Page 60 of Wildfire Witch

It wasn’t nearly as smooth as our ride to Spells Hollow, but at least Seth wouldn’t have to replace the suspension the next time he got his car serviced. Rusty was out of magic, with few earth motes being traded up and down our connection. Ceridor and Seth weren’t faring much better…but who cared? We were alive. I needed a firm bed and all three of them naked with me as soon as possible.

And I was about to get that wish. When we arrived at the motel, Rusty lifted me from the car and tucked his hand over my thighs, covering my modesty as all of us walked to our room. Ceridor slipped on a lazy glamor, only covering his ears and hair color.

We passed by one person, an elderly woman smoking outside while reading a paperback book. She’d propped her orthopedic shoes on a little stool and looked quite relaxed in her chair. The badge on her leopard print shirt suggested she was Mavis, the housekeeper. She took a drag on her cigarette and noticed us, practically dropping her novel. “You go, girl,” she commented, blowing a smoke ring behind us.

That poor woman. Considering I was still coated in ash, we were about to make quite the mess in our room for her to clean up later.

Rusty rumbled eagerly the moment we kicked the door closed behind us, locking out the outside world. He whipped his shirt off of me and placed me delicately in the middle of the bed like I was a porcelain doll. “So, how do we do this? Rock-paper-scissors?” he asked.

“Nix should pick who she wants to be with first,” Seth said.

Three sets of eyes turned to me with anticipation.Oh no. I didn’t want to choose. “If you have some water magic left to tap…you could get my ass ready,” I suggested to Seth.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said playfully, heading into the bathroom to run some water in the sink.

I turned to my other two men, tapping my chin. “If it helps, I’m down to watch for a round,” Rusty ventured. “You’ll still walk away from this room with my dragonling, even if I give these two a head start.”

Ceridor’s brow scrunched with doubt. “If she leaves this room at all in the next few weeks, it’ll be withmychild in her,” he stated.

“Hey, um,” I said, finally touching my chest and finding a big patch of rough skin. A scar where there’d once been a much more catastrophic injury. “Hate to bring this up, but I died? Like, an hour ago? Probably no babies are happening anymore.”

“Just an extra challenge, my diamond,” Rusty answered confidently.

My fae husband, who’d been on the baby-making journey with me longer, lifted a shoulder. “My life is completed by you, firefly.Anything else is extra.” His silver gaze flashed a warning over at Rusty. “Andnotworth upsetting her over.”

“Got it. No baby talk,” he said, putting his palms up.

I sighed, crooking my fingers at Ceridor. If it was possible…I wanted a half-fae child first, just like we’d tried for in my first life. “Let’s at least settle down somewhere first. If it doesn’t happen, we can always adopt,” I suggested.

Ceridor made to climb on the bed and I breathed a little “ah” and a waggle of my finger. He grinned and started to strip off his clothes.

“We’ll go to the Wind Court. We can fill the home I have sitting there,” he suggested.

“We finally get to see it?” Seth called from the bathroom.

Ceridor climbed onto the bed, now without a stitch of clothing on. He caged me in his arms, pressing his lips to mine. “You finally get to see it,” Ceridor murmured in my ear.

I put my arms around him and he rested his weight on me, but not enough to crush. “But first…I made a promise to Melisande. We have to stay and help the last two witches break their curses, if we can. Then Spells Hollow will be free of Morfran’s evil,” I murmured.

If he was surprised I’d had a conversation with my long-dead friend, he didn’t show it. “I’ll only agree to that if no more fire bros show up. We don’t want to be a hindrance, either. And the death of that fire dragon will cause them to sniff around and have another reason to look for Aodhnait,” he whispered back.

“Fair enough. I still want to see Spells Hollow restored before we set down roots someplace else,” I said.

Ceridor nodded in understanding and sat up. Seth was approaching the bed with a little whirlpool of water resting on his palm, while Rusty had shucked off his clothes too at some point. “Before anything else, I think there’s something we need to tell Nix,” the fae said.

Seth nodded in agreement. He also took off his pants one-handed when he noticed the other two men had already done so.

“Go ahead. She should know,” Rusty said.

I sat up too, a little confused. Ceridor cupped my cheek, his gaze soft and free of shadows now. “We bound ourselves to you a second time, to bring you back from death. Aodhnait used our mating bonds to help pull you back. The consequence is that our life force is connected permanently. If you die, we die.”

My mouth popped open in shock. “But that’s such a huge sacrifice. You didn’t have to…” Yet all three of their magics had been present to pull my spirit back into my body.

“I just found you, my diamond. I couldn’t let you go so easily,” Rusty growled.

Seth smiled, now as naked as the rest of us. “We haven’t had the chance to bond deeply as anam cara. But now we have the chance.”

I bit my knuckle, trying not to cry again. I’d done plenty of that, and didn’t want to spoil a happy moment. “I love you guys,” I said, voice full of emotion.

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