Jade's hands are already restless on my waist, his demon hunger still burning hot from the battle. His eyes keep darting between me and Rumi, something desperate in his expression that goes beyond his usual need to feed.
"I almost lost you," he says quietly, his voice rough. "Both of you. I need..."
He doesn't finish, but his grip tightens, pulling us both closer.
"Where's Ambrose?" I ask, suddenly aware that our sixth is missing from the tight circle we've formed. Guilt flashes through me. We were so focused on each other that I didn't notice him slip away.
"Harlow and Skye took him to the infirmary," Rumi says, his golden eyes soft with understanding. "The contract cost hit him hard. He needs rest and monitoring, not celebration. They're staying with him."
Through our bonds, I can feel echoes of Ambrose. Exhausted but stable, wrapped in Skye's Praestes warmth and Harlow's steady presence. Safe. Cared for. Not alone.
"He'll be okay," Rumi continues, reading the worry on my face. "They've got him. And they'll call us if anything changes."
Jade makes a low sound of acknowledgment, but his hunger doesn't diminish. If anything, knowing the others are safe makes his need more urgent. "Then let me have you," he breathes, his demon voice layered with desperation. "Just the three of us. Ineed to feel you. Need to know you're real, that you're here, that I didn't lose you tonight."
He's already pulling us toward a side office, one of the small rooms off the main hall that's blessedly empty. The door barely closes before his hands are on us both, frantic and possessive.
"I need to be inside you," Jade breathes against my throat, his fangs scraping sensitive skin. "Need to feel you around me. Need proof that we survived."
"Yes," I gasp, already burning, already desperate. The battle left me wound tight with adrenaline that has nowhere to go except into pleasure.
Rumi's golden wings spread wide, creating a canopy of divine light as Jade strips us both with demon efficiency. "We're here," Rumi promises, his divine voice rough with want. "We're alive. We're yours."
What follows is desperate and fierce and nothing like the gentle coupling we’ve shared before. Jade takes me first, bending me over a desk while Rumi watches with burning golden eyes, his hand stroking himself as he feeds his arousal into their shared bonds. The pleasure echoes between all three of us, amplified by Rumi's divine power until I can't tell whose sensations I’m feeling.
"Look at you," Rumi murmurs, moving closer to brush my hair back from my sweat-dampened face. "So beautiful when you let go. When you stop trying to control the fire and just burn."
I can only moan in response, lost to the feeling of Jade inside me, Jade's demon hunger drinking in my pleasure and transforming it into something even more intense. My fire manifests without permission, flames dancing along my skin that Jade consumes eagerly.
"More," Jade demands, his thrusts growing harder, faster. "Give me everything. I want all of it."
When I come, it's with Jade buried deep inside me and Rumi's mouth swallowing my cries. The orgasm rips through me like wildfire, my fire essence blazing bright enough to light up the entire room.
But Jade isn't done. He pulls out of me, leaving me boneless and gasping on the desk, and turns to Rumi with hunger still burning in his purple eyes.
"Your turn," Jade growls.
Rumi doesn't resist as Jade pushes him against the wall, lifting him with demon strength so Rumi's legs wrap around Jade's waist. The demigod's wings flutter with each thrust, golden feathers scattering across the floor, his divine voice breaking into sounds that are entirely mortal.
I watch, still trembling from my own release, as Jade claims Rumi with the same fierce desperation. Through the bonds, I feel everything. Jade's possessive hunger. Rumi's surrendered pleasure. The way their essences intertwine and amplify each other.
"I love you," Rumi gasps suddenly, the words tumbling out between moans. "Both of you. I know it's... fuck... I know it's fast, but I can't... I need you to know."
"I know," Jade says, his demon voice cracking with emotion even as his body continues its relentless rhythm. "I've known since the crystals. Since I saw what you really are and couldn't imagine existing without you."
I push myself up from the desk, moving to press against Jade's back, my fire wrapping around both of them. "I love you too," I breathe, and the words feel like coming home. "Both of you. All of us. I don't know when it happened, but it's true."
Rumi comes with a cry that echoes with divine power, his essence blazing golden-bright. Jade follows moments later, his hunger finally sated, his body shuddering through release. And Ihold them both, my phoenix fire warming without burning, my heart so full it aches.
We stay tangled together on the floor for long minutes, catching our breath, processing what just happened. The battle. The victory. The confessions that changed everything.
"We should get back," I finally say, though I make no move to get up. "Check on Ambrose. Make sure he's okay."
"In a minute," Jade mumbles against my neck, still feeding lazily on the afterglow of their pleasure. "Just need another minute of this."
Rumi's wings wrap around us both, a cocoon of golden feathers and divine warmth. "He's stable. I can feel him through the bond. Sleeping now, with Skye and Harlow watching over him."
So we stay a little longer. Three mates who almost lost each other, who fought their way through impossible odds, who finally found the words to say what they've been feeling since this impossible journey began.
