Nexus

by Ophelia Bell

  “Trust me, if I can take Kol at his full size, I can handle the both of you at once.”

  Kris’s eyes widened. Women were pliant and flexible, he’d learned during the course of the evening, particularly given enough lubrication, but he’d felt how very tight the others were and couldn’t imagine being shoved inside Hallie along with something the size of Kol’s considerable and impressive unit. Still, the idea held some interest. A lot, to be honest. He’d tried every configuration so far, and this was new, but big didn’t even begin to cover the size of the dragon who stood before him in his human shape. Kol was easily the largest of all the males, even Roka. So big, Kol’s deferential behavior toward Hallie seemed incongruous.

  He glanced over to where Issa sat. She watched raptly and Kris’s cock grew even harder in response to her interest.

  “I would love to see what pleasure you get from this,” Issa’s voice purred in his mind. She leaned back now and began lazily stroking her nipples, one at a time, then flicked her long tongue out and licked one just for his benefit.

  “Alright,” Kris said, more flushed with arousal for seeing Issa begin to please herself.

  He gestured for Kol and Hallie to join him. Hallie seemed to understand exactly what she needed to do, pulling Kol along until he knelt on the altar facing her. She kissed Kol soundly while sliding her hands down between his thighs and stroking his cock into a thick, hard column.

  “Lay her down,” Kris said. “Taste her, and tell me how she tastes while you do it. I’ve always wondered.”

  Hallie reclined in the same spot as the others had and Kol settled between her thighs, raising her feet up to his shoulders while he bent his head and fastened his lips on her pussy. The first thrust of Kol’s tongue made her gasp out loud and push her hips up against his lips.

  “She tastes like the sky.”

  “Does she need more lubrication?”

  Kol sat back, licking his lips. His eyes were bright with desire when he pulled Hallie up toward him. “No, she’s as wet as a monsoon. Touch her, you’ll see.”

  Kol’s eyes remained locked on Hallie’s and he pulled her down with him as he lay back in the flat section of the altar. Hallie straddled him, letting her wet pussy slide along the length of his cock. Kris watched, fascinated by their interaction, so slow and deliberate. They hadn’t parted contact at all while in his presence. Kol reached around to Hallie’s backside with both hands and spread her open.

  Kris brushed both palms up Hallie’s inner thighs, her skin yet another erotic texture for him to experience. She quivered under his touch, her breathing quickening the closer he got to her center. He brushed the fingertips of both hands along the contour of her folds. Her soft fringe of fur was saturated with her juices. Sliding fingertips further in he found a deep well of heat so wet he thought he might drown in her if he didn’t have a partner in the experience. She smelled like the jungle after a fresh rain so he wasn’t the least bit surprised by Kol’s assessment of her flavor. Kris brought one set of fingertips to his mouth and licked, closing his eyes in ecstasy over the taste of her.

  He pressed his other fingers a little harder between her thighs, finding her pulsing clit and teasing it until she moaned and bit down on Kol’s shoulder. Kris met Kol’s hungry gaze over Hallie’s shoulder. The Shadow was ready. More than ready from the feel of his twitching erection that rubbed against Kris’s knuckles while he fingered Hallie.

  Kol rumbled against Hallie’s ear, “Are you ready to get fucked, love?”

  “Yes!” she gasped, twitching her hips and rubbing harder against Kris’s fingers.

  “You do the honors,” Kol said with a smile to Kris.

  Kris shifted closer on his knees, straddling Kol’s thighs behind Hallie. He gripped the other man’s cock by the base, letting his palm brush across the heavy sac beneath it. Kol growled, his eyes narrowing, but he smiled a little bit, clearly enjoying Hallie’s tense anticipation.

  Kol urged Hallie to raise her hips far enough for Kris to extract the man’s heavy prick and position it at her entrance.

  Kris could sense Hallie’s need to be filled, visible as it was from the clench of her tight opening before his eyes. Unable to resist, he pressed two fingers against her. They slipped inside the scorching velvet heat of her and his eyes fluttered closed at the tight squeeze of her around his digits. He pulled back out and slicked the coating of moisture along the length of Kol’s cock, inciting a rough moan from the other man, then rubbed the remaining slippery fluid over the head of his own engorged shaft.

  Kris held Kol’s cock steady while he pressed his own against Hallie’s eager entrance. He held Kol’s gaze when their tips came into contact.

  “Now,” he sent wordlessly. Kol nodded and tilted his hips up in a slow, even motion at the same time Kris pushed his own inside.

  Hallie moaned, her ass quivering under Kris’s grip. Kol’s full length slid against Kris’s cock, deep into the depths of Hallie’s pussy, and kept going for a second when Kris had hit his limit. Hallie’s muscles clamped down hard on them both, pressing them together in erotic, slippery communion.

  With silently shared understanding, the two men began moving in unison, fucking slowly at first. Hallie pushed back, eagerly meeting them. In such tight proximity to Kol, the energy surge built quickly. It seemed the other man began deliberately causing additional friction against Kris’s cock by thrusting just a little bit faster and deeper, so they weren’t quite a single co-unit fucking Hallie, but two independent shafts sliding against each other, just out of sync.

  Hallie cried out in an incoherent curse and buried her face in Kol’s neck. The Shadow tilted his head back, letting out his own long, low groan.

  Kris closed his eyes when the beginning of the energy surge began. He thrust deep into Hallie, the electric friction of her and Kol together causing blackness to cloud his vision. Kol’s large hands gripped Kris’s hips, holding him tight and deep while Hallie let out a series of harsh yells. Her climax milked both men into oblivion.

  Kris’s muscles all seemed rigid as stone for a split second, his concentration focused between his thighs and the rocket of his orgasm surging together with the Shadow’s. The throb of the other man’s cock pushed Kris even further over the edge than he could imagine until he found himself freefalling through the well of Nirvana that flooded from Kol through him and into the altar.

  He was only dimly aware of collapsing to the altar and lying against the warm and brightly glowing stone.

  Chapter Eight

  “Brother, we finally meet.”

  Kris opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by warm, glowing light. He had no sense of up or down. None of the others were nearby, nor could he hear evidence of them. All Kris heard was the resonant female voice coming from all around him.

  He had no frame of reference for anything aside from his own body, but even that felt somehow unfamiliar. When he looked down at his hands, he instead saw a pair of massive, iridescent talons. He took a step, testing his motion and weight. A heaviness and overwhelming sense of mass enveloped him.

  He sat back on his haunches and stretched, feeling new limbs. Wings? And more than that, even. He moved his backside and the sensation of yet another limb stretched out behind him. He moved it experimentally and the sleek tip of a tail swept around and hovered before his eyes. Curious, he looked down between his thighs and cocked his head, staring in wonder at the huge, erect cock that jutted up between his scaled thighs. It shimmered, the light causing its smooth surface to display a myriad of colors.

  “Yes, Brother,” the voice said with a hint of humor in the tone. “You have arrived. You have been reborn, in a sense—come into your own. The ritual was a success. I am awake now. You have one final task, however.”

  Kris had so many questions for his elusive sibling, but knew they would have to wait until the end of the ritual.

  “What is it… Sister?”

  “My mate. He should have come to me already, but he hasn’t y
et. I am still alone in my chamber, waiting. Without a proper mark, I can’t sense him, and you know I am forbidden from leaving the temple without a mate.”

  “Corey… he’s been resistant to the idea of the ritual since the start. I will try to convince him.”

  “You must do better than that, Brother.”

  “I will.”

  The light brightened to a blinding degree and he closed his eyes, but just before he did, he caught a glimpse of a brilliant green serpentine shape. The image evoked a distant memory, something that had come to him once in a dream long ago. He grasped at it, tried to hold on, but it slipped away like mist through his talons.

  ***

  In the fog of the aftermath Kris imagined he was weightless, flying through a cloud of glowing, pulsing light, the sounds of ecstatic pleasure filling the air around him. He had the sense of Issa by his side, her gentle voice comforting in his ear.

  The sense of place came back to him gradually. He opened his eyes and peered up into a pair of lovely eyes as violet as the dusky sky. He lay on one of the tiers away from the altar, his head cradled in Issa’s lap.

  Wondering if it had all been a dream, he raised his hand up to stare at it. Human fingers waved in the air in front of him, but with the barest intention his skin tone altered slightly and the hand grew and elongated, sharp claws springing painlessly from the tips.

  “You did it,” Issa said.

  Kris smiled up at her, his chest warming from the hint of pride he heard in her voice.

  “You helped.”

  “No, I just watched. You were magnificent.”

  “You did more than watch, and you know it.” He reached up and traced a fingertip down her jaw, letting it trail further, down her chest until he reached the tip of her bare breast. He paused and drew a tight circle around her nipple with it, enjoying the way the purple flesh grew stiff. The earthy scent of her sex reached him a moment later and he realized all the things he’d done with the others, but had yet to do with her. He understood Camille’s enthusiasm for the entire experience. Everything was new and wonderful, especially when you’d never been touched before.

  Kris shifted on Issa’s lap, preparing to push her back and spread her thighs. He craved the taste of her now like he’d wanted nothing else before. He wanted to bury his tongue in her pussy and maybe come up for air in a hundred years. He turned and gripped her thighs, squeezed them, then groaned in frustration.

  “What is it?” Issa asked.

  “I’ve got something I need to do first. Don’t go anywhere, alright?”

  “I’ve waited five hundred years for you. What’s a few more minutes?”

  He bent and kissed her. It was an effort not to give in and stay, but he forced himself to turn and leave.

  Of course Corey was nowhere in the small chamber, but when Kris glanced up toward the entrance, he saw the tripod with the camera perched on top, focused at the center.

  He walked out the door and found Corey seated on one step in the shadows of the staircase, head tilted back and resting against the wall. His eyes were closed, his brow creased intently, his lips curled down in a tight frown. His hands rested in his lap, but when Kris looked more closely he realized Corey wasn’t just resting his hands there, he was cupping himself gingerly.

  “If it’s any consolation, I know exactly how you feel right now.”

  Corey’s head snapped up and his eyes opened. He stared at Kris in surprise.

  “I didn’t hear you come. Well, actually, I did hear you, and all the rest of you come. Like, every ten minutes for the past two hours. Jesus you guys are unstoppable. How the fuck do you… fuck so much?”

  “You could have joined,” Kris said. “You’d feel a lot better now if you had.”

  Corey looked him up and down, appraising. “You seem more relaxed than you have since we met. I always wanted to ask what your deal was, hanging out away from the group when we were in camp. Shit, I think there were only two of us who wouldn’t have banged you, knowing how the others operate.”

  “And now there’s only one.”

  Corey held up his hands, palms out, and shook his head. “I’m not fucking banging you, man. I think you’ve had your fill already. It’s bad enough that all of you have been running around naked all night.”

  With a chuckle, Kris sat across the corridor on the same step and rested his elbows on his knees.

  “You’re in pain, aren’t you?” he asked.

  Corey remained quiet, then nodded. “Yeah. Worst blue balls of my fucking life. I tried to stay and film you guys—Erika wanted me to—but fuck if I could watch. There was a second there when that little golden beauty aimed her backside at me I almost fucking lost it.”

  “So why didn’t you? Dimitri strikes me as the sharing type and he has more than enough to go around now.”

  “Because… I don’t do that. It’s against my nature, I guess. I don’t fuck other men’s women. I don’t fuck other men, come to that, no offense… I do see the appeal, but no. Not for me. I guess I’m just not wired like the rest of you. And fuck… Camille surprised the hell out of me. Of all the women in this party, I never expected Hallie to be the conservative one where sex was concerned. Jesus, I know way too much about all of you now.”

  “And being intimately familiar with your friends is a bad thing?”

  “Well, no. But it does feel a little… incestuous? I have to ask, those two… the golden ones with Dimitri… they’re related, aren’t they?”

  “Twins.”

  “See, like that. Incestuous.”

  “They don’t touch each other except platonically. Trust me, I watched every second of their phase with Dimitri. They’re more like…” Kris struggled for an appropriate analogy, wishing he’d been allowed to spend more time learning about popular Western culture. “They’re a team, I guess. Partners after a common goal. Dimitri was that goal. Technically only one of them was supposed to have him, but they’re devious.”

  “Huh.”

  Kris glanced at Corey, who seemed to be processing the details. After a second Corey said, “I guess there’s someone for everyone, even if it’s two people. What about you?”

  “What about me?” Kris asked.

  “You just had sex with all my friends, man. Right in front of me. First, I think kudos are in order for having that much goddamn stamina, but where do you stand on actual—you know—relationships?”

  Kris stared into the distance, at a loss for an answer. It had never been a topic of consideration during his training, but he remembered the dynamic between Zak and Darius. Mutual respect, intelligent conversation, caring gestures that were never overt. Once Kris had seen his two teachers behave in a more intimate way their behavior toward each other in public had taken on a different meaning. He realized, with a sudden jolt, that they had loved each other. Probably very deeply. Had their relationship affected him somehow without him even knowing it? All they had explicitly taught him was how to focus, how to fight, how to track, how to be who he was now becoming. He’d once asked them to show him how to do the things they did in private. Darius had looked upset. Zak had merely told him that was something he’d learn on his own when the time came. They were always right.

  “Relationships?” Kris finally said. “I have no idea. I only came here with a task to complete. And I just did—mostly. But if what you mean is who do I want to be with? Well, she’s been very patient with me so far, but I can’t imagine anyone else I’d rather devote the rest of my time to after this.”

  “The purple one? I saw her with you a couple times. She definitely has the hots for you, that was clear.”

  “Issa. Her name is Issa.”

  “Right, sorry. I have the worst people skills sometimes.”

  Kris laughed. “And you’ve actually lived with people your whole life. I grew up in a monastery.”

  Corey sat up abruptly. “Bullshit. After that performance? Tell me it was a monastery where they train you for nothing but sex.”

&nb
sp; “Issa was the first person who ever touched me.” And she’d be the last if he had any control over the situation.

  Corey seemed to marvel at that idea. “You two. Wow. I thought that would be the end of it after you guys fucked. Just watching you with her rocked my world. I remember thinking, ‘now that’s what lovemaking should be like’. Not the fucking part so much, but all the leadup. She was invested in every single second, even though you were being a jackass at first. I… I want to be that for a woman.”

  “A jackass?”

  “Fuck no, man. Invested. You turned it around. Then all the others had to get in on the action and it ruined it for me, but there was that sweet few minutes when I was on the edge of my seat, just dying for you to …”

  “To what?”

  “I don’t know, tell her you loved her. That would have been the cherry.”

  “There’s someone for you, you know. You can have that, if you want it.”

  Corey stared at the ceiling. His face looked troubled, confused. “No,” he said. “She’s not even human.”

  “You know who I’m talking about?”

  “Kol said something. This… ritual. The Queen? I guess I’m the only one left for her. Talk about leaving dregs. You should have given her Erika first, they’d have hit it off fantastically. But I can’t. I just fucking can’t.”

  “You’re a better person than you know, and she’s not like the others.”

  “What, she’s not a nympho?”

  “Ah… No. She’s my sister.”

  That confession seemed to draw Corey back. Kris could tell the man’s paradigm was shifting. Kris had interacted with him closely for the last few weeks. He’d probably talked more with Corey than he had with either Dimitri or Eben. The group’s tech had been the friendliest, most open male in the group, which had drawn Kris in. Conversation was easy with someone willing to openly share their thoughts the way Corey always did. But opinions could cloud perceptions in the worst way.

  “You’re one of them,” Corey said in an awed tone. “So, let me get this straight… your sister wants a date and you’re probably going to kick my ass if I don’t show up for it, huh?”