by Kim Dare
Maybe Marcus’ almost-spanks grew a little harder, maybe it was only that Liam’s skin grew more sensitive under the oft-repeated contacts, but gradually the sensations became more powerful. They still didn’t come close to sating the desire Liam felt, but they at least sent stronger waves of pleasure singing through his veins. He whimpered his approval as his breaths turned more ragged and his cock more and more desperate for its release.
Each time Marcus’ hand fell, Liam’s hips rocked, pushing forward and rubbing his shaft against the center portion of the cross. The wood was smooth. It just teased him without offering him any actual chance of coming.
Liam muttered curses under his breath, relying on the sound of the spanks to shield the words from Marcus’ ears. Without any warning, complete silence descended upon the room. The steady rhythm of hand falls disappeared. Liam’s shaky syllables trailed off.
Licking his lips, Liam cautiously tried to utter something he actually wanted the vampire to hear. “Marcus?” The word was so hoarse it was almost unrecognizable.
“Liam?” the other man responded.
Liam dropped his head forward, pure relief at not being left all alone in the world rushing through him like a runaway stagecoach from an old black and white movie.
Marcus’ hand returned to Liam’s world. It stroked over his buttocks and slipped between them to caress his hole. Liam quickly pushed back against the digits. He wanted Marcus inside him; he needed the other man buried deep in his arse just as much as he needed oxygen in his lungs. His fingers would at least be a start.
“Please?” He squirmed against Marcus’ digits, his hands pulling against the rings on the cross, but he didn’t dare let go of them in order to direct Marcus’ hands himself.
Don’t let go unless you want us to stop.
Liam shook his head. He didn’t want that—wasn’t even sure he’d survive that.
“Hush,” Marcus ordered.
Liam heard tiny metal teeth scrape against each other as Marcus undid his fly. All Liam could think about then was Marcus’ cock. He didn’t have a thought to spare for anything else. It wasn’t until the tip of Marcus’ erection pressed against his hole that Liam managed to bring together enough brain cells to remember what the word lube meant—and what the word essential meant.
He opened his mouth, but no words emerged as Marcus reached around Liam’s body and took his cock back into his hand. His touch was even more perfect now that it was slicked with pre-cum. Liam’s own desperate need to come demanded he stay silent as Marcus rocked his hips and his cock rubbed against his unprepared arse.
“That feels good, doesn’t it?” Marcus whispered to him.
Liam managed to nod. He gasped for breath, waiting for the stab of pain as the other man thrust inside him, desperate to please Marcus by holding his composure when that happened. But, the pain didn’t come.
Marcus’ cock slid firmly back and forth across Liam hole, but he didn’t even seem to try to enter him. He seemed to be far more intent on working his hand rapidly around Liam’s shaft, dragging him closer and closer to his orgasm.
Liam bit down on his bottom lip. He couldn’t come too soon, he couldn’t. Disappointing Marcus would be unbearable. Liam’s teeth sank deeper into the sensitive skin, threatening to split it, but it did little good.
He wasn’t sure there was any way he could cling to his control much longer. The other man’s hand seemed to know exactly how to drive him to the point of no return. Standing on the cliff’s edge, Liam looked down into a sea of bliss, desperately trying to keep his balance as storm clouds gathered and howling winds swirled around him, threatening to toss him over the edge at any second.
The vampire’s lips brushed against his neck. “I want you to come while I feed from you.”
Before Liam even had a chance to panic at his inability to hold back another second, the other man’s teeth were cutting cleanly through his jugular and pure bliss was pounding through his veins more quickly than blood possible could.
Any control Liam might have had over his own body evaporated. Marcus’ hand moved faster and faster over Liam’s cock. His hips made fierce contact with Liam’s freshly spanked arse as he rubbed his shaft between Liam’s buttocks again and again.
So many sensations collided inside Liam’s body, he could barely breathe. His head spun, ecstasy burst through him in a flash of brilliant white light as he came. Barely a moment later, he felt cum splash against his arse and up his back as Marcus reached his own climax.
The vampire bit down harder, pushing his teeth deeper into Liam’s neck. Tossing his head back, Liam screamed. His grip on the rings he’d held failed him. He started to tumble, but suddenly Marcus’ arms were around him, guiding him gently down toward the floor at the base of the cross.
Marcus descended with Liam, holding him close, never breaking the bite. Time passed, Liam had no idea how long, but he sensed the way the vampire moved against his neck changed.
As Marcus lapped at the wounds more slowly, Liam tightened his grip on the arm of the other man’s shirt, unwilling to let him go. A lifetime seemed to pass while Marcus spooned behind him on the floor encouraging the wounds on Liam’s neck to close and heal, but when the other man began to pull away it was still far too soon. It had been so much like the kind of lifetime Liam had always dreamed of spending with a love. Any end to it would have been too soon.
Liam made no protest. He didn’t have the energy to complain, no matter how much he hated any distance existing between them. Marcus slowly extracted his arm from Liam’s hold, but when he parted their bodies it was only to turn Liam around so he could snuggle against him more easily.
Marcus’ hand slid down to caress Liam’s freshly spanked buttocks one more time, encouraging Liam to murmur his pleasure into the vampire’s shoulder. The skin tingled under Marcus’ fingertips, not with pain, but in a way that made him feel alive for the first time in so long.
It took a full minute for Liam’s brain to put together certain facts. Marcus was rubbing his cum into the sensitized skin, marking him in the most basic way any man ever could.
Liam smiled into the crook of the other man’s arm until he realized that being marked on the outside was only possible because he wasn’t marked deep inside.
A frown creased his forehead. “Why didn’t you…?” he whispered.
“Because if you were ready this time, you’ll still be ready next time. But, if weren’t ready now,” Marcus whispered to him. “Then you might never have wanted there to be a next time. That would be unacceptable.”
Liam glanced up at the other man as he realized just how important it was to Marcus that there be a next time. For the first time, he really believed he wasn’t the only one who didn’t ever want things to end between them. It wasn’t enough for it to just feel like a lifetime had passed. A real lifetime was all that would do.
Liam curled in closer to Marcus as an extra layer of reassurance wrapped around him. “This is what I want,” Liam swallowed rapidly as his emotions threatened to get the better of him. “I want this—to be your submissive.” He always wanted to feel this safe, this right in his own skin. He always wanted to know his master was watching over him, that he was pleased with him and maybe even, someday, that his master loved him.
Marcus nodded, very slowly. “You’re mine.” He smiled.
A little of his fangs showed, but Liam couldn’t see why anyone in the world would find them frightening. “Yours,” he whispered.
Liam closed his eyes as satisfaction and contentment combined to make him sleepy. Part of him expected the image of Ralph from earlier that day to rush forward and fill his mind, but the only thing he saw against the inside of his eyelids was Marcus.
He didn’t wake when Marcus picked him up and carried him to their bed.
* * * *
“Ready?”
Liam stopped staring at his trainers and looked up at Marcus—at his master. Sitting on the edge of Marcus’ bed, he had to tilt his head ba
ck to meet the vampire’s gaze.
No, he wasn’t ready to go back to work. He was pretty sure he never wanted to set foot outside the house again.
“Do you have any calls you need to make today?” he blurted out.
The mattress dipped as Marcus took a seat on the bed next to Liam. “You mean, will I be staying at the shelter with you all day?”
Liam swallowed down his embarrassment and nodded.
“No,” Marcus said. “I’ll stay for a little while, but not all day. I’ll be leaving after a little while to run some errands.”
“Oh…” Liam stared down at his hands. There was no reason why he should feel shocked. Marcus hadn’t hung around all day every day for weeks now. It had been silly to think that what they’d shared in the playroom the previous night would change that. It wasn’t even as if they’d had sex.
“You’ll be fine,” Marcus promised. His hand came to rest on Liam’s back, a strong comforting presence, but one that he’d already admitted would be fleeting.
Liam shrugged, but the silence stretched out until he got the distinct impression that Marcus wasn’t going to say anything until he received a proper response to his last statement. “I would have left yesterday if you hadn’t been there,” he whispered.
“With Ralph?” Marcus asked.
Liam glanced across at Marcus from the corner of his eye. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Marcus’ arm slipped more firmly around him. Of all the things Liam expected the other man to do, placing a gentle kiss on his temple wasn’t one of them. He leaned into the other man’s embrace and rested his head on his shoulder, making the most of the unexpected gesture.
“Are you scared he’ll come back?”
Liam considered the possibility very carefully and from a variety of angles. “He won’t come back.” There was no way Ralph would risk running into Marcus again. He’d seen the fear in Ralph’s eyes. He’d run for the hills before he got in the way of anyone who might actually beat the hell out of him, for a change.
Marcus remained silent for a few moments. “Just because I’m not there, that doesn’t mean you aren’t still safe there. It doesn’t mean that you don’t belong to me or that I’m not watching over you.” He spoke slowly, as if weighing each word on his tongue before uttering it.
Liam nodded. Theoretical knowledge was all very well, but he had the distinct feeling that it wouldn’t compete with being able to actually see the other man on the other side of the window that looked out on the reception area.
“There was an old vampire tradition that some of the more established families still maintain.”
Liam glanced up, more than ready to welcome any sort of insight into the vampire world, but unsure why the topic had suddenly changed.
Marcus’ fingers came to rest against Liam’s throat. He stroked his fingertips back and forth across his neck. There was no mark left from the previous evening’s feeding, but he still seemed to come back to that spot again and again, as if he could see it, even if no one else could.
“A tradition?” Liam repeated. He swallowed rapidly and felt the other man’s fingertips move as his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“A collar.”
The vampire’s touch suddenly seemed to create a direct line from Liam’s throat to his cock. Each stroke might as well have been applied directly to his rapidly hardening shaft.
Marcus’ lips quirked into a small smile. “I’ve seen you putting collars on the animals when they’re ready to go home with their new masters. The fur balls seem to like it.”
Liam swallowed again, still unable to make words happen.
“Do you like that idea?” Marcus asked.
Liam nodded. It wasn’t just his cock it appealed to—it called to a far deeper part of his psyche too.
“To any other vampire it will be a clear signal to stay the hell away from you,” Marcus said. “To the kind of human who knows what it’s like to own another man, it will mean the same—that I own you… That anyone who tries to lay a hand on you will have to answer to me.”
Liam managed another nod.
“And, to you,” Marcus said. “It will mean that you belong to me.”
Liam looked up and met the vampire’s eyes. Even when his instincts screamed that he should drop his gaze in the face of a more dominant male, he forced himself to hold Marcus’ eyes.
”If you get nervous or you’re not sure what to do, I want you to reach up and tuck your fingers into your collar. And I want you to think about what I’d want you to do.”
”Yes,” Liam whispered.
“Not what I’d do,” Marcus stressed, brushing his fingers through Liam’s hair. “What I’d want you to do. And I don’t want you to do anything that will risk you getting hurt. Understand?”
Liam nodded, unable to risk speaking again, unsure what he’d blurt out if he tried.
When Marcus pulled away, Liam automatically tilted his head back, offering up his lips to be kiss, but Marcus didn’t even seem to notice. He stood and walked away without a word. Liam watched, trying his damndest not to feel abandoned as Marcus strode across to the dresser on the other side of the room without a backward glance.
The vampire took something out of a drawer before coming back to Liam’s side. Liam’s gaze immediately fell on the jewelry box in his hand. He couldn’t look away from it; the attraction was far stronger than any kind of magnetism could be.
A moment passed. Marcus lifted the lid.
A simple silver chain stared up at Liam. A tiny padlock connected the two ends, complete with a tiny little key. Liam’s hand tightened around the edge of the mattress in an effort not to reach out and grab it.
It was Marcus’ to give, something else the other man was in complete control of—and that was exactly how it should be. All Liam could do was hope and maybe… he dragged his eyes up to the other man’s face. “Please?”
Marcus didn’t say a word as he took it out of the box and undid the fastening. “Once I put this on, I’m the only one who is allowed to remove it, and I have no intention of doing that. Ever.”
“Yes.” Liam cleared his throat. “I’m glad.”
It only took Marcus a few seconds to fasten it in place around his neck. It was heavier than it looked. Liam had no doubt it would be a noticeable weight around his neck all through the day, binding him to Marcus, letting him feel like it was Marcus’ hands continually wrapped around his throat—in the best possible way.
Reaching up, Liam hooked his fingers into the chain. Marcus smiled when he saw the gesture. It took Liam a moment to realize he was actually doing exactly what Marcus said he should do whenever he needed to feel his master’s reassurance.
“Ready to go to work now?” Marcus asked again.
Liam nodded. Sliding his hand into Marcus’ palm he allowed the other man to help him to his feet and guide him out of the house to the waiting sports car.
He managed to smile his goodbyes to Marcus as the other man left the shelter after only a few minutes conversation with Diana in reception.
The moment he was out of sight, Liam reached up and wrapped his fingers around his collar. A glance around the room proved that no one was looking at him strangely. No one had guessed that it was anything more than a silver chain.
Somehow, that just made it all the better.
Chapter Twelve
Liam sped up, his steps carrying him more rapidly along the pavement by the moment. He reached up and checked that his collar was still firmly in place. It was.
The metal links had been enough. They should still be enough. Three weeks after Marcus had first wrapped it around his neck, Liam knew he shouldn’t need any more reassurance than his collar provided.
He couldn’t expect Marcus to be at his side every moment of the day. He couldn’t expect his master to put up with him following him around like a besotted little puppy forever, either. In spite of everything, Liam managed a small smile. He was pretty sure that a besotted puppy was far closer to the truth
than he had ever admitted to Marcus.
The smile didn’t last long. Liam glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t see anyone he recognized. There was no sign of Ralph anywhere in the vicinity, but that didn’t change the way the back of his neck prickled. Someone was following him. Even knowing there was no logical reason on earth why anyone would want to do that, Liam couldn’t shake off the feeling.
He was a grown man, and he was going to walk the short distance to meet his master, rather than wait for Marcus to pick him up at the door to the animal shelter. He wasn’t so pathetic he couldn’t even do that, was he? Liam wasn’t sure anymore. But that didn’t change the fact that, after asking for permission to do it, he couldn’t bear to turn back.
Rounding a corner, Liam only just stopped himself breaking into a run as he finally spotted Marcus’ sports car parked just a little way down the street. His master was right where he’d said he’d meet him. Everything was fine. A few more hurried steps and he’d be safe. Finally, reaching the car, Liam scrabbled at the door in his haste.
A shrill alarm filled the air. Liam jumped, then cursed. He ducked his head and peered into the car. Empty. Marcus was gone. Peering over his shoulders, Liam searched the surrounding area for his master. People were staring at him now, probably wondering what sort of car thief was stupid enough to try to steal a car in the middle of a busy high traffic street.
Liam took a step back from the car, spinning around, trying to keep everyone who was staring at him within his field of vision. As suddenly as it started, the alarm cut out. Liam sagged with relief, only just stopping himself from reaching out and bracing himself against the low car roof before he set off the damn car alarm again.
“Liam?”
Jerking around, Liam spotted Marcus coming out of the building on the nearest corner. A frown creased the other man’s brow. It was all Liam could do not to throw himself at Marcus in relief.
“What happened?”
Liam shook his head. “Nothing. I’m fine. I just… I’m sorry about setting the alarm off. I didn’t think before I tried to open the door.”