Chapter 28 #2
"And you are the gravity that holds me," he groaned, his hips bucking upward, a slow, grinding roll that hit deeper than I thought possible.
I began to move, riding him with a rhythm that started slow, seeking friction, seeking the friction of his wool against my clit, the pressure of him inside me.
"Lean forward, Aria."
Elias’s voice floated over my shoulder, melodic and strained, tight with a restraint that was fraying fast.
I obeyed instinctively, tipping my upper body forward until my hands landed on Thane’s chest, my fingers curling into the hair there. Thane’s arm wrapped around my waist, holding me securely against him.
I felt Elias behind me, his presence cool and fluid like rushing water. His hands skimmed up my thighs, over the curve of my ass, parting me. The air shifted, smelling of burnt spices and desert wind as the Phoenix positioned himself.
"Take us," Elias whispered, the tip of him pressing against my entrance, right where Thane stretched me open. "Bind us."
He pushed inside.
The sensation was overwhelming. I cried out, a jagged sound that echoed off the cavern walls.
To be filled by the Bear was to be grounded; to be entered by the Phoenix was to be set alight.
Elias didn't possess the sheer mass of Thane, but he burned with a precise, magical heat that targeted every nerve ending.
Then, the rhythm began.
It wasn't the chaotic war for dominance that Kaelen and Flynn had waged. This was a symphony.
Thane thrust upward, heavy and relentless, hitting the deepest part of me, anchoring me in the physical world. As he withdrew, Elias dove in, sharp and deep, hitting a different angle, sparking fires along my spine.
I was the instrument they were playing.
"More," I gasped. My vision blurred, tunneling down to the sensation of them stretching me, filling me, claiming me. "Don't stop."
"Never," Thane growled against my breast, his mouth finding my nipple through the torn fabric of my tunic, sucking hard.
The sensation sent a bolt of pure lightning straight to my core.
I squeezed my eyes shut, rocking my hips to meet them, trying to take everything they had.
The magic in the room swelled, no longer just a hum but a roar in my ears.
The golden markings on my skin flared blindingly bright, casting long, dancing shadows on the walls that looked like wings and claws.
Elias leaned over me, his chest pressing against my back, sandwiching me between himself and Thane. He bit the sensitive cord of my neck, his hand coming around to find my clit. His fingers moved with a scarily perceptive rhythm, circling, teasing, pushing me toward the edge.
"Feel it," Elias murmured into my ear, his breath coming in sharp pants. "The circuit closing. The vessel filling. You are endless, Aria. You are the sky."
"I'm going to—" My voice broke as Thane picked up the pace, his thrusts becoming harder, faster, driving me into Elias’s hand.
"Fly," Elias finished for me.
The pleasure crested, a tidal wave of white light that obliterated thought. I screamed, my body bowing taut as a wire. I clamped down around Thane, my muscles spasming, milking him.
Thane roared and drove into me one last time, burying himself to the hilt. I felt his release, a heavy, pulsing flood of earth magic that settled in my womb like stones in a riverbed.
A second later, Elias was inside me, thrusting frantically as my body still clenched and released. He shouted something in the old tongue, his body jerking against my back. He poured himself into me, his essence feeling like liquid starlight, effervescent and singing in my veins.
And then, the heavy, final piece slammed home.
It wasn't a sound. It was a shift in the universe.
I felt four distinct clicks in the center of my chest, like tumblers falling into place in a massive, cosmic lock. The bond wasn't just a thread anymore. It was a star.
I collapsed against Thane’s chest, panting, sweating, glowing like a beacon in the dark. I wasn’t just full; I was overflowing.
Eventually I rolled off Thane and the four of them seemed to cluster around me, each of them touching me in some way.
Kaelen's hand on my stomach, Flynn's on my thigh, inching higher as though he was testing to see if I wanted to go again.
Elias had twined his fingers with my own, and Thane was pressed against my side like a mountain range no one could cross without permission.
Time seemed to slow, or possibly even stop entirely for a moment as we all basked in the glow of what we had just done and the full bond we now all shared.
I hadn't realized sex could be so amazing, so satisfying, anything other than clinical, really.
My mind needed time to process, even though my heart was overjoyed with what we'd just done.
Through the bond, I could feel them all watching me, though trying not to.
"We need to move," I said, the words rolling off my tongue with an authority that wasn't entirely my own. I sat up, ignoring the way my muscles protested the movement. "The Void song masked us for now, but Hera will still be looking for us."
"Let her come," Thane grunted, finally giving me space. His massive frame blocked out the remaining light from the tunnel as he stood first, before offering me a hand, his expression satisfied but with an edge of worry to it. "We aren't running anymore."
I took his offered hand, letting him pull me to my feet. "No," I agreed, feeling the collective rage of four demigods simmering just beneath my skin, waiting for a target. "We aren't running. We're hunting."
But as I took a step toward where the rags of my clothing had been abandoned on the floor, a sound stopped us all dead.
From the darkness of the tunnel we had just descended through, the one leading back to the surface, back to the Throat, back to Hera, came a rhythmic noise.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
It wasn't Steve. Not only was the sound wrong, but I could see he was asleep in the corner, completely unbothered by what I'd just done with my men.
It was the sound of a cane against stone.
"Impossible," Elias breathed, pushing himself off the wall, his light flaring defensively.
The rubble shifted, stones rolling aside not by force, but as if they were simply moving out of the way of a guest. A figure stepped through the dust, brushing soot from an immaculate velvet coat.
"Well," the intruder said, his voice smooth, amused, and terrifyingly familiar. He looked past Kaelen’s bared teeth and Flynn’s snarl, locking eyes directly with me. "That was certainly a noisy way to change fate, my dear. I hope I’m not interrupting the afterglow?"