Elements of Desire

by C. M. Stunich

  It was really hard to talk with my fiery—quite literally—husband rubbing all over me.

  "Then maybe we should have a quickie before we go?" he growled, turning and pushing me up against one wall of the studio. The light was fading quickly outside, but the ones in here were bright. With a quick reach of his hand, Billy flicked the switch and plunged us into darkness.

  "There are windows all along the front wall!" I whispered, but I didn't stop him when he reached to untie my belt.

  "So?" he murmured back, tossing the belt onto the ground behind him.

  "So at least lock the damn door in case Unicorn Shirt comes back!"

  "Nah, I don't think so." Billy opened the top of the uniform and put his warm hands on my waist.

  "Okay then," I agreed, seizing his lips with my own and kissing the shit out of him while he pushed my karate pants down my legs and I kicked them aside. What can I say? He really twisted my arm. I like to think I put up a pretty good fight though.

  Billy chuckled one of those smug, male laughs under his breath as my arms slipped around his neck, holding me tight to him and hitching one leg up around his waist. He had said just a quickie so I saw no need to fart-ass around with foreplay. After all, he was rock-hard and rearing to go, and lord knew I was practically gagging for it …

  Oh, that made me wonder if maybe he might gag me later … you know, when he got to show me what he's all about.

  Billy yanked the belt loose on his own karategi and then whipped out his metal studded erection, pressing it along my already damp slit and teasing me with it. To clarify, I had not just taken the time to Google what is a karate outfit called, but had just noticed a poster on the wall behind Billy which instructed kids on how to correctly wear their karategi.

  "Fuck, Firebug," he moaned, lining up his flaming torch with my fire pit and pressing inside an inch or so. "Shit, you're always so tight."

  "Perks of being a supernatural creature," I grinned wolfishly and worked those Kegel muscles to torture him a little as he thrust the rest of the way inside me. He was right though, even with six voracious husbands and my own insatiable need for sex twenty-four seven, I always tight. Hell, even during our group sessions I never seemed to lose my elasticity. Those sessions got messy, yes. Very. But never loose.

  "Ugh," Billy grunted a word that wasn't a word, gripping me by the thighs and lifting my legs to wrap around his waist and then meeting my gaze with his serious, burning coal eyes. "Hold on tight, babe. We gotta make this quick if you want to visit Anita before we head home."

  "Shit yeah," I encouraged, "smoke me, Billy."

  He grinned at my weak fire pun, then pinned me tight to the wall and began pounding the shit out of me with his thick cock. It was incredible, don't get me wrong, but remember what I always said about the scarcity of vaginal only orgasms? Sadly, I'd forgotten my little silver vibrator when I'd left the house earlier, so I substituted my fingers instead.

  Trusting in Billy's strength, I released one arm from his neck and slipped it down between us to rub at my clit while he thrust in and out of me with a force that could rival any piston engine. A huge percentage of women find it really hard to orgasm during sex, even with a little bean flicking to help them along, but having six husbands was making me into a goddamn pro at working my own body.

  Within minutes, I hit my climax, locking down on Billy's cock so hard that he had to pause and wait for me to ride the waves before he could even move to finish himself. That was one of the things I loved about my guys. They always waited for me to come first. Such gentlemen, right?

  He came inside me with a few hard thrusts and grunts, then rested his forehead on my shoulder while I collapsed, boneless, in his arms. My legs were still locked around his waist, his dick still buried inside me, and my eyes were closed, so I didn't notice anyone standing at the windows until I heard the scream of horror.

  Snapping our heads to the window, there was Unicorn Shirt, pointing and laughing while his horrified mother had her hands clamped over his eyes and a disgusted look on her face.

  "Crap," Billy muttered, trying to withdraw his glistening cock from my hoo-ha without flashing any more genitalia than was really necessary. "That's a PR nightmare for another day."

  Flushed with embarrassment, I scrambled to yank my karategi pants back up and pull my top closed, then rushed toward the dressing room which, in hindsight, would have been a much better location for our quickie.

  Oh well, live and learn.

  "Billy, I can't believe we just scarred that child for life," I growled as he followed me in, carrying his gym bag.

  "Nah, he wouldn't have seen much." He shrugged. "We can just say I was teaching you some advanced forms of defensive throws. Very advanced forms. That only adults are allowed to try."

  "Whatever," I shrugged, realizing that I had WAY bigger fish to fry than dealing with some snot-nosed glitter bombing kid. "Let's head over to Anita's real quick. Something that stanky bitch Queen Dick said made me think of something, and I reckon Anita will know the answer."

  Billy nodded his agreement, buckling up his heavy belt and stuffing his feet into combat boots. On his top half, he just threw on a dark grey singlet and then his leather jacket right over the top. Fuck. Me. He was one sexy as hell man. Just watching him dress made my nipples pucker with excitement for what he might have in store at home.

  Maybe he'd like to set up a Red Room like that pervy dude, Christian Grey had. Except, less pervy because you know, no stalking or misogyny or psychological abuse.

  But first, a trip to the magic shop.

  Hopefully this time I could walk away without ingesting any more rat tails.

  We arrived at Anita's magic shop right at closing time, just as that pussy—Yumo—was flipping the sign over to Closed, but I still tried the handle nonetheless. She hadn't locked it yet, so I pushed it open a few inches before she grabbed it.

  "We're closed," she informed me with a haughty expression, usually only ever seen on cats. Oh wait.

  "We need to speak with Anita," I replied, sticking my foot in the door to stop her from shutting it on us. Feline bitch was making a damn good try of it though. Like, I was going to have bruises on my foot from how hard she was trying to close that door.

  "I said, we're closed," Yumo snapped back at me. "As in, politely fuck-off."

  "Hey look!" I pointed over her shoulder. "A mouse!"

  Instantly, she dropped her grip on the door and whirled around to the imaginary mouse I was pointing at. "Where? Where is it? Where's the mouse?" Her tail flicked behind her and tiny triangular ears popped out of her hair.

  Smoothly, Billy and I took advantage of her distraction and stepped into the shop, closing the door behind us. "Oh whoops, must have been a ball of dust. My bad," I chuckled, brushing past Yumo and hearing her growl of anger at my back.

  I didn't have time for melodramatic pussies though. We had a war to win, friends to recover—preferably with their heads still attached to their necks—and parents to kill. Pussy shifters could take a ticket and get in line.

  "Anita!" Yumo yowled, like someone had just pulled her tail. "Anita! These dirty elementals tricked me and pushed in here after closing! Can you turn them into mice for me to eat?"

  "Now, now," the ageless witch tsked, coming through from the back room with her more youthful glamour in place and actual clothing on … this time. "We don't eat friends, Yumo-Puss."

  The pussy shifter huffed, then sulked off to shelve books in the Vaginal Orgasms and other Myths section. You think I made that up, but that's actually what the section was called! Coincidences were real.

  "Arizona, dear," Anita greeted me with a wet kiss to the cheek, before turning to Billy. "Ah, William. Handsome as ever. Come here." She waved him closer and then kissed him clean on the lips … in greeting. Most friendly greeting I'd ever seen, but I wasn't going to pick fights with the most powerful witch I knew. Or … the only witch I knew? Besides my dead Gram, of course.

  "Now, what can I do
for you both? Something looks a little off in your auras. Has something bad happened recently?" She frowned in concern and confusion, and I snorted a humorless laugh. Something bad? Where the hell did we even begin?

  "Yes." I nodded. "Lots of bad. But we came here about one of the bad things in particular. Probably the most bad. The worst, some might say."

  "Oh." Anita's eyes widened like saucers and she clutched nervously at her pearls. What the fuck was up with everyone wearing pearls these days?! "Your bond! It's been frozen!"

  "Aha!" I pointed at her in excitement. "See, that's what I'm talking about. Frozen but not broken, right?"

  Anita tugged on her wavy, red hair for a moment, crystal earrings swaying as she glanced between Billy and me. Her skirts were long and rainbow colored, and her corset was so tight, her tits looked like they might fall out the top. To be fair, it was a pretty sweet corset and I totally would've worn it myself, wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding.

  "Yes, frozen. The flow of magic between you and your men has been temporarily redirected. The connections are still here, just … not accessible."

  "Can you help us?" I managed to choke out, sucking in a breath and holding it while I waited for the witch to speak. Billy put his palm against my lower back and carefully rubbed in a circle while the anticipation thickened.

  It seemed—based on Anita's constipation-esque face—that she was reading our … auras or whatever the hell else she did, so we stood there patiently and waited for her to finish.

  "She used a spirit stone on me, if that helps," I added and after a minute, Anita nodded.

  "We can fix this, but it's going to hurt," she told me, leading the way into the back, same as she'd done when we'd stopped by to get my glamours. Speaking of, I was running a little low, and the chalice could use some filling. Too bad we hadn't taken it on the trip with us—it's hard to explain to either the TSA or a customs official why there's a magic knife in your bag—because it would've been filled from that one romp in the van already.

  "What do you mean by hurt?" I asked as Anita opened a drawer on one of her many worktables and pulled out a pair of golden scissors. "Like physically? Or do you mean my wallet? Because I am totally down with that sort of hurt, and I'm sure I have enough to pay for it.” Well, I was sure Dustin had enough to pay for it, and I still had his credit card with me. I'm sure he wouldn't mind, right? When it came to getting rid of Gemma and restoring my bond with the boys, there was no price too costly to pay. I even pulled the card out and waved it around for emphasis.

  "I mean, it's going to cause physical, mental, and emotional stress," Anita continued, grabbing the plastic from my fingers as I started to put it away. "Although it's a pretty expensive procedure, too. Yumo, run this for …" The witch leaned in and whispered some absurdly huge number into her assistant's ear. First time I ever saw the damn cat smile.

  "So what do I do?" I asked as Anita continued collecting bits and pieces from all over the messy back area of the shop.

  "You'll need blood from whoever rerouted your bonds, as well as your own, and that of each man involved." Anita mixed up both a dry and a wet mixture in separate bowls before combining them into a single glass bottle. She then took that and the gold scissors and placed them inside a purple bag stamped with the name of the store.

  "You will leave a review on Yelp, won't you?" she asked as she pointed at the stamp and smiled at me. "Five stars?"

  "Lady, if this works, I'll tattoo you a five star on Gemma Darling's ass." Anita looked a bit confused at the reference, but kept smiling anyway. Guess the thought of a five star was pretty appealing, no matter where it was listed. "What do I do with this shit anyway?"

  "Mix the blood with the herbal paste I just gave you, spread liberally over your third eye"—Anita pointed to her forehead, rings and bracelets jingling as she moved—"and then use the scissors to cut the bonds of each man. You should be able to see them clear as day with the paste."

  The witch smiled at me as I stared back at her in confusion.

  "You'll have to cut all the bonds, including yours. You'll be free, not a single one of you tied together anymore." Billy was frozen beside me with the exception of his hand on my back. He didn't stop petting me, not even with all of this ridiculous spell nonsense. I appreciated that. "The spirit stone can't actually remove bonds, but once it's activated, the detour is permanent until either the stone is used again by someone else … or unless you sever all bonds between the people involved."

  "That doesn't sound too painful," I started, but Billy made a low sound in his throat that told me I was dead wrong about that. I glanced between his stern face and the witch's pleased one as she handed back Dustin's credit card … along with the receipt. "Eight grand?!" I choked out, and Anita grinned.

  I knew I never liked this bitch …

  "One grand per person involved. And clearly you have no idea what you're in for. Elemental bonds are of the heart and soul. When you sever those, that's when you'll know true agony."

  "Oh, great," I quipped, shaking the bag and wishing I could just get the fuck out of here and never come back. Unfortunately, based on the nature of my life, I had a feeling Anita's shop was going to be a regular thing for the rest of my life on out. "True agony. Exactly the thing I needed to add to the shitstorm that's been my week."

  I frowned over at Billy.

  "Seems too good to be true, right?" he asked and I raised a blonde brow. To be honest, yes it did. Why not just stop here in the first place? "When we break the bonds, a huge wave of magic will be unleashed and every magical being within a hundred miles will know where we are and how powerful. And then ," he paused to smirk at me, "then we'll have to do the marking ceremony all over again.”

  "Be safe when you do this spell," Anita continued, looking stern as she put her hands on her hips and glared at the two of us. "Lock the doors and have a friend stand guard. And when I say friend, I mean someone absurdly powerful who can protect you if this goes wrong."

  "How could it go wrong?" I asked and Anita sighed, putting her fingers up to her temples and massaging her face like this was a problem she was going to have to deal with personally instead of one she'd just sold for eight thousand bucks.

  "Once the men are unbound, their magic will go wild. Not only does it need to be tamed to keep them from hurting others and from hurting themselves, but also because if your enemy uses the spirit stone a second time, it could make the bonds permanent. Really, elementals with severed connections could be claimed by any spirit. Just watch your back and be quick about it, alright?"

  Chills traced down my spine as I clutched the bag close to my chest. I was relieved to find there was an easy way to unbind the guys from Gemma, but terrified at the idea of trying it … and getting it wrong. What if Gem did permanently bind the guys to herself? Or the bio parents attacked? Or any number of other things?

  I was so not going to be able to sleep tonight.

  "You okay?" Billy asked as he turned me around and gave Anita and Yumo a proper wave and sendoff while he was at it. I forgot to even say goodbye.

  "I'm not going to be able to sleep," I admitted, and he paused, turning and lifting my chin up so he could look me in the eyes.

  "Not because you’re worrying too much," he said, taking the bag from my hands. "I won't let you do that. If you don't sleep tonight … it's because you'll be too busy having sex to bother with it."

  His words made me smile … but they didn't erase the risk we were going to have to take to bond to each other. I thought about waiting until after Britt and Siobhan were safely back at home, but what if the boys and I needed to band together and fight? I didn't trust Gemma in the field with my men. She was too big of a softie toward the bio parents. If they drained them through her, I'd never survive.

  "Let's go home," I said with an exhale.

  Tomorrow morning, I'd know for sure if Britt and Siobhan were safe and we could move onto the next phase of our plan.

  It'd be a hell of a lot easier t
o think when their asses weren't on the line. I just wanted my friends back … and I wanted to talk to Siobhan. Then, maybe I'd start to feel in control again.

  "Let's," Billy said, pressing a scorching kiss to my mouth and leading me back to the Bugatti.

  "Hold up," Reg said when I finished telling them everything Anita had said about how to fix our bonds. "It can't be that easy. Just collect our blood in that little jar, cut the bonds then have a gang bang? Seems very … convenient?"

  "I don't think it is that easy," Billy offered, his hand rubbing soothing circles over my shoulder where his arm draped over me. "Anita said it would cause immeasurable mental and physical anguish, and that we would need to be guarded by someone we trust implicitly while we reestablish the bond."

  "Who the fuck do we trust enough to do that?" Dustin snarled, kicking at the coffee table. "In case ye haven't noticed, we're not exactly rolling in trusted, powerful friends."

  "He has a point," I sighed, my shoulders slumped. The only person I truly trusted was Britt, and she was still held captive by CUM under threat of decapitation. Admittedly, ASS should be pulling her and Siobhan out of their sticky situation tonight, so maybe she'd be able to do it?

  "Darlin', maybe we need to wait until after your parents have been dealt with?" Shane offered in a quiet voice. "This idea that a severed bond leaves us exposed to any spirit … I don’t much like those odds. Daniel could bring an unbonded spirit girl over here just to fuck with us.”

  "I hadn't thought of Daniel," I yelped, a little horrified at the suggestion. "Honestly, that’d be a pretty brilliant way to kick our asses, use some stranger to steal you guys and then drain you all through her … After that, I’d be on my own and an easy target to drain as well.”

  Billy shrugged. "Anita did say this spell would suck some serious ass.”

  "Wait." George frowned. "So after the bonds are cut, we bind ourselves to Arizona like it’s the first marking ceremony all over again, right?"