by Jana Downs
“I apologize if I appear to be pushy. I don’t know how else to be. I am a bossy man by nature. If you wish me to cease, to leave, to get out of here and your life, just say those words exactly. Say to me ‘Damian, get out. Leave me alone and never come back,’ and I will follow your directions. But you’ve already proven to be a man who wishes his choices taken from him in his relationships.”
“Great, now we’re in a relationship,” Allasandro interrupted. “I’m tired, Damian.” The vampire reached up and cupped his jaw. The movement stilled him. Damian didn’t usually touch so gently.
“Let me finish,” Damian said softly. “I want you, Allasandro. I want you more than I’ve wanted anything in a long time. I think we could have a very satisfying relationship if you give us a chance. I will talk with Kalel about interfering, and I will talk to your Prince about it, but only if you want me to. Perhaps the reason I’ve held on this long is because I long for some sort of closure to this…thing between us. Either way, Allasandro, I need an answer. I need you to tell me what you really want. No more running and avoiding like you’ve been doing. Just speak. I can take it.”
Allasandro seemed to waffle with his answer. He bit his lip, his eyes darting around the room as if he could find the answer written on a wall.
“There is a part of me that wants to just give into this thing between us and let you sweep me away,” the Ravyn admitted softly. “The sane part of me realizes that to be with you compromises the most sacred responsibility I’ve ever taken on.” Damian let the other man talk through his thoughts without interruption. He needed to work it out for himself what he wanted. Allasandro fell silent.
“So many fears swirling in those golden eyes of yours,” Damian murmured softly, tracing his jaw line.
Allasandro swallowed. Damian knew the Ravyn had been out of character lately. He’d discerned as much from the whispered concerns that volleyed between Alex and Salvatore over the past few days. For an instant he thought that Allasandro would say no. Then the Ravyn spoke.
“This is crazy,” Ally clarified as he tentatively reached out and put his hands on Damian’s chest. He didn’t seem to know whether he was telling himself or Damian at this point. “I shouldn’t like you at all.”
“That which we cannot have often poses the greatest temptation. As Adam was tempted by the one fruit in the garden which he was forbidden to sample, so you and I are tempted by the one being in the worlds we are also forbidden to touch.” Damian’s big hands rested on his hips, drawing him closer. “Your answer, love?”
“Make me,” Ally whispered.
* * * *
Damian stripped him slowly. His weapons came off first. First the scythe, then the knives, and then the throwing stars he’d saved for a special occasion. His body of stripped of the T-shirt next and kisses were pressed against the side which was purpling from its collision with the tree on the other side.
“How long…was I gone?” Ally wondered, panting. His hands were clenching and unclenching at his side. The temptation to touch Damian was a strong compulsion, but he hadn’t been given the order to touch or permission to do so.
“A week and three days,” Damian answered, unbuttoning Ally’s pants and slowly sliding the zipper down. He was commando underneath, and the vampire all but growled in satisfaction over the fact. Allasandro groaned as he reached in his pants and drew out his cock and balls, toying with the latter in an amused lazy fashion. The pants finally slid to the floor, and Ally kicked them away. “Tsk tsk, naughty boy. Are we being impatient?”
“Yes, sir. I missed you. Bad,” Ally admitted. His mind was a haze of lust. He felt like he’d been a starving man suddenly given a feast. He wanted to gorge himself on Damian’s massive body. The fear of having and the fear of losing were thrumming in equal measure through his mind, but he ignored both. All he wanted to do was to feel.
He hissed as Damian reached between his legs once more and pumped his weeping erection. His hands hovered over Damian’s skin before he got enough control to force his hands away. “Who do belong to, Allasandro?” The vampire growled possessively.
“You, sir. I’ve always belonged to you,” Ally cried out. Damian was his every fantasy come to life.
“Do you want my bite, Allasandro?” Damian asked, still continuing his lazy strokes. The Ravyn whimpered and nodded.
“Please. Please. Please. Please. I keep dreaming about it and wanting it and needing it for so long, and I haven’t seen you in forever and, Gods, Damian, sir, please.” He was babbling again.
The Ravyn’s mind reached for Damian’s, and the vampire embraced it. He filled Ally’s mind with hundreds of fantasies, memories, and desires in a cascade of longing to show him exactly what he’d been thinking about in their time apart. Ally returned the favor, sharing all his misery, his desire, his unwanted and absolute attraction. Then came his fantasies. All those he’d kept from Damian during their previous encounter. If Damian’s grin was any indication, he was loving Ally’s thoughts.
The Ravyn blinked in surprise as Damian dropped to his knees. It was never the position he thought the vampire would ever assume.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Damian rumbled, slapping Ally’s inner thigh, causing him to yelp in surprise. He grabbed Ally’s cock a little harder than was needed, making him rise up on his tiptoes. “Still want my bite, naughty boy?” His gaze flickered to Ally’s reddened length. Fear and desire mingled and expanded in Allasandro’s mind. He nodded.
“Yes, sir.” He loved the rush of Damian’s touch. The uncertainty of where they were going and the knowledge that Damian would be there to catch him when he went over the edge was an aphrodisiac.
Damian pressed a kiss to the pearl-kissed tip. Ally whimpered. The vampire smiled. “I love how close I can get to you. I want to taste you in all ways, Allasandro.” He leaned forward and took Ally to the back of his throat but didn’t tighten his mouth, just his throat, squeezing just the tip of Ally’s cock. Allasandro’s hands jerked and wove themselves into Damian’s hair on their own volition.
“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!” the Ravyn all but screamed. “I’m goin’ to come. Damian. Please! Can’t wait!” Fangs sank into Ally’s overly sensitized dick. Then he did scream, loud and long.
He flashed hot and cold in rapid succession. Distantly he felt his body go off like a shot, pouring hot desire down Damian’s convulsing throat. He felt the fangs contract, and then he floated to heaven as Damian drank his blood and his cum in deep draws of his mouth. His knees buckled, and Damian gently laid him down on the carpeted floor just outside the bathroom, the vampire’s mouth still drawing on his length. Allasandro’s hands fell to his sides, and a sigh of contentment left him.
He closed his eyes, and his mind spun in a drunken euphoria. They opened again as Damian surged up his body, grabbing his hips in a brutal grip. “Wrap your legs round my waist,” Damian commanded. His accent was so thick that Ally could barely understand him. Ally noticed that his voice did that when he was especially turned-on. “Now, Allasandro,” Damian snapped. Ally did as he was bid, and he smiled drunkenly as he felt the steel-and-velvet press of Damian’s cock against his entrance.
“I’ve been practicing,” he slurred proudly, pushing down as Damian drove inside. He let out a gasp as he was so suddenly filled. “Still not used to it all at once.” He hissed through clenched teeth. He felt like pouting. He didn’t want discomfort to invade his nirvana.
Damian grabbed one of Ally’s daggers off the floor and used it to slice a deep grove in his chest. “Take from me,” he demanded. Ally’s mouth sealed over the wound in the same instant that Damian’s hips started to move.
As Damian pounded his way into Ally’s body, Ally was drowned in the sweet taste of Damian’s blood. The vampire infused him with an ethereal energy that took him even higher if that was possible. He spun out toward the stars, his nails scoring Damian’s back as he did so. He heard Damian’s shout of release a second before hot splashes of it painted his insides. His own bo
dy orgasmed again, but he had no more fluid left to give, so he just writhed in wondrous pain-bliss. His mind whirled faster. A whisper of Damian’s voice crossed through the vortex, though whether it was his thought or Damian’s or a fantasy he’d conjured up in the moment, he couldn’t be sure.
I love you. His vision faded, and he knew no more.
Chapter Fourteen
They’d showered and shaved before taking their time dressing one another. Since they were so deep in one another’s mind, it felt like they’d been doing this forever. It was comfortable between them. Nice. Neither of them wanted the closeness to stop. Damian wanted to keep Allasandro by his side. The Ravyn was equal parts amusing and beautiful. He made him laugh, and that in itself was a feat for someone as old as Damian.
They went down to supper prepared to do battle. Damian held Allasandro’s hand as they descended the massive staircase to the foyer. The Ravyns waited in a line, the two Princes and Alex standing behind them. Dageus looked ready to kill something.
“I thought I smelled you when I came into the house, but I wasn’t sure,” Dageus said in a way of greeting. He fingered the dagger at his belt as if contemplating chucking it at his father or Allasandro or both.
“Good evening to you as well, Kalel,” Damian said, ignoring the fury in his son’s eyes. He glanced at Ally, who was staring at his feet. He didn’t pull his hand away though, so he must’ve been serious about seeing this through. “I wanted to come down and do this formally with your Prince before I came to talk to you in private, but if you insist on the confrontation here, I suppose I must oblige you.” He nodded to Salvatore, who was looking at him with an expression of both curiosity and unease. Damian took a deep breath before taking the plunge. “Allasandro and I have decided that we are going to date.”
“Yeah.” Kal sneered. “We all felt what you two’s version of ‘dating’ is last night through the bond.” Damian felt his cheeks heat. Damn, was he blushing? Allasandro winced.
“I will not tolerate your disrespect against me or my lover,” Damian warned, giving Ally’s hand a gentle squeeze of reassurance. Dageus opened his mouth, but Salvatore’s raised hand silenced him.
“Will he be able to perform his duties while you’re courting?” the Demon Prince asked. The formal nature of the question gave an extra level of seriousness to the situation. “Of course. Just because he is seeing someone doesn’t mean he will be incapable of performing his warrior’s duties,” Damian said.
“Oh like hell!” Dageus interrupted. “Everyone knows how easily Ally is distracted. It’s bad enough when he is just fucking random chicks at clubs. Can you imagine him with a full-time boyfriend? He’d never be on time!”
Damian was starting to get annoyed by Dageus’s attitude. “You have my word he will be more on time now than ever before.”
“He’s not even gay!”
“Why are you fighting so hard against this? I thought you wanted me to be happy!” Damian snapped.
“I do want you to be happy!” Dageus shouted. “I just don’t think he’s right for you.”
“Why? Why is he not right for me?” Damian demanded, letting go of Ally’s hand and stalking down the last few stairs to stand in front of his son. “And how is it you get to dictate who I choose to date?”
Tears filled Dageus’s big green-and-gold eyes. Shit. “He’s my best friend, Dad. How would you feel if your dad started dating your best friend?”
“I imagine the same way I felt when I found out my son was dating my brother!” The tension in the room soared with those words.
“It’s not the same!”
“The hell it’s not!”
“Enough!” Salvatore and Alex shouted in unison. Alex circled round the other Ravyns and took Dageus’s arm.
“Kal, my love, please be reasonable. It is not as if they are getting married. They’re casually dating,” Alex murmured soothingly. Dageus leaned into his touch, and Damian looked on enviously. Why did everyone accept Dageus and Alex’s union so well and so thoroughly rejected Damian’s choice? Alex met his brother’s eyes over Dageus’s head. A slight shake of his head warned Damian not to say anything.
“Ally?” Salvatore’s asked. His face was a definite mask of concern. “May I talk to you for a moment? Privately?” he added as an afterthought. Ally glanced up at Damian. He looked like a whipped dog. It was the same look Kal had given Damian when he’d forbidden him to ever see Alex again. But Allasandro was not a fresh youth. He was a man. How dare Kal make him feel ashamed!
“Sure thing, my Prince,” Allasandro murmured. Damian leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Allasandro’s temple.
“I’ll be right here if you need me, love,” Damian reassured. Tony and Druas went to follow after Salvatore, but the Prince held up a hand to stop them.
“We’ll just be in this office. Please, give us a moment.” The two Ravyns nodded and took up posts on either side of the door. Germany hovered in between the two arguing groups, ready to interfere if the occasion called for it.
* * * *
The door shut behind the two men with a soft snick. Salvatore was silent for a moment. Allasandro he shifted from foot to foot in discomfort. The Demon Prince pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose as if staving off a headache.
“You’ve been out of sorts lately,” he said at last.
Ally’s eyes hit the floor. “I’ve been okay.”
Salvatore sighed. “You have not been okay,” he corrected. “You’ve been downright morose this past week. You haven’t been acting like yourself. You stopped clubbing, stopped joking, hell, you’ve stopped eating from what I’ve seen. Is this because of Damian?”
Allasandro’s face heated as he nodded. “I like him, my Prince.” He paused. “I like him a lot.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Salvatore wondered, running a hand through his bloodred hair. “You never hesitate to speak your mind. It’s the one thing I count on about you. If you felt so strongly for the vampire, why didn’t you just tell Dageus that you wanted to pursue the relationship with Damian anyway?”
“I didn’t want to compromise the bond. I mean, we just fixed it. It took us a while to get back in sync after we realized Dageus was Kal and he hooked back up with Alex. Dageus has been through a lot, and I thought that he didn’t need the stress. Pick a reason, Salvatore. There are a million why I shouldn’t be doing this. And only one reason why I have to do this.”
“And what reason is that?” Salvatore asked. Ally felt more serious in that moment than he had in his entire life. Everything seemed to hinge on the question.
“Because I can’t help it. Because I need him like I’ve never needed anything.” Allasandro cursed himself internally for everything he’d just said. It was cliché and touchy-feely and so…Hallmark. Yuck. He was beginning to sound like Dageus with all the lovey-dovey crap. It was probably the most emotion he’d ever put in a single sentence ever.
“I’m proud of you.” Salvatore’s words shocked him. He looked up into the lovely wine-colored eyes of his Prince and found a profound acceptance there. “I never thought you would settle on anyone.”
“For gods’ sakes, we’re just dating,” Ally muttered.
“You know, in all your incarnations, in every lifetime, you’ve never spent more than one night with any lover. You’ve never introduced me to them. Never even let us see them except in passing. The Ravyns didn’t even know any of them,” Salvatore mused. He petted Ally’s head and stepped around him to open the door. It was rare he talked about any of the Ravyns’ past incarnations. It was often too painful for him. “I’m glad you’ve found someone who you can enjoy enough to claim in front of your brothers.” He twisted the door knob.
“That’s it?” Ally asked skeptically. “No big long lecture about how he’s going to break my heart and I’m being too hasty and blah blah blah?”
Salvatore smiled. “Just wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“You know Dageus got a lecture.”
>
“Dageus needed a lecture. He had no caution. You have too much.” He left Allasandro standing there with his mouth open.
* * * *
“I can’t believe this!” Dageus snapped, throwing his pillow at the wall. It thunked uninterestingly against the drywall before falling to the floor. Salvatore had forbidden him to interfere with Damian and Allasandro. Alex had even backed him on the “forbidden to interfere” rule that Salvatore had handed down.
“Please calm down, mon tendre amour,” Alex sighed for the fiftieth time from his position on the center of the bed. If he started going for his sword again, he was going to put a lock on the closet door.
“No. You took Salvatore’s side. You are officially the enemy.” Dageus stomped to the bathroom and started manically brushing his teeth. He had started doing that when he was upset.
“You’re going to wear the enamel off your teeth, Kal,” Alex chastised.
“Shub ub,” Kal snapped through a mouthful of toothpaste. Alex listened to him swish and spit in the sink.
“Don’t you think you’re being a little unreasonable?” Alex wondered as Dageus pulled off his shirt and threw it in his general direction.
“How am I being unreasonable? I mean, it’s just weird that my best friend and my father are boinking. Not to mention that Ally is just going to hurt Dad. I mean, come on, no one really believes that Ally is serious about this whole dating thing.” Dageus crossed the hardwood floor and the rug in order to flop down on the bed beside him.
“You mean you don’t believe he’s serious,” Alex said.
“He’s not!” Kal protested. He buried his face in his pillow and yelled his frustration into it. “I hate this!” The muffled shout made Alex smile. Sometimes his lover was so immature. He forgot how young he was until moments like these. He reached up and tickled Dageus’s side.
“Baby, you and Damian are so alike at times it frightens me.” That shut him up. Dageus turned his face and glared at his lover.