Page 51 of Left Hand of the Divine
“You seem to have made an impression,” Rafe said as he wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder.
I turned to look at him, a smile tugging at my mouth as I looked at him. “I always make an impression, love.”
Strong fingers gripped my chin, and Rayne pulled my face to his. “What did he want?”
“Just someone to talk to,” I replied, a hitch in my breath as Rafe started to unbutton my shirt.
Rayne’s eyes held mine unrelentingly. “Is that all?”
They’d be able to tell if I was lying, but it didn’t feel right to betray Erebus and expose him. “No, but can you trust me when I say it wasn’t important or threatening.”
Rafe’s hands stilled, and a scowl descended above Rayne’s eyes. I’d betrayed them before, in the most brutal way, but it had beennecessary. Now, I was trying to earn back their trust, and I wanted everything with them.
I grabbed Rayne’s hand and placed it over my heart, hoping he could feel the steady thud. “Trust me. Please.”
“I do trust you, Beau,” Rayne said softly, and my heart lurched at the sound of my old nickname. “Don’t break it.”
There was a vulnerability in his open gaze that had warmth flowing through my veins. It was a sacred and delicate thing that he was placing in my care, that they both were, and it packed a punch I wasn’t expecting. “I won’t. You both mean everything to me, and I know that I can’t erase everything from the past. I can’t change what I did or how I made you feel, but knowing that you are willing to take that chance on me again, your willingness to open your hearts to me again—it hits me hard. I messed up, and I broke this precious thing between us. Me. I did that, and I’ve carried that regret and that pain with me every day since. You didn’t owe me this, and you didn’t have to let me back in. But you did. And I swear it to you; I won’t let you down again. I am all in.”
Rayne’s eyes flicked between mine for a moment, a silence building between us. Then he slowly, reverently, pressed his lips to mine in a chaste kiss. “Thank you, that means a lot. And we can see how much this matters. We see the effort, Beau.”
Rafe tipped my chin towards him and brushed his thumb across my bottom lip. “We won’t say that it didn’t hurt, because it did, but we’re choosing to believe in you. So, if you say there is nothing more we need to know about your conversation with Erebus, then we trust you.”
I smiled at him, the ache of my pain subsiding in the wake of their belief in me. Saying ‘thank you’ just didn’t seem to be enough, so I let their belief and vulnerability fill the space. It didn’t need any words. Not from me. It just needed to be.
Chapter Seventeen
Rafe
Gods, he was perfect. Magnus Beauchard, King of the Vampires, had just brought me to my fucking knees with his words of honesty. I couldn’t wait anymore. The desire to start the mating bond with him had been growing over the last few days the more time he’d spent around us. His scent was everywhere. It was all I could smell, and it was driving me mad.Insane. I wanted to bury my face in the crook of his neck and never leave him again.
Being apart from him when we’d been with the Council had been torture. My beast itched beneath my skin, gnawing at its restraints as I held him back from his primal need. He wanted out, wanted to sink his fangs into Magnus and claim him for his own in a ritual that was as ancient as it was instinctual.
Rayne stepped back, his eyes glowing the amber of his beast as he stared at Magnus like he was his last meal. “Run.”
My dick twitched in my pants at the thought of chasing him through the woods.
Magnus hissed a breath through his teeth. “Run?”
“Yes.” I swiped my tongue up the length of his throat, the taste of him exploding in my mouth like the sweetest thing. “And we will fuck you where we catch you.”
I moved to stand next to my twin so I could gaze at Magnus’ face.
His eyes darted between the two of us, wide and full of excitement and a little bit of fear. “You mean… together?”
Rayne nodded and I could feel his adrenaline rushing through our bond. I was fully hard in my pants now, the scent of Magnus’ fear tainting the air and making my body scream for him.
“It’s time,” was all my twin said, and I couldn’t agree more. I wanted to sink my cock deep into Magnus’ ass, bite the soft spot of his neck, and claim him as ours.
I took a step towards Magnus, and he took one back, a feral grin spreading across his face. “You think you can catch me?”
I huffed a throaty laugh. “Oh, I know we can.”
“Best get a move on, little vamp,” Rayne said, his voice dropping as his beast rose to the surface. It wouldn’t be long before he changed his form into his Hellhound. We were definitely faster as beasts than we were as men. Almost as fast as vampires. But Beau wanted to be caught. He wanted us to fuck him like an animal in the woods, and I was more than happy to oblige.
Beau ripped his shirt off, the buttons that I hadn’t managed to undo hitting the floor with a little pitter-patter. Fuck, he was beautiful. Lithe and lean. Lethal power coiled into every muscle. A light dusting of hair across his chest and a sexy happy trail that I wanted to run my tongue over.
“Like what you see?” Beau goaded, his voice a little smug.
