The Succubus and her two Mates

10| Refuge

Ronnie hoped it was just a coincidence that a demon had been so intent on “helping” her. Maybe the creep had just been waiting for anyone to come along. But he seemed to know who she was. She didn't know if he had been there for himself or someone else.

Pushing that concern away, she ran up to Brock with Brand. One concern at a time.

"s**t!" Ronnie exclaimed, horrified at the visage of a knife sticking out of Brock's side. She’d lived a rough life, but this was beyond her experiences. "Don't pull it out. We need to call for an ambulance."

Brock shook his head. "I'll be fine. I just need somewhere to heal."

"We can get back in the club-"

"Too many people." Brand cut her off. "He needs to partially shift to speed up the healing." Brock was leaning heavily on him now.

Ronnie hesitated. "My place isn't far…" It would be quicker than driving back to their hotel.

"Let's go there, then." He looked down at the remains of the demon. "I'll message Jon to clean up this mess and join us later."

Ronnie took the injured side of Brock to help staunch the bleeding around the blade. He hissed in pain but didn't say a word. Brand took the bulk of his weight as they moved out onto the street. It was quiet, not being the main thoroughfare, and anyone who saw them would have assumed they were just helping a drunk friend.

They arrived at her apartment building, and she fished around for her keys with the hand that wasn't covered in blood. "I'm just on the first floor. We'll need to take the stairs."

She led them to the stairwell. Brock looked very pale under the fluorescent lights. "We're almost there," she said soothingly.

Once in her apartment, she ran and grabbed her only towel, hesitant only because she had used it that day so it wasn't going to be sterile.

Brand laid Brock on the couch. Ronnie was glad it was pleather and dark in colour- she'd be able to clean the blood off later. She felt like she was in shock, her mind fixating on things other than the fear of Brock not being okay. Brand ripped Brock's shirt, so he could see the wound.

She handed the towel to Brand, who used it to press around the wound as he pulled the knife out, pushing the towel into the wound once it was free.

Brock roared in pain- a sound deep and inhuman. Ronnie felt it in her bones.

She chewed her lip as Brand spoke soothingly to Brock, frozen, both horrified and enthralled by Brock's semi-transformation - his skin scaled, and he got bigger somehow - his face transformed, widening, his nose flattening into two slits. Thinner lips. Sharp teeth. He didn't form scales exactly, instead it was like an impression of them. A slight shimmer in his skin. She saw his bright blue eyes turn to a deep dark blue with slitted pupils. He grumbled at the pain, but Brand kept softly saying words of encouragement to him. His eyes met hers, and she became lost for a few seconds. She felt a tug at the deepest level of her being - something primordial.

With little growling humphs, Brock closed his eyes and seemed to slip into sleep, still in his semi-dragon state. Brand seemed satisfied with the slowing of the bleeding and after a few more minutes the bleeding stopped all together. Ronnie could see the wound was closing. She shook her head in disbelief. She heard about the amazing healing capabilities of shifters, but this was beyond what she had ever imagined. Not even vampires healed this quickly.

Brand rocked on his heels and looked back at Ronnie. "Thanks for bringing us here. He should be okay now. He’ll just need some rest for an hour or two."

"What does he look like when he fully transforms?" She couldn't help but voice the question.

Brand smiled at her. "He's magnificent."

She smiled back at him. She had always thought abstractly when she heard about dragon shifters. "And you?"

Brand's smile pulled into a grin. "We'll both show you."

She was quiet while he stood up and took a step towards her. He hesitated for a second and then pulled her into his arms. She relaxed into his embrace, a sigh coming out involuntarily. All the fear and anxiety, her fear of them, her fear that Brock was so badly hurt that he might… it all melted away.

“I’m sorry we scared you.” His voice was a whisper.

“It’s a bit intense,” she mumbled.

He chuckled quietly, liking how nicely she fit against him, her head nestled high on his chest, tucked in under his chin.

They stood like that for a while. Feeling the bubbles of interest, Ronnie pulled back and looked towards Brock on the couch. He was awake and had settled back to his human form.

“Are you okay?” She asked.

He nodded as he sat up on the couch. His eyes were back to their usual bright blue, and she could see his gaze was flitting over where Brand and Ronnie were still holding onto each other.

She stepped towards him without thinking and stopped. There was a silent pleading in his eyes, and she remembered how she had felt as he cried out from his injury. There had been a moment when she felt like her whole world was crumbling around her. A feeling of complete anguish had cloaked her - it was that feeling she had pushed at the demon. All the terror at the idea that she would lose him, even before she really had a chance to have him.

She rushed the rest of the way and leapt into his lap, his arms gratefully wrapping around her.

"I'm sorry," he breathed. "I just wanted-."

"I get it. Understand you guys think I'm something I'm not," she spoke into the crook of his neck.

He gave a grumbling sigh but didn’t speak further. Brand settled on the couch next to them and she slid so she was draped over the two of them, Brand putting an arm around her.

“We’ll take this part slow," Brand stated, accentuating the word to show he was being respectful of her apprehension. “We just need to spend some time together. If it really is the matebond Brock and I think, you will start to feel it. Then you can decide-” his voice broke a little, “if you want to come with us or not.”

Ronnie considered it quietly for a few minutes. She enjoyed the warmth and the way her body rose and fell with their breathing. “No commitments. No hard feelings if I don’t feel it, you all will just leave? Without me? Do you promise?”

“I promise," Brand said without hesitation. “Brock?”

Brock's hold on her tightened. He didn’t want to make that promise. He wasn't sure he could keep it. He would have to if he promised her… “Yes…"

"Say it," she prompted.

He took a big breath. "I promise."

Now that that part was settled, Ronnie didn't really know what to do next so she just stayed where she was. She was so tired after her first shift at the club and was on an adrenaline come down. Without meaning to, she drifted off to sleep.

~*~

Brock held her in his arms while Brand leaned against him. He felt her breathing slow, realising she had fallen asleep, and it seemed that Brand wasn't far behind her.

His side still hurt, but it was more of a dull ache now. He was thinking back to the encounter. He had been terrified, thinking Brand was going to be hit by that flame. Extending his shield away from him had taken a toll, and he felt depleted. But having his mates around him, touching him, he could feel his strength coming back.

He wondered why that demon had been there - he had seemed to know who Ronnie was, and while Ronnie had reacted in a way Brock thought meant she had known the man was a demon, she hadn't seemed to know who he was. It was curious. He needed to know her more. He needed to understand who she was and why a demon might be after her.

He stirred and both Brand and Ronnie came back to consciousness but were sleepy. "How big is your bed?"

Ronnie came awake a bit more. "It's only a queen."

He grunted. "We'll make it work." He stood up, keeping her in his arms. Brand rose with him.

He carried her to the room, where she wiggled out of his grasp. "I need to freshen up. Um…"

"Let's get some sleep and we'll work out what we're going to do in the morning."

That answered her unspoken question. She grabbed an oversized shirt she'd purchased to sleep in and went out to the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror. This was okay, yeah? They just wanted to spend some time with her. She'd give them that and when they realised she wasn't their mate they'd leave. It hurt her heart. Why couldn't she be destined to be with such beautiful men?

She unglamoured, staring in the mirror. What if they saw her like this? without her glamour to mask ger unnatural hair or her scars she magiced away? What if they ever saw her other form? Tears sprang to her eyes. She quickly shook it off, that wouldn't help anyone right now. It’d take some effort, but she could sleep in her glamour- it really was like second nature to her. She'd been glamouring herself her whole life, her grandmother teaching her when she had to start going to school and being out among humans. This'd be a piece of cake.

~*~

Brand stripped naked and Brock left his boxers on. They slid under the covers waiting for Ronnie.

"It'll all work out," Brand told him, sensing the dark thoughts in his mate.

"I hope so. If she doesn't want us…" He almost made a sound, his dragon keening within him. He'd felt the sense of loss with how he had distanced Brand- the thought of Ronnie being out of his reach was an unbearable thought to his Dragons' natural possessiveness.

Brand felt the same. The idea of being rejected - fully rejected - by a mate wasn’t something he wanted to experience. If it was easy, they would have done it years ago. He was so thankful they hadn’t. They would still have each other, but still… even in this short amount of time, he felt like he couldn't imagine life without her.

Their eyes tracked her as she came back to the room. Her hair was still black, but it was sleeker, and she'd pulled it back into a braid. She eyed the space in between the two men, their impressive bulk taking up a lot of the bed. Brock pulled his side of the covers up, and she slithered over him. He hooked her against him and lay her head on his chest.

Brand cuddled up behind her - he liked the noise she made when she realised he was naked. He reached back and turned the lamp off, bringing the arm across Ronnie's side and settling it on Brock's torso. The three lay awake in their own thoughts until one by one they dropped off to sleep.

~*~