Chapter 28 Over the Threshold
Seri
My bare feet made no sound against the polished wood floor as I paced outside my husbands’ bedroom door. The cuffs of my t-shirt nightie trembled in my grip. How long had I been worrying the fabric? Somewhere between my lonely bed and here, my courage had dissolved into jelly-kneed hesitation.
It had been four days since Angelo healed my injuries.
Four days of being waited on hand and foot by three gorgeous men who now wore matching gold bands on their fingers, bands just like mine.
My husbands. The word still felt strange on my tongue, but the evidence was there every time they brushed their fingers or knuckles over my face, my neck, my arm, my knee.
Every time they kissed me or held me close.
Every time they looked at me with those heated gazes that made something inside me twist and flutter.
This morning, Zane had actually licked my ankle as Casimir was slipping my socks on. The sensation had sent a shiver up my spine, and the smirk he’d given me afterward told me he knew exactly what he was doing.
Their constant attention had been overwhelming at first, but now I craved them and wanted to be with them at night, too. Breathing in their scents and feeling safe snuggled in their warmth, surrounded by their heartbeats.
That was okay to ask for, wasn’t it?
My strength was far from fully recovered, but I felt much, much better.
My fingers traced the place where I could still occasionally feel phantom pain from the siphoning.
The fatigue came and went, sometimes my mind blanked entirely, and my magic remained frustratingly absent.
Still, I was stronger than I had in a long time.
I twisted the gold band around my finger, remembering how, just five days ago, we’d stood together and exchanged vows.
I wasn’t sure I was ready yet to be a wife in the full sense of the word, but I felt ready to go at least a little further than kisses and light touches.
The mate bond drew me to them physically as well as emotionally, and I knew the same was happening with them through the beloved bond.
“And they won’t do anything I don’t want,” I whispered to myself, pressing a palm over my thumping heart. “Koko said so.”
“Beloved, we will never pressure or rush you into that. Don’t doubt that we desire you because we do, but we’ll wait for as long as you need us to. When you’re healed, when you’re ready, and not before.”
The promise hummed through our bond, warm as the summer sun.
Now if only my shyness would cooperate.
Through the thin crack beneath the door came three distinct sounds that told me exactly what each of my husbands was doing: A victorious whoop over electronic gunfire, the metallic schick-schick of blades being sharpened, and the whisper of pages turning.
Will they think I’m a pest? Will they be annoyed that I’m disturbing them? What if I’m too awkward? What if Zane regrets asking me to move in there with them? What if—
Taking a deep breath, I gathered what little courage I had and raised my hand to knock. Just as my knuckles made contact, the door flew open so fast, it nearly kissed the wall, and Zane’s grin filled my vision.
“Took you long enough, starlight,” he purred, scooping me up bridal-style before I could squeak. My arms instinctively looped around his neck as I drank in the night phlox scent that lived beneath his skin. “Wearing your ‘seduce three dhampirs’ nightie again, I see.”
“Zane,” Casimir’s warning growl rumbled across the room.
“What?” He feigned innocence. “I’m being a gentleman and carrying my bride over the threshold. Four days late, but who’s counting?”
“Behave, Z,” Koa added. “You’ll frighten her.”
“Moi? I’m the picture of restraint. She’s the one who caved. Not surprising, really. I mean, who could resist this?”
After he set me down on the edge of the bed, he flexed his biceps, and I had to admit my mouth went dry.
Flushing, I looked around their room. Zane had abandoned his video game controller in front of the TV, where a scene of something exploding was frozen on the screen.
Across the room, Casimir sat in the armchair under a reading lamp, a thick book open on his knee and an orange highlighter in his hand. His long blond hair was loose again, a waterfall that my fingers longed to touch.
Koa perched behind a desk, an array of knives and sharpening equipment on a tray before him. His espresso eyes meeting mine, he set down the blade he’d been working on and wiped his hands on a cloth before standing and heading into their bathroom.
Something about seeing this glimpse into their pre-bed routines made my heart squeeze. This was their space, their life that I was stepping into. This was the real them, not frightening monsters or formal princes. Just three men unwinding before bed.
“Hi,” I said, my voice small. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Never.” Casimir closed his book with a decisive snap, and I peeked at the cover. A medical textbook on female anatomy. How interesting. “We’re honored that you… That is, you’re welcome here.”
His throat bobbed as his gaze dropped to his clenched fists, and I realized they were nervous, too. Three lethal men reduced to fumbling. By me. Me.
Still drying his hands with a hand towel, Koa came to sit beside me on the bed.
“You okay?” he asked as his shoulder brushed mine.
I nodded, trying to ignore the heat that rose to my cheeks as three pairs of eyes focused on me.
“I was just… I mean, I thought maybe I could…”
“She wants to sleep with us again,” Zane announced with a shrug as he stood in front of me. “Like when she had the nightmares.”
“Don’t get in her head without permission!” Casimir hissed.
“I didn’t! It’s all over her face!”
“He’s right.” I bit my lip. “If that’s okay?”
“Of course it’s okay.” Casimir’s eyes softened.
“More than okay, beloved,” Koa added.
My smile faded into silent appreciation as I looked them over.
Just like before, all three were wearing only boxer briefs: Casimir’s black, Koa’s navy blue, and Zane’s a bright yellow with some cartoon character I didn’t recognize.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the broad expanse of Casimir’s chest, the defined muscles in Zane’s arms, and the squares cut into Koa’s abdomen.
My eyes traced the ridges of muscle down to the trail of hair disappearing beneath the waistband of his boxers, and my cheeks burned before I could tear my gaze away.
“She’s totally checking us out. Look at her pupils. They’re huge.” Zane stretched his arms behind his head in a way that showed off his lean, muscular torso. “Like what you see, wife?”
“I wasn’t— I mean—” My face flamed hotter. “Mmm.”
“You can absolutely look at your husbands, Mrs. Cimmerian. We like you ogling us.”
“Stop teasing her.” Koa wedged himself between Zane and me, blocking my view.
“Thief!” Zane protested with a fake scowl.
“It’s only fair,” Casimir pointed out dryly. “You two stole her from me the other night.”
As I found myself at the center of their attention, my heart pounded in my chest, partly from nervousness, partly from something else. Something that made my skin feel too tight and my insides twist with anticipation.
Dropping the hand towel on the floor, Koa laid his palm on my back, stroking up and down in a gentle, soothing motion.
“You’re safe here, beloved,” he murmured, and I relaxed a little under his touch. “How about we just get comfortable?”
When I nodded, he guided me to lie down in the center of the big bed. Casimir stretched out on my left side, propped up on one elbow, while Koa positioned himself as a barrier between me and Zane on my right, his hand moving to rub up and down my thigh.
“That’s bullshit!” Zane complained. “I can’t even see her now!”
“I’m sorry,” I started to apologize, but Casimir cut me off.
“You’re not ready for what Zane wants, trust me.”
His words sparked images that made heat spread through my belly. The sensation was a little scary, but also thrilling.
“I’m, um, I don’t know.” I stopped and swallowed hard. “I want to be with you, but I’m not sure.”
“I can make you sure, sweet cheeks.” Zane’s smirk returned, draping himself over Koa to tug a lock of my hair. “If Koala Bear would stop hogging—”
“Not yet.” Casimir caught Zane’s wrist, his green eyes glinting. “Too soon for whatever depraved fantasy you’re concocting.”
Heat flooded my abdomen at the implication, sudden and liquid. My thighs pressed together beneath my nightie, the unfamiliar ache from earlier returning with vengeance. For some reason, Koa’s nostrils flared as his hand stilled on my thigh.
“I’m not sure I’m ready for more than kisses,” I admitted in a small voice.
“Perfectly fine,” Casimir assured me.
“We won’t do anything you don’t want us to, sweet girl,” Koa agreed, his eyes serious as they met mine.
“Speak for yourselves,” Zane muttered. “I’ve got a list a mile long—”
“Behave,” Casimir warned.
I was barely listening to their exchange, too lost in Koa’s eyes, so deep and intense that I felt like I could drown in them. My lips parted, and before I could overthink it, I whispered, “Kiss me?”
His slow, sensual smile was everything.
“Where?” His fingers touched my cheek. “Here?” Then my chin. “Here?” Finally, his thumb ghosted over my bottom lip, a touch so light it was almost nothing at all. “Or here?”
My breath hitched as he leaned in, his mouth brushing against mine in the softest, most tender kiss. Then he pulled me onto my side so that we were facing each other, our fronts pressed together.
His mouth carried heat and hunger and honeyed patience. My fingers tangled in his hair, sparks dancing behind my closed eyelids as he licked the seam of my lips. Something hard pressed against my hip. His thigh? His—
Oh.