17. Mabel

Chapter 17

It takes almost two weeks before Zeb has recovered enough from his wounds and the blood loss to get around the guys' new apartment on his own, though it only took a few hours before he was tired of Huck and Phineas "hovering around him like mother birds."

Me, he never complains about. Well, never except to protest the fact I won't have sex with him while he's recovering.

I'm sitting next to Zeb in the bed, my back propped up on pillows, when the bedroom door opens and Phineas comes in. I've taken to sleeping in here ever since we arrived, usually with Huck spooned behind me and Phineas asleep on a cot near Zeb, just in case he needs help in the night. Creepy loves having all the men around us. She wouldn't have it any other way.

It hurts how much I like it too.

But soon, the time will come to move into my own place, even if that won't be my house. Though everything our contacts have found proves that when we broke out of the traders' facility we eliminated the last of the crew responsible for destroying my home, leaving no one who could know about us or about La Fleur's location, I still haven't been back to my house since that first day it burned. The insurance company has called a few times, and there's a chance they'll pay my claim if the arson investigator concludes the fire wasn't my fault. But given the amount of destruction, I'm not sure if what they give me will ever be enough to repair my home.

The reality of that is too painful to focus on, and until Zeb's better, there's only so much damage to the things I care about that I can stand at one time.

"Good morning," Phineas says.

Huck comes in behind him, a tray of food in his hands, and I can tell from the moment he sets it down that the Jekyll put it together himself. The pieces of toast are mildly burnt and the jam is melting off one side. The glasses of juice are so full, they've sloshed a bit onto the tray while he carried it. It's a far cry from the delicacies Zeb would whip up, but I love him for trying.

As I take a bite of the toast, Huck sinks down at my side, his fingers straying up and down my leg beneath the blankets, while Phineas takes a seat on the chair near the bed.

"If you're feeling up to it," Phineas says. "There's something we would like to ask you."

I think for a moment he's talking to Zeb, but then I realize he's looking at me. "Ask me what?"

Phineas glances at the others. "You said you didn't think this would work out. That our lives and yours weren't compatible."

I tense.

"The guys and I have been talking," Zeb says. "And we wondered if you wouldn't mind testing that theory."

I eye them warily. "What do you mean?"

"We travel," Phineas acknowledges. "Quite a bit, in all honesty. We go from one job to the next, day in and day out. And given the good that we can do, it doesn't seem advisable to us to stop."

I make myself nod, even if it hurts to hear everything I already know confirmed by him.

"But we've never had a home, either," Huck chimes in. "I mean, they used to. I didn't. But now none of us do."

"Seems silly, really," Zeb adds.

"We could use a home base," Phineas says. "Somewhere to come back to when the traveling is done. And we thought perhaps New Orleans could be that place."

My brow twitches down. I know what I'm hoping, but I want them to speak the words out loud. I need them to because I don't want to be wrong about this. "What are you saying?"

Huck gives me a nervous smile. "Maybe we could make that home with you?"

I stare at them, my heart galloping in my chest and Creepy dancing for joy in my mind.

Zeb reaches over and takes my hand. "You run your business here. We travel as needed and then… come home. You get your space, we don't lose our work, and we all, you know"—he shrugs, that confident grin hovering around his lips—"live happily ever after."

My mouth moves for a moment before I can find words, while inside my head, Creepy bounces with excitement. "You'd do that?"

"Only if we can always come home to you." Zeb glances to the others. "Yeah?"

Huck nods eagerly. Phineas smiles.

I let out a shaky breath. "That… I don't know what to say. That'd be wonderful." Reality dims my happiness. "I guess we'll have to find a house. Or, you know, stay here or…"

I trail off, feeling conflicted. I don't want to be rude about the apartment they found after the traders broke into the last one. But like their previous place, this doesn't feel like a home. It's too sterile. Too much like a rich guy's vacation bachelor pad.

I can't imagine my clients feeling comfortable meeting me here, to say nothing of the lack of space for any of my associates from the underground who might pass through.

"Well," Huck says, smiling hopefully. "We were kind of thinking we could stay at your place."

"My… burned place?" My heart aches at having to acknowledge the damage.

"Only for now," Zeb says. At my confused look, he squeezes my hand. "You're not alone in this, Mabel. Whatever the insurance company does, we'll make sure you get your house back."

My mouth moves. "Thank you."

He nods. His hand doesn't leave mine, but suddenly a quivering feeling passes through his grip.

"In that case…" He grins. "I told you I had something special planned for you."

Now I'm confused again. "What are you?—"

His arm shifts into a tentacle.

"No," I protest. "Zeb, no! You're still healing."

He sits up straighter in bed as tentacles emerge from his back as well. "I'm healed up enough, beautiful."

"And orgasms are quite beneficial for your health," Phineas adds.

I throw him an exasperated look. "Not helping."

The tentacle tightens on my hand, pulling my attention back. "I'm okay, Mabel. But if you really don't want to?—"

"I didn't say that!"

At my blurted answer, Zeb grins again. "Then, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted weeks ago…" He pulls me out of bed. His grin stays even as he shifts, his eyes going white and his tentacles unfurling all around him, and suddenly Ghastly is looking back at me instead. "I planned something special for you."

The Hyde's voice is a dark and insidious murmur, like something from deep within a watery cave, and it sends a shiver down my spine that's equal parts fear and arousal. Though his arms are gone, his legs remain, and he steps closer to me in a sinuous movement that feels as much like he's dancing as walking.

"Puck," he says shortly.

I start to turn, but Ghastly's tentacles catch me. They slip beneath my shirt and undulate around my sides and up my spine. Another slithers around to the back of my neck and into my hair, keeping my head in position so I'm facing him.

My breath catches. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the remainder of his tentacles begin removing my clothes, the first few holding me in place all the while. I bite my lip, staying still for him, my gaze locked on his milky-white eyes.

He's so alien, this Hyde, but even though I've only ever seen him briefly, there's still something so familiar about him too. Like something about me recognizes something about him, and not just because I have a Hyde too.

Because maybe we really are meant to be mates.

I smile as the last of my clothes fall away. "So what did you have in mind?"

Ghastly chuckles. He leans over a bit as if looking past me, though his white eyes make it hard to tell where he's looking at all. "Ready?"

Puck's hands slide around my sides. Ghastly's tentacles draw away as Puck turns me toward him.

I look between them, confused, but suddenly, Puck hoists me up, and on instinct, my legs wrap around his hips. He's holding me above his cock, the tip resting against my entrance but not entering me, and I wiggle against him, a needy sound escaping me.

"My greedy belle," Puck teases, but he doesn't lower me.

"One moment more," Ghastly tells me as his tentacles slide around me again. They slip along my back, along my legs, all over me.

Including between my legs.

I look down. The tip of one of his tentacles is wrapping around Puck's cock.

My confusion returns. "What are you?—"

"Do you trust me, lovely?" Ghastly asks.

I don't need to think about it. I just nod.

He makes a pleased sound. The tentacles around my legs adjust to hold me wide open for them.

It suddenly occurs to me he's only been using the upper side of his tentacles, not the underside where the suckers reside. But before I can open my mouth to ask why, the tentacles suddenly rotate, the suckers gripping me on all sides while Puck pushes his tentacle-wrapped cock into me.

I gasp, tensing as suddenly my mind is flooded with awareness not just of Puck inside me, but of everything. Puck's hands and his chest and all of him that's touching me, so vivid it's as if I'm inside his skin. His pleasure at filling me pounds through my head, making my soaked and needy pussy ache even more as his arousal mingles with mine.

Ghastly undulates his tentacles around me as he moves to one side, and I cry out. It's not just Puck I feel. Ghastly is part of this too. I feel every one of the suckers on his tentacles, not just on my skin, but how it is for him to be touching so much of me all at once.

"You doing okay?" he asks.

Breathless, I can only nod, my eyes wide as my body thrums with the arousal and pleasure pulsing through me from all sides.

"Let's get you nice and relaxed then," Ghastly says.

Puck slides in and out of me, and I cry out, overwhelmed by the flood of need and desire and pure sensation pounding through me. I rock my hips hard, meeting him, craving this like I've never craved anything in my life, and in only a moment, I'm already coming hard from the intense waves of pleasure frying my brain.

He doesn't stop. Doesn't come. Puck thrusts and thrusts in me while Ghastly's tentacles pulse across my skin, feeding me more sensation than I know how to handle.

I melt in their arms, and only his tentacles hold me upright. Over and over they wring orgasms from me, until my legs are wet with my own slick from how many times I've come in their grip.

And then Beastly steps into place behind me.

Puck stops moving inside me as one of Ghastly's tentacles slips away from my side.

I choke on a begging sound that turns into an incredulous whimper. Oh, gods, are they?—

Surely not.

"Deep breath," Ghastly tells me.

Oh fuck.

Slowly, Beastly pushes into me too.

I cry out. Are they insane? There's no way this will work. "I-I can't. All of you are— I'm not?—"

"My belle can do anything," Puck croons to me, adjusting his hips a bit while Beastly eases deeper into me and Ghastly's tentacles pulse around their cocks.

I quiver in their hands, barely daring to breathe while my body adjusts to the unbelievably full sensation of all three of them filling me. Even after all the orgasms they gave me, my pussy still aches at the way they're stretching me.

But it's an intensely delicious kind of pain. The kind that sends a rush of endorphins coursing through your blood because you've pushed past what you believed was possible, and now you feel exhilarated too.

And then they start moving.

A wild moan escapes me. Awareness of all three of my men's pleasure pours through my mind, sweeping me and Creepy away with it. Out of pure instinct, I rock between them too, all conscious thought abandoning me. My body turns to putty, obeying my desire for them and ignoring my incredulity at how it's even possible for them all to fit inside me.

I'm not a rational, sensible person anymore. I'm only my need. Only my craving for them and the fact I never want this to end. I move when they do, suspended between Ghastly's tentacles and Puck and Beastly's hands alike. My mind is lost to the tidal waves of sensation. I no longer recognize the sounds coming from me as I plead for them to continue, to never stop, to fuck me forever just like this because oh gods…

I scream as I come. My body goes rigid as ecstasy overtakes me, and I lose the room entirely as their orgasms take them too. I feel every second of it. Every rush of their pleasure. Every pulse of their cocks as they fill me with their cum. My release echoes it all, not stopping, pounding through me over and over like it'll never end. I swear it's an eternity until they're spent and I am too.

The world is soft and blurry, made of cotton and light. I open my eyes to realize I'm back in the bed, which means I must have passed out from what we all did. But my Hydes are around me now, Puck tucked in close to me with Ghastly spooned behind him, his tentacles draped across us both, while Beastly is on my opposite side, supporting me with a furry arm under my head.

I smile sleepily. This is perfect.

Beastly notices I'm awake, and he grins his wolfish grin at me before shifting back to Phineas.

I nestle closer to my Jekyll's side.

"So what do you think, beautiful?" Zeb asks.

I glance back to see that he and Huck have shifted too.

Zeb smiles. "Will you give us a chance to be your mates forever?"

I nod, my heart feeling so warm and full, it's hard to find words. "Happily."

Three months later

"Now," Huck cautions. "Don't open your eyes, okay?"

Laughing, I walk carefully forward with my eyes closed. "Okay."

His grip on my hand tightens, bringing me to a stop. "Are you ready?" He doesn't sound like he's asking me.

"One more minute," Phineas replies.

"Come on, guys," I protest, keeping my eyes closed.

None of them responds for a moment. I hear shuffling feet and quick whispers back and forth.

"All right," Zeb says. "Open."

I open my eyes.

A tiny cry escapes me. We're standing on my street. My home is straight ahead of me. But no trace of the fire or even a smudge of soot remains on the brick walls or teal shutters. There are even flowers in planters by the front door.

"You like it?" Huck asks.

I press a hand to my lips as I nod. "It's perfect. But I thought the contractors said it'd be another two months before it was all fixed."

Zeb smiles. "We called in some help."

The front door swings open and I gasp a second time as Tamira grins at us. Weeks before, Zeb came clean on how he'd used Ghastly's powers on her that night when I ran from them at the bar. She'd been furious for a bit, but after plenty of promises that he'd never dare try it again, eventually she'd forgiven him. After all, if anyone could understand the need to chase down their fleeing mate, it was a shifter.

Behind her, so many of my associates from the underground are waiting, smiles on their faces.

"Everybody helped on repairs," Tamira says. "We couldn't let you stay holed up in some bachelor pad forever."

I laugh while Phineas glowers.

"She has a point," Zeb says.

Phineas scoffs, but a smile twitches the corner of his lip.

"So what do you say?" Huck asks me. "Ready to go home?"

I lean into him as he puts his arm around me from one side and Zeb slides his around me from the other. "With you guys?" I say. "Always."