“Oh, sweetheart,” Cain says softly, and when he reaches up to brush his thumb across my cheeks, I realize that I’m crying.
Raven pulls me to him in a tight hug. He’s shaking a little. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“You brought her to us,” North says. “It was the right thing to do. You did a good job.”
I can still feel the connection between all of us. It’s warm and comforting and fills me so that there’s no room for anything else.
I want to hold on to this. I don’t want to lose it and fall back into that pain and that overwhelming light where I’m no longer myself. Where I can’t feel my own body, and I’m not in control.
Before the panic can set in too much, I grab Raven and kiss him. I don’t make it sweet and soft, either. I lick right into his mouth, making my intentions clear.
Helps that I’m still naked and so is he, even though North and Cain are wearing clothes.
When I finish with Raven, I turn to North and kiss him, just as filthy and deep as when I kissed Raven. North moans against my mouth, and I can feel him getting hard too. I’m sure that they can feel the same thing that I do, the eager, addicting warmth of our connection.
I kiss Cain third, but not last, because I have no intention of stopping kissing any of them any time soon. Cain kisses me eagerly, deepening it at the same moment that I do.
We kiss and kiss and kiss until I break off with a moan, needing to breathe. I turn to Raven to kiss him again, but he hesitates.
“You were just screaming in pain,” he points out. His voice is soft, worry clear in his tone.
Ah. So I guess Iwasscreaming, then. It’s an odd comfort to know that all the things I was thinking while in that state were being heard, that I was actually communicating in some way even if I didn’t know it.
Raven still looks hesitant, so I reach out to him and take his hand, squeezing. “I know I was. And I understand why you’re worried. I really do. But I—I need this, Raven. I need the three of you.”
There’s hesitance for another moment, and I can practically see the gears grinding in his head as he weighs the instinct to protect me against the instinct to give me whatever I want. I don’t push him, letting him take his time, but I can’t help dragging my lower lip between my teeth as I wait for him to respond.
And maybe that little gesture is the thing that tips the scales, because after another second, he gives in, pulling me close and pressing his lips to mine.
CHAPTER4
Alow groan fills the room as Raven kisses me, and at first, I think it’s him. But then I realize the sound came from North. He and Cain have moved in on either side of me, encasing me between their strong, masculine bodies.
I let my eyelids flicker shut, pouring myself into the kiss as Raven’s tongue explores my mouth.
My brain still feels a bit fuzzy, my muscles strangely sore from tensing up so hard when all those voices were invading my mind. But with my mates all around me, all three of them grounding me with their touch and their closeness, I feel so much better. I feel like a person again—likeoneperson, rather than a vessel for the thoughts of every single fae in the world.
I don’t think that I’m going to lose myself to that strange, overwhelming sensation again, but cling tightly to my mates anyway. Part of me feels like if I let them go, I’ll slip away, and I don’t want to let that happen.
So I focus on the tiny details of what’s happening, grounding myself in this moment by paying attention to the way Raven’s slightly calloused fingertips brush over my skin as he slides his hands over my body.
I’m still naked, since I was in the shower when everything went haywire and the guys were clearly too concerned about me to worry about getting me dressed. I’m glad for it now, though, because it means the men have direct access to any part of me they want to touch.
Raven’s large hands slide down my waist and over the curve of my ass, kneading and massaging my flesh as Cain squeezes one of my breasts, gliding his thumb over my nipple until it’s peaked and hard. North’s hand slides into my hair, cupping the back of my head as my kiss with Raven deepens.
For a split second, the overwhelming onslaught of fae voices pushes at the edges of my consciousness again, and I whimper softly.
“We’ve got you, baby girl,” North says immediately. “We won’t let you go. Stay with us.”
Almost before he’s done speaking, the three men lift me and settle me onto my back on the mattress. Cain tugs off his clothes, clearly as eager to be skin-to-skin as I am, and North isn’t far behind him. Raven is already naked from the shower, and he kisses me one more time before tearing his lips away from mine and trailing them over my jaw and neck, then lower, to my collarbone and upper chest.
He kisses, licks, and bites his way down my body, and as I start to breathe harder, he murmurs, “Hold her.”
I don’t know quite what he means until North and Cain each grab one of my hands, wrapping their larger ones around mine. They both grip me tightly, and I squeeze their hands back as Raven makes his way even lower, spreading my thighs in a smooth motion.
His hot breath gusts over my pussy a second before he lowers his head and drags his tongue up the line of my center. I hiss out a breath, trying to clamp my legs around his head, but he keeps his grip tight, pressing my legs open even wider. At the same time, North and Cain gently press my hands to the bed, pinning them to the mattress on either side of my head.
I’m held down by the three of them, literally pinned in place as Raven goes down on me, but instead of feeling trapped, I feel…secure.