Though Rosa had tried to sneak treats to her, little tokens of affection, that had come to a halt when her grandparents had moved to Florida—the opposite end of the nation. The only place, Ade had told her once, where they could prevent themselves from coming to blows with their sons.
Of course, that meant abandoning Thalia to her fate too.
She tried not to think on that, tried not to think on that time or why her grandparents had just rolled over and allowed her to be exiled—they weren’t without power themselves, even if that power was diminished with their sons as the TriAlpha—instead, she focused on this room.
This crazy, beautiful room.
Because it was both of those things.
This bathroom was like no other she’d ever seen.
The bath was a pond. An actual pond. Or was it too big to be a pond? Was it more of a pool?
The water was clear, light enough to see through to the white sandy shore beneath. Theo had informed her the sand was cleansing. You either rubbed it against your skin for an added exfoliating effect or rubbed it in your hands to create a lather—considering she didn’t fancy having sand in her bits, the latter was useful.
The back wall held a brook that fed the pool—its source, well, she had no clue as to where it came from, and she didn’t particularly care. The bubbling and tinkling sounds were soothing, but the rapids were strong and churned the body of liquid even as it tumbled over rocks that sparkled like they were embedded with gemstones. The ceiling here was like the one in the bedroom. An azure blue sky with thick clouds, except here, it was a little darker; more soothing on the eye, making it more comfortable to laze around and relax in the water without being blinded by the sun.
The floor consisted of more grass, which led to a nook where the toilet facilities were hidden behind an enchanted wall of trees. It was like peeing in the woods, except there was a flush too.
The bathroom was so beyond anything she could imagine that every time she went for a pee, she just gaped at everything, and had yet to distract herself away from the water. Meaning a quick visit to the bathroom turned into a twenty minute swim as she floated in the tranquil depths—and it was deep. The water came up to her breasts and the brook kept it at the perfect temperature while always managing to flush the suds away.
She sucked in a deep breath as she was lowered into the warm depths with a care that made her eyes prickle. Immediately floating, she watched as Rafe and Mikkel joined her.
Through the crystalline liquid, she saw their naked torsos and felt the ache deep in her body—at both ends—from their hard use of her. Not that she was complaining. That had been exactly what she’d needed.
Something about her mates grounded her, and with everything else up in the air, that was more imperative than ever.
She’d just never expected them to be comfortable around each other naked. While Rafe was more used to being nude, he wasn’t proud of his body—his time as a Gamma having riddled him with insecurities. Mikkel didn’t take her as the kind of man who was comfortable being nude around another guy, either.
Pondering their ease with the situation, she rolled over in the silken liquid and was about to speak when the door opened. Theo walked in, eyes twinkling, his swarthy skin gleamed like gold in the bathing chamber’s lighting and his hair, so thick and rich, looked like velvet. Her hands ached with the need to stroke those beautiful locks, to feel it and his warm, pliant body against hers.
“I thought I heard a noise in here,” he said, his tone jovial. She’d seen darkness behind his eyes several times, mostly when it came time to talk of her She-Wolf, but otherwise, he remained perennially good-natured.
Somehow, and she wasn’t sure how she knew it, Thalia was aware that was very unlike him.
Not that she suspected him of being false, or putting on an act. Her being here, maybe even Rafe and Mikkel’s presence, made him happy, and even though they hadn’t had the most positive of starts, that, in turn, made her happy too.
Her She-Wolf might be missing but, and it was a huge but, Thalia would never be alone again.
For so long, it had just been her and the She-Wolf against the world. But that was no longer the case.
Thalia had mates who’d die for her, who’d kill for her. While the loss of her beast was a devastation she couldn’t spend too much time thinking about, it was soothed by her men’s presence and touch.
“Come and join us,” she invited, holding out a hand.
His nostrils flared subtly as he worked on the fly of the trousers they all wore. Simple things that were tailored to a baggy cut that kept the triad’s delicious torsos on display for her to drool over. His feet were on her eye level, and she had to wonder how the man’s toes could be beautiful too.
What was that about? How was that even fair? Thalia asked herself disgustedly.
The Fae were beyond gorgeous, with the ones she’d seen making cover models look fugly. It seemed to be in their very bones, making her wonder if their skeletons were handsome as well. She almost giggled at the notion of sexy bones—talk about a perfect Halloween costume.
“I smell mating.”
Mikkel’s grin was broad as he leaned back against the wall. The pond had tiny inlets that encouraged swimmers to settle into the nooks; they were comfortable spaces, almost tiny imperceptible perches that Thalia often took advantage of. “That’s because we fucked Thalia hard.”
She winced at his crudeness. Her eyes cut to him then back to Theo as he slid into the water—damn, she’d missed the view!
“We?” he asked carefully, but he swam through the limpid waters towards her, and began circling her still form.
The movement had her freezing further. His actions didn’t frighten her but they did put her back up, and she wasn’t sure why. Her heart began to pound as, with each movement, the churning water rubbed against her skin, flickering the nerve endings to life after they’d just died a glorious death.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you doing?”
“Giving you my attention,” he said on a purr.
Thalia tilted her head to the side, then quick as a flash, reached for his arm. She grabbed a firm hold of him then jerked him to a halt. He grinned at her, and his eyes crinkled at the sides as he bathed her in his amusement. Gods, he was beautiful, as only men could be. Seeming to epitomize everything that was male, everything that was sin and sex.
His bright gold hair was darker now that it was getting wet, and his eyelashes made tight points because they too had been splashed by his movements. She took advantage of his stillness and the crystalline liquid to peer at him through the water. She’d not seen him naked, not yet, and what she saw made her mouth go dry.
Especially at the glints of metal she peeked down below.
Her eyes shot to his in stunned surprise. “You have piercings?”
He flung his head back and laughed at her astonishment which, in turn, made her want to huff.
Instead, she grumbled, “It’s not that funny.”
“Your face is a picture,” he said as his laughter faded into a wide smirk. He reached over and she stilled, her heart freezing, her lungs braking to a halt, as he traced a digit over the pouting curve of her breast. Then, she gaped when she felt a tight pinch—not of his fingers, though.
Peering down, she gaped at the ring that speared the tender nub. “What the hell?” she gasped, cupping her breast and jerking it away from him and the water to study the piercing.
He clicked his fingers and the ring disappeared again.
She gaped harder now. Her gaze flashing between the boob she was holding and the now-denuded nipple and his grinning face.
Another click and her other nipple suddenly felt pinched. Until another snap of his thumb and pointer finger removed it.
Suddenly, the playful heat in his features warned her and she blurted out, “You leave my pussy alone.” Cupping herself between her legs, she shielded her sex the best she could—he’d put a ring there, just to prove h
is magic could do it, she knew that like she knew there were three men in this pool with her.
Rafe and Mikkel snorted, but as they were behind her, they couldn’t see how Theo was teasing her.
She glowered at them over her shoulder, but they carried on snickering—huh, who was the Alpha female here? Then, she shrugged off the pouty whine because she didn’t want to be Alpha with these three. That was why what had just gone down in the bedroom still had the power to make her tremble.
Both males had dominated her. Utterly. And she hadn’t minded.
Was that because her She-Wolf had done a disappearing act? Or was it because Thalia, when with her men, was not supposed to always be the lead?
Without her She-Wolf to commune with, Thalia was truly at a loss. She had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
How did people, regular humans, stand it?
How did they deal with being only half?
Her tongue felt thick, and the swirl of sensuality in the air immediately disappeared as a chasm of grief so wide seemed to rupture her soul.
For a second, she wasn't sure if she could breathe. Wasn't sure if she even wanted to.
Had her She-Wolf been there, as she'd always been, the creature would have howled. Howled so hard that she'd have given Thalia a headache.
Now?
There was only silence.
The grief was so strong in her at that moment she felt as solid as ice. She wasn't even sure how her lungs were moving through the quagmire of the misery in her chest.
When Theo ceased teasing, he reached for her, this time with no intent to mock, and pulled her into his arms.
She felt him, felt them. The water sloshed in the pool, it stirred around her, and they surrounded her. Her triad. She felt them all around her. Skin to skin. Body to body.
She pressed her face into Theo's throat. His scent was unlike Raphael's and Mikkel's. It was strange. Like nothing she'd ever known, almost like his being here in this land had changed something as fundamental as that in him.
"Put your wings out," she said roughly, the words torn from her.
She wasn't sure why she needed that from him, wasn't sure why it was suddenly imperative.
Could wings even cope with the water?
Even as the question formed, she felt the change in the air. Sensed it and knew, without having to feel or look, that he'd done as asked.
She moved her hands from the sides of her body—she'd been unable to move them, even to hug him—but now, she shifted them higher up his back and found the 'rootings' as he called them. She needed to touch them, needed to connect.
He let out a rough groan when her fingertips dug into the toughened flesh. From memory alone—she'd only seen his wings out the once on the day of the Full Moon run, after all—she knew why they were called rootings. The muscles were gnarled like those of a tree's roots. They formed into strong wing bases that supported the huge skeletal systems on his back.
His scent, now that they were free, soothed her. And he was doing that humming thing again. The 'thing' that made her want to close her eyes and simultaneously start smiling.
"Stop it," she urged him, her fingers digging into both wing stocks.
He quieted, but she felt his erection press hard into her belly.
Because of where she was touching?
Were his wings sensitive? Enough to inspire arousal?
The notion, on any other day, would have intrigued her.
Now?
She wasn't sure what the realization made her feel.
She wasn't capable of feeling anything other than this raw mass of agony.
Theo grunted. She wasn't sure why, but her question about getting his wings wet was answered because, out of nowhere, she felt the rootings begin to shift, the muscles begin to move. Energy seemed to swirl through his form. His muscles vibrated almost, jittering with the power he was forcing into them. And then, she felt it.
They moved.
She clung to him harder, well aware what he was doing, and not exactly frightened but just needing this. Needing it because it was…
Fuck.
Thalia didn’t know.
As close to a shift as she could get?
“We won’t be long,” Theo murmured over the turbulence his movements had caused in the bathroom of all places. The air was swirling around the pool like they were on the middle of a concourse, but this was a bathroom.
Where they washed and pissed, dammit.
Turbulence in a bathroom?
Would wonders never cease, she thought, managing to turn her face into his throat to hide her smile.
“Where the hell are you going? The only way is up and that’s a ceiling,” Rafe retorted, sounding his usual concerned self.
Gods, he was a wonderful man.
She wondered what his Wolf was feeling without hers.
Lyken mates were bound in so many ways they were impossible to count. The human wasn’t the only part of the connection, the beast was too. His Wolf must be mourning hers as badly as she was.
Her throat felt thick at the thought and she had to shove her mind off that particular cliff.
For days, she’d dealt with the massive loss she’d experienced. For days, she’d brushed it under the rug to deal with at a later date.
But every time she shoved it aside, it grew larger, more impossible to control.
Repressing anything wasn’t healthy, she knew that, but Thalia was used to controlling her emotions through her She-Wolf. Whenever she felt too much, when the world caved in around her, she shifted. Without the beast, she was left wondering…
Well, she was left flailing.
How could she do this, any of this, without that part of her soul that was as intrinsic to her as her blue eyes?
“The ceiling is enchanted,” Theo murmured, his voice a little strained.
She had to wonder what had put that strain in his words, but before she could feel any kind of unease, she felt her body slipping out of the water entirely. Droplets coursed down over her naked form, and before she even had a chance to blink, she felt herself being covered with the toga that Theo dressed her in.
Now they were out of the water, she sensed it was easier. They surged upward in a spurt of power, and she found herself turning her face upward to peek at this so-called ‘enchanted’ ceiling.
Though it appeared nonsensical, many things in this place made little sense and yet were practical.
After all, they were a wing-bearing race. Why wouldn’t the ceilings be enchanted to allow them access to the skies?
If walls could be made to mimic forests with birds that flew between the trees and actually entered a room itself…
Well, Heden was so much more than she’d seen thus far.
Her first trip out, and she was leaving the quarters through the ceiling.
A huff of laughter escaped her at the lunacy of it all as the clouds overhead seemed to part for them.
Theo tightened his hold on her, and she squeezed back, well aware that this was an exercise in distraction, and equally aware that it was working.
“Where are we going?”
“Sightseeing,” he told her quietly, and she nodded at the one word answer, not expecting much else considering the considerable amount of energy he was packing away into getting them off the ground.
He was heavy, after all. With her weight too? Fae though he might be, he was still answerable to the laws of physics, surely?
The clouds overhead seemed to part for them but the wispy gases felt like silk against her skin.
She hadn’t thought she’d recognize when they actually, physically left the palace, but she could.
Out of nowhere, the air grew thinner. Silkier.
She sucked in a deep breath and instantly felt winded. A coughing fit ensued and even as her ears rang with it, she heard Theo laugh.
“Pure air, Thalia. Brace yourself. You’re not used to it.”
“A warning might have been nice.”
He shr
ugged, and the move had her wriggling in his powerful hold. “I’m not going to tell you how to breathe.”
She frowned at that. “Even to advise me?”
“Not in this mood.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re in flight or fight mode. You will respond only to action not word.”
She processed that, then she felt another shift in the air and suddenly, the clouds they’d surged into after leaving the palace confines dissipated.
“Security measures,” he informed her. “Those clouds are toxic to anyone with no clearance.”
Her mouth opened at that. “Truly?”
“Aye. We don’t mess around with the Queen’s safety; even if she is the most dangerous of the lot of us,” he grumbled under his breath.
Now they were out in the free and clear, she started coughing again.
“The sky’s pink.” She said it blankly again, then she squeaked it.
The pink wasn’t just a wishy washy one, either. It was full on salmon pink.
Wishing she could rub her eyes to answer whether seeing was believing, she decided that wouldn’t be prudent considering she was clinging onto him over an only the-Gods-knew-how far a drop.
“It’s because of the Cosmos,” he explained.
Like that was an explanation.
She snorted. “Try again.”
His chuckle rumbled along the air waves, making her ears tingle. It wasn’t until then that she realized they were encapsulated in a cocoon. Of Theo’s making? Thalia wasn’t entirely certain.
She only knew it was there because his laughter seemed to echo, and considering the vastness all around them, echoing shouldn’t have been a possibility.
“We are on a different realm than yours,” he started.
“No shit, Sherlock. I’d never have guessed with pink skies and only the Gods know what else.”
He ignored her like she hadn’t spoken, “This realm is below the one where the Gods reside.”
He took a second for that to sink in, and when it did, she was in squeaky mode again, “You mean there are Gods above us?”
Triad (The TriAlpha Chronicles Book 3) Page 6