setting his hands to her hips, then her waist, daegan drew her off of gideon's cock with effortless strength, straightening her as she reached down to hold on to his thighs.

"spread your legs,cher ." daegan uttered the husky demand. gideon could tell he'd found her snug anal opening from the way she caught her lip in her teeth, her body shuddering in preparation. "put them around gideon so that he may do as you desire."

her legs unfolded. as she looked into gideon's face, he had no idea which expression would bring her the most comfort, so he let his attention move over the uptilted breasts, seeing past the wounds, and then down to her waist where daegan's fingers pressed into her pale flesh. then farther, to the delicate petals of her sex, now open for his gaze as her small feet slid over the hair-roughened terrain of his thighs.

putting his hands on her ankles, he helped guide her. daegan slid them both closer so that her legs could curve around gideon's back, brace against the tub's slick walls.

"aaahh . . ." her cry was desolation and desire at once as daegan pushed her down on his lubricated cock, easing deep into her ass. her face suffused with a reaction so torn between relief and pain, gideon couldn't bear it. he really didn't think he could do this. but his cock leaped in her hand when anwyn grasped it, her fingers sliding over the engorged head beneath the water, liquid and firm heat together.

"inside me," she whispered. as her head fell back onto daegan's shoulder, the vampire slid his hands up her abdomen to cup her breasts, his fingers capturing the nipples.

gideon had always been a breast man, and hers were superbly shaped, high and firm. with daegan holding them up like that, gideon felt the damning saliva gather in his mouth. "come closer," daegan said. "suckle her sweet nipples. give her comfort, gideon." his mind shut down and his body moved. he'd felt helpless with the four victims' pain, but there were certain things he could do for them. medical help, assurance that they were safe, even the occasional embrace as they shook through the shock portion of their experience, until a family member or medical person took over and he could melt into the shadows once again. he knew how to bring violent justice.

but this . . . he'd never experienced a victim needing what anwyn wasdemanding . he wondered if it was the vampire carnality that had led her to this craving, or if it was the nature of the woman herself. or if that part of her was already so close to a vampire's the answer was irrelevant.

sliding closer meant his thighs slid over daegan's, but the vampire's head was bent, his lips on her neck as she made quiet whimpers in the back of her throat. gideon's cock brushed her pubic bone, close to her clit. anwyn jerked up, making the water slosh, her hands digging into gideon's shoulders again.

gideon positioned himself, but then daegan's knuckles brushed the center of his chest, snapping his gaze up.

"make sure she's ready," daegan said.

of course. this was about need and purging, not a slow, sensual build of pleasure. she might not be able to produce enough of her natural lubrication, and he could have hurt her worse, the last thing he wanted to do.

though gideon flushed hot, he knew it wasn't the time to nurse a hurt ego. he squelched the desire to snap at the vampire, tell him he knew how to give a woman pleasure. the harsh reality was he probably needed the reminder. for the past couple years, up until anwyn's decree that there would be no money between them, he'd paid for sex. it was easier that way, so he could ram into a woman's heat and release, relying on the woman's professionalism to handle her part of things.

it wasn't about a give-and-take, a sharing or melding, like this. this was far more than physical. while she desperately needed the physical scourging, it was an emotional one, too, driving back her attackers'

brutality and indifference to her pain with the opposite. two men who cared unconditionally about her needs, about what happened to her, at least in this moment.

he didn't understand why she'd known he could offer her that, when he hadn't even known it himself.

yet he hadn't questioned it when she said he needed to be here. hefelt he did, and for more reasons than misplaced guilt.

putting his hand to her face, he drew her gaze to him. "tell me if i do anything you don't want," he said roughly. when she didn't respond, gazing upon him with that hungry yearning, he put his other hand below the water, keeping the emotional connection with their held gazes. he stroked the opening of her pussy as he'd stroke a kitten, his knuckle teasing the lips, over the clit, sensual circles that had her hips lifting infinitesimally, a sweet whimper emitting from her lips that had daegan's eyes flashing in approval.

he could use the lubricant, but he wanted to try it this way first. he was relieved to discover that the flesh was no longer torn, the injuries in that area obviously less severe, at least physically.

still caressing her below the water, gideon leaned forward to close his mouth, warm and wet, over her left nipple. daegan's hand still held the breast, and his grip tightened, rounding the generous curve farther, letting gideon take the peak even deeper. as he did, daegan's knuckles inadvertently pressed into his throat. gideon chose to ignore the fact he was completely defenseless, that the male could rip his head off. in all fairness, anwyn had held a razor blade over his jugular earlier in the evening and he hadn't flinched then.yeah, double standard for sure.

his knuckle slipped into her opening, and was rewarded by that slippery substance that tasted so tempting on a man's tongue. he straightened the finger, went a bit deeper, stoked the heat so the fluid increased, the passage preparing to take him. her hands were back on his shoulders, biting in once more as she arched back against daegan, gasping at gideon's skill at her breast, augmented by daegan's clever kneading to give it even more friction. when the wetness increased noticeably, gideon slowly drew his finger out. lifting his head, he took his cock in his hand and seated it at the opening to her pussy.

"yes," she whispered, her eyes glazed with a delirious need for escape. "gideon, come into me. now." as he slid in, the channel was tight, pressure caused by the male vampire already so deep in her ass, their two organs separated by that thin wall of tissue, blood, muscle and all the other miraculous and yet far too fragile systems of a woman's body. unintended, his gaze met daegan's. the vampire's fangs bared, his eyes firing, and gideon felt an answering pulse in his own blood as they both filled the woman they cradled between them. then male priorities brought both their gazes to her face, to see her reaction to their mutual possession.

"no . . . hands. no hands." her lip was curled back in a feral expression, a red glint in her eyes again.

the blue-green still held sway, telling gideon she was balanced on a precarious edge between what she was and what she was becoming, but the desire suffusing her face held his alarm at bay. putting her hands over daegan's, she drew them away from her body, brought them out into the air on either side of her, just above her shoulders.

squeezing hard, she left them suspended there for a brief second as she grasped gideon's hands where they were on her hips, taking them out as well to meet daegan's.

incidental limb contact was bearable in this situation, but the intimacy of clasping hands had gideon suffering a moment of rebellion. he tensed, but at her insistent pressure, the urgency in her face, he knew he'd do almost anything she needed. so when she brought his hand to daegan's left, pushing their fingers together in a knotted clasp, and then did the same with the right, he held the contact, forming a tense male circle of muscle. he eschewed eye contact with daegan this time, though, making her the center of his aroused attention.

it was quite a focal point, her body arched, nipples tight and flushed with blood, the muscles of her upper body quivering with pleasure. at their joining point, he could see his cock moving in and out, stretching her labia, the hint of her ass cheeks compressing against the pressure of daegan's pelvis each time he thrust into her.

gideon worked to follow her rhythm, timing his withdrawals with daegan's. because of the precarious angles, they had to keep it slow, torturous. he couldn't help but be aware of the slide of the male's thigh beneath his, the brush of heavy testicles against his own as they began to come together, thrusting at once into her trembling body. they used the pressure of their palms, the grip of fingers, to withdraw, surge fo rward.

her gaze clung to gideon's face as she reached back, curled her fingers in daegan's scalp. she scraped his neck when he put his fangs to her throat in reaction, lips peeling back in a way that had gideon's heart accelerating dangerously, seeing it this close.

she contracted on them both, distracting him, and her voice was hoarse, guttural. "bite me, daegan.

take my blood where he took it. make it deep. i want it to look like your mark, not his." gideon had a glimpse of daegan's powerful fangs lengthening. right before they sunk in, he had to look away. he couldn't handle seeing that shit, no matter how much some sadistic part of him wanted to look.

daegan's fingers tightened on his in reaction to the blood that filled his mouth. anwyn's hands flailed out, seeking an anchor, and landed on each set of theirs, curling over them. of one mind, both men loosened their grasp, let hers in between them. now their hands emulated the state of their bodies, a protective circle around her, tangled together in the three-way give-and-take of tumultuous emotion, a need to release.

a drop of blood rolled down her throat. gideon felt a terrible, inexplicable desire to lick it off her collarbone. he lost the battle. he didn't want it to get into the water, after all, and he wasn't going to let go of their hands. so he leaned forward, brought his lips to it, suckled the skin. following it back from the high curve of her breast, up and up until he reached her throat, his brow brushed daegan's.

the vampire's head lifted. before gideon could withdraw, the vampire made a quick pass over gideon's mouth, swiping that taste of blood off his lips. it left a feeling of wet male heat lingering there as the vampire leaned back, renewing his hard thrusts into anwyn's body, responding to her own violently spiraling arousal. it was over in a second, but shook gideon to the core. though he recovered quickly enough to catch up, restore the rhythm between their thrust and withdrawal into her, he almost pulled back from the male's touch on his hands. anwyn's slim fingers were a touch of heaven in between, though, caressing both their palms, the spaces separating their fingers. she trembled, on the cusp of climax and held in stasis, pinned between their two bodies.