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I’d pretty much just grabbed stuff out of the suitcase. You can mix and match almost all the clothing I own. Dark blue jeans, navy blue polo shirt, white jogging socks. I hadn’t dressed to impress anyone. Now that I was a little more awake, I wished I’d chosen something a little less practical. Love makes you worry about stuff like that.

I opened the door. Richard stood by the bed. The sight of him stopped me in my tracks. His hair was brushed until it fell like a frothy mass around his shoulders. He was wearing nothing but a pair of silky undershorts, royal purple. They were slit high on each side, giving glimpses of his thighs as he turned towards me.

When I could close my mouth and talk, I said, “Why are you dressed like that?”

Jean-Claude leaned one shoulder against the wall. He was wearing a black ankle-length robe edged with black fur. His hair mingled with the fur collar until it was hard to tell where one blackness ended and the other began. His pale neck and a triangle of his chest showed almost perfectly white against the fur.

“You look like you’ve just stepped out of two different porno movies. Cassandra said something about a plan. What’s the plan?”

Richard glanced at Jean-Claude. They exchanged a look between them that said better than words that they’d been plotting behind my back.

Richard sat on the edge of the bed. The shorts clung a little too close for comfort and I had to look away, so I looked at Jean-Claude. Not comforting, but at least most of him was covered.

“Do you remember some months ago, before Christmas, when we accidently set off some sort of magical energy in your apartment?” Jean-Claude asked.

“I remember,” I said.

“Monsieur Zeeman and I believe that the three of us could share power, become a triumvirate.”

I looked from one to the other. “Explain.”

“There is a link between myself and wolves. There is a link between you, my little necromancer, and the dead. Lust and love have always held a magical energy. I can show you individual spells that can use the link between vampire and their animal, between necromancer and vampire. We should not be surprised that there is power between us.”

“Make your point,” I said.

Jean-Claude smiled. “I believe we could call up enough power to back down a certain Ulfric. I know Marcus. He will not fight if he believes he has no hope of winning.”

“Jean-Claude’s right,” Richard said. “If I can shine with enough power, Marcus will back down.”

“How do you know we can even call this whatever-it-is up again?” I asked.

“I have done some research,” Jean-Claude said. “There are two cases of master vampires who could call animals, who then made one of those animals in were-form a sort of human servant.”

“So?”

“It means that there is a chance of my being able to bind you both.”

I shook my head. “No way, no vampire marks. Been there, done that, didn’t like it.”

“There were no marks on either of you in December,” Jean-Claude said. “I think it will work without any now.”

“Why are the two of you dressed like that?”

Richard looked embarrassed. “It was all I brought. I thought we were going to be sharing the bed last night.”

I motioned at the shorts. “Those would not have helped us stay chaste, Richard.”

Heat crept up his face. “I know; sorry.”

“Tell me there is no lingerie in your suitcase, ma petite.”

“I never said there wasn’t.” Ronnie had talked me into an outfit just in case I gave in to Richard. She was willing for me to bed him before the wedding if it would knock Jean-Claude out of the running.

“Who’d you buy it for?” Richard asked quietly.

“You, but don’t distract me. Why the nice jammies?”

“Richard and I have made an attempt or two on our own to call the power. It does not work with only the two of us. His dislike of me has rendered it useless.”

“Is this true, Richard?”

He nodded. “Jean-Claude says we need our third; we need you.”

“What’s with the clothes?”

“Lust and anger were what drew the power the first time, ma petite. We have our anger. We are missing our lust.