27. Willow
Willow
I’m woken by a tugging sensation in my chest.
I open my eyes, blinking heavily against the blue light pulsing from the roots breaking through the walls.
They seem brighter than usual, though I can’t say why.
Rhune’s heart beats steady beneath my ear, slow and even, lulling me back toward sleep.
I snuggle deeper into his chest, eyes already drifting shut again, when a flash of movement near the exit tunnel catches my attention.
I lift my head slightly, squinting into the dark.
The glow of the roots outlines a sleek turquoise shape prowling toward us.
After a few moments, I realize it’s Circe, Nyx’s familiar.
Her eyes are cunning and bright, cutting through the shadows like twin lanterns, and when she notices me staring, she lets out a soft yowl and hastens her pace.
I know I should probably wake Rhune, but instead, I just lie there, frozen, held in place by that invisible tether yanking wildly in my chest. Just like the night I bonded to Rhune, my veins are filled with a raging fire—only, instead of burning, it licks and caresses, heating my skin and me the warmth I’m always craving.
There’s a rustle beside me, and Nyx pushes himself up, blinking the haze of sleep from his eyes. “Willow? Are you okay?”
He reaches out, fingers brushing my arm, and the moment his skin touches mine, it’s like someone poured gasoline on the wildfire racing through my veins. It sets all my nerve endings alight, clouds my mind and fills my ears with a violent whooshing sound.
Circe’s yowl breaks the charged silence, and Nyx’s eyes go wide, flashing with clarity before he sweeps his gaze to the side, taking in the outline of Circe.
“Oh. How nice of you to join us.” His lips tip in a wry smile as he reaches out to pet his familiar. “Did you miss me?”
The panther pushes its head into his palm, a deep purr rumbling in her throat. Once she tires of Nyx, she moves toward me, butting her skull into the center of my chest demandingly. The tugging sensation in my heart eases, replaced with a gentle hum that fills my veins with warmth.
“Hey! Don’t you go bullying her for pets. That’s rude, Circe.”
Circe just hisses, swatting his hand out of the way so she can have me all to herself.
I smile down at her, taking in the beautiful luminescence of her fur. “It’s okay,” I murmur, scratching along her jaw. “I think I need some panther snuggles after everything that happened this day.”
“I think we both do,” he agrees.
“Why is she here?” I ask, glancing up at Nyx. “Why now?”
He shrugs. “Honestly? I’m not quite sure.
Circe comes and goes like the wind—all familiars do.
They belong neither to this plane, nor the mortal one, and they tend to be fickle creatures, only doing what they want, when they want.
” He smiles down at Circe. “You can order them around and control them to some extent, but if they really want to break the rules, they will.”
“Is she breaking any rules now?”
“Yes,” he whispers, his expression dropping with seriousness. “The one and only one I’ve given.”
I swallow hard, my face heating at the hungry intensity in his gaze. “What rule is that?”
Nyx leans in, his voice a rasped whisper that tickles my ear. “I told him to stay away from you.”
I gasp, pulling back slightly. “Why—?”
“Because,” he says, cupping my face. “Because I wanted you to choose me without any bond. Because you are too beautiful for me, too lovely, too wonderful, too everything, and I wanted to know it was real. That you could really choose me. That I could be… that I might taste happiness, for once.”
My heart beats wildly, and I’m struck with a rush of emotion that makes my fingers tingle and fills my head with a deep whooshing sound. In all my years, I’ve never had anyone say something like that to me and really, truly mean it. But Nyx does. He means it.
Circe chooses that moment to press closer, nuzzling her nose against the curve on my neck. The tugging in my chest grows more insistent, demanding, and I know deep down that it wants me to bond to Nyx.
I should be afraid, but I’m not. Not even a little. I welcome it, wholly, completely—like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this very moment.
“I do choose you, Nyx.”
The words are barely out of my mouth before he’s on me, kissing me like he’s terrified I’ll take them back.
It’s rough at first, a little too much teeth and not enough finesse, but he catches on fast, and I lose myself to the pleasure of kissing Nyx.
I grab onto his horns, dragging him closer, needing more of him, more contact, more everything.
I’m afraid I might actually die if I don’t get it soon.
“Is Circe going to bite me?” I whisper against his mouth. “Like the capybara?”
“I… do not know. Perhaps she will—”
“Ow!” I jerk back, clapping a hand over my neck where something sharp just nipped into it. Guess that answers that question. “Son of a bitch!”
“Are you okay?” Nyx grabs me by the shoulders, eyes scanning frantically for a wound. But there’s nothing there. Just a symbol, glowing from deep beneath my skin, spreading a faint turquoise light along my profile.
Rhune wakes at that moment, blinking away the haze of sleep. “What…? What’s happening?”
Nyx covers my body with a possessive growl, both his cocks pressing hot and hard against my stomach. “Mine.” His eyes flash bright, locked on Rhune over my shoulder. “You watch this time.”
For once, Rhune backs off, letting Nyx have his way with me. He settles at the edge of the furs instead, wings tucked in tight, his eyes glowing and hungry as he watches Nyx’s hands find my hips.
Nyx kisses me again, and I grab onto his horns, pulling him closer, dragging a growl out of his chest. He rises to his feet without breaking the kiss, hauling me up with him until my legs are wrapped tight around his waist. He carries me a few steps, then eases me down onto the ground, reaching for the edges of my suit and peeling it from my body with more patience than I knew he possessed.
He tosses it on the floor along with his suit, and then he’s on me again, all hunger and heat and possession.
He breaks away slightly, giving me a full view of his glorious toned body. His cocks stand thick and proud between us, one stacked over the other, glistening with precum in the dim blue light. They’re just as terrifying and amazing as the first time I saw them.
He hums, pleased, and his palms find my breasts, thumbs teasing my nipples until a moan builds low in my throat. Pleasure rolls through me in waves, and Nyx watches my expression with rapt attention, trying to figure out what makes me feel the best.
“Mine,” he rasps. “My willow. My treasure. My mate.”
His hands trail down my sides and my stomach, leaving fire in their wake.
When he reaches his own length, he wraps a fist around both cocks at once, stroking slowly as he drinks in the sight of my naked body.
Then his hands are on my ass, and I’m hoisted off the ground, my legs locking around his waist as he pulls me into another bruising kiss.
One hand stays braced against my lower back, and the other slides up, his fingers curling around my throat, applying just enough pressure at the sides to make my next breath catch.
“Do you like this?” he asks, his hips jerking, causing the heads of his cocks to brush my center. “Do you like my hand around your throat like this?”
“Y-yes,” I stutter, my eyes rolling back. “H-harder.”
Nyx obeys, applying steady pressure and stealing the air from my lungs as his cocks slide along my center, causing pleasure to zip down my spine. Then his hips shift, and I gasp as I feel both blunt heads press against me at once. One at my entrance, one further back, nudging my ass.
“Now you see what I’ve been trying to prepare you for,” he rasps, easing the head past the tight ring of muscle. “I want you to take me fully. I need to fill all your greedy holes with my cocks.”
“P-please,” I gasp. “I want you, Nyx. I need you.” Just like with Rhune, it feels like I’m burning up, and the only thing that will ease the desperation is his touch.
“Yes, my mate.” Slowly, he lowers me onto him, and the cry that tears out of my throat is somewhere between pain and pleasure as the fullness overtakes me completely. Everything else disappears, and there’s just him, and me, and this indescribable pleasure.
He begins to move, both cocks working inside me at once, dragging against my walls and filling me with pleasure until I can’t remember my own name.
“Oh, gods,” he breathes, pressing his forehead into the crook of my shoulder. “Your body is perfect, Willow. Your holes were made for me. Made to be filled with my cum.”
My head tips back, and I let out a scream as I fall over the edge, wave after wave of euphoria crashing through me, filling my head with a loud, roaring whoosh that drowns out everything else.
Coming to, I feel Rhune press in behind me, his muscles hard and warm, molding perfectly against my back. His hand carefully slides between me and Nyx, and his fingers find my clit, teasing the bundle of nerves with slow, deliberate strokes.
“Rhune—” I gasp, but he doesn’t stop, and it isn’t long before I feel myself being dragged right back toward the edge again. I try to fight it, try to catch my breath, but there’s nothing to do but give in.
Nyx thrusts faster, chasing his own release as Rhune keeps working my clit in perfect rhythm, and I come again with a scream, my whole body clenching tight around Nyx’s cocks.
He groans, hips stuttering, then buries himself as deep as he can go, both cocks pulsing as he floods me with his cum, filling me past what should even be possible.
Rhune’s chest rumbles with a pleased hum behind me, his palm sliding up to cup my abdomen. “I love watching you get filled, even if it’s not my cum,” he growls against my ear. “Part of me hopes he was able to breed you.”
I gasp, heat flooding through me as his fingers curl into the soft flesh of my stomach. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, pup?” he murmurs. “Should I fill you next and see which of our seed wins?”
Nyx lifts me carefully, easing his cocks free, and I feel his cum start to slip down my inner thigh, dripping to the floor of the cave. Rhune growls low in his chest, fisting his own cock and dragging it through my slicked entrance.
Then he presses inside, and I choke on a scream as his girth stretches me open all over again.
He fucks me hard, savage and relentless, while Nyx holds me steady between them, angling my hips to hit a spot that has my vision going dark.
Nyx dips his head, drawing one of my nipples into his mouth, and between the two of them, I come apart again with a scream that shakes the walls of the cave.
Rhune follows moments later, burying himself to the hilt as his cock throbs with his release, adding to what’s already inside me. My body goes limp between them, and Nyx eases me off Rhune with a slow, wet slide, gathering me carefully into his arms.
“Such a beautiful, wonderful mate,” he whispers, pressing a delicate kiss to my brow. “So ours.”
Nyx carries me to the back of the cave, and all three of us settle in together. Their hands move over my body, gentle and reverent as they ease my aching muscles.
“We make the best sandwich,” Rhune says happily. “Now it’s official.”
I laugh softly under my breath, too exhausted and happy to argue.
I can’t say I disagree.