27. Twenty-Seven

Something's coming .

I don't know what's about to happen, but I know, with every fiber of my being, something bad is coming.

I was watching her, so fucking proudly, as she listened to every correction I shouted out, handling every one of Nikoli's strikes with precision and agility. She's come so fucking far.

She was prepared for his grappling. She thought the entire move through in her mind, to the exact maneuver she was going to counter with when she dodged him, and I knew she'd execute it perfectly. When she threw her hands up and yelled wait, not a millisecond later, her eyes clouded over.

That light silver lavender color they change to when a vision sucks her in seemed so stark in that moment. So much brighter than I've ever noticed.

Something's going to happen.

I fucking hate this. I fucking hate this is a gift she was blessed with. Cursed with. What wouldn't I give to take it from her. Put it on myself. She doesn't deserve to constantly live with this burden bringing her down.

Stomping over to where Ry and his Nexus are surrounding Oakly, I'm trembling with the need to get home, get my hands on my little warrior. I promised her I'd be there in less than five minutes, and I intend to keep that promise.

Caspian wouldn't put her down and whisked her away the second me and Corentin gave her a kiss, Draken following right behind him. But I have to give Ry orders. We have to be prepared.

"Did she go home?" Oakly asks, stepping toward me and out of her guys' circle as soon as I walk up.

"Caspian took her home. I've got to get there. Ry, I need you, Nikoli, and San to get the new recruits in a rotation for guard duty. Get them running mission exercises, hostage situations, and recon drills. Spread those out that witnessed what happened in Terravile with the others who haven't been working on this. Work on their combat. All of it, not just hand-to-hand, gifts and elements too," I order.

"Is she okay?" Nikoli asks. I see the guilt warring in his eyes.

He tried his hardest to stop himself from tackling her. If Caspian hadn't been watching their match so intently as well and shot his shadows out to block Nikoli when he did, he would have flattened her.

I was too immersed in her, listening to her well planned out attack. I should've been faster to react.

"Not right now. No. She will be. If you need me, I'll have my communicator. I have to go," I say.

They all give me understanding nods. They know just as well as I do, if the roles were reversed and it were Oakly in this situation, they'd be hauling ass home to her, so they get it.

"Is there anything you need to do before we go?" I ask Corentin.

He's seething. His thoughts are running wild with every possibility of what she could've seen. He's not even attempting to keep me out from his mind, but he'll need to lock that shit up before we get home and she hears the things he's freaking out about.

"No. I just didn't want you to be alone," he grunts.

The five minutes wouldn't have killed me, but I appreciate his concern for keeping us all together. It's what we all need right now.

Stepping out the gym doors, I don't bother taking the hundred or so more steps to the transport zone. I grab his shoulder and transport us right from there to our back lawn.

As soon as we step out, I sense her before I even see her. My body draws me straight to the back patio where she's cuddled up in Caspian's lap. All that's visible is her head as he has her so blanketed by his shadows.

Draken's less than a foot away, sitting beside him with his knee bouncing uncontrollably. He's about to fucking snap because Caspian won't give her up.

Fuck, they're going to start a fight and upset her even more.

"Caspian," I warn, narrowing my eyes at him.

I don't know what happened when they went to the palace, but since he got back last night, he's barely been able to keep his hands off her or at the very least, he's stayed within a foot of her.

Don't get me wrong, I'm fucking ecstatic they're finally breaking through their barriers, but he's got to think about the rest of our needs as well. Not just his own.

He sneers at me momentarily before giving Willow a kiss on her forehead and passing her off to Draken.

He positions them to where she's straddling his lap, and she buries her face in his neck. Neither of them speaks, but there are quiet purrs falling from both of their chests. I'm shocked still for a second as I feel the bond in my chest vibrate with the sound.

I can feel their calming command. The one they're passing between themselves. I feel it.

I take a few steps toward them and kneel on her side. When I place my hand on her back, the feeling in my chest intensifies, and it's as if all my worries melt away.

Incredible.

"What's incredible?" Draken asks, looking down at me.

"How did you hear that?" I ask instead.

"You just said it in my mind," he answers like I'm an idiot.

"I heard it too, but I thought I was just picking up your thoughts," Willow says, sitting up to face me.

I don't know what the fuck is going on. It was just a thought.

"I could feel the two of your purrs in my chest. My bond was vibrating with it. So I laid my hand on you, and I felt soothed," I admit.

"That's what our purrs meant. Our dragons were comforting each other. Did either of you feel anything?" Willow asks Corentin and Caspian.

"A little. My bond didn't vibrate like Tillman is saying, but I didn't feel as out of control as I did a minute ago," Corentin confesses begrudgingly. By his shifting and the way his pants' pockets are expanding and flexing over his fists, he didn't want to admit that.

"I felt you, Primary," Caspian says.

"What were you thinking about when you purred, little wanderer?" Draken asks.

"That I wanted to feel better. I wanted everyone to not be so worried and upset with me." She sniffles, laying her head back to his chest.

"No one is upset with you, sweetness, not at all. But I believe your ability just upped the ante," Draken says.

"What do you mean?" Willow asks, popping right up.

"I think you pushed your purr down your bond, not just out at me. They all felt it, and typically, only another shifter would've been able to," Draken tells her with a huge smile.

"What?" she breathes, then turns slowly in his lap to look at the three of us.

A small rumble starts in her chest, quiet like a hum. As her purr gets louder, more audible, it has a much bigger effect.

Caspian shoves out of his chair at the same moment me and Corentin take a step toward her, all three of us laying a hand on her. The need to comfort her and care for her overwhelms me. I feel like I'll suffocate if I don't do that for her.

"What is that?" Caspian asks.

"I just called you all to me," she whispers as tears gather in her eyes again. I have no clue why she's upset about it, though. This is amazing.

Just as I go to pull her into my arms, Corentin beats me, tugging her out of Draken's lap and into his.

"What's wrong, baby?" Corentin asks softly.

"Nothing, I'm just emotional. You all felt me," she mumbles.

"Why did you use a distress call, little wanderer?" Draken asks, standing from his seat and looking down at her with a worried look that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"A what?" Me, Corentin, and Caspian ask at the same time.

"That need you all felt. The overwhelming sense to get to her, make her feel better. That was her distress call. Why did you use that purr, Willow?" he asks a little more forcefully.

I guess because I'm not a shifter, I didn't pick up the distress part. I only felt overwhelmed to get to her. But that makes sense.

"I think my purr was feeding off my emotions right now and I wanted you, all of you. I didn't mean for it to come off as a distress," she tells him calmly.

He stares at her for a long moment. The seriousness of his mood right now has me on edge because he's never like this. I mean, unless it comes to her, but never with her. He's never so growly, domineering toward her. It makes me worry even more that she's not sassing him, just staring back with a trembling lip.

"Draken, give it a rest," I tell him, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

He sneers and shrugs me off, walking to the lawn and pacing. Willow's eyes, filling with water by the second, follow his every step the whole time. He's getting more and more worked up and it's making her even more upset.

"We should just leave. We should make Gaster take us to the nonmagical realm. I mean, I know our power will die out in a hundred or so years. Well, maybe not, since Willow lived there with power, but regardless, one hundred years is a long time for us to have a nice life. I say we leave, fuck all this," Draken rambles, clenching and unclenching his fist as he paces.

"I'm with Draken," Caspian mutters, crossing his arms over his chest.

Corentin passes Willow over to me and stands from his seat, jumping straight into an argument with both of them. Back and forth they go, yelling and fussing about how she shouldn't have to deal with stuff like this.

My heart rate continues to climb, and I feel my anger bubbling to the surface. Not because of their ridiculous fucking fight, but because my little warrior is shaking like a leaf in my arms, her sobs only audible to me since the other three won't shut the fuck up for five seconds to notice.

I can hear both their shouting and their furious thoughts about the situation. It's feeding into my own fear, my own fucking worry, but it's not helping the most important thing right now.

Her.

The more my shirt grows wet with her tears, the more fury builds. She has enough going on and these fucking idiots are making it worse.

So much worse.

Covering Willow's ear so I don't startle her, I pull her by her waist until she's firmly pressed against me.

"Stop," I command loudly. My voice comes out deep, powerful, and the echo of it continues through the woods.

Will still hears it and turns her body toward the silence, gasping.

There they stand in front of us, frozen.

Not moving, not yelling. They just…stopped.

For a full five seconds, me and Willow stare at their still forms. Draken's arm is raised with a finger pointed at Corentin's chest, a sneer plastered on his face. Caspian's standing next to him with his eyes narrowed and arms crossed. And Corentin was in mid-motion of throwing his hands in the air, mouth opened, preparing to yell.

As if time catches up, they begin to move again, right where they left off, until clarity seeps in and they all silence themselves and turn to us.

"What the fuck was that?" Caspian growls.

"Oh shit," Will whispers, turning her shocked expression on me.

I just gape at the three of them, my mind taking a long time to catch up. I've done this one other time in my life. The worst day of my life.

"Did you just command us to stop?" Corentin asks. He doesn't seem pissed, though. He seems to be putting the same pieces together in his mind that I just did.

"How it that possible, though? He shouldn't be able to use his gift on us like that?" Draken asks incredulously.

"I didn't have any ill intentions. I just wanted you to stop so Willow would calm down," I tell them, rubbing her stomach in a comforting gesture so she knows I'm not trying to put her on the spot. I'm trying to get them to realize what was going on.

"The same with his mind reading and my shadows. We've always been able to use them on each other as long as we had no ill intent," Caspian summarizes, still staring daggers at me.

"What is happening?" Willow whispers.

"I'm not completely sure. But between the power behind Draken's fire, you being able to pass your purr through the bonds, and what I did just now, it's easy to assume we're getting a power boost," I tell her.

"Get up, try it again. Try it on Draken," Corentin orders, ready to work this entire situation out right here and now.

"Me? Why me?" Draken asks.

"Just go stand over there, Draken," Corentin orders impatiently.

Willow hops up out of my lap and offers her hand for me to pull myself up with. Despite her current mood and gloomy thoughts she's trying to ward off, she can't help that curious nature of hers. She's got to see for herself what's going on.

The five of us walk out into the back lawn and I stand a few feet in front of Draken, whose cocky thoughts and ‘this won't work' smirk makes me chuckle darkly.

"Come on, T-man. Give me what you got," he taunts.

I take a deep breath and center myself, calling on the calm and patience I've had to build up over almost two decades. Just like when my gift first emerged, I had to learn then too how to become balanced and focused for it to work for me, not overwhelm me. So I do the same now.

On my exhale, I call forth my new ability and I instantly recognize it's difference. It feels powerful, commanding.

"On the ground," I command.

Draken, without hesitation, belly flops on the grass. I can hear the wind being knocked out of him, and I have to cough to cover my laugh when Willow gasps and runs over to check on him.

"Asshole," he grunts, catching his breath.

"I didn't tell you to be all dramatic. I just told you on the ground." I justify.

"Try again," Corentin instructs, stepping up next.

Unlike Draken, Corentin grounds himself. I push my magic out to test his block, and he's got that shit locked up tighter than we keep Rebel Castle. He means business right now.

Focusing on his mind, I think intently about what I plan to command. It obviously can't be anything with any ill intent, nor do I want to cause him any harm. Draken getting hurt was his own damn fault. But for Corentin, I'd like to get some amusement out of this.

"Throw your jacket on the ground." I lace my words with my magic, pushing them hard against the block on his mind.

He grunts, his limbs shaking from the restraint he's trying to use to not do this. He prepared himself far better than Draken, and he's doing a damn good job fighting this shit off, but I can tell he's close to breaking.

"Throw. It. On. The. Ground," I command again forcefully.

Cussing me six ways to the Central, he snaps the buttons on his jacket. The poor plastic pieces fly through the air and we all watch in silence as they fall to the ground. No one speaks as we watch a royally pissed off Corentin snatch his jacket off and throw it to the ground. There's a beat of tense stillness because we all know how he is about his damn clothes.

A sweet little giggle falls from Willow's lips and Corentin's head snaps to her, and that just causes her to absolutely lose it.

"I'm not laughing at you," she unconvincingly swears between her fits of hysteria.

"Sure as fuck seems like you are," Corentin says, but there's no heat in his tone. A small little lip twitch tells me all I need to know about what that sweet music coming out of her mouth is doing for his mood.

It only takes a second for Draken to join in, which as always, causes a chain reaction.

"You try, little Primary," Caspian orders Will lightly.

"Me?" she asks, surprised.

"Obviously you. You can broadcast like Tillman can, so you should be able to command people as well," he says literally.

"You can command me, kitten. I'll do whatever you say." Draken grins.

"That's exactly why she's not practicing on you. Try it on me, Will," I instruct.

"What am I supposed to command you to do? I feel awkward commanding you," she admits with a little scrunch in her nose.

"Make him get naked, sweetness." Draken laughs. The saucy smirk Willow shoots me damn near gets me fucking hard. Her more than obliged thoughts definitely do the trick.

Focusing on me, I watch her take a deep breath and I prepare myself for the command to wrap around my mind.

"Take your clothes off," she orders.

No sooner the words leave her mouth than she's gripping her head, crying out in pain.

"Willow," we shout, running to surround her.

"I'm apparently not supposed to do that yet." She pants as the pain eases off.

"Fuck, nothing else today. I can't take it." Corentin groans, leaning his forehead against hers. A small smile breaks through her pinched lips and she cups his cheek sweetly.

"Agreed. How about someone feeds me, and we can relax on the patio," she says.

"Whatever you want, little warrior."

We'll give her whatever she wants.

Every time the silence stretches on, she sinks into her mind.

For the past few hours, we've enjoyed each other's company. No talk of the Mastery, no responsibilities. Just easy conversation. But when the conversation dies down, her thoughts start taking over. Like right now. She's rambling on and on to keep herself distracted. Keeping her mind focused on anything other than what happened today.

"Pull yourself together. They've done everything they could this afternoon to cheer you up. Well, almost everything…beside the point… You learned Tillman likes romance when he reads even though he rarely does. Corentin can play the piano, or well, their version of the piano, not like what I know a piano to be.

"Draken hid all of Corentin's clothes one time when he first moved into the palace, which damn near gave Corentin a heart attack. It took him hours to pull his gift back in. And Caspian, so sweet and dark, definitely a little deranged, said he'd rip people's bodies apart if they looked at me wrong. Get out of your head. Get your shit together."

On and on she goes. Recounting every conversation we've had today. Multiple times over she thinks of every little detail of us. She just can't get the thoughts to stop.

"Come here, little warrior. Well, everyone actually," I demand, standing from my chair. Her head whips toward me, finally pulling herself away from her internal sprawling.

"What are we doing?" she asks as she comes to stand beside me.

Placing my hand at the base of her neck, I call my element forth. Shimmering down her body, I change her outfit to a midthigh, stretchy sundress, one that shows off every perfect curve, but not too tight that it's going to get in her way. Then I disintegrate her shoes, leaving her barefoot and fucking beautiful.

"We're not going anywhere, are we?" she asks as she gives a little twirl in her dress.

"Run, Will."

She quits the little shimmy she was doing in her new dress and looks up at me with parted lips.

"What?"

"You've got a sixty-second head start, then we're coming after you. Run, little warrior," I command again.

Her mouth gapes open and closed as her eyes swing back and forth between all of us. When she settles on me, something shifts in her gaze.

"Tick-tock. You've wasted ten seconds," I tell her.

Without any more hesitation, she turns on her heel and takes off down the running trail. Her squeal echoes back to us as Draken lets out a loud growl, his dragon getting riled up for the chase.

Sucks for him.

"She's got twenty seconds," Corentin comments as he unbuttons his shirt and slips his shoes off.

"I fucking got this. I'm getting to her first," Draken swears.

"In your dreams, dragon. I'll have her wrapped in my shadows before you make it around the first corner," Caspian counters.

They're all wrong.

"Five seconds," Corentin says and they all bounce on their toes.

"Four…three…two…"

"Freeze," I command, stepping in front of the three of them. Smirking fucking smugly. "You all just stay right here for, let's say, five minutes. Then you can join us."

I turn my back to them, laughing my ass off as I take off after my little warrior. They'll break the hold before the five minutes are up. I didn't stress that very much when I commanded it, but it'll be enough that I get her first.

Charging forward, I round the first curve, then cut down the path that leads to our treehouse. I know she's going there. It takes me maybe thirty seconds to have her in my sights…bending down and smelling a damn flower.

The sound of my feet pounding on the ground reaches her advanced hearing and she whips her head up to me.

Squealing, she drops the flower and starts hauling ass forward.

I don't give it all I got. I just get close enough that I can catch her as soon as I want to. But for now, I want to take a second to watch her, stalk her before I claim my win. My prize.

She's my fucking prize. She's my fucking world.

Peering over her shoulder, she shrieks when she sees how close I am, how fast I'm gaining on her, and an elated laugh bubbles out of me.

"Run, little warrior. If I catch you, I win."

Something about my words sends her stumbling over her own feet. Quickly, I fling out a vine and wrap it around her waist to catch her so she doesn't fall. Instead of releasing her and letting her right herself, I drag her to me and hoist her against my body.

"I won, little one," I whisper against her lips as she lays her forehead to mine.

"What do you win?"

"You."

Slamming my mouth to hers, I slip my tongue between her parted lips, not giving her a chance to say anything else, think about anything else, do anything else, but bathe in me.

She melts.

Into me, into the kiss, and the feeling of her tiny little body grinding against mine has my dick aching.

Moving one of my hands around the curve of her ass, I tug her underwear to the side and sink my finger deep inside her greedy little pussy. The way she clenches around me, trying her hardest to pull me in deeper has a groan falling from my mouth.

Fuck, she needs this.

She drives me fucking wild. I don't think I'll ever get enough of her. I could bury myself in her multiple times a day and it'd still never be enough.

In two strides, I turn our bodies, slamming mine into the nearest tree, and rip her underwear away, followed by my own pants and boxers. I need to be inside of her. Now. I need her mind so consumed with only me, she forgets her fucking name.

Lining myself up, I push in slowly, pumping in and out. Trying to give her a second to adjust to me since I barely prepared her.

"Please," she moans, attempting to slam herself down on my cock.

"Fuck, you're so tight. Let me work my way in, Will," I grunt.

"No, I need it all. All of you, Tillman."

Fuck.

Her words snap my restraints and I do just as she begs.

Grabbing her hips, I lift her up until my dick nearly slips out then slam into her, balls deep in one hard thrust.

"Yes," she cries, throwing her head back.

Her pussy accepts all of me easily because it's fucking mine, and I already feel my spine tingling with the need to come. But I force it down. I focus on the small pinch of pain from the bark at my back and her nails digging into my shoulders.

Footsteps pounding against the ground reach my ears, but I don't slow down. I know the sweet sounds of her screams are calling them to us and they'll be here in just a second to see our Primary being fucked senseless.

I can't help the smug smile that crosses my lips when all three of them slam to a stop. The pissed off looks on their faces quickly morph into hunger. One nod from me has the three of them stalking toward us.

My little warrior is so distracted, she doesn't notice they've approached until Draken slides his hand between our bodies. Her eyes fly open, and she gasps as he slowly starts stroking her clit.

"Bad little wanderer. Letting the mind reader catch you and fuck you out here in the open just to make us jealous," Draken growls.

"Draken—"

"Come, sweetness. Come all over his cock. Make him fall apart for you," he demands.

I fuck her faster, harder. Feeling her legs tense and pussy tighten around me, I know she's about to explode and she's going to tip me right over the edge.

"Now, Willow," I command and her body responds immediately.

Throwing her head back to Draken's shoulders, she screams her release, and I bury myself as deeply as I can inside of her.

Euphoria filters through both of us and the ground shakes beneath our feet. Dark spots blink in front of my eyes with how fucking dizzyingly amazing that felt and I hold myself still, relishing the feel of her still clamping around me.

"You're not done, are you, little warrior? I can feel your pussy clenching around me, begging for more," I say, pulling her in for a quick, hungry kiss.

"Yes. I want more." She pants.

A siren's call is what that is.

All three of them circle around us like starved men and in one swift move, Corentin and Caspian lift her off me, then seat her right on Draken's dick. Her desperate moans draw us closer, everyone feeling the need to touch her.

Where Draken had just been strumming her clit, I take over as he pounds into her from behind.

Tendrils of shadows wrap all around the top of her dress, pulling the shoulders down until her perfect tits fall out over the top. When Caspian commands his shadows to tweak her nipples, she comes undone again.

I bask in the sounds coming out of her and the look of pure fucking relief on her face until Corentin tilts her chin to him.

She melts into his kiss just as she did mine and her thoughts drive me fucking mad with desire all over again.

Wrapping my hand around her neck gently, I can't help but add fuel to her fire, mentally egging her on.

"Look at you, little warrior. Putting on such a show for your Nexus. How does it feel having Draken fuck my cum deeper inside of you with his cock?"

She breaks Corentin's kiss and screams as another orgasm rips through her body. Draken picks up his pace, fucking her like his life depends on wringing as much pleasure from her body as possible, while me, Caspian, and Corentin hold her up.

"Yes, sweetness, come all over me. Fuck, guys, she's choking my cock so fucking beautifully," Draken growls, pumping into her a few more times before throwing his own head back and groaning her name.

I catch Willow easily as she slumps forward, exhausted, worn out, but most importantly, her mind is clear of any thoughts but us and what just happened.

Hoisting her into my arms bridal style, Corentin's quick to fix her clothes and lay a soft kiss to her forehead. Draken quickly puts himself away, then kisses her tenderly. Complete opposite of how he was just pounding into her.

I observe Caspian's nervous shifting. He's been so much more open with her and I can tell he doesn't want to hold back anymore, but he's fearful of just going all in physically. He doesn't realize just how much his small interaction with her just now means to her.

Catching his eye, I discreetly nod down at Willow, whose eyes are beginning to drift shut. I was ready for the snide and sneer. Instead, he nods back and steps up to us.

"Let's get you cleaned up, naughty little Primary," he says low, gravelly.

A small hiss falls from her lips when his water washes away the mess we made of her, but it's silenced as he leans down and lays his lips to the corner of hers.

"Thank you," she mumbles drowsily.

"Anything for you, Primary."

We make our way back to the mansion in blissed out quietness. All of us are so much more relaxed than we were even an hour ago. Especially Willow.

Her mind has finally stopped rambling and her mood is so much better than it's been all day. Just before we make it through the threshold of the house, she reaches her hand up and cups my face.

"Thank you so much for taking care of me. Mind, body, and soul," she slurs, her last little bit of energy waning.

My heart pounds with the love, appreciation, and dedication she's pouring down the bonds right now. It's so sincere, so fucking raw, I feel like my chest could burst from it.

The others have to feel it as well. Even if the brothers don't feel it to the magnitude me and Draken do, there's no way they're not feeling this. It's impossible to ignore.

"I'd do anything for you, Willow. I love you more than this life or the next."