POISONED BONDS
Polyamory (noun): the practice of engaging in multiple romantic relationships.
DAY 38, HOUR 22
I took a step back and bumped into Luka as Malum stalked toward me swiftly. A vicious predator locked on its prey.
He stopped inches away, towering over me and exuding waves of vitriol and hate. “You think that after all this time—” He breathed harshly. “—I’ve been fucking pretending to be into you?”
“Maybe,” I whispered.
Silver eyes flashed with unholy rage.
Bronze features rippled with unspeakable emotions as he tipped his head back, opened his mouth, and fell to his knees.
He bellowed.
Fire burst from his lips as he said, “I care so much about you that it drives me crazy—morning, day, and night. I wake up, and my first thought every—single—day is that I hope you’re feeling okay. I go to sleep thinking about your sorrowful blue eyes. I fist my cock in the shower thinking about your pink tongue and pouty lips.” His voice rose, and he shouted, “How the fuck could all this be an act?”
“I don’t know,” I yelled back, overwhelmed by his impassioned display.
Ice spread across my hands and traveled up my forearms.
He pointed a flaming finger at me.
“I am so obsessed with you, woman, that it’s killing me!” he roared.
“Uh.” I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly and mumbled, “I didn’t realize you cared about me that much.”
“Care doesn’t encapsulate a tenth of what I feel for you!” He gripped his shaved head. “Aran, I’m so fucking infatuated with you that I’m foaming at the mouth for a smudge of your affection!” He gasped shakily. “And you have the audacity to tell me I don’t really care.”
Handsome bronze features contorted like he was tortured.
My heart pounded painfully against my sternum.
“What more can I do?” he asked, still on his knees. “I’ve shown you time and time again that you’re my everything—you are my soul. You’re the reason for my existence. Without you, I’m nothing.” He thumped a flaming hand against his chest. “You’re my Revered.”
I shivered.
“That’s the problem,” I said. “I’m not an ideal. I’m an imperfect person.”
Steele eyes narrowed with confusion. “What the fuck are you talking about?” Scorpius and Orion walked up and stood on either side of him.
I waved my hand at them. “You three want me to be your Revered—this perfect mate that will save you. You don’t want me.” My voice trailed off. “You don’t want Aran.”
The twins shifted closer, their jewelry vibrating against my skin. John rubbed my back as Luka twirled one of my curls. They were pillars of support.
Scorpius frowned, his features sharp enough to cut glass; Orion’s eyes widened, dark lashes fluttering; Malum scowled.
“You’ve got to be joking?” Scorpius asked in disbelief. “Arabella, you’re our Revered. Of course we want you. Do you think I sit in the shower talking to anyone else for hours? Sun god—I don’t even want to do that with them.” He gestured to Malum and Orion. “I’ve told you things that I’ve never told anyone.” His voice quieted. He whispered like he was embarrassed, “I’ve opened up to you.”
Orion nodded as he stared at me, unblinking. “You’re the only person I can talk to without having to hide who I am. From the moment I first met you, a piece of me knew what you were to me. My everything.”
Malum stood up swiftly, determination on his face. “We can prove it to you right now.”
“What?” I asked, looking between the kings.
“You think we don’t want you because your soul has been mutilated—which we will be getting answers about later.” He raked his hand over his shaved head and nodded. “There’s a simple solution, one that also helps with the problem of unleashing our powers in battle.”
I rolled my pipe between my lips.
Malum’s tone was serious. “We can bond, and all of us can finally be together.”
I choked on smoke.
“It’s all up to you,” he continued intensely. “Will you accept the three of us as your mates? Will you let me be your Ignis and Scorpius and Orion be your Protectors?”
“Please,” Orion whispered, and Scorpius took a step back like he was afraid of my answer.
The three of them vibrated with fierce energy.
“Even if our mating bond is corrupted because of your missing soul,” Malum said forcefully, “we still want it.”
They nodded in agreement, like what Malum was saying wasn’t the opposite of everything they’d ever wanted from their mate.
I struggled to breathe.
“We want you, Aran.” Bronze features gleamed with emotions. “Flaws and all.”
My tongue was heavy in my mouth, and I struggled to speak.
After a long moment of gasping, I finally said, “How does forming the bond prove anything?”
“It proves we don’t care if you’re not perfect.” Scorpius stepped forward and caressed his graceful fingers down the side of my face. “We don’t care if the mate bond is messed up—we don’t care if you’re not a perfect Revered, like you put it. Corvus is right, we just want you.”
“Please,” Orion mouthed.
I was shell-shocked.
How could they want the bond when they knew it could hurt them like it was hurting the twins?
They were supposed to want me to help fix their powers and make them stronger. They weren’t supposed to want me when I could break them further.
“But what about my back?” I said weakly.
“I refuse to hurt you,” Malum said immediately. “The bond is formed through intimacy and acceptance—but it’s not an exact science.”
Scorpius explained like he’d put a lot of thought into it, “The crucial part is that we all mentally accept the mating bond. The intimacy is more symbolic of what’s occurred, but the key is your acceptance. We can make your participation as painless as possible.” His lips turned up wickedly. “For now.”
Malum looked at where the twins were touching me. “We think it will also help your bond with the twins. If more souls are involved, it will counteract the damage.” He exhaled. “I know how much they mean to you.”
I glanced at the twins and was momentarily shocked by how horrible they looked. The pallor to their skin and dark circles were worse than the days prior. They were suffering because of me.
“Don’t worry about us,” John said as he flashed a dimple, but he ruined it by wincing as he shifted like he was in physical pain.
Orion whispered, “If all of us are connected to your soul, we can alleviate what’s been done to you.”
“Let us help you,” Malum pleaded.
Scorpius shook with barely constrained anticipation. “Let us own you. Body and soul. No matter the consequences—please.”
I rubbed the back of my neck, possibilities and probabilities unfolding in my mind’s eye. Mentally I made a checklist.
Pros to bonding with the kings:
- It might help ease the twins’ pain.
- It might give me the ability to stop the kings once they began using their powers and potentially save the angels and assassins tomorrow.
- The lack of bond might be why I was struggling to fly.
- I’d finally have a big family to call my own.
Cons to bonding with the kings:
- Their overbearing possessive slightly stalkerish personalities.
- Mitch.
I sighed because it was a super close one; Mitch alone was making it hard to agree to their proposal.
Luka whispered in my ear, “Whatever you decide to do, we’ll stand by you. No matter what.”
I leaned against him and closed my eyes as I soaked up the support of the twins. When I opened my eyes, the kings were still staring at me with pleading, desperate expressions.
You didn’t know who someone was until you saw them suffer. Times of torment revealed more truths than any times of peace ever could.
They were serious.
They didn’t care that I was broken.
They didn’t care that I also needed the twins.
Something in my expression made Malum look away with devastation.
I had feelings for the kings, and I didn’t want to see them hurt.
You could let the dark times rip everything away from you, or you could survive them and build something brighter.
It wasn’t really a choice.
“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “Yes. I’ll be your mate.”
Orion’s jaw dropped, and Scorpius covered his mouth with his hand.
John chuckled and ruffled my hair, and Luka gave me a soft kiss on my cheek.
Malum stumbled back like he’d been punched. “You mean it?” he whispered with shock as his cheeks turned bright pink. “You really mean you’re going to accept the bond—Aran?”
I shrugged and tried to act like him saying my proper name didn’t make my stomach flutter. “It makes sense,” I said with feigned casualness. “The logic is sound.”
My heart beat irregularly in my chest.
Turned out I liked to make major life decisions spontaneously. I’d agreed to marry the twins on a whim, and now this.
This was either going to be a special moment or an impulsive choice that I would regret for the rest of my immortal life.
Only time would tell.
Malum leaned forward and reached for me like he was going to tackle me to the floor, but he pulled his hands back at the last moment and grimaced. “We have to mate now because we fight tomorrow. We also have to do it without hurting you.”
Scorpius pushed past him, grabbed my face with both hands, and kissed me passionately. He tasted like bergamot and sin. I moaned into his mouth as his tongue speared against mine.
Little streaks of pain exploded down my spine.
He yanked his lips away from mine. “How was that?” he rasped.
“Mmmm,” I answered intelligently.
Milky white eyes looked off into the distance. “Your back, Arabella. How is your pain level?”
“Bearable,” I said honestly.
Scorpius dragged his nails across my cheeks. “It better be.” He smirked. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
“Are you sure about this?” I asked for the millionth time as I rolled my pipe between my lips.
This was different from how we usually kissed. All those moments had been explosive bouts of uncontrolled passion.
This was deliberate.
Planned.
A conscious choice to be intimate.
The bedroom was shrouded in shadows. Night had fallen and a blizzard raged.
The kings stood on the superbed in the middle of the floor. We’d once again pushed our mattresses together.
I sat on the corner on Luka’s lap with John’s head in my lap.
Every time I fidgeted with my pipe, John grabbed my fingers and brought them back to his hair. If he was a cat, he would have been purring as I played with his messy locks.
Luka’s thumbs traced soft circles underneath my sweatshirt.
I was cozy and warm.
I was also freaking out.
“I don’t think this is going to work,” I said anxiously as I tugged at John’s hair.
John snuggled deeper into my lap and mumbled, “It’s fine. Stop panicking.”
“I’m not,” I lied. Ice spread from my fingers onto his hair, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Orion held his hands out cautiously like he was talking to a skittish animal. He whispered, “It’s okay, sweetheart. The important part is that you mentally accept all of us as your mates. The physical part is simple—just tell us what you want us to do.” He glanced back and forth between Luka and me.
“We can give you suggestions,” Malum offered, his voice rougher than usual. “If that helps.”
I nodded, unable to do much else.
Malum frowned. “Just make sure you tell us if your back hurts—please. We’ll stop immediately. You have to tell us. No more enduring in secret.”
“I will. I promise.”
Scorpius cocked his brow, looking every bit the arrogant king. “Do you want us to take off our clothes?”
My breath caught.
Scorpius smirked like he knew what he was doing to me. “From your inhale, I’ll take that as a yes.”
Luka nuzzled his face against the back of my neck as the three kings stripped, revealing layers and layers of cut muscles.
Cherry blossoms drifted across Orion’s golden shoulders as he stared at me, steel glinted across Malum’s bronze neck, and a tattooed eye lazily opened across Scorpius’s pale skin.
The three of them were works of art.
When they pulled down their sweatpants, I forgot how to swallow. Holy mother of the sun god.
Abdominal muscles tapered into deep Vs across their torsos. I’d caught glimpses of them naked getting with other girls and while we changed dozens of times, but this felt different.
There was a gentleness about them that was new.
In tandem, they fell to their knees. Their muscles flexed, powerful bodies radiating strength.
John shook his head on my lap, and I realized I’d stopped playing with his hair. His eyes were open, and he watched Scorpius with hooded eyes.
I felt exactly the same way.
Luka’s fingers tangled around my wild curls, and I turned around to see if he was watching. His eyes flickered between me and Orion.
I wasn’t the only one enjoying the show.
I turned back to the kings.
Malum had moved. His face hovered mere inches away from mine. “Do you, Aran, accept us as your mates? Will you let me be your Ignis? Will you let them be your Protectors?”
My tongue was heavy in my mouth as I whispered, “I accept you as my mates.”
Malum’s smile was wicked. He finished crawling to me and leaned forward.
He gently kissed me. Whiskey, tobacco, and heat exploded across my senses. I’d never tasted anything so delicious. He pulled away, and the pain on my spine dissipated. He licked his lips, silver eyes gleaming with desire.
Orion whispered, “We accept you, Aran, as our precious Revered.”
I leaned in for more kisses.
“No, precious,” Malum whispered, cheeks flushing maroon as he backed away. “No pain. You tell us what you want us to do. You’re in control.”
“Um.” I was too chicken to say the words aloud.
Scorpius smirked like he could read my mind. “I know you’ve imagined us, Arabella.” He licked his lips. “I could hear your breathing change every time we fucked people at Elite Academy. We were fantasizing about you—and you were fantasizing about us.”
Orion mouthed, “Whatever you want, sweetheart. Just say it.”
I took a deep breath. “I want Malum and Scorpius to fuck Orion,” I said before I could lose my confidence.
Malum smiled. “That can be arranged.”
I moved to cover my flushed face, but Luka caught my wrist and held my hands down.
“Don’t be afraid,” he whispered into my ear, and I shivered.
“Keep your eyes on us, Arabella,” Malum commanded, his voice rough and heated.
He turned and kissed Orion roughly. Scorpius licked his fingers wantonly, then slowly dragged them down Orion’s body.
There was a loud slapping noise as Scorpius left handprints across Orion’s ass. Then he parted his cheeks and spit obscenely.
Luka groaned in my ear.
I agreed.
John shifted on my lap, his hands wandering beneath his pants.
Orion stared at me as he writhed in pleasure—he was shockingly pretty compared to the rough handsomeness of his mates.
The three of them were divine.
Luka massaged my scalp as I played with John’s hair. Gentle zips of pain streaked down my spine, but I barely noticed it. I was too entranced with what was unfolding around me.
Malum and Scorpius fucked Orion like they were savages. Their grunts and moans filled the room. Suddenly, they pulled their hard cocks out of Orion’s holes and crawled over to me. Each one of them gave me tender kisses, then Luka picked me up and gently handed me over to Malum.
John grumbled but let me go.
Malum sat so I was sprawled across his naked thighs. He repositioned us so his thick penis jutted out between my legs. “You’re doing so well,” he whispered huskily. Orion and Scorpius took turns sucking him off while I sat on his lap.
Desire pooled between my legs, but my pain level stayed manageable because no one was touching me. After Malum came down Orion’s throat, he laid me down beside them and tucked me under the covers so I was cozy.
I gasped as they resumed making love beside me.
Everything was a blur of masculine moans, grunts of ecstasy, and heavy panting as they leaned over—each one giving me featherlight kisses as they found their release.
An hour later, I drifted asleep with the kings piled naked around me.
“So glad you’re back with us, safe,” Malum whispered.
“Me too,” I agree.
“Love ya,” he said.
Orion whispered. “I love her most.”
Bodies shifted and nails dug into the sensitive skin on my neck. “False,” Scorpius said fiercely. “My love is superior.”
“No, it isn’t,” John and Luka said simultaneously.
“I love you all,” I whispered softly as I fell asleep.
I dreamed, and it felt like peace.
