…For love is sufficient unto love….
—Kahlil Gibran
BLOOD.
Neiran’s whiskers twitched at the scent, and his body went cold. Adrenaline flowed through him and he dug his claws into the ground to gain speed, even as a sickly sweetness mixed with familiar spices swept on the icy breeze and filled his lungs. Vampire blood and werewolf.
Whatever vamp had the brass ones to bring a fight onto Neiran’s territory would taste Neiran’s bite.
He pulled up on the edge of his estate’s grounds—to a thick wall of old pine trees that shielded the property from the city streets—when plaintive whimpers stopped him cold. A cub. And from the sound of things, it didn’t have much time.
Even in the shadow of the trees, the full moon overhead illuminated a large figure poised over the downed wolf. Neiran snarled and advanced, murder dripping from his fangs.
“Please. Stop. I didn’t hurt him.” The vampire raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
Neiran’s heart shattered when he reached the small body. “Kellan.” His late sister’s kid. It would figure that boy’s lack of fear would cause him to venture too far from home. Wasn’t like the boy’s father ever found his way out of a bottle long enough to parent properly. Neiran inched forward. His fur stood on end. He shifted side to side and sniffed over the young pup’s body.
The boy didn’t smell of death. Not yet. Thank God. Neiran butted his head against the cub’s and whimpered to let the boy know that he was there for him.
An unruly jumble of words tumbled out of the vampire’s cut and swollen mouth. “I was going to give him blood. I didn’t know—” The vampire’s breath hitched. “It works for us, you know. To heal. And I wasn’t sure if maybe my blood could help or hurt, but he’s in such bad shape I was gonna try, you know, cuzatthispoint—”
Neiran barked sharply to stop the flood of words and then shifted to human form. “Quiet.” Heedless of the night’s chill on his naked skin, he dropped beside his nephew’s shaking, bleeding body. Kellan’s breath came in shallow pants. The young wolf’s eyes glowed, unfocused, in the moonlight. “Come help me hold him in place,” Neiran said to the vampire. “And if you move one muscle to harm him, you’ll be sorry.”
The young stranger knelt on the other side of Kellan. As gently as possible, Neiran showed the vampire how to cradle the small body. Once sandy-colored fur was matted with blood. Teeth were broken. One leg lay at an odd angle, probably also broken. Kellen had been beaten. Kicked. What monster would do this to a child? “Stay with me, Kellan,” he murmured. Two sets of boot prints retreated through the trees, one set uneven, as if the maker had been limping. Cowards. He glanced at the vampire, who remained motionless but for the heavy sawing of breath. Neiran detected fresh vampire blood as well, but it was not his first concern. “Tell me what happened.”
“They were getting high. They thought it would be funny, you know, to get fucked up on wolf property….”
Funny. Neiran’s hands warmed and pulsed as they skimmed over his nephew’s matted fur. Kellan whimpered quietly but then fell silent. The cub’s breathing deepened, and the glassy eyes fluttered closed.
“What are you doing to him?”
“I’m trying to heal him, vampire. Please continue.”
The outsider drew a shaky breath. “The cub came running through, and I guess… I guess he wanted to chase us off. I tried to stop them, but it was me against three others. I’m sorry.”
Neiran’s hands glowed softly, and he focused the light on the tender part of Kellan’s belly. He detected too much internal damage to get a fix on what was happening. Dammit. He spared a second glance back at the tracks in the dirt. “I see two sets of footprints.”
Branches and pine needles crackled as the vampire shifted. Their eyes met for a moment over Kellan’s body. “One of them… had to be carried.”
Neiran took a deep breath. He still smelled fresh vampire blood. And the source was clear. A pool gathered next to Kellan’s head, coming from two punctures in the vampire’s wrist. “You’re bleeding.”
“Shit….” None too steady, the vampire brought the wrist to his mouth and swept a long, dark tongue over the bite. Something primal stirred in Neiran, bubbling up underneath his fear at the sight of the male’s wet tongue. “I forgot. Was gonna try….”
“Blood. Yeah.” Neiran drew another long breath, sniffing for lies, but couldn’t detect any deceit.
“Yeah. Wasn’t sure if I could….”
“Save it,” he snapped. Neiran ignored the drop of moisture that splashed on the back of his hand while he worked to mend his nephew. He sidled around next to the vampire. That profile…. His face bore very familiar tribal markings.
Only when Neiran pressed against the vampire’s warmth did the full force of his nakedness hit him.
“Here,” Neiran said. “Let me.” As quickly as he had noticed the vampire’s heat, it was gone. He ignored the shivers that pricked his skin.
Kellan howled in his sleep when Neiran handled the cub’s back leg. He held it in proper position, and the glow of his hands intensified as he focused his power on the broken bone. “I think he’ll live, vampire.” It shouldn’t have, but it pleased Neiran to hear a relieved whoosh of air from this unlikely helper’s lungs.
“Good, so he’s… going to be… oka—” With a scrape of earth and a soft thud, the vampire wavered and fell face first into a bed of pine needles.
LIGHT STABBED Andrei in the eye. “Oh shit.” Regretting the immense effort he’d gone to just to crack it open, he winced and closed the thing again, taking stock. He lay on a bed. A nice one, with soft sheets. Smells of sandalwood and vanilla lingered in the air. Soap. Skin. Someone had cleaned him up? That someone hadn’t left the room. “Where am I?”
“My home.” The low rumble made something stir in Andrei’s gut. “Don’t worry, you’re safe here.”
Andrei managed a weak laugh, but his ribs ached. “No shit? Guess I’m glad you haven’t killed me. So thanks.”
“True enough. I could have.” The mattress sank to one side. Warm, hard muscle pressed gently across Andrei’s sore rib cage, and then the light clicked off.
Thank heaven. He lifted his swollen lids. Even weakened, Andrei’s preternatural vision easily made out the sharp, pale features of the wolf shifter. Now dressed in slacks and an open dress shirt that displayed a mat of salt-and-pepper fur over hard pecs and abs, the man appraised Andrei in a way that was part intimidating, part… exhilarating. A little more of the latter, given the swelling down below in his—damn, where were his clothes? Good thing Andrei had a thick blanket over him. He swallowed. “The pup’s okay?”
The shifter sighed and pressed his knuckles to his forehead. “He will be. I’ve left him with my physician.” A warm, solid hand landed on Andrei’s. “Thank you for defending him.”
Suddenly, Andrei found it difficult to breathe. The hand on his throbbed, sending tingles along his skin. He shook his head slowly, trying not to slosh his achy brain. “It wasn’t a fair fight, and we were on your property. Besides, there’s supposed to be peace between the species now.”
The wolf pressed his lips together. “Officially.”
Andrei shrugged. White-hot agony shot through his neck and shoulder. He hissed quietly. “Stupidity. If I can’t reach something on a high shelf, I find a damn step stool. I don’t kill the taller guy who put it there. Your kind can walk in the day, so you chose to live openly among the humans. Can’t call you traitors just for that.”
“Yet many of your kind believe that’s exactly what we are.” The shifter’s other hand landed gently on Andrei’s cut cheek. More throbbing. More heat. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift, like a boat rocking on water. Blissful. The big male leaned close, his breath hot in Andrei’s ear. “How old are you, Mr. Marshak?”
Andrei jerked from his reverie. “You know who I am?”
One long finger swept aside Andrei’s long bangs. Pale blue eyes gazed intentl
y into his. “I recognize your family’s mark on your face. Not to mention that olive skin, the deep crease in your forehead… that stubborn chin you have….” The finger caressed each feature as the man named it. “Even that odd bump on the bridge of your nose. I’ve squared off against many members of your clan in my day. Now. How old are you?”
“Call me Andrei, please. And I’m twenty-seven.”
The werewolf sat back and smiled. Sadly, almost. “Practically a baby.”
War waged inside Andrei. Pain. Pleasure. Supreme irritation. A baby. A baby? “I’m hardly a baby.”
The wolf exhaled, long and hard. “I’ve been around for almost two hundred and fifty years, so in comparison….” The wolf patriarch pulled his hand away.
Andrei snarled again, loudly, and forced himself to sit up despite the head-spinning pain. “It was my brother that they carried off, you know. I beat the ever-loving shit out of my own family member to save your nephew when by all accounts we’re supposed to be enemies. That something a baby would do, old man?” Eyes narrowed and breath sawing, Andrei stared down the alpha, daring him. Though to do what, he wasn’t quite sure.
The wolf stared back. Those blue eyes looked haunted as they searched Andrei’s face. A quiet tick, tick, tick came from a clock on the bedside table. As curious as he was about the time, Andrei was sure that whatever strange tension filled the space between them would vanish into thin air should one of them look away, and Fates knew it wouldn’t be him.
“All right, then,” the wolf said finally. He slid his large frame next to Andrei on the king-size bed and relaxed against the fabric-covered headboard. “And please, call me Neiran. No more of that ‘old man’ stuff.” Stubble scraped Andrei’s cheek, and minty-fresh breath wafted under Andrei’s nose.
Neiran. The name slid over Andrei’s consciousness. It had hardly registered before more base needs—pain and hunger—drew his gaze to the tick of Neiran’s pulse. His tongue slid over his lower lip, and he swallowed the puddle of saliva in his throat. Neiran’s expression seemed expectant. “All right what?”
Neiran shrugged the black button-down off of his shoulders, exposing powerful arms. “My power hasn’t done much for you. You need blood to heal.”
“I….” Was this a trick? Andrei focused on the throb of Neiran’s vein and the hungry talons jabbing in his gut and wasn’t sure he cared. His gums ached, and his fangs crowded his mouth.
“Come here. You helped my family. I want to help you in return.” The tug was subtle, but it wasn’t as if much coaxing was necessary. Clearly, Andrei’s body had already made the decision, and the rest of him wanted to go along for the ride. Hard chest met hard chest. Coarse, thick fur tickled Andrei’s skin.
His fangs sank in cleanly, and he couldn’t hold back the satisfied groan when Neiran’s blood hit his tongue. Flavors of smoke and earth and dry burgundy wine exploded in his mouth as he sucked in great, greedy gulps. The life-giving fluid slid down his throat, and his body warmed from the inside out. Nerve endings lit up and skin prickled as cuts and scrapes knit together. His body slowly rejoined at the broken places.
Andrei couldn’t believe the energy that coursed through him. The power. The—oh God…. His balls throbbed. He was so turned on he couldn’t even be bothered with embarrassment when his insistent erection jabbed into Neiran’s hard outer thigh. He groaned and tightened his hold on the wolf’s neck.
Damn, what was he doing? He was young, but he was no virgin. He’d drunk from powerful vampires, but he’d never experienced anything like this… this—what was this? One bite, one taste, and he was buzzed and out of his mind with fever and need and draped naked over this werewolf’s chest like his soul depended on drinking Neiran’s blood.
Hot breath fanned over Andrei’s ear. “It’s not well-known to younger generations since the rift happened between our species, but werewolf blood is quite an aphrodisiac. It’s why I wanted to know your age before I allowed you to drink.” Andrei could only moan in response to the husky whisper.
Andrei couldn’t stop his hands from roaming, from sliding over the hard ridges of muscle and combing through soft hair. He dug his nails into Neiran’s hard shoulders as he lapped at the heady rivulets of blood.
A pleasured snarl escaped from Andrei when Neiran’s solid, capable arms pulled their bodies closer. The hardness of his cock rubbed over the fur on Neiran’s belly, and the man’s large palm soothed the burning flesh on Andrei’s hip before taking him in hand. “It’s okay. I know. Take what you need.”
Andrei hissed and bucked into Neiran’s grip. “I can’t.” He pulled back, licking at the punctures. “I can’t just take.” Another shiver caused Andrei to push closer, seeking Neiran’s heat. Eyes peeled wide, he locked stares with the wolf. “What can I give to you?”
Yeah, he’d managed to save the wolf pup, but that attack was his brother’s fault. Andrei wanted to give Neiran something, to make him crazy and alive with need the same way Andrei was right now. Without waiting for an answer, he tried for a kiss, firm but careful due to his extended fangs.
Neiran’s tongue slid against Andrei’s, and he tightened his grip around Andrei’s hard-on. “Let me do this.”
Andrei fumbled with the button on Neiran’s pants. “I want to….” Everything. Fucking everything. His skin burned and screamed; his fingers ached with all the things he wanted to do. His hunger for blood now sated, a deeper, darker hunger rose up inside of Andrei, and it would not be denied. “Please.” Andrei swung one leg over Neiran’s lap, pushing his pants down his thighs. “Tell me what you like.”
He exposed Neiran’s cock, thick and covered in veins. Fuck. Andrei’s eyes focused on that delicious erection, his blood-sharpened vision zeroing in even in the darkened room. “Christ, even your dick looks powerful.”
Neiran chuckled. “Would you like to find out what I can use it for?”
Andrei shook his head and growled his frustration when Neiran wouldn’t let him rub their hard-ons together. “I want to know what makes you feel good.” Who knew where this would go, if it would go anywhere after tonight. But Andrei had signed his own death warrant by attacking his brother, and now wolf blood charged through his veins. Tonight would be fucking off the charts. They both deserved a slice of something amazing.
“You’ve been injured,” Neiran murmured. “Perhaps we should go easy.”
Andrei growled. He shoved against the wall of muscle that formed Neiran’s chest. He clutched at Neiran’s pants and pulled, exposing massive, striated thighs. “Fuck, you’re like artwork, you’re made so perfectly.”
“I’m so old I’m nearly petrified, you mean.” Neiran smiled with humor, but Andrei didn’t miss the hint of sadness.
“Sexy as hell. I’ll keep the jokes about hard wood to myself.” Andrei licked from the crease of Neiran’s hip to one nipple and then the other. He rose up, studying the solid bulk of the pack leader. “My bite on your neck….” Andrei traced the mark with his finger. “I’ve never seen anything so hot.”
“I’ve never….” Neiran shook his head and threaded his fingers into the short hair at the base of Andrei’s skull. “Christ, you’re young.” But his chest heaved, and his stomach muscles pulsed.
“You want me.” Andrei bared his fangs. “I can see that you do.”
“I shouldn’t.” Neiran ran his hands down Andrei’s back. A pleased-sounding rumble came from his throat. “But fuck, yes, I do.”
Heat and want pulled Andrei’s muscles tight enough to snap. He ran his gaze over Neiran’s form. He trailed kisses along ridged stomach muscles and dug his fingers into Neiran’s hips. His hard cock nudged under a warm, heavy set of balls. “Your blood is the most amazing thing I’ve tasted. And I’ve tasted plenty. I once lured the virgin son of our clan’s mage elder into letting me bite him behind our neighbor’s garage. I thought I’d never taste anything purer or more powerful.” A breeze in the room sent chills down his back. He ran his hands over Neiran’s clenching stomach. “God damn, I want to l
ick you from head to toe. But I want you so fucking badly, I swear it hurts.”
Neiran’s lips curled into a slight smile. “So what are you waiting for?”
Andrei trailed one fang over Neiran’s leg, bringing up a small line of blood. He licked over it to close the scrape, sucking down the heady flavor of the wolf’s blood. “Good fucking hell, I don’t know if it’s your blood or you alone that’s so addictive.” He threaded the fingers of each hand through each of Neiran’s. “I’m waiting for you to tell me what you want. Old man.” He grinned then, meeting that sharp blue-eyed stare with a challenge.
Neiran bucked underneath Andrei. “Watch your mouth. I could throw you off this bed.”
Andrei pushed him back down. “I don’t know. I’ve got the blood of a very powerful werewolf humming in my veins. I think I can hold my own.”
Neiran roared.
Suddenly Andrei found himself on his back, underneath roughly two hundred and fifty pounds of naked man. “Well, you’re fast for an old man, I’ll give you that.”
Neiran laughed. “You’re not familiar, so I’ll cut you some slack, but it’s customary to treat the pack alpha with respect.”
Andrei’s heart hammered hard and fast. His head buzzed with desire, with the effects of Neiran’s blood and so much more. “Is that what you want in bed?” He arched up so heated skin touched skin. “You want someone who bows down to you? Who treats you like the alpha?”
He put his hand on the back of Neiran’s neck and pulled him close for a kiss. Their tongues tangled hungrily as they nipped and licked at each other’s lips. Andrei sucked off the beads of blood that welled up before he pulled away. “Or would you rather have someone in bed who’s your equal? Someone who gives as well as takes?”
Neiran sank his teeth into that sensitive place where Andrei’s shoulder and neck came together, and Andrei shivered. He wrapped his hands around Neiran’s biceps and trailed his fingers down arms that made Andrei want to sink his fangs into all that muscular flesh. Neiran’s teeth nipped Andrei’s flank and his stomach.
Grand Adventures Page 31