Chapter Sixteen
Chapter
Sixteen
Beck
I settle back in my chair after suppertime with a
sense of peace I haven’t felt in a long time. The fire blazes in front of me,
filling the cottage with warmth. Meg rocks in the chair beside me.
Things feel right.
“I didn’t know about the hair thing,” she says quietly, her
gaze on the fire. “I didn’t know it was an intimacy.”
I’m not handling this as well as I should. When I walked in
earlier, I was struck by how sweet she looked with Cian sleeping, his head on
her lap. I felt a deep sense of gratitude because I knew I was going to get my
brother back and I would have Meg to thank for it.
And then I realized that bastard got her to comb out his
hair. I hadn’t been able to help the tiny flare of jealousy. I should have
hidden it better. “I was being an ass about it. Don’t think we’re going to
treat you like two dogs fighting over a bone.”
She turns her head slightly, and a curious smile curves up
her lips. “You really think me combing your hair is erotic?”
She’s lovely in the firelight. She’s lovely at any time, but
there’s something intimate about sitting here with her. Everything is going to
be fine once she bonds with Cian. Once she bridges the parts of our soul,
perhaps I won’t be so deviant. Perhaps I can be the man she needs me to be. “I
find it highly erotic, and I’ll demand it of you, wife.”
Maybe I won’t need to use the word demand so often.
She sits back. “I think I can handle it, husband.”
I like hearing her use that word. I mean to be a good one to
her. Better than that pathetic first husband she found on the Earth plane. “I
think you can, too. You handled Cian well.”
She seemed perfectly content to sit in the living room while
Cian slept. I cooked dinner while Dante entertained Meg with stories about how
the Vampire plane works. Her laughter had been music, playing through the brugh
and turning it into a home.
It’s everything I want. My family, content and happy.
“What’s wrong with him?” Meg asks.
“What’s wrong with Cian? The same thing that was wrong with
me,” I reply quietly. “He’s out of balance. He needed to be bonded five years
ago. For me, it came out as rage. For Cian, he’s dissolving into chaos. It’s
worse than I thought. He’s better when I’m around, you see. I had no idea he
was having episodes where he forgot years of our lives.”
Dante was the one to tell me that bit of news. Right after
dinner, he pulled me aside for a long discussion. He explained that Cian barely
remembered where he was when Dante spoke to him the night before. Cian was
confused and slightly scared when Dante awakened him. The vampire had to
explain the situation to Ci every time he woke.
“The sooner you bond with him, the better. You need tonight
to rest, but tomorrow it should be done,” I say.
After the events earlier in the day and the arduous travel,
Meg needs to rest. The bonding can be intense. I know what Dante told me should
make me worried. Cian is pretty far gone and that could put Meg in danger, but
then I remember how lovingly Ci wrapped himself around her before heading off
to bed. Cian might not remember where he is, but he knows how important Meg is.
He won’t hurt her. He’ll shut it down if he can’t control himself.
And I’m all right with that outcome. If Ci is too far gone,
we’ll sacrifice ourselves to save her. She is the important one.
I’m suddenly intensely aware that I’m alone with my wife.
Cian is sleeping, and Dante left after our talk, explaining he had someone he
needed to see. It’s bullshit. Dante is going to the tavern. He won’t be back
before morning, if then. It doesn’t matter. I have what I need from Dante. I
used his communication device to speak with Susan. She promised me a good
salary to clear out the tunnels in Dellacorp’s latest mining project. They’re
full of some form of monstrous bat. It’s amusing that the great and mighty
vampires with all their tech are deathly afraid of flying rodents. Not that
I’ll complain. Their phobias mean gold in my pocket. Gold I can use to fix up
the place and make Meg more comfortable.
I haven’t mentioned my impending trip to my wife. I don’t
want to disrupt the happy place we’ve found tonight. We need a few hours of
peace.
Meg leaves her own seat and slips to her knees beside me.
She lays her head on my lap, and I feel my cock respond. It lengthens to
painful proportions. I’ll go slowly with her tonight. The need to make love to
her rides me hard, but I force myself to relax. It feels like forever, but I
took her twice the day before. I need to show her I’m not an animal who will
fall on her at every given opportunity, even if that’s what I feel like doing.
I’m her husband. She’s been gracious and gentle with Cian, and I owe her
nothing less.
I let my head fall back against the wood of the rocking
chair. Such a long and rough day. Between the kelpie in the morning and the
painful conversation I had with Liadan this afternoon, I’m spent. I didn’t want
to hurt Lia, but I had to make it plain I can’t see her anymore. Liadan took
the news of my marriage with tears, but she was a lady about it. She promised
to help Meg fit in.
“He seemed better at dinner,” Meg murmurs.
She practically purrs when I stroke her hair. She’s so sweet
and responsive. I wonder if her pussy is purring yet. My cock tightens again.
The simple fact that she’s so close makes me long to shove her down and thrust
into her soft, welcoming body.
“Your presence makes a huge difference.” I let my fingers
play with the nape of her neck. “I felt it the minute I met you. Even before we
bonded, I was calmer, more centered.”
She looks up, her pretty eyes wide. “I have to sleep with
him to form the bond?”
“No.” There’s a wealth of hesitation in her question, and it
worries me. Growing up on the human plane probably hasn’t prepared her for the
reality of taking on two husbands. “Cian can form the bond without intercourse.
I could have, too. I just lost my head. I pushed you.”
“Don’t apologize again, please,” she says with a sigh. “I
have fond memories of the marketplace and arena, even if you don’t.” I’m not
sure what to make of that, but she continues without explaining herself. “I’m
just not sure what I think of sleeping with two men, even if they do look a lot
alike.”
I snort at the thought. “We’re identical. He’s thinner than
I am right now, but that will change. He’ll start eating again now that he has
a reason to. Our own mother had trouble telling us apart until we opened our
mouths.”
Her cute little nose wrinkles. “I guess you look that way at
first, but I can tell.” She gets up and eases herself onto my lap. Her hands
frame my face. “You have a small scar right here.” She leans over and feathers
a kiss above my left eye. “And your mouth,” she says as she lightly kisses my
lips, “is the tiniest bit wider than Cian’s.”
“Is it now?” I ask as my heart starts to pound. My blood is
busy working its way from my brain down to my cock. Her lips are petal-soft
against mine. Everything about my Meggie is soft and sweet. Goddess, how have I
come to need her so much in such a short time?
She strokes a hand down my hair. “Cian’s hair is slightly
longer than yours, and his eyes are a shade darker.”
“I don’t think anyone has ever noticed that.” I try to stay
focused on what she’s saying. It’s hard because she’s wearing one of my old
shirts as a nightgown, and I can see the swell of her breasts. If she moves
slightly to the right, I might be able to see her nipple. I love that she’s
wearing something of mine. It marks her as my wife, my lover. Mine.
Her face bunches up in a distressed frown. “You’re different
people, Beck. You’re brothers. Where I come from, one woman doesn’t sleep with
two brothers. It’s considered cheating, and most men wouldn’t put up with it.”
It’s my turn to frown. How can I make her understand? “But
we’re not different. There might be minor differences in our appearance, but
we’re symbiotic twins. We share a soul. He’s the other half of me. You need to
understand that we’re married, and that means you’re married to Cian, too. I
won’t push you into bed with him. He would never force you, but if you can’t
accept him, it’s going to be hard on us. We would never cheat on you. Cian will
never take another woman as long as he’s married to you.”
“I just need some time. I’ll do whatever it takes to get
Cian healthy.” She wiggles on my lap, seemingly trying to find a comfortable
position, but every wriggle of her hips goes straight to my dangerously
engorged cock. “I also would like to explore our relationship a little. Where I
come from, newly married couples take this vacation together. It’s called a
honeymoon. The new couple gets away from everything and relaxes and spends a
whole lot of time together. They really get to know each other.”
My hand closes over her hip. Can I get her to the floor
without hurting her? I can take her in front of the fireplace so she’ll stay
warm. I’ll keep the blankets around her, and this time I will be in control of
my baser instincts. I will very gently make love to her.
“Sweetheart,” I say soothingly, “I think that’s a brilliant
idea. I would like very much to know what pleases you.”
“I like it when you kiss me,” she suggests.
That I can do. I pull Meg close and nudge her face up to
mine. “Give me your lips, a chumann.”
She obediently tilts her head up. I’ll have Cian teach her
Gaelic. Though almost everyone speaks the vampires’ language, I enjoy the old
ways. I want to tell her I love her in my own tongue. I want her to know she’s
my darling.
She’s sweet in my arms. She clings to me and allows me to
take control of the kiss. It should make it easier, but every time I feel her
soften, need rises like a wildfire. I mean for the kiss to be gentle, a promise
of the way our lovemaking will go this evening. She’s so soft under me that my
dominant instincts shove their way past my defenses.
She is mine.
I’d fought for her, offered my blood to possess her. My
hands tighten on her arms. I deepen the kiss, my tongue forcefully showing her