“A little while,” I gasped. I’d give them a little while. Everything else faded as he kept feeding and sent me tumbling toward my first orgasm of the evening.
But it would certainly not be the last.
Not that I was even a little bit hungry.
This was all just for me.
Dammit.
I was so fucked.
Literally and figuratively.
Chapter 13
“More is planted in the garden than flowers and food. Hope. Freedom. Joy. They need to be tended, too.” - Unknown
Some sixty hours after telling Fin I’d give them some time, I found myself chewing on the jerky of regret. I’d woken in the same pile of limbs we’d slept in since my first night. This morning, I’d been sleeping on Rogue, straddling his half-hard cock still half in me. Face pressed against his throat, I could still taste his blood in my mouth. That part hadn’t really bothered me. Nor had the fact that Maddox had a territorial hand on my ass while he draped alongside me or that Fin held one of my hands to his chest.
I’d woken to sleeping on all of them. Despite how large the bed was, apparently I didn’t get my own spot. Maddox seemed my usual mattress, but I probably gravitated to him out of heat. Fin though tended to fold around me when I slept on him, but Rogue and I were not friends no matter how good he felt.
No, the physical dimensions of playing human twister with all their naked limbs and their refreshing lack of any kind of concern where their bare skin encountered each other, these I enjoyed.
No, my problem was that morning, I hadn’t wanted to move. Awake, aware, and intimately settled, I hadn’t wanted the distance I needed to regain each day. I’d kissed the spot over Rogue’s throat where I had been feeding. The skin wasn’t puffy or swollen like their bites were on me. The fact that they hadn’t healed had worried them.
None of them said as much, but I’d caught Fin studying those marks with an intensity that bordered on dangerous. And apparently, Fin draining me to near empty before I fed up on all of them wasn’t the last time it happened. He did it again the following night, and the night before it had been Rogue who’d done it after he’d gone down on me.
The man had an extremely talented gift with his mouth, when he wasn’t being stoic and distant.
The minute I realized I didn’t want to move, I levered myself out of the bed and off of Rogue. His cock had already been stirring, as had a fresh pool of desire, and what the fuck was up with that I had no idea.
My panties and camisole hadn’t survived that first night. I was back down to bare-assed naked and the robe I’d claimed. They always had clothes—assholes—and I hadn’t figured out where they hid them. This morning though, I’d purloined the t-shirt Maddox had worn the day before. It draped me like a dress, and then I dragged the robe over it. At least I had slippers—a concession I was sure to the fact none of them liked my icy feet on them.
Well, none except Rogue. I don’t think he even noticed them.
All we’d done was eat—Fin always left and returned with the most decadent meals. He brought food from all over the world. So, my life could be tougher.
Sex. So much sex.
Even I don’t think I’d ever had as much as I got from them. The fact that I was so full my body hummed constantly hadn’t been lost on me. Then the biting and the draining, and none of them touched my neck. Not since that first night. Whether Fin told them why or not, I didn’t know and I didn’t ask.
Honestly, I didn’t care as long as they stayed away from my throat. The fact that asshole’s face popped to mind when their mouths brushed past on their way to what had to be their second favorite feeding area—my breasts—bugged me. The fact that he was still out there somewhere, alive and probably going about his normal life bugged me more.
I should have long-since gutted him. Leaving them to sleep, I made my way to the bathing room and made quick work of washing. While it was tempting to linger in the hot water, I needed time to think. The whole keep had begun to transform over the last couple of days.
It started in the bedroom—though I hadn’t noticed when Fin stole away with me there. I hadn’t until the next morning. In addition to the bed, there was a huge shaped sofa framing the large hearth. They’d added hangings to the wall, thick and colorful. Some depicted scenes of knights on horseback, others were of glades in the forest, another of the mountains, and one of the ocean with the skies turning crimson and orange as the sun set into the sea.
That one was for me. They said nothing, but it was the view I’d wanted from the bedroom of my house on the cliffs. Of course it was for me.
The chilly confines weren’t so icy anymore. As I pulled the robe tight and slid my feet into the slippers, I wouldn’t freeze as I made my way up to the library. I tried to go there most mornings. It was now dust free with more comfortable seating, and Fin had found an old style record player and a collection of records. The lack of actual electricity required we put batteries in the record player, but I was not bitching.
I missed the modern world. I kept half-expecting one of them to tell me not only had they stolen me from prison, they’d stolen me out of time. But I was too damn chicken to confirm that.
The idea that I’d never see a Starbuck’s again or find out who Jeanette picked on Match Me was just too damn depressing. There were a couple of blankets in the library now, too. The side table was always stocked with something to eat. Usually breads and cheese. Sometimes meat. And as of today, apparently, jams. I had a sweet tooth that I hadn’t been able to indulge, so I spread marmalade heavily on three pieces of bread, then worked my way through eating those while sipping water and staring out at the sun rising over the hills in the distance.
There was another oddity. Vampire or not? I was awake before the sun. Every day since I’d gotten to see it again, I didn’t sleep past its rising. Whether I had in the prison or not, I had no idea. I’d been something of a morning person before, but not like this.
It also didn’t seem to matter if I got hours of sleep or minutes. By the time I reached the library, the sun would be rising and I could stare out at the kiss of light as it flooded the world.
The marmalade tasted tart and sweet on my tongue. I should probably light the fires, but I wasn’t that cold. My initial plan to leave had been shelved when Fin asked me to stay. To give them time. The longer I stayed though, the more I didn’t want to leave. No matter what Fin believed, I couldn’t just stay here.
Stay with them.
I sighed and leaned my head against the cool stone as I stared out the window.
A whoosh in the fireplaces told me someone was awake. The heat wrapping around me as strong arms slid around my waist told me it was Maddox.
“You should have lit the fires, Kitten,” he rumbled. “I left them stacked for you.”
“I wasn’t that cold,” I assured him. When he rubbed his bristly cheek to my temple, I closed my eyes and sank back against him.
“No?” Was that hope in his voice?
“No,” I admitted. “Took a bath, came up here, got some food. Not really cold. Probably these fuzzy slippers that Fin found me.” Fuzzy kitten slippers. No, I hadn’t commented on them at the time. They were warm, that was all I cared about. Maddox chuckled, he liked them.