Page 69 of Medium
“Y’all can?—”
“No.” Rory reached in and ran his hand over my cheek. “We’ll wait until you’re ready. All of us or none of us, at least until we figure out our relationship. Okay?”
Shane nodded, the stubble on his cheek rasping against my ear. “Okay.” He nudged me. “Conditioner?”
“Um, no, thanks.” I couldn’t look away from Rory’s smiling eyes. He wasn’t trying to send his emotions through our connection—I was pretty sure we’d explained connections to him—but I could feel his want when he looked at me and Shane. And it wasn’t just lust. He wanted us. Our time, our emotions, and our futures.
Shane lathered me up with the body wash, cleaning everything, including my ass and junk, tenderly but efficiently. When I was rinsed off, he kissed me before handing me over to Rory, who dried me with the same care. Then I was wrapped in a towel and seated on the closed toilet.
“Now you get to watch.” Rory winked at me and swung his hips as he got into the shower with Shane, who was almost done shampooing his hair. Rory grabbed the body wash and, after dumping some in his hand, began to lather Shane up. Based on the way Shane’s cock jumped, and the bolt of lust that came through our connection, Shane enjoyed the touch.
I really wished my libido was interested, but I was fighting fatigue. Shane shot me a worried look and took over washing himself. He muttered something to Rory, who hastily snatched the shampoo off the shelf and began on his hair.
Well, fuck. I was a killjoy today.
A very few minutes later, Shane and Rory got out of the shower and dried off. I decided to let my hair do whatever it wanted. I didn’t have any product here, and nobody was going to judge.
We all went into the bedroom where it turned out Rory had hung up all of our clothes. After I got dressed, I was told to sit in one of the armchairs, and Rory packed my dirty clothes into my bag and his into his backpack. Shane packed up his own bag. We stripped the bed and left the sheets in a pile on top of the comforter.
We got to the living room in time to hear Levi yell at Simon. “Don’t be a damn fool, son!”
Simon put his hands on his hips. “I’m not your son!”
Levi waved this away, but before he could open his mouth again, Shane said, “What’s going on?”
Levi pointed at Simon. “This one won’t wait for the others to get here to feed him. Plus, Roberta went to the medical supply store to get some bags and tubing so we can send a cooler along for the road. But that’ll take even more time, and he—” He jabbed his finger in Simon’s direction again. “Says he needs to get going.”
I felt slightly ill thinking about Simon feeding from someone, even if it was consensual. But on the other hand, he’d risked his life to rescue me yesterday, and Shane and Rory had said he’d saved the dryads from the vampires.
Rory walked up to Simon and poked him in the chest. “You promised. Last night, you injured your leg. You promised you’d feed before you left today.”
Simon’s expression said he’d hoped Rory wouldn’t remember that. His shoulders slumped. “Fine.”
Shane walked over. “Give me your phone.”
Simon gave him a wary look but pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over.
“I’m putting all of our numbers in here, and the number for Dominic Shaw, who heads up the Hunters out of TWIST.” Oh, good call.
Simon scowled. “I can handle the vampires on my own. There are only four of them left on the planet besides me.”
“Maybe. But it’ll be easier and less risky for you to have backup. Plus, didn’t you say they had hostages? The Hunters know all about handling trafficking victims.”
Simon huffed and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
Clementine stuck her head around the corner. “If the shouting is over, y’all can come get some human-style breakfast.”
As I turned to follow Rory into the kitchen, a flash of gold between Simon and Levi caught my eye. Oh ho! All of that shouting covered up some real affection. Even without my glasses I could see they had a tentative family connection between them. No wonder Levi was calling Simon “son”. Simon was going to get help whether he wanted it or not.
Smiling, I walked over to the table, where Ms. Jackson was in their tiger form along with Pia and Manny. Pia cheered when she saw me, jumping up from her chair and running over to hug me.
“I’m glad you’re okay!” She stepped back, pointing at the newly reformed connection between us. “That’s better!”
I smiled at her as she skipped back to her seat, but Rory said, “Hey! Is she talking about a connection? How come she can see them, and I can’t?”
I shook my head. “She’s a Wonder. They have more magic than we do.” But speaking of things we could see.... I stoppedin my tracks. “Why’s Manny sparkling?” I squinted, but it didn’t go away.
Manny looked down at himself and frowned.
