by Sarah Piper
Then Ronan sucked in a sharp breath, the space between his eyebrows creasing, his eyes glazing suddenly with emotion.
“You okay?” I whispered. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s torture, Gray. Watching you… My hands are on fire to touch you… I just… Fuck.” His voice was raw, his chest rising and falling rapidly, his body trembling from the effort of holding back. “I’d fucking die tomorrow for a chance to kiss you tonight. To taste you just one more time.”
I blinked back tears, the passion in his words threatening to unravel my heart.
Asher stilled behind me, resting his forehead against my shoulder blade. I knew without asking that he’d end this in a heartbeat if he thought we were causing Ronan pain. Both of us would.
“Do you want us to stop?” I whispered to the demon in front of me. My best friend. The man I loved. The one who’d agreed to this torment just for a long-shot, one-in-a-million chance at bringing me back from the Shadowrealm in one piece.
Ronan’s eyes went demon-black, his voice a low growl in his throat. “Don’t you fucking dare stop.”
Ronan couldn’t touch me, couldn’t physically participate beyond the closeness and the watching and the dark, desperate wanting. But I knew by the look in his eyes that he needed this. We needed this—this unexpected, unconventional way to be together, to break the chains Sebastian had tried to tighten around our hearts.
Asher shifted behind me, sliding in slow and deep.
My eyes fluttered closed, and I felt Ronan inch forward, the heat of his body reaching out to me once again.
Still stroking his rock-hard cock, he leaned in closer. “Don’t close your eyes, Gray,” he whispered. “Stay with us tonight. Please.”
I smiled at the echo of my earlier words and did as he asked, my gaze locking onto his as the three of us continued to chase that pure, unadulterated bliss lingering just out of reach.
“Gray,” Asher moaned, and I knew he was right there. In that instant, all of us were mere seconds from beautiful oblivion.
I increased the pressure on my clit, and my body tightened around Asher, my stomach muscles clenching, the now-familiar tingles gathering in my core.
“Gray… fuck…” Ronan’s body tensed, and then he let go, setting off a chain reaction. Asher came hard inside me, his body shuddering against my backside, and with his gravelly voice in my ear and Ronan’s gaze locked on mine, I finally let go, too.
The orgasm washed over me in a hot rush, stealing my breath as my body trembled beneath its power. I came for Asher. I came for Ronan. I came for all of us, my heart beating like a wild animal, my whole being alight with pleasure.
At the final gasp, I was finally permitted to close my eyes, and the three of us lay in silence, floating on a cloud in some other sky, on some other realm.
It was one of the most intense experiences I’d ever had, and somehow, despite the fact that Ronan still couldn’t touch me, I felt like it had brought us closer.
All three of us.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Both of you. So much.”
Asher tightened his hold on me, and I opened my eyes to see Ronan watching me close. Neither of them said a word. They didn’t have to. I saw Ronan’s love for me burning in his eyes, the fire of it more intense than the fire that sparked whenever we touched. I felt Asher’s love surrounding me now, holding me close, keeping me safe.
Asher reached across my shoulder and wrapped his hand around the back of Ronan’s neck. “You good, brother?”
Ronan gave him a silent nod and closed his eyes.
The intense moment between us had crested and receded, and the three of us finally broke apart, getting out of bed to stretch and change the sheets.
After another quick round of showers and a raid on the fridge downstairs, we crept back upstairs, stripped down once again, and climbed back into bed together. Ash took the middle this time, making sure Ronan and I couldn’t get too close and accidentally set the mattress on fire. I curled up against Asher’s left side, and Ronan did the same opposite me, meeting my eyes across the tattooed expanse of our incubus’s chest.
There was nothing awkward about it; we were family. The love we shared transcended all boundaries, and as we drifted off to sleep, I found a moment’s peace in the knowledge that somehow, we’d find a way to transcend Sebastian’s imposed boundaries, too.
We drifted off to sleep quickly, and didn’t stir again for hours.
Not until we heard the screams.
Thirty-One
DARIUS
For hours I paced the rocky shoreline south of the lodge, my fingers wrapped around the handle of a fae blade we’d procured from the warehouse, all of my senses attuned to my surroundings. I tasted the ancient salt of the coastal air on my lips, felt the pounding of the surf beating in my chest, braced myself against the sharp bite of the wind on my face.
Despite the circumstances, I couldn’t help but feel invigorated. Hopeful, even. Emilio had survived insurmountable odds to return to us, whole and unbroken. The witches we’d liberated from the hunter’s prisons were growing stronger through practice and new, shared knowledge, combining their magics in unique and powerful ways that made victory feel a little more possible with each passing day, despite Liam’s dire warnings. Gray was finally beginning to embrace her legacy, and though I suspected she’d need a little more time to fully claim her birthright, I felt the greatness in her, so close to the surface she practically hummed with it.
For the first time since I’d returned from the Shadowrealm without my memories, things were beginning to look up.
Other than the brutal cold and the frenzied state of the great Pacific, the night had been calm. Emilio and Elena were patrolling the southern end of the property, with Detective Lansky and another wolf shifter from the department keeping watch at the forest’s edge. Two more shifters were posted at the mouth of the cave system Liam had discovered, and all was quiet there, as well.
But for an occasional wandering witch raiding the kitchen for a midnight snack, the occupants of our lodge had finally settled in for a good night’s rest. After the energy and excitement of relocating to the lodge and settling in with the new witches and animal companions that’d arrived with Verona, it’d been a surprisingly peaceful evening.
So peaceful, in fact, that when a desperate scream broke through the rhythmic roar of the waves behind me, it took me a moment to comprehend what I’d heard.
Reva.
And she was in grave danger.
I spun around and caught sight of her cowering in the sand at the base of a massive sea stack. Her eyes were wide with fear, her whole body trembling in the wintry mist.
“Reva!” I knelt down before her, reaching out a hand to help her up. “How did—”
My words cut off abruptly as my hand passed through the mist. It wasn’t Reva after all—only a shadow projection. Which meant her body was somewhere else, and I had no idea how to find her.
“Reva, where are you?”
“They’re all around me!” she shouted. It didn’t seem like she’d seen or heard me at all. “Leave me alone! I can’t… Help! Somebody help me!”
I took off at a run toward the lodge, the ocean blurring in my peripheral vision, the icy wind tearing at my hair. I arrived on the scene at the same time as Emilio and Elena, the three of us tearing across the front of the property, straight for the forest behind the lodge.
“In the woods. There!” I shouted, catching sight of the melee just inside the tree line. Witches and wolves alike had teamed up against an enemy whose scent turned my stomach.
Vampires.
Gripping the fae sword, I charged into the trees, swinging at the first bloodsucker I saw, taking his head clean off.
I didn’t even spare him a glance as I spun around, catching another one in the chest as Gray staked him from behind. He stumbled backward, and I beheaded him post haste.
“How many?” I shouted.
“A dozen at least,” she said
, yanking the stake from his back. The hounds were by her side, their fangs already dripping with blood. “Maybe more. We all bolted out here when we heard Reva screaming. The wolves had already taken some of them down—it all happened so fast, we—.”
“Duck!” I hauled Gray to the ground and covered her with my body just as a vamp lunged at her from behind. Overcorrecting for his miss, he slipped on the snow, and the moment he righted himself, a huge raven swooped in and clawed out his eyes. One of the hounds lunged at him, knocking him flat on his back. The other dove in to finish the job, gnawing his throat, snapping the bones of his neck.
It was the most gruesome vamp-killing I’d ever witnessed, but I wasn’t complaining.
Leaving the hounds to sniff out a new victim, Gray and I ran deeper into the woods, chasing the sounds of snapping wolf jaws and tearing flesh. Intermittent flashes of blue and violet light lit up the forest like a nightclub, magic sizzling in the blood-soaked snow.
“Reva!” Gray shouted, her stake at the ready. “Where are you? Reva!”
“Over here,” I said, scenting the demons close by. “This way.”
We caught up with Asher and Ronan, who’d just tackled a hulking bloodsucker with a ridiculous bright red mohawk. I did the whole world a favor and chopped his head clean off.
Gray and the incubus headed deeper into the pines in search of our youngest witch while I teamed up with Ronan on a pair of vamp females.
We made quick, bloody work of them, then circled back around the edge of the forest, searching behind every tree for any other vamps lying in wait.
“Coast looks clear on this side,” Ronan said, wiping the spray of blood from his face. He cocked his ear toward the woods again, the sounds of the skirmish finally beginning to fade. “Sounds like the worst of it is over. Fuck, that was intense. I was sound asleep.”
“The wards held,” I said, eyeing the lodge. Other than a single, one-way track through the snow from the back door leading into the woods, the rest of the area between the back of the lodge and the woods was still blanketed in unbroken snow. There were no footprints on the side or front areas, either.
“Our witches know their shit,” Ronan said. “So. Local gang, you think?”
“Judging from their attire, no. None of them wore jackets or winter gear of any kind. I suspect that’s what allowed us to get the upper hand so quickly—they came here looking for an easy score, but they weren’t expecting the weather.”
“Great. Vamp tourists.” Ronan spit out a mouthful of blood, then dragged his sleeve across his mouth. “I’m guessing it means word is out that the council is no longer enforcing the rules. How long until this shit turns into a total free-for-all? Hell, maybe it’s already happening in other places.”
“Let’s hope this was a one-off,” I said. “It’s possible these vamps are connected to the rogues we slaughtered at Norah’s house. Hollis aside, some of those pricks were definitely out-of-towners. Not to mention the southern visitors Gray and I had the pleasure of entertaining at the morgue.”
I shuddered at the memories. The female had been Gray’s first kill.
“We’re just making friends wherever we go, aren’t we?” Ronan gave me a smirk that probably worked significantly better on Gray, but I appreciated it anyway. “Well,” he continued, “at least we—wait. Wait, wait, wait.”
“Did you hear something?” I asked, the sudden urgency in his tone putting me on high alert once again.
But Ronan hadn’t moved. He just stood before me, his smirk turning into the brightest smile I’d ever seen on the demon.
And then, he launched himself at me.
“Fucking hell, Beaumont. Fucking hell!” He hugged me so tight, if I’d actually needed to breathe, I was quite certain I would’ve passed out. “You just remembered something, you scone-eating son-of-bitch! The vampires we iced at Norah’s, Hollis, the morgue… You remembered!”
“I… huh. I supposed you’re right.”
“This is major. Major!”
He finally set me free, and I ran a hand over my head, trying to chase down those memories again, desperate to crack open a few more. But the moments from the fight at Norah’s were already fading, Hollis’s face slipping back into the shadows.
“It’s okay,” Ronan said. “Don’t push it. You remembered something. That means it’s all still in there. The rest will come.”
“Let’s hope you’re right. I don’t—”
“Here! I’ve got her!” The voice was Hobb’s, and now he emerged from the trees, tattered clothing covering his body, a passed-out young witch cradled in his arms. “She’s okay. Just a little spooked.”
“Oh my God, Reva!” McKenna rushed over to inspect the girl herself. “What happened? How did you end up outside?”
“I just thought… I want to practice traveling,” she said, stifling a sob. Tears streaked her dirt-smudged face, and she sniffled, her body still trembling in Hobb’s arms. “The forest is so quiet, and it has so many shadows… I thought I could get a stronger connection.”
“You thought wrong,” Hobb snapped. “You could’ve been mutilated. You put all of us at risk, and—
“Detective,” I interjected, giving him a stern glare. “Perhaps we should let McKenna take Reva inside and get warmed up.”
“Come here, sweet pea.” McKenna took the girl into her arms, swiftly shuttling her back inside the lodge.
“I found her hiding in a hollowed-out tree,” Hobb told us, “half frozen, surrounded by four bloodsuckers. If the kid hadn’t started screaming, we never would’ve gotten to her.”
The rest of the group began trickling out of the forest, two and three at a time. The crew was a little scraped up and a whole lot exhausted, but for now, it appeared we’d all survived the latest attack.
“What the fuck was she doing outside by herself?” Hobb asked. “Fucking kid. How many times did we tell her? No one goes outside alone. Especially not a fucking—.”
“She’s a sixteen-year-old child, Detective,” I said. “One who is still learning to control a powerful magic none of us fully understands, and one who desperately wants to help the witches she considers family.”
“Well she damn near got herself killed, along with half my men. When that kid wakes up tomorrow, she’s gonna have some serious explaining to do.”
“Perhaps,” I said, “you should seek explanations from your men instead. Despite their years of experience, not to mention their wolf shifter instincts, this child managed to slip beneath their careful net of surveillance, as did a nest of vampires—”
“We don’t have the manpower to patrol the whole forest,” he barked. “The vamps weren’t anywhere near the lodge. I found the kid all the way on the other side of the creek.”
“Again, I have to ask, how was she able to slip past—”
“Darius?” The whisper was faint, but panicked, the sound of it sending a bolt of fear down my spine. “I think… I fucked… up…”
I spun around just in time to see Gray collapse to her knees, her arm wrapped tightly around her midsection. Blood spilled out between her fingers, staining the snow a sickening shade of crimson.
“Gray!” I dropped to my knees before her, catching her just before she face-planted. “What happened?”
“Last vamp.” She nodded toward the direction she’d come from. “Still alive. Staked him. But… not before he…”
“He’s a dead bloodsucker now.” Ronan’s eyes turned black. With one of Gray’s hounds on his heels, he grabbed my sword and took off running.
“Did he bite you, love?” I asked Gray.
She shook her head. “Knife. I was… stupid. Left my… inside unguarded…”
“Shh, it’s okay. Let me take a look.” Gently, I pulled her arm away from the wound, inspecting the damage. It was a nasty gouge about five inches long, slicing straight down beneath her breast. The blade had carved through clothing, flesh, and muscle. Milky-white slivers of rib shone through the gash, the wound pulsing with blood
.
“Gray! Holy shit!” Haley emerged from the forest with Asher, both of them crouching down beside us. “Oh my God, what happened?”
“Stay calm,” I told them. “She’s going to be fine. Just give her some room.”
“Beaumont…” Ash’s tone was a warning, but I glared right back at him.
“Take off your sweatshirt, hellspawn. Put it behind her, then kindly back off.”
He finally obeyed, and I turned my attention back to Gray, easing her backward onto the sweatshirt.
“I’ve got you, love. Try and relax.” I leaned forward and brushed a kiss across her temple, a trickle of her blood coating my lips. It melted in my mouth, stirring my own blood to life. Something in my chest flickered, but I ignored it, focusing instead on the woman before me.
Using my fangs, I pierced the vein at my wrist, then held it over her mouth, allowing her a few drops before moving my wrist to her wounds.
It was an inelegant solution, but the best we had in the moment. Unlike when I’d healed her in the Shadowrealm, she was conscious now; my blood would burn inside her wounds like living fire. But once the pain subsided, it would bond with her blood, along with her magic, and start the healing process.
Too bad we don’t have our own private cabin…
My eyes drifted closed, and in that quiet darkness I watched the memories of our time together in the realm like a movie I’d never tire of. There, in the cabin nestled in a snowy wood, was the first time I’d made love to her. It was the time and place where I’d fully, unapologetically fallen in—
My eyes opened with a start.
Memories. Real memories. More of them, coming in faster and more clear now. Like the attack at Norah’s house, saving Gray from the avalanche and all the time we’d spent in the cabin after had occurred before our final moments in the Shadowrealm.
Before the memory eaters had stolen my history.
“Thank… thank you.” Gray was sitting up on her own again, wiping my blood from her mouth, when two things hit me at once.