Three Kings for Sarah (8 page)

“How is it that you still have no clothes on? You should
have returned from your world with whatever you had on there.”

Duncan and Ged exchanged a surprised glance, taking in their
lack of clothes. Xiu kept devouring the food placed in front of him, although
his lips twitched slightly. Duncan shrugged.

“I feel great. I wish I could always stay like this. I can
shift whenever I want, without the need to undress or to rip my clothes to
shreds. Also, if we take into account that eighty percent of the time I’ve been
here, I’m—”

“Yeah, I can imagine Nana enjoying your bare ass when she
arrives today,” Sarah interrupted Duncan, suspecting where this conversation
was going. She used the sarcasm to hide her embarrassment, yesterday’s memories
heating her already-warm cheeks.

“Uh, we forgot to tell you. Nana already foresaw that we
wouldn’t be capable of convincing you about this Epiphany shit, so she decided
she wanted to respect your tradition and wait until the fifth of January to—”

“Epiphany shit?” she asked, her hands on her hips.

“Um…er…no. I mean…” Duncan looked around, as if searching
for help.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ged’s shoulders shake
suspiciously while he stayed turned to the oven. Xiu’s crooked grin didn’t
escape her either. She shook her head, letting out an exasperated snort before
taking her place at the table.

“It smells really good. I thought vampires only rarely ate
real food,” she said.

“Unless you consider yourself real food…” Ged winked,
serving her a plate that looked as good as it smelled. “I usually don’t eat
it.”

“Then how is it that you can cook?”

“She’s right. I had my mind on…other things,” Duncan said.

Nobody asked what those other things were.

“Five years ago, you couldn’t boil an egg.” Duncan studied
Ged with interest.

“I had to protect a woman. When she came to live with me she
was a total wreck, not only physically but also psychologically. I learned to
take care of her. In order to feed her, I had to learn how to cook.”

“You could have asked someone else to help you with her,”
Duncan grunted.

Ged responded to Duncan’s glare with a shrug. “She was
special. I wanted to do everything in my power to make her feel cherished.”

Sarah scowled. She felt strange. Hurt, angry, deceived. Ged
had been living with another woman? He’d loved her? Oh, of course she
understood he was a whole lot older than she was… Nevertheless, the difference
in their ages didn’t make her feel any better about his having loved another
woman. He’d
been taking care
of another woman… Was she still alive? Was
she still living with him? Did he love this other woman and resign himself with
Sarah only because fate had stated she was his
Shangrile
?

Ged stopped abruptly. “You’re jealous.”

Was she?

A slow smile spread across his face. When he went to take
her into his arms she kept herself rigid.

“My girl’s jealous!” He kissed her.

She let him, though the ache didn’t disappear. He raised his
head and studied her. His expression was stern but his pupils had a weird glow
and his voice was calming when he spoke again.

“It was Duncan’s mother.”

“And? You’re an immortal. Age is nothing for you. She’s
still a woman. I can’t imagine a woman living with you and not being attracted
to you.”

“Aw, fuck! I heard that. I don’t want those kinds of images
in my head!”

Sarah gave Duncan a startled look. He was shaking his head
and grimacing. What had he heard? She hadn’t said anything aloud, had she?

“I heard your thoughts too.” Gedeon shuddered. “And no, I’ve
never slept with Marta and never will. She’s like a mother to me.”

“How did you hear my thoughts? I didn’t project them.”

“You were shouting them.” Xiu, who’d stopped eating, was
observing her.

“The pancakes!” Before she had time to blink, Ged had left
her on her stool and was centered again in his cooking.

“You still need to keep your part of the deal.” She took a
bite and moaned when the spongy omelet melted in her mouth. It wasn’t only her
hunger making it taste like paradise. It was the best omelet she’d ever tasted.
She exchanged a glance with Xiu, who smiled and dipped his head in
understanding.

“One of the reasons he can’t fuck you is because he’s a man
of honor. Yesterday, he gave his word he wouldn’t do it.”

“You what?” She stared incredulously at Xiu.

The shadow-walker’s smile had frozen.

“All of us agreed not to do it,” Duncan defended the man.
“Not to fuck you, I mean.”

“Why?!”

“We’re all three your mates. Our nature compels us to claim
you. Feeling you at such an intimate level increases the risk that we’ll lose
control and end up fighting each other. It wouldn’t be fair for you and it
wouldn’t be fair for us either. First, we must solve the problem at hand and
then afterward, we…
you
need to make a decision.” As always, Ged was the
one to explain everything.

“But yesterday, we…” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk
about her shameless behavior with the three of them staring at her.

“Yesterday, we had a really good, heavy petting session,
which helped to calm our beasts a little bit, but none of us got to really fuck
you,” he finished for her. “And we’re going to keep doing that because if we
didn’t, we’d go crazy. The mating frenzy is a bitch and your world makes it a
little worse.”

She opened her mouth to complain but then closed it again.
What would she say? That she needed them filling her? Claiming her? That it
didn’t matter if they ended up killing each other, as long as they pleased her?
Luckily, they’d reached an agreement with that ease—it was a good thing, wasn’t
it? She wasn’t sure. A moment ago, she’d been jealous of the idea that Ged was
taking care of another woman. She’d go freaking crazy at just the thought of
having to share them with someone else. Why weren’t they jealous?

When she looked at them they were staring at each other with
furrowed brows. Ged shrugged and switched Xiu’s empty plate for a tray full of
wonderful-smelling pancakes with forest fruit filling. As soon as Duncan
reached out to take one of them, Ged slapped his hand away.

“Hands off; they’re Xiu’s.”

“Hey! Why did you only make pancakes for him?”

“You ate your fill at the hospital.”

“They didn’t smell like these! Besides, you’ve made enough
for an army. He can share them.”

“Do you want to share your pancakes with him?” Ged asked
Xiu.

Sarah watched how Xiu’s gaze wandered from Ged to Duncan and
back to his pancakes. He looked at them, his expression bemused, as if he
wasn’t able to decide if he wanted to share them or not, as if he’d never had
to make such a decision.

“He probably never has.”
Ged answered her unspoken
question.
“When you’re a slave no one asks if you want to share. Things are
just taken away from you.”

“He was a slave?”
Sarah lifted her head, careful not
to project her thoughts to the others this time.

Ged’s eyes were locked on the stone pendant hanging between
her breasts. “
He is still a slave.
”

Her heart contracted painfully at his silent answer, more so
when she noted how Xiu’s arms had moved unconsciously, bracketing the tray of
food, as if he had to protect it from someone.

Duncan winked at her but his grin didn’t reach his eyes. “Of
course he’s going to share with me. He wants my ass after all. Don’t you, big
boy?”

Sarah almost chuckled, seeing Xiu’s jaw drop open.

Ged pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let me get this
straight, Duncan. You’re offering your ass in exchange for some pancakes?”

“Nope, I’m not a bitch.” Duncan rolled his eyes. “But that
doesn’t change the fact that he’s as affected as we are by the moons and
Sarah’s presence. He wants to fuck as desperately as we do and I’ve seen the
way his cock jerks up each time he takes a good look at my ass. If he wants me
to share my ass, the least he can do is to share his pancakes.”

Sarah couldn’t hold back her guffaw any longer. The laughter
just bubbled out, making her hold her tummy while big tears trickled down her
cheeks. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the stress or because they were a
pathetic bunch of sex-obsessed people.

“Wouldn’t it be easier if we all just had sex together?”
Oops!
A hot flush crept up her face. Had she really proposed group sex to all three
of them? Cocks began to twitch and jerk all around the table.
Yes, I guess I
have!

Duncan winked at her. “No sex and no fucking around until he
shares his food with me.”

Xiu’s fork suddenly clanged against the ceramic tray and his
eyes went blank. The hair on Duncan’s neck stood up. In less than a second, all
hell broke loose. Xiu let out a furious cry. His arms flailed violently in the
air, throwing everything that was in their path. He jumped up, making the chair
crash to the ground with a loud bang. Duncan watched the shadow-walker
carefully, his muscles taut, his fangs and claws extended.

“Something’s…off.”

As soon as she’d mumbled out the last word, Sarah and Xiu
fell unconscious. Ged managed to catch her before her head hit the floor.
Duncan was right at Xiu’s back.

They hurried to put them onto the bed. Worry overwhelmed
Duncan when he realized Sarah was almost as white as the sheet and her pulse
was faint. Xiu’s body at her side was absolutely rigid, his lifeless, wide-open
eyes stared at the ceiling, and if not for his excellent hearing, Duncan would
have guessed Xiu was already dead.

“Fuck! What’s happening?” Duncan glanced at Ged.

“Hell if I know! Something must have happened at the
hospital.”

“Shit, we’ll be trapped here, unable to do anything until at
least one of them wakes up.”
If they wake up.
Duncan didn’t even want to
consider that circumstance. “There has to be a way out of here! They need our
help! We can’t just keep waiting!”

Duncan paced restlessly from one window to the other, back
and forth across the small cabin, while Ged lay with Sarah in his arms,
probably willing her to take whatever energy she required from him. Knowing
Ged, he’d give her his last drop of blood as long as she kept breathing. It
wasn’t just about her being Ged’s
Shangrile
—he loved her as much as
Duncan loved her. The thought brought Duncan to a stop and he passed his
fingers through his hair.
I love her!

A long, low rumble made them tense. Ged jumped from the bed
and went to the nearest window to check the outside. With their fangs and claws
extended, they moved stiffly, preparing for battle, all their senses on high
alert. Whatever they were going to fight against, Duncan knew they would do it
side by side.

The cabin began to tremble long before Duncan saw it coming.
Paralyzed, he first sensed the low quaver, then he watched the earth moving in
waves toward them until the whole cabin started to shake like Jell-O. Things
fell, split and crashed, but the earth’s loud roar overthrew any other sound
around them. Duncan didn’t hesitate; as Ged bolted to the bed and threw himself
over Sarah to protect her from harm, Duncan followed Ged’s example and covered
Xiu like a blanket.

The windows exploded into millions of sharp, tiny shards.
When a few hundreds of them found a painful path into Duncan’s bare back, he
gave thanks that at least his more noble parts were protected and warm against
Xiu. If this was how he’d to die, then at least it wasn’t the worst possible way
to do it. With clenched teeth he reached out to touch Sarah. Ged placed his
hand over Duncan’s and squeezed softly but firmly, making him feel better. He
inhaled Xiu’s rich scent, trying to keep his mind centered on his mates instead
of the pain.
My mates?
He shrugged mentally; he liked the idea. He could
live with that. Sarah, Ged, Xiu and him.

“Took you some time to catch on!”
The voice in his
mind surrounded him with warmth.

“
Ged? Are you scanning my mind again?”

Duncan made sure to infuse his mental voice with a
reprimanding tone, despite the fact that he didn’t really mind the company in
his head. Ged’s chuckle made Duncan groan.

“
Sorry, pup! It doesn’t work this way. I’m not reading
your thoughts. You’ve made me a special place in your head and invited me in.”

“Shit! Are you telling me that from now on you’re going
to have a permanent camp there?”

Ged’s amusement preceded his answer. “
I suppose you could
say that.”

“Fuck!”
Duncan wasn’t sure he liked the idea of being
an open book all the time. It wasn’t as if he had much to hide but…
Hell!

“If you try, you should have the capacity to find a
similar route into my mind. Just follow my voice.”

“Follow your voice? Your voice is everywhere! You
are
inside my head.”
The warm feeling spreading through his mind told him that
Ged liked the idea very much.

“Hey! Wait a minute!”
There! He couldn’t follow the
voice but the warmth had an origin! He searched until he stumbled upon a thin
thread of light. He followed it and…
Bingo! Oh, shit!
As soon as he
entered Ged’s mind, thousands and thousands of images, voices, smells, tastes,
feelings…sucked him into a spinning whirl. He got lost in it. He wanted out but
there was no visible path or door, nothing but walls and walls of vivid,
moving, colorful memories. He began to panic. He didn’t want to be just a
memory. He wished to be Ged’s lover, his mate, Duncan…

“Shhh! I’m here, pup. I’m here.”

Ged’s arms surrounded Duncan. The vertiginous movement
around him stopped. Only memories of him and Ged kept showing on the walls.
There was also Sarah—bare, deliciously smelling Sarah, masturbating for them
with her sassy smile…

“
Don’t stop, baby!”

Ged laughed out loud at Duncan’s moan.

“
Let’s get out of here, pup. I don’t want you to fuck
holes in my best memories. You’ll have to learn how to navigate in them first.”

It felt good to be back in his mind, even better when he
became aware that the earthquake had stopped. Everything was still around them.
He groaned when he tried to move.

“Stay still! Your backside is full of shards.”

“I feel like a voodoo doll. How is it that you can move
without pain?” Duncan complained with a grunt.

“Let me show you…” And like that, Duncan sensed Ged’s
essence inside, taking control of Duncan’s mind and ordering his body to
expulse completely the tiny chips.

“Better?”

“Yeah!” Duncan rolled to the edge of the bed so the shards
fell to the ground with tiny, musical noises. He stretched with care, checking
the slashes. Luckily they were mainly scratches and light cuts. If the
situation hadn’t been as dire as it was, he’d have offered to let Ged lap up
the blood from the wounds. It wouldn’t have been the first time the vampire
turned pain into pleasure. It’d be better if he didn’t even think about that
right now. He sat up, inspecting the disaster surrounding them.

“What are we going to do? Sarah’s world is changing and I
don’t mean only the earthquake. We both realize what it means,” he said
anxiously, taking in how Ged was carefully cleaning the bed from crystals and
other debris, avoiding looking in Duncan’s direction. “Ged, stop! We need to
analyze the situation.”

“I don’t know what to do.” Ged’s red eyes contained a look
of lost confusion. “I don’t know how to return to the real world. I don’t know
how to save Sarah or Xiu or us. I…” His shoulders slouched.

“Did you try to contact Sarah telepathically?”

“Someone has put a magical ward on her mind. I can’t go
inside without causing her harm. That’s why I’m guessing something must have
happened at the hospital. When I try to speak with her she keeps silent.”

“What about Xiu? Are you able to speak with him?”

“I’ve never had the ability to speak with him like I can
with you or Sarah.”

Duncan frowned. “Do you think he isn’t going to be part of
our…?” What would they be? A pack? A family? Because they were going to be
something—it couldn’t be any other way.

“Family.” Ged decided for Duncan.

Duncan furrowed his brow at the ease with which the man was
following his thoughts. “I don’t think Sarah could be happy if one of her mates
wasn’t part of our family. You already have some feelings for him and I like
him…a lot, but he’s resisting his emotions for all of us, Sarah included,” Ged
stated.

“But earlier, at the table, he could hear Sarah’s thoughts.
He isn’t a telepath, is he?” Duncan didn’t wait for Ged’s answer. “There has to
be a bond!”

“He could have been ignoring my calls and blocking his
mind.” Ged studied Xiu thoughtfully. “Maybe he doesn’t want to be part of our
bond.”

“Try again!”

At first, Ged seemed to resist following Duncan’s command
but then the vampire shrugged and nodded slowly. “Touch him. He relaxes around
you. Maybe it’ll help.”

He waited for Duncan to lie down beside Xiu and, moving
Sarah closer to the shadow-walker, Ged took his place at her side. In a way,
all four of them were connected through their bodies.

“
Xiu? Can you hear me?”

“Yes, vampire.”

Xiu kept staring with glazed eyes toward the ceiling. His
lips didn’t move but his voice resounded loudly and clearly in their heads.
Somehow, it was really creepy. “
I’ve been expecting you.”

“You fucking cheater! Why did you ignore Ged earlier?”
Duncan was aware that he was shouting at Xiu with only his mind but hell if it
didn’t feel good! He’d been so worried about him! This whole fucking situation
made him feel powerless. “
You’ve been aware this whole time that you were
part of our bond and kept silent!”

“I’m a slave. There’s no place for me in a free
relationship.”

“If you’re already bound to us, then you’re part of it,
jackass!”

When Xiu kept quiet Ged intervened. “
What’s happening,
Xiu? Sarah’s world is collapsing. There was an earthquake, the moons’ glow is
dimming and everything is silent. It feels like death. Sarah and you…you’re
both in a comatose-like state.”

“They kidnapped Sarah, Duncan’s sister and me. They used
magic and drugs on us.”

“What?”
Duncan felt as if he were being strangled,
his throat was so tight.

“Wizards came to take our bodies. They’ve locked us in a
basement cell or something similar. I’m not sure. I’m still not able to move.”

“Shit!”

“From what I heard, they followed your sister to the
hospital and used tranquilizers to take us out. Later, they put a magic spell
on me to keep me from shifting or dream-walking.”

“What about Sarah?”
Duncan asked, fighting not to
lose it.

“They’re draining her to death. Your sister is as
immobilized as I am.”

“Fuck! What are we going to do?”
Duncan covered his
face with both hands. “
Xiu, you must find a way for us to help you. We don’t
know how to save you.”

“I think I already have a plan.”

“What? Tell!”

“We need to drain the being and return the power to Sarah
,”
explained Xiu.

“And how the fuck are we going to do that?”
Duncan
asked.

“I can do it
,” stated Xiu.

“If that’s the case, why haven’t you already done so?”
Duncan scowled at the man’s motionless form.

“Because I wasn’t prepared to take all the energy inside
me. It’s evil, and it must be cleansed before I can return it to Sarah. She’s
light—too much darkness could hurt her.”

“What has changed?”
Duncan questioned.

“You.”

“Me? Or us? I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
Duncan asked, watching a slight smile slowly transform Ged’s face.

“If we mate—really mate—with life-bond and all, then I
can use your bodies to store the energy. Maybe you can even use it like Sarah
and I do, and increase your own powers.”

“Whoa! Stop there! Now we’re talking about life-bonds?
You just went from zero to one hundred in less than a second.”
Duncan ran
his fingers through his hair.

“If you want Sarah to live, you’ll have to accept me
being a slave. There are no other options.”
Xiu’s voice became granite
hard.

Duncan growled a list of curses that made even their
immortal ears ring by the way they cringed mentally. “
We’re going to deal
with your slavery once we’re out of this. In the meantime, stop being an ass.
None of us mind… Hell! Of course we mind that you’re a slave but not for the
reasons you’ve assumed! We want you with us so stop with this slave-thing shit!
Understood?”

“Do you really think I’m going to let a young pup like you
boss me around?”
Even with his blank face, the amusement in his tone was
unmistakable.

“I’m an alpha, old man. If you want my ass—and we both
know you do—then you’ll have to give up something else. I’m not going to play
the beta for both of you, just because you consider yourself a decrepit old
fossil
.” Duncan crossed his arms over his chest.

“Gedeon is the fossil. I’m not even half as ancient as he
is
,
”
Xiu stated with a dry tone.
“I’ve watched you accepting his
orders without complaint. What’s he giving up?”

“We agreed that his ass and surrender would be mine when
we play without Sarah and sometimes, if everybody is in the mood, when she’s
there too.

Xiu took some time to answer. “
If you agree to share him
with me, I’ll let you boss me around from time to time.”

Duncan gave him a huge mental grin. “
His cock is already
twitching at the idea…and yours too, in case you can’t appreciate it. Was that
a moan, Shadow?”

“Boys! First things first. We need to agree on a course
of action to get out of this shitty situation!”
Ged reprimanded them
softly, obviously affected by their conversation.

Duncan suspected Ged’s quiet tone had something to do with
Xiu having just openly admitted that he wanted Ged too.

“What would it imply for you? I mean, how would you
control that amount of evil energy without getting hurt in the process?”
Ged inquired.