Jasonlovebabyneedyou.
I know, I whispered back, and everything in him echoed out in a blinding wave of release, ricocheting through me, hammering me into blissful oblivion. He spilled across my/his hand and his blood splashed across my/his tongue, and my dick throbbed under his grinding ass. I eased out of we and brought him down slowly, gently, floating him into reality the same way I’d lifted him out of it.
He went limp against me and a laugh sighed out of his throat. “I feel like a wet noodle.”
I snorted out a laugh and nearly lost my grip on his throat. Cut it out.
“Yeah, maybe I will. You sapped my strength with that one.” He mmmd and stretched slowly against me, and went eerily still. “Why is my back wet?”
I withdrew my fangs, swallowed down the rest of his yumminess, and sealed the holes in his neck shut with my tongue. My dick was strangely absent the slight ache it usually developed when I was horny or aroused. Well, shit. Surely to God I hadn’t peed myself in the middle of sex.
Eric wiggled out of my embrace and twisted around, and his eyes widened. “You came.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Eric, I can’t—”
His jaws clicked together, cutting me off in mid-word. “Exhibit A, Adonis. There’s ejaculate all over your stomach. Exhibit B. Your dick is limp.”
I glanced down. Sure enough, thick, white cum was splattered up my abs. It wasn’t Eric’s. His was on my thighs, nowhere near my stomach. “Holy hell. How did that happen?”
“I’m pretty sure you know how,” he said drily. “God, Jase. This is great. Did you feel it? Did it hurt?”
I shook my head slowly. “Don’t remember feeling a goddamn thing.”
His shoulders slumped. “Damn.”
“No, this is good. It proves all my parts are working.”
“We already knew that. Hold on. Let me clean you up.”
I stared at my dick, my mind whirring through all the possibilities. In spite of everything, a small ray of hope poked itself into my heart. I’d had an orgasm. Ok, I hadn’t felt it, but still, it had happened, and if it could happen once, it could happen again and again until maybe, someday in the not so distant future, the feeling would seep back into my limbs and I could function the way Eric needed me to, the way I needed to.
Eric padded into the bedroom, a small smile on his face, a wet washcloth in hand. From your mouth to God’s ear.
I grinned. Oh, yeah. Hopefully, that and time were all it’d take to get me back on my feet again.
Eric cut the lights off and we settled in for the night, him with one hand resting on my lower abs under the covers. His fingers skimmed over the line of hair leading from my bellybutton to my dick, and a delicious, languid heat stole through me.
“We can’t stay here much longer,” he said. “Oriana’s bound to gather her courage soon and risk a foray into the wilderness.”
“Yeah, probably. She seemed pretty determined to keep us.”
His fingers stilled and his hand flattened against my skin. “She wanted you. I got the sense from Fen that she’d wanted you for a long time.”
“Don’t know how she even knew about me. Crookston’s all the way across the state. We only ever came to the twin cities for family, ballgames, maybe a concert here and there.” I shrugged my shoulders against the bed. “I don’t get it. Why did she nab us like that? Why punish you? And why me? I’m not exactly a prime catch.”
The mattress shifted, the bed linens rustled, and Eric’s hand slid up and stroked my cheek. “Yes, you are. You’re a beacon, Jase, really strong in a lot of ways. It’s what drew me to you.”
“I thought you liked my bod.”
“That didn’t hurt.” He leaned over me and pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. “She violated Lanu’s express directives to get to us. There has to be more to this.”
“And you think we should figure out what.”
“I do.”
I sighed and scrubbed a hand over my hair. “Ok. Maybe we can poke around, see what’s what.”
“We’ll start first thing in the morning, but now, I have something else in mind.” His hand drifted across my shoulder and his breath feathered across my neck. “How do you feel about trying to come again?”
“Fan-fucking-tastic.”
He laughed. “I thought you’d feel that way. Maybe if I—”
The bedroom door opened, cutting him off, and we both swiveled toward the light spilling into the room from the brightly lit hallway. A figure stepped into it and my muscles tightened. Trillium stood there dressed in a filmy babydoll, her closed parasol resting on one shoulder, her red hair waving around her pale shoulders.
She poked the parasol’s tip at us. “You. Kyle was supposed to take you back home.”
Uh-oh. Eric scrambled across me out of the bed and stood, one hand held out to her. “Mistress Trillium, the queen sent us here for our protection.”
She sniffed. “That old biddy. Does she know you interrupted my feeding?”
Eric cocked his head. “Er, we did?”
“Yes, you did, and it was rude.” She bent forward and her eyes narrowed to slits, barely visible in the shadows cast across her deathly pale face. “You’re a runt. I do not tolerate runts in my stable, rude, rude, rude. Out with you, now.”
“Mistress Trillium, if we could speak to Kyle…”
She raised the parasol and smacked it into Eric’s shoulder. “Out, damned spot, out.”
I snickered as Eric ducked, trying to elude Trillium’s blows.
“Mistress Trillium, please,” he said.
“Out!” she shrieked, and swung the parasol at his head. He caught it in one hand and slapped the other flat against her chest between her pert breasts.
She froze, and when she spoke, her voice was small and high-pitched. “Papa?”
“No, Mistress,” Eric said gently. “Where’s Kyle?”
“I don’t… Kyle?”
“Yes, Mistress. Is he here now?”
Her mouth opened and closed, and her hand dropped away from the parasol. “My name is Trilly. I like Kyle. He’s very sweet to me, always bringing me new pets, always feeding me.”
“He’s a good favorite.”
Her eyes widened. “He is. How did you know?”
“It’s here in your heart.”
Her hands fluttered around his, held tight against her chest. “You’re holding my heart.”
“In a way. Bonaventure’s coming. Would you like to sit down until he gets here?”
“That would be lovely. Will you hold my heart some more?”
“If you like. Here, let me help you.” He reached behind her and flipped the overhead light on, and eased her down on the bed beside my feet. “There, now. That’s better, isn’t it?”
“Your hand is on my heart.”
His eyes flicked to mine, then back to her. “Is it bothering you?”
“Oh, no. It’s ever so nice.” She sighed gustily and one of her hands fell on my foot, burning me through the covers. Her head turned toward me and she blinked. “I know you.”
I gritted my teeth together through the acidic sting of her touch. Damn me, I wasn’t supposed to be able to feel anything there except Eric. How was she doing that? “We met a couple of days ago.”
“The runty boy holds your heart, too,” she said, and turned back to Eric. “Cook will feed you up, Runty Boy.”
He huffed out a laugh. “I am not a runt.”
Rapid footsteps fell on the carpeted hallway outside our door and Bon burst into the room, panting, his eyes wild and panicked. “Oh, thank God.”
Trillium clapped her hands and smiled. “Bonnie, Bonnie, sweet Bonnie fair. Let’s have a party, shall we?”
Eric turned toward Bon. “What happened?”
Bon shook his head and doubled over, hands on knees, his breath not quite steady. “We were feeding and something knocked me out. Don’t know what. When I woke up, she was gone.”
“Hmm. Where’s Kyle?”
�
��He had some business in town. Should be back soon, and when he gets here, he’s gonna kill me.” Bon shoved himself upright and held a hand out for Trillium. “We need to finish feeding.”
Trillium leaned forward and whispered, “But they were about to have s-e-x. We don’t want to miss it, do we?”
Bon rolled his eyes. “How about you come with me and we’ll have s-e-x?”
She took his hand and slid off the bed. “Such a charming young man you are. Can we bring Runty Boy and his Adonis?”
I glanced sharply at her. “How do you know that name?”
“It’s in your heart, of course,” she said. “Toodles.”
“Sorry,” Bon said, and led her out of the room.
Eric shut the door behind them, flipped off the light, and climbed into bed beside me.
I captured his smaller hand in mine, marveling at its fine-boned construction, at the heat radiating from him, at the jump in my pulse simply from having him near. “That was bizarre.”
“You have no idea.” He straddled me and licked my pulse. “Can we talk about it later? Keeping her from bashing me upside the head wasn’t exactly easy.”
My breath caught in my throat and heat shot through me. “You need more blood.”
“Do you mind?”
“Not one fucking bit.”
I cupped the back of his head and tugged him down, and we spent the rest of the night engaged in something far more pleasant than understanding the ins and outs of conversation with a bat shit crazy vampire.
Chapter Ten
Kyle’s business turned out to be fetching a wheelchair for me. He wheeled it into mine and Eric’s room the next morning, waking us, and flopped into it grinning. “Heard you had some excitement last night, Runty Boy.”
Eric grimaced into my chest. “I hope to God that one doesn’t stick.”
I slid an arm around his shoulders and cuddled him close. “I won’t tell a soul.”
“Yes, you will,” he said, and his voice held laughter and a hint of the love hiding in his heart.
“You could probably bribe me into forgetting.” I tucked a hand behind my head and lifted up, meeting Kyle’s knowing gaze across the room. “Thanks for the chair.”
“Least I could do after losing yours. You two up to helping me with Trillium tonight?”
“Oh, God,” Eric groaned.
I snickered. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. You think maybe Bon could tag along? I know he fed her last night, but my dick isn’t up to snuff yet. Somebody’s bound to want sex while they’re feeding off me.”
“I’ll ask.” Kyle stood and the glow in his bright green eyes intensified. “I’d like a turn with both of you, unless Eric objects.”
My bond with Eric vibrated. I told you so.
I ignored him. “No objections. See you at breakfast?”
“Cook will have it ready soon.”
“Thanks.” He walked out and shut the door behind himself, and I bounced my shoulder under Eric’s head. “It’s no use hiding. Everybody probably knows about last night by now.”
“I wasn’t hiding. I was engaging in a tactical retreat.”
“That’s what they call it now.”
“When did you get to be such a smart ass?” He shook his head, rubbing his fine hair against my chest. “Never mind. Let’s get cleaned up and eat some breakfast. I want to head out tomorrow.”
“We don’t even have any clothes yet.”
“I’ve got it covered.” He pushed himself up and brushed the tip of his nose across mine. “Trust me.”
“I do,” I said softly.
He smiled and kissed my throat, and I savored every inch of his skin caressing mine, memorizing his touch and the quiet contentment radiating out of him as we readied for the day ahead.
After breakfast, Eric called Marco and had him wire money to Donald. Eric deemed it too risky for us to leave Trillium’s house ourselves. Nobody wanted to take a chance that we’d be snatched while we were out and about, so Donald volunteered to pick us up enough clothes to last until we could get out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. How we were going to do that was a mystery, but Eric assured me he had a plan for that, too.
That evening, after a group supper with a handful of other pets, Kyle carried me downstairs into the basement. Eric followed toting my brand spanking new wheelchair. Bon rounded out our ragtag group, as my penis substitute. He’d already given too much blood that week to serve as a donor, but a pet was always up for sex.
The entire basement had been converted into a giant bedroom for Trillium. There were two beds, one a massive King-sized bed set against the wall farthest from the steps, the other a Queen-sized bed occupying the right-hand wall. Neither had a headboard or footboard. Like most other rooms in the house, the furniture was minimal and limited to only what was needed for functionality. Here, that included a beautifully constructed armoire and area rugs strewn across the hardwood floor.
Two doors were set into the walls aside from the one leading upstairs. One was in the left-hand wall. I peeked into it as we passed and discovered a walk-in closet. The shelves were lined with clothes, but I didn’t get a good enough look to figure out who they might belong to. Trillium, probably. Kyle, maybe. The other door was to the right of the King-sized bed’s head and was locked tight. It probably led outside, an escape route in case the upstairs was overrun.
Trillium was lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling. An unfamiliar pet stood next to the bed watching us as we crossed the length of the room. He was easily as tall as me, though more broadly built, and had the tough, rugged looks of a man who didn’t put up with a lot of guff. He nodded to Kyle, then skirted around us and jogged up the steps two at a time.
Kyle laid me down on the bed next to Trillium. “I’ve brought new pets, Mistress.”
She twirled one finger around a red curl. “Mistress isn’t here right now.”
He rounded the bed and sat down beside her. “It’s Eric and Jason.”
“I don’t know them.” Her voice broke on the last word and her lower lip trembled. “There were bad men here, Kyle, bad, bad, bad. Why did you let the bad men in?”
He stroked her hair away from her face. “I didn’t let any bad men in, my sweet. I would never do that to you.”
She sniffed and finally looked at him. “Promise?”
“I swear. Do you want to meet the new pets? The queen sent them especially for you.”
Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Are they bad men?”
“No, sweet. Remember what I said? I would never let bad men around you.”
“The old man did. He was wrong dilly wrong.” She sat up and rested her head on Kyle’s shoulder, and her gaze drifted across the room toward Eric. “Why is Runty Boy here?”
I covered a laugh with one hand as Eric sighed.
“That’s Eric,” Kyle said. “I told you about him.”
“Did you? He looks delicious.”
Eric pushed my wheelchair out of the way and approached the bed slowly. “I would be delighted to serve you, Mistress Trillium.”
“When Cook has fed you up.” She leaned away from Kyle and cocked her head. “You held my heart.”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Undress, then. I wish you to hold it again.” She gasped and clapped her hands. “You know Adonis, do you not?”
Eric’s hazel eyes slid to mine. “Yes, Mistress.”
Trillium followed his gaze. She laughed and pushed Kyle away, then bounced across the bed and straddled my stomach. “Adonis! I’ve been searching for you. Where have you been, you naughty boy?”
Her slight heat burned into my skin through our clothes, stinging as the touch of her hand had last night. I sucked in a breath and tried to wiggle out from under her. Christ, that hurt. Having her hand land on me last night was nothing compared to what she was doing to me now, and I couldn’t get away from her.
She leaned down and smacked butterfly kisses across my face and down my throat, each one a sharper agony tha
n the last. I rolled my head toward Kyle and was not at all comforted by the pleased expression on his face.
Trillium’s mouth landed on my pulse. A moment later, her fangs jabbed into my flesh, and I yelped. “Holy Christ.”
Eric placed a hand on the back of Trillium’s head. “Mistress Trillium.”
She sucked hard on my throat, each pull an agonizing bleed. I wedged a finger between her mouth and my skin, a perfectly useless gesture. She yanked my hand away and sucked harder, and the pain ratcheted into an unbearable agony.
“Mistress Trillium,” Eric snapped, and he wiggled her head. “You’re hurting my favorite.”
Black edged around my vision. She was taking too much, too fast. At the rate she was going, it wouldn’t take her long at all to bleed me dry, and it fucking hurt. My hands fell away from her and thumped limply onto the bed, and the plain, white tiles overhead blurred and slowly dimmed.
“Trilly,” Kyle said gently. “Let Adonis go.”
Her fangs yanked out of my throat. “But he tastes so good.”
“You’re killing him.”
Eric pressed a hand against my throat over the fang punctures and stabbed a glare at Kyle. “You deliberately allowed her to drain him.”
“I was hoping it would force him to react and he’d remember how to use his legs.”
“Don’t ever do that again,” Eric said, and his voice wavered and shook.
“But he tasted so good,” Trillium wailed. She scrambled away from me toward Kyle and crawled into his lap, sobbing her disappointment into the strong column of his throat.
Eric shifted into view, his worried expression as blurry as the ceiling. “Can you hear me, Jase?”
I nodded carefully. The pain of Trillium’s bite faded under Eric’s tender strokes, and eventually my vision cleared and sharpened. “She hurt me. Her touch.”
“It’s her gift,” Kyle said. “She used to be an assassin, a bringer of pain. Sometimes she forgets to rein that part of herself in.”
Eric glanced at Kyle. “I can help, but you have to control her. And don’t fuck with Jason again. I don’t care what your motivations are.”
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