by Kira Stone
A Marked Man
Kira Stone
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2007 Kira Stone
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ISBN: 978-1-59596-634-6
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Publisher:
Changeling Press LLC
PO Box 1046
Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046
www.ChangelingPress.com
Editor: Connie Alberts
Cover Artist: Fabiano Fabris
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Dedication
To everyone who suggested I write more about the main characters from Blood Magic. Thank you for caring enough about Sebastian and Teake to ask.
Prologue
Davina’s Office
Deep within Green Mountain Coven Territory
Davina’s long brown braids vibrated around her oval face, as if they were plugged into so much natural energy they couldn’t remain still. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Sebastian shifted in the wooden chair, uncomfortable in her presence. He had the blood of a witch in his veins now and that meant he was subject to her rule. It was only one of many adjustments he’d had to make since Teake brought magic into his vampiric life. He was finding some changes, such as shedding his blood-drinker habits and moving in with Teake, were easier than others. “I am.”
“Why?”
“Does it matter?” He didn’t mean his question to sound disrespectful, but he didn’t see why he should have to explain himself to her. This had nothing to do with witch business. Her business. He’d assumed this interview was a formality, like meeting the father of the girl he wanted to marry.
Only, in this case, the ‘bride’ happened to be a groom and the ‘father’ was the matriarch of an entire clan… and it wasn’t exactly marriage he had in mind.
“It matters very much,” Davina said, rising from her seat behind a wooden desk that seemed to be a part of the hollowed-out tree trunk containing it. She put her hand on his shoulder and looked down at him with vibrant green eyes. “Sometimes the reason we do a thing is more important than the thing itself.”
Why couldn’t he have this conversation with Rainer? The Vampire Lord would simply look at him and give a nod of approval. He didn’t have to explain. Rainer had seen him with Teake. He’d just know where Seb was coming from without Seb having to actually speak of his feelings.
Davina’s milk chocolate fingers grasped his chin, raising his face to meet her gaze. I too know what’s in your heart, dear one, she said via the mind link connecting her to all of the witches who’d sworn loyalty to her coven. What I want to know is if you know yourself half as well as I do.
Fuckaduck. Seb winced, realizing he’d inadvertently sent that thought to her as well. Learning to keep private thoughts private in a place where nearly everyone was telepathic was still something of a challenge for him. He had to concentrate to get it right, and Davina’s mere presence played merry hell with his concentration. “I’m his in every way but one. Why not make our bond official?”
“You speak of more things, not reasons.”
Sebastian jerked his head out of her light hold and stood up. The close confines of her office -- if you could call a hollowed-out tree trunk a place of business -- didn’t allow him room to pace. His body started to warm, converting his nervous energy into raw, natural power as if he were preparing for a fight. “What do you want to hear? That I love him? Without him I’d be nothing, and I want him to know he owns half of me as surely as I possess half of him. Is that good enough for you?”
Her hands smoothed down the front of her simple, home-spun dress. A small but triumphant smile curved her lips. “That will do.”
Frustration turned to hope in the blink of an eye. “Then I have your permission?”
“You do.”
Elated, Sebastian scooped her up in a great big bear hug. He kissed her laughing mouth, and then set her down. He was halfway out the door before he heard her mentally calling him back to her side.
There is more to the ceremony than you know, dear one.
Of course there is, he sent back with a hint of sarcasm. Nothing around here is ever easy.
Easy things are only worth the price you pay to get them. Do you value Teake’s love so cheaply?
Hell, no! He balled his hands into fists as he stepped back into her office. “I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said aloud, wanting her to hear his determination.
Renewed anger fed his restless energy until he thought he might fly apart trying to contain it all. It was so much easier when he was with Teake. His lover had spent a hundred and one years learning the ways of a Green Witch and another few centuries practicing them. Sebastian had three months of experience at it, and his control over the powers Mother Nature had granted him through his magical link with Teake was far from perfect. Eventually he would master them, but right now, when Teake’s soothing presence was absent from his mind, the massive forces almost overwhelmed him.
He took a deep, cleansing breath and marshaled his defenses to restrain the wild energy running through his veins.
Davina nodded in approval. “You have come far in a short amount of time, Sebastian.”
He produced a short, downward spiral of sparkling positive energy, a gift to the earth for Davina’s praise. However, when he spoke his voice was impatient. “Tell me what I need to do. Another test?”
“Another lesson.” Davina produced what appeared to be a wooden pencil from between her well endowed breasts. “Take this to Sequoia. She will guide you.”
Chapter 1 -- The Journey
Valentine’s Day, several weeks later
Taggert’s Bend, Pennsylvania
Teake sensed his lover’s impatience. Visiting his friends in Taggert’s Bend was all Sebastian had talked about for the last month. Now they were approaching Lord Allen’s isolated farmhouse, and Seb was literally bouncing with energy, his mind more on his friends than on the path under his feet.
It wasn’t the way Teake had pictured spending their first Valentine’s Day together.
Though as a witch he paid little attention to the holidays of most humans, this was his first opportunity in decades to celebrate the love he shared with a partner, and never before had he loved another so much.
As a vampire, Sebastian had had a hard existence. Betrayed by his lover, then forced against his will to become intimate with an enemy, before dying yet again to receive another chance at life, this time as a natural witch. All within the space of a few days. It was enough to drive anyone insane, and nearly had until Teake agreed to share with him a measure of his humanity.
It was a decision he’d never regret. Teake wondered now, given how enthusiastic he was to be seeing his friends again, if Sebastian would say the same.
He fingered the velvet bag tucked inside his deepest pocket. Perhaps now would be the best time to give his Valentine’s Day gift. Having a fraction of Sebastian’s attention was better than none at all.
He stopped. “Seb?”
The former vampire kept walking. “Yeah?”
“Seb, stop for a minute.”
“But we’re almost ther
e.”
I know. That’s why I want to stop here.
So much had happened to them the last time Teake visited Taggert’s Bend. He wouldn’t change that harsh experience for the world, as it had brought Sebastian into his life. He would, however, prefer to have this visit go smoothly, without all the drama and danger. There were no guarantees. He wanted one quiet minute alone with his lover, the other half of his self, before he opened himself up to whatever Mother Nature, and Seb, had planned for them in the valley below.
Sebastian came trotting back, his thick mane of blond hair streaming out behind him. “What’s up? Getting cold feet?”
Walking at Sebastian’s fast clip through the woods from the center of town to Lord Allen’s house had kept him plenty warm. Staring at Sebastian’s fine, leather-encased ass turned up his internal temperature another few notches.
It was his heart that shivered. If anything happened to Sebastian while they were here…
“No, love. I have something to share with you before we see your friends.”
Sebastian slipped his arms around Teake and burrowed his fingers under the waistband of his heavy woolen pants. Palming his bare ass, he growled, “Can’t wait for a bed, huh?”
Sex hadn’t been part of his plan either -- especially not in the middle of a snow-blanketed forest in vampire territory -- but he was nothing if not adaptable.
He shoved Sebastian against an outcropping of discarded quarry rock. The weather-beaten edges gave him a smooth, supportive surface. Even as he grappled with the lacings that kept his lover’s pants on his slim hips, he mumbled the phrases that would turn their sexual discharge of energy into a spell of blessing for the upcoming days.
“How can you think of magic at a time like this?” Seb’s rough voice made vapor clouds in the cold winter air.
“With you, everything is magical.” And he wasn’t just talking about the witchy kind. Sebastian was a unique being, not yet wholly human but certainly no longer a vampire. Warm and living flesh greeted his fingertips when Teake finally parted the leather pants to free the man underneath.
“You’re getting ahead of me again,” Seb teased as he reached out to perform the same service for Teake.
The wind twirled their heavy cloaks about their legs which complicated the task of baring their bodies. Teake attempted to channel it, to steer its flow around them. He could feel Sebastian watching from the edge of his mind. Join me. Help me.
Their lips came together in a light, playful tussle, as if they had all the time in the world to enjoy each other. Sebastian had trouble splitting his focus, but he managed to follow both leads… the physical one seducing his body and the psychic one bewitching the wind around them.
“You make me so hot,” he murmured, his soft lips brushing against Teake’s cheek.
Teake laughed. “It’s not me, it’s our body heat. The wind is no longer stealing it away.”
Behind passion-glazed eyes, he could see Sebastian struggle with that assessment, but then he shrugged, apparently deciding he didn’t want to waste time arguing about it.
Since the cloaks were no longer needed, they let the heavy cloth fall to the frost-covered ground. They knelt on top of them, their kisses becoming more urgent.
Tugging and pulling, they managed to free their legs from their pants. Shirts and Sebastian’s leather vest remained, rucked up out of the way. Teake dove in with tongue and teeth, licking the flat disk of Sebastian’s nipple. The nub, pierced by a bar of metal, hardened under his tongue. He bit down on the sensitive flesh, wringing a moan from his lover’s lips.
“Hard and fast, baby. Give it to me hard and fast. I need you.”
Sebastian’s words hardened Teake’s cock. Condoms weren’t necessary since Teake hadn’t had a lover since he’d lost Forest during Lord Allen’s Blood Oath, and his heavy use of natural magic prevented him from contracting any disease. Seb’s vampire immune system still protected him. Lubrication, however, was becoming an issue. Sebastian’s body had stopped producing enough of the unique fluid that made anal sex easy. At times like this, that was something of a bitch since they hadn’t gotten in the habit of carrying alternate means of lubrication with them.
Teake took the most expedient solution. He grabbed a handful of snow and braced himself before letting the heat of his cock melt it. Painfully cold, he had only to look into Sebastian’s wide blue eyes to know he’d done the right thing.
“Still want me?” Teake asked him.
“Oh, yeah.”
Sebastian raised his knees to hug Teake’s hips. They hadn’t been lovers all that long, but they knew each other well, at least in this respect. A slight tilt of Seb’s hips, a firm wiggle, and Teake’s cock slid home.
“Fuck!” Seb cried, arching up. “Move that icicle dick of yours.”
Teake chuckled even as he began to thrust. Each drive took him balls deep into his lover’s body. Slow withdraw, a fast punch back in. Just the way Seb liked it.
Sebastian locked his ankles behind Teake’s back. He used his heels to dig into Teake’s ass, urging him on.
Teake curled his hands around Sebastian’s strong shoulders. There was a ring of scar tissue circling his neck where careless vamps had fed from him for Kassian Grigorev’s amusement. It would be a simple matter to wipe the blight away with a healing spell, but so far Sebastian had rejected Teake’s offers to remove them, insisting they were a reminder of how glad he was to be away from that lifestyle. So Teake placed soft kisses against them instead.
Fingers delved into his mat of thick, dark hair and held him there. He continued to rock into Sebastian’s tight hole, occasionally grinding down to hit that sweet spot. Passion roiled in his gut, churning up the frothy tingles of impending orgasm.
“Harder, faster,” Seb urged. His breath was now coming in gasps.
Teake pounded into him with all the love he possessed. As if by doing so he could also claim the rogue’s heart. Sebastian hadn’t strayed from him as far as he knew, but they had no official agreement to prevent him from doing so beyond the one Gaia had imposed upon them. Together forever, sharing a soul, until death.
But sharing a soul with Teake didn’t prevent him from sharing his body with others. He could, at any time.
It was irrational to want more from this special man. To want Seb to make a choice where no real choice existed. To choose him above all others, not because it meant saving his own life but because he truly wanted to be with him.
The base of his spine pulsed with urgent intent. His balls tightened and he redoubled his efforts to fuck his lover into the same orgasmic abyss. He jacked Seb’s hard cock between their bodies as he thrust hard and fast.
As the powerful rush slammed into him, Teake buried his face into Sebastian’s shoulder and felt the former vampire do the same to him. Sebastian grunted out his release. His creamy ejaculate coated their bellies as Teake continued his loving assault.
Still shuddering with the after-tremors of his orgasm, Sebastian said, “Come, baby. Give me all you’ve got.”
As if acting on his orders, cum jettisoned from the base of his cock into Sebastian’s eager body. Teake arched his neck, his body bowing under the blissful strain. He groaned, then jolted when a stabbing pain pierced the flesh along his collarbone.
“What the hell?” He looked down into the confused eyes of his lover.
“I’m sorry,” Sebastian stammered. “I didn’t think…” A trickle of blood dripped from his kiss-swollen lips.
He’d been bitten. Sebastian had gone for blood during orgasm. He hadn’t done that since the first few weeks of their joining, and even then he’d always asked permission. Why this relapse now? Did it have something to do with the reason he’d pleaded to visit his friends? Did he miss his former life so much that he now regretted his decision to dedicate himself to learning the ways of a Green Witch?
Teake tucked away his concern behind a heavy psychic wall he knew Sebastian couldn’t penetrate. “It’s okay, Seb. I’ll heal it.”
One of them had to. Sebastian no longer produced the healing saliva that most vamps deployed to seal their wounds.
“Let me. Please?”
Teake nodded and then pulled out of his lover. He sat up, shivering despite the fact that the air inside their magical cocoon was no colder than it had been a few seconds ago.
Sebastian rose up on his knees and circled around him. Gently, he placed his hand on Teake’s injured shoulder. The trickle of directed energy felt like a hundred tiny ants crawling over his skin. In seconds, the torn flesh knitted together. Going a step further, Sebastian washed away the drying blood with more of the now melting snow blanketing the nearby rocks.
When he was done, he continued to rest his hand on Teake’s shoulder. “There. Good as new.”
It was more of a question than a statement. Sebastian was nervous. The bite had shaken both of them.
“Yeah, good as new. Thanks.” He took Seb’s hand and kissed it. “Let’s get cleaned up.”
Now that the shield was no longer sustained by their sexual energy, it dissipated rapidly. Winter rushed in to bite their bare asses like an eager hunting dog finally unleashed. After washing with melting snow, they dressed quickly.
“Fuck, it’s cold,” Sebastian complained.
A quick glance told Teake he meant the leather more than the weather, so he enfolded the blond into his arms, warming him from the outside in. Sebastian was warmer than the air around them, but not by much. The blood flowing through his veins wasn’t quite up to the human trait of pumping out heat. Not yet. But he became a little more human every day.
Sebastian nipped at his lips. “Thanks, love, but we’d better get moving. It’s almost dark, and Rainer and Steven will be waiting for us.”
The blond took off at his habitual brisk pace without waiting for a response, and Teake didn’t have the heart to rein him in again. He fingered the special bag in his pocket again as he followed after Sebastian. Would the time ever be right to give him this gift?