Page 138 of New Nebraska Heat

Hunter gave me a gentle, playful jostle. “Hey, if you’re gonna talk, talk out loud, missy.”

I stuck out my tongue at him. “I was just saying I’m getting used to having a servant to carry me around like a queen.” I kissed his lips and teased a finger along the smooth, tan skin of his collar bone. “If you keep it up, I may never want to tire myself out with walking again.”

He exhaled through his nostrils, trying to look stern, but his smiling eyes and quivering lip line gave away the game.

“Reverse psychology’s not gonna work on that bookworm. He’s too smart. Probably read ten books on it,” Dagger teased.

I laughed, drinking in my bad boy’s tender smile.

Apparently, at the Glasshouse, it was Dagger who’d gotten my location out of one of Conrad’s fleeing clansmen. Dangled him in front of Hunter’s hungry jaguar. The twins had come for me along with a convoy of emergency services, while Bryce life-flighted Seb to the best hospital.

No one in this family got left behind.

A sudden, intense wave of emotion washed across my chest, coating my head in delightful tingles. I had nothing to fear.

“What I was really saying was, I think Seb should feed straight from me—from my wrist.”

Seb’s eyes bulged, exaggerating the sallowness of his cheeks. “Serenity, you don’t have to,” he croaked. “I’ll heal just fine if Dagger does the blood draw like—”

“It’s about more than that,” I said, voice going husky. “Iwantto. I want to feel that close to you.”

I want to be your mate, and that means bonding with both sides of you.I smiled at the two pointed pearls that slid below his top lip as his pupils expanded in wonder and desire.I’m not afraid of your fangs. I wouldn’t let Conrad claim any part of my life, especially not my relationships.

Seb’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “I’d never hurt you. I’d kill anyone who tried.”

I know.

He patted the bed beside him.

I rubbed Hunter’s scruff. “Can you set me down, handsome?”

As he walked me to the bed and laid me beside Seb I asked, “Have you got any candles?”

Hunter’s brow scrunched, but Bryce grabbed a scented candle off the dresser. “Here.” He lit the wick with one red fingertip.

“What exactly do you need it for?” asked Hunter as Bryce set it on the nightstand.

“Oh, I just want to be sure about something before Seb feeds.” The last vamp that had sunk his fangs into my skin was now a pile of ash. The volcanic sensation had long vacated my veins, and I was no longer steaming, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.

I held my wrist close to the candle and studied the flame. It flickered on the wick, plump but placid. There was no heat rising, no raging inferno inside me. I felt completely at peace. The candle’s mellow glow reflected my inner contentment.

That made sense. I’d always wished Conrad dead with all my soul. But in the places where sheer evil had made me rage, Seb sparked nothing but love and adoration.

Everyone was watching me.

“I promise, we’ll have a talk about the new trick Bryce gave me over breakfast, but let’s get some medicine in Seb.”

I stroked Seb’s hair as both he and Hunter ran caring palmsacross my neck and arms. He took my forearm gently in his caress and stared hungrily at the faint blue lines crisscrossing just beneath the skin. Then he looked up, his scarlet-tinged gaze soft, controlled, despite the appetites I knew had to be rumbling inside him. “I’ll be gentle. Just a pin prick, then nothing. But let me know if you feel anything different. The venom should do its job.”

I clasped his scruffy cheek, rubbing my thumb in soft patterns. “I know. I’m ready.”

Seb’s breath hitched. “Me too. But you tell me to stop any time, all right?”

“She knows the deal, Clark Kent,” said Dagger, rocking his chair back on two legs and giving Seb an encouraging tip of the chin. “Quit worrying and take your medicine. We need you in tip top shape for that dungeon crawl tonight.”

“Yeah, and I need you two slackers back in the office,” Bryce said around a dry smile.

Seb never took his eyes off me, but at the guys’ urging, he took hold of my arm. Even in my head, his voice trembled.I need you to understand how much this means to me. I never imagined I could have this. And I was perfectly content with that, really, but you giving me this gift, it…