She felt the power running through her, noticing as she bent her head that silver and deep purple arcs of energy were wrapping around her arms, her body—just as the violet light, the energy that only seemed to be growing stronger inside her, was wrapping around them. They were joining together, body and soul. It was more intimate than she’d ever imagined sex could be. It was making love.
The rhythm grew faster, more powerful. Tyghe was shafting her, his thrusts deep and long, harder and harder. Tucker was lowering her as he lifted his hips, pumping her against him, a low continuous growl of pleasure rumbling from his chest. She wanted it to go on forever. It couldn’t. Callie knew she was close again. Already so close to coming. She wanted them to come together, wanted to feel both of them lose control.
She tightened the muscles of her ass around Tyghe, pushing back hard against him. He shouted her name, and she smiled. Tucker saw the telling expression. “He’s right,” he whispered roughly. “You are a bad girl.”
She rocked against his hold, thrusting hard against him, making them both gasp. “I’ve never been bad before. You must bring it out in me.”
His eyes narrowed, a
nd Callie knew she’d won. Their moans mingled in the private room as they began to move against each other with a wildness that had nothing to do with technique, and everything to do with the goal. The bed shook with the power of their thrusts, and Callie felt the power spiking between them.
“Callie, baby, I need—I can’t—”
“Fuck, I’m coming.”
“Yes.”
They came together in a firestorm of light and color. Callie felt as though she were torn apart and put together again in the space of a heartbeat. Reborn. Alive. Tucker called her name, saying it over and over, like a touchstone, a mantra as he climaxed inside her. Tyghe bit her shoulder, hard, his hips pumping furiously against her, filling her with his release.
They collapsed beside each other on the bed, all of them groaning as their bodies separated. Bodies that were, even now, glowing brightly with their magic. And then something strange happened.
A phone rang.
Callie sat up instinctually, a small part of her brain screaming, praying this wasn’t a dream. That she wouldn’t wake to a phone call from Harrison in her own room, with no magic, no Tucker or Tyghe.
“I’m pretty sure none of us have a phone fetish.” Tyghe’s sardonic comment drew a chuckle from Callie, but Tucker tensed beside her.
“It’s probably for me. My superiors will want to move this along, catch our criminal while we have an opening. I should get it.”
Tyghe sighed, leaping from the bed to cross the room to where the phone had appeared. “I’ve got this, Tuck. I’ll just tell your boss that it’s rude to interrupt our afterglow just because there’s a psycho on the loose.”
Callie shivered. She’d forgotten the reason they were doing this. Forgotten for a moment that the magic whipping around her was an illusion. All of it was.
“What are you thinking?” Tucker’s voice was low, intimate. She didn’t want to ruin this moment with reality. She wished she had the power to stop time. She would freeze this moment, this feeling of satisfaction and love. She would stay with them forever.
“Thinking that you two really know what you’re doing. I’m surprised women aren’t following you around like lovesick puppies begging for a bone.”
Tucker lifted up on his elbow to face her, his expression sober, intense. “It’s never been like that, Callie. I’ve never felt—” He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair as he searched for the right words. “They weren’t you. I never forgot that, hard as I tried.”
Her eyes blurred. “You don’t have to say things like that, Tucker. I know why we’re here. I know that when this is done I’ll go back to being human, while you and Tucker will eventually have to find a Triune of your own.”
“Callie, you don’t understand. What I’m trying to say, rather badly, is that I—”
“Wow, they are a grumpy bunch. Now I know why I decided to get my degree in lazy playboy instead of law enforcement. They want to wrap this thing up. We have to go. Now.”
Tucker blew out a frustrated breath, but Callie leapt from the bed, reaching for her dress. “Let’s go get this jackass before my special afterglow wears off. I wouldn’t want this all to be for nothing.”
Tyghe’s hiss of reaction and Tucker’s silence filled her with guilt. She couldn’t help it. Her heart felt like it was crushing in her chest. She ran into the bathroom to clean herself off, angrily wiping the tears from her cheeks before throwing her dress back on. It instantly turned black. Great. Hopefully it didn’t mean she was going to her own funeral.
Chapter Seven
“Okay, that deejay thing was humiliating. I just love it when hundreds of people are staring at you as someone with a microphone announces you’ve just had sex.” She was trying to fill the silence. Neither man was looking at her, talking to her. She deserved it, she knew. But still. They were a team for the moment. “So do you think he’ll try to catch us before we get to the Proxenos? Try to separate me from the two of you? Anybody want to clue me in on the rest of the plan? Seeing as I’m bait and all?”
Tucker sighed, turning to face her in the quiet, empty hallway they’d been directed to. “We have to follow this through, as though we don’t know any better. At least I know now why it’s been so hard for anyone to see the victims’ last actions before the attack. This hallway has a powerful blocking enchantment. Can you feel it, Tyghe?”
His brother nodded. “Kind of unusual for a simple Triune judging, I’m thinking. Someone around here doesn’t want anyone to know what’s going on.”
“This way, all of you.” A man in a long green robe bowed his head, turning to guide them further down the seemingly endless red hallway. “Congratulations on your matching. I haven’t seen such a strong glow for years. A sure sign of a true and joyous match.”