Chapter 37

Rhi

I wakein the morning to find Winnie out of the bed and wrapped in a towel.

"There's a bathroom down the hallway," she says as I emerge blurry-eyed from under the cover. "You have to use your magic to make the water warm, but it's not bad really. There was even some ancient bottle of shampoo which actually smells pretty nice." She takes a piece of her hair and sniffs it.

I rub my eyes, yawning and stretching my arms over my head.

"I guess I'll go investigate then," I say, sniffing myself. "Is that toast I can smell?"

"Yeah, Azlan stuck his head in the room a half hour ago and said he was going to make some breakfast. He said not to wake you after last night." She rubs the towel over her body before picking up her discarded clothes and sniffing those too. "I wonder if I can find any clean clothes in this house."

"You might be able to, but only if you want to wear bloomers and petticoats."

"I think I'd actually look pretty fetching in a pair of bloomers," she says, tugging on her jeans. "How did you sleep the rest of the night, Rhi?" She pauses. "Any other dreams?"

I shake my head and rub my temple. "I slept fine," I say, shuffling to the end of the bed and picking up a towel Winnie's found for me.

Truth is I didn't sleep particularly well. I'd lain awake mulling over that dream, trying to work out what it could mean, debating if Azlan was right. Is the beast I'm meant to save Spencer? And if I am, how am I meant to do that? I don't even know where he is.

I pad along the hallway until I find the bathroom, stepping inside and locking the door behind me. As I'm standing naked investigating the shower, there's a knock on the door.

"Rhi, are you in there?" Stone says from the other side.

"Yes, I'm just about to hop in the shower."

In the next moment the door clicks open and Stone steps inside, his eyes running all over my naked form.

"May I join you, Miss Blackwaters?"

"What?" I hiss. "With Winnie wandering the hallways and Azlan and Renzo too."

"I'm sure we can find a way to be quiet. I'd happily gag you, Miss Blackwaters." He sidles up to me and leans down to nibble my neck, halting when he comes a few inches from my skin. "Shit, you really do stink."

He clicks his fingers, the water coming raging down, and then he pushes me under. I scream automatically, but actually the water is a perfect temperature – scorching hot. I can't help closing my eyes and tipping my head backwards, letting the water run over my face.

Maybe if I stood here long enough, it would wash away the unnerving feeling I have lingering from that dream, a dream that's playing around and around in my head. Was there something there? Some clue, some hint, that would tell me where the beast was, how to find it?

A pair of strong arms twist around my waist and I'm pulled against the muscular form of Stone.

"I missed you, Blackwaters," he whispers. "It's good to have you back in my arms."

"Even though I stink?"

"Not for long you won't."

He reaches for the shampoo bottle, squirts the gel onto the crown of my head and then massages it into my hair, scratching his nails against my scalp.

"Good?" he asks.

"So good," I mutter.

He washes the bubbles away and then takes the soap next, rubbing it between his hands until they are foaming with bubbles. He looks down at my body and groans.

"Fuck, where to start." I raise an eyebrow at him, snatching the soap into my hands and rubbing it between them. His gaze lingers on my chest. "Your tits do look particularly filthy. Perhaps I'll start there."

"My tits are not …" I protest but my words die away as he massages my breasts, pinching my nipples and ringing them with his thumbs.

"I'm pretty dirty myself you know, Miss Blackwaters," he says, his hands roaming over my belly and down between my legs.

I giggle. "You are definitely dirty, Professor." Damn dirty, so dirty he makes my legs shake.

"Then, are you going to return the favor?"

"Where would you like me to start?" I ask as his fingers creep between the lips of my pussy and begin to ring my clit.

"My cock, sweetheart," he growls, "start with my cock."

I peer down his body, over the ridges of muscles and trails of inks and down to his cock. It's already stiff and curled towards me like an invitation.

I bite my lip and take him in my hands, hot and hard. I rub up and down his shaft, the water spilling over our faces and our bodies, and then I cup his balls, pressing against that point I know he likes right behind them.

He growls again, his fingers working faster and when I start to moan, he snaps, "Enough." And pushes me hard up against the tiles, grinding his cock against my belly, right against the point where my bond is thrumming with excitement.

"Come for me," he orders, "come for me, sweetheart, and then I'm going to fuck you." I whimper, my legs beginning to shake. I've missed him touching me but I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until now. In fact, I'm damn needy for this, practically wild. I grind my pussy against his fingers and his magic sparks against me, making me cry out with how good he feels.

"Fuck this," he mutters, and then he's dropping to his knees under the shower and burying his mouth between my legs like he's just as needy, just as hungry, just as wild. He thrusts his tongue right up inside my pussy, groaning as he does and then he's eating me out, alternating between flicking and licking at my clit, and French kissing my pussy, his magic enveloping me and making everything more intense.

When I come, it's so powerful my legs give way, and I slide down the wall as ecstasy shimmers through my body. He rocks back, watching me, his fingers inside me and massaging me through my orgasm, and then he's kissing my mouth, pulling me up onto his lap and into his arms. He lowers me onto his cock and we both groan together, the feeling too good to bear.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again, sweetheart," he says, one hand gripping my ass as the other pushes wet hair away from my face. And then I'm riding him, just as wild and needy and greedy as I was before. Sliding up and down him, grinding on him, working him all along my pussy.

The water falls over our faces and runs down our bodies, splashing around us on the wet tiles, and steam rises up towards the ceiling.

He drops his head and sucks on my nipples as I ride him, his fingers back at my clit and when I come the second time, it's even better than the first, especially when I squeeze and clench around him and he follows right after me, holding me tight in his arms as he does and telling me just how much he loves me.

"You love me?" I ask as we both collapse panting on the wet tiles, that confession completely flooring me.

"Yeah, I do. Of course I do."

"Me?" I say, pointing to my chest.

"You really think I didn't?"

"I don't know. I think I annoy the crap out of you most of the time."

"Yeah, you do," he says with a grin.

I whack his shoulder. "Don't do that. Go back to the love bit again, I liked that bit."

He wraps his arms around my waist and kisses the tip of my nose.

"I love you, Rhianna Blackwaters, more than anything else in this world, in this galaxy, in this universe," he tips his head up towards the ceiling, "more than all the stars in the heavens."

"Wow," I say, utterly dumbfounded.

Stone tips his head forward and smirks at me. "You know you can say it back."

"Of course, I'd have to mean it," I tease.

"It generally helps."

I kiss him, whispering against his mouth. "I love you too, asshole."

And I mean it. I really do.

I findboth Winnie and Pip gone when I tiptoe back into the bedroom another thirty minutes later. I also find my clothes have somehow been miraculously cleaned and I am mighty thankful to be pulling on clean panties. Once I'm dressed, I follow my nose and discover everyone else already in the kitchen.

Azlan and Stone have spread an ancient-looking map over the countertop and Winnie has laid Pip out on the table, examining him closely.

"Did you clean my clothes?" I ask her.

"Nope," she says, not looking up from Pip, "he did." She points to Renzo who's sitting on a kitchen chair, his feet resting on the tabletop munching a piece of toast.

"Where did you find the food?"

"There's a freezer in the larder, working under some magical spell," Azlan says. "Eat something."

I nod, taking the chair next to Pip and helping myself to a piece of buttered toast from the stack in the center of the table. I bite through the bread, moaning a little as the butter sinks onto my tongue. It has three out of four pairs of eyes swiveling my way and I chew and avert my own gaze towards Winnie.

"Does he seem any better?" I ask her hopefully.

"No," Winnie says, stroking her hand along Pip's torso.

"It's been days," I say. "Surely he should be better by now."

"My middle sister, Petunia, once accidentally hit my youngest sister with her magic during a fight. It took Alice a week to work that magic out of her system and she was pretty sick the entire time."

"But," I say, suddenly finding it hard to swallow my toast, "she was okay afterwards, right? There was no lasting damage."

"No lasting damage. She was perfectly normal."

I tickle Pip's snout and he murmurs slightly but his eyes don't open. I continue to pet him as I finish off the last few bites of my toast and lick the butter off my fingers, glancing up to find Renzo staring at me darkly.

"What?" I ask.

"You like buttered toast."

My cheeks heat. "As much as the next person."

"And long showers." He glares at me and my cheeks set ablaze. "Very long showers."

"I don't think she was showering in that bathroom," Winnie says, taking a slice of the toast and grinning over the top of it at me.

I throw her a look I hope she can decipher means ‘please be quiet Winnie', and she blows me a kiss and bites into her breakfast.

Deciding I can't handle Winnie's teasing and Renzo's dirty looks right now, I spin in my seat and peer over at my other two mates.

"And what are you two doing?"

"Deciding where we ought to travel to next," Azlan says.

"We've decided we're going to be safer if we keep on the move."

"That's what I said," Renzo calls over.

Azlan mutters something to Stone who chuckles and I recall my conversation with Winnie last night and decide I need to front this head on. The sooner we all know where we stand, the better.

"Can I talk to the two of you?" I ask.

"Go ahead," Stone says, "we're listening."

"In private." They both look up from their map and over at me. I stand up from the table and walk out of the room, the two of them following me. I find an empty room off the hallway, one whose furniture has been covered in dust sheets, yellowed by the years.

I wait for them to enter, Stone closing the door behind them.

"What is it?" Azlan says anxiously.

"We need to talk about Renzo."

Azlan and Stone both glance at each other, Azlan crossing his arms over his chest.

"I know you're feeling indebted to him or thankful or something because he saved you from Lowsky, but that's no reason to keep the dude around," Stone says. "He can't be trusted. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if his plan is to take his opportunity when he can, hand you in and reap the reward."

"If that was his plan, he could have done it days ago when he knocked me out."

"This is my point," Azlan growls. "He knocked you out, Rhi. That's hardly sane behavior."

"And you sealed the bond without my permission," I say, addressing Azlan. "And you," I swing my gaze to Stone, "infiltrated my mind."

"What the fuck?" Azlan says as Stone's gaze falls to the floor. "You did what?"

"It doesn't matter," I say, concerned that my wonderful conversational skills have resulted in a further rift between our group. "It's in the past. My point is …" What the hell is my point? I don't even know. I fling my head back, gazing at the ceiling and taking a deep inhale. I don't think I can look either of them in the eye when I deliver this news. "The point is you need to be nicer to Renzo."

"Nicer," Stone hisses. "Trust me, sweetheart, we're being as nice as it's possible to be."

"Then you need to try harder, because … because … we're all going to have to get along."

"I'll tolerate his presence if you deem it absolutely necessary. But I'm not going to be nice," Azlan hisses, "and we will never get along."

"Then we're all totally and completely fucked, screwed, doomed, because you're my fated mate," I point at Azlan, "and you're my fated mate," I point at Stone and he nods.

"And Tristan Kennedy and Spencer Moreau are too," Azlan says.

I swallow. Oh shit. I can't put this off any longer. I'm going to have to spit out the truth.

"AndRenzoBaronetoo," I mumble so quickly, I'm not entirely sure they compute what I'm saying. It certainly takes them one long minute to respond. During which time I want the ground to open and swallow me up or maybe a dragon to swoop down and carry me away.

"What did you say?" Stone says.

"Renzo is my fated mate too. Five you see. Five fated mates just like Queen ?eelfl?d. I know it seems ridiculous and perhaps this is madness or maybe we're all wrong about this situation and–"

Stone throws back his head and laughs so loudly his entire body shakes. The man in black does not look amused. Not one bit. In fact, he glares at me so hard I'm surprised the ground doesn't really split open underneath me.

I cross my arms, glaring right back at Azlan as I wait for Stone to finish. Finally, his mirth subsides and he wipes at the tears in his eyes.

"Are you done?" I ask.

"Sure," he grins at me, "that was the funniest thing I ever heard in my life."

"I'm not trying to be funny, Stone, I'm serious."

"Oh, come on, Rhi, him? Renzo fucking throw-him-in-the-loony-bin-and-toss-away-the-key Barone?"

"Loony bin? That isn't funny, Stone. Least of all from you."

The smile falls from his face. "It's where he should be," he says, "that or in a shallow grave somewhere. And you're right, this isn't funny. We risked our necks to find you, Rhi – we risked your best friend's neck too. While you've been off gallivanting around the countryside with a psychopath, riding on the back of dragons, sinister forces have overtaken our country. There's nothing funny about this situation at all and it isn't the time to be messing with us like this."

"She isn't messing with us," Azlan says, staring right at me. "She's serious."

"I am. One hundred percent." Stone throws his hands in the air. "And I know it isn't … ideal. I know he isn't the best mate out there – not one I'd have chosen if I'd had a choice. But, let's be honest here, I'm not the girl you'd have chosen either. It's why you kept everything secret from me for all those weeks."

They can't argue with that. It's undeniable and they are both silent for a long time. Finally, Stone says, with a whine, "Are you sure he really is? You haven't just been suffering from indigestion? Or a bad case of the–"

"I'm pretty familiar with the sensation by now, Professor. I know what it is, I know what it means." He goes to ask me another question, but I beat him to it. "And before you ask, no, we haven't sealed the bond. It's only in the last couple of days that I've actually wanted to stop killing the dude."

"At least you do have an inkling of sense then," Stone mutters.

"Five mates," Azlan says.

"That we know of," Stone says, shoving his hands in his pockets, "knowing Miss Blackwaters, they'll probably end up being a hundred."

"No," Azlan says. "Five. There will only be five." I nod my head. I think he's right. It's no coincidence that fate brought my mates to me all at the same time. If there were more, I'd have met them by now. "It's the strongest number."

"Yes," I say, "fate has thrown us together – she wants us together." Stone swears under his breath but I ignore him, addressing Azlan. "Which is why we have to rescue Spencer Moreau."