by May Dawson
But they didn’t make it far. They all collapsed into a puddle of iniquity in the next room, trapping us—and there were increasing numbers of people traveling through that room, all of them in various states of undress and misbehavior.
No one looked in at us directly but certainly people could catch glimpses of us—and it was very obvious at the moment that we weren’t having sex.
Hell, it might even be obvious that not everyone in this room even liked each other.
I made a sudden decision in a whisper. “We’ve got to join the party, if you know what I mean. Or we might get caught.”
Rafe took a step back from Silas, all but pushing him away. There was high color tinging his cheekbones; I’d never seen Rafe blush before. Or maybe that was anger. “Ah, no.”
But our cover wasn’t going to hold otherwise.
“Mission first,” I told Rafe tartly, throwing his words back in his face.
Then I was in his arms, and no matter how pissed he was, when I kissed him, he couldn’t resist kissing me back fiercely.
Chapter Forty-Six
Rafe
Maddie and I shared quick, passionate kisses as I walked her back against the table. She looked so good right now, having shed that damned dress. The gown was beautiful, but there was nothing as beautiful as Maddie herself. I preferred her in utilities pants and a t-shirt for hand-to-hand combat; the memory of her leaning across from me in the doorway to the cells when we had one of our first real conversations rose like a ghost. I’d been disappointed when Silas came and freed us because I liked talking to her, I wanted more time alone with her, even though I knew that was dangerous.
She’d been so beautiful to me, curvy and athletic in those clothes, her light blond hair in a ponytail and her hands in her pockets. Her tomboyish style, her easy beauty, the light in those gorgeous eyes; that was what I loved about her. I hated anything that hid the way her personality shone.
Now without the dress, she was wearing garters and stockings and high heels and a bra, all black and trimmed in lace. It emphasized the grace in her narrow frame, her shoulders and taut abs and long legs. Her face might be partially obscured by clever makeup, but that was all Maddie’s body, and my cock was hard and pressing against the front of my pants urgently.
If we really needed to have an orgy to save the world… maybe I could make the sacrifice.
My hands fell on her hips and set her on the edge of the table.
She pulled away just long enough for her lips to brush over my cheek. She whispered in my ear, “We can’t leave anyone out. Suspicious.”
Her tone was teasing. She wasn’t just being pragmatic—she wanted all three of us.
“You drive me crazy,” I murmured into her ear.
“I know.” She looked over my shoulder, a teasing smile across her lips, and crooked her finger at those two other schmucks I had to share her with.
Then she twisted and in one deft move, pushed me down on the table. I hadn’t expected an attack.
“I guess I should be ready for anything with you,” I said, catching her arms. She was already dropping her weight to escape me—lord, she was dangerous, even in those heels, and I loved her for it—but I knew her well enough to anticipate the move. I hauled her forward across the table in an instant.
“After all, you did just attack me with champagne,” I pointed out, before smacking her ass. The sound rang out in the quiet room. “I could’ve sworn I asked you to behave yourself tonight.”
“I could’ve sworn you were supposed to be on our best behavior—ouch—and not starting any fights with our own—Ouch!” She managed to sound pretty haughty.
“Someone needs to show you what to do with a naked woman, Rafe,” Jensen said. “And believe it or not, you’re not supposed to try to spank the wickedness out. You’re supposed to savor it.”
Maddie rolled over, across my lap, smiling up at him, right before he leaned over her, bracing his arms on either side of my hips. Their lips met in a long kiss, and I had to admit that the sight of Jensen kissing Maddie when they were so intimately close to me only had me more painfully hard.
Maddie lay back against me, reaching for Silas as Jensen worked his way down her body, kissing her everywhere. Her fingers were in his dark hair as he worshipped his body with his mouth, working her way steadily down her décolletage and stomach. Her hips jerked helplessly in anticipation of where he was headed.
Silas joined us on the table, leaning over to kiss her lips. I pushed down the cup of her bra, palming her breast with my hand; he took that as an opportunity to kiss the exposed nipple before his tongue began to tease around it in circles.
Maddie looked at him as if he were the center of her universe, her eyes shining with affection, and I would’ve felt jealous, except in the next moment she turned her face and pressed her lips to mine. I could feel her body trembling and tensing against mine as the two of them went to work.
She moaned her way through her first orgasm. She turned her face between me and Silas, her hair thrashing across my skin in a way that only turned me on more.
“That’s it, rabbit,” Silas murmured against her ear, his fingers teasing her clit. “Let go. We’ve got you…we’ll always have you.”
I stiffened, my arm still around her, my lips on her shoulder.
His promises were lies.
He’d hit her in those awful moments where he was trying to protect Isabelle. I’d seen him, but I’d been too far away to help, and then once it was done… well, there was nothing to do but keep our cover.
What else had he done to her, when they were alone together in the Coven of the Day?
Maddie was still writhing from her orgasm in my arms when I looked up and Silas and I locked eyes. We were intimately close, but I didn’t feel close to Silas at all.
“Why do you call her rabbit?” I asked, my voice cold.
“It’s a nickname,” Silas said smoothly, his hand still between her thighs.
Jensen rose from between her legs, licking his lips as if he savored every bit of her, but his face had gone serious.
Silas added, “Rabbits are adorable.”
“Rabbits are prey, and she’s a wolf,” Jensen pointed out, bracing his hands on either side of my legs again.
“She’s the only one around here lately who is,” Silas said.
Jensen’s face tightened with anger, but I shook my head, warning him off. “He’s trying to piss us off. He’s trying to change the subject.”
Silas smiled faintly, as if he were amused by my attempt to see through him. “Maybe.”
“Rafe, let it go,” Maddie said, her voice still rough from the power of that orgasm. She struggled away from me, so she could glare at each of us in turn. “It doesn’t matter.”
“No, Rafe is right, some things do matter,” Silas said. “And some things we can’t just let go. We need to talk about them, right?”
He glanced at the doorway. “But we better do more than talk.”
He pushed Maddie back down against my chest again, his hand gliding across her throat. It made instant fury spark in my chest, but her lips parted as if she enjoyed the feel of his rough caress.
Silas stared me down. “Why don’t you tell us all, Rafe, why you’re the only one who can hurt her?”
“I never wanted to hurt her.” I’d tried to find a way out of beating her with the tawse at the academy. “There was no way out unless she left the academy. I’d never really hurt her.”
“Mm. She told you to do it, so you did it, even though you didn’t want to. Because Maddie is tough. Sounds like a familiar story.”
“I was trying to protect her. You were using her to protect someone else.”
“I was protecting someone else,” Maddie put in. “That was my choice. Just like I choose this.” She gripped my wrist, pulling my hand to caress her ass; my handprints were still on her skin. “Otherwise, you would never get the chance to put your hands on me, and you wouldn’t want to. You know that.”
“I need to know what happened in the Coven of the Day.” My voice came out icy.
Maddie looked at Silas.
Silas said, “I think they do. That’s the only way we know if we even have a family for me to…”
For once in his life, Silas faltered.
“To leave?” she said softly.
Silas shook his head. “I don’t want that choice to color… this.”
“You’re an idiot,” she told him, but there was only love in her voice.
Silas leaned over and kissed her; clearly he didn’t mind. Even when he pulled away, she ran her hand through his hair, rumpling it familiarly.
“When Maddie came to the Day,” Silas said, “Winter was in the Fae world, trying to chase down the pieces of the Dark Collar. Some of his witches wanted to kill her because, well, the queen of chaos here had destroyed half their coven single-handedly.”
“Tyson helped,” Maddie inserted. She seemed far too glib and smiling for this conversation.
“I convinced them that Winter had assigned her care to me. That I was supposed to be the one to torture her.”
The word torture sent rage spiking through my chest, my heart beating faster.
It wasn’t just anger. It was fear too, imagining her sweet face contorted with fear and pain.
“Silas helped make sure I’d nailed down my story,” she said.
“How exactly did he do that?” My voice was tight.
Maddie hesitated. “Rafe… you won’t like it.”
Before I could respond, Silas said, “No, he won’t. But he needs to hear it.”
Silas looked at me levelly. “I withheld food and water from her so she’d trust me and only me. And light—can’t forget light.” He looked at her then, his lips twitching at one corner. “I’ll never forget the way you hugged that lamp like it was your best friend.”
“It was my best friend,” she shot back, but she didn’t seem annoyed.
“And then when I was called away to help Winter, she broke out of her prison and the other witches tried to torture her. So I came and took her away and whipped her instead.”
“Although he used a spell so he wouldn’t really wound me.” Maddie touched Silas’s face gently. “Winter didn’t do the same to him when he found out.”
“It’s all right,” Silas said. “I have quite the little witch on my side to help me after. Even if I didn’t deserve her.”
The thought of all that pain and abuse that Maddie suffered just made me furious.
“It wasn’t your job to torture her before anyone else could,” I said. I was vibrating with rage, and when Maddie kissed me, I pulled her close and kissed her furiously, as if I could protect her now from Silas. But I was too late.
“Why do you always have to be such a fucking hero?” I couldn’t keep the exasperation from my voice. I wanted to protect her, but maybe Silas was right; maybe Maddie was too dangerous, too smart, too tough to protect the way I imagined myself shielding her.
“To keep up with all of you,” she said, her lips parting in a smile.
She didn’t seem angry about any of it.
“How can you forgive him?” I demanded.
There was someone near the door. No one could answer me; instead we fell into each other. I pressed my lips to Maddie’s, and she wrapped her arm around my shoulders, clinging to my body, pressing her breasts against my pecs. Then Silas was there too and she turned her face to kiss him, her palm still caressing my cheek.
When Silas finally pulled away, he glanced at the door and checked that it was clear before he murmured, “Well, Maddie? How can you?”
His voice was light, but even in his disguise, I could see something earnest in his eyes.
“There’s nothing to forgive,” she said. “We’ve all always looked after each other and loved each other as best we can. Sometimes that might look… odd… to someone who doesn’t understand us. But it doesn’t matter as long as we all understand each other.”
Maybe she didn’t need to be cared for the way that I thought she should. But that didn’t mean she didn’t need us in her own way.
“That’s not the only thing I’m pissed about,” Jensen admitted after a moment. “Silas has been hurting Maddie with this whole maybe I’ll stay, maybe I’ll go bullshit.”
“Really?” Maddie raised her eyebrows at him.
“You can’t deny that,” Jensen said, right before he covered her mouth with his.
Her fingers clasped his shoulder, drawing him in, pushing him away, it was hard to tell. I wasn’t sure even she knew.
“Is Maddie the only one hurt by that?” she demanded. “Or are you afraid of losing him too? Are you both?”
“I don’t think so,” Silas said steadily. “Rafe told me we were done. He’d rather leave me here.”
The words sounded so harsh, and I regretted them now.
Even before Maddie turned to me with betrayal written across her face, her lips falling apart.
“He hurt you!” I said.
Silas’s words still stung. You protect her. I trust her. Which matters more in the end?
“Oh, Rafe,” Maddie said, and I’d thought she was angry or disappointed, but her tone was suddenly all soft and affectionate. Her fingers slid over the back of my neck before she pulled me close, kissing me fiercely.
“You’re all idiots,” she murmured, in that same affectionate tone. “But I love you all so much anyway. And deep down, you love each other. Don’t you?”
“Maybe,” I admitted grudgingly.
Then her mouth was on mine again, and I felt her smile against her lips, and I knew I could do anything for her.
Even make up with Silas.
He made me crazy, but the truth was, I didn’t know what I’d do without him anyway, if he stayed here in the Greyworld.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Maddie
Rafe rested his hand on the table, a strange look on his face as Jensen and Silas worked to remove the shield the rest of the way. We were all tense, hoping they could remove it without triggering any of the alarms, but I wasn’t sure if that was what Rafe was musing about.
“What is it?” I asked.
He tapped two knuckles on the oak. “The table gave me an idea.”
“It gave me like four orgasms, but I don’t think we have time for any more ideas.”
His lips turned up at one corner. “I don’t think it was the table that gave you the orgasms, and it’s not that kind of idea. But it’ll keep.”
I kissed him, and he said, “What’s that for?”
“For looking after my family,” I said softly, pulling his hand up between us. He smiled down at me affectionately as I said, “All of them.”
“Even the annoying ones.”
“I can hear you, you know.” Silas didn’t look away from the shield, or from the alarm system he was carefully unscrewing.
“I was talking about Jensen,” Rafe said.
Jensen and Rafe helped me dress again, their hands worshipful on my body as they drew up stockings and garters and helped hook my bra behind my back for me.
Meanwhile, Silas slid the half of the shield into a concealment bag. Magic then shrank the bag to a fraction of its previous size. It was concealed in my skirts, and then Silas steadied me as Jensen knelt in front of me with my dress. The two of them drew it up my body.
The four of us were kissing and teasing and caressing each other as we stumbled back through the party, joining the other drunken couples who were stumbling through the softly lit halls and out into the depth of the night.
We started down the stone steps that led to the big square in front of us. A few of the guards who had watched us come in were watching us go out, standing quietly with their hands folded, their wands hanging from their belts.
We were so close to freedom. We just needed to get to a quiet place where we could open a portal. My heart pounded with anticipation.
Then an alarm began to sound.
One of the guards, just behind, us shouted, “Stop! Rebel Magicians infiltrated the party—we need everyone to go back inside. Just a quick check and you can be on your way.”
There was grumbling around us, but the partygoers began to turn and re-trace their steps. The guards ran after a few who had already reached the street, calling to them to come back. Women in their long, shimmering dresses turned.
They were already locking down the doors behind us, preventing anyone else from leaving.
Silas and Rafe exchanged a long look.
Rafe asked, “Well?”
“I think we run,” Silas said. “Once we go back in there, the likelihood we walk out isn’t high.”
“Okay,” Rafe said. “We run.”
The four of us careened down the stone steps. One of the guards ran at us, trying to stop us, but Silas blasted magic his way. The guard slammed into the stone wall of the nearest building, tangled in the golden spider’s webbing that seemed to be Silas’s go-to.
We raced down the streets, determined to stay together.
“We need someplace to make a portal,” Silas said. “We don’t need long.”
Jensen pointed down an alleyway where we’d be concealed by a courtyard garden; green trees swayed over the top of the stone wall. “There.”
“Let’s go,” Rafe said without hesitation.
The four of us plunged down the alleyway to hurtle the fence. Jensen jumped easily and caught the top of the wall, pulling himself up in one easy movement, then reached down for Silas and me. I was already jumping, my hands catching the rough stone. My legs scraped against it as I leveraged myself up and over, despite the damned gown getting in my way.
“Of course you two have practice going over walls,” Rafe muttered as he jumped too. It was no surprise to me that he’d hesitated until the three of us were dropping down from the other side.
Magical tension pressed against my skin, then popped like a balloon, as I landed softly on my feet in the grass.
We were in a lush green courtyard, larger than it looked from the outside. A bubble of magic shimmered over the warm courtyard, which was full of blooming trees and flowers waving softly in the breeze.