“Mated lions don’t play the game,” Blaine cut in, and Luther caught up with the conversation.
“But neither of you are actually mated, are you?”Marrick said, in that same strange tone of voice.
Blaine’s eyes narrowed, and Luther was sure that Marrick had to know he was pushing Blaine’s buttons.Blaine had made no secret of the fact he wanted a formal invitation for Marrick to join the pride to be made and accepted as soon as possible.The little scratches that decorated Marrick’s skin might be fun, but they wouldn’t keep Blaine’s possessive side content forever.
Luther’s own hand clenched into a fist at his side.They wouldn’t keep him content forever either.
“He’s hot,” Marrick observed.
Blaine caught their human’s chin between his fingers and made him look away from the sacrifice.From some distant edge of his senses, Luther heard another lion step up to the human and tell him the rules of the game.But it was hard to care about that.No doubt Arslan would make sure that man was fine, just as he always did.The sacrifice wasn’t anything to do with them, not anymore.Their job had ended when he was brought in to face the others.Marrick was the only man they needed to concern themselves with now.
Part of Luther wanted to roar with success at that knowledge.Marrick was theirs.Even if that wasn’t a recognised fact within the pride, they both knew it.And he was pretty sure Marrick knew it, too, even if he didn’t want to admit it just yet.
“No one else,” Blaine told him very seriously.
“I never agreed to that.”
“No one else.”
Luther was pretty sure Blaine would keep on repeating the demand until Marrick gave in and agreed to it.
“Monogamy’s never been my thing.”
“No one else.”
Luther glanced past Marrick and caught Blaine’s expression.He’d kill him.Luther had no doubt about that.If another man ever laid a hand on their human, Blaine would kill the guy.But the thing that really scared Luther was the sudden realisation that he might not even try to stop Blaine if that happened.
But Luther definitely did want to stop whatever tension might exist between the two men he loved.Reaching past Blaine’s hand, Luther put his palm on Marrick’s cheek and turned their pet to face him.Blaine made a disgruntled little noise, but he didn’t try to stop Luther claiming Marrick’s attention.
“You wouldn’t go to another man without telling us, you wouldn’t take another lover behind our back, would you?”
“I never said I—”
Luther brushed his thumb over their pet’s lips, careful to keep his claws to himself.“Say it now?”he asked.“We’ll both rest easier if we know you’re safe whenever we take our eyes off you.”
“I can take care of—”
Luther brushed his thumb across Marrick’s mouth once more.“Let us rest easy anyway?”
Marrick hesitated, staring up at him, as if saying any such thing would be a huge concession.“I wouldn’t do anything without telling you that I intend to first.”
Luther took his thumb away from Marrick’s mouth and replaced it with his lips, kissing him as gently as he knew how, before turning him to face his other master.That sort of gentleness wasn’t in Blaine right then.The kiss he offered their human was all possession, all demands for him to submit to a more dominant force.
One of Blaine’s hands threaded through Marrick’s hair as well as the short strands allowed.He tilted their pet’s head back and devoured his mouth, yielding no ground until he eventually dragged a whimper from him.Success radiated off Blaine as he pulled back and stared down at Marrick.
He turned Marrick back to Luther, offering him to Luther, because Luther was the only other person Blaine ever tolerate laying hand on what he considered his.Luther knew that.
Rather than take another kiss, Luther dipped his head and trailed his lips along Marrick’s neck, letting his tongue creep out to play across his skin and coax a pleased little murmur from him.
Marrick’s body moved beneath his mouth as Blaine rearranged their pet between them until he had Marrick leaning comfortably back against his chest.The position offered Marrick’s whole body up to Luther’s mouth to lick and kiss however he chose, and he took full advantage of the present Blaine had made of Marrick.
Lowering his head, he lapped at one of Marrick’s nipples.Scratches passed across it, where they’d played with him through the last few nights.Even now, it was impossible to consider letting their claws come out to play during the day, not when Arslan might catch them, but the long nights were the perfect chance to explore.
Their pet loved being toyed with that way.He seemed to thrive under a sharp claw almost as much as he did under a rough tongue, and since he was adamant that he didn’t need any more rest than a lion, it was hard to see any harm in the game.The only thing that did give Luther pause was Marrick’s requests for deeper scratches, for rougher touches than they had been taught could be offered to a human.
His tongue still working Marrick’s skin, Luther cast a fleeting look toward the man on the rug.He was already proving popular with the unmated lions, and they were all being just as gentle with him as they should.
Luther had no interest in the new sacrifice.He had no inclination to lay a hand on him, but right then, he’d have dearly loved to stride onto the rug and steal the bondage he was wearing, to bring the cuffs back to the sofa and put them on a pet who was far more to his taste.
