Page 57 of Claim of Blood (Blood Bound #1)

Leo cried out, the sound halfway between a sob and a scream as Adam slammed into him with brutal precision. The angle shifted—more direct, devastating—and Leo’s whole body convulsed.

“Tell him,” Adam ordered Leo, his voice strained with effort. “Tell Lander how it feels.”

Leo’s eyes fluttered open, wide and dark with need, locking onto Lander’s.

His voice trembled as he tried to speak, but Adam slammed into him again—hard and deep.

The sound was slick, filthy, the rhythm brutal.

Leo’s body jolted with every thrust, his muscles tightening around the cock stretching him open.

“Like I’m whole,” he gasped, the words ripped from him. “Like everything—”

Adam drove deeper, hips snapping forward with relentless force.

“—everything makes sense.”

Lander’s breath caught. The scene seared itself into his memory—not just the sight of Leo’s blissed-out expression or the wet sounds of sex—but the phantom echo it stirred in his own body.

His healing had erased every bruise, every ache…

but not the memory. His ass wasn’t sore anymore, but it remembered—the stretch, the burn, the helpless pleasure of being filled by Adam’s cock.

The echo of it pulsed low in his spine, unbidden and undeniable.

He knew exactly what Leo was feeling.

And gods help him, he wanted it again.

Adam leaned forward, his chest pressing to Leo’s back. His teeth scraped along the side of Leo’s neck, finding the pulse point. Leo shivered in anticipation.

“Yes,” Leo breathed. “Please.”

When Adam’s fangs pierced Leo’s skin, the hunter cried out, his body arching. Blood welled around Adam’s mouth, shockingly bright against Leo’s pale skin. The scent filled the room—copper and sweetness—making Lander’s own fangs ache with hunger.

Watching Leo come undone pushed Lander toward the edge. His hand moved faster, the rhythm falling apart as pleasure built. Leo came first, spilling hot across Lander’s stomach, his body clenching around Adam. Adam followed seconds later, his groan muffled against Leo’s neck.

Lander’s release hit him like a wave, unexpected in its intensity. For a moment, the connection between the three of them felt almost tangible—like a circuit completing, energy flowing from one to the other and back again.

They collapsed together onto the bed, limbs tangled, breath coming in ragged gasps. Leo settled against Lander’s chest, his skin flushed and damp. Adam stretched out beside them, one arm draped possessively across them both.

After a few minutes, Adam pressed a kiss to Leo’s shoulder and slipped from the bed. “Don’t move,” he said simply.

Lander watched him walk to the bathroom, the sound of running water following. Leo shifted against him, nestling closer with a contented sigh.

“I came back faster,” Leo murmured, sounding surprised.

“What do you mean?” Lander asked, running his fingers through Leo’s hair.

“With Adam, I go... somewhere else.” Leo tapped his temple. “In my head. Like drowning in feeling. But I came back quicker this time.”

“Because I was here?”

Leo nodded against his chest. “I think so.”

Adam returned with a warm washcloth. With surprising gentleness, he cleaned first Leo, then Lander, his movements careful.

“Leo says he resurfaces faster when I’m around,” Lander said, studying Adam’s face.

Adam paused, expression thoughtful. “Interesting.”

“Is that why you wanted me here?” Lander asked, though the question felt simpler than what he was really asking.

Adam shook his head. “I wanted you because something in me needed you.” He glanced at Leo. “I didn’t know why. Just that it felt right.”

“But if I help Leo stay present—”

“Then that’s good,” Adam finished. “But it’s not why you’re here.”

Leo yawned, eyes already drifting closed. “Maybe the magic knows what it’s doing after all.”

Lander thought about that. About Felix, and that unwelcome pull that still hummed beneath his skin. About the faint marks on his neck that refused to fade. About how right it felt being here, between these two.

“Maybe it does,” he admitted quietly.

Adam smiled, climbing back into bed. His hand found Lander’s fingers intertwining. “Finally,” he murmured, “you’re beginning to accept it.”

#

* * *

#

Morning light woke Lander hours later. Adam was already up, moving quietly around the room, while Leo remained curled against Lander’s chest with the boneless contentment of the thoroughly satisfied.

“Morning,” Leo murmured, amber eyes blinking open slowly.

“Breakfast?” Adam asked, pulling on a burgundy button-down. “Your parents are already downstairs.”

Lander’s stomach dropped.

“They’re going to know.” “Of course they’re going to know,” Leo said, stretching like a cat.

“Look at us.” Adam’s lips quirked. “I believe Elisabeth has been expecting this development for some time.”

Elisabeth and Johan were indeed waiting in the morning room when they arrived, coffee steaming from elegant porcelain cups. The knowing smile that spread across Elisabeth’s face when she saw them together made Lander want to turn and walk right back out.

“Well,” Elisabeth said, amusement clear in her voice. “This is cozy.”

Heat crept up Lander’s neck. His mother’s expression cut through his defenses in a way only a parent could manage. Johan merely nodded in greeting, but his eyes tracked the way Adam’s hand rested against Lander’s back, and how Leo leaned slightly into Adam’s side.

“Good morning,” Adam said smoothly, guiding Leo to a seat before settling between him and Lander. The seating arrangement felt deliberate. Adam at the center, connected to them both.

“I trust you slept well?” Adam continued, as if this were any normal morning.

“Quite,” Johan replied, his Norwegian accent thickening slightly as he suppressed a smile. “Though perhaps not as... thoroughly as you three.”

Lander wished the floor would open and swallow him whole.

Two and a half centuries, and he still felt like an embarrassed teenager under that knowing gaze.

“Coffee?” Elisabeth offered, already pouring a cup for Leo.

“Please,” Leo said, accepting the cup eagerly. He seemed remarkably comfortable, considering the circumstances. Lander watched as Leo’s leg pressed against Adam’s under the table, an unconscious seeking of contact that Adam immediately reciprocated.

“You look well-rested,” Elisabeth observed, her eyes on Leo. “More present than yesterday.”

Leo nodded, stirring cream into his coffee. “I am. It’s different with Lander there. I come back faster.”

“Back?” Johan asked, leaning forward with interest.

Leo’s cheeks colored slightly. “When Adam and I... when we’re together, I kind of go somewhere else.

In my head. Like drowning in sensation.” He gestured vaguely with his free hand.

“Everything gets hazy and distant. My thoughts disappear. But this morning, with Lander there, it was like having an anchor. I could still feel everything, but I stayed more... me.”

“Interesting,” Elisabeth murmured, exchanging a glance with Johan that spoke volumes about their own experiences. “That aligns with what we experienced.”

Lander stared intently at his coffee cup, desperately wishing they could discuss literally anything else. The coffee suddenly seemed fascinating, the swirl of cream creating patterns that demanded his complete attention.

“Can we not talk about sex at the breakfast table? With my parents?” he muttered, knowing full well his plea would be ignored.

“It’s a natural part of the blood compatibility bond,” Johan said, entirely too comfortable with the topic. “Nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“There’s everything to be embarrassed about,” Lander countered, feeling like he was caught in some bizarre nightmare.

Adam’s hand settled on Lander’s thigh under the table, a grounding pressure that did exactly the opposite of grounding him. “Lander provides stability,” Adam said. “For both of us. I don’t feel the overwhelming need to—”

“Consume me?” Leo offered with a wry smile.

“Precisely,” Adam agreed, not looking remotely abashed by the description.

Lander tried not to think about how that hand on his thigh felt like a brand, or how naturally he’d adapted to Adam’s touch in such a short time. The faint marks on his neck seemed to pulse with awareness.

Elisabeth leaned forward, curiosity bright in her eyes. “But you’ve had Lander present before, haven’t you? Why is it different now?”

Silence fell over the table. Adam’s fingers tightened slightly on Lander’s leg, a silent communication he understood instinctively. Truth time.

“Because Adam claimed me,” Lander said finally, the words falling into the quiet like stones into still water.

Both Elisabeth and Johan went completely still. Even their breathing paused—a distinctly vampire reaction that Lander had witnessed countless times but rarely seen in his own parents.

“You... claimed him?” Johan asked carefully, looking directly at Adam.

Adam nodded once, expression calm but watchful. “It wasn’t planned.”

“It’s not possible,” Elisabeth said, her voice barely above a whisper. “One vampire, one claim. That’s—”

“How it’s always been,” Lander finished, feeling the weight of those words. “Yet here we are.”

He resisted the urge to touch the marks on his neck, to confirm they were still there. He could feel them anyway, like a phantom sensation beneath his skin.

“We never claimed Andreas,” Johan said, still looking stunned. “The bond was there, but not a claim. This is unprecedented.”

Leo reached for a pastry, seemingly less fazed by the revelation than anyone else at the table. “That explains why I stayed more present this morning,” he said, biting into the flaky crust. “The connection feels... diluted somehow. Clearer.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Adam agreed. “I still feel the bond, but it’s not as desperate. Like it’s found its balance.”

Leo sighed softly. “I kind of liked the desperation,” he admitted, then blushed when everyone looked at him.

A low growl rumbled in Adam’s chest as he turned to Leo. “I’m still perfectly capable of making you forget your own name whenever I want, beauty.”

The possessive promise in Adam’s voice sent a jolt through Lander, a combination of secondhand embarrassment and something deeper, more primal. Something he wasn’t ready to examine.

“For God’s sake, my parents are sitting right there,” he hissed, feeling his face flame.

Elisabeth laughed, the sound breaking the tension. “Your father used to say similar things to me, you know. Long before you were born.”

“Mother, please,” Lander groaned, covering his face with his hands. Two hundred and fifty years old, and still mortified by his parents discussing their sex life.

“The secondary claim is fascinating,” Johan said, mercifully steering the conversation to slightly more theoretical ground. “It may explain why Leo maintains more awareness. The magic has another outlet—it’s not all concentrated between just two points.”

“Like a circuit completing,” Lander murmured.

“Exactly,” Johan nodded. “In our case, Andreas provided balance but wasn’t directly plugged into the circuit, so to speak. This is... different.”

“Because Adam is the First Son,” Elisabeth said quietly. The words hung in the air, heavy with implication. “The rules have always been different for you, haven’t they?”

Adam’s expression shifted, something ancient flickering behind his eyes. Lander saw it—that brief glimpse of the millennia Adam had witnessed, the weight of time that both he and Leo could never fully comprehend.

“Not different. Just... less tested,” Adam replied. “I’ve lived long enough to know that many of our ‘rules’ are simply observations we haven’t challenged yet.”

“So what does this mean for the three of us?” Leo asked, practical despite his youth.

“It means,” Adam said, “that we’re navigating uncharted territory together.” His hands found both Leo’s and Lander’s under the table. “But I suspect this is only the beginning.”

Lander felt a chill run down his spine at Adam’s words. His mind flashed to Felix, secured in the south wing under Oren’s watch. The pull he’d felt when their eyes met.

Adam caught his expression, head tilting slightly in question. Even without the claim bond, Adam had always been unnervingly perceptive.

“Just thinking about what comes next,” Lander said, not quite meeting Adam’s eyes.

“Council meeting later today,” Adam reminded him. “Security updates and solstice preparations.”

Johan looked at Adam. “The Council meeting is at eleven?”

“Yes,” Adam said. He took his hand off Lander’s leg. “We need to discuss security for the solstice.”

Leo sat up straighter. “What about Felix?”

“We’ll talk about him too,” Adam said. His voice was firm but gentle when he spoke to Leo.

Lander felt better now that they were talking about work. The Council and security plans were safer topics than feelings and bonds.

“I need to prepare the reports before the meeting,” Lander said. He wanted to escape this conversation.

Adam nodded. “Go ahead. I’ll see you both there.”

As they stood to leave, Leo touched Lander’s arm. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

Lander wasn’t sure how to answer.Everything had changed overnight, and he was still trying to find his footing in this new reality. “I will be,” he said finally.

Leo seemed to understand. He nodded once and followed Adam out of the room.