“Of course. Bon, get two more pets down here, fresh ones, please.”
Bon’s footsteps echoed in the huge space, and I closed my eyes. Sweet God in Heaven, why had I ever wanted to come back home? Every member of the Vampyr we’d met so far in Minnesota was out of his mind, every single one, and Eric wanted to stay here long enough to meet my family? I was pretty sure we wouldn’t survive another week in the North Star State, but maybe that was the lack of blood talking and the lingering sting of Trillium’s bite.
On the other hand, maybe I was becoming as crazy as everybody else here was.
It didn’t take Bon long to lead two pets downstairs. I hadn’t met either one of them, but that wasn’t a surprise. A vampire’s stable could consist of dozens of pets rotating in and out of her presence, depending on how much blood she needed.
Eric stretched out beside me and controlled my bloodlust while I fed from one, then the other. It wasn’t enough to replace what Trillium had taken, but nobody would be feeding deeply from me again, so it didn’t matter. My body would regenerate the rest over the next twenty-four hours as long as I ate properly and didn’t donate a large quantity again.
Kyle and Bon stripped down and wrestled an hysterical Trillium onto the bed next to me and Eric. I finished feeding from the second pet and dismissed him about the same time that they subdued her, then Eric undressed and helped me out of my clothes.
Bon and Eric switched places. Eric and Kyle bracketed Trillium and murmured softly to her, and eventually she calmed down.
Bon propped his head on one hand and rested the other on my stomach. “We don’t have to do anything.”
I shifted on the bed, faced him, and tuned out the threesome on my other side. “I kinda hoped we would.”
“You and Eric seem…” He shrugged and his mouth twisted into a frown. “Exclusive.”
That was one way of putting it. “We’re still pets. We can’t survive on just each other’s blood.”
“And without sex, the blood takes over.”
“If you’d ever seen Eric’s beast take charge, you’d understand better.”
Bon’s gaze drifted past me to the other side of the bed. “I get it, trust me. Trillium is a monster when one of us doesn’t help her control herself.”
I was pretty sure she was a monster even then, though I’d never say that out loud. Doing so would land me in deep shit and I’d had enough of that lately. Besides, as Eric was always reminding me, we needed to make alliances wherever we could, not burn bridges. “How long as she been like this?”
“From what Kyle’s told us, a couple of decades at least.” He folded his arm under his head and laid down. “She’s getting worse, though. We’re all worried about her.”
“If it’s physical, Eric may be able to help.”
I’d never pinned down the exact mechanism for his ability to manipulate the internal, but he had a definite gift for it and he was such a softy where wounded creatures were concerned. It didn’t surprise me that he wanted to help Trillium if he could, and it might benefit us in the long run.
Allies were allies, even if they were bat shit crazy Minnesotans.
The air conditioning kicked on, blowing chilly air across my skin, and I shivered. Bon slid off the bed and retrieved a blanket from the closet, and we cuddled underneath it, ignoring the quiet conversation and nascent sexual overtures of our three companions.
I threaded my fingers through Bon’s and tugged him closer. “We don’t have to have sex, but maybe we could neck a little.”
“Or we can just talk. I don’t mind.” His fingers tightened on mine. “You really can’t feel your dick?”
“Usually not unless Eric’s touching me.”
“Can I try?”
I grinned. “I thought you wanted to talk.”
Bon’s eyelids slid nearly shut and one corner of his mouth quirked up. “You have a really nice body.”
“Yeah, for a cripple.”
“For anybody.”
I let go of his fingers and tucked my hands behind my head. “Help yourself. Just be gentle down there. Chances are good I won’t be able to tell if you hurt me.”
“I’ll be careful.” He slid his palm slowly down my chest, across my stomach, and stopped at my waist. “Tell me when you stop feeling.”
“Sure.”
His hand drifted lower, and between one beat and the next, his heat lost its impact and I couldn’t feel him anymore.
“There,” I said.
He eased his hand back up. “Ok, I know the limits now.”
“You don’t have to stick with them.”
“It’s just nice to know where they are. You sure you don’t mind?”
“Not if you don’t. Tell me what pleases you.”
His half-smile morphed into a sly grin. “Everything.”
I laughed. “Yeah, me, too.”
We spent the next half hour simply exploring each other, and it was really nice. It’d been too long since I’d taken a new lover. The heady freshness had worn off of mine and Eric’s relationship, though nothing else had. He was still the sexiest man I’d ever met, and the way I felt about him, he always would be. If it weren’t for being a pet, he and Gigi would’ve been plenty for me, and most times, they were anyway.
All that aside, befriending Bon killed two birds with one stone. It ensured that I’d have a blood partner if I needed one while we were still in this part of the country and it deepened our ties to Trillium and Kyle, possible allies against Oriana. Plus, I just liked him, and he seemed to like me, so why not?
Neither one of us got out of hand, though he caressed and kissed me from head to toe, and I returned the favor wherever I could reach. In between, we chatted about whatever came to mind. Oriana’s rise to power and her seriously twisted machinations, the state of the Vampyr in general, sports. Kyle had recruited Bon during his senior year at the University of Minnesota, where he’d played baseball on a full scholarship. He’d given up a promising career to serve in Trillium’s stable and didn’t seem to regret it a bit.
Eric interrupted us in the middle of a deep discussion of which major league teams had a chance at a pennant this year. “Trillium’s out. Kyle’s tucking her into the other bed.”
I trailed a finger down his cheek, unable to resist touching him while he was close. “Could you help her?”
“We’ll see.” He jerked his chin at Bon. “Do you mind if we trade partners? Kyle wants Bon to sip from me.”
Likely so Bon could absorb some of Eric’s strength into his own. “Sure, baby. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”
Eric laughed. “That leaves our options wide open.”
Bon kissed me, then pushed himself upright. “Thanks for the chat.”
“Anytime,” I said.
He crawled over me and tackled Eric, rolling with him onto the other side of the bed. Eric’s eyes widened, and I snickered. He was always at least three steps ahead of everybody around him and not often taken by surprise, so whenever somebody got the better of him, I had to admire it, as long as he wasn’t hurt in the process.
Kyle crawled under the covers and laid down on top of me. “Hello.”
I dug my fingers into his hips and grinned. “Hi.”
“No more talking.”
“Ok.”
His mouth came down on mine, and the slow heat Bon had stoked burst into a violent, raging inferno, consuming me in one hurried rush. Open, Kyle commanded, and I obeyed, eagerly accepting the hard thrusts of his tongue into my mouth. I matched him stroke for stroke, tangling with him the way I did with Marco, and welcomed every scrape of his lips against mine, every nip of his sharp teeth, every moan and growl and ragged breath.
I raked my fingers through the silky strands of his hair and clutched him to me. Christ, I’d missed this, the desperate passion, the incessant thirst pounding out of him into me.
He yanked his mouth away from mine, and his green eyes burned bright and hot. “Allow me the dark kiss.”
&
nbsp; I rolled my head to the side, exposing my throat, and fumbled between our bodies for his dick. “Let me—”
“God, yes, I need—”
His hips lifted off mine and his teeth sank into my skin exactly where Trillium had fed. The pain she’d inflicted flashed once, then was lost under the pleasure of Kyle’s greedy lust. I grasped his cock and stroked him from balls to tip, and stuffed two fingers into his tight hole, working them deep into his ass.
He grunted and his draws on my throat eased a fraction. How did you know?
I always do. True enough, though with him, I’d simply followed where instinct led. I want you to come in my mouth.
His groan hummed against my skin. He withdrew his fangs and tongued the wounds closed. “How do you want me?”
“Straddling my shoulders, your dick in my mouth.”
“Take a little from me first. No, keep your fingers where they are. It’ll help with the bloodlust.”
He gave me his throat, and I drank deeply, taking more than I probably should’ve. He was so good. His blood coated my tongue, sharing a sampling of his power and wisdom, and I relished each dark, earthy drop as I pumped my fingers in and out of his ass.
His muscles tightened around me. “I’m getting close.”
And I’d just started enjoying the power play.
I obediently finished feeding and sealed his throat. “In my mouth, now.”
His mouth brushed over my ear. “Is this how you talk to your master?”
“It’s how I talk to anybody I’m with.” I smacked his ass. “Get a move on and I’ll add a third finger.”
“I shouldn’t let you bribe me like that,” he murmured. “Trillium’s pets will think they can take the same liberties.”
“Do you want me to smack your ass again?”
“Yes.” He kissed me hard, then crawled up my body and resettled above me, kneeling with his dick hovering over my mouth. “Ready?”
“Always.”
He braced one hand on the wall and guided the tip of his erection into my mouth, slowly feeding it into me. I sucked him down, taking every inch he was willing to give me, moaning in the back of my throat. Christ, it felt good to have a man there, to please him the way every man enjoys being pleasured.
He braced his other hand on the wall and fucked my mouth slowly. I closed my eyes and concentrated on his rigid length sliding in and out of my mouth, filling me, on his ass muscles flexing under my hand and the tight grip of his hole around my fingers. I wiggled a third finger into him and slapped his ass, and he breathed my name, a reverent whisper.
“I’m about to…oh,” he said, and I hollowed my cheeks around his dick, sucking hard. He shoved into me and grunted, and cum spurted into my mouth, lashing across my tongue and down my throat, and I swallowed every drop of it, enjoying the salty goodness the same way I’d enjoyed his blood.
His thrusts gentled and stilled. I held onto him until I’d lapped all of him up, then eased my fingers out of his ass. He slumped into a heap beside me, his chest heaving, his eyes closed. “As soon as you can feel again, I want you in my mouth that way.”
“No guarantees.”
“Yes, there are. Eric’s determined.” Kyle’s eyes opened a bare half inch. “Do you really have it in you to defy him?”
I huffed out a startled laugh. “Why would I want to?”
Kyle shook his head and closed his eyes. “Get some sleep. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.”
The mattress rocked gently as Eric and Bon did their thing, lulling me into dreams, and I drifted off, too drained to linger on Kyle’s cryptic comment.
Chapter Eleven
We left the next day after saying our goodbyes to the members of Trillium’s household that we knew, Bon and Donald and Lewis and a couple of the other pets. Kyle drove us into Brainerd, skirting any area Oriana controlled or influenced, and dropped us off in the garage of the alpha of a werewolf pack embroiled in a blood feud with her.
As devious plans went, it worked out pretty well. We borrowed a car from the alpha, on the promise of hiring somebody to bring it back, and set out for Crookston during the heat of the day, when Oriana’s oldest and most loyal pets would have a hard time following us.
Eric took the wheel, navigating us along the route Kyle had mapped for us along back roads through various sections of vampire wildernesses. It wasn’t the sight-seeing tour we’d originally planned, true, but we enjoyed it anyway, especially the distance we put between us and that harpy bitch. The farther away from her we drove, the more I relaxed and the wider Eric’s smile got.
We hit the outskirts of Crookston late that evening. I directed Eric to my family’s farm on the other side of town and pointed out landmarks along the way. My old high school, the flat fields of local farmers, and a short detour so he could ogle the world’s largest ox cart.
Eric pulled into the front yard and parked next to my ma’s four year old Buick. The front porch light glowed bright in the moonless night, illuminating the edges of a wheelchair ramp zigzagging around the porch.
I scrubbed a hand over my head and swallowed down the bitter aftertaste that came from knowing I’d disappointed my family, my dad. He’d been so proud of his only son, the high school all star athlete, the D1 college basketball player, the Aerospace Engineering degree I was working toward at Georgia Tech.
After Selena’s attack, it had taken me a week to work up the courage to call him and tell him I might not ever walk again. I’d still been having seizures back then and hadn’t been able to feel anything below my waist. With Gianna gone and one broken, life had seemed pretty fucking hopeless, and Pop’s reaction hadn’t helped. He’d clammed up between one breath and another, and the next thing I knew, he’d handed the phone off to Ma. I hadn’t talked to him but once since then and that conversation had gone about the same way.
Eric got out and rounded the car, wrestled my chair out of the trunk, and opened my door. “Your mom’s waiting up for us.”
“If you’re trying to hurry me along, guilt tripping me ain’t the way to do it.”
I heaved a sigh and maneuvered myself out of the car into the wheelchair. Better to get it over with. And, hey. At least it was dark outside. Made having to find safe shelter a lot easier when the sun wasn’t threatening to burst across the horizon.
Eric rolled me across the uneven yard up the ramp and rapped lightly on the front door. Footsteps scurried across the floors inside, then the door swung open and Ma stepped into the doorway, her broad face wreathed in a tired smile under the casual swing of her flaxen pageboy.
She pushed the screen door aside and her knowing gaze landed on Eric’s hand, wrapped firmly around my nape. “Jason. You made it.”
“Ma.”
I clamped my teeth together, suddenly sure I’d bungle an introduction no matter what I said.
As if he knew exactly what was going through my mind, and he probably did, damn his nosiness, Eric held out his hand and smiled. “Eric Logan. It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Bellmont.”
She accepted it, her smile unwavering. “Call me Kathy. I’ve got rooms ready for you two and a snack, if you need it.”
“Thanks, Ma. Maybe we could skip the snack.”
“Of course.” She pressed a hesitant kiss to my check, then led us inside, through the foyer past the stairs leading to the second floor, down the hallway by the entrance to the living room and, beyond it, the kitchen. She stopped at the door leading into the guest room. “I aired this room out for you, Jason. I thought Eric could stay in your old room upstairs.”
“We’re used to sleeping together,” Eric said.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, hiding a cringe. He usually had more tact than that.
Ma’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”
“Yes, ma’am.” His thumb skimmed up and down the side of my neck. “I’ll get our suitcase.”
His hand slipped away and his footsteps rang through the hallway, a quiet counterpoint to the silence stretching between me and my m
other.
She cupped a hand over mine. “You’re sharing a bed and a suitcase with this man.”
“Our luggage was stolen.” I scratched my nape and risked meeting her curious gaze. “Do I need to spell the rest out?”
“Not to me. Your father won’t be so easily put off.”
“It’s not what it looks like.” Or not exactly, anyway. “Look, we’ve been through a lot since we landed. Can we talk about this in the morning?”
“Of course, we can. I planned a big breakfast for you. Your sisters can’t wait to see you again.”
I managed a small smile. “Even Di?”
Ma laughed. “Well, two out of three isn’t bad, is it?”
“It’s pretty good odds.”
The front door opened and closed, and she glanced over my shoulder at Eric. “He’s a handsome one.”
“He’s a good man.”
Eric stopped beside me and ruffled a narrow hand over my stubby hair. “Don’t lie to your mother.”
My smile widened. “She always catches me out when I do. Trust me, the punishment isn’t worth the crime.”
“Oh, you.” She smacked a kiss to my cheek, squeezed Eric’s shoulder. “Jason can show you where everything is, but if you need anything…”
“We’ll be fine, Kathy. Thank you for letting us stay.”
“Thank you for bringing him home.” She slipped past us, a bundle of energy and rawboned strength. “Don’t forget breakfast.”
I twisted around and watched her swing past the newel and up the stairs. “I never forget food.”
She poked her head over the stair rail. “Well, at least that hasn’t changed.”
Her socked feet whispered against the stairs, not quite as fast as they had when I was a kid, but faster than I’d ever been able to keep up with. She disappeared, and I glanced up at Eric. His gaze was fixed on the stairway and his sensual lips were pressed together in a hard slash across his lean face.
“What?” I asked.
“Probably nothing.”
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