Page 119 of Kingdom of Aramis

Another one of my heads nudges Liam, a mournful wail escaping its mouth. It grabs hold of the arrow shaft in Liam’s chest and yanks it out, tossing it to the side before licking the wound. All of my guys have shifted now, and they gather around their fallen bond mate. Hunter’s eyes are haunted, and his hand is shaking.

“We didn’t see them,” he murmurs. “They were hidden in the treetops.”

Gryffin clamps a hand on his shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “We didn’t even scent them until it was too late. They must have been using a charm to conceal themselves.” He tries to reassure the dragon, but it isn’t working.

I hate seeing them like this, but a feeling of inner peace washes over me, and I know everything will be okay. My hydra makes me see the truth. It concedes control to me, and I shift back into my human form. I rush over to them as Liam suddenly changes and gasps for breath.

“Holy fuck, he’s alive!” Micah shouts as I stumble over to Liam’s side and throw myself at him.

“Their mate bond… Her hydra bite gave him the ability to regenerate from death.” Gem appears from the trees, looking haggard and broken. “Thank fuck, because I couldn’t make it here to save him. I felt him die, and I couldn’t do anything.”

My lips press against Liam’s, and despite him looking a little disoriented, he kisses me back. The rest of the guys fall to their knees and surround us in a group hug, laughing and crying at the fact that their bond mate is still with us.

I pull back and check him over, poking my finger through the hole in his uniform that should have protected him from the projectile. The wound is gone, and there is nothing but smooth skin.

“Fuck, that hurt,” he mutters as Hunter gets up and nudges one of the shifters Gryffin or Brodie killed. He squats down and digs through his pockets, pulling out a small rock then holding it out for us to see, a look of distaste on his face.

“Runes are etched into it. It must be why we couldn’t hear or sense them and why it penetrated your uniform, which should have protected you from projectiles. I’m not sure if they are witch or fae runes, but this is no longer just an internal shifter problem. They are getting assistance from other kingdoms.”

Brodie helps Liam to his feet as Gryffin does the same thing to me.

“Thank goodness it was Liam who was hit. If it had been Gryffin or Brodie, then they would bedead, dead,” Micah says, looking around the clearing at all the dead shifters. “I’m going to guess this was a welcome party from Zalfari. It’s the only option. No one else knew we were coming here.” He looks at Gem for confirmation.

“Yes. When I did a fly over of the village, it was basically deserted. I saw a couple of people moving between dwellings, but not as many as there should be for the middle of the day.”

My mind is stuck on Micah’s comment. He’s right. If it was one of the others, then there would be no resurrection or regeneration. They would be cold corpses lying in the snow. My hydra screams inside me, and my body explodes into that form once more. The guys stumble backwards out of the way so they aren’t crushed underfoot.

“Hey, Colbie, easy. Liam’s alive, He’s fine. You need to calm down.” Brodie talks to me like I’m an injured creature about to lash out, and he isn’t wrong. Five of my heads duck down and strike, biting into the shoulders and necks of the five men who don’t have my mating bite yet. They shout out in surprise and pain as my hydra mate bonds them. Even if it isn’t reciprocated yet, they will be safe from any future attacks. The rush of blood explodes across my taste buds, each of them a distinctive flavor as my side of the mate bond locks into place. A wave of heat rushes through me as my heads release their prey, and I shift back into my human form. I shake with need as I sink to my hands and knees and gasp for air, the cold snow melting beneath my overheated hands.

“Oh shit, Colbie.” Liam gapes at his bond mates, who all look at me like I’m prey they want to devour. “You’ve initiated the bonding heat with all of them.”

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Colbie

Before I can say anything or apologize, Brodie leaps toward me and scoops me up in his arms, running away from the carnage and deeper into the forest.

I hear shouts behind us, but they die away the farther Brodie runs.

“I’m sorry. This isn’t how I wanted to do this, but my wolf is feral,” he says as he comes to a stop and slides me down his body before pushing me back against a tree. Brodie kisses me like I’m the air he needs to breathe. His chest heaves as he strips my confining clothes from my body, tossing my boots to the side. My core aches, and I have no complaints as I find myself suddenly naked, the tree bark scratching my back and ass as Brodie drops to his knees and runs his tongue through my soaked slit.

“You taste like heaven,” he murmurs before lashing his tongue across my clit. I moan with delight and grab his hair as he tongue fucks me to a quick, intense orgasm. My hydra wasn’t thinking clearly, her need to protect her mates outweighing anylogic. I should stop him, but truthfully, I ache with the one-sided bond, and I want this as much as he does.

The sound of an argument somewhere behind us echoes through the trees. Poor Liam is having to deal with the fallout of my rash actions when he only just recovered from dying. I lift my head to look in that direction. I can’t see the others, but they aren’t far behind me. The mating heat is going to ride each of them hard, but I hope they can control themselves long enough for Brodie and me to have a moment alone.

Brodie drags my attention back to him, shoving two fingers deep into my pussy and sucking hard on my clit. Another orgasm rushes through me, and I scream as my body convulses around his fingers.

“Such a good girl, coming all over my hand,” he praises before sucking on his fingers and standing up. He unzips his pants and shoves them down around his knees, palming his cock and giving it a stroke, then he lifts me, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he kisses me. I taste myself on his lips, and I shudder with anticipation as he lines his cock up with my entrance. “I promise I’ll make this up to you later,” he says, keeping his eyes locked on mine as he pushes me against the tree and drives his cock home, bottoming out in one thrust. I scream again, the intrusion slightly painful. He’s big, and my pussy is tight from the first two orgasm, but his groan of pleasure has me relaxing, and the pain eases as the fullness becomes pleasurable.

“God, you feel so good—all tight and hot and mine,” he growls before pulling out and rolling his hips in a way that lights my body up. Instead of the furious fuck I thought I would get, his pace is measured and controlled, and he works my body like a master, using his cock in a way that sets my nerve endings on fire again as I desperately beg for more.

“God, more… harder,” I beg, grabbing his shoulders for purchase. I dig my heels into his ass, trying to urge him on, but he continues the maddening pace.

He chuckles wickedly and takes one of my nipples in his mouth, scraping his teeth across it before sucking it hard. My head falls back against the tree, exposing my throat to him, and he growls and presses a kiss to my pulse point.

“I’m going to bite you now and seal us together forever. You will never escape me.” His words come out all growly and gruff. His wolf is on the surface, his eyes glowing with his inner shifter.