By the time he stiffened, his fancy spines locking him into place with his own orgasm, I was floating in a haze of good feelings and had no desire to ever come down from them.
We lay there for a while, me feeling boneless and light, while he relaxed enough to slide out of me.
Still extremely sensitive when he slid out, I shuddered and came again.
“So nice,” I slurred, my eyelids fluttering shut as sleep tried to reclaim me.
“None of that, beautiful,” Dio said, hoisting me up and carrying me into the bathroom, ignoring my mild protests. “You got what you wanted, now we need to get ready to face the day.”
“You wanted it, too,” I grumbled.
Dio laughed. “Yes, I did. But I also want this over with.”
I sighed, forcing myself back to our current reality, though my limbs were still limp and boneless.
“Yeah. I do, too. So what’s the plan?”
“You’re going to lure Baz out, and we’re going to trap him.”
Learning the plan sent a cold chill through me. “That’s a terrible plan.” I’d recovered enough to help the cleaning process. “Nic is going to be lurking in the shadows right with you, and Geraint, Robby, and I will not be far.”
“And not-Baz won’t be expecting it?”
“Doesn’t really matter if he is, or not. We’re here to take back Nightmare Castle, not pussy foot around.”
“Okay.” I didn’t like it, but I knew they’d have talked about far more than what Dio presented to me. The guys knew what they were doing. I was an aerialist. What did I know about confronting evil?
“What’s wrong?” Dio brushed my hair back and looked me in the eye.
I shook my head, not sure how to explain.
“Ember, we’re here for you. We love you, and we’re not expecting you to do anything but be bait. We’ll keep you safe.”
“I know you will.” I sighed. “I just… I just want to…” I couldn’t finish what I was going to say.
Dio pulled me into a hug. “None of us asked for this mess to happen during our lives. And you certainly didn’t ask to be dragged into the middle of it. Neither did Ash, or Casey. But we can fix this. And then we can go back to being inappropriately horny in ridiculous places.”
I snorted. “Yeah. I know. Sorry. I’m not having second thoughts, just doubting my ability to deal with all this.”
“Love, you’re the strongest of us all. We’ll get through it fine.”
I took a deep breath and didn’t argue, just located my pile of clothing and had it slide up on my body. I shifted it to a black unitard and focused on how much I liked being able to control my clothing with my mind, not the upcoming confrontation.
We rejoined the others, and I didn’t miss the heated look Geraint gave me. Nic was a bit more subtle, but the way he watched me had me thinking naughty thoughts again. Fortunately, the super nose didn’t rear up and make me lose my mind again. I was going to have to work on that.
“Everyone ready?” Robby stepped out of nowhere.
I managed not to jump in surprise, instead nodding. Nic flowed over to my side and wrapped a shadowy tentacle around my ankle. “We’ll keep you safe, luv.”
“Thanks.”
Geraint didn’t say anything, just gave me his look that said he lived for me and would do everything in his power to keep me safe. We didn’t need words right now. He knew what I was feeling, and I knew he’d be there for me to the best of his abilities.
The trip through the castle was quiet and uneventful, with only a few detours through the quiet hallways to avoid guards. It turned out that they wanted to lure him into the main throne room, so we slipped into a secret passage, Nic gave me a few extra pointers then tucked himself into the shadows while I stepped out into the empty room.
I gave everyone about five minutes to get ready, then I opened the main doors, looked around like I was totally lost, shrieked when I saw the guards staring at me, also looking confused, and slammed the door. Then I ran back into the middle of the room—and didn’t have to fake being terrified while I waited.
After only a moment the guards slammed the doors open and stalked toward me. I backed away until my feet hit the steps up to the thrones, then I scurried up the steps and sank down onto the chair. I sat, back straight, legs crossed, and tried to convey confidence I didn’t feel.