I shook my head. “No. But I’ll go home at a reasonable hour and go to sleep. All night.”
He raised a brow.
“As much as I can,” I amended. He knew as well as I did that this was suddenly feeling real. It made sleeping soundly for any length of time more difficult.
His lips met mine, and I closed my eyes, letting myself get lost in his kiss.
Taranis was a strong monster, filled with fire that raged for days. And like my monster, his was screaming to get out. Worked up because of our high-strung emotions. I could almost feel his monster thrashing around inside him. Taste the smoke as it filled my lungs.
But his kiss was deep and slow, his tongue licking against mine as he held me still, his hands on either side of my head. Angling my face upward as he devoured me.
When he sat in my lap, he pushed me away from the wall so that he could be flush to me. Pressing his dick to my stomach before grinding into mine. I gripped his sides, holding him. Feeling the way his body burned through his clothing. A furnace. Wildfire.
His mouth left mine, swollen lips and panting. My eyes fluttered open as I looked into his deep gray ones. Tara wasn’t smiling, just looking at me. His gaze trailing over my face as if he were memorizing every detail.
As I thought it, I realized that’s what he was doing. Committing every line of my face to memory. Just in case. A lump formed in my throat as I stared back.
He sighed, leaning his forehead against mine. “Honesty,” he said. “You doing okay?”
I shrugged. “I’m scared that we’ll go in there and only half of us are going to come out. That’s the crux of everything that’s been moving through my mind these last several days.”
Tara nodded. His weight leaned into me harder and No’s hands wrapped around us from behind him.
“We’re all scared of that,” Notus said quietly. “But we also need to keep in mind that we’re not just going in and presenting our necks. We’re going in prepared to fight. With the intention of killing everyone in the same way that they’ve killed. Indiscriminately.”
“That sounds easy enough,” I said.
They both chuckled. My big, muscly men were heavy like this, leaning against me when I had nothing behind me for a brace. My abdominal and oblique muscles were beginning to ache. But I didn’t complain. I kept my arms tightly around Tara, my hands fisted into Notus’ shirt behind him.
I couldn’t explain the desperate need to touch them all that burned inside me. It was frantic and half mad, impatient and impulsive. While I tried not to let the pressure and fear overcome me, it presented as an anxious need to be touching. To be near. Especially when we were in the same room.
“What are you thinking?” Tara asked.
“How needy I am,” I admitted.
He chuckled. “You’re not needy.”
“Any more than usual,” Notus amended.
A smile touched my lips. “Thanks for always taking care of my needs.”
Both of their grips on me tightened. “Don’t do that,” Tara said, his voice dark.
I stiffened. “Do what?”
“Thank me like you won’t be able to later. This isn’t the end.”
His words caught in my throat. While I didn’t realize I was doing it, I really was. I wanted all of my husbands, and my wife, to know that I appreciated everything about them. And how they’ve always treated me. That I love them so thoroughly that I’d do anything for them at all. Anything.
“Bronte,” he warned.
“Okay,” I whispered. “Sorry.”
He sighed, pulling back to look at me with a disapproving frown. Though I kept one hand right where it was, I brought the other around to run over his body. I tried to tell myself, ‘this isn’t me committing him to memory for the last time’ while I touched him, there was still a darkness clinging to my mind that kept whispering, ‘maybe it is.’
“I love you,” I said. When he opened his mouth, I quickly cut in, “I’d tell you that regardless of what tomorrow holds. It’s nothing new.”
Tara’s eyes narrowed. Behind him, Notus chuckled. “Nice finding that loophole, B.”
