Why, I understand perfectly, cousin.
LEO SHOOK HIS head as Alasdair stepped aside and the taller vampire took his place. No! he screamed in his head as he glared at Alasdair. Why are you doing this?
He backed up, and when the backs of his knees hit the edge of the couch, he fell, only to find himself trapped under the male who was now straddling his lap.
“This is a much more comfortable position,” the vampire taunted and took his chin in a tight hold. Then he tilted Leo’s face up, and as he gazed down at him with blazing, blue eyes, he grinned, exposing his fangs. “Thank you for being so thoughtful.”
Leo tried to yank his head back, but when Alasdair’s voice entered his mind, he froze. Sit still and he won’t hurt you. You might actually enjoy it.
Too angry to keep his thoughts private, Leo fumed as he glowered at the one he’d foolishly started to trust and spat out, “What do you care?”
Before he could hope to get an answer, the male on top of him fused their mouths together.
WHEN HE’D FIRST thought up this plan, Alasdair had believed it to be a good one. He wanted to see if he was the only one causing a reaction in Leo or if it was all of their kind. But as he stood off to the side and watched Thanos kiss his yielding, any thought of discovery and revenge changed to possessive anger.
He moved forward to haul Thanos off Leo, but Isadora appeared at his side and clasped his wrist between her fingers.
Let him, Alasdair. You came to us for a reason. Now, see if you can hear anything.
Alasdair’s gut churned as a groan came from Thanos, and he wanted to hit something—hard.
I came to you to test a theory. Thanos doesn’t have to enjoy it so much.
Isadora’s husky chuckle sounded as her thought was relayed inside his head. He made no secret of wanting to taste your human. That should’ve clued you in. Perhaps it would’ve been better had I been the one to test the theory.
Alasdair shook his head. You are not his type, ómorfo korítsi. I need him to respond, not turn ice cold.
He returned his attention to Thanos and ground his teeth together as he watched the back of Thanos’s head. He tried to concentrate beyond the red blur of anger he felt at seeing him on top of Leo, but it was fucking difficult. He hadn’t thought this far ahead, and he hadn’t expected to want to kill anyone who touched the human. But that’s what he wanted: to fucking kill Thanos for touching what was his.
Isadora’s fingers tightened, and she warned under her breath, “Don’t make me hurt you, Alasdair.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
“We both know I can’t defeat you. But I would make you suffer. Look inside your human’s mind. See what you can see.”
Alasdair focused on the two over on the couch and then closed his eyes. If he couldn’t actually see what was going on, his cousin had a better chance at survival. He shoved past Thanos’s depraved thoughts, not wanting more of a reason to strangle him, and then delved into the human mind beyond.
Not sure what to expect, Alasdair was stunned when, Why is Alasdair doing this? Was Leo’s primary thought.
He’d thought he would see lustful imaginings of Thanos naked and inside Leo. No one usually had the willpower to resist his cousin’s seductive tongue, and that he wasn’t in Leo’s thoughts at all pleased Alasdair more than he cared to admit.
He quickly pushed that emotion the fuck out of his way, though, when he recalled what he was supposed to be doing, and continued to listen to Leo’s thoughts.
Is it because of what happened between the three of us? Is he upset that I saw him and that Vasilios guy? It was his fault. He made me do it. Or maybe it’s because of what happened after—
Before Leo could finish that thought, Alasdair was behind Thanos and tearing him away.
“Calm down, cousin. Your possessive streak is completely unnecessary. He thought of you the entire time.”
Not the entire time. He reached for the rope around Leo’s wrists and yanked him to his feet. “What do you mean what happened after?”
LEO’S HEART WAS thumping. It was thumping so hard he thought it might pound clear out of his chest. Alasdair’s lips were so close Leo could taste his breath, and suddenly, he couldn’t remember the question.
“Wh…what?”
“Don’t play coy with me, file mou. Not now. What did you mean when you said what happened after?”
Leo glanced at the vampire who’d just been all over him, feeling nothing in the way of a response. He was surprised, because the guy was his usual type. But when he looked back at Alasdair, his erection seemed to have its own fucked-up idea about where it wanted to go.
“Tell me what you saw,” Alasdair demanded. “What’s happening when your eyes glaze over and my mouth is on yours? Because nothing happened when you touched Thanos.”
He should’ve been frightened. Terrified, actually. But he’d had enough of being played with like a mouse before the cat’s meal—so, instead, he smiled.
“I see you,” Leo finally admitted, letting his eyes trail down Alasdair’s frame. “I saw you before you were this. With long hair and flushed cheeks. I saw you the night he turned you into this.”
As the words left his mouth, Leo wondered when he’d developed a fucking death wish. He figured it was around the time he’d woken up and discovered that a vampire was the master of his fate. But Alasdair had asked for answers, and if telling him what he wanted to know might save his life, he wasn’t dumb enough to keep it a secret.
Alasdair’s eyes darkened, and then he hissed. “You’re lying.”
Leo tried to yank his hands away, but the action was no use. Alasdair had too tight of a grip on them.
“Why would I, omorfo mou agóri?” Leo asked, using the Greek words he’d heard Vasilios whisper to him in his visions.
“That proves nothing. You continue to try to fool me. Vasilios said that the night in the Adjudication Room. You were there. Your deceptions are sorely lacking, Leonidas. I am disappointed.”
Leo gave a slow nod and blinked once. Then he tilted his head up and whispered, “I’m sorry you find me lacking, Alasdair, son of Lapidos. You do not know how long I have waited for you.”
As those words registered with the vampire, Leo saw a flash of disbelief in his eyes. There was no way he could’ve known his full human name without it being the truth. But before anything more was said, Alasdair faded the two of them from the room.
“WHERE THE FUCK did they just go?” Thanos demanded.
Isadora’s blood boiled, and she clenched her fists by her sides.
“Isa?”