MAVEN
Turns out,you can fuck around in bed for a long time when you’re actively ignoring anything waiting outside the front door.
It helps that, in between making me scream his name, Crypt has slipped away several times through Limbo and returned to our quintet apartment with stolen food items and anything else we’ve needed. Between the mind-melting pleasure of fucking my quintet until we pass out—except for Crypt, who has avoided sleep since waking up from Syntyche’s spell—only for it to start again when we wake up, interspersed with a few steamy showers, short meals, and near-constant cuddling…
Gods, I’ve almost lost track of time.
I’ve also started to struggle with all the constant touching.
I’m not going to breathe a word about it, not when I just got these gorgeous legacies back. Being newly bonded and so extremely well sated is fuckingamazing. I still want to touch and adore each of them as much as I can, no matter what my stupid past conditioning wants to remind me of.
But the jig is up when Crypt, who’s currently spooning me as the rest of us sleep off another fuckfest, starts to trail languid kisses over the back of my neck.
I don’t mean to tense up. When I do, he immediately goes still.
“I’m good,” I say quickly.
But it’s too late. He’s already putting space between us. When I roll over to look at him, he’s gazing dreamily at me despite his lit-up markings.
“Take all the moments you need, love.”
“I’m perfectly fine,” I insist again.
I thought Baelfire was still asleep, but he turns over on my other side, propping his head up as he studies me sleepily. “No, Boo, we’ve been selfish. And rough. Godsdamn, look at all those love bites,” he adds, almost smiling. He starts to reach for me and then pulls back, checking himself.
I scowl. “Touch me. I can handle it.”
“It’s not about you handling it, darling. It’s about youenjoyingit,” Crypt points out.
I still want to protest, but his markings light up brightly several times in a row. I only glimpse a brief flash of pain on his face before he vanishes into Limbo.
My heart twinges.
Gods, what a fucking horrible new sensation.
I know my Nightmare Prince is in pain. His curse has bothered him less since we rebonded, but it hasn't andcan'tbe broken. I would bet anything he's only going into Limbo to hide the worst of it from me.
As heavenly as it's been to bask in my rebonded quintet, this is like a shock of cold water being poured over my head. Ihatewhen I can't protect what's mine.
No. I'll find a way to fix it,I think.
I didn't mean to communicate through the quintet bond, but it apparently wakes Everett because his arm encircles me from behind. He was lying on the other side of Crypt in this massivebed, but now he pulls me against his chest and kisses my temple with refreshingly cool lips.
“We’llfind a way,” he corrects softly.
I nod, take a deep breath, and gently extricate myself from his arms to slip off the bed. Maybe Idoneed space, because that niggling discomfort crawling over my spine finally calms down.
Realizing the air no longer has the same cold bite to it as it did before, I glance at one of the windows and find that it’s no longer coated in layers of ice and frost. In fact, it’s almost a normal temperature in this room.
Silas wakes and sits up, his crimson gaze trailing over me as a smirk curls his lips. “I'm beginning to understand why shifters enjoy marking their mates so much. You're stunning,ima sangfluir.”
Since they're all unabashedly checking out my love-mark-covered body, I can't help the impish urge to tease them. Turning, I stroll to the corner where my clothes and knives were discarded at some point. When I bend over, giving them a full view of my bare ass as I reach for my things, I'm rewarded with three beautifully tortured groans.
But when my hand grazes the handle of the etherium knife, another surge of memories crashes over me, stronger than ever before.
“Just because you can read my mind doesn’t mean you can change it,” Memory Me warns.
I’m back in that idyllic, sunlight-dappled forest, walking side-by-side with Galene. Her golden hair gleams in the lighting, her ever-changing irises shifting from purple to blue to green as she glances at me.
