by A. K. Koonce
She pulls her attention and sets it fully on Rime. Something in my heart aches, blooming pain through my chest to see him willingly so close to such an alluring woman. That throbbing agony sears into me, and all I can do is wait to react. My emotions are building with each ticking second, waiting to release the anger and hurt that’s rising higher and higher inside my chest.
Her blue lips ghost over his, her long fingers threading into his white-blond hair. The flick of her tail has her rising up from the sea. She lifts herself until she’s above him, her mouth so close to his it hurts to look at.
When his steady palm slides against her collarbone, caressing her skin, I almost snap. Until his steady fingers drift higher. And higher.
With one quick move, he rams his fingers beneath her gills, ripping a scream like waves of agony through the air. Frost billows around them, and that scream cuts away as ice forms around her throat. His frosty knuckles turn white like he’s clutching tighter beneath her thin gills. Long nails slice at Rime’s smooth shoulders, but he never releases her. The scream, the clawing fight of her survival, the strength that’s shaking through Rime’s body, it’s terrifying, nothing compared to the deadened anger that’s glinting in his gaze.
Another spasm of power ripples through his shoulders, and the ice at her throat bursts, shattering, raining down onto Rime’s chest just before she slackens in his arms. Her arms dangle against him. He heaves her up and tosses her out into the sea with a heavy splash.
Violent screams echo into the air, and it’s such a chilling sound, my heart nearly stops beating. The sea, the sea does stop then. The waves flatten. The intake of the ocean, the crash of the water, the very movement of the water itself stops entirely.
It happens slowly at first. One head bobs up from beneath the sea of glass. Another and another and another. Hundreds of them slither closer, surrounding us on all sides while the corpse of the dead water woman floats between us.
“Arrie, we need to go,” Sinister whispers on the quietest breath.
On cautious steps, I wade toward him. Thousands of sparkling silver eyes watch my every move. Beneath the deep water, my hand slides into his. With just as much caution, Sinister grips Rime’s shoulder. Rime pulls Chaos’ arm, but Chaos seems dazed and unresponsive.
All I can focus on are the creatures slithering closer and closer, though.
“Do it now, Arrie,” Sinister cuts out from clenched teeth.
I try. I try my hardest to vanish the four of us away just as I did back in Valencia. Something is off now. I feel weighted with the touch of Sinister’s hand in mine. My heart thrashes for me to do it. I have to do it. I can do it. I’ve done it once already. I need that vanishing power now more than ever.
“Do it, Arrie!”
“I’m trying!” My shriek sets the vicious mermaids into a frenzied pace.
Long black tails slink through the water while sharp teeth shine in the moonlight.
And still that magic inside me feels pressed, harnessed, retained.
A single pale hand lifts from the water so terrifyingly close to Chaos’ arm. The water from those sharp claws drips down his skin just as her nails scratch against his flesh.
Magic rips through me. The pent-up power storms through me in a flash.
And then we’re gone.
Thirteen
Finally
The flooring of the ship hits my knees hard. Before I even stand, Sinister is sailing us out. He doesn’t wait for the wind’s assistance, he uses his powerful magic and soars us the hell away from that eerie island.
The drenched fabric of my yellow dress clings to my limbs, sending a tremble wracking through my body. Chaos’ big hands are on me the moment my teeth so much as chatter. Up and down his palms trace along my arms. Shivering seconds pass, a cold breeze blowing before I bend at the waist and shove the skirt off entirely. The drifting of Chaos’ hands halt, and when I look up, Rime is also shedding his drenched jeans. Except he doesn’t stop. Boots tumble to the deck flooring with a thud, and slick jeans slap down next.
“Someone could have mentioned we were going to get naked. I feel really behind on the party right now,” Chaos says, pulling off his jeans as well, dripping water down my shoulder as he goes.
Sinister turns away from the helm, and the three of us end up in our underwear in just thirty seconds flat.
“What are you guys doing?” Water drips from his hair, sliding down his bare shoulders.
“We’re freezing, Sin.” My teeth jar together, drawing out his name as I shudder hard.
“Oh.” He nods, fuming hellacious heat off of his damp skin with a faint waft of pale smoke.
He doesn’t seem to understand the situation at all for us. My hand raises, and I consider drying us with a wave of my magic. And for Rime and Chaos, I do. They tremble at the feel of it. My power slinks around them in a gush of warm air, stealing away the dampness of their hair so quickly Chaos actually pauses to touch the ends of his inky locks.
As for me, I slowly walk with my fingers laced around one another, hunching my shoulders against the urge to shiver. I want so badly to just use my magic, but instead, I walk right to him. And Sinister wraps me up in his warm arms as soon as I’m near enough. The heat of his skin feels good. He feels so good; all I want to do is let him hold me.
Right now, after all of that, I just want to remind myself that they’re here still.
We sail out for miles before the ship finally slows to a drifting pace. The island is far behind us. The threat of those bizarre women is gone, and all that’s left is the faded red lines against my skin from where her snake-like body wrapped around me.
“Did she hurt you?” His long fingertips skim over the gaping cut along my palm.
Tingling energy sinks into me, heating me all the way down to my core as he heals the little wound the coral reef cut into me. Healing power is an intoxicating feeling; the static energy buzzes beneath the skin, lighting every nerve. A hum that’s dangerously close to a moan pulls from my lips.
“I’m fine,” I tell him on an unsteady breath.
My face tilts down to his chest, breathing in the warm smell that’s tinged with a sort of cinnamon scent. The heat of his palms push slowly up and down my spine, warming me everywhere his fingertips touch. The lean muscle of his chest is wet, but the warmth of his skin sears right into mine.
“You feel so good, Sin,” I whisper, and he shivers when my breath fans against his chest.
Less than a beat passes before he replies, “So do you, love.” His whisper is more of a rasp, making his accent a lower tone that sends a new sort of tingling through my body.
I don’t look up at him. My fingers slide down the lines of his abs, feeling the full effect of his heated skin with every slow move my hand makes. His muscles there jump beneath my touch. I keep going, exploring in silence as he stands stoically still. My heart pounds, but the feel of his heart thundering just as hard against my fingertips is enough to urge me on. His gaze never once leaves my face while he studies my intentions closely.
Chest to chest, we watch each other. The lace fabric of my bra is rough against my nipples as I brush my body fully against his. Seconds slip by.
“Take off your underwear.” The demand is barely out of my mouth when he reacts.
His mouth slams onto mine. The firm press of his lips is a controlling feel; his hands grip my hips hard, and my feet stumble when he walks me backward. I never question it. Not once do I pause to consider what he’s doing. Until my back meets smooth, warm skin. Behind me, the hard outline of someone’s cock presses against my lower back just as Sinister’s erection skims my hip. Several sets of slow and taunting touches whisper along my skin, but Sinister never stops kissing me. With all the gentle, teasing touches, I can’t decipher who’s who until the heavy feel of Chaos’ big hand pushes at the thin material of my underwear.
A gasp slips from my lips, and Sinister pulls back just enough for me to look back to see who I’m pressed against. Rime’
s lips slowly tilt into a cruel smile that looks gentler and more affectionate than I’ve ever seen. He looks like he’d tear apart the entire world just to keep me safe.
And I fully believe he would.
His lips skim over the curve of my neck with the lightest brush of his mouth against my skin. I feel the tilt of his smile and a needy breath escapes my lungs. Sometimes I think all he wants is to torture me with sensual touches until I come just from the buildup of his hands on my body. Those hands confirm my thoughts when he slowly slides his palms up over my stomach, across my ribs, and just lightly pushes both hands over my breasts before trailing right back down to do it all over again.
I’m so focused on his teasing touch that it’s all I feel until rough, wet panties slide down my thighs. Chaos kneels at my feet at Sinister’s side. Sinister glances down at the man positioned between our hips, but his hooded, crimson gaze lifts to meet mine again. I’m very aware of how Sinister shifts, giving Chaos space just before the demon’s fingers slide gradually up my throat. It’s the most patient touch, but the rough way he pulls my jaw toward him isn’t gentle at all. The demanding way his tongue spears into my mouth makes me gasp against him, and that gasp only intensifies as a mouth presses slowly over my sex.
The firm stroke of Chaos’ tongue mirrors Sinister’s, and the combined feeling of it all has me weak in Sinister’s arms. Cold fingers thread through my hair, and my neck is jarred to one side just as sharp teeth rake across my neck, nipping and sucking and kissing along the sensitive skin there.
Lower Chaos rolls his tongue until he’s fucking me deep with his mouth, and it’s all too much. It’s as much as I can take.
Or so I think.
Cold fingers trail so slowly over my stomach. From behind me, Rime slides his palm all the way down my body until he slips down my folds. I tremble hard between their chests when he presses circles over and over again against my clit. Up and down he glides along my pussy, taking the extra time to grind against the place where I really want him.
Rime teases my clit with long, unhurried strokes until Chaos lifts slightly. His tongue laps up every inch of my sex before his lips close over Rime’s circling fingers. He sucks hard against my clit before taking Rime’s fingers fully into his mouth.
“Fuck,” Rime rasps along my neck, and the quiet curse pulls a rumbling laugh from the man between my legs.
When Chaos drags his teeth back over my clit, his tongue flicking there hard, all the tension coiling in my core explodes. The thickness of Rime’s shaft grinds against my ass as I shiver from the feel of Chaos’ mouth devouring my orgasm.
Sinister pulls back from me, and I feel their attention burning up my skin, but Chaos never stops. From beneath my lashes, I look up at the demon holding me in his arms. The color in his eyes is just a thin rim of fire around big black pupils. His gaze flickers across every emotion I give him. His heated attention lifts to the man pressed against my back, and a devious smile curves Sinister’s lips.
Their eyes meet, holding hooded gazes while caressing my curves between them. It’s a smirking, silent look between them that sparks curiosity all through me.
“Are you two going to kiss?” The uneven words barely make it past my gasping lips before Chaos swirls his tongue deep inside me, tearing a shuddering moan from my throat.
“What?” Sinister’s hands halt against my hips. Confusion shadows his face now, the smirk no longer in place. “Why would we kiss?” He peers over my shoulder. “Not that you’re not an attractive guy. You’re decently good-looking.”
Rimes lips curve into a smile along my neck, kissing there before his rasping words whisper against my skin.
“Would you like that, Tamer?”
My only reply is a breathless sound as his fingers slide so slowly up and then down my sex.
“I’m not saying, I wouldn’t,” Sinister says as if he’s rationalizing to himself as well as us. He carries this conversation alone, all while Chaos’ mouth feels hungry against my sex, his hands gripping my ass to press my swollen pussy harder to his face. “I’m not afraid to kiss you. It’s just I’m not actually bise—”
His careful words are cut short when Rime abruptly grips the back of the demon’s neck.
“Shut up,” Rime rasps.
And then he slants his mouth to Sinister’s so hard both of them groan against one another, pressing me tighter between the hardness of their chests. Rime’s pale fingers clutch Sinister’s inky hair tightly, and his tongue spears into the demon’s mouth with a mixture of desire and aggression. Sinister tenses against me for less than a second before his palms slide up my stomach, pushing and kneading and filling his hands with the heaviness of my breasts while his tongue slides timidly along Rime’s.
Energy tightens unbearably within me as I watch them. It’s different. Rime kisses Sinister in a way that holds sexual tension, but all the lust within them isn’t with each other. Their hands roam over my smooth curves, my slick sex, my soft skin. The kiss between them just fuels the need to have me, it seems.
It’s just a kiss.
Nothing more, and I can see that.
But the way their cocks grind against me sets me into motion. My palm reaches back, sliding down the hard panes of Rime’s stomach. I slip beneath the thin material of his underwear, and my palm is met with smooth skin. My fingers almost wrap fully around his shaft, giving him a single, slow stroke before my other hand reaches out for the man in front of me. Both of them come impossibly closer, and when my hand trails beneath Sinister’s black underwear, he rocks his hips into my touch. I push my palm across the slick head of Sinister’s cock, and he groans against Rime’s lips, kissing him harder with every teasing touch I give him. The movement of my hands becomes a simultaneous, fluid motion.
Slowly, Chaos stands, and he glances down at the way my hand works up and down Sinister’s shaft before he looks at the two men kissing. With demanding intent, his finger’s slide against Rime’s jaw. He pulls Rime’s attention away from Sinister, and his mouth slides seamlessly over the ice dragon’s swollen lips. The rise and fall of Sinister’s chest and his big eyes are all I can see with the two shifters kissing between us. My attention holds on his before I kneel at their feet.
My hands drop away from them, and I put all my focus into Chaos. He shoves aside his underwear for me, and I smile at how quick he is to help in this moment. His palm holds his hard length, stroking down himself slowly while he kisses Rime. My lips part, and I almost take him in my mouth, but another thought is more demanding. I slide my tongue across every inch of him, flicking hard across the tip and getting a low groan shaking through his chest. I tease him slowly but never seal my lips over the tip of his cock.
After a minute, I stand quietly, taking him in my hand and sliding over the length of him to his tip until Rime’s in reach. They step closer together. With one hand, I take them both. Their hips rock in pace with my gliding palm as I roll my wrist along their throbbing erections. They fuck my hand, hips moving in motion so perfectly it makes my sex pulse for more. The smooth feel of both of them in my hand turns me on as much as it seems to turn them on. Growls rumble between them, making my breath shudder at the sound of it.
I barely turn away from the two of them when Sinister kisses me hard. He kisses me so hard it steals my unsteady breath away. A copper taste fills my mouth as he presses my lips into my teeth with so much passion it’s painful.
Sinister’s palms slip low, and in one quick swoop he’s lifted me up, holding me fully against him. I barely have time to grab on to his shoulders when he’s carrying me a few feet away. Smooth boards hit my back, but he never breaks our kiss. Wetness pools between my thighs as I slide my sex against his thick shaft.
He breaks the kiss to mumble against my mouth, “Tell me if I hurt you.”
My mind can’t seem to process his words, and only confusion follows the statement.
“Hurt me?” I ask as his teeth rake across my neck, kissing patient kisses to the spot just beneat
h my ear.
He takes his time giving the sensitive skin there his full attention with slow flicks of his tongue.
“I’m strong, Arrie. I try to hide it but I’m stronger than I pretend to be.”
His quiet words fan across my neck, and all I can think about is how much effort he puts into trying to wash away all the terrible thoughts people associate with demons.
But he can’t hide what he is. And I don’t want him to. Not from me.
I hold his gaze, processing the quiet fear that I see in his gaze. He’s terrified he’ll hurt me.
Maybe he’s terrified of showing me exactly who he is underneath.
What he doesn’t realize is, I already know.
Without another word, I press my lips softly to his. I take careful, slow kisses from his lips until I need so much more than just the careful kisses we’ve shared during our relationship.
A groan shakes through the salty air, and I look over his shoulder toward the sound of it. Rime’s hips thrust slowly with perfect rhythm. Chaos grips the banister with one hand while his other tangles through pale-blond hair from over his shoulder.
A heavy breath falls from my lips, and I don’t realize I’m rocking my hips, mirroring their movements with all the want that’s pent up inside me.
The two of them fuck like they’ve done this a thousand times, like they know each other completely, like they know just what the other needs.
And they do.
The way they move together, the way Rime’s hands slide down the hard lines of Chaos’ ribs and stomach makes my sex ache for more.
Sinister gives me just that.
The slightest shift slides him until his cock glides against my entrance. I gasp from the teasing feel of him, and Rime’s lust-filled eyes meet mine, his groan matching mine, fueling mine. Sinister takes my chin and pulls my attention back to him. His dark gaze holds mine and with controlled carefulness, he guides my pussy down his shaft. He fills me so slowly the breath in my lungs holds inside until he’s fully filled me. Hooded eyes linger on mine, and our lips brush against each other but never seal. We focus on the look in each other eyes as his hips grind into mine. The inky pupils in his fiery gaze chase out the color, leaving a minuscule of crimson around the black, and the change seems to trigger something inside him, making his hips thrust harder into mine, sending aching pleasure deep inside me.