by Joey W. Hill
But he could still run, thank God, even if he couldn’t run as fast. After eating, Rand explored, avoiding the attraction areas and sticking to the forest trails. He found his way up the mountain and trotted along the top edge above the carved generals. He paused there to howl at the moon, his wolf a silhouette against its light. He received no answer, except from a couple of dogs. No wolves in this part of the world.
But there are things that will hunt with you.
Cai’s voice. It set off a ripple through Rand’s every nerve, his heart and gut. Then the vampire did what Rand had hoped he would do. For the first time since Savannah, Cai opened the connection between their minds, a binding that filled Rand, making him realize exactly how empty he’d felt without it.
It was also something a servant could follow like a scent trail straight home.
Rand plunged back into the forest. Over bushes, through them, over and between rocks. An edgy need took hold, the predator and hungry male coming together. He needed, wanted. He’d had blood taken from his flesh but not consumed, his cock worked out with no release, and been told only one Master could have that from him. And guess what? That was the male he wanted to give that. The only one to whom he would offer his throat, his capitulation.
Was a hell of a way of showing it.
As Rand crossed a clearing in several powerful leaps, he was hit in the side and rolled. He snapped, but no matter how charged up he was, Cai for once had the clear advantage. The vampire wasn’t in the mood for mercy or conversation.
Shift, goddamn you.
Rand was already in the process, so that when they came to a skidding stop on the forest floor, his body was a hundred percent human.
Cai attacked his mouth, with hard, single-minded purpose. A tumultuous mix of possessive, desire-driven fury. The tempting hints of this side of the vampire, revealed in greater or lesser amounts so many times, had led Rand to take this gamble. That he could drive it up a few more notches, with the right provocation.
He’d unleashed a beast.
Rand groaned against the wave of relentless demand, a blazing hellfire. The vampire had him on his back, body pinning him down, hand clamped over one wrist. No give and take. Only taking. But Rand had his own needs, and he’d fight for them. When Cai broke the kiss to stare down at Rand, Rand curled a lip at him.
You wanted to bust my ass for letting Wolf have it. It’s here and waiting, vampire. If you have the balls to take everything I’m offering.
Cai’s gaze had that predatory glitter that was terrifying if you were his food, and impossible to resist if you were simply his. As he bared his fangs, Rand saw the new one, with the tiny skull and crossbones etched on it. Cai’s tongue flicked behind it, resulting in an almost unnoticeable click…but a very noticeable extension of the fang, that matched the natural lengthening of the real one.
It was totally badass, and Rand hardened further, imagining both fangs sinking into his throat. He wanted the vampire to feed from him.
Cai’s gaze heated further. “Lift your chin,” he demanded.
Rand complied. Cai dropped his head. At the first touch of his mouth, Rand closed his eyes and shuddered, pure relief and desire combined. He curled the fingers of his free hand in Cai’s side, in the stuff of his shirt. When the vampire bit into the artery, Rand’s fingers convulsed, and the shirt tore. He didn’t hesitate to take advantage of it, touch sliding along bare skin, the firm flesh over Cai’s ribs and down to his lean waist. The solid angle of hip bone, accessible below the loose-enough waistband of his jeans.
Cai reached between them and seized Rand’s bare cock, tugging on it, nearly lifting his hips off the ground. Rand groaned.
“Whose is this?” the vampire demanded.
“Whose do you want it to be?” Rand said, just as fierce. Cai’s grip tightened and Rand let out an oath.
“I can fuck you. That’s it,” the vampire said.
“Lot of talk. Haven’t done it yet.”
Cai’s eyes sparked. He stood up, looming over Rand, one foot planted between his spread legs, the other on the outside, his thick-tread shoe pressed against Rand’s thigh.
“I want to fuck, not fight.” Cai fished lube out of his jeans pocket and dropped it on Rand’s stomach. “Get me ready for your ass.”
He pulled off the torn shirt in a mouthwatering motion, and opened the jeans with impatience, freeing a cock as thick and hard as Rand’s own was.
Rand sat up. He was aware of how Cai looked at him, the dangerous avarice suggesting the vampire might not stop with blood; he might devour Rand whole. Despite Rand’s combative attitude, he wasn’t immune to that level of need. He just wanted to make damn sure Cai knew that Rand wanted—and could take—whatever he brought.
“We’ll see when I’m reaming your ass for the tenth time tonight.”
Rand saved his retort. He had better things to do. Fisting Cai’s cock, getting it all glistening with the oil, made a bunch of things in his own loins and lower regions tighten up with a hunger so bad there was only one way to express it.
Cai felt it, too. His Master rocked into his touch, his hand landing on Rand’s head to tangle in his hair, grip and pull. Like Wolf had done, only this felt so much better…God, so much.
Cai did it hard enough to jerk Rand’s head back, bare his throat. Rand drew in a surprised gasp as Cai struck, bending fast to take the hard bite. The other wound was closed now, but this was about marking, not feeding. When Cai pulled away, Rand thought there’d be an abrasion there he’d feel below the skin for days, no matter his healing ability.
Cai shoved him back down onto his ass and used one foot against Rand’s thigh to widen the spread of his knees. Rand showed teeth, but Cai put his hiking shoe against Rand’s cock and balls and applied pressure.
“You’ve pushed me as far as you’ll get away with tonight, wolf,” he said softly.
Rand could have countered that threat, but Cai wasn’t waiting. In a swift move, he’d pushed the jeans off his hips and dropped to his knees between Rand’s spread legs. Hooking Rand’s leg over his elbow, Cai lodged the head of his cock where he wanted it. “Now,” he said. “You give me the word he wanted.”
“He had to beat me to make me even consider it,” Rand countered. God, he was dying. His cock had never felt so aching hard.
Cai bared his fangs again. There was still a trace of Rand’s blood on one, adding to the impact and menace. “You ask, or I jack off on top of you, watching you suffer.”
Rand wet his lips. Their eyes were so close. “Cai…”
“Shut up. Say it. Now.”
Rand’s whole body screamed with need, and Cai would hold there until the end of time. Rand said it.
“Master.”
Cai moved forward what seemed like a bare millimeter, stretching the opening enough to rock Rand with an explosive burst of feeling. “Again,” he demanded softly.
“Master.”
Slow, steady, a millimeter at a time, their eyes locked the whole time. Rand said it again. And again. And again.
Despite all the violence in the air, the unresolved crap beneath it, it felt like coming home, fulfillment. Everything.
Cai’s eyes flickered, but he didn’t respond to the impulsive thought. “So could he do…this?” Cai asked, pushing in deep, hitting the right note so Rand’s feet curled and his body arched to Cai’s.
“Didn’t get…that far. And he was hung like a fucking moose.” Rand let out another half snarl, half moan, as the taunt had Cai shoving harder into him. The vampire was no lightweight himself.
“You just have a tight, virgin ass.” Cai grunted. “Every time. Fucking love taking it.”
Rand couldn’t keep up. Cai let him hold onto nothing. His eyes lingered on Rand’s face, sweeping over his body, down to Rand’s cock, beating a tattoo on his lower belly with Cai’s strokes. “Grip it,” the vampire said. “Try to work it while I’m inside you.”
Rand did his best, but the vampire was too good at this stuff. Cai
gripped his hand, the two of them double fisting Rand’s cock between the friction of their bodies. Rand grew more savage and mindless. They both did, rutting on the forest floor, with groans, and gasps, pleas and demands that intertwined and swapped until it was hard to know where one of them ended and the other began.
Rand freed his wrist from Cai’s manacle grip so their fingers were a tight knot on the ground together. He wasn’t going over the edge without that connection. Cai’s hand convulsed in his, but he didn’t pull away.
“Come for me, wolf.”
Rand was so close he started to come as Cai said it, his seed shooting out over his chest. Yet even as he gasped through it, Rand spoke in the vampire’s head.
You come for me, too. Master.
The two of them were like a pair of combatants, locked together in the darkness of the void. But fuck, nothing had ever felt so good as that climax, seizing Rand hard and taking him over. Except Cai releasing with him, both of them riding together, over wave after wave of sensation.
Cai spilled hard and deep. It took a long time for them to stop moving together in that endlessly pleasurable rhythm, well past when they were spent. But Cai finally let his arms bend, bringing their upper bodies closer.
The forest noises resumed, and they were a quiet part of it. Rand inhaled Cai’s scent and realized that unique identifier could make his brain simply stop. It was that way, when a wolf bonded with another.
Rand started to slide his arms around the vampire to draw him all the way down, let him rest. He wanted to feel their hearts thudding together.
Cai stiffened and drew back, pulling out. They’d been done, their cocks ready for a break, but it still left an empty feeling high in Rand’s chest.
Much as Rand wanted it to be, he’d known this wall wouldn’t be breached the way wolves would do it, with a simple exchange of feeling. But that was okay. Cai was here. They’d figure it out.
Cai didn’t act like he’d heard that. He sure as hell didn’t act like he had the same level of confidence in that as Rand did. He sat back on his heels, running a hand over his face. Abruptly, he stood and tugged up his jeans. Picking up his shirt, he yanked it onto his shoulders, though he left it open.
Rand sat up, studying the male as he prowled around the clearing. Even after the violent coupling, aggressive energy was spilling off him.
“Would you have done it?” Cai said. “If I hadn’t spoken?”
Rand had known the question was coming, the answer Cai would demand to know.
“Yeah.”
Cai pivoted to face him. “You were going to have a meaningless, stupendously pleasurable fuck. Just to say piss off to me for giving you the silent treatment.”
“No. So I could put off for a little longer the way it was going to feel, knowing you didn’t want to be with me.”
Something flashed through Cai’s blue eyes, then shuttered. “I never said that.”
“Your letter said that. Brothers-in-arms. Buddies. Let’s be friends.” Rand growled it. He rose, careless of his nudity. Other parts of him were warring between the want and need. “Next time, just write fuck you on the mirror and be done with it.”
“What you want from me makes no sense.”
“Then why are you here?” Rand demanded. Fuck it. He’d let temper take the lead. Two weeks of stewing over that note didn’t sound bad, but wanting this male and not having him for that long was a lifetime.
Cai scoffed. “Figured it was obvious. I wanted to mark every inch that bastard touched. Be inside you. Inside your ass and your mouth. I want to jack off over your body, so you never go down that road again. Another shifter, fine. Human, whatever. Not a fucking vampire.”
A quiver went through Rand at the words. Buck ass naked, there was no way he could conceal his reaction to them, and damn if the third mark libido didn’t have his cock twitching, despite releasing a handful of minutes ago.
Rand could handle the vampire being an asshole. What he wouldn’t tolerate was him lying. And he was lying his ass off.
Rand offered a short, curt nod. “Fine then.” Holding Cai’s gaze, he closed the distance between them. Dropped to his knees in front of the vampire. “Why don’t you start with my mouth? I’ll get you started again.”
Cai stared at him. “You can’t pretend you don’t need more. You don’t want this. I’m not what you need. You need a family.”
Rand rose, coming toe-to-toe with him. “What the fuck do you think you and I are?”
The vehemence struck Cai in the chest, opened a window he didn’t want to look through. The view was murky to him, but Rand could apparently see through it clearly. Which meant the wolf was delusional.
Two and a half fucking weeks. Cai had lasted two fucking weeks before he couldn’t stand it any longer. Admittedly, Rand had probably accelerated the timeline with his stunt tonight, but who was Cai kidding? He could have held out maybe another week. Tops. And Rand was continuing to talk, saying things that were so terrifying, Cai should be running.
“You may not have sought that, but I don’t believe you don’t want it. I’m offering it to you, freely, willingly, to figure out where it will take us. You’re the bravest and stupidest male I’ve ever met, because you back down from nothing.” Rand’s gaze flashed. “After all the things you’ve faced, I can’t believe you’ll back down from this.”
Cai gripped Rand’s shoulder, digging in. Part reproof, part warning, but the second he made the contact, it became about more than that. He didn’t want to fucking let go. They were standing so close, barely two feet between them. His wolf was as immodestly naked as he often was, but Cai was the one who felt stripped.
“Doesn’t matter,” Cai said. “I don’t know how to love someone.”
“Bullshit.” Rand said it evenly, without malice. “You took off because you wanted what was best for me. You were willing to give up your own happiness for it."
"Well, happiness is a strong word," Cai pointed out. “And I abandoned you at a vampire stronghold and left you to find your way home.”
“I did. I just had to come to Atlanta to bring home back to me.”
Too much. Way too much. Cai should have kept it on the footing of him busting Rand’s ass in all sorts of obscene, unspeakably delicious ways for being at Club Atlantis. Not allowing the conversation to go in this direction. He had no idea where to go from here with it. He was going to get hot and hard again soon, which meant he’d say stupid things. Even now, he wanted the wolf under him, but there were other things causing problems. Like that strangling thing, and apparently shrapnel had exploded inside his chest.
“Don’t talk anymore,” Cai said. He moved away. Not a retreat, but to deliberately establish distance. Rand ignored his words and followed him. There was a big-ass rock in front of Cai and a big-ass wolf behind him. One who would not shut up.
"You took care of me," Rand continued. "Helped me want to live again. Yes, because that was what you wanted, but later on more was driving it than that. Because it bothered me, you even stopped cursing as much, for a second or two. Though you took it out on me in other ways. Swear jar, my ass. Literally."
Cai huffed a chuckle, but he stared at the rock, wondering what it would be like to achieve his lifelong dream of becoming stone, incapable of feeling anything, so nothing would ever hurt. So something, anything, would finally stop fucking hurting.
Can’t fight what you can’t change. Hurts. Just want to stop…hurting.
Cai suddenly recalled his wolf’s thought, all that time ago. In the same heartbeat, he knew the truth. The meaning of those words to Cai, as much as the wolf’s fine ass, was why Cai had refused to let him die.
Cai. Rand closed the distance between them. Didn’t touch, but was so close. So fucking close.
"If you leave them to stay with me,” Cai said bitterly, “it will always be because you settled, gave up the family idea. I'll be less. I'll feel that. Fucking pathetic, but there it is.”
A sudden heavy silence. Cai wishe
d he hadn’t said it. He could feel the wolf’s eyes upon him and, as usual, they would be seeing too much. He should just turn around, deliver on his threat. Fuck Rand a dozen more times, until the wolf would be crawling away from him, barely able to walk, finally understanding just how much Cai wanted and could take from him, without giving enough back.
Cai stiffened when Rand placed his mouth on the sun-like scar beside his shoulder blade. He tasted flesh with tongue and caressing lips as his hands slid down Cai’s back. Fanning them out to grip Cai’s waist, Rand dipped his thumbs inside the waistband of the jeans, caressing the upper rise of Cai’s buttocks.
“I thought the last two weeks at Fane’s were hard on me,” Rand murmured. “Every day hurt more and more. The nights; they were pure torture. But it was worse for you. You were alone. I didn’t think about that.”
Cai tried to jerk away from the contact. Rand moved with him, earning a hiss and answering it with a growl.
“It’s no different between vampire and servant than it is in a pack,” the wolf said. “I give up my choices to my alpha, because I trust that he’ll care for me. Isn’t that what a servant does with his Master?”
Cai turned his head, startled, and Rand met him, eye to intense eye. “You remember me saying I’d tell you sometime, how an alpha wolf approaches another alpha?”
“Yeah. I remember.”
Rand nudged Cai forward so he was closer to the large rock. Then the shifter put a palm against it by Cai’s shoulder, leaning forward so he could bring his mouth to the vampire’s collar bone from behind. Rand tilted his head, nudging at Cai’s jaw until he lifted it.
“The alpha adopts some of the same submissive body language as other wolves,” Rand said in a husky voice. “So the other alpha knows he’s not interested in a fight. He nips at his chin and throat.”
Rand continued the demonstration, using teeth, mouth and tongue to arouse. “And to make the point, the wolf might go down on his belly and avert his gaze.”
“Why do I expect you wouldn’t do the averting gaze part?” Cai managed.