The hem of a blue dress over bare feet is all I glimpse, before it all fades to black, leaving me blind.

Her next words barely reach me, as my heart tries to explode in my chest, my body seizing up and on the telling verge of passing out.

“Desperation suggests hopelessness. Desperation breeds fools who charge in recklessly. Surely by now you know better. Eventually, you’ll have no choice but to submit. It’s the way of our world. She is your fucking queen. The strongest…”

The rest of her words are so muffled I don’t manage to hear her, and I’m almost grateful for it. Fury burns through my veins for my own ignorance for believing her feelings toward the Simpletons would put her on our side.

The final breath is finally yanked from my lungs, and the world disappears.

Chapter 30

DAMIEN

“Damien, if you don’t get rid of this illusion right now, I’m going to knee you in the balls. I don’t want to, but I will do it without an ounce of regret,” Violet says, turning a very violent shade of red, while glaring at me in a way that suggests she’s wholeheartedly telling the truth.

“I hate the mascot uniform. You’re my Flame, and it’s the first official time I’m getting to show you off. I’m sorry. People mostly remember me today, and I want them envying me. You should feel flattered,” I assure her, giving her a charming grin, as I run my finger under the strap of the adorable slip dress. “I kept it decent.”

“Decent?!” she hisses, eyes wild and angry.

She wildly gestures to the dress.

“Damien, it’s very nearly showing my ass, and I can’t even feel my underwear. Is it necessary to also give me the illusion of being naked underneath this thin, barely decent dress in front of your parents! In front of all your parents! I can feel an actual draft in an area no one wants to be drafty, while in the company of four sets of boyfriends’ parents!”

I scratch my head. “Why on earth do our parents play any part in this? My father still runs brothels. You’re almost considered frumpy my family’s eyes. Also, why the hell does it matter? It’s not as though I’ll be introducing you. I simply want to show you off,” I tell her, pressing her closer to the wall.

She keeps that infuriated glare trained on me, even as she lets me press closer.

“Today is Arion’s day,” Emit reminds me on his way by.

“Arion’s yet to win a round of anything. He can have her back when he earns it,” I say absently, dipping my head until my lips press to Violet’s.

She keeps them pressed in a thin line, refusing to kiss me back, as my hand slides down to her ass. When I teasingly run my tongue across the seam of her lips, she trembles against me, opening up.

I groan into her mouth when she melts against me almost too easily. She really does love me. Even more now that she’s been claimed. It’s too obvious not to notice.

My grin forms at the thought, and her greedy little hands run up my chest, moving under my shirt. She certainly loves to touch.

“Twenty minutes, Violet. Let me steal you away for twenty minutes. I’ll make it feel like two hours,” I promise her against her lips, lifting her leg until it’s wound around my waist.

She smiles against my lips, her arms tightening around my neck, as her daring little mouth gets greedier.

I take that as a yes, and I lift her to start carrying her to my tent, when there’s suddenly a hand on my shoulder. I’m ripped backwards so violently that I lose my hold on Violet. By the swift motions and the graze of cold skin, I know what’s happening before my eyes even find the vampire.

When I spot him, he’s holding Violet around the waist with her back pressed to his front. She looks a little flustered, and her hair is definitely messed up.

“Put her back in her costume, and stow your mojo, Morpheous. Today is my day,” the vampire says, narrowing his eyes at me.

After giving him a cheeky grin, I waggle my eyebrows at Violet, who points a very angry finger at me.

“That’s cheating. You can’t use that on me when I’m mad at you. You especially can’t do it just to get your way. We need boundaries,” she says so seriously that it’s adorable.

Arion starts kissing down the side of her neck, and I grin. “Still want that hideous, shapeless garb back on that body?” I ask, confident he’s had a change of heart.

“If you don’t give me back my costume, I will think about anything un-sexy the next time we have sex, just so that I don’t enjoy it,” she threatens.

“As if you’d have any control over that, Violet,” I dutifully inform her, loving the fiery anger that fills her gaze. “One touch, and you’re under my spell that damn easily.”

Her body betrays her with a visible tremble, and she clears her throat a few times, as her chest and cheeks heat.

“Or one thought,” I carry on, forcing a few of my favorite memories into her mind.

She reaches back and clenches Arion’s thigh, a little moan escaping her.

“Twenty minutes with the vampire and me,” I state in compromise, smirking at the vampire, who’s own lips curve up at one corner.

He’s easy enough to sway.

“I have thirty minutes before I have to be on the field,” Arion says, as he lifts Violet from the ground.

“Perfect. That means we have twenty-nine minutes instead of twenty,” I decide, as Arion steals Violet’s lips in a kiss so intense that the heady taste of lust almost pulls me in.

Her legs are around his waist, and her arms around his neck, as I step in behind her and start kissing a trail down her neck.

“Say yes, Violet,” Arion murmurs against her lips, his claws extending and pressing into her leg.

“We only have twenty-eight minutes now,” she says in response, which has me grinning against her neck.

The vampire blurs away in the next instant, and I crack my neck before I give chase. This day doesn’t suck nearly as badly as I thought it would.

Chapter 31

VIOLET

My breath catches in my throat, and my heartbeat drums in my ears, as Damien shows me the whole scene in my mind.

Arion is under me, sliding inside. Damien’s behind me, already inside. If there’s any pain, I wouldn’t know it. With a master of pleasure controlling every sensation on my body, as he manipulates each touch, I’m just along for the ride.

Arion doesn’t even ask permission before he bites into my neck as though he has the right. My fingers slide into his hair and pull him closer, as he hungrily and greedily drinks me in.

I work damn hard on being quiet, since both my parents are around here somewhere, and I really don’t want to be seen in this position. By either of them.

Another image of them both pushing inside me presses through my mind, and Arion’s mouth finds mine, almost desperately. Sensations skate through my body, each one more powerful than the last, proof of Damien working his magic.

Breaking the kiss with Arion, I turn my head, and Damien immediately captures my mouth in a kiss, as he shoves a hand in my hair to keep me there.

The two of them together are greedy, primal, and extremely consuming. My head is trapped in a fog that won’t lift, and I love every single second of the show Damien is giving me, even though I can’t see anything going on with my own eyes.