Elatha disappeared into the waves, and the tension in my neck and shoulders had me blowing out a slow breath and attempting to stretch. Damn it. I hated that he was going on his own with these fucking dragon gods hunting us. Yet Loki was in no shape to move anywhere. He groaned as he shifted his head in my lap, and my gaze was drawn back down to him, my hand stroking his cheek.

"Do you want to take us down to the water? I'm happy to float with you, darling," Loki said as his eyes met mine.

Holding his gaze, I slowly nodded. It made sense for at least one of us to be recharging enough to defend if we needed to.

Gritting my teeth at the heavy exhaustion dragging at my body, I lifted us carefully into the air a few centimetres without changing our positions. I didn't want to jar Loki's head more than necessary. We shifted to the water's edge, and I lowered us into its cool embrace, putting my back to the waves to protect Loki's head from any impact.

Unlike winter's harsh touch already impacting the Wei River Valley, the sea moderated the climate, warming the coast of China. Even so, I heated the water around Loki. He needed his energy for healing, not staying warm. The shallow waves splashed against my back in a welcome caress as the tiredness in my body eased.

"You scared me, Loki," I confessed in a quiet voice.

His left hand gripped mine and squeezed. "I know. I'm sorry, but I will be okay. You got me through the worst of it, Shannon, and I'm very proud of the way you managed to initiate the healing of my fractures. It's getting better every minute."

Raising his hand to my lips, I kissed his fingers. "Experimenting on you isn't the way I want to learn the range of my powers. I'm relieved it worked, although I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

"You did amazing. With sufficient energy, I'll be able to heal the rest. We need to fully recharge before we attempt the door to Helheim again." His fingers traced over my lips and cheek in a gentle caress.

"Yes, but let's start with food, Loki, and I'll tell you a story while you eat." Digging into a sealed pouch, I handed him a travel bar filled with nuts and seeds. "I'm unwilling to risk raising your blood pressure until you've completely healed those arteries in your head. Having you potentially die of a brain aneurysm isn't exactly stirring lascivious thoughts."

For the first time since he'd woken, his eyes glinted and a little smile appeared at the corners of his lips. "That's an acceptable compromise... for now," he said as he took a bite and chewed.

Taking a bite of my own travel bar, I considered what story I could invent. Or maybe a story from my childhood. "When I was ten, I had a best friend who lived partway up a nearby mountain. He and his older brother rode dirt bikes. They decided they were going to teach me how to ride."

As I continued my story, I fed Loki a second, then a third bar, and finally saw colour return to his pale cheeks. He chuckled when I described my panic at tumbling off the dirt cliff, completely out of control of the motorbike, but managing to come out of it unscathed. The sound of his joy eased the tightness in my chest.

"That was an excellent story, darling," he said, smiling. Lifting his left hand, he slid it behind my neck and into my hair, drawing my head down towards him. "Now, let me show my appreciation," he purred as he pressed his lips to mine.

Warmth stirred at the featherlight stroke of his tongue over my lower lip, and I matched it with one of my own. More demanding, his grip tightened in my hair as his kiss grew firmer. Opening to him, he swept in, and a whimper of need escaped my throat to be swallowed by his. I let go of my fear and worry for him, releasing into the heated passion of his lips claiming mine.

Breathless when we parted, his eyes held mine. "I love you, Shannon. I'm here, alive, and I'm not going to leave you."

A splash in the water behind me had my pulse skyrocketing, muscles tensing as I twisted to spy Elatha, a wide smile of relief on his face.

"You're back!" Slightly lightheaded, I matched his smile with my own.

"Yes. And shells, but I am glad to see you looking more like yourself again, Loki. That bleached coral and octopus ink pairing did nothing for your skin tone," Elatha said, wrinkling his nose.

Loki laughed. "Fashion advice, Elatha? Really? Get your sexy self over here so we can recharge our energies and get to Helheim."

Elatha strode through the shallow water until he crouched beside Loki's outstretched legs. "Are you sure you are up for that, Loki? I'm worried about making your injuries worse."

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh at the mischievous look in Loki's eyes. That he wanted to play, that he felt well enough to play, had a mix of warmth surging through my veins and relief shivering down my neck, prickling the fine hairs.

"You tell me, Elatha. Am I up for that?" Loki purred, cupping the obvious thick ridge in his leather pants.

Elatha's eyes travelled downward and his mouth opened slightly to let out a slow breath. His tongue wet his lower lip before he met Loki's eyes again. "Yes, I'd say you are." Elatha's voice deepened. "How do you want us, Loki?"

With a touch of Loki's hand to the torc at my neck, my clothes disappeared, and he cupped my right breast. His tongue darted out to lick over my nipple, and I shivered, gooseflesh rising.

"I want to feast on these gorgeous breasts, taunting me with their delicious scent while Shannon strokes your beautiful cock. Release yourself on me, Elatha. I want those pearly drops on my skin."

"And what about you, Loki? Who gets your ivory cock?" Elatha asked, eyes flicking from Loki's hips to his face and back again as he continued to crouch beside us.

Loki nipped at my breast and my breath hiccuped at the sharp sensation.

"Do you want my cock, Elatha?" Loki's clothes disappeared with his purred words, and he fisted his shaft. "What do you want to do with it?" Turning his head, he met Elatha's eyes.

"Whatever you are willing to let me," Elatha said, his deep voice barely above a whisper as he watched Loki's hand stroking up and down.

The slow smile on Loki's lips had my core clenching. Arousal travelled through the bond from both of them, swirling and mixing within me, and Elatha's mental barriers crumbled. He had a hard time maintaining them whenever arousal distracted him. Thoughts filled me of how desperately he's wanted to touch Loki—to glide his hands over the smooth, pale perfection—and how he's wanted to taste him. Elatha's curiosity was fierce, straining at the leash of his control while he waited for Loki's answer.

Yet I didn't give his thoughts away to Loki.

No, I wanted Loki to discover this on his own. To see how intensely Elatha wanted to experience everything Loki cared to teach him, to allow him.

"Then make me cum, Elatha. Your hand, your mouth... however you'd care to try with either. Let's see how fast you learn without me guiding you this time, as you can count on me fucking your mouth in the future," Loki growled, challenge in his tone.

Elatha licked his lips even as another blast of desire surged up the bond to have me arching my back and unable to hold back a mewl of need. Fuck. Between the two of them, they might have me cumming without even touching me.

"Good," Elatha smiled, his eyes still focused on Loki's rigid length.

Rising from his crouch, Elatha removed his pack, armour, skinsuit, and boots to place them on the shore above the waterline. Loki and I admired the flex and flow of Elatha's well defined form as his midnight and snow skin was revealed. When he walked back into the shallow water towards us, cock proudly bobbing with his movements, we hummed our approval. My eyes met Loki's, and he smirked.

Loki released his cock and pinched my nipple instead, drawing a gasp from me as my core clenched.

"You have such excellent taste in consorts, darling," he teased, before turning back to admire Elatha's approach.

Elatha lowered himself to his side beside us, his upper body propped up with his left hand braced in the sand. The fingertips of his other hand glided up the length of Loki's shaft, then down to grip it tightly at the base.

Loki grunted slightly, and I knew he liked the firm hold Elatha was using.

"Since I don't have a cock, would you share what it feels like?" I asked, wondering if Loki would open himself to me to that degree.

A flood of sensation surrounded me in the next instant. Tight, throbbing of my pulse in my groin, stronger than the thumping of my own heart. Fuck, it was like after an orgasm, when my pussy pulsed with its own heartbeat. Lightning flashed as Elatha licked his tongue over us. My hips jerked. Damn, was his tongue flicking over my clit or Loki's cock? I couldn't tell the difference. When Elatha did it again, swirling his tongue this time, Loki and I both groaned.

Warm, wet heat enclosed me as Elatha drew us into his mouth, and my eyes crossed, tingling heat spreading in my centre. Oh my god. It had never been this intense, surrounding sensation.

"Is it... fuck... is it always like this?" I gasped.

"Better," Loki growled, reaching a hand to Elatha's head to push us deeper. "Swallow, Elatha. Let me all the way into that throat of yours and let Shannon feel what it's like to have a cock."

Immersive and overwhelming, a rhythmic pulse massaged us, squeezing, then vibrating as Elatha swallowed and hummed. Panting, I squirmed, unable to relieve the need to thrust, to move, to get more friction. Fuck. Something. 

My hand reached between my thighs, aching to rub my own body, but Loki caught my fingers.

"No, Shannon. Ride it with me. No cheating," he purred.

Finding a rhythm, Elatha's mouth bobbed up and down, Loki's hand in his hair not pushing, just guiding. The softness of the silky strands caressed my hand, tactile and slippery between my fingers, even as Loki held my own hand immobile.

I wanted to clench my fist and tug his hair. Gods, I wanted to shove his head down.

How Loki resisted such a powerful urge to thrust, I wasn't sure. The even, slow glide with wet suction had cries escaping my lips, especially when Elatha rubbed his tongue on the head or swallowed around us. Still, Loki wouldn't let me move and the need built, like an itch you just couldn't scratch.

Coiling and churning, it built.

Spreading, trembling heat.

Pressure growing, rising.

Elatha shifted his hand lower, gently rolling testicles I didn't have, would never have, yet it felt like stroking over my g-spot. Crying out, my back arched as Loki groaned. Fast, sharp movements, the quick rake of teeth and hard suction, and I screamed, writhing as Loki ejaculated in hot spurts, greedily swallowed down and my drenched core clenched with each rhythmic pulse.

Breathless, my lungs heaved as ripples of sensation flowed over my skin, the breeze stroking over my heated body and the intensity dampened to just my own existence.

"How do you feel knowing you made not just me cum, but without either of us touching her, you also made Shannon orgasm?" Loki asked Elatha.

"Both of you were gorgeous. I can't wait to make you both cum again," Elatha said, lifting his mouth from Loki's still rigid cock with a final flick of his tongue over the pale head. He continued to stroking the glistening length with his hand.

Despite the satisfaction in my limbs, watching that dark midnight hand with its patches of white glide over Loki's shaft had me shifting where I sat. Now that I wasn't overwhelmed with sensations from Loki's mind, the hard cock pressing against the outside of my thigh caught my attention.

Tugging my hand from Loki's fingers, I wrapped my hand around Elatha's cock and he groaned. It was amazing having an idea of what he experienced, and I set out to draw more groans from him.

Loki smiled, catching my eye, and drew my nipple into his mouth. Now it was my turn to moan. Between the three of us, a symphony of pleasure rose and fell, again and again, until the first blush of dawn appeared on the horizon.

"As much as I love enjoying the two of you, we need to go," Loki said, rising to his feet in a lithe move that belied his previous injuries. He unwrapped the dark strip of seaweed from his wrist, turned the joint a few times and nodded. Even the bruising was gone. Only the faintest of yellow persisted on his wrist, shoulder, and face.

Elatha helped me to my feet and began dressing. With a thought, my clothes, armour, and weapons appeared on my body.

"I'm relieved you are healed, Loki," I said, gesturing to his clothed body.

Black fighting leathers covered his torso and legs, with black boots rising to his knees. Matte black and silver armour scales protected his upper body, yet the silver was muted to not reflect the morning light. Throwing daggers adorned his forearms, sword strapped to his back, and long black knives at his hips. Deadly beautiful, my black prince was a sleek predator. Seeing him injured earlier had shaken me more than I wanted to admit, and the last churning anxiety settled.

Elatha nodded, his face serious. "Don't get injured like that again, okay?"

Loki opened his mouth to reply, but then cocked his head and frowned as he looked behind me.

I spun and a blurry patch of air condensed into a tall, well-built man where the beach turned into rocks and grasses. In a three quarter length ice blue trench coat with a blood red scarf, white sweater, and pale blue jeans over tan boots, his long white hair blended into his wardrobe until the breeze caught and lifted strands of it as he walked towards us. When he got closer, his glacier blue eyes stood out from narrow lips and an oval face.

Something about him was familiar.

Loki bowed. "Ao Run, White Dragon of Justice, your assistance earlier was most timely."