Page 17 of Beltane

“Are you watching, Ivy? Are you listening?”

When his telepathic claws threatened to dig into my boundaries, I reinforced them with more energy and opened my eyes again, gasping with relief to be back in my room.

I still didn’t know how I’d managed to force him out of Mount Vernon at the wedding, and from what we could tell, he hadn’t been back. Lex and I couldn’t have possibly overwhelmed him. He had more power than we’d ever dream of, and we were the most effective when there were four of us. Down two, Lex and I shouldn’t have been able to do anything, much less coax him into submission.

What did it mean? And more importantly…could we do it again?

I extracted myself from Miri’s embrace and got out of bed to put on a robe so I could head downstairs to find our husbands. It was well after three in the afternoon by now, and my stomach reminded me of exactly how much stress I had been under these last few months without Miri.

I paused halfway, gripping the railing tighter as I met Lex’s gaze. He sat in front of the fireplace, wearing nothing but his boxers, his bare chest streaked with pink welts and scratches. I was happy Carter and Lex could be there for each other while I reacquainted myself with our wife.

Dark hazel eyes ran the length of me, coating my skin with the heavy weight of judgment and accusation. I crossed the room to stand in front of him, staring down from in between his knees. He’d always looked so beautiful like this, a king in repose, even if the weight of our crowns would destroy us. So much went unsaid between us, yet we were screaming at each other even in silence.

“How is she?” Lex murmured.

“Better.”

He licked his lips and nodded, raising the whiskey glass so he could take a long sip. “Good.”

I grabbed it from him, finished the rest of it in one burning gulp, and set the tumbler on the coffee table. “Where’s Carter?”

“In the shower.” Lex grinned and leaned his head back, the lion in him sated after the time alone with one of his favorite treats.

I climbed in his lap, my knees to either side of his hips, my cunt pressed up against his well-used cock. He smelled like sex and Carter, and the combination hit me deep in the gut. I had a lot to say to him, but there was a sick part of me that wanted to lick every ounce of one husband off the other. If I asked, Lex would let me. If I asked, Lex wouldmakeme.

“I’ve thought of something.” I cupped his face so he had to stare at me. “I know how we can defeat the king.”

“Uh-oh. Ivy Washington: the mastermind, hard at work. Go on.” His cynicism used to frustrate the hell out of me. Now, it made me want to hold him down by the throat and ride his face until he couldn’t breathe.

“Siobhan said only the four of us could do it,” I explained. “That the four of us were the key piece of the puzzle.”

Lex smoothed his palms over my hips, coasting his fingers up my ribs and back down again while he eye-fucked me. I let him, the hedonist glutton. “Uh-huh.” He was only partially listening.

“It only took two of us to get him off Mount Vernon property, if that’s really what we did.” Jury’s still out if it would be permanent. “What do you suppose the four of us could do?”

Lex’s gaze snapped to mine, an eyebrow raised. “You’ve got my interest. Drive it home.”

“Do you think, if the four of us attack him, we could force him back to his realm?”

“I want more than a shove back to Faerie,” Lex said, leaning in so he could whisper. “I want his fucking blood.”

I didn’t disagree.

He pressed his lips to mine in a soft embrace I never would have thought him capable of ten years ago, contrasting the violent language he used. Now, I knew him as intimately as I knew myself. Lex and I were a partnership, a marriage of power and convenience, certainly, but no less real for its foundation in publicity. I loved him and I hated him and now we were so bound together, I didn’t know how to live without him, not anymore.

I wrestled my tongue into his mouth, sucking the taste of Carter off his skin, biting him like I could devour the very best parts of their intimacy. When Lex reached between us and freed his cock, I tilted my hips to let him slide home. He hissed like he’d been well worn, and based on the sounds I’d heard earlier, I knew he had. I ran my fingers through his hair and held his head close, letting him bite and suck on my neck as hard as he wanted.

He forced my mouth back to his while he fucked me, licking my tongue and lips, moaning to himself.

“She still tastes the same,” he murmured, thrusting into me harder, spearing me deeper. Hot, steamy lust shot through me as I rocked against him, wanting everything he’d give me, knowing he needed this reconnection as much as I did.

“So does he,” I said, nuzzling my head into Lex’s neck so I could inhale all that remained of Carter. He had showered since they fucked, the heat from the water still radiating from his skin, but that sandalwood and pine scent could only be from our husband, and when it mixed with Lex’s manly pheromones, I went wild. It was an intoxicating blend, made just for me, and when it combined with what remained of Miri in my mouth, I sank into my perverse longing for three people at the same time. Lex dug his nails into one hip, holding my throat with the other hand, and I grabbed on to his shoulders like I might fall off any second.

Our sex was hard and quick, all pleasure in its sadistic, feral glory, and when I came, I sank my teeth into his pulse point to remind him he fucked Carter because I allowed it. He was mine, so was Carter, so was Miri.

Lex may be the axis around which we rotated, but I was the gravity. I was three months older than Lex, and therefore, he was madefor me.Miri had come to live inmydorm room, she wasmyroommate, and Carter had been obsessed withmesince we met.

Something territorial went through me, perhaps fueled by this need to remind him of who he belonged to. Lex gasped as I bit harder, clawing his nails into me deeper, and I pulled back so I could hold him by the windpipe as he reached his own climax.

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