Page 49 of Beltane

“Damn it, Lucifer, let me go.” Ivy writhed against me, struggling hard enough that one of her hands slipped through mine and slapped me against the cheek hard enough to sting. I winced and dug my nails into her skin, making her grimace as I tied the belt harder. She knew the safeword; she knew how to stop me. When she didn’t call for mercy, she’d given consent.

“Oh, yeah, fight me, X.” I growled, standing up so I could unbuckle Carter’s belt, resisting the urge to smile as he grumbled something about not bringing him into this. Once I had the leather thing off him, I grabbed Ivy’s ankle and stretched it out so I could latch it onto the bedpost, relishing in her flushed skin and aggravated growl. “The night before the big battle and you’re tied to a fucking bedpost.” She looked so hot like that, so flushed and harried and easily tamable. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Fuck off, you monster.” She yanked at the straps, but they wouldn’t budge, and she threw her head back in a huff.

“Gladly.” I chuffed out a laugh, stood, and patted Carter on the chest, nodding back toward the table. But he seemed resistant, looking at his Weeds with desperation and longing in his stare. “Don’t worry about her. She likes it.”

I recalled a snowy day at our cabin when Carter had walked in on a similar scene between Ivy and me, her strapped to the dining room table, me edging her until she sobbed for release.

Carter pinched his eyebrows together, but he didn’t argue or try to save his beloved Weeds. He turned from her while she whined and groaned for help, and he followed me back to the table where I held a hand out to Miri, hoping she’d take it and stand to appease my threat to Ivy.

She looked at me skeptically before flicking her mahogany gaze over to our wife, who still struggled on the bed.

“What are you up to, my prince?” Miri raised an eyebrow, clearly seeing through me almost as much as X.

“Why don’t you come with me to find out?”

She sighed, popped one last strawberry in her mouth, and took my hand, allowing me to pull her to her feet. When she stood in front of me, I kneeled to slide my hands up her legs and under her skirt, twisting my fingers around the waistband of her panties before shucking them down to her ankles. Looking up at her, I helped her step out of them, letting her use my shoulders for balance as she wiggled her shoes through the holes. Then I walked back to Ivy, who still protested the entire thing.

“Let me go, Lucifer,” Ivy said. “This is some sick way for you to avoid—” She froze when I straddled her chest, crumpling Miri’s panties in my fist before grabbing her jaw with the other hand.

“Open up, X.”

She glared at me, steeling her jaw before glancing at the underwear in question.

Yeah, maybe I was asking too much, being too demanding when all Ivy wanted was to connect. I’d promised them the truth, no more lies, no more secrets. But this one? Well, this one would ruin the whole night. I didn’t want them spinning on something that wouldn’t happen anyway.

There would be no sacrifice. I would make sure of that.

I control my life. I control my fate.

End of story. So there was no sense talking about it or wasting our time together. If tomorrow was the face-off with the king, I wanted to have them like this. We could plan until our hearts exploded, and it still might not make a difference. Fucking them was the only pure bliss I’d ever known, and hell, I just wanted one nice thing for myself.

Ivy pursed her lips before slowly dropping her jaw, allowing me to slide Miri’s panties over her tongue. I stuck two fingers under her chin to close her mouth again.

“If you spit those out before I tell you to, I’ll turn your ass purple in front of our knight and princess.” I wasn’t kidding. I hoped she did spit them out. I hoped she fought me the whole goddamned time so I could show Carter and Miri what it really was between us. I wanted them to know that truth, to remember why Ivy and I brought out the worst in each other.

Carter had once made me swear to be nice to her, to put her back together when she was broken, but that wasn’t what she needed from me. It never was. It was this. It was the king to her queen, her counterpart, her equal.

When Ivy nodded, I swung my leg off her and returned my attention to Carter and Miri, who stood next to the table with their heads bent toward each other, foreheads touching, whispers on their lips.

“Not keeping secrets, are we?” I tsked my teeth as I walked closer, eyeing Carter from head to toe. “Ivy’s not the only one who likes a purple ass before I fuck it.”

Carter had the nerve to blush, the little slut, but I didn’t miss the hint of a grin. He wanted this. They both did.

“We think you’re the one that should be tied up,” Carter said, causing a muffled laugh from the bed. He crossed his massive arms, tilting his head to the side as he narrowed his beautiful eyes on me. “We think you’re keeping secrets again.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but Miri shook her head and stepped forward, running her hands over my chest and up to my shoulders. I stood, bewildered and curious, waiting to see where this went. Most of the time, when the four of us played, I took the lead. Occasionally I let Carter fuck me, but even then, I was the dominant. I liked to be fucked almost as much as I liked doing the fucking, but to see the two of them eyeing me like this, it sent a surge of lust straight down my spine, into my balls.

Fuck.

Miri unbuttoned my shirt, taking time to press tiny kisses to my chest as she did. I was so focused on her, I didn’t notice Carter moving in behind me, not until Miri shucked my shirt over my arms, forcing me to put them together behind my back so she could pull it off. But Carter took advantage of my being entangled and twisted the fabric around my wrists before yanking it up, so my elbows were bent at my lower back. I arched into him, his chest between my shoulder blades, his mouth at my ear. I had an inch on him, but he’d come to outweigh me by at least fifty pounds of muscle.

“Such a fucking meathead,” I murmured, but Carter put a giant palm over my mouth to silence me, leaning my head back on his shoulder.

“Shut the fuck up, DC,” he said, mocking my earlier tone. “You like it.”

I chuckled low in my chest, my knees damn near wilting at how hot he was when he teased me. Miri had that look in her eye, the one that meant she’d make me work for whatever she wanted, and in this case, they wanted me to tell them what the queen said.

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