"Next time," she said, feeling bold, "I'll take you between my lips. Both at the same time."
Clay groaned and at once his heat poured over her fingers. Vellum must have been trying to outlast the Marshal, for once Clay gave way Vellum immediately released a groan of his own. In seconds his release bubbled up between her fingers, slicking them.
"You both are so beautiful," she sighed as she gentled her touch, spreading the slippery fluid along their lengths.
"I think you've been too long without a mirror," Clay murmured. He leaned down and swiped his tongue across her lips. "You're the only one who's beautiful around here."
He caught her hand, the same one she'd used on him, and brought it to his lips, though he took care to kiss only her dry skin, which she found a touch amusing.
"Seems we're all messier than when we started," he remarked with a wry smile. "We're not very good at washing up."
Vellum smirked as he looked them both over. "Is that what you two were doing? I misunderstood."
"Let's try this again," Mariel said. "Cleaning that is." She glanced at the sky. "We've probably got three hours before sunrise."
"You think that's enough time?" Clay scoffed. He leaned into her and murmured into her ear. "For cleaning, that is."
In front of them, Vellum idly ran a hand through his dark, lustrous hair. "I can expedite matters if necessary." He flashed them a grin full of fang.
Mariel knew she wasn't alone in experiencing a spike of lust. But she said, "Apparently it's not always needed."
She watched Clay give Vellum a speculative look, no doubt thinking about what they'd just done and how Vellum's pheromones hadn't driven their behavior. There was no hiding now. No pretending that unnatural lust had incited their actions.
"You're more like a man than you admit," he said at last.
Vellum smiled pleasantly. "I'm not an animal. I can experience carnal lust."
"I don't think you normally do, though," Clay pressed, which surprised Mariel. Did he realize what sort of answer he was pushing for?
"You're right, Marshal," Vellum said in a low voice. "Usually I don't. But this time…I do. Lust, that is."
A muscle jumped in Clay's jaw. "Glad to know where things stand."
~~~~~
Learning that Vellum could be attracted to him and Mariel without needing to bite them before or after sex changed the situation for Clay.
Now that he knew Vellum was almost human and by extension could be vulnerable like one, Clay's guard eased lower. A man—a vampire—who wanted something could be weakened by it. Clay didn't exactly have any intention of using Vellum's lust against him. But it was ammunition in a situation where Clay had felt mostly powerless.
"Now that we know that you want us," Clay drawled one night after setting up camp, "tell us what you think about."
Mariel's questioning look settled on him, but Clay had eyes only for the vampire standing on the other side of the fire. Vellum had eyes that swallowed the night. Not even the light from the flames could brighten them.
"Are you asking if I fantasize about you and Mariel?"
Clay shrugged, trying to appear only casually interested. "I'm curious now that I know you're like us but not like us. What kinds of fantasies cross the mind of a vampire? Blood baths? Killing fields?"
"Men and women who beg me."
Clay's mouth dried up. He'd been hoping for something more sentimental that might tip the scales of power in his favor. He should have expected the vampire to be deviant.
Beside him, Mariel squeaked. "Did you just say…beg?"
Vellum didn't smile, but the intensity on his face was driven by desire, not bloodlust. Not the killing kind, anyway.
"It's related to my desire for ultimate dominance," Vellum continued mildly, despite uttering words which stiffened not only Clay's spine, but his prick. "If you beg me, it's proof that I have complete control over your fate. And your pleasure."
Clay figured he should have guessed as much, but it was still a shock hearing Vellum admit it so boldly.
"Does that disturb you?" the vampire asked.
Instead of answering, Clay looked to Mariel. The firelight adored her. Clay found it impossible not to yearn for her.
"I wouldn't say it disturbs me," she began haltingly. Her cheeks bloomed a rosy pink and she brushed her fingers across her breasts, though Clay wasn't positive that she was consciously aware of doing it. "It's…it makes me think."
"About what?" Vellum asked, his voice falling away as though over the edge of a cliff.
Mariel leaned forward as if to follow it down. "About whether I would want to do that for you." She licked her lips. "Beg you, I mean."
"What if I told you that it would arouse me beyond measure?"
Clay told himself to breathe deeply and slowly as Vellum's midnight gaze coasted leisurely between him and Mariel, watching to see which of them would be first to break.
"What would you want us to beg you for?" Mariel whispered.