Unlike so many others.
The three of them were a different breed.
So rare.
So special.
And after last night, now we wereus.
I smiled at Zayn. So much pain and madness having transpired between us, and now here he was.
I lightly stroked his hand resting on my abs.
Last night…fuck,he’d been truly incredible. The date, his comfort, offering me his blood because he’d recognized how much I’d needed it, and then… the culminating sexual insanity. For the first time I’d witnessed him breaking from the staunch rules and notions he’d enforced upon himself when it came to how he believed he should be allowed to seek pleasure, to fulfill his needs. He’d submitted several times over, but not in what was his usual way. He’d allowed it to happen naturally, he'd immersed himself in it, in all of us. And there’d been no sign of that usual shame—and then anger—that had previously gone along with it.
It was just regrettable that he hadn’t been able to do that with me alone, that I’d seemed to bring out the worst in him instead where that was concerned.
I sighed. Well, now there was Evira and Vaxan, and a clear balance had been struck.
That was what mattered.
I breathed him in and gazed out at Evira looking decidedly cozy wrapped in my hoodie, while Vaxan slept peacefully albeit in protective positioning. Just like he had that night in my bed.
It was uncanny that his parents and kingdom had sent him here to make connections in the form of nothing more than deeper and sturdier alliances, yet he’d bonded with the three of us irrespective of what had been expected of him. There was nocoldness to it, no coldness to him. And it was clear to me that when he allowed himself to draw close to others, which was a rarity for him, he acted as a guardian of sorts. He shielded, cared for, and absolutely adored with everything he had. He’d taken it upon himself to be that for each of us. And now we’d united as a foursome, I knew that role would be entrenched for him. It was incredible of him, everything about him was. It had been since the moment we’d met, and he’d never wavered in it.
I couldn’t believe I’d come so close to walking away from that, to ruining it all.
And although my reasoning had been different, the actual act of it would have mirrored the push-and-pull agony that I’d suffered through myself with Zayn beforehand. And I’d been on the verge of doing that to somebody else? When I knew how it felt?
Jeez.I really needed to keep an eye on that instinct of mine to withdraw to protect others from the complications of what I was.
Now that the four of us had come together and established that we were a unit, I needed to take extra care.
I beamed out at Evira. She’d really helped to pull me back from it last night. She’d reached through the fear with solid reasoning and tactical processing in such a gentle and patient way that had cut right through it. And beforehand, dropping the secrecy surrounding our connection… I’d never imagined it coming to pass. Yet, she’d done it. She’d made a stand. Forus.
And it changed everything.
It had evolved things with her and I, and then all four of us.
Because of her courage.
Because of her coming into herself and her power.
Everyone was stepping up.
And it was time I followed suit.
Considering last night was the first time I’d slept through the night since theglitchinghad begun, now was an excellent time to see to it.
I carefully lifted Zayn’s hand off me, then extricated myself and climbed out of bed.
I scanned Evira’s suite, trying not to get distracted by the intriguing surroundings of cozy slamming up against her combat trophies and the art depicting mighty dragons and the formidable legacy of the Dracoryn Realm on the walls. That was Evira. Soft and ferocious. But it wasn’t in a stereotypical way of her having a harder outer shell, yet being soft at her center. She was actually both those things all the time, both outwardly and inwardly, and the way in which she could embody both was incredible. Similar to her being previously sexually inexperienced, yet also possessing a filthy mouth and such brazenness. It was actually one of the first things that had struck me about her, that I’d relished.
Our clothing from last night littered the floor, where we’d rematerialized what we’d magically stripped from one another, and some items that we’d simply tossed across the room the mundane way.
Searching through them would be too time-consuming and create too much movement that would very likely wake Zayn, Evira, and Vax from their peaceful slumber.
So, instead, I conjured my boxer briefs and jeans with a snap of my amber magic.
