by Lucinda Dark
I licked my lips. “Fuck.”
“We are sorry,” Barnaby said with a shake of his head. “But we can’t help you.”
Which left us in the worst possible position we could’ve been; up shit creek without a fucking paddle.
Thirty
Barbie
My head hit the matching pillow of the pink bedspread Beth had bought for me before I'd moved in just hours after we'd touched down and returned home. A soft knock sounded at the door, but before I could call out an answer, it creaked open and Maverick's head popped inside. The rest of him followed as I leveraged up on my elbows. I met his gaze as he closed the door behind him.
"Torin's downstairs talking to my parents," he said.
"If by 'talking' you mean rearranging their memories again, then I know," I said. I couldn't help the bite in my tone. I should've been grateful that Torin had the natural ability. Other vampires had to wait decades, sometimes a hundred years or more before they developed the skill. I'd tried it and found myself unable to even command humans. I flopped back onto the mattress.
Maverick was quiet as he approached, but with my new sensitive hearing, I knew he was going to sit next to me right before he did. The mattress dipped slightly, my whole body sliding towards him as he threw his legs over the end and laid back, evening out his weight.
I bit my lip as my thoughts raced and I found myself blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "What the fuck are we going to do?" I asked.
He was quiet for a moment. So quiet, I knew that the question had surprised him. He turned his head towards me, but I refused to look back at him. "We'll figure it out," he said. His arm moved, fingers sliding over mine, weaving between them. I closed my eyes.
I sighed. "I think our guardian angels are drunk off their asses," I murmured a minute later.
He chuckled. "I don't know if we have guardian angels," he replied. "More like guardian demons."
"Yeah, my guardian demon is a bitch."
If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, dear, Satrina's voice snipped at me. I grinned. It'd been so long since I'd heard from her, just her voice in my head made me feel relieved. Even if I wouldn't admit it, I was a little scared of her leaving me or disappearing. I didn't know how I'd be able to face anything without her presence.
I wouldn't do that, she said, answering my unspoken fears. It's not like I can anyway. You're quite stuck with me, darling. ‘Til your death do we part.
I rolled my eyes. It didn't go unnoticed by me that she'd specified my death and not hers.
The bedroom door opened again and the scent of Torin reached my nostrils, sharp and spicy as he found a spot on the bed and laid back with a grunt. "I'm exhausted," he admitted.
"You staying the night?" Mav asked.
Soft movement from Torin nudged my arm as he shrugged. "You inviting?" he countered.
I opened my eyes and turned my head. "You know..." I said, trailing off as I pivoted my head again and looked at Maverick, who watched me curiously. "I've noticed it for a while now, but when did y'all get so friendly again?" Maverick's curious expression morphed into a grimace even as Torin's chuckle lifted into the air. I spun back. "What?" I asked.
"You want to tell her?" Torin asked, looking at me even as he spoke to Mav. "Or shall I?" Wicked light green eyes met mine with a glimmer of mischief.
Maverick groaned deep in his chest. "Fuck," he hissed.
"It's embarrassing, isn't it?" I guessed.
Maverick released my hand and rolled over so that he hovered over me, glaring down as he shifted so that our faces were mere inches apart. "Any way I could get you to let it go?" he asked, eliciting another quiet laugh from Torin.
Oh, no fucking way in hell. I grinned and shook my head.
"I shared my blood with him," Torin said.
Maverick's whole body sank down on me which made the groan that rumbled out of his chest vibrate against me—or more specifically, my nipples. I stiffened, pushing up on him until he was anchored away from me.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means that—when it comes to you, Barbie,” Torin started. I glanced over, locking gazes and found myself unable to tear myself away even as Maverick let his body drop back down in my distraction. I tensed, feeling tingles deep in my core. “My vampire sees only our mate and therefore, watching Mav touch you, like he’s doing right now, is only possible so long as he belongs to us as well.” Us being his vampire and him. I rolled my eyes. Why he continued to see his vampire as a separate entity … well, honestly, I was beginning to understand. My vampire seemed like a completely new part of myself. Separate from my logical thoughts. The id and the ego, or so it’d been explained. One part logic and one part complete, utter desire. Desire that shot through me as Mav’s chest pressed against mine again. My nipples weren’t just pointed, they were as hard as diamonds as they scraped against the inner fabric of my bra. It hurt in the worst kind of way—only because I wasn’t getting what my body so keenly wanted. If I was, well then … that’d be a very different matter altogether.
“Belongs?” I repeated breathlessly as Mav leaned forward and nuzzled into my neck. I could feel him against me, growing harder. My eyes widened.
Torin grinned and turned onto his side as Mav kissed my neck. “Yes,” he answered. “I marked Mav with my blood. It’s … difficult to explain, but it’s like an animal marking its territory. Even though Mav is still himself, he’s an extension of me now as well.”
“What … exactly does that mean…?” My lashes flickered, but I fought the desire to close my eyes and lean up into what Mav was doing as his hands skirted down my sides.
Torin leaned over, lifting the hem of my shirt to Mav’s questing fingers. I sucked in a breath, my stomach hollowing out as my shirt moved higher and higher with their combined movements. “It means,” Torin continued, his voice dropping low, growing husky as his eyes flashed red. “If anyone else tries to touch you, I’ll rip them apart. But Maverick … he’s a part of me now. Therefore, when my vampire sees him touching you, it doesn’t arouse our more … possessive instincts … because it’s as if I’m touching you. It was something that had to be done.”
“Why?” It was growing harder and harder to talk with Mav on top of me. His mouth slowly moved down the column of my throat, pressing wet, open kisses to my skin. Shivers skated up my spine. We shouldn’t have been doing it. We had so much work to do. No hunters were coming to our aid when it came to Arrius Priest. We—
You need to let it go right now, Satrina piped up. Enjoy what the boys are doing to you.
You’re not exactly the voice of reason, I replied. But I couldn’t deny that my body was one hundred percent on board with her idea. My vampire agreed. I could hear her purr in the furthest reaches of my mind as she pushed forward, enjoying the sensations coursing through our body.
Honey, Satrina said, if ever you’re in a situation in which you are the ‘voice of reason,’ then you’re screwed. Good for you that I’m the voice of reason in this moment. Just relax and let them do what they want. They need this as much as you do.
“Guys…” I reached up, grasping one of Mav’s wrists and one of Torin’s, stilling their movements even as my eyes darted to the door.
“I locked it,” Torin said, noticing my gaze. “As well as put it in Beth and Jon’s heads that they were tired.”
I frowned. “You planned this,” I accused.
Mav sighed, the puff of his breath sliding over my flesh making me tighten all over again. “Barbie,” he whispered, “just let us be with you. Just for tonight.” It was as much of a plea as there ever would be from either of them. I felt myself softening.
“We need to figure out a plan of action,” I argued, but even my tone was quiet, not as sharp or commanding as it should’ve been.
Torin moved at the same time that Mav did. Mav sat up and pulled me up with him as I released their wrists and Torin slid behind me, his chest to my back in the same instant. Their b
odies, combined, was too much. My arms arched up as they worked together to slip my shirt off over my head. Fabric blinded me for a split second and then Mav was there, hovering over me again. I blinked.
I didn’t want to stop, I realized. I wanted to keep going. I wanted to just take this moment and just fucking … be … because God knew we weren’t going to have many opportunities after this. I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to plan. I didn’t want to argue or fight. I just wanted to feel them.
I moaned as Mav leaned down and kissed me at the same time that Torin brushed my hair to the side and sealed his lips over the side of my throat, at the base where my neck met my shoulder. These two were fucking dangerous.
Shoving my fingers up Mav’s abdomen, I pushed his shirt until it was halfway up his chest and I could feel the lines of his muscles under my fingertips. “More,” I gasped, pulling away from his mouth.
Maverick was breathing hard as he anchored himself back, his knees resting on either side of my hips. He gripped the bottom of his shirt as I leaned into Torin’s chest, letting the movement of his mouth lull me into temporary submission. Maverick’s shirt disappeared at the same time I felt deft fingers flicking the clasp on my bra. I smirked.
“You seem to be pretty fucking good at getting me out of my clothes,” I commented as Torin’s fingers speared beneath the straps of my bra on either side and slid downwards until my breasts were bared—hardened nipples and all.
“It’s a gift solely reserved for you,” Torin whispered, his lips curving as he kissed my nape.
I hummed in the back of my throat as Mav’s fingers found the button at the top of my jeans and snapped it open before reaching up and pulling them—along with my underwear—down and clean off my legs. When he would’ve crawled back over me, I stopped him by planting the sole of my foot on his chest. I shook my head.
“Lose the rest of your clothes,” I ordered.
He grinned, standing back up. I watched, arching into Torin’s grip as his teeth scraped my flesh. Oh shit… I gasped, my eyes losing focus. No. I wanted to see Mav undress. It’d been a dream of mine for months now. I wanted to see the slow glide of his clothes as they slid off of his limbs, revealing all of that sinewy muscle of his. Now, even as it was happening, I was too overcome by the sensations Torin was shooting through my body.
Fireworks popped under my skin, lighting me alive. I shivered, feeling a cold sweat form over the surface of my skin. There was something erotic about being completely naked and in the arms of someone who was still dressed. Nudity gave me the sensation of being vulnerable, but being stripped by them and held by them made me feel something beyond that.
The fabric of Torin’s jeans brushed my outer thighs as he slid his legs around either side of me, acting as my seat. His fingers reached around my chest and cupped my breasts, hefting them in his wide palms. My eyes popped back open as Mav’s hands touched my ankles and slid upward. I jerked my head down to watch him.
“God damn it…” I muttered. He was already naked. “I wanted to watch.”
Torin chuckled against my nape. “Sorry…”
“No, you’re not,” I replied.
He laughed again, this time a fuller, more heavy laugh—incensed with his own desire and need. “You’re right,” he said, sliding a portion of my hair away from my neck as he dipped his head and kissed my shoulder. “I’m not.”
Maverick was still moving up my legs, spreading them apart to make way for his entry. But instead of fitting his cock to my opening, which was on full display, he moved lower. The scrape of his shorn hair touched my stomach and a cruel twist of pleasure echoed up into my mind. I gasped, squeezing my eyes shut and tossing my head back until it was completely settled on Torin’s shoulder. He cradled me there, pressing a quick, chaste kiss to my cheek as Mav’s mouth kissed my belly button.
“Fuck!” I arched up, but his hands came up and held the tops of my thighs down.
“Need some help?” Torin asked, amusement clear in the husky rasp of his tone.
My eyes popped open and I shot him a glare. “Fuck you,” I snapped.
His lips stretched into a naughty grin. “Yes, Sweetheart, we’ll get to it. Let Mav have his turn now, though.”
“Hold her thighs down,” Mav grunted. “I don’t want her to squeeze too hard.”
I had no words because, in the next moment, Maverick’s tongue was circling my clit—teasing the needy bud. Even if I could manage to form a response, nothing I could say would be good enough. My lips parted on a cry as Mav’s mouth sealed tight to me, his tongue doing horribly delicious and wicked things to my nether regions. It wasn’t fucking fair.
Torin’s hands grasped my thighs, but instead of holding them down, he lifted them so that my knees were bent and in the air. He revealed everything. Embarrassment swept through me, heating my entire face. I tossed my head back and forth.
“Wait,” I whispered, “don’t open me that far.”
“Shhh,” Torin soothed in my ear. “Just let him enjoy you.”
I grumbled and latched onto the sheets, my nails digging into the pink covers beneath us. “If you’re going to do this with us,” I growled. “You need to lose the shirt.”
“I’ll lose the shirt after you’ve had your first orgasm.”
“First orgasm?” My mind wasn’t computing. I couldn’t think straight. Maverick’s mouth was doing things to me that I was almost certain had to be illegal in some more conservative countries. His tongue circled my clit, flicked it, and then dragged downward to my opening. He speared into me, his fingers on either side of my pussy, holding me open for his gaze and for his cruel, cruel mouth.
I groaned, my lips parting as the sound echoed up to the ceiling. My limbs shook and trembled between them. It was too much. It wasn’t enough. Mav’s fingers found my opening and two pressed inside, turning over and curling upward as they pressed against a button inside of me that seemed to make everything go bright. All of my senses centered on that one place in my body. The very place that he now touched. He pressed that spot, rubbed it, kneaded it until it came alive.
“Mav,” I gasped out his name, releasing the covers with one hand as I slid my fingers over the top of his head. He took that to mean it was time to go further—though the only further I expected was his dick in me, but apparently that was not the case.
His fingers remained in my entrance, his wrist tipping upward as his mouth moved down towards somewhere I’d never had touched before. My eyes widened and my hand went from pressing his face closer to me to pushing at the top of his forehead.
“Waitwaitwait—what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I gasped as the shock of his tongue against that place electrified me. Holy shit that felt good. Holy shit it wasn’t right. Was it? How could something like that feel so fucking good?
I think your men want you to take them both, Satrina commented lightly.
Oh my fucking God, I snapped at her. Can you not be here when I’m—I didn’t know how to continue, there weren’t the right words or if there were, they were fleeing rapidly. They were skydiving out of my head faster than Maverick’s fingers as they moved inside me as his tongue touched that forbidden place. Satrina must have gotten the message though, because I never received a smartass reply, which was damn near unheard of from her. She never missed a chance to give me snark.
“Mav—Torin?” I pivoted my head, seeking Torin’s gaze with a plea in my own.
Torin smiled and kissed me, his lips moving softly over mine—a mimicry of the way Mav’s mouth was devouring me down below, his tongue licking at me, making me tighten and shake in his—their arms.
“It’ll be okay, Sweetheart,” Torin whispered against my mouth. “We’ll take care of you. We’ll always take care of you.” I knew they would and that was what terrified me. They would give their lives for me and I didn’t want that. But as they touched me, fed that beast of desire inside of me, I realized that they were also right. We might not get another chance like this. I sh
ould take my pleasure when and where I could get it. Who knew when there would be a next time? Who knew if there would be a next time?
I groaned and leaned against Torin’s chest, giving over to the sensations below. Maverick’s fingers moved faster and his tongue moved back up to more known territory, flicking against my clit again as he added a third finger, spearing it into my pussy. Sparks danced behind my eyelids. Fire licked down my spine. It was coming, spiraling into my bone marrow, barreling through my nervous system. I sobbed through the orgasm as it finally crested and ripped through me, stealing away all sane and rational thought. It consumed me within its flames, tearing me apart and then putting me back together.
When I finally managed to crack open my eyes, Maverick’s face was in front of mine. I blinked at him, clearing the blurry film from my vision. He leaned down and I lifted up, leveraging away from Torin for the first time since it all started. His mouth met mine and he tasted like a combination of salty and sweet. His tongue pushed into the cavern of my mouth and I lifted my hands to lock on him. My thighs had been lowered sometime in the midst of my orgasm. I curled my legs around him, wanting to take that next step. Wanting him to push his cock into me, spear me deep, make me cry out. Make me forget that tomorrow we might not be alive. Time was a fucking ticking bomb and we had no clue when it would go off and blow up in all of our faces.
“Here, take her, Mav,” Torin said as he pushed me further into Mav’s arms. I wrapped my limbs around Maverick and let him roll so that I was on top, my thighs encasing his. I reached down and gripped his dick, squeezing it lightly as I pumped it in my grip.
“Ride me, Princess,” Maverick whispered in a tone that was both hushed and raw. Like he’d been screaming right alongside me as I came.
And for the first fucking time that I could recall, I didn’t hesitate to listen to one of his commands. I scooted up until I hovered over the tip of him, wrapped my palm around his shaft, and gently guided it right to where he needed to be—right where he was supposed to be. My thighs trembled as I lowered myself onto him, taking him in down to the hilt. The way he filled me left me feeling on edge once more. It was as if my earlier orgasm had never happened, as if I’d been left hanging on that precipice. I needed more. I needed him again.