Mirren had bypassed the chairs and leaned against the wall next to the fireplace, his arms crossed over his chest. Standing in his favorite Mirren position, in other words. “What about them?” He didn’t have to say who “them” was.
“Colonel Thomas speaks very highly of both of you.” Aidan nodded at Nik and Robin. “And God knows we need you here, desperately. But before we go any further, you need to be bonded to either Mirren or me. I require it of everyone who lives in Penton, and the colonel has agreed to it. It’s safer for all of us. Cage, we never broke our bond before you went back to London and I can still feel it, so you’re good to go. Any questions, Nik or Robin?”
They exchanged glances. “We were told a little about the bonding requirement, but not the specifics,” Nik said. “Like, you can draw strength from us, right? And know where we are? But how does it work, exactly?”
Aidan nodded. “If I’m within range of you, I’ll know if you’re in danger. I can pull physical strength from you if I’m injured, but again, only within a certain range. You can’t be fed from by any vampire who is not also bonded to me—either directly, or indirectly through Mirren or Will.”
“Okay.” Nik shrugged. “What do we do?”
“You exchange blood with a master vampire.” Mirren pushed himself away from the wall with one foot and stalked toward them, coming to a stop in front of Robin. She looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “Afterward, whoever you’re bonded to will know if you’re being dishonest or disloyal.”
“I got no problem with that.” Robin turned to look at Cage. “But I want to do it with him, with Cage.”
Mirren hiked one dark eyebrow northward. “Oh, you would, would you?”
Thank God vampires couldn’t blush; otherwise, Cage might have to slink back to London in humiliation at the speculative look Mirren was laying on him. He could swear the man was almost smiling—except that, of course, it was Mirren.
“I don’t give a fuck what you and Reynolds do with each other in your own time, but he’s not a master vampire. You got me, or you got Aidan.”
“Let’s just get it over with.” Nik wedged himself between Robin and Mirren. “How do we do this?”
“Better to do it sitting, so I’ll show you.” Aidan moved to the end of the sofa, and Nik sat about a foot away from him, back rigid, jaw clenched. “Relax. Roll up your sleeve and hold out your arm.”
No man bound for the gallows ever had a more grim expression than the one on Nik’s face as he shoved up the right sleeve of his olive-green shirt and stuck his arm out toward Aidan. “It’s not like feeding,” Cage said, hoping to reassure him. “It doesn’t last long, and it’ll be easier if you relax your posture a little.”
Nik shot an irate look in Cage’s direction, but took a deep breath and relaxed his shoulder muscles—until Aidan grasped Nik’s wrist firmly in one hand and pulled out his pocketknife. Nik struggled to pull away but couldn’t; it was his first taste of vampire strength. “What’s the knife for?”
Aidan’s smile was faint. “You’d rather I bit?”
“Uh, no. The knife’s fine.” To Nik’s credit, he only flinched slightly when Aidan made a small horizontal cut across the soft underside of his forearm, swept his tongue across the cut, and quickly placed his mouth over it. Before the first draw of blood, Nik closed his eyes and visibly relaxed. A vampire’s saliva numbed the cut and sent nice, orgasmic waves of pleasure through the feeder. The longer the feed, the more intense the feeling.
Most likely, Nik barely had a buzz before Aidan licked the wound to seal it. He quickly flicked the knife across his own forearm and held it out. “Now, you.”
“Seriously? Man, this is so gross—nothing personal.” Nik grasped Aidan’s arm, raising it toward his mouth. Cage missed the rest of the exchange, though, because Robin had turned around slightly to watch, her lips parted and a rapt look on her face. Bloody hell. She was turned on just by watching it.
Cage had never wanted to be a master vampire. It was a pain in the ass, seemed to him. Sure, you developed some nifty psychic skills, but with power came responsibility and all that claptrap. He didn’t want more responsibility.
But he also found he didn’t want Robin Ashton’s mouth on Aidan or Mirren—or any other vampire. And he didn’t want anyone else’s mouth on her. Somehow, her friends-with-benefits relationship with Nik hadn’t bothered him. But this did. It shouldn’t, but it did.