I flinched when Darius came into the bathroom with us.
“You need to feed and I’m your husband,” he explained.
I moved away from him and turned on the water. “Please don’t do things because you promised to, but don’t want to.”
“Isn’t that what we’ve been trying to get you to do as well?” Jaxon muttered, but didn’t push the argument when I nodded.
“I want to provide for my wife,” Darius assured me. “I miss you, Inez. I was explaining I don’t think I deserve to be fully a part of this.”
I sighed and nodded, not really getting it, but whatever. There was too much coming up and I was really thirsty and tired.
We got in the shower and Jaxon moved me under the water. I swallowed my shock when he started washing me instead of rushing me to get clean so we could have fun. He moved me so I was completely pressed against naked, wet, and sexy Darius.
“Feed, my love,” Darius breathed in my ear, his neck there for me. “Please feed from me.”
My fangs came out and answered for me as I missed his blood and that connection of feeding from him as I did everything else from him. I bit him and he moaned, touching Jaxon, instead of me, to keep himself balanced. Darius orgasmed on me since my bite did that to them once I’d accepted their oaths. I had a feeling there was more to it than that and they wanted me to smell of him.
That was like a scent thing, right? Shifters would smell him on me?
Right, and Jaxon was jealous of James. No, wait, other courts had shifters in them. They didn’t want rumors of a rift between us probably. That made more sense.
“What does my princess want?” Jaxon asked me as he rinsed my hair. “What are you in the mood for?”
“Sleep,” I answered honestly, not trying to be a bitch, but I was exhausted and that was bad, given how exhausting bleeding for the tree was.
“You’re not on fire?” he checked.
I shook my head. I frowned when Darius looked as if I’d slapped him. “Why are you upset?”
“Do you feel less thirsty?” he asked me, swallowing loudly when I nodded.
“It could be she’s just more powerful than a few months ago,” Jaxon defended. “It doesn’t mean she has no feelings for you left.”
I wasn’t sure how that worked or made sense, given the fire his blood stirred in me happened before I even knew him to care for him. Strangers got that reaction from me, so it wasn’t tied to feelings. Did they think it happened if a princess fell out of love with her noble? I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer so I didn’t.
“Are you still thirsty?” Jaxon asked when I reached for the soap.
“Yes.”
His hand moved over mine and he took the soap, nuzzling my neck. “We’re not saying sex makes everything okay, Inez. Let us be there for you, or me at least, until you’re ready for more.” He turned me and leaned down so I had his neck as he moved the soap and his hand between my legs. “Let me tend to my wife when she’s stressed.”
I let out a shaky breath. Hadn’t this been what I wanted? Why did it seem hollow now? Because I’d had to tell him he was doing it? Because he didn’t want to do it without being told?
“You’re spiraling,” he whispered as he moved his hand. “Inez, we can feel it. It’s valid, but don’t think for answers right now. I will always be here and love you. I focused on the wrong things too much. That doesn’t mean I didn’t want to do all the stuff we did before. I did. I missed it too.”
That was what I needed to hear, to feel, and that I hadn’t just been lured in and it had meant as much to him too. I bit him as I rubbed my breasts against his chest, knowing how he loved that. His soapy fingers pushed inside me and he moaned as he orgasmed on me too. I flinched when Darius touched me, but it was only to condition my hair as we didn’t have all day.
“You were really thirsty,” Jaxon panted when I pulled my fangs out. “Fuck, I came so many times I lost count.” He finished washing me, and then himself, as Darius rinsed out the conditioner. I turned a few times as if to hide I was naked, which was silly, because he’d seen every inch of me so many times, but he flinched, knowing where my mind was.
But, he didn’t say anything, didn’t push it when I was stressed. That was nice at least.
When we finished, Jaxon carried me to my bed, carefully wrapping my hair to dry so it wasn’t a mess later. And then, he proceeded to eat me out until I couldn’t take anymore and zonked out. Well, that was a nice apology for sure.
I woke with hot rollers in my hair and in a weird position so I didn’t mess them up. Okay then.
Lara simply chuckled when she saw me trying to figure it out and shrugged. Right, we had a lot to do. I rolled out of bed and sat at the super fancy vanity dressing table someone had found for me. They’d played a bit to match tones and colors, but it was my first time getting fully done up and to ultra level, as they kept calling it.
The dress was a white one-shoulder with a long, flowing sleeve, ruffles of the material all over so it looked like a nice wrap dress that fluttered as I walked. The skirt was super short as apparently bold was needed when you were the princess and it
