Page 20 of Taken By the Twins

I see it as ifIam Tandy, and for a moment, I wonder why now—now of all moments—my visions are as clear as Lucian’s. Then it hits me: I’m not seeing a vision of the future. This is a glimpse of the past.

OfTandy’s past.

She is mortal. Over the past few decades, my twin and I have discussed what mating a human female is like. Haures took his duchess more than thirty human years ago, and though he is also close-lipped about whattheydo in the shadows, he made one thing very clear.

Humans are different from demons in many ways. A demon’s life is both limitless and endless. When the mate we choose will be ours for the rest of our existence, it is worth waiting as long as it takes to find that one true mate the gods have given us. Humans don’t have one mate. They have plenty, and only if they offer themselves to a demon with the mate’s promise will they form a mate bond.

I have never known a female before Tandy. Lucian, neither. But Tandy… Haures warned us that we might not be her first lover, only that we must be satisfied to be the last.

I didn’t care if she was claimed by another male. Once she called Lucian and me to her, she was ours. We would be her future, but I don’t have enough essence of my own to keep from seeing her past.

Because that is what just happened. I see a male that used to hold Tandy’s heart, her essence revealing that she used her mouth on him the same way I hoped she might use on me one day.

I understand my jealousy now. I am not jealous of my twin.

I am jealous of… of…

Jared Turner.

His name is Jared Turner.

A worthless human male who held Tandy’s heart in his hand, thencrushedit.

I keep seeing his face. From the moment I first took Tandy’s essence inside of me, this one male has haunted me. I didn’t understand why at first, and to preserve the little bit of sanity I have remaining, I didn’t pursue it.

Lucian told me the same thing that Haures did: that Tandy will have a past of her own, but that shouldn’t affect our future. And yet, as my twin finally crossed the chasm between us and found a way to make Tandy his at last, I can’t help but stew over this one male.

A snake, I remember. Dagon’s mate inferred that our Tandy was less than honorable—and I’m still offended about that to this day, despite her aid in helping us bring Tandy to Sombra—but our female is perfect.

This Jared creature is no better than a groundcrawler.

What makes matters so much worse is that Tandy… her feelings for this male are complex. Added to my unfortunate ability to experience everything more potently than other demons, her essence tells me that she loved him once and struggles to forget him even now.

He is not Tandy’s only other lover. Suddenly aware that I’m seeing her memories, feeling her emotions, I ignore enough of them to keep myself from watching her with countless other human males. It matters not to me that they pleasured my Tandy because none of them left any profound impact on her or her essence.

None except for thisJared.

Lucian needs his mate. Until Tandy accepts our essence and allows him to give her the mate’s promise, she can conceivably leave us. She is smart. She is resourceful. She has kin in thisrealm who, if she asked, would lead her back to the human world—without us.

Not even our secret alliance with Haures would allow Lucian and me to chase after Tandy to the human realm if she rejects our bond before it is finalized.

So, to convince her to stay and be Lucian’s forever, there cannot be anything tying Tandy to the human world. Up until this moment, I didn’t believe there was. She was as lonely as us doppelseers are, and she yearned for a fresh start.

Her ‘new year’.

How can she do that when she clings to a male from her past?

A male whohurther?

Reaching through my twin bond, I see if my brother has noticed that my last thread of control when it comes to our Tandy hassnapped. I have no essence. It is impossible for me to block him the same way as I tried to keep from seeing more about my mate than any devoted male should. I know Lucian. His will is strong, and he would never allow himself to see any other males pleasuring his mate… except for his brother.

I cannot do that, not completely, but I can make sure that Tandy is never hurt by that Jared creature again.

Lucian is distracted. I sense his desire, and his anticipation. He has finished tasting Tandy. His body is coiled, needing release, and though I didn’t find completion in my fist, I know that Tandy is about to welcome Lucian into her body—and, unlike me, he has no reason to resist.

My twin will never be more distracted than he is at this moment. Just as I can sense him guiding Tandy back toward the large nest we prepared for the three of us to share, I accept I will never join them.

It’s better that a male on the cusp of turning fully demonic does not.

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