Between the Marshal & the Vampire(36)

It was Clay who gently but firmly steered her out of the way. Angry at being treated like a child by them, she glared at them both.

"Sure. Butt heads like the big bad males you are. See how much good that does you. We've gotten this far because we've banded together!"

"We're not banded together any longer," Clay said softly. "You told me so yourself." As Mariel stared at him in shock, realizing how terribly he'd misunderstood her, he rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. "You don't need to drink from my neck, vampire. Any old vein will do."

"So it is."

Before Mariel could stop him—not that she stood a chance of preventing a vampire from doing anything—Vellum took hold of Clay's bared forearm and brought his wrist to his lips. Vellum smirked and dragged his tongue across the skin. When Clay fisted his free hand, Vellum sank his teeth in.

Clay didn't react, though Mariel suspected the bite must have hurt. She watched closely as Vellum's throat began to work as he swallowed the Marshal's blood. It took only a few moments for Clay to show how he was affected.

He swayed where he stood and instantly Vellum moved closer. With his eyes on Clay, he reached between them, sliding his palm down the other man's torso and abdomen. Clay shook his head, but then let it fall back on his shoulders as a masculine moan rolled from his lips. Though Mariel was an outsider to the scene, she felt herself growing moist as she watched Vellum seduce Clay. She didn't know if she was supposed to step forward and join in as she had every other time that Vellum had drank from him. She was Clay's safety net, the only reason he probably put up with having Vellum drink from him and caress him. Never had it been only the two males during a feeding. She was nervous.

She heard the jangle of the Marshal's belt before it fell to the ground around his boots. Next, she saw the seat of his trousers sag as Vellum efficiently opened the garment and reached inside.

Clay gasped and his head snapped up. He grabbed hold of Vellum's shoulder as if to push him off. But Vellum's power overcame him, and soon Clay clutched at the vampire's shoulder for a different reason.

Vellum lifted his blood red lips from Clay's wrist long enough to murmur, "Take me out and stroke us both, Clay. Give in to the curiosity that's been tying your guts into knots."

With a shudder, Clay released Vellum's shoulder and reached between them. Mariel, wide-eyed with lust and surprise, shuffled closer, enough to see that Clay had done as Vellum bade and gripped their cocks in his hand. With a groan, Clay began to stroke them.

"No, he doesn't want this," Mariel said weakly.

Vellum looked at her from over Clay's wrist. "He's as hard as when he drives into your body, Mariel. He's wanted both of us for the longest time."

Mariel opened her mouth to refute this, then stopped herself. This was what she wanted, she realized. Here was the means to convince Clay to find a solution for introducing Vellum to society. If Clay cared as much as she did, he would find a way.

And it became clear that he did care. With his hips rocking forward, driving his cock against Vellum's within the enclosure of his fist, Clay was a picture of passionate abandon. Even after Vellum had drunk his fill and stopped feeding, Clay continued to thrust against him. With a lustful growl, Vellum caught the Marshal behind the neck and yanked him into a kiss. Clay stiffened with shock, but then groaned and kissed back ferociously. Neither was willing to yield or submit to the other. Their passion left Mariel weak at the knees with desire for them both. Never would she have imagined that two such powerful men could become even more powerful when giving in to their desires for each other like this.

They gripped and writhed against each other, cursing and groaning. To an outsider it probably appeared as though they were fighting. But Mariel could see it was all passion, pent-up for weeks and finally released explosively. When Clay tossed his head back and groaned deeply with his climax, Vellum bared his fangs and sliced them across the Marshal's bared throat just enough to draw parallel lines of blood across his skin. Then the vampire shuddered hard and stilled as his own pleasure found its release.

She was desperate to run to them and embrace them—and hopefully coax them both to take care of her next—when Clay abruptly stiffened and stepped back far enough to give him room to punch Vellum in the stomach. The vampire grunted and bent over at the waist, but only for a moment. When he raised his head, he looked alien and frightening. He looked like the monster of Mariel's nightmares.

"You want us both," Vellum hissed. "Don't deny it."

"I want Mariel!" Clay shot back as he backed away. Pale-cheeked, he hastily fixed his pants and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, symbolically wiping Vellum from his skin. He pointed at the vampire. "You touch me again and I'll take her away, deal or no deal."

Vellum's eyes narrowed to dark slits. When he turned away from Clay, Mariel glimpsed his face. What she saw there made her breath stutter in her lungs.

"Please don't fight!" she cried out. "I need you both."

"You'll have us until Everton," Clay muttered. He stabbed a hand through his hair. "I'm riding ahead. The company's not to my taste any longer."

She watched with despair and frustration as he mounted up and rode off into the dark night.

She whirled on Vellum. "You're letting him go? You're letting things lie like this? It'll fester. You know it will."