Unleashed, page 4
“I don’t think even Zeke knows how they work,” Jaxon said, “or he’d never have brought in the sorcerer.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Well, Tarzi apparently saw the sorcerer use the magic in the mountain to power the spell. We could get Zeke to try that with the location spell.”
“And if there’s more to it than that?”
“Then we’ll try something else, but it’s worth a try. And if Zeke tests the spell, it can’t backfire on us.” At this point, anything was worth a try. We needed to get to Hell and save Del’s sister, just as she’d saved our packs.
“I suppose that’d work.” Jaxon rubbed his forehead. “But we can’t trust Zeke.”
“Of course not.” I chuckled. “If it works, we use Zeke’s anger to get the gateway spell and get Amma out of there. If Zeke runs off after the sorcerer, it’s win-win, right?”
Jaxon was only fighting this so hard because it meant working with Zeke, I was sure of it. It was there in the way he fought through the decision and looked for possibilities in the least likely of places. But at least this way, he didn’t have to kill his brother and Zeke would have a chance at a different life.
Jaxon crossed his arms and glanced over my shoulder to the couch. He watched Del for a moment, then looked back at me, his voice even lower. “There’s something else. I haven’t told Del yet. It’s another one of those stories passed down from my grandpa. If the hellhound stories were real, this probably is too.”
“Well, spit it out.”
Jaxon glanced out the window, toward the trees, frowning. “The sorcerer means to come here. I trust my second and I know Vince is capable, but grandpa’s story has me worried. He said wolves with hellhound blood are stronger, far more likely to produce alphas, and alphas strong enough to beat out the competition. But he also said that if a wolf without hellhound blood took the alpha position, then they wouldn’t be able to access the magic in the mountain. It’s supposed to only work for those with demon blood.”
“Work how?” Did he mean to vaporize things like we had planned to do to Del’s icon?
“The way I used the magic when they tested me as a kid, I drew it into me and pushed it out, into the thing I had to destroy. Cooper . . . I can’t leave the mountain without someone here who can use that power. If there’s a chance it can kill the sorcerer . . .”
I blinked. I hadn’t even thought of that. The mountain was held in such high, almost sacred, regard that I’d never thought of its magic as a weapon. Of course, it could destroy people as easily as it vaporized stuff. We hadn’t even had the chance to try it before, with the sorcerer stealing all its magic during the fight.
“Who is supposed to have demon blood? Me and you, I guess, since we mated to Del. Who else?”
“The story about the hellhounds and Nora would suggest anyone descended from her has hellhound blood. That’s my family and yours and neither of us have any family left around here.”
I drew in a shaky breath, thinking through each of our families. My brother Billy had already started a new pack, and he’d taken the other members of Zeke and Jaxon’s family with him since there’d be more powerful positions available for them. That left us exposed. We couldn’t trust Zeke to protect the packs, even if he wasn’t set on gunning for the sorcerer. And that left me or Jaxon.
I met his eyes, and he nodded. “You get it. We’ll have to choose who stays.”
We would because, if we were facing the sorcerer and a demon army, using the mountain’s magic might well be the only way we could defeat him.
I moved my tongue around my dry mouth, tapping my teeth. My heart squeezed and my lungs hurt at the idea of being separated from Del, especially when she’d be so far away. The pressure the distance would put on our mate bond would be intense. But Jaxon and Zeke working together in Hell? That was the best chance I had of forcing those two together, making them see each other as more than adversaries. They had to find some common ground eventually, didn’t they? And those two making up was probably the only way the packs would survive any of this.
Jaxon was looking through me, thinking things out in his own mind. I knew if I let him, he’d sacrifice his own comfort for the packs. He always had. That was what his instincts demanded. But his bond with Del was newer, too, more fragile. He needed more time with her to cement that relationship in its early stages. And for him to open up. I’d seen peeks of a softer, warmer Jaxon, a man able to choose his mate over his pack. He needed to make that choice more often to be truly happy.
I also knew deciding without Del’s advice was sure to end up with both of us sleeping on the floor. “Let’s sleep on it and discuss it with Del tomorrow. You know she’ll have an opinion.”
To my surprise, Jaxon nodded. “Okay, deal.”
Jaxon carefully picked Del up, and we slipped quietly into the bedroom, undressed, and nuzzled into her. No doubt both of us were scheming ways to swing Del to our reasoning, but tomorrow would tell whose she chose.
Del
Morning light shone through a gap in the curtains. I stretched my arms over my head, careful to avoid the limbs and heads of both my mates, who were sleeping so peacefully on either side of me. I’d never believed I’d have this kind of connection with anyone. Not only the sex, but the love we shared was more than I’d ever dreamed possible, and I planned to prove it to them every day for the rest of our lives.
Now, to get started. I grinned, imagining how they’d look once I’d put my plan into action.
Flipping the covers over my head, I scooted down the bed until I was level with their hips. Who would go first? I stifled a giggle at the “problems” I had in the bedroom and lowered my mouth around Cooper’s cock.
I took the whole of him into my mouth, then back and down. I felt him jolt awake, the mate bond flaring with desire. Smiling around the width of him, I reached for Jaxon and stroked him until he was as hard as Cooper. Their pleasure danced down the mate bond, and I knew this was what we all needed—a release from the tension that had been following us around for days.
I was part way through switching from one man to the other when Jaxon swept back the covers. He pulled me up to his torso and kissed me hard, his hands holding my body to his front. His muscles flexed under my grip, and heat roared through me at his demanding kisses.
Cooper kissed my neck from behind, finding all those little places where my nerves jumped, and slipped his fingers under my ass to rub my sensitive nub. His finger swirled around, and shocks of pleasure ran through me. I pushed back against him, wanting more, and he nibbled at my shoulder.
Jaxon pushed the heady weight of his desire through our mate bond, making my head spin. He left the connection open, showing me his anticipation and joy at his awakening as he kissed his way down my chest.
Cooper repositioned his fingers and slowly pushed inside my ass, while Jaxon ducked his head to pull my breast into his mouth. His hand took over stroking my sex as Cooper stretched me enough to handle him. The heat threading through my system told me I was more than ready, my succubus hormones on high and my heart squeezing at their tenderness and care. We all fit so well together.
Jaxon looked up from my breast and met Cooper’s eyes over my shoulder. When he nodded at him before meeting my eyes, I was breathless. The two of them working together for my pleasure was beyond sexy.
I pushed back against Cooper’s fingers, asking without words for him to hurry up. He chuckled and moved himself to my entrance, slowly filling me. I moaned at the feel of him and dug my nails into Jaxon’s arm, willing him to take me from the other side.
When he pushed inside me, my head fell back, and my thoughts scattered. The feel of the two of them, throbbing as they held back, was insane. I couldn’t put words to it when Cooper began to move.
Jaxon held still but reclaimed my mouth, his tongue brushing against mine in a pattern similar to Cooper’s movement. Held by them both, I felt so safe and loved and desired. I smiled against Jaxon’s lips, realizing the two of them had turned the tables on my surprise. Well, I didn’t have a problem with that.
As I got used to the size of Cooper and he could move faster and more freely, Jaxon began to move as well. I moaned into his mouth and pulled back from the kiss, biting down hard on my tongue as their pleasure and mine fused together into this white-hot fire, spreading through my nerves and generating so much energy I felt like I’d explode. I was walking a live wire with ten thousand volts of pure ecstasy. I breathed through it, head tilted back, vision whited out.
My mates moved faster, sending their happiness and pleasure down our mate bonds. I felt cocooned between them in a world and a family of our own.
And when they both thrust a little harder, I came, thrown off the live wire, electric energy crackling around me. I blinked hard but didn’t see anything as my mates came with me, tumbling and soaring over the abyss. We merged as if we were one soul, and I felt their pleasure radiating down the mate bonds. Jaxon. Cooper. And one more. I blinked, trying to see through my haze of pleasure. Was I feeling something else? Someone else?
Jaxon kissed my face, whispering, “Ours,” and Cooper murmured into my back. I smiled, letting myself relax into their hold. Forgetting whatever had bothered me, I let our breath lull me through the comedown until I could see again, think again. I reached up, sure my hair would be full of static, but it was only its ordinarily mussed-up bedhead.
What. A. Morning.
I grinned at Jaxon and twisted to share the look with Cooper, but the edges of something darker were worming their way down the mate bond from both of them. We’d just had a tremendous orgasm, and my nerves were humming with juice, but they looked concerned. Something had happened and they didn’t want to tell me? But what?
I climbed out of bed and gazed at them. I enjoyed them in my bed, looking rumpled and well satisfied, but I didn’t like this feeling. Something more than Zeke and the pack and all of this was troubling them, and they’d damn well better tell me what it was.
Huffing, I tapped both their chests and headed for the bathroom. I cleaned up in record time, then confronted them, arms crossed. My eyes narrowed as I stood naked at the foot of the bed. “Out with it, boys.”
Cooper began putting his hands up but stopped at my look. That confirmed he most definitely had something he felt he had to explain. Jaxon’s cheeks reddened, and his hands curled almost into fists.
Cooper sat up, the covers draped over his lap and cleared his throat.
I licked my lips, enjoying the contrast of the white sheet with his dark skin and wanting to run my tongue along the . . . but I needed to pay attention. Whatever they had to say was serious.
“Jaxon remembered another story his grandfather used to tell,” Cooper said. “The short of it was that someone with hellhound blood needs to be here to control the magic in the mountain.”
“Control it how?”
Jaxon sighed. “We were going to use it to destroy your icon before you came.”
I gaped at him. I’d felt the power of the mountain, but I didn’t know they could use it. “That’s how you were going to do it?”
He nodded. “That same power could be used as a weapon if needed. Against the sorcerer or the demons he has with him.”
I blinked. That would be an excellent weapon. If they could turn the magic on the sorcerer before he tapped into it himself, that is. He wouldn’t expect that. I grinned. “Why didn’t you tap into it before? When we were fighting the sorcerer?”
“Didn’t really have a chance,” Cooper said with a shrug.
That was way too casual. They’d had this weapon in their back pocket all the time? I frowned. It must take time to power up. All our battles with the sorcerer had been fast and frenzied. “And you’re saying that destructive power only works for people with hellhound blood?”
“Demonic blood, I think.” Jaxon sighed. “But my grandfather wouldn’t necessarily have known that might be possible.”
I perched on the end of the bed, thinking it through. “But what about the sorcerer? He’s not demonic.” At least, not from what I could tell.
“Then maybe it works for sorcerers too,” Jaxon said, shaking his head. “Or maybe he had something to get around the requirement.”
“The trinket!”
Cooper frowned. “The what?”
Right. I’d never mentioned that part to them. “The sorcerer funneled the mountain’s magic through this trinket he had with him before he used it. It must’ve got around that demon blood requirement somehow.”
“Well, we don’t have one of those,” Cooper said with a sigh, “so that’s not an option.”
My stomach curled at the tone of his voice. What was going on?
“Someone needs to stay behind.” Jaxon met my eyes, full of stubborn stiff-backed determination.
I looked back and forth between them. What the hell? Someone? Meaning one of them? Oh, hell no. There was no way I was leaving my mates behind—either of them. “Surely there are others with hellhound blood?”
“Not on the mountain,” Jaxon said. “My brother and I are the last. And Cooper.”
“How is that even possible?” I muttered. Surely the hellhound blood had been passed down through the pack to more than Jaxon and Zeke and Cooper?
And Zeke couldn’t stay, or we wouldn’t have a mountain to come back to. Besides, we needed him to access the magic in order to get to Hell. I didn’t want to put either of my mates’ lives in his hands if Zeke was planning something with the spell.
Cooper and Jaxon were pushing reassurance down the bond like I was fragile. Fuck that. “I’m not leaving you behind,” I said to Jaxon.
“Someone needs to stay,” he said gruffly.
“That person needs to be me,” Cooper said.
Anger curled up my spine, and I swung around. “No.”
Cooper tilted his head like he wanted me to understand. Understand what? That I wouldn’t be without my mates? He should know better. We’d just found each other, and I wanted to wake up every morning to a mind-blowing orgasm, not an empty bed. No, I wouldn’t leave him behind either. I’d just found them. I didn’t want to lose either one.
“Why does it need to be you?” I asked Cooper, my heart wrenching at the idea of him being away from me for an undetermined amount of time. “It’s Jaxon’s pack, and they’re not too fond of us. Would they even let you use the mountain’s magic?”
Cooper huffed. “If it was between that and bowing down to the sorcerer? They’d have to.”
“And that’s why it needs to be me,” Jaxon said. “I can order them to support Cooper, but it’d be easier all round if I stayed with the pack. They trust me to keep them safe.”
“And what does that say?” I asked. “That you don’t trust Cooper to stand in for you?”
“Why should he have to? This is my responsibility.”
“So, you’ll never share pack duties with us?” Cooper asked.
My heart hurt at the thought of leaving either of them behind, but Jaxon needed to see Cooper as an equal, as a partner, or there was no place for us here anyway.
Jaxon threw his hands up and sat back against the headboard so quick his head rebounded off the wall. He winced, rubbing the bruised spot. “I don’t mean it like that.”
“Well, that’s how it sounds,” Cooper muttered.
I glanced between the two of them. “I assume neither of you considered Zeke?” They’d never trust him to help, and I couldn’t blame them.
“He needs to go to Hell with you. That’s part of the deal,” Jaxon said.
Cooper agreed. “And if you need another spell from the book while you’re over there, you can use him.”
I rolled my eyes. “Use him, huh? I don’t think his deal included continued support.”
Cooper gave a harsh laugh. “Details.”
I stared at Cooper. He was playing this out like he was easygoing about everything, but the mate bond throbbed with concern and anxiety. He wasn’t happy about staying behind. Hell, he might be unhappier than I was, and my hellhound’s fur was bristling with a firestorm right now. But he was doing it anyway. Why would he push Zeke and Jaxon to go over him?
His mate bond hummed with hope, worry, and yearning for something . . . pack.
And then it dawned on me. I smiled. Cooper wanted Zeke and Jaxon to spend time together, to try to get over their stupid pack war and make amends. He’d seen Jaxon agonize over what he was going to sentence his brother to the same as I had. If they made up, maybe the answer would come to him. Maybe Jaxon could find it in himself to give Zeke another chance.
As angry as I was over how Zeke had treated me, he probably hadn’t done it all of his own will. He deserved a chance to make things right with his brother.
“Okay. Cooper stays.” My heart broke at the words, but I pushed through it. This was right. Who said demons didn’t have a heart?
Cooper squeezed my hand, but Jaxon just blinked at me, gaping.
I forced a laugh. “You lost. Get over it.”
Jaxon shook his head but ended up smiling. “Well, I won’t mind spending more time with you.”
Cooper glared at him behind my back. “If she comes back with any new scars, I’ll hogtie you and leave you in the forest for a week.”
Jaxon nodded. “I’d expect no less.”
I huffed. Men could be so damned stupid. But I was glad they were mine. And feeling out their bonds again, I realized choosing Cooper to stay made most sense there, too. He’d mated with me the longest, and our bond was strong enough to last through the time apart. My bond with Jaxon was still growing as we got to know each other better. I wasn’t sure what so much time apart would do, but it wouldn’t be good. The connection still felt . . . vulnerable, like a young shoot. I shook my head, amazed all over again at how much Cooper was sacrificing to make this work. He deserved some one-on-one appreciation. And as soon as we had time to spend, I’d make sure he got it.
