Page 48 of Lera of Lunos
“What’s wrong with you?” Tye’s sister asks the dark warrior.
“I don’t hug,” Coal says.
“Thank the stars,” she mutters. “This new family was getting entirely too sentimental.”
* * *
“Aliaanadora isn’t truly expectingus all to come home by eleven, is she?” I ask Tye as the four males and I find a patch of privacy in a small hillside park overlooking the celebration. Between the tree branches protecting our clearing, firelight flickers in every direction, and pounding music lifts into the night sky. Despite the darkness now fully settled and the moon a mere sliver, my new immortal eyes see the warriors beside me clearly. The night’s sharp air carries the scent of burning hickory, the glittering stars whispering tales about the future where I am immortal, and River rules Slait, and Aliaanadora welcomes a rowdy bunch of unruly warriors to her dinner table, complaining about Shade’s shedding.
“Oh, aye, she was.” Tye cringes, though his eyes sparkle with joy. “We’ll need to discuss that with her.”
“I know better than to wage a war I won’t win,” River says, his hands settling on my shoulders, heavy and warm. A reminder that, for the first time since leaving the Gloom, the five of us are alone. River’s gray gaze traps my face as firmly as his hands hold my body. “I do have a thought on how to make the most of the next couple of hours, however.”
His words zing through my mating bonds, all four of them at once. My heart quickens.Four.And I want them all. How do I explain that? Heat rises slowly through my spine then shoots down to pool in my lower half. I press my thighs together, caught in River’s gaze as surely as a mouse in a snake’s. Far beyond River’s broad back, Samhain fires lap at the sky, the figures around them dark, barely visible silhouettes.
River glances over his shoulder, a knowing smile on his face. “They can’t see us,” he whispers into my ear, his voice deepening at the very end. “But I imagine they can smell us. If not now, then certainly once we give that bond of ours something to sing about.”
Wetness coats my sex, slithering into my underthings. Stars. My heart thunders, my mind racing to form words I can’t manage.Yes, I want you, River. Now. But I want you all.
River hooks a knuckle under my chin, raising my face toward his. “Your scent says you aren’t opposed to my plans. So what is it, luv?”
That word again. My bones go soft.
“Answer me,” River orders, the whole of his attention cocooning me. Making nothing outside of us exist.
My mouth is dry, the tops of my ears burning. “What about... the others.”
“What about us, cub?” Shade’s velvet voice says on my right, his broad body stepping up beside River’s to form a corner, adding the scent of damp earth to River’s woodsy freshness.
“Aye,” Tye drawls, stepping up on River’s other side. Despite the chill, Tye is dressed in a vest hanging open over bare skin, and the heat of his body rolls over mine like a lover’s touch. In the star-filled night, the outlines of lithe muscles speak to the predator behind the easy smile. “Do tell about the others. In as much detail as ye’d like.” The words are a purr, the song-like accent deeper than usual. “Ye can start by describing me.”
“Better yet,” Coal says, the dark, quiet warrior stepping up behind me, closing the box of muscle. “Say nothing at all, mortal.” The slight emphasis on the last word, a challenge and a claim, takes my breath.
Four. Four?Yes,the mating bond inside me whispers, its voice of another world. The cords shift, weaving tighter.Together. Us. Now.
A shudder races along my nerves, my body already throbbing with an ache low in my belly. Moisture fills my sex, soaking my underthings just from the males’ presence around me. Their very scents excite and shelter me, the pine and citrus, earth fresh from rain, deep woods, and unyielding metallic musk all coalescing into a single cocoon of them. Of us.
Too much. We can’t. We shouldn’t. I want to. My mouth opens to protest... A strategic mistake, given the breath River and I now share.
His wide palm cups the back of my head, his mouth descending upon mine. Sweet for a moment, then insistent. Possessive.
The mating bond purrs its pleasure, my mouth surrendering to the demanding intrusion. Heat rushes through my blood, waking my nerves to the tantalizing possibilities.
Right up until I remember where I am. Who else is here. Watching. Smelling. Growling softly under their breath as River claims possession. My hands twitch toward River’s chest, determined to push him away even as my body screams for more and my sex clenches on nothingness.
Two iron grips clamp around my wrists from behind. With no effort, Coal forces my arms back down, his muscled body stepping up to brace my back, his manhood hard against my bottom. I pull against the restraints, softly at first then with all my immortal muscle, excitement roaring right alongside indignation.
“Payback, mortal,” Coal whispers very quietly into my ear, snorting his amusement at my attempt to free myself from his grasp. “I remember a certain barn and a certain post. And I am going to savor every moment of this evening.”
Tye’s and Shade’s hands slide confidently down my body, expertly separating the hooks and laces of my dress until it pools on the ground, my bareness exposed to the air. To the males, who can do anything they wish. With Coal holding my arms, Shade’s hand closes around my right breast, squeezing firmly.
I gasp from the pressure. The vulnerability of standing naked between four dressed warriors as they take command of my body sends a shiver through me. A shiver that ends right at the apex of my sex, turning it wetter still. Making it throb.Stars.
Tye’s hand finds my mound, resting intimately against my dripping sex. As if my sensations, my body, are as much his as mine. More. The heat of my desire and their bodies crashes over me, igniting the mating bond to burn as hot as the distant bonfires. My muscles tremble, my sex pushing against Tye’s hand, my mouth yielding to River’s with thirsty desperation.
Tye draws a finger through my folds, touching my apex with the tiniest of brushes that brings me to my toes. The onslaught of need arches my body, my lungs closing around a whimper. I shift my weight, unable to hold still for the pressure building between my legs.
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