Then, I find out I’m pregnant, the one way most likely to dethrone my father, only for the pregnancy to be just as freakish as I am. The kind of freak that endangers those I’ve come to care most about.
It’s only as I’m falling asleep that a small voice in the back of my mind points out I didn’t immediately throw up the blood I consumed.
That I feel better.
43
Iwake up with Rylan at my back and Wolf nuzzling my breasts. It’s a low, dreamlike adjustment from sleep to awareness, and I shift against them, enjoying the feel of their naked skin sliding against mine. They’re here, with me. It’s not a dream. They’re safe…at least for now.
Rylan cups my hip. “Awake?”
“Yes,” I whisper.
Wolf chuckles against my skin. “Good.” He moves down, dragging his mouth over my stomach. He nudges Rylan’s hand to my thigh, and Rylan responds by gripping me there and lifting my leg up and out, opening the way for Wolf. They move seamlessly the way they always seem to. Even when they’re arguing, there’s always this awareness between my men. It speaks to their long history. Everything about their relationships speak to their long history.
Malachi isn’t in bed with us. I can feel him faintly in the distance, some miles away. He doesn’t seem distressed, but… “Malachi?”
“A little morning hunting.” Wolf playfully nips one thigh and then the other. “Don’t worry about him.”
Rylan sighs against my temple. “You can’t just tell people not to worry.”
“You’re right.” Wolf laughs, high and unhinged. “I have a better way.” Then his mouth is on my pussy.
He kisses me thoroughly, tasting every inch with long swipes of his tongue. He ignores my clit almost entirely, a delightfully aggravating experience as he tastes me. “Missed this,” he murmurs against me. I missed it too. I don’t get a chance to say it much, though, because he chooses that moment to thrust his tongue into me, making my back bow and drawing a cry from my lips.
Rylan slides his other arm between me and the mattress, hugging me to his body as Wolf ravishes me with his mouth. I can’t think, can’t move, can only whimper and shake. “I need—”
Wolf sucks hard on my clit, but he stops before I can reach my peak. I cry out in protest, and his laugh goes dark. “Feels good, doesn’t she?”
It takes my pleasure-drugged brain a few moments to realize he’s not talking to me. He’s talking to Rylan, who’s gone tense behind me. His arms provide a loving cage that keeps me immobile. He’s so still, he might as well have been carved from stone. “Wolf,” he snarls.
“Smells good, too.” Wolf inhales. He licks a line down my thigh. “Smellstempting.”
“We shouldn’t.”
Understanding crashes over me. I know what they’re talking about now. Malachi might have instructed them not to bite me, but they want to.Iwant them to. “Do it,” I whisper. “Please.”
“As the lady commands.”
“Wolf!”
But it’s too late. He snaps forward, quick as a snake, and bites my thigh. I come instantly, crying out so loudly that it’s almost a scream. Wolf takes one pull and then another, each one like a pleasurable tug on my clit that only spikes my orgasm higher.
He stops. A little spark of power flares on my thigh where he’s cut his tongue to speed my heeling, and then he climbs up my body. He brushes a quick kiss to my lips, too quickly. I’m not his final destination, after all. Wolf shifts just a little so he can take Rylan’s mouth.
Rylan moans and his grip on me goes almost painfully tight, claws suddenly pricking my skin as he starts to lose control. They move, pressing close as if they can get to each other through me. It might be enough to make me feel immaterial, but this is what I want just as much as I want them to focus on me. I love that my men love each other. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Wolf lifts his head. “You need it more than we do. Take what she’s offering before you lose control and hurt her.” His voice goes hard. “Because if your stubbornness causes her harm again, Iwillkill you.”
“Wolf, no.” My protest is faint. “Don’t force him.”
“Everyone is so fucking selfless. So damn ready to bend over backwards to be polite even though it weakens you.” He curses. “You’re too damn short-sighted. One bite, Rylan. You’re not going to lose control now, but the same can’t be said if you wait too long.”
Now it’s Rylan’s turn to curse. “You’re right.”
“I know.”
Still, he doesn’t bite me. I think we’re all remembering back at that farmhouse where Rylan lost control after denying both of us for too long. He bit me too deep. I don’t think he would have killed me, even if Malachi and Wolf hadn’t intervened, but the memory is too fresh to argue with.