"So if I'm the exclusive entree for both of you, should I have a permanent stash of cookies and juice standing by?"

Gideon turned his head into Anwyn's hand, for she was idly stroking his hair. They had the gas logs going, the only light in the living room. She lay on the couch, temporarily sated, her lush body draped again in one of those silky robes she liked. Her small feet were folded together between Daegan's splayed legs. The vampire wore a pair of jeans, carelessly undone at the waist as he sat propped against the other end of the sofa. One leg was bent and leaning against the sofa back, behind Anwyn's legs and hip, the other long leg braced on the floor, his bare foot next to Gideon's flank.

For his part, Gideon sat on the floor next to the large sofa, one arm loosely corralling his own bent legs. He was trying to decide if the soft throw rug felt good or odd on his uncharacteristically bare a.s.s.

Daegan swirled the last bit of his wine in his gla.s.s, giving him a direct look. "You want me to feed from you?"

"Well . . ." Gideon shrugged, looked toward the wall. "I guess that's part of the marking deal, right?"

Having two vampires in his mind could be a pain in the a.s.s. Having two vampires who wouldn't let him get away with any dissembling, any avoidance of his own desires . . . It sucked, but then again, it didn't. Like the a.s.s on the carpet, it was . . . good and odd at once.

"Mmm." Daegan's long fingers overlaid Anwyn's as he leaned forward, snagging Gideon's attention. "You want me to feed from you, vampire hunter? You want my mouth on no other human? Do not look away from me."

"Thought you guys didn't like humans looking you in the eye. Part of the whole subservient thing."

Daegan's brow arched, his touch descending to Gideon's jaw. It was so different, to be touched by them both at the same time, the female and male fingers caressing him in different ways, Anwyn's stroke through his hair a seductive pull, Daegan's stronger, even more demanding tug.

"Except when a servant is doing it to avoid his own feelings."

"Jesus. Here I thought you were a bada.s.s, and you're one of those sensitive types who likes to yammer about feelings. What a turnoff."

Anwyn's chuckle didn't change the set of Daegan's expression at all. He held Gideon's gaze, his lips unsmiling.

"Yeah," Gideon said. "Yeah, d.a.m.n it. Don't really want you using anyone else other than me. It would p.i.s.s me off. Happy now?"

"Ecstatic." Daegan let Anwyn take over the stroking again and leaned back, releasing Gideon from that way too intuitive stare.

It was like opening a floodgate, though. Gideon wondered if he could get them to gag him before he humiliated himself further, but he had to say this part. And there was no gag for his mind, after all. "I should have fed you then, that night in Xavier's. I wanted to."

His gaze shifted to Anwyn. Sometimes it was easier to meet her gaze. "If you hadn't been so p.i.s.sed off, you might have seen from my mind that I did. It freaked me out that I wanted it. Which was why I acted like I didn't."

"I was a little too busy worrying about our lives to plunder your mind," she said dryly, but her eyes softened and she brushed his cheek.

"But she wasn't too busy to get p.i.s.sed off about it," Gideon offered to Daegan. The vampire grinned but gave Gideon a mental heads-up so that he dodged before Anwyn could smack him with the pillow she'd pulled out from beneath her. Since it would have hit him with the force of a basketball, he gave Daegan points for male solidarity. As it was, the pillow took out a lamp behind him. Gideon was on his feet and caught it with a swiftness that took him by surprise. "Wow."

"A side benefit of a third mark from an older, stronger vampire," Daegan noted. "As Anwyn increases in strength and speed, it will enhance you further."

"Enhance me further, hmm? I'm not sure if she can handle anything more enhanced than what I've already got here."

Anwyn rolled her eyes as Daegan snorted. "It can only stand improvement. It was good I was there to satisfy her, this latest time."

"Hey, if I pitch strikeouts the first seven innings, I can afford to let you finish out the last two."

Anwyn saw the flash in Daegan's eyes, the way his lips pressed together against a smile. The past twenty-four hours had belonged entirely to the three of them, and she'd loved every minute of it, hope growing inside her with every touch, every whisper of a smile, every sensual laugh, every quiet moment where they simply absorbed the bond they'd accepted. Every pa.s.sionate moment that had taken them over that edge again.

Gideon would never be easy. Daegan would always be impossibly arrogant. She might always deal with shadows in her head. But together, she was less afraid of any of it. And she believed that bond would last. She and Daegan had kept their minds mostly open for these blessed hours, an unspoken agreement to give Gideon temporary access in the more intense moments they'd shared, to rea.s.sure him. To help him believe what was still so new and doubtful to him.

"Gideon, did you know that Daegan was willing to abandon us, let me have you all to myself ?" She slanted Daegan a playful glance, recalling their far more somber conversation of weeks before. "He said if you were able to fulfill all my needs, he didn't want to be in the way."

"Oh, h.e.l.l, no. You're not getting out of this that easily. Jesus, her mood swings make PMS in a normal woman look like a picnic with a dozen naked Hooters girls."

Gideon tried to duck her swat, but she put enough speed on it to tumble him, which he managed lithely and in a very distracting flex of bare muscles. "See what I mean?"

"I'm sure I only said such a thing to appear charming and sensitive." Daegan shrugged. "You could never possibly meet all her needs."

As they continued bantering back and forth, she could tell a wrestling match was pending. There'd already been two so far, like lions tussling. She was going to have to set down a firm rule that roughhousing was only for the weapons room or playrooms. She had too many breakables in here, and eventually their reflexes or hers wouldn't be quick enough. But for now, she indulged them. "We never answered his juice and cookies question," she broke in, bringing their attention back to her. "We'll usually stagger our feedings on you, Gideon. If we took from you at the same time, it might temporarily weaken you."

"But it might happen occasionally," Daegan said, a deceptively languid look in his dark eyes.

In fact, they'd already done it once in the past few hours. The memory brought a pleasurable flush to her body. However, it reminded her of something else.

"Don't think I've forgotten," she mentioned, curling her fingers in a loose strand of Gideon's hair, tugging to cause a bite of pain. He gave her an arch look, but she wasn't fooled by the guileless eyes. For one thing, she suspected Gideon had never had a guileless day in his life. For another, he was so well tapped into her mind, she saw the combination of trepidation and reluctant fascination as he realized what she was referencing.

"There were three requirements. One was that you would submit to Daegan taking you to bed, without me there. I'm too greedy right now to let you out of my sight, but I won't be forever."

Gideon pressed those firm lips together, moistening them, telling her he was keenly aware of Daegan's predatory gaze, resting on him with lazy pleasure, like a tiger contemplating his dinner. And that contemplation was arousing the male vampire anew.

She could tell it made Gideon's c.o.c.k respond as well, such that he gave them both an exasperated look. "I'm going to the kitchen," he grumbled. "Anybody want anything?"

"Gideon." That one word arrested him on his heels before he could straighten. If that hadn't rea.s.sured her how he felt about her third requirement, his next act did. Her servant met her gaze, covered her hand and lifted it to his mouth, nuzzling her with a heated, moist seduction of tongue and lips. Then he glanced at them both. "I'm yours, however you want me," he said quietly. "Whenever you want me."

Then he cleared his throat and got to his feet, giving Daegan his typically c.o.c.ky look. "I don't plan to go down easy though, so you better come at me with your A-game."

"Count on it." That predator's look became hot and dangerous, enough to raise her blood temperature. She wondered that she'd be able to stay away from watching such a match of wills.

Gideon gave him a quick, feral grin, then glanced back at Anwyn. "What do you want from the kitchen, Mistress?"

You. But she But she was was thirsty. "Some more wine would be good," Anwyn noted, and Daegan nodded. thirsty. "Some more wine would be good," Anwyn noted, and Daegan nodded.

Gideon could feel their gazes following him as he moved across the room, naked as Anwyn had demanded. While he wanted to protest their unrelenting s.e.x drive, his c.o.c.k wasn't any better behaved. It was already getting hard at that reminder of them both taking blood from him. Daegan had pierced his femoral, holding his legs spread open to his will as Anwyn straddled Gideon's face, making him lick at her c.u.n.t while she suckled from his wrist. As Daegan drew blood from his thigh, he'd worked Gideon's c.o.c.k, slid a finger inside him, making it near impossible for Gideon not to come before he serviced his Mistress. But he'd done it, d.a.m.n it all. Then sprayed like a fountain, amazed and humbled when Anwyn bent lithely, her wet p.u.s.s.y over his face, and took all of him in, swallowing him down. Daegan had drawn back, but only to lean over her, press his lips to the fragile curve of her spine. He'd left a faint imprint of his mouth there, outlined by Gideon's blood.

There were other things, even more than the soul-shattering s.e.x, that had reduced him to tight-throated silence these past hours. They'd all taken a break in Daegan's bed, dozing, but Daegan had slept. Slept deep in her and Gideon's embrace, in a way Anwyn had whispered she'd never seen him do. A true act of trust.

Of course, Gideon did doubt he'd be asking for forty more days of this, like Anwyn thought. He wasn't sure if he could overcome his embarra.s.sment about walking around like their s.e.x slave on demand. Of course, he couldn't seem to stop being reluctantly turned on by it, either.

"Daegan, are you going to keep hunting for the Council?" He called the question from the kitchen as he looked for clean gla.s.ses, considered the wine choices. Jesus, how many bottles of wine did anyone need? He chose one at length, mainly because he liked the dog printed on it. "You don't have to stop. We're going to be okay. There are three of us. We handled ourselves pretty well at Xavier's."

"Yes. You were nearly killed, and Anwyn came close to being violently raped. It went very well."

Gideon grunted, unimpressed. "You would have been staked if I hadn't been there. Or drained of blood if we hadn't come at all."

He pulled the cork. Though he didn't see it, he could feel the forbidding clouds of Daegan's thoughts gathering. It was clear from his actions that he was the most protective and dominant of the three, and would take command of any situation he felt was necessary, a sense of superiority over the two of them that was not as overbearing as Gideon initially thought it would be. It was more like having a general of their small army, or maybe that was just the best way for Gideon to handle thinking of it.

I'd love to see you salute him. Anwyn's amused thought. Anwyn's amused thought.

"Yeah, that'll happen," Gideon muttered. He wasn't about to let the b.a.s.t.a.r.d intimidate him, ever. Anwyn was one thing, but she was a girl. Girls were allowed to be intimidating. Her laughter and Daegan's grunt made him smile as he pulled the pizza box from the oven.

Are you saying you want to hunt with me?

The thought came to him straight from Daegan, and he suspected it wasn't one he was sharing with Anwyn, though of course Anwyn could hear it in his mind . . . unless Daegan was distracting her. A quick check on that, glancing toward the living room, showed that Daegan had drawn her over to him, pulling the loose neckline of her robe aside to tease her breast with his lips. All in the midst of conversation, as casually as if he'd picked up his winegla.s.s. It was a general's reminder, he guessed, that he would take from them when he wished, and yet make it well worth their while to surrender to him.

He wanted to shy from that thought, big-time, but every muscle in his body was deliciously sore from the frequency of the lesson. And he was willing for him to do it all over again.

Anytime you need a backup, I will. Gideon put down the bottle, stared into s.p.a.ce. Gideon put down the bottle, stared into s.p.a.ce. But otherwise . . . I think I'm done with that, Daegan. Guys like Trey . . . I can't really say I'm sorry for that, but I think I know it was kind of f.u.c.ked, and that's a part of me that's going to take some time to handle. You said it right, at the beginning. My job now is to protect Anwyn, be here for her. But otherwise . . . I think I'm done with that, Daegan. Guys like Trey . . . I can't really say I'm sorry for that, but I think I know it was kind of f.u.c.ked, and that's a part of me that's going to take some time to handle. You said it right, at the beginning. My job now is to protect Anwyn, be here for her.

He was unexpectedly warmed by the relief he felt from Daegan, the words he spoke in his head. It would ease my mind greatly, to know you are at her side when I cannot be. It would ease my mind greatly, to know you are at her side when I cannot be.

Gideon took a deep breath. So many changes, so fast. His mind wasn't wrapped around them all yet. But in a weird way, he'd never felt freer to say and do whatever he wanted. Pain and shadows would linger, like those shadows in Anwyn's head, but she and Daegan were just as good at helping him deal with them. And that, too, was new. Letting someone in, letting someone help.

Like all of it, it seemed to be beyond his understanding, but he could rely on his intuition to guide him where his dense brain couldn't.

There was one thing he wasn't going to let stand, though. Taking advantage of Daegan's absorption with Anwyn's arched body, the wet, taut nipple he was teasing with his mouth, he left the wine and pizza and strode out of the kitchen, right back up to the vampire.

Leaning down, he cupped Daegan's head as the vampire looked up, and planted one of those fast, hard kisses on his mouth. Daegan did those kinds of moves better and more smoothly, of course, but the flash of surprise in his eyes was worth it. "You can get your panties in a twist about our coming after you at the Coffin," Gideon said, holding his dark gaze, "but you're going to have to live with the fact we're going to watch over you just as much as you watch over us. Servant or no, I'm not going to stand by and let you go into situations where the numbers might be against you. Neither will Anwyn."

He pivoted on his heel and strode back to the kitchen. And don't be staring at my a.s.s. And don't be staring at my a.s.s.

Though Daegan scowled at the man's presumption, his mouth eased at Anwyn's chuckle. "Not even forty days is going to change that stubborn rock head of his," he decided.

"He's rough around the edges, but he's perfect. And he's right. We both love you. You'll have to accept what that means, just the same way we do."

"Hmm. His kissing technique leaves a bit to be desired. He's much nicer to you."

"I'll help you teach him," she promised, laughter in her eyes. Gideon returned then, wine bottle and pizza box in hand, both strategically placed to hide the embarra.s.sing movement of his genitalia. In sync, the two Doms made him put down the box and wine bottle, return to the kitchen and come back unprotected, underscoring the lesson that he must be open to them at all times. It was a sensual demand that had his c.o.c.k stiffening under their pleased regard anew, though he sat down with the box and a narrow look.

"All-powerful vampires or not, I am am eating before you do anything else to me. I may not be able to die of starvation, but having your backbone rubbing against your stomach while being f.u.c.ked is eating before you do anything else to me. I may not be able to die of starvation, but having your backbone rubbing against your stomach while being f.u.c.ked is not not pleasurable." pleasurable."

"How will we pa.s.s the time, then, while you're stuffing your face?" Anwyn used her toes to tease his nape. Her servant swatted at her, but then captured her foot, bent his head and touched his mouth to her instep, bringing those midnight blue eyes to her face for an equally pleasurable caress.

"Twenty Questions again?" he murmured. "Though I think you've far exceeded twenty. Just ask them to Daegan. I want to eat."

From his significant glance, she knew there was an ulterior motive to it, but she didn't disagree with it. As much as Daegan had given them tonight, there was still a reserve to him they both knew was likely to remain in place. According to Gideon's thoughts, that was how older vampires were. However, Gideon was giving her a sly reminder that they might be able to take advantage of his mellow mood to learn more about the male vampire they both claimed.

However, that reserve would no longer make her doubt the feelings that existed under the dangerously still waters. Or if they did, that doubt would be removed hastily. Even now, as Daegan gazed at them, obviously aware of the drift of thoughts between them, she saw his contentment and devotion to them both, his amused indulgence. There were no doubts tonight.

"Besides, there's no point to Twenty Questions with me anymore," Gideon added. "You can both pluck any information right out of my head."

"And your life is appallingly tedious," Daegan observed. "For the past ten years, the same thing, day after day. Brood, stalk, eat, sleep, sh-" At Anwyn's jab, he gave an unrepentant flash of teeth. "Really, was there no time to take in a film festival? A book?"

"I picked up the occasional Penthouse Penthouse."

"Or Martha Stewart Living Martha Stewart Living," Anwyn riposted.

Gideon shot them both a grin, an unusually open gesture that riveted Anwyn. It was the first time she'd ever seen such an expression on his face, and though it was quickly gone, buried in another slice of pizza, she held on to it as another gift of the extraordinary day, seeing how handsome her vampire hunter truly was.

"While I'm still not happy with the two of you risking yourselves to come to my aid," Daegan noted, giving them both a sharp glance that promised sensual retribution in the future to remind them of that, "I do appreciate your courage and fort.i.tude that night. I've had vampires try to ambush me before," he said thoughtfully. "But this time I was so much more concerned about the two of you, about Anwyn's safety, and proving something to the Council. I expect this bond between us gives me a new level of distraction I'll have to accommodate."

"It can be that way at first," Gideon said slowly. "But I think, in time, a family also gives you strength to do the things you know are right. Vampires like Xavier need to answer to someone. You should do what you want to do, but you shouldn't quit because of us. You know the Council needs all the help it can get, and you don't let them bully you. They need that."

"Perhaps your brother and Lady Lyssa will need my services at some point, and we can arrange a visit," Daegan suggested.

Gideon scoffed at that. "If you know anything about Lyssa, you know what she'd say to that. I can almost hear that sultry, scare-a-man-s.h.i.tless voice. 'Thank you. I prefer to gut the b.a.s.t.a.r.d myself. Soon as I put a garden glove over my perfectly manicured nails.' "

"Sultry?"

"In a very non-appealing way," he a.s.sured Anwyn with a smile.

Despite his longing for the pizza, she was warmed when her servant let her drag him up onto the couch between them. She gathered him in so he leaned against her body between her bent thighs. As she pushed his head down onto her shoulder to stroke his hair, the width of his shoulders, he took full advantage of the position to tease her throat with his mouth, nuzzle her sternum so the neckline of the robe was pushed an inch or two farther from her ripe breast.

The position leaned him against Daegan's leg as well. When the vampire laid a hand on his lower back, giving him an absent caress, he didn't tense, too sated and loose to think to do so. It would take time before a man's touch wasn't unusual to him, but she saw this unguarded moment pleased Daegan as well.

She suppressed a sigh of contentment. "So tell us something we don't know about you, Daegan. Something important," she amended.

"Mmm." He was quiet for a bit, drinking his wine. Dropping his touch from Gideon, he caressed her foot, curved around Gideon's hip and pressed against Daegan's splayed knee. "My father was an angel."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's what your mother said." Gideon snorted against Anwyn's throat. "Until she saw you."

At the vampire's silence, Anwyn lifted her head from where she'd dropped it back to give Gideon's lips better access. She studied Daegan's face. "You're serious."

Gideon straightened then as well, turning in her arm span to look at Daegan. The vampire lifted a shoulder. "It is what she told me. He was an angel. Wings and everything." He cleared his throat. "It explains my speed. One time, when they were together, he took her on a flight that circled the globe in only an hour. He said he'd gone slower than usual, so as not to overwhelm her."

Gideon grunted. "Who'd have thought it? Angels try to impress girls just like other guys."

She didn't have Gideon's gift for smarta.s.s quips to cover her nonplussed reaction. Daegan gave them both a wry smile, though. "You see why I wouldn't tell many about this. You would doubt my sanity. I don't doubt my mother was telling me the truth. It was before she got the Ennui, when she still served the Council."

"Are there other things you have . . . like the speed?"

"I can exercise compulsion on humans not blood-linked to me, as I did with Sarah. And I'm not entirely sure a stake can kill me. The sun doesn't harm me as much as other vampires, though it does give me pain and significant discomfort."

"How do you know a stake can't-"

"It's not something I've tested. Just a theory I have."

"Well, I'm glad that Gideon was there that night at the Coffin so you didn't have to test it," Anwyn said firmly. "Though I would have rather you both been unharmed."

Daegan gave her an absent smile. "Nothing makes permanent scars on me, either. Even my own blood." He tapped his inner thigh, and though he was wearing the jeans, she recalled with a start she hadn't noted the "X" Xavier had tried to cut into his flesh, not since the rescue. At Gideon's blink of surprise, she realized he'd missed that as well. Of course, given how much had happened that night and since, it made sense that both of them, usually so detail-oriented, had forgotten about it. Particularly since there was no evidence of it left.

Setting the wine aside, Daegan focused his gaze on Gideon now. "I also can see the quality of a soul. When I have been dispatched after vampires and others, I know if there is good there, making him or her worth salvaging." His expression tightened. "Or if I am an instrument of justice. Karma coming home to roost."

"Which was why you always reserved the right to turn down an a.s.signment," Anwyn recalled.

"Yes. Fortunately, while my mother was alive, she convinced the Council to heed my judgment, and seek other ways to change a vampire's path, if I said that execution was not the proper method."

It all made sense, Anwyn realized, but it was somewhat of a large idea to put her head around. Gideon was the same. She sensed the turmoil in his mind, possibly greater than her own. He'd decided a long time ago there was no higher power. However, perhaps he would rediscover faith in love. After all, everyone knew love was the largest proof of Divinity there was.

Daegan gave a half chuckle, as if bemused by his own reluctance to speak his feelings. He met Gideon's eyes again. "When I began tracking you, it was why I began to feel . . . how I feel for you. Your heart and soul . . . No matter the damage that has been inflicted on it, I felt a kinship with it, a bonding with you that began as a sense of brotherhood, and then became more, particularly when Anwyn brought us together."