“Please… please finish inside me,” I whimpered.
Each thrust hit like a collision, a detonation, rocking me forward again and again. I could barely stay upright—my arms trembling, breath catching—while above me, Niz watched, his expression molten. He stroked my hair, then traced both hands down my spine, slow and steady before moving back up again. When he reached around to my breasts, he cupped them with both hands, thumbs and forefingers pinching my nipples until I gasped.
“I want to see you come apart around him, My Fire,” he murmured. The heat was feverish, deep in my belly, spreading like fire through my chest.
I wanted to speak, to respond, but the words disintegrated in the blaze of it all. All that remained was euphoric pleasure. The way I clenched around Ronan with every thrust. The slow glide of Niz’s hands up my neck like he could feel me unraveling beneath his fingertips.
I came without warning—no sharp peak, just collapse.My body seized, then liquefied, pleasure folding in on itself like a star going supernova. My vision tunneled, white searing at the edges as everything else vanished.
Ronan moved through it, through every spasm and shudder, driving toward his own breaking point. Then he thrust impossibly deep, and a final, shaking breath left him as he spilled inside me.
I couldn’t breathe or make sense of any thoughts. Ronan pulled me into his arms, his exhale ragged against my shoulder, and I melted into him. Niz knelt in front of me, his hand brushing the hair from my face before placing a kiss on my temple.
I felt devoured. Not just by their bodies, but by the force of their hunger, the depth of their devotion moving through our bond. I sagged between them, limp and trembling.
“I love you,” I whispered, too tired to say more but needing them to know. Ronan pressed a kiss to my shoulder, and Niz’s hand lingered at my cheek. I don’t know if they said anything back.
As the world softened around the edges, I let go, slipping into sleep with their warmth around me, their breaths steady, and their hearts close.
19
BASTIAN
With the oncoming war,Kieran had suggested we switch to upping my consumption of her blood, and I was all too exuberant to indulge in that plan. I knew why she suggested it—not only to strengthen me for what was coming, but to make sure I could heal her when Steele’s runes bit too deep. And it worked. Within three days of drinking my Darling’s blood directly from her wrist while we waited for an attack, I swore I could feel the stars themselves threading through my veins, an inferno burning through every cell. Not metaphorical stars, but actual celestial fire.
Now that power lived under my skin, pulsing like it had a heartbeat of its own. If I closed my eyes, I could almost see it: golden light coiled through every vessel, ready to detonate on command.
When Steele attempted another failed rune on her arm and she flinched from the pain, I didn’t hesitate to lend my power to heal her. This had been our routine for days now.
“I’ve got it.” I reached for her, blood already slick on my lips as I brushed my mouth across the seared skin. Warm copper bloomed on my tongue, layered with that strange new brightness within.
It wasn’t just her blood I was addicted to, though…it washer. Creator help me, I’d take every piece of her she gave. I also knew every mouthful, every drop, was borrowed time—because when the war started, there’d be no room for indulgence, or for her wrist under my mouth.
Kieran sighed, her breath shaky but brave as ever as my magic quickly soothed the burned skin, leaving it unblemished. She didn’t even look away as I closed my mouth over the wound and licked clean the last trace of blood. The heated eye contact nearly drove me crazy. The bond between us pulsed low and steady, not urgent but ever-present, burning low in my chest like a heartbeat that belonged tobothof us.
“Thank you,” she murmured softly before glancing back at Steele, gaze determined as ever.
It didn’t matter how many times I healed her in their plight to find the correct rune and told her not to thank me—she did it anyway.
I sat back on my heels at her side and pinned her with a stare. “Darling, if you want to compete over who can say thank you more, I promise that’s a battle you’ll lose. I could thank you for simply breathing every second.”
She rested her arm back on the small stone table we’d built near our tent to use as a rune-testing table. With a gentle smile shot my way, she let out a heavy exhale and nodded at Steele.
“Again?” Steele asked her, voice tight with guilt.
“Again,” she said, bracing herself.
She was so fearless facing every issue head-on, but in any way we could, we were all trying our best to show she wasn’t alone.
I held her free forearm in my grip, my lips still stained with her blood, and met his worried gaze. “Stop your worrying, pretty boy. She has me to heal her.”
I felt the rising tension and frustration in his mind through the bond and gave him a toothy grin to lighten the mood.
In the past days, we’d shown each other thatnoneof us were alone. The bond was a chaotic delight but easier to live with than I’d expected. I caught flashes of everyone’s emotions—from Steele’s irritation to Kieran’s worry about what was coming—and instead of feeling overwhelming or invasive, it felt…right. Like we were built to catch each other before we fell. It had brought us all together, faster than I think any of us anticipated, slowly showing me how a family could function and how we could show up for one another.
Steele exhaled through his nose and dragged the edge of the blade across the inside of her wrist this time, etching a different pattern. The runes glowed faintly before fizzling out in a puff of smoke and rejection.
Kieran gritted her teeth and my hand was already there, cupping her wrist gently as more blood welled to the surface. I leaned in without needing permission, letting my magic rise beneath the skin, drawing her torn tissue together as I licked the blood away.
