by Jo Penn
Emile was in excellent physical condition. Vinn lightly ran the backs of his fingers along his mate’s spine down to his well muscled, rounded ass Vinn wished to explore fully. As his mate made no protest, Vinn took his mate’s hands in his and placed them on the tiled wall. Leaning forward, he pressed his body against Emile’s and savored the skin to skin contact. Through their bond, he felt the curiosity, the excitement, and the arousal. The complete trust and acceptance from his beautiful mate.
Vinn brushed his lips against Emile’s cheek. “Don’t move.”
Emile nodded. Smiling, Vinn nibbled his way across his man’s cheek, along his jaw and down to his throat where he licked and sucked, tasting the man’s unique flavor. Taking his time, learning his mate’s body and what Emile liked, very much enjoying finally being able to touch fully, he trailed his fingertips across hard pecs, along biceps, solid shoulders, and followed the light treasure trail over a flat stomach. Touching his Emile was a pleasure so intense Vinn was hard and leaking, pressing his hot erection against his mate’s damn fine ass and rubbing slowly.
It turned him on even more to hear Emile’s soft groans. He didn’t move though, not even when Vinn placed his legs between Emile’s and urged the man to widen his stance. Having Emile give control so willingly, with such trust, over to Vinn astounded him. He let his fingers wander while his lips and tongue trailed over Emile’s shoulder, licking up droplets of water and sucking. With his other hand slipping between their bodies, Vinn followed every curve, dip and hollow, amazed at the softness of the man’s skin, the heat. Humming softly, he slid his fingers over one rounded globe and dipped his pinkie just inside Emile’s crack.
There was a slight tensing, Vinn expecting it and not stopping. He stroked, caressed, sucked, and licked, his fingers gliding over miles of soft, wet skin as he loved on his mate. Emile turned his head and brushed his lips against Vinn’s temple, his breath catching as Vinn lightly rubbed his hole. At the same time, he cupped Emile’s balls, rolling them, caressing.
Their gazes clashed and held, pupils dilating. Covering Emile’s lips with his own, he tried to convey how much he enjoyed touching, being with his mate and giving pleasure. Emile, he found, enjoyed his sac being touched, Vinn happily obliging. Their kisses were all consuming, tongues dueling, Emile showing his kissing skills could bring a man to his knees and have him begging.
Turning Emile around so they were facing, he backed the man against the wall and dropped to his knees between his mate’s spread legs and wrapped his lips around the spongy head of Emile’s cock. Groaning at the taste, Vinn used his tongue to lick and rub, Emile’s pants and moans music to Vinn’s ears. He worked his mate’s cock from head to root, rubbing his tongue along nerves, swallowing the head and lapping up pre-cum. At the same time, he kept right on massaging Emile’s balls, which were now pulled tight to his body, and rubbed his hole, getting his mate used to being touched there.
“Vinncent…c-coming.”
When Emile went to pull away, Vinn took hold of his mate’s ass in both hands, and hollowing out his cheeks, slid back along the thick cock in his mouth just in time to have the first spurt of cum land on his tongue. Everything about the man was refined, Emile tasting of fine old brandy, just a bit bitter. Delicious.
When empty, Emile sagged against the wall. Vinn stood and swept Emile up against him, his body aching for release.
“Let’s go to bed, cymar–”
“Emile! Emile! Ace destroyed my soccer ball! You have to do something about him!” a high pitched young female cub’s voice shrieked through the bathroom door.
Vinn’s erection instantly deflated. Emile tensed.
“You have to, Emile!” the girl yelled and banged on the door.
“Let me deal with Melody, then we can–”
“Emile!”
Vinn growled and, releasing his mate, stormed out of the shower cubicle. Snatching two towels off the racks, he handed one to Emile who had followed him out and wrapped the other around his waist. And just in time as the door was flung open and an irate young female stood glaring at them.
“Oh, yuck. Not you, too, Emile,” she wailed. “First Drake, then Dommie and Baron–”
“Baron’s mated?” Vinn hadn’t heard about that, and he would have thought it would be big news and spread throughout the valley and city quickly.
“Well, duh.” The girl, Melody, Emile’s youngest sister, rolled her eyes. “That was like, ages ago! Tamid’s not so bad, I guess, though he’s always doing some weird thing in the big shed and saying its artwork.” She snorted. “Looks more like mangled metal to me, but Emile just says my tastes haven’t developed yet.”
Emile pinched the bridge of his nose. “Melody, leave. Now.”
“But, my soccer ball!”
“Cub, I’ll get you a dozen soccer balls if you just get the hell out of here now,” Vinn grumbled.
“You swore!” Melody’s eyes lit up gleefully. “I’m telling Mom!”
Oh shit, Vinn really didn’t need a lecture from that fierce, overprotective lioness. There was no way he was going to get laid within the next two hours, he was sure.
Vinn’s prediction was correct. No sooner had they dressed, which was to say, Vinn had pulled on the jeans he’d worn to the bathroom while Emile looked as immaculate as always in lounging pants and a long sleeve, collared silk shirt, then Prince Ace Sanchez, another frigging Sanchez cousin, was in Emile’s living room. Ace, snarling and snapping, told Emile about Melody repeatedly using her soccer ball against the wall where he was trying to study.
Vinn was seeing that while his own younger siblings were annoying, they were angels compared to Ace and Melody. And Emile wasn’t the best at dealing with the pair. Ace appeared to be completely in awe of Emile and probably would do whatever the man said, but he was also a snappy little shit who wanted the last word. And they were both gaining their gifts and obviously on an emotional, hormonal roller coaster.
After twenty minutes and Emile glaring at his family and threatening to take them both to work at the High Council with him tomorrow if they didn’t leave him alone, Dominic Sanchez arrived and had to spend ten minutes calming everyone down. By the end of it, Vinn was just exhausted from the time difference and the conflict, and he could feel Emile was flagging, still not completely one hundred percent recovered.
“I suggest in future you chase them out,” Dominic whispered to Vinn on the way out of the suite. “Emile usually orders them away from him and if that doesn’t work, rings one of us to deal with the cubs.”
Vinn could see that happening and would be prepared. “Why’d the girl come to Emile if he doesn’t solve the problem for her?”
“They like his attention. Anyway, I feel Emile is dead on his feet. I’ll get out of your way.”
Vinn nodded and locked the door after Dominic. As much as Vinn may want to get into bed with his mate and actually have Emile, his gorgeous shifter looked pale and tired. It didn’t take much to convince Emile to lie down and rest. Vinn curled around his mate, one hand stroking Emile’s side.
He’d put up with dozens of cubs like Melody and Ace to hold his mate and stay by Emile’s side, though he would be changing the locks on the doors and put in a demon designed trap to stop the little buggers interrupting when he was about to fuck his mate.
Chapter Seven
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with not having been attracted to many people, Emile,” Vinn murmured, holding Emile tight to his body. Though this caused his body to heat up even more with need and his cock to throb like it was about to burst, he couldn’t seem to get enough of the lion, the rich scent, the soft, silky skin and long, trim body. “It’s probably given you more of a reputation as being unattainable.”
Emile sighed heavily. “That is, of course, exactly what I wished.”
Vinn lightly rubbed his cheek against his mate’s silky hair. “It’s selfish and egotistical of me, but I kinda like that there haven’t many who got your blood pumping. I adm
it to being picky. I’m fine with it. I never got around, even as a hormonal young’n before I met Marc.”
“You met him when you were twenty-two?”
“Yeah.” Vinn smiled a little at the memory. His heart hurt, his soul feeling the oppressive blackness that wanted to take him over, yet, for the first time in nineteen years, since losing Marc, he actually smiled when thinking of his lost mate.
Was he healing? No, never would he be healed fully. There would always be the blackness that ate at him, wanted to consume, but now there was something that brought light back to his life. Hope. His gorgeous lion. No longer was he living just to avenge his mate and protect his family. Now he could have joy and happiness…and love.
“Marc was twenty-three at that time?” Emile asked.
“Hmm?” Vinn drew himself out of his thoughts. “Yeah, he wanted to be a soldier, but they rejected his application. He applied five times and ended up lodging a complaint with the High Council. Marc was an adrenaline junkie and didn’t always conform, which made him a bit reckless and not a good candidate for an Alliance soldier who needed to be able to take orders.”
“You loved him very much.”
There was no rancor, no hurt from Emile. Vinn sensed his lion mate had been rattled back in Zurich when they spoke of Marc and how Vinn was still hunting for those who killed their mate. Now, maybe because they were learning more about each other, developing trust and deep feelings, their connection was strengthening, and any worries, uncertainties, and jealousies were fading.
“So much.” Vinn felt tears prick his eyes. “Marc laughed and lived life like it was an adventure. He could be gentle and fun, tough and caustic, he didn’t obey all the rules and spoke out when he shouldn’t. He respected others, though, never took advantage when he could have, and was just one of those people who got along well with most. Except if he didn’t want to. Then he was a little shit who stirred things up.”
Emile turned in Vinn’s arms, his dark blue eyes so deep and sorrowful. “I feel your love for Marc. It…stirs me. I wish I could have met him and helped you keep him safe.”
“Oh, cymar, Marc would have been wrapped up in you. And he would have been high jacking your computers to see what you were doing while interrogating anyone who came near you.”
“Oh…I do not like my computers to be high jacked, Vinncent.”
Vinn laughed at the abject dislike in Emile’s censored response. No, there was no way Emile would have tolerated some of Marc’s antics, and Vinn could see he would have been settling his fox shifter mate down. Marc had done the same with Vinn, always checking what he was doing, watching out for him, it was just the fox’s way, his nature was to take care of those he loved.
“No, I can see that.” Vinn frowned. He felt hotter than usual. “Marc took care of others.”
“So do you. You are a protector.” Emile moved restlessly. “You have no difficulty expressing yourself.”
“Nope. I’m not diplomatic though, which could be a problem.”
“I do not need a diplomatic mate.” Emile gasped, body pulling away from Vinn’s arms.
“What’s wrong?” Vinn grabbed his mate, and quickly let go again when Emile hissed in pain. “Shit! Is it the chemical-?” He sniffed deeply, eyes sweeping over his mate’s long, trim, muscular body. “You’re in the mating heat.”
“So it seems.” Emile panted, perspiration across his forehead. “Call the pride doctor, she will come with the drug to cool me down.”
“Yeah, I can do that. Or,” Vinn leaned down and took his man’s lips in a fierce, needing kiss, breaking it abruptly and leaning back. “I can take you and bond us completely.”
While they may have claimed and bonded, they needed to consummate. Vinn was more than happy to do that. If they didn’t, due to a felines mating heat, Emile’s body temperature would keep rising, and he would need regular injections to cool him down, or he would go feral. Every paranormal kind was different in the way they reacted to a mate. Demons knew their mate via scent and instinct and could take their time to claim and bond, unlike felines who had a shorter time frame. Age was not a restriction to demons either, they could scent and know their mate even when they were children, though they couldn’t claim and bond until they were at least twenty-five.
Nuzzling Emile’s neck, he slid a hand beneath the silk sleep top and stroked heated silken skin “Yes?”
“Yes,” Emile whispered. “Now, Vinncent.”
Fire flamed through Vinn’s blood. Sliding his hand through the hair at the back of Emile’s head, careful with his claws, he burned to memory the look of lust, need, and wanting that shone in those deep blue eyes he could become lost in. Vinn was coming to love those eyes almost as much as the man in his arms. There was so much more to the prestigious Prince than that of a senator, a board member and all the other titles Vinn wasn’t bothered to remember. Emile was complex, which Vinn loved. He didn’t like simple and easy, he wanted feisty and lively, deep thinking, layers, and someone who made him think and strive. Marc had been feisty and energetic while Emile was all the rest, and, as Vinn was discovering, there was this streak inside Emile that just loved to stir things up. He’d be watching his mate carefully.
And learning everything about him.
Vinn stripped the luxurious sleep pants and top off Emile and removed his own boxer shorts, discarding them to the floor and ignoring Emile’s frown. Distracting his mate from the random tossing of clothes, he took Emile’s lush, soft lips, their fullness an amazing contrast to Vinn’s harder mouth. He could kiss the man all day and would love to see if he could come from the way Emile let Vinn take control while enticing him to delve deeper, take more, stirring him so he couldn’t think, only feel.
He loved on his mate, mapping Emile’s supple body, every groove and swell. He reddened the pale pink nipples with kisses and sucking, tweaking, and found every spot that made the lion hiss and cry out in pleasure. Emile pulled at Vinn’s body, demanding more and, all the while, Emile stirred Vinn hotter and higher with touches, kisses, and lust filled looks.
Trailing his fingertips over defined pecs and down to a perfect six pack, Vinn followed with his tongue and lips, scraping his teeth over sensitive dips, heated by every groan his mate gave. Vinn wanted to ravish and devour, his mind becoming a haze of lust and needs, his dick throbbing, his hands touching every inch, running along his mate’s crack, over his thighs and gripping Emile’s straining cock that dripped with pre-cum.
“Do you have a gift for inciting?” Vinn licked his mate’s inner thigh, his fingers covered in slick and rubbing lightly against Emile’s hole.
Vinn needed to get in his mate, feel that hot, tight ass wrapped around his cock, the muscles squeezing him, and join them completely and for all time.
“No, though that does sound enjoyable…ah.”
Vinn grinned and nipped golden skin as he pressed the tip of his finger a little inside his mate. “Relax, cymar, let me have you.” Tight, very tight. He couldn’t wait to get inside his mate. First, he needed to distract Emile. “Yeah, I’m kinda glad you don’t have that gift. You’re already enough to handle. What’s your gift, gorgeous?”
“Precision.”
“I have no idea what that means, but you are very precise,” Vinn recalled how Emile folded his clothes, straightened books and coasters, and folded letters.
“Is that a complaint?” Emile tensed.
Hell. Rising up, Vinn moved upward over the golden skin he had kissed every inch of. What he’d learned was Emile liked to be taken, to be taken over and enjoyed. He did not like pain with his pleasure, which was good, Vinn preferred only pleasure in bed, and nothing but pain for Renegades. Smiling at his mate’s frown, he pressed his aching, leaking dick to Emile’s ass and rubbed his hole. They both groaned.
“Nope. Lots of things to admire about precision. How is there a precision gift?” He groaned at Emile’s wiggle.
“It is extremely difficult to think with your penis about to penetrate m
e, Vinncent,” Emile said in a strained voice.
“Gotta stretch you first. Relax, I want you back to horny and ready, not tense.”
Giving his mate a kiss, Vinn worked his way back down Emile’s body, taking his time, building them both back up and enjoying every gasp and the divine taste of his mate.
“Precision m-means exactly that.” Emile groaned as Vinn licked his cock. “Oh, that is pleasurable.”
Chuckling, he did it again. “Tell me about your gift.”
“Mmm? Oh, ah, yes.” Emile wiggled, Vinn grabbing the man’s hips and holding him still. He took a firm hold of the thick long cock in front of him and began to slowly taste the root. “I am precise in what I wish to be…ah…yes…I do not wish to be precise in lovemaking. This should be natural.”
“Agreed. I want you passionate and open.”
With that, Vinn sucked the long, thick cock into his mouth, loving the taste, addicted to it. Nudging Emile’s legs further apart, he stiffened his tongue and caressed the glands along the cockhead. Slowly, Vinn began loosening Emile’s hole, and with a lot of slick and time, he slid a finger inside, smiling at the gasp of pleasure this caused from his mate.
“Yes!” Emile jerked, and body went taut.
Vinn sucked hard, flavor exploding on his tongue as Emile came. He was definitely addicted to Emile’s taste and knew he would be spending a lot of time tasting his mate everywhere. Vinn continued to drink his mate down while sliding another finger in beside the first and gently stretched and brushed against the little bump inside. Another spurt of ambrosia landed on Vinn’s tongue and Emile hissed in pleasure, body jerking.
Releasing Emile’s cock when the man was spent, Vinn sucked and licked his way over spread thighs, adding another finger and thrusting deep inside, stretching faster and rubbing his prostate, the small gland driving his mate to writher and groan in pleasure beneath Vinn. He continued to stretch and play with Emile, his mate opening more to him, losing any and all inhibitions. By the time he removed his fingers and lined up his cock, the fires inside Vinn were volcano hot and ready to explode.