Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(107)

“I’m willing,” Richard said, and moved forward, lowering himself over the wound on his side. I couldn’t let him be braver than I was about something we’d both fought against for years, so I put my hand against Jean-Claude’s stomach to steady myself, then licked the wound.

Jean-Claude made a small pleasure sound and I realized that Richard was licking the wound on his side, too. I glanced at Richard—we were so close that our hair had intermingled, black curls to brown waves. He leaned slightly to me and I met his lips for a kiss, sharing the blood between us, and got a hint of his eagerness and how differently a werewolf looked at blood than I did. It helped me turn back to the wound on Jean-Claude’s chest, eager to latch my mouth over the wound and suck, sweet copper pennies on my tongue.

Jean-Claude stroked our hair and said the words. “Blood of my blood,” and the air tightened around us, thick with power; “flesh of my flesh,” and magic danced down our bodies; “the three shall be as one,” and it was almost too much, as if someone was trailing electricity down us with a violet wand set a little high so that I wasn’t sure if it felt wonderful or hurt. He put his hands in our hair and pulled us back from his chest. “Breath,” he said, kissing me, “to breath,” he said, kissing Richard. He cuddled us in his arms, our heads on his chest, and said, “My heart to yours.”

The power ruffled around us, playing in our hair, tugging at Richard’s shirt and Jean-Claude’s robe. It rose around us and moved through the hallway like invisible hands stirring anything that would move on anyone. “There will be other nights for sex, but only one night for this, my loves, a triumvirate in truth at last.”





40

WE WERE STILL basking in the afterglow of the magic. Dev knelt beside me. “Just being near it feels amazing.”

Richard pushed himself to sit up taller and kissed Jean-Claude lightly, then moved to sit farther down the wall. He motioned wordlessly for Dev to take his place. I understood why he was being so generous; the power was . . . complete. A key had been turned inside the three of us, nothing could unlock us short of death. It made the vows at a wedding seem like whistling in the dark. This was truly until death do us part. We could be generous because nothing could part us; I wasn’t even upset at thinking it about Richard, because it wasn’t about Richard. It was about Richard and Jean-Claude, and that was perfect.

Dev kissed Jean-Claude, licking the blood off his mouth. “Make me yours, Jean-Claude.”

I pushed away enough to start to ask, but Jean-Claude read my thought and answered, “I do not know if I need to say the words again with you and our Devil, or only over him. You are the only human servant to ever have their own animal to call, so there are no certainties.”

“Excuse me, and I apologize ahead of time, just know it’s not our idea.” It was Custer and one of the newer werehyenas walking toward us. Custer’s dark brown hair had grown out enough that he had curls, and they were sleep tousled liked he’d just thrown on his T-shirt and pants and hadn’t looked in a mirror. The second man, whose name I couldn’t remember—it was something short and began with a J, or was it a G?—whatever his name was, he’d just put on pants and hadn’t bothered with the shirt.

“We’re busy, Custer,” I said.

“Dev doesn’t smell enough of you or Jean-Claude; tell me we got here before Jean-Claude made gold tiger his next animal to call.”

“It is none of your business what I do, or with whom,” Jean-Claude said.

Custer ran his hands through his hair and looked even less happy. “You’re right, it’s not, but when the Oba of your werehyena clan calls you up and tells you to move your ass, you move.”

“This is not Narcissus’s business either,” Jean-Claude said.

“Has there been another attack?” Jake asked, and it was a great question; the fact that I hadn’t thought that Deimos might have attacked Narcissus’s club across the river made me realize I was drunk on the magic.

“What do you mean, another attack?” Custer asked, and both men suddenly looked wide awake.

The new guy even glanced back to where they had been sleeping and the majority of their weapons

would still be. I didn’t have to search them to know they’d have at least one gun, maybe a gun and a knife on them, but an attack made them want things that couldn’t be hidden under a shirt or tucked down a pair of pants.

“We’re safe currently, Jake can fill you in, but we’re running out of night to finish this,” I said.

“Our Oba told us to stay close to Jean-Claude until he gets here,” the new guy said.

“Wait, do you mean Narcissus is coming here tonight?” Richard asked.

“Who’s this guy?” New Guy asked. He jerked his thumb at Richard.

“Ulfric,” Custer said.

“Nice to meet you, Ulfric, I’m Geoff.”

Now I remembered his name was Jeff, but he spelled it Geoff, that’s why I kept forgetting if his name started with a J or a G.

“He’s the Ulfric,” Custer said. “I told you all the titles of the local kings. Don’t make me look bad in front of three of them.”

“I forgot one, sorry.”

“Focus, Custer, answer the question—is Narcissus coming here tonight?” I asked.