That seemed to give everyone pause. It was easy to think about all the stuff they needed, but it was another to be able to afford them. Jade hated the limitations of their current state, but it couldn’t be
helped. Seven people in one household was a lot, and they didn’t have innumerable salaries. He sighed.
Axis didn’t miss a beat. “Then we’re not all going to be able to go out. A few of us can drive the humans around while the rest stay back here with Levi and Erik. We’ll just make a list of what we need and pick it up when the first advance from Daisis comes through on Tuesday.”
“They’ll need us to be ready. We’re going to be much busier than planned,” Levi murmured.
“You’re not leaving this house. The sigils built into the house will give you the protection we can’t out there. With the crazy demon on the loose, I won’t risk your safety,” Axis said.
Levi sipped his cup before answering. “I’m safer at the facility than here by myself. You’re going to need every man, and dividing your forces is never a good idea in a situation like this one. We’re going to have to just risk it Monday.”
Axis was not happy about the idea. It was written into every line of his body. Every atom of displeasure was clearly displayed. Jade was completely on board with his unhappiness. He didn’t like their vulnerability any more than Axis did. He sighed again. Maybe if he hadn’t pushed the budget with the decorations, they would have enough to pick up a couple of minor charms in order to keep the nephilim safe.
Levi cut into his melancholy thoughts. “Don’t have any regrets, Jade. We’re all doing the best we can, and I don’t want to live wondering if the choices that got me here were correct.”
Silence descended over them as they all went into their own imaginings. Jade’s mind kept coming back to the possibility of an all-out war on sanctuary grounds. It was so out there that he wasn’t even sure if he believed it anymore.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like today was the longest day of my life,” Keer muttered. Jade agreed. He felt like he’d been up next to forever.
“Want to call it an early night?” Erik asked.
“I’m thinking about making slow love and then sleeping like I’m dead,” Keer said.
“Agreed,” Axis seconded.
Jade couldn’t think anymore. He just wanted to feel. “Are you up to it?” he asked Levi. Out of everyone, Levi probably had more reasons to be stressed than the rest of them.
“I want to shut down for a while and just feel you guys,” Levi murmured before pressing a kiss to Jade’s mouth.
Jade leaned into the kiss, his mouth opening to deepen the brief touch. Their tongues met, tangled.
“I guess we can figure out where Jade falls in the going-to-bed scenario,” Brax joked, grinning. Jade flipped him off.
He loved being with his men. They were the best kind of medicine.
* * * *
Brax had never been so angry in his whole life. Anger wasn’t an emotion he was used to dealing with. As a person, he was relatively calm, and as a guardian, he had been fairly secluded from violence with the exception of the day he died.
His last ward had been a computer engineer and software developer at a huge corporation in Germany. Brax had watched as Benjamin built and tested a program that was designed to increase interactive learning opportunities for people with severe forms of autism and speech difficulties. He’d been amazed at how technology could influence and assist those who would’ve been written off in the
past and had found himself drawn into the internal world of the scientist he guarded.
The last time he remembered being so upset about something was the day that three thugs tried to rob Benjamin outside his office as he was leaving well past working hours. Brax had taken the bullet for him in human form. He recalled in perfect detail how pissed he’d been at someone stealing life from another person who was so determined to help others.
That was pretty much how he felt about someone trying to hurt Levi. His smallest nephilim lover was a man who valued life and would give the shirt off his back if someone needed it. He was consummately sweet. Brax just couldn’t understand how anyone would want to harm him. He knew logically that it was almost impossible to reason with a crazy person, but still.
His eyes wandered over to Jade, who still looked like he was in shock over the whole mess. Levi was comforting him, making sure everyone knew that he was supporting them. By their definition, the Elites should’ve been taking care of Levi, not the other way around.
Erik crowded in behind him and kneaded the knots in his
shoulders as they moved into the bedroom. “Brax, you are tense,” the nephilim murmured.
“For good reason, Erik,” Brax said, leaning into the hard digs in his flesh. He groaned as Erik hit a particularly sore spot. The others had already filed into the room and were stripping off their clothes. Axis went over to the window and peaked out first, though.
Erik sighed. “All right. All the Elites in the room strip down and get in bed. Levi, help me give them a rubdown, and then we can sex them up right to put them to sleep.”
Levi nodded before kissing Jade on the cheek and running over to Erik and Brax. “I’m at your disposal, Erik.” The nephilim seemed eager to assist, and that was fine with Brax. The idea of their hands on him did interesting things to the tension in his body. It twisted the anger into an eagerness to be touched and a willingness to be convinced of the value of relaxing.
“You’ll be my first, big boy,” Erik said in a teasing voice. “Take it off.”
“Maybe one of us should stand guard?” Jade asked.
Axis sighed. “Yes. I’ll take first shift. I’ll wake someone when I get sleepy.”
“He’s not going to come back tonight,” Levi said. “Stay. We need this.” Axis hesitated. Before anything else, he was the leader of the Elites. His responsibility was their protection, always.
“You’ve seen this?” Axis asked.
Levi shrugged. “No. I just know that if we don’t come together and comfort one another that we’ll regret it. How about you come join with us and then go walk circles around the house? You can go in pairs or something.”
Brax’s lips twitched.
Look at our little tactician
. He’d been paying more attention to their activities than Brax had thought.
In answer, Axis drew his shirt over his head and kicked off his
shoes. “Fine. I’m too tired to argue.”
Thank God
. Brax allowed Erik to grip his wrist and drag him to the bed where Keer was already naked and waiting. Brax gave a cursory glance over Keer’s fine form. The man was edible.
“Side by side, guys,” Erik commanded, pushing Brax down beside the reclining angel. The other angels crawled into bed beside them so that they were lined up with Brax on the end, then Keer, then Jade, then Marius, and finally, Axis. Erik walked over to the small box on
the dresser that was attached to his iPod and put on some kind of meditation music that was intermingled with the sound of the wind and bird calls. Levi dimmed the lights so that the whole atmosphere of the place as something out of a spa.
“Where’s the body oil?” Levi whispered as Erik slipped out of his clothes.
“Bathroom. Third shelf down on the rack we put in the closet,” Erik replied, staring at the men on the bed with open hunger. Brax understood the sentiment. There was nothing like seeing his lovers laid side by side like a deliciously decadent banquet.
Levi moaned. “I dunno if I can make it through a massage.” His hunger had been sharper than Erik’s lately, no doubt a side effect from being an Oracle and getting a spike in power or something.
“Hmm, just grab the body oil and come back here,” Erik said, mischief in his eyes. Brax swallowed. His lover was up to something, and it was wicked.
Levi disappeared into the adjoining bathroom and came back within seconds holding the red bottle of rosemary, spearmint, and rowan body oil. He handed it off to Erik, who pulled him close to kiss the smaller nephilim with all the hunger that he was throwing at the rest of the Elites earlier. Brax’s cock jerked at the sight.
“Live porn,” Marius muttered, reaching down and adjusting his swelling length.
“Torture,” Jade sighed as Erik turned Levi around and had him grab the chest at the foot of their bed.
“Erik?” Levi questioned, looking over his shoulder at Erik.
Erik grinned. “We’re going to take the edge off our hunger so that all our boys get equal massage treatment.”
“Oh good,” Levi said, returning the smile. “We can just torture them with a floor show first.”
Erik shrugged unapologetically. “Pretty much.” Without preamble, the larger nephilim smacked Levi’s upturned buttock.
“Spread, angel.” Levi whimpered and did as he was told. Brax started
to pant.
Damn
. It was sexy when Levi fell into the wanting like that.
Erik slicked his fingers with body oil and rubbed it into Levi’s back and thighs, ignoring the needy buttock that trembled for his attention. Brax reached down and slowly stroked his hard dick in time with Erik’s motions. The nephilim continued the slow rub until Brax and the others were all rock hard and panting like they’d been winded.
Finally, he pushed one finger into Levi’s ass, and they all sighed in appreciation. Levi pushed his hips back, accepting the invasion with a silent plea for more as he rocked in counterpoint to Erik’s presses. It wasn’t long before another finger joined the first and then a third. Brax could see every expression as it played over Levi’s face. The pleasure there was unmistakable. The hunger just made Brax growl with want.
“Stop teasing, Erik. Fuck our angel,” Keer rumbled, his violet eyes darkened to a deep purple of sunset. He was such an aggressive lover when it came to the nephilim. Brax shuddered. Usually his arrogance was frustrating, but in the bedroom, it was just hot. Seeing him hold down the commander the other day while Erik spanked him had been both surreal and a major turn-on. He glanced over at the commander, who was eyeing Erik with undisguised hunger. He wanted their hellcat tonight, and Brax imagined that Erik’s payback for the spanking was coming and soon.
Erik pressed the head of his cock against Levi’s entrance and pushed forward. Brax sighed as Levi trembled against the sensation of being stretched for their lover’s pleasure. The nephilim worked his hips, stretching Levi’s ass with slow jabs. He needn’t have been so careful. Levi was pushing back, practically begging for more.
“Fuck him right, Erik.” Axis’s command surprised him. Brax was used to Keer growling at them when they were having sex, but Axis’s voice was usually quieter. Erik nodded, panting and following the directive with more forceful lunges. “When you finish with him, I get to put my handprints all over you, hellcat.”
Erik gasped. “What about the massage?” His hips snapped forward, the idea obviously turning him on.
Axis smiled, the look just this side of devilish. He winked. “You can give me a rubdown after. Keer?”
“Yes, Commander?”
“You are going to gag him while I spank him.”
“Sure thing, Commander,” Keer agreed with a smirk. Erik groaned and looked toward the ceiling as if assistance would come from that front.
“More, Erik!” Levi growled, pushing back. He was going to need more than the other nephilim tonight. Brax could see the hunger was growing inside him with every thrust instead of lessening.
“Stop tightening like that, Levi. I’m goin—” Erik’s sentence ended in a shout of surprise as Levi arched his back. Erik gripped Levi’s hips and started pounding inside him almost violently.
That’s how our angel likes it
. Brax jerked his own cock, loving the sight of his two nephilim joining together. “Can’t ever last with you. Can’t savor. Shit! Levi!” He jerked once more before they groaned in unison and Levi’s dick spilled his pleasure against the top of the trunk.
Axis moved first, rolling to his feet before padding behind Erik, who was still recovering. The rest of them followed. Levi’s spent length twitched and began to refill. He looked up at Brax and licked his lips.
Oh, yeah. I can get behind this idea.
Brax scooted to the bottom of the bed and petted Levi’s head, asking permission for what he wanted. Levi nodded and opened his mouth. As Brax wound his hands in Levi’s hair, a hand caressed his
hip. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Jade, his red eyes pulsing with need. Without a word spoken, he knew what his lover wanted. He nodded and shifted up to his knees. It strained Levi, made him work for the pleasure of sucking Brax off, but it allowed Jade access to Brax’s unguarded ass.