Page 18 of Emerald Rising
Chapter 9
EMMY
I awoke with a start. My entire body jolted as I woke from my slumber. There was a groan beneath me as my elbow connected with something solid. Another groan. Two something solids?
I opened my eyes and saw naked flesh. A lot of naked flesh.
Holy mother of chocolate cream donuts. I had three men in my bed. In just their boxers.
What. The. Actual. Fudgenugget.
I chuckled. This was ridiculous. Ridiculously hot and in more ways than one. Jeez, demons and angels must run at a higher temperature because it was toasty in here. The duvet was long gone and instead I was wrapped in a mass of limbs and for some reason, I’d never felt happier. Imagine waking up to this every morning…
My core pulsed to life as my eyes trailed over the length of muscles on display. Blaze was behind me, River in front, and Ash was on the other side of River. They all looked so peaceful in their sleep, their faces relaxed, and damn but this was way too much sexiness to handle at this time of the day. Who knew that three scary intimidating guys could look so sweet as they drooled and snored in their sleep like normal beings? I needed to get up otherwise I was going to—
An insistent banging sounded from downstairs. Someone was at the front door. So that’s what had woken me up with such a start. I peeled River’s arm from around my waist and unhooked my legs from between Blaze’s. It was tough going but I managed to extract myself without waking a single one of them up. Oh, yeah. Ninja in the making.
The banging was still very persistent on my front door so with one last look, and a wicked grin at all the dirty thoughts currently floating around my mind, I reluctantly, but resolutely, left my bedroom.
“Hang on, I’m coming!” I shouted to the fiend who had woken me with his desperate need to see me.
Still he banged on the door. Jeez, you’d think the guy would take a hint.
I reached the front door and pulled it wide open, startling the man on the other side of the door who was standing mid-knock.
“Gray?”
My neighbour stared down at me, that angry expression furrowing his brow. I’d forgotten how hot he was in the months he’d been away. His scowl had my heart pitter-pattering in my chest, and he looked on the cusp of punishing me for something I’d done. I instantly wanted to apologise, which was stupid, because I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Where are they?” he growled.
I was still standing there in shock and when I didn’t answer his question, he barged past me and waltzed straight into my house like he owned the damn place. My house, which had always felt too big, suddenly felt overcrowded with all this masculinity thrust into it.
“River!” he shouted up the stairs. “Get down here. Now!”
Gray spun around and his expression stuttered as he looked me up and down. Oh. I was in a top and panties and nothing else. Not that he looked like he cared. His scowl just deepened. But there was a slight twitch in his jaw as his deep, chocolate brown eyes trailed my legs. Did my hot neighbour actually like me?
“Griffon?” River came rushing down the stairs, still trying to put some clothes on as he came to meet my neighbour. Then I remembered. His name wasn’t Gray at all. It was Griffon and he was the missing link to our little bond.
The other two weren’t far behind. They all looked deliciously mussed and tousled and I had a hard time controlling the thoughts running through my mind. It scared me how much I was drawn to them, even my disgruntled neighbour who had lied to me for the last three years. It was like a constant pulse beneath my solar plexus that had my very soul constantly searching for them. I wanted to be near them all the time. I could feel the need pulsing through my veins to let them be my protectors, to let them take care of me and keep me safe. It was an entirely irrational sensation but there was nothing I could do to shake the feeling. It was as real as the blood in my veins, as constant as the beat of my heart and as powerful as my sudden need to claim them. Mind, body, and soul.
As if sensing my thoughts, four sets of eyes turned towards me. The motion was in sync and I gasped at the unnaturalness of the movement. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The tension in the air was tighter than a coiled spring and as deadly as a volcano on the cusp of erupting. My skin tingled with the awareness of the bond, the hairs on my arm standing on end and, judging by the way the men were looking at me with hunger burning in their gaze, they were all aware of it too. A hum filled the air pulling us under a spell, like a siren singing us to a sweet death, calling us to do something. I just didn’t know what.
Gray, no, Griffon moved first. He pulled his eyes away and I could see how much effort that took. His jaw tightened and his hands clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white under the strain. The tension immediately snapped, and I could finally take a deep breath. I didn’t even realise I’d stopped breathing. I’d never known anything so intense in all my life as these four men that had burst into my life and unceremoniously overtaken it in a few short hours.
Although Griffon had some explaining to do.
Anger bubbled up hotly under my skin as I thought of all the times he’d called himself Gray, and never once mentioned that he was a demon or angel or whatever.
“You lied to me,” I spat. I placed my hands on my hips in the universal display of annoyance and anger.
He stalked towards me, his long strides eating up the distance until he was barely a foot away. That angry scowl marked his brow and as he leaned down towards me, one of his chestnut curls fell from the neat orderly waves that rested on top of his head. He was always so perfectly dressed, everything in its proper place. Smart shirt, smart trousers, neat hair, clean shaven. But today… disarray littered his features. There were creases in his shirt, a light stubble on his jaw, and those gorgeous brown curls looked like his hand had been through them in frustration. He looked dishevelled and it was doing wonderful things to my insides. Neat, orderly Griffon was hot. But this unkempt version of him was panty-melting sex on a stick.
“I had my reasons,” he replied, his gruff voice sending a shiver up my spine.
“You didn’t even tell me your real name.”
“I didn’t have to tell you anything,” he replied coldly, “but Gray is my middle name.” He looked so angry. I could tell there was more going on here that I didn’t understand. I could feel it in the way the bond pulsed. There was something lurking there, something dark, that felt very much like a secret he was keeping from us.
