by ERIN BEDFORD
Valentine laughed at Rayne, but turned his gaze to Antoine. "I thought you had better control of your household. Perhaps I was mistaken. Again." Those eyes, full of barely contained fury, whipped back over to me.
Aren't I lucky?
Antoine didn't rise to the bait. Adjusting his coat, Antoine walked smoothly around the room to his seat on the right side of Boris. Something that I had an inkling wasn't done on accident. Taking his seat, Antoine lounged back in his chair as if he didn't have any care in the world. But the hardness to his voice when he spoke told a different story. "Rayne is young. I cannot be held responsible for the heightened emotions of a vampling such as himself. Especially, not one who has fallen so deeply in love with my servant."
I swallowed my gasp, my eyes darting to Rayne, who didn't bother denying it. His fists were clenched on the table and if his jaw got any tighter, he'd break it. Those amber eyes though, when they fell to my face and softened, I knew it was true.
Rayne loved me.
A clap of hands to my right, and a low chuckle followed by a dreamy sigh, jerked all of our attention to the head of the table. Boris grinned from ear to ear as he took in the scene before him. "Ah, young love. Is there anything so sweet? So exciting? I remember the first time I fell in love. Of course, I was human then, but still, there's really nothing quite like it. Don't you think, Theresa?"
Theresa pulled her eyes away from Wynn long enough to meet her master's gaze. With a small smile and a nod, Theresa murmured, "Of course, master. The greatest of things." My other masters—Wynn, Marcus, Allister, and Drake—were silent in their observation of the events around them. Either they were better at pretending to keep it together than I was, or they really weren't affected. A quick glance to the fork in Drake's hand, which had been bent in half, made me bet on the former.
"And what about you, my dear?"
My head swiveled back to Boris. "What?"
Boris gave me a large, razor-sharp grin before gesturing to Rayne. "Do you return the young lad’s affections?"
My mouth dried up and I searched the table for some kind of direction. I looked anywhere but at Rayne, who was stiffer than the dead. How did I answer a question like that? And in front of everyone after I had just had hot vampire sex with Antoine moments ago?
Was I with Antoine now? Was I allowed to even have feelings for Rayne? Up until a half hour ago, I didn't think Antoine wanted anything to do with me. Did I love Rayne? I cared about him and the rest of them. Some more than others. But did I?
I didn't know how to answer that question, not with the eyes of nine others on me—well, eight, since Theresa didn't give a shit and was still staring at Wynn as if he had hung the moon. How could someone be so in love with someone where they don't even care if the feeling is reciprocated?
"Well, dear, we're all waiting to hear your answer," Boris prompted me and I licked my lips and tried to find some kind of answer to give. I felt lightheaded.
"W-Water." I cleared my throat and searched around the empty table. "Can I get some water, please?"
Boris's eyes narrowed but then he snapped his fingers. "Bring Miss Durand a glass of water." Fauns, the housekeeper, appeared next to me with a water glass seconds later, placing it before me then disappearing back into the kitchen.
Not wasting a second, I picked up the glass and downed its contents. My eyes closed as the cool water quenched my dry throat and gave me much needed seconds to gather my thoughts.
This had to be a trap. Why else would they want to know about my feelings so badly? Once I sat my cup down, I tried to give Antoine some kind of signal with my eyes. A ‘tell me what the fuck to say’ signal that he clearly wasn't tuned in to, because he simply continued to act bored. Out of ideas, I turned my eyes to Rayne.
I don't know what to do. I pushed those thoughts at him, knowing he could hear me. This is a trap and I know if I answer either way, we're in trouble.
Rayne inclined his head before turning to Antoine and Boris. "I ask permission to take Piper back to her room. She's feeling a bit out of sorts having just recently been changed and traveling a long distance. I fear for her health."
"Is that so?" Valentine arched a brow in his direction before a sly grin curled up his lips. "Or are you just looking for a way to get out of the spotlight? Come now, boy. Surely, you can tell she belongs to your master. You cannot simply—"
"Valentine." The single word from Boris's mouth caused Valentine to clam up so fast that I almost thought it was funny. Almost. "Let the young ones have their secrets. All the good ones have a way of getting out on their own."
Now that didn't sound ominous. But far be it from me to look a gift horse in the mouth. I barely got to my feet before Rayne was at my side. He offered me his arm and I slowly took it, ducking my head down so as not to have to meet anyone else's gaze.
As we walked around the table, Boris called out, "I hope you feel better, Miss Durand. We wouldn't want you to miss out on all the fun."
The kitchen door opened, and a naked man and woman appeared. My eyes widened and I almost swallowed my tongue as they sat a small step stool near the table. They walked on top of the surface, moving the centerpiece out of the way, before they laid down on top of the table.
We kept walking but my head turned to watch as the vampires at the table picked up a limb. When they bit down, the humans didn't even so much as flinch. If anything, they moaned at being fed on. The scene disappeared as we moved around the corner, before I broke my neck trying to see the table.
"Come on," Rayne murmured. "You don't want to see what happens next. Trust me." I swallowed hard and nodded.
"Thank you, by the way. For that back there." I gestured my head toward the way we came.
Rayne bobbed his head. "No problem. I'm sorry they put you on the spot like that."
I pretended to focus on walking up the stairs in my dress rather than answering his unspoken question. I still didn't know a hundred percent what my answer was, but if I was going to tell anyone it would be him, and not a room full of people.
"So..." Rayne cleared his throat and stopped on the landing. "What they said, you know, back there..." He ducked his head, avoiding my gaze.
"Don't worry about it." I waved my hands between us, trying to clear the air. I pulled in my lower lip, chewing on it as I wrapped my arms around my waist and shivered.
"Cold?" Rayne asked, appearing grateful for the change of subject.
I gave a weak smile. "Yeah, a bit. I kind of miss the Lolita outfit. At least it had layers." I gestured down to the thin material of my dress with a laugh.
Rayne chuckled but his eyes roamed over my form, growing more appreciative by the second. Turning from him toward my room, or I guess Antoine's room, I kept a few feet between us. "So, Boris seems..."
"Terrifying? Fucked up? A bit loose in the head?" Rayne offered up with a sideways smirk.
"I was going to say peculiar but yeah, all of those." I dropped my arms and let them hang next to me as we walked. Our hands brushed each other as we seemed to migrate toward one another. With my emotions all kinds of twisted up, I should have stopped it, but when Rayne took my hand and laced it with his, I didn't.
I liked the feel of his hand in mine. I liked him. And while I might not love him now, I felt like could eventually. I just needed the right motivation for it.
"Rayne." I turned to him as we stopped in front of Antoine's room. His eyes locked with mine, those amber orbs with flecks of gold and brown in them I wished I could recreate. I'd wear it as a necklace around my neck so I could look at it any time I wanted to.
To my horror, Rayne's lips ticked up at the edges. "You like my eyes that much?"
With a growl, I released his hand and shoved at his chest. "Stop reading my mind."
"Stop being so easy to read," Rayne countered, grabbing my wrists and pulling me close. My chest pressed against the front of his button-down shirt, the fabric causing a delightful friction against my nipples.
"I can't help it,"
I muttered, so mortified I couldn't meet his gaze. He heard me extolling about his eyes. What am I? A schoolgirl?
"So, it's okay for me to listen in when you need help, but not when you're complimenting me? How's that fair?" Rayne teased, brushing my hair away from my face before settling his hand on my hip.
"That's different," I argued, shifting away from him so I could at least pretend that we weren't both turned on beyond measure. It was a little hard to forget when his bulge was poking me in the hip.
Rayne watched me for a moment, not pulling me back to him. Then, his voice lowered as he reached a hand out to lift my chin up. "I haven't been searching your brain for the answer, if that's what you're worried about."
I didn't have to ask what he was talking about. It was on both of our minds. I knew it. He knew it. I grinned up at him. "Well, too bad, I had been hoping you could tell me. ‘Cause I sure as hell don't know what I'm doing here." I shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest in a feeble attempt to hide.
"It's alright, Piper." Rayne's voice became all raspy and bedroom-like, making me want to rub up against him once more. "I'm not going to make you choose. None of us will. It'd be a long eternity if we did. And nothing gets more tiring than a grudge. That's why most of us vampires don't have any."
I snorted. "Except Valentine, it seems."
Rayne’s lips quirked up on one side. "Except him. He wouldn't be happy unless he was pissed at someone."
"And you?" I couldn't help but ask. "What makes you happy?"
"Right now?" Rayne arched a brow and scanned my body once more. The heat of his gaze making me shiver for a completely different reason this time. "Seeing you like this."
A sudden recklessness filled me and my eyes darted down the hallway. With no one around, I took a single step, closing the distance between us, and curled my hand into the front of Rayne's shirt before jerking his mouth to mine.
The redhead wasted no time wrapping his arms around me. His hands curled around my hips, shifting down low until he cupped my butt, pulling me against the hard bulge in his pants. My fingers sought out the tangles of his hair as I fought to claim his mouth with mine. A low moan escaped his mouth as I suckled on his tongue.
Without warning, Rayne pushed me back, releasing my mouth. He swiped a hand over his lips and shook his head. "We can't. Not here. Not out in the open like this."
I breathed heavily, confusion filling me. "Why not? Does your master have something against sharing?"
Rayne made a disgusted face that almost made me feel offended, but then he followed it up by saying, "Not as a whole, but he's playing some kind of game. I don't know what. I'm not sure if this is a good idea right now."
Tired of Boris getting to say what goes on in my life or theirs, I walked backward away from Rayne with a teasing smile. "Didn't Antoine say we needed to show a united force?"
"Yes," Rayne drawled out slowly, his eyes watching me like a predator watches its prey.
I reached a hand behind my neck and gave the tie a little tug. Rayne sucked in a hard breath when my breasts became exposed to his hungry gaze. "Then what better way than to unite...over and over again."
Rayne growled low and rushed toward me. I let out a cry of delight as I ran the rest of the way to his bedroom. My fingers curled around the doorknob just as he came in behind me, pulling my back against his front. "You are a bad, bad girl, Miss Billings." He leaned down and nipped at my neck, right where Antoine's bite was, making me gasp.
My hand reached back to keep his mouth against my neck as I muttered, "Haven't you heard? I'm a Durand now."
Chapter 9
Rayne
Staying out of Piper's head was harder when I was touching her, and I wouldn't stop doing that. Not now that I had permission to.
"Rayne," Piper gasped, and I heard my name both out loud and in her head as my mouth closed around her nipple. I pressed her farther into the mattress, climbing up on my knees to straddle her.
Beautiful. She was so beautiful spread out on my bed like this. Her brown hair fanned around her head like a halo. Her pink lips swollen and puckered from my kisses. The only thing that would make it better was if we were in my real bed and not at our master's home.
"You know," I whispered against her skin, moving from one breast to the other, making her gasp and cry out. "I imagined this differently."
Piper huffed out a laugh. "Did you now? And what did you imagine?"
Trailing my lips down between the valley of her breasts, I stopped briefly to tease her hip bones before shifting to grip the bottom of her dress. With a single tear of fabric, I had it off of her and on the floor in seconds, leaving her in a pair of plain white panties. Those were gone next and I couldn't wait to taste her moist heat.
"Darren is going to be so pissed at you," Piper warned, before arching her back, her eyes rolling up into her head.
I grinned against her folds as her nails dug into my hair, pulling me closer to her wet, warm center. I lapped at her until she cried out and shook beneath me. I bared my fangs, brushing them against the inside of her thigh, making her suck in a breath.
My eyes met hers before her thoughts hit my mind.
Do it.
I sank my fangs into her skin, the hot rush of her essence filling my mouth as my finger found her tight bundle of nerves once more. This was it. This was about as close as a vampire could get to someone they loved without being bound to them. One step further would be biting her while I was inside of her, but I just couldn't pull myself away from the delicious temptation between her thighs. The blood here was the sweetest during sex. So hot and full of need. I could almost feel her emotions just from drinking her blood and I could almost pretend it was me she had bonded to and not Antoine.
I pushed that thought away, not wanting to ruin the moment. When Piper cried out again, I released her, not wanting to take too much too soon after Antoine had bitten her. The last thing I wanted was for her to end up in the hospital from blood loss. Valentine and Boris didn't need any more ammunition against us.
Sliding my tongue along the wound until it sealed beneath my mouth, I sat up to peer down at Piper, checking she was still breathing. She dreamily stared up at me, her chest heaving up and down as she came down from her high.
"You vampires are going to ruin me for any other man," she joked, stroking a hand down my arm.
I leaned over her and brushed my nose against hers. "Good. Because I, for one, don't plan to ever let you go."
"Oh really?" Piper arched a brow at me, and I had a second to catch a stray thought—my turn—before I was pushed onto my back with Piper straddling me. "Maybe I don't want to let you go. Have you ever thought about that?"
I grinned up at her, my hands smoothing over her hips as she adjusted herself on top of me. "I'm good with that."
When Piper sank down onto my cock, I swore I saw heaven. Or maybe I was just so in love with her I couldn't see straight and I was delirious. Either way, I couldn't be happier than in this very moment. I reveled in the feel of her wrapped tightly around me as she moved up and down my cock, and the little sounds she made of pure pleasure, which only spurred my own orgasm on. When we came together, it felt like I was standing in the sun for the first time in decades. Joyful and painful and just this side of too much, but I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world. Not even if Boris himself came barging into the room this very second.
"What's that look for?" Piper asked with a coy smile.
"Nothing." I shook my head, my hand stroking up and down her back.
"None of that now." She smacked my chest with her small hand. "I can't read your mind. You have to give me something."
I peered up at her softly. "I'm just...happy."
"Oh."
My lips ticked up at the edges. "Oh? That's all you have? Oh?"
She wiggled on top of me and I grunted in response, feeling myself getting hard once more. Before she could shift off of me, I flipped us, thrusting my cock farther into her.
; "Ah, Rayne, no fair." Her legs wrapped around my waist as I moved inside of her.
"What can I say?" I smirked down at her, thrusting an even more powerful stroke. "I play dirty."
Piper laughed until my thrusts caused her laughter to turn to moans and I drove us both into oblivion.
A little while later, when Piper was fast asleep in my bed, I heard a voice inside my head. We need to talk. Recognizing the thought as Antoine's, I slid out of bed. I pulled on my pants and shirt as I stared lovingly down at Piper. The moonlight pouring in from the windows made her creamy skin look like it was glowing where the sheets didn't cover her. When I leaned down to kiss her forehead, she let out a small sigh and snuggled deeper into my bed.
Reluctant to leave her, but knowing Antoine wouldn't give me much of a choice, I padded across my bedroom and into the hallway. There, Drake and Allister were coming out of their rooms as well. Both were only in pajama pants, our house sigil visible on their chests, they took one look at my disheveled appearance and smirked.
"Fuck off," I told them, before walking toward Antoine's room.
"What?" Drake teased, throwing an arm around my shoulders. "It's not our fault you didn't wash your activities off before coming to the meeting."
"So?" I shoved him off of me with a scowl. "What I do in my private time is that, private."
Allister snorted, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "Coming from the guy who doesn't know the definition of it."
Drake chuckled. "He has a point."
"I don't care," I countered, and shoved open Antoine's door. "And if you value your nuts, you'll leave it alone."
The second Drake walked into Antoine's room, he announced, "Rayne finally screwed Piper."
"Geez, took you long enough." Wynn clucked his tongue from the couch where he sat in a pair of silk pants and a button up shirt. Of course, he'd be dressed up for this meeting.
I shot the lazy vampire a glare before taking my place on the arm of the couch. "What's this about?" I asked Antoine, who leaned against the post of his bed.
Antoine didn't answer but waited until everyone was seated and accounted for. The twins stood over by the wardrobe, while Marcus barred the door like usual as if he were guarding us from leaving. Darren sat on the bed, prim and proper in his white and blue striped pajamas.