His thoughts must have mirrored her own, because his shirt and dress pants disappeared into the air with a groaned phrase. By the holy witches, he was a masterpiece. All man. She couldn’t see his face, but his back rippled with restrained power, the cheeks of his ass flexed with every thrust…and he was marked. A tattoo covered half his back, an enraged griffin readying itself for battle. It looked familiar, but she wasn’t sure why. She couldn’t think. Could only want.
Her lace panties were soaked, and she ached. Felt empty. Needy. Her hands slid down her body and up beneath the short hem of her black dress. One pressed between her thighs, the other between the cheeks of her ass, imagining being filled there by the man currently riding
his lover to ecstasy.
She’d been prepared, knew she would be expected to take two men when she found her matches. The idea had always been distasteful to her independent mind, but titillating to her body.
Trapped. Surrounded. Controlled the way she was by all the men in her life. And so she’d shied away from every opportunity to experiment with her over-willing peers. She’d never experienced the real thing. No more than fondling touches with brave boys at the dances she was allowed to go to, and her spells and daydreams. They hadn’t aroused her as utterly as these two had, and they hadn’t even touched her. What would it feel like if they did?
The men grunted, groaning as Jacob slid his other hand around his lover’s body, taking his, from what Harrison could see, enticingly thick erection into his hand with a sure, knowing grip.
Harrison felt her body tingling wildly as she rubbed her body in time to their rhythm. She shouldn’t be here. Should give them privacy. But she couldn’t tear herself away. She needed to come with them. Had to. They were all so close.
“I don’t want or need anyone else, babe. No ball and chain to tie us down, holding us to her with the promise of stronger magic and a sweet lay. Neither do you. Certainly not a Magian hag no one likes. God, yes. Hell, can you imagine if that seer your family hired was right? That our match was that snooty fucking Abbott bi—oh, fuck yeah!”
Harrison couldn’t hold back her climax as the men came below her. Her power exploded from her core, breaking through the cloaking spell, a blast of brilliant blue electricity lighting up the narrow staircase. For a moment she could feel everything. Beyond the hallway and into the club, into the private rooms and beyond. She was everywhere. In everything. Alive.
The wave turned inward, and she moaned. She’d never felt anything like this. No climax so powerful. Her eyes opened, and her moan changed to a gasp of shock. Her energy was bright all around her. It wasn’t fading. Proof of a match.
“What the hell?” The gruff voice brought her gaze back down over the rail. The men were shaken, their own magic glowing, twining with each other’s and reaching up for hers.
Eyes black as moonless night clashed with gray. A flicker of recognition. Of connection.
Jacob.
Harrison had a flash of insight. She knew she would look back on this moment for years to come, remembering that burning gaze, and how she reacted to it.
She ran.
The necklace around her neck was warming, pulsing with life. Concern. Her mother’s gift. Moira Abbott made charmed jewelry, and she’d created this golden, snake-like choker specifically for her daughter’s first Triune. Harrison pulled it off, not wanting her vacationing parents to fly back in a rush if they sensed her panic. She raced down the hallway and around the corner, pushing through the throng toward the front exit of the club.
“Harrison, damn it, there you are. Tyghe’ll kill me for letting you out of my… Holy shit, you’re glowing.”
She grabbed Conway’s arm and felt his protective shield instantly surround her. She used her own cloaking magic on them both, hiding them from the crowded dance club. They could see each other, but no one could see them. “Con, you have to help me. Where are they? I need to get my brothers and Callie and get the hell out of here. Now.”
Her handsome cousin shook his shaggy blond head, looking more like a grunge rocker than the Magian professor he was. “No can do, Harry. Didn’t you hear? They caught the person whose been attacking Magian compellers. It was a woman, a Proxenos no less. Right here under everyone’s nose. And she almost hurt our little Callie. Luckily Tucker, Tyghe, and apparently our very own Jenner were on hand to save the day. Did you know she was a morph?”
No. She hadn’t known. And her best friend had been in danger because of her hair-brained idea, and she’d missed it. They’d all left her behind. She knew she was being petty, but it had been her sting, damn it. And it was their fault she’d fallen into this latest calamity. Matched to a triad, unsure of what their magic was but knowing it was strong, nearly as strong as her own. Especially Jacob. And the power pulsing through her from the connection that hadn’t yet broken was aggressive. Pissed off and hungry for more.
She had to get away. “It should be easy for us to get out of here then. Where are they?”
Conway blushed as they reached the cloakroom. “Upstairs, celebrating their successful matching.”
She should have known from the way her brothers were acting. From Callie’s strange behavior. She’d known about her friend’s crush on Tucker, but the way she’d been whenever Tyghe’s name was mentioned this last week was, well, telling. They were her Triune. Shit. Had Jenner known that too? Was Harrison the only one who’d been in the dark all this time?
She couldn’t think about this now. She had to get out of here before those two on the stairwell sniffed her out. Had to stop them from dragging her off to the Proxenos to be officially claimed.
“Con, I’m calling in all my chips. You have to do me a favor. A big one.”
Conway didn’t hesitate. “Let’s go. You can tell me on the way.”
A few hours later, after climbing up the trellis to her bedroom to change her clothes and grab a few necessities, she had one last thing to do.
Conway was pacing at the edge of her bed. “I can’t believe you’re really going through with this, Harry. They’ll be worried sick. Is this about those men you were telling me about? The reason you were glowing like you’d just found your magical Prince Charmings? Or something else?”
She opened her jewelry box and placed her necklace inside, leaving a long note on top of the closed lid for her family. “It’s everything, Con. You know it. I need this. Just a little bit of time to be myself before I give in to what everyone else expects me to be.”
Conway nodded, a look of empathy on his roughly attractive face. “I know it. Hell, your brother Lorie and I used to talk about it. We could never decide if we envied you or—”