Secilia sat inside of their room with Brianna, Marianne, and Sasha--who had decided to join them.
An awkward silence hung in the air. Anthony was not with them. She glanced at the door where her bondmate had disappeared into.
“Does this happen often?” asked Sasha.
She sat on one of the chairs like an imperious queen, one leg over the other as she leaned back and crossed her arms.
“Not often,” Marianne assured her friend. “However…”
“Anthony becomes a broody edgelord whenever his younger brother is involved,” Secilia said.
“Secilia!” Brianna snapped.
But she just shrugged. “I’m not lying. He does.”
Brianna bit her lip. “You could put it more delicately.”
“What would that accomplish?” asked Secilia.
She and Brianna didn’t get a long well. Their personalities just clashed. Brianna was a straightshooter. She was very no-nonsense. Her goodie two-shoes personality clashed heavily with Secilia’s sarcastic and rebellious nature. Secilia did try to get along with her, but no matter how hard she tried, her true colors kept showing. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, suppress herself just to make someone else comfortable.
“So… he has a brother complex?” asked Sasha.
“No,” Brianna said immediately… and then paused. “I mean, I don’t think he does.”
“He doesn’t,” Marianne said positively. “Calvin was the only person in his life for the longest time. Anthony looked after him for his entire life, so it’s only natural that he would feel a strong sense of responsibility toward his brother. What’s more, he had been working for so long to bring his brother out of a coma… and now he’s awake but was somehow turned into a vampire. To top it off, it seems Calvin has something to do with this smuggling operation and may be responsible for turning those beastskin into ghouls.”
“I still do not know how that is possible.” Sasha frowned. “It should not be possible… and yet…”
“There’s definitely something going on there,” Secilia agreed.
She had been working to try and figure out how this was possible. As the self-proclaimed smartest person there, she believed she could figure it out given enough time. The lab on Academy Island had several samples, and she had sent more from the ghouls they had killed during their latest attack. With luck, they would get some more information soon.
The door to the bedroom suddenly opened and Anthony stepped outside. He looked fine. His expression, at least, didn’t betray any of his feelings. However, Secilia had known him long enough to understand he was hiding his emotions. It helped that she could feel how disquieted he was through their bond.
“Anthony,” Brianna stood up.
But Marianne beat her to him. “Are you okay?”
Anthony smiled and gently rubbed Marianne’s hair. “I’m… well, I’ve been better, but I am doing okay. I know I can’t afford to mope right now. Thank you for your concern.”
Secilia briefly considered trying to lighten the mood with some sarcasm, but she could tell through their connection that Anthony wouldn’t be able to appreciate it right now. He’d humor her, but his heart wouldn’t be in it. She sighed and said nothing.
“If you are feeling better, we should plan what to do next,” Sasha said, uncrossing her legs and standing up. “There are several more warehouses that are shipping ghouls. I’d like to destroy them.”
Anthony nodded. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t imagine it’s good. Let’s hit them all as quickly as possible. And then…”
“And then?” Sasha raised an eyebrow.
Anthony grinned. “I’ll fight you for your hand in marriage.”
***
When Sasha had said there were several more warehouses, she had made it seem like there were only a handful. Anthony really needed her to be more specific next time. In the first day, they hit five more warehouses. On the second, they hit ten. For an entire week, they went around, dismantling warehouses that were shipping beastkin turned ghouls.
Most of the ghouls were in cold storage. That meant there weren’t many to fight. However, there were a few ghouls that had some meager intellect. They eventually found several that were moderately intelligent, to the point where they could plan out certain tactics. One of them had even unthawed all of the ghouls and had them attack. The battle was still easy, but there’d been so many enemies that it had taken a lot longer to dismantle the warehouse.
Secilia hacked into all of their security and eventually uncovered a few themes. The first was that not all of them were headed to the same destination, but all of them had false logs stating the cargo was being shipped to a location that would never receive it. Security videos also revealed Calvin in all of them at various junctures.
Anthony had all of those moments timestamped and learned they had happened about two weeks after Calvin woke up in the hospital and vanished into the night. That meant he had been creating this operation for a while now. But as to what his purpose was, that was something Anthony couldn’t even begin to fathom.
The fact that Calvin, shortly after waking up, had begun creating ghouls and an entire smuggling operation to send them somewhere was concerning. Where had he even gotten the idea? Anthony didn’t know, but it was concerning. He had shunted the hows and whys aside for now to focus on the facts, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t keep his concerns from intruding on his thoughts. There was something seriously ominous about all this. He wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible.
About two weeks after they began dismantling this operation, they were finished, and it was time for Anthony to resolve the entire reason he had come here--to make Sasha mine.
“Ha ha ha! I am glad you all were here!” Sasha said to them with good cheer. “I would have had a much harder time of it if you did not show up.”
“When did you first find the ghouls?” asked Anthony.
Sasha leaned back in her chair and hummed. “About… a week before you arrived. Your timing was most coincidental.”
“It was very fortunate that we had decided to come when we did,” Trinity said. A waiter came by and set a mug of something in front of them all. Trinity looked at it with fascination. “By the way, what is this drink called?”
“It’s called nestoika,” Sasha said with her chest thrust out proudly, as though she were its inventor. “Is popular russian drink that mixes vodka with berries and spices. It will warm you right up.”
“It smells strong,” Trinity said.
“Ha ha ha ha! Be careful not to drink too fast, or you’ll be on your face before you--”
Sasha stopped dead when Trinity lifted the mug and drained the entire thing in a few swigs. Anthony didn’t blame the woman for her shock. That mug was at least 24 ounces. And nestoika had a high alcohol content.
WIth a content sigh, Trinity set the mug down, then hailed a passing waiter. “Can I get a refill of this? It’s delicious.”
Sasha gaped at her for a second, then turned to Anthony. “You know how to pick your girls. I’ve never seen someone who can drink nestoika so quickly.” She turned back to Trinity. “Oi! Girl, you and me. Let us have contest to see who can drink the most.”
Trinity smiled mysteriously. “Sure, I’m game.”
And thus Sasha and Trinity began a contest. He had already realized this, but Sasha turned just about everything into a contest. It wasn’t just who could kill the most ghouls with Brianna or who could drink the most. She had played video games with Secilia and turned that into a contest of… strip gaming. She’d wound up in her skivvies but had merely laughed it off. She didn’t seem super competitive. It was more like she just enjoyed the idea of competition, like the competition itself was the true joy rather than winning.
It seemed Sasha did not have nearly as strong a constitution as Trinity. She managed to drink four mugs worth of nestoika before she faceplanted into the table. Her elite unit was sitting not far from them, and when that happened, they sighed and grabbed the woman to take her somewhere she could recover.
“We’ll contact you when it’s time for your fight with Sasha,” said Claude.
“Sounds good. We’ll be waiting,” Anthony said. After they left, he turned to his ladies. “I suppose we should finish up here and then head back to our hotel.”
“I’m down.” Secilia stretched her arms. “I’ve been working hard and could use the rest.”
“You mean you’ve been hardly working,” said Trinity.
“Oh, is that wit I hear?” asked Secilia with a grin. “How are you so witty while your protege here has none?”
Brianna narrowed her eyes. “I am not her protege. Noelle is my instructor.”
“That explains why you are such a stick in the mud,” Secilia said.
Trinity giggled, much to Brianna’s dismay. “It is true that Noelle is very straightlaced… but I appreciate that about her. She keeps me on track.”
“I guess,” Secilia said.
After they finished eating and paying for the meal, they left and arrived at their hotel. Because his woman did not like sharing him, they had all taken separate bedrooms and rotated nights with him. Anthony wanted to sleep tonight since he was certain Sasha would want to battle him tomorrow. He would need his rest to fight that woman.
He laid in bed, alone, and had briefly fallen asleep when he was jolted awake after something warm, wet, and soft engulfed his cock. It was so shocking and pleasant that he sprayed his ropey liquid barely a second after waking up. He blinked several times and looked down. All he saw was a lump underneath his blanket. However, when he removed the blanket, he saw…
“Trinity, what are you… ugggghhhh,” his words were interrupted by a groan.
Trinity smiled as she let go of his cock with a wet plop. Some white oozed from her mouth, but she licked her lips and swallowed. He had been semi-flacid until that, but now, he was erect and ready once more.
“We haven’t had slept together since that night in the Rockies, and i’ve been so lonely.” She kissed the tip of his head. “It sounds like you have missed me too.”
“Hmmm. I have missed you a little,” Anthony grunted.
“Just a little?” asked Trinity, swirling her tongue around his head.
“Okay. M-More than a little.” Anthony had to pause as she not only engulfed him all the way to the base, but licked the underside of his shaft. “Fuuuuck. Elf head might be the… greatest thing ever.”
Trinity paused. Then she said something, but with her mouth full of him, he had no idea what she was saying. It also caused her throat to vibrate, and that was enough to make him cum right into her throat. He was certain he’d shot all of it into her stomach.
“OKay. That’s enough. I can’t let you have complete control.”
Anthony turned words into action as he rolled around until he was on top and she on bottom. He shifted around until his face was directly before her pink petals. She was already drenched. Her glistening fluids leaked down her thighs, and he licked them up, tasting her before burying his face directly into her.
“MMm. Yes, that’s it. You are quite good with your tongue,” Trinity said. She had removed him from her mouth, but that was so she could stroke him while rubbing her cheek against his length. “Your smell is so strong, so thick. I can’t get enough of that incubus stench.”
Anthony wanted to ask if he smelled bad, but he was too busy dining on her to say anything. He flicked her tongue against her pearl. Then he dragged his tongue across the petals, which slowly peeled back to reveal her fleshy interior. Anthony followed the bond to lick her where she was sensitive and quickly brought her to one orgasm, then another. Trinity squealed as her body went slack.
“That is not fair. How did you… do that? Are you cheating?”
“I’m not cheating,” he said. “I’m just using the techniques at my disposal. Whether in love or war, it’s important to use everything you have, isn’t it?”
“MMmmm… I feel like you have an advantage here, but that does not mean you should underestimate me,” Trinity said before going back to lavishing his dick with attention.
It seemed Trinity was trying to give as good as she got, but Anthony had no intention of letting her do that. He was quick to attack her weakness. Her body shuddered as he brought her to the bring, then tipped her over it, again and again. Only after she had become a fleshy puddle did he stop and orient himself so he was kneeling between her legs.
“I hope you’re ready,” Anthony said. “This is what happens when you awaken the beast.”
Trinity’s eyes had a glint as she smiled. “Show me this beast.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Those were Anthony’s only words before he thrust into her. Trinity squealed as she came almost immediately. Anthony rotated inside of her, turning his hips to penetrate from a new angle that rubbed against that fabled spot. Trinity locked her legs around his hips. Her arms tightened around his neck as she began nibbling on him. He brought her to another orgasm, then another, before finally allowing himself to feel release.
“You really are the best,” Trinity said with a smile.
“Mmm. And the night’s not even over,” Anthony said with a chuckle. “Ready for round two?”
“Maybe in a few minutes,” Trinity said, but her thoughts were broadcast to him loud and clear, and he knew what she really wanted.
He thrust in her again, and caused Trinity to continue moaning and squealing well into the night.