Chapter Eighteen
Phin
We landed in the yard of an older but well-kept farmhouse. As we approached, Ossy held my hand. I hadn’t noticed the tension in him until it wasn’t there anymore. He was much more relaxed. He drew me closer, wrapping an arm around me.
“We’re home,” he murmured, kissing my temple.
As we walked up to the house, I saw Grym snuggled up with a dark-haired man. They sat on a porch swing, with colorful pillows on either side. Grym kept the swing swaying with a foot on the porch boards.
To our right stood a big red barn. The roof shingles spelled out Coyne. The door was open, but all I could see was part of the concrete floor.
The house was two stories tall and looked like a typical farmhouse, complete with a quaint front porch and an old door painted sage green.
Grym stood and closed the distance. For the first time in our entire working lives, he hugged me. I was too stunned to hug him back.
Where was Mr. Workaholic?
Even odder was the moment Grym hugged Ossy. “I’m glad you made it through, man.”
Cael, who had walked with us, went straight into the house as if he owned it, not even giving it a second thought.
The man on the swing stood and stepped up beside Grym. Grym wrapped an arm around him. “Phin, this is my beloved, Elliott. Elliott, this is our assistant, Phin.”
I held out my hand and smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
Instead of shaking my hand, Elliott grabbed mine and pulled me toward the door. “I’ll introduce you to all the other beloveds.”
“Later,” Ossy said, wrapping an arm around my waist. It pulled me away from Elliot.
Poor Elliot was stunned by Ossy’s behavior, but it didn’t last long. He seemed to know where Ossy was headed when he pulled me into the house.
I wish someone would clue me in.
“We need to bond properly.” Yeah, I wanted that, too.
“So, not sucking your dick like in Tech Duinn, then?”
A staircase greeted us. To the left was an open kitchen, complete with a table against the wall. To the right was a living area with an older couch covered in a well-loved afghan. In the kitchen, a dark-haired guy sat at the table while someone else stood at the counter.
Azriel leaned against the counter with a cup of coffee in his hand, even though it was mid-afternoon.
For Azriel, coffee wasn’t just a morning drink.
It was an all-day love affair. I didn’t recall ever seeing him drink anything else.
Azriel was the type who loved his immortality and took full advantage of it.
He pushed the limits of what his body could handle.
But I didn’t have time to admonish him as I normally would.
“You fucked in Tech Duinn?” Azriel asked as he closed the gap.
I wiggled out of Ossy’s grip. “No, but we came close.”
Getting a hug from Azriel didn’t surprise me. It was on-brand for him.
“Too bad.” Azriel slapped Ossy’s hands away when Ossy tried to reach for me, all without taking his gaze off me. Azriel had a way of making a person feel seen. I wasn’t sure how he did it, but I liked that about him. “Maybe next time.”
“Give me back my beloved.” When Ossy tried to pull me to him, Azriel let him the second time.
Azriel grinned. “I’m glad you’re finally here, Phin. You’re right where you belong.”
“Thanks, Az.” I was glad to be back with the reapers. I’d felt a little lost and purposeless without them.
I didn’t get to meet the stranger in the kitchen. Ossy pulled me up the stairs.
When we reached the third door on the right, we went inside.
Ossy locked the door behind us. As soon as the lock clicked, Ossy pressed me against the door.
His knee came between my legs, pressing against my balls.
He knew I loved the pressure there. I sucked in a breath as pleasure hit. He cupped my cheek. “Hi.”
I smiled at his attempt to charm. I always knew what to expect from Ossy.
Whenever he tried to be charming, there was a slight awkwardness that came with it.
It was endearing because it wasn’t fake.
Ossy didn’t play-act at anything he did.
What he presented to the world was who he was.
He was a surf bum at heart who loved waves more than anything.
Take him or leave him. And I always took him.
As much as he exasperated me, I wouldn’t change a thing about him.
“You saved us from Tech Duinn.” Ossy ran the back of his finger down my cheek. He had his I want to fuck you face on, and I was totally on board, but I didn’t know why Ossy was talking instead of getting us naked.
“Cael saved us. And not only that, but Donn had to have let us out. His attempt at stopping us was pretty nonexistent once we were in Tech Duinn.” I suspected Cael had something to do with that. He seemed to soften Donn’s resolve.
Donn didn’t know how to handle beloveds.
We upset the system. There was no straightforward answer.
Not even the god of death knew. As much as it would be tempting to villainize Donn for not wanting the reapers to have beloveds, the situation wasn’t that simple.
If I were the god of death, I wouldn’t know what to do either.
Donn didn’t want to hurt anyone. If he had, he would have made our experience in Tech Duinn terrifying, but it hadn’t been. It was just dark. Really, really dark.
Ossy rested his hand on his chest, over his heart. “I feel you again. Your emotions are loud.”
The bond was unmistakable. I could feel Ossy’s emotions. They were difficult to separate from my own.
“I don’t want you to think I brought you up here just for sex.”
“But you brought me up here for that, right?”
Ossy wiggled his eyebrows. “Yes, but I meant it’s not just sex. It’s making love.”
“Right.” I opened Ossy’s robe to reveal his baby-blue shirt underneath and began unbuttoning it. “So we’re talking because...”
“We never have before, and I want you to know it really will be different from now on.” Ossy really was trying.
The last of my doubt slid from my mind.
I pushed his shirt back, revealing his tanned, chiseled chest. “I don’t need conversation, but you can talk dirty to me.”
Ossy waggled his eyebrows and raised his knee just enough to press more firmly against my balls. I hissed as pleasure built in my core.
I ran my fingers over Ossy’s nipples before tweaking them.
“Lick them.” I loved how dominant Ossy was in the bedroom.
That alone would have turned me on, but the combination of everything heated my blood.
Ossy pulled back just enough to make me chase him.
The new proximity made my cock press against his knee, too.
“You’re hard already. I miss tasting your cock. ”
Ossy held my nape, moaning as I licked one nipple before moving on.
“I miss you tasting my cock.” I bit his nipple gently. “I miss you.”
I wrapped my arms around him and held on, pressing my cheek to the center of his chest. Why was I so emotional?
Ossy’s knee disappeared from my balls, and then he lifted me off my feet.
I wrapped my legs around his waist. His reaper robe was whopper-jawed around me, trapping me against him. I’d been tangled up with my reaper for a while already. Long enough to form a bond neither of us had even been aware of.
“Please don’t do what you always do.” If Ossy pulled away now, I don’t know if I could handle it.
“I promise I won’t.” Ossy tightened his grip. “You don’t have to believe me. I’ll prove it to you. I have a caveat, though.”
Oh, gods. “What?”
“We have to live here. On the farm, I mean. It’s safer if all the reapers stick together.
This is our room. So yeah. Now we’re living together.
And what’s worse, it’s with all the brothers.
” Ossy pressed his cheek to mine. “Tan is lactose intolerant and can smell up a room, so slap dairy out of his hand, or everyone will pay the consequences. Grym is a bit of a neat freak, which is ironic because Elliot couldn’t care less about the mess until it gets out of hand, and then he cleans in a frenzy.
We had to start a cleaning rotation because he kept yelling at all of us.
I’m sorry, but you’ll be added to the rotation.
Morgana is surprisingly easy to live with.
One beloved has a hellhound now, and he’s growly and sort of an asshole.
The beloved and the hellhound are not working out.
It’s... stressful. For all. We eat a lot of pizza.
I never thought I’d say this, but I’m tired of them.
I think we all are, because the other day Francis bitched about wanting something else, and you know how he is.
Very easygoing. You know about Aziel’s coffee obsession, but you haven’t lived with it yet. It’s not the same. Trust me.”
Ossy wasn’t done. I could tell. Not that I wanted him to stop.
Everything he said was comedy gold. Well, except for the part where I’d actually have to live with it all.
I was accustomed to living alone, but I’d adjust. I hadn’t experienced any of it yet, though, so I still found it hilarious, which I was sure would change soon. “I knew about Tan’s intolerance.”
“His ass smells like something died inside him. He can really clear out a room.” Ossy’s serious expression made me laugh even harder. “You find it funny now, but just wait until dinnertime and he eats cheese.”
“Oh my gods, Ossy.” I laughed so hard that tears formed in my eyes.
“That’s another thing. The beloved with a hellhound, Joel? He’s the pizza wizard. Don’t tell him your favorite pizza toppings unless you want your whole life analyzed. And don’t freak out, but he sells marijuana. Or did. I doubt he does anymore.”
I had so many questions. I would tackle just one for now. I wanted Ossy naked. “How does the pizza wizard thing work?”
“I have no idea, but he is surprisingly accurate.” Ossy carried me to the bed. My back hit the mattress, and he lay over me.