“No,” I admitted. “But I hate that you are being reasonable while I am trying to survive the phrase ‘what does your body need from us.’”
Rhain let out a sound that was almost a laugh and almost sympathy.
Dominic’s hand slipped to the side of my neck, his palm warm over the mark. “Then we make it simpler.”
“Please.”
“What do you want first?”
My pulse jumped hard enough that both of them felt it.
Dominic’s eyes sharpened. Rhain’s hands flexed at my knees, then deliberately eased.
I looked between them. Both of them waited. Not pushing. They left the question mine.
“I want…” I stopped, because the words were somehow more embarrassing than the act, which felt like a design flaw in language. “I want both of you close.”
“You have us,” Rhain said.
“I want Dominic behind me.”
Dominic’s breath changed.
“And Rhain…” I looked down at him and immediately regretted having eyes. “In front.”
Rhain’s gaze darkened, but he did not move.
Dominic’s hand stayed at my neck, steady and warm.
“Good,” Dominic said. “What else?”
I swallowed.
“Don’t make me feel like I’m being treated,” I said. “I know there is a medical-bond-strain-whatever component. I know Yuki used the word protocol. I know everyone is one bad sentence away from becoming noble and unbearable.” I took a breath. “But I don’t want to feel like a problem you are solving.”
Dominic’s thumb pressed warm over my mark. “You are not a problem,” he said.
Rhain’s voice came softer. “And this is not treatment.”
My throat tightened. “What is it, then?”
Rhain rose enough to bring his mouth near my hand, then stopped before touching me. “Choice,” he said.
Dominic’s palm warmed at my neck.
“And care,” he said.
My eyes fell shut. I had been hoping for urgency. For instinct. For the bond dragging all three of us into the same current.
I had not been prepared for them to wait.
Ours
Catalina
Iopened my eyes.
Both marks warmed at once, left and right, Dominic’s and Rhain’s, and the pressure that had been pulling at me for four days swung toward them, finally given a direction.
