Page 42 of Strays
We cross the room, instinct pulling us forward.
Jo smiles. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Shane answers.
I crawl into the nest and kneel in front of her, breathing deep. She raises her head to look at my face. “Did you decide where you want to bite?” she asks a little shaky.
“Yes.” I reach up and touch the curve between her neck and shoulder. “Here. Unless you’d rather I pick somewhere else.”
She tilts her head into my hand. “It’s perfect.”
Shane takes her right hand and brushes the outer side of her forearm. “Can I bite here? I want everyone to see my mark, and unless you wear long sleeves, it’llalways show.”
Jay takes her left hand. “Same spot. Same reason. That okay?”
She reaches for their faces and caresses them. “Yes. I want that too.”
She looks at me again, and this time, there’s fear in her eyes. “Kiss me.” Her voice is urgent. “I’m not bonding before I’ve even kissed my aegis.”
I don’t think; I just move.
The first thing I feel is how soft her lips are against mine. Then, when she opens her mouth, her scent floods my tongue, sweet and floral, like biting into lily petals. My whole body lights up.
I never thought kissing could feel this good. But it is delicious; there’s no other word to describe it. My hand slides into her hair, and I deepen the kiss. I feel her tongue brush against mine, sending shivers down my spine. She moans into my mouth, and I never want to stop.
But she pulls away, breathless, and turns to Jay. He’s on her immediately, cupping her face as he kisses her. Then Shane pulls her into him, mouth hungry against hers.
When their lips part, she’s shaking.
“Hum for me,” she says.
I don’t have time to panic: my chest immediately vibrates on its own. Jay and Shane hum too, the sound loud and steady, vibrating through the room.
Jo tilts her head back, eyes closed. “I’m ready.”
I move. No fear. No doubt.
I bite.
Her skin parts beneath my teeth, and her blood hits my tongue. The world narrows to this one perfect, irreversible moment, with my teeth buried in her flesh.
When I pull back, I lick the wound until the bleeding stops. I feel her start to fall and catch her as she slumps forward.
My brothers are each licking the bites they left on her forearms. When they’re done, I lay her down and press my forehead to hers. My chest is still humming, and I can feel Jay and Shane beside me, all of us reaching for her. Holding her. Wrapping ourselves around her.
Tangled together in the nest, a single thought cuts through the haze: It’s done.
We stayed in the nest for hours, moving only in the late afternoon, when Jo finally stirred. Despite the dizziness still clouding my head, I could already sense a subtle shift in her scent. The clear, floral note of lilies now carried something sharper beneath it. A trace of birch, something clearly masculine that announced, unmistakably, to any other aegis: this nyra is bonded.
The realization sinks deep inside me.
She’s ours.
She’s ours.
She’s ours.
I’m still repeating those glorious words in my head when we finally untangle from one another. The doctors return, hovering around her, cleaning and bandaging the wounds our teeth left behind. She looks groggy, and when they let us go and Shane motions to carry her, this time she doesn’t argue. She just lets him.
