by Unknown
Something was wrong.
Normally, this was erotic, but now he wanted to devour her in greedy gulps. In his head, there was a voice screaming to bite into her flesh and start drinking.
Control was slipping.
He couldn’t fight it.
Jolie knew something was off. His body was shaking and he was perspiring. The room wasn’t overheated, and they weren’t rolling around naked.
Touching his cheek, she forced him to gaze into her eyes. Even they looked… weird.
“Flynn, what’s wrong?”
“Jolie, I don’t know,” he whispered, fighting the urge to sink his teeth into her flesh.
She pulled him close and cradled his body against hers. She reached for her mate and called him.
“Jacques, come quickly!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Something is wrong with Flynn. Please! We need you!”
Brogan couldn’t control it anymore. His face was pressed to the delicate flesh of her throat, and he was so damn hungry.
Jolie heard his sharp intake of breath, just before something sharp pierced her body. She screamed in pain, and struggled to rationalize what was happening.
It felt like he bit her.
But how?
Right before the need over took him, there was an explosion of pain in his mouth. It didn’t deter him from his mission of tasting her.
He needed blood.
Her blood.
When he bit down, the delicious flavor of his mate rolled across his tongue. There was a screaming of some hidden beast when Jolie didn’t fight him. Instead, she moved into him and let him drink from her body.
He was so lost in it, that it took Jacques physically shaking him to get his attention.
“Mon ami, you need to stop. You’re close to killing her,” he said softly.
Brogan focused on the woman beneath him as her hand slipped from him neck and dropped to the cold tile floor.
“Oh my God! What have I done?” He ripped his mouth away from her delicate skin, only to watch the blood drops falling from his chin. They left fat splotches across her chest as they landed.
“You need to give her to me,” said Jacques, as he lifted her into his arms and headed for the bed. He reached for his mate and found her.
“Jolie, I need to give you blood.”
“Oui,” she answered weakly.
“What happened?”
“We have made him more like us than human. He shouldn’t have developed fangs, Jacques. I’ve never heard it happening before. We can’t change a human this far into our species, can we?” He felt her sorrow.
“Let me feed you, and we’ll worry about it later.”
Brogan rushed into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. There was worry etched into his face.
When Jolie bit into Jacques’s wrist, slowly beginning to drink, he relaxed marginally.
She wasn’t dead.
Well, no more than usual.
He took his spot beside her on the bed. When her hand found his, Flynn squeezed it. “I’m sorry, Jolie. I don’t know what happened.” He closed his eyes and repeated it again. “I’m sorry.”
Jacques heard the sorrow. “Mon ami, it’s not your fault.” He pulled his wrist away from Jolie and kissed her on the lips. Already, her color was better, and she was licking her lips as she smiled at both men. “What happened?”
“Jolie was feeding me energy, and instead of pleasure I could hear her heart and pulse. I really needed blood. I had to have it or I was going to die.”
“Then, you bit her?”
“Yeah, I was overwhelmed, and then there was this pain.” He touched his own face. “Like someone punched me in the mouth.”
“Oui, it was your teeth descending.”
“My teeth?” he absently touched his mouth. “My teeth are always right there. How can they descend?”
He wished he knew. “I have to be honest and say that I have never heard of a human getting fangs and this far into the blood lust. Then again, I also haven’t heard that it’s impossible either.”
Brogan focused on his teeth, willing the fangs to descend into his mouth but was having no success. “How do I make them come out?” He sat up, waiting for his mate to teach him.
Jacques grinned and his slid effortlessly into mouth. For him, it was second nature. “When you are threatened, angry, or mating, they’ll just appear. Now, if you want to call them out, so to speak, I think about drinking blood, and they just…appear.”
Jolie agreed. “That’s how I get mine out.”
Brogan stared down at Jolie’s neck. There was drying blood there, but he could also see her pulse. Without having to do anything other than think about tasting her, they slid into his mouth.
He actually laughed and grinned at his new skill.
“It seems, mon ami, that you have picked up more of our traits than we anticipated.”
“Jolie said I would, but she never mentioned this kind of… hunger.” He looked at her lying there. “I don’t mind the teeth, or the blood drinking, but the need was terrifyingly overwhelming. I couldn’t stop myself, and that’s a scary thing.”
“That’s how we feel when we need to feed. It is our lust for blood.” He absently stroked Jolie’s hair. “Every vampyre feels it when they’re hungry.”
Brogan sat there and must have looked dumbstruck because Jacques tried to comfort him.
“You’re not a vampyre. You just have the lust. A human can’t be converted into what we are, but they can pick up bits and pieces of our traits. With each human it’s different, and I hope you think of this as a gift.”
He wasn’t upset, only because he had wished he could have the intimacy Jacques had with her, but the lust, well, that scared the shit out of him.
“Will I feel this every day?” he asked cautiously. “I don’t mind the fangs thing, but the overwhelming need to drink from Jolie. What if I hurt her?”
She sat up and went into his lap. “You’ll learn when to stop. It’s like a young vampyre first learning how to navigate this. We’ll help you through it.” Then, she paused. “I hope you don’t see this as a curse. It’s special, especially if you’re the only one to be given it.”
He kissed her on the cheek. “I normally think fate’s a bitch, but in this case, I’m okay with it.”
If it wasn’t for her safety, he’d be giddy as a child. This made him more like them and not just the ‘bonded human’.
“We’ll figure this out. It may only be Jolie’s blood that calls to you, simply because she fed you when you were hurt. Now, if you start thinking about snacking on any woman you see,” Jacques began, only to grin wickedly.
Jolie warned, “I’ll have your fangs removed. In fact, I’ll take them out myself.”
Brogan laughed. “I think I’ll behave then.”
Jolie nuzzled his neck, delicately scraping her fangs across his throat. “Is it wrong of me to not be sorry,” she whispered in his ear.
Brogan swallowed as she curled around his body.
“No, I think it’s fine to be unapologetic for this one,” he replied, enjoying the way she felt in his arms.
He refused to be upset about this. In fact, if Genevieve were there, he’d thank her.
He wanted to be more like them, and he got what he wished for.
The day was definitely getting brighter.
Jacques could see the pleasure brewing in the man’s eyes. Yeah, he wasn’t sorry in the least. That made him happy.
“One question,” Brogan asked, getting both of their attention.
“Yes?”
“What about food?” he asked. “Can I still eat?”
They thought about it.
“Did you have breakfast today?”
He nodded. “Yeah, there was french toast, coffee, and lots of butter.”
Jolie started laughing, because none of that was vampyre friendly. At least he didn't make himself sick.
“You’re good, or the coffee
would have killed you,” Jacques said, grinning. “You realize that you have an obsession with eating, right?”
“Trust me. It’s almost as good as sex.”
Jolie simply lifted her eyebrow, and it made him laugh.
“What? I said almost!”
∞ Chapter Twenty-Three ∞
Tuesday Night
Jolie, Jacques, and Brogan were lounging in the family room, relaxing together as they discussed what to do about Zola, when she entered the room searching for them.
“May I speak to you please?” she asked.
“Oui, what is it, Zola?” asked Jolie, sitting up from Jacques’s lap. Immediately, both men began running their hands lightly over her back in support.
“I wish to leave this family.”
“I see,” she replied not at all surprised. “When do you wish to go?”
Zola glared at Jolie. How the woman could even think she’d stick around after her mate was brutally murdered was astounding. “I’m leaving now . I really can’t stay here knowing that you chose a human over someone who was with you for hundreds of years,” she said bitterly. “You killed him for a lowly human.”
“No, Zola. I killed him because he defied me and betrayed us. I took no pleasure from it, but I had no choice as primus.”
She glared at Jolie and stepped toward her. “There is always a choice. You could have saved him and sent him away. We would have gone together. We would have left and never crossed your path again.”
Jolie stood to face down the woman. “Do you really believe me that naïve? After eight hundred years of living, I know better. The second you were out of this house together, he would have run to Genevieve and invited her into my home. I’m not stupid, so drop the game. If you recall, he was cheating on you with Genevieve. How easily you forgive that sin. He had a choice too, and it led to his death.”
“At least you have your mates,” she spat bitterly.
“Yes, I do, but no thanks to yours. He turned mine over to a monster, and I nearly lost him. The only reason Devin’s flesh is not hanging above my fireplace was because of you and your feelings. I would have gutted him and used him as a punch bowl for what he did.”
Zola’s hand snaked out so fast Jolie couldn’t avoid the slap.
“You’re horrid!”
Both men shifted on the couch, ready to stand between the women at a moment’s notice.
“No, Zola. What I am is the leader of this family. I must make decisions and have control. If you ever get to my age, you’ll understand that. Until then, I suggest you leave. You’re no longer welcome here.” She paused. “If you attempt to come back here and take your anger out on my mates, Zola, I will make you into that punch bowl. I promise you.”
She stormed away.
“Jacques, please see that she is removed from the house and all the security codes are changed. I don’t want her coming back here ever again. Warn the family, please.”
“Oui,” he said, standing. He kissed Jolie on the lips before hugging her to his body. “You did the right thing.”
“I know.” She sat delicately on Flynn’s lap as Jacques left the room.
“Punch bowl, huh? That was a pretty picture.”
“Oui. I meant it too. If she tries to hurt anyone here, I’ll make her suffer.”
He didn't doubt that. When she leaned against his frame, her scent called to him. “Baby?” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes, Flynn?”
“Remember how you once told me I needed to practice kissing you with fangs?” he said, getting aroused by her being near him.
He had her attention. “Yes, why?”
Staring at her, he grinned, and his fangs were already in his mouth. “I need to practice kissing with these things. Care to take them out for a test drive?”
Her Flynn was trying to relax her. “I think I might enjoy that very much,” she purred, letting hers slip into her mouth. “I do have to warn you, handsome. It may take some time to get it just right.”
He was good with that. Burying his hands in her hair, he pulled her mouth to his. It was hot, fiery and very awkward at first. So much so, that he started to laugh.
Then, she joined him.
By the time Jacques returned, they were both laughing. They had blood on their lips and humor in their eyes.
“What did I miss?” he asked, sitting down beside her.
“Flynn’s trying to make out with fangs,” Jolie said smiling. “I think he realized it’s not as easy as he thought.”
Jacques grinned, letting his descend. “Want me to show you?” he offered.
Brogan absolutely needed to know how to do this. If he couldn’t make out with Jolie, there was going to be a huge problem. Just thinking about kissing her made them slip back into his mouth. “Yes.”
Jolie crawled into his lap and waited for Brogan to kneel beside them. “Ready?”
He laughed. “I never thought I’d need kissing lessons from a dead guy, but yeah, I’m good to go.”
He laughed before pulling her mouth toward his. “It’s all about the angle. You need to move into her mouth with your head tipped like this.”
Flynn watched him kiss her, memorizing the way it was done. When Jacques released her, he led her mouth to his. “You mean like this?” he asked, before trying out what he learned.
The kiss went much smoother, until he tried to turn his head. His one fang actually cut her lip.
“Ouch,” she said, giggling.
The flood of blood made him wild. It tasted so… amazing. Pulling away, he tried to get control. “Sorry.”
Jacques licked the drip from her lip. “It takes practice.” He kissed her again, this time moving his head the same way Flynn had, but with a minor alteration.
“I think I got it,” he said, bringing her mouth to his. When he slid into the kiss seamlessly, he was proud of himself.
Jolie was getting overheated. She was sitting in one mate’s lap while kissing the other. What she wanted to do was get both men naked and have her way with them.
Repeatedly.
She was just about ready to suggest some steamy library sex, when there was a knock on the door.
“Mistress,” Chloe called.
Damn it!
Couldn’t a girl make out with two of the sexiest men in the universe in private?
“There’s a vampyre from the other family at the door. He said his name is Mathew. It’s the one with the long hair and aqua colored eyes. He looks a little skittish. What should I do?”
“Invite him in. We told them they could come here whenever they wished. Besides, he’s safe.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Chloe left the room and Brogan had to ask.
“Mathew?” Brogan asked, confused.
“Yes, he’s one of the young vampyres who was abused by Delina,” Jolie offered.
Brogan slipped back onto the couch and Jolie lounged between them to wait for their company.
When Chloe brought him in, she’d been right. The vampyre looked ready to bolt.
Mathew followed the woman in, nervously glancing around the room. The second he saw the mistress resting against the two very large men, his anxiety level shot through the roof.
They could all hear his heartbeat.
Here were her mates, and they deserved respect. Once in front of them, Mathew assumed a more respectful position to the alphas in the room.
“Mistress,” he said, dropping to his knees so he could be at eye level with her. His gaze was only focused on her, and averted from the men out of respect and fear.
Jolie could sense his trepidation. Everything about him looked on edge. When he hid behind the curtain of hair, it made her sad. This poor vampyre had withstood so much.
“What’s wrong, Mathew?” she asked, sitting up between her two mates. When she touched his cheek, he stared up at her with eyes sparkling from unshed tears.
“I can’t stay in the other house any longer, Mistress. I know you said we could come here, but we all k
now you didn't really mean it. Still, I had to risk it. Please, don’t make me go back,” he pleaded.
“Please get up from the floor, Mathew, and sit in a chair. You don’t have to bow and kneel in this house. I don’t make anyone do that. It’s demeaning.” She sighed when he looked confused. “She did a number on all of you, didn’t she?”
He still looked confused. “Please, Mistress, I can’t go back there.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked concerned, and yet wary.
The young man pushed up from his knees and backed away from her to head to the chair across from them.
Brogan and Jacques sat in silence, watching the scene play out in front of them. They each stroked a comforting hand down her back in solidarity until she took both of their hands and linked fingers with them.
“After you killed Raven yesterday, the house has been stirred up.”
“Why?”
“Raven wasn’t originally from our society. He came to us from and older family who disbanded. When you killed him, his accomplice Boris came forward and stirred up the entire family.”
“What did he do?”
“He told everyone you would eliminate them because they are not of your blood. I know that’s not true, because you’re not like Delina. She was…” He swallowed, looking scared. “She was violent and cruel on so many levels that it should never be spoken out loud.”
“Go on, Mathew.”
“He stirred the family up and tried to get as many members to leave and follow him to the other family. The one he said was controlled by his true master.”
Brogan and Jacques sat forward as if synchronized.
Mathew sat back in obvious alarm.
Jolie reassured him of their intent. “They won’t hurt you, Mathew, please continue.”
“Anyway, he left and took a few to the new society, but I fear that they are also involved in stealing the children’s souls,” he whispered looking down at the floor.
Jolie crossed to him. His body went ramrod stiff as she sat on the arm of his chair. “It’s okay, Mathew.”
“The family is terrified that you truly will butcher them in their sleep. Clariel and Trina are trying to hold them together and swear you won’t, but I know what some of the society members used to do, the ones who would assist Delina in her hobbies.” He swallowed again and his eyes flicked back and forth to Jolie’s mates in terror. “Boris said Master Malachi would take everyone and that they only needed to join him. He wishes to build up his family, so he can be sure that you don’t take over the council.”