16. Chapter 16
16
G avin led me around the corner of the hallway and headed toward a closed door. He curled one arm around my ribcage to keep me on my feet while he deftly traced a barely visible sigil on the face of the door. He finished by pressing his palm flat against the wood panel, and the lock clicked.
“Why is this happening?” I asked Gavin as he pushed the door open and all but dragged me into a room with midnight blue walls and the same dark hardwood floor as the rest of the loft.
“Sophie?” Bastian said, and suddenly he was there in front of me, his fingers curled around my upper arms and his neck bowed to bring his face down to my level. “What happened?” His nostrils flared. “Is she drunk ?”
“You found clothes,” I mumbled, surprised to see Bastian was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt.
“She needs to feed,” Gavin said. “She must have used up most of the power she absorbed during our communion when she bound me.”
Bastian’s mouth fell open, and his focus shifted past me and higher, to Gavin. “She bound you? Already? Isn’t that something you usually work up to?”
“It just happened ,” Gavin said, his tone defensive. “Perhaps because I had taken a bit of her blood down in the garage, or . . .” He trailed off and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. I believe that, in her current, depleted state, she now requires more than I can provide alone. I could ask Thane or Ash to assist, but since she already knows you . . .”
I squeezed my eyelids shut, then opened my eyes wide, trying, and failing, to follow their exchange.
Bastian snapped his mouth shut and returned his focus to me. “Yeah, no, of course I’ll help.” He backed away, tugging his T-shirt off over his head. “Get her to the bed. She looks like she’s about to pass out.”
“Just don’t take any of her blood,” Gavin warned. My feet dragged as Gavin hauled me across the room. “She didn’t initiate the blood bond intentionally. It seems to be an automatic response for her with a reciprocal communion .”
“Understood,” Bastian said.
Gavin gently laid me down on my back on the bed, and my eyes drifted shut. I was so tired, and my head was pounding. All I wanted to do was to take the world’s longest nap.
“Stay with us, Sophie,” Gavin murmured.
Something warm and wet swept across my lips, and my tongue instinctively darted out. Chocolate and spices exploded in my mouth. Gavin’s blood.
My eyelids flew open, and a needy groan clawed its way up my throat, but Gavin was no longer there to sate my agonizing thirst. Instead, he stood beside the bed, hastily unfastening his belt. He tugged his shirt free from his slacks and jerked it open, popping off several of the buttons and sending them flying. One clinked against the lamp on the nightstand.
The bed dipped, and suddenly Bastian was there beside me. He dragged a long sharp nail—not a nail, a black claw— along the inside of his wrist, opening a short, deep cut. Blood welled, some dripping onto the comforter, before he could get his wrist to my mouth.
Greedily, I sealed my lips around the wound, my fingers clutching his hand and forearm tightly. I sucked, hard, pulling his potent immortal blood into my mouth. He tasted like blackberries and pine. Like hiking through the woods on a late summer day, when the berries were overripe and dripping juice on the forest floor. I sucked harder, needing more of him inside me.
The headache faded with each swallow, quickly replaced by raging desire. My hips rocked, my body wanting him to fill me up in other ways. I stroked his forearm, imagining it was another part of him.
He let out a low, deep chuckle and gripped my wrist, pulling my hand away from his arm and directing it lower, to the hot, hard length of his erection. His cock twitched when I gripped it, stroking down his shaft from head to base. Bastian’s lids lowered, his gaze heating.
The mattress dipped again, and hands that were not Bastian’s slid along my thighs, gliding up from my knees toward my hips. Holy shit. Gavin was joining the party.
Still sucking on Bastian’s wrist and stroking his shaft, I lifted my head to watch Gavin as he dragged my borrowed leggings and underwear down the length of my legs and tossed them aside. He was gloriously naked. His hands returned to my hips, his grip possessive.
I stared, mesmerized, as sigils burst to life all over his body, shining silver like moonlight. I could see them on the walls of the room now, too, illuminating the space. The sigil wrapping around Gavin’s neck transfixed me, that intricate design formed from the phases of the moon. My sigil, marking him as min e.
Gavin kneeled between my legs, his eyes locking with mine. His irises glowed silver, and the corners of his mouth lifted as he bowed forward and lifted my ass off the bed. The first contact of his tongue gliding along my slit made me shudder. And when his lips closed around my throbbing clit, I gasped, tearing my mouth away from Bastian’s wrist and gripping his shaft harder.
Bastian groaned, and I pulled him closer, turning my face toward his rigid cock. I opened my mouth wide and flattened my tongue, dragging it along the length of his shaft.
“Fuck,” he growled when I took him into my mouth. He buried his fingers in my hair, pulling me closer, pushing himself deeper.
Gavin slid two fingers into my core, curling them expertly. He stoked my pleasure higher, coaxing me closer and closer to the edge. The agonizing ecstasy coiled tighter within me with every flick of his tongue. With every stroke of his fingers.
Bastian pulled out of my mouth and once again pressed his wrist to my lips. The instant his blood touched my tongue, sweetened by his own desire, that tantalizing pressure in my core broke, sending waves of pleasure cascading through me. My back bowed, my hips and shoulders rising off the bed. Gavin switched from flicking my clit to sucking the swollen bundle of nerves with a pulsing rhythm that synced with the waves of ecstasy pulsing out from the very center of my being.
Like before, when I had communed with Gavin in the living room, the immortal blood amplified my pleasure, extending my climax. Instead of waning, the pleasure built, each pull of blood earning a pulse of bliss, delighting my body.
The sigils blazed on Gavin’s skin, burning brighter with each swallow of Bastian’s blood. Gavin lifted his head and withdrew his fingers, finally letting the climax fade. I relaxed back onto the bed and released Bastian’s wrist, feeling like I was floating on the mattress.
The reprieve lasted only a moment, because Gavin’s hands gripped my hips once more, lifting my ass off the bed, and the blunt head of his glorious cock nudged my slick entrance. I gasped, my back arching as he thrust his hips forward, filling me completely. He didn’t give me a chance to adjust to his large size, but pounded into me straight away, a man possessed.
Bastian leaned over me, pressing his lips against mine. His mouth was greedy, his tongue coaxing my lips open and tangling with mine. One of his hands glided over my breasts, pinching and twisting my right nipple until I cried out from the sharp burst of pain. But as soon as he released my nipple, the pleasure from Gavin’s unrelenting thrusts doubled, amplified by the pain.
Acting on instinct, I reached for Bastian’s twitching erection. I craved more . I wanted, needed, to have him inside me, too. My fingers curled around his rigid cock, and I gripped it, hard.
“I want this,” I said, breaking the kiss and squeezing his shaft.
Gavin pulled out of my swollen, greedy pussy, and I whimpered. “Get on your knees so I can fuck that pretty mouth,” he ordered roughly.
Practically panting from the torrid lust coursing through my body, I scrambled onto my hands and knees and faced Gavin. He rose on his knees, his proud erection bobbing in front of my face, glistening with my wetness. He gripped the base with one hand, angling the tip toward my mouth, and tangled his other hand in my hair.
Behind me, Bastian swept a hand down the length of my spine, then dipped his fingers between my legs to stroke my slick sex and tease my throbbing clit. My mouth opened as I sucked in a breath, sinking into the delicious sensations.
Gavin took advantage of the moment, pressing forward. His velvety head glided past my lips, his salty pre-cum coating my tongue. I raised my hands to grip his ass and took him deep into my mouth. His grip tightened in my hair, angling my head backward, and I peered up at him to see him gazing down at me, his expression rapt, his silver eyes on fire.
Bastian pulled his hand away, and again, I whimpered, wriggling my ass.
“Hang on, Soph,” he muttered. I heard the tearing of a wrapper and realized he must have been putting on a condom. Right, because while undead vampires were infertile, shifters didn’t suffer from the same affliction.
Gavin slid his other hand into my hair and dragged me off his cock. He lifted my face and bowed his body, crushing his lips against mine. His kiss tasted like chocolate and exotic spices, and I realized he must have purposely bitten his lip to draw blood for me. I ravaged his mouth, kissing him like a wild thing.
Behind me, Bastian rubbed the thick head of his cock over my aching sex, then eased into my needy core. I moaned, breaking the kiss. Oh gods, he was so thick, filling me completely. It felt so fucking good.
Gavin’s gaze scoured my face, his lips curving into a knowing smile as Bastian gripped my hips and pulled out, then thrust back into me, hard and fast enough that the fronts of his thighs slapped against the backs of mine.
I found Gavin’s straining erection and stroked it roughly in time with Bastian’s steady pounding.
Gavin’s smile widened into a wicked grin. He leaned forward, pressing a bruising kiss to my lips, then pulled away and used his tangled grip in my hair to guide my face back down toward his throbbing cock. Anticipation sent a jolt of pleasure to my core, already teasing the idea of what promised to be another epic orgasm.
I took Gavin into my mouth without hesitation, sucking greedily. He didn’t thrust his hips, but held his position, letting Bastian’s rhythm guide my mouth back and forth onto his shaft. I took him as deep as I could with each forward thrust until tears welled and spilled over.
Gavin groaned, his grip on my hair tightening suddenly to hold me in place, and his body went rigid.
Behind me, Bastian slowed his pace.
I peered up at Gavin, tears staining my cheeks and saliva dribbling down my chin. He threw his head back and thrust his hips forward, spilling his pleasure down my throat. I drank him down, feeling the same rush of power as I received from his blood.
Slowly, Gavin pulled out of my mouth and once again lifted my face to his. He kissed me tenderly, worshipping my mouth as he helped me straighten up until my shoulder blades grazed Bastian’s chest. Bastian slid one hand around to the front of my body, pressing his palm against my abdomen as Gavin’s hands shifted forward from my hair to cradle my jaw.
The cooperation and tender contact between the two of them gave rise to an unexpected swell of emotion. I kind of knew Bastian. At least, I had thought I knew him before I learned he was a shifter. But I barely knew Gavin. And yet, I never wanted either immortal to let me go. In that moment, I trusted them both implicitly.
Gavin’s fingers traced over my rib cage, then trailed down the centerline of my belly, tracing around Bastian’s hand. He dragged one gentle fingertip around my needy clit, drawing delicate circles. His lips drifted over my jawline until the stubbled side of his face pressed flush against mine and the full moon at the center point of the bonding sigil I had left on his neck was mere inches from my mouth.
“You can do better than that, shifter,” he said, his voice rough. “Fuck her, hard.”
Bastian dug his fingers into my hips and rammed into me at the exact moment that Gavin pinched my clit.
I cried out, pleasure exploding from my core. My nails dug into Gavin’s shoulders, and I sank my teeth into his neck, riding the glorious waves of ecstasy, made even more intense by the decadent blood flowing over my tongue.
“Harder, shifter,” Gavin ordered hoarsely, stroking that pulsing bundle of nerves between his pinched thumb and forefinger.
I growled my agreement, arching my back and digging my teeth deeper into Gavin’s neck.
“ Harder !” Gavin urged him on.
Bastian slammed into me, the blinding pleasure from their dual onslaught whiting out my vision. The climax went on and on and on .
Until, finally, Bastian groaned and buried himself deep in my core and stayed there, his hips flush against my ass. He nuzzled the crook of my neck as he rode his own release.
Panting, I pulled away from Gavin’s neck and leaned my head back on Bastian’s shoulder as the mind-blowing orgasm faded to blissful aftershocks.
“Better?” Gavin asked, palming my sex and grazing his lips along the line of my collarbone.
Incapable of forming words, I let out a breathy laugh as both men grazed fingertips over my skin, coaxing a different kind of pleasure from my body. One borne of intimacy rather than carnal desire.
Bastian grazed his nose over the shell of my ear, then kissed a path along my jawline to my lips. He lingered there, the slow sweep of his tongue making me melt back against him.
Gavin’s lips trailed up the column of my throat, and Bastian released my mouth, allowing me to accept Gavin’s kiss.
I felt feather light, like I was floating, and my skin tingled everywhere they touched me. I sighed when Gavin, too, ended his kiss. His eyes still burned with that silver light, and his markings were still blindingly bright. I raised one hand, tracing the crescent sigil on the side of his face.
Bastian kissed my neck, then backed away and crawled to the edge of the bed. Admiringly, I watched him pad into the bathroom. How had I ever thought he was just a librarian? Everything about him screamed immortal . There was still no bonding sigil anywhere on his body, which I assumed meant he wasn’t yet an official member of my harem.
I shivered, suddenly aware of the cool feel of Gavin’s body in the absence of Bastian’s heat.
“Ah,” Gavin said, sitting back on his heels and letting his hands slip away from my body. “Apologies for the chill. I’m fairly depleted. I’ll need to replenish myself soon.”
I stared at him, slowly understanding his meaning. Because he had given me so much blood, he now needed to go out and feed. On someone else. On a human. Only queens took nourishment from other immortals. All undead vampires fed on mortals.
Well, it just so happened that I was mortal.
I pulled my hair away from my shoulder and tilted my head to the side, offering him my neck.
A faint smile touched Gavin’s lips, and he shook his head.
Heart sinking from the rejection, I shifted my legs out from under me and hugged my knees to my chest.
The skin around Gavin’s eyes tightened, and his throat bobbed. He reached out and curled his fingers around my wrist, pulling my arm away from my legs. Deftly, he unfastened the cuff from my wrist, revealing my bite scars. “I would love nothing more than to take your blood,” he said, grazing his teeth over the sensitive scar tissue.
His razor-sharp canine nicked my skin, slicing a tiny cut. A small bed of crimson welled, and he stared, transfixed. “But your body is still growing accustomed to having a ready supply of immortal blood. We must wait until your powers have fully awakened and you have stabilized.” Apparently unable to resist, he licked away the bead of blood.
That single taste made the markings on his neck flare brighter than all the other sigils on his body. He made a low, rough noise, and my attention dropped to his growing erection.
My eyes returning to Gavin’s, I held my breath, hovering in a moment of indecision. But then I parted my knees and scooted forward until I straddled his lap. I sank onto him with a sigh, and he brushed the stray locks of hair out of my face as we moved together. His lips found mine, and his arms curled around my back, holding my body flush against his.
We moved in a slow, rocking grind, our kiss never breaking. Pleasure coiled tighter in my core, and warmth swelled in my chest. Connection. Attachment. Affection. How was it possible to feel so much for someone I had only just met?
It didn’t take long for my pleasure to crest and break, ecstasy washing out from my core. I stiffened atop Gavin, and he held me close as I rode out the release. It faded quickly, for once, not fueled by the rush of actively feeding on an immortal’s blood. I slumped against him, once again melting into his kiss.
Gavin broke away, still hard and sheathed within me. The fingers of one hand tangled in my hair, curving around the back of my head, and he kissed me more deeply as I continued to ride him. I could not get enough of this man. Of having him fill me. Of feeling his arms curled around me. Of feeling the power from his blood racing through my veins.
Another orgasm shuddered through my body, and when the pleasure waned, Gavin gripped my hips to stop me from rocking atop him. “If we continue like this, you’ll be very sore, and then I won’t be able to fuck you next time.” The ghost of a smile touched his lips. “And that would be torture.”
I pulled back, my brows bunching together. “But you didn’t—” I cleared my throat, my cheeks flushing. “Um, finish.”
His expression turned guarded. “I won’t be able to until I’ve fed.”
I tensed atop him. “Will it be a woman? Who you feed on, I mean.”
“That is my preference.”
I clenched and unclenched my jaw, trying—and failing—to swallow my surging jealousy. “Will you fuck her?” The harsh words were out before I could stop myself from asking.
“Not if you don’t want me to.”
Did that mean he usually did?
My eyes stung unexpectedly. I squeezed my eyelids shut, sending tears streaking down my cheeks. I didn’t want him to, but I felt like too much of a hypocrite to admit it out loud when I had just been with another man in front of Gavin.
Bastian’s soft footsteps heralded his approach, and the mattress dipped as he sat on the foot of the bed behind me.
“I should go,” Gavin said, tightening his grip on my hips to lift me off him.
Bastian’s arms curled around me from behind, his body a furnace compared to Gavin’s chill.
I watched Gavin gather his clothes and quickly dress. “Will you remain in here with the shifter?” he asked, guiding the sleeves of his shirt onto his arms. “At least until I return?” He started to button his shirt but stopped when he reached the first missing button and quickly unfastened the rest. “In case you crash again?”
I shook my head, thinking of Micah sitting alone in the living room. “Micah—oh gods,” I groaned, mortified as I thought of Micah hearing me communing with these two immortals. We certainly hadn’t been quiet. My cheeks blazed, and I covered my face with my hands.
“This room is warded to be soundproof,” Gavin murmured, suddenly standing at the foot of the bed. He pulled my hands away from my face with cool fingers and used a curled knuckle to nudge my chin higher. “I will not fuck her,” he promised, leaning in to press a kiss to my lips. There was a wicked gleam to his silver eyes when he pulled away, and the corner of his mouth rose. “But if I did, I would be thinking about you.” And with that, he turned and strode across the room.
He stopped at the door, one hand on the doorknob, and glanced at me over his shoulder. “I’ll let Thane and Ash know the shifter will be roaming the loft freely while I’m out.” His focus shifted to Bastian. “If you try anything, they will kill you.”
And then he opened the door and was gone, the door latch clicking shut behind him. Shut, but not locked.
“Well,” Bastian muttered, “he’s a regular ol’ ray of sunshine.”
I managed a weak smile and craned my neck to see Bastian’s face. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I’m sorry if that was awkward.”
He guffawed. “Are you kidding me?” He nuzzled my neck, his rough stubble tickling my sensitive flesh. “That was the single fucking hottest moment of my life.”
“Right?” I said, laughing softly. I turned to face him. “I’m not even embarrassed about how into it I was, but I feel like I should be.”
He lifted one hand, running the pad of his thumb over my bottom lip. “You definitely should not be, and holy fuck, this mouth.” He shook his head, his lips spreading into a wondrous smile. “It’s like the eighth fucking wonder of the world.”
The blush heating my cheeks flamed hotter as he slipped the tip of his thumb past my lips.
“I was thinking about hopping in the shower,” Bastian said, his amber eyes glittering mischievously. “Want to join me? Because if we sit here like this much longer . . .”
I bit his thumb, hard but not hard enough to break the skin.
His gaze darkened.
I pulled my mouth off him, kissing the tip of his thumb before scooting to the edge of the bed to stand. “Well?” I asked, glancing back at him as I crossed the room to the open bathroom door. “Are you coming?”
“I fucking hope so,” he murmured and stood to follow me.