STORY EXCERPT

Thane’s face appeared freshly shaven, but his hair was still long and scraggly with a dullness that matched the rest of his depleted body. Bruises covered the tops of his shoulders, and the skin that peeked out from under the blankets was a map of claw and bite marks. Even in his malnourished and broken condition, he was the most gorgeous thing Zasha had ever seen.

That should have been his first clue. Paranormals were predisposed to be attracted to their mates. While he’d always thought Lynk was nice to look at, he’d still had the underlying disappointment that the man was really much too small and delicate, really not his preferred type at all.

There wasn’t anything delicate about Thane, though.

It was hard to estimate Thane’s true height while he was horizontal, but Zasha guessed it to be somewhere just over six feet. It wasn’t hard to see beneath the cuts, bruises, and shrunken frame to the man he used to be, not for Zasha. A clear picture of what Thane would look like once healthy flittered through his mind, and it was a delectable portrait.

“Hello.” Thane’s voice was small and wispy, barely carrying across the room, but the smile he offered transformed his entire face. “You must be Zasha.”

“I must be.” Returning the smile, he crept closer to the bed, moving cautiously so as not to frighten the man. After the ordeal he’d been through, it would be natural for him to have trust issues. “You must be Thane.”

“I must be,” Thane echoed. “Come here so I can see you.” Groaning in obvious pain, he braced his hands on the mattress and struggled to sit upright.

“Here, stop that.” Rushing forward, Zasha pressed a palm to Thane’s shoulder, holding him in place with little effort. “Let me help you. What do you need?”

“Just this.” Rolling his head to the side, he glanced at the squat bedside lamp. “Maybe some light?”

Keeping one hand on Thane’s chest, he used to the other to pull the chain on the lamp, filling their part of the room with a soft glow. “Better?” Despite his thinness, Thane was even more handsome up close, and his scent was making Zasha’s head spin.

“Tell me about yourself,” Thane insisted, though his eyelids were already drooping, and his words were slurred with exhaustion. “Where are you from?”

“I’m from the Snake River Coven.” Zasha stared down at his hand where it rested against Thane’s warm skin, smiling like an idiot when the witch covered it with his own. “We can talk later. You need to be resting.”

“You’re probably right,” Thane agreed. “Come here.” He rubbed his free hand back and forth against the mattress. A tattoo of an intricately detailed tribal dragon stretched down his bicep beneath the cuts and bruises, writhing with his movements as though alive and restless. “I’ve been missing you.”

Considering this was their first meeting, Zasha was unsure what that last part meant. Maybe Thane was confused. Perhaps he thought someone else was with him in the room. “I can’t stay here,” he whispered, glancing toward the large window to the right of the headboard. He’d love nothing more than to curl up beside Thane and protect him until he was strong again. Unfortunately, his limitations prevented it. “The sun will be up soon.”

“Right.” His lips twitched at the corners, and he shook his head as though he found the information humorous. “You’re a vampire.” Removing Zasha’s hand from his chest, he rolled to his side and finally levered himself into a sitting position.

“Thane, what are you doing?” Anyone with eyes could see that every little movement caused him pain, and Zasha didn’t understand why Thane would put himself through that. If he’d survived half of what the witch had, he didn’t think he’d ever get out of bed again.

“Getting dressed so we can find a place for you to sleep,” Thane answered with a casual roll of his eyes as though the answer was obvious.

“There’s a room in the basement,” he assured his mate. “Torren said I can spend the day there.” He didn’t want to leave Thane so soon, but they both needed rest, and Zasha needed to not burn alive while he slept.

“Good.” Nodding once, Thane inched closer to the edge of the bed until his feet rested on the floor. “Let’s go.”

“Would you stop it?” Oh, Zasha could already see the arguments in his future. The gods help him and grant him patience because his mate was stubborn to a fault. “Listen to me.” He pressed his palm to the side of Thane’s neck with the same care he’d show to the most priceless treasure. “I promise to be back as soon as the sun sets. Okay? Now, will you please lie down and rest?”

Thane didn’t even hesitate in his answer. “Nope.” Taking Zasha’s hand, he pulled it away from his neck and placed a kiss in the middle of his palm. “Can you hand me those sweatpants on the dresser?”

“Thane.” The conversation was going nowhere fast, and Zasha didn’t know how to change directions.

“Zasha,” his mate mimicked with a raised eyebrow. “If you really want me to rest, I suggest you hand me those pants and help me down to the basement. Beside you is the only way I’m going to sleep.”

His expression said he was dead serious, and Zasha didn’t exactly want to be separated from the man, either. However, he also didn’t want to hinder Thane’s recovery. “Are you always like this?”

“Pretty much.” Thane nodded toward the dresser again. “And now I’m yours. Congratulations. Are you going to get those or not?”

Growling under his breath, Zasha stood and crossed the carpeted floor to retrieve the dark-blue sweatpants that were folded neatly on top of the dresser. “Torren is going to kill me.”

ADULT EXCERPT

The way Zasha had talked about giving him the “private tour,” Thane had expected something more than kisses and cuddles. However, walking in to find Zasha naked with a ten-inch dildo plunging into his tight ass had never crossed his mind. It was such a stark contrast from the proper, sensible man he knew Thane had nearly creamed his boxers right there in the doorway.

His possessive, dominant side had come out to play, roaring to the surface at the sight of his mate in such a lewd position. The mere thought of anyone besides him seeing Zasha in that way formed a red haze over his vision. The need to mark the vampire, proclaim him as unavailable, and assure Zasha knew exactly who he belonged to was overwhelming. Thane couldn’t fight the urge, couldn’t deny his basic nature, and furthermore, he saw no reason to try.

With no real base to the toy, Thane fisted the end of the flexible shaft and twisted his wrist, smiling when Zasha arched his back and howled. “You like that, don’t you, baby?” It was a rhetorical question. Zasha’s engorged cock and clenched muscles told him all he needed to know.

“Yes,” Zasha hissed. It was clear he’d do or say anything for permission to come, but Thane wasn’t finished with him yet. He wanted his mate delirious with need, and while Zasha hovered on the cusp, he wasn’t quite there yet.

Inching the toy out of Zasha’s snug channel, Thane swallowed loudly as he watched the tiny starburst stretch to accommodate the thick shaft. A thin layer of perspiration coated his lover’s smooth, pale skin, giving him an otherworldly glow as the dim light of the room played off the contours of his body.

Thane was one lucky son of a bitch. His man was always gorgeous, no matter the time of day or the situation. As carnally uninhibited as he was now, though, Zasha was breathtaking. The quiet whimpers and muffled pleas that rolled through his plump lips tested Thane’s willpower, but he remained unmoving, knowing the explosive release would be worth his temporary sacrifice.

Though his hands trembled and his body vibrated, Thane pumped the toy in and out of Zasha’s hole in unhurried, lazy strokes. “Do you want more, Zasha?”

“Yes,” his lover growled at him. “Please, Thane.”

“Tell me what you want.” Sure, he could make it easy on the guy, but what fun would that be?

“You, Thane. I want you.”

He hadn’t expected such a straightforward answer, and he was momentarily stunned speechless. Recovering quickly, he chuckled under his breath, his laughter confident, bordering on cocky.

“Are you finished with playtime?” He turned his wrist sharply as he drove the dildo into Zasha’s depths. “Do you want the real thing now?”

“Yes!” Zasha yelled, his growing need obvious in his strained tone.

“You want to ride my cock, baby? You want to feel me pounding into this sweet ass?”

Zasha rocked his hips, fucking himself on the toy. “Goddamn it, Thane!”

“Tell me, Zasha. Tell me how much you want me.” It wasn’t some ego trip, either. The increased volume of his lover’s pleas was proof of his desire. This was about finding Zasha’s comfort zone and then pushing him just a little farther.

A drawn-out, strangled groan reverberated around the room when he gripped his lover’s weeping cock by the base and squeezed. Still, his vampire was stubborn. “Please. Fuck, just let me come!”

His dick was heavy in Thane’s hand, hot and throbbing with the rapid beat of his heart. His hairless sac constricted, pulling tight to his body, and his ass clenched around the toy in rhythmic waves. Zasha hovered on the edge of orgasm, and if he’d just let go of some of that closely held control, Thane would send him flying.

“C’mon, lieveling.” Thane stroked the thick shaft to the tip and dipped his thumb into the slit to smear the drops of slippery pre-cum. Then he traveled back down the velvety length to squeeze the base once more. “If this is really all you want, just say the word.” He stroked Zasha’s cock once more and twisted the dildo in his ass. “What’s it going to be? Tell me, and I’ll let you come right now. Is this it, or do you want more?”

Heavy panting and soft grunts spilled from Zasha’s mouth as he writhed against the black comforter. Thane could practically see the battle raging inside his lover’s head, but it wasn’t clear if he’d come out on the winning team.

His patience paid off seconds later when Zasha relaxed into the mattress and whimpered. “More. I want more.”

Thane could have left it at that. He probably should have accepted that little nugget of submission. However, though Zasha teetered on the edge, he was still comfortably inside his bubble. “Tell me, baby. Tell me what you want.”

“You.” Pushing up on his elbows, he stared at Thane with enough heat to set the room on fire. “I want you to fuck me until neither one us can move. Then, when I’m exhausted, when I’m covered in sweat and cum, I want you to fuck me again.”

Just like that, the tables had turned. The seducer had become the seduced—the hunter was now the prey—and Thane’s lust tripped into overdrive at the deliberately vulgar descriptions. During their time together—in this life and the one that came before—he’d never heard his mate utter such explicit requests.