Wings and Shadowthief by May Sage
Some Wins, Some Loses
They were close. So, so close.
Hunter looked at his friends. Avani and Alexius had shifted—they’d both taken several wounds and were fighting most of the guards. Mikar, Cat, and Bash held their own against Aveka’s four disciples, and Tris had moved from guarding his back to protecting Gwen, now that the woman had left the house.
Of course, she’d come, blazing bright in all her glory. He felt foolish for hoping otherwise. Gwen wasn’t one to be left behind, to let others fight for her. Her hair, white as snow, flew around her as she called to her devastating magic. This was who she was. Hunter would attempt to remember it. If they survived today.
Victory hadn’t been guaranteed before, but they had had a chance. With Seth incapacitated—or worse, against them? They had to retreat now, before they suffered a loss.
“Let’s go!” he screamed, closing in on Gwen.
“Oh, I think not.” The queen chuckled, holding her bleeding sides. “Seth, darling. Take care of your little friends.”
Hunter placed himself where he was supposed to be, between Gwen and danger, holding her behind him as the rest of their friends approached.
He knew he was their best hope against Seth, though he wasn’t sure his power would be enough. Seth had more experience than he, and when he’d displayed a staggering amount of power in the past, he’d done so without breaking a sweat. There was no saying what the demigod was truly capable of.
Still on his knees, Seth smirked. “Sure. Just as soon as I’m allowed to stop kneeling, that is.”
“He’s still in control,” Gwen breathed. “Well, a little at least.”
There was no time to work out how much. “To the closest portal.”
Seth had told them there was one at the entry of the queen’s brugh.
They ran in tight formation as the guards followed, hearing the queen scream at Seth. “What are you doing! Follow them.”
“I will. You won’t mind if I make a cup of tea, first, naturally.”
Hunter would have laughed, if he hadn’t been too busy chucking fireballs behind them to slow down their enemies.
The queen’s gaudy manor was in sight. “Hold hands!” Gwen reminded them. He grabbed on to Tris’s and his mate’s, still racing. The wolves, having no time to shift, closed their fangs around Hunter’s and Mikar’s ankles as gently as they could as Cat and Blair joined the chain.
The second time Gwen opened the portal was as unpleasant as the first, but at least when they reached the other side Hunter was still with them, rather than imprisoned by three creepy goddesses.
They stood on Seth’s yacht, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.
Gwen closed her arms around Hunter’s shoulders, drawing him in. He held on like she was a lifeline. “You’re still naked,” Gwen reminded him.
Hunter chuckled against her cheek.
“Tell me someone knows how to drive this thing,” Mikar grunted.
Cat was a competent helmsman, though they remained on high alert through the trip to the nearest coast, half expecting the queen and her men to follow.
Aveka had taken a hit today; she was licking her wounds for now, no doubt.
On the other hand, she had Seth—their spy, one of their strongest allies, and in her hands, a devastating weapon.
That meant one thing.
They’d lost.
Chloe wasn’t done yelling.
They’d arrived in Oldcrest three hours ago, and the woman had screamed at them almost the entire time since—though she whisper-yelled when her pretty baby girl was anywhere close.
Gwen would have returned to the dorms, had she not felt like she deserved to be yelled at some more.
Their plan had been ridiculous, and executed poorly. They’d gone in with half the information, hot-headed, and they’d been dealt a catastrophic blow.
“I’ve lost one of my best friends today,” Chloe whispered, her voice breaking.
That was worse than the yelling.
Blair, shouldering the burden of their failure, was gone, leaving a note behind. A note telling them not to look for her until Aveka was dealt with. She’d taken a part of Seth with her, to ensure he could continue to fight Aveka’s influence.
“Blair will be back,” Levi said soothingly. “And though our friends were perhaps ill advised, they were—”
“Don’t. We messed up,” Hunter stated. “There’s no other way of saying it.”
“Not entirely.”
Gwen turned to Levi in search for hope.
“We still have Seth, very much in Aveka’s circle now. You’ve seen the island and know how to get there. She took us for prey until now, attacking us when the mood struck her, forcing us to fear her even in our home. Now, she’s been given a taste of her own medicine.”
“They should have waited. We should have been there,” Chloe insisted.
“Oh? You’d leave Ruby to go play the murderer, now?” her mate challenged.
Chloe showed her teeth because she couldn’t say a thing.
“You made our first move forward. We retreated. She’s retreated four times from our stronghold. From where I’m standing, we’re still ahead in this little game.”
Levi was good at smoothing things over when Chloe’s temper exploded, Gwen noticed. Water to his mate’s fire.
Wasn’t that something Eirikr had said to her at one time?
She glanced to Hunter, who was already watching her. He tilted his head toward the entryway.
Gwen nodded. “We should get going. I need to get some sleep.”
They stopped by Ruby’s room to look at the sleeping little baby before heading down the hill, to the dorm.
The silence wasn’t always heavy or awkward between them, but now? It was downright deafening. By the time they reached the dorms, Gwen couldn’t take it anymore. “Purple’s really your color.”
Out of Seth’s extensive wardrobe in the yacht, he’d chosen a pair of black jeans, a white shirt, and a royal purple jacket. Somehow, it worked for him.
“Right? I thought so. Jack didn’t agree.”
She chuckled, letting some of the tension leave her shoulders. “So, I didn’t know you had magic. Beyond the wings, that is.”
He shrugged. “You never asked.”
Fair point.
“Jack didn’t know either, by the way. He very much stayed clear of anything to do with our power.”
“You said Jack again…” she trailed off. “You’re Hunter, then.”
He considered her question at her door. “I’m not so sure. As Hunter, I was…simpler. I feel more. The way Jack used to, I suppose. I think he and I finally came to an understanding.” He chuckled. “I can stop sounding crazy, now.”
“You still need some work on that.” Her lips felt very dry, so she wet them with her tongue. “Last November, I think I…I did something. To you, to…us.”
“We did many things. But if you’re referring to the bonding of our souls, I’m aware.”
Her jaw went slack. “You’re…aware.”
“Jack wasn’t. I’m sorry, by the way. I meant to try to explain things to you. I was turned back into the other me faster than planned.”
“Apology absolutely, a hundred percent not accepted. I felt awful. Terrible. Rejected by…”
By the one person who never should have rejected her. Her mate. Her partner in life. The man she’d chosen to stand next to for the rest of eternity.
“I’ll spend the rest of our days making up for it,” he vowed solemnly.
She narrowed her eyes. “Really?”
“Absolutely.”
“Well, you can start on your knees, then.”
It was his turn to open his mouth in astonishment. Then he pushed her door open and strode inside, kicking it closed with his booted foot.
Hunter didn’t bother to go further, pressing her against the door and getting to his knees in front of her, as directed. He kissed his way down her legs, before peeling her leather pants off her.
He took his time, bringing her ankle to his lips and kissing it, then her knee, and the inner side of her thigh, before burying his face between her legs. She gasped when he sucked her in, his tongue flicking her clit. Just like she remembered he had their first and last time, Hunter played her with his mouth and fingers like he had all the time in the world, and all he wanted to do with his life was please her. She screamed, begged for more, for less, until she couldn’t take it anymore, drowning in the wave of pleasure that overtook her.
He got to his feet and kissed her deep, slowly, tenderly, hands caging her in, then sliding along her breasts, her waist, her legs. He lifted one up to his hips, freeing his thick cock from his jeans and running it along her slit.
“Don’t tease,” Gwen begged in a ragged breath.
He laughed, and kept dry humping her and pressing himself against her clit.
Gwen pushed him away from her, grabbed the lapels of his jacket and dragged him to the bed, pushing him down on his back. Then she mounted him, taking what she wanted. Wet though she was, his cock still stretched her deliciously. His hand went to her hips, but she grabbed his wrists. “I don’t think so. You didn’t want to play fair. It’s my game now.”
She kept his hands locked over his head as she rode him, slow and deep at first, then faster and faster. She bent forward and took his lips as she fucked him, hard, wild, panting as she tightened around him.
“Come with me, my mate.”
She exploded without warning at his command, right along with him.
She flopped down over him, breathing hard, listening to his heart.
Gwen kissed his jawline, his throat, his shoulder.
He flipped them over in one smooth move, threw both of her legs over one of his shoulders. “If you insist…”