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I wanted to blush at his words, but I was still hiccupping and sniffling, though thankfully, I'd got the full-on sobs under control.
"With Timmon and the Priestess dead, who is in control of Agartha now?" Dres asked, bringing the topic away from me, for which I was grateful. Mentally he added,I've always got your back, ladybird.
"That's a good question. We might need to find one of the elders and talk to them," Kai replied, but exhaustion was lacing his voice.
"You need to rest first." I wasn't requesting and Kai knew that. He also knew exactly how bad he was feeling, so he didn't push back, which I was grateful for.
"If you've got the stones, is it done?" he asked as our suite came into view.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "According to the caretaker I spoke with, we need to go back to where it all began. I just don't know if that means my realm or Atlantis."
"There was that statue in Atlantis with four empty sockets, right?" Griff said.
"Oh yeah!" Finn jumped in, sounding excited, "The one where you put the Atlantis stone in and it summoned a caretaker?"
That did ring a bell. "We should probably try that first. I don't think my realm makes much sense since there's nothing I can think of unless you guys know of something you saw before you met me?"
Most of them shook their heads.
"I hate to be the one to bring this up," Niall said with a sigh. "But we need to figure out what to do with the remaining cult members we have in custody and whether or not to hunt down the ones who ran."
"I think that problem can wait a little while longer. Surely the Agarthans have somewhere they can keep the cult members for a few days while we figure out the stone situation?" Weariness filled me, making my steps slow even though I knew the bed I was craving was getting closer with each movement.
"We have prisons," Kai mumbled.
I looked over at him and Dres only to find the latter basically propping up the former. Kai wasn't doing much walking on his own anymore, and with how Dres was moving, I knew he was also tired.
We were all exhausted, and all the problems that had accrued over the day would have to wait until we'd had a chance to rest. I knew, and I figured the others did as well, that any decisions we made right now would be heavily impacted by our need for rest, so that had to be the first priority. Although I thought my first priority might be showering and brushing my teeth. After that, we could figure out the fate of the four realms.
18
Tessa
When I woke, I found myself in bed with Finn and Griff, both cuddled around me. Their warmth was making me overheat, and I struggled to gain even an inch of space between them.
"Keep squirming like that, dove, and you'll start something you didn't intend to." Griff's voice was a low growl of need in my ear that went straight to my core.
"I think she likes that idea," Finn mumbled from in front of me.
He wasn't wrong. When I didn't protest, his hand, which until that point had been resting around my waist, drifted up my back as he pulled me in for a kiss.
I'd been expecting ferocious need, given how much time had passed since we'd been together, but I got the opposite. Tender, love-infused kisses that melted my heart and body as I pressed against him.
"No hogging our mate," Griff grumbled, and when I came up for air from kissing Kai, he was right there, taking over, barely giving me a chance to breathe.
Hands drifted over my body as I was rolled onto my back, and I wasn't sure who they belonged to. There wasn't any concern or fear behind the realization, though. I knew Finn and Griff would take care of me and respect any boundaries I set. The way they caressed me with soft, firm touches made my brain want to short-circuit.
Finn kissed my neck while Griff still claimed my mouth as thoroughly as possible. I reached out to touch both of them, my fingers grazing over various parts of their bodies, the bulge of what I thought was a bicep, the mountains and valleys of their abs, the firm roundness of a butt, until I found my goal, the soft stretched velvet of their cocks.
"Mine," I gasped when Griff pulled away to groan as I wrapped my hand around him.
Finn mimicked his response before he added, "I think the shifter magic has made her get all possessive."
"I've always been that way, but now I want you to know it." A shudder ran through me. "I thought I'd lost you both and wanted to go with you. I don't want to experience that ever again, do you understand?"
They both nodded, but their touches stopped, and for a moment, I worried I'd ruined the mood.
It was Finn who spoke next. "Think about how many times we've been on the other side of that equation. We've watched you disappear, fall to your death, be stabbed, be taken, disappear again, have weapons pointed at you, have people try to kill you... the list goes on. We have all been through this more than anyone should have to experience something like that. What you experienced with us today or yesterday with Kai wasn't fair either. Most people don't have to deal with this stuff, but we do—"
