Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(85)

A lone tear trailed from each eye, down those perfect cheekbones of his. “I’ve come back too late.”

“Non, mon lupe, while there is breath in our bodies it is never too late.” He held his hand out to the other man, but Richard hesitated, looking at me. He’d already read my mind; what could I do?

“Either you’re here to take both their hands,” Ethan said, “or you just came back for the girl.”

I expected him to get angry, but he just said, “You’re right.” He took Jean-Claude’s offered hand and smiled at him, a smile that was warm and couple-y. Then he looked at me, the smile fading

around the edges. “I know how you feel about me now. You’re afraid I’ll demand too much, destroy your poly group, your happiness. You don’t trust me because of what I did before, and why should you?”

“But if the Ulfric hadn’t come back tonight, could you have defeated Deimos?” Jake asked.

Jean-Claude said, “No.”

I shook my head.

“Then take his hand, Anita.”

“Anita doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do,” Nicky said.

“No, Jake is right, Nicky. If we hadn’t had Richard tonight . . .” I realized I didn’t want to admit how close a call it had been in front of everyone in the room. They were good to be security for the clubs, but none of them were on our personal details. The fewer people who realized that Deimos had almost possessed Jean-Claude tonight, the better.

I held my hand out to Richard, and he took it with a smile. It wasn’t as warm as the one he’d given Jean-Claude. In fact, the smile left his eyes uncertain, but that was okay. I’d earned his doubt, hell I was more comfortable with it. It made me feel better about my own doubts. But none of that mattered to the power that thrilled through the three of us.

“You are almost complete,” Jake said.

The hair on my arms was standing up, and my voice was breathless as I said, “What do you mean, almost?”

“This power is a small thing compared to what you could have if you were a true triumvirate,” he said.

“How much truer can we be?” Richard said; his voice sounded as strained as mine. His eyes were full of blue fire. I looked at Jean-Claude; his eyes were glowing with power, too. I didn’t have a mirror, but I knew mine were glowing as well.

“We are a triumvirate of power,” Jean-Claude said, and his voice echoed around the room.

“You will not be a true triumvirate until you share the fourth mark,” Jake said.

“No,” I said, and I pulled my hand away from both of them.

“We must solidify my power base, ma petite.”

“You don’t understand how intimate the connection will be,” I said, “you’ve never given anyone the fourth mark before.”

Richard said, “Wait, how do you know more about this than Jean-Claude?”

“I have a triumvirate with Damian and Nathaniel, you know that.”

“I know how you feel about Nathaniel, but you’re not that close to Damian. Sharing the fourth mark with them didn’t change that,” Richard said.

Nicky gave a deep chuckle. “You haven’t seen her with Damian in a while.”

“What’s that mean?” Richard asked.

“It means you need to see me with Nathaniel and Damian together, before you agree to letting Jean-Claude share the fourth mark with us.”

“Can we do that before dawn?” he asked.

I stared at him, he looked so calm. I didn’t bother to look at Jean-Claude as his face wouldn’t give away anything unless he wanted it to. “Damian should be home by now, so yeah, we can do show-and-tell tonight.”

“If we are to do that on top of everything else, we must make haste, or the sunrise will find us before we have secured our power base,” Jean-Claude said.

“I haven’t agreed to do the fourth mark with the three of us,” I said.

“Night will fall again, and Deimos will still be out there.”

“I know that.”

“We must have enough power to destroy him once and for all,” Jean-Claude said.

“We won tonight without the fourth mark.”

“Did I mention that Deimos is a fire breather?” Jake asked.

We all looked at him then. “No, you left that part out,” I said.

“I will tell you everything I know about him once all of you are securely downstairs and Jean-Claude has done what he must do before dawn.”

“Fire breathing,” Richard said.

“A real fire-breathing dragon?” I said.

“I’m afraid so,” Jake said.

“I guess it’s lucky he doesn’t just want us dead, then,” I said.

“He can only make fire when he is in full dragon form. He would not fit in the alley or side streets.

He would have to march up the main road in front of Guilty Pleasures. He will not want to show himself where humans could see him, not like that,” Jake said.

“Good to know,” I said.

“I have so many questions,” Richard said.

“Be a biologist later, mon lupe, in this moment I need you to be my beast half. Dawn must not find me unprepared.”

“Is Edward still here?” I asked.