But that’s exactly the reason I need to be here. I can’t go to sleep tonight knowing she thinks I don’t believe in her.
It’s not until after I knock that I realize she may already be asleep. I shake my head. Maybe this will have to wait until tomorrow. Turning on my heel, I start back up the hallway.
A creaking hinge stops me in my tracks. “Taj?”
I turn, fully ready to apologize for my earlier behavior, but when I catch a glimpse of Bryn in her thin cotton t-shirt and shorts peppered with tiny butterflies, the words die in my throat.
“Got it already? That was fast.”
The coolness in her tone jumpstarts my brain. I’m back to her doorway in two steps. “I came to apologize.”
She looks me up and down for a moment before taking a step back and swinging the door open far enough to grant me entry.
Her room is exactly the same as Poe’s, yet it somehow feels different. While there is the same spartan decor, the air is sweeter than in the room I spent the last couple of hours in.
Bryn stands in the center of the room and crosses her arms over her chest. While I’m sure she intends to look serious, the pose only serves to accentuate her breasts, pushing them up and out. My mouth goes dry and it’s a struggle to drag my gaze to her face.
“I’m sorry for how things went down in Poe’s room.”
She nods. “So, you think I’m right?”
I shake my head. “Sorry, love. I still think our best bet is with Elowen. But I want you to know—I need you to know—I think your ability to see hope and goodness is a strength. I don’t want you to lose that.”
She holds my gaze for a long moment before sighing and dropping her arms to her sides. “I don’t like the idea of stealing from these people.”
“I understand that. It’s not your nature to betray people who show you kindness.” I take a half step closer. “But remember, Rahn was a mage. No matter what reason these people have his staff, it’s probably better off in the hands of another mage.”
She sighs, the tension in her shoulders evaporating. When she moves toward me, I jump at the tacit invitation.
With Bryn in my arms, everything feels right again. Her head rests in the dip of my shoulder and her breasts press against my chest as I rub my hands in gentle lines up and down her back. As the seconds tick by, my worries melt away. Maybe we don’t have a full plan about how to get the staff, but we will. Another day of reconnaissance will bring us the information we need. Standing here with Bryn, it’s easy to believe that’s the case.
“I don’t want to steal from Kari,” she murmurs.
I pull her closer. “You’re not. Think of it more like you’re returning something lost to its proper owner. The staff never really belonged here.”
“I needed to hear that.” She pulls back just far enough to look up at me. “Does this count as our first fight?”
“Pretty mild so far as fights go, but I suppose we could call it that.” I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “I’m just glad you know your heart and opinions matter.”
“I love that you made sure I knew.”
She shifts incrementally closer to me, and blood sings in my veins. When I ventured down here, the only thing on my mind was comforting this kindhearted woman I’ve grown to adore. But now that I’m here with her body pressed against mine, a more primal part of my brain highjacks my thought process.
Her hands begin tracing a sensual trail up and down my back. My cock springs to life, growing harder with each second.
She twists her neck and my mouth captures hers. There’s no restraint in her kiss, and I love her for it.
My need grows with each beat of my heart, and when she pushes me toward the bed, I go willingly. I sit as far back on the mattress as I can manage and Bryn straddles my thighs. As my hands creep up her shirt and cup her perfect breasts, she stills and pulls back.
My balls clench. “What?”
She bites her lower lip. “Do you think this is okay? I mean, we’re at a sacred temple and all. Do you think they’ll—you know—kick us out or something?”
At the moment, I couldn’t care less if they do—as long as they let the two of us finish what we’re starting. But the concern in Bryn’s eyes is so heavy that I offer the best answer I can come up with. “I don’t think they’ll hold it against us.”
“Good,” she almost moans as she covers my mouth yet again.
I kneed the supple flesh of her breasts, and her hips move in a sensual rhythm that drives me crazy. My dick throbs painfully against the denim of my trousers and I want nothing more than to set it free, but Bryn is in control. After enduring the rest of us basically telling her she’s too young to know what she’s doing, I want her to know that I don’t think that’s the case at all. She is smart, capable, and powerful.
Not to mention sexy as all hell.
She breaks our kiss long enough to pull off both of our shirts, and the torture of the brief separation is made up for in spades by the feel of her bare breasts pressed against my chest. Her fingers scrape along my scalp and skate down the length of my back. Each touch sets off sparks along my skin. Her constant grind against my hips builds up a frenzy inside me, and I’m afraid this party could end before it starts.
I dip my head and suck one of her nipples into my mouth. She rewards me with a moan that gets me even harder.
“I need you inside me,” she murmurs, her hands seeking out the waistband of my jeans. Within moments, our remaining clothes are discarded and she presses me down onto her mattress before straddling my hips and taking my length in her hand, aiming the head for where she’s hot and wet. She locks her eyes on mine as she sheaths my cock in her slickness, and the simmering desire in her eyes is so sexy I have to suck in a deep breath to keep from exploding in her immediately.
She starts working her hips, throwing her head back as she finds the right rhythm. Spirits, I could watch her like this forever—lost in her own pleasure, her tits swaying as she rocks back and forth.
I slide my hands over her hips and around to the supple swell of her ass, cupping each cheek to steady her on her journey. I need to hold out until she comes, but with each passing moment, I’m sure I’m not going to make it. The tension builds inside me and my balls swell with need. I steady my breathing. Either way, I’ll make sure my girl is taken care of, but I want to ride her wave, to feel her pussy clench around me as she tumbles over the edge.
My grip on her ass tightens as I rush headlong for the point of no return, but a soft knock on the door pulls me back from the edge.
“Bryn?” Calder’s muffled voice comes through the door a split second before the knob turns and the door creaks open. Any further comment dies in his throat when he steps inside, his jaw slack as he takes in the scene he’s interrupted.
Except interrupted isn’t the right way to describe it. Bryn’s rhythm barely slows as she turns toward the new arrival. “Close the door,” she breathes.
Calder complies immediately, but his brain must be stuttering as much as mine, because when the latch clicks, he’s still inside the room.
If his continued presence bothers Bryn, she doesn’t show it. She anchors her hands on my chest and settles into a new, faster rhythm. The wet sounds of our joining fill the room and although I’m as hard as ever, part of me wonders if we shouldn’t stop now that we have an audience. I mean, Calder and I are friends, but the two of us kissing Bryn at the same time is one thing. Him watching as she rides my cock is something else entirely.
I try to focus my attention fully on Bryn, on the sway of her breasts and the way her lip trembles as she sucks in breath after heavy breath. But I detect movement by the door, and in my periphery I see Calder palming his junk.
Mother of fuck, he’s getting off watching this.
But as my cock swells inside Bryn, I know that’s only part of the story.
Bryn picks up the pace, and my hands find her hips again, urging her on. Her sweet face tightens and I know the moment is
near. Not wanting to throw off her movements, I bring my hands to her breasts, cupping them and squeezing her nipples. When her lips part in a perfect O, I know it’s the right move. With another tweak, her inner walls being to convulse, squeezing my cock, milking out my own climax. As my name tumbles off her lips again and again, I follow her over the edge, my cock throbbing as I let loose inside her.
She collapses onto my chest, and I wrap my arms around her, relishing the feeling of her heartbeat fluttering against my skin.
I’m not sure how long we stay like that, with me softening inside her, but it isn’t until she props herself up on her hands that I remember we’re not alone.
Against my better judgment, I glance toward the door. Calder is still in the same spot, and his jeans strain tight against his hardened cock. His eyes are filled with a mix of wonder and straight up lust. His desire is clear, and I get the sense from the way Bryn bites her lower lip when she looks his way that she wants the same thing.
He blinks a few times before finding his voice. “I, uh. After I got back to my room, I realized I couldn’t just go to sleep without talking to you about what happened in Poe’s room.”
Bryn nods. “Taj came to apologize, too. And he helped me realize we need to go through with the original plan.”
“Oh.” His shoulders slump. “Well, then. I guess I can take off.”
“No.” The syllable is quiet but firm. “I want you here.”
I lift my hand and brush the pad of my thumb across her cheekbone. “I should go.”
She turns her attention back to me, her brow knit. “You don’t have to.”
The words send a shiver over my skin. I have no idea what I’m being invited into, but there’s only one thing to say. “All right, then, love. I’ll stay.”
“We need to be open with each other if this relationship is going to work.” Her gaze shifts between me at Calder as she speaks. “I’m not with you and him; I’m with both of you. Back at the cabin, you started to show me what that can look like. I’d like to explore it further. If that’s okay with both of you.”
I bob my head. When I agreed to this arrangement, I didn’t know all it would entail, but I was willing to keep an open mind. I can’t say I imagined that would involve my closest friend watching me make love to the girl we’d move heaven and Earth for, but now that it’s happened it feels like it was inevitable.
Calder swallows. “I… Yeah. Okay.”
Bryn presses a kiss to my lips before climbing off me and standing at the edge of the bed. My first instinct is to cover myself up, but Calder’s eyes don’t flicker to my nakedness for an instant. As she takes a step toward him, he pulls off his shirt and starts kicking off his shoes.
I’m not entirely sure what to do with myself. The bed isn’t really big enough for three, but I don’t want to stand awkwardly in the corner, either.
But all thoughts are chased from my head when Bryn reaches Calder. She pulls his mouth to hers and helps push down his jeans and boxer briefs until the fabric pools around his feet. Although I’m not ready for another go, my cock twitches against my leg as Calder’s hands explore the hills and valleys of Bryn’s body.
I love her. My feelings of respect for her when she was Mona’s captive blossomed into genuine affection during my tenure with the organization. But at some point, those emotions swelled into a love so deep my heart aches when we’re apart. The fact that she’s naked and embracing another man should fill me with sadness or rage or fear, but I can’t dredge up any of those emotions. Instead, watching her with Calder fills me with something else entirely. Peace. Contentment. Passion.
When the two of them make their way toward the bed, I watch them closely, changing my position to suit their needs. Bryn settles at the edge of the foot of the bed, leaning back and spreading her legs open as Calder steps between them. The head of his cock locks into her opening and he glances up to meet my eyes momentarily. Understanding flashes between us in that instant. This is about her, not us. She wants us both, and we love her enough to give her whatever she wants.
As he sheathes himself inside her, I kneel beside her head on the mattress and suck her nipple into my mouth. Her noises and the gentle slap of their skin urges me on. I minister to one supple bud before moving to the other. But when I lift my head to switch again, Bryn pulls my face to hers and presses a deep, urgent kiss to my lips. I answer with equal intensity, my hands replacing my mouth on her breasts.
I can feel her body tensing as she approaches the mountaintop for the second time tonight. Calder’s fevered grunts fill the room, and something inside me builds as well. When Bryn finally cries out with release and Calder spasms uncontrollably between her thighs, and echo of their pleasure reverberates through me.
And later, when we’re all crammed onto the twin mattress, naked and sweat-slicked and not giving a damn whose body brushes up against whose, I fall into the deepest, most contented sleep of my life.
Chapter Sixteen
Silas
To say I woke with the sun would imply I slept, which I’m not sure I managed.
I don’t know what it is about this place, but I’m more on edge than usual—which is saying something. I’ve been in more sketchy situations than most gangbangers will see in a lifetime. Sure, some of the people who bound me to them over the years were harmless and hapless, but the vast majority were straight up bad people who needed someone who was both infallibly loyal and entirely expendable. To survive as long as I have, I needed to develop a sense for when things aren’t right.
And while I’m not saying this place is downright dangerous, there’s something about it that won’t let me relax.
When I leave my room, I’m careful to keep my steps as quiet as possible. I don’t know what time the priests and priestesses and whatnot around here wake up, and I don’t want to either be the one to rouse them or to interrupt them from their morning mediations or whatever.
The less I can do to draw attention to myself, the better.
What I need is to figure out whether there’s a back way out of the vault. I didn’t find anything promising on yesterday’s walk around the grounds, but I was storing away information in broad strokes then—how many buildings, how far away, how many doors and windows on each wall. Now it’s time to put everything together and search for the micro details that could mean the difference between success and failure.
I take a lap around the interior of the temple before making my way toward the basement hallway from yesterday. The last thing I want is for it to look like I’m unduly curious about any one area of the building. I keep my pace slow, taking care not to stare at any one feature too long.
When I reach the stairwell that leads to the dark corridor, I don’t take it. Instead, I follow along the upper hall, looking for any hint of another way down.
Sunlight is just beginning to stream through the high windows when the soft echo of footsteps makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. In these corridors, it’s hard to figure out where a sound is coming from until it’s too late. My heart starts hammering in my chest, but I fight to keep my breathing low and even as it has been. I’m just a guy on a stroll. I’m not up to anything nefarious.
Perception is everything. If I pretend it’s true, it may as well be.
A robed figure appears from around the corner just ahead, and my hands go clammy when the footsteps slow to a stop.
“Silas? What’s got you up so early?”
Sister Kari pushes back her hood to reveal the same friendly smile she had plastered to her face all yesterday. The expression does nothing to put me at ease. No one’s that happy all the time. Give me Poe’s scowls any day. People who grin twenty-four-seven are straight up psychopaths, and nothing will convince me otherwise.
“Just clearing my head,” I say, keeping my tone light. “I’m sure you know how dark your thoughts can get when you’ve got a curse hanging over you.”
She nods, her face sobering for a few moments. “We are doing ever
ything we can to find a way to break it.”
Her sincerity puts me off balance. From her tone, it would be easy to believe I’ve known her for months—years, even—and that she’s fully invested in my survival. Except I’ve played confidence games too many times not to recognize the hallmarks. Kari doesn’t really care—she just wants me to believe she does.
But I can’t let her know I know that, so I fight to keep my expression neutral. “I know you are.”
At my words, her smile returns. “Until we do, I hope you can take some time to relax. You seem like you carry a lot of stress with you.”
I snort. She doesn’t know the half of it. Would she still be so kind to me if she knew I was the one who cast the death mark to begin with? And it isn’t even as if I can promise never to do something like that again. It isn’t up to me.
Her brow furrows. “Is relaxing such a ridiculous thought?”
I shake my head, taking the opportunity to school my features. Letting my thoughts show on my face is a rookie move, and I need to be smarter if we’re going to get out of here with what we need. “It’s not that. It’s just…” I shrug. “It’s hard to explain.”
She holds my gaze for a beat longer before the corners of her mouth curve upward again. “Well, if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re here, just let me know. The troubles of this world can’t find you here. The temple is a place of peace and freedom. I hope you can take a measure of it with you.”
“Thank you.” I dip my head, hoping to signal to her that the conversation has ended.
But Kari doesn’t move. “What brings you down this way?”
“Am I not allowed down this hall?” I ask, injecting a measure of wide-eyed innocence into my tone. “If I’m not supposed to be here, I’m sorry. I thought it was okay. I don’t remember you saying anything about off-limits areas during the tour yesterday.”
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