“I don’t know, Esme.” I wouldn’t lie to her or myself. I advanced cautiously, examining the rubble for any sign of bodies littered beneath the heavy stones. “Ember, I’m going to need your help here.”
“Why? Is best lesbian, Esme about to cry? She can use your titty to wipe them away, not mine.”
“Do you hear any heartbeats beneath the stones?” I questioned, unwilling to argue about Esme with her, not when I was so close to screaming in both denial and grief.
“There are several beneath us. All beating quickly, in fear. Esme’s sister is one of them, Siobhan. I also hear the horny girl’s increasingly nervous heart thundering louder than the one that woke me as it rumbled.” Guilt washed through me, which forced my eyes to narrow. It wasn’t my guilt that I was feeling.
“You didn’t make a sound when I confronted Knox,” I pointed out, only to close my eyes as more guilt and shame drifted through my mind. “I am not upset, Ember. I wouldn’t wish to see my mate like that, either.”
“Not my mate. I can’t feel my mate anymore. I haven’t felt him since we returned. It’s as if he’s just . . . gone. I don’t know how to feel. My insides are twisted, achy, and it hurts me.”
My lips released a sad, grief-filled whimper that was part rattle, part-whimper, which had a chorus of similar sounds coming from around me. Ember’s inner turmoil became turbulent and washed through me in violent waves.
“He’s a storm, one I’d willingly weather to have him. He could drown me in his rain and I’d willingly sink into the turbulent waters to feel him. Aria, I don’t want just anyone. I want Lennox back.”
“I know how you feel. I can’t feel Knox, either. It’s like a void has replaced him within my soul.” It was a brutal and gut-wrenching truth that revealed itself. “I miss him too. Both of them, Ember. Right now, we have to ignore the pain. Bury it deep inside until they’re free of Hecate’s hold. Emotions do not belong in battle or wars. I promise you this, we’re going there, and we’re creating a perfect storm of chaos to get him back. That means we have the get the others so that we can go get our Dicker back, and his sometimes psychotic, aggressive, sexually-depriving inner beast. Then we bury the bitch so fucking deeply inside her tomb that she ends up in hell.”
“You had me at bury Hecate, Aria. No need to keep going. Tell the men to stop breathing hard and making salivating noises over my sexy, feminine noises! Gods, can’t a girl just whine a little without every alpha wanting to mount her from behind?” She appeared to be amused with herself as she teetered. “You’d think they’d let a bitch grieve her mate in peace before trying to imprint her depresso, but very sexy, ass.” Ember released a loud rattle, which freed the scent we’d been holding back from the men.
“Seriously?” I asked, only to realize I’d done so out loud.
“I knew she was different, Vicious. You smell that, gentlemen?” Basilius asked, which caused a soft rattle to release from Esme’s lips. “Just guarding your queen, huh?”
“If I were you, I’d stop there,” Esme warned. Basilius turned, peering at her over his shoulder. If sex had a look, then he’d just fucked her. His eyes darkened, smoldering as they dragged down her body leisurely, down her frame drinking in every inch of her. By the time he’d finished, I was positive that he’d memorized each tiny detail to mind. Esme, bless her heart, released a low rattle once more—though her trembling betrayed a submissive and timid creature. “Got a problem, asshole?”
“I’d be very careful, Little Bird. I’m not afraid to teach you some manners.”
The feral stare he aimed at her caused my eyes to widen. Basilius built a deep, lustful rattle in his chest, then released it as he prowled closer to her. Esme jerked, then crossed her legs as if she were about to piss herself.
“Dayum! Your best lesbian is about to be mounted. I’m pretty sure her mate is about to fuck her harder than karma. Is it wrong if we watch? Because I’d enjoy watching her scream, even if it isn’t from me inflicting pain.”
“We are not watching them fuck. And she’s my best friend!” I hissed internally.
Ember’s cackle of mischief caused my focus to shift back to the issue at hand, which wasn’t Esme’s mate intending to teach her who was the more powerful one in their relationship. If you could consider her wanting to murder him, while he wanted to murder her pussy while choking her, one.
“Fine, whatever. Fair warning, if the submissive one gets dicked down before we do, I’m going to be very dramatic. I will also cause a scene, just so you’re aware. If I were you, I’d really start thinking about getting Dicker back, and by Dicker, I mean we need to get dicked down before that sad, neglected hole closes up and you piss out of your nose or some shit.”
“Are you done? You’re embarrassing me. Did you forget they can actually hear you?” A few of the surrounding men chuckled, causing my cheeks to redden and Killian to glance around as if he’d missed something, but I didn’t offer an explanation.
She snickered and then rattled, forcing it to break free from the hold I’d sought to maintain it with. “You, I’m sorta like your emotional support animal. You might be the unicorn, but I’m the dragon! Rawr!” Ember made the most unsexy sound in the history of roars, ever.
“You don’t even know if you’re a dragon, jackass.”
“You don’t know that I’m not,” she rebuked.
My eyes slid to a shadow within the woods, which sent uneasiness rushing through me. “In the woods,” I whispered to those near me. Slowly, I started around the debris that was littered on the ground from the once-impressive courtyard. Zyion and Eva closed in around me, even as the others spread out, looking for a way in while covertly scouring the wards.
“And even I don’t know you’re not a dragon, I wouldn’t call you an emotional support animal. You’d be more akin to a rabid animal, who enjoys being banged harder than a screen door in a hurricane and eating bloody meat.”
A pair of horns lifted from a bush that had the men chuckling. Before I could say anything, Acheron shot forward with inhuman speed.
“Don’t eat Avyanna, Acheron!” I screamed, which caused Ember to release a full on belly laugh from within me. “She’s a friend, not food!”
Acheron didn’t seem to hear me, and I watched in horror as he leaped over the bush and landed on top of her. The ear-splitting scream she released had him standing upright and then backing up with his palms raised to show her he hadn’t meant her harm.
“Told you we should’ve eaten her before someone else did. But do you listen to your emotional support animal? Nope. Now he’s going to eat her, and we won’t grow big enough to have wings!” Ember complained, then shook within me. It caused the thing on my spine to rearrange, which forced a worried look on my face.