Chapter 4 Skye
Skye
By evening, I head toward one of the alcoves we were given to rest before continuing our journey. Harlow, Jade, and Stellan are a mess of limbs, my stepbrother spread between them with the demon and the phoenix curled into his sides. A small smile spreads across my face, relief warming my chest.
I never thought we'd get here. Even with the world as chaotic as it is, the six of us together is more than I could have hoped for.
Movement catches my eye from the alcove's far corner.
Rumi and Ambrose are tucked against the wall, sitting close enough that their shoulders touch, their heads bent together as they whisper things too quiet for me to hear.
Rumi's wing curves around Ambrose's back, a protective canopy of gold-streaked feathers, and Ambrose is leaning into him in a way I've rarely seen him.
Something has been building between them for a while now and watching them finally give in to it makes me happy
I cross the alcove quietly and settle beside Ambrose, close enough that my thigh presses against his. He glances at me, and I nod slightly. Permission. Encouragement. Whatever he needs from me right now.
Rumi moves first, turning Ambrose's face toward him and presses his lips to Ambrose's mouth.
The kiss is soft at first, almost tentative, both of them learning the shape of this new thing between them, Ambrose making a small sound as his hand comes up to grip Rumi's shoulder.
The kiss deepens, and my breath catches in my throat.
I've seen my mates kiss before, have been part of plenty of tangled moments where mouths found whoever was closest. But this is different. This is Rumi and Ambrose choosing each other specifically, exploring something that's been building between them, and I get to watch it unfold.
Rumi's hand slides into Ambrose's hair, tilting his head for a better angle, and Ambrose melts into it.
Centuries of control give way to desire, another soft sound escaping him, swallowed by Rumi's mouth.
Heat pools low in my stomach as I watch Rumi's tongue slide against Ambrose's lower lip, and then Ambrose open for him without hesitation.
Rumi pulls back just enough to catch his breath, his golden eyes dark with want. "You taste like magic," he murmurs against Ambrose's lips. "Old magic. I want more."
Ambrose answers by pulling him back in, and this time the kiss is hungrier, more desperate.
Rumi's wings shift restlessly behind him, the black threads in his aura pulsing with arousal.
Ambrose's green essence flickers around his fingers where they grip Rumi's shirt, like he's having trouble containing himself. And then there’s me, just hard from watching them, realizing it’s been a while since we did more than hold each other.
They break apart, both breathing harder, Rumi's golden eyes finding mine over Ambrose's shoulder. "Get over here," he muses, his voice rougher than usual.
I hesitate for a second before Ambrose twists around to pull me in between them.
I moan into Ambrose's mouth, feeling him smile against my lips as our essences start to tangle without conscious thought.
Pink and green and gold weave together in patterns that make my skin tingle, both of them flooding through the bond now, Ambrose's cool steadiness mixing with Rumi's burning want until it's almost too much.
Rumi's hand slides around my hip, fingers brushing against the bulge in my pants before continuing past. He's not reaching for me. His hand finds Ambrose's waistband instead, slipping beneath the fabric as Ambrose gasps against my mouth when Rumi wraps around his cock.
"Fuck," Ambrose breathes, hips jerking forward. The movement presses him against me, the hard length of him unmistakable even through our clothes.
Rumi starts to stroke, every reaction bleeding through the bond until I feel it like it's happening to me.
Ambrose's pleasure makes my own cock throb in sympathy, the exact pressure of Rumi's grip, the swipe of his thumb over the head, Ambrose's cool control shattering a little more with each stroke.
Ambrose retaliates by reaching around me, cool fingers sliding into Rumi's pants without warning.
Rumi groans against my shoulder, hips bucking into the touch, and now both of their pleasures are flooding through the bond.
Rumi's desperate heat and Ambrose's building tension echo back and forth with me caught in the middle.
That leaves me trapped between them with no one touching me directly, my cock aching while they work each other.
Rolling my hips instinctively, desperate for friction, the movement grinds my ass back against Rumi's cock while pressing my own against Ambrose's stomach.
"Please," I hear myself say, not even sure what I'm asking for.
"Greedy," Ambrose murmurs against my ear, but he shifts his hips to give me more to work with, his cock sliding against the thigh through our clothes.
Rumi presses harder against my back, his cock grinding against my ass through our clothes, giving me friction to push back into while my own length ruts against Ambrose's hip. I take it shamelessly. Not nearly enough, but I'm so wound up from watching them that I'll take whatever I can get.
We find a rhythm together, Rumi stroking Ambrose around my body, Ambrose stroking Rumi behind me, me grinding between them without shame.
The pleasure builds in waves, cresting and retreating, never quite enough to push me over.
Both of them are getting close through the bond, their essences flickering wildly, and I want to come so badly I might actually cry.
I'm so focused on the three of us that I almost miss the soft giggle from the entrance of the alcove.
We all look up at the same time. Stellan is standing just inside the alcove's entrance, inches from us, his eyes wide and dark with want, fire flickering visibly beneath his skin in response to the arousal thick in the air.
Harlow is pressed against his back, lips tracing a path along the side of Stellan's face, down to his jaw, his neck, one hand disappeared beneath Stellan's shirt.
From the way Stellan's breath hitches, those cold fingers are doing exactly what I think they're doing.
Jade is kneeling between Stellan's thighs, looking up at us with an evil grin on his face.
He's fully shifted, horns curving back from his forehead, tail swaying behind him, purple eyes gleaming with hunger that has nothing to do with food.
His mouth is wet, Stellan's pants undone, and it doesn't take much imagination to figure out what he's been doing down there.
"What?" Jade says, voice layered with that demonic resonance that always makes something clench low in my stomach. "I was hungry."
I snort, the sound turning into a moan when Rumi twists his wrist in a way that makes Ambrose buck forward against me.
"How long have you been watching?" Ambrose manages, voice strained.
"Long enough." Jade's grin sharpens. "You three are beautiful together. Very inspiring."
Stellan whimpers as Harlow's teeth graze his neck, hips jerking toward Jade's face. "Less talking," he gasps. "More—ah—"
Jade takes him back into his mouth, and Stellan's head falls back against Harlow's shoulder. The sight of it, Stellan coming apart between them while I'm trapped between Rumi and Ambrose, makes my cock pulse with need.
Then Jade's tail finds me.
It slides through the space between us, tracing up my inner thigh before wrapping around the base of my cock through my pants. The pressure is tight enough to feel but not enough to get me off. "Jade," I gasp.
He pulls off Stellan long enough to answer, lips obscenely wet. "Yes, Praestes?"
"What if someone comes over here?" My voice cracks as his tail tightens. "We're not exactly hidden." It’s a bit too late to ask that now.
Harlow lifts his head from Stellan's neck, pale eyes finding mine in the dim light. "Then they see six mates enjoying what Mother Nature gave them."
I open my mouth to protest, something about propriety or timing or the fact that we're supposed to be building diplomatic relationships with this community, not fucking in their guest alcove. Jade chooses that moment to push a burst of his essence through the tail wrapped around me.
Demonic energy floods my system, pleasure so intense it borders on pain.
My eyes roll back, whole body going rigid as the orgasm tears through me without warning.
The cry that escapes me gets lost somewhere between Ambrose's arms tightening to keep me upright and Rumi's groan vibrating against the back of my neck as my release bleeds through the bonds and touches all of them.
I come so hard my vision whites out.
When I come back to myself, I'm slumped against Ambrose's chest, trembling with aftershocks. Rumi breathes hard against the back of my neck, his hand still wrapped around Ambrose's cock though it's gone still. Neither of them finished, holding back when I went off like a firework between them.
"Holy shit," Stellan says from the entrance, voice awed. "Did you just—"
"Jade's essence," I manage weakly, a soft laugh following. "It's a lot."
Jade's tail is still wrapped around me, and now it starts to move again, stroking up and down my length through the soaked fabric of my pants. The groan that escapes me is involuntary, my cock oversensitive but already feeling the first stirrings of renewed interest.
"You didn't think we were done, did you?" Jade's grin sharpens. "The night is young, Skye. And I'm still hungry."
He punctuates the statement by swallowing Stellan back down, and Stellan makes a sound like he's dying in the best possible way.
Rumi's hand starts moving again, stroking Ambrose with renewed purpose, while Ambrose tightens his grip on Rumi behind me.
Both of them build toward the edge through the bond while Harlow catches my eye over Stellan's shoulder, before twisting Stellan’s head just enough to properly kiss and claim his mouth while Jade claims everything below.
We're a mess of hands and mouths and essences tangling together, six people who've somehow become one, pleasure echoing between bonds until I can't tell where I end and they begin.