What Lies Beneath

"You're sure you're all right?" Landon asked, looking down at me.

"Yes." I smiled to try to reassure him. I was on my stomach, and Landon was sitting up in bed. We were both still naked, because him dressing would have saddened me. But the blanket was covering all the good bits. And my butt, cuz I'm a lady. "I get to live for a very long time with the boys I love. I'm all good," I promised.

He seemed doubtful. "It was a traumatic death. If you need to talk about it, or anything, please tell me."

"I will."

The truth was that I didn't remember the actual dying part. I remembered just before, and even that was foggy. Instead of thinking on that, I'd focus on the fact that Landon was no longer suicidal, I had my brother back, and my husband was unbelievably good in bed and he hadn't needed to sleep with a bunch of ranks for that talent. He was happy, I was happy, and that mattered more than pouting about not getting to be in the sun.

Knox was still out there. We didn't know if he'd figured out we were all alive, or if he was counting on my becoming a vampire. He might have had some plan that he was just waiting to spring. So for now, I'd enjoy this. "Fine," Landon agreed. He leaned down to kiss me, and put his hand on my ass.

I placed my hands on his shoulders and pulled him on top of me. He landed in the right place, but the damn blankets were in the way. Landon growled in annoyance before he glared down at them.

"Can't even look at my wife naked without something blocking me," he complained.

I smiled, looking over his shoulder. "Well, if it makes you feel better, I can see your adorable butt from here."

He kissed my collarbone. "Only a bit."

That just wouldn't do.

I wiggled around under him and got my arms out. My hands went all the way down his back until they were on his ass. I waited for his approval.

He grinned. "Okay, now I feel better."

"Well, I can make you feel a whole lot better if you get on your back."

I made a sound of pure shock while my eyes widened as I found out the blankets weren't blocking as much as I'd thought. I didn't know how he pulled it off, but his hand ended up between my legs, and then I forgot how words work. He watched me as the bastard tried destroying me. "This works too," he said.

I blinked slowly and tried to talk. There were a couple hitches. "I feel like this is more for me than you."

"Then you'd be wrong."

My eyes closed, and Landon started speaking in my ear. He was very good at saying all the things that would make me melt. I don't know how he got the skill, but it was almost frightening.

When I was done, Landon found his way through the blankets and snuggled up to me. God, I really like it when he did that naked. I'd have to make a new rule about wearing clothes to bed.

The sun was bright in the sky, and I knew we didn't have a whole lot of time. "We should start getting ready."

"I know." He sighed. "I suggest we get in the shower. I'll help you get clean and dirty at the same time."

"You're adorable, but have you seen the shower? You'll hardly fit all by yourself."

"You might have a point."

When he pouted, just a little, I said, "Don't worry. I'll take care of you later."

His eyebrow went up. "And what do you mean by that?"

I moved so that I was on top of him. My hands rested on the bed on either side of him, and I sat on his lap. "Well, you may have noticed that this bed is still standing." "I have."

"I plan on making sure the next bed isn't as lucky."

He seemed to approve. "I will hold you to that, darlin'."

"Good. Now go shower. We have people to kill."

He sat right up and kissed me before sliding me off him as he got off the bed. I watched him until he vanished behind a door.

Then I was all alone. I put Landon's shirt on so I wouldn't just be naked in a bed alone. Then I got back under the covers to wait. Maybe I could trick him into thinking I was gone, and then just attack. Then I realized I couldn't actually do that. Not with this new, two-sided Link. I could feel him even now that I couldn't see him. I could close my eyes and find exactly where he was.

My eyes were on the ceiling as I nibbled on a snack cake I had stolen from Landon's bag. I decided it was best if I didn't think about last night. Not the sad stuff anyway. Once Knox was dead, I could think about it. If I let myself remember, I'd only get more scared. I'd rather do that when I was safe, if I had the option.

There was knock on the door, and I made my way to get it. Landon called out that he had it, so I got back into bed.

"Jesus..." Jaxon sighed, and I thought my head was going to explode. "...is Mila in here?" he asked as he walked. He stopped when he got around the corner and saw me. In bed. In Landon's shirt. With sex hair. Fuck.

"She's right there." Landon smiled and pointed when he caught up. Only in a towel.

Double fuck.

"Mila," Jaxon said with a mix of anger and heartbreak, "you didn't come back to our room. I just wanted to check on you, but it would seem you're just fine."

I chewed on my lip. "Sorry, I fell asleep."

He breathed through his nose. "Yeah, I bet you fell asleep."

"Don't be upset with her," Landon said, smirking and putting his hand on my brother's shoulder.

Jaxon glared and picked the hand up. "I'm not. I'm mad at you for taking my only sister's innocence."

Landon clicked his tongue. "I'm not sure innocent is a word for her."

"Not anymore!"

"Jax," I said slowly, "if you want, you can walk away. I can tell you that Landon and I just talked all night, and I fell asleep. So far, you've seen nothing that would leave you without reasonable doubt."

I think he considered it. "At least there are no condom wrappers on the floor. So that means you probably didn't do anything."

Aww, that poor man.

"Cuz I know you wouldn't be stupid enough to risk all the things that could happen."

Landon cleared his throat. "Your sister is far from stupid. For suggesting it, I'm afraid I have to punish you in the form of words. Your sister likes to be on top."

"OH GOD!" I said with Jaxon.

Then I said, "He didn't need to know that."

Landon shrugged as Jaxon dry-heaved.

Jaxon was groaning and covering his face with his hands. "Why... why? Mila..." He looked up. "...you don't know what kind of messed-up diseases he could have given you. Were you thinking at all? God only knows how many ho's he's mowed through."

I held my hands up. "It's okay. I took his vampire virginity."

Landon hung his head with a sigh while Jaxon looked at me, confused as could be. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"He hadn't had sex since he was human."

There was a pause before Jaxon burst into laughter so hard he was crying. "You're like four-hundred, dude. How did you not get any? Do you just have no game?" "Had enough game to get inside your sister."

Sigh...

"Hey!" Jaxon stopped on a dime. "Don't talk about her like that."

"Calm down," Landon said. "You know I love her. She's my wife, and I plan on taking care of her for eternity. You should be happy."

He blinked at Landon. "Wife? Do you have something to tell me, kid?" he asked me.

Landon explained. "We are each other's mates. That makes her my wife. You'll understand eventually."

Jaxon stared off at nothing. "I am only marginally comforted by that. She's still barely eighteen."

"Understandable."

"Jax," I said carefully, "are you mad at me?"

He sighed, and his hands went to his sides. "No. I guess not. I figured this was gonna happen when I left you with him last night. I was just hoping it wouldn't." "You were stupid to think that," Landon said.

I threw a pillow at his face. "You're not helping at all."

"Who said I was trying to help?"

Jaxon laughed. "Yeah, piss off the girl who rules us both. Good job, buddy."

"Well, I know how to make her feel better. Just leave, and she won't be mad in ten minutes."

I hid under my blanket, wishing I had underwear on. "I'm really sorry, Jax."

"You should be. I'm going to leave now. Get ready and come meet me in my room. Landon, you saved the both of us, but I will kill you if you touch her." "Already dead. See ya later."

Landon came over and pulled the blanket off me when Jaxon was gone. He had no remorse on his face.

"Why the hell would you do that? He'll hate you."

He smiled. “No, he won't."

I stared blankly. "Why do you think that?"

He took a hand. "We have something in common. You. We both love you more than anything, and we'll do whatever we have to do to make you happy. He knows you love me, and I love you, so we're safe. And we watched you die, held your body, slaughtered a room full of people. We're as good as brothers."

I half smiled. "If you ignore the fact that you're fucking his sister."

"We're married, so we get a pass."

"There are no passes when it comes to family."

Landon shrugged it off. "Trust me on this one. Now, if you lie down, I can make you feel a lot better."

I rolled my eyes. "Kinda defeats the purpose of showering if you have sex right after."

"Who said anything about me having sex?"

I smiled again.

****

We were in Jaxon's room, and I was trying not to make eye contact with him. I sat next to Landon on the couch, and Jaxon was very kindly not killing my mate. "Where do we go from here?" he asked, standing across from us. "I wanted to just hide out, but there's no way in hell I'm doing that now. We're killing him."

I'd been filled in on our location since I died. Landon said the farm had been a little further South than we'd been, and we kept heading south as we found a hotel. "Glad you agree,” Landon smiled. "Separating would have gotten complicated anyway. And Mila would have been so sad to leave you behind." Jaxon narrowed his eyes. "Why do you assume she'd stick with you and not me?"

Landon just smiled and I didn't comment. I didn't let myself think about what I would have done.

"So we have that book of names," Landon went on. "I say if we can't find him, we start going through them." There was a touch of evil in his smile.

I leaned on my arm, which was resting on his shoulder. "When you say go through..."

"Kill," he clarified. "These are not good people, and this world would be better without them. At the very least, we'll fuck up his business. Slow them down. It's complicated, all the pieces involved in the auctions. The more people we kill, the more we save in the end."

Jaxon sat on the bed. "Then I think we should do that."

I was a little surprised, but maybe I had no right to be. "You're just okay with killing people now? Not saying that these people should live, but killing is kinda new for us."

His face was serious in an unnerving way. "These people deserve to die. I would love to be the one to help that happen. If you wanna get left out, me and your hubby can take care of it."

I wasn't sure how to feel about this part of him. I'd never seen it before, and I wanted it to go away. Part of it was my fault, I thought. For watching me die. Just being a vampire hadn't done this to him. I felt like the same person I was yesterday, just stronger.

I put my hand on Landon's side. "How do we do this?"

He turned his head to me. "We pick a name, and we start."