39. Stella

39

STELLA

“I wasn’t supposed to come inside her,” Ben says. It’s the first thing he’s said since agreeing with Stoneheart that he’s ours in the heat of the moment.

He’s been a little out of it since then.

Stoneheart had cleaned the two of us up and ushered us to the soaking pool, takeout boxes and all. He’s kept close to Ben, gently stroking his wet hair which makes the demon’s eyes close in soft enjoyment, stopping to make him take bites of food.

I watch them with interest as I eat my own beef and broccoli. Every so often Stoneheart’s tail wraps around my ankle under the steamy water as if taking comfort that I’m here and not wanting me to feel left out.

I don’t.

The sex had been mind-blowing for me, and I loved the sensation of Ben filling me entirely too much, but for Ben…he seems changed.

Some resistance that he had been holding on to had utterly dissolved. Whatever wall had existed, Stoneheart had broken it down with methodical cruelness and is building something new in its place with care.

I’ve never seen Ben so at ease.

“She isn’t fertile,” Stoneheart says with a shrug, and there’s an air of relief to him that Ben is speaking again. The gargoyle had been covertly scenting him as if checking for distress.

Ben hasn’t put the scent blocking charm back on yet. I didn’t know it was offending Stoneheart so much, but every time I breathe in Ben’s sweet scent, I can’t be sorry that the gargoyle removed it.

“Ben gave me a potion to make me fertile again. That was the real plan for tonight,” I say, my cheeks heat from more than just the hot water.

Stoneheart’s brows lift.

“I haven’t taken it yet,” I clarify. “We were waiting for you. Apparently, I might become ravenous.” I snap my chopsticks at him.

His lips twitch. “Which is so different from your usual state, greedily begging for our cocks and pouting when you don’t get your way.”

“Hey!” I complain playfully and flick water at him, but it doesn’t reach far because I’m being careful to keep the takeout container I’m eating out of balanced. I’m sure we’re not supposed to eat in the soaking pool, but it would have taken a stronger willed person than me to ignore Stoneheart’s demands.

Stoneheart becomes serious even while he’s curling Ben’s hair around a finger. “That’s a valuable potion. Who is the potion master?”

“It’s made ethically, and I’m not revealing my source to you.” Ben rolls his eyes but pauses. “They are discreet, but there’s been talk?—”

Stoneheart makes a sound. “Yes, the rumors. I’ve heard them. I’m not concerned.”

Ben frowns.

“What rumors?” I ask.

“That I’m too close to you,” Ben says. Each word of this conversation adds a little bit more tension back to his posture.

I blink, thinking back to our interactions today. The sadness lining his eyes before desire took over. “Are you planning on leaving us?”

Ben hesitates, and my heart falls.

Stoneheart scowls. “That’s unacceptable. The rumors are merely mosquitos buzzing. The territory would accept you with us given time.” He grips Ben’s hair, and the demon sighs at the tension. “If you must keep your secrets, don the bracelet again. The water here removes scents.”

Huh, well that’s helpful since Ben came inside me without the charm on.

Ben doesn’t say anything until Stoneheart releases his hair.

“I planned for this to be the last time.”

“So you’ll leave us after tonight over whispers?” Stoneheart sneers.

“It would be the best thing for the two of you, but…” He looks lost as he trails off, his hand rubbing his chest. “I don’t know if I can.”

My shoulders drop in relief.

“Don’t make decisions for us,” Stoneheart says, but the anger coiling in him eases. “Neither of us mind taking the more challenging path.”

“You’ll consider staying then?” I ask, not specifying for how long. The idea of him leaving hollows out my chest. With everything happening how it is, I can only focus on one thing at a time.

Ben frowns, but his eyes are conflicted.

I place the empty food container on the side of the pool and glide my way through the water to the two of them. I sit on his lap and wrap my arms around his neck, water drips everywhere but the contact has him relaxing.

“Please,” I say, brushing my lips over his in a soft kiss.

There’s a moment of silence, and my heart beats hard against my ribs until Ben narrows his eyes, deciding something. He turns to Stoneheart. “I won’t leave based on the rumors in exchange for you to stop holding back.”

Stoneheart’s brow arches. “I rather think you appreciated me holding back tonight.”

Ben’s cheeks pinken. “I mean, you’ll be with us fully. Stella deserves more than what you’ve given her. If I’m going to consider staying, it won’t be for you to be halfway in the relationship.”

I pull my arms away from his neck, but Ben’s hand grips my waist, keeping me on his lap. Is he demanding that Stoneheart give me his love?

“You won’t leave her needy,” Ben says.

His knot. Ben is bartering for Stoneheart to knot me. Really daring him to. I clench on nothing at the idea of finally giving my body what it craves.

Stoneheart’s eyes narrow at the two of us like I’m to blame for this turn of events. “And is that your final decree?”

The hope falters. He won’t do it. He said that it will get emotions involved, and he won’t risk that. I already love him, but that’s not something he’s going to give me.

Ben nods, and now I’m losing them both in a way.

Stoneheart leans over, ignoring Ben and lifts my chin. “Is that what you want?”

My lip lower lip trembles at the truth of how much I want it, but wanting something doesn’t make it so. Especially with someone like Remy Stoneheart, who keeps his emotions in check by force.

“I want what you’re willing to give,” I say. And I really want him willing to become more emotionally involved with me. I want him to claim me in the way instincts have demanded between us.

He straightens, and I blink to preemptively hide any silly tears.

“It’s a deal then,” Stoneheart says.

Now I’m blinking in surprise. “What?”

“Ben gave his price for staying—” Stoneheart starts, and Ben’s lips purse because that wasn’t his exact verbiage. “And I agreed.”

His pale gaze is as exacting and precise as an autopsy. I’m already naked but something tells me that he can see just how badly I desire this to end in something other than heartbreak.

One thing at a time. Ben has agreed to stay for now.

“Now finish your dinner,” Stoneheart says. “You’ll both need your strength.”

If I never have to drink a potion again, it will be too soon. The initial taste wasn’t bad, and there’s a warming effect that follows the path it slides down my throat until it rests in my stomach, but the accompanying waves of aftertaste have me flinching.

Ben sits near me with a glass of water that I sip, trying to make the flavor disappear. He refills it when I finish, and I make a face.

“It just keeps coming back,” I complain. “One atrocious flavor will fade only for something else to take its place.”

I thought the first was bad, like musty dirt coating my tongue, but that was before the later tastes that make me think of different types of slime rose to the forefront.

Ben’s brows crease in sympathy. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t consider that possibility.”

Stoneheart rises from the position he’d taken relaxing against the pillows across from us after he’d lit his candle with an air of chagrin at his earlier possessiveness.

“I have something that could help.” He goes to the same grocery bags that he brought dinner in and pulls out a small box.

He hands it to me, and I read the pretty label. “Chocolates?”

“I thought you may get a sweet tooth later. It will either make it worse or better.” He shrugs.

It’s another courting gift, and I blush at the thoughtfulness of it.

“Thank you.” I gag as another aftertaste scatters over my tongue, this one tasting green, but the kind of green that makes one think of swamps, not spinach. “I’ll take my chances of making it worse.”

I open the artisan chocolate box and pop one in my mouth at random.

The flavor of the chocolate is light and smooth. It coats my tongue with hints of floral and sweet that seems familiar, but I don’t know why.

“Better?” Stoneheart asks.

I tilt my head, waiting for the potion to strike again, but it doesn’t, and I nod in relief. “Much better.”

We share the small box of goodies, and it’s only after it’s gone that I realize the flavors almost taste like a combination of Ben’s and my scent. The knowledge makes a fuzzy warmth grow in my chest, and I lay back, basking in the feeling as it starts spreading through my belly.

“How long do you think it will take to kick in?” I ask.

Ben winces. “I don’t know. I should have asked more questions.”

Stoneheart’s tail strokes along my calf playfully, and Ben seems to be unable to keep his hands to himself, lightly touching my shoulders. His scent is gone again. He’d ignored Stoneheart’s glower earlier and put the bracelet back on.

The fact that we’re all still naked starts to become a larger detail as my eyes trace up Stoneheart’s body. I lick my lips as I imagine licking the swirls of ink of his tattoo and the warmth shifts to a fire in my lower belly.

I hum. “I think I’m starting to feel it.”

Ben starts to nibble on my neck. “Your temperature does seem to be a little raised.”

Stoneheart watches us, his gaze heavy like he’s touching me. The fact he’s more than an arm span away feels like a taunt.

I let my legs fall open a little and am gratified when his nostrils flare. Ben runs a hand up my inner thigh and strokes up through my folds.

I moan, surprised by how wet I already am.

“So fucking pretty,” Ben says. “Wish I could come inside you again.”

The sound that escapes my throat is needy.

“But we both know what you really need,” Ben says. We’ve been intimate before, but this is somehow different. There’s a sensation in my heart, a wholeness. It’s almost as if I feel his affection for me inside myself, and it amplifies my own feelings.

It must be the potion.

I rock my hips as my body cramps with need. “Fuck. Inside me, Ben.”

Ben glances to Stoneheart first as if in permission, and with the gargoyle’s nod, he slides two fingers inside me. The pressure releases a cascade of pleasure. A craving crashes through me, and I tighten around his fingers.

“Fuck, she’s so tight I wonder if she’ll bruise your knot,” Ben says almost as a joke.

Stoneheart shifts, and the sight of his cock already hard has the desire ramping up to almost painful levels.

I make a sound of distress. “I need?—”

“I know,” Ben cuts me off and curves his fingers, rubbing my g-spot while his thumb presses against my clit.

The release is quick, and I arch my back in surprise. I shiver at the rolling waves of pleasure that take the edge off the clawing pain.

I bite my lip at the wet sounds as Ben continues to touch me.

“So sensitive when she’s like this.” Stoneheart’s words are dark with an avarice that is thrumming in my blood. “And making it so slick like a good wife, practically gushing.”

I sigh, but the relief doesn’t last, and I’m tightening on Ben’s fingers again.

“More,” I implore, shaky but too aware of the pulse of need between my legs.

Ben hesitates, and the pause causes the next cramp tightening my body to hurt. I gasp and twist, trying to rock myself to deepen the penetration.

I hear movement and realize I’ve closed my eyes as the wave of heat running through my body starts to take on a painful edge again.

“Please, please,” I beg.

Ben moves away from me, removing his fingers.

“No!” I cry, but a large palm presses against my chest to keep me stationary and push me flatter against the pillows as a sob builds. There’s a blurry dark shape above me now.

“You should give her mouth something to do while I take my time. She’s never taken a knot, and I don’t want to hurt her.” Stoneheart is the ominous shape over me, his wings high and his hand over my heart. I swear I feel how pleased he is by my needy squirming. His other hand lifts one leg to more fully bear my needy center.

“I’m so empty,” I say.

“Not for long,” he promises and presses his cock against me. I’m so slick from the potion and probably from Ben’s seed earlier, but it still takes a moment for my body to accept him.

The fervent sound I make when I give way around him resonates in my chest. The bite of stretch is a welcome friend at this point.

“You smell delicious, firefly,” Stoneheart says. “Maybe we should keep you in this state. Hot and bothered for us, begging for relief.”

I shouldn’t be thrilled at his words. Being like this forever would be painful. But it’s the desire that hooks me. The thought of them wanting to do this with me forever.

Ben’s fingers slide through my hair, his hard length bare next to my cheek, and I open my mouth to accept him. He moans, and the pleasure ricochets through me. The hot velvet skin of his cock against my lips is a delight while being used by the two of them.

Stoneheart’s movements are slow and rolling as he sinks deeper inside me. I feel him bottoming out, the limit of my body stretching around him, and I haven’t even felt the press of his knot yet.

Worry creases my brows, and I let Ben’s cock fall from my mouth. It will fit, right? I could have sworn Stoneheart had ground his knot against me before.

“Just need to work your body up to taking all of me,” Stoneheart says as if he can read my mind instead of only the expressions on my face.

On the next thrust, his cock sinks deeper inside me, proving he’s right. The dull throb of pressure heralds of greater things to come.

“So very accepting,” Stoneheart says as his thumb starts to stroke slow circles. My body shudders and gives him more. I’ll give my mate everything he asks of me.

When his knot barely touches the delicate folds of my pussy, I moan in victory.

Ben presses his cock to my lips again as if he can’t stop himself or to distract me from what’s coming.

Stoneheart groans as the hard swell of his cock grinds against my pussy. The all-encompassing pressure against my entrance and clit has me moaning deeply around Ben’s cock.

“Fuck, Stella,” Ben says, his head tilting back. “I’m not going to last if you keep doing that.”

Stoneheart eases away before pressing forward again, the beginning width of his knot starts to burn, but each careful rock of Stoneheart’s hips keeps the sensation manageable as he makes my body softer for him to take.

“That’s it, look at how beautifully you take me,” Stoneheart growls

Ben pulls his cock from my mouth to let me do just as Stoneheart orders. The sight of his knot, angry and flushed, disappearing into my body has me tensing without meaning to.

The sting of the stretch grows, and I whimper.

“Easy, firefly. Almost there,” Stoneheart coaxes. His body is tight, the hand he has against my chest flexes like I’m testing his iron control.

Ben returns to my mouth, pressing past my gag reflex. I take him, needing something else to focus on other that the sharpening pain even as I try to relax. My tongue strokes the underside of him in hard flicks.

Ben curses and groans. His cock pulses, and his release flows over my tongue. He falls away, stealing his hardness from me. Stoneheart wraps his hand around my throat and kisses me deeply. His tongue savoring the flavor of Ben, the mix of us.

I moan into his mouth and cant my hips up, pressing him deeper.

Stoneheart breaks the kiss and growls deep and uncontrolled. My body responds, becoming even more pliant in my need, and his knot slips the rest of the way in on a rush.

I can’t breathe.

The stretch is enormous .

And I can’t breathe because I’m too busy coming. A full, painful ecstasy races through me like liquid fire.

Stoneheart’s snarl breaks off on a deep groan. His seed splashes hot against my insides, and I inhale in shock as the pressure of it grows. I’m so filled by him, there’s hardly any room for his cum. The heavy feeling grows but no seed makes it past where his knot is locked just under my pubic bone.

Ben kisses my forehead. “Breathe, love. Big, slow breaths. You’ve taken all of him. You can do this.”

I suck in air, and the chill of it against my lungs starts to douse the runaway wildfire residing deep inside me.

The last pulses of release shiver through me, and I finally can start working at getting more oxygen.

Stoneheart carefully turns us to lie on our sides, still locked together

Ben’s heated body presses against my clammy one from behind, curling around me. His hand falls to my lower belly. “Let his seed do its work.”

My body must react to that someway because Stoneheart shudders and knocks Ben’s hand away. “Don’t cause trouble. I doubt she wants to be locked together for hours.”

I snort. Definitely not. I feel like a stretched-out rag right now. We all take deep breaths like we’ve run a marathon.

“Is it always like that?” I ask, still panting.

Stoneheart huffs a surprised laugh. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never knotted anyone.”

I’m surprised into silence at that confession. Stoneheart’s knot throbs inside me almost in time to both of our hearts.

Ben exhales against my shoulder, his body relaxing against mine like he’s fallen asleep.

I should do the same. Stoneheart’s eyes are closed too. There’s no telling if the potion is going to cause another flare of heat before the night is over, but I hesitate to close my eyes.

I don’t want this moment to end.

I trace my finger over the curve of Stoneheart’s lips, and he sighs at the touch. The ache in my chest becomes too great, and I mouth my confession against his throat, unable to keep it inside any longer but unwilling to say something unwelcome. I love you .

His throat bobs against my lips.

He’s heard me. He knows.

It won’t matter, but at least it isn’t trapped inside me anymore.