I turned to Finn, my movements clumsy with urgency andaffection. I tugged his shirt over his head, revealing a chest mapped with lean muscle and old scars that told the story of his brutal life. Against his pale skin, the freckles dusting his shoulders and collarbones were almost luminous. I traced the scars with my fingertips, feeling each ridge to spell out his past. When I leaned forward and pressed my lips to the worst of them, a jagged line across his ribs, he shuddered.
No one’s ever…His signs were shaky and incomplete.
I signed back,Touched you like you matter? Like you’re worth gentleness?I looked up at him.You are, Finn. You deserve all that and more.
His eyes went glassy. He swallowed hard, jaw working. Then his hands moved.I do not know how to handle that information. I cannot think. My brain has leapt off a cliff. Give me a breath while I retrieve it.
But the smile on his face was trembling. He pulled me into another embrace, burying his face in my hair.
After a moment, I stepped back to take them both in, breath hitching. My gaze dropped, drawn by an undeniable pull. Finn’s arousal flushed a deep rose against his skin, framed by vibrant red curls. Zane’s cock was thick, heavy, and darker than the rest of him. My stomach fluttered with desire to have them both.
Zane’s hand found mine. We sank onto the moss together, a tangle of limbs and racing hearts. Finn followed, his eyes fixed on me as if I were a sacred text he was only now allowed to read.
The moment I was prone, Finn’s mouth captured mine. It was a prelude before he began a slow, deliberate descent. He traced a path of fire down my throat, a journey of discovery ending at my breast with his tongue circling mynipple. Arousal coiled low in my belly. A sharp gasp escaped me, and my back arched off the cloak.
While Finn’s attention was focused above, Zane’s touch slid between my thighs, parting my folds to find the sensitive nub hidden within. He began to circle it, slowly at first, then with increasing pressure. The dual sensations were overwhelming—Finn’s mouth on my breast, Zane’s expert caress between my legs. Bliss coiled tighter and tighter like thread being wound to its breaking point.
Beneath the pleasure, something else stirred—a hunger sharper than desire, ancient and demanding. My fangs ached in my gums. The scent of their drying blood called to me, tugging at something primal I’d always kept locked away.
Zane’s pace quickened, his fingers moving with a devastating rhythm. The pressure built, unbearable and relentless. I reached for Finn, my fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him up from my breast. He came willingly, confused but trusting, his lips finding mine.
The orgasm ripped through me, blinding and fierce, and in that moment of complete abandon, I lost myself. My mouth left his. Before I could think or stop myself, I sank my fangs into the soft flesh of his neck.
Finn’s hot blood flooded my tongue. It tasted divine, resonating with the vampire part of me. I drank, savoring each swallow, lost in the primal satisfaction of it as aftershocks of ecstasy rippled through me.
Finn gasped, his body going rigid for a heartbeat before melting against me. Reality slammed into me. I tore back, pressing my hand to my mouth. The warmth smeared across my lips told me everything. A wave of horror surged through me. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—I couldn’t?—”
Zane’s fingers stilled between my legs. “It’sinstinct…part of the bonding. It must be done.” He shifted beside me, gripping my chin to turn my face toward him. “You need to bite me as well. And we need to bite you. The bond won’t complete without it.”
“But I—” My voice cracked. I’d lost control, attacked Finn like some mindless creature. I looked down at the blood on my hands, my stomach churning with self-loathing.
“Sidney.” Zane’s thumb brushed my lip. “Do it. The magic is stalled. Can’t you feel it? Finish what we started.”
I hesitated, my breath hitching. He was right. The bond inside me felt like an open wound waiting to be stitched. The hunger wasn’t just bloodlust; it was the ritual demanding completion. I looked from Finn’s peaceful, dazed expression to Zane’s expectant gaze.
I swallowed my fear and the disgust twisting in my gut, then leaned forward. Zane tilted his head, exposing the strong column of his throat. My fangs still ached for more. This time, I bit down choosing to sate this budding bloodlust. His essence rushed into my mouth—darker than Finn’s, richer, tasting of smoke and copper.
Zane groaned, tensing beside me. The pleasure was dizzying, intoxicating. I drank cautiously and forced myself to retreat before it became more.
Zane shifted and nuzzled my neck. The sharp sting of his bite gave way to liquid heat as he drank. Simultaneously, Finn moved closer, his fangs finding the curve where my neck met my shoulder on the opposite side. His bite was gentler but no less consuming.
The sensation of them both drinking from me was indescribable. It wasn’t pain, but bliss so intense it bordered on agony. Their venom radiated outward, drowning my senses in a honeyed heat. The magic wovetighter until it felt like a half-formed lock sliding one click closer to completion.
They released me in unison, their tongues laving over the wounds my dhampir healing would seal quickly. I lay shaking between them. As the tremors subsided, they shifted, moving with an unspoken synchronicity.
Zane stretched out beside me and claimed my lips in a deep, possessive kiss as his hand moved to my other breast, his thumb teasing the nipple. Finn, in turn, kissed a path down my stomach, his warm breath ghosting over my sensitive skin. He settled between my legs, his gaze holding mine for a moment before he lowered his head.
The first lick against my clit was electric. It was a jolt of pure sensation that arced through my entire body. My toes curled as a choked gasp escaped my lips.
A wave of vulnerability washed over me, so intense it was almost frightening. I was completely exposed to him, open in a way I had never been, and the sheer trust required for it sent a fresh surge of emotion through my heart. Finn didn’t rush. His tongue traced slow, deliberate circles that made my thighs tremble. And as he continued his patient, loving exploration, a single, hot tear escaped the corner of my eye and traced a path into my hair.
Zane’s kiss consumed me, swallowing my moans as Finn’s mouth drove me wild. The bliss built again, faster this time, a rising tide that threatened to drag me under. Zane’s fingers rolled my nipple, sending jolts of pleasure through my core, while Finn flicked his tongue and sucked, pushing me closer and closer to the edge. It was too much, too perfect. I erupted again, convulsing as a second, more powerful orgasm washed over me, leaving me a gasping, boneless wreck on the cloak.
They gave me a moment to recover, stroking my skin,their murmured praises a soothing balm. Yet the need remained—a deep, aching emptiness to complete the bond that only they could fill.
“I still need you,” I managed, my voice hoarse with emotion and desire. “Both of you.”
Zane shifted to move behind me, gripping my hips and positioning me on my hands and knees. “Like this,” he said. “I want to take you like this.”
