Chapter 9

When Greta returned a few minutes later, she checked the wound. "Your magic healed the bite as soon as his teeth released. It won't scar, and the mark will fade in a week or so. Hardly any bleeding even." She shrugged. "In terms of a love bite from a shifter, it couldn't have been better placed and wasn't excessive."

She leveled a serious gaze Rio's way where he stood behind Mari. "You do have to be careful. She's not a shifter, and she's not a gargoyle. You could do real damage with even a fraction of your bite power. But I agree with her assessment. The puma knew what he was doing."

"I'm not so sure," Rio said. "It didn't feel in control."

"Then you didn't hear what I said." Greta moved back to her case and started preparing her tools again. "You could do permanent damage with a fraction of your bite power anywhere on her body. But you didn't. You were restrained. Controlled. Because that bite was clean and caused minimal damage."

"But I didn't know that, so how could the cat?" Rio asked.

"Shifters in general, and cats in particular, are very intuitive about their sexual partners," Greta said. "I'll bet he knows a lot you're not aware of on the surface."

Mari turned to grin at him. "He's been taking notes. Very detailed notes."

Greta cackled. "I would love to read that book."

Cisco appeared beside Mari, silent as the grave, with his wings flared. His eyes took in her breasts with a hungry glance and then the tattoos on Rio's wrists. The arousal simmering in Mari's body suddenly blazed. It took all of her willpower not to climb him like a tree.

Cisco grumbled with approval. "Excellent work, as always, Greta."

"Thank you." The life witch beamed. "Just one thing left. You're right on time."

Mari looked from Cisco to Greta, a blush rising in her cheeks. "Did the nipples go so badly you had to call in backup?"

Cisco rested a strong hand on the back of her neck. "I was always going to be here for this part, to make sure you were okay. What happened with the nipples?"

"I short-circuited or something. Rio helped straighten me out after."

Cisco glanced over Rio's quiet form and then turned a serious look Greta's way.

She shrugged. "Most likely, it was a feedback loop that started because she's not very familiar with how her magic works. We all learned a lot from the last ones."

"What do you suggest to make this easier for everyone?" Mari asked.

Cisco looked her over but didn't add anything. He handed her the camisole that sat folded at the bottom of the table. With a nod of thanks, she pulled it over her head.

Greta stood with a pensive expression for a few seconds. "I think if you spend some time relaxing first like you did earlier, it'll be over before you can get twisted up. Once I measure everything and get the forceps in place, it's quick."

Mari smiled at her infectious confidence. "Okay. Let's get it done."

Cisco rubbed his thumb gently over the side of Mari's neck. "You don't have to do this to impress me, you know."

She looked up into his face. "I'm doing it to impress me."

"Good enough." He leaned to kiss her temple. "What can I do to help?"

"Lay her flat and keep her relaxed."

Cisco worked the table and then smiled down at her. "Your tits look hot."

Mari laughed. "She was right to put you on relaxation duty."

"I haven't even started, Mariana." He covered her mouth with a soft, chaste kiss. His desire unfurled, stroking lightly against the edges of her magic.

She breathed in the scent of him, the essence of him, the orange and spice tickling through her like the sweetest promise. Cisco had always made her feel safe. Protected.

"Rio?" Greta asked.

A moment later, Mari felt Rio's touch at her hips, pulling her skirt and panties down her legs. She wondered idly if he folded them neatly and placed them somewhere in a careful pile but she couldn't see anything beyond Cisco's smiling form hovering over her.

"I'm going to raise some stirrups now and get you situated. Then I'll measure a few things, just like we did before."

"Okay," Mari said, proud that her voice was so steady. She closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.

Cisco ran his fingers down the side of her neck. "Such a good, calm princess," he whispered into her ear.

Rio and Greta positioned her legs, then Rio took up a position opposite Cisco and picked up her hand. They both anchored her, their affection for her relaxing her.

Greta was efficient and professional. After a few minutes of manipulation, she said, "Okay, your anatomy looks good. There's going to be a bit of a pinch when I place the forceps to keep the important stuff out of the way. Uncomfortable but not painful. Then just like the others, there'll be a sharp prick followed by a little tugging while I put in the hardware. Then I'll heal it."

"I'm ready," Mari said, her eyes still closed. Her voice sounded distant and a little dreamy. Once again, the darkness held peace and something else that drifted just at the edge of her perception. Each time she tried to focus on the something in the dim expanse, it faded out of her awareness as if it had never been.

Cisco hummed. "She is way down there, huh?"

"I think it might have something to do with her magic," Rio murmured.

The pinch was just as Greta had described it. Sometime later, pain lanced along her nerves, but the gasp that escaped her wasn't prompted by that surface sensation; it was from the pleasure that blossomed underneath, that sense that something important was just out of reach tempted her again. She fought against the urge to lift her hips.

Cisco gripped her chin and kissed her, pressing his tongue into her unresisting mouth. His hand slipped under the camisole and fondled her breast, his sharp-tipped finger toying with the new piercing. The distraction worked admirably, giving her a focus for her desire. She grabbed at Cisco's shirt, tugging him closer.

Between her legs, Greta worked the hardware through the piercing with a few quick movements. The crawling sensation that meant Greta was healing the wound started up almost at once, and the pain abated at the same time, leaving behind only the desire.

"All done," Greta said. "I'll email care instructions. You want me to step out?"

"Won't be necessary." Cisco straightened and scooped Mari off the table, wrapping her in the sheet that had been under her. "Rio will handle the bill."

Mari clung to him as he whirled away. The world blurred around them as Cisco dashed through the house. Cisco took them into a dim room she didn't recognize and closed the door. He placed her on her feet, ripped the sheet away, and dropped to his knees, lifting her at the same time.

His mouth was on her in an instant, his lips tenderly seeking out the new piercings in her nipples one at a time. They made every move of his lips and teeth and tongue explosive. She writhed against the door. Groaning in frustration, she ran her hands over both of his horns, trying to tug him lower, where she needed him so badly.

Cisco chuckled against her skin but didn't move on from his incessant teasing. He parted her slick folds with his fingers and found the piercing between her legs. He toyed with that one at the same time as he played with the one in his mouth. Her magic pulsed through all three at once. She cried out in desperation. She felt like she was coming undone, and he'd barely started.

He lowered his head slowly and used his tongue to search out every secret crevice of her body along the way. Cisco paused to lift her up and place her legs over his shoulders, using his strength to push her back into the door. An eternity later, he found the new jewelry in her clit, his clever mouth manipulating it in ways that made her shiver and plead.

Cisco grumbled contentedly. "You smell like him." He made a long, slow lick from her entry to her clit. "Taste like him too."

He kissed gently, his lips tugging the piercing to feel her response. She felt like she was going to crawl out of her skin, the pleasure streaking along her nerves. "How many times has he come inside you today?"

Mari looked down along her body to meet his eyes, registering the desire that blazed there. "Twice," she said breathlessly. The way his lips curled when she answered made her stomach clench.

He flicked his tongue over the piercing and then held her gaze as he moved lower, delving deep into her as he lifted her hips toward his face. He moaned as he tasted her, and that made her clench around his tongue. She watched as he feasted on her, her arousal surging with each noise of satisfaction he made against her. His obvious enjoyment of the idea that he was cleaning up after Rio was so gloriously filthy that she curled her hands around his horns to keep herself upright, or else she might have melted away.

When his mouth withdrew, she thought she was going to die of wanting. Her groan of frustration cut off when he slid three fingers into her, his mouth moving back up to her clit to play with the piercing. She cried out at the sudden penetration, but her hips angled toward him, her magic swirling around in her belly before being directed to the piercings, which seemed to throb in her skin. He curled his fingers and stroked her inner wall.

The pressure undid her, the orgasm crashing over her in a sudden rush, but her magic didn't release. Cisco hummed his approval, lavishing every inch of her with his tongue. He stroked with his fingers until the last of her aftershocks shivered through her. With a final tug of his teeth on the ring that made her shudder, he pushed to his feet with careless strength, letting her slide down his body at the same time.

Cisco reached between them to undo his fly. He kissed her, hard and wild, as he pushed his cock into her, his lips tasting like her. She wrapped her legs around him as he drove home, her fingers gripping his shoulders.

Curling his hands around her ass, he pushed her up against the door with each thrust. The friction at the tight angle with her new piercing was gorgeous and raw. When the ridges of his cock pressed into her, she felt them as she never had before, as if they were stroking her clit from the inside. Her magic tightened and whirled, making her cry out with every stroke.

"I've been thinking about this all day," he murmured against her mouth. "Feeling you squirm while you take my dick."

Mari moaned when he picked up his pace. Her power strained to escape. She arched against him as he drilled into her, her thighs tensing.

One hand came up to grip her jaw. His eyes were black and endless as he regarded her. "Not yet," he rumbled. "I'm not done with you." He didn't slow or let up as he spoke, just kept fucking her at the same inexorable intensity.

Mari held onto her turbulent magic with every inch of her willpower as it tried to spiral away from her. "Fuck," she whimpered. "I can't."

Cisco turned her face away from him and whispered in her ear, his fingers moving down to hold her throat, his voice low and dirty, "You can. You will." His voice conveyed that he'd accept nothing but exactly what he demanded.

She dug her fingers into his back through his shirt, unwilling to give up on something he wanted that she could give him. She coiled her power around both of them, tying his escalating lust to hers.

He kissed the tender spot under her ear. "Mmm. You feel so fucking good." His sharp teeth scraped the side of her neck as he slowed and extended his strokes. "So. Fucking. Perfect."

She felt every immense inch of him as he advanced and retreated over and over. Floating in a haze of desire, time stretched. There was nothing but her next breath, her savage need, and his next thrust. Mari moved with him, her hips rolling to meet him in the same hypnotic rhythm. She had no idea how long it went on because, where she was, there was no time, only need.

Without warning, he squeezed her ass and plunged deep. "Come for me, Mariana," he purred as he increased his pace. "Come all over my dick."

Her orgasm crashed through her, leaving no part of her untouched. Crying out his name, she clenched around him as he continued to fuck her. Her magic roared in a raging torrent she could barely conceive of and certainly couldn't control, bottomless and untamed. The wards around the compound rang in a key only she could hear as the power surged.

Cisco growled in her ear as he came.

Mari's muscles were still shuddering around him when he finally stopped moving. She collapsed against him, exhausted. He sought out her mouth with a long, slow kiss that curled her toes even as drained as she felt.

"Such a good little princess," he murmured into her neck as he withdrew from her. He soothed her when she whimpered and bundled the sheet around her again. "I'm going to get you back to the room for a nap before dinner."

"Need to check the wards," she said around a yawn. She could barely keep her eyes open.

"No, that'll keep for a bit. You've had a hard couple of days, and you're not sleeping enough."

"And who's fault is that?" She gave up and cuddled against him as he carried her from the room.

"Yours, for being so damn sexy I can't seem to keep my dick out of you for more than a couple of hours at a time."

Mari laughed and nuzzled his shoulder. She was asleep well before they got back to their room.

Mari was awakened by a knock at the pool house door what seemed only a moment after her eyes had shut. "Yes?" She blinked blearily at the light that entered when the door slid open.

Tilly stuck her head in. "Cisco sent me to wake you up so you had time to shower before dinner."

"Fuck. Is it that late already?"

"You've still got a couple of hours."

"Oh, thank goodness." She sat up and stretched. "Come in for a minute?"

"Sure." Tilly slipped inside and touched the switch on the wall to bring the lights on dimly before shutting the door. "Do you need something?"

"Just wanted to talk since we have a couple of minutes." Mari gestured to where her robe hung. She still wore only her camisole and wasn't sure how modest Tilly was.

Tilly crossed the room and handed the robe to her and then turned around. "What did you want to talk about?"

Mari wrapped the robe around her body as she stood, smiling to herself at the unnecessary privacy Tilly afforded her. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about what my father did to you because of me."

Tilly turned to face her. "That wasn't your fault."

"No, but you deserve an apology for it, since you can't get one from him."

"Thank you." Tilly frowned. Her clawed feet, the same deep blue as her wings, shifted on the tiled floor. "I spent a lot of years hating you for what happened."

Mari sighed. "I can understand that. It was awful."

"I don't anymore. Haven't for a while. You had it much tougher than I did." Tilly shrugged, the feathers on her arms resettling. "After that, your father mostly ignored me."

Mari understood now why she'd felt the need to have this conversation. She did have something to atone for, after all. "And so did I."

Tilly looked startled, but after a moment, she nodded. "That hurt. And I didn't understand at first that you were doing it for me. So that he'd have no excuse to come after me again."

"I'm glad it worked." That made the isolation she'd felt in the years that followed worth it.

Sadness softened Tilly's expression. "That must have been so lonely. No one dared to get close to you after that."

Until Cisco in recent years, no one had. "I understood why. He terrorized all of us."

Tilly stepped closer and held out her feathered arms. "We survived."

Mari accepted the peace offering, moving to hug her. "We survived," she agreed as she squeezed Tilly tightly. "And I'm so thankful for that."

Tilly's strong arms held her for a long, quiet moment as they both grieved the girls they'd been. Eventually, they pulled apart, both of them having said what needed saying. "I'm glad you found your people."

Mari smiled but couldn't help feeling like the other shoe had yet to drop. Contentment was hard to come to terms with for her. "You'll find yours too."

Tilly shrugged. "I think I already have. She just has to figure it out."

That pleased Mari to hear, and she was curious who the lucky lady was. "I'm going to ask you for all the details about that soon, but I really have to get in the shower."

Tilly nodded. "I heard you're headed to meet with Esmé. I'm stuck on compound duty tonight, but you're going to crush it."

Mari took a breath to calm the nerves that were already fluttering in her stomach. "Let's hope so."