44. VANYA: A MESSAGE

“You’ll be safe here,” Devrim said as he turned to face me again. “It won’t be for long. We just need to figure out how they knew where you—”
“I heard you and Ezra talking,” I interrupted him. “Ezra said that his food had been drugged. You think that my father’s involved.”
Devrim swallowed. His eyes darted around and his shoulders slumped. When he finally looked at me, I could see how hard this was for him.
“Your father is a suspect, Vanya.”
He moved closer and pulled me against his chest.
Should I tell him about my father’s request? Should I tell him about the video they showed me?
I pulled back and opened my mouth, but the words died down when a man stepped into view. Noticing my distraction, Devrim turned and frowned at him.
“Orion,” he greeted. “Is everything set?”
“Yes, Alpha.” His eyes darted between us. “A word before you leave?”
“Fine.”
When he disappeared, Devrim turned to face me again. He cupped my cheeks and smiled at me.
“They will protect you if needed.”
“W-what are you going to do?”
“First we’re going to make sure that one of the pride members hadn’t given away your location, and then we’re going to see if we can find anything out in town regarding your father.” His smile faded. “I’m sorry, this is hard for you.”
I nodded. “I know you’re doing what you have too.”
Devrim leaned down and pressed his lips against mine. I knew it was supposed to be a short kiss, but I wasn’t ready to let him go yet. Reaching up, I gripped the back of his neck and arched my body against his as I deepened the kiss.
A groan fell from his lips. Devrim wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me even closer. It was him who broke the kiss and stepped away.
“I need to go.”
He ran a shaky hand through his hair, and without looking at me, he spun around and almost ran from the room.
But he was only gone for a few seconds before he was suddenly back.
A gasp fell from my lips when he gripped the back of my neck and pulled my lips to his. He stepped forward, forcing me to move back. My ankles hit the mattress, and a second later I was being lowered onto it with his body coming down on top of me.
His hands slid down my sides and underneath the t-shirt. I moaned when he cupped my breasts and squeezed. His thumbs flicked across my nipples, making me gasp.
Devrim broke the kiss and sat up between my legs. Our eyes locked when he pushed the shirt up to expose my bare breasts. Leaning down, he flicked his tongue across my nipple before wrapping his lips around the puckered flesh.
I moaned and reached up to burry my hands in his hair to keep him in place. My back arched when his lips started moving down my stomach. An unexpected giggle fell from my lips when he dipped his tongue into my bellybutton.
“We can’t have sex,” he rasped. “They’re waiting for me, but I can’t leave without tasting you first.”
He tongued the band of my yoga pants.
“Mine,” he growled.
“Yours,” I breathed. “Always.”

***

The brothers as everybody revered to them, lived in a tree house.
Devrim had briefly showed me around when we first arrived. It wasn’t too small and it wasn’t too big, but it had all the basic things expect for a kitchen and beds, which wasn’t must of a surprised considering the fact that their house was built in the trees.
They loved to hunt in their shifted form which was their means to eating. Of course there wasn’t any running water either.
The tree house was built at the top of a large tree near a river. It was scary and totally unnerving to be so high up, but the view was amazing. There was a platform similar to a porch but without railing. Their. . .living room had a wall missing and opened onto the platform.
Which was where I found myself standing after Devrim had left.
“Devrim left you some drinks. Would you like one?”
I turned towards the man and softy declined his offer.
My eyes darted over him in the same way he was studying me. He was tall and muscular with high cheekbones, a square chin, tanned skin and pale blond hair. His eyes were green instead off the dark blue I had gotten familiar with.
“I don’t know if you remember me. I’m Dorian,” he introduced. “You’ve already met my brother, Orion, the idiot.”
“I am not an idiot!” Orion called out.
“You are!”
“Am not!”
“Are so!”
I stumbled backwards when Orion suddenly tackled his brother from behind. They hit the wooden platform hard, making me wince. My lips tugged up at the corners as I watched them play-wrestling.
Finally, they rolled apart, both breathless but smiling.
Orion sighed as he sat up with his elbows resting on his knees. He was staring at me I realized with a start. Swallowing, I looked away and watched a bird in the tree a few feet away.
“What’s it like?”
My eyes snapped back to his. “What?”
He hesitated. “What’s it like having three mates?”
“Three?” I shook my head. “Obsidian doesn’t want me as a mate so I only have two.”
Dorian scoffed and muttered something under his breath that made his brother laugh.
“What’s so funny?” I questioned.
They shook their heads and glanced at each other before focusing on me. Orion cleared his throat and after a moment he asked a question that made colour flood my cheeks.
“Is sex with your mates any different than sex with humans?”
I stared at him and realized that he was being serious.
Dorian moved, snapping my attention towards him. He rubbed a finger across his lips and gave me a small smile.
“We’re not trying to be disrespectful or anything.” His smile faded. “Devrim warned us to behave. We—”
“We’re just curious,” his brother interrupted. “Our females, they’re not interested in having two males. They want only one of us. We want someone who will accept both of us.”
“You humans seem to like the idea of having two males caring for them.”
I hesitated before I took a few steps towards them and took a seat. It had to be the most awkward conversation I’ve ever had with strangers.
“What do we have to do to catch the attention of a human female?”
I gave them a small smile. “Just be yourself. It’s never a good idea to pretend to be someone else in order to catch someone’s attention.” My eyes dropped. “If they. . .the person can’t accept you for you then he or she isn’t the right person for you.”
As I spoke I realized just how unfair I was being toward Obsidian. He had been trying to explain things to me and I just kept refusing to listen.
There was a connection between us but I was also scared of him. I was scared of the things he was capable of doing with his bare hands. After seeing Obsidian torturing that man, I knew that all those times we had sex; he was definitely holding a part of himself back.

***

I wasn’t allowed to attend my best friend’s funeral.
After what happened at my father’s house and the cabin, Devrim thought it best for me to stay as far away from the humans. No matter how much I argued with him, he didn’t change his mind.
I was stuck in a damn tree house with two men who were trying to distract me. But nothing could distract me form the pain in my heart.
Turning onto my side, I stared at the wall a few feet away. He hadn’t said for how long I’d be forced to stay with the brothers. It could be weeks or longer. I was getting sick of the tree house. I wanted to go back home to our cabin near the waterfall.
My phone vibrated, making my body jerk in fright. I instantly reached for it, thinking that it might be one of my men. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was a message with a video attached to it.

***THE CHRISTMAS BALL IS NEXT. SHALL I GET YOU A PRESENT?**

I sat up and licked my lips as I opened the video.
The screen was black at first, but it change in the next second. There were tall trees, and short neatly cut grass. The scenery change and it didn’t take me long to figure out where it was.
Groups of people—all dressed in black—surrounded a white coffin with flowers on top.
The camera zoomed in on the coffin and then changed direction. My father was first followed by Joy, then Betsy and a few other familiar faces.
But my heart constricted and panic hit when the camera darted over to the left where Devrim stood amongst the trees.
And then it abruptly ended.