Chapter 26 Temptations
LYS
“A dream,” my lips moved, “Lys, it’s just a dream, wake up.”
My hushed mantra did not make it feel less real though.
The murmuring air against my skin remained vibrant, and my awareness that I was tossing in a bed stayed sharp. Sweat stung my brows, soaked into the soft sheets beneath my back.
But nothing pulled me out of the dream. I was stuck. Trapped.
Imprisoned in this dream that smelled sweet at first breath, but burned bitter at the back of my throat.
Faceless shadows stared at me.
“You fell.” The first shadow spat, and all around me, the other shadows echoed the words. Like a choir from hell. Their voices swam around my head. Into my head.
Disappointment dripped from their silhouette onto the clear-glass floors, misting the ground that had been woven from threads of slow-moving stars till it was squishy under my bare feet.
“I’m sorry.” My chest rose and fell.
Play, Obey but never surrender. It was supposed to be simple. It should have been simple.
“I… I tried.” My head was bent, heavy with shame as the first tear rolled down my cheek, silent, hot and soaking into my flowing, transparent dress that shone like light.
“I did not mean… I tried.”
“But you failed!” The voice rose, and like demon singers, the other shadows chorused.
You failed
You failed
Lys filled
I screamed, slapped my hands on my ears in my desperation to block the eerie voices out. Yelling at myself to wake up.
But the voices went on, their darkness like a foul smelling blanket, hugging me, holding me.
I broke into pleas then, “One more chance. Please.” I was desperate to get out of here. Do anything, say anything.
“Please. Once. Just once.”
It did not matter that this was the request, the same one that brought the Hearthrown Alphas to me in that cave.
A wish the moon goddess had granted. With a price I now bucked at paying.
I asked it again, even though these were higher gods, more dangerous gods. Even though I had failed them, flouted the single rule.
Play, obey, but never surrender.
This time, I will make it right.
I will know to guard my heart from more than the two gods who pretended to be men. I will not let myself be swayed by the man who stared at me like he wanted to weave the moon into sandals and adorn my feet with them.
I will not sway at the sight of those eyes that were the rare waters of the Bahamas.
I'll give him no more chances to kiss me like that was his last kiss before departing for the warfront.
But these gods ignored my pleas. “To regain your life you must surrender it.” The dominant voice drifted closer.
“I can’t.” I whispered with trembling lips.
My stomach was in knots, and every inhale burned my lungs.
“Be consumed.”
Metal fists grabbed my wrist. Tearing my hands away from my ears where I was still crouched, trying to block their voices.
My head jerked up.
Chains. Heavy chains. They trailed down my wrists, gripped my throat, wrapped around my mid-section.
“Please. No”
“Give yourself freely.”
Warm hands lifted me, moved me forward with my legs suspended midair despite the weighted chains.
“No!” My struggles, my pleas, they were all useless. On and on, the invisible hands pulled me till three thrones came into view.
At first, I did not recognize the shadows of men sitting on them.
One man to each throne of molten gold, flowing like lava, and another one a throne made of wolfsbone, with the last built from frosty vines.
“Be cherished.”
“Finn?”
My feet were on the floor again, the clouds surrounding us in this sky-cemetery, coming into sharper focus.
He stopped before me in nothing but a black pair of slacks, muscles toned and oiled.
“Do you trust me?” he flashed that rare smile, teeth as bright as the stars twinkling beneath our feet.
He stretched his hand.
And like a zombie, I placed my hand in his. Forgetting all my pleas, promises, and my vows.
His hand tightened around mine as he turned around. And all the chains fell away, crumbling into fine dust that melted with the wind.
“Give yourself freely.” The voices had retreated, sounding far, far away as Finn and I walked hand in hand towards the throne.
They were empty now. A dark god was on his knees, a collar around his neck.
And a darker god stood over him, eyes flaming like the darkest part of hell.
I could smell it suddenly. Recognize it. That distinct scent of peppermint, and the metallic fire with just a hint of lilies.
The Dragon moved closer to me as Finn let my hand go.
“My wife.” He brought one hand up, stroking my cheek as he stared right into my eyes, with those fearsome eyes where real flames leaped in their sockets.
My body shivered to his touch, not from fear. And I leaned into him when I should be pulling away.
Our gazes stayed locked, till the fire in his eyes burned out, and they were silver again.
Silver like mine.
The shadows were gone. We were alone.
From behind, Finn placed his hands on my shoulders, pushing me down.
And even as I crumbled to my knees, I could not tear my eyes away from the dragon.
“What will you do for me?” he asked now.
“I’ll do anything for you.” I heard my voice respond from a deep part of me I had no control over.
The little side of me that was still the logical ballerina screamed at me to deny him, to reject him. To stand up and walk away.
“Will you give yourself to me?”
“I will give myself to you,” I whispered.
My nipples were hardening. Desire was a pool in the lowest part of my belly, as heavy as clouds of rain.
“Will you hold nothing back?” The Dragon’s hand caressed the collar around Hale’s throat, and picked up the chains that extended from it.
All this I saw from my side vision because I did not tear my eyes away from the dragon’s gaze, could not.
Not even as Finn slipped the straps of my dress past my shoulders, down my arms to expose my breasts as he dropped to his knees behind me.
“I love you, Lys.” He whispered in my ear, over and over, as he caressed my skin with the sheer fabric of my dress.
“I will hold nothing back.” My eyes remained glued to the dragon.
He moved closer now, and leaned before me with a pair of clips attached to the rose gold chains from Hale’s collar.
Nipple clamps my subconscious whispered. A saved memory from the internet pages he had instructed me to read yesterday.
My eyes strayed to Hale for the first time then as the dragon fitted the clamps around my nipples.
I moaned quietly to their vibration, unable to keep still on my knees.
I opened my lips to speak, to apologize to those kind midnight blue eyes of the Alpha, because he should not have to share me like this. Because it should be more than a kinky collar connecting us.
But words failed me.
Finn was now holding something under me, glued to my pussy, vibrating as much as the clamps around my nipples, and my moans were getting louder.
Hale watched me, smiling in that relaxed way he always had. Behind me, Finn’s whispers were a loop.
I love you
I love you, Lys
The dragon got on one knee, his eyes pinned on me as he caressed his lover’s thigh behind him, stroking with careful tenderness.
“And will you give me your love, Lys.”
The spell should have broken then, but I was out of my mind with pleasure.
I should have pulled away, but the intense stimulation from everywhere, all at once, made me swoon.
It warped my mind till all I could see and feel was them. His intense gaze, Finn’s passionate voice, the physical weight of chains connecting Hale and me.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes. I will give you my love.”
The punch that followed, tore right through my soul and pulled me out of my sleep. I was screaming, screaming no, dragging air into my lungs like I had been trapped underwater for too long.
I muttered nonsense, crying loudly as my eyes covered the hospital ward.
Grief sat hollow in the pit of my stomach.
I had just made another mistake.
Just like the wedding in my dreams before the actual wedding, I had just signed my life away.