Soul Mates: Sacrifice Read online

  Them.

  Unable to resist, I pushed a hand down Lucien's loose pants. He rocked against my hand, leaving a slick, wet trail along my palm. I closed my fingers around the head of his cock and tightened them. Lucien gasped and let his head fall back.

  "Like that, do you?"

  His belly tightened and I looked down to see Sabaan flicking his tongue over one of Lucien's nipples, tiny fangs scraping the skin but not breaking through.

  "Like what Sabaan's doing, too?"

  Lucien's brow knitted, almost as if he was confused. "I—"

  Sabaan moved lower and pushed Lucien's pants down his thighs, tongue flicking over the head of his cock, around my fingers. I reluctantly let Lucien go, hand moving down Sabaan's back. The satiny material of Sabaan's robe was annoying when I wanted skin.

  I pulled the material up until his bare ass was exposed. His tail flicked back and forth seductively, pearlescent skin just glowing. I touched the base of his tail and Sabaan's entire body bowed up. The way his body responded to touch at that particular spot just amazed the hell out of me.

  It was only then that I became aware of the tip of his tail, moving up between my legs. When he reached my sac, I spread my knees a little and let him touch. And he did for a little bit. But it wasn't long before he was pushing the tip of his tail against my hole.

  There was a moment when I opened my mouth to stop him, when I thought about pulling away, but when he pushed inside and hit my gland at the same time, all thoughts of that disappeared. Lucien growled and took my face between his hands, jerking me up for a kiss.

  His tongue pushed between my lips and found mine, insistent, hard; growls, grunts, and snarls mixing with the kiss. One of his hands dropped to Sabaan's head, holding the demon close as he began to thrust into Sabaan's mouth. His other hand cupped the back of my neck, preventing me from pulling away.

  Sabaan shifted position slightly and it wasn't but a second later that my cock was sliding into his mouth alongside Lucien's. The slick, tight heat of Sabaan's mouth and Lucien shoving in and out, cock rubbing against mine—it was all too much. Fangs scraped sharply against my skin, adding a prick of pain to the pleasure.

  I was so fucking close, the sensations building in my groin and through my balls. The tip of Sabaan's tail teased my gland as if fucking and fingering me at the same time and I clung to Lucien, shoving my tongue and my moans of ecstasy into him. Lucien came right behind me, his warmth filling Sabaan's mouth and washing over my spent, but still half-hard dick.

  As Sabaan licked us clean, I rested my forehead against Lucien's, still out of breath.

  "What the fuck?"

  Sabaan rose up, a satisfied smirk on his face. But it wasn't me that he was looking at. "Never forget that I am the incubus and you are only part incubus."

  It was then that things started clicking into place on why Lucien and Sabaan had never gotten along. While both of them had the sex-related powers of the incubus, and both had the potential to make someone do things they may never have intended—or wanted, there was a constant struggle between the two for dominance. Sabaan, being the full-blooded incubus, would always win. He knew he'd always win, yet he challenged Lucien every chance he got.

  Oh. This wasn't nice at all.

  I shook my head, pushing Sabaan back. "Maybe I was wrong about you."

  "What?" He pointed at Lucien. "He started it!"

  "He's right," Lucien replied. He sat back on his heels and sighed, gaze going to the floor. "And I lose every fucking time."

  "So let me get this straight: you two have some sort struggle over who can… what? Out incubus the other?" They both refused to meet my eyes. "Oh, would you two fucking grow up already?"

  "It's not that simple," Sabaan said in his defense.

  "Yes, it is." I said, meeting his eyes. "Of course you're going to be stronger at this shit. It's what you are, what your powers are."

  "But—"

  I turned my attention to Lucien as I cut him off. "And maybe if you'd concede that point and meet him head on with vampire powers instead, you'd get a lot farther and you'd be a lot less miserable."

  He stared at me for a long while, then looked at Sabaan, who looked right back at him. They stared at each other for the longest time, as if neither one wanted to be the first to speak. Finally, Lucien spoke.

  "I can acknowledge that."

  Sabaan smirked, but my glare quickly convinced him to be serious. "Well, I guess if you can do that, I can at least stop trying to fuck you."

  "And him," Lucien said, gesturing to me.

  "I can speak for myself, thank you." I took Lucien's hand to make it seem like less of a chastisement. After all, I'd already treated them like two warring five-year-olds who couldn't share toys. "But yeah, me, too, Sabaan."

  "Oh, come on." Sabaan flopped back on the pillows. "You're not serious!"

  "Someday, maybe," I said, looking at Lucien who shrugged as if he'd think about it. "But right now? I've got too much shit going on for—"

  Sabaan gasped and sat up. "That's right! You need to… I should go."

  Lucien bit at his lip and extended his hand to Sabaan. "I meant what I said. I am in your debt for the help you gave Peter and the rest of the team."

  "Like I said, I consider Peter a friend." Sabaan finally took Lucien's hand. "In time, maybe you and I could be, too."

  "Nikolas is in the dungeon, if you'd like to… to see him." Sabaan opened his mouth, then closed it abruptly. Lucien smiled. "I can still read your mind."

  "Bastard."

  Sabaan was gone in a matter of seconds, just teleporting right out of the room. I realized that while Lucien and I had managed to get off, Sabaan hadn't. Damn. We could have at least given him that.

  "What's on your mind?" Lucien asked.

  I started moving blankets around and when I grabbed one, there was a cold, wet slick spot. "Well, I was going to say that we could have at least gotten him off, but I think he managed."

  He watched me clean my hand on a corner of the blanket. "That's not exactly what I meant, lover. There's something heavy on your mind. Something you're intentionally blocking me from finding out. I would like to know what that is."

  Chapter Ten

  Intentionally blocking? I hadn't thought I was. Hell, I didn't even know I could. I looked at my hands and decided that they weren't clean enough. I shrugged my robe back into place as I stood. Lucien blocked my way to the tiny little bathroom.

  "Talk to me, Peter."

  "Just let me wash my hands."

  He reluctantly stepped aside, but followed me to the bathroom. I could feel his gaze as I soaped up and washed. I was tempted to shut the door and sink into a corner to think it all out, but a simple door wouldn't keep Lucien away. Nothing could keep Lucien away. If he couldn't get to me physically, he'd do it by projection.

  How did you bring something like this up? Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention that I'm dying.

  Lucien stepped up behind me as I dried my hands, wrapping his arms around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder. I leaned my head against his, sighing.

  "I kinda lied to you by omission last night."

  "I know. I could tell."

  "Last night was just… Lucien, it was amazing. It was us; the way we used to be."

  "Tell me what is going on."

  "Doc says I've only got two, maybe three days left."

  "For what?"

  "For anything." I shrugged. "It seems I had Lycan gene cells in my body before I ever bonded with Xander. Dormant, of course, but the bonding and introduction of his blood did something to them. Made them awaken and mutate and—"

  "I don't understand. Two or three days? You're dying because of what's going on in your body?"

  I nodded. "I still don't understand it all, but apparently there's some war for dominance between my body, the Lycan blood, and the vampire blood. Cells are mutating and becoming parasites, which in turn explains the episodes and the partial shifts."

  "But you have n
ot had any." Lucien paused. "Today, you had something. As I slept. I felt your fear."

  "I did. Doc said they'd be coming back soon, but that there was nothing else that could be done. The only way to fix me…"

  "Is to bring you over."

  "That's what he says."

  "I don't understand, Peter." Lucien was clearly aggravated. "You knew my wishes when you had this conversation with Doc, yet afterward, you didn't bother to tell me because you didn't want to ruin the moment?"

  "I'm sorry."

  "Goddamnit, Peter! How could you not tell me about this? You know that I have to prepare days in advance with my own feedings. There are donors to line up for both of us, clean donors, not just any-fucking-one off the street."

  "I said I was sorry, I gave you my reason." I turned in his arms, pushing him away. "Now, let me out of here."

  "I should lock you up just so I can keep track of you."

  "Do it and you'll regret it."

  He captured my face between his hands and tilted my head back. There was more worry in his expression than there was anger and I hated that I'd put either look there. He kissed my forehead.

  "We will handle this," he said gently. "It can't be done tonight because I'm not ready physically. But I'll go down right now to see who I can round up to feed me. Did Doc mention anything about me avoiding the wolves?"

  "No, I don't think so."

  "I'll check with him before I ask Nikolas, just to be sure."

  "You won't be able to feed from Nikolas." I bit at my lip, nervously. "He's already feeding someone else."

  Lucien narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you realize what you've done?"

  "Created an unfair situation? Given preference for one person over another? Hid it and did my best to make sure the parties involved wouldn't speak a word of it? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I knew what I was doing."

  "One of these days, you are going to have to put some of these issues behind you. Gage isn't a bad person."

  "I never said anything about Gage."

  "You didn't have to. I well know your feelings about him. I also know that he will fight for the position."

  "He's an arrogant, hotheaded prick with a power-hungry streak. Trust me. It has less to do with what I saw Gage doing two years ago than it does with how I've seen him act in the past year."

  He smiled. "I love it when you think you're right about something."

  "I am right." I poked at his chest playfully. "Now go. Do what you have to do."

  "Do you know where Xander is?"

  "We had a fight this morning." Sudden tears burned my eyes, but I managed to blink them away. "It's no longer any of my business where he is or what he does, but I'm pretty sure he's down with Caleb. After all, he did choose him over me."

  "I told you," he whispered, pulling me into his arms, "that this thing with Caleb and Xander would end up making us miserable."

  I hugged him back, shaking my head. "Knew I'd have to let him go—I just didn't expect it to be this way."

  "Or to someone who has hurt us as Caleb has?"

  I nodded. "This feels more like betrayal."

  "Then we take Xander out of the circle." He kissed the top of my head. "We discuss nothing with him that we wouldn't discuss with any other coven member. I know you haven't wanted to talk about it, but maybe it's time you take over the pack… As is your right."

  "I won't take that from him, Lucien."

  "You've already taken it from him. And the pack knows it." Lucien sighed, and held me at arms length. "Maybe this is something you should at least put some serious thought into. Do you really think that Xander can be trusted with Caleb at his side?"

  I wanted to say yes, that I trusted Xander just as I trusted Lucien. But with Caleb that close to him? I just couldn't do it. Not anymore. Whatever Xander saw in Caleb was enough to push me out of the picture. If he didn't need me, didn't need Lucien, then there were a number of changes he could make to use the pack for his advantage.

  "I hate this, Lucien."

  "I know, baby. But this is… life. Things change, people move on."

  "Not like this." I shook my head. "They shouldn't change like this."

  "Will you let me get someone to stay with you for a while? I don't want you to be alone in case you have another episode."

  "If you want." I didn't relish the thought of having a babysitter, but after the paralyzing shit earlier, it might be for the best. "Nikolas is out of the running for that, too."

  "By what he did to our hallway? I pretty much gathered that."

  "How did you know it was him?"

  "His scent is all over the place. With a little fear mixed in. So, whatever happened between you two this morning? It scared him more than it pissed him off." Lucien winked. "He'll get over it."

  Man, I fucking hoped so. I could only take losing so many people at the same time.

  * * *

  Doc knocked on the open door to the library before walking in. "You doing okay, Peter?"

  I nodded, setting aside the mail I was browsing through. "I'm not sure I want to say so for fear of jinxing myself."

  "I spoke with Lucien a little bit ago. He mentioned you had an episode this morning. Would you mind coming down into the treatment room so I can run a few tests?"

  "He said he'd get someone to stay with me. I didn't know he meant to keep me occupied by having me poked and prodded."

  "Actually, it'll only take a few minutes." Doc smiled. "I just need some blood from you so I can check your levels, and I want to take some X-rays."

  "Yay! Poke, prod, and see inside me." I stood and walked around the desk. "Lead the way, Doc."

  Doc laughed until we made it out of the library. "I'm glad that you're not letting this get to you."

  "Oh, I was. I cried and wailed like a fucking two-year-old about it all. But crying about it won't change it." I looked over at him sheepishly. "And maybe if I'd told Lucien about it all this morning instead of waiting until this evening, I'd have felt better about it long before now."

  "Funny how that works."

  We walked along the corridors in relative silence. When we reached the treatment room, he opened the door for me, waiting for me to go in before closing the door behind us. I went straight to the narrow bed and hopped up on it.

  "How do you want me?"

  "You're fine, just relax and let me get some vials together."

  I watched as he set to work gathering supplies. It didn't take him long. He'd obviously learned his way around when he'd been here treating Lucien before. A short time later, he pushed a cart over to the bed and sat on a stool. He made quick work of finding a vein and getting the drawing of blood started.

  "I meant to ask you about something earlier," Doc said after a long silence.

  "What's that?"

  "How would you feel about having someone medically trained on staff on a permanent basis?"

  "You interested in hanging around, Doc?"

  "Oh, no, not me," he said, and laughed. "I have a couple of trained physicians who are looking for coven placement. One of them has a significant amount of training in treating many different species. I think he might fit in well here."

  "Is he as good as you?"

  "Probably better. I've been training him since he was a small child."

  "Not that it matters, but what is he? Human, vampire, Lycan…?"

  "Actually, none of the above. He is one of the few born immortals among us."

  "An immortal?"

  "Like me." He glanced up after exchanging a full vial for an empty one. "No special power besides quick healing."

  "I wondered about you," I admitted. "You were awake all hours of the day and night and you ate the food Simon cooked."

  "Simon is a damned good cook."

  "That's probably something I'm really going to miss."

  Doc went silent and finished up filling the seventh or eighth vial. He set them aside and scratched his head. "Last year at some point, Christopher was here. Did he talk to you and L
ucien about a serum for the vampires?"

  "Yeah. He did. And if you want to maintain a good relationship with me or Lucien or the rest of this coven? It's not something you should mention."