immediately regretting it when Zach and Stavros stared at me with those blank and wounded expressions. “You guys…”
“Deyva, how could you leave?” Zach asked.
“I know...I know how stupid it seems. I didn’t know about the armies! I just...I didn’t come here expecting you to—to—”
“Fall in love with you,” Stavros said slowly, eyebrows raising.
I bit my lip and nodded, bracing myself against the rising wave of his frustration and heartache as it battered against me. “I didn’t know that I could even still feel those things either. For you, for Zach...for Kais. God, even for this whole freaking town, even though the majority of people here hate me. And fucking Az? I mean he deserved not to get dragged back to Hell when he decided not to do the same to me, right? I thought I could fix it.”
“We never would’ve stopped searching for you, fighting for you,” Zach said. And even though he sounded so offended by the notion that I hadn’t considered this, I couldn’t help the warmth that grew in me at his declaration.
“In my defense, those aren’t really the kind of gestures that get exchanged in Hell,” I said meekly.
“Bullshit,” Stavros snapped, standing, grasping at my shoulders. “Don’t lie. You knew. You had to feel—feel this,” he growled, taking one of my hands and pressing it roughly over his heart, letting an ocean of love and agony and need well up inside of him, his eyes growing wet and mine with him.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I—I would still give up anything, even that, if I knew it meant you’d all be safe,” I whispered.
Stavros growled, but he only pulled me into his chest. Zach quickly joined us, sandwiching me warmly between them. His own feelings were comparatively tentative, but they glittered against me, little kisses of salt and honey on my tongue.
“You don’t ever, ever, pull that shit again,” Stavros snarled. “I don’t care if the Devil himself promises our health and happiness in writing. You don’t fucking risk us losing you.”
I nodded against him, my throat too tight to say the actual words.
“Chin up,” Stavros said.
I lifted my chin and he took it in a hard grip, his mouth slamming over mine with such hunger it drew a moan right out of me, as his tongue thrust against mine.
“Feed,” Zach murmured, kissing my shoulder. “You look pale still.” His hands pushed the towel up over my hips and he rubbed at my hot, aching ass over the marks Kais had left and I'd elected to keep. It was a pleasurable sting and I rose up to my toes, rocking lightly between my men, taking careful sips from each of them.
Stavros ripped away, glaring down at me, but the heat in his gaze was full of love. “Fucking feed, Deyva,” he snapped. “Take everything you need.”
I can’t. You need it more, I thought, drawing a little more, but still too cautious to really feast. There was only one way that I was going to be ready for war without wearing my men out.
And it was such an obnoxious solution, really.
“This is a pretty big step, isn’t it?” Zach excitedly looked at the empty space in Stavros' closet as he set a box down at the foot of the bed.
“We already live together.” Stav’s chest rumbled with a soft laugh under my head. “But yeah, moving your stuff in here makes it more official, I guess.”
“How do you feel about it, Zach?” I wound my leg over Stav’s, lifting my head at an angle to scratch his beard with my horn.
“I’m...really excited.” The young priest’s eyes were so bright and his smile infectious. His joy tasted sweet and rich, coming off of him in thick waves. “I know I’m just moving my stuff from next door, but making this our room feels really good.”
“Finish putting your stuff away later and come here,” Stavros said in a gruff growl, extending his free arm.
Zach put the box on a side table and took a running leap over the foot of the bed. He bounced once before Stav wrapped a thick arm around him, pulling him into his opposite side for a nuzzling kiss. Zach and I loved on him together, exchanging kisses and locking our hands together on Stav’s chest. Our legs wrapped around each of his, holding him captive in our cuddle pile.
“What are you gonna use the empty room for now?” I asked, looking at Zach across Stav’s body.