by Jayce Carter
Then I recalled his story about the one who had turned him, about how he’d been used.
I guess I could understand it being a sticking point for him.
“Just because you feed doesn’t mean—”
Kase nailed me with a hard look, one with more edges than I was used to from him. “I bit you for a split second, Ava, and you had a tiny taste of what my saliva could do. Even then, you would have slept with me no matter what you wanted. I could end things because I’m older, because I have control. Werewolf blood is a different matter. It’s like a drug, and it would steal that control of mine as well.” He shivered, as if picturing something wanted so bad. “I can promise you that things neither of us want to happen would happen if I fed from him.”
“What about if he just bled into a cup? No biting or saliva needed?”
Kase shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. The saliva that is produced during feeding is part of what preserves the blood and allows me to use it. There’s a reason that vampires don’t just used bagged blood—that is essentially rotten to us. There is no way to feed without the bite, and there is no way to bite him without the reactions that come with it.”
An ache started inside me at how I’d never know, that because of whatever I was, because of however fucked-up I was, he’d never have that with me and neither would I.
Then I stilled as the picture shifted, adjusting to the reality we were in.
I bit my bottom lip as an entirely forbidden idea came to me. “What if I took care of you both?”
The heat in the room went up a few degrees, and a near-identical groan left them both.
“The saliva, the blood, it causes lust, but that doesn’t mean you two have to spend it on one another, right? What if you used me instead?”
Kase was the first to speak, and everything in his tone said he hated his answer. “It is still an unfair thing to ask of either of you.”
Troy let out an unhappy snarl before yanking his shirt over his head. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Why?” Kase gave Troy a hard look that screamed of stubbornness.
Nothing was happening until Troy answered.
He snorted softly before lowering himself on the foot of the bed. “Because we aren’t even at Lucifer’s Court yet, and the reality is that we need every last one of us at our best to keep Ava safe. If that means I open a vein for you, well, I’d do a lot worse for her benefit.”
Kase stared, as if looking for the truth of Troy’s words. I could see the fight in his eyes, the war between how badly he needed to feed and his worry about taking advantage of Troy.
Funny, given exactly how little Kase seemed to care about most things, had killed no shortage of people, this was his line.
And yet, it endeared me to him more than anything else could have. After what had happened to me, after how my foster father had abused me, the fact that Kase had that line mattered.
Finally, Kase nodded after letting out a long breath.
Suddenly, it became real. I sat on the bed with Kase and Troy, and I was about to have sex with the two of them.
My time in hell was starting to look up…
Chapter Nine
As it turned out, having sex with a werewolf and a vampire caused more anxiety in me than I expected. It was far scarier than it had been with Hunter and Grant.
Maybe because Grant and Hunter hadn’t let me think straight enough to worry about the reality or consequences of what I was doing. We’d gotten right into it without this moment of stillness.
This time, in the quiet room, my nerves ran amok.
What if I was making a fool of myself? What if I realized this was a horrible idea? What if I somehow screwed the entire thing up and one or both blamed me later?
I mean, Troy had barely looked at me since the issue at the house, since he’d shifted and nearly killed, well, all of us.
A part of me was amazed he was allowing this at all.
Then again, as he’d made clear, we didn’t have much of a choice. We needed to get to Lucifer’s Court and this was the only way it was happening.
Troy sat at the foot of the bed, and Kase moved behind him, energized as if the upcoming meal had given him strength. I hadn’t watched this before, had only felt the strike of Kase’s fangs into my throat.
A memory of my reaction, of the sensation drew a shiver from me. Sure, I wasn’t going to get a dose of that aphrodisiac, but I didn’t think I needed it, either.
Kase moved with a sureness that was staggering, looking every bit the predator. It was probably for the best that I hadn’t seen it before. It was as though he transformed again, from the man I knew to the creature that needed sustenance.
Troy swallowed and the bob of his Adam’s apple betrayed his nerves.
I slid from the bed and took a spot in front of him, then leaned in for a kiss. He hesitated for only a heartbeat, as if that were all it took for him to throw caution and worry aside. He pulled me closer, crushing me against his solid chest.
He broke the kiss, then blew out a slow breath that slid teasingly over my lips before he tilted his head, exposing his neck.
Kase had taken a spot to his side, then had him lean farther. It was far less intimate than it had been when he’d tried it on me, where I’d been pressed against him as much as possible.
Then again, I doubted Troy wanted Kase’s cock grinding into his back, so I guess there was some wisdom in a different position.
Even still, Kase didn’t restrain Troy.
“Are you ready?” Kase asked the question, but the other question was there between the words. Are you sure?
Troy offered one quick jerk of his head before it happened.
Kase peeled his lips back to expose those sharp, white fangs of his then struck, sinking them into Troy’s neck. It was so fast it was almost a blur.
Troy hissed softly, his only reaction, and Kase’s eyes lost that deep brown I so loved, taking on the primal red they did when he went full-vampire.
And, even though I wasn’t being bitten, even though I didn’t have Kase’s saliva affecting me, I couldn’t help the way my body heated at the sight.
Kase’s lips pressed against Troy’s neck, a small trail of red escaping, Kase’s hand now wrapped around the front of Troy’s neck to keep him still as he fed.
It was erotic in a way I’d never have expected, and my body sizzled with need. It crawled through me, making me heat, making me desperate to have a taste of that.
The moment Kase’s saliva started to work, though, was obvious. Troy’s white-knuckled attempt to stay still drifted away, and his muscles went lax.
Well, not all of them.
His jeans tented, the outline of his swelling cock telling me how quickly the saliva worked. He let out a groan, heavy and masculine, before curling his fingers in the blanket as though to try and keep still.
And boy did I remember that feeling, the way Kase’s saliva had made my skin overly sensitive, made me want to rub against anything and everything.
I lowered myself after pressing Troy’s knees wide. I left a trail of kisses across his chiseled abs, enjoying the way they twitched beneath the touch. I traced each line with my lips, my tongue, then undid the button at his waist.
He whined.
I never figured I’d be much for men making noises like that, as if I’d enjoy them being so needy, and yet I did. It felt powerful in a way I couldn’t believe, especially over someone like Troy, someone so carefully controlled.
I grasped the waist of his jeans, and he lifted his hips so I could work them down. I left his shoes on, which meant when I took the jeans to his ankles, they made a shackle, one I placed my knee on to farther hobble him.
He let his legs drop open more, a plea and a surrender.
A glance up his body let me catch his silver eyes, see the want there, the drunken lust. Kase’s worries made sense as I saw it, as I witnessed how the aphrodisiac effect could make a person beg for anything.
But Troy had agreed before he’d been affected, which meant I didn’t need to feel guilty about enjoy it.
I ran my tongue up Troy’s desperately hard cock with one hard, long lick.
He cried out, forcing Kase to strengthen his hold to keep the werewolf still.
Troy’s cock was thick enough that when I wrapped my hand around it, my fingers didn’t meet. All the filthy ideas I had came to me, about how badly I wanted to have him, how easy it would be to crawl into his lap and sink down on his perfect cock.
I shook that off, though, instead focusing on my first plan. I traced the veins on the side of his shaft, teasing them, prolonging the game. Kase wouldn’t feed quickly, and this was one of the few times Troy was entirely open with me.
I wouldn’t waste it.
A growl left Kase, and when he readjusted, when he sank his fangs in again, Troy jerked his hips up, thrusting against nothing, a pathetic whimper leaving him.
Which pushed me over the edge. I leaned up and wrapped my lips around his cock, savoring the salty taste and the heat of him. He kept his hands to the side, grasping the blankets in tight fists.
Which worked for me.
Troy was so strong in real life, so alpha, that him giving in for me was a huge turn-on. My cunt was drenched, but I focused all I could on him.
I ran my tongue along the flared head of his cock, then slid my lips down his shaft. I worked the base with my hand, though it made me frown. The very bottom of his cock felt odd, not quite as hard as the rest.
Not that I was going to ask about it. For one, because questioning how someone’s goods worked in the middle of sex was universally considered rude and, also, because my mouth was currently full.
So I filed it away for later as I slid my lips along his length, taking him as deep as I could, ignoring the way it stretched my jaw in a wonderful way.
His hips twitched but he didn’t thrust up. Instead, he seemed to give himself more to the moment, letting Kase keep him sitting upright.
Another growl came, and I lifted my gaze to Kase, to where his red eyes watched me with an insatiable hunger.
I reached out with my free hand, undoing his slacks with my nimble fingers before pulling down the zipper. He didn’t help, too busy keeping Troy still. I also think he enjoyed the game, enjoyed watching what he’d started as I wrapped my hand around his shaft.
He wasn’t warm, not like Troy was, but that didn’t stop me from moaning when I felt how hard Kase was.
I stroked Kase, my grip solid, as I worshipped Troy’s length with my mouth.
My cunt felt empty, desperate and forgotten, and the sight of the two of them was more than I could resist.
I pulled from Troy with a noisy pop, rewarded with another of those needy whines, then toed my shoes off and shed my pants and underwear.
I crawled into Troy’s lap, and his hands found my hips with ease, so I wouldn’t topple backward.
I reached between us, grasped his damp cock and slid down his hard length.
And yeah, he was thick. I hissed, the stretch hot and painful and wonderful all at once. Kase released him, letting Troy sit up straighter, but moved behind him again.
A small smear of blood sat on Kase’s lips, on his white fangs. I leaned in, over Troy’s shoulder, and licked a drop from his fang. It was like copper, but tinged with something almost cinnamon. That same rush from before happened, though not quite as strong, just a tiny taste of the aphrodisiac in his saliva.
I rode Troy, aided by his grip, as Kase bit once more into his Troy’s exposed neck. Given he was a werewolf, Troy would likely hold no scars afterward, which mean Kase didn’t have to be as careful with where he bit.
I reached down, behind Troy, having to tilt to reach Kase’s cock. Still, a little acrobatics was worth it. Troy kept me upright and moving, pulling me down harder, as I focused on stroking Kase.
It was insane and magical and passionate in a way I never would have expected from these two. They were both so careful, so self-controlled, and yet they’d thrown that to the wind. I took every inch of Troy, a soft cry on my lips each time he plunged deep into my tight cunt, and Kase rocked his dick into my fist.
I came first. I’d love to say I outlasted everyone, but who could blame me? Troy’s pelvis ground against my clit and Kase’s saliva shoved me over the edge. I clenched around Troy, my body so overwhelmed I could hardly breathe.
Kase let out a snarl that was worthy of the best nightmares before his cock twitched in my palm, before he released Troy’s neck and shuddered.
Troy’s grip tightened on my hips, a wild look in his silver eyes, drunk on the aphrodisiac, on the moment, on me? He fucked me with such hard thrusts that I let my head fall back, a whine with each time he bottomed out.
He didn’t snarl when he came. He didn’t groan or growl.
Instead, he roared. It was a sound that rattled windows, that came not from him but his wolf. Sure enough, when I met his gaze, it wasn’t the silver I knew. It was that bright light that said his beast was staring back at me.
Just as I was ready to pull off him, however, his cock jerked inside me and something changed. A fullness was there, another stretch so much like when he’d first plunged into me.
When I shifted, he yanked me against him, pressing deeper into me. It didn’t hurt, and in fact it set off another aftershock to my orgasm, made me grasp his shoulders and arch my back.
“I thought as much,” Kase said.
I met Kase’s gaze over Troy’s shoulder. “What—” I didn’t get any more out before Troy lifted his hips, trying to get even deeper, that pressure increasing.
“I thought you were his mate, but I wasn’t sure. However, werewolves only knot their mates.”
“Knot?” The word came out on a gasped whimper as whatever his cock was doing wrung more pleasure from me, made me twist against the sensation.
“Shh,” he said softly and ran his fingers through my hair. “You’ll be fine. Werewolves just tend to go a bit wolf when they take their mates.”
Again, I met Troy’s eyes, saw little of the man I knew. Even still, it wasn’t the scary beast from the house, either. That had been what the shadow turned it into. This was different, and even though the feeling was overwhelming, even though clearly shifted claws dug into my hips, I wasn’t afraid.
Kase moved over beside me and pressed his forehead to mine. “He’ll come back to himself in a few minutes, but you’re stuck for a bit.”
Troy chuffed at Kase, an annoyed sound but without real aggression.
Kase pressed his lips to mine for a quick kiss before pulling away. “All yours,” he said to Troy—or to Troy’s wolf? “I’m going to go get cleaned up and wait for Grant and Hunter.”
With that, Kase was gone, leaving me stuck to Troy, overwhelming and nerve-wracking with more little aftershocks from each time his knot pulsed.
Knot?
Why hadn’t anyone told me about that? It felt like it should be somewhere in werewolf 101. A what to expect when you’re going to bang a werewolf sort of thing.
Troy wrapped an arm around me, keeping me pinned to him, before he rolled. Again, I was reminded how strong he was, when he was able to move me as if I were nothing. He stretched me out beside him, my leg curled around his hip, his cock still deep inside me and showing no signs of vacating…
He leaned forward and nuzzled my throat, the action odd and sweet.
He paused for a moment, then in a slow and somewhat strained voice, he spoke. “Sorry.” The voice wasn’t his, not exactly. It was as if it were squeezed through someone else’s throat.
I pillowed one arm beneath my head to get comfortable. It turned out it wasn’t easy to do when stuck to someone else. “About not telling me about this? What’s a few secrets among lovers?” I kept my tone light, playful.
He pulled back so he could look at me. “Mine,” he said, a deeper, rougher tone that sounded more like the roar than the man. He narrowed his eyes as if glaring at someone else, then shook his
head. “I didn’t think I’d lose myself,” he said softly.
The struggle was etched into the lines of his face, the way he tried to rein in the other part of himself, the wolf.
I slid my fingers over his side, then curled them against his back. “Don’t worry. Your wolf and I, we get along just fine.”
A chuff, a very wolf-like sound, then he rocked his hips forward, making his thick knot stroke against me, setting off another gasping orgasm through me.
When I could breathe again, I caught him smirking.
The smug wolf was trying to tell me that just fine wasn’t a good enough response.
Instead of scolding him—old dogs and new tricks and all that…—I snuggled in closer against his chest. “How long does that stay?”
“Thirty minutes or so,” he said, voice stronger as if the wolf was retreating.
Thirty minutes of forced cuddling?
Well, I’d suffered through worse….
Chapter Ten
Why was it that men walked out of quickies like some sort of victory lap, but women felt like we had whore tattooed across our foreheads?
Troy had already headed downstairs after dressing. He hadn’t said a lot, had regained a little of that distance he’d had before. I chalked that up to the awkwardness of the moment.
Besides, I had needed a moment to get myself ready. I’d cleaned up as best I could, using a tiny bit of the water Kase had left for me. No one wanted to walk while still sticky…
Still, as I went down the stairs, as all four sets of eyes swung toward me, I felt like each of them could see what I’d done.
They’ve all seen you naked. They’ve all been inside you. There isn’t much mystery.
My cheeks burned as I tucked my hair behind my ear and tried to look as if I didn’t care.
Men could screw everything that walked. Why not me?
No one spoke at first, and I had a moment of thinking everyone would pretend nothing happened. We didn’t need to address anything, right?
“So what did you think of a knot, shadow-girl? Always wanted to try it myself, but I’m a chicken.” Hunter paired the words with a grin so wide, he looked like some sort of jester.