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I considered sending an emotional flare up for them but decided to wait.
Just one more minute. I just need one more minute with my vamp.
I propped myself up on my elbow and touched Kai’s face, drinking him in. His eyes were back to their human shape and color, and his teeth had receded. He looked—I didn’t want to say happy, really, because I didn’t know if he was fully capable of happiness at this point—but he looked calm in a way I had never seen him before. The taut wire of tension and misery inside him had dissolved.
“Piper,” he murmured, my name sounding almost like a prayer.
Then he turned his head to kiss my palm and sighed contentedly.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“They definitely went this way.”
“Piper! Can you hear me?”
I roused myself from my hazy half-sleep and sat up, still keeping as much of my body touching Kai’s as I could. After spending so long craving him, I didn’t want to miss a moment of this.
“Over here,” I called.
Kai sat up too and wrapped his arms around me, kissing my shoulder. Smiling like an idiot, I leaned into his embrace just as the other three crashed through the underbrush around us. They were a little scraped up and carried a few bruises, but overall they looked okay. A wave of relief washed over me at the sight. I’d been able to tell through our bond that none of them were badly injured, but seeing it with my own eyes made me feel better.
“There you are! I was worried.” Jayce rushed over to where Kai and I sat on the ground. He pulled me into a tight hug as Kingston and Xero stopped at the edge of the small clearing and stared.
“And you!” Jayce grabbed Kai’s head and looked into his eyes, beaming. “You’re you!”
“Yeah.” Kai’s lips twitched with a suppressed grin.
Jayce caught us both up in a big bear hug and squeezed, totally unbothered by our nakedness. “Ugh, I’m so glad I don’t have to kill you!”
“Hold on a second.” Kingston stepped forward. “Piper? Are you really okay?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, as if he thought I might be under some kind of feral vampire thrall or something. Xero had already taken the situation in and was looking away, fighting a smile.
“Yup. I’m better than I’ve been in a very, very long time.” My chest seemed to swell as I said the words, my heart expanding so much it could hardly be contained.
Suspicion deepened in the dragon shifter’s expression, and he came forward, practically ignoring Kai’s existence to brush the hair
out of my face. He gazed deeply into my eyes as his hands roamed the soft curves of my body, and I could feel the exact moment when the intention behind his touch changed. The fingertips grazing my nipples and trailing over my breasts and stomach were no longer searching for injuries.
“Well.” He cleared his throat, his voice husky. “You look good.”
“Welcome to the party, Kai,” Xero said with a grin. “Took you long enough.”
Jayce was still glued to my side, and Kingston had moved even closer. I met Xero’s eyes, catching a glint of happiness and something almost like pride in his dark irises. He loved me, and I had a feeling that seeing me like this, relaxed and happy in the afterglow with Kai, made Xero glad on a level I almost couldn’t comprehend. As if my happiness infused him with a deep happiness too.
I reached out a hand for him, and he joined the four of us on the ground willingly. Kingston’s palms were still roaming over me, and Jayce dipped his head to nip at the spot where my neck met my shoulder. My body was revving up again, demanding pleasure again. I must’ve been giving off some crazy succubus pheromones—I felt almost high on them myself, as the possibility of being with all four of my bond mates seemed to light my blood on fire.
My eyelids were just falling shut when a low growl and a snapping sound made them fly open again. Kai wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me toward him possessively as his lips curled back. His sharp fangs glinted in the sunlight, and his eyes had gone back to slits. He made a sound almost like a hiss. A sound of warning.
I blinked, shocked. But before I could say anything, Kingston growled, reaching for me and tugging me away from Kai’s hold, narrowing his eyes at the vampire.
Oh, good lord.
Of course, as soon as my last bond mate finally gave in to the connection between us, he’d go all alpha male and possessive. The others had spent nearly two years learning how to share nicely, but Kai really was late to the party, and he obviously hadn’t learned quite how this party worked.
Kingston had never had a problem sharing me with the other two, but Kai’s possessiveness had probably triggered every one of the green-eyed man’s dragon instincts, driving him to protect his treasure—me—at all costs.
It was kinda hot, in a way, watching two sexy as sin men—one of whom was still completely naked—fight over me. But I needed to nip that shit in the bud before it got out of hand. There was no way in hell I was going to finally win Kai over only to lose him to petty jealousy and infighting.
