“You’re ours.”
I jumped at Liam whispering the words against my ear. I kicked off the damn heels, sick of the fucking things now. They’d taken away my most precious ability and turned me into a stumbling fool. I spun around on my bare feet, feeling the cold tile under them, but Johnno slid up behind me, his breath sending shivers up my spine as he pushed up the bulk of my hair to blow upon my skin. He was laughing when I lurched around to face him, Liam sidling up behind me like the devil himself.
Fingers trailed down my arms, Johnno’s, Liam’s. It was like whatever had gotten into them worked in tandem, one mind, two bodies to torment me. But it wasn’t a torment, was it? Corralled, I was ‘forced’ to just feel, Lilith snickering at that thought. I could have them on their arses in two seconds flat, but I didn’t. My eyes just followed those fingers, one set olive skinned, sporting band-aids around the fingertips, the other paler, like me, but both got the same response. I’d just been pleasured by my loves, caught on the hardness of Jake and the softness of Aen, but my body ignored all of that in the face of what was here.
They seemed to know exactly what to do, just little glancing touches, like you would a horse you were taming, just familiarising me with their feel. But I knew just what they felt like, that came rushing up. Johnno, a dark and golden god in the back of the bus, reciting poems on my flesh, his announcement that he wasn’t a good man a redundancy when I could feel just how bad he was as he thrust into me. He darted in, taking my mouth, sucking the bottom lip but pulling back when I growled, my teeth snapping down on empty air, much to his amusement. Johnno moved with the rolling gait of sailors and cocky men, the broad line of his shoulders tipping up, then down as his eyes raked down me.
“Oh, now you’ve done it. Our Johnno tries so fucking hard to be the good boy, the Hartley you’ll be able to tolerate, but running? He’s a predator, just like me, and nothing gets him harder than prey.”
I turned on him, fangs bared.
“I’m no one’s fucking prey!”
I was jerked back, into those warm, strong arms, Johnno’s lips on my neck.
“Don’t let him bait you.”
“No, you’re fucking not.” Liam’s eyes burned into mine, almost phosphorescent blue now, and it felt like they saw straight through me and into my soul. But I couldn’t see what he saw, because what he did next, in response, baffled me. He dropped down, bending a knee, an awful echo of what had happened when I took him as my consort.
“No,” I said, wanting to prevent his descent, but Johnno held me firm. “No, Liam—”
“Yes,” Johnno said. “I’ve never seen my brother kneel for anyone. Not Rutherglen, not other fae lords, not a fucking soul. He’s had his knees kicked out from under him to make it happen, but to willingly kneel?”
“You’re just doing this to look up my skirt,” I spat, pressing hard against Johnno’s grip.
Liam’s smile was immediate and wicked, beaming up at me from where he was at my feet.
“Baby, I want to do a whole lot more than look.”
His hands went to my dress’ hem, quick as a flash, but then paused. For just a minute, Liam fucking Hartley was a penitent at my feet.
“Please, Kira.”
His voice was ragged with need, making his performance at the club almost inadequate by comparison. His eyes were stark in his face, a big dog with a mouthful of sharp teeth, but expecting a flogging anyway. His fingers shifted restively against my skin, then went to jerk away when my hands slapped down, holding them where they were.
“We can’t hurt you Kira, unless you care,” Johnno said, stroking a hand down my arm. “There’s no need to run unless we frighten you. If we’re really nothing to you, if we mean nothing, all this would be would be an annoyance.” He paused to let his words sink in as his brother shuffled closer, waiting for a confirmation or a denial. “But that’s not what it is, is it? That motherfucking pull, dragging you towards us and us towards you, the ache you embrace because it hurts more to be apart. The ache in here.”
His hand slid down the neckline of my dress, settling on my sternum. I felt it now, the rapid skitter of my heart.
You’ve gotta run with the beat inside you.
“We’re not going anywhere, not leaving you alone while there’s still hope, and that’s what your reactions give us. We feel that thready little pulse,” Johnno’s fingers brushed the inside of my wrist, “hear those gasping little breaths, the blood rushing to the surface of your skin…” His hand slid much more slowly now to one side, until a large palm cupped my breast, groaning when he felt the hard pebble of my nipple. “When we hear that, feel that,” Liam’s lips went to the top of my knee, sending a shiver through me, “it makes us think you want us.” I felt the prickle of his stubble against my skin. “And if you want us, it gives us hope that one day you might…”
I could finish the sentence. We all could. It just hung there in the air, making the brightly lit bathroom seem so much smaller. The pressure built, like an incoming storm, the need to mouth the words making my jaw ache.
“Love us.”
“Love us,” Johnno agreed. “That’s all we’ve fucking ever wanted, Kira. We thought we knew how to make that happen. We didn’t. We’ve got no fucking experience relevant for this task. We’re not good—”
“Men.”
I felt his snort, his smile.
“No, we’re not good men, but we’re yours, Kira. All fucking yours.”
My chest felt so damn heavy, every breath hard work, which was perhaps why they came in great shudders. Johnno pushed one strap down, baring my shoulder, the bodice catching on the swell of my breast, Liam’s lips trailing upwards.
“I-I’m dirty,” I stammered, fighting past the lovely haze of pleasure their touch brought me. “Jake and I, we—”
“Fucked. We know, baby,” Johnno said, kissing the slope of my shoulder. “We felt every second of it as we performed.”
“Felt him burst inside you. Felt your hot little cunt wring everything he’s got out of him,” Liam said.
“And you want to lick that out of me?”
“I want to lick you.” Liam got to his feet, cupping his hand around my jaw and drawing me close so fucking slowly, years passed. I could’ve pulled away, smacked his face, done any number of the things I’d been dreaming of, but now I had the chance? I stared into his eyes and moaned as I felt his brother’s kisses on my skin, his hand shoving my dress down, baring my breast, hissing when his fingers closed around my nipple and tugged. When Liam’s mouth collided with mine, I felt it, the feeling I’d never find anywhere else—of coming home.
I’d lost the one I had, but I’d gained them—my consorts, my partners, my lovers, my home. I might never have a place of my own, but I would always have them. Something inside me snapped tight, settling in, locking them into me. I pulled away from Liam to turn my head and capture Johnno’s lips, Liam’s going to my nipple, and then turned back again to plunder the Lord of Hartley’s lips, taking from him all the fucking kisses I’d been wanting for so long.