Page 105 of Dhampira

With a deafening bellow, Lorcan surged his hips a final time and then trembled like he might shake apart.

Vander swallowed vigorously, his hand moving almost leisurely on Lorcan’s shaft. When Lorcan’s shuddering stopped, Vander gave a final suck and then sat back on his heels, creamy fluid dotting his lips. His eyes on me, he swiped a knuckle over his mouth.

I dug my teeth into my lower lip. His eyes still held the proprietary glint, but now there was something more. A promise. He liked women as well as men, and he’d gone out of his way to let me know he liked me. I’d just witnessed him smash through Lorcan’s reserve like a battering ram. What would Vander do to me?

Lorcan panted on the grass, one hand cupped over his softened shaft. Eventually his breathing slowed, and he opened his eyes. He looked at Vander. Then up at me.

For a second, no one moved.

Then Lorcan was on his feet and several steps away, his back turned as he stepped into his pants. His boots lay at his feet. He’d moved faster than I could track, taking his clothes with him.

Vander stood, his face inscrutable as he studied Lorcan. Sighing, he reached down and helped me rise.

“You all right?” he asked softly, stroking hair away from my face.

I nodded. “Are you?” I went on tiptoe as I strained to see his neck.

His lips curved. “I’m fine. This isn’t the first time Lorcan has tried to chew on me.”

Lorcan’s shoulders stiffened. He bent his head as he finished with his clothes.

Different kinds of curiosity nipped at me. How often did he and Vander do…that? What happened when Vander couldn’t get to Lorcan in time to siphon him? Memories surfaced of the werewolf’s blood singeing my veins. I’d clung to control by my fingertips. On the other hand, Lorcan had drained Alon without lashing out. And he’d been as cold and steady as ever when he killed the witch in the dungeon. But maybe those times had been different. As silence stretched, I met Vander’s eyes.

“What if you’re not around to…?” Heat touched my face, and I longed to snatch back the question.

Vander glanced at Lorcan, who still faced away. “It’s not always like this,” he said quietly. “Less powerful creatures provoke a milder reaction. But kills add up. The more dead blood you accumulate, the harder it is to keep control.”

And Lorcan was unapologetic about his kills. How many creatures had he drained to get to the point of losing control?

He turned at last, his jaw tight and his posture rigid. “We need to bury the witch.”

I looked at the body on the ground. Guilt crept through me, along with a healthy measure of self-disgust. In all the…distraction, I’d forgotten we brought the witch with us into the Everless.

“Who is he?” I asked.

Vander went to the witch’s body and rifled through his pockets. After a minute, Vander stood, empty-handed, a frown between his brows. “Nothing, but that’s normal. The covens never send their people with any identifying papers or possessions on them.”

The shadowed temple from my dreams appeared in my head. “Could the Crau Setra have sent him?”

“Not a chance,” Vander said. “They don’t deal with men, ever.”

I looked at him. “Except when they seduce them.”

He raised a ruddy brow. “As a precursor to killing them.”

And the witches wanted to kill me. Rasimir’s speech at the fountain flowed back to me, his words about the witches manipulating the werewolves putting an idea in my mind.

“What if we could turn the werewolves against the witches?” I asked.

Both men looked at me as if I’d sprouted a second head.

“Absolutely not,” Lorcan said, moving to my side. His jaw was tight as he fussed with one of his shirt cuffs.

“Why?” I asked. “Rasimir said the witches are feeding them lies, making them think they’ll share power if they manage to kill him. What if we could make the werewolves see the truth? Show them the witches’ plan to betray them?”

Vander shook his head. “The werewolves would rip out your throat before you finished your first sentence. They hate vampires more than anything else in this world.”

“Don’t you think they would hate knowing they’re being used?” I asked, spreading my hands. “If we could prove the witches see them as expendable—”