Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Adeline
Waking in the morning, I find myself half-lying on Eli’s chest. I sit up, looking down at him. Cyrus moves beside me before tugging me toward him as he snuggles himself against my back.
“Morning, love,” he whispers, kissing below my ear.
“Morning,” I reply, yawning.
I had the best sleep last night, and their bed was so much bigger than being squished in mine back home.
“What do you want to do this morning?” Cyrus asks.
“Don’t we need to go to work?”
“Yes, eventually, but one plus side to being the company owner is that we can choose when we do and don’t want to work,” Cyrus tells me, and I nod.
My thoughts go to Maya. Did Taylor get her ready for school and pack her lunch? My morning routine feels strange now that it is no longer mine. Sitting up, I go to climb over Cyrus and hop out of bed.
“Where are you going?”
“I want to message Taylor to check on Maya,” I tell him, but he doesn’t let go of my hip. He turns slightly, reaching for the bedside table, and I see my phone. He grabs it and hands it to me.
“I already messaged her off your phone. Maya is at school already,” Cyrus says, and I flick my phone screen on.
It is nearly 10AM. I go to my messages and see he did, in fact, message Taylor and that all is well back home. Taylor even sent what she’d packed for her lunch and a picture of Maya eating her cereal.
“Happy? Now, lie back down,” he says, pulling me onto his chest.
His fingers run up and down my spine, and the familiar tingles spreading over my flesh make me shiver. Eli is snoring loudly, making me wonder how I have never noticed it before.
“Does he always snore like a bloody chainsaw?” I ask.
“Only when he sleeps on his back. Sounds like a freight train. I have often thought of smothering him in his sleep,” Cyrus answers before laughing.
I reach over, pegging his nose. Eli’s eyes fly open, a growl escaping him before he rolls on his side.
“Morning,” he says, his eyes fluttering shut again, and his hand going to Cyrus’s chest.
I rest my chin on it, not wanting to move now. I am warm here and snuggled up with them.
Reluctantly, I hop up. Walking over to my bag, I grab my toothbrush and walk into the bathroom to brush my teeth.
Looking in the mirror, I notice my mark is slightly different, almost silver in color.
Cyrus walks into the bathroom behind me and turns the shower on.
He looks over at me, and I catch his eyes in the mirror.
“Why does my mark look different? It was red before. Now it’s turning silver like Eli’s,” I tell him.
“Because we had sex. Once I mark you and Eli has sex with you, it will change again and become darker. After you go into heat and we mate you, it will turn gold.”
“Why gold? Yours is a gray-silver color.”
“Because you’re female. Until it turns gold, you can still break the bond.”
“I thought it couldn’t be broken if both of you mark me.”
“Yes, true, but to fully mark you, we have to mate you and remark you. The process isn’t complete unless we mark you during sex. Make sense?”
“Not at all,” I tell him, resuming brushing my teeth. “Doesn’t mating mean I have to become pregnant?”
“That’s what it used to mean, but we can mate you and mark you instead of impregnating you. Children are now forbidden until the council gives the go-ahead again.”
“Okay, you lost me,” I tell him.
“It used to be that you would have to fall pregnant to be fully bonded. Well, that’s what everyone thought until we found out that when the female goes in heat, if we use protection and remark them, the bond solidifies.”
“So, in heat like a dog?”
Cyrus chuckles. “No, it just means you are fertile. We can’t make you fall pregnant unless you are in heat. Not like humans who can just stick their dicks in anything and impregnate the woman.”
“So, how often does this heat happen then?”
“Once a year, sometimes twice, depending on what species the mates are. You, however, may go into heat more because you have two mates instead of one.”
“Does it hurt?”
“No, Addie. You may have noticed that since Eli marked you, you no longer get periods. I said that correctly, didn’t I? That’s what you call it?”
“Yes, that is what it is called or a menstrual cycle,” I tell him, shaking my head.
What a strange conversation to have with a man, talking about my periods with them when I barely know them. But it does make me wonder because he is right. I haven’t had my periods, and I should have by now.
“Wait, I will never get a period again?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“No, you won’t. Why, do you like bleeding?”
“Definitely not, probably be the only thing I hate about being a woman.”
Though when having sex with Sam, I was always excited about getting them because that meant I wasn’t pregnant.
“Wait, I’m human. Wouldn’t that put me in menopause?”
“Meno— what?”
“You know about periods but don’t know about menopause?” I ask, rinsing my mouth.
He looks at me funny.
“Never mind,” I tell him.
“I will have to google this menopause. I don’t usually endeavor to know things about humans.”
“But you were once human?”
“Yes, but I barely remember being human, and I never heard the term menopause while human.”
“Probably because you’re old. They probably didn’t know what it was back then,” I tell him, and he nods.
“Do our ages bother you?” he asks, and I sit up on the sink basin.
Eli walks in, hopping in the shower.
“No, I think it’s pretty cool. The things you would have seen would be interesting. I’ve always liked history.”
“You would be amazed how much of history they got wrong. Us, for example,” Eli says, stripping his clothes off.
“They may not think you exist now, but where did the stories come from if they were wrong?”
“Yes, in a sense, but they always portrayed us as monsters. We aren’t. Humans are the monsters,” Cyrus says.
“You think I am a monster?”
“No… yes, but you’re my monster,” he says, his brows furrowing. “Eli doesn’t like humans, never has.”
“Then why do you want to be with me?” I ask him.
“You’re different.”
“No, last time I checked, I was definitely human.”
“Yes, but you aren’t like the rest. They are selfish and self-absorbed and—” He doesn’t finish, but I can see he is getting angry.
“What about my family?” I ask him.
“I like your mother and niece, your sister not so much,” Cyrus says.
“Why not her? We are carbon copies of each other.”
Cyrus shakes his head. “No, you aren’t completely identical.
Even when she was healthier-looking, your eyes are a shade lighter, skin a little paler, your boobs are slightly bigger, your right boob is bigger than your left too, barely noticeable but I can tell, and you smell nicer, intoxicating,” he says making me look at my boobs.
They look the same to me.
“Are you trying to say I have lopsided titties?” I ask, amused that he can notice something like that when I can’t tell the difference myself.
“No, you have nice breasts,” Cyrus says, stepping out of the shower.
“But you just said they are uneven.”
“Doesn’t mean they look bad. My vision is so much stronger than yours. I can even see the dust particles in the air, the colors inside a lightbulb, the heat coming off your skin…”
“What about you? Can you see all that?” I ask Eli.
He nods, watching me. “Yes, our sense of smell is stronger too.”
Great, now I am going to be paranoid about how I smell and look. I sniff myself.
“You don’t stink if that’s what you’re wondering, though I don’t like it when you put that perfume on. It smothers your scent and burns my nose,” Eli says.
“I am not walking around with no deodorant on. I may smell nice to you, but that doesn’t mean I will smell nice when I am sweating to everyone else.”
“No. Deodorant barely changes your scent. I am talking about that shit you spray on your neck and wrists,” Eli says.
“Hey, I like that stuff,” I tell him, and he shrugs.
“Well, I don’t. It is too strong,” he says, and Cyrus nods.
“Fine, no perfume,” I tell them.
I hop off the bench, following Cyrus back into the room.
“Do I need to dress for work or dress casual?” I ask Cyrus.
“Dress how you want. As long as you are covered, we don’t care what you wear to work.”
“So, you won’t care if I rock up to work in my pajamas then?” I laugh.
“Nope, you get a pass since you’re fucking your bosses,” Cyrus says.
“I have slept with one of you, not both of you.”
“You will. You belong to us, Addie, and I know you want to,” Cyrus says with a sly smile on his lips.
I press my lips in a line, grabbing my jeans and a V-neck black shirt.
I get dressed, and I find Cyrus also wearing jeans and a top.
Besides his large muscular frame, the combination looks almost normal on him; he almost looks human instead of some exotic god in his suit.
Though I prefer him dressed like this; he looks more comfortable.
“Pervert,” Eli says behind me, coming out of the bathroom.
My cheeks flush, and Cyrus smirks.
“At first, I was upset. I couldn’t read your thoughts, but your body gives you away,” Cyrus says, rubbing the blush that spreads to my face.
“Wait, you can read thoughts?”
“Yep, except yours and Eli’s.”
“Why not ours?” I ask though I am also grateful.
“Don’t know. I think it’s because you’re my mates. I assume it is a way to level us out.”
“That is part of the reason Cyrus hates humans, Addie. The chatter is hard for him to tune out.”
“So, you can read anyone’s thoughts?”
“If I choose to, though it’s hard not to sometimes. When I am in a room full of people, it can become distracting, and their scents also become overwhelming.”
“So, you want to drink their blood? It never goes away?”
“I have control of my urges, but no, it doesn’t go away. But being around you has made them less appealing,” Cyrus says as Eli walks out of the walk-in.
“How so?”
“Because he wants to feed on you. Your scent trumps theirs,” Eli answers for him, making me look up at Cyrus. His eyes flicker red, a smile on his lips.
“As I said, your scent is intoxicating, smells sweet. Now they smell bland to me.”
“So, you want to feed on me as you did on Eli?”
“Yes, but that would also mean I may mark you.”
“But it doesn’t hurt. You didn’t look in pain,” I tell Eli.
“No, it doesn’t hurt because we are mates. If Cyrus bit anyone else, it would, though.”
“Come, we should have breakfast,” Eli says, unlocking the door.
I follow him downstairs. Eli grabs my hand, rubbing circles on the back of it.
“Are you going to lock the door every night?” I ask him, looking back at the bedroom door.
“Do I have to?” he asks, looking down at me as we walk down the steps.
I shake my head.
“Then I won’t, but Addie, I must warn you. If you try to leave, we will know. We can sense when our mates are near and can also sense when they are hiding something. I know you are, so if you want to come clean, I suggest you do so.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” I tell him, my mind going to the phone I’ve hidden.
“I can also feel when you are lying. I don’t like liars, Addie, so whatever it is, I suggest you own up to it and be done with it.”
I shake my head. Would they be mad if they found it, and I didn’t tell them?
“If you aren’t lying, why are you scared right now?” Eli asks.
“I’m not scared,” I tell him, sitting on the bench.
Eli watches me. Cyrus walks over to me, putting his chin on my shoulder.
“Then what did you hide in the spare bedroom?” he whispers.
“If you think I hid something, why not go get it then?”
“I know you did, but I would rather you own up to it and get it willingly,” Cyrus says, kissing my cheek and walking toward the coffee jug.
“So, what will it be, Addie? Do I have to go find what it is and punish you, or are you going to get it and hand it over?” Eli asks.
I swallow, suddenly feeling ill.
“I promise if you give whatever it is to me, I won’t get mad,” Eli says, and I roll my eyes.
They already know I have hidden something, so there is no point in arguing with them over it.
I hop off the stool and walk upstairs, retrieving it from under the mattress. I look and see a new message from Sam, saying good morning with some kissy emoji.
I relock the screen and walk downstairs. Eli is at the counter and has made coffee and jam toast. He holds his hand out expectantly. I drop the little black phone in it. He looks at it.
“Sam?”
“Yes. Sam gave it to mom to give to me.”
Eli growls, putting it in his pocket. I turn to go to the other side of the counter when he grabs my wrist, tugging me back. My heart skips a beat.
He said he wouldn’t be mad.
I gulp, fear consuming me when he presses me against the counter, his hands slipping in my hair as his thumbs rub the side of my face. He kisses me softly, pressing his body against mine, his tongue slipping into my mouth. He pulls back.
“You don’t need to fear me. I said you wouldn’t be in trouble, and you aren’t. Just don’t hide things from us, Addie. We will find out,” he whispers, kissing my forehead.
He steps back, letting me go, and I grab my coffee off the bench, sipping it, only to look over and find Cyrus smiling at us, amused. I raise an eyebrow at him, and he looks away before biting into his toast.
“Go sit with Cyrus,” Eli says, grabbing the two plates with toast.
I walk over to the table and sit next to Cyrus, who gently grabs my knee.