Shadowborn

Chapter Forty-Nine: Secondary Class Selection

The first thing I did when we made it back to the caravan was track down Rhallani. I needed to know she was alright. Needed to see her with my own eyes. Hold her with my own arms. Seeing the aftermath of the attack and the injuries spread out amongst all the guards just made my stomach clench.

I’d lured away the majority of the wyrms with my plan, but not all of them. Pierce’s crew had all banded together near the front of the caravan to talk and wrap their wounds, but it was my own wagon that I headed straight for. I saw Festus circling in the air, which both relieved me and made me proud. If something had happened to Rhallani, then Festus would be gone. Plus, even injured, she had the wherewithal to keep Festus circling for anyone looking to take advantage of the ambush.

She sat on the back of the wagon with Mihrel looking over her arm. Cynthia and Elisa both sat on the driver’s bench. Cynthia held the reins tightly while Elisa rubbed her back and spoke quietly in her ear. Seems her experience with the spiders had at least a few benefits. Tsuki sat inside the wagon wrapped around Ryoko, but they both looked uninjured from what I saw. Satisfied that my household hadn’t suffered any casualties, I returned my attention to my Arelim.

The second she saw me coming, she sagged with the same relief I felt. “Ren, thank goodness. I saw you run off and—eep!”

She cut off when I scooped her up in my arms, being careful of her injured arm while I crushed her to my chest. It looked better, though it was so heavily wrapped I couldn’t be certain. “You scared the shit out of me, angel,” I breathed. “Please tell me you got some good skills from that fight at least.”

A silent sob wracked her body as she melted into my embrace. “I did, but I can only have one summon out and I thought that Festus would be the smart move right now.”

I nodded, resting my chin against the top of her head. “Good. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

“The golem?” She asked, her voice trembling.

I gently set her back down and summoned the golem straight onto the wagon. One of its arms was completely gone, and the opposite leg was only barely attached. Both the armor and the stone beneath it was covered in gouges that shredded the runes layered all over the construct.

A soft cry slipped from Rhallani’s lips. “No…”

I pulled her head into my chest. “It’s alright. They didn’t fuck with the core, so we can still fix her.”

She nodded, sniffling. I turned to Serena when I felt her hand on my shoulder. “Do you need healing?” she asked.

I looked at my stats. My health hadn’t gone down at all, which meant there was no internal bleeding. Nothing that I couldn’t deal with for a while. “I’m fine for now. Check with the others and see if anyone else needs any, then see what you can do about Rhallani’s arm. If you’ve got mana to spare after, then you can heal me. Was that a new skill?”

Her lips thinned, and I knew she wanted to press the healing issue. “Yes. I took a standard healing skill since mine needs to be a bit more…intimate. It’s stronger than [Healing Embrace] when I’m just using my hands, but not as strong as when there’s a lot more contact. I figured it was smart to take it so I could heal strangers without getting naked.”

“Good thinking. You both got levels, then?”

“I got one,” Serena confirmed.

“Two for me,” Rhallani said with a weak smile. “More Arcane and an attack familiar. You?”

I hadn’t even checked. When I did…

[Level up!]

[Secondary Class Selection Available!]

I cleared my throat. “Yeah, looks like I got a level from all that, too.”

There was a pause, then Rhallani’s eyes went wide. “That means you get a second class!”

“That it does,” I said. I could tell she was put off by my lack of excitement, but there was a part of me that was afraid of what my options might be. “We can go over them when we stop tonight, I don’t want to have to worry about new skills right now.” Not to mention that just the thought of combing through skills for my main class was simply too much to deal with currently.

I looked at each of them in turn. “You all did amazing today. I’m sorry I went rogue.” Noelle had been standing so quietly I’d nearly forgotten she was there, so I placed a hand on her head and ruffled her hair. “Will you stay with our wagon for a bit? I should go check in with Korey and I’d feel a lot better with you watching over them.”

Her cheeks darkened, then she nodded eagerly. I wanted to pull her into a hug, but considering she was on the side where I’m pretty sure my ribs were broken that was probably a bad idea. Serena would insist on healing, but she’d need to deplete her mana to make any significant progress, and there were likely others that weren’t nearly as used to fighting through pain like I was.

Serena shot me a look that said she wasn’t happy about not giving me anymore healing, but she went off towards where Rastra and Lana were nearly holding Yen up anyways. I found my way to the front where Korey, Pierce, and Vivian were all talking with one another.

Pierce saw me first, cutting off mid-sentence and giving me a nod. Korey saw and turned with a smile. “Ren, Vivian here was just bringing us up to date on what happened. Seems we’ve got you to thank once again.”

I did my best to shrug without passing out on the spot. “Make sure you thank Rhallani. If she hadn’t recognized what they were, I wouldn’t have known how to lure them away.” It wasn’t lost on me that Vivian had understood exactly what I was doing, either. Nor did I miss how her amber eyes almost seemed to twinkle when I said that.

Korey just inclined his head. “Either way, for about the hundredth time I’m thrilled Pierce talked me into bringing you along. We were just discussing what Vivian’s situation is now that her carriage is…”

“Kindling?” Vivian offered.

Korey chuckled. “That’s one word for it.”

I looked back over the caravan and let out a sigh. Korey’s wagons were cargo wagons, not passenger wagons. Though mine was half kitted to be a rolling alchemy lab, it was the only other option. “She’s welcome to ride along in mine if she doesn’t walk. She can use the second tent Elisa attached to it as well since we’ve really been using the one. We’ve got some extra tents and such for Zoey and Reese, too.”

Vivian clasped both hands to her chest. “Oh that would be wonderful! You are simply too kind, Ren.”

I couldn’t help but think she was taking the loss of her carriage far too well. “We brought plenty of extra gear, so if you guys need any rations or other equipment just let us know. We can hash out payment later.”

She smiled so widely my face started to ache. “That is much appreciated. Zoey and Reese are combing through what’s left of the carriage as we speak, so I’ll be sure to seek you out when I know for sure.” I was certain she would since it was just another reason to initiate conversation, and she seemed rather eager for those.

Korey cleared his throat. “Well, that takes care of that, I suppose. Pierce wants to put some distance between us and the ambush site in case anyone nefarious is lurking about as long as your people are good to keep moving.”

“That’s a good plan, we’re ready to move when you are.” I didn’t want to bring up that these wyrms had likely been planted here just yet. Pierce would probably handle it fine, but I didn’t want to freak out any of the caravaneers that weren’t used to being under threat.

I nodded to them both, then turned to head back and relay the plans to the others. I resisted the urge to sigh when I felt Vivian fall into step behind me. She closed the gap so we were walking side by side and I could feel her smiling at me.

“I wanted to thank you again, Ren,” she said. “Seems I owe my life to you.”

“Don’t mention it,” I mumbled. Now that the adrenaline from the fight had fully left my system, my head was really starting to pound.
But she was completely oblivious to the fact that I really didn’t want to have a conversation at the moment. “I was terrified! But you never seemed worried in the slightest. You’re quite the impressive man.” Her tone became almost sultry near the end, but her attempt was thwarted by the bald faced lie she started with.

I’d felt her fear for the briefest of moments, so she wasn’t completely immune to my skill. Her claim that she was terrified felt more like she was trying to convince me than anything else. I wish I’d have been able to see her face during more of the fight, but how I’d carried her meant that wasn’t really possible.

But I’d keep up the charade until I got a better idea of why she was lying. “I’m not so impressive. I’ve just been in life or death situations far too often to freak out anymore.”

She laughed like I’d made a joke. “I see. Well I’ll have to keep that in mind, then. Too bad you never got the chance to take me up on my offer for a carriage ride, though.”

Yes. Too bad. That’s the phrase I’d use. “Probably for the best,” I said under my breath. If she heard me, she didn’t react.

By then we’d reached my wagon. Serena was still off with the others who’d been injured, but the rest of my girls were still hanging around the back of the cabin. I very pointedly ignored the mischievous glint in Rhallani's eyes as they flicked back and forth between me and Vivian.

“We’ll keep moving for a while, so anyone who needs to, hop on the wagon.” Rhallani started to shift so I pointed a threatening finger. “Don’t even think about it. You’re riding the rest of the day. Maybe tomorrow, too. If Festus sees something else, send Noelle to find me.”

She pouted at me, but I saw the barely concealed relief when she sagged back against the wall. I hopped up to banish the golem back to storage, but Rhallani stopped me with a touch to my forearm. “Don’t. She can’t even walk anymore, and I don’t want her to spend the rest of her time in the dark of your storage. It isn’t fair to her after all she’s done for us.”

I sat back on my haunches and nodded. “Alright then, Angel.” I repositioned the golem so that she wasn’t taking up quite so much space and was looking out the back of the wagon, then I pulled out some blankets. I made a small nest in the crook of the arm and Rhallani slid into it with a smile.

“Thanks, Ren,” she said softly. “And sorry. For…you know…”

I cupped her cheek and she leaned into my palm. “Nothing to be sorry for. I reacted poorly, that’s on me. I’m just glad you’re alright. Get some rest and we’ll see what we can do about that arm later, alright?”

She nodded and nestled into the blankets I’d put out. When I turned to help Vivian up into the wagon she had a serious look on her face that felt out of character, but it was gone in an instant. I held a hand up and pulled her onto the carriage, and she flashed me another smile. I returned it, albeit somewhat awkwardly, and she primly took a seat on the edge.

“Thank you again for the ride,” she said while I hopped down. “Zoey and Reese are no strangers to walking, but I’m afraid these boots simply aren’t made for long treks.”

“Happy to help,” I said in a tone that likely suggested otherwise.

Tsuki gave her sister one last squeeze, then hopped out of the carriage after me. “I should get back to my wagon if we’re moving again.”
I nodded. “You alright?”

“I’m fine. Ryoko was safe during the fight thanks to Noelle and Serena, and that’s what I care about.”

I reached out and scratched behind her foxlike ears and she went stiff, though her tail started swishing. “Well I’m glad you’re alright, too.”
She didn’t move until I’d pulled my hand away, and her face was rather pointedly directed away from me so I couldn’t see what her expression looked like. I stopped by the front of our wagon to check in with Cynthia and Elisa. Elisa was handling things better than I could have hoped, but there was a wildness in Cynthia’s eyes that told me she’d never been in a situation like that. I assured them that they’d done exactly what they should have by hunkering down in the wagon and told them to do the exact same thing if something else happened, then I headed off to signal Korey that we were all good to go.

The rest of the day’s journey went by slowly but uneventfully, which my aching ribcage appreciated greatly. The weather seemed to think we’d dealt with enough for the day, which meant we didn’t need to worry about setting up for the rain like before. Another small mercy. Garm and Ryoko wasted no time in preparing the nightly meal.

Whether Serena or Vivian, I still wasn’t quite ready to have any long conversations, so I started working with Noelle and Tsuki on learning to fight. Tsuki was the easier of the two since she simply lacked any kind of form. I spent my time with her working on basics like stance and how to swing a blade or throw a punch without breaking her wrist. Noelle was going to be the tricky one.

Her last class strengthened her when she took damage, so the style of fighting that she’d been “taught” was all offense and no defense. It relied too much on raw strength and constantly left her open to counterattacks, so I’d need to help her unlearn all her bad habits before I could start helping her form good ones. That was going to take considerably longer, but she seemed thrilled that I was working with her at all. Well, as outwardly thrilled as Noelle got, at least.

Rhallani watched raptly, and I knew that after she’d been attacked she’d be eager to learn how to defend herself. Once her arm was healed, I’d be just as eager to teach her. Watching that etherwyrm take her to the ground while I was too far to help ranked up there in scariest moments of my life.

During the dinner, we talked over Serena and Rhallani’s new skills. Serena’s, [Prayer of Healing], was the standard healing skill most priestesses used. I agreed that it was a good idea to take a skill that could be used without needing to strip down and cozy up to take full advantage of. Rhallani’s, though, was the real talk of the team.

[Summon Attack Familiar] was exactly the kind of skill I’d been hoping she’d get. I’d have felt better about her getting a defensive summon, but I knew she wanted to feel useful and hiding behind a shield wasn’t going to achieve that for her. The familiar’s base form was a wolf, but she was already working on adding a panther and a hawk to her grimoire to give her some versatility. Different forms would have different stats, but they’d grow stronger the more Arcane she had.

My appetite was still nonexistent, though whether that was from what had happened with Rhallani, my injuries, or the melancholy that still dragged me down I had no idea. I knew I needed fuel, though, so I forced myself to finish the bowl even if I barely tasted it.

Apparently leading the big scary magic-eating land whale earned you a night off watches, but if I had to sit around and do nothing again tonight I might lose my mind. I was just heading to try and talk my way onto one of the watches when Vivian decided to make another surprise appearance.

By tripping and literally falling into me.

Which wouldn’t have been so bad if her elbow didn’t manage to find the exact spot where my ribs were the most damaged. She stammered out an apology, but I wasn’t able to pay any attention to her words since I was trying so hard to not pass out on the spot. I was pretty sure she’d finished the job the giant etherwyrm had started and fully broken one of my already cracked ribs, but the sharp pain that burned through my entire side made it hard to say for sure.

I was just trying to decide whether or not a rib had punctured a lung when I looked up and met Serena’s eyes. She’d seen the whole thing, and from the way her jaw was currently set she was not happy. I clenched my own jaw to try and keep the pained groan inside and cut a glare at Vivian, who looked rather startled by the whole thing with her eyes wide and a hand over her mouth. But something about her reaction felt too carefully crafted.

I’d never seen her so much as stumble, yet she’d tripped and falled into me. If I were a paranoid man—which, let’s face it, I definitely am—I might wonder if she hadn’t waited until Serena was looking at me to throw an elbow into my injury. How she knew exactly where I was hurt I wasn’t sure, but her eyes were just a little too observant for me to think otherwise.

But I didn’t get a chance to say a word before Serena stormed over. I just sighed, preparing myself for the lecture to come. But she just stopped short with clenched fists, then jerked her chin towards our tent. With a sigh, I nodded and followed her inside it.

I’d barely cleared the flap before she whirled around and grabbed the hem of my shirt, ripping it up so she could look underneath. She sucked in her breath sharply, and when I looked down I winced. My entire side was black and blue, and there was a thick line of bruising across my stomach where the wyrm had tried to bite me in half. I was sure my back didn’t look much better.

When I met her gaze finally, her eyes were lined with the silver of unshed tears. “Why?” she asked, her features tight.

“Others needed your mana more,” I said simply.

“And if we’d been attacked again?”

“I’d have dealt with it. Not the worst injury I’ve had to fight with. Not even close.”

“Vivian nearly took you out by tripping over a branch!”

A solid point. “In an actual fight, I’d be wrapped in enough shadows that it wouldn’t be an issue. I can move myself if the need arises.”

Her fists clenched. “That isn’t the point, Zaren!”

I looked away. “I know. I should have told you.”

“Yes, you should have.” She stepped into my line of sight. “How do you think it makes me feel that you’ve been walking around in pain all day when I could have healed you? Helped you? I know you’ve been through worse, Zaren, but that doesn’t mean I want you to go through it again.”

If I hadn’t already been feeling guilty, I was now. “I’m sorry.”

She blew out a breath. “Lose the clothes. I’ll be right back.”

After she’d ducked out I started stripping down. I’d just got down to wearing nothing but pants when I heard the flap, but when I turned it was the last person I expected to see standing in the tent with me.

Vivian’s eyes were saucers as she took in my bare chest and the injuries and scars that covered it. “I’m sorry,” she said slowly, “this seems to be a bad time.”

“Vivian,” I said, somehow not as surprised as I should have been. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Well,” she breathed, shamelessly drinking in every inch of me she could, “I just wanted to apologize again. You went and saved me and I went and jammed an elbow into your, um, injury.”

“I’m fine. Hardly the worst off I’ve been, as you can see,” I said with a gesture to my scars.

She nodded, still not blinking. “I came to see if you wanted to have that chat, but it seems we’ll need to take another rain check.”

“Seems that way,” I agreed.

Her eyes raked over my chest one last time before finally rising to meet mine. Her expression wilted, and she said in a low tone that was very un-Vivian like, “you really are an impressive man, Ren.”

But before I could respond, she was gone. Less than a minute later, Serena pushed into the tent with an expression that bordered between confused and concerned. “Why did we just pass by Vivian practically running away from the tent? Did something happen?”

‘We’ turned out to be everyone from my harem as Rhallani, Tiana, and Noelle all filed in. Rhallani, who was still looking over her shoulder, said, “you know, for how often you keep saying you’re not into Vivian, you two certainly seem to be—good gods, Zaren!” she exclaimed when she finally turned and saw the damage.

“It looks worse than it is,” I said unconvincingly.

Rhallani rushed to my side, her fingers dancing over the bruising with feather light touches, while Tiana strode over and pulled my chin to the side so she could press her lips to mine. “Vivian?” Tiana asked.

“Wanted to apologize. Or talk. Or…something, I don’t know. Got distracted by the…” I gestured vaguely towards the injuries.

Serena started peeling off clothes. “Pants off, Zaren. We can talk about your new friend once I’ve started healing you. Rhallani, you too. We should make sure we’re maximizing the use of my skill whenever we can.”

Any other day and I’d have liked bossy Serena a lot. Today all I could do was ditch my pants like she asked and lay down. In no time, she was carefully setting herself down next to me. “You hold me, I’ll hold Rhallani,” she said over her shoulder.

I did as she asked, pressing my front into her back and wrapping my arms around her stomach just under her breasts. Noelle helped Rhallani with the last of her clothes since Rhallani’s arm was still in a sling while Tiana slid in behind me and tucked one arm under my head while the other hand started playing with my hair. Once Rhallani tucked herself into Serena’s arms with Noelle in tow, I felt Serena’s skill activate.

Breathing slowly became easier, and I pulled Serena tighter against my chest to show that her healing was working. She let out a soft sigh, but she kept her eyes forward so I couldn’t see her face. With Tiana’s breasts pushing into my back and Serena’s butt pushing against my groin, it wasn’t long before I had to adjust so I wasn’t stabbing Serena in the back with my erection.

“I really wish you’d talk to us, Zaren,” Serena said softly.

I closed my eyes, resting my cheek against the top of her head. “I know. I wish I knew what to say.”

“Anything would be better than nothing,” she shot back.

I rubbed small circles on her stomach with my thumb. “You don’t go through what I went through without coming out a little…fucked up,” I said finally. I felt Serena and Tiana both tense up on either side of me, but neither interrupted. “Most of the time I’m okay. Well, okay enough to keep moving, at least. Sometimes though, it just feels like…”

“Like it’s all suddenly too much?” Tiana offered.

I nodded. “That’s a good way to phrase it. It’s like the weight of everything is just catching up all at once. I know I’ll come out the other side of it eventually, it’s just hard to remember that in the moment sometimes. Rolar was always good about keeping me focused when it happened, but he isn’t around to call the shots anymore.”

“You can rely on us,” Serena insisted. “You know that, right?”

“I do,” I promised, “I just…” As usual, the words simply weren’t there. I decided to change gears. “During the fight, when I saw the wyrm attacking Rhallani, I slipped.”

“Slipped?” Rhallani asked, lifting her head to look at me.

“Not physically, mentally. During the war, when I fought, it wasn’t always something I did consciously. Especially in bigger battles, I just sort of…let instinct take over. It was like I was riding passenger in my own head. When Rhallani went down and I wasn’t sure if she was alive or not, I let those instincts take over again. The world outside the fight disappeared. Consequences were something I’d only have to deal with if I actually lived, so I just…did what I do.”

I let out a long breath and pressed my face into Serena’s hair. “The world has done nothing but take from me for my entire life, and I’ve never had more to lose than I do right now. I’m trying to figure it out, I’m just not doing it very fast.”

“That’s okay,” Tiana said, pressing a kiss to my temple. “We don’t expect you to heal from a life of trauma overnight. We just want to know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours. You’ve been alone long enough, Zaren. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”

I didn’t answer, but I didn’t need to. I just held Serena tight with one arm while I pulled the other back to pull Tiana’s face close enough to kiss her. She made a pleased sound in her throat before she drew back and pushed my chin forward, where Serena was finally looking back at me. I leaned down and kissed her, too, before leaning past her to make sure Rhallani and Noelle weren’t left out.

Once we were all settled again, Rhallani shot me a look. “So…level twenty…”

“That’s right,” Tiana said, running her hand down my chest. “You’ve been holding out on us.” Her hand went lower and lower until it wrapped around the base of my erection. She gave it a long, slow stroke that drew a soft hiss out of me. “Spill, mister.”

I buried my face in the back of Serena’s neck, sliding my own hand up to cup one of Serena’s breasts while the other went lower. A quick trail down her slit told me she was wet despite the seriousness of the conversation.

“I haven’t even looked yet,” I told them. “Give me a second.” I pulled up my class options, unsurprised by the first one. It was the class I’d taken at twenty last time, and it had served me well before.

It would make me nearly unstoppable on the battlefield, but is that really what I wanted? I didn’t want to be the old Zaren, so should I really take the same classes I had last time? It would make me deadly, but it was another class that didn’t play well with others. Taking it would just make things harder on my friends and lovers.

When I told them the class and how I felt about it, they all seemed to agree. None of them told me outright not to take it, but I could see it in Rhallani and Serena’s eyes that they would prefer I didn’t. I looked at the next one and barked out a laugh that caught them all off guard.

When I told them about it, they seemed as amused as I was. “While I like the idea of you not dying,” Tiana said with a chuckle, “the idea of you almost dying over and over again sounds like it’ll take years off my life. I hope door number three is much more enticing.” Her hand, still wrapped around my erection, gave me a squeeze.

I agreed. One was a class I’d had in the past, the other was one I’d earned though constantly surviving situations I probably shouldn’t have. Time to see what the third option was. I must have reacted when I read it, because suddenly everyone was looking at me. Even Tiana’s hand paused.

Rhallani was the first to break the silence after I told them. “It’s not even an option, right? I mean, you’ve literally got a whole new resource pool already.”

She had a solid point, but that wasn’t what drew me to the class. “It’s the first non-combat class I’ve ever gotten,” I told them in a soft voice that halted all conversation. “It says in the description that I can make others stronger. It’s a support class, and one I’ve never heard of. I…”

“You want it, right?” Serena asked with a smile. She leaned up and pressed her lips to mine. “Then take it, Zaren. You don’t need our permission, though it sounds like we all like that class the best anyways.”

Still, I hesitated. Soul Essence was powerful, but it was still a very limited resource. Hopefully this class would do something to change that, since my Essence pool didn’t seem tied to any stats, but there was no way to know until it was too late. Still, the option called to me. The more I thought about it, the less it seemed like a choice.

With a nod, I selected the class. I looked over the class’s core skill and my brows drew together.

I read the skill aloud, and Rhallani was already writing it in one of her books that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere. “Epitaph, which is unsurprising because you’re…well…you,” she said with a wave in my direction. “Tempering one another could mean both people get some kind of boon, but there’s no way to tell. Vague like most skills, so we’ll have to play around with it to understand what it actually does. So, who are we linking first? My vote’s for Serena.”

We all exchanged amused looks, but I cleared my throat. “Actually, we might want to hold off. It says it costs Soul Essence to activate, but without knowing how much it could be risky.”

Tiana frowned. “We’ve made so much progress already, though. Aren’t you getting close to cap?”

I cleared my throat. “Well, I was…”

Rhallani and Serena both shot up and fixed me with glares. “How much did you use?” Serena demanded. I checked my pool and winced.

[Soul Essence: 54/100]

When I told them as much, Rhallani paled and Serena crossed her arms with a huff. Tiana just put her hand on my shoulder. “You used it to fight?”

“Somewhat. After Rhallani went down…well I summoned a tendril on all of you before I even realized what I was doing. Then I put two on Vivian because all the fucking wyrms were trying to eat her.”

Rhallani made an angry noise. “Fuck! I knew that tendril looked red, but I was all fucked up at the time!” She started scribbling even more furiously in her book.

Serena just grabbed my wrist. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner? We could have spent the afternoon in the tent regenerating you.”

The most obvious answer was that I was avoiding them all to keep from having the very conversation we’d just had, but I wasn’t dumb enough to say that out loud. “Between everything else, it just sorta slipped to the back of my mind.”

Tiana’s hand pulled on my shoulder, then she pushed me down so that I was on my back. She straddled me, sliding my cock into her core with a single fluid movement that sent her head back. “Fuck, I swear you feel even better than I remember!” She ran her hands up my chest until she found two spots that hadn’t been injured and used them as leverage to start riding me. “We’ll fill you up as much as we can tonight and we can try to forge a link in the morning.”

Before I could even answer, two small hands found either side of my face. Noelle pulled my lips to hers, her lips pressing to mine for only a moment before I felt her tongue probing. I let her in and she happily devoured me while Rhallani crawled into Serena’s lap.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Rhallani said, wrapping Serena’s arms around her midriff. Serena, not needing to be told what the little Arelim was up to, started to glow as she activated her skill. “You two can get things started while Serena finishes getting my arm squared away. I think it’s time to see just how much Soul Essence we can recover in a night,” she finished with a grin that made my toes curl.

Noelle finally pulled back so both of us could breathe once more. “And with Vivian next door, we can remind her who Zaren belongs to.”

Tiana picked up speed, her head tipping forward and her hair falling to caress my chest. “Fuck! That sounds like a good idea to me. I don’t like her fascination with my Zaren.”

“Your Zaren, huh?” I teased, reaching up to squeeze her breast before tugging her nipple. She clenched around me, but her bouncing only sped up. With my other arm I scooped Noelle up and pulled her back into me so I could reach down and retake her lips. She melted into me, sinking both hands into my hair and pushing back against the kiss with a very happy hum.

“Yes!” Tiana cried, slamming her hips down one final time and cumming hard. “My Zaren. Our Zaren. I love sharing you like this, but she hasn’t earned that same level of trust.”

She pushed herself up, letting me slide free, but my cock had barely fallen back to my stomach before Noelle was lining herself up, pulling away from my lips with a regretful noise. Tiana took her place, both at my side and on my lips, while she did her best to explore every corner of my mouth with her tongue. “I know better than anyone that saying you aren’t alone will never be enough, so we’ll just have to show you.”

And I was more than willing to let them do just that. I might still be miserable, but it was a whole lot better to be miserable when surrounded by the women I loved.