Seraphina's Point Of View
"Wait," he breathed. His voice wasn't a rumble anymore; it was a low, dangerous snarl that made my blood turn to slush. "You've never done this before."
It wasn't a question. He knew. The way I'd jumped, the way my body was fighting him… he felt the barrier.
The air in the room didn't just shift; it curdled. The "escort" fantasy, the idea that I was just a girl having a wild night… it all blew up in my face. These weren't guys you hired. These were predators who had just realized their prey was untouched.
Azriel's grip on my wrists became absolute, his fingers digging into my skin like iron bands. He leaned over Draven's shoulder, his face inches from mine, and I saw it in his eyes… a mix of total, stunned disbelief and a dark, twisted kind of glee that made my stomach flip.
"A virgin?" Azriel whispered, the word sounding like a curse and a prayer all at once. He started to laugh, a low, jagged sound that sent a shiver straight down my spine. "You walked into the Black Veil and offered this to us?"
I tried to speak, but the words got tangled in my throat, coming out as a pathetic, jagged stutter.
God, Seraphina. You're so stupid.
I scolded myself internally, the shame rising up hot and prickly under my skin. What was I thinking? Coming here, offering up something I'd guarded like a secret treasure to three men who looked like they broke things for fun.
I saw them go still… dead still, and the silence stretched out so long I thought I'd actually choked the life out of the room.
Maybe they didn't want this. Maybe they hated the idea of a girl who didn't know what she was doing. I bit my lip so hard I tasted copper, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.
"I told you," I managed to say, my voice sounding small and desperate in the cavernous room. "I'm not here for a long time. I'm here for a... a good one."
But nobody moved. Nobody said a word. I felt a wave of defeat wash over me, cold and bitter.
I guess Adrian was right, I thought, a lump forming in my throat. No man wants a woman who holds her virginity like some dusty trophy. It was a burden. A bore. I started to pull back, my limbs feeling heavy and awkward, ready to crawl off that bed and hide in the bathroom until they kicked me out.
I didn't get far.
Azriel's hand shot out, his fingers locking around my hip like a brand, pinning me further into the mattress until I was looking up at him again. "And where are you going, princess?" he rasped. His voice was different now. It wasn't just playful; it was hungry. Starving.
The air in the room didn't just feel heavy anymore; it felt electric, like the static before a lightning strike. Draven's revelation had changed everything. The raw, predatory hunger was still there, pulsing in the dark, but it was now tempered by this terrifying, singular focus.
I expected them to pounce. I expected them to just... rip the rest of the robe away and take what I'd offered on a silver platter.
Instead, Draven… the one who looked like he'd been carved from cold granite and shadow, straightened his spine. He stepped back just an inch, just enough to let me draw a shaky breath, though his eyes never left mine. They were bottomless.
"We may be many things, princess," Draven rumbled. The sound was so deep I felt it in my teeth. "But we aren't savages. Not with something as precious as your first."
I blinked, my breath hitching in my chest. "I... I didn't think..."
"You didn't think we'd give you a choice?" Lucian finished for me. His silver eyes were shimmering, a weird mix of amusement and something so possessive it made my toes curl. He leaned back against the bedpost, crossing his arms, watching me like I was a queen he was waiting to serve, or a sacrifice he was about to savor. "Tonight is yours. Your body, your right."
Draven's hand moved, not to grab me this time, but to gesture toward the three of them. It was a terrifyingly formal movement. "Choose," he commanded softly. "Who do you want to break the ice? Who do you want to feel inside you first?"
The room went dead silent. All I could hear was the faint crackle of the fireplace and the frantic, hummingbird beat of my own blood in my ears.
I looked at Draven… the mountain of a man who promised a slow, steady destruction.
I looked at Lucian… who looked like he'd worship every inch of me until I forgot my own name and the fact that I was dying.
Then I looked at Azriel.
He was still hovering right there, his eyes wide and wild, his chest heaving under his half-open shirt. He looked like a man on the edge of a cliff, holding himself back by a single, fraying thread just for me. There was this frantic, desperate energy in him. It matched the storm inside my own chest.
I didn't want slow. I didn't want careful. I didn't want to be handled like glass.
I wanted to burn. I wanted to feel everything at once before the lights went out for good.
My fingers were trembling so much I could barely move them, but I reached out, grasping the front of Azriel's discarded shirt, bunching the fabric in my fist and pulling him toward me. "Him," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I want him."
Azriel let out a sound that was half-laugh, half-growl, and that thread finally snapped.
"Music to my ears," he rasped, his face transforming into something purely feral.
Behind me, I heard Draven exhale… a long, low sound of pure, restrained dominance. "Then he is yours," Draven said, his voice thick and heavy like honey. "But remember, princess... we're right here. Watching. Waiting. He gets the start, but we get the rest."
Lucian settled into a chair at the foot of the bed, his gaze dark, never leaving the spot where my robe had fallen open. "Don't hold back, Azriel. Show her what she's been missing."
Azriel didn't need to be told twice. He crashed into me, his mouth finding mine with a desperation that made my head spin. It wasn't a kiss; it was an invasion. His hands were everywhere… mapping the curve of my waist, the slope of my thighs, finding the heat between my legs with a terrifying accuracy.
"You chose me," he murmured against my lips, his voice shaking with a rare, jagged emotion I couldn't name. "I'm going to make sure you never regret it. Ever."
I arched my back as his skin met mine, the friction sending white-hot sparks through my nerves. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw them… Draven and Lucian.
They weren't moving, but they were there, their presence a silent, heavy promise of what was coming for me. I was the center of their universe, a dying star being kept alive by the heat of three monsters who were currently deciding exactly how to ruin me.