Liminality: Gay Shifter Vampire Romance (Kingdom of Night Book 2)

by L. C. Davis

  The sensation was as confusing as it was pleasurable, especially when Victor released my shaft to press in on the tender flesh of my scrotum. I cried out as he pressed against the rod and pleasure surged through my prostate.

  Brendan chuckled, still stroking my hair. “I'm not sure he needs that much comfort, Sir.”

  “No,” Victor agreed, his eyes twinkling with amusement as he stroked me. “How does that feel, pup?”

  “Good,” I admitted sheepishly, short on words at the moment. With the rod in place, everything was heightened, from Victor's touch to the sensation of fullness. “What is it, Sir?”

  “It's called sounding,” he said, tilting his head. “Have you really never even heard of this?”

  I shook my head. “No, Master.”

  Victor and Brendan exchanged a look. “Texas,” they muttered in unison.

  Victor's head disappeared between my spread legs and I could see that the rod had disappeared inside of me completely save for the flat metal head that kept it from disappearing inside me. He took me in his mouth and the moment his tongue touched my shaft, I started seeing stars.

  “Is he always this responsive?”

  “You have no idea,” Victor said, looking up. I whimpered in protest. All I wanted was for him to keep going but I didn't have the presence of mind to beg, even if I was allowed to. “Take over for me.”

  “What?” The word flew out of my mouth before I could stop it, but Victor ignored me as he traded places with Brendan.

  “Hands and mouth only,” warned Victor as he touched my forehead. “He comes only when I say.”

  “You're the boss, Sir,” said Brendan, placing a kiss on my inner thigh. He looked up at me with a mischievous wink before he took the tip of my dick into his mouth, somehow managing to suck me off without dislodging the sound.

  Clearly he'd had practice. Suddenly I could understand why giving oral was Victor's go-to punishment for Brendan. At least our impromptu session, as strange as it was, seemed to have distracted him from his earlier turmoil.

  I was almost drawn back to reality until Brendan, as if reading my mind, slipped a finger inside of me to pull me back. Despite being slightly torn during Victor's aggressive lovemaking the other night, I was still tight and the invasion was still far more painful than the rod had been. Healing almost instantly had to have a downside, I guess.

  Brendan's fingers found my prostate and teased me with release that seemed impossible with the rod locked inside of me, all the while stroking and sucking and fondling my dick so enthusiastically that it made me wonder if this was more of a reward than a punishment to him.

  I should have known something was wrong when Victor kissed me softly and put his hand on my forehead, but I was buried too deeply in my own bliss to care. At least until I felt him enter my mind.

  The invasion was far more intimate and forceful than anything he had done to my body and I resisted it as fury overtook me on the brink of orgasm. This time I cried out in instinctual rage, forgetting my earlier agreement with Victor. I could feel him shifting past my carefully constructed walls and my mind wanted him out, even if my body belonged to him entirely.

  “Brendan,” Victor called from somewhere, but it was impossible to say if the words came from inside my mind or reality. “Now.”

  Brendan pulled the sound out and thrust another finger deep inside me, distracting me from one type of pain with another. Pleasure mingled with agony and I gritted my teeth together so hard it felt like they were going to break. A low growl I'd never heard before escaped my throat and, for a moment, I wanted nothing more than to rip into the nearest person's throat. Rage was making it impossible to remember that I happened to love the only two people who were close.

  “Should I stop?” Brendan's voice was worried.

  “No, it's fine. This is what happens when you use force to break past a vampire's defenses. Remus.” Victor's voice called me back to myself, at least partially.

  His hands hovered over either side of my head and his thumbs brushed my temples. “Look me in the eye,” he said, his voice taking on a familiar hypnotic quality. A warm, tingling feeling began to spread out from my chest all the way to my extremities. It felt like the polar opposite of desiccation.

  “Listen to me carefully and nod if you can understand me.”

  I nodded, suddenly calm.

  “Good. You are no longer able to leave the Lodge. Any attempt you make to leave through a door, window or any other opening will be met with a thick, invisible wall that makes it physically impossible for you to leave. Should you resist further, you will be rendered unconscious. You will be able to leave only with a guardian authorized by myself or your father, and only if that guardian is operating on free will. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.” It was all perfectly reasonable. How could I not?

  “Repeat after me. It is impossible for me to leave the Lodge without the supervision of a guardian.”

  “It is impossible for me to leave the Lodge without the supervision of a guardian,” I echoed.

  “Good. Now repeat this. I will not use any form of mind control on anyone within the Lodge without express permission from my mate.”

  I echoed that as well, but all I wanted was for there to be less talking and more of whatever Brendan was doing with his tongue.

  “Alright,” said Victor. It didn't register at first that he wasn't speaking to me. “Let him finish.”

  My confusion lasted only a moment before Brendan's fingers ground into my spot and he alternated between sucking my dick like he was trying to win an award and stroking it with his long tongue. The orgasm that had been suppressed by the sound for so long surged through me and my body convulsed on the table like someone had put a defibrillator to my chest.

  I collapsed, panting as Brendan eagerly lapped up the result of his torture without having to be asked this time.

  Victor watched me with tired eyes. The reason for our session was coming back to me and it was obvious that whatever he had done inside my mind had taken more of a toll on him than me.

  “I'm not sure whether I should be jealous or just relieved that it worked.”

  “Nah, he just freaked out because of the sound,” said Brendan, patting my leg. He was back to his usual self. “He would've reacted the same if it was you...Sir.”

  “Your mollification is appreciated,” Victor sneered.

  “My what?”

  “Never mind.” He glanced down, eying the bulge in Brendan's jeans. “Well, I can't send you upstairs like that.”

  Brendan laughed nervously. “I can grab a cold shower.”

  “You must have been coming in here for a reason,” said Victor, walking towards him.

  Brendan took a step back until he backed into Victor's cabinet. His face was red again but I was too spent to come to his rescue. Not that the hulking wolf couldn't have taken care of himself if he wanted to.

  “Yeah, I uh, you know,” he babbled aimlessly as Victor undid his belt and then his jeans. Without ceremony, Victor grabbed his subordinate's erect shaft and started stroking him off.

  Brendan's half-hearted reluctance faded into a glazed look as he relaxed against the cabinets. Victor leaned over him and for a moment, Brendan seemed to panic in anticipation of a kiss—which I guess would have been too intimate of a gesture, even for wolves who were obviously no stranger to sexual contact with each other.

  Instead, Victor leaned in and nipped his neck. I could tell it was a nip and not a kiss from the way Brendan yelped like a startled pup.

  Victor drew an arm around his waist and pressed him against the counter. “You can take your punishment like a man or I can tie you up like the whimpering pup you're acting like right now.”

  “You already punished me,” he protested.

  Victor laughed darkly. “That was for taking pleasure from my mate. This is for giving him your blood,” he said, running the tip of his tongue along Brendan's jugular. “It's only fair that I should have some, too
.”

  Brendan shuddered, but there was a glassy look in his eyes and he made no further move to protest. “Victor,” I began once I realized that he had put the other wolf into a trance.

  “Not a word out of you,” he growled.

  I watched in silence as Victor slipped a knife from his pocket and made a thin incision on Brendan's neck. The wolf didn't seem to feel the cut, but he groaned when Victor started drinking from it. The trance seemed to have broken, either because Victor let it or because he didn't have enough strength left to keep it up after what he'd done to me.

  Victor placed the knife down and started stroking him off in consolation as he tasted his packmate's blood. Brendan jerked at first, startled by the touch, but he soon relaxed and his hands tangled in Victor's hair.

  I felt no small amount of guilt over the fact that the sight was more intriguing than unsettling. Experiencing Victor's dominance was one thing, but seeing it in action was another.

  Brendan came not long after Victor had finished drinking. He had already been on the brink. Victor took out a handkerchief and held it to the wolf's neck, cleaning him up with a contradictory tenderness only he was capable of.

  He zipped the younger wolf's jeans and helped him to his feet, leaning in to whisper something in his ear. Brendan nodded, dazed as Victor led him over to the door.

  “I'm taking him upstairs,” Victor said, glancing at me with amusement dancing in the same eyes that had been full of jealousy and vindictiveness only moments ago. “Don't go anywhere.”

  I stared at him, too stunned by the display I'd just seen to answer. He didn't seem to mind my lack of reply as he left the room to take care of Brendan and left me alone with my thoughts, humiliated and bound.

  There was so much that had happened that night that I was struggling to process, but there was one thing I now understood with crystal clarity. The other wolves weren't just wary of Victor because he was a lone wolf. They were wary of him because he acted like a vampire.

  13

  By the time I woke up the next day, Victor was gone. I guess even a vampire would crash after a night like the one before. I dressed quickly and ran down the stairs only to collide with Victor near the landing.

  “I thought I felt you awake. Planning another escape?” he asked wryly.

  “I wanted to see if Maverick was awake yet,” I said. “You shouldn't have let me sleep so late.”

  “Hey, you get little enough as it is, I wasn't about to rob you of an extra couple of hours,” he said, his gentle self once again. “Maverick is awake and Clara says he's fine, just a bit shaken. Brendan has been with him for awhile and the two of them have explained as much of the situation as he needs to hear at the moment.”

  “He knows his master is dead?” I asked worriedly.

  “Yes.” Victor's tone changed. “He's understandably taking it pretty hard. Steven Hall may have been an abusive waste of air, but the control he wielded over Maverick was all-encompassing.”

  “He said they were in a total power exchange relationship or something.”

  “Yes,” Victor admitted, sighing. “Unfortunately, that's a label Steven co-opted as a cover for his abuse, but the truth of the matter is, he was no different from any other coward who beats a weaker partner and makes excuses for it.”

  “Yeah,” I said quietly. His words hit closer to home than I wanted to admit, even then. “Does he know Brendan is the one who killed Steven?”

  “He does, but as to whether they've talked about it I couldn't tell you. He's obviously decided not to mention anything about the mate situation, so keep that in mind when you go in there.”

  “I will,” I promised, hesitating. “Are things going to be weird after last night?”

  He looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

  “You know, after Brendan...joined us.”

  “Oh,” he said, chuckling. “No, don't worry about that.”

  Maybe it was par for the course in the Lodge.

  “Can I see Mav?”

  “Of course. He asked for you earlier, but first I need to test the psychic barrier,” he said.

  “This is going to involve another table, is it?” I asked warily, following him.

  “No, but you might black out. It's only way to make sure you're really safe,” he said, opening the front door. “I'm not giving you permission to leave,” he said pointedly.

  I rolled my eyes and tried to walk through the door. As I feared, it was like walking into a wall with just enough give to send me staggering back into the room. “Okay, it works.”

  “Persistence is a virtue,” he said vaguely, trying not to grant me permission by accident.

  I sighed and braced myself as I walked forward again, fighting back against the force bubble keeping me inside the Lodge. It was hard to resist the urge to back away, but I knew he wouldn't feel safe leaving me unattended until he knew it had worked. The resistance wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable enough to fight through that I was close to giving in when my mind shut down like a computer that had been unplugged from the wall. My vision stayed on for a second and I felt strong arms catch me from behind before everything went blank.

  What couldn't have possibly been more than a few seconds passed before I came to. Victor was holding me upright, smiling. “Sorry, love. Had to be sure.”

  “I'm starting to hate those words,” I groaned. Then again, at least he was doing this for my own safety, not experimenting with my emotions by convincing me that I'd killed my friend for his own peace of mind. Victor made sure I could stand on my own before he released me and shut the front door.

  “Well, the good news is you're free to roam again. Between this and the link between us, it's safe.”

  “By link you mean mate radar,” I teased, leaning up to kiss him. It was impossible to be awkward around him when I hardly recognized him as the same man from the night before. “Will I see you again before tonight?”

  “It's unlikely,” he said, returning the kiss. “I'm talking with Ulric and we'll both be on the phone with pack leaders for most of the day. You'll be happy to know Hunter has a meeting with Ulric and he's promised to deliver a verdict on the ritual,” he sighed. “I could ask if you can sit in, if you want.”

  I was touched that he was willing to let me, as strongly opposed to my involvement in the ritual as he was, but I shook my head. “No. I meant what I said before. You're my mate, and I'll do whatever you think is best.”

  He looked at me like I had sprouted a third eye in the middle of my forehead, but he soon regained his composure. “I see. Thank you for that,” he murmured, leaning down for a softer kiss.

  When he pulled away, my head was spinning in the most delightful way. “Have a good day, love.”

  “You too,” I said wistfully. It dawned on me then that after all we'd been through, I still had a crush on Victor. And why shouldn't I trust his judgment? He wasn't Jeff, as he'd proven time and time again. Even when he had me at his complete mercy, he never took advantage of it. He wasn't cruel like Sebastian, even at his worst. If anything, he was the very antithesis of them both. It was time to stop punishing him for the mistakes of my past lovers.

  When Victor headed up the stairs, I turned towards the infirmary and my starstruck infatuation faded into sadness. I opened the door and, as expected, Maverick wasn't in the front room.

  A rather exhausted looking Clara was at her desk arranging some supplies. She looked up when I entered the room and gave me a tired smile. “Hey, your friend has been asking for you. Before you ask, he's doing well, at least as far as the physical is concerned.”

  “I can't thank you enough for taking care of him,” I said sincerely, watching her. There were dark circles behind her thick black glasses and she looked like she'd lost weight she didn't have to lose.

  “It's what I do, no need to thank me,” she said, waving it off before she went back to her organizing.

  “Have you slept or eaten anything in the past twenty-four hours?” I asked, wo
rried.

  She hesitated. “It's been a crazy week.”

  “That's an understatement,” I agreed. “Look, Maverick is okay and so is everyone else, for now. Why don't you go get some rest so you're fresh in case something does happen? I was planning on spending the day with Mav anyway if he'll let me, and I know Brendan isn't leaving his side so it's not like he'd be alone.”

  “Aren't you supposed to be with an escort?” she asked warily.

  “I volunteered for the new cerebral security system,” I said, tapping my head. “Call Victor, he'll confirm it. I'm my own electric fence now.”

  “I may do that,” she said, considering it for a moment. “It would be nice to take a hot shower and maybe sleep for a bit. Are you sure you don't mind?”

  “Definitely. We'd all be lost without you, Clara,” I said, remembering Clarence's words. Clara was everything I was supposed to be for the pack. Gentle, encouraging, always giving of herself without tripping everyone else up in the process. “You have to take care of yourself.”

  She gave me a small smile and stood, smoothing out her wrinkled skirt. “Thank you. You have my cell phone, don't you?”

  “Yeah, I'll call if anything goes wrong,” I promised.

  “Except maybe if something goes wrong with Foster. He's a bit of a hypochondriac and he comes in here at least twice a day with an 'emergency,'” she said, sighing. “Just do what I do. Go on WebDoc and show him proof that whatever he's experiencing isn't some horrible tropical illness.”

  “Got it. And these?” I asked, gesturing to her files.

  “I'm just sorting them alphabetically. They go on that rack over there, and then I was going to change the linens on all the cots, but you don't need to do any of that.”

  “I'll do it,” I said immediately. “I've used the laundry room before, it's no trouble.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I pushed her gently towards the door. “Go, we'll be fine. Get some rest and eat something, but not necessarily in that order.”