by Talyn Scott
“You are a fraction of what I am.” He held up his hand, flexing his pinky. “About this much.”
“That doesn’t mean — ”
“It means enough,” Sage cut her off. “Don’t try and leave. Going out on your own would be suicidal. Unless you have the strength to kill a creature of the night?”
Her stomach flipped as she recalled her circumstances during the previous hour. “I think you know the answer to that.”
“Let’s get something clear, then. Neither of us wants you to become a victim, like the Donors.” He shook his head. “In my world, you have one choice: master or slave. And if you let someone choose for you, you’ll be a slave every damn time.”
“If I let someone else fight for me, I’m already a slave. ”
He knew exactly what she meant. “You owe me nothing.”
“You saved my life.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “That means something.”
“It means everything, so how could you ever repay me of its worth?”
“I can’t.”
He smiled, satisfied.
A desperate sound left her throat before Scarlett could stop it. What was going to happen to her tomorrow, or the next day — or the day after that? “When the sun comes up, do you disappear inside a coffin somewhere?”
He lifted his hand to touch her, but dropped it in blurring speed. “When the sun comes up, I will be next to you.”
All she could do was nod. “Thank you.”
“Anytime and always.”
Scarlett reached down with shaky hands to turn on the faucet. She gasped when water rushed suddenly from the shower head, before her fingertips touched the knob. She jumped back with a yelp and gaped at Sage. “You did that?”
“Yes.”
She blinked. “Think, uh, you can act a little more… human?”
“You weren’t complaining an hour ago.”
“You’re right.”
He winced when even he heard the snarl edging his words. “I’m sorry.” Sage put a hand on her shoulder, and she sensed static power thrumming beneath his skin. “Kind of hard to shift it down for you when I’m …”
“The blood,” she realized, he’d skipped out on a potential buffet to get her to safety. And the fuel he needed was caked all over her body. “You need to eat.” She was probably enticing him all this time.
Her heart kicked up as she faced the mirror. She picked up a tiny bar of soap. When she started peeling off the wrapper, Sage pulled his hand away, but leaned until his forehead met the back of her head. She didn’t know what to think about the sudden intimacy, so tender when compared to him pinning her to the floor.
Scarlett took a deep breath, wondering about this mythical creature that wasn’t mythical after all. It all started hitting her, not exactly unraveling her, but her mind was compartmentalizing their prior discussion. “I can’t believe you’re a vampire, and I’m standing here covered in blood.”
“I know.”
She nearly dropped the soap, while reminding herself that if Sage wanted to feed from her, he would have done so already. Well, maybe… “How often do you need blood?”
“Every day.” He rubbed his forehead back and forth on the top of her head, smelling her. “I scent your fear rising again.”
“Seriously, did you expect anything else?”
Sage pressed his cheek against hers and searched her face in the mirror, studying Scarlett the way men do. Seeming to relax at what he found, he stepped into the hallway and gave her his back. “The door stays open.”
“I won’t argue that one.” After stripping quickly, Scarlett stepped into the shower with soap and a dusty but otherwise clean washcloth in hand, scrubbing everything but her bitten throat. When the water finally ran clear, she leaned in and lowered the intensity of the spray, before tilting her chin and allowing the water to lap at her neck and chest. Instantly, she could smell the copper penny scent of her blood as it sluiced over her skin.
“Soap,” Sage hissed. “Use the damn soap on your throat. And hurry.”
She stiffened, her heart squeezing. “Is someone coming?”
“No.” A fist hit the wall. “Fuck it all, you smell so damn good.”
She felt her mouth fall open. “You are kidding, right?”
“Sure… I’m kidding.”
Scarlett noted the strain in his voice as she lathered up her throat and… Her hands smoothed over her skin while something luscious stroked deep inside her body. They dropped lower, until she reached her breasts. Wondering at how they were instantly throbbing, Scarlett squeezed and plumped them, closing her eyes as she did so. And that’s when she noticed an empty ache growing right between her legs.
“Sage,” she groaned, lowering her hands past her navel, spreading her fingers wide across her stomach.
“I’m here.” His shadow grew as he neared the curtain, the top of his head looming over the shower rod, but he didn't pull it back. Instead, he demanded, “Tell me what you want.”
“What I…” Horrified, she stared at her hands, amazed at what she was about to do with him right next to her — this stranger, this vampire. “What I,” she said after clearing her throat, “need is a towel.”
“I found one beneath the cabinet,” he said, sounding so domestic that she nearly laughed.
Scarlett shut off the water and slid out her hand, wiggling her fingers. Without a word, he handed it over and she covered her body.
When she drew back the curtain, Sage’s hands startled her as he wrapped them around her waist and lifted her atop the vanity. He settled between her open thighs and started running his fingers through her wet hair.
“Do you want to know what I smell from you now?” he asked silkily.
Scarlett had a good idea, so she tried to squeeze her knees but only managed to draw him closer against her heat. His silk clad thighs slid between her naked ones, stirring her ache. She placed her hands flat against his chest, curling her fingertips in the soft cotton of his T-shirt. “I have a better question.”
His eyes darkened. “What’s that?”
“Why does my body hum for you?”
“So tell her, Sage,” Roman demanded, startling a yelp out of Scarlett. “Why would Scarlett’s body hum for you?”
Sage was unfazed by Roman’s sudden appearance. “Because she is my fated, my Bride.”
Scarlett’s stomach somersaulted. “Those stories are true?”
“I don’t know what exact stories you’re referring to,” Sage explained as he nuzzled her throat, “but when a Vojak finds his fated Bride, from that moment forward, there is no one else for him. He’s in love instantly.”
“You love me?”
Sage nodded, a lock of blonde hair falling over his forehead.
“And I’ve found my chosen bride,” Roman added, pressing his mouth against the opposite side of her throat. “But you already know how much I love you, so it shouldn’t come as a shock.”
“Shouldn’t come as a shock, are you nuts?” She blinked. “I just found out that you were both vampires.”
Her body was melting for them, slicking and plumping. She tugged Sage closer, bringing his mouth to hers, kissing lightly, nipping carefully. Roman brought the straight edge of his teeth to her ear, finding a particularly sensitive spot on her lob that she wanted explored in a more comfortable venue than the bathroom.
“There’s not enough space here,” she mumbled against Sage’s velvet soft lips, thinking she detected a tongue piercing.
“Give us five minutes,” Sage suggested. “I need to feed from Roman first.”
“First,” she said with a smile. “Then, what comes second?”
“A little loft, right up the stairs, that you might find very accommodating.”
Chapter 14
Sage inhaled against Roman’s throat, grazing the tips of his fangs against a pulsating vein. Though he relaxed, Sage still tightened his hands around Roman’s upper arms in a predatory hold before he bit down. Unused to feeding anot
her vampire, especially a warrior, Roman was surprised to find the suction of Sage’s bite lulling him to a place where time moved yet stood still.
He had no idea how long Sage fed, didn’t care either. However, as soon as Roman’s dick thickened, his sex throbbing painfully against his zipper, Sage withdrew his fangs and closed his bite.
“Save your juice for Scarlett,” Sage murmured, while licking blood from his teeth.
“Not a problem, but long before another storm kicks up the wind, we need to find better and safer accommodations than this dump or my penthouse.” He glanced around cautiously, eyeing the only window in the loft, right above the bed. But it had been boarded up long ago.
“Yeah, I’m already pumping up after this feeding.”
“Tell me if you need more,” Roman offered. “I hunted enough for us both.” He yanked the dust covers from the bed, revealing crisp, striped sheets. After a deep inhale over the center of the bed, he was satisfied with its cleanliness.
“I’m good. But she can’t stay in here for long with the night temperature dropping.” Sage lit a kerosene lamp to brighten the room for Scarlett, though neither of them needed light with their sharp, immortal eyesight. He also found quilts folded inside an old trunk to toss on the bed. “I should be well enough to mist a longer distance in a couple of hours, after your blood really takes hold. We’ll take better care of her at the next location. For now, this will do.”
“With a few stops to refuel, sort of speak, and rest, you could make it to one of our strongholds.” Roman thought of their options, of how many times he would need to hunt for blood. “Turkey?”
“Nope.”
“Edik is too dangerous, untamed,” Roman argued. “I think he’s completely consumed with bloodlust from Donor blood.”
“I agree. I think he’s maddened with the stuff. But I’m not forcing Scarlett to hide out on account of me. I’m taking her home safely to Captiva Island, where she will also be protected by the other Vojaks and then she can lead her normal, everyday life.” Sage pulled his shirt over his head, exposing the tattooed chest of a gladiator. “And when this is all settled with Edik, whatever it may be, we’ll lead our normal, everyday lives with her by our sides.”
Roman was still utterly shocked to find Sage willing to share Scarlett. Most Vojaks would go nuts at the prospect. “Do you think she’s going to accept us together?”
Sage looked smug. “Look at us, both hot and virile, how could she refuse?”
“Obviously, she can’t.” Scarlett stepped inside, tightening the towel around her. She spotted a trace of blood lingering at the corner of Sage’s mouth. But to her credit, she didn’t flinch or recoil. “Am I interrupting?”
Sage walked over to her, placing his hands on her hips. “I love your interruptions.” He stared down at Scarlett, his eyes raking over every inch of her, though Roman doubted she could see the fast tracking of his eyes.
Roman stood behind her, reaching between Sage and Scarlett to trace the curvature of her hips. “And you know I love your everything, inside and out.” He pressed a kiss to her nape, as Sage pressed one just beneath her lower lip. “But right now, I’d say this was a ‘mostly inside’ moment.”
“So romantic,” she chastised teasingly, her head coming back to land on Roman’s chest as he licked and sucked his way down her shoulder.
Fastening his mouth over hers, Sage stroked her tongue with his, for a melting kiss. She closed her eyes, her hands finding both of them, stroking and petting in turn.
But when Sage pulled away from her mouth, she opened her eyes and glared at him. “So you do have a tongue piercing.”
“Something you’ll have to get used to, I’m afraid.” Although Sage didn’t look afraid in the least. What he looked like, however, was strung out and horny.
Slowly, delicately, Sage lifted Scarlett’s hand to his mouth and kissed each fingertip, to cherish every part of her. After, he kissed her palm, raking his fangs over the sensitive skin found there, causing her to shiver.
Taking that same hand, Sage tugged Scarlett forward, leading her to the warmth of the bed. Without a word, Scarlett stretched out on the pile of quilts.
“Could we share you tonight, Scarlett?” And every other night, Roman added silently. The look of her sprawled in almost shy invitation caused his fangs to throb in tune to his erection.
“Only tonight?”
“You already know that we consider you our Bride, which, in our laws, means we’re basically married by human standards.” Sage hovered over her, balancing his weight between his hands on the bed, both pressed on either side of her shoulders.
The heated flare in her eyes told both males what she was thinking, that she wanted this more than her next breath.
So Roman reclined on his side next to them, his hand reaching out and tracing her cheekbone. “You are hungry for us. Just focus on that, for now.”
Sage tilted his head and traced her jawline with the tip of his tongue, before tracking lower down her throat. “Yes, I think hungry is the word I’d use,” he murmured against her skin, still roving over her with his tongue. Scarlett gasped at the sensation. Sage’s power rippling across her skin with his every touch, every lick. Then he closed his mouth over a particularly luscious looking vein that Roman wanted to devour and delivered a suckling kiss that went on for several long minutes.
Scarlett’s mouth dropped open, her hips rising off the bed. She needed friction against her sex. So Sage pressed his knee between her thighs, allowing her to feel the weight of his thigh against her core.
She cried out Sage’s name, then called for Roman.
“I’m here, Scarlett, right here.”
Roman hooked a finger inside the top of her towel, exposing the soft swell of her breasts, and sucked her nipple across his tongue. The smell of her ripening sex called to him on levels a human could not understand. Simply put, it stirred the essence of his vampire.
He plumped Scarlett's breast with his hand, urging her blood to move towards her nipple as he continued to suck on the distended tip.
Just like Sage, Roman wanted Scarlett mindless, her sex dripping for her vampires, so at least one of them could move inside of her.
He dared to graze her with his fangs. And although he didn’t yet pierce her skin and offer his erotic endorphins, the touch of his mouth, teeth, and hands combined with those of Sage were enough to send Scarlett already to the brink of orgasm.
“Roman, please!” Twisting one hand into Sage’s hair, the other grabbing Roman, she pulled them closer to her. “Sage…” With her eyes closed, she thrashed her head back and forth when Sage found her opposite nipple. Both males nipping and sucking at her cushiony mounds.
Scarlett growled, however, when Sage removed his thigh from between her legs, leaving her sex empty long enough for her to ache. “Put that back!”
Sage’s lips curved. “I have something else in mind.”
Roman pressed against her hip, taking pleasure in how soft she was against his erection, the marked contrast tightening his balls. “So do I.”
“Then do it,” she nearly begged, “please.”
A hiss left Roman’s throat that sounded purely threatening, similar to that of a vampire warning another away from his Bride.
Sage lifted his head from her breast, staring curiously at Roman while his index finger weaved into Scarlett’s towel, to uncover her body completely.
Roman had no idea why the hiss left him, though he knew it wasn’t aimed at Sage. He shook his head nimbly and pressed a kiss on her upper stomach, moving down and peppering more kisses across her lower stomach with each creamy inch of flesh that Sage uncovered.
“More,” Scarlett breathed.
Sage stroked her soft folds with the backs of his knuckles, before separating them with his thumb and forefinger and spreading her sex wide. He sniffed her pussy, learning her, scenting the female nature created for him. “Yes, you definitely need more.”
Lifting to his knees, Roman took
his length in hand, stroking, wanting her to touch him, to put her lush mouth on him.
Even though the loft was chilly for a mostly human, a glistening sheen of sweat covered Scarlett when Sage speared her vagina with his pierced tongue, then twirled lazy circles with the ball embedded there.
A purring sound left the back of Scarlett throat before she beckoned Roman, “Bring that here right now.”
Roman obeyed, repositioning himself so she only had to turn a fraction and could wrap her hands around his thighs.
Scarlett cried out as Sage added a finger, her hands tightening on Roman’s legs as the ball of Sage’s piercing rolled around her tight bud. Sage moved slowly, methodically, never rushing what he was doing to her body. And by the look of pure pleasure on the Vojak’s face, he was enjoying every second of it, right along with Scarlett.
Roman’s hands fisted in Scarlett’s tawny hair as she licked the underside of his thick ridge. He hoped for the same patience as Sage. But he didn't know how long he could hold out. After all, he’d deprived himself of her touch for years, then had only fucked her once. During those long months of his celibacy, Roman’s only consolation was stroking off to fantasies of her. Prior to his celibacy, Roman would fuck a woman with his face buried in her neck, so he wouldn’t have to see that she was not his Scarlett.
“I could come just by looking at you,” Roman praised when she took him halfway on her mouth, pressing her tongue against his extra flesh before sliding out with a slight scrape of her teeth.
“I could come just by the taste of her.” Sage inserted another finger, curling upward as his tongue continued to take a leisurely stroll around her clit and plumped lips.
“It’s so different with you two,” she said, staring up at Roman while pressing kisses to his slicked head, “better than the others I’ve — ”
“Make me jealous and I will spank you,” Roman warned.
“I’ll remember that.” With a greedy smile, Scarlett traced a vein up his length, before nibbling at the underside of his cock, tugging at the skin with the sting of her teeth. She took her time, much in the way of Sage, until Roman actually drew a sheen of perspiration like Scarlett’s, which was a rare occurrence for his kind. Then after several long, illicit moments, she repeated the whole damn thing, tracing the vein, nibbling and sucking.