Chapter 17 #2
“Here,” Thorian says, and I blink, realizing he’s drifted closer to me in the water. He lifts his hand up out of the water, which cascades from his arm. Everything is in technicolor, bright and luminescent. Slowly, he lifts his hand to my cheek, wiping at something there.
This part is perfect. If we stand, we’ll be partway out of the water, but lying back in the water like this we can just drift. It feels safe, warm, and comfortable.
“You’ve got something here, too,” Fenric says, appearing at my shoulder, swiping a thumb over the back.
“And here,” Talon says, brushing my hair over the other shoulder and lowering his mouth to where my pulse is hammering in my neck. He doesn’t bite, just runs his tongue over the skin as though he genuinely only wanted to lick it clean.
This has to be a dream, pooled in the warm water, surrounded by soft, supple skin on all sides.
“You are so handsome,” I say, sucking in a breath, trailing my hands up over Thorian’s chest. He closes his eyes, his hand dipping from my cheek down to my chin.
I turn, dislodging Talon, turning to Fenric, who I touch on the shoulder.
“So handsome,” I whisper, trailing my lips over the spot I am touching, not missing the way Fenric shivers at the touch.
And when I turn to Talon, he’s already staring at me with desire in his eyes like I’ve never seen before. “I know I’m handsome, Nyx,” he murmurs, “but more than that, I’m so damn hungry.”
I expect Thorian and Fenric to tense, to worry, but all they do is drift closer as we rise until we're standing half in the water, our chests and backs exposed to the cool air. Their hands find me. Thorian’s closes over my hip, and Fenric’s traces up and down my side, up to my chest, grazing so lightly over my nipple I’m not sure I really feel it at all.
They shift even closer, if possible, surrounding me like a wall of flesh and muscle.
“If you’re hungry,” I say, tipping my chin up to Talon, “do something about it.”
He swallows, and his eyes dip down to my neck. When I step toward him, angling it up for him, Thorian and Fenric come with me, like magnets drawn to me.
But rather than lower his mouth to my neck, Talon surprises me by lowering it to my lips, instead.
The kiss is deep, exploring, his tongue sliding against mine, his breath seeming to pull from my lungs.
My body reacts, my chest arching against his, and when I groan, Fenric and Thorian groan too.
Fenric cups a hand around my ass. Thorian reaches between Talon and I to take one of my breasts in his palm, dragging me back so I’m pressed against his chest, sandwiched between them.
It’s like every part of me is being touched, sparking with desire. Like I’m drowning in pleasure.
As young teens, Lyra and I used to daydream about our future husbands. We’d giggle and hide our faces in our hands as we flipped through our mother’s romance books. Even amongst those imaginings, talks of buff men and their chiseled jaws, I never could have conjured this moment.
So charged. So gentle. So wanting.
Talon pulls back from the kiss, trailing his lips down over my chin, his thumb pulling down at my bottom lip.
I whimper at the touch, at everything. Thorian is breathing heavily behind me, and Fenric’s heat radiates through the water around us, his hands insistent and hot as they brush over my side, over my hip.
"Are you sure?" Talon whispers, his lips positioned over my pulse, ready. I can feel it skipping beneath his mouth, and let out a low moan when Thorian turns my head and kisses me deeply, his mouth unhurried and thorough, like he has all the time in the world and intends to use it.
Fenric has busied himself with my shoulder, his lips trailing warm and slow, his hips rocking gently against my side, his eagerness evident against my leg beneath the water.
It feels like enough and not enough, all at once.
Thorian pulls back from the kiss, his breath unsteady, his hands firm at my hips. His length pressed against my lower back. He looks at me with dark, serious eyes.
"Is this the drink?" he asks. "Or is this you?"
What? Oh.
"It's me," I say, without hesitation. "The drink isn't making me do anything I don't want to do." I hold his gaze. "It's helping me do what I've wanted to do for a long time. What I’ve been planning to do for a while."
Fenric stills against my shoulder. "You're certain?"
"I'm certain."
Talon lifts his mouth from my pulse just enough to speak. "If I feed while—"
"Yes," I say. "I know. I want that too."
Thorian kisses me again, deeper this time, one hand coming up to cup my face, tilting my head exactly where he wants it.
I feel Fenric's mouth return to my skin and Talon's breath warm at my neck, and my entire body hums with it.
My core is molten, my skin impossibly sensitive.
Every brush of the water is like a caress.
"What do you want, Nyx?" Thorian murmurs against my mouth.
"I want all of you," I say. "Whatever you want to do with me."
He makes a low sound and finds me under the water, nudging my legs apart gently. I tremble.
"Just—" I take a breath. "I should tell you. I've never done this before."
Thorian exhales slowly, his forehead dropping to mine. "It’s okay. We know. We’ll go slowly. And we’ll take care of you."
"We will," Fenric agrees softly, his hand warm at my waist.
"Trust us," Talon murmurs.
And I do.
"My bite will relax her more," Talon says, pulling back slightly, his eyes still locked on my neck.
My pulse flutters. I think about what that means, his teeth breaking skin, and feel a flicker of uncertainty before it dissolves almost immediately.
This is Talon. He has never once done anything to harm me.
He stepped in front of a spell meant to kill me without a second thought. He would not hurt me now. Now or ever.
I trust him. I trust all of them.
And then I let myself think, for just a moment, about what this will actually be.
All three of them. Thorian's certainty and control, Fenric's warmth, Talon's easy confidence.
Three men who have watched me survive things I didn't think I could survive, who have held me together when I was coming apart, who I’ve wanted in quiet and not so quiet ways for longer than I've been willing to admit.
Whatever this is, I know with complete and sudden certainty that it's going to be extraordinary.
"Fenric. It should be you first," Thorian says, meeting the berserker's eyes over my shoulder. "Can you be gentle with her?"
“Me first?” Fenric looks shocked.
“You’re the smallest,” Talon says with a little smirk.
Fenric looks down at his erection. “First time I’ve been the smallest, ever. First time that’s been a good thing too.”
I laugh. “I mean, that’s like saying you’re the smallest in a room full of giants.”
He grins. “Thanks. I think.”
“But I want to be with all of you—”
“Shh.” Thorian runs a hand along my spine. “Soon, we’ll be able to do more. But for your first time, you need…” He sounds like it’s the last thing he wants to say. “You need Fenric. He’ll ease you into it.”
Glancing behind me, I stare at the massive thing that’s Thorian’s erection. It bobs over the water like it has a mind of its own. I want it. I want him. But I do have some doubts about how we’ll fit together.
The men shift around. Fenric comes to stand before me. Talon is behind me. And Thorian is at my side. I don’t quite know what that means, but they seem to know without a word.
"Are you ready?" Talon murmurs against my neck, his breath warm on my pulse.
Am I ready? Ready to be bit? My mind goes to everything I know about vampires. Their bite is supposed to feel amazing. It’s addicting. It’s why they have thralls. This should feel good, and I trust him.
So why not?
"Yes," I breathe.
He sinks his fangs in.
I gasp, a full-body shudder moving through me, but it doesn't hurt. What it does is open something, warmth flooding outward from the point of his bite in slow, rolling waves, and the sound Talon makes against my skin is low and deeply satisfied, like he's been waiting for this.
The berries have already made everything brighter, more vivid, every sensation amplified past what I'm accustomed to.
The water against my skin feels like silk.
The heat of it, the steam rising softly around us, the sound of it moving.
All of it is heightened, crystalline, and then Talon's bite adds another layer on top of that and my thoughts go soft and warm and golden at the edges.
Talon adjusts himself behind me, his chest against my back, and I feel him hard and insistent against me, His cock begins a slow, steady rhythm against my ass as his hands come around to cup my breasts. His thumbs brush over my nipples and I make a sound I don't recognize as my own.
Fenric is in front of me, his face close, his warm brown eyes searching mine with a gentleness that makes my chest ache. He's big. I can feel him against my stomach, his cock hard and hot between us, and the knowledge of what's coming makes my pulse stutter.
"Still okay?" he asks.
"Yes," I manage. "Please."
Thorian is at my side. He places one hand on my stomach, and I turn to look at him.
Our gazes hold as he slides his hands down my stomach, lower and lower.
Lower and lower. Until he brushes the top of my mound, and I instinctually spread my legs.
He shudders, then slides his hand lower until he’s gently running his thumb over my entrance.
I take deep breaths that rattle my whole body as Talon continues to feed on my throat.
Talon flicks my nipples, and a shiver rolls through me, and then Thorian is parting my lower lips.
He dips his finger inside of me, touching me in a way no man has ever touched me before.
But to my surprise, it doesn’t just feel nice.
It feels amazing. Almost soothing. And then, he touches me in a certain spot, and I gasp, realizing he found my clit.
Women talk about that magical spot, but I’ve never known it until now.