So one decision at a time. Needing to get back to work and knowing the bus ride home would be long, she checked out and headed north, back to Seattle and into the heart of the issue.
* * * * *
Once she was at work she was able to lose herself in the busy lunch rush and then the late afternoon happy hour crowd. But at dusk she felt them wake up, felt their resolve to find her. Knew they were on their way.
Holly knew she should go but she couldn’t. All day long she’d done her shift as her mind worked through the situation in the background. The inescapable truth was that she wanted them to find her. She wanted to be with them. And somehow she understood that the fire on her skin, her yearning and feeling of nausea wouldn’t go away until they got there. For better or worse, she was beginning to believe in the idea that they were meant to be together. In some sense anyway. What that meant beyond those words wasn’t quite clear to her yet.
They walked in through the front door half an hour later and she turned as their presence called to her. Alarmed at how good it felt to see them both, her hand went to her throat. Tears sprang to her eyes and the angry look on Rhett’s face faded.
The bar was insanely busy. Rhett and Nate made eye contact with her to let her know they were there and had no intention of leaving without her. Once they’d done that, they also felt the edge of her fear and near panic and decided to sit down at the end of the long bar to wait for her.
Long minutes later there was a lull enough that she was able to go over to them. They both watched her approach without speaking but when she reached out to them mentally, she felt no anger. Just relief that she was all right and there.
“I’m sorry. I…I was just overwhelmed and I didn’t know what to do. The break-in, you two, this dream I had where my cousin showed up. I just had to get out,” she said quietly, fighting tears.
Rhett took her hand and put it over his heart. “It’s okay. I can’t imagine how hard all of this is for you. Nate and I just want to protect you, keep you safe, make you happy. We worry about you. Last night we were insane with fear that you’d be harmed in some way. I’m so grateful that you’re all right.”
She looked past Rhett’s shoulder at Nate, into those pale green eyes, and saw so much emotion there that it scared her, made her heart race. Nate seemed so tough but beneath the surface she knew lurked someone far more complex.
“Order up!” Roy shouted and she jumped and reluctantly turned and got back to work.
They stayed her whole shift, watching her hungrily. She had to admit to herself that it felt good to have them there. Safe.
After a very long shift that ended at ten she went into the back to get her stuff and walked back out into the bar to find them waiting for her.
“Night, Roy,” she called out as they headed for the door.
Roy looked up and narrowed his eyes at the men she was with. Appearing satisfied by her apparent comfort with them, he nodded. “Night, doll.”
Once outside, Holly put her collar up against the cool evening air. Rhett took her bags and Nate pulled her to his side as they walked to the Jag.
Wedged between them, she felt content and allowed herself the warmth of it. Nate kept his arm around her shoulders and Rhett’s hand was on her thigh as he drove.
“Uh, I don’t know anything about vampires, well, not real ones anyway. But do you need to feed or something? You rushed over to the bar right when you woke up.”
“You felt that?” Rhett asked.
At first she nodded but realized that Rhett’s eyes were on the road. She cleared her throat. “Yes. I felt you come awake. I felt it yesterday too. It was like everything was calm and then you were suddenly there, inside of me. I felt you happy, then very aroused,” her voice lowered for a moment, “and then I felt Nate wake up and his arousal too. I knew when he found my note, I felt it.”
“It’s the bond that began to form when the three of us exchanged blood. I couldn’t feel exactly where you were but definitely your basic presence. I felt that you were still alive and unhurt but that’s all. We need to change that.” The light from the streetlamps lit Rhett’s face and Holly could see the emotion there and it cut into her heart.
“I felt you panic and I know you were angry with me.” Her voice was quiet. “When you woke up today, you felt less afraid. I thought…I thought that you didn’t care until I felt your resolve to get me. I felt you both coming over.”
“Holly, we weren’t afraid because we had Jax, our man of business, watching the tavern. He reported to us immediately when we woke up that you were safe and at work. Never think we don’t care, Holly.”
Relief rushed through her even as annoyance rose that they’d had her watched. “Oh. Okay.”
Nate gave her a sideways look. “We do need to feed but I want to get you home first. I’ll run out and eat and then when I come back Rhett can go out.” He made it sound like going out for Chinese.
“Okay,” she said hesitantly, inwardly cringing at her inarticulate responses. “So uh, do you just vamp on someone? Toss those gorgeous pale green eyes their way and suck ‘em dry in an alley?”
Nate laughed. “No. Nothing so exciting. You’ve been reading vampire novels, I see. We don’t take blood from unwilling humans. We have donors. Humans who freely give their blood to us.”
She turned to him. “And what do they get out of it? I mean, sorry to sound so cynical and all, but why would people just offer themselves up to be fed on by vampires? Are they like groupies or something?” As soon as she’d said it she narrowed her eyes at him. She could sense his surprise and then his evasion.
He sighed, knowing he’d have to explain but not knowing how to do it and make it okay. “Well, we pay their living expenses a lot of the time. Provide them with a house or an apartment so they can be available when we need them. And yes, some are what you’d call groupies and they…like to be around vampires.”
“Like? As in they like it when you make them, uh, feel like Rhett made me feel last night when he took my blood?”
Rhett kept his eyes forward and his mouth shut.
“Yes. Feeding from humans causes climax. It’s a symbiotic system, we get sustenance and they get pleasure and a roof over their heads. It doesn’t mean anything. Not in comparison to what you mean. What we mean. I haven’t fed from you yet but I’m guessing that taking blood from your mate is different from taking blood from a donor.”
“Why don’t you feed from me tonight then?”
He looked at her sharply. “You’re offering your blood freely?”
“Yes.”
“She can’t, Nate. Not a full feeding. She fed me night before last and she’s been healing from her injuries. We can’t feed from her more than every other day or two. It’s too much.” Frowning, Rhett pulled into the driveway and turned off the car.
“Not a full feeding but a small one. For the bond,” Nate said to Rhett and then looked back to Holly. Seeing her confusion, he touched her chin with the tip of his finger. “When Rhett goes out I’ll take your blood. It’ll tie you to me and me to you. Completely. We’ve already got the beginnings of a bond, this will complete it because you took my blood two nights ago. Are you ready for that?”
“Hell if I know,” she said, feeling totally off balance. “I don’t know anything. That should be my new motto.”
“Well, let’s talk when we get inside. Okay, sweet?” Nate kissed the tip of her nose.
They all piled out of the car and headed for the house. Once inside they went into the living room and sat together. Rhett pulled her close and she accepted that, leaning her head against his chest as she looked at Nate, waiting for him to speak.
“Let’s just be totally clear here, okay?” Nate began.
“Please.”
“I want you, Holly. Not just because you’re my biological match but because you appeal to me. I like your strength and your courage. I love your eyes and the shyness about you. I want to drink of you and tie you to me. I want the threads o
f our souls…of our hearts to join together. For us—vampires—a mating like this is permanent until one of the parties dies.”
A host of emotions rushed through her as her heart threatened to burst through her chest. “I…I just met you day before yesterday for god’s sake!”
“Do you want to be anywhere else right now?”
She thought about it long and hard and shook her head. She didn’t. Sure she had her faults like anyone else but being flaky or flighty wasn’t one of them. She was careful, rational, measured. She didn’t fall for movie stars or the latest fads. That she wanted to enter into a threesome with two vampires—vampires!—was astonishing and overwhelming but it felt right. She knew it came at a time in her life when everything was upside down and she felt off balance from losing her mother. At the same time, she felt deep inside that she was meant to meet these two precisely because it was when she needed them the most.
“You say it’s permanent. But you’ll never age and I’ll get old and die. How will you feel when I’m sixty? Eighty? And you both still look so young?”
“Well,” Nate paused, taking one of her hands, “we would hope that you’d want to convert.”
“Didn’t you tell me last night that a majority of humans died from failed conversions?” Her voice rose a bit.
“Yes. But you’re a biological match to two vampires, both of whom started life as humans. You’ll do just fine or you wouldn’t be a match for either one of us.” Rhett’s voice rumbled in his chest, vibrating against her cheek.
“And it would be just us?”
“What do you mean, sweetness?” Nate asked.
“Just the three of us. No other women.” She couldn’t bear the thought of being cheated on for eternity.
“No other women except for donors and there will be no sex with them. We promise that. The same goes for you.” Nate’s face bore dismay and annoyance when he realized she’d be feeding on men, making them come.
“I get donors too?”
“Well, if you convert you’ll need at least three.”
She rubbed her eyes for a moment. “I need to deal with the situation with my family before I do this.”
“So you’ll convert then? After the situation with your family is resolved?” Nate asked.
She looked at them both, already loving the different features of their faces—the sexy curve of Nate’s lips, the intensity of his eyes, the coal-black silk of Rhett’s hair, the aristocratic nose. She took a deep breath and stepped out into the abyss. “Yes.”
Nate squeezed her hand and kissed her fingertips and Rhett brushed his lips over her temple. Relief rushed through the room.
“You said something about your cousin in the note, and a dream? I meant to ask you.” Relief that she’d agreed to convert was clear in Rhett’s voice.
“Look, it’s an incredibly long story. Why don’t you both feed and we can talk after. I feel bad that you haven’t eaten yet.”
Nate got up. “I’ll be back in half an hour.” He bent and kissed her lips quickly and she tried not to think that he was going to do to another woman what Rhett had done to her the night before.
She watched him leave with a curve to her lips, damn, the man looked as good going as he did coming. He looked back over his shoulder and gave her an arrogant, self-assured grin and placed two fingers to his lips and left.
“Can I take your hair down?” Holly looked to Rhett, giving him her attention. She nodded slowly.
He slowly pulled the braid free and massaged her scalp. Her hair poured over his arms and through his fingers. It was silky soft and the scent of roses permeated it. “God, it’s beautiful. Like liquid fire. Why do you keep it bound back all of the time?”
“It gets in my face and customers tend to get miffed if my hair is in their beer.” She nearly purred as his fingertips worked their magic against her scalp. “I should cut it. My mother always said that it was my glory. My one concession to vanity.”
“No! Never. Honey, your hair is stunning. This color is so rare—gold and copper and the brilliant orange of sunrise. It’s so soft.” He ran his fingers through it.
She blushed, wildly flattered. “Tell me about you. How long have you been a vampire?”
“Forty years now. Funny how time feels different when you have so much more of it. It seems like yesterday really. Anyway, my mentor was the head of the history department at Boston University. After two years of knowing him, he told me about this man he’d met. Gaius. Only Gaius was more than a mere man, he was an immortal.”
Rhett shrugged. “It was the sixties. There was a sense that there were more questions than answers. I went with him to meet this immortal and that night changed my life. I was mesmerized. Gaius then became my friend—a father figure. I had no family to speak of and he became that to me.
“He changed me that summer. In August. I was in the last stages of lung cancer.” He snorted a laugh. “At least I stopped smoking. Anyway, he saved my life and I joined his caste and remained at his right hand for four decades. Until a few months ago.”
She turned to look at him, seeing the faraway look in his eyes. His sadness cut through her heart. Reaching out, she ran her fingers through his hair and he leaned into her touch, closing his eyes a moment. “What happened?”
“An uprising of sorts. Vampire society is governed by caste structure in most places, except for unaffiliated cities where all live freely without hierarchy. But my caste, the Nento caste, has faced some major power struggles for the last five years. Three months ago the elder who’d been opposing Gaius won and took over. All of those in Gaius’ ruling circle had to scatter or take an oath to serve the new leader of the caste. Most of us scattered. Gaius went back to Germany. He wants to live out the rest of his years quietly amongst the oldest ones.”
She took his hand and kissed his knuckles. “I’m so sorry you lost your friend like that. And your whole life, I suppose.”
He smiled at her. “Well, it’s easier to bear today. Clearly we were meant to be here and find you. And I do tech work, designing websites and Internet storefronts. I can do that anywhere. As long as you’re with me, I’m just fine.”
“So uh, this is totally rude of me but how old are you?”
He grinned. “I was twenty-six when I was changed. So I’m eighty-six now, in May actually.”
“And you have no family?”
“My parents were older when they had me. They passed when I was in college. I have a brother, or had a brother. We weren’t close. I have nieces and nephews and I guess grand-nieces and nephews. Nate and Gaius are…were the closest thing I had to family until you.”
The way he looked at her warmed her heart. He touched her like she was precious, watched her as if every move she made was important and wonderful. She’d never felt that kind of regard before.
“Uh, my cousin said to tell you that New Orleans isn’t affiliated. I guess I know what she means now.”
The relaxed and sexy look on Rhett’s face sharpened and he sat up, leaning so that he could see her face better. “How did she find you and how did she know about whether or not New Orleans was affiliated?”
She poured out the entire dream to him, including the fact that her cousin was in a threesome with a vampire.
“Hmm. I wonder if we’re meant to be together because you have some level of magical ability? You say your other cousin and her husband are Fae? Wow, remarkable. I’ve only met a Faerie once. She was…interesting.”
“Interesting?” Holly rolled her eyes. “Nice euphemism. It’s all right, you know, I don’t expect you to be a virgin or anything.”
He laughed and she shivered. His voice really was a sensual weapon. “Are you?”
“Am I what?”
“A virgin.”
“I’m twenty-four years old, Rhett. What do you think?”
His face darkened at her answer. Never in his life had he felt jealousy over a woman’s former lovers. This woman…well, he wanted to be her everything. “Well, Na
te and I will love you so well you won’t remember any of your former lovers. I’ll leave when he bonds with you but I’ll be back and you and I will finish what we started night before last. I can’t be here when you two exchange blood the first time. I’m afraid it would rouse my possessive instincts. Truth be told, this whole thing will be tricky to work around. But this thing between the three of us is meant to be so we’ll just have to work it out as we go along.”
She laughed and it wove around his heart. “What? You don’t have any experience with threesomes?”
“Well,” he drew out the word, not wanting to misstep but also wanting to be truthful, “not like what we’ve got—what we’ll have together. Not the metaphysical binding that’ll happen between the three of us. Vampires are very sexual beings so yes, I’ve had threesomes before and I’ve not had any problem. But this isn’t some fun fling. You’re my mate. Our mate. And vampires are very territorial and defensive once mated. Our mate is the center of our world. Protection of her is paramount, her happiness is paramount. That instinct will be tested because you will have another mate. You’re more than a woman whom a friend and I are sharing for the night or a few weeks. This is something much more important and special. But still complicated.”
“Yes. Just seeing her there in your arms, her hair on your flesh, sets me at war with myself. Part of me is turned on by it but another part wants to rip you apart for touching her.” Nate came in then and Holly got caught in his gaze as he came toward them. Muscles playing under his skin as he moved, he looked so sexy and yet utterly capable of violence. She felt no fear of him, though she did feel trepidation at what was going to happen between them all.
Nate held his hand out and she took it, allowing him to pull her up from the couch. His eyes held hers and her breathing went shallow. “Are you ready?” he asked softly.
“As I’ll ever be,” she replied nervously.
Rhett stood up and walked to where they were standing and pressed against her from behind, his cock a brand at the small of her back. “I’m going to feed but I’ll be back in a while. Then I’m coming for you.”
She turned her head and he took her mouth with his own. Nate was pressed against her front and Rhett against her back. Rhett’s tongue flicked out, teasing at her lips until she opened them and he flowed inside. He gripped her hair in his fist and rolled his hips against her ass, which only served to press her pussy against Nate’s erection, bringing a growl trickling from his lips.