6. Pasha
Fyodor’s Rules #18 - Take care of yourself first, your brothers, and sister next. Everyone else can take care of themselves.
“You want me to fucking what!”
Lukas hadn’t been home in two days. Now that he’d returned, I was pretty sure he was about to launch himself across Nikolai’s table and murder him right in front of us. His two dogs were growling beside him. All in all, this talk that Nikolai had insisted was important was not going very well at all.
None of us were happy about what Nikolai had just said, but Lukas’ reaction was the most visceral. I just leaned back in my seat and sipped my coffee while Alexei was smirking like a maniac. But that may have had more to do with having spent the afternoon in the basement with the men Lukas had dragged in for him to question. Now he had a bowl full of skin strips to snack on while watching the drama unfold. Of course, we all knew that Alexei questioning people actually meant torture, but sometimes you had to put a pretty face on ugly things.
“Not just you, all of us. You had to know this was coming, Lukas. It wasn’t like we could all stay single forever. And why would we want to? Marriage was always on the cards, either as a political alliance or not. Unless you’re going to tell me you’ve secretly been seeing someone, with none of us finding out. I know you don’t have any alternatives. It’s not like I am going to marry you off to the first person who proposes, I don’t hate you that much. But we need allies, especially now, and marriage is the best way to secure those ties. If we each marry into a different family, then we will maintain our neutral status. Rather than being tied to no one, we will have ties to everyone.”
He was making sense, but Nikolai usually did. That’s why he did the talking, rather than me. Sure, I could charm the pants off a bishop, and the bra out from under a nun’s habit. I’d say panties, but I’d found out most didn’t wear those. But laying an argument out and making something seem like it was the best choice, even when you hated it, that was a skill I didn’t have the patience for.
The dogs had stepped forward, teeth bared, and yet Nikolai didn’t flinch. How he managed it, I would never know. I had grown up with those hounds, watching them get bigger the more power Lukas gained, and they fucking terrified me. Maybe it was a vampire thing. He was the bigger predator, so he wasn’t scared.
Speaking of which, as I looked at Nikolai, I could see how pale he was getting. His eyes were rimmed in red. I knew he hadn’t fed from me in a couple of weeks, and while he might have fed from the others, I wasn’t betting on it. Lukas had barely been in the house, and Alexei was always fifty-fifty on whether he’d let Nikolai feed or if he’d stab him for his troubles. His feeding was always easier when we were all together, and he could take a little from each of us. However, I wasn’t stupid enough to suggest that right now. Sure, hate sex was fun and all, but we needed to get Lukas to calm down enough to order the dogs out of the room, at the very least.
“We don’t need anyone else. We’ve never needed anyone else. Isn’t that what all the lessons, and the training were about? Relying on each other!” Lukas paced, and while Nikolai’s office was big, it was not big enough to hold Lukas’ temper if he lost it. Looking around, I calculated the value of the damage he’d be able to inflict before Nikolai pinned him. It would have to be at least $10,000, there wasn’t any point in doing less.
“Fyodor isn’t here. He doesn’t know what we’re going through. If he was still alive, do you really think he wouldn’t have married each of us off to someone by now?”
I winced at Nikolai’s words, and I saw Alexei do the same. If Fyodor was still alive, then Yana would be too and Lukas would probably be married to her. It was something he would never forget, and we did our best not to remind him.
The air had gone still. So still I worried that time had stopped. While it wasn’t an ability that any of us possessed, that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Fyodor may not have been around anymore to do his experiments, but that didn’t mean we had stopped pushing ourselves.
When Lukas let out a stream of Welsh curse words, I tensed and shifted back further in my seat. Things were bad if he switched to Welsh. Fyodor had always insisted that we speak either English or Russian. But Lukas and I had both grown up speaking a different language before we came to live with him. Lukas now only spoke Welsh when he was truly furious. I had never really let go of Romanian, either. There were enough Slavic loanwords that I didn’t get in too much trouble, but mostly I spoke it when Fyodor hadn’t been around. Since he and Yana had been taken from us, I now spoke it as often as I could. It had felt more important than ever to hold on to that part of myself.
Nikolai was still sitting there, unflinching. He didn’t move until Lukas had stormed from the room, hounds on his heels, his loud curses following him down the hall. When the door closed behind him, I watched Nikolai’s shoulders droop slightly.
“Just give him some time to calm down, Niko. You know how he gets about this sort of thing. He’ll be different when you introduce him to the girl. He’d never be rude to a woman who didn’t deserve it.”
The scoff that came from Alexei had me turning and narrowing my eyes.
“What, Pasha? He’ll think she deserves it just because she isn’t Yana. He needs to get over her. Lukas acts like she was his fated mate, and not just the girl we grew up with.”
I raised my eyebrow at Alexei’s words. I knew, much as he did, that Yana wasn’t just some girl we had grown up with. Unfortunately, she had also been dead for more than a decade. We all needed to move on.
“You’re right Nikolai. We need allies. Find us each someone we can talk to at the Masquerade. I’ll convince Lukas to fall in line.” It would take some work, but if any of us could do it, it was me. Nikolai had enough on his shoulders trying to keep us out of a war against an unknown enemy. And that was probably what was really bothering Lukas, anyway. Alexei had nothing useful to offer after his time in the basement, and we were no closer to working out who was attacking us. It had everyone on edge.
Nikolai looked like he wanted to argue, but he finally nodded.
“When was the last time you fed?” I asked, but knew from the immediate guilty look on his face that I would not like the answer.
“I had a small drink from Alexei about a week ago. I’ve been too busy.”
Technically, Nikolai didn’t need blood. He could get by on just regular food. But if he didn’t feed for more than a few days, he became sluggish, and lost access to most of his magic and all his vampiric abilities. It didn’t stop him from starving himself, though. Some nonsense about not wanting to be a burden on us. As though any of us judged him for what his body needed.
Getting up from my seat, I looked over at Alexei, who leaned back in his seat like he was making himself more comfortable. His bowl was balanced in one hand as he dropped slivers of skin onto his tongue with the other, then swallowed, savoring the taste. I made my way around Nikolai’s desk, his eyes locked on me the entire time. He remained tense, like he was expecting me to attack. Funny thing, I planned to, it just would not hurt.
Pushing his chair back, I sat on his desk, my legs pushing between his spread thighs. “You really need to stop starving yourself like this. You’re not a bother to us, Nikolai. We need you to be at full strength, especially with everything that’s going on,” I appealed to that side of him, the one that always wanted to protect us. “Besides, you know how much I like it.”
Leaning back slightly, I hooked my feet around his calves to help me balance and keep him from pulling away. I didn’t have time for his guilt today. Unbuttoning my shirt, I smirked as I heard Alexei move in behind me. I had been wondering if he was going to resist. He didn’t always join us, sometimes he just watched. I didn’t mind an audience, but things were always better when everyone joined in.
Gripping my shirt at the collar, Alexei wrenched it down my arms, but did not pull it all the way off. With my arms now forced behind my back, he did something with the fabric, and I was restrained, unable to pull my wrists apart. Fuck, so this was how we were going to play it?
Nikolai intently watched the two of us, leaning forward, his hands trailed up the outside of my thighs, his fingers digging in. He wasn’t close enough for me to kiss, but that was okay. I went to lean forward, when suddenly there was a sharp knife pressed to my throat. It wasn’t the first time Alexei had brought a knife into the bedroom—or office, as it was right now—I kept still and held my breath.
Nikolai’s pupils dilated as he watched where the metal slightly dug into my skin. His fangs were digging into his lip, and his fingers were gripping my thighs so tightly that I knew I would bruise. I was probably lucky he hadn’t fed recently, or with his extra strength, my bones would be at risk, given how hard he was holding me.
Alexei’s breath was warm against my ear as he leaned his chin casually on my shoulder. I didn’t have to turn my head to know he was smirking. He was always smirking, like life was one big joke, but he was the only one in on the punch line.
“He really does like it, Nik. The feeling of blood on his skin. The sharp pain of your fangs as they dig in deeper as you try to get the blood to flow faster into your mouth. That ache as you draw deeper on him.”
As he spoke, I felt the sharp twinge of his blade pierce my skin, then the warmth of my blood welling along the edge of the knife. I couldn’t have stopped myself from bucking my hips upwards and whining softly even if I tried.
This wasn’t fair . . ..
Nikolai was still staring, hypnotized, at my throat. He had now bitten through his lip, and blood dripped down his chin. I could see the way his nostrils flared as he inhaled the coppery scent of my blood. I couldn’t believe he was sitting so still.
“Move the fucking knife, Alexei.” His voice was a deep growl that felt like it was vibrating down my spine. I wanted to pull him closer, but I couldn’t move without the risk of injuring myself further on Alexei’s blade. There was no one better with a knife than Alexei, or who kept them sharper.
As soon as the metal cleared my skin, two things happened. Alexei ran his tongue along the blade, and I heard him hiss as the knife nicked his tongue, his blood and mine mingling. At the same time, Nikolai growled again and tugged me forward, pulling me off the desk and into his lap. I could feel his cock straining against his pants, but that thought fled my mind as his fangs plunged into my throat. All I could think about was the white-hot flash of pain as it lanced through my whole body.
Nikolai had tried different ways of feeding over the years, but there wasn’t a pain free way for fangs to pierce skin. But he wouldn’t listen when I told him I enjoyed the pain, the sting of it made all my nerves come alive, and it never failed to leave me breathless and needy. Sometimes it was good to have a sadist like Alexei around to show him just how much I could take.
The sting of Alexei’s blade was a brief distraction as he sliced through both sides of my trousers.
“One day you idiots will learn to undress before you start to grind on each other.” He sounded more amused than annoyed as he ruined my clothes.
Nikolai chose that moment to stand, taking me with him, and my trousers fell in ribbons to the floor as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I had no choice but to cling to him as he continued to draw mouthfuls of blood from my vein and laid me on his desk.
Fuck, he looked good looming over me.
With my head forced to the side, I could see Alexei twirling his knife between his fingers. He looked at the two of us like he was trying to decide where to stab me. While I liked the pain, I wasn’t in the mood for stitches today. Reaching out, I hooked a couple of fingers into one of his belt loops and pulled him closer.
“Want to taste you.”
Did I sound like I was begging? Yes, but there was no shame in the lust game. The thought of being full of them both while Nikolai fed on me had me grinding desperately against the front of Nikolai’s suit pants.
It was always easier to convince Nikolai to fuck me like I truly wanted him to when he was feeding from me. His bloodlust kicked in, and all those violent, predatory instincts took over. Grinding against him earned me a growl against my throat, and his hands left my hips. They didn’t go far, one wrenching the front of his trousers open, as the other dug into my ass. He pulled me tighter against him, rutting hard against me. This was what I wanted.
Would it have been better if Lukas joined us? Of course it would. But if he wanted to be all up in his feels, that was his business. He was the one missing out.
Knowing Nikolai as well as I did, I knew he was too deep in his feeding frenzy to worry about prepping me properly. The only thing that mattered to him right now were the three Fs. Feeding, fucking, and . . . something else, I honestly didn’t care what the third “F” was. Alexei was running his blade down my cheek as he stroked his cock, and I knew my window was closing.
Not wanting to end up with an unintended injury that I couldn’t just walk off, I pulled on my Spring Court magic. A few muttered words and I could feel my muscles relax as warmth filled me and my rear passage became slick. Not a moment too soon, either. Nikolai’s rutting motions had the tip of his cock pressed to my ass, insistent in its quest for entrance.
Alexei must have been watching what Nikolai was doing closer than I thought. As Nikolai was pushing his cock into me at one end, Alexei pressed his tip against my lower lip.
“No teeth, Zolotse.” His words sounded sweet, but my brain buzzed at the contrast to the knife against my cheek that felt like a threat.
Both things pushed my buttons, and my lips parted eagerly. His cock slid along my tongue, moving so deep into my mouth that he was lucky I didn’t gag. Like I would ever gag on a cock. This was my happiest place on earth.
Lost in sensation, a mix of pleasure and pain, I didn’t even need to be touching my cock. Although the way that Nikolai was plastered to me, every time he thrust, his abs slid over the underside of my cock. It tugged lightly on the piercings of my Jacob’s ladder and was absolutely the cherry on top of a bliss sundae.
Alexei was letting Nikolai set the pace and matching his every stroke. Nikolai wasn’t sucking on my throat as hungrily. His fangs had pulled back, and he was just letting my blood well up into his mouth, his tongue licking and coaxing it out of the two puncture marks in my flesh. His growls had taken on a more satisfied tone and were paced with his thrusts, rather than his swallows.
My arms were over my head, wrists bound with my shirt, one hand still gripped the front of Alexei’s jeans by the belt loop. The other was curled around his thigh, not wanting him to pull back from me.
I could have stayed like this for hours, but Nikolai never lasted long when he reached this state. His thrusts were already pushing me across his desk, and he had to return his hands to my hips to keep me from moving too far. It had the added benefit of letting him pull me into each thrust, the slap of his skin against mine, a steady rhythm that was better than any music I’d ever heard.
Alexei wasn’t any gentler. Now that he didn’t have to worry about a vampire literally biting off his hand for daring to move my head, he slid his fingers into my hair, yanking it hard. My head was forced back over the edge of the desk. With nothing to stop him, his next thrust pushed into my throat. Fuck, I hadn’t been expecting this when Nikolai had called us in for a meeting. My voice was going to be all scratchy tomorrow. Maybe everyone would be in a better mood, though.
I couldn’t think about anything other than the two of them and the way they thrust into me. While I wanted my thighs to be clamped around Nikolai’s waist, he’d bent my knees back so they were almost against my chest, holding me tight. Every thrust made me want to curse and whimper, but all I could do was suck on Alexei’s cock and hope one of them took pity on me.
The sound of Alexei’s knife slamming into Nikolai’s desk made my body twitch. The blade was still vibrating next to my head with the force that he’d used to jam it into the wood. I didn’t have time to think about it though, as both of his hands were in my hair now, his thrusts speeding up, as he tried to push deeper into my throat. My back arched against the desk, my brain getting fuzzy from both the blood loss and the lack of oxygen.
No one knew how much a body could take better than Alexei. It was a skill developed in torture, but it also came in useful during situations like this. Just as I felt my lungs burn, the small desperate breaths of oxygen I pulled through my nose no longer enough, Alexei cursed colorfully in Russian. I felt like he was trying to bury himself in my mouth forever, the way he was grinding against my lips. Normally I would be annoyed, him coming in my throat like this rather than into my mouth where I could taste it, but I didn’t have the brain space to be anything but satisfied.
Not with Nikolai slamming just as deep into me from the other end. He joined Alexei in his orgasm, their groans blending like the height of an aria. It was all too much, my own spend spilled over my stomach, slicking my skin and Nikolai’s alike.
Nikolai slumped against me, nuzzling my throat, his tongue still swirling over the finally clotted wound on my neck. Alexei pulled back just his hips but kept his hands in my hair as he collapsed into the seat I had vacated earlier. His fingernails worked against my scalp, drawing out my sense of bliss.
“See?” My voice was hoarse, the words mumbled. “You should definitely feed more often.” Their laughter wrapped around me like a warm blanket. I was going to need a long bath and a nap after this.