“No shit, Sherlock.” I leaned back onto my arms to relieve some of the dull ache forming in my back.
Xan’s gaze lingered on my belly button ring, then slowly trailed up my body like he was drinking me in. Maybe I needed to put my shirt back on. He leaned forward from his cross-legged position and slowly crawled toward me.
He placed both hands on either side of my legs. His fingers brushed my sides, sending goosebumps along my skin as he straddled me. Pure need raced down my body. Xan’s eyes filled with lust. A drop of sweat dripped from his bare chest onto my collarbone.
He leaned down and kissed the drop where it landed, just above my heart. “I need to be inside you. I want you to moan my name as you experience pleasure beyond your imagination.” He dragged his tongue along my collarbone, and lust melted my insides.
My heart pounded. I didn’t know if I wanted the same thing or needed to run before Xan cheated on the love of his life. Shit, Ezra. I couldn’t do this to him.
My vision blurred, then snapped back somewhere completely different. White mist bubbled out of cauldrons in a familiar room.Shelves of maps and glowing scrawls filled floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Instead of the hot Alun warming me, cool, dry, book-scented air made my skin prickle with goosebumps.
“Quinn?” Cayden’s voice snapped me into the present.
I pushed up just enough to see between my parted thighs, flat on the table, exactly how they’d been under Xan. My chest rose and fell. The inferno Xan started still burned.
My ridiculously hot best friend, who wouldn’t even kiss me, devoured me with heated eyes. His full lips were parted with surprise and juxtaposed the deep lines of worry etched into his forehead. Uncharacteristically messy forest-green hair mussed the top of his head, while the strings on his wrinkled tunic exposed the hard planes of his hairless chest. I wanted to see more. I needed to see more.
My body throbbed.
The air around me tightened. I found myself floating before hurtling backward. My back hit Rowan’s chest, and something hard poked my spine. He held me firmly to his chest with one arm while his free palm turned my head so he could crash his lips into mine. My already needy body writhed under his touch. Little swirls of air danced around us. I didn’t remember parting my lips, but his tongue devoured me. The hand holding me close lowered until he cupped the junction between my legs with his palm and lifted.
Blinding erotic pressure on my clit made me see stars. He dragged me up his body, and I rocked against his palm with what little leverage I had, mindlessly desperate for release. The hard bump in my back glided down until it nestled right under my ass. Rowan released my lips, and my head straightened. My gaze dropped back to Cayden.
“They should’ve taken care of you,” Rowan growled, grinding his palm against my clit and his leather-covered erection into my ass.
With my gaze locked on my best friend, I fell apart in the massive elemental’s palm. It wasn’t the crest of some flowery romance novel. My orgasm snapped through me like an over-tightened guitar string. Cayden vanished into a star-filled white haze. I moaned, though I had no idea what the words were, and shook as an almost painful release wrecked my very soul.
The world came back into focus one color at a time, and I found myself panting like a dog, trying to understand everything that just happened. Confusion swirled as I traced my steps until this moment, where Rowan knew exactly what I needed.
Cayden stood across the table with ragged breaths ripping out of his chest. His gaze lingered on Rowan’s palm, still holding me up, before focusing on my rising and falling lace-covered chest. Finally, he studied my face.
Whatever he saw made him flush, making me realize ‘whatever he saw’ was the massive elemental mage finger banging me midair. My face grew hot while my best friend scowled and clenched his fists. Despite my blush, only the sweet ache of release lingered. I didn’t mind Cayden watching; in fact, knowing he had made the moment hotter.
Slowly, Rowan lowered me to the ground before withdrawing his standard-issue pink cloak and draping me in it. Instead of pulling me close, he guided me to Cayden’s side. My best friend tucked me under his arm. He trembled and rested his chin on top of my head as if my wobbly legs were the only thing holding us up.
“I never thought I’d see you again,” Cayden whispered. “When he took you…”
Cayden trailed off, and I spun and hugged him hard, burying my face in his chest. His scent helped bring me back to reality. One brain cell at a time, my ability to think returned.
They should have taken care of you.Rowan’s words came back to me. Although clearly working together in some capacity, Rowan and Cayden had very, very different reactions to my sudden appearance.
Cayden’s was to hold me and tell me how worried he’d been.
Rowan’s was to give my body the release the last three days had built up in me… because Rowan felt my emotions. Our interactions over the previous few weeks clicked into place, and my new knowledge about tethers rushed forward.
Rowan found me because he knew my location.
Rowan trained me so well because he could feel the burn in my muscles.
Rowan always turned up at my darkest moments because he experienced them, too.
Rowan tethered me.
I didn’t know how or when, but it fit too well. I searched for his tether, but like Xan’s, I couldn’t feel it. Hurt and betrayal stabbed into me. He must have tethered me soon after I first got here since he found me after my big fall. It was before we’d even gotten to know each other, back when I was pretending to be a man.
I pulled away from Cayden to confront Rowan, only to find his shadow mid-stretch as Ezra stepped out of it.The Architect’s second in command put his hand on the hilt of his sword and glanced around the room as if analyzing his new surroundings before settling on me.
“Quinn, come here,” Ezra growled.
