Chapter 12
Twelve
Hayle
The Underground hideout beneath the Broken Heart Inn was literally the front for yet another tunnel system. Moran led us through a wall in the back of his office and then down once more. The tunnels were so narrow that my shoulders brushed the sides, but at least they were well lit.
We walked for twenty minutes, before one of the tunnels finally opened up into a large cavern with several doors. There was also a kitchen, and what looked like a bathroom off to the side.
“You guys can stay down here until the heat from Baron Vylan dies down, or you’re ready to move. It’s almost impossible to find your way down here, if you don’t have a guide. Even now, we find the body of the odd unfortunate soul who got lost in the catacombs.”
“And if we want to leave?” I asked. Being underground was not an overly comfortable experience for me.
“You can get your hounds to track back the way you came.” Moran pointed up to where a rusted ladder was bolted to the side of the cavern wall.
At the very top was a manhole cover. “Or you can climb out there. Just be aware that it comes out in the rear gardens of the Great Hall, so be wary of when you appear.” He looked at his watch.
“I need to go. Sleep well.” With that, he disappeared back down one of the long tunnels.
I was exhausted, and I could’ve murdered a steak and a real bed.
For the first time in a long time, I yearned for my childhood bed.
It felt like years since I’d been home to Hamor, and though I’d seen my father only recently, I missed my mother and my brothers.
My grandparents. My cousins and my pack and my Line. I wanted to go home.
But I wanted Avalon to forgive me even more than that.
I just freaking needed her to figure out that I couldn’t talk about it directly.
There was a geas placed on every Third Line child once they started to speak, which prevented us talking about it, mostly so small children didn’t run up to people from other Lines, yabbering about how their uncle turned into a wolf, or their sister turned into a hawk.
Or how their Heir turned into a fucking Spryrix.
It also stopped teens from whipping out their beasts as soon as they got riled, or drunkenly spilling secrets with a belly full of ale.
It limited our ability to shift in front of people, not of our own Line, unless we believed that our lives were truly in danger.
The geas wore off once we turned twenty-five, and I had a depressingly short amount of time before this would no longer be an issue.
Still, if she would just ask, I could answer direct questions about it.
But first, Avalon needed to stop giving me the silent treatment. I’d even take Lierick or Vox bringing it up at this point. Anyone other than a political acquaintance or a spy, who I couldn’t betray my whole Line in front of, just to make my Soul Tie understand.
I let out a low groan. Was that too much to ask? “Avie, please…” I begged softly.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Taeme. I’ve tried to stay out of this, because it’s your business, and I try to respect your privacy by staying out of your head.
But if you could’ve just suggested there was a geas, even in your thoughts…
” Lierick muttered to himself. “Hayle Taeme, please tell us about your fucking man-eating Spryrix, and how it is that you shift into it, and why you can’t talk about it with the one person who shares your soul,” he said in a slow, drawn-out manner, like he was talking to an idiot.
I wasn’t even mad at his tone. No, I was so fucking relieved.
I grabbed Avalon up in my arms and walked to the couch, sitting her on my lap. “Thank fuck. The whole Line is under a geas not to talk about our ability to shift into beasts until we’re twenty-five, unless asked about it directly. I’ve been dying over here,” I groaned.
Avalon didn’t look any less confused. “What’s a geas?”
“Like a magical ball gag,” Vox answered helpfully. I shot him an irritated expression, but he just grinned back.
“Something like that. A magical binding that prevents us from doing something. It’s old magic, not used much by other Lines. At least, I don’t think it is.”
Vox snorted. “We use fear and manipulation in the First Line. Got to keep up with those time-honored traditions.”
Lierick shrugged and tapped his temple. “Not particularly necessary.”
I shrugged. “Right. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell you, but more that I couldn’t.”
The tiny truth that I’d keep to myself, though, was that I hadn’t really wanted her to know.
She wasn’t from the Third, and I think a part of me would’ve died if she’d been terrified of me.
I wasn’t ashamed of my beast—having the Spryrix was an honor—but shifting into one of the mythicals came with a lot of pressure.
The Sixth Line had proved that; there was a whole damned prophecy about it.
Maybe this was how Avie felt all the time. That constant niggling in the back of your mind that this wasn’t just it for you, that there was something right there on the horizon that meant the world you built would change.
Avie chewed her lip. “So if I ask you direct questions, you can answer?”
“Yes,” I told her eagerly. I wanted this tension between us gone. These past two days had been the most miserable of my life.
Her eyes bored into mine, as if she could see the beast that resided deep in my body. “How long have you had the Spryrix?”
I snuggled her closer, burying my nose in her neck.
“Since I was fifteen. He emerged while I was on my Great Hunt. It’s the first time we head out into the Mistwoods by ourselves.
It’s how we gain our animal companions, and sometimes our beasts.
Although, Alucius and Braxus have been with me a lot longer than that.
I can hardly remember a time without them. It’s where I met Quarry, though.”
I looked past Avalon at the men who’d once been my political enemies. If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be spilling the Third Line’s most closely held secrets to them, I would’ve punched the person for accusing me of being a traitor.
But now? My life was tied to theirs.
“The Second Line knew already,” Lierick said, reading my thoughts. “Or at least, we strongly suspected, due to some of the knowledge stored within our libraries and among the temples that hold the Votresses.”
Well, I was only half a traitor then. “The ritual is not that important, but basically, we go to a place in the Mistwoods, use our powers to call creatures to us, and when we reach the temple ruins, we ask the Goddess to grant us a beast to better protect the people of Ebrus and our brothers and sisters in the Third Line. Sometimes, she’ll grant us a beast, and sometimes, we go home empty-handed, but it never hurts to ask.
For decades after my father got his beast, not a single person came back from the Great Hunt with the ability to shift, and we wondered if the Goddess had finally forsaken the Third Line. ” That time had been hard for us.
“But then my eldest brother went out on his Great Hunt and came back with a beast. And then my next eldest brother. And so did I. As did my younger brother. To say we were all relieved would probably be an understatement. However, I’m the only one with a mythical beast; the last Spryrix beast gifted to the Third Line was over four centuries ago.
And the last wild Spryrix died out before we even wrote histories.
I felt doubly blessed.” I gave them a crooked smile.
“Though perhaps it was because the Goddess thought I was going to need something more overpowered for my future endeavors.”
Avalon huffed a laugh and relaxed into me. I sighed gently into her hair. This was right. This was what we needed, not that strained bond that had plagued us.
“Any other life-altering secrets you’re keeping?” she asked lightly, though there was still a vein of steel in her words. She hadn’t been happy and wasn’t going to let me off the hook that easily, even if she had forgiven me.
“Only how much I love you and how fucking miserable I’ve been the last two days.”
Vox snorted. “That isn’t a secret.” He stood, patting me on the shoulder and lifting Avie into his arms. “I’m dead on my feet. We need sleep, then we need to plan.” He nodded at me. “Let’s go. You too, Lierick.”
The man in question raised a brow, but he was too interested to argue. I could have told him that nothing would happen tonight—we were all physically and emotionally drained.
Iker huffed. “I’ll be over there.” He pointed to a room on the other side of the cavern, scooping up Epsy like he was a teddy bear, muttering to the creature about buying them both noise-cancelling earmuffs. Braxus also huffed and went to lie near the entrance to the tunnels.
The bedroom was larger than I’d imagined, with a huge bed in the center of the space.
Vox laid our girl down carefully in the middle, and I wasted no time shucking off my clothes and wrapping myself around her body.
She snuggled back into me, and Vox only just managed to peel her out of her dirty traveling clothes before she was sound asleep.
I gave him a crooked grin, but my eyelids were already drooping. This felt like heaven after the last two days of hell: my Soul Tie in my arms and a comfortable bed beneath us both. I let myself drift off to sleep with a contented sigh.
A sound woke me, and I was instantly alert. After being attacked by assassins, I was surprised that I’d slept so heavily. As awareness settled back in, I realized the sound wasn’t one of threat, but one of promise.
“Shh, sweet thing. Don’t want to wake your other lovers just yet.” Lierick’s purred words made the warm body of Avie beside me shiver. I desperately wanted to know what they were doing, but given her sweet moans, I knew it was something good.
She was still on her side, pressed close to me, and Lierick seemed to be curled around her back.
I could feel his knuckles brushing along my torso as he ran his hand down her stomach.
I kept my eyes closed as I viscerally heard how turned on she was as he pushed inside her.
The wet sound of her pussy was like a beacon, and I had to resist the urge to moan myself.
You’re a dirty fucker, I thought at Lierick, and given his low chuckle, he heard me just fine. He pressed her closer to me, holding her open so that I could feel her overheated core against my hip. I forced myself to stay relaxed, keeping my breathing even, as he slowly fucked her into me.
Torture. It was torture of the very best kind.
You’re lucky I think you both need this moment together for the good of our pack. Otherwise, you’d see just how competitive the Third Line is, I grumbled, trying to find my happy place. Except my happy place was between her thighs.
I just had to hold myself back for a little longer. I could wait until he gave her that first orgasm, then I’d take over. Or lend a hand. Maybe we could fuck until Vox woke up, then start all over again.
My sweet Soul Tie was trying to be so quiet, but whatever Lierick was doing behind her was making her whimper behind the hand she’d slapped over her mouth. The guy had skills; I’d give him that.
“Come for me, Avie. Gush all over my cock,” he purred in her ear, and I almost came too. Fuck, he was good.
Avalon’s whole body tensed as her orgasm raced through her, the scent of her pleasure like perfume in the air. Lierick rode out that orgasm, and with impressive willpower, didn’t follow her over the edge.
When she came down from her pleasure, still gasping for air, he murmured, “We’re not done yet, sweet thing. But perhaps I could use a hand this time. I won’t last much longer, not with the way you’re gripping me so good.”
Fuck yeah. I rolled closer toward her, and even in the dark, I could see her flushed cheeks and eyes that were hooded from release. I kissed her hard, tasting him in her mouth. Interesting. Maybe they’d been playing for a lot longer than I’d been awake.
“Do you like how Lierick feels, stretching you like that with his giant cock? Do you feel so full right now, my Soul Tie?”
She moaned something incomprehensible as Lierick started to move again.
I shimmied down and sucked on her tits, taking each stiff nipple between my lips and sucking hard in turns.
Moving my hand down between her thighs, I brushed my fingertips across her swollen clit gently, and given the way she bucked against me, it was sensitive.
I could be soft and sweet. I could be anything Avie needed me to be.
I switched between her breasts, paying attention to each one like it was my favorite. Soon, she was writhing, and any chance of this being silent was gone.
When I felt the soft brush of Vox’s magic over my skin, I knew we’d woken him too. I yelped as bands of air wrapped around my dick and stroked, and whatever he was doing to Lierick had him stuttering in his rhythm inside Avalon.
Fuck me... The air pulsated around my cock, making me out loud. That fucker was milking me with magic, and I was hopeless to resist. Too soon, I was coming all over Avalon’s stomach as Lierick jerked once, twice, and then groaned heavily, slumping bonelessly back to the pillows.
“Did we all just get fucked by the Heir to the First Line?” I whispered against Avalon’s lips, and she gave me a soft, satisfied smile.
“You’re all welcome. Now, pass our girl to me and go get something to clean her up. Savages.”
I smirked at Vox. He was only mad because it wasn’t his cum coating her body. Still, I gently shifted her over Lierick and into Vox’s waiting arms.
I’d been wrong earlier. This moment here? This was heaven.