“Then, how do they know?”
Off to Saxon’s right, Demi tapped the side of her nose.
“Ohhhh,” Siya said. “They couldn’t smell her.”
“Exactly,” Saxon said.
“But how do they know what she smells like?” Siya asked.
Saxon curled his lip and looked at his mate. “Your friend asks too many questions.” He pushed himself off the couch. “I’m going to bed. I’m getting a headache.”
“Rude,” Siya muttered as Saxon left the room, and Demi laughed.
“They get items that belong to her,” Demi said. “That’s how they know what she smells like.”
“How do they—”
Demi’s hand flew up. “Don’t ask. You don’t want to know because it’s probably not legal in the eyes of humans.”
Siya pursed her lips together to keep from asking anything else.
Ram’s phone rang, and Siya almost jumped in her seat. She’d forgotten that Ram was still there.
He checked the number on the display and answered with a firm, “Ram.”
Siya wasn’t a shifter or a vampire, but phones weren’t the best at keeping the other side of a conversation quiet. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but it sounded like it was a female.
“Yep. Two minutes. Got it.”
He hit End on his phone, and Siya waited for him to tell her who had called, but he shoved his phone in his pocket and didn’t even look at her.
Two minutes on the dot, he walked to the door. Right before he left the house, he stopped and pointed at Demi. “Watch her. Call your mate if you need help.”
And with that, he was out the door.
“What the hell happened between you two?” Demi asked.
Siya threw up her hands. “I don’t know. Nothing. He was kind of weird at the movie, but I thought it was because he was worried. But he’s been weird all afternoon and evening.” She rolled her eyes. “You would have no idea that he went down on me this morning.”
Demi’s eyebrows almost touched her hairline. “You did not tell me that part.”
“Yeah, well, does it matter?”
“Kind of. He was talking to a woman.”
“I know. I could hear.”
“Could you tell what she said?” Demi asked.
“No.” Siya sat up in her seat. “Could you?”
She didn’t answer.
“Tell me.”
“I hate this. Here, I thought he’d changed.”
“Tell me,” Siya said firmer this time.
“She said she would be outside in two minutes. That’s when he said, ‘Two minutes. Got it.’ ”
As much as she hated it, Siya’s heart sank, and her instinct was to run again. She didn’t need to be with someone who didn’t want her. But she was stuck.
“Go out there and confront him,” Demi said.
“No way.”
“Siya, he had sex with you last night, and now, he’s meeting some girl. You need to let him know it’s not okay to do that in front of you.”
Siya gritted her teeth. “I hate that you’re right.”
Demi smiled reassuringly. “I’m sorry.”
“I know.” Siya pushed herself off the couch.
“I’m going to go in my room, but call, text, whatever if you need me, and I’ll come back out. The others will probably be home soon, so I would go talk to him while you have a little privacy.”
“Thanks.” Siya squared her shoulders as she headed outside.
It was dark, and there were no lights on in front of the bunkhouse. There were some around the main house, and while they were farther away, they gave her enough light to see Ram standing next to a car with a woman.
At first, she thought they were talking, but as her eyes adjusted, she could make out Ram’s hand holding the base of her skull. The lady’s head was tilted to the side, and Ram had his mouth on her neck. The worst of it was, Siya was pretty sure this was the same woman she had seen him with after she tried to kiss him, the night he’d rejected her.
Jealousy and anger coursed through her body like someone had lit all her nerve endings on fire.
Ram’s eyes flew open, and he made eye contact with Siya through the darkness.
The person who, moments ago, hadn’t wanted to confront him now stood her ground and wasn’t going to leave until she told him off.
Except watching him with this woman as he kept his eyes on her was also making her hot. She was mad at herself for feeling any sort of sexual excitement, but she couldn’t help it. Ram did things to her. And even though he seemed aroused as he watched her, he didn’t touch the woman anywhere but her neck and the back of her head.
She had no idea how long she stood there, but eventually, Ram pulled away and licked his lips. He ran his tongue over the lady’s neck once and backed away. He nodded to her, and the woman got in her car and drove away.
As soon as the taillights were a couple hundred yards away, Ram turned back toward Siya and stalked in her direction.
His head was down, his shoulders up, and determination was all over his face. He looked like the predator most humans thought vampires were, and she shivered.
But she didn’t back down.
Not until he reached her anyway. Then, she took several steps back until she hit the house, but Ram kept coming.
“What the fuck are you doing out here?”
She threw her hair over her shoulder. “I came to tell you…”
“Came to tell me what?”
She didn’t know what to say exactly.
He stepped closer and put his hand on her neck. “Did you come to watch me feed while you fucked me with your eyes?”
“No.” She really hadn’t.
He put his mouth to her ear. “Then, why did you?” He kissed her jaw and her neck as he pulled his hand away.
“I don’t…know.”
“Yeah, you do.” She could hear the smile in his voice, and she was shocked when he picked up her hand and put it on his very hard dick. “You want me to fuck you.”
She might have gasped. She might have squeezed his cock. But she most definitely turned her face toward his and kissed him.
Ram growled into her mouth and pushed her arm away. She heard his zipper fall, and then her own pants were attacked. As soon as he got them undone, she was helping him push them off her hips.
She only had one leg out, but it was enough for Ram to lift her up and slam into her. Her head fell back against the house as she cried out at how good he felt. Ram put his mouth on her neck and fucked her with such force that her back was going to hurt tomorrow, but she didn’t care. He felt magnificent inside her. He might have fed from that other woman, but he was inside her, and that fact was hotter than it should have been.
Just when she didn’t think it could get any better, he lifted his head. He met her eyes as he thrust in and out of her. She thought she might come from the eye contact alone, but then he did the unexpected.
He lifted a thumb to his mouth and used a fang to cut himself.
She only had a second to be worried before he shoved the tip of his thumb into her mouth. At the same moment, he bit down on her neck. As he sucked her blood from her neck, the taste of his hit her tongue. It was like an electric current had zapped her. The blood from his thumb traveled straight down to where their bodies were connected, and she exploded into a million pieces.
Twenty-One
Ram withdrew from Siya’s body, admiring how wet his cock was from making her come. He set her gently on her feet and helped her put her pants and underwear back on.
When he stood, he lifted her chin. “You know you can’t come out here alone like that. What if something had happened to you? What if Monica were waiting for you?”
“But you were out here.”
“You didn’t know that. It’s not safe.”
She sighed. “I hate this.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Hate what exactly?”
“I hate being vulnerable. Helpless. I want
to go back to being normal.”
“Sorry, honey, but you’re anything but normal.”
“That’s kind of rude.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s a compliment, not an insult.”
Just then, a set of headlights flashed across the house. Ram grabbed Siya’s hand and pulled her inside. He was pretty sure it was the shifters coming home, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
He watched from the window as several vehicles pulled up and parked. He’d been right. It was the sentinels.
The tension in his shoulders released, and he stepped back to see Siya staring at him.
“What?”
She blinked and shook her head. “Nothing. I just swore I could feel how worried you were.”
“Oh, it’s probably just my blood. It will pass.” He walked around her. “I’m hungry. What about you?” Now that he’d fed from Bianca, he needed food.
“What are you talking about?”
Ram walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Food? Sex always makes me hungry.”
Pressure caused the handle of the door to slip from his fingers, and it closed with Siya standing there.
Ram straightened. “What’s wrong?”
“What did you mean about it being your blood?”
Ram put his hand behind her neck and pulled her close. He pressed his lips to hers. “My blood is in you. You can sense my emotions if they’re high.”
“You’re saying that I really felt your worry?”
“Yes.”
He moved to kiss her again because talking about having his blood in her was making him hot. He liked that he had marked her in that way.
But Siya put her hand on his chest. “Does this mean that you can feel mine?”
“Yes.”
She stepped back. “And let me guess. You can feel the woman’s, too?”
He frowned. “What woman?”
She pointed toward the door. “The woman whose blood you were drinking right outside just a half hour ago.”
“Oh, Bianca? Yes, I suppose.” He shrugged. “We don’t hang out much though.”
Siya crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her biceps, as if to warm herself. The temp had dropped since the sun had gone down, and she had been out there without a coat.
“You okay?” He stepped forward to pull her into his arms, but she stepped back.
“Are you nuts? No, I am not okay. You’re telling me you can feel my emotions through my blood, and vice versa. But I’m not the only one. Bianca, the woman you turned me down for, gets to experience the same thing I do.”
The hurt coming off of Siya was palpable. His chest tightened from her pain.
“I feel like I just found out I’m in a love triangle.” She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Siya, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t reject you for anyone, and you are not in some love triangle. Bianca is—”
Her hand flew up. “Nope. Nope. I’m not going to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Never mind. It’s my problem.”
The sound of voices neared the front door.
“I’m going to bed,” Siya said and bolted for his room before anyone walked in.
Siya punched the pillow under her head and tried to get comfortable, but she was too upset. She had hoped setting up her makeshift bed—again—would release some of her resentment, but it didn’t.
She kept picturing that Bianca woman with Ram. The whole blood-exchange thing sounded romantic and intimate in theory. For a moment, she had let herself feel like she was special. But then it had occurred to her that she wasn’t the only one. And maybe if it hadn’t been the same woman as before, it wouldn’t have hurt so much.
The door to the bedroom opened, so she swiftly turned the other way so as not to see Ram’s face.
“Siya.” The door closed, and he walked into the room. “Why are you on the floor again? You know I want you in my bed.”
She wanted that, too, but it wouldn’t mean anything. It would just be sex. And Siya was not a casual-relationship kind of person. At least, not with Ram. Even though she didn’t know him that well, she knew she didn’t want that. She wanted more.
But she didn’t want him to know how she felt. She didn’t want him to know what she was thinking, which gave her something else to talk about at least.
“You know, I thought you drinking my blood was just a thing where you could tell if I was in danger and so you could find me if I was in trouble. That’s what you told me. But it seems as though you left something out. I feel like you violated my privacy.”
“I’m sorry. As a vampire, it’s something that’s always been natural to me. I took that for granted. I didn’t realize.”
She snorted.
“But I should have explained fully,” he quickly added. “I really am sorry.”
The weirdest emotions were taking place in her. She could tell he really meant it. She felt it, but at the same time, it wasn’t her feelings. It was the oddest thing. “I know you are. I can…tell.”
His sadness in hurting her turned to surprise.
“Isn’t there a way you can block your emotions from me?”
His surprise exploded into full-blown shock. “I am blocking from you,” he practically whispered.
“Are you sure? Because I know how much disbelief you’re feeling right now.”
“You didn’t even drink very much from me.” This time, she could hear the amazement in his voice.
“I don’t know what that means, but can you leave me to sleep?”
“You’re not even tired.”
“But I want to be alone.”
Ram sighed. “Okay, I can do that. But I want to talk again tomorrow.”
“Sure. Whatever.”
Twenty-Two
Raven rolled over in bed and got up on her hands and knees, feeling hot and out of sorts.
The sun was up, but all she knew was that it was day. She had no idea what time it was or how long she’d been in heat.
Chase and Ranulf were both asleep beside her. She had tried to send them away after they helped the neighbor, but then her heat had risen again, and they had been there, and…
She hung her head in defeat.
She wanted them. She wanted them with her. She wanted them to stay. She wanted them to be hers and for her to be theirs. She wanted them to fall for her like she was falling for them.
And didn’t that just put the icing on a very fucked up cake? The last thing she needed was to be in love with two men at the same time. Two men who obviously liked having sex with the same woman, but that didn’t mean they wanted to share a mate.
Raven pushed her butt to her heels and lengthened her torso. Something was up, but she wasn’t sure what. She wasn’t in pain as of yet, but she felt like she was on the precipice of something big.
A beat of sweat rolled down from her hair and over her cheek.
That wasn’t a good sign. She’d been literally hot during her heat, but she’d never sweat like that.
Thinking that it might be a good idea to lie down again, she did just that as the worst pain she had ever felt hit her body.
She cupped her lower belly and yelled so loudly that a dog outside started barking.
Ranulf and Chase both shot up in bed.
“Oh fuck,” Chase said, looking at her and then down to his penis. “I feel like I’m going to explode.”
Ranulf rolled Raven toward him. “We are drowning in your scent over here. I think the end of your heat is near.”
That would explain why she felt the way she did and why she hurt so much. It felt like someone was sitting on her uterus.
Chase moved close behind her. Both of them touching her felt like brands on her body.
“Are you going to make it stop?”
Chase pulled her chin toward him, so he could kiss her. “That’s why we’re here. But are you ready for us?”
She had no idea why they kept ask
ing her that. She’d been having sex with them the whole time. Now was not the time for this kind of questioning. She was hurting.
Ranulf slid his hand in between her legs and cupped her. “This is it, Raven. You have to tell us you’re ready to take this all the way.”
A contraction squeezed her insides, and she gritted her teeth. “If you two don’t get inside me right now, I’m going to kill you both.”
Chase laughed. “I guess we know what she wants.”
She growled back at him. She wasn’t trying to be funny.
Chase kissed her neck as Ranulf pulled her top leg over his hip and pushed two fingers inside her.
She moaned at his touch, but she was surprised that, from behind her, Chase did the same thing as his friend.
They’d never done this with her before, and she would have assumed that it would feel awkward, like too many digits in all different places. But while one pushed against her G-spot, the other fucked her with his fingers.
“Oh my God.” She shivered. “What are you doing?”
“Getting you ready.”
That didn’t make sense. She already knew she was ready. The insides of her thighs were dripping wet because she was ready.
Their touch was amazing, causing her pain to subside momentarily, but she was getting close to orgasming. If she came without them and their seed, she’d only feel worse.
She was about to tell them to stop when they both pulled their hands away at the same time, like it was choreographed or something.
Her abdomen got tight. She knew more pain was coming, and it was going to hurt, but Ranulf looked into her eyes as he gently thrust inside her. His eye contact made her feel special and exposed to him at the same time.
She expected him to roll her onto her back or lie back so she could ride him, but he looked over her shoulder at Chase.
Chase cupped the back of her head and turned her just enough to see his face. He ran his hand down the side of her hip and lifted her leg in the air.
She maybe—probably—should have guessed what was happening next, but she was unprepared.
Chase nudged at her opening and pushed.
She gasped and held her breath as she looked into his eyes. She was soaked, but both males were well-endowed, and as Chase drove home, he stretched her wide.
Forbidden Hunger (Forbidden #8): Siya & Ram Page 10
