I WAKE to a hand stroking my belly and a hot, hard body pinned against my back. I grind my ass into the thick, hard cock that’s pressed against me, a low moan creeping out of my mouth. I don’t need to open my eyes to see who’s here with me.
I can smell their cologne, and I’d know by the feel of their hands on my body alone, but the low tone of their voices mixing together proves that the Draven brothers have finally come back to me.
I don’t need my bond to tell me, I know exactly how much I needed this, how much I needed them.
Lips press against my own, a dark demand for more. More of me, more of this shared pleasure, more and more until there’s nothing left between us that isn’t shared. North’s hand runs down my spine, slowly stroking and teasing the soft arches of my skin. I’m almost purring into the kiss, my body becoming liquid between theirs. We’re all naked, not a stitch of clothing anywhere, and I’m squirming at the heat coming from them.
I’m scorched and lusting for more.
They work in tandem to reposition us, moving me onto my knees as Nox kisses me, his tongue stroking mine until my legs are shaking. The memories of that tongue against my clit fill my mind and stoke the fire within me until I think I’m about to implode. North’s fingers make their way down my spine again, except this time when they make it to my ass, they keep going, curving around until he finds the wet mess between my thighs, his fingers plunging inside me. He groans appreciatively when my pussy clenches around him as though I’m trying to keep him buried there.
“Open wide, Oleander,” Nox murmurs against my lips, placing a hand on the back of my neck as he moves back. I don’t know if he means my mouth for his cock or my legs for North’s, so I do both, flushing with pride when they both make rumbling noises of praise at me.
I want that praise. I want to be their good girl. I want them to love every fucking second of this the way I do too.
He pushes me down onto my hands so that I’m on all fours, but I go more than willingly, my mouth still open as he guides the thick length of his cock between my lips, his fist wrapped around the base of himself as his eyes flash to black. The shadows in the room deepen, darken, and take on a new life as his Gift fills his body.
It’s just him here though.
All of our bonds sleep as we come together finally after too many nights apart.
North waits until Nox’s hips slowly pump down my throat before his fingers slip out of me. He replaces them with his cock in a single, hard thrust, his hands tight on my hips as he holds me still for them both.
I forgot that I’d fallen asleep in Nox’s bed, but I know for sure that North hadn’t been in here then. I’d curled up in Nox’s sheets, buried my face in his pillow, and just let myself wallow in his scent while I waited for him to get home. Gryphon had promised they’d both be here, but I guess I hadn’t expected them to both be in here at the same time.
I didn’t expect to have both of their dicks pumping inside of me at the same time either.
It was different before, their bonds had been out, and mine had demanded every little thing that it craved from them. This is definitely not that. This is both of them needing me. This is the three of us finding pleasure in each other, taking what we want, an elaborate dance of movement and lust and worship.
I never want it to end.
More shadows spill into the room, falling away from North and wrapping around me, stroking and caressing until I’m writhing between them. When I moan around Nox, stars exploding behind my eyelids until I think I’m going to pass out, my arms begin to wobble. Before I can panic about falling flat on my face, the shadows wrap around my limbs, lifting the weight from them until I’m suspended, laid out for my Bonded’s viewing pleasure, to take and use however they see fit.
North’s fingers bite into my hips as he moves, dragging me back to meet his thrusts and then pushing me forward onto Nox’s cock with each stroke. The shadows around him grow and morph, curling around me until darkness consumes us, binding us together, filling us all and branding us forever.
We’re Death Dealers, all three of us, and we belong to the darkness within.
When I come again, this time unable to move thanks to the shadows around me, a strangled scream bursts out of my throat around Nox’s cock, and the rhythmic pulsing of my pussy around North’s dick sends him tumbling over the edge with me. He pounds his release into me, his hips snapping against my ass as he lets out a roar, and my pussy gushes at the praise of his rapture.
Nox watches me come, drinks it all in, and only when North pulls away does he move, his hand coming up to stroke my cheek. It’s a soft and gentle caress, a small moment between the two of us before the burning lust fills his eyes again.
His fingers move to curl around my throat and he squeezes a little, just enough that he can feel the rough slide of his cock as he pumps his hips, forcing me to take the whole length of him. His eyes darken even more as he watches me take him, gulping him down so greedily when he comes with a groan. Who knew that the dark voids could become such bottomless pits of pleasure? That’s a wondrous discovery that is burned into my soul, something I will remember in this lifetime and the next.
I need a hundred more lifetimes with these Bonds of mine.
I STRETCH my body out in the shower and let the hot water run over all of the sore spots I still have. Every inch of me is satisfied and happy as I get my head around the fact that I have to get dressed and go about my day in the Sanctuary today.
I’d rather spend the day in bed, but there’s just too much to do.
Instead, I’ll be doing whatever I can to help my Bonded with the lives that we are building here. For a moment, I almost forget about the god-bonds and the Resistance, about how many people are out there hunting us down and wishing us dead. For a moment, I forget that I’m anyone other than Oleander Fallows, the luckiest woman alive with five Bonded men who only want to love me and worship me.
That’s all I ever want to be now, the version of myself that couldn’t possibly be happier with my life.
Nox is busy at the sink brushing his teeth, a towel wrapped around his waist. He’d started off in the shower with me, carefully and lovingly cleaning us both up, but I still had to wash out my hair and his mind had already wandered to the boxes of information waiting for him back at North’s offices. I’m not upset or jealous by this at all. I know how important his research work is to him and how important it is to all of us.
The god-bond we have hidden in the cells underneath the Tac Training Center has given us a few clues on where we should be looking. Nox is determined to hunt more of them down, determined to wipe them all out before they become a problem for us.
North had gone to his own bathroom to shower, his eyes dark as he told me that I was too much of a temptation to him, a temptation to stay in bed all day and do nothing but revel in each other. As soon as the words leave his lips, it’s all I want to do. Someday, maybe.
Where is everyone? Gryphon sends through to us, but the moment he opens up the mind connection, he knows the answer to the question without a word.
We all sound off anyway.
I’m at North’s offices with my uncle, going over building plans. Atlas is here too.
North and Oli are at the house with me, we haven’t left yet, Nox replies.
Why? What’s happened? North sends through.
Everybody needs to come to North’s offices now. Oli needs to be driven down in one of the ATVs, both of you need to come with her.
On high alert, I shut the water off and grab a towel, stepping out of the shower as I meet Nox’s eyes in the mirror, my heart already starting to thump in my chest.
What is it? What’s happened?
The gods have made their next move. I’m sure it’s a trap, but we need to be ready to move out.
Nox grabs a shirt and pulls it over his head, his shadows falling down from his body and slowly forming into Mephis and Procel at his feet. I let Azrael down as well as I quickly towel off.
What’s happened? North asks again, and I hear his footsteps down the hallway as he works his way back to Nox and me. I duck into my closet to change into my Tac gear.
The General is dead. His second brought my mother back right before he bled out, and we’ve let her through and put her in the cells for now. I’m sending Kyrie down to see her, but the Resistance took out an entire town. We need to mobilize and go look for survivors.
My heart leaps into my throat right as North makes it to me in the closet, his eyes guarded as he looks me over. I shove my feet into my shoes and straighten, swallowing roughly around the lump in my throat. There’s a million things I want to say to Gryphon, but all of them sound wrong.
How many casualties are there that we know of? North questions instead, happy to keep things firmly on the business at hand instead of the very human side of things.
We’re facing somewhere in the ballpark of a hundred and seventy. My mother had two children with her that she’d managed to find and bring back with the Transporter as well.
A hundred and seventy people are dead because they let the General talk them out of the Sanctuary. A hundred and seventy people that he had sacrificed because he couldn’t face the thought of his son having void eyes and being the same kind of monster as the Dravens that he so desperately loathed.
All of those men, women, and children are gone, and for nothing. A waste of life on such a horrific scale.
We’re on our way now, Nox sends through, and as he steps closer to North, they share a look, and I follow them out to the garage without a word.
There’s nothing I can say anyway.
I open my mind connection up to Gryphon. Regardless, nothing comes down the line to me, nothing at all. He has emptied out and become a blank slate, the same way Nox had, and I refuse to push him on this. I mean, I would never push any of them on something like this, but we also have a job to do. We need to be looking for survivors and maybe finding another god-bond to deal with.
There’s no time to unpack any of this for him.
North drives the ATV, and I sit jammed between him and Nox, half on each of their laps. Nox had originally pulled me into his lap, but North had dragged me across his as well, both of them wanting to keep me close and protect me as much as they could. The shadows run alongside the ATV as we drive through the quiet streets. Whether people are still too afraid to move around freely or if Gryphon has put a stay-at-home order in place, I have no idea, but it’s helpful not to have to explain ourselves or make nice on the way down there.
When we arrive at the base of the building, I want to throw up, but I put on a brave face as we make our way into the elevator together.
As the doors shut behind us, North murmurs to his brother, “Don’t be an asshole about this.”
I glance up at Nox as his lip curls and he shrugs. “I’m not going to apologize for not feeling bad about that dickhead being dead.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m just saying Gryphon can’t help feeling a certain way about his father being dead. Don’t be a dick about it.”
“I’m never a dick.”
That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard in my life.
I’m not brave or stupid enough to call him out on it though. North isn’t so kind, scoffing under his breath as he pulls the ATV up alongside the council offices and helps me off of the vehicle. August falls away from his body in an easy motion, as though North hasn’t even really thought about letting him out, but merely being in my presence is enough to have him wanting the shadowy sentry out for my protection.
I let Azrael down from behind my ear again, having let him ride along with me here, and I lean down to give them both a quick pat. I would love on them a whole lot more, but I don’t want to waste any time right now. Instead, we walk into North’s offices together, finding chaos and bedlam waiting there for us.
Dozens of Tac operatives are already dressed and ready to move out, standing around and murmuring to each other quietly as Gryphon, Vivian, and Unser stand over one of the planning boards together, moving pieces around and making a plan as we get closer to them.
The door to the locker room opens as Gabe and Atlas both step out wearing the Tac gear and speaking quietly amongst themselves, somber looks on their faces. Atlas has a determined set to his jaw, understanding shining in his eyes at the confusing grief in the air having just gone through something similar himself.
He’s careful not to look at Gryphon, and so is Gabe, both of them respecting his space at the moment.
I have no idea what to do in this situation myself.
I think it came more naturally to me with Atlas because I understood exactly what he was feeling.
Gryphon is a different pile of trauma.
He hadn’t cut ties with his father, not really. My own involvement in the exodus of the Sanctuary makes it hard for me to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing here, how exactly I’m supposed to react and treat everyone. I might not have been the reason that there’s a god-bond inside of my Bonded, or the reason that it woke up, but I’m still the one his father chose to throw his hatred at.
I’m the reason Gryphon decided not to fight him on his plans to leave.
There’s also a part of me that is sure that the god-bonds have had something to do with this. I’m definitely the reason for that, and they’ve been watching the Sanctuary so closely, biding their time and waiting to try and draw us out.
This is where they’re going to make their move.
North squeezes my hand one last time before he stalks over to Gryphon and the others, clapping a palm on Gryphon’s shoulder for a moment before he joins the planning, just a small acknowledgement of what has happened, and that’s all that my Bonded seems to need from him.
I understand that he is in a position of power and he won’t necessarily want anything from me, but I still feel awkward not acknowledging it.
Stop panicking, Oleander, Nox sends to me. I dart my eyes over to him.
He’s checking that his weapons are secured to his uniform correctly. Checking, double-checking, and triple-checking the way that Gryphon always has, the way he taught me to as well.
Now isn’t the time for it. Gryphon has been trained to work through this sort of thing. We’ve lost a lot of people in our lives before and been forced to continue working. Don’t count him out so quickly.
My eyebrows furrow. I’m not counting him out. I just don’t think it’s fair. I didn’t want to move for a week after my parents died, and no one else has been given that opportunity. None of us! Everyone has just had to… keep on working. I don’t want that for any of you. You had to go to your uncle’s funeral with a brave face just so the rest of the community could watch and gawk at it. It sets my teeth on edge.
I want to scream as tears prick at the back of my eyes, but I duck down to fuss with the shadow creatures, swallowing roughly as I get myself back under control.
Gryphon’s voice echoes in my mind, it’s something I will think about later, Bonded, when I see my sister and go down to see my mom. Right now, all I’m thinking about is the potential for survivors. Don’t worry about me. I’m more worried about you right now.
You should be worried about me, I send back, because when I get there, I am going to tear the souls out of every single living creature in that place that has ever wished harm upon our community or my Bonded. I’m going to commit acts of crime on such a scale that it will rock everyone to the core. You should probably prepare your men for that, and this isn’t even my bond speaking.
A hand slowly wraps around the top of my arm and draws me up until I’m standing with my side pressed against Nox’s as he sends through the mind connection, Burn it all to the ground, Oleander. Burn it, and let’s be done with it.
