Athan’s grin was shameless as he tried to peer around me, the stupid smile widening when I tucked Thana into me so she was completely hidden. I wasn’t ready to share her yet. Well, truthfully, I wouldn’t ever be ready, but at some point, I would have to. I was pretty sure she would object to spending eternity locked in our bedroom.
There was another pop, and Athan was joined by Stephan, making me growl in frustration. I was painfully hard with my sexy consort—who’d just put on my ring—in my arms. I was contemplating the murder of my cockblocking brothers.
“You were right?” Stephan asked incredulously.
Athan nodded and crowed, “I told you he sounded different!” Then he cocked his head and stared at me expectantly. “Well? Are you going to introduce us to our new sister?”
I growled again and started to tell them to go the fuck away when two small hands pushed against my chest. Thana didn’t have the strength to move a single muscle in my vampiric body, but I immediately loosened my embrace so she could tip her head back and meet my gaze. “Don’t be rude,” she whispered. “We have an eternity to...um...copulate.”
Suppressing a chuckle at her sweetness, I sighed instead. “Whispering won’t do you any good around those two assholes, baby,” I warned her. “Vampire hearing.” Her entire face flushed pink and reminded me of the way she looked when it was covering her whole body as I ate her pussy. “Fuck,” I muttered as I touched my forehead to hers. “I’m going to lose my fucking mind if I don’t get inside you soo—” She slapped her hand over my mouth and peeked over my shoulder, her face aflame.
“Get out of the way, big brother,” Athan demanded when he appeared at my side. He shoved his arm between Thana and me, forcing us apart and pulling her into his arms. My fangs descended, and I snarled. If I hadn’t known he would feel absolutely nothing but brotherly love toward her, he would have been a dead man. “I’m Athan, the handsome, charming, and funny one of the bunch. Welcome to the family.”
Thana giggled and smiled at me. “I guess I go for the sexy, brooding, anti-hero type.” That brightened my mood a little.
Then Stephan shoved Athan away and gave my woman a hug, before kissing her on the forehead. I couldn’t wait until they found their consorts because I was going to make them pay.
However, watching the way Thana responded to them, I could tell that she was excited at the idea of having a family. And that made it all worth it.
Still...I grabbed Stephan by the throat and tossed him away, which sent him into a wall, leaving a body-shaped hole in the drywall. “Put your lips on my woman again, and your consort is going to be really unhappy to be mated with a dickless motherfucker.”
Thana gasped and stared at Stephan with her jaw hanging loose. “Holy crap! Are you okay?”
“Son of a bitch! That actually kind of hurt,” Stephan muttered as he jumped to his feet and dusted off his shirt and pants. He was lucky I hadn’t thrown him harder. But the walls were brick between the drywall, and though it was very solid, with my strength, I could have put him through that as well. Probably would have cracked his skull, which would have been immensely satisfying.
“Tell her you’re fine, so she’ll stop fretting and doesn’t think I’m a brute,” I demanded with a roll of my eyes.
Thana made a muffled sound, and when I glanced down at her, her eyes were glittering with amusement. She let out another muffled giggle, bringing a soft smile to my lips. “Care to share?”
“I don’t think you’re a brute…” She bit her lip and pink dusted across her nose and cheeks as she leaned a little closer. “It was kind of hot.”
Before she could say another word, I swept her up into my arms and strode toward the hallway, growling, “See yourselves out,” to my brothers as we passed them and ignoring the raucous laughter that followed.
“Bye!” Thana called with a wave over my shoulder. “It was so nice to meet you. Come to dinner tomorrow—”
“Next week,” I shouted over her. “And start calling first!”
Thana giggled all the way up to our bedroom. The sound was so sweet and melodic, but I thoroughly enjoyed the sound of her moaning five minutes later.9ThanaKieran and I spent the next week getting to know each other without many intrusions. When the police came to ask about Jonathan’s disappearance, I got to see how quickly vampiric influence worked. It took him less than five minutes to have them fully believing an embellished version of the story my aunt had come up with, complete with which flight he’d taken when he left the country and which bank he’d stopped at to withdraw enough money to live on for the rest of his life—if he hadn’t already been turned to ash. My aunt boarded a cruise ship to France without stopping by to see me again, and Kieran’s brothers were giving us the space he’d wanted. Although, much to Kieran’s annoyance, they did keep texting me funny stories about him that had me in stitches.