“Arlo, relax,” Oscar said, stepping between him and the thing he wanted for the second time today. “After you shifted, you went a bit crazy. I thought you were going to take my head off. She was just trying to keep everyone safe.”
“Fine.” Arlo couldn't stay annoyed when he looked into her soft eyes. “But we need to get to the bottom of what the hell you can do.”
Heather nodded enthusiastically. “I want to know as much as you do.”
Seb started moving. He worked out he was tied to the chair before he even lifted his head. To his left, Roken was slumped unconscious in another chair, held in place by tight coils of rope. Seb propelled himself backwards to the floor. He had to break the chair, get free. He had to check Roken was ok.
How did they get like this? What happened? He remembered the orgy. It was amazing. And then... And then what? What was the last thing he remembered? Blood. He remembered blood. Had they been attacked?
“Seb, relax, we're going to untie you,” Oscar's voice called.
“What? He's just broken a chair. You think he's back to normal?” Heather's voice protested.
“Normal for Seb,” Arlo's voice chuckled.
Seb finally turned to look away from Roken. Oscar was standing with a knife. Heather stood next to him while Arlo dressed himself not far away. “What the fuck?” Seb questioned. “Release Ro, not me.”
“That's Seb,” Oscar insisted, hurrying closer to where he lay on the floor.
“Why am I here?” Seb asked.
“You remember biting Roken?” Oscar cut through the binding.
“I drank from Ro?” Seb sat up quickly and used Oscar's shoulder to get himself on his feet. There were a lot of things Roken put up with from Seb, but feeding him was a hard ‘no’ in Roken’s eyes, and Seb tried not to overstep on that one. “Is he mad?” Seb walked butt naked to the unconscious shifter.
“We don't know. Everyone kinda went a little crazy, and Heather somehow put us all down.” Oscar followed him over to Roken.
“Untie him.”
“Arlo shifted, and you and I went a little blood crazy. We need to know he’s ok before we untie him,” Oscar continued.
“Fuck that. We changed. He didn’t,” Seb snapped. “I’m not having him wake up tied to a chair after what I did to him.”
“He might have changed,” Arlo added. “Heather said his eyes went funny.”
“Funny how?” Seb made a grab at the knife Oscar held, and the vampire gave it up for the alpha.
“It was like his whole eyes had gone black. I couldn’t see the white of his eyes anymore.” Heather tried to be helpful, but what did she know about Roken shifting.
“His eyes don’t go black,” Seb dismissed her. The whites of his eyes did disappear, just like Arlo’s did. But the colour wasn’t black. It wasn’t a dark colour at all. Seb would never forget the bright colour of Roken’s eyes when he shifted.
Oscar held Roken as Seb released his body, and the room sank into an awkward silence. No one actually seemed to know what happened, and Seb wasn’t in the mood for asking questions. Not until he was sure Roken was ok.
Roken’s eyes snapped open, and he stood quickly before he even registered where he was or what happened. His limbs felt like dead weights, and he couldn’t focus he felt so tired. What had happened?
The orgy! The blood! The kiss!
“Hey, Ro. Sit down buddy.” Seb’s tone was upbeat and cheerful.
Roken tried to focus on him, a dark silhouette against the brightness of the lamp behind him. “Go away.” Roken stumbled back. This wasn’t right. Something bad had happened, but what? His legs wobbled, causing him to stumble as he walked. He wasn’t sure where he was going, but he had to go somewhere. He needed... something.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood, Roke. You need to eat and drink something to get your strength back. Please sit down,” Arlo encouraged.
“No, I need to think,” Roken muttered. Trouble was, he didn’t know what he needed to think about. Food? Maybe they were right. Maybe food would help. As if they read his mind, Arlo held a tray of sliced ham in front of him. His hand shook as he reached forward, but he managed to coordinate his fingers to lift a piece and shove it into his mouth. He needed to increase his blood volume and he didn’t have the luxury of stealing from others to do it. He needed energy.
He needed to sit. His legs buckled, arms grabbed him, and by the time his rear hit the floor, his back was leaning against the wall.
“Keep eating, Ro.” Seb knelt in front of him, holding up a slice of ham before Roken had even finished eating the first. “Did you shift?”
Shift? He didn’t remember shifting, and that would be something to remember. “Did I?”
“Not completely. Your eyes maybe? Did you feel your beast at all?”
“Nothing,” Roken muttered. He hadn’t felt his beast for years. It had been beaten back, forced to recede to the pit of his stomach. Then it had just stopped calling to him. Was it sleeping? Dead? Or just gone?
“You’re sure?” Seb urged. “I need to know.”
“Look, I don’t really remember what the fuck happened, ok.”
Seb nodded and backed away slightly. Roken couldn’t understand why they were all crowded around him. They’d all gone crazy, not him. He’d seen it. Heather had been the worst of them all, and he had no idea what she had done. It renewed his need to research, but all he could do, right now, was keep eating the ham until his blood count returned to normal and he could function again. However long that was going to take.
“Water,” he muttered. Ham wasn’t going to give him everything he needed. He needed fluid, and Seb’s usual strong coffee wasn’t going to cut it. A glass appeared by his ear, and he downed the cold contents then returned the glass for more.
“Help me get him to bed,” Seb nodded to the other two men, Roken wasn’t in any danger now and they all needed sleep a little more than they were prepared to admit. It was time for them all to sleep off whatever Heather had done to them and come at it with fresh eyes in the morning.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
M orning hit Roken’s eyes worse than any hangover he could remember. His memories fogged his head, but he remembered the sex, Seb’s teeth, Heather’s touch. He wanted to call it a kiss, but it was more of a suck, like she had sucked all the warmth from his body. It had all left him feeling very numb. More than all the physical damage he’d endured over his long life, it was the mental scars that hurt the most.
He climbed out of bed and walked to the window. He needed fresh air to clear his room of the night’s scents, but the reek of vampire waited outside. There had been a time he’d been a slave to that smell. But those days were long behind him now. Seb had been hard on him to make sure of that, but he had needed that, wanted it. Sort of. Had he wanted it? Or had he accepted his fate and learnt to love it?
Seb walked into the room, his blood-red eyes instantly fixed on Roken as their target.
“Uh... You fed last night!” His voice barely made it past his throat as his body tightened up with fear.
“Fuck that,” Seb sneered, towering right above Roken in an instant. “Arlo shifted. Twice. So, what about you? Do you feel anything?”
“M-me?” Roken stammered. The scent of Seb's bloodlust had him paralysed where he stood. “I don't…”
Roken gasped as Seb’s hand enclosed around his throat. Seb's grip was tight, crushing his windpipe. He couldn't talk. He couldn't breathe. His hands grabbed Seb's wrist, his legs thrashed as Seb lifted him with a single hand, holding for a moment above the ground.
Seb was strong, but he couldn't hold Roken’s entire body weight for long at the end of his arm, especially with him thrashing around as he was. Seb was struggling to hold him and thrust him face first into the wall for leverage.
“U-th…” Breathless sounds escaped Roken’s lips as all the remaining air was forced from his lungs by the impact.
Roken couldn't breathe, even when his feet finally found the floor be
neath them again. Not that his legs had the strength to hold him, they were like jelly, and his mind was whirling. He knew if he didn't get air soon, he would pass out, but Seb just stared at him, watching and waiting. If the beast was awake, they would see it soon.
One hand was all it took to render Roken so helpless, and as Seb's other hand unbuckled his own belt, Roken’s eyes closed. His mind wandered. He had beaten Seb over the years more times than he could count. That was because he hadn't let the vampire get so close. Vampires had the advantage up close where the effects of their bloodlust impacted their victims, and Roken was paralyzed.
Seb felt Roken’s body give and released the shifter’s throat. There had been no change, nothing to concern him. Relief washed over him, taking a little of the strength from his own legs, but he continued to support Roken as he moved back into the single chair.
Roken let out a soft groan as he came to. His mind cleared a little, just enough to let him know he was breathing at least. And angry. It was his human form that was weak, his beast form was the strong one. He'd spent decades in beast form, rarely changing to human, until he met Seb. Seb had calmed his beast and Roken hadn't killed since. It was the lack of death and destruction that now kept him in his human form.
“Relax,” Seb whispered. “You're doing well.” The complete control he had over Roken, the relief he felt as the shifter didn’t shift… The mix of emotions had him hard and longing, and he pulled down his trousers. Roken felt a draft around his thighs and tried to check. He still didn't have control over his hands, but he knew the draft could mean only one thing. That one thing made his body stiffen.
Roken didn’t think he was doing well. He wasn't doing anything at all. Unsuccessfully, he willed his eyes to open, but it was fear more than inability that kept them shut tight. That familiar, burning pain started in the base of his spine, then splintered around his abdomen and up his back. He knew it well, and he accepted it as best he could, keeping his cry contained within his chest for the most part. A little lube and forewarning could have eased some discomfort, but that was never Seb's way. Seb was always brutal and harsh. That was how he kept Roken's beast in check.
With his own vampire drive very much awakened since Heather came, and Arlo’s apparent lack of control over his shifting, Seb had been concerned for what effect she was having on Roken. All he wanted was to test Roken, to see if his beast had woken too. He knew he had squeezed too long, held too tight, but he had to be sure Roken's beast wasn't going to emerge. There had been nothing, not even a change in Roken's eyes.
He'd thought Roken had come around. He had started to wake up, and Seb had made his move. His shaft was now buried balls deep in the shifter, but he always assumed consent. Permission was denied rather than given, and while he always respected Roken's right to refuse him, he never waited for a response to proceed. Now he doubted Roken could refuse even if he wanted, and Seb couldn't continue with Roken so limp against him.
“Ro?” He sat in the armchair with Roken laid up against him, eyes closed and body limp. “I want to fuck you, Roken, and I want it to hurt.”
“Uh-huh,” Roken muttered drowsily.
“You can tell me to stop.”
“Uh-huh,” Roken repeated.
That was the problem with implied consent. Seb slid his shaft back slowly, then pounded forward hard and fast into Roken. The shifter stiffened his body and moaned. Seb's arm around his waist held him tight against his chest. His hand slipped to Roken’s groin, and he stroked his cock until it responded to his touch. With his eyes shut, Seb pounded his hips back and forth, his hand sliding along Roken's shaft in rhythm.
He thought about Dharla. She had been his one, his only. Before Roken. All through the centuries she had been by his side, and the emptiness that consumed him since her passing was only broken by the small joy he gleaned from her killer. It was the only way he could get through his unending grief, and the ecstasy that engulfed him when he came was the closest he could get to being with Dharla again.
Now all he wanted was blood.
Roken's neck was red and bruised from his grip. All that blood. Seb's teeth lengthened in his mouth. He licked his lips and leant forward towards the pounding jugular.
“No,” Roken muttered. His eyes were closed and his body motionless, save the heavy rise and fall of his chest, still deep breathing from Seb choking him.
“Open your eyes,” Seb ordered. When Roken ignored him, Seb advanced on his throat once again. His teeth scraped the surface of Roken’s skin until he felt the pulse of the jugular below.
“Please don't,” Roken’s voice cried out again.
But his bloodlust blinded him. He couldn't stop. Roken started to wriggle, and Seb had to tighten his grip on the shifter to hold him down and keep him still. No! He had to stop. It didn't matter how much he wanted blood, Roken had said no. He could never breech that line of trust. Withdrawing from Roken was the hardest thing he had ever done.
Roken stumbled forward off his lap as Seb released him, casting him aside. His knees buckled, and he fell, hitting the wall. That didn't matter. His trousers being round his knees didn't matter. All that mattered was stopping the blood.
“Let me help you,” Seb said, kneeling beside him. Roken pushed him away, worried what Seb would do when he smelt the blood. It wasn't until the blood seeped into the gaps between his fingers that Seb reacted. He lifted his hands away, stopped trying to help, and just stared, his face ashen. “I'll get Heather,” he said flatly, then he rose and was gone.
Roken sighed and let his eyes drift close for a moment. Just a moment. He was so tired, and without the ability to use his shift state to heal quickly, he would need to rest.
“Wake up!”
Roken had barely closed his eyes before someone punched his arm. He slowly opened his eyes and peered up at Heather’s worried face looking down at him. She was the only one without a bloodlust, but there was still something hungry in her eyes.
“Seb is so sorry,” Heather said, smiling. But it was guilt, not comfort written on her face. Roken tried to back away, but she held him tight as her fingers pressed against his throat.
“I know,” Roken whispered, though there was a weakness to his voice that betrayed his lack of conviction. The mutual respect they’d built over the past century had been less and less present since Heather had arrived, and Roken was quickly reaching the limits of his forgiveness.
Downstairs, Arlo placed a coffee down in front of Seb where he sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. He felt conflicted. He wanted Roken, but he didn’t want Roken shifting. He wanted Heather too, leaving him confused about Dharla. Taking Roken’s blood was something he had vowed not to do, but now he was becoming addicted. The guilt was eating away at him, leaving an uncomfortable feeling under his skin.
“I wanted his blood.” Seb felt awful. He had betrayed Roken, betrayed his own morals. Again. “I couldn’t stop myself.”
“He'll be ok. The wound will heal pretty quickly, and he'll replace the blood he's lost soon enough.” Arlo did his best to comfort Seb, but he knew how it felt to break a promise. He had vowed never to binge on rabbits.
Seb slammed his hands down on the table. He hadn't fed this time, not a taste, so Roken wouldn't benefit from the healing properties that came with his bite. He would have to heal his wound on his own, but Roken's shifter side was buried so deep he had lost some of the healing speed that came with it.
“He'll forgive you,” Oscar said. His voice was dry and hoarse, and he was beginning to lust for blood too. “Maybe this will give you guys a chance to redefine your relationship?”
Seb didn't want to redefine his relationship. The world around him was changing faster than he could adjust. It was now ok for a man to like another man, but it hadn't been that way for most of his long life. This modern world encouraged opening up and talking about feelings. Maybe it was time to talk about Dharla. Maybe it was time to forgive Roken and move on.
“We'll all go out a
nd feed,” Seb decided. He may have had his fill of Roken’s blood, but Oscar needed to quench his thirst. Oscar wouldn't be able to think clearly until his own bloodlust was gone from his mind.
“All?” Arlo asked doubtfully.
“The three of us. Heather can stay with Roken.” Seb rose from the table and headed upstairs where he found Heather sitting beside Roken on the bed.
Roken was lying with his head in Heather's lap. His eyes were closed, and he didn’t stir under Seb’s gaze, but Heather looked up from stroking Roken’s hair. He healed faster when he slept, and physically, he would be ok in an hour or two.
“We're going out to feed,” Seb called, remaining in the doorway. He didn't want to enter if he wasn't welcome.
“Is it safe?” Heather questioned.
“We'll stick together. The three of us will be fine. And nothing can get inside the grounds without permission. Nothing can get you here.” His answer had covered all the bases, so he slipped from the door and left the pair in peace.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
R oken startled Heather as his eyes opened. Something had brought him abruptly from his rest. His eyes flickered round the room, but they didn’t focus on the room itself.
“Rest,” Heather encouraged, “the others are out feeding.”
“It's not them. Something else,” Roken said, forcing himself to his feet.
“What is it?” Heather muttered, sidling up close beside him.
His neck was healed now, and he looked almost back to normal, but he was afraid. His body was stooped, almost ready to attack, or defend.
“The protection field,” Roken muttered. “Something has entered it somehow.”
She followed Roken to the window and peered through the blinds. She didn't need any sense of smell to detect the vampires outside. There were around twenty easily visible from the window, but they couldn't enter. Seb had some kind of enchantment on the house to stop them, so what had entered?
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