by Katie May
lightheaded. Dizzy. Nauseous. Bile crawled up my throat.
“How?” I croaked out.
Aaliyah grinned like the cat who ate the canary. “The demon killed her
lovers, because she knew they would get in the way of her relationship with
her sister. She chose her sister over her mates, as she would do time and time
again.” Her face was inches from mine, her eyes wide and slightly manic
when they met my own. “I suppose you can say history is repeating itself.”
“That’s…that’s a cute story,” I managed to say. But the bravado I
infused my words with was faked. Something cold and slimy settled on my
skin like a disgusting layer of tar I couldn’t scrub away.
“It is, isn’t it?” She stared into my eyes another moment before turning
away and continuing her aimless pacing. “Do you want to know how the
story ends, Gabriella?”
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, forcing my hands to stop shaking.
“That’s not my name.”
She ignored me. “It ends with the demon getting exactly what she wants.”
She spun abruptly, spearing me with an indecipherable look that had every
hair on my arms standing on end, saluting the world.
“And what exactly does she want?” I didn’t dare breathe. Aaliyah was a
ticking time bomb, and one wrong move would have her detonating,
destroying everything in the immediate proximity.
A distressed, almost anguished expression marred her face as she moved
to stand directly in front of me once again. Tears hung suspended on her
thick lashes, as her brilliant green eyes turned hazy.
“She wants her family back,” she whispered brokenly. And then, “Say
hello to my next monster for me. I chose him especially for you.”
Before I could demand more information, could piece together what
exactly she meant, Aaliyah’s hands were on my chest and she was pushing
me…
Directly out the window and into the turbulent ocean far below.
I WOKE WITH A GASP BEING YANKED FROM MY LIPS. MY HANDS WERE
sweating, and my heart raced fiercely. Bright sunlight seeped through the
open windows as I struggled to orient myself to my surroundings.
I was in the van still…but it was stopped. And from what I gathered, none
of my mates were present either.
Panic momentarily stole the breath from my lungs until a rough hand
clasped down on my shoulder, stilling me.
“Hey.” Ryland’s voice curled around me like heady smoke, and I
squeezed my eyelids shut at the comfort and safety that immediately
infiltrated my system, dissipating the fear and anxiety. “You’re okay. You’re
safe.”
“Where are the others?” I whispered, peeling my eyelids open all the
way. His hand tightened slightly before he released me. A second later, his
shadows coiled around me, their presence more comforting than menacing,
and I found myself on a lap I couldn’t see. His entire body was shrouded by
his thick, heavy shadows.
“They’re talking to a healer Bash knows,” Ryland explained soothingly,
his wispy hand brushing at a strand of my curly hair. “When you didn’t wake
up…” His voice hitched, almost as if he was replaying some unspeakable
horror in his head, and I winced.
“How long was I out?”
“Too long,” he responded tersely. “And then you started muttering weird
things…” His body shook beneath mine as featherlight kisses brushed the
back of my neck. Goosebumps erupted on my skin before I could stop my
body’s visceral reaction to his touch.
Forcing myself to focus, I asked, “What things?”
“Aaliyah,” he responded simply. “You said her name.”
My dream returned to me with a vengeance, slamming into my mind and
sending me toppling off a cliff—just as I’d done in my dream.
Before I could lose the memories of my mysterious encounter with her,
because I truly believed she had somehow found a way to enter my dreams, I
told Ryland everything that had happened, including the strange history
lesson she gave me. Ryland listened without interruption, and the only
indication he was distressed by my words was the tightening of his shadows
on my arms and legs. They pushed down, cutting off my circulation, before
immediately curling back in on himself.
Call me a kinky bitch, but a part of me really, really liked that.
“That’s…interesting,” he said after I finished my spiel.
“That’s all you have to say?”
He buried his face in my hair, his shadows momentarily retreating to give
me a glimpse of his dark brown skin. His hands tightened on my waist,
smoothing across my stomach, before he dropped both of them to my thighs.
“Are we positive that this wasn’t just a dream caused from your fever?”
he pressed, but not as if he didn’t believe me. If anything, it sounded as if he
did believe me and was desperate for me to say something that would prove
us both wrong.
“Positive. It felt real, Ry. I’m pretty sure Aaliyah entered my dreams
somehow.”
“That’s not good, Z,” he murmured, his voice laced with worry. His
hands tightened on my thighs, and a sliver of lust embedded itself in my
heart, despite everything going on. My breasts suddenly felt extremely heavy,
my nipples aching.
“I know.” His calloused finger lazily moved between my thighs, creating
a pathway of fire through the material of my pants. When his thumb brushed
against my pussy, I jolted, my entire body held tauter than a string on a bow.
“How long do you think the guys will be gone?” I whispered as he
continued to pepper kisses up and down my neck.
“Long enough,” Ryland murmured, dropping his hand beneath the
waistband of my pants. I spread my legs even wider as he fingered the hem of
my panties. After a moment, he shoved one finger inside and slid it through
my juices.
My eyes rolled into the back of my head as he began to finger me in the
back of the van, his entire hand resting inside my panties and his thumb
rubbing against my sensitive clit. His other hand moved to cup my heavy
breast, tugging at my nipple through my shirt and bra.
“Ryland…” I moaned, forgetting about the strange dream and the fall into
the ocean that woke me up. I even forgot about the poison, my entire
attention consumed by my shadow mate.
He moved his hand underneath my shirt, pushing it up around my
shoulders. He then twisted my body so he could lower his head to my breast,
sucking my nipple through the fabric of my bra and leaving wet spots in his
wake.
His fingers moved faster and faster, pumping in and out of me as he
continued to devour my tit like he was dying for a taste. He shoved down the
cup of my bra, pushing my boob up even more, and sucked it entirely into his
hot mouth.
I gripped his wrist with one hand, encouraging him to move his fingers
even faster, while my other hand fisted in his dark hair. The shadows receded
at my touch, revealing the mate I knew and loved. His obsidian hair and dark
skin. The face mottled by vicious white lines. The eyes that peered back at<
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me, emanating a sort of love you only ever read about in storybooks.
He released one breast and moved his attention to the other, shoving
down the bra cup for that one as well and claiming my nipple. When his teeth
clamped down on it, my hips shot off the seat, my impending orgasm on the
horizon.
“Yes, Ryland. Yes,” I praised as he pressed down on my clit. And then I
was shattering, shaking, swearing as he continued to finger fuck me through
my orgasm. When I finally came back down to earth, after traveling in circles
around the sun, I claimed Ryland’s lips in a desperate, frenzied kiss.
“How did you know that was what I needed?” I whispered as he lazily
cupped both my breasts and gave them a squeeze. Somehow, he was able to
distract me from everything that had just transpired in my dream. It felt so…
ridiculous to worry about Aaliyah and her schemes when I was with my men.
“Because I know you,” he responded simply, a smile dancing on his plush
lips. A white scar sliced through his upper one, but it somehow enhanced his
beauty. Ryland was stunning, there was no doubt about that. I never
understood why he hid, but I wouldn’t begrudge him something that made
him feel more comfortable. “But you should probably fix your shirt. The
guys and the healer will be here any second.”
“Maybe I will if you stop fondling my tits,” I teased as his thumbs ran
over both of my nipples.
I was totally ready for round two. And three. And four and five.
“But they’re just so pretty.” He flashed me a roguish grin as he dipped his
head and bit down on one. I gasped, threading my fingers through his hair, as
desire percolated in my lower stomach, wetting my panties even more.
“Ryland…” I warned. “I need to fix my clothes. And hopefully, change
my pants. A certain someone made me come inside my panties.”
He grinned impishly at me, still not releasing my nipple from his teeth. I
loved him like this, jovial and carefree, as if we didn’t have a guillotine blade
hanging over our heads. “Who was this fellow? Shall I beat him up?”
“Fellow? Who the fuck says fellow?”
“Um…the guy who just made you come in your pants.” He finally
released my poor, abused breast, frowned disgruntledly, and then helped me
fix my bra and shirt. “Such a shame,” he murmured with a dramatic head
shake. “Such a damn shame.”
I actually laughed out loud. “You’re such a dork.”
“Only when it—”
A loud squawk sounded from outside, cutting off whatever Ryland was
going to say.
Immediately, he was on his knees, peering out the window, his muscles
going rigid.
“Ry?” I asked, alarmed. I twisted around until I was able to grab a pair of
knives I kept beneath the seat. The poison may have made me weak, but I
wasn’t an invalid. And if there was a threat coming, I would fight until my
very last breath to protect myself and my men.
“Aaliyah said she sent another monster, didn’t she?” Ryland asked grimly
as his shadows flickered in and out of existence. I felt them coil around my
body too, sheltering me from the impending threat.
“I didn’t think…” I trailed off as I followed the direction of Ryland’s
gaze. It took me a moment to spot the creature flapping its huge, leathery
wings in the distance. As of now, it was just a speck of gray in the sky, but I
could see it rapidly approaching us, growing larger by the second.
“Is that…?” Alarm coated my voice as Ryland nodded gravely.
“That’s a motherfucking dragon.”
NINE
KILLIAN
Bash stopped the van in front of a desolate little hut a few miles away
from the main road. Its mushroom roof poked through the boughs
of trees, a strange combination of russet-red and pale gold. The
house itself practically blended into the forest, constructed entirely of twigs
and branches.
“Your healer lives here?” I inquired curiously, staring at the tiny,
nondescript building in the middle of freaking nowhere. I scratched absently
at the back of my neck as my eyes flickered to Z’s sleeping face. She was so
beautiful, it felt as if I couldn’t look away, as if she were a blinding, all-
consuming light somehow capable of chasing away the even darkest of
shadows. You learned to crave the light, lose yourself in it, and you found
that when it was absent, you had nothing but a gaping hole in your chest
where your heart should be.
That was what she was—my light.
My heart.
“Paco is the best damn healer I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting,”
Bash confessed, though he didn’t immediately get out of the van. Instead, he
stared straight ahead, his blond brows furrowed and his emerald green eyes
rife with pain and frustration. From where I was seated beside Z, I could only
see his profile, but I knew my brother was deep in thought.
If I had to guess, that thought had to do with the sleeping blonde on my
lap, her head resting dangerously close to my traitorous cock.
The fucker didn’t get the memo that he couldn’t lust after her until she
was healed.
“Killian, Jax, and Dair…you guys come with me. Ryland, stay with Z,”
Bash instructed once the silence became too pronounced even for me. And I
lived in the freaking silence.
“Why us?” Dair asked immediately, swiping at a strand of his blond hair
in agitation.
Bash released a heavy sigh, his fingers once more tapping against the
steering wheel. Ryland had driven the first few hours, but when Z started
releasing distressed, pained noises in the back of the van, we feared he would
crash in his haste to get to her. Bash had eventually taken over while Ryland
hovered on the other side of her, his shadows repeatedly flickering in and out
of existence as he struggled to control his growing anger and fear.
“Paco’s powerful,” Bash began by way of explanation. He moved to get
out of the van, and after only a brief moment of hesitation, my eyes straying
to Z’s unconscious form, I followed. Jax began muttering under his breath the
second he was away from Z, his arms wrapped around his waist and his eyes
flicking in all directions without sticking on one thing in particular. Bash
moved to help me with Dair and his wheelchair as he hurried to explain.
“Paco might have a potion that can help, at least temporarily.”
“Help?” Dair questioned once he was seated in his wheelchair. His
forearms flexed as he began to roll himself up the cement. Fortunately, Paco
had a driveway leading up to his shed instead of just plain dirt. And though it
was cracked and crumbling, it was easier for Dair to wheel himself over than
anything else would’ve been.
“With your legs.” Bash nodded towards the mermaid prince, whose face
went slack. Pain momentarily creased his features before he schooled his
expression—a feat I knew took years of practice.
“What if I don’t want help with that?” he retorted bitterly. “I’ve been in a
wheelchair for many, many years. Just because I can’t walk like you can,
doesn’t mean I’m—”
“Don’t be an asshole,” Bash bit out as he stormed towards the cottage,
leaving Ryland and Z behind in the safety of the van. I wasn’t worried about
my mate. I knew Ryland would protect her with his life, as we all would.
There was no one who was more important to any of us than that brave and
perfect girl.
Dair’s lips thinned before he eventually released a ragged sigh. “I’m
sorry. I didn’t mean to say that. I just…”
“Struggle,” I finished for him, and when his eyes flickered my way in
surprise, I blushed and ducked my head. “But if this Pablo can—”
“Paco,” Bash corrected automatically.
“—help you, then shouldn’t you let him try?” I tilted my head to the side
curiously. I wasn’t judging him. There was a lot I didn’t understand, and
Dair’s torture at the hands of his brothers and father was one of them. I didn’t
understand how he felt, and I didn’t think I ever would. If he wanted to
remain in his wheelchair the rest of his life, proving to his family each and
every day that they hadn’t broken him, then he could and I would support his
decision.
My brother seemed to hold this delusional mentality that his predicament
somehow made him lesser than us, especially in Z’s eyes. That couldn’t be
further from the truth. As an incubus, I could sense lust and love, and the
affection wafting from Z was nearly smothering. But it was a good type of
smothering, like wrapping yourself in a quilt after spending hours outside in a
snowstorm. It didn’t matter who she was with, she loved us all the same.
Loved us.
My heart still gave a rather girly flutter in my chest at the prospect of
someone as incredible as Z loving and caring for someone like me. As quick
as that thought came, I vanquished it. I was just as bad as Dair when it came
to my own insecurities and self-loathing. How could I help my brothers if I
struggled each and every day with my own turbulent mind?
Forcing myself to focus on the topic at hand, I turned towards Jax, who
was staring intently at the tinted windows of the van, almost as if his gaze
could penetrate the steel and see the slumbering girl inside.
“And him?” I bit down on my lower lip as I stared at the eccentric
vampire. Like with Dair, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he’d been