Aiden catches me, tilting my chin up to his, kissing me deeply. Caught between the two of them, their hands and mouths roaming me as Van fills me up, I couldn’t feel more desired.
“Go on,” Van murmurs in my ear as he begins to slide in and out of me, and in time with his rhythmic movements, I wrap my mouth around Aiden’s cock again. The three of us move together. Van’s hands on my hips steady me. Every time Van rocks deep inside me, he hits my g-spot and it feels like fireworks exploding deep inside me, lighting a liquid pool of heat that spreads out through my limbs. Every time he rocks me forward, I take Aiden in a little deeper, until his fingers are tightening in my hair and I can feel his cock tense inside my mouth.
Aiden’s fingers curl against my scalp just before his cock twitches inside my mouth. Van slows as I swallow, but stays there inside me, his hands toying with my breasts, rewarding me for taking Aiden with the way he caresses me, paying thoughtful attention to teasing my nipples. Need fills me, and I press my hips back against Van until he grins at my insistence.
Aiden’s lips cover mine, the two of us kissing each other wildly as Van rocks into me over and over. I almost scream against Aiden’s lips as my own orgasm builds, and then suddenly I can’t help crying out as I feel Van shatter inside me, my own walls clamping down around him as I come hard.
The three of us collapse onto the bed together, spent, vaguely sweaty--and far more relaxed than we all were twenty minutes before.
“Now, we can talk,” I murmur, but Aiden laughs and puts a pillow over my face.
“Give us a minute,” he says, “before we worry about saving the world, all right?”
The three of us curl up together, and the world feels right.
Chapter Sixteen
Reid
My hands are shaking as I set the book slowly down on the library table. Beneath the dim lights, the artifact gleams up at me. According to the book, the strange ring with the grinning teeth was one of the few items in existence that could tell if a god was inside someone.
And it was kept in this school.
The thought of breaking in and trying to steal yet another item made my stomach sink. We’d been sent to this place because of forces outside of our control, but I was starting to feel like the longer we were here the more we’d belong here.
Rules used to mean something to me. I’d easily follow them. They made me feel safe, maybe even comfortable. When I thought about my future, I was drawn to careers like being an engineer or an architect.
But now…now I was the God of the Underworld. And apparently, rules mean nothing to me, because we’re the bad guys. We’re just trying to stay one step ahead of everyone, so we won’t be imprisoned for eternity.
Looking at the ring, I feel strangely numb. It’s the only thing I’ve found that might be able to help us, so taking it is inevitable. I just hate feeling like I’m being pushed to do things that…that aren’t me.
“You’re still you.”
I jerk up and find a woman standing over me. She’s older and wears a blue gown as if she’d just stepped out of another time period. Her hair is swept up into a loose bun and little hairs frame her face, which all seem carefully placed. She has wrinkles around her mouth and eyes, and the kind of regality I imagine in a queen.
“Uh, are you a ghost?”
She looks startled as she smiles. “No, boy, don’t you even know the basics about ghosts?”
I shake my head, and her smile falters. “You’re so…innocent…so unknowing of our world.”
“You mean ignorant?” I say, wincing. “I thought I’d studied and understood enough, when I was a human, to have a basic understanding of the world, but right now it’s enough to just try to figure out what we are and to keep up with our classes. Even though I have a lifetime of things to learn about the paranormal world.”
“I understand,” she says, then indicates a chair beside me. “May I sit?”
It’s strange, I have no idea who this woman is, but I find myself nodding. It just feels like telling my grandmother no, even though this woman looks a heck of a lot younger than my grandma.
She draws out the chair and sits lightly beside me. “I’m Esmerelda. A teacher at this school and a close friend of Mr. Time. I am also one of the teachers rooting for you kids.”
I find it’s hard to look away from her intense hazel eyes. “Uh, thanks.”
She glances down at the books. “I’m guessing, given the massive charred earth we all woke up to, and what you’re researching, that none of you intentionally created that destruction.”
I finally manage to look away from her. Should I tell her? I don’t really know anything about this woman.
She sighs softly. “The weight on your shoulders is unfair for a creature your age.”
My gaze meets hers. “But I guess it’s better us than people who would abuse their powers.”
She doesn’t answer me. “Come on, Reid, let’s go get the ring.”
I’m shocked when she takes me to the warehouse. The guards give me a funny look, but none of them move to stop us. I sense magic in the air for a few moments, before she waves her hands, and the strange feeling in the air fades. When at last we come to a room full of treasures, she goes straight to a box on a shelf and removes it.
Turning to me, she opens it up. On a bed of red velvet, the ring stares up at me. And somehow, it looks even more dangerous in person. In fact, the longer I stare at it, the more I’m sure that its red eyes are blood. They look wet, almost alive. And the smile promises pain and bloodshed.
“I created this ring,” the woman says.
I jerk in surprise, so beneath the spell of the ring that I’d forgotten she was there.
She lifts her other hand, and I see that on her ring finger the flesh is terribly scarred. My stomach turns as I look at it. Her finger looks as if some kind of creature had burrowed into her flesh and chewed it.
“Hell,” I mutter, then stiffen when I realize I cursed in front of an adult.
“It’s okay,” she says. “It is a bit shocking. I just wanted you to know that using the ring has a price. It’ll hurt like hell, but then you’ll know the truth.”
“And what do I do when I find out?”
Her gaze locks with mine. “It means you guys need to become more powerful faster, first of all. You have no chance in hell of taking on the gods if you don’t get it together.” And then her voice gentles. “And when you find the god, you must figure out why your friend is allowing them control.”
“They aren’t--”
“There has to be a reason. They could push the god back, if they want to enough.”
Man, I can’t believe one of us is struggling so badly that we allowed a god to take over control...and the rest of us didn’t notice. Is it Aiden, who deals with so much guilt about our sister? Or Van, so scarred from his dickhead parents?
“Thank you,” I say.
She nods. “Just take care of it, Reid.”
Handing me the box, she leads me right back out of the warehouse. At the door to the library, I can feel her watching me as I head back to my dorm, the rain, thankfully, just a light drizzle. The woman said she’s on our side, but I really can’t be sure.