Mackie nudged him with his elbow. “So, Duncan came. All that worrying was for nothing. I told you he would.”
Yes, Mackie, the eternal optimist, had been reassuring on that point. Demi grinned. “Yeah, you did.” He sipped more cider and visualized how Trey had watched him during the show.
“He was super into you, too,” Quinn added. “I mean, the rest of us were invisible as far as he was concerned.”
Demi frowned despite his good mood. “How would you know?” He inwardly winced at the jealousy dripping from his question.
Quinn merely grinned. “Down, boy. I’m Alex’s, remember? I just notice how the club members act, that’s all. I have to be attuned to them, especially to make sure none of them are getting too close or handsy with me.” He sighed. “Alex is possessive enough as it is. If I’m going to keep dancing, I have to make sure he doesn’t have anything to worry about.”
“I’m amazed he’s as chill about it as he is,” Mackie remarked.
Quinn snorted. “You think so?” He shook his head.
Leaning over Demi, Mackie said, “Oh, sweetie, are you having trouble?”
Demi was content to just sit and listen, but he was genuinely concerned about Quinn, and if he was having problems with Alex, Demi wanted to help. He waited intently for his friend to answer.
Quinn wrinkled his nose and squirmed. “Ever since we got back from Wales, he’s been pestering me to go to school. He thinks I should get a college degree or something. Thinks dancing is a dead-end,” he added quietly so the other boys in the room couldn’t hear.
“I can see his point,” Mackie said, equally quietly. “I mean, I’m taking online courses in accounting and management so that I can do my job here better. And,” he added, looking at Demi, “you’re thinking of being a doctor, right?”
Pleased to be included in the conversation directly, he nodded. “Yeah, I’m definitely going to do that.”
“Well, that’s great for you two. I just want to dance and be with Alex. I’m thinking of, you know…” Sliding down farther into the couch, he whispered, “Having him change me.”
“Oh!” Mackie scrunched closer so that the three of them were in a tight, little scrum. “It’s amazing. You should definitely do it.”
Quinn grimaced. “But Alex says we have to wait. I’m too young to commit yet.”
Demi gasped and so did Mackie, which just made Demi feel even more included. They huddled even closer, so much so that he could feel the warmth of the human bodies. He closed his eyes briefly and imagined it was Trey pressed up against him. Other than with his father, who wasn’t wholly human anymore, he hadn’t had much experience with the sensations he now felt.
“My fathers are endlessly saying the same thing to me,” he dared to offer, afraid the others would scoff and remind him that he was really young.
They didn’t.
Mackie patted his arm. “Sweetie, they have learned differently now, haven’t they? You were like the hero of the day back in Wales.”
Demi beamed at the praise. He couldn’t help it. “They have been giving me more space lately.”
“Ugh,” Quinn scoffed. “I wish Alex would give me less. I mean, I want to be with him. I don’t understand why he’s pushing me away.”
Before Demi or Mackie could reply, Quinn stood and downed the rest of his drink. “I’m due on stage. I need to put on a thong, but I’m not going to scrub off the paint so that maybe Alex will get the message that I’m his, no matter what I do.”
Mackie sat back. “Good luck, sweetie.”
“Yeah,” Demi added, although he was sorry that the confab was ending.
“So,” Mackie said after Quinn had left, “what’s up with your hanging around here?”
Demi shrugged. “I don’t know. Dad told me to stay down here until Papa comes to collect me.” He finished his drink. “I was shocked that they let me dance, but I’m frankly more surprised they didn’t force me back upstairs right after. Funny, Papa came over when I was talking to Trey, so I thought they’d changed their mind.”
“Um.” Mackie grabbed the bottle of cider and refilled both their glasses.
“What?”
“Nothing.” The other boy busied himself with drinking.
Demi grew more alert. “You know something.”
“Not really.” Mackie averted his gaze. “I just overheard Harry asking Val the other day if he knew whether Duncan was coming tonight. He, ah, wanted to speak with him, I guess.”
Demi shifted to face Mackie. “Why? About what?”
Mackie turned wide eyes on him. “Sweetie, I don’t know. Val didn’t ask because he’s, you know, Val. So uncurious about other people’s private things. It’s really annoying sometimes. I would have asked.”
“Huh.” Demi slumped back, not sure whether he should be worried or excited. What could his fathers want with Trey?
Chapter Two
Trey had never been in Harry’s private quarters before. While plenty of gatherings had occurred in Alex’s suite, this part of the family’s living space had always been off limits. He wasn’t surprised to find that it was tastefully appointed with what appeared to be very expensive furnishings and trappings. A few accent pieces from Asian cultures caught his eye as he followed Harry into the living room. He wasn’t sure what Lucien’s background was, but he imagined the pair had traveled quite a lot in their years together. From what he could tell, the Stelalux clan had frequently moved around.
Unsurprisingly, Lucien was waiting for them. He sat demurely at the far end of a sofa with a chubby baby in his arms. The kid was sucking noisily on a bottle. This was Dracul’s son, Idris, and he was way bigger than he’d been when Trey had cradled him in his own arms right after birth.
“Jesus, the kid’s growing like a weed.” The observation was out of his mouth before he could think better of it.
Lucien gave him an indulgent smile. “Yes, he’ll grow significantly in the first two years, then slow down for many decades afterward. At least, he will if Demi is any indication of hybrid physiology.”
The reminder of Trey’s romantic and sexual obsession brought his worry back. This wasn’t a social call. Of that, he could be sure. Still, he kept up the pretense of chit-chat as he took a seat in a nearby chair.
“Is Dafydd taking any interest in him yet?”
Dracul’s former sex slave was living here in Boston, instead of back with Malcolm. It had been decided that the Highlander and his lover, Brenin, had enough on their hands rehabilitating the other Dracul captives. They didn’t need the added burden of dealing with the clearly traumatized and potentially suicidal Welshman.
Lucien shook his head. “No. He stays in his own room and refuses to see his son.”
Harry sat next to his husband and ran a hand down the baby’s head. “At least Dafydd has fully recovered from the surgery and eats properly. I no longer worry about him wasting away.” The doctor eyed Trey. “He owes his life to you.”
Trey furrowed his brows. “Not really. You did all the work and Demi kept him alive with his blood.” The reminder of that night still caused his guts to tighten. It had been a risky procedure all around.
“True, but I don’t believe Demi could have spared so much blood without feeding off you. I would have stopped the transfusion and let Dafydd bleed out before allowing Demi to die. So, by logical deduction, you saved the man. He might even one day thank you for it.”
“I doubt it, and it’s not necessary in any event. I’m a cop. I did what had to be done.” While talking about the Wales adventure—especially as some heroic effort on his part—made him uncomfortable, it was putting off whatever tongue lashing he was in for. He was fine with that delay.
“For Demi, yes?” Lucien asked. He kept his gaze on Trey while pulling the empty bottle out of the baby’s mouth and hoisting him against his shoulder. “You care for our son.”
Trey had to work at not squirming. He was a grown-ass man, not a middle school kid sitting in front of the vic
e principal, for God’s sake. He didn’t give in to the urge to brush off the assumption about his feelings, either.
“Yes, I do.” He kept his answer simple. There was no point in elaborating anyway, given that he was hard put to understand the complexity of his feelings toward Demi himself.
Harry shared a veiled look with his husband before saying, “We knew it already, naturally, after what has transpired. But, decorum required that we confirm it with you before we proceed with asking for a favor.”
Now, Trey was more intrigued than worried. Gripping the chair’s arms, he leaned forward a little. “What kind?”
The men didn’t answer right away. As he patted the baby’s back, Lucien stared at his husband for a few seconds before nodding. “I must put Idris down for the night. Harry will explain.”
With that, Lucien stood and walked out of the room. Harry’s gaze followed his husband’s journey until he was out of sight. Even from an angle, Trey could see the utter love and devotion the alien had for his human partner.
Harry slowly shifted his attention toward Trey. “He is and always will be the most exquisite man I have ever seen. My dear, sweet Lucien,” he added with a rueful smile. “He brings out the most protective instincts in me, and yet has the power to fell me with a single, disapproving look.”
Trey said nothing. He didn’t know what to say in response, although he kind of understood what the guy meant. Although he’d fought his feelings from the beginning, Demi had a similar effect on him.
“Would you like a drink?”
The question surprised Trey. “Ah, sure, whatever you’ve got is fine.”
Harry stood. “I have some of Malcolm’s most excellent Scotch.”
“Perfect. I’ll take mine neat. Thanks.”
There was a small bar set up on a sideboard across the room. Harry went there, poured a couple of stiff drinks and brought them back. “Lucien is trusting me to discuss this delicate matter about our son with you man-to-man.”
Trey took the glass being offered. “Okay.”
Harry smiled as he sat. “Please don’t be alarmed. I’m not going to threaten your life or anything.”
“Glad to hear it.” Trey took a healthy swig of his Scotch. Damn, it was smooth.
“Lucien was painfully young when I found him. He was perhaps fifteen by human years, although he wasn’t sure himself of his exact age.” The man sipped his drink. “He’d been sold as a very young boy by his father to a warlord to whom he owed money. Lucien’s life became a blur of sexual servitude to men with no conscience. The last thing I wanted to do was exploit him further.
“But he surprised me. He was naturally submissive, yet had a will of steel. He wore me down with his devotion and determination. Eventually, I succumbed to his charms and my own weakness. I made him my lover, then my source of blood and eventually the carrier of my son. I’ve never fully let go of my guilt over it.”
“Given that it produced Demi, I can’t blame you for your choices. And,” Trey added with a sigh, “I’m hardly one to cast stones.”
“Because you believe Demi is too young.”
Trey snorted. “I know it.”
“How old do you think he is?”
Trey waved with his arms. “I don’t know, sixteen, seventeen?”
“He’s one hundred and five.”
In the midst of taking a slug of his Scotch, Trey choked on the information. “Jesus,” he wheezed, “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that. I’m not sure it matters, regardless. It’s more than the number of years that have passed. It’s about mental and emotional maturity.”
“True, except that you judge him by human standards.” He clammed up for a few long seconds, as if gauging what to say next. “Lucien remarked that Idris will grow quickly at first. And that’s true. By the time he’s technically two, he’ll appear more like six or seven. Then he’ll seem to stay in that young state for many years to come. Another growth spurt will give him the appearance of a young teenager. Again, he’ll plateau at that level for decades. At least, that is how it was with Demi and with the other hybrids I’ve had a chance to monitor.”
The man got up to fetch the bottle of Scotch. He brought it back with him this time and topped off Trey’s glass along with his own before putting it down on the coffee table.
“As strange as this is for humans, it’s more so for our species.” He sat heavily, obviously struggling to deal with whatever was going on. “Our growth is very long and mostly even. By our standards, the hybrids mature very quickly in all respects.”
Trey drank half his glass before responding. This was an even weirder conversation than he’d expected, and where it was heading wasn’t clear in the least. “Right… I get that. He’s old and young at the same time. But, that’s all physical, right? Demi acts like a kid, no matter how long he’s been alive.”
Even as he said that, however, he realized that wasn’t entirely true. Demi’s behavior had changed since they’d first met. He was maturing.
“By your estimation, perhaps, although his mental growth has also occurred in fits and starts. All of which is beside the point, unfortunately.”
“How so?” The question came out more sharply than he’d intended. Something in Harry’s tone was worrisome.
“Demi has entered puberty, for lack of any better word to use.”
“Well, yeah, he’s obviously a teenager, not a little boy.”
Harry shook his head. “No, that’s why the word is inadequate. For you humans, there is a many-year process of transforming from childhood into adulthood. Sexual maturity is part of that, where biology readies their bodies for reproduction before they are truly capable of such responsibility. For our species, it’s a far quicker process, a matter of Earth months rather than years.”
No longer interested in his drink, Trey leaned over to put his glass down and concentrate on what Harry was saying. “I’m not following.”
“I’m sorry. I know this is difficult. You see, up until a few months ago, Demi was physically, by my species’ standard, a child. Then he started puberty, which meant that he could get erect and achieve orgasm for the first time, just like with humans.”
Trey couldn’t help wincing. Wow. This was so not the conversation he wanted to have with Demi’s father. It was more painful than when his own had given him ‘the talk’ after he’d turned thirteen and was soiling his sheets with wet dreams.
Mercifully, Harry plunged on without requiring any response. “He also had the classic symptoms of overheating, clumsiness and tremendous blood lust. I’d started him on daily bags a few weeks before we left for Wales, whereas he’d only needed the occasional drink before. Yours was the first direct feeding he’d ever had,” he added with a pointed look in Trey’s direction.
He’d known that, but hearing it again gave him a weird sense of pride—and possessiveness. As he instinctively rubbed at the spot inside his wrist, he had the instant thought that he didn’t want Demi to feed off anyone else, which was dumb. He had no claim on the boy.
You’re fooling yourself.
He closed his eyes on that painful truth. “Can you please cut to the chase here, Harry?”
“Certainly. I’m sorry, but the bottom line is that Demi needs his manhood initiation.”
Trey popped his eyes open. “Huh?”
“I wish there were a better way to put it in English—or any Earth language. There isn’t. It’s such a beautiful word in my own tongue, although your ears wouldn’t think it so. It simply means that he needs to lose his virginity—and soon.”
Now all the spit dried in Trey’s mouth. He emptied his glass in a futile effort to wet it again. “Needs?” That was the only word he could croak out before grabbing the Scotch and pouring another stiff drink.
“Yes. I mean that in the real sense of the word. It’s not hyperbole. On my world, when a boy matures into a drone, he’s given to whichever queen directly governs his family to be initiated into mating. For some, such as Alex, that meant
the High Queen, a singular honor. But regardless, the queen shows him what it means to be intimate with another, and from that point forward, the drone can be sexually active with either gender.”
Hot jealousy stabbed at his heart. “You mean he has to sleep with a woman?”
Harry gave him a wan smile. “Ideally. That would be the obvious way to handle matters, but who would that be? Someone willing, that goes without saying. We would never force our ways, including blood-drinking, on a human. That was Dracul’s habit, never ours. Kitty is the only one we could even ask. Given Logan’s struggle with her own demons, we would never impose on her.”
Trey flashed on the image of the bartender with his precious Demi. The fury he felt scared him. It was a stupid reaction. Kitty could be trusted in all things, except… “What does Demi say?”
“Nothing. We haven’t spoken to him yet.”
Trey turned a sharp eye on the man. “Why not? This is his life, his body. He gets to decide.”
Harry sighed. “I agree, of course. I do, as does Lucien. We must protect him, though, and we don’t want to raise his hopes only to have them dashed.”
“Meaning?”
“Regardless of whether Kitty would be willing to help, Demi wouldn’t want her—or any woman, for that matter. He has only ever showed an affinity for his own sex—and for you in particular. Simply put, he has a massive crush on you.”
Trey felt his cheeks warm. “Yeah, well, I kind of feel the same way about him.”
“Exactly. That’s why Lucien and I are asking you if you will do us the honor of initiating our son into manhood.”
On an expulsion of breath, Trey flopped back in his chair. He crossed his legs to hide how quickly and violently he’d reacted to the idea of bedding Demi. “Jesus,” was all he managed to say.
“We understand we are asking a great deal of you. By your view, Demi is young and humans largely take this issue of sexual initiation almost as seriously as my species does. We wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so critical that Demi be deflowered as soon as possible.”
Mating Dance Page 3