by Cate Corvin
I ducked my head to kiss his neck, and blinked. Blinked again. When I looked at the black ink of the clan necklace around his throat, the dots and whorls seemed to waver at the edges of my vision. I ran my fingers over the ink, but it didn’t disappear.
“What’s wrong, Tori?” Sura palmed my ass, squeezing just enough to bring my attention back to him.
“Your clan tattoo. There was something weird about it.” I sat up and ran my fingers down his chest, and the ink seemed to flicker again, like a holographic illusion laid over his skin instead of under it, where it should be.
Sura grabbed my hair and forced my mouth down to his.
All thoughts of weird tattoos left my mind when he nipped my lower lip, coaxing me to open for him. The rough grip of the hand clamped around my hip dragging me forward made me gasp against his mouth, and his tongue slid over mine in a messy tangle.
When he broke away, eyes glittering like flat onyx, I swallowed hard. Desire pulsed through me in a sudden rush, a desperate, needy hunger that had me peeling my clothes away before they drove me insane. The scrape of cloth against flesh wasn’t what I wanted, not with Sura under me. Every part of me felt swollen, my pussy wet and aching for him. I couldn’t even stop myself from grinding against him, moaning in his ear.
He unbuckled my belt and stood me up to shimmy them over my hips, and I yanked his shirt open. Everything about him was sculpted and gorgeous, his skin like silk under my mouth. I was moaning, the sound distant in my ears, because the only noise I could focus on was Sura’s groans of need and my own heartbeat pounding in my veins.
His cock strained at the front of his jeans and I peeled them off, almost ripping the zipper in my haste. I needed him. Nothing was more important than relieving this unbearable need.
When he sprang free, long, thick, fucking delicious, he gripped my wrists, stopping me from touching him. I whimpered, struggling against his powerful restraint, writhing against him.
“Sura, don’t you dare fucking tease me like this,” I gasped. The apex of my thighs was already slick with how badly I wanted him.
He pushed me back onto the bed, settling between my legs and pinning my hands over my head. Under his mass, all I could do was try to wriggle until I was in the perfect spot, but he kept his hips just far enough away that no amount of wriggling was going to get him inside me.
I let out a frustrated groan as he ran his tongue up my neck. “Please, I need you.”
“I don’t think you need me that bad,” he said, his lips vibrating against my throat. “I’m not convinced.”
My hips jerked, and while I was still achingly empty, the pressure of his hard lower belly against my clit had me moaning, grinding against him.
I didn’t even care when the lock on his door rattled and Will stepped in, missing a beat in his stride for less than a second before he shut it behind him and threw the lock again.
Sura turned his head with a grin. “I don’t think she wants it bad enough.”
Heat bloomed low in my belly as Will shed his jacket and shirt, his jade eyes piercing right through me. “No? Maybe she should take care of herself, then.” He unbuckled his jeans slowly, deliberately.
Oh god, I was so close to coming just from the pressure of Sura between my thighs, the solid grip of his hands around my wrists. I hadn’t realized just how badly I wanted Will again until he dropped the rest of his clothes, slowly climbing over the bed and running his mouth along my thigh, nipping the soft skin of my hip. He crawled to the top of the bed with cat-like fluidity.
“Will.” I drew in a hissed breath as he took over for Sura’s hands, and the dark slayer moved downwards, sucking a nipple and rolling it over his tongue. Pleasure shot through me, zipping straight to my clit.
“How badly do you want this?” He pressed down on my hands, holding me firmly in place. Will’s voice, always sexy, now had the same ragged edge as Sura’s. “How much are you willing to beg?”
“I want it more than anything,” I gasped, surprising myself. “Please, Will!”
Sura’s lips slipped over my stomach. He pinned my thighs apart, drawing a shaky moan out of me, and his mouth paused just above my wet folds.
“Beg, Victoria,” Will whispered. His hands tightened around my wrists.
My breath quickened, becoming urgent pants. “Please, please, please! I want you so badly I’m burning inside, I need you, Sura-”
He groaned, the sound vibrating against my clit and making my hips buck upwards. Sura broke first, running his tongue upwards and curling it into me, his fingers digging into my thighs.
My back arched from the sheer ecstasy that rippled through me at his touch, and Will snarled low in his throat. “She’s not done.”
I could’ve cried when Sura’s mouth left me. The two cruel men turned me over, forcing me onto my hands and knees. Sura kneaded my ass, and something in the primal position made the burning desire to fuck them burn even hotter.
Will knelt in front of me, his hands tangled in my hair. His thick cock was already stiff. Just the memory of him pounding into me made me groan, because I already knew what he was capable of making me do.
I licked my lips, and wrapped my mouth around the smooth, hot crown, flicking the tip of my tongue against the underside.
“Oh Christ,” he gasped when I pushed down, taking as much of him into my mouth as I could with a low, satisfied moan. Vindication coiled in the back of my head, the knowledge that I was able to bring my stepbrother to his knees, that he was really the one begging here.
But nothing else was coherent. All I wanted was to feel them in me, to burn off the hot, demanding hunger.
“Fuck, give her what she wants,” Will panted, his hand tightening in my hair. He didn’t push my head down, letting me luxuriate over the silky taste and texture of him.
Sura pulled my ass back against him, the head of his cock pushing against me. How had I ever thought he was too big to take all at once? I wanted every last inch of him- and fucking hell he delivered, sliding in with one smooth, powerful stroke, stretching my pussy around him.
I would’ve been screaming my lungs out from how amazing it felt when Sura pounded into me like he wanted to make it hurt, but the sounds were muffled. He was fucking me so hard, I was sliding down Will’s cock bit by bit, pleasure shuddering through me in relentless waves.
Sura reached around my hip to knead my clit. His powerful thrusts, and Will’s hitched groans, sent me spiraling into an orgasm so intense I started shaking.
Will kept his grip on my hair while I came, his cock throbbing in my mouth, and Sura gripped my ass as he hammered home and released himself, fingers digging into my hips.
My stepbrother pulled my head back and I gasped for breath, still shuddering. “You wanted cock so bad, get up here and take it.”
Sura slid out of me and I crawled astride Will, shivering as I slid down his shaft. Even after coming on Sura harder than I’d ever come in my life, being filled by Will was intense, every muscle in his body taut.
His jade eyes were fixed on my face, pale and icy.
My hips gyrated, slow at first, speeding up when he bit his lip and gripped my waist, pushing up against me, his hand sliding between us to stroke my sensitive clit. When Will’s eyes darkened and he gasped, burying himself in me to the base as he came, I finally let go and hit that peak again, my arms wrapped around his neck, breasts pressed to his chest.
The low, insistent need for sex had finally dissipated, leaving me satisfied and warm, draped over the one guy I never would’ve considered if it hadn’t been for our time together in Libra Academy.
Sura pulled me off Will, cradling me between them. “That was a hell of an apology, babe.”
Just being this close to Sura already had me wanting more, but I tamped the thought down. So the guy was so fucking attractive he was like a sex powerhouse for me. I’d end up bruised if I tried to keep going, even though I knew I’d crave him all the time now that Pandora’s Box had been opened.
I collapsed onto the bed as Sura curled around my back as the big spoon. His fingers trailed over my thigh, tickling me all the way up. I was going to be a little sore tomorrow, and I’d need to visit Mater Dolorum for a contraceptive philter… but it was oh, so worth it.
Will stretched out, all lean golden muscle, his dark hair falling in his eyes. He swept it aside carelessly, lying on my outstretched arm. “Samhain’s in two weeks.”
“Yeah.” I spread out my fingers on the white sheets, and he slid his hand over mine so our outstretched fingers made a ten-pointed star. “What about it?”
“Libra holds a huge party for it every year to celebrate the dark half of the cycle. We thought…” He trailed off, his fingers tightening on mine.
“You might want to be our date,” Sura said, his lips moving against my shoulder.
“Our date,” I repeated, looking up into Will’s dark-lashed eyes. “For both of you.”
My stepbrother’s fingers clamped down around mine. “I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone thinks. We want you with us, and that’s all that matters.”
Sura finger-walked his hand into the dip of my waist and up over my shoulder. “Don’t you want to try more than a little taste of hedonism?” he asked, his voice all smoke again.
I squirmed until I was lying flat on my back, a leg flung over Sura’s thigh, one foot propped on Will’s. For some reason, I didn’t want to share Sura’s aversion to kissing in front of Will. That was something for us to work through… and yet, here he was, tempting me with more of his rough, pounding delights.
“We were pissed at each other this morning. Let’s start with baby steps into debauchery, maybe?” I squirmed, but his erection was already hard again, pressed against my hip. It was hard to focus on anything else when he was touching every part of me like he was trying to memorize the contours of my body.
“Nobody takes baby steps into debauchery, babe. They dive in headfirst and hope the excitement doesn’t kill them.”
“So, you’ll be our date.” Will’s tone was crisp. “It’s expected you’ll be seen with me, anyways.”
Yeah, it would be expected, but not as his… girlfriend? Fuck buddy? Who the hell knew? But after a month of awkward tension between us, I needed to decide what Will was to me, and stick with it. All I knew for sure? He was definitely no brother of mine.
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat, feeling strangely embarrassed. I’d had boyfriends, but none had knocked me off-guard quite like these two. “Yeah, I’ll be your date. I guess. Sure.”
Will’s grin was genuine, lighting up his whole face. For a second my breath caught in my throat as he pushed forward to kiss me, lips warm and insistent. A flutter of heat ran down to my pussy… but the ache between my legs told me it wasn’t happening again. Not tonight.
“See? I knew you’d fit right in with Tenebris,” Sura said. “Welcome to the dark side.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
________
TORI
I slid out of the limo, placing one foot on Clouded Court territory. Everything hurt from head to toe, and all I wanted to do was collapse in my bed and sleep for the next eighteen hours, but I’d been terrified of what breaking my oath to Càel might mean for me.
I wasn’t sure if I was afraid of him or not… but either way, the last thing I needed was to find out if I should be.
Ever since I’d beaten the shit out of Beatrice, the rest of Lux had been gunning for me, and Aislin Liddell seemed inclined to turn a blind eye to her team even if she never laid a hand on me herself. Beatrice was still under Mater Dolorum’s care.
With the semester two exams coming up right after Samhain, Professor Knightley and Professor Ermengol had decided the time was ripe to light a fire under our asses. This translated into pitting us against each other, both in practicals and on the training field, and sitting back to watch the carnage like they were spectators at a pleasant afternoon round of croquet.
For us, this meant being so exhausted and battered that we all just slumped off to bed as soon as we were done having the crap kicked out of us.
Will was dead to the world, between holding his own for Tenebris while directing eight other people, and Lux was making up for Beatrice’s absence with the sort of bloodlust usually reserved for rabid moonspawn.
The wind picked up and ruffled my hair, carrying a hint of chill, but Càel didn’t mysteriously appear right in front of me like he usually did.
In fact, he hadn’t done that since the night I’d spilled my innermost thoughts to him and seen him feeding on a human woman, but he’d at least acknowledged that I’d kept up my end of the agreement between us.
Club Bathory’s arterial-red door remained closed, the throb of music echoing behind it, and I put my other foot on the pavement. There. I was fully standing on Clouded Court territory now.
And still no Càel.
I scowled, hesitating next to the open limo door. Let’s be honest, Tori, you’re not waiting around because you care about upholding the oath. Jim-Jam’s sardonic voice echoed in my head.
“Shut up, James,” I muttered.
But I waited another minute anyways, almost holding my breath. When Càel didn’t appear, I shouted up at the roof of the brownstone. “I could’ve been sleeping, you vein-licking jerk! Debt’s paid for the week!”
I collapsed back into the limo and slammed the door behind me. The cacodemon driver pulled away.
Without really meaning to, I glanced back at the doors of Club Bathory. No Càel.
When my heart sank, I told myself it was just exhaustion. I’d just spent all day cramming books in my head and fending off Juno Endelyn’s vicious attacks.
It most certainly wasn’t because I wanted to see a certain vampire knight at all.
I tugged the hem of the dress Sura had convinced me to buy, turning to look in the mirror. It was longer than the hoochie dress, reaching mid-thigh… but it was also skin-tight. I felt a bit like tits and ass squeezed into a small black sausage casing.
It looked great, but if I breathed too hard, this thing might split at the seams.
The devil I spoke of appeared, with Will at his side. My stepbrother shut the door behind him. The suits they wore just made them look even more broad and imposing, which wasn’t helped by the fact that Sura’s collar was undone and his sleeves rolled up, adding to the sexiness factor by a factor of a thousand. Will looked perfect as usual, the gold prefect pin on his lapel, giving me a lazy once-over. When he sucked in his lower lip with a grin I almost melted.
“You look gorgeous, Tori. Good enough to eat.” He wrapped his arms around me from behind, nipping my earlobe and pressing a soft, warm kiss to the side of my neck. Butterflies swirled through my stomach in a nervous storm; what if it was obvious we were together? I refused to join clan Godalming on principle as an adult slayer, but still, Mother had married in.
“What’s wrong?” Will’s jade eyes met mine in the mirror.
I fastened a gold necklace around my neck, touching the black demon-kill tattoo as I clasped it. “What will people think about this?”
It was one thing when nobody knew, and an entirely different kettle of fish to go to a party on my stepbrother’s arm when it was clear we were together.
Will’s fingers skimmed over my shoulders to my throat, running along the black dots of the Holmwood clan necklace. “I’m a Godalming. You’re a Holmwood. I met you for the first time five months ago, and that’s all there is to it.” When my expression didn’t change, his fingers tightened a touch. “You’re one of us.”
Sura tipped my chin up to look at him. Between the two of them, my heart was pounding from the memory of the only time we’d all been together. “Come on, Tori. It’s the biggest celebration we’ll see all year, and it’s your only year in Libra. Enjoy it while it lasts.”
“I guess so.” My stomach hadn’t entirely unknotted, but maybe they were right, and I was being too uptight about it. Will smiled at me in the mirror.
“Trust
me. You’ll never forget it.”
I walked into Dresden Hall flanked by the guys and tried to not let my mouth drop open like the bumpkin they all thought I was. The mansion was owned by an old, rich slayer family, and they clearly had more money than they knew what to do with. Who else had a floor that was coated in glazed gold leaf, and a koi pond with a fresco of Heaven painted on the bottom smack in the middle of their ballroom?
Each class of Libra had been invited. The freshmen were clumped near a twelve-foot-tall statue of Hades, still too young to join the sophomore and junior classes by what looked like a literal fountain of wine. The younger students eyed Lux and Tenebris as we filtered in, some jealously eyeing the wine, and others eyeing the more attractive seniors.
A long dining table had been set with untouched food and cut-crystal glasses, reddened bones placed among the settings. Placards read out names at each chair, listing the names of the fallen invited to dine at the dumb supper while the veil between life and death was thin.
“Where’s the Headmaster?” I asked. Ermengol and Mater Bellum were leaning against a column, whispering to each other, and Knightley was seated at one of the tables for the living. Burns was nowhere to be seen.
“Last year he introduced the party by riding in on a red horse.” Will scooped a glass of wine from a passing waiter and handed it to me. “The year before, he swooped down from the ceiling with a scythe.”
“He’s a bit of a nutcase when he’s not actually taking things seriously,” Sura said, draining half a glass of wine in one swallow. His arm was oddly stiff in mine.
I leaned into him, wishing I could kiss the almost-glossy skin at the base of his throat, where the marks of his clan tattoo ended. “Why so stiff, Sura? You’re the party animal in this trio.”