“No,” Maddox admitted as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against his side. She let out a little sound that Fin swore was a purr. Her lashes moved faintly, and then she seemed to recognize Maddox and curled right up against him.
Jealousy painted bloody stripes through him, especially when Maddox’s expression turned smug. Yeah, she was probably sleeping with Maddox again that night.
Fine.
Fin would lure her away the next day.
“Don’t fight,” Rogue ordered, and Fin wasn’t the only one who jerked a look to the silent sentinel. The fact that he’d spoken at all when he took Fiona from the prison had been a collection of more words than they’d heard from him in a long time. At his quizzical look, Rogue shrugged. “If you fight over her, I’ll end her.”
Fin blinked and Maddox scowled, his arms closing around her, and between one blink and the next, it was the dragon staring at Rogue. If he worried about the dragon’s rage, the other didn’t show it.
“We didn’t wait all these years for her for you to just throw that out there,” Fin argued, choosing his words carefully. “We’re not fighting.”
“You’re jealous, and he’s possessive.” Rogue didn’t sound like he cared, but it would be a mistake to believe he was cavalier. If he truly didn’t give a damn, he wouldn’t even be broaching the topic. To Maddox, Rogue said, “You hate that she fed from me and that she is replete because I made sure to give her enough.”
The dragon still scowled, but the recrimination seemed to turn inward.
Not to leave him out, Rogue switched his attention to Fin. “You resent she already has comfort with him. You want to claim what he’s already found.”
“You’re not wrong,” Fin agreed. “But I can be jealous because I want to know her, too. I’ve dreamt about her for centuries. Unlike the rest of you, I knew she was coming. I never broke faith.”
“Lust-filled dreams about her breasts are not what I would call prophetic,” Maddox stated drily, and Rogue gave a half-laugh.
“Oh, if I’d dreamed about those tits, trust me, I’d have found her a whole lot sooner.” As it was, the little succubus hadn’t even been on his radar until the day she awoke changed. Then the whole world had seemed to ring with her presence. He couldn’t not leave immediately on a quest to find her.
The mental anguish alone would have drawn him like a beacon, but it was the raw and primal fury that kept him on target. He’d arrived a day after the sense of her all but muted. It had only taken him interrogating a half-dozen vampires in Dallas to find out where she’d gone.
He knew the name of her maker. The vampire was in hiding at the moment. When he brought his head above ground, Fin would deliver it to her on a platter. Though in truth, they owed him—it was a bumbling and idiotic attempt on the vampire’s part to try and turn her in the first place.
By all rights, it should have killed her.
Fiona let out a little sigh. “You know, if you want to talk and keep me awake, you could discuss something more interesting than my breasts. Like, why I’m here and what this great plan was that I had to listen to before I could take off?”
With a slow shake of his head, Rogue slid down into the water. “You need more rest.”
The fact that he addressed her directly sent Maddox’s eyebrows skyward, even as Fin raised his own.
“Uh huh,” Fiona elongated the two syllables even as she stretched. The action shifted her away from Maddox and brought her glorious breasts above the water. They really were quite spectacular. While slighter than he generally preferred in his women, Fiona’s curves might also be lacking because of her half-starved state. The denial of her nature and her reliance on a shadow demon meant she might be alive, but she wasn’t as healthy as she could be.
Rogue’s blood had made a great deal of difference.
“Look,” she continued, glancing from Rogue to Fin and finally to Maddox. Fin was almost disappointed he hadn’t rated a longer look. Almost. Though the narrowing of her sleepy eyes gave her a harsher appearance. “We had a deal, right, Mad-Dragon?”
“We did,” Maddox confirmed, not even batting an eyelash at what she called him. “I have not forgotten, Kitten.”
“Good. I’d hate to think of you as an oath breaker. But we’re going to put a little clock on this. I’ve been stuck in a cell for weeks, and this girl has places to go and people to kill. So let’s cut to the chase. Why did you bust me out of that place, and what is it you’re expecting in payment?”
“No payment would ever be asked,” Fin told her smoothly. It had been their privilege to retrieve her, and pleasure. Or at least, it would be to all their pleasure.
“Wasn’t asking you, Astral-Boy,” she retorted, though the flash of her glance in his direction had him sitting up. “Though you are pretty, I will give you that.”
He grinned.
“But I was talking to tall, dark, and ruthless over here.” She jerked her thumb at Maddox.
Rogue chuckled.
“What are you laughing at?” Fin demanded, but the blond lifted his hands, palms out, as if saying not his problem.
With a sigh, Fin focused on Fiona, but she stared at Maddox and his dragon stared back at her.
“You’re a hybrid,” Maddox said finally, almost reluctantly. “You were right when you said vampires cannot turn other supernaturals, right in as much as that’s all current thought holds to it. However, what they know and what is fact are two vastly different things.”
Fiona stared at him for a bit, her lips pursed. Keen intelligence flickered in her eyes as she studied him. “So I’m a vampire-succubus.”
“Yes.”
“I need to feed on lust and blood.”
“Also yes.”
“Well. Aren’t I special?”
“Very,” Fin exhaled. “More special than you realize.”
“Oh? And how is that?”
Ignoring Maddox’s warning look, Fin told her the truth. “You’re the only female hybrid to ever transition. You’re also ours. Our mate. Perfect for us in every way.” And she was.
Maddox sighed, even as Rogue just shook his head, but Fiona’s response puzzled him the most.
She burst out laughing.
“Oh, honey, I’m a succubus,” she said in between gasps. “I’m pretty much perfect for everyone.”
Oh.
Fin hadn’t really thought of it that way, and the dark look on Maddox’s face promised he had, but it was the speculation filling Rogue’s expression that worried him all of a sudden.
Wiping at her eyes, Fiona shook her head. “Sorry, I just needed that laugh. Like I said, Astral-Boy, you really are pretty. But you shouldn’t bet on me. As soon as this little confab is over, I’m out of here. Like I said, places to go and people to kill.” The she muttered something about how destiny could bite her.
“We’ll see,” he murmured, even as Maddox let out an aggrieved sigh.
“You will need to stay with us long enough to master your bloodlust,” Maddox informed her. “And until we can deal with your sire. You do not want him to try and control you.”
From the look on her face, Fiona had no intentions of letting anyone control her.