by Mandy Rosko
Whether she would make it in time to help with the battle, Silus didn’t know.
He went back into the house and shut the door firmly behind himself. Once the darkness surrounded him, he had to blink the spots of sunlight from his eyes. Why did it have to be so damnably bright during the day?
When the stars vanished, he was shocked to find Cedric standing on the stairs, one of the blankets held loosely at his bare shoulders.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Had Varinia seen him? Shit.
Cedric shrugged. “Woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep.”
Silus eyed him carefully. He stood steadily on his own two feet. There appeared to be no risk that he would fall. Yes, his strength was definitely returning. “I suppose it would be useless to ask that you return to bed anyway?”
Cedric’s grin showed his teeth. “Not unless you come with me.”
Silus’s fears instantly melted away with that. Cedric’s good humor and lust were always welcome, especially now.
He went to the stairs, reaching for Cedric’s outstretched hand. Together they returned to their oven of a bedchamber. Cedric appeared more and more at ease inside the space, which was a good thing.
Still, Silus did not wish to asphyxiate inside the room. Even with the air conditioning turned up, it was still much too hot for him. “Are you well enough that I might shut that a little?” he asked, nodding to the window.
Cedric’s hands were already behind his neck, massaging and gripping up into his hair and down along his shoulders as he pressed their mouths together in a long, chaste kiss.
“Yeah,” Cedric said when he pulled back.
The sultry tone of his voice, and his half-lidded eyes as he brushed Silus’s lips with his thumb, made parting from him to go to the window so painfully difficult.
Silus went, as quickly as he could, and in three long strides, he was at the window and lowered the glass pane only halfway before he hastened back to his lover.
Cedric had dropped the blanket and was waiting for Silus, half naked, his cock tenting his pajama bottoms, and Silus’s blood rushed to his prick at the sight.
Oh, how he’d wanted this. In his eagerness, Silus immediately dropped to his knees and pulled the elastic of the pajama bottoms down, and Cedric’s cock sprang free, eager and proud.
Hello, old friend. Silus placed his lips around the head, drawing Cedric into his mouth, and delighting in the pleasurable hiss his lover released.
“Ah, fuck.”
Fuck, indeed. Cedric pumped his hips in a slow tempo, thrusting into Silus’s mouth until he was as deep as he could go.
Silus had hoped for this, that Cedric would be strong enough for them to share their bodies in this way, but had shied back ever since his health deteriorated, and even when he began to recover. The bandage had come off his hand yesterday, proof enough of his recovery. Silus still hadn’t wanted to push Cedric before he was ready.
Cedric was definitely more than ready. These were the actions of a man too long denied, and he was now giving himself over to the need that had been consuming him.
Silus’s sensitivity had been for naught.
“Fuck,” Cedric moaned, stretching out the word until it sounded like, “Fuuuuck.”
His breathing had picked up, and he stood there, gasping through his mouth as he pumped his dick in and out of Silus’s mouth. “You’re so good at that. Love it when you suck my cock.”
Silus was loving it as well, but when the telltale signs of the end came, Cedric’s loss of control over his hips, his sharper breathing, and the stronger grip on Silus’s shoulder and in his hair, Silus pulled away.
Cedric stared down at him as Silus wiped the saliva from his lips with the back of his hand. There was an odd mixture between disappointment and outrage in his face as Silus got to his knees.
“Should’ve known better. Tease,” Cedric complained.
“Not for long,” Silus promised. He took Cedric by the waist and pulled their bodies together. He was still clothed, and Cedric was nearly naked, but the feel of Cedric’s body, strong once more, and the muscle definition he’d once had, which had nearly returned to its former glory, was a like a heady dose of ambrosia to Silus’s brain and cock.
Mostly his cock.
Cedric stepped out of his pajama bottoms that had still been at his feet and allowed Silus to pull him to the bed. Silus prepared Cedric’s hole with less than the proper amount of gentleness, in his eagerness to be inside of him and fuck him properly, but Cedric hardly seemed to mind. He continued to moan and keen, pushing his body against Silus’s hand, and as Silus watched his fingers be swallowed into Cedric’s body, he could have come right there.
Enough preparations. Silus removed his fingers and didn’t even bother with removing his clothes, despite the still-sweltering heat.
He pulled down the zipper of his pants, freeing his aching cock, lined up with his target, and pushed home, and home, and home again.
This was hardly the stuff to be drawn out. Both were in a race to finish as soon as possible. Drawing out their pleasure could wait until the next time.
Cedric moaned into his pillow, humping back against Silus as he drove into him, their bodies slapping together.
So. Fucking. Exquisite. Silus could never use this kind of strength on Cedric before during their coupling. Now that Cedric had vampire strength, he would know what it was like to be properly fucked by a vampire. The bed slammed against the wall in loud whacks that dented the drywall, splintered the headboard, and made the screws and nails that held their king-size bed together creak and moan as they came loose.
Silus would have to purchase a brand-new bed after this. Cedric was absolutely loving it.
The former sprite then lifted himself onto his elbow and half twisted his torso to look back at him, and Silus knew what he was after and bent his head to deliver Cedric’s kiss.
Cedric moaned deeply into his mouth as his body finally let go, and he came. The squeeze of his anal muscles around Silus’s cock brought him to the ledge that signaled the end was in sight, and Silus pumped his hips faster than even he had thought possible before he dived off the cliff with him.
Silus took a moment to catch his breath and wait for his cock to soften before he gently pulled out. Before he and Cedric could hold each other—as was one of Silus’s favorite parts—Silus had to get out of his clothes. They were damp with sweat now, and the humidity was torture.
Not torture enough that he couldn’t handle spooning behind Cedric, holding him tightly and sharing the heat of his body, their fingers lacing together.
Cedric pulled Silus’s hand to his mouth and kissed his knuckles. “Love you.”
Silus smiled, allowing the hairs on the back of Cedric’s head to tickle his nose.“And I you, but I am not letting you get out of your promise to marry me.”
“I’m not thinking of that. I want to do it.”
At first Silus thought his vision was blurring with happiness, but there were no tears building in his eyes. Their bedchamber did become hotter, however, even though he’d half shut the window and removed his clothing, allowing the breeze drifting in through the curtains to cool him.
He squinted at the back of Cedric’s neck, realizing with a start what was happening.
“Cedric, you’re glowing.”
The glow instantly vanished from Cedric’s skin, and he half turned to look behind himself. “What?”
“Your skin.” Silus reached his hand out. He cupped Cedric’s cheek, wondering if he’d imagined the faint glow of UV light that emanated from Cedric’s body.
Sun sprites tended to release sunlight from their bodies whenever they were overly happy.
He had definitely not imagined it. Silus’s hand had burned and was now a deep shade of red.
No doubt the same could be said for his face and naked chest and legs.
His thoughts were confirmed when Cedric spun around, his eyes wide with shock and panic as he looked over Silus’s face an
d body.
“Jesus Christ, Silus.”
Though his skin had begun to itch and tingle as Silus’s vampire blood worked to heal his body, Silus could not help but smile. He touched Cedric’s golden hair, kissed his lips, and looked into his deep blue eyes.
“I have been asking myself which part of you would win the battle of your body. The vampire you have become, or the sun sprite you have always been. Now, it seems, we have our answer.”
Cedric grinned back at him, showing the tips of his small fangs. They were still sharp, however.
“If you want to have a battle for my body, I’m up for that.”
Silus lost no time in pouncing on his lover.
Chapter Sixteen
Cedric ’s health continued to improve by leaps and bounds, and by the next day, he was able to walk out of the house and into the sunlight just in time to watch the orange glowing orb of fire that most vampires feared disappear under the row of trees. It had been dim, the shadows long as the sun descended, but Silus had delighted in the absolute happiness on Cedric’s face as he soaked in the nutrients his body needed to survive.
Once the sunlight had sufficiently diminished, Silus stepped out onto the cool evening grass to join his lover.
Cedric never stopped looking in the direction the sun had disappeared in. He didn’t even look up when Silus joined their hands, locking their fingers together.
“What is it like?” he asked.“Needing it so much.”
Cedric didn’t need any clarification on what Silus was talking about. “It feels kind of like the need for blood,” Cedric replied. “Or water,” he added, finally turning to look at Silus.
His grin showed off his fangs. “Can we go hunting now?”
“Of course.” Silus was feeling a bit peckish, and running and hunting did take away much of the anxiety they both felt over waiting for the news of their friends.
Ben had yet to report back with any information, and that bothered Cedric the most. For Silus, although he could never consider the werewolves his friends, as their relationship to him, even now, would not allow it, he still liked Jackson and Damon.
His heart bled for Jackson, especially, who had apparently mated with one of the omegas right before they were stolen.
Yes, a good run and chase would do them both some good.
He took Cedric into the trees surrounding his property. Their catch was small, some rabbits and a fox, the latter Cedric refused to kill, and the former they took home to make dinner with after they finished drinking from them.
“Do you think I’ll stop aging now?” Cedric asked as they put their rabbit meat in the fridge. It had a sizable dent in the stainless steel from the battle but still served until a replacement could be obtained.
Silus looked him up and down. The world’s only sun sprite and vampire cross. There were many things they did not yet know about Cedric, and most answers would only come as time went on.
“I suppose we shall find out for certain if, in ten years, you do not develop any gray hairs.”
“Christ, I hope not.” Cedric shivered, as though the thought repulsed him.
Silus smiled. He could not resist running his hand along the back of Cedric’s strong neck, feeling the warmth of his skin and the steady pulse of blood, proof of his beating heart within. “I would have enjoyed seeing you with some of those grays. I can picture it sometimes. You would look quite distinguished.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully you’ll have to wait a couple hundred years before you can see it with your eyes.”
They stood so close, and with Silus’s hands on him, and the talk of eyes, theirs seemed to meet.
That silent language they had learned to speak since becoming life mates was spoken between them, and as Cedric kissed him, Silus was hesitant to bring up the topic on his mind, especially if it could ruin where this unspoken agreement was leading to.
Silus always was one for torturing himself at the most inopportune times. “If you wish it, we need not marry right away. Or at all. Whatever makes you happy.”
Cedric’s face scrunched in that way that occurred whenever he thought Silus was being an idiot.
“I didn’t agree to marry you because I thought I was dying. I want to do it. If I keep on ageing, even though I’ve got vampire in me now, I want to die one day knowing I married you.”
If Silus could have, he would have been the one to glow with happiness. As it was, he just settled with kisses. Many, many kisses.
For the first time in so many months, they found themselves all alone in their house as the few remaining omegas had taken up residence in the other house Silus had purchased for them, and with the privacy, they both felt that the marble island in the center of the kitchen was the most suitable place for lovemaking.
Cedric bit him during their tryst, and Silus was indulgent with his blood. Cedric was still a new vampire, and sex would bring out his need to feed for a while yet. That, and the sensation of teeth in his neck, a tongue lapping against his skin, served to better stimulate him.
Silus could not wait to feed from Cedric, to show his sprite lover exactly how wonderful it felt for a vampire to have his neck toyed with.
“How long do you think we should wait before we go after them?” Cedric asked.
Silus ceased his redressing to look at his lover, who was now sitting on the island counter, his jeans on but hanging loosely and undone, marvelous chest exposed.
The damned imp had no qualms about hiding his body. It made it difficult to focus during the best of times.
Silus sighed. He was still much too satiated to be thinking on such grim topics. “I imagine that if Ben or Seth, or Jackson or Damon for that matter, do not send word in another five days’ time, we should consider following them.”
Silus was glad when Cedric didn’t argue about leaving sooner. Truth be told, Silus was in no hurry to risk the safety of his lover after the many close calls they’d had recently, and considering Varinia should be with the werewolves by now, that only added to his list of reasons to put off going to the aid of the wolves.
But those were friends and allies out there, and Silus could find no justifiable reason to abandon them if there was some help that could be offered.
“Until then,” Silus said, eager to go back to enjoying his lover, “I would suggest that we test your new stamina by having as much sex as possible. Perhaps you may take me when we retire to our—ack!”
Cedric bent down, scooped Silus around his legs, and lifted him up high until his belly was resting on Cedric’s shoulder, and he was being carted off like a prize won in battle.
Silus shouted and kicked at the undignified position, but Cedric only laughed as he ran to their shared chamber.
Talk of rescue missions and wedding preparations would wait until later, it seemed.
THE END
RIZZOROSKO.COM Mandy Rosko lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. For more books, please visit rizzorosko.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mandy Rosko lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. For more books, please visit rizzorosko.com
For all titles by Mandy Rosko, please visit www.bookstrand.com/mandy-rosko
Siren Publishing, Inc. www.SirenPublishing.com
