16. Stella

16

STELLA

“That explains why Ariel thinks using violence won’t win over the territory,” I breathe. Poor Mom being stuck in that situation. I’m comforted that at this moment she’s having the time of her life with spotty cell reception. She deserves it.

My marriage of convenience pales in comparison. I just have a gargoyle who is as hot and cold as a spring day and a demon I want to clutch like a safety blanket.

I turn the gift from my husband in my hands. Stoneheart leans over me, and I still. The power of his body pulls my attention as he picks up the granola bar I dropped on the couch and offers it to me again, but I shake my head.

I’m hungrier to marvel at the gift in my hands than food. He frowns but tosses it to the coffee table.

The gem hums sweetly against my palms. Labradorite can be used for many things in charm making, but generally is thought to enhance intuition and bring strength during times of change. It’s a common gem that I’ve been needing to replenish my supply of, but I’d hesitate to cut up this one. It’s a high-quality piece with strong electric blue and contrasting black veining that just makes me want to marvel at it.

And it’s meaningful. Labradorite is a stone of transformation and clarity. It’s exactly what I’d have picked for myself to rival the last couple of days.

Is my husband trying to romance me?

I shake my head, needing to focus on our situation and what would be best for the territory rather than this confusing gargoyle. “She mentioned that our relationship needs to be viewed as solid.”

Stoneheart shrugs. “We expected that.”

“Everyone seems to know that we haven’t…done the thing.”

Ben coughs, and it sounds suspiciously like a cut off laugh.

Stoneheart rolls his eyes. “We won’t fuck just to put people at ease. If we give in to the demands of terrified people, there’s no telling where it will end.”

Apparently with a baby. I can’t quite let myself voice that sentiment. I’m still mulling it over. It’s not like I’m against the idea of having kids, but risk is biting at our heels. This is hardly a stable situation.

Sex, on the other hand, isn’t an unexpected requirement for our situation even if I don’t like other people dictating my actions outside of the dominance play I’ve done with this gargoyle.

“It seems childish not to,” I say. And strange to discuss this in front of Ben who seems on the edge of leaving us for the night, but I want this conversation to involve him.

I want him to be as interested in this as I am even if he does remind me how temporary he is at inconvenient moments.

Stoneheart arches a brow. “As you’ve told me a time or two, you are not a pawn to be dictated to. And I am not someone who will be forced into action to appease the crowd. There are other options than us hopping into bed together.”

“Like what?” Ben shuts his eyes like he regrets voicing his question. “Never mind. I should be going.”

“Stay.” Stoneheart sets his glass down and addresses me next. “Perhaps we can appease them a different way with your demon’s help. There are ways around shifter noses. No one is going to check who puts my seed inside you.”

I nearly drop the damn rock. “What?”

Does Stoneheart’s gaze dance, or is that a trick of the fire? “Don’t misunderstand me, wife. I do want to fuck you, but call me selfish in that I don’t want it to be to assuage the masses. Especially not your aunt. She’s received enough of a show.”

My lower body tightens when he mentions wanting to fuck me.

“But you’d use me to do that same thing.” Ben’s voice is husky with a mix of exasperation and humor.

Stoneheart’s lips twitch as if he’s satisfied that he’s drawn Ben into the conversation. “I didn’t say you had to fuck her, but she likes you more than she likes me, so it’s up to the two of you.”

Ben and my eyes meet, and I wet my lower lip, thinking. The nap took care of the worst of the energy drain from charm making, and in the presence of Stoneheart’s words, awareness enters my limbs. No one has even touched me yet, but my skin prickles with sensation. A longing echoes through me, hitting each surface of my soul and amplifying in force.

Maybe it’s the limitations of this new life, but the option of being able to subvert the expectations of others tastes a lot like the freedom I used to take for granted. Everyone wins.

But the demon who I’ve traded insults with for almost our whole acquaintance doesn’t seem affected. He stands stock still, expressionless now that the option has been clearly laid out on the metaphorical table.

Stoneheart may be confident that Ben would choose this situation because a taste of me is worth the fall, but I’m under no such illusion.

I swallow my disappointment. I glance at Stoneheart. “He doesn’t want this.”

“Don’t speak for him,” Stoneheart says, his eyes on the demon. “Ask him.”

I hesitate long enough that Stoneheart arches his brow. I’m wary of giving him my submission again, but my curiosity pushes me forward, and I follow the directive.

“Will you help us?” I ask. Other questions don’t trespass on my tongue, but their shadows broadcast them. Do you want me? Does my presence make you feel like everything is right in the world, like yours does for me?

Or do I have to sacrifice having you too?

Ben’s soulful eyes have a dark undertone. “What about my scent? Shifters will be able to tell that I’ve?—”

My mouth drops open as he snaps his mouth shut. That very much sounds like he’s considering this. Like he wants this.

“Mine will overpower yours,” Stoneheart says with a shrug like the concept of everyone knowing Ben is in our bed isn’t a worry at all.

“I actually have something for that.” My words are soft in my surprise.

They’re both staring at me now, and my cheeks burn. They’ll be aware of how much I’ve thought about this but…fuck it.

I reach into the pocket of my dress and place Stoneheart’s gift safely there before pulling out the bracelet I started yesterday that sent me straight into a nap to finish today. I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to present it to Ben after he’d stated so plainly that he’s leaving. A truth that I’ve been avoiding. But the liquid heat of my body attests that there’s no time like the present.

The rectangles that make up the band are masculine in nature, disguising the floral pattern set into it. Silver and gold intertwine in the shapes of forget-me-not blossoms. Instead of the blue gems I struggled to get to work yesterday, the petals are resin cast with the dried flower I’d used to summon Ben.

I needed to make it more personal for my magic to catch a hold and do what I needed it to.

I’d started to craft the charm with the intention of giving us the ability to be in contact without causing rumors, but my purpose became more direct with Stoneheart’s offer. I stand and round the coffee table, avoiding looking at Stoneheart.

I gesture, and Ben gives me his wrist.

“It will suppress your own scent, as well as block you from carrying anyone else’s,” I say as I clasp the charm in place. The loss of his sweet scent is instant, and my eyes water suddenly at the hole in my senses. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed being able to breathe him in.

“A very clever and intricate working. You’ve made him a ghost,” Stoneheart says, interrupting my emotional upheaval, but there’s something dark in his voice that I don’t catch in my need to take in Ben’s reaction.

Ben frowns at the jewelry and doubts rush to the surface. I move to take the gift back. “You don’t have to use it if you?—”

He stops me from removing the bracelet. “No, this is amazing. Thank you.”

Something whiplike and strong catches my wrist and pulls me back against a seated Stoneheart. The absence of Ben’s scent is now flooded with the gargoyle’s stormy one. His tail releases where it wrapped around my wrist, and he massages the spot.

“Apologies,” Stoneheart says to me before addressing Ben again. “What do you say, Barnes? Will you assist in mixing our scents? Stella has been very open and generous. You have this moment to accept the proposal or to reject it. I won’t allow you to play with her affections more than that.”

I almost snort that Stoneheart is possessive of who is allowed to play with my feelings. That must be his position in my life. He strokes a hand up my bare arm, and my body relaxes against his harder one on instinct, my back pressing against his chest. His breath stirs my hair. We haven’t been like this since our disastrous wedding night, and in this situation of us working together rather than him scheming against me…it’s nice.

My humor dries up at Ben’s silence. His dark eyes are locked on where Stoneheart’s thumb caresses my wrist. My throat swells in sorrow. This is where the game ends. This is when Ben chooses to let me go.

There’s a tug at my zipper, and I jump when Stoneheart brushes his lips over my ear. “We should let him see what he’d be forfeiting, don’t you agree, wife?”

Breathing becomes difficult as my heart beats even faster. This gargoyle won’t give up what he wants easily. And what about what I want? Will I really let Ben walk away from this without attempting to lure him?

No. If he’s going to reject me, I’m going to make it hard for him.

I nod.

Stoneheart makes a sound of approval, and the zipper drags lower. The need prickling across my skin mixes with the metals of his rings as his knuckles coast up my spine.

There’s a flavor to the metals, but my senses are crying out too loudly with the tease for me to decipher them. I’d much rather be tasting other things…

Ben’s gaze follows Stoneheart’s hand as the gargoyle pushes the dress from my shoulders, and it falls to my waist, baring the lace of my nude-colored bra.

I start to shake—in nerves or anticipation I don’t know. Stoneheart’s hand envelopes my fabric-covered breast, and I gasp in dismay at the barrier. I squirm against him, wanting skin against skin.

“Patience,” Stoneheart murmurs as he massages me. His other hand traps me against his body, pressing his palm to my bare torso, talon tips tickling my ribs.

He pinches my nipple through the lace, and I suck in a breath.

“Is this what you’ve imagined doing?” Stoneheart rumbles over my skin, and it takes a moment to realize he’s not speaking to me. “When you’ve thought of touching my wife, is it gentle or hard?”

Ben’s Adam’s apple jumps. “I’m only here to watch over her, not to fantasize.”

I almost despair at the non-answer, but my husband’s touch stirs my arousal with the expertise of a composer over his orchestra.

“Then watch me fuck my wife if you’re so determined to watch over her.” Stoneheart’s dark words are like a whip, they sting as much as tighten the pit in my belly.

As much as I’m cautious of giving myself over to this gargoyle again, when he says things like that and touches me like he’s doing now, his gravity sucks me in. I’d let him fuck me. If he keeps going like this, I’d even beg for it, though I’d be angry with myself in the morning for giving in so easily.

When he touches me, it all feels inevitable.

Ben’s chest rises and falls, each breath greater than the last as if he’s on the edge of drowning. He looks like he’s going to run, but his gaze stays on where Stoneheart kneads my breast. I would never have assumed that I’d enjoy being watched, but when it’s Ben watching me, or fuck , the idea of Stoneheart watching us, the sharp edge of need digs in.

I press my thighs together and falter at the easy wet slide and tug of pleasure in my core. Stoneheart inhales, scenting my arousal.

“Please stay,” I blurt out before breaking on a moan as something tickles my inner thigh and slides against the wet fabric covering my pussy. I glance down to see Stoneheart’s tail disappearing under my dress. I inch my legs a part to let him in, and my head falls back on a shaky sigh at the insistent pressure of it.

I want Stoneheart to growl for me like he’d done the one time we were together, but he doesn’t.

“She’s given you so much, but you won’t even give her what she’s aching for.” Stoneheart’s tone is scathing. Why does he sound angry?

I open my eyes to see Ben. Is he a step closer now? There’s an intensity to his expression that makes my body pulse, and he’s clenching and unclenching his hands as if to reach out and touch . I’m ready to start begging someone to stop this teasing and take me, but I need more than a quick orgasm. I want this demon who I have feelings for to choose this wild option before us.

I want him to choose me .

“I’ll do it,” he says, and I nearly cry out in relief.

Instead, I whimper as the gargoyle releases my breast to pull up the skirt of my dress as calmly as one would analyze the quality of curtains rather than exposing the lurid sight of his tail rubbing against my panties. The nude fabric is nearly see-through and clings indecently with how wet I am.

Ben’s eyes drop, and a sound of need escapes his throat.

Stoneheart hums. “Good. Then kneel, demon.”

The gargoyle presses my body to his with the hand on my stomach while his tail leaves my pussy to curl around my knee, pulling my leg up to spread my thighs wide. “Pay homage to our firefly where she needs you most.”

I blink in surprise at the odd endearment, but my focus derails when Ben falls to his knees before me.

“See, kneeling isn’t so bad,” Stoneheart says, and the two of them share a silent conversation before Ben’s hands slide up the back of my calves. He looks up, and my breath catches. The sclera of his eyes has disappeared into black pools.

I’ve never seen him display his otherness before, and to see it now cements the intimacy of this moment.

Ben presses his cheek into my inner thigh, his eyes falling shut. The warmth of his skin against mine is as reverent as the scrape of his stubble. He breathes me in, and I swear his exhale is going to be enough to catapult me into oblivion, but his eyes open, and the darkness through his lashes clutches me.

“It would be wrong of me to admit how much I’ve wanted this,” he says as his fingers trail up my inner thigh. His gaze and gritty words are filled with a fathomless yearning that makes me want to lean in and allow it to devour me.

“If I do, will it ruin the moment?” I ask, half teasing and half just needing him to do something . There’s a soft touch at the edge of the fabric keeping his touch from my bare pussy, and I try to grind against it, but the high-handed gargoyle holds me in place. I can barely move in his tight grip.

I assumed being between two men would mean more fucking?—

Ben, as if he can’t bear to wait a moment longer, pulls at my panties—hard. The burn of the fabric stretching and pulling at my skin before it snaps makes way for the instant relief of cold air on overheated wet skin.

“Fuck!” I shout, before closing my lips and giving a flustered moan, remembering we’re in semi-public room in the penthouse.

Stoneheart’s laugh is low and soft. “All our rooms are soundproof, but the scent of what we’re doing will be obvious. Any of my people who know what’s good for them won’t step any closer to this room than they can help. Be as loud for our demon as you want.”

I open my mouth to complain about his teasing or calling Ben his demon but cry out as a hot tongue licks me instead.

My toes curl, and Ben’s mouth presses against me again, quicker, his tongue lashing me with wet efficiency that has me starting to dissolve. I moan with abandon even as the gargoyle at my back nuzzles my hair and watches the other man between my legs.

Ben doesn’t eat me in the same greedy way that Stoneheart did. Each lick and suck are strategic, punching my pleasure forward and pushing me toward climax faster than I thought possible.

I’m nearly there when Stoneheart moves my hands to clutch the skirt of my dress in place and slides his fingers through Ben’s hair, tugging it with purpose.

“Easy,” Stoneheart says. “This isn’t a task on a list to check off. This isn’t just to get her off.”

Ben’s tongue pulls away, and he glares at Stoneheart the way I want to. Or the way I would if I weren’t the better part of the way to an orgasm.

“Enjoy her,” Stoneheart rumbles. “Does she taste as sweet as you imagined?”

“Better.” Ben’s growl isn’t the vicious thing that Stoneheart’s is, but it still makes me shiver.

“Then savor her. Take what you need. For however long until you’re satisfied.”

Ben’s brow creases in confusion before it clears. He meets my gaze.

“Please don’t stop,” I gasp. And he doesn’t, but when he goes back to tasting me it’s with much less strategy.

Each stroke lingers and wraps my stomach in grasping warmth. I’m still being pushed higher and higher to climax, but with sweet explorations of each reaction rather than a direct path. The skin of my chest heats, and my body beats in a slower but still demanding rhythm when he gives a low moan against my pussy.

It’s as if I’m witnessing Ben’s hunger crack open before me.

“Better,” Stoneheart muses, and I try and fail in my half attempt to twist from his grip but settle when he purrs in my ear.

Ben’s actions become more direct. He kisses my pussy and sucks my clit leisurely before plunging his tongue as deep as he can inside me.

I shatter on a soft cry and arch against Stoneheart who croons nonsense in my ear.

Ben doesn’t stop, devouring my release. He switches his tongue inside me with his fingers, plunging deep, massaging me as if to coax more of my arousal for him to sip away. It doesn’t take long for the waves of pleasure that had brought me to the peak before to combine together for another.

It’s only on the third orgasm that I start to think that I should have considered what the two of them meant by Stoneheart telling him he can have me for however long he wants. Each orgasm chases away a little more of the apprehension that has plagued me since the moment I agreed to this marriage.

But I need to keep some of that caution.

I’m twisting in Stoneheart’s grip again, my arm reaching back as I dig my nails into the gargoyle’s neck, searching for a mercy he doesn’t seem to have. The burn of his hard cock pressing against my back the only sign that he’s enjoying the show.

I try and beseech the demon instead. “T-too much.”

Ben makes a sound of frustration but eases up anyway. His fingers stay inside me, moving softly with my own fluttering body. I sigh in relief even as a masochistic part of myself pouts that he stopped. He sits back to take me in.

I’m buzzing with stimulation. Sometime between the second and third orgasm Stoneheart lowered the cups of my bra and started tugging punishingly at my nipples until they are a much deeper red than they naturally are, and I’m gasping like I can’t catch my breath.

I’m utterly debauched and haven’t even been fucked yet.

Ben’s eyes are still dark. Taking in every detail of me as I do the same to him. His lips are shiny with my arousal and his cheeks flushed.

“Lift her higher,” he says.

Stoneheart doesn’t respond to the command at first. I’m sure he’d planned to run the show.

Ben’s brow arches in challenge at my captor. “I have a job to do, don’t I?”

I’m a messy toy between them, and the thought has another pulse of pleasure wringing through my core. It distracts me enough that I don’t notice Stoneheart doing as Ben says until the kilt under me falls away, and my bare ass against the warmth of Stoneheart’s abs, the gargoyle’s throbbing shaft taps against my inner thigh.

His cock is the dark gray I remember. The purplish head oozes a bead of pearly precum.

Ben isn’t careful or tender when he grabs Stoneheart’s cock, swiping a thumb over the tip and spreading the fluid down the rest of the shaft with a rough pump.

“Fuck,” Stoneheart hisses, pulling me higher and my legs wider to give Ben more room. and we both watch the demon work.

I whimper as Ben’s mouth wraps around Stoneheart’s thick cock, his cheeks hollow as he sucks. Jealousy burns in my chest that he’s doing something I haven’t dared yet only adds to the gathering pressure of his fingers stroking inside me, rubbing in a come-hither motion that makes another impossible climax start to build.

Stoneheart growls, and even though it’s not as resonate as the sounds he’d used against me before, it has my whole body tensing around Ben’s fingers. Ben moans around the cock in his mouth, the top of his cheekbones have red flags, and his eyes are shut in an expression of the same bliss as when he licked me.

Stoneheart uses his grip on Ben’s hair to push his head down until he gags before the gargoyle allows him up to gasp. Ben glares up at him before they return to their intoxicating battle. As angry as Ben seems to be, his mouth’s grip on Stoneheart is hungry.

As if he is starving to shatter this gargoyle.

“He is very thorough,” Stoneheart says, but his voice is crunching gravel. He’s much more affected by this than he’s voicing, and I’m wishing again that I was the one pushing him to lose control.

Teeth dig into my claiming mark sending me spiraling in time with the tense gargoyle behind me. Ben’s moan is desperate as if he’s getting too lost in the flavor of Stoneheart’s precum to remember their feud.

Stoneheart makes a ferocious sound declaring his completion, and I nearly come myself from that alone.

Ben slides his fingers from me and smacks away the hand Stoneheart has in his hair, pulling his head away from the pulsing cock, leaving a mess of overflowing cum. Ben ignores the streams of white running down the tight fist he has around Stoneheart’s knot and instead places his wet mouth to my pussy.

The slick texture change of his tongue and his fingers pushing inside me again has me whimpering as Ben fucks my husband’s seed into me.

“That’s it,” Stoneheart pants in my ear. “Take it all like a good wife.”

The juxtaposition of Ben between my legs pushing me to fly and Stoneheart caging me has me breaking apart in a stronger climax than all the rest.

I shout, pulsing around Ben’s touch and inside my husband’s embrace as flashes of color and light spark behind my closed eyelids.

“Fuck,” Ben breathes as he watches me gaspingly come down from orbit. He slides his messy fingers from the clutch of my body.

I should be past done. I should be ready to curl up in a nap.

I shouldn’t be wanting more, wanting Stoneheart’s seed to be pushed deeper inside me by the dark-eyed demon on his knees, but this night has nothing do to with logic.

“Ben—” I start, needing him to fill me, to cement this act with something less structured and more primal. I want to pull his release from him as surely as he did for me. I want him to fuck me.

And instead of standing and completing my silent wish, he vanishes.

It’s jarring.

Ben’s stiff form breathing hot breaths against my pussy, his eyes so direct and surprisingly vicious one moment and alarmed the next are suddenly gone.

As if he was never here.

I gasp, my head falling back on Stoneheart’s shoulder as a tremble starts in my limbs. All at once I feel so completely lost.

I don’t complain when he kisses my hair.

“Well,” Stoneheart starts, his voice rough. For once, the gargoyle doesn’t seem like the ruler of the universe. “That was unexpected.”