Blood of Souls

by Vivien Dean

  Theo caressed Quin’s shoulder and chest, adoration in his face. “I’ve missed this. The contact. There were times I thought I’d go crazy for being so close and not being able to touch you.”

  Each stroke shot electricity through his veins. Though his emotions were still conflicted, his head awhirl, Quin felt his body reacting, his cock already starting to harden again. “We don’t have to miss it anymore.” He caught Theo’s wrist and lifted his hand to his mouth, kissing the palm. “Now we have eternity to be together.”

  “Do you think I do?” Theo groaned as Quin ran the tip of his tongue along his lifeline. “I don’t feel any differently than when I was alive.”

  Quin froze. “Why would the gods do that to us? They wouldn’t bring us back together again, only to take you away. You have to be as I am.”

  Suddenly, it seemed imperative to know. Pulling Theo along, Quin led the way out of the storage room and to the kitchen. It wouldn’t take much. Just a small cut. If Theo was immortal as well, it would heal over immediately, just as Quin’s always did.

  Theo stayed mute while Quin worked. The eyes that had always shaken Quin with their innocence, no matter how many battles they fought together, were unwavering and sure, never leaving his, even when he pulled the large knife out of the block. It was on the tip of his tongue to warn Theo about the impending injury, but one glance told him the words would be a waste of breath.

  He drew the blade across the fleshy part of Theo’s palm. The cut was shallow, but blood welled to the surface almost upon contact, rich against the tawny shade of his skin. Quin steadied his grip on Theo’s wrist and waited, unblinking, patient. His cuts healed within seconds, leaving no scar, no imperfection, not even a droplet of blood. He fully anticipated Theo’s to do the same.

  The silence in the kitchen began to boom as the blood filled the lifeline first, and then the heart line. It ran toward Theo’s fingers, without any hint of stopping, and oozed into the crevices between them. Quin couldn’t look up. With each millimeter it got closer to dripping to the floor, his heart constricted. Why wasn’t it reversing? It shouldn’t have taken this long.

  His eyes burned when Theo asked as much.

  “No,” Quin said. “If we were the same, it would have healed already.” He stuck Theo’s hand beneath the tap and ran cold water over the wound, watching the blood swirl down the drain. “I don’t understand.”

  Theo touched his shoulder. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does!” He winced as he realized how tightly he was clutching Theo’s wrist, and consciously slackened his grip. “What did we do to deserve this torture? You’ll die again, and this time, I really will be alone.”

  “But we’ll still have more time than we had the first time. And you don’t have to be alone. You found Annie, didn’t you?”

  Quin swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. This was what he’d been doomed to. He was going to lose Theo again and Annie and anybody else who might manage to get through his defenses. It made him want to chuck the whole idea of love completely, throw it out the window so that it smashed into a million pieces, irreparable and irretrievable.

  “Don’t.” Cupping the side of Quin’s face, Theo tilted his head to force his focus back. Love shone in his soft eyes, and he leaned up in order to brush a matching kiss across Quin’s mouth. “This is a gift, not a punishment. We could have been separated forever, and yet, we’ve been given a chance to spend more time together. You said it yourself. This is more than you ever thought you’d get.”

  Quin sighed and bowed his head. “That’s not going to make losing you a second time any easier.”

  “Perhaps not. But we know how precious it is now. We’ll make the most of it. This time, you’ll know we haven’t been deprived of the life we wanted together.”

  “And after?”

  “Why must we consider that now? If you dwell on that, you’ll spoil what we might have.” Theo caressed Quin’s jaw in small, gentle strokes. “Annie would tell you to stop being so melodramatic. That always seemed to snap you out of your spells when I saw them.”

  Quin sighed. “She knows me better than I know myself sometimes.”

  “So you should listen to her. From what I can see, she is the best thing that has happened to you in a very long time.”

  She was. So much so that he’d imagined her being around as long as he’d ever imagined Theo. Now he had both of them.

  Both of them. How was he supposed to choose?

  He had persevered centuries for Theo. Sold his very soul for time. That was no small feat, and yet, his reward—as Theo saw it—had finally been granted. He was given the life he’d wanted, with a man who thrilled him both in and out of bed, whose goodness had colored nearly every choice Quin had made during their time together, who epitomized everything he had ever desired.

  But then there was Annie. Beautiful, strong, steadfast. In a world he wished more and more to escape, she moored him without even trying. She responded to needs he never thought he had, took care of his affairs so expertly that he knew he could cede all control over to her and nothing would suffer. Quin looked at her and his entire being thrummed with desire—lust for her body, need for her quiet humor and intelligence. She loved him so much, she’d sent him to Theo without pause, without any sense of herself.

  And he was supposed to give one of them up?

  “What’s wrong?” Theo’s question reached out and wrapped around Quin. “You’re lost in thought.”

  Clasping Theo’s nape, Quin pulled him against his larger body, burying his face in the crook of Theo’s neck. “I’m dreading the choices I have to make,” he confessed in a hot whisper. “I was alone for so long, and now there’s two of you.”

  Fingers smoothed up and down the knobs of Quin’s spine. “What do you have to choose?”

  “What? You or Annie, of course.”

  “Why?”

  The simple query made him lift his head. “What do you mean, why?”

  “Annie’s wonderful. Why do we have to send her away?”

  He thought it was telling that Theo automatically understood that Annie would be the one Quin would ultimately choose to let go. There was too much time invested between him and Theo. If he selected Annie instead, it would negate the significance of his sacrifice.

  “Do you think she would stay? Would you want her to stay?”

  The corner of Theo’s mouth canted. “It’s not like we didn’t take the occasional female when we were together,” he teased. “And I adore Annie. I couldn’t have asked for anybody better to love you in my absence.”

  “And it doesn’t bother you that I want her in my bed, too?”

  Theo dropped his hand to cup Quin’s ass, pulling their hips together. “I’d like all three of us in that bed, if it’s possible. I’ve listened to the two of you, and it’s just made me wish I could sink into her the way you do. Or to see her on her knees, servicing both of us? That would be a treat.”

  The potency of the description went straight to Quin’s cock. He could see it. He could even see both Annie and Theo on their knees, kissing and sucking his length while stealing kisses in between each caress. He hadn’t considered that as a possibility, but now that Theo mentioned it, he realized that was what he wanted. He wouldn’t have to choose. He could have both of the people who meant the world to him.

  There was only one drawback.

  “She’ll never agree to something like that.” Quin pulled away, leaning against the edge of the counter. “We’ve played our own games, and she knows I’m bi, but she’s never expressed a desire for a threesome or anything.”

  “Have you asked her?”

  “Well, no, but—”

  Theo grabbed his hand and tugged. “So let’s go ask. Please. You need to introduce me properly anyway.”

  He had a point. Quin allowed himself to be led until Theo reached the doorway, unsure of which direction to take, then turned toward the stairs, easily moving to the fore. He was almost as a
nxious about going to see Annie now as he had been for Theo. That tingling sense of anticipation was more welcome this time, though. At least he knew, for in spite of how much she’d had to absorb, Annie would be there for him until the end.

  Except she wasn’t.

  Standing in the doorway, Quin stared into the empty bedroom. The blankets were askew from their earlier lovemaking, and the pillow still had an indentation from where Annie had rested. The door to the bathroom was ajar, blackness within. Nothing looked different or out of place, except for Annie’s absence.

  “Maybe she decided to do some work,” Theo suggested.

  Quin didn’t think so, but he checked the study anyway. He checked the entire house. There wasn’t a sign of her anywhere to be found, but he did discover a note resting atop his pillow when he returned despondent to the bedroom, as if in hopes she would miraculously be there.

  His throat tightened as he unfolded the single sheet of paper. Notes were never good.

  ——

  Dreams are always best when they come true. Treasure each other. Don’t worry about me. I’ll come for my things eventually.

  —A

  ——

  “What does it say?” Theo hovered at his shoulder, brows drawn together. It took Quin a moment to realize that he couldn’t read it. He might understand English from being aware of his surroundings, but he wouldn’t be able to read anything but Latin until Quin taught him otherwise.

  “She left.” Saying the words out loud didn’t make them any easier to believe. “I don’t think she’s coming back.”

  His frown deepened. “But Annie loves you,” Theo argued. “She wouldn’t just walk away from you.”

  “She would if she thought I would rather be with someone else.”

  “Did you tell her that?”

  “No! God, no.” Crumpling the note into a ball, Quin threw it at the wall, unsatisfied with the way it didn’t make the crash he needed to hear. “She’s being fucking noble about all this.”

  “You mean she’s being Annie.”

  Quin whirled to face Theo, shoving him back into the wall. “You don’t know her, not really. You don’t know how warm she is, how much light she brings into a room just by being in it. You can’t know how infectious her laugh is, or how ticklish she is behind the knees. And you definitely don’t know how she’s the best thing that’s happened to me in centuries.”

  “You’re right.” His voice ceded all authority, but it was the sympathy in his eyes that undid Quin. “But I bet I know where to find her.”

  CHAPTER 5

  When Annie needed to be alone, she always went to the same place.

  The small gardener’s house that sat at the back of Quin’s estate wasn’t used for hired help anymore. The previous owners had had permanent staff that lived on-site, but Quin valued his privacy too much to allow such an arrangement. He only had a cleaning woman who came in twice a week and the gardener who spent Sundays getting the grounds in order. Quin handled everything else. When she’d first been hired, Annie had wondered about the eccentricity of owning such a vast estate if you didn’t have either a large family or a large staff, but she’d long since abandoned those questions. It was just another way to pad himself from the world.

  What that meant, though, was the house would have fallen into ruin without regular upkeep. Annie took that responsibility for her own, and every time life in Quin’s world grew too stressful, she retreated to its cozy walls to find some peace. Perhaps it was foolish to go there when she had every intention of serving her notice. But after the events of the day, she didn’t have the wherewithal to try and find someplace else to stay. She would leave before dawn. That was a problem to tackle with a clearer head than the one she currently had.

  The night was partly clouded, cool with the sun’s absence. She sat on the step outside the front door, leaning back on her hands. She had a perfect view of the house. It was masochistic to watch, but she couldn’t help it. It had been her home for six years. She’d thought it would be her home for years to come. The lights came up in the kitchen, but when they began coming on in room after room, from second floor to first and back again, it took her a few minutes to figure out why.

  Quin was showing Theo around, of course. This was going to be his home now.

  Annie watched the house, long after most of the lights were extinguished. Her ass was going numb when she heard the soft rustling, and she turned her gaze in time to see Quin appear on the path, Theo a few steps behind. She bolted to her feet, but refused to retreat. Technically, she had no right to stay in the gardener’s cottage. If he wanted to ask her to leave, she was going to obey such an order with her head held high.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Quin demanded as he approached.

  His abrupt manner startled Annie, but Theo’s hand on his elbow did more so. Neither man had dressed for a tour of the grounds. Both were still only in the pants they’d pulled on to cover their nudity. Quin’s hair still stood up in wild shocks, but it was the fire in his eyes that pinned her in place.

  Then it was the iron of his hands on her arms.

  “You scared the life out of me,” he said, his voice softer. “Why would you just leave like that?”

  With a frown, she looked from him, to Theo over his shoulder, and back to Quin again. “You have him back.” It seemed like the only answer that should be necessary. “And I don’t think I’m a big enough person to stand aside and watch you two together without it hurting too much.”

  “So the fact that I love you means nothing?”

  “You love him, too. And you’ve waited lifetimes for him. Now you two can finally be together.”

  She stiffened as Theo edged around him. His hand slid down Quin’s arm to fold over the fingers he wrapped around her biceps, but it was the added heat that most surprised her. His touch was careful, gentle, as deferent as he had been to her that morning. He made it very difficult to dislike him for usurping her position in Quin’s affections.

  “Always putting others’ needs ahead of your own,” he said softly. “I couldn’t have wished for a better soul to take care of our Quin in my absence.”

  Her eyes stung. “You don’t know me.”

  “He knew where to find you when I didn’t,” Quin corrected.

  Theo flushed at her astonished scrutiny. “I don’t pretend to understand how it could be, but I have come to know you very well these past six years, Annie. I would ask that you now give yourself the same opportunity to know me.” He smiled. “I think you’ll find that I’m not nearly the bear Quin can be.”

  Quin’s scowl was almost comical, but it still didn’t ease the knots in Annie’s stomach. “It doesn’t make a difference if I would like you,” she argued. “It’s still going to hurt being on the outside.”

  “Nobody’s asking you to be on the outside.” Quin cupped her face, tilting her head to force her to look at him again. “I don’t want you to go anymore than I want Theo to go. Stay with us. Let both Theo and I love you.”

  “Would it be so bad?” Theo murmured before she had the opportunity to process Quin’s implication. He came around her so that she was sandwiched between both men, and curled his arm around her waist. Goose bumps erupted along her arm when he dropped his head and trailed his mouth along her neck. “You wouldn’t be forgotten, Annie. The last thing I want is for you to be unhappy with the arrangement.”

  Quin bent down and kissed her. His lips were hot, softer than they had been in bed, and the lower one quivered before he pulled back. “Let us show you how it could be. Come back to the house.”

  It was impossible to think straight with so much heat pouring into her from every direction. Her head was already whirling from the craziness of men turning into swords, turning back into men again. They didn’t honestly think she could give a straight answer now, did they?

  It took everything she had to rest her palm against Quin’s chest and gently push. To his credit, Theo immediately released her. Quin was the on
e who seemed reluctant to separate.

  “I think you’re overwhelmed,” she said. “And I think you’re tired, because it’s been a long day and a lot has happened.”

  His scowl returned. “Maybe so, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want you to go anywhere. Why won’t you give this a chance?”

  Theo appeared in the corner of her eye, but he stayed silent, waiting for her to respond.

  “Because until an hour ago, I didn’t think he was real. I don’t even know him. Why would you think I’d be okay sleeping with him?”

  “She has a point.” Theo covered her hand with his and helped push Quin back. “I’m a stranger to her, even if she is not to me. We ask too much of her.”

  Quin wanted to argue. She saw the wheels turning around in his head. But Theo’s touch and her denials kept him silent, his mouth thinning with each passing second.

  “Perhaps instead of asking this of Annie, we give her the chance to acquaint herself with me.” Theo glanced between them, his efforts to bridge the gap almost tangible. “Have you ever had to endure meeting one of Quin’s prior lovers?”

  “Not once we got together,” she replied.

  “But would you consider this?” Theo abandoned his contact with Quin to address her directly, stepping back into her personal space to hover between them. “Allow me the honor of escorting you to the house. We can sit and talk, or go out, or whatever it is you wish.”

  What she wished was that he really had been a hallucination and she didn’t have to make this choice in the first place. But the truth of the matter was, she didn’t want to leave. Not in her heart. She wanted to remain in Quin’s life, in his bed, as desperately as he sounded like he wanted her to. She simply wasn’t ready to do it with another person there.

  “Why are you pursuing this?” she asked. “You’ve been separated from Quin for centuries. If I’m not around, you get him all to yourself.”

  When he touched her cheek with his knuckles, her instinct was to jerk beyond his reach. Not in front of Quin, she wanted to say, except Quin hadn’t objected to more personal touches earlier. He would likely not do so again.