Adan pressed Yanis’ wrists harder against the mattress. “Don’t move them.”
“Okay.”
Adan moved away, but Yanis resisted the urge to look back. He heard Adan move, the rustle of clothes being taken off and falling to the floor. “Did you pack lube?” Adan asked.
“In the bag.”
The sound of a zipper. Another rustle. Footsteps coming closer. The snick of a plastic bottle being opened. The wet sound of lube being pumped out. The dip of the mattress as Adan kneeled on it again.
Yanis opened his legs, trying not to feel self-conscious, and Adan settled between them. Their legs brushed together and Yanis’ skin crawled with need. Adan leaned forward and captured Yanis’ wrists again.
Yanis felt his ass cheeks being opened by slick fingers. Adan stroked the tip of one finger on Yanis’ hole, not pushing in until Yanis had relaxed.
Adan might be the first man Yanis would bottom for, but he’d experimented, so he knew what to expect up to a certain point. He consciously focused on his ass and tried to relax it. To his surprise, it was easy enough to do. The slide of Adan’s finger was smooth and didn’t hurt. He was being slow and peppering every inch of Yanis’ skin he could reach with kisses, and it went a long way to show Yanis he really cared, even though they’d known each other only for a few weeks.
Adan nipped at Yanis’ nape, distracting him from the fact that he was pushing a second finger in along with the first one. That one did hurt, but Yanis had felt worse. He knew pleasure would come, and he knew Adan would do whatever he needed to do to achieve that.
Yanis let out a sigh at the pleasure sparking through him when Adan brushed against his prostate, but it wasn’t enough. He needed more. He needed Adan, not just his fingers. He didn’t even have to ask now that Adan was pushing a third finger in, more hurriedly than before, a bit more roughly. He was clearly just as ready as Yanis was to get to it, and Yanis opened his legs wider to give him more space.
Then the fingers were gone, and so was the hand holding Yanis down.
“Adan...”
“Turn around.”
Adan’s voice was low and rough, and Yanis obeyed without even having to think about it. He opened his legs just as wide and Adan slotted himself between them, their cocks brushing together. Yanis tilted his hips, both eager to finally get fucked by Adan and worried about it.
Adan must have felt it because his gaze softened and he kissed Yanis’ nose. He put his hands on Yanis’ legs, wrapped them around his back, and said, “I’ll stop if you need me to.”
Yanis nodded, and Adan reached down between them. Yanis felt the head of Adan’s cock slide against his hole, then Adan pushed. Yanis waited, tense, but Adan retreated instead of pushing in. Yanis looked at him, frowning. “What is it?”
Adan shook his head and kissed him. Yanis knew he was doing something, because the worry he’d been feeling slowly dissolved, and when Adan pushed again, the only thing Yanis could feel was pleasure. The pain he’d expected appeared, but just as soon as it did, Adan took care of it, making it disappear.
Adan moved, and everything but pleasure left Yanis’ mind. He wanted to bite his mate, wanted his mate to bite him, to move faster, harder, to thrust deeper. He clung to Adan’s shoulders and used his hold to push himself up.
He didn’t even think before biting down, and Adan didn’t stop him, even though he’d had to have felt what Yanis wanted, or at least he’d had to have had a hint.
“Yanis!” Adan shouted, pressing impossibly deeper inside Yanis as Yanis drank down his blood.
Adan slid a hand under Yanis’ back and pressed their chests together. He bit down like Yanis had. Yanis didn’t know how long it took, but as soon as the connection sparked between them, he came.
He felt Adan go tense, his hips moving faster, and a wave of pleasure coming through their bond. Yanis shouted and hit the pillow with the back of his head, his eyes closing on their own accord.
Adan didn’t stop moving. He slowed down, his hips lazy and mirroring his tongue-laps on Yanis’ new bite mark. Adan hummed and Yanis could feel he was content, sated, and happy. “I can’t wait to do that again,” he said, his voice a croak.
Adan chuckled. “Mmm, we might have to wait a bit.”
“Five minutes good?”
Adan laughed. “We have the rest of our lives, Yanis. Why rush things?”
Chapter Seven
Adan could feel anticipation, but of what he didn’t know. He didn’t even know who it came from, but there were only five people in the room other than Adan and Yanis, so it couldn’t be hard to find out. Of course, it could be coming from anyone, but he had the feeling it didn’t, and it scared him. If it came from the mole, why did the man feel that way? It was a giddy feeling, and while in anyone else Adan wouldn’t have worried, in this case, he did.
“What’s wrong?” Yanis asked in a whisper.
“Nothing.”
Adan tried to tell Yanis what was happening with his eyes and through the feelings he managed to pass along their bond. It wasn’t an exact thing—feelings never were—but it was enough for Yanis to understand something was wrong.
“What can I do?” Yanis asked.
Adan shrugged, because he didn’t know how to answer that question. Yanis nodded, and Adan went back to focusing on the men around him. Nolan and Derick were quietly arguing in the corner of the room, their heads close together as they talked. Adan focused on them. Mild displeasure, but also amusement. No, it wasn’t them.
Benjamin was quietly reading next to the window, so Adan focused on him next. Loneliness, pleasure, probably at reading. Doubts. No anticipation whatsoever.
That left only the last two. Adan bit on his lower lip, knowing he might be about to find out who the mole was. Finn and Trevor were watching TV and talking. There was pleasure, happiness, but no anticipation.
Adan frowned. He knew he’d felt it, and he knew it had been tinged by something dark, something that tasted of ashes and copper. It didn’t come from anyone in the living room, though.
“You found anything?” Yanis asked, leaning against Adan’s side.
Adan shook his head. “It’s no one in here.”
“So, let’s go wander the mansion.”
“But how can I feel it if it’s no one here?”
“Your powers are getting stronger?”
Adan wished Sylvie was still there, but she’d left the week before, just after Yanis’ family. Adan could call her, but she’d told him there wasn’t anything she could teach him. He’d learned how to be careful while feeding, although he didn’t feed from anyone but Yanis, and he had no problems stopping with him. He’d learned how to feed from a vast group of people, and how to select the emotion he wanted to feed on, but the rest was instinct, and Sylvie had said he needed to learn on his own. He’d been trying to learn how to pinpoint the things he was feeling, but it was hard, and he was able to do it only by focusing on each person in turn for now. He was also having a hard time keeping the emotions he felt from running through the bond he shared with Yanis, so Yanis often felt what Adan could feel. It made for awkward moments sometimes, because Yanis could never be sure whether what he felt was what Adan was feeling, or someone else’s emotions.
Sylvie had said the distance he could feel emotions at and feed from them would likely increase at least a bit, and it looked like she was right. Adan got up and Yanis followed his lead. He took Adan’s hand, and Adan let his mate lead him out, trusting him to make sure he didn’t hit anything as he concentrated on the satisfaction and smugness he could still feel. It came from the hallway where Dominic’s office and infirmary—among other thigs—were, but as they walked that way, Adan could feel the emotion retreat.
Isaiah was in the hallway, leaning against the wall, shaking his head.
“What’s wrong?” Yanis asked.
Isaiah looked at them and grimaced. “Bradley just told me he was quitting.”
Adan frowned. He was sure they were in the right place, but why would quitting his job make Bradley happy? “Where is he?”
“He went to get his stuff in his room.”
“I thought he didn’t live here.”
“He didn’t, not exactly. Dominic gave him a room once he realized there was something up with Bradley’s family, but as far as I know he used it only to store stuff.”
“Has he already told Dominic?”
“I don’t think so.”
“We need to find him.”
Isaiah cocked his head. “Why? I mean, I get that it’s not a good thing, but we can’t exactly forbid him to go.”
“We just need to.”
Isaiah must have sensed there was something Adan wasn’t telling him, something important, because he nodded and pushed away from the wall. “Come on.”
“Shouldn’t we tell Dominic?” Yanis asked as he and Adan followed.
Isaiah briefly looked at him. “Call him. I don’t know why you think we need to find him, but it’s obviously serious enough.”
Adan lost himself in his mind, once again relying on Yanis to make sure he’d be fine. He reached out with his power, bypassing the people who were feeling innocuous things, who were happy and innocent.
He froze when he felt hate again, and smugness.
“He’s not in his room.”
“How do you know that?” Isaiah asked.
“He’s...” Adan closed his eyes and tried to pinpoint the emotions. They were strong, and he could tell they didn’t come from the part of the house they were heading toward.
He pointed to the right. “There.”
He opened his eyes and saw he’d pointed at a wall. The garden was on the other side of it, so Bradley was outside.
Isaiah nodded and they hurried toward the kitchen since it was the closest room that had a door that opened on the outside.
Blair and Ira were sitting at the counter and they both looked up when Adan, Yanis and Isaiah came in. “What’s wrong?” Ira asked.
“Have you seen Bradley?” Yanis asked.
“Uh, he’s outside with Delevan. He wanted to talk or something.”
Adan’s eyes widened, but before he could do or say anything, a feeling of surprise and alarm hit him, quickly followed by pain. He gasped and clutched at his chest. Yanis supported him, one arm around Adan’s waist, and when Adan looked up, he saw Yanis was grimacing. Adan hadn’t expected the pain, so he hadn’t tried to keep it from Yanis.
The pain grew and Adan tried to push past it, to find Bradley. He could hear people talking around him, their voices urgent, but he ignored them. He started walking, and Yanis went with him. Adan opened the door and stepped outside.
He made his way around the house toward the pond hidden in the woods. It was a secluded place, a place where people went when they wanted to be alone. It was private, and that probably was the reason why Bradley had lured Delevan there.
The pain Adan felt was excruciating, and he was glad Sylvie had taught him how to dissociate himself from strong emotions. He was able to feed from it, hopefully helping Delevan as he did so.
He knew Bradley was still there when they burst into the clearing beside the pond. Blair screamed, the sound painful and heartbreaking. Delevan was on the ground, a knife stuck in his stomach, blood covering the earth around him. Adan couldn’t tell whether he was conscious or not, but he continued sucking away the pain.
“Stop.”
Adan looked up. Bradley stood next to Delevan, another knife in his hand. Ira blocked Blair before Blair could launch himself at Bradley, but Blair continued to growl, his eyes blazing. “What the fuck have you done to him?”
“I stabbed him,” Bradley answered.
Adan gently probed at him. Bradley wasn’t afraid. He was convinced and smug, but not afraid. “Why did you do it?” Adan asked in a soft voice.
Bradley’s eyes snapped toward him. “I was going to take him with me, but he decided to be stupid.” Blair growled and fought Ira, but Ira didn’t let go. Bradley looked at him, kneeled next to Delevan, and stabbed him again.
Blair went wild, and this time Ira couldn’t do anything to stop him. Adan already knew Blair was going to go to his mate, not to Bradley, so he wasn’t surprised when a few minutes later he noticed Bradley was gone.
The clearing was chaos, people were yelling and running around, and someone had probably gone after Bradley, but Adan couldn’t bring himself to care. He couldn’t take his eyes away from Delevan, who was still lying in a puddle of blood, Noem folded over him, his hands glowing.
It was Adan’s fault. If only he could have found out Bradley was the mole faster, he could have stopped him.
“It’s not your fault,” Yanis said. Adan looked at his mate. He couldn’t hide anything from Yanis, but then neither could Yanis, and Adan was fine with that.
“It is, at least a bit.”
“Yanis is right,” Dominic said from Adan’s side.
Adan looked at him, unsurprised to see Dominic’s face was grim. A deep fear came from him, fear of losing his son, Adan guessed. “I’m not sure of that.”
“It’s not. I’ve known about the mole for months, and now that I think about it, it was obvious Bradley was the mole. The way he behaved... we thought it was because his family life was bad. We all saw the bruises. And now Delevan...”
Adan reached out and squeezed Dominic’s hand. “He’ll be fine. I can feel his pain lessening with Noem’s healing.”
Dominic’s shoulders sagged a bit and Adan felt relief coming from him. “Good. Now we can focus on finding Bradley and making him pay.”
About the Author
Catherine lives in Italy, country of good food and hot men. She used to write fantasy as a child, but it was reading her first gay erotic romance novel that made her realize that that was what she really wanted to write.
After graduating from college in English language and translation, she divides her day between writing, reading, taking care of her son and reading some more.
You can find her on Facebook and Twitter or on her website: authorcatherinelievens.wordpress.com
Email: [email protected]
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