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Wait, he couldn’t mean…

“Drink my blood.”

We all growled at the suggestion. Well, everyone but Archer, who had taken too much of a liking to the bloodsucker for my comfort. His curiosity always won out over his prejudices, but I’d rather let the resentment fuel me.

Kian rolled his eyes and replied quickly. “I’m not saying to bite and bond with me. I mean, it’s not like I’d want to be tied down to you assholes, either. I must have way more of this ‘Luminis,’ and I can offer you a bit to drink to introduce more to your bloodstream.”

The thought of drinking vamp blood made me want to puke, but fuck, I liked the idea of waiting longer to rescue Marlowe even less. I looked towards Archer. “What do you think? Would it work?”

“I already told you my feelings on exchanging blood on the drive over here,” he said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Aside from perhaps helping us build and accumulate Luminis more quickly, I’d be interested in seeing if there were any other side effects, or powers we could exchange. So it’s worth trying, and I’m happy to go first if the rest of you are still skeptical.”

I ran my hand down my face, grumbling. “Whatever. If it helps get Marlowe back faster, it’s worth it.”

Just a few weeks ago, I’d been sitting at a Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt’s house, eating way too much turkey and texting Rachel, a beta I knew from high school who I’d been flirting with.

Now I was naked in the middle of the woods, agreeing to drink a vampyr’s blood so I could enter a portal to another dimension filled with fae who had kidnapped my omega.

She was worth enduring every trial we’d been put through so far, and would likely meet from now on. But it was still hard to come to terms with how my life had gotten to this point.

Kian’s sharpened canines elongated and he nicked the skin on his wrist with a quick swipe, offering it to Archer. “A few pulls should be enough.”

Archer grabbed his arm and tentatively took a quick sniff, carefully placing his mouth around the wound and drinking in.

My stomach revolted and I had to turn away. It was too disgusting to watch.

After a few seconds, I heard him break away, coughing and breathing heavily. Kian licked his wound closed as Archer’s chest heaved, steam rising off his heated skin.

“Well?” Nolan asked.

Archer flexed his hands a few times and closed his eyes. “I feel… strange.” When they opened again they flashed violet before returning to his normal brown, and the ground around us began to rumble. A column of earth erupted through the snow, followed in quick succession by several more, winding their way along the shore.

Julian stepped forward and touched one of the tall spires of dirt and rock Archer had just summoned, then turned towards the vamp with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Me next.”

39

MARLOWE

After the initial novelty of the other fae’s appearances and proclivities wore off, the ball just seemed a little… boring.

Not that I was some big party animal or anything, but all anyone was doing was just freaky sex.

Yeah, been there, done that.

I thought about asking Ezra if they at least had any good drugs, but then again, I didn’t really feel safe being high around the king. Even the alcohol seemed risky, and I nursed the wine in my glass slowly as the party went on.

Eventually the center of the ballroom cleared. My interest piqued, I looked around for a singer, or perhaps a group of dancers. Anything was better than watching and listening to other people fuck nonstop.

Long columns of silk fluttered down from the ceiling, and three nude male acrobats slowly slid their way down, the crowd silent as they watched.

A female fae, her skin spotted and sleek, tumbled into the room and climbed her way to the males above, expertly guiding their erect cocks inside her as she swung between the strips of hanging fabric, until finally she managed to braid them together, each male fucking her from a different entrance.

I watched the female closely, and the look on her face was nothing but pure joy as the males worshiped every inch of her. She somehow managed to weave a pattern while still grinding on and sucking the cocks of her partners.

Granted I didn’t think I’d ever be that flexible, and maybe they were just talented performers, but I could feel a connection greater than sex passing through them by the way they looked at each other.

It made me think of my pack. I hadn’t been with them for over a week, and it was killing me. Not the lack of sex, although that was part of it, but I missed the love and the intimacy. The feeling of happiness from being surrounded by their affection and care.