Of the three men, I love sucking Wolf’s cock the most. He’s the only one who is more than happy to finish in my mouth if I’m so inclined. Both Rylan and Malachi were always so focused on not missing an opportunity to impregnate me. I might start like this, with their hard length pressing against my tongue, but it never lasted long before they’d lose patience and haul me up their bodies to fuck me.
Wolf alone let me take my time.
I suck him down, keeping my gaze on his face. He watches me closely, gaze almost predatory. I shiver and take him deeper. The power balance here is a knife’s edge between him and me. He could easily overpower me. I hold his pleasure and pain between my lips. I suck hard and am instantly rewarded when he hisses out a breath and lets his head fall back to rest against the couch.
It’s not submission. Not truly. But he’s letting me hold the reins for now.
The temptation to take him deep, again and again, until he loses control, is almost too much to bear. That’s not what I want right now, though. I want to make him forget all his worries, to release the stress tightening his shoulders, to get him to focus only on me.
I tighten my grip on his cock just a little and release him with my mouth. He starts to open his eyes, but I’m already moving, licking down his length to play my tongue along his balls. Wolf’s thighs go tight on either side of me. “Fuck,” he breathes.
I started this process for him, but I can’t deny my pure joy at my slow exploration. It’s not the first time I’ve done it, but it’s the first time he’s given me this much control. His legs are shaking and he’s dug his fists so hard into the couch, he’s punctured the cushions, but still he doesn’t try to rush me.
I keep sucking and teasing, ignoring the ache that blooms in my jaw as a result. It doesn’t matter. I can take more than a little discomfort, especially as Wolf’s expression goes slack and languid. Finally, when time ceases to have meaning and we’re both shaking with need, I move back the smallest bit.
“Wolf.” I flick my tongue against the underside of the head of his cock. “How do you want to finish?”
His mouth works for several moments before words emerge. “Come up here, love. I want to be in that sweet pussy when I come.”
I give him one last long suck, taking his entire length in, and then release him and climb up to straddle his hips. “Like this?”
“Yeah. Like that.”
I sink slowly onto his cock. It feels good enough that I nearly lose myself, but this isn’t about me. Not this time. It’s about him and what he needs. I work myself up and down his length, rolling my hips in a way that makes crimson overtake the blue of his eyes. “Let go, Wolf.” I cup his face with my hands. “I’ve got you.”
He wraps his arms around me and pulls me closer yet. I can’t move well like this, but it doesn’t matter because he’s taking over. He holds me tightly and pumps up into me. I moan. Gods, this feels too good. “Wolf, I—”
He bites me.
I come so hard, I see stars. I’m vaguely aware of him licking his way up my throat and taking my mouth as he follows me over the edge. Each near-violent thrust up into me makes my orgasm surge higher. I’m sobbing against his lips and he’s holding me closer yet. Just when it edges into being too much, he slumps back to the couch, taking me with him. I lay there with my ear against his chest and I can feel his tension easing. I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. Is this what the men feel from me without my shields? It’s not mind-reading. Wolf’s thoughts are his own. But I can almost see his emotions. It’s strange, but not bad. Not bad at all.
I kiss his throat. “Better?”
“Yeah.” He huffs out a laugh. “Yeah, I guess it is.” Wolf squeezes me. “Take care of me anytime you want, love.”
I sense Rylan and Malachi coming closer. They certainly don’t make any sound to give away their presence. I turn my head enough to see them standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Rylan looks conflicted but Malachi’s face is an expressionless mask. “We have a plan.”
Wolf gives me one last squeeze and helps me off him, though he doesn’t let me get far. Instead, he pulls me back down onto his lap and wraps his arms around me. I tentatively send out a tendril of awareness through the bond, acting purely on instinct. He still feels calmer, but the inner turmoil beneath the calm surface is causing ripples. There’s not much I can do about that, not until we see ourselves through this mess.
He closes me out gently, pushing me away as he reinstates his shield. It’s not as impenetrable as a stone wall—I can still get a hint of what he’s feeling beyond it—but he closes me out all the same.
“Sorry,” I murmur. I didn’t mean to invade his privacy. No, that’s not accurate. I did reach out, but I still have hardly any idea of what I’m doing.
“I dropped my shields. It was practically an invitation.” Though there’s still a faint tremor in his tone, he sounds more like his old self.
Malachi and Rylan sink onto the couch across the coffee table from us. Malachi leans forward and sets my makeshift maps on the table. “We have a plan.” He points to the two buildings near the rear of the compound. I’ve labeled them as armory and gym. “We’ll set fire to both of these. We’ll do it during the day, so as to minimize casualties.”
Rylan takes over. “It should draw most of the guards in that direction, both to put out the fire and to search for who started it. I don’t think they’re poorly trained enough to leave their posts completely abandoned, but it should alleviate some of the extra personnel.” He pauses. “Then you come in through the front gate.”
I blink. “That’s bold.”
“It’s the weakest point. More, this conflict is as much about presentation as it is about killing your father. We need witnesses. The courtyard will have to be it.” Malachi drags a hand through his long hair. He points to one of the Xs he made near the front. “We’ll set up Lizzie here. Will she be able to see the courtyard from this location?”
I peer at the map, trying to hold it up to what Grace and I spoke of. I didn’t leave the compound when I lived there, but I spent enough time staring at the surrounding area to know roughly what spot she had indicated. “It’s a long shot.”
“That’s why we have Lizzie.”
It seems impossible, but these three men have already proved themselves to be capable of impossible things. “I think so. We’d have to get him into the right position.” I close my eyes and picture it. If she’s aiming for his throat, he’d have to be facing the gates, but at a slight angle leaning toward the shooter’s position. “That adds to the impossibility factor, because getting him there will give him more of a chance to compel one or all of us.”
Wolf tightens his grip around my waist. “Rylan has an idea, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” Rylan holds my gaze. “You’re going in alone.”
“What?”
“You’re right. Your father’s power is a threat while you get him into position. We can’t guarantee he won’t be able to use it, and if he does, we’re more of a liability than a help.” He nods at Malachi. “Mal will be setting fires. Wolf and I will go in to the east and west and do what damage to the forces we can. Maybe set a few fires ourselves if we can find a way to do it that won’t result in more deaths.” His dark eyes are sympathetic. “You were always going to be the one to kill Cornelius., Mina. It has to be you.”
My chest threatens to close, but I haven’t come this far to fold now. Which sounds great in theory, but the thought of having to face down my father alone makes me want to start running and never stop. I’m not so panicked that I don’t notice the way all three of them tense up in response to my emotions. I have to breathe, to think, to process this. “Just…give me a second.”
They sit silently as I battle through my instinctive denial. When we were initially talking about returning to that place and doing what was necessary to ensure our safety, at least I had the relative comfort of knowing my men would have my back. Walking through the front gates alone, even if the men won’t be too far, feels like too much. I am stronger than I used to be, but I’m nowhere near as strong as my father.
He could kill me.
He’ll certainly try.
I press my hand to my stomach. There’s only one way to make him pause, and it means giving him information I’d do anything to ensure he doesn’t have. It means trusting my men and the plan and myself in a way I don’t know if I’m capable of.
Finally, I drag in a breath. “I don’t know what will happen to his compulsion if he’s injured.” All evidence suggests he needs to concentrate to use his powers, the same as the other bloodline vampires. If his concentration is broken, say by a blood bullet to his throat, the compulsion should break.
Am I willing to put myself under my father’s control for even that long?
I open my eyes. I can’t see Wolf, but Rylan and Malachi look at me solemnly. They know what they’re asking, what we’re risking. If I die, there’s a decent chance it will hurt them, if not kill them. They’re asking a lot, but they’re putting so much faith in me that it staggers me. We’ll only get one shot at this.
We’ll either succeed or we’ll die trying.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.” Malachi’s eyes go soft. “We wouldn’t ask if there was another way.”
“I know.” I run my fingers over Wolf’s bare arm. Really, there’s no point in letting panic win. This is the only way. If I think about it, it was only ever going to end like this, with me facing down my father once and for all. “You’re both right. There is no other way. I’ll do it.”
Wolf finally sets me aside, though he laces his fingers through mine. “You’ll have to take his head, and you have to do it showy enough to scare people into obeying you right off the bat. Lizzie will start the process, but that’s the only way to guarantee that bastard doesn’t come back to haunt us and no one challenges you while you’re still reeling. Then we burn the body.”
I wait for the idea of killing my father to inspire some hesitation or even guilt, but the only thing I feel is grim resolution. It’s him or me. If I want a chance at the future, to give my…child…a future, then he needs to die.
Wolf could probably form his blood into a weapon to do it for him. Rylan could partially shift and tear my father’s head from his shoulders. Malachi could burn him until there’s nothing left to heal.
Theoretically, I’ll be able to do all three with the way we seem to be able to borrow powers from each other. But my control has left something to be desired. I don’t have the training and while sometimes they manifest, they never do it reliably. Whether the pregnancy was to blame or just my lack of experience is up for debate. I wasn’t able to use them even before I found out I was pregnant.
I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way. “I’m going to need a blade,” I finally say. “Thankfully, Grace left behind a whole stack to choose from.”
“Mina.” Malachi watches me closely. “If you don’t want to do this—”
“There’s no other way.” I shake my head. “Let’s not waste time trying to find other options. If this is the plan, we need to perfect it.”
Malachi hesitates, but finally nods. “Let’s go over it step by step.”
