by Kelex
“What is your deal?” Colm asked him. “Bears mate. It’s in our blood. Don’t you feel the need I feel? Hell—even Reese has told me he feels the draw.”
Theis looked away. “It’s not so simple as you make it out to be.”
“It is. It is that simple. He’s ours, you’re ours, I’m yours.”
Theis turned to meet Colm’s stare. “Not anymore. You’ll be exiled, if the king does as I suspect he will. The two of you can be together. Without me.”
“Come with us,” Colm asked.
“No. My life is in Midnight.” Theis turned and headed for the exit.
“Why can’t the king look weak now? What’s going on?”
“The usual stuff,” Theis said, pausing without turning around.
“Are we in danger?” Colm asked.
“I’d worry more about the king’s wrath than the vampire issue.”
“What vampire issue?” Colm asked.
Theis sigh and turned around. “Supposedly one of the vampire factions has sent an assassin to murder our king. One of the vampire houses has wanted to take over Midnight for some time.”
“But vampires are free to come to Midnight,” Reese said. “Aren’t they?”
“Those that have the proper paperwork, yes,” Theis said. “The ones who don’t want to murder half the residents of the city are fine. The Midnight Suns want this city for themselves.”
“Midnight Suns?” Reese asked. “Do they have tattoos of suns on their palms?”
Theis frowned. “They do. How did you know that?”
“I saw one. On the train. There were three vampires that followed us to our compartment. One of them placed his hand on the glass as he tried to lure me into opening the door. He had a sun tattooed on his palm.”
“Their train arrived into Station Four,” Colm added.
“I don’t recall seeing them get off,” Reese said. “We were watching, trying to stay as far away as we could… and I didn’t see them get off the train at all.”
“The train stops at all of the stations to reload.” Theis opened the door and ushered Reese out. “You’re coming with me. We need to see what you saw. If we know who our enemy is, that’s half the battle.”
“And me?” Colm asked.
Theis closed the barred door. “You stay here.”
****
Theis ushered Reese into the elevator and hit the button. He stood back, watching the human from the corner of his eyes. Trapped inside the small car coming down with two mates had been hard enough. A second trip with the handsome human was almost too much for him to bear. He clenched his fists at his sides and bit his lip, trying to prevent himself from claiming the human then and there.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To see a dragon.”
“Shut up,” Reese said.
Theis turned to look at the human. “Excuse me?”
“No, no… it’s a saying… basically means are you kidding me?”
“Ah,” Theis said. “I don’t spend much time around humans so my slang is apparently behind.”
“Are we seriously going to go see a dragon?”
“Yes,” Theis said, fighting a smile. He could feel the human’s excitement, and it filled him with a sense of… pride? Joy?
“Fire breathing and the whole thing? How big is he? Is he scaled or smooth? What color?”
The barrage of question took him a little by surprise. “He’s black.”
“A black dragon?” Reese asked.
“A black man. I don’t know what color he is when he’s shifted. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him in his dragon state.” Theis thought about it a moment. “I believe he’s golden when he shifts.”
Reese suddenly looked disappointed. “So I don’t get to see him be all… dragony?”
“No. He reads minds… and also is a very skilled artist. He can see what you saw and draw a picture of the vampires from your memory that would rival any photograph.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Reese said with a smile.
Theis turned and thought he saw a hint of light swirl through Reese’s eyes. Inhaling, he searched the human’s scent… and almost caught something else within it…
“What are you?”
“Huh?” Reese asked.
Theis turned fully. “What kind of being are you?”
“A human being?” Reese answered, a question within his tone.
Theis grabbed the human and pressed his lips against the man’s. He kissed him deeply, almost getting lost in the feel of Reese against him.
The kiss was meant to invoke emotion in the human—so Theis could test the man’s eyes. But the quick smooch turned into something heated.
Molten.
Reese moaned against Theis’ mouth, and it was as if something broke inside him. He pushed the human back against the elevator’s wall and pinned Reese against it with his body. Theis greedily took what was his, his own body screaming for him to do more than kiss the human.
The elevator stopped, the doors opening wide. He stepped back and looked down into the human’s face.
There is it. Faint, but it’s there. He’s more than human…
“We need to get you to Solomon,” Theis said, stepping away. The distance was hard after that kiss—even if it was barely a foot or so. He stood before the car’s doors to keep them open. His cock was rock hard under his armor. The ache nearly broke him again. How easy it would be to shut the elevator doors, stop the car mid-floor, and have his wicked way with their human.
Their human.
He closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath before reopening them and coaxing Reese to come with him.
They were in Solomon’s workshop within minutes.
“I have a mind for you to explore,” Theis said to the dragon shifter.
Solomon lifted his golden stare and met Theis’. A smile came over his lips. “And what am I looking for?”
“Vampires,” Theis said.
****
A couple of hours later, Reese felt exhausted. He’d done nothing but relay the story of meeting the vampires on the train, but he felt as if he’d been through the ringer. “Am I supposed to feel like this?”
“Like what?”
“Drunk is the best way to frame it.” Reese wanted to lean into Theis for support. His legs felt like noodles and his head foggy.
“I’ve never been drunk,” Theis said.
“Really?”
“Shifters can’t get drunk,” Theis said. “Well, they can, but they’d have to drunk a lot of hard liquor in a very short period.”
Reese considered that a moment, but he really didn’t care if shifters could get drunk or not. There was really only one question on his mind.
“Will this need I feel for you and Colm go away if my mind is wiped?”
Theis turned to look at him, silent.
“I ache,” Reese said. “I want to be with you both so badly I can barely hold on.” He sighed, leaning into the wall to help hold him up. “Exiling me… and wiping my brain… it’ll only work if it takes this ache away.”
Theis pulled Reese into his arms. “I don’t know that it will. I’ve never had to ask the question before.”
“If it doesn’t take it away, I’ll spend the rest of my life wanting you. Even if Colm takes me outside Midnight… without you, I fear it won’t be enough. I’ll always wonder what’s missing.” Reese frowned, looking up into Theis’ handsome face. “I don’t want to live like that.”
Theis’ eyes closed for a brief moment. When they reopened, Reese saw that beautiful pale shade of purple in the glow.
“You want me just as bad, don’t you?”
“Worse. Shifters feel the innate need more than humans.” Theis traced his thumb over Reese’s full lower lip. “But then, I’m not quite sure you’re all human.”
Reese laughed. “I’m human.”
Theis took Reese’s chin and turned it toward the mirrored side of the elevator. Reese’s eyes grew wide as
he saw the glow there. “What have you done to me?”
He pulled from Theis’ hold and walked closer to the mirror, looking at his eyes.
“We’ve done nothing that I know of,” Theis said. “Coming to Midnight might’ve triggered something within you. Or it was us—our bond made whatever is in your blood come out and show itself. We did nothing to make your eyes glow. Human mates don’t have glowing eyes.”
Reese turned to look at him. “Triggered something within me? I don’t think so.”
“You know, this might be what saves both you and Colm.”
Reese frowned.
“We need to find out what you are. If you’re not fully human, you had the right to enter the city.”
“I’m a human,” Reese said.
Theis turned the man back to the mirror. “No. You’re not. Not fully. I just need to find the right person to figure out what you are.” A light flicked on in his head. “We need to go back.”
Theis hit the button on the elevator and hit a new one to take them back up.
Chapter Nine
Eilam approached the king in his quarters, unannounced. He knew the king would be alone and unsuspecting, but he needed to get to the man before the walls could come up.
The walls he’d been fighting for far too long.
The room was decorated much like the outer chamber—in marble and velvets befitting another time. Brightly colored silks covered the bed—seeing that big bed only made his mind drift to what could be happening there.
The king rested on one side of it, his bare back to Eilam. He dried his long black hair over one shoulder.
“What are you doing here?” the king demanded without ever turning.
“I needed to speak to you in private.”
The monarch rose to his feet, completely nude. Eilam sucked in a breath as he glimpsed the king’s body, his own responding. The warlock was hard, his sinewy body tense with desire.
He lifted his stare and saw the need in his mate’s eyes. The king’s lower lip quivered—before the emotions faded away and he drew on a silken robe to cover his body. “Leave me.”
“I have something to discuss with you.”
“Not now.”
“Your Majesty—”
“Out!” the king said before shoving both hands out before him.
As before, in his experiences with the king, the magic was useless on Eilam. The king growled and sent another wave of magic, only to have it separate and move around Eilam to crash into the wall behind him.
“I only wish to talk,” Eilam said as calmly as possible.
“Why does it not work?” the king cried.
“You know why,” Eilam spat.
The king suddenly looked defeated. The wounded expression only made Eilam wish to draw his beautiful king into his arms and hold the man even tighter.
“What is it you want?” the monarch asked.
“I came to plead mercy for the human and Colm,” Eilam said.
“You would.”
“Colm only wants to protect what’s his. I can understand that. I know exactly how he feels.”
The king lifted his gaze to Eilam’s.
Eilam pushed a bit more. “You understand it, too. Colm feels for the human as you feel for me.”
The king scoffed. “I feel nothing for you.”
“We both know that’s a lie. I can see just how hard it is for you to be near me. I struggle just as much. It’s nearly driven me insane not to have you.”
The king held his stare for a moment… and there was something in that gaze that gave Eilam hope. And then it was gone as quickly as it had come. “I don’t know what you think you know or feel, but whatever it is, I assure you, I am no bear’s mate.”
“Then perhaps I should return to Bear Mountain. I can take Noah, the human, Colm, and Theis along with me when I go and get out of your hair.”
“No!” The king shook his head. “I need you here.”
“My brother can cover the duties before he finds another suitable replacement. There appears no reason for me to stay.”
“No. You will stay.” The king relaxed a bit. “I’ve finally got you trained to do what I wish. I don’t want to have to go through that again.”
“Max knows you better than I do. My brother will serve you well.”
“No!” the king commanded, fear coming into his eyes. “You can’t leave me.”
Eilam searched the warlock’s face. “You would leave me here to suffer? At your side without being allowed to touch you?”
“I am not your mate,” the king said. “You are the head of my security. Where you shall remain. I do not give my permission for you to leave.”
Eilam smiled grimly. “I suppose I have no choice in the matter.”
“No. You don’t.”
“Just remember… Colm and Theis couldn’t let you harm their mate, no matter their loyalty to the King of Midnight… no more than you can let me go.”
The king eyed him, but remained silent.
A guardsman entered the chamber. “Your Majesty, Theis seeks an audience with you. He says it’s urgent.”
“I’m sure it is,” the king said. “I will see him in a moment.” The beautiful king turned to glare at Eilam. “Leave us,” he whispered under his breath.
Eilam hung close for a few seconds, longer than was appropriate in an audience with the king. He couldn’t pull himself away. It had been months that he’d fought the claiming need. Months he’d wasted.
But wooing a king proved much harder than if he’d been bound to anyone else.
He bowed to the king before walking away, his body aching from the animal need within. Later that night, he’d take out his frustration on Noah’s body. He lifted his head and thanked the bear gods that he had his friend and lover at his side.
****
Colm paced the small cell he’d been left in. Reese and Theis had been gone for hours. The more time passed, the more his mind whirled. Had they hurt his human? Theis wouldn’t have allowed that… would he?
Finally, the door to the cell opened. Theis stood there. Alone.
“Where’s Reese?”
Theis didn’t answer the question. “The king wishes to speak to you.”
“Where’s Reese?”
“With the king,” Theis spat. “Are you coming or not?”
Colm rose to his full height. “Has he been hurt?”
Theis frowned. “Do you believe I would allow him to be harmed?”
“I don’t know,” Colm answered. “You easily shoved me from your life.”
Theis rolled his eyes. “Come. With. Me.”
Colm cracked his neck before exiting the cell. He solemnly followed Theis back out of the dungeon, climbing first the stone stairs before entering the elevator. The place was unnerving to Colm. Both ancient and new, traditional and modern… stone versus metal and glass. Extremes was all the city was about.
It was enough to push him to the edge.
Maybe I don’t belong here. Maybe I should take Reese to Bear Mountain. He’d be safer there.
Once Theis had led him to the king’s chamber, he searched for the small group waiting there for Reese. He sighed in relief when he saw their human there, unbound and unharmed.
“What is it you needed to add to this case, Theis?” the king asked.
“Come here, Reese,” Theis said.
As soon as Reese was at his side, Theis kissed their human, deeply and fondly. He drew back and turned Reese to the king. “Look at his eyes.”
The king frowned. “What proof do you have that this isn’t some trick?”
“I’ve searched his mind and body,” a large man with golden eyes said as he stepped forward. “He’s part wolf. A small part—not enough to allow him to shift, but it’s there.”
“How could he have a small bit of wolf in him? Either he’s born a shifter or he’s not.”
“No—a shifter can be born without his spirit animal,” Colm said. “One of our deputies in Bear
Mountain was born to stag fathers and cannot shift. Perhaps someone like that from a wolf bloodline fathered children and passed on a little bit of wolf in their blood.”
“Does this deputy’s eyes shine with light?” the king asked.
“Not that I’m aware of, but then I don’t think stag eyes shine at all.”
The king was silent a moment. “This doesn’t change the fact that Colm smuggled this human into our city.”
“But if he’s not fully human, he would’ve been allowed into the city,” Theis said. “Colm would’ve committed no crime.”
“You attempt to twist this to fit your own narrative,” the king said.
“I only offer another option,” Theis said. “In hopes of saving their lives.”
The king said nothing.
“Coupled with the fact Reese has given you the faces of your enemy and that he’s the mate of two bears?” Theis asked. “Can’t it be enough?”
“You push my affection for you, Theis.” The king sighed. “Fine. You have a two days to claim him, or he’ll have his mind wiped and be exiled.”
“We need more time than that,” Colm said, stepping forward.
“Be glad I’ve given you any time,” the king spat. “Or that I’ll allow you to remain in Midnight.”
“Thank you for your generosity,” Theis said, placing a hand over Colm’s arm. “I am forever in your debt.”
“I’ll give you leave to woo your mate. Be back in two days,” the king commanded.
Theis bowed to the king and dragged Colm down to do the same.
Colm followed Theis and Reese out of the chamber, stunned by what happened.
“Either I give in and let you claim me, or I leave Midnight forever,” Reese said.
Both he and Theis turned to their human.
“You can choose whatever path feels right,” Theis said. “We won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to.”
Reese looked between them. “I have two days to consider it, right?”
Theis smiled. “You do.”
“So you two have two days to persuade me to stay,” the human said, staring at them both with lust in his eyes.
“Now what?” Colm asked Theis as he struggled to hold on to his control.
“We go home,” Theis said, matter-of-factly.
They moved quickly from the hall and outside into the evening. The sun hadn’t fully set yet—the sky above was pink and blue and beautiful.
