by Chloe Adler
The demon laughs, a hollow, wet sound like a bevy of frogs croaking in an empty cave. The portal containing the demon follows my cousin, even as the demon stands still inside it. “You will serve me in Brae.”
Nolan juts out his chin, so like that fourteen-year-old defiant boy I remember. The one who makes up his own mind, no matter what.
The beast laughs, his large frame shaking. “Minions,” he hisses, the tone too high for a human ear to pick up. But I am most definitely not human right now.
“I won’t come with you.”
“You have no choice. Must I remind you of the deal I offered at the beginning of our contract, the one you signed in blood?”
“It was under duress.”
“As if that matters to me.” He leans closer out of the hole and stretches a long arm toward Nolan, who swats it away as if it were a fly.
What is he doing? The demon is easily three times his size. And forget about intimidating it—that thing is horrifying. I’m an adrenaline junkie, yet even I’m hesitant.
“You can kill me but you will not touch my family or the girl. I’m not your anchor anymore.” Nolan’s voice carries over a frigid wind that seems to be emanating from the portal. It’s denser than the wind in the Edge, almost like a thick fog, and instead of tasting like brine, it tastes like a pine and rosemary and freshly turned dirt.
“I still have one anchor here in your world, puny vampire. Did you think you could slip away so easily? Did you think I would forget about your failures? You had two simple tasks. Make me my army so I can spend more time on Earth and bring me that girl. Now. I. Have. Neither!” His eyes flare bloodred, and the water around the portal explodes, as if boiling with his very wrath.
What does he want with Iphi? Who is this thing?
“What do you want with her? If we’re so puny to you . . .”
His laughter is bone crunching, almost like the sound is reaching inside my dragon body and tearing me apart from the inside. “She is my salvation and I have to crush every creature on this benighted plane to get to her, so be it.”
What the hell does that mean? This thing is off its rocker if he thinks any one of us going to let him have our Iphigenia. Even Nolan is standing up to him. The whirring gets louder and the portal opens even wider, stretching like the gaping maw of a shark.
“The girl loves you. Perhaps not in the same way she loves your brothers but she loves you enough.” The demon reaches his ginormous arms toward Nolan, leaning out of the portal.
Nolan jumps back and falls on the sand. “Enough for what?”
“Bait.” A leg the width of a tree trunk protrudes.
Nolan crab-walks backward.
What the fuck? Hell no! I’ve seen enough. I drop down from above and soar directly at the whirling portal, aiming my talons at the beast’s protruding leg. I latch on, digging into the soft flesh, but it’s thick and blubbery like a bear’s hide. I’m nowhere close to inflicting real damage. He looks down at me as though I’m a fly, not a fire-breathing apex predator.
“Ah, little Thorn, come to join the party? Want to try your hand at winning the princess too? Take. A. Fucking. Number.” He wraps a hand around my back, digging in his razor sharp claws and peels me off. Flesh rips from his leg but he doesn’t bleed red, he oozes a thick black liquid instead. He tosses me down the beach and my head careens into a high rock wall.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Iphigenia
I let the guys take me back to the Grove, riding with Dominic.
“I’m not moving back,” I remind him on the way. “It’s just a better place to talk.”
He glances at me sideways. “There’s no pressure, Iphi, from any of us.”
What-ifs flood my thoughts. What if this was a bad idea? What if we get to the Grove and I want to run back to Aurelia’s? What if we get to the Grove and I want to stay?
Dominic parks, gets out and opens the passenger door for me. Rhys and Caspian are already there, waiting for us.
“Which house?” Dominic asks me.
“The Palace, please.”
Caspian pulls out a key and lets us inside.
“Where’s Thorn?” I peek my head back out of the house and look around but it’s too dark to see much.
“He’s with Nolan,” says Rhys.
“You think they’re all right?”
I take a step outside but Rhys puts his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sure they’re fine.”
“If anything, Thorn is schooling the youngest of our clan,” says Caspian.
“Better than any of us can.” Dominic closes the front door behind me.
Rhys gestures to the couch. “When we were kids, Thorn took care of all of us.”
Dom goes into the kitchen and puts the kettle on. “And he did an amazing job.”
Caspian sits next to me on the couch and reaches for my hand.
I nod and look down at my hand in his. Rhys sits on the other side and takes my other hand. Dom brings a tray laden with teacups and places it on the coffee table. Then he kneels at my feet and places his hands on my knees. I look between them. From Rhys to Cas to Dom.
“I’m a lucky girl,” I murmur and the men all look at me, wearing enormous smiles. “How do we start this conversation?”
“We can talk about what you’re most comfortable with. Maybe set some ground rules.” Dom rubs my knees.
My face heats. “This is new to me.”
“To us too,” Rhys says as he jumps up to grab the whistling kettle.
Caspian nods. “Yup, brand, spanking new territory.”
“How do you see this happening?” asks Dom.
“I really don’t know.” I bite my lip. “I guess I wonder how we’ll all manage it. Do you take turns with me? Do I choose who I want to be intimate with and when? Do we all do everything together, including have sex?”
“I think the one thing we can all agree on,” Rhys sets the kettle down on a mat on the coffee table, “is that it’s all up to you.” He returns to his seat and takes my hand again, covering it with both of his.
I sit forward in my seat. “Nope, that’s not really true, is it? Otherwise you’d have all agreed earlier when I said I wanted all of you. Plus relationships don’t and shouldn’t work that way. We’re all in this together and if we’re going to make it work, we have to be comfortable talking about our wants and needs.”
“She makes sense,” Dominic says and I pinch him.
Truth be told, I’ve always fantasized about an orgy in which I’m the star, but as much as I want to strip them and me down right here, right now . . . baby steps. No more jumping into new waters without testing them with my men first. I’m a performer. We choreograph and rehearse. And rehearse and rehearse and oh Goddess do I want to rehearse with them right now.
The room feels like it’s bathed in a hundred spotlights. Or maybe that’s just me. “How about, for right now, we don’t define it but instead see what happens between us organically? And we ask each other if we’re okay before doing anything intimate first? Then if something comes up that someone’s not copacetic with, we stop and figure out how to navigate around it.”
“Sure.” Rhys brings my hand to his mouth and kisses the top of it. “I’m good with that. Guys?”
“With the caveat that if anything makes one of us uncomfortable, we talk about it rather than harboring any resentment.” Dom turns to me. “What do you wish could happen right now, Iphi?”
It feels like I’m stepping onto a high wire twenty feet above the stage for the first time. I turn to Caspian. “Well, you did say the only thing that crossed both of your minds when you saw me and Dom together was how you could join in to help me reach an orgasm . . .”
Caspian’s answering grin is charged. Rhys’s eyes dance with delight. Dom leans forward and kisses me. The other two remain by my side while my tongue probes and licks Dominic’s mouth. When I break the kiss, I turn my head to repeat it with Rhys and then Caspian. The men sit like statues when it’s not their
turn, as though they’re trying not to spook each other.
“Tell us more, Iphi.” Caspian’s voice is a low growl dripping with sin.
I lean back and smile, then lay my head back on the couch and close my eyes. “I’d like a foursome with all of you.” I keep my eyes closed, letting the words hang in the air. “If we work together in bed . . .”
Without a word, someone lifts me and carries me across the tiny house. Someone climbs into the loft and another hoists me up there. I let them peel off my clothes.
When I open my eyes there are six others on me. Two are a deep, chestnut brown. Two are as green as the fronds that wave at the bottom of a lake, and two are as blue as the sky on a cloudless summer day.
The men hover over me like I’m the most decadent dessert at Confections and they’re all waiting to take a bite.
“Let us service you,” Caspian says.
I cast my gaze around to each one, finding them all deliciously naked.
“Tell us what you want and we’ll do it,” Rhys adds.
“Our focus right now is you and how we can meet all of your needs,” says Dominic.
“Together.” I smile up at them, passing between each handsome face. “I’m so happy we’re all here, and I’m happier still that this loft is big enough for four.”
They beam and I giggle.
“I’ll tell you want I want but it’s up to you three to figure out who does what. Agreed?”
They nod eagerly, in unison. Dominic rocks back on his heels and the others follow.
“I want one of you to kiss me. I need someone else’s hands on me, on every single inch of it. And the third, I want you to watch.”
The men exchange glances, furiously communicating without saying a word. Then Rhys curls up beside me, his lips hovering over my face. He doesn’t smile but looks at me with such an intensity that my entire body shivers in expectation. Caspian shifts himself lower in the loft and hovers over my toes with his hands. Dominic reclines on my other side, resting against the headboard, watching their every move.
The moment Rhys leans down to kiss me, Caspian begins to massage my feet. I groan into Rhys’s mouth. The pressure Cas is using is perfect, sending little sparks through my body on gossamer wings. Rhys’s lips are warm and his tongue is even warmer. He frames my face with his hands and nips at my lips the way a bee might feed on a flower dripping with nectar.
Caspian’s force on my feet increases, finding every sore spot after a show night with unerring accuracy. Rhys tips my face toward Dominic so I can watch him watching us. My eyes move between his face, mouth open, eyes never leaving mine and his cock, hard and full, resting against his stomach. A small amount of pre-come glistens at the tip and I want to lick it. We’ve made love but I have yet to suck his cock and it’s beckoning to me.
“Roll me over,” I say. “Facing Dominic.”
The men immediately do as I say. I hover over his crotch, my hands on either side of his knees. Dom’s eyes spark with excitement. Moving my hands to his cock I spread the pre-come over the tip and he shivers, his entire body spasming under my hands. I grip the shaft and run my hand up and down, my grip teasing and loose.
“Oh Iphi,” he groans.
On my other side, Rhys is working on the muscles of my upper back. As a circus performer, I’m always sore and it feels amazing. Cas is straddling my legs now and kneading my ass. His dick rests on the back of my knees, firm and bouncing with his motions.
I look up at Dom again and lick my lips. He can’t take his eyes off of me. He’s leaning forward, as if pulled tight with pleasure, and his gaze falls on my mouth. I swipe my tongue back and forth over my lips, first the top one and then the bottom. His eyelids droop but he keeps them open. In my hand, his cock expands even more. Dropping my head to the tip, I give him one lick, tasting him. Salty and sweet, like a rich burnt caramel. I want more and drop my head down, taking him as deep as I can. He groans and pushes his hips up and back in tiny motions, fucking my mouth.
“You’re so wet,” Caspian whispers, his hand dipping between my thighs, grazing my pussy lips. “Can I touch you there?”
“Yes,” I moan around Dominic’s cock.
Caspian parts my legs and I let him. He dips a finger inside and swirls it around, bringing it back out to massage my clit up and down. He alternates between a firm touch and then a light one, moving off the bundle of nerves to gently pinch and pull my lips.
Rhys kisses my back, starting from my shoulders and working his way slowly down.
The stimulation is close to overwhelming and I have to shut my eyes to keep processing it all. Dominic’s prick. Caspian’s fingers. Rhys’s tongue. Sensations flood my senses. These men are here for me, they’re doing this for me, they’re mine. All mine. All three of them. And I don’t have to share them with anyone else.
I rock back and forth on Dom’s dick as Caspian’s hand builds in intensity. Rhys’s mouth reaches my backside and he runs his tongue over and under my ass cheeks. He helps Caspian spread me open, wider. Impossibly wider. But not impossible for a contortionist. My splits open easily, making enough room for the both of them. One shifts down, between my legs and the other straddles me, sitting on my ass, facing my feet.
I don’t know who’s doing what and I don’t care. A finger reaches inside my pussy, a tongue laps at clit. Hands rub and massage my inner thighs. Dominic’s prick hardens impossibly more and I force my eyes open to look up at him. He’s watching the men service me. My men. I can sense the emotions of each one. But it’s more than that, it’s as though we’ve merged. I can almost hear their thoughts and they’re deliciously lascivious.
“Come for us,” Dom growls, shifting his gaze back to my face. “I won’t come until you do.” He looks down the length of my body again. I follow his eyes, sparks practically shooting out of them when he alights on the men pleasuring me.
Watching him watch them, hearing his thoughts, feeling all of them burning bright with lust, they’re magnificent—and it pushes me over the brink.
I moan around his cock, keeping it in my mouth and pushing down while I come for them. While they make me come. My body bucks and writhes but my guys hold on, riding the wave with me. Ecstasy sizzles through my veins like sparks of light, burning up the oxygen in every cell and replacing it with pleasure. My body bounces and shifts on the mattress. And Dominic fists my hair but he doesn’t push my head down, instead he holds it still. His cock swells, growing larger in my mouth and while I’m still coming, he comes too, down my throat. I gulp the sweet liquid as he roars with gratification. He doesn’t have to say he loves me; those words explode down my throat along with his orgasm.
Pleasuring him sends more waves of rapture down my body and I explode with a second orgasm, coming even harder than I did the first time. This time I roar and Dominic pulls his cock out of my mouth and moves his hands underneath me to grab my tits. He kneads my tender nipples as the blaze of my arousal launches itself down the center of my body. His mouth claims mine, which opens to let him in. In between the kisses and the coming I find it within me to demand more.
“Cock inside of me, someone, please,” I gasp and while I’m still experiencing a complete-body orgasm someone enters me.
I groan and gasp, pulling Dominic in for a deeper kiss and pushing my ass into the air so whoever is behind me can bury themselves deeper in my pussy. Impossibly, a third orgasm mounts. Multiples, I had no idea those were real, but I’m elated to experience them in the moment. One for each of my men.
When I tense for my third, whoever is fucking me howls and pumps, reaching their peak too. Caspian. And in that moment Rhys’s voice joins in, too, and his seed covers my back, warm and wet. The cacophony of our voices blend and meld. Dominic holds my head and kisses my face while my body exhausts itself, shaking and flexing, tensing and releasing. My final orgasm is like the other two combined with an intensity that almost knocks me out of the loft. But my men have me surrounded and they’re holding on to me while I come and wh
ile they come too. Never, in my wildest dreams, could I have imagined myself experiencing this much pleasure—or this many men at one time. Apparently I just haven’t been dreaming big enough.
Thorn
I bounce off the rock wall and tumble into the sand. As if my head isn’t harder than a rock. Hopping up, I spread my wings. There’s a small tear in one but nothing that will keep me earthbound. Taking to the air I wind toward Nolan and the demon.
The monster floats in front of the spinning vortex, holding Nolan by his neck now. At the sight, what’s left of my human brain hands the reins to my inner beast and goes home. This is my baby he’s hurting. My son by proxy and I will not sit by and let anything happen to him.
The demon looks up at my approach and grins, a malevolent twisting of his gaping maw. And then he yanks Nolan straight up, by his neck, and shakes him like a demon with a rat. His feet jerk and scrabble for purchase but the ground is several feet below him.
Nolan sputters and his skin turns a sickly blue, all other color draining from his face.
The monster watches me with narrowed beady eyes and that sickly smile on his face.
Wailing laughter fills the air, a shrieking sound that would send grown men hiding under their beds. “Come and get me, if you dare.”
I hover just out of reach as the beast raises a hand as large as a bear’s, his claws thick and long, like mine. He holds the menacing claw above my packmate’s near lifeless body, right above his face. They’re too close together to risk breathing fire. Nolan makes eye contact with me and everything in his gaze says I should sacrifice him but I can’t. I won’t leave him again. He’s still my responsibility and I love him. If I don’t fight for him, who will?
The demon brings his hand down and I dive, my talons leading the way. I claw the thing’s face, at least one talon finding purchase in an eye socket, and Nolan’s body falls, hard to the ground.
He gasps and coughs for air. The sound is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.