AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Calvin fixes his eyes on me, and I can tell that whatever he’s about to say isn’t something I’m going to like. “I have any number of bedrooms upstairs for you to choose from. Being that we’ve all had an eventful night, I prefer Ivy take the room that connects to mine. That way, should she need anything, I’ll be right there.”
His words sound harmless to the untrained ear, but my hackles raise as I set down the peace offering of the mug. “Not a chance. I’m not going to sleep to wake up and find her drained and dead.”
Calvin quirks an eyebrow at me, as if I am a mere mouse this predatory cat wants to toy with. “I could have killed her while you were in the shower, jerking off. I could have killed her when I first found her on all fours in the woods after you’d cast her out.”
Ivy shifts her weight nervously from one foot to the other. I can tell she doesn’t like this conversation one bit. “I’ll just sleep on the couch, okay? And nobody try to murder me while I’m asleep. House rule.”
The only thing Calvin and I agree on is that there is no way our woman is going to sleep on some couch.
I open my mouth to say exactly this, but fortunately I catch myself before the damning words come out.
Our woman?
My face pulls. That can’t be right. I don’t know anything but the headlines about this woman. This witch. And since when would I ever be okay with sharing someone I want to be with?
Calvin is less controlled. “Neither of us will allow that. There are plenty of beds here.”
Ivy doesn’t seem like she is the type of person to invest in arguments when she knows what she will accept and what she will not. She takes her mug and leans up on her toes, kissing Calvin’s cheek and jerking my heart out of my chest. “I’ll figure it out. Goodnight, you.” Then she turns to me and, despite the fact that we are both aware that I don’t deserve sweetness from her after how I treated her, she pops up on the balls of her feet and kisses my cheek as well.
Warmth spreads through me, her simple kiss settling into my psyche as if it’s the one piece that’s been missing since birth. My arm curves around her hips as my eyes close to savor the sweetness. “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I freaked out at my place. I shouldn’t have done that.”
She brushes her fingers over my jaw as if I am delicate, which has never been the case. “I forgive you.”
I should wait for a private moment, but I’m afraid that if I do, the vampire will make a move on her, and I’ll be pushed out of the picture. My hold on her hips tightens ever so slightly, pressing her to me so that when my lips slide across hers, I can feel the flutter of her heartrate picking up.
It’s a simple kiss meant to seal us together, but my knees go weak with a swoon that takes me by surprise. My head feels cloudy and light, like I’ve sucked on helium and might not come down from it. Life feels easier, her body fitting perfectly against mine.
I barely gather myself when she is swept from my side and into Calvin’s arms. “My turn,” he says.
I wait for her spine to stiffen, for hesitation to jerk her away from him, but she melts in his arms similarly to how her body molded to mine when his lips descend on hers.
I don’t like this. I don’t want to share my little fox with him—with anyone. But I feel frozen, watching like a voyeur who isn’t quite sure if he should stop the scene, or if curiosity will take over and let him watch it all unfold. My muscles tense as my lips part, my throat dry as I lean in, unwilling to give them an inch of privacy.
I’m so tired. I have no idea what time it is, but suffice to say, this is not my best decision-making hour.
Calvin kisses her like a gentleman, his fingers tracing her face carefully, which is better than the ravaging I would like to do. If a vampire nicks its prey with his fang, things can get wildly out of hand.
The second they pull apart, I don’t give her more than a single breath to recover before she is in my arms again. I devour the bleat of helplessness as my mouth crushes hers. There is anger, sure, but I’m not sure with whom is it I am frustrated. I’m mad at myself for kissing a witch, and then burning with jealousy when she kissed another man. I’m mad at myself for caring, for needing her affection this badly when I could very easily bed one of my own kind and relieve any tension that way.
But it’s about more than scratching an itch. There’s a gravitational pull that transcends the tether that literally draws us to each other. I have no desire for any other woman, no need to be anywhere Ivy Moon is not. When my tongue tangles with hers, I taste her willingness, the lust that boils her insides in the same way mine burn for her.
When she left me after I pushed her away, it was murder to stay away, even for those few minutes of separation. I won’t make that mistake again. “I won’t leave you,” I promise between kisses, gripping her tight to me so she can feel my desperation. “Never again. I want this. You. Us.”
When she threads her hands through my hair and tugs, my cock comes to full mast, reminding us both that shifters don’t often hold back.
It’s not until she twists out of my arms to catch her breath that I see the lust mingled with worry in her gray eyes. I feel it as well. She touches her lips, her eyes wide as her chest moves unevenly. “I don’t know what… We just… I’m not the kind of girl who…”
I understand the endings to all the sentences she cannot bring herself to finish. “I know.” I motion between her and myself. “I’ve never kissed a witch before. Is this what it’s like? Is it supposed to be this intensely addictive?”
Ivy shakes her head. “I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve had boyfriends before, and it’s nothing like this on my end. Is this what it’s like to kiss a shifter and a vampire?” She touches her lips again, glancing at Calvin. “You didn’t cut me with your fangs.” It’s not a question but a statement. “I still feel like me. Vampire venom is supposed to make a person delirious, right? Like I wouldn’t know how to say no even if I wanted to.”
Calvin is quiet while he observes our measured hesitation, speaking only when the silence falls with no hope of anyone putting sense to it. “That’s correct. I don’t do that sort of thing, especially not to people with magic in their bones. It’s against the law here. That would be grounds to have me turned out of Grayrock City. Being that I have the oldest piece of property here, I wouldn’t give this place up for something so tawdry when there are regular humans just outside our city limits I can seduce.” He blinks at her. “It was different for me, too. I’m more than a hundred years old. Believe me when I say that I have never experienced a kiss like that. It’s got to be the tether that’s making things so intense.” He motions to me. “When you kissed the shifter, I should have wanted to tear his head off, but when I saw that you wanted him, too, I felt myself…” He rubs his chest, his brows pitched in the center with palpable confusion. “Whatever you want, I know I will give it to you.” Calvin meets my eyes with concern. “Even if the thing you want is him.”
I nod slowly. “I didn’t know how to put it into words, but that’s where I’m at, too.” I shake my head, running my hands through my damp hair and pulling it back until I can tug it into my fist at the back of my head. “This is bizarre. I’m standing in a vampire’s home, watching him make out with my woman, and the rage that should be there just… isn’t.”
Ivy has said precious little through this whole exchange. I can tell she’s a quiet processer, taking her time to think things through before putting a voice to them. “I don’t know,” she admits. “I don’t understand it. I don’t know enough about tethers to weigh in. I have no frame of reference.” She looks up at me and then at Calvin. “I’ve never spent any time around a shifter or a vampire. I don’t have the same hate for other sects that you two do.” She covers her face with her hands. “How is this going to work? I promise I’m not someone who goes around kissing random men in front of other men and pretends this is all fine and normal. It’s bigger than me. Bigger than I can reason with. I… I don’t understand what’s happening!”
She isn’t crying, but at the sound of emotion pinching her tone, both Calvin and I close in on her. Calvin kisses her forehead and holds her hand while I rub a circle into the small of her back.
