STORY EXCERPT

Dare fed on his knees, sucking on the artery of Ronin’s inner thigh. Ronin wove his hands in the chocolate locks of Dare’s hair, trying very hard not to enjoy this as much as he did as per usual. Dare was the only one allowed to feed from Ronin like this, the only one allowed this close to their king.

“That’s enough, Dare.” Ronin’s low voice touched him like a physical caress.

He shivered and licked the tiny wound he’d made. The special enzymes in the blood of the DRACULs, the Dead Restored Armed Combat Unit, the Legend division of the secret branch of the New Armed Forces in New America, was chock full of healing agents. Unfortunately it was also chock full of infectionary agents.

They didn’t bite though. Well, they didn’t bite humans. Sharing blood between one another was an intimacy that allowed their closeness, kept them connected as a family. It didn’t make sense to most humans, but to Dare, it was perfectly logical.

After that first meal, they’d regained a lot of their humanity. Memories weren’t forthcoming, but from the information they’d gathered from their handlers, it wasn’t like any of them had much of a life beforehand. All of them were chosen specifically because they had no family. Sector Fifty-One and all its secrets had been their lives as humans. As DRACULs, it was the only life they could know.

Dare rested his cheek on Ronin’s thigh, breathing deeply as his head spun. Drinking from one another was an unparalleled high. Drinking from Ro was a better high than even that. He was the source and had the power of a Necro King, aka, he was their boss in a way that went beyond the physical. They couldn’t disobey him if he didn’t allow them to.

Perellini had nicknamed the first version of the cure “vampire syndrome.” There had been others since, but none of them was as proficient in their hybridization of infection and humanity as the five of them. The cure either killed, cured, or turned. Luckily, their concoction had done something else. So they had become Perellini’s pet project. He was obsessed with the fact that Ronin was as close as it came to an interactive Necro King, though Jack Gibson and his army were supposedly hunting a real one. Dare would believe it when he saw it.

“Dare, enough,” Ronin said.

Dare lapped a little bit faster. He’d make Dare stop soon enough. He had better get in all the touching he could before Ronin made him get off.

“We’re supposed to go out on patrol later,” Ronin reminded. “You keep it up and I’ll be dizzy.”

Dare huffed. Ever since the higher-ups had decided to make them useful science projects, they’d had shifts. Since they were officially a special unit, it was to be expected. Of course most of the special ops he knew weren’t locked into their barracks at night. They were like the infected Necros in that they had become super-predators, but they differed in the fact that they drank blood instead of ate flesh, retained their cognizance, and their good looks. They were mostly sent into areas that were deemed too dangerous for normal soldiers.

“Thank you, Ro,” Dare murmured, nuzzling his thigh again. He was still hungry, but he’d have to settle for one of the blood bags in the fridge.

Ronin pulled Dare to his feet. “We’ve got to try to wean you off my blood soon, Dare. As much as I enjoy you sucking on my thighs, this has got to stop.”

“Why? We’re not doing anything against policy,” Dare said, referring to the policy that stated that there could be no romance between soldiers. He wasn’t sure it technically still applied given they were not actually human. “Our existence is technically against policy.” According to the official rule book, if a soldier was infected, they had to be put down immediately.

“That as it may be, the others are starting to ask questions,” Ronin slid off the edge of the table, pulling his pants up as he went. “They feed from one another but never from me.” He crossed the floor to their little eat-in kitchen that wasn’t used for anything but storing their blood bags.

“That is their loss,” Dare murmured, following after him. He licked his lips. “You taste like heaven and burn like hell. I don’t know why you—”

“I am addicting like any other drug available to the Normals,” Ronin interrupted. “The others recognize that the potency of my blood is too dangerous to have, even for an unimaginable high.”

“You could dilute your potency if you would just feed from us as well,” Dare said. He would give a lot to have Ronin drinking from his vein, yet every time he offered, Ronin had refused. Perellini said point blank that the more their blood mixed the better the balance would be in Ronin’s blood. It would even out his hormones and keep him from being so animalistic on their hunts. Ronin was just being stubborn about the whole thing.

Ronin sucked in a breath. A look of pure hunger passed over his face. Dare shivered in response. “I don’t trust my hunger, Dare,” Ronin confessed. “I fed from you all once, and if I hadn’t had all of you together, I would’ve killed any one of you.” He kept beating himself up about turning them and losing it right after they woke up. No matter how many times they told him that it was okay, Ronin beat himself up.

“We’ve learned to control our hungers, Ro. We feed from one another and are closer because of it.”

“I’m not discussing this further. I’m only letting you feed twice a week from now on. Is that understood?” Ronin’s voice left no room for argument, and the damn connection kept Dare from disobeying him.

Dare sighed. “Fine.”

He had to convince Ronin to see reason, somehow.

ADULT EXCERPT

As soon as his fangs sank deep and blood pooled in his mouth, Ronin knew he’d been missing out on something beyond sex, beyond intimacy. This was life with each beat of Dare’s thundering heart. Pure unadulterated lust and no small amount of possessiveness rose up to take up residence in his chest. Mine. It was the only thing that made sense, the only human sentiment he had about his Dare.

He was their DRACUL King, the originator of the particular strain of the plague, and this man was his. His growls and grunts turned into purrs of pleasure as the blood warmed him from the inside out. His erection ground against Dare’s answering one, and Dare’s screams of pleasure joined his inhuman cries of satisfaction.

This felt like a mating of the damned.

Yours. The echo of the promise from long ago sounded in his mind as Ronin drank Dare down. All of his men were his, but Dare belonged to him in a way the others didn’t. This one was not just his to claim but his to fuck.

“I want you,” Ronin admitted over their mental link, praying like hell that the others couldn’t hear or weren’t listening. “I want you naked and under me.”

“Yes,” Dare thought back.

Ronin thanked whatever gods were still listening that Dare agreed. He wasn’t sure if he could stop at this point. He needed Dare too much, was too lost in their connection to really give a damn.

 He tore at Dare’s clothing, eager to reach the soft skin underneath. His fatigues fell away under his inhuman strength. Dare gasped. Ronin hoped that it was a good gasp. Dare’s hard cock was a good indication. He kissed and licked down Dare’s body, eager for more of Dare’s alluring taste.

“Ro!” Dare murmured, arching into his tight as Ronin wrapped his lips around Dare’s rigid and nipples. That only incited him to add the edge of his teeth to the movement. He couldn’t remember if he’d ever been this intimate with another man but being with Dare sure felt natural. He switched his attention to the other side, giving it just as much attention as he had the first. His hands roamed over Dare’s rippling abdomen, teasing the area just above his rigid cock. It seemed to be begging for his attention, jerking every time Ronin got close.

“Stop teasing, you asshole,” Dare snapped.

Ronin chuckled. Dare was incredibly bossy in the bedroom apparently. Dare really deserved for their first time together to be a little bit more romance, but Ronin couldn’t help himself. He felt like he needed Dare for too long to resist the impulse now.

His own cock was twisted painfully in his fatigues, as eager to get on with it as Dare seemed to be. He popped the top two buttons to give himself a little relief. Dare leaned up and tore the rest of his buttons, showering the remaining on the floor so that Ronin’s cock was bared to the open air. Ronin groaned as Dare’s hand wrapped around his cock and gave a firm pump of his wrist.

“Want you,” Ronin confessed, his hips thrusting against Dare’s hand. He wrapped his own around Dare’s thick length, jerking him off just like Ronin jerked himself in the shower every morning. They stayed suspended that way for endless moments, both groaning at the pleasure the other inflicted.

Finally, Dare seemed to reach the end of his rope. “Fuck me,” he said, releasing Ronin’s body.

Ronin growled. “Slick?”

“Lotion. Fatigues,” Dare instructed in broken sentences. Ronin knew what he meant though. They always had little packets of scentless lotion in their field kits. The little collection of gels, antibacterial swabs, and Band-Aids were the only real medical provisions they were sent out with without being classified as medic. Since they were not exactly human anymore, their physical ailments seemed to be more easily dismissed.

Ronin ripped the pocket of his pants in his haste to get to the lotion. He cursed, knowing he’d have to sew the damn thing when he got back to the bunk. However, he had more important things on his mind than his lack of sewing skills. He held up the packet of lotion in triumph. It would’ve been humorous had he been not so turned on.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Ronin said as he opened the slick.

Dare smiled up at him, his expression both warm and welcoming in a way that Ronin hadn’t felt since becoming DRACUL. It warmed him in a very human way to see that expression created just for him.

He smeared half the packet on the tight muscle that would soon be welcoming his cock, pushing it inside with careful fingers. Dare’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he spread his legs wider as he made little sounds of enjoyment at the motion.

“Like that?” Ronin asked, loving every sound they came out of Dare’s mouth.

Dare whimpered. “Yeah. Like it a lot. More, please.”

Ronin made a rumbled sound of approval. “Since you were being so polite…” He added another finger to the first, scissoring Dare open with each plunge and withdraw. His own cock was screaming at him to hurry, to fuck Dare like he wanted, like he needed.

Another finger was added the first two. “Yes!” Dare groaned, his hips rocking in rhythm with Ronin’s. “Gonna come. Please, Ro, fuck me please.”

Ronin had reached the end of his patience as well. He smeared the remainder of the lotion on his Dick and then positioned it at Dare’s tight entrance. “Beg,” he commanded, needing to hear how much Dare wanted him.