Blood of Souls

by Vivien Dean

  “I hate hurting him,” she whispered.

  Theo cocked his head. His free hand caressed her cheek. “I know.”

  “So how do I stop?”

  “You stay.”

  “I don’t know if I can.”

  “Do you really think you could walk away?”

  No.

  But she couldn’t say it out loud.

  Theo cupped her face, slow, hesitant. Though his touch remained light, there was a fresh tension in his arm, as if he was ready to pull away as soon as she told him to.

  Annie didn’t. Her heart thundered, and her breath quickened, but she stayed utterly still. Watching. Waiting.

  “You are so beautiful,” Theo murmured. He brushed his thumb over the corner of her mouth. The way he leaned in and kissed the very same spot mesmerized her. “I don’t remember women looking as you do. None of those Quin and I shared could even compare to your loveliness, Annie.”

  Her lips felt unbearably dry, but if she licked them, she’d taste Theo’s as well. “So…you like women, too? It wasn’t just a sharing thing because that’s what Quin wanted?”

  “I adore women. The soft sounds they make…” His mouth trailed upward, and she closed her eyes in time for him to gently kiss her eyelids. “How it feels to sink inside them.” The hand along her arm disappeared, reappearing at her waist in order to pull her closer. “But you are in an entirely different class than any other I have known. I loved you long before Quin realized the treasure he had in you.”

  His simple declaration sent a ripple down her spine. Considering how long it had taken for her and Quin to become intimate, she didn’t doubt for a second that he spoke the truth. She had spent a lot of time with the sword, caring for it as if it was her own. His awareness lent his vows credence.

  His tender touch lent them even more.

  Annie whimpered when he kissed the curve of her shoulder. “We shouldn’t do this…”

  Immediately, Theo stopped. “You wished for us to get to know each other. Am I hurting you?”

  “No, no.” When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was his mouth. It was fuller than Quin’s. Softer. “But this wasn’t the kind of getting to know each other I had in mind.”

  His thumb returned to caress the corner of her lips. “Is it so bad?”

  It was better to lie. Better for both of them, better for any sense of longevity their relationship might have.

  Annie told the truth anyway.

  “No. Not really.”

  He smiled. Just a shadow, just enough for her to see his relief at her response. This time when Theo leaned in, his aim was more true.

  The kiss was more of a promise, the kind made in the dead of night when the darkness coerced its occupants to whisper. Theo didn’t press for anything deep or hungry or even rushed, but the deliberate claim of her lips left her shaking, nonetheless. Nobody had kissed her except Quin in years. She hadn’t entertained the possibility. Now, for the first time in a very long period, her body quivered for more than a simple kiss.

  The hand at her waist slid around her back. Theo pulled, and Annie yielded, and without any effort at all, she sat across his lap, her arms going around his neck in order to cling to him. His erection pressed into her bottom, but its long line didn’t alarm her. She knew—somehow—that he wouldn’t take the advantage until she was ready to give it.

  That made their light caresses even more thrilling.

  Theo lifted his head, his mouth glistening from the small sweeps her tongue had made over it. “Stay here tonight,” he said. “Let me hold you. You’ll see then.”

  Annie swallowed. “I’ll see what?”

  “That I have as much desire to see you as a part of this relationship as Quin does. Neither one of us wants you to go. Even better if you’ll let us love you.”

  Let me hold you.

  He didn’t ask for more. His body was hard for more carnal demands, but something held him back. Respect, she suspected. Even love? Annie didn’t know. She still had more questions than answers. She still wished deep down that her bubble hadn’t been burst.

  But there were worse people to welcome into their circle.

  She lay back onto the bed, pulling Theo with her. A pleased smile curved his lips, but then it was lost to her as he rolled her in his embrace, spooning against her back with his arm around her waist. Her hair tickled across her neck, followed by his warm breath, and she sighed in unexpected delight as his kisses erased the last of her tension.

  “Sleep, Annie,” he whispered.

  As her lashes fluttered shut, she thought she just might.

  CHAPTER 7

  Nothing stirred when Annie rose from Theo’s bed. He slept on, his lashes dark against his cheeks, his mouth in a soft pout as he rolled away from the empty space she left. She refused to look behind her as she slipped into the hall, but with the closed door at her back, she sagged and shut her eyes.

  Her dreams had been an erotic concoction of both men pleasuring her, then pleasuring each other, all of it mingling with her fears at being left behind. She didn’t think it was that unreasonable. Didn’t Theo count as Quin’s One True Love? Quin had held onto the sword for centuries. That meant something.

  So did the fact that Theo seemed to know her just as well as Quin did. It had been frighteningly easy to fall asleep in his bed last night, even though she should have been too anxious to relax. He’d never made a sexual advance, in spite of the arousal pressing into her ass when they’d lain down.

  Actions weighed just as much as supposition. More so, in this case. How did she know Theo didn’t have the same fears? She had been the one currently in Quin’s bed. It was more than reasonable for him to believe that she was the one usurping his position, not the other way around.

  Down the hall, a door opened. Annie straightened as Quin stepped out of their room, clad only in a pair of shorts he liked to sleep in. His shoulders were slumped. The glimpse she caught of his face before he turned blindly for the stairs noted shadows beneath his eyes.

  If he’d slept, it hadn’t been well.

  “Morning,” she said softly.

  Quin jerked around at the sound of her voice. His gaze jumped from her to the door she stood in front of, his brows bleeding into a dark line. “Good morning,” he replied carefully. “Is Theo all right?”

  “Oh. He’s fine. He’s still sleeping.” Heat rose in her cheeks. “We…spent some time together last night.”

  He glanced at the door again. The wheels were turning. She could practically hear them. But rather than press with embarrassing questions, he said, “I hope it was worth it.”

  “It was. I think.”

  The distance between them killed her. Annie took several hesitant steps, grateful when he countered with his own. They ended nearly a foot apart, but it was close enough to see her assessment about the quality of his sleep had been correct.

  “I missed you last night.” Quin reached out and toyed with a lock of her hair. “Our bed is too big without you in it.”

  Our bed. Not his bed. No mention of Theo or anything else.

  Annie took a deep breath, trying to quell her rampaging nerves. “Why didn’t you ask Theo to stay with you?”

  “Because that would’ve convinced you, you were right about who I want. And you’re not. This isn’t about choosing Theo. I’m not the same man I was when we were together.”

  She nodded. “Everybody has to get acquainted, it sounds like.”

  “Theo doesn’t understand that, but he trusts me to do the right thing.” Quin let his hand drop and leaned his shoulder heavily against the wall. “He always did.”

  He trusted Annie, too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have respected her wishes the night before.

  She edged closer. “I don’t want to leave,” she confessed. “I think of this as my home.”

  Fierce hope blazed in his black eyes. “It is your home.”

  “But it’s going to be Theo’s home, too. And I don’t know how I’m going
to feel seeing the two of you together.”

  “So you’d give up without ever finding out?”

  Everything about him weighed on her—his heat, his gaze, his expectations. “I wouldn’t still be here if I’d given up. And I wouldn’t have gone to Theo last night to try and get to know him better if I wasn’t willing to at least attempt to make this work.”

  “Then tell me what you want. Tell me what I have to do to keep you here.”

  She saw the naked truth in his eyes. He meant it. Every word. It made her decision all that much easier.

  “Go wake up Theo,” Annie said. “Bring him into our room. Maybe I need to start with seeing him there to figure out how I feel about it.”

  Quin seemed unsure, but when she stepped out of his way, clearing the path for the other bedroom, he pushed off the wall and nodded.

  “Be right back.”

  He only went two steps before turning toward her. Cupping her face in his hands, he surprised her with a kiss, his mouth warm and inviting as it danced over hers. He didn’t linger, releasing her almost as quickly as he’d touched her, but she felt the burn across her lower lip long after he let himself into Theo’s bedroom.

  Annie exhaled. Rather than wait for them to come out, she hurried on to their room, only to pause, frozen, in the doorway.

  That was her bed, her nightstand. There was her closet, her bathroom door. Just the night before, she and Quin had made love on those rumpled sheets. She belonged here. It called to her as no other place had since moving out on her own. Walking away from it when she’d thought the best thing was to let Quin and Theo have their future together had been the hardest thing she had ever done.

  Now she was back.

  She didn’t think she had the selflessness, let alone the strength, to walk away again.

  Hands slipped around her waist. “It’s yours,” Quin said at her ear. She hadn’t even heard him come back. “For as long as you want it to be.”

  Annie glanced over her shoulder to see Theo hovering in the hallway. When he gave her a sleepy smile, her mouth curved in automatic response.

  “How was your first night in a bed in two thousand years?” she teased.

  His smile broadened. “Better for having you in it.”

  His words gave her courage, easing her path into the bedroom. Behind her, Theo shut the door, but when Quin attempted to lead her to the bed, Annie balked and pulled away.

  “I can’t be a part of this yet.” Her gaze flickered between the two men. “I can’t know until I see you two.”

  Theo cocked his head, while Quin fidgeted. “I’m not sure what you want us to do,” Quin said.

  She took a steadying breath. “Kiss him.”

  She’d seen Quin with his male lovers, prior to their own relationship. She knew what it looked like to see him kiss another man, watch his hands smooth down another man’s back. This was different, and not just because it was Theo. She was watching from the perspective of someone who’d actually felt those fingers on her skin, who knew about the callus on his index finger from his writing. She knew how that first brush of his mouth could tickle before Quin deepened the caress.

  She almost felt that now.

  Though Theo moved eagerly closer, Quin remained hesitant. He glanced at Annie one last time before reaching out to the other man. He sifted his fingers through the longer strands at his nape, letting his fingers mold over the skull. As he leaned down, with his lips slightly parted, her heart hammered in her chest.

  Theo moaned at the first contact of mouth to mouth, but he kept his arms at his side, the muscles bunched from how hard he was holding himself back. Part of Annie felt bad for keeping them separated, but Quin was restraining himself as well. He didn’t take Theo into his arms or do something as bold as grab his ass. The kiss stayed tender, with their chests barely making contact.

  When they parted, Annie’s skin felt like she’d been tossed into a dryer and turned on high. It was too tight, too hot, and she was very well aware that her nipples had puckered into hard peaks.

  “Is that what…” Quin’s question faded when his gaze settled on her. It swept over her once, and the muscles in his throat worked as he swallowed. “Come here,” he said instead, and held out his hand.

  Her feet moved, not of their own accord but of hers. She couldn’t resist Quin when he issued these commands, even in a situation such as this one. She came to a stop perpendicular to them, waiting for what was to come next.

  Quin grasped her wrist. Without saying a word, he prodded her to move behind Theo, only releasing her when the other man stood between them. She barely reached Theo’s shoulder, but as she stood there, wondering what he wanted, Quin reached an arm around to pull her tightly against Theo’s back.

  A gurgled sound came from Theo. “Quin…”

  “Feel how soft she is?” His voice was low, seductive. “Annie? Touch him.”

  Touch him? She was already touching him. Her breasts were crushed to his muscled back, and his ass ground against her stomach. When neither man did anything, she experimentally ran her fingertips along Theo’s side. His skin scorched. His gasp was echoed by Quin’s murmured approval.

  An emboldened Annie inched farther along his waist. His sweats stretched over his erection, and she fingered the gap created at the elastic by the wet tip. She pressed her cheek to his back. How could one person generate so much heat? Everywhere she touched, his flesh flamed. It only got hotter when his head tilted to accept another of Quin’s kisses.

  Theo trembled, and each quiver reverberated into her body. Annie molded her hand over his covered cock, stroking him through the sweats until he started to thrust into her palm. It knocked her knuckles into Quin. She wasn’t surprised to feel that he was hard, too. They were all aroused. It seemed to feed back into them with each glide of Quin’s lips, every flex of Annie’s fingers.

  “Stop,” Theo panted. Annie froze, but Quin did, too, neither sure who Theo was addressing. “This isn’t about me. This isn’t how I want this.”

  “Annie asked for it. I’m doing this for her.”

  She snorted at Quin’s declaration. “Right. Because you’re not getting anything out of this at all.”

  She almost stumbled when Theo twisted out from between them. Just as quickly, he was at her back, and she was the one sandwiched against their hard bodies.

  “If we are to be, we’re to be together,” Theo said.

  Annie craned her neck to look back at him, but further movement was impossible. “Quin was telling the truth. I asked to see you two together.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I needed to know if I could handle it. If I’d feel left out. Or hurt.”

  “But…” Confusion took away his smile. “You joined us. You touched me. If you felt those things, you wouldn’t have been able to do that, would you?”

  Quin’s arms stiffened. In anticipation of her response? Maybe. Annie couldn’t look away from Theo as she pondered his question. Because it made sense. A lot of sense. And she was already here, willing to take the chance, willing to try and stay because she loved Quin, because she trusted him when he said he needed her.

  Slowly, Annie shook her head. “No, I shouldn’t have been able to do that.” Somehow, she found the strength to turn back to Quin, to meet his expectant gaze. “So I guess that means we do this together.”

  The sudden swoop of his hands cupping her face made her breath catch. Quin held her still as his thumb traced her lower lip until it tingled.

  “Trust me,” he said. “This will be wonderful.”

  Time stood still as he bent his head. The slow, dizzying kiss traced over her mouth, much like he had done with Theo, but when she parted her lips to open for him, he didn’t hold back. Their tongues touched, and the electricity she craved jumped between them. She had to fight the instinct to throw her arms around him. They weren’t alone, after all. She didn’t want Theo to struggle with the same misconceptions she had.

  Firm hands molded over her h
ips. Though she covered his fingers with her own, Quin refused to let her go from the kiss. His mouth grew more demanding, seeking out the warm depths of hers. He stroked and caressed, nibbled and bit, spinning away the last of her reservations with touches that drove her crazy.

  Theo traced her curves, settling at her waist to slither between her and Quin. He found the lowest button of her shirt and popped it free, parting the fabric one button at a time. Gliding over her flushed skin, he crept upward. Inch by inch. Degree by degree. He paused only when he reached her bra.

  “Help me,” Theo whispered. “I do not know this garment.”

  Quin broke away at that point, his breath quick and hot. “She has the most beautiful breasts,” he said, though his gaze darted between her and Theo. “Let me.”

  Theo stepped back far enough to pull the shirt from her shoulders, but it was the delicate attention of Quin’s fingers that made her knees tremble. He traced the line of her bra around her sides, finding the clasp in the rear. He released the hook, and the silken fabric slackened.

  “Touch her,” he said to Theo, a repeat of the same instruction he’d issued to Annie earlier.

  Annie didn’t move. She couldn’t. She could barely breathe as Theo took the same path Quin had in reverse, reaching around to palm her breast.

  “So soft.” His breath fanned across her ear. “Quin spoke of you, you know. Whenever he would come and talk, not realizing I was aware of what he said. And I’ve listened to you, when you speak with him on the phone.” Fingertips touched the bare tips of her nipples, only the slightest of touches, but it was enough to make her feel like she’d been shocked. “I know how sensitive you are. How to make you whimper until you scream for both of us.”

  “You don’t.”

  Her challenge came out unbidden. Quin cocked an amused brow.

  “Do I need to tie you to the bed and prove it to you?” he said. “Or simply tie you to the bed for the fun of it?”

  A fresh flood of desire coursed through her, settling between her thighs. His banter felt so normal. These were games they played all the time, even yesterday when he’d ordered her not to masturbate to take the edge off before he got home.