“Absolutely,” Vivian replied.
“Good.” Leonie slid her thigh over Vivian’s hips so she could take Smoak inside her. Though she made sure to face me.
So I could torment her too. I feasted on them both, tracing the tender skin stretched around Smoak. Flattening my tongue against Leonie’s clit. Feeling her heartbeat thud quicker on my tongue. Breathing roughly, Vivian clutched her around the waist, helping her move. Thrusting up into her as much as she could with my arms over her thighs. My fangs ached, lengthening even more. But I made myself wait for the telltale catch in Vivian’s breathing. The way her heart pounded and then almost stopped for a second, hanging over the precipice. Then I struck. Sinking my fangs into her inner thigh.
Bellowing out a cry of release, she bucked beneath us. Pushing Leonie to another climax as well. I could taste the pleasure sparking in her blood. Flickering flames of her sunfire like molten honey. So fucking good. Arms curled around them both,I drank until her hand stopped stroking my hair to drop to the mattress. I licked my bite closed and crawled up beside her so I could curl up against her on my side.
“Your back,” she mumbled. “Protect.”
I kissed her cheek and tucked up tighter against her. “My back is fine, Vivian. G and Sekh have the door, and Rik is nearby. It’s safe to sleep.”
Leonie made a low sound almost like a sob. I lifted my head, meeting her gaze. Tears filled her eyes, but her lips wobbled in a smile. “Thank you, my queen. I haven’t been safe enough to sleep for decades.”
I reached across Vivian and wrapped them both in my arm. My hair settled over us like a thick velvet blanket. “This sentient octopus hair will attack anything that even thinks about laying a finger on either of you.”
Tangled together, we slipped into the heavy, deep sleep of the dead.
27
LEONIE
Iopened my eyes, not sure what had awakened me.
Beside me, Shara lay in the crook of Vivian’s arm, her hair streaming out across the pillows. The sight of her pulled me toward her like a black hole, even if the weight of her immense power crushed me like an ant beneath her foot.
I scooted closer so I could press my lips to her bare arm. Or rather, I tried to kiss her. I couldn’t feel her body heat or taste her skin. It was like I wasn’t even here.
Heart pounding, I jerked upright and looked about the room. Everything was grayed out, the colors muted and thin. Shara’s skin didn’t gleam with power. Her hair looked like a smudged charcoal drawing. No one moved, not even her alpha, who still sat in the chair by the window. Even when I slipped from the bed.
While I’d been sleeping, I must have accidentally entered Twilight, the world between worlds, the land of the dead. Oya must need to show me something.
As soon as I thought of Her, I stood outside the house in the yard. The night was completely still. No wind, no insect sounds or night birds. Even the luxurious grass beneath my feet wasgrayed and dull. I took a step, and suddenly I stood on a small hill overlooking Shara’s nest. Glancing back over my shoulder at her large house, I realized trees ringed her house in a near perfect circle.
A sound in the silence drew my head back around so I could stare out over the surrounding hills of thick forests. I could see for miles. Steep hills. Deep valleys. Winding rivers and blacktop highways. Homes and buildings set into the steep hillside of Eureka Springs, a lighter area against the Twilight.
The sound echoed across the hills, and I tried to place it. A sort of rustle. Something falling. Not stones. Softer. Clumps of dirt, maybe. More rustling, louder like crackles. Ripping. It pulled my awareness over another hill into a valley I wouldn’t be able to see with the naked eye. Zooming in closer to a clearing in the forest.
A wrought iron gate creaked open with a metallic shriek, and I suddenly knew why Oya had called me here.
The dead were uneasy. Their rest had been disturbed. Recently, in fact.
Old dirt. Shoved upward. Clods falling away. The crack of wood. Roots. Tearing open. A hand shoved up out of the disturbed earth, a thin cadaver arm shriveled with age but incredibly strong as the dead man dragged himself out of his grave. His clothes hung in tatters about his wasted body. Leathery skin stretched tightly over his hollowed cheeks.
More rustling and creaking. Moans echoed through the night. Angry mutters. Hands reaching out. Fingers locked on my arms. Dragging me down. I opened my mouth to scream but dirt immediately clogged my mouth and nostrils, filled with the scent of decay and death.
I awoke with a start,jerking upright. Gasping, my skin covered in a sheen of sweat.
Shara hugged me, one hand rubbing gentle circles on my back. “Shhh, Leonie, it’s okay. You’re safe. It was only a dream.”
“No,” I panted, shaking my head. “They’re coming. It was a warning.”
Vivian shot out of the bed and began dressing. Shara had muted her Blood bonds enough that I couldn’t hear whatever orders her alpha must be giving, but they didn’t hesitate jumping to full alert.
Still calm, Shara asked, “Who’s coming?”
Not quite as fast as Vivian, I still hopped up and found my robe and slippers so I could go get dressed. “The dead. Someone has disturbed their rest. They’re crawling out of their graves.”
“The Dauphine sent my aunt’s corpse here once as a warning. Is that what you saw?”
