Chapter 33 Nyx
NYX
The bond hummed in my veins, warm and insistent, and it pulled me deeper into the nest as the alphas surrounded me.
The connection had sealed earlier in the heat of battle and raw vulnerability, when we bit and claimed one another amid survival and desire.
Now it pulsed stronger than ever, a constant reminder of our unbreakable unity, and also a reminder that the world did not stop bleeding just because Meridian won one war.
The compound lay quiet at last, but quiet did not mean safe.
Echoes of gunfire and shouts had given way to fabric shifting in the breeze and the low creak of walls settling, and I hated that my body still knew how to relax in this place.
My hands had made this nest anyway. Pillows layered like protective barriers.
Blankets woven from threads of memory and hope. A soft place for a hard life.
A soft place my sister did not have.
Tatum was gone, and nothing we burned to the ground could change that. The Council chamber had fallen. The men who ordered it were dead or dismantled piece by piece until there was nothing left of their authority but paperwork waiting to be erased.
I swallowed it down because my body was not interested in strategy tonight. My body wanted the men around me. It wanted the bond fed and reinforced, wanted their hands and mouths and weight until I could forget how helpless it felt to walk away from my sister.
These men, my men, towered with strength, dark skin catching the low light that filtered through cracks in the walls.
Broad shoulders rose and fell with steady breaths.
Chiseled jaws carried scars. They were older than me by years and by cruelty, bodies honed by harsh realities, and I burned as the flame that kept their fire alive.
Malachi’s gaze held mine. Jabari stayed close enough that I could feel him without being touched, devotion and restraint tied tight in the set of his shoulders. Elijah watched me, reading my breathing, my pulse, my tells. Kairo hovered at my side with that hungry softness.
The bond flared, and my guilt flared with it.
Malachi ignited everything with his kiss.
His full lips crashed against mine, firm and commanding, and smoke from victory fires lingered on his breath, mixed with the authority he carried.
His beard scraped my skin. Rough bristles teased softer flesh and sent electric shivers down my spine, a reminder that I was here, that I was real, that I was not stuck in a fluorescent room counting hours.
His hands, large and calloused from gripping weapons, building alliances, and breaking enemies, seized my waist. Fingers dug in with bruising force and yanked me against his hard body. Every muscle in him tensed as if he were holding back a storm.
“You’re mine to break and remake, Nyx,” he murmured, voice rough against my mouth.
I nipped him hard enough to make him hiss, because if he was going to claim me tonight, he was going to feel that I was still sharp. My tongue met his and fought him for control until we both gave in, until cedar and earth filled my senses and grounded me while it set me on fire.
Jabari pressed in from behind, his massive frame enveloping me. His presence weighed comforting and solid. Rich mahogany skin warmed against mine, and his coiled hair brushed my shoulder as he nuzzled the curve of my neck.
“Tell me what you want, darlin’,” he said, his voice a low Southern drawl wrapped in manners and menace. “You ask, and I’ll give it to you.”
His hands slid under the hem of my shirt. Rough palms glided reverent over my thighs, then higher until he cupped my ass. His fingers squeezed with possessive intent, but he waited. He always waited.
I rolled my hips back into the hard length pressing against my lower spine, and his breath hitched. I wanted that. I wanted him undone.
Elijah knelt before me, the strategist who mapped victories with chess-master precision.
Smooth espresso-toned skin glowed in the dim light as he sank into the plush nest, gaze lifting with controlled hunger.
His mouth pressed a kiss to the inside of my thigh, then another higher, slow insistence mapping my body.
“I’ll decide when you come,” he said, voice low and measured.
His fingers parted my folds with precision, cool air mixing with his touch.
Then his tongue flicked out, deliberate strokes tasting me, building tension, withholding release.
I gasped and my knees threatened to buckle, and Jabari steadied me from behind with a firm grip that anchored without taking over.
Kairo stepped close, the romantic who had loved me in whispers and shadows during long hiding nights. He placed his hand on my hip and claimed my mouth from Malachi with gentle insistence. His kiss began tender, then deepened into soul-stirring passion that made my heart stutter.
“I’ve dreamed of this,” he whispered. “Every night since you disappeared. I kept thinking if I imagined it hard enough, you’d come back to me.”
His hand cupped my breast through the shirt, thumb circling my nipple until it peaked hard against the fabric. Worshipful, adoring. Kairo loved like he was making a promise.
The bond flared brighter. Our pulses synced. Breaths matched. Cedar, iron, smoke wrapped around my sweetness.
“Off,” I demanded, breathless.
They obeyed instantly. Fabric tore. Buttons scattered into the nest. Cool air raised goosebumps along my skin, and then warm hands were everywhere.
Malachi’s eyes raked over me with dark approval, lingering on the curves of my brown body, the swell of my breasts, the dip of my waist he traced in quieter moments. He shed his clothes swiftly, scars flashing, and his dick stood thick and hard, precum beading at the tip.
We sank into the nest together, limbs tangling, heat rising. Elijah guided me onto my back with firm hands. His mouth returned to my pussy, tongue circling my clit with expert precision. He sucked gently, then pulled back the second I neared the edge.
“Not yet.” His voice stayed calm. “You don’t come until I say you do.”
I whimpered, frustration sharp. My hips bucked. Elijah hummed against me, the vibration jolting pleasure straight to my core. His fingers slid inside, curled exactly right, pumping slow until my vision blurred, then easing off again because he wanted me desperate.
Jabari knelt beside me, his dick heavy and throbbing, the black ring at the underside of the head a dark flash against his skin.
My breath caught anyway, because my body remembered exactly what that cool metal did to me.
He stroked once, eyes locked on mine with good-boy devotion that made my chest ache.
“Use me, my queen.” His gaze did not leave mine. “You could ruin me and I’d thank you for the privilege.”
I reached for him and guided the thick head to my mouth.
The ring at the underside cooled my tongue first, a small shock that turned into heat as soon as I took him deeper.
He was too big for comfort, and that made it better.
My jaw stretched. My tongue swirled the head, circling metal and skin together, tasting salt and musk.
Jabari groaned, but he kept his hips still.
He let me set the rhythm. He let me control the depth.
“Good,” he murmured, voice shaking. “That’s it. Just like that.”
Kairo positioned on my other side, his hands trailing down my body to join Elijah’s between my legs.
His touch stayed romantic, gentle circles that contrasted Elijah’s calculated control.
He kissed my neck, lips soft along my collarbone, then captured a nipple in his mouth and sucked with tender devotion.
Dual sensation hit hard. Elijah’s tongue on my clit. Kairo’s mouth on my breast. Jabari filling my throat, the ring brushing my tongue every time I swallowed around him. I writhed, pleasure coiling tight in my belly.
Elijah pulled back just enough to look at me.
“Beg for it,” he said.
Malachi watched from above. He stroked his dick with rough, harsh strokes, gaze sweeping over me with approval.
“Look at you,” he said, voice dark. “Writhing under us like you were meant to be.”
The word ours landed in my chest. I thought of Tatum again, and guilt bit down hard, but my body refused to let me drown in it.
Elijah’s thumb pressed to my clit, then lifted, then pressed again, pushing me right to the edge.
“Now,” he ordered. “Come for us.”
Everything shattered. Orgasm crashed through me, violent and bright. My toes curled. My back arched off the nest. I cried out around Jabari, choking on him in the best way. My body clenched around Elijah’s fingers. Spasms ripped through me in waves.
Jabari groaned, the sound deep and wrecked. Kairo’s hand held my hip. Elijah lapped through my climax with relentless precision until I lay boneless and gasping, sweat slicking my skin.
We had only begun.
Jabari lay back and pulled me atop him with gentle hands. He let me take control, eyes soft with adoration.
“Ride me however you want,” he said.
I sank down slow, inch by inch, gasping at the stretch. He filled me so completely it made my vision blur. I rocked my hips, slow at first to savor the drag, then faster as need took over. I used him the way he begged me to. My nails dug into his chest for leverage, and Jabari took it with a groan.
“You’re everything,” he breathed.
Kairo knelt behind me, hands spreading my ass cheeks as his mouth kissed down my spine. Each lip press felt delicious.
“Let me love you here,” he murmured.
His finger, slick with my arousal, circled my back entrance.
He teased, then pressed gently, slow and careful.
The burn gave way to fullness that made my whole body tremble.
Kairo added a second finger, scissoring open with the kind of patient tenderness that made me trust him even when I wanted him rough.
“You’re my heart,” he whispered. “My muse.”