by Alice Cain
~*~
Adrian held his breath as he waited for Tyler's reaction. Fuck, he hadn't meant to make that offer, but all he could think about was sinking his cock in that gorgeous ass with no barriers between them and then riding them both to oblivion.
"I would like that, Sir."
"Good," Adrian said. He'd trained a lot of subs over the years, but none had affected him on the same levels as this beautiful school teacher. Worse still, despite all of his talk on hard limits, he wanted to mark Tyler, to make a permanent claim on his body and soul. His cock grew harder as he imagined everything he wanted to share with this man. "Lie facedown over the spanking bench." He indicated the low, padded bench that doubled as a footlocker, and again held his breath as Tyler seemed to hesitate.
"Am I being punished for something, Sir?" he asked nervously.
"No, little sub. I just want to see my handprint on your ass."
As soon as the words left his mouth Adrian wished them back. He'd always thought of his possessiveness over a sub as just his natural need to protect, but the territorial feelings he had for Tyler made the past emotions pale to insignificance. How the hell could one human turn him inside out so easily?
Tyler nodded and moved to lie over the padded footlocker, not even showing any hesitation once he understood Adrian's motive. Hell, it had been the wrong thing to say. Even if he was feeling like this, it didn't change the fact that he had nothing to give long term.
It didn't stop Adrian from dropping to his knees beside Tyler, or discourage him from running his callused hands over Tyler's soft flesh to warm his skin. The first slap was pretty hard, Tyler's immediate reaction one of pain and surprise, but as Adrian rubbed over the slightly pink skin, Tyler moaned softly. Adrian smacked him again in the same spot, grinning when Tyler's soft moan of pleasure came a little faster this time. The third in the same place obviously stung, but Tyler gasped, panting as Adrian rubbed over the spot before gliding his hand toward his balls.
Tyler was already hard, his cock oozing pre-cum, but he also seemed on the verge of an emotional meltdown. Adrian knew the slaps were hard enough to cause tears, but Tyler seemed to be reacting out of proportion to the pain.
"What is your safe word, little sub?"
"T–Tomato, S–Sir."
"Do you want to use your safe word, Tyler?"
Tyler shook his head quickly, rocking slightly on his knees as he very clearly said the words Adrian needed to hear. "No, Sir."
"Okay, little sub," Adrian said, trying to stifle a relieved sigh as he finally realized he needed this as much as Tyler did.
He started truly spanking him then, the slaps deliberate and well placed, the rest of Tyler's ass turning a very appealing shade of pink around the still red area where Adrian's handprint was clearly outlined. He placed his left hand against the small of Tyler's back, trapping him against the padded surface, stopping the man's instinctive wriggling as Adrian landed the last and hardest slap to his ass, straight over the handprint he'd already made.
Tyler sobbed then, the pain finally pushing him into the cathartic release Adrian had been hoping for. He sat on the floor beside Tyler and gathered him in his lap, rocking slightly as the man began to cry harder. Tyler had been so strong for Logan that he hadn't truly let himself grieve for the innocence they'd both lost. Even if Tyler somehow achieved the unimaginable and managed to go on with his life, he would always carry the knowledge of what had happened to his friend. He'd probably have nightmares and flashbacks of the horrific scene he'd found at Logan's home that night for a very long time, maybe even for the rest of his life.
"It's okay, little sub," Adrian said as Tyler tried to pull out of his embrace. "You need to cry."
Tyler shook his head in denial, but Adrian pressed a hand to the side of his head and held his face against his heart.
"Don't defy me, Tyler," Adrian said affectionately. "As your Dom you need to trust that I know what I'm doing." Tyler nodded against his chest, giving his trust even as he tried to stop himself from crying. "Sweetheart, it's been a confusing few days, but ignoring the emotions isn't the same as coping."
Tyler half sobbed, half laughed at that statement. "Shouldn't you be crying, too, then?" he asked in a thick voice.
"Perhaps," Adrian said, acknowledging his own grief over William's death. He'd coped by staying busy and treating William's case like all the others on his desk—with professional distance—but just as he'd said to Tyler, ignoring the emotions wasn't actually coping with them. "Holding you in my arms is helping." As surprising as that seemed, it was definitely the truth.
"I'm glad," Tyler whispered as he curled deeper into Adrian's embrace.
They held each other for a long time, not talking, just taking comfort in the contact. He was on the verge of moving them off the floor when Tyler patted his chest and then sat up. Adrian let him go, studying his swollen eyes and puffy face as Tyler blushed in embarrassment.
"I'll be back in a moment," he said as he pulled out of Adrian's arms. He let him go, not particularly concerned that he'd forgotten to use the word "Sir." It may have started out as a Dom/sub style of interaction, but everything that had followed blurred the lines a little.
Adrian lifted his butt off the cold floor and moved around the room aimlessly as he listened to Tyler splash water on his face and get cleaned up. When he finally came back into the room he stepped straight into Adrian's arms without hesitating.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "I didn't realize how much I needed that."
"You're welcome, Tyler. Are you ready to go back to sleep?"
"Actually," he said as his hand slid over Adrian's stomach and then inched lower toward his cock, "I was wondering if I could maybe…um…help you with this."
Adrian grinned as Tyler's hand wrapped around his rapidly returning erection. Just having the man in his arms was enough to test his previously rock-solid self-control. Having him naked and willing in his arms was impossible to resist.
When Tyler dropped to his knees, like a well-behaved submissive, it seemed perfectly natural to wrap his hand around the back of Tyler's head and feed him his cock. Tyler opened eagerly, caressing over Adrian's most sensitive flesh with his tongue as Adrian slid deeper into his mouth. Tyler braced his hands against Adrian's thighs, relaxing his throat as he let Adrian control his movements, his need to claim this man again hitting him hard. He moved convulsively, holding Tyler close as he started to cram his cock deep into his mouth over and over. Tyler moaned around him, encouraging him as he increased the suction, practically trapping him in his warm mouth each time.
"Stop," Adrian growled, dragging Tyler off his cock and practically throwing him onto the bed. Tyler looked a little bit shocked by the move, but he opened his arms, and his legs, as Adrian moved to lie over him. "Sorry, Tyler, but this is going to be quick."
He'd barely gotten the words out of his mouth and lube onto his cock before he was sliding his deep into Tyler's body. Thankfully Tyler didn't show any signs of discomfort as Adrian lost the battle to control his need for this man.
Tyler wrapped his arms around Adrian's shoulders, holding him close as he fucked him, his movements urgent, demanding, his need for Tyler uncontrollable. Tyler rolled his head to the side, somehow instinctively knowing what Adrian needed.
Fuck.
Adrian felt his teeth lengthen, the insane urge to bite Tyler the way an alpha werewolf would do crashing through his mind in unending waves. He ground his teeth together even as he grabbed Tyler's hips, fucking him harder and faster as his need grew and his self-control weakened.
Practically insane with his own arousal, Adrian pulled out and flipped Tyler onto his hands and knees, ramming his cock back in almost before Tyler could get his balance. Desperate to hold onto his last shred of humanity Adrian wrapped an arm underneath him, his fingers finding Tyler hard and leaking, his firm touch on the man's cock sending Tyler into orgasm. He screamed, his ass tightening around Adrian's cock so hard that he could barely move.
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And then he was coming too, his seed shooting from his cock in sharp, nearly painful spurts, his whole body shaking as he collapsed forward, flattening Tyler to the mattress for a moment before sanity kicked in.
He moved back quickly, moaning as Tyler moved with him, the man's need to hold him inside his body just a little longer making him feel ten feet tall. Holy fuck, it had never been like this. Not with anyone. Something drew him to Tyler like a moth to the flame.
But would this obsession leave them both burned?
Chapter Nine
Tyler panted, trying hard to slow his racing heart. He'd never experienced anything like what he'd just shared with Adrian. Their coupling had been violent and rushed and hell, maybe a little painful, but it had also been completely perfect.
He smiled as Adrian rolled onto his side, taking Tyler with him. Even as Adrian had collapsed on him, momentarily cutting off his ability to breathe, Tyler had trusted him to keep him safe. He hadn't even felt the need to wriggle as Adrian blanketed him with his warmth. It might have been different if it had lasted more than a moment, but Tyler couldn't deny the deliciousness of being the reason such a strong and powerful man had been so exhausted.
Surprisingly he threaded his hand between them, his fingers cupping over Tyler's anus almost as if he liked the idea of Tyler holding his seed inside his body. It was kind of strange how much the idea appealed to Tyler. He held very still, unwilling to risk the inevitable just yet.
"William was a good man," Adrian said, surprising Tyler with his choice of topic. He nodded in agreement, having no doubt that if Adrian called him a friend that it was absolutely true. "He both loved and hated being a vampire. He considered it his gift and his curse." Tyler could feel Adrian's smile against the top of his head. "He adored Logan but hated that he had to rely on a donor to keep him fed."
"That must have been a difficult way to live."
"It was," Adrian said. "The instinct to survive is very strong for a vampire. If they let themselves get too hungry they will approach the nearest human. Ironically, in many instances that's tantamount to suicide. Humans often kill what they don't understand."
"Can't vampires drink animal blood?"
"No, that's just another falsehood perpetuated by popular fiction—including the Vampire Council's own website, I might add—but it has no basis in reality. Even with the best preservation techniques, stored human blood is not quite adequate. For a new vampire like Logan the only food that will keep him alive is fresh human blood."
"At least vampires don't need much to live on."
"That is a small amount of good news, but finding a human we can trust is often very difficult. That's why William never wanted any progeny of his own. He wasn't alone in his attitude. Many vampires refuse to pass on such a precarious life to an offspring."
"So he's considered Logan's father?"
"Technically speaking that's exactly who he is. I suspect that choosing to save Logan's life was a very difficult decision for him, especially since he would have known he wouldn't be around to protect him."
"How did you meet William?"
Again Tyler felt Adrian smile. Clearly he had happy memories of his and William's friendship. "My siblings and I were following rumors of a vampire infestation in a small English village around the turn of the century." That seemed a strange way to describe a time most people referred to as "the millennium," but Adrian continued talking so Tyler put his question aside. "What we found was a very polite English gentleman who adored his human wife and who was essentially the victim of collective paranoia. Because he'd never been out of the house during the day, the villagers had decided he was somehow dangerous to the woman he loved. We got him and Cecily out of the area and helped them to relocate. When his wife died a few decades later—"
"Wait. Decades later?" Tyler asked craning his neck to try and see Adrian's face.
"Yes, his wife lived well into her seventies. When she died William decided to join us in this town. He is…sorry, he was actually a very accomplished Dom, although he never really found a woman to love the way he'd loved his Cecily."
Tyler knew he probably looked ridiculous staring at Adrian from this strange angle, but the guy didn't look any older than early thirties. How could he be talking about the turn of the previous century?
"How long do werewolves live?"
"Up to six-hundred years, if they stay out of harm's way."
"So that would mean…" Tyler let the words trail away, not at all sure how to phrase what he wanted to ask.
Adrian laughed softly. "Sorry, Tyler, I probably should have explained earlier. I'm not actually a werewolf werewolf."
"Huh?"
"My brothers and sister and I got our gifts given to us by a paranormal claiming to be a goddess."
"I am a goddess," a voice said, the sound seeming to come from all around them. Tyler couldn't help but jolt in reaction.
"You heard that?" Adrian asked. He sounded angry but Tyler got the impression that it wasn't aimed at him.
"The woman's voice?" Tyler asked wondering if he really did hear anything.
"Anaedra you're scaring my sub. Either make your invisible self solid and explain why you're here, or go the fuck away."
"That's not a very nice way to talk to someone who could fry your ass with just a thought."
Tyler thought that if the woman really was a goddess, then maybe that was a little bit of good advice. Instead Adrian tensed with even more anger.
"What do you want, Anaedra?" Adrian asked angrily, pulling the comforter more firmly over Tyler's naked body. The woman who appeared then seemed more real than corporeal, but since she seemed to come out of nowhere, Tyler was willing to take things on faith. Rather ironic considering who they were apparently dealing with. Vampires, werewolves, and now a goddess, as well… Fuck, what was next?
"I came to tell you that Derek is having trouble down at the club," she said admiring her own fingernails in a stereotypical show of disinterest, "but since you don't seem to care about what happens to your brother then I'll be on my way."
"What sort of trouble?" Adrian demanded even as he rolled out of bed and started to drag on his clothes.
"Oh, you know…the deadly kind," she said flippantly. Perhaps just a little too flippantly for it to be real. As a high school teacher Tyler has seen enough teenage bravado to pick it a mile away. It didn't seem quite real that he was getting the same vibes from a woman claiming to be a goddess.
"Anaedra," Adrian growled.
"Oh, all right," she said in a tone of exasperation. "Apparently a pimply, overweight human claiming to be a vampire hunter tried to get into the club. It wasn't anything that Derek couldn't handle if he'd used the skills I gave him, but the stupid man decided to react as a human. Apparently a stake to the heart really does quite a bit of damage, even to non-vampires."
"Damn it, Anaedra," Adrian said as he turned toward the cupboard, grabbed what seemed to be a medical first-aid kit and then turned back to yell at the goddess. "Transport us now!"
Both Adrian and Anaedra disappeared in the blink of an eye. Even though he was no longer in the room, Tyler heard the rest of Adrian's words. "Tyler, stay here. I'll be back as quickly as I can."
Unable to just lie in bed and wait for them to return, Tyler ran into the bathroom instead, quickly cleaned himself up, dragged on some clothes, and then went in search of Logan and Gavin.
~*~
"You look like shit," Adrian said as he knelt beside his brother.
Derek laughed softly, but stopped when he grimaced in pain. "I've had better nights."
The wooden stake had penetrated his lower abdomen, not his heart as Anaedra had claimed, and was still embedded so Derek wasn't really at risk of bleeding out at the moment. It was still a dangerous wound. Thankfully their heightened healing abilities meant that many wounds that would be fatal for most other beings would heal given time. Of course, as Anaedra had lamented if Derek had been in his alternate shape the stake wou
ldn't have penetrated his skin at all.
"Why didn't you shift?" Adrian asked as he inspected the wound.
"The guy was looking for proof of vampires. I wasn't about to give him something else to rant about. Did I at least get his scent on me?"
Adrian took a deep breath and nodded quickly. "It matches the scent for William's killer. I should be able to tell which direction he went, once we get this stake out of your gut."
"Great," Derek said, perhaps a touch sarcastically.
"How did you end up here? It's a long way from the front of the club."
Adrian was pretty sure he already knew the answer—they tried to keep paranormal discussions away from their customers—but he wanted to keep Derek talking. In the deep shadows of the building, it was impossible to tell how much blood his brother had lost and with his own vision having moved to a wolf's grayscale thanks to his need to see in the dark, it was even harder to tell. At least if Derek's voice started to slur Adrian would get a warning that things were getting worse.
As Derek filled in the details of the altercation, Adrian decided to leave the stake where it was, choosing to bandage around the weapon for now so that he could remove it under more controlled conditions.
"Is he going to be okay?" Anaedra whispered anxiously.
Adrian was shocked to realize the goddess had stuck around. They'd had serious wounds before, but other than alerting the siblings to each others' perils, Anaedra had never really helped them in a medical sense. Yes, thanks to the gifts she'd granted them they healed much faster, but they still got to experience the agony of recovery. Hell, it was one thing Adrian truly envied of the Lupinville werewolves and other shifters like them. Being able to heal instantly by changing forms would have been very handy.