Luna's Lovers [Beyond the Veil 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Honor James

  “Just being cautious,” a deep voice said.

  Byrne lowered his arms and shot, whoever it was, a glare. “Ms. Black, meet your roommates,” he said, shutting the door so she finally got a look at them. “Meet Kristjan and Volker,” he indicated them, the dark-haired one and then the one with whiter than white hair, respectively.

  Luna looked at the men and couldn’t move. She felt as if she were frozen in place. Her hair, what little escaped her bun, began to float around her head. Her spine began to tingle and burn and it felt as if every molecule in her body was spinning out of control. This was more than a static charge buildup, and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that. However the only thing that she could truly think was mine. Nothing else. She ignored the feeling of the burning of her spine and instead looked at the men as if they were a tasty cake at an anorexic’s birthday party.

  “Ma’am,” Volker nodded to her. His attention shifted to Byrne. “The security system is up and running and we just got the perimeter up as well. We’re going to run tests on it in a moment if you want to stick around.”

  “Works for me. Ms. Black, why don’t you get settled in? There are four bedrooms upstairs and the lads took two of the guestrooms so you can have the master or the other guestroom if you want, lady’s choice. And check the kitchen too, let me know if there’s anything specific you want or need food or drink wise. We’ll be bringing in all food for you and the lads, so make a list as you discover stuff during the week, someone will grab it on the way to do the shopping.”

  “Luna,” she said as if in a daze. “My name is Luna, not Ms. Black. Actually I don’t know if that is really my name, it’s the one that I chose for myself when I woke up in the hospital after a coma. And oh my god why am I just blurting this out?” she asked with wide eyes and then slapped her hands over her mouth to stop herself from saying anything else. What in the name of the Goddess was wrong with her? She never lost control like that, ever!

  All three men were just staring at her, eyes wide and expressions ranging from slightly stunned to all out shock. Kristjan seemed to recover first and shrugged. “Maybe it’s because of our angelic faces and vibes.” Volker turned a glower his way. “Okay, so that’s really just me,” he grinned at her.

  Luna snorted and shook her head. After a moment she removed her hand from her mouth and said. “You are a really beautiful man, but I wouldn’t call you angelic.” Crap on a cracker! She did it again. Once more she slapped her hands over her mouth and shook her head. “I can’t stay here. Not when I keep blurting out the first thing that comes to mind. I think that they would be offended if they knew I wanted to see them nake…” She trailed off and smooshed her hands tighter over her mouth. Oh God, she was in so much trouble here.

  Byrne threw his head back and laughed, hard. Bending over he ended up holding his gut with one arm and bracing the other to a wall. Volker and Kristjan looked anything but offended as they eyed her up, top to bottom and more than once. “I think I like her,” Volker announced, with a hint of a smile. “This is going to be one of our better assignments, I think.”

  “Only ’cause she’s dissing me,” Kristjan said, not that he sounded all that upset, he looked pretty damn amused actually.

  Luna shook her head and kicked Byrne. Literally. With her eyes wide she shook her head and peeled her hands from her mouth. “I so can’t stay here. They affect me.” In a way that she didn’t understand, at all. She did not understand feeling this way, the spikes of electricity that raced up and down her spine, the wet panties, no she couldn’t stay there. Oh heavens she couldn’t stay there, could she?

  Byrne was still snickering as he wiped a hand over his face. “Sorry, Ms. Black, but you’re staying put. They can tolerate you and obviously you have zero problems with saying what you mean around them. Kinda thought you wouldn’t.” He grinned at her. Now, though, it held a definite mischievous look to it. “I’ll let you get settled in while I chat with the lads. So, get a move on, Ms. Black. Welcome to your home away from home for the next while.”

  Luna watched him as he walked away and she was left with these two men that deeply affected her. Turning back she knew that her cheeks were red and looked at the men. Dear Goddess they were beautiful. Her mouth literally watered as she looked at them and she could swear that the air around her crackled and sparked, but that wasn’t possible. “Crap,” she muttered. She picked up her bag and looked. “Where do I go?” she asked quietly. Crapballs, she had no choice. Darn it all to heck and back again. “To put my things and get settled. Which room?” she asked the three men that were standing there chatting as if she had already left the room.

  They both pointed to their left. “Stairs, turn left at the top. The other guest room and main bedroom are on that end. Take the main bedroom,” Kristjan told her.

  “It’s the only bedroom with the bathroom attached to it,” Volker added. “And it’s got a not have bad view of the back yard. We took the other two guest rooms because one’s at the front of the house and one’s at the back. Both with doors right at the top of the stairs, strategically sound place for us to be.”

  “Gotcha.” She turned and all but ran up the steps, if she stayed another moment she might blurt out something stupid like, oh hey, you should sleep with me. That would be strategically sound. She rolled her eyes at herself as she began to unpack her things.

  Chapter Four

  “How long do you figure she’s planning on staying up there?”

  Shooting him a look Volker shrugged. “Best bet would be until either we’re asleep or sometime next century.”

  “Definitely not what I expected,” Kristjan grinned slowly.

  “No, definitely not,” he murmured. Turning the steaks he eased one toward the cooler part of the grill. “You should go and see if she wants to eat. At least find out how she likes her meat so that we can cook her steak properly.”

  “Right, I can do that.” Kristjan jumped up from his chair and head out of the kitchen. Whistling softly under his breath he bounded up the steps two and three at a time. Moving to the closed door of the master bedroom her knocked.

  A moment later, when there was no answer, he knocked again. “Luna, how do you like your steak? We can cook it now and leave it for you if you’re not interesting in joining us for dinner. But it tastes better when it’s freshly grilled I have to say.”

  Because she was an idiot Luna opened the door in baggy sweats and a T-shirt that had most obviously seen far better days. With her hair pulled back in a ponytail she looked first at her eye level, which was a broad and delicious muscular chest. Gulping she looked up into a pair of silver eyes that seemed to swirl with passion and long dark hair that just begged her to touch it. “Goodness your hair looks so soft,” she said even as her stupid traitorous hand moved to touch it. Realizing what she was doing as she stroked his hair she pulled back. “Crap. Sorry.” She seemed to say that a lot with these men. “Uhm, sorry. Steak? I like it medium well. I can come down. I don’t think you will hurt me, I’m more worried about me hurting you,” she admitted darkly, not realizing that she didn’t shock him when she touched his beautiful skin.

  He looked her up and down and then again, but much slower, so slowly it was like a caress to her skin. “Well, whatever you are planning, I’m in.” He grinned. Then he leaned in closer and tipped his head, his hair swinging over his shoulder. “You can touch you know. I won’t take your hand off or anything. That would be highly counterproductive.”

  She did it again, reaching up she let her fingers slide through his hair and moved in just a small step closer. “How is it that your hair is so soft? It’s like strands of silk and mine is so unruly and unmanageable that I just twist it back in a bun? Even when I cut the stupid stuff it grows back faster and faster,” she grumbled.

  “We don’t use the hair products that humans do, it’s too harsh for our hair. The pH balance is different between the races and humans. We have some you can try when you next wash your hair, it may work
better for you. Some humans actually have found that it is better for their hair to use the products we create in our worlds.”

  “I wouldn’t let that get around too much. Us humans have a tendency to go after things that would make our lives easier or better. I’ve never understood it, but then again I’m the girl without a past who created her own name so I’m allowed to have altered viewpoints, right?” She stepped back and closed her hands so that she would stop petting him. “I think you said something about food?” She was so totally screwed it wasn’t even funny and she knew it. These men were beautiful and amazing men and she couldn’t seem to keep her damn hands to herself with them at all.

  “Yes, there are steaks and some other things as well. Volker is cooking so it’s best to alert him early to what you do and don’t like. He can be a little temperamental about such things.” Kristjan rolled his eyes. “Damn Vhampires are so testy,” he muttered. Stepping back he waved her toward the stairs.

  “I love food. Any and every kind of food. There isn’t a food on Earth that I don’t like. It’s like I’m searching for some kind of food that has eluded me since I woke up. I know, I talk a lot. I blame it on the fact that no one really wants to talk to me because I’m always trying to work out the puzzle that is their ego, but you guys don’t seem to have it. With the two of you I want to talk just to talk and oh god I need to shut up.” Luna was going a mile a minute as they walked down. What in the name of the Goddess was wrong with her?

  “Then you won’t have any problem with our very unusual meal plans around here. We tend to eat when we are hungry, or I do. Volker only eats a couple times a week, it’s a Vhampire thing. They drink blood daily but they can only eat now and again or their systems revolt.” They entered the kitchen and he waved her to a stool at the large island. “Medium rare for the lady. Did you want a drink, Luna? We have all the beverages you could dream up. Apparently they wanted us to have options.”

  “Water. I would love to have coffee but I’ve found that when I drink it I become really hyper and that’s just not good for me at all.” She looked to Volker and asked, “You have to drink blood every day? Do you have it in bags or do you take it from Kristjan?” Oh god, what if they were lovers? Before she could stop herself she asked them that very question. “Are the two of you lovers? Is that why you seem to work so perfectly together and seem to fit so well?”

  Both of them both just stared at her and then Kristjan burst out laughing. It had a slightly hysterical edge to it and soon he was bent over holding his middle. Then he just vanished from view, likely having collapsed to the floor given the wheezing snort he had going.

  “No, we are not lovers,” Volker told her. Moving to the fridge he collected a bottle of water and stepped over Kristjan to deliver it to her. “I take blood from bags, it’s in the drawers at the bottom of the fridge right now. So if you have an aversion to it, avoid going into them.”

  “Right. Keep from the blood.” She looked up at the man and found herself leaning into him as well. What in the bloody blue blazes was wrong with her? As he stood close to her she lifted her hand and touched his hair too, her fingers lightly touching his cheek. “You aren’t cold. I was always told that the Vhampires were super cold.” That’s when it hit her, she hadn’t shocked either of them. “Whoa, that’s wickedly cool. I didn’t shock the two of you. How? Why? Oh maybe I’m finally getting over whatever it is that had me shocking people. That’s fan-freaking-tastic!”

  “Or you just can’t shock us,” he told her. “And why would I be cold? I have a beating heart and blood in my veins, like everyone else. That produces heat just like it would in your body.” Stepping back he looked down to the floor. “Pick yourself up and quit making such a fool of yourself, Kristjan.”

  She frowned and shook her head. Moving along with Volker she said, “No I like my way better. I’m so tired of not being able to touch anyone. Do you know how freaking lonely that is? I already am an outcast because I have no past but then you add on that I can’t touch anyone because of shocking anyone that comes too close to me? I hate it.” She made a confession she had never made aloud, not even to herself.

  “Maybe you just hadn’t found the right ones to touch,” Kristjan said from behind her. He was back on his feet, wiping at his face and sucking in air. “We’ll have to test it when someone next comes around and see if it’s just us who are lucky.”

  “I seriously doubt it. I’m sure that I would have found someone before now, right? I mean I’ve been shocking people for years.” She rolled her eyes and then sighed. “And if it is just the two of you? Then what? After you are done with this protection bit you both go back to wherever in the world you came from and I’m stuck once more alone and shocking people.” She hated to sound pitiful and downtrodden, but it was hard. She had been given a glimpse of being able to touch someone skin to skin and not electrocuting them, only to have it taken away as fast. Just her luck.

  “You could always come along,” Volker said. Going to the grill he flipped the steaks on it again and looked to her. “We’ve got fairly mundane lives so there wouldn’t be any danger involved. And really, you can work from anywhere as long as you have the proper equipment.”

  “I could but I couldn’t do that. I mean I don’t know you. We just met. I’m human, the two of you seriously are so not human. In a good way. But I know that you guys have some kind of fate or something.” She listened to the local gossip, that much was true. “So having me around would just really be bad all around. How about we just get me safe?”

  “We can work on that first and then we can talk about the rest. Grab a seat at the table, the steaks are ready,” he said. Turning, he picked up plates and began to fill them with the food he had next to him and before him.

  “Yeah.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. Taking a seat, however, she let them feed her. Smiling from time to time she began to ask them about themselves. “So how long have the two of you known each other? Worked together and all that fun stuff? And if you aren’t lovers, are you related or just friends or just really work well together?”

  “Ahnjel, Vhampire, no relation,” Kristjan said, pointing to himself and then Volker. “We’ve run into one another over the years and fought in the war together. Then when the races enforced the peace and reorganized we stuck around to help out. We’ve known one another for a good long time, easily forty, maybe fifty years or so.”

  “Wow, you guys look really good for your age,” Luna said with a grin. “Like crazy good,” she teased. “I hope that I look that good when I’m ancient like the two of you are.” The twitching of her lips showed her teasing them, the way she all but danced in her seat told them how much she was enjoying it too.

  “Oh, that isn’t our age, just how long we’ve known one another,” Volker said. He’d finished his very bloody steak, no vegetables for the Vhampire apparently, and was reclined back in his chair. “We’re just a little bit older than that.”

  Kristjan snorted. “Yeah, just a bit older,” he muttered with a snicker.

  “So you are both like seriously ancient?” Luna forked another mouthful of veggies in and chewed before speaking again. “So you haven’t turned to dust, that’s a good thing but what about action? Are you both now at an age where you no longer have, well, desires?” Okay that was very blunt, and she knew the second she said it she shouldn’t have but her mouth had a way of running away from her. A lot.

  Kristjan was frowning at her.

  “She means sexual urges,” Volker said, his tone dry and his face had an unamused look to it. “We’re still sexually active, or at least I am. I personally have no interest in finding out about Kristjan’s sex life. Unlike humans, we don’t get less interested in sex as we age, we just get better.”

  That had Luna grinning. “Touché. That was a very good one.” Okay so now she was blushing, a lot, and weirdly enough feeling sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to know about their conquests, not now and not ever. “So, sports. Do you guys l
ike sports?” Sports? Good lord was she an idiot? What in the name of all that was holy was wrong with her? Sports, really?

  “Rugby,” they both said. “Most of what you humans term sports are not anything close to what we would call a sport. Rugby though is a good competition and very enjoyable to watch,” Kristjan said. “Are you all right, Luna? You look a little upset.”

  “Oh I’m just ducky thanks,” Luna said, a little too chipper. “How about I do dishes since you cooked for me? I think that’s a good trade off, don’t you?” she asked quickly. “And yes, rugby is a wonderful sport. A little on the brutal side but I guess that it’s better than hockey. Those men seriously live dangerous lives.” A hockey game wasn’t a game until someone lost a tooth or bled, a lot, on the ice.

  “Hockey is not a sport,” Volker shook his head and made a face. “They wear protective gear. Unless you are unprotected and throwing yourself around bodily in an effort to win the game it’s not a sport. Thus why rugby is the only true sport your people have.”

  “Right, of course we have to live dangerously in order to have a sport.” She shook her head at him and asked them both. “And I take it that you both play rugby, often?” She could see it in their looks that they did, the shared smiles. Oh boy she was seriously in over her head. When they smiled it made her insides melt. Damn.

  “On occasion.” He nodded. “We don’t have as many opportunities as we would like but we do have a league that we play in when we are in town. We actually had a bout set for this weekend but since we’re keeping an eye on you we won’t be attending. Which is fine, they have enough players to get by without us.”

  “Are you sure? Can’t you just set an alarm or something and leave me here? I hate that you are putting your lives on hold for me. It’s not right,” she said with a frown. “Byrne didn’t have the right to ask you two to stop living while we figured out who wanted me dead.”