April’s Fools

by Ophelia Bell

  The injured man was ghostly pale, his eyes white fire. His gaze tracked to me as I scrambled to the side, clutching my pillow so the others could lay him down on the bed.

  “Oh my god, what happened!” I said when I finally found my voice. The wounds on the man’s torso looked exactly like the slices Vesh had given Gray just before we killed him, only his weren’t healing. His flesh oozed with blood, and beneath the slashed skin, blood-covered scales peeked through.

  Three of the other four men who’d appeared were brawny and bearded, the fourth a dark-haired knockout who looked familiar, but I couldn’t place his face amid all the turmoil.

  “Vesh,” the injured man croaked. Gray knelt on the floor at the side of the bed, blowing white smoke at the cuts on his body. He paused and shot an alarmed look at the man’s face.

  “Did he follow you?”

  The hot one whose face I couldn’t place spoke up. “I drifted everyone here. Deva’s holding the Bane brothers off back at the gallery. They won’t be able to track me. I need to get back to her, but I’ll make sure those assholes think before coming after you.”

  “Thank you, Llyr,” one of the bearded men said. “I think we’ve got it covered from here.” He smacked Llyr on the shoulder, and the other man poofed out of existence, leaving behind nothing but a faint ocean-scented mist.

  “We’re here, Stu,” Murdoc said, gripping his friend’s hand.

  So this was Stuart. Which meant the trio of bearded men must be their three ursa buddies. They stood in a row, clutching the footboard as they watched Gray work his magic over Stuart’s body. Two of the three were short-haired with neatly trimmed beards, one dark brown the other blonde, while the third was a bit wilder, with curly black hair down to his shoulders and a goatee rather than a full beard. The biggest of the trio finally tore his gaze away from the bleeding dragon in my bed and looked at me.

  “Sorry for barging in like this. I’d hoped to have a better introduction. I’m guessing you’re the convergence Gray’s message referred to.” He held out a hand to me. “Tate,” he said.

  Gray paused his blowing, leaving Stuart’s body coated in a web of white smoke. His wounds were visibly knitting back together bit by bit. Gray stood and gave me a hesitant, hopeful smile. “April, these are the guys. That’s Tate…” he pointed to the one who’d just introduced himself. “Eddie…” he shifted to the bearded blonde. “And Chayton…” he jabbed a thumb at the dark-haired one. “And this poor bastard is Stuart. Everyone, this is April.”

  I clutched my pillow tighter to my midsection and shot a grave look at Stuart. “Will he be okay?”

  “With enough magic, I’ll heal,” Stuart said, offering a shaky laugh, then groaning in pain. He took a deep breath, then hissed as his wounds all split open again.

  Gray cursed. “I don’t know what’s wrong. They aren’t healing fast enough.”

  “But yours healed,” I said, gesturing at Gray’s torso where he’d sustained similar cuts that had disappeared not long after Vesh was dispatched.

  “Six of them…” Stuart wheezed. “There were six. Their power multiplies, disrupts. Needs stronger magic to counteract.” He groaned through another spasm. His arm flailed out, hitting me on the thigh. I grabbed his hand and squeezed.

  “It’ll be okay. They can fix you.” I shot a questioning look at Gray and Murdoc, who were frowning down at their friend in concern. Both inhaled and blew out fresh streams of white smoke, cocooning Stuart in a blanket of their magic.

  I held my breath, waiting and hoping. My skin prickled, and I realized the new arrivals were all staring at me, even Stuart, whose gaze burned into me with pure-white fire. Glancing up, I met Tate’s moss-green eyes. His nostrils flared, but he tore his gaze away with a soft curse. “Impossible,” he muttered.

  “It’s true, isn’t it?” Stuart whispered. “You’re the convergence from Gray’s message.” He squeezed my hand. “You’re bleeding magic, you know.”

  “You’re just bleeding,” I said with a shaky laugh.

  The smoky blanket gradually faded from his torso, and the wounds held closed, but just when he started to take a breath, they split wide again. Stuart let out a cry of agony, eyes clenched shut as he bucked back into the pillows. I held tight to his hand, shifting close to brush his pale blond hair off his sweaty forehead.

  When Gray and Murdoc leaned in to try again, Stuart’s hand shot out, stalling them. “No, it won’t work. I want her to try.”

  “Me?” I squeaked. “I can’t heal!”

  “Bullshit. You’re overflowing with earth magic. Just channel it into me. You can do it.” His eyes pleaded, and I rested my free hand against his sternum, not sure where the hell to begin.

  He took my hand and placed it over one of the cuts, his jaw flexing as he endured the pain. I grimaced, hating that he was hurting and completely out of my element in the face of such carnage.

  “The power’s inside you,” Tate said in a gruff voice. “And if your scent is any indication, you’re literally bursting with the magic. It’s as if you’re in estrous, which is insane since you aren’t even ursa.”

  I swallowed and cast a quick glance his way, smiling sheepishly. “Actually, that’s exactly what’s happening to me. How do ursa women stand it?”

  Chayton’s gaze turned molten as it slid over me. “They have us.”

  “The point is that you can channel that power,” Tate said, narrowing his eyes at Chayton. “With a neophyte, it’s trickier. It takes training to manually direct the flow because the magic wants to go one direction by its very nature. How long have you had to practice?”

  “She just learned what she is last night,” Gray said. “There hasn’t been time for practice. But she’s done it before. April…when you planted the seeds in your sculptures and made them grow, you infused them with power. Do you remember a thought, or a feeling you had during the process? Or when you were working with the metal and glass, the act of coaxing it into form infused it with power too. It’s the magic of creation, Gaia’s magic, that flows through you.”

  “So you want me to think of his skin as a sculptural medium? I can try.”

  I focused on Stuart’s shredded torso again, wincing at the smears of blood that covered what was otherwise perfectly white, smooth skin. I’d worked with marble before, but his skin wasn’t exactly stone, no matter how much it visually resembled the stuff right now. Maybe if I thought of it as clay, it would help.

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, glancing at him. I tossed my protective pillow to the side to have room to maneuver and bent over him, gingerly resting my fingers to either side of one gash. The sides of the wound met, and I made myself focus the way I did when I worked, pretending the cut was merely two thin slabs of clay I wanted to merge together.

  Stuart tensed, then hurriedly whispered, “Don’t stop, I think it’s working.”

  I stared at the wound and slowly, carefully rubbed a thumb down the crease of it, as if all I was doing was rubbing the clay smooth. A line of blood gathered beneath my thumb, along with a faint greenish glow, and when I let up the pressure, only unmarred skin remained behind.

  “It worked!”

  My face fell when I looked at Stuart, whose eyes had gone glassy, and his aura flickered dimly around him. That couldn’t be good.

  “Keep going,” he said.

  “No. You need time to recover. That had to have hurt.”

  “No time. I’ll bleed to death.”

  “Or you’ll die from shock.” I turned to look at Tate. “You said the magic naturally wants to go in one direction. Can I just, I don’t know, let it? Let it do its thing? Show me the easiest, fastest way to channel it into him.”

  Tate cleared his throat. “Well, it’s fertility magic, so there’s only one direct way to do that.”

  My face went molten as it hit me. Of course, that was how it worked. It’s why I was such a sex fiend lately. The magic literally sought a way out through my sex organs. When I recovered my composure, I took a
breath and set my gaze on Stuart again. His brow glistened with sweat, and my hand had gone numb from the force of his grip.

  “You don’t have to,” he wheezed. “They can dull the pain while you keep going with your hands.”

  “Will it really be easier for you if I do it the fast way? Don’t lie to me!”

  He grimaced but nodded. “Yes.”

  “Can you even get it up though?” I darted a glance at his groin and the impressive, yet completely flaccid cock that lay against his naked thigh. As if in response to my look, the thing twitched.

  Stuart chuckled weakly. “I’m a dragon. Nothing could keep me from being ready for a fuck.”

  “Well, all right then,” I said, unable to tear my eyes away from the now completely rigid column of flesh standing up between his thighs. My core pulsed with a fresh wave of heat, the familiar aching twinge flaring for the first time since lunch. The need to just climb on nearly overwhelmed me, but I restrained myself long enough to look around at my audience. The three other newcomers all stared at me with ferocious, hungry looks that only made the need burn hotter. My fingertips tingled with the compulsion to stroke their beards, to open up their flannel shirts and explore what I imagined were the epitome of beefy lumberjack bodies.

  Gray was first to move, standing and motioning to the others. “Let’s give them some privacy, guys. We’ll work up to a full introduction to you three. Don’t suppose you managed to grab supplies, did you? Eh, doesn’t matter, I’ve got food downstairs, and there are a couple freezers full of beef and venison, so we won’t starve.” He ushered them out the door, and Murdoc followed, giving me a wink of solidarity as he shut the bedroom door.

  I almost objected to their departure, ready to insist they could stay, when Stuart yanked on my hand so hard I fell flush against him. I yelped, but the sound only got halfway out of my mouth before he tangled long fingers into my hair and pulled me into a harsh kiss. My body thrummed with a fresh surge of arousal that I was beginning to realize wasn’t just me being epically turned on. I was actually filling with magic whenever one of these men touched me, and the fuller I became, the harder it was to hold onto the power.

  “Need you,” Stuart murmured into my neck as he nuzzled me, breathing heavily.

  “I’m here,” I whispered back, pushing up and pausing long enough to look him in the eyes. “Sorry we couldn’t introduce ourselves under more pleasant circumstances.”

  I slipped my leg over his hips and paused, looking down into his face. He was by far the prettiest of the three dragons. Underwear model gorgeous with platinum blonde hair and chiseled features made even sharper by the barely restrained grimace of pain. But when I reached between us to grip the base of his cock, the pain turned to pleasure that increased as I sank down onto him.

  “Don’t tell me Gray and Murdoc were more polite.” He dropped his hands to my thighs and squeezed, pushing up to plunge even deeper.

  I gasped, and my entire body flushed with pleasure as he seated himself fully inside me.

  “Gray at least gave me a hug first, then helped me blow glass. Then we fucked.”

  “Ah, good for him,” Stuart said. The pained expression was entirely gone now, replaced by determination as he let me ride him. The wounds were still there, but the bleeding had stopped. Whether it was because of me or simply his constitution being strengthened by the distraction, I wasn’t sure.

  He jacked up into me hard enough to make me gasp. “And Murdoc?”

  I panted, struggling to maintain a rhythm now that he’d taken over, his need outpacing mine. I leaned over, sinking my hands into the pillows on either side of his head. His gaze fixed on mine, and he smiled at my obvious lack of composure. He lifted one hand and pushed my wild hair behind one ear.

  “Murdoc didn’t waste time, did he? He fucked you hard and fast like this.”

  His strokes were punishingly fast and deep and didn’t leave a bit of room to form coherent thoughts. I was overcome with pleasure and doing my best just to keep my eyes from falling closed in ecstasy.

  “It’s okay, April. It’s already working. Look.”

  He glanced down, and I followed his gaze, absently staring at bloody skin until I realized the wounds were all but completely gone.

  “I did that?” I asked on a panting breath, resting a hand against his belly where he’d been crisscrossed with a mesh of ugly cuts only moments ago.

  “You did.” He grabbed the back of my head again and kissed me fast, leaving his mouth against mine as he continued to fuck me. “One taste of your Nirvana is all I need to heal fully. Just one. Will you come for me, April?”

  “Just don’t stop,” I breathed. “Oh god.”

  I finally gave in, fingers digging into the pillows and my body twisting, hips rocking on their own as one more swift plunge of Stuart’s cock sent me over the edge.

  Mid-spasm, I felt the world spin, and before I could blink, he had me on my back, driving into me harder than before. The orgasm wrenched through me, stealing every last breath, and still he kept going as if determined to wring every last ounce of magic out of me. His face was flushed and beautiful now, his pale eyes ablaze. The swaths of blood on his skin made him look like a warrior rather than a victim, the way they slashed in bright crimson strokes across thick pale muscles like red paint across a canvas. I realized that was just his skin color now that he was healed, but with his wild look, it no longer looked pallid and afflicted. He was magnificent, and his cock was swiftly pushing me toward a second climax.

  I arched my back off the mattress, and he leaned back, tucking his knees under me as he lifted my hips up, spearing me harder on his cock. The new angle pushed his cockhead straight into my G-spot with every stroke, and I exploded a second time, my core flooding with a fresh wash of hot arousal.

  Stuart growled, then released a harsh grunt and slammed into me, squeezing my hips hard as his cock erupted inside me. He melted down to the mattress again, curling his whole body around me much the way Gray had been before our intruders disrupted our nap.

  “Sweet Mother, you’re perfect,” he murmured into my hair.

  “Well, evidently I have a magic vagina, so it’s no surprise you’d feel that way.”

  He snorted, then burst out into a full laugh, his big body shaking the whole bed. “It’s true. I never realized it! Magic vagina, hah!”

  His mirth was infectious, and I broke into giggles too. Once we’d calmed down, I studied his face, and he smiled, studying mine in turn.

  “Sorry for the abrupt introduction,” he said. “I’m usually more deliberate about making an entrance. I hope we didn’t interrupt anything.” He dipped his head and inhaled deeply. “Because there’s no mistaking their scent on you, and their energy permeating your body. But it pales in comparison to your own power. I almost can’t believe you’re Bloodline.”

  “It’s true, but apparently that comes with some side effects.”

  He frowned. “You’re really in estrous? I tasted dragon magic too.”

  Keeping my mouth closed, I looked into his eyes and projected a thought. “I’m a little bit of both, I guess.”

  He scoffed and shook his head. “You’re a lot of both. Enough to heal me. That’s not a little thing, April, and I don’t know if Gray or Murdoc explained how an ursa estrous works, but it’s dangerous for you to be alone.”

  “So you’re saying I need you guys not just as bodyguards but to keep servicing me until this passes? Should we call the other three in here to have a go next? I’ve only fucked three different men in the past eight hours. Why not go for broke and have all six of you?”

  I snapped my mouth shut, alarmed by how bitchy I sounded. I was just so out of sorts with all the new discoveries, and I hated not being in control of my own life. Losing access to my studio was getting to me.

  Stuart stared at me, then sighed. “It’s not permanent. But I think you need to be careful with the ursa. There’s a reason they call it servicing. Ursa males aren’t allowed to fuck females t
hey aren’t mated to. They can’t risk impregnating a female without a mate bond intact. I take it the other two didn’t explain that part yet?”

  “They didn’t really have time to explain,” I said. “My body isn’t letting us do much beyond eat and fuck. Part of me wants to complain, but my god, those orgasms.” I moaned and let my eyes roll back.

  “Those don’t have to end, even with the ursa,” Stuart said in a suggestive tone. “They’re trained to satisfy a woman without fucking her.”

  “Oh?” I sounded distracted, but it was probably because Stuart’s hand had slid down my belly and now teased between my legs. “I don’t see you calling them in here to show me.”

  “Dragons are at their hearts selfish beasts.” He hovered over me, his mouth grazing my breastbone before he captured a nipple in his mouth and sucked until I moaned. “I know this is likely my only opportunity to have you to myself, so I’m going to take advantage of it.”

  “You’re assuming I want to be shared. What if I only want one of you? What if I want to go back to being alone?”

  He’d moved lower, but paused with his mouth hovering over my pelvis and looked up at me, then propped himself on his hands and stared into my eyes. “Do you really want to go back to your old life?”

  “What? Can’t I make that choice? Or does the fact that you guys swept in and turned my life upside-down suddenly mean I have to be with you?”

  He sat back on his heels with a frown, and I silently regretted distracting him from his path, but I also couldn’t just let this go.

  “We weren’t the ones who disrupted your life, April. That was Chaos. It’s what he does. We’re here to help you. To keep you safe. Deva Rainsong herself is looking for the other member of the Bloodline they’re after because it seems there are two of you being targeted.”

  My heart leaped into my throat. “She’s looking for my dad? Do you know where he went? Is he okay?”

  He shook his head. “No, but you can trust she’ll do everything she can to protect him. I’m here to protect you, and so are the others. You aren’t obligated to give us anything in return. But you still need us.”