by Ella Frank
“You didn’t think we’d miss this, did you?” Her blue eyes shifted to glance behind him. “You could’ve at least given the poor thing a shirt, Alasdair, really.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Isa. I rather like this unfettered glimpse we’re getting of what Alasdair has deemed worthy of his attention. I have to say, I can certainly see why.”
Alasdair gave Thanos, whose lips were stained with the blood of the human he’d been consuming, a pointed look. “I’m surprised you managed to pull yourself away from your own yielding. Is he the one who has kept you so distracted this week that we haven’t seen hide nor hair from you?”
A villainous grin full of sparkling, white teeth crossed Thanos’s boyishly handsome face. He might not have appeared older than his early twenties, but he had several more years on Isadora and a few less than Alasdair. Which made this charming, vampire lethal.
“He and several others,” Thanos replied. “We’ve been testing the resilience of the new bed Eton had delivered. It’s hardly my fault I was ordered to stay in it. But…even I wouldn’t have missed this for all the distractions in the world. It’s gratifying to know that someone can still make your cock hard. I, for one, know how well you can use it—when you choose to,” he said with a mocking bow.
“Stop flirting, Thanos,” Isadora said. “Like you said, his is hard for someone else. How often does he bring a human to the Walk? I think this is very interesting indeed.” Her glossy, scarlet lips curved with amusement as she sized Leo up.
“You’re right,” Thanos agreed, turning her way. “But some things never change, and I can’t help myself with him.” Then he returned his attention to Alasdair, and his eyes practically twinkled with mischief. “This one must be very special. I figured I’d come down and see if you’d offer up a sample. I promise I’d be gentle.”
With the eyes of many still on them, Alasdair walked forward until his cousin backed up into the shadows. He gave Thanos a look that required no words—it was as clear as the scowl on his face that the answer was not going to be in his favor.
Thanos let out a rumbling laugh and winked. “I’m just teasing, Alasdair. But all’s good. I suppose you have good reason to worry. You do know me better than most. Afraid I’d break him, huh?” The light in his eyes changed from mischievous to licentious in a flash as they flicked over his shoulder to Leo. “I probably would. He looks extremely fuckable. I wouldn’t want to go easy on him.”
LEO FELT AS though he were rooted to the spot. He glanced at the vampire eyeing him like a slice of prime beef, but before their eyes could meet, he averted his gaze.
The male was tall, taller than Alasdair, but younger, maybe twenty-two or twenty-three at most. He was dressed in black jeans and a tight, black shirt that clung to muscles upon muscles, and his hair was the same color as his—light and blond. Where Leo wore his short, though, the vampire had his knotted in a low tail at the back of his head.
Do not look him in the eye, Leonidas.
The warning was so unexpected that Leo jerked his head up and stared at the back of Alasdair’s head.
Thanos is arrogant enough to think that, if you are looking at him, you are inviting him to play.
And you aren’t that arrogant? Leo thought, unable to help himself.
I never said that. The difference is you want me in your head…among other places.
“Are you quite done, Thanos?” Alasdair asked, transitioning smoothly back to speech.
“I suppose so. Though it seems selfish that you’d keep him all to yourself. Apparently you’re still in a foul mood after your punishment.”
“My decision not to share my yielding has nothing to do with a foul mood and everything to do with your lack of self-control. But now that you mention it, I’m glad you were concerned enough after my punishment to see if I was still alive.”
Thanos shrugged. “There is no way Vasilios would eliminate you. I wasn’t concerned. However, when I heard about this one…” he drawled, licking his lips.
“Thanos, no,” Alasdair repeated, as if he were scolding a determined child. He then shifted to the left, blocking the vampires’ direct path to where he was standing.
“But you never bring your humans out to play. What is it about this one, Alasdair? Let me see.”
“What’s special about him is my business. Unless I choose to share him with you,” Alasdair grit out between his teeth.
“And will you?” Thanos asked, his voice dropping to a seductive timbre. “Share him with me?”
The thought of being between the two vampires should’ve appalled Leo. Except physically, he was more than aware he was amongst the most prime male specimens he’d ever seen in his life. And even if they acted as though his existence was a mere blip on their radar, apparently, the idea of them touching him had his stupid dick raring to go.
Fuck, I didn’t think I was that goddamn lonely.
“You know, Thanos…I would,” Alasdair finally said. “If you could promise not to be the greedy fuck you usually are in bed.”
“Well, where’s the fun in that? And he just admitted to being lonely. Not doing your job, huh?” Thanos asked, flashing an unrepentant grin at Alasdair. “Plus, what better place to be greedy than when one is sampling the pleasures of the flesh? I don’t remember you being so concerned with my appetite when I was in your bed.”
Leo wanted to disappear from sight as embarrassment brought a flush to his cheeks. He looked between the two men, and then the last part of what the male had said penetrated his brain.
These two have…have fucked. He wasn’t sure why, but that irritated him enough to think as loudly as he possibly could, Don’t even think about offering me to him.
Leonidas, he can—
“Oh, he’s quite spirited, isn’t he?” Thanos chuckled.
Fuck, Leo had forgotten that everyone could hear and only Alasdair could respond.
That’s right. And you’d best remember it if you want to leave here alive. I told you, down here, humans are the weakest link. You are the lowest denominator. Consider yourself my property. I pick and choose who touches you, fucks you, and feeds from you.
“Well, that’s fucked up. We aren’t living in the Middle Ages,” Leo said, not even realizing he’d spoken aloud.
“The Middle Ages?” Isadora laughed. “Whatever are you saying to him, Alasdair?”
Leo had the insane image of Alasdair rolling his eyes in exasperation. Not that he’d likely ever do something as undignified as that.
You are going to get yourself killed if you don’t pay more attention. To shed some light on your disgust and horror, however, most of us come from the Middle Ages. So that’s the way our society is structured, Mr. Archaeologist. Now, keep your eyes on your feet and your thoughts silent.
Leo reluctantly did as he had been told, thinking back to the images he’d once studied in Elias’s class of the feudal pyramids of the Middle Ages. He remembered that the weakest and lowest segment of the diagram was always the peasants or slaves, and then he shut his eyes.
Well, when put that way, it made sense. Because that was exactly what he was at the moment, wasn’t it? Alasdair’s slave. But then he had another thought—
If I’m your property, who are you in your community’s pyramid?
“Pyramids?” Thanos asked, rudely intruding on his thoughts again. “You have the wrong country, agóri. We hail from Greece, not Egypt. What is he babbling about, Alasdair?”
Leo kept silent and waited to hear what Alasdair would say. Instead of answering the male directly, he turned to face him and the crowd behind them. Then, in a tone that brooked no question or argument, he announced, “I would be Lord to all of them. And, going forth, master to you.”
ALASDAIR HAD NO idea what had provoked him to make such an announcement. But as the words had left his lips, and a flurry of whispers swept through the corridor, a satisfying sense of possession had overwhelmed him.
This was a first. He’d brought humans, although rarely, to
the Walk. But never had he publicly claimed another. And even though Vasilios had encouraged the act, Alasdair wondered how he would feel when word of it reached him.
“Now, isn’t that fascinating…” Isadora purred behind him. “Only a couple of hours earlier, you were adamant he was not yours.”
Alasdair studied Leo’s face for a reaction, but instead of surprise or indignation, his eyes glazed over and he started to sway.
“I think he’s going to pass out.” Isadora laughed, and the sound grated on Alasdair’s nerves. “Looks like I’m not the only one who finds the idea of an orgasm from you horrifying.”
Alasdair tuned his cousin out and took a step towards Leo, well aware that everyone in the hall was watching them. “What is wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Leo muttered and pitched forward on his toes.
Alasdair put a hand on his shoulder, steadying him. “Again, you lie to me. Tell me. What is wrong with you?”
Leo brought a hand up to his forehead, and then he stumbled.
“Can you walk?”
Leo’s head snapped up, and he aimed a fierce, annoyed look at him. Yes, I can walk. Don’t touch me…master.
Instead of heeding the request, Alasdair gripped Leo’s shoulders and pulled him up so he could place his lips by his ear. “I’m trying to prevent you from becoming a buffet to a ravenous horde of carnivores. But if that’s what you want…”
“No,” Leo rasped.
“Then what kind of game are you playing?”
Leo shifted and their lips were so close Alasdair had to restrain himself from sweeping his tongue across Leo’s lower one.
“No game. I’m so tired all of a sudden,” he whispered, and his eyelids fluttered shut. “I can’t…I can’t keep my eyes open.”
Magic, Alasdair thought. It has to be. And the only one of them who had ever dabbled in it…
Alasdair spun around to glare accusingly at Thanos, who had a self-satisfied smirk across his lips. “You did this,” he hissed out.
“I did,” his cousin replied as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Why?” Alasdair demanded as Leo went limp and he had to hold him upright.
Thanos strolled over without a care in the world, now that Alasdair’s hands were occupied, and stroked a finger down Leo’s temple, cheek, and jaw.
“Because, cousin, he’s had your full attention for the last month. So much so you’ve been slacking on your duties and endured one fucked-up punishment. Eton wanted me to see the human up close, and you were not about to allow it.”
When a deep growl emerged from him, Thanos had the good sense to pull his hand away.
“If you want to keep him,” Thanos suggested, lowering his voice so only the two of them could hear, “you better do more than rub your scent over him and ‘say’ he’s yours. These cretins won’t believe it unless they can smell you on him and in him. You know better than that. I’m merely giving you a friendly reminder, cousin.”
“I don’t need a reminder,” Alasdair snapped.
“Don’t you?” Thanos asked. “You’re so wrapped up in this golden-haired agóri that you didn’t even notice Vasilios at the other end of the hall just now.”
Alasdair’s eyes flew to the far end of the corridor.
Thanos tsked him. “It’s too late. He’s long gone, and I’m assuming he hid himself from you, wanting to see this display as much as the rest of us. The Ancients are curious too, Alasdair. So, again, I ask you: Who is it that’s captured your attention, cousin?”
When Thanos made a move to touch Leo a second time, Alasdair bared his teeth like a cornered animal. Then, without answering, he closed his eyes and did something he’d told Leo he wouldn’t. He faded both of them from the lair.
LEO WOKE TO the muffled sound of voices chatting nearby. His eyelids were heavy as he forced them open and took in his surroundings, and then the familiarity of his own bedroom bombarded him.
The tallboy he’d stuffed several seasons’ worth of clothes in sat at a diagonal angle in the far left corner, and the rickety secondhand desk he’d bought at the old antique store off Parnell and Rotham was nestled in beside it. On the opposite wall, his four-level bookshelf was jam-packed with textbooks and history journals, which caused it to lean to one side even though he’d crammed it in next to the wall for extra support.
Everything was exactly how it should have been—except for the voices.
Once he’d sat up in his bed, he grabbed the white T-shirt on the end of it and pulled it over his head. Then he picked up his comfy, grey cardigan from the back of his desk chair.
God, what he wouldn’t do for a shower.
He’d taken advantage of the en suite when he’d been locked up, using the soap and water to keep as clean as he could. But he hadn’t trusted his surroundings long enough to fully strip and get under the warm spray of the shower.
This was the first time in two weeks he’d been fully clothed, so he felt he finally had some sort of defense in place. He swung his legs over the edge of the mattress and pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. His head was killing him, and that could only mean one thing.
Alasdair and his vanishing act.
He scanned his bedroom, and when he saw no one else, he frowned. Maybe Alasdair was some sort of nightmare. But it was the thought that followed which was truly perplexing. Then who the hell is in my apartment?
With that in mind, Leo stood and cursed as something sharp dug into the bottom of his foot. His mouth fell open when he saw a metal chain attached to an open cuff lying on his bedroom floor.
Oh shit. So nix it all being a nightmare. Crouching down, he picked the cuff up. Clearly he hadn’t imagined all of it.
“Oh, listen. I think I hear him now.”
Leo froze as that silky voice drifted into his room.
No…it couldn’t be.
But as a chair dragged across the kitchen tiles, Leo ordered himself to move, not wanting to be trapped in his bedroom with the vampire who’d taken him hostage, if that was who was coming for him.
He dropped the cuff to the floor with a loud clang and kicked it under the frame. He then scanned the room, desperately trying to find some kind of weapon or deterrent to use against Alasdair when he finally opened the—
“Leo, it’s about time you woke up.”
Leo rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, and when the figure remained the same, his head began to spin as if he were about to pass out again.
Instead, he managed, “Elias?”
ALASDAIR SAT IN the tiny kitchen of Leo’s apartment and stared at the man seated opposite him. He was irritable and hungry as hell.
Fuck, it’d been way too long since he’d fed, and sitting in a house full of potential meals wasn’t helping him overlook the issue. Add in the tiny detail of all the curtains he’d shut and that there’d be no chance of a witness and the idea of feeding became extra appealing.
No…now isn’t the time.
The human across from him had introduced himself as Paris when Alasdair had first opened Leo’s front door. And where the other man, Elias, had seemed impolite and skeptical of who he was, this Paris guy had merely given him a friendly smile—much like the one he was now aiming his way.
“So, you said you met Leo at The Dirty Dog.”
“That’s right,” Alasdair said, as he kept an ear on what was happening down the hall.
Leo had just opened the bedroom door and whispered his friend’s name like a prayer—a prayer he’d imagined the past two weeks, no doubt. Pity he was shit out of luck on that front.
“And you two hooked up and decided to take off into the sunset? Without telling anyone?”
This guy needed to stop with all the questions. Alasdair had let the two men inside begrudgingly, wanting to see if they were…odd like Leo.
Who did he associate with? And did they possess the same kind of abilities he did? It was something he was in the process of discovering fo
r himself.
Focusing all of his attention on Paris, Alasdair leaned in to place his arms on the table. Then he lowered his voice, letting the timbre of it stroke over the other man’s senses.
“That’s right. Haven’t you ever done anything…impulsive?”
Paris nodded and shifted in his seat. Then he reached up to push a loose strand of hair that had escaped his hair tie behind his ears.
“Hmm, Paris?” Alasdair practically purred, willing the compulsion to take over the glassy-eyed man.
Paris’s mouth opened, but a voice down the hall captured Alasdair’s attention and he held a hand up, indicating silence—and he got it.
“Leo, we’ve been so worried about you. Where the hell have you been? And who is this Alasdair guy making us coffee?”
Speaking of coffee, Alasdair reached for his mug and brought it to his lips, curious as to how Leo would respond to his friend’s questions. He wasn’t particularly worried about him spilling his secret. After all, even if he did say he’d been taken by vampires, who in their right mind would believe him?
“I… He’s…”
“Yes?” the Elias guy demanded, and Alasdair decided right then—he didn’t like the guy. “He’s what? Please don’t tell me you did all this because the guy’s hot. I get it. He’s pretty wow, Leo. But to disappear with him? We thought you were dead, for fuck’s sake.”
Alasdair dropped the compulsion and peered over his mug at Paris, who was now leaning back in his chair with a relaxed expression on his face. More than happy he was unlike Leo, in that he was none the wiser to what had just been done to him, Alasdair placed his mug on the table and got to his feet. While he made his way down the hall, Elias spoke again.
“I can’t believe you of all people pulled this shit this week. You knew how important this was to us. We’ve been working on it for years. Years. And you were going to throw it away for a good fuck? Awesome.”
“Elias, listen to me,” Leo finally said. “I’m not fucking him. He’s…he’s...”
