This time, Lucien started to lose his control. His hand slid down from her hair to her waist, then lower, gripping her hips and pulling her fully into his lap.
She could feel his arousal, and her body answered his with a heat bloom between her thighs.
"Tell me if I need to stop, please..." Lucien asked, his lips brushing her neck, finding the sensitive spot just below her ear.
"Don't stop," Lilian breathed, her hands fisting in his hair.
His fangs grazed her skin, making her entire body shuddered. The sensation was unlike anything she had experienced, and it was wholly intoxicating.
"Can I bite you?" Lucien asked, his voice rough with need. "Just a taste. Just~"
"Yes. Yes, yes..." Lilian cut him off, her body desperately needing his every touch.
His fangs sank into her neck, and Lilian cried out at the sensation. It wasn't pain, it felt like a different kind of pleasure. She could feel the pull as he drank, and right now she could finally feel the bond between them flare bright and hot.
And then he was pulling back, licking the bite closed with gentle sweeps of his tongue.
"Your turn," he said, tilting his head to expose his own neck. "Bite me."
Lilian felt her fangs descended at her will, and she bit down, feeling his blood flooded her mouth.
He groaned, his hands tightening on her hips, and Lilian could feel his control fraying. The arousal between them bleeds into hers and vice versa.
"L-Lil," he gasped. "W-we need to stop. I can't hold back any longer..."
Just when he pleaded her to stop, a sharp knock on the door shattered the moment.
"It's almost dawn. Shift change in five minutes, Lucien," Dante's voice called through the wooden door, sounding calm and stoic as always.
Lucien froze, then released her with a shaky breath, putting both his arms at his side. His expression was torn between relief and his desire. "Worst fucking time ever~" he muttered.
Reluctantly, Lilian climbed off his lap, her body still thrumming with unsatisfied desire. She could see the evidence of his arousal straining against his training pants and saw the way his hands were shaking slightly with the effort of maintaining control.
"Lucien," Dante called again, sounding amused now. "I can smell what you've been doing. I'm giving you five minutes to make yourself presentable before I come in."
"I hate him so much," Lucien muttered, though he was smiling.
He stood, adjusting himself with a grimace, then looked at Lilian with heat still burning in his eyes. "This isn't over," he promised. "Later we're finishing what we started."
Lilian didn't answer, sitting blankly at him, still feeling the surge of her hormonal desire.
Seeing how her dazed she was, Lucien's grin shifted into pure trouble. "I'll drained you alive later."
He crossed the room and grabbed his discarded shirt from the chair, pulled it on, then opened the door.
Dante was standing in the hallway with his arms crossed and exasperation on his face. He took one look at Lucien and let out a slow breath.
"I'm almost impressed by how you ignored the rules we agreed on," he said.
Lucien just grinned at him. "Hey, in my defense, she's the one who kissed me first."
"I don't care who kissed who first," Dante snapped, though he didn't actually sound that angry. "I care that you two are actively making this whole situation way harder for all of us."
"That's kind of the point, isn't it?" Lucien said with a smirk.
Dante pinched the bridge of his nose like he was getting a headache. "Just get out of here before I decide to strangle you."
Lucien sauntered last him with a jaunty wave to Lilian. "See you at training, babe!"
After he left, Dante entered the room and closed the door, his dark eyes went straight to Lilian, then to her neck. "He bit you."
"I bit him first," she answered, feeling a bit awkward now that she had finally calmed down.
"That's actually impressive restraint for someone like Lucien."
Dante moved closer and gently tilted her chip up to look at the bite mark on her neck. I was already healing, leaving just a faint pink spot that would be gone in a few minutes.
"How are you felling?"
"Confused, frustrated, turned on, guilty for breaking the rules we just established yesterday," Lilian admitted.
"The rules were optimistic at best," Dante said with a sight. "I knew they wouldn't last. I just hoped for more than twenty-four hours."
He sat in the chair by the window, the same spot all three princes had taken turns sitting in all night. "We need to talk about what happens next."
Lilian took a breath. "What happens next is I stop fighting this," Lilian said, surprised by how sure she sounded. "I'm done pretending I don't want all three of you. Or feeling guilty about it. And I'm done waiting for some perfect moment of readiness that's probably never going to come."
Dante studied her carefully. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"I'm saying I want to complete the bonds," Lilian said. "Not today, not this second, but soon. I want to stop dancing around this and just.. be with all of you."
Something intense and possessive flashed in Dante's eyes. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure," Lilian promised.
"When?" Dante asked quietly, his voice low and intense.
"After we deal with the rogues," Lilian said. "Once the danger is gone and I don't feel like we're just rushing because of external pressure. But soon. Before I lose my nerve."
Dante stood and crossed to her bed, sitting on the edge exactly where Lucien had been just minutes ago. "I need you to understand something. Once the bonds are done, they are permanent. You'll be tied to us for as long as you exist. There's no divorce, no changing your mind, and no walking away."
"I know."
"And you're still sure?"
"I'm still sure."
Dante leaned in and kissed her. This time, he didn't hold back as much as he had the night before. When he pulled away, his eyes were glowing red with intensity.
"Then we'll handle the rogues," he said. "And after that, we'll make you ours."
The way he said it made Lilian shiver with excitement.
"Now try to get some real sleep," Dante said, standing up. "You have training in a few hours."
Lilian lay back down, her body still thrumming from Lucien's kisses and bites, and her lips still tingling from Dante's claiming kiss.
She smiled as she drifted to sleep, no longer uncertain about what she wanted.