Page 30 of Broken Destiny

“Where’s that book?” Garrett mutters, making my cheeks flame with heat. I don’t know what’s worse - learning the truth of our relationships or realizing that one of those men would rather die than be with me in any way.

“No take-backs!” Bren crows. “Besides, don’t you think she’s beautiful?” My cheeks flame hotter, but my traitorous gaze flickers toward Garrett anyway. I need to know, even if I can’t bear the answer.

The shifter opens his mouth, and I mentally steel myself against rejection. “I…” he frowns. His words escape like they’re being forced past a thick tongue, like that’s the only part of him that’s shifted. “Of course she’s beautiful, gorgeous actually in her authenticity.” Our eyes widen simultaneously. “I can’t lie?” he sputters.

“Truth is the best form of communication between those who protect each other’s lives,” Duggar recites mechanically. If the air weren’t so emotionally charged, a bomb could go off and none of us would notice. Kodi’s laughter rouses me from my shock.

“Oh, this is golden comedy,” he chortles, but the dark edge to his voice betrays his discomfort or irritation.

Bren stares at him thoughtfully. I think he’s going to address the ghost before he closes his mouth and speaks to me. “Hungry vampire.”

Fuck. Avery is starving, and I’m worried about whether the big one thinks I’m hot. I push away from the table and wheel toward Avery. He takes a step backward.

“You probably shouldn’t get any closer,” he warns me. When his lips open, I catch a glimpse of fang, and the sharpened teeth send a shiver of something through me. Lust? Anticipation? Fear? I’m not sure.

I stop several paces from him and focus only on his face. “Do you want to leave? To find food?” I force myself to ask.

Avery’s beautiful face twists as if he smells something sour. “Not really,” he replies after a moment, and I have to remind myself that he’s not just saying that to make me happy. If Duggar is right, he can’t lie about it.

“How do you? I mean…” I trail off. This is so far out of my realm of normality that I don’t know what to do.

“You’re not ready yet, obviously,” Bren says before stepping alongside me. His smile is bright as he bends over. His lips coast along my forehead, increasing the shiver of anticipation and lust. It’s not fear that accompanies the idea of Avery feeding from me, just unfamiliarity. “I’ll take care of it.”

Garrett’s low voice grumbles behind me. I expect him to step forward and stop his brother. Instead, he asks Duggar a question. The little goblin points and the shifter disappears into the foyer. I’m scared that he’s going to leave. Uncertainty seizes my chest, but he just escapes to the area of the library that is reserved for our living quarters. I don’t blame him. Escape would be easier, but I have a duty to Avery. Even if I’m not ready to give him what he needs, I need to be here. I feel that much.

Bren steps up to Avery and holds his wrist in front of the vampire’s mouth. Avery’s gaze doesn’t leave me, and his body vibrates with tension. “Are you sure?” the vampire asks, his words heavily weighted with a fanged lisp.

“Do it,” Bren orders. The shiver of command in his voice surprises me. “I’m certain our lovely librarian will take over at some point, but better not to push her right now.”

Bren is a force of nature, and he doesn’t stop surprising me. Maybe I should be irritated that he presumes to know so much, but everything he knows is correct, so I can’t fault him for using that knowledge. I’d do the same.

Avery slowly lowers his head, his white hair sliding across Bren’s tanned skin. His eyes, bright silver, never leave mine as he bites almost delicately into the other man’s flesh. His throat moves as he drinks and his eyes flash red. What only takes seconds seems to last hours. The whole time he feeds, his sightless eyes peer into my soul. Finally, he pulls his mouth away and his pink tongue lashes against Bren’s wrist.

I lick my lips when lust roars through me, causing me to shift in discomfort as I ache with unexpected need. The sensation only worsens when I finally turn my gaze to the right. Bren is staring at me and not Avery, his pale eyes darkened to bright jade. Some instinctive curiosity or hunger I can’t control makes my eyes flicker downward to find both of them straining against their jeans.

Bren offers me a cocky grin when my eyes fly back up. Avery has the wherewithal to look slightly embarrassed as he half-turns away from me. I clear my throat and put my hands on my wheels to turn away.

“I have to…” The three words are all I can manage before I turn my chair entirely and flee to my room. Poor Gilly. I don’t think I’m capable of working much today.

My thoughts churn as I finally enter my apartment, my breath coming short. I want to lie down in my huge bed and take care of the need pulsing between my thighs, but I’m worried about Kodi popping in. He always knew when to stay away at the orphanage. If I were anxious about his interruptions, I’d give myself an orgasm while taking a shower because he never invaded the bathroom. But things have changed between us, and I’m no longer sure of anything.

I sit there, staring at nothing as scenarios parade through my mind. I don’t have much experience to feed my imagination except the countless scenes in the romance novels I moaned over as a lustful teenager. No immature boy wants a cripple for his first and I was around a lot of boys. Kodi kept them from taking me by force, as if that would make them feel better about sleeping with me. A couple suggested to my face that they didn’t know if I worked “down there” as if my crooked legs were a spinal injury that had stolen any sensation below my waist. I’d told them, quite clearly, that I could still knee them in the balls if they came close enough to find out.

My gaze shifts to the enormous bed. I’d managed to find a couple of ménage books buried in the straighter-laced historical romances in the giveaway bin at the library. Those had been hot, so much better than the duke seducing the lady who was too advanced for her own time but still an innocent virgin. Avery and Bren don’t seem to mind being close to each other. Feeling their hands on me? At the same time? I groan loudly and hang my head, my hair falling over my face.

“Thinking impure thoughts?”

I jump as one of the figures in my imagination speaks. The ghost sits on the bed and stares at me, a smug smile on his lips. There’s more to his words than the motivation to tease, but his deeper emotions are hidden.

I ignore his question. “What did your contract say, Kodi?” I ask slowly. “You can’t lie to me.”

“Oh, I could,” the ghost argues with a broader smirk. “Duggar said truth was better, not that it was impossible to lie.”

“But…” My face falls. What if Garrett was lying? What about Avery? Did he want to leave to find food elsewhere?

“Oh, stop your second-guessing. You’ll know when I lie. It’s actually hard to do so, just not impossible. It will turn all five of us into the worst liars in history. Any idiot would be able to tell we’re lying.” He laughs loudly at the look on my face. “Did you think it wouldn’t apply to you? Sorry, Princess, but the rules apply to you too.”

The nickname takes me back to simpler times when he’d laugh at how I sat in my wheelchair like I was a queen presiding over court. He made me proud to sit like that; he gave importance to a position that only lent vulnerability.

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