Fate's Journey

by JL Madore

  I dropped my hands and watched the beast prowl closer. “No. He’s Aust. He’s in there . . . aren’t you?”

  Castian grunted. Without my help, he was having a harder time shutting Rheagan down. It didn’t matter. Aust was my primary concern. I eased down on my knees and reached into his mind. You know me, Aust. You and I are connected.

  He growled again, his eyes hard and cold. A foot in front of me, he opened his mouth, panting to take in my scent.

  Fight her. Even before Shalana’s death, we were bonded. You, me, and Kobi. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered where Kobi was.

  Was he hurt? Was he battling Rheagan’s henchmen?

  My distraction lasted only a split-second. The moment I started to turn my head, the white tiger lunged. I screamed, raising my hands as a 500-pound jungle cat attacked.

  Except, he didn’t attack me.

  With my heart hammering inside my chest, I raised my hands and rejoined my uncle. Aust had taken Rheagan by surprise and brought her to the ground.

  “That’s it, son,” Castian said, a triumphant grin spreading across his face. “Hold her there . . . for just . . . two more . . . seconds.” He dropped to his knees beside the tiger and his sister; his fingers gripped around the metal disc. “Your magical abilities are drained. All you are, and ever will be, is immortal. If I could take that too, I would. You have one chance to survive this, Rheagan. Get out of my wife’s body and stay out of our lives for good.”

  “What if I like this body.”

  “I’ll not have you in my wife’s body. I’d rather she be laid to rest.” Castian flicked his fingers, and the dome disappeared. He placed two fingers in his mouth and let off a shrill whistle. “The Hell Hound is coming, dear sister. And the pup will tear this body to shreds and devour your soul. You’ve lost.”

  I straightened, and Paladin was, indeed, barreling toward us. Growing in size and mass as he galloped closer, the pup’s eyes locked on his malevolent prey.

  “Get out, or you’ll be dead in five, four, three—

  The moment Rheagan vacated her vessel, Abbey’s body went lax. In the same instant, Abbey and Castian vanished. I knelt on the ground and gathered a confused Paladin into my lap. Without the tainted soul to trigger his demon side, he was instantly a silky, black pup once again.

  “Where are they?” Jade said, running over.

  “Alone together somewhere. My guess is reuniting your mother with the hawk.”

  “But she’s alive? And Rheagan’s gone?”

  I nodded. “I’d never say forever with an immortal, but for now, yes, she’s powerless and gone.”

  Aust pushed against my shoulder, and I buried my fingers into the depth of his long, white coat. The moonlight overhead had long ago drained the color out of the clearing and left the world bleached. His coat glowed a beautiful shimmering silver.

  “Noble the child of argenteous mane.”

  Jade’s eyes widened as the last line of the prophecy fell into place. She smiled and kissed his wide nose. “Well done, Aust. It’s no surprise that you saved the day. Those of us who know you, have never doubted that you are a true male of worth.”

  Aust shape shimmered and morphed back to the sleek and sexy man I’d grown to not only respect but love. “Gratitude, Jade. I love you as well, but this was very much a group effort.”

  It was. I glanced around the clearing for Kobi.

  There were dozens of bodies on the ground, all dark and unrecognizable in the shadows and at a distance. “Where did he fall when I took Rheagan off him?”

  Aust shrugged and took my hand. Together, we jogged around the clearing, checking bodies, searching.

  “Kobi?” I called, my anxiety notching up with every dead warrior we found. “Kobi, where are you?”

  “He’s not here?” Lexi said.

  “Where did he go?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  “He wouldn’t leave us in the middle of a battle. Something is wrong.” I followed Aust as he used his Elven skills to track Kobi through the forest. His absolute ease in nature never ceased to amaze me.

  “His scent is off,” he said. He held my elbow as I climbed over a downed tree. “I fear Rheagan’s dark energy infected him somehow.”

  “Then why leave?” I jogged to keep up, his pace increasing with each step. Faolan and Paladin got more excited the faster we moved, bounding along beside us. “If he’s hurt, he knows we’ll heal him.”

  “I hope he knows. He was deeply hurt in the library.”

  “I couldn’t say I loved him when I wasn’t sure.”

  “And I forced him to admit something the two of you should have handled in your own time.”

  I shook my head. “That wasn’t your fault.”

  “The outcome weighs on me regardless.”

  A warm wind whistled past me as we emerged into a forest clearing. Nestled, hidden against a wall of overgrown shrubs and trees sat a weathered, wooden clubhouse. Moonlight highlighted the front wall of the little shack, and the chipped message scrawled in faded and dripping, lime-green paint. “Shitstorm Survivors: Come in peace or leave in pieces.”

  “Inside,” Aust said, exhaling. “He suffers.”

  Swallowing, I stepped softly to the door. “Knock-knock. Want some company in there?”

  “If I did, why haul my ass to butt-fuck-nowhere?”

  Testy, but he had a point. “Why leave the battle at all? That’s not like you.”

  His laughter came out in a harsh hiss. “You only think you know me. You don’t. The man you know is an illusion.”

  I rolled my eyes at the disdain in his voice and pulled the rusted handle. The door creaked, and something shuffled in the shadows within. “What’s going on with you? I’ll heal you if you’re hurt. If it’s worse than that, Aust’s here too.”

  He groaned and shifted again. “Go. Don’t you get it? I don’t want either of you here.”

  “Why?” I inched my way inside. Even with heightened night vision, I had to navigate with my arms outstretched. “Aust can smell your suffering. Let us help.”

  “I’m not a fucking fixer-upper. I’ll take care of myself.”

  “That’s not nearly as fun.” I hoped I could break through whatever foul temper had taken him hostage. My foot bumped his leg, and I waited for my eyes to adjust. “I’ve heard sex after a battle is a great way to work off adrenaline.”

  “I’m not a charity case either. Just go.”

  “If you think ordering me away will work, you don’t know me very well. Guess that’s what we get for falling hard and fast. There are lots of things to learn about each other.”

  “Now you’re patronizing me? We both know I was the idiot who caught a case of the feels. You shot me down.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  He shifted in the corner and hissed again. “Whatevs.”

  I clenched my fists and tried to remember that he was hurt. “Not whatevs. I wasn’t ready to put a name on my feelings, but after the past few days, I’ve thought a lot about it. I do love you. Though, at the moment, I’m wondering why. You can be a real ass, you know that?”

  “It belches up from the demon gene cesspool. Get over it.”

  I followed his leg up to his hip and eased onto the dirt floor beside him. “Stop being a dick. I said that I love you.”

  “Bullshit. That’s sex talking.”

  “And that’s insecurity talking. What the hell did Rheagan do to you? Where’s my cocky demon with the massive ego?”

  I expected him to say something like, ‘Thank you for using cock and massive in the same sentence,’ but it never came. I shifted closer until our hips touched and followed his arm up to his jaw. His head was lax and flopped to the side, hanging heavy from his shoulders.

  Cupping his face in my hands, I lifted his head and felt rough, scaled skin. Contact with Rheagan’s rancid magic was hard for me; I couldn’t imagine what it was like for a demon.

  “Kobi? Are you with me here?” He didn’t rouse in
any way. “Aust? I think we have a problem. Help me get him outside.”

  Aust rushed in and carried Kobi to the grass of the clearing. Clouds blocked the direct light of the moon, but even the dim glow from above was enough to reveal that Kobi was no longer able to hide his demon side.

  “What has she done to him?” Aust asked, kneeling beside him. He stroked a finger along the plated skin of his jaw.

  “It’s his true self,” I said, unbuttoning my pants. “If we see it, he’s in more trouble than I thought.”

  Aust pulled Kobi into his arms and brought their mouths inches apart. “Take from me what is freely offered. Heal and be strong, warrior.”

  As Aust kissed Kobi, it struck me, once again, how right the three of us were. The misfit toys, as Lexi put it. Each of us searching for acceptance and family and love.

  “I love you, Aust.” The words came without thought or hesitation. “I know it’s too soon after Bree for you, but you should know, it’s not just Kobi I fell for. I love you both. And it’s not that you each have half of my heart, it’s this glowing warmth of the three of us swirled together and blended most amazingly.”

  Aust glanced up at Zophia, his thoughts and emotions tumbling in his head. He had known she cared for him. Their connection had grown, first in the caring for Shalana, and then in the sharing of her powerful energy. He never expected her love. And she gave it so freely. Without reservation. He began to form the words of his reply when Kobi regained consciousness.

  “Fuck. Don’t look at me.” He pressed his palms against Aust’s shoulders and turned his head. “I don’t want this.”

  “Too bad,” Zophia said. We’re saving you, despite yourself. And you’re ruining a beautiful moment, by the way. I was saying how much I love you both.”

  Kobi cursed and covered his face with his arm. “You’re delusional.”

  “No. I’m not. Kobi, look at me.”

  A groan broke free from his chest. It sounded like a mixture of desperation and dark plea. The tension of indecision grew, but finally, his eyes opened and met her gaze.

  Kobi’s eyes had glowed scarlet before, had held the orange flames dancing in their depths, but never had Aust seen the vulnerability that his true demon face brought out in him.

  “No matter what you think happens next,” Zophia said, “I won’t run away screaming.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “No, you’ll see,” she insisted. “I don’t judge you for what you were born. I accept you as I always have.”

  “I do as well.” Aust felt the heat of a blush coloring his fair skin, but kept his gaze locked on Kobi. “We are an unexpected union of mirrored souls, and whether you possess the Goth beauty of a human, the magical state of your dragon, or the fierce visage of a demon, you remain the same male to me.”

  Kobi swiped rough fingers across his eyes and swallowed. “You’re both crazy. I don’t know how to deal with this.”

  “Verily, truth is not to be dealt with. It is a fact. Despite your acerbic demeanor, you are loved.”

  Zophia knelt beside them and pulled her shirt over her head.

  Aust watched her chestnut hair fall back into place. It rained down the column of her neck and brushed the smooth skin of her bare shoulders. Wearing just her underthings, kneeling before them, and bathed in the light of the summer moon, she truly stole the breath.

  She took Kobi’s hand and ran a gentle thumb over his demon skin. “Whether you believe us right now, or not, it’s an implicit, unreserved, unconditional, absolute, wholehearted kind of love.”

  Aust eyed the iridescent rounds of her breasts, and his blush crept to the points of his ears. Those lace underthings were fetching and stoked hunger deep within him. He forced his focus back to Kobi. “Let the humiliation and anger go and trust me to heal you. Now and e’ermore.”

  “Evermore?” she asked, a whisper of emotion catching on the word. “What are you saying?”

  Dizzy with fear of speaking his mind, he bit his bottom lip and pulled in a deep breath. “Kobi commented once about me joining your pairing. If that invitation remains open, I wish to accept. I, uh . . . I wish to lay with you both and make it official—for only as long as the joining remains beneficial for each of us,” he clarified.

  “But Highbornes are bound for life.”

  “I would never expect to bind you two to Highborne laws.”

  The smile on Zophia’s face had his heart rate quickening. “Well, that works for me.”

  Kobi smirked. “Works for me too.”

  Thank the gods. Aust fought the urge to explode forward and take what he needed. The pressure in his cock was a mixture of pleasure and pain, the two merging as they fired in his blood and ignited in his cells.

  Gods, he wanted this.

  It was no surprise that Kobi initiated things. “Zophia, you get our boy warmed up, and I’ll enjoy the show. With any luck, I’ll heal back to myself, simply by stroking off to the sight of the two of you.”

  “I can do that.” Zophia stood and held out her hand.

  Aust rose and stepped before her without hesitation.

  She loosened the tie of his tunic and swept a soothing hand over the magical burn he suffered earlier. As her palm brushed his chest and the ribbing of his abdominals, his flesh tingled beneath her healing touch. When the damage was no more, she eased her hands over his shoulders and dropped his tunic.

  Another graceful sweep of her hand brought a gossamer tent to the clearing, anchored within by a round bedding platform. The sudden appearance of the opulent accommodations reminded him of the campsite Castian had set them up each night in those first days of their Ambar Lenn.

  “Your first time should be everything you’ve hoped for,” Zophia said, trailing a suggestive finger down the ridges of his chest. “Any requests? Whatever your heart or body desires. Tonight’s about you.”

  About him? Had anyone other than his parents and Mika ever focused solely on him? He lifted his hand, and after she gave him a nod, he tested the weight of her lacy breast in his palm. The throb in his cock grew even more demanding.

  “Tonight, you two may guide me. You have experienced more than I have dreamed. No matter what passes between us, I shall be in ecstasy.”

  “Done deal,” Kobi said, his voice a husky growl. “Lacy, untie the man’s laces. Let’s get this Three-way started.”

  Zophia glanced down at his groin and coaxed the ties of his pants loose. “I’m surprised these Elven leathers haven’t split already. You must be very uncomfortable.”

  He was. He’d been aroused many times before but never to this extent. Knowing that they wanted him—knowing it was going to happen for them—he almost couldn’t bear it. His cock twitched as his excitement raised another level.

  “Breathe, Highborne,” Kobi said, lounging back on one hand while he stroked himself root to tip with the other. “S’all good. We’re going to take good care of you.”

  Aust exhaled, his blood throbbing in his temples.

  “Look at me, Aust,” Zophia said. “Is this nerves, or second thoughts?”

  “Nerves,” he said, his breath coming out more in pants than voice. “I swear, I want this. I am simply out of my depths.”

  She took his trembling hand and squeezed. “Then there’s nothing to worry about. We’ll take this one inch at a time.”

  “Yeah, we will,” Kobi said, sexual innuendo dripping in his voice. “I bet you want Zo naked, don’t you, Highborne? You want to trace her silky skin with your fingers and then your lips. Am I right?”

  Aust swallowed. Unable to speak, instead, he nodded.

  “Thought so. Okay, lesson one, slide a gentle hand across her collarbone and under her hair. Bring her against your chest and kiss her.”

  Aust did as he was told and found that following Kobi’s instructions allowed everything else to fall away. The pressure of decision was gone, and in its absence, he was able to simply absorb the sensations. His body shuddered as their mouths met.

  Zoph
ia’s lips were softer and less aggressive than Bree’s. Despite the perfection of the moment, insecurity reared inside him. Bree had never been truly content with the male he was. He had tried long and hard to convince her, yet still, she failed to see him for who he was to his depths.

  Zophia eased back. “Everything all right?”

  He nodded and forced his pain back into its box. This moment was about them. Just the three of them.

  “Now,” Kobi continued. “wrap your arms around her and unhook that lacy bra. Let the girls out. Toss it to me . . . yeah, that’s right.”

  He tossed the bra to Kobi and splayed his hands across her back. Gods. Her skin was soft as velvet, and as iridescent as the most precious pearl. One hand slid up to pull her closer; the other dropped to the edge of her panties.

  “There you go,” Kobi said, his voice less demon and more himself. “Now slide that hand under the lace and feel her ass. Zo has an incredible ass.”

  As his fingers slid into her underwear, Zophia brought her own down the back of his unlaced pants. His cock jerked hard, and she ground her belly against it. He groaned into their kiss and wondered if males ever passed out from being too aroused.

  Breaking their sweeping connection of lips and tongues, she glanced up at him. Thankfully, seemed as breathless as he. “You have a great ass too. I’ve always thought so. In fact, all the women of Haven think so.”

  She shifted her hold and with both hands, pushed his leathers down his thighs until they dropped at his feet. The touch of the summer breeze across his heated flesh was erotic, and he worried he might well climax before they truly started.

  “And after tonight,” she said, a stunning grin spreading across her divine features, “this fine ass is mine.”

  “Ours,” Kobi said, stepping against his back. Naked and once again his dark and beautiful human self, Kobi reached around them and linked them in an embrace. “One Highborne bonding coming up.”

  In a lifetime of watching encounters of all kinds from my station, I’d seen everything. The good, the bad, the joyous, and the heartbreaking. I’d never seen anything more sensually seductive or romantically rousing than Aust and Kobi getting familiar with each other, the strength of their bodies as they rubbed against each other, the glistening of their skin under the late June moon, the scent of sweat and sex.