Page 158 of Blood Stone

Roman stroked her cheek, his thumb leaving what felt like a trail of sparks in its wake. Her skin actually tingled.

“Wow,” she murmured. “That feels…”

“You’ve been marked, Kate. You’ll feel the effects for a while.” Garrett’s lips pressed against the skin behind her ear.

“Every time you bite me?” she asked.

“Not as strongly as this first time,” Roman replied.

“And being marked means what, exactly?” she asked.

“You’re ours,” Roman said flatly.

Kate licked her lips, staring into his eyes from a few inches away. She could almost feel the power lying dormant inside him. Both of them were far stronger than she, just on their own. Together, they could hold her captive forever, if they chose and she could do nothing to stop them.

Or she could surge from the bed now. Try to break away. See if she could escape.

“He doesn’t mean it like that, of course,” Garrett finally spoke, in a voice that sounded much more sane and reasonable. “We must mark you, Kate. If we don’t, then vampires will sense you have been amongst us, even that you have been…well, intimate. And they’ll feel that they are free to use you as they need to.”

“So now I’m your property, instead?”

Roman turned her chin to face him, so he was looking into her eyes. “It might have meant that once, a long time ago. But do you thinkIwould think that way? Me? Remember where I came from.”

She bit her lip. Of course. Of course. How could a former slave possibly consider another person their property? Roman was as sensitive about personal freedom as she was right now.

Kate tried to smile. “Does this mean I owe you a hundred dollars?”

Roman laughed and pushed at her shoulder, so she was pressed against Garrett’s body more firmly. But Garrett moved out of the way so that she rolled onto her back. The pair of them lay on either side of her. Roman’s hand settled on her hip.

Roman and Garrett looked at each other for a moment and Kate realized she was holding her breath again, waiting. These moments when she watched the two of them together were very special. It was erotic, yes, but at the same time she knew she was glimpsing something very old, too. And they had included her in their world.

“Your adrenaline just surged,” Roman said, his gaze sliding to her face. “What’s wrong?”

Garrett smoothed his hand along her body, to rest it over her heart. “Elevated heart rate, body temperature and skin flush. He’s right.”

She tried to smile. “I’m with you. Both of you. Just for a moment it was…overwhelming.”

Garrett’s expression softened as his concern fled. “Aye, if you stop and let it be.”

“But you won’t stop to let it run you over, will you?” Roman asked. There was a hard note, underneath the bantering tone.

Garrett lifted his gaze back up to Roman once more. He smiled as he curled his hand around the back of his neck. “Even a year ago, I would have fought it, yes. But not now. The only reason I’m not stopping to let it all sink in is because I know it will overwhelm me just as it has Kate. And I want to enjoy this, Roman. I want to finish this night with my arms about you both and still be able to feel and hear and think.”

He kissed him.

Roman caught his head in his hands and drew the kiss out into a wordless expression of the emotions that had suddenly filled the room.

Kate realized she was breathing heavily, like she had run a race and that she was ridiculously close to tears. She sat up, sliding herself out from between the two men and bringing herself up so that her head was level with theirs.

Roman let Garrett go and turned to her. He stroked her cheek with his thumb once more. “You haven’t run screaming from the fact of who we are. In more centuries than I can count, you are the first human to see my real face. And you accept it. I’ve been more—” He took a breath. “I’ve been more happy in the last few days than I…” He shook his head. “I don’t remember happy,” he finished.

“Oh, Roman…” she breathed.

“I love you, Kate,” he finished. “I thought I loved you before you knew who I was. Now I know it in my bones.”

“I think you’re supposed to kiss her now,” Garrett murmured. “But wipe her tears first.”

“Highlander.”