I’m so hungry. And this is definitely one of those popcorn moments I finally get to enjoy with popcorn.

They all turn to look at me, not saying a word, blank expressions donning their faces.

“What?” I ask around a mouthful, before packing it full once again.

Ezekiel’s lips twitch.

“See?” Jude asks, gesturing to all of me as though I’ve just proven a very valid point. “Insane!”

He does his usual glare-at-me routine, and I swallow my popcorn while rolling my eyes.

“I’m going to my room. I’ll leave the door open—metaphorically—to anyone who wants to help me figure out my virginal status. I’m still too good for all of you, but now I like you a little more. Well, not you,” I say, directing that last part at Jude.

“You can’t touch me until you stop trying so hard to hate me,” I add.

I deliberately bump into his side on my way by, and shake my ass much more than necessary as I strut up the stairs, still wearing my ruby red slippers that have no tall heel. No, I don’t wear heels in this form. It’s not quite as graceful when gravity is a bitch.

“Don’t even think about it,” I hear Jude saying to someone. “Not until we all agree. Don’t let her strip us of that last bit of power.”

This time, I’m the one to flip him off without looking back. Then I eat more popcorn, because I really am hungry. Ravenous, actually.

“We need a way to settle this, or we’ll stay at an impasse,” Kai tells him.

“Then we’ll find a way to settle it,” Jude says with a chilling calmness that finally provokes me to look back and down at them from the top of the stairs.

He’s smirking at me in a way that makes him look even more dangerous than the Devil himself.

Sometimes I forget he really might kill me one day when he tires of trying to figure me out.

Chapter 8

After devouring two bowls of popcorn, I get naked and decide to enjoy the perks of a body when it meets an incredible shower.

The water racing down me in hurried rivulets is one of the many welcome sensations.

I don’t think about the guys, or hell, or the Devil, or the fact the Devil is still possibly playing a game of death with their lives. In this moment, I’m just a girl enjoying the luxury of sensation I’ve watched so many others take for granted over the years.

“The sounds you make for the smallest, simplest pleasures is what drives me the craziest,” Ezekiel says, startling my eyes open just in time to see him dig his fingers into my hair and roughly tug my head back so his lips can collide with mine.

When the actual hell did he invade my shower?

That draws a few more sounds of pleasure from me, as my arms wind around his neck and I kiss him back. His hand slides down my wet body, eliciting an entire new set of sensations, and he draws my leg up, lifting me with just that hold as he presses me into the back wall.

He’s practically devouring me, and that steady warmth travels through me on a tangent. The head of his cock teases the inside of my thigh with how close he is.

“What brought this on?” I ask, grinning up at the air when he starts kissing his way down my throat.

“I asked him to handle that part, since I knew you’d have no objections,” Jude says, causing me to choke on air as I dart my head to the side to see he’s joined us in the shower.

Gloriously naked and exceptionally hard, he stands just out of reach, his eyes on mine as Ezekiel lifts me effortlessly, and his incredible mouth moves to my right nipple.

I fight to keep my eyes open, as Ezekiel does things to my nipples I didn’t know were possible. It’s like there’s a direct line from them to my clit, as he moves from one to another, showing them both attention.

“You said I couldn’t touch you until I wasn’t trying to hate you so much,” Jude goes on, his hand lowering to his cock as he strokes himself once. “And since you’re so desperate for touch, maybe it’s the way to freeing up some answers.”

My eyes flutter shut on their own, and I grip Ezekiel’s shoulders when his hand wraps around me and starts toying with my clit while he’s still doing indescribably sinful things to my nipples.

Jude strokes himself harder as Ezekiel pushes me toward that edge, the sting of Jude’s glare the only thing holding me back.

Ezekiel groans against my breasts, sounding as though he feels as tortured as I do.

“Something as tempting as you can only be forbidden,” Jude says, releasing his cock as he starts walking toward us.

His face gets right in front of mine as Ezekiel works me harder, adding just an edge of pain as he thrusts against me like he wants me as bad as I want him in this moment.

“Tell us the consequences, comoara trădătoare,” he says in a seductive lull, his lips centimeters from mine as Ezekiel pushes a finger inside me, only adding to the overwhelming stimulation.

I’m half dazed, as I answer, “I don’t know.”

In the next instant, my left hand flies to Jude’s shoulder, gripping tightly as the most powerful orgasm I’ve had yet crashes over me with so much force that I cry out, my nails digging into both of them as I cling to them.

My entire body shudders in Ezekiel’s hold as he pants against my neck. He releases me and steps back, running a hand through his hair.

“Not going to get answers that way,” Jude says on an exasperated breath.

Legs wobbly, I cast a glare at Ezekiel, who is still a little feral as he stares at me like he’s straining to hold himself back. It pisses Jude off that this has been a pointless experiment, and that makes me really damn happy.

Ezekiel siphons away, and Jude remains alone with me in the shower. We just have our usual stare-off before he finally siphons away as well.

“Joke’s on you!” I shout to the vacant air. “I’m the only one who just got an orgasm!”

A hint of laughter carries to me from the hallway, and I roll my eyes before turning off the shower. Instead of drying off, I go phantom, style my hair, and select an oversized T-shirt with nothing else to walk out of my room in.

I pause and back up again when I see a blue box with a white ribbon resting on my dresser.

My grin grows as I hurriedly open it to discover…a petrified beetle pendant on a diamond necklace.

“Assholes,” I grumble, tossing it down as I go phantom and pick a nicer pendant on a silver chain attached to my neck.

None of those women saved their lives, and they got pretty charms and fancy shit.

After turning whole and swapping the new pendant out with the beetle to go on my new diamond necklace, I put it on and strut out in my T-shirt.

They’re all in the living room when I find them, minus Gage. Their eyes dip to my shirt that says Team Comoara Trădătoare.

What’s weird is the fact I have no idea how I knew how to spell it, but I did. Or maybe I should have used a phone to double check. I hope I’m not walking around in a shirt that says watery soup in Romanian.

Kai grins as his gaze lingers.

“This is the pendant I prefer,” I say, gesturing to the replaced one.

Jude, the bastard, is smirking at me. I’ll give him points for creativity. Now I’ll have to think of something as equally annoying to do to him.

“You can make your own jewelry?” Ezekiel asks. “Why are you asking us to get you some if so?”

I point a finger at him. “You’re not even my second favorite right now. I want tokens of affection. Not tokens of sarcasm.”

Kai’s lips twitch, and he stands as he comes toward me.

“Does that make me your second favorite?” he muses.

“Are you going to give me more orgasms just because I like them?” I ask seriously.

His grin grows, but the cock-blocker Jude says, “All of us have to agree.”

“We can’t fuck her. Doesn’t mean the rest is off limits,” Ezekiel states dismissively.

“Name one time in history we’ve done well with temptation,” Jude groans. “You’re all making this impossible.”

Kai winks at me, then tugs me close, bending to nip at my lips. “I’ll be by later.”

I pat his chest. Good enough.

I zap myself up to the top of the stairs, hearing the necklace drop to the floor under the place where Kai is holding vacant air where I was moments ago.

“She’s getting faster at changing from one form to the other and siphoning away,” he says with a small smile.

I stare down at them. “Give me at least a couple of days, Jude,” I state with all seriousness.

The amusement is drained with that one comment, as the three of them stare at me blankly.

“Just a couple of days to recover. All jokes aside, I need a mental break after all that. I was in hell’s belly shortly after learning hell is an actual place,” I remind them all. “Give me a few days to be thankful I’m alive, to be thankful I somehow managed to see you all home safely, and give my heart a break, before you remind me how very little you care.”

Kai clears his throat and looks away guiltily, while Jude holds my gaze for a moment longer. Finally, he gives me a subtle nod, a silent confirmation of a temporary ceasefire.

It’s more than he’s ever given me before.

I start to go in Gage’s room, but change my mind. Instead, I end up back in the kitchen and swiping a jar of the special alcohol they buy.