I could feel it, that alien part of myself that rose and rose. Our petty little relationships and alliances didn’t really matter, were just tiny little details we got caught up in. If Sylvan, Arelia, any of them wanted to fuse their energy to ours, why would we stop them? I shifted within the ring of power, because that was what this was, what I could feel pulsing inside me. He would augment it, Sylvan, bringing so much to our circle.
But as he moved closer, I felt it, a pulse of energy that felt like when you tried to force two magnets together, something invisible but as sure as the shove of a hand keeping us apart.
“Sylvan, please…”
There, that, that was where the power came from, the woman and her beast’s eyes glowing emerald green, as bright as the crystals everywhere. She held out a hand, a defiant gesture, even as her fingers trembled, but still, he resisted, those ice blue eyes swivelling between me and her, back and forth.
“Sylvan!” she cried as he took a step towards us, her hand wrapping around his wrist, an explosion of light coming at the contact.
I shook my head, coming back to my body, sort of, looking around me as I heard a low hum in my ears, seeing Sylvan get hauled away by a determined Arelia and not feeling anything when he left. My focus and my intention was here, with my pack.
“C’mon,” Shaun growled, the low dirty sound making my spine turn to mush, his eyes jerking down. Some dark flared there, his smile spreading slowly. “It’s time to claim our mate.”
All I got was a chorus of grunts in response to that as I was swept up into Axel’s arms, carried through the now brightly lit courtyard, up the back steps, and into the building.
“Mine…” he rumbled.
“Ours,” Shade corrected. “All ours.”
Chapter 32
Everything has been leading up to this, I thought dimly as I was escorted back inside the room we shared, the door slammed shut behind us. I turned around, smiling as I saw them prowl closer. All that simmering intensity, it made sense now. Some of them had waited for millennia to get back to me, seeking each other out through our reincarnations, but never all of us in the same room, not for so bloody long. So when they stepped forward, wrenching my clothes off and each other’s, it all made sense.
We’d survived the turn of mortality’s wheel, falling from the White Wolf to the Black Wolf’s realms until we were spat out again, so scraps of cloth were no fit barrier between us. My nipples beaded tight as I felt the wisp of the cool air against my skin, but they moved in, blocking it, the window, the view beyond, everything, shutting it all out but for them.
Shaun’s hand went to my hip first, which was fitting, as the first of my mates. When his lips found mine, I saw brief glimpses of what we were before this world, shadowy figures of pure energy striding over alien plains, ones much stranger than the one we stood upon right now. Connect, Flora had said, so we did.
Kissing him was like consuming an elegant meal—rich, sensuous, and requiring skill and restraint on my part to get the full experience from it. I felt like I rediscovered every part of his mouth, tasting it, sucking that fat bottom lip, and scoring it with my teeth until they parted, letting me in deeper, then our bodies collided.
Yes, that was exactly what I needed, a feeling of satisfaction growing as the points where our bodies connected multiplied. The kiss got deeper and deeper, every depth needing to be plumbed, tasted, experienced, the thin barrier of our skin too much and not enough. When I pulled away, we glowed, both of us, Shaun lifting my arms and revelling in the way we lit up the room, then our Tirians pushed forward, dissolving or changing the molecular makeup of our bodies.
We existed in a looser, airy human form, drawing low cries from the others as we each stroked the other, our hands passing through the other bodies as we caressed the core of what we were—a bright shining light at the very centre of our amorphous chests. When we did, the purest of notes rang out, competing with and then transcending the crystals’ song.
When I’d touched the crystal in the cave, I’d started us on this journey of becoming, transforming into something else altogether, and now, I did the same. I stepped into Shaun as he stepped into me. I could hear the rapid thunder of his heart right before I felt it.
Love. Strong, desperate, intense, it swept through me, bathing me in a sea of secure warmth that made something I’d been still holding hard to relax. When I did, I was rewarded, the two of us solidifying somewhat, our fingers trailing over each other’s skin, because that was how the human side of us communicated. Tiri
ans might explore the world through their souls, but we need that electrical feedback that came from touching the one that we loved.
He pushed me down on the bed, the others following us down, arranging themselves on the surface. Their hands stroked across my body, only adding to the energy we raised, the crystals in the room singing louder with each connection. They were damn near deafening when Shaun parted my thighs, not wasting any time, spearing his tongue inside me, my fingers burying themselves in his hair. He teased all the points of this body, ramping up the connection between us, until we were ready to accept it.
He glowed when he moved above me, when he kissed my mouth and neck, trailing his teeth over the bite on my neck, when he moved his hips until they fitted against mine, then grasped the throbbing length of him and pushed inside me.
This was why we were so highly sexed. It was in this moment, of pushing into one person, of accepting them into our bodies, that we became as close as possible to the spirit forms of the Tirian. For just a few short moments, we fused in a way they understood. They got to reach out and connect with those whose bond they’d held tight to for aeons, and when Shaun drove himself deep, I felt that. It’d only been a short period of time since we’d found each other, but we’d done it so many times, it all felt completely right. I dragged him down on top of me, unable to accept even the smallest of gaps, and then, like waves rolling in, we moved together.
Shaun stabbed deep, my thighs wrapped around his hips, grabbing him and tugging him deeper. His gasps twined with mine, his pleasure evident in the lines on his face, the twitch of his body, my own rushing up greedily, wanting to swallow him whole, rutting and rutting against each other until it all came to a climactic end.
Orgasm hit me like a lightning bolt, obliterating everything but him, my nerves frying, my throat screaming as my body struggled to contain the power being pumped into me with every jet of his seed.
You don’t have to contain it, a gentle voice said. It was always meant to be held lightly and passed on, growing greater with each release. Sharing power increases power, lets it breathe, multiplies it rather than being locked away.
My body understood that as this. My fangs snapped down, a burning venom coating my mouth as I rose up, staring over Shaun’s shoulders into the others’ glowing green eyes before I bit down.
“Fuck…”
That was the only sound I got from all of them as I made the connection, claimed Shaun in return, acknowledged what he’d done in marking me, and reciprocated with everything I had.
For just a moment, the room, the world fell away, and we hovered in a great golden space, full of sunlight and fluffy clouds. He held me like he was afraid I’d slip away, but there was no falling down here, only falling into each other. His smile faltered as he peered at me, studying my every expression.