I can’t sleep. I should have known it was a lost cause before even trying, but hope springs eternal. Even now. I can’t stop thinking about all the new information this night brought, trying to puzzle through it to figure out what’s true and what’s manipulation. The possibility it might all be true is…
I don’t know what to think.
Even though I know I should stay in the relative safety of my room, eventually my rushing thoughts demand movement. If I can just work off some of this frantically circling energy, then maybe something will make sense.
Or that’s what I tell myself as I pad barefoot down the hallway. Dawn already lightens the horizon, another night having passed with us at a standstill. I press my forehead to the thick glass of the window and breathe slowly. The coolness does nothing to douse my thoughts, my feelings.
I want Malachi.
It takes so much to admit that truth to myself. I don’t like it. It’s inconvenient and messy, but it is the truth. I meant what I said before—there is no way for this thing between us to play out that doesn’t end in heartbreak. It’s an impossible situation.
But then, my entire life is an impossible situation. I’ve had no choice, no recourse, nothing that was mine and mine alone. Every single thing I’ve done is a reaction with the intent to survive.
What if I simply… said yes? Took what Malachi is offering? Took my chances with this small slice of pleasure?
I lift my head and sigh. I’m looking for an excuse to fuck him. Maybe I just need to stop trying to reason my way through it and simply do it.
I don’t make the decision to head for the stairs. My body simply moves on its own, each step taking me closer to Malachi’s bedroom on the third floor. Am I really going to do this? I don’t know. I just don’t know.
A sound cuts through my inner turmoil. A soft grunt. I stop short. It almost sounds like someone’s in pain, but even without much personal experience with it, I know what fucking sounds like. I should turn around. Should take the humiliation heating my cheeks and let it increase the distance between me and Malachi’s room.
I don’t. I walk down the hallway. The door is cracked, which feels almost like an invitation to press two fingers to the thick wood and push it open a few inches more. Just enough to see his bed. Just enough to see what he’s doing to Wolf in it.
My breath stalls in my chest and my feet sprout roots to hold me in place. Both men are naked. Wolf is on his hands and knees, each muscle in his lean body looking carved from stone as he shoves himself back against Malachi. No. That’s not what he’s doing. He’s shoving himself back onto Malachi’s cock.
And Malachi?
Gods, he’s a masterpiece. His thick hair is flung over one shoulder and his big body is one hard line, his ass flexing with each thrust as he takes Wolf’s ass. It’s brutal and they both look angry, as if they started a fight and ended up fucking despite themselves.
I should leave. Should walk away. Should do anything but stand here and watch like the worst kind of voyeur.
I wait for hurt or betrayal to rise, but there’s nothing. He told me, after all. He and Wolf are friends who are sometimes more. No matter what Malachi wants from me, he obviously wants Wolf, too. I don’t understand their history, don’t really get how they can be so antagonistic and still seem to care about each other.
Wolf turns his head and meets my gaze. His eyes are the same crimson they were in the library and he grins, flashing fang. He opens his mouth, but I don’t wait around to hear whatever he’s about to say.
I turn and flee.
Each step brings a recrimination with it. Coward. Fool. Weakling. I say I want Malachi, but then the second I get the hint of an invitation to join in and I’m fleeing like a scared little girl.
I stop short at the top of the stairs. What am I doing? I make a decision and then instantly backtrack? Is that really what I’m made of? I close my eyes and take several deep breaths. I’ll just talk to Malachi about it tomorrow like a reasonable person. That’s a logical way to proceed. A nice easy pace.
“What a little coward you are.”
I startle and start to tip down the stairs. My stomach goes weightless and I start to curl in on myself to minimize the damage I’m about to receive.
Rough hands grab my upper arms and yank me back to the relative safety of the third floor landing. Back against a naked chest. I don’t have to look to know it’s Wolf. He’s shorter and leaner than Malachi. And even after only one encounter with him, I recognize the casual cruelty in the amused tone of his voice.
“Let me go.”
“Is that any way to say thank you? You might be hardier than a human, but a broken neck is still a broken neck.” Wolf doesn’t release me. He buries his nose in my neck and inhales deeply. “Gods, you smell good. Or rather, your blood smells good. How you managed to survive this long while walking around like the best kind of candy is beyond me.” His lips brush my throat. “Someone should have sucked you dry by now.”
I swallow hard, the movement pressing my throat more firmly against his fangs. “Wolf.”
“I like the way you say my name, love.” He doesn’t move back, but he also doesn’t close that last minuscule distance between us to draw blood. “Makes me think I’ll like it even more if you say it while I’m inside you.”
I shiver. “You seemed busy.”
“I am. Malachi and I just hit pause for a brief moment.” He gentles his grip on my upper arm and then his thumbs brush the sides of my breasts. “It’d be a shame if you got the wrong idea. That look back there was an invitation.” He eases me back more firmly against his chest. His cock presses against my ass, which is right around the moment when I realize he’s still naked. “Join us.”
Join us.
Climb into bed with those superior predators and hope I lived long enough to enjoy the consummation. I lick my lips. The unforgivable dark part of me wants to do exactly that. I don’t think I like Wolf, and I’m not sure I trust Malachi, but my body doesn’t care. It craves pleasure in a way that scares me. One hit might be enough to chain me to them forever. I can’t risk it. I refuse to. “No.”
“Mmm.” He keeps stroking my arms, a relatively innocent touch if I could ignore the naked body and giant cock pressing against my back. “Malachi’s made his wishes clear. Your precariously short life is safe with me.” His lips brush my throat with each word. “Life. Body. Pleasure.”
The man weaves a spell with his words, and it’s like my pulse responds to him, each beat of my heart a surge of desire I don’t want to feel. If I didn’t know better…
I jerk away, and he releases me easily. The feeling doesn’t get better with a few feet of distance between us. It’s as if he’s stroking my body without touching me, sending heat to my breasts and pussy. I press my hand to my chest, realization dawning. “Blood.”
“Hmm?”
I stare. “You’re bloodline’s power is actually blood.” I suspected as much, but this confirmation staggers me. He could kill me so easily, all without raising a finger. A thought and he could send all the blood in my body surging free, draining me in seconds. I shudder. “Stop it.”
“If you insist.” He shrugs. “I hear it’s quite pleasurable.”
It is. That’s not the problem, though. I am outclassed and outmatched and every second I spend in this house only reconfirms the truth I’ll never have the upper hand. Malachi’s fire is scary enough. How can I battle against the very blood in my body? “Don’t do that again.”
“Fine.” Another of those put-upon sighs, but then he grins, his pale eyes lighting up. “I promise not to do it again…until we fuck.”
“Who says we’re fucking?”
He smooths a hand over his short mohawk, his grin widening. “Fun little side effect of my powers is I can sense blood. Do you know what gets the blood flowing, love?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer. “Desire.”
Impossible to argue when he already has evidence of it. Especially because I can’t blame a bite for it this time. No, it’s just my fucked up head that looks at two men who can easily rip me limb from limb and decides that is what’ll get me off. “Feeling desire and acting on it are two very different things.”
“So they are.” Another shrug as if he couldn’t give a fuck.
Somehow, in the midst of all this, I forgot he’s naked. Now that the shock of his powers has faded a little, it’s impossible for me to keep my attention on his face. His skin is several shades lighter than Malachi’s, a pale that almost looks unreal. Though he’s built leaner than Malachi, too, there’s plenty of muscle definition drawing my eye down, down, down, to where his hard cock juts forth.
Fuck.
“Another perk.” His amusement is cutting. “With a little blood in my body, I can keep it up for days if I want to. Think of all the pleasure I can give you, love. Come back to the bedroom with us.”
I shake my head slowly. The thought of fucking for days blows my mind. I can’t… I shouldn’t… I swallow hard. “I said no.”
“So you did.” He turns and starts ambling toward Malachi’s bedroom. “Ah well, consider this an invitation to watch, then. I promise to be on my best behavior.”
“Do you have a best behavior?”
He laughs. “Not even a little bit.” Wolf pauses in the doorway. “But Malachi does. He’s got enough for all of us.” He disappears into the room before I can form a response.
What is there to say?
Walking into that room is a mistake. It’s a choice. I can’t pretend someone forced my hand or I was influenced by anything but my own lust. If I cross that threshold, there’s no uncrossing it.
Isn’t that what I came here for tonight, though? I didn’t bargain on Wolf, but I should have. Malachi as much as told me he and Wolf have a long and complicated history. I might not have fully comprehended they were a package deal. But that doesn’t change the fact apparently they are. Can I live with that?
I don’t know. There’s so much I don’t know.
Except…
All I’m doing is stalling, putting off the inevitable. I made my choice already. It might be the first fucking choice I’ve ever made, but it’s mine. I close my eyes and inhale slowly. I don’t think I’m ready to jump into bed with both of them. But the idea of watching?
I want that. I didn’t realize how much I wanted it until Wolf offered that option. A way to dip my toes into the water. I know I’m making excuses to do what I want, but it doesn’t matter as I retrace the path to Malachi’s door.
The men have their heads close together and are speaking in low voices. They turn as one and I have to fight the instinctive urge to flee. I swallow hard. “I’d like to…watch. If that’s okay with both of you.”
Wolf grins. “You know it’s more than okay with me, love.”
I glare at him, but it feels half-hearted. Against my better judgement, I’m starting to like his irreverent attitude. Kind of. I don’t know what it says about me, but I’m nowhere close to a place where I want to analyze that. I lick my lips and focus on Malachi. “Is that okay?”
He searches my face for a long moment, but must find whatever he’s looking for because he nods slowly. “Yes, it’s okay.”
