21. SIXTEEN

SIXTEEN

Wren

“Gotyou.”Ihovered over Lachlan’s face and nipped his bottom lip before swinging my leg over his waist and getting back to my feet.

The breeze fanned over my face, and I sighed in relief. The temperature kept rising, and my arctic fox traits spazzed out of control with it. My ears and tail were constantly out—and they were both tipped black from the dark magic. Everyone stared, not that it actually mattered.

“With your recent lack of…” Simmons paused to clear his throat, his eyes almost searching for the right word to say. “—compassion… You are more able to take down your opponent by using any trick that you can. That’s good for war.”

“Thank you.” I wiped a bead of sweat at my temple away.

“As if I could’ve resisted that trick,” Lachlan grumbled, getting to his feet.

“She absolutely wrecked you.” Damien threw his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his chest, his peppermint scent filling my nose and making my inner fox purr with excitement.

“It’s the pheromones.” He huffed. “I can’t help but let them affect me.”

“No judgment here, brother-mate. I would have lost too if she pulled that on me. And I would’ve lost happily.”

I giggled, pressing up on my toes and kissing his cheek.

“Well, you three are free to go,” Simmons muttered, waving us on. Damien had beaten Skip easily, and I think the poor guy was even more afraid of us than he was before now.

My pheromones wrapped around both of my mates in a death hold. “Listen, I think we should play tag.”

Their gazes darkened as I backed away from them, toward the Bestial Forest from the faeball field.

“Remember, we need to infiltrate the human syndicate,” Damien rumbled.

I bit down on my lip and shrugged, drowning them in my pheromones. “We can still do that.”

He groaned, tilting his head back. “Fuck. Okay, whatever you want, little bird.”

“I want you to chase me.” I swung my gaze to Lachlan, whose teeth were bared as he fought against the pheromones and urge to hunt me. “Both of you.”

I spun on my heels and took off into the forest.

Excited tremors shot from them, and growls rumbled deep in their chests as their footsteps smacked into the ground behind me.

They hadn’t given me a head start.

I rushed through the forest at a faster speed than I had ever ran before. My hair flew behind me, and my reflexes for dodging tree limbs and large logs on the forest ground were much more efficient than usual.

I swallowed back any hesitation and leaned into the new power until Damien stepped out of the shadows in front of me.

His smirk grew as I rushed him. “What do you think you’re doing, little bird? You can’t run from me.”

“Wanna bet?” I planted my hands on his shoulders, throwing myself into the air and flipping over him. I hit the ground with a small thud into the soil and continued running from him.

“Fuck, okay, little bird. That was hot,” he praised, but then his shadows wrapped around me, making me come to an abrupt stop. “But you’re still mine.”

I flickered incorporeal and practically glided forward.

I paused and turned back around as Lachlan caught up with him.

“Where is she? She’s never run that fast before.” Lachlan sucked in a lungful of air, resting his hands on his knees as he glanced around.

“I know. And we can’t hear her or feel her bond in her incorporeal form,” Damien muttered. “The dark magic shit is bad, but she’s still so fucking hot.”

“Yeah, agreed on that note.” Lachlan grinned.

I moved toward him and flickered corporeal before pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Before I could use my power again or run, Damien’s telekinesis caught me, and I was unable to move at all.

A strangled gasp left my throat. I didn’t know I had any limitations with that form.

“How interesting.” Damien’s sadistic smirk rested on his lips as he realized he was the one in charge again. “So, Lachlan, do you want to watch again, since that’s your favorite thing?”

“Fuck no, I’m not watching again. I’m going to fuck her until she’s coming around my cock,” he told Damien.

He chuckled. “I’m not watching either. I caught her so I fuck her first.”

Lachlan growled in protest.

My pheromones spilled out at a rapid rate.

“Will you be a good girl if I let you go? I’ve already caught you.” Damien stepped closer to wrap his hand around my throat and brush his lips over mine.

“Yes,” I croaked, and his power’s hold on me dissipated as it stripped the three of us of our clothes.

“Good fucking girl,” he purred, tugging me closer by the throat.

“I need your cock inside me,” I rasped as his praise slickened my entrance.

He choked on a breath as his arousal beaded on his tip.

My shadow shot out, knocking his arm from between us and off my neck as I jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist and moving my hand down between us as I gripped him and guided him inside with a very loud moan.

“Fuck, little bird.” He moaned until he was buried to the hilt inside.

“Fates,” I hissed, gripping his shoulders and starting to rotate my hips. “I love your piercing. It hits just right.”

He snarled at me, biting my lip until it busted. “No. I will fuck you. You don’t get to give yourself pleasure. That’s my job.”

Blood spilled down my chin as my lip throbbed. Shadows wrapped tightly around my wrists, pulling my arms until I was practically hanging in the air. More shadows coiled around my ankles and spread me wide for him.

His fingers dug into my hips as he gripped me, and the cruelness of his smirk worsened. “Let’s give Lachlan a show since he is watching. You have such a pretty pussy, especially with my cock in it.”

Lachlan gripped himself, a pitiful whimper leaving his lips. “I will never deny a show, but I get to fuck her too.”

“You’re gonna let him fuck you too, aren’t you, little bird?” Damien didn’t move, just stood there with his cock inside of me, driving me mad.

“Yes!” I cried out. I’d agree to anything if he’d just move. “Please, move. Please.”

“Yes what? You’re going to let him do what?” He prompted, dragging his tongue up my chin, my blood coating it.

“Whatever he wants!” My body trembled. “I’m going to let Lachlan do whatever he wants. I’m going to let him fuck me, kiss me, taste me, whatever he wants!”

“Oh, fucking Fates,” Lachlan moaned, gently stroking himself, eyes glued on me.

“But who are you going to let do it first?”

“You!” I sobbed, tears of frustration gathering in my eyes.

“Good girl.” He started pounding up into me, hands moving to my butt, digging into my cheeks as he thrust into me over and over again.

Pleasure rocketed through me, and my frantic hands opened and closed, desperately wishing to cling to him but unable to since I was bound by his shadows.

I didn’t want to risk going incorporeal because if I did, I wouldn’t have him inside me anymore.

And he knew that. I could see it in the grin on his face.

His shadows teased my nipples and clit expertly. He drove into me with a fierceness that only Damien was capable of, and his hips bit into mine. Sensation sizzled through every part of me until I soared over the edge, clamping down on him and screaming his name.

My pheromones blasted into him, and he came hard, breath rumbling as he crossed the point of release, jerking up into me with a harder thrust.

His piercing buried into the sweet spot inside me until I screamed.

“Oh, Fates! Damien!”

He kept me bound by his shadows as he pulled out of me, slipping his hand between my legs, spreading his seed all over my folds and thighs. “So damn pretty.”

I moaned, pulling against the bindings of his shadows as I locked eyes with my werewolf.

Desire and carnal hunger swirled in his chocolate eyes.

“Wait, little bird. I think Lachlan wants you tied up too. Punishment for running. Right, Lachlan?”

Lachlan’s stance was predatory as he nodded, licking his lips. “Never had her tied up before.”

“Then have me now,” I rasped.

He stepped forward, taking his eyes over me as the muscles in his hand flexed as he held himself. “Can you get her on her hands and knees to where she can’t move?”

“I love how you think.” Damien’s smile grew sharp as his shadows jerked me from the X-position in the air and onto the ground roughly.

Pain radiated through my knees and hands as I was thrown onto the forest floor. The shadows bound my legs, spreading my thighs open, straining the muscles, enough for Lachlan and Damien to get a full view of the mess Damien and I had made.

The warm breeze hit the fluids dripping from between my thighs, making me shiver.

Any other time, being on display like this may have made me shy, but right now, I felt empowered. And so, so needy.

Another shadow wrapped around my waist, arching my back, pushing my face into the ground and binding my wrists to the ground next to my head.

“Seeing you tied up like this does things to me, tiny fox.” Lachlan dropped behind me and shoved into me, clasping my hips hard against him.

That first thrust knocked the breath out of me. His strokes started out slow, sure, and possessive. Each one sent me reeling as pleasure wracked my body.

“Oh, fuck. I’m getting hard again,” Damien muttered, but I couldn’t see him.

The only thing I could see were stars on the back of my eyelids.

Lachlan pumped harder, sounds of wetness hitting my ears, echoing through the trees. The friction was incredible.

My pheromones wrapped around him, coaxing him towards his release as he fucked me.

I didn’t say that word as a verb very often, only when Damien had urged me to. But there wasn’t another word that came to mind for what Lachlan was doing to me.

My body shook as heat streaked through me until I screamed. It was near painful before I finally released the orgasm, and tears streamed down my face as I came.

“That was the prettiest orgasm I’ve seen. You’re such a good girl, little bird. Isn’t she a good girl?” Damien asked Lachlan.

“Best fucking mate ever,” Lachlan agreed, pulling out as Damien released his shadows’ hold.

Before I could collapse, Lachlan pulled me into his chest, and Damien dropped to his knees to kiss me.

I was sandwiched between the two as they held me up.

“You do know we still have to go to spy, right?” Damien reminded me with a delightful chuckle.

Our magics were buzzing with the fuel from our pleasure, and I nodded deliriously.

Lachlan gripped my wrist and held it up as Damien traced the small amount of dark magic on my wrist.

“Maybe sex with your mates really does fight against the dark magic.”

“It does. Why do you think I’ve been begging for it so much lately? It keeps me grounded. Plus, I love you both, and I want to show you how much I do.”

“What about me?”

Disgust shot down my spine at the sound of Grayson’s voice, and my nose wrinkled at the heavy scent of sulfur.

Damien and Lachlan growled, pushing me tighter between them to cover my naked body, but I just stared at Grayson’s dull blue eyes that were glazed over, almost like he was reanimated, but he definitely wasn’t.

His nearness caused the dark magic inside of me to recognize the dark magic inside him. It wasn’t painful like the rejected bond, but it did feel like a type of bond.

“Have you accepted the dark magic yet?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.” He stepped forward. “And the show you three put on only made me want to speed up your infection faster.”

A snarl ripped from my throat as I bared my teeth. “Don’t come any closer.”

Grayson ignored me, closing the distance until he stood in front of us.

Damien and Lachlan both stood with me in the middle, but I pushed them both away before allowing my shadow to shoot for Grayson.

Panic slammed into me. My shadow tendril had merged with the darkness. Black goo dripped from it as it pierced Grayson’s shoulder, going clean through to the other side.

Grayson bellowed a disembodied tune before immediately dissolving into the ground of goo, a look of terror flashing on his face.

“Well, that was something,” Lachlan uttered.

“Don’t think I’m cool with him seeing you naked,” Damien growled out. “But that hit was something.”

My shadow seeped back into the mark along with the goo, and a chill rolled over me. Had I really accepted the dark magic? How else would it have infected the shadow inside me?

I turned to Lachlan, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. “Am I a monster now?”

His face twisted in confusion as he grabbed me and pulled me to his chest, stroking my hair. “Why would you ask me that? Of course not.”

“You once told me that if we felt nothing, we’d be monsters. It’s hard for me to feel anything anymore.”

“Fuck, tiny fox. That’s not what I meant.” He pulled back and cupped my face, kissing my lips softly a few times. “You still feel for us, right? You still hold anger and love. I feel it through the bond.”

I nodded. “That’s true.”

“Then you are not a monster.”

“If you were a monster, I’d become one with you,” Damien growled, stepping forward and pressing me against Lachlan with his chest against my back.

I sucked in a breath at their reactions. Two separate men with two different reactions, and yet, both things were what I needed to hear.

Damienslippedhishand between my legs to cup my soaking heat, and I shivered at the soreness. His breath fanned over my ear. “I love you, little bird.”

“And I love you.” I arched my back, rubbing against his hand before he pulled it away.

“As much as I’d love to take you here, we might want to pay attention.” His tail slipped around my waist and pulled me into him as I nodded my agreement.

We were hiding in the shadows of the human syndicate, which happened to be located at the center of the human territory, within a concrete building that was the size of the entire village I grew up in.

A stage was centered in the front with a ton of rows in the dome-like room.

It reminded me of the academy lecture halls. There were five people on that stage. One was a wizard with no magical energy as he was introduced, but the others were all human.

The one who spoke wore a white jacket and rounded glasses. They droned on about how great it was that they had possession of the supernatural relic for the first hour of speech, and it was getting boring.

“Where are we going to use the relic first?” one of the humans asked, and the guy smiled.

“We are going to be using it in Blezen first since the dragons are our biggest threat.”

“How do you propose we get there?” someone else asked.

“All in good time. Just have patience.” A large image of the Kalista world map projected on a screen behind him. “In order, we are going to hit Blezen, Briesia, the Apex Capital, Cursina, the Demon Capital, Fate Hollow, then lastly, the Bizarre. It’ll be the easiest to hit with the lower leveled supernaturals.”

“How do we know it even works?” another person asked, and the former wizard stepped forward.

“Because I created it.”

My eyes widened, and Damien’s tail tightened around me.

If that man created it, that meant he was Rebeka’s kin, so why would he be helping the humans?

“The relic took all of my magical energy and my soul. I have figured out how to harness technology as a magical weapon, though.” He had long gray hair and a beard to match, but even so, he didn’t look old. What really unnerved me was the glossy gray to his eyes. He looked exactly like a reanimated corpse, except he spoke normally.

“The relic allows for magic to be used through technology, but not through organic material,” he explained. “Which is fascinating.”

“But how are we going to infiltrate the supernatural territories with the relic? Surely the supernaturals are stronger than us even with the relic?” the same human asked.

“We will have new human specimens on our side to make sure the relic can do its job.” He waved a hand toward the back.

A human girl stepped onto the stage from the back, and I sensed unnatural magical energy in her.

She was bald, wearing a white jumpsuit, and there was no soul within her eyes. Holding up her hand, a blast of lightning shot out of it and smashed into the wall behind them. The concrete crumbled into nothing.

The humans gasped before excited chatter rang out through the room.

“Finally looks like we are seeing the humans use magic,” Damien growled out, and the darkness within me swirled.