by Maia Dylan
And that was all it took.
Cole began to move in and out of her, and he could tell that Travis moved as well. After a few moments, Fiona’s words changed to sounds of need and pleasure and had Cole spiraling toward orgasm even faster. Jesus, the sounds she made reverberated right through him. Before long, the temptation of the impending orgasm that hovered just out of reach became too much and Cole’s movements became jerky.
“Now! Fucking now, Fiona. Come now, my love!” Cole roared, and as if that were all that was holding her back, Fiona threw her head back and screamed her pleasure aloud. “I claim you as my mate, Fiona!” Cole roared, then struck, driving his teeth into the fleshy part of her right shoulder, as he heard his brother roar the same pledge.
He felt her shudder and her pussy clench against him for the second time and knew that she was coming again. He knew that Travis was claiming her at the same time, and knowing that all three of them were connected made the moment even more intense. Then he came. Pulling free of her neck and sweeping his tongue over the mark to close it, he roared her name, pouring himself into her, giving her everything he had.
When he was able to hear over the roaring in his own ears and past the sound of his own harsh breathing, he realized their mate had collapsed against him, completely spent.
“Damn,” Cole said, hearing the wonder and adoration in his own voice.
“Yeah, bro, I know exactly what you mean,” Travis said with emotion filling his voice, too, both of them absolutely blown away by the trust Fiona had just shown in them.
After a few minutes, she still hadn’t roused and Travis gently moved back. She moaned at the movement and Travis froze.
“Do you think we hurt her?” Travis said with a frown.
“I don’t know, Trav. God, I hope we didn’t hurt her.” Cole would rather cut off a limb than think he had hurt her in any way.
“Oh, for god’s sake.” Fiona’s amused but tired voice came from beneath the wild mass of her hair. “You didn’t hurt me, it’s just that I’m still a little sensitive right now and the feeling of Travis pulling out of me was…stimulating.”
Cole and Travis shared a relieved grin, then Travis padded into the bathroom. Cole moved to nestle Fiona on the bed more comfortably and moaned himself when his cock slid from her body. When Travis returned, he cared for their mate, then tucked himself on the other side of her and pulled up the covers.
Cole lay there for a while in the darkening room, thinking about how damn lucky he and Travis were that the Fates mated them to someone as special as Fiona.
“Hey, Fiona?” Cole asked, and smiled at the feminine grunt he got in return. “You’re going to marry us when this is all over.” His smile broadened when he felt their mate tense.
“Huh?” was her reply, and it was more of a squeak, really.
“He said that you’re going to marry us when this is all over,” Travis replied and lifted his hand up for a high five, which Cole returned. “Sounded pretty clear to me.”
“Oh. My. God,” Fiona muttered as she rolled over onto her back so that she could see them both, and her body language said she wasn’t amused, even though her beautiful eyes flashed with joy. “Did you just tell me that we were getting married and then fucking high-five each other about it?”
“Well, when you say it like that, it’s not as romantic as I was hoping,” Cole said with a grin.
Fiona threw her hands up in exasperation.
“What the hell, Cole?” Fiona grumped. “A woman wants to be asked and needs a little more romance for the moment the man or men in her life ask her to marry him. Them! Whatever!”
“We know that, lovely,” Travis said as he gently leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “And once this is all over, we will commence with Operation Seduce Our Mate to the Altar and you will not know what hit you.”
“It’s just that I thought I should tell you what was going to happen so you wouldn’t be too surprised when it did.” Cole kissed her other cheek and snuggled back down beside her. “And as I said before, if we ask, you could say no. This way, it’s a given.”
Fiona laughed softly and sighed. “Well, okay then. As long as I know the romance stuff will come at some point.”
“Honey,” Cole murmured as he lifted her hand to his lips, loving that her breath caught at the romantic gesture, “the romance stuff is going to come for the rest of your life. All you gotta do is just sit back and enjoy it.”
The rest of the night passed in a haze of love, laughter and talking about the future. No mention was made of the Pagan Stone or the solar eclipse or anything that had to do with the prophecy. Cole knew that Aeron was coming, and coming hard and fast, but in that room, on that day, the day they had claimed their fated mate, the Celtic God hell-bent on chaos and destruction had no place. And he could just kiss Cole’s ass.
Chapter 9
The closer they got to the Pagan Stone, the quieter the group became. It was as if all of them were lost in their own battle plans or thoughts on how the rest of that day was going to pan out. Ryan sighed as he walked directly behind the woman the Fates had deemed to be his, but who appeared to have other ideas.
Since she had arrived in Freedom Springs a couple of weeks ago, they had spent a lot of time together, and what little he had managed to learn about her, he liked. A lot. The only problem was that she never allowed herself to be alone with him or to say anything too personal, and it was frustrating the hell out of him and his wolf.
Now here they were, walking into what they all knew was a fucking trap set by some psychotic God who couldn’t take no for an answer, and he had an awful feeling that time was running short.
“It’s the same damn feeling as last time.” Micah spoke from beside him and Ryan nodded.
Just as it had been three months ago, there was this deep-seeded feeling that something was coming for them, aiming itself at the three woman in the group tasked with saving the world, and it drove him crazy that he was unable to see where it was coming from and what form it would take.
“We just need to keep our eyes open, be vigilant and make sure we’re ready for any surprises, I guess,” Ryan muttered back and cast yet another look at the forest around them.
He knew that he and all three of his brothers were strategically placing themselves in positions where they could protect the women. If anything came at them from out of the forest, then one of them would be able to step in to engage it. Kingi took the rear with Maggie walking just in front of him. Kingi carried this wicked-looking staff he had called a taiaha, which was intricately carved at one end and came to a sharpened point. The other end was wide and flat, and it was about 4 feet long.
Ryan had watch Kingi train with it yesterday and had been amazed at the speed and skill he had with the damn thing. Just looking at the moves he made, Ryan knew that Kingi could kill easily with that thing. It was made for close-quarter fighting and used for sharp strikes or stabbing thrusts, and when it was combined with the quick footwork Kingi had, then it was truly lethal. Ryan was glad Kingi had their back. He had also made a mental note to never piss the man off, especially if he ever got to the point where Ariana accepted him as her mate!
Maggie kept up a constant stream of chatter with the three girls for as long as she could, but even that eventually dropped away when they drew near to the table. The light was eerie, too, darkening in a strange way that signaled the solar eclipse was near, and Ryan knew that Fiona had been right.
It was happening today, and soon, from what he was feeling. Casting another quick look at Ariana, he caught her looking at him with such a pained longing it made his heart stutter at first, and then start to pound hard with joy.
She wanted him as much as he wanted her. That look told him everything he needed to know. She was hesitating because of something, and he was determined that he would find out what it was and overcome it. They would both see the end of this day and this damned solar eclipse. All of their extended family—because that was what
they were fast becoming—would get back to Freedom Springs safe and whole, and he and Ariana would be having a come-to-Jesus moment of their own.
* * * *
Fiona could feel the pull of something evil as she got closer to the Pagan Stone. She knew her mates could feel it, too, no doubt in stereo due to their mating bond, but there was nothing any of them could do about it. It was a given that they would end up at the Pagan Stone, as inevitable and unstoppable as the Solar Eclipse itself, and whatever Aeron had planned, they would need to deal with it then and there.
When they stood at the beginning of the path that led to the Pagan Stone, Fiona stumbled to a halt when Olwen’s voice sounded in her head. Daughter, Aeron has made a deal with Ealadha, the moon God. Aeron will use this eclipse to push some of his demons over into the earth realm, you have t—
Olwen’s voice dropped away abruptly and Fiona gasped at the echo of pain that came to her and knew that Aeron was somehow hurting Olwen.
“Olwen!” Fiona screamed, and looked frantically around the group that surrounded her, concern written on all their faces. She looked at Ariana and Casey, “Did you hear her?” Both of them shook their head. “She was trying to warn me, but that fucker got to her. He was hurting her!” Fiona felt tears of rage fill her eyes, and a fireball shot into the sky. “I am going to find that fucker and rip his balls off, out through his throat.”
Cole reached up to grasp her face in his hands, and Travis pressed against her from behind, surrounding her in their heat. “Okay, baby. Calm down,” Cole said as he leaned in and pressed quick kisses across her face. “You need to calm down and tell us what Olwen told you before she had to stop. Come on, baby, we are flying a little blind here, so anything she told you will help.”
Fiona shook her head. “That’s just it, Cole. Knowing is not going to help. It will simply scare the fuck out of everyone like it is me. Aeron is going to use the eclipse to send his demons over into our realm. He is bringing the fight to us.”
There were murmurs of alarm from the group, but Fiona kept her eyes on Cole and her hands clasped in Travis’s, needing them both to help her to stay grounded.
“Then we fight,” Travis murmured behind her, and pressed his lips to the claiming mark he had given her, making her shiver. “We fight and we win, and we send those fuckers either back to their own fucking realm or straight to hell. Personally, I am happy with either.”
Travis’s voice held nothing but confidence. There was not a flicker of doubt about how this was going to end and Fiona drew on that strength. She wrapped his confidence around her like a cloak and felt the doubt and fear that she had allowed to color her reactions, and potentially her actions going forward, melt away.
“Let’s do this.” Fiona was ready. She had a feeling she had been getting ready for this since she had been born. Her entire life had been about fighting for her future, fighting to claim her independence back, fighting to understand why her family had left her, fighting to get control of a power that up until recently had controlled her. Hell, she had even trained for years to master as many fighting and battle techniques as she could find anyone to teach her.
She turned so that she could look at both her mates at the same time. God, they were so damn handsome, and they were all hers. She reached up and pressed a hard kiss to them both for good luck. “Casey, Ariana and I have to go first,” she said, and knew that Cole and Travis were going to argue, so she spoke quickly. “We have to, it’s the only way to start this thing with the hope of having it end the way we need it to.”
She waited until they both nodded their understanding, and although they both did nod, she knew neither of them particularly liked the idea. From the growling coming from Ryan and Micah, they didn’t either, but Fiona was positive that this was how it was supposed to be. Turning, she reached a hand out to each of her sisters, and waited until they clasped them.
“So, Cole and Travis told me we were getting married after all this settles down.” Fiona wasn’t sure why she picked that moment to tell them, but for some reason, having said it out loud, she knew it was exactly the right time.
“What!” Casey grumped. “What the hell is it with the Winters boys thinking it’s appropriate to tell a woman instead of asking?”
“Because that way, you can’t say no,” Micah answered from just behind them.
“That makes no sense,” Ariana argued. “She can still say no, and by not actually asking you are almost daring her to do so.”
“Not at all,” Ryan piped up from right behind Ariana. “What my brothers have done makes perfect sense to me. If a guy asks you out for a drink to get to know you, or to marry them, then you can say no. If he tells you, and persists on telling you over and over, then eventually it just becomes a done deal. Ariana, you and I are going out for dinner on Friday.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” Ariana said, but Fiona heard a breathy excitement in her voice that hadn’t been there before.
“We are,” Ryan said confidently, “so get used to it.”
“Besides”—Cole spoke over a now-spluttering Ariana—“if you simply advise your mate that this is what’s going to happen in the very near future, then I see it more as advising them of your noble intentions. Of course, it will have to wait until after the madness of a prophecy and the danger to their lives that is beyond their control is over, but as far as I’m concerned, foretold is forewarned!”
“As long as your mate knows that there will be romancing and a question coming with it,” Travis chipped in, “then it’s all good and everyone knows what the outcome will be. Everybody wins, as far as I can see.”
Fiona heard Maggie and Kingi laugh at the logic or insanity of it all. Either would have the same comical result. Fiona turned to grin at her mates. “Exactly right, my loves.” She smiled when they both winked at her, then she turned to her sisters. “Shall we?” She indicated the path ahead with an incline of her head.
“We shall,” Ariana and Casey said together, and with a smile in their hearts and an inner will to survive, win this battle and eventually solve this whole damn thing, the three of them strode up the path. When they crossed over the area where Casey had to undo the shields that had barred the path to them the first time, they all felt a slight wrenching inside them, as if they had passed through an energy field.
“What the hell was that?” Micah asked, his words slightly garbled, signaling that his wolf was just beneath the surface.
“Aeron has cast a circle.” Ariana turned to face them and Fiona did not like how grim she looked. “He has gained more strength than I had anticipated. He has created a rift, sort of like a halfway house, between this realm and his. That way, he will be able to manifest more of his army and be able to bring more of them across in one go, but he will need to use a ton of power to hold this rift open.”
“Well, if this thing is draining his power, then I’m all for it,” Ryan reasoned, and Fiona liked how it sounded, but didn’t think it was going to weaken him too much.
Fiona felt a little less confident than she had only moments before, but her determination was still strong that they would all walk away from this, until they turned the last corner and what she saw had her stomach dropping to the ground beside her feet.
* * * *
“Holy fuck.” Travis didn’t know who said it, but knew they were all thinking the same damn thing. Even though he hadn’t been up to Devil’s Table in years, he knew that it certainly didn’t look like this the last time he had been here.
Where there had once been a stone wall carved into the cliff of the mountain ridge and a mountaintop looming above it, there was now an open expanse, a huge, open expanse that rolled out behind the Pagan Stone table and was at least as long as two football fields, and there was no land or forest beyond it. The morning sun hovered above the horizon almost as if it were sitting at the head of the table, with the dark shadow of the moon just inches from starting its journey between the earth and the sun.
“Now
there’s something you don’t see every day,” Casey said, and no one argued. It could be said of both the solar eclipse and the fact that somehow, someway, Aeron had completely changed the landscape to fit his needs.
As the moon’s shadow touched the sun, the world around them started to darken further and unnatural sounds came from somewhere in front of them. There was movement at the edge of the expanse, and Travis tried to narrow his gaze to make out what it was, but couldn’t really tell.
“The eclipse will start shortly,” Cole said as he glanced at his watch. “There will be a period of around seven minutes when the eclipse will be at its maximum. I reckon that will be when Aeron will be at his strongest.”
“Agreed,” Ariana said. “Whatever he throws at us up until that point will only be a distraction. We will use our powers for as long as possible, but I fear that we will need to meet some of these demons in combat.” Ariana turned to look back, slowly meeting the gaze of her parents.
“It’s okay, baby.” Maggie consoled her daughter. “This prick took half my family away from me for over twenty years. You can be assured that I have a little pent-up rage of my own I’d like to let loose on some of those assholes.”
As far as Travis was concerned, that made total sense.
“I agree with you, my love.” Kingi grinned and the glint of the warrior he was shone bright in his eyes. Then he let out this massive cry that had Travis’s blood running fast. “Tama tu! Tama ora! Tama moe! Tama mate!”
Jesus Christ! Travis had no idea what Kingi had said, but he was suddenly riled up and ready to let lose a can of whoop-ass the likes of which even God had never seen.
“Fuck me, Kingi!” Ryan roared. “I don’t know what the hell you just said, but whatever it was, some goes for me! Bring it, assholes!”
“He said”—Casey had to yell to be heard over the screaming and screeching that was coming out of the darkening world in front of them—“He who stands, lives. He who sleeps, dies!”