20
HALEY
My skin was still crawling with the cold, dry scrape of bony fingers, the wailing of the ghouls an endless echo in my skull. I’d tasted death tonight, felt it tearing at my skin, witnessed it bend and bow before my magick, watched it claim a ruthless enemy that my gargoyle protector destroyed before my eyes.
I hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell them the whole story yet, or to share Keradoc’s news about Melantha. About the choice he’d asked me to make.
Between everything I’d been through tonight and everything Elian and I had just shared, I felt hollowed out inside, like a jack-o-lantern left to rot long after Halloween had passed.
Right now, I just needed my monsters, the solid weight of their warm bodies and fevered touches. I needed to feel the pounding of my human heart, the hot rush of blood in my veins, the spark of desire between my thighs that could only come from within a body stillverymuch alive. Very much healed and whole.
And, for the first time since fate had set us all on the same twisted path, I wanted them all together.
At the same time.
“Tell us what you need, angel,” Jax said. “We’re not going anywhere. No matter what.”
I nodded, but I still bit my lower lip, nervous despite his reassurances.
Jax and Hudson knew I cared for them both, knew I’d been spending time with each of them. But we’d never really talked about what that meant for all of us. If there could evenbean “all of us.”
My heart fluttered, my stomach turning fizzy at the thought. This was what I wanted, and there was no reason to feel shame or embarrassment about it. No reason to feel nervous.
I just had to tell them how I felt, and let them decide for themselves whether they wanted to be part of it. Part of the “us” that set my soul on fire. That made a family. That made a future together, even if that future was here in Midnight.
“I need… I need to be reminded that I’m alive,” I finally admitted. “I need tofeelalive. And being with you—all three of you…” I shook my head, a shaky laugh bubbling up from inside. “So many things about this life are so fucking complicated. Messy. Disastrous. But not this—not us. The way I feel about you guys is like… God, it’s the simplest thing there is. Your mine, and I’m yours, and whatever shades of gray fall in between all that, whatever labels we need to give it or not give it, I don’t care. I just know that I want you—all of you. Elian included, in whatever way he can be here. So if that’s not what you guys want, if you’re not a hundred percent okay with me sharing my bed and my heart with all of you, then tell me. No judgments. I promise I won’t—”
“Stop.” Jax cupped my face, his eye blazing. “Just stop. There’snothingI wouldn’t do for you, angel. Not one fucking thing. So if this is what you want, then this is what I want, too. I’min, a hundred percent.”
Hudson growled in agreement against my neck, kissing a path up to my ear and nipping my earlobe, no words needed.
And when I looked up at Ellian, my first love, my tortured, silver-eyed fae, he simply nodded, the promise in his eyes all I needed to see.
He was okay with this, too. Withus.
And he was staying. Watching. Bearing witness to this crazy thing unfolding between me and my monsters—this precious, nameless thing that Elian was as much a part of as the rest.
Jax looked to Elian, his eye narrowed. “Are you… joining us?”
“No,” I said, saving Elian from having to answer. The others didn’t know about the price he’d paid—Melantha’s curse—and whether he decided to share it or not, now wasn’t the time.
Elian smiled, a mix of gratitude and sadness. “Haley and I have… an agreement.”
“You sure?” Jax asked, and Elian nodded.
“I’m just here to watch, brother. And to hear my little sparrow sing.”
“It’s okay.” I reached up and touched Jax’s face, tracing my fingers over his brow bone, down along his scar. “This is what I want. I promise.”
“Then let us take care of you,” Jax whispered, already undoing my bathrobe, unwrapping me like a present. “Let us give you what you need.”
A deep sigh of satisfaction and happiness floated from my lips as I leaned back and closed my eyes, focusing on the feel of the robe slipping away, his palm skimming across my bare stomach, the brush of Hudson’s beard against my shoulder as he kissed me, the familiar weight of his massive hand caressing my breast. Even with my eyes closed, I felt Elian’s gaze on my body, a smoldering heat that melted me straight down to my core.
Jax’s fingers worked lower, gently gliding between my thighs and circling my clit before finally dipping inside me, his expert touch making me gasp.
“So wet for us, angel,” he murmured, slowly drawing back to tease my clit. I arched my hips, begging him to drive in deeper once more, but apparently my demon had other plans.
He and Hudson rose from the bed, my body screaming at the sudden loss of their touch, and I opened my eyes to watch them strip out of their clothes, both of them rock-hard and ready, a sight that made my pussy throb with need. Hudson moved to the end of the bed, and without warning, grabbed my ankles and dragged me down until my legs were hanging off the end. Hands gliding up to my hips, he gripped me tight, his eyes sparkling with mischief. His lips quirked into a devious grin—my only warning before he thrust inside, impaling me on his massive cock.
