“And Vinishad…” The voice made his thoughts stop even as he paused at the threshold of Faolen’s doorway. “I’m watching you.”
Stepping out of the door and closing it behind him, Vinishad let out a low growl. He was going to watch, was he? Well, Vinishad would make sure he saw exactly what he wanted him to. Before he finally got his chance and ripped his lorde’s head off. Striding down the corridor, intent on going out to feed, he saw a few of his comrades that he knew were unhappy with the way things were run. With a nod in their directions, he decided to invite them along. Once he had their loyalty, ending Faolen would be easier than he thought.
With a cold smile, he climbed the trellis that led to the warehouse, quickly making his way out into the night. Tonight he would feed. Tomorrow, he would plan the end of Aaron of the drakyl.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Jaret?”
It had been twelve days since he’d wakened. Jaret was still prone, but he at least got to talk with and hold Aaron most of the time. “Yeah?”
“Just checking.”
Grinning, Jaret chuckled softly. Aaron left last night to get more human blood for him, a decision that couldn’t have come lightly, but his man seemed insistent on. Not that he would complain about it. But since he left, one of the cousins would check on him at least once an hour to make sure he was okay and still with them. They brought his blood, though in bottles a person couldn’t see through—he assumed so they wouldn’t have to see him drink blood.
Every day he felt clearer and stronger. His mind no longer muddled, he’d gone over and over the fight with the vampyr. There probably wasn’t much he could have done to escape this particular attack. Finding out that Aaron had beheaded Kimil, though…he was still trying to wrap his head around it. Of course he knew vampyr could do it, but he’d never seen a drakyl best one of their kind in hand-to-hand combat. Ever.
He wished he’d been able to witness it. Of course Vinishad was still loose, but he wasn’t nearly as brave as Kimil. The smile on his face pulled into a huge-ass grin. His man had bested Kimil, first in line of the clutch’s leadership. Jaret couldn’t help but wonder if the bastard’s last thought was, “What the fuck? This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Hey, Jaret.” Will walked over into his view and flumped into the couch opposite. “We’ve got a day’s left of blood. Should we start mixing it with—”
“No.” Jaret shuddered at the thought of destroying the full flavor of human blood with cows’ blood.
A wicked grin crossed the younger man’s face. “Ah, come on! It’ll be fun. And it will lengthen out the amount we have.”
“Fuck you.”
Laughing, Will tossed his head back, the noise bouncing around the room. “I’m glad you came, Jaret.”
“Really? I turned Aaron into a drakyl, almost got him killed with a vampyr vendetta, and now lie around while you wait on me hand and foot? You have a strange sense of what’s right.”
“True. But I’m glad all the same. Aaron never smiled before you came. Not much anyway and they were all forced smiles, you know?” His voice dipped and he looked down at his lap. “Davis was the father I never had and now he’s gone. Aaron has always been more of a big brother than a cousin. But with Davis gone, he’s now our father. Which makes you kind of my step-father.”
Thinking the boy was about to make a joke, Jaret narrowed his eyes, waiting for the punch line. Instead, he shrugged. “I’m just saying it’s kind of nice we have two parents now, instead of one.”
“I’m glad.” And he understood what Will was getting at since he’d commented on it more than once. “And we’re staying.”
The boy’s head came up, hope on his face. “Really?”
“Aaron takes his job as trustee seriously and I have to admit, you five aren’t so bad.”
Rolling his eyes, Will nodded. “Yeah, I know. We’re a step above cows’ blood. Woot.”
Spluttering a laugh at the boy’s wry tone, Jaret realized he actually felt good. Will joined in with his laughter and their noise soon drew in the attention of Jeffrey and Conner.
“Laughter in the house?” Conner mocked, throwing himself down on the sofa next to Will. “How will we handle it?”
“I hope with some pizza,” Stephan said, walking into the room. “The only one who can cook half-decently is Aaron.”
“You guys need to learn,” Jaret said.
“Why, if we’re gonna be drinking blood in a few years?”
“The odds aren’t really in your favor,” he pointed out. “Drakyl are rare.”
“Jaret?” Jeffrey asked, thumbing through a book he had in his hands without looking at the pages.
“Yeah?”
“Am I showing any signs of…you know?” Worry was in the boy’s face and tone and Jaret looked straight at him. Aaron and he had discussed telling him, but they hadn’t decided on a time. He guessed the time was now.
“Yes, Jeffrey, you are. Your scent is changing.”
“Oh. Is it gonna hurt?” They all seemed to lean forward with interest on that question and Jaret realized they felt they could ask him whereas they were a little worried to ask Aaron. Or maybe Aaron had refused to answer. He’d have to ask him when he returned.
“When your fangs first descend, it is painful. But nothing else is.”
“Can I stay here once I do?”
“Of course you can.” Jaret stared at him in surprise. “We want you to stay. All of you. Whether or not you change.”
“So, three drakyl on one ranch isn’t too many?” he asked, a small smile on his mouth.
“We’ll have to import more blood.”
He heard the outer door open and smiled. A welcome voice called, “I’m home,” before Aaron walked through the front door, one large chest in his arms. “Jeffrey, Conner, will you get the other chests? And don’t forget the pizzas!” he called, chuckling when all five young men ran out of the room.
Dropping the chest down, Aaron leaned forward and kissed him. Jaret instantly responded, dragging his tongue along the crease between his man’s wonderful lips. “As soon as the boys go out to work, think you’re up for a blow job?” Aaron murmured against his lips.
“Always.” A smile crossed the other man’s face as he pulled back.
“Good. Because I’ve missed it.”
“So, the blood,” Jaret said, keeping his eyes on Aaron.
His partner winced. “Well, uh…See, Cor said you actually needed blood straight from the source and while I made my peace with getting you the nutrition you need, I just couldn’t bring in live humans.”
“Of course not. And Cor’s wrong. We don’t need live food. It just tastes better.”
“Good. Because, I, uh…” Suddenly it was like being back with Aaron the first night he saw him at the bar.
“What’s wrong?” he asked with a huff of a laugh. Something had embarrassed the other man.
“Well, I went to Great Falls, figuring there would be a lot more people to choose from. My plan was to find a ne’er-do-well and end him, bleeding him for you. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do that.” Aaron beamed even as he looked embarrassed.
“What did you do?” Jaret asked, grinning as his man’s discomfiture increased.
“Well, there were fliers everywhere about a blood drive. I thought it would be guarded or something. Turns out? They don’t guard those places.”
Unable not to, Jaret started to laugh.
“It’s not…well, okay, it is kind of funny. Drakyl at a blood bank. Anyway, it turned out to be simple. This guy in a smock brought out a trolley with these chests toward a van where I assumed he planned to store them. But as he went to open the door, someone called him back from inside the store. He went back in leaving them right there. It took only one peek to find out they were filled with blood. So, I took them. It was so easy.”
When his laughter died down, Jaret grinned up at the man above him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too. And once you�
�re well, you and I need to tell Jeffrey he’s changing.”
“He already knows.”
“Oh.”
“Let’s wait until I’m well, though, to help him change. So I can help you help him.”
“Done.”
The door opened and five teenagers, three coolers, four pizza boxes, and three six packs of soda came in.
It might be close to three in the morning, but the activity level was high. After all the blood was stacked next to his sofa, the boys spread out, munching on the pizza Aaron brought for them. Aaron lifted Jaret up and sat down, resting Jaret’s head on his lap.
It was a strange feeling to lie there, recovering from a very dangerous bout of blood poisoning, only to realize he felt like he belonged.
“Jaret, catch!”
He turned to see Will lobby a bag of blood in his direction. Aaron caught it as the boys laughed and went back to their food.
Jaret knew there were things to think about, but for now, he allowed himself to soak in the first family he had had since the change. Who knew, after centuries of chasing excitement, that he would find peace on Drakyl Ranch?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Seated in what was his new office, Aaron listened to the laughter coming from the living room. It had been a long time since that sound was heard from every member of their household. Since Jaret had arrived, so many things had changed. Most of them were definitely for the better.
Glancing at the corner of the small desk he used, he smiled at Uncle Davis’s picture. It had been taken when he was in his forties and was smiling into the camera. “You did good, Uncle,” he murmured.
His old bedroom had seemed a natural to turn into an office. Not only was the safe there, but the thought of anyone actually sleeping in this room beside Davis was an uncomfortable one. In the six weeks since he’d died, several things had changed. Not only had Jaret been hurt and recovered, but Stephan had suggested they knock down one of the walls in the basement so they could have a larger room. Just today, the mattresses had arrived. Tomorrow they would finally get to break in their new queen-sized bed. Aaron had every intention of putting it through its paces. Just one of the reasons it sat on the floor rather than on a stand—less of a chance of breaking the thing on day one.
Looking down at the piece of paper on top of the otherwise mostly empty desk top, he quickly re-read the letter. This was another change. While still over two-thirds of the information in the safe hadn’t been looked at yet, Adam, just two weeks ago, had found over one hundred pages of addresses for the greater drakyl community. It was thirty years old, but Aaron hoped at least a few of them were still owned by the same people. Writing a letter that, if read by someone unfamiliar with drakyl would not have made sense, had been interesting. How to infer, without blatantly stating, what he had become had taken him over a week of re-writes.
Of course, he started it off with the sad news of Davis’s passing. But the rest of it made it clear that the trust was still in place and that as its head, he was actually better equipped to raise the boys here. Taking on the job of fostering his five cousins had, at first, been terrifying, but over the last six weeks, that terror had left and he now knew that he needed to do this. This was, in its way, a calling.
Already, Jeffrey had gone from worry over his aches and pains and the fact the sun already felt uncomfortable on his skin, to cautiously excited for when he would fully become drakyl and work through the night rather than the day. Aaron was pleased as he never wanted anyone to go through what he had. If only they could pinpoint the gene, maybe he would try to work on a larger scale, but as it was, the only way to see if a male child had it was to catch his scent. And, as Will had joked the other day, “What are you gonna do? Walk up to the parents and say, ‘Hey, can I smell your kid?’”
Another change had been the fact that Adam had taken to cooking. It was like he had a new passion for it. Since he actually followed recipes now rather than winging it, the food looked edible enough and his cousins seemed appreciative of his efforts. Thinking about Adam made him grin. He had always been the quieter cousin, thoughtful with a wicked sense of humor when it came out, but usually happy to be the one that listened. But with Jaret, he had gone mum. Jaret thought the boy was scared of him. No. Aaron could tell his young cousin had a crush on the man he loved. It was cute. And a good thing he was young and not a drakyl. From what he’d read, his kind could become exceptionally jealous of anyone attracted to their joined.
Loud laughter burst out again and his smile grew. Conner and Will were teaching Jaret how to play backgammon and from the sounds of it, creating new rules as they went along. As Jaret caught on so fast to any game they’d taught him, it was their only way to try and stay ahead of him and win.
While he didn’t want to admit it, Aaron also felt good due to the influx of human blood into his system. The chests he’d taken from the blood drive held more sustenance than he’d expected. Not only had they enough to repair the damage done to his lover, but there had been extras that he had been unable to resist drinking from. As much as he wanted to mostly drink animal blood, he had to agree with Jaret. Human blood was so much better. Not just in taste, but in the way it kept him full of energy. Since he wasn’t prepared to kill another human, he wasn’t sure how he would get loads of their blood considering the chances of him going to town when a blood drive was going on were pretty small. But he and Jaret would find a way.
“Ready?” Jeffrey stuck his head in, his eyes brighter than normal.
“Almost. How about you?” Tonight, he and Jaret planned to try and push Jeffrey through the change.
“Yeah. I don’t know how you stood it for thirteen years, Aaron. The itchy feeling on my skin when I’m in the sun—even though it’s through material—drives me crazy and the way I feel every morning…I don’t even want to get up some days.”
“I’m glad we can help you.” And he was. Davis hadn’t told him what he was through fear. He didn’t have that fear. Aaron knew what it was like to feel like he was slowly dying. No other would go through that if he could stop it. “Let me just finish this letter so that Stephan can make copies, then we’ll be ready to go.”
“Okay.”
Once Jeffrey left, he once again looked at the letter. It would have to be good enough. While he hoped they didn’t get thirty kids at once, hopefully others would start delivering their sons to him. He and Jaret could scent the kid to see if he had the gene. If he did, Drakyl Ranch was the best place for him. And Aaron would do everything he could to make sure the parents understood that.
Standing up, he once again glanced at Davis’s picture. “Thanks, Davis. I know you didn’t quite understand it all and by the time I came along was rather scared of what I was becoming. But you gave me a safe home, a place I love, and in time, allowed me to find the right man. I hope…well, whatever happens after your death, I hope you’re happy. Maybe you’ve found a guy on the other side.” Nodding, he liked that thought, that Davis had found someone to love in his new life wherever that was.
Something Davis had said during one of their talks before he died went through his mind. “We never know what life’s gonna bring us, Aaron. All we can do is hope for and try to plan for the best. Take care of the boys and any others you bring here. And Aaron? I never thought I’d have a child and there have been a few young men who have gone through here. You are as close to a son as I ever could have asked for. Thank you.”
Tapping the top of the photo, he walked out of the room. Jaret sat on the sofa shaking his head as Conner and Will made up an even crazier rule. His eyes darted up to Aaron and warmed instantly, a look he only gave him and Aaron knew it. “Are they beating the pants off you?”
“Practically. You have a couple born shysters here.”
“Have to,” Will said with an unabashed grin. “Otherwise we’d never beat you.”
“Come on, let’s go show Jeffrey the night,” Aaron said, holding out his hand for the man he was now joined to. Jaret leap
t to his feet, his fingers sliding between Aaron’s instantly. Sharing an intimate look, he grinned. “We’ll find time once Jeffrey’s occupied tomorrow.” Being together with Jaret had not been fully available till now since the fight with the vampyr. A few blowjobs and the occasional hand job when the other five weren’t around. But now that his partner was back to full health, that would change. And it was about time. Aaron could hardly wait to be back inside him.
“Good,” Jaret said with a wink even as their cousins made gagging noises and covered their ears. Leaning in, his hot breath coasted over Aaron’s ear. “We can really break in that bed.”
“That’s the plan.” After a quick kiss, Aaron called out, “Come on, Jeffrey!”
Almost instantly, the eldest of his cousins was beside him, practically jumping up and down. Sure, he knew the kid was excited, but this looked odd. “What’s wrong?”
Will snickered. “I gave him one of those two-hour energy drinks because he was driving me nuts.”
“Great.” Aaron sighed before looking at Jaret. “Will that affect him? I mean, will this jumpy man be a permanent thing if we change him now?”
Jaret threw his head back and laughed. “You still have so much to learn, love. The extra caffeine in his system will burn off. He’ll be back to Jeffrey in no time.”
Relieved as the thought of a constantly high drakyl would be a pain in the ass, Aaron nodded at the door. “Let’s go.”
The walk up toward the north side of their property took a couple hours. He and Jaret had noticed a group of wolves had been hanging around up there over the last couple of nights after his partner had finally convinced him he was well enough and more importantly that he needed to get out and run before he climbed the walls. With plans for Jeffrey, they’d left the animals to their own devices since they hadn’t threatened the stock yet. Tonight, though, they would hopefully feed a new drakyl.
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