Page 152 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

“Say you belong to us,” Gedeon murmured as he kissed my forehead.

I traced the contour of his jaw, the regrowing stubble since his morning shave poking my fingertips. “I already did.”

“Say it again.” His knuckles swept along my neck. “When we came back, and you weren’t home, I thought that was it. You were gone. Each second it took until I saw you sleeping safe and sound in this bed was pure torture, and not the kind Zion enjoys. I was losing my mind thinking about what could have happened to you.”

“I want to lock you in a cage from which you can’t escape.” Zion idly stroked between my breasts. “Don’t fly away. Don’t let me lose you.”

At this point, his insane words were nothing out of the ordinary. Casual. Unsurprising. Like the fries he’d bake for breakfast and carry to my bed on freezing mornings, so I could snuggle in my fluffy duvet for longer.

“I want a deal,” I said as seriously as you could in such a situation.

Gedeon arched an eyebrow. “A deal?”

I reached out to tug it back down. “Yes. You can have me. But I want to own you too. To command you.”

Rolling onto his side, Zion reached for the floor and emerged with hisfavoriteknife. “I have an idea.”

I gulped. “What are you plan?—”

Without warning, he took my hand and pricked my pinkie with the blade. The faint sting dulled as he sucked on the wound.

For some reason, my cheeks heated. “What was that all about?”

He offered me the handle of his knife. “I have your blood. Take mine, and you’ll have what you want. Seal the deal.”

Taking it from him, I asked, “Why blood?”

Zion shrugged, a sheen of sweat glistening on his chest and forehead. “Because it’s what makes you alive. If you have someone’s blood, they’re yours. You have their life in your grasp.”

A person’s life encompassed their mind, body, and soul, blurring and blending into one, yet no apprehension or unease swirled in my gut at the knowledge I’d promised them all three. Only peace. I couldn’t recall the last time my heart had beat in such a steady rhythm.

I sought Zion’s palm to finish the exchange, but he took my wrist and brought the knife’s tip to the middle of his chest. “Here.”

I drew a vertical line and ran my tongue over the cut welling with blood. Iron overpowered my taste buds, the liquid hot and sticky.

He cupped my cheek with the softest smile I’d ever seen and murmured, “Mypretty birdie.”

Blushing, I turned to Gedeon and cocked an eyebrow in a similar fashion as he often did. “And you?”

“I don’t need blood to lay my mark,” he stated, back to his full possessive-ass self, and I rolled my eyes. But I wanted his blood too. It felt right. He tipped his head aside and tapped a major artery near his throat. “Are you going to kill me, little death?”

“Yes,” I whispered, dragging the blade down his neck and leaving a trail of red behind. I licked the nick I’d made, and it was surely my imagination, but he tasted different than Zion. “Gedeon.” I passed him the knife. “Should I fear my own death?”

He punctured my flesh above my collarbone and his tongue pricked the cut like a thorn with a poisonous tip, altering the composition of my blood. “Not when it belongs to us.” His lips skimmed the shallow wound, and godsdamnit, his low voice made my eyelids droopy. “But now that you finally got the fact that you are ours nailed into you, we can go.”

“No.” Not before I got my answers. “You have to tell me how you found me first.”

Reclining on the headboard, Gedeon fastened his belt buckle. “That’s what you are thinking about right now?”

“I want to know. We told no one.” I scooched closer to Zion lying on his back, his hands hooked behind his head. “So?” I verbally nudged him.

“We need to get going. If we leave now, we’ll be back in the morning. I have to check up on our teams,” he said, leaping off the bed and pulling on a dark green, fitted shirt.

Avery familiarshirt.

My head whipped to Gedeon. Instead of his usual outfit consisting of black clothing, he also wore a long-sleeved shirt and cargo pants, identical to Zion’s, both full of reddish-brown splotches.

I folded my arms, the act emphasizing that I was the only one naked. “Why are you wearing Ilasall’s military uniforms?”