“Whatabout you?” the fae spat.
More silence.
“Your enemy, maybe, because that’s how it’s always been. You’ve killed me before, and you’ve come close to doing it a second time. But the hatred you have for me is different than the hatred you have for the vampire king. While you’ve taken away my heartbeat, you’ve given me something worth so much more. You’ve protected what I love most.” His attention trailed to me.
“You’ve cared for her, even if you’ve been shit at it. Call it fate…” His glare cut back to Vin. “But we’re brothers, you stubborn bastard. We’re bound by our duty to our mate and queen. And if I don’t live to see her gorgeous ass on that throne, I’ll track you down somehow and rip out your heart in our mate’s honor. I might even shed a fucking tear over your body as you breathe your last breath.”
The dark veins visible through Feral’s feathers swirled and throbbed, teaming with potent energy so electric I could feel it dancing over my skin. “She’s mine now. I have claimed her as my mate, according to vampire law. And once she’s pregnant with my child, she will be deemed my mate by fae law.”
Eros’ mouth split with a sneer. He wrapped his arms around my midsection, holding me possessively with one hand cupping my breast and the other sinking between my legs to tease Vincent’s mark. The dark fae let out a terrifying growl that stirred my insides, but it only made Eros’ grin stretch wider.
“You’ve lost your privilege to call her your mate the second you stole her. If you don’t wake the hell up and take control over your fae side, our princess is going to dump your ass. And when she does, the second she makes her way back home, I’m going to do this.”
I’d never seen Eros move so fast. I felt the cold kiss of the chain as he draped it over my body, knotting and twisting it around my limbs, his hands working so fast I couldn’t track them. I couldn’t remember the word for the technique. I’d read about it before in a romance novel. Shibari? As soon as my mind found the word, my world turned upside down. Eros took hold of the chain and flipped me so my legs were in the air and my head dangled over the drain.
Making a loop with the chain, he secured it over the meat hook. From my position, I could make out half of Vincent’s upside-down frame from between Eros' legs. He started forward, but Eros twisted, tossing him an expression I could only imagine by the way it had Vin stepping back.
“This is my mind, Feral. I’m in control here. You can’t do shit.”
Eros pressed in close to me, his fingers coming through my hair, soft and sweet. His other pulled his still-hard cock out, and my core fluttered with warmth when his tip brushed against my mouth.
“Open, Doll. Let him see how pretty your lips look wrapped around my cock.”
All my blood rushed to my head, my thoughts fracturing apart. Before I fully parsed his words, my mouth was opening. He pushed himself past my lips with one jerk of his hips, hitting the back of my throat. I coughed, and his fingers curled in my hair, holding my head down on him.
I felt him caress the juncture of my spread thighs, and when his touch lingered on Vincent’s mating mark, dread froze all my nerves.
I screamed, the sound dulled by the cock in my mouth, and all my nerves felt like they were shattering apart as his fangs punched down over the mark. The one that wasn’t his to touch.
It didn’t matter if this was a dream.
It felt real.
Fire ripped through my core. And for the first time, while with Eros, I cried for mercy, my sobbing pleas muffled by the dick rammed down my throat.
“You’re hurting her!” At least, that’s what I thought Vincent said. It was hard to process the words between his guttural roar and the pain cleaving my skull in half.
Eros withdrew himself from my mouth, but he continued to suck and lick at the place he’d bitten. My monster writhed and screamed inside me as if she’d been set on fire.
Lost in the agony of it and unable to focus enough to keep me grounded in Eros’ dreams, I felt myself hurtling back to consciousness.
I woke up gasping. The jungle was sweltering, but I shivered from cold sweats.
Vincent’s brawny frame filled my vision as he hunkered down, tearing the door off the bone cage he’d placed me in.
His mark still burned, but it hurt less now. He pushed my legs open, his huge hands scrambling over the same patch of skin I frantically felt out. Our hands clasped together as we both probed for his mark.
“It’s still there,” I gasped in relief. Of course. That’s what made sense. It was just a dream. It was an insanely vivid, twisted, smutty dream made possible by dark magic inherited from my evil vampire father. But still just a dream.
“Thank the gods,” Vin muttered with a broken sigh of relief. His cadence carried more softness than I expected.
It took a few tumbling breaths for me to realize it was his old voice. I looked up into his eyes, and my heart stopped when I saw green.
“Vin.” My voice came out shakier than I would have liked. He pulled me into his arms and tucked my shaking body into the safety of his warm embrace, offering me soothing “shhing” sounds to calm me.
“It’s alright, Princess. I’m here.”
For several seconds I clung to him, inhaling his dark and electric scent. Resentment for him was still buried deep beneath my skin like a stubborn splinter and wouldn’t be easily removed. But my panic at the thought of our bond breaking was a reminder that I still loved him.
