Page 42 of All the Devils are Here

Behind us, Trin, Ariel, and Ban all stood in human forms. Or as human as they could be. I was dying to know how Trin was standing on two legs and in human pants. Especially since I saw the way his skin shifted into blues, greens, and purples before it even reached his belt.

Mates.

I thought the word, and it sang through me like fresh music in a studio. The exhilaration of nailing difficult choreography for the first time. Therightnessof it caused my knees to buckle.

Laurent caught me around the waist before I made it, holding me against him. “Is this all right?” I asked him, meaning the others.

There were no shadows in his eyes, and no hesitation. “If I was always meant to be your mate, Meg, then they were too. I don’t care if I have to share you, as long as you’re mine.”

The others were closer now, circling around me.

I closed my eyes. “This isn’t real,” I said. But this time I said it not because I thought they didn’t want me, but because I couldn’t believe it.

Ban reached out and pulled me away from Laurent, searching my face. “Who made my kitten cry?” Then he glared at Laurent. “It’s good to see you, Khalas, but if you made her cry—”

“No.” I reached up and touched his face. “I mean yes, but not like that.” Then I stopped, brushing over the soft darkness on his cheekbones. “It’s true?”

His rumbling purr exploded between us, and his lips were on mine before he kissed his way across my jaw and down my neck. “Mate.”

My entire body shuddered. I couldn’t feel it the way they did, but I wanted to. Spinning to Trin, his strange, aquatic eyes were on me, consuming me. And even more than before, I was aware of how thin and revealing this shred of a dress was. “You?”

He chuckled and held out a hand. As soon as I took it, I was pressed against his body, feeling all the warm skin of his torso. “Do you have any idea how difficult it was to leave you last night, knowing what you were to me and knowing it wasn’t the right time to tell you? Believe me, Meg, it was the only thing on my mind.”

What was on my mind right now was making my skin flush. Because it was sinking in that these men who were my mates were distinctlynothuman. And Christine was going to cackle when she found out.

I’d once told her that everyone was a monster fucker at heart, and that couldn’t be more true for me. I’d been fascinated by them even before I knew they were real. Now?

Trin lifted my chin with his finger, and the way his gaze trailed over my cheeks made me think he knew exactly where my mind was going—wondering what he could do with the tentacles that were currently hidden.

But there was one more man to face, and I pushed those dirty thoughts aside as I turned to face Ariel.

He was looking at the ground and not at me, hands in fists by his side. He cleared his throat. “What happened,” he said, voice ragged like he’d been screaming. “It can’t ever happen again.”

“What do you mean?”

He finally met my gaze, dark eyes like the void at once filled with pain and hope. “I mean that youaremy mate. I felt it the second the magic finished entering you. And I can never hurt my mate. It’s not possible. My soul would shred itself first. No matter what power Prospero has over me—over us—he can’t order me to do shit to you.” He moved closer and looked into my eyes. We were as close as we could be without touching. “Never again,” he said, the words soft but resonant. A vow I felt in my gut.

Ariel reached for me, and this time I didn’t pull away. When his hands met my skin he breathed out, like it was pure relief. There was no way to pretend I didn’t feel it too. Wrapping me up, he pressed his forehead to mine. “I am so sorry.”

The words were a broken whisper.

“I know. And I wasn’t fair.”

“Yes, you were. I don’t care if I have to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. The only thing I want is for you to trust me.”

Both of us were holding our breath when we came together, the kiss hesitant. And then it wasn’t. It was like being opened up to silver light, the way his magic slid over my skin and into my mind. Not taking and not breaching, but soothing and tasting and making sure I knew how much he wanted every piece of me.

When he pulled back, my cheeks were wet again, and Ban growled. “Stop making her cry.”

“They’re happy tears.” I reached out my hand to the shifter. “Promise.”

Stepping away, I let Laurent hold me again. He was here. He washere. And I was surrounded by… mates. A laugh bubbled up in my throat and I slapped a hand over my mouth. “It’s going to take a while to believe, even knowing it’s real.”

Laurent shifted his weight behind me. “Prospero?”

“Still where he needs to be.” Ariel said, and his eyes flicked to mine. “And down for the night. I drugged him.”

“How?”

---