STORY EXCERPT

Slamming the door behind him, Adriano took a deep breath of the warm night air. This was the last fucking straw. He didn’t care what anyone in the coven said, he was leaving tonight! How dare he bring a fucking donor to their bed? Who did that? Adriano didn’t care if the little twink was willing to give his blood to two vampires, it was wrong to bring him to their bed.

Walking down the long cobblestone path that led from the ancient manor he’d just left, Adriano considered where to go. Sure he’d threatened to leave countless times, but he’d never actually thought about where he would go if he ever did. Wherever he ended up it needed to be somewhere that provided him protection from the sun, which would be rising in five hours.

Maybe he should put this off until tomorrow night? He could rest in one of the empty rooms and then leave as soon as the sun set.

“Adriano, baby!” That silky French accent hit Adriano like a brick wall. “I got him for us to share.”

Turning on his heel sharply, Adriano pinned the slim, small, dark-haired man with his most righteous and disgusted glare. “If I wanted to share a donor, in the same bed I share with my lover, I would’ve said something, Lyle!”

At least the smaller man had the decency to look like he’d done something wrong, right until his red eyes hardened and Lyle looked at Adriano with venom in his gaze. “Well it’s not like you’ve ever enjoyed the taste of my blood. We aren’t even mates. Why should it matter if we fool around with other people?”

It took every ounce of Adriano’s control not to reach out and throttle the little bastard. He’d wasted damn near two full decades of his life on this cretin! Sure, they had a long life to live, but that didn’t change the fact he’d put his heart into this relationship, only to have it thrown back at him.

“I even went out of my way to find a demon, seeing as you’re so taken with their kind,” Lyle snapped, his hand on one hip as he jutted it out. As Adriano looked at the effeminate man, he suddenly couldn’t remember what he’d seen in him all those years ago. He was snarky, and bitchy. Adriano had seen queens with less attitude.

“You’re right,” Adriano sighed. “That’s why I’m leaving. I hope you enjoy your night with your demonic twink. Long life and may blood never sour on your tongue, Lyle.”

Lyle’s red eyes widened, tears gathering in their depths as Adriano turned back around and walked with determination toward the gates. He needed to leave coven land before he could transform and take to the skies as a bat.

“Wait!” Lyle shouted after him, as he raced to catch up to Adriano and grabbed his arm. “You can’t be serious. Where will you go? Why are you leaving me?”

Adriano looked down to the man with pity. In a way, it was probably his fault that Lyle was so attached to him, and was so spoiled. He was still in his first two centuries, young and impressionable by vampire standards. Adriano had lavished him with attention and love over these last eighteen years.

“As you said, we aren’t mates. But, thanks to my desire for demon blood I do know where to start looking for mine,” Adriano explained, though he had no intention of actually following through with that. He’d known for some time that his destined mate was a demon, which demon he had absolutely no clue. Unlike so many other preternatural creatures, he didn’t long for a mate.

“Adriano,” Lyle sobbed.

Leaning down, he wiped away a stray tear. For a second, he considered giving Lyle one last kiss, but decided against it. He needed to make this a clean break. “Good bye, Lyle.”

Opening the gates to the grounds, Adriano stepped into the cemetery that surrounded the house and instantly called on the change. All vampires could turn into either a bat or mist to travel. Adriano hated turning into mist. It was so hard to control his path if the wind picked up, and he always smelled of smog afterward. It was one of the downside of living in a city.

“Adriano!” Lyle shouted after him as he took to the skies and just started flying. He headed west, opposite the direction in which the sun would rise.

He flew high above the city, looking down to the sparkling lights and busy freeways that never seemed to unjam even at this late hour. Adriano had always said he was going to leave the coven and just fly off. Thanks to Lyle and his treacherous libido, he finally had the reason to do so. If his own lover couldn’t stay faithful, why should he stay?

Turning toward the mountains, Adriano hoped to find a cave or something in which he could sleep the day away.

ADULT EXCERPT

“Ignacio,” Adriano moaned, parting from him just long enough to take a shuddering breath and wrap his arms around Ignacio’s shoulders, pulling him closer. “Want you.”

Those two words were enough to send Ignacio’s head spinning. He could barely think enough to pull back and look at Adriano and ask, “Are you sure?”

Adriano nodded. “No more courting. Claim me.”

It took Ignacio seconds to get Adriano into the house, down the hall, and in his room. Their shirts fell to the floor, though Ignacio was in too much of a lust-induced haze to know exactly who took off what for whom. All he cared about was getting them skin to skin. He wanted to touch, to caress, and to claim what was his.

Their pants and underwear followed their shirts, forgotten on the bedroom floor to be rediscovered another time. Together, they moved to the bed, Ignacio laying Adriano down and crawling over him. He allowed his gaze to sweep over his vampire’s body, finding pure perfection that drove his desires even higher. The goddess Luna had created a true masterpiece with his mate, and he thanked Sorat? for giving Adriano to him.

“Are you going to stare at me until morning?” Adriano taunted, one finger traveling from Ignacio’s throat, down his chest, tracing the thin trail of hair leading from his navel to his groin, and finally wrapped his hand around Ignacio’s firm cock and began to pump him slowly. “I’m patient, but not that patient. Now,” Adriano leaned up and nipped at Ignacio’s bottom lip, “should I prep myself?”

Ignacio growled as he recaptured Adriano’s lips and silenced him from saying anything else enticing. Adriano did have a good idea though. Reaching for the lube, Ignacio also secured one of Adriano’s hands. Popping the cap on the tube, Ignacio poured a generous amount onto his mate’s hand and guided it down his body. Pushing Adriano’s fingers against his own entrance, Ignacio grinned when he noticed the spark in his mate’s eyes.

Adriano said nothing as he spread his legs wider and pushed one finger in his ass, moaning softly as he began to fuck himself. Ignacio, using the lube already being pushed inside Adriano, slid his own finger in alongside Adriano’s. His mate’s eyes widened before falling to half-mast and glazing over. Adriano bit his lower lip, Ignacio catching sight of his mate’s extended fangs. The sight had his cock jerking involuntarily and leaking pre-cum.

“Do you want to bite me again?” Ignacio growled. The idea of finally being able to fuck his mate as he drank from him had Ignacio more than ready to delve into him.

“Want,” Adriano purred. “Want you.”

“You have me,” Ignacio assured him, as he added a second finger, making three moving in and out of Adriano’s ass. Twisting his hand, he curled his fingers and pressed them into Adriano’s prostate causing the vampire to cry out, his head falling back, and a look of pure bliss taking over his features. “You ready for me?”

“Yes,” Adriano cried. “Been ready. So ready.”

Ignacio removed both his fingers, and Adriano’s, grabbed the lube, and coated his own cock. As he positioned himself at his mate’s entrance, Ignacio looked in Adriano’s ruby eyes and felt the weight of what he was about to do wash over him.

This was it, he was claiming Adriano.

Leaning down, Ignacio kissed his mate lovingly as he pushed his cockhead past the first ring of muscles. He wanted him to know that Adriano meant everything to him. This wasn’t just about fulfilling their instincts. Ignacio wanted to bind their souls together because he cared—no, he loved Adriano.

Adriano felt his heart swell as Ignacio kissed him like no one had ever kissed him before. There was so much behind the simple act that he felt tears come to his eyes. Never would his heart beat for another like it did for Ignacio. This kiss confirmed it.

Wrapping both his arms around his demon, Adriano pulled him closer, reciprocating and pouring his own emotion into the kiss. He wanted him to know just how much all this meant to him. The fact that he’d been patient and waited for Adriano to be ready. Ignacio’s courtship and gifts were something he’d never forget—precious memories Adriano would hold close forever.

Ignacio half growled, half moaned into Adriano’s mouth as he pushed forward and in, his cock sliding into Adriano’s slick channel. After all the teasing and buildup, Adriano felt himself opening willingly to accept his mate, crying out with pleasure as Ignacio thrust all the way in and ground his cock against Adriano’s prostate. His demon was not small—not by a long shot—and after not having anyone inside him for almost twenty years, Adriano could feel himself stretching passed comfort.

Deciding to ignore that, for fear of Ignacio stopping the claiming, Adriano used his vampiric strength and flipped their positions. Ignacio’s electric green eyes were glowing dimly as he gazed up at him, and for reasons Adriano couldn’t understand, that just made him hotter for his mate. Grinning, Adriano began to move, riding Ignacio with a steady up-down and twisting motion that brought them both optimal sensations.

“Adriano,” Ignacio moaned, the sound a sin unto itself. His hands went to Adriano’s hips, but they didn’t guide his movements or try to stop him. He was just holding onto him.

Pleased that his mate was finding pleasure in his actions, Adriano picked up the pace just slightly while clenching his ass.

Ignacio’s eyes widened and he growled, this time thrusting up into Adriano with force. “Oh, fuck,” Adriano cried, as his prostate was pegged with deadly accuracy. Falling forward, he grabbed Ignacio’s hands and twined their fingers together, placing them above Ignacio’s head on the bed. “That’s it. Fuck me. Claim me,” Adriano encouraged.