He arched an eyebrow. “Exclusivity hasn’t been established between Winter and I, nor any of us. Despite things clearly moving in that direction, especially with the events of tonight, nothing has yet been instituted.”
“So, because a rule hasn’t been etched in stone, or whatever, it wouldn’t even upset you to see Win screwing around with somebody else?”
“I would simply have no right to be upset.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re into him, big time. Just like you’re getting there with our ice dragon princess too… close to crossing a line with me. Some rule isn’t gonna wick away any upset if you found Winfornicating—your lovely word—outside of this weird almost-unit we’ve got going on.”
He started at my words, actually hesitating with his next reaction, or move.
I released his bicep and softened my voice. “Look, honestly, that’s not why he comes here, anyway.”
He frowned. “I don’t follow. What else is there to indulge in? And why reference our developing dynamic or warn me of that occurring within this room at all?”
“Because I’m an asshole, obviously. Because you got under my skin. And of course, I had to get under yours in response. I guess I also wanted to see your reaction, to figure out where you’re really at when it comes to him and… thisdeveloping dynamic,as you called it.” I folded my arms across my chest. “But the warning was actually necessary. Just not for the reason you think. It’s not about fucking.”
I could see his nostrils flaring, trying to scent the immediate area to ascertain the answer himself. He wouldn’t be able to smell a thing. The privacy of those inside the rooms was magically protected.
I sighed and revealed, “It’s about blood.”
“Excuse me?”
I brushed past him and walked to the golden curtain shielding what was going on inside the room. I pressed my palmto the translucent film, calling my fuchsia power forth a little—a magical form of a knock in this place.
With my magic live, I called out, “Carter? Rosalynn?” I wasn’t sure which one of them Win was with, but those were his two regulars. It was gonna be one or the other. Every now and then, Win would branch out, but one of those two would still remain. It gave him some grounding comfort. “You guys done? Send Winter out.”
Vaxan came up on my side just as the curtain fluttered open a little.
I retracted my power, then pushed on inside at the invitation, Vaxan following right behind me.
Sparkling gold and crimson walls filled the space. White marble cabinets lined the far wall and I knew them to contain a whole load of BDSM-type implements. Even a neon-green studded vibrating dildo that Win and I had once—focus, Z!
“Long time, Zayn,” that silky smooth voice reached me from the circular red bed. Too smooth. Just like the slick bastard who was sprawled out in the middle of all that luxury buck-naked, his hair slicked in sweat, cum, and blood. Just like a whole lot of his body was.
Carter Alden, sorcerer.
The guy I’d basically read the riot act to when I’d first discovered what Win had been doing with him. Rosalynn had gotten the same from me.
And it had worked. They’d taken care of Win.
He just… didn’t know that I’d had any part in ensuring it.
Winter Nox was a lot of things, but street-smart wasn’t exactly one of them. Not yet, anyway. He was newly out in the world.
Before I could get a word out, the bathroom door swung open, and a vampire with shaggy green hair stumbled out in a robe, fangs dropped. He was with a werewolf who was topless,her long brown hair shielding her breasts as she zipped up her white leather pants.
The vamp snarled at us.
“Chill, Benedict,” Carter spoke, sending a spark of his peach magic toward him that tickled under the guy’s chin and had him relaxing.
“Give me a second,” Carter told them.
Benedict nodded, then snatched up a red tank from the nearby chaise and blocked our view as he helped the wolf slip it on and cover herself up. “Let’s take a breather, Maya.”
They brushed past us in the next moment and took off out of the room.
