by Marcy Jacks
Sorin nodded, still puffing for breath.
Lucian wasn’t sure if Sorin really heard the words he spoke or not. It didn’t matter. He’d make sure Sorin understood completely when they were done.
Lucian pressed forward. The pressure around the head of his cock was nearly unbearable, but he didn’t dare stop because the next part, when Sorin’s body opened for him and his cockhead popped inside, made it so worth it.
Sorin cried out, hissing a little, as if in pain.
Lucian held still, struggling against the urge to slam his dick forward and plow into the man, to make Sorin his in every way possible.
Not yet. Oh God, not yet. He could come right then and there, but he couldn’t do it right now, not when Sorin was still adjusting.
“Fuck,” Sorin said through clenched teeth. It took a moment for his body to relax and Lucian felt a softening in Sorin’s shoulders and thighs.
It was as if the man collapsed helplessly into Lucian’s arms, and that was exactly how Lucian wanted his mate. He growled, unable to contain the animalistic noise as his inner dragon took that as the permission it needed and slammed forward.
Sorin cried out. Lucian wanted to wait, wanted to stop and let him adjust, but he couldn’t, and soon it didn’t matter because the heat and pleasure consumed him.
Lucian became one with his dragon side. Scales formed along his body, and he pushed Sorin on his belly, fucking him hard and fast, as if he would never get that chance again.
Through the haze, Lucian heard his mate’s cries of pleasure, saw the way Sorin fisted the sheets beneath him, and he felt the sweet clench around his cock.
Lucian held his hands down on either side of Sorin’s head, keeping himself propped up as he slammed into his mate again and again.
Possessive. Protective. His. Sorin belonged to him, and no one else would ever touch again.
Lucian came hard. The rush of pleasure was so sudden and unexpected that he couldn’t bring himself to stop. There was no chance for him to even hold back that pleasure and keep the orgasm from happening. That was how sudden it hit him.
It was almost shameful, really.
But even as he tensed and shivered, moaning through his orgasm as that rush of warmth and pleasure spilled into Sorin’s body, Lucian’s prick remained hard, his balls heavy, and Sorin continued to tremble, helpless against his own pleasure beneath Lucian’s body.
Lucian panted for breath, blinking back some of his control as he stared down at his mate. He didn’t have as many scales on his arms anymore, but they were still peppered across his skin in certain places.
Affection and warmth spread through Lucian as easily as if they had been doing this their entire lives.
Lucian leaned down, a soft, growling purr leaving his chest with a rumbling sigh as he kissed and sucked on the back of Sorin’s throat.
Sorin looked back at him, a soft smile pulling at the corner of his lips, his eyes half-lidded with lust.
And he was so damned beautiful.
Lucian’s hips began to move again. He clenched the muscles in his ass and thighs again and again as he canted his hips forward in strong, but gentle motions.
He pushed his cock forward hard, though was slow and easy to pull back, stroking the inside of Sorin’s body, right where he knew his mate needed him the most and sometimes letting the head of his cock linger against the man’s prostate just so Lucian could watch as Sorin inhaled a sharp gasp, clenched his eyes shut, and exhaled hard.
It was a sight to see, especially when Sorin began to thrust his hips down onto the bed beneath him, as though searching for another source of friction for his cock.
“You are so damned sexy,” Lucian said, peppering more kisses along the back of Sorin’s neck and shoulders, needing to taste his skin even as he finally managed to make love to him in the way he’d wanted to since the beginning.
Sorin had no reply to that. His gasping became heavier. He tried to thrust his ass back against Lucian’s cock harder, all the while humping against the sheets beneath him, as if he wanted it fast and rough again, instead of the slow and steady pace Lucian had been working so hard to give to him.
Not that Lucian would complain or anything. He slowly increased the speed of his hips, groaning at the clenching and unclenching he felt against his dick.
It was enough to make him want to fuck into the man again, abandoning all sense of self-control and just let him take Sorin like a wild animal.
There was a song about that somewhere.
“H-harder,” Sorin begged, proving he really had been after the one thing Lucian had thought.
Sorin looked back at him, his mouth begging to be kissed.
“Fuck me harder.”
Lucian groaned, leaning in and taking those lips, kissing Sorin with everything he had inside him as he slammed his hips hard and fast. Their flesh slapped together with each forward thrust, adding to the stimulation, making Lucian lose himself once more, and he didn’t care.
If this was what his mate wanted, then it was Lucian’s duty as an alpha to give it to him.
He felt the change in Sorin’s body, even as their tongues met and their rhythm became less than on point. Sorin shivered. Goosebumps formed all along his flesh, and his body became tight. Not just around Lucian’s cock, either. No, although he could tell his mate was trying his hardest to keep Lucian in place, there was nothing purposeful about the way he moaned and trembled beneath Lucian’s body.
As if he was trying desperately to hold something back.
No. That wasn’t going to fly. Lucian pulled back from the kiss, the heat between almost too much even for him to handle.
He wasn’t a fire dragon, but rock dragons could handle a little bit of heat.
“Don’t you hold back. I want to feel it. Give it to me,” Lucian demanded, pulling himself up into a sitting position, holding tightly to Sorin’s chest as he yanked the man with him.
Sorin threw his head back and moaned, almost catching Lucian on the nose, but it didn’t matter. Lucian felt as if he’d just pushed deeper inside his mate than he could have ever gone. He thrust harder, enjoying the way Sorin bounced on his lap and desperate to bring an orgasm out of him.
He reached around, taking Sorin’s cock in hand, and that was all it took.
One touch and warmth spurt onto Lucian’s hand and onto Sorin’s belly. Sorin clearly tried so hard to hold it back, his entire body clenching, and it was painfully tight around Lucian’s erection, but even that didn’t matter.
He gritted his teeth and sighed when that grip released, and just in time for Lucian to spill a gentle orgasm inside of Sorin’s body while his mate thrashed and bucked, coming to his pleasure before he turned his head and found Lucian’s mouth.
Lucian allowed himself to be kissed. How could he not when Sorin was so damned kissable?
So Lucian kissed him, letting his mate work through the orgasm that rocked him. Even when Sorin’s thrusts became uncomfortable against Lucian’s sensitive cock, Lucian still enjoyed how Sorin moved until he’d milked himself of his pleasure and there was nothing more for him to give.
They stopped moving, their mouths coming apart, and goddamn, it was like a scene worthy of a romance novel when their eyes locked like that.
Bodies still joined, the buzz of pleasure still setting sparks off behind their eyes and the heat enough to want to lull Lucian to sleep in his mate’s arms.
“I’m sorry,” Lucian said.
The soft smile slipped from Sorin’s mouth. “What for?”
Lucian inhaled deeply, letting it out in a heavy sigh. He let his fingers roam across Sorin’s cheek, his ear, and his hair. His hair, which was so much shorter than it had been when they’d first met.
“For not seeing it sooner. For nearly leaving you when I shouldn’t have.” He growled. “And for not beating the piss out of Van the second I heard what he did.”
“It’s okay,” Sorin said, and he pulled back that bright smile again. “And I think what
you did give to Van was enough to make him think twice about everything, but…” Sorin hesitated, his hands coming up and holding tightly to Lucian’s forearm, which was still curled around his chest.
As if he was trying to hold Lucian tightly in case he happened to vanish.
“But what?” Lucian prompted, though he had a pretty good idea of what was coming next.
Sorin shook his head. “Don’t punish the omegas. I don’t know what the dragon rules are, or what needs to happen to Van, but please, take it easy on him and don’t go looking for the omegas who were with him.”
Lucian shook his head. “They need to face up to what they did.”
“But I’m the one it happened to, and I’m saying it’s okay.”
Lucian wet his lips. “It’s not as simple as that, sweetheart.” Lucian knew he had to be gentle about this, that this was a topic Sorin felt strongly about. He didn’t want his mate feeling as if he had some responsibility in this.
But he was also fully well aware that such a thing was out of his control.
“What if they really were defending themselves?” Sorin asked, his expression becoming something so blue that Lucian couldn’t take it anymore.
He gripped Sorin’s shoulders hard enough to bruise, noting the way the man stared wide-eyed at him in shock.
“There is no such thing as self-defense when you weren’t attacking. I don’t care what you used to be. You were not responsible for what your father did, and I won’t have you paying for his crimes.”
Sorin blinked, as if he didn’t fully understand or was still in shock.
Lucian’s heart clenched for him. He hated that Sorin carried around this guilt. He hated that the men who’d attacked him made him feel as if he deserved it.
Lucian pulled Sorin’s back tightly against his chest, hugging him, trying to push all the love he had for this man into him.
He had some making up to do, so he might as well start with that right now.
“I’ll talk to Seth,” Lucian said, hating that he was about to say this at all. “We’ll see what can be done about getting the omegas involved…a lighter sentence.”
Lucian had to say it through gritted teeth, but he still felt as if he was hissing out the words.
“You will?” Sorin asked, sounding partly relieved but also wary of when that time would come. A time for the people who hurt him to face their punishment.
“I’ll try,” Lucian said. At the very least he had to make sure Sorin understood that much of it. “No promises, and Van…I’ll find a way to deal with him, but you’re going to have to learn something.”
Lucian took Sorin by the chin, tilting his head up so the man had to look at him.
“There is no honor in attacking a man when he’s down and helpless. What they did to you…honestly, it makes me not care about their reasoning. I don’t care what they suffered.”
Sorin shook his head. “Don’t say something like that!”
Lucian held his mate tighter. “I don’t care. I don’t care what they suffer or what they think they’re suffering now because you’re in this house and my mate. You couldn’t pay me to care about their petty feelings after what they did to you.”
He couldn’t imagine how terrified Sorin must have been when it happened to him. He could still vividly recall the tears in the man’s eyes when Lucian had discovered his missing teeth. Sorin’s pain had been so great that, at first, he refused to speak at all.
“You’re part of our clan now, my mate, and any sins you think you committed have since been washed away. Even if you did deserve it, even if you were Varrick himself, they had no business putting their hands on you.”
Sorin stayed quiet for a little while, as if he was honestly trying to think this through.
“You’re not going to be able to let this go, are you?”
Lucian shook his head. “Not in the least. I meant it, though. I’ll ask Seth to take it easy on the omegas when we find them because we will figure out who did it, whether you tell us or not.”
Sorin didn’t look back at Lucian, and he knew the man didn’t like hearing it.
But he needed to hear it.
“But you’re going to want to punish Van?”
“Yes,” Lucian said. “Tell me you understand.”
He didn’t know how he could explain it any clearer. Sorin wasn’t his father. Miles vouched for him all the time, and Van had no business stirring up the feelings of the omegas to justify them into attacking Sorin when he’d been locked in his cell in the basement.
The more Lucian thought about it, the more pissed off he became. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on that dickhead again.
“I…I understand,” Sorin said, looking back at him. “But remember your promise.”
“I will,” Lucian said, relief rushing through him, and he kissed Sorin hard on the mouth. “I swear I’ll remember it.”
Sorin looked at him, really looked at him, and the relief that washed through those pretty blue eyes was amazing to see. “Thank you.”
Lucian kissed him again. He was going to be the best possible mate he could be. He would protect Sorin in the ways he should have from the very beginning, and he would get justice for him.
Because he loved this man so much it hurt.
“Okay, no more kissing,” Lucian said suddenly.
Sorin’s expression became alarmed. “Why not?”
Lucian lifted his palm to Sorin’s face, just under his nose. “Because you need to finish eating before this wound closes any further.”
Sorin blinked, and then he laughed, and Lucian was honored when his mate attached his mouth to the wound, reopening it with his duller teeth, and drinking from him.
They were going to have a good life together. Sorin was his now, and no one, not even Varrick, held a claim to him any longer.
Because now he was Sorin’s mate as well as his protector.
Chapter Ten
Van stood with his back straight as Seth reamed him out. He took it. He was a man, and he could handle getting yelled at. He could also handle the punishments Seth had in mind for him.
Grunt work. He’d be cleaning toilets with the omegas and having dawn-till-dusk training any time in between with Andrei, Dimitri, and Marxus.
He knew what that meant. They were going to work him until he puked, shit, and then couldn’t even crawl back to his room for sleep.
Which was funny since he didn’t get a room anymore. Seth was putting him in the garage.
The man had turned into something of a pussy since he’d mated with that little fox. There had been a time when Seth would have given him twenty lashes and possibly even kicked him out of the clan over something like this.
Times changed, but Van stuck by what he’d done. At least while that bloodsucker didn’t have his fangs, the omegas wouldn’t have to fear him coming after their blood.
“Do you have any questions?”
Much as Van wanted to glare at his alpha, he kept himself together. He had to for the protection for those omegas. He wouldn’t let his pride get in the way of that.
“No questions.”
Seth looked him up and down, his hard red gaze studying him, as if he wanted to fight right then and there.
He didn’t. “Get out of here. You can start by getting Micah to teach you how to use a vacuum and mop the floors.”
The basic cleaning of the day had already been done, but Van knew better than to throw that in Seth’s face.
It wasn’t the point that it had been done already or not. The point was Seth wanted Van to get started on his punishment.
He turned and left the library.
There were a couple of omegas outside the library, pretending to do a little dusting. They looked away a little too quickly for them to have all been hanging out around the library doors doing any actual work.
He was fine with that. He didn’t glare at any of them. He understood why this affected them as well. Van was the only one in this house who had their ba
cks. Of course they would be interested in what happened to him.
He went to find Micah. A white wolf omega. His hair was snow white, a color Van had never seen naturally on anyone not under the age of fifty-five. Even Stefan’s hair was more of a platinum blond, but he was young. Young enough, and old enough, to be appealing for the sex trade vampires loved so much.
Van was, of course, not going to dig into what sort of slave he’d been before the house had been taken over. It was none of his business as far as he was concerned.
The man’s eyes, one a dark chocolate brown and the other a pretty shade of green, widened at his approach. “I need to learn how you go about the chores in the house.”
“Oh,” Micah said, glancing around at everyone in the hall. “Why?”
“My punishment,” Van said simply. “Where do you keep the supplies?”
“We already finished our chores for the day.”
“Show me anyway.”
Micah did as he was told, looking back at the other omegas who watched them go with curious eyes.
They might be talking for a while. The omegas involved in what he’d done might be fearful tonight, but they could rest easy because he would not give their names. If they needed any more proof tonight that they could count on him, they would get it when this whole thing blew over.
Micah brought him down a narrow hallway, mostly abandoned. This was where the small rooms were that the omegas used to sleep in. Some did still stay here. Either out of habit or comfort or nervous fear over sleeping in the rooms of their former masters, he couldn’t say.
It didn’t shock him that many of the cleaning supplies would be down here.
Micah opened the closet, showing him where everything was and what it all did. Van didn’t need that much help. He could put some things together himself and he had cleaned floors before.
“All right then, go on. You’ve done your part.”
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” Micah asked, though he sounded as if he really wanted to be away from here.
“Go on,” Van said again.
Micah left. Van grabbed the mop bucket and pulled it out of the closet. He stopped short, not bothering to glance to the side. He knew who would be there.