The Harlequin ab-15 Read online

  He looked at the coffin that sat near the far wall, closer to the door than to the bed. "Jean-Claude?" He made it a question.

  "Damian," I said.

  He nodded. "So if you start draining him of life you'll be able to check on him." Richard had actually carried Damian's nearly lifeless body to me once, so I could save the vampire.

  "Yes." I pulled up the sheet so that my breasts were more covered. It bared a little more of Micah's chest, but that was okay. His body was already blocking all but the upper curve of my hip from Richard's sight. Covered was better until I knew what Richard wanted.

  "Where's Jean-Claude sleeping?"

  "Asher's room," I said.

  He had left his suitcase by the door, but he was in the middle of the floor, halfway between the door and the bed. He licked his lips and wouldn't quite look at us. He was nervous—why?

  "Jason has his new girlfriend bunking with him."

  "Perdita, Perdy," I said. She'd come to us from the master of Cape Cod. She was a mermaid. A real live mermaid. The first I'd ever met. Though I'd never seen her look anything but human. I was told she really could be part fish, but I'd never seen it.

  Richard nodded.

  Micah moved against me and let me know he'd thought of something. Oh. "Do you want to stay here with us?" Micah asked.

  Richard closed those perfectly brown eyes, the color of milk chocolate. He took a deep breath, let it out slow, then nodded.

  We all exchanged a look, which was almost finished by the time he opened those eyes. We must have looked surprised, though, because he said, "I'm a shapeshifter; we like big puppy piles for sleeping."

  "Most of you guys do," I said, "but you've never willingly slept with me and any of the other guys."

  "This is who you are, Anita. This is who we both are." He shoved his big hands into his jacket pockets and looked at the floor. "I was on a date when I got the call that some insanely powerful vampires are in town." He looked up, and his face held that anger that he'd gotten from me through Jean-Claude's vampire marks. He shared my rage at the world, and it had made him even harder to deal with. "I had to call it an early evening, and I couldn't explain to her why."

  "We had to cut our date short, too," Nathaniel said.

  Richard looked at him; it was not an entirely friendly look, but his words were civil. "You guys were trying to celebrate some kind of anniversary."

  "Yes," I said.

  "Sorry it got ruined."

  "Sorry your date got cut short," I said. My, we were being terribly polite.

  "They found bugs in my house, Anita. My dates, my phone calls, everything recorded." He rocked on the heels of his boots.

  "I know," I said. "Same for us."

  "The Circus is the most secure place we have, so I'm here for the duration."

  "Scary," I said.

  "The scary part is that I might be endangering the kids I teach. If it's not fixed by Monday, maybe I should take a leave of absence."

  He seemed to be asking my opinion and I didn't know what to say, but Micah did. "We've all been blindsided by this. Let's get some sleep."

  Richard nodded his head, a little too rapidly, a little too often. There were guest rooms in the underground. There was even a couch big enough for him to use in the living room. So why was he here?

  "I can stay?" He asked it without looking at us.

  "Yes," Micah said.

  "Yes," I said, my voice soft.

  He looked up. "Nathaniel?"

  "I'm not dominant to anyone in this room; I don't get a vote."

  "It's polite to ask," Richard said.

  "Yes," I said, "it is. I appreciate it."

  "So do I," Nathaniel said, "but you don't have to ask. It was your bed before it was ours."

  That seemed a little impolitic, but strangely Richard smiled. "Nice of someone to remember that." But he didn't sound angry as he said it. He picked up his suitcase and started walking toward the bed. He walked past the bed, and we all watched him. He put the suitcase down beside the armoire in the corner that held extra clothes for all of us. He knelt, opened the case, and began to unpack. He took his jacket off first and put it on a hanger in the armoire. Then he took out shirts, socks, and underwear and put them in the drawers. He unpacked as if we weren't there. We all exchanged looks again. This was too weird, entirely too civilized for Richard. The other shoe had to drop soon, and all hell would break loose, wouldn't it?

  Micah moved the covers, letting me know to get off them enough to get under them. He was right; discretion was the better part of valor. We were all three under the red silk sheets when Richard finally finished putting everything away—including one trip with a toiletry kit to the bathroom. He left the door wide open so he had plenty of light, then walked to the light by the door and turned it off. It was so normal, it scared me. I hadn't seen him this reasonable in months, maybe years. My shoulders and arms were tight with tension. It felt like the quiet before the storm, but I couldn't tell if the tension was just me projecting. Richard and I could share each other's dreams, let alone thoughts, but right now he and I were shielding so tight that nothing got through. We were separate from each other metaphysically, or as separate as Jean-Claude's marks would let us be. It was safer that way.

  Richard walked to the bed, his eyes downcast, not looking at us. He sat down on the bed near me. The three of us scooted back a little to give him more room. He must have felt the bed move, but he ignored it. He pulled off his boots and let them fall to the floor, then socks. He took off his T-shirt and I was suddenly looking at the muscled expanse of his naked back. His hair caressed the edges of all that bare skin.

  I fought the urge to touch him. I was afraid of what would happen. Afraid that he would take it wrong.

  He had to stand up to undo his belt, unbutton the fly. The sound of the buttons coming undone jerked things low in my body. Richard had been the man who taught me the joys of button-fly jeans.

  Micah's arm curled around my waist, drawing me in closer to his body. Was he jealous?

  Richard hesitated. As a shapeshifter nudity should have been second nature, maybe first, but he didn't like being nude in front of my other lovers. He just didn't. He stripped the jeans down in one motion. If he'd been wearing underwear, he wasn't now. The sight of him nude did what it always did: it made me catch my breath and think about touching him. All Richard had to do to win any fight with me was to strip. I just couldn't argue with him when he looked so scrumptious.

  He let the jeans hit the floor, then turned toward the bed. His eyes were still downcast, his hair spilling forward around his face. He finally looked up, and our eyes met. I didn't try to keep my face blank. I let him see what I thought of him beautiful and nude before me. Even with Micah's body pressed against me in the bed, Richard was still beautiful.

  He smiled, half shy, and half the old Richard. The Richard who had known how much I loved him, and how much he meant to me. He lifted the covers up and slid under them. He was tall enough that he had no trouble getting into the bed without help. "Scoot over… please," he said.

  Micah scooted, moving me with him a little. Richard slid into the space we'd made. I felt the bed move, which meant Nathaniel had moved, too. The bed wasn't a king-size, it was an orgy-size bed. We'd had more people than this on it at the same time, sometimes even for sleeping.

  Richard scooted down until he was almost pressed to the front of my body, but not quite. Micah's hand was still around my waist. "I'm not sure where to put my hands," Richard said.

  Micah laughed, but it was a good guy laugh. "I know what you mean."

  "Where do you want to put them?" Nathaniel asked.

  I glanced over my shoulder and found that Nathaniel was peering over Micah's more slender body at us.

  "I'm nervous, tired. I want to be touched and held."

  "You're a shapeshifter," Micah said. "We all like skin contact when we're shaky."

  Richard nodded. He was propped up on one elbow, and he made even Nath
aniel look small. Richard was one of those large men who didn't seem that large until moments like this; then you appreciated the full physical presence of him. "I brought wolves with me. They're in one of the guest rooms. I could have my puppy pile. I didn't have to come here for that."

  I swallowed hard enough that it hurt.

  Micah said, "Then why are you here?"

  "I'm tired of running from myself."

  I wasn't sure that answered the question, but Richard seemed to think it did, and I felt Micah nod behind me. "Stop running."

  "I'm not sure I know how."

  It was like I wasn't there, as if whatever issues they were discussing had less to do with me than with the two of them. Maybe the three of them—or did Nathaniel feel as left out as I did?

  "This is a good start," Micah said.

  Richard nodded, then finally gave me the full attention of those eyes. Those eyes that I once thought would be the eyes I woke up with every morning. Lately he hadn't slept over much. "I don't know how to do this."

  "Do what?" I whispered.

  "I want to kiss you, but I don't want to have sex with everyone in this bed."

  I wasn't sure if he meant he didn't want to have sex while the other men were in the bed or if he didn't want to actually have sex with them. I was pretty sure both were true.

  "I've been wanting to touch you since you took off your shirt," I said. There, that was the truth. Maybe if we told the truth we'd be okay.

  He smiled, and it was Richard's smile. That smile that he sometimes gave that let you know he really did know how lovely he was to look at. He usually came off humble, but then he had that smile.

  He leaned in toward me, his hands still chastely to himself. Our lips touched, his hair spilled along my cheek. Micah's hand eased from around my waist, letting me know I could move where I wanted to move. Or that's how I took it. I let my hand rest against the swell of Richard's chest. His hand cupped the side of my face. We kissed, and his lips were still as soft, as full, as kissable as they had always been. My hand slid down the curve of his chest to his waist. He pulled me in against his body, and the kiss grew to something fuller, deeper. My body fell against his, my hand tracing across his back, not sure whether to touch lower. His body was already growing with need. I wanted to react to that need, but he'd said he didn't want to have sex with all of us in the bed, and no one was leaving.

  He drew back from the kiss, breathless, panting, eyes laughing. "God, how do you do that to me?"

  My own voice came breathy. "You, too."

  He laughed, then his gaze slid past me to the other men. His eyes darkened for a moment. "I can't, I can't, not yet."

  "Truthfully, Richard, this is more than I ever thought you'd do with Micah and Nathaniel."

  He nodded. "Me, too."

  "Would it totally spoil things if I asked what changed your mind?" Nathaniel asked it. I'd wanted to ask it, but I wouldn't have.

  Richard looked across the bed at the other man. "It's none of your business."

  "No, it's not," Nathaniel said.

  Richard bowed his head, then nodded. "Okay, I love Anita. I'm trying to learn to love all of her, even the part that wants to live with two other men." His eyes were uncertain, a little angry.

  Nathaniel said, "My therapist told me that if I'm an equal partner in our relationship I need to ask for what I want. Did yours tell you that you need to resolve your feelings about Anita?"

  Richard ignored the question. "What did you ask Anita? What aren't you getting from her?"

  "I'll answer yours, if you'll answer mine."

  Richard nodded, as if that was fair. "Yeah, my therapist says I have to either come to terms with Anita's life, or move on."

  "You know I'm into the bondage and submission scene?" Nathaniel said.

  I wanted not to be naked in the bed with them while they had this conversation, but if they could be honest, I could lie there and let them do it. "I know. Raina talked about you a lot." Raina had been the old lupa of the wolf pack. She'd taken Richard's virginity and trained Nathaniel to be a good little pain slut.

  Micah and I looked back to Nathaniel. It was like a therapy tennis match.

  Nathaniel nodded. "Anita won't do it with me, and I want her to."

  "She's not much more comfortable with that side of herself than I am," Richard said.

  "I know," Nathaniel said.

  "Did she agree to do it?"

  "Not yet."

  "Are you going to leave her if she doesn't come across with it?"

  Micah and I lay back between them, feeling superfluous.

  "I've asked permission to have someone else abuse me, but save sex for Anita."

  Richard looked at me, finally, and I wished he hadn't. "You really know how to pick them, don't you?"

  "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, but it was hard trying to sound indignant naked in a bed with three men.

  Richard laughed, a good, open laugh. He kissed me hard and fast. I lay there and frowned at him. "It means let's go to sleep."

  He settled on his side, facing me. I hesitated a second, then turned onto my other side. It started a chain reaction with Micah and Nathaniel following suit. It took us a while, but finally we were all settled. Richard's body spooned along the back of mine, Micah against me, and distant Nathaniel against him. My hand went over both of them, so I could still touch Nathaniel. Richard had the hardest time figuring out where to put his arm. He finally seemed to think, To hell with it, because he let his arm follow the line of mine, so he was both holding more of me and helping me hold the other two men. For sex, it would have been fun, but for sleeping, I thought I'd have trouble relaxing. But either it had been a long night, or the sensation of being held between Richard and Micah's body was more comforting than I realized. Nathaniel went to sleep first, as he always did. Micah and Richard went at almost the same time. Sleep wrapped over me, Richard's breath warm against my neck.

  Chapter Twelve

  I WOKE IN a tangle of bodies. I was on my back with Micah and Richard half on top of me, as if even in their sleep they had fought over who would touch the most of me. The scent of their skins had mingled into a rich perfume that tightened my body. But I was still pinned and not comfortable at all. I was so tangled that I couldn't even rise enough to see Nathaniel on the far side of Micah. I thought the uncomfortable position had been what woke me; then I caught movement at the foot of the bed. I held my breath. Was it one of the guards? Somehow I knew it wasn't.

  The faint light from the half-open bathroom door didn't really show me anything. It was almost as if the light were being sucked at by the dark, as if eventually the darkness would swallow the light completely. My pulse was thudding in my throat, so hard I could barely breathe past it, and swallowing hurt. I knew who was in the dark, and I knew I dreamed. But just because it's a dream doesn't mean it can't hurt you.

  "What is that?"

  I screamed, a short, sharp scream. I was looking into Richard's face. He was awake. He started easing up to sit, and I moved with him. He tried to shake Micah awake, but I didn't bother. I'd had this dream before.

  "Wake them up," he whispered, eyes searching the darkness.

  "Her animals to call are all cats; they won't wake."

  "Who… Marmee…"

  I stopped the words with fingers against his lips. "Don't," I whispered. I don't know why we were whispering. She would hear us. But there's something about being in the dark when you know the predator is out there, that makes you whisper. You try to be small and quiet. You pray that it passes you by. But this wasn't a predator, exactly; this was the entire night, given life and substance, and a mind. I smelled jasmine and summer rain, and other scents of a land that I had never seen except in vision and dream. The land where Marmee Noir had begun. I had no idea how old she was, didn't want to know. I was a necromancer. I could have tasted her age on my psychic tongue, but I didn't know if I could swallow that many centuries. I feared I'd choke.

  "Necromancer."
Her voice eased through the night like a sweet-scented wind.

  I managed to swallow past the beating of my heart. "Marmee Noir," I said, and my voice was only a little hoarse. It was better with Richard beside me, awake. His arm wrapped around me as if he felt it, too, that together we were more here. Maybe our accidental sharing of dreams, Richard and me and Jean-Claude, had a purpose. One we just hadn't understood until now.

  I leaned into the curve of Richard's body, and his arm tightened. My hand on his bare chest let me feel the beat of his fear against my palm.

  The darkness gathered, almost the way light will narrow down to a point of brightness, except this was darkness compacted, squeezed down as if a small black hole were forming in front of our eyes. The black hole took on the vague shape of a woman in a cloak.

  I thought, very carefully, in my head at Richard, "Don't look at her face."

  "I know the rules," he said out loud. He had heard me; good, great. Mind-to-mind talking was still not my best thing in dream or out of it.

  "Do you truly believe that not looking upon my face will save you?"

  Great, she read minds, too. I'd had much lesser vamps be able to do it. I shouldn't have been surprised.

  "Tell me again why Micah and Nathaniel won't wake?" Richard asked, his voice soft, but not a whisper anymore. It was too late for whispering. She'd found us.

  "Necromancer," she said.

  "Cats are her creatures to call, all cats, so she can keep them out of the dream. Jean-Claude was with me last time and she was able to keep him out, too. She doesn't do wolves."

  "Your wolf will not save you this time, necromancer."