Boston Avant-Garde 5: Bellicoso (35 page)

“Demon put that mark on me,” Malachi told her gently. “It was painful, but a good kind of pain. The cleansing kind.”

Her green eyes widened, and she looked over her shoulder at their lover. “You really did that?”

Demon didn’t answer, seeking Malachi with his steady black gaze instead. Malachi felt the understanding of years settle around them, and he knew Demon wanted to mark Selena. If she was ready.

Malachi nudged her. “Being marked like that isn’t something you can erase. It’s not just symbolic.”

The pale column of her throat quivered as she swallowed. “I want that with you both. You’re already tattooed on my heart and soul. I want everyone to know that I belong to you both.”

Demon rose quietly and moved to the highboy in the corner. Malachi knew he was retrieving the inlaid box that contained his needles and ink. He disappeared into their bathroom a moment later to grab a few additional items.

They’d only been living in this home together for a few weeks, but the three of them had settled in as though they were meant to share their lives. Much of that had been Selena’s doing. She had created a space that blended their needs, their personalities, and their tastes until every time they stepped through the door, it was coming home to a place they belonged.

Demon gently rolled Selena to her left side, exposing her right hip. Malachi scooted closer until she was stretched out against the full length of his body. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss against her hair. She sighed and nuzzled his chest.

“This is going to hurt, isn’t it?” she asked softly.

Malachi chuckled. “Pleasure and pain, remember?”

Demon began by wiping her skin clean with a cloth soaked with rubbing alcohol. She flinched at the first prick of the needle, but he began to speak as he worked, and she calmed. “I gave this mark to Malachi because he needed a visual symbol to remind him that he wasn’t tied to Seraph any longer. It freed him. Made his soul his own, though his heart belonged to me and mine to him.” Demon paused to wipe the pinpricks of Selena’s blood that mingled with the ink. “I’m giving this to you for the same reason.”

Malachi was startled to realize that once again Demon had understood far more than he’d been given credit for.

Demon glanced up, catching Malachi’s eye and smiling. “I never expected to see my name paired with Malachi’s on a marriage license, much less to sign papers making me one of Allie’s legal guardians.” Demon caressed the sleek contour of Selena’s hip. “You made that happen for us, little one. You’ve given us a home, made us a family, thrown yourself wholeheartedly into this life and whatever it might bring. Despite everything you’ve done, we cannot publicly acknowledge our association on paper. We can tell our friends and our families. We can have a ceremony and commit ourselves in private.” Demon began the final sweeping leg of the character that represented the name he’d chosen for himself.
Yaojing
. “So I’m marking you the same way I did Malachi. Mine. Ours. Our lover, our woman, our wife, Allie’s mother, and mother to whatever children we are blessed with in the future.” Demon set the tools aside and pressed a cloth to the fresh tattoo. He gazed at them both in a way that seemed to transcend the ordinary. “You are permanently, irrevocably ours.”

Malachi nodded in complete agreement. “And we are permanently, irrevocably yours.”

Loose Id Titles by Kaitlin Maitland

Daggertail

* * * *

The BOSTON AVANT-GARDE Series

Strung Out

Crescendo

Impetuous

Encore

Bellicoso

* * * *

The CLAN McKINLOCH Series

Stars, Stripes & Xmas Bells

Hearts, Candy & Clover

Kaitlin Maitland

Kaitlin Maitland is an avid reader and a rabid horse enthusiast with a love of drama in everyday life. She began writing at the age of twelve after growing tired of waiting for her favorite authors to write sequels. Now she’s scrambling to write her own sequels while keeping up with a variety of exciting new characters and settings. Kaitlin makes her home in the Midwest and while she has yet to travel to a distant planet, she finds plenty of story-inspiring drama close to home.

Find Kaitlin on the Web at
http://www.kaitlinmaitland.com
.