Then again, he wouldn’t give up Cian for anything in the world, so he’d just have to learn to deal with it. The man was always working, something always needed his attention, and of course, there
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was the constant worry that something would happen to him while he was out on assignment.
“Where are you goin’?” Cian asked when Zavion rose from the table and headed for the back door.
He needed someone to talk to, someone who would understand,
and only one name came to mind. “I’m going to see Braxton.”
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Chapter Eleven
“I don’t want a goddamn nap. I don’t want to eat. And I sure as hell don’t want some crackpot idiot in here trying to make me move this worthless fucking arm!”
“Well, he seems cheerful.”
Braxton sighed as he set a cup of coffee in front of Zavion. “Yeah, Logan’s been in there talking to him for almost an hour, and it just keeps getting worse.”
“I’m sorry, Brax. I really am.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll get through it. He’s feeling depressed and useless right now. I’m just glad he’s still alive to yell at everyone.”
“Why do you let him do it?” Zavion hadn’t intended to just jump in feet first like that, but it was the perfect opening.
Braxton snorted before taking a sip of his own coffee. “No one
lets Alexander Brighton do anything. He’s as stubborn as they come, but his heart is in the right place. Being an Enforcer, helping others, it makes him happy.”
“Yeah, but how do you stand it? I mean, don’t you worry about him?”
“This is about Cian, isn’t it?”
Zavion folded his hands together in his lap and bobbed his head. “I’m really am sorry that Xander got hurt, but yes, I’m worried about Cian. It could have just as easily have been him. I don’t know what to
do.”
“There’s nothing you can do,” Braxton said with a thoughtful expression as he set his mug back on the table. “They know the risks, and we can’t stop them. All you can do is love Cian, support him,
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hope for the best, and remind him that someone is waiting at home for
him.”
“And be prepared for them to act like they lost a limb if they get hurt,” Keeton added as he bounced into the kitchen. “Damn, Xander is going to rip Logan’s head off.” He placed his hand over his mouth to muffle his giggle. “I know it’s not funny, but they’re acting like little boys.”
“Xander kind of did lose a limb,” Braxton said quietly, not at all his usual cheerful self.
“Oh, pfft,” Keeton scoffed, smacking Braxton on the shoulder. “If he’d quit being a dick and actually do his physical therapy, he’d be fine. He’s just pouting.” His eyebrows shot up to his hairline and began to wiggle devilishly. “Maybe you should give him some incentive.”
The smile was slow to spread, but before long, Braxton was grinning like a loon. “I think that might just work.” He sprang out of his chair and hugged his friend tightly. “You’re a genius, Kee.”
Keeton huffed at his fingernails and pretended to polish them against his chest. “I know.” Once Braxton was out of the room, he turned to Zavion and pointed a finger in his face. “You, stop moping. You almost died, but you didn’t. You were almost kidnapped, but you weren’t. You have a gorgeous piece of Irish deliciousness fawning all
over you. What the hell do you have to be so Debbie Downer about?”
Well, when put that way, Zavion really didn’t have a response. “I was going to ask Cian to go on a picnic, but then he was on the phone, and well…”
“Well, nothing. No matter what he has going on, he can take half an hour to chew on a chicken bone with you.” He flapped his hands toward Zavion. “Shoo. Go get him. For the love of Christmas, I really should run this place. Things would be much less dramatic.”
Zavion did as directed, but he giggled the whole way out the door. Keeton’s name was synonymous with drama. Hell, the guy turned the most mundane tasks into life-altering events. He’d worry about
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Keeton’s slightly cockeyed views of himself later. Right then, he had a mate to seduce.
It wasn’t that far to the back door of the cabin he shared with his
friends, but excitement made him breathless. “Cian!”
It wasn’t his lover who greeted him, though. “I think he’s in the shower,” Oscar informed him around a huge yawn. “Damn, I’m exhausted. Demitrius kept me up most of the night.” His cheeks tinted pink with the confession, and his eyes rounded comically. “Sorry.”
Zavion waved him off with a chuckle. “You forget that our rooms share a wall.” His mate hadn’t been as forthcoming with the physical love since Zavion had fallen ill, though. Something he hoped to rectify in the next few minutes. “You might want to turn the television on,” he warned Oscar as he started toward the bathroom. “Loudly.”
* * * *
Cian pounded his fist against the shower wall and grunted as the hot water fell over his back. When was it going to stop? Just when they finally got one thing settled, a dozen more problems cropped up.
Thankfully, the other patients Zavion mentioned had been rescued from The Hive, but they were still being held in Tennessee. They’d been taken to the nearest pack for medical treatment and held there for questioning. According to Flynn, they would be arriving in Haven at the end of the week.
While good news, it did raise more concerns. Would the new residents have those tracking chips? Would they be poisoned? Would more Drones follow them to Wyoming? Gods, the list never ended. Then there was the little problem of actually removing the microchips.
Destin was quick to say that there was no way for him to remove the little tracking devices. However, he had an idea of how to disable and dissolve them. As Cian’s bad luck would have it, the method
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Destin outlined would undoubtedly cause Zavion more pain and suffering. He just couldn’t catch a fucking break.
“What did that wall ever do to you?” Gloriously naked and so beautiful that it made Cian’s chest ache, Zavion stepped into the shower in front of him and moaned as the spray of water pelted against his shoulders. “Why so grumpy?”
With his mate’s scent permeating the air around him and all that smooth, delectable skin on display, he really couldn’t remember why he’d been in a bad mood. He could barely remember his own name.
Grabbing Zavion around the back of his thighs, Cian lifted him easily, pinning his back to the wall under the showerhead. “I forget, but I’m feelin’ much better now.” His lips traveled up the curve of Zavion’s neck, and he swirled his tongue into the hollow indention just behind his ear.
With all the chaos going on, he hadn’t really had time to pay
proper attention to his lover. Plus, there was a part of him that felt guilty when the thought did flicker through his mind. Zavion had died for all intents and purposes. He’d suffered more than anyone should. While he’d passed his physical with flying colors two days before, Cian couldn’t just erase everything that had happened from his
memory.
“I’ve missed you,” Zavion whispered against his cheek. “Even when you’re right beside me, you’re a million miles away.”
It was true and only added to his feelings of guilt. Even at night, when he was holding the man in his arms, his mind raced with things that had happened and things that would come. There hadn’t been much left over for one-on-one time, and if he was being honest, he tried to avoid talking about the time when Zavion had been sick.
Nothing could make him forget that feeling of heart-wrenching despair, but he never wanted to speak of it again.
“What do you want, little fox? Anything, I’ll give ya anything.”
“I just want you to love me,” Zavion responded breathlessly as he rocked his hip
s, gliding his hard cock along Cian’s abs.
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“Ah, but I do love you. Ya know this.” He kissed back down Zavion’s throat and across his collarbones. Anchoring his mate to the tiles with his larger body, he slid one hand over the outside of Zavion’s thigh in a sensual caress, loving the shivers it elicited from his lover.
His touch was easy and gentle, barely a fluttering of his fingertips,as he smoothed over Zavion’s soft hip, up his side, and around to his curved spine. The muscles in Zavion’s back flexed and rippled as he continued to rock his hips. Moans of need and grunts of frustration mingled as they rolled from his plump lips, and his fingers scrambled for purchase against Cian’s wet, slippery shoulders.
“Please, Cian. It’s been forever.”
In actuality, it had been barely two weeks, but Cian understood. He felt the same clawing desire as it burned through him like wildfire. His swollen cock pulsed rhythmically with each beat of his heart, and the friction caused by Zavion’s movements was making his head reel.
Shoving at his chest in clear irritation, Zavion reached between them and fisted Cian’s dick in a firm grasp. “If this isn’t in my ass in the next three minutes, I’ll…I’ll…”
“You’ll do what, exactly?” Cian teased, though he was fighting
back a moan. “You’ll stutter at me?”
“Cian Murphy,” Zavion snapped at him. “You fuck me good and proper right now, or I’ll find someone else who will.”
A loud growl, though human in nature, rumbled through his chest, and Cian tangled his fingers in Zavion’s hair, pulling his head back on his shoulders as his lover gasped. “Is that so?” Cian considered himself fairly easygoing, but the thought of his mate in another’s arms was enough to make him see red. “And are ya already havin’ someone in mind, Zavion?”
“Nope.” A wickedly sexy grin curled his lips while his eyes
flashed with desire. “I got your attention, though.”
“Ya little shit. You’ll be the death of me, ya will.”
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In his heart, he knew Zavion would never betray him, but some primal part of him still needed to prove he was more than enough for his little fox. His muscles quivered, his hands shook, and his mouth watered as he fought back the beast inside him that wanted to mark Zavion, to claim him as taken for all to see.
“Nope,” Zavion repeated, “but I will keep you on your toes.” He wiggled his hips and tugged on Cian’s neck until he relented and bent his head for a deep, penetrating kiss.
As the intensity of the kiss escalated, so did Cian’s hunger for his mate. His beast pawed at him, demanding to know what the hell he thought he was waiting for. The water from the showerhead rained down over them, making Zavion’ s golden hair appear darker where it curled in disarray around his delicate cheeks. Beads of moisture rolled along his straining muscles, glistening in the overhead light so that his creamy skin appeared to glow with ethereal beauty.
When he jerked away to gasp for breath, his eyes rounded with a mixture of lust and panic. “What’s happening to me?” The usual blue of his irises had completely bled away, replaced by the deep amber color of his fox. Pointed canines elongated just slightly, peeking below his kiss-swollen upper lip. “Cian? What’s wrong? I can’t stop it. Why am I shifting?”
“Nothin’ is wrong, a ghrá.” Indeed, Zavion was the most breathtaking creature he’d ever seen. “Don’t be afraid. It’s not a real shift, just your eyes and canines. Follow your instincts.”
Keeping eye contact with his mate in hopes that it would calm him, Cian reached to the top shelf in the corner, curling his fingers around the small bottle of waterproof lubricant. Sharing a bathroom with another horny couple did have its perks. Slicking his fingers generously, he reached under Zavion’s thigh to ring the fluttering muscles of his entrance.
Since it had been so long since their last sexual foray, he took great care in stretching his lover with methodical, unhurried movements. By the time he had three fingers easily sliding into
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Zavion’s tight channel, they were both vibrating with pent-up desire while an erotic symphony of moans and unintelligible words spilled from Zavion’s mouth.
Gripping his length as the base, Cian pressed the spongy crown against Zavion’s opening, released his held breath, and surged forward, encasing himself in the silky heat of his lover’s body. When he was balls-deep, his groin flush against his mate’s pert bottom, he paused with a quiet groan as he fought the overwhelming need to thrust hard and fast.
The wanton moans and the way Zavion squirmed on his cock did
nothing to help his perilous grip on self-control. When a miniaturesized growl interrupted his internal contemplation of things like football, fluffy puppies, and intergalactic alliances—none of which were helping to tame his lust—his full focus zeroed in on the man in his arms and the tight suction around his shaft.
Grabbing a handful of Cian’s hair, Zavion reared up as though going for a savage kiss but buried his face in the crook of Cian’s neck instead. The pinch of pain lasted only a second before unmitigated warmth and pleasure invaded him, beginning where Zavion’s canines were embedded in his skin.
His hips jerked, rational thought ceased to exist, and Cian drove into his lover’s body with deep, forceful plunges. The rhythmic sound of skin slapping against wet skin echoed through the shower stall, bouncing off the tiles and back to his ears, fueling his rampant desire. His pulse raced, his abs clenched, and his gums ached as his own canines lengthened.
The sounds, the scents, and the sight of ecstasy on Zavion’s face
as he rose and fell, meeting each snap of Cian’s hips with enthusiasm, all combined until the last frayed rope of resistance finally unraveled. Fisting Zavion’s bouncing cock, he pumped in tempo with his thrusts as he lunged forward, sinking his new, temporary fangs into the meaty part of his mate’s shoulder.
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Time stood still, noise was muted, and his vision dimmed as tiny explosions ignited down his spine in a chain reaction. The scorching wetness of Zavion’s release splashed against his stomach as the shifter groaned and clung to him.
Following instinct rather than any form of thought, Cian extracted his canines, sheathed himself to the root, and shuddered violently as
his cock detonated, spilling copious amounts of semen into Zavion’s
moist depths.
They’d already been through so much together, and with or without the mating mark, Zavion would always be his. With the exchange of blood, their lives were intertwined, their souls wound tightly together.
“Holy hell,” Zavion panted, doing a little shuddering of his own as though he’d gotten a sudden chill. “That was amazing.” His eyelids cracked open, and he smiled deviously up at Cian. “Let’s do it again.”
Zavion’s lust, love, happiness, and every other emotion he was feeling were pushed at Cian, and it ricocheted throughout him, spreading warmth to every part of his body. There would probably be days when that particular part of their bond was more of a curse than a blessing, but Cian still wouldn’t trade that connection to his mate for all the gold in the world.
“You love me,” Zavion said with awed conviction. “I know you already said it, and I believed you, but I can feel it. I can feel what you’re feeling.”
“Is it weird?”
“No.” Zavion shook his head. “I like it. We shouldn’t have
secrets.” Then his eyes flashed with mischief, and he pulled himself up to press his lips to Cian’s ear. “What am I feeling right now?”
Cian’s cock began to swell once again as Zavion’s lust penetrated him and fueled his own desires. Oh, yes, his sly mate was going to be
the death of him, but he’d go smiling all the way to the grave.
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Chapter Twelve
“Is it going to hurt? I just know it’s going to hurt. Why doe
s it always have to hurt?”
“Destin says you’ll be asleep the whole time. Try not to worry so much.”
Zavion wasn’t much appeased by Cian’s reassurance. Asleep or not, Dr. Woods was going to slice into his neck and poison him with liquid silver. Okay, so maybe it wouldn’t technically poison him like the last time, but he wasn’t looking forward to it, either.
No matter what Cian said, the guy was just as worried. Zavion could tell by the tight expression on his face and the tense set of his shoulders. He was only being brave for Zavion’s benefit. It was probably a good thing, because he was doing enough freaking out for both of them.
“We can go fishing after this, right? We can have that picnic? I really don’t know why we need to do this at all.” He was babbling, but he couldn’t stop. “I mean, The Hive is shut down, yeah? No one will be coming after us. They don’t have any equipment to track us anymore. Yeah, this is silly. We really don’t need to do it.”
“Zavion?”
“Yes?”
“Stop talking.”
“Okay.”
He was well aware that some of the staff from the lab had escaped the raid, but he’d specifically chosen to overlook that little detail. Who could blame him, though? They were going to fry his insides.
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Destin was going to drop silver into an open wound, and Zavion’s flesh would sizzle like fatback bacon on the griddle.
And it was going to freaking hurt.
“Are we going to Cloud Peak? Everyone there is pretty nice. The wolves look at me funny, but not in a bad way. Well, I hope it’s not bad. I really wouldn’t want to make an enemy of a pack of wolves, ya know?”
“Zavion?”
Evans, Gabrielle - From This Moment [The Moonlight Breed 7] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 9