Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Sebastian
Wren’s mouth hangs open.
The fire cracks in the hearth. And Maxim, having just shocked our female, is now being studiously quiet.
“Overdrink?” she finally manages to utter.
I exhale, relieved she isn’t stuck on the idea of taking on two Krovenians at once, but instead is overwhelmed at the idea of sharing her blood with us. Which is understandable considering she is human. “That was Maxim’s way of being reassuring,” I try to explain.
“It was reassuring,” my best friend offers, offended I would suggest otherwise.
I meet Wren’s gaze. “We’ve known for weeks that the two of us have the Blood Calling for you, at the same time, so we’ve had time to talk this out.
It was shocking at first, but now we feel that we have planned out a way of living that will make this work and we’d like the opportunity to tell you, show you how that would work.
But we understand that you’re just now learning that that two Krovenians want you and you’re human.
Please ask all the questions you want. We’ll answer all of them truthfully. ”
Wren puts her palms up. “I’m not used to the idea of anyone drinking my blood. I’m assuming you’ve been sharing blood with other Krovenians since you were small, but I’ve never done anything like that before. Is it even safe for a human?”
“I’ve never drank anyone’s blood either,” I chuckle, exposing my fangs to her.
“We all have fangs, but the blood drinking isn’t something we do on a daily basis.
We don’t need to drink each other’s blood to live.
It doesn’t happen until the Blood Calling.
You eventually find a mate, and you share blood while mating. ”
She shifts in her seat, moving her long hair over her shoulder.
Her arousal wafts in the air between the three of us.
I glance over at Maxim, noticing his heated gaze on Wren.
He can scent it too. Like we did when we were in the pub with her each night.
And the arousal is always equal, for the both of us.
“You only drink each other’s blood while having sex?” she questions. “I’d heard that about Krovenians but I wasn’t sure.”
“Yes, we only ingest each other’s blood during the Blood Calling, in order to solidify the mating and mark each other. Prior to that, a Krovenian doesn’t feel desire for anyone.”
She blinks. “You’re telling me you are both virgins?”
“Yes. Neither of us have ever felt desire for another female, either human or Krovenian until we met you.” I lean forward. “That first night at The Crossing, when the door shut behind us, the air moved, and I could smell you. I knew immediately that you were my mate.”
“It was the same for me.” Maxim crosses his arms. “Wren, are you seeing anyone?”
“What? No. If I had a boyfriend or was even dating semi regularly, I wouldn’t be here. I’ve been depressingly single for a long time now. I’m the type who wants monogamy and long-term relationships. I’m not into flings and affairs, just telling you that upfront.”
“Good,” he responds. “We know that you feel attraction towards the both of us, but humans can have many different mates and can even pleasure mate. You need to understand up front that we mate for life and decide if you can take on two mates for that long.”
She goes absolutely still. “Since when?”
Maxim looks confused but I understand what she’s trying to ask.
“We’ve been able to scent your attraction for us since that first night,” I tell her.
“Every time one of us brushed your fingers or when Maxim said your name your arousal floated in the air and we inhaled it and knew what it meant, that it was for the both of us. It’s how we knew you wanted us as much as we wanted you. We weren’t guessing. We were sure.”
Her cheeks pinken. “Every night? And you always knew I couldn’t choose between the two of you?”
“Right now, actually,” I add, because I can’t help myself.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t be. We were pleased that such a beautiful human female of such obvious value would want us as much as we wanted her. Which is why we were on the road tonight,” I say, more quietly. “To ask you out. Both of us. We were sure.”
“That was so hard for me because…um…I liked the both of you, which has never happened me before. I didn’t think that would ever work out and you two would in fact be angry that I couldn’t choose, so I tried denying it, well along with the fact that I’d be fired if I pursued you two.”
I nod in understanding.
“Okay. Fine.” She takes a breath. “The blood. Tell me what actually happens during this mating.”
“It happens during sex. During penetration I would bite your throat.”
She instinctively places her hand on her neck. “Will it hurt?”
“No,” Maxim rasps. “It doesn’t hurt. There’s something in our saliva. You’d feel pressure.”
“Yes,” I agree. “Krovenians say that the orgasm during a Blood Calling is supposed to be all-consuming.”
“Intense pleasure,” Maxim agrees. “For both.”
Wren bites her lip and I can again scent her arousal.
“It leaves a mark,” I continue. “A scar that never fades, and every Krovenian who sees it knows it means you are ours.”
“And it’s permanent,” Maxim says. “Not a ring, Wren. There’s no taking it off. For you or for us. A Krovenian who’s bitten can’t want anyone else. Ever. It’s done.”
She nods. “Thank you for explaining that fully. It’s a lot.”
“It is, and there’s more,” I say.
“More?”
“You’d conceive,” Maxim says. “The first time. The Calling makes sure of it. No human medicine stops it.”
Silence. The storm leans on the windows.
“So what you’re telling me,” Wren says, very evenly, “is that if I ever sleep with either of you, I’m pregnant and married for life.”
“Yes.”
“That’s not a fling.”
“It was never going to be a fling.”
“We do not have flings,” Maxim grouses. “We do not have the biology for such a thing.”
She laughs, a short, unsteady sound. “I told myself an affair with two guys wasn’t worth my job. But basically, you’re asking me to marry the both of you and immediately start a family?”
“Yes.”
Maxim steps forward. “Can a human female take on two Krovenians at once? Can you live with the whole human world knowing you have two husbands? Your species has been watching his brothers marry humans for two years. They’d watch this.”
She puts the mug down and puts her face in her hands. She’s not crying. She’s thinking, and I can hear how fast.
When she looks up again her eyes are clear. “And I don’t have to choose?”
“You never did,” I tell her.
“You were never going to be allowed to,” Maxim says.
She exhales. “I need a little more time to think about this…it’s a lot.
It’s a life-long decision. Do I want to be a mother right now and do I want to have not one, but two husbands who aren’t even of the same species as me, and like you said, everyone would know.
And they won’t all be nice about it, because this isn’t the usual way things are done.
The three of us will think this is fine, but others can be very judgmental, so I’d have to be willing to take that on.
Don’t you agree that I shouldn’t take that decision lightly? ”
“Yes,” I agree.
“When I drove up here, obviously I was already thinking of this, but not this fully…”
Maxim nods in agreement. “You will not be rushed. And… if you decide you do not want this type of relationship with us, we will return you to the village and you will not see us again. We will let you continue with your life, and we will manage this on our own.”
She gives him a watery smile. “No harm, no foul.”
“We want you to make an honest decision.”
“Thank you.”
And then her stomach growls loudly.
I stand. “Kitchen. Now. I’m not asking you to decide your life on an empty stomach. For once, we will bring the food to you.”
She chuckles. “Thank you, Sebastian.
So I make pasta carbonara. It’s the one thing I’m actually proud of my ability to make.
Wren can’t sit still in a kitchen, so she helps, and she’s better with a knife than I am, which she points out.
I chat with her about my fascination with Italian and French culinary dishes and then I promise to feed her proper Krovenian barbeque tomorrow night.
Maxim opens a bottle of red and pours three glasses and then does the dishes as we go, without being asked, sleeves rolled to the elbow.
It is the nicest evening this house has ever seen.
And I can envision this as our future, every night.
Maxim and I are brothers in every way but blood, and our security firm is good work.
The house we’ve built is highly acceptable as a replacement for my castle back home.
But this life, with her in it and children running around, would be a thousand times better than anything the two of us have built.
I hope she can see it too. I can’t tell yet.
“Can I ask you something?” I ask, over the pasta. “You don’t have to answer.”
She gives me a wide, genuine smile, which takes my breath away. “You’ve been asking me things all night.”
“Do you want children, Wren?”
She puts her fork down and really thinks about it, which I love her for. “I always figured I would, someday. But I didn’t figure on two husbands and therefore two dads for my kids in the same house at the same time.”
“Heh,” Maxim comments. “It’s the same for me, I thought I’d have a mate for myself, not sharing with him.”
“You’re lucky to be sharing with me,” I inform him. “You’d be a terrible mate and father all on your own.”
Maxim chuckles and then gives Wren a serious look. “You’d have two of us, instead of one. Two Krovenian soldiers who would take a bullet for you. Two men to care for you, the house and the children.”
“And two men whose needs I will need to care for, physically and emotionally. Will I be enough or will I let you both down?”
We’re both quiet, because neither of us knows how to answer this unexpectedly deep thought from our charming female.
“Well…I can’t answer any of this tonight,” she confirms.