Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Nyx’s Kingdom Pleasure House
London, UK
Laurence “Laurie” Yates was writing down ideas for the following month’s themed rooms and balls when Joseph Hope—his friend and business partner—grunted loudly. After looking up, Laurie blinked. A female sat in Joseph’s lap, unconscious, with bits of leaves and twigs in her hair.
Before he could do more than blink, the other male groaned and put a hand to his head. And then took a breath. And another.
It took him a second to recognize what was happening—the female had just blooded his best friend, meaning the female was his fated one.
A thread of sadness and jealousy shot through him, but Laurie pushed it aside. His own feelings didn’t matter, but the female appearing out of nowhere meant his sister-in-law, Yesenia, had been using her magic again.
Yesenia was a time-wielder, and had been bringing people from the future to their fated ones in this time period; three in total so far. But they’d all previously landed in her husband’s home.
As Joseph closed his eyes and continued to breathe, the female started to slump and tumble off his lap. Laurie rushed over just in time to catch her before she landed on the floor. As her soft body collided with his, he noticed her pointed ears.
But that was the last thought he had before a loud clanging filled his head. Over and over again, getting louder and louder, to the point he wanted to scream. He just barely managed to lay the female on the ground before it became overwhelming, and he felt like he might vomit.
He sucked in a breath, and another, the pain lessening a little as the sound continued to clang inside his mind.
Once he finally didn’t feel like his head might explode, it hit him—he was breathing.
The female had blooded him.
After opening his eyes, he met Joseph’s dark brown ones, and judging by Joseph’s gaze, he understood the same thing—the female had blooded them both.
Meaning the three of them were fated ones.
A thread of joy shot through Laurie as he’d always wanted to be blooded, and especially with both Joseph and a female. They’d always enjoyed being a threesome the most, back when they could still get hard and have sex.
But before he could say a word to his longtime friend and former lover, the female on the ground groaned, and they both rushed to her side.
Laurie brushed some hair off her face, and despite the leaves and smudges of dirt, he couldn’t believe how pretty she was. Full lips, a soft, round face, and while her nose was slightly too long, it added a dash of character.
But as he scanned her face, something niggled at him. Something about her was familiar, and yet he couldn’t quite place it.
Joseph finally spoke. “She looks a little like River.”
River Vale was the fae witch healer married to Laurie’s sister, Nora.
And who had a younger sister named Meadow.
Laurie shook his head. “No, it can’t be.”
Joseph raised an eyebrow. “Shall we bet on it? Because I’m nearly positive this is Meadow, the youngest Vale sibling.”
“The one who controls lust and desire, but hates her powers? That one? Bloody hell, maybe it’s true that vampires having fated ones really is a curse put on us by the fae witches centuries ago.”
Of all the females to blood them, one who hated lust and desire and sex was the worst possible fit. Because Laurie and Joseph ran a pleasure house where different paranormals—and occasional humans—came to live out sex fantasies or interests or to merely spice things up in their marriages.
Sex and pleasure was their livelihood, and if this was indeed Meadow, she wanted nothing to do with it, according to Yesenia and River.
Joseph reached out and traced the female’s cheek, gentle in a way only Laurie and their former shared bed partners had seen. Usually Joseph was quiet and serious to the world. Laurie was one of the few who knew he used it as a shield.
His best friend removed his hand from the female’s face and murmured, “Maybe we’re the best ones to help her embrace her powers. Have you thought of that?”
Before he could answer, the female groaned, the sound shooting straight to Laurie’s cock. But somehow he managed to tame his lust, not wanting to scare her, and had himself under control by the time she fluttered her eyelids open.
“Are you hurt?” Laurie asked.
The female’s hazel eyes met his, then darted to his mouth—or more specifically, his fangs—and she screamed as she backed away.
Joseph shared a look before the other male stated, “We won’t hurt you.
I know that’s what a villain might say, but it’s true.
We know River and Yesenia. And if you calm down, we can send for them to come and see you. ”
The female blinked a second, shook her head, and replied, “No, you’re lying. You work with Derrick, I know it.” She paused and muttered, “Here we go again,” before looking at Laurie.
For one beat, and then another, she merely stared. Then she frowned. “What the hell?” She looked at Joseph, staring again, and then her frown deepened. “I don’t understand. Who are you?”
It hit Laurie what she’d been trying to do—use her powers.
He held up his hand and pointed to a ring on his thumb. “Your powers won’t work on us, Meadow. Both of us bought these protection rings decades ago.”
“Wait, how do you know my name?”
She glanced from Laurie to Joseph, and back again.
Joseph answered first, “I’m Joseph, and he’s Laurence, although everyone calls him Laurie.
We run a pleasure house in London, hence why we have protection rings.
We can’t risk being manipulated by any fae witch that visits and uses their magic as part of their play. ”
She blinked. “What is a pleasure house?”
Having spent enough time with River Vale, Laurie knew how to better explain it. “A sex club. After passing a thorough security check, people pay exorbitant fees for a membership to have fun here without judgement. Consensual fun. We don’t condone rape or illegal acts here.”
Well, mostly for the latter. Humans still had laws against sodomy and other practices, but the paranormals did not. So Laurie and Joseph played by paranormal laws since they were in the vampire territory of London.
It was only then that Laurie noticed the bag strapped across her body. She stood, took out a rectangular object, tapped it, and after about a minute, cursed.
Joseph crossed his arms over his chest and said, “If that’s the device River talked about, a cell-you-lar telephone that functions without wires, it won’t work here. This is 1890 London. We have telephones, but they’re still rare. Telegraphs are far more common.”
“Telegraphs?” she echoed. “As in the tapping machine things?”
Laurie resisted a smile, and before Joseph could go into the history of telephones and telegraphs—his friend loved tinkering with electrical objects—he said, “Look out of the window beside you. That’ll probably be more helpful than two strangers telling you to believe them.”
She kept a close watch on them as she inched closer to the window. After pulling aside the curtain, she glanced out and instantly dropped the fabric. “No way. That’s impossible.”
“Hmm, let me guess what you saw—carriages pulled by horses, strange dresses, or maybe even the food stalls on the street?” He took in her appearance, namely the brightly colored and oversized trousers covered in…
cats? Wait, no, cats reading books? Her shirt was also oversized, but not big enough to hide the shape of her breasts. Her unconfined breasts, at that.
As he stared at her, his heart pounded, and blood rushed south. It’d been so long since he had either a male or female, let alone shared one with Joseph.
Which he could now do since his heart beat again.
Before memories could inspire what he wanted to do with both this female and Joseph in his bed, his friend spoke up. “Let us send for your siblings. Whilst you wait in the small parlor attached to our office, I can ring for tea and cakes.”
Laurie resisted rolling his eyes. Leave it to Joseph to be proper and still have his manners when a female had quite literally appeared out of thin air and had to be scared out of her mind.
After clearing his throat, Laurie said, “I’ll send a note to my brother and sister, and they’ll bring River and Yesenia without delay. Joseph, stay with her and give her anything she wants.”
The other male nodded, and Laurie rushed out of the room, eager to ease Meadow’s worries and fears. His instinct to claim her thudded inside him, and would only get worse with time.
Somehow, some way, he and Joseph would need to ease her into this world and convince her they both needed to claim her with fangs and cock.
Otherwise, they’d slowly go mad.
However, they had some time before that happened. So for now, excitement hummed through him. After so many years in his frozen state, wishing and hoping for his fated one, he was eager to get everything started and finally begin the future he’d always wanted.
Joseph Hope watched as Meadow Vale kept her back to the wall, her eyes darting between the door and himself.
He hoped Laurie didn’t take too bloody long. After what had happened with first Yesenia, and then River and Reika, Joseph was familiar with the shock of first arriving in a different time period. At least now there were several others to help convince her of the truth.
He still couldn’t believe the female had blooded not only him, but Laurie as well.
Part of him worried that too much time had passed since he and Laurie had firmly put their relationship into only being friends and business partners.
The fact Meadow had blooded them both meant they would have to claim her, but it wasn’t necessarily required for he and Laurie to claim each other as well.