The Magic of Eternity (Emerald Lakes #5)

by Britt Andrews

“It has to be injected into a dense muscle. Since your brain is pretty protected, we’ll go with the upper arm,” Kai joked, and Sloane rolled his eyes as he pulled up the sleeve on his shirt. “The brain is an organ, you fool,” he grumbled, earning a chuckle from me and Kai.

Bram had a mask of indifference on, even his eyes looking void of feeling. Faris was fidgeting, shifting on his feet, twisting his fingers. And was he... I looked closer. Okay, yes. He’s snapping and snarling at people. Oh moon maidens, this is not good.

“King Asrael, King of Besmet.” And then there he was, striding through those doors, the most narcissistic, posturing psycho that I’d ever met.

Kneeling as a pregnant woman should be banned. Forcing pregnant women to kneel should be an act that would earn you severe punishment. If I were truly a queen, that would be rule number one. Fuck the patriarchy and their ability to piss wherever, and never worrying about how they’ll get their big freaking asse—

My center of gravity was all fucked up, and I was really tired of peeing my pants a tiny bit every time I did anything physical—sneezing, coughing, laughing, walking, it didn’t matter. They were just gonna have to start calling me Saige, piss pants witch. I guess it came with the territory.

Gods, is this rage part of being pregnant? I’m not an angry person!

He signaled, giving everybody permission to rise from their knees. Like he was a god. He was about to learn just how ungodly he was.

Asrael began spewing more bullshit about how awesome he was, and how much of a dick Bram was. To be honest, I tuned it all out. I found I actually didn’t give a shit what he had to say after all. I’d wanted to get out here, and now his voice was making me nauseous.

I’d never know for sure if that was really the moment that the vaccine kicked in, or if it was simply my heart exploding within my chest, unable to take any more abuse from men who thought they could push me around and change my life without my consent. All I knew is that I was fucking done.

I had never felt this much magic in my life. Maybe it was because this was life or death, or maybe the vaccine was causing it, maybe the pregnancy... Either way, I was nowhere close to being done. I had a gods damn vendetta and I was going to ensure that justice was carried out.

I watched in horror as the demon turned into a wilted version of himself. He was exactly like a plant, one who’d been left out in ninety-degree weather for days on end with no water. Sloane looked from the guard to me, speechless. Now that I knew what I was capable of, I completely let loose. They were all going to regret the day that they ever thought they could take what was mine.

“Fucking hell,” I gasped, amazed at the sheer power that she was possessing. Not only that, but my Sprout was not normally a violent woman. Seeing her go to these lengths to defend one of her mates was hands down the number one hottest thing I’d ever seen.

“No,” I told him, “it’s not going to hurt. Just hurry up and get it in you.” My fist smashed into the face of a male demon who thought he could sneak up and pull a fast one, and I could’ve sworn I heard Faris chuckling under his breath over my last statement. Something along the lines of, “Is that what you say to Thunder Daddy?” I couldn’t even be mad though. Fucking cute ass, innocent-looking, evil little vampire boy.

“Your dick?” I questioned. “Why the hell does your dick hurt?” “Well, because of that needle,” he replied, looking at me like I’d lost my mind. “You said dense muscle.” “You gave yourself the shot in your dick? In the middle of a battle? Why would you do that? Like, wh–what—” I couldn’t even speak. I was done.

“That’s it, géant. You are a big scary cat. You’re the only cat that I like. Mark my words, if I see those pesky Persians out here on this battlefield, this day will be their last.” Napoleon sprang from our back, landing on the demon closest to us. We watched—me in horror, Bagheera in amusement—as our small mousy friend wasted no time in going straight for the demon’s jugular. Those teeth were impressively destructive in a very rapid fashion. Napoleon’s black fur was quickly shiny with blood, but all it seemed to do was feed into his bloodlust.

It was in his hands now, as if that wasn’t fucking terrifying. Hell, for all I knew, he’d be the one being crowned king at the end of today.

Fish’s eyes turned blacker than night, and at the same time, black tears began running down the screaming demons’ faces. By the stars, he just keeps getting scarier and scarier. This was probably going to give me nightmares.

He was walking the edge right now, and I couldn’t help but prepare myself for the fact that he was likely going to cross it. Not just cross it, but throw himself several miles past that line.

Stars, give us strength, and please keep Fischer from going psycho today. There’s enough of that going on right now.

“Hold still, demon boy.” Before I could blink, a sharp pain exploded right on my dick. “Ow! What the fuck, Faris?!” I shouted, grabbing hold of my wounded weiner.

“You stab me in the dick and I will rip yours off,” Khol promised fiercely. “Fine, here, take it. It’ll restore your magic.” Faris handed a syringe to Khol, who drove it into his bicep, no questions asked.

“You might want to go check on your little lamb. I don’t know what she’s doing over there, but it doesn’t look too good. Or depending on who you are, it looks really fucking good.”

Blood, teeth, and sweat flew off of his face, and I wondered for a moment if maybe I should pursue some type of passionate hobby work in the art of splatter painting. It wouldn’t have to all be done in blood. I mean, I could really fuck up some paint tubes, and just throw them at a canvas—boom, art.

I couldn’t wait to tell Firefly about Number Fishty. I knew she would be really proud of me for my accomplishments.

He was probably off standing in a corner with black eyes, looking around like a creepy ass nightmare mage. I was gonna have to have a talk with him. Yeah, he was strong and he had all these powers, but so did everybody else. That didn’t mean you got to stand in the corner and look like a creep. We had business to take care of.

Gods, I couldn’t wait for this battle to be over. I was hornier than hell. The need to fuck and be fucked was so strong right now that it was nearly killing me. “Faris,” Bram whisper-shouted. “Why are you hard right now?!” I chanced a look down, and oh yeah, hard as a rock. Full mast. Land ho, mateys. There was no sinking this Titanic. “You’re calling it the Titanic now?” “Nooo,” I said sheepishly. Oh shit, did I say that out loud? “Don’t worry about my dick right now. It’s your problem for later. Let’s end this.”

I didn’t like the look of wounds on his body that I hadn’t put there myself. It was like another man marking what was mine. That couldn’t stand. Hmmm. With my anger renewed, I took my arm away, satisfied that the wounds were already starting to close on his chest. I turned my attention back to Asrael. “I’m gonna fucking kill this asshole. Anyone touches you again, they die. Do you understand? Anyone.”

another demon who was scrambling to administer vaccines to other demons. I found it interesting though, that he wasn’t administering them to anybody’s dicks. Porn was really giving me some weird recommendations. First the pregnant lady stuff and now this. Never mind. I needed to focus.

I swear to the stars, if he touches you again... I’m going to rip his eyeballs out, I’m going to juggle them, and then I’m going to ping-pong those motherfuckers into another dimension.” “Alright, psycho. Go.” Bram gave me a small smile, and I nearly swooned like a heartsick little goose.

I was both the Grim Reaper and an angel of life.

All kinds of people had come together today for this. Including whoever these creepy dudes were wearing the masks. They were particularly violent, and I was thankful that they were on our side, because gods... the excitement they seemed to get out of killing just didn’t seem natural. I couldn’t even stand to watch, to be honest.

Oh, hell no. Surging forward, it was a race to see who would get there first. I didn’t know why she wanted that vaccine, but I didn’t want her to have anything that she wanted ever again. I didn’t care if it was two-ply toilet paper—she wasn’t having it.

‘A witch, a mix of green and red, save a race before they’re dead. Change, rise, manifest. A soul so pure. You almost pass the test. Many for the price of three. Hurry, witch. What will it be? In royal red, your strength renewed. Hurry, witch, or all are doomed.’

“Say the first thing that comes to mind. You know what it is,” Matilda encouraged me, squeezing my hands. “I want forever... with them,” I replied. “Then forever it shall be,” the two women replied in perfect sync.

“Why do you keep doing that?” Faris asked curiously. I glanced around to see who he was talking to, but found everyone looking at me. Cam was smirking. Dickhead. My curiosity won out, though I had no idea where this was going. “Doing what?” “Showing your teeth and like, moving your face upward.” Faris gestured with his hands over his face dramatically. I blinked. Who is this creature anyway? Where do the things that come out of his mouth come from? “You mean smiling?” Cam snorted, covering his mouth with his fist as his bare torso shook with silent laughter. “Faris!” Red hissed.

He saw it too, lifting his own middle finger to his mouth and piercing the pad of it on a sharp fang. The conversation continued around us as we glared at each other. That crazy fucker let the blood well just enough to start dripping down his finger. He brought it to his mouth, painting his lips red, flipping me off the entire time. Puckering his bloodied lips, he kissed his finger, then blew the kiss at me and snapped his teeth a few times for good measure. I didn’t appreciate his antics… At least, that’s what I tried to tell myself, despite the fact that every damn time he acted up, it caused my balls to ache and my dick to twitch. Look away, Sloane. Look away.

“I want to try something,” Bram confessed. Oh, my gods. Was he going to suck his dick? If he sucks his dick right now, I think I’m going to die. Literally. I’d made it through a battle with pure evil, but the idea of my big ginger demon getting his mouth fucked by my blood mage? I was certainly going to die of dehydration.

“Please, what, Princess? You want me to touch Faris? Do you want to watch me taste him while you taste me?” Bram lifted a brow in challenge, and yep, I was officially dying.

Fucking hell, these men. Where did they come from? Some kind of delicious passion pit forged in hell—I wanted them to drag me there, keep me captive.

“Can I have a nap now?” I was suddenly fucking exhausted. What the hell was I thinking, having a seven-way after a damn battle? It seems I was still Saige, peen witch and snake tamer. At least they were fucking each other now too—that would give me a little bit of a break. Problem was, even just the thought of them fucking each other got me aroused.

Oh fuck. She’s leaving me. Is she as disgusted with me as I am? My own curiosity didn’t let me keep my mouth shut, and my voice cracked as I asked, “What are you doing?” She looked back at me over her shoulder, and my eyes widened. Her green eyes were glowing gold. What the fuck? “I’m going to kill them. All of them.”

“You’re not broken,” she repeated, flattening her palm right over my thundering heart. “You’re bruised and battered. You’re strong, and one of the best men I’ve ever known. Any time you feel anything less than mine, I’ll be here to remind you.”

“She feels threatened, feels her family is threatened. Female dragons—especially pregnant ones close to giving birth—aren’t known for their patience or forgiveness when it comes to their mates and children,”

“The man who knows no fear is scared of a couple tiny baby girls?” He gave me a scowl. “I may not know anything about babies... or girls, for that matter. But something tells me that these two will be most dangerous at their tiniest. That’s when they’ll make me their slave for life.” “Well.” I squeezed his hand. “You’ll have five other ‘slaves’ to commiserate with. We’ll all be under their spell soon enough.”

“Listen to me, you fancy-dicked, knotted-up, breeder stallion sons of bitches!”

She’d used each chance for breath wisely, cursing all of us, but mainly Sloane and I for putting her in this condition. “You think I’m a fancy stallion?” I puffed my chest out, pleased with that compliment. “It’s... not... a compliment!”

Between Goldie crying and screaming, Kai’s relentless whining and pacing, Sloane’s nervous scowling, Cam’s helicopter daddying, Faris’ ridiculous questions and my own excitement.... It was too much for our empath to handle.

Goldie’s narrowed eyes tracked him with the precision of a serial killer, and I was starting to get concerned for each of our lives if these babies didn’t come soon.

The sound of the toaster lever being slammed down brought the focus back to Faris. “Hungry, are ya?” Balor inquired, opening up his bag of supplies. Faris’ face screwed up in disgust. “Like I’d ever eat this shit. This is for my Firefly. As you will soon see, she’s become quite... ferocious. Bette told me in the kitchen that she suffers from hanger. A disease easily cured by snacking.” “Gonna... kick... his cute ass...” Goldie panted. Sloane ran a hand down his face and groaned. Faris narrowed his eyes at Sloane, and I took that as my cue to intervene.

“I thought it’d be good because you know, we have a supersize family.” His eyes widened. “I probably should buy another one. We’ll have two more to feed soon. I won’t stand for breakfast fights over the toaster usage. That doesn’t seem like a healthy environment. Plus, I read that babies really like toast and stuff.