He smirked, again. “Glad to hear it.”
I shook my head. “Still have to be an old bastard?”
“I have a reputation to maintain.”
* * *
The carriage raced us to a train station.
By the time we got there, Dorian could feel his feet again and was able to walk to the train.
He needed the power to help his healing, but he wasn’t listening to me. Or to the twins.
His bastard had come back with the circulation in his feet.
It was so bad that the twins stopped talking to him.
We must have looked quite the sight: a shirtless, shoeless, wild-eyed, long-haired druid; two identical blond-haired men, one in military garb, one in riding gear; and one wild-haired, brown-eyed woman in riding pants wearing a sword.
The compulsion to get to the south was pushing me hard. It seemed it was doing the same to Dorian. Not so much on Rilen and Roran, but they did feel it.
“What happens when we get there?” I asked.
“To the Gate?” Roran asked. “I don’t know. The Gate doesn’t open. It shut before the Spine rose, and the stories say the keys were lost.”
“The keys were stolen.” Dorian looked up from where he was staring at the tracks running by. “They were stolen and taken through the Gate.”
“More information we need?” Roran asked, but there was no anger in his voice.
“I… don’t know. If the keys are coming back to the Gate, then that could be what we’re feeling. The compulsion to get there.”
“Let’s get there,” Rilen said, twisting one of the epaulets on his jacket. “We’ll figure it out as we go.”
“That’s no different from anything else.” I smiled.
It felt so good, so right, to be back with all three of these men. A relief like thick fog rolled over me, blanketing me, making me feel settled.
Dorian might still be a bastard, and the brothers might still be mysteries, but they were my mysteries and my bastard.
I was happy to have them.
And more, I was happy to have my mother and father back where they belonged, and even happier to have Cely as part of my history.
Savion could rot in the hot sun of the rocks.
And, blessedly, would.
The train pulled into the station as the sun rose. The electric trains they had in East S’Kir were far more efficient than our lumbering steam locomotives. And so much faster. I wanted to have all of S’Kir connected like this.
To my surprise, they walked our horses off another car further back, and the massive beauty I’d been riding was waiting patiently for me.
“Let’s go,” Dorian snapped, heading for our mounts.
“He’s almost back to himself,” I grumbled.
“He’s not, but he’s faking pretty well,” Rilen said. “We’ll get down to the gate and make him stop for the night. None of us can go on like this.”
Roran purred in my ear teasingly as he walked by to get to his horse.
We rode most of the day at a calm pace. It wasn’t a long ride, but Aiko had told us the road became more treacherous as we got closer to the gate.
He wasn’t wrong.
The road started to wind up and up just after noon and kept getting steeper and steeper until the poor horses were having trouble with their footing.
Roran, Rilen, and I climbed off and led the horses through some of the most treacherous parts of the path.
None of us would let Dorian down from his saddle.
He could walk, but walking up the worst part of the trek would have set him back.
He kept Savion’s head tied to his horse.
It took us near three hours to get through just a few miles of the path. But finally, and very suddenly, it opened up, and we were on a wide, grassy plateau.
In the distance, the South Ocean gleamed, and the rock grotto that held the gate stood, stark against that white and blue.
By the time we reach the grotto, the sun was ready to slide down behind the water in the far west. We set up a small camp and with the weather so very different from the north—where the true cold was approaching for the year—no one wanted to sleep in a hot tent. We just unrolled our bedding under the sky.
As the sun went down, there was a massive lightning storm just to our east.
“Think that will reach us?” I asked.
“Maybe. We can hide in the grotto if we need to,” Rilen said, considering the stone cave. “It doesn’t seem the magic would mind.” He turned to Dorian. “How do you feel?”
“Angry.” His word was clipped.
“At whom?” I asked.
“Myself. That I fell for that bullshit line he fed me. That I allowed myself to be drugged.”
I moved to kneel next to Dorian. I put my hands on my knees and stared at the ground. “You have no idea how much it means to me that you would put a three thousand-year-old feud to the side to make sure I was safe.” He tried to wave me off, but I caught his hand. “No. Because I know if it was anyone aside from me or Roran or Rilen, you would have let them die. I know it.” I put the captured hand over my heart. “I know it here. You’ve been through too much, seen too much to let people affect you.”
He stared at me, his gaze tracing my features. “You’re too good for us.”
Tossing my head back, I laughed. Hard. “I decapitated my own father just a day ago, and you’re saying I’m too good for you?”
Dorian pulled me into his lap. “Yes. You’re too sweet.”
“Did you not see the blood I wiped off my sword?”
“I was too focused on that heaving bosom.” His hand slipped up and found my breast.
“Are you going to let us help you heal?” I asked, quieting.
“Will you try Roran’s blood?”
The idea of tasting Roran’s blood—or really any of their blood—pushed hot lust through my veins, landing between my legs and making me sigh with desire. “I can try.”
Roran grunted and absently rubbed the erection he had quickly acquired.
A flash of lightning lit up our campsite, and I glanced at the clouds. I jumped up off Dorian’s lap and grabbed my bedding roll. “Come on. I don’t want to be hit with that.”
I moved everything of mine into the rock cavern, and as soon as I was satisfied with it, I looked up to see Dorian, Rilen, and Roran doing the same.
I reached behind me, untied the top of my shirt, and let it fall off.
Slowly, they turned and looked at me.
I slipped my bottoms off.
Rilen burst into speed, and before I knew it, he had arranged all of our bedding together and stripped out of his clothes. He grabbed me around the waist, and without preamble, sucked one of my nipples into his mouth.
Roran rolled his eyes. “At least get her horizontal, brother.”
In the same instant, I was flat on my back.
Between the shock of the movement and the lips on my breast, I gasped in shock and took a moment to recover.
Holding my hand out, I beckoned Dorian and Roran to the bedding with us. “Come. Join us. This is about you, Dorian. You need to heal.”
He sat, and then stretched out next to me, lowering his head to my other breast, capturing the nipple in his lips.
I let out a breath. “I missed this.”
Roran slipped in behind Dorian, and in what was quickly becoming a sexual haze, I watched as he pulled Dorian off me, turned his head, and kissed him.
“Listen to us next time, khoba.”
Rilen nodded and rested his head on my shoulder. “Please. Dorian. Listen to us. We love you, and what you did was insanity. We needed just a few more days to be ready to rescue our ilati.”
I put a hand on his face. “Trust us. More than you distrust anyone else.”
“Yes.” He nodded, looking at each of us in turn and taking another hard kiss from Roran.
Rilen ran a finger around the pearl peak he had been nibbling on. “We should mate this one soon. Give
her a Sealing ceremony.”
My eyebrows shot up. “What…”
“He’s right,” Roran agreed. “A Sealing ceremony. With all the bells and whistles. The people of S’Kir would love something like that in all the chaos.”
“All of you?”
Dorian smirked. “Yes, all of us.”
I stuttered and didn’t have a chance to answer before Dorian’s hand slipped between my legs. “She’s so wet…I think that’s a yes.”
I shook my head and reached for his cock. “That’s for you.”
“Oh, is it?” He took my mouth again, but the kiss was languid, hot. “All for me.”
“You need it,” I breathed.
“What else do I ne—ohhh,” Dorian couldn’t finish.
Roran was smiling, and I could see his hand between the globes of Dorian’s ass. He leaned forward and nibbled on the shell of Dorian’s ear. “I know what else you need.”
Rolling so I could slide my leg over Dorian’s hip, I felt his cock push its way through my folds and tease my clit and my entrance.
With just a tip of my hips, the head of him rested inside me.
I glanced at Rilen behind me. “Take this corset off. And then take my ass.”
He sucked in his breath, and his tongue traced the shell of my ear. “Oh, yes, ilati.”
With no warning, Dorian speared into me. I gasped in pleasure as thunder crashed in time with the lightning.
Seconds later, the twins worked their way into us, and I could see my own desire reflected in Dorian’s face.
Roran took control of Dorian’s hips and thrust in and out, and at the same time, Dorian’s cock followed in and out of my sex.
Rilen just held me still, little short strokes stoking the delights of our coupling.
“So good,” I hissed, filled to bursting by the men I loved, and who loved me back despite everything. “I want a Sealing ceremony. Please. I want everyone to know I love you all. You are everything to me.”
Another crash of thunder—but this one sounded different, and a strange change of pressure rushed through us.
A light filled the grotto, and I turned to look. Dorian, Rilen, and Roran raised their heads at the same time.
A woman and a man stood in the light of the Gate—a man who was a hazy, twisted copy of the man who currently had his cock in my pussy.
Same eyes.
Same build.
Same old bastard feel to him.
He grinned and threw something on the ground.
I couldn’t look away.
The Gate was open.
S’Kir
Island of the Unseen Gods
THE GATE STOOD BEFORE US, CLOSED FOR ENTRY.
Bel pulled the Original druid amulet and the Original vampire amulet from the depths of his pockets. Air escaped in and out of his lungs at a fast pace, and his hands trembled. He dipped his head down and brushed his lips across mine, whispering with hesitation, “I am nervous.”
I lifted my hands up and cupped his whiskered cheeks. “It’ll be fine. I’m here. We do this together.”
His brows furrowed. “I have this vision of what my home here looked like. Over time, it has faded. But I can still see clearly the way the sun set over the home across from mine. What do you think that means?”
My smile was gentle. “It means you’re a dreamer.”
Ice blue eyes ran over my face. “I’m not sure if that’s accurate.”
“I’m right. Just accept it.” I waggled my black brows. “How about we open that gate now?”
His chuckle was rough. “I’m stalling, aren’t I?”
“Just a little.” I dug my tiny fingernails into his short beard and scratched softly. “It’s time, Bel.”
“That it is.” He pulled away from my hands and straightened to his full height, towering far over me.
The king raised the two powerful amulets and touched them together. Both instantly flared with their golden or blood red glow. He walked forward on strong legs and gently touched the jewels to the polished, bronzed doors.
Bel commanded, “Open the Gate.”
A crack of thunder shook the ground.
I sucked in a quick breath and spread my legs to steady myself. I placed a bracing hand on Bel’s left shoulder and gripped his shirt in a tight fist.
The air pressure changed, pushing at me.
My muscles clenched at the odd sensation.
Bright light flooded my eyes.
I squinted and stepped closer to my lover, not releasing my hold on him. Until my eyes adjusted to the bright light. My mouth bobbed, and a chuckle built up inside my throat, but I bit it back with much force.
The Gate was open.
We’d arrived just in time for naked playtime.
Four druids—three men and one woman—had paused in their sexual act together, their heads all jerking up and turning in our direction.
A peculiar gurgling noise erupted from Bel’s throat before he whispered out of the side of his mouth, “Gwen, the head. Get the fucking head for me.”
He stuffed the Original vampire amulet and the Original druid amulet down into his pockets while I quickly unzipped his backpack and yanked the head out. Smooth like, I slid the head down and passed it off to his left hand by his leg.
Just as fast, he tossed King Niallan’s head past the Gate’s entrance into the grotto. It bounced twice and rolled once on the smooth orange-brown stone ground before it stopped moving.
I zipped up his backpack with one hand and then placed my palms on the handles of my guns holstered at my thighs.
This was just fucking bizarre.
I was pretty sure I had an eyelash in my eye, too.
Way to enter a magical island. With tears.
I blinked rapidly trying to dislodge it. But…
False alarm, thank fuck. My vision cleared.
Right as…one of the men jumped to his feet.
And raced as fast as he could toward us.
I squinted and shook my head. I had to be seeing shit, like a magical illusion from the place, the naked man far too familiar.
Instinct screamed that this was no illusion.
What the fuck?
My lover was no help. He just stood there in shock.
Using my vampire speed, I sped in front of Bel.
I unholstered my guns and aimed true.
The man skidded to a stop, his hooded gaze captured by the weapons in my hands. He lifted a blond brow, and muttered, “I haven’t seen that type of gun before.”
“You’re dead. And if you want proof, you’re standing next to your head,” I hissed, baring my fangs. “How the fuck are you here, Niallan?”
The man’s blond head tipped down and stared at the head on the ground. He used his bare left foot to turn it around to see the face. He grunted as he stared down at it, his attention wholly captured by it.
A click from behind the blond man made my eyebrow twitch. I spared a quick glance to the woman, who had stalked up quietly and shouldered a rifle straight from the Wild West’s reject pile.
There was no doubt it was aimed at my head.
The two men had joined the woman, their swords held entirely too easily to be anything but deadly in their hands.
Were they all dead, too? Fuck if I knew.
This was a problem.
I snarled, “Bel, snap the fuck out of it. Niallan’s fuck buddies are annoying me a little bit.” My brows snapped together as a frightening thought occurred. I started babbling like I was put on fast-forward, “Wait. Is S’Kir where souls go? Do vampires and druids live with them? Oh my god. It all makes sense now. Unseen Gods. How do I kill a soul? Bel, I need your help. I don’t know how to kill souls!”
Bel choked behind me, and then quickly moved to stand by my side. His hands blurred and grabbed my guns and yanked them away from me. He shook his head hard, and his long, black hair fell over his shoulders. He stated calmly, “That’s not Niallan.”
I shot my wide eyes back to the man. �
�What?”
“Niallan was my son,” the look-alike stated, and stalked forward. The woman shouldering the rifle gasped softly, but he ignored her. He had his eyes—ice blue eyes, not green—only on my lover. “You should get a new bodyguard, Belshazzar. She’s much too skittish.”
My spine instantly straightened. I glared at the man and grabbed my guns back from Bel. I didn’t holster them, though. The look-alike’s friends were almost on us. I took a few steps back so I could keep an eye on all of them.
The woman with them was, at least, fairly smart.
She was watching me, too.
“Gwen’s not skittish, Dorian. She just had a bad experience with your brat.” Bel threw his arms open when the man stopped directly in front of him. “I have fucking missed you, brother.”
What? What the fucking hell did he just say?
The two of them had all of my attention now.
In fact, they had the attention of all of us.
The man, Dorian, grabbed Bel in a tight hug. “I have missed you, too, brother.”
I held perfectly still as I tried to process this new development, the two embracing each other like they never wanted to let go.
“He’s your twin?” I asked carefully. “The one you told me about?”
“Yes,” Bel spoke over his brother’s shoulder, neither one of them letting each other go. “His name’s Dorian.”
“I caught that. But…he’s a druid.” My eyes ran up and down his twin, my mind still stunned. “And naked.”
Dorian snorted. “Oh, she’s a smart one.”
“Shut up, asshole,” Bel groused. He leaned his head back and placed a smacking kiss on his twin’s forehead. “It’s good to be back.”
Dorian’s glare reminded me of my lover’s—same exact eyes. “If there is slobber on my forehead, I’m going to kick your ass.”
Bel grinned, a little fang showing. “You’re getting all kinds of liquids on my clothes right now, thanks to your previous fun, so shut the hell up.”
Dorian tipped his head back and laughed.
I stared.
What the fuck had I gotten myself into?
He sounded like Bel. A little sweet and a lot bitter.
I glanced at the woman again.
She was still watching me with quiet eyes.
Death of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 3) Page 33