by Stormy Glenn
“Like I got shot.” Taylor snickered, and then he groaned and grabbed his stomach with his free hand. “Oh man, I need to not do that.”
“You need to not get shot!” Justin spat out.
Taylor smiled, squeezing Justin’s hand. “I’ll work on it, love.”
“Prince Zacarius said he can turn you into a vampire like me.” Taylor started snickering again. Justin bit his lip when Taylor pulled his arm away and wrapped both of them around his waist as he laughed. “Taylor?”
“All the way home I was wondering why I couldn’t be something cool like a vampire or wolf-shifter. I kept wondering why I got stuck being a human while the two of you had these wonderful abilities. I wanted to be what you were. I just never thought it would hurt so damn much to get there.”
“Well, see, that’s what you get for thinking.” Chase was trying for a bit of humor and saw it had worked when Taylor rolled his tired eyes. Justin wasn’t so amused. He drove his elbow into Chase’s side.
“Be nice,” Justin warned as he reached out for Taylor’s hand again. Just the feeling of Taylor’s warm flesh between his hands brought him some measure of comfort.
“Yeah.” Taylor fluttered his eyelashes wildly, drawing a laugh from Justin. “Be nice.”
“So, Taylor,” Chase said as he took one of Taylor’s hands, “about this ritual. How do you feel about it?”
“What’s involved in it?”
“Uh…” Chase glanced over his shoulder to Prince Zacarius. While Devlin had told him about the ritual that had transformed Danny, his brother hadn’t actually shared the details.
Prince Zacarius smiled as he stepped forward, his hands clasped together in front of him. “It’s kind of like a marriage ceremony. I will speak the ancient words of the ritual while you have sex with your mates and—”
“Wait!” Taylor’s eyes grew wide. “We have to have sex? How?”
Zacarius cocked an eyebrow. “I would have assumed that you had already worked out those details.”
Taylor snorted. “I know how to have sex. What I don’t know is how to have sex with a bullet hole in my side.”
“Yes, I can see where that would be a problem. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. In order for the ritual to work, you have to be intimately connected to both of your mates. The ritual is based on three points, your mind, your heart, and your body. All three must be connected. There must also be an exchange of blood by all of you or you will end up only bonded to one of them.”
“No,” Justin whispered softly, burying his face in the hand he still held onto.
This was his worst nightmare come to life. There was always a part of him that never quite believed in the bond that had developed between the three of them in the last couple of days. He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep that warm, safe feeling he got whenever he was with one or both of his mates.
“Justin, love,” Taylor said. “We’ll figure it out.”
“How?” Justin felt tears spring to his eyes as he lifted his head. “You’re in no condition to have sex. How are we going to do this?”
“If I might make a suggestion,” Zacarius said. Justin turned to look at the prince, desperately hoping the man had an answer to the situation. “While the ritual is very firm about this intimate connection, it is not specific on how you are connected.”
Justin started at the prince as the man’s words rolled over in his head. Maybe…“Is a blow job considered intimate enough?”
Prince Zacarius nodded. “I believe that would meet the requirements of the ritual, yes.”
Justin suddenly grinned. “Then get your witnesses, your highness. I know how to do this.”
Justin jumped to his feet and started stripping his clothes off. When Chase and Taylor just lay there and stared at him like he had a screw loose, Justin rolled his eyes. “Well, come on,” he said as he waved his hand at Chase. “Get naked.”
Chase’s eyes shot to Prince Zacarius and Devlin. “Now?”
“Yes, now.” Good god, what part of this plan wasn’t Chase getting? Justin huffed loudly. Apparently, he was going to have to draw his mates a map, maybe diagrams, too. And if the thickheaded men still didn’t get it, maybe he would have to drop breadcrumbs to Taylor’s ass. “Get naked. We’re going to play man in the middle, only I get to be in the middle this time. I’m going to blow Taylor while you fuck me. That will connect the three of us.”
“But—” Taylor started.
Justin felt like stomping his foot. His mates could be so infuriating at times, and this was one of them. “You can fuck me after you are all healed up. I’ll even let you bite me.”
Taylor’s eyebrows drew together in a deep frown. “Can we do that?”
“Yes,” the prince said. “It is perfectly acceptable for vampires to feed from each other. However, be warned, now that you are mated, drinking from any other than your mate is a death sentence.”
“But,” Chase said, “I thought you said that they would need to drink bagged blood until they had acclimated to being vampires.”
“All vampires can drink bagged blood, Chase,” Zacarius replied. “But mated vampires cannot drink directly from the source other than from their mates.” He quickly held up his hand when Chase opened his mouth. “Don’t ask me why because I do not know. But I believe it has something to do with the bond between mates.”
“There, see?” Justin didn’t wait for his mates to reply. He just finished getting naked, pulling his shirt over his head and dropping it on the floor. Then he went to work on his shoes and pants.
He could see activity around him, people moving throughout the room, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. He needed to keep an eye on Taylor’s breathing, the wound in his side. If anything happened to Taylor because of this fool ritual, Justin was going to lose it.
Once he was naked, Justin pulled the sheet off Taylor’s body and then climbed up onto the bed, settling himself on his hands and knees between the man’s legs. He could see Taylor’s hard cock bouncing in front of him, but still…
“Are you ready for this?” Justin asked as he glanced up to Taylor’s pale face.
“What do you think?” Taylor looked pointedly at his erect cock.
“I think your dick has a mind of its own and would be hard if you were in a coma. What I need to know is if you are ready for this.”
Taylor chuckled. “Yeah, babe, I’m ready for this.”
“You’ll tell me if anything starts to hurt?”
Taylor huffed. “Yes, Justin, I’ll tell you if anything starts to hurt.”
Justin narrowed his eyes. “You’d better.”
“I promise, love.”
Justin wasn’t sure if he could trust Taylor under the circumstances. The man was wounded. He could be delusional for all Justin knew. Still, if they performed the ritual like the prince said, they could save Taylor, and frankly, that was all that mattered at the end of the day.
Being mated for all eternity was just a bonus.
Justin turned when he felt Chase climb up on the bed behind him. “Hi.”
Chase grinned. “Hi.”
“Are you ready for this?”
“I am.”
Okay, the main players were on board. “Prince Zacarius?”
“Yes, little one?”
“Can we get this thing going?” Justin asked. “I want to perform the ritual before Taylor gets any worse.”
“We’re just waiting on our other wit—ah, here he is now.”
Justin glanced over his shoulder to see a man walk into the room. It was the same man that had killed the intruder that shot Taylor. “Marc, right?”
The man smiled. “That’s me.”
Justin vaguely remembered the man. His acquaintance with him had been short, but memorable. “You were one of the guys that helped rescue us from the Teacher, aren’t you?” Justin already knew the answer. “Thank you.”
“I was one of many, Justin. There is no need to thank me.”
“Ye
ah.” Justin snorted. “You spend twenty years with the Teacher and see if you feel the same way.”
Marc nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“If you all take your positions,” the prince said, “we will begin.”
His position? Right. Mouth on Taylor’s cock, ass in the air. That was his position. And it was a tad embarrassing considering that the prince, Devlin, and Marc were all in the room with Justin and his mates. But Justin would push aside the fact that they were putting on a show for all to see if it saved Taylor’s life.
Justin winked up at Taylor and then leaned forward, engulfing the large cock that was saluting him. Justin moaned. He didn’t care how many years he had this thick shaft in his mouth, he would never tire of it.
“Sounds like you’re having fun already,” Chase said as his lubed fingers brushed over Justin’s quivering hole. “I can’t have that.”
Justin grinned around Taylor’s cock until his shifter’s fingers speared inside of his body. Justin’s eyes crossed as his legs spread wider apart. Oh, yeah. Witnesses or not, this was exactly what he needed for a stress reliever.
“Justin,” Taylor moaned, his hands delving into Justin’s hair. Justin grabbed the base of Taylor’s cock and pulled his mouth away.
“If you move, I won’t give you the best blow job of the century,” he warned.
“The best?” Taylor asked, both eyebrows climbing up his forehead. “Really?”
“Stay still and find out,” Justin said and then swallowed Taylor down to the root. Taylor groaned loudly, but didn’t move a muscle.
Good.
“Ready?” Chase asked and then plunged his cock into Justin’s ass before Justin had time to pull Taylor’s cock from his mouth. Now he was the one moaning, and he knew the vibrations were driving Taylor nuts.
They always did.
Zacarius began to speak in a language Justin didn’t understand. And as horny as he was right now, probably wouldn’t have cared. But half of his mind was on the fact that Taylor was injured, pale, and still losing blood. He felt strange as hell having sex with a wounded man, but he couldn’t imagine his life without Taylor in it. He was willing to do anything right now if it could possibly save Taylor’s life.
Justin blinked and looked sideways when candles were lit around the room. He didn’t remember having that many dang candles in the house. He had a few, for those times when he and Taylor took romantic bubble baths together, but there was no way he had that many.
“I thought you said the best blow job of the century?” Taylor asked.
“He’s thinking too hard,” Chase said as he grabbed Justin’s hips and began to power-drive his cock into Justin’s ass.
Yep, that did the trick.
Justin rolled his eyes, his tongue sliding up and down Taylor’s cock, licking the man’s balls on every down stroke. He forgot about the ritual, about having sex in front of witnesses, and he forgot about the stupid candles. All Justin could think about was feeling Chase’s muscled body behind him, fucking him like the man meant every move.
“Shit, that’s much better,” Taylor said as his head move from side to side. Justin didn’t like that Taylor was moving at all, but he wouldn’t complain. If Taylor stayed stock-still during sex, Justin would be worried.
When Chase leaned over Justin and marked an X on Taylor’s neck with blood, that was when Justin started noticing what was around him. He hadn’t even heard anyone talking. The only thing that slightly registered was a voice somewhere off in the distance, and now that he was paying attention, he knew it was Zacarius’s voice he had been hearing.
“What are you doing?” Justin asked as he continued to suck and lick Taylor’s cock with enthusiasm.
“We have to cut above our hearts and then use that blood to mark where we feed from Taylor, babe.”
“But I haven’t fed from Taylor,” Justin pointed out.
“Don’t split hairs, Justin,” Taylor’s voice whispered through Justin’s mind, letting Justin know Taylor was growing weaker.
“Give me the knife,” Justin said frantically. He was not about to lose the man who had been there through it all with him. Justin released Taylor cock and looked at Chase’s chest to see how Chase had cut himself.
Oh, gods, he was going to be sick. The sight almost made his stomach roll.
“Don’t you dare get sick on me,” Taylor snapped through their bond.
Justin swallowed a few times and then grabbed the dagger-looking knife, quickly cutting an X above his heart before he lost his nerve. He winced, but managed to keep the whimper behind his lips. Fuck, that hurt! He slid his finger through the warm liquid of his blood and then marked an X over Taylor’s neck, on the opposite side as Chase’s mark.
Justin’s eyes snapped around the room when he felt the air hum around him. What the hell? The curtains hanging from his window blew up slightly, and the candles flickered. Gods, he so hoped his apartment didn’t catch fire.
Zacarius began to speak in that funky language again. Only this time, Justin understood him.
“Chase Morgan, do you accept Taylor Foyt and Justin Ried as your mates from here to eternity? Do you swear upon your life to protect them from all harm and put their lives above your own?”
“Yes,” Chase answered, his moves becoming erratic. Justin knew the man was close. How in the hell could he concentrate?
“Justin Ried, do you accept Taylor Foyt and Chase Morgan as your mates from here to eternity? Do you swear upon your life to protect them from all harm and put their lives above your own?”
“Hell yes!” Justin blushed at his enthusiastic outburst. Well, he did.
“Taylor Foyt, do you accept Taylor Foyt and Chase Morgan as your mates from here to eternity? Do you swear upon your life to give them life and take into yourself the life that they give you?”
“Yes,” Taylor replied, panting the word out, his skin growing paler. Justin felt his heart thumping in his chest. This wasn’t going to work! Taylor was getting weaker right before his eyes and—
“So be it,” the prince said. “From this time forward, may your souls remain entwined with each other for all eternity, not even to be separated in death. May the blood you share give life to each other, and may the power of both keep you safe.” The prince nodded. “Claim each other.”
Chase and Justin both leaned forward, trying their best to feed Taylor at the same time. Taylor licked across Chase’s chest, Chase hissing as his cock hardened further in Justin’s ass.
Justin wasn’t unaffected either. He felt his cock pulse and throb as Taylor drank from him. He knew they had to do this part separately, but fuck if Justin couldn’t wait to bite Taylor. He never was this excited to taste blood, but having Taylor drink from him was like nothing he had ever experienced before.
When Taylor leaned back, laying his head on the pillow, Justin and Chase struck. Taylor quickly grabbed Justin off of Chase’s cock and plunged deep. He had moved so fast that Justin didn’t have time to protest. He heard Taylor’s quick intake of breath and felt the man’s legs being pulled slightly back as Chase plunged deeply into Taylor’s ass.
Justin was going to chew both of them out…later.
“Do you feel that?” Chase asked as he pulled his canines free of Taylor’s neck.
Justin wasn’t sure—“Oh, hell!” he cried out when it felt like he was on fire. He could actually feel Taylor’s blood move through his body. And then Justin cried out again, his cock exploding, and bright lights filled his vision when Chase and Taylor bit into him at the same time.
“Gods!”
Chase chuckled around the bite.
“One more,” Taylor said, already gaining a little more color than he previously had. Chase leaned down, and Taylor and Justin bit into him.
“Oh, fuck!” Chase shouted as he moved quickly behind Justin, and then stiffened. Justin knew that Chase was filling Taylor with his seed. He grinned, and then his eyes crossed when Taylor’s cock throbbed inside of him, his warm seed fill
ing Justin as he pulled away from Chase. Justin licked the wound closed and felt like he could sleep for a hundred years.
He was worn out.
He glanced around to see that the room was empty. Thank goodness.
“How do you feel?” Justin asked Taylor as he slid from Taylor’s waist, glancing down at the wound.
“Like I’m not going to keel over,” Taylor said. “But it still hurts like a bitch.”
“Good,” Justin said as Chase moved from between Taylor’s legs. “But just so you know, when you’re fully healed, I’m kicking both your asses for this.”
“For what?” Taylor asked, a boyish and charming grin on his face.
“For moving!” Justin said in a huff, but couldn’t hold his anger as he saw Taylor’s complexion slowly returning to normal. “And if you ever get shot again, I’m going to kick your butt even harder.”
Chase chuckled, and so did Taylor. Justin grinned, staring down at the two men that he couldn’t imagine living without. They had gone through the wringer with each other, but they had come out on the other side as mates, lovers, and now bound for the rest of their natural born lives—or unnatural in their cases.
“So,” Chase began as the three settled in. “Do you want to tell me about these?” Chase said as he pulled his hand from under the pillow, a set of cuffs dangling from his finger.
Taylor and Justin looked at one another and burst out laughing.
“How about we show you instead?” Justin asked as his cock hardened for round two.
Chapter 17
Chase quietly closed the door behind him and crept down the stairs. He smiled at himself, thinking about how he had done the very same thing just recently and for the exact same reason. Both of his mates were exhausted.
Chase really couldn’t blame them. After the time they had had over the last several days, they deserved their sleep. Still, it was good to know that this time, they were sleeping because they were exhausted from an all night sex-o-thon, and not because something dire had happened.
Chase was tired of dire situations, tired of his mates always being in danger, and tired of always worrying that something might happen to them. Now, they were both vampires, which meant they were both stronger and faster, and harder to kill.
