Chapter Fifty-Seven
Saphyra
E verything felt right in that moment. Grey’s teeth in my flesh and the surge of pleasure shared from the bond made me whole for an instant, but as he slipped from me, that aching hollowness crept back in until it was a gnawing void. A dark, empty abyss of unsated hunger blooming in my chest. For a split second, I’d thought this torment was over, but it was only getting worse.
Through half-lidded eyes, I watched Grey panting. Gathering himself. His brows drawn together in concern or contemplation. I wasn’t sure.
Shadow’s arms banded around me from behind, steadying my balance. His hot skin was soothing on my back, but it was like a single drop of rain in an ocean of need.
We were on a mission. People’s lives were in danger, and my needs were selfish. I fought against these ridiculous emotions. With so much at risk, I couldn’t afford the luxury of a raging lust induced heat right now. Even with my thoughts clouded, I knew that. There wasn’t time for my silly omega foolishness.
I swallowed down the whine lingering on my tongue. “I’m fine. The tea is starting to work.”
Grey’s attention snapped up to me, studying my flushed skin and feverish eyes. “I don’t believe that for a second. You’re trying to be strong, but you needn’t be. We’re here to help you and there are hours before morning. Yes, we were caught off-guard, but it’s nothing we can’t handle together. Heats are natural, easily addressed. And more than that, I think I’ve determined what’s causing your other symptoms.”
I tried to step out of Shadow’s embrace, but my legs wobbled. Lex and Ghost were right there, both steadying me even though Shadow hadn’t wavered. They surrounded me on every side, and I trembled at their nearness.
I blinked through the haze, my eyes focusing on Grey.
He didn’t hesitate or look away. “I believe you’re experiencing a rapid onset of bond sickness due to the premature trigger of your estrus cycle. Based on your symptoms, and my brief affliction with it, it would be best to complete the bonds. Now.”
Shadow’s arms closed around me, his considerable girth sliding between my slick-drenched thighs. His hot breath fanned my neck, and his lips brushed against the overly sensitive column of my throat. It felt right. My body ached to feel his teeth sink inside me. The void in my chest throbbed and my heart stuttered from the press of it. I wanted this. I’d wanted it for a long time, but I’d been told it was reckless and dangerous. But now, there was nothing holding us back.
We’d seen the evidence. Everything they fed us was a lie. It was only the deceptive words of a petty usurper weaving her web, trying to keep us apart. To keep me weak.
There was no other answer. There never had been. “Yes.” My voice was barely a whisper, but it echoed through the trees.
Before the sound had faded from the night, Shadow’s teeth punched into my neck and I squeaked in shock. The harsh bite of pain flooded my senses, but a rush of relief soon swallowed it. One of his hands snaked between my breasts to cradle my throat, tipping my head to allow for better access. The other hand dropped between my thighs, sliding through the cum and slick and plunging into my body.
I moaned out my approval, and then Ghost was there in front of me, stealing my attention. “Do you really want this, princess? We can find another way.”
I’d wanted it for too long already. Now that it was happening, it was like a dream. “I’ve never not wanted this.”
Ghost slid his hand under Shadow’s and moved it from my neck. Shadow growled grumpily from where his mouth was still covering his newly minted mate mark but gave ground, releasing his hold.
Lex watched from beside us, his body tense. I couldn’t imagine that he enjoyed having to wait, but he was getting better at sharing. His eyes were locked onto my throat. Holding himself back.
The warm brush of Ghost’s lips drew my attention to him as he pressed soft kisses from the corner of my mouth, behind my ear, and down my neck. My pulse throbbed in anticipation of the pain and bliss that would come with his bite. I tensed as his mouth opened over the curve of my throat and his teeth scraped the surface of my skin. His jaw closed, puncturing my flesh.
Ghost grabbed my thighs, wrapping them around his hips and pushed his thick cock past Shadow’s fingers into my dripping pussy at the same moment. Dizzying pleasure burned through my veins unlike anything I could’ve imagined. I teetered on the edge of bliss. Shadow released his hold and his finger moved to my clit. My orgasm rushed to the surface but Ghost’s neck was right there, and suddenly I was fixated by it.
The movement of his throat, as he branded his claim into my flesh, taunted me. It tempted me and drove me forward. I found my hands in his hair, before I even knew what I was doing, tilting his head so my teeth could find their mark. He released me as I bit into his flesh and felt our connection snap into place. His hot blood rolled into my mouth, tasting of copper and fog lingering over a long forgotten sea, just as pleasure crashed into me. It was everything that was him, and his emotions flooded into the void, ripping open in my chest.
This was the answer. It was working, but I was still starving.
Ghost’s legs shook with exertion, and the warmth of Shadow’s skin drifted away, replaced by the immovable strength of Lex. Shadow stayed close to Lex’s side, licking blood from his lips. I remained pinned between the two alphas, stuffed full of Ghost’s pulsing cock, but incomplete. The scent of oak trees blended with fog, smoke, and night air, blanketing me in a cocoon of ecstasy.
Lex’s length slid between my thighs alongside where Ghost was pumping into me, coating himself in the slippery mess. The heat haze shrouded my thoughts, and all that was left was pleasure and longing. Needy hunger encompassing every nuance of my existence.
Hot breath buffeted my ear as Lex’s velvet growl sent shivers down my spine. Ghost slowed his pace, and Lex’s swollen tip nudged up against where Ghost was seated deep inside me.
I whimpered and tilted my head, baring my throat to my waiting alpha. His lips were like searing brands, but nothing to rival the burning inferno of his teeth pressing into my skin and his cock sinking in alongside Ghost’s.
A cry of pleasure caught on my tongue. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t make a sound. My body was frozen as Lex infiltrated every part of me. Then they started to move. A wildfire spiraled in my belly. They filled me to my breaking point. The heat climbed, and I was turning to ash. Ghost’s cock swelled impossibly and his molten cum gushed. His knot teased me open but pulled free before it locked and I sobbed at its absence.
Ghost stumbled away, sitting on the ledge with Grey, panting and stroking the last bit of release from his rigid length.
Shadow moved in front of me, filling my field of vision. “You’re far from done, little omega.” He grabbed my legs and settled them around his hips.
Lex, still at my back, barely missed a thrust in the shuffle.
Cum and slick flooded down my thighs and Shadow’s thick girth shoved into my pussy beside Lex’s shaft. It felt like being pulled in two in the best possible way. Pain mixed with pleasure, and my body reveled in it.
My teeth ached knowing how close I was to complete, and Shadow must have known it, too. My arms tangled around his neck, pulling him to me. His smoky scent filled my nose and saliva pooled in my mouth. My gaze locked onto the thick muscle running down the side of his throat, curving to meet his shoulder. I lunged, biting into his flesh. His harsh groan rumbled against my chest as his cum poured into me.
Shadow’s groan was a pained whisper that echoed in my soul. “Fuck. Why does it feel so good?”
His emotions, heavy and dark like the sweetest treacle, flooded the vast emptiness behind my ribs. I couldn’t process it all, so I just let it flow over me. Content to exist in it, without understanding it.
My body started to flag. The exertion of the night, or maybe the tea working its magic, taking its toll. There was still something I needed to do.
When Shadow lowered me to my feet, I slid off their cocks and turned to face Lex. He was the last one. The only one left. I laid my palms against his chest and pushed softly, hoping he would yield to my touch. His brows bunched, but he took a step back, and then another, until the backs of his legs hit the edge of the ledge circling the pool. He glanced behind him and I put more pressure until he sat down on the stone shelf.
I placed one knee next to his hip, and then the other until I was kneeling in his lap. His eyes locked on to mine as I lowered myself down onto his swollen shaft. My lips tingled, and I pressed them against his, coaxing them apart. As soon as he relented, my tongue darted in, stroking along his while my hips rolled in long strokes.
My conscious thoughts were clearing. The hollow chasm behind my ribs ebbed. He was the final missing piece. The first one I loved, the last one to bond. He’d come to find me when everyone else had given up, to save me, and he brought my entire world with him. Without him, none of us would be here. He was far from perfect, but he was exactly who I needed him to be.
I pulled back from our kiss and looked into his eyes for the space of a breath before nuzzling against his skin. The base of his cock grew as I rocked my hips, pushing it deeper inside. My mouth skated over his neck, seeking the spot that called to me. I waited, tracing my tongue over his collarbone and up his throat.
His knot swelled and thickened as his fingers dug into my ass, grinding me along his shaft over and over. When my lips finally parted, he was shaking with restraint. His need for release was just as strong as mine.
I bit down, and he shoved himself deep, his knot locking in place, and pumping me full of cum as the bond sealed. His love and possessiveness gripped me and held me like it would never let go, and I never wanted it to. This was him in his rawest, most undiluted form. It was never going to be soft or easy. I didn’t expect it to be. They were all there, connected irrevocably, and I felt more complete than I ever had. My sweet caretaker, my light-hearted joker, my brooding fathomless darkness, and my loving protector, all lodged inside my chest. Right where I know they’ve always belonged.
Fuck Edeth for trying to keep them from me. And fuck the Imperatrix for sending her here to murder my family. Fuck them both for keeping me from this.
The trees overhead lit with a torrent of colors, and my heart hammered until I looked up. The shield pulsed with rainbow color, stronger even than when it was first activated. It didn’t look the same as when it deflected an attack. It was brighter. Brilliant arcs of light cascaded from horizon to horizon, gradually drifting away, but the crackling power lingered.
I had a feeling that completing the bond had energized it in some way. The searchers were going to be even more ravenous to find us now.