While my libido was on high alert, ready to meet him, I could feel the reservation of my wolf in the back of my mind. It wasn't common for the creature to have opinions on things such as this, I could feel the question forming as if it were spoken words. 

Alpha didn't want to save Darius?

The chocolate eyes watch me, distracting me, from behind his mental cage. We were hurt, we felt betrayed. Even if it wasn't Verando's fault, even if we were pleased with him, a piece of our pack had acted out of the ordinary. Had I even had a chance to process how I felt? 

Verando fumbles with my pants, I push at them as my heart pounds in my chest. "You just said Tiberius would be here any moment," I murmur against his lips, surprised by just how hurried he is, pressing my palm to his chest as he grips my pants and pulls me against his hips with a growl. 

"I don't care." He exhales, yanking them down just enough to expose my ass. "Are you telling me to stop? When you smell this damn good?" Kissing me again, I surrender to his mouth on mine, feeling the heat building in the pit of my stomach. "Our son almost died today... Alpha is turning against me, against our family... and I asked for help from Fenrir. What's one more atrocity?"

I can't help but hesitate, knotting my hands in his hair, tugging firmly only to groan as he sank his teeth into my neck. "Fuck, Randy." I hiss through my teeth, struggling to sort through the desire to let him have all of me and assuring he was alright. The chill of his skin under my fingertips, the hardness of his body against mine, so familiar and yet so foreign. 

How long would it take me to get used to this new version of him?

The hardness of his manhood slides between my thighs, my pants holding my legs together as he supports me precariously against the edge of the counter, I felt vulnerable despite how turned on his urgency made me. I press my lips together, biting my lower lip as he kisses under my ear, panting with desire for me. 

Torn, I wanted to stop, his quick switches were a strong indicator that something under the surface was not as it should be. Yet, this was our depravity. We fed off the need to blind each other with passion so we didn't have to see the reality of our situation, to hide from the things too ugly to give a name to. 

I couldn't say I didn't love the rough treatment, that way his fingers marked me, the way he claimed me as if I was his to use. It stoked a flame that had been lit so long ago, appealing to me on a level that no self-respecting human would allow. My Alpha, so impossibly Verando over any other question of sanity, his knowledge of my body and his ability to control my pleasure had always been something concrete. 

I knew the need for me came from his desire for grounding. His need to control something about his environment, his desperation to convince himself that I wasn't going to throw in the towel on him. 

"If you want me to stop-" He insists, grinding against me, brushing his nose against mine with a slow inhale. His hand shoots up, gripping my jaw, his face so close to mine that his lips skirt over my own, gauging my response. I part my lips, teasing him with the temptation of kissing me. 

"What, you think I'm just going to yield to you because you've got a buzz going? Because you sauntered in here like I didn't see how broken you are?" I retort, challenging him, the corner of my mouth pulls up into the smallest grin as he examines my face. "I'm exhausted, you've got me twisted up like a much younger man with a lot more ambition. Maybe another time-" 

Scoffing, he nods as he shoves into me, those icy eyes never leaving my own as he buries himself inside me despite my protest. Holding me between him and the cabinets, clinging to the counter to balance as he allows gravity to keep me in position, one of his arms collects both of my legs, holding them to the side as he curses under his breath. 

The feeling makes me attempt to stiffen, to control the depth, yet my body betrays me, responding like any good lower being should. "Let's see how long you'll last." I manage, gasping as he uses the leverage on my legs to pull me roughly against him. "You've had a few drinks, you're usually such a lightweight."

My head tilts back, I clamp my hand over my mouth as he fills me completely, over and over again, trying to keep my volume in check. "30 seconds tops." I manage through my fingers, flinching as he slows, rolling his hips in a fashion that makes every thrust grind against my most sensitive regions. 

"Are you trying to piss me off?" he manages, exhaling shakily as he uses the counter for support, withdrawing to pull me roughly off the granite, keeping me facing the cabinets as he grabs my neck, shoving my face against the cold stone and lifting my hips back into the air. My toes don't even touch the ground, I cross my legs defenseless as I wonder if I've made a mistake by teasing him. 

Smacking my ass, I shudder in delight at the rough treatment, wagging my hips as he allows for a breathless chuckle. "God I love you..." He murmurs, stoking the length of him against my ass. 

"Sounds like you're stalling," I comment back as he tightens his grip on my neck, "If you need a minute to get hard again-"

I barely cover my mouth in time as he fills me, grabbing a cheek of my ass to expose me to him while he uses me relentlessly. "Just enjoying the view, darling. Watching this ass take every inch of me has got to be one of my favorite sights." 

My cheeks darken, I press my thighs more firmly together, hoping to get the image of him watching me receive him out of my mind. "Oh god." I exhale, quivering each time he rams into my prostate. "Don't watch."

"Not a fan? You don't like me watching you enjoy yourself?" Verando's voice is low, and rough, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. His cool hand grabs my hip, pulling me back to meet him with every thrust. It was rough and intense, I was nearing my limit and yet I was starved for more, there was nothing to hold onto on the granite counter. 

Nothing to appease my need to escape, to have him pin me here and take me, I can only squirm with just how out of place we are in this bright, clean kitchen. "You're so beautiful." He hums, I want to hide my face as I feel his gaze dragging down my back. "You're also an insatiable slut when it comes to cock."

I nearly choked, hiding my face, embarrassed beyond all recognition. It wasn't like him to be so bold. Only the cool stone pressed to my blazing face, the temperature difference between the two of us had never been so painfully obvious, I could feel just how deep he buried himself in me and the sensation was driving me wild. 

"Please come," I beg, rocking back against him, feeling myself getting close. "I can't take much more."

I don't have to see his face to imagine that he's grinning, to feel that I'm being rewarded with my favorite look. "Quite the opposite from your previous statement." He muses as I moan against my fist, sinking my teeth into the back of my hand. "You're so distracted, you didn't even hear the car pull up."

Wide-eyed, I move to straighten only to whimper as he pins me back against the granite. Mercilous, using me with little regard for my panic, I stifle a cry as I attempt to form words. 

"Tiberius is here?" I manage, making him press against my lower back, refusing to let me arch away. "Randy-" My heart begins to accelerate, my body threatening to break into a cold sweat at the thought of the Siren bearing witness to our lovemaking. Could this even be called lovemaking? I'd like to think of it more as disassembling each other, breaking us down into our basic instincts, and rebuilding- yet it was so entirely my preference that every part of me responded to the vision of what this might look like. 

Would it look like two people trying to cope with the stress of the day? Or would it look like careless parents who couldn't stay out of each other's pants even when their child was nearly taken?

Cursing under his breath once more, I can tell he's nearing completion. "We've been caught before, yet you're writhing like a virgin at the thought of Tiberius seeing you? Worried he might be surprised by just how dirty you can be?" 

It feels so good, I'm so close, and yet I teeter on the edge of concern if he will stop. My nipples stiffen with the height of my anxiety, grinding against the stone of the counter, my body begins to shake as I succumb to the relentless assault. My hearing piques, I can hear Tiberius and Tomas talking outside the door, hear Tomas tell Tiberius about the events of the day. 

That my husband was acting strange, that Darius had almost died, my impending orgasm ebbs, remaining just on the cusp but refusing to tip over the edge. 

"What would they say, suspicions confirmed that you're worse than a cat in heat, spreading your legs wherever, whenever?" Verando coaxes closer to the tipping point. I shake my head, hiding my face in my arms as I try desperately to find some sort of volume control. 

My chest heaving, my body shaking from fear and excitement, I know if I tell him to stop he would and yet the thrill of being at his mercy sends a shiver down my spine. 

Would he? Or would he let them see me falling apart, here on the counter?

The door opens and Verando eases off his pace, each deliciously slow stroke is enough to push me closer. I wring my toes, desperate, clamping both hands over my mouth as I tremble beneath him.

"Mercer? Are you in here?" Tiberius sounds irritated and tired. The only thing separating us is a single wall, no doors, no sheets, no darkness to hide my red-faced, sweaty response to this incredible creature. 

"I'm otherwise occupied, I'd suggest being patient, lest you see something you might otherwise regret," Verando responds, making me gasp as I squirm to right myself, only to barely contain my cry as he continues that same slow, deep, hot rhythm. 

Tomas murmurs a quick question and Tiberius makes a sound of disappointment. "Are you seriously doing what I think you're doing? What makes you think I don't want to see it? I'm a Siren, sex is my entire being, maybe I want to see all of it." He demands.

 I shut my eyes as I willed him to stay on the other side of that blessed wall. 

"Of course." Verando's voice catches me off guard, I glance over my shoulder, horrified, to see him running his tongue over his teeth as if he wished to devour me. "I'm a reasonable man, as you know. If you truly believe I'd let you live after that, be my guest."

Tomas chuckles, I hear the fumbled response of the two exchanging beliefs on whether my husband is bluffing or not, yet I can't focus on the actual content of the words. I'm in a haze, so close and yet so overwhelmed that my body isn't quite sure how to react. 

"The band is about to arrive, we have an entire performance to go over at your insistence to wait until the last minute, and I haven't even heard you sing in the last month to see if your absurd cigarette use has affected your voice. Do you plan on having us all gather in here to listen to the sounds of you fornicating? You Lycan's surely are something else."

"If I so wish it." He responds dryly, the thought of the entire band hearing us going at it like wild animals threatens to crush any hope at a libido I might ever have again. "But, luckily for all of you, I rather like keeping this one to myself." Bending over me, he laces his fingers with mine, pulling my hands away from my mouth to grip my jaw, bringing my lips to his as he kisses me deeply. 

"You're out of your mind." I seeth at him, flushed, enraged at his audacity and yet so incredibly turned on I can hardly stand myself. "You're lucky I find your flavor of mania insanely hot. Don't ever do this again... but gods take me." I manage against his lips, moaning as his tongue invades my mouth, rolling back against him to meet him at every painfully slow thrust. 

I hardly last any sort of time, given permission, I find my completion quickly and come to an earth-shattering halt that I barely manage to stifle with him following close behind. Hearing him struggle to contain himself fills me with a sense of pride and endearment, knowing that he was as taken by me as I was by him. Even after children, death, and unfathomable change, it was the spark that I loved so much about him. 

"Aye, you're the only one who thinks it's hot," Tomas responds shortly. "Rest of us would like ya both to find a different pass time."

"Speak for yourself." Tiberius snickers, "I think it's pretty hot. Annoying when I'm on a timeline, but-" The siren shrugs, rounding the corner just as we both pull up our pants, giving us a quick up-and-down glance before he shakes his head and moves to the refrigerator to grab a beer. "You are hardly in control of yourself." He accuses Verando pointedly. 

"But they're quiet." Verando's response is hard as he buttons his pants, fastening his belt. "Maybe the chain has more side effects than we thought?"

"Side effects like keeping the end of the world locked in a cage?"

"He doesn't like it." Verando sighs heavily, flinching as Tiberius grabs him by the throat, slamming him into the cabinets as he produces a silver dagger. "Are you finished? Break my cabinets and I'll break you."

I take a few quick steps back, taking a quiet inventory of myself as I place my hand over the still-bleeding bite mark on my neck. Glancing at my bloodied palm, I grab a clean dish rag and press it over the mark. "Randy, I'm letting you know now that if it was Fenrir who just fucked me-"

"It wasn't." Verando retorts sharply, bewildered by the insinuation, but I wasn't willing to take any chances. 

"How do we know? You're not wearing your chain and you're saying insane shit." Tiberius's voice is hard, the hint of fear reassuring me that this came out of a place of the man's fear. Tiberius had almost been killed by the beast twice, I couldn't say I blamed him for not feeling much sympathy for the creature. "Want to run it by me again why on god's green earth we are letting it out?"

Glancing past Tiberius at Tomas, Verando tightens his jaw, uncertain of just how much he was willing to reveal. "You're just going to have to trust me."

With a scoff, the Siren releases the man, sheathing the dagger with a grumble of disgust. "I don't trust you, that's the problem." he reveals the jagged scar on his arm, "Remember eating my hand? Almost eating me? Nearly killing me-" Stopping himself, he turns his attention to me, as if uncertain if I was ok after what I'd endured. 

Despite being wobbly on my legs and having a rather obvious bite mark on the base of my neck, I was hardly worse for wear. 

"You ok?" Tiberius insists on me, gesturing to my cuff.

I shrug, giving Verando a hard look as he considers protesting. We needed Tiberius to be on our side, and right now, the man looked ready to jump ship and abandon us here. "I'm in what would be medically called a state of estrus.. and I'm a man... so I'm about as good as I can be. I'm having a ton of sex though, there are perks."

"Perks." He grumbles, sounding unconvinced. "We need to go over the plan for the next two months, I'm not familiar with how this works. If you go into another one of these... events.. next month, does that mean I'm going to have a rabid horny lycan to contend with? How good are you at-..." 

Verando crosses his arms loosely over his chest, "I want to talk to you before everyone gets here... and I suppose Tomas needs to hear this, too. We've reached a point where... Nic and I.. need to create some space between the group and what goes on around... my new job and the cuff and Fenrir."

Now? He wanted to do this now?!

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I lean back against the counter, running a hand through my hair in an attempt to smooth it out. 

"Are you going to tell me what that new job is, then?" Tomas demands. The collective silence makes the Irish man spit and cuss, throwing up his hands in disbelief. "I'm your best friend, Randal. We are here to help, and if you keep things from us-"

"If I keep things from you, then when someone comes looking for intel you will have nothing to give them, Tomas." The gray-haired man insists. 

"I would never-" 

"Tomas." Verando snaps, his voice hard, the closest he ever came to raising his tone. "The only thing reliable about me these days is that I'm incredibly unreliable. Today made it painfully obvious just how much the group is willing to bend the rules because I'm me.. and Tiberius made a valid point. You shouldn't trust me. Not anymore."

"So what, you're saying you're going to turn on us?" Tiberius retorts, making me stiffen as I gather my thoughts through the sex-induced stupor. 

"He's saying that there are going to be things we can't tell you," I conclude. "And things I need you all to be mindful of. Like Verando trying to self-destruct and let Fenrir loose... like hiding things from me because you're his friend." My mind drifts to Stefan giving him opium, everyone was trying to help 'manage' him, leaving me to pick up the pieces. 

I could see the validity in his timing, but I'd had such a mind-blowing session I was reluctant to let that go in favor of so much heavy. 

"Over the next two months, I want you to treat me as you would any other employee," Verando adds, stiffly. I'd affected him, I know I had, but he needed to hear I hadn't forgotten about what had happened. "If I can't perform to the set standards, you send me home, you call Nic."

"Yer askin' us to abandon you then?" Tomas rested his hands on his hips, his eyes locked on the man whom he considered his close friend, and it was hard to ignore the betrayal in that green gaze. 

"I'm asking you to use common sense, even a terrible bounty hunter like you can see that things are different now. It's not just me anymore, it's those kids who I'm concerned about. Nic. All of you. Knowing the ins and outs is causing everyone to cloud their judgment and we've already ended up on the wrong side of that wager... I've already killed someone we loved. We can't keep going this way."

I wrap my arm around his, pressing my lips to his bicep with a sigh. It's difficult for all of us, but most of all for these two men. Tomas for his emotional attachment to my husband and Tiberius for his constant wealth of knowledge and involvement.

 Most of all, I knew it weighed heavily on Verando that his duties as Death would create conflicts of his own. It was distance that we collectively needed, for one day, he'd have to reap them all, too. After a long moment of silence between us, with Tomas looking like there was so much more he wanted to say, Tiberius nods, extending his hand to my warlord but closing his fingers reluctantly, considering a withdrawal.

"No favoritism. You know there's not one among us that can put you down, right?"

Verando purses his lips, "You wouldn't be able to stop me, that alone should be a reason to create distance."

Slowly, the Siren nods again. "This is the last tour we do together. Two months, we go out with a bang, then you hang it up. No favoritism means you are not fit to be running around in the public eye if I can't trust you."

My lips part, and my heart leaps into my throat, but Verando extends his hand in response and Tiberius reluctantly shakes it. 

"God damn it, Verando." Tiberius murmurs, reaching into the man's pocket to pull out the pack of cigarettes and lighter. "Fine. Fuck it. Let's get to work. "