I can hear them speaking, voices relieved, but their words don’t make sense. Muffled. Not penetrating the fog around my mind. Brae. That’s who’s speaking to me.
He’s beautiful. I want to reach out and touch him, but my body will not move. Not because I’m bound, but because of weakness. I don’t have the strength. I’m trapped inside myself.
That light that burns is his magic. The sunny, happy feeling that I’m starting to remember has turned hard and biting. Ruthless. Unyielding. It’s bringing me back. Trying to. I am not all the way there. This, I know.
“Brae.” I try to say it, but my lips don’t move the way I tell them to. They’re too busy gasping for breath. I’m outside of myself, and I don’t like the feeling. Things are flooding back to fast. It’s dizzying.
Ariana. She killed me, or tried. Focus. I’m lying on hard stone. Brae is hovering over me, speaking. His eyes are the green of the jungle we traveled through. His lips are moving, his voice slowly becoming clearer.
“You need more,” he says. The words still fuzzy, but I can understand them. Warmth seeps into my skin where he touches me. Palms pushing my shirt off my shoulders. Other hands lift it over my head. “More than I can give you my mouth or my hands. Kari, if you’re in there, I need you to give me a sign. Any kind of sign.”
Fingers graze my hips, tracing down the bare skin of my legs. Other hands too. He’s removing my pants. Oh. Oh. A sign. He needs me to say yes. Because we’ve never done this before.
I try to move again, but I get nothing more than a flicker from my fingers or toes. Frustration curls up inside my chest. There has to be away. I came back. They brought me back, but I can feel myself slipping. I’m not going to leave them again just because they couldn’t hear me.
Closing my eyes, I think. It feels so easy to keep them closed.
Open your eyes.
I force my eyes open wide, blinking quickly. Twice in a row. Again. And again. Please, Brae, look at me. Blink twice. Blink twice.
“Brae,” a voice I can’t see. “Look.”
His face is there again, and I blink twice, and again. He sees it. He can see me. He knows. Leaning close, he cups my face with his hands. “Kari,” he breathes. “Are you saying yes? If you are, blink three times for me.”
One.
Two.
Three.
Brae’s lips crash down on mine, and in that place where my body is, he tastes like honey. Magic burns through me again, pain, but this time not all pain. Bright magic and cool magic and pale silver magic I haven’t felt before.
Aeric, I can see him now. He leans down and presses his lips to mine, flooding me with power, and I can remember it. The pleasure. I can feel it when his mouth moves across my skin and down to my nipples. A third set of hands touch me, combined with that smooth silver magic. Verys’s hands on my shoulders, smoothing his hands over my skin in comforting repetitive motions.
I’m slipping backwards, I think. That’s how it feels, this pull back towards darkness and blankness. The comforting black.
Pleasure slams through me, and I’m propelled back into my body. It’s all too much, the world like this. Too loud, too bright, too much magic and pain and the pleasure coating all of it on top but I’m alive. I can feel it. I can move my fingers, barely.
Three strands of magic are raging inside me, curling together and morphing into a bonfire that’s rebuilding me. Making tethers that are holding me here in the world. I can feel them weaving into place. I’m alive.
I’m alive.
And I can feel everything. Aeric’s lips and tongue as he drags them between my breasts and down to my belly button and back. Very’s hands on my arms and shoulders, adding touch, stimulation.
And Brae’s cock.
Oh fuck.
Magic erupts inside me, sending power shaking through every cell. Light reflects off Brae’s face above me as he moves. He’s fucking me, cock plunging deep in long, even strokes that fill me up in ways that I didn’t think were possible. He asked me, and I said yes. That blast of magic that brought me back was him entering me for the first time.
I shudder, closing my eyes against the brightening magic. God, yes. Every stroke shoves more power inside me, connects us, anchors me back in the world. I feel myself coming back. No longer pulled towards that darkness, and I want more. Every step I take away from death brings my arousal back to life, and I feel every inch of him more acutely. Every touch from the three of them, every bit of magic that they offer to me.
I almost want to laugh. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be the kind of girl to have a threesome. Hell, a foursome. But here I am. Pleasure settles over me like a cloud and roots itself in me. My back arches off the ground as a lash of fire whips through my soul, the last tether to that dark place breaking and setting me free. I’m fully back in my body and it is thrumming with need.
Brae is long and thick, slamming into me with fierce determination. I know that he’s doing this to save my life, but every fantasy I’ve had of this man—these men—is coming true. I want it so fucking much, even if it’s just this one time. I love the way my body is careening through pleasure and not yet falling into it. Savoring it, even if it’s just once. I wish I could see the way his cock looks as it’s fucking me.
Why do I have my eyes closed when I could see this? They fly open, and he’s right there, face so close. He’s the only one touching me now, body pressed against mine as he fucks. There’s so much emotion on his face, it makes my chest ache. Need and relief and desire. Even anger.
His mouth slants across mine in a bruising kiss. He says everything with it. They will not let me go. They will do whatever it takes to keep me here and safe. Brae lifts my legs around his hips so he can plunge deeper, faster, and harder.
Ecstasy so complete shatters through me, washing magic through every part of me, healing and lifting me up. Pleasure that’s a cascade of color and magic my voice comes back at that moment, tearing free of what was holding it back. Yes. Please. More. Don’t let it end.
Brae hammers his cock into me, extending my pleasure with every thrust of his hips. He braces himself on his arms above me, groaning, his rhythm faltering as he finds his own climax. Heat and pure, honey, magic surge through me—the magic created by our combined pleasure. He pours it all into me.
The light on his face grows brighter, and I realize that it’s me. I’m glowing. Shimmering with the storm of magic inside me. I can’t contain it all, so I’m lit up like a firework. Slowly, carefully, I lift my hand to see it. It’s strange and beautiful. I can almost see the glittering flow of it beneath my skin the way I can feel it moving. Seeking, healing, restoring.
Softly, Brae kisses me. It’s a kiss that makes my chest ache with longing for something that I can’t name. He slips away from me, and already I miss his warmth. But he’s exhausted. He lays down beside me, breathing heavily, but face still turned towards me. His hand still rests on my stomach, and I realize that he’s making sure that I’m still breathing. “Thank you,” I whisper.
He says nothing, but nods, just a little, and his eyes close.
Brae’s absence above me has revealed Kent, who’s staring down at me a few feet away. His expression is pure agony. It was his voice that I heard.
Kari, please. Don’t let go. Come back.
Is she gone?
He thought I’d died. That I’d left him. Pain spikes through my chest, but it’s not from the curse, it’s just me. If I’d fallen over the cliff and left them…
Tears blur my eyes and I reach my hand out to him, as far as I can manage. I’m alive, and I’m not in pain, but that’s about it. I have no strength left in my body. But Kent’s hand finds mine, and he kisses it. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I would help if I could.”
“I know,” I say. My voice is a dry husk of its former self. It sounds like dried leaves blowing along the streets of New York in Autumn—just the bare remnant of life. I’ll recover. For now, this will have to be enough.
&
nbsp; Verys steps behind Kent and puts his hands on his shoulders. Kent goes deathly still like he’s been electrocuted. “Help her,” he whispers to Kent.
Kent looks at me, sudden awe dawning in his eyes. He doesn’t move, and Verys says it again, louder this time. “Help her.”
Where his skin is touching mine, I feel the silvery magic of Verys brush against me, and I understand. Verys has given his magic to Kent so that he can pleasure me, be a part of this. “Yes,” I say. Of course.
Kent strips his shirt over his head and sheds his pants just as quickly. Of all the times I’ve imagined seeing him naked, I never thought it would be like this. But it doesn’t change how fucking beautiful he is. Perfect olive skin and smooth lines run down his body. It’s packed with muscle, built in ways I hadn’t pictured. Everything from his arms to that delicious line on his hips is sculpted. And his cock stands straight away from his body, proud and thick as he kneels between my legs.
Shivers run down my skin in anticipation. I like the sight of him above me, taking just a moment to take me in below him before he nudges into me. He’s not quite as long, but thicker than Brae is, and I’m stretched by him as he slowly eases himself inside.
Verys has moved with him, standing behind with a hand still on his shoulder, passing the magic that I feel flowing through Kent into me. I lock eyes with him, and I try to tell him thank you with my gaze. I hope that he understands.
I squeeze down on Kent’s cock, and he growls, still sinking in as deep as he can go. The thick weight of him inside me is delicious. By the time he’s all the way inside me I’m short of breath because of how stuffed I feel. Even without the trickle of shining magic that’s swirling between us, this feels entirely different.
Kent’s head drops forward, looking at where we’re joined together, and then he looks at me. His eyes are shining with emotion, and it sings between us, the magic drawing us closer together. He pulls back just an inch before sinking all the way back in. The slow friction sends quaking waves of pleasure along my limbs, slow, rumbling, and deep.
Slowly, Kent starts to build a rhythm. The magic grows brighter with every movement of his hips, and the way he’s filling me has me panting with need. He rolls his hips, changing his angle until I gasp, and moan. My voice sounds a little fuller now, more like myself. Just making that sound changes something, and Kent suddenly plunges harder. With more force. The magic building between us is glowing under my skin again, reflecting off his face and lighting up those dark eyes that I love so much.
Brae draws himself closer to my side, wrapping his arm fully around my waist. I turn my head to his, and he catches my lips in a kiss. The addition of his sunny power has me groaning into his mouth. His hand slides up my skin, across my chest until it reaches my neck. He grips me there, holding me in place while he plunders my mouth with lips and tongue.
More hands on my skin, Aeric smoothing them down to my stomach and lower. Teasing just above my mound, not quite touching. So close to where Kent is fucking that I wouldn’t be able to breathe even if Brae weren’t stealing all of my air.
Kent’s hands land on my hips, pulling me onto his cock even as he slams in. He keeps that angle that sends sparks soaring through me like a bonfire, and I have to cry out. To scream. Yes. The sounds are lost in Brae’s mouth until he releases me, moving to my neck to lick my throat. He’s tasting my voice, tongue painting me with magic that sinks through me and makes my voice louder, fuller.
I’m so close, hovering on the delicious edge of orgasm. Kent is fucking hard, plunging into me with raw, brutal strength, and I hold on. I don’t want it to stop. I could bathe in this feeling of tongue and hands and cock and magic. My voice breaks but I can’t stop telling them yes. Begging them please for more.
Aeric slides his hand lower, fingers seeking and finding my clit. I’m sensitive and ready, pleasure spiraling deep into my gut. He circles it with his fingers, not relenting, leaning down to place a kiss directly between my breasts.
That pleasure has coiled up so tight I think that I might break. I’m riding the line of it, the dragging sensation of Kent’s fucking holding me there. Then Aeric moves his fingers once more, and I’m lost. Pleasure fractures outward, and my voice echoes off of white stone. My vision fires white and dark, consumed by colors as the pleasure takes me. Every sensation is overwhelming. Brae’s lips on my skin and Aeric’s damned clever fingers.
I’m shaking with it, falling into a new void, but this one feels amazing. I’m floating on it. Silver magic cascades over me as Kent comes, thrusting balls deep and holding himself there, cock jerking with that heat and power. His fingers are gripping my hips so hard he might leave marks. I hope he does—I want to see his hands on my skin.
Aeric doesn’t stop teasing me, drawing out aftershocks of pleasure that flicker and spark over my body. Kent has nearly collapsed on top of me, spent from his magically fueled orgasm. Brae drapes his arm across me again, offering the pleasure of warmth and comfort. Aeric stops teasing me, instead stroking his hands over my skin in long motions meant to soothe and relax.
I feel better. Not well by any stretch. I can still feel the weakness of death clinging to me. But I think I might be able to stand. Maybe move.
I can’t believe that this is real. We’re all together, sitting, breathing, relaxing in the fading glow of magic and sex. Even after they’ve all shown me in no uncertain terms that they want me, my mind still can’t wrap around it. Things like this don’t happen to me. I’ve never been lucky.
Considering that I was nearly just killed, and am being stalked by a homicidal fae female, you could say that I’m still extremely unlucky. But right now, in this moment, cradled by these men, it doesn’t feel that way.
Part of it is the heightened circumstances. No one could deny that the five of us have been through hell together at this point. And I love this. I love that they’re willing to do this for me. But once we reach the Carnal Court, and I’m healed, it will all be over. I’m a human.
There’s a pang of sadness in my chest that I try to push aside. But it lodges there, refusing to be ignored. It doesn’t matter if they want me now, they won’t. They’ve claimed a duty to see me healed, and they’re going to do it. But after…
I shove the thought out of my head. No. I’m not going to think about that now. I won’t do it, because in spite of myself and the danger to my life I don’t want this to end. I don’t.
Verys, the only one who’s still fully dressed and standing, steps close to me. He gathers me up in his arms. Picks me up as if I weigh nothing. “We must go,” he says quietly to the others. “Return to the horses, move quickly.”
That stirs the rest of the men to action, pulling on clothes and grabbing mine. And then we’re moving, speeding back towards camp as if that bitch is on our heels, which she might be, if she heard my screams.
No one says out loud the reason that we need to move and have no more time. If she realizes she hasn’t killed me, she’ll come back. And I won’t survive this another time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
________
KARI
We fly.
At least it feels that way. The fae horses can ride farther and faster than horses in the human world, and we can’t afford to stop. Thankfully, the amount of magic that was forced into my body is enough for now. So there is no rest. Not a lot of it, anyway. I made sure that when we returned to our belongings that they helped me find the little box I was given in the Crystal Court. None of them ask what it is—none of them need to.
The herbs are bitter, but I swallow them.
I’m not strong enough to ride on my own anymore, but I don’t mind riding with the others. They’ve kept me wrapped in blankets, extra clothes, and anything they can find. Even with my clothes and the extra layers, I can’t seem to get warm. But these men are like furnaces, and resting against them is heaven.
I ride with Verys that first day, when my strength is highest. He didn’t let me out of his arms on the way back
to our camp or when we re-started our journey. No one protested. He’s still the only one I haven’t shared any physical touch with, and I want to know why. We haven’t had the chance to speak about it, and he wants me—I know he does.
I want him too. He’s gorgeous and kind. I still think of him as my angel, from when I woke up in his arms in the jungle. So when he picks me up and settles me across his legs to ride near fade of the second day, I decide to ask him, finally. We’re going a little more slowly for this portion, taking the time to rest the horses. They’re amazing, but they don’t have infinite strength.
“Verys,” I say, keeping my voice low.
“Yes?”
I hesitate, not sure exactly how to put the question into words. It comes out differently than I expect. “What do you see when you look at me?”
He looks down at me, caught off guard by my question. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” I say, licking my lips. “I see the way you look at me. You like what you see. You said as much before. But you haven’t touched me or offered me pleasure.”
“I’m touching you now,” he says, intentionally tightening his arm around my waist.
I make a face. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“I do know,” he says. “And the answer is…complicated.”
“I have time.”
He sighs, and I wonder if I should be pushing him to tell me something that he’s not ready for. “What do you know about fae magic?”
That’s not the question I was expecting. “Honestly, not that much.”
“I won’t bore you with all the small details, but for the most part, magic is dictated by your Court. Handed down from your parents. There are rare cases where Allwyn chooses something very different for you, but that is rare. In the case of fae hybrids, Allwyn chooses which magic you get to keep—which will be the Court your power flows from.”
Fevered: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 1) Page 14