Silas let out a big sigh. “Didn’t you have anyone helping you?”
“My brother, Victor. We ran away together because he disagreed with what my parents were doing, but neither of us was strong enough to fight them. We had to bend to their will or leave, so we left. They were constantly on our heels, though, so one night, I ran away from Victor as well. The trouble was, I didn’t have a plan in place. I was too young and headstrong, so I ended up working odd jobs, but ultimately ending up on the streets.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when I found you?” Silas asked, hurt wrinkling his brows as he frowned at her.
“My family . . . They have a lot of influence, and I didn’t have anyone I could trust other than Victor. If I had told any of the members of our clan my plan, they would have told my parents for a reward. I didn’t know if I could trust you, and then when I realized you were truly just being nice, I had been lying for so long, I didn’t know how to tell you the truth. It’s not like I could just blurt it out without pissing you off.”
“How do you change your appearance?” Julian asked quietly.
Charlotte reached under her mousey-brown hair and unclasped her necklace, withdrawing it from her simple uniform as she did so. As soon as the pendant was removed from her skin and the circle of magic broken, her red hair became visible, along with all the other changes. She sighed and ran her fingers through the tangled red locks.
“You don’t look like any of the other members of your clan,” Owen stated.
She held out her hand in front of her and examined her skin. “True. A point that was the biggest blemish on my existence until I ran away. I was the shame of my family before, and I’m sure by now, I’ve been removed from all records.”
“Have you used any of your magic on us?” Owen asked, his eyes pinched at the corners as though he could see through any lie I told to the truth, which perhaps he could.
“No. The only magic I’ve used in the last five years has been on myself to change my appearance, including last night. I put makeup on and did my hair before I came to the party, but I also used magic at the party to make a slit in my dress so I could dance.” She glanced up at Owen as the memory of the two of them flying around the dance floor played in her head. He seemed to be thinking about it, too, as his stare met her own.
“So you’ve been living under our roof this whole time?” Julian asked, seeming more confused than before.
Charlotte nodded. “That first night, I just wanted to get a glimpse of my old life, see if it was as I remembered. Then Silas danced with me, and you all asked me to come back, so I did. I thought this would be a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I never planned on your finding out.” She cringed inwardly at how bad that sounded when she said it aloud.
“You took up our time when we were supposed to be finding mates,” Julian said.
“I tried to encourage you to find mates other than me. I knew we would never work, but it’s hard to turn down attention when your daily life consists of you being yelled at or ignored.”
“Who’s been yelling at you?” Owen demanded, rage contorting his face.
At the same time, Silas whispered, “What if we want you to be our mate?”
Charlotte’s heart stopped. She must have misheard, right? There was no way they would want her as their mate. Besides, how would that even work? There were three of them and one of her. It wasn’t like she could duplicate herself, even though in her youth, she’d spent a large portion of time trying to figure out how to do exactly that. Her mind decided that was the opportune moment to revisit the memory of her being pinned between Julian and Silas. She practically groaned and bit her lip at just the memory, never mind her behavior from the night before. If that other mage hadn’t come out, then who knew how far they would have gone? Her whole body thrummed with need at the idea. She hadn’t realized that her eyes had drifted closed until she opened them and found all three brothers watching her with heavy-lidded eyes. Oh gods, had she actually moaned?
Chapter 8
Charlotte’s mind raced with a way to excuse her behavior. Nothing came. The only thing that seemed to be in her mind at that point was images of the four of them in bed together. She shook her head, trying to clear it, but her mind continued to play tricks.
“You want to share her?” Julian asked, his tone incredulous.
“It’s not like we would be the first vampires to share. Even Vlad had three wives. How is this any different?” Silas asked.
Charlotte’s eyes were drawn to Julian as silence filled the room, and she watched his mouth work as he tried to come up with reasoning.
“I can’t choose between you,” she whispered. “If you care about me at all, then you won’t make me. Besides, I need to get back to work. Chef isn’t the most patient person.” She picked up the amulet from her lap and began to put it around her neck once again.
“No. I don’t think you should go back. You’re a mage princess. I can’t have you working in our kitchens,” Owen said, running a hand through his dirty-blond locks.
“I’m not, though. I gave that up. I’m just me. There’s no status or clan or anything like that anymore, and that means I can’t stay under your roof for free.”
“You’ll stay as our guest, at least until we figure this out,” Julian said.
“Figure what out?”
“You. Us. What we are going to do.” The eldest brother splayed his hands to the side as though this was a big, confusing problem.
A frustrated sigh escaped Charlotte. “I’ve been telling you what to do this whole time. Find a mate. I can’t be it.”
“What we’ve been telling you, which you’re ignoring, is that we want you to be our mate,” Silas said quietly. When Charlotte didn’t immediately respond, he stood from his chair and came to kneel in front of her. “You were the most interesting person at the ball on my night, and I’m sure Owen agrees with me that you were the most interesting person there last night as well. If the idea of being our mate for life scares you, then we can work around that, but I for one would love to at least try.”
“I would too,” Owen said as he stood and came to join Silas. “Last night was one of the best nights of my life and even though I had to watch you disappear, I’d do it all over again.”
Julian took a deep breath and said, “We suspected—”
A purposeful cough from Silas interrupted, and Julian began again. “I suspected there was more to you than met the eye that first night, and then when the blood mage outed you as Princess Charlotte, even though you denied it, I was even more sure that something was going on. When you slipped out of the ballroom through a servant’s door, I felt like my suspicions were confirmed and that you had been sent to distract us, but scenting you this morning and finding you cleaning confused me. Now I’ve heard your story, and I understand, but I still don’t know if this is the right choice. I’m a realist by nature, and I don’t see how you won’t end up favoring one of us above the others, and that, if I’m being honest, isn’t something I think I can handle.”
“The only thing we can do is try,” Silas said, seeming to understand his brother’s fears.
“I haven’t even decided if I want to try yet. You’re all talking like this is a foregone conclusion,” Charlotte huffed. If she had wanted to have her life dictated, she would have stayed at home, and definitely wouldn’t have lived on the streets.
“Sorry, Charlotte, we didn’t mean to act like this wasn’t a choice for you, did we?” Owen asked, scowling at his brothers.
“Do you not want to try?” Silas asked, looking up at her with those puppy dog eyes of his.
“Of course I want to try, but you guys have to ask first. Please don’t just assume stuff.” She sighed as she finished speaking. “What happens if it doesn’t work? If you guys get sick of me in a couple months? If I get sick of you?”
“Our parents would say that we have to stay together, that the mating bond is a lifelong commitment, but I think all of us are on the same pa
ge when it comes to this. We will try to make it work, but if we’re all miserable, then I certainly won’t force us to stay together,” Silas said.
“Agreed. We are the new generation of rulers. We grew up in the modern, or at least modernizing, world, and as such, we respect people’s choices,” Owen said.
Charlotte glanced up at Julian. He simply nodded his agreement, evidently not finding the need to add more words to an already complicated situation. “How can you be sure? You barely know me,” she squeaked, hating that she sounded so fragile, but this was the most trust she’d put in anyone other than Victor in a very long time.
“Don’t you feel it? That pull? The overwhelming urge to touch and be around one another?” Silas asked. He paused, seeming to debate something internally. “Personally, I’ve felt that pull since the moment I passed you on the street. Every time I’d go down into the kitchen, I’d hope to get a glimpse of you. Even right before my event, when I came down to ask for the menu to be changed . . . I didn’t give a damn if we ate duck, goose, chicken, or quinoa. I just wanted to see you, make sure you were still okay.”
“You’ve felt that all this time?” Owen asked, turning to his brother, who just nodded.
Charlotte had to swallow the knot that had formed in her throat. She didn’t realize how relieved she was to hear that this whole time, it hadn’t been one-sided, that he had wanted her as much as she’d wanted him. Of course, she’d always found the other brothers attractive, but she’d never had the chance to interact with them since she was restricted to the downstairs portion of the house unless necessity dictated otherwise.
“You did seem to have a fairly finicky diet.” She giggled, her eyes glistening with the flurry of emotions twisting inside her.
Silas and Owen both moved off the floor to come sit on either side of her. “If you get sick of us, or this doesn’t work, then you can just leave. I mean, I hope you’d talk to us about it beforehand, but you won’t ever be trapped here. Not like you were with your family. You’ll always have options.”
“You really think you three would be okay sharing?” she murmured, trying not to get lost in the depths of Silas’s eyes.
“What if we try an experiment? You’ve kissed Silas—we all know that. What if you kiss each of us as well?” Owen motioned between himself and Julian. “That way, we can all see it and evaluate how we feel about it.”
“She kissed me last night,” Julian said under his breath with a cough.
“So I’m the only one being left out?” Owen asked with mock outrage.
“An oversight I promise won’t happen again.” Charlotte laughed.
“I think we should correct the mistake right now, don’t you? It would only be fair.” Owen’s voice had dropped in pitch as he spoke.
For a moment, Charlotte debated her next course of action. It was only for a couple heartbeats, though. After that, she decided if they were going to try this, now was as good a time as any. She turned to face Owen, her hand coming up and brushing some hair to the side, not that it needed it. His eyes were trained on her face as though he were looking for any signs of hesitation. When he didn’t find any, the tension eased from his body, and Charlotte leaned in. Owen met her halfway, his dark eyes eating her up as his lips brushed against hers. She pressed her advantage until there was no escaping the kiss.
As though he could sense her need for more contact, Owen’s hands slid around her waist and scooped her up, bringing her onto his lap. The black dress she was wearing slid up her thighs as she straddled his lap, but she didn’t care. When his tongue flicked against her lower lip, she opened for him. His tongue delved into her mouth and tangled with her own, making her whole body break out in goosebumps. Owen’s hands cupped her ass and held her fast even though she desperately wanted to rock herself against him. She had never been kissed so passionately before.
A throat cleared behind them, and she pulled away, regretting nothing about what had just happened. She looked at Owen’s face, trying to gauge his reaction, and was pleased to find a bright lust burning in his eyes that she was sure was reflected in her own. Her whole body tingled as they sat there and looked at each other for a moment.
“I think we should have you try kissing each of us. That way we can . . . uh . . . see what it’s like and, you know, if there’s any jealousy or anything . . .” Silas spoke, his voice a low rumble while his words fizzled out.
“Agreed,” Julian added.
“Fine, but then I have to go back to work.” Charlotte smiled, unable to believe that she was going to get to kiss all three of them. Even if this didn’t work out, at least she would have this memory to look back on.
She turned and clambered off Owen’s lap and moved over to Silas, trying to be sexy but feeling like she was failing at it. When she pulled up her skirt a little way so she could straddle Silas’s lap, his eyes practically bugged out of his head.
Once she was on top of him, she could already feel his hard length pressing against her. His sweet, spicy scent seemed to surround her as she lightly brushed her knuckles along his cheekbone before she leaned in and brushed her lips across his own. They connected only for a second, and as she pulled away to make a joke about moving on to Julian, Silas followed, unwilling to let her go so easily. His mouth pursued hers until she was bending backward to stay out of his reach.
Silas’s hands supported her waist, and she let herself relax into the bend, which thrust her breasts up toward the sky. As his mouth couldn’t reach her own, he began dropping kisses along her neck and down her chest until he came to the fabric of the dress. Slowly, he worked his hands from her waist to her ribcage until his fingertips grazed her breasts.
In one swift move, he slipped them further behind her to the center of her back and pulled her upright so that they were eye level again. “Can’t get away that easily, little mage,” he growled before he kissed her.
There was no tentative brushing, no gentle seduction going on. This was pure, raw lust. His tongue thrust into her mouth and tangled with her own, slipping in and out as though it were the body part she craved the most. His fingers dug into her hips, and she rolled her hips against his own, earning a low growl from all of them.
Her mind snapped back to where they were and what they were doing. A moment later, and she gently detached herself from Silas’s kiss. And what a kiss it was. Every part of her body ached like she’d just run a marathon or something. Her nipples had turned into hard little points that were so sensitized, even her bra was too much, and she wanted to rip off all her clothes.
“It’s your brother’s turn,” she said quietly, before giving Silas one last peck.
Charlotte pushed back on his lap a bit so that she could get her feet on the floor and then lifted her ass into the air as she straightened, but kept her gaze locked with Silas. He broke eye contact first, his gaze drifting down and taking in the gaping top of her dress, while she was almost positive Julian was staring at her ass.
When she straightened and turned to face him, she felt like Little Red Riding Hood staring down the hungry wolf. He prowled toward her, and a shiver of anticipation ran through her. As soon as he was close enough, his hands reached out and pulled her close, one cupping the nape of her neck while the other circled her waist.
Julian angled her head just so and began to devour her. He was like controlled chaos with the way he touched and moved her until he had her just where he wanted her. Meanwhile, she was doing everything she could to hang on. As though he couldn’t quite get what he wanted, Julian began walking them backward until they came up against a wall. As soon as she felt the connection, his hands cupped her ass and lifted her until they were at equal heights, his hard-on grinding against her, pinning her to the wall as he devoured the soft moans escaping her.
With his hips holding her in place, his hands were free to roam, and he ran them up along her ribs, briefly squeezing her breasts before moving them into her hair. He froze and pulled back from the kiss, turning her head to the
side and lifting up her hair to get a better look at what he had found.
Chapter 9
Julian’s fingers traced the shape of her ear, and for a moment, she was worried that it had freaked him out, that she was too different and now they were going to drop her like a hot potato.
“Are all mage ears like this?” he asked, his voice as rough as sandpaper from lust.
“All female mages, yes. For some reason, we carry more of the physical traits of our ancestors. Mine are kind of a mixed bag, but my ears are very pronounced, even for a female mage.”
Julian set her down, and her heart sank at him relinquishing his hold over her. Owen and Silas were right there, though, looking at her with curiosity.
“So what? You’re like something out of Lord of the Rings?” Silas asked.
“I suppose in a way,” she said, hoping they weren’t put off by the unexpected shape of her ears. She just wanted them to keep kissing her, breathing life back into a body that had just been existing for so long, it had almost forgotten how to live.
The three of them seemed to share some kind of communicative look between them that Charlotte wasn’t privy to before heading back to the couch and chairs. She followed behind, knowing they wouldn’t be happy until they got answers. Once they were all settled, she began to feel more like an oddity than someone they might want to mate.
“So the elf ears are only something women show?” Julian asked.
“Yep, like the gene needs to have the right chromosomes to show up or something.” She tucked her hair behind her ear so that they could get a good look at it. Might as well get the staring over with, right?
“Why is it that yours are more pronounced?” Silas asked, his eyes glued to the tip of one of her pointed ears.
“Not sure. Something in my genetic makeup has brought out the ears more fully, while repressing other genes, like the color of my skin, hair, lips, and eyes.”
Holidays Bite: A Limited Edition Collection of Holiday Vampire Tales Page 50