Page 87 of Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter 29)

“May I put my arm around you,ma petite?” Jean-Claude asked, and because he asked, I said yes. If he’d just wrapped himself around me in that moment without asking, I’d have been pissed. It wasn’t just the wedding prep, or the clothes for tonight, it was talking to my dad. It was raising old ghosts that no amount of psychic ability would chase away.

Demo went through the door with two other werewolf guards who had been special teams like he’d wanted to be. He’d washed out, left the military and become a civilian contractor, readmercenary. He’d been the only contractor to survive the shapeshifter attack that had ended the SEALs’ military careers. If he could manage not to get himself killed for two years, some of the contracting firms would hire him again, the idea being that two years of control meant he was safe to hire. Some firms demanded five years of shapeshifter experience, but most only two. If someone could convince Demo tobehave himself, in two years he could be someone else’s problem. If only it worked that way with family.

I slid my arm inside Jean-Claude’s robe so I could touch all that smooth skin and let myself lean against him. He wrapped me into a hug and started murmuring comforting things in French. I even understood some of them, but it was the sound of his voice, not what he said. Jean-Claude’s voice had become the white noise that let me know I was safe and loved.

There was a moment of longing and sorrow that was almost pain. It rang through us and made us turn toward the source. Richard’s brown eyes shone in the overhead lights with unshed tears. I realized that until that moment he hadn’t understood just how much Jean-Claude and I loved each other. His thoughts were too close to the surface, they just came tumbling out. He’d known we were in love, that hot lustful can’t-keep-your-hands-off-each-other falling in love, but he’d never realized that we’d moved on, gone deeper while he’d been away fixing himself. We’d been building a life together. One that didn’t include him, and for the first time he wondered if he’d come back too late.

Jean-Claude was able to hide his thoughts and emotions like he’d flipped a switch, but I hadn’t had centuries of practice. So Richard heard that I’d been afraid of him expecting too much, that I didn’t love him, that I worried that I was already stretched too thin with all the people in our poly group now. It was like the harder I tried to not overshare, the more I shared.

“I’m sorry,” I said out loud, because I didn’t know what else to say.

A lone tear trailed from each eye, down those perfect cheekbones of his. “I’ve come back too late.”

“Non, mon lupe, while there is breath in our bodies it is never too late.” He held his hand out to the other man, but Richard hesitated, looking at me. He’d already read my mind; what could I do?

“Either you’re here to take both their hands,” Ethan said, “or you just came back for the girl.”

I expected him to get angry, but he just said, “You’re right.” He took Jean-Claude’s offered hand and smiled at him, a smile that was warm and couple-y. Then he looked at me, the smile fading around the edges. “I know how you feel about me now. You’re afraid I’ll demand too much, destroy your poly group, your happiness. You don’t trust me because of what I did before, and why should you?”

“But if the Ulfric hadn’t come back tonight, could you have defeated Deimos?” Jake asked.

Jean-Claude said, “No.”

I shook my head.

“Then take his hand, Anita.”

“Anita doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do,” Nicky said.

“No, Jake is right, Nicky. If we hadn’t had Richard tonight...” I realized I didn’t want to admit how close a call it had been in front of everyone in the room. They were good to be security for the clubs, but none of them were on our personal details. The fewer people who realized that Deimos had almost possessed Jean-Claude tonight, the better.

I held my hand out to Richard, and he took it with a smile. It wasn’t as warm as the one he’d given Jean-Claude. In fact, the smile left his eyes uncertain, but that was okay. I’d earned his doubt, hell I was more comfortable with it. It made me feel better about my own doubts. But none of that mattered to the power that thrilled through the three of us.

“You are almost complete,” Jake said.

The hair on my arms was standing up, and my voice was breathless as I said, “What do you mean, almost?”

“This power is a small thing compared to what you could have if you were a true triumvirate,” he said.

“How much truer can we be?” Richard said; his voice sounded as strained as mine. His eyes were full of blue fire. I looked at Jean-Claude; his eyes were glowing with power, too. I didn’t have a mirror, but I knew mine were glowing as well.

“We are a triumvirate of power,” Jean-Claude said, and his voice echoed around the room.

“You will not be a true triumvirate until you share the fourth mark,” Jake said.

“No,” I said, and I pulled my hand away from both of them.

“We must solidify my power base,ma petite.”

“You don’t understand how intimate the connection will be,” I said, “you’ve never given anyone the fourth mark before.”

Richard said, “Wait, how do you know more about this than Jean-Claude?”

“I have a triumvirate with Damian and Nathaniel, you know that.”

“I know how you feel about Nathaniel, but you’re not that close to Damian. Sharing the fourth mark with them didn’t change that,” Richard said.

Nicky gave a deep chuckle. “You haven’t seen her with Damian in a while.”

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