by Joey W. Hill
Daegan's impassive expression showed no more reaction than if he'd been a brick wall. "She doesn't require that. If you don't wish to accept her gratitude, then I'll do as you prefer. But I think you'll want to hear what she has to say. A vampire can't have too many allies in this world, and your actions in the past few days have won you quite a few."
"You know what allies are? People who sucker you into thinking you can trust them, until they turn on you because something that's better for them but worse for you happens and they don't see the need for the alliance anymore."
Is that how you see our alliance? Rand's voice in his head had a deceptive calm to it, though the blue eyes were glinting ominously. Our mission together is done, so our bond is no longer necessary?
Cai had stepped in it, but he wasn't backing down. No, it's not. Just the simple truth. On second thought, we do need to go to the big fancy Council headquarters. The queen can pat me on the head for a job well done, and Lord Brian can separate us. You can be on your way. Go make a million puppies with Cilya, who looks at you like you're a steak with a box of Milkbones and a squeaky toy on top.
Because he was. And Cilya and Rand would make beautiful pups. More simple, detestable truth.
Rand stared at Cai, then turned his attention to Daegan. "Will you ask Rasheed to stop the car, please?"
Daegan nodded. Rasheed pulled into the convenience store parking lot, pulling into the back, where there was a small natural area and a copse of trees to provide some privacy.
Ironically, Rand noted it was an area for travelers with pets, where they could take their dogs out to relieve themselves. Oh, he was about to relieve himself all right. The shit was going to hit the fan. A very pain-in-the-ass, one-fanged fan.
He slid out of the limo and bent to look in at Cai. "You wanted to be let out," Rand said pleasantly. "So get out of the fucking car."
Cai's attention snapped to him. Rand slammed the door before he could reach for it, and marched away toward the grassy area.
Inside the limo, Cai's expression darkened. He turned the latch and shoved out, slamming the door with equal force. Fortunately, not a vampire's force, or they would have had to explain why the limo was returned to the Savannah headquarters with a crumpled door that wouldn't open.
Gideon stretched out his long legs and yawned. "That's going to be an ugly conversation."
"Hmm," Daegan said. "First time I've heard the wolf curse like that."
"Yeah, takes a bit to rile him. Reminds me of someone else I know." Gideon moved to the spot the two had vacated. "I'll keep an eye on them in case they need an intervention. Might draw some attention if they get into a fight."
"Good thinking." Daegan braced his shoe against the seat between Gideon's spread knees, one toe under his thigh. Gideon's hand naturally fell on his shin as a resting spot, fingers curled to stroke Daegan over the black slacks he was wearing. "While you do that," the vampire said, "I'll call Anwyn and give her an ETA she can pass on to Jacob."
"Sounds like a plan. Though we might not know what the ETA is, until these two sort this out."
"They'll either stay here or come with us. Should be no more than a fifteen-minute difference either way." Daegan's lips quirked. "As Anwyn has pointed out, a disagreement between males rarely takes more than five or ten minutes to sort out, since it's usually resolved with a shared beer or one knocking the other unconscious."
"She says that like it's something annoying. Why she thinks women chewing on a conflict for hours is the better way is beyond me. But it's okay. She's so damn hot when she puts her hands on her hips and lectures us on being male and therefore stupid, I'm not filing any complaints."
Daegan smiled, a rare but brilliant gesture that caught Gideon's attention as it always did, tripping his heart up a few notches. The vampire noticed as he always did, his eyes heating and his toe moving to stroke the inseam of Gideon's jeans. It had Gideon thinking that it would be good to get to Lyssa's Savannah estate sooner rather than later.
"Agreed, vampire hunter. While other vampires are less shy about these things, I would prefer to have you and Anwyn to myself when I get you bare-assed and at my mercy."
Amen to that. Gideon assumed indifference, which he knew Daegan could read as a complete lie, but focused out the window, hoping these two got their shit together sooner than later. And didn't knock one another unconscious to do it, but if they did, they could drag the bodies back into the vehicle and be on their way within the fifteen-minute range. Win-win.
Rand strode into the copse of trees, out of sight of the limo occupants. Cai beat him there, stepping in front of him to bring him up short and square off. "What's got your panties in a bunch?" he demanded. "That I told the truth?"
Cai should have seen it coming. He could be in the guy's mind, after all. Instead his head snapped back from a punch that was like being hit by a hammer. He stumbled and landed on his ass, though he was on his feet in a blink and had Rand shoved against a tree, pinned there with an arm on his throat and his one fang bared at him. But Rand's teeth were already showing, his eyes blazing with an unexpected level of fury.
The shifter could have fought back, pit strength against strength, but he went with an even more devastating tactic. He used words, a flood of raw, honest feeling.
"No. You didn't tell the truth. You spout this bullshit until it overflows on everyone around you. Great way to shove away those who care about you."
"It's like Dr. Phil and Captain Obvious had a baby. Thanks so much for the news flash." Cai thrust away from him and stood back. "If only telling people why they act the way they do would actually change them. It doesn't. People are the same assholes they always are, even when they try to act like enlightened, self-aware assholes. I don't see the need to make the effort."
"That's what you want everyone to believe." Rand snarled it. "So here's a news flash for you. You saved a girl no one else could save. You saved my life, helped me see there are things worth living for again. You've protected me whenever I'm threatened. You've opened yourself up to me when you feel things you don't want others to see."
Rand moved in and clamped a hand on the back of his neck. Cai countered with a grip on his forearm, but Rand tightened his own hold so he'd have to cause harm to dislodge him. "You have trouble with people acknowledging that you can be a decent person, that's fine. But do not, under any fucking circumstances, paint me as a traitorous backstabber to fortress yourself against betrayal, when you know that wall is already crumbling. I've done nothing to deserve that."
You will, Cai thought desperately. But that was his shit, wasn't it? Rand was right. Just because the male did deserve to be with a wolf family, wasn't something that made him disloyal to Cai. This had never been about a Master-servant relationship, and hell, he didn't even know what that was anyhow, did he? It had all been circumstances, need, choices limited to what would suit the mission objective. Keeping Rand alive, then getting Dovia back safe. Rand hadn't chosen him, and who would, anyway?
This was his deal, his shit. He needed to step away from it. Appreciate the male while he could, and damn well treat him the way he deserved. Cai could do that.
Rand looked poised to fight some more. Cai knuckled the blood off his lip. Hell of a punch. He reached toward Rand's face. The male tensed, as if expecting a wrestling move, but when Cai touched him, his eyes took on a wary, surprised look.
"I'm sorry," Cai said. "I tend to have to say that a lot around you. You've been nothing but a true friend and comrade, Rand. The closest thing I had to that after I got with the Trads was Lodell, and to say that was a dysfunctional relationship doesn't describe the half of it. You're right. That shit spills over, but if you can believe it, I really don't want you to be covered in it. I'm not good at any of this, never will be. But I do think you're one of the best, most honorable males I've ever met. Even if you have a shedding issue I really think you need to address."
Rand's lips tightened. His expression warred with hurt and anger, exasperation,
some resignation, and a tenderness Cai didn't think he could bear to see. So he closed the distance between them and kissed the male, pushing him toward the tree until his back hit it. This time, when Rand's hands gripped him like he would take Cai to the ground or back him off, Cai increased the strength of his hold. They could fight about it, or Rand could let him keep him against the tree as long as Cai damn well pleased.
As Cai leaned in, nuzzling Rand's throat, he felt every part of his own body tighten when Rand made his decision. The wolf turned his head, gave him free access. Even pissed, the male responded to him, responded to his needs, and he could feel Rand's wonder at that, a reaction that only added to his own.
"As long as we're laying down ultimatums," Cai said, "if you ever talk to me like that in front of other vampires again, I'll fuck you in front of them just to underscore who's got control here. You got me, wolf?"
Cai let him see it in his mind in nice visual detail, adding some lurid touches that proved the threat of discipline very much overlapped with his own personal fantasies involving Rand.
A quiver went through the shifter's muscles. It made it even worse for Cai when he saw that the idea of Cai branding Rand in such a possessive way wasn't entirely displeasing to his servant.
That knowledge also seemed to startle Rand, though. Maybe it was a vampire talent, revealing a servant's deepest, darkest fantasies, and exploiting the hell out of them for mutual benefit. Cai had picked up the hints from Lyssa, but hearing about it and being the direct beneficiary of it...no contest. He wanted to do it right here and now, but he had enough presence of mind to know it was hardly the time or place.
Plus, taking Rand down was a hard, ugly fight with no guarantee of victory, though he might have a slightly increased advantage because of Rand's bum leg. Rand had stayed steady during their toe to toe, but Cai could detect the change in balance, the way he was bracing his weight more on the good leg.
He wouldn't play dirty if he could help it. Fortunately, Rand's hunger, held at bay for the past couple days while they took care of Dovia and put her first, came surging right up when Cai let himself feel the same need.
As he took Rand's mouth, hard and hungry, and pushed against his body, feeling every powerful, equally hungry inch of it, he received a comparable response. He'd told Rand about the vampire libido. Cai hadn't mentioned it could be stoked beyond that ten times ratio to about a hundred, when someone they considered theirs got in their face and challenged that same vampire. As a result, fuck it--he wasn't going to deny himself.
He shoved Rand down onto his hands and knees, though he made sure it wasn't a hard descent. Rand would say he was coddling him, but fuck it twice. Cai wasn't going to do something worse to that leg. But he could unleash his more demanding side other ways.
"Shirt off and get the jeans off your ass, or I'll tear them," he said, sharp and short.
Rand pulled the shirt over his head. He'd barely gotten the zipper down on the jeans before Cai was on him, pulling the pants the rest of the way down to his muscled thighs. No underwear beneath, thank you Jesus.
Dropping to his knees behind him, Cai reached under Rand and captured his cock. A double thank you for the steel heat of it. Cai worked the shifter's shaft with ruthless, stroking intent, giving Rand no time to take a breath, to grab onto anything but what the vampire would let him hold.
"Cai..."
"You come for me, right now. I need something to slick up my cock and I don't want anything out of a damn tube. Only you. That's all I want."
Rand came with hard jerks, his body registering his shock that Cai could command him so swiftly, so ruthlessly. Yeah, you better believe it, wolf. I can see down into your soul and I know you have this in you. As much as you have the looks outside that make the girls cream their panties. But your cream...that's all mine.
The words came, no brain cells needed. Catching a generous handful of the male's release, Cai used it, working it over the cock he'd freed from his jeans. He used the residual in that tight opening he wanted enough to kill anyone who tried to stop him. Then he thrust in, hard and fast, giving Rand no option but to do his best to keep up. The male's fingers were digging into the forest floor, his head dropped.
Cai ripped out the tie for Rand's hair, and it spilled gloriously over his bare shoulders. He'd go back into the limo looking used. Cai should have shredded that shirt.
He preferred him naked. The Rand in clothes, riding in a limo, that wasn't Rand. Rand was a wild thing, running through the forest on four legs. Shifting to two and standing aroused and virile, watching Cai stalk him with narrowed eyes that said he'd put up a fight, but if and when Cai took him down, he'd be generous in defeat.
Such that, when all was said and done, it felt like Cai was the one surrendering, the one gifted.
Cai exploded, the release relentless. Hammering, pounding, shot after shot of his come in Rand's ass, until he ran out and was draped over him, hand on the back of his neck. A position of control, but when Cai felt the quiver through Rand's thighs, the mix of emotion coming from him, messed up, he couldn't not respond.
"Sometimes," he murmured, his voice not quite steady, "This is a moment where calling me Master might help. To keep it all straight." He didn't clarify for who, because he wasn't sure how to answer that question.
Rand slightly stiffened, his gaze sliding up to meet Cai's in that position that was so hot, so subjugated, and yet not. Rand wet his lips, eyes sharpening. They pierced Cai through. "Master."
Cai closed his eyes, riding that feeling. Rand let out a groan as one more spurt of seed came from Cai, inciting an extra little push of his hips.
What the hell was he doing? He'd gone from being a vampire who claimed to know nothing about how the whole Master-servant bond worked, because he wanted nothing to do with it...to this. He must have internalized more about vampires and servants than he realized. Or maybe it was just instinct, like blood drinking. The bond between vampire and human servant wasn't learned. Okay, yeah, the marking process needed some guidance--he had an uncomfortable flashback to that major gaffe--but the connection...the soul connection...it guided a vampire like a damn lighthouse to claim full ownership of his servant, hold him, keep him. Need and want him.
Cai remembered a few moments ago, when their bodies had been melded together and the shifter had shuddered, every muscle tightening, his throat working against a cry. He'd been pissed, but he hadn't refused Cai. He'd never refused him, had he? He'd never refused his Master.
Cai drew out, reluctantly. If Daegan and Gideon had any kind of vampire-servant senses at all, they'd know exactly what they were doing, so in a way, he'd done as he'd threatened Rand. It didn't feel bad to either one of them. But the whole thing had taken things up a notch into complicated waters.
Things hard to describe, but made Cai want to get where they were going, let the dawn come, and fall asleep buried in his servant, arms and legs tangled. He'd order him to keep his damn beautiful ass in the bed with him. That way, if Cai woke any time during the day, he could have him again and again. Rand might just obey.
He'd struck out in anger in the limo, because Rand was a first for him, on so many levels. He'd had plenty of things he wanted in his life. For a hundred years, his batting average in getting any of those things had been zero. So when he'd won his freedom from the Trads, he'd made a practice of not wanting anything beyond what he could completely control. Being alone helped with that.
He'd stayed isolated, even when he'd immersed himself in the human world to stay out of the range of Trads, but that need for isolation had eventually taken him back into unpopulated places, far beyond where anyone could reach him. No connections to vampires there, and choosing to take humans down as full kills, rather than drinking them or entering servant relationships, kept any human connections out of the picture. Except temporary ones, like the kid at the cabin, or the special forces guy who'd never seen Cai.
But Rand was different. Cai wanted Rand, and not just temporarily.
>
It didn't matter. He could feel it, savor it, even knowing it wouldn't happen. Cai squeezed the male, pressing a kiss between his shoulder blades. "It's okay," he murmured, just as Rand had done for him the other night. He nudged Rand up onto his knees. Since the male seemed dazed in a way that was kind of gratifying yet alarming, Cai handled getting his jeans back over his beautiful ass, tucking in that gorgeous cock, fastening and zipping things again.
"On your feet, wolf." He helped, and when Rand's head turned, rather than meet the gaze, Cai brushed a kiss over his mouth and slid an arm around his waist, steadying him. "It's all right," Cai said again. "You're right and I'm a jerk. What else is new? We'll go let the queen pat me on the head."
But when Rand would have followed his cue back to the limo, a sudden thought struck Cai, making him plant his feet. "I figured it out. What the marks mean."
At Rand's puzzled look, Cai turned to face him and dropped his hold to his wrists, pulling Rand's arms up between them. He cupped the backs of Rand's hands, so they were looking down at Rand's wrists, side by side. The old scars and the new marks over them. The narrow figure eight and the spout of flame.
It's not a figure eight. It's the symbol for infinity, which also represents brothers-in-arms. Cai's gaze slid up to meet Rand's. The other one, the flame? That's a symbol for hell.
He gripped Rand's wrists anew, thumbs overlapping those marks.
No matter what happens, where our paths end up, you need me, I'll be there. Whether it's to fight an enemy, or share a fucking beer. He caressed the infinity mark. That's what this one means.
Rand's gaze darkened, and he flinched, an emotional response, as Cai dipped his head and bit his other wrist, let him feel the penetration of his one fang next to the flame mark.
This one? If you ever try to take your life again, I'll make your life a living hell, far worse than you can imagine. I'll follow you if necessary into the afterlife to make that happen. Count on it.
In this moment, he felt like a fucking Master, all that meant and could mean. When he had to let the shifter go, as he knew he would, Cai was damn well making sure that Rand remembered one thing. That life was worth living. Not for the reasons Cai lived--to send Fate a daily huge fuck you--but for the reasons a guy like Rand should live.
