“Seneca?” Godwin muttered, brushing her bare shoulder with his warm hand. It felt so nice, she pulled it over herself as she rolled over, her head heavy and hazy. She snuggled closer to him and Josh, somehow finding her way between the men. Usually she hated being touched while she slept, but it felt so right and comfortable that she was nearly back asleep.

“Hansa,” he said, slightly louder. “You must wake. This alarm is yours. I do not know how to silence it.”

“Mmmmhhh,” she groaned, pulling him closer. Josh shifted, then pushed his face against her chest with a heavy, half-asleep sigh. It took her a moment, but she finally realized that her alarm was, in fact, humming along not too unpleasantly. Godwin moved for her as she rolled onto her back, Josh’s face still pressed against her chest somehow.

Godwin sat up, handing her the phone. She looked at it through blurry, sleep-heavy eyes. Her alarm. He handed her the phone and she swiped the alarm off. Her alarm.

“Shit, Win!” she exclaimed, instantly awake. “I have to work today! I don’t…I didn’t bring clothes. And, oh damn, I’m gonna be late. Shit.” She tried to sit up but her body was so heavy. She sighed, then lay back down. Her eyes were heavy. She was so tired.

“Seneca,” Godwin said her name in that way that made it seem like a song. She almost didn’t want to answer him to make him say it again.

“Hmm?” she said, struggling to keep her eyes open.

“You should stay here today. Beg off from work for the day.”

“I’m so tired, Win. I can barely move.”

He nodded, his warm fingers gliding over her body. Fire erupted behind his touch, but in a pleasant way. His vanilla smell was heavy in her head, and her loins clenched despite her exhaustion. “We expended excessive amounts of energy last night. Bonding can be incredibly arduous, and we all need time for recuperation. Beg off of work for illness, you are in no condition to attend today.”

She whined, then cringed at her whininess. She was so tired, she couldn’t stop herself. “But, I can’t call off! I have work to do. And…I mean…” she trailed off, not able to come up with any good reasons that they would miss her for one day.

Godwin grabbed her hand, the one holding the phone, then pushed it towards her face.

“Whass goin on?” Josh asked sleepily, shifting from his position on her so that he wasn’t directly on her body.

“Seneca is calling off for the day. Go back to sleep, Josh Crocker, you need rest to aid your recovery. When you wake again our ghanza will hunger,” Godwin told him, brushing his hair back over his forehead.

“Mmm. Proper good,” he said with a yawn, curling up against her side. He pulled the blanket over his body and was asleep again in seconds.

“Calling?” Godwin insisted, moving his hands from her body.

She whimpered, then forced her bleary eyes to focus on her phone. She dialed her boss. It was early enough that it went to voicemail. “Hey, sorry,” she said wearily, not even having to try to lay it on thick. “This is Seneca Mahon. I’m not feeling too good today, I’m calling off sick. I’m very sorry.”

She felt guilty as she hung up, but Godwin’s hands on her temples relieved her of that stress nearly instantly. “How’d you do that?” she mumbled softly.

“Incubus, hansa, remember?” he said with a small chuckle. His desert-warm fingers traced her cheekbones, tucking stray hairs back behind her ear.

She chuckled, falling back into his lap. “Why am I so tired?”

“Forming two bonds is tiring work,” he explained softly.

She scratched at her wrist, which felt tight and warm. Rolling her head into his lap, she twisted her body around his. “I feel like if I move from here I would fall apart,” she told him. “I want to be touching you both. Like, I need to be touching you. My chest, it’s too tight, and my stomach is all weird.”

“Your body is changing because of our bonds. All of us are soaking in the magic of it, our bodies processing it and modifying to accommodate our new bonds,” he said, shifting so that his leg was pressed against Josh’s. She hadn’t noticed but her hand was on Josh’s chest, and his whole body was pressed against her side. He shifted in his sleep, throwing one leg over Godwin’s. He was still naked, and she saw his relaxed manhood resting on his leg, peeking out of the blankets. She had never really found penises really attractive before, but she liked Josh’s. And Godwin’s. A lot.

“Are you thinking naughty thoughts?” Godwin asked her, shifting so he was laying down next to her. He pulled her into his arms and she sighed contentedly as her heart calmed and her stomach settled. Josh shifted again, curling up against her body so that she was spooned between her two men.

“Maybe…” she trailed off sleepily. “I’m, I mean, no, I mean,” she tried to explain. Her head felt so thick.

“Tavani, hansa, return to your slumber. You need rest. After that, we will eat, feed, and play again if you desire,” he whispered into her ear, stirring her nethers.

She pushed her body into his as her response, too embarrassed and sleepy to respond. He laughed and kissed her ear before he lay down completely, pulling another blanked over the three of them. She was asleep again in seconds, her guilt over calling off already forgotten.

Some time later her eyes shot open and she sat up, breathing hard. “Too hot!” she complained, pushing Josh and Godwin off of her. “Too hot!”

They both muttered and groaned sleepily as she extracted herself from the naked puppy pile they had been sleeping in. Oh god, she was naked.

Shame crept into her, making her face burn, raising her body temperature another couple of degrees. She was sleeping naked on the floor between two men, one of whom was now her Wren. Oh god, what had she done?

Godwin’s hand was on her thigh and she shied away from him, jumping back quickly until her back hit the wall.

“Seneca,” he said softly, as if he were calling a woodland creature. “Come back, please?”

“No, Godwin. Oh, god, what have I done? I bound him, Godwin, and I didn’t even care. Oh shit, oh, shit. He’s a Wren, Win. I bound him. He’s my Wren now. Shit,” she freaked out, looking for something to cover her unacceptable nudity with. Except there was nothing close to her, all the blankets by Godwin, and Josh, who slept blissfully through her panic.

“What does that mean, Seneca? That he is your Wren?” Godwin asked her calmly. Too calmly. How could he be so calm?

“I don’t know!” she practically screamed. “I don’t know! And I don’t even know who to ask!”

Godwin considered this for a moment, then nodded his head, unworried. “Calm. Peace, all is well. I could not let Sabati have you, either of you, and she desired you both because she saw you as mine, and she desires that which she cannot have. A thousand apologies, hansa, but I would not lose you to anyone, never her,” Godwin said, his voice cloudy with sleep. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to wake up. “We will work through what it means that Josh is Wren and bound, it will be satisfactory. I need your touch, hansa, please come back to me.”

“I can’t, Win. What have we done? I’m sorry,” she apologized needlessly. “I’m sorry. I, this is all my fault. I’m sorry. I mess everything up, I’m sorry.”

“Seneca,” Godwin said with the patience of a preschool teacher, “come back to me. You will feel better if you are with us.”

“No, no, no,” she said, shaking her head, covering herself with her arms. She was so hot. Why was it so hot in here? “I can’t, Godwin. I’m not supposed to, I mean, you should be with someone better than me. I’m no good,” she said miserably, inching her way towards the hallway to his bathroom. Maybe a cold shower would help her cool off.

The look of pity on his face was too much for her. She turned and ran down the hallway. He called after her, called her name, but she didn’t turn around, didn’t respond. She had to get away, had to cool down, find some clothes and had to leave. She was no good, not for Godwin or for Josh. If she hadn’t messed up so bad with Chip, if she hadn’t made so many mistakes, neither of them would be bound to her.

She slammed the door before she hit the light switch, then spent another few seconds looking for the switch before her fingers fumbled over it. The dark seemed thicker in Godwin’s apartment than elsewhere, but maybe it was just her being so used to all of the light pollution in the city that she was never anywhere where it was totally dark.

The halogen light of the bathroom turned on with a soft electrical hum, illuminating the room. She eyed the large bathtub longingly, but she needed to cool off right now, and she didn’t want to be her longer than she had to. She had to get out.

She turned the water on and found a temperature that wasn’t frigid and wasn’t too warm, then stepped inside. The spray of water had her gasping, each droplet of water scraping over her skin like stinging sand. Even the shower was out to make her feel bad. She felt unshed tears sting in her eyes and pushed them away. Forcing herself to stand under the spray of the water was making her feel ill, but damn it, she was needed to do something.

“Seneca, may I come in?” Godwin asked from the doorway.

Ashamed of herself, she turned the water off, granting herself a small relief. “You’re gonna come in anyway,” she grumbled, grabbing a towel from the rack and wrapping it around her body, tucking it in under her armpit.

Godwin crept into the bathroom slowly. She noticed he had clothing on, but it was nothing she had ever seen him wear before. He wore something more like a robe that desert tribes might wear, long and flowing. It was completely black, hiding the frame of his body. Surprised by the sight of Godwin in clothing that was not a tailored suit, she froze, her eyes locked on him.

“Hansa,” he said so gently it made her relax. She could taste his power in the air, pulling her apprehension away from her. Anger flushed her cheeks. How dare he try to manipulate her right now, after what Sabati had said.

“Damn it, Godwin, don’t you do that to me right now. Don’t try to change how I’m feeling. Was…Sabati…I mean, did you do this to me the whole time? Make me feel how you wanted me to?” she snapped, hating the cold, hateful words as they fell from her tongue, and hating herself for saying them.

The pain on Godwin’s face lanced her heart. “This is why, Seneca. This is why I said you would never love me. Could never love me. You would not be capable of believing me…” he trailed off, looking away from her, hugging his arms around his wide chest. “I did not…I was only trying to help. You ache. I only desired to calm you, to bring you back, to ease your pain.”

She was crying now. Her tears fell freely and she hated herself so deeply she wished she didn’t exist anymore. Wished her mother had finished the job when she was a kid and saved everyone the pain of knowing her.

Godwin’s arms were around her and she tried to fight him off, but she didn’t have the energy. The minute his skin touched hers the anxiety dialed down to almost nothing, but her miserable self hatred remained.

“I am not doing this to you,” he whispered into her ear, holding her close even as she wiggled in his arms. “Our bond demands you. This anxiety you feel when we are not touching, I feel it, too. Josh Crocker feels it as well. Seneca, please,” he murmured, pressing a soft kiss to her ear over her stringy wet hair.

She broke down and her crying went from large tears to a torrential downpour. She was kneeling on the floor, somehow, Godwin’s arms around her, holding her, protecting her from the world. Crying hurt like bees in her head escaping from her eyes and her nose, but Godwin held her tightly, pressing her face to his shoulder.

“I’ll g-g-g-get your robe th-thingy all sn-sn-snotty,” she gasped out between sobs.

“I care not,” he said softly as he placed gentle kisses on her head. He held her and she cried until she couldn’t breathe and everything hurt, then he held her some more, one hand rubbing small circles into her lower back.

Josh crept in, and though she didn’t hear him, she could feel him, she found. There was a vague sense of him that she had now, and she felt him more strongly as he was closer. He reached out his hand so tentatively, so anxiously, that it made her heart hurt, and if she had any tears left, she would have cried them. Instead, he crouched down, reaching towards her. He hesitated just before his fingers brushed her arm, and he held his breath, holding himself back.

“May I?” he asked anxiously.

She sniffled, her humiliation and shame too great to bear.

“Seneca, please, please let me consume these. You injure yourself needlessly,” Godwin begged her, pulling her head from his shoulder.

Josh’s hand fell, landing on Godwin. He relaxed visibly once he was touching the incubus. She shook her head no, so ashamed of the words she said to Godwin about him manipulating her emotions. She knew it when he did. She knew the difference between her own emotions and when he was calming her.

He had never once forced emotions on her like Sabati had done. Her shame rose exponentially and she wished herself gone. What she had said to him was unforgivable.

“Stop, stop, hansa,” he begged, his hands cupping her face. “Give these to me. Do not hurt yourself like this.”

“No,” she half-sobbed. “I deserve to feel like this. I’m not good enough. You can both do better. Josh didn’t want to be bound, I knew that already. I messed up. No, I should have died, Win. When my mother tried to kill me. She knew. She knew I would only make things bad. I’m bad, the rotten apple. You both deserve better.”

Godwin’s eyes locked onto hers, trapping her in their hypnotic sterling depths. “Your mother was crazy, Seneca. She only saw her own demons, and she forced those upon you. You were a child, innocent and vulnerable. A mother should protect her child, yet yours failed you. You are vampire, Seneca, you cannot change what you are. You are beautiful and lovely, you are compassionate and you are mine. I told you about my collar. I would not give it lightly. It was meant for you, before I knew you. Let me protect you. Cease hurting yourself with your mother’s ghost. Do not let her delusions of your worth ruin what value you actually have.”

“Seneca?” Josh chimed in. “I wasn’t great to you when we dated before. I remember now, I was thinking about it. You wanted to date seriously, but I didn’t…I mean, I knew you were sorta monogamous, that was the rumor about you, but I didn’t take you seriously. I thought it didn’t matter, and I hurt you. I’m sorry. I want this, what we have. I know you don’t believe me, but…I always thought about you, over the years. It always bothered me, you know? When you came up to me at the library it felt like a chance to do it over again, to make it right by you.” He leaned forward, his body language screaming that he wanted to touch her, but he held himself back.

“Josh, I b-b-bound you! You’re my Wren. I, if I had just-”

“No, stop, Seneca,” Josh said quietly but sharply. “You’re my Claret. If you remember, you both offered me a choice. I had several times I could have left. Godwin told me that if I went with you both, that if I didn’t leave, I wouldn’t be able to. He’s right, Seneca. I don’t want to leave. I want this,” he insisted.

“You were having sex! You weren’t thinking clearly!” she snapped.

Josh cringed, but Godwin held her tightly, not letting her escape. His touch calmed her, and she knew he wasn’t doing anything to ease her emotions, not actively at least. “I was thinking clearly before I came up with Godwin, Seneca. I’m not some dude who only thinks with his dick. I understood what I was getting into. I wanted this, Seneca. I want you. I want to be with both of you. Why can’t you believe that?”

She had thought she was out of tears, but they ripped themselves from her sinuses like shards of ice. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed, pushing her face back into Godwin’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Godwin, I’m sorry I said such horrible things. Unforgivable things. I’m sorry. I do love you, Win. I’m sorry. I know these feelings are my own. I’m-”

Godwin shushed her, his finger over her lips. “Stop, hansa, stop tormenting yourself. I know your emotions, I will not let that succubus tarnish what we have.”

Still she cried, unable to stop the self hatred and disgust. Godwin held her tightly, and she felt her towel slip down. She wanted to adjust it, but she didn’t want to move.

“Josh, come here,” Godwin directed softly. Josh crawled up behind her, tentatively wrapping his arms around her, over Godwin’s. When his skin touched her she felt peace return, giving her calm like a small life raft adrift in her sea of self hatred.

“That’s better,” Josh sighed, relaxing into her back. He kissed the back of her neck and she cringed guiltily, feeling unworthy. “Feed him, Seneca. If not for yourself, then for him.”

She whimpered, feeling helpless and horrible. Godwin pushed her head off of his shoulder and forced her to look him in the eyes again. Something shifted and she fell into the deep silver wells. “Sabati has poisoned you, ghanza. She did this, planted these seeds and nurtured them. She preyed upon your vulnerabilities. Sabati has amplified your fears, filling you like a waterskin until you burst. She did this to sabotage me, and to punish you. Torment yourself no longer, give these to me,” he demanded, his voice gentle yet unyielding.

She couldn’t deny him when he spoke to her like that. She whined, but still she moved her lips so that they were over his, coiling her emotions in her stomach like a spool of lead. He didn’t wait for her to finish before he pulled them up her throat and out of her mouth.

She felt like she was gagging at first, nearly choking on the intensity of her emotions. They had never had a flavor before, but these ones tasted bad. She hadn’t thrown up in ages, vampires didn’t get sick like that, but this reminded her of her childhood. Of her mother and the constant eggshells she walked not to earn her attentions. Of being sick and alone, afraid she would die and no one would care. Tears streamed down her cheeks with the weight of the emotions escaping from her quickly. Kissing her intensely, he more pried than pulled her emotions away.

She tried to pull away, tried to get away, so afraid of the emotions, afraid of the anger she felt pouring off of Godwin in sandy-hot waves, afraid of herself. Godwin held her tightly, his hands locking her in place. Josh was a warm, solid presence on her back, his arms wrapped around her shoulders as he placed gentle kisses on her collarbone. She whimpered instead, unable to escape.

As if a switch had been pressed, she relaxed completely, and Godwin fed even more strongly. He was coiling her emotions before he pulled them from her, but it felt different than any other time he fed from her. She could feel him coiling them, but some of the coils he didn’t take. Some of the coils were sort of…set to the side? She didn’t have a word for how it felt. He didn’t take those one, he left them in a pocket inside her.

His kiss softened, though he still fed. He kissed her tenderly and Josh held her and she was light and free and everything was okay again. Tears streamed down her face, but they had turned from self hatred and fear to relief. She was running out of breath, panting through their kisses, but Godwin didn’t relent. Josh’s kisses were tender and comforting, trailing along her collarbone and up her neck on both sides of her head, and suddenly she was very, very hungry.

Her fangs dropped in the next instant despite her trying to keep them under control. Her lust was so close, too close for how recently she had just fed, and she fought to keep it from escaping her. Godwin groaned and she felt his massive manhood pressing against her core. He licked her fangs and she whimpered, nearly lost to the lust. She tried again to push away from him but Josh held her firmly.

“Seneca,” he murmured in her ear, his breath tickling. “Give it to Godwin. She said he was starving. Let’s him feed. Give him everything, ghanza, lose yourself, then be reborn. Let us cleanse you, we can put you back together. Give it to him.”

Something about his words felt heavy, and she was sure something bigger than just Godwin feeding was happening. Something with their bonds, perhaps. She tried to worry about it, but Godwin coiled those feelings as quickly as she could have them. They slipped from her before they could take root.

“Good, good, Seneca,” Josh praised her, his tone making her core grow wet. He kissed the back of her neck as Godwin’s hands twined into her hair, pulling her body closer to him. He shifted so she lay atop him on the bathroom floor, his member shifting so that it was seated between her legs. She shifted her hips and was instantly frustrated by the thin layer of cloth between them. She went to pull it away but found her arms were bound, pinned to her back by Josh’s strong hands. He kissed his way down her spine as she squirmed, and then Godwin ate those emotions, too.

“So sexy,” Josh muttered, moving down her body. “Oh, god, the both of you, I feel like I could cum just watching this. I want to cum, Seneca.” He kissed the base of her lower back, just above her ass. “I would cum on your back, right here.” A kiss, then a small bite, emphasized the location where he would spill his hot seed, and she moaned into Godwin’s mouth. “Do you want me to cum on you, ghanza?”

She wanted it. Her lust was so close, so near, so dangerously close to taking over. She wanted to scream at both of them to stop, that it was nearly too late, that she couldn’t control herself, but she couldn’t. She wriggled, trying to fight her lust, trying to get away, but her men held her, Godwin feeding from her and Josh pinning her arms down, kissing and nibbling her ass cheeks. Another tear streamed down her cheek. She didn’t want to lose control, didn’t want to show her men how weak and pathetic she was.

“Let go,” Josh insisted, biting her harder, though it was still pleasant and not painful. “Let go, Seneca. We’ll catch you.”

She wanted to ask him how he knew these things, how he knew what to say, but her emotions slipped into Godwin, his lips locked over hers, his tongue half of her world, the other half Josh and those dangerous nibbles.

She cried out when Josh moved away from her, the only evidence of his lips and teeth were small stingy spots on her backside. Seconds later Josh straddled her, pressing his hot cock between her cheeks. He thrust his hips once, sending his dick gliding between her cheeks, threatening to fulfill his promise about his cum.

Lust took over. Her vision turned completely red and she lost time. When she came back to herself Josh’s blood was filling her mouth, coating everything in red. She was so wet, so turned on, so horny. As if someone heard her silent needs, something was inside of her, dancing over her wet folds and thrusting gently into her core. Fingers. Someone’s fingers.

They weren’t enough. She pushed them away from her, then licked hard before tearing away from Josh’s throat. She was still hungry, still needed more. She could smell vanilla and she knew that would help, would sate her if she could just get it inside of her. Everything was tinted red, and she couldn’t really see anything, but she could smell him, that exotic vanilla scent, and she threw herself in that direction.

Godwin’s throaty chuckle as he caught her sent a small tendril of self doubt into her blood-tinged haze, but then his throat was against her face and her fangs knew what to do. She slid inside him easily, and he slid inside her just as easily, his blood and his cock. He groaned as she pulled him inside of herself with her mouth and her pussy, and she heard movement, but she couldn’t open her eyes. Godwin’s blood and his cock consumed her attention. Then Josh touched her collar, just a brush of his fingers, but it was enough.

Liquid fire burned down her spine and into her core. “So tight,” Godwin muttered as she squeezed down on him. He didn’t thrust or move, just filled her fully. She tried to shift her hips but he held her tightly, keeping her still. “Shh, not yet, ghanza. Sate yourself first, and then you may take what you desire.”

She whimpered, but his blood was too good, was filling something inside her that was empty, was mixing with Josh’s blood perfectly. She drank and Josh’s hands were on her breasts, teasing her nipples, pressing against Godwin’s sun-warm skin. She moaned, trying again to thrust her hips, but Godwin’s hands were immovable.

A few more draughts of his blood and then his punctures healed over. She felt so alive, so strong and whole, and horny. “I want,” she said aloud, her voice surprising her with how husky and sexy it sounded. She cleared her throat, not recognizing her own voice. “I need, Godwin, I want…”

Josh caught both of her nipples between his fingers and squeezed them firmly. “Say it,” Josh insisted. “What do you need? God, Seneca, I want you so bad. I want to see Godwin fuck you so bad. What do you want?” His words tickled her ear, and her core.

“I…” she said, coming back down from one type of lust into another. She was so aroused, and could smell Josh’s arousal, musky and heavy. She moved to put it in her mouth but Godwin held her. She whimpered, unsure why he wouldn’t let her take him.

“Seneca,” Godwin’s voice was pure sex and she couldn’t help herself as she clenched down on his manhood teasing inside her core. He groaned before he could continue. “Seneca, tell me, tell us what you want and we will give it to you. We will put you back together, ghanza.”

“Take me, palang,” she panted, full of need and desire. “I want our censhin’s cock, I want to suck it while you take me.” The words were not a command, she was begging. “Please, give me…”

Godwin pulled himself from her body and she nearly cried out with the loss. “No!” she exclaimed.

“Shh, ghanza,” Godwin cooed in her ear as he moved her. In another moment she found herself on her hands and knees on his bed. Vaguely she wondered when they had moved from the bathroom to his bedroom, and when he had lost his strange, loose clothing, but she found she couldn’t care. The thoughts completely slipped from her mind when Josh’s throbbing shaft was pressed against her lips.

“You want this?” he asked, his hand threading through her messy hair. She opened her mouth, trying to pull him inside, but his hips danced back teasingly. She moaned, begging wordlessly, but he only laughed. “Say it, ghanza,” he tormented her.

“I want it, censhin,” she said breathily. “Please, give it to me.”

He pressed it forward again and she accepted it, pushing her head down the hard length of him. He moaned, throwing his head back as she sucked him inside as far as she could. She wished she could use her hands, almost rose up onto her knees so that she could, but was stopped by Godwin’s girth pressing firmly against her opening.

The lewd noises she heard couldn’t be coming from her, she wasn’t that sexy. She didn’t worry about it for too long as Godwin pushed his way inside her, stretching her open slowly. She wanted it, wanted him now, didn’t want to go slowly. She pressed herself back on a backstroke of Josh’s cock in her mouth, moaning as he filled her completely.

His hand was on the small of her back and she could tell he was holding back, wasn’t in his incubus form, wasn’t as big as he could be. She was slightly saddened, but that emotion drifted away as he began to thrust into her. Josh grabbed her hair, thrusting into her mouth rhythmically, and Godwin matched his thrusts into her core.

She wanted to scream, wanted to touch herself, wanted to do something, but she was unable to do anything, lost to the pleasure of her men taking her, using her for their pleasure while making her feel so good.

“I’m so close, ghanza, you feel so good. I’m going to cum on you, Sen, on your beautiful face, I’m gonna cum…” Josh told her, using her hair to pull her off of his dick. She whined, and then his hot cum hit her face, her cheeks and nose, filling her head with his sexy, musky scent. Godwin’s hips sped up and he pounded into her, harder than he could have comfortably fucked her in his incubus form, sending her higher and higher. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up, then placed his hands on her hips as he thrust deep inside of her.

Her fingers were on her clit and Josh’s face was between her breasts, biting and kissing, amping up her pleasure. She was so close to her orgasm, and her fingers rubbed over herself, so close, so close, almost there.

“I am close, ghanza,” Godwin murmured in her ear. “I will wait, I want to cum with you while our censhin watches.” He shifted, pulling her arms back so that he could thrust into her as deep as he could get. Josh’s mouth was somehow over her clitoris now, sucking it in and lathing it with his tongue.

His words and their actions sent her over the edge and she screamed out their names as she came on both of her men. Ecstasy poured from her as she came, wave after wave of pleasure, drawn out even longer with the attention her men were giving her. As she hit a weakening crescendo of pleasure Godwin slipped from her. She was so lost to her orgasm that she couldn’t do more than whimper, then Godwin’s hot cum splattered over her lower back and ass, each surge adding to her pleasure, marking her, branding her.

A moment later she collapsed onto Godwin’s bed, the smell of her men’s passions filling her head. Her fingers were in her folds, slowly stroking herself as she enjoyed the afterglow. Godwin wiped himself from her back with a towel that he must have magicked out of somewhere, then moved to her face. Josh collapsed, his head a comfortable weight on her lower back. When her face was clean, Godwin leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

“You are both so beautiful,” he praised. He lay down beside them, his body pressed against the length of hers, his hands on the back of Josh’s neck.

“Thank you for this,” Josh said, “thank you for letting me be part of this with you.”

“No, this isn’t us letting you do this, Josh,” Seneca said, her throat raw from screaming her lover’s names a few moments ago. “You are part of this, you’re my Wren. You are censhin to us both.”

Godwin smiled and she didn’t need to look to know he did. She could feel it. “Seneca speaks true,” he said, caressing Josh’s head.

“It just feels like a privilege,” Josh insisted.

“Forget that,” Seneca snapped. “She called it that. It isn’t that. You’re a partner, not a slave.”

“It is a privilege,” Godwin disagreed. “For all of us. You allowed me to bind you both. This is something that I never thought I would have, not even after I finished my collar. And especially after I was injured and exiled.”

Her wrist burned, the spot where Sabati had touched, but it didn’t feel the same. It was too warm and she lifted it to her face, trying to make her eyes work. She rubbed them, then rubbed her wrist. Josh scratched at his idly, she noticed.

On the base of her wrist was a silvery spiral, roughly the size of a quarter. She rubbed it, but it didn’t smudge or move. It shimmered when she touched it, as if filled with liquid, but retained its shape. The mark was hot, it felt like her wrist was in direct sunlight.

Josh watched her, then looked down at his wrist, his eyes widening in shock. He held his wrist up, showing her and Godwin. “Ah…what’s this?”

Godwin licked his lips nervously. “You are now bound, ageranel. That is my mark.”

She prodded hers. It was too hot, almost burning hot. “Why is it so hot?”

“Josh Crocker, is your mark hot?” Godwin asked instead of answering.

“No, it feels warm, but it’s not uncomfortable or anything,” he said, running his fingers over the mark, his face unreadable.

“Then perhaps the large difference in our normal body temperatures causes your discomfort,” Godwin speculated. “I could find some ice to cool it, if you’d like.”

“NO!” she exclaimed too loudly. “Don’t, sorry, but don’t leave. I don’t want to feel like that again, not now that I feel better. I can’t…”

Godwin caught her hand and brought it closer to his face, inspecting it. She was embarrassed for some reason but she didn’t know why. His lips closed over it and the mark seemed to spark, but in a good way, igniting her butterflies. She had to fight to keep her eyes from slipping shut.

Godwin smiled that smile he had for her, brought the mark to his lips again, then released her, turning to Josh. He did the same thing to Josh’s mark, and Josh moaned when Godwin’s lips touched his wrist.

“This is what Sabati was looking for, wasn’t it?” Josh asked, still staring at his mark.

Godwin nodded. “It is.” He exhaled heavily, sounding tired. “This should have had more ceremony, should have been more prepared and you both paired longer. All of this is wrong, but forgive me, all of this feels so godsdamned right, too,” Godwin said solemnly.

Seneca didn’t know what to say, and Josh didn’t seem to know, either. The growling of his stomach distracted all of them, and she and Godwin turned to him with smiles.

“What?” Josh said defensively. “You both ate! I’m starving!”

Godwin chuckled. “Let us order some food, I have an appetite, and I’m sure Seneca could eat as well?”

She nodded, blushing, realizing she was still naked. “Can we get dressed first?”

The Game Chapter 25: Ageranel

The Game Chapter 27: Skelis