devastating impact of the discovery. And now he’d reopened the wound, rendered it as fresh and horrifying as that day, months ago.
He rubbed a soothing hand over her back, and kissed the top of her bowed head, murmuring to her. Giving her time to recover.
Beyond her, he felt Luc’s need, but Sevin didn’t acknowledge him. Not yet. This moment was for her. For healing.
Eventually, her tears died away, and Sevin lifted his gaze to meet his brother’s. “She didn’t know,” he announced softly.
Luc’s mirrored eyes glittered through the surrounding murk, suspicious. “Don’t lie just to get your way.”
“It’s true, I swear it on the ancients,” Sevin said with quiet assurance. He watched the lingering doubt slowly extinguish itself. Saw the precise instant his brother believed.
6
A s Alexa swam back to consciousness, she snuggled into the lee of Sevin’s broad chest. His attention had wandered from her briefly. The brothers were speaking to each other again in that foreign language—their native tongue.
Though she had struggled against the memory he’d brought to the forefront of her mind, she couldn’t be angry with him. She understood his need to discover the truth and was glad she’d been vindicated. Still, she didn’t want thoughts of her family to mar this time and sought to push them away.
With a sigh, she slid her arms around his waist. Through the veil of her nightgown, she felt the hardness of his phallus. Only one remained now, and it stood high and ready from the pelt at his groin.
She thrilled to the knowledge that they would mate again soon. Perhaps this time, she might gaze into his eyes and know his mouth on hers when a second fulfillment ripped through her.
As he’d promised, his taking had not harmed her. Instead, it had left her body humming with a desire for more of the same. Her flesh was highly sensitized to his every touch, and when he idly caressed her back as he spoke with his brother, she shifted in his arms at the pleasurable sensation, like a cat being stroked. A faint echo of her former orgasm gently quaked inside her, and her nether tissues pulsed, slick with his viscous spill.
Though he’d been forceful with her, it had been a passionate force, not the cruel handling she’d experienced in Venice. The latter had been an act of power and brutality, while this man’s lovemaking had been born of a marrow-deep masculine desire. A desire to both give and receive pleasure.
Feeling a new tension seep into his body, she lifted her head, immediately sensing his anticipation. Then came the warmth of a second man at her back—one who’d come to stand mere feet away. She’d tried to forget him. But now she took a fortifying breath and then turned her head slightly in his direction.
It was Lord Lucien Satyr. A man who hated her.
His soulful eyes flickered over her and a muscle jerked in his cheek. Suddenly self-conscious, Alexa tugged her gown higher and shrugged into it. The two brothers who towered over her made no move to stop her. She linked the fingers of her hand with one of Sevin’s, then glanced at Lucien again.
He was young, she realized, certainly no older than she was. And so very beautiful, like some wounded angel. His features were the stuff of romantic legend, his body strongly muscled. His shirt was unbuttoned, and the skin of his chest was smooth and paler than that of his brother. His was a body that had not known the sun for a dozen years. All because her family had drugged and imprisoned him, here in this cool, forgotten place.
Before any other human in Rome had known that ElseWorld existed, her family had known. They’d brought Lucien down here along with other creatures they’d captured from that adjacent world. They’d sold his sexual favors, and used him in other ways equally heinous.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Sorry for every hurt and every cruelty my family forced upon you.” She reached a hand out to him.
But before she
He rubbed a soothing hand over her back, and kissed the top of her bowed head, murmuring to her. Giving her time to recover.
Beyond her, he felt Luc’s need, but Sevin didn’t acknowledge him. Not yet. This moment was for her. For healing.
Eventually, her tears died away, and Sevin lifted his gaze to meet his brother’s. “She didn’t know,” he announced softly.
Luc’s mirrored eyes glittered through the surrounding murk, suspicious. “Don’t lie just to get your way.”
“It’s true, I swear it on the ancients,” Sevin said with quiet assurance. He watched the lingering doubt slowly extinguish itself. Saw the precise instant his brother believed.
6
A s Alexa swam back to consciousness, she snuggled into the lee of Sevin’s broad chest. His attention had wandered from her briefly. The brothers were speaking to each other again in that foreign language—their native tongue.
Though she had struggled against the memory he’d brought to the forefront of her mind, she couldn’t be angry with him. She understood his need to discover the truth and was glad she’d been vindicated. Still, she didn’t want thoughts of her family to mar this time and sought to push them away.
With a sigh, she slid her arms around his waist. Through the veil of her nightgown, she felt the hardness of his phallus. Only one remained now, and it stood high and ready from the pelt at his groin.
She thrilled to the knowledge that they would mate again soon. Perhaps this time, she might gaze into his eyes and know his mouth on hers when a second fulfillment ripped through her.
As he’d promised, his taking had not harmed her. Instead, it had left her body humming with a desire for more of the same. Her flesh was highly sensitized to his every touch, and when he idly caressed her back as he spoke with his brother, she shifted in his arms at the pleasurable sensation, like a cat being stroked. A faint echo of her former orgasm gently quaked inside her, and her nether tissues pulsed, slick with his viscous spill.
Though he’d been forceful with her, it had been a passionate force, not the cruel handling she’d experienced in Venice. The latter had been an act of power and brutality, while this man’s lovemaking had been born of a marrow-deep masculine desire. A desire to both give and receive pleasure.
Feeling a new tension seep into his body, she lifted her head, immediately sensing his anticipation. Then came the warmth of a second man at her back—one who’d come to stand mere feet away. She’d tried to forget him. But now she took a fortifying breath and then turned her head slightly in his direction.
It was Lord Lucien Satyr. A man who hated her.
His soulful eyes flickered over her and a muscle jerked in his cheek. Suddenly self-conscious, Alexa tugged her gown higher and shrugged into it. The two brothers who towered over her made no move to stop her. She linked the fingers of her hand with one of Sevin’s, then glanced at Lucien again.
He was young, she realized, certainly no older than she was. And so very beautiful, like some wounded angel. His features were the stuff of romantic legend, his body strongly muscled. His shirt was unbuttoned, and the skin of his chest was smooth and paler than that of his brother. His was a body that had not known the sun for a dozen years. All because her family had drugged and imprisoned him, here in this cool, forgotten place.
Before any other human in Rome had known that ElseWorld existed, her family had known. They’d brought Lucien down here along with other creatures they’d captured from that adjacent world. They’d sold his sexual favors, and used him in other ways equally heinous.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Sorry for every hurt and every cruelty my family forced upon you.” She reached a hand out to him.
But before she
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