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Dawn's pale golden fingers shone through the dusty windows of the Last Light Inn. Shadowheart watched them reach across the weathered floorboards, unable to muster enough energy to untangle her limbs from the sheets, let alone leave bed.
She'd failed Lady Shar. Worse, betrayed her. In sparing the Nightsong, she'd thrown away her life. Her very purpose. She longed for the numbness of sleep, but her hand flared with white-hot agony whenever she so much as closed her eyes.
In some strange way, Shadowheart was grateful. She deserved the pain. Either she'd committed the ultimate sin, turning her back on Lady Shar, or she'd sinned by following her in the first place. That made her a murderer without a cause, no better than a mercenary. She hadn't even gotten paid for all the throats she'd slit.
What’s the point of everything? What’s the point of anything?
Shadowheart rolled onto her back, staring at the bed’s canopy. At nothing of consequence. She was nothing of consequence. Not anymore.
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
"Aylin, yes!"
"Oh, my darling, mate most high, I could drink from your lips for a thousand years…"
Shadowheart grimaced, pushing her pillow up around her ears. Even without a life-altering crisis of conscience, she couldn’t have slept through the racket in the next room. Whenever she dared hope Dame Aylin and Isobel had finally exhausted themselves, they started up again. She'd never known a mated pair so unashamedly hungry for each other. She supposed it made sense, after a century’s separation, but that didn’t mean she sympathized.
Her pillow did little to muffle the rhythmic thumping, punctuated by deep groans and high, desperate whimpers. Shadowheart thought she'd gone nose-blind to the scent of sex hours ago, but the warm, heavy smell of alpha lust and omega desire saturated her room. She'd have felt the need to scrub it off her skin if she wasn't so hopelessly lethargic. The telling twitch between her legs was too shameful to think about.
Stupid Nightsong. Stupid Selûne. Stupid... me.
How simply awful, to witness someone else's joy at the lowest point in her life? The lowest she could remember, anyway. She doubted she’d ever get her memories back, now. She tensed, expecting another flash of pain in her palm. Instead, a deep ache squeezed her heart.
Did I have a mate, once upon a time? Did the Mother Superior take them from me, too? Her throat was bare of bite marks, but such things could be removed.
There was no point in speculation. She flipped back onto her belly, bunching the sheets in her fists and screaming her frustration into her pillow.
A sharp rap sounded upon the door. Shadowheart stiffened, remaining silent. If she didn't answer, perhaps the unwelcome intruder would have the good sense to leave, lest they endure the same bloody racket she'd suffered through all night.
"Hey, Shadowheart?"
Shadowheart sneered into the pillowcase. Gods. Karlach. The last thing she needed was Karlach’s relentless optimism in the face of her despair. The tiefling’s alpha status, and her obvious crush, hardly helped matters.
Another knock. "Shadowheart? I came to check on you."
Shadowheart sat up with sluggishness born of reluctance. The lock wouldn’t stop Karlach. She'd busted down countless doors before Shadowheart even drew breath to suggest picking the lock.
"Still alive, unfortunately," she called, glaring twin scorching rays at the door. “You can leave now.”
"Right. I'm comin' in."
"Wait." Shadowheart clambered out of bed. The last thing they needed was a fire in their sanctuary, Selûne-tainted though it was. She threw the door open just as Karlach reached toward it, key in hand.
"Oh." Karlach stuffed the key in her pocket and rocked back onto the heels of her boots, palming her neck with her other hand. "Morning, sleepyhead." Flickering tongues of fire licked along her scarred ruby skin, but her bright, toothy smile could have caused a spring thaw on its own.
Shadowheart said nothing, hoping the resentment that dripped from her silence would banish Karlach from her doorway.
Karlach scratched idly at the base of her broken horn. "Got the spare key from Jaheira. Anyway, just thought I’d pop in. See if you needed, well, anything."
Shadowheart sighed. Some alphas really couldn’t take a hint. She crossed her arms, shifting her weight back to one hip.
If Karlach noticed the judgmental pose, she didn't let on. "Well, do you? Need anything, I mean."
Shadowheart's upper lip curled to show a flash of pointed teeth. Even Karlach couldn't misread that signal. "What do you think, Karlach?"
Karlach’s smile faltered and her proud brow knitted with concern. “I imagine you slept like shit and feel like more shit. S’why I came to look in on you.”
Isobel chose that moment to cry out at the top of her lungs. “Oh, Aylin, yes! Fill me!”
Karlach’s head whipped toward the sound while Shadowheart pinched her brow and heaved a long-suffering sigh. When Karlach looked back, a sly grin played about her lips. “Sounds like the lovebirds didn’t sleep a wink, either. Maybe we should’ve traded rooms.”
Shadowheart’s head snapped up. “And share with Lae’zel? I think not.”
Karlach shrugged. “She isn’t such a bad bunkmate. Relentless, at least. I can’t help but admire her grit, you know?”
“Relentless?” Shadowheart narrowed her eyes. “Ruthless, more like. What you call grit is likely pure spite.”
“Maybe, but a little ruthlessness is dead useful right about now, eh?”
Shadowheart dampened her smoldering temper, attempting to exude a more subdued scent rather than the sweat, angst, and fear she surely reeked of. She forced a terse smile. Karlach was only trying to help, after all. No need to bite her head off.
“Thank you for looking in on me, truly, but I would much rather be alone. I’ll be ready to leave for Baldur’s Gate tomorrow.” She met and held Karlach’s glowing eyes. With that verbal commitment, perhaps the lie would become truth.
Karlach nodded, still frowning. She looked far from convinced. Her handsome face really was an open window to her heart. “Fair enough, soldier. Before I sod off and leave you in peace, I got a present for you.” She swung her pack off her shoulder, setting it on the floor and crouching to open it.
“You really needn’t…” Shadowheart gave up, drumming anxious fingers along her arm as Karlach rummaged in the pack. Karlach was every bit as stubborn as Lae’zel when she set her mind to something. What is it about the alphas in this party of vagabonds?
Karlach withdrew a tattered stick figure drawing of the party holding hands, a poorly wrapped sandwich, and Clive the well-loved teddy bear before giving a soft grunt of triumph. “There we are.” She straightened, offering Shadowheart a slightly squashed flower in her outstretched hand. Her soft, genuine smile and gentle orange eyes read pure hope. The slotted pupils widened into round circles, eclipsing most of her irises like those of an eager cat.
Shadowheart looked at Karlach, then the flower. Its curling, spade-shaped purple petals were instantly familiar. “A night orchid?” She smirked. “Hells, you didn’t pick that by hand, did you? They’re deadly poisonous.”
“What?! Fuck me!” Karlach’s eyes darted side to side, searching for somewhere to drop the dangerous flower other than the floor.
Shadowheart plucked the stem from Karlach’s hand; her very large, callused hand, criss-crossed with fine cuts and a thick web of burn scars. She couldn’t help but stare at the tempting sight longer than politeness allowed before meeting Karlach’s terrified expression.
Right. The joke.
“Kidding. They’re safe. And beautiful.” With a sigh, she added a genuine, “Thank you.”
Karlach heaved an answering sigh of relief. “You cheeky thing. Had me scared I’d die of poison before the old ticker gave out.” She rapped her knuckles against the blue glow beneath her clavicle.
Shadowheart’s eyes followed the motion of Karlach’s hand. Her chest and shoulders bore similar rope-like burn scars. Wisps of steam drifted from the metal vents that studded her shoulders. They certainly looked intriguing, but Shadowheart wondered whether they hurt, like her hand. Old wounds of the past, written in flesh. Her palms began to sweat, her fingers tingling with the desire to trace the webbed scars.
“Thank you again, Karlach.” She caressed the edge of a petal with her fingertips. “I’m surprised you remembered my favorite flower.”
Karlach winked. “You don’t tell us much, so when you do, I try to remember. Just in case.”
Shadowheart allowed an unguarded smile to slip through. The sweet smell of woodsmoke drifted into her nose. Karlach’s alpha scent was warm. Strong. Comforting? Her tongue tingled with the urge to sweep along Karlach’s throat and taste the rippled skin. To learn if Karlach’s lips were as soft as they looked. Whether her hands were as strong and sure as they seemed.
She blinked. Stop it! No need to be a desperate slut at a time like this…
Maybe it wasn’t her fault? Yes. It has to be Isobel and Dame Aylin, spilling hormones into the hall without a care for how they might affect anyone else. She’d been despondent mere minutes ago—a state of affairs she intended to return to as quickly as possible, however pathetic it might be. Those were her true feelings.
“You’re sweet to remember, Karlach. Go and tell the others I’m... persevering.” A lie, but hardly the first she’d told. Karlach, Gods bless her, would believe just about anything, even from a Sharran. Former Sharran.
“Right,” Karlach said. “I’m off to eat dirt, or whatever boring shite normal people do. But I’ll be back to make sure you eat.” She saluted, then turned with a little skip-hop, waving her tail at a jaunty angle. She shot one last grin over her shoulder before disappearing down the stairs.
Shadowheart watched Karlach go, the weight of regret resting heavily upon her shoulders. Part of her didn’t want Karlach to leave. The alpha was sweet, kind, and genuine, for all she could be annoying. She smelled lovely, too. Like incense. And fresh, lickable sweat. And unmistakable alpha virility…
You hardly deserve any of that, do you, Shadowheart? An alpha like her? Traitorous scum like you? She retreated into her room. Though sorely tempted to burrow under the covers and hide from the world, she took a moment to press the night orchid between the pages of a book on the nightstand.
A Selûnite prayer book. Of course.
She dropped the book, flopping atop the sheets and pulling the pillow over her head. She closed her stinging eyes, refusing to let the tears fall. She hadn’t cried in years. She wasn’t about to start now. The brief moment of respite, however unexpected, only created more hollow space for grief to fill.
***
Shadowheart spent the afternoon wallowing in bed without sparing a thought for food or drink. Despite her bone-deep exhaustion, sleep remained elusive. Her unstable emotions vacillated between piercing fear that she’d gone mad and bouts of stark, painful sanity.
She’d betrayed Shar. Thrown her life, her mission, her very purpose away. Meanwhile, the insufferable Isobel sang sweeter than a songbird one room away. Shadowheart doubted she and Dame Aylin had left their room at all today either.
What a cruel twist of fate! Forced to listen to a pair of soulmates who should have been her mortal enemies, rutting away with only a drafty wall between them. How shameless! They positively stank of heat and sweat and sex. They smelled—
Good?
Shadowheart snarled and snapped at her pillow. The taste and texture of cotton scraped her tongue. Was she drooling? No. She was ashamed, depressed, lonely…
So wet.
The silken heat between her legs made her feel filthy. Did she still hate them? Was she getting off to this? She pretended the cautious hand she slipped between her legs was only to confirm her fears, but she couldn’t deny the way her stomach twitched and her legs shivered at the light contact. She yanked her hand away, glaring at her glistening fingers.
Hate and arousal needn’t be mutually exclusive. Lae’zel’s existence is proof enough of that.
Lae’zel.
She’d caught a glimpse of the gith bathing in the river once, a memory she’d tried and failed to forget. Her mind summoned Lae’zel’s image all too easily: lithe frame, narrow hips, tight abdominals. On that morning, for the span of a traitorous heartbeat, Shadowheart had imagined dropping to her knees to drag the flat of her tongue along the slashing blade-scar that bisected Lae’zel’s right thigh.
Shadowheart groaned into the pillow, riding the heel of her hand. When had it slipped back between her legs? When had she pushed two fingers inside? Panic flared in her chest, burning bright and radiant, only to fizzle out almost immediately, replaced by the hot, sticky sensation of shame.
Not Lae’zel. She may not be Vlaakith’s war dog anymore, but she’s still so… so…
Beautiful.
An odd word for a githyanki, an alpha, or a fighter; but it was true. There was such natural beauty in Lae’zel’s fluid movements; raw power packed into that lean, scarred body; a deep yearning in the burnished copper of her eyes.
Shadowheart hooked her fingers violently into her front wall, unable to stop—but she could shift the object of her desire. There were far more appropriate alphas to fantasize about.
Alphas like Karlach.
Tall, strong, handsome Karlach, with biceps so perfect Shadowheart wanted to sink her teeth in them. Trapezius muscles she’d litter with bite marks. She’d lick and suck every scar until Karlach flipped her over, pinned her, and—
Shadowheart’s core pulsed. Her clit strained, stiff and slippery and achingly sensitive. She panted, grinding her teeth, working her fingers deeper. Harder.
A knock sounded on her door, brisk and perfunctory. “You will open the door now, Shadowheart, and consume the meal I have brought.”
Shadowheart groaned. She withdrew her fingers, but couldn’t bear to remove her hand entirely. Gods, of fucking course it would be Lae’zel. “Leave me alone, gith!”
“I will not.” A pause. “It is rothé ribs, accompanied by a verdant seed pod that Karlach calls ‘green beans’. I found them acceptable.”
Shadowheart sagged forward, sinking further into the mattress. She bit her lip to stifle a laugh or a sob. She couldn’t be sure which. Lae’zel was every bit as stubborn as Karlach. “You can’t come in. I’m indecent.”
“Yes,” Lae’zel said. “We all know this about you."
“I mean, I’m naked.”
Another telling pause. “And?”
Shadowheart rolled out of bed, bringing the top sheet with her. Surely it carried her scent, but she was too frustrated to care. She wiped her shamefully dripping hand, wrapped the sheet around her shoulders, and shuffled to the door, cracking it open just enough to meet Lae’zel’s eyes. They were the same eyes she’d envisioned before, only this time, they were rounded with— is that concern? Surely not.
“Well?” Shadowheart stuck out her hand for the plate Lae’zel held. “Give it here.”
Lae’zel did not relinquish the plate. Her nostrils flared, her upturned nose twitching in a strangely adorable way. It reminded Shadowheart of Scratch catching a scent.
“You smell as though your heat is upon you, istik—omega—Shadowheart.”
Heat filled Shadowheart’s cheeks. Was her need already so obvious? Lae’zel’s scent was distracting enough on its own, like oiled leather and fresh earth after rain. “It’s Isobel,” Shadowheart muttered.
Lae’zel jutted her pointed chin forward. “Chk. Do not speak nonsense. I would recognize your smell anywhere.” She gave the other door a sidelong glance. “Although perhaps she and Dame Aylin have ignited your fire.”
Shadowheart snorted at the suggestion. “Lady Shar protects her children from such base urges.” She winced as soon as the words left her mouth. I’m no longer one of those children. That was the worst of it. For a few precious moments, she’d forget her betrayal, then remember all over again. That allowed the pain, the physical and mental anguish, to consume her all over again as well.
Lae’zel narrowed her eyes, flicking her gaze up and down Shadowheart’s hunched form. Shadowheart ignored the strange, embarrassing impulse to let the sheet fall away. Best not probe that thought. She knew she wouldn’t like where it led.
“It seems to me,” Lae’zel said, “that you would do well to reacquaint yourself with what you are, then. Before it reacquaints itself with you. Forcibly.”
Shadowheart stopped listening halfway through Lae’zel’s pronouncement. The very insinuation was insulting, but it took an effort of will to keep her eyes fixed on Lae’zel’s instead of allowing them to roam the alpha’s taut, lean body. Those straps Lae’zel wore as casual clothes left almost nothing to the imagination. She could see, and admire, every muscle. Every scar.
A wicked, blade-sharp smile crossed Lae’zel’s face.
Shadowheart huffed. “I feel perfectly well, given the circumstances.”
Lae’zel continued smirking that infuriating smirk of hers.
To hurry things along, Shadowheart snatched the plate. Red meat was quite the luxury, but the rothé ribs smelled less than appealing. They weren’t what she wanted to sink her teeth into. “You can leave now, gith.”
The sharp narrowing of Lae’zel’s eyes made Shadowheart’s spine tingle. “I will leave after you eat.”
Shadowheart blew her side-swept white bangs away from her forehead with an irritated huff. They were always getting in the way. Much like Lae’zel. “Did Karlach put you up to this?”
Lae’zel squared her narrow shoulders, lifting her pointed chin high as though to intimidate a challenger. “You should be grateful, omega, that we have taken it upon ourselves to ensure your welfare.”
Shadowheart shivered. She normally hated when Lae’zel addressed her as ‘omega’. It was almost as bad as istik, with the venom she put behind the word. This time, heat pulsed between Shadowheart’s legs. She bit her inner cheek and squeezed her thighs together. “That’s a non-answer, Lae’zel. So, did Karlach put you up to this? Are you two conspiring against me now?”
“I shall forgive your outburst,” Lae’zel said, “and attribute it to your condition.”
“You—you…!” Shadowheart’s thoughts were a disorienting swell of mixed emotions. Her body shook with fever, weakness, desire. She whirled away from Lae’zel and stalked over to the writing desk in her room, slamming the plate down with a clatter. “Fine. I’ll eat, you monster.” She plopped in the chair, showing Lae’zel her back. The sheets pooled awkwardly around her legs. “Now, if you’re satisfied, do leave me in peace for once in your godsdamned life!”
Lae’zel watched Shadowheart for a long moment, then dipped her chin in terse acknowledgment. “Very well, Shadowheart. But you shall not dismiss our company so easily a third time. Some battles cannot and should not be fought alone.”
Shadowheart shot her most reproachful glare over her shoulder. “For the last time, I’m not in heat, you stubborn, wretched—”
“You will be, but I was referring to your decision to free the Nightsong.” Lae’zel’s brow softened and her eyes drifted somewhere distant. Somewhere beyond Shadowheart, perhaps even beyond the material plane. “I know what it is to become h’sharlak. I know the bitterness of turning my back on all I once believed to be right and true. It is a dark road, much like these shadow-cursed lands. However, you need not walk it alone.”
With that, Lae’zel turned and left, closing the door behind her. The soft click sounded with a strange sense of finality. Shadowheart slumped in her seat. Now that she was alone, she desperately didn’t want to be.
It’s for the best. I have always been alone. Sharran or no, that will never change.
***
Shadowheart woke with a whimper on her lips, weak and trembling with fever. Every inch of screaming skin burned hotter than the Hells. She slid a hand between her legs, wincing at the slick, dripping mess she found. Lae'zel had been right. She didn’t remember drifting off, but she’d awoken in the grip of the most violent heat she could remember.
Rolling out of bed, Shadowheart stumbled to the window. She forced the warped frame open, gasping as a cool nighttime breeze caressed her clammy flesh. Faint silver moonlight shone through the blue-black veil of a cloudy midnight sky. The sight of the moon brought a swell of mixed emotions, while the fresh air only offered the smallest of respites.
Sharp teeth of agony closed around her, stabbing between her legs.
Shadowheart groaned, doubling over and cradling her midsection. Every quivering muscle pulled taut. A second heartbeat throbbed desperately within her core. She clutched the windowsill to keep from collapsing while her other, traitorous hand dipped down between her legs. She stroked the stiff, slippery bud of her clit, hissing through gritted teeth.
Fuck, it had been so long. Too long. Lady Shar had revoked her divine protection in a cruel, abrupt manner most befitting the goddess of darkness.
Shadowheart wrenched her hand away. Her slick fingers, desperate for a warm, wet home, slid into her mouth as she staggered back to bed. Her taste was salty, yearning. As she lay down, she winced at the texture of the wrinkled sheets, far too rough against her burning flesh.
She slid two, then three fingers inside, grinding her clit against the heel of her hand. Each pump sent blissful shockwaves through her heaving belly, but her inner walls fluttered in frustration. She needed something long, hard, and thick to squeeze around.
An alpha's cock. Karlach's cock.
More wet heat melted into Shadowheart’s palm. She'd seen the outline through Karlach’s breeches more than once. Not that she'd gone out of her way to look…
She moaned and tossed her head, unable to lie to herself any longer. She’d seen enough to know Karlach was particularly blessed, even for an alpha of her massive size. Seen enough to imagine how wonderful the blunt head would feel parting her outer petals, pushing past the tight ring of her entrance.
The copper tang of blood spread through Shadowheart's mouth. She'd bitten her lower lip, but the taste made her wilder. She rolled onto her stomach and rode her hand, hips churning in time with her ragged breaths. It was all she could do to bury her face in the pillow to muffle her sobs.
What if someone hears? What if Lae'zel hears?
Gods, Lae'zel. A hard, lean, oh-so-perfect specimen of alpha virility.
Those leather pants left as little to the imagination as Karlach's. From the treasured glimpse Shadowheart had stolen of Lae'zel's naked form, the gith's cock boasted delightful ridges. She pulsed, imagining the rippled texture dragging along her inner walls, rubbing all the right places.
Shadowheart came with a strangled cry, unable to choose between the two names that quivered on her lips. Release rushed through her body like a surge of healing magic, a cool balm to the all-consuming fever. Her core squeezed tight around her curling fingers and her clit twitched against her hand.
It was over much too soon. Pleasure, relief—all gone in an instant. Pain smoldered in Shadowheart's stomach and radiated outward, consuming her like lashing tongues of flame. She howled her agony to the night, bitter tears streaming down her cheeks. It was fruitless, hopeless, but she couldn’t stop thrusting.
She came again.
Her heat-sickness showed no mercy. No matter how hard and fast she rocked, no matter the angle or how many fingers, her bliss drifted further away. She bit her pillow as keen spasms seized her body. Pleasure was a distant afterthought. All that mattered was managing the worst of the pain as it crescendoed.
I can’t do this alone. I can’t—I need—
In Shadowheart’s delirious fantasies, the bedroom door opened. She craned her neck, looking back over her shoulder to see Karlach striding in with her usual swagger. Her glowing orange eyes blazed like twin suns and a mischievous grin split her handsomely scarred face.
Shadowheart tried to call Karlach’s name, but only managed a strangled sob. She pushed onto her elbows and knees, lifting her hips. Karlach wasn’t really standing there, she knew, but the posture was instinctive. Presenting felt good. Right. Almost ordained, though by which goddess, Shadowheart shuddered to think. She smelled the tiefling’s scent: sweet, smoky, intoxicating.
Wait. Scent?
“Easy, soldier.” The wooden floorboards groaned under the weight of Karlach’s footsteps. “I’ll take good care of you, cross my sorry excuse for a heart. But first, I need to hear you say you want me. I won’t ever take advantage, especially not of you.”
Shadowheart shot a panicked look over her shoulder. Her body went rigid, but her hand kept moving, unable to stop lest she burn to nothing but ash. “Wait, you’re real?” Slick heat flooded around her fingers.
“Really real,” Karlach said, unfastening her pants. Her fiery gaze shifted from Shadowheart’s face to her raised backside and, inevitably, to her exposed cunt. “Stunningly beautiful, you are. Most beautiful omega I’ve ever clapped eyes on. Worth surviving the Blood Wars for.” From the sincerity in Karlach’s tone, she meant every word, solemn as a whispered prayer.
Shadowheart’s filthy fantasies rushed ahead without her rational mind. She imagined herself as a beautiful omega prize, a hard-won trophy, a reward for Karlach’s bloody victories. There was something to be said for an alpha who could snap her over her knee like a twig, yet always chose to carry her to safety.
Safe. Yes. I’ll be safe with Karlach.
“Please!” Shadowheart raised her hips higher. She clutched the sheets in shaking fists, praying to whichever deity cared to listen that Karlach would ease her suffering. She’d sing her pleas to the Moon Maiden if Karlach would only mount her.
“Please, yes?” Karlach paused in the middle of removing her chest straps, staring at Shadowheart with the wide, luminous lanterns of her eyes. Instead of fierce red, the glow within her chest flickered a ghostly shade of blue. A cool, soothing color.
Shadowheart licked her swollen lips. “Yes.”
Karlach’s grin shone brighter than the sun. She clambered onto the bed, causing the mattress to dip and the frame to creak beneath her considerable weight, and reached for Shadowheart’s upturned rear. Her palms hovered centimeters away from Shadowheart’s skin, not quite making contact.
Despite the fog of lust, Shadowheart understood in an instant. Karlach had trained herself not to touch, lest she harm those she cared for most. Even with her engine upgraded—even with the tentative hug they’d exchanged afterward—it made perfect sense that she was still cautious.
The last thing in the world Shadowheart wanted Karlach to be was cautious. Her heat-sickness scorned such gentle handling. She faced the headboard and arched her spine, pushing her ass into Karlach’s hands.
Karlach groaned, squeezing possessively. “Fuck,” she huffed, bending over Shadowheart’s back for more precious skin contact. The scent of woodsmoke and clean, healthy alpha sweat filled Shadowheart’s nose. “Your skin’s so soft. Been so long since I touched an omega. Certainly not a treasure like you.”
Ten years, Shadowheart’s mind whispered. Her heart clenched with emotions she couldn’t name with her body stripped down to such a primitive state of being, but she cherished them all the same. She was grateful that Karlach, who’d been denied the mortal need for touch and intimacy for a decade, had chosen to claim her.
“Take me,” Shadowheart moaned.
“I will.” Karlach’s breath unfurled hot and wet against Shadowheart’s shoulder, tickling the base of her neck. “Tell me if anything hurts, yeah? Even a little. You drive me madder than mad, but I’d never dream of harming you.”
Hurt me. Use me. I don’t care, so long as you take me.
Shadowheart’s head fell forward. She rocked into Karlach’s hands, still so horribly gentle. Words were beyond her, so she hoped Karlach understood.
Karlach did. Something smooth and firm dragged torturously along Shadowheart’s sensitive slit. Instinct told her it was Karlach’s shaft, hot and thick and perfect. She choked on a sob, angling her hips to align the broad head with her entrance.
“Fuck, soldier,” Karlach grunted. “Don’t tease me like that. I’m meant to prepare you before I go shoving myself anywhere.” She shivered atop Shadowheart, smearing kisses along her neck.
Shadowheart tilted her head to allow full access, relishing Karlach’s scorching mouth. She wanted that mouth anywhere and everywhere. She wanted—no, needed —to be filled. Filled to the brim until there was no room left for breath, doubts, or anything at all except for Karlach within her.
“Please!” She writhed in the cage of Karlach’s powerful arms, relishing her own helplessness. “Please, it hurts, it hurts without you in me, please, pleasepleaseplease—”
“I know, pretty thing. I know.” Karlach braced her elbows beside Shadowheart’s, pressing both hands on top of hers and lacing their fingers. It was almost sweet, the hand-holding. Reassuring, even, if she hadn’t been so slick and desperate. “Deep breaths, now. Here it comes.”
Shadowheart keened as Karlach’s cock nudged her entrance. Even the blunted tip was so wonderfully thick. It burned like a red-hot poker, in the best possible way. Her core pulsed with agony and envy as Karlach gave a gentle thrust, barely pushing inside at all.
“Shit.” Karlach’s hips quivered. “Either I’ve forgotten how tight omegas are, or you’re the tightest I’ve ever had.” She resumed her subtle rocking, rubbing her cockhead along Shadowheart’s pussy, occasionally bumping her clit.
Shadowheart’s upper body collapsed onto the mattress. She was a shaking, whimpering mess of frayed nerves and bottomless omega need. This soft beginning was almost as torturous as the pain of Shar’s wound, with sweet relief one thrust away.
The next time Karlach brushed her opening, Shadowheart rocked back deliberately, taking the first inch. The thick stretch of Karlach inside of her burned in positively unholy ways, but Shadowheart delighted in the pain, softening and yielding to the brutal intrusion almost immediately.
Karlach tensed. Then jerked. Then sank her teeth into Shadowheart’s shoulder. Though she didn’t break skin, Shadowheart yelped at the scrape of pointed teeth against her flesh. Her cries became a delighted shout as Karlach pushed another inch inside, splitting her wider than she’d thought possible. She wanted to be split open. Claimed. Ruined for anyone else.
“What treachery is this, t’sha’val?” Lae’zel hissed from the foot of the bed. “This is not what we agreed upon.”
Cold clarity coursed through Shadowheart’s smoldering veins. She couldn’t push herself up beneath Karlach’s considerable weight, but she didn’t need to. She would have recognized Lae’zel’s insistent scent and the resentful rasp of her voice anywhere.
Lae’zel.
Shadowheart’s core clenched around Karlach, fluttering at the realization that Lae’zel—strong, powerful, beautiful Lae’zel—had a full view of Karlach claiming her. Yet part of her recoiled with shame. Sadness?
Her mind swirled with confusing images of Lae’zel tearing Karlach away, kneeling behind her, and thrusting in to the hilt. Lae’zel: claiming her, sinking her sharp teeth deep, pushing her ridged cock deeper.
Karlach pumped her hips with more force, burying half her length in one thrust. Shadowheart’s eyes rolled back at the sudden, almost unbearable stretch. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, Lae’zel. She was further along than we thought. I was worried she’d run out and mount whichever alpha she found first if I didn’t take care of her at least once.”
“Weak excuses. You are most fortunate I scented you from downstairs, or I would have demanded steep penance from the both of you for beginning without me.”
Shadowheart’s swimming thoughts centered on the unfamiliar word. T’sha’val. Unlike most of the loathsome, spitting githyanki words Lae’zel fired at her like arrows, this one sounded different. Almost respectful. Was Lae’zel addressing her or Karlach?
Who cares? Karlach. Lae’zel. Either one of you. Both of you. Fuck me, fill me, knot me, please, anything, I need it, I need you, I need—
“Silence, omega,” Lae’zel growled. “Sweet as your begging is, I know a better purpose for your insolent mouth.”
Shadowheart’s face blazed like a bonfire as she realized she’d spoken aloud.
Lae’zel’s scent grew stronger. The mattress dipped. Suddenly, Shadowheart saw the protruding points of Lae’zel’s hip bones and the clear outline of her abdominal muscles. She was already naked, without a stitch of clothing on.
Her eyes shot down to the long green cock that jutted proudly from between Lae’zel’s powerful thighs. Its length was a darker shade than the rest of Lae’zel’s skin, with subtle ridges along the shaft, while the flared head boasted a wider opening at the tip than expected.
Shadowheart’s mouth was on it before Lae’zel could give the command. Hunger overtook all reason as she wrapped her lips around Lae’zel’s cockhead, running her tongue through the deep furrow. Bitter fluid leaked into her mouth, but a decadent bitterness that made her yearn for more. She ran her tongue over and around, drinking of Lae’zel like a woman dying of thirst.
“Take it easy on her, will you?” Karlach said, an audible note of worry in her lust-roughened voice. “I get the feeling it’s been a while for her, too.”
Lae’zel scoffed. “Chk. Our Shadowheart is a warrior. She is strong. She will fulfill her purpose admirably without your soft pity.”
“Fine,” Karlach grumbled. “But if you so much as breathe wrong, I’ll kick your skinny arse out through that window and all the way back to the astral plane. Are we clear?”
“I would deserve far worse,” Lae’zel said. “And if you fail to control your fire, sword-sister, I will not hesitate to choke the life from your throat with my own hands. It would be a great stain upon my honor were I to allow any harm to befall our chosen mate.”
Shadowheart’s mind spun. Our mate? But with Karlach’s cock buried to the hilt, stretching her in ways she hadn’t imagined possible, and Lae’zel’s decadent taste upon her tongue, she could scarcely remember her own name. Her fever spiked, fueled by the manner in which they discussed her: like a favorite toy resentfully shared between siblings.
Lae’zel’s dexterous fingers combed through Shadowheart’s tangled hair. Shadowheart whimpered, choking and sputtering and nearly weeping with joy as Lae’zel’s cockhead nudged her throat. She lapped the wavy ridges, learning the landscape of the warm, throbbing shaft. Though not as thick as Karlach, Lae’zel was large enough to give Shadowheart pause—and send a thrill coursing through her body.
“Good,” Lae’zel crooned. “I have longed for these lips around me since I first saw you crush a gnoll’s head beneath your mace.”
Shadowheart’s pulse quickened. Was that approval? Was Lae’zel praising her? She didn’t have time for bewilderment, because Karlach picked up a fast, urgent rhythm. The blessed thickness withdrew, then drove back in with all the might of a hammer meeting an anvil. The strike would have driven the breath from her lungs, had she been able to breathe at all while Lae’zel’s cock pushed down her throat.
Tugged like the tide under the moon’s sway, Shadowheart allowed herself to be pushed and pulled between both alphas. As in battle, Karlach and Lae’zel coordinated their efforts silently and perfectly. When Lae’zel thrust forward, testing the limits of Shadowheart’s throat, Karlach pulled her hips back. When Lae’zel retreated a few inches, allowing Shadowheart to draw gasping breath, Karlach slammed forward, sending stars spinning behind Shadowheart’s eyes.
Shadowheart sobbed. Her body melted, muscles going slack. She released every dark, storming emotion, surrendering to Karlach, to Lae’zel, to both of them. There was no room left for grief, doubt, or self-loathing—only pleasure that pierced her very heart. She did indeed have a purpose: to be theirs. Oh, how simple it was! How beautifully simple.
Rather than chase her peak in hopes of sweet oblivion, Shadowheart savored the climb. Karlach’s cock hit the perfect spot inside her because it hit every spot, and… was that Karlach’s tail curling around her hip to glide over her clit? Shadowheart was grateful, because it allowed Karlach to hold her hips in an iron grip.
Not to be forgotten, Lae’zel tugged the root of Shadowheart’s braid to guide her mouth. Later, Shadowheart promised behind the fog of desire. Later, she would worship Lae’zel’s cock properly, with all the reverence it deserved. For now, she could only whine and drool as Lae’zel fucked her throat. She licked hungrily at the base of Lae’zel’s shaft despite her delirium. Curiously, there was no loose skin to indicate a knot, but Shadowheart was too far gone to question it.
Karlach, on the other hand…
On the next thrust, Shadowheart groaned as something large and firm rubbed her swollen outer lips. The muscles in her legs and stomach jumped as Karlach’s knot ground into her clit, lighting fire to her blood and feeding the molten heat in her core.
“No worries, darling.” Karlach stroked Shadowheart’s quivering flank as she might soothe a skittish horse. Her tail rubbed the root of Shadowheart’s clit as her knot teased the exposed head, testing the tightness of Shadowheart’s entrance. “I’ll keep it out this time. You’re so good already. So fucking fantastic, my gorgeous girl.”
Shadowheart couldn’t remember the last time anyone had called her good, gorgeous, or anything kind at all. To the Mother Superior, she’d been a burden, graciously offered the opportunity to prove worthy of the resources invested in her upbringing. To Shar, she’d been a weapon to be used as the goddess saw fit. To Karlach, she was… Karlach’s. Hers, yet also something more. Something almost divine, in the tiefling’s eyes.
Only then did Shadowheart realize she’d intruded on Karlach’s thoughts. In opening her heart, she’d made an inadvertent connection between their tadpoles. There was no headache this time. No hurt. When she reached across the bond toward Karlach, she found only warmth, affection, and devotion.
I wish you could see how beautiful you are to me, Karlach thought.
Shadowheart wept. In that moment, she knew Karlach’s heart as her own. Through Karlach, she found the love Shar had all but hollowed from her heart. She was loved, truly. She was worthy. Shadowheart let Lae’zel’s gorgeous cock fall from her lips to whisper a single word: “Stay.” She couldn’t bear the thought of Karlach coming anywhere but inside her.
“Shit,” Karlach croaked. “You’d really let me come inside you?”
Shadowheart moaned her approval while nuzzling the fine hairs at the base of Lae’zel’s cock. She didn’t need to turn around to see Karlach’s eyes glistening. The tiefling’s tears burned in her own.
“Good.” Lae’zel’s hand softened its grip around Shadowheart’s braid, stroking the nape of her neck. “Through our eyes, you see your own splendor at last.” Her dexterous fingers explored the curve of Shadowheart’s tapered ear, sending a shudder along every inch of Shadowheart’s sweat-drenched skin. Then Lae’zel traced the scar on Shadowheart’s cheek with a tender thumb, following it across the bridge of her nose.
Shadowheart pushed into Lae’zel’s caress, nuzzling her inner wrist. Small scars littered Lae’zel’s sword hand. Shadowheart wanted to kiss them all. She sucked Lae’zel’s thumb into her mouth, swirling her tongue around it in substitute for the shaft she’d lost.
Lae’zel withdrew her thumb, drawing a shiny trail of spit from Shadowheart’s lips. She pumped her fist along her cock, guiding it back into Shadowheart’s mouth. “Do your duty and please me, mate,” she growled, an urgent rattle in her voice, “while my t’sha’val breeds you. If I find your service satisfactory, I shall bestow the same honor upon you.”
Shadowheart groaned around Lae’zel. Such filthy, wonderful words! She was beginning to understand what t’sha’val meant through context and the thought set her head spinning. Karlach and Lae’zel intended to share more than her body. They intended to share her womb; to give her purpose beyond Shar, beyond Selûne, beyond removing the tadpole or saving the world. A better, more beautiful purpose with them.
Hot excitement surged from Karlach’s mind, quivering against Shadowheart’s like the plucked strings of a lute. Slowly, gently, Karlach eased her knot forward, rocking back and forth. It teased Shadowheart, pushing centimeter by centimeter until the stretch burned too much. Then, cursedly, Karlach withdrew, rubbing Shadowheart’s clit with her tail to get her softer, wetter, open.
Curiously, Shadowheart’s fractured mind groped across empty space in search of Lae’zel’s. It took a rare breed of alpha to share a mate without violence, let alone a bristling, possessive githyanki with nothing but disdain for others. She wondered how Lae’zel felt, watching Karlach’s knot grind against her entrance. Angry? Jealous? Excited?
Lae’zel’s mind met Shadowheart’s inquiry like a shield, hard and unyielding. Its sheer strength stole Shadowheart’s breath. Slowly, the shield lowered, allowing a glimmer of light and warmth to peek through.
I do not share, omega. Lae’zel’s words were every bit as commanding in Shadowheart’s mind as they would have been aloud. I will never share you. My blade shall drink the lifeblood of any alpha who dares lay a hand upon you. But Karlach is t’sha’val. My sword-sister. We have pledged to be one through blood spilled in righteous battle. For her to mate you is the same as mating you myself. She will make a valiant guardian for our child. Her stock is strong enough to give them a fine clutch-mate.
You’ll have to work hard, Lae’zel, Karlach thought. If I have my way, they’ll all have horns. Fuck, I could come right now.
Shadowheart came instead: violently, completely, gushing around the base of Karlach’s cock and over her thick, bulging knot. She shattered in body and soul, offering her screams as sweet supplication, her tears as clean devotion. Two new goddesses drowned out the old, far worthier objects of her worship than the Lady of Loss had ever been. Through the mental connection, Shadowheart felt the whole of their love for her. Even Lae’zel, curse her, sent a tendril of tenderness and affection across the bond.
In the arms of such safety, Shadowheart could do no less than break and be remade anew. She clenched and fluttered around Karlach, taking Lae’zel as deep into her throat as she dared. All the while, she gazed up at Lae’zel with soft doe’s eyes. In a flash, she saw herself as Lae’zel did: pink face flushed and tear-streaked, drool and a faint trace of blood leaking from the corner of her mouth.
Lae’zel resumed stroking Shadowheart’s cheek. “There is no shame in this supposed weakness,” she murmured. “It is your strength.”
“Bleeding hells,” Karlach huffed into Shadowheart’s shoulder. “Hot—tight—can’t hold out any longer. Are you sure, Shadowheart? Really sure?”
Unable to form words, Shadowheart responded with pure emotion. Her mind cleaved to Karlach’s, sharing her basest omega desires: to be fucked, claimed, bred. It didn’t matter that the world might end. It didn’t matter that she’d lost her goddess and what little of her former life she remembered. She would surely die if Karlach didn’t fill her this very moment.
Karlach stiffened. Grunted. Her cock twitched, spilling a hot flood of come like liquid fire deep within Shadowheart’s core.
Shadowheart arched her spine in ecstasy. Her inner walls squeezed and pulsed in an instinctive attempt to take Karlach’s release deeper; to find the knot Karlach hadn’t yet buried. She tried to cry out for more, but her screams died as Lae’zel’s hand tangled in her hair, pushing her cheek into the mattress.
“You should mark her, Karlach,” Lae’zel murmured, softening her steely grip ever so slightly. “Claim the honor she has bestowed upon you.”
Shadowheart trembled. Yes! Mark me! Make me yours!
Karlach bucked, setting her sharp teeth carefully against Shadowheart’s throat. A wave of pure bliss crashed over Shadowheart as Karlach bit down, piercing flesh at last. She should have been afraid of such a strong pledge of devotion, but the bite felt inevitable, like the sealing of a pact they’d already made.
Shadowheart’s teeth gnashed, searching for flesh to mark. She cared little whether it was Karlach’s or Lae’zel’s. She needed to bite, to taste sweet iron upon her tongue, to make her own promise. But Lae’zel held Shadowheart in place, forcing her to snap and drool with her face buried in the sweat-soaked sheets.
Karlach sensed Shadowheart’s distress. She shifted her right elbow, allowing Shadowheart’s teeth to find the firm flesh of her forearm. Shadowheart seized it, biting into the taut muscle. She spilled another flood of pleasure onto Karlach’s throbbing knot, but it remained outside, tormenting her instead of fulfilling its purpose.
She held onto Karlach’s forearm until Karlach’s uneven thrusts slowed and hot trails of come spilled onto the mattress beneath them.
Quivering with aftershocks, Shadowheart’s trembling limbs gave out. Lae’zel released the roots of her hair to stroke her head as she flopped, exhausted, onto her belly. Karlach adjusted to the new angle instinctively, pinning Shadowheart flat to the mattress and finishing with a deep, rough thrust.
Shadowheart nearly found a third peak on the heels of her second. To be so fiercely claimed by an alpha, a warrior, a lover like Karlach, kept her wrapped up in heat-madness. She shivered as Karlach’s weight collapsed on top of her, trapping her on her heaving belly. She’d never been so happy to be caged.
Lae’zel rolled off the bed, prowling at the edge of Shadowheart’s vision, to join Karlach behind her. “Our agreement, Karlach. I must breed her now, before your knot prevents it.”
Karlach growled around Shadowheart’s shoulder. The possessive hold drove Shadowheart mad even as it restored her sanity. “Fuck,” Karlach grunted, lapping the mating mark she’d left. Her hot forked tongue spread healing fire across Shadowheart’s tender skin. “Don’t know if I can pull out. She’s too fucking perfect.” Her hips pumped again, her cock swelling back to hardness in the span of a single heartbeat. Her knot throbbed against Shadowheart’s aching, abused cunt.
“Please,” Shadowheart hissed, attempting to rock in the same rhythm. Karlach’s hard frame kept her pinned, helpless to join or alter the pace. She was at the mercy of Karlach’s pleasure. “Knot me, one of you just—”
Lae’zel’s growl rolled through Shadowheart’s body like thunder. It raised each hair on her skin, lighting every nerve with electricity. “Honor your word, sister.”
Karlach growled in turn. Then, she stopped and pulled out with a choked gasp. Shadowheart mourned the loss with a high-pitched whine. Behind her, Karlach’s scent strengthened into a swell of burning smoke. The room’s temperature spiked five degrees in an instant.
“Only,” Karlach said, “because I promised. And because once I knot her, I intend to stay well in her ‘til I’m sure the job’s done right.”
“You shall.” The mattress dipped again as Lae’zel took Karlach’s place behind Shadowheart. Her hips were leaner, but no less powerful as she buried her cock to the hilt in one thrust.
Shadowheart sobbed as her walls gripped Lae’zel’s long, ridged length. Just like Karlach’s, it filled her perfectly, as though her body had been made by the gods to house them both. The natural curve of Lae’zel’s cock caught her sensitive front wall just so as it plunged in and out.
Lost in pleasure, Shadowheart barely registered Lae’zel’s lean form stretching overtop hers until sharp teeth nipped her unmarked shoulder. A soft tongue flickered against her neck as though to soothe the pain.
“I will breed you now, Shadowheart.” Lae’zel’s mind twined with Shadowheart’s, as soft a caress as the tracing of her scar had been before. All that I am will be within you, if you but say the words.
“You love me.” The words rushed from Shadowheart’s soul to her lips, completely bypassing her brain.
“Of course we do, foolish creature,” Lae’zel said. “It is the only thing that frightens me in this world or any other. But I could no more change it than I could change the stars.”
Weeks ago, Shadowheart would have responded to such a confession with spite and scorn. She would have delighted in piercing Lae’zel’s heart with the sharpest barbs her tongue could speak. But there was no disgust, no hatred, no loathing to be found within her wildly beating heart. Lae’zel was a different woman since leaving Vlaakith’s fold. Shadowheart was a different woman, too. And Karlach, bless her, had the biggest heart of anyone despite having no heart at all.
From shared pain, perhaps something better could be born. Even something so strange and unexpected as love.
“Love you, you insufferable arse,” Shadowheart gasped, writhing against the lean, sinewy strength of Lae’zel’s frame. “And Karlach. Can’t help but love you, too. Now one of you idiots take me, damn you. And make it hurt, or I’ll never forgive you. ”
Lae’zel braced herself on one elbow and seized Shadowheart’s braid in the opposite hand. She yanked it as she snapped her hips, plunging in and out of Shadowheart’s wanting core. It was all the pain and ecstasy she could have hoped for.
Through tear-filled eyes, Shadowheart saw Karlach’s blurry form take Lae’zel’s place at the head of the bed. She leaned back and spread her muscular thighs, inviting Shadowheart’s cheek to rest upon one of them. Lae’zel helped by pulling Shadowheart’s hair, never once breaking rhythm.
“I don’t know whether to be in awe of you or worried about you,” Karlach said, stroking the top of Shadowheart’s head. “For liking it this rough. Taking both of us like this.”
“Be in awe,” Lae’zel grunted, burying her teeth in the taut cord of Shadowheart’s shoulder.
Shadowheart whimpered, fighting Lae’zel’s grip for the privilege of nuzzling Karlach’s knot. It was dark red and heavily swollen, full and unsatisfied. That simply wouldn’t do. She moaned and kissed and licked, tasting her own wetness, servicing it as best she could while Lae’zel fucked her into the mattress.
Rather than pull, Lae’zel pushed Shadowheart’s face between Karlach’s legs until the tiefling’s thick alpha scent was all she knew. “Comfort her for this part, Karlach,” Lae’zel snarled around her mouthful of prized flesh. “She will need it.”
On her next thrust, Lae’zel buried herself to the hilt and held there. Shadowheart made a pitiful mewling sound while smearing kisses on Karlach’s knot, one she could hardly believe had fallen from her own lips. “Keep going, keep going, don’t you dare stop—Ahh!”
Her whines became a scream as a sharp, sucking sensation pulled deep within her core. She swore she felt it all the way in her stomach as something latched inside, a strange pressure that drew and took without mercy. Her inner walls pulsed around Lae’zel’s shaft, twitching on the verge of yet another orgasm.
Lae’zel released her bitehold, causing every muscle in Shadowheart’s body to melt despite the barrage of sensations. “Had I known I would bestow Mother Gith’s legacy upon an istik, I would have called such an accusation slanderous.” She kissed the raw mark softly, tenderly. “Yet I have never met a worthier omega.”
Shadowheart grunted, biting down on the hard muscle of Karlach’s inner thigh. The pressure deep inside grew, from pulling to pushing to burning like the flames of the Hells—and yet it was rapturous. Something large and round was filling her, forcing its way into her, but it was nothing like a knot. The stretch was much deeper—
Clarity cut through the heat fog, sharp as a blade’s edge. Lae’zel wasn’t knotting her. Shadowheart didn’t even know whether gith alphas possessed knots. And the wide opening at Lae’zel’s tip… it was meant for something to pass through. For an egg to pass through.
The prospect should have horrified her. Should have made her scream for Lae’zel to stop. To plead for mercy. Instead, Shadowheart took Karlach’s beautiful, stiff cock in her mouth to stifle her cries as she surrendered, willing herself to open for the unyielding pressure at the entrance to her womb.
Shadowheart’s response earned a low, delighted huff from Karlach and a pleased croon from Lae’zel. She felt Karlach’s heart swell, metal though it was, with love and admiration through the mental bond they shared. In the span of a single breath, Lae’zel filled her mind with a rush of blurred images. They ran together like a watercolor, bleeding one into the next: the proud crown of Lae’zel’s cock sealing around her cervix, splitting her open, pushing something soft and round inside—
Shadowheart cried out, convulsing as something unnatural and yet exquisitely perfect eased past the barrier. The sucking became pressing became twitching—and all of a sudden, she and Lae’zel were both coming, biting and bucking and writhing in a primal dance that threatened to unravel her from the very threads of reality. She drooled and choked on Karlach’s cock as her whole world went white.
Then, in the space of one glorious moment, something gave. Shadowheart rippled around Lae’zel, gripping tight as she adjusted to the new fullness deep within. Surely the egg was quite small to have fit inside her at all, but something monumental had shifted within her body. Her hot blood sang and the mating marks on either side of her throat burned like twin brands.
Letting Karlach’s cock fall from her mouth, she shuddered and collapsed beneath Lae’zel, utterly spent. She didn’t even have the energy to whine in disapproval as Lae’zel withdrew, smearing her sticky, trembling thighs with fluid. Her come, and… whatever lubrication Lae’zel had made. She’d have to ask when her mind wasn’t in splinters.
“Be proud, zhak vo'n'ash duj,” Lae’zel murmured, kissing the top of Shadowheart’s spine. “Source of my bruises. Mother of warriors.” Then, to Shadowheart’s surprise, Lae’zel kissed Karlach’s mark as well. Her inner walls fluttered in search of the fullness she’d lost, while the depths of her core carried a sweet ache.
Shadowheart exhaled a long sigh as the sweat cooled from her flushed skin. The fever had broken. At last, she was content. Happy, even. Am I, really? Yes. Happy…
Her lashes fluttered, her eyes falling shut. She could have fallen asleep on Karlach’s warm, comfortable thigh if the tiefling hadn’t moved from beneath her cheek. Shadowheart’s head flopped onto the mattress, but she was far too weak and spent to protest.
“Sorry,” Karlach mumbled, flipping Shadowheart onto her back almost delicately. Her hands were feather-light as she stretched atop Shadowheart and spread her thighs, easing back inside her with a low grunt. “Sorry, I have to—I have to…”
Shadowheart whined as Karlach’s cock pumped inside. Despite its massive size, there was no pain. No resistance. Her body opened to Karlach like the petals of a flower to drink in the sun. She wrapped her legs around Karlach’s hips and her arms about Karlach’s neck, the only encouraging movements she could manage in such a state of exhaustion. Go on, love. I’m yours.
Karlach gripped Shadowheart’s shoulder in the gentlest possible bite, but it was enough. Shadowheart closed her eyes and smiled.
“Thank you, gorgeous girl,” Karlach muttered against Shadowheart’s sweat-slick throat. “I know you’re tired, darling—I know—but I didn’t knot you before, and I honestly might die if I don’t.”
Lae’zel stretched her lean body alongside Shadowheart’s, playing casually with her ruined braid. No more tugging, only toying. “I understand, t’sha’val. Now that I have had her, I am ruined for other omegas. As it should be.”
Shadowheart’s smile spread until she thought her face might crack. Her eyes remained closed, but her mouth fell open in a guttural cry as Karlach’s knot began to press inside.
It was fire. Heat. Agony. Everything.
Shadowheart tossed her head, finding Lae’zel’s shoulder with her teeth as Karlach shoved inside her with one final thrust. She tasted the salt of Lae’zel’s blood on her tongue as Karlach filled her, first with the exquisite bulk of her knot, then with spurts of hot come that flooded her core.
Karlach’s pointed teeth dug deeper into Shadowheart’s shoulder. Shadowheart bit down harder on Lae’zel’s throat, coming apart one final time around Karlach’s knot.
Yes! Full, bred, claimed—by them. Only them. More, more…
It was right. It was everything. They were everything.
Somehow, Shadowheart found herself lying against Lae’zel’s solid chest, feeling her mate’s small, firm breasts pressing behind her shoulders. My mate. The words sent a shiver through Shadowheart’s sore, ruined body.
Karlach smothered her face in kisses, occasionally nibbling her lower lip or brushing the tips of their noses together.
My mates.
Lying between their strong bodies, bearing both of their marks, Shadowheart felt whole in a way she had never known.
“Curious,” Lae’zel said. Her breath caressed the sensitive edge of Shadowheart’s ear. “You marked Karlach’s forearm. Her weapon-arm, the one sworn to protect and serve you. That is the gith way. And yet…” She kissed the mark she’d left upon Shadowheart’s shoulder. “You marked my throat. A local custom that would seem weak to my people.”
“I don’t mind the unusual placement,” Karlach said. “Heat of the moment and all. Plus, I can look at it whenever I want this way, even without a mirror.” Her voice sounded giddy, almost dreamy, to Shadowheart’s ears. “It’s the prettiest of my scars by far.”
“You earned it,” Shadowheart said, her own voice a drowsy slur. “You both did.”
In the morning, they would talk about this. She’d ask Lae’zel and Karlach what this whole t’sha’val thing meant. Establish boundaries, plan their future if the world didn’t end, or whatever normal, sane people did when choosing a mate. But none of them were normal or sane anymore, if they had ever been.
The first lesson Shadowheart had learned from the Mother Superior had been that love and loss were the same. To love was to lose, and loss was merely love’s inevitable departure. But she hadn’t known, hadn’t predicted, hadn’t understood that love could give as well as take.
Somehow, in spite of her sins, the universe—perhaps even Selûne herself—had seen fit to fill her loss of faith with something new. Something stronger. Something better. With Karlach and Lae’zel, and with hopes for a future; a real future, one that was hers and not Shar’s. One that was hers, theirs, and if the goddess willed, one that belonged to the life that might stir in her belly.
She fell asleep with a smile, soothed by the rhythm of Karlach’s breathing and Lae’zel’s heartbeat. For once, her sleep was blissfully free of pain and nightmares. She slept in the arms of her mates, beneath the soft silver light of the moon falling upon her scratched, bruised, and bleeding flesh—a body that felt like hers again, rather than someone else’s cruel weapon.
She fell asleep, and for the first time she could remember, she looked forward to the dawn.
***
Shadowheart woke the next morning trapped beneath Karlach’s heavy arm, with Lae’zel’s (adorable) nose buried in her hair. She smiled, keeping her eyes closed. Their mingled scents made her feel as though she were in a safe, comfortable nest.
She took stock of her body next, mentally scanning from head to toe. Her pussy ached, soreness permeated every muscle, and she had plenty of scratches and bruises to show for last night’s vigorous activities. But those were problems for later. For now, her throat was dry as a desert and she desperately needed the outhouse as well.
The prospect of getting up and leaving her mates was almost too agonizing to consider so early in the morning. She wanted to wake them and drag them along with her, so she wouldn’t miss their company.
One look at Karlach’s sweet face softened in sleep, though, and a pause to admire the inadvertent pout of Lae’zel’s lips as she dreamed, convinced Shadowheart to let them be. Carefully, she pried free of their embrace and tip-toed around the room in search of something to wear.
Shadowheart ended up wearing Lae’zel’s clothes, since they were the first she stumbled upon, though the straps meant to cover her breasts needed some adjusting. Suitably attired (or at least attired), she crept into the hallway, nearly colliding with someone else.
“Excuse me,” she said, just as her would-be victim mumbled a sheepish, “Sorry.” She and Isobel Thorm stared at each other in silence, wide-eyed and wearing what Shadowheart simply knew were identical looks of embarrassment. Isobel’s thick black eyeliner was even more smudged than usual and the formerly faded scar upon her neck was fresh and raw.
“Sha—Moonmaiden’s blessings upon you,” Shadowheart stammered.
“Lady of Light watch over you.”
They gawked at each other for a long, awkward moment, then burst out laughing.
“Sorry.” A grin like a glowing crescent moon broke across Isobel’s face. “I’m sure I haven’t been a polite neighbor these past two days… Oh dear. You poor, lucky thing.” She reached out with a glowing hand, caressing Shadowheart’s arm with silvered fingertips. “Te curio.”
Shadowheart groaned as the worst of her scratches and bruises healed beneath the cool pulse of Isobel’s magic. The wound on her hand was blessedly silent for once, but the mating marks on either side of her throat throbbed with pleasant heat. She touched Karlach’s, then Lae’zel’s, pleased that the raised ridges of both scars had remained after Isobel’s assistance.
“Thank you. I probably needed that.”
Isobel’s smile thinned, becoming a knowing smirk. “It pains Aylin to see too many marks upon me, even though I’d rather wear them with pride. That strapping tiefling of yours might feel the same. The gith, though…”
Shadowheart laughed. She supposed Isobel was good at reading people. She wanted very badly to continue disliking the pretty little cleric, but now that they worshiped the same goddess and she’d been an equally loud and disruptive neighbor, there was no logical reason to hate her.
Sometimes first impressions are wrong, after all. Heat filled her cheeks as she thought of Lae’zel.
“I must admit, I’m impressed you survived the ordeal in one piece.” Isobel bit her full lower lip, pale blue eyes darting away. “Forgive me. That was awfully presumptuous.”
It was Shadowheart’s turn to smirk. “It certainly took a lot more stamina and courage than fighting goblins or undead, I assure you. But what about you? I’m surprised you’re still standing after bedding an immortal for two days straight.”
“We had a century’s separation to make up for…” Isobel trailed off, wincing with visible discomfort. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must attend to other, less pleasurable bodily needs.”
“Of course.” Shadowheart pulled a matching face as her bladder protested in sympathy. She wondered if the egg inside her was pushing things that weren’t meant to be pushed.
Gods. I really do have an egg inside me. And since Karlach knotted me…
As a cleric, she could cleanse herself of unwanted pregnancies, should the egg and Karlach’s seed take root within her womb. But it isn’t unwanted, is it? Terrible timing, though.
Well then. She’d just have to save the world, wouldn’t she? No more moping in bed, questioning everything she knew and agonizing over impossible choices. Chin up, shoulders straight, carry on. Her mates would approve.
Another twinge caused Shadowheart to look at Isobel. Together, they turned and headed for the stairs at a brisk pace, almost racing each other outside. Hopefully, there was more than one outhouse available at this hour of the morning, because—truce or not—Shadowheart did not intend to surrender anything at all to Isobel Thorm if she could help it.