The touch of his predatory fangs on my skin was exhilarating. His clawed nails pressing into my arms had me ready for one or both of them to spill my blood. The need was as great as the ache to have one of them inside me.
The atmosphere was thick with power fueled by personal hungers and sensuality. It was stripping away the last of my resistance. I desperately wanted to feel them all over me, close and sweaty, a tangle of naked limbs. I craved it.
I reached for Shaz’s shirt, tugging at it. He pushed my hands away so that I couldn’t, and I growled. It earned me a grin and a fast but bruising kiss.
“Don’t be so impatient, my love.” Arys released the clasp on my bra so that my breasts spilled free. “We have all night.”
I moaned when Shaz bent to draw one of my nipples into his mouth. The sensation of his massive fangs against my skin was heavenly.
I was just beginning to wonder about the couch being sturdy enough when Shaz stood up. Grasping my hands, he pulled me up with him. Arys reached for my leggings, gently pushing them down over my hips. My panties were next. When I stood naked before them, I began to feel vulnerable.
Before I could tell them to hurry up and get those clothes off, Shaz picked me up in his strong arms.
“Bedroom,” he said, as if that one word explained everything. Perhaps it did.
Arys followed us, ambling slowly down the stairs to my room. I looked back at him over Shaz’s shoulder.
“Get those clothes off, mister. I won’t be denied.”
He raised a dark eyebrow and smirked. “You’re hardly in any position to be giving orders. In fact, I think you will be in whatever position we choose for you.”
“Do you promise?” I asked playfully.
We entered the bedroom, and Shaz set me in the middle of the bed. “I can guarantee it,” he replied. He stepped back out of reach and slowly began to peel his shirt off. I watched as he revealed smooth, hard abs and a chest that beckoned for my touch.
Arys came to stand at the end of the bed. He stared down at me for a long moment, flames of desire burning in his blue eyes. My breath caught when he crawled onto the bed. Nudging my legs apart, he ran his tongue around my navel in a way that was absolutely delightful. I had to concentrate on breathing to avoid holding my breath in anticipation.
My eyes were on Shaz as Arys licked a warm, moist path down my abdomen. Shaz was gloriously nude when he approached the bed. I reached for him, and he stretched out alongside me.
I ran my hands over his hard chest, reveling in the feel of him pressed close. He nuzzled me, pressing his face to my neck. I flinched when Arys bit my thigh. His tongue soothed the sting of pain. Shaz’s hands were all over me as he nipped my neck. I got the feeling that he wanted to taste my blood, which wasn’t the usual for him. Likely, Arys’s bloodlust was swaying his desires.
I trailed a hand down Shaz’s body until I felt his hard shaft. I began to stroke him in a slow, steady rhythm. He sucked in his breath and threw his head back. I loved the effect that I had on him.
The power that Arys and I commanded built into a raging storm. Adding Shaz’s raw wolf energy was like throwing fresh meat to a starving lion. The power drew it in so that we all fed on one another, taking as much as we were giving.
The metaphysical pleasure was as intense as any joy, transcending the physical until it was nothing less than a spiritual experience. Their supernatural power rolled over and around me, each so very different. The high was like no other, and when Arys’s magnificent tongue pushed me over the edge, it was mind shattering.
For a long moment after, I could barely remember my own name. The glow enveloped me like a fuzzy blanket, and I blissfully sank into it. I barely noticed when Arys disappeared from his place between my legs until he filled the space beside me, opposite Shaz. He’d abandoned his clothing.
His bloodlust was explosive. I could feel it, ready to consume. Arys swept my hair back to bare my neck. His lips fastened to my vein, and I knew what he wanted. It made me weak with need.
All I could feel on either side of my naked body was their perfect flesh. Quivering and ready, I was overcome by the sensation of being between them.
A small growl in my ear from Arys was the only warning I received. His fangs sank into my neck without haste. Rather than the quick plunge of fangs I was accustomed to with him, he eased them into my pumping vein. It was deliciously painful. I whimpered as my blood spilled into his mouth. His tongue swept the punctures, encouraging the crimson flow. My two lovers feasted upon me, and I was in heaven.
I felt completely exposed and uninhibited. It was a sense of freedom that was strangely new to me. I’d never dared to dream that it could be like this.
The sound of my own heart beating seemed to reverberate inside my head. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought the sound was external. Catching my breath was near impossible.
I smiled to myself, soaring on the joyous high. Intoxication this good would never be legal. Their scents were all I could smell, and the touch of them on either side of me was surreal and welcome. I could get used to this.
* * * *
A few hours later the rush had faded. I was adorned with bruises and a satisfying ache that had been so worth it. I stretched languorously and yawned.
Arys lay sprawled beside me. He was propped up with his head on one hand, watching me closely. Too closely. It made me wary.
The sound of Shaz moving and banging around in the kitchen reached us from the main floor. He’d gone up to take a shower and make some coffee. I kept waiting for the rich aroma to reach me.
The silence started to grow awkward when Arys continued to stare at me, a look of quiet contemplation on his face. I couldn’t help but tense up. I was actually tempted to reach out to him mentally, to touch his mind. I hated opening the mental door between us but I wanted to know why he was looking at me like that. I changed my mind. I didn’t even try it.
“You’re giving me that look, like you can’t figure me out,” Arys said with a knowing grin. “Don’t you know me better than that?”
This was the first moment we’d had alone since the night we’d argued about Harley. I was nervous. “I do know you, Arys. So I know that when you look at me like that, it’s because there’s something you want to say. The question is, do I want to hear it?”
He was suddenly so serious it almost frightened me. I clutched the blanket tightly, holding it against my chest.
“Alexa … about the other day. I want to apologize. As soon as you mentioned him, I couldn’t think straight. I don’t think I handled it all that well.” Arys picked anxiously at a fluff on the blanket. I noted his careful avoidance of Harley’s name. “I don’t want things to be strained between us in any way. I can’t live with that.”
“No, if anyone should apologize it should probably be me. I know better than to even mention something like that.” I forced myself to make eye contact when the rising guilt made it difficult. It was a good thing I hadn’t tried to get inside his mind. I’d never be able to hide thoughts of Harley from him then. I hated hiding anything from Arys, but this was something he just couldn’t know about right now.
“Look,” Arys fumbled for words. “You are free to do whatever you wish, but you have my heart now. That’s new for me. You’ve seen my past yourself. Love was not a big part of it. So, I worry about you. And, I don’t trust him.”
“Then trust me.” The words came out more pleading than I’d intended. I blinked, praying he wouldn’t see the truth in my eyes. “I’m not going to do anything stupid. I just want answers.”
“I can’t control you, but it’s in my nature to try just as it is in yours to resist.” His tone held much anguish, and I reached for him. He put his hand in mine, squeezing it reassuringly. “I can’t make your choices for you or stop you from doing anything that you feel you need to. We don’t need to rehash this again. I just want you to know that the thought of you anywhere near him hurts me. It’s ridiculous, and I feel like a jackass,
but it’s true.”
There was shame in his eyes, and my heart broke for him. Why did he have to wait until after I’d arranged a deal with Harley to tell me this? What was I supposed to do? Tell him, or just forget everything?
Sure, Arys could do some great things. The little healing trick was a beneficial one for sure. His problem was that he wouldn’t admit that he needed answers too. We’d both gained new abilities after bonding our power and our blood as well as some serious side effects. I wasn’t sure why it was more important to me. Maybe because I had already had my ass kicked and controlled by the power I held. That had to stop.
I couldn’t let him feel like that. Arys deserved to be free in love, not trapped in chains by his own fears. “Arys, don’t ever think how you feel is wrong. If something affects you, spit it out. Holding it in will blow up in your face.” I looked down at our joined hands. I felt like such an asshole for rushing to see Harley because Arys had upset me. “The last thing I want to do is hurt you in any way. I know you have an unpleasant past with Harley. My personal need for information has nothing to do with that though. But, I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. Let’s just forget it. It’s over.” He kissed me briefly before dropping the subject entirely.
He sat up, leaning down over me so that I looked up at him. When he kissed me, the emotion behind it said more than his words. He trusted me with all that he was. I couldn’t let him down. I had to do something about Harley, come clean or forget it entirely.
“I have to get going. Sunrise isn’t far off. Get some rest, beautiful.” He started to pull back, stopped and just held me instead. My guilt skyrocketed.
When at last Arys dressed and made his way from my room, I buried my face in the pillows on my bed and gave a frustrated sigh. The Harley situation had been so much simpler when Arys was threatening me. He’d really thrown me for a loop this time. I’d have assumed that he would be pissed about me spending any time with Harley, livid, even jealous. I never would have guessed that he would be hurt.
Chapter Seven
If I’d come to Kylarai seeking reassurance, I wasn’t going to receive it from her. She listened quietly while I filled her in on the recent events of the past few days and then she promptly told me what a dumbass I was for going to Harley so soon after the confrontation with Arys. Thank God for best friends.
I hadn’t brought Shaz along, wishing to speak with Ky one on one. I also wanted to take a little tour out back, in the forest that started a mile from her backyard. We ran there often on our own and as a pack during the full moon. I was aware that Zoey had been roaming the woods, and I wanted to see if I could pick up her scent.
The two of us alone wouldn’t be as intimidating to Zoey as a small pack if we did come across her. I didn’t feel it was necessary for Shaz and Julian or anyone else to accompany us at this point. Thus, Kylarai and I now trotted through the trees side by side.
I didn’t have much of a plan. If we did find her, I doubted she would stick around long enough for me to attempt to communicate. This was going to be harder than it sounded. It was the thought of a strange werewolf roaming around my forest looking for her that really made my fur stand on end. The wolf inside me was defensive and territorial at the thought. I wouldn’t allow it.
I watched as Kylarai loped on ahead, pausing here and there to sniff something out. Her sleek brown fur shone beneath the starlight. My fur, the same color as my ash blonde hair, didn’t reflect the fiery orbs quite the same. She made a striking wolf.
Half of the moon was lit up brilliantly, and I raised my voice to the wind in an inquisitive howl. I knew that Zoey would hear it if she was within a few miles, perhaps farther. It was deathly quiet when I fell silent. The nocturnal creatures had most likely taken cover at our approach.
I followed Kylarai, my sensitive nose working overtime. I could smell the rabbit that had run through recently and the family of deer from a day or so previous but there was no trace of Zoey Roberts.
Anxiety nagged me. I had far less control over my psychic abilities when in wolf form. I couldn’t access the majority of them, and I couldn’t keep Arys locked out of my mind. If he touched my mind, he thankfully couldn’t access any thought other than the one I was currently having. As long as I didn’t think about Harley, he wouldn’t know anything. That was easier said than done, especially since it was something I feared.
The very thought of Arys opened the link between us, and I was suddenly thrust inside his mind. I skidded to a halt, my paws skittering. Arys was feeding. That’s why I’d been so easily sucked into him. He had abandoned all control of himself, dropping his guard.
I could see through his eyes as he roughed up a young man before dragging him close. I hated being in Arys’s mind when he killed. It was hard enough being inside my own. I didn’t know why Arys chose the victims he did. He had his reasons, or at least, that’s what he would tell me. I didn’t question him further. Whatever his reasons were, Arys was a madman when he killed. It scared me to see what went on inside him. It was pure, blinding bloodlust and something more, not only the need to feed but also the desire for the rush of the kill. It was never about blood alone.
Arys spilled the man’s blood with a brutal slash of fangs. It jarred me how it was nothing like the careful bite he gave me. This was savage. As a passenger in his mind, I was able to feel the way his body responded to the kill. He grew hard, and his erection throbbed against the confines of his tight jeans. The man’s feeble cries fed the predatory nature burning inside Arys until he was spilling blood as if it were the last he would ever taste.
His mind was a blank slate, thinking of nothing. Solely running on instinct, Arys ripped into the guy with such viciousness that I felt it in the pit of my stomach. It was all werewolf. His own personal bloodlust appeased, he was embracing the part of me that he’d gained through our bond. From what I could see and feel, he loved it.
The realization was shocking. I knew he’d felt the wolf strong in him before. One horrible time, he’d slaughtered a neighborhood pet. What I didn’t know was how much he enjoyed it. My stomach turned, and I felt nauseous. It shouldn’t have been surprising, but this ruthless killer thing was still new to me.
I never wanted to be able to kill in cold blood, lacking regret and conscience. I had murdered a human man once, one that I’d had no business laying a hand on. Did I regret it? No. He’d been abusing his girlfriend. Arys had picked someone that very well may have been minding his own business, wronging nobody, and it turned him on in every way. Would that happen to me after I died, when I became a vampire in every sense of the word? Lord, I hoped not.
It chilled me to the bone. Arys feasted on the dying man in his arms, and I whimpered when I felt myself responding to his intense satisfaction. I couldn’t be part of this. I had to get out before Arys felt my presence. I fought to pull back, to slam that door shut between us. I felt trapped. Unease quickly turned to panic, and I struggled to escape being part of a murder I wasn’t committing. The bloodlust was awakening within me, and I did not intend to give in tonight.
When I slammed back into myself, I was flabbergasted to discover that I was on my knees in human form, shivering and gasping. The backdrop of the quiet forest night was all around me again.
Kylarai was a few feet away, staring at me with concern heavy in her grey eyes. I had to swallow a few times before I could speak. I didn’t recall shifting back to human form. My power was stronger in that form. It must have happened instinctively.
“I’m ok,” I forced the words out breathlessly. “That was fucked.”
She snorted and sat back on her haunches to fix me with a parental frown. Part of me expected the bloodlust to rage through me and set its sights on her. It didn’t happen. I was able to force it deep down inside me before it burst forth to shatter my command. For now. Relief.
“Let’s just head back,” I said. Gathering myself, I embraced the change.
It rolled over me with ease as my body reforme
d with fluid grace. In seconds, I was wolf again. Raising my nose to the sky, I took a last sniff of the wilderness around me before turning and heading for home. It was nothing short of a miracle that I hadn’t come away from Arys’s mind with an uncontrollable need to kill. It had happened before. Still, my heart continued to pound so that it echoed in my ears.
Maybe Arys was more than happy to abandon all semblance of sanity, diving headlong into a vicious kill. The thought scared the shit out of me. That kind of total abandonment was terrifying. Arys clearly had little desire for control. He happily turned his back on it. If anything, that only encouraged my belief in the need for knowledge and self-control. If I didn’t do something now, Arys’s love of the kill may destroy us both.
* * * *
“Maybe paying a visit to Harley wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all,” Kylarai suggested, watching me chew my lower lip anxiously.
Since we’d returned to her house, I’d been fighting off an anxiety attack. My eyes kept going to the clock on the wall. I was supposed to meet Harley at The Wicked Kiss in an hour. I still hadn’t decided if I should just forget the whole thing. I gnawed at my lip until I tasted blood. The tangy metallic taste was somehow comforting.
“When I got here you told me how stupid I was for even considering it. Which is it?”
Try as I might, I just couldn’t sit still. I pulled a chair out from the table, sat for a few seconds and got to my feet again. I could feel it building inside me, the deadly combination of nerves, fear and bloodlust.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. It was beyond stupid of you to go back to that club after what happened the last time you were in there. Against your will, I might add. But, you’re clearly overdue for some assistance, and if Harley can provide it, you might just be stupid not to.” Ky’s voice softened, and she rested her chin in her hands. “And of course the fact that your eyes are insanely blue right now tells me that you’re not getting any better at combating Arys’s influence. It’s high time you deal with that before you go on a rampage.”
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