“All quiet there, too.”

  “Weird.”

  “A lull before the storm?” Alex mused. He shrugged. “Shall I drop you both home?”

  Chessa didn’t bother reminding him that Nicolas’s home wasn’t hers. She figured he’d only make some smart-ass comment anyway. Get himself killed for sure.

  “Join us?” Nicolas asked, his voice a low growling rumble.

  The bullet buzzed inside her, and Chessa’s heart sped faster. What the hell was Nicolas up to now?

  Alex shrugged. “I could use a cup of coffee.”

  “I’m all out,” she said, her tone curt. Her message unmistakable. “And no electricity.”

  “No, you’re not.” Nicolas gave her a bland stare.

  “I have a camp stove in my trunk,” Alex said, lifting his shoulders at her glare.

  “Do you have a map of the New Orleans area at home?” Nicolas asked.

  Maybe he really was just thinking about work.

  And maybe she was the Queen of Sheba.

  “I do,” she said, squeezing her thighs tight to keep the vibrator in place.

  “Good. We’ll start plotting the sightings. See if a pattern emerges over the next few days.”

  She wished she’d cleaned her apartment. Not that both men weren’t aware she was a total slob. Maybe that’s what she could do while the two of them got chummy over the map.

  For sure, she wasn’t planning on getting anywhere near either one of them. Her hormones were so out of whack she might have a meltdown.

  Chapter 8

  Alex noted things he’d missed the first time he’d crossed Chessa’s threshold, surprising himself with his lack of attention.

  He always noticed the details.

  This time, the clutter struck him as slightly strange. Beneath the clothing that looked as though it had been dropped carelessly while she’d walked from one room to another and the shoes that must have flown as she’d kicked them off, the room was clean. The furniture was polished. A floral scent permeated the air—soft and feminine, rather like the hint of perfume that clung to her skin the few times he’d stood close enough to notice.

  Beneath messy stacks of books and opened mail, the sofa and armchairs were covered in soft corduroy in jewel tones—garnet, sapphire, and emerald. Plump silk pillows in Middle Eastern, embroidered patterns peeked from beneath the sofa and under a newspaper.

  The walls of her apartment were a pale, soft gold and bare of photographs and paintings. Nothing to mark who she really was, or who had shared her past.

  Just as she lived within her spiny demeanor, her home displayed the same urge to deflect warmth from without.

  They’d opened the windows, pulling back pale sheer curtains to let in the muggy night air. They’d lit fat scented candles Chessa had seemed embarrassed to bring out of the cupboards. The flickering light painted her slightly angular features soft and feminine.

  Nicolas watched her flutter around the room, seeming unable to sit still, his face growing hard, his gaze more feral as the night shadows deepened around them.

  Alex had to remind them about their purpose for returning to her apartment. The map.

  After he’d promised to repair the holes, Chessa had let Nicolas tack the map to her living room wall. Then they’d stuck tacks next to Bayou St. John, where the demon had exited the water and killed the three policemen, and on the little street where Madame Fortun had met her death.

  Finally, sitting on the sofa opposite the map, they all three stared.

  “It’s scary we have to wait for more people to die before this will help,” Chessa said, fidgeting between them.

  Alex watched the byplay between Nicolas and Chessa, his amusement growing steadily.

  By the frequent shifting of her legs, crossing, uncrossing, Nicolas had shoved the vibrator back inside her before they’d left the restaurant.

  Chessa’s cheeks were red, her gaze a little wild and desperate. She was delectable.

  Everything he’d been promised.

  Sexy, strong, moody…horny as hell.

  And more. Chessa hid depths he wanted to plunder.

  Nicolas was harder to read. His invitation had surprised Alex. Not sure if he was walking into an ambush, he’d played it loose, letting Nicolas lead the conversation.

  Did he suspect Alex had secrets? Or was there another purpose to this night? Nicolas loved Chessa. That was apparent in every heated glance he gave her and how well he read her moods. His sly sideways glances that gauged her heightening arousal were impossible to miss.

  Alex relaxed. Nicolas would never try to harm him, not while she watched anyway. Perhaps, he should give him a little nudge...

  “How long have you two known each other?” he asked.

  “Forty-two years.” “Not long.”

  Nicolas’s answer was telling. He’d counted. Chessa’s said she didn’t want it to be important.

  “Not long in vampire years, I guess,” he murmured, biting back a smile.

  “Right.” Chessa crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at them one at a time.

  Such a spiny little porcupine.

  Alex let his gaze slide over her, enjoying the blush reddening her cheeks and the way her eyes tried to shoot a warning his way.

  He knew full well Nicolas noticed his slow appraisal. As casually as he could manage, he set his cup on the coffee table and stretched his arms above his head. “I guess I’d better be heading back home.”

  “Where would that be?” Nicolas asked.

  “Not far,” he replied, deliberately vague.

  “There’s no need.” Nicolas’s voice dipped into a rumbling growl.

  The texture of that rumble appeared to be as alarming as a tiger’s snarl to Chessa, who shook her head when Alex’s glance met hers.

  So very funny. The two of them. Working at cross purposes.

  “I don’t want to intrude.”

  “You aren’t,” Nicolas’s voice grated.

  “Well, have you anything to spike this coffee? I am feeling a little edgy tonight.”

  “Whiskey?” Nicolas asked.

  “I’m out,” Chessa said in her trademark blunt tone.

  “No, you’re not,” Nicolas said silkily.

  “That’d be great.” Alex suppressed a grin at Chessa’s simmering anger.

  Nicolas headed to a bookcase and reached behind a jumble of books and newspapers to pull out a fifth of Jack Daniels.

  “How’d you know it was there?” Chessa groused. “I’d forgotten all about it.”

  “Good thing whiskey doesn’t sour.” Nicolas unscrewed the cap and held it over Alex’s cup, pouring a couple of fingers of liquor into the coffee.

  Alex swirled his coffee cup and held it up. “Here’s to a successful hunt.”

  Nicolas’s lips curled upward. “We understand each other, I think,” he murmured.

  “Anything for a lady.”

  Nicolas held up the bottle. “To Chessa’s pleasure.” He drank deeply.

  “A worthy toast.” Alex turned his glance to Chessa and narrowed his gaze, flicking over her breasts then lowering to her clenched thighs.

  She popped off the sofa and quickly put the coffee table between herself and the two men. “Wait a second,” Chessa said, her voice rising. “Nic, what are you up to? You’ve been so polite all night. You’re never polite.”

  “Only with you, ma petite.”

  “You’re only an asshole with me?”

  “Of course. Would you take me any other way?”

  His words struck her, and she flinched. Her hands tightened on her upper arms. “I don’t mean to make you that way.”

  “I know. But you don’t see that I’d do anything for you. Even share you.”

  “You never mentioned that before.”

  “I stood back when you desired Rene. I waited outside that hotel room, watching over you, while you made love with him and his love.”

  “And now?”

  “You have a craving for this one,” he said, lifting the bottle toward Alex. “I find I don’t want to listen through a keyhole.”

  Chessa’s eyes widened. “You want to watch?”

  “I said I’d share.”

  She gulped. “Both of you? At the same time?”

  “Depends on his answer.” Nicolas turned, his expression tight.

  Alex felt a pang of regret for what he must do. Nicolas would suffer—and he truly didn’t deserve it, but Chessa wasn’t ready to commit. Each time she threw a challenge at Nic, he responded rather than throwing up his hands and walking away.

  Alex needed them both. Needed them together and united. Leaving them to discover their love for each other in the course of time wasn’t an option. Time was of the essence.

  With the Grizashiat closing ever closer to his goal and the unrest around them, both of human and inhuman origin, he didn’t have the luxury of letting them find their way, naturally…to him.

  “No biting,” Alex said, directing his comment to Nicolas.

  Nicolas lifted one dark brow. “Serving has its rewards.”

  “That’s my preference. I’d just as soon earn an orgasm the old-fashioned way.”

  Nicolas nodded, his gaze narrowing.

  Let him have his suspicions. Soon, he’d have to tell them the truth anyway. First, he had to win Nicolas’s allegiance. Gain an advantage over Inanna.

  Nicolas would come to love him. He detested Inanna. While he served her every need, resentment had to fester.

  Alex would offer him another way to fulfill his oath. “Since I’m the guest, I’ll follow your lead.”

  Chessa’s hands fisted at her sides. “You two are making decisions without consulting me. What if I just say no?”

  “You won’t,” Nicolas and Alex said at the same time.

  Chessa stomped her foot. “Get your finger off that damn remote.”

  Nicolas’s lips curved. “Your arousal is so strong I can smell it, Chessa.”

  “Doesn’t mean I have to do anything about it.”

  “You don’t have to do anything at all,” Alex murmured.

  She shot him a killing glance. “Shut up. You don’t know what’s happening here.”

  “Looks like I’m going to be fucking you.”

  Her breath caught. She’d liked the sound of that.

  “I mean, so far I’ve fingered and fisted you to orgasm. Don’t you think it’s only fair I have a little pleasure, too?”

  “I’ve got a bullet up my cunt. Bet it’d work just fine up your ass.”

  Alex grinned. “You’ll have to put it there.”

  “Not exactly what I had in mind,” Nicolas said softly. “But promising.”

  Anger drained from her face as she turned to Nicolas. “I don’t understand you, Nic. Why are you doing this? I know you want me. Why do this?”

  “I want you obedient. Compliant. Willing to follow my direction.”

  “You have that already,” she said, her voice tight.

  “Only when I fuck you. I want everything, Chessa. All of you.”

  “How does adding him to the mix help?”

  “You’ve got walls around your heart. I’ve tried breaching them by force. Now, I’m changing my tactics. A bit.”

  She drew a deep, ragged breath. “I can’t do this.”

  “You accepted Leo and Alex—”

  “I didn’t care about them.” Her gaze switched to Alex. “Sorry.”

  “No offense taken. You don’t know me. Yet.” But you will love me.

  “You take your pleasure, give your body over to other men. Easily,” Nicolas said, his accent deepening with his rising passion.

  “I’m not a whore.”

  “No, but you need to be held. To be made love to. You just won’t allow yourself to feel too deeply.”

  “You think this will be any different?”

  “You care about me,” Nicolas said, his voice frightening in its quiet. “You know what this will do to me. You know how much I care when I invite this.”

  Her eyes welled with unshed tears. “Don’t. Please.”

  “Not your decision,” he said, regret tingeing his voice. “Take off your clothes.”

  Chessa’s breath caught on another ragged breath.

  His gaze swung to Alex. “You will follow my lead.”

  Alex nodded, understanding Nicolas had to have control. “You know the lady.”

  “Why are you going along with this, Alex?” Chessa asked, her voice tightening.

  Alex gave her a crooked smile at the way she tried to change her tactic. “Chessa, I’ve been a walking hard-on since the moment I met you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t fucking believe the both of you.”

  “Afraid?” Nicolas whispered.

  Her chin shot up. “Of you?”

  Nicolas didn’t respond, just leveled a steady stare, one brow lifting in challenge.

  She gripped the front of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. “I don’t fucking believe this.”

  Nicolas sat on the sofa next to Alex. “Tell me what you think of her body.”

  Chessa’s lips formed a mutinous pout.

  Alex settled deeper into the cushions, widening his legs around the arousal knotting at his groin. He swallowed hard and let his gaze slip from her burning cheeks to her small, round breasts. “A little small, but the nipples are lovely. Dark rose.” They were already erect, and he hadn’t telegraphed a single, sensual invitation since they’d left the restaurant restroom. Interesting.

  Nicolas snorted. “They’re perfect. You can take all of them into your mouth.”

  Chessa threw her wadded T-shirt against the wall, then stood with her fists curling at her sides.

  Alex would have laid bets she wanted to cup her breasts to hide them.

  “All your clothes, Chessa,” Nicolas commanded, his tone brooking no arguments.

  Hopping on one foot then the other, she huffed a string of curses as she pulled off her boots.

  Alex didn’t even try to withhold a grin, enjoying the way her small breasts jiggled as she fought her anger and the snugness of the boots. She didn’t wait to be told to strip away the jeans, pushing them down her slim thighs and stepping out of them.

  When she was naked, she stood opposite both men, her chin high. “Well, gonna comment on the rest?”

  Although his mouth had gone dry, Alex cleared his throat and continued, his gaze sliding over her pale, creamy skin. “Beautiful. Muscular. Lithe.” His glance fell to her pussy. “Wet.”

  “It’s the damn vibrator,” she rasped.

  “I haven’t touched the remote, ma jolie.”

  “Is that all?” Chessa asked, ignoring Nicolas’ sly statement.

  Alex lifted his hand and twirled his finger, indicating she should turn.

  Gritting her teeth, she spun, an ungraceful movement, made lovely by the view she presented.

  “Chessa, love, you have a gorgeous ass. Tight, firm—”

  “It’s my ass,” Nicolas bit out.

  Alex nodded. “I won’t go there.”

  “Not if you want to keep your dick.”

  “Maybe just a little kiss?”

  Chessa choked and turned back around. “Satisfied?” she asked Nicolas.

  “You’re doing well. Now, I want you to come to the sofa and undress Alex.”

  * * *

  Chessa bit back a moan. She was so damn horny cream seeped in a steady, embarrassing flow down her inner thighs. Now, he wanted her to touch Alex—while he watched? Was this a test?

  If so, she was going to flunk. Already feeling weak with sexual hunger, her body burned. Her pussy was swollen from use, her inner tissues engorged and pulsating. Her breasts were tight, her nipples spiking hard. Even her skin felt too tight around her body and feverish.

  Alex, the idiot, sat beside Nicolas without a clue how fine a line he was walking between any guy’s wet dream and a soul-sucking nightmare.

  Not for a minute did she believe Nicolas would let this all unfold without losing the tight hold he’d kept over his emotions. His gaze burned too fiercely. His hands and jaw clenched too tightly.

  Any minute now, he’d let loose.

  She couldn’t wait for it to happen.

  “Undress him yourself,” she said, lifting her chin.

  “Now, now, Princess,” he said, his tone so soft she knew one spark would ignite his fire. “You gave yourself to me. Called me ‘Master’.”

  Embarrassment flooded her face, the heat licking down her neck to her chest. “That was then. A moment.”

  Alex’s eyebrows shot upward. “I can manage my own clothes.”

  “Oh, no,” Chessa snarled. “Nic wants to humiliate me. What he doesn’t know is I’ve already seen you naked.”

  “Just my chest.” Alex looked toward Nicolas and shrugged. “My shirt was covered in... uh, dust.”

  “Ash,” Chessa purred. “Vampire ash.”

  “I’ll get myself out of these clothes.” Alex turned to the side and unbuttoned his shirt, shrugging it off his shoulders to strip down his arms. His hands went to the black cord that held an amulet he wore, and he unfastened it and dropped it on the floor with his shirt. He kicked them both out of sight.

  She swept his chest with a covetous stare, savoring the sight long enough that Nicolas’s knuckles popped as he fisted his hands. Not waiting for the next command, she stepped around the table and gave it a little shove with her heel, sliding it backward, out of the way. Then she knelt in front of Alex and reached for the button at the top of his jeans.

  Alex sucked in his breath as her fingers slid inside his waistband. She deftly flicked open his pants and pulled down the tongue of the zipper, taking her sweet time, while making sure her fingers pressed the length of the thick ridge just beneath the placket.

  His cock was huge, hard, and straining through the opening as it parted.

  Chessa licked her lips and gauged Nicolas’s reaction with a sly, sideways glance. “You can cry uncle any time now.”

  “Take it out,” he said, his voice deadly even. “Play with it.”

  Chessa blew out a deep breath and slid her fingers beneath the elastic at the top of Alex’s boxer shorts.

  Again, his stomach contracted and sweat broke out on his forehead. His breaths came faster.