8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Anatoly

It wasn’t until the afternoon that Anatoly was able to move well enough to get out of bed. It took a lot of effort, but it was better than lying in bed waiting for Rissa and Zan to get home.

After spending so many years waiting out the daylight hours, he should be better at it, but no, so he drank blood from the small hidden fridge in their bedroom and paced.

He’d spent as much time as feasible grooming and dressing. He’d changed his outfit four times. With a growl of frustration, he left the bedroom and moved to pacing in the main area.

Trying to find a way to distract himself, he cleaned all of his and Zan’s things out of the spare room. Then he put away the purchases Rissa left unopened on the table. He decided to give Rissa the second bedroom as a place of her own. Zan wasn’t interested in personal space. The mountain lion shifter would be content to be wrapped around someone 24/7. But Rissa was different. She was going to need down time where she could be alone. This room would be hers.

He should probably hang these things in the second-floor apartment, but he decided to encourage her to stay up here and let her move downstairs as a last resort.

Anatoly scowled at all the remaining space in the closet after he’d hung the few outfits. He didn’t want to order any more things for Rissa, he wanted her to pick them out. He was determined to fill the closet and dresser with her choices.

She’d have everything. She deserved everything!

It felt like a hundred years passed before he heard Zan and Rissa finally coming home. Because of the noise blocking spells, he didn’t hear them until they were almost to the front door. Focusing on their link, he felt Zan’s happiness. They’d had a good time, and Rissa was joyful.

Relief and excitement filled him as he rushed to the door and swung it open just as Zan was reaching for the knob.

“Oh, hey,” Zan said with a broad smile. “Glad to see you’re awake. Did you, uh, eat?”

“I’m very full,” Anatoly assured him. Grabbing some of the bags hanging from Zan’s hands and forearms, he stepped back. “Come in, come in!”

Zan and Rissa bustled by him. His sense of smell wasn’t as good as Zan’s, but it was still better than a human’s. As she passed, Anatoly took a deep breath, pulling in Rissa’s soft feminine scent.

He crushed the package in his hand to keep from reaching out to touch her. He smelled something sweet and looked down to find a very smooshed container of pastries.

He felt Zan through their soul link laughing at him. It made Anatoly want to spank the shifter’s ass until he cried and begged to be fucked.

Would Rissa like to be spanked or do the spanking?

“We picked up some of those scented candles you like,” Zan said, pulling him out of his salacious thoughts.

“Candles?” Anatoly asked, nudging the door shut and following them to the table near the kitchen area.

Zan gave the misshapen pastry box a look, then raised an eyebrow before speaking. “Rissa wouldn’t let me buy any of them until I told her how much you like scented candles.”

“If you don't like the ones I picked, we can return them,” Rissa said, setting down her bags. She looked apprehensive. “They were on sale, so I might’ve bought too many.”

“I’m sure I’ll love them,” Anatoly said. Zan and he couldn’t do direct communication through their link, but sometimes, they could send an image to each other. Zan must be concentrating on a bathtub because the image of one full of steaming water popped into his head. He took the hint.

“One of my favorite things to do is take a hot bath with candles and a good book,” he told Rissa. “It’s how I relax sometimes.”

Rissa’s eyes widened and then a smile replaced her slight frown. “You do?”

He sent silent feelings of gratitude to Zan. “Absolutely. Follow me.” He led her through their room to the large bathroom beyond. Along one wall was a massive sunken tub.

As he watched her take in the opulent bathroom, he noticed Zan smirking behind her. He knew Anatoly had told Rissa a small lie. Taking a bath with a book wasn’t one of his favorite things. Teasing Zan while he bathed him in that big tub was one of his favorite things.

What would it be like to have both Zan and Rissa in that tub? Both of them focused on him and begging to come.

His dick went from semi hard to rock hard in .0003 seconds flat. Fuck, he needed to calm down.

Zan stepped around Rissa and took her hand, leading her further into the bathroom and away from Anatoly.

“Before we moved in, Anatoly had the whole place gutted and remodeled,” Zan explained. At first, Zan had teased him about the shower that could fit four large people, the tub big enough for both of them, and the extra deep vanity.

Then Anatoly had bent him over that vanity, and Zan’s teasing stopped.

There were very specific reasons he’d had the architect design the bathroom this way, and he’d enjoyed showing Zan the logic behind all of them.

“This is so extra,” she said, running her fingers across the vanity, then she opened a drawer. It was the feeling of startlement from Zan that reminded Anatoly what they kept in there before Rissa slammed the drawer shut.

“Those are my toys,” Zan said, giving her one of his mischievous grins. “We can fill a drawer with toys for you too.”

She stared at the floor. “I should probably leave.”

When she headed for the door, Anatoly was quick to step in her way. “The bar doesn’t open for another hour, and we haven’t finished showing you all the amenities.”

Zan was quick to move behind her. Neither man was touching her, but Anatoly could tell she was very aware of both of them.

“I, um, we should…” her words tailed off as Anatoly moved closer. She took a step back and came up against Zan.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he murmured, leaning in close but not touching her. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was parted.

“Are you sure we should be doing that?” she asked. He got the feeling she was asking herself that question more than him.

“Why not?” Anatoly asked. “We’re all consenting adults. We all desire each other.” He paused and tilted his head a little. “Or am I wrong?”

“No, I don’t, um, mean, yes, uh…” she stumbled over her words then stopped.

“You don’t want to kiss us again?” Zan asked, his voice low and sensual.

“You don’t want to see us naked?” Anatoly asked. Putting both her hands on his neck, he ran them down his front, then pressed them over his groin, showing her the outline of his hard dick. “You don’t want to see this in the flesh?”

He paused, giving her a moment to speak. She looked a little dazed, and her pupils were dilated. When she didn’t say anything, he continued.

“You can stop us at any time. Say no, or red, or fuck off, and we’ll stop. You can tell me to move, and I’ll step out of your way, and you can go downstairs and pretend this never happened. Or you can stay here and let us do all kinds of wicked things to your body.”

She blinked up at him, then back and up at Zan.

“If I have a vote, I want you to stay,” Zan said. He leaned over and pressed his face into her hair. “I want to hear you scream as you come.”

“S-s-scream?” Rissa stuttered. “I don’t scream.”

“You haven't screamed yet,” Zan growled, making Rissa shudder. That’s when Anatoly knew they had her.

“Stay or go?” Anatoly pressed. “Which is it?”

“Stay.” The word was barely audible and was more a sigh than anything else. Pulling in a deep breath, she met Anatoly’s eyes and spoke again with more conviction. “I’ll stay.”

“Good girl,” Anatoly praised as Zan reached for her.