Marked by the Four Beast Lords After Transmigration

Darius’s steps faded down the upper rise. A runner called from somewhere below, received an answer, and moved on.

Nia stood beside the table with Shen’s tail looped loosely around her hips while Kael tested the knot holding the last ladle. It stayed where he had hung it, clear of the eating space and close enough to the hearth for anyone to reach.

Nia lifted the cup she and Shen had been sharing. Only a swallow remained, so she drank half and held the rest toward Kael when he returned to the table.

He finished it.

Shen watched the empty cup pass out of his reach. “You could have left some.”

“There was barely a swallow.”

Nia leaned against Shen, laughing softly as his tail tightened around her. Kael rinsed the cup and returned it to the shelf with the handle facing the room.

Nothing needed to be moved before they could sit. The used-cloth basket waited beside the basin instead of beneath their feet, and the herbs Nia reached for most often rested on the lower shelf where she could find them by touch.

She slid the folded table cloth beneath the private box, but a pull caught beneath her shoulder before she could push it fully into place.

Shen closed his fingers around her wrist. “Leave it.”

“It only needs to move a little.”

He took the cloth from her and finished the task, his tail holding her against his side while he reached past her.

Kael came up behind them and pressed his thumb into the tight muscle below her shoulder. His thumb settled into the knot at once.

Nia let out a slow breath. “There.”

He worked the ache carefully, pressing and releasing until the muscle loosened beneath his thumb. Shen remained against her front, one palm resting at her waist while Kael’s other hand steadied her side.

A coal settled in the hearth. Shen’s tail moved once across Nia’s stomach, and Kael bent to kiss the top of her head.

She let more of her weight rest between them.

By the time Kael’s thumb moved away, the sharp pull had dulled to a faint soreness. Nia rolled her shoulder carefully, and Kael checked beneath the joint once more before resting his hand against her side.

“Better,” she said.

Her gaze moved across the room. The shelves had cleared the table, but the largest pot still sat near the hearth because there was nowhere else to place it while it cooled. The chopping board leaned against a storage chest, and anything more complicated than steeping herbs would take up the entire eating space again.

“It almost feels like a proper kitchen.”

Shen glanced toward the pot. “Almost?”

“We can find things now.” Nia touched the edge of the table. “But if we make bread, no one can eat here until the dough is gone. The pots have to move every time the heat changes, and there is nowhere to leave anything halfway finished.”

Kael studied the open stretch of stone beside the hearth.

“Not tonight,” Nia said.

His palm stayed at her waist. “I know.”

Amusement warmed Shen’s face when he followed Kael’s gaze toward the wall. Before he could speak, Nia turned in his arms and kissed him.

His tail drew her closer as the kiss deepened. One hand settled at the small of her back while the other slid beneath her chin, tilting her face toward him.

Kael remained behind her, his fingers moving slowly along her side before spreading across her stomach.

Nia caught the front of Shen’s shirt and pulled him nearer. His breath roughened against her mouth.

Kael kissed the side of her neck, light at first, then slower where her pulse beat beneath the skin. Nia tilted her head to give him room without pulling away from Shen.

Kael’s hand rose beneath her breast while Shen’s tail tightened below it, holding her securely between them.

Nia broke the kiss when she needed air. Shen’s silver eyes stayed on her mouth, and Kael’s chest rose against her back.

The entrance wrap remained still, with no footsteps climbing toward the cave.

“Bedroom,” Nia said.

Kael’s arm tightened as though he intended to lift her.

She looked back at him. “I can walk.”

He kept his hand at her hip but let her lead.

Nia slipped beneath the bedroom covering and turned before either man could guide her farther. Kael entered first, broad enough to fill the narrow opening, and she caught his shirt in both hands and kissed him hard.

His hand closed around the back of her neck while the other pulled her against him. He answered with the certainty she knew from him and a hunger he usually kept buried beneath it.

Shen came up behind her. His lips brushed her shoulder while his fingers found the ties at the back of her dress, loosening the fabric beneath his touch.

Nia kept one hand twisted in Kael’s shirt as she raised her arms. Kael drew the dress over her head and tossed it across the storage chest. Shen’s palms followed the bared curves of her waist.

She turned into him and freed the cord still caught near his ribs, pushing the cloth aside before sliding her hands over his chest.

Shen’s gaze followed her fingers until she kissed him again.

Kael’s teeth pressed gently against the curve of her shoulder, sending a shiver down her spine without breaking the skin. Nia reached back and threaded her fingers into his hair, and he kissed the place his teeth had touched.

They reached the bed in a tangle of clothing and fur. Nia went down first, but Kael caught the bedding before it folded beneath her sore shoulder and flattened it with one hand.

Shen climbed over her from the other side, pale hair falling across her cheek as he kissed her throat. Nia pushed his shirt from his shoulders and ran both hands down his back.

Kael pulled off the last of his clothing and joined them. The mattress dipped beneath his weight as Nia turned to catch his mouth, then caught the back of Shen’s neck as he moved lower over her body.

Kael’s fingers slid between her thighs. Shen’s lips closed around one nipple while his tail curled around her leg and drew it wider across the bed.

Nia gasped, arching into Shen’s mouth and Kael’s hand.

Kael stroked her with slow, deliberate pressure while Shen’s tongue circled her nipple and his lips drew tighter around it. Nia reached down Shen’s stomach until her fingers closed around him.

His breath broke against her skin.

She began to stroke him, and Shen lifted his head. His eyes had gone dark around the silver, his composure loosening each time her grip tightened.

He kissed her again, deeper and less measured than before, while Kael continued touching her.

Nia’s hips moved against Kael’s hand. Her other arm circled Shen’s shoulders, holding him close as his tail flexed around her leg.

Kael’s gaze moved over her face as she reached for him, and Nia drew him over her by the back of his neck. He braced one arm beside her head so none of his weight pressed against her sore shoulder.

She kissed him as he entered her.

The stretch pulled a sharp sound from her throat. Her legs closed around his hips, urging him deeper before he had fully settled.

Kael groaned against her mouth and began to move.

Shen stayed pressed along her side. His fingers replaced Kael’s where their bodies joined, circling her in time with each thrust. Nia kept stroking him, matching Kael’s rhythm until Shen’s forehead dropped against her temple.

His tail tightened around her thigh.

Nia breathed his name against his mouth, and Shen kissed her while Kael moved inside her. Her hand quickened around him until Shen’s restraint broke.

His body tensed against her side. A rough breath left him, followed by another that shuddered through his chest as he spilled across her fingers.

Nia kept her hand around him while her arm tightened across his back. She kissed him until his breathing began to steady.

Even while his body remained tense from release, his fingers continued between her thighs, slower now but no less certain.

Kael drove deeper. One hand gripped the bedding beside Nia’s hip while the other stayed braced near her head, his eyes fixed on hers as his rhythm grew rougher.

Shen kissed the corner of her mouth and drew her leg higher with his tail.

The marks Kael and Shen had left on her warmed together. Heat spread beneath her skin, joining the pressure of Kael inside her and the movement of Shen’s fingers until pleasure tightened through her entire body.

Her release struck with Kael deep inside her.

Nia cried out and clung to both men. Her body tightened around Kael while Shen’s mouth moved over her cheek and jaw, his tail holding her leg open through every trembling aftershock.

Kael buried his face against her neck. His rhythm broke, and a low, ragged sound left him as he drove into her once more and went still.

They remained tangled together until their breathing began to slow.

Kael lifted himself carefully despite the tremor in his arms. Shen eased his tail from around Nia’s leg and drew the fur over her hips.

Nia’s hand still rested against Shen’s stomach. He covered it with his own and kissed her palm before using the cloth near the bed to wipe her fingers clean.

After cleaning himself and Nia, Kael settled behind her. His body curved along her back, one arm sliding beneath the fur to rest across her waist.

Shen fitted himself against her front. His tail stretched across Nia’s thighs and rested over Kael’s leg.

He reached toward the low shelf beside the bed, then stopped when his fingers met bare stone.

Kael rose without comment. He returned with water from the main chamber and placed the cup within reach before climbing back beneath the fur.

Nia drank first. Shen took the cup from her, swallowed, and passed it over her shoulder to Kael.

Kael set it back on the shelf and pulled the fur higher around them. Nia rested between the steady rise of his chest and Shen’s breath against her forehead.

Her eyes closed as Shen’s tail tightened once beneath the covering.