Chapter 37
EMBERLINE
Isat cross-legged in the grass, watching Emilia slowly become unglued.
The sight was reassuring on a personal level, watching the ancient priestess lose her shit because Nico wouldn’t—or couldn’t—turn himself back into a vampire.
Between his increasingly smart-ass comments and her snippy instructions, I was growing worried he’d be stuck in this form forever when she slammed her hand into the center of his chest—possible only because he was leaning down—and sent a seismic blast of magic crackling over him.
Nico’s body shrank in increments, and from his pained grimace, the process wasn’t exactly… pleasant.
“There, but next time, you are on your own,” Emilia snapped, some of her cool poise slipping back into place.
“Gods, is that even real, or am I imagining it? I might have a brain bleed.” Lucien tipped his head forward, a soaked handkerchief stuffed up his nose, dried blood crusted around his nostrils and ears, matting his hair. “Tell me I’m not seeing things.”
“Thank you for what you did for him,” I said quietly. “And yes, I’m afraid this is all real.”
Emilia had explained Lucien was a Warden, and what I’d seen him doing—something magical right after Nico transformed—had actually been him helping Nico to control his transformation. Then Lucien had collapsed, blood pouring down his face.
Until he’d opened his eyes, I thought he was dead.
“His magic is…” Lucien shook his head. “Usually, all I have to do is apply some pressure, some additional control, like training wheels on a bike. I usually help young vampires who have newly come into their powers or older vamps whose powers have grown substantially in a short time. But this was…” He blew out a long exhale, staring at Nico with something resembling awe.
“This was like trying to harness the universe and force the stars themselves to obey. He seriously kicked my ass.”
Nico was shrinking back to his normal size, not that Emilia looked happy about that, talking fast and low with her finger in his face.
“She’s not angry, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Lucien murmured, seeing my pinched expression. “She’s scared. And she doesn’t get scared often.”
“Well, that makes two of us,” I muttered as Dante and Gabriel crossed the torn-up yard after seeing Severin off. In typical nothing-can-keep-me-down male fashion, Lucien climbed to his feet, stuffed the bloodied handkerchief in his pocket, and offered his hand.
“Lucien Delvecchio. Forgive my appearance. I seem to have underestimated your friend.”
“Yeah, well, don’t feel bad.” Dante shook the male’s hand, gaze pinned on Nico. “That happens a lot. Hey, you don’t happen to know any good Death jokes, do you? We’re running low.”
Lucien thought for a second. “What about staring death in the face?”
“I think we already used that one.” Dante looked at Gabriel, who shrugged. “It’s getting hard to keep track.”
“What about duel to the death? Or at death’s door?”
Dante perked up. “Those have some potential. Damn, this is harder than I thought. Now we’ll have to figure out how to work them into normal conversation.”
I snorted. “Like that’s even a thing.”
“It is a thing, and once Nico stops fucking around,”—Dante leaned closer, voice dropping—“we’re getting out of here. We have a surprise for you, tesoro, and I cannot wait for you to see it.”
“This surprise had better not be a nasty eyeless monster with eight creepy legs because I’ve had about all the surprises I can stand.”
“This is the best kind of surprise, Emberline.” Gabriel’s gentle smile lit up his entire face, blue eyes shining as he looked down at me.
“After everything… let us make the rest of today special.”
The world folded in on itself with that familiar twist of disorienting motion, cold prickling my skin before the magic spit us back out into warm sunlight. My boots sank into powder-soft sand, and for a heartbeat, all I could do was stare.
A hidden cove stretched out around me, cradling us inside towering walls of rough stone that shut out everything except a circle of blue sky above our heads.
The cliffs curved around us like the arms of an ancient guardian, a slender waterfall framed by vining red and purple flowers, glossy green leaves.
The turquoise water was as clear as glass, small schools of fish darting along the frothy waterline.
Brine hung on every breeze, the rhythmic hush of waves echoed from the walls, and above us, gulls cried into the endless blue sky.
Everything went blurry, my breaths coming fast as what they’d done sank into my soul.
This place felt like a refuge the gods had hidden away for themselves.
And right now, it belonged to us.
I turned slowly, only to find Gabriel watching me with a quiet tenderness that undid something in my chest, blissful warmth flooding through me as sunlight danced over my skin.
Dante looked unbearably happy, and even Nico, finally smiling, leaned lazily against a sun-warmed rock where a pile of towels was stacked.
I blew out an unbelieving breath, waiting for the illusion to disappear.
This was too good to be true.
“We have nowhere to be. Nothing to do for about five hours.” Gabriel took my hand, his thumb brushing softly across my knuckles. “You’ve been carrying too much for so long, bella,” he said, his voice gentle enough to crack my heart open wide. “Today, you don’t have to.”
Dante stepped closer, sunlight catching in his dark hair as he smiled. “No monsters. Nobody trying to kill us.” His grin widened. “Just you. And us. And this place.”
Nico crossed the last few steps between us, his warm fingers slipping beneath my chin until I looked up at him. “We brought you here because it’s your turn to be pampered,” he murmured. “You’ve spent so much time protecting us, princess. Now let us take care of you.”
Something inside me loosened, like the tide slipping back from the stones.
My shoulders loosened as the tension I’d carried for months bled away with every slow breath of salt air.
This hidden beach felt impossibly safe, like a secret carved into the bones of the Adriatic.
A dark, desperate yearning filled me, and when Nico’s lips met mine, I let myself believe that the world outside this place didn’t exist.
I closed my eyes and sank into the kiss, sank into this heady feeling of freedom, of pleasure slowly unfurling as his skilled tongue explored my mouth, of Dante’s—and Gabriel’s—hands on my body as they stripped off my clothes with careful, agonizing slowness.
I lost myself to them, drowning in their mouths and lips and fingers, in rough, calloused hands, used to violence, handling me like a precious treasure, in the way their powerful bodies trembled with restraint as they worshipped me.
This was the first time we’ve all been together, I thought wonderingly.
Properly been together.
A thrill of excitement raced through my bones and settled between my legs like a spark.
Every inch of skin they bared earned a husky groan of approval, a kiss, a word of praise—beautiful, exquisite, sublime.
They washed over me in heady waves until I was half drunk on them, head spinning as they laid me down in the shade on a nest of soft towels.
Nico carefully tucked another beneath my head before he rocked back on his heels, looking supremely pleased with himself.
“I found this place, just so you know. We’ve been keeping it a secret for days, waiting for the right time to bring you here.”
“Always such a show-off,” Dante muttered, unbuttoning his pants.
Then he pulled his cock out and stroked, his big hand working that heavy length as he stared down at me with eyes bluer than the ocean behind him.
“How do you want us, moglie?” he asked softly.
“We are at your command, and we are here to make you feel good. So, what will it be? Mouths and fingers and tongues? Or do you want our cocks?”
“All of you. Everything you said. I want it all,” I managed, staring past Dante to where Gabriel dropped the last of his clothing onto the sand, prowling toward me like he meant to eat me alive.
He fell to his knees beside me, cock dark and veined, bobbing as he leaned in to cradle my breast, running his thumb over my aching nipple.
My body was in flames as I arched into his caress, unraveling faster than I could hold myself together. Then Nico was kneeling on my other side, and a second set of hands traced over my body, his mouth on mine until I couldn’t breathe and didn’t care.
“You were made for us,” Gabriel murmured, his mouth drifting down my body, lifting my leg up to move underneath, then resting my heel on one shoulder. He repeated the move, then he was pressing forward, stretching me, opening me up, pinning me down.
His mouth landed on me with the ferocity of a starving male, and fire flooded through my veins until I couldn’t hear over the roar.
He flattened his tongue over my center and licked, sucked my clit into his mouth and clamped down with his teeth, and when I yanked at his hair, he did it all over again.
He worked me mercilessly until I was keening out his name, writhing beneath him.
“Please, Gabriel… Please… I need you inside me. Gods.”
“Hang onto that thought, bella.” He chuckled. Gently lifting my feet and kissing each toe, he then set them down onto the towel, thigh muscles trembling as my legs fell apart, my fingers slipping between them to work my clit.
Gabriel disappeared, and it was Dante blocking out the sky, pressing the crown of his cock to my entrance and thrusting forward with a grunt, pressure turning to pleasure the moment he seated himself inside, elbows planted on either side of my head as he stared down at me with a reverent sort of awe.