Court of the Vampire Queen: Part 1 – Chapter 16

Through some unspoken decision, the men decide tonight is the best time to do this—I hesitate to call it a ritual. But I’m not sure what other word applies. Rylan leaves again, though this time he gives no information about where he’s headed.

I’m not sure how I end up back in Malachi’s room. I had every intention of going back to mine, but it seems like I blink and the last few days start catching up with me. And then I’m on the bed, sandwiched between Wolf and Malachi and my eyelids feel like someone’s attached weights to them. “I should…”

“Rest.” Malachi smooths my hair back from my temple. “We have a few hours.”

Even as I know I’m not going to win this fight with sleep, I keep trying. “My things…”

“I’ll get them packed.” His lips brush my forehead. “Sleep, Mina. We’ll wake you when it’s time.”

It feels like one moment I’m trying to form words to argue and the next a hand on my shoulder is shaking me gently awake. I open my eyes and squint at the darkness coating the room. It was late morning when I fell asleep. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost time to begin.”

I sit up. Malachi is on the bed next to me. Wolf and Rylan are talking softly on the other side of the room. It’s happening. It’s really happening. Something like panic flutters in my throat. “I need a shower. To brush my teeth.”

“Be quick.”

I slip out of the room before they can argue. As promised, my suitcase is sitting on my bed, packed nearly identically to how I originally had it. Despite everything, I smile a little. “Pushy vampire.” I grab the stuff I need and take a quick shower and brush my teeth. Though I’d hoped the time would give me a moment to calm down, being away from them has panic bleating even louder.

This isn’t going to work.

I don’t care how old Rylan is, how knowledgeable, how much the other two seem to trust him. If I had some hidden power, I would have brought it forth before now out of sheer desperation. I wanted it so badly; surely if it existed, it would have appeared before now?

I stare down at my suitcase. Am I supposed to get dressed again? We’re just going to end up naked, right? It seems weird to put on clothes, but it seems even weirder to just walk in there without anything on me at all.

After calling myself seven different kinds of fool, I pull out a short, thin robe and shrug into it. It’s as close to a reasonable compromise as I can come up with, but I still feel incredibly vulnerable as I pad back to Malachi’s room.

They’ve turned off the lights and added a scattering of candles around the perimeter of the room. I don’t know if it’s meant to be romantic, but it feels like I’m about to play sacrifice in some kind of arcane ritual. All three of the men wear lounge pants and nothing else. Apparently they were as hesitant to start out naked as I was.

All three of their attention narrows on me as I step into the room and softly shut the door behind me. It feels different than it has up to this point. I am painfully aware this trio are apex predators and I am one measly step above human.

I might not survive the night.

They’re going to have to be very, very careful to ensure I do.

The thought has a borderline hysterical laugh bubbling up, but I clamp my jaw shut to keep it inside. Malachi crosses to me, and I appreciate he’s walking human-slow instead of blurring. I don’t think my nerves can handle being startled right now.

He takes my shoulders and smooths his thumbs over my collarbones. “Rylan says condoms will affect things.”

I blink. Of all the things I expected, that wasn’t on the list. “What?”

“There’s magic even in our semen,” Rylan says from his spot next to the window. “It can’t hurt to add it in, along with the blood.”

I blink again. “That sounds like one hell of a line.”

Did he smile? It’s hard to say. Wolf nudges him with his shoulder. “You’re playing fast and loose, old friend.”

“No, I’m not.”

Wolf laughs. “Whatever you have to tell yourself.” He turns to me. His eyes are already crimson and his smile is more than a little deranged. “You ready, love?”

No. I’m not even close to ready.

Malachi steps between me and the other vampires. “Breathe, Mina.”

“I’m breathing.” I sound more like I’m wheezing. This is a mess. How am I supposed to get to some point of magical orgasm-to-end-all-orgasms when I feel so skittish, I’m half a second from turning around and running out of this room like my hair is on fire? I look up at Malachi. “Bite me?”

His eyes widen just a fraction and it’s as if my nerves trigger something in him. The strange expression he’s been wearing since Rylan showed up disappears and he gives me a slow smile. “Where’s the fun in that, little dhampir?”

It seems like it’s been forever since he called me that, but I can’t help leaning toward him in response. “This isn’t fun. This is serious.”

“I’m going to kiss you now.” He makes no move to close the distance between us farther. “And then Wolf is going to touch you. And then Rylan. Okay?”

Is he asking permission now? I’ve already agreed to this. There’s no reason to walk me through this like I’m an innocent. Except I am damn near an innocent when it comes to this kind of stuff. Having sex a handful of times does not prepare one for whatever this is supposed to be. “Okay,” I say softly.

“If at any point you want to stop, we stop.”

Behind him, Wolf laughs. “She won’t want to stop once we get going.”

Malachi ignores him. “Do you understand?”

Does he understand by constantly putting this in my hands, he’s stripping me of the ability to fully let go? I can’t pretend I’m just a butterfly being swept along before a gale-force wind, praying that it doesn’t rip me to pieces. It’s so much easier when you don’t have a choice, and Malachi insists on giving me one, over and over again. I kind of hate him for it. I kind of love him for it, too.

I take a shaky breath. “Yes, I understand.”

Instead of pressing me farther, he leans down and brushes a light kiss to my lips. And then another one. I’m so tense, a soft touch might make me shatter, but the third kiss comes with a hint of his teeth against my bottom lip. I jump and the motion presses me to his chest. He wraps his arms around me, and I relax into what’s becoming a familiar sensation of being held by Malachi. He’s so fucking big. He makes me feel weirdly fragile in a way that isn’t entirely unpleasant. Maybe it’s because he’s so careful with me, careful with our respective differences in strength. I don’t know. I just know I whimper against his mouth and slide my hands up his chest.

That’s when I feel Wolf behind me, lifting my hair off my neck. His lips are cool as he kisses the newly exposed skin, and I shiver when his fangs lightly scrape me. Malachi shifts his arms a little and then Wolf’s gripping my hips in the newly created space. They buoy me between them, until I feel pleasantly dizzy from Malachi’s drugging kisses and Wolf playing with the sensitive skin at the base of my neck.

Malachi tenses and the scent of blood teases me. He breaks our kiss and leans his head to the side, barring his neck. I catch sight of a long cut and of Rylan behind him, holding a knife. It’s almost enough to jar me out of my pleasure-soaked state, but Wolf uses his body to press me closer to Malachi, uses his mouth on the back of my neck to guide me to the fresh cut.

I moan at the first taste. Rylan’s blood might be more powerful, but I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of the way Malachi’s zings through me. I drink from him until the cut closes and then I can’t quite help giving his skin one last lick. It feels like my nerve endings are sparking and I lean up to try to catch Malachi’s mouth.

He turns me in his arms and then Wolf’s there. He kisses me before I can fully register they’re moving me around like a toy between them. Malachi coasts his hands over my sides and around to my stomach. He cups my breasts through my robe, lightly pinching my nipples.

I moan against Wolf’s mouth and his fingers clench harder onto my hips. Not hard enough to really hurt, but the faint ache grounds me in a way I desperately need. I nip his bottom lip the same way Malachi did to mine, enjoying how he jerks a little in response.

For the first time since Rylan put forth this plan, the nerves settle a little. It will be okay. As long as we keep touching, everything will be okay.

Malachi traces the opening of my robe, tugging it until it falls open. As if they planned this, Wolf kisses his way down my neck to my newly bared breasts. He makes a sound of appreciation and then he pulls one nipple into his mouth while Malachi keeps up that delicious light pinching with the other. I stare down at the sight of Wolf’s mouth on me, of Malachi’s hands on me at the same time. It’s just like before, when they drove me to orgasm together, and yet it’s entirely different.

I never want it to stop.

Movement behind Wolf draws my attention. Rylan sits on the bed, idly toying with the knife in his hand, his attention entirely on us, his eyes fully silver. I tense, but Malachi uses his free hand to cup my jaw and urge me to bend backward so he can kiss me again. I know it’s a distraction technique, but I eagerly arch to accept his mouth.

Wolf uses his mouth to keep parting my robe until he gets to the tie and yanks it open. The blood pounds through my body, but I don’t think he’s to blame. It’s this situation, it’s Malachi’s blood inside me, still sizzling through my veins. The feeling has settled a little, as if I’ve absorbed it. It must be what’s happened before, but I’ve never felt the transition as acutely as I do right now. “More.”

Both men pause. Malachi lets out a slow breath. Wolf looks up at me and grins, flashing fang. “You heard the lady.”

Malachi moves first, pulling the robe off my shoulders and tossing it aside. He lifts me into his arms and starts for the bed.

Wolf snorts. “Things were just getting interesting.”

“You can have your turn later.” Malachi sets me on the bed on the opposite side from Rylan, and there’s no way it’s coincidence. I’m still uneasy about Rylan, and even more off-center because of my reaction to him. I don’t like him, but I can’t deny part of me is drawn to him. It’s uncomfortable and I don’t like it, but ultimately he’s right. This is just sex, and the purpose of it tonight is to somehow awaken my theoretical magic. The orgasms are just a convenient side effect.

Better this than torture.

Malachi nudges me onto my back and moves down my body to wedge himself between my legs. He went down on me in the kitchen, and again in the hallway, but somehow this feels a thousand times more intimate. His broad shoulders force my thighs wide and the way he looks at me…

I shiver and lick my lips. “Please.”

Wolf drops down next to me, planting himself between us and the edge of the bed. He grins at Malachi. “You stole my turn and now you’re teasing. Rude.”

Malachi presses an open-mouth kiss to my thigh. “You can have a turn later.”

There it is again. That feeling of being a toy between them, something to be passed around. I expect to hate it, but the feeling never comes. How can it when they’re being so careful with me? Not a toy, after all. A treat. I shiver.

Malachi drags his tongue over my pussy and the fire behind him flares higher. Wolf tenses. “Keep it locked down.”

“Mmm.” He ignores the other man and keeps licking me. It’s not like before in the hallway. He’s taking his time. It feels so fucking good, but the feeling he’s savoring every little taste? It only makes this hotter.

I try to roll my hips, to guide him up to my clit, but he uses one arm to pin my lower half to the bed without missing a beat. I moan. I can’t help it. Desire drugs my senses, and a hot, hard knot starts to pulse inside me. Close. I’m so close.

Malachi chooses that moment to slow his kisses until they’re the barest brushing of his lips to my heated flesh. Nowhere near enough to get me off. “Please!”

Wolf traces a lazy finger up my stomach and between my breasts. “We’re just getting started, love. Don’t get impatient.” His crimson eyes flick to the other side of me. “Now.”

I follow his gaze and tense. I was so focused on Malachi, I hadn’t realized Rylan now lay on the other side of me. He reaches over my chest and takes Wolf’s wrist. The knife flashes and a wide cut opens on Wolf’s forearm. Rylan holds my gaze as he guides Wolf’s bleeding arm to my mouth. “Drink deeply.”

I obey without thinking. Wolf’s blood is like drinking pure fire. I might find that ironic later. Maybe. Right now, it’s yet another sensation on the heels of so much. The lightning from Malachi isn’t completely gone and the fire dances with it, sending shivers through me. I gasp, belatedly realizing Wolf’s wound has healed. I start to look at him, but he’s already moved down to my breasts again. He pulls one nipple into his mouth as Malachi shoves his tongue inside me.

The dual sensations bow my back. “Oh gods.”

I reach for Wolf, but Rylan catches my wrists and presses them back to the bed. It causes him to loom over me, and I might be out of my mind, but I swear his gaze drops to my mouth for a long moment before he drags it back to my eyes. “I’m going to touch you now.”

It takes two tries to form words. “You’re touching me right now.”

“Not like this.”

Malachi swirls his tongue around my clit and I have to close my eyes for a long moment. When I finally drag them open again, Rylan is still bent over me. Waiting for permission, I realize. I’ve already agreed to this, to all of it, but I nod slowly. “Okay.”

I don’t know what to expect. Most of my body is covered with Wolf and Malachi right now. There isn’t much space left for Rylan. But he surprises the hell out of me when he leans down and kisses me.

Just like that, everything changes.