by Kell Amber
Quentin freed himself of Jaks’s hold, ignoring the unhappy growl. He kissed his mother on the cheek and tried not to let his anxiety show. “You’ll make an awesome vampire. I love you.”
“I love you too,” she replied.
Quentin turned back to Jaks and entwined their hands. “Let’s go.” He teleported them to his bedroom. He needed something to distract him while his mom became a vampire. If he stopped to think it over too much, he’d go crazy.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to you jumping around like that. Don’t you get tired from expending all that energy?” Jaks asked.
Quentin shook his head. “I use the power from the ley lines to jump from place to place. It takes little of my personal energy.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
“I’m glad you think so. Is there anything else you want to discuss before I get naked?” He gripped the bottom of his shirt and lifted it slightly to show off his abs.
Jaks’s gaze narrowed in on the bit of exposed skin. “Um, no. No… I don’t think there’s anything else.”
“Are you sure?” Quentin pulled off his shirt and tossed it to the floor. The rest of his clothes quickly followed. “I’d hate for you to be distracted by any other questions.”
Jaks licked his lips. “I don’t think anything could distract me from you.”
“Never say never. You’re daring fate.”
“I believe I make my own fate.” Jaks began removing his own clothes, and with vampire speed, they soon joined Quentin’s on the floor. “Now, I seem to remember you and me lying in bed.”
“Hmm, I might recall that situation.” Quentin couldn’t resist poking at the vampire. Jaks brought his teasing side out.
The mattress hit his back before Quentin could mutter “vampire speed.”
“I’ve been a tolerant man, and I believe I’ve earned my reward.” Jaks grinned down at him, his vampire teeth sliding through his gums as he spoke.
“You think I should provide treats for when you act in a decent and humane manner?” Quentin asked.
“Yes. Most vampires wouldn’t be so tolerant of their human lover putting others before them.”
“Ah, I see. You are obviously a step above those other vampires.” Quentin tilted his head back. “Treat away.”
Jaks licked Quentin’s neck. “As delicious as you are, my sweet wizard, I need a much more thorough taste of you.” Jaks slid down Quentin’s body, scraping a fang across his stomach.
Quentin had to clench every muscle he had to stop from jolting at the sensation and impaling himself on Jaks’s teeth.
“Keep that up, and I’ll come before you’re inside me,” Quentin muttered.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be coming more than once tonight.”
Jaks’s comment, uttered in a husky tone, had Quentin’s cock rising.
“You are the sexiest vampire I’ve ever seen.” Granted, Quentin had stayed away from vampires until now, but he couldn’t imagine anyone sexier than Jaks lying on his bed. Vampires reverted to their perfect form upon transformation in order to easily lure their prey. Thoughts of how his mother would look flitted briefly through his mind before he quickly banished them. Now wasn’t the time to think of his parent.
“Focus on me,” Jaks ordered as if he could feel Quentin’s mind wandering away.
“Trust me, I am.” Quentin sighed as Jaks scraped a tooth along his hip. “It’s kind of hard to ignore you.”
“I’m counting on that in more ways than one,” Jaks muttered.
Before Quentin could ask what he was talking about, Jaks licked a wet line up Quentin’s erection. Quentin clutched the sheets. “Oh fuck.”
“Soon,” Jaks promised.
Quentin ached to be filled. He reached to grab Jaks. The vampire surged up and held Quentin’s arms above his head. “Do you want to be in charge, my sweet?”
Did he? Jaks had Quentin pinned with his strong, muscled body rubbing deliciously against him. “No, but if you could hurry it up, I’d like that.” He couldn’t push a more diplomatic answer past his lips.
Jaks chuckled, managing to make the sound both dirty and amused at the same time. “The beauty of being a vampire, darling, is that I can take forever if I want.”
“Not unless you want to be fucking a husk.” Quentin wouldn’t survive if Jaks insisted on the slow route. He’d combust, or something else equally dire would happen to him.
“Nonsense, you’ll be with me until the end of my days.”
Before Quentin could complain, Jaks bit him.
Oh SHIT.
After the first sting of teeth slicing through Quentin’s shoulder, pure adrenaline spiked through him. The fight-or-flight urge had him jolting beneath the predator who pinned him.
“Easy, my sweet.”
The words filtered into his mind. A delicious lethargy swept through him, followed by a wave of pleasure so concentrated, Quentin’s world went white and he floated along an ocean of intense happiness. He became not a single entity but part of a whole. He could feel blood leaving his body, and he tracked it through Jaks’s own. The connection between them spun tight until it formed an impenetrable knot—a binding nothing and no one could ever untangle.
Jaks’s emotions slammed into Quentin then. Joy, hunger, and a powerful love overlapped every other emotion pouring from the vampire. Jaks didn’t just want Quentin; he needed him with a craving so strong that Quentin ached from it.
Overwhelmed, Quentin tried to shy away, pulling back from the maelstrom of Jaks’s need.
“No! Stay with me. Let me show you what you are to me.”
He couldn’t. Too much. Everything was too much….
“Please.”
Quentin forced himself to still and not struggle beneath the vampire’s teeth.
“Watch.”
Quentin couldn’t block his mind from the scenes flickering through like a horror film. Years of loneliness, bloody fights to stay on top, and heartache and betrayal when another lover turned out not to be the one swirled through Quentin. He relived Jaks’s life in an emotional tidal wave.
“Stop!” He couldn’t take any more. Tears slid down his cheeks as sobs broke free.
“Shh, I’ve got you.” Jaks lapped at Quentin’s wound while he brushed away Quentin’s tears.
Right then, Quentin knew he’d been lying to himself about his independence this whole time. His heart, body, and soul now belonged to Jaks. He opened his mouth to speak. What he planned to say hadn’t filtered through his head yet.
Jaks took that moment to kiss him. Unlike the claiming, power kisses from before, this one conveyed affection. A gentle glide, sipping, touching of lips until heat sizzled down Quentin’s spine. The energy swept through him like casting a spell, sensitizing his skin until the sheet beneath him felt rough compared to Jaks’s silken heat.
“It’s too much,” he whispered, hoping Jaks would understand.
“You will get used to it in time, used to us. We were meant to be together.”
Jaks peppered his words with soft kisses along Quentin’s jawline. Beneath the barrage of touches and gentle lips, Quentin would agree to anything. “Will I?” His voice barely left the space between his lips.
“Yes.” Jaks stroked Quentin’s face, then along his chest in a warm trail of fingers across his body. “You’ll get used to being the center of my world, and I’ll have to learn to loosen my grip a little. I know you think this is a one-way connection where I will try to strangle every bit of independence out of you, but it’s not. We are together forever, Quentin, and that means we’ll have to learn to compromise.”
“Sounds good in theory, but why do I get the impression you aren’t used to letting others have their way?”
Jaks smiled. “Because you are an intelligent man. For you, I will make the exception.” A kiss punctuated Jaks’s sentence, and Quentin’s cock, which had flagged during their discussion, hardened quickly beneath Jaks’s attention. As if sensing Quentin’s renewed interest,
Jaks wrapped his fingers around Quentin’s shaft.
“You can do that as much as you want,” Quentin said, pushing into Jaks’s touch.
“I’ll never leave you wanting, my sweet. I will take care of you in all ways.”
Quentin relaxed. The vampire scooted to one side for easier access to Quentin’s body. Quentin could become used to someone putting him first. He scooted over and cupped the back of Jaks’s head, pulling him closer. Jaks’s eyes went wide as Quentin initiated the kiss.
Quentin held back his laughter as sexual energy built between them. Jaks was in for a big surprise if he thought he’d always be in charge of what happened to them in the bedroom.
“You can either fuck me or let me go and I’ll do the honors.”
Jaks grinned. “You think I’m going to always top? I’ll be happy to switch with you whenever you like. Life is too long to stick with the same routine.” Before Quentin could comment, Jaks released him and rolled them over until Quentin was on top. Jaks lifted his own hands above his head. “Do with me what you will.”
Quentin had had dreams like this, but not half as sexy as having Jaks lie there passively while Quentin could do whatever he wanted. “Damn, you’re gorgeous.”
Surprise crossed Jaks’s face. “If all it takes to receive compliments is to lie here, I’ll be happy to indulge you.”
Quentin kissed Jaks’s breastbone, sliding his lips along the bony ridge. A soft gasp rewarded his efforts. “You know you’re gorgeous. You don’t need me to tell you that.”
Jaks slid his right hand into Quentin’s hair, lightly touching. Not enough to guide, only to let Quentin know he was there. “Your opinion is the only one that matters. I wish to please my mate.”
For the first time, Quentin wondered if the vampire had the same insecurities as everyone else. He met Jaks’s gaze. “You are gorgeous, and I couldn’t ask for a better mate.” The words almost choked him as emotion welled up. They might have started out rocky, but Jaks had proven he would support Quentin’s goals. Vampire or not, Jaks pushed all of Quentin’s buttons in all the right ways.
Jaks’s smile warmed Quentin to his core. Until now, Quentin had been too stingy with his words of praise. Wrapped up in his own concerns, he’d ignored the other half of his new lifetime unit.
“I am proud to be your mate,” Jaks said.
“Same here.” Tired of emotion twisting him into new and painful shapes, Quentin slid down and took Jaks’s erection into his mouth. He let the tip barely settle on his lips before flicking his tongue along the ridge.
“Oh fuck, beloved.”
Quentin didn’t respond. He kept his attention where it belonged. Dipping down farther, he let Jaks’s cock slide as far back into his throat as he could without gagging.
“Yes, more.” Jaks clutched at Quentin, moving his fingers from Quentin’s hair to his shoulder, no doubt to prevent ripping out any strands.
Applying suction, Quentin used every trick he’d ever learned from his limited repertoire to bring his mate pleasure. A loud growl ripped through the air and moisture flooded Quentin’s mouth, spilling down his throat. Quentin tasted musky spunk and wallowed in the joy of knowing he’d pleased his mate. He’d barely lifted his head before Jaks picked him up and flipped them over.
“You’ve perfected that well, my sweet. Best make sure I don’t meet any of the men you’ve practiced on.” A possessive fire lit up Jaks’s eyes.
“There weren’t a lot of them,” Quentin mumbled.
“Good.” Jaks kissed him—or devoured him, to be more precise, burning away any memory of other men with his passion.
As Jaks lifted his head and nipped at Quentin’s ear, he rubbed against him. “No one. No shifter, no vamp, no human, no one will ever see you and doubt that you are bonded. You are mine, my sweet wizard, as surely as I am yours.”
Before Quentin could form a reply, Jaks wrapped his fingers around Quentin’s erection and brought him off with embarrassing speed. Heat spread across Quentin’s cheeks, and he ducked his head against Jaks’s chest.
“It is the greatest compliment to me that I can bring you pleasure.” Jaks licked the spunk off his fingers while staring at Quentin as if debating going for seconds.
“How about a shower?” Quentin asked. If they kept going at it, he wouldn’t have any moisture left in his body, and the eventful day was beginning to catch up to him. He needed a rest between crises.
“That sounds like a great idea.”
After a quick wash, they tumbled into bed, entwined together.
Chapter 9
Quentin woke to the world shaking around him.
“Get up, babe,” Jaks said.
“What’s happening?”
“Your apartment is under attack.”
His words weren’t making any sense. Quentin’s muzzy mind couldn’t focus. As he tried to get up, his hands trembled and his feet slid on the clothing on the floor. He stumbled around trying to find the right clothing.
“Here, let me help.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong. I can’t focus.”
“I think I took too much energy last night.” Jaks kissed Quentin’s forehead.
“I thought you only took blood.”
“The bonding exchanged more than blood between us. It should be easier for you next time.” Jaks’s sorrow beat at Quentin like a wave.
“It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”
“We will. We just need to find our center.”
Another boom shook the building. Quentin gasped. “What is attacking?”
“I don’t know, but we need to get going.”
Quentin grabbed Jaks’s wrist, then hesitated. “What about the other people in the building?”
“What about them?”
It took Quentin a moment to realize Jaks was serious. It didn’t occur to the vampire to worry about the rest of the people in the apartment building. “We can’t let them be hurt because someone is after me.”
“How about we go check it out? Then we can decide if we need to deal with a mass evacuation.”
“Okay.” Quentin didn’t see a problem with that plan. He teleported them to the front of the building. A hooded figure stood at the base, directing a large rock troll to slam into the sidewall.
“Stop that!” Quentin ordered.
The troll froze.
“Don’t listen to him! Destroy!” The man’s voice had a strident, familiar tone.
The troll didn’t move.
“I told you to move!” the hooded man screamed.
“Is that Vlad?” Quentin whispered to Jaks.
“I think it is.”
Before Quentin could figure out what to do, Jaks ran to the cloaked individual and ripped away the hood, exposing the old master vampire.
“How did you get out?” Quentin snapped. No way should Vlad be released from custody already. He was supposed to face a sentence. They didn’t set bounties on vampires who could see freedom anytime soon—or at least they weren’t supposed to.
“The judge wasn’t as resistant to mind control as you might think.” Vlad’s smile wasn’t friendly.
“How did you know where to find me?” Quentin worried about the people back at the vampire mansion. Had someone betrayed him, or was the clan in trouble too?
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Vlad sneered.
A low howl echoed down the street. Before Quentin could speak again, the bone wolves surrounded him.
“Ahh… look, you’ve found some pets.”
Vlad didn’t look worried, but the troll screamed and fled down the road.
“Looks like you lost your friends,” Jaks said, watching the troll run. He smirked.
“I don’t need him. He was only here to lure you outside.”
Quentin took a quick glance around but didn’t see any obvious dangers. He sank into his magic, letting it flare around him and seek out trouble. The street behind Vlad glowed with dark figures.
“Crap.”
Jaks
grabbed Quentin’s arm and drew him farther away from Vlad so the other vampire couldn’t hear what Jaks and Quentin said. “Get us out of here now.”
“I can’t.” Quentin had used up all his energy teleporting down there and then calling up his wizard sight. Jaks had drained the rest of his energy the night before.
“You can,” Jaks insisted. “Take from me.”
“How do I do that?” Quentin had never borrowed magic from someone before.
Jaks kissed him.
Energy poured through Quentin, a tsunami of power until his skin felt too tight to contain it. Quentin pulled away from his lover and tried to absorb all the magic. Some of it leaked out and crackled across his body as if he’d turned into a being of pure energy.
“Neat trick. Too bad it won’t save you.” Vlad waved his hand and the vampires in the darkness came forward.
“Are these your people?” Quentin asked Jaks. He would feel bad destroying those who had once followed his lover.
“Not anymore. Take them out, my love.”
Before Quentin could do anything, the wolves attacked, taking down the first wave. Screams filled the night. Quentin hoped his neighbors would stay in their apartments. The streets would flow red with blood tonight, and he didn’t want it to be from anyone he knew.
Glenn appeared before him. Quentin’s heart ached. “Glenn—”
His friend held up his hands. “Don’t kill me! I thought you might need some help. When these asshats began recruiting, I jumped at the chance.”
“How do we know we can trust you?” Jaks asked.
Glenn scowled up at him. “How do we know we can trust you?”
A vampire leaped toward them. Glenn punched him in the throat. The vampire toppled backward, clutching his neck.
“Works every time.” Glenn’s smug smile reassured Quentin more than a hundred protestations.
“Thanks.”
“I always have your back, bro. You should know that.”
“I do.” Quentin bumped fists with Glenn, then focused on the battle.
So far, the wolves had taken down five vampires. Vlad stood back, allowing the other vampires to be fodder for his grand plan.
“What now, Vlad?” Quentin taunted.
