In the corner of my vision I see Kai dragging his hands higher along Rowan’s thigh, his gaze intent on the pink moist lips of her sex. Kyrian grazes his canines along the hollow of Rowan’s throat. His breath is harsh and desperate, his engorged cock twitching with every beat of his heart.
I pivot to let Kyrian take Rowan’s mouth while I slide my own to the soft skin just below her ear. Her neck. Her breast. Her skin here smells faintly of salt and grass, a heady mix that makes my pulse stutter.
Rowan’s body arches to meet me. To meet Kai who is devouring the heat between her legs. That’s more response than we’ve had from her since the collapse and it means everything. The connection hums now, alive with Rowan’s energy and ours. Every undulation of her body, every touch, is electricity across my skin. My hands trail along her ribcage, teasing the soft swell of her breasts, letting my thumbs graze the tautness of her peaked nipples.
Kai brings up his head, licking Rowan’s juices off his lips. The scent of her arousal is making my head spin. I take her breast into my mouth and suckle. Her sensitive peaks firm in mouthand she lets out another small moan. The runes along my skin burn but it's nothing compared to the pressure building up in my cock.
Kyrian releases Rowan’s mouth with a guttural sound, his lips slick, and yields to Kai. The sight of them locked together makes my vision go black at the edges. And yet I can’t look away. The sight of her lips parted under his crush of need makes my cock throb with unbearable urgency. My control fractures—I drag my mouth down her body, tasting sweat and magic on her skin until I’m breathing against her slick heat.
The scent of her is maddening. I want inside her, need to be buried so deep I’ll never find the way out. My tongue sweeps over her folds and her taste explodes on my tongue—sweet, sharp, intoxicating. My cock aches with the demand to thrust inside, my runes blazing and burning and commanding me to do the same.
And then, just as I press forward, Rowan’s lashes flutter. Her eyes snap open--and lock straight on mine.
Chapter 23
Rowan
Isurface into awareness on a tide of heat and need. The first thing I know is not thought but touch—a mouth sealing over mine, stealing my breath, giving it back in fire. Another mouth is at my breast, teeth grazing the full, sensitive swell. But most of all, I am aware of the touch between my thighs. That one is most intense and yet it's still not enough to satiate.
Hands press to my skin, so many that I can’t tell where one ends and another begins, only that each point of contact drags delicious lightning through me. Through and away, each connection was siphoning off a fraction of the magic that’s been assaulting me for eternity. I don’t have to open my eyes to know who the siphons are, because the budding bond whispers it straight into my marrow: Kai above me, Logan below, and Kyrian at my side.
I should be afraid. Confused. Something. But all I can feel is the way the magic is using them to pry me open, coax me awake. And the way my body answers, desperate, greedy, alive. My body arches without my permission. Seeking more.More. More. More.
More relief. More ecstasy. More sturdy connection. My instinct insists three of those go together and I’ve no reason to doubt it. I just want.
Logan’s hardness swirls the wet perimeter around my opening and I nearly come apart. My hips jerk, chasing him, greedy for more, greedy for everything. Need floods me so sharp it borders on pain.
But then—another kind of pain.A memory that doesn’t belong to this moment but claws its way in anyway: the stretch that once burned instead of pleasured, the way breath caught in my throat from hurt instead of ecstasy.
It’s not from them,the needy part of my mind insists.It’s an echo of another time, another place, where taking meant tearing. Where pleasure was chased by fire that hurt. Don’t think of it.
But I can’t not think of it. My body remembers even when my mind tries to forget. The memory lashes me, unwanted, unwelcome, but undeniable. My body braces for pain even as it begs to be filled.
The magic flares painfully, furious that something is interfering with its flow. My core feels split down the middle—need clawing me forward, fear yanking me back. My hands fist in the grass, damp blades cutting against my palms. The conflict is unbearable. I need. I fear. Both truths crash together, and my chest tightens until I drag open my eyes.
Logan’s face is there, fierce, intent, and his locked eyes with mine.
"I smell fear,” Kai's voice cuts through the haze. He is closest to my face, his nose brushing a spot behind my ear as his heat snaps up with a growl. His glare finds Logan. “What the hell are you doing to her?”
I try to protest, but my throat locks on the words. Shame and want collide until I can barely breathe. Logan’s face twists, but before he can defend himself, Kyrian speaks.
“It’s not him.” His voice softens, but stays breathless. Laden with the same need that’s clawing at me. “It’s Collin. The fucker used to hurt her and say its her fault.” He touches my cheek, coaxing my gaze to his. “I remember everything you’ve told me,” Kyrian whispers against my ear. “Rowan, you’re not there anymore. You’re with us. We’ll make damn sure this feels nothing like the past. You know we will. Just like before. We just need to remind you.”
His lips brush against mine, a gentle pressure that sends sparks dancing across my skin. He trails kisses down my jaw, my neck, his touch leaving a trail of fire in its wake. “We're going to touch you, Rowan. We're going to make you feel good. So good." His mouth moves lower, his tongue tracing the line of my collarbone, and I feel another stirring deep within me, not just need, but desire.
Logan’s fingers hook into the damp seam at my thighs, then slides a thumb slow and hard across the swollen place between my legs. Kyrian’s hand cups my breast and pinches just enough to make warmth blossom under my skin. His voice is a caress, his touch a promise. "We'll start slow, Rowan. We'll kiss every inch of you, touch every part of you. We'll make you shiver, make you gasp." His thumb brushes over my nipple, sending tiny jolts of lightning through me.
More. Faster. Deeper.The magic insists. From the male’s tense bodies and engorged cocks I know that they feel it too. And yet, despite the sweat beading at their temples and small groans escaping their lips, they don’t rush. They trace routes across my body like maps, marking safe spots, pressing into places that make my breath hitch.
Each tease unbuttons a layer of the memory until it softens, and the fear thins.
“That’s right, Chaos.” Kyrian nips my earlobe, the runes painted on his flesh burning bright. “We’ll press and pull and tease and fill. We’ll make you ache in the places that make your body sing. Do you want us to?”
My body answers for me, knees folding and back arching, with fingers digging into the grass until my palms ache.
Logan, who is still between my thighs, spreads me wide. He holds my gaze as he cups me, his palm pressing against my center. I feel a rush of wetness, my body responding to his touch. He licks his lips and then his fingers slip inside me. I gasp. Magic thrums.
Logan groans.
