When faced with a life changing decision, no one expects an answer immediately, especially when it involved freedom.
Sadie took the stairs down to the main sitting area, the nerves in her body on high alert. Her stomach flipped in knots and her palms were sweaty.
Why was she nervous?
This was her life, not someone else’s.
It wasn’t as if she owed anyone anything, right?
Then again, up until now, her life had not served a purpose other than to breathe. Even then, she was only living. She longed to feel alive, to make her stamp upon the world, to serve the greater good.
And the greater good in this case were three unbelievably, attractive, and sexy-as-sin men who all wanted her as much as she wanted them.
What did she have to lose?
The cons were her freedom; her life choices; her ability to be human.
However, the pros were three men who were kind, breathtakingly handsome, and they wanted someone, like her, to fulfill their lives. She would want for nothing and have everything she ever needed catered to just her. She could write full time and, with that, the sky was the limit.
It sounded almost too good to be true. As she took the final step from the stairs into the main living area, the three men stood from their seats.
Adam smiled at her, looking sinfully delicious in a rock band t-shirt, ripped jeans, and biker boots. He was her bad boy and good lord, did she want the man. He was as sinful as he was sexy. He would ruin her for anyone else. He held his hands in front of him.
Next to him was Charles. He wore a fitted polo style, light blue shirt that brought out the azure of his eyes. He paired it with jeans that hugged his strong legs and ass. He smiled and lifted a brow. This Aussie would take her to places she’d only dreamt of and this didn’t include actual travel. He was the epitome of innocence, which could be deceiving. The man brought her to orgasm by simply touching her.
What would it be like once they slept together?
She swallowed the dryness in her throat as she considered how it would feel, his body atop hers, and his cock stretching her walls. She inwardly groaned as a delicious sensation rushed up her spine.
And finally, there was William. The one who saved her life that fateful day, the man who made her weak in the knees, the kindof person who would completely captivate her in every essence of the word. He was the foundation of this family and he was the strength behind every decision, andthe backbone to everything the men did as a family; including the commitments regarding Sadie.
“Sadie,” William said and took a step forward. “Have you news for us?”
He was articulate in his words, something that probably carried forward from his youth. More people could take note from these men in how they talked to people, especially women. Between the men, they looked upon her with hope, with desire, and above all, with a carnal need. It was there, the desire, hidden in a place far from the reaches of anyone else, but Sadie could sense it. She wanted to give herself them, have William, Adam, and Charles for herself, but if she did, if she went down this path, there was no going back.
But if she strayed, if she turned down the offer from her men and the Covenant, she would lose every memory of her being here, meeting them, and what her life could offer. She assumed it also meant no protection from the Covenant from rogue vampires.
This internally frightened her, but she didn’t want to decide in haste based on a fear that had not brought her harm until that fateful day in the alley.
She nodded and looked to the hardwood floor of the room. Her nails dug into the palms of her hands and she let out a long breath. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Ahh, this isn’t good, mates,” Charles said, and Sadie raised her eyes to his.
She smiled. “It’s not a no.”
“But it’s not a yes, either,” Adam added.
“Correct.” She stepped further in the room and felt her hands shake at her sides. She closed her eyes and pushed at the anxiety threatening to boil over. Her eyes burned with tears and her breath came out in a shudder.
A breeze rushed around her body and her dress feathered at her legs. When she opened her eyes, William stood before her. She gasped and took a step back. Not out of fear, but from the startle he moved so fast.
“Shh,” he whispered and cupped her face in his hands. “So much has been thrust upon you. No one blames you for how you’re feeling right now. Do you need more time?”
She nodded and a tear slid down her cheek. He swiped it away with his thumb, then pulled her into an embrace.
“I need a few days to gather my thoughts and affairs.”
“Sadie, you would move in with us, not die,” Adam offered. “No one is expecting you to give up the life you had when you decide if you want this life with us.”
She pulled away from William and looked into Adam’s eyes. “But I would be giving up my life. I wouldn’t make any further decisions that are my own without you three having to be consulted. My life would have to revolve around you and let’s not get started on the feeding.”
“It’s not like that,” Charles offered. He took her arm and turned her to face him. “Listen to what we’re trying to say about the setup. You have your life, yeah?”
She nodded.
“Ace. We have our life and our duties to the Covenant, yeah?”
“Yes.”
He shrugged with a grin. “So, where’s the problem, love? I don’t see the issue here.”
“The issue,” she started, and took a few steps back. “Is where I fit into all of this. I’ll be your source of sustenance. I’ll live here and carry out my every day mundane life, as you said. But I’ll also not be able to leave, do anything, go anywhere.”
William frowned. “Is that what you think? That you’ll be our prisoner?”
She shrugged. “Yeah, basically.”
“Right,” Adam said, and turned away from the group. “I’ll be back shortly. I have a phone call to make.”
Sadie followed him with her gaze as he left the room, then she turned back to William and Charles. “Will he be okay?”
William answered, “Yes. I believe I know who he’s calling and if I’m right, he’ll be back momentarily. Before any other decisions are made, let’s consider the fact you’ve not been readied for this your entire life. You had no idea our world even existed, or what you were, until we found you in the alley.”
“And I’m so grateful for that. I really am. I just feel like I’ll be giving up my identity for something I have no decisions in.”
“Sadie, it’s nothing like that,” Charles offered, and reached for her hand. He gave it a light squeeze. “You’d be welcome to come and go as you please. All we’d ask is to be kept in the loop.”
“Precisely,” William added. “We would share you, love you, cherish you, and in return, we only ask for you to be loyal to us.”
“Once she’s fed from us, I don’t think that’ll be a problem, mate,” Charles said with a grin.
“Feed from you?” Her eyes widened. “That’s real? I really thought you were joking about that.”
William chuckled and his smile was genuine. He had this calmness about him that could melt ice in the coldest of climates. He brushed a few of her hairs behind her ear. “When the time comes for us to feed from you, it will not hurt. It will be an amazing experience you’ll long to have day in and day out. I can promise you that. It will heighten everything you feel, and I mean, everything,” he winked. “Please, know we would do nothing to physically or emotionally hurt you.”
She shook her head and pulled herself free from him. “How can you be so certain? How do you know you’d never get bored with me or want someone else?”
“When we mate with our blood demon,” Adam said as he came back into the room. “It’s mating for life. Our feelings for you will never change. We’ll always want you, and only you.”
Tears stung her eyes again and she looked to her hands. “I’ve never had anyone in my life, so please understand my hesitation.”
“You have nothing to explain,” William told her. “We understand, we may not fully grasp the reality of what you had to experience as a child, but we’re in the here and now. All we’re asking is for a leap of faith.”
“She’s on her way and will be here in a few minutes,” Adam announced.
She looked at him and frowned. “Who’s coming here?”
“One of our friends, Olivia Martin,” Adam told her.
A sigh left Sadie’s lips and she made her way over to the couch. She took a seat and folded her hands in her lap. “It’s not that I don’t want to be here with you three, because I do. I’m just trying to wrap my head around forever when we have only just met one another.”
Adam took a step forward when William took his arm. William shook his head.
“Leave her be. She has a lot to consider.”
“She needs to know what it means to be mated, and I think that’ll help in the understanding,” Adam told him.
“We can say it all day long,” William started, “but until she experiences it for herself, she’ll not truly understand.”
“I want to understand,” Sadie told them with an exasperated huff. “I just don’t know how to get my mind around it.”
William lowered his gaze to the floor, then let a long sigh escape. “Olivia will be here soon. We can talk afterward.” He turned and left the room, and a sadness crept over Sadie.
She hadn’t disappointed anyone ever in her life, to her knowledge, anyway, and she hated how it made her feel. She longed for someone to call her own, to be her family, to have that one person she knew she could always go to. Now that the possibility was present, she wanted to run the other way.
She tucked her feet underneath her and pulled her dress around her legs. “I’d like to be left alone, if that’s all right?” She looked at Adam, then Charles. Both men nodded, their shoulders drooping in defeat, and left the room.
She wanted to cry for disappointing them, but she was also angry at herself for pushing them away. As much as she wanted something sturdy in her life, the moment it was offered to her, she wanted to run away from it.
What the sick fuck was that even about?
When the doorbell rang, she waited for a moment to see if one of them would answer it. This Olivia Martin was coming by to see her, but what for?
Was she a shrink?
Maybe some kind of therapist?
Maybe she was the person who would take her memories if she decided this life wasn’t for her.
As no one came to open the door, she stood and made her way through the entrance area of the home. She looked through the peephole and found a beautiful woman with long brown hair, and five men standing behind her.
What the hell was this?
She opened the door and the woman smiled.
“Hi, Sadie? My name is Olivia Martin. I’ve come to talk to you about what it means to be a blood demon.”
Sadie opened the door wider and looked at each of the men behind Olivia. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you. And who are they behind you?”
Olivia’s face lit with what could only be admiration. “These are my vampires. It’s what I’ve come to discuss with you today. Jared, Jake, Ethan, Landon, and Aidan, please introduce yourselves to Sadie.”
Sadie took another step back and her eyes widened. “You’ve given yourself to all five of them?”
Olivia grinned and took a step inside the home. “Yes, now let’s go talk.”
Olivia took a seat on the couch and Sadie sat across from her. Behind the beautiful woman stood her five men. Each of them with a protective demeanor over her, and they all looked down at where she sat, adoring the woman before them.
“So, Jared is your one in charge?” Sadie asked.
Olivia nodded. “Yes. He’s the leader of our little family.”
“I wouldn’t go as far to say little. There’s five of them and one of you.”
Olivia grinned and crossed one leg over the other. “Yes, and it works for us.”
“No one gets jealous?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” the one named Landon said. “Sometimes I feel a streak of jealousy when she spends time with the Covenant and not us.”
Olivia chuckled. “What he means to say is, no, my men do not get jealous of one another. They live together like they’re brothers, play like family, and fight like siblings.”
Sadie nodded and looked to her hands in her lap. “Do you think we can have a few minutes alone?”
“Absolutely.” As Olivia stood, Sadie watched the woman, her men coming around the couch. Each pressed a kiss upon her lips, and the one who was their leader, he leaned in and whispered something to her, and Olivia giggled. She nodded and the men then left the room, the door closing behind them.
Olivia sat back down and crossed her legs. “All right, alone at last. Let’s talk.”
Sadie offered a forced smile, then wiped her clammy palms on her thighs. “May I ask what he whispered to you?”
“Jared? Sure. He said, ‘And the student becomes the teacher. Don’t scare her off now.’”
Sadie lifted a brow. “Why would you scare me?”
Olivia shook her head. “He was teasing. So, let’s talk about what you’ve learned so far. You’re a blood demon.” She ticked offon her first finger. “You had no idea about this until the other day.” She ticked the next finger. “And now you’re not sure what to do with all this information.” The third finger was now ticked.
Sadie nodded. “All of the above.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. No one was in the room to listen, but she felt the need to do it anyway. “How do you do it with all of them?”
Olivia grinned. “With as much exuberance as I can muster. I’m only one woman and, well, there’s five of them.”
Sadie let a huff of air go. “Up until now, I thought I knew a little about sex. Now, I realize I’m merely vanilla.”
“I felt the same way in the beginning, but trust me, it can work if you allow it to. Society tells us that we should be with one man or one woman. Well, I say fuck society!”
Sadie’s brows rose. “Well, okay then. Fuck society.”
“No, Sadie, I’m serious. If you give yourself over to these men, they will love you, adore you, be anything you need, and will protect you against anything.”
“How do you love more than one person at a time?”
Olivia shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t know. I just know I love all five of my men.”
“Okay, so I have to know. How do you sleep with all five at once?”
The sly grin on Olivia’s lips didn’t go unnoticed. “Carefully, and freely. Give yourself to them and they’ll take control of your body. They’ll know exactly what to do and how to do it.”
“And they’ll feed on me,” Sadie added.
“Yes, they will. And it will be the most erotic sensation you’ll ever experience, every single fucking time.”
Sadie let go a long exhale, then nodded. “I appreciate your time, Olivia. You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
“I tell you what,” Olivia stood to her feet and Sadie followed suit. “Give yourself some time with each of them. Go somewhere private with just one of them for a week or two and see how your chemistry unfolds. If you have sex, great. If you want to wait till everyone is together, great. Work out the details with them and see where you are in the end.”
“Actually, that sounds like a great plan.”
Olivia smiled. “You’re welcome. Now, if you don’t mind, I have a dinner party to attend.”
“A dinner party? Sounds fun.”
The door opened and in came her entourage of men, followed by William, Charles, and Adam.
“All is well?” Jared asked.
Olivia nodded and took his hand. “Perfectly. I told her we have a dinner party to get to.”
“We do?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. You’re the party and I’m the dinner.”
Sadie heard a soft growl permeate the room. William stood next to her and lightly pressed his hand to her lower back.
“You all right?” he whispered.
“He’s growling,” she answered in a soft voice.
“Imagine having a piece of chocolate. It’s divine, smooth, silky, and the best made chocolate in the world. It’s laid in front of you and it has barely touched your lips. The essence of the chocolate has sent you on a frenzy and now you need it more than air, more than life. This chocolate morsel was all that mattered in the world.”
“She is the chocolate?” she asked and looked at him.
He nodded. “As are you, Sadie.”
Her lips formed an ‘oh’ and she turned back to Olivia. Jared was in front of her and one who looked like his brother was at her back. The other three surrounded her and it felt like Sadie was looking in on a private moment.
She cleared her throat. “Thank you again for your help today, Olivia.”
“You’re welcome,” answered one of her men. “If it’s all the same to you, we need to get her home.”
“Of course,” Adam answered and when Sadie glanced his way, he winked at her. She smiled and he escorted the blood demon and her stable of men to the front door.
“Did you get your answers?” William asked.
“Sort of. However, I think I’ll know more here soon.” As Adam came back to the group, she folded her hands in front of her. “Olivia gave me a fantastic idea. She suggested I spend a week or two with each of you alone, then see where we are when our times are over. Would you be willing to give me this?”
A chorus of “Yes, anything, of course,” was said in unison.
She smiled and her gaze landed on Charles. “I’d like to start with you, if that’s all right?”
He nodded and closed the distance to her. He took her hand and pressed his lips against her knuckles. “Aces, babe. I’d love to take you to my home in Australia.”
She grinned and excitement bloomed. “I’ve never been and would love to go. I need my passport, but otherwise, let’s do it.”