Page 26 of Messenger of Death
“He can spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder for a flock of birds that’s going to poop on him for all I care. And if he goes flying and tries to get revenge on any of my new friends, I’m going to escalate.”
Because seriously, I could talk to them, but I could alsofeelthem. I knew all of them now and they were under my protection. The only person who was supposed to be able to talk to a familiar was the person they were bonded to, but since they were all animals, I could talk to them, too.
It was sacred and primal. I hurt people who hurt my friends. That included animals now. Shite, did I have to go vegan now?
I could think about that later because Sage was back to making those little moans. Fuck. She squealed when I licked the back of her calf. Not exactly what I wanted, but close enough.
“Liam! It’s not as hot as back home, but I still got sweaty and gross.”
“Don’t care. I wanted to know what you tasted like.”
“Probably like swamp ass after all that running.”
“Lucian and I both have enhanced smell,” Khalid said. “You don’t stink and I’d lick you, too, just not the back of your leg.”
“I do, too, but I don’t know if I’d be able to stop myself from biting you. I started to want to when we were kissing. I won’t until I can control it.”
Donkey bollix. It was getting harder and harder to want to kick Lucian in the kidneys. If Sage said we could taste her, I’d wrestle with Khalid or something and probably get my arse handed to me because he was bigger than me, used to box, and I couldn’t do all my usually dirty tricks because I actually liked the bloke.
Lucian would have a harder time declining that offer than me because of his enhanced senses, but he was doing it anyway while his bite still hurt.
“If we’re doing that, we’re doing it in the shower because I feel gross and I also want all of you naked.”
Excellent.
Igot the whole sex thing out of the way as soon as I was in a country where my father wasn’t a celebrity. If I tried it back home, my first time would have ranged from men who would have dragged me back home to Blue Matthews or some asshole would have filmed it and uploaded it somewhere because I would have been a trophy fuck for someone.
I’d tried it a few times, and it ranged from decent to completely mediocre. Maybe it was a lot to jump into inviting all three of them in the shower, but I was nineteen and in my first year of college. I wassupposedto be doing stupid shit. And was it really stupid if we were all connected?
I’d say this for Ouroboros Academy. This might be an old castle, but there were plenty of modern upgrades on the inside. Our bathrooms were one of those places. I did shared bathrooms at the hotels I’d been staying at, so it was a luxury to just have to share this one with Morgana and eventually Iman if she decided not to be a cat anymore.
The shower was huge, so I was pretty sure at one point, the occupants of this room shared a shower and then it was eventually converted into one giant shower. So, there was room for all of us.
I was all eyes as Liam and Khalid stripped down. Lucian was just staring at his feet. I felt like shit. I knew he was okay withmetouching him, but he might not be okay with all of this.
“Lucian—”
“No, Sage. I’m not a prude. I’m okay withallof this. Even Liam gets my boundaries. I will join in when I learn to make my bite feel good. Ask Liam. It hurts right now.”
Liam just shrugged.
“A little pain can be kinky during sex, but I don’t know if Sage is into that. Mate, I feel bad you’re left out. Do you think you can control it enough to bite me instead of Sage?”
“It’s a bad idea,” Lucian said. “I heard enough over the smoothie bar with the other vampires, that if I get excited and biteyou,I could get lost in the blood lust and biteher.Probably Khalid, too. I could kill all of you.”
Yeah, I got that, and it wasn’t even a vampire thing. It was a control thing. I grew up in a controlling environment. It was the only thing I knew. When I got kicked out, I went a little wild for a bit because I’d never been allowed to be human in that house. Lucian might be one of those people that rarely lost it, but when they did, it was very bad.
“We could try stopping you,” Khalid said.
“No, I think I’ll benefit from watching until I figure this vampire thing out,” Lucian said. “I can learn what she likes so I don’t make the same mistakes you did when it’s my turn.”
“That’s cheating,” Liam said. “I didn’t know you had it in you. Good for you.”
“Proceed,” Lucian said, sitting on the toilet and waving his land like we were actors and he was our director.
I finally got a good look at Liam and Khalid. Liam was lean, but ropy with muscle and covered in beautiful tattoos. I didn’t know much about the Irish mafia. I was sure Blue Matthews was involved with white-collar criminals, but none of them looked like Liam.
Khalid was a little shorter, but more muscular. He might like his dusty books, but he clearly worked out, too. He had a quote tattooed across his ribs, but I didn’t speak the Arabic. I ran my finger over the tattoo while Khalid looked at me like he wanted to eat me.
