“You’re scared,” I said, studying her closely. I would share her with Blade, but no one else. Blade was closer than any brother, and I would trust no other to help me keep her safe. “Scared to have two lovers?”
“Um, no. I’ve—never mind. The past doesn’t matter.”
She flushed a bright crimson, her neck and face turning an intriguing shade of pink. Embarrassed? “You’ve taken two lovers before?” I asked.
She nodded and my smile nearly hurt. “Good. Then what are you afraid of?”
“We won’t hurt you,” Blade offered, leaning in close once more, his lips brushing her cheek. “We will take care of you. Protect you. Worship you.”
She shook her head, quivering in my grasp.
“Still afraid? Of us?” Blade asked.
Harper shook her head. “No. Not you. Your fangs? That you’ll bite me? Uh, yeah.” She tugged at my hold on her wrists, and I refused to let her go. Not now, not when she discovered how we would claim her. It would have been so much easier if our mate had come from Rogue 5, but no. We had to find a female who knew nothing about us, about our need to bite our mate as we fucked her in order to claim her. To mark her with our teeth at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. The idea even more daunting with both me and Blade since we would claim her together.
Not all Hyperions would share a mate. There were no laws regarding this. Hell, there weren’t many laws at all on Rogue 5. We did what we wished within our own rules, rules that had to be obeyed.
Rules I made.
Rules I now wanted to break. For her.
Blade breathed her in, his eyes drifting closed in pleasure she could not see as he absorbed her into himself. Memorized her scent, as I had. “We will not bite you here. Now. Not in the back hallway of a canteen.”
“So, you’ll save the vampire act for later. Oh, well, that makes me feel so much better. That solves everything.”
Sarcasm dripped from every word. And what in the name of the gods was a vampire?
“Do not fear the claiming. By the time we sink our fangs into your flesh, you will be begging for it,” Blade whispered into her hair and she shivered, eyes closed, the movement passing through her entire body and into mine. Yes. She wanted us. Needed us. Needed this.
She huffed. “When I finish my time in my MedRec unit, I go back to Earth. You guys are barking up the wrong tree with this mating and biting stuff.”
“It is not our teeth that you fear,” I said. “It’s yourself.”
Her eyes flashed open and her gaze locked on mine. Yes, I saw the flash of vulnerability, the surprise that I could find the truth lurking in her brain. She hid it well, deflected her fears onto our fangs to hide her true concern. She may fear the bite, but she feared her attraction to us more.
“Are you afraid to come?” Blade asked.
When she rolled her eyes, I knew he was nowhere close.
“She’s afraid to come…for us.” She closed her eyes on a soft sigh. Yes, my words were more accurate. “You worry that you’re too responsive? That you want us too much? That you won’t be able to stop?”
She offered a small laugh. “Fine. We’ll skip the whole fang thing for now. How can I be this attracted, this turned on by a male alien I just met in a bar? And his friend? It scares me a little, yes. I don’t even know you. So, this is, by definition, completely insane.”
“You don’t know us…yet.”
Her hips shifted. “I know. It’s just—”
Blade ran a finger down the outside of her arm. “Intense?”
She nodded her head against the wall. “There are two of you. I, um…thought I might want a quickie, some fun to make me forget for a little while before I get called out again, but this? You guys are…intense.”
It was my turn to smile, pleased to hear she felt this…this connection between us just as abruptly and just as deeply. My gaze flicked to Blade’s and we didn’t need to speak. He felt it, too.
“You need to come,” I said, seeing the need, the ache, in every soft curve, in every breath.
She nodded her head.
“We will not fuck you here. I prefer a bed. And privacy.”