Dashing Devil Omnibus 2: Books 4-6, page 85
They fit better now, their comparative sizes being a bit closer. His little inventor had enjoyed the difference before, but far preferred that their kisses felt more natural now. Plus, he was still huge compared to her, and that still rang her bell.
Boyd leaned down into the kiss, allowing her to resettle in his lap, still wrapped up loosely in his arms, wings, and tail. Her hands slid back to run along his ears and into his hair and the kiss that had started out as an affirmation of their love began to pick up heat—just in time for the timer on her Snickerdoodles to go off.
With a giggle, Tinker pulled away.
Boyd sensed her contemplate letting them burn, but she really wanted the others to have a treat. He compromised by unfurling his wings and standing with his arms still holding her against his chest. Her bare legs clung around his waist, and she giggled again as he marched them over to the oven.
Boyd left his tail and an arm securely wrapped around his smallest love as he opened the oven and checked on the cookies. He leaned her out of the way of the heat so she could see them and rumbled, “They look good. Nice and golden. I’ll pull them out.”
“Okay.” She giggled again before nuzzling into his neck.
Boyd reached into the oven and pulled out the cookie sheet, not needing to use oven mitts. He quickly transferred them to a cooling rack, but by the time he was done with that, the brownies only had a minute left, so he pulled those out, too.
He returned his attention to his clingy passenger as soon as he could and she nuzzled into his neck. Just in time for the building tensions amongst his other loves to reach a crescendo. He was halfway to sitting back down when he stiffened.
Silvie was a mess, wanting to comfort and support someone but unsure who needed it most, with swirls of anger and worry mixed in. A flood of resignation, guilt, and hurt that he didn’t like at all flowed to him from Mindy. He felt a blend of concern and determination from Raev—likely her trying to figure out how best to help with whatever was happening. Hope’s emotions, however, alarmed him.
Her soul called out for rescue. Hot rage burning in her core mixed in with an icy lance of regret that cut into her. His angel was positively distraught and wanted to be anywhere but where she was.
Boyd went rigid, his wings and tail stiffening along with his back. The suddenly heated emotions of several of his loves crashed into him through his Bonds.
Tinker clung to him even tighter, going just as tense. “Is it getting bad?” she asked in a hushed tone.
Boyd just made an affirmative grunt and nodded his head once.
“Please… please stay with me,” she continued, just as quietly.
He sensed her need for him, which helped to ease his discomfort.
“I don’t want to be alone or to be around fighting right now,” Tinker whispered.
His other loves might be in pain, but Silvie had been right—there were good kinds of upset. All he would do right now, if he interrupted the conflict and tried to help, would be to prolong it.
Sometimes you just had to rip the band-aid off, as Royce liked to say. Boyd wasn’t quite sure what a band-aid was, but given the context, it sounded medical. Besides, his smallest love needed him.
Tinker pulled herself up a little more, sliding her full chest up his own to press her lips into his neck. It felt really nice. But the kiss that followed it felt even better as the tension slid out of her, and she began to shift languidly against him. The trail of kisses she placed on her way to his ear was nearly enough to completely distract him from the hurt, guilt, and pain he felt from his other loves.
“I know it’s hard not to go to them,” she whispered into his ear. “But I need you. I don’t think about my old family often. Not since I found this one. I need you to help me forget about them again.”
She clung to him with her hips and one arm around his neck as she pulled back enough to reach the other down between them. He heard a familiar snapping sound, once and then again. Tinker favored rompers with snaps that held the crotch closed, for convenience.
“I need you to start gently, to remind me that I’m loved.” She continued in a breathy whisper, “then I want you to treat me like a toy and make my mind go blank so I can forget again.”
She nipped his ear, the hand that was around his neck moving up to the back of his head as she pulled back and dipped a little lower. When his eyes found hers, he saw the wanton need burning in their hazel depths.
The hand that had unfastened the buttons of her marvelous garment dipped into his shorts to wrap around the base of his cock, which was hardening in response to the desire that poured off his little inventor. She gave him two quick pumps to finish bringing him to full mast before tugging his shorts down and pulling him free.
His tip nestled against her wet heat.
Grinding down and rubbing back and forth against the top few inches without pushing him inside, she added, “We’ll distract each other. Just focus on me. Focus on making me go blank for a while.”
Boyd groaned as she slowly sank down onto him, with Tinker releasing something between a sigh and a whimper of her own. This was much easier for her with their relative sizes a bit closer than it had been. She was able to get a much better grip on both his shoulders and waist, although her inner channel still clung to him as tightly as ever when she sank to his base.
“Oh-ohh m-my,” she gave a shaky sigh.
Her mouth formed a cute little ‘o’ as she impaled herself on him. “Always so wonderful, so full and warm. You make me feel so… Mnph!”
Boyd interrupted her with a kiss as his hands went to her hips, fingers curling around to press into her delicious ass. His other lovers needed space to heal a rift between them before it grew worse.
At the moment, this love of his required his full and complete focus.
Chapter 31
It didn’t take long for Laura to realize that she was in way over her head. She hadn’t really put any thought into just what she was signing up for before agreeing to mediate this little heart-to-heart. It wasn’t until they were walking down the hall lined with individual suites to a room that had been set up expressly for the purpose and she ran through a mental checklist of what she knew of the women she was supposed to guide, that she started to have some doubts.
It was proving difficult to get her and Daisy a clearance for the others to share their experiences at the PACs, and the Devoted were closed books when it came to the classified details of their upbringing. Before the classification issue became a problem, Laura had assumed that it was simply because none of them wanted to talk about it. Still, she had picked up enough bits and pieces here and there in conversation that she knew ‘harsh’ didn’t even begin to cover the training they’d gone through or the environment in which they’d been raised.
Then there was the training itself.
Each of the four women in this heart-to-heart she’d be mediating had probably received a hundred times the education she had on how to control conversations. Mindy could literally read her mind and easily stay ahead of her or any of the tricks she had been taught or had learned on the job. Silvie subtly swayed conversations in whatever way she wanted—something Laura usually didn’t notice until well after the fact. Not like the bubbly ball of sunshine couldn’t squish or blast her to pieces without any trouble.
And then there was Raev. The redhead was relaxed and laid back—right up until that terrifying growl and palpable predatory presence came out. No Power was involved, nor was one needed. The vixen just naturally exuded killing intent when she wanted to—or at least the intent to hunt and hurt her prey. And she had the ability to do it efficiently, too.
Hope was an unknown. Laura wasn’t sure why, but she knew the angelic woman would never harm her. But this didn’t make her any easier to read. The tender-hearted blonde radiated goodwill, kindness, and positivity with her every word and action. But Laura had again picked up from prior conversations that she had a dark streak under all that purity —mostly but not completely related to her sexuality.
Now, the former trauma nurse and now latest hero trainee sat in a circle with these four women. Each of them reclined in a roomy and over-stuffed chair that was meant for curling up in more than sitting in—something which they were all taking advantage of. Not a toe touched the floor. Well, except for Hope’s feet, that is.
She was in a chair similar to the others, but it had a much shorter back, to account for her wings. She sat almost rigidly at the edge of it with her feet firmly planted on the floor. Although she wore a serene smile, she was clearly tense, likely having read the subtle cues the others gave off as she was trained to do. The woman was clearly prepared for a confrontation.
The room they were in was tastefully decorated with neutral tones for the furniture and the walls. The accents and decorations were mostly earth tones and muted colors. It was a soothing room with few distractions. The space was deliberately designed to ease difficult conversations… and little else.
After they had entered, everyone had chatted about this and that, mentioning things they wanted to do the next day, before settling into their seats to get to the meat and potatoes of what they came here to address. Laura realized when they all turned to her that everyone had seemed a little tense during the small talk, each knowing this wasn’t a simple standard conversation.
As two sets of blue eyes, an emerald pair and an amethyst pair settled on her, Laura suddenly felt tense. Why should she stress? She had nothing to worry about. These were only the women who she hoped to join, who she would—if everything worked the way she hoped it would—spend the rest of her life with.
No pressure. None at all.
“Ehem…” Laura cleared her throat into the silence before it could get too uncomfortable as the group shifted in their seats.
Four perfect sets of eyebrows rose.
“I see no reason to pretend this is something that it’s not,” Laura began. “I’ve been asked to mediate this conversation because at least one of you has something to settle with another. So, I’m going to begin by setting some ground rules like I was taught in my conflict resolution seminars.”
“First,” she continued when no one objected, “no interruptions when others are speaking.”
Everyone nodded.
“Second, no side conversations… which includes mental communications. This is a group discussion.” She looked at Mindy, who had curled up in her chair in one of her clingy kaftans, though she was almost as stiff as Hope.
“I have locked my Power away in Boyd’s mind and closed the curtains.” Mindy gave a small smile, but it came across as wooden on her otherwise blank expression. “Right now, the only thoughts I can hear are my own, and I will speak my thoughts verbally. Aiming my thoughts at anyone is much harder when I can’t hear theirs.”
“Good.” Laura nodded and returned the wooden smile with the warm one she wore when dealing with patients. “Then on to the third rule. We will be using ‘I’ statements when sharing our thoughts or feelings. This is about expressing your own experiences without making any assumptions about others. It helps to prevent misunderstandings and defensiveness. For example, instead of saying ‘You make me feel…’, try ‘I feel… when…’. Can we all try to do that?”
She had two women who were already defensive. It was best to stop either of them from starting by taking swipes at each other.
“Lastly, confidentiality is key.” Laura’s gaze scanned each of them. “What is shared in this room stays in this room. It is crucial that we trust each other to respect our privacy—even from Boyd. There is a reason he isn’t here and that this conversation is happening privately. Can everyone agree to that?”
“Um…” Silvie fidgeted in her seat, floating up for a second before settling back down in a new position. “So I’m sort of in a never lie to Darling again mode right now… what if he asks me direction questions? I’d want to answer them.”
“Even if he asks, what is shared here stays…” Laura began to say, but Mindy raised her hand and Laura paused. The nurse gestured to her as someone who had often identified amicable middle ground in the past.
“What if we agreed to only answer questions related to our own experiences and our own feelings, and to say nothing about what others said or shared?” she posited calmly. “If Boyd is going to ask about anything, it will be to check to make sure it wasn’t too upsetting for us. That will mostly be because he will not be able to shut our Bonds down completely, especially not with their recent strengthening.”
“That sounds more than reasonable,” Laura agreed. “If he should ask you anything about what the others said or even felt, you should direct him to ask them about it. Leave it to each individual to choose if they want to share. Agreed?”
“Sounds good to me,” Raev said. She seemed to be at ease, although Laura could see calculations running behind her bright green eyes.
It had taken a while for Laura to see it, but Raev and Boyd were a lot alike. When at rest or in casual settings, they seemed naturally relaxed—which isn’t to say they didn’t maintain an awareness of everything that was happening around them. She had seen both of them flip over in an instant to a particular intensity she had not seen anywhere outside of her brief taste of Heroes in combat.
“Yes, I would also like to be able to answer if Boyd asks,” Hope replied. She still sounded as sweet as ever, but with a subtle tense edge to her tone that Laura wasn’t entirely sure she heard or simply assumed.
“Um, I suppose telling Darling I can’t tell him what anyone said or felt doesn’t count as a lie… so yes, that works.” Silvie’s reply started out a little concerned, but she was her usual bubbly self by the time she finished.
“Since Mindy suggested it, that makes it unanimous,” Laura said with a nod, scanning the group of women. “Ground rules established. So, does anybody have something they would like to share, or should I start us off with an icebreaker?”
Silvie glanced between Hope and Mindy who sat on either side of her, both of whom maintained serene expressions—one cooly blank, the other warm and glowing. Raev was on Hope’s other side, with Laura next to her, and then there was an empty chair between Laura and Mindy in the circle.
The vixen rolled her eyes when neither opted to be the first to speak. “I feel concerned when issues between us cause breakdowns in communication—in particular when it happens during a mission, but just in general, too. One of the things that has been great about what we have so far has been the open communication. Everyone knew where everyone else fell… until recently, that is.”
Raev’s emerald eyes shifted over to Hope, who maintained her sunny smile.
“If you mean to say that I have been unclear, I apologize. I thought I had been clear when I said that I think of each of you, including Tinker, as sisters. I also think of Laura and Daisy as potential sisters who I have high hopes for.”
“You say that, but you don’t act like it.” Raev maintained her laid-back demeanor despite cutting right to the heart of the matter.
Once again, she reminded Laura of the big hunky demon—just in a svelte and feminine package.
“Actions speak louder than words,” the redhead continued. “And those show that you don’t trust Mindy—which is why communication has broken down, both here at home and on our latest mission.”
The redhead shook her head. “It doesn’t seem like basic Mind Powered bias, which would settle with time and exposure. And even if it was, we can’t just wait it out. So… spill. Why don’t you trust one of the people who worked so hard to put this family together?”
Hope flinched at being called out. Her feathers hissed against the couch as her wings tried to tuck in tight to her back.
“There’s no need to be so harsh, babe,” Silvie said and then pouted at the vixen to her left.
Her body language screamed that she wanted nothing more than to comfort the wounded angel. The silver-haired hero restrained herself and stayed in her seat, though she leaned towards the woman to her right.
Raev rolled her eyes again, but she shifted a bit in her seat so that two of the six big fluffy tails that pooled around her could reach past Silvie’s chair to brush down the angel’s arm and wing in a soothing manner. “I know you’re not this fragile, Hope—even if pretending to be that way makes avoiding tough conversations so much easier. Come on. Sisters need to be open and honest with each other.”
“I feel it hard to express myself when everyone is against me,” Hope said stiffly, although she didn’t move to stop Raev’s soothing tail brushing her arm and wing.
“No one is against you, Honey-Buns.” Silvie pouted some more. “We just want to understand why you don’t trust Mindy. We told you everything. Darling told you everything. Do you not believe us?”
“I believe Boyd and I believe you.” Hope at least had the decency to meet Mindy’s eye as she said, “It is Mindy I have a hard time trusting. It isn’t her story… it’s a lot of things.”
“We have time,” Mindy replied, maintaining a calm demeanor. “I would love to know what I have shown you that makes trusting me so hard. I want your trust, Hope. I want to be your sister. Tell me what I can do, or stop doing, to help make that easier for you.”
Despite the curvy goth’s calm demeanor, Laura could imagine that not being able to read the angel’s mind was more than a little frustrating given the situation.
“When you…” Hope paused and glanced at Laura as she remembered the ground rules.
She narrowed her eyes at the other woman before she continued. “I feel like you took something from me—well, from me and Silvie. It was bad enough that you took Boyd’s first time—something that should have been Silvie’s or mine—but then you hurt him with it… you hurt him so bad that he became even more of an emotional cripple than he’d been before you tried to help him.”
Hope balled her fists and they shook with emotion. “I feel the deepest, darkest fear when I think about how easy it would be for you to destroy this family. I feel I do not know who you are because you are so different from when I last saw you. Which is the true mask that you wear? The cool, blank aloofness? Or the tender, caring open smile? Which one is pretend, and how deep does the deception go? How can I be sure the hurting has ended? Is Boyd still being used? Are we all?”
