How did it come to this? How did admitting that I cared about one of them feel like I was about to administer a knife blow to the heart of another?
“I always know where I stand with him.”
He blinked at that, fingers worrying the seams of the bag
he was leaning against.
“You know where you are with all of us, Jules, deep down. You know how we feel about you. We were just waiting for you to catch up, to see it.”
“And now you’re pissed that Slade ignored all that. That he rushed it.”
“Do you feel rushed?”
I never felt like I could lie to Brandon. It was as if his cool gaze took in my every foible. “Yeah, a bit. It’s all happening so fast. In my world, telling someone you love them means sex and a cuddle, a nice dinner or something. It’s just you and the other person. It’s like I spent the morning having sex with you two, and now, I’m getting ready for a wedding. We spend months, even years planning this kind of thing at home.”
“You don’t need to worry, there’s matriarchs whose whole life is spent organising things. You only have to turn up.” He grinned when he saw my face. “That’s going to be hard, isn’t it?”
“Why is that? I never used to be like this.”
And with that, my cool-eyed lover transformed. He settled back against the sacks, crossing his arms as his smile twisted into a knowing smirk. “Because you’re powerful now.” His voice came out in a sing-song. “Because deep down, you like being powerful, and relinquishing some of that power to allow others into your territory is just a little bit difficult.”
My Tirian rose within me. She wanted to wipe that smug smile right off his face. His eyes widened as I took a step towards him, then another. With my animal enhanced senses, I noted the rapid increase in his breath, the tension in his muscles, the jerk of his hands when mine went around his wrists. I jerked them backwards, holding both in place with one hand while my other slid down the front of his jeans.
He was rigid, his brows knitting, and a gasp burst from him as I closed my fingers around him.
“You didn’t come.”
He shook his head, a quick abrupt thing.
“I couldn’t. I was...hurt, devastated. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that.”
He rasped the words as I flicked open the button to his jeans, his frown deepening—as if getting the sounds out hurt him—then I closed my hand around his length and twisted my wrist. His head fell back, his legs widening to stop him from slipping down, his hips thrusting along with my hand.
“You can’t always control these things, Brandon,” I said, a hint of cruelty in my voice. While I felt for the guy, my Tirian loomed over my shoulder, mouth open, teeth bared, laughing at the prey before us. “You can’t control us.”
“Yeah, got that. This is gonna be embarrassingly short if you keep doing that.”
So, I stopped. I didn’t remove my hand, I just stayed still, feeling the throb in the vein running along his dick.
“What do you want?” I said, the weight of an incoming thunderstorm in my voice. It wasn’t mine, it was the sound of my Tirian commanding a packmate.
“I want to get off. My balls feel like they’re boiling.”
“What do you want?”
His eyes flicked open, studying mine, looking past my brown ones to the beast beyond. His cock flexed in my hand, his throat working.
“What. Do. You. Want?”
My voice was a rumbling growl, and I felt the saliva drip on my chin.
“I want you, Jules,” he said, and he pulled free of my hands, his going to my face. “I’ve always wanted you. You think I didn’t want to be the one making the declarations? I didn’t because I was worried about you. I wanted you to have time to adjust, to make these bonds knowing what that meant. But if you think it doesn’t kill me that it’s him and not me as man of the hour tonight, you don’t know shit. I’ll always want you. Always.”
I knew then what it’d be like, bending him over the stack of bags, my hand on his cock as my teeth dug into his neck. For a second, I could taste it, the coppery burst of blood in my mouth, the denseness of his flesh parting beneath my fangs.
He knew it, that need that rode me, and closed his eyes. “Don’t take being first from him,” he whispered. “It’ll break his heart to have to share this moment.”
I swallowed, my venom burning as it began to pool. I dropped to my knees, dug my hands into his glutes, and tugged him to me, his length going down my throat and filling my mouth instead. His hands were usually gentle when I sucked him off, hesitant prayers for pleasure, but this time they dug cruelly in my hair, his dick thrusting farther than it’d ever been before. I was lucky I had my new abilities, or I’d have been gagging uncontrollably.