by R. E. Butler
“Sunlight?”
“What about it?” Vex asked.
“You can’t be out in it, right? Will you die if you’re outside in the daylight?”
“It burns our skin, but we’re old enough that we’d have to be out in direct sunlight for a really long time before it even came close to killing us. What made you think of that?” Rage asked.
“I’m wondering where we’ll live. You’re underground here. I live with my family in the alpha’s house, which is definitely not without sunlight during the day.”
“We’d want you to live with us, but it doesn’t mean you can’t see your family whenever you want. And if you want to see them during the day, we’ll secure daytime protectors for you like Brone has for Arissa,” Vex said.
She turned around and faced them on her knees, tossing her hair behind her shoulders and baring her upper body to them. She was a beauty. Every inch of her made Vex’s fangs throb. She took their hands and turned the palms upward, rubbing her thumbs on their wrists.
“I’ve never bitten anyone before. Wolves take that kind of thing seriously. I know it’s not the same for vampires because it’s how you feed.”
“Wolves bite for mating, not for fun?” Rage asked.
She chuckled. “Yeah. A bite during sex could be construed as a desire to become mates.”
“Vampires are more casual about biting, but we won’t feed from anyone but you forever. Our beloved bond won’t allow it,” Rage said.
“Good,” she said. “When I knew you were vampires in the dreams, I was so jealous of you feeding on other females. I didn’t know if feeding from someone led to sexy times.”
Vex frowned. “It’s true that feeding can lead to sex, but it doesn’t always. Once we started to dream of you, we stopped thinking of feeding as anything but a necessity to keep ourselves alive until we could find you.”
“It’s kind of the same for wolves on the full moon. When there are unmated males in the pack, the unmated females generally offer to take the edge off their sexual hunger. When the dreams came more frequently for me and I felt so close to you even though I had no idea where you were, I stopped offering.”
Vex and Rage both growled, and she smiled sadly. “Don’t be mad at me or jealous. It’s part of being a shifter.”
Rage shook his head. “We’re not mad. We just want to kill anyone who ever saw your gorgeous curves before we did.”
She let out a laugh, her eyes dancing. “Oh, is that all?”
“Definitely,” Vex said.
“Do vampires get married?”
“We can if you’d like to, but government papers don’t make our bond any stronger. Do wolves get married?”
“Yeah. The males like their females to have their last name. It’s a possessive thing.”
“Totally understandable,” Rage said. “We want to possess you in every way as well.”
She released her hold on their hands and prowled up Vex’s body, her eyes alight with curiosity and a soft growl rumbling in her chest. He cupped her face and drew her close, brushing his lips over hers. “Our beloved is quite the vixen, isn’t she, brother?”
“Indeed,” Rage said, joining them and grasping a handful of her hair to bare her neck. “Beautiful and sexy.”
“And lucky,” she said, her breath skirting over his lips like a caress as her eyes flashed with amber. “Don’t forget how lucky we are. No more dreams to drive me crazy with need. You’re mine in real life.”
He and Rage had been around for hundreds of years; Angie only a fraction of that. They’d been born on two different continents, separated by centuries. Lucky didn’t even begin to describe how he felt to be in her presence now, to have her in his bed and in his arms was a heaven he couldn’t articulate outside of a growl of need that welled up from deep inside him.
She was his. She was theirs to share. And they were hers.
Nothing would ever be the same.
Chapter 7
Angie was on fire. She’d never wanted anyone as much as she wanted Vex and Rage. It was as if they’d been made just for her. They called to every part of her, and sitting on a bed, with her half-naked and them somehow managing to keep their hands to themselves, had been a torture she was all too ready to end.
Rage kissed her neck. His fangs grazed her skin lightly and she shivered. She straddled Vex’s thighs, wishing – not for the first time – that they could just have a quick fuck to take the edge off the hunger that was swallowing her up whole instead of needing to wait.
Vex’s eyes were smoldering, his lips parted enough to reveal the tips of his fangs. As she settled on him, hating the slacks that covered him so thoroughly, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled. He came up willingly, sliding his hands around her waist to her bare back and laying his lips against hers. The instant that both of them were touching her at the same time, the connection between them flared brightly in her mind. She knew then that what they said about the beloved bond being stronger than the truemate bond was right. She’d thought of them as her truemates, but what they were experiencing now, even before they mated fully, was so much stronger than she expected. She’d just met them, but it felt like she’d known them for so long. Maybe because of the dreams, but she thought it was more likely that it was because of the beloved bond.
Vex licked the seam of her lips and she opened them, her stomach flipping as their tongues touched in a slow glide. Rage growled softly and slid his hand down her arm, making her skin prickle. He pushed his hand into her bra, her nipple tightening as he caught it between two fingers. With a squeeze, he tugged lightly and nuzzled her throat.
She moved from Vex’s lips to Rage’s. They tasted different, wild and sweet, but unique. Vex was like white wine. Rage like red. She smiled against Rage’s lips but then gasped as Vex wrapped his hand around her hips and pulled her tightly against him, his erection pressing against the apex of her thighs.
She wanted everything. All of them. Right now.
But at the back of her mind she knew they were right to hold themselves in check. She was already struggling with having to leave in a few hours. If they were well and truly mated, she didn’t think she’d be able to leave. Her wolf was already entirely smitten with the sexy males. If they fully claimed her, she’d never want to be anywhere without them.
Rage slid his hand down her back and under the waistband of her fishnets and panties. While Rage delved his hand into the back of her panties, Vex played his fingers against the silky material with a soft snarl.
“I want to watch our beloved fall apart,” he said with a husky tone.
Rage smiled wickedly at her as he cupped her bottom and found her center with his fingers.
“So wet,” Rage murmured. “Beautiful wolf. Sexy female.”
Vex’s fingers slid under the edge of her panties and grazed her bare flesh. She shivered and then moaned as he pressed her clit while Rage slid one finger inside her. They touched her in tandem, Rage sliding his finger in and out of her while Vex rubbed her just right.
“Have you ever had two males at the same time?” Rage murmured, adding a second finger.
He cupped her face and tilted her head, licking at her throat with a growl.
“No,” she said, gasping as Vex found just the right spot. Her whole body warmed and her stomach twisted as he rubbed swiftly over and over.
Vex kissed her shoulder, dragging his fangs along her skin. “It’ll be our pleasure to be your firsts then, beloved. We’ll take good care of you.”
She cupped the back of Rage’s head and leaned into him, relaxing her body and letting her mates take her to a height of pleasure she’d never experienced before. With her free hand, she tangled her fingers into Vex’s silky, dark hair and fisted them, her chest heaving as she panted for breath and the center of her body going white-hot as ecstasy cascaded over her. She let out a cry of pure pleasure as her body tightened on Rage’s fingers.
They drew out her pleasure until it cascaded over her like waves cras
hing on the shore. Then they gentled her down from the heavens, stealing sweet kisses and murmuring words of affection. Her wolf was so happy she was practically purring, entirely content as they brought her down to the mattress between them and covered her with a light blanket. She shivered and waited for her bones to resolidify and her heart to stop pounding.
“Precious female,” Vex whispered as he nuzzled her throat. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
Rage’s hand flexed on her stomach and he snarled affectionately. “It was all I could do not to share blood with you, beloved. The connection between us is even stronger now.”
She looked at her mates and bit her bottom lip. “You won’t let me touch you in return, will you?”
Vex chuckled. “Know us so well already, precious?”
“I’m beginning to.”
Rage lifted her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist. “If you touch us, we’ll end up mating you which is a problem as you’re so intent to leave us before dawn.”
“I’m sorry that I messed up our first night together. If I’d been honest with my family from the beginning, then I could just call them and share the good news.”
“It’s only a few hours,” Vex said. “When we see you again after sunset, we won’t have to worry about being parted ever again.”
“I already can’t wait for it to be sunset.”
“Not worried anymore about talking to your parents?” Rage asked.
“I’m mostly worried about disappointing them, but right now it doesn’t matter to me if they approve of our mating or not, because after what we just shared, I can’t wait to start our lives together.”
“We can’t either,” Vex said.
While the night waned, they continued to talk, sharing their thoughts for the future. She felt closer to them than she expected, and when the clock neared 3:30 a.m., the last thing she wanted to do was leave. Once more, she regretted her choice to not talk to her parents about her mates instead of dealing with her dreams alone for so many years.
Rage and Vex walked her and Alli out to the parking lot from an underground parking garage. Alli walked ahead of them with Arissa and Brone. Brone didn’t seem to talk much, from what Angie had witnessed, but Arissa and Alli were good friends and chatted as they walked. She was thankful for their friendship, and that Arissa and Cinder were friends so that Angie had been able to come to the club and find her truemates.
Beloveds.
She liked that word. It held a lot of meaning for her mates, and it was coming to mean a lot to her as well. She couldn’t wait for sunset so she could see them again. When she first met them, she’d been worried about her family’s reaction to her mating two vampires. But now, after spending hours in their company and her wolf’s utter contentment and the sweet emotions that were growing swiftly for them, she didn’t really care if they approved or not. There was nothing on Earth that would stop her from being with her beloveds. She wanted her parents to be happy for her and for Adam to approve, but if they didn’t, then that was on them.
“You’re being very quiet beloved,” Rage said.
“Just thinking about my family.”
“Are you going to talk to them immediately?” Vex asked.
“Yeah.”
“Are you nervous?” Rage asked.
“A little. But mostly because I’ve never kept anything so serious from them before. I’m going to have to tell them that I’ve had mating dreams for years and kept it to myself because I didn’t think they’d approve. Whether they actually approve of our mating or not, I can see my mom especially being upset that I kept a life-altering secret from her.”
“You and your mother are close,” Vex said.
She hummed in agreement. “Ultimately, though, whether they approve or not, whether they’re angry about me not telling them anything about the dreams, my happiness doesn’t hinge on them at all. I finally found you, and I’m not about to let anything change our future.”
The trio stopped a few feet from Alli’s car. They stared down at her, their eyes simmering with emotion. She could practically taste the concern they had for her.
“You’re our future,” Vex said. He lifted her hand and kissed the top. “The time won’t pass quickly enough.”
“Where do you want to meet?” Rage asked.
She pulled her phone from the pocket of her skirt and opened a map app. She zoomed in and said, “There’s a dirt road that runs alongside the northern part of the pack’s territory. The pack protectors use it to patrol in vehicles, but it’s technically outside of the territory. I’ll bring my family there after sunset and you can meet them.”
She marked a space on the map and entered the coordinates into a GPS program from the club. After getting their cell numbers, she texted the directions to them. “Look for the dilapidated barn. I used to be so scared of it when I was a kid. Some of the older wolves said it was haunted. Then when I shifted for the first time at sixteen, Adam took me there and let me explore it and I realized it was just an old barn. That’s the landmark that I’ll use to find you.”
Vex said, “It’ll take us an hour after sunset to get there.”
“Okay.” She blew out a breath. “I’m nervous for you to meet my family.”
“We’ll do our best to charm them,” Rage said with a smile.
“You entirely charmed me,” she said.
She rose onto her toes and kissed Vex. Her skin tingled where his lips pressed. Then she turned to Rage, who cupped her face and kissed her. Unlike the deep and passionate kisses they’d shared in the chamber, this was nearly chaste. Even so, she couldn’t stop the moan that bubbled up in her throat, her body warming and her wolf howling for more.
They hugged her, pressing her between them and taking turns kissing her. She loved the way it felt to be held by them and knowing what the coming night would bring made her wish once more she didn’t have to go.
“Call when you get home,” Rage said.
“I will,” she promised.
They shared another kiss and she reluctantly got into the passenger seat. “See you soon, beloved,” Vex said.
“Not soon enough,” she said.
Vex shut the door. Alli started the car and said, “Ready, doll?”
“Not even a little.”
Alli chuckled. “Sorry.” She pulled away from the parking spot and Angie waved at her mates, her eyes stinging and her wolf howling mournfully.
“It’s okay. I brought this on myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I’d told my parents from the beginning that I was having mating dreams about two vampires, then I could have just called them tonight and shared the good news. Then I could have stayed and mated them properly.”
“I don’t think there’s anything proper about what you guys were going to do,” she said with a laugh.
“True,” Angie grinned.
She looked behind them as the club faded in the distance.
“So...” Alli said, her voice trailing off as she waited for Angie to answer.
“Well, they’re amazing. So freaking sexy.”
“How’d meeting them compare to what you dreamed?”
“Better, a thousand times over. Having the dreams for so long made me feel like I already knew them even though we’re virtually strangers. Do you know anything about beloveds?”
“Only what Arissa’s shared. I know that you’ll share their immortality, and you’ll have to drink their blood once a week. They’ll feed from you, too, but I suppose they’ll take turns so you don’t lose too much from double feedings.”
“Can angels give blood to vampires?”
“We can, but since we’re immortal, our blood isn’t filling for a vampire. It would be like them trying to feed off another vampire.”
“They don’t do that?”
“Nope. Vampire blood is only good for changing someone into a vampire or feeding a beloved mate. It’s useless as actual food.”
“Is that tr
ue of other supernatural creatures?”
“The immortal ones. There aren’t a whole lot of immortals out there, though. Vampires are the largest group, then you have fallen angels, muses like Harmony, some types of elves, Pegasus, and, of course Valkyries.”
“Valkyries?”
“The child of a vampire male and human female.”
Angie frowned. “I thought that vampire males couldn’t have children.”
“Natural vampires can. But a turned male can still bear young for a few years after the change.”
“I didn’t know there were natural vampires.”
“Yep. They’re usually pretty cliquey with their own kind. Turned vampires are more prolific than natural ones. In fact, I know of only one natural vampire in Northern Ohio, and she’s mated to a bear shifter.”
“There’s so much I don’t know.” Angie rubbed her thumb between her eyes.
“You’ll have all eternity to learn.”
Angie grinned.
Alli took the entrance ramp onto the highway and accelerated. Angie’s phone buzzed and she looked down at it to see that Rage and Vex had both texted her that they missed her. As she replied to their messages, she noticed that Alli was looking repeatedly in the rearview mirror. Her hands were tight on the wheel, her knuckles white.
Immediately, the hairs on the back of Angie’s neck rose and her wolf growled.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“We’re being followed.”
Angie looked over her shoulder. There were three vehicles behind them, one in each lane. Alli was in the far right lane of the three-lane highway. Angie glanced at the speedometer, the needle climbing past eighty.
“The next exit is four miles away. Call your mates and tell them that we’re about to get into trouble.”
Angie’s fingers trembled as she pulled up their numbers, dialing Rage’s.
She looked at the GPS screen as Rage answered the line.
“Miss us already, beloved?” he drawled.
“We’re in trouble,” she said. “There are three cars behind us.”
Alli said loudly, “I saw them about two blocks from the highway. I wasn’t sure they were following us until they got off the street and onto the highway. I... shit.”