Chapter 39

Istripped then flopped onto the bed, trying to curb my excitement.

We had another keystone.

Even better, there might be more out there, like some sort of high stakes hide-and-seek game where the winners got to take on the most powerful entity in the world in a fight to the death.

And these fucking Descendants.

After all their posturing, they were nothing but thieves.

Tomorrow we'd either prove our theory true or end up one keystone richer. Either way, I'd take the wins where I could.

"You're thinking quite loudly over there, princess." A pause. "Let me guess, planning the demise of your enemies, or are you celebrating today's victory?"

I froze at Raz's voice, lifting my head to find him in the furthest chair from the fireplace, barely discernible from the shadows sifting around him.

"I thought you were…guarding the castle or patrolling the perimeter or some other testosterone-filled male rite of passage," I teased, flopping back down. "I'm glad you're here." I closed my eyes, basking in the fact that Raziel was watching over me.

"How are you?" The question was quiet. Tentative. "Coming back here has to be…hard."

"Don't ruin the moment, Raz." The words came out tighter than I'd planned, almost a rebuke. "Just…we need to concentrate on why we're here, not what happened a lifetime ago."

"It's been less than a year since the Scything, Anaria," he pointed out since he was too stubborn to let anything go.

"A lifetime," I said firmly. "Slave to princess. Weak to powerful." Every word seemed to settle deeper like lodestones sinking to the bottom of a pool. "Unloved to loved. A different lifetime, Raz."

The bed dipped, strong arms wrapping around me like a shield against the world, and a heart beating with the same cadence as mine thundered against my cheek. "You are loved. With all my heart and soul, you are loved, Anaria."

"I know. I planned to remake the world, Raz. To help people like me," I whispered, afraid if I spoke my truth too loudly the fates would hear and sweep down to crush my dreams, like always. "But in all my imaginings, I never thought I would find you."

"Well, technically, we found you, so…"

I sank my elbow into his side. "You know what I meant."

"Oof. That was uncalled for." Raziel readjusted, and that quickly, I was pinned beneath him, staring into those liquid brown eyes. "So. I was thinking…this is a very nice bed. And this could be our last chance for a while. Princess."

Maybe it was how he put that little sensual curl on the end of the word, but heat spiraled through me like that first fierce blast of flame when you set a match to kindling. His hand cupped the bottom of my breast, thumb brushing my nipple, teeth nibbling greedily up the side of my throat.

How easily he ruined me with just a word and the brush of a finger, making me fall apart with the dominant pressure of his body settling over mine. That rush of breathless anticipation made my eyes flutter closed as I basked in a sea of sensations.

"You are very naked, Anaria." Raz slipped his hand between us with a dark, sensual chuckle. "And very, very wet. Is this all for me?" His fingers slid through my slick pussy, spreading my juices before his thumb strummed across my clit, my whole body throbbing in response.

"Yes." My answer came out strangled.

"Yes, what?" He pulled his hand up, and while I watched, he licked off his fingers, his wide tongue picking up every shining drop. "Yes, what, princess?"

"Yes. I'm wet for you." His wicked, approving smile really shouldn't have sent another curl of heat through me. It really shouldn't have.

"I think you need more than just me tonight." Raz slid his hand back between us and then I shifted to meet his probing fingers, arching my hips to drive them deeper, because I did need more. I needed to be filled and fucked until every old, hated memory and fear was blasted apart.

Until this fucking castle disappeared around us, and the only thing left was us, burning together.

"My greedy little princess." His finger was joined by a second, curling as he stroked deeper. "So fucking empty. Do you want all your holes filled? Do you want us to worship every inch of you until you burst apart?"

"Gods, yes." I writhed beneath him, trying to find some friction to break this coiling tension, anything to relieve the demanding pressure between my legs. "Raz, please." His fingers withdrew, leaving my pussy achingly hollow.

"Okay, arseholes. Come in," Raz called, and for a moment, my lust-addled brain wondered if he was talking to me, but then the door opened and two sets of boots stomped in, Raziel slowly, cruelly torturing my overly sensitive clit.

"Can you take all three of us?" Raz sank his teeth into my throat, harder than I expected, the nip of pain sending an electric jolt straight through me. His other hand came up and cupped my chin, gripping firmly. "Open your eyes and answer me. Are you ready for all three of us? Now is the time to say no."

My gaze slid toward the fire where Tristan watched raptly. "Tristan? Is this…okay?"

He blinked like he was pulling himself out of an old memory, then his lips curved into a smile, no trace of doubt or hesitation in his eyes. "Yes, princess. This is more than okay. This is what I want."

I stared up at Raziel. "Then yes, this is what I want too. All of you."

"We'll wipe away what's hurting you here." Raz pressed his lips over my heart. "We're not going to be gentle," he warned softly, still holding my chin firmly.

"But we won't give you more than you can handle. Whatever you desire is yours, whatever you need you only have to ask for. We exist to serve you." His eyes locked with mine. "That is our only purpose tonight. Your pleasure."

Tears built like fire in my throat, but I swallowed them back down, chest howling like my heart was being crushed inside a vise of everything that had been denied me my entire life.

Until now.

Now, for the first time, I was being offered all the love and respect and loyalty that should have been mine from the day I was born. Because I never deserved the ugliness this world gave me. I deserved so much more, and now, finally, I had it.

And in some twisted irony, I realized the truth here, in this castle I despised, while the bones of those who'd oppressed and abused me rotted.

Well, good. Let them rot.

My lips curled into a wicked smile, pure carnal need shivering through me as I crooked my finger at Tristan and Tavion. "Then you'd best get on with it and start serving."

"Oh, we'll serve you well, mate," Tavion crooned, because he had to be an arsehole.

"Careful," Raz warned, his body tensing over mine, eyes glued on Tavion as the air around us filled with swirls of blue-black magic. I half expected them to snap at Tavion like my darklings would.

"Play nice," I scolded, brushing my hand down Raz's back from shoulder to spine, feeling his muscles relax beneath my touch like a wave unfurling over warm sand. "Or you won't be allowed to play at all. No fighting. No arguing. No power plays in the bedroom." I laid my palm over the mark I'd put on Raz's chest, but my eyes fixed on Tavion, that cocky smile sliding off his face when our gazes collided.

"We have to be together in here. In our hearts. Because that's the only way we stay together."

Tavion, to my utter shock, dipped his head. "I apologize, Raziel. Old habits die hard. That won't happen again." His hand paused on the waistband of his trousers, as if waiting for my command to continue undressing or leave.

"That's good enough for me," Raz decided, dragging his teeth down my throat, his shadows settling over us like a blanket of shimmering darkness. They curled around my ankles and wrists, tugging them apart as Raz's smile widened.

"Because I want nothing more than to feel your plump, pink lips tighten around my cock while I spill down your throat, princess." His thumb delved into my mouth, smearing wetness over my bottom lip. "You'll take every drop I give you, won't you, Anaria?"

"Yes, sir." I sucked Raz's thumb into my mouth, swirled my tongue around the tip, and was rewarded when his eyes darkened to black.

Over the sound of the crackling fire, Tristan groaned, clothes and boots and weapons hitting the floor in rapid succession.

"They do sound impatient." Raz's lips quirked. "Let's get you ready for plundering, princess." He rolled off me and onto his feet in one deft move, leaving me completely exposed, his shadows tracing the insides of my thighs, my breasts, the barely there touch maddeningly insufficient.

"Raziel. What are you planning to…"

Then I was flipped, suspended midair by my ankles and wrists, staring at the bed below me, my hair hanging straight down, my bare arse hanging out for them all to see. "Raziel. Put me down this minute."

"Your wish is my command." His rumbling, satisfied chuckle infuriated me and turned me on at the same time.

Cradled in a nest of Raz's magic, he lowered me to the mattress on all fours, his shadows tugging my ankles wider, my elbows balanced on the edge of the bed facing the fireplace before they threaded themselves through my hair and tugged my head back.

Then all I saw was Raz blocking the fire, golden light gilding every bulging muscle and the divots of his taut stomach, as he stroked his fist up and down his impressive length. He looked like a powerful god, a pearl of precum gathering at the head of his cock.

I smiled. Licked my lips.

Every muscle in his body tightened and a thrill sped through me.

Raz might control my body. I might be on my knees, held captive by his shadows, but I controlled him right back.

This was real power. Potent, intoxicating power. "What do you want, Raziel?" His shadows tugged my head further back, the bed sinking as Tristan settled behind me, lightly running his fingers down my sides and along my curves in long, featherlight strokes.

"You know what I want," he grit out, powerful, rope-like muscles cording along his neck.

"Say it." My grin felt dangerous as I so easily reversed our roles. "Use your words and tell me what you want, Raziel."

Tavion chuckled and the air in the room just…stopped, waiting for what came next.

Raz's shadows released me enough to turn my head toward my idiotic husband.

"Since you can't follow instructions, husband, you'll sit by the fire and watch until you learn to play nice," I commanded, preening internally when Tavion did just that, dropping into the chair, one leg slung over the arm, his cock on full display before Raz closed the distance between us and all I saw was him.

"You asked what I want?" His gaze burned with flickers of heat. "Open that wicked mouth of yours, Anaria, and suck my cock."

Tristan settled behind me, trailing soft kisses between my shoulders, working his way down to the base of my spine, his finger sliding along the inside of my thigh, slipping through my slick folds. I tried to push back onto those probing digits, but Raz stopped me, and I hissed in frustration.

"You'll get what you need when you open those sweet lips for me, princess." He brushed his crown over my mouth, leaving a smear of musky salt behind. I licked it off with one sweep of my tongue, and he pushed inside the same time Tristan pressed his fingers in deep.

I moaned around Raz's girth, intensely aroused by the delicious sensation of having them both inside me at the same time, Tristan's clever fingers finding my clit and pressing down hard on the tender nub before he plunged his fingers back into me.

I arched backward, hips grinding against his hand, wanting more.

I wanted them to set me on fire.

I wanted them to burn with me until we were piles of ash.

Then Tristan replaced his fingers with his mouth, tongue lapping, probing through my folds with immaculate precision, his thumb never stopping its aching slow circles, my clit so swollen every touch made me writhe.

Raziel's shadows slipped out of my hair, replaced by his fingers winding in tight before he fisted a handful and held me steady, pushing his cock in deeper, my lips parting around him to accommodate his swelling girth. He pumped in and out of my mouth, sweat trickling between his pecks and following the line of dark hair leading to where my lips surrounded him, his eyes riveted on me like he couldn't look away.

Tristan plunged three fingers into me, thick and deep, wetness gushing, then laved his tongue up and down as if he were starving, letting out a deep purr of approval. "She needs your cock, Trist," Raziel ground out through clamped lips, his eyes wild. "Don't leave our queen wanting."

Raz pulled out enough for me to swirl my tongue around his crown. "I'm going to fuck those sweet, plush lips. You are going to take every inch of what I give you while Tristan fucks that tight pussy of yours. And when you come, princess…" His voice was little more than a rasp. "We will pump you full until you are covered in our scents. And you are going to love every fucking second."

I was glad of Raz's shadows, because without them holding me up, I would have collapsed beneath those wicked words, beneath the mountain of lust crashing down over me.

Tristan took me in one hard thrust, hard enough to shove me onto Raz's cock, something I wondered if they'd planned because they gave me a minute for my throat to adjust to the sheer size of Raz, for my channel to tighten around Tristan's throbbing length.

Those immovable shadows held me wide open, helpless, Raz's cock hitting the back of my throat with every brutal stroke, Tristan angling to hit a spot deep inside me like lightning striking the same place over and over again.

A storm was building inside me, unstoppable, inevitable, waiting to crash down and erase everything in this world except for this perfect, shimmering connection between the three of us. That tightness beneath my heart ratcheted down and down and down until I swore I could feel their emotions, the tingling at the base of Tristan's spine, Raz's heart burning as my lips slid up and down along his cock.

"I see you, Anaria." Raz's palm cupped my chin tenderly. "I see everything."

When Tristan's hand slipped beneath me and his fingers found my clit, my orgasm hit me with all the intensity of that pent-up storm, Tristan's deep thrusts growing sloppy and wild, Raziel's eyes still locked with mine as I shattered into a million brilliant pieces.

My orgasm spilled outward like rays from the sun, fragmented, brutal, ecstasy turning to bursting pressure as I broke and broke and broke against them, as they wrung every drop of pleasure from me until my body was limp.

With a wild shout, Tristan followed, fingers dug deep into my thighs as he exploded, Raz spilling down my throat, making his promise true.

I did love every second.

My body was still tremblingwith aftershocks when Tavion shoved Tristan out of the way and came behind me, brushing his flattened palm down my sweat-slicked back, bending forward to sink his teeth into my shoulder.

"I sat like a good boy," he growled in my ear. "Now I get to play."

That dark, rumbling edge to Tavion's voice told me his wolf was taking over, goosebumps shivering across my skin when those blunt teeth turned sharper.

"Take good care of her. I swear to the gods…" Raz warned, and he was rewarded with a biting snarl. I went still, my muscles freezing.

"I'm right here." Raz kept his shadows locked around my ankles, swiping his thumb over my swollen bottom lip one final time before plunging it into his mouth, the move so decadently sexy I moaned before he stepped away, settling into the chair Tavion had vacated. Tristan took the other chair, both pairs of eyes fixed on me.

"Save that sound for me, Anaria. I've waited for this long enough," Tavion warned, his fingers digging into my skin, something sharp erupting from their tips. "Now that you're all stretched and ready, I can't wait for your pussy to milk my cock dry." He ran his nose up my spine and nuzzled at the base of my neck, sniffing…like he was scenting me.

"Are you…okay?" I bit my lip uncertainly, sucking in a quick breath when fangs closed gently over the base of my neck, a clear warning to stay still, the room sizzling with something wild, something primal.

Tavion seemed to grow larger behind me, but when his massive cock dragged through my folds, I realized that wasn't my imagination, that he'd transformed. Or partially transformed.

Or transformed just a few certain parts of himself.

"Tavion." Then his name became a moan of pleasure when he pushed his blunt crown against my entrance, straining to work himself inside, stretching my swollen pussy around him, bigger than any cock I'd ever taken before, bigger than anything I'd ever imagined.

"Gods, you're so fucking tight, princess. But you can handle me, just relax."

"I can't." I tried to crawl away, tried to retreat from his relentless penetration, but Raz's shadows held me in place. "You're too big."

"You were made for me, Anaria." When Tavion's fingers circled my swollen nub and my muscles loosened, he pressed in another inch. Then another.

Pain turned to pleasure turned to aching need, and I was pressing back, trying to work him deeper, whining because I wanted more.

Tavion's claiming became a molten dance of slow, panting withdrawals and straining advances, my fingers gripping the edge of the bed. Then his fangs closed around the back of my neck again, hot, heaving breaths coasting over my skin with every frantic thrust.

"Halfway there," he finally grunted, even though I felt like I could burst at any given moment, my slick channel fluttering around the invasion. Yet I was still so empty.

Across from me, Raz watched with the kind of intensity he usually reserved for our enemies, poised to stop this if it became too much.

Or if Tavion went too far.

"I'm fine. Good." I gasped around the sensations threatening to undo me. Another inch, then another, sweat dripping onto me, pooling in the hollow of my back as Tavion slid deeper, stretching me around his thickness until he finally stopped, his heart hammering against my back.

"Take a breath, love." He released me, his fingers stroking down my throat, my breasts, teasing, taunting, my skin prickling with need. "Relax, I'm almost all the way inside. Once you take my knot, you'll have all of me."

"Wait." I twisted around to see his face. Couldn't. "Your what?"

"My knot," Tavion repeated, and my walls clamped down as he jerked his hips forward and something impossibly big punched into me. I gasped as my body spasmed around the sudden invasion. "That's it, my love, you're doing so good," Tavion praised. "Give yourself a minute to adjust."

This was so intense, so overwhelming I tried to breathe around this…not pain, not exactly. More like demanding pressure, but then my body softened, all that fullness starting to feel so, so good through my haze of desire.

"Ready, love?" Tavion whispered. "Because I'm about to claim you properly like I've been wanting to ever since you called me a walking kitchen sink."

My lips quirked as Tavion's powerful thighs pressed against my backside, then he was moving, slamming into me with short, brutal strokes, his knot sliding back and forth inside my channel, my eyes rolling back in my head from the sweet sensation.

His cock drove so deep I groaned, not caring how I sounded or that Raz and Tristan were watching. All I could wrap my head around was Tavion's wolf claiming me and how much I liked it.

His thrusts turned choppy, his breaths erratic and I knew he was close. I was close, too, but I couldn't quite get there, couldn't quite…

"I've got you, Anaria." Raziel pressed his lips to mine, then his thumb strummed across my tender nub. Once. Twice. "You are our everything," Raz murmured, pressing his thumb down and twisting. "Now let go and take your pleasure like a good girl."

My climax shook the room, logs spilling from the fireplace, the darkness shattering apart as the wave crashed through me, endless and forever, ripping me apart, putting me back together, and still, neither of them stopped.

I was too tangled in pleasure to escape, too caught in euphoria to climb out. All I could do was let my limp, boneless body be carried along on this endless wave of pleasure, let them feed these sensations until I was begging for them to stop.

Or begging for more, I wasn't sure.

Tavion shouted my name along with a garbled rush of curses as he spilled into me, Raziel capturing my mouth and drinking down my own moans like they were the sweetest things he'd ever tasted.

Raz's shadows unfurled, skating over my body like phantom fingers. My quaking body fell sideways into Tavion's strong arms, and he lowered me onto the bed, my eyes already slipping closed, and the world disappeared.