“They’re back?” Her eyes lit up.
“Yes, and I’m sure your Zoodle will be up here any moment, demanding his turn. Oh, the joys of sharing you,” I fake-sighed, then regretted teasing her when her face fell.
“Oh, no, Koko! I—”
“Shh, Seri,” I crooned, cupping her face in my palms. “A joke, I swear. None of us regret sharing you. None of us are jealous or resentful. I love watching you with my brothers, and I know they feel the same. I’m sorry I indicated otherwise.”
“You mean it?” Her lashes grew spiky, and I could have shot myself for upsetting her.
“I do, sweet girl. You are so completely ours.Ourbeloved. But you can ask them yourself if you don’t believe me. They’ll be here any moment.”
“You’re sure, Koko? You’rereallysure?”
“I am. With every vow I could give you, I mean it, Serafina.”
She watched my face for a moment longer, then leaned in and kissed me, softly and tenderly, melting every part of me, as only she could.
#
Casimir
I could hear the slipstream of Seri and Koa’s voices from our room, followed by the long hush that meant my brother was holding her skin-to-skin as he breathed her in, slow and content, letting the world go blurry around the edges. I could picture him, arms a bracket around her, lips to her hair, whispering words of devotion.
Some days I envied him, the ease with which he gave every part of himself away, but mostly I was grateful, because the only thing more impossible than loving Seri alone would be caging her in a single pair of arms.
We’d never been that kind of family. Not even as kids. Sharing everything from cookies to bandages. First with Mom, then, after she was gone, with each other, through the brawling years when Father’s punishments had left us half-feral and inseparable. By the time we’d met Seri, we were already formed in that shape: Three bodies, one tangle. She didn’t break us apart. She just fit perfectly in the middle.
Each of us had our own way with her, and she responded differently to each approach like an instrument played by three very different musicians, creating three distinct, but equally beautiful melodies.
Koa took his time with her, worshipping her body with the same fierce intensity he applied to everything in his life. Zane made her laugh, tickling and tormented her into a frenzy before finally giving her what she needed, leaving her too exhausted to do anything but sleep afterward.
As for me, I studied everything, then deployed my knowledge with precision. When I touched her, it was with purpose, and her soft cries of pleasure were the sweetest reward for my patience.
I unbuckled my belt, anticipation coiling tight in my gut. Zane was running Brumous in the orchard, letting the dire wolf chase wind in the moonlight for the last time tonight, giving me a chance to have our beloved before he wore her out with his teasing.
I took the stairs fast, two at a time, then slowed as I reached our room and kicked off my boots in the hallway. Just as I touched the doorknob, though, Seri’s voice, high and uncertain, came from inside.
“You’re sure, Koko? You’rereallysure?”
“I am.” His response came without hesitation, steady as dawn rising. “With every vow I could give you, I mean it, Serafina.”
My pulse ratcheted up, not just from the rawness in his tone, but because I could tell they were discussing something thatmattered.
Seri’s anxieties crept in after dark sometimes, when she was certain no one was listening. She’d been like that since we found her, twisting her fingers into knots and panicking whenever she thought she might lose us. I couldn’t blame her. Her stepmother had spent years programming her to believe that love was just a leash pulled tight, starve and reward, never let the dog forget who owned it.
I exhaled slowly, silently. Whatever doubts had crept into our beloved’s mind, Ko was handling it. That was one of the many things I appreciated about my youngest brother. He shouldered the emotional load that I often struggled to balance, the weight of feelings that sometimes seemed too complex, too messy for my ordered mind to process. And Zane simply pretended those burdens didn’t exist if they grew too heavy for him to carry.
“And here’s your Simmy.” He knew I was there. Of course he did. Ko could smell me through three feet of concrete, let alone a wood door. “Wanting to prove to you how much he loves and enjoys sharing you with his brothers.”
So. That was it. Something had spooked her, maybe a flashback to her stepmother’s relentless “you are my property” lectures, and he was talking her down, wrapping her in the kind of reassurance that only made her nod, because she didn’t trust words until they were proven a hundred times with actions.
Lucky for me, actions were my native tongue.
I opened the door, silent as shadow, and let the sight of them burn its way into my retinas. Seri cuddled against Ko, her hair a tangled mess around them, his hands caressing her bare back. His lips were at her ear, but his eyes found mine, silently telling me to hurry.
Stripping out of the rest of my clothes, I crossed the room, knelt on the bed beside them, and kissed her shoulder.
“I’m more than happy to prove that, my love.”
