“Lift up, darling,” Henri said as he came up behind her. He straddled Leo’s legs and molded himself to Sera’s back. She felt overwhelmed being sandwiched between the two men. She lifted up and Henri reached down to guide Leo’s cock to her. He was thicker than Henri but not by much. She sank down on him slowly, taking him in a millimeter at a time. When she was finally seated, she stilled and looked into Leo’s eyes.
The werewolf was watching her with something close to reverence on his face. He had his hands on her hips, just resting there lightly. He was so strong, she had seen evidence of that earlier, but he was being so gentle with her.
Henri’s lips teased the soft skin behind her ear, his tongue snaking out and drawing patterns. Leo didn’t rush her, he just let her set the pace and move when she was ready.
She started slow, lifting up a little before sinking back down. As Henri’s hand came around her to cup her breasts she felt the beginning stir of pleasure start up inside her again.
“Oh God,” she moaned softly.
Leo’s pupils were blown wide with lust. She was also very aware of the fact that Henri hadn’t come yet. She could feel his hard cock against her back, rubbing against her as she moved up and down on Leo’s lap.
Leo groaned and let his head tip back, his fingers splaying out on Sera’s hips. “Sweet Jesus.”
The memory of Henri’s teeth plunging into her skin made Sera shiver. She reached behind and cupped the back of Henri’s head before turning and pulling him in for a kiss. With the vampire’s tongue in her mouth and the werewolf’s cock inside her, she felt as though all her senses had been dialed up to eleven.
She didn’t think it could get any better until one of Henri’s hands slid lower down her body. He lightly ran his fingertip over her clit and Sera felt her pussy clench around Leo’s cock.
“Oh fuck,” she moaned against Henri’s mouth. The vampire pushed against her harder, his cock hot and hard against her skin. It was all too much. No one person should experience such a level of pleasure. She worried that if she came again so soon she would pass out.
It was Henri who found his release first. The vampire groaned and, apparently unable to stop himself, bit down on Sera’s neck. She cried out at the sudden shock of pain, but the pleasure that quickly followed was even more intense. She felt the warm wetness of the vampire’s seed as he spilled against her lower back. Her own orgasm was just seconds later.
“Henri,” Leo said, his voice low and guttural. “That’s enough.”
Henri made an animalistic sound in the back of his throat before he released Sera’s neck. The vampire licked the shallow wound lovingly as Sera tipped her head back against him. Leo grunted as he thrust up into Sera’s spent body. When the werewolf came he growled and pulled her limp body close against his chest, burying his face in her hair until his spasms had subsided.
Sera felt utterly wrecked, like she was boneless. She felt exhausted both in mind, body, and spirit. She wondered, briefly, how long she had been awake but she was too tired to even do the math.
“I’m sorry,” Henri said as he hugged Leo, sandwiching Sera between them. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
It took Sera a moment to realise what he was talking about. He had bitten her again, even though both he and Leo had said it was a bad idea. It had felt so good, though, that she didn’t have it in her to care.
“Don’t worry about it,” she mumbled as he laid her head on Leo’s shoulder.
“No,” Henri said. “It shouldn’t have happened. It won’t happen again.”
It was so warm and comfortable being between them that she could easily have fallen asleep there and then.
“Just rest, luv,” Leo said before he placed a kiss on her hairline. “We’ll take care of you.”
It was the last thing she remembered before she fell asleep.
Chapter Nine
Sera didn’t know what woke her. She couldn’t remember dreaming, but she was left with the feeling that tended to linger after a nightmare. Her whole body felt on edge, like she was just waiting for something bad to happen. She also felt sore but in a good way, like she had done an intense workout and then received a deep tissue massage. That was when everything came flooding back to her.
She wasn’t entirely human and, apparently, she never had been. Flashes of the night before attacked her brain like strobe lighting. Leo. Bale. Henri. The attack. The sex.
She opened her eyes and turned her head to see Leo’s face on the pillow beside her, softer and younger in sleep. His dark hair had fallen in his eyes. She had let Henri drink her blood and bind her to him in a way she didn’t exactly understand. She turned her head, expecting to see Henri the other side of her, but the vampire wasn’t there.
She thought about the way it had felt when Henri bit her. The way he had sucked on her skin and drank her blood. Sera felt a slight throbbing between her legs at the memory and her cheeks flushed.
She felt her heartbeat pick up but not because she was aroused, because she was afraid. She was no stranger to anxiety, and if ever she was entitled to panic it was now.
She clenched her hands at her sides and took several deep breaths trying to get her heart to slow down. After a minute with no change, she got out of the bed, careful not to wake Leo. Facing Leo right now was not something she was ready for.
She quickly found her clothes folded neatly on a chair at the end of the room. She could only assume that Henri had put them there. She couldn’t believe she had been so bold, stripping out of her clothes the way she had last night. Once she pulled them on she left the room, wrapping her arms around herself to stave off the chill that was in the air.
She vaguely remembered Henri running a wash cloth over her skin as she fell asleep and Leo pulling her into his arms.
As she walked through the landing to the staircase her hand went to her neck, feeling for the bite mark she had received the night before. She expected to feel pain as her fingers brushed over her skin but there was none. There also wasn’t any mark that she could see on her wrist.
Sera walked down the stairs and stopped at a large mirror hanging in the hall. She tilted her neck to see the other bite mark but was met with yet more unmarred skin.
“What the hell?”
She didn’t understand how she could have healed so quickly.
“Vampire saliva,” Henri suddenly said from behind her. Sera jumped and just about stopped herself from squeaking. She looked behind her at Henri and then back at his reflection in the mirror.
“Good morning,” Henri said with a playful smile on his lips.
“Morning,” Sera mumbled as she willed her heart rate to go back down. “You have a reflection. So is everything in the movies a lie?”
Henri pulled a face. “Never much liked horror films when I was human, and once I became a vampire they just seemed silly, so I couldn’t tell you.”
Sera studied Henri’s face. He looked young like her and yet he held himself with such authority. It was hard to relate that with the raw display of power she had seen last night. The visceral need Sera had felt with Henri and Leo was unlike anything she had ever known before. She could all too easily find herself addicted to it, and that was a dangerous thought. The bond was still there between them, the desire to be touching him, but it wasn’t as strong as it had been last night.
“You’re afraid,” Henri said softly, a frown marring his smooth features.
“What?” Sera asked before she realised that the vampire must be able to hear her racing heart. “No, it’s…I get panic attacks sometimes. I mean, I haven’t actually had one in years but—”
“But waking up next to a naked werewolf in the house of a vampire after sleeping with them both has put you a little on edge?” Henri guessed.
Sera let out a soft laugh. “You could say that, yeah, but you forgot the part where I find out I’m a nephilim and have people trying to kill me.”
Henri smiled at her, it was soft and intimate. He brought his hand u
p to stroke the side of Sera’s face, it made her shiver.
“To be fair,” Henri said, his tone low and intimate. “They weren’t trying to kill you, just enslave you and keep you as a pet.”
Sera was starting to think that Henri had a strange sense of humor. “You’re right, I don’t know what I was worrying about.”
Henri smiled again. He leaned in slowly, as if unsure his advances would be welcome, and placed a gentle kiss on Sera’s lips. Sera tensed for a moment. She hadn’t had time to think about what she wanted or what last night meant, but she hadn’t expected Henri to show her affection the way that he was.
She really needed to ask about this bond of theirs and what it actually meant.
“After last night you must be hungry,” Henri said. “And Leo’s always hungry.”
“I guess,” Sera said. “Though I think it might be a little early for pizza.”
Henri smirked at her. “It’s two in the afternoon and I’ve already had some shopping delivered.”
With all the blinds and curtains drawn Sera couldn’t really tell what time of a day it was, she had just assumed. She never usually slept so deeply or for so long.
“I guess last night must have taken it out of me.” She flushed when she realised how that might sound. “I mean with everything that happened.”
Henri gave her an indulgent smile and started walking to the kitchen. Sera followed after him, her mind still a little foggy. “I don’t suppose you have coffee, do you?”
“I do,” Henri said. “But that won’t help slow your heartbeat down.”
Sera didn’t know if Henri was just pointing out a fact to her or if he was refusing to give her any coffee. She really needed to know how this claiming thing worked. What if Henri thought he could control Sera now? What if he intended to keep her like some kind of pet the way this Price character apparently wanted to?
She quickly shook off that thought. So far Henri had been nothing but kind to her. He had risked his life for Sera. There was also the way he had looked in Sera’s eyes while they were making love.
She frowned at the term making love and wondered why she had thought it.
“Leo will wake up famished,” Henri said. “And in need of coffee. Sit down. I’ll see what I can whip up.”
The house was large, especially considering that Henri lived there alone, except when Leo was there apparently. Theirs seemed like a strange relationship. Sera didn’t know what to make of them. She also couldn’t help wondering where she was supposed to fit in to all of this.
The kitchen, like the rest of the house, was roomy with a whole lot of appliances a vampire probably didn’t need. It had a cozy country feel to it and the sunlight streamed in through the one window that Henri hadn’t covered.
“So, sunlight can’t kill you?” she asked.
He looked at the window with the blinds shut and then at the one that was bare. “No, it can’t. It does sting though. It’s the afternoon, so I can open the blinds on the windows facing east without worrying about direct sunlight.”
Sera sat down at the table and watched Henri as he moved around the kitchen. It was easy to forget what he really was. Beyond being a bit paler than was usual, Henri looked like just another human, even more so as he moved around the kitchen making coffee and searching through his fridge for food.
“So, you and Leo?” Sera couldn’t stop herself from asking.
Henri looked at her over his shoulder and smirked. “What about me and Leo?”
Sera could see this getting awkward fast. She knew that she didn’t have any right to ask Henri about his relationship, but curiosity had always been her downfall.
“How long have the two of you…been whatever it is you are?”
Henri opened a cupboard and pulled out a couple of mugs. “We met when Leo was nineteen, he’s twenty-seven now.”
Sera tried to imagine a nineteen-year-old Leo but couldn’t. “Could he even grow a beard back then?”
Henri laughed at that. “Believe it or not, he could, just about.”
“Oh I can believe it,” Sera said.
Henri poured Sera a mug of coffee and put it down in front of her. “How does a bacon sandwich sound? It’s a favourite of Leo’s.”
“Sounds good,” Sera said. She smelled her coffee and smiled. A good cup of coffee could make everything better. Her earlier panic had abated some.
“What about you?” Henri asked as he set about assembling the food. “Was there ever anyone special in your life?”
Sera just about stopped herself from snorting at that. “No. There never really has been.”
Henri looked at her hard for a moment before he walked over and cupped the side of her face. “I know this is all a lot to take in. Leo was born a werewolf, but I was turned into a vampire. It was hard to get my head around at first, too. You’re not alone, though. I don’t know what Leo’s plans are, I don’t know if he’s sticking around or not, but I claimed you as mine and that means I’ll look after you.”
Sera didn’t know what to say to that, but a whole lot of emotion floated through her body. She was suddenly uncomfortable under Henri’s intense gaze.
“And I’ll start by feeding you,” Henri said with a slight smile. “Make a list of the things you like and I’ll have someone deliver it.”
Sera frowned as she watched Henri start frying up some bacon. “Do I live here now?”
She couldn’t help but feel both excited and miffed about that. She knew that her life kind of depended on Henri now, but she still felt as though she should have been consulted on the issue. This whole situation was just crazy.
“I have a flat in London and a house in Scotland,” Henri explained. “But, yes. For the most part we’ll be here. Is that all right?”
Sera didn’t know how to answer that. “I don’t know. I’ve moved in with someone I barely know.”
“You’ll get to know me,” Henri said. “And Leo, hopefully.”
“If he sticks around, you mean?”
Henri smiled. “I think he will. He likes you.”
“He loves you, and he still left,” Sera pointed out.
“How do you know he loves me?” Henri asked with a soft smile playing on his face.
“You don’t keep coming back to someone you don’t love,” Sera pointed out.
Henri didn’t respond. Instead, he tilted his head in acknowledgment. Henri was wearing a pair of jeans that hugged his ass and a plain white T-shirt. To anyone looking in he would look like a typical young man standing in his parents’ kitchen, but as soon as he opened his mouth to speak it was clear that he was so much older and wiser than that. He looked fresh, like he had already showered. Sera wondered just how long he had been awake.
“You’re not what I thought you’d be,” Sera said.
Henri cocked an eyebrow at her. “What did you think I’d be?”
“I don’t know, more…grrr,” Sera said, earning a laugh from Henri. “I mean, you were plenty scary last night with that sword of yours, you just don’t seem very creature-of-the-night.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” Henri joked. “Would it make you feel better if I slept in a coffin and started wearing eyeliner?”
“Better? No,” Sera said. “I mean, until last night I didn’t know that vampires even existed and now here I am, sitting in your kitchen.”
Henri flipped the bacon over in the pan before he came over and sat down next to Sera. “We’re going to be okay.”
Hearing Henri refer to them as we for some reason made her feel a bit better. “Except for the part where werewolves came to attack us. Oh my God, I just remembered there are dead bodies in your living room.”
“Don’t worry about them,” Henri said. He put his hand on Sera’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I’ve already made a call to my coven leader and told her what happened. You’re mine now, and as long as I drink your blood regularly no one can take you from me.”
Sera didn’t find that nearly as reassuring as
she was sure Henri meant it to be.
“So all they’d have to do is get me away from you long enough for my blood to leave your system?” Sera asked. “How long does that take?”
“A few days.”
Suddenly, Sera’s entire life was laid out in front of her. She could never be away from Henri for more than a couple of days. They’d had sex but Sera didn’t know if it was a one-time thing or if they were in some sort of relationship now. For all she knew, she could just be a piece of property to the vampire.
“Your heart’s racing again,” Henri said as he looked at Sera with a furrow between his eyebrows. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Sera took a deep breath to try and steady herself. “It’s just a lot, you know? I feel like my whole life has just been thrown up in the air. I get that I need you and that I have to stay here, and I know that you’re helping me out, but what am I supposed to do? Will I have a job? Can I ever go out alone? All this time I thought the worst thing my parents did to me was abandon me, but it turns out they screwed me over more than I even realised.”
“Being a nephilim isn’t a bad thing,” Henri told her. He ran his hand down Sera’s arm and took her hand. “Yes, your life will be different now but that doesn’t mean it has to be worse. We’ll figure it out. I want you to be happy here with me.”
Sera believed him. There was that at least.
“I’m sorry,” Sera said. “I need to stop freaking out.”
Henri smiled at her again. “All we can do is take it a day at a time. Today we’re going to eat and then we’re going to London to see my coven leader, Eva.”
“What? Why?” Sera really didn’t want to have to deal with even more supernatural beings.
“Because she’s going to have to parley with the Price coven and she’s going to want retribution from the Bale pack,” Henri told her. “But she’s also going to want you.”
Again, Sera’s heart beat sped up. “What do you mean?”
Welcome to the Underworld (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) Page 6