I come so hard my vision whites out.
When I come back to myself, I'm slumped against Ambrose's chest, trembling with aftershocks. Rumi breathes hard against the back of my neck, his hand still wrapped around Ambrose's cock though it's gone still. Neither of them finished, holding back when I went off like a firework between them.
"Holy shit," Stellan says from the entrance, voice awed. "Did you just—"
"Jade's essence," I manage weakly, a soft laugh following. "It's a lot."
Jade's tail is still wrapped around me, and now it starts to move again, stroking up and down my length through the soaked fabric of my pants. The groan that escapes me is involuntary, my cock oversensitive but already feeling the first stirrings of renewed interest.
"You didn't think we were done, did you?" Jade's grin sharpens. "The night is young, Skye. And I'm still hungry."
He punctuates the statement by swallowing Stellan back down, and Stellan makes a sound like he's dying in the best possible way.
Rumi's hand starts moving again, stroking Ambrose with renewed purpose, while Ambrose tightens his grip on Rumi behind me. Both of them build toward the edge through the bond while Harlow catches my eye over Stellan's shoulder, before twisting Stellan’s head just enough to properly kiss and claim his mouth while Jade claims everything below.
We're a mess of hands and mouths and essences tangling together, six people who've somehow become one, pleasure echoing between bonds until I can't tell where I end and they begin.
5
Jade
IwakewithStellan'sheat pressed against my back and the taste of his fire still lingering on my tongue. Harlow is already awake on Stellan's other side, pale eyes open and tracking something only he can see, and when he notices me watching he gives a small nod before rising silently.
Last night changed something between all of us. The alcove, the way we came together without planning or hesitation, the way pleasure echoed through the bonds until none of us knew where we ended and the others began. I can still feel the phantom sensation of Skye's essence flooding through my tail,still hear the sounds Ambrose made when Rumi finally got his hands on him properly.
Stellan shifts against me, his arm tightening around my waist. "You're thinking too loud," he murmurs against my neck.
"Sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Just tell me what's wrong." I turn in his arms so I can see his face. His golden eyes are still soft with sleep, his hair a disaster of red-gold tangles, and something about the way he looks at me makes the truth come out easier than it should.
"Nothing's wrong," I say. "I'm just... happy. It feels strange."
His smile is like sunrise. "Get used to it, demon. I plan to make you happy for a very long time." He laughs and kisses my forehead before untangling himself to start breaking down our sleeping area. I watch him move for a moment, the easy grace of his body, the way firelight flickers beneath his skin even in daylight.
I spent so long afraid of my hunger, afraid that wanting would always mean taking, that my demon nature made me a monster who could never be satisfied. But last night I fed on all of them, tasted their pleasure and their love and their trust, and I gave back just as much as I took. The essence that flowed between us wasn't theft. It was sharing. Maybe that's what demons were always supposed to be, not parasites but transformers, taking what's offered and giving back something changed, something refined, something better. The thought settles into my chest like a promise.
We're moving by midmorning, traveling through a narrow canyon that Ambrose's contracts identified as the safest route north. The walls rise high on either side, red stone streaked with minerals that catch the light in strange patterns. It's beautiful in a desolate way, but something about it makes my demon senses itch. Too quiet for a place this size, and the canyon walls create a perfect kill box for anyone waiting above.
Harlow's steps falter beside me. "Something's wrong," he says, the same moment my hunger prickles with warning. I open my mouth to agree, and that's when the first attack comes.
Wind blades slice through the air from above, aimed at Skye's head. He throws himself sideways, barely avoiding them, and suddenly the canyon is chaos. Earth erupts beneath our feet, stone spikes shooting upward with lethal precision while Stellan throws up a wall of fire against flames roaring down from the canyon rim.
"EVERYONE DOWN!" I scream, but it's too late. Twelve attackers pour down from hidden positions, maybe more, moving with the coordination of people who've trained together for exactly this kind of assault. Dmitri's loyalists. They must have found us, tracked us, and waited for the perfect moment to strike. The group scatters, which is exactly what they wanted. A wall of churning earth cuts off my line of sight and suddenly I'm alone with three of them closing in.
They think I'm the weak link. Just an incubus, barely useful in a real fight. I can see it in their confident strides, the way they spread out to surround me without urgency. The demon they've heard about is a starving creature who feeds on sex and hides behind stronger mates.They're wrong.
My full demon form manifests without conscious thought. Horns spiral from my forehead, wings spread wide, my tail becomes a weapon tipped with enough concentrated hunger to drain a man dry in seconds. I'm not that shy, frightened thing anymore, the creature who arrived at Grimrose so afraid of his own nature that he nearly starved himself to death. Now I'm a demon with five mates, five people who love me, five sources of power flowing through bonds that make me stronger than I've ever been.
The first attacker is on me before I finish transforming. She's fast, some kind of speed enhancement, her fists a blur as sheaims for my throat. I move faster. My claws catch her across the chest, and while she's reeling from the pain, I reach for her fear. The terror flooding through her as she realizes she's made a terrible mistake is intoxicating, the panic as her body refuses to respond, the desperate animal certainty that she's going to die. I drink it all, let it flow through me and transform into pure energy, and when I'm done she collapses to the ground, unconscious but alive.
The second attacker is an earth elemental, and he's learned from his friend's mistake. He keeps his distance, sending stone spikes at me from a dozen feet away, his essence rock-solid with confidence. Confidence is just another flavor of emotion. I reach for it through the ground between us, my hunger threading through his essence like roots through soil. I don't drain him completely, just destabilize him, feeding on that certainty until it cracks and crumbles. His next spike comes up crooked. The one after that barely rises at all. By the time I close the distance between us, he's shaking too badly to mount a defense.
My claws open his throat before I realize I've decided to kill him. Blood sprays across my face, hot and wet. He falls, and I watch the light leave his eyes, and somewhere distant I know I should feel something, horror or guilt or the weight of taking a life. But my mates are in danger, and he was trying to hurt them, and the demon in me recognizes only one truth: threats to my pack get eliminated.
The third attacker is a fire user, and he's seen what I did to the others. He throws everything he has at me, flames roaring with enough heat to melt stone. I laugh and spread my wings wide, letting the flames wash over me, letting my hunger drink the passion that fuels his power. "You think fire scares me? I fuck a phoenix. Fire is foreplay."
His flames sputter. His eyes go wide with terror, and then I'm on him, draining the rage and passion that feeds his elementuntil he's left empty and confused, collapsed on the ground without even understanding what happened.
