Their hard bodies felt so good pressed against mine.
Solid. Strong.
Orion’s brown eyes sparkled, and his full upper lip begged to be kissed. Scorpius had red marks on his cheek from where he’d been pressed into the pillow.
I held them close to me.
“What’s with all the noise?” Scorpius asked.
Orion whispered in his ear, “Arabella is pretending to smash a guitar. Now she’s swiveling her hips. Luka’s watching.”
They both made a harsh noise in the backs of their throats.
I concurred.
Rubbing at my chest, I said, “We need to let loose tonight. The slave brand is making everything so much worse. We’re having a party.”
“Are you sure?” Scorpius said uneasily.
Orion didn’t respond; he just stared at Arabella with his pupils blown wide.
A horrible pit expanded in my stomach as I agreed with my mates.
I didn’t want a random woman on my cock. I wanted… What was I doing?
No. “We’re all appeasing our fire tonight. That’s an order.” I clapped my hand against Orion’s shoulder to divert his attention.
“Whatever you say, Captain,” Scorpius drawled as he kneaded the back of my neck with his long fingers.
Somehow my Protector always knew when I was struggling with control.
“We raided Lothaire’s secret stash,” a female voice said from the doorway. The assassin legion walked into the room, holding up bottles of demon brew. The leviathan legion followed behind them and cheered.
Zenith tapped the enchanted speaker, and the volume increased.
Bottles were passed around.
Orion took a long drink, then handed it to me. The glass was still heated from his mouth, and I savored the remnants of him.
He tasted warm and expensive.
Someday we’d find our fourth and I’d always have the flavor of my Revered on my lips.
I couldn’t wait to worship him. I’d consume him morning, day, and night.
He’d be mine.
Unequivocally.
For all of immortality.
I licked my lips and enjoyed the precious hint of what was to come. It tasted divine. Tonight was going to be a good night.
Chapter 30
Aran
THE PARTY
Metamorphosis—Day 42, hour 1
I yelled over the loud music, “You know, sometimes I get this weird crick in my back, and it’s like ‘ow.’ Then, just when I finally relax and think it’s over, it goes crack, crack, crack.”
I held my hands wide to emphasize how large the cracks were and said, “I think it’s my sleeping position.”
Sadie’s mate Ascher tilted his head as he listened to my story.
Firelight danced across his horns.
I was pretty sure he shifted into some type of barnyard animal, but I couldn’t remember exactly. Maybe a chicken? Or a sheep?
I sidestepped a flailing arm.
Around us dozens of limbs waved in the darkness, and the floor vibrated to the pounding pulse of the loud bass.
Someone had closed all the curtains, so the room was mostly black except for firelight. It cast warm shadows on the packed bodies that danced and did unmentionable things to one another.
A few hours ago, the party had started as an intimate get-together among competitors.
It was now a full-blown rager.
There were at least seventy people crammed into the small room, and hundreds more were partying in the hallway outside. Word had leaked to the academy, and the entire student body was partying.
“What do you mean by a crack?” Ascher shouted back at me over the music with a concerned expression.
I held my hands up. “Imagine a crack on a sidewalk.”
Ascher nodded.
“Then imagine that crack on your back.” I pointed to myself for context.
Rose-and-flame tattoos flashed on his hand as Ascher gestured with the demon brew bottle and asked, “Is it like you’re cracking your back yourself or is it cracking on its own? Or did the crack just appear…in your skin?” He narrowed his eyes as he tried to make sense of what I was saying.
“Yes!” I took a swill from the demon brew bottle clenched between my fingers, then chased it with a long inhale of my pipe. “I’m so glad you get it.”
Ascher looked confused for a second but then shrugged like he’d given up trying to understand.
“To cracks!” He clanked his bottle against mine.
“Crackalack,” I responded smartly. “On my back.”
We drank to that.
I smoked some more.
We nodded at each other and looked around, pretending to take in the party’s ambiance. A man fell to his knees in front of us and started sucking another student’s cock.
We turned back to each other to give them some privacy.
“So,” I said conversationally, “how does it feel to be in love with and mated to the prettiest person in all the realms?”
Ascher beamed. “Aw, I’ll tell Cobra you said that.”
I choked, and demon brew poured out of my nose. “I can’t believe you’re mated to that psycho.”
“Imagine.” Ascher grinned. “I can literally feel his thoughts and emotions.”
My jaw dropped. “Does he really hate all women? Or is it just for show?”
“Oh, he hates them.” Ascher took a long swig from his bottle. “Way more than you think. But Sadie, you, Jinx, and the girls are the exceptions.”
I sidled closer to him. “Be honest, he definitely hates me way more than Sadie and the girls. Right? Like he secretly wants me dead.”
Ascher arched his brow and smiled. “Nope.”
“Come onnnnnnn,” I whined. “Give me the details. Gossiping about Cobra is all I have to live for these days.”
Ascher replied, “I think—”
“Who are you talking about?” Cobra appeared next to us, slit pupils glowing green in the dark.
“You.” I sucked in smoke. “Ascher says you’re pretending to hate women and secretly you love us all. So sweet of you.”
I tried to maneuver the bottle and my pipe so I could inhale smoke and demon brew at the same time.
Cobra glared at me. “You have a substance abuse problem.”
I sucked harder, and my esophagus burned delightfully as the two substances mixed.
I pointed out smartly, “Is it a problem or the solution?”
Ascher chuckled.
Cobra’s frown deepened.
I was feeling very philosophical today.
Maybe I was close to reaching an enlightened state? Or maybe the stress from discovering my happy-go-lucky best friend had a secret angry twin who I’d unknowingly spent hours beside was making my psyche crumble?
Who could tell these days?
It was probably a bit of both.
“You look like you robbed a jewelry store.” I pointed to the jewels in Cobra’s skin that refracted little pinpricks of light into the darkness. “It’s cool that you gave Sadie one of your snakes. Don’t tell her I said this, but never take the snake back. It would break her.”
Cobra’s slit pupils narrowed until they were single black lines.
He leaned close conspiratorially and asked, “Want to know a secret that the don shared?”
I nodded eagerly.
The don was Cobra’s estranged father and the leader of the Mafia in the beast realm. He seemed wise in an old man way.