by Deja Black
Aiden returned to Dan and dropped to his knees on the warm grass. “I would submit to you, Daniel. I would give my life, my everything, to you.” There was a sincerity in Aiden’s blue-green eyes, those tiny flecks of amber, that couldn’t be ignored even as he flickered again.
Dan couldn’t help it. He reached out and played his fingers through the warm silkiness of Aiden’s hair. Tightening his fingers, he brought Aiden’s face to his own and kissed him long and deep, reveling in the spicy flavor that was Aiden’s alone. He accepted. He accepted this man, this being, as his own.
THAT EVENING, they ate at Mimi’s Café. Dan loved the buttermilk spice muffins, and as he fed Aiden a morsel or two from his fingertips, he agreed, with a snort, they were indeed the yummiest.
“What’s on your mind, Daniel?”
Yeah, Dan had been watching Aiden for a while, wondering. “I’m just going to ask.”
“Well, ask.”
“Shut up. Let me think.” He played with it in his mind. “Aw, fuck it. What do I do to claim you? I’ve read some interesting books. Fiction, really. I know what our pack laws are. What happens with you and me? What do I do? Is there some rite, some ceremonial deal? Witnesses? What?”
Aiden leaned back, his sigh weighted. “Wow, I know I wanted you to ask, but just wow. Okay.” Aiden looked around. He waved his hand gently in a circular motion, little more than a swirling of his fingertips, but a hush drifted over the guests in the restaurant.
“What was that for?”
“Well, if we’re going to be having this conversation in a crowded restaurant, I need to be sure that our conversation is… hidden. I have blurred our words to your fellow humans, given us a measure of privacy.” Aiden watched him, waiting.
“Really. A pageant wave? That’s all there is to it?”
“Yes,” Aiden said, his head leaning to the side.
“Prove it.”
Aiden sighed. “Must everything be about proof with you?”
Dan’s frown was answer enough.
“Forget it. Say something attention grabbing.”
“Anything?”
“Yes, anything.”
Dan thought. What could he say? Opening his mouth, he shouted, “I would like to announce that my soon-to-be-claimed mate here has a wonderful ass, which I will most certainly be taking advantage of immediately.” He looked around quickly, searching for a reaction, shock, anything.
Within seconds a waitress hurried over. “Are you ready for dessert, sir?”
“Uhm. Yes, yes, I am.” Smiling, he ogled Aiden appreciatively. “A dessert menu, please.”
Clearing his throat once again, Aiden shifted in his seat, uncomfortable. Dan had an idea what the source of that discomfort might be and snorted.
“Unbecoming,” Aiden grunted.
“Oh, you’ll be coming later.” Placing an order for a ridiculously large slice of chocolate cake, Dan went on. “So, talk.”
“Well, as with any rite, there is blood and promise.” He dabbed a napkin across those sexy lips to remove a tiny bit of muffin. Dan was tempted to lick him clean, but he didn’t want to push it. “You will verbalize your desire to claim me. I will submit to you, accept your mark. You and I will share blood and essence.”
“Okay, let me try to get this. Layman’s terms. I will say words claiming you. You will say you submit to me. I will mark you. What kind of mark?” He leaned forward, eager.
“The words are a promise, like swearing an oath. My submission is both an oath and a physical surrendering. As for the mark, you will decide how to mark me.”
“Hmm. What if I wanted to tattoo you, have you tattooed with my initials or my name? Like a brand. Yeah, I want you branded. With handcuffs.”
For a moment Aiden looked both shy and pleased. “That’s not unheard of. There have been other sandmen marked by their keepers. I would be honored to wear your mark, Daniel.” Aiden glanced at Dan, then away, a small smile gracing his lips.
Dan was almost ready to end this conversation and make with the claiming. “When? When can we do this?” His tone did nothing to hide his eagerness.
The waitress swung by, dropped off the enormous hunk of cake, and flitted off.
Fork in hand, Dan was ready to take the first anticipated bite.
“It will need to be on the night of the crescent moon. The moon is more or less a link for us all. To do the claiming then not only would allow the Man in the Moon, the keeper of souls, to grant us safe passage, but it would also give us the leverage we need to challenge Keith’s power.”
Dan lost his appetite. “Keith’s power?”
“Keith has had you for a long time, Daniel.” Aiden glanced at him before swallowing a sip of his drink. “Has used your energy to feed his own. While it has not been possible to mate with you—for you are not his, you are mine—he was able to suck from you even if he could not gain all the benefits of his own true coimeádaí. It’s your energy, energy he has robbed you of as you slept, energy he has used to control others as he did the other night. He too is near his time, but he has chosen to become the vilest of us all. His form is what you have seen in your nightmares. Unchecked, he will be strong enough soon to steal from others. I have a feeling that he isn’t just using your students to trap you, but he wants to use them, then devour them, feed his beast.”
“And we can stop him?”
“Yes, we can. By combining our energies, we can not only stop my brother, we can destroy him.” This should’ve been a moment to celebrate, but Aiden’s voice had a sadness to it, pain.
“Aiden?”
He looked up, his eyes shadowed with grief. “Another gone, Daniel. To have to rid the earth of another of my kind? I was hoping that Keith could be saved, could share life with me. I am so tired of being lonely.”
His words made Dan’s heart ache, so Dan rose and moved to sit next to him. Taking the big man in his arms, he held him close, nuzzled him as he breathed him in. “You will never be alone again. I am here. You want a family, Aiden? For as long as we are able, we will share mine.” Dan slid his lips over Aiden’s cheek.
“Even Conner?” The growl was unmistakable.
Dan’s own lips quirked. “You do know that Conner is my brother, right? Blood or not, he’s my family. He will be your brother as well, and Shelly, whatever she is, will be your sister.”
“You can’t promise these things.” Aiden’s body tensed with his words.
“I can and I do. You will never be alone again.”
With a tired sigh, Aiden allowed himself to be held.
Dan smiled, then looked up to see they had a few guests. “Starting now, it would seem.”
Noting the change in Dan’s tone, Aiden looked up to see Jeremiah, Kristoff, Conner, Shelly, and the four escorts. With Mimi’s being such a tight squeeze, they had to be making quite an impression.
Taking a seat across from the couple, with Kristoff at his back, Jeremiah said, “It has been communicated to me that there is much to celebrate, my son. Let us share, yes?”
CHAPTER 17
“WELL, THAT went well, all things considered,” Dan said.
Aiden’s eyes were blown wide open, almost as if he were suffering from shock.
The conversation with Jeremiah and his family, including Shelly, had gone just the way Dan had expected it to. He had realized that while human ears would fail to hear his earlier shout, Conner’s men would not and would never hesitate to quickly relay them to his brother, who would most assuredly see that Jeremiah knew. But Jeremiah had made his point. This pairing would not go on without the full involvement of the pack, no matter what his future son-in-law believed, sandman or no. Wolves lived for centuries, and the bond Dan shared with Aiden would be one the pack would share for a long time. No one actually knew how long that could be.
Glances had volleyed back and forth between Aiden and Jeremiah, his father doing most of the talking and his future son-in-law the listening. It was no real surprise for Dan to learn that Jeremiah k
new of the sandmen. It didn’t please Conner, though, who wondered aloud and with a thumping fist just why Aiden or any of his kind should be trusted. They had the power to hurt and harm, bringing humankind to their knees, or possessed the ability to use them as a weapon. They were difficult to scent and just as difficult to track. So why?
Jeremiah listened patiently to his firstborn and then reminded him that there were all kinds of monsters, and some of the greatest of them were in fact human. Each should be granted an opportunity to prove themselves, no matter the being. The knowing look he cast Shelly’s way was not lost on Dan. Neither was it lost on Conner, who settled begrudgingly with a nod.
When Dan thought about it, it was odd that Shelly wasn’t surprised in the least by this conversation. He would make a point to get her alone so they could have a heart to heart.
As for Aiden? Aiden had been wired beneath Dan’s traveling fingertips, his body coiled tightly and prepared to spring. The more Dan touched him, though, the more he calmed, especially when he finally began to realize he was being welcomed and would not have to fight Dan’s family to keep his coimeádaí.
Talk continued with plans for Keith’s capture first and foremost, and then the proposed ceremony that would allow Aiden’s acceptance into the pack as Dan’s mate. When Dan had asked if he and Aiden were to have the claiming in front of the pack, complete with the sharing of blood, he was comforted to know the claiming was for him and Aiden alone. The ceremony that all would witness would occur after the claiming, a symbol of the bonding for the pack.
The chocolate dessert decimated, Dan had just finished licking his spoon clean. He had looked up to find everyone’s eyes on him, waiting. Conner’s eyes were laughing, along with Shelly’s. Jeremiah was patient, Kristoff expressionless as usual. Aiden? Aiden was hungry. His eyes had darkened with need. They were twin blue torches, brilliant with fire, his glow so bright Dan was certain he wasn’t the only one seeing it, especially when his black-as-midnight hair started to lift. Tendrils floated about his head as if some breeze moved through the restaurant.
“Here we go again,” Conner whispered to Shelly, who giggled. Yes, giggled.
Jeremiah’s satisfied grunt called an end to the impromptu meeting. “This. This is what a mating should be, this uncontrolled fire, this want. It is good.” His father had nodded at him then, his blessing granted. “We will leave you to your claiming, son. It appears to be time for you to take your mate, and there is business to be attended to while we are here.” And just as quickly as they had arrived, all had left.
Of course, new sentries were not far away. And yes, Dan knew he would always have them as a shadow, no matter what.
THEY LAY together, holding each other, Dan kissing Aiden’s warm skin, alternating between small bites, making rose-colored marks appear. “You know. I don’t have incisors like my brother or my father. I’m not a wolf.” Dan’s voice held a small trace of a smile as he spoke to Aiden, who lay against sheets so soft, Dan was sure clouds couldn’t compete. The warmth of his body next to Dan’s own was comforting. Dan’s tongue lapped over the pulse in his neck gently, tasting the salt on his skin.
“This. This is what you think of after our being ambushed by your father and his threats of a shotgun wedding.” Aiden’s own voice was incredulous. Still, he didn’t move from the touch Dan offered, his tongue, the feathering of his lips, or the playing of his fingers along Aiden’s arms, his ribs, across erect nipples. Dan could feel the spike in his temperature as his body began to burn, undulating, craving whatever his keeper chose to give.
“Shotgun. What are you, a girl? No one’s forcing you, Aiden. If you don’t want to do this….” Dan stopped tasting, stopped his sensual assault, and moved to the edge of the bed. He wouldn’t force Aiden to give himself. Didn’t he say he would have to surrender for this to work? Besides, there was more than an age-old bonding here, more than even the ceremony almost demanded by his father. Dan felt for him. He wanted him, needed him. Sure, he thought he loved Keith at first, but it was never this strong, never this necessary. Aiden was necessary.
He wasn’t completely sure when it had happened. Walking together, talking, almost forced to share more of himself. Engaging the asshole Aiden could be sometimes, his sheer arrogance turning him on, challenging him. Aiden Kavanagh pulled Dan out of his dark world, out of hiding, and forced him to face not just him, but the world head-on. He wanted more of that. Being around Aiden was a rush. Being with him was a desperate need that fed his body and flooded his soul, as essential as breathing. The idea of claiming him made Dan’s blood rush through his veins, so eager was he to tear into his mate and take what belonged to him. But he wasn’t a wolf controlled by his mating instinct. He was a teacher, a teacher who often helped his own students to see that life was more than instinct, more than acting on impulse. If Aiden didn’t want him, then he would stop this, would show him how valuable he was to him.
Reaching for the nearest item of clothing—a shirt—he moved to drag it on. Before his fingers could grasp the material, though, he was suddenly tugged across the bed and flung against the wall. His head thudded, the air whooshing from his chest. Looking at Aiden, whose own chest rose and fell, his breaths leaving him as if he had just raced a marathon, Dan tried to take in a little air himself while he processed what had just happened.
Aiden made him think of the tales he had heard of Medusa. Hair of vipers, coiled and hissing angrily. Skin reptilian green, shiny with scales as sharp as poisonous daggers. Eyes crimson red and blazing, filled with rage. Snarling. But before Dan could identify this as his lover’s form, he flared, and Aiden’s presence blended, morphed. His black locks lifted, no longer serpents but hair that snapped back and forth, blue wisps of energy crackling along its length. The eyes hadn’t changed, though. They were still red, still angry, but also something else. Wanting. The eyes were wanting and afraid. Then yet another form: light. An Alice-blue light that glowed, white hot and wavering.
Aiden’s words resonated in his head, oscillating, one sound over the other merging and splitting. He would be hard put to find anything in that burning bright light that would be facial features—not a mouth, nose, not even eyes. Just light.
“There is no ‘I don’t want to.’” Aiden’s words were musical, dancing on a different plane but close, rhythmic, following the drumming of his heart. “You don’t get it, Daniel. I can’t not do this. I have to have you. The more apart I am from you, the more I fail to breathe.” The glow brightened, the room so intense they appeared to be outside rather than in, enjoying the candlelight of just a few minutes ago. “I’m losing control daily. We almost didn’t make it back here before my human outer shell started to burn up with just how much I ache to be a part of you, to have you claim me. So, no. I must do this. I just…. Your father, your Alpha. Your brother.”
At that moment, Aiden became himself again, blinking as his face reappeared from within the blinding light. He took a breath, eyes that mercurial mix of blue and green. His silken tresses floated around his head like some twisting hair tornado, but he was Aiden again. He had called Conner Dan’s brother, called Jeremiah Dan’s father. Named Dan’s family. The jealousy that Aiden harbored toward them that usually dripped from his tone was absent now. “I need you, Daniel. I’m so hungry for you, Daniel. Want this to be your choice. I want me to be your choice, not your obligation.”
And then he stopped. Everything stopped while he waited.
With Aiden’s transition from crazy lightbulb to human, the dark had descended on the room once again, velvety. Dan could make out the shape of Conner’s men as they remained in the shadows. They too waited, ready to remove him if his answer would not be the one needed to please Aiden, the one he hoped to hear.
“I want you, Aiden Kavanagh, whatever you are beyond the face I know as yours.” Dan reached out to Aiden, wrapped his hair around his fingers, and twisted sharply. Aiden’s pained grunt as his head was forcibly angled and his body brought closer to Dan’s was both su
rprised and pleasure-laden, his breathing faster, eager. “I want you.” Dan pulled tighter, licked along his jugular, nipped him. “Being, spirit, demon, and all. I want to love you, fuck you, claim you. I want you. I want you regardless of my father’s wishes, my pack, my family, or even Keith. I want you because from the moment I kissed you in my father’s gardens, from the moment I realized I was dreaming of you, I knew that I needed you. I didn’t want to. I still don’t sometimes.”
He lapped at Aiden’s lips, then kissed him slowly, drinking in his taste. “I’m still afraid, but I feel whole with you. I can talk to you. I can love you. I can fight with you.” He bit Aiden’s lip until a tiny drop of blood seeped onto his tongue. “We still have growing to do. We need to know each other, but I am willing and wanting to take the first step to get there. If this means burying my dick so deep in your ass, you can feel it in your throat, I can do that, Aiden. If it means swigging down your blood, something I can promise you was not on any menu I have ever considered anticipating, I can do that for you, Aiden.” His nips and bites became more pronounced then, deeper. “And I more than want that. Not just for you, but for me, too. So take your hands or whatever you are using to hold me off and put those big, beautiful lips around my dick, and let’s start.”
Aiden looked up as far as Dan’s grasp would allow him. He bucked against his hand, testing his grasp, testing him.
“Now, Aiden. I am your keeper. You will listen to me.” There was no hesitation in his voice, only command. He was almost certain he was channeling his father. He could definitely do this control thing, wanted to shiver all over like a little puppy in his excitement. Everything happened for a reason, right? His reason was kneeling before his spread legs, slowly and deliberately going for his rod, preparing to wrap two beautiful, luscious lips around him and deliver a dream so good, the only way to top it off would be the explosion of his cream between Aiden’s cheeks. Best fucking dessert ever. Mimi’s chocolate cake had nothing on this. “Oh. Oh, yeah. Right there. Right there. Yeah.”
