Page 46 of Rebels Rising

‘I need you too, Henny.’

He lifted a brow at the nickname but didn’t comment. He was used to me butchering his name by now.

‘Cadmus, what’s this about?’ Artemis prompted when the silent conversation continued between me and Henrik.

‘Right, well… I figured that since we’re changing and I’m going to get some awesome superpowers soon, I thought you might want to teach us how to wield them. With great power comes great responsibility, don’t you know.’

I expected her response to contain more levity, but she simply mulled over my request with a thoughtful expression. Her eyes flicked to Bromm and I knew she was thinking along the same lines as me.

‘Actually, that’s not a bad idea. But why didn’t you grab Reece and Addy for this, too?’

‘I just wanted to bring it up with you first. Figured we could go say hi to Bromm together and bring him into the loop as well. Maybe have another threesome, except this time I’ll get to fill you with my cum too.’

She blinked at me, then slowly covered Baldr’s ears as her face turned a rather delicious shade of pink. I probably should have censored myself in front of the little ears, but I wasn’t used to monitoring my words around children. I wasn’t used to children at all.

Henrik threw his head back and laughed, cutting through the sexual tension with his boisterous mirth. ‘You’re somethin’ else, man. I can’t believe you just said that.’

‘Me either,’ Artemis agreed under her breath. Henrik didn’t seem to catch it, and I wondered if that meant my new nanite friends were kicking in and enhancing my senses. Yes, please.

‘What do you need me for, then?’ Henrik asked, bringing us back on topic.

‘In case something goes wrong. In case I randomly fall into a coma like Bromm. I could go on, but I think you get the point.’

‘Ah. Sothat’swhy you’ve been hanging about so much lately. You’ve been using me.’

I shot him a cheeky grin. ‘Of course.’

‘Well I hate to break it to you, but maybe it’s been the other way around this entire time. You’ve been such a good little helper.’

I fluttered my lashes at him and blew him a kiss. ‘Only for you, Henny.’

‘Well, it seems I’m no longer needed here so I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it. I’m sure Bromm would enjoy having me to himself, Cadmus, but Henrik’s a lucky guy,’ she winked, then handed Bal to me. She placed her hand on top of Bromm’s, closed her eyes and started to glow before I could even respond.

I passed Bal over to Henrik who was smirking at me with a knowing glint in his eyes.

‘You’re so far gone for her man,’ he sniggered.

I sighed, all teasing leaving me as I levelled him with a serious stare. ‘I know.’

His smile dimmed into something softer. ‘What a woman to pick.’

I huffed out a breath through my nose in agreement. ‘I know.’

‘You heading in there too?’ he asked, tipping his head towards the glowing couple.

I took a steadying breath as I made my way over to them, placing my hand on top of theirs. ‘Yup.’

‘See you on the other side,’ he said, and I gave him two-fingered salute before closing my eyes and allowing the web to pull me in.

There was no sign of Artemis or Bromm when I landed on the white line. I turned every which way as I searched for them, but all I succeeded in doing was making myself feel sick as I gazed through the thick black void. I lost my balance, almost falling off the line and windmilling my arms to regain my footing. That was when I noticed my hand was completely solid, not a transparent digit in sight.

Suddenly, my line started to shine brighter as I felt an unseen force pull me down until I was flat on my back. Unable to move an inch while I was dragged along and despite leaving all my organs behind in the process, I did my best to relax into it and allowed the web to do what it needed to do. Bromm had already told me this had happened to him and Artemis, so I took it as a sign that I was progressing exactly as I was meant to.

A blinding white light illuminated the surrounding void and I slammed my eyes closed in a feeble attempt to avoid it, but it was over within a tick. I peeked through a small slit in my eyelids, noting the dancing colours leftover from the brightness as my eyes tried to adjust, but it was my ears that pulled through for me as the most incredible sound drifted towards me.

A sound I had heard only once before, and I had helped create it.

A moan of pure, unadulterated desire.

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