Chapter 49 Raven
Raven
Isat cross-legged on the sofa in Maverick’s cabin while he stared at me.
“Let me get this straight, Raven. You’re planning to steal a valuable grimoire from Montgomery’s archive room so you can search for a spell to locate a missing, presumed dead vampire prince? Is there anything I’ve missed?”
“Does he know about the dream walking, pet?” Zane piped up from his position by the fireplace. Maverick had nearly blown a fuse when Zane showed up shortly after we arrived, so the incubus implying I’d been hiding important stuff from my bear was not helpful.
“Shut up!” I hissed. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be? I hear the wolves have a pack orgy planned for tonight, seeing as how it’s a full moon. I bet those guys could use some magical Viagra.”
“Those fucking wolves better not have invited you to their orgy!” Maverick growled.
“Goddess, save me.” I was beginning to think the goddess had made a mistake when selecting my mates. These two were worse than useless.
“Of course they didn’t invite me!” I snapped. Most of the other students either called me nasty slurs like bear-fucker or ignored me, so party invites were nonexistent.
Glynda was my only friend at this school, which made me one lonely witch. Still, I was used to being alone. At least I had my bear mate. And my familiar. Although I had regrets right now about the pair of them.
“They all hate me,” I added under my breath.
Maverick sighed. “They don’t hate you, little mate. They are afraid because they know damn well I’ll gut anyone who looks at you wrong.”
“He’s right,” Zane agreed. “The bear broke a wolf shifter’s arm in gym class the other day when he heard the asshole calling you a shifter whore.”
“I broke his leg too,” Maverick smirked.
The pair of them high-fived each other before remembering they were frenemies not besties.
“Please don’t go around assaulting people who insult me. Nobody has enough time for that job.”
“Tell me who hurt you, little witch!” Maverick growled ominously, his eyes glowing as his bear tried to force the shift. Fur sprouted down his arms. “I will rip them limb from limb!”
“Nobody. Please, can we get this conversation back on track? Winter Solstice is less than a fortnight away, and I still haven’t found a spell!” I was so damn tired. Tired of studying and tired of worrying that maybe I was too late to rescue Rasmus.
No matter how hard I tried, I could no longer connect to him in my dreams. Either he’d died, or he was so close to death his mind had shut down.
“Fear not, the cavalry has arrived.” Kenji blinked into view. I stared at him in shock, wondering why he had a pair of pink satin panties on his head.
“Where have you been?” I asked, not sure I actually wanted an answer.
“Long story, but Dog the Bounty Hunter caught up with me and I had to hide in a brothel.”
“Ew. Please get rid of those.” I gestured at the panties and he threw the offending scrap of fabric in the fireplace.
“So, are we doing this tonight?” He seemed serious for once.
“Yes, Glynda is coming here after her tutorial. She said she’d walk past Montgomery’s office to make sure he’s gone back to his apartment for the night.”
Maverick swore under his breath. “This is insane. How are you going to bypass Montgomery’s wards?”
“Kenji says he can get in undetected.” He’d not explained how, but I trusted my familiar not to throw himself in harm’s way. Kenji was many things, but self-sacrificing was not one of them.
My bear turned to look at the kitsune. “Really?”
“Kitsunes are very secretive,” Zane said.
“Little is known about their powers. But I have heard rumors about a cunning little kitsune who’s been targeting the high-ranking mages for months now.
Stealing important artifacts and jewelry.
” He fixed Kenji with a look that said he knew Kenji was the perpetrator of this crime wave.
Kenji blinked and pulled his most innocent expression.
“You’d better not get arrested!”
He smirked. “Not a chance, witch. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a grimoire to steal. I’ll need a description of it unless you want me to fetch Montgomery’s tentacle porn collection.”
“Gross, no.” I turned to Zane. “Kenji wants to know what the grimoire looks like?”
“It’s bound in skin and has a Hawthorne tree burned into the cover.”
“Super gross. Stars above, why would a witch family use skin as a binding?”
“Because one of the many things they did to those who refused to yield to their power was flay that person alive while using magic to ensure they didn’t pass out during the process.”
My stomach heaved in horror at the unwanted visual Zane painted.
“I think perhaps the Hawthorne witch deserved her fate.”
“She certainly made many enemies while alive.”
Shoving down thoughts of flayed victims, I said to Kenji, “So you’re sure you can do this without being caught?”
He rolled his eyes obnoxiously. “Purleease. I’m a professional.”
My phone pinged with a message from Glynda.
“Okay, the office is empty.” Kenji blinked away, leaving me squirming under Maverick’s furious gaze.
“I’m still waiting for someone to tell me why we’re plotting to rescue a missing vampire prince?”
“Um, about that…”
“Rasmus Dvorak is her fifth mate.”
Maverick spun to face Zane. “Fifth?!” I noted he didn’t ask about the others, which suggested he already knew, or at least suspected.
Being the sort of witch who had an extreme allergy to conflict, I tried to edge away, but Maverick scooped me up and wrapped his arms around me like a vise. The bear vibrated, his body rigid with tension.
Misery slammed into me.
This was all my fault. I should have been upfront with him instead of sticking my head in the sand. Even though I had ignored my attractions to both Alaric and Kai, it was unfair to expect Maverick to remain mated only to me if I had other mates.
Shifters embraced poly relationships where having multiple mates was the norm. I wondered if Maverick wanted to take other females as well as me. It wasn’t as if I had a leg to stand on if he did.
“If you want other mates,” I told him through gritted teeth, “I won’t complain.” Okay, so I’d be heartbroken and probably murder them all in an unexplained magical fire, but I bit my lip and pretended to be mature and eager to embrace a non-normal relationship dynamic.
Zane could tell I was full of shit. His smirk turned into laughter, which did nothing to calm my bear.
“Why the fuck would you think I’d want other mates?” Maverick snarled while squeezing me tighter. A pained squeak broke free as my ribs legit cracked.
“I don’t! Truthfully, I only want you!” Zane stopped laughing and his lips flattened in a line.
“And maybe him too,” I added while peeking at the incubus through my lashes.
The way he relaxed at my words surprised me.
I’d never imagined he gave a shit, but perhaps there was more to the incubus than met the eye.
“And the other three,” I added in a whisper so soft I prayed nobody but me heard. Only I wasn’t that lucky. Shifters had exceptional hearing, and my bear was exceptional in all ways.
He grumbled and nuzzled my hair, sniffing it like a lunatic. Hopefully not because it smelled bad. Yeah, I still had concerns about my scent, despite many assurances from both Maverick and Zane that I smelled delicious.
“I’ll accept them only if they treat you like the queen you are, my mate. Any bullshit and I will happily end them.”
“Like you have a fucking hope of ending me, care bear,” Zane scoffed with an eye roll. “I don’t fancy your chances with the mage either.”
“You underestimate me, incubus.”
“You can’t hurt them.” I tried to wriggle out of his arms, but he refused to let me go.
“I won’t need to if they treat you right.”
“No need to worry about me, care bear. I know exactly how to treat my little pet.” Zane winked. A shot of lust hit me hard, and I stifled a moan.
“Stop infecting me with lust magic!”
He laughed. “It’s all you, sweetheart.”
Stars, was he right?
I died.
RIP me.
My libido had officially malfunctioned and was now dialed up to the max.
Permanently.
Taking advantage of my temporary lust-induced meltdown, Zane crossed the room in two steps and pressed his hard body against my front while Maverick sandwiched me from behind.
To my endless shame, the idea of being a witch filling in a sexy sandwich had occurred to me many times. Mostly when I couldn’t sleep. Goddess, save me. The reality was way better.
Both my mates were superior males in all ways. Although my bear had the edge with his shifter genes and was taller and broader than the incubus, Zane more than made up for it with his seductive charm.
I couldn’t breathe, let alone think. Heat enveloped me, and not only because my bear was a living, breathing furnace.
“Za…Zane…what are you doing?”
“Distracting you, sweetheart, while we wait for your familiar to return.” He leaned in and licked my cheek. I immediately pictured how it would feel if that same tongue licked between my legs.
Zane groaned. “Fuck, pet, you’re killing me slowly.”
Maverick ground into my ass, letting me feel how hard he was.
“We can’t…” I tried to say, but Zane stole my words with a kiss so scorching hot I melted into a puddle.
“I can share,” Maverick said in my ear, his voice a low rumble.
“But only with your other mates.” Of course, that immediately painted an erotic tableau in my head of all five of my mates pleasuring me.
I wasn’t exactly sure how it would work, given my lack of experience, but I felt sure Zane was the male with the how-to manual on Orgies 101.
And if not, practice made perfect.
A lot of practice.
Zane dropped to his knees while Maverick sank back into a chair. He anchored me with an arm around my waist while spreading my thighs obscenely wide.
“You smell delicious,” the incubus hummed, reassuring me yet again that there was nothing wrong with my scent.
“Like smoky cherries and chocolate.” His aura pulsed with vibrant violet streaks, the same hue as my eyes.
The light show distracted me for a hot minute, which meant I jumped when his fingers brushed over my soaked panties.
“I bet you taste delicious too.”
“She does,” my bear confirmed while one large hand cupped my full breast and squeezed. His hard, thick erection throbbed against my back, jerking with each soft moan that fell from my lips.
Zane pushed my panties aside and stroked me, swiping arousal and sucking it from his finger. He groaned and sucked harder as I watched.
“Fuck, I’m so juiced up right now I can barely contain it.”
“Magic?” It sounded kind of dangerous.
“Magic and cum,” he clarified, squeezing his shaft through his pants. “I need to fuck you, pet.”
My bear rumbled loudly, and the arm around my waist tightened possessively. I stroked it, and he settled again.
“You can fuck her, incubus, but be gentle. She’s still inexperienced.”
“Oh, care bear, I know exactly what our little witch pet needs. I can read every filthy thought in her sweet head.”
I almost choked on my saliva. “Um, you can?” That was concerning.
“She wants us to fuck her together,” he told Maverick before shooting me a lecherous grin. “I’m an incubus, baby, and your mental shields are down.”
Oh. It hadn’t occurred to me my thoughts were blasting around the room, uncensored and utterly depraved. Maverick couldn’t read my thoughts, only my emotions. Zane, however, had magic, which meant he had access to my head when I let my guard down.
Stars. I was so fucked.
Apparently, Zane had had enough of talking because he buried his face between my spread thighs and went to town on my pussy. His tongue hit all the right places, sending pleasure rocketing through my system like shooting stars.
Magic burst from me. Flaming violet embers licked across my exposed skin like pretty sparkles. The fire in the grate roared higher, just like it had when Rasmus touched me in our shared dream.
I didn’t understand the connection between my magic and pleasure, but as Zane fucked me with his tongue, I lost all of my critical reasoning skills.
Maverick pinched and rolled my nipples. When he bit down on my neck at the same time as Zane sucked my clit, I exploded into a realm-shattering orgasm.
The room vanished into inky blackness, lit only by swirling violet embers.
I heard a voice calling me. The male sounded broken and lost.
Rasmus. “My mate.”
As the pleasure shocks faded, I tried to reach for him through the thick, oppressive shadows, but I couldn’t find him. He’d gone. Whatever magical tether had just connected us had broken once again.
When I came back to myself, Zane’s hands cupped my face, his expression serious for once.
“You left us. Where did you go, pet?”
“I’m not sure,” I admitted. “You made me… um, come… then my mind flipped a switch, and I connected with the vampire. He called me his mate.” A violent shiver racked my body at the memory of the endless black shadows around us both, obliterating my feel-good mood.
“I don’t think he has much time. I need to find him!
” Hot tears slid down my cheeks. The thought of never seeing the vampire again broke something in me. He was a part of this. A part of me.
Each of the males gifted to me by the goddess represented a vital piece of a bigger puzzle. I wasn’t sure how I knew this, but I did.
Time was running out. If I didn’t locate the vampire soon, he might not survive.