by JL Madore
Hawk
“That was better.” I shrink back from Calli’s hostile glare and hold up my hands. “It was.”
Jaxx picks the chunks of dirt off her and Brant helps her to her feet. “He’s not wrong, beautiful. Comparing that landing to the ones you made while we were staying in the bunker, I’d say those were definitely better.”
“Are you hurt, kitten?”
“Only my pride,” she says. “I thought I did everything you told me and I still ended up kissing worms.”
“Lucky worms.” I laugh. Okay, she does not find me charming tonight. “Tell me what you thought you did right and I’ll see what you forgot.”
She looks back at the tangerine skyline as if to jog her memory. “I picked a spot to focus on. I dropped low, extended my feet, and right before I touched the ground, I flapped my wings backward to create drag to slow my forward momentum.”
“Did you lean back?”
When she screws up her face and sighs, I can’t help but smile. “It’s a common error, Spitfire. Don’t get down on yourself. Tomorrow’s the day.”
She checks the orange glow of the firey sun descending below the horizon. “Do you think I can get one more try in before I’m lighting the sky up instead of blending in?”
I shake my head. “Not worth the risk. All it’ll take is one lookie-loo with a phone posting a video of the weird flaming sky and my father and his men will track down the IP address and have us cornered without backup.”
She sighs again and I can’t help but pull her in and pick grass and twigs from her hair. “How about a nice hot shower and Jaxx can massage what aches.”
She arches a brow and smiles. “I have a lot of different kinds of aches. It might take more than just Jaxx.”
I chuckle and brush the smudge on her cheek. “Do you think these aches of yours might take all four of us to ease?”
“I think maybe, yeah.”
I meet her gaze and watch her pupils while I ask her the next question. “And you’re sure you’re ready for the four of us, knowing the chance of baby-making.”
“I’m sure we can handle it. Is it alright to say I hope it doesn’t happen? I don’t want to give up all the wild and sexy just yet. Is that wrong?”
“There’s no wrong answer, kitten,” Jaxx says, hugging her from the side and kissing her head. “We’d rather hear the truth any day of the week than have you say something you don’t mean for our sakes.”
“Hells yeah,” Brant says.
Kotah trots through the trees and flips to man mid-stride. His clothes flash on a split second after giving me only the briefest glimpse of all that fit and sculpted nakedness. “I made three circles sweeping out further each time. There’s nobody around for miles. We are well and truly alone in the wilds.”
“Good. Thanks, Wolf,” I gesture toward the tour bus and smile. “Calli’s going to take a shower, then we’ll have dinner, and see where the night leads us.”
Kotah reaches up to gather his hair and tie it back with the leather band around his wrist. “Yeah? Are you good with that, Chigua? Even knowing everything?”
I give her credit, Calli’s not one to take her knocks lying down. She straightens and lifts her chin. “Sex with my four favorite lovers I look forward to. The rest… we’ll take as it comes.”
Kotah looks to me and I give him a reassuring smile. “You and Calli are the two that just worked out. Why don’t you help her into the shower, sweet prince?”
The kid’s expression lights up. “It would be my greatest pleasure.”
“Not just yours,” Brant says. “This is Calli’s night.”
“And I’m supposed to massage her and rub her down,” Jaxx says. “I don’t think you were here for that part.”
Calli shakes her head and heads toward the bus. “Honestly, making sure all four of you get equal time and attention is going to be a full-time job.”
I laugh and let the others lead. “Who said you’re responsible for keeping the four of us entertained. We can be self-sufficient, can’t we men?”
The naughty grins that flash between all of us as we head into the bus are too revealing.
Calli’s gaze bounces around between us and she shakes her head. “You four are just too hot.”
Brant
While Calli and Kotah are in the shower, and Jaxx transforms the bedroom at the back of the bus into a massage parlor, I pop one of Mama’s homemade lasagnas into the pre-heated oven and then go out to check on Hawk. He said he wanted to fortify our security and when I get outside, he’s got his hands up and is casting. I sit on the bottom step of the bus entrance and watch, trying not to disturb him.
Five minutes later, he drops his hands and the energy in the air drops considerably.
“So, how is it you have casting powers? I’ve wondered about it for weeks.”
“Ah… seeing me do something magical must have redlined your distrust dial.”
“And then Lukas gave you a transfusion. That threw me too. Wildling blood and human mage blood are not compatible. He never should’ve been able to save your life. But here you are.”
Hawk gestures for us to go inside and I lead the way. He seals the door behind us and casts a quick ward there too. By the time we walk the fifteen feet to the lounge area to flop on the couches, my curiosity is piqued. “We’re mates now. I hope you know that you can trust me with whatever it is.”
Hawk grabs us each a beer from the fridge and hands me one. “My mother was a human mage. My father is avian.”
I crack the tab on my drink and take a few gulps. “Then how are you able to shift into a hawk? Only pureblood wildlings can shift.”
Jaxx comes in and sits on the arm of the couch. “I’ve wondered about this too. You don’t mind if I join, do you?”
Hawk shakes that off. “No, it’s private but not a secret. My mother wasn’t just any mage, she was the Magis of the London Order. I don’t know whether it was a spell or a fluke in nature or a deal with the devil, but I’ve always been able to shift even with mixed blood.”
“It might be why you feel more comfortable fightin’ in the form of a man than a hawk,” Jaxx says. “You’ve got powerful human blood in your veins.”
“Maybe. Either that or I just like guns.”
Jaxx chuckles. “There’s that too.”
“How much magic do you have?” I ask. “And what is Lukas to you—because he’s more than a driver and a bodyguard.”
Kotah and Calli come into the lounge area fresh from the shower. Both of them have damp hair and a loose-limbed swagger in their step.
“Lukas is a Squire of the London Order. He tracked me down over a decade ago and claimed he was duty-bound to serve me because of my mom. At first, I brushed him off but he made it quite clear he wouldn’t allow my stubborn independence to dishonor him or his family. He’s been with me ever since.”
“And your powers?” I repeat. Jaxx, Calli, and Kotah all look at me and I shrug. “What? You guys can’t tell me you’re not interested.”
“No. It’s a good question,” Hawk says, brushing off the scowling faces. “Part of us aligning for battle is knowing the strengths and weaknesses of one another. For example, I didn’t realize Brant can’t swim until I suggested dropping him in the Hudson. Those are need-to-know details.”
Jaxx chuckles and heads over to the little kitchenette. “Oh, I feel a drinkin’ game comin’ on.”
Calli and Kotah brighten and I have to admit, Jaxx’s games are usually inspired and lead to a great deal of drunken mayhem. “What have you got in mind, Jaguar.”
He checks on the lasagna and closes things up again. “A Stanton version of drink and strip Never Have I Ever.”
“I don’t know how to play,” Kotah says, “but you said drink and strip in the same sentence, so I’m in.”
“That’s the spirit, Wolf,” Jaxx says, pouring a mishmash of ingredients into the blender we bought for the Montclair house.
“Except, I think Calli and I are at a dis
tinct disadvantage for the stripping part.”
I eye up the two of them and chuckle. Kotah’s got a pair of pajama pants riding low on his hips and Calli’s wearing one of Jaxx’s t-shirts. As much as I love seeing her in mine, Jaxx’s ride about six inches higher on her thighs, and those six inches make a big difference.
She might have underwear on, but if we’re lucky, maybe not. “Yeah, you two are naked in one round.”
Jaxx grins tossing me a stack of plastic cups and coming over with the blender pitcher. “Sucks to be you. Works out well for us though.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Calli
Jaxx’s drinking game is—as usual—a riotous fun time. I’m naked by the third pledge of Never Have I Ever quint edition, but Kotah lasts way longer than any of us expect. I guess it pays to have an over-protective family to never have the freedom to do anything. Between that and him being a virgin when we got together, never had he ever done a lot of things.
In the end, though, the drinking takes hold and we need to break for lasagna or we’ll be tanked and ill rather than tipsy. This is an icebreaker event, not the grand finale.
That will come later.
“Ohmygoodness that lasagna smells amazing.” I close my eyes and draw the scent of tomato and garlic deep into my lungs. My stomach growls and I swallow. “I’m not going to be able to move if I eat as much of that as I want to.”
Jaxx chuckles as he pulls the pan out of the oven and sets it on the stovetop to set for a few minutes while it cools. “Carbs are good for stamina.”
“In about five hours.”
Jaxx waggles his brow. “Sounds about right. That’s when we’ll start runnin’ out of steam.”
My voice cracks as laughter bubbles up my throat. “You’re kidding right?”
Hawk hugs me from behind and kisses my temple. “Yes, he’s kidding.”
“Mostly,” Jaxx says.
“Mostly,” Hawk agrees. “Although, you are exactly right about how good that smells. Your mother is amazing.”
Jaxx beams and starts cutting through the cheese with a long, serrated knife. “She is.”
“Did she work the whole time you grew up?” Kotah holds a plate up to get dished a chunk of lasagna and when Jaxx sets a square of piping hot ambrosia into the center, he hands it to Brant and grabs another plate to repeat.
“No. She was home with us until we went to high school. Then she went back. She is the rolemodel of the female who can do it all.”
“I hope I’m half as good at things as she is,” I say.
Kotah hands me a plate and smiles. “You don’t need to worry about being Mama. You’re Calli and get to be on a tier all your own. Besides, research and history isn’t your thing.”
“That’s true. Though I found the info she put together for me about the fae who might be able to contact me through the veil of the two realms quite fascinating. There are so many kinds of fae I didn’t know about.”
Brant nods. “Yeah, I’m curious to see what the StoneHaven side looks like.”
I grab a wedge of cheesy bread and head to the little table to sit with Kotah. “Me too. According to the info Mama printed out for me on the ancient fae races on the StoneHaven side, there are three or maybe four races that could talk to me from over there. As far as she could tell, none of them could physically be on this side, though.”
Hawk sits on the couch with Brant and eats off his plate on his lap. “The way I see it, there are two possibilities to explain that. Either, she was physically in this realm and is an immortal and resurrected back at a point of origin in StoneHaven, or she used some form of astral projection combined with possession to inhabit a person on this side and when that host body was killed, she retreated to her true form in the other realm.”
I swallow. “You think she was some kind of fae body-snatcher? That seems harsh. It also doesn’t sound like Riley.”
“Not necessarily a body-snatcher. You said Riley had been a junkie street kid before you met her, right?”
“Yeah, but she cleaned up good when we got together.”
“So, what if fae Riley knew that the girl she was going to possess was as good as dead and interceded. Then she wouldn’t have ended her life, she assumed it.”
“Are there fae races that can know stuff like that?”
Hawk nods. “Yeah. Not as a race trait but as a magic ability. The crass term for people who can do this is a mind-slut, but it’s a combination of prophesizing and tethering a projected identity into a host body.”
“Why would she want to do that? Why would someone from StoneHaven mind-slut herself into a street junkie to live on the streets with me for the better part of a decade?”
Jaxx brings the pan around for seconds. I take a half piece of lasagna and no bread. The boys each take another round of both. When everyone has topped up again, Jaxx digs into his second piece. “Well, if the person you’re describin’ did have prophesizin’ abilities, could she have known Calli would be the phoenix? Could she have been protectin’ her and maybe groomin’ her?”
They look to me for my thoughts. “I have no idea.”
“It sorta makes sense,” Brant says, finishing his second piece and heading over to the counter for a third. “You said she signed you up for every self-defense class imaginable, and she kept you away from drugs, and she was devoted to you from the first moment she found you and took you in.”
I shrug. “But then why not possess someone with a house and money so we didn’t have to claw our way through life?”
“I can answer that.” Hawk accepts a beer from Brant as the bear returns to his seat. “From my own experience, I learned a lot more about myself and what I could endure from the years I clawed through life. Being a survivor is one of the biggest advantages you’ve had in all this phoenix rising stuff.”
I set down my cutlery and push away from the little table. “Maybe. I guess we won’t know for sure until we open the gate.”
Jaxx goes around the room gathering the utensils and holding out the garbage bag for our paper plates. “One thing I’m sure about, whoever or whatever Riley is, she kept you alive and strong until we found each other. I’ll be forever in her debt for that.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Hawk says, holding his beer into the air to toast me. “She gave us you, Spitfire.”
Hawk
Brant and I are on cleanup from dinner while Kotah takes a midnight run to check our perimeter and Jaxx takes Calli in to rub her down with his massage oils he set out earlier.
“This is nice, eh?” Brant says, putting away the last of the cutlery and hanging the dishtowel over the handle of the little stove. “The five of us being alone in the world for a bit. Nobody knocking on the door. No cellphones buzzing. Just us talking and spending time.”
I nod. “It’s as awe-inspiring to me as it is foreign. I never would’ve guessed I could be so content hanging around naked with people and doing nothing but spending time with them.”
“And enjoying one helluva sexy view.”
“Well, yeah—there’s that. But even when we’re all dressed and shooting the shit… I don’t know that I’ve been content. There’s always been something inside me racing or chasing and I never relaxed with anyone as I do with you four. That is more of a shock to my system than anything.”
Brant spends an inordinate amount of time adjusting the dishcloth and I get the distinct impression his mind is elsewhere. When he turns to face me and I get an eyeful of what’s doin’ with that monster cock of his, I’m sure of it. “Something on your mind, Bear?”
He looks me up and down and then smiles as my cock thickens and responds to the attention. Easing closer, he wraps a hand around my hip and cops a feel of my ass. Pulling us together, groin to groin, he clears his throat. “What we did the other night—the way we were together—was that only the emotion of the day and you needing to complete the bond with me?”
Ouch. “Is that the way it felt to you? I thought our hours of play were
rather spectacular.”
“Oh, I did too. Hands-down one of the two most memorable sextathalon nights of my life. I just wanted to check-in, you know? To tell you it was more than that to me. You rocked my foundation, Hawk. I never would’ve thought it was possible, but you did.”
I slide my hand against his neck and into his hair, pulling his mouth to mine. His bear growls and he crushes me against the edge of the counter, the strength of his hips bending me to his will. His tongue penetrates my mouth in a seductive sweep and the growl of his bear’s hunger vibrates between us.
The bus door opens behind us and Kotah trots up the steps and seals us back inside. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
I catch my breath but don’t allow Brant to pull away. If he’s looking for reassurance, I’m happy to give it to him. “Not a problem, Wolf. How does everything look out there?”
“All good. We are all still alone in the great outdoors.”
“Just the way we like it.” When Brant moves to step away, I hold his wrist and keep him in place. “Jaxx and Calli are in the back playing massage parlor. If you want to join them, we’ll be right in.”
Kotah smiles and heads to the back of the bus.
When we’re alone again, I pick things up where Brant left off. Our kiss is rough and heated with all the passion we shared not only the other night but a few moments ago. When I ease back from his mouth, I wrap my hand around his cock.
“As Kotah says, I am now holding the sacred wand of truth. So, let me assure you, nothing about the other night with you was about anything but me wanting to share my body and my lifestyle with you. That you got so keyed up about it made it even more fun. Did I get off on bringing your bear to the edge of violence… hells yeah, I did. Do I want to do it again… hells yeah, to that too. We’re bonded mates, so I know you feel my lust and my connection, but what you can’t sense is my heart. It beats stronger knowing you’re at my side. I think you’re brave and funny and sexy as fuck. I’m proud to call you my mate and look forward to every moment we spend together naked or otherwise.”