Page 51 of Fool's Bargain

“It’s so strange that a being so old and powerful could be such a sucker for a puppy.” I gave a rueful laugh and shook my head. Looking at Bodhi, I said, “I hope this means it can be convinced to take pity on me. Maybe a little Christmas cheer will soften its heart.”

Bodhi’s eyebrows shot up. “If it works for you, maybe it’ll work for Fate,” he said with a sardonic half smile.

I gave him a small shrug, my throat tightening. “I get it, okay? And I’m sorry.”

“I only ever wanted you to be happy, you know that, right?” He looked behind me at the three men who had gathered around Llyr across the room, then at Ione, who still clung to my side. “I can see you found it.”

Ione squeezed my hand, looking between me and Bodhi. “This is the man who helped heal you, isn’t he?” she asked. I could only nod because I wasn’t ready to voice my fears that Fate might take half my happiness away if things didn’t work out today. But Bodhi didn’t notice because he was abruptly pulled into a fierce embrace by the nymph at my side. He grunted in surprise, then laughed as she peppered his face with kisses, finally landing one solidly on his mouth, complete with tongue.

Bodhi grunted, his cheeks flushing redder than the hat on his head. He extracted himself with a gruff clearing of his throat. “I—uh—belong to Deva.”

“Oh, I know,” Ione said. “I just had to see what you tasted like. You’re all wrong for Zarya. I’m surprised you got together at all.” She tilted her head, giving him a speculative look, then reached between his legs and gave his cock a cursory squeeze.

“Ione!” I grabbed her wrist. “I know you’re new to the human world, but it’s not polite to go around grabbing men by the dick.”

She grinned wickedly at me. “Now I understand.”

I pulled her away, shooting Bodhi an apologetic look as we went to greet the others and rejoin the men.

The place erupted in even more confusion when the doorbell rang and a collection of guests arrived. I recognized Bodhi’s mom and grandmother. Then followed a trio of men I’d never met before but who looked like they belonged, if in a very unusual way. Maddie Dylan was joined at the hip to a pair of gorgeous specimens who were distinctly not human, and Susannah was hand in hand with a distinguished-looking older man who clearly doted on her.

I braced myself to offer apologies and embarrassed explanations for my lack of contact, but they didn’t seem the least bit fazed by my presence. Both women embraced me as if we’d never lost a day, then Susannah marched off toward the kitchen with her husband in tow, muttering something about making sure some “old bird” wasn’t monopolizing Christmas dinner.

Delicious scents already filled the place and someone had turned on a compilation of bluesy Christmas tunes. With the new arrivals, suddenly the attention was off me and my mates, but I still felt wired and anxious.

“We need to talk about this plan of yours,” Kyril murmured in my ear when we’d wandered toward the kitchen to avoid some of the chaos. He pulled me aside through a door leading out to a garage. The scent of cut wood wafted over me as the other three crowded out the door behind him with anxious expressions. “It’s a fucking stupid arrangement and I’m not willing to stick around to find out what Fate decides. We need to go. Dorian and I agree that the Diviner is our best bet for getting Fate off our backs.”

“It’s too risky. I want to see this through. If something doesn’t give by the end of the night, then we can go,” Theo said before I could offer my own objections. I glanced at him in surprise and found that he and Ione were both at my side, facing off against the other two. Within the center of my being, their connections vibrated with brilliant power, and I nearly cried at their utter conviction that I’d made the right decision.

“The Diviner’s the one who got us into this,” Kyril said. “Not that I’m objecting, but she clearly had her reasons and I’m willing to bet she’s invested in not having Fate rip us apart. Are you really willing to risk that?” His turquoise irises swirled with fear that I felt in my soul, though our link was nowhere near as deep as the ones I had with Theo and Ione.

That there could even be a deeper link than the soul bond I shared with Dorian and Kyril amazed me, but it was there at the very root of my identity, as if my entire being were a flowing river that had recently broken its banks to create two new tributaries. We were still one, yet separate.

“There’s one way to fix this,” I said, the answer so obvious I couldn’t believe we hadn’t already done it. I darted my gaze around what appeared to be more wood shop than garage, a half dozen pieces of handmade furniture in various stages of completion around us. One was an enormous hand-carved headboard with an intricate design taking shape that I realized with a start was a replica of the tree I’d inked onto Bodhi’s chest. But I didn’t have time to marvel at that right now. I spied the tools in an open zipper pouch spread out on the side bench and ran to them. The blades of the chisels gleamed and I chose the smallest, holding it to my wrist where I’d bled for Ione only a couple hours earlier to reopen the wound.

“Zarya, no,” Kyril said. “We didn’t want to make you do this so soon.”

I scoffed. “Nobodymakesme do anything, Ky. I’m doing this because I want to. Because Christmas wouldn’t be meaningful without a gift that matters. This isn’t exactly something I can wrap up with a bow and put under a tree, but this was what I intended to give you all along, ever since I saw inside your hearts and knew you as deeply as I know myself.Youunderstand me in a way no one else ever has. The four of you complete me.” My eyes burned and my throat tightened but I held my hand out. “Besides, Fate let Theo go because of his blood bond to me. Ione and Theo are already a part of me. I’m going to go in circles if I don’t have the two of you to balance them out.”

Dorian was the first to rush forward and snatch the tool out of my hand. He nicked his wrist, then tossed the tool to Ione before he pulled me close, holding up his bleeding hand. “I’m not such a fool I can’t accept such a perfect gift,” he said, then pressed his mouth over my bleeding wound.

My entire body flushed with heat at the sensation of his tongue against my wrist before he latched on and sucked. I held my wrist to his mouth and he let go, dropping his arm and sliding it around my waist. He tilted closer with a muffled groan, his erection pressing against my hip. I took a shaky breath and grabbed hold of his forearm, bending my head to capture the trickle of blood that had flowed down, following it up to his wound and the tantalizing flood of his life’s blood. He tasted decadent and dark, just the way I’d imagined.

Kyril cursed and took the chisel from Ione. When he crowded in beside Dorian, I tore my mouth away from Dorian’s wrist, dizzy from the flood of magic his blood carried, and the layering of sensations as our meld deepened and another tributary sprang forth from that source deep in my soul.

He lifted his wrist to me like an offering, blood welling with the scent of red wine and I bent my head, mouth already watering for a taste of him. His blood flooded my tongue with a shock of power that burned through my limbs, instantly forming a fourth branch of that flowing river of power that made up the core of my being. Confused as to how it had happened so fast when he hadn’t taken my blood yet, I hazarded a glance up to see his lips pressed to the other man’s. They clung to each other, tongues deep in each other’s mouths, both their arms tightening around me. Then Ione and Theo were there too, surrounding me completely. First Theo took my mouth in a hungry kiss, then Ione, who lingered with sweet pecks that conveyed all her gratitude for what our bond had done for her.

The awareness of the four of them at once was like a world opening up around me. Where I’d felt trapped in a prison of loneliness, struggling to find meaning in my life before, the four walls that held me in fell away completely now with my links to them. Even though I was surrounded by four powerful bodies, I felt free. I let my mind break wide open to the flow of magic between us, and an entire torrent rushed in with a deafening roar.

With the flood came images I couldn’t fathom. Scenes unfolded in my mind’s eye of my past alongside theirs. Every second of our experiences merged until I could no longer distinguish my own from theirs. But I saw more than the past. I saw the five of us together in a place I’d never been, but that I knew was the home they called the Haven. We were tangled together with Theo poised over me, his scarred back now covered in an intricate design that perfectly obscured all the old marks. His ass flexed as he fucked me, then rolled away after he climaxed. He was replaced by another man, but this one was neither Kyril nor Dorian.

My mind’s eye shifted to peer up at this new face from the perspective of the version of me who lay there. I gasped at the familiar eyes that stared back.

“Ione?” I heard myself whisper. The man smiled and kissed me tenderly as he penetrated me. He was every bit as potently masculine as the other three, his cock just as distractingly perfect inside me, driving me beyond the brink of a soul-deep orgasm. As we came down, he shifted back to the Ione I knew and we lay tangled together in bliss.

The vision disappeared like a bubble had popped and I stared at the others with a huge smile.

“It worked.”

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