The Vampire's Pet (The Vampyr Book 1)

by V. R. Cumming

  Jason, though, revved me right up.

  By the end of the time out, he’d dropped his shirt and shoved the hem into the waistband of his shorts. When the coach called a break, Jason glanced up and met my gaze for the briefest moment, and projected an image straight at me that I hoped like hell no one else caught, of him in his uniform, standing as he just had been, and me kneeling before him gently tugging his shorts down, licking the sweat from his stomach.

  That rat. I gave a half laugh. He’d pulled up his shirt on purpose, teasing me with his body in the middle of a game when he should’ve been concentrating.

  I rubbed an exasperated hand over my face before looking subtly around, and breathed a sigh of relief when I found no beacons nearby. I’d have to talk to him about projecting in public, especially at a distance, but for now, I let his tease roll through me and enjoyed it.

  Thankfully, my erection subsided before the end of the game. I waited until I’d made my way out of the arena and back to my apartment before texting him. Naughty, I typed. A couple of hours later, while I was getting ready for bed, my phone beeped. His reply was a smiley face with the tongue stuck out. From him, that could only mean one thing. How surprised would he be on Sunday when I coaxed him back to my bedroom and let him do what he wanted?

  Sunday finally rolled around. Before Jason arrived, I alternated my time between studying and cleaning, putting fresh sheets on the bed, checking my supply of lube and the topical analgesic Elizabet had specially made for pets. Put out clean towels in the bathroom, made a batch of snacks in case Jason needed study time.

  And scrubbed damp palms against jean-clad thighs every five minutes.

  At five ‘til two, he let himself in and dropped his backpack on the floor near the coat rack while he stripped off his jacket and hat. I’d come around the sofa when I heard his hand on the door and watched him toe off his tennis shoes and smooth a hand over his close-cropped hair.

  “Hey,” he said. “You look like hell, man. What’s up?”

  I stuffed my hands into the front pockets of my jeans, rolled up onto the balls of my feet. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Sure.” He rubbed a hand over his fist as a furrow appeared between his eyebrows. “This about the other night?”

  “No, but now that you mention it, be careful how you project. If another beacon had been around, you’d’ve been sunk.”

  He gave me a slow, coy smile. “I was careful.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. I checked for beacons…”

  “You can see beacons, now.”

  “Sure. It’s a little easier with your blood in me, but yeah, now that I know what I’m looking for, they’re easy to spot.” He shrugged and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Anyway, I checked and no one was around you, and you looked so hot and conservative and geeky sitting up there, I couldn’t resist.”

  “Ah.” I cleared my throat, brushed a finger over the tip of my nose. “I’m a hot, conservative geek?”

  His smile stretched into a full-blown grin. “Oh, yeah.”

  I had to laugh. “Jesus, Jase. What am I gonna do with you?”

  “Heh. If you haven’t figured that out by now…” He shook his head. “So, you needed to talk to me?”

  “I do.” I yanked my hands out of my pockets, scrubbed my palms down my thighs. “This might be easier sitting down.”

  His gaze went flat. “Are you ending it with me?”

  “Jesus, Jase, no. Where’d you get an idea like that?”

  “You asked me to sit down.” He looked away and pressed his lips together. “I figured if you felt the need to be formal, you were giving me the boot.”

  “Not exactly. I mean, I’m definitely not giving you the boot.” I sighed and rubbed my nape against the flood of embarrassment heating my cheeks. “Do you still want to have sex with me?”

  He went absolutely still, poised like a wolf getting ready to pounce. His eyes burned with need and something else I couldn’t pinpoint. After the jealousy thing with Devin, I didn’t feel right delving into Jason’s thoughts to figure out what it was.

  “Are you serious?” he said.

  “Ah, yes. Very.” I gestured helplessly to the couch. “This would really be a lot easier if we could sit down.”

  He shook his head slowly, a quiet denial of my request. “You’re ready to have sex with me.”

  I dropped my gaze to the floor, fidgeted with the change in my pocket. “Yeah.”

  “Right now, as in, today.”

  I blew out a breath and nodded, and before I could say anything, he crossed the room and yanked me into a tight embrace. His mouth came down on mine, taking what he’d wanted for so long, and he opened himself to me. I wrapped his need around my mind, using it as a barrier, clinging to it with the same ferocity as his kiss. His tongue swept out, flicking against my lips and teeth, touching off a quiet moan when he caught the sharp point of one canine. He slowed the kiss, gentling it to toy with my fangs, and sent me into a spiral of heat that escalated with each touch.

  I tried to pull back, really I did. “Jason,” I said, then moaned out a quiet mmm when he captured the back of my head with one giant palm and held me still while he explored my mouth.

  There were things he needed to know. I tried to tell him that as he walked me backward into the bedroom, stripping off our clothes as we went, first my sweater, then his, followed by his undershirt, then mine. His mouth found my neck, unerringly hitting the spot where Devin had taken blood earlier that week, even though the skin had long healed. An echo of Devin’s fangs piercing my throat remained, and Jason used it to fan the flames of my need.

  “Jason, please,” I said when he lifted me and dropped me onto the bed. “We need to talk.”

  “Later.” He shucked off his jeans, taking his underwear with them. His erection sprang free, a beautifully hard length of flesh. He crawled onto the bed, and eased his full weight on top of me. His piercing blue eyes met mine. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to know. I really don’t. I don’t care why you changed your mind, only that you did. I know you can feel that.”

  I could, but that wasn’t the point. He needed a warning about the cold man, needed to know how to handle that side of me. I opened my mouth to tell him and got a mouthful of his palm.

  “Shush. I’m serious. It can wait. Trust me.” He lifted his palm and pressed a gentle kiss to my mouth. “If you’re worried about the fangs and the blood, don’t be. I can handle it.”

  He could. I knew he could. That’s why I was willing to try sex with him, when I thought I’d never want another man besides Devin.

  Jason shifted downward, ran his tongue up the column of my neck. “I want to take blood from you here.”

  I dropped my head against the pillow as the muscles of my stomach clenched. Jesus. If he did that, I’d be a goner for sure.

  “C’mon, Eric.” He placed his hot, open mouth on my pulse and sucked lightly. “Right there. Cut it for me.”

  I pressed a thumbnail against the skin above my jugular, nicking it enough to draw a sluggish trickle of blood. His mouth latched on to the spot, drawing hard enough against my throat to send sharp pulses of heat straight down to my dick. I rolled my hips up against his, frustrated by the barrier of my jeans. I wanted to rub against his bare flesh, feel the smooth, hard planes of his abs against the length of my cock.

  I wanted to feel his mouth wrapped around me, suckling me there the way he suckled my neck.

  “Jason, God,” I said, and held his head to my throat while he fed from me.

  When the cut closed and he’d taken all he could, he pulled away. I wiped at a spot of dried blood on his lower lip, hissed in a breath when he sucked my thumb into his mouth and laved his tongue over the end.

  “Will you take me?” he said in a low, sexy rumble. “I want to feel that first.”

  A shaft of fear penetrated the haze of desire. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive. I’ve had a lon
g time to think it over.” He rolled, taking me with him, and stopped when I was sprawled out on top of him. “Take your pants off.”

  I levered myself off the bed, turned away from him to unfasten my jeans and shuck them.

  And didn’t even consider the view I was giving him until he moaned and said, “That ass. God, I’m ready to fuck it.”

  Heat crept into my cheeks and I hunched my shoulders, making him laugh.

  “Come on, sexy.” He patted the bed. “Don’t keep me waiting.”

  Incorrigible. That was Jason. When Merriam-Webster got ready to revise their dictionary, I vowed to send in a picture of him to place next to that word.

  I settled myself between his thighs and blew out a nervous breath. “I don’t know the etiquette behind having sex with a man.”

  He raised a single blond eyebrow. “There’s etiquette for gay sex?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Do you want me to, ah.” I swallowed, tried to clear my throat, and managed a single, “Um.”

  His hand found mine, stroking the back gently. “You’ve been with a man before, right?”

  “Just Devin.”

  “What did you do with him?”

  I closed my eyes, tried to close my mind, but it was too late. I could feel him picking images from my memories with an adeptness that surprised me. Elizabet was right. Jason would make the perfect favorite.

  “What’s that?” he said. “Favorite. What does it mean?”

  “That’s the thing I needed to talk to you about.” I glanced down his body, taking in the firm length of his dick, and tested the strength of his pheromones. He was more than ready for sex. Holding him on the brink of that strong of an arousal would be cruel. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “Sure.” He shrugged, guided my hand down his inner thigh. “Touch me.”

  So I did, taking as much time as I could to make absolutely sure he was ready for me to enter him. When the time came, he took the lube from me, spread it on the tip of my dick, and guided me to his anus.

  “You don’t want a little more?” I said. I didn’t want to tear his skin, especially not during our first time. The first time should always be good.

  He gave me that coy smile I was beginning to love. “I like it a little rough.”

  “Ah, well.” I dropped my gaze to his abs as I pushed gently forward, stretching him gradually as his tight flesh engulfed me. “Don’t think I can be rough with you.”

  “You can,” he said. “But you don’t have to.”

  After that, I couldn’t find the strength to talk. A few gentle pushes and I was balls deep in his ass, breath coming in pants as I struggled to control the need to take him hard, to fuck him hard. The cold man reared his ugly head when I pulled back and shoved into Jason, making him grunt from the pain or the pleasure. I couldn’t tell which one, had lost that connection somehow. I reached for it, reeled it in past the smarmy bastard invading my head, using it as a lifeline to fill my head, edging out the chilling, greedy grasp of Vampire Me.

  Jason found my hands with his own, held onto them with enough strength to help me focus. “Look at me,” he said, and squeezed painfully until I did. “Keep your eyes on mine.”

  I nodded, gasped from the pleasure swirling through me as I fucked his ass, savoring the cling of his skin on mine as I slid my dick in and out of his hole. Higher and higher I went, taking him with me, pistoning my hips harder and faster in my desperate need to come. I hit the plateau and froze, terrified as a cold, knowing chuckle filled my brain.

  “Let it go, babe,” Jason said. “Come on. Trust me.”

  “He’s watching,” I gasped. “He’ll hurt you.”

  “He can’t hurt me, Eric. Remember? I’ve met him twice before, and came away fine.” He opened his arms, raised his legs, and drew me down. “Now fuck me before I completely lose it and take your ass instead.”

  I huffed out a laugh and began again, moving my hips more slowly, but with no less urgency. His pulse beat near my mouth and I simply couldn’t resist the temptation. With barely a thought to what I was doing, I struck, digging my fangs into his throat. He jerked and gasped, and then his hand came between us to stroke his own dick while the other held my head to his throat. I drew deeply, filling myself with his blood while I fucked him. Pleasure buzzed in my head, ran like lightning down my body. I felt the plateau stretch and flex, and then Jason moaned as he came in long throbs that spurted ejaculate up my stomach, and suddenly I was on the other side, releasing into him with muffled cries against his neck. On and on I went, spilling into him over and over again, hitting another orgasm when he shoved a finger into my ass and wiggled it against the sweet spot there.

  I collapsed against him, panting harsh breaths against his skin. Tears welled up and I sniffed them back. Jesus. Grown men didn’t cry over a stupid thing like getting off.

  Jason laughed, a soft, breathy sound. “Yes, they do. Or I would, anyway, if I’d been hard for a month and couldn’t come.”

  I shifted against him, sliding in the sweat coating our skin. “How did you know?”

  “Devin. He knew you’d never be able to explain what needed to be done. You’re just too shy.” He turned my head, claimed my mouth in a gentle kiss that took my breath. “Think he left a lot out, though.”

  “I’m gonna kill him,” I muttered against his chest. “Do you know how hard it is for me to have sex with a man?”

  “I do. Which makes our time together doubly special.” His voice dropped to that low, sexy rumble. “Doesn’t keep me from wanting you, though.”

  Boy, did I ever know that. Already, his penis stirred where it rested cushioned between our bodies. He’d been pretty up front about his interest. I knew he wanted Gianna, too, though I couldn’t bring myself to peep into that part of his mind no matter how curious I was.

  Some things a man just didn’t need to know.

  We showered together, had sex again, though I didn’t let him take my ass. I wasn’t quite ready for that with him, though I threw a lot of enthusiasm into everything else we did. The need to control the cold man outweighed my natural sexuality by a long margin. I wanted to live, wanted to make a life with Gianna, and yes, with Jason and Dev, too, though not all at once. God, no. But each of them separately? Yes, absolutely. It was screwy and insane and probably totally undoable, but there it was.

  Jason left a half hour before curfew, but not until he’d taken his fill of me. The echo of his contentment reverberated through me for a long time after he went home.

  Chapter Five

  Jason managed to sneak over for another afternoon of fun before the vampire queen’s visit. I tested my control then, really tested it by holding myself on the edge of release for far longer than I needed to. Jason seemed to understand my fear of losing it again. He pushed me hard, holding me down and doing things to me that made me blush later when I replayed them in my mind.

  I was pretty sure he’d gotten all those ideas from Internet porn, bless him, or maybe he just had an active imagination. I didn’t ask, didn’t care, either. Wherever he’d gotten his inspiration, it worked. My control held firm. The cold man didn’t do more than snicker from the teeniny corner I’d consigned him to. And I came every single time, thank God.

  Now if I could carry that control over to sex with other people.

  I was somewhat sure I could, but not anywhere near one hundred percent certain. Devin and Gianna were my biggest worries. Jason could handle himself and had proved that over and over again. Dev and Gianna? I wasn’t ready to bet my control against their lives.

  The night of the vampire queen’s visit, I cut class and rode up early with Devin. All afternoon, he reminded me of the importance of making a good impression. I might soon have my own household, after all, and would need the queen’s support then. A vampire on his own might as well throw himself into the sun and pray that nothing dragged him out before he disintegrated.

  He also reminded me to keep a low profile. Male vampires were extremely rare. For some
reason, possibly something connected to the Y chromosome or the amount of testosterone in the male body, men couldn’t control vampirism as well as women could. There were exceptions. Some females went crazy after making the full turn. Some men made a smooth, easy transition and went on to become great leaders. But that was the generally accepted rule and few tried to buck the system.

  I had a feeling there was more to it than that, but if there was, it was never even thought of in my presence. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know, either. The deeper I sank into the world of the Vampyr, the more I realized I was in over my head. This was one of those times when I would seriously have considered a different path if I’d known then what I did now.

  At the grand gala that evening, I steered clear of Selena. No matter what anyone else said, I didn’t trust that vampire, and hadn’t since she’d escaped Elizabet’s mansion and sought me out in Atlanta. As far as I was concerned, whatever punishment Elizabet had doled out, it wasn’t enough. Selena’s presence had threatened Gianna. If it happened again, I’d take matters into my own hands.

  I was strong enough now, or very close to it, not just physically, but mentally. Nobody threatened my woman and got away with it. Nobody.

  I was so busy trying to avoid Selena that I completely forgot about Zane, Devin’s old roster mate and Selena’s newest pet. He cornered me in an alcove while Dev mingled with Darien, the Greater Atlanta werewolf pack’s alpha, and I cursed under my breath at the lapse.

  “Zane,” I said as politely as I could. “How are you?”

  “Peachy.”

  Zane didn’t spit the word out, but it was close. Also a bit funny, though I refrained from laughing. No need to rile him unnecessarily.

  “Good to hear it.” I stepped to the side to go around him and rejoin the party. Zane stepped with me, blocking my way. “Did you need something?”