Stella moved beside her, stroking Jude's arm. "Not just as a man. As our god."
He didn't speak.
He couldn't.
The words hit something primal inside him, something deeper than logic, deeper than self. He had always loved them - each wildly different, each precious, each impossibly his. But now, with their scent on his skin, their light inside his body, their essence fused to his core, he understood.
He was theirs.
And they were his.
Zoey rose and stepped into the basin. It didn't splash - it welcomed her, the liquid light curling up her legs like smoke, wrapping around her thighs and breasts, lifting her like an offering.
"I want him again," she said, her voice low and thick. "But this time… I want us all to share it."
Sophie stood next.
"I'm ready."
Then Grace. Then Stella. Then Natalie, Lucy, Scarlet, Layla.
They formed a circle again - this time not around an altar, but around Jude.
He stood slowly.
The mist curled tighter.
