STORY EXCERPT

“Don’t let anyone be dead. Don’t let anyone be dead. Don’t let anyone be dead.”

Ryland made another long jump across the roof on the other side of the street. He had to grab onto one of the street signs that was stretched across the road and run across it just to make it to the other side of the road. The next order of business was getting down to ground level without breaking any bones. His plan had been to go in through the roof and take out any threats while he could, but subtlety was done with. He only hoped that the alpha who was tending to the injured omega, and protecting the others who were rushing outside and into their cars, wouldn’t stop him before Ryland got through the front doors.

Thank God he’d dealt with the snipers first, otherwise there would be a whole lot of dead people in the streets.

Ryland had to move back several steps on the long sign he was on before he could start running again, and judging his distance and his jump time, he leapt, reaching out and grabbing onto the fire escape.

He wasn’t thinking about silence, and his body banged into the metal, but that was all right. He looked down and let go of the railing. He fell one floor, grabbed onto the metal railing to stop himself, released, and did it again, until he was only two floors above the ground.

This was going to hurt. He dropped himself, braced for impact, and then rolled. Ryland grit his teeth at the pain that shot up his legs from the hard asphalt, but he kept on going, running right out of the alley, around the front, and through the doors.

The alpha saw him too late. The red hood and cloak was too much of a giveaway with all the bright lights and no darkness. The omega he was with, who was holding his hand to his bleeding head, looked at Ryland with the worst sort of terror in his eyes and pointed at him.

“Aelius! That’s him! That’s the guy who was back at the house!”

“Hey! Stop!”

Too late. Ryland was already inside of the restaurant.

It was absolute chaos in there. The alphas had managed to turn over several tables, creating a sort of shield for them to hide behind, but it wasn’t a very good one since the wood wasn’t made to withstand bullets. The most it could do was hide them and keep the vampires from flinging their switchblades.

One of the alphas was injured. His leg was bleeding. Not Hil.

“You! Hurry up and help us!” one of the vampires screamed.

And it was because of that, that the alphas finally took notice of him. Thank you very much for that.

Hil noticed him for sure, but with the brown leather mask over his face, he couldn’t see that it was Ryland, and Ryland shivered when Hil’s eyes glowed red, his mouth opened, and very long, very sharp fangs came out of his mouth. He looked like he wanted to rip Ryland’s throat out with those teeth.

He’d already wasted enough time. Ryland squeezed his fists, bringing out the blade attachments on his wrists for when he would need them, but first he needed to take out the vampires’ sight.

He reached for his crossbow, which was behind him. He’d already fixed the arrow to do what he needed, quickly lit the fuse with his lighter, and the confusion on the face of the vampires when he pointed his weapon at them would’ve been funny in any other circumstance.

He fired the shot, and the gunpowder and iron fillings in the sack attached to the arrow basically made a miniature fireworks explosion right in front of the vampires’ eyes. The bang was loud, and the vampires hissed and fell back away from the shot.

Ryland reloaded another arrow, lit it, and then fired again. Another bang, another bright flash of light that pushed them back.

Ryland looked over at the alphas, who were all staring at him like they didn’t understand what he was doing. Hil and Lucius would definitely have told them about the man in red who had tried to kill them before, and considering he’d once broken into Mason’s house with other vampire assassins, he was likely making them all wonder what the hell was going on.

“Hurry up and fight!” Ryland yelled, voice muffled through his mask, but the alphas clearly got the message because that was when they sprung.

Ryland tried to reload his crossbow, but a strong hand grabbed onto his arm before he could even get the string pulled back. It was Hil, and he looked pissed.

“We’re not done, you and I…” he said, but the angry look in his face melted away as he started into Ryland’s eyes.

Ryland’s heart was thumping like crazy. It was the only sound he could hear in a room that was bursting with the noise of fighting and screaming. Hil recognized him.

“Ryland?”

Ryland dropped the crossbow and pushed Hil back and away from him. Hil hissed and looked down at the cut on his chest.

Fuck! Ryland had forgotten about the blades on his wrists, but luckily it looked like he’d only sliced him just a little instead of outright stabbing him in the chest.

They stared at each other.

“Traitor!” Ryland looked over just in time to see one of the vampires charging at him, and another going for Hil. They had weapons in their hands, and though Ryland was ready to fight, Hil stepped in the way, protecting him.

“No!” Ryland yelled.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Don’t tease me, Ryland, suck on my cock, please. Do it.”

Instead of deep-throating him, like Hil wanted, the man actually pulled away and smiled sinfully up at him. “I love it when you beg me for things.”

Hil growled at him, but that growl turned into a kitten mewl when Ryland opened his lips and took Hil’s cock all the way to the back of his throat.

Hil bucked against the man, moaned, and held Ryland’s hair tight in his fingers, but if he was hurting the smaller man, Ryland didn’t mention it.

Hil’s spine arched as he thrust forward. It was awkward the way the leather seats felt as he pushed his ass forward and back, thrusting in and out of Ryland’s mouth, but it was too damned good to want to stop.

The best and worst parts were when Ryland hollowed his cheeks and tightened his lips around the column of Hil’s cock, and sometimes he stopped moving his head entirely, letting only his tongue work against Hil’s shaft. “Y–You’re a real Goddamn tyrant, you know that?”

Hil looked down at him, and Ryland looked back up. The man actually winked at him, and Hil nearly lost it right then and there.

No way. He wanted to do this right, and he started pushing against Ryland’s shoulders. “Baby, stop.”

“What’s wrong?” Ryland asked when he pulled away.

Hil put both of Ryland’s hands into his cheeks and pulled his face forward for another kiss. He could taste himself on Ryland’s swollen lips. “When I come, it’s going to be deep in your ass. Now get up onto the seat.”

“And you call me a tyrant,” Ryland said, but he was smiling now, even as he panted for breath. “I guess it doesn’t matter if we don’t have condoms. Not like I can get pregnant,” he said.

It took Hil a few seconds to realize what Ryland meant by that, and when he did, he grinned. “That’s very true.”

Ryland slapped his shoulder.

They both laughed.

This was good. This was exactly what Hil wanted, for them to feel like they were normal again, like they were friends as well as lovers, that same feeling they’d both had whenever they texted each other, or spoke online. Or when they fucked online, or in person.

This was the Ryland that Hil knew and loved.

“Spread your legs for me. Show me your pretty ass,” he said.

“Very romantic,” Ryland said, doing as he was told with a smile that showed off the whites of his teeth.

There was nothing Hil wanted more than to lean into that pucker and lick and tease it until Ryland was a sobbing mess, begging for his attention. The problem with that, however, was that Hil was pretty sure he couldn’t hold out for much longer at all. Even though he wasn’t touching himself, it was too much for him to handle, and they wouldn’t be doing this for much longer if he didn’t get a handle on it right now.

“I missed you so damn much,” Ryland said, looking into his eyes, his hands on the back of Hil’s head, fingers threading through his hair.

Hil’s heart damn near imploded with those words. He kept control, however, and he put two of his fingers to Ryland’s mouth. “Suck on them,” he said. “After that last performance, I know you can.”

Ryland did, and Hil’s blood pumped through his veins like there was a machine working it. He was getting a high just by watching the way Ryland’s lips encased his fingers, and the feel of his slick tongue around the digits, getting them wet.

Hil pulled back when he thought he had enough.

“No lube?” Ryland asked.

“I don’t keep any in the car, and there’s no lotion either,” Hil said, and then he looked back up at the man. Despite what Ryland had been forced to do for the vampires, he was still human, still fragile. “We can wait. This doesn’t have to happen in the backseat of a car, you know,” Hil said, and it wasn’t a question. He was offering a way out.

Ryland’s eyes widened. “I don’t think I can wait until we get back to the house,” Ryland said, shaking his head. “I don’t care. I can’t wait, just do it. I want your cock inside me, like, yesterday.”

Hil grinned, and he decided to make this easier on the other man by leaning down and taking Ryland’s hard prick into his mouth, sucking on him as he pushed his fingers against the man’s hole.