6

SHANG-DA STAYED BY the two werehyenas near the loveseat, his trench coat swept back to show the weapons more clearly. What was going on? Jamil stayed at his Ulfric's side, and there was something way too formal, too dangerous, about all of it for our normally less-than-action-oriented Richard.

The guards by us fanned out and looked a little uncertain. They'd picked up on the urgency, too.

"Richard, what has happened?" Jean-Claude asked.

"I'm in time, so nothing yet," he said.

Truth and Wicked moved in front of him and Jamil. "You're moving like you have a purpose, Ulfric," Truth said. "What is that purpose?"

He let them stop him. "I'm here to complete Jean-Claude's triumvirate of power."

"I expected you tomorrow for the weretigers," Jean-Claude said, "but tonight is a surprise."

"Did I interrupt something?"

"Yes," Asher said, and that one word was very unhappy.

"Then I am just in time."

Micah came to me with Nathaniel literally in his hand. Micah offered me his free hand, and I let go of Jason to take it. Micah and Nathaniel were the ones who had held me the most when Richard cut me up. Since he'd left Jean-Claude when he left me, it had seemed wrong to cry on Jean-Claude's shoulder.

"Who did you bring the guards for, Richard?" Jean-Claude asked.

"Hopefully, no one, but Anita is always complaining I'm not cautious enough; I'm trying to change that."

"Truth, Wicked, enough."

The vampires looked at me, and I nodded. Only then did they move aside.

Micah squeezed my hand, and I leaned in against him with Jean-Claude's hand still in mine. Richard looked at Micah. "I guess I've earned that look, Nimir-Raj, Micah."

"What do you want?" Micah asked.

"To help. I swear to you, I'm here to make things better instead of worse."

"That would be a change," Micah said.

There was a flash of anger across Richard's handsome face, and then he nodded. "I deserved that." He looked at me then and said, "Anita, I don't know what to say to you."

I sighed. "You said you came here to make things better; do that, make them better, and we'll go from there." I met the perfect brown of his eyes, and he nodded.

He turned to Jean-Claude. "I don't know what to say to you either, Jean-Claude."

"Start with what you are doing here, Richard," he said.

Richard moved into the group of us. Asher actually moved a little closer to Jean-Claude, as if he would block the other man. Normally that would have been enough to stop Richard in his tracks, but tonight he kept coming. He swept his hair to one side to expose the long, smooth, muscled line of his neck. "First, I would greet the Master of the City."

I felt Jean-Claude go very still beside me, sinking into that stillness that the old vampires could do. It proved that he was as unsure of what was happening as I was, and that he didn't trust this new, more cooperative Richard. We were both expecting him to come in and try, but in the end he would leave us more hurt than when we started, and he would fail us at the critical moment. He had taught us that.

Jean-Claude let go of both my hand and Asher's. He would take the greeting offered - the very kind of greeting that Asher had been trying to force on all of us just minutes ago. It was an almost surreal turn of events, because Richard didn't offer this greeting to anyone, or never had before, not willingly.

Jean-Claude put his hands on the other man's shoulders to steady himself, and leaned in and laid the barest of kisses on the other man's neck. Then he leaned back and studied Richard. "Why are you here?"

"I would stand at your side tonight as I will tomorrow. You need your wolf tonight, Jean-Claude."

"We do not need you tonight, Ulfric," Asher said, and he came up behind Jean-Claude, sliding his arms around the other man's waist and putting his face next to Jean-Claude's. Asher hid his scars with his hair, but the face that showed was arrogant, sensual, and possessive.

I expected Richard to react with disgust, or anger, and he wasn't comfortable with it, but he said, "Oh, I think Jean-Claude does, and Anita does. I think they need me a lot tonight."

"They've agreed to bed me tonight, Ulfric. Jean-Claude and I will be lovers tonight with nothing denied us." He smiled, most unpleasantly, at the other man.

Richard smiled back, and his held anger as Asher's held cruelty. Really, when you came down to it, they could both be pretty unpleasant. I'd never thought of it that way before, but it was true.

Richard had swallowed his power back as he came through the door, being polite to shield. Now the first trickle of warm, vibrating power flowed over us. I shivered where it touched, clutching at Micah's hand. Jean-Claude didn't so much shiver as just smooth the lapels of his jacket, but it was a nervous gesture, I knew that.

"I won't offer sex to you, Asher, but other than that, I wouldn't miss it."

"Richard," I said, "you don't mean that."

He looked at me and held his hand out to me. "If you and Jean-Claude are going to do it, then I do mean it."

I stared at his hand. "What are you offering?" I asked.

"Take my hand, Anita, please, for power, for shared power let Jean-Claude's triumvirate be everything it was meant to be tonight while he embraces Asher."

Micah squeezed my hand. I looked at him, and his eyes told me, Do it. I trusted him, and so I reached out. The moment Richard's hand touched mine, the power rushed over my skin like a warm bath that raised every hair on my head. My head went back, eyes closed, and the power hit Micah's hand in mine and kept spilling into Nathaniel. Leopard was my animal to call, and Nathaniel was to me what Richard was to Jean-Claude. The last time we'd tried to combine my triumvirate with Jean-Claude's, Richard hadn't cooperated.

Jean-Claude's hand touched my shoulder, and the power spread to him.  He moved his hand to the side of my face, and bare skin was always better. It was like the power was a deep, still pool of water, and that last touch was a huge rock. The water crashed upward, spilled outward, and the rings of power went out and out and out.

Someone whispered, "Oh, my God," and it was none of us who were touching because we had no words yet. Jason wasn't touching us, but I felt the power stagger him, and he reached out, put his hand on my back so he could become part of that circuit. It was like throwing another, smaller boulder into the waters before they'd settled from the first. I felt Wicked and Truth when the power hit them, because they were ours, and Jamil was Richard's wolf, and his body reacted to the power, and then the wererats resonated with the power because we'd fed on them through their rat king, so we knew the taste of the wererats and it was good, and then Shang-Da grabbed the back of the loveseat; I felt his hand close on the cloth to steady him. And finally the power found Asher, because all the vampires in this city were ours, but he must have moved away from us to be near Shang-Da. We felt him touch the werehyenas and he was protected from us, from the spill of our power, our heat, our warmth, our mix of death and life. He and his hyenas were like boulders in the wash of it, standing firm and not being swept along.

I heard one of the werehyenas say, "We need to go, Asher."

I had to blink to clear my vision, almost like you do after really good sex where the orgasm leaves you blind and unable to focus. But it wasn't sex, it was pure power.

Asher spoke into the stunned silence. "You've been holding back on us, Ulfric."

Richard's hand tightened on mine and on Jean-Claude's, and for a moment I couldn't tell which hand was mine, or if they both were. We'd had moments of this kind of sharing before, and always Richard or I panicked and broke the power, but there wasn't enough of me solid to be afraid, and Richard was exhilarated as if it had worked even better than he'd planned.

It was his voice, hoarse, raw from the power, that answered for us. "I could say the same for you, Asher."

I could see again, but I was staring at Richard's chest so all I could see was his red shirt with its frame of jean jacket. Jean-Claude's voice came even and unruffled, but I could feel the fierce joy in him. This was the power he'd bound Richard and me to him for; this was why he had locked  us into our little three-way of hate, for this possibility. He said, "Why did you cut yourself off from our power, Asher?"

"Anita on her own made a slave out of a dominant werelion, her Nicky. The three of you together would be powerful enough, but with her leopard to call and her Nimir-Raj, I fear my poor heart will be enslaved."

"We would never do that to you," I said. Richard moved into the curve of Jean-Claude's arm, and there was a moment when the vampire wasn't touching me. It changed how the power felt, but it didn't break the bond; we both belonged to Jean-Claude and to touch one was to touch the other.

I could see Asher and his hyenas now by the loveseat, near the curtains with the door just on the other side. He was watching us, face empty and unreadable, but his being over there so far away spoke more than any look could have.

"Unless you tried to do it to us first," Richard said. He squeezed my hand tight and drew Jean-Claude closer to him. The other man moved so he could put his arms around both our waists as he stood between us. I kept my hand in Micah's, and Jason moved to touch me and Jean-Claude.

"You know something, mon ami; share it with us," Jean-Claude said.

"Narcissus has been bragging that his master was going to roll mine and then the werehyenas would own St. Louis."

"Narcissus wants that, true," Asher said, "but I did not agree to do it."

"My information says differently, and I believed it enough to drive down here tonight with Shang-Da and Jamil. I believed it enough that I'm sleeping over, if they'll have me."

"And if I said I would bed the three of you, how long would it take for your newfound resolution to crumble?" Asher asked.

"If my choice is between opening a vein to you with Jean-Claude and Anita, or making that sadistic bastard Narcissus the animal king of St. Louis, I'll donate the blood."

Asher came around the loveseat with the hyenas hand in hand with him, as if he wasn't sure what would happen if he let them go, but he stalked toward us putting that grace, that raw sexuality that he held inside him into every step. "I've wanted your neck under my mouth from the moment I saw you, Richard."

"I know." I could feel his pulse try to speed, feel his heart as he concentrated  to slow it down so his pulse would stay quiet. Fear meant food to vampires and wereanimals, and Richard hadn't come tonight to be food. He might donate blood, but it wouldn't be as submissive anything. If your hamburger could bite back, that seemed to be what he had in mind.

Asher stopped moving forward and studied us. "Is it just the three of you, or the five, no, six of you?"

"I can't speak for anyone else but myself," Richard said, "but I stand with Jean-Claude and Anita."

"The leopards will do what their Nimir-Ra needs them to do," Micah said.

Jason said, "I'm Anita's wolf to call; that means where I sleep tonight is up to her."

"Jean-Claude and I can fuck and then drink from each of you in turn and fuck some more. It would be enough power to keep us going until dawn crashed the party," Asher said. He fought for control and finally lost. His face showed an almost exquisite pain. He wanted what we were offering. I saw his hands tighten on the werehyenas. They seemed bespelled by him, but I realized they were still enough themselves to have given him their non-gun hands just in case.

Shang-Da was trailing behind them, as if he expected them to need the weapons. For Richard to be here like this, and Shang-Da to be acting like that, would take more than just rumors of Narcissus bragging. The moment I had that thought, it wasn't just a thought, it was more like knowledge. Pictures, images, sensations, memories, and Richard had heard that Asher had a human servant in mind. Narcissus wanted him to make a triumvirate of power like we had made. If they could pull it off, and if they chose well for their human servant, the balance of power in St. Louis could shift and not in our favor. We'd been so worried about out-of-town vampires trying to move in on our power structure that we hadn't noticed a much closer problem.

The rush of shared knowledge left me shaken, and I fought to hide my face by cuddling closer to Richard, burying my face against his chest. But of course, that was too close for other things. You'd think being able to share thoughts would bring us so close that nothing could make it worse, but burying my face against his bloodred T-shirt, I could smell his skin just underneath. The scent of him tightened things low in my body, and bound this tight I couldn't hide it. Not from Richard, and not from Micah, who  held my other hand, and through him, Nathaniel. Jason knew, too, but that didn't bother me nearly as much. Jean-Claude knew, but he'd known that from the beginning and used it to bind Richard and me to him.

I was left staring up into Richard's face from inches away, with the look in his eyes that let me know he wanted me, too. We always wanted each other; sex had never been our problem area.

I turned from Richard's eyes to Micah and Nathaniel beside him. I started to say something, but Micah said, "It's all right."

Nathaniel nodded.

Asher took a deep, shaking breath and let it out slow, but it shook on the way out, too. "As you don't trust me or Narcissus, I don't trust you, Ulfric. This is too good to be true, and that means it is a trap. A lovely trap, but a trap nonetheless."

Richard looked out at the vampire. "No trap, just us."

"I would bargain for only you and Anita with Jean-Claude and me tonight."

"I would add one more wereanimal to come after you have fed on both Anita and me."

"Why?" Asher asked.

"You'll only feed on us after you've had sex once apiece; if we have more food waiting, you can fuck again."

"Bold, Ulfric, very bold; what happened to our homophobic wolf ?"

"I'm donating blood, not sex."

"Won't it bother you to watch Jean-Claude and me together?"

"We'll see, won't we?"

"Do you really think your nerves can take being in bed with all four of us? You usually protect your virtue from me as if you were an untouched maiden and I the lecherous villain."

"By your standards that's exactly what I am. Remember that I share some of Jean-Claude's memories. You love being the first man to seduce a straight man. The more macho and homophobic the better, because every time you won the game you knew it was because no one was as beautiful as you."

"That was long ago, Ulfric; I am no longer the perfect beauty I was then."

"Beautiful enough to make Jean-Claude and Anita afraid of being alone with you individually, because they love you. That gives a vampire with your abilities a big edge in who's going to be dominant in bed."

"You'll truly let me take blood from you tonight?" Asher asked.

"Do you understand what he'll do to you, Richard?" Jason asked. "His bite is amazing, more orgasmic than Jean-Claude's."

Richard's pulse got away from him then and pushed at the side of his throat. "So I've heard."

"I can taste your pulse, Ulfric; I frighten you."

"A little."

"So arrogant, Ulfric; you think you are proof against me? I would enjoy proving you wrong."

"You can try," he said.

Asher rubbed his thumbs along the knuckles of the two guards. It seemed to help him focus. "But you're not certain you will win this battle of wills. I can feel your doubt. So why would you risk your handsome flesh with me?"

"Anita and Jean-Claude love you; that gives you an edge. But you love them, too, so that balances out. I don't even like you, and you don't like me."

"So it is a stalemate," Asher said.

"No, because we have one thing you don't."

"And that would be what?"

"You want me."

"Oh, that is arrogant," Asher said.

"You don't want me because you like me. You want me because I belong to Jean-Claude and because part of you believes that I'm a greater threat to his affections for you than Anita is. She's just a girl, and what really scares you is that he'll find another man to love. You worried about Micah and Nathaniel, but you've been in the bed with them and him and Anita. I'm the only one you haven't seen with him. Until you see us together you'll never be sure."

"I have never said that."

"Not in words, but you're more jealous of me, because I won't share him with you the way Micah, Nathaniel, and Jason do. Tonight I'm offering to share, and you want that."

It was a challenge, and Richard knew his audience. Asher did want what was on the table, and he wouldn't want to back down from the challenge, especially since it was Richard throwing the gauntlet down. It was a trap, not one we'd spring on purpose, but could Asher really sink fang into Richard for the first time and resist trying his vampire wiles on him? It would almost be too tempting to resist.

"Come home with us, Asher. Let us go back to Narcissus," Perses said.

"This is a one-night-only offer, Asher," Richard said.

Asher licked his lips and said, "This could wait until after the weretigers arrive and go again to Las Vegas."

"No," Richard said, "tonight, now, or never." Richard met Asher's gaze full on; with me and Jean-Claude touching him he was proof against the master vampire's gaze.

"Don't do it," the other hyena said.

"Let go of everyone but the three of you," Asher said.

Jean-Claude thought at us. Micah squeezed my hand tight, and then he let me pull away. Jason let his hands fall and he stepped back. It was just Richard and us now, but the power was still amazing, a warm rush of magic just waiting for us to decide what to do with it.

"Don't," the werehyena said.

"I am master, not you," Asher said, and he pulled away from them. He stood there, alone, and again I knew why he was not master of his own city. Not because he wouldn't be powerful enough, but because he let his heart, or his desire, overrule his common sense. You can look out of control and even be crazy as hell - I'd met a few Masters of the City that were - but in the end they were all about survival. But Asher came to us. He stopped a few feet away as if he'd gotten to the edge of something. I think it was the edge of our power.

"I want this," he said, and his voice was already hoarse with the beginnings of need.

"If we are with you tonight, you must give your word that you will not take the werehyenas to another city until we have enough other guards to replace them," Jean-Claude said.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you can go to Narcissus for tonight and the three of us will go to my bedroom without you." He drew me in against his body and ran a hand through the waves of Richard's hair, but it was Asher he looked at; we were just props for the game.

Asher's breath went out in a long shudder, and then he simply walked past us toward the far curtains. He parted them, then hesitated in the opening with the stone hallway framed behind him.

"Are you coming, or has your nerve broken already, Ulfric?"

Richard squeezed my hand, then let go of it, and of Jean-Claude's. The link was immediately not as great. It was like being suddenly less warm, as  if a cloud had crossed the sun. Richard went to Micah and Nathaniel, leaned close, and whispered something to them. Micah nodded, and then Richard offered first Micah and then Nathaniel his hand. They shook hands, and Richard came back to us. His face was strangely peaceful, but his pulse couldn't lie. It was jumping in the side of his neck. For all his brave talk, he was afraid of Asher.

Jean-Claude offered his hand to him, and Richard took it. He started to reach out to me, then hesitated and looked back at the other man. It made Jean-Claude smile and then reach his hand out to me. I went to him, and he led us by the hands to Asher at the curtains.

Jamil said, "What do you want us to do, Ulfric?"

"Have guards outside the door, and if we call for help, do your jobs."

Wicked said, "Anita, Jean-Claude, this is a bad idea."

I nodded. "Yep."

"Why do it then?" Truth asked.

I couldn't explain and I couldn't share the mind-to-mind with them, so all I could say was, "It'll be all right."

"Don't lie to a liar, Anita," Wicked said.

Jean-Claude said, "Enough. If we're doing this, I want enough hours between now and dawn to enjoy it."

It was Claudia who said, "We have to tell Rafael."

"Do that," Jean-Claude said.

"He knows I'm here," Richard said. "I went to your king for advice."

"Rafael did not tell you to come here and bugger him," Fredo said, pointing a thumb at Asher.

Richard smiled and said, "He knows why I'm here and what I'm planning to do, I promise you."

The wererats exchanged looks, but the promise got them. "Mysterious shit bugs me," Fredo said.

Jason gave a small salute as we moved through the drapes and followed Asher down the hallway. Was it wrong to think that Asher's ass looked really good in his leather pants as he walked ahead of us up the hallway, or was it just true?