Page 23 of Happily Undead in Dark River

I laughed. There was nothing about Brody’s corded body that was even remotely couch-like. Still, I rested my head back on his shoulder, and I looked into his searing gaze. “If we are doing confession time right now, I feel like I should tell you guys that I kissed X. I think I might have a crush on him. I love you guys, so I don’t know how I’m meant to handle this kind of thing in our, er, unique situation.”

Brody’s brows hit his hairline. I closed my eyes and counted to five, then looked around the room. I met everyone’s gaze. Judge and Tex already knew. But I met Walker’s eyes. I still hadn’t had my moment with Walker, and here I was kissing other men. Guilt rode me hard, and I looked at the floor. I would lose it if one of them kissed another woman; I would not be half as understanding as these four men. Men who loved and protected me, who worshipped my body of a night and cared for me during the day. They didn’t ask for anything from me other than my loyalty, and I couldn’t even give them that.

Brody’s hand ran up and down my thigh. “Relax, Raine. This is not exactly a surprise. You and X have chemistry so thick it’s a wonder anyone else can breathe. You know I don’t mind. I want you to be happy. If the big dumb Brit does that for you, then I am happy for you too. As long as he doesn’t cut into my Raine time.” He kissed my neck, his stubble tickling my jaw. “We do this kind of thing in the Shifter world.”

“Have more than one Mate?” I looked at Tex. Did he have another Mate out there, someone who was more suited to him? That he could take home to his parents, have babies with?

“Ah, Red. No. For us, there’s only ever one Mate. But for the females, they can have two or three Mates, even more sometimes. Natures way of ensuring genetic diversity, I guess? But for the males, there can only be one Mate. One love.”

His tone was off. I looked over my shoulder at him, but his face was its normal congenial expression. I wasn’t Brody’s Mate. Eventually, he’d find the woman who was, he would settle down and breed other little shapeshifters. Did I have the ability to feel happy for him the way he was happy for me?

I could, but my heart would break into a million pieces first. I pressed myself back against him, and his arms tightened around me.

Walker was still looking from me to X. His green eyes traced the lines of my face, and I wondered if this was one step too far. It was the first time we added someone outside of the original four of us. My first vampiric lovers. I wasn’t worried about Judge. He loved X. He was happy to share, maybe because it felt less like commitment? Brody was the same. But Walker, this could break the fragile thing we had.

He looked at X. “And you? Why did you kiss her?”

X shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “She pulls at this thing in my chest, like I couldn’t help it if I tried. And fuck knows I tried. I didn’t want to fuck a girl who I’d have to schedule time with, you know? I thought you lads were crazy. But the more time I spent with her, the more she pulled at me until I couldn’t help but kiss her sassy fucking mouth.”

Well, wasn’t that romantic? I rolled my eyes and scoffed. He flashed his fangs at me. “But she seems to be this weird mixture of loving and crazy, and I can’t resist that. So, if it is okay with you dickheads, I would like to see where it could go between us. It might go nowhere. Maybe one kiss will have gotten her out of my system. It’s not like she’s made of crack.”

Judge laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “Sure thing, X. Let me know how that goes.” He looked at me and smiled. “If it matters, you have my blessing to date the idiot.”

Tex walked toward me and kissed my cheek. “Sharing’s caring, isn’t that what you used to say?” He grinned, and I had the feeling he wasn’t talking about sharing me. What a fucking horny snake. I didn’t think X swung that way either, but then there was a time I would have said that about Judge too. Guess sexuality was more fluid in the Vampire world. Eternity was a long time to be stuck in a societally confined idea of sexuality. Tex winked and stood. “I’m going to bed. Today has been wild and I didn’t get much sleep last night,” he laughed and I blushed bright red. Yeah, today had been wild.

Judge kissed my cheek. “I’ll go to bed too. Rainey Day, you’re always welcome.”

Nico cleared his throat. “Wait, before you go, I would like to, uh, I would like to, at some point in the future, not right now–” He took a deep breath. “I would like to court Raine, if she would allow it.”

Judge patted Nico’s shoulder when he walked past. “We know, Old Man. We all know.”

My jaw was hanging open, and even Walker was smiling at Nico. “We’ve been expecting it. But take my advice, don’t rush it.”

I mean, I knew, but I didn’t realize the guys knew too? Was it that obvious? All of Brody’s offhand remarks made more sense now.

All the blood in my body must have been in my cheeks at that moment. Everyone was watching me, waiting for an answer. “One day soon? After this is all over and everything settles down and we both have time to breathe.”

Nico gave me that soft, sad smile. “Soon, Raine.” Then he flashed out of the room, the soft clicking of the door shutting the only sign he’d ever been here at all.

We all stood in silence for a moment, and awkwardness descending that hadn’t been there for a while now.

“I think we should all stay here tonight,” Walker said, clearing his throat loudly into the silence. “I would feel better if Raine was properly protected at all times.”

Brody shrugged. “I agree, but I call shotgun on the left side of Raine’s bed.”

I was acutely aware that Walker still hadn’t said anything about X. Walker came over and pulled me from Brody’s lap. “I want whatever makes you happy.” He kissed me softly. “I think you could do better though,” he teased, echoing words that Brody had said so long ago about Judge.

“Better like you?” I whispered back.

He leaned forward and kissed me. “Let’s go to bed. I just want to snuggle my girl tonight. I’ll even put up with the fleabag hogging the other side of the bed.”

We were at my bedroom door when X finally spoke. “What about me?”

Brody laughed. “You can have the couch, new guy. Though there's probably room in with Tex and Judge?” He waggled his eyebrows and laughed. “You can go and ask if they’d care to spoon?”

X raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I will.” Wait, did that mean...?

Before I could ask, Brody scooped me up over his shoulder and slapped me on the ass. “Let’s go, Lover Girl. There’s enough sausage in that sandwich already.”

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