“I want to keep her,” he said quietly.
I looked over at Nick as he stripped off his clothes.
“Trial period,” he muttered.
I slipped an arm around Ella’s waist and lifted my hips, pressing myself back inside her. She was still wet. Still tight. No barrier between us.
Her reaction tonight hadn’t been anticipated. When Alec had choked her out, she’d come apart like a goddamn rocket. Nothing had gone to plan—and yet everything had clicked because of her.
Ella fit.
Between all of us.
A pliable little fucktoy—made to be used however we pleased.
I stood, keeping her impaled as I moved toward the bed. Nick pulled the covers back while Alec stepped in to help guide her to the centre. His fingers brushed the red marks along her throat.
“On her side,” he said roughly.“I’m not done. One load wasn’t enough.”
I agreed. That was why I hadn’t pulled out.
Nick climbed onto the bed with us.
???
“She won’t last.”
I woke to Nick’s murmur, the words bleeding into my consciousness before I fully surfaced. I stayed still, eyes closed, listening. Letting them speak freely while they thought I was still asleep.
“I’ve known Rowan for more than double the time you have,” Alec replied carefully, his tone measured.“And it’s rare that he’s wrong.”
“There’s no guarantee when it comes to humans,” Nick said.“People change.”
“Do you think that about us?”
“No. Not us. Others,” Nick grunted.
“Well,” Alec scoffed quietly, shifting somewhere on the other side of the bed,“I’m glad it’s not up to you then.”
I almost smiled to myself.
The next few days would be interesting. But for this morning, we could afford to linger in the aftermath. To be lazy. To observe.
“Oh,” Alec said lightly, his voice shifting into something falsely gentle,“there she is. Good morning.”
I felt Ella move between us before I opened my eyes. A subtle tension in the mattress. Her body was still stiff, uncertain of its place, positioned as a barrier without realising it—separating me from them.
“Aww,” Alec continued, syrupy sweet.“Does your throat hurt? Let me see those marks.”
That was when I opened my eyes.
Alec was propped on his elbow, looking down at Ella with open interest. Nick lay beyond him, close but silent, his attention fixed on her in a way that bordered on unsettling.
Nick didn’t say a word. He simply watched her for a long moment—long enough for the weight of it to sink in—before he rose from the bed.
The sheets slid from his hips as he stood.
Ella’s gaze dropped instinctively.
