possible outcome, but at the end of the day, I wanted to say at least I had tried.
Axton pursed his lips. “If we’re going to The Above, then we’re going to need our full strength, precious.”
Sylan and Rowen both stared at him, their mouths hanging open as if they couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. Even I could barely believe it. I thought Axton would have been the one that was the hardest to convince.
Tears pricked my eyes, and I jumped into his arms, throwing mine around his neck in a big hug. “Thank you, thank you!” I whispered gratefully.
His arms came around me as he grunted in my ear. “Don’t thank me yet. There’s no guarantee. If we don’t have a good plan, we won’t accomplish anything, and I won’t do it if we’re not strong enough. There’s also something you need to know that we didn’t have time to explain before you fell asleep yesterday.”
He lowered my feet back to the ground as I mumbled, “And by strength, you mean…sex? You guys know my thoughts on that because of possible conception.”
Axton’s mouth hooked up into a grin. “That is no longer a possibility now that you are Queen.”
I rolled my eyes, laughing. “Are you making that up in an excuse to have sex with me?”
Rowen stepped up and swatted my butt. “My gem, we are always looking for an excuse to fuck you.” He spoke the crass words in such a way that it sent a tingle zipping through my body. “But we’re not making that up. Your body is now directly tied to the crystal. No Queen has ever been able to conceive before, and it’s said to be that way because the crystal takes so much life force from them daily.”
Wait, now I wouldn’t be able to have children, ever? That thought hurt me a little bit more than I cared to admit. I blamed my Trifecta for putting the mental image of us raising our son together in the renewed lands here right before finding out I could actually make that possible.
Whether I was ready to admit it or not, a small piece of me did want that vision of the future…or at least the choice to have that future. But perhaps it was best this way. I hadn’t really thought of having kids before them, so it would be no different than the path I had planned for myself in that regard my entire life thus far.
“What about the heat?” I questioned. I could still feel it in the background, albeit way more subdued than it had been.
Sylan piped up, “We’re assuming you’ll still feel those urges, but hopefully not as strong. Do you remember how the small crystal piece lit up with our orgasms feeding it?”
My hand instinctively flew to hold the small piece around my throat as I nodded.
He continued at my nod, “Think of this on a much larger scale. We are responsible for providing that energy to the main crystal now.”
It was an interesting thought, that our sex life would singlehandedly be fueling these lands. Who was I to complain, though? It truly was a win for me all around.
I had gone from never experiencing pleasure before, to these monsters bringing my body to life and showing me all I had been missing out on. And now those moments were actually doing good for the world? It was almost too good to be true.
“Well then,” I murmured, a sly grin pulling at my lips. “We can’t let the people of Paratiisi down, now can we?” My voice dripped with sexual energy, feeling renewed about being able have their cocks inside of me again. It hadn’t been all that long since our last time, but my body was craving them.
Even without the heat driving my mind, I still needed to feel them.
“Fuck me,” I demanded.
“I prefer making love,” Sylan interjected.
I laughed. “Whatever the three of you do to me—however you do it—just promise me afterward we will truly have an open conversation about forming a plan to go to The Above..”
Axton tipped my chin up until I was looking into his golden orbs. “You have my word, Sera. We will make a plan.”
I wagged a finger in front of his face. “A feasible plan that won’t take weeks of preparation!”
The small grin gracing his face stretched into something a little more feral. “You’re a smart girl, aren’t you, precious? Yes, a feasible plan. But like I said, if I don’t think it’s safe, I’m getting us out of there.”
“Fair enough,” I agreed as I turned and walked to the bed. Calling over my shoulder, I teased, “Who’s first?”
Before I could crawl onto the bed, Rowen was at my back and spinning me around, lifting me up onto him as he slammed his lips down onto mine.
I wasted no time, wrapping my legs around his waist and anchoring myself to him. His erection pushed against my aching clit in this position, making me whimper against his lips. “Please.”
One of his hands gripped my ass in a bruising hold that I couldn’t deny turned me on. I loved this side of Rowen. He was dominant and confident, all of his joking persona out the window in these fiery moments of passion.
He moved a hand up to my hip, squeezing and grinding against me, eliciting a moan from my lips. At the same time his other hand on my ass moved to between my cheeks, his finger trailing down between them.
Thankfully he’d retracted his claws, or else this would have ended in his death.
“I’ve never…” I trailed off nervously as I pulled back from his lips.
I would like to think it was obvious that I hadn’t done anal if I hadn’t been vaginally penetrated before them, but I’d also heard whispers of girls within the selection age thinking they could get away with anal, having no hymen to break there.
So, for the sake of wanting any new experiences to be good, I figured it was best to remind them of my lack of a sex life.
“I know, gem,” he whispered darkly as his fingers spread my ass and began to softly tease the nerves there, rubbing gently across the ring of muscle.
He swung us around until Sylan was at my back and began to trail kisses down my spine. Rowen swallowed the gasp that came from my lips with his mouth kissing me again as he began to push the tip of his finger in.
My eyes bulged at the new feeling, but thankfully he didn’t
press in any further than just the tip, and within seconds he removed it. Jostling me around, he lifted me higher on him so that he could position his cock with my entrance before slowly pulling me down onto him.
My eyes fluttered closed at the delicious way his cock stretched me until I was fully settled onto him.
“Look at me, gem,” Rowen whispered, and my eyes instantly snapped to do as he said. “Do you trust us with your body?”
I didn’t even hesitate in my response. “Without a doubt.”
It was true. They had proven that they worshiped my body and only wanted me to feel amazing. They never gave me more than I could handle.
He smirked just as I felt hands spreading my ass and a tongue probing my entrance. “We would never break that trust, so relax and let us show you something new.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
SERA
Nodding my consent, I nibbled on my lip. That was when they really began.
Rowen thrusted into me as his hand on my hip tightened and his groans of pleasure rang through the room. Sylan’s tongue fully thrusted into the tight ring of muscle in my ass, and at first it felt odd, but then it was like a new side of me unlocked.
Pure euphoria flooded my system as they both thrust pieces of themself into me until I was hurling towards a climax faster than I ever had before.
“Fuck!” I screamed as my hands flew to Rowen’s shoulders, hanging onto them for dear life as my orgasm crashed through me like waves of heat licking at every nerve ending in my body.
“That’s it, gem, milk my cock,” Rowen purred. My walls tightened around him as he spilled into me, the base of his shaft inside of me swelling to lock into place.
I panted as Sylan pulled away and stood up, nuzzling into my neck and whispering, “I can’t wait to sink into your ass one day after we’ve worked you up to it, beauty.”
His words had my pussy clenching around Rowen once more, causing him to hiss out a groan.
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