“He might resist at first, Sameya.” Gabriel gently settled Maximus into the chair beside Gryphon. “He has his pride, and forcing you into a mating isn’t what either of us wants.”
“I’m rather persistent when I want to be.” She straddled the vampyr’s thighs and clasped his head between her hands, drawing his mouth to her throat.
“What about your serenade. How far does it reach?” Gabriel smoothed his fingers through her hair. She comprehended he needed to touch her, to soothe his tiger.
“Everyone in this home attached to Gryphon is under my command.”
“Will your control weaken if you do?”
How much blood did Maximus need? “No.”
“I’ll watch your back anyway.” He kissed her forehead. “I love you, Sameya.”
Startled, she blinked at him. She opened her mouth to reply but nothing came out. What’d she say to that? She knew nothing about the emotion. She’d loved no one in her life. She hadn’t even known her parents.
Instead of replying to Gabriel’s confession, she focused on helping Maximus.
“You’ll bite me, Maximus.” She bit his ear hard enough to garner his attention. “If you don’t bite me, I’ll leave you at the end of the month. I swear it on Empress E’Neskha.”
“Not…leave,” he muttered against her throat.
“Then take me, vampyr.”
The scrap of his fangs against her throat made her moan. Funny she was excited about this. His tongue swabbed her pulse and he groaned, his hands moving to her hips, his grip tighter than she anticipated.
“Damn you, bite me now.”
Cupping her ass, he lifted her slightly as he buried his fangs into her throat. Sameya gasped at the rush of sensation. The suckles against her throat were like sucks to her clit. Maximus pulled her hips down and thrust his upward, impaling her. Her hand tightened in his hair and he held her motionless as he ingested her blood.
“I didn’t warn you of that on purpose.” Gabriel flicked his knuckles along her cheek. “Afraid you’d change your mind with the others present.”
She’d forgotten about everyone else. Damn these men had a way of making her forget her surroundings.
Then she felt it, the mental link with him, like a lock clicking into place. Maximus’s thoughts weren’t open to her, but his emotions were raw. Fear that she’d leave him. Joy at finding her. Satisfaction with the way she responded to them. Protective instincts. Devotion to her and Gabriel, he’d never stray. If he tried, she’d know.
His fangs left her throat and he embraced her, holding her motionless against him as he worked on regulating his breathing. After a long while, Maximus finally looked at her, his mouth parted and his fangs streaked with her blood. He licked her throat before lifting her off his cock and settling her on her feet.
Confused, she stared at him. Her throat tingled where he’d bitten her and she was a hair’s breadth away from coming.
“I won’t mate you like this.” Wincing, he retracted his fangs.
Why did she feel like he’d rejected her?
“It’s not personal, Sameya. You know I’d—”
“I know, Maximus.” Not hanging around to hear any more, she pointed at Gryphon. “Follow me.”
As Gryphon slowly rose from his seat, Gabriel offered his wrist to Maximus. “Take some from me, you stubborn-ass fool.”
“I’m good.”
“Take his blood, Maximus.” On the heels of rejecting her, his hardheadedness pissed her off. “Your magic is down. You need it.”
“I’m good.”
Sameya hooked her fingers beneath the collar Maximus put around her neck less than a day ago. A small twist and the choker burst into dust. Alarm widening his eyes, Gabriel stepped toward her. She held out her hand to halt his step. “I’m not walking away. At least not yet.”
“Sameya.” Panic flared on her vampyr’s sallow features. He attempted to rise, but his arms shook so badly his ass never left the seat.
“Your magic is down, Maximus. Take what Gabriel is offering or I walk.” Dismissing her men, she grabbed a fistful of Gryphon’s shirt and tugged him to the cage. “Inside you bastard.”
“It’s steel.” Gryphon trembled, horror glazing his eyes.
“Yes. And it’ll burn like hell, too, but it’s not half the horror you committed against Maximus or, I’m certain, you planned to do to me. So consider yourself lucky I’m not torturing you as retribution.” The griffin wanted her, so he’d brutalized her mates. For what reason? To make her suffer? That couldn’t be the reason, or not entirely because he’d nearly killed Maximus without her present to witness the atrocity.