My heart started racing again, beating so fast I wondered how it could sustain such a speed as Casteel placed his right hand on Kieran. Could Kieran feel it beneath our hands? Could Casteel hear it pounding away?
Kieran’s left hand went around the nape of Casteel’s neck, and then all three of us were connected.
They waited for me, and they didn’t have to wait too long. I stretched up, my pulse skittering as their bodies seemed to conform to mine in a way that almost felt as if they were bracing me, becoming two pillars of support. Something I found ironic when I would become the one who would support them.
My mouth brushed Casteel’s chest, and he gave a little jerk that I felt throughout my entire body. My lips tingled at the first touch. I closed my mouth over the wound, drawing his blood into me.
It felt like forever since I’d tasted him. My memories did him no justice. His blood tasted like citrus in snow. I drank, sucking at his skin, drawing his essence into me.
Casteel’s groan rumbled through him, vibrating against my breasts and moving to Kieran. I felt his head fall back. The taste of him—his essence—was an awakening, a freefall rush without compare. His blood was warm and thick, heating my already inflamed skin. In the recesses of my mind, I realized I hadn’t even considered the effect of Casteel’s blood. It was probably for the best that I hadn’t considered it until now, until his blood was lighting up every cell in my body, and the eather in my chest started to throb.
“Poppy,” Casteel moaned, his chin grazing the top of my head. “That’s enough.”
I heard him, but I took and took until that hidden-away place in me, the cold part, began to warm—
“If you don’t stop,” Casteel said, his body taut against mine, “this will stop right here and end in a very different kind of joining.”
Those words reached me. Flushing at the sensual warning, I forced my mouth from his chest and lifted my gaze to his.
Looking at him then, stark need etched into every line of his face, didn’t help keep my thoughts focused on the goal at hand. Lowering my gaze, I flicked my tongue over my lower lip, catching the last drop of blood that had gathered there.
Casteel groaned again as his hand tightened around mine. “Behave,” he ordered roughly. “Or you’re going to make Kieran blush.”
“Yeah,” came that not-so-dry response. “That’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
I had a feeling I was the only one blushing as I moved just a little out of the way, enough for Kieran to reach Casteel. The position caused areas of him to come into contact with areas of me, and I desperately tried to ignore it as his mouth replaced mine.
Casteel jerked again as his burning, golden eyes locked onto mine. I could barely breathe as Kieran drank from him, and Casteel watched me, his chest beginning to rise and fall more rapidly. At first, I was concerned that he wasn’t ready to part with so much blood, but when I cracked my senses open just enough, I immediately knew that wasn’t the case.
His lust was like a whirlwind, and even a little bit of it was a fierce weight to bear. His lip curled back, revealing more of his fangs as Kieran drank from him. An aching pulse went through my breasts and centered between my thighs. Casteel’s nostrils flared, and he growled, low and heated.
I felt a little dizzy when Kieran stopped, and they carefully turned me so Casteel was at my back. My lips still tingled, so did my throat, and I felt that sensation starting to spread through me as I slowly lifted my gaze to Kieran’s.
Kieran’s stare captured mine. My heart leapt unsteadily at the sight of the streaks of eather in his eyes. He turned his head to the side, exposing his throat. Casteel bent over me, leaning so he could reach Kieran, leaving absolutely no space between us. Every nerve ending seemed to spark all at once at the feel of them pressed so inappropriately close. They had to feel my heart when it skipped as Casteel struck, sinking his fangs into Kieran’s throat. They had to feel the rather indecent tremor rocking me at the sight of Casteel biting Kieran.
At taking his blood.
I couldn’t even blink.
I could barely breathe as I watched Casteel’s throat work on each dragging swallow. As the tautness went out of Kieran’s face, and his lips parted. As the thick, hard length of Casteel throbbed against my lower back.
Dimly, I wondered how anyone could possibly remain unaffected by this.
Casteel lifted his head, and the scent of Kieran’s blood reached out to me. The essence swirled madly in my chest as Casteel’s grip remained firm on me. I stretched up once more, Kieran’s and my joined hands lodged firmly between our bodies, and the fine dusting of soft hair on his chest that I would’ve sworn wasn’t there before scattered my thoughts. His skin…it felt even hotter, harder. Maybe even a little thinner. I swayed. I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t feel weak, but I was unsteady, as if I were an arrow fired without thought or aim.