by E. M. Moore
Panic clawed at my throat. Had I done something wrong? Was he not into this?
Finally, his gaze landed on my neck. He moved a strand of hair away and pulled my shirt down off my shoulder. I looked into his face and hardly recognized the person there. He was furious. “What’s wrong?” I asked again, my tone raising to another panicked level.
He met my eyes. “Who gave you this?”
His fingers dug into my neck and shoulders, and I tried to look at what had gotten him so pissed off. “What is it?”
He growled. “This.”
I pulled at my own shirt, knocking his hands out of the way and stared down. There were two little teeth marks—fang marks. I closed my eyes and drifted away to the moment Nic and I shared. He’d just barely sunk his fangs into me, teasing me. “Nic,” I said, pulling my shirt back up over the marks and trying to pull away from Christian.
“Nic?” he asked, his voice rising.
“Please, Christian. What’s wrong? I thought you didn’t mind about what was going on here with all of you.”
He breathed in and out through clenched teeth, like an animal getting ready to pounce on its prey. “He marked you, Ariana. I’m going to kill him.”
He jumped off me, and in a flurry of movement, dressed himself. I stood back in awe, cowering almost at this side of Christian I’d never seen before. “Marked me? What do you mean?”
His fangs slid out, coming to pointy sharp, needle-like edges that made me wince back. Without answering, he turned on his heel and ran, nothing but a blue streak the color of his shirt marked his trail. I quickly ran after him, making sure all my clothes were on correctly as I went. I couldn’t follow him, he was too fast for me, but I had an idea of where he was headed.
Marked me? He said it like it was a bad thing, but the way Nic’s fangs felt in my skin only drenched my memories in pure pleasure. It had been almost heavenly when he did it, spurring my orgasm on as soon as his fangs penetrated my skin. I’d woken up thinking about it the last few nights. Even called Nic in the middle of the night to share a few intimate moments with him over the phone, telling him I wanted him to bite me again, and just that memory, and my own touch, pushed me over the edge with Nic falling soon after.
In fact, I was going to ask Christian to do the same thing if he didn’t take the initiative to do it on his own. As far as I was concerned, they were holding out on me, and I wanted more. That still didn’t explain why Christian was so upset. If this was just a vampire kink thing, why would he be so furious with his own brother? And no matter how much I wanted to resist the feeling, “marked” didn’t seem like a title I’d want.
19
As soon as I hit the floor with our rooms, the yelling started. Stephan peeked his head around the corner, but when he saw me, he straightened. I marched right for Nic’s room, but Stephan held his hand up. “Don’t go in there.”
I gave him an incredulous look and continued my path. The words weren’t intelligible yet; surprising, since they weren’t being quiet, not at all. They were delivered in such a rapid fury that it was impossible to decipher who was saying what.
Stephan ran forward, so fast I didn’t even realize he’d made a move until he was right there next to me. “I mean it. It’s best not to get in the middle of it when those two go at it.”
Go at it? Since when had that happened? I’d never seen Christian and Nicolai fight before, and they certainly weren’t going to fight about this. It was stupid, and private, if Christian must know. What I did with his brothers was none of his business. “This is about me, and I’m taking care of it.”
I pushed the door open. Stephan sighed behind me, but that wasn’t going to stop me. Nicolai and Christian faced one another in the center of the room. Nicolai’s bedroom wasn’t as neat and tidy as some of the brothers. He gave Connor a run for his money, but Christian’s and Stephan’s were always well cleaned and everything had a place.
Nic looked past Christian to me. His face was strained, caught between guilt and nonchalance. “I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t mean to?” Christian argued, his anger bubbling over. “So, you didn’t mean to and that makes it okay? For fuck’s sake, Nic, you marked her.”
Stephan gasped behind me. I spun on my heel, facing him as his face went white. He looked at Nic as if he’d punched him in the stomach. Nic cursed and looked away.
I strode up to Stephan, and took his hand in mine. “What’s going on?” My heart raced, dread pooling in my stomach. What had been discomfort about discussing my romantic life with Nicolai had just changed due to Stephan’s reaction. If Stephan was mad at Nic, something different had to be going on. “What does ‘marked’ mean?” I moved my hair out of the way, remembering Christian’s reaction to the two puncture wounds on my neck. “Is that what this is?”
Stephan ground his teeth together, and looked over me to his brother. “You did this?”
Nicolai marched toward me and moved my shirt and hair away at the same time. He hissed when he saw it. “I didn’t realize they actually sunk in. I was just…caught up in what we were doing. You know how it is with her.”
Stephan turned away, his head lowering to look at the floor.
“What the hell is it?” I said, turning toward Nic. “Why is this such a big deal?”
Christian pushed past Nic and took my hands in his. “It’s a big deal because sinking your fangs into a human means you’ve marked them. It’s a way of staking a claim. He’s basically made it impossible for the rest of us to be with you.”
I staggered back, but Christian held on tight, a life preserver in the madness. “That’s why you couldn’t kiss me? But I could…” I stared down his body, remembering the way I made him feel not ten minutes ago. If it was true that Nicolai marked me as his, why could we still do that?
Christian’s throat worked. His gray-blue eyes were wide. Worry and anger warred in his depths. “Because that had nothing to do with you, Ariana. That was all about me. When I tried to kiss you, it just felt wrong. It felt like I shouldn’t be there, it felt like I shouldn’t take pleasure in it, and now I know the reason why. Nicolai’s decided to do whatever the hell he wants, no matter the cost.”
“I didn’t decide,” Nic seethed.
“You have no self-control,” Christian barked. “You marked her like a blood whore.”
I blinked, my hands clenching my middle as my stomach roiled at his words. Blood whore. I knew that was bad. That was definitely a title I didn’t want. A title that would ruin any respect I’d earned.
Nicolai pushed Christian. He went sailing into Stephan who held him up. “Don’t call her that.”
The door burst open, and Connor came striding in. His easy grin melted from his face as he took all of us in. “What’s the yelling about?”
None of us said anything at first, but then Nic said, “I made a mistake.”
Connor laughed. “Well, what’s new?”
Christian stood tall and straightened his shirt around himself. “You won’t be laughing in a second, brother.”
Connor looked from me to Stephan before asking. “What happened?” At least I wasn’t the only one who knew Stephan would tell the truth no matter what and with the honesty we needed in situations like this.
“Nicolai bit Ariana.”
Connor turned, his blond hair whipping around his face. “No.”
Christian gestured toward me, and Connor followed his lead. He walked right up to me, put his hand behind my head, and lowered his lips to mine. Within seconds, I knew the difference. I didn’t feel anything from him. It still felt good to me. It still felt like it always did when I kissed one of them. I wanted more, but from them? Nothing.
He ripped his lips away from mine and growled. He launched himself at Nicolai, his fist piercing the air between them until he struck Nic’s cheek. My hand covered my mouth as shock rippled through me. “No!” I moved forward, yanking Connor off Nic and getting between them. “Stop fighting. I’m sure we can figure t
his out.”
Nic rubbed his jaw. To his credit, he hadn’t attempted to go after Connor in retaliation. If he had, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop the fight, and the way everyone was feeling right now, Christian or Stephan wouldn’t have intervened either.
“Maybe I can heal the wounds,” Stephan offered. “It’s a longshot, but I can try.”
“Wounds,” Nicolai scoffed.
Stephan’s jaw clenched. “If it was one of us, you’d be furious, Nicolai. You wouldn’t have stopped at one punch, and you wouldn’t be having a rational conversation right now. You’d be out for blood, so just…don’t even talk.”
Nic’s eyes rounded. I looked at the faces of the men I loved and recognized all the hurt and pain. “I’d like to try that, Stephan. Could you please?” I’d liked being bitten by Nic, but I still wanted the connection with the other guys too. What if I couldn’t get that back? What if it was gone?
Stephan left immediately. I turned to Connor and tried to keep my emotions in check. “You’re sure you can’t kiss me?”
His shoulders slumped. “I can kiss you, Princess. It just feels so wrong. Marking someone when you’re a vampire is like staking your claim on them. We think it evolved due to food sources. If you mark a human, they’re your food source. No one else can touch them.”
“So, what’s this about blood whore then?”
Connor growled again, his hard stare focusing on Nic who’d turned away. “Feeding can be a sensual experience. It heightens emotions, especially if the participants are already turned on, the vampire feels it ten times over. The same can go for the human involved. It’s kind of…erotic.”
I nodded, silently agreeing with him. It had felt good. Really good. “I think Nic did just get carried away. He would never—”
“Just? He just got carried away? We all feel the same things for you, Princess. You didn’t see one of us sinking our fangs into you, did you? No. Because we wouldn’t do that to the rest of us.”
“He didn’t mean to.”
“Just stop, Ri,” Nic finally said. “They’re right. I’m selfish and self-centered and think about nothing but my own pleasure. I bit you because I liked it. I bit you because I enjoyed the hell out of it, and—and—”
“Enough,” Christian said, his voice surprisingly calm. Stephan, who’d come back in during Nic’s short tirade made his way over to me and opened the tin of his miracle salve. In this case, I hoped it worked.
It wasn’t about being tied to Nic, it was about wanting to be tied to all of them, too. Stephan’s fingers worked into my skin. I shifted my head to the side so he’d have ample room to work with. When he was done, he tipped my chin and touched his lips to mine. He pulled away slowly, a small, tentative smile on his face. “I just had to see for myself.”
“Do I feel…wrong?”
“You feel exactly like you used to, Ariana. You’re perfect.”
“So you can—”
He shook his head. “It’s us who’ve changed now. Our reaction to you, I mean.”
I turned to Nic, noticing the bend in his shoulders, the way he carried all the weight he’d been holding on to lately. “I need a few minutes alone with Nic.”
Feet shuffled toward the door, but then Christian’s voice spoke up. “Now that you’re marked, Ariana, it will be hard to resist Nicolai. I ask that you try to do that for the rest of us until we can figure things out.”
I nodded, understanding Christian’s sentiment. When the door closed behind him, I walked up to Nic and put my arms around him. He stiffened. “Shouldn’t you hate me about now?”
“Hate you? It’s way too late for that.”
“So, we’re already into despise territory?”
“Would I hug someone I despised?”
“Maybe if you were going to choke the life out of them.”
I smiled. “Look at me, Nic.” He turned in my arms. I looked at him straight, the smudges under his eyes more prevalent than just an hour or two ago. “I’m only going to ask once. Did you mean to mark me?”
His head fell. “No. I guessed I knew I was toying around with something I shouldn’t, but I never meant to go that far. I’ve teased you with my fangs before, and you seemed to like it, so I did that. Next thing I knew, I was putting just that much more pressure because of the way you reacted to it.” He shook his head. “I just…wanted you to remember our first time.”
I chuckled darkly. “Well, you’ve succeeded in that. Now everyone will remember our first time, too.”
He ran his hands through his hair and clasped his fingers behind his neck. “I fucked up. I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what to say or do to make this better. I didn’t mean to do that to them, but I have been acting like a dick lately, Ri. I can’t talk to any one of them without getting pissed off. I can’t even get along with my own father. Earlier when he told Connor he could help out, but yet, I’m still here, sidelined, sitting with my thumb up my ass, I was impossibly angry. I can’t stop the anger. It’s consuming me, and maybe this was an outlet. Just a way to let everything go and experience the two of us. I just…don’t know what happened. You have to believe me.”
I took his hands in mine. “I do believe you. You’re not selfish, Nic. I think you’re the exact opposite, actually. You just said you were trying to make me feel better. That’s not selfishness, is it?”
“I know what the consequences are. I took the chance and it backfired. I’d never done that before to anyone. God, it was just so…perfect. You and me, finally together for the first time and all my clear, level-headed thoughts went right out the window.”
“Level-headed? You still are Nicolai Ravana, aren’t you? You haven’t been abducted by aliens or anything, right?”
He bit down on a smile. “Aliens don’t exist.”
“Yeah, like vampires don’t exist.”
His stare hardened. “Will you take this seriously? I just screwed your other relationships. I messed everything up.”
“I am taking it seriously. We still have this relationship, don’t we?” I asked, motioning between the two of us. “There’s still a Nic and Ri, and I’m not going to sabotage this because of a mistake. We just need to figure out how to fix the others. Do you think Stephan’s cream will work?”
Nic shook his head. “No. My venom went into your bloodstream. The cream won’t do anything for that. If Stephan was thinking more clearly, he would’ve realized that. He probably was thinking clearly, actually. He was just trying to think of something to calm everyone down because that’s what he does.”
“Can you maybe suck the venom out?”
“I doubt piercing your skin again will do any good. It’ll just piss them off even more.”
“Then, will the affects wear off? Maybe after a while the feeling will just go away?”
He shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. Bloodletting is forbidden in our world. It’s not really discussed in polite, everyday conversation. We’re only taught the reasons why we shouldn’t do it.”
I sat down on his bed and fell backward, my hands coming out to my sides in defeat. I breathed out a heavy sigh. As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, now we were facing the first major relationship hiccup, and it wasn’t something small either. It was huge. “You have to talk to your brothers and apologize. Make them see that you really didn’t mean to do it. They’ll come around.”
“I don’t know. Stephan was right. I wouldn’t be accepting any apology if they’d done this to me—to us. I’ve basically intercepted all their relationships with you and frayed them for one instant of pleasure.”
My stomach flipped, remembering the rush of emotions, the pleasure-pain of his fangs sinking into me. “Is there someone you can trust to ask about this, Nic? Isabelle, maybe? I mean, she knows about us so that won’t be a shock, and it’s not as if she’s going to turn you in to The Council for it.”
Nic leaned over me. He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’m so sorry, Ri.” He pulled away and stared down
. “I’ll talk to her right now.”
Before I could answer him, he breezed out of the room, the door slamming behind him. I let out a breath and curled up, taking Nic’s pillow and shoving it under my head. As if being with four vampires wasn’t logistically extraordinary enough, now we had to add another element into the mix.
Well, at least while Nic did that, I could talk to the others. I pushed myself off the bed and walked into the hall. Since Connor had the most explosive reaction, I’d talk to him first.
I knocked on his door and rocked back onto my heels. His voice sounded from the other side. “Come in…unless you’re Nic, then fuck off.”
I rolled my eyes and waltzed in. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand his anger. I totally did. I was mad about it, too, but holding it over Nic wasn’t the answer. He sat up when he saw it was me. “Sorry. I thought you might’ve been Christian or Stephan.” I walked up to him and sat next to him on the bed. I didn’t say anything at first, not knowing where to start. “I’m not mad at you, you know.”
“No, you’re just mad at your brother.”
His throat worked. “And you don’t think I should be.”
“No, I understand it. Completely. I just—I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to know, but Nic did.”
“We’ll figure a way out of this.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed.
He squeezed me back and turned toward me. “We better find a way out of it because I’ll be lost if I can’t kiss you anymore, if we can’t express our feelings for one another, Princess.”
I swallowed, understanding the truth to his words. Out of all the princes, Connor was always the most open about his feelings for me, dropping kisses on my cheeks, holding me as often as he could. I wrapped my hands around his neck and hugged him tight to me. “Is this okay?”
He nodded into me, his hands coming around my middle. He fell back on the bed, bringing me with him. “This feels perfect.”
I closed my eyes, reveling in the fact that this hadn’t been taken away from us. And hopefully, as Connor and I cuddled, Nic was finding out answers from Isabelle that would smooth this whole mess over.