Bless The Beauty (10 page)

Chase moved his arm from around my back and raised his hand to my cheek, brushed his fingers across my skin softly. His eyes sank in despair. “You never told me you suffered that.”

“That’s because I don’t speak of it. It was over three hundred years ago and not a happy memory.”

Kellen stepped in close to me and rubbed his fingers along my other cheek. “It was why I turned her. I saved her from a lifetime of abuse and we destroyed those who harmed her.” He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Besides, I knew she was to be mine, the moment I laid eyes on her.”

“Ours,” Chase corrected him instantly.

Kellen gave a firm nod as a sly smile crossed his face. “Right you are. She’s ours.”

“It is hers to decide what you should become,” Ellery interrupted us, clearly bored of our conversation. “Only she may change you. If she chooses not to, there is only one choice if you want to continue with her.”

Chase examined me for a moment then let out a deep resigned sigh. “Fine,” he said, releasing me from his arms. “Let’s get on with it and make me a pet.”

Ellery laughed as she went back to her chair. Once she sat she said, “Come and kneel before me, mortal.”

Chase shot me a disgruntled look before he took a step, but then he walked toward Ellery.

Kellen leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. “Got lucky with that one.”

I met his gaze, shocked. “She never told him.” I could hardly believe that Ellery had just lied for me. Kellen had just as much right to turn Chase as I did, but Ellery had kept that knowledge from him. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why she would do that.

Kellen’s grin said he knew why. I gave him a little wave to get on with it. “She must understand why you want to keep him a mortal and is helping you keep him that way.”

“I owe her,” I responded with a deep exhale. “Big time.”

Kellen inclined his head, gave a knowing look. “That you do.”

Ellery’s voice drew me back to Chase kneeling before her. “As consort to Kellen and Hadley you are obliged to feed them. Do you understand this?”

Chase glanced back at me and rolled his eyes.

I could only smile in return. Neither Kellen nor I would expect him to behave like a consort—basically a slave to us, but this was a step in the process. We needed to get through this.

Chase looked back to Ellery, then nodded. “Feed them, got it.”

“The secret of our kind cannot be told,” Ellery continued. “Will you promise with your life to uphold this?”

“I will.”

“The consequences of breaking this will mean your death.” Her look was firm and unyielding.

“Do you understand the gravity of this?”

“Yes.”

Ellery clapped her hands with a brilliant smile on her face. “Very well.” She placed her hand on Chase’s head. “Chase, consort to Kellen and Hadley, you are protected under their status with the Pacific Northwest.” She stood from her chair in one fluid movement.

“Follow me.”

Before Chase even had a chance to stand, I leapt forward and hugged him. “I’m so happy. It’s like we got married.”

Chase returned the hug and stood with me attached to him. “Fucking weirdest ceremony I’ve ever been to.” He kept an arm around my waist as we followed Ellery out of the sitting room.

Just down the hall, Ellery stopped and opened a door. “I must leave you now and I say,” she glanced Chase up and down, “it is a shame I cannot stay to enjoy this, but I am expected elsewhere.”

“Thank you for meeting with us.” Kellen leaned in and gave Ellery a proper kiss across her cheek.

“Just don’t keep me long, Kellen,” she replied in haste with the snappy tone I knew was usually Ellery’s way. “You have duties to attend to.”

Kellen gave her a firm nod in acknowledgement of her order. “My duties will be done with Hadley by dawn. I will return to Slade the moment the sun goes down tomorrow night.”

Right then, a deep voice sounded through the air, “Mistress, we must be off.”

I glanced toward it to see Locke—a scruffy vampire turned in the fifteenth century that still held the Viking appeal. I’d met him the last time I was here and he was a kind and loyal vampire who made me feel welcome whenever I came by.

When he stopped in front of us, I said, “Nice to see you again, Locke.”

He bowed his head in a proper way. “Pleasure is all mine, Hadley.” He glanced to the Mistress.

“We need to leave at once.”

Ellery patted Locke’s cheek and gave him a genuine smile. “What would I do without you?”

He grinned at her and winked. “You’d be late.”

Ellery glanced back at me and the smile remained on her face. “Off you go then. You will not be disturbed here.” She took one final look at Chase, sighed a moment, then followed Locke down the hall.

Chase leaned into the room then immediately snapped back, his eyes wide as he looked at me.

“I’m taking it that bed isn’t for sleeping purposes?”

“No chum.” Kellen laughed, slapped him on the back then pushed him into the room.

“This is the honeymoon night.”

Hesitation raged through me seeing the confusion on Chase’s face. I had to dig down deep to find guts to tell him what was about to happen. “Part of the ceremony is a blood exchange.” I placed my hand on Chase’s forearm and it flexed beneath my fingers. “We need to take in your scent and you need to wear ours to affirm to other vampires that you have been claimed. It is a warning to them that you are our consort and you cannot be touched without serious consequences—like death consequences.

We normally exchange blood by…you know.”

Chase’s eyes grew wide, disbelief held strong in his eyes. “With him here too?” He gestured toward Kellen.

I smiled awkwardly and laughed just the same. “Ahh…” This was so normal to my kind. The more intense the sexual experience the better. Having multiple lovers was not abnormal, but mortals tended to shy away from this kind of interaction. Well…some did.

Chase was apparently one of them.

Kellen laughed, a deep gravelly challenge. “Afraid of a little competition, are you?”

Chase’s wide eyes lowered to slits and his brows came together in unhappiness. “I am afraid of nothing, but I don’t do the guy thing.”

“Nor do I,” Kellen snapped, then in a swift move he grabbed Chase’s wrist, bit down, sucked a moment then released it. He clamped down on his own wrist, took a swipe of blood on his finger and shoved it in Chase’s mouth.

Chase swatted at him but Kellen was too fast for him to actually hit. “What the fuck was that?”

he roared at Kellen and examined his bloody wrist.

Kellen grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. “That was our blood exchange.”

I threw Kellen an annoyed glance. His way of doing things were just so harsh. “Was that really necessary?” At the same time, I was actually glad that part was over. I hadn’t any idea how to get Chase to exchange blood with Kellen, even the little drop that was needed to seal the bound. So his plan had worked even if it was a bit aggressive.

Kellen nodded, very unashamed. “I am relieving him of his worries, that’s all. Our part in this is over, now we can move past this and simply enjoy.” Then, in a second, he stripped himself of his clothes.

I gasped at the sight and heat pooled between my thighs. His body was something to marvel at and I couldn’t withhold my appreciation of it now. Hard lines met a thick physique of splendid man.

“Holy fuck.” Chase voice came out strangled.

His shock was more from how quickly Kellen undressed than seeing his naked form in front of him, I didn’t doubt that. Chase had nothing to be jealous of. He was sexy in his own right and in the male department, he wasn’t lacking.

I forced my gaze away from marvelling at Kellen to look at Chase. “If you’re not comfortable with doing this, we can just exchange blood and leave it at that.”

I wouldn’t push him into this. It sounded like he would have a hard enough time just sharing me with Kellen in relationship form. I had anticipated his reaction to this, and now here, I simply had no idea how he was going to react.

Chase stood silent for a moment then said to me, “You have done this before?” He nodded again toward Kellen. “Been together…with others?”

Um…how to put this? Guess there’s no real easy way to say that you’ve been between a few bodies at the same time. “We like to share, Chase.”

He snorted loudly. “Apparently so.”

“I am growing impatient,” Kellen snapped.

I glanced at him. He wasn’t exaggerating. His hand was wrapped around his cock as the need had evidently consumed him. With long slow strokes, he readied himself.

Watching it made me just as impatient, but I wouldn’t rush Chase. If he didn’t want to do this, I wouldn’t force his hand. “We can just do the exchange like you and Kellen did, then if you want, we can leave.”

Chase glanced between Kellen and I then repeated the gesture a few times over. The silence grew heavy.

Suddenly, Kellen let out a deep rush of breath and lunged forward, making quick work of my clothes. Before I knew it, I was naked.

Kellen ran his hand gingerly along my breast, my eyes closed and a sigh escaped my mouth at the feel of it. The lightness of his fingers across my taut nipple was enough to dampen my pussy.

“Are you willing to deny that this woman needs pleasure?” Kellen asked Chase.

I opened my eyes to see that Chase was not dumbfounded anymore. His eyes had grown deeper, darker. The tension set in his jaw I’d seen so many times declared his arousal.

Kellen stepped in behind me, left my naked body exposed for Chase to see. He swept my hair across my shoulder as he began to bask my neck in his glorious, open-mouthed kisses.

I couldn’t take my gaze off Chase. I thought this might annoy him to see another man touching me. Apparently, it had the opposite effect. As I began to shiver from Kellen’s touch, Chase began to tremble with the obvious need to consume my body.

Just as my need spiked with equal force, Kellen’s fangs grazed my neck and I couldn’t withhold the moan that came from my mouth.

“Ahh…this is what you want,” Kellen purred before he bit down.

My eyes shut on their own accord as Kellen had his taste. He wasn’t greedy, not yet anyway, he only sampled me. When he backed away, I felt denied.

Kellen stepped around me, trailed his fingers lightly along my shoulder and down my arm.

“Come here,” he said to Chase.

Nerves racked me. I knew what Kellen was about to do and I’d never gone there with Chase. Of course, I drank from him, but that was all he knew of vampires. I was excited, but worried about what his reaction would be. Would he be greedy like I wanted him to be or would he just take a lick to seal our bond? The anticipation was incapacitating.

Chase stared at my neck as the blood dripped from the wound. It only took him a minute before he took the final steps to close the distance between us. He grasped my face and twisted my head to the side. He gave me a grin that sank deep into my stomach and fuelled the heat raging through me, then laid his lips across the two puncture marks.

With two tough tugs, he swallowed the first taste of vampire blood. He groaned deeply as his body instantly tensed. I’d witnessed this before. The taste to a mortal was nothing they’d ever known.

As I understood, it was sweet and titillated their senses.

I began to squirm with desire as Chase fed from my neck. I had longed for this.

Craved it. To me, this was about as erotic as it came. I’d never offered my blood to him because I was afraid he wouldn’t have approved. Now that he did, I could hardly control the arousal that blasted through my body to warm me right to my center.

Chase pulled hard on my neck, gulped deeply as heavy moans vibrated from his throat. I was left to shiver and shudder. My moans increased as he swallowed each long draw of blood.

When he finally drew away, I let out a little squeal of unhappiness. I needed him, wanted him to take more.

Chase opened his eyes and his pupils were dilated. He lifted his hand to his mouth and gave it a soft wipe. “You have been selfish not to share this with me.” His voice was almost a growl.

Kellen laughed deeply. “You’re ready to please our woman then?”

Chase grinned at him, then slowly raised his gaze to mine. Never had I seen this intensity in him before—he looked like a vampire.

"Chase," I managed in a whisper. My body responded in a way I had yet to discover.

My thighs clenched together tight in an attempt to save myself from the sensations that threatened to end me.

Now that I didn’t feel the need to restrain myself, I lunged forward. In a speed Chase wouldn’t see, I removed his clothing from his body. But Chase was stronger now, faster from the vampire blood he consumed. His instincts were sharper.

The second I attempted to draw away, he grabbed onto my arm to force me still.

“Now you’re mine to kiss.” He yanked me forward and laid an unforgiving kiss upon my lips.

The power he received from the blood stirred him. His tongue was harsh against mine as he used this new strength to clearly demonstrate the love he had for me and just how much he wanted my body.

With his kiss warming my body, I was so lost in Chase's mouth I barely felt Kellen close in behind me. As the hard lines of his body pressed against my naked skin, one truth presented itself—these two men were determined to satisfy me and my body was about to become their playground.

With Chase at my mouth, Kellen began to run his fingers up my arms as he laid his lips against my shoulder. Their mouths worked in unison and lit a fire in my soul that was long extinguished and I could only tremble in response.

Just as Chase began to deepen the kiss to a place I’d never felt from him, Kellen picked me up around the waist and tore me away. When I met Chase’s gaze, he not only smouldered, but outright burned with desire. And he was quite intent. As Kellen placed me on the bed, Chase was already striding forward with purpose. But Kellen would have his taste of me too. He laid his lips against mine and I moaned against the feel of it.

With Kellen at my lips, I reached out to stroke Chase’s chest as he leaned down over me. His square chest felt like perfection under my fingertips. When he reciprocated by running his hands over my breasts, I arched up against his touch. He responded immediately. With a wet lick, he teased my taut nipple.