Page 75 of Devoted

“We came to apologize.” Gabriel elbowed past his brother, making a beeline for me until I crossed my arms over my chest, the universal sign for take-another-step-and-I’ll-stab-you.

He stopped in place, jaw working.

Smart male.

“We came to apologize,” he repeated. “You’re right about Nico. He has saved our lives. But he kept a big secret from us, Emberline. Information Blackwood could have used against us with catastrophic consequences. At any time.”

“Yet he didn’t. And that blade cuts both ways. You could have used Nico’s parentage against Lord Blackwood, but that’s not the real issue, is it? You’re hurt and betrayed that Nico didn’t trust you with the truth.”

Silence. That’s right, because there’s no arguing with facts.

Obviously not afraid of a pair of crossed arms or being stabbed, Dante prowled closer. “As someone who’s kept plenty of secrets himself, I understand. And I also know there’s a path back to forgiveness, but it takes time. We’ve known Nico a long time, tesoro. If he didn’t feel like he could tell us who he really was, then what does that say about us?”

“It says he was raised by a psychopath and never learned how to trust anyone. Nico was alone until he met you, and the fear of losing his brothers, the only real family he’d ever known… can you blame him? You two were all he had.”

“Forgiving him isn’t the issue.” Dante tugged me to his chest, resting his chin on the top of my head. “And the responsibility doesn’t fall completely on us. Nico has some explaining to do.”

“You’re right, he does,” I conceded, relaxing into my husband’s embrace, searching for the elusive right words. There was a deep, ragged pain inside me, the sense our time was running out.

While we wasted precious minutes fighting over… ancestry.

“All I know is, the future is never promised. We’re fighting for our lives,” I said plainly. “We don’t have room for doubts. I know who I want beside me when the real battle starts. I know who I trust, and in whose hands I will gladly—fucking gladly—place my life. I have chosen my family. I know what my path is. Do you?”

“With you,” my husband murmured, lips on my neck, followed by the delicious scrape of fangs. “Always with you.”

“What do you say,” Gabriel asked, hand skimming up my ribcage, cradling my breast, “we make a proper apology?”

“I might be persuaded to accept,” I said archly. Dante chuckled as his fangs sank into my vein. I gasped when warm lips sealed around the bite, then I was riding a wave of euphoria, pinned between the two of them, Gabriel’s hips flush against my ass as he teased my hard nipples through my shirt.

Gabriel stripped my clothes off slowly, his hungry mouth skimming over my bared skin—my shoulder, the top of my breast, the curve of my back. Dante sealed me up with a long lick, then together, they laid me on the bed.

“Let us make you feel good,” my husband husked. “To tell you how sorry I am. I want… no, I need to put my mouth on you, Emberline.”

He dropped between my legs, pushed my knees wider, then he paused, eyes growing unfocused as he breathed deep.

“You are so beautiful,” Dante murmured, leaning in to plant a long, slow kiss at the top of one thigh. Then the other. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t believe…” He shook his head. “I don’t deserve you.”

Then he lifted my right leg over his shoulder and dragged his broad tongue through my pussy, fastening his lips around my swollen nub and sucking hard enough, my hips bucked up. I wound my fingers in his silken hair and dragged my husband closer, grinding myself against his hungry mouth, not caring what this looked like, only that I needed more.

Gods, so much more.

I must have said the words out loud because Dante obliged, licking and sucking, his tongue circling gently, then lashing hard until I sobbed out his name and writhed back and forth on the bed until Gabriel flattened his warm palm over my belly.

“Stay still and let your husband feast, bella. Gods, you look so…” Gabriel’s eyes drifted down my body, cerulean darkening to indigo, mouth falling open as his fangs descended.

With a groan, Gabriel dove in, pulling my nipple into his hot, demanding mouth, working me at the same pace as his brother.

I completely dissolved, trapped by his roving lips and my husband, devouring me like he was starving.

“Gods… yes, yes, just like that.” I moaned, wild for more, all of this an assault on every one of my raw, aching senses.

I was a quivering mess of need, desperate for that final, beckoning pleasure that was just out of reach. I moaned out both their names as Dante worked me relentlessly towards release, Gabriel knowing exactly how hard to bite, how soft to lick. Then Dante closed his teeth around my clit and pushed two thick fingers into my slick cunt.

“Dante… fuck.” A scream tore from my throat, then a curse as my core pulsed around his stroking fingers, clever tongue working my clit faster and faster. My orgasm tore through me in dark, dangerous waves, a sweet, vicious pleasure that left me completely ruined in its wake.

Only when I was boneless did they stop. Dante rocked back on his heels, wiping the back of his hand across his wet mouth with a supremely satisfied expression, while Gabriel sprinkled kisses all over my sensitive skin, then carefully arranged me between them and pulled the blankets up over us.

“What about you?” I murmured, my body heavier than lead, my head stuffed with cotton.