25. Alina

I blink into the darkness,bliss swimming through my veins.

This is where I exist now.

This delirious world that smells like evergreens and ash, with a hint of refreshing air mixed in. It's… it's my safe haven. My happy place.

A soft purr rumbles against my ear.

Something hard nudges my lower belly.

Lips whisper across the back of my neck.

A palm squeezes my hips.

Male voices murmur over my head.

Yes, this is my utopia, I decide, nuzzling into the source of the purring. Warm. Masculine. Flesh.

So hard. So muscular. So enticing.

I squirm, causing a thigh to brush the tender apex between my legs. A moan leaves my mouth, followed by a chuckle from one of my fae.

"Insatiable," Reaper says, suggesting he's the one who just chuckled. "Fucking perfect, pet."

"Fucking perfect indeed," Flame agrees, his deep voice a rumble against my ear. Because it's his chest I'm resting on.

No.

Shoulder.

Which is why I feel his dick against my lower belly.

Hard. Insistent. Throbbing.

My hand wanders on instinct, my desire to feel him overtaking my sense of reason.

He's naked. He's aroused. And he's pressed up against me.

This is allowed, right?

His hiss of a reply has me wondering if maybe… maybe it's not allowed.

But he wraps his hand around mine in the next second, his fingers guiding mine to encircle his pulsing flesh. It's hot against my palm, his thickness making it difficult for me to fully grasp him.

"Gods, Alina, that feels good," he says, pushing into my hand.

"I have no idea what I'm doing," I admit in a whisper. "I've never done any of this before."

"It's okay, pet." Reaper's breath is warm against my nape. "We'll teach you."

Flame releases my hand to grab my chin and guides my gaze up to meet his. "Just do whatever comes naturally to you, Alina."

I swallow and slide my grasp upward to the barbell decorating his shaft. "Did this hurt?"

He chuckles. "Not really, no. But we'll need to remove it before I fuck you."

My brow furrows. "Why? Will it hurt me?"

"No, it'll hurt me," he says, deepening my frown. "You're my mate, Alina. I'm going to want to use my barb on you, and I can't do that with my piercings."

Piercings,I repeat to myself, my fingers venturing higher to fondle the ring dangling from his head. "What's a barb?" I ask while touching him.

"It's… it's something that'll connect us during our climaxes" His voice deepens with the words. "It will pulsate inside you, prolonging your ecstasy while I fill you with my seed."

"It's for breeding," Reaper adds. "Just like Orcus's knot."

"O-oh." I… I don't know what to say to that.

"It's also for pleasure," Flame assures me. "My barb is ribbed in a way that intensifies the vibrations."

I draw my finger over the tip. "So you have to remove the piercings to use it?"

He nods. "Otherwise, the barb will rip through them."

That doesn't sound comfortable. "Why did you pierce it if you have to, you know, take it out?" I ask, still playing with the metal ring.

"Because I've never had to take it out before," he tells me. "My barb is for my mate and no one else."

My eyes widen, understanding slowly overtaking my lust-induced mind.

"You'll be his first," Reaper whispers like he's reading my thoughts. "He's fucked before, but never like this. Same with Orcus." He kisses a path along my neck, his palm sliding up and down my side. "You're changing everything for us, Alina. Everything."

I shiver, my hand squeezing around Flame's bulbous head. "What about you?" I ask, my head tilting back so I can try to see the man behind me. "Do you have a barb?"

His lips curl. "Only cats have barbs."

Flame growls against me. "Big fucking cats."

"House cats, too," Reaper tosses back, making Flame growl even more.

But his growl dies when I run my hand back down his length, searching for the barb. Only, I don't feel it anywhere, causing me to look at him once more. "Where is it?"

"It'll come out during sex," he tells me. "And it's not the same as a cat's barb. It's…" He pauses, searching for the right words. "Real jaguars have barbs, but they usually hurt. Shifter Fae jaguars, like me, are not traditional animals. We're, well, fae. And fae like to fuck. Hence…"

"Hence, his barb is pleasurable," Reaper drawls. "We've already covered that. I believe our pet was asking about my cock now."

He's right; I was.

I twist my neck to see him again. "So you don't have a barb."

"I do not."

"A knot?" I guess, but suspect he doesn't have one of those either. Primarily because only Orcus has been mentioned in combination with the term knot.

"No knot."

"Okay." I wait for him to say more, but he doesn't. "Well then, what do you have?"

"Why don't you turn around and find out?" he dares me.

A few days ago, I would have hidden.

But today… today I'm feeling bold. Rebellious. Strong.

Like I'm me again, I marvel, giving Flame's shaft a gentle squeeze before releasing him. Then flip to face a smirking Reaper.

Flame instantly presses himself flush with my back, his cock hard and demanding against my ass. He grabs my hip bone to hold me in place, his lips finding my shoulder and trailing a path up to my neck. "When you're done playing with Reaper, I would love to feel your tongue against my piercings."

I shiver. Oh, fae…

I want to taste Flame.

But I also want to finally feel Reaper.

I can do both,I realize, my blood heating despite all the pleasure I've experienced this morning. I don't have to choose.

"I turned around," I tell Reaper.

"Yes, you did," he murmurs. "Now all you have to do is find out."

My brow furrows, my brain having trouble processing what he means.

But then I recall what he told me to do—"Turn around and find out."

My gaze drifts over his chiseled chest and abdomen to his jeans, noting the unfastened top button. But the rest of him is all zipped up, hiding his lower half from view.

I reach for his pants, then dart my eyes back up to his in an attempt to judge his expression. His silver-blue irises give nothing away. But his lips… his lips are still tilted upward in an enticing smile.

So I tug the zipper down.

His pupils flare in response.

He's excited. He wants this. However, he's holding himself back.

For me, I realize. He's allowing me to set the pace.

Oh, he'll push me. He proved that with the knife earlier—which was an experience I will never forget.

Even though the blade scared me, I liked how it made me feel. Because while I knew Reaper was dangerous, deep down, I also knew I was in control. If I used my safeword, I had no doubt in my mind that he would listen to me.

Maybe trusting him was crazy.

But at this point, I'm just embracing fate.

And right now, that fate is staring down at me expectantly. "Are you going to touch me, pet?" he asks. "Or should I just bind your wrists again?" His tattoos move as though preparing to do just that while his focus goes to my lips. "I don't need your hands when I can use your mouth."

Emboldened, I tug at his pants, trying to yank them down his muscular thighs. But I'm on my side, making it difficult to do with one hand.

He doesn't help me.

Just watches as I struggle.

I narrow my gaze. "Take them off, Reaper."

Amusement flashes in his eyes. "That's hot. Command me again."

"Follow my first command and I will," I counter.

He gifts me with a smile. "All right, pet." He disappears from the bed, causing me to gasp.

"Reaper," I growl. "That's not?—"

He returns to his same position, sans pants, and cocks a brow. "That's not what?" he asks.

But any thought of a retort or a reply vanishes at the sight of his beautiful, naked form.

His tattoos are still moving, the dark swirls shifting on and off his torso and running up and down his arms. However, his thighs are bare.

And his cock… is tattooed, too. Only it's not swirls. It's…

"Is that my name?" I ask, stunned.

"Yep."

No explanation or elaboration. No hesitation, either. Just… Yep. "What…? What does that mean? And why is there a skull next to it?"

"You're a Death Fae's mate," he says simply. "My mate. And you know what a good mate would do right now?"

I blink at him. "I… No?"

"A good mate would trace the tattoo on my shaft, preferably with her tongue."

Flame chuckles behind me. "I think Reaper would like you to thank him for his tribute, little panther."

"I don't need a thank-you, but I would love a blow job," Reaper says, his dick seeming to strain toward me while he speaks.

I'm guessing a "blow job" is something sexual, based on his physical reaction. And given that he requested I lick his dick, I'm going to assume said "blow job" involves my mouth.

"He wants you to suck his cock, little panther," Flame whispers against my ear, his words making my belly flip. "Do you want to taste him?"

I swallow, my eyes tracing each letter of my name. "I do," I admit, my fingers reaching for Reaper. "Yes, I do."

Because I want to feel him. Know him. Savor him.

Just like these fae have done to me.

"I want to taste both of you," I say to them.

"Then do it, pet," Reaper dares me. "Lick me."