by Reese Rivers
Luca’s head drops again and his shoulders sag without answering. He stands there in front of his sire unable to answer for himself so I do it for him.
“Aye then, he dinnae want her to see. He dinnae want Eden to see the demon at work,” I say quietly.
Bas’s gaze tracks between me and Luca before his mouth tightens and he sighs deeply.
“So her opinion of you was worth more than her life? They were going to burn her as a witch! I don’t even know how they would get that idea in the first place. Someone tell me who this Bridgette is?”
My whole body tenses when I remember Eden saying something about that a few days ago. I curse under my breath at not following up but the blame is not only mine so I bite back at him.
“Och, aye now, how would anyone get the idea in their heads that the woman is a witch when Your Grace only ever refers to her as such in front of all who can easily hear? Tell me, your Grace, have you ever used her proper name? It’s a bloody wonder that there hasn’t been a fecking mob at our doors sooner!”
I see the guilt flash in his eyes and the twitch of his jaw as my point hits home.
“Bridgette is our fault, aye. She was one of the maids who we had a…dalliance with, ye ken. She turned jealous and spiteful when Eden became ours. Eden told us of the woman’s accusation but we didn’t put much stock in it being an issue. Aye, we should have known a woman scorned is a dangerous, devious foe.”
Sebastian scrubs at his face and then rolls his head to crack his neck.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice the mate marks you left on her body.” He tells Cade and me with a frustrated sigh. “Why would you do that to her? What happens if someday you find your fated mates? You know how that will destroy her!”
Cade shakes his head. “It won’t matter. We will reject it. Eden is and always will be the only mate for us. We love her and we will chase her through time if that’s what we need to do to keep her.”
Bas shakes his head. “You are fools.”
“Better to be fools in love than a cold bastard alone.” Cade shoots back, causing me to cringe slightly. He always has been the hotter head of the two of us.
I wait for Sebastian to go at him but he just sighs again and turns his gaze to settle on Luca once more, looking him up and down before pulling the dagger he wears at his hip.
Cade and I tense as he walks the few feet between them but we don’t interfere. We trust our Alpha to always do what’s best for our pack.
Luca tenses as well but keeps his head down, waiting for whatever punishment his sire is about to enact.
I swallow my relief when Bas only slices through the bindings covering Luca’s chest and back and peels off the dried-on pads. All of his wounds are closed except for the largest gash that looks raw and angry against his ribs. Our brother was truly depleted for the wound to have not closed completely by now. Bas braces a hand on Luca’s shoulder and raises his wrist to the man’s mouth.
“Replenish yourself. Based on the state of the wi…Eden, when I left her, you will need it to survive the next few days.”
Luca’s head shoots up and he immediately starts shaking his head. “I couldn’t, I don’t deserve to be...”
Cade cuts him off. “Aye, you bloody well do and will! Stop being so fucking daft! The lass saw all that you are and still almost died to save you. She needs you, so drink up. I’m afeared even Finn and my prowess won’t be enough to satisfy the beast raging between her legs right now but we will endeavor to do our very best by her.” He ends with a cheeky grin and eyebrow wag.
Bas just keeps a steady gaze with him. “Go to her. She wants you, blood-drunk or not.”
I pour myself another drink to fortify myself for what’s to come and watch as the gaping injury in Luca’s side stitches itself back together as he drinks from Bas’s wrist. When he steps back and his eyes return from red to grey he shoots both Cade and me a grateful look.
“Thank you, brothers. I feared you would not forgive me so easily for putting her in danger.”
“Yeah, yeah, wash that dried blood off quickly and join us. Your punishment awaits. By the time Eden’s finished with you, your cock will be begging for reprieve.” I tell him with a grin.
He nods softly with the smallest of bemused smiles on his face and with one more heartfelt look in Sebastian’s direction leaves the room. As Cade and I make to go as well, I look to Bas over my shoulder.
“You know you could join us, right? She would welcome you in her bed just as much as she welcomes us.”
A sardonic smile crosses his face as he shakes his head. “No. If I ever end up in her bed it will be when she is clearheaded and of sound mind. Besides, I believe I have a village to raze this night.”
I pause and consider that for a moment and then finally nod. “Be sure to send our regards to Bridgette when you find her.”
The cold smile that lifts his lips has me shivering slightly as I leave but I’m in full agreement with his plans. I know he will compel the truth from the villagers first, in order to spare the innocents, before he metes out the retribution those that would kill and harm ours based on rumor and superstitions deserve. As he said earlier, so be it. I’m a firm believer in the “You reap what you sow” mindset.
Cade is waiting for me outside her door when I arrive. I step around the tub and buckets of steaming water filling the hall. We will bring it all in after we see her first. At my nod, he pushes open the door and her sweet moans and gasps reach our ears.
She’s splayed out on the bed completely naked with her back arched as her fingers work between her legs in a frantic motion. I can’t help the choked groan I let out at the tempting site and my cock surges painfully against my breeches. Her upper body snaps up into a seated position as her eyes zero in on us.
“Thank fuck! I’ve got a WAP in need of all the hard cocks. Get the fuck over here and fill me up, boys!” She calls to us in desperation.
I don’t know what a WAP is but we definitely have the hard cocks handled so we both dive towards her.
Eden
I wake with a wince and groan at the various pains all over my body but the largest ache by far is in between my legs. If a pussy could cry, mine would be bawling. I shift slightly, causing me to gasp at the pain and then choke on the tainted sex aroma that fills the room. What the hell did I do? The question prompts a slide show of one obscenely indecent image after another to flash through my mind. Cade and Finn both inside me at the same time with Luca’s cock deep in my throat. Luca buried in me from behind as I rode Cade’s face and sucked Finn off. On and on it goes in every possible position and combination. I whimper at the memory of the sounds I made, the grunting like an animal and begging always for more. I have no idea how long it went on but I think it must have been days. Jesus, I think I put every porn star on earth in my time to shame with my performances. And those men! Those fucking sex-god men just kept at it with hard cocks on demand.
I turn my head slowly to the right and my eyebrows shoot up when I see Cade and Finn tangled up together with Finn as the big spoon. I bite my lip to keep in the laugh but quickly stop when a flash of throbbing tenderness tells me my lips are also swollen and sore from the amount of action they got. I shift my head to the left to see Luca splayed out on his back with one arm tossed over his eyes as if even in sleep he can’t face one more orgasm and I’m like, same bae, same. I turn back to stare up at the ceiling and try and swallow some of the embarrassment down as my cheeks flame but I’m so fucking dry I feel my throat close up. I have vague memories of the wolves feeding me nibbles of food in between rounds of sex but I can’t remember the last time I drank anything. As much as I know it’s going to hurt, I need to get out of this bed and find some water.
I press my swollen lips together to stifle the groans as I shimmy straight down to the end of the bed and climb over the footrest to the floor. I stand perfectly still in a hunched crouch as I wait for the pain in my pussy to subside enough to stand fully. I look around the room and s
ee the tub in one corner so move across to it. The water is cool to the touch but that only helps as I hold a saturated cloth gently against my lady bits and try to clean up without moaning in pain.
I drop the cloth back into the tub and go in search of water I can drink but all I find is a carafe of red wine with only an inch left in it. I need water or I might not make it. I can’t stand the thought of getting fully dressed as my overly sensitive skin is screaming at me to not do it but I can’t just walk around naked in my search for water either. As gently as I can I slide my bathrobe on and tie it tight to keep everything covered and slip out of the room.
I think it’s morning but I can’t be sure with all the time I’ve lost during the orgy marathon party I just hosted so I head to the morning room in hopes of finding water, water, water, and then coffee and some food. As I descend the stairs I offer up my soul to Satan for an ice pack and a bottle of Advil. Sorry, Jesus, I don’t think you taking the wheel will cut it on this one.
My nose picks up the smell of food and coffee the closer I get to the morning room so I try and pick up the pace but the Notorious V.A.G. screams “Fuck no, bitch!” so I just whine a little with each step.
My eyes land on the table full of everything I need right now so I’m halfway across the room before I realize Sebastian is sitting at the head of the table in his usual place. I come screeching to a stop and imagine I look like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. My eyes go big and wide when they meet his and I remember…and then they slam closed and squeeze tight as waves of well-deserved embarrassment and shame wash over me. I can’t believe I said, did…fuck, kill me now!
“I imagine you are in great need of sustenance…Eden. Please, join me and eat and drink your fill.”
I crack one eye open with an eyebrow raised at not only his kind tone but also him using my name. I don’t think he’s ever said it before. My desperation for water outweighs my shame right now so I move to my seat and gingerly lower my abused body down to it, trying to suppress the ah-ah-ah-ah that is stuttering through my head. I finally settle on the hard surface and slide a fake tight smile on my face for him before snatching the filled water glass in front of my plate and guzzling it until every drop is gone. I set it down and search the table for a jug to refill it but instead swipe the one Sebastian holds out to me and chug it as well. A huge sigh of relief gushes out of me as I feel the water doing its magic all through my body. I still hurt like a motherfucker but at least I’m less foggy. When I motion to hand the empty glass back to him, I have to avert my eyes from his when I see just how amused he is by my state. I know words will need to be spoken about what happened between us but I just can’t right yet so I reach for food instead to delay it.
“You know, a few drops of Luca’s blood would heal your…pains.” He tells me in such a casual way that he could have been telling me the weather forecast. I have just shoveled a forkful of eggs into my mouth so I almost choke on them as I frantically shake my head. There’s no way in hell I would survive another marathon of whatever Luca’s blood did to me the first time. The asshole covers his mouth to hide what I know is a smirk and shakes his head.
“No, no, not to drink. Applied directly to the…area…will result in rapid healing. It won’t intoxicate you the way drinking it does.”
I groan out a laugh of disbelief at how awkward as fuck this is.
“Is that what we’re calling it? Intoxication? Because I’m pretty sure it was more like being possessed by a sexual deviant demon and a priest should have been called to exorcise it!” I tell him with an eye roll.
I clear my throat to get on with the killing the elephant in the room bit but Finn, Cade, and Luca all walk in, causing my face to turn bright red and my mouth to clamp shut. I keep my eyes down on my plate as each one of them comes to me and kisses me on the top of my head before taking their seats.
Silence fills the room as I keep staring down not quite brave enough to look at their faces until Luca clears his throat and speaks.
“Eden, I hope you will be able to forgive me someday, both for what happened in the village and after with our blood exchange. I…”
I cut him off completely when I throw a hand up in a stop motion. I breathe in and out a few times and then take a gulp of my coffee as everyone at the table waits to see how I’m going to react to him.
Once I’ve drunk half of the coffee in my cup I slowly lower my hand and turn to look down the table at him. His expression is filled with misery and his eyes are pleading. I’m barely dealing with my own issues right now and I don’t have the bandwidth to navigate all his dark, self-torture-filled baggage so I lay it out as clear as I can.
“Luca, you will never apologize to me again unless I tell you that you need to. If you can’t believe my words, if you don’t believe my actions and if what we did together over the last…” I turn to Cade with an eyebrow raised and the cheeky arsehole holds up three fingers with a cocky grin. I close my eyes briefly at the sheer madness of fucking for three days straight and then look back to Luca and continue. “Three days meant nothing to you then you are a fool that can’t be helped. Build a goddamn bridge and get…the…fuck…over…it! Once I recover, you are welcome in my bed as much as you are already in my heart.”
I lift my eyebrows, daring him to dismiss my words but thankfully I seem to have gotten through to him because he only nods slowly with the faintest smile tugging on his lips.
I go back to ignoring them all and lift my cup to finish the coffee in it.
“Well now, that couldn’t be clearer, however, if you could, Eden, clarify what exactly is a WAP?” Cade asks with that same cocky smile plastered across his face.
I have to clamp my lips together to stop from spraying the table with my coffee at the unexpected question. I close my eyes again as the memories assault me of me standing on the bed chanting out WAP to an impromptu cheerleading routine with the three of them waving their dicks at me as they cheered me on. Fuck…my…life so hard right now.
I don’t even bother opening my eyes as I grind out, “Worship and prayer, boys. Worship and prayer.”
“Hmmm, well we certainly worshipped you but I’m not sure about the prayer part.”
“Just fucking go with it, ok?” I groan out - hoping we can let it go for now. Finn rubs my back from beside me and takes pity on me by changing the subject.
“Did you manage to sort out the village?”
My head pops back up and my eyes move between him and Sebastian with a frown and see the grim look cross the Alpha vamp’s face as he nods.
“I did. The estate manager has already put out the word that we are accepting new tenants.”
A shiver of unease slithers into my belly as I ask, “You did what now?”
His gaze lands on mine and I swallow at the amped-up ice in his eyes. “Let’s just say I evicted most of the village to make room for more loyal vassals.”
I gape at him and then jerk my head. “Ha! Do you think I’m stupid? I know evicted is code for slaughtered. There were women and children in that village!”
His eyes narrow at my unsaid accusation.
“Do you think me a monster? To be clear, I am, but not that kind of one. I compelled all of them and separated the innocent from the guilty. I don’t know how things work in your time but here there are consequences to trying to murder people without trial. It’s bad enough what they planned to do to you but Luca is well known to all there. He’s known to be my family and under my protection. That they dared to lay hands on him, stab him seventeen times, no, that could not be left unpunished. They did all of that based on the word of a spiteful little wench and never once brought their concerns to me. No, that could not stand.”
I glare at him, wanting to dispute that those men didn’t deserve to die but I can’t. I saw the damage they did to Luca. They stabbed him in the back over and over again and never once tried to justify their reasoning.
“What did you do to Bridgette?”
“I fired
her, in an eternal sort of way. Save your sympathies, she was compelled to answer for stirring that pot and confessed it was for jealousy and envy not from any true belief that you were a witch.”
The memory of him compelling me to answer his questions in my room flashes through my mind causing me to hit him with my own icy tone.
“Neat trick, that compelling thing. You sure like to use it an awful lot. Tell me, Sebastian, did you get all the answers you were hoping for with me or would you like to ask a few more?”
His eyes shift away from mine and I swear I see a hint of guilt in them. His tone softens with his reply. “No, no need. I know all I need to in regards to you. I’m…I’m sorry I doubted you.”
I stare at him for a few more beats and then turn away and push back my chair. I can’t hide the wince from the pain as I push to my feet and turn toward the other three.
“I need to go decontaminate my room from the funky sex smell. Then I need a bath and to sleep. You should all know that the pleasure palace is closed for business, the gates are pulled and the door is barred for at least a week. Keep your man parts to yourselves until I say otherwise and the first one of you that brings up anything that happened over the last three days will be cock blocked for double that amount of time.”
I’m sure my little speech would have more punch if I could look any of them in the eye but I’m clinging to the last scrap of my dignity here so it will have to do. I grab my empty water cup and scan the footmen standing against the walls until I spot one holding a jug and wave him over. He starts in surprise but scurries toward me. When he’s close enough that I can see there’s water in the jug I try and take it from him which results in a slight tug-a-war until I growl at him and he releases it. I square my shoulders and try to sail out of the room with a straight back and head held high but it hurts too fucking much and I end up limping toward the door instead with pathetic little whimpers escaping my mouth with each step. I’ve almost made it out when the Alpha-hole calls out to me.
