“It is.” I cut him off, and the shock on his face was almost worth the terror of interrupting him. “You kneel for us too, Kiernan. Maybe not physically. But you kneel.”
Callen opened the box.
Inside lay a torque of hammered silver, thick and heavy, designed to sit at the base of the throat. It was open at the front with two terminals that would rest against his collarbones.
I pointed to one terminal. “The Thornwood crest.”
Ophelia touched the other. “A rose. My middle name.”
“Do you accept this?” I forced the words out. “Do you accept that you belong to us as we belong to you? That our claim on you is as real and as permanent as your claim on us?”
He looked at the torque, then at me, then Ophelia.
“Yes.”
I lifted the torque from the box. The silver was warm and heavier than I expected. Ophelia placed her hands on his shoulders from behind.
“Kneel,” she said.
His knees bent, then he sank to the floor in front of us and looked up with an expression I’d never seen on his face before.
I settled the torque around his throat, and Ophelia’s hands joined mine on the metal.
“Ours,” she said.
“Yours,” he answered.
From behind us, Callen added, “Witnessed and sealed.”
After several seconds, Kiernan stood. “I believe,” he said, “we have a marriage to consummate.”
Our three guests departed with handshakes and murmured congratulations.
Once they were gone, Kiernan reached for Ophelia first, pulled her against his chest, and kissed her hard. She pressed into him, fingers clutching his shirt. I watched, and what I felt wasn’t jealousy. It was want.
“Come here.”
He gripped the back of my neck and pulled me in. His mouth was on mine, hot and demanding. Ophelia kissed my jaw, then my throat, then the edge of my collar.
“The bed,” Kiernan said against my mouth. “Now.”
Our clothes came off as we moved toward it. Ophelia’s silk skirt slid down her hips, and I unlaced her corset.
“Remove my shirt,” he said once she was naked. “Oliver, you’re overdressed.”
Kiernan moved behind me after I took off my shirt. His bare chest pressed against my back as he unfastenedmy belt. “I’ve been thinking about what I wanted to do to both of you once you were collared,” he said against my ear.
“What did you come up with?” I gasped when he reached into my trousers and gripped my cock.
“Everything. I want to watch Ophelia ride your face while I fuck you. I want to bury myself inside her while you take me from behind. Then spend hours making you scream and beg and come so hard you forget your own name.”
I pulsed in his hands.
“To start,” Kiernan continued, “I want you inside me while I’m inside her.”
I pressed my mouth to his shoulder. “Then, that’s what you’ll get.”
We removed the rest of our clothes, then stood at the end of the bed, where Ophelia lay waiting.
