Hels's Gauntlet [Forbidden Legacy 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (26 page)

The thought echoed between them, beginning in one and echoing through all three as the bond between them blew wide open. He didn’t know where he began and they ended, but Jacob didn’t care. He pressed a finger down onto her clit, never letting up the pressure. Cassie’s hips lost their rhythm, and Helcyon’s shout drowned out hers. Jacob’s balls locked up, pleasure burned through every nerve, and he rode his own orgasm as it shot through him like a firecracker, detonating his senses. He twisted, almost helpless in her embrace. He slumped forward, trying to catch his weight and finding Helcyon’s arm on his, bracing him as they collapsed around her.

As it should be.

* * * *

Helcyon sighed as he studied them, sprawled in his bed. Jacob lay almost caddy-corner, a bed hog it would seem, Cassandra tucked neatly into his side. The tattoo on her right breast matched the sun on Jacob’s with the black swirl, pierced by the emblem of a sword on her left breast. She was theirs. They completed the ritual, their bodies bearing the marks.

Like them, he should be sleeping, but delight kept him awake. Content to watch them sleep, he folded his arms and leaned against the side table. So many issues yet to be resolved—the purple-haired witch that Vanagan was questioning, Jude’s decisions, the bombings in Europe—and his brother Kyrian.

Worry about all of that tomorrow. Vanagan and Jude can deal with the prisoner.
Jacob’s sleep-filled mental chide turned Helcyon’s worry to warmth. The Wizard was a solid wall of rock hard strength in his mind, sarcastic and true in his affection. Twinned against the golden cord of Cassandra’s spirit blazing merrily, protected and safe. The tension in his chest relaxed. Yes, they could worry about all the other problems another day.

“Stop staring at us and come to bed,” Jacob murmured, shifting his legs over and settling Cassandra more firmly along his side. “It’s creepy.”

Helcyon laughed softly.
I love you, too, Wizard.

Jacob’s soft snores rose in answer.

Cassie padded barefoot down to the headstone. She’d woken with the first rays of morning kissing the sky. She woke with a purpose and knew exactly what to do. Slipping out from between her slumbering men, she’d dressed in a T-shirt and cutoff shorts. The winter storm beyond the shield coated everything in snow, but as it had been since they arrived, the land and gardens around the house remained springtime warm.

She understood that, too. Helcyon, Lord of Sun and Sword, brought the sunshine with him. Heat warmed her heart, a feeling she could only describe in a movie cliché as the unbearable lightness of being. She practically floated on her feet. No weariness or lingering grief shackled her spirit. In fact, if not for her solemn task, she would have danced down to the grave.

Dalton stood in the shadows where the sunlight did not quite reach, his expression bland. But humor glittered in his translucent eyes. “You understand what you did now.”

“Yes.” Shame pushed up from under the happiness in her belly. She’d grabbed a hold of Dalton’s spirit and forced him to stay. Likely, she had done the same to Billy. Something in her royal blood or maybe it was just something about being Fae. Whatever it was, she’d taken Dalton’s free will as she’d attempted to take Paul and Jude’s.

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t want you to be really dead. I didn’t want you to be gone. I didn’t even know I was doing it and after…” She spread her hands. It was a weak apology and weaker explanation. Waking, safe and secure between her men, Cassandra let the last few days play out across her mind, and she leapt from one connection to the next. It seemed like she knew what they knew. What before she could only intuit, now she just knew as fact.

Helcyon’s knowledge, ancient and timeless, filled her to the brim. Jacob’s caution and skill tempered that overflow, helping her sort through the myriad of puzzle pieces. She may never understand all of it, but she didn’t need to. She just knew that she had to release Dalton.

“I held onto Billy because of my guilt. I held onto you because of my fear.” Cassie studied his face, memorizing. She’d never forget Dalton, and in some ways, she couldn’t even regret holding onto him because it allowed her the opportunity to know and admire him. He belonged to Jacob and he belonged to her, but more than that, he belonged to himself.

“Thank you for your patience these last few months.”

“You’re welcome, princess.” Dalton bowed, a half-smile turning up the corners of his mouth. “Take care of the boss and the Elf. The three of you are doing the right thing. It’s all changing and you never know, you could see me again. Someday.”

The bittersweet sentiment was strangely comforting. “Be free, Dalton…go where your spirit wills you.” She didn’t know whether it came from Hels or Jacob, but she knew to infuse the words with freedom, to remove the shackles tying the slain Wizard to her and bequeath to him the only gift she had left to give.

Freedom.

He didn’t answer.

His absence was answer enough.

She rubbed a hand against her belly and watched the sun rise on a new world.

Cassie?
Jacob’s sleepy voice echoed in her mind, and she grinned as she pivoted on her heel and marched back toward the house. It was going to be a great one.

THE END

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Heather Long lives in Texas with her family and their menagerie of animals. As a child, Heather skipped picture books and enjoyed the Harlequin romance novels by Penny Jordan and Nora Roberts that her grandmother read to her. Heather believes that laughter is as important to life as breathing and that the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus are very real. In the meanwhile, she is hard at work on her next novel.

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