Love's Wariness

by Flynn Eire

  “Watch the show. Your education is at stake,” I teased him before kissing his dick.

  “ Nothing could make me look away from you right now,” he breathed, his eyes full of heat. “You’re so gorgeous when you’re relaxed and all sexed up, angel. Will you stay with me tonight?” I gave a slow nod, and he beamed at me. “Good. I like you in my bed.”

  “You’re super warm, and it’s getting cold,” I joked, smiling when he frowned. Then it was enough of the talky talk. I got to work giving my first blow job and learned a few things.

  First, he was a bit huge to take much of without getting used to it more.

  Second, I loved doing it. I mean, I was so fucking hot sucking on him and hearing the noises he made, the ones I made him make, it was ridiculous.

  Third, I lost all inhibitions the moment a cock was in my mouth. Seriously, I would have let him do me right there however he wanted. It was like a switch turned on in me.

  “Coming,” he warned, and I pulled off because I wasn’t sure I wanted to swallow my first time, and he came.

  All over my face.

  “It was an accident,” he swore to me the moment he was done. “I didn’t do it—”

  “I know,” I assured him. “I froze. It startled me because of how much you come. Damn. Are your balls mammoth size too?” I was rambling because I didn’t want to make it a thing after we’d talked about it.

  “Yes, and they’re jealous over the attention my tri-pod got,” he chuckled, rolling out of the bed and getting something to clean me up with. He moved over me again, gently wiping it all off, his dick rubbing against me, hard and ready still. “Are you tired?”

  “No.”

  So we didn’t sleep yet. I got my first blow job, his finger teasing my hole as he gave it. I gave him another one—there was a lot of fun had.

  Maybe a bit too much fun, and not just the dirty stuff because I was pretty sure I was sunk, and that was dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

  6

  I had called it about the nosy humans. Not two days later, a few were discovered trying to do some undercover expo about what was really being built on Alastair’s land. Granted, they were nut fucks who thought it had something to do with aliens and some replacement for Area 51 idiocy.

  We all had a good laugh, though, because if they knew we were all vampires, they’d shit fucking bricks, so that was funny.

  Alastair and Gaius did their thing, persuading them it was nothing out of the ordinary and they didn’t see bug out tunnels that were being dug out as fast as possible with the first snow coming in. It made getting the wall put up a priority. It was also something that could be done during shit weather but would suck. As long as the pillars could get put in, the precast slabs slid into the grooves.

  I was just glad I wasn’t in charge of building up the edge of the property, checking the levelness, and doing that surveying stuff because honestly, that was a bit too much detail for me. Now that everyone knew Nero had such a big range with his gift and could sense zakasacs far enough away to keep everyone safe, teams were working through the night.

  And by that, I meant us. We were handling getting the trailers to the next part, spacing out all the supplies so the construction crews could go in and do a mile-long stretch of the wall like nothing. Most would have said “fence,” but it was over ten feet tall plus the ridge that was dug up to make it higher. It was a damn wall.

  The dorm was completed, painted, and already moved into. We weren’t the only ones working crazy hours, as the construction team would switch to inside work with the help of pre- and post-trans.

  And Alastair and Zibon’s house was built. It needed a lot of internal everything, but the massive mansion was done. It was a few weeks of crazy with all of that, and all I really wanted to do was crash and crash hard under thick blankets with how fucking cold it was out.

  Instead, Ellison and I were at the center of a council inquisition. At first, our council and East Canada’s council had demanded we be turned over, either for charges or questioning. But no one on our side was letting that happen. The compromise was made that anyone who wanted to question us could come to Wyoming where we would be kept safe.

  Except then everyone demanded to come, no one trusting the other. So we had our council members, Members of the East Canada council, warriors from their camp, and some Wyrok coming, as it had gotten to that big of a deal.

  And everyone agreed that Helios and another Wyrok had to use their gifts on us to make sure it was all the absolute truth.

  And there was some shit with our East Coast council I didn’t understand, which somehow brought some of the West Coast council in. I knew that had something to do with London, as his mother was a councilwoman, but… Yeah, it was all so above my head I couldn’t stand it.

  Where were we even putting all these people? I learned most were being stuffed in the extra rooms of the new warrior dorm and the old one, as we didn’t have that filled yet. Lots were doubling up to make the room, though, and I had no problem sleeping in Gaius’s room. One, I was already there almost every night—or part of it, as I kept driving trucks and trailers to get them in place until one in the morning. Two, nothing was getting past him to me, and he promised that.

  “Angel, there’s nothing left in your stomach,” Gaius worried as I puked my guts out again . I was about to be questioned by so, so many big people I couldn’t get my body under control. “I’ve been a council member too, Falcon. I’m above all of them, and you have no problem telling me where to stuff any of it, okay? Helios will make the answers be truthful, but we all agreed you don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to.”

  “Except I don’t even want to talk about any of this,” I reminded him as I finished, wiping my mouth before flushing the toilet.

  “Fair enough,” he agreed, handing me a cup of water to rinse out my mouth.

  I did, and he helped me to my feet. Slowly we made our way into the cafeteria, as we had so many people it had to be held in there and we would take breaks for food service. Awesome.

  “You’ve got balls the size of Uranus to show your face here, fucker!” Ellison bellowed, and I followed his gaze and path to see Mike standing next to the man I assumed was his father. Awesome. He was testifying too.

  Not that I understood how that would work if we were all being made to tell the truth.

  “Nope, you’re not starting this by hitting or killing the little shit,” Evan declared, cutting in Ellison’s path and carting him off. “He’ll get his, I promise. When all is said and done, his head will be sitting right next to his father’s.”

  “For what ?” Mike hissed, his eyes going wide. “I didn’t do a damn thing wrong.”

  “The fact you really seem to believe that, don’t realize you’re a pawn in all of this as we were, makes me pity you, and I thought that never possible when you got rescued,” I said in disgust, spitting at him as I walked past.

  “You’re the calm one normally,” Gaius grumbled as he moved me away when council guards tried to grab me for doing that. “Save it. You’re not going to seriously do shit to a warrior for spitting, are you?”

  “He’s not. He’s a trainee,” one guy snapped. “He’s shit, and he just spit at a councilman’s son.”

  “Who’s also still a trainee if I am, dick face,” I drawled. “His daddy has nothing to do with this.”

  The guy’s eyes shined with mirth at what he knew that I didn’t. “Yeah, parents play a lot in everything.” The way he said it made me flinch. I glanced around, and the need to vomit came back when I saw my parents standing off to the side.

  “Oh shit,” Gaius hissed. “Okay, I guess those are your parents given you have the same eyes as the woman.” I bobbed my head, my stomach rolling. “Um, I have something to tell you—”

  “What have you done now?” my father snarled, storming over to me with my mother at his side. “Why have we been dragged into this when we disowned you? You’re a Quinn now and not our problem. I cann
ot believe—”

  “A Quinn?” I wondered, and then my eyes went wide, knowing who had that last name.

  Gaius winced when I looked at him. “So, I have something to tell you. I got pissed when I saw their letter to you and contacted them that the charges were false, an investigation going on that the Wyrok were heading and every charge was false. I might have said something about them stuffing their last fucking name and you’d be part of a long-standing and highly elite family soon, the Quinn clan.”

  “You said that?” I whispered, shocked he would go to such lengths because they hurt me. He gave a slow nod. “You’re so fucking awesome.”

  “You’re not mad?” he asked, his eyes bugging out. “I mean, I’ve not even asked or anything but—”

  “Not mad,” I chuckled, bumping into him as I smiled at him.

  “You didn’t mention he was a fag then if he married you ,” my mother bitched, glancing between us. “You sent the letter as a representative of the Quinn clan, like you were the patriarch and discussing the mating that would happen in your clan.”

  “I am the patriarch,” he drawled, giving her a withering look. “I’m the eldest son of the eldest son’s bloodline. My siblings and cousins have children that made up the clan. I simply haven’t yet. If you inferred he was mating a female, well, that’s your ignorant mistake.”

  “And since when have you cared if anyone was gay?” I demanded, leaving the rest of that to process later. “Did all that pot you smoked, all those shrooms you did fry your fucking brains out?” They flinched and looked away from me in a blink and then back at me. But I caught it, shaking my head. “You became the sell-outs you condemned for so long, always up on your high horse about, huh?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” my mother lied.

  I glanced at all the big wigs who were there, unsure of who my parents looked at specifically. “For whoever thought they’d be a good bargaining chip or help, you backed the wrong horses. They were horrible parents who cared more about the next party or protest than they did the child they had. Things like responsibilities or—”

  “That’s enough , Falcon,” my father growled, grabbing my arm roughly.

  I smirked at him and used the metal in his watch to remove his hand, making it lock to his tie clip.

  “Well, that answers the charges he uses his gifts against other vampires,” a man declared loudly. I turned and looked at Mike’s dad who smirked like he’d won something.

  “And?”

  “And what?” he demanded when I didn’t continue.

  “That’s my question, dummy,” I drawled, people gasping I’d speak that way to a council member. “Oh please, he lost all reason to be respected when he let people die, knowing from his son how bad things were. He’s not a council member to me but a crooked politician way worse than any the humans have.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And so what if I use my gifts on people? Helios will to question me. When did using our gifts become a bad thing?”

  “The council passed a law about using gifts against each other a year ago,” Councilman Ashton, one of our allies, informed me. “Without telling anyone so it was always a failsafe against those who opposed them or they wanted to dig a grave for like you.”

  “So it was a closed session?” I asked, smiling when he nodded. “I love details. They kept me calm in so much chaos. I actually got to read a lot about rules and laws, as the coven we were abandoned at had quite the library. All councils were formed on the same decree of basic rules I read. In the decree, it says that any rule made in a closed session that isn’t announced to all covens and camps in their area within thirty days is invalidated.”

  “He’s right,” a gorgeous woman agreed loudly, shooting me an appraising gaze. “It’s in the bylaws of all councils.”

  It hit me who she was when I recognized her eyes, and I dipped my head. “Thank you, Councilwoman Aberdeen. Someone as dedicated to their position as London adamantly states you are would of course know that.”

  She shot me a smirk, as if knowing I was blowing smoke up her ass, but still returned the nod. “And thank you for your candor in bringing this issue to light. Also in your dedication to helping others learn their gifts. London has expressed how much yours and Marissa’s counsel has aided him.”

  “It saves lives.”

  “As opposed to you who took lives using your gifts,” Garrow snapped, annoyed the conversation or situation wasn’t going as he wanted. “We have sworn testimony that you murdered two of the coven the night the coven leader’s mate was killed.”

  “Murder is intentional,” I argued, my chest hurting to talk about this with so many. “That was an accident . That’s an accidental killing in the eyes of the law, not even involuntary manslaughter, as I wasn’t doing anything illegal at the time!”

  “You’ve looked into this,” Gaius murmured, studying me.

  “Of course,” I rasped, wiping my eyes. “I was destroyed they died when my gift came out.” I sneered at Garrow. “And they could have survived falling out a two-story window as transitioned vampires. I’m fairly certain the zakasacs killed them. I was a contributor, but it was an accident.

  “The coven leader’s mate was slaughtered not three feet from me. Her blood covered me as the monster ripped out her throat. My gift exploded out as I was freaked out, panicked at what had happ—”

  “And not trained. Yes, that was obvious,” Garrow taunted.

  “Don’t speak on what you don’t know, Garrow,” Gaius warned. “Your son was born a warrior, you were not, so don’t talk shit like you know of the training or what happens their first time out.”

  “We’re getting off track,” a vampire declared; the very air around him screamed he was some sort of authority. He turned to me and extended his hand. “I’m Claudius, second to the elected leader of the Wyrok, Mahala, who asked me to officiate this hearing and conclude the case. Thank you for agreeing to testify, but I must warn you that your association with Gaius won’t be of any influence in these proceedings.”

  I took his hand and shook it. “That’s fine. I don’t want him dragged in my mess that wasn’t of my creating. I’m not perfect. I’m sure there are millions of things I did wrong while at that assignment, but I did my best, so if I’m to be punished for that, so be it.”

  “Understood.” He bit back a smile, probably liking my sass or spunk like Gaius had said. He took over everything, situating where people were to sit and setting me up like there was a mock trial or something in a law school… Except more serious even if it was in the cafeteria. There were cameras and lights so I could be recorded well. Then Helios moved closer to me and gave me a sad look. I nodded for him to go ahead, not blaming him.

  I gasped as his gift hit me, feeling a bit drunk wrapped with a contact high I could sometimes get from all the pot my parents smoked. Claudius began, and it was hard to focus.

  “Before we get started on the official questions, what do you think of this privatized subdivision idea? As one who was locked down in a fortified coven and saw what could happen when there is such a grouping, what are your thoughts?”

  I giggled. I actually giggled. “Not fair to ask me that. I thought I didn’t have to answer everything?”

  “You don’t,” Gaius snarled. “Helios, what are you—”

  “It’s not on purpose,” Helios sighed. “I’m not trying to influence him that way, but he’s super young, Gaius. It’s too easy when they are.”

  “You need to learn control,” I grumbled.

  Anger filled his eyes that I picked on him and in front of so many. “You going to be the guinea pig? People don’t line up to help me with that.”

  “Then you need better friends,” I snapped. “Yes, I’d let you practice on me. You want to make me tell you about my love of Cheetos and Swedish Fish? So fucking what? Go ahead. Ask me my favorite books. There’s tons of ways to practice that’s non-intrusive , dummy. Get people to spill the secrets of their first crushes because who the fuck cares? Yo
u don’t have to be mean about it and ask my favorite way Gaius gets me wound up.”

  “ Can he ask that for my own sake?” Gaius asked, and I knew it was more to interrupt my ramble than anything.

  “No, but I’ll tell you later for not making me say it in public,” I answered, then focused on Claudius, unable to not answer his question any longer. “I think it’s stupid to make them all McMansions.”

  “How so?” he asked, his eyes flashing shock. Oh, he asked thinking I would put my seal of approval on it, probably knowing I was involved.

  “It’s being sold as a vacation destination sort of place, right? Well, those places have housing for the people that work there. Won’t it look kinda weird if we don’t have traffic going to and from the places and the development will take care of the grounds, have private shops, blah, blah, blah? Put in a few super trendy apartment buildings at the back of the land closer to the camp.

  “It would also get people in faster, as it’s winter in Wyoming, and balls can fall off from the cold. Make more guest houses, or fuck, I think some still have staff houses or whatever. I have more ideas, but not everyone needs to know my super smartness or things I think should be added, like getting that wall up first was totally me, and that was good. But yeah, mansions can have staff quarters and tons of guest suites no one needs to know more about.”

  “Wow, you really have no filter under his gift,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “That’s smart.”

  “It is,” Alastair agreed, bobbing his head. “Thank you, Falcon. You’ve been a big help with lots of the logistics and organization.”

  “I like that part of stuff,” I admitted. My head started spinning, and I moved my hand over my mouth.

  “Shit, it’s also because you’ve been puking the past two days because you had to testify,” Gaius worried, and suddenly a small container was in front of me as I felt Helios’s gift leave me.

  And I puked my guts out—which luckily there wasn’t much left to—right there in front of so many bigwigs. Awesome .