Chapter Twenty-Two

Leo

I pause in my chow down to look at my body; three arms? Surely not. Did I miss something? I spend a few seconds exploring the warm lump on my chest that seems to have sunk into my skin. It doesn’t hurt per se, but it doesn’t feel great, either.

“I’ve missed these delightful spoonfuls of dense, buttery, fluff. Why can’t I stop eating them?”

“Leo,” my mate sighs, and the bowl of mashed potatoes returns to the decking material, because I must greet my mate.

She winds her arms around me and I feel hot tears pressing against my skin where her face rests, but I know not why she’s sad. “Whatever is wrong?”

“She’s probably crying because she didn’t have to claim me before you were freed,” a man I do not know, but whom sounds familiar says.

I narrow my eyes and attempt to growl, but my mouth is still full so it comes out more as a gurgle.

Delaney pats my chest right over the lump and presses a kiss to it. “It’s okay. Leo, this is Zac. Zac, meet Leo. Zac is another mate, though we’re still working on making it official.”

I tuck Delaney behind me and crowd this Zac, forcing poor little Cory-bear to have to escape inside the room because there just simply isn’t enough space out here for all of us. “Why haven’t you claimed our mate yet? Does she not please you? Do you have other prospects? Are you on the verge of death?”

“Leo!”

I turn towards the light of my life. “What? I see no reason why you should be kept waiting. Look at you, your cunt is a masterpiece!”

“Er, thanks. We just sort of started hanging out yesterday, though. We’re good, I think.”

I turn back around, eyeing this man warily. “Does your penis not work?”

He starts sputtering. Imbecile. “Speaking of dicks…you are blessed, my gargoyle friend. Is the ritual done, then? Did we free you completely? I see your body has accepted its new heart.”

I don’t think my heart has the most importance in this moment. “What did you mean of me having three arms?”

“It was…a comment on your oversized penis.”

A smile warms onto my face, and I reach out to shake his hand. “I like you. Welcome to my mate’s harem.”

“Thanks, that means a lot. So, are you uncursed?”

“I…Delaney, come here, please.”

She steps closer and I grab her immediately, lifting her naked form up so she may be wrapped around me. “You were attempting to uncurse me?”

“It didn't work, did it?”

I take stock of my body, but it doesn’t feel any different besides the fact that there’s a foreign lump sinking deeper into my chest by the minute. “I’m not sure. I don’t know how I could possibly know one way or the other.”

“You should probably ride me and him at the same time, just to be safe,” this new friend called Zac states.

I watch her eyes grow round as she looks him over, her breath quickening.

“You like this idea. Will this help somehow?” I am not one to turn down such a wonderful suggestion.

Delaney manages to pry her eyes back to me, grabbing onto my shoulders as she arches her back an infinitesimal amount. “The instructions I was given said that in order to undo your curse, I had to prove there was no jealousy here by being with six mates while touching in you in some way.”

“And how many did you get through, you little minx?” I need only look through the window to count the five semi-conscious people decorating the living room in order to land at the conclusion that Zac would mark the sixth. “Whom did these directions come from? Is it a reliable source?”

She winces. “Maybe that’s something we should discuss later. I can’t verify whether the instructions were good or not, but I was hoping pretty hard.”

Zac crowds against her back, placing his hands on her hips. He’s not quite as tall as me so I can’t fully see him over Delaney’s shoulder nor can he reach her shoulders or neck to place kisses on them like he seems to want to do, so I lower Delaney to her feet.

“I would do anything for you, Leo. If claiming Zac now gives me a chance of freeing you fully, then that’s what I want to do.” Then she turns around so I get her back, and a great view of her breasts, as she wraps her arms around Zac’s neck. Tentatively. “But that’s not to say I’m only doing it for him, Zac. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been a little interested in you since we met. I think I knew even back then that there was going to be something between us. But if you’re not ready for this, I understand.”

He stares her down and suddenly Delaney is gasping and throwing her head back onto my shoulder, crying out. I have to look down to see that Zac has inserted some of his fingers into her body and is massaging her internally. “Stop trying to get me to leave. Once they give in to the bond, nagas are possessive of their mates. Every second I’m not inside you is painful. Hold onto your stone daddy.”

“What the fuck?” Someone yells from inside. “Who knew the headmaster was so godsdamned kinky?”

He picks her up and slides inside of her in one smooth move, and that’s when I feel the strange pulsing within my chest, a cracking that feels slightly uncomfortable.

“And for the record, I don’t care one bit if you’re only fucking me to help Leo; if you’re fucking me I promise I’m not asking your motives behind it. I’m good like that.”

“STOP!”

“Not a fuckin’ chance,” Zac says as he continues to work himself into Delaney’s body.

I squint at the ball of red light hovering in the trees, and then it gets closer and lands on Delaney’s balcony, on the balustrade. “EW! ZAC! PUT SOME FUCKING PANTS ON!”

“Not a fuckin’ chance,” he repeats. “You want to interrupt me banging my mate, for the first time I might add if you want to send a congrats card later, then you can deal with what I look like doing it. I’m not stopping just because you’ve decided to be awful and barge in, very unwelcome.”

“But you…can’t…no!”

“Oh, yes!” Delaney shouts, ironically though, not necessarily in answer to whoever the annoying female is. I flick the intruder away like an annoying bug and watch her fall down, but I never hear a crash so I’m assuming something or someone catches her.

“Please tell your sister she has the worst timing,” Delaney pants as she continues to enjoy herself.

“Please stop talking about my sister while I’m fucking you. I think you’re ready for my second dick right about now, yeah?”

“Talk about being blessed in the man department,” I comment, squirming because this is quite trying to be so close to without any relief.

“You still have to call me Sir when you see me around campus, just for the record.”

“Fuck. I’ll call you whatever you want if this is the payoff.”

I mean…this is all very touching and hot, but would it be weird to ask someone to pass me a bite of potatoes?

“You should know that you surpass any hope I ever had for a mate, Delaney. This is only our beginning; we’ll figure a way to make this…work.”

He leans in to kiss her, and I know I’m close to my own orgasm just from the friction of Delaney’s rear as it bounces all over my cock.

Yeah, I can’t wait anymore.

I use my fingers to map out Delaney’s body, finding the spots that are being worked by Zac and then deciding she’d probably hate me less for overstretching her cunt versus her ass.

Because all this strength can’t be for nothing, I wrap my arms around the two of them and lift them both us lightly, until the tip of me rests at her entrance. Zac isn’t moving anymore since he’s lost most of his thrusting power and because he’s in the godsdamned air, so I’m able to angle myself just right and ease my way inside her body, to the side of one of Zac’s cocks. I’ve done it in a way so that he’s still firmly inside her ass, and this proves to be too much for all of us to handle.

I’ve hardly gotten a couple of thrusts in before they’re both squirming and calling out all manners of noises, indicating they are pleased by my actions.

I fuck into her body just a little more, feeling the warmth of Zac now coating me as I work in and out, and then I go rigid, pardon the pun, as I release myself within her as well.

That crack I thought I was feeling dissipates in a violent outburst, making all of my skin crackle and immediately soften, little flakes of rock falling to the ground around me due to the violent nature of the shift.

When I set down the duo in front of me, I know I’m weeping, because I can feel within my chest that my heart is working. I can’t feel the pull of anything else telling me I must return to the perch.

“I…am free. I’m free, Delaney. You saved me.”

I give myself the luxury of pulling my mate inside with me, removing Zac from her body in the process, but he follows right behind her as I enter her room and I close the damn window.

Just that act alone has my knees buckling, falling to the ground and cradling my mate to my body. I’m still inside her, but I have no desire to change that.

“You’re so soft, but you still look like stone. Is this what you used to look like? Rock texture, but soft?”

“I…do not know. I cannot recall much about who I was before. I think…I think that I have been cursed for too long. I don’t know who I am or where I come from, I only know that I’m yours and you have freed me, and I vow to you to spend the rest of our lives trying to make it up to you.”

“Shh, you’re okay. Just be still and feel.”

But I’m sobbing now, waves washing over me at how incredibly my life just shifted. “I do not have to sleep outside tonight, nor ever, Delaney. Do you truly understand the magnitude of what you’ve done for me? I may have been rock, but I could still feel the cold.”

She begins to sob with me, wrapping her arms tighter around my neck, and it’s not long before the rest of her mates gather close, draping a soft blanket around us as they embrace the two of us.

“You’re never going to be cold again, Leo. You’re hers, and therefore you’re ours. Whatever you need, you’ve got yourself a whole family now.” One of the twins presses a kiss to my forehead, which only sends me over the edge farther.

“You have nothing to make up to me,” Delaney says. “Freeing you was akin to freeing me, and I feel so much more whole. I’ve got all seven of you with me, and it feels incredible. Look at my arm now, they’ve all gotten filled in. Every mark I have is full. Did you see your mark, Zac?”

He crawls over, not saying anything, shaking slightly as he leans down to kiss her. This kiss means something, though. I watch as he runs a finger over her entire arm of marks, enjoying how she shivers in response and arches her back. “I’m too high to properly appreciate it just now, but I love seeing my representation on you— incredible how the goddess works.”

I study the snake head poised to strike, super-imposed over a greenish blue snake skin imprint. “Look at how stunning you are, leaking all over me and full of the marks of your mates. Is this where you thought you’d find yourself a few months ago?”

Delaney shakes her head and looks around all of us crowding her. “No. Without August and Jackson there to teach me how to actually control my magic, none of this would have even been possible. I don’t know what comes next, or if there’s any more of you out there I need to find, but whether this is everything we’re meant to be or the goddess wants to test out my ability to keep as many mates happy as possible, I hope you all know that—”

The door kicks in and in stomps the same angry lady that was out on the balcony earlier. Now she’s got sticks and leaves tangled in her hair, and the red light that carried her up to the balcony is now an aura that glows around her as she takes one or two menacing steps inside the room, eyes stuck on the light of my life.

Though, now that I consider that Delaney is my mate and I’m free, there’s something in my chest that still feels hollow, and I don’t know what to do about it.

“Stand aside and let me reverse what you just undid. I don’t think you understand the hell you unleased on this campus by freeing him. Do you have any idea what this creature is capable of?”

I’m assuming she’s screeching about me.

“This is not the time, Shelly,” Zac says in an exasperated tone of voice. “You think you’re right, but you need to listen to—"

“I don’t need to do anything!” She screams, attempting to take one step further, but then she turns a strange shade of blue and freezes.

“Pardon for interrupting,” a deep voice says before appearing in the doorway behind her. He’s shrouded in shadows, but his voice has my freshly beating heart racing and my foot moving.

Delaney looks to me, then to whoever is standing in her doorway. “You know them?” She whispers to me.

I shake my head, fighting a weird fuzzy sense of confusion.

“Could you kindly invite me in, my love?”

Delaney sucks in a breath, staring down at a sparkly ring she’s wearing before taking a few steps back. “Show yourself, please.”

The deep voice chuckles. “I can’t do that unless you invite me in. My shadows are protecting me, and I can’t get them to run off unless they know I’m safe here. Safeguard from dear old dad. I assure you; they’re annoying as fuck and I’d dispel them if I had the power.”

“We can’t guarantee that you’re safe here,” Adam says before stepping in front of Delaney. “You’re the demon we’ve been trying to track down?”

“You were trying to track me down? That’s sweet. I’ve been right outside your balcony all this time.”

“Creepy fucker,” August mumbles before stepping forward as well, now completely blocking Delaney from the…guest.

“I couldn’t harm her if I wanted to; surely you know that, Delaney. Listen to your instincts; what do they tell you?”

I watch as one of her mates picks up a discarded shirt from the nearby sofa, handing it to her to cover up. Zac opts for an odd pillow of a cat wearing dark spectacles to cover his manhood. Is that what that pillow is truly for? I had been wondering.

“My instincts are fried right now after the amount of dick I just took. If you have something to say, just spit it out. I’m in desperate need of a shower and a soft, non-erection surface to rest on.”

“You always were funny,” he says. “Invite me in and we can talk about everything. I am unable to enter your domain without an invitation.”

“Ha, that sucks,” Adam says, relaxing a bit.

Delaney closes her eyes and shakes her head, then pushes past everyone. She stops before she reaches the frozen lady, no one doing anything to help her. Her eyeballs are still able to move within whatever stasis this stranger put her in, so they’re moving back and forth while the rest of her is held still. “Is she okay? Is she going to come after me if I get closer?”

“I have nullified her powers for the moment. I was able to do so because I was able to determine she meant you harm. I’d rather not do this in the hall, can you please let me in?”

“How do I know you’re not going to walk in and then refuse to leave when I want you to?”

“All you have to do is rescind your invitation and I’m gone.”

“Like a vampire?” Delaney blurts.

“They wish they were so cool.”

“Right, I guess that’s crap information anyway. One of my dads is a vampire, so I should know better. Okay, my mates will probably fuck you up if you hurt me, but that won’t even be necessary if you so much as threaten me because I’ll fuck you up myself first. They’re the backup though. Just to be clear. Me first, then them.”

He laughs and I find my chest aching more. “Got it.”

“Okay—"

“Delaney, wait,” Ash says, coming forward in all his ‘I just had hot sex’ glory. “Are you sure you feel good about this?”

She eyes the doorway, where the stranger is patiently waiting. “Honestly, right now I’m just annoyed about the back and forth. What’s the worst that could happen?” She turns to the doorway. “You can come in, but I won’t apologize that most of us are naked.”

The shadows dissipate almost immediately, and in steps what might be the finest specimen of a male I’ve ever seen; other than myself. His deep blue skin has a luster to it that I’ve not seen in my entire years as a gargoyle, horns smaller than my own poking through his charcoal gray hair which appears to have some sort of diamond-like sparkle woven into it. His face is chiseled and his frame tall and lean, but his muscles look well formed and ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice.

But it’s his eyes that really have me staring. I cannot determine their true color because it’s as if an entire prism of colors shine out of them. When Delaney steps closer to him and places a hand on his shoulder, trying to determine anything about who he might be, it’s like my world freezes. The two of them together are the finest art, a dangerous duo that anyone would think twice about crossing.

“You honor me, wife.”

“Not married yet, Casanova. There’s a clause to that marriage contract; a contract I had no say in, by the way. I’m not convinced at all that marrying you is something that needs to happen.”

“Ah, yes, the clause. If you do not bed me the engagement does not hold. This is what you speak of?”

We all circle around her, making sure she knows we’re there for whatever purpose she asks of us, but none of us interfere because it feels too much like she’s in charge right now. And we know better than to interrupt.

“Kind of a fucked-up thing, if you ask me. Can’t you just call off your dad and tell him that my mom has no interest in Hell? Seems like a far less messy solution.”

His skin starts rippling with different blue colors. Is he…laughing?

“I’m not even here because of my dad. He admitted that was a joke years ago. However, you’re still mine. The goddess thinks so, at least. Go on, do your thing to determine whether I speak the truth. The contract still stands whether or not my father intends to follow through with his threats. It’s been sealed and cannot be broken. You’ve fulfilled what’s required so our marriage is impending. You just need to set the date.”

“I don’t recall sleeping with you, so no, I don’t have to marry you. Besides, I already have seven good mates here that are not just going to sit by while I marry someone else.”

“Oh no, bring them along, please. They’re absolutely invited, and I expect you to marry them as well if you wish. My apologies, I forgot I had not put my more human skin on, give me a moment.”

He closes his eyes and his skin shifts again right before our eyes, becoming a light brown shade that would fit in far easier with the human population outside these walls. His hair becomes a flat black that only hints at something more, and when he opens his eyes, they’re a rich topaz with hints of brown. “What about now?”

Delaney gasps and then shouts, “You motherfucker!”