Dante is next, and he presses his forehead to mine. I nearly drown in the sea of promises in his glittering, ocean-blue eyes. One moment, he’s there, and the next, his teeth are sinking over my scent gland. He manages it so his claim and Matteo’s don’t overlap.
Where Matteo’s appearance within me was as subtle as he is, Dante’s arrival is like a door being kicked in. It’s as perfect as he is.
He’s also impatient for me to return his bite, but that is Dante, and I wouldn’t change anything about him. I make myclaim on him as obvious as day and night. Biting down until I taste the copper of blood, it doesn’t seem like any time passes before there’s a sudden surge, like a rush of adrenaline as our bond snaps into place.
The moment I let go of his flesh from between my teeth, he’s laughing and moving out of the way. He takes a couple of steps away, to make room for Valentine, before he shoves his brother away to scoop me up in a hug. “Fuck, yes, baby.”
I sink into Dante’s excitement; it oozes off him, but he’s also pumping our bond full of it and his other emotions. There’s no way I can misinterpret his true feelings. I won’t ever question how right we are for each other again.
I get a small crest of anxiety and urgency through our bond, like a part of him is missing. He grabs Valentine’s arm, and some of the urgency is replaced by something I can’t put my finger on. I look to Matteo and Dante and find the answer in their submission.
Valentine is pure Alpha, and he no longer hides his true strength from me. No matter which Valentine—Alpha or man—is wearing the mask, his love is pure.
Valentine is fast when he snatches me closer. His hands feel like claws as he cranes my neck back, stretching the skin taut. He strikes hard like a snake, and he bites like a cornered snake too. Valentine doesn’t bite me once. He doesn’t even do it twice. He rings one side of my throat to the other with his claim, finishing over my scent gland and under the spot where his brother’s claim sits.
Valentine’s arrival in my soul is as dramatic as Dante’s was. It’s like an arrow through my heart, and I fall into him, staggering and desperate to make him mine.
I bite him twice; it feels right. Once, over his scent gland for the world to see, and again on his bottom lip, because I can’t stand the thought of him kissing any other person.Inappropriate? Maybe. But my care factor is fucking non-existent. The only thing that matters is he is mine, and everyone knows.
As his claim winds through every cell in my system, I’m literally flooded by his raw strength. I have to physically hold on to him as he sweeps through our bond, somehow also grasping on to Matteo’s and Dante’s connection before he binds the three separate tethers into one. Then, protectively, he wraps the individual strands of our bond around my heart, shielding it, claiming it, taking it as theirs.
Sensations become impossible to define, but I know there are times during the night when I rise up in my consciousness and find myself spread over the three of them. All of us kissing, touching, cementing our bond.
I definitely remember when the sun rises over the horizon. I’m the only one awake. I desperately want a memory to last in my mind forever. Every time I look at a dawning sky, I will remember our bonding.
It’s the scent of us that eventually guides me to join them in sleep.
53
Layne
Valentine’s fingers trail up my spine. I know his touch like I know his name.
“Did you know I can now feel you sleeping?” he asks quietly, careful not to wake the others.
Matteo is under me, Dante on my other side. Turning my head, I face my Alpha, and I get a swell of his pride flooding our bond.
“Did you hear me?”
“No. I felt you call meAlpha, though. But it’s like explaining how a color makes you feel. I hope I get better at explaining things to you.”
“Or not. You’re exactly how I want you to be. Plus, I know what you’re going through.”
He reaches over and kisses me softly, and when I lick over the healing marks of my bite, lust explodes in his eyes. He blinks it away, and I laugh, stunned by the force of the rush myself.
“I’m feeding you. After a cold shower.” He kisses me again, a little more aggressively, before he rolls off our makeshift bed.
Except, when he goes, the rush of his lust, along with the peaceful serenity in our bond, seems to have unlocked something else.
“Val.” I stop him, and he rolls right back to where he was. I climb onto him as soon as his head settles on the pillow. “Food can wait.”
As I straddle him, his hands fall to my knees, and I get another tease of something I can only describe as warm, effervescent bubbles tickling me from the inside out. I stretch down over him, rubbing my chest on his and burying my nose against his throat, chasing his scent. I taste it on my tongue and my mouth waters.
Valentine runs his hand up and over my shoulders, and I arch into his touch, crazed for more.
“Are you going into heat for us?”
I can’t talk.
