Chapter 3 #2
“A dance of pain and pleasure,” Zander finally said, and he reached out to cup her cheek, thumb tracing her lower lip. “You are exquisite, but you also haven’t fully recovered. I can sense your exhaustion, despite your rest. I figure another four or five days, and then perhaps you’ll be up to it.”
She smiled. “Incentive to get stronger as fast as possible.” She spread some spiced apple butter on half a biscuit. “It’s probably time for me to go back to my room on the flock’s floor. Thanks so much for opening your space up to me, but I don’t need to be so close to a bathroom anymore.”
He shook his head, his gaze intense, bordering on possessive.
“No. I appreciate your friendship with Felix, but I’m not of a mind to send you to sleep with another man at this time.
You’ll continue to sleep with Spencer. He won’t be allowed any hanky-panky yet, though I figure that will change in the near future. ”
His smile promised sin, and her thighs clenched.
But she considered whether to argue. Other than saying he wanted her to sleep with Spence rather than Felix, he wasn’t issuing orders — and even that had been spoken as a preference rather than a command. Mostly.
And he wasn’t even telling her not to initiate sex with Spence, only pointing out Spence wouldn’t have permission for it. And honestly, she’d rather sleep with Spence than Felix right now, so it would be stupid to argue.
She would want to start eating in the cafeteria more, and hanging out on the flock’s floor again, perhaps even some time in her room, spending time with her friends even if she didn’t sleep there. But she could have those conversations later.
For now, she noted, “You aren’t telling me what to do. It’s a conversation. That isn’t what I expected, and I appreciate it.”
“You aren’t mine to order around. You’re a powerful dragon who tossed off two ancient vampires to go to a friend you knew to be in distress. If this is to work between the two of us, we’ll have to find a way to be equals to each other while we, eventually, co-Top Spencer.
“You’ll always have to publicly respect my position above you within the coterie, which means we’ll have to keep any disagreements private between us, but once we decide we’re a threesome, the balance will likely be a work in progress.”
Tension coiled in the air, the promise of pleasure alongside pain delivered with care. Equals in a dance of dominance and devotion full of romance, power, and the exquisite tease of what was to come.
Spence was moderating a small disagreement between vampire companions when Toby texted him, so it was nearly ten minutes before he could respond. “Sorry for the delay. Dealing with prima donnas. What’s up?”
Toby texted back immediately. “We’re going to have a doozy of a light show in the next thirty-six hours, give or take. Looks like you’re about to be super busy, because I’m calling it for a ball.”
“Nice. I’ll let Zander know. Are you ready to give a time yet?”
“Still a window, earliest the ball should start is around 4 pm tomorrow, but possibly as late as 8 pm.”
“Excellent. It’s so nice having you onsite.”
Spence gave a telepathic knock, and Zander answered immediately. Yes, Dearest?
Toby’s calling for an aurora ball to start between four and eight tomorrow evening.
Give me five minutes and I’ll make a decision.
This close to the Versailles Carnivale, they might push the scheduled ball out a few days, or Zander might decide to do it sooner and hold it in the Aurora Ballroom, or to have the two balls close together.
Spence used the restroom and was headed to the flock’s common rooms to check on Felix when Zander let him know to move forward with planning this ball, and he’d decide for sure on the timing of the Versailles Carnivale after talking to the managers of the costumers and makeup artists he’d be flying in.
I’m handling some flock details, and then I’ll get started.
He was pleased to see Felix in an alcove, studying. It made it easier to start up a conversation this way, rather than knocking on his door.
He pulled a chair close and said, “You had a rough session in the lupanar early this morning.”
Felix saved his work and met Spence’s gaze.
“Yeah. Lucien’s always more than one expects, but I’m fine.
” He shook his head and sat back. “When will Emmy be strong enough to come back? She seemed fine at the … I mean, she’s weak, but …
Is there something ya’ll aren’t telling us?
It troubles me that she’s still sick enough to have to be down there. ”
“As far as I know, she’s healing as expected. She’s still weak, and technically, she could probably return, since we took her below to get her close to a bathroom, originally, but Zander…” Spence shrugged. “She’s his best friend’s daughter, and he’s being super-careful with her health.”
But Felix hadn’t been changing the conversation, he’d been telling Spence he needed his friend. “Are you in the middle of something important? I can call her up here, or she can meet you in your room.”
Felix shook his head. “She’s deep into working on her bunnies project, and taking advantage of the privacy she gets downstairs while she has it. I don’t want to risk interrupting that.”
“And if she knew you needed a friend and had that attitude, how would she feel?”
He tilted his head. “Annoyed.”
Spence nodded. “I’ll check in with her and let her know you could probably use some friend time, when she gets a chance. Do you want to make any changes to the wording on your price sheet?”
Felix shook his head. “No, but thanks for asking. I really wish we could list the vampires we don’t want to have sex with or feed while here, like we can at home.”
“Who would be on it?”
“Probably just Lucien. Someone fed from me during one of the chaotic frenzies who just had evil vibes, but I have no idea of a name, or even a face, which I figure means they blurred it or something.”
Spence frowned. “I don’t recall seeing that reported.”
“Because I didn’t. What was I going to say? Some mystery guy, or maybe gal, seemed evil and gave me the heebies, but I have no idea who it was?”
“Yes, that exactly. Shortly after the fact, we could go through memories of those around you to find out who it was, and then reprimand them for erasing your memory of who they are, if that’s what happened.”
When Spence left the flock’s floor, he telepathed Zander with a request for him to go through that part of Felix’s memories and see if he could figure out what happened, and then he went to his little cubicle upstairs, pulled up his list of everything that must be done to prepare for an Aurora Ball, and got started.
First step was notifying the kitchen, second was notifying the gown team, so they could bring all the gowns from the town to the silo.
Then came setup, security, and a zillion other details.