Fangs for Sharing (Supernatural in Seattle #1)

by Bella Jacobs

  The thought fizzes through me like the first sweet, seductive sip of champagne on a hot summer night, and I lift my arm, holding out a hand to Leo, reaching for what I want.

  What I need, more than I’ve ever needed anything in this whole, big, wide world.

  Chapter 21

  For a split second, I don’t think Leo is going to come to me. To us.

  His gaze falls to the floor, he takes a step back, and in my mind’s eye, I see him turning to walk away, taking the crushed pieces of my heart with him.

  But he doesn’t turn. He doesn’t run.

  He reaches for the close of his pants, popping the button and slowly drawing down the zipper.

  And then he pushes his pants to the floor, and I get a good look at the size of the bulge pressing against the seam of his boxer briefs, and my belly fills with wildly beating wings.

  Rourke isn’t small by any means, but Leo is massive, so thick and long that the sight of what he’s packing would usually be anxiety-provoking. But this isn’t a normal night or a normal man, and imagining all that pulsing need gliding inside me only makes me ache.

  “About time, Poplov,” Rourke purrs. “I could use a few minutes to pull myself together before I make our girl come for me again.”

  Our girl…

  I’ve dreamt of being called someone’s girl in that affectionate, possessive, can’t-get-enough-of-this-woman tone my entire life. Instead, I got losers and users and a mad scientist with a sadistic streak. I was starting to believe I’d never find one man who thought I was something special, let alone two.

  But as Leo crawls onto the bed beside us, hunger and uncertainty mixing in his eyes, I know he feels it—the rightness, the sweetness, the happiness just waiting for us to reach out and grab it.

  “And maybe it doesn’t have to be perfect to be good?” I murmur, as Rourke gently pulls out of me, rolling to my other side with tender kisses on my shoulder, my forehead, the top of my wild hair. I gaze up into Leo’s incomparable eyes as he lengthens himself beside me on the mattress, propped up on one arm. “Maybe it’s okay that the thing that makes me special is also destructive and hard to handle and occasionally gross?”

  Leo brushes the hair gently from my face before gliding his fingertips from my temple to my chin, and I’m breathless at that one simple, innocent touch. “You’re never gross. You’re beautiful,” he says, bringing tears stinging back into my eyes.

  “I want to save the rhinos as much as anyone, but not even I think they’re beautiful.” I blink faster, words getting harder to hold onto as Leo’s hand moves lower, skimming down my throat to trace the line of my clavicle back and forth. “Noble. Powerful. And um, I…” My pulse races and my breasts go full and heavy as Leo’s fingers head south, whispering into the valley between them. “But not beautiful.”

  “They are to me.” He holds my gaze as his hand comes to cup my breast oh-so-gently, making my heartbeat stutter. “You are to me. I see you, Eliza.”

  “I see you, too,” I say, lifting my hands to his dear face. “And I know you’ve been through hell and you’re terrified of going there again, but…” I swallow, praying that the words come out right. “I can’t promise not to die, but I can promise to be careful and to listen to you and to do everything I can to stay safe. But more importantly, I can promise to care about you and be there for you and make however much time we have together something special.”

  “Because that’s what makes life worth living,” Rourke says gently from behind me, his hand curving over my hip. “Something special. Someone special.”

  “Is this what you want? You’re sure?” Leo asks, his thumb circling my nipple.

  “She’s what I want,” Rourke says. “The only one I want.”

  “Not you, asshole,” he says, his gaze still fixed on my face. “Eliza, is this what you want? Two men who will never see you in the sunlight? Who will never have a life that’s easy or simple or safe? Who will never give you children or grow old with you or even promise to die and leave you in peace someday?”

  Lips quivering, Leo’s handsome face blurring with tears, I whisper, “I don’t want to be left in peace. I don’t want simple or safe. I just want you. Both of you.”

  “Then you shall have us,” Leo says, his lips meeting mine for a long, slow, deep and delicious kiss that is more than skin on skin. It’s a promise, a vow that no matter where the road leads from here, we’ll walk down it together.

  It’s so beautiful, so real and right that twin trails of wetness stream down my cheeks as Leo pulls away, gazing down at me with a mixture of love and desire.

  “Thank God.” Rourke presses a kiss to my neck, summoning a soft sob from my throat with my next breath. “Don’t cry, sweetheart,” he adds in a thick whisper. “I’m going to make it my mission in life to make sure you never cry again, not another day in your life.”

  “But beautiful things always make me cry.” I glance over my shoulder to meet Rourke’s gaze. “And you two are the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I love you.” I glance back to Leo. “Both of you.”

  “And we love you.” Leo’s hand skims down my belly. “And I’m going to show you how much. Spread your legs, Eliza, let me touch you.”

  And he does. Oh God, he does.

  And then he kisses me—there—and I’m done. Lost. Found.

  Home.

  I’m seconds from coming a third time when I reach for Leo, tugging at his soft hair. He slides up to me, lips devouring mine as he rolls onto his back, drawing me on top of him, moaning as I spread my legs, setting my slick pussy on a collision course with the thick, hot ridge of his cock.

  “I want you so much.” I rock against his erection, belly swooping as his thickness twitches against me, and Leo groans, his fingers digging deep into my hips.

  “Then take me, beautiful,” he says, his voice husky as he lifts me and guides me back down. The head of his cock glides through where I’m so slick, so wet, and then he’s pushing inside, filling me completely. My heart sings and the room spins.

  And as we rock together, eyes locked, my hands braced on his chest, I have never felt more beautiful or powerful or worthy. I’m where I belong, naked and unashamed with two amazing men I once thought would be forever out of my league.

  But I underestimated them, and myself.

  I may not be as beautiful and clever as Leerie or as powerful or magical as the other women on a shortlist of one-in-a-million girls, but my heart is as big as they come. Big enough to bring back Leo’s smile and to banish the shadows from Rourke’s dancing eyes. Strong enough to stand beside them no matter how many people try to tear us apart.

  I know right then that I won’t be meeting Eugene tomorrow night, at least not to have him change me back. I’m going to stay a shifter, stay weird and wonderful and happy with my two precious loves.

  I cry out as I come seconds before Leo, the feel of his cock jerking inside me drawing out the pleasure for what feels like ages.

  And then, before I’ve fully come back into my buzzing skin, I find myself cradled against Rourke in a spoon position as he pushes into me from behind, and Leo is kissing my breasts, and soon I lose track of whose hands are where.

  I’m lost in a sea of happiness and bliss, adrift with my favorite two people, determined never to set foot on shore again.

  Chapter 22

  Hours later—many hours and many orgasms—I tiptoe out onto the deck in the dark, pulling Leo’s robe tighter around me against the chill, and then pulling it even closer because it smells like him.

  I’m sure I’ve been this happy before at least once or twice in my life, but I can’t remember it.

  The cynical voice in my head insists I’m just high on endorphins and sex chemicals and I’ll be back to normal again come morning, but I know that isn’t true. I’m high on love and hope and the thrilling, adventure-packed future stretching out in front of me.

  And yes, I’m still scared, too, but fear is a part of every great adventure. If it
weren’t, adventure would be called “running errands” or “the same stuff I did yesterday.” And yes, a part of me wonders if Leo and Rourke would still want me if I were just Eliza, an ordinary girl incapable of breaking the curse on their shivers, but that’s the kind of wondering that needlessly, pointlessly wrecks happiness.

  That’s like fretting whether Leo and Rourke would still love me if I were tall and slim instead of short and curvy, or if I were a non-driving person like Leerie instead of a speed demon who has never met a stop sign I won’t run if no one is coming from the other direction.

  I am who I am, all parts considered, and that’s who my men want. Me.

  I’ve never felt luckier. Safer. Or more at home in my own skin.

  I lean against the deck railing, watching the moon dazzle across the tops of the waves, doing my best to commit every moment of this night to memory. I don’t want to forget a second, a heartbeat. I close my eyes, replaying every kiss, every touch, every time I looked into Leo or Rourke’s eyes and saw clear evidence that I wasn’t alone in these feelings, this love.

  To say I’m distracted would be an understatement, but I still have rhino-enhanced hearing. I should have heard them.

  But I didn’t.

  One second I’m relaxed and rocking a hard orgasm buzz, the next there’s a sharp prick in my arm and a flood of heat in my veins. I spin, ready to scream, but a hand is already slamming down over my mouth.

  Eugene’s hand.

  I growl his name, glaring at him as I sag in his arms. Whatever evil was in that needle is working fast.

  “I’ve got it, let’s go.” Jamal’s face comes into view behind Eugene’s, a dark moon blotting out the field of stars. I see that he’s clutching Pearl in one ringed hand and wonder what’s happened to Leo and Rourke.

  “Hurry,” Jamal adds in a whisper as the stars begin to spin. “Before they wake up.”

  Before they wake up…

  Leo and Rourke are safe. Asleep, for now, but they’ll come for me. Save me. Get me away from these two cowardly ass-wipes before they can do whatever awful thing they came to do to me.

  “You left the letter?” Eugene scoops me up into his arms, starting toward the stairs leading down to the beach.

  “Of course I left it,” Jamal snaps. “I don’t forget things, doc. They’ll wake up to a letter from Blondie saying she’s running away to start a normal life, and we’ll all be back on track to getting what we want with no one dying in the process.”

  The not dying part sounds good, but the rest of it is awful.

  So awful, that if I could keep my eyes open, I’d be crying.

  But I can’t.

  Keep…

  Them open…

  The poison rushing through my veins reaches up and snatches my lids closed. I wink out a beat later, succumbing to the drugs that wrap my brain up in a soft, dark, oh-so-scary hug.

  Chapter 23

  I wake up fast, already sputtering and thrashing, even before my thoughts catch up with my body and I remember the hands in the dark.

  The needle in my vein.

  The sound of the ocean crashing as I was carried away from Leo and Rourke. Away from home.

  I squirm, straining to lift my arms from my sides, but struggling is useless. I’m bound to a heavy chair with thick rope wrapped around my torso and what feels like Pearl snuggled into the hollow of my back between my spine and the chair’s wooden back. I summon a swirl of pre-shift energy into my bones, and an answering golden glow blares to life behind me.

  Pearl is here, all right, and she’s being used to trap me, to keep me from busting into rhino form—or busting out of here before my captors return.

  A quick glance around, craning my neck as much as I’m able while wrapped up tight, reveals bare concrete floors in both directions, with nothing else to look at aside from a large picture window that stretches from one side of the wide room to the other. There’s no sign of a door, even, but there must be one somewhere in the shadows that hulk close behind me, breathing down my neck, making me grateful for the few faint stars still twinkling in the sky outside, for any spark of light in the darkness.

  I can’t remember ever being this scared, even when I was being chased by the Kin Born or when they invaded the castle grounds. At least then I could move, fight, run. Now I’m trapped, tied up and helpless to defend myself only a few hours after promising Leo that I would do everything in my power to stay safe.

  Leo…

  Will he and Rourke believe the note Jamal left behind?

  Or will they know that it’s a fake and that I’m in trouble?

  Will it matter, either way, considering sunrise is starting to smudge the horizon outside with a faint brownish-orange?

  The very familiar horizon…

  Blinking the cobwebs from my aching head, I scan the skyline, struggling to remember where I’ve seen this view before and where I might be in the city. There’s the Seattle needle, the jagged teeth of the skyscrapers downtown, the ridge of the marine barriers holding back the rising sea…

  Before I can sort it out, the lights in the room flicker on with a series of sharp hums, and I hear a heavy door open and slam closed behind me. I squint in the sudden light, wincing as I catch a glimpse of my reflection, now visible in the glass in front of me. I look rough—my face swollen and red, my eyes puffy, and my hair a rat’s nest of such epic proportions it blocks out the features of the people behind me until they’re so close I can smell them.

  I catch Eugene’s coffee-and-too-much-deodorant scent first, followed by a delicate lavender-rose that sends a chill through my bones.

  My nose knows that combo, even if my brain is a few steps behind, so I’m not completely surprised when the Strife shiver’s master circles around my chair, her head of tight, gray-gold curls covered by a floral kerchief.

  With her raincoat, yellow galoshes, and matching yellow-framed glasses, Gloria looks adorable, a touch matronly, even. But of course, she is neither.

  She is evil. Pure, lying, back-stabbing evil.

  “You’re the one who let the Kin Born onto the castle grounds,” I say, my voice scratchy.

  “I did. Apologies, sweetheart,” she says, not looking apologetic at all, “but it couldn’t be helped. A master has to do what a master has to do.”

  “A master should protect her people,” I shoot back. “You tried to kill Leo and Rourke.”

  “And you, darling.” Jamal sashays into view behind the master, his arms crossed and his lips pursed. “Those big bad wolves could have gotten around to chomping on you if I hadn’t stepped in to the save the day. If I were you, I’d start looking out for number one, not those boys who couldn’t care less about you.”

  “Shut up,” I snap, my head throbbing too fiercely to whip up a more eloquent comeback. “You’re worse than Sven. At least he never pretended to be my friend.”

  “Oh, but I am your friend. I’m the one who’s got your best interests at heart,” Jamal says as he makes a come-hither motion to someone behind me. “Get over here, doc.”

  A moment later, Eugene skulks into view, looking even more exhausted than I feel. But then, he’s the only garden-variety human involved in this kidnapping. The rest of us have supernatural power to pull from.

  If only I could pull on mine enough to shift and crush every one of these jerks under my rhino feet.

  I wiggle my shoulders, hoping for a miracle, but Pearl is lodged tight.

  “Explain yourself to your girl, Eugene,” Jamal says, nodding my way. “But make it quick. The sun waits for no man, and certainly no vampire.”

  “Master Gloria is the one who asked me to turn you,” he says, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, his gaze fixed on the floor.

  I rear back as far as I’m able, my head pressing against the chair. “What?”

  “She knew Leo and Rourke were interested in you,” he says with a limp shrug. “She came to me, offering to fund my infusion research if I made you a one-of-a-kind shifter
, one who could help the princes break the curse. So…”

  “So you sold me?” I ask, incredulous. It hurt badly enough when I thought Eugene had betrayed me because he wanted me back. To know he did it for money somehow makes it so much worse. “So those texts about wanting a second chance were all bullshit?”

  “I’m sorry.” He glances up, what looks like real regret in his brown eyes. “I was angry with you for breaking up with me. And for the way you looked at them. Leo and Rourke. You never looked at me like that, Piglet. And they were supposed to be Leerie’s boyfriends. It wasn’t right.”

  “You don’t get to preach to me about right and wrong.” I’m about to launch into a laundry list of all the ways he’s proven to be morally bankrupt, when Gloria cuts in.

  “But right or wrong, our plan failed. That became clear as soon as you stopped by the club that night. I called Leo later, jazzed to talk new possibilities, but he refused to even consider a courtship with you.” She shakes her head, lip curling closer to her upturned nose. “I’d given him a woman he clearly wanted, but as soon as she was a viable option—” She holds up a fist, her fingers popping open in an exploding motion. “Poof! Suddenly, Mr. Impossible to Please wasn’t tempted anymore. Suddenly you were ‘off-limits’ and needed to be protected—using shiver resources—while he found a way to reverse your transformation.”

  Gloria sighs, her arm falling to her side. “I knew then that it wasn’t the selection of women that was the problem. It was a prince who refused to make a fucking effort or put his people first. So…I made the call to eliminate Leo. And Rourke. He’s been part of the problem, too—refusing to push Leo or move to secure an alliance without his approval.”

  “It’s a marriage, Gloria,” I say, a humorless laugh bursting from my chest, “not a membership in the fruit of the month club. You can’t push someone into love without their approval.”

  “Love is a luxury our shivers can’t afford.” The master rolls her shoulders back. “We don’t make new vampires with love, doll face, we make them with a supernatural birthright that was stolen from us by a bitch of a witch. It’s past time for us to take back our power. As the guardian of hundreds of lives, I made a decision to give our people a real chance at survival with someone else as my second-in-command.”