by Tricia Owens
"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you? Make life simpler, huh?" The bandit rolled his neck. Mariel groaned beneath her breath with dread when the man glanced over at Vellum's sleeping crate. "What you got there, Marshal? Transporting somethin' as valuable as the pretty lady? Maybe some gold? Or guns?"
Clay shrugged. "Why don't you lift the lid and find out for yourself? Not like I can stop you."
Mariel stared, aghast, at the back of Clay's head. Anger and betrayal stabbed her through the heart.
"What are you doing?" she gasped. "The sun's still up!"
"It's fine," he muttered, his expression hard.
It was then that she knew, and she was horrified.
"How could you?" She punched him in the back of the shoulder, though his big body barely registered the hit. "He's not the monster. You are!"
"Be quiet, Mariel," Clay said calmly as the bandit sauntered over to the crate, his curiosity and greed piqued by the mystery of it. "It's easier this way."
"Just because he forced you to face your feelings you're willing to end his life? You're despicable!"
Her stomach heaved. She thought she might be sick all over him, and it wouldn't be half of what he deserved.
Unable to sit by while the bandit lifted the crate's lid and burned Vellum alive, Mariel rose to her knees. Clay grabbed her by one arm and yanked her back down. "Mariel, don't interfere!"
"You bastard!" She punched him again. "I hate you!"
Muscles jumped in Clay's jaw as he held her away from him. "Leave off, Mariel. You don't know what you're doing."
Crying, she flung herself away from him. How could she have misread him so much? She regretted every smile she'd bestowed on him, every kiss. And yet deep inside, she mourned the loss of Clay. He had been the type of man you fell in love with and married. Who kept you smiling for the rest of your years.
"If this is a trick, like you got a rattler in here, I'm raping your woman twice before I kill her," the bandit warned as he paused with one hand on the crate's lid.
"No rattler," Clay ground out angrily.
Bleary-eyed, Mariel raised her head to watch. She owed it to Vellum to watch the last few seconds of his life. I'm so sorry I dragged you into this.
The bandit reached for the lid.
A single shot rang out, making Mariel jump. The bandit looked down at the crate. Then he reached up and fingered the dark hole that had appeared at the base of his throat. He opened his mouth to speak but only blood poured from his mouth. He topped sideways over the crate and to the ground.
"What happened?" Mariel gasped, uncomprehending. But right away she smelled the gunpowder rising from Clay.
The Marshal rolled smoothly to his feet, his smoking gun barrel aimed at the bandit's unmoving body.
"Where did you get that?" she asked.
"Vellum and I made a deal. He held up his end of it. Just like he always does," he added, almost to himself. When he reached the bandit, he toed the man's leg before kicking it. It was a corpse.
Clay sighed as he holstered his weapon. With his back to Mariel, he said, "I can't believe you thought I would do such a thing, Mariel. Am I really such a bastard that you thought me capable of killing Vellum just because he made me uncomfortable?"
Shame rushed through her. She jumped to her feet. "Clay, I'm sorry. I never should have thought that of you. Never. You're a good, kind man. I know that."
"No, I wasn't so good or kind earlier," he mused while resting his hand on the crate's lid. "I was a bastard, Mariel. To Vellum. And to you. I've never been in a situation like this before. Never felt…Never mind. It hasn't been easy for me, but that's no excuse for acting the way I did toward you both. Neither of you deserved that."
The sun disappeared behind the hills and immediately the crate lid slid aside, making Clay jump back reflexively. Vellum sat up, as handsome and unruffled as ever. He glanced dismissively at the body of the bandit before staring hard up at Clay.
"I won't make you issue an apology, Marshal," he said quietly. "I don't need that from you."
"My name is Clay." He swallowed hard and held out his hand to Mariel. She hastily joined his side as they stood over the crate. "Maybe instead of apologizing, I can do penance. Say, making sure you both find your pleasure before I do?"
Mariel's lips parted as lust rushed through her. "Clay…"
"Have you ever taken another male's cock in your mouth, Clay?"
Vellum's blunt, brutal question brought back the Marshal's shoulders, but he didn't back down from the test. "Reckon there's a first time for everything," he said with his chin raised stubbornly.
"I agree," the vampire said.
Before he said or did anything else, he grabbed the dead bandit and carried him effortless into the darkness.
Clay exchanged a wary look with Mariel.
"Reckon I'm in deep trouble?" he asked her.
She laughed nervously. "It won't be bad. Trust him."
"I do, but—"
Vellum emerged from the shadows, killing their conversation. He walked a slow, deliberate line toward Clay. With excruciating slowness, as if taunting Clay to flinch or back away, he reached out and slid his fingers into the golden strands of the Marshal's hair.
"I think we're overdue for your first time with me," Vellum told him in a low voice, the voice that Mariel heard in her head when she touched herself.
A shuddery breath slipped from between Clay's lips. "If that's what you want."
"I want more than that. I want you to admit that you want it."
She read Clay's resistance in the firming of his lips. "So it's humiliation you're after? Fair enough. I owe you that and more."
"I don't want your humiliation," Vellum murmured, looking him over as if unable to decide where he wanted to bite Clay first. "I want your submission."
It was a surrender she believed the Marshal couldn't give. Clay was too accustomed to running the show; he had to, when he was responsible for the lives and safety of others.
But apparently the stress of that responsibility had reached its limits, or else Clay truly was determined to make amends for his behavior, for he looked Vellum square in the eye and said, "I'll submit to you."
Without another word, Vellum used his grip on the Marshal's hair to force Clay down to his knees in the dirt. Clay resisted instinctually, but within seconds he relaxed, his hands even reaching out to the front of the vampire's thighs for support. Once he was settled, Vellum pulled Clay's face to the vampire's groin and against the firm bulge there.
Vellum's voice deepened into pure alpha, bringing a shiver to Mariel's skin. "Take my cock out, Clay. Place it between your lips."
With trembling fingers, Clay yanked open Vellum's trousers and freed his pale, erect cock. It looked daunting even to Mariel. Clay hesitated, a final masculine resistance to an act wholly foreign to him, but then, likely driven by pride, he shook his head and leaned in.
"Use your tongue first," Vellum murmured.
Mariel clenched her thighs as Clay extended his tongue and gently licked across the head of the vampire's cock. When she saw him close his eyes and begin licking with more confidence, she had to swallow back a moan.
"Congratulations, Marshal." Vellum's voice wasn't quite smooth as he said, "I'd wager you're the first human male to lick a vampire's cock. And you're doing an admirable job of it."
Clay shivered, but Mariel didn't think it was from revulsion.
Vellum curled his fingers beneath the Marshal's jaw. "Now take me deeper. Give me true satisfaction in your mouth. I know you've imagined it. Don't think I haven't noticed. Your cock gets hard for me every time I touch you, and even when I don't." He used his thumb to trace Clay's bottom lip. "You're finally getting what you want, so you'd better enjoy it. Next time, I may make you beg for this."
A sound that could have been born of protest just as easily as it could have been a moan, bubbled out from around Vellum's cock. But Clay opened his mouth wider and slowly closed his lips around the vampire's
shaft. Vellum sucked in his breath. He combed his fingers through Clay's hair almost tenderly.
"Now, when Mariel does this to you and me, you'll know exactly what she's feeling," he purred.
Clay groaned. He opened his eyes and looked up at the vampire, their depths dark with hunger and uncertainty. But maintaining eye contact must have been too difficult, for he immediately slanted his gaze to the side, searching for Mariel. She stepped closer.
"Clay…don't be angry with me," she began, "but seeing you do this for him…it make me ache something fierce."
He groaned again, his expression strained. He closed his eyes and began to slide back and forth on the vampire's shaft. He wasn't experienced at this. He gagged almost immediately when he tried to go too deep, making Mariel wince in sympathy.
"Easy," Vellum murmured as Clay coughed and paused with his lips just around the tip. "I don't need to be all the way inside you to find pleasure in this. Though one day…I will, and you will enjoy it."
Mariel hoped Clay heard the tenderness in the comment. Despite their competitive nature, she believed they cared for each other, though neither male would be quick to openly show it.
Trying again, Clay tentatively began using one hand to stroke the part of Vellum that he couldn't swallow. Vellum made a humming sound of approval. Mariel grew warm and anxious as she watched that pale rod of flesh begin to slide back and forth between Clay's lips. There was something wicked about the scene that thrilled her and made her body throb. She started to reach for herself but Vellum said, "No. Lift your skirts and push down your knickers."
When she did as bade, he reached between her legs with one hand.
She gasped and rose up onto her toes as he slid his longest finger inside her. When he brushed his thumb over her clit she undulated like a sheet in the wind and soft cries slipped from her lips. Vellum kissed her while he slowly pumped his finger into her and caressed her clit with his thumb. Below, Clay breathed harshly as he worked Vellum's cock. Every once in a while he emitted a soft groan that only made Mariel hotter.
Her release caught her by surprise. One moment she was burning, her clit throbbing beneath Vellum's thumb. The next, she was arching back and blindly pulling his hand firmer against her. His fingers tripped through her fluids, extending the pleasure. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood.
Vellum immediately crushed his mouth over hers, licking up the blood. When he pulled back from her, his eyes were wild.
He turned that gaze down on Clay.
"I'm going to take you," he said roughly.
Clay choked and released the vampire's cock. He looked up at Vellum with eyes filled mostly with pupil. "What?"
"You heard me." Vellum reached down and pumped himself once, smirking as Clay followed the action almost obsessively. "This is overdue. It'll do us both a world of good." He sent Mariel a lustful look. "It'll do us all good."
Clay scooted back. "I'm not sure I—"
Vellum pounced, easily flipping Clay onto his stomach and then pulling him up to his hands and knees before the Marshal could gather his wits to fight back.
"You know exactly how much you want this," Vellum said in a low voice against his ear. He curled an arm beneath Clay and palmed him between the legs. Clay gasped and thrust back helplessly, his head hanging between his arms. "You've watched me take her again and again. Tell me you never imagined yourself in her place." Vellum's expression sharpened with hunger as he stared down at him. "Taking me."
Mariel flushed with fresh heat as Clay panted and spread his knees in the dirt while bowing his back. Seeing him in that position shocked her and aroused her. She had to thrust a hand between her damp legs and touch herself.
"I've never…" Clay sucked in his breath when Vellum yanked open his trousers and jerked them down his hips so they could puddle around his knees. "I've never," Clay whispered raggedly.
"I know." Vellum licked across the back of his neck. "It won't be a problem."
He moved up tight against Clay's ass, his pale cock pushing urgently at the seam. The act of domination seemed to make Vellum's skin glow, making Mariel wonder if this was what Clay saw and felt when she was the one beneath the vampire.
"Tell me you want this," Vellum ordered as he tugged the neck of Clay's shirt aside to bare the top of his freckle-dappled shoulder. Vellum dragged his fangs teasingly along his skin. "Tell me you want to submit to me."
"God, I—" Clay, cheeks flushed, shuddered as Vellum licked along his shoulder. "I'm not ready."
"You knew we were heading toward this," Vellum insisted, relentless in his seduction. "You've dreamed of this day, Clay. There's no more running away from it."
With his free hand he traced the seam of Clay's buttocks before dipping his fingertips between. His smile was full of fang when Clay moaned and twisted his body. Still stroking the Marshal, he whispered, "No, don't tense. Relax for me. Let me inside."
Mariel whimpered.
She couldn't see what those fingers did, but she could deduce their actions from the way Clay tensed and then let out a choked sound, his back arching. Vellum kissed him on the shoulder before gently sinking his fangs in. All at once Clay moaned and thrust back onto the vampire's fingers as though he needed nothing else in the world but to be filled by them.
"That's it," Vellum purred, his voice muffled. "You take me so well, Marshal. You don't know how long I've wanted to feel you dancing on my fingers like this."
Vellum played with him, tormenting Clay and Mariel both. He knew he did, too, for his gaze slid periodically to Mariel, making sure she remained engaged in the scene. She couldn't have looked away for anything.
Still biting and pumping pheromones into Clay, Vellum slowly withdrew his fingers. He eased the tip of his spit-slick, leaking cock between Clay's buttocks.
"Relax," he whispered against Clay's skin as he positioned himself against him.
Clay, cheeks reddened, panted, "Do it, vampire. Give it to me."
Vellum's powerful buttocks clenched as he slowly flexed his hips forward. He groaned along with Clay as the distance between their bodies diminished inch by precious inch as Vellum sank into him.
Watching him penetrate Clay made Mariel feel as though she were the one taking Vellum's cock. She inserted a finger into herself and gasped. Her fingers moved swiftly against her wet, over-sensitized skin. Her knees trembled, threatening to dump her to the ground.
When Vellum bottomed out, he tossed back his head but didn't release a sound. Still, his pleasure and satisfaction were evident in the possessive grip he took of Clay, holding him firmly by the shoulder and hip. His fingers whitened the Marshal's skin as he began to pump into him.
The first few thrusts were already too much for Clay. He moaned and collapsed to one elbow on the ground. He reached between his legs with his free hand to stroke himself.
"You're mine now," Vellum told him darkly. His thrusts grew deeper, consuming. He took Clay rougher than he ever had Mariel, making sure he felt it. This was a fight between alphas, and Mariel guessed that Vellum needed to make sure his domination was recognized and accepted.
"Say it," he said, while grinding his hips against the Marshal's ass.
Clay choked and clutched a handful of dirt. "Don't…don't make me say it."
Vellum grinned with fang. He adjusted his angle on the next thrust, making Clay bite off a cry. Fire flashed in Vellum's eyes at the sound. He shifted his grip to the back of Clay's neck, pinning him to the ground. "Say it."
"I'm…yours," Clay gasped as Vellum filled him again and again, mercilessly attacking that same angle. "Yours…God, please."
It must have been what Vellum had wanted all along, for as soon as Clay begged Vellum shut his eyes and thrust in hard, holding himself deep while his body rippled with orgasm.
Beneath him, Clay desperately stroked himself. The firelight limned the frantic flexing muscles in his shoulder and arm. With a muffled cry, he bucked and his cock spurted, streaking the dirt with his release. His body abrupt
ly sagged. He would have sprawled on the ground had Vellum not been holding him up. Little clouds of dust puffed around Clay's face as he fought to regain his breath.
"You found that pleasure while impaled on my cock," Vellum told him with a possessive slide of his hand down Clay's spine. "Never forget that."
"You're going to be obnoxious about this," Clay groaned, his forehead pressed to his arm. "Aren't you?"
"Yes, Clay, I'll do this to you whenever you beg me," Vellum retorted with a sly smile.
Clay huffed out an exhausted-sounding laugh.
Vellum turned his head then, to look at Mariel. "Did you enjoy my taking of him?"
She laughed a bit sheepishly, her body still tingling from the release she'd found simultaneously with Clay.
"I had no idea I'd enjoy that so much," she admitted.
"I did," Vellum said softly, and Mariel shivered anew.
She joined them on one knee and reached down to cup the back of Clay's damp head, oddly proud of him. Tentatively, she reached up and pressed her other palm to the side of Vellum's cheek. The vampire allowed it, his expression amused. She didn't care if he thought it funny. In fact, it wasn't funny at all, because now the three of them were closer than ever, and the timing couldn't have been worse.
9
When the metal gates of Everton Fort came into view, Mariel felt only grief. Grief for a relationship that was about to breathe its last.
For the last two days she'd carried with her the vivid memories of the lovemaking she'd shared with Vellum and Clay. She would never forget the thrill of watching Clay's mouth slide along the vampire's shaft and the pleasure and satisfaction that brightened Vellum's face when he mounted the Marshal. She would relive again and again the white hot ecstasy that bloomed in her body when Clay licked her core until she screamed unashamedly with her legs locked tight around the back of his head. And then later, when both males took turns fucking her, forcing her to come again and again until the steam rose from their bodies in the cool night air…surely it was a memory that was seared onto her brain.