Wayde felt his fangs come down and push against his lips, felt his skin begin to burn at Alex’s touch. His cock twitched and he knew he was going to burst soon, spew inside his pants like a fucking green boy unable to hold it together. He undid the top button of Alex’s pants to allow his hand to slide inside. He found Alex’s hard dick leaking and used the moisture to play with the tip. The jeans prevented more of his arm slipping inside, so he could only tease Alex.
Fuck! Why didn’t they go outside? Go his place? Go anywhere other than stay on this fucking dance floor? He began to lead Alex off the dance floor, directing the other man locked in his arms until they were in a dark corner, hidden by shadow. Then he unzipped Alex’s pants and slipped his hand further inside.
Alex gasped and he moaned as Wayde’s hand found the hard shaft inside. Wayde felt his insides melt as he grasped a cock that was fucking huge. How did the man walk around with such a monster in his pants? It made Wayde’s mouth salivate with temptation. He wanted to sink to his knees and suck him down, taste his cum, drink every drop. But he couldn’t do that here. The most he could give Alex was the best damn hand job possible.
But soon, Wayde promised himself, soon he’d have Alex in his bed, fucking his brains out. In the meantime, he used the precum leaking from the slit and offering a little moisture to coat his hands, so he could jack off Alex with ease. Up and down his hand worked, alternating pressure as he went, loving how the rigid cock filled his hand. Apparently, so did Alex, by the breathy moans spewing from his mouth. Even though the music was loud and the bass thumped the floor, Wayde could still hear Alex as he panted out his pleasure.
Wayde straddled Alex’s leg and began grinding his groin, and the friction and pressure of the material revved Wayde up even more. The tantalizing scent of Alex’s musk wafted up, hitting his nostril and making him salivate.
Mine.
The word kept repeating through his head, driving him crazy. His hips humped Alex’s leg faster, his pumping hand following along. He wanted to come, so badly, but even more, he wanted Alex to come with him. Exploding together in bliss. Holy fuck!
He felt Alex swell in his hand, felt his balls draw up. Alex gripped Wayde’s shoulders so tightly he knew he’d have bruises. He was going to spew any second and Wayde felt his own body prepare, doing the same. A second later, Alex cried out as his jizz spurted out, warm and sticky. Wayde sank his fangs into Alex’s shoulder and blood burst upon his tongue, so exquisite that he immediately exploded in his pants and he drank deep as they each rode the crest of ecstasy.
And then he was done and his fangs retracted, slipping from Alex’s body. He licked the puncture wounds closed just as they collapsed upon each other, breathing hard. Sweat glistened off their foreheads. Wayde pulled his hand out of Alex’s pants and proceeded to lick off Alex’s cum, loving the salty essence. Then he captured Alex’s mouth in a tender kiss before pulling away.
Alex looked at him through his lashes and Wayde wanted so much to take him by the hand and lead him to a nice soft bed. But he sensed Alex wasn’t quite ready for that. The hand job was one thing. A long night of fucking was something else.
“Why you?” Alex whispered.
Wayde knew exactly what he meant. Damned if he ever thought he’d fall for anyone, let alone a Shade cop.
“What about Daphne?” Alex asked.
“You’re both mine,” Wayde replied.
Alex pushed him away and they stared at each other, breathing hard, although Wayde suspected Alex was more pissed now than turned on.
“I’m not yours,” Alex told him. “And Daphne has no idea what you are. Don’t delude yourself, rogue.”
He stormed away, leaving Wayde watching after him. He wanted to shout out his frustration. He wasn’t the rogue. But no matter what he thought, he knew Alex didn’t believe him.
Guess he’d have to prove his innocence.
Chapter Nine
Alex managed to make it out of Tartarus, although his legs were still wobbly from the incredible orgasm he’d had only moments before. He walked into the alley and promptly collapsed against the building, forcing himself to take deep and steady breaths.
What the fuck was that?
He tried to remember what made him go to Tartarus in the first place. He’d been unsettled, restless from his kiss with Daphne, and had wanted to blow a little steam. Instead, he’d blown his load in Wayde’s hand and had watched the man lick it off his fingers. It had been one of the hottest things he’d ever seen. Even now the memory made his dick stir to life.
No! No, he would not think of that man again! He had to eliminate him. Neutralize the effect to his senses. The man was a menace to his equilibrium, his work, and his life. Hell, he’d be doing the universe a favor. Right?
Right.
Alex’s mind flashed to Wayde’s soft lips, his long tongue. The man definitely knew how to work that tongue. What would it feel like as it licked his cock? Rimmed his hole? The thoughts turned his semi-hard shaft into a pulsing, needy hard-on that made him want to go searching for Wayde.
Maybe he shouldn’t shoot the fucker until after he’d had a blow job.
Yeah. That’s what he’d do. Blow job first. Shooting his brains out second.
****
Wayde slammed his front door behind him with great satisfaction. He was horny and pissed off, which made a helluva combination. Why the fuck did Alexander Malden believe him guilty? Because the asshole was in lust? Shit.
He did have one thing right. He pushed away from the door and headed down the hallway where Daphne’s bedroom was located. He placed his ear to her door but didn’t hear anything. Slowly, he turned the knob and the door quietly swung open.
Her bedroom had a window and the moon hung low in the sky, already beginning it’s waning decent toward the next new moon. He knew the cycle intimately. Out of all the Shade species, vampires and werewolves were the only two cursed with living by the moon. In that regard, he somewhat envied the fairies, warlocks, and witches. Even the demons and angels to some extent.
In any case he only had about another half an hour before daybreak. He looked down upon Daphne’s serene face, tenderly tracing over her features as if memorizing them. Perhaps he was. He’d been avoiding her lately, because he’d been so confused about his feelings. He’d get up and greet her, pretend to drink the coffee she made for him before heading to his store to work. After several intense hours restoring his books, he would find something else to occupy his time. Each time he came home, food would be wrapped up waiting for him in the refrigerator. He would take it, discard it and place the empty plate in the sink as a gesture that he’d enjoyed her cooking.
He bent over and kissed her softly on the lips, hating when he felt how cold her skin was. He listened hard and hated how thready her heart sounded. One day she would go to sleep and not wake up.
Or she would have cardiac arrest during the day and he’d be unable to help her. Maybe he should take her to Dove Hollow Hospital in Los Angeles. Perhaps there was something from Shade medicine that could help her that human medicine could not. Of course, that meant he’d have to come clean about who he was and who the Shade were.
But if he didn’t and she ended up dying, the question was, could he live with that guilt?
Could he live without her?
She and Alex were fast becoming special to him. He was going to have to figure this out, and figure it out fast, because he had a feeling time was running out. He went to bed still indecisive. His dreams were filled with lustful images of Alex and Daphne, in some they were even intertwined and holding out their hands for him to join.
The moment the sun set, his eyes opened, but they felt gritty and tired. All he wanted to do was pull the sheet over his head and fall back into slumber, but he had a rogue vampire to catch and damned if he knew how he was going to do it.
As usual, Daphne was in the kitchen and coffee’s brew cycle was finishing. She looked bright and sweet, and he realized how much he valued the
sunshine in his life. He had never really missed the sun since he’d been born to darkness, but he knew that when…if…Daphne should die, then she’d be taking an important part of his existence with her.
He didn’t want to lose her.
So first, he had to catch this rogue vampire, and then tell Daphne about himself, and then save her, either by turning her or finding a cure at the Shade hospital. Easy as pie and absolutely no stress…yeah, right.
He captured Daphne’s hand and brought her over to the table, pulling out a chair and helping her sit as he took the one next to her. She looked at him in surprise, her big blue eyes huge in her pale face. He immediately saw that she was having a difficult time. Her skin felt cold and he could hear her labored breathing.
“I think I should call the doctor,” he said, all other thoughts fleeing his mind.
She smiled a little forlornly at him. “We both know that’s not going to be much help,” she said softly.
“I can help you, Daphne,” he stated. “There’s something wrong with your heart, isn’t there?”
She nodded. “I have some valve defects.”
“Medicine or surgery—”
“Didn’t work,” she interrupted. She pulled her shirt down a little, low enough to show him the top of the scar that dissected her chest.
“Daphne—”
“Is there something you wanted to tell me?” she asked, interrupting him again. He saw her force a big smile on her face and his own heart stuttered with pain.
His poor girl. His poor, brave girl.
“Yes,” he acknowledged, allowing her to change the subject. “I need for you to stay in these next few nights.”
“I don’t go anywhere, anyway.”
“Good,” he said and started to rise, but she grabbed hold of his arm and made him sit again.
“Why?”
“Because…I don’t want to tell you why,” he said.
She raised an eyebrow. “Wayde?”
“Okay,” he replied, caving easily. All she had to do was stare at him with those big blue eyes and he’d give her anything. “I’m going to catch the murderer.”
She blinked at him. “What?”
“I said—”
“I heard what you said. No, absolutely not!”
He sighed. He shouldn‘t have said anything. “Daphne, I have certain skills that will be useful in tracking the monster down.”
She clutched the material on his arms, as if that would be enough to keep him next to her. He liked how concerned she was for him.
“What skills could a book dealer have against a murderer?”
“Just trust me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” he said softly.
Her eyes turned misty at his words. He reached over and unclenched her fist that had balled up in the sleeve of his shirt and brought it up to his lips. He kissed her hand and then placed it on his chest, holding it tightly against his heart.
“I’m falling for you, Daphne,” he murmured. “And you’re sick. I have an idea on how to get you well, but first, I have to take care of this monster hurting people because Alex Malden thinks I’m the killer.”
“Alex? No, he’d never think that.”
His eyebrow went up. “There are things you don’t understand yet.”
She hesitated for a moment. “Things about you and Alex?”
“Yes,” he replied steadily.
She bit her lip and he saw that her mind had to be racing over his words. He waited for her next conclusion. “Are you and he…involved?”
“Yes,” he answered, and then gave a little shrug. “No. Well, somewhat.”
“But…you said you’re falling for me?”
He nodded.
“Oh,” she said. “I think I’m confused.”
“I’m falling for both of you,” he surmised. “Perhaps you can fall for both of us as well.”
He could see that it just wasn’t clicking for her, but that was okay. He’d planted the seed, so he’d let it take root for now. He bent and kissed her, licking her lips until her mouth parted so he could slide his tongue inside her warmth. She responded immediately, pressing closer to him, and he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Even through the kiss he could feel her fragility and knew that he had to do anything possible to save her.
When he finally pulled back, she was breathless and his cock was straining against his zipper. But she’d never be able to hold up to the pleasure he wanted to give her, to the desires he knew existed between them.
One day.
“There’s much I have to tell you, Daphne,” he said and he hugged her close. “I want to be honest with you about everything. But I have to clear my name with Alex and then we can all try to work out this thing between us.”
“All of us,” she whispered.
“Yes, Daphne. All three of us. All right?”
“O—Okay.”
He smiled into her hair and took one last deep breath of her light floral scent. “I’ll be calling you later tonight to check on you. I would feel safer if you’d allow me to bring in someone to watch over you.”
“No,” she stated firmly.
He chuckled. “You interrupt me a lot.”
“You tend to push a lot.”
“That I do. All right. But if you start feeling worse, or faint, call 911 and then call me. Understand?”
“I can do that. But I’m going to be worried about you tonight.”
“That’s one thing you don’t have to worry about,” he assured her. “Like I said, I have a way of finding that asshole and I’m pretty tough.”
“He could have a gun!”
“I could have a gun.”
“I see I’m not going to win this argument, am I?”
“No, because it has to be done. Otherwise, more women are going to die and I can’t let that happen.”
She cupped his face. “Please be careful.”
He placed his hand on top of hers and looked deep into her eyes. “There’s nothing on this earth that will stop me from returning to you, Daphne Sabella. You and I will make a life together.”
“And Alex?”
“Well, we’ll see about Alex.”
He kissed her one more time, rose, and left to prepare, not giving her time to question him further about Alex’s role in their life together. Of course, he and Alex had to explain who and what the Shade were, and he could only hope that Daphne didn’t freak the hell out when they sat down for that little talk.
****
Once he had left the apartment, Daphne sat at the kitchen table thinking about everything he’d said. She may be a virgin, but she wasn’t ignorant to the ways of sex. Was Wayde telling her he wanted a threesome or did he want something more? Something deeper? And what did Alex think about this? She was attracted to both men, but surely this didn’t mean she had to act upon that attraction.
Did she want both of them?
She tried to take a deep breath and ended up having a coughing fit. When it was over, she lay her head down upon the table, tears falling from her eyes. Of course, she may not have to worry much about sex or threesomes for too long. She was progressively getting weaker. It was one of the reasons why she hadn’t pressed Wayde too hard about her leaving.
She’d always known she was going to have a short life. In fact, the doctors had predicted she wouldn’t make it out of her teens. But she’d proved them wrong. She was twenty-three and every day was precious. Was it fair to have Wayde find her one day, to make him deal with her corpse? Truth be told, she was selfish. She didn’t want to die alone and not be found for days or weeks.
He talked about saving her, finding something to heal her, but she’d already run the gamut of doctors and hospitals and all they gave her was either false hope or grim news. She didn’t want to go down that path again. She’d had enough of reality.
Daphne pushed back from the table and stood, pausing as a dizzy spell wa
shed over. Once it passed, she straightened and headed for her bedroom. Something made her stop and turn to look down the hallway that housed Wayde’s bedroom. What did he have that made him able to track a killer?
Knowing she had no right to invade his private domain, she tried to push away the curiosity that ran through her. In the weeks she’d been living here, she’d never had the desire to invade his bedroom, but his words wouldn’t leave her. So she walked toward his room and gently turned the knob on his door.
The door was heavy and required that she actually push it open. As she stepped into the room, the first thing she realized was that there weren’t any windows. If she closed the door behind her, this room would be a tomb. The second thing she noticed was the bed was very large. She wondered what the thread count on the Egyptian cotton sheets were, something astronomical by the feel of them.
The furniture was black and steel. Everything had a feeling of modern coolness about it, but what drew her was the floor to ceiling bookshelves. As she got closer, she realized they were filled with all types of antiques. Music boxes, clocks, books, paintings, statues, feather quills and parchment papers. Rolled up scrolls, coins that depicted only heads of men with wreaths. Gold jewelry and weapons. Daphne had a hard time seeing it all and trying to figure out what it all meant. Some of this stuff had to be priceless. Was Wayde really this wealthy?
As she looked over everything, she saw an old photo album and opened it. The first picture had her stomach clenching. Wayde stood there, in grainy black and white, dressed in very old clothes, wearing a type of fedora. He stood next to a couple who was also dressed strangely, the man similar to him while the woman wore clothes reminiscent of the Roaring Twenties.
She closed the album and backed away from the shelves.
One of Wayde’s relatives? Who looked exactly like him?
Or something different? She began to play back the past couple of weeks in her head. He always worked at night. He slept through the day in a tomb-like room. He had antique and ancient items scattered around like they were bric-a-brac.
As Midnight Loves the Moon Page 5
