Chapter 4
Hendrik approached me with his blade glowing with dark magic, then paused to consider Uni who had moved in his way.
“This doesn’t concern you,” he told the Uni-Hare as he leaned down to scratch around her horn.
She swiped her head and the sharp horn immediately drew blood.
It seemed she was done being nice.
Hendrik sighed as his blood dripped onto the floor. He whispered a spell that his pain would easily power, sending Uni falling over unconscious.
“Uni!” I cried.
“She’s just asleep,” he said, scooping her up and gently placing her onto a pillow on one of the luxurious sofa chairs.
He wiped his bloodied hand on his pants, then twirled his blade. “So, where were we?”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat.
Everything I’d overheard my mates talking about ran through my mind. They’d mentioned something about Lucifer wanting me alive, but why would they be talking about Lucifer?
It was obvious to me that Lucifer didn’t want to kill me. If he wanted me dead, I knew that I would be by now.
I’d surmised that all he really wanted from me was a powerful alliance, given my heritage.
But what if he wanted something else?
Something that didn’t necessarily require my cooperation.
“Only take the feathered wing,” Orion said, making my eyes go wide. He pointed a finger at me. “She bonded an angel while we were out, so that one’s ready. Don’t take the other. It looks like she hasn’t fully mated the demon yet, so that one’s not at capacity.”
Seriously, what are they talking about?
Hendrik hummed in agreement. “Yes, I can see the magic within the angel wing. Lucifer will be pleased.”
He approached me again, and my muscles coiled to react, but I couldn’t move because of whatever Logan had done to me.
My gaze snapped to my wolf, betrayal twisting my heart.
Because it really sounded like my mates wanted to cut off my wing and finish what Lucifer had started.
He didn’t look sorry at all. I hadn’t even known that he had this kind of power over me being my mate. I knew that Alphas were intense, but I’d skimped on shifter studies and mating courtships, as well as bonded effects.
Apparently, I should have paid closer attention in class.
“Don’t let him do this,” I whispered, forcing my vocal cords to disobey his command to not move a muscle. Technically those were muscles too, but I refused to be completely helpless.
Logan frowned as if displeased, but I guessed his displeasure stemmed from my ability to talk rather than my plea for help.
Hendrik raised his blade and my heart stopped.
Dante was the one to come to my aid, gripping Hendrik’s wrist just before his blade came down.
Relief swept through me.
Thank the gods. One of them isn’t completely lost.
“I said that would kill her,” my Hunter growled as he shoved the Dark Mage. He paced the distance between us, keeping his eye on his adversary.
The two had always been at each other throats.
Among other things.
“Then what do you suggest?” Hendrik asked in response as he shoved his dagger into a leather at his hip. His tone was calm, but the icy temperature in the room suggested he didn’t appreciate being told what to do.
“Perhaps we don’t take the wing yet,” Orion proposed, scratching his chin. His large arms bulged with muscle and I wanted to be wrapped up in him, protected by his strength, not wondering why he was allowing this madness to unfold.
His gaze locked on me and a glimmer of gold entered his irises, bringing me a brief moment of hope, before his features darkened with that terrible eclipse that wouldn’t seem to pass.
“We take her with us,” Orion suggested.
“Will that work?” Hendrik asked Logan. “Can your Alpha command on her withstand long periods of control?”
He wasn’t insulting the wolf. He simply wanted to know if it could be done. I could sense his old practicality shining through.
It was a strange sensation. These were clearly my mates.
But they weren’t acting at all like themselves.
“No,” Logan decided. “Not unless I bite her. Then my control will last as long as she has my mark.”
I worked my throat as I tried to talk again, but I was finding it hard to breathe.
His command that I not move a muscle paired with what he was proposing had me speechless.
“Let her talk,” Dante said, leaning against the wall, caging me in with one arm. “I think she should tell us what we need to do to her.” My eyes widened as he grinned at my response. “I know we’re different, babe, but we’re still your mates.”
So, my Virtues were still in there.
Somewhere.
Maybe if I played along, I could draw them out.
“Speak,” Logan commanded, his voice taking on the growl of the Alpha wolf inside of him.
I sucked in a gulp of air, then he allowed me more freedom in the next breath.
“You are permitted to use all of your muscles, but you are not allowed to leave this room or attempt to harm us.”
That restricted my body from complying with my initial instinct to knock them all unconscious and drag them back to Kaito’s office.
Although my instincts suggested something different when Logan leaned in and licked my pulse.
His palm slid under my pants line and branded my hip as Dante cupped my face, directing my lips to his.
He wasn’t gentle. My Hunter rarely was.
As Logan’s playful licks turned into tiny bites, Dante sucked my lower lip into his mouth, making me moan.
“Will you comply with us, little star?” Orion asked.
“I…” I began, only for my words to cut off when Logan growled.
His hand slid down my pants to cup my ass as he hauled me against him. The pressure between my legs ached for my mates as Orion’s heat pressed against me from my rear.
That left Hendrik out of the circle, but he seemed content to lean against the wall and watch, his eyes dark with wicked promises.
He wasn’t going to share. He would wait his turn, and then claim me as his pet.
I couldn’t quite read their minds, but I could sense their intentions. The mate-bond was still in place, although there was a strange sort of block that kept me from fully connecting with them.
Perhaps if I could reconnect our mate-bonds, I could pull them out of whatever was wrong with them.
That idea was much more attractive than knocking them unconscious. So far, they didn’t seem like they were going to try and hurt me.
Instead, they seemed more interested in devouring me, and that was something I could fully get on board with.
“You’ll behave, won’t you, pup?” Logan asked as he removed his fingers from my skin and cupped my sex.
I wanted so much more than a tease, but Logan was looking for my compliance before this continued.
He could have commanded me to fuck him, fuck all of them, with his Alpha’s voice. He’d already demonstrated the power he held over me as my mate.
The fact that he was looking for my approval before proceeding spoke volumes. Perhaps this little plan of mine would work.
“I missed you,” I said honestly, my voice breathy with arousal as they all closed in around me. “All of you.”
I placed my hands on them, then kissed them. Starting with Logan, then turning to Dante.
Then I leaned back into Orion and lifted my chin. He took my invitation, warming my lips with his as his pure sunlight bled through my wings.
He wasn’t as warm as I remembered, but he was still my Demigod made of starlight and sex.
When I glanced at Hendrik, allowing him to see the need in my eyes, his lips lifted on the side.
“We’ve missed you too, pet,” he said. It might have been the nicest thing that had ever come out of his wicked mouth.
His gaze dropped and his tongue flashed out to wet his lips.
“I’ve missed your body, as well. Being trapped under Calamity’s weight didn’t mean I wasn’t aware. Sitting in the darkness gave me a lot of time to think about those pretty little tits.”
As if spurred on, Logan bit at the fabric of my halter top, shredding the thin strap that kept it around my neck.
He peeled it away from me in the next second, leaving my upper body bare to my Virtues.
Dante hummed in approval as he ran his thumb over a pert nipple, making it harden under his touch. “It was indeed a long time to wander in darkness.”
“Were you all awake, then?” I asked, a sense of guilt washing over me as I leaned against Orion while Dante did what he wanted to me.
Logan knelt, making my breath catch as he shifted my pants over my hips.
“We were,” Orion confirmed. He’d been the only mate I’d found briefly in the Astral Plane while they’d been unconscious.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Orion?” I asked, glancing back to look at him.
He drew his touch over my lips, tracing them as if he wanted to memorize my mouth.
“I didn’t know what Calamity really offered at the time,” he said as he wrapped an arm around my middle, securing me against him.
My wings flared out to accommodate his bulky form behind my back. I was concerned that my demon’s wing would nick him. I still didn’t have full control over it yet, but Orion didn’t seem worried.
When Logan skimmed his teeth over my naked thigh, then drew his fingers over my wet slit, it made me buck. My wing’s talon caught against Orion’s arm, but it skidded off as if I’d touched iron.
So, that’s why he wasn’t fazed. He was a Demigod and even I couldn’t harm him.
“What… Calamity offered?” I asked, attempting to focus on the information Orion was providing me.
Except, Logan closed his mouth around my clit, then sucked.
Hard.
The cry of pleasure that escaped me made Dante growl as his thumb continued to circle my nipple. “Hold her still, Orion,” he said before he drew the taut nub into his mouth.
“Oh, gods,” I said, overwhelmed by the dual sensations.
Hendrik’s magic whispered over me in the next second, heightening my pleasure as he watched with a dark, ruthless gaze.
He drew his finger in a little circle in the air while he spoke a spell, one that played sensations all over my skin.
Those sensations tingled with both pleasure and pain, running over my lips, then down my throat, then joining Logan’s tongue at my core.