Page 14 of Claim of Blood (Blood Bound #1)

The word cracked through the air like a whip, backed by a power that couldn’t be denied. Adam heard the immediate response—not just from Lander, but echoing faintly in the nearby corridors as members of his Court reacted instinctively to the command, even without seeing him.

Lander dropped back to his knees, his composure finally cracking as his face went tight with something between surprise and wariness.

Leo trembled in Adam’s arms, and Adam realized with a start that he’d been unconsciously moving inside him again—slow, shallow thrusts that his hunter’s body welcomed with slick heat. The scent was dizzying: sex and claiming and the sweet musk of renewed arousal.

He tried to reel in his power, tried to find the control that had guided him for millennia.

But the need wouldn’t leave. It sat in his chest like hunger, demanding satisfaction.

He met Lander’s gaze and saw not arousal there, but hesitation.

Wariness. Something clenched and uncertain beneath his careful mask.

The rational part of Adam recognized he was crossing lines, but the bond pulsed with approval, and the words left his mouth before he could stop them.

“Take out your cock.”

Lander’s jaw tightened, shock flickering across his features. For a moment, Adam thought he might refuse. But then, with visible reluctance, Lander reached to unzip his pants, freeing himself with hands that weren’t quite steady.

Adam’s gaze raked over Lander’s bowed form—so controlled, so tense, so defiant even in submission. Something primal in him approved of the resistance, wanted to break it down piece by piece.

“Touch yourself,” Adam commanded, his voice dropping to something darker. “You’ll stroke yourself while you watch.”

A beat of silence stretched between them. Then Lander obeyed, his hand moving to his cock with mechanical precision.

Good. Adam felt the satisfaction settle in his bones, even as part of him wondered what the hell he was doing. He began to move inside Leo again, not hard or rough—just deep and deliberate, timing his words with slow thrusts.

“So this need,” he said, fingers flexing possessively against Leo’s thigh, “is it normal?”

Lander’s eyes flicked to where Adam’s cock slid into Leo, then back up, his expression strained. “Are you serious? You want me to answer that... right now?”

Adam didn’t stop moving. He just watched as Lander’s hand found its rhythm, halting at first, then smoother. “I only know what I saw in my parents,” Lander managed, his voice fraying at the edges. “And what I’ve learned from third- and fourth-generation claim pairs. I didn’t look further.”

Leo stirred more fully in Adam’s arms, awareness flooding back in stages he could track through the increasing tension in his body. When Leo spoke, his voice was rough with confusion and a hint of mortification.

“My cousin did.” The words came out slurred, barely coherent. “F-Felix... my cousin, second cousin? Felix...” His voice cracked beautifully. “Loves vampires. I’m terrible at the family tree, but... he’s a cousin. My father’s cousin, Alec—his son.”

Adam rewarded the information with a deeper, more satisfying thrust. Leo’s answering moan filled the space between them, raw and helpless.

“Felix is a hunter,” Adam stated. He could already see the pieces fitting together—a hunter with an obsession, someone gathering intelligence from the inside.

Leo’s flush deepened as he tried to form coherent thoughts through Adam’s deliberate rhythm. “Felix is obsessed. He’s always been... weird about vampires. Would never take a job on one. Avoided the marks. The rituals.”

Adam changed the angle of his thrusts slightly, making Leo writhe in his lap. “And?”

“We... we went to MIT together,” Leo continued, voice deliciously unsteady.

“Rest of our cohort—the hunters, I mean—they all went to Harvard. In our first year, when we were still clean. Before initiation. Before any of the marks or tattoos that would have warned a vampire what we were. Felix and I would party together.”

Leo swallowed, his entire body flushed. “One night, he got drunk. Really drunk. Felix confessed to me that he’d let a vampire—a few of them, apparently—fuck him.

For science, he said.” A fractured laugh escaped him.

“Said they were the best orgasms of his life... then begged me not to say anything. The vampires never knew what he was... what he would become.”

Adam felt a spike of interest that had nothing to do with the sexual tension between them. A hunter who’d already crossed lines. Who had intimate knowledge of vampire-human compatibility. Who’d kept secrets from his family.

“Did you keep his secret?” Adam asked.

Leo’s eyes fluttered open, meeting his gaze with that perfect mixture of arousal and submission. “Y-yes. He begged.”

“Good boy.” The praise rolled off Adam’s tongue like honey laced with possession.

Across from them, Lander’s hand jerked on his cock, a reaction he couldn’t quite hide. Adam noted it, something darker unfurling in his chest.

“Lander,” he said, voice dropping to velvet. “Tug on his balls.”

Lander froze mid-stroke. “But—Adam. He’s—”

“Mine.” The word rang like a bell, cutting through whatever protest Lander had been about to make. “And so are you.”

Power pulsed out again, heavier this time, filling the space with a dominance that couldn’t be questioned. Adam watched with dark satisfaction as Lander shuddered under the weight of it.

“Would you defy me, Lander?”

A beat of tension stretched, thick and charged, before Lander’s voice came, strained. “No, First.”

Then Lander obeyed. His hand reached out, fingers curling around the base of Leo’s cock, tugging his balls down and away from his body.

Leo bucked at the touch, his moan wild and broken as sensation shot through him. Adam kept his eyes locked on Lander’s face, savoring the younger vampire’s obvious struggle, the way his breathing went ragged.

“Tell us more,” Adam commanded, never pausing his deliberate thrusts into Leo’s heat. “Felix is a hunter.”

“He took notes,” Leo managed, his words coming faster now, more fractured as Lander’s touch added another layer of sensation. “Paper. Always paper. Said electronics could be traced. I saw one—something about vampire bites. The euphoria. Compatibility. He was... researching.”

Adam filed away every word—Felix, the notebooks, the dangerous opportunity they represented. But even as he catalogued the information, part of him kept returning to the way Lander’s hand trembled as he obeyed, the flush spreading down his throat.

He forced himself to focus. “Were all Felix’s notes in paper notebooks?” he asked, voice steady despite everything.

Leo nodded, gasping. “Yeah,” he panted. “Always paper. I thought it was weird, but... yeah.”

“Old-fashioned,” Adam said. “Dangerous.” He thrust deeper, making Leo arch against him. “But deliberate.” His lips curved into a pleased smile. “Excellent work, Leo. Your information is most enlightening.”

The praise seemed to undo Leo almost as much as the physical sensations, his body going limp in Adam’s arms. Adam rewarded him with a sharper thrust, bottoming out. Leo’s moan tore through the alcove—wrecked, unrestrained, beautiful.

Something primal stirred in Adam at the sound, and before he could think better of it, he struck—fangs piercing Leo’s throat in a controlled, shallow bite meant only to trigger the euphoria. Leo’s body arched, suspended on the precipice as the bond flared between them.

His muscles clamped down, his cock twitching against his abdomen in surrender.

Adam’s gaze locked with Lander’s over Leo’s shoulder. The younger vampire was flushed, lips parted, chest heaving—so close to the edge himself.

Adam pulled back, fangs sliding free with a wet sound, his lips smeared with blood. He held Lander’s gaze steadily.

“Don’t come,” he said, voice low and dark with command.

Lander shuddered, his hand faltering on his cock. Adam could smell it—arousal, confusion, the raw effort to obey.

“Stroke him,” Adam ordered. “Both hands. Make him come.”

Lander’s hesitation lasted only a heartbeat before he obeyed, releasing himself to focus entirely on Leo. Both hands moved to Leo’s cock—one stroking the shaft, the other tugging gently at the base.

After a moment, as Leo’s breathing grew ragged, Lander’s left hand drifted back to his own cock, stroking in time with the rhythm he set on Leo. His eyes fluttered shut.

“Eyes open,” Adam commanded sharply, never pausing. “Watch.”

Lander’s eyes snapped open, meeting Adam’s gaze for a defiant second before dropping to where his hands worked Leo’s cock. His jaw clenched with the effort of compliance, resistance warring with obedience in every line of him.

With a growl of satisfaction, Adam drove deeper and sank his fangs in again, harder this time—ripping a fresh cry from Leo’s throat. The bond flared, magic singing across his tongue like lightning. Leo’s pulse beat strong and frantic.

Adam drank, and the world narrowed to possession.

Leo’s orgasm hit like a storm—a strangled cry, a full-body tremor, and a sudden hot rush over Lander’s hands.

Only then did Adam allow himself to release, burying himself deep with a satisfied groan

Across from them, Lander came with a hoarse, helpless sound despite the order—or perhaps because of it. His hand worked frantically over himself as he spilled across his belly, eyes wide and fixed on the scene.

Silence followed, heavy and close. Only the sound of ragged breathing.

Adam held still, breathing Leo in—the taste of fresh blood, the bond thrumming low and sated. Beneath it all, he could smell Lander: spent, flushed, something fragile and uncertain coiling through his scent.

Between Adam’s thighs, Lander trembled, his shoulders tense, gaze fixed on the floor. He should have waited.

The thought came unbidden, cold and sharp. Lander had come without permission, had ruined the rhythm Adam had set. That was… unacceptable.