Page 39 of Beltane

A young woman wearing a thin white dress danced toward us, her hair braided back with flowers, her dark skin emanating warmth from the nearby fire. She smiled and placed a wreath of roses and ferns on my head before leaning in to kiss me on the cheek. I froze, knowing it was these same townspeople that had gotten us into trouble at Midsummer. They had shoved chalices and condoms in our hands, practically begging us to make bad life choices. It shouldn’t have been a surprise when we’d woken up two days later, married to each other, with no memory of how or why it happened.

She did the same to Ivy before handing us both a bundle of condoms, rose petals, and heather, bound together with twine. Then she smiled and pranced away.

“This place is so fucking weird.” Ivy laughed, squeezed my hand, and continued walking through the crowd.

According to the lore, Beltane was a fire festival marking the middle of spring and new life in all its variations. The world had survived the long death of winter, and now the people celebrated the return of the sun. Which, of course, came with all the joys of human procreation and massive orgies in every corner. A pile of bodies moved together on the grass a few yards to our right, barely visible behind the people in between. Their moans of ecstasy punctuated the drumming, and the light from the various fires cast them in terrible shadows. They had taken on a lifeform of their own, like some form of demented Beltane monster, here to devour everyone in its path.

“C’mon.” Ivy pulled my hand, diverting my attention back to the crowd, and led me through the center part of the valley, her bright gaze searching for our allies. I was taller than most of the people here, so I had an advantage. I saw Miri up ahead with Lex, pointing to the left, just past another group of people enjoying the fairy wine and lowered inhibitions.

A platinum blond head peered over the rest of the crowd, green eyes practically glowing in the moonlight.

Finn.

“Miri found him,” I said to Ivy, nodding toward the fairy’s towering form.

She gripped my palm and tugged us in that direction, and I nodded at Lex when we emerged from the crowd at the same time. Siobhan and Donnelly lay on the ground in a heap, kissing and rubbing against each other while Finn watched with rapt fascination. I winced, thanking whatever luck was on our side that we’d gotten here before things went X-rated.

“Finn,” I said, grabbing onto his arm, hoping to break him from this trance.

Big mistake.

The second my palm came into contact with his skin, a whoosh of relaxation went through me, like I’d swallowed a handful of Xanax with a fifth of Jack chaser. My knees melted, and comfortable happiness settled in my gut like warm cocoa. My worries faded away. Hell, I couldn’t even remember why we were so freaked out to begin with.

Finn turned to me, his green eyes even more beautiful than I remembered, and he cupped my cheek, leaning down to press his lips to mine. They were soft and inviting, and so damn delicious, I couldn’t stop consuming them. The commander swept his tongue out, wrestling with mine, tasting like wine and pure, undiluted sin.

I wanted more.

A hard shove at my side broke the kiss, and I narrowed my unfocused gaze on a glowering Lex, his hazel eyes angry and piercing.

“Stop that,” he snarled, clapping in front of my face. “Snap out of it.”

Snap out of what?

There was nothing to do, nowhere to be, not a damn care in the world.

A low giggle got my attention, where I found Ivy kneeling by Siobhan, leaning in to kiss the banshee. It looked so damned fun, I couldn’t resist. I dropped down next to them, connecting my lips with Donnelly’s. He was firmer and more solid than Finn, holding a silent dominance that spoke of the hunter inside him. But I loved it. His scent enveloped me, and when Ivy leaned back up to wrap her perfect fingers behind my neck, I let her pull me to her mouth so she could relish me any way she wanted.

Hands skated over my torso and down my waist, so many fingers touching and squeezing and taking. I couldn’t tell whose was whose, and at this point, I didn’t care. I hung my head back on my shoulders, focusing my attention on the way Finn captured Lex’s lips. The fairy commander held DC’s face in his massive palms, claiming his mouth the same way he’d done to mine. Miri fell to my side, wrapping an arm over my shoulders before leaning in to take my earlobe between her teeth.

Chills of rapture erupted down that side of my body as Siobhan kissed Ivy harder, deeper, and I ran my hands through Donnelly’s hair, reveling in how soft and shiny it was in the firelight. I couldn’t focus. Everything seemed so blurry around the edges, so drenched in dream light that I thought I would never wake up again.

And that was just finnneee.

Ivy curled her fingers against my scalp, drawing my face toward hers so she could lick my mouth, sucking the taste of Donnelly off my skin. Soft, feminine fingers traced down my shoulders before another tongue ghosted across the back of my neck, sending goose pimples down the center of my spine. My shirt floated over my head while someone else worked at my belt buckle, and I closed my eyes to languish in the sensation of skin against skin, pheromones mixing in the air, the bite of winter lingering as spring tried to take root.

I could have stayed there forever. I could have let Siobhan and her lovers have the four of us. Rolling my head to the side, I wished for this party to never end. No wonder the entire town had abandoned their lives for this. Who would ever want to leave?

Sensations coasted through me, more potent and vitalizing than the last time, and when I opened my eyes, I focused on a tall blond woman dancing around the closest fire. She looked vaguely familiar, wearing a long white dress that had seen better days and waving her arms above her head like she commanded the drums instead of the other way around. Beauty radiated off her in thick white tendrils, powerful and effervescent, and I soaked it up, willing more of it to collect inside me.

I rolled my head back farther to allow a mouth more access to my jawline, but narrowed my focus when something horrific came into view. Just beyond the fire pit, a group of people writhed against each other so desperately that they’d become a mass of limbs and skin…and blood. I squinted, not sure I was seeing what I thought I saw, but yes…they’d scratched each other so hard flesh hung from muscle and bone. Yet, they kept going, kept moaning, seemingly welcoming the agony.

Shock surged through me in a nauseating rush, and I shoved to my feet, digging my palms into my eyes to rub them before opening them again. But in that split moment, another crowd had moved in the way and I lost track of the scene that startled me.

What the fuck? Did I…Did I just see that?

The woman in white danced harder, waving her hands more forcefully, ghostly webs of energy shooting off them. I turned back to the sight in front of me, where Siobhan held on to Ivy’s face while she bit and sucked at her mouth, growing more demanding with each swipe. Lex and Miri rolled against each other while Donnelly kissed and licked at both of their necks, occasionally sinking his teeth in long enough to make Lex moan. Finn stood watch over it all, his attention rapt while he licked his lips and took long, slow inhales.

But just beyond us, over by the tree line, a group of people were fucking so hard, they had rubbed themselves raw, damn near as terrible as the others. Their mouths and teeth were covered in crimson liquid, dripping from their lips in a grotesque display of passion and lust. Their arms were painted ruby red, their chests streaked with dirt and grime and…

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