Chapter 24

Twenty-Four

It's chilly, but I wait on the back porch with the guys anyway.

I'm not upset they don't fully believe me when I say they won't turn. Faith and hope are often outweighed by precaution. And I'm glad they like my home enough to not want to trash it.

But I'm not afraid they're going to shift into ravenous beasts and run off to terrorize the countryside.

I sit in one of the wrought iron chairs beneath my kitchen window, and watch them. It's as close as they'll let me get.

Nerves and the chill have them shivering… and I know they're only wearing clothes they don't care about losing.

The sooner the sun sets, the better.

Johnny keeps looking at me like he wants to insist—for a fifth time—that I go inside and lock the doors.

Not happening.

Their respective wolves are gone. They're the ones who will run in the light of the full moon and enjoy its magics in their fur.

Part of me hopes they eat one or two of Connor's sheep. A nice lamb dinner witnessed by the old man might make him stop worrying about dogs when he should have been worried about wolves.

The pocket watch I set on the tiny table beside me ticks down the seconds as the dim glow of the porch light tries to make up for the one fading from the day, fighting against the silver glow.

I see them twitch, their skin flicker, and I know… now is the point where they would have shifted into the beasts that used to control them one night each month.

The last of the light disappears and I watch them as realization and relief take hold. They all watch each other carefully and I know at least one of them is worried they'll get excited a moment before their bones start to break and reform.

When I stand and go to them, I manage not to say "I told you so…" but I definitely think it.

Chase's hands clench and open like a cat testing their claws. He stares at his fingers and I hate that it's been decades since he's stayed in human form for this long.

"Hungry?" I ask, even though they just ate dinner.

As wolves, they would have fled into the forest, chasing and eating any small creature they could get their jaws on.

It's Thomas who turns to me and in a startlingly quick move picks me up, his arms a tight grip around my legs. "Not for food."

The others follow as he carries me inside, and by the time he's laid me on the living room floor, the other three have their clothes off. They descend on me like the ravenous creatures they should be, and it takes a simple tug of the belt on my robe and there's nothing between the five of us but air and need.

Each of them touches me as much as they can and it feels as if no part of my skin is uncovered as their mouths trace every inch of me.

No one fights, no one tries to steal me away or hoard me.

They love me like a pack. Like four men with one mind—one focus.

I lose track of whose hands belong to whom.

They drive me to a frenzy too and I can't focus long enough to know whose mouth is on mine, whose tongue is inside me… whose cock is the first to press into my well prepared pussy.

All I know for certain is that I want to keep them for all of my future full moons and every day in between.

When our blood finally starts to cool, and our bodies ease, it's Chase who's still inside of me. But the others are right there too.

They all look a little dazed.

"I told you those urges would still be strong." I kiss Johnny on the nose and pull myself up from the floor. "I'm going to go clean up. Someone get your burgers started."

Thomas reaches for me, but his swipe misses my ankle and I skip away before they can drag me back down… because I would go willingly.

There are a few things in this world that are powerful enough they can break curses and heal impossible wounds…

What's inside me right now can do more than any of the men on my living room floor might think.

The opportunity for life, freely given, is a powerful tool. I just need to collect it.

I pluck the rhodonite wand from its place on the vanity and whisper sacred words against its polished surface.

Another time—after a long conversation—I'd use the emerald and stowed away in the chest at the end of my bed. But for tonight, the spell is to remove, not to keep. I pull the jar I'd prepped for this from the shelf beside the tub and slide the wand across my abdomen. More whispered words and the spell pulls every last drop of them back out of me and into the jar.

My womb immediately feels as though their come was replaced by ice.

If that cold is any indication… my body wants to keep them just as much as my mind and heart do.

My body wants…

That frigid feeling dissipates almost as quickly as it came.

If they were just men, I could consider using that emerald wand without the promise of something more… but werewolves are possessive and territorial. They could leave me alone if they decide they don't want me, but if there was a child involved…

I screw the lid of the jar down tight.

With a quick kiss to the jar, I place it and the wand in the cupboard for tomorrow morning's spell.

A spell that should leave all five of us perfectly relaxed and free of anything resembling stress for the next week.

Sex magic comes with some delicious perks.

"Hey Scarlette?"

I slip on my robe but I don't belt it as I go out to the kitchen.

Chase has his head tilted to the side and Thomas is holding his necklace up and away from his chest. The amber dangling.

"What's wrong?"

"They're hot again."

I go to Johnny because he's closest. His finger pressed between the cording and his wrist keeps the stone off his skin and when I touch it, I jerk my hand immediately back.

They're not hot… they're burning.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I stare at the stone for a long moment before voicing what I knew the second I felt that heat. "Someone is trying to steal you from me."

The silence is deafening and when I look up, Joshua has come back inside. They all stare at me until Chase asks. "Can that happen?"

"Not with this witch, their magic barely registers after it's punched its way through my wards."

I slip into the living room where I left the cleansed black tourmaline and take four of the stones with me back out onto the chilly back porch.

Some spells require the sacred. Some require the profane. This one I'll let intent cover.

I glare at the stones and speak clearly and calmly. "Whoever you are, go fuck yourself. Scoate. "

The tourmaline glows hot for a bare second before turning to ash in my hand. The wind takes hold and pulls it from my palm.

"Wow." I don't know which of them said it. They're all behind me, watching. And none of them are worried about the amber anymore.

"I need to set up some wards around your house tomorrow, if that's okay?"

"You can do anything as long as it means we don't lose you." Thomas pulls me into them and they close around me, holding me close between all of them.

"It would be the other way around."

Joshua grumbles from over my head and goes to the grill. "Get her back inside and give her the thing."

"The thing?"

Chase lifts me off my feet and carries me back into my kitchen as Johnny hurries to my fridge.

"What is that?"

Johnny holds it up and presents the plate to me. "This is a chocolate torte with a raspberry rosemary drizzle."

"He spends all his free time watching Food Network now."

"And none of you are mad about it." He shoots them a look that is somewhere between scolding and a challenge.

"Since you weren't going to eat a second dinner with us, but we hoped we'd have exhausted you… I thought it only fair that we provide some sustenance."

With a little bit of magic, and a lot of Joshua's skills, my table is now big enough to sit all five of us in our own chairs and I about die when we've all sat and I take the first bite of that chocolate cake.

The sound I make…

"Fuck." Thomas shifts in his chair, making it creak loudly. "Keep making that noise, and none of us are going to finish our meal."

I bite my tongue and manage to keep from making any sound at all with my next bite.

But I can't stop myself from savoring each bite.

Even still, I finish the cake before the others scarf down the last of their burgers, but Johnny grabs my plate before I have a chance to get up and so, I stay put.

"How many kids do you want?" Joshua asks, and then looks a little startled.

"Thought it but you hadn't meant to actually ask?" I guess.

He nods, and the others watch me, interest bright in their eyes. "Those urges are higher… even the ones that tell you to mate and procreate."

"Still haven't answered the question." Johnny says, leaning forward, waiting.

"That depends on if you care which of you is the biological father." I watch their faces and know the answer they'd give me tonight. "We can have that discussion when you're not influenced by the full moon, but I suppose I'd be willing to have one each…"