Three men lay in my bed.

Passed out. Gone. Dead to the world. Because I’d fed so long on each of them that they’d fainted.

My stomach quivered a moment, and yeah, I was pretty fucking scared. I didn’t want to hurt one of them seriously. Surely losing so much blood—

“You know we love it,” Rik said in his troll voice that sounded like a landslide tumbling down a mountain.

He knelt behind me, his blood thick on the air. I didn’t stop to think. I twisted like a snake in his arms and flipped him around so he lay on his back across the other Bloods’ legs. I hesitated a moment, as surprised as he was. Did I just take my alpha down? Without even trying? Of course he’d never resist me, so it wasn’t really a take down. More of an invitation to take him down, anytime, anyplace, as often as I wanted. I knew full well that he’d allowed me to move him, but it still made him arch a brow up at me.

“Building a pyramid of bodies in your bed, my queen?”

Daire stirred, stretching each muscle in his incredible body, his purr like a snoring bear in hibernation.

“Fuck me,” Ezra said disgustedly. “Bears don’t snore.”

I looked up at him, eyes narrowed. He’d entered my domain. My den. And I hadn’t called him.

I thought about being pissed, but he looked too good standing there for me to be angry for long.

I’d almost say he was fluffy. He wasn’t cut. He wasn’t lean. He was one burly, barrel-chested man with thick arms and thick legs and no washboard abs to be seen, but I didn’t doubt for a second that he was as powerful and strong as my other Blood. His cock wasn’t as long, but he more than made up for it in girth. Thick hair ran down in a dark line to his groin. Even his thighs were fairly hairy. I wasn’t sure if I’d like that or not.

But by the goddess I was definitely willing to try. “Get over here.”

He sauntered over to the opposite side of my bed like he was taking a Sunday stroll around a lake.

“What are you willing to do?”

His mouth fell open and he gaped at me. I’d finally rendered the grouchy bear speechless. “Whatever you tell me to do, my queen.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Oh yeah, right, because you’re such an eager and obedient Blood without a single complaint.”

He slammed his mouth shut and narrowed a hard look on me. “I can’t help the disposition Ursula cursed me with, but may the Great Bear devour me here on the spot if I’d ever refuse my queen. I might grouch and complain but I’ll do it. Without fail. I don’t give a fuck what you ask of me.”

Rik’s big hands kneaded my thighs, reminding me of exactly where I sat.

On one of his tree-trunk thighs. With my willing and eager Blood’s dick ready to cut diamonds. I rose up and took him inside me. My head fell back, my breath sighing out on a long sigh with bliss. My alpha always felt incredible, but tonight, he seemed even harder, and his blood burned on my skin. He knew it, too, smearing his wrist down my thigh to my knee. I didn’t even have to move on him and my body was singing with pleasure.

Ezra cleared his throat roughly, drawing my gaze back up to him. He’d do what I wanted… but he was quickly running out of patience just standing there.

“Daire, are you fully coherent?”

He didn’t answer me with words, but rolled up from beneath Rik to give me a kiss that turned into a teasing nip on my bottom lip.

I fisted my right hand in his hair, pulling his head back to arch his neck. Hunger burned in me, a need that I hadn’t managed to slake even by feeding deeply on three of my Blood already. I was tempted to bite him again. And yeah, he would have let me, gladly. I knew Rik would keep an eye on how much I weakened him, but I didn’t want to risk hurting any of them. Especially when I had plenty of Blood to taste tonight.

Daire melted against me with a thunderous purr. “Does the bad kitty get to be punished by the mean bear now?”

I looked back at Ezra and let a smile curve my lips. “If he’s up to the challenge.”

His eyes widened and a small, soft sound escaped his throat. Fucking priceless. “You would let me… let him…”

That tender, ragged look in his eyes made my heart bleed for them both. Ezra had answered my call, fully expecting to join the ranks of my Blood where he’d see Daire and smell him and touch him—but never in a sexual way ever again. Because Daire was already mine, he could never be Ezra’s.

He hadn’t realized that this queen would share her love with all.

“I don’t know if he can manage you,” I said softly, giving Daire’s hair another tug. “You can be quite the handful.”

Ezra swallowed in a loud gulp and growled deep in his chest, though his eyes still gleamed with softness. “I can handle the little fucker just fine. If that’s what you want, my queen.”

I settled deeper on Rik, and naturally, he pushed his hips up with a little swirl so the head of his dick rubbed inside me. Meeting my need, as always. My breath caught in my throat, making my voice husky. “I want, Ezra. Very much indeed. I don’t want to risk feeding on him again, so come in close. Be warned—I will sink fang into you before we’re done tonight.”

“You sure you got room up there for another?”

“The bear has a point.” Nevarre’s voice was slurred and drowsy, but at least he was awake. He worked himself out from beneath Rik and jabbed Guillaume in the ribs a few times until he stirred too. “Let’s go find some food.”

All the shifting around made my eyes roll back in my head. So of course Rik made sure to jostle and rock me harder.

Both Blood leaned in for a lingering kiss. And another. I couldn’t keep my fingers out of Nevarre’s hair. Not to be outdone, Guillaume unsheathed his knife and stroked it down my throat and over my breasts.

“Yes,” I groaned, arching my back.

“Both of us?”

“Of course.”

“Small cuts only,” Rik warned him, his voice echoing like drawn steel. “She’s lost too much blood already tonight. I won’t have you sending her back downhill when she needs her strength.”

Guillaume made two quick cuts, one on each breast, and they dipped their heads to my blood. I cradled their heads to me, my eyes drifting shut. Daire licked my lips, pulling my bottom lip into his mouth.

The bed dipped and I felt Ezra moving closer to us. “You keep on kissing our queen, D. No matter what.”

“Enough,” Rik told the two Blood tasting me. “Run up to the house and see if Winston can send down some sandwiches and plenty of fluids. Once you’ve refueled, relieve Mehen and Xin. Four hour shifts tonight. I want us all close and ready to feed her again.”

They licked the small cuts thoroughly, making me shiver deliciously. Guillaume kissed my breast, throat, and jaw before murmuring, “my queen.”

Nevarre closed his lips around my nipple firmly enough I squirmed on Rik, but it was Daire who rumbled a warning. :Don’t make me lose her mouth or you can join me for whatever punishment Ezra will do.:

With a final but thorough tracing of his tongue around my aching nipple, Nevarre lifted his head and he and Guillaume headed for the door.

I smelled Ezra’s blood, spiced with fresh pine needles and fur and thick fluffy snow. I opened my eyes and stared into Daire’s. Now that he had my full attention, he traced his tongue over my lip, silently begging.

I knew what he wanted. For all his strength and power and teasing fun, Daire liked to be taken, and I had a feeling Ezra was going to show me exactly how forcefully and rough my warcat liked to play.

I fisted my left hand in his hair at his nape and twisted his head to the side. Making him slant his mouth for me. His mouth opened against mine and I stroked my tongue deep, earning a groan of approval. Or maybe that groan escaped because Ezra was bleeding on him, lubing him up. With Daire’s head twisted to the side, I watched as Ezra smeared his blood on Daire’s buttocks. His big meaty hands stroked and squeezed, kneading him good, and Daire melted, his head weighing heavy in my hands. Ezra worked his fingers into him, stretching him, making him groan again, his back arching, lifting into the caress. Despite Ezra’s rough threats of punishment, the big man touched him reverently, almost like he truly was stroking a beloved pet.

With a loud snort of disgust, he met my gaze, his mouth quirked. “He’s always been a kitty, even before you brought out his gift. Though I have to admit, I love that fucking purr of his.”

Naturally Daire rumbled louder and wriggled between us.

“Me too,” Rik said, his own voice a thunderous vibration of shifting Teutonic plates.

:Me too,: I said through the bond, sucking Daire’s lush bottom lip into my mouth.

Ezra shifted closer, tucking his knees up next to Rik and my knee on that side, so all Daire really had to do was sit back on his thighs. He pushed back, working the man’s cock deep, and his purr caught, rattled a few times, and then lowered to a deeper vibration of pleasure that I felt in my bones. He wasn’t as loud, but deeper, almost beyond hearing. Caught between us, he sagged with complete trust. Ezra gripped one hip and slid his other hand up around Daire’s nape, his fingers sliding in over mine so we were touching too.

Something resonated deep inside me, acknowledging this moment. Three Blood and me, connected by touch. Connected by my blood. Connected by my love.

This is how it’s meant to be. Always.

Ezra didn’t pound him like I expected, certainly not like I’d seen Rik do. Maybe because Daire had his mouth to mine. Or because there were two other people Ezra was trying to be mindful of. Or maybe he just didn’t have the room, because yeah, this king-sized bed felt like a twin with the four of us in it. But I suspected he didn’t need a lot of thrust to blow Daire’s mind. Not with that girth, and certainly not after it’d been so long since he’d been able to show Daire exactly how he felt.

All growl. But pure sweet gooey marshmallow.

Ezra cradled him on his lap and rocked him, slow and steady. The same way Rik was rocking me. At first I didn’t even feel our movement, too absorbed in watching them fuck. Too entranced by the slow rub of Daire’s lips on mine and the way our tongues entwined. Rik rubbed up against something in me that made my head fall back on a deep groan. My hips pressed down harder, absorbing that sensation, involuntarily asking for more.

“Now you’ve gone and done it,” Ezra muttered, his voice rough but soft, just like his personality.

Daire groaned, reminding me that he’d been told to keep his mouth on mine.

“That was my fault,” I said a little breathlessly. I shifted on Rik, trying to back off a bit, get some space, but his grip tightened on my thighs, just above my knees. Holding me firm. Keeping his dick rubbing on that spot that made stars explode behind my eye lids.

“Doesn’t matter,” Ezra replied.

Daire’s breath came out on an “oomph” though he didn’t move that much. It wasn’t like Ezra was rocking and rolling. So…?

Then my breath came out on a similar sound, and Rik wasn’t moving me that hard either. Something zinged up my spine to the top of my skull.

“He’s got a hook,” Rik finally said, tipping up into me a bit further. Harder. I jerked in his grip like a live wire shot a million volts of electricity through me.

I forced my eyes open and glared down at him. “I don’t know what that is. What’s with you tonight? You’ve never felt so… so…”

He rolled his hips again and a sound escaped my lips that would have embarrassed me if anyone but my Blood had heard it. Somewhere between a squawk and a squeal.

A low growl rumbled from Ezra’s chest. It took me a second to realize it was a laugh. “Don’t tell me this is the first time you let your alpha drink from that sweet pussy.”

“Daire’s done it before,” I replied, trying not to sound like every muscle in my body was vibrating with tension.

“D isn’t your alpha though, is he, sweetheart.” He tugged Daire’s head back toward him, bowing his back, seating himself deeper. “Though it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that he’d be licking that cream every chance he gets. He always was a licker.”

Sensation screamed through me, making me twitch, gasp, and jerk in Rik’s grasp. I couldn’t stop it. It didn’t feel bad. In fact, it felt pretty fucking fantastic. I just didn’t like that I couldn’t control my own reactions in the slightest.

If he actually started thrusting…

I was pretty sure I’d lose my ever loving mind.

“Biology is a pretty fucking amazing thing.” He pushed up again, sending another earthquake quivering through my body. “A queen wants a strong alpha to continue her line, and if she’s breeding, she wants him to empty himself thoroughly, ensuring as good a chance as possible that she’ll conceive. So your cream tastes extra special and will make me empty everything in my balls at once. I’ll be wiped out for at least a couple of hours. Even more, my dick has a little extra power now, too, because it’s to the alpha’s advantage to please his queen well and long, so she’ll not only want him in her bed, she’ll want him to taste her again and again.”

“But I’m not—” My eyes flew open. I needed to talk to Dr. Borcht again and run some more tests so we could pinpoint my reproductive cycle. I’d thought I bled every month because I was doing the normal human menstruation thing. But if I wasn’t even half human… Had I really been breeding? Or would I ovulate in a few days like a normal human would?

“You would know if you were pregnant,” Rik said, breaking the frantic chain of thoughts crowding my brain.

I focused on his face. “Are you sure?”

He nodded, eyes solemn. “You’d know. We’d all know. We’d feel it. You’re not pregnant.”

“Hold on,” Ezra said. “She’s already been breeding? This young?”

“Just days ago,” Rik replied. “Though we haven’t figured out her biology yet.”

“Fuck me,” Ezra muttered. “Too bad I didn’t hoof it a bit faster through the mountains.”

Daire wriggled in his grip, making them both groan. “What he failed to mention is that she says she breeds every month without fail.”

“Fuuuuuuck,” Ezra groaned again. “Yeah. I’m no alpha but I’d tap that.”

Rik didn’t make a sound, but his bond swelled as if he was shifting to his rock troll.

“Uh, after you, of course, alpha,” Ezra added hurriedly in the most polite tone I’d ever heard him use.

I met his gaze, irritated, yeah, because he didn’t care what I thought about being tapped at all, let alone on my period. I didn’t say anything, but his cheeks blazed red and he ducked his head. “No disrespect intended, my queen. Please forgive my rough and oafish habits. I’m not used to caring what anyone thinks about the fool words that come out of my mouth. I’ll do better.”

Not surprising anyone, it was Daire who managed to break the ice and ease the straining tensions between us.

“He fucks better than he talks, my queen. Maybe you’d better hurry up and show her, Griz.”