by Donya Lynne
"Sev was with them. I can't believe it. Sev." Gabe's voice was weak, but he kept repeating the words over and over.
"What? Sshh, Gabe, don't talk. The medics will be here soon. They're on the way."
"No, Sev's one of them. I can't believe it. He has iron skin. He's half dreck. Gigi, he's half dreck."
Sev? Gabe's boyfriend? What did he mean, Sev was half dreck and that he was with them? Gina knew she didn't have much time with Gabe. He was dying in her arms. Whoever had done this would pay. She dove into his mind to capture what she could of the incident and to figure out what he meant about Sev, who she'd only met once.
Quickly, she pulled Gabe's memories from him, marking each face and identifying the scents in the room that went with each one, and then she saw what Gabe meant. Severin was there. Dressed in the same uniform as the drecks. He certainly looked like he was with the drecks. Maybe he was an agent? She considered the possibility then remembered that VDA reported that no agents would be there tonight. And there were no other agencies besides Atlanta AKM assigned to the operation, which meant Sev was a traitor of the vampire race. He had betrayed Gabe.
Anger boiled in her veins as she felt the shots hit Gabe through his mind, and then Sev was running toward him, knocking him to the ground. It felt like the memories were flowing in slow-motion even though she was flying through them. Why had Sev knocked Gabe down? He had already been hit.
Shots rang out from somewhere and hit Sev as he stood over Gabe. Sev winced and jerked from the impact, but – holy shit! The bullets bounced off his body. Suddenly, Gina understood. Gabe had told her Sev was a day walker, which meant he was a mixed-blood. She had just assumed his mix was human, but his mix was dreck, wasn't it? He had inherited dreck iron skin, hadn't he?
How did you kill someone who boasted iron skin? She had to find a way, because she wouldn't let Severin get away with this. She would make him pay for his duplicity.
"Does he always have iron skin, Gabe? Gabe?"
He was unconscious. She was losing him. Racing through his memories, she tried to find an opening. Any way she could kill Sev. The rest would be easy enough to assassinate, but Sev with that iron skin of his would be tricky. But he would pay for what he had done to Gabe and the others. Everyone possessed a weakness, and despite Sev's iron skin, she would find his.
She saw Gabe's memories with Sev: Kissing, holding, making love, Sev asking Gabe just a few days ago to move in with him, but nothing – no, wait! There it was. Sev had cut himself with a knife while preparing dinner with Gabe. And she suddenly realized that Gabe would have noticed if Sev wore iron skin all the time. As much as he touched him, he would have noticed something as obvious as that, which meant Sev seemed to be able to control his natural force field.
Abruptly, the memories ceased and Gina gasped as her mind was thrown out of Gabe's.
"Gabe? Gabe?" She shook him, but he didn't answer. "GABE!" She felt for his pulse, but found none. He wasn't breathing. Oh God, he was dead. He had died in her arms.
"Is he dead?"
Gina spun around to see Severin climbing through a window. "Traitor!" She stood up and pulled her gun.
"No, wait! I'm an agent." Sev froze.
"Liar. There weren't supposed to be any agents here tonight." She fired her gun, hitting him, but the bullet bounced off.
Sev's eyes shot wide with shock, but he froze as if he knew not to push his luck. "I'm an agent. Call it in. Why would I lie?"
She didn't trust him for a second. "You're not going to sucker me in like you did my brother, Severin."
"Just call it in!" His gaze dropped to Gabe.
Checking to make sure he was dead, no doubt.
Sev remained poised half inside the window and half out while she radioed her boss, who got on the horn with the VDA commander.
A minute later, her radio crackled to life. "That's a negative, Gina. VDA command has no knowledge of an agent named Severin Bannon."
"No!" Sev held up his hands as Gina unloaded her clip on him.
By the time she clicked her trigger to empty air, Sev was gone. Mother fucker, she would get him. She would find a way.
Gina wiped away a tear at the memory. She had been monitoring the AKM building for four useless hours. Sev had never shown up, and, in her boredom, she had found herself recalling yet again the night Gabe died like she had so many times before. Her memories served as a reminder as to why she needed to kill Sev. She had killed the others, and now it was Sev's turn.
She sat back and looked up at the stars. Where was Gabe now? Was he in Heaven? Was there a place in Heaven for vampires, or did they go someplace else when they died? She liked to think that Gabe was in a better place and that he could hear her when she spoke to him, as she often did.
"I miss you, Gabe. Every day, I miss you." Another tear trailed down her cheek. She had been close to her brother. "But I promise you, I will avenge you. I won't let them get away with this. I'll make Sev pay for what he did to you."
Sev's behavior still baffled her. How could Sev have asked Gabe to move in with him when he was betraying him all along? Well, she supposed that if they lived together, it would have been easier for Sev to fuck him over. But damn, that would have also made it harder for Sev to keep his own truth a secret.
Whatever. She didn't know how Sev's demented mind worked or what his motives were. What she did know was that he had lied and had been involved in Gabe's death. That was all she needed to know. Oh, and that he was half dreck, which made the connection clear as to why he was working with them.
Gina wondered how the other enforcers in Chicago would react if they learned Severin was a half-dreck. Hmm, maybe she could use that to her advantage if an opportunity presented itself. One way or another, she was taking Sev down.
* * *
Severin walked out of the bathroom and smiled. Ari was sprawled on his stomach where Sev had left him, one arm hanging over the side of the bed. The guy was spent and passed out.
For the past two-and-a-half hours, they had done nothing but explore each other, make love, rest, and start over again. Ari had finally been able to reach fifteen minutes before shooting his juice, but from the looks of it, that had only been because Sev had worn the poor guy out.
With a chuckle, he slid back onto the bed and propped himself up on one elbow so he could watch Ari sleep. The male was unbelievably responsive, and he had been eager to try anything Sev suggested. Like the owner of a new Camaro on the open road, Ari had taken his newfound sexuality out for one hell of a test drive.
Ari’s eyes blinked open and Sev grinned at him as he brushed back a tuft of his thick, dark brown hair. "Hey."
"Hey," Ari said sleepily, turning into Sev's touch as he shifted and pulled himself into Sev’s body.
"You're a sexy mess." Sev combed his fingers through Ari's short, tousled hair, trying to smooth it out. "You hungry, sleepyhead?"
"Mmm, yeah actually, I am. What time is it?"
"Going on two in the morning."
Ari slowly sat up. "That’s all? It’s still so early. I can’t believe I dozed off."
"Well, I tired you out." Sev sat up next to him. "Sex can be very tiring."
"Mmm, it can, huh?" Ari's bedroom eyes did an enticing unspeakable to Sev's cock.
"Yeah, especially when you do it right." He grinned and took Ari’s hand, outlining each finger with the tips of his.
"Oh? I see. I’ve just been doing it wrong all these years." Ari chuckled softly, the air blowing out his nose in sharp, just-awakened bursts.
"Yes, you have, because you’ve been doing it with women when all along you were supposed to be doing it with me."
Sev already knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Ari. He could already feel his body’s vampire biomechanics latching on to him as his mate, completing the bond that had started to form over a month ago. He had a feeling the same was happening to Ari, and that what they'd just spent two-and-a-half hours doing was the start of their calling phase with e
ach other.
What a surprise this evening was turning into. Ari was his mate. He wanted to ask Ari if he could feel it, too, but was too afraid it would scare him, so he bit his tongue. That conversation would happen soon enough. If Ari’s biology had chosen him as his mate, too, there wasn’t much he would be able to do to sever the link between them, anyway.
Fuck that. There was nothing he could do. Once a male's soul chose a mate, that was it. End of story.
Ari’s face turned toward his and he kissed him tenderly. "Well, I’m glad we remedied that, then," Ari said. "I would have hated spending the rest of my life fucking when I could have been making love to you."
"Such a romantic." Sev pecked him on the lips again.
"It’s your fault."
"Guilty, as charged."
Ari laughed at him. "Come on. I need a shower and then we can go up and eat."
"I just took one. I hope you don’t mind."
"No, that’s cool." Ari stood and stretched. "God, my body feels…I can’t describe it."
Sev stood up next to him. "Sore? Well-used? Tight?"
Ari smiled then laid his forehead on Sev's shoulder as his hands skimmed up his sides and around his back. Then Ari looked up and met his gaze. "That wasn’t exactly what I was thinking, but yeah, okay. I’m all those things, but in a good way. You know what I mean?"
"Yes, I do. I feel the same way." They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment. "Damn, Ari, but for a guy who’s never been with another guy, you sure know what you’re doing." Ari had manhandled him like a rodeo cowboy roping a calf. The sex had been hard, rough, active, and fast. And fucking hot as hell. Sev couldn’t remember the last time he had been with someone who pleasured him so thoroughly.
"I think it’s my partner, not me. And just because I’ve never been with a man doesn’t mean I haven’t had sex or that I haven’t fantasized about what it would be like with a guy. Shit, Sev, but that’s the only way I’ve been able to have sex all these years, by fantasizing I had a man under me. It's kind of nice bringing the fantasy to life, actually."
"I like your fantasies, then," Sev said. "Especially the ones where you pull my hair." He leaned in and nuzzled Ari’s throat, purring against him.
"You like that?" Ari tipped his head back and purred in reply.
Sev growled against his throat. "I fucking love it."
Ari’s stomach rumbled and they both froze then laughed at the rude intrusion to their play.
"Maybe I had better…." Ari pulled away and pointed toward the bathroom.
"Get going. Point me toward clean sheets and I’ll re-make your bed while you take a shower." He looked down at the bed. "These sheets are done." Done wasn’t the word for the state of Ari’s well-soiled sheets.
Ari gestured toward a closet. "In there. But you don’t have to make my bed, Sev."
"I want to. Now go."
Ari held up his hands in submission and chuckled. "Fine, I'm going."
The bathroom door closed and Sev shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Thank you, God. Thank you, thank you. His heart skipped in his chest. He had a mate. He had never taken a mate before, but all the early signs were there that he and Ari were mating.
Most of the time, when a vampire mated to another, the other vampire mated back. Sure, Micah had been an anomaly when he had mated to Jackson last year but Jackson hadn’t returned the favor, but that was rare. Leave it to Micah to be the oddball and take a mate that didn't requite.
But now Micah had Sam, so it had all worked out for the guy in the end. He just hoped it worked out between himself and Ari, too.
Sev slipped on his boxer briefs and stripped the bed then grabbed fresh sheets out of the linen closet. His mind drifted back to Micah and Sam in Four Alarm and the way she had been able to calm him and direct his attention. He and Ari would be able to do that for each other now, wouldn't they? As mates, they would be able to bring balance to each other’s emotions and keep each other focused. Sev secured the fitted sheet to the mattress and looked at the bathroom door. His mate was in there. Shit! Wow! He listened to the shower water splash against the tiled floor as if Ari was sweeping it off his body as he rinsed.
He hated even this meager separation. He hated that he couldn’t see Ari and make sure he was safe and protected. He had to physically resist the pull to go into the bathroom and get into the shower with him simply so there was no distance between them. Thank the calling for that.
The calling was what he had in store for him as their link to one another deepened. In reality, it had already started. The drive for constant sex was already tugging at Sev to go in there and make love to Ari again. He couldn't really call it fucking, though, because there was too much emotion behind it.
And those were all signs of the bond that was forming to connect him to Ari on a deeper level than just friends or lovers. The calling: The ache in his chest when Arion wasn't near; the moodiness; the carnal need to be on and in his lover 24/7. These were all signs of the mating link strengthening to bind them to one another forever.
Mates.
Sev blinked back tears of shocked surprise. This was what he'd always wanted but never thought he would find. For some reason, he thought that since he was gay, the mating call would pass him over. Which was ridiculous since plenty of gay couples mated to one another, but he thought his dreck blood would prohibit it.
Oh God. That posed another problem, though. He would have to eventually tell Ari who and what he was, wouldn’t he? After what had happened with Gabe and his sister, he had decided that if he ever took another boyfriend, he would be honest with him. And being that Ari was his mate and not just a boyfriend, there was no question. He had to tell him everything. Even if it meant Ari might reject him for it. But then again, Ari couldn't reject him if he was mating to him, too.
Still, Sev wouldn’t put another person in danger without letting them know up front what they could be in for, and with the imminence of Gabe's sis hunting him down, Ari needed to know.
The shower shut off, and he quickly tucked in the sheet and unfolded a fresh bedspread. He was smoothing it over the mattress when Ari opened the bathroom door and stepped out with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was combing his fingers through his short, wet hair, and looked magnificent. Ari's body was amazing. Tall, ripped, with the sexiest tattoo sleeve running the length of his left arm. Sev just wanted to kneel in front of him and outline his six-pack abs with his tongue.
"You okay, Sev?"
He lifted his gaze to Ari’s topaz eyes to find the male smiling at him as if he was on the verge of laughter.
"Yeah, why?"
"Just the way you were looking at me. You looked…hypnotized or something."
Sev walked around the bed and slid his arms around Ari’s waist. "I was hypnotized. You do that to me." He kissed him sweetly and patted his ass. "I’ll meet you upstairs."
He knew if he didn’t pull away now they would end up on the bed again. Not that that was a bad thing, but they did need to eat and a break in the action would be good to get their strength up.
Breaking away, Sev hustled up the stairs and returned to the kitchen. The pizza box still sat on the counter, and the TV was still on in the living room. He snagged a cold slice of pizza and took a bite. It tasted fine, just needed to be heated up.
He shoved a few slices in the toaster oven, and a couple minutes later Ari walked in wearing boxers. He looked somber.
"You okay?"
Ari nodded. "Yep, just got a lot on my mind."
"Such as?" Sev hoped he hadn’t misread the sitch downstairs.
"Just stuff." Ari was being evasive and that made Sev nervous.
"Are you having second thoughts about all this?" Sev motioned back and forth between them.
Ari’s head swung around. "No. No, that’s not the problem."
Relief relaxed Sev’s body and he breathed more easily. "Okay, so what is?"
Ari went to the fridge and grabbed two cold beers and handed one to Se
v then leaned back against the counter and twisted the cap off his. After taking a drink, he shrugged. "Where do I start, Sev? Io. My parents. My life. My job."
Sev held up his hand. "Whoa, slow down." He joined Ari and leaned back against the counter beside him. "Maybe you should start at the beginning."
"I don’t want to dump all my problems on you, Sev."
But Sev wanted him to dump his problems on him. That’s what mates did for each other. "You’re not dumping anything on me, babe. You’ve obviously got something on your mind – something that’s bothering you. You’ll feel better if you get it out."
"Or not."
Sev gently nudged him and the corner of his mouth turned up. "You won’t know until you try."
The timer on the toaster oven dinged and Ari grabbed them a couple of plates and held them out while Sev placed two slices of pizza on each.
"Okay, I’ll try," Ari said.
They went to the living room, turned off the TV, and sat down on the couch.
They ate in silence for a couple of minutes, and Sev could tell Ari was trying to figure out where to start.
Then suddenly, Ari said, "My parents. They’re pretty old world conservative." He kept his eyes down. "My dad, well, he used to be a member of the king’s personal guard."
Sev’s jaw dropped. "No shit."
So that's where the rumors of Ari's strong bloodlines came from.
Ari frowned as if he was uncomfortable or ashamed. "Yes. So, he’s a close friend of the king, right? And I was expected to follow in my father’s footsteps and all that shit."
Sev wasn’t sure where this was going, but he was intrigued.
Ari looked up and caught Sev’s eye. "Sev, what I’m about to tell you stays between us, okay?"
Sev nodded. "Sure, babe. I can keep my mouth shut."
Wasn’t that the truth? He had kept his own family secrets locked up for decades.
Ari took a deep breath and blew it out between pursed lips. He was obviously nervous and uncomfortable.
"Hey, Ari, are you sure you want to be telling me this?"
Ari gave a brisk nod. "Yes. I’ve just…well, I’ve just never told this to anyone before. I think it’s harder to admit it to myself more than anything. I mean, the minute I say it out loud, it’s real, you know?"
