by Heather Long
“Hey!” Zhan pressed a hand to Tarus’ chest. “He’d be the third lover. I’m the second lover.”
Tarus smirked. Zhan was changing his tune when there was a possible way in. That didn’t mean he didn’t have a plan up his sleeve to separate her at some point. Tarus would just have to watch his brother very closely.
“For some reason, she won’t be able to pass your own energy back to you, but another Keeper could level her down, for lack of a better term.” Tarus shrugged. If Seth bought this, he was going to have to get creative with how this was supposed to work. It was hard to see one's own aura, but this idea was crazy enough, it might just work.
“If this other human died, how do you know that another lover will right the balance of energy?”
Shit. Tarus hadn’t gotten that far yet. Instead of messing around with Zhan when he first came out to the living room, he should have been preparing a story.
“Toward the end, he invited a Keeper to see if there was anything that could be done, and when the second Keeper touched the human, some of the energy transferred to that Keeper. It bought days maybe. The human still died in the end, but it was expedited because their bodies are not made for that much energy.”
It was a shit story, not even Zhan thought it was believable from his defeated posture. If this didn’t work, Tarus would find another way. He had to.
Seth linked his fingers behind his head and paced the floor. He was clearly upset, but Tarus pushed away any guilt that assaulted him. Even Zhan, the more emotional of the two, was stoic, waiting to see what Seth would decide.
Eventually he lowered his hands and faced the brothers. “No, I don’t think I can do this. If it’s the cost of her life on the line, I won’t take any chances at shortening her days. She’s already had too much time taken. And even if I believed what you’re saying, which I don’t,” he pinned both brothers with a flinty glare, “what you’re proposing might not even work. So no, I won’t take any unnecessary steps with her life.”
Fuck, that was backfiring, and Tarus didn’t know how to bring it back around.
“So you’re going to make her spend her last days celibate?” Zhan was aghast.
No, Seth didn’t like the idea of that any more than they did from the pained expression twisting his features. “If it allows her to live even a day longer, then it’s worth it.”
14
You cannot make someone ‘see reason.’ You can argue. You can fight. You can beg. But some assholes will only see what they want to see. Except me. What I wanted to see was more of Seth, and what I wanted to feel was more sex. But noooooo. Whatever his brothers said to him threatened to turn him from lover to monk. I. Hate. Angels. - Dahlia
Zhan
Seth had lost his mind. He planned to let Dahlia remain celibate? To never touch her? Sure, Tarus’ tale was bullshit. Never in his existence had they encountered anything like what they’d seen with Dahlia. No, despite what he’d said, Zhan wouldn’t let them visit if he got away with her. Neither of them. Dahlia was his, and Seth just thought he’d do nothing?
His beast flexed against him. Against the injustice of punishing Dahlia that way. It was bad enough Seth thought he could keep them away especially after he freaked out. “You don’t know the first thing about humans,” Zhan cut into the profound silence blanketing them. Tarus was probably still in shock.
As plans went, Tarus’ hadn’t been horrible. Yet, this was not the result Zhan craved. Every time he was near Dahlia, he wanted more. It was like seeing the sun or feeling the air after an eternity cloistered in darkness. Justice straightened his shoulders and glared at his brother. Judgment didn’t hesitate to go on guard, and next to him, Tarus groaned.
“Don’t,” he advised, but Justice had no interest in furthering this discussion.
“Your judgment is flawed,” Justice informed his brother. “You would be consigning her to suffer when she doesn’t deserve that.”
“No,” Judgment dared him. “I simply refuse to hand her over to the flawed hands that damned her in the first place. You failed to protect her.”
As badly as he itched to summon his sword, Justice refrained. Attacking his brother would be a petty result no matter how satisfying knocking that smug look off his face would be. He’d stolen Dahlia away and didn’t deserve her, not if he planned to deny that sensual creature even one-nth of the pleasure she deserved.
“So instead, you punish her,” Justice countered, every muscle tensed as he held himself back from lunging.
“Well,” Tarus suggested almost laconically. “If he wants to punish her, I will more than gladly take on the task.” In between one word and the next, Punishment unfolded next to them. The three of them together for the first time in countless centuries. “That is, after all, my purpose.” His voice darkened, the threat of his beast no longer a promise, but a reality. His pristine wings glowed, as did his eyes. The air around him crackled with barely leashed grace.
“Leave,” Judgment told them. “I have heard your argument,” he said to Justice, then flicked a look to Punishment. “And I deny you both. She has suffered enough.”
Rage seethed through Justice. “You do not get to just keep her. She gave herself to me.”
“To us,” Punishment reminded him, but Justice ignored him. It had been too long since anything had truly been his, if there ever had been. Dahlia was his, and he wasn’t leaving without her.
If that meant fighting Judgment, then so be it.
He took one step forward, then the door behind Judgment opened to reveal a rumpled Dahlia, still wrapped only in a sheet that did very little to hide the luscious curves he’d barely been able to savor in the bedroom. Those sleepy, dark eyes locked on his for a split-second before Judgment’s wings cut off their view of her.
“What are you three arguing about?” The husky nature of her voice laced a grip around his spine, and he could almost picture the way her fingers would grip him as he took her, if he allowed her any freedom at all. No, that first time it might be safer if he bound her, wrapping every luscious curve in silken ropes until perfectly posed for him to caress, fondle, and pleasure.
His cock stiffened, even as his wings puffed. The burn of his palm to hold the sword eased. Now he merely burned to hold her.
“They simply wish me to relinquish you, Dahlia,” Judgment told her without an ounce of sympathy for the real injustice he served his brothers. “I will not.”
“He’s also not planning on fucking you again, Beauty,” Punishment informed her as he folded his arms. Whether to deliver the unjust penalty calmly or to fight his own need to take her, Justice couldn’t be sure. Punishment usually reserved his actions until Justice had spoken and Judgment rendered the verdict.
In this case, Judgment’s verdict was the problem, and Justice would never hand her over.
“Excuse me?” Dahlia’s pleasure-drenched voice climbed a half-octave. The rustle of the sheet betrayed her movement, and Judgment’s sudden stiffening told Justice she was right behind him, perhaps even touching his wings.
Aggravation raced through his blood.
“I’m pretty sure I didn’t stutter, Beauty,” Punishment continued. “Judgment has decided that since he poured his power into you and it could speed the burning of your fragile wick too soon, he won’t touch you again rather than let us help.”
Judgment glared at him, but didn’t move as Dahlia slid around him, feathering her hand over the bone of his wing to come to rest against the bare skin of his shoulder. It took everything in Justice to not groan aloud. The need to feel those hands on him rushed through him.
When he’d had her before, she hadn’t touched him. Instead, he’d trapped her hands and restrained her. Fuck, the sight she’d made all tied up for him. It hadn’t even been his best work. Now, all he wanted was to feel her running her fingers across his bare skin, his wings, his cock…
“Seth?” Dahlia focused on Judgment, and their brother’s expression shifted. The flare of silver and white t
hreading his aura increased subtly, but Justice had noticed it earlier. Now he couldn’t look away. Particularly with the smooth lines of Dahlia’s bared back emphasized by how she held the sheet to her chest. It just barely covered her ass, and if it dipped even a quarter of inch lower, he wouldn’t complain.
For a moment, the flash of her flushed breasts filled his mind’s eye. The perfect, pert little nipples like dark raspberries just waiting for him to pinch and suck.
“Dahlia.” Seth sighed as Judgment faded, and his whole focus drifted to her. “I promise it will be alright. We just need them to go now.”
Head tilted, Dahlia planted her free hand against the center of Seth’s chest. “To be clear, when you say everything will be alright, are you indicating that they’re lying, or that you’ve made some other sweeping decision regarding how I’m spending my last few weeks?”
Pain punched Zhan in the stomach, knocking Justice back a few feet. Few weeks? Such a miniscule scrap of time with her? Would Seth truly fight them the entire time to keep her to himself?
Of course, he would. So would Zhan for that matter. The reality of their precarious position sank into his bones.
“I will keep you safe,” Seth answered. Then he cupped his hand against the back of her head and drew her to him. Loathing and envy swarmed Zhan as she pressed against Seth’s chest. The dark of her hair spectacular against the sunset shade of Seth’s silver-threaded wings. Particularly when he brought one forward to wrap around her and shield her from their sight.
Silver-threaded?
Screw it, Seth wouldn’t listen to them. “Dahlia, sweet,” Zhan said, pulling her soft gaze to him. It took a great deal not to groan when she licked her lips as she studied him.
“Yes, Zhan?”
Yes. Zhan.
She could just keep saying that.
“These are your last weeks,” he said instead, ignoring how both Seth and now Tarus stiffened. Punishment faded as their beasts did. Never had they stepped back so easily. Not that he wanted to pay attention to those aspects. Not when Dahlia stood in front of him.
Twisting, Dahlia leaned back against Seth, but faced Zhan. An improvement by any measure. “I know,” she said simply. “As much as I like to laugh about it, I know I don’t have that long. These arguments aren’t helping.”
No. They wouldn’t. Risking it, Zhan took a step forward. “I’m sorry I failed you before. Will you let me make it up to you now?”
Seth growled.
Zhan didn’t even flick a look at him.
“How?” Dahlia asked. “Planning to tie me up again?”
Fuck. Yes. “If you like,” was all he said. “Anything you like, really. I just…” Would he truly confess this? Justice stiffened inside of him, but Zhan kept his gaze fixed on Dahlia’s dark pools. He’d long since fallen, falling a second time couldn’t hurt nearly as much as not. Not when she was waiting for him. “I want to be near you. I want to make you laugh. I want to give you pleasure.” He swallowed the sudden lump of emotion. Each breath he took burned in his lungs. “I want you.”
Her soft sigh promised his words reached her, but he couldn’t declare victory, not with Seth standing so stiffly, his arms around her and his wings closing to keep her hidden, even if she peeked over the ridge to look at Zhan.
“Anything, huh?”
Exhaling slowly, he nodded once and ignored Tarus’ sharp look. “Yes. Anything.”
“If what I wanted was for you to go so Seth and I could have all the sex I’ve been wanting, what then?”
That image was enough to make his balls ache. “Then I’m afraid even if I went, you would still be disappointed. Seth just told us he would rather not touch you than share you. Even if sharing you meant we could prolong your few weeks.”
“That is not what I said,” Seth gritted out. “I said I didn’t want to shorten what time she has left. You aren’t even certain it would sustain her. You just want to take what is mine.”
“What is mine,” Zhan countered. “And it matters little whether it’s the precious few weeks you have left.” Even if the time seemed to dwindle with every word of their argument. “Or extending it a few extra days if Seth plans to hoard you to himself and deny you the pleasure you so richly deserve.”
Tarus might have exhaled the word ‘nice’ or Zhan may have imagined it, but he didn’t have to check to feel the holes Seth tried to drill through him with his glare.
Dahlia studied Zhan for a long moment, then tipped her head back to look up at Seth. “He’s telling me the truth, isn’t he?”
Smug as fuck, Zhan finally looked at his brother. Deny it if you dare.
Aggrieved, Seth said, “It may be that I cannot take my pleasure with you, but only give you pleasure,” he said. “I will not risk what time we have left.”
“But having them here will give me the rest of the time you promised me?”
Justice began to smile as Judgment squirmed.
“They…seem to think so.” He exhaled. “But it may also just be that they want to take you from me.”
Zhan was almost swaying in their direction, the draw to Dahlia demanding his nearness. When she glanced from Seth back to them, Tarus puffed up a little.
“If I ask for your promise, will you give it?”
“Yes,” Zhan and Tarus exhaled almost at the same time, but Seth remained quiet until she elbowed him gently. His ‘yes’ came out far more grumbling.
“Though, Beauty, if you ask me to promise to stay away from you,” Tarus admitted. “I can’t do that. I don’t want to do that.”
Nor did Zhan, but he bided his time. Justice saw the wedge he’d created for them, a sliver of an opening. Persuasive arguments were his forte. All he needed was the time with her. The chance…
“Then will you all three promise no more Dahlia-napping?”
Zhan hesitated.
“Because if I have to have all of you close to get laid, then a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.” The boldness in her voice gave way to something tremulous. “If this is all I have left, I want it to count.” She turned her face toward Seth. “And I want time with you.”
Beast roaring that she hadn’t made the claim to him, Zhan swallowed the reaction. They had to earn it. This was how they did it—by giving her what she wanted. “And we give you that,” Zhan said silkily. “Time to enjoy our brother…and us.”
The silence elongated as Seth’s jaw worked, but no sound came out.
“I give you my word,” Zhan said, making an oath. “I will not steal you from them, not as long as I can help sustain your life.” Since they didn’t really need to do that, the oath stood on shaky ground. But it would give him time to lure her to him of her own volition.
To win his argument.
“And my word,” Tarus said abruptly. “I will not allow either of them to break their oaths. We will keep you safe, Beauty.”
That left the final decision with Seth. Would Judgment continue his fight with them or let them in?
He cupped Dahlia’s cheek in his hand, but didn’t say a damn thing. Just stared deep into her eyes. Zhan was starting to think that he’d forgotten about them, when he sighed and stepped back. As if it literally pained Seth to speak the words, one hand rubbed his chest while the other scratched the back of his head.
“Before I give my decision, I want to know what you think you’re going to do if I say yes.”
Dahlia’s head tipped back as she grinned up at Judgment. Zhan was surprised she hadn’t jumped all over his back when he said it was his decision, but the way she was looking at him, she knew he wasn’t going to deny her anything she desired.
Especially if it was Seth’s cock, Zhan thought snidely.
“Well.” Tarus stepped forward, swiping a hand over his chest down to his abdomen. Everyone caught the fevered desire on Dahlia’s face as she tracked the movement.
He had almost believed he’d imagined the way she reacted to them when she was tied up so prettily in their playroom. Now, Zhan w
as satisfied that they affected her as much as she did him.
“We’ll stay here,” Tarus continued. “No need for us to split up. Zhan and I can take our old rooms for now.” His smile was that of a man that knew he was about to win.
“Hold up a second.” Dahlia held up one hand, firmly holding the sheet up with her other. “You’re telling me there are more bedrooms here? Where? Behind a secret door?”
Never one to miss on an opportunity, Zhan stepped forward and took her hand in his, holding it higher than necessary so she would step closer to him. “Actually, yes. Back when we lived in Domum, we all lived together. There’s a separate wing that holds both of our rooms. Someone,” Zhan glared at Seth, “covered it up with a bookcase. In fact, built an entire study to block off that part of the house.”
“Huh.” She looked down, biting her bottom lip.
Seth just stared toward the ceiling, seeming to ask for deliverance.
“Come, I’ll show you.” He tugged her behind him as he headed toward the library. The strong smell of parchment reached him before he passed through the door. Looking around at the meticulously neat books filling the wall to wall bookcases made Zhan shake his head. The books were organized by color, then size, and probably time period as well. Seth’s OCD knew no bounds. There were so many books, they were double stacked and crammed on the shelves, and even then, there was a method to Seth’s madness.
Only the scrolls were sprawled haphazardly across the desks and in baskets. Not a lot of ways to make those visually appealing.
“This one.” He stopped in front of the case that covered the hallway and studied it. He’d only been here once after he fell. Somehow, he’d forgotten to take his favorite velvet ropes. In the beginning, he’d needed them to bring a positive form of emotion back into his life. At the time, his grace beat at him, justice demanded to be carried out. Shibari was a way to regain a small bit of control.
He had popped back into his bedroom, and when he tried to creep closer to the main living areas to see if Seth was home, he found the back of the bookcase instead.
