Page 7 of Taming the Beasts (Crooked Point #3)

Thursday

Zoey

Overtime? Seriously? It was like the never ending football game from hell.

Normally I loved a good game. Especially if I got to dress up in a sexy cheerleader costume. But tonight wasn’t the night for that. I needed to get home.

I excused myself and went into the kitchen.

I sent a quick text to Emma letting her know the game was never-ending.

But this time she didn’t text back right away.

Hopefully everything was fine. Maybe she was talking to Kebe and getting some straight answers from her.

I grabbed a bottle of beer out of the fridge and popped the top off.

Someone cleared their throat behind me.

I closed the fridge door and spun around as Titan caged me in.

“What did I tell you?” he asked as he placed his hands on the fridge on either side of my head.

I swallowed hard. We’d started over. A clean slate. I hadn’t seen Bennett talk to Titan since we’d come back. Did Titan know I called him a liar? Had he watched that part of the security feed too? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He lowered his eyebrows as he stared at me.

“I didn’t take anything, Titan. ”

“Interesting.” He kept staring at me. “Because I swear I saw a glint of silver in your hand.”

“Then maybe you should punish me.” My eyes dropped to the scar on his left cheek. I had the oddest sensation that I wanted to lick it.

“Not until you beg me, doll.”

We both just stood there staring at each other. Did he want me to beg him right now? In the middle of the kitchen? Because I wasn’t opposed to getting on my knees and begging him. Or doing something else while I was down there…

“I wasn’t asking you about what you took. I was asking you if you remembered what I told you earlier? About hiding your face.” He reached out and traced my cheek with his thumb.

I’d taken my cat mask off. But there was probably a small indent on my cheek from wearing it for so long. “I remember,” I said. He’d told me I shouldn’t hide something so beautiful. I swear he leaned a fraction of an inch closer.

I’d been with Otto, Bennett, Huxley, and Ace. Every one of them except Titan. Hell, I hadn’t even kissed Titan. I felt myself leaning closer too.

But then he pulled back as Otto entered the kitchen.

Otto smirked at the two of us. “Need a minute?”

“Not necessary,” Titan said and let his hands fall from either side of me. “She’s all yours.”

I watched him walk out of the kitchen.

“Told you he’d come around,” Otto said.

Yeah. Maybe. I wasn’t sure if he knew I’d thrown him under the bus yet though.

Otto stepped into the spot Titan had been a moment earlier. “I talked to the guys about you moving in. ”

“They told me.” I smiled up at him.

“Well, we don’t exactly have a room for you yet. We gotta move some stuff around. So I thought we could just share my bed in the meantime.”

I smiled. “How do the other guys feel about that?”

“Considering the fact that they all already had you tonight? I think they won’t argue.”

Otto was usually joking around. But every now and then I had a hard time reading him. Was he jealous? I knew he liked being alone with me. And Kebe’s concerns wouldn’t seem to leave my head. Would he want to keep sharing me if he didn’t have to?

“Everyone else?” I smiled up at him. “Not Titan.”

Otto raised his eyebrows. “Did you want to share a bed with Titan tonight?”

No, not really. I didn’t think sharing a bed before sharing a kiss was a great idea.

Unless you were on Love Island. And I didn’t want to answer any more questions about what I had stolen from the bank.

Besides, Titan didn’t seem like the kind of guy who liked to share a bed.

He didn’t seem good at sharing at all. Or else he would have already joined in. I shook my head.

“Then it’s settled. Besides, I’m your bodyguard. I can’t let you out of my sight.”

“I think that title went away when you became my boyfriend.”

“Is that so?” He grabbed my wrist and pulled me against his chest. “Nothing has changed, Zoey. I’ll still do anything to protect you.” He said it like I needed protection.

“I’m not scared of Callum anymore.” Maybe a little. It was hard not to be slightly concerned about getting my neck bitten. But I was trying to put that fear aside for Emma. Just like she was putting her fears aside that she had for my boyfriends.

“It’s not just him,” Otto said.

I thought about my clients. Grudge told me that he thought Elias had become a vampire.

And I didn’t know much about vampires. But I was pretty sure that a new one was much more dangerous than one that had been alive as long as Callum.

Callum could control himself, for the most part.

I wasn’t sure Elias had any semblance of control.

But he wasn’t here. Otto didn’t even know Elias existed.

“Who else is there to be scared of?” I asked.

“We’ve all felt something. I don’t really know how to explain it.” He shook his head. “But something in the air shifted recently.”

It was like he knew something was coming. A change. Could he really sense that I found the cure? “You must have a sixth sense. Like a werecat instinct.”

He smiled. “Yeah, something like that. We’ll all feel a lot better if you don’t go wandering off on your own.”

The way he was talking made it seem like something bad was coming.

Or already here. I pictured a cat’s fur sticking up from his spine.

They sensed danger. Not good things. Maybe this had nothing to do with the cure.

“But you all have work in the morning. And I suddenly find myself unemployed because of a few certain jealous someones.”

Otto laughed. “Zoey, how would you feel if you knew I was stripping online for other women?”

“Well, I’m a very jealous person.”

“Baby, you don’t know what jealousy is.”

I smiled. “I can be very possessive when I want to be. ”

“Is that so?” He leaned forward, his lips brushing against my ear. “So you’d be jealous if I was stroking my cock while a woman on the other side of the world was pretending I was shoving it down her throat?”

Jesus. “Yes.”

“What about if I told her to touch herself?” His fingers slipped beneath the front of my leather pants. He groaned when he found the slit in my thong.

“Yes.” Yes it would make me jealous and yes I wanted him to keep touching me.

His fingers brushed against my wetness. “And if I talked about how badly I wanted to taste her with my tongue? Would that make you jealous, Zoey?”

“Yes.” I tilted my head back and it hit the fridge.

“Well, that’s exactly how I feel at the thought of you touching yourself for other men.” He removed his fingers from my pants, not even giving me a little bit of a release.

I stared at him. “So that’s how you feel about strangers on the internet? But not your friends?”

He shook his head. “I share everything with them.”

I needed to hear him say it. That nothing would change if he had the cure. I wanted Kebe’s warning out of my head. “What if you are able to find the cure? You won’t have to do everything together then.”

His hazel eyes met mine. “What are you asking me, Zoey? If I’d prefer to have you all to myself?”

I nodded.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said. But that wasn’t an answer to my question. Or maybe it was. He was the only one of the guys that I’d said that to. I knew him the best. I’d spent the most time with him. But I really liked all of them. I liked this dynamic. I didn’t want anything to change.

“I already have you to myself sometimes,” he said. “Like right now. And like tonight when you crawl into my bed for a change.”

I smiled. He’d snuck into my bed an awful lot recently. It was certainly time for me to sneak into his for once. “And that’s enough for you?”

“Did something happen tonight? Did one of them hurt you…”

“No. I’m just asking. So you don’t think anything would change if you found the cure?”

“My feelings for you wouldn’t change. We’re in a relationship. I take that seriously. We all do.”

Because they had to take it seriously. Because they couldn’t just trust anyone with their secret.

Otto was answering my questions, but he also wasn’t.

I was worried that Kebe was right. That the guys would go their separate ways.

Each get their own girlfriend. Just the thought made my chest hurt.

I wanted them to be happy. But I was hoping they’d all be happy with just me.

I thought about the Anubis head coin. And the way it warmed my skin.

I knew Kebe was worried about it, but I knew in my gut that it was going to work.

And I had no right to withhold it from them.

Something could happen at any moment like it did during the fall festival.

Something they’d regret for the rest of their lives.

I wished I had more time with them before they used it.

To make sure we all felt the same way about each other.

But it couldn’t wait. I’d never forgive myself if something bad happened while I just waited for the other four of them to fall in love with me.

“Otto, I need to tell you something… ”

I was interrupted by cheering from the other room. Their team must have won. And I could already hear the other guys walking out of the family room and toward the kitchen.

“I’m sorry you missed the end of the game,” I said.

“I’ll steal any moments with you alone that I can.” He leaned forward and kissed me.

I was pretty sure I had my answer right there.

Otto didn’t want to share me. Not really.

Titan barely tolerated me. Bennett was still a little suspicious of me.

The twins though? They seemed very into sharing.

I’d never been with either of them alone.

But maybe that’s just because they had to share too.