32. Chapter 32
Chapter thirty-two
SAGE
I was never going to get used to this. It was like there was a hole in my chest where my demon used to be, but now he was right here next to me instead. I was staring again, but I couldn’t seem to wrap my brain around it.
Apparently, it was a close call after what happened in that basement, and I almost didn’t make it. Elliot could only heal enough to keep me alive that first night because without Keir locked inside me, my human body was too weak to even handle the amount of healing magic needed. Luca had fed me his blood, just in case, but the slow healing, bit by bit as I regained my strength eventually worked. My arm was still in a sling, the bones in my shoulder still broken, but I would heal eventually, so that was a win. Unlike the fight with Mars.
I’d woken up in Ollie's house after three days of healing, sandwiched by Keir and Luca. My brain was hazy and the memories of the boarding house were broken and vague at the end there. I knew there was a fight, that Keir had been in serious trouble, but I hadn’t been much help.
The two of them filled in the blanks while I recovered and Keir couldn’t hide the fear in his eyes when he told us Mars had his name. His demon name. Which meant the second Mars was sure he could avoid what happened with the other mage, he would summon Keir away and bind him again.
“Are we sure this is going to work?” I asked Elliot for the hundredth time. “Will I be strong enough to keep him from Mars?” Because Mars was clearly confident in the fact that I couldn’t.
Elliot gave me a kind smile, always patient with my endless questions. But Ollie, who was dumping spell components on the circle with much less precision than Elliot’s carefully measured ones, rolled her eyes at me.
“Dude, we’ve been over this. Mars is strong after all that dabbling with dark magic, but he’s still a half-mage. You’re a witch now and Keir will be with you by choice, that’s a strong bond. Plus, since witch magic is more neutral and demons are compatible with sorcery, Elliot can lend his power to the spell. A half-mage won’t be able to fuck with that.”
“He’s not a regular half-mage anymore,” I argued. “He’s dedicated his life to obtaining power and he’s turned himself into something else. Something we can’t know the limits of. He called himself an archmage.”
Ollie sucked in a breath and Zane’s conversation with Ash across the room came to a sudden stop.
Jet had been in the next room with Evie and he stepped inside with her in his arms. “Ash killed the archmage,” he growled.
The fear in Ollie’s eyes was a rare thing as she met Zane’s eyes and crossed the room to take Evie from Jet. “Obviously he wasn’t the only one. And they want the same thing.”
“You’ve heard of an archmage before?” I asked, careful of the obviously sensitive topic. “One that was after a demon?”
Zane curled his lip. “We met one a while back, but we thought it was just a stupid title he’d given himself. He was a strong mage with a collection of strong magical artifacts and got himself a stone that eliminated magic.”
“Like the spell at the hunter facility?” I asked. That was a very rare spell, to run into one twice was unlikely.
Ollie shook her head. “No, the one at the hunter facility suppressed magic, but it didn’t eliminate it. This stone was old and powerful, it had a limited range, but within that circle magic didn’t exist.”
My eyes widened. The spell was that powerful?
Seeing my shock, Ash nodded. “Even our glamours were gone. The fire that is a part of me, that burns inside me constantly, couldn’t be reached at all. We were powerless.”
“Could it have been Mars?” Luca asked. “How sure are you that he died and didn’t get away?”
“He’s dead,” Ash confirmed. “He made a grave mistake thinking that I cast from my hands like a magic user and I burned his whole estate to ash. There’s no way he survived.”
“But it can’t be a coincidence, right?” Zane asked. “He wanted to bind a demon to prove he was equal to sorcerers, and it kind of seems like Mars has the same game plan.”
“The child is a demon?” Keir asked, apparently taking note of the way her parents now stood protectively around her like Mars or his fellow evil mages could show up at any moment. “You must keep her away from Mars,” he continued, not waiting for an answer. “He will not hesitate to use even a baby if it will give him power. Do not make the mistake of underestimating him. The covens did that years ago and it destroyed them.”
“We bound her to every one of us,” Elliot said. “As long as one of us lives, he can’t touch her. But he’ll never get near her anyway.”
“Let’s get this spell going so he can’t use Keir against us either,” Ollie decided. “Sage can look into the archmages once that’s done.”
They finished the spell and some of the hollowness in my chest faded once that connection appeared, though it wasn’t even close to the same. Still, I could feel the gentle hum of the new spell and something inside me settled at the faint presence.
“Okay, step two,” Elliot said. “A glamour.”
Keir’s head tipped. “I can remain in the shadows if you do not want me to be seen.”
Elliot raised an eyebrow at the three of us. “What about when they want you to be seen?”
The demon frowned. “I don’t understand.”
Ollie laughed and winked at me and I realized I’d been caught staring a little too much. I snuck a glance at Luca, a little worried about what he would think of my attachment to Keir, but he simply reached for my hand and squeezed. I let out a relieved breath and clutched his hand back.
Elliot placed a hand on Keir’s shoulder and began casting, when he was done, he stepped back and examined his work. Keir’s gray skin had faded into a tan human tone similar to Luca's, most of his markings were gone, but a few remained in the darker gray trailing from one shoulder down his chest. His dark hair was mostly the same, though it was now tinted with a brown undertone to make it look more natural. His slightly pointed ears were now rounded, his sharp fangs dulled, his sharp claws became blunt human fingers with neatly trimmed nails. Gray eyes, now a few shades lighter, turned my way in question. He was still beautiful, but not quite as mesmerizing as his true form.
“What is the purpose of this? I cannot fight as effectively in this skin.”
“Not everything is about fighting, Keir,” Luca explained, reaching out to take his hand. “We don’t want you to have to hide in the shadows every time we go anywhere.”
“I can better protect you from the shadows.”
Doubt made me hesitate. It seemed like Luca and I were on the same page, but maybe Keir didn’t feel the same way. Whether we knew it at the time or not, he’d been with us every step of the way. Luca was the first man he’d accepted in my life. From the things he’d said before, I was sure… Wait, did it mean he only wanted Luca? For all I knew he resented having to protect me all this time. He hadn’t argued when we threw out the idea of re-binding him to me, but maybe he felt obligated because of my grandmother.
Luca saw the questions in my eyes, and he wrapped an arm around my waist. “Whatever your thinking isn’t the issue.”
Elliot laid a hand on my shoulder and continued his healing now that I was stronger and bound to Keir, but I ignored him in favor of the oddly confident Luca.
“How do you know?”
“Because I see the way he looks at you. If anything, I’m the third wheel here.”
“What?” Keir and I echoed in unison.
“You’re not a third wheel,” I insisted.
“What are you talking about?” Keir asked. “You belong with Sage. You’re the first partner I didn’t have to chase off. Don’t leave because I’m here now. I will stay in the shadows, you won’t even know I’m there.”
Keir took a step back, like he was going to vanish, but Luca and I each grabbed an arm to keep him there.
Elliot sighed behind me as he removed the sling. “I know how you feel,” he told Keir. “But I think you guys are missing the point here.”
“What point is that?” I asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Ollie asked. “Why settle for two wheels when you can have three?” She waved a hand and her men. “Or five.”
Keir finally understood what we were talking about and his eyes widened. “No, that’s not…” He shook his head, looking to us to back up his denial, but his brow furrowed when he didn’t read what he was expecting on our faces. The paler tone of his glamour couldn’t hide the blush on his cheeks and Zane’s smirk told me we had nothing to worry about.
Unable to hide my relief, I threw myself into his arms and Keir instinctively caught me, his arms wrapping me up protectively as Luca pulled us into his chest.
“Let’s go home.”
KEIR
Sage stumbled back and dropped onto the bed while Luca wavered on his feet. I might have been a little abrupt with that jump.
“The car could’ve worked too,” Luca said, reminding me that he’d made a run to pick up some of Sage’s things and his car was still at Ollie’s house.
My face heated again in a physical reaction I was no longer accustomed to experiencing. I stepped back again. “I’ll go back.”
They both grabbed my arms again, pulling me between them.
“Leave it,” Luca chucked. “I’ll get it later.”
The look in his eyes was one I’d never thought I’d see directed at me. I’d seen men with lust in their eyes for Sage plenty of times, most of them not nearly good enough for him. It had taken only a glimpse of me to send those guys running, but Luca never feared me.
I wasn’t the one people wanted like this. Spending so much time with Sage meant I understood sex, and I was sometimes maybe a little closer to the experience than I should have been when it came to Luca, but that didn’t mean I’d ever done this myself. I was young when Rosemary found me and even after all the time I spent with her, it wasn’t something I’d ever given any thought to until Sage grew up and took me along for the ride.
The first time someone dared to lay their hands on Sage I’d been outraged. Had he not had his birthright sealed away from him, he would have been the heir to the revered Blackwood coven. As far as those of us involved were concerned, he was our prince. And yet some fiend had the nerve to grope him openly on a dance floor in some dirty bar.
“What are you thinking that’s got you so worked up?” Sage asked as he pried open my clenched fist and slid his fingers between mine.
“The first time another man touched you.”
Sage laughed. “That made you angry?”
“I wanted to rip his arms off. But I didn’t think I could do it without revealing myself to you.”
“Missing arms are kind of noticeable,” he agreed. “But there’s no need to dwell on that stuff now.”
Luca took my other hand. “Look, I’ve been running away from things for a long time now. Sage was the one person who made me face that, and I’ll admit I didn’t handle it well. But while I can’t make my fears disappear overnight, I’m going to trust myself enough to try to make this work. A big part of that is because you’re here.” His warm hazel eyes met mine. “Every time I’ve started to stumble, it was you who made sure I never crossed the line, wasn’t it?”
My eyes dropped to our hands. Admitting that I’d been the one to make him release Sage when he’d struggled to let go, that I was the one who bit him in the shower when I’d wanted Sage to regain control… it would be admitting that I’d been intruding on their private moments.
“Keir,” Luca’s gentle tone had me meeting his eyes again. “Thank you. The two of you are exactly what I needed to come out of this cycle of self-loathing I was stuck in. Sage pushed me to keep moving forward, and you've given me a sense of security while I navigate through things I’m still not confident about. With the two of you beside me, I think I can face the things I’ve been running from for so long. I guess the point is, I don’t want Sage to have any other partners besides the two of us ever again. Are you two okay with that?”
Sage’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“If you’ll have me.”
“Yes!”
“I didn’t expect you to agree so quickly,” I told Sage. I knew his feeling for Luca ran deep, but he still hadn’t made the decision to stay in Eastbend permanently.
“A lot has changed,” he admitted. “Before it felt like there wasn’t much reason for me to stay. I helped as much as I could, but anything I did could have been done by Ollie or the others, and probably more easily. It felt like I was trying to wedge myself into a world that didn’t want or need me. Now I know the fight in Eastbend involves me and my family far more than anyone realized. And I have my magic back, which means I’m a true Blackwood witch. It’s my responsibility to deal with Mars. This house calls to me, my grandmother’s research is here, and I’m twenty years behind in my studies. But most importantly, you two are here. Arizona is no place for a vampire and a shadow demon.”
“We can be together anywhere,” Luca said.
Sage shook his head. “You have a job you love here, our friends are here, we are needed here. We belong here, I just needed a new perspective.”
Their eyes turned to me as if expecting something.
“What?”
Sage laughed. “That was your cue to tell us if you’re in.”
“Do you want to keep Sage to ourselves from now on?” Luca added. “Can you accept a vampire as a long-term partner? Especially knowing that has a whole new meaning in our case.”
It was true, while shadow demons most often died on battlefields on during missions, our natural lifespan was likely as long as any other demon, likewise vampires were technically immortal if they never met an unfortunate end. As long as Sage was tied to me, his life would go on until I was no more. I couldn’t think of any way I’d rather spend all of my years than with them. But as someone who’d rarely needed words for the past twenty years, I wasn’t sure how to convey my feelings to them. Falling back on old lessons, I dropped to one knee and lowered my head.
“What are you doing?” Sage asked. “Get up.”
“In my world, shadow demons once swore their loyalty on one knee. It's a dead practice since few ever have the freedom to make such an offer. But it's said that before our kind was subjugated, when we encountered someone worth trading our lives for, we vowed to protect them not out of duty, but because that was where our heart lie. In a world where our kind frequently sell each other out, it is the only sincere gesture I know. I swear to protect you both.” Placing one hand over my heart, I bowed more deeply to Sage. “I will be your shield as you reclaim your place as head of the Blackwood Coven.”
Luca reached out a hand and pulled me to my feet. “Then I’ll make the same promise. I swear to protect you both with my life. I’d offer the coven thing too, but I’m pretty sure vampires can’t be in covens.”
Sage shook his head. “I’m the head of the coven, so I get to decide who can be in it. And uh, I promise to protect you both too, as soon as I learn more about my magic. If you can bear with me, I promise I’ll learn to be worthy of your loyalty.”
“You never needed magic for that,” Luca said. “Everything we love about you is who you always were.”
Sage’s blue eyes glistened and he pulled Luca into a kiss before pulling me closer as well.
I’d always considered myself the last protector of Rosemary’s heir. My life had been given to him and while I’d been quite irritated with his lack of concern for his own safety many times, I’d never once questioned whether he was worthy of my sacrifice. Sage may have lost his magic, but he was still the light in a world of darkness. And now I stood before him, about to sully him with my own hands. Was this really acceptable? What would Rosemary think?
But even as I had the thought, it didn’t take hold. Rosemary would want Sage to be happy above anything else.
“Do I—” I blurted a moment before his lips could touch mine. Sage paused and waited for me to finish. “Do I make you happy?”
Sage blinked, and then a wide smile spread across his face, humor flashing in his eyes. “Very.”
Something inside me settled. We might be separated now, but I was still his. “You are the only ones I ever want to belong to.”
My fingers finally stroked over the face I’d seen in the mirror so many times but could never touch. His cheeks were warm and his smile faded as he closed the distance between us again. This time I wouldn’t stop him. It was my first real kiss and it could only have been with Sage. His lips brushed mine as if gently seeking permission, but that wasn’t like him at all. He was being cautious for my sake and I fell in love with him a little more.
Sliding one hand behind his neck, I pulled him into a deeper kiss and shivered at the sensations rushing through my body. It had been a long time since I’d had a solid body to truly experience anything physical and it was still overwhelming. I pulled back, breathless, but Luca swooped in, placing gentle kisses up my neck. A shiver worked its way up my spine and Sage slid his hands under my shirt, pushing the fabric up.
Everything was so much closer now, too real, too strong, too sensitive. My body felt ready to explode and they’d only just gotten started.
I turned my attention to Sage instead. To peeling off his clothes and worshipping every inch of his body, from the faint scars on his arm where I'd slashed his restraints at the facility, to the tattoo he'd inked along his ribs when he first began to question my presence. So much history between us, but never in a million years did I imagine I would end up here.
Luca laid Sage back on the bed as I removed his pants. Sage had already gotten rid of Luca's clothes while I was distracted and their tongues tangled in a kiss as I returned to exploring Sage's body with my lips. He moaned as I traced the heated skin of his cock with my mouth, and I wanted to hear that sound forever. It was an entirely different thing when he made those little whimpering noises for me.
Sage worked Luca's cock next to me and I couldn't help but trail my fingers up his muscular thigh as I swallowed Sage down. His cock throbbed on my tongue and hit the back of my mouth, almost making me choke before I backed off a little and found my limits.
My tongue swirled over his hot skin and my fingers tangled with Sage's as he loosely stroked the vampire. Luca groaned in frustration as my witch teased him relentlessly. Taking pity on him, I moved my mouth to Luca and stroked Sage with a little more urgency than he'd had. A bottle of lube hit the bed next to me and I took Sage's less than subtle hint.
He spread his legs as I coated my fingers, and I traced his entrance before pressing inside. This was one thing I was confident in, I knew Sage's body as well as my own and I knew exactly where to touch as I worked him open. Luca's fingers tangled in my hair as he slipped in and out of my mouth while my fingers pressed against that spot that made Sage see stars. He moaned loudly, just like I knew he would, and I teased that same spot again and again.
What I hadn't been expecting was for Sage to take over. He rolled to his stomach beneath me and scooted down to take over where I'd left off with Luca, pressing his ass against my cock in the process. His slick hand stroked over my cock twice before pressing it right where he wanted me and sliding back slowly.
A shiver of pleasure ran down my spine at the way his hot body squeezed me and I knew I wasn't going to last long. Luca moved so Sage was straddling his hips and he stroked them together as he pressed kisses up his neck. Sage tilted his head, giving permission, and Luca's teeth sank into his skin. A flicker of want tugged at me and I traced my own teeth over Sage's opposite shoulder as he grew breathless between us.
"Yes, do it," he panted.
My glamour fell away and in the next instant, my sharper teeth pierced his skin. I didn't drink blood to survive like a vampire, but I also couldn't deny the drive to bite and mark and taste that crept up every time Sage and Luca had gotten this close. To be honest, something was still missing, it wasn't just that I'd wanted to mark Sage.
I released my witch and turned my attention to Luca. Our eyes met and something dark flickered across them. He released Sage and our lips met over his shoulder. The taste of both of them still lingering as Luca gripped my hair and exposed my neck.
I tilted my head further, giving him permission as I drove into Sage faster, harder. The motion pressing their bodies together over and over. Luca's teeth bit down and the bite of pleasure and pain sent lightning through my body. A surprised groan escaped me as I exploded deep inside Sage with an earth-moving shudder.
I pulled out and had barely moved aside when Luca flipped them and pressed into Sage. But even as he drove into him, his hand wrapped around the back of my neck and pulled me into a kiss.
"I wasn't done with you," he whispered against my lips before trailing his mouth down my neck again.
He'd barely gotten a taste when I'd lost control. But the thing that bothered me more was that I hadn't gotten the chance to taste him at all. Something dark and possessive unfurled inside me and I pounced, gripping his hair as I bit down on his shoulder.
Luca let out a muffled moan as his teeth found my skin again. He drank more deeply than he'd ever dared with Sage and the feeling of it was euphoric. I was half sure I would have come again if my body wasn't so spent from the last few days. Feeling satisfied, I released him, and his teeth pulled back a moment later.
I fell back against the bed next to Sage and his fingers tangled with mine as my other hand came up to stroke him through his orgasm. His skin flushed and his eyes were wild and unfocused. His hair was damp with sweat and his chest rose and fell heavily with his panting breaths. I'd never gotten to see him like this before, and I hadn't even realized what I was missing.
Luca growled and slammed into Sage a few more times as our scents fully combined. A deep sense of contentment settled inside me and I pulled Sage into my arms as he predictably passed out after his orgasm. Luca settled on his other side and wrapped his arm around both of us. It was still strange being separated from Sage, but being able to hold him in my arms and feel Luca's arms around me was more than I ever could have asked for.