The warmth woke me first. I was surrounded by it, as though I had fallen asleep in the bather and the warm water still licked against my skin. But … I wasn’t in water. My eyes flew open and I tensed. I was still sprawled across Rome’s bare chest. He had both arms wrapped around me, and at some point I must have turned so that my face was snuggled in between his shoulder and neck. The warmth was starting to make sense now, and the scent, because all I could smell was spice and god. Holy fires in hell. It was really hot in here now, and as sparks of Chaos lit up my chest, I fought against my urge to press myself tighter to him.

“I know you’re awake,” his deep voice rumbled all around me. He knew I was awake and hadn’t loosened his grip on me. That was a win.

I still had my nose pressed against his smooth skin. “Did you hold me all night?” Somehow, through no fault of my own, my hand was running up and down his side, gently tracing the hard planes of his body.

His chest rumbled under me. “You talk in your sleep. You fidget in your sleep. This was the only way for me to keep you quiet.”

My fingers brushed across the band of his pants, and images flooded my head. Rome and Yael naked … that wasn’t something I was going to ever forget. Tilting my head slightly, I could see a wide, unoccupied expanse of bed off to the side, prompting me to think that Yael must have left.

“Where’s Four?” I reluctantly lifted my head so that I could see Rome’s face.

He looked a little tense, his jaw set in a firm line. “Meeting with the others, talking strategy. I was just waiting for you to wake up, then we can join them.”

I was awake, but neither of us moved. Arms were still wrapped around me, and I was still running my hand along his side.

“This pact … I don’t want the others to break your … thing.” My face flushed as soon as those words fell thoughtlessly from my mouth.

I just couldn’t stop thinking about the Abcurses. It had reached the point where I almost couldn’t handle this sexually-tense-line we were precariously balancing on. Something had to give. The corner of Rome’s lips twitched, and I felt a bubble of laughter fighting to free itself from my chest. We lost it at the same time, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him laugh like that. With an unrestrained sort of amusement, his powerful arms tightened, pulling me back into him.

“We’re not breaking any pact yet.”

A thought struck me then, and I stiffened, before wiggling my arms free and placing both palms onto Rome’s chest. I pushed with all my might … and didn’t move an inch. He must have noticed that I was trying to get free at some point, though, because he easily released me. Ignoring the waves of cool air, which immediately felt intrusive and annoying, I leveraged myself up so I could glare fully at him.

“I’m done with this pact,” I grumbled. He opened his mouth but I cut him off before he could speak. “There’s nothing you can say to change my mind. The pact is stupid. It’s my life and my body and I will make the choices for it. Not you.” I jabbed a finger at him. “And not those other morons!” Second finger jab in the direction of the doorway.

Chaos swirled within me, and I jumped to my feet before I burned the bed down. Rome lifted himself slightly, leveraging his elbows under him. His chest looked even more massive than usual and I had to force myself to stare at the wall behind him so that I wouldn’t get distracted.

“You’re right.”

His words were so unexpected that I swung my head back to stare at him. My eyes widened even further when I saw how serious he looked.

“You’re no longer a dweller, you’re learning to control the power of Chaos. I think you can handle our powers … if you want to.”

Holy dweller babies.

He lifted himself all the way up, using just abdominal muscles, before he shifted forward onto his knees. I was standing, we were almost eye level. My heart started stuttering in uneven beats as he stared. Then, in a micro-click, his arms went back around me, and I was hauled up into him.

“It’s my turn,” he murmured, before his lips landed on mine.

The kiss was surprisingly gentle, considering the fact that his power was Strength. His tongue traced along my lips, and I parted them for him. The most delicious sensation was his lips moving on mine, his tongue caressing mine. But … was he holding back for fear of hurting me? Had that been his issue all along? Suddenly, I needed to see him lose control. Just a little bit. Before he had a chance to counter my actions, I pressed my feet into the mattress and pushed. We tumbled down together. Our lips never parting as he caught me with ease. His back hit the soft mattress. I wiggled across the top of him, every inch of my body pressed to the hardness of his. The warmth was back and I let out a low moan into his mouth. Rome froze for a tiny fraction of a heartbeat.

“Fuck,” he muttered, as he sprang into action.

Before my slow brain had time to process what had happened, our positions were flipped and I was the one pressed into the soft mattress. The sensation of skin against skin was almost too overwhelming to process, and it took me a whole click to realise that he had wedged himself between my thighs, and I was still completely without underwear. I could feel the heat of him, the hardness of him, even the size of him. His lips weren’t kissing any longer, but claiming, his tongue demanding more as it stroked my mouth. My head was spinning, but in the best kind of way. My body was moving against him, needing so much more. I never wanted the kiss to stop, so when he pulled away, I groaned.

“You better not stop, or I won’t be held responsible for the Chaos that happens.” I was breathless and aroused and annoyed.

His eyes were laughing at me, but his expression remained serious. “You need to tell the others about the pact first. It’s the only way to ensure that there isn’t a huge fight. Gods don’t take lightly to breaking pacts, and our battles are bloodthirsty.”

Rome seemed to have gotten himself under control again, which pissed me off more than anything else that had happened that sun-cycle. It had taken me forever to break through his thick outer layer; I didn’t want that distance to come between us again.

As if he had read those thoughts on my face, he reached down and cupped my chin and cheek. “Listen, Rocks, I might have fought against you being part of our world, but it was because I didn’t want you to get hurt. We’re gods, our world is no place for a dweller. Especially one so breakable.” His hand slowly lowered, before pressing against my chest, just above my heart. “I know you’re ten times more resilient than I gave you credit for. You’re worth a hundred gods, and I’m going to embrace every inch of crazy and naked you bring into our world.”

My eyes were leaking; I had no freaking idea how that happened. Maybe my brain had malfunctioned.

“We need to talk to the others,” I choked out.

I was in way too deep with all five of them, I needed this pact gone so that there wasn’t a constant barrier between all of us. I had no idea how I was going to handle the logistics of five men and one me, but right now it didn’t seem insurmountable. It felt like … fate. Like it was always meant to be this way, and it was time for all of us to embrace that.

Rome got off the bed, and as I walked over to him, he wrapped an arm around my waist and lifted me down off the high side. I practically sprinted toward the stairs that led out of the marble room as soon as my feet hit the floor.

“I’m telling the others right now!” I yelled over my shoulder.

It felt good to take some of my power back, to stand up for myself and what I wanted. The gods I had found myself tied to were very intimidating, but they weren’t going to kill me. Almost ninety-percent sure. They worked too hard to keep me alive. I was almost ninety-percent sure that I could speak freely to them.

The light outside temporarily blinded me as I pushed the door open. By the time my eyes adjusted, I had stepped out into a half-circle of Abcurses, and then I was temporarily blinded for a second time.

“Oh, hey,” I said casually, sliding my hands into my pockets.

Except I didn’t have pockets, so they just slid down the sides of Rome’s shirt. Four sets of eyes followed the movements, before they ran across my no-doubt scruffy bed-hair and swollen lips. They then switched their focus to something above my head. Rome.

“We need to talk,” I started, but Aros interrupted before I could say anything.

“What did you do?” His accusatory statement was directed over my head.

I waited for Rome to deny what they were all thinking, but he didn’t say anything.

“You broke the pact, and I told you what would happen last night.” Yael sounded casual, but his stance was anything but.

“Stop it!” I demanded, moving back so that my body was pressed against Rome’s. That was the only thing I could think of to keep him safe.

I could have sworn then that Yael looked upset—his lashes fluttered a few times, and darkness washed through his green eyes. I hated seeing him like that, but I also wasn’t able to move because I knew that Rome was moments away from being pummelled by his brothers.

“She thinks she’s protecting my dick,” Rome growled out. “Maybe if you back off a little and listen to what she has to say, we can all get on with the rest of the sun-cycle.”

Siret looked even angrier. “Protecting your dick from what?”

For the love of everything Topian—did everyone really need to keep saying ‘dick’ so much? The word barely even had any meaning at this point.

“Rome and I did not break the pact!” I shouted it so loudly that I swear a gasping Jeffrey fell off a nearby floating marble platform. I held out a hand then, toward Yael, and he eyed it for a beat before placing his hand into mine. I pulled him closer to me. The others followed until I was sandwiched in the middle of an Abcurse circle. They weren’t all pressing into me, their shoulders were too broad for that, but they were all close now.

“You all made the pact for the sake of the group, right?” I asked, working to lower my tone now that I had their attention.

There were a few grunts of affirmation, and I waited a little longer to see if any of them had anything more substantial to add before I asked my next question.

“And I’m part of the group now, right?”

A few more grunts.

“So if the pact is all about respecting the dynamic of the group and stopping fights … then shouldn’t I be included in the whole pact-deciding process?”

Silence was my only answer, until Coen straightened away from the huddle to frown down at me. “You want to break the pact. With Strength. That’s what this is about?”

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the other three pulled away from me as well, and Yael turned as though he might start toward Rome again. I quickly re-captured his arm and rushed out, “No, that’s not what this is about. This is about the fact that I should get a say in this as well. I don’t want to cause fights or mess up the bond you all have with each other, but you all know that there’s more. With me. With us.”

I flicked my eyes from Yael, to Aros, to Coen, and then to Siret. Each of them wore distinctly cautious expressions, but the suspicion and anger was starting to fade away. I could feel Yael’s arm becoming less tense beneath my fingers, and Coen’s fists were loosening by his sides. They weren’t jealous of each other in that moment—they were satisfied that I was showing them an even amount of attention and giving them all equal focus. With that thought in mind, I released Yael’s arm and stepped more toward the middle of their grouping.

“You’re not our brother,” Aros finally spoke up, his tone solid, certain. “That’s why it’s different. You act like one of us, but you’re not our blood and you’re … you. So it’s natural that we might develop a different kind of relationship.”

“Essential actually,” Siret added. “You’re special. You’re the only person we’ve invited into our group. The only person who has been allowed to get this close. You’re like an outsider who belongs inside, so we brought you further in than we even bring each other, to make up for the fact that you weren’t born one of us.”

I blinked at him, a little surprised at the emotional analysis. I had no idea that Siret had been thinking so much about my place within their group.

“Whatever the reason,” I glanced over Aros’s shoulder to make sure Rome was still standing there, “I’m still a part of the group, and there’s still more to us than a girl-brother friendship. All of us. I know you don’t want to cause fights, but I don’t want to be told what to do with my body and who I’m allowed to do it with—”

All four bodies around me immediately grew stiff, leaning slightly back from me again. I could almost feel the anger emanating from them.

“Who do you want to do it with?” There was a rare frown set into Siret’s face, deepening in the lines around his mouth and turning the green-gold of his eyes into a meld of hurt and disappointment.

He didn’t need to look over my shoulder at Rome. I knew that they were all thinking the same thing.

“Every person that I’ve kissed,” I quickly answered.

“You’ve kissed Rome.” Siret’s serious contemplation flicked over my face.

“I have.”

“And Aros.”

I flicked my attention to the golden sol for a micro-click, before quickly settling it back on Siret’s face. I could see where he was going with this.

“All five of you,” I told him, “almost.”

“Almost,” he agreed, folding his arms over his chest. “All five of us … except me.”

I stepped into him quickly, my hand on his forearm. He refused to uncross his arms, so I slid my touch up to his shoulder and then pressed closer to him. I could feel the sudden intake of air that he sucked in; could feel the swell of breath that pushed out his chest. He was nervous, or unsure. Possibly doubting that I really did want them all, though Siret had more than enough experience toying with my reaction to him. He should have known. The idea of me and Rome together had shaken his confidence.

“Are they going to stop me?” I asked, when I was close enough to whisper to him.

He remained still, not embracing me, not helping me to get any closer.

“They think we’re arguing.” His voice was low, carrying a rough undertone.

“You’re using Trickery on them?” I was surprised, but I didn’t stop the progress of my hands over the muscles in his shoulders, until my arms were almost looped around his neck. I wasn’t quite tall enough to reach the full way without his help.

He began to loosen, just enough to drop his arms and allow me to press in against his chest, though he didn’t put his hands on me in any way.

“They don’t need to see you flirting with me right now out of pity. And they definitely don’t need to see me taking it like I’m starving for the precious scraps you throw my way.”

I resisted the urge to groan in frustration, reaching back to place his arm on my spine instead. “This isn’t pity. This isn’t a scrap.”

He rolled his eyes, but his hand stayed where it was, pressing into the curve of my lower back. I lifted up onto my toes and brushed my lips over his: once, lightly, only a whisper of a word that I might still say to him. He chased my lips when I drew back, hovering but not touching, attempting to out-last my control and draw the word out by force of will.

He started to speak against my lips. “If you’re going to break the pact, you need to break it evenly. Whatever you give to one of us, you give to the rest of us. Because you want to, not out of pity.”

“There’s no pity here.” The frustration was definitely beginning to leak into my tone. “I couldn’t pity you if I tried. You’ve lived a blessed existence of never-ending food, brain-dead dweller servants, and pranking the gods. I can only pity the poor dwellers who’ve had to die just to make sure your silk sheets don’t have any crinkles—”

“I get the point,” he grumbled. Then, a moment later, he grabbed me around the hips and bent my body into his. “You can start evening out the score now.”

I lifted my lips to his before he could change his mind, and sighed at the immediate sound of possession that rumbled through his chest. He had been holding back up until now, but something had finally snapped his restraints. He took control of the kiss immediately, digging his fingers into my hips and pulling me up his body so that he could reach my mouth better. I tunnelled my hands into the back of his shirt, pressing into the ridge of muscle that led to the center of his spine. He jostled me once, wrapping an arm around my butt and freeing one of his hands to press against my collarbone, breaking the kiss.

“If you distract me too much, my power will slip.” His voice was raw, his eyes more green than gold.

I nodded and he set me down, releasing me with a reluctance that showed in the drag of his hands.

“Okay, this is getting us nowhere,” Aros suddenly burst out. “You two need to calm the hell down—Trickery, back off her.”

“It’s fine!” I quickly threw my hands up when I realised that they were all starting to crowd around me, their postures protective, their eyes on Siret.

He smirked at me, almost back to his normal self. “We weren’t fighting. Sorry. Necessary evil.”

The change was instant: Coen made a grab for Siret, but Aros grabbed his arm, and he seemed to re-think the decision—but then Yael made the same move, and it took both Coen and Aros to haul him back. Siret just stood there, while Rome didn’t seem to be moving at all. Only observing.

“It’s only fair,” I heard Aros saying. “She’s kissed the rest of us. He was the only one she hadn’t kissed.”

“This is how you want it to be?” Coen asked, spinning on me.

“You want to get rid of the pact?” Yael also spun around—Siret seemed to be forgotten in that moment. “You want to try to keep it even between us, instead?” There was a challenge in his eyes, as though he expected me to realise the fault in my thinking and apologise.

That wasn’t going to happen, though. There was no fault in my thinking. I really believed that I could keep it even; that I could stop them from fighting.

“Let’s make a deal.” I displayed my palms to Yael, a gesture of peace. “If I can keep you all from fighting about the dynamic, you will stop trying to force restrictions on what I do with my body. Okay?”

Yael frowned, apparently torn, but Aros once again proved himself to be on my side.

“Even,” he demanded, pushing past the others to stand in front of me. “Make sure you keep it even, sweetheart, and I won’t start any fights.”

“If you think you can …” Coen drew my attention, though Aros’s hand was snaking around the side of my face. “Then I can do away with the fucking pact.”

I sought out Siret, who only nodded at me, but it was enough for now. He had already given in earlier. I had felt it in the way his kiss worked to claim me as much as was possible in the sliver of time that he had stolen. He was finished with the pact.

“That pact is finished,” Rome spoke up from behind me, and I felt everyone relax almost as quickly as I felt them all tense up again.

There was still one Abcurse who didn’t seem to want to let go of the pact, and it was the one Abcurse who I thought might have serious problems with sharing in any way, shape or form. Yael met my eyes, the challenge still burning in his expression.

“I’ll try not to break anyone’s dick,” he finally announced.