Her emotions were desirous, heated, and with a touch of wistfulness and admiration. I knew those last two emotions were extremely dangerous for us. That she couldn’t become my mate, she wouldn’t share, but she was just as obviously crossing that line despite herself, falling for me after the hospital today, and she was magnificent, every inch the goddess like my mates, so my heart was answering in kind.

  It was worrying, and would open the door to jealousy, resentment, and it would effect the deep bonds of love and friendship in the coven, if this went badly. And I didn’t see how it could go well.

  I tried to deny it, how precious the platinum blonde beauty beneath me was, but the lie to myself fell flat even as I did what she asked and started to thrust into her far more firmly. Loud and lewd sounds of our flesh slapping together filled the room as I increased the speed and force of my rhythmic pounding gradually until I was ravishing her.

  Her sweet gasps, and the way her breasts jiggled and bounced so raucously each time I buried it drove me crazy, then she was cumming like a freight train, her body arching, bucking, and trembling under my sensual assault as I continued to drill her through it. That was no surprise, she always came hard, fast, and often after the first time, more than any other women I’d had the pleasure of before, and all my mates and bedmates were capable of multiples.

  The pleasure of our bodies joining was exquisite and overwhelming, and I knew I wouldn’t last much longer than two more orgasms as her pussy begged me for my seed. Her body working so hard for my pleasure in the throes of her ecstasy, squeezing around me so tightly, convulsing and rippling, as she looked up at me lost in my eyes.

  Fuck, I loved her blue eyes.

  She came apart for me again, whispering my name and cumming explosively in a silent keen as even her breath was denied her in the intensity of the pleasure roiling through her body. Her emotions were wild, lost, and in that moment her affection came through powerfully over the bond.

  She looked so sinfully sexy, her eyes glazed with pleasure, as she took in a ragged breath and then panted wildly, desperate for oxygen as she fell from her height, even as I hung on by a single fraying thread of will. Not sure I’d last the minute or so it’d take to wring that third orgasm from her body, but I was determined not to give up on the goal of watching her come apart around me one more time.

  “You have beautiful eyes, Celestine.”

  That breathy compliment completely disarmed her, as her eyes widened, and the needy desire and affection exploded with a potent lust added in. She was about to go over, which broke me, and that thread unraveled as the pleasure rolled over me like an unstoppable wave. The pleasure roared through my body, as my legs went numb, and I started to fill her with my pleasure, even as a split second later her sex writhed around me wildly and started to convulse and milk me dry.

  She whimpered my name over and over again, then we fell, and reality struck. Yes, I’d just fucked her, ravished her, but that hadn’t stopped the burgeoning affection from escaping both of our control.

  She bit her lip, “So very dangerous.”

  I kissed her softly, then rolled off, and pulled her tightly against me. She let out a sigh as she rested her head on my chest.

  “So, what do we do now?”

  She giggled, “We accept it. I didn’t think it would happen, I’m too turned off by the idea of multiple mates, of sharing the man I call my mate and husband, and the father of my children. I didn’t think I could or would fall for you. But there’s a lot to admire in you, and that was my undoing.”

  “Accept it how?”

  She shrugged, “We take what we can, Glen. I would be devastated if I lost you now, so I won’t stop our weekly rendezvous, yet I still can’t accept you as my mate. So I’ll be your loving mistress, your breathless and shameless long term affair, perhaps for decades, but it will eventually run its course. I’ll come to want children and settle down more than I want to keep you. Hopefully it won’t be too painful for you when that happens. I won’t resent your families starting now with your mates, I feel no drive to start a family, I’m still young and I have no mate yet, nor will I go looking anytime soon.”

  Could that work?

  “So, we’re going for broke, and putting off the emotional fallout?”

  She snickered, “Yes. You could say that, but it will also enrich us both. Sharing our love, wallowing in it, enjoying it, as we enjoy each other. We will both be richer for it and wiser, while if we just stop being together now… well we’d always wonder, and we’d have to live through that hurt with no benefit to it. We might as well get all the benefits for the price we’ll pay.”

  “That sounds wise, naïve, or maybe both. But my heart and cock is onboard with the denial and wallow plan.”

  She giggled, “Sometimes you just need to wring the good out of life, there are no good choices, but you’ll always be my coven brother, and I’ll always love you. We’ll just take it day by day, until one of us can’t take it anymore. You really think I have beautiful eyes?”

  I smiled, “I didn’t mean to say it out loud, it just slipped out, so yes. I admire a lot of things about you too, you know. I’ve been holding it all back for a while now.”

  She blushed, “Kiss me.”

  I did, and we got a little lost in each other after that. Not even trying to hold back our affection, admiration, and budding love. I literally made love to her on the third round, and lost count of her orgasms after twenty-six or so. Then she gave me her tits and mouth for the first time ever, in a combination tit fuck and blow job that blew my mind as I finished in her sweet mouth. We crossed all the lines we’d been keeping that afternoon.

  She also got the full package cuddling afterwards, I held her for quite a long time, lost in the intimacy of the moment and each other. Far longer than usual when we’d been maintaining the friends with benefits distance.

  It was wonderful and shocking. Four mates going on five, and now a loving mistress and three friends with benefits. The numbers hadn’t changed, but a new category had been added. It felt a little selfish, but I was glad I’d be keeping Celestine for quite a long time, likely decades, even as I suspected I’d be losing the other three soon, when they found mates.

  Although, Caroline might stay with me longer too, until she got over her sexual trauma and regained her sexuality. Not decades, but perhaps a year or two, as opposed to the short months I suspected I had left to enjoy Raine and Iris. Still, I wasn’t depending on that or anything, just speculating based on their needs. I wasn’t in a hurry to lose any of them, so it was all their decision.

  When we were finished, we totally owned it, explaining the emotions the coven must’ve felt from us over the telepathic coven bond. That Celestine was my lover and long-term mistress now, and that both of us wanted to follow it to the natural end. That we’d never be mates, and therefore she wouldn’t be moving out of her room and into mine. But that we’d be exploring the love and admiration we felt in one another, in full.

  The others were supportive, my mates even took joy in it, and I was once again awed by just how close and supportive my coven was. Not even Sela had blinked an eye about sharing my heart with yet another witch in the coven.

  That all took a few hours, which was about as long as Chicago’s covens gave us, before they caught up on the news and tracked us down…

  There were two covens backing a third, the group of thirteen facing the front of the house were standing on the sidewalk and lawn on both sides of it, and two more slightly behind and to the left and right of them in the street. They were all dressed in suits and looked moderately apoplectic, which a part of me didn’t really blame them for. Except it was clear their anger was more about my existence, instead of being exposed. The scent was laced with disgusted fear and an unreasoning hatred.

  My coven looked far more relaxed, we’d all changed into casual outfits after getting back from the hospital.

  My nose carefully picked through the scents present, and it was really only three that were bad people in each coven. Sure, they all kind of wanted me dead, but the other ten in each coven smelled like decent people to me outside their taught and unreasonable racist beliefs. I was talking about their general scent and how they lived and approached life, three in each coven were users and takers filled with ambition. It was obvious, the good ones held worry in their scents, for their coven sisters, the others just held hatred and arrogance in their scents.

  Which backed up my impression from our New York confrontations, about one out five witches and warlocks were total asshats. Maybe not up to the evil ambition of Cassiopeia Dellwood, but certainly dark enough and knowing it that they had no intention of ever deepening the coven bonds out of fear their true colors would be displayed.

  The warlock in the lead group for instance, was a real asshole.

  I was still worth a coven on my own, which meant we were outpowered by one, but we were also inside our wards where their power would be lessened. It’d be a real fight, if I didn’t shift and fight as a van sized wolf anyway, which I fully planned to if shit went down.

  Astra looked cold as she stopped in the middle of the lawn, “What is your purpose here?”

  The warlock in the lead group stepped forward, and declared with a stern visage, “I’m Patriarch Levi Hewitt. We are here for the hybrid, and for an accounting on your foolish actions at the hospital today. Hand him over and we may show the rest of you mercy.”

  Astra snorted, “Did you hear my message at all? The covens as they are now are an intrinsic danger to the world continuing. Out of weakness to a single cunning witch or warlock who could subvert you all with a single spell. Yet, you are here for the sake of racist hate because my mate breathing is far more dangerous to you than the end of the world? Were you dropped on the head as a child? I also don’t need to ask my mate if you’re telling the truth, your lie is transparent. You just want to kill him first to halve our power and make your murderous purpose easier when you turn on us. Your offer of mercy merely a child’s trick. Leave now and look to the protection of your coven from this age’s true threat or attack us and die here.

  “You should know the humans of this age do not tolerate racism, are you sure this is the path you wish to take?”

  I scented his resolve and hatred solidify, the decision to attack made. It was likely inevitable, his offering only a blatant lie to begin with as Astra said. But I was already shifting and bursting out of my clothes as he gave the signal.

  “Attack the hybrid!”

  I had a feeling that’s what they’d do. If they could kill me quick the rest of the coven would fall quickly. But my nose giving me an extra split second, his verbal order, and their response all took a couple of seconds. And that’s all I needed to complete the shift and focus all of my magic into life and healing before they struck the first blow. I wasn’t bus sized anymore, but I was still monstrous in size and my heart and brain were very well protected and deep inside my vast body.

  I was also more careful this time, not to kill out of hand, but nor was I bothered by the idea some would die anyway. My protectiveness was driving me once again, but it lacked the fear and rage of the first time, since I was confident my shifter side gave us a far bigger edge than the raw power and even wards applied.

  Several attacks headed my way, of the four elements. My coven blocked almost half of them, and the other half I just ignored and healed from in a split second, as I lunged for Hewitt. My paw whipped around, but instead of hitting their torsos I swept three of their legs. The loud cracking of femurs and other bones accompanied them spinning off into the sky and landing badly. I accidentally tore off one leg, but they were all alive, mostly.

  Then I did it again, focusing on disabling and shocking them, making them lose their concentrated focus and therefore control over their magic. The next swipe took down four, and two more got the last six, all in just a couple of seconds. At that point, Maria’s power knocked them all out, and Caroline used a modicum of magic to keep them alive. Two were dead, but I wasn’t going to cry over it, they were here to kill me and more importantly, my mates and coven sisters.

  In my current form, the mercy seemed misplaced to me, but I’d do as I was ordered to. The plan had made more sense to my human form, anyway.

  The coven on the left started to run as soon as the last member of the lead coven hit the ground, so I lunged to the right at the stupid ones, allowing the smart runners to escape into their cars. They all turned and attacked me, and that time I leapt high, almost all their attacks going under me as I landed behind them.

  I spun around paw leading, and they’d barely even started to turn around as my paw swipe took out the back three’s legs, including the matriarch I expected.

  That’s when the car next to me slammed into my side and sent me flying. Well, at least one of them was thinking straight. The bludgeoning force hit hard, but ultimately only made me growl as the pain faded in a split second, and I lunged back in straight at the telekinetic. She was a cute blonde, but that didn’t stop me from breaking her legs with a paw swipe that sent her spinning off in an arc, and landing in our neighbor’s backyard, along with two more of her coven sisters.

  I growled deeply and three of the last standing seven literally pissed themselves. It was so fun being a monster, I really couldn’t stress that enough. My heart was pounding, and I felt a pride at so thoroughly routing the enemy. I’d miss it, when I was only a horse sized wolf that could take out one or two at a time.

  But I’d stood still for a whole second or so to scare them and pat myself on the back, which was apparently a little too long. I wasn’t invincible, and my size only worked because of my insane shifter speed, strength, and life magic healing. The earth witch made the road melt and it started climbing up my legs, gripping them. Idiot. I’d lingered to long and I was about to be buried in liquid asphalt.

  I roared, and I let loose a telekinetic blast from all four paws, literally making the road beneath me crack into rubble as I went flying straight up. My coven was hardly helpless, and outnumbered them almost two to one now, so by the time I landed they’d taken three more out of play. I swept the last four with two lightning paw strikes, and the fight was over.

  I felt a little sheepish about it, as I returned to my coven’s side and laid on the ground. Out of the two covens we actually fought, only three of them had died, so we had twenty-three captured witches, including one warlock. The other warlock was dead. Sadly, all six asshats in those two covens had managed to survive. But even the better ones had tried to kill me and my coven, so it was self-defense. I wouldn’t be losing sleep over it.

  The coven quickly cleaned up the mess, and we moved into the backyard with our prisoners. I also took the time to shift and throw on a black t-shirt and a pair of shorts.

  Rue scowled, “Don’t get cocky again. When you’re normal sized, or horse sized, your heart will be more easily reached. Never stop moving.”

  I blushed, “Yes, maam.”

  Maria verified my thoughts with her words, “Seventeen of them just might listen, they’re good people except for their unreasoning response to hybrids.”

  Astra waved, “Wake the other six.”

  Among that number was the patriarch asshat, and the matriarch of the other coven. Which I supposed wasn’t a surprise, the selfishly ambitious had a way of rising to the top. Shit floated.

  The six of them woke warily, flinching back when they saw me standing there. I grinned.

  Astra said, “The six of you will leave now, and I will spare your lives. Any attempt to wield your power will be met by deadly force.”

  The matriarch, I never do learn her name, asked, “The rest of our covens?”

  Astra said coldly, “Not your concern. Unless you are willing to die for them? I think we both know the answer to that, you’re all willing to spend lives to save your own, but not reciprocate.”

  The six of them got up and ran, which pretty much verified in my mind again, that they were asshats. They used people but didn’t really care about them at all. They type that would never accept deeper coven bonds because they’d immediately lose all the people they thought of as sentimental fools and tools to be wielded.

  Astra shook her head sadly, “I didn’t think so.” She looked like she couldn’t conceive of their outlook toward life or how they saw their coven sisters at all.

  We waited until they got in their cars and left.

  Astra asked, “Can you hold all seventeen from their power?”

  Maria shook her head, “No more than eight or nine I’d imagine, even already being in their heads seventeen would be too many to focus on.”

  Astra nodded, “We’ll do them a coven at a time then. I’d rather go through it all twice than take unnecessary risks.”

  Nine of them started to stir, and they warily stayed seated on the grass as they took in their current reality.

  A redhead asked, “Why are we alive?”

  Astra said, “Mercy. One of your people died in this ill-considered and unearned attack, the other three including your matriarch fled when offered the opportunity. She left you to an unknown fate, to save her own skin, and the other two in her company are no better. They neither deserve nor have earned any loyalty from the nine of you. Hewitt and two of his also abandoned these eight coven sisters, and he didn’t even make the token effort to bother asking what would happen to them.”

  The redhead scowled, “What’s your point?”

  Astra turned to Maria, and Maria said, “She’s Stacie, the coven’s second and security.”

  Well, that explained why she spoke up and was representing those of her coven left here with so much assumed authority.

  Astra said in exasperation, “My point is you’re better than her and deserve to be valued, not discarded. All of you are. I know I’m being heavy handed, but you should splinter from your coven and deepen the bonds between you all. It’s time for the covens of this age to evolve, or we’re all doomed. It’s a good thing actually, your coven would also be a lot more supportive internally, and not just safe from takeovers and becoming slaves, if you cut away the chaff and deepen the bond.