Chapter 45
EMBERLINE
Heat pulsed between my legs as the looks on their faces—equal parts hunger, greed, and tenderness—sent my pulse racing, every piece of me contracting down to a series of desperate, throbbing points, aching for their touch.
Gods, I wanted them so badly it hurt.
No, I needed them, more than I needed air to breathe.
Dante tugged me against him, pulled my mouth to his throat and ordered, “Drink,” in such a rough, commanding voice I obeyed, sinking my fangs in exactly how my husband wanted, then drinking slow and deep, just the way I loved to taste him.
After three long, savoring sips, I sealed him up, running my tongue over strong, corded muscle, tasting nothing but leather and fire.
This was like drinking straight from the gods, tasting beauty in its rarest form, a sudden rush of power surging through my veins, leaving a faint hint of ash coating my mouth.
Then, just as quickly, my body turned boneless and I sagged between them.
Feeding always made me logy, like my muscles were made of honey, my bones of air, filling me with a strange, serene calmness like I was floating.
Nico’s cool shadows twined gently around my wrists and ankles, dusting across my body in a billowing wave, their touch softer than air. There was so much tenderness there, a deliberate care in how they explored me so gently.
Then three dark heads bent, three hungry mouths descending on me all at once—Gabriel’s clamping down over my aching nipple, Nico’s on the side of my throat, his fangs striking fast and deep, while my husband latched onto my engorged clit with the greed of a male who would never get enough.
My vision whited out. I arched my back, grinding myself against his ravenous mouth, and then I really was…floating?
Like…literally floating, suspended midair by Nico’s shadows.
“Well…” Dante pulled back, sounding astonished, which, for him, was a first. “That’s got to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
There was nothing supporting me, only cool shadowy bindings twined around my wrists and ankles, yet somehow…I hung suspended between them, presented like a feast on an altar, ripe for the taking.
Gabriel threaded his fingers through my hair, his mouth capturing mine, tongue teasing and taunting until I was the one chasing him, wanting more. “That’s it, bella, gods, you taste too fucking good to be true.” Staring down at me, his thumb traced my bottom lip, eyes at half-mast.
“Whatever shall we do with you tonight?”
Everything, I thought.
Do everything.
“And so we shall,” Dante murmured, and I wondered if I’d said the words out loud.
Then I couldn’t even wonder, because Dante put his mouth back on my cunt, his gaze locked with mine as he dragged his tongue up through my center.
With every slow, deliberate stroke, dangerous, consuming pressure built at my core.
This could be our last night.
The unwelcome thought nearly snuffed out the flames burning inside me, a chill creeping over my skin.
“Stop,” Nico murmured in my ear. “Stop thinking about tomorrow and focus on right now, Emberline. Focus on us. We’re here.
We’re together. This is all that matters.
” Nico sealed the bite on my neck closed, then his hands replaced those cool shadows, clever fingers dancing over tender, peaked skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake.
One strong hand fastened on the back of my neck, but he didn’t bite.
Instead, he urged my mouth closer to Gabriel’s throat.
“Feed, Emberline. You need to get your strength back. Drink from us until you can’t drink anymore,” Nico urged. Gabriel hissed when I bit down and his blood rushed in to fill my mouth. I was already flying after feeding from my husband, and this…this was divine.
I pulled in a mouthful of warm, rich blood.
Gabriel’s blood. An heir’s blood. Laced with power and ambition and ruthlessness, filled with secrets and promises and…
for a moment, the world disappeared as the full force of him swept over me—then through me, as if I was drinking the golden light of Venice itself.
I dissolved into that sea of sensation, distilled down to my rawest self, Dante licking at me, his tongue lazily sliding in and out of my entrance, while Nico teased my breasts, fingers stroking my stomach, the insides of my arms as those shadows held me firmly in place for them to taste and touch.
And they didn’t just hold me in place, they spread my legs further apart for Dante to go deeper, and more shadows rimmed my back hole, probing with cool precision…then pushing inside with a dark, beautiful invasive stretch that had me hissing out a breath against Gabriel’s skin.
Pleasure built beneath my skin, strung out between Dante’s clever tongue and Nico’s invading shadows as they plunged and stretched, Gabriel’s pulse pounding beneath my lips. I was full, yet empty, straining for that more, more, more that hovered just out of reach.
I gently ran my tongue over the bite, pressed a kiss to the punctures, watching them seal over, then Gabriel pulled away, his eyes dark.
“Gods, you are so beautiful you break my damn heart, bella.” He dragged his shirt over his head, kicked off his pants, never taking his gaze off me. His cock was so engorged the crown shone, a pearl of cum gathered at the tip.
When I licked my lips, he groaned and stepped closer. “Do you want this?” he asked softly and when I nodded, he pressed the head into my mouth, leaving a smear of salt behind as he pumped in and out in short, slow strokes, watching my face with unbroken intensity.
Nico’s shadows tunneled deeper into my ass, a slow, steady invasion that stretched me wider, preparing me for whatever storm they were about to unleash on me, and yet, they handled me so gently, soft lips and careful caresses, as if they, too, realized this could be our last time together.
Stop thinking about that. Life is for the living.
But I sensed their hunger, their desperation…their own doubts.
“We’ll all be inside you at the same time, princess.” Nico dragged his nose up the side of my throat, breathing fast. “Are you up for that?”
Gods, yes, I thought, as I swallowed around Gabriel’s cock, trying to draw him deeper. All of us together. That’s exactly what I need right now.
I wanted them inside me so deep I’d bear their imprint forever. Some kind of proof to take into this coming fight, and if we survived—something we’d always remember.
Please, I begged silently, feeling like the moments were slipping away like grains of sand.
Please give me everything. I can’t ever forget what this feels like, being loved so hard it hurts.
Then Gabriel carefully pulled out and those cool shadows lifted me, flipped me over until I was floating face down, hair draped around my face like a curtain.
All I saw was a narrow circle of the mattress beneath me, until Nico rolled onto the mattress, grinning up at me, eyes dancing.
Those shadows spread my legs, tipped my hips forward, lowered me until the tip of Nico’s cock brushed my swollen pussy. Until I sank down on him deep enough air hissed through my teeth, because at this angle, the invasion felt incredible.
He inched me down onto his cock, a slow, steady impalement that had me biting my lips to keep from crying out because this felt so good.
So right. As soon as I was seated, Dante’s hand wrapped around the nape of my neck, holding me still as he pressed his crown against my hole, spreading precum around, getting me ready to take him.
“So fucking tight, so hot.” His calluses scraped as they dragged over my skin, following the curve of my ass.
“You’d best hang on, bella,” Gabriel warned softly, his voice hoarse with need as he stroked his cock. “Watching you three together right now…gods, I want to be gentle, but…”
I don’t want gentle, my hazy mind said. I want them unleashed. I want to feel every inch of them pounding inside me, like they can’t stop.
In a few hours we’d be fighting for our lives, and I wanted to see the marks of their teeth on my skin. I wanted their blood inside me, I wanted to feel the pressure of their hands on me still.
I wanted to carry them into battle with me, like a shield against the darkness.
Dante planted his hand between my shoulder blades, and I moaned when that big, blunt crown pressed against my ass, pressure building until the waiting was unbearable.
“You are so fucking tight,” my husband murmured, spreading more and more of his cum around, slicking me up.
“I’ve got you, tesoro. I’m going to make this feel so good. ”
With a groan, my husband sank in deep, the quick burn of pain turning to pleasure, pressure building faster and faster as he and Nico quickly found a rhythm between them.
Dante reached down to tease my clit as they fucked me in tandem, everything fading away except the slide of their cocks in and out, all of this delicious, burning want ratcheting higher and higher.
Gabriel grasped my chin and kissed me, his tongue licking past the seam of my mouth before his fingers tangled in my hair, tugging my head up so he could press his cock back between my lips. I ran my tongue along the underside as he slid home, wanting to smile at his fractured curse.
For a moment, the three of them went still, the room filled with the scent of primal sex and ragged breathing and pounding heartbeats.
“Gods,” Gabriel muttered, eyes hooded. “Gods, if you could only see yourself.”
I wanted to tell him the same. If you could only see yourselves the way I see you.
Not as heirs or monsters or weapons.
But as mine.
Then they started to move, Nico’s shadows holding me still—keeping me prisoner—as they slammed in, then withdrew in long, slow, wet slides that were agonizingly slow and too fast, my core clenching around Nico, trying to slow everything down, to stop this exquisite moment.
Nico let out a broken exhale.
My name, if it were made of nothing but air, as he shuddered and arched beneath me, grinding his hips against mine, trying to go deeper, Dante moving against my back in long, gentle waves, as every thought disappeared from my head, my body consumed by a wash of emotion.
“Come for us, my beautiful wife. Let yourself go over. Lead the way and we will follow,” Dante urged in my ear, his fingers teasing my clit.
At his quiet order, the release I’d been chasing exploded.
Like a crashing wave, my climax roared through me, leaving nothing behind but the slick slide of skin against skin, of me falling, like a star from the sky, plunging toward earth.
Nico followed, hissing out my name, then Dante, his cock throbbing deep in my ass as we writhed together.
“Now swallow,” Gabriel warned, and then he was spilling down my throat, blue eyes glued to mine as his cock pulsed and I took every drop. He rubbed his thumb over my cheek and withdrew, looking at me like he was committing my face to memory.
The last wave of my orgasm was still fading when Dante withdrew, strong hands laying me down beside Nico, who tugged me up onto his chest, one hand cradling the small of my back, turning my head to capture my mouth in a blistering kiss before lying back, presenting his throat to me.
“Feed, princess. You have to be strong for this fight of ours,” he urged, and I drank him down, tasting laughter and mischief and a trace of darkness, tears clinging to my lashes, Dante stroking his fingers through my hair as my body turned to lead, my eyes slipping closed.
“Now sleep for an hour,” my husband soothed, nestling behind me, but I didn’t want to close my eyes. Part of me was afraid this would disappear.
This one perfect moment we could never get back.
But I must have, because later, in the dark, Dante pulled me back to his throat. “One last time, Emberline,” he murmured, and I found just enough energy to bite down on his thick, muscled neck, his blood tasting as rich as it had the very first time I’d drunk from him.
You were my very first, do you remember?
You were mine, too, in so many ways. His big hand smoothed down my spine like he was handling delicate glass. I just didn’t know it then.
My eyes burned as I pressed closer. I didn’t take as much as I wanted—he had to be strong for tomorrow, too—but I smelled sadness as his arms came around me, as he whispered my name into my tangled hair, and knew I wasn’t the only one who wanted to hang onto this moment just a little bit longer.