It’s clear we’ve all fallen into mated bliss. I sigh happily as I enjoy listening to Will’s steady heartbeat. His fingers lazily trace patterns on my back as he gives the top of my head a kiss. I know he’s about to extract himself from underneath me. Every morning, he and Marcus leave our bed to train my troops, the number of which grows by the day. In a couple of hours, the rest of my mates will join them. After lunch, we’ll all train with my mother till mid-afternoon, at which point something always comes up to occupy my time until evening.
It’s been the same schedule for two weeks now. Marcus rolls over and presses a kiss between my shoulder blades. “No. Not yet! Just a little longer,” I whine. They give matching chuckles, reminding me how much I love being in the middle of a twin sandwich.
Marcus scoots closer until his cock is pressed against my bare ass, his shorts impeding the sensation I desire. At least I have his naked twin pressed to my front. Someday I’ll have them sans clothes, wrapped around me at the same time. Last night, William fucked me till we were too tired to continue. At some point in the night afterward, the rest of my mates climbed into bed with us. It’s something else that’s become predictable. One of my mates will take me to bed, and I’ll wake up to all of them around me. “We can’t be late, Babe. Your dad isn’t above kicking our ass in front of the others,” Marcus murmurs into my neck.
“Mmm, I’ll write you a note. By the Queen’s demand, your services were required.” I press my grin into Will’s chest as they both laugh. They cut the sound short when Derrick groans and rolls over.
“I think your dad will actually increase the punishment if we show up late with a note saying we were pleasuring his daughter all morning.” William’s voice is gruff as he whispers, not having spoken this morning yet.
“No one said anything about pleasuring me, but if you’re offering, I accept! Marcus, quick, take your shorts off!” I say as my hand reaches back to tug them down. Unfortunately, he doesn’t follow my command. Instead, he grabs my hand and rests it on Will’s chest, and holds it in place. As I pout, I rub my ass back into his hard cock. He lets out a pained grunt, and Will lays a hand on my hip to hold it in place. “Ugh, you two are the worst! I can’t believe you’re ganging up on me. Remind me again why my dad is in charge of the troops instead of you two?”
Will dips his head down to suck on my bottom lip that’s sticking out. The scruff of his newly grown beard scratches my lip, adding to the sensation. He lets it go with a pop and says, “Later, Darling. I promise. As for your dad, we have so much to learn from him, it didn’t seem right to be in a leadership position over him.” He nuzzles my nose and tries to pull away to get dressed.
“Wait, my knight. I wasn’t asking you to postpone leaving because I wanted a morning quickie, you were the one who brought it up. I wanted an update on Silas. I was going to ask last night, but you thoroughly distracted me.” He smiles and winks, making me melt. Since Marcus is still holding my hand in place, I can’t smack Will, so I shove him instead. He knows by now exactly what his winks do to me.
My thighs squeeze together as his thumb caresses above my hip. “Nothing’s changed with Silas. He still has his compound completely locked down, with no communication in or out. Alex verified he’s using a cell jammer and has shut down internet access. Thea’s report said they’ve searched the entire place top to bottom, every building, three times. With each passing day, he becomes more irate at not having found me. I’m willing to bet he’s fixing to lift the lockdown soon, then he’ll probably find out within minutes.”
I let out a frustrated groan and flop back on to Marcus. “Doing nothing but waiting was so much easier two weeks ago, back when we thought it was only going to be hours to find out what he would do. This is the worst!”
Marcus’ arms wrap around me, offering comfort. “I know we weren’t expecting to wait this long, but we’re doing everything we can to be prepared to take action when the time comes. We’re training our troopsandourselves. Every day you’ve found a new way to help our people and improve their lives. The waiting may be a letdown, but it’s been time well spent. Now, we better get moving before we really are late. Love you, Babe.” He leaves a quick kiss on my cheek before I’m landing on the mattress with an oomph, having lost my Marcus-shaped pillow.
I punch the bed and try one more time to get them to stay longer. “I need a better goodbye kiss than that! Come back here.”
As I focus on Marcus, Will gives me his kiss on the other cheek and jumps from the bed too. They both laugh, and Marcus replies to me, “Nah, Babe. I know better than to fall for that. We can spend some time together in bed tonight.” Damn those twins and their stubbornness, although I love seeing how close they’ve grown. It’s like they haven’t missed out on over five centuries of life together.
“I love you both. Have a good day of training. You better be on time or I’ll make you pay for not giving me what I want!” Will blows me one more kiss and mouths that he loves me, then they are out the door with a quiet laugh.
As soon as they’re out of sight, I roll over to find Alex. I wrap my arm around him and press kisses on his face. He’s laying on his stomach with his arms acting as his pillow. “Oh, so now it’s my turn since your dirty twin sandwich ditched you?” From the sound of his voice, he’s been awake for a bit, and the twitch of his lips shows he’s totally fucking with me.
I let out an exaggerated gasp and climb onto his back. “Absolutely not! I would’ve been all over you already if you were laying next to me. It’s not my fault you didn’t get the prime real estate in bed last night.” He rolls over and I hold myself up so I can lay on top of him. His arms instantly wrap around me and I finally get a satisfactory good morning kiss.
“Oh, sure, blame it all on me for not getting to sleep cuddled up with you. Derrick’s done nothing but shove his elbow repeatedly in my ribs all night. I’m pretty sure I’m bruised.” He fake-pouts.
“My poor, poor, devil! Here, let me kiss it all better!” I begin trailing kisses down his chest until I reach his side.
“You know, now that I’m thinking about it, I’m pretty sure he elbowed me in the dick as well. You should kiss it better too!” I can’t help the disbelieving giggle bursting from me, and only laugh harder when Alex scoffs and says, “Can’t blame a guy for trying. Your kisses make me feel like I’m floating on clouds, at least the ones you give my dick.” He rolls me off of him so we’re facing each other on our sides.
I know things are serious again when he drops his smile and stares into my gaze. His fingers tuck some loose strands behind my ear and continue to trail through my hair. “Good morning, handsome. Have any big plans for today?”
He gives the smallest of smiles before answering, “It’s just not the same when I’m not the first one you see when waking up. I actually need to get to my lair. I was running a new program I coded last night to try and breach Silas’ firewall overnight. Hopefully, it’s made some progress. I need to go check on it.”
Each morning, when he isn’t the first I interact with, he seems pouty for a little while. Usually, a good cuddle session and our question game will cure him of his blues. For some reason though, today seems different. I softly place a hand on his cheek. “What’s wrong, Alex?”
His eyes flutter shut with my touch and he lets out a long sigh, one that causes his chest to deflate. “I know you’re already experiencing it, but all this waiting is getting to me. The longer it takes, the more amped up I’m getting and the more morbid my imagination is getting. I’m used to being an unstoppable hacker, but somehow Silas has been able to block me from infiltrating his system. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong.” He runs a hand through his hair, messing his bed head up even more. “I can’t handle the thought of something happening to you. He was able to get to you before and you lost five hundred years. What if he gets you again? I won’t survive it. How the fuck William could do it is beyond me.”
I pull him toward me and guide his head to lay on my chest. He loves using my breasts as a pillow. Tension slowly leaks out of his body as I run my fingers through his hair and use my nails to lightly scratch his scalp. “Remember when I first woke up and you were showing me your process on your screens? Shit, listen to me talk like it was so fucking long ago. Of course, you remember,” I say, as he lets out a reluctant chuckle. “While you were walking me through it, I recall wondering if it’s possible to infuse technology with magic, and if it was plausible, you were able to accomplish so much with unknowingly using your power.”
He places his chin on my chest so he can focus on my face as I speak. “I’m not sure if you’ve tried using your magic intentionally yet, or maybe it’s a case of Silas having used magic to block anyone from gaining access. I don’t know, just something that popped in my head and I figured it was worth sharing with you.” I’m glad he’s gazing up at me, because I’m able to watch as his eyes spark with the idea and he runs through the possibilities.
Without warning, he pops up and smacks a kiss on my lips, and is off the bed in a flash. He points to me and says, “You’re brilliant, Cecily! The absolute best mate I could’ve asked for. I gotta go!” Then he’s out the door, dashing for his ‘hacker’s wet dream of a lair’, as he calls it, before I can even say another word.
I gaze at my two mates left in bed. Derrick’s laying there with his elbows bent in a chicken pose. It appears Alex wasn’t joking about being hit in his ribs all night. As soon as I reach his side, he reaches out for me, and tucks me under his chin. The hairs on top of my head move when he says, “Good morning, Precious. I love it when you come to wake me up.” I take a deep breath and let his citrus scent wash over me.
Klaus stirs with Derrick’s movement and his hand reaches over my youngest mate to land on my waist. “Hey there, good lookin’. How are your ribs?” I ask Klaus.
“Dude, off,” Derrick growls.
I notice Klaus rolling his eyes as I peer over Derrick’s body. “Put her in the middle and I won’t have to touch you to reach her. I need my dose of morning Sunshine just as much as you.” He props himself up on an elbow and shoots me a grin before furrowing his brow. “How did you know to ask about my ribs? Because you nailed it, they’ve been poked at all night.”
