by Flynn Eire
“So you see me as Rune, not Rune the victim of fucked up shit?” There was such hope in his eyes I knew which answer his wanted… But this wasn’t one I could lie about even if my response was the second option.
My choice was neither. “I see you as Rune, my man, who has my heart.” I pulled him closer and kissed him gently. “And because I don’t have to treat you with some previously-abused filter on or something, I’m going to tell you that you hurt me by sneaking out of bed. I thought what we shared didn’t matter to you as it did to me. Then all I get is a note about my computer, oh, and I find young and younger flirting with you again.”
“Wally and Mark?”
“Yes, Wally and Mark,” I mocked, sounding about five as I said their names.
“You’re jealous,” he purred, looking pleased as could be. “Helios, you have no reason to be.”
“Oh, don’t I?” Now I was back to having my feathers ruffled… Because I was very rarely wrong about these things. I let him go and stormed over to the doors back to the cafeteria, yanking one open and sticking my head inside. “Mark! Wally! Get your asses out here now.” Then I went back over to Rune. “If I’m right, you never leave my bed again without so much as a good morning kiss or a nice note.”
“Okay,” he agreed, biting back a smile. The two post-trans came rushing out moments later, glancing between the two of us.
So did Matteo, but I ignored him.
“How many times have you fantasized about my man?” I demanded.
“What? None,” Wally blanched, lying through his teeth. Mark was smarter and didn’t open his mouth.
“Helios,” Matteo warned but I flicked him off.
Instead I focused on Wally and used my gift. “Tell me how many times you’ve fantasized about Rune.”
“Too many to count,” he murmured, dazed as he glanced at Rune. “He’s so pretty and sweet. I want to take him to my bed and fuck him every night, all night.”
“Oh,” Rune breathed, his eyes going wide.
“He’s mine,” I snarled, my fangs coming out. Then I turned on Rune, seeing he was hard in his shorts. I cupped his cock and stared into his eyes. “If I get two for two, I will take that offered blow job after breakfast, love.”
He bobbed his head and licked his lips, glancing at Mark. “Okay.”
I spun back around and grabbed Mark’s shoulder, shocking him enough to make him look at me. “How many times have you fantasized about my man?”
“Since I met him when I was a pre-trans,” he slurred, my gift affecting him more than Wally. “But I’m not into S/M and everyone says he is. I couldn’t ever hurt Rune. He’s too nice. I jack off all the time to me riding him or him screwing me in the showers. I do want to tie him to my bed and pound into his ass all night and—”
“Enough,” I snarled. “I didn’t ask for details.”
“Let him finish,” Matteo seethed. “Serves you right for breaking the rules of the camp. No using our gifts on each other.”
“Oh shut it,” I snapped. “You use your gift on everyone.”
“I can’t turn mine off,” he argued. “I also don’t tell anyone. If I did, I’d be a bitch right now like you’re being and tell Rune how you feel about him.”
“You can see that?” Rune hedged, glancing between us. “How do I feel about Helios?”
Matteo’s eyebrows shot up as he opened and closed his mouth. “Rune, you know how you feel about him.”
“No, he probably doesn’t,” I murmured as I pulled back my gift from Mark.
“He’s not your man,” Mark muttered, the effects still with him since it took a bit to dissipate like a drug. “There’s still a chance for the rest of us with Rune. You’ve not mated or even offered. If he was really yours, you’d have offered.”
“Yeah, why haven’t you asked him to mate?” Wally challenged, rubbing his arms and shaking his head. My gift—like a drug or alcohol—could be disorienting for someone to come out of the first time if they weren’t used to the influence of vampire gifts.
“Right, absolutely. I should ask the moment he’s given me a second chance,” I drawled, rolling my eyes at them. “No pressure, please forgive me, and by the way, I want you for eternity, Rune. Great idea. Get lost.”
They didn’t even hesitate, Wally helping Mark away from the chance of getting nailed for anything else.
“You want to mate me?” Rune whispered so quietly I barely heard him.
I slowly turned to him, horrified I’d just admitted it like that.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Matteo muttered.
“Wait, no, please tell me,” Rune begged as he moved towards his friend and grabbed his arm. “Helios knows I don’t understand most emotions. They confuse me, and with the way I was raised…” he trailed off and ducked his head.
“Oh, shit, I didn’t even think of that,” Matteo hissed and hugged Rune. “Right, how would you know what any of the good stuff is?” He lowered his voice to what he assumed a vampire couldn’t hear.
But I wasn’t a normal vampire or even warrior. I was Wyrok. I could hear a bee flap its wings from miles away if I wanted to and focused. I was thousands and thousands of years old, and while we never told anyone just how old we were, we were really damn old. And the reason we didn’t tell was so people never really knew how powerful we were. It came in handy… For moments like these.
“It’s different now because you’re confused,” Matteo explained. “But earlier, when he was declaring you were his, touching you intimately, your colors were vibrant, which is the good range of them. You were red and blue. You love him, Rune. I can’t tell you if you’re in love with him, though I would think you’re on your way to being there from the amount of red versus blue, but it’s not an exact art or line that tells me.”
“Do I have the same ratio of red to blue as say Dimitri and Alexander?” Rune asked and I couldn’t help but smile. I loved the way his brain worked.
Matteo’s eyes filled with understanding. “No, not as much as them.” But he smiled when Rune frowned. “Helios’s ratio is more red to blue when he looks at or touches you. More than yours even.” Rune pulled away so fast and looked back at me, I heard something pop in his back. Matteo cleared his throat and let his voice go to his normal volume. “I’m gonna go now.”
“Thanks, Matteo.” I nodded to the man, letting him see in my eyes I’d heard every word. He didn’t hide his shock well but still left us.
“Do you really want to mate me?” Rune whispered as he stepped towards me.
“When you’re ready. When we are, yes,” I hedged, searching his eyes.
He nodded and slid his fingers in the waistband of my shorts. Another perk of staying here was the uniform. No more stuffy suits of being at the Wyrok headquarters. I loved being back to workout shorts, sleeveless shirts, and sneakers.
“You’re okay with that?”
“When we’re ready. Yes.” He stared into my eyes before glancing at the cafeteria windows and then looked back at me. “I’m going to get on my knees now and suck my man’s cock for anyone watching to see so they know I’m taken and that I’m yours. And you’re going to let me because I want to please you because you’re mine too, and unless you object to me blowing you, it’s what I want right now.”
“No,” I said at a higher octave than normal. I cleared my throat and tried again. “No objection, love. You go right ahead. I think it’s a wonderful plan.”
He smiled at me as he dropped to his knees, pulling my shorts down as he did. My leaking cock slapped up against my stomach and his eyes went wide. “I knew you’d be monstrous. I don’t ever want to go back to crazy pain again, but you’ll fuck me silly and we’ll have rough sex with your huge cock soon, right?”
“Oh yeah, love,” I rasped, shivering at the images even as I ran my fingers through his soft hair and took out the tie holding it back. “Oh, love, I will fuck you so good until you can’t walk as soon as you’re ready.”
Rune smiled as he leane
d in and licked up the length of my twelve-inch cock, moaning at the taste of me. “Tonight maybe we should start easy though. I was dreaming last night about changing up what we did in your bed. You sitting up and me riding you. Would you do that for me tonight? Let me ride you and love on me like that?”
“Oh fuck, Rune,” I moaned as he sucked the head of my cock and stared up at me with hope in his pretty violet eyes. “Yeah, love. I’d do that for us. It would be my sincere pleasure. Can I rim you first?”
He popped off my cock with a naughty smirk and then gave me a lick before answering. “Maybe. I hear men show up to dates with gifts sometimes. I’ve never had that. I think it depends on how you wine me and dine me first.”
“Consider yourself notified of my full-court press,” I growled as I guided his head back to my dick. He chuckled as he swallowed as much of me as he could. I groaned softly as he bobbed his head.
Then Rune started humming and I just about lost my fucking mind. It took all the restraint I had not to fuck his wondrous mouth. It was the best blow job I’d ever gotten and I blew faster than I could ever remember. My man swallowed down everything I had to give him, moaning at the taste of me.
When it was over, I yanked him to his feet and kissed him silly, thanking him as I held him to me. Then we went inside for breakfast, my arm around his shoulders. I smiled proudly at all the people whispering and staring.
Let them. I had everything I wanted right next to me.
8
“Seriously, Helios, where are we going?” Rune asked me again from the passenger seat. I chuckled and rubbed his thigh.
“Do you really want me to spoil the surprise?”
“No,” he sighed, slumping down slightly. How could a grown man be so sexy when he pouted? I had picked him up after work with one of the camp’s trucks and he’d given me a funny look when we hadn’t headed off-site but deeper into the camp instead.
Yeah, I liked to keep him guessing. It was a weird first date I had planned, but one I had a feeling he’d enjoy. When we pulled up to the site, he glanced at me funny because we weren’t alone. Alexander, Dimitri, Matteo, and Nate were all there waiting for us.
“What are you up to?”
“Lots, love,” I snickered as I threw the truck into park. “I’m always up to lots of things.” I hopped out before he could ask me anything else and grabbed the gear I’d stowed in the bed of the truck. Then I met Rune around front and we caught up to his friends.
Well, my friends now too I hoped.
“So, I know you were probably expecting flowers and dinner, but I’m not really a flowers and dinner kind of guy, and well, to me, you’re too special for something so typical,” I explained as I set the cooler and bag down. Then I pulled out the heavy leather casings I had tucked under my arm, gently dropping one to the ground first, and held the other in my hands for him to see. “So consider this my flowers.”
“It’s for me?” He glanced from it to my face, smiling when I nodded. Then he slowly flipped back the leather and gasped as one of the finest swords I’d ever seen crafted was revealed.
“There’s no way you had that done today,” Dimitri hedged as he came closer, peering at the blade. “You told us Rune agreed to this after your talk in the cafeteria this morning. We don’t have a swordsmith at this camp.”
“No, you don’t,” I agreed. “I called ours at Wyrok headquarters weeks ago when Rune decided to finish the training he wasn’t afforded and had it designed to his specifications.”
Rune looked at me from under his long lashes as his fingers ran over the hilt of the sword. “Specifications?”
“Your height, weight, arm length, hand size,” I explained. “It’s custom tailored to you from what I remembered of you. We can have it altered if the balance or grip is off.” He didn’t pick it up still, only staring at it. “You don’t like it.”
“Helios, I love it,” he breathed, blinking up at me. “I just don’t want to look like a tool and pick it up the wrong way or drop it. It’s magnificent. I can’t believe you did this for me before we even got back together.”
“I was never going to stop trying to win you back,” I admitted, hating how much that made me sound like a stalker again. “I hoped I’d wear you down eventually.” I glanced at Alexander and nodded to Rune, asking him for help. He smiled at me and moved next to my man.
“Place the heel of your hand here, and wrap your fingers around it, then lift and support the weight with your other hand,” he explained patiently, showing him without touching. He was good like that, wanting Rune to be the first to touch his own sword. “No one here will judge you, my friend. We’ve all dropped many swords learning to use them.”
“Oh shit have we ever,” Matteo snickered. “I nicked my own foot once when I was a post-trans trying to learn on my own without anyone knowing. I was so behind everyone else that I hated how they looked at me like I was a loser so I wanted to figure some things out on my own. I was limping that day, believe you me.”
Rune relaxed then, realizing he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t had the easiest time or went through learning new things. I watched him smile and lift the sword, twisting his wrists so he moved it around and watched the sun catch it. “How do I know if the weight is right?” He looked to me and I winced.
“I’m not the right person to answer that. That’s why I asked your friends to join us tonight,” I elaborated as I dropped the leather. I knelt down and opened the other one, grabbing my own sword easily, as if it was another limb I didn’t always have. “I’m old, Rune. I mean old. I’ve known how to use a sword longer than all of you have been alive combined. I wouldn’t remember how to teach someone to use one if I tried and I have been thinking how to do it and I just can’t.”
“Yeah right,” Nate scoffed, rolling his eyes. “I know you’re big, bad Wyrok and all, but Alexander is like the finest warrior ever. Matteo and Dimitri say no one has ever beat him.”
“Mate, shut it,” Matteo hissed. “He’s Wyrok.”
“Seeing is believing,” I purred, nodding to Alexander. “We can spar without the challenge. You’re not my type and I don’t want your position.”
“I am not so prideful that I cannot acknowledge someone older will win,” he agreed, swallowing nervously. He reached behind him and pulled his sword from the sheath. We bowed to each other, our swords angled across our chests as everyone else backed away. The instant Alexander readied himself into his fighting stance, I moved to attack—dodging to his left, knocking his sword from his hand easily since I was right on him and that startled a person—and then moving behind him with my sword across his neck.
“Shit,” Nate hissed, his eyes just about bugged out of his head. “I didn’t even see him move. Then he was just there and it was over.” He took a few extra steps away from me, closer to Matteo and wrapped his mate’s arm around him. “Okay, I get it. I believe. The boogeyman’s real. I’ll be good and not taunt him.”
“I’m not—” I sighed, starting to defend myself as I released Alexander, but someone cut me off.
“He’s one of the good guys, Nate,” Rune seethed, turning to the post-trans and defending me. “He’s served as a warrior and as a councilman before becoming our ultimate protector as a race, the Wyrok. People who’ve done things wrong call them the boogeymen, like my father and his bastard friends. They were the only law those sick fucks were scared of. You don’t think my coven knew he had a child no one ever saw? I didn’t pray to god to be saved. I prayed for the Wyrok to come.”
“You never told me that,” I murmured as I moved up behind him and wrapped my arm around him, kissing his neck.
He shrugged and leaned against me. “What was I supposed to say? You guys never came and it wasn’t your fault. Knowing you, you’d still try to take some kind of responsibility for that though.” He turned in my arms and worried his lower lip and I kissed him gently so he’d stop that.
“Spill. What else do you want to say?”
“I think
I was too harsh on you because you are Wyrok.” He leaned his forehead against my shoulder and sighed. “You guys were perfect in my mind, and then you messed up, forcing me to answer things, and that was so not Wyrok to me. I went overboard with my judgment of you. But Cadric got me to understand it was Wyrok of you—no one else could have gotten through to me and helped me the way you have. I could have been stuck in this limbo hell forever if not for you. You’re not the boogeyman. You saved me.”
“You saved me too, love.” I dropped my sword and hugged him tightly, soaking up his forgiveness and my heart soaring at the idea that the hurt I’d caused him was really mended now. It killed me that I’d ever added to Rune’s pain instead of only helping him.
I was glad he finally saw that I’d only done what I had—however misguided—to help him though.
“But yeah, I so don’t want to learn how to use a sword from you. Talk about intimidating,” he chuckled, kissing under my chin before dancing away. I threw back my head and laughed. Only Rune could do that, take a situation so serious and turn it into a fun time again moments later.
I saw it as a rare gift that reflected a pure soul. Maybe that was because I was biased, but even before I fell for him, I saw him that way. Who knew if I was right or not… If I was wrong, I never wanted to be told otherwise.
“Come back here, you minx,” I growled and chased after him. I pinned him to the nearest tree before he could even argue, lifting one thigh up and wrapping it around my hip as I kissed up his neck. “Fuck, you turn me on when you get playful like that, love. You have no idea how sexy you are.” I ground our hips together as I locked our fingers and raised our hands above his head. “I want you, Rune. I need you to know how much I want you.”