Chapter 435: Already So Wet

She stopped, unsure how to articulate what she needed.

"What do you want?" Sebastian asked gently.

Lilith looked at him. Then at Lucian. At these two men who had stayed by her side through death and resurrection and impossible loss.

"I want to feel alive," Lilith said. "I want to feel something other than grief. I want to remember why Nicholas thought this was worth it. Why he died to give me this chance."

Understanding dawned in Sebastian’s eyes.

"Lilith...." he started.

"I need you," Lilith interrupted. "Both of you. I need to feel the bonds working. I need to feel connected to something real. I need...." Her voice broke. "I need to stop feeling like I’m dead inside."

Lucian’s hand tightened on hers. "Are you sure? You don’t have to...."

"I’m sure," Lilith said. "I’m not asking because I think it will fix everything. I know it won’t. But Sebastian, Lucian....I need to feel something other than this emptiness. Even if it’s just for a little while."

Sebastian looked at Lucian over Lilith’s head. Some silent communication passed between them.

Then Sebastian turned back to Lilith and cupped her face gently with one hand.

"Okay," he said quietly. "We’ll take care of you."

He leaned in and kissed her.

Soft at first. Gentle. Like he was afraid she might break if he pressed too hard.

Lilith made a small sound and leaned into him, deepening the kiss, needing more than gentleness. Needing intensity. Needing proof that she was alive and whole and capable of feeling something other than grief.

Sebastian responded immediately. His hand moved to the back of her head, fingers threading through her hair, holding her close while his mouth moved against hers with increasing urgency.

Lucian’s hand slid up her arm. Over her shoulder. Down her back. Grounding touches. Reminding her that he was there too.

When Sebastian finally pulled back, they were both breathing hard.

"Lie back," Sebastian instructed gently.

Lilith shifted backward on the bed until her head hit the pillows.

Sebastian and Lucian both moved with her, Sebastian on her left, Lucian on her right, both of them close enough to touch.

"We’re going to go slow," Sebastian said. "If at any point you want to stop...."

"I won’t," Lilith interrupted. "I need this. Please."

Sebastian nodded. His hands moved to the hem of her shirt and he pulled it up slowly, giving her time to object.

Lilith raised her arms and let him remove it.

Cool air hit her bare skin and she shivered.

Lucian’s hand moved to her waist. "You’re beautiful."

Sebastian leaned down and pressed a kiss to her collarbone. Then another to the hollow of her throat. Moving slowly. Building sensation gradually.

Lilith’s eyes fluttered closed.

This was what she needed. Touch. Connection. Proof that she was alive and capable of feeling pleasure alongside the grief.

Sebastian’s mouth moved lower. Over her chest. Between her breasts. His hands followed, tracing patterns on her skin that made her breath catch.

Lucian kissed her shoulder. Her neck. The sensitive spot behind her ear that always made her shiver.

"You’re tense," Lucian murmured against her skin. "Relax. We’ve got you."

Lilith tried to relax. Tried to let go of the tension coiled in her muscles.

But it was hard when grief was still pressing down on her chest. When the empty bond ached with every heartbeat. When she could not stop thinking about Nicholas and what he had sacrificed.

Sebastian’s mouth found her breast and Lilith gasped.

Heat. Pleasure. The familiar sensation of his tongue against sensitive flesh.

And then....

Something else.

Another mouth. On her other breast. Cool where Sebastian’s was warm. Gentle but insistent.

But Lucian was kissing her neck. His mouth was nowhere near her chest.

Lilith’s eyes flew open.

"Did you...." she started.

"What?" Sebastian looked up, his grey eyes concerned.

"I felt..." Lilith stopped. How did she explain that she had felt a third mouth? A phantom touch that should not exist?

"What did you feel?" Lucian asked.

"Nothing," Lilith said quickly. "It’s nothing. Please don’t stop."

Sebastian looked uncertain but he lowered his head again, his mouth returning to her breast.

And there....

There it was again. The phantom sensation. Cool lips on her other breast. Gentle suction. A tongue moving in patterns that felt achingly familiar.

Lilith’s breath caught.

Nicholas?

But that was impossible. He was gone. Dead. Consumed by the Veil entity. There was no part of him left to touch her.

This was just her grief-stricken mind playing tricks. Creating sensations she wanted to feel because she missed him so desperately.

Lilith forced the thought away and focused on what was real.

Sebastian’s mouth on her breast. Lucian’s hands moving over her skin. The bonds pulsing with pleasure and pain in equal measure.

Lucian’s hand slid lower. Over her stomach. Down to the waistband of her pants.

"Can I?" he asked.

"Yes," Lilith breathed.

He removed her pants and underwear in one smooth motion, leaving her completely bare between them.

For a moment neither of them moved. They just looked at her. At every inch of exposed skin. At the evidence of resurrection, faint scars where Elena’s magic had knitted her back together, a subtle glow to her skin that had not been there before.

"You’re perfect," Sebastian said quietly.

Lilith wanted to argue. Wanted to say she was broken and wrong and carrying power that made her dangerous.

But then Sebastian’s hand moved between her thighs and all coherent thought vanished.

Pleasure sparked through her. Hot and immediate and absolutely overwhelming.

"Already so wet," Sebastian murmured. His fingers moved in slow circles, building sensation, drawing soft sounds from Lilith’s throat.

Lucian captured her mouth in a bruising kiss. All the gentleness from before replaced with raw need. His tongue moved against hers with an intensity that made her dizzy.

Through the bonds Lilith could feel their arousal. Their need. Their desperate desire to connect with her the way they used to before everything fell apart.