by Joey W. Hill
“You need to eat some more. And sleep.” The vampire rose and moved back toward the camp supplies, returning with another cup of broth and more of the rabbit, which he’d ripped into chunks and put on a plate. He set both by Rand.
Rand lifted his head. Cai had relocated their camp during Rand’s phasing in and out of consciousness. They were closer to some of the trails used by deep woods hikers, though still far enough from them that any such travelers posed no concerns. But the wind now brought Rand the scent of a human on those trails, alone. A lone hiker, probably.
It was of passing interest to him, but catching it from his mind, Cai’s eyes lit. “Seems my dinner is also ready. You’re good luck. Haven’t had one of those in a few weeks. I’ll be back. Don’t run off. It will just piss me off.”
Rand grunted, swallowing a mouthful of rabbit. “If I prove to be too much trouble, you’ll just give up and go into town to get what you need.”
“Don’t underestimate my stubbornness. Vampires don’t like to be defied and we’ll pretty much go to the ends of the earth to prove that point.”
“Did someone knock out one of your fangs for being such a bastard? Is that why one’s fake?”
“They felt threatened by my overabundance of charm and good looks. Jealousy is an ugly thing.”
Rand rolled his eyes. But he was arguing to be contrary. He didn’t intend to leave the camp while Cai was gone. The sex and the struggle had taken a lot out of him. The vampire was right. He needed to give the wounds time to heal.
“That a boy. Live to self-destruct another day.”
“You call me boy, ever, and that will happen sooner than later. I’ll stake you, and get it right this time.”
“It’s an expression, wolf.” Cai chuckled. “You really need to get back out in the human world.”
“Yeah. I’ll put that on my list right after having my testicles gnawed off by a badger.”
Cai’s lips curved, showing appreciation. “Humans aren’t my favorite company, either. But fortunately, my food doesn’t talk long.” He picked up his shirt and pulled it on. Buckled the belt he’d left loose, though he’d fastened and zipped the jeans. It was an appealing view that Rand didn’t deny himself, but a thought tickled his mind, an uneasy one.
“You compel them to silence when you feed off them?”
“That’s one way of looking at it.” Cai was moving away. Rand shoved himself to a straighter position.
“You’re going to kill the hiker?”
“Yeah. He won’t feel anything bad.” Cai stopped and lifted a brow. “No different than me killing that rabbit for you. Don’t be a hypocrite.”
“The rabbit can’t donate his meat to my hunger and walk away. Vampires don’t have to kill to feed.”
“No, but if they don’t, they have to feed every few days. Couple of weeks, tops, is how long the oldest ones can hold out. A lethal amount from one human will last someone my age a month. I couldn’t take much from you while you were at your worst. My last meal’s run out. And you get your panties in a twist about me playing with your hair. Can’t imagine you’d like to donate meals to me, which is a far more intimate thing.”
Cai cocked his head. “You’re puzzling me, wolf. You just said you don’t care much for human company.”
“Not caring about them, and being okay with killing them when their deaths aren’t necessary, are two different things.”
“Oh, an eco-wolf. How refreshing. I must have missed your Greenpeace card. If carrying a wallet is problematic on four legs, get yourself a man purse you can sling over your neck.” Cai turned away again. “Back soon. I’ll miss you, too.”
“Don’t.” Rand made it to his feet. He was not going to make this point sitting on his ass. “You’re not going to kill that hiker.”
“Really?” Cai turned, squaring off with him. “Who’s going to stop me?”
“You’ll have to kill me first.”
Cai swept him a scornful look. “You might be able to outrun me in another day or two. But not today.”
Despite the vampire’s mocking tone, there was a look in his eyes that had become cold and settled. Up until now, because of Rand’s self-absorption with his own situation, Rand hadn’t focused much past the snark. Now, from the set of his jaw, the coolness of his gaze, his stance—neither offensive nor defensive, simply prepared to handle any attack—Cai was clearly a predator about to go on the hunt, and was merely curious, not offended or swayed, by his opposition.
Like wolves, vampires liked taking down prey, and it was hard to rein that back. Rand knew there was a rule among vampire kind that they could kill as many as a dozen humans in a year, including what they called the annual kill, one essential life-taking that maintained their overall strength. That baker’s dozen was okay, if they didn’t attract human notice, the guiding tenet of all those the clueless humans called fantasy.
Most vampires seemed content with that limitation. Born vampires understood the need to keep a low profile in the human world, and made vampires…well, they’d been human. Enough said.
Cai was a made vampire, yet he seemed chillingly detached from his former species, as if killing humans was something he did all the time, like picking up a burger at a drive-thru. All Rand scented from him was uncomplicated hunger.
Though Rand always thanked the spirit of the animal he caught, a common-sense spirituality, he didn’t suspect that thought even crossed Cai’s mind. But there were layers below that attitude that smelled like the damp, murky muck of a swamp.
No time to get out a shovel and dig, and Rand wasn’t sure he wanted to do so anyway. But he’d address the problem in the way he could.
“Feed from me,” he said.
Cai had started toward the edge of the clearing again. Now he pivoted, studying Rand head to toe.
“You need all your blood until you’re fully healed.”
“Maybe. But if I drag my ass after you to stop you from killing that hiker, I might relapse. Ruin all your efforts to keep me healthy enough to screw for the next few days.”
Cai’s expression suggested he didn’t care for how crudely Rand had put that, but it was what it was. Why dress it up?
“Perhaps it’s your hypocrisy that pisses me off,” the vampire retorted. “I can’t read your soul with a second mark, but I can read your mind, and I’m smart enough to connect the dots between the emotions I pick up from you. You may want to die, but it’s been a long time since you’ve been touched or taken, Rand. The pull of that, for the moment, is stronger than the pull of death. Admit that, and I’ll feed from you.”
“Fine. I admit it. Here’s my vein.” Rand extended both arms, so he could have his choice. Cai swept a gaze over them. He lifted his attention back to Rand’s face and dwelled there, his intensity as palpable as a touch.
He was moving, but no longer toward the forest. Rand couldn’t help looking at the play of muscle under Cai’s T-shirt, the swing of his arms and movement of his shoulders and hips. The thin line of his firm lips as he stopped before Rand. He’d just fucked Rand, but with one sexy swagger, he could get him thinking about it again.
“It’s interesting to me how you know so much about vampires,” Cai observed. “Your brain’s like an encyclopedia of Vampire 101.”
“My cousin is a servant to a vampire. Distant cousin,” Rand added. “No wolf genes.”
“Pity. I was about to have some serious threesome fantasies.” Cai’s serious expression didn’t change, despite the dry comment. His tone sharpened. “Put your arms down. Clasp your hands behind your back.”
Rand’s brow creased. “Why—”
“Do it.”
Rand could say fuck off, but the vampire would kill the hiker. So yeah, he’d backed himself into the corner of being an obedient dog. For the moment.
Cai’s gaze glinted. “Not a definition I would apply to you, especially with that dangerous look on your face, wolf. Where are your hands?”
Rand heaved a sigh and clasped them behind
him. Despite his studied indifference, a swirl of reaction tightened into a knot in his stomach as he restrained himself that way, lifting and exposing his chest to the vampire’s heated gaze. Suddenly he was far more aware of how naked he was, and how the vampire was fully clothed. Cai moved a step closer, so Rand’s pectorals brushed the soft cotton fabric of his shirt. His nipples tightened at the contact.
The vampire leaned in, lifting a hand to brush Rand’s hair back over one broad shoulder. He coiled his hand in the hair, so Rand lifted his chin at the implied demand. His pulse elevated as he realized the vampire’s intent, and Cai confirmed it, meeting his gaze.
“Blood from the throat is sweetest. And the most intimate. Even more than the femoral, though that puts a vampire close to a nice dessert. This hurts at first, but the pain goes away quickly.”
“Just do it,” Rand bit out, though his voice sounded hoarse. The vampire chuckled.
“You like to rush. I don’t. You’re going to have to learn patience.”
He breathed on Rand’s neck, used the tip of tongue to trace and taste. Rand swayed, his hands tightening into a knot against his ass. Cai slid an arm around him, holding him steady, holding him up, making it clear he had the strength to do it. It was an odd feeling, since Rand didn’t have the kind of physique that suggested it was possible for one person to hold him on his feet.
I could carry you like a fainting girl, wolf. But it’s not the image that comes to mind when I hold you like this. You’re all male, a fighter, and I want to take a few tasty bites out of you, from the places of my choosing. Starting right here.
Rand stiffened as the vampire’s fangs sank into his throat. His immediate, animal reaction was to yank away, to fight for his life, but Cai’s grip on his hair increased, reminding him of the here and now and the purpose for all this.
Cai swallowed, making a pleased noise, apparently at the taste and richness of his blood. When his thigh shifted so it was pressed against Rand’s groin as he held him by the hair, Rand leaned into him, his hands in that same knot. As Cai drank, a heat ran through Rand, a heady surge of desire that had him pushing against Cai. He’d just come. What the hell…
Pheromones released from my fangs. Lovely effect on prey, Cai offered. See what you selfishly took from the hiker? He’d have died, but quite happily.
Rand’s cock bumped against the rough texture of Cai’s jeans. Cai dropped his other hand to clasp him, work him in casual, teasing pulls as Rand rocked against him, damn near humping his leg as the pheromone effect increased. Cai wasn’t unaffected himself. His clutch on Rand’s hair became an insistent pull on his scalp. The smell of blood misted between them, goading two predators’ instincts to life.
Cai was backing him toward the tree, a good option since Rand was pretty sure his knees were going to buckle. He reacted, but not fast enough, when Cai released his throat and picked up the discarded chain, whipping it around the tree and looping it over the bend of Rand’s elbows and across his chest. He had to drop his grip on Rand’s cock to make that happen, but seeing the vampire’s fingers wrapped tight around the chain to hold Rand, still pulling on it enough for him to feel the dig of the metal links into his flesh, had a similarly stimulating effect.
“What…”
“Don’t fight me, wolf. Just feel.”
Then he bit Rand again, on the other side of his throat.
As the vampire drank and Rand’s cock throbbed, his buttocks flexed against rough bark and his hips thrust, fucking the air. Cai lifted his head enough to tuck in the chain end and reclaim the collar that had been clipped to it.
Though Rand tried to jerk away, Cai had the collar around Rand’s throat.
Their eyes met as Cai slipped the tongue into the buckle. “Let me,” he said, a silky, sensual tone. Let me show you how this can feel.
He didn’t say the words; Rand felt them. Still holding his gaze, Cai tightened the strap. One hole, two, three…all the way to the place where it could snugly hold a thick human male throat, instead of a wolf’s.
Rand hadn’t ever done any overt BDSM stuff, but feeling the vampire tightening the collar, hearing the feral sounds of hunger Cai made as he brought his lips to Rand’s throat again, only seemed to spur the power of his own arousal. Which spiked even more as Cai’s fangs sank back into his flesh below the collar’s hold and he swallowed more of Rand’s blood. The pressure seemed to make his flesh more sensitive, not just above the strap, but everywhere else.
Rand closed his eyes. The scent of Cai’s body, his heat, the blood, combined with other sensory input to goad his desire and take away any other thought. The chain clinked as the links dug deeper into Rand’s chest and arms, because he was straining against it. He liked the way that felt, and strained harder, not to bust free, but to feel the binding, feel the discomfort, the proof that he was bound, could submit and let go. Let all of it go for this moment.
You please me, wolf. Come.
For the second time in less than an hour, Rand obeyed with no ability to stop himself, his come splashing on the dried remnants of his previous climax. Good thing he wasn’t wearing any clothes, because at this rate he’d be a fucking mess in no time.
I like that thought. You always naked around me, collared and serving my pleasure. Your body marked by your seed and mine until I allowed you a bath, no more than once a day. Maybe every other day.
Rand finished his climax, with a deep groan and a few more involuntary jerks of his hips. His mind was scrambled, but he still managed a fragmented thought.
Can’t control me. I control myself.
Cai drew back, his one fang retracting. Rand noticed dazedly he tucked the prosthetic one back under his lip with a brief flick of his tongue, an act of apparent long practice to keep from appearing snaggle-toothed. He watched Rand wind down with avid enjoyment, reaching out to caress his cock, his eyes glittering as Rand twitched at the contact on his hyper sensitive glans.
He kept doing it, until Rand gritted his teeth and held still, let him stroke. He told himself to do it because the rule about bullies was not to give them the satisfaction of a response, but when Cai’s gaze lifted to his face and nodded in approval, it gave Rand strange, different feelings.
“Very good, wolf. You’re learning.”
You could fight me for control, over and over, but you didn’t just now. Not hard enough to get free, just hard enough to tell me you won’t be pushed around. I like that. Look where it took you. Both of us.
Cai withdrew his hand and gave the steel bar beneath his jeans a hard stroke that made Rand’s mouth dry. Hell, he wouldn’t be acting so stupid about this if sometime over the past couple years he’d gone into a town for an occasional hookup.
“If I could trust your teeth,” the vampire observed, “I’d feed my cock between your lips and let you serve me to my finish.”
“I think I’ve given you more than you deserve already,” Rand retorted, though the idea of sucking Cai off was far too appealing an image in his mind. “I want loose.”
“Give it a minute.” The vampire wiped his own lips with the back of his hand. “Take a rest; you’ve earned it. A few days ago, I rescued a fellow fanged creature from a hunter. Now you’ve paid it forward for an oblivious human. Good for you.”
Rand stared at him as Cai stepped back. The vampire’s erection wasn’t abating, noticeable under his jeans. He ignored that, best as he could. “Does everything you say have to be marinated in sarcasm?”
“No. I prefer to spice things up with jaded cynicism and outrageous acts of selfishness.”
The chains clinked from the expansion of his chest as Rand sighed. A glint of humor and appreciation went through the vampire’s gaze. But Rand capitulated for now, dropping his head back against the tree and gazing down his nose with a neutral expression for the vampire. He could get loose. He could feel it in the give of the chains, and the end was just tucked under the loops across his body. That helped.
He told himself he shouldn’t be playing the
vampire’s game, that doing it after the heat of the moment had passed took it into some odd territory. Yet the way the vampire’s gaze consumed him, the arousal still vibrating off him, had Rand staying where he was. But he wasn’t going to let the vampire control everything.
“Where did you get the scar on your back? The one shaped like the sun.”
Cai had moved away, but only to sit down against another tree a few feet away. He cocked his head, and let his hand drift down over his own chest. Not to titillate Rand. It appeared he was enjoying touching himself as he looked at the wolf, or imagining Rand’s touch upon him without being close enough to allow that contact. Which produced another indescribable knot of feelings in Rand’s gut.
He wasn’t sure if Cai had heard him. The vampire kept up that distracting, idle caress of his own body, over muscular abs, the smooth pectorals, the inside of an elbow and back down again, to cup himself over his jeans. Rand couldn’t take his eyes away, though he wanted to know the answer to his question.
“Another vampire,” the vampire said at last. “He went after me with a knife. Threatened to skin me, but couldn’t get me to hold still for that. Go figure. Instead we had a sporting wrestling match where he cut my shoulders up pretty good before he drove the blade into that center ‘sun’ spot and twisted it like a maid churning butter.” Cai’s teeth flashed in a humorless smile. Rand noted his eyes had that cold look again.
“I fought him, reached back, dug into his neck. Managed to rip his head off. First time I’d done that. Kind of cool to realize you have that kind of strength in your fingers.” The vampire paused. “Me killing him was a milestone of sorts, so the vampires I was with, they held me down and used my blood to burn the scars he left on me. Makes them permanent. Ironic, right? A vampire with a scar shaped like the sun.”
Cai opened his jeans, reached in and took a grip on his cock. He handled himself with practiced ease and a total lack of self-consciousness. He settled his shoulders, a contented sigh coming from him. “A good meal and jacking off; nothing better than that. Especially with a view like this.”