Page 34 of Blood from the Marrow (Lilith’s Legacy #2)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Elena’s bedroom hadn’t changed in the years since Zuri had seen it. She wished she could say the same about herself. Wished that she and Elena were still living in the uncomplicated lust and burgeoning love they had been in when she first visited Venice.

Zuri called bullshit on herself immediately.

Without Sayah treating people like fucking game pieces she could sacrifice at will—if she didn’t act like lives didn’t matter—she wouldn’t be here at all.

Wouldn’t have a heart that thrummed with wanting.

Wouldn’t have so much to lose. She couldn’t wish for the uncomplicated past without forfeiting the present.

A present she would do anything to keep.

Fresh from her shower in one of the guest rooms down the hall, Zuri walked into the sprawling bedroom with a towel wrapped around her damp body.

In the few minutes alone, she’d allowed herself to cry.

Allowed herself to feel the bone-deep relief of having Elena back.

Well, she wasn’t sure if Elena was back back, but she sure as hell was a lot closer.

Like Mars rather than Neptune. At least she was visible to the naked eye now.

Visible and standing at the open glass door leading out to a tiny balcony hanging over the cana, hair wet and wearing nothing but a thin white shirt, Elena should have looked like a vivid sex dream. But tension made Elena’s entire body visibly rigid.

Zuri was sure she knew what Elena was thinking.

That while Marisol finished in the shower, Elena was replaying the night’s events.

That she was beating herself up over things that weren’t her fault and she couldn’t control.

Zuri’s stomach clenched into a fist that jabbed straight up into her battered heart.

She took a steadying breath and refused to let her the fuck go.

“If you’re going to do this every time we leave you alone…” Zuri said as she approached. “Shit is about to get real fucking codependent.”

Elena glanced over her shoulder. Without any makeup on, without expensive clothes or any vampire boss drag, Elena was so achingly beautiful. So heartbreakingly hers.

“What?” she asked without turning away from the door.

Zuri slipped in behind her, arms around Elena’s waist and chin perched on her shoulder.

She inhaled the salt in the air and closed her eyes.

“Whenever I think you finally heard me, that you get how much I need you to stay with me—” The back of her throat burned, but she refused to cry again.

“Every time I leave you alone… you start slipping away again.”

Elena didn’t argue. Instead, she rested her arms over Zuri’s and interlaced their fingers. She let Zuri hold her like that, silently conceding that Zuri was right instead of proving her wrong. Fuck, Zuri had never wanted to be more wrong in her life.

‘“You can’t leave me, Elena.” Zuri’s voice was a quiet plea when she’d intended to issue a command.

Squeezing Zuri’s hand, Elena seemed to say I’m trying.

They stood there in silence. Without moving a muscle, Zuri felt like she was scaling a crumbling cliff with nothing but her bleeding fingertips.

But a more stubborn bitch had never been born.

It didn’t matter how many times she stumbled, she kept climbing.

Kept pushing until she had an unshakable grip on Elena.

And then Elena relaxed in her arms. She loosened the grip over her hand, holding instead of clutching. The weight of her strong body resting against Zuri’s chest made Zuri take her first full breath in months.

Behind them, a door clicked open. Zuri looked back at Marisol emerging from the bathroom. Her wavy, dark blonde hair damp where it fell on her exposed shoulders. In nothing but a towel, her scattered freckles were visible over her arms and chest and flushing cheeks.

“Come here, Bambi,” Zuri said softly before Marisol’s eyes widened any further. Before her fears of being an addition rather than an integral part of the core could take hold.

Marisol hesitated, and Zuri knew her well enough to know that she was afraid of intruding.

That even after all this, she didn’t fully believe that the three of them were equal parts of the same whole.

That she wasn’t just wanted—she was needed.

She was necessary the way every body needed a heart to function.

“You know how I love to repeat myself,” Zuri said, sharpening her tone if that was more familiar.

Marisol didn’t move. “I—”

“Please,” Elena said, turning in Zuri’s arms.

Marisol walked toward them slowly. Slowly, like she was approaching something entirely new.

When she reached them, Elena reached for her—hand cupping her face and thumb trailing the line of freckles that disappeared over her jawline.

At the gentle touch, every visible part of Marisol’s body flushed red.

With all the ways they’d touched each other, it was still surprising how unsure Marisol could be in moments like this. Zuri stepped in closer to her, circling her arm around her waist.

“I can’t stop thinking about how easy it is to lose you,” Elena muttered, watery gaze darting between them. “It’s this gnawing ache and it makes it so hard to think about anything else.”

Zuri swallowed hard. She knew that sensation. Knew how impossible it was to completely dispel the fear of losing. To shove it away.

“So stop thinking,” Marisol said, much to Zuri’s surprise. “We’re here and we’re not going anywhere.” She said it like she’d say it a thousand times if that’s what it took for Elena to believe it.

Marisol ran her hands through Elena’s hair, pushing the long, dark waves away from her face.

“Stop thinking about all the things that could happen, and just be present in what we have right now.” She looked at Elena and Zuri, hazel eyes bright and determined.

“I’m yours and you’re mine and no matter what happens, no one can change that. No one can take what we don’t give.”

Zuri’s skin warmed and she pulled Marisol flush against her side. She agreed with her lips on hers, chest swelling with the primal need to protect. Mine, her heart thundered. She kissed Bambi like a declaration of war. Let Sayah come. Let the whole fucking world come. They’d face it together.

Elena’s fingertips at the base of Zuri’s neck pulled her from Marisol’s lips. When Elena kissed her, fist in her hair and mouth desperate where it met hers, Zuri stopped breathing.

It was more apology than kiss. With every swipe of her tongue and every tremble of her lips, Elena confessed all the ways she’d felt inadequate. Zuri kissed her back like it was time to slip out of old skin and grow.

And then Marisol’s mouth was at the base of Zuri’s neck and every thought melted away. Everything that wasn’t Elena and Marisol stopped existing.

“Gods, I’ve fucking missed you,” Elena rasped against Zuri’s swollen lips before she pulled Marisol away from Zuri’s neck. Yanking Marisol’s head back, Elena made an animalistic sound at the sight of Marisol’s surrender. At her submission.

And then Bambi bit her lower lip, straining against Zuri’s grip as if making Elena pull her hair harder, flush deepening over her throat and chest. Fangs exposed in a way that set Zuri’s body on fire, Elena groaned before kissing Marisol.

The tiny moan that rumbled in Marisol’s throat reverberated in Zuri’s core, awakening a desire she’d half-feared she’d never feel again.

Zuri couldn’t stop herself. She needed to see what Elena’s kiss was doing to Bambi’s body.

Hooking a finger into Marisol’s towel, Zuri pulled it apart without effort.

The fabric fell away and landed on the floor.

Goosebumps raced over Bambi’s skin but she didn’t break away from Elena’s kiss. Zuri took it like a challenge.

Hand sliding over Marisol’s breast, Zuri found her hard nipple with her thumb. The sound of Bambi moaning into Elena’s mouth was intoxicating, and Zuri would have chased it into fucking traffic. She grabbed her breast hard and kissed her neck harder.

Marisol held Zuri tight against her body, roughly pulling away Zuri’s towel like she was offended it was still there. Zuri’s naked body against hers caused Marisol to falter, but she didn’t break until she slid her hand down Zuri’s back, following the curve of her spine, and grabbed her ass.

This time, when Marisol moaned, it was with lips parted and her head tossed back and Elena’s hand between her thighs.

Cheater, Zuri thought, but she couldn’t summon a glare when she met Elena’s half-lidded eyes.

While she watched Elena tease Marisol’s clit with her fingertip.

While Marisol dug her blunt nails into Zuri’s ass, and hopefully left a mark.

A few weeks without them, without this, had felt like months without food and water and light.

Like lifetimes of darkness. Every inhale of Elena’s scent, every graze of Marisol’s skin, brought Zuri back to herself.

Dragged her out of doubt and fear. She was invincible fury as long as she had this to fight for.

Zuri let go of Marisol’s breast and slid her hand under Elena’s shirt. Where she was wearing nothing under the fabric. Where her belly tensed and she held her breath when Zuri inched up her sternum.

“I want to see,” Marisol gasped, distant gaze on Zuri’s hand.

Elena moistened her lips, giving them the briefest flash of her fangs. Just long enough for heat to race over Zuri’s skin. To send a rush of need pounding to Zuri’s core.

“You’ll have to ask nicely,” Elena teased, hand moving in an uninterrupted rhythm between Bambi’s trembling thighs.

Marisol bit her tortured bottom lip again, making the most delightful whining sound. “Please,” she managed. “I want to see you.”

Because Zuri wanted to see her too, she pulled Elena’s shirt over her head. Exposed, Elena’s body was unchanged. The wounds she’d suffered had gone from her skin. Even if only from her skin.