21. Chapter 21
21
G avin strode across the loft to the front door. I grabbed my purse off the coffee table and followed, Thane and Ash falling in step on either side of me. Micah hoisted his backpack off the floor and slipped his arms through the shoulder straps, trailing close behind us, while Bastian brought up the rear.
Pausing with his hand on the door handle, Gavin peered back at me, his expression considering. “You have no sight right now?” He wasn’t asking about my mundane vision, but my ability to see those things visible only on the ethereal plane, like sigils and ghosts.
I stopped a few steps behind him and shook my head.
“I don’t like that,” he murmured, frowning. “You should be able to see while we’re en route.” His focus shifted to Thane on my right and then to Ash on my left before returning to me. “You should feed.”
Brow furrowing, I shook my head. “But I’m not—” Hungry? Thirsty? I wasn’t quite sure of the right word. “I feel fine,” I assured Gavin.
“You only think that because your access to your gifts has been blocked for so long,” Gavin said. He nodded toward the door. “When we step beyond the protection wards in this building, we’ll be exposed. Your sight , when active, is far stronger than ours, and your sister has already proved she’s keeping watch over you. If she has another warning for you while we’re outside the wards, I want to make sure you can receive it.”
I swallowed roughly, both excited about and dreading the prospect of seeing Amaya’s ghost again. But it was the prospect of seeing another that made me nod. If Amaya was real, then Wes had to have been too. I could see him again. I could show him our son.
As soon as my chin dipped, Gavin took hold of my hand and pulled me toward the hallway that led to the bedrooms.
I glanced over my shoulder at the cluster of people waiting at the door. We were on our way out, and now they would have to wait for me to, what, have another impromptu blood orgy? Couldn’t a feeding ever just be a feeding?
“Gavin, I hardly think now is the time for—”
“This will only take a moment,” Gavin said. “Thane, you’re with us.”
I peeked over my shoulder again to see Thane behind me, his long strides eating up the distance between us until he was a dark, hulking shadow. Gavin didn’t intend for me to feed from himself but from Thane.
I suddenly felt overheated. The attraction between Thane and me was undeniable, and according to the prophetic dream from the other night, he was destined to become one of my consorts, but I hadn’t expected to be with him so soon. We had barely exchanged any words. I didn’t know the first thing about him.
Gavin led us into the large, luxurious hall bathroom, which was a striking clash of classic and modern styles, with a pale, marble tile floor and concrete countertops. He gestured to the doorway with a sweep of his hand.
I paused at the threshold, wondering if the bathroom was warded to be soundproof like the blue room. I really hoped so.
“Go on,” Gavin said, nodding to the doorway.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the bathroom. Thane followed, then Gavin, who shut the door with a faint click. The spacious bathroom suddenly felt cramped, and I backed toward the glass wall of the shower, my heart hammering. I licked my lips, my mouth already watering at the prospect of getting a taste of Thane, and a dull, desperate longing started between my legs.
Thane seemed too big for this space. The setting sun shone through the window behind me, the oranges and reds gleaming off his dark skin and turning his nearly black irises a burnished bronze.
Gavin crossed the space between us and held out a hand for me to take. I placed my hand in his, allowing him to pull me forward. Closer to him. Closer to Thane.
“Don’t be nervous,” Gavin murmured, likely feeling my hand tremble. “Blood only this time.” His words were both a relief and a disappointment.
My stare locked with Thane’s, and I planted myself directly in front of him. He leaned back against the edge of the counter, bringing him closer to my height. His chest rose and fell with breaths that were quicker than before. I offered him a slight, shaky smile, and his full lips curved with genuine warmth.
I stepped closer until my feet were between his. “Thanks for doing this,” I told him, feeling a little breathless.
Thane settled his large hands on my hips and bowed his head. “It’s my pleasure.” His thrumming voice resonated with something deep inside me.
Behind me, Gavin moved in close. “Blood only,” he said, sliding one arm around my waist to press his hand against my abdomen while the other braced me across my chest, capturing my hands and locking them against my breasts.
I pushed against his restraining hold. “Gavin . . . ”
“Blood only,” he repeated, his voice low and unwavering.
Surrendering to his hold, I leaned back against him, craning my neck so I could see his face. “This isn’t necessary,” I told him. I wasn’t a rabid, sex-starved beast. “I do have some self-control.”
“Do you?” he murmured, his eyebrows rising. “You must have misplaced it this afternoon when you nearly killed yourself binding the shifter.”
Cheeks heating, I pressed my lips together and huffed out a breath through my nose. But I didn’t argue because he wasn’t wrong. I had known better than to bind Bastian, but I had done it, anyway. I glared at Gavin on principle, but I couldn’t hold on to the annoyance, not when I was so nervous and eager to taste Thane.
The insides of Thane’s legs pressed against the outsides of mine, his warmth seeping into me through his jeans, and his thumbs swept back and forth along the outer edges of my belly, a delicate tease through the silk of my tunic.
“Take what you need,” he said as he tilted his head to the side, offering me his neck.
I licked my lips and leaned in, Gavin’s restraining hold keeping me from reaching for Thane or pressing the front of my body against his. My lips hovered a hair’s breadth from the crook of Thane’s neck, and his scent washed over me. He smelled rich and spicy but in a very different way from Gavin. I brushed my lips over his skin, feeling his pulse jump in response. His tension practically vibrated the air between us.
I bit down, gradually digging my teeth into his flesh, and he hissed in a breath and tightened his grip on my hips. The instant my teeth broke the skin, he let out a shivering sigh.
Thane’s hot, thick blood exploded into my mouth. He tasted sweet and spicy, reminding me of the molasses cookies Javier used to make every year for the winter solstice. The first swallow electrified my senses, and sigils flared to life on the walls reflected in the mirror behind Thane. Desire raged through me, and I strained against Gavin’s hold, seeking friction against my most intimate of places.
But Gavin’s arms remained unyielding. The hand he pressed firmly against my lower abdomen only amplified the pulse of need throbbing between my legs, and with the way he had my arms pinned, I couldn’t even touch myself to relieve the ache.
Gavin leaned in until his lips brushed the shell of my ear. “Not this time, Sophie,” he whispered. “Consider this punishment for disregarding my warning.”
Growling in frustration, I drank deeper.
Thane groaned and leaned his head forward, resting his forehead on my shoulder.
Each swallow pushed me closer to the edge. At this rate, I wouldn’t need any contact at all to reach a physical release. A few more pulls of Thane’s blood might just do the trick.
“That’s enough,” Gavin said, stepping back and dragging me with him.
My lips unsealed from Thane’s shoulder with a wet pop , and I whimpered. I had been so close.
Thane’s hands fell away from my hips, and he hung his head, his broad shoulders rising and falling with each quick, heavy breath. Blood seeped from the bite mark on his neck, staining the collar of his dark T-shirt, but the wound was already closing.
“Leave us,” Gavin said, his voice quiet and authoritative.
Practically panting with need, I watched Thane pull a washcloth from those artfully rolled and stacked in the cubby under the counter, wet it with water from the faucet, and wipe the blood from his neck. He glanced at me, an inferno of desire blazing in his dark eyes.
“Next time,” he said, his voice dripping with promise. He opened the door, stepped out into the hallway, and pulled the door shut, leaving me alone with Gavin.
My bound vampire stared at me in the mirror, his irises illuminated with silver moonlight. The hard length of his erection pressed into my lower back, and tension coiled his muscles, making his arms tremble. He was struggling against the urge to yank down my leggings, bend me over the counter, and fuck me. I knew it—not as a gut instinct, but something more, bleeding into me through our bond.
I rubbed my ass against Gavin, hoping to coax him into action.
His arms tightened around me, restricting my breath. “Do that again,” he hissed, “and I will leave you to walk out of here in this state.”
I froze, my entire body shivering with unfulfilled need.
Gavin bunched up the front of my tunic and dipped the tips of his fingers into the waistline of my leggings. Shifting his other arm, he covered my mouth with his large hand, muffling the needy sounds clawing up my throat. His eyes locked with mine in the mirror’s reflection. “Next time you will heed my warning,” he murmured.
Whimpering, I nodded. In my present state, I would have agreed to anything to get him to shift his hand lower.
“Next time you endanger yourself so recklessly, I will personally ensure you don’t come for a week,” he promised, his breath hot against my ear. And then he shoved his hand deeper into my pants, his fingers gliding over my slick sex.
He pinched my swollen clit between two fingers, and I cried out against his palm, shattering as pleasure exploded from my core. My body spasmed under the onslaught of the crashing, agonizing waves of ecstasy. It didn’t drag on, as it would have done were I actively drinking immortal blood, but for once, I was glad of the orgasm’s brevity, sharp and violent as it was. Much more of that brutal pleasure, and I feared I would pass out.
I sagged in Gavin’s hold, and he shifted his hand back up to my belly.
He pulled his hand away from my mouth. “Can you stand on your own?” he asked, his voice gentler than before.
“I think so,” I said between ragged breaths. My legs were shaky, but they felt steadier with each beat of my heart.
Gavin’s hold loosened, and his hands trailed down my body before falling away. He stepped to the side and adjusted himself to reduce the obvious bulge in the front of his slacks before moving forward to wash his hands at the sink. His powerful body was wire tight with unspent need.
Realizing I may have overestimated my legs’ steadiness, I leaned back against the wall as I straightened my leggings and tunic.
Gavin watched me in the reflection, both the crescent sigil curved along the side of his face and the bonding sigil wrapped around his neck glowing steadily. “If we didn’t have somewhere to be . . .” His gaze roved over me. Blowing out a breath, he shut off the water and reached for the hand towel hanging on the wall. “But we do.”
He dried his hands, then moved closer to wipe away the blood staining my lips and chin. Once I was cleaned up, he pulled the door open and stepped out into the hallway, where he waited for me.