Chapter 8
EIGHT
ROMAN
The conversation I had with Auri won’t stop bouncing around inside my head.
I spent the night tossing and turning, growling in frustration and tearing my sheets unintentionally when my claws came out.
Normally I might have shifted fully and let the simplicity of my wolf form chase away the thoughts long enough for me to get some sleep, but I was afraid that if I let my wolf take over, he’d head straight for Loch’s room.
When I can’t take the silence in my room anymore and it’s crystal fucking clear that sleep isn’t going to happen, I fling my shredded blanket off, pull on a pair of sweats, and stalk out into the hallway without bothering to grab a shirt.
I didn’t look at the clock, but it’s obviously the middle of the night.
You wouldn’t be able to tell at a glance since there are no windows in the long, winding hallways, but the silence is a dead giveaway.
My wolf nudges me to the left, in the direction of Loch’s bedroom, but I growl under my breath again and go right.
The kitchen and dining room are down this way, so I guess that’s where I’m going.
A late-night cup of tea might not be the worst idea.
I can hear Jareth in my head telling me that the right cup of tea can solve just about anything.
A smile twitches on my lips and a warm feeling spreads through me.
Could Auri be right? Could there be some complicated way to make this work where Loch and I are fated mates and Jareth is part of us simply because we all choose it?
I sputter a laugh. Loch’s so damn jealous of our friendship that he’s tried to attack me twice since he’s been here, and I don’t feel that much better about him and Jareth together.
How could sharing him possibly work? And that’s before even getting into the issue of what Jare will think of the whole thing.
I have a feeling he might whip out the dusty book of curses he keeps on the bottom shelf if I suggest a three-way relationship.
My chest aches with undeniable longing though, and a wolfish whine vibrates in my throat.
I step into the dining room, and I’m surprised to find Cas sitting at the head of the table, sipping blood from a wineglass and reading a book. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn’t smell him.
“You know we have a library down the hall with big, comfy couches to read on, right?” I tease.
He looks up from his book and sighs dramatically.
“I spilled a tiny drop of blood on a book last week and now Rune has banned me from the library.” He rolls his eyes.
I grunt in understanding, then blurt out the only question I actually care about right now. “How’d the hunt go?”
Cas laughs, shakes his head, then takes another sip of his drink.
“If I didn’t know you weren’t the type, Wolfie, I’d think you’d pawned Loch off on me as a practical joke.
He found a willing snack, but as soon as he sank his teeth in, he got skittish and wouldn’t feed.
Then I brought him back here and warmed up some of my reserves for him.
He took one sip and spat it out on the floor.
” Cas shakes his head again. “I’m not sure what I can do for him if he refuses to feed. ”
“I knew he was refusing to eat, but I figured he was either struggling to adjust or being dramatic about the breakup. Jare didn’t mention him having an actual aversion to it when he fed him.”
“Well then Jare might need to sign up to be his full-time donor, because the kid is refusing blood from any other source.”
“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath and turn on my heel to walk right back out of the dining room.
If this is a ploy to get Jareth’s sympathy or attention, I’m not about to let that fly.
If Loch thinks he can pout his way into getting Jare to bleed for him on a regular basis, I’m going to set him straight.
I march down the hallway, straight to his room.
His scent gets stronger as I approach, and by the time I reach his door, I’m breathing deeply so I can fill my lungs and coat my tongue with his sweet, drugging scent.
My cock stirs and heat blooms in my gut, and for a few seconds after I knock, I forget that I’m here to get to the bottom of his feeding issue, not for a middle-of-the-night roll in the sack.
A needy, wolfish whine builds in my throat, but I swallow it down right as the door swings open.
Lochlan looks like he was sleeping, or at least trying to, dressed in a pair of silky looking black pants and a tank top that shows off his ivory skin and the toned muscles of his arms. His eyes widen, then he rakes his gaze over my body, reminding me that the way I’m dressed, he probably thinks I am here to proposition him.
His attention lingers for several long seconds on my bare chest, and even though I don’t have the telepathic ability that vampires do, I swear I can hear every thought in his head, hear him craving to run his tongue and maybe his teeth against the swell of my pecs and my stiff nipples, and scolding himself for thinking it.
“We need to talk,” I say firmly, taking a step forward.
He hesitates before he finally steps aside and lets me in. I have to bite back another groan as soon as I walk in. He’s only been here a few hours, but his scent is permeating every inch of the enclosed space already, making it feel like I’m bathing in it when he closes the door behind us.
“I’d tell you to take a seat, but all I have is a bed.” He chuckles.
“We can get you a couch,” I offer reflexively, my wolf immediately perking up at the thought of there being something simple we can do for our mate to make him happy.
“I don’t know how long I’m staying.” He said something similar earlier, and honestly, the best thing for all of us would probably be for him to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, but I growl under my breath.
“You can’t feed yourself,” I point out. “Where exactly do you plan to go? Back to Jareth’s?
Is that what this is all about? You think if you refuse any blood but his that he’ll be forced to feed you?
To take care of you? That maybe pity will soften him, and he’ll realize he’s still in love with you? ”
Loch flinches, then scowls at me. “That’s not—”
“Do you know what it costs him to feed you?” I know it’s not my place, but Jareth is too giving sometimes. If Lochlan loves him like he says he does, he wouldn’t want to hurt him like this.
“I didn’t take that much last time. I would never hurt him.”
“That’s not what I meant.” I rake my fingers through my hair and take a step back, pulling myself together.
I can’t tell him. It’s not my place. “If you go to him to feed again, ask him about the night we met. If you still want to sink your fangs into him after he tells you, then you don’t love him. ”
Lochlan looks stunned, like I just slapped him across the face. I’m half expecting him to try to pry more information out of me, but he just nods. Maybe my judgment is clouded from his pheromones in my nose or the lack of sleep, but I don’t think he’s refusing to feed just to manipulate Jare.
I sigh and go over to sit on the end of his bed.
LOCHLAN
I can see the throb of Roman’s pulse in his throat from halfway across the room. He smells spicy and wild in that way that keeps making my dick hard, but he also smells warm, and I can’t seem to keep my fangs from lengthening.
He holds my gaze for a few seconds, then tilts his head to one side in a silent offer. I groan under my breath and take a small step forward.
“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me,” I confess.
“I’m guessing you already talked to Cas since you know I didn’t feed tonight.
” I can’t tear my eyes off of the steady throb of his pulse.
“I tried. I swear I did. The guy smelled okay, but as soon as his blood touched my tongue, it made me sick to my stomach. Same with the stuff Cas tried to feed me when we got back.”
“It wasn’t like that when you fed from Jareth?” he asks gruffly.
I shake my head, taking another step closer without meaning to. “No, he tasted like honey and lavender.” My mouth waters at the memory of how his blood tasted pooling on my tongue and how warm it felt filling my belly.
My cock throbs and I run my tongue absently over the sharp point of one of my fangs.
I look down and realize I’m already standing between Roman’s spread thighs as he sits with his hands braced behind him on the bed, making no effort to protect himself from me.
I can hear the thunder of his blood and feel the heat radiating off his skin in the small amount of space between us.
“Maybe you’re a picky eater, or maybe you only have a taste for blood with a little extra kick. I imagine human blood doesn’t hit quite the same,” he says.
I make a noise in my throat that might be agreement—I’m not exactly sure because I was only half listening, too focused on the fantasy playing in my mind of bending down and sinking my teeth into his jugular.
“Enough foreplay. Take a bite and see if my blood does it for you.” There’s an interesting mixture of knowing and resignation in his voice, like he already has the answer and he doesn’t like it.
He doesn’t wait for me to make a move, he just grabs a fistful of my hair and tugs me into the crook of his neck.
My body spasms and a moan slips out, my cock throbbing violently, spilling precum inside my silk pajama bottoms while my mouth fills with saliva and venom.
I drag my nose along the tendons on the side of his throat, breathing him in, getting lost in his delicious cinnamon scent before instinct takes over and I sink my teeth in.
His flesh is so soft, like biting into a perfectly ripe peach.
Roman groans, and the sound is more pleasure than pain. His hot, salty blood spills over my tongue, and unlike with the man outside the bar, I don’t gag. My eyes roll back and I scramble to straddle him, drinking deeply, filling my belly and moaning with every gulp.
“That’s right, take what you need,” he murmurs, stroking my hair now instead of the rough tugs he gave before. “I’ll take care of you.” That last part is whispered, but there’s no way I wouldn’t hear it.
Keeping Cassius’s lessons from earlier in mind, I pay attention to the tempo of Roman’s pulse, and once it starts to slow, I force my fangs to retract so I won’t take too much.
Blood trickles from the pinpoint punctures before I run my tongue over them one more time to ensure they’ll close, although I’m sure that’s less of a concern with a wolf shifter than a human.
I feel dizzy, like I just woke up from sleepwalking and can’t understand where I am.
I’m not entirely sure how I ended up here, straddling Roman’s lap, one of his arms wrapped around me, both of our cocks visibly hard between us.
I can’t just smell him, I can taste him.
I can feel his blood coursing through me.
Mine.
I don’t understand the thought, and before I can try to, his mouth is on mine, hard and hungry. His tongue thrusts between my lips, and I don’t fight him. I don’t think I could even if my life depended on it. My fingers tangle in his mane of hair and I moan into his mouth.
A second later, Roman rears back, breaking the kiss, and as soon as he does, I realize what we just did.
Fuck.
“I have to go,” he mutters, and then he vanishes from beneath me. I tumble face first onto the bed with a surprised sound, and then I’m just alone. Again. With the taste of Roman’s blood on my tongue, his kiss still lingering on my lips, and my gut heavy with guilt.