by Helen Scott
“If you don’t want me to rip them off you, then strip for us,” I breathed in her ear as one of my hands massaged one of her butt cheeks. The memory of what they had felt like pounding against me while I watched her in the mirror flooded my mind, and I tried to send it to her through the bond as she’d done earlier.
When a groan escaped her, I knew she’d seen and felt what I wanted, so I sent her my vision of her stripping for us. She chuckled and moved away from me. I instantly missed her presence. As I watched, she pulled the T-shirt over her head, holding it between the tips of her fingers as she extended her arm and let it fall to the floor. The fabric crumpled into a pile in the corner of my vision, but I wasn’t about to take my eyes off my queen.
Poppy glanced at me over her shoulder and slowly pulled down one bra strap, before turning and looking at Knox and Emmett then pulling down the other. Finally, she unhooked the clasp and let it fall to the ground in front of her. Next, she slowly peeled her jeans down her legs, bending over and giving us a gorgeous view of her heart-shaped ass as she tugged them off her feet.
The only thing left was a pair of lacy panties. She spun to face us then, her chestnut-brown hair sweeping out behind her in a big wave. Her hand and forearm covered her chest, hiding her pert, pink nipples from our sight. I was practically drooling with the need to see them.
“Come here,” Knox said, his voice guttural with need.
A faint blush stained Poppy’s cheeks, and I watched as she positioned herself between Knox’s legs. I hadn’t heard or seen the big man move down the bed, but he looked as if he were having trouble restraining himself as his legs spread wide to welcome our queen to him.
I stood and moved behind Poppy. This whole group thing was somewhat new to me, but I felt sure we would find our rhythm. Her mouth was on Knox’s, and his huge hands slipped around her waist, holding her in place while she started making needy little noises. I let my fingers gently brush against her skin as I swept her hair to the side and gently kissed the back of her neck before kneeling behind her.
My hands ran up the back of her strong legs and over her delicate panties before I hooked my fingers in them and tugged them down, exposing her to me. The scent of her arousal washed over me like a tidal wave. I nudged her legs apart, and she eagerly complied. My fingers trailed along her slick folds, and I couldn’t wait until it was my cock that was doing the same thing.
Emmett had moved over and was working on her breasts while Knox kissed her neck and collarbone. The small sighs and moans escaping her made me harder than I’d ever been in my whole life.
I slipped my index finger between her folds and into her core, which brought a gasp from her. When I inserted a second finger, I couldn’t help but feel the tightness of her pussy as she pulsed with the same need I did. I stroked in and out of her, working her into a frenzy until she was riding my fingers on her own.
Slowly, I moved into a kneeling position, and when I withdrew my fingers, I replaced them with my tongue, thrusting it in and out of her sweet-as-summer-wine pussy. I could drink from her all day every day and still not get tired. My cock was impatient, though. He wanted to play, and my erection was starting to become painful. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I replaced my tongue with my fingers once again and stood, well, as much as I could without removing my fingers from her tight pussy.
“I want you to bend over and suck on Knox while I fuck you,” I practically grunted in her ear. Probably not the sexiest, but I was hanging on by a thread at that point.
A shudder rippled down her spine, and I felt her whole body clench around my fingers. Knox backed up a bit on the bed, and Emmett moved out of the way as Poppy bent over, exposing even more of herself to me, and began licking up and down Knox’s cock, swirling her tongue over the top. Just seeing the pink of her tongue darting out and teasing his cock was enough to put me on edge.
I turned back to the beautiful glistening pussy presented to me. The plump pink lips were just begging for me to fuck them, and it wasn’t an opportunity I was about to waste. I stripped out of my jeans and T-shirt as quickly as I could while still playing with Poppy.
Finally, I pulled my hand out, wiping her juices on my cock and gripping it at the base as I swiped it up and down her opening. She arched her spine and pushed back almost onto my cock. A whimper escaped her when I didn’t immediately push inside, and it was all I needed to hear. She wanted me as badly as I wanted her.
I pushed into her scalding-hot pussy. Her tight walls gripped my cock as if they didn’t want to let go as I withdrew. When I pushed back in, her hips met mine as she pushed back onto me.
“Harder,” she panted before her mouth closed over Knox’s cock again. There was something undeniably hot about knowing she was sucking on my battle brother’s cock while I was inside her. Without hesitation, I gripped her hips in my hands and began pounding into her, moving so furiously that I could see her hair bouncing off her shoulders from the force of my impact. I could feel her getting tighter around me and making every thrust that much harder to keep control of and not come too early.
“Em, can you work her clit?” Knox asked before groaning as she swallowed the length of him at the same time my cock slammed into her all the way to the hilt.
Emmett surprised me by getting off the bed and sliding under Poppy, reaching up with his fingers and playing with her clit. I reached down and placed my hand at the base of my cock to try to prevent my balls from smacking into him. His other hand reached up and began playing with her nipple on one side while his mouth found her other nipple.
As soon as we were all working together, it was as if someone lit a fuse, her body clenched and seemed to lock down on my own as I moved inside her. She could barely even focus on the cock that was waving like a flag pole in her face as we pushed her buttons.
“Faster,” she panted, her hair now limp with sweat around her neck.
I did as my lady commanded and began moving as fast as I could. I got the feeling the others were hurrying to obey her command as well. It was only a few moments later when she exploded around us. Her pussy clenched on my cock, pulsing hard and milking me for all I was worth as I joined her in orgasmic bliss.
A moment later, I nudged Emmett with my foot. When he looked at me questioningly, I said, “Switch me.”
I didn’t need to offer twice. He was up and getting naked while I moved out of the way, lowering myself to the floor. The post-orgasmic haze still clouded my mind, but I was aware enough to put my mouth to her clit and suck for all I was worth. Her juices dribbled down my chin, and when I pulled away, her pussy followed me, making me grin in turn.
She might have had one orgasm, but our queen wasn’t done yet, that much was certain. Emmett’s legs appeared in my line of sight, and I replaced my lips with my fingers as I circled her clit over and over again.
“Is this okay, my queen?” Emmett’s voice asked quietly.
“Emmett.” She sighed, and it was so close to me that I felt the warmth of her breath. “I need you inside me.”
He was inside her with one thrust and built up to a punishing rhythm that had our queen screaming his name. I kept working her clit, and when I reached for her breasts with my free hand and my mouth, I wasn’t expecting her to orgasm again so soon, but it seemed as if her fuse had shortened since her first. I felt her clit throbbing against my fingers as her body twitched and bucked.
When Emmett pulled out, I expected Knox to take his place, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Knox scooped her up and laid her on the bed, positioning himself over her and entering her while she was still twitching from her last orgasm.
If I had thought my rhythm was rough or that Emmett’s was worse, neither of us had anything on Knox. He moved in and out of her with such controlled force that he had her bouncing off the bed and onto his cock.
“Suck on Em,” I heard him growl as Emmett positioned himself by her head, his cock already hard again just like mine. Part of me wondered if this was something to do with
her power, that we all stayed hard or were ready to go again in record time until she was satisfied.
I moved to the other bed and watched as Knox positioned her this way and that, listening to the noises she expelled while she was still trying to suck on Emmett. I realized that I didn’t actually need to be a part of it. I was happy where I was just watching the action. My cock was already in my hand as I began to work myself in time with Knox’s thrusts.
The last thing I expected was for Poppy to be aware of my absence, but when I felt a completely foreign sensation, I knew it was coming from her through our bond. My eyes, which had closed at some point, snapped open, and I found her watching me with Emmett’s cock in her mouth. I knew without hesitation that the sensation she had sent me was Knox fucking the daylights out of her, especially because it had almost made me come on the spot.
When an image floated into my mind, it was one of myself, looking better than I ever thought I had, with a cock gripped tightly in my hand as I worked myself, watching the action. Was that really how Poppy saw me? I hoped like hell it was. I did my best to send her an image back, what she looked like being fucked from both ends along with how fucking hot I found it.
A loud moan escaped her, and I kept pushing the images into our bond. Her arching her back, her pale thighs, her breasts bouncing as they pointed to the ceiling. Everything I could see in as much sexy detail as I could manage. I filled our bond with sensations as well—what it felt like for her to come on my cock, what she tasted like when I fucked her with my tongue, and how much she turned me on.
She was screaming her way into another orgasm by the time I was done. Knowing that I had helped her get there without even touching her? It was the hottest thing in the world. A moment later, I joined her in her climax, barely catching myself in my hand as it washed over me like a tsunami. I never came as hard or as fast as I did with Poppy, apparently even when she wasn’t touching me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Poppy
The hotel breakfast the next morning was rolled into the room, just as before. Part of me wanted to dive in. The combination of power usage, time spent in the space between realms, and everything else had left me hungrier than I’d realized. I held back, though, making sure that the guys all got something first. I didn’t want to leave anyone hungry.
“We need to stop back at the house,” I said before taking a big mouthful of melon.
“That would add a decent amount of time to our trip. Why do you want to go back?” Emmett asked.
“I need to see if the ghost there wants to come with us. She shouldn’t be abandoned like that. Besides,” I said before stuffing a couple grapes into my mouth, “I made her an offer, and she was goin’ ta think aboudit.” I did my best impression of Don Corleone from The Godfather with the grapes shoved in my cheeks, even gesturing with my hands as I’d seen people do in Little Italy.
Knox and Emmett looked at me as if I’d lost my mind, while Nolan just chuckled, and Derek, Cass, and Shadow all seemed torn between suppressing a smile and shaking their heads in dismay. Personally, I was quite proud of my effort.
I chomped down on the grapes, the sweet flesh exploding inside my mouth. “It’s true, though. I asked her to come with us before we left, and she said she’d think about it. Besides, I need to pick up some clean clothes.”
“Fine, but we’re not staying overnight or anything.”
“She seemed like a nice enough ghost,” Knox added.
“Not to be a downer, but how are we going to take a ghost with us?” Nolan asked. Before I could even attempt to answer, he added, “And for that matter, how are we going to get this many people, plus their luggage, down to the Underworld from there? Is there a secret door to it in Chicago or something?”
“I don’t know about a secret door or the rest of the traveling, but I think with my powers, I can bring the ghost along,” I said.
“No secret doors. We just need to find a river big enough to cross, and we can transition between realms there.”
“Couldn’t we just use the, uh, darkness?” Shadow asked.
“Normally, yeah, but we’ve got a lot of people who don’t know where they are going, and a lot of stuff to take with us. At most, I can transport one other person, and Knox can do two, so it would be a lot easier if we could find an entrance or a transition point.”
“So, you’re just going to drive the SUV into the river?” Derek asked with a chuckle.
“No, it’s a little more complicated than that. You’ll see,” Knox said with a grin.
I knew what that grin meant. The magic that this would take would be impressive, and he wanted to show off a bit. I smiled and ate another piece of fruit.
By the time we were back at the house in Chicago, it was late and all I wanted was to sleep. That wasn’t in the cards, though, since Emmett had made me promise that I wouldn’t have us stay overnight before we got on the road. I was going to talk to the ghost while the rest of them packed everything they could into the remaining space in the SUV.
The small Cape Cod–style house was just as quaint as when we left it, and part of me wished we could just stay there forever. I hadn’t admitted it to the guys yet, but I was scared of what was to come. Not just everything with Hel, but the idea of being queen had seemed so abstract for so long, that now that it was getting closer to being a reality, it was safe to say I was experiencing some anxiety about it.
Everything was exactly as we had left it with the exception of the junk mail that had been piled on the kitchen counter, not that I knew who was checking the mailbox for us. As I peeked my head into the kitchen, I was greeted by the empty space. She didn’t seem to be around anywhere.
“Hello? Mrs. Ghost?” I called out.
When there was no answer, I began moving from room to room in the house, calling for her. Eventually, I had made my way back to the kitchen and was scavenging for snacks while I pondered her lack of response.
“Hello, dear,” a quiet voice said.
“Hi!” I spun around, searching for the ghostly form that produced the voice. “Where are you?”
“Sorry, I’m here.” Her floating form coalesced slightly on the other side of the counter. “It’s getting harder to stay in the human realm these days.”
I couldn’t even pretend to know what she meant or what that would be like for her. “I’m sorry. We were just stopping by on our way down to the Underworld. Did you think about my offer?” I asked as she faded from sight.
“I did. I would like to come, but only if it will reunite me with my Bernard,” she said, her voice seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
“I honestly don’t know. Have you figured out why you’re stuck?”
“My wedding ring. It’s still here and wasn’t buried with me as I wanted. When I remembered, I remembered everything about Bernard as well, and all I want is to be with him.”
“I’m sure we can figure it out. Where’s your ring now?”
“Under the stairs.” Her voice faded on the last word, and I could feel her presence leave the room.
I hurried over to the single set of stairs in the house and looked around for any kind of cupboard or latch that would open. There was nothing. The wood panels were completely sealed up, and a carpet runner covered the center.
“Everything okay, Poppy?” Cass asked from behind me.
“Yeah. No. Kind of?” I sighed and stopped my search, turning toward the judge. “The ghost that lives here remembered that she wasn’t buried with her wedding ring and that it’s still somewhere in this house. I want to find it before we leave so she can either move on or come with us.”
“It’s probably under the carpet, since that looks relatively new compared to the rest of the house.” He shrugged.
“You’re a genius, Cass!” I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. His long ebony hair tickled my nose, and as I was about to pull away, I felt his arms wrap around me and his head bury in my neck.
“Y
ou smell delicious,” he whispered in my ear before kissing my cheek.
The deep, sexy tone of his voice had shivers going down my spine as soon as he spoke. I pulled back a little further so I could press my lips to his. The soft skin of his mouth opened up to me, and the kiss turned from something simple into a craving. I wanted more of him. Needed it. Just like I needed Shadow and Derek. The bond was calling to me to strengthen it, to make them all mine as much as I could.
When he pulled away, his hands came up to cup my face, his fingers brushing over my cheekbones. “We shouldn’t start something we can’t finish,” he said, his voice raspy with need.
I sighed. I knew he was right, even though I didn’t like it. I pouted for a second before giving him a last peck on the lips.
“No nookie on the stairs,” Emmett’s voice called from down the hall.
We pulled further away from each other. “Thanks for the idea,” I said to Cass, and squeezed his hand before going over to Emmett. “Who owns this house?”
“We do. Well, technically it’s mine, but it’s one of our safe houses that we’ve used over the years.”
“Can I pull the carpet on the stairs up?”
His mouth worked for a moment as he looked at me as if I were a crazy person. “Why do you want to do that?”
“The ghost’s wedding ring is under there, and it’s what is keeping her here.”
He sighed. “What’s made you care so much about this specific spirit?”
“She’s the first supernatural thing I saw other than you guys. I don’t want to just leave her here. She feels like part of the team, you know?”
His eyes narrowed on mine for a moment before he relented. “Fine, I’ll help.”
Cass had disappeared when I turned back around, and my heart sank a little. I needed to spend more time with him and the other judges. I barely knew them, and I felt as if I knew the others a lot better.