As of now, there’s no known way to take away that advantage from Violet, because the salt illusions can’t be destroyed, captured, or killed.

“Stop thinking about how perfectly she’s designed to be a predator, and don’t even think of corrupting her,” Vance tells me without looking at me.

My grin falls.

I’m not nearly as mysterious as I think I am if he can see through me so easily.

“Violet has a fun side, Vance. Just a little—”

“Try to corrupt her, and your face will bleed worse and worse with each new attempt,” he carries on, still not looking at me.

“I’ll help hold you back while he wails on you,” Emit states in agreement.

Bloody socks in the sand, this lot. They were once so rowdy that I had to be the voice of reason.

“I’ll help you corrupt her in the bedroom,” Damien states to me, which has my smile returning.

The triplets appear so suddenly that I startle, and they give me a small wave, while grinning at me. Really, though, I’d rather the sex-kitten Anna be the one who stalks me, now that I know what’s going on.

They giggle and disappear, their voices lingering a moment longer.

“One. Two. Hyde’s got you,” their voices sing. “Three. Four. We’ll be back for more.”

I think Idun’s torso and legs pale. I know the color drains from Clyde’s face.

Vance sets up the camera, and I leave them to it.

Leaving the hidden room, I make my way through the eerily silent home, up the stairs, and straight into Violet’s room. I hear the shower running, and I smile, as I begin stripping out of my clothes.

The room is already fogged when I step in, but I can still see the delicate outline of Violet’s tempting body through the shower doors.

With as much stealth as I can muster, I step inside the shower, and…watch.

 

 

Chapter 53

 

VIOLET

 

A shower has never felt so good.

My stomach is still twisted in uneasy knots, worrying what happens next. Now my snowball has stopped, but it’s teetering on a steep ledge. It’s up to them if it gets knocked off or finally gets a rest.

My eyes open, and…I screech, jump, and damn near crash into the shower doors when I spot a person in the shower with me. In a blur of motion, arms come around me.

I’m spun against the wall, feeling the chill lick across my skin in the absence of the shower’s hot spray. Arion grins down at me, as the water pelts his back.

His dark eyes drink me in, and his lips are twisted in a wry grin.

“It’s a good thing you’re powerful, if you can’t even sense an alpha vampire so close to you anymore,” he says, hand running up my cheek, while his other drags my waist closer to him.

He’s still turned on.

That becomes entirely too obvious—and inconveniently distracting—when he presses me solidly up against his naked body.

My breath snakes out, as I manage to ask, “W-what are you doing? I thought I asked for a little time to myself?”

He shrugs a shoulder, eyes dipping to my chest, as his very naked, very hard, very tempting-in-all-the-best-ways body only presses closer to mine.

“You claimed Vance. Which is good. Vance does most of the legwork and deserves to go first on occasion, especially since he has no permanent bonds to offer anyone,” Arion tells me, as though he’s talking aloud to let me know he’s made peace with that. “Emit put his mark on you, which takes up a large portion of your back. Damien marked both your wrists, and as far as we know, it can never be undone. I’m okay with going last—on occasion. I’ve proven this. But please don’t leave me out, sweet monster.”

I’m so tired.

I’m emotionally drained.

I’m irritably exhausted.

I forget all that when he leans down, kissing the side of my neck, while I arch into him almost reflexively.

His skin is cool against mine, but my blood stirs in response.

I become hyper aware of every spot our wet bodies are touching, and he drags me that much closer, as he teases the skin of my throat with the tiniest hint of fang.

When my breathing gets heavier, and my nails dig into his shoulders, I feel him smile.

“I love the way you react to my touch. I’ve never had that before,” he murmurs, sliding a hand lower, until he’s squeezing a good handful of ass, that he uses as leverage to grind himself against me.

Swallowing gets harder.

My body…starts reacting.

As my heartbeat quickens and my body grows increasingly sensitive to every spot he awakens with his touch, he teases my throat with his fangs again.

“I love how you struggle to push me away, even though it’s all a game,” he carries on.

I don’t even bother arguing, because he never can understand. There’s a difference between being overwhelmed and indecisive about major life decisions made in the spur of the moment, versus playing games.

They’ve never been much on dating. They go straight from zero to all eternity. It’s more subtle with the other three. Arion is just bold enough to sound crazy aloud.

“I love every damn thing about you at this point, Violet Carmine. Surely, even without active empathic powers, you can feel that,” he says next to my ear, nipping my earlobe just enough to make my body jerk.

“Be my fucking bride. End my misery. Give in to me, and I swear I’ll be the best damn groom you can imagine.”

His eyes turn so serious, and for a moment, I see pure vulnerability in their depths. I relax against him, sighing.

Even if I fought him today, I’d still give in eventually. Arion’s the crazy sort of love I’ve always secretly wanted—just like Dracula in some of my most favorite versions. Though, in reality, it is way more intense than I could have imagined.

And it’s forever.

Which is scary.

But I’ve already signed up for forever with the others.

“I’m never going to be a doormat, and this doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you want when it comes to me. I do have some ground rules for you, most especially, Vampyre,” I state in the firmest tone I can muster, hearing my voice only crack three times when he resumes kissing my neck.

I feel his grin again.

“I always told you that you’d be the one in need of the rules. I’m not opposed. Please tell me what these rules are, love.”

Everything on me is frazzled. My nerves, my senses, my desires, my reservations, my messy mind…it’s all chaos.

But instead of overthinking or holding back, I turn my head, putting my lips closer to his ear.

“I’ll tell you later,” I murmur.

He lifts his head, quickly studies my eyes, and a dark grin emerges, nearly making me second guess myself.

“Is that your way of giving consent?” he muses.

“Keep talking, and I’ll come up with a way to take it back—”

My words end when his lips find mine, hungrily kissing me so deeply that my body goes damn near wild in reaction. I moan, but he swallows the sound, as my head starts growing foggy.

“My monster is only out for a moment,” he tells me, even as I struggle to understand his words, because the fog is so…intoxicatingly distracting. “It’ll actually be me claiming you the rest of the time I have you. Let’s pick up where we left off earlier, shall we?”