Page 37

IRIS

Winking only takes a breath.

When the shadows unfold, I’m lying on my back in a vampire’s four-post bed.

Candlelight glitters off the flickering, red-and-black eyes of the Sentinel braced above me.

The sheets rub satiny against my bare back while Remy’s uniform pants drag roughly between my legs.

My shirt didn’t survive the jump.

I scowl up at him, wearing nothing but my boring, white bra. “Do you always solve your arguments by running away?”

Hello, hypocrisy, it’s me again.

“Argument? No.” Remy drags his nose along my jugular. His breath tickles my throat. “You can’t argue with a single-celled organism.”

“Remington,” I say sharply.

“Hmm?”

I fist the lush, dark hair that I still owe a hack job as I yank him off my throat. “What in the starry hell are you thinking?”

I can feel Remy churning out fully human thoughts. There’s no excuse for ditching Vhex again.

His eyes spin with vampiric thrall. “Let me show you what I’m?—”

“No. You can listen .” I pinch the bridge of his nose to stop him from biting, nuzzling, or drawling that dark, musical voice that makes me want to offer him my veins. “I’ll play games with the monster, but when you’re lucid, I’m the ringleader of this circus.”

“I’m the major,” he says, nasally with his nose pinched.

“I’m the major.” I pinch harder. “You abandoned your post.”

“Ah. Yes. That is preferable.” Remy snakes his arms around my sides and hyper-fast rolls us across the bed.

I stop spinning, hugged to his chest. My pincer-grip slips when he grabs my wrist for a lick.

While Vhex’s psychic screams grow closer and more painful, I climb across Remy’s hips to make a point.

Then wince.

My overstimulated pussy kisses his belt buckle.

I knee into a less dangerous position, only gripping with my quads to keep him pinned.

Not that Remy tries to fight.

He lounges like we’re in bed together for a lazy afternoon, totally apathetic to the undead invasion at our door.

He doesn’t fight my guiding, but he doesn’t exactly help. His soul’s posture matches his position on the bed.

He’s enjoying the ride.

He’s really enjoying me.

But short of that, Remy doesn’t give a fuck about anything.

His emptiness grips my chest.

Godsdamnit .

I should be the main course in a spit-roast between him and Vhex, but noooo .

Remy keeps giving me time to think .

I sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”

“It’s much too late for anything to be done.” A fang peeks through Remy’s sad, crooked smile. “I simply wish to enjoy you until my end.”

At least we both know there’s an end date. Now, we’re just debating the timeline. “Enjoy me all you want, but you have to stop dragging me off alone to…”

I finally look around the room.

The massive bed only takes up the smallest corner of Remy’s candlelit lair. The rest is a cozy sitting room, packed with bookshelves, an antique desk, thick carpets, and enough still-in-use household relics to fill a museum.

He has an honest-to-heavens wax sealing station at his desk.

“Welcome to our quarters. They’re deep underground. Much more comfortable than that devil’s den. Decorate as you wish. It’ll be yours when I’m gone.”

My heart clenches. “There’s no door.”

“True . ” Remy glances at the ceiling. “That presents a problem.”

“Yeah.” I lean forward until our noses bump, lifting my hips so that I’m not tempted to start grinding. “Hold still for me.”

He makes one of those long, drawn out mmmmm noises that vibrates his whole chest.

I close my eyes to focus on his soul.

I’m slowly making progress on his tangles, but Remy’s silks are rolled like an ancient ball of stuck-together spiderwebs. They need a delicate touch to heal, and ideally, months or years of careful guiding.

I need him battle ready now .

That means I need to give him more.

“Your inner glow is…” His eyes reflect flashes of purple where their red mixes with the blue light glittering under my skin. “Truly radiant.”

I bite my lip.

Guides only glow from deep connection.

Usually, after imprinting.

My stupidly high compatibility makes me more likely to glow than most, but Kevan never lit me past a shimmer in my fingertips.

Vhex and Remy have me sparking at a glance.

I’m glad Remy’s lair doesn’t have a mirror.

I don’t want to see myself shining for them.

It’ll fade soon enough.

“Remy.” I press my fingers to his throat. His pulse is much slower than a natural human’s—only a few beats per minute—but it speeds up when I stroke his silks. “Bring Vhex to me.”

“No.”

“Then send me to him.”

“ I need you, ” he drawls in that rich, dark, listen-to-the-vampire voice that flutters between my ribs.

I swallow the butterflies. “He needs me just as much.”

Remy bites the flesh of my shoulder.

The bite is all teeth, no fang, but between the pressure and the possessive claw of his silks, I writhe under his weight.

Not so long ago, I would’ve given in to please my Sentinel.

But the part of me that believed in perfect matches and forevers never made it out of Kyorgos.

I’ll never chain myself to one Sentinel again. “Bring him to me before he caves in the ceiling.”

“These are our quarters.”

I quirk a brow. “You said I could decorate.”

“After I’m dead.”

“Then live longer.” I shake him, trying to knock loose the part of him that used to give a fuck about anything beyond my blood. “Right now, I want a devil in this bed.”

Remy heaves a long-suffering sigh and flicks his fingers.

In a blink, a Vhex-sized bundle drops beside the bed, kicking and writhing. A net of shadows hides his shape but not his psychic distress.

“Let him out,” I say breathlessly, already crawling across the bed to stop the rage-soaked pain ripping through his body and my soul.

“Brace your ears,” Remy warns and banishes the shadows.

Screaming his throat raw, Vhex fireballs out of the dark.

I dodge, not wanting to be caught between him and another attack.

But Vhex doesn’t tear into Remy.

He course-corrects and barrels into my arms.

Vhex surrounds me like a furnace, but his flames and lightning die off where we touch.

“Firefly,” he mutters shakily. “You’re mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.”

My teeth clench. I force my jaw to relax.

He doesn’t know what he’s saying.

“You’re okay.” I squeeze the words out from his choking hug, giving him all of my silks and reassurances. “I’m not going anywhere.” Not now .

Vhex must believe me, because his attention shifts beyond my shoulder. “This motherfu?—”

I stop his mouth. “Sit. Both of you.”

I push Vhex onto the bed, then hoist Remy up to stop him from lounging.

They’re not exactly battle ready.

Hands on my hips, I prep to unleash a speech.

Their eyes heat.

Right. Nothing left but my bra.

I reach for Remy, who’s still in full uniform. “Lend me your coat.”

“Shouldn’t you be taking off your clothes?” Remy asks, already pulling down his sleeves.

“You can take them off me after the terms and conditions part of this guidance session,” I grumble and snatch the coat from his hands.

Godsdamnit.

The fabric smells woodsy fresh with a hint of amber.

Vhex opens his mouth—never a good start.

I step between the Sentinels’ knees, covering their lips and bracing to be licked.

I’m learning to predict their bullshit.

Vhex and Remy suck, sniff, and fang-fuck my fingers.

I shake off a shiver.

Let them eat my hands as long as they sit and semi-listen. It’s rare that they’re both human, lucid, and only subtly trying to kill each other.

“Enough of that.” I shake their silks, killing whatever murder-energy they’re shooting back and forth on their private hate frequency.

“No more disappearing or isolating anyone. You don’t hurt me and you don’t hurt each other.

No one bites without my permission, or I swear to all the stars in Faervaine, I’ll twist you into a mental pretzel and leave you by yourselves to burn.

I don’t need you to be friends. Just promise to play nice when we’re together in a room. ”

Vhex stops licking to scowl. “If he touches my dick, I’m cratering his skull in his pelvis.”

“You’re only touching me.” I move my wet hand to his cheek and trace my thumb across his lower lip. “You only have to think about me.”

“That won’t be a challenge,” Remy drawls. His gaze turns mocking as he glances to Vhex. “I’ll be happy to send you back to the surface if you’re too intimidated to continue.”

“Intimidated how? ” Vhex gestures sharply to his lap. “Are you not seeing this cock?”

I suck a breath through my teeth.

I can see it.

I can feel it , pumping off enough heat to plump a biscuit.

Sensing my attention, his bubblegum shaft bobs.

Vhex shoots me a fanged grin. “Let me be on top, Firefly. I owe you a real fuck.”

Yes—

No.

I push his chest. With S+ strength, Vhex could concuss me with a pinky-flick, but he plays along and lets me knock him onto the bed.

Remy shifts like he’s allowed to join the action.

I stop him. “Wait until you’re invited.”

Vhex cackles as I crawl up his hips. Remy drops onto his elbow to lounge and enjoy the show, heating my skin with the spin of his crimson eyes.

His dirty vampire grin says, I can feel your pulse move for me.

“Eyes on me.” Vhex grabs my hips. “I’m only looking at you.”

Just what I was afraid to want.

As our silks play together, I lower myself until his shaft presses deliciously between us. It twitches, hard and hot.

I lick my lips.

I’ve been keeping my shit together because I have no other option, but I’m so wet.

“So fucking wet,” Vhex groans, tipping back his head to echo my thoughts.

“So fucking hard.” I slide forward, then back, slicking his shaft.

As my stroke nears his tip, his length vibrates.

The pit of my stomach wavers.

That godsdamned fin .

It was never this much struggle to stay focused with Kevan. I always guided him first and felt my body second.

With Vhex…

With Remy…

Fucking stars.

With them both?

I taste something sour at the back of my throat.

If I lose myself to them, I’ll never be able to claw out of this hole.