Enthralled 2: Breathing

by Laura Baumbach

  Without warning, an overwhelming thrill of pleasure shot though him, chasing away all thoughts except his lover. Rowland shoved in deep and hard. His massive hands closed around Colin’s hips. Colin felt himself lifted off his stomach and turned, his legs grabbed and shoulders spun on the smooth leather table padding, until he lay on his back, ass still riding Rowland’s long, hard cock, his legs now supported by the vampire’s arms.

  “Oh, shit, shit! Rowland!” Colin bucked, gasping at the sudden pressure and twisting in his gut, the pain turning to pleasure as Rowland’s cock nudged at his prostate.

  Armand rushed to adjust the table fittings and soon Colin’s lower half was supported in a fashion he had only seen on medical shows about birthing babies. Rowland eased back, but his cock remained inside Colin’s clenched channel. Colin blushed and squirmed as Armand moved in close, preparing to work on the tender flesh just above his erect, jutting cock.

  Colin forgot his embarrassment as Rowland’s hand shot out and gripped Armand by the wrist, stopping the spellbinder from touching Colin with the raised tattoo iron.

  The tattoo artist had been nothing but compliant, but Colin still heard the blatant threat in Rowland’s voice. “Do you know my proper name for the final spell?”

  Armand’s reply was a hushed murmur full of reverence and a glimmer of fear. “Everyone knows of your beginnings, Master. You are legend.”

  Colin raised his head from the table to look down the length of his shirt-covered chest at the two men clustered at his groin. He felt open and exposed, but wanton and more aroused than he had ever been, on display with Rowland still deep in his ass.

  Rowland was now motionless, the strain of waiting evident only by the way the vampire’s cock pulsed and twitched impatiently against the inside walls of Colin’s ass. The movement made Colin pant, and clench his ass tighter.

  “Say it so there is no mistake, Spellbinder.”

  The vampire’s outward intensity was nearly overwhelming, palpable, but the whisper in Colin’s mind remained soothing, pushing away the pain and embarrassment. Still, Colin sensed a vaguely urgent unease in his lover, an unease that had little to do with the twitching, needy cock buried inside him.

  “Ruaghnal Caedmon.” Colin could feel the spellbinder breathe out as he spoke the foreign name. Armand’s words were a mere whisper, hushed, awed.

  After a nod from Rowland, Armand bent over, ink iron in hand, poised to begin the final tattoo just above Colin’s leaking cock. He was so close he blocked Colin’s view of himself, but Colin knew his shaft was almost touching the dark man’s cheek.

  “Finish. There is not much time.”

  Rowland’s expression showed none of the tension Colin felt in his body and mind. His grip, back on Colin’s hip, was bruisingly tight, while his other hand moved to capture Colin’s cock and ease it away from Armand’s face, the cool touch familiar and exciting.

  Colin barely noticed when Armand began working again, the hum of the inking iron and the murmur of chants a faint buzz behind the roar of his barely contained arousal as spiderwebs of pleasure crawled over his flesh. With Rowland’s cock deep inside his ass, the vibrations of the tattoo iron’s humming motor traveled through his pelvis and shook Rowland’s thick shaft, like a thousand ants dancing in his belly. The whole thing was erotic as hell.

  “What does this tattoo look like?” Colin gasped and grabbed the hand on his hip, fingers digging into the icy flesh.

  “Smaller. A ring of fire, along with my symbol, the arrowhead.” Rowland looked at the emerging tattoo as he spoke, gaze never wavering from Armand’s rapid design, as if he was ensuring that every dot of ink was as he had instructed. “It joins the other to make an unbroken ring.”

  “Putting my ass and cock inside? What’s it mean?” Colin tried to move, needed to move, but the hand on his hip, and the pressure in his mind, held him still.

  Suddenly Rowland’s gaze met his over the top of Armand’s bowed head. The intensity of the vampire’s expression made Colin’s mouth go dry and his heart beat faster. It was pure possessive desire mixed with something Colin would have called confusion if he didn’t know Rowland was never confused by anything.

  “It means you are mine.”

  “Yours?” He wanted to squirm and buck, force Rowland to move, to make the buzz of pleasure into a storm of ecstasy. The only movement Colin was left with was the ability to breathe, the only one in the room with the need to do so.

  “Mine. Until the end of time. Whether you remain human or become vampire. You are mine.”

  “Oh.” The room had grown warm and stuffy, and the smell of sex and sweat was so strong he could taste it in the air. It lingered in his nostrils and made his cock harder. He was Rowland’s. Until the end of time. Colin felt the burn and tingle of orgasm churning in his groin.

  “I can do that.” He forced himself to hold Rowland’s gaze, returning the intensity, trying to let the vampire understand how much he needed what Rowland offered.

  Without looking away from Colin, Rowland instructed Armand, “Finish. The hour approaches.”

  A grunt and nod answered him. Armand was blindingly fast, finishing the six inch square pattern before Colin had time to grow more restless, the pain kept at bay by Rowland’s presence in Colin’s mind.

  Once the design was completed, the chanting ended swiftly, without ceremony. Rowland eased away his hold on Colin’s mind and body. Fucking hard and fast, he allowed Colin to buck, grind, writhe and heave as much as his lover pleased, pushing Colin to a rapid, blistering climax. Rowland pulled out to spill his own cum over Colin’s raw, reddened belly, soothing and healing the entire surface with the blood-tinged spurts of viscous fluids just as he had done before.

  Rowland massaged the newly marked ink as it began to heal, his touch loving, gentle and oh, so soothing.

  Colin purred his satisfaction, limbs once again heavy, body and mind consumed by the peak of yet another climax. He reached out to cover Rowland’s hands as they caressed his lower abdomen, but the sound of shattered glass and the sudden roar of an explosion rocked the room.

  Chapter Four

  The door and half the wall it had been attached to blew inward. Smoke filled the room, billowing like a blanket of dirty fog, obscuring the room in seconds, bringing with it waves of heat and acid-tasting air. Colin choked, wiping tears from his eyes, hands flailing for the familiar touch of Rowland’s cool skin. His fingers met air, but he had only a second to panic over that fact before he found himself flipped off the table to land on the floor. He immediately tried to stand.

  “Rowland!” Nothing but the roar of the licking flames answered. He was alone. “Rowland! Rowland!”

  Colin gagged and choked, strangled by the foul air. Rowland would never leave him like this. He was sure of it. Maybe the vampire had been injured in the explosion?

  He dropped back down to the floor where he realized the air was cooler. It was also less toxic. Colin’s head hurt, his throat was raw, and his stomach rolled with a gut-wrenching nausea from the fumes. All around him mini-explosions erupted as every bottle of ink on the table and shelves shattered, adding their chemical elements to the putrid air. The heat intensified, forcing Colin deeper into the inking room.

  Colin crawled away from the flaming doorway, scrambling like a crab over the cold, sticky linoleum floor, naked from the waist down. He blindly searched the floor as he moved, searching for Rowland, but anxious to find either of the vampires at this point.

  He banged into furniture every few feet, but found nothing more than broken glass and peeling flooring. His hands were bleeding from the glass. He could smell hair singeing, and his exposed skin felt tight and hot. His mouth and throat felt like he’d swallowed gasoline. His lungs ached with each new shallow breath. Panic settled into his chest. “Rowland!”

  He couldn’t remember seeing a window in the room. An impenetrable wall was at his back, and flames surrounded him on the three other sides. There would be no escape. Colin pressed his f
ace to the floor, gasping for each lungful of air. He knew Rowland would never leave him willingly. So that only meant one thing -- Rowland was dead. Didn’t vampires turn to ashes if caught in a fire?

  Colin curled into a tighter ball, marveling at how cool his tears felt on his cheeks. If Rowland was dead, there was no reason to escape this fire.

  The room grew darker, and the last thing he remembered was a whoosh of air, and what smelled like charred flesh.

  Chapter Five

  “We’re alive?” Colin’s voice was husky, his throat dry and raw. He coughed, and worked to pushed up off of Rowland’s chest where he lay sprawled. They were both naked, in a king-sized bed in a room Colin didn’t recognize. He assumed it was a hotel. A very high-end hotel.

  He briefly wondered how Rowland had gotten his unconscious body into the hotel, then dismissed the thought. Rowland could do anything. Obviously. The vampire had rescued Colin from an inescapable inferno. Naked, strange room, raw throat, sore aching skin from the waist down -- none of it mattered. What did matter was that Rowland had come back for him, and they were both okay.

  So he said it out loud again. “We’re alive.”

  “Well, some of us are.” Strong arms pulled him back down so he was stretched out atop Rowland’s massive, perfect body.

  Rowland’s reply was amused, comfortingly droll. It told Colin everything was going to be fine. “You know what I mean.”

  “Yes, apparently we are ‘alive’.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “A day. You have no lasting injures. Even your lungs have recuperated from the ordeal.”

  “What happened?” Colin shifted so he was more comfortable, dropping his legs to either side of Rowland’s rib cage. The skin on his legs and feet felt tight and sensitive, but nothing appeared to be bruised or broken. He moved his hands under Rowland’s armpits and raised his torso so he could see his lover’s face better. His cock slid along the hard muscles of Rowland’s belly, making it swell. Rowland’s cool, strong hands absently rubbed up and down his arms.

  “The hunters set fire to the shop.”

  “I couldn’t find you.” The paralyzing fear that had overwhelmed him during the fire surged up, making his words sound like an accusation instead of a statement.

  “I had to remove the hunters.”

  Rowland clasped both palms to Colin’s face and cradled it, pale blue eyes gazing intensely into Colin’s. Colin knew the vampire could sense his fear and anger so he didn’t bother to hide it.

  “They were lying in wait for us in case we managed to escape the flames. I couldn’t risk having them take you.” Rowland’s thumbs caressed Colin’s lips, and Colin’s tongue darted out to lap at them, returning the caress. “I knew them to be overly confident and reckless from the last attack. They were too eager for a kill. All I had to do was show myself to them and then return for you.” He smiled a sardonic twist of his pale lips. “They eagerly followed me into the flames.”

  “Did you kill them?” Colin wasn’t sure whether he was hopeful or distraught over the idea. Accepting the fact Rowland could be a killer when necessary was disturbing when he allowed himself to think about it at length.

  “In a manner of speaking.” Rowland gave a slight shrug of his broad shoulders. “The burning fumes from the inks and the spellbinder’s charms were sufficient to do the job for me. They suffocated within seconds.” He lowered his gaze, eyelids hooding the expression in his eyes. Colin didn’t want to see it anyway. “Not as satisfying, but certainly less work.”

  Wanting to change the subject, Colin asked, “Armand?”

  “Safe. He’ll have a new shop open within a month.” Rowland’s hand dropped from Colin’s face to trail across his shoulders and down his chest, the touch light and teasing. A shiver of arousal skittered down Colin’s spine at the cool caress.

  “The fumes were everywhere. I couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe. Not unless I stayed on the floor.” One of the things Colin loved about Rowland was the man’s physical prowess and amazing fortitude, but this was beyond imagining. The shop had been a hellhole of death. “How did you survive in that long enough to find me and carry me out?”

  Rowland’s expression gentled, a glimmer of understanding in his steady gaze. “As you have silently mourned so many times, my pleasure, I do not need to breathe.”

  Colin stared down into his lover’s eyes, mesmerized by the tenderness in the vampire’s tone, his body responding to the vampire’s touch, while his heart responded to the loving look in Rowland’s usually hard expression.

  “I just… it’s just hard… I don’t know how to describe it.” His heart raced, filled with pain that he might have hurt Rowland’s feelings. “I just missed it. Missed little things that would make you seem human. I’m sorry.” Colin dropped his gaze, embarrassed. He felt heat flush his face. He stammered when he found his voice again. “But it doesn’t matter now because I don’t miss it anymore.” He sat up and placed his palms flat on Rowland’s unmoving chest, fingers molded to the curve of the vampire’s unmoving ribs. “I’ve learned to tell what you’re feeling in other ways.”

  The full realization of what Rowland had risked for him this night hit him hard. His jaw trembled with the effort to keep his voice calm. “Like walking through a blazing wall of fire to save me.”

  He used one hand to touch the singed hair on his legs, feeling the coarse, crisp strands crinkle under his fingertips. He trailed his hand up to run it over the newly inked dark swirls and symbols on his lower abdomen, the light touch making his semi-firm cock stir.

  Looking up at Rowland’s bland, stoic expression, he almost faltered in his determination to bare his soul, but that oddly confused expression was back on the vampire’s face, and Colin suddenly knew what it meant. The vampire was dismayed, and yes, confused, by his own emotions.

  Rowland loved him, truly loved him.

  Colin’s chest ached and his throat tightened with the intensity of the revelation. He was finally loved the way he had always dreamed about being loved. “Or paying a king’s ransom to protect me first…” he touched the tattoo lovingly, “… even with vampire hunters out to kill you.”

  He had to fight back the tears that threatened to fall. It was embarrassing enough that his voice was breaking like a prepubescent boy’s. Drawing in a deep breath, he collected his emotions and reined them in. “That beats a fleeting satisfied sigh any day.”

  Cupping his face, Rowland ran his thumbs over Colin’s quivering mouth. The gentle touch soothed the ache in Colin’s chest. He fell forward, arms sliding around Rowland’s neck, his head buried in the crook of the vampire’s shoulder.

  Rowland wrapped his arms around Colin and hugged him tightly. Colin sighed in contentment, his own warm breath flowing back around his face, trapped by the vampire’s embrace. Lightly kissing the flesh under his lips, he whispered, “I love you.”

  “I like it best when you sigh.” Rowland kissed the corner of Colin’s mouth, tasting his lips, tugging at the pouting lower flesh with his teeth, then moving to part Colin’s lips with his tongue, seeking entrance and gaining it.

  After what felt like forever, Colin pulled back far enough to whisper, “I love you, Ruaghnal Caedmon.”

  As his answer, Rowland recaptured Colin’s mouth in an urgent kiss that left Colin gasping and hard. Without ending, the mood of the kiss changed. Rowland’s lips gentled, his tongue caressed the roof of Colin’s mouth, searching and stroking.

  Colin returned the lavish strokes with small licks and muffled moans of encouragement. He nipped at Rowland’s tongue, purposely drawing blood, wanting to call forth the vampire’s primal nature, but other than a slight stiffening of the vampire’s entire body that faded as quickly as it came, Rowland’s lovemaking remained tender and slow. So tender, Colin trembled under every touch of Rowland’s strong, callused hands. Hands that kneaded and caressed his arms, then moved to his back and wrapped around him, holding him tightly to Rowland’s rippling chest and tor
so.

  Colin moaned and squirmed as Rowland leisurely moved his grasp down Colin’s waist to his buttocks and eased his cheeks apart. The air in the bedroom teased at his opening until a blunt finger rubbed around the puckered hole, heating it and making it clench in anticipation.

  Their mouths remained sealed together in a slow, passionate kiss unlike any they had shared before. It was demanding, forceful, but with a tenderness Colin couldn’t ever remember Rowland showing quite like this before. It was a lazy exploration, thorough, lingering and appreciative. It wasn’t just a kiss. It was a caress to Colin’s very soul. It left Colin dazed and flushed, aroused and eager for more, for anything Rowland wanted from him.

  Colin’s gaze darted to Rowland’s pale blue eyes, searching for a clue to what his lover was thinking. Rowland’s hands came up to frame his face again. They shared a silent moment of communication before Colin buried his face in the crook of Rowland’s neck, unnerved by the expression in the vampire’s steady stare.

  After a long pause, Colin sat back up, his ass resting comfortably on Rowland’s hard, motionless lower torso. His cock curved out from his groin, swollen, eager and red. Sliding backward until he could feel the heat of Rowland’s thick rod pressing along the crack of his cheeks, Colin leaned back. He relaxed into the support of Rowland’s knees, the vampire’s large square hands tracing over the symbols and creatures now embedded in the flesh of his groin.

  The cool touch circled his cock and explored his sac, squeezing and tugging, rubbing and stroking at random intervals until Colin could barely tolerate it. Blood pounded through his veins, and his cock seemed ready to split out of his skin.

  The world shifted as Rowland pinned Colin to the mattress. The only sound in the room was Colin’s panted breaths as Rowland recaptured Colin’s swollen lips in a gentle, undemanding kiss. Rowland wrapped his arms securely around Colin and rolled them over, Colin once again on top.