Page 17 of Accidental Blood Lust
“Who’s Auri?”
“The boss,” Roman says. “I need to let him know we have a guest.”
“I won’t be here long, right? I’ll be leaving soon.”
Roman studies me for a moment, his eyes seemingly pulsing with light, and the longer I gaze at him, the more my body reacts, drawing closer. My fangs drop and my eyes sting, startling me.
“Oh yes, very interesting,” Cassius says. “Lochlan is more than welcome to stay in my room. I don’t mind at all.”
Roman turns his gaze to his friend, releasing a growl that makes my cock swell. What the fuck is going on?
Cassius throws his head back and laughs.
“Shut it,” Roman grunts.
“What is happening right now?” I ask.
“I’ll take you to a guest room.”
“I’ll swing by later and take you out to eat,” Cassius calls out while Roman practically lifts me off my feet with his hand around my arm.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
“Perfect,” he grunts.
SIX
ROMAN
I let go of Lochlan’s arm as soon as we’re in the hallway and I’m sure Cas isn’t going to talk him into sharing a bed. I should let him. It would solve two problems: getting him over Jareth and ruining his dick-hardening scent. My wolf growls at the thought of Cas’s—or anyone else’s—hands anywhere near Lochlan, and the sound rumbles in my throat.
He keeps pace just one step behind me, not saying a word, but I can still sense him seething. There’s a slightly bitter edge to his warm, tempting scent that doesn’t do a damn thing to make it easier to bear. My dick is hard and my wolf is panting like it’s the full moon and there’s a willing hole just waiting for my knot. I switch to breathing through my mouth, but that doesn’t help at all. If anything, it’s worse. A few breaths through my mouth and I can taste Lochlan on my tongue.
I growl to myself and he makes a sound behind me that I’m positive is meant to goad me.
“What?” I rise to the bait even though I know I shouldn’t, walking a little bit faster so I can get him to his room and be done with him.
“Nothing, I just figured you’d be in a better mood now that you’ve finally fucked Jareth.”
I bark out a laugh. That’s not what I expected him to say. I had a feeling he could smell Jare’s scent lingering on me, maybe I even hoped he would and that’s why I went straight to Cas’s room when I got back. But if he thinks I fucked my mage, then Cas is going to have to work a hell of a lot harder to help him hone his senses.
We reach one of the unoccupied rooms and I stop in my tracks, turning around to face him.
“First of all, bloodsucker, it’s none of your damn business what Jareth does with me or anyone else at this point. You fucked up worse than you even know and you’re going to need to accept that it’s over.”
He snarls at me, flashing his set of long, pearly fangs and lunging. I make a mental note to tell Cas that he needs to work on Loch’s telegraphing too. It won’t matter if he attacks a human, who would be too slow and weak to do anything about it anyway, but if he ever plans to win an equally matched fight, he needs a lot of work. I catch him by the throat again like I did earlier, and back him up against the door.
His scent surrounds me, filling my lungs and pumping through my veins. I want to rip his throat out and lick every inch of his bare skin at the same time. I’ve never been in so much conflict with my wolf before, but I get the feeling that even if I hadn’t promised Jare that I would help Loch, I still wouldn’t be able to kill him.
“And second of all,” I go on, growling the words at him through clenched teeth, staring into the depths of his red-rimmed irises. “Smell me again.”
He must think it’s mockery or a trap because he just glares at me. I mimic drawing in a deep breath, flaring my nostrils and audibly sniffing so he’ll get the idea. I’m aware that he’s smart enough to know how to smell things—although, he really hasn’t demonstrated yet that he’s smart enough to tie his own damnshoes—but the encouragement seems to work. He gives another tentative sniff. I see the flicker of lust in his eyes, and I grit my teeth a little harder.
“Close your eyes,” I command. “Try again. Scents are complex, they weave together like threads and sometimes you need to focus so you can pick out each one. Now, really pay attention, and tell me each scent you can detect.”
Lochlan makes a petulant face with his eyes closed that would probably amuse me if I didn’t hate him so much. Then his nose twitches again and his chest inflates with his inhale.
“Aside from all the underworld scents, I can smell you… cinnamon and sunshine, masculinity, power, and something wild… Your wolf, I think. And I can smell Jareth. Herbs and lavender and that strange, spicy magic scent.”
