Chapter 8
Feather
Our last hour together began with laughter, and I was so glad. Because when they laughed, the energy my mates were pouring into me—an almost overwhelming waterfall of power—became softer, threaded with humor and hope.
And also because then they couldn’t see how hard I had to focus on ignoring the stabbing pains in my chest.
Mikhail and Righteous lay on each side of me, caressing me gently with the very tips of their fingers, their touches softer than feathers. I lifted my own hands and placed them on their wrists, where my mating marks thrummed. When I stroked them, both men shivered at the intense sensations.
“How will you remove your feathers?” I asked quietly. “We don’t have a soul knife.”
“We won’t need one,” Mikhail murmured. “The energy here will serve the same purpose. And without the pain.” As he spoke, Ry reached down to tickle my silver curls, his clever fingers working their way around me and inside me, beginning another upward spiral.
Our lovemaking this time wasn’t carnal at all.
It was holy. Righteous kissed my lips in what could only be described as a prayer, singing into my mind every hope he had for our future while Mikhail joined with me below, filling me physically.
As Mikhail approached his climax, I cupped his scarred cheek and opened my mind to him, to them both, hoping they could see how deeply I loved them. And they opened theirs in return.
Love, trust, and rich, golden soulfire flowed between Mikhail and me, with Righteous’s soul dancing around us both.
With a whisper of thought, my ancient mate drew a strand of blue energy from the bed itself, wrapping it around the base of one of his smallest feathers like a piece of thread.
The feather floated free, hovering in the air between us.
With a smile, he took it in his hand and reached around my neck as Righteous lifted my hair.
I stifled a sob of joy as Mikhail gently pressed his feather to the place that had felt too cold, too empty, for months now. He sang his name, and I sang mine, before his mark sank into my nape, binding us together.
Currents of intense pleasure arced from the feather on his wrist to my nape, and we both cried out at the sudden sensations.
We spun together, like dandelion fluff in a Celestial storm of bliss, for longer than I thought was possible.
And as soon as I felt myself begin to descend, Righteous was there.
Inside me. His cock slid into me again, moving in small increments with each thrust, as was necessary with a mate as well-endowed as him. You’re very good for my ego, Scrap, he thought, moving back and forth rhythmically as he did the same with our souls.
Least I can do, I thought back with a wink. Since I changed your name to Anaconda Pants.
I still owe you for that, he agreed. That was a permanent practical joke…
His thoughts trailed off, his eyes glinting with wicked glee as he repeated Mikhail’s actions with the energy strand.
Righteous chose a long, thin feather, though, and when he sang his name and our souls merged, he laughed out loud.
You didn’t! I shouted in amusement as our souls climbed together. Righteous ran his fingers in a circle around my right nipple, tracing his feather’s outline and setting off another orgasm that left me breathless.
When we spiraled back down, Mikhail was there, grinning smugly at us both, his elusive dimple making an appearance. He shook his head at Righteous, pretending to be disappointed.
“What?” Ry asked, flopping over on his back, wings outstretched, a satisfied smirk on his lips. “You just wish you’d thought of it.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I like where mine is,” Mikhail said, leaning over me and slowly approaching my right nipple with his mouth. “Did you really think this through, pup?” Then he wrapped his lips around my nipple, sucking it into his mouth, nibbling it just a bit, then laving it with his tongue.
And Righteous’s mark with it.
Shocked, Ry sat up on the bed, his hand clasped over his hardening cock, his cheeks flushed. He’d felt every bit of that. “Oh crap… you’re right. I didn’t think that through at all.” His quiet thought of Feels good, though, echoed through our open minds. Might be one of those Celestial mistakes.
I laughed so hard I peed a little, though when I complained, Mikhail reminded me High Angeli don’t pee. “Their mates can make them squirt, though,” he threatened, and then went to work proving his point.
“Birch, you’re walking really funny,” Sunny said under her breath as I joined her on a cloud bench, sitting gingerly, for good reason.
“I kind of don’t want to know what you did to cause that.
But as your best friend, I feel like it’s my duty to be here for you.
So I’ll suffer through every last, disgusting detail.
” Her eyes flicked to the Celestial guards and the small group of High Angeli who stood by the Choir Leader, conversing in hushed voices.
Mikhail was holding Precious and glaring at Imriel for some reason, while Righteous was spelling out the plan.
I smiled, and said through my teeth, so no one else would hear, “All I’m saying, Miss ‘Light of Truth,’ is you lied back in Sanctuary when you said you’d already taught me everything I needed to know about merging.”
“Birch, I did not. I’m literally truth incarnate.” She hissed and lifted my hair away from my neck. “What did they do to you?”
I knew she was looking at the scattered teeth marks—and possibly handprints—that my lovers had left on my shoulders and neck. I discreetly pulled my hair even farther to the side, revealing my nape.
“He didn’t.” She darted a shocked glance at Mikhail, who stopped giving Imriel the stink eye long enough to smirk at us.
“That’s not all,” I whispered. I leaned forward slightly, letting my t-shirt neckline gape wide.
She made a weird, garbled noise in her throat as she stared down the open front. “Ry? What the fu—fudge was he thinking?”
Righteous must have been listening in, because his shoulders shook with silent laughter as he sent a jolt of energy to his mark.
I shuddered with a mini-orgasm and shot him the finger.
A few of the Celestials hummed in what might have been disapproval—not that I cared.
They were nice enough to me, but if they treated Precious like she was a demon from…
Well, anyway, it wasn’t how she deserved to be treated, so I didn’t owe them any respect. I sneered at the one closest to me.
He smiled back, a condescending look on his handsome face. I shot him the finger.
“Feather!” Sunny grabbed my arm and wrenched it down.
“What are they gonna do, huh? Throw me out? Celestial guards? Celestial Guides, more like,” I jeered.
“You are out of control.” She pulled me a few steps away, turning me so I couldn’t see what was going on.
“Tell me everything. They… doubled mated you? Or wait, did Ry and the Maker exchange feathers, too? Because I know you were working up to asking for a man sandwich, but that seems a little extreme—”
I slapped a hand over her mouth. “No, they didn’t mate each other.” I slanted a glance at my two mates and mentally sent that image to them, though. With a tiny little put a pin in this, boys attached.
They stepped slightly away from each other, and Ry’s cheeks went a very deep gold. I smirked, sending an exceptionally detailed image of a man sandwich with Feather bread to them both. I even added mayonnaise.
“Mikhail’s looking at you like you’re gonna get a spanking, girl,” Sunny giggled.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I shot back. And then we were in each other’s arms, hugging too tightly.
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” she said once we’d gotten hold of ourselves. “Give Hope a hug and a kiss for me? Not with tongue,” she specified. “Unless the situation really calls for it.”
“Of course.” I adjusted the bandeau top she wore, which was streaked with Precious’s deep purple glitter.
It looked amazing against her dark skin, especially with the tiny miniskirt she’d made out of another towel, or pillowcase, or whatever.
“I’ll be back soon,” I said quietly, not meeting her eyes.
Mik and Ry were heading over with Imriel, their conversation done.
It was time. “I’ll bring Gavriel, and Hope—I’m sure she’s cleansed by now.
And Percy was already ascended, so I bet he’ll come.
Oh, and I’ll grab my sheets. Anything else you want? ”
“Just you here, safe.” She pulled out her gold kazoo, tapping it on my nose. “I already got my kazoo. No vibe, though. But apparently, we can ask one of the retired Makers here to make us whatever stuff we want.”
“Dude, I’m a Maker. You better not be asking anyone else to make your sex toys, or whatever.”
“Heck no!” she scoffed, putting the kazoo in between her lips so her hands were free to fix my top. Mikhail coughed, raising an eyebrow at Sunny’s kazoo. Righteous grinned at it, too. I didn’t know why, but now really wasn’t the time for kazoo questions.
Imriel bowed in front of me like I was someone important, and I curtsied awkwardly back, holding the bottom edge of my shirt.
“Young Feather,” he said, and I bit the inside of my cheek not to reply with something snarky.
“The way to your destination won’t be lit with Celestial fire as it was when you traveled here.
There is no road to Sanctuary.” I nodded, remembering the blue light that Haneul had mentioned we needed to follow…
not that I had. “And the song you’ll need to guide you there is not your name. ”
Sunny frowned. “When she comes back, will her name be the right song then?”
“Yes, along with the Celestial key, her name will help her find this realm again,” Imriel replied, but even I could hear the truth he was hiding underneath his words. He didn’t expect me to return.
He didn’t expect me to live through this.