12
I wake up between two male bodies. I keep my eyes closed and fight not to tense, waiting for my brain to catch up with my circumstances. As sleep fades away completely, the events of the last twenty-four hours comes back to me.
Gods, things keep happening too fast. It feels like the entire world has changed its shape around me. It’s so incredibly tempting to pull the covers over my head and hide away to avoid thinking about it, but I haven’t survived this long by ignoring the reality of my circumstances. It’s better to deal with the hard truths up front than to ignore them until they’re literally ripping your throat out.
Wolf’s back is pressed against mine, and when I open my eyes, I find Malachi watching me. I lift a brow. “Creepy of you.”
“You were thinking hard over there.” He presses a finger to the spot between my brows. “Regrets?”
“No, nothing like that.” It’s even true. I don’t make a habit of regretting my choices, but this goes beyond that. My feelings for Malachi are a pulse in my blood I can’t ignore. It’s more than desire, more than lust, even more complicated than something as ridiculous as love. I don’t understand it, but I don’t have to fully understand it in order to acknowledge its existence.
I worry my bottom lip. “How are we going to get out of this?” Will there even be a we after we do? Or will he grab his freedom with both hands and ride off into the sunset, happy to no longer be chained to a cranky dhampir with rage issues. “And after—”
Malachi twines a strand of my hair around his fingers. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you learn to recognize the important things.”
“Like freedom.”
He snorts. “Like you, Mina. I’ve never met anyone quite like you.”
“You mean you’ve never tasted anyone quite like me.” I don’t know why I’m being so stubborn about this, but what he’s saying is impossible. We’ve known each other a week little over a week at this point. There’s no way he’s feeling some kind of mystical connection to me. It’s far more likely he finds me valuable in a different way. That’s how vampires work, after all. Power and ambition above the softer emotions. Always.
“I mean what I said.” He tugs lightly on my hair. “But I respect it’ll take you longer to trust me, given your history.”
“That is remarkably patronizing of you.”
He chuckles. “I’m trying to tell you I like you.”
Like feels too tame a word to use for what flares between Malachi and me. I’m not sure what to say to that, so I swallow hard and change the subject. “So how do we get out of this mess?”
“If Wolf is to be believed—”
“I am.” Behind me, Wolf turns around and slings an arm over my hip. He doesn’t quite press his hard cock to my ass, but I can feel the tension of it behind me.
Malachi snorts. “Then Rylan will be here shortly. Between the three of us, we can figure out a solution.” He shoots a sharp glance over my shoulder. “A solution that doesn’t involve your death, Mina.”
“Tsk, tsk, after last night, I’m not particularly fond of the idea of our Mina bleeding out for your freedom. Why waste all that delicious blood on something as mundane as freedom?” His breath ghosts the back of my neck. “We’ll find another way.”
“As simple as that.”
“As horrendously complicated as that.” Wolf sounds like he relishes the challenge, but even after knowing him such a short time, I’m not surprised he’s perverse like that.
I relax against him, soaking up all this skin to skin contact. It’s heady and intoxicating, nearly as much as the sex was last night. I can touch these men as much as I want. I lightly stroke my hand down Malachi’s impressive chest. “I suppose we’ll have to keep ourselves occupied until then.”
His muscles jump beneath my fingertips. “You need to eat something.” He searches my face. “I’ve also ordered you some iron supplements. Even with the blood exchange, you’re paler than you were when arriving here.”
Something in my chest warms even as my logical side points out he’s just looking after his food source. I’m no good to them if I pass out constantly from being anemic. That’s the most likely reason Malachi is acting like a mother hen. Despite my reasonable explanation, the feeling in my chest gets warmer. I find myself smiling. “I’m not quite ready to get out of bed yet.”
Behind me, Wolf blurs. One moment I’m on my side, facing Malachi, and the next Wolf is on top of me, settling between my thighs. He grins down at me, flashing fang. “No point in worrying about anything until Rylan appears. There are better ways to occupy our time.”
It’s against my nature to push worry aside when I can poke and prod at a situation until I find a way forward. But it’s hard to remember with Malachi’s brooding presence next to me and Wolf’s warmth pressing me into the mattress. I stare up at him, tracing the carved lines of his cheekbones and those eerie colorless eyes. He’s beautiful. I registered it before, but there’s something about the softness of sleep still lingering in his expression pushes him from being terrifying to just being breathtaking.
I reach up with a cautious hand and stroke my thumb along his cheekbone. “You’re very, very pretty.”
“I know.” His grin widens. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
It’s not quite a question, but I want to kiss him. I don’t know what it says about me I had Malachi last night—have him right next to me right now—and all I can think about is kissing Wolf again. But then, Malachi seems just as into this as I am.
They’re right; there’s nothing to be done right now. Or maybe that’s the excuse I cling to as I nod slowly. “Okay.”
He starts to lean down and pauses to glance at Malachi, who’s watching us with a small smile on his lips. Wolf gives his hand a pointed look. “Are you going to behave?”
“Do you want me to?”
Wolf laughs. “As enjoyable as it was to watch you fuck her while covered in my blood, I’d like to feel Mina coming on my cock more than I want a repeat right now.” He settles more firmly between my thighs and thrusts a little. “Sore?”
“No.” In fact, I feel better than I have since the first time I took Malachi’s blood. Energized and downright glowy. I’m sure if I had access to a mirror, I’d find I look a mess, but it doesn’t matter right now. I’m not sure what it says about me I desperately want to fuck Wolf just as much as I wanted—still want—Malachi, but I’m past questioning these things. Everyone is obviously into this and it’s not like vampire culture is overly monogamous. That whole mates-for-life thing is nice in theory, but when your life spans centuries, even the most intense love can shift and change. I’ve noticed partner hopping just from watching the way the vampires in my father’s colony operate. There’s no reason to think this is abnormal.
Again, I feel like I’m grasping for a reason to do this. It only means what I let it mean.
My life has been so devoid of pleasure up to this point. Is it any surprise I’m desperate to grab onto any bit of it I can touch, to glut myself on it with these two devastatingly gorgeous men? Maybe I’ll wake up in a day or two and wonder what the hell I’m doing, but I don’t care right now. I just want to feel good.