Chapter 10
TEN
Z
“ E verybody out.” Shadows coalesced around Ryland’s broad form as he pushed through my mates, his ice-blue eyes never leaving my own.
In his gaze, I could see a myriad of emotions, all of them capable of burrowing under my skin and creating a home there. Desperation, fear, pain, and a relief so potent I felt weak in the knees just looking at him.
“Ryland…” Devlin began, scrubbing at the scruff on his jawline.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d ever seen him with this much stubble, let alone a beard. It made him look harsher. Angrier.
“Everybody. Out,” Ryland repeated in a tone I’d never heard before.
The dark strands caressing his body flickered in the candlelight.
“Now isn’t the time—” Lupe tried, but Ryland shot the shifter a glare so full of vitriol that he immediately snapped his mouth shut. His jaw gritted so tightly, I was surprised he didn’t break a bone, the bear shifter said, “One hour. But we need to talk.”
He shifted his gaze to me, running them up and down my body as if he were afraid he would never see me again, before he turned towards the tent flap. The others seemed reluctant to leave me—and I’d be the first to admit I didn’t want them to go—but one by one, they trickled out of the tent.
I wanted to call for them to come back. To ask them what happened when I was away. To figure out how Dair had ended up back in the wheelchair.
But my tongue turned to cotton in my mouth.
Only Bash remained, his firm lips pressed together in a way that almost resembled a pout.
“Don’t you dare kick me out, brother,” Bash said firmly, snaking an arm around my waist. He walked us both backwards until he sat on the edge of the cot with me in his lap. “I just went through a bunch of shit, and I need to feel my girl in my arms.”
The butterflies in my chest went crazy at his dogmatic declaration.
Ryland stalked towards me like a man possessed, his head lowered, his hands fisted by his sides, his breathing erratic. The shadows trailed after him in a way that almost reminded me of fire—dark, inky flames that haloed his body.
I preferred it when I could see his face, though I knew he hated his scars. There was something so…genuine about Ryland, from his intense blue eyes, to the stubble grazing his jawline, to the proud set of his lips.
And just then, he was homing in on me with the acute awareness of a hunter stalking prey. I felt like a rabbit staring down a notched bow.
“We didn’t know what happened to you,” Ryland rasped, shaking out his hands. He shifted his attention to Bash behind me. “Either of you.”
“There’s a lot we need to tell you guys,” I said. “And I think there’s a lot you need to tell us. What happened while we were gone? Why is Dair back in the wheelchair? Why?—”
“Later,” Ryland growled, gripping my chin between his thumb and forefinger and dragging my head up.
He applied the slightest bit of pressure—enough to make me gasp in surprise—and then he lowered his head.
But he didn’t kiss me.
He merely stared at me, his lips hovering over mine, the air stirring with an acrimonious tension between us.
Bash began to kiss my neck, starting just beneath my ear.
“I can’t lose you, Z,” Ryland whispered in a voice husky with emotion. “I won’t.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, though I wasn’t sure if that was the appropriate response.
It wasn’t as if I could control what happened during these trials.
Though it was worrying that time moved differently while we were there…wherever there was.
What if I lost an entire month during the next trial? A year? Ten years?
The thought sent panic spiraling through me, causing my heart to race.
But before I could descend into a never-ending plethora of “what if” questions, Bash bit down on my neck, tugging the skin between his teeth.
I gasped and arched against him. I could feel his cock digging into me from below.
Ryland abruptly released my face and straightened to his full height, towering over me. His ice-blue eyes roamed over my face—cataloging my parted lips, flushed cheeks, and glazed-over eyes, currently hooded from pleasure and anticipation.
“I won’t leave you, Ryland,” I whispered as Bash slid my shirt to the side so he had better access to my shoulder.
“Prove it,” my shadow hissed, and a rush of heat shot straight to my core.
Feeling bold, I reached for the waistband of his pants and slid them down his thighs, stopping only when his thick cock sprang free. He was commando, which wasn’t a surprise, given the lack of clothing in the camp.
I grabbed the base and began to stroke him, rubbing my thumb over the precum on the tip.
Ryland’s expression shuttered, and his lashes fluttered against his cheeks. He tilted his head back with a moan that had my legs clenching together.
I stopped only once to help Bash pull my shirt over my head.
“You’re so fucking perfect, babe. So beautiful.” Bash reached around me to tweak my hardened nipples.
“You know what would make her even more beautiful?” Ryland gripped his cock as an effortless smirk curled up one corner of his lips. “My cock between her lips.”
“Yes,” I all but begged, leaning forward slightly.
“So eager to please,” Ryland purred. He used one hand to guide his cock to my waiting lips while the other hand stroked my blonde hair. “Such a good little slut.”
He pushed his thick cock inside of me one inch at a time while Bash continued to fondle my tits.
Trusting Bash to keep me upright, I leaned forward and gripped Ryland’s thighs, allowing him to sink even deeper into my mouth. Saliva dripped down my chin, but Ryland didn’t let up his ruthless pace, fucking my mouth the way he often did with my pussy. I dug my nails into his skin as he moved faster, faster, faster.
But just before he could come inside of me, he pulled out, leaving me feeling oddly bereft.
Fuck that.
I grabbed his wet cock and brought it back to my lips, licking it from base to crown and then back down again. One of my hands continued to grip his thigh while the other moved to cup his balls.
“Holy fuck, Z,” Ryland panted as I continued to lick, kiss, and nip at his erect dick.
“You suck cock like such a good girl,” Bash praised, stroking my naked back.
“If you keep this up, I’m not going to be able to come inside of you like I planned,” Ryland warned, his eyes flaring with desperation and a wicked type of heat.
“We can’t have that, can we?” Bash tsked his tongue disapprovingly as he grabbed both of my arms and pulled me back, stopping when I lay flush against his chest.
I let out a jittery breath, feeling a blush take over my entire body.
I didn’t even recognize my voice when I whispered, “Then get naked and fuck me already.”
Ryland’s eyes widened nearly imperceptibly before narrowing.
“Do you think you deserve to get fucked, little assassin?” His words were a breath against my face, a promise of what was to come.
Or maybe a threat.
Even in the bedroom, I could never entirely submit—not even to my mates.
I narrowed my eyes and snarked, “It’s not my damn fault.”
Wrong answer.
Ryland glared at me intently, the churning in his eyes reminiscent of a maelstrom, before he lunged for me. The next thing I knew, I was bent over his knee, my sleep shorts discarded on the floor.
“What the fuck, Ryland?!” I screeched, indignant.
Or at least, I tried to sound indignant. I’d never been in this position before, and despite my embarrassment, a rush of heat swept through me in a toasty inferno.
Ryland’s strong fingers played with the edges of my panties.
“Maybe it wasn’t your fault, but it’s not as if I can punish Lilith.” He pushed my underwear aside to lovingly, almost reverently, caress one of my ass cheeks.
A tremor worked its way through me, seemingly in tandem with the lava traversing my veins.
“I mean, you could, but I doubt Z would want you spanking her mother,” Bash drawled.
At some point, he had moved to stand directly in front of me, his shirt off and his pants just low enough for his cock to come out. He wrapped his fist around his long girth and gave it a squeeze.
Every muscle in my belly flipped over itself, and my mouth watered.
And then his words registered, and all of my lust was capsized by a tidal wave of ferocious anger and jealousy.
“Don’t even joke about that,” I bit out.
Both men chuckled.
“Someone’s feeling possessive,” Bash said in a singsong voice, giving his dick another squeeze.
I glared at him from my position over Ryland’s knee. “Am not.”
Smack.
Pain exploded on my ass cheek from the slap, and I gasped, arching my back.
Ryland smoothed his hand over the tender skin, his fingers once again fiddling with the edges of my lace panties.
“Don’t lie,” he warned in a rough voice.
“I wasn’t lying,” I snapped.
Smack. Smack.
I’d never been spanked before, and I thought I would be humiliated to have it done to me now. But I didn’t feel that way. How could I, when I could see the fire in Bash’s eyes, the gentle adoration in his half smirk? And intermixed with the pain was a lust so consuming that it threatened to drown me.
Drown in them .
“Try again,” Ryland said.
I glared at nothing in particular before gritting out, “Okay. Maybe I’m a little possessive.”
Smack.
Softer this time.
“What?” I asked, incredulous.
“That was half a lie.” Bash smirked at me.
“Fuck you both.” I lifted myself up with my elbows just to give the cocky mage the middle finger. “Fine. Whatever. I’m extremely possessive of you all.”
Understatement of the century.
I would kill any woman or man who dared to take them from me.
“Good girl,” Ryland praised.
There was a ripping sound, and then my panties fluttered to the floor, cleaved in two. I opened my mouth to protest, but the words lodged in my throat when Ryland’s fingers expertly slid through my slick folds.
“How wet is she?” Bash asked, stroking himself slowly, almost indolently.
His half-mast eyes never strayed from my face.
“See for yourself.” Ryland pulled his fingers out of my pussy, and Bash stalked forward.
I followed his movements with my eyes, watching as he stopped in front of Ryland, who had his fingers in the air.
Was he really going to…?
My breath hitched, my heart rate picking up speed, when Bash grabbed Ryland’s wrist and brought his fingers to his mouth. He swirled his tongue around the tip of Ryland’s fingers before taking them deep, moaning low in his throat.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t think.
Couldn’t do anything but watch the erotic display with bated breath, a tight rubber band constricting around my chest, hellbent on suffocating me.
Holy fucking shit.
Bash released Ryland’s fingers with a satisfied smirk, his green gaze sliding to me. “Fucking divine.”
Ryland chuckled and lowered his hand back to my pussy, two fingers entering my tight channel. My eyes squeezed tight reflexively but then opened again when I felt pressure on my chin.
Bash stood in front of me, his pants discarded and a sinful smirk on his luscious lips. His weeping cock was so close I could lick it.
So I did, snaking my tongue out to lick at the seam.
“I got a little jealous watching you suck Ryland’s cock like it was your favorite pastime,” he confessed with the wickedness of the devil himself.
Ryland’s fingers paused their ministrations, and he leaned over my body, lowering his face so his lips brushed my ear. “We wouldn’t want one of your mates to be jealous, would we?”
“Not at all,” I breathed, returning Bash’s sly smirk with one of my own.
As Ryland continued to finger my tight pussy, I leaned forward slightly and pressed a kiss to the very tip of Bash’s dick. It jerked slightly, and Bash groaned.
“Z…”
“Yeah?” I batted my eyelashes up at him innocently as I kissed him yet again.
Placing one hand on Ryland’s thigh to drag myself up, I reached forward with my other hand and gripped the base of Bash’s cock. I held it upwards so I could plant chaste kisses to the underside of his dick, following the tantalizing line of a vein.
“My fucking god. You’re such an evil tease,” he moaned.
“Is she now?” Ryland murmured.
His fingers abruptly left my pussy. I only had to wait a moment before…smack.
“Fuck,” I breathed, my ass stinging.
A pair of soft lips replaced the hand on my cheek. Ryland pressed a soft kiss to the abused skin before pulling away.
“Ry…”
“Do you want my tongue in your pussy, Z?” he asked huskily.
“God, yes. Yes, please.” I tried to look over my shoulder at him, wanting desperately to see his expression, but Bash grabbed my golden curls and forced my gaze back to him.
“Then suck Bash’s cock like a good girl,” Ryland instructed.
A part of me wanted to continue teasing the mage, driving him insane with want and need the way he often did to me, but I knew Ryland would have his own revenge if I did so.
Bash guided his cock back to my lips, and I parted for him immediately, allowing him to sink in inch by inch.
“Fuck, you’re so good at this, Z. So fucking good.” Bash wrapped my hair around his wrist as he began to fuck me.
I started to smile around his length because…yeah, I was pretty good at this.
“Good girl,” Ryland breathed, and then I felt the air shift behind me.
I was lifted, and the body beneath me moved away. When I was lowered once more, I was on my hands and knees, Bash’s cock still deep in my throat.
Hands landed on my hips and guided me down. Both Bash and I followed until I was sitting on Ryland’s face.
Oh…
Oh fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
His tongue speared my lips and then immediately circled my tiny nub, which had quickly become the epicenter of my entire universe. He alternated between plundering my folds with his tongue and torturing my poor, abused clit.
I began to cry around Bash’s cock as the pleasure threatened to overtake me—consume me in a way I wouldn’t recover from.
I was so close.
So, so close…
Bash pulled out of my mouth at the same moment Ryland lifted me off of his face. I opened my mouth to scream at them—and threaten bodily harm—when a gentle hand landed on the small of my back, nudging me back onto my hands and knees.
Something hard pressed against my pussy from behind.
“You ready for me, Z?” Ryland whispered huskily.
When I whimpered, unable to articulate a response, Ryland slapped my ass cheek once more.
“I need verbal confirmation. Do you want this?”
“Yes, Ry. I want you. I want you inside of me so fucking badly.” I peered up at Bash through my lashes. “Both of you.”
“Fucking hell.” Sweat dotted Bash’s forehead as he guided his cock back to my waiting lips.
He thrust into me from in front at the same time Ryland slid into me from behind, his massive cock stretching me and pushing me to my very limit.
And then we were nothing but writhing bodies, our pleasure feeding into one another, compounding into something visceral and tangible. The butterflies in my stomach seemed to be tripping on acid. All of my thoughts narrowed down to this moment, this place, these guys. Lust moved in riotous swirls inside of me as I found myself climbing higher, higher, higher.
One of Ryland’s fingers snaked between our bodies and flicked my clit.
“Come for me,” he instructed.
A ripple of desire tore through me, and then I exploded into glittering shards of bliss. I thought I screamed around Bash’s cock, but I couldn’t be certain. All I knew was that my heart vaulted into my throat, and bright light lanced across my vision.
“Oh, fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Bash chanted as he spilled his load down my throat.
I swallowed most of it, but some cascaded down my chin, hitting the mattress beneath us.
Ryland’s hands tightened on my hips as he thrust into me one last time—going impossibly deep inside of me—and then he came with a roar of his own. His body collapsed on top of mine, and he rested his forehead against my sweaty back.
Bash slowly slid his dick out of my mouth and collapsed on his ass beside me.
“Holy fuck,” he breathed.
Holy fuck indeed.
I wasn’t sure if I could ever move again. My limbs felt like lead weights, and my eyelids seemed to be coated in concrete.
But I couldn’t just stay in bed all day, as much as I wished otherwise.
Reality was slapping me in the face, demanding I pay attention, and I had no choice but to unbury my head from the sand.
“I think we need to get up,” I murmured dazedly.
“Yeah,” both men parroted.
None of us moved.
“Everything is shit right now, isn’t it?” I said.
“Yeah,” they both answered.
Again, none of us moved.
I blew out a breath, scrubbed a hand down my face, and then reluctantly rolled away from Ryland.
It was time we faced the music.
What, exactly, had happened when we were gone?