Theodora's POVThe Pantomath did exactly what I expected him to do. Try to outsmart me. Assume that he was a few steps in front of me, but really, I held all the cards. The one thing I didn't predict was the fact that Mads knew him.Seeing the warlock dragged up demons. I could see them in Mads's eyes. Those soulful eyes became stormy, a war raging inside of him. I could feel it. The abyss opened up for him. The same nightmares, but a different fear.I couldn't help him, but Javier did. I watched Javier pull him from the darkness as Mads had helped me. We were all connected. All three of us. I could feel it deep in my chest when Mads came back to me.To us.As badly as I wanted to hold him, comfort him, be his anchor, I couldn't. I had to play the Pantomath like a fiddle, buy enough time for someone to hear our distress beacon. The message played on repeat, hitting any ship docked at Aeolus."This is the Peacemaker. We have been hit by an EMP. Our mechanic is one of yours,
Mads's POV"Wear a skirt for me."It wasn't a suggestion. Theo knew it wasn't either. Her cheeks flushed and I could scent the wetness gathering between her legs. That wasn't how I wanted it to go. I didn't want Theo to find out she was my mate because of my sister's lack of filter. I sighed, waiting by the cargo door, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers. Arguably, I'd been waiting too long to tell Theo anyway, but she's the type of woman to cut and run if she so much as senses a little commitment in the air.I was lucky she didn't fucking drop me when I told her I was in love with her. Maybe I wasn't as fucked as I thought I was. Theo may not understand her feelings, but she understood sex. She worked out her frustrations by parting her legs.Getting on her knees.Leaning over a counter, ass in the air. Shoving me backward on top of a mattress.Theo knew what she wanted and she'd take it. She also knew how to distract herself. Blaming the orgasm on any
Theodora's POVA few drinks down and I was so turned on, I could burst. Mads kept doing the same shit. Dance with me, sliding his tongue across my throat, playing with the frilly fabric of my skirt, and teasing my clit with little, barely-there touches. He had my hands pinned behind my back so I wouldn't touch myself as he tortured me. Teasing me to the point of tears.Sweat dampened my throat, leaving droplets that trailed down the back of my neck, where Mads would catch them with his sinfully talented tongue.I arched into his body, raising my ass a little to get him to slide his big cock right against my slickness. Nudge him where I want him. Take him out of his pants, pull my panties to the side and fuck him right on the dance floor. He moved with the thudding bass, the vibrations doing nothing to quell the growing heat. Is this why he picked the club? The vibrations? The way the bass and erotic music moved through me with the vigor of Mads's tongue.His hands slid up
Javier's POV"What the fuck did you tell my daughter? What did you say to her to make her think Earth was a good idea?!" Cyrus roared, visibly pacing around his office, not wearing his headdress since it was late at night on Ilios."Nothing. I didn't tell her anything, Cyrus," I snapped back, matching his energy. He was pissed off. Really good at hiding it during the day under numerous advisors' eyes, but now that he was alone, he was letting me have it."Come on, Javier, you had to have known something," he tsked, lip curled in dark-eyed rage. "You two were close. She told you things she never would have told me." It was a bitter comment—a snap of his teeth."That's because you weren't around, Cyrus," I replied, pressing my fingers into my temples. We were talking in circles. Hours now. All my brother was doing was getting himself worked up just to shout the same questions with different words. He couldn't seem to grasp that his nineteen-year-old daughter was a whole indepe
Theodora's POVJavier loved me.Mads loved me.And I couldn't fucking say it back. I wanted to, but the words kept getting stuck in my throat, making me say that I cared about them, but I didn't think I loved them. What a load of bullshit. It was the self-destruction talking.I was the problem.Javier stepped away from me, getting to his feet and stripping himself of everything he was wearing. My mouth watered as I watched every article of clothing hit the ground. Fuck, I loved his body. I loved those massive shoulders and veiny arms. Deeply tanned skin that complimented his eyes that glided down me like hot honey. Whorls of black filled his gaze as hunger and lust consumed his eyes. Wetness pooled between my legs again, the eager bastard ready for round two.I knew I was insatiable already, but with Javier and Mads, I was even more sexually ravenous than ever before. Who could blame me, really? Just fucking look at him.Javier slipped his belt out of the loops, slidin
Theodora's POVThe news that we were going to Earth was met with skepticism. Who could blame them, really? There was only one habitable place left, crawling with Lurkers confined to darkness among the receding seas and dying plantlife. Nearly a thousand years ago, humans, fae, and anyone or thing that could abandon Earth did. Bombs and wars tore into the land and poisoned oceans. They stopped teaching Earth history and pretended it never happened. Different species and then countries split, eagerly colonizing and terraforming other planets to meet their species' specifications.At one point in history, we all shared a planet, but it wasn't that easy anymore. Even with countless planets, humankind snatched and stole all in a "God-given" right to control the galaxy. Case and point was Ellie's home planet in the Hermes Cluster. It was hard not to see Earth as a grueling reminder of greed. And what that greed morphed into. "You're in your head again," my brother's voice bro
Mads's POVI couldn't stop staring at my hands. They didn't look like mine. I was trapped inside a skin that wasn't mine. My heart hammered, my body shaking like I was coming down from adrenaline, but it still coursed hotly through my veins.Nothing was as loud as if someone had stuffed cotton in my ears. I couldn't hear Theo's heartbeat or smell her scent. So disjointed from my body. Even Javier's voice sounded different. I couldn't detect the different tenors that made him so interesting to listen to.All their words fell on deaf ears. I couldn't process anything well with my senses dulled like the inhibitor drug the Pantomath dosed me with. But the wolf…the wolf was louder than ever. Stirring. Rousing. Growing in power.When Benji had finally docked, he unclipped his seatbelt harness, rushing over to me to make sure I was okay. Theo couldn't stay with me. Neither could Javier. I knew that. But it didn't make me feel any less than a newborn fawn standing on shaky legs. The
Theodora's POVI couldn't look away. But I also couldn't stand. Everything felt like it was going weak. Tingles in my chest ebbing outwards to my hands. I swayed forward, struggling to find my steps. Struggling to find my breath.Daxton caught me before I fell forward, a strangled sob leaving my lips as devastation swallowed me whole."Theo! Hey!" Dax shouted, trying to snap me out of my stupor.But I didn't see him. All I saw was Mads's teeth digging into Javier's throat. The harrowing visual of them caked in blood, running thick as oil. Javi threw Mads off him. Heavy hits and the sound of grinding metal as they knocked each other into the portable sun shelters.They were going to break the windows. Send sunlight streaming into their homes.The vampires watching couldn't even do anything without risking exposure. A gruesome fiery death. And I was only human. "Fuck!" Sol shrieked, coming to the window. She was too small. Too young. Stronger than me, but she would only ge