by Zandria West
I rest back down on one elbow and turn to study the man beside me. Alex shouldn’t be worried. I want him to feel as happy as I do right now. I run my fingers through his hair, trace the line of his jaw. It’s not enough. I lean in to kiss him, my mouth searching for his. A desperate need is rising in me, a hunger I’ve never felt before. I feel Alex’s mouth open to mine, his tongue seeking my own. I nip at his lower lip, pulling it between my teeth. Fuck, I want to feel more of him… I pull away and trace my lips down the length of his neck, then open my mouth wide and bite.
‘Ahhhh… Lana….?’ Alex is holding me, his hands tightening around my upper arms. I freeze as I suddenly realise how hard I’m biting him. I pull away.
‘Oh God,’ I say. ‘Sorry Alex. I don’t know what I’m doing. Are you okay?’
I look up at him and he gazes back at me with wondering eyes for a long moment, then slowly his lips crease into a sexy smile. ‘You can hurt me like that anytime you want…’
‘But before you continue, I think we need to talk about what’s going on,’ Gabriel intercedes. He’s using his serious voice.
I look across to him. His expression matches his tone. He looks tired and worried. I wish he didn’t look so worried. Really, what is there to be worried about?
‘It’s the Binding, isn’t it?’ Alex says to Gabriel. ‘It happened while we were waiting in the airport too. The Hunger took hold of her…’
I frown, his words causing a ripple in my otherwise serene state of mind. ‘Wait, is that what just happened? It was a vampire thing? I was trying to feed on you?’
‘You made a pretty good attempt for somebody without fangs,’ Alex winces a smile and points to the jagged red marks I’ve left on his neck. ‘Kind of like being mauled by a baby shark,’ he says.
I pick up a pillow and throw it at his head. ‘Mauled by a baby shark? It was sexy goddamnit. You know it was. Don’t try and deny it.’
Gabriel looks at me intently. ‘I’m worried that it might be more than that. When we passed through whatever ancient enchantment was at work in the temple complex, I felt it mingling with my own Binding spell… it was deep and difficult magic, and I don’t know how it will manifest.’
I watch Gabriel as he speaks. The way he frowns as he thinks, running a finger unconsciously across the rough bristle of his chin. Those eyes, a molten darkness, focused entirely on me. A rush of desire shocks me. I remember how he took me in the temple, before Graciela found us – with him before me and Grayson behind me. My body thrums with longing.
I look down. I’m wearing a tank top and loose pyjama pants. Too many clothes. I reach down and pull the top off in one quick motion.
‘Lana?’
I look back up at Gabriel, whose eyes are running over my body, though I can see he’s trying to contain his own desire.
‘What?’ I pull the sheet down and wriggling out of the pants, tugging my panties off too while I’m at it. That’s better. Naked.
‘I think I can tell you how it’s manifesting, Gabe,’ Alex says, as he lowers me back down to the bed beside him. ‘Between the ancient enchantment and whatever the hell Grayson did…’ He runs his fingers lightly down the centre of my chest then back up, following the curve of my breast, tracing one of my nipples. I moan and arch my back. I want more. ‘Who am I to fight the magic?’ he says, then dips his mouth to mine for a long, possessive kiss.
I hear Gabriel groan and I’m not sure if his frustration is sexual or existential. I pull free of Alex for a moment. ‘Please, Gabriel, I need this. I just… I need you both so much…’
It’s true, too. For the first time this morning, my mind is clear. My longing feels like a deep, hollow emptiness, desperate to be filled. Alex at least is happy enough to oblige, his hands and lips working their way down my body, in turns tender and teasing. I need Gabriel too though. I look up at him with longing in my eyes.
He groans again and this time I’m definite the frustration is more than metaphysical.
‘Nothing bad can come of this, remember?’ I say. ‘That’s what you told me. Trust your magic, Gabriel. I do…’
He crawls towards me across the bed and cradles my head, leaning into a deep, exploratory kiss as I feel Alex’s breath tickling my tummy, his tongue tracing the ridges of my hip bones. My Bondmarks flare with energy – a kind of zinging pleasure that starts at the marks themselves and grows to an almost unbearable humming that fills my whole body.
‘Alex, please –’
He’s placing warm kisses along my upper thighs, tracing the thin line of hair along my sex. I spread my legs wide, desperate for him to taste me, to fill me.
The bed shifts and I see Alex pulling off his pants, stroking himself a few times as he gazes at me. I reach for him and pull him closer, sitting up and wrapping my legs around his waist, feeling the instant of pressure as he pushes into me, a desperate heat that builds in my core.
‘Oh god…’ I moan as he begins to rock his hips, shifting inside me until I’m burning with desperate need.
I look across to where Gabriel is watching.
‘Is it true you let Alex feed on you?’ I ask and Gabriel looks shocked for a moment, then his expression softens to a smile and he nods.
‘How did it feel?’ I ask as Alex nuzzles the length of my neck and does indescribable things inside me with his incredible cock.
‘It hurt.’
Alex takes hold of my hips now so he can guide my movements, syncing the shifting of my pelvis to his own, forcing himself deeper into me over and over, so deep that for a moment the pleasure is close to pain.
‘I want to see it…’ I gasp. Alex pauses and leans back, raising an eyebrow at me. I groan with frustration.
Gabriel looks genuinely shocked. ‘Excuse me?’ he says.
I catch my breath. ‘The two of you. Together. I want to see it.’
‘I shouldn’t feed off any of you,’ Alex protests.
‘You don’t have to feed. I just want to see you bite him and draw blood…’
‘I –’ Alex begins again.
‘Please. For me,’ I say, holding Alex’s gaze. I don’t know what he reads in my eyes, but I see the moment he gives in. He doesn’t say anything. He just turns to look at Gabriel and a wordless agreement passes between them.
Gabriel wraps his arms around the two of us and Alex turns his head and in an instant he shifts. I watch in fascination as his teeth descend into razor-sharp points. His eyes change too, the pupils becoming huge and dark. He gives Gabe a questioning look, and my warlock nods and closes his eyes. In an instant Alex is on him. He’s still inside me. I watch in fascination as he sinks those beautiful teeth into Gabriel’s neck, barely inches from my face. Gabriel winces for a moment, then relaxes into the contact. I see a dark trickle of blood oozing down his skin. Alex grows harder inside me, if that’s even possible, like Gabe’s blood is mainlining straight to his cock. Gabriel lets out a low noise like a growl. I watch, fascinated, as Alex sucks at the punctures he has made, his mouth smeared red by Gabriel’s blood. The hunger I felt when I first woke becomes an unbearable need.
‘Let me, please,’ I say, pulling Alex away. He watches as I lean in and place my lips where his own had just been. Gabriel’s blood is salty and rich, and I feel a shudder move through me as I taste it. Lust and longing and revulsion and horror combine in one forbidden moment. The burning in my Bondmarks is so fierce as to be almost beyond comprehension. I’m on fire. I suck harder.
‘My angel,’ Alex whispers. ‘Gentle. Remember he’s just a man…’
I pull away and look at Gabriel. He’s gazing back at me with frightened awe. Power pulses through me, singing in my veins, so intense my vision seems to thrum in and out.
‘Lana, my love,’ Gabriel says, reaching a hand to wipe my mouth. ‘Everything I have is yours, you understand? My blood. My magic. My heart. Whatever you need. All you need do is ask.’ He leans in and kisses me.
Alex begins to move inside me again, faster and harder as though his
appetites have been awoken by the taste of blood and the display he’s just witnessed. I pull Gabriel to me too and kiss him fiercely, my hands moving down the hard muscles of his chest, finding his cock where it stands erect. I begin to stroke it rhythmically as Alex fucks me. Gabriel moans, and lowers his mouth to my breasts. He takes a nipple between his teeth and pulls at it, causing sharp currents of pleasure to pulse through me. I’m dissolving between them. These men – they will do anything for me, I realise. I sense it through the Binding, the power I hold over them. Love, desire and loyalty, fierce protectiveness and warm kindness. They are mine, as I am theirs. The Binding makes it so.
Alex’s finger traces the sign of the snake that twines around my forearm and a moment later I feel him reach climax, fiercely hot inside me, filling me with a few juddering spurts. Then he wraps his arms around me and leans close, his breath heavy in my ear. I wriggle free and bend down to where Gabriel kneels beside us and take the length of his cock in my mouth, feeling him respond to the pressure of my teeth and tongue.
Gabriel gives a strangled moan and moves faster, each thrust pressing so deep into my throat that I think I’m going to gag. I run my hands over his powerful thighs, sneak one hand under to grasp his balls and squeeze. I feel Alex touching me as I do, cradling my buttocks and thumbing my clit expertly. I suck as Gabriel moves, harder and faster. I feel his body temperature rising, like somebody’s lit a furnace inside him. His hands tangle in my hair, supporting my head and guiding my movements, pushing me onto him.
‘I’m coming, Lana…’ he murmurs and then a moment later he explodes in my mouth, the liquid thick and salty, mingling with the taste of his blood, coating my tongue and dripping down my chin. He holds my head in place for a few long seconds before releasing me. I swallow and wipe my chin with my forearm, sitting back from him.
Alex says. ‘Now, if you think you’re done…’
I shake my head. ‘Nope. Not done yet.’
He laughs. ‘If you’ll let me finish, I was going to say, if you think you’re done you’ve got another thing coming. With the emphasis on coming…’ He gives me a wicked grin and lowers himself between my legs, spreading me wide with his fingers so that when he starts to lick and suckle at me there’s no hiding and no escape. The jolt of pleasure that shoots through my core is shocking and wonderful.
Alex lifts his head and looks up at me. ‘You’re so goddamned beautiful…’ he murmurs.
‘Less talking, please…’ I groan with frustration.
He laughs. I close my eyes as his tongue circles my clit, teasing and arousing me. He pushes a finger deep into me, then moves his hand lower. I’m startled by a sudden sharp pressure on the tighter band of muscles that circles my anus.
‘What are you doing?’ I gasp.
Alex doesn’t move the finger, just maintains the pressure. It’s almost an intrusion. I feel like I shouldn’t enjoy it, but somehow, I find it intensely exciting.
‘You’ve never done this before?’ he asks.
I shake my head.
‘Do you want me to stop?’
I shake my head again, unable to even form words.
He lowers his tongue to my clit and pushes harder with his finger, breaching the tightness, and within a heartbeat I explode. The orgasm has me crying out then dissolving into sobs of pleasure.
‘I think she liked it,’ Gabriel says from where he’s resting beside us, his voice sexily hoarse.
‘I think she did,’ Alex says. ‘Note to future self: what Lana likes, she gets…’
‘I think you turned me to jelly,’ I mutter blinking up at the ceiling. I can’t quite locate enough functional brain cells to focus on anything. ‘Happy jelly,’ I clarify, in case they were wondering.
‘You deserve to be turned to jelly, after everything you’ve been through,’ Alex snuggles in close to me, managing to wrap both arms around me.
I shiver at his words, the horror of the past twenty-four hours gradually returning to me as the pleasure and the effects of Grayson’s touch both recede.
There’s a long silence.
‘Do you think Graciela’s right about what I should do?’ I ask quietly. I look from one to the other of them. ‘You heard what she’s planning, tricking all those people into sacrificing themselves? Isn’t that kind of… kind of monstrous?’
‘You saw the vision,’ Gabriel’s voice is gentle. ‘What do you think Lana? In the end, it doesn’t matter what I believe or what Alex might wish. It has to be your choice.’
Choice.
I close my eyes and recall the vision Graciela showed me. It flows back slowly, a little at a time. I feel that awful, paralysing fear turning me to stone as the demon army approached. Without the Barrier, we will be nothing but prey. Demons will take out the frustration of millennia on innocent humans. Humans will retaliate however they can, but it won’t be enough. It will be slaughter on an unimaginable scale.
Whether I like it or not, I am the Key. I have the power to stop this.
What choice do I really have?
2
LANA
There’s no sign of Graciela when we get up. I’m torn between feeling relieved to have a moment of privacy with two of my men, and desperate to talk to her. We need a plan. I need to prepare. I don’t even really know what I’m going to have to do, except in broad theoretical terms. Too much is resting on me. I can’t afford to fail.
In the kitchen, Graciela has laid out a breakfast that I don’t feel like eating. Tropical fruit, fresh bread, cereal, yoghurt and… this finally sparks my interest: a coffee machine. Alex sees the look I give it, so he turns it on and begins fiddling with the dials.
He flashes one of his trademark brilliant smiles. ‘Go have a shower, angel. You’re a mess. I’ll have a coffee ready for you when you get out.’
‘How come I’m a mess and you look so… perfect?’ I frown.
Alex raises an eyebrow. ‘Vamp skin absorbs bloody, baby. It’s like our version of lanolin or something. Keeps me looking young.’ He grins. ‘You, on the other hand, are like something from a horror movie.’
I find my way to the bathroom that Graciela showed us last night, then stand in front of the mirror – Alex is right, I am a mess. I have smears of blood around my mouth and down my chest, and other fluids which are obviously the residue of the morning’s encounter glistening on my skin. I wash off at the sink then turn the shower on and glance out the window. The view is glorious. The brilliant green of the mountainside is misted in light cloud. Scattered throughout the green are tropical flowers in hues of red and violet. A bird is moving from flower to flower, its feathers an iridescent blue. A moment later I realise it’s not a bird – it’s the biggest butterfly I’ve ever seen. Everything looks vibrant and alive. It’s peaceful here, but right now all I want to do is cry. Looking out this window, it’s hard to imagine anything is wrong with the world.
I know differently, though.
Eventually, I step out of the shower and dry myself, then find a neatly folded pile of clothes that I assume Graciela has left for me. I slip on a singlet top and some light cotton pants, surprised to find they both fit. There’s a tap on the door and Alex edges around the corner.
‘So… we might need your help in the kitchen,’ he says, a little sheepishly.
I hear banging and a sudden hiss, like the sounds of a steam-train preparing to depart.
The coffee machine.
‘Oh dear god, don’t tell me you broke it?’ I groan.
I have no idea how Graciela managed to get a coffee machine to such a remote location in the first place. I can only imagine that repairs will take months to organise. Even if the end of the world wasn’t imminent, I don’t have that kind of time. I really, really, really need a coffee.
‘What kind of imbeciles do you think we are?’ Alex says sharply. ‘I’m sure we just need to adjust the settings or… or something…’ He trails off and shrugs uncertainly.
When I return to the kitchen, I find Gabriel seated at th
e table, a slim booklet spread out in front of him. He frowns as he reads it. His concentration is so intense he hardly seems to notice that we’re there.
‘I just don’t understand…’ he mutters. ‘It says, turn the knob to full steam…’
I stand next to Gabriel and glance down at the instructions. It’s the same brand of coffee machine my Dad had. I swallow at the coincidence, then head over to the bench, turn everything off and start from scratch, turning it back on. I let it heat up until the warning light goes off, make sure the coffee’s packed tightly but not too tightly, then finally press the button. The machine grunts with effort for a minute or two before releasing a fragrant stream of black coffee into the huge mug I’d placed underneath the outlet.
I grab a metal jug that sits beside the machine, fill it with milk and froth it up. I can’t count how many days it’s been since I’ve been properly caffeinated – the stuff Reuben gave me to cure my hangover in the werewolf camp certainly didn’t count. My last proper coffee was the one I bought immediately before I found my flat trashed and my cat dead. And I only had a few sips of that before everything went to shit.
Finally, I lift the cup to my nose and take a deep inhalation. It smells good. It smells like home. Tears prick my eyes and my vision grows blurry. I sniff and wipe my eyes, then take a sip.
When I look up, I find two pairs of eyes – one pair dark, one brilliant blue – trained on me with such intensity you’d think I was testing the Barrier spell itself, not just tasting a hot beverage.
‘It’s good,’ I say. ‘Who wants a cup? I’m happy to make them…’
Two hands shoot up and I grin and get busy at the machine again.
A moment later the door bangs open and closed, and I hear heavy footsteps. I don’t need to see them to know who they belong to – I can sense Reuben’s focused concentration, sharp as a blade, and the cool fury that Grayson carries around with him like a storm of ice ready to unleash. They make quite a pair. The kitchen suddenly feels a lot smaller as the two of them, both tall, muscular and kind of intense, enter and fill up the space.