Chapter 4 Arabella #2
And I knew everything was going to be okay at that moment. I had no doubt we were going to go through a lot of shit, but if my mates and I had each other, I had to believe we would be okay. For just a second, I existed in his arms, absolutely at peace despite everything trying to disturb it.
“And I love breakfast.” Damian’s rather upbeat voice had me smiling, completely unsurprised that he was attempting to lighten the mood after such an intense few days.
My gaze moved towards him, my skin tingling in remembrance of his magic against mine when he helped me after that dream with Ashur—the one that had left me feeling an absurd amount of excess energy. An energy very similar to how I’d felt in the clearing before everything had gone dark.
So much had happened between then and now, and despite how worked up I felt, there was also something settled inside of me.
I hadn’t known what I was trying to find, but I’d found it—whether it was my magic, or Ashur, or both was undetermined.
I didn’t understand what was going on with me, what metamorphosis I was going through, or who Ashur truly was, but he was connected to all of this—all my mates were.
“Well then, you better be making some,” Saint muttered, rolling us so that I was on top of him, the nightmare running a hand over my hip.
Damian cursed, and I looked over to see his gaze on my body.
I offered a teasing smile and he grunted, handing me a coffee mug.
I was happy to see that Damian was at least somewhat normal today, even if his normal was a bit grumpy in the morning.
It allowed me some stability in this insanity.
As I stood up, Saint rolled over, grabbing a blanket and pretending to sleep.
Honestly, Saint wrapped in blankets was both sexy and sort of adorable.
I didn’t think he actually slept, but I knew Saint wasn’t his full normal self right now, and I wanted to give him a moment without rushing him to snap back into it.
“He has coffee here? In a tree?” I asked, examining the mug in my hand as I looked across the open space to the kitchen.
I had no idea where Ashur had gotten all this, but the man had a french press for coffee, something that I fully enjoyed as I took a sip of the liquid gold.
Damian led me towards the peninsula, where he had sent out a plate.
“I don’t think he lives as ‘wild’ as he likes to put on,” Damian mused, his lips pressing up into a smile as he lifted me onto the counter with a wrap of his tail. “Now, cherry blossom, what can I get you for breakfast?”
“A kiss?”
Warmth replaced his dry sarcasm from talking to Saint and he stepped closer, cupping my jaw before running his hand down to my throat and kissing me lightly.
I let out a happy sigh as the scent of expensive cigars ran over my skin along with his tail, which tightened on my waist, the barbed tip brushing against the middle of my back.
My skin broke out into shivers as he stepped between my legs.
“Unfortunately”—he pulled back and ran a hand through my hair—“you need more food than that. I am worried about how long you have been sleeping…and the fact that you passed out.”
I nodded before admitting, “I am a bit hungry.”
Damian seemed thrilled. “Perfect.”
I had a feeling Damian really liked the idea of taking care of me, and I was starting to wonder if the reason Blackwell and he had given me crap about my breakfast choices was really because of their concern for my well-being…
Yeah, that was totally it.
How I had been so freakin’ clueless about their feelings for me for so long? As Damian began to pull things out of the fridge, I took the moment to look over the 6’8” heir to Hell.
I knew he had no intention of going back, thank the fates, but it was still sort of cool.
I narrowed my eyes at the thought of his father.
Lucifer better hope he never runs into me—I would show him how exactly I felt about how he treated Damian.
A defensive sound nearly bubbled up in my throat.
I was extremely protective about these men, and I wasn’t afraid to express that…
even if it was a bit more intense than I had ever experienced.
“Eggs?”
I nodded, moving past my anger towards his father, not wanting him to see it on my face.
Damian was so incredibly handsome. His golden skin contrasted his hot pink hair that was currently messy on top of his head, like a sexy bedhead.
The strands were parted by black horns that I fully planned on touching—just when we were alone, because who knew how far I would take it.
The man was addicting to stare at, especially when he looked back at me with those gold eyes.
He was so damn colorful, and even more so in his nightmare form.
Well, maybe not colorful per se in his nightmare form, but still addicting to stare at—his onyx skin cracked with lines of neon-pink lava. The legend terror was gorgeous, and I knew if I told him that, he would offer me that sweet smile he hid from everyone else.
Damian and Saint in some ways were very similar, but where Saint’s true nature was to be blunt and lighthearted, Damian was a bit softer. I wasn’t positive that was the right word, but Damian had a lot of emotional vulnerability that was hidden right beneath the surface.
While he was a bit more wounded, he hid it damn well. Actively. I knew he felt safe that way, and I never wanted him to feel uncomfortable, but I also wanted him to know that he could always express anything to me. Always.
“That smells so damn good.”
The sizzling of eggs on the cast-iron skillet had clearly woken up Zain.
I hadn’t even realized the man had been spread out sleeping on the other side of the sofa.
I peeked over as he stood up, noticing that there were a ton of blankets spread out on the floor.
Had they all slept down here? I blushed, absolutely loving that.
“Now what is that pretty blush for, Bella? Or who is that pretty blush for?” Zain appeared in front of me, the apocalypse terror putting his hands on either side of my frame on the counter. I felt my smile grow in response to the relaxed sleepy happiness that radiated off of him.
“Did all of you sleep down here?” I asked curiously.
Zain’s neon, icy-blue eyes melted as he pressed his forehead to my own. “Of course we did. Everyone wanted to be near you.”
So where were the rest of them? Man, I was totally being needy.
“Razar and Blackwell went with Ashur to check out the clearing about an hour ago,” Saint said, answering my unspoken question. “Nearly woke you up, flower. Can you believe that bullshit?”
I smiled at his tone of disbelief as Zain chuckled, shaking his head.
His blood-red waves shifted, showcasing how he had it shaved short on the sides of his head.
Runes ran along his temples, similar to the ones on his body, and I made a note to myself to ask what they meant.
But right now I didn’t get a chance to because his finger came up and brushed over my scar, a small singe going over my skin, making me assume it was glowing red.
I loved that. I loved every mark I had received from my men.
“Zain, you want some?” Damian asked. Zain nodded enthusiastically, breaking our moment. Food would always get Zain—the man ate so damn much.
It didn’t surprise me that he was always so hungry.
With how built and muscular he was and how much he trained, plus with the endurance he had…
And now I was turned on. Endurance. Yes, Zain’s endurance was something I was now extremely familiar with and wanted to experience again and again… and again.
“Bella,” Zain chided, his normal calm and relaxed attitude disappearing as his terror side slipped out, the one that was more feral and predatorial.
The one that was a cloud of black smoke with a radiating ruby energy I felt closely connected with.
The one that had merged with Zain’s human form to bring so much incredible pleasure, I still wasn’t positive it had been real.
Then again, everything with my boys had felt unearthly.
“Here.” Damian put down a plate as I scrambled off to sit on the chair and eat. I didn’t even feel shy about destroying my food, and Damian let out a pleased sound as I finished all three eggs before pushing the plate towards him.
“What type of eggs are these?” Zain asked curiously, causing me to freeze. Damian went still and looked towards the blank carton from the fridge, all uneven in size and clearly not from a market.
“They’re chicken eggs. They have to be. I don’t want to think of anything else,” I squeaked, wondering how I hadn’t thought about that considering the strange forest we were in. My eyes went wide. “Oh, I really hope it’s not some adorable future baby creature—”
“It’s not. It’s chicken.” Cy appeared out of nowhere, soothing a hand over the back of my neck. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I found those for you. I made sure they were edible, pixie.”
I turned into him and buried my head against the basilisk before pulling back and smiling in relief. “Thank the fates! I know there are creature terrors who are born from eggs, and I would never want to…you know.”
I felt sick as I shook myself.
Cy let out a low rumble. “That’s how basilisks are born. Don’t worry, I won’t let that ever happen.” Something flashed in Cy’s gaze and my toes curled, making me wonder what he was thinking about.
The man was quiet, although he had been talking more recently, but I felt like I knew Cy instinctively. Knew his soul. The two of us had been connected far longer than when he had marked me… Although that had enhanced it so damn much.
The wonderful mint-smelling creature terror spoke in a near whisper most of the time because of his fangs, ones that I felt as he brushed his lips against mine gently.
I could tell that he wasn’t afraid anymore, and after having him bite me, pushing venom through my system, I was feeling exhilarated at experiencing it again.
That high could one hundred percent be wonderful in the right situation.
Something about his words pulled me out of my thoughts, though. I bluntly spit out my words before I could stop them. “Wait—does that mean if we have babies, I would have eggs? What about with everyone else?”
I snapped my head around to see Zain and Damian both staring at me with rather interesting expressions—Zain mostly shocked, but a bit happy, and Damian amused and heated, his smirk saying exactly what he was thinking.
Cy tugged my chin back, and I met his mesmerizing silver gaze streaked with mint-green and black.
I swear, the man was the most unusually beautiful individual I had ever experienced, down to the tips of his white hair which were a dark green like his scales.
My tongue darted out on my bottom lip as the 6’7’’ nightmare bent down, his snake bite piercings cold as he pressed our lips together and caused me to let out a soft sound.
“Do you really want the answer to that?” Cy asked, his voice filled with heat. I was starting to learn that nightmares didn’t view mating, marriage, babies, love, sex, or anything else as seperate things. In their mind, if I was theirs, that included everything.
I just hadn’t expected Cy to find the concept so attractive.
I nodded in response to his question.
“I think you will find most of us are willing to talk about it with you, pixie, but it may result in some…extreme reactions.”
“Because Blackwell and Saint like the idea of me getting pregnant?” I teased, remembering how the two of them had been the most open about it. Of course there had been other comments made, but I wasn’t brave enough to include everyone.
“Not the only ones,” Damian muttered.
Zain was just examining my expression as if he wasn’t positive what I wanted his response to be. That totally made two of us.
“Yes, exactly that.” Cy nipped my ear, making me whimper.
“What are we talking about?” Saint stood up and stretched, offering me a rogue smile as I narrowed my gaze.
He knew exactly what we were talking about, and while I very much wanted the answer to my question, I could feel my cheeks heating.
I was starting to think I needed to be more mentally prepared for this.
I mean… What did I think about it?
Did I like that idea? Did I like the idea of being pregnant? Having their babies?
I think I liked it.
Was it weird that I liked it? I suppose not. I mean, I was in my early twenties. It wasn’t unheard of to have kids at this age, especially not in the human world… And the idea of them marking me like that, that they wanted something so permanent with me… Holy crap, that was appealing.
That wasn’t even discussing the “B” word that Ashur had used. Breeding.
I squeaked suddenly and slid off the counter before I could get turned on, trying to shake myself from those thoughts.
“You know what, I totally think this conversation could be had later…” I trailed off, realizing just how much heat the four of them were looking at me with. Yep, I was way in over my head.
Thankfully, before I could say anything or they could push the topic, the door burst open.