by Kaye Draper
Grey didn’t draw a full breath until they were safely inside the house, the guards taking up station outside the front door. “Twilight zone,” she muttered.
Matheus draped a long arm around her shoulders and pulled her in to press a fervent kiss to the top of her head. “You’re not fucking joking,” he agreed.
Ethan wrapped an arm around her waist from the other side and kissed her temple. “Can we just never play this game again?”
Grey huffed a laugh, but then she picked up on the energy of the people around her. They knew she wasn’t dead. Or at least...they had to have had a really strong suspicion she was fine. But...they had been worried. And they’d had to put up with that for the last couple days—with headlines, and photos, and prying questions about the death of the person they loved. It had to have been unsettling, even if they knew it was all a farce.
“We were pretty sure you were fine,” Steff said softly, his brown eyes boring into hers. “But there was always a chance you weren’t.” His gaze flicked to Mat and back, and Grey’s chest clenched.
Mat’s mom had killed herself when The Change happened. He’d struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts himself at times, especially near the anniversary of her death. Of course this had all hit him harder than the others. And of course he’d never let it show. She turned under his arm, wrapping her arms around his narrow waist and burying her face in his silky-soft tailored shirt and vest. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, voice muffled in fabric.
Mat looped his arms around her neck and squeezed, squashing her face against his chest, nearly suffocating her. “Oh, shut up. It’s fine.”
Ethan had moved with her, still holding her round the waist, and pinning her between himself and Mat. “It wasn’t fine. It fucking sucked. But we’ll make it okay, now that you’re back with us.” He pressed a soft kiss to the back of Grey’s neck, and she sighed. She’d freaked Ethan out too—soft, kind, sensitive Ethan. And the others.
She turned her head to accept the lingering kiss Luca pressed there, feeling so warm and surrounded by the people who apparently loved her more than she had really realized until that moment. Steff stroked a big hand through her hair, pausing to ruffle her curls in that way they all loved to do. “Glad you’re back, trouble.”
Grey turned her head to look up at him, grinning. “What, no kiss from you?”
He wrinkled his nose in this weird, adorable way. “What? In that body? Gross. ”
But he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead anyway. “Oh, no. I touched a girl! I might melt.”
Grey swatted him and opened her mouth to say something witty and sarcastic for sure, but the words froze on her tongue as her whole body pulsed with power, shoving the people around her back a step and leaving her swaying.
“Shit!” she yelped as an entire being peeled himself out of her aura.
Levi caught her hips, steadying them both when they staggered. His black night eyes were narrowed, the star-like sparks in them flashing. “Were you just going to go back to the way things were before and forget all about me, now that you have your harem back, master?”
Grey could feel the jealousy pulsing off him in waves. Everyone else was staring. “Oh, stop being such a drama queen,” she huffed. “So, I may have forgotten, for one fucking minute , that I had someone riding along in my body. Can’t you just—”
He cut her off with a savage kiss, his forked tongue dancing against hers and his hands cupping her ass, pressing her close in a demanding way that left no room for further argument. “I won’t be pushed aside and forgotten in the dark while you enjoy the others!”
Grey pulled back for air, trying to remember why she was mad. Oh, right, pushy men. Not a turn on. “Excuse you? I do what I want, and who I want, when I want, buddy!” She stabbed him in the perfect chest with one finger for emphasis. So there.
He just smiled , eyes going hooded and one corner of his wicked mouth curling up in dark promise. “Oh, do you?”
Grey narrowed her eyes and refused to acknowledge what that look was doing to her lady bits. “Yep.”
He chuckled. “Fine. Then so do I.”
He turned and crooked a finger at a wide-eyed Matheus. “Pretty one. Come here, please.”
Mat swallowed hard, and for once all his cockiness seemed to completely desert him. His voice cracked. “Me?” His eyes darted around the room and landed on Steff, and it was clear that he was thinking there was some mistake and maybe Levi was speaking to the golden-haired model.
“Yes, you, silly boy,” the sea serpent hissed, letting his long, forked tongue flick the air for good measure.
Grey rolled her eyes. But Mat squared his shoulders and took a step toward the blue and silver temptation before him. “I don’t know if—”
Again, he didn’t get to finish his sentence. Apparently, Levi had no patience for words today. He simply gripped Mat by the back of his neck and pulled him down into a kiss. The bassist’s hands spasmed at his sides, then he was grasping Levi’s hips and moaning, letting himself be steered up against the wall.
Grey crossed her arms over her chest and pretended to watch with unimpressed boredom.
When Mat finally came up for air, his brown skin was flushed, and his eye were a little unfocused. “That tongue,” he managed, his voice husky and lost.
Grey sighed. “Yeah.”
Levi leaned up and flicked his tongue against Mat’s throat, teasing. “You like it, pretty?”
Mat made a weird little whining sound. “Oh, god.”
Grey shook her head. “If you think you’re just gonna get your way all the time, snake boy, you’re soooo wrong.”
Mat flapped a hand at her weakly. “Shhh...no...let him have his way.”
Levi smiled and slid a wicked leer toward Steff, who was looking a little hot and bothered from watching the guy molest his boyfriend. “Yes, master. Let the snake have his way.”
Steff’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his long throat and his eyes darted to the side. “Grey. Help!”
Grey couldn’t help it. She lost control of her carefully schooled expression and started laughing so hard tears streamed from her eyes. “Oh, gods. Yes, Steff. I’ll protect you from the sexy monster.”
A brief moment of absolute absurdity ensued as the tall blonde hid behind Grey, feinting from side to side to avoid Levi, who was prowling around like a hunting cat.
The whole thing ended when Ethan intervened, grabbing Grey and hoisting her up with a grunt and hauling ass off through the house toward the big sectional in the living room. The others followed, laughing and shouting protests, but Grey ignored them as she was pressed down into the couch under Ethan’s warm, solid weight, drowning in feather-soft kisses and heated caresses that said the others could fuck around all they wanted, but Ethan was on a mission.
It wasn’t long before Grey found herself spread out like a buffet, writing and moaning under an onslaught of hungry mouths and skilled hands. Luca straddled her head, rocking into her touch, her long fingers tangled in Grey’s hair as Grey worked her clit with her tongue. Somehow, Levi ended up between Grey’s legs, and he put that weird, wicked, amazing tongue to good use, sending Grey over the edge into orgasm at the same time Luca tensed and shuddered above her with her own release.
Then Grey was being urged onto her knees as Ethan slid home, filling her hungry core with slow, deep thrusts, his big hands griping her hips, fingers denting into the lush padding there as he guided their movements. Grey let her power uncoil within her, let her aura draw in energy from the beautiful creatures around her, and lost herself, each sensation and movement bleeding into the next in a dizzying swirl of pleasure that she never wanted to end.
Mat came to stand in front of her, at the edge of the sectional, one hand gripping his hard, leaking cock as the other stroked through Grey’s hair, gently pressing on the back of her head in invitation. She went happily, wrapping her lips around his cock, letting the momentum of Ethan’s thrusts drive her forward as she swallowe
d Mat down. The warm, smooth metal of his piercings rolled over her tongue and they both shuddered. Bliss. Pure bliss. Mat and Ethan’s energies washed over her in a wave of love and lust. She could feel their climaxes building, and the burst of their pleasure had her coming again with them, milking them both for all they were worth.
More hands, warm lips sliding over her neck. Levi, sending waves of his power over her skin, dropping her over the chaise so her back was bowed, half standing-half kneeling over her as he worked two thick, eager cocks into her, not caring that she was well-used and half out of her mind with bliss. “Master,” he growled, his deep voice grabbing her attention and anchoring her, heightening her awareness of him as he sank in deep. “Look at me.”
She gazed into the galaxy eyes of her monster as he fucked her into the cushions, his sharp teeth sinking into the flesh of her calf as he bent her nearly double. The flood of power between them when they came left Grey gasping, sucking in deep lungfuls of air like she’d never tasted it before.
She sat up, her body shifting as she moved, becoming leaner, harder, smaller. His eyes found Steff’s and the blond moved toward her like she was a magnet, sinking to his knees and wrapping that talented mouth around Grey’s rock-hard cock. “Fuck,” Grey groaned, dropping his head back and taking a moment to just enjoy the miracle that was Steff.
He sat back up, raking his hand through Steff’s long blond hair, tugging gently to ease him back, conscious of the gazes of the others on them, but not caring what they might think about the shifting dynamic. “Tell me what you want, Steff. Don’t let me overpower you.”
Steff was more susceptible to Grey’s siren allure, and even lust drunk and blissed out of his mind, Grey would never take advantage of that. Steff just smiled up at him, his expression full of love and trust. “Fuck me, please?”
Grey did not have to be asked twice. He found himself hovering over Steff’s beautiful, willing body having a major epiphany. Grey didn’t feel less “himself” right now, in his male body, about to make love to a guy who was only attracted to this form. Just like he didn’t feel less “himself” when he was wearing a female body, giving and taking pleasure with Luca and the others. This... all of this...was just who Grey was. And as he looked down into Steff’s warm brown eyes, it was like something shifted inside him. It was as if Grey was finally...whole.
He sank into Steff, glorying in the silky heat wrapped around his cock, in the breathless sounds he wrung from the beautiful man underneath him. Then they were all there, Luca planting a soft kiss to Grey’s shoulder, Mat stretched out beside Steff, touching them both, whispering endearments and praise. Ethan raking a hand through Grey’s hair and giving him a wry, embarrassed smile and a shrug that said he didn’t mind so much if his girlfriend was thoroughly enjoying being a guy at the moment. Then there was Levi. The degenerate monster. Both his cocks were hard again, and he arched a brow at Grey in challenge. “Finish pleasuring your harem, master,” he purred. “Then I have unfinished business with that delicious male body of yours.”
Grey wondered, somewhere in the one tiny corner of his mind that wasn’t currently being short circuited by everything that was going on, whether it was actually possible to die of lust? And whether he could actually take two cocks at once in this body.
You only live once, right?
Epilogue
Grey darted through the warm pacific waters, trying her best to outrun the monster behind her. She burst from beneath the water to a glimmering crystalline world of sun and endless blue sky, only to be yanked back under the surface.
Yeah, no one outran the leviathan.
Levi’s deep chuckle echoed in her head as he twined around her, making himself smaller, his long serpentine body not much longer than Grey’s own tail.
Yeah. The jerk hadn’t been joking back when he asked Grey why she didn’t want to show Abbie her tail. Apparently, he’d known even then that Grey had more than two forms. Unlike her mother’s shell pink siren tail, Grey’s own water-going form sported a long, sinuous tail in delicate lavender blue, with silver fins—an expression of the leviathan’s blood in her veins.
They bobbed to the surface and laughter spilled from Grey. Sometimes she felt so happy she thought the laughter would never end and they’d have to commit her to an institution somewhere. It had been four years since she claimed her harem and stole a monster from the gods. And she had never been happier. Levi regarded her from one eerie black eye, his massive head floating beside her on the waves as she flopped over onto her back. Enjoying yourself, master, he snarked in her mind. Grey’s powers and her connection to Levi had grown exponentially over time, until they really were almost an extension of one another.
Come enjoy yourself on dry land, Mat projected wryly. Grey wasn’t the only one who benefitted from Levi’s power.
She rolled over and lazily glided toward shore, shifting once she got close enough to touch the bottom. Levi shimmered and joined her in people form, taking her hand and obligingly clothing them in a couple of passable interpretations of swimsuits. When they reached the shore, Levi squatted down and studied the lopsided sandcastle that was being busily constructed by a pair of industrious little toddler hands. “Your fortress is coming along nicely, my queen,” he intoned in a serious voice. “May I suggest additional fortifications?”
The little girl brushed her fine blue-black hair back from her mismatched green and blue eyes and squinted up at him, her little voice adorably adult. “If you must.”
Levi waved a finger over the castle, shoring up the moat and filling it with water that slowly changed colors, moving through every color of the rainbow. “No enemy spies will infiltrate your waters now.”
The little girl giggled in delight at the light show, throwing her chubby, sandy little arms around Levi’s neck and insisting to go for a ride. He rolled his eyes as if he was so burdened, scooped her up with a whoop, and dashed back into the water, the two of them disappearing under the waves as they both changed form so he could take her on a sea serpent ride.
Luca came to stand by Grey’s side and glare out at the water. “She hasn’t eaten lunch yet. And you know he’s going to take her to the island with the pineapples. We’ll never get any protein in her.”
Grey stared at Luca for a beat, and they did that thing they did every so often these days—the thing where they both seemed to suddenly realize how different their lives had turned out than they ever would have imagined. Grey knew that Luca was thinking the same thing Grey was. Way back during The Change, when they first met, Grey was sure Luca never thought she’d be a mother, that she’d have a child with a man , of all things. And Grey sure as shit never thought she’d be a father.
But Pontus’s vague hints made a lot more sense now. Alena was more than just a child. She was the melding of God, siren, sprite, and leviathan, thanks to the mixed blood that ran through Grey and Luca’s veins. She was a shapeshifter, a magic worker, and a human—she was evolution. She would change the world, in some strange, hopefully quiet way. And she was only possible because of Grey and the strange gift she had received from her siren mother.
“Come on,” she said, looping an arm around Luca and guiding her back toward the lawn that stretched out to the beach. “We can have some adult time while the kids are off playing.”
Luca laughed, the sound bright and clear as a freshwater stream. “True.”
Mat, Ethan, and Steff waited, lounging around the picnic area they had set up. Up on the hill beyond was their house, an ostentatious tropical villa hidden away on a secret island near Hawaii that was visible only to supernatural eyes or those in the know. Lucifer still recorded new music and did the occasional, selective, tour. But for the most part, they were mysterious and reclusive, and Grey liked that just fine. They could bask in all the attention and stardom they wanted if they went to visit the mainland or stopped out to see their family on Etna island—in fact, they had a trip planned to Etna in a couple weeks for Abbie and Cam’s wedding and to cele
brate Ethan’s mom’s sobriety anniversary. But here, it was just Grey and her family, and the warm, welcoming caress of the endless ocean.
They reached the picnic area and Mat pulled Grey away from Luca, bending to nibble at her lips in teasing little pecks. “I thought you’d never come out of the water,” he pouted. “I brought out wine and everything.”
Everything was apparently a thick, comfy blanket, pillows, and an assortment of sex toys hidden away for when Alena finally went inside for a nap. Grey rolled her eyes. “You’re the absolute worst.”
But that was a lie, and they both knew it.
Steff went and stretched out on the blanket, giving Grey those come-hither eyes that were the perfect complement to Mat’s broody pout. Luca arched a brow at them as if they were all stupid and went to casually retrieve a box of Grey’s favorite chocolates from the cooler before going to plop on her own blanket, long legs splayed out just so and the spaghetti strap of her tank top sliding down one elegant shoulder.
But they all lost to Ethan in the hammock, shirtless and holding a fresh beer with condensation still pooling on the sides. He oofed as Grey landed on him, then chuckled when she stole his drink and wriggled her big ass around until she was comfy. The others just laughed, knowing when they were beaten, but also knowing they were all loved.
Even if they didn’t have cold beer and miles of tattooed muscles.
Ringing laughter woke Grey from a contented doze sometime later and she got her arms out just in time to catch a flying bundle of wet, pineapple-scented toddler. Levi leaned down to brush a sweet kiss across her lips, then left Grey to swing in the hammock with her daughter while he went to help the others get lunch set out. She thought of Arianna and the other sirens, the way they’d never known a parent’s love. Alena was the exception to that old tradition too. She would never be alone, and never want for love. The warm ocean breeze ruffled Grey’s hair as she held the warm, sleepy bundle of energy to her breast, a lullaby bubbling up from her chest and spilling out to dance on the breeze.