Sharing Sirius

by Shona Husk

  His fingers dipped into her core and she swallowed the moan. It wasn’t enough. He dragged her hips closer so the head of his cock nudged against her pussy. She held her breath, waiting for him to press into her core. He didn’t go slowly; he drove in, sheathing himself in her pussy in one stroke. Katya bit her lip to keep from crying out with pleasure. Her legs wrapped around his hips, locking him inside her. His mouth met hers as he caged her body, his hips rocking as he thrust slow and deep into her pussy.

  Their tongues met, testing the other’s fangs. She drew first blood, cutting his lips and enjoying the taste of him spilling on her tongue. He returned in kind, claiming her and taking whatever she’d give him. He gripped her hip with one hand and shifted her position so her clit was touched with each stroke of his cock.

  “Now, bite me now.” His voice was deep and commanding, his breath warm on her skin as if he was going to bite her again.

  She obeyed, biting the other side of his neck, swallowing the blood that trickled from the wound as she came, her pussy clenching around his cock. She didn’t feel his fangs cut her again, only the dizzying rush as she spiraled higher and urged him to go harder and give her everything.

  Beneath her palms, the desk became slick, and it was no longer cold. She let herself go, falling into that perfect moment where etheric was shared and nothing mattered except the release exploding through every nerve. The pounding of his heart drummed in her ears, drowning out all other sound and thought as they moved together. He gave another two thrusts, then groaned as he spilled inside her, his shaft pulsing as he let go of control.

  Boneless after sating her lust, Katya lay back on the desk. That was better than she’d ever imagined. Her breathing was shallow and her heart raced as if it was going to leap out of her chest. Sex without being bitten was only half the experience. Something the humans who knew about Vampires had cottoned onto. Something Owen had gone without because he’d fallen for a man who lacked fangs. If he hadn’t been so old, it wouldn’t have mattered so much.

  The desire evaporated. She looked up at Owen as he gazed down at her. His eyes were regaining some color as the need for blood and to be bitten left him. Her eyes were probably just as pale. For a moment they just stared at each other as the reality sank in. There was no way to undo what they’d done…and she wasn’t sure she wanted to. He was everything she’d wanted, but couldn’t have. Now that she was in his arms, she wasn’t going to give that up.

  A movement in the door way caught her eye. Her eyes widened. Owen followed her gaze and looked over his shoulder to the man in the doorway.

  Jack.

  Chapter Four

  Jack had never been one to hang back and watch, but now he couldn’t move—not even to walk away. He was transfixed and not in the good way that something amazing was happening. It was more of the truck-coming-toward-him-about-to-die way as the world as he knew it ended.

  His stomach hollowed as he watched Katya bite Owen, her legs hooked around his hips as she lay on the desk. He knew from the movements of Owen’s body, the shudder and moan, the pleasure he’d be feeling. He knew because it was usually him causing that pleasure. He swallowed and forced himself to step back. He knew coming downstairs was a mistake, but lying in bed, awake after hearing Owen come home, with just his thoughts and imaginings, had driven him crazy. Crazy was better than this.

  This hurt as if someone had selected a rusted butter knife and was using it to fillet his heart…slowly.

  Katya’s pale gaze met his, her eyes widening. Then Owen glanced over his shoulder, his eyes white with lust, his fangs down. A look that was usually reserved for Jack. Jack flinched as if hit, the pain radiating out and making it impossible to breathe. He spun and walked away, unable to look at what he’d created. He couldn’t do it. He thought he could, but he couldn’t. He thought he loved Owen enough to give him what he needed to survive, but he didn’t. He wanted Owen to himself. He was jealous and selfish. And then he felt worse—if that were possible.

  His steps took him down to the beach, but he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. When his vision blurred, he stopped and sat with his back to the house he’d designed for Owen, facing the waves, knees drawn up to his chest. He swiped at the tears on his cheeks. This was stupid. He hadn’t lost Owen. They hadn’t broken up. Yet his chest felt as though someone had reached in, ripped his heart out and was now waving it in front of him and all he could do was gape at the still-beating muscle like a half-wit.

  The waves hitting the beach echoed in his ears, reminding him the world went on and so would he. And because of him, Owen wouldn’t give up and sink into a bottomless pit of weariness that ended in death. The only reason it had taken so long to affect Owen was because Jack’s dhampir blood had kept it at bay.

  Right now he’d rather be Vampire and be able to sink his teeth into Owen and cause that same reaction, that feeling of ecstasy that Owen gave him. Katya could do something he never could, but the idea of having a mouthful of blood was enough to turn his stomach like the average human’s. And even if he’d been Vampire, that wouldn’t have been enough. Owen needed more. He needed etheric from more than one lover.

  Jack rested his head on his arms.

  Maybe he should’ve just walked in and joined in. Yanked Owen’s jeans down and buried his cock in Owen’s ass. No, Katya and Owen had to form their own connection without him interfering. He had to do as promised and look the other way if he wanted Owen to live. Yet Jack felt like dying.

  Owen looked at Katya. She held her breath as if not sure what to do. Then Owen glanced back at the door, but Jack was gone.

  “Damn it.” He slapped the desk next to Katya.

  The thrill of his first bite in decades dissolved as the brutal reality rose like the sun, intent on killing those who drank blood. The bites on his neck throbbed in time with his pulse, tingling with the remnants of desire. It had been a long time since anyone had broken the skin and made him cry out in absolute pleasure. The climax had rippled through every nerve. But all that meant nothing now.

  Was another few hundred years of life worth the look of devastation on Jack’s face?

  He eased himself from Katya’s body, missing her warmth already. He’d wanted her since he’d first met her, but that wasn’t why he’d hired her. She was bloody good at her job. Now he’d managed to screw his PA on his desk and wound his lover. Lying down and dying of boredom would have been better and less complicated.

  Except he didn’t really believe his own lie. Not with the taste of Katya’s blood on his tongue and the exchanging of etheric with her that came with sex. The tiniest of changes was already happening in his body, as if something he’d forgotten about was reawakening. Somehow he’d find a way to fix this.

  They should’ve all discussed this like adults first, but he hadn’t wanted to listen to Jack and he didn’t want to admit that he, after all this time, was finally succumbing to the ennui that killed any Vampire who thought to cheat death for too long. Owen almost smiled. If this worked out, death would have to wait awhile longer.

  But right now he had no idea what to do and the guilt was heavy in his heart.

  He closed his fly. Katya wisely said nothing as she straightened her clothes.

  “Leave me.” It was less of a command and more of a plea. He needed to think.

  “Owen…” Her hand brushed his arm.

  He didn’t respond, just stared out the window. He heard her walk across the carpet and then he was alone, surrounded by the house that Jack had designed and all the memories that had followed. Jack was everything he’d ever wanted. Jack knew him better than anyone. Every room in the house was testament to that and every room held its own memories.

  On the walls of his office were the gold and platinum records Lucinda’s Lover had earned. He looked at his hands. Everything he loved was slipping through his fingers.

  He wanted…no, he needed Jack and Katya in his life, as much as he hated admitting that weakness. The trouble was that w
hile Jack and Katya had spoken about him, as if he were a child who didn’t know what was good for him, he doubted they had looked beyond the immediate problem. Neither of them would’ve considered the fallout and the what-happens-next they were all now facing with trepidation.

  And neither of them had ever seen an old one before. It had been a few centuries since Owen had seen one. Eternally young and surrounded by lovers, their reliance on blood meant they rarely went out except at night—if they went out at all.

  There was no way he was going to be one of those Vampires who had everyone dancing around him. That idea had never appealed, plus those Vampires tended to keep a harem of humans. He still wanted to be himself, living his life his way. The corner of his lips twitched as he worked out a solution that wouldn’t leave everyone on edge…and should keep everyone happy, assuming Jack was willing to listen and take some of his own medicine.

  * * * * *

  Katya’s heeled sandals sank into the sand, so she stepped out of them and walked barefoot. The sand was warm against her skin, but the sun was too bright and she could feel her skin tingling in the UV light. She wasn’t going to burst into flames or turn to ash, but her skin would burn—faster than a human’s—as the ultraviolet radiation rippled through and damaged her closely wrapped etheric body. A tiny DNA difference caused Vampirism by binding the etheric tightly to the physical body. It meant any damage done to one body showed up in the other. In humans, the effect was much less as the two bodies weren’t so enmeshed—it also meant humans didn’t heal very well.

  She squinted against the sun. This was why she drank chokolat and not blood.

  Her mouth still tasted like Owen. Her pussy ached and she had no panties on. But what had been beyond words at the time had disintegrated into something that left a bitter taste on her tongue. Seeing Jack in the doorway had made her regret ever agreeing to this craziness. Destroying what Jack and Owen had was never part of the plan. She hoped it wasn’t too late.

  She followed the footprints, then saw Jack sitting in the sun, his eyes on the water, but she knew he wasn’t seeing anything except Owen and her in the study. She risked sitting next to him. He didn’t look at her. He didn’t get the luxury of ignoring her now that she was part of his scheme to save Owen. And she didn’t want to be looking over her shoulder, wondering when the dhampir was going to take his revenge.

  Katya raised her hand to shield her eyes. He didn’t move. With the sun already burning her fair skin, she broke the silence first. “I’m not the bad guy.”

  “I know. I am.” His gaze slid to her. His eyes dark and wounded. “You’re getting sunburned.”

  “Blood and sun.” A Vampire’s worst enemy. But Jack, he loved the sun and it never caused him any ill effect. He had a tan, something no Vampire would ever get. “You never have that problem.”

  “I would love to have that problem. You have no idea what I would give—”

  “It wouldn’t have been enough and you know it.” Her usually pale skin was pink and prickly. In another few minutes she’d be red and then she’d be blistering. “His blood was empty.” That wasn’t quite right, but given Jack wouldn’t be able to taste the difference between Owen’s blood and her blood, the finer points didn’t matter. “You did the right thing.” She put her hand on his back and, when he didn’t shrug her off, her head on his shoulder.

  “Which explains while I feel crappy.”

  “As you told me, it’s not about you. It’s about making sure Owen lives.”

  Jack nodded. “I know. I just need time to get over it.”

  Katya looked at him for a moment, not sure what to say. She knew he should’ve been there instead of stepping aside, but she wasn’t entirely sure how these things worked. And if he was struggling now, maybe being there wouldn’t have been any better—for any of them. With Jack there, would Owen have stepped over the line?

  “I thought you were.” Warmth seeped from his skin. He smelled like sun and surf and she could imagine the taste of salt spray on his lips.

  His shoulder lifted as he sighed. “So did I. I should’ve stayed in bed, but curiosity got the better of me.” He offered her his wrist. “Want to fix yourself?”

  “As much as I’d like a proper taste of you, more blood isn’t what I need.” No, she needed shade and chokolat so the etheric could repair her skin without making her more sensitive to UV. There was something in fresh blood that made Vampires extra sensitive to sunlight. Nature’s way of making sure Vampires didn’t overdo it.

  “When you thought I was human, you weren’t interested in tasting me.”

  She had been. Jack was attractive, but she’d always viewed him as off limits. The same way Owen had always been. “That’s not what changed. I saw how much Owen meant to you and what you were willing to risk. You’re braver than I could ever be.”

  “Not really, you jumped in knowing he’d never be totally yours.”

  She smiled and felt the tightness in her cheeks from the sunburn. She must look awful. “Maybe not, but I also have you.”

  Jack looked at her. She was risking sitting in the sun to talk to him and trying to make him feel less like week-old crud. He couldn’t have found a better woman to fill Owen’s need. He remembered the feel of her mouth on his, the touch of her fangs on his lip. Owen had put a very tempting image in his head, of him between both Vampires, their fangs in his skin.

  His cock hardened as it did every time he let himself imagine it. Owen and Katya were the only two people who knew his secret. But just because Owen had taken Katya as a lover didn’t give him the right to have her too. He hadn’t suggested this to bring her into his bed, even if the idea had appeal—more than it should.

  He drew back so she was forced to sit up instead of leaning on him. “What are you saying?”

  “I don’t know, maybe we could be more than friends…in time.” Her blue eyes searched his face for something he wasn’t in a position to offer.

  He cupped her cheek, torn between wanting to kiss her and wanting to be left alone. The latter won simply because he couldn’t see how kissing her would make him feel any better. If he kissed her, he’d be cheating. Yet he wanted to drag her onto the sand and take what Owen had already taken just to level the field. Have her legs wrapped around his hips as he fucked her and she bit him. He knew that any pleasure he got from her would be trampled when he had to look Owen in the eye.

  That was the difference. He knew and had condoned it. But he wasn’t doing a very good job of looking the other way right now. It was more of a wallow in self-pity after seeing something he shouldn’t have.

  If he did anything with Katya, it would be a whole new kettle of worms he’d be sticking his hand into. He didn’t like the mess he’d already made, so he lied.

  “I’m not into women.” He tried to sound convincing.

  He liked women, they had curves and were soft where men were hard. It was just that the last one had tried to kill him when she’d realized he was dhampir. In hindsight, he realized she’d probably known and had been hunting his kind, but he’d been young enough and dumb enough to fall into her trap. She hadn’t lived long enough for him to find out the truth. Now he was very, very careful who found out what he was and even more careful about who bit him. Any Vampire who tasted him would know immediately he wasn’t human.

  “Oh.” She drew her hand back as if she were imposing on him.

  The look in her eyes made him wish he’d never opened his mouth. He missed her touch. They were on the same side, even though at the moment he couldn’t help but see her as the opposition. He swallowed down the bitterness that built every time he remembered the sight of her on Owen’s desk.

  “So when I kissed you?”

  She’d noticed his reaction—had she wanted him then? He’d been aware of her attraction to Owen for a long time, but when she’d thought him human her gaze had always skimmed past him. It hadn’t bothered him, but it did now. If he could lie about what he liked, so could she. But if all she want
ed was to taste dhampir, she’d have taken up his offer to heal herself.

  “It was the fangs. Yours are so cute.” His tongue touched his lip where she’d cut him even though the wound had healed immediately. He wanted to feel her bite again and test how far her attraction went. “Go inside. I’m not good company.”

  And he didn’t know how long his good behavior would last. Then she would know that he was a liar, a jealous liar.

  “Come with me.”

  “In a bit.” He wasn’t quite ready to face Owen, and yet he knew he must. Did Owen feel guilty or glad to be alive? More importantly, was it enough for him to continue living or had it pushed him to deciding to die? Either way, Jack had to live with the consequences.

  The only person who seemed to be doing okay was Katya.

  “Now, Jack. Owen needs to see you, to know that you are okay.” She stood and held out her hand, expecting him to take it.

  “I’m not okay.” Even though he wanted to be. This had been so much easier in his mind than it was in reality.

  “Hiding won’t help anyone, least of all you.”

  He looked up at her, the sunlight making her hair look like white silk. She was so beautiful, even sunburned.

  “Do you want me to come up in blisters?”

  He didn’t want to do anything to hurt her. He was half in love with her and that was why seeing Owen and her together had cut deep. They had something he wasn’t part of. Now he knew how Katya had felt whenever she’d seen him and Owen together, hungering after something that couldn’t be. He swallowed his pride and got up.

  Today couldn’t get any worse.

  Chapter Five

  Jack shook the sand off his jeans and went inside. He let Katya go ahead and disappear into the kitchen. Before this, the three of them in the house had never felt odd. Now everything was off-center and unbalanced.