When Three Points Collide: Ra's Story, page 19
It took time – Arvyn had no idea how long. But despite every one of Arvyn’s instincts urging him to pound on in, he resisted. Despite his much larger form as a god, Ra was still his mate, still precious. When Arvyn felt the head of his cock brush against the rim of Kirill’s he let out a long breath. One more push and his balls were brushing Kirill’s.
“Oh, babe.” Arvyn just wanted to savor the moment, but it was time for other things. Kissing between Ra’s trembling shoulders, using his thumbs to stroke the edge of Kirill’s – with his hands fisted on the mattress that was all Arvyn could reach. But with their cocks pushed together by Ra’s tightness, he’d never felt closer to both of his mates.
Arvyn wasn’t sure who moved first. Ra relaxed, his small moan and a minute flex of his hips an indication he was ready for more. Arvyn felt Kirill’s fingertips brush his hips and guessed the vampire was holding Ra steady. Then Arvyn felt the slide of Kirill’s cock against his own. Small movements, but as Kirill pulled out, Arvyn pushed in; Kirill thrust forward, Arvyn moved back. Rock your body right. Arvyn wanted to chuckle as the line from an old boyband song flashed through his head.
But then Ra moaned, his head tilted back, his hair falling down between his shoulders. The muscles down his back formed taut lines on either side of his spine as the top of his butt flexed. Arvyn guessed what his lovely mate was doing, but it wasn’t as though he could give Ra a helping hand. He was supporting his weight, unwilling for Kirill or Ra to be squashed. Kirill’s got a solid eight pack – perfect friction for Ra’s lovely cock.
Time stopped. All Arvyn knew was the pressure around his cock, the smell of sex saturating the air, and the harsh breathing from his mates. Kirill was grunting every time he pushed in; Ra’s moans were coming in a steady stream, accelerating Arvyn’s need. He couldn’t help it – he had to move faster, still making sure his movements were shallow enough not to do Ra any harm. Kirill’s thighs tensed as he bent his legs, slamming his feet onto the mattress, trying to find purchase as he matched Arvyn’s rhythm. On and on, like a well-oiled machine.
Arvyn eyed Ra’s neck. I know how I can help you come, baby. As if he could hear him, Ra flicked his head to one side, clearing his neck of hair. Spreading his knees slightly for balance, Arvyn slid his hand under Ra’s chest, urging him upwards. Ra’s moans got louder as the change in his body angle lit more fires through his body. Arvyn caught Kirill’s eyes, the vampire’s jaw was tight enough to crack. His mate was close.
Faster, faster, need rising. Arvyn focused on their bond. Wait… Wait… Now! Kirill yelled, and mush splashed against Arvyn’s cock. In that exact moment, Arvyn bit down over the mark he’d left on Ra’s neck. Ra cried out and Arvyn’s orgasm hit him like a truck. It was overwhelming. Love bounced along with hormones, flooding the air, their bonds, and Arvyn’s body. His eyes closed, Arvyn quickly pulled his teeth from Ra’s neck, licking across the wound in long strokes as he floated. Nothing had ever been so perfect.
That was an amazing first for me. Kirill’s voice in his mind pierced the fog in Arvyn’s brain.
Me too. Ra’s was more of a whisper, but Arvyn heard him clearly. Unable to help himself, Arvyn chuckled quietly.
Me three and that won’t be the last time, he sent back, letting go so Ra could slump against Kirill’s body, the vampire quick to renew his own mating marks on Ra’s neck. Arvyn was happy enough to support his own weight a while longer. He wasn’t in any hurry to move.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Kirill looked around the land that had been his home for decades. All he could hear was the birds in the trees and the waft of the wind through the leaves. There were no cars in the driveway, or voices coming from the house. He squeezed the hands he was holding, glad of Arvyn and Ra’s support. After three days exploring and learning more about Ra’s realm, Kirill knew it was time to face his own reality – but that didn’t stop him wishing he was anywhere else but at the former coven house.
“Just an in and out, yeah?” Ra was back in his human form, dressed in yet another pair of jeans and his gray Henley. “All you have to do is point out what you want stored, and I’ll zap it all to my quarters on my realm. It will all be safe there until we find a house of our own.”
“No one’s been out here for days.” Arvyn was sniffing. “What are the chances we’ll find the house completely stripped out?”
“High.” Kirill walked up the steps, his mates hugging his sides. “I would like to think no one would dare infringe on my personal living or office spaces, but the rest of it will be fair game I imagine.”
“Did you hear from your council?” Ra asked, looking sideways up at him. “I’m surprised members of your coven didn’t complain about being made to move, especially if they’ve been here for a while.”
Kirill had wondered about that too, although as a Prince, his decisions over the coven were absolute. He owned the land and buildings; if he said the coven was closing down, that was it. “All I got was a reply to the email I’d sent them letting them know about Yakov and Sven’s deaths. They said after discussions with the coven members, they had arrested a further twenty-two vampires for crimes against humans, and the rest had been warned not to congregate beyond immediate family groups for at least the next hundred years or so.”
“Twenty-two more?” Arvyn spun him around and Kirill let him as he really didn’t want to walk through those coven doors. “That’s a huge chunk of your coven members. What about you? Are they going to investigate you too?”
“Apparently not.” Kirill shook his head. “One of the joys of using vampire thrall during investigations is that none of the criminals could lie to our prosecutors. They all said that I knew nothing about what Yakov was doing, and that they’d all worked really hard to make sure I didn’t find out. Makes me out to be a right fucking fool.”
“You don’t get to talk about yourself like that,” Ra said fiercely, wrapping his arms around Kirill’s waist. “I hate to say it about your kind, but the ones I met when I was here with Zeus were as self-absorbed as many gods I know. All they could talk about, behind my back when they thought I couldn’t hear, was how you’d probably have to keep the lights off when you fucked me, but my blood would give you immense power and having a god at their disposal would mean the Dublin coven would become the most powerful in the land. Lazy fuckers couldn’t even be bothered to say that to my face.”
Kirill growled at the thought of his beloved having to hear such insulting words. “I’m so sorry you had to hear all that.” It was difficult getting the words out through clenched teeth. For a split-second Kirill wished he hadn’t disbanded the coven, just so he could tear in there and rip them all to shreds. “It’s all my own fault. I gave them everything. They didn’t have to work, they all got an allowance, or could use the coven fund account for anything they needed. I thought… I thought I was helping them, giving them somewhere safe to stay…”
“And instead they shit on the hand that fed them.” Arvyn gave Kirill’s shoulders a small shake. “This isn’t on you. There’re good and bad among the vampires just the same as there are in any other species. You just happened to have a coven full of the bastards. What we’re going to do is walk through that door, collect your stuff and then you can put the place on the market. I assume you’ve secured your accounts.”
Kirill nodded. It was one of the first things he did after seeing what Yakov had done.
“Then let’s get this done,” Ra said quietly, leaning his head on Kirill’s chest, offering his comfort. “We’ll do a walkthrough, you can let me know if anything needs doing as we go, so that by the time we walk back out that door, the place is ready for market. Yes?”
“Sounds like a plan.” Arvyn draped his arm over Kirill’s shoulder. “And then, did I hear we might be going to Montana? That Paulie had heard of another property not that far from them that was on the market? I’ve never been house hunting before. Do I have to look all disinterested when we meet the agent, or do I pepper him with a dozen questions he can’t answer just so he’ll give us the place at the price we’re prepared to pay?”
Chuckling, Kirill gave his beloveds a hug. He knew what Arvyn was doing and while the man might be over five hundred years younger than he was, he had the knack of saying the right thing to ease the tension Kirill seemed to pick up and carry out of habit. “You just be you,” he said with all the affection he could muster.
The door wasn’t locked. There hadn’t been any need when the gates were always secured, and the fences were high enough to detract opportune thieves. Set back off the road, the way the coven was, it was unlikely anyone even realized the place was empty. Large velvet drapes could still be seen from outside… They didn’t steal the curtains at least.
Inside… Kirill shivered as he closed the door behind them. It was like a morgue – the air cold and lifeless. Everything stood, just as it had done for years. Chairs in the reception hall, Kirill’s picture was still hanging over the staircase. Only the flowers in vases showed signs of decay. Ra darted off to peer in a door off the hall. “The furniture all seems to be here. Just a bit dusty.”
“You seemed to think your coven members would basically steal what wasn’t nailed down.” Arvyn was peering in doorways too, although neither of Kirill’s mates went out of his sight. “It looks like they haven’t touched anything at all.”
Kirill strode over to his office and took a quick look inside. His computer still stood on the desk, where it’d always been, and his collection of original art drawings done on commission by Charles Schulz were still hanging in their frames on the wall behind his desk. But… Kirill frowned at the coffee mug left on his desk. Crossing the room, he touched the outside of the cup. It was still warm. “There’s someone still here,” he snarled, as he sprinted past his mates and heading up the stairs, taking two at a time. The doors to his private suite were closed, the handle refusing to turn when Kirill tried to open it.
“Some asshole’s tried to lock me out!” Stepping back, Kirill kicked at the door, splintering it off its hinges, before running into his rooms. It was immediately obvious someone had been staying there. Three of Kirill’s bespoke suit jackets were thrown over his window seat as if they were rags. There were empty pizza boxes and discarded coffee mugs strewn across the coffee table, spilling onto the floor.
“This is your private space?” Arvyn was at his shoulder, his eyes flashing wolf. “I can smell someone else’s scent in here. Did you have someone else living with you?”
“Not like that, never like that.” No matter how angry he was, Kirill would never let his beloved wolf get the wrong idea. Arvyn was just as possessive as he was. “I’m the only one who’s slept in my bed, and the only one who lives in these quarters.”
“I never had you pegged as a pizza lover.” Ra looked more amused than angry. “And I haven’t known you to be such an untidy person around the house. If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you’d have to have been on your best behavior since the three of us got together. Shall I clean up?” He lifted his hand.
Kirill shook his head. “This wasn’t me. I would never allow my living spaces to be so disgusting… and my suits.”
“An intruder then. Hmm… listen.” Arvyn held up a finger. “There’s someone else in here. I can hear their heartbeat getting faster and faster. You might as well come out.” He added in a louder voice. “It’ll be worse for you if we have to drag you out from under that fancy bed.”
“They’re in my room – where I slept?” Kirill wanted to see for himself, but Arvyn held him back.
“You’ve had enough stresses this morning, babe. The last thing you need is to go ferreting under a bed. Allow me.”
/~/~/~/~/
Arvyn stripped off and shifted in record time, his huge wolf form pausing only long enough so Kirill and Ra could scratch behind his ears. He did love a good scratch. Then, his nose full of an unfamiliar scent, Arvyn bounded into the master bedroom, immediately sinking down on his front shoulders, peering under the bed.
The scent of fear suddenly spiked as two eyes peered back at him.
“Get away.” A skinny pale arm waved in front of his nose. “Dirty creature. Get out of here. Go. Scat.”
Arvyn woofed, because he could, and because whoever was under the bed had clearly never come across a wolf shifter before and was terrified of him. He settled right down on his haunches, so his belly was on the carpet and poked his nose under the bed.
The man, and it was a man, albeit a small and skinny one, screamed. “I’m going to get eaten. He’s going to eat me.”
Arvyn wagged his tail. This was fun. He edged a bit closer, not that he could get right under the bed. He was far too big to do that. But he could see something the guy under the bed couldn’t. Kirill’s shiny boots on the other side of the bed.
Reaching under with his paw, and scraping the carpet, Arvyn woofed again. The sound would have been loud for anyone with delicate ears, but the man under the bed screamed again, scuttling out the other side, and straight into Kirill’s hands.
“Who the hell are you?”
Arvyn stood up, just in time to see Kirill shaking the man like an errant puppy.
“You shouldn’t be here,” the man blathered on. “I work for the vampire council. There’s… there’s… Help.” The man saw Arvyn and clambered into Kirill’s arms like his life depended on it. “He’s… that… that thing was going to eat me. Shoot him.”
Arvyn grinned widely showing off his lovely clean teeth. No blood here.
“I think you’ll find this beautiful wolf has more right to be here than you do.” Ra had come through, leaning on Arvyn’s furry shoulder, still amused. The only one who wasn’t having fun was Kirill. “And I believe the master of this coven, and owner of this land, the buildings, and the room you’ve been taking liberties with, asked you a question. Who the hell are you?”
“You’re Prince Kirill?” The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard, looking Kirill up and down. “Six-hundred-year-old vampire… has a god and a wolf shifter as beloveds.” He seemed to be talking to himself. “He shouldn’t be here. Tired. Stressed. Deceived. He should be on the godly realm dressed in a robe, being fanned by nubile slave girls.”
“Excuse me?” Kirill shook him again for good measure, and Arvyn could understand why. The intruder was clearly rattled if he was talking to himself. “How about, instead of blithering to yourself you answer my questions. Who the fuck are you and what are you doing in my house?”
“I’m Doblin, Peter Doblin.” Doblin raised his chin. “Personal assistant to the captain of the vampire guards, and as for what I’m doing here, I would’ve thought that was perfectly obvious. I’m looking after the place for you.”
“Looking after the place?” Arvyn watched as Kirill scanned the room. The bedroom was as bad as the sitting room. Clothes strewn everywhere, DVD’s out of their cases, spread across the bottom of the bed, more pizza boxes and on the bedside table a half-empty bottle of lube was spilling it’s contents onto the dusty veneer of the bedside cabinet. “Did your brief include going through all my things?”
“Well, er… no, not exactly.” Doblin squirmed to get down, but Kirill wasn’t letting him. “But the job came up in a hurry, and I didn’t have time to get my stuff so I could stay here. I was sure you wouldn’t mind.”
Lying. Arvyn snarled, knowing Kirill would have heard him.
“Try again.” Kirill shook Doblin hard enough his teeth rattled, before dropping him on the floor. “My darling beloved can smell your lies. Start telling the truth or I’ll use my thrall on you.”
“Fine. Gods, you old farts are all the same.” Doblin got off the floor and peeled a piece of pizza box off the leg of his sweatpants. “Mine. Mine. Mine. You’ve got all this stuff, and you don’t share…”
“Excuse me,” Ra said quietly, with far more politeness than Arvyn thought was warranted in the situation. “You said yourself you’re not a member of Kirill’s coven, you work for the vampire council. Why should Kirill owe you anything at all?”
“Because.” Doblin flung his arms wide. “Look at what he walked away from. I can’t handle it anymore. I’m closing down the coven. I’m tired.” His whinging voice was nothing like Kirill’s and Arvyn growled, lifting his lip. “Why shouldn’t I enjoy myself for a while, have a wee vacation at the master’s expense? It’s not like anyone would notice, or they wouldn’t have done if you hadn’t come bursting in like you own the place.”
“I do own this place,” Kirill roared, his power flooding the room. Arvyn’s tail started to wag again. He loved it when their vampire mate went all masterful. “Everything here I bought and paid for. I worked my ass off for centuries to have everything you see here. These DVDs,” Kirill snatched a handful of them off the bed. “Mine.” He shattered the cases with his bare hands and threw the remains at Doblin who ducked.
“Those suits you treated like rags, mine.” Kirill snagged a jacket off the window seat and ripped it clean down the middle before dropping the rags on the floor. “This bed, even that damn lube, everything in here is mine. I earned it. What right do you have coming in here and trashing everything?”
Doblin clearly hadn’t been expecting Kirill’s anger. He was cowered, his arms raised, as if warding himself. “They said you were the sucker,” he said bitterly. “Never knows what’s going on under his nose, they said. Would give you the shirt off his back, they said, even if it wasn’t needed. Why shouldn’t I…”
“Who said?” Bending over, Kirill invaded Doblin’s personal space. “Who told you all this garbage? Answer me!”
Ooh. Arvyn’s tail was wagging furiously now and he glanced over at Ra to see if his other mate understood what was going on. He’s using the thrall, he sent to Ra gently, or at least Arvyn hoped it was just Ra who got the message. He didn’t want to disturb his angry mate.
