by Shona Husk
Sharing Sirius
Shona Husk
In ancient Vampires, boredom can literally kill. When Jack sees Owen beginning to succumb, he knows he is no longer enough. Owen needs the blood of another lover to survive. So Jack turns to Katya, hoping she can entice Owen into living again.
At first Katya denies her lust to her boss, even though she’s wanted him for years. With Jack promising to look the other way, she has a scorching-hot encounter with Owen.
Owen doesn’t want to admit his needs, nor does he want to cheat and break Jack’s heart—yet he can’t resist Katya. But Katya and Jack have their own sexy plan. And neither of them intend to lose Owen.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
www.ellorascave.com
Sharing Sirius
ISBN 9781419937729
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Sharing Sirius Copyright © 2012 Shona Husk
Edited by Briana St. James
Cover design by Syneca
Photography: Sarji Juliia, Lucy Baldwin, Konrad Bak, Tankist276/Shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication February 2012
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.
The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume any responsibility for, author or third-party Web sites or their content.
Sharing Sirius
Shona Husk
Chapter One
Jack had timed his trip to the kitchen to be there when Katya arrived. He made himself a coffee and tried to be patient, but his fingers wanted to drum on the kitchen counter. Yesterday he’d let the opportunity slide by with a few banal exchanges that were no different than any other day. Today would be different. It had to be. Yet it had been a long time since he’d had everything on the line and it had never been such a delicate matter—or so personal.
While the likelihood of disaster was high, if he did nothing, it was certain. He didn’t like to admit he was failing, or that something was wrong with his life, yet that was exactly what he’d be doing if he managed to get the words out. And he’d be telling the only woman who drew his lover’s gaze.
Katya walked into the kitchen and he swallowed without tasting the coffee. With ice-blonde hair and blue eyes, she looked more like a sylph than a Vampire. Owen hadn’t hired her as his assistant because of her looks—well, not entirely. She was efficient and ruthless, a trait Jack couldn’t help but admire. That, and even though he saw the lust in her eyes when she looked at Owen, she’d done nothing.
The same as every morning, she made herself a mug of Elvish hot chokolat before spending the day running around at Owen’s beck and call. Another man might have seen Katya as a rival for Owen’s affections, but he had much bolder plans.
“Morning.” He really had to get past the greeting today.
“Hi, Jack.” She smiled. As usual, she was guarded around him, never holding his gaze for too long. Was she jealous or just imagining what he and Owen got up to when she wasn’t around?
His fingertips brushed the healed bite on his neck. He never concealed the marks his lover made unless he was meeting human clients. Her gaze tracked the motion—was she wondering what he tasted like? She thought he was human. What would she make of the truth? He knew he’d have to tell her at some point.
Jack returned her smile. It didn’t feel natural on his lips. He was going to screw this up. But the distance in Owen’s eyes, how they’d be together but he was a million miles away, stiffened his spine. He wasn’t doing this for himself. He was doing it for Owen.
“How long have you been working for Owen now?”
She sipped her drink and shivered as the heat and etheric combined. Chokolat was apparently almost as good as drinking blood. “Three years.”
Three years. It had been two years since Jack had started to notice the subtle changes in Owen. At first he’d brushed them off, now he couldn’t. He’d tried to broach the subject with Owen more than once, but he didn’t know what to say and Owen didn’t want to hear it even though the ennui was closing in. This was his last chance. He had to put his trust in another Vampire. Trusting Vampires was always risky—he’d learned that the hard way.
Jack took a breath and jumped before he could reconsider. “Has he fancied you that whole time?”
Her eyes widened. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her cheeks colored a delicate shade of pink—as if she’d been sunburned. She knew; she just didn’t want to be discussing it with him.
He totally understood, and would have ignored the attraction between Owen and Katya, but desperate times made men take chances they wouldn’t usually dream of. And he was a desperate man.
Jack moved closer, his hand landing on the small of her back. She flinched and turned to face him. He didn’t pull his hand away. They were close, too close if Owen walked in. But he wouldn’t. He’d be in the music room toying with melodies like he did every morning. But these days he wasn’t writing anything new. Some days he repeated the same piece again and again. Yet it was the one part of his life where he still found joy and a reason to keep going. Old Vampires eventually suffered from the ennui, a condition that, if left, would cause them to end their lives out of boredom. At seven hundred years old, Owen was showing the signs.
Jack couldn’t help Owen on his own. He glanced down at Katya, knowing the ennui was a problem she couldn’t solve with a half dozen phone calls. However, together…
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to feel his bite?” His free hand trailed down her neck. “Wanted to lie naked on his desk?”
“Jack.” She put her hands on his chest and pushed.
He let her break free. “Do you want him?”
Her head moved slightly, a nod, maybe. “He loves you.”
Jack laughed, but it held no joy. “I know that. But I’ve seen the look in his eyes when you walk in the room.” At first he’d been jealous—who wouldn’t? But then he’d realized that Owen wouldn’t betray him…not even to save himself from the ennui.
“You have nothing to fear from me, I won’t act on it.”
“Ah Katya. You are so young for a Vampire.” He ran his hands up her arms and cupped her face. “I want you to act on your desire.”
He’d expected more of a reaction. A thunderous explosion, the breaking of his heart. For Katya to slap him in the face. Anything would’ve been better than the silence that followed. He could hear the beating of her heart. The pounding of his blood. The relief that he’d finally said the unspeakable.
&nbs
p; Her mouth opened and he was tempted to kiss her to seal the bargain. But she hadn’t agreed yet. He could understand Owen’s attraction to Katya. She was a delicate flower made of steel, with killer thorns. He wouldn’t underestimate her bite—although he wouldn’t mind feeling it. It had been a long time since he’d let anyone but Owen bite him and he’d spent far too long rationalizing this idea and trying to imagine what it would be like. Now he was caught in his own daydream. He pushed the thought aside. He couldn’t let his own desire get in the way.
“What?” Her voice was so quiet he almost missed the single word.
“Tease him, entice him. Do whatever.” He turned away, not sure he could actually stomach the reality. Did he really want Owen to have another lover? The alternative was losing him entirely. The lesser of two evils was still evil—even if she looked like an angel. He closed his eyes and tried to regain some composure.
If it had to be anyone, Katya was perfect. Loyal to Owen and attractive to both of them. He wouldn’t trust another.
She touched his arm. “Are you breaking up with him?”
Jack opened his eyes and turned, half expecting to see a smug grin on her face. Instead there was only concern. “I wouldn’t do that to him. But I no longer hold his attention the way I once I did.”
“It’s not you. It’s his age.” She spoke as if he didn’t understand Vampires.
It was easier to let people think he was human than to reveal the reality. There were very few of his kind, as they’d been persecuted by human and Vampire alike for centuries.
“I know. I don’t want to let him drift away.” He couldn’t stand by and watch Owen die of boredom. He’d rather share Owen with Katya.
“I don’t understand.”
Or she didn’t want to understand what he was suggesting.
“You know the old tales, the older the Vampire, the more brides?”
She nodded, but her forehead was creased. In Vampire terms she was young, only one hundred. Too young for this? Maybe he was asking too much and all she felt was a casual attraction to Owen.
“It’s to keep the ennui away. To keep them interested in living without hopping from lover to lover—which gets stale very fast. Stability, family and yet variety.”
“You want me to become his lover.”
His heart rolled over, but her words didn’t tear it still beating from his chest. Instead his blood heated at the idea of seeing Owen fucking her. Of having her come between them—or at least with them. Of being bitten by both. His cock hardened. He’d had long enough to get used to the idea that it had its appeal. Maybe it had been too long since he’d let a female Vampire near his blood.
She smiled and revealed lengthened fangs. His heart skipped at the sight. But he couldn’t decide if it was fear or lust. Had she heard the change in his pulse?
“And what if he decides he prefers Vampires to humans? What if he decides he no longer wants cock?”
Jack caught her chin and swept his thumb over her lip. “Let me put it this way, neither one of us could hold his attention well enough to keep the ennui away. Together we stand a chance. You have fangs and a pussy. I have a cock and the blood he craves. Between us he has a chance.” He let his skin catch on the tip of her fang.
A shiver ran through him as her fang cut his thumb, then a single drop of his blood stained her lip. He had to make sure she didn’t think him a human who could be tossed away.
Her tongue darted out, tasting what he’d offered. Confusion clouded her eyes. “You taste different.”
“I am different.” He stared into the endless blue depths of her eyes. Like the ocean at dawn when the waves were perfect. She was the first female Vampire he’d found attractive in a long time. And that alone was unnerving.
She didn’t blink. “What are you?”
“Vampire.” It was almost true. He was a type of Vampire.
Her eyes narrowed. “No you’re not.”
He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Come on, Katya. You’ve heard the stories. A rare breed, cursed to have no fangs.” He tipped her head to the side. “No longing for blood.” He kissed her pulse. “All of your strengths and none of your weaknesses.”
He raked his teeth over the sensitive skin on her neck. She smelled like flowers, soft and feminine, but he knew she could rip his throat out faster than he could think it. Maybe that was the attraction; she was a risk he couldn’t take and a longing he wasn’t sure he wanted to fulfill.
She swallowed. “You’re dhampir.”
“I am.” He pulled her to him as if he truly intended to taste her blood. Her hips pressed against his. His cock was hard, leaving no doubt about how much he desired her even though he could never act on it. What he wanted didn’t matter. Owen wanted her and she wanted Owen. If she saved Owen, that would be enough.
“You’re all supposed to be dead. You’ll destroy us.”
“No. I’m just the next rung up the evolutionary ladder and Vampires fear me the way humans fear you.” He brought his mouth close to hers, close enough to kiss her.
Her breath caressed his lips and her gaze softened. She was going to let him. Jack blinked and drew back a fraction. He hadn’t expected her to feel so good in his arms. He was going too far. “I’m trusting you with my secret. With my lover. If you go alone, you will fail. So what are you going to do?”
“It will never work. Owen will not cheat.” She eased away, putting a safe distance between them.
But he could see her pulse fluttering in her neck and smell the hint of sex in the air. She wasn’t repulsed by the idea and she wasn’t repulsed by him—or what he was. If anything, it excited her to know he wasn’t human.
“It’s not cheating if we are all in agreement.” He’d been dangerously close to kissing her and that would’ve been cheating. He hadn’t expected his attraction to run so close to the surface.
“Is Owen?” She raised an eyebrow.
Jack didn’t answer.
“You haven’t even asked him what he wants.”
“He doesn’t know what he wants anymore.” Owen was too deep in the ennui to care. Jack knew he should’ve done something sooner.
Katya shook her head. “He does, he runs the band. He makes decisions all the time.”
“And when we go out for dinner, he looks at the menu and asks me to pick. He lets me direct the lovemaking. He isn’t the same man he was ten years ago. I want him back.”
“Even if that means sharing?” She raised one eyebrow. “What if I don’t want to share?”
“If you love him, you’ll want what’s best for him.”
“I don’t know how old you are, Jack, but what if I want all of my lover?”
He’d thought of that, and the only solution he had was to offer himself. The idea of having Katya had become more tempting than it should. It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman. The last one had tried to kill him when she’d realized he wasn’t human. He glanced at Katya again. Would she be any different now she knew what he was? He shook his head. This was about Owen.
“Think of it as gaining. I’m giving you a chance with him that you’d never have had.” He smiled and wished he did have fangs so he could flash them and make the grin more threatening.
“You’re insane.”
“I’ve been called many things.”
“This will end in ruin—”
“And if I do nothing?” How could she not see? How could she not care? Had he misjudged lust for love? Or was he so desperate that he was willing to bet everything on red?
She opened her mouth, then closed it without saying anything.
“This wasn’t easy for me to ask. Just think about it and imagine yourself in my place.” His lips curved. “But I’m sure you have. I know what his desk feels like against bare skin.”
Before she could respond, he picked up his coffee and went upstairs. Relieved she’d said no, but hoping it would play on her mind. If she’d leaped at his suggestion, he would’ve questioned his judgm
ent. Now he was sure. But that still didn’t make it easy for him to focus on house designs while Katya and Owen were in the study, working on tour budgets and schedules. He glanced at his surfboard, then out the window and back at the client’s brief. Then shrugged. It wasn’t as if he was going to get any work done.
Katya opened the study door and allowed herself to breathe when she saw Owen wasn’t in there yet. She shut the door and leaned against it for a moment. What the hell had just happened? If it wasn’t for the words Jack had spoken, she’d have said he’d made a pass at her…yet he hadn’t, he was moving aside so she could make a play for Owen. She hadn’t even finished her first cup of chokolat yet, but while her mind tried to wrap itself around what Jack had said, her body was already humming with imagined excitement.
She’d been trying to think of ways to tell Owen she was quitting for the past three months, the letter she’d written was in her handbag unopened because she’d never found the right time to hand it over. The trouble was she didn’t want to quit. She loved her job. Loved it too much. It had taken her awhile to realize, but while she worked with Owen, she was putting the rest of her life on hold. She hadn’t even been on a date in a year because how could another man compete with Sirius from Lucinda’s Lover? She dropped into Owen’s chair and turned on the computer, her body working on auto pilot.
Jack was offering her Owen.
Owen. Her heart gave a little rise. She’d lusted after him long before she’d started working for him. On stage as Sirius, he was like a god. But in working for him, she’d begun to fall in love with him.
Katya gave herself a shake. This was all wrong. She should’ve left months ago, but somehow between booking venues and coordinating events for Owen, she’d never been able to get the words out. She should put the letter on the desk and walk out.
What if Jack was right?