by Tamara White
I poke my tongue out at her playfully. “I promise to just look at myself, no getting emotional, no going gooey,” I concede, holding my hand to my chest in an eternal promise.
She waves her hand in similar motion she used to mist it over before stopping and pulling me to my feet. “Close your eyes, I’m taking you into the bathroom so you get the full effect.”
“Come on Britt, just let me see,” I whine.
“Trust me, ok, you need to see it all at once,” she chides, leading me around the bed towards the bathroom.
Once Britt has me positioned where she wants me, she pulls her hands away, shocking me with my reflection.
The pale pink dress is perfect on my ghost-like skin. My blond hair is curled, framing my face as my emerald eyes sparkle with happiness. I’m absolutely stunning.
“Before you start to cry, there’s one last adjustment I have to make. Give me a sec,” she murmurs running out of the room then back in holding a small wooden case. “So, Sierra had my mother make this before you were born. Obviously, things didn’t work out the way your mother expected so she gave it back to my mom so it could be destroyed. Aunty Mace brought it with us because she thought it would be nice for Aunty Sie to see she kept it all that time. They were very close friends when they were young and my mother was adamant that one day it would be needed,” she explains, opening the case. Inside a beautiful, silver tiara sits resting on a plush, purple cushion. It spirals and weaves together looking as if it grew like that.
“It’s beautiful, Britt, but I can’t wear it. It’s silver,” I point out.
She smirks placing it on my head as I flinch waiting for the burn. When it doesn’t, she winks at me, “It’s gold. My mother was super powerful, Mer. She had the ability to change metals, bring back the dead, and all kinds of other shit. This one was made especially for you. My mother knew you would do great things. She put a spell on this tiara to change as you do but when you were taken from your mother, they assumed it had lost its power. Now that we know you’ve survived, it makes a lot more sense that it hasn’t disintegrated.
“When you’re strong enough to take over the coven, it will change to full gold in colour. Not that it will be any time soon. Vampires live forever, and I don’t see your parents giving up leadership, unless it’s for something drastic,” she rambles on, not realizing I’ve paled.
Holy Shit! I didn’t think that I would be in charge here. I’ve still been thinking about going home to be Alpha of the pack, but I can’t be Alpha and Queen of vampires, that’s just crazy! I should probably have a sit down with my parents to find out exactly what’s expected of me. I should also call Dad. I need to hear his voice and know he’s doing okay without me.
Noticing my tears, Britt clicks her fingers in front of my face, “Hey, none of that! You know I can’t stand tears,” she snaps, jarring me out of my thoughts. Her eyes are compassionate, so I know she didn’t mean it in a hurtful way, she just really didn’t want me to cry. “Do you want me to get Dev?” she asks, her voice softening.
“No, I’m fine. Just…things…just hit me, I guess.” I let out a deep breath, unable to stop the slight hitch.
She purses her lips not quite believing me, “I don’t believe that for a minute. DEV! YOUR GIRLFRIEND’S CRYING!” she screams out the bathroom door. I groan, shoving my face into my hands. Just great, he’s going to run in here and think something is wrong.
“What’s wrong?” a voice asks from the door, but it’s not Dev. It’s Nikoli. What’s he doing in here?
“I’m fine, just slightly emotional after the past few days I’ve had. You can go,” I murmur, muffled from hiding my face.
Britt slowly edges her way out of the room, “I’m just going to leave you two alone for a moment. I’ll meet you in the lounge, Mer. Don’t take too long, we leave in twenty minutes,” Britt says, before I hear the door shut.
I look up to see Nik leaning against the door, though I’m unsure why he isn’t getting closer. I go to him, needing to be near him when his jaw drops. “Holy fuck!”
“What?” I ask, feeling my hair and face, worried I ruined the masterpiece Britt had been working on all day.
He steps forward grabbing my hands stopping me from running my hands everywhere. “Nothing’s wrong, I just couldn’t see you properly hunched over the sink, all I saw was a beautiful dress and an ass sticking out of it,” he grins at me as I raise my hand to slap him. He grasps hold of it before it can connect, staring into my eyes. “If you had let me finish before going cavewoman on me, I was saying when you stood up, I got the full effect. You look absolutely stunning! I mean it,” he says sincerely.
I raise an eyebrow in question, sure he must just be pulling my leg. “Are you sure? I’ve never been this dressed up in my life,” I admit nervously, my heart beating loudly in my ears as his eyes rake up and down me.
He grins devilishly, “Oh, hell yes! The others are going to say the exact same thing, I bet. Are you sure you’re ok, though? Brittany said you were crying?”
Great. He must think I’m some overemotional female who cries at the drop of a hat. Why is it the few times in my life I’ve been overly emotional, it’s been around these three? Maybe the soul-ties are playing with my moods. “Yeah, I’m good. We should probably go before Britt hunts me down for being late,” I tell him trying to move past him, stopping when he grabs my arms, restricting my movement.
“Wait, hold on a moment, please?” He says, as he looks at me with a very unconfident expression, “I didn’t just come in here to find out why you were crying. Well actually, Dev sent me to come in here, he wanted me to tell you, actually I need to tell you, I just spent the last few hours with Felicia in her rooms. No wait! No, I mean talking to her. God, I’m getting this all wrong. I mean, okay, I made a decision. But you can say no, I would understand after everything that has happened today. But, if you will have me, I would like to give our soul-tie a chance. Felicia and I are over, I mean, she was pissed and will probably try to cling on, and maybe take it out on you, so we will need to watch your back, but with the three of us, well two at the moment, but I am sure we can talk Talon into joining us, it’s not like him and Heather actually work together. I know three men and one woman is an unconventional relationship, but us three, we go way back, we can make this work. If you want to that is, and you can say no. Dev is the only one who stood by you and I know you don’t have to give me a second chance, but I am asking you to please consider it.” He rambles, tripping over his words and looking down at his feet.
I stand there in shock for a second, digesting his verbal brain malfunction. For the first time since he came in, I notice how dressed up he is. With a black tux and hair slicked back, he looks like a modern-day James Bond. He’s stunningly attractive and it makes me proud to be with him.
I grab him by the face making him look me in the eyes, “Hey, calm down. You don’t need to be nervous. I’m still not 100 percent sure what the soul-tie is or does, though if you want to hang out, then I’m happy to do that ok? Just make sure you understand I have no idea what I’m doing, so you’re going to have to be extremely patient. You’ll also need to tell me if I do something I shouldn’t because I’m clueless about soul-tie’s,” I admit.
He smiles softly reaching up to cup my cheek, “I can do that. We all know you’re new to vampire culture which is why we’re leaving a lot of it up to you. Until you have the hang of things, Dev and I will stay by your side tonight. I hope you don’t mind but he told me what happened earlier when you tried to drink from a bag. He seems to think it’s because we were your first taste of blood, so we’ll be sticking close by just in case. How are you now? Hungry?” he asks, looking for any sign of my beast.
“No, there’s no way I could eat. My nerves are killing me,” I whisper.
Sudden knocking on the door startles me, “Time’s up, Em. We have to go,” Dev calls out from the bedroom. Sighing, Nik shakes his head, slightly annoyed at Dev. Something must have happened between the
two of them, because I can feel some tension. Maybe it’s just the thought of sharing me. Who really knows?
“Come on, let’s go get this over with,” Nik grumbles, leading me out of the bathroom. I wonder if he’s nervous about the party and socialising, as I am or seeing my parents when the last they knew was he was talking to Felicia. He grabs hold of my hand and we walk into the lounge, a new feeling settling in my heart. Dev and Britt are over by the door arguing in hushed tones.
“I will turn that douche into a toad if he comes near her!” she mutters angrily.
“It’s his choice, we can’t force him,” Dev murmurs defeated.
Are they talking about Talon? Did he come back while I was getting changed?
Dev is wearing an awesome suit. Neither a tux or a formal suit, I would definitely put it in the casual suit group. It suits his personality perfectly! I wonder if Britt summoned Dev and Nik’s clothes too or if they had their outfits on hand? I’d imagine they would have suits galore for when events like this happened.
Nik coughs, letting them know of our presence. “Hey, guys, we’re ready to go,” he says, watching them break apart acting as if they weren’t just having a whispered argument.
Dev looks over at me and takes a step back, shocked. “Whoa! Emerald, you look stunning!” Dev grins appreciatively.
“Thanks,” I mutter, my face flaming. It’s nice to be noticed. He drags his eyes up and down, lingering around the bare stretch of skin Britt left exposed so all the vampires present tonight, will see the names branded on me. I suddenly feel like I am burning up, knowing he is happy to have his name branded on my body for all to see. That he is proud to have me for a soul-tie.
Britt coughs interrupting the heated moment between us, “Ok, Em, I’ve gotta run. My husbands are here, so I’ll meet you down at the party.” She steps up to me and gives me a hug, then turns to the guys, and I swear to god, she turned a little dark along her edges, “And you two, if you hurt her, I will curse your family jewels to rot from the inside out until you plead with someone to cut them off for you. Do you understand me?” She stands there waiting for them to acknowledge her. Dev and Nik don’t make her wait long, both nodding their heads and shielding their crotches with their hands from the threatened curse. Britt then lightens back up, and leaves the room with a swish of her hair and skirts.
I laugh, boys and their dicks!
“It’s not funny, Em. If it falls off, then you don’t get to feel me between your sweet thighs,” Dev whispers appearing behind me, his breath fanning against my neck as he speaks. He places a soft kiss just below my ear making me tremble.
Nik smirks stepping in front of me, watching as my body quivers with excitement. “What’s wrong, Em? Is this too much for you? Should I make him stop?” he asks, running his hand from my waist up to the tip of my breast, slowly caressing me through the dress.
“I thought you guys didn’t do things together?” I ask breathless.
He smirks playfully, running his hand from my breast, up over his name, sending waves of arousal through my body, instantly soaking my panties. “Oh, honey, we don’t do things with each other, but we’re more than willing to have you sandwiched between us, one of us fucking you, while you take the other one deep into the back of your throat. What do you say, Em? Is that what you want?” he murmurs against my lips. His breath warm against my mouth, and I groan from the sheer exquisite pleasure it’s sending through my body.
Dev grinds against my ass, moaning when he hears my breath stutter, “Just say yes, Em. Let us take care of you.” He moans, running his hand around the front of my dress to reach the front.
“I really, really want to say yes but we have a party to get to,” I pant breathlessly, trying to keep my thoughts coherent. They’ve invaded my mind and body, making me want to surrender to them. They back off giving me room to breathe. I take a moment to compose myself before speaking. “Why did you guys do that?” I ask, still flustered from being between them. My skin is on fire, the sparks of arousal still running through my body.
Dev’s voice behind me makes me clench my legs together tightly, ignoring the need to be touched. “We wanted you to know how much we want you. It doesn’t help that you look so fuckable in that dress. All I want to do is lift it around your waist and take you right here and now. If only you hadn’t reminded me about the party, this dress would be in tatters on the floor,” Dev whispers seductively behind me, making my heart race. Oh god, why are they doing this? I can’t go out in front of everyone all needy like this. Wolves can smell arousal, I bet vamps can too.
“Dev, we’ve got to knock it off, man. She smells like pure arousal, filled with waves of sunshine. Do we really want her going into the coven smelling so fuckable? Anyone that walks past her, is going to slam her into the wall and fuck her like there’s no tomorrow,” Nik says, watching me as I adjust my legs, squeezing my thighs again, the need almost impossible to ignore.
If they keep talking like this, none of us will make it into the ball.
Dev looks at me contemplatively, “You know Em, you still need to be fed. Maybe we should take care of her before we go? Would you like that Em?” he asks me.
Nik smiles at my hesitant expression, “You need to feed but we can’t get you messy. So how about we strip off this dress, and take care of both your needs?” he asks as Dev joins him so they’re both facing me.
I consider my options and know exactly what I want. Slowly, I begin unzipping my dress, enjoying the way their eyes darken with lust. I got aroused by feeding off Dev, so I know it will be the same with Nik. May as well embrace the moment and sort out both my needs at once. It’s their fault anyway for turning me on.
“What are you doing?” Nik asks warily. I guess he thought I wouldn’t go through with it.
I look over my shoulder, my eyes lidded as I become more aroused. I peel the dress over each shoulder slowly bringing it down my body, enjoying the groans the guys emit as it drops past my ass. I turn away, and step out of the dress, picking it up and placing it over a chair. I walk to the bedroom door, locking it with a resounding click and turn back showing the guys all I have to offer.
“Holy fuck,” Dev whispers, his eyes zeroing in on my C-cup breasts. He moves too fast for my eyes to track before his hands and mouth are on me. I moan when I feel his hands at my hips slowly pulling my thong down. Hands grab my thong from behind pulling it down and throwing it across the room. I forgot Nik was behind me but now I’m extremely aware I’m sandwiched between two sexy as hell men, ready to be fucked into oblivion. Nik’s hand slides down my hip before he slips a finger inside me, making me groan at the penetration.
I’m swapped from one set of arms to another and before I can comprehend the switch, I have my legs wrapped around Nik’s naked body as he takes me to the bedroom, with Dev following behind us, hunger in his gray eyes. Nik pauses before placing me on the bed, “Is this ok? Do you want us to stop?”
“If you stop, I’ll castrate you myself,” I warn him, reaching up to run my hands over my name. I hadn’t seen my name on him yet so I’m surprised to see it plain as day on the right side of his chest. His is slightly different to the others, and the cursive is a lot larger than Dev or Talon’s. I wonder why his is different?
He chuckles, throwing me on the bed, looking over at Dev as he steps up beside him. “You got this? I’m going to feed her.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I definitely got this,” he responds, stripping to his boxers. He sees me staring and slows down letting me enjoy every inch of him. His skin while pale, has a slight smattering of dark hair running from his belly button all the way down to the deep V of his pubic bone. He has a tattoo over his chest of some kind of Celtic symbol, taking up most of his right side. It’s so intricate and beautiful. I look up meeting his eyes as he grins at me, his eyes heated. He saw me staring and knows how turned on I am just looking at him.
Nik strips down and I can’t help but stare at the way his muscles bulge with each movement. He cr
awls over me, hovering while I move my hands over the soft hair on his stomach leading down his abs and down to his cock. He twitches as my hand runs over him and he groans placing his head against mine before lying beside me so we’re looking into each other’s eyes, practically every inch of our bodies touching. “Hi,” he grins.
“Hey,” I murmur.
He runs his hand up my thigh, over my hip, my eyes fluttering as the tingles rush through my body. He reaches up cupping my breast, using his thumb to stroke over my nipple slowly, “I’m going to kiss you, while Dev gives you all the pleasure you need. Once you feel hungry, bite my neck. It’s the best source of blood and will keep you fuller for a bit longer.” He’s still stroking my breast which is making it harder to concentrate on what he’s saying but I’ve got the gist of it. Bite when hungry. That’s it.
I smile, pressing my lips against his, completely trusting them to take care of me. I feel Dev move between my legs so he can see my most intimate area. It’s not until the kiss between Nik and I get more heated that he takes the first swipe of his tongue over my clit. I groan against Nik’s lips, feeling the fire burn bright inside of me. It builds until I feel my beast rise, the need to have them both overtaking us. Nik must feel how close I am because he breaks from our kiss, turning his head to the side to give me the access I need. I feel my canines lengthen and bite down, enjoying the taste of coffee as his blood hits my tongue. Moaning in ecstasy, I suck harder, letting the hunger drive me. My beast wants me to keep going, and when Dev’s tongue plunges inside me, I can’t help but let go of my orgasm. He keeps stroking his tongue inside me setting me off again and again until finally, I can’t take anymore. He senses I’m done and moves away, letting my body collapse in a heap. Nik is still beside me, his eyes red as his arousal fuels his vampire.
Dev crawls up behind me, wrapping an arm over me as Nik squeezes us all closer together, cradling me in their arms for a minute before helping me get up from the bed. I wish we could just lay there for a bit longer and bask in the afterglow but there’s a party to go to. “Do you guys want me to take care of you before we leave? It seems a bit unfair you took care of me but I didn’t get a chance to give you the pleasure you deserve.”