Kiss Across Chains (Kiss Across Time Series)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Brody’s eyes blanked out on her. She saw it happen. His gaze turned inwards and fear washed over him.

  Veris’ hand came down on her shoulder. “Don’t, Taylor,” he said.

  In that second she put it together. The handcuffs, his resistance to being forced into the back of the cruiser. Veris’ attempt to protect him. “God, I am so stupid,” she breathed. She stroked Brody’s brow. “This goes back to when you were a slave, doesn’t it?”

  Brody shuddered. “Sixteen hundred years,” he whispered. “It haunts me still.”

  Taylor drew Brody’s head to her shoulder and wrapped her arms around him, as far as she could reach. He was trembling, a fine movement that worked through his body.

  “Can you talk about it, Brody?” she murmured. “Can you tell me like you told Veris?”

  “Even I don’t know this story,” Veris said softly, just behind her. “I just know that he was enslaved when the Saxons swept through Britain during the first waves of occupation after Camlann. Brody was thirteen or so and he stayed a slave for seventeen years until he died and was turned by another slave.” Taylor heard Veris’ cat-like steps as he moved around the chair until he could see her face. “Now you know what I know,” he said bleakly.

  “I have always known that much,” Taylor said.

  Veris stroked the back of Brody’s head with a gentle touch. “I have chosen never to probe further.”

  “Because you feel guilty for fighting on the side of the people who enslaved him,” Taylor told him.

  Veris dropped his hand. He took a breath. Then another. “Right through the gut.” He glanced at Alexander. “I’m sorry for dragging you through these intimacies, Alex. I hadn’t planned on them.”

  Taylor glanced at Alexander, where he sat. He had propped his head on his hand and watched with open interest. Now he shrugged. “Forgive me for being fascinated. The persistent remains of human psychology in you, after so many centuries have abused you, is a wondrous thing.”

  “You make it sound like a blessing,” Brody ground out against Taylor’s shoulder.

  “But it is,” Alexander said, sounding surprised.

  Brody lifted his head to look at him. “I’ll trade you a day in the slave pits in Constantinople, Alex. Then talk to me of blessings.” His voice was hoarse.

  “Constantinople?” Veris said sharply.

  Brody pushed himself back against the chair once more. “That’s where I was taken and sold. Sold a few times, until I shot up to my full height and they suddenly realized I’d make a great chariot driver.”

  Veris sank onto the edge of the bed that Alexander was sitting on. “Chariot racing,” he breathed, looking ill. Then his gaze dropped to the floor. “Miklegarth,” he muttered. It sounded like a curse, but Taylor jumped, for she recognized the Old Saxon rendering of “Constantinople”.

  What was it about Constantinople and chariot racing that would cause Veris such distress?

  Veris lifted his head again to look at Brody. “What year?” he demanded.

  “I don’t know,” Brody replied.

  “What year were you taken there, then?”

  “I don’t know,” Brody replied. “Not for sure.” He shrugged. “It took forever to get there, anyway. Many of us died on the way.”

  Veris winced and looked at Taylor. “You were right. The guilt bites deep.”

  “For something you had nothing to do with?” Brody asked.

  Veris shrugged. “You are not the only one carrying a burden, it seems.” His stance and his words were casual, but his gaze slid away from Brody’s face, proving that Veris was more affected than he was choosing to show.

  Brody’s mouth lifted in a small smile. “And you two keep wondering why I love you. Then you say something like that, or do something like this.” He trailed his hand down Taylor’s hair, which hung around her hips these days. Unlike Mia, she left her hair loose as often as possible, because Veris and Brody loved to stroke it and slide their hands into it, or hold her head still with it as they plundered her mouth or other parts of her body.

  Brody’s fingers slid into her hair, rubbing up against her scalp, making her shiver. But he didn’t take his kiss.

  “Veris,” he said, his voice thick. “Come and kiss her.” Brody bent her head back and her lips up in offering.

  Taylor moaned, her body abruptly turning hot, her blood slow and thick and languorous with heat and need.

  Veris’ mouth covered hers and his tongue drove deep inside. She could feel the pressure of his canines against her teeth, even with their lips between them. It was a familiar touch, one that reassured her.

  When Brody’s hands touched the bare skin of her stomach, she sighed into Veris’ mouth as her pulse accelerated. “I don’t think I should be the focus tonight,” she breathed against Veris’ lips.

  He licked her upper lip. “Neither do I.” He smiled as he turned his head to Brody and slid his hand into Brody’s long locks and tilted his head back. Brody’s breath escaped with a harsh sigh as Veris bent over him and kissed him, his lips hard against Brody’s.

  Taylor’s body tightened and thrummed as she watched the two men kiss, one dark haired, one pale. She still thrilled at the sight of them together, even now, eight years after meeting them and three years of their very special marriage later.

  With a gasp, she remembered Alexander and looked over at the queen-sized bed. It was empty. Alexander had discreetly withdrawn, probably to the other bedroom. She had not heard the main hotel room door open and close and Veris had been insistent that no one go anywhere in public alone.

  With a sigh of relief, Taylor pulled off her tank top, then her bra. Her breasts were already swollen, the nipples hard with excitement. She reached between her thighs and pulled Brody’s robe undone and opened it up. It didn’t surprise her to find his cock rampantly erect and throbbing. She trailed her forefinger along the length of him.

  At her first gentle touch, Brody groaned, the sound pulling from deep within him. He was more than ready. He was powerfully aroused.

  “You like the idea of being used by us, don’t you?” she murmured and slid her tongue along Brody’s extended neck, as Veris continued to raid his mouth.

  His hips lifted, his pelvis thrusting with a little compulsive jerk.

  Yeah, he liked it.

  Taylor lifted herself from the chair and stripped away the rest of her clothing. As she wriggled out of her jeans, she found her gaze pulled back to Veris and Brody. Their heads together, their mouths pressed against each other.

  Taylor’s body burned at the sight.

  Naked, she pressed herself up behind Veris and undressed him as he leaned over Brody, until he was as bare as she. Taylor could see his shoulders lifting with his accelerated breathing.

  She stroked his stiff and jutting cock, making him moan into Brody’s mouth.

  Veris pulled Brody to his feet, away from the chair, so that Veris stood behind him. Brody’s robe was tossed onto the chair.

  Taylor circled the two men as Veris pulled Brody’s hair aside and licked his way along the line of Brody’s neck, following the great artery. Brody had fed tonight, after they had left the station. Veris always found Brody especially arousing after he had fed.

  Veris made a breathless sound, like a groan without sound, as he ran his tongue over Brody’s renewed pulse. He slid his arm over Brody’s shoulder, pulling him up against his chest.

  Brody’s eyes closed in pleasure.

  Taylor leaned over to the nightstand between the beds and reached into her purse and withdrew the small tube of lubricant that she carried with her, always, and pressed it into Veris’ spare hand. Then she lowered herself to her knees and ran her hands down Brody’s thighs to his ankles and separated them, forcing him to spread his feet wide.

  Brody gripped the back of the cast-aside chair for balance, his eyes wide open as he stared down at her. Excitement glittered in his eyes and his expression was hungry. He knew what she intended. His cock was throbbing.
Jerking against his abdomen.

  Taylor circled the heavy velvet skin of his testicles with her finger.

  He hissed.

  Veris’ hands griped Brody’s hips. “She teases. I take.” His voice was hoarse with building pleasure.

  From her low vantage point, Taylor was able to watch Veris nudge his cock, slick and gleaming with lubricant, into Brody one slow inch at a time. Brody curled his fingers over Taylor’s shoulder, his breath shuddering, as Veris took him.

  Taylor waited until the moment Veris was completely inside Brody, then she plunged her mouth over Brody’s pulsating cock, pushing it deep into her throat, as she cupped and gently rolled his balls in her hands.

  Brody cried out, his fingers clamping on her shoulder. His hips thrust, driving his cock deeper into her mouth.

  Taylor accepted it, letting her lips slide over the shaft and back up again, to tease the oh-so-sensitive head of his cock and the underside with her tongue. She could feel her own body tightening, tingling with pleasure, but that wasn’t the point here and now. Brody was.

  He was trembling, gasping. Veris and she knew exactly how and what Brody liked best and with both of them concentrating on him, Brody was helpless to do anything but explode.

  Brody’s cock swelled and pumped in her mouth, warning her, but Taylor just smiled both mentally and around his shaft and kept working her lips and tongue at the delicate flesh.

  Brody thrust his hands into her hair and clenched desperately. “Agh, Taylor!”

  He came in hard, surprisingly hot spurts that Taylor took and swallowed silently. Brody’s cum, like Veris’, wasn’t salty or bitter. It was neutral, without semen or active biological matter. But it tasted different from Veris’.

  She swirled her tongue in the shallow divot of the eye of his cock, and let him go, sitting back.

  Brody was still breathing hard. He straightened up, studying her with his eyes narrowed as Veris let him go. “No,” he said softly. “You don’t get off that lightly,” he said, his voice a dangerously low growl.

  He reached for her.

  Taylor was still on her knees. She threw herself backwards, twisting out of the way, which put her on her hands and knees facing the opposite direction. It was a bad move. It made her far too vulnerable, because Brody was vampire and wouldn’t hesitate to use his speed and strength against her in private.

  Even as her hands landed on the dark green carpet, Brody’s arm curled around her waist from behind, his fingers spreading out over her abdomen. “Got you,” he growled.

  His cock pushed into her folds, finding her pussy entrance with unerring aim, and slamming home with a hard, deep thrust.

  Taylor gasped at the sudden, unexpected possession, adjusting to it.

  “You’re hot. Wet,” Brody muttered against the back of her shoulder. “Anyone would think you were ready for me.”

  “I was waiting for Veris,” she said. This was an old game, an old joke.

  “I have better fish to fry,” Veris growled.

  Taylor turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw Veris standing over Brody. His eyes were narrowed and his cock was still hard and beating upright. “Yes, do him again,” she said. “Make him scream.”

  Brody closed his eyes and thrust into her, his hand shifting to dip into her cleft, bumping up against her sensitive clit. “That’s what I planned for you, wife.”

  “Together, then,” she whispered, as her climax stirred and leapt at his touch.

  “You might have to hurry,” Veris gasped as he claimed Brody once more.

  Taylor moaned, her hips thrusting backwards. “No…problems.” Her climax swirled and gathered as Brody’s fingers stroked and massaged and his cock slid in and out of her, stroking the inside of her pussy and all the nerve endings there. She could hear Brody’s labored breathing as Veris took him, and the little catches in Veris’ breath, the erotic hitches and gasps. That drove her pleasure steaming toward the peak.

  Taylor managed to hold in her scream, in deference to Alexander in the next room and the people sleeping there. But she screamed with a clamped jaw and her vision faded for a moment.

  Brody’s guttural climax was muffled against her back, but the power of his hard, deep thrusts as he came told their own story. His fingers dug into her shoulder as he strained against her, his pelvis grinding against her ass.

  Veris groaned just once, but the groan was cut off quickly. He, too, remembered Alexander.

  * * * * *

  Alexander kept his back to the door, his butt on the floor and concentrated on the sound of the sleeping people on the bed to the left of his crossed feet. If he focused on the rhythm of their breathing, then he could block out the sounds of passion, love and eroticism he could hear through the paper thin door at his back. The door might block noise for normal humans, but for a vampire, it was useless. He could hear everything, if he chose to.

  If he was polite, if he was decent, he would choose not to eavesdrop.

  A good Christian wouldn’t listen.

  Problem was, he wasn’t a good Christian. His whole body was wracked with desire and envy. With need.

  Once upon a time, he had thought himself in love with Taylor. That moment had long gone. His admiration and respect for Taylor was limitless, yes, and he loved her in all ways except romantically. He could even lust after her and understand why Brody and Veris crossed time and fought so doggedly to keep this human woman in their lives. But he was not in love with her.

  Alexander brought his knees up and rested his elbows on them. Then he leaned his forehead on the heels of his hands and made himself face the other facts as cleanly as he acknowledged his lust for Taylor.

  Because it wasn’t just lust for Taylor. He wanted all of them.

  He had watched Brody and Veris kiss and the truth had exploded in his mind like a fireworks display.

  It wasn’t simple lust, either. He wanted what they had. Lust and love. The whole nine yards. Until Alexander had met Veris, Taylor and Brody, a ménage belonged in the realm of the pornographic and that was all. It had never occurred to him that a ménage could be something so beautiful, so wonderful and full of love—and so erotic, too. These three had opened his eyes.

  Now, he wanted what they had.

  Only the Christian church called what they had a sin and them sinners. Never mind that Alexander was already a condemned abomination because he was vampire…

  Alexander pulled out his Ichthys pendant and looked at it. Why had he chosen the secret symbol and not simply worn a cross?

  He put the pendant back inside his shirt, hauled himself to his feet and stretched out on the second empty bed. He might as well get comfortable. He could be here a while.

  * * * * *

  Brody carried Taylor over to the bigger bed, while Veris pulled back the covers. Brody tucked her under the sheets and blankets. “Sleep,” he murmured. “You’re very tired.”

  She kept her arms around his neck. “Stay for a while,” she said. “Please?”

  Brody settled down next to her. Veris drew the blanket over them both, then slid under the sheets with them, settling down behind Brody. He propped his head on his hand, so that he could see them both.

  Brody sighed, curling his hand over Taylor’s waist and drawing her up against him. “This is where I was meant to be,” he murmured. “Between the two of you.”

  Veris kissed his shoulder. “I’m starting to think, Brody, that you and I were just the dress rehearsal for the three of us.”

  Brody brushed Taylor’s hair from her face and back over her shoulder, nodding. “We had to learn how to survive together in order to make the three of us work.” He laughed softly. “We’re both so fuckin’ stubborn, we needed a thousand years to do that.”

  Sleep was pushing insistently at her mind, but Taylor struggled to clear it away. “You’re ready, aren’t you?” she whispered. “Ready to turn me.”

  “I’ll never be ready for that,” Veris said gently. “But I know I never want to l
ose you. Ever. Not even for the sake of watching you live a normal human life. If that means I must find a way to turn you, then I will. But I’m hoping you will let Brody do it. He sees it as a gift. I do not…not yet, anyway.”

  “Brody?” she whispered.

  “I will,” he said, “If you want me to.”

  Her eyes closed and she struggled to open them again.

  “But not right now,” he added. “Sleep, Taylor. We have enough to worry about right now. When all this fuss is over, we’ll talk about it again.”

  She felt his lips on her temple and realized her eyes had shut again.

  “Wake up, Taylor,” Brody told her. His arms were around her and her head was resting on his shoulder.

  “You just told me to sleep,” she complained.

  “That was six hours ago.” Brody chuckled.

  “Mummy! Come and eat! There’s pancakes!” Marit’s high, sweet voice sounded very happy, like she had already eaten more than her share. Taylor groaned.

  “There is also crisp bacon, just as you like it,” Veris murmured by her ear. “And coffee.”

  “Coffee!” She tried to move.

  Veris laughed. “I’m not sure whether I’m sad or glad I missed out on a coffee addiction. The smell is divine, but the lengths people go to for their daily hit is astonishing.”

  Taylor paused from struggling out of the sheets and blankets to kiss Brody. He looked normal. Peaceful. She stroked his cheek. “Good morning. Did I sleep on you all night?”

  “You know I don’t mind.”

  “You know I love it, that’s why you don’t mind.”

  He smiled. “True.”

  She smacked his chest lightly.

  Veris held out a robe for her so she could slide into it without flashing the entire room as she climbed out of the bed. As she tied the robe closed, he grabbed the lapels and pulled her close for his own good morning kiss. His was much more thorough and arousing. By the time he let her go and pushed her toward the table, Taylor was breathing hard and thinking about tugging him into the bathroom.

  Mia had already poured her a cup of coffee and was pushing the cream over.