Angry voices spilled out of the apartment when Vincent and I touched down on his balcony. Colin and Jonathan stood outside the open door, watching Charleton and Boris argue in the living room, and Colin reached out a hand as Vincent loosened his grip on my waist. It was a protective gesture on Colin's part, but Vincent's ferocious growl had Colin raising his eyebrows dubiously, which I chalked-up to poor timing. Vincent's fury had no equal, at the moment.

"Keep Reese safe." Vincent gave his command as he relinquished me to his brothers, ducking inside the apartment without changing out of his gollum form.

"How dare you approach me in such an intimidating manner!" Boris bellowed as Vincent came to stand in front of his grandfather, outlooming him in girth and wingspan.

"Do I intimidate you? Good!" Vincent's voice boomed, and I startled against Colin's chest as he tucked me under his arm.

"Are you cold, Reese?"

"A little, but I think it's more nerves. Will they do battle?"

"That's a guarantee. Maybe not now, but I foresee a challenge in the near future."

"Is that really necessary?" I said, feeling slightly responsible for the family feud.

"He tried to kill you," Jonathan put in. "Vincent won't be the only one seeking justice for Boris' tyrannical actions."

"How long has Boris been like this?"

"Since birth, I think. He comes from a long line of traditionalists," Jonathan said. "Our mom is nothing like him. She raised us as Valentinos and snubbed the intolerant Seacrest traditions. He has never forgiven her for that."

"...and I have plenty of support to make my case as iron clad as it needs to be!" Boris shouted, drawing our attention back to the fight.

"You better look harder at your list of friends," Vincent countered. "You won't find any decent gollums who support the act of cold-blooded murder. That is not a traditional gollum trait."

"You are a disgrace to the Seacrest lineage, and you will drag the Valentinos to their graves," Boris moaned.

"So, it works out for you then. You seem to be a fan of death." Vincent said this through a growl before adding, "You are no longer welcome in our domus. Don't forget to dust off your passport. I will see you in court."

Charleton ushered Boris to the door, with Vincent following imposingly behind them, and when the two older gollums had left, Vincent stalked through his living room and disappeared down the hall without acknowledging us. It was probably just as well.

"Can we go inside now?" I said, stepping away from Colin's pheromone-scented warmth. "I don't see any more assholes in trench coats." I heard one of the boys snigger and turned to find both of them smirking. "I know it's insensitive of me to call your grandfather an asshole... to your faces."

"You know us better than that," Colin said as he nudged me through the door. "The guy acts like an asshole. So, call him an asshole."

Colin and Jonathan slumped onto the couch while I made straight for the kitchen to quench my thirst. A few moments later, Vincent appeared still in his gollum form, and he stopped in his tracks when he saw me.

"You. Bedroom." Vincent's command had an edge to it, causing a chill to raise the hair on my arms, but I knew he wasn't angry at me. How could he be? I made my way around the counter toward him, and Colin and Jonathan were on their feet in a nanosecond.

"Reese, stop," Colin said as he thrust his arm out to block my progress. "Vincent, needs more quiet time."

Vincent removed his gaze from me to focus on Colin. "I intend to do that now, with my mate."

"Quiet time is not gollum time," Colin said, jerking his chin at Vincent's wings.

Vincent's eyes shone like an adamantium blade as he continued to hold Colin in his sights. "Be careful where you tread when you're handing out advice, Colin. Reese is perfectly safe with me."

Everyone glanced at my neck simultaneously, and the tension in the room swelled like an incoming cyclone, or it may have been left over from the previous fight. 

"Put yourself in our shoes, Vincent," Jonathan said. "If it was one of us, what would you do?"

I couldn't help looking down at Jonathan's shoes. He was wearing the turquoise Chuck Taylors. His faves.

"I would trust my brother to know his limits and give him a chance to prove me wrong." Vincent raised his eyebrows, and Jonathan challenged him back. It was the first time I'd seen Jonathan do the scrutinizing.

"Reese, I defer to your judgment," Jonathan said, turning his serious scrutiny on me. "You are an intelligent, consenting adult. If you're comfortable taking on your gollum mate within the confines of a New York city apartment, I won't stand in your way. You have a few weapons in your arsenal now."

I nodded, knowing he was talking about my gift for high-pitched whistling and my knowledge of the mantras. Sadly, I tended to forget about my weapons until after the damage was done. "I trust Vincent with my life," I said, because I did, but Colin didn't seem convinced.

"Are you sure, Reese?" he asked.

Colin's question had Vincent's jaw tightening, and I gently pushed Colin's arm down. "Yes. Thanks for having my back, though."

Reluctantly, Colin allowed me to walk into Vincent's arms, and Vincent escorted me into his bedroom. The agitation radiated off his body in waves. I felt it in the way his hot breath blew across the top of my head, but I also sensed his vulnerability like a heavy wool coat on a summer day. If I had to guess, Vincent was freaked out about my near fatal plummet from the balcony.

When he shut the door, he loosened his grip on me and stood hunched under the recessed light. The incandescent glow highlighted the auburn in his hair and the sharp talons at his wing tips, which grazed the ceiling. He looked extremely fierce, yet his slouched pose made him appear meek.

"I swear, this thing called love is going to kill me," he said as he stepped further into the room, forcing me to back up.

"That sounds like the first line of a rock ballad." I offered a weak smile as I watched Vincent process my joke. He knew I used levity when I felt anxious, and he obliged me with a pointed gaze.

"Do you really trust me, Reese? Do you trust me to keep you safe? To love you unequivocally? To catch you when you fall?" A harsh breath rattled from his chest, and he took another heavy step forward, looking as if his wings weighed two hundred pounds.

"Yes, Vincent. I trust you." I reached for his clawed hand, slipping my fingers carefully between his. "And I love you unequivocally, in spite of the risks. Do you want to talk about why you're having these doubts about my trust?"

He looked down at me with those endless silver pools and shook his head. "No. I don't want to talk."

I knew exactly what my man-beast was getting at. He needed to seek solace in his mate, and I could not condemn him for using sex to combat fear, but I had a slight problem with the logistics. "What do you want to do, Vincent?"

I watched his lips twitch as he did a sweep of my body. "I want to be inside you." He knelt on the bed, dragging me down until I was lying under him.

"Can we talk about your fears first?" I said, side-tracking him while I assessed the dangers of the present situation.

"You mean my fear of losing my one true love and returning to a life of hopeless loneliness?" He spoke as he hovered over me, trapping me between his massive arms. "Is that the fear you want to talk about?"

"Um..."

"Um isn't a word."

His eyes had me pinned to the spot as they dissected me through my own orbs, and he kept flashing his fangs, making him look so damned hot, and freakin' scary.

"I suppose we can revisit your fears later, but were you planning to be inside me like that?" I glanced down at the large bulge in his pants as I swallowed a lump that felt nearly as large. "I'm only asking because I had a hard time tackling you when I was in my gollum form."

"Don't worry, baby. I'm going to make you come first." Vincent offered a wicked smile, which did nothing to convince me I wasn't going to split down the middle, and I looked pointedly at his claws digging into the sheets. "Not with those, you aren't"

He chuckled as he licked his lips. "You won't feel anything but tongue."

"Oh, no, no, no. What about those fangs? This sounds like a bad idea." I started to lift up, but he pushed me back down with his chest.

"You'll never feel the fangs, I promise. I'm going to rock your world, just don't ask how I perfected the technique."

Vincent slid off the end of the bed and pulled me down by my legs. "Clothes. Off."

I knew by the urgency in his tone that our reckless behavior could once again bite us in the ass, but my will power was shit around him, and I stripped to nothing without taking my eyes off his face. Hunger lurked there, lying in wait, and I followed his hypnotic pheromones as I helped him off with his pants, watching his beautiful erection spring free.

Feeling my own need, I ached to go down on him. To take him without the hindrance of fangs, but he looked too manic, and I let him lead the way, submitting to his lips as he nudged me back onto the bed. With the patience of a hungry lion, Vincent made his way down my body, using his mouth to explore the stiff peaks of my nipples and the soft curves of my hips, leaving a wet trail all the way to my inner thighs. Here he lingered, warming my sex with his hot breath and flattening his tongue over the sensitive folds to bathe me with long, luxurious laps.

He repeated this action again and again. Each time, my ass lifted off the bed, bringing me close to euphoria. Never once did I feel the sharp sting of fangs, only the amazing sensation of being licked into an erotic coma, and before I knew it, my orgasm had me crying loudly in sweet release.

When Vincent had taken his fill, he crawled onto the bed and straddled me, looking happy but unsated. "You're my favorite flavor."

"Feel free to sample me any time." I smiled up innocently, drawing out a groan from him.

"The last time we did this, I had you tie me up," he said. "Do you trust me to take you without restraints?" His eyes danced in anticipation, and I knew by the strength of his erection as it jabbed my belly, I didn't have a lot of time to answer.

"Yes."

He swooped down and pressed a kiss to my mouth, forcing me to taste myself as he slid his tongue along my lips. "I want to pound you so hard right now, but we're going to take this slow. Turn around and get on your knees."

I did as he asked, grabbing a pillow for my head and assuming the position I had deemed number two on my Make my day list, right after edge of the bed sex. Vincent had his tongue on me again as soon as I settled in, and the heat from his mouth had my center trembling back to life. When I felt his hard-on replace his tongue, I hunkered down, preparing to be sliced and diced, but the pain never came, only the sensation of being possessed by a well-endowed man. In this case, a beast.

He took me slowly, like he promised, slipping in stealthily and pausing to savor the moment. Each time he reached further, a guttural groan escaped him, and I listened to his inhales and exhales as he filled me with his gollum-sized love. With every push, my body opened to him, clenching and releasing, dragging him in, and every time, I felt him tense. I knew one of those times would be his last, but for now, we enjoyed each other, testing our limits, giving and getting, and I pressed my face into the pillow when an unexpected orgasm overcame me in the middle of the getting.

Vincent's tempo increased, but only for a moment before he was lost, spilling himself so powerfully I felt it run down my thigh. I lost myself too as a wave of fathomless love overcame me, and I choked back a sob. That's how damn good it was.

"I would do anything to make you happy," Vincent said as he opened his wings and brought them carefully around me.

I craned my neck to kiss him. "Are you fishing for a compliment?"

"No, but if you already have one prepared..."

"How about... You wreck me, baby?"

"That works."