Mariel opened her mouth to refute this, then stopped herself. This was what she wanted, she realized. Here was the means to convince Clay to find a solution for introducing Vellum to society. If Clay cared as much as she did, he would find a way.
And it became clear that he did care. With his hips rocking forward, driving his cock against Vellum's within the enclosure of his fist, Clay was a picture of passionate abandon. Even after Vellum had drunk his fill and stopped feeding, Clay continued to thrust against him. With a lustful growl, Vellum caught the Marshal behind the neck and yanked him into a kiss. Clay stiffened with shock, but then groaned and kissed back ferociously. Neither was willing to yield or submit to the other. Their passion left Mariel weak at the knees with desire for them both. Never would she have imagined that two such powerful men could become even more powerful when giving in to their desires for each other like this.
They gripped and writhed against each other, cursing and groaning. To an outsider it probably appeared as though they were fighting. But Mariel could see it was all passion, pent-up for weeks and finally released explosively. When Clay tossed his head back and groaned deeply with his climax, Vellum bared his fangs and sliced them across the Marshal's bared throat just enough to draw parallel lines of blood across his skin. Then the vampire shuddered hard and stilled as his own pleasure found its release.
She was desperate to run to them and embrace them—and hopefully coax them both to take care of her next—when Clay abruptly stiffened and stepped back far enough to give him room to punch Vellum in the stomach. The vampire grunted and bent over at the waist, but only for a moment. When he raised his head, he looked alien and frightening. He looked like the monster of Mariel's nightmares.
"You want us both," Vellum hissed. "Don't deny it."
"I want Mariel!" Clay shot back as he backed away. Pale-cheeked, he hastily fixed his pants and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, symbolically wiping Vellum from his skin. He pointed at the vampire. "You touch me again and I'll take her away, deal or no deal."
Vellum's eyes narrowed to dark slits. When he turned away from Clay, Mariel glimpsed his face. What she saw there made her breath stutter in her lungs.
"Please don't fight!" she cried out. "I need you both."
"You'll have us until Everton," Clay muttered. He stabbed a hand through his hair. "I'm riding ahead. The company's not to my taste any longer."
She watched with despair and frustration as he mounted up and rode off into the dark night.
She whirled on Vellum. "You're letting him go? You're letting things lie like this? It'll fester. You know it will."
"The Marshal's his own man. If he's content to be a coward, I can't stop him from being one."
Vellum's blithe reply filled her with fury. Men were such ignorant bastards. It was a miracle this was their first fight between them. Her shoulders slumped. But why did it have to be so devastating, and this near to the end of the journey, when it mattered most? It was time to decide on a future, but right now they were torn apart.
This is why people told you not to dream of a life outside Willowtown. Fantasies are meant for your head. They can't survive outside of it. They're not meant to.
She and Vellum mounted and followed the path that Clay had taken. Mariel tried to engage Vellum in conversation in hopes of getting him to open up about what she'd glimpsed on his face after his fight with Clay, but the vampire was as elusive and unknowable as the night shadows. She eventually gave up, and rode through the desert as though she were alone, which was exactly how it felt.
It was a relief when sunrise neared and they came upon Clay, who'd already set up a camp for them. The Marshal barely glanced at Vellum, but he was polite and attentive toward Mariel, which only served to aggravate her since she could tell he was behaving that way just to irritate the vampire. Vellum, for his part, remained disengaged, interacting only briefly when he set a canteen on the ground beside Clay and Mariel's bedroll. Though he typically bade them goodnight, this time he climbed into his crate and pulled the lid over himself like a sulking boy hiding beneath a blanket.
"You two are impossible," Mariel grated out as she turned her back on Clay and closed her eyes.
He snorted where he lay beside her. "A few more days, Mariel. Then things will be the way they should be. I'll prove it to you."
She kept her silence, not sure she agreed with his opinion on how things "should" be.
She didn't expect to sleep after all the drama, but apparently it wore her out, because the next thing she knew, an elbow jabbed into her side, shocking her awake.
"Gave me a good run, you did," said a voice she didn't recognize.