Page 25

“Are we alone?” Zane asked as soon as they stepped off the elevator and into the penthouse suite.

“I sent Ledger and Nikita back to his place,” Pavel answered, heading straight for the kitchen.

“Why were they here at all?”

Ledger’s apartment was pretty close by, and as far as Zane knew, just as nice. Their parents had bought it for him as a high school graduation gift. Originally it’d been meant for the two of them, but when Pavel had opened up Concealed three years ago, he’d moved in, leaving the old place to his brother.

“The added security gave Nikitia peace of mind,” he explained, starting up the espresso machine and moving about the kitchen to collect items with a clear purpose. “He’s having family troubles, from what I’ve gathered.”

“He should get in line.” Zane took the bar stool that Pavel had been sitting on the last time they were there.

The other Retinue member paused. “I’m not having family problems. Well, not unless you count my struggles with you.”

“I don’t.” Because they weren’t family.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Pavel didn’t turn around, busy setting up something on the counter, “but you’re wrong.”

“Oh? What was I thinking then?”

“That we’re not family.” He turned back and set a drink down on the island, sliding it over to him.

Zane stared at the familiar drink, the same one he frequently ordered at the Velvet Brew. “Knowing my coffee order makes you my stalker, not my family.” He took it, but fiddled with the straw, torn. “If I drink this now, I won’t be able to sleep.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Pavel replied, but before Zane could ask what he meant, continued. “Fine. You’re not comfortable accepting me as family yet? That’s fair. You don’t know or feel what I know and feel. But don’t forget why we’re here, gorgeous.”

“Because my brother shot you and I’m supposed to feel bad?” He popped the straw into his mouth and took a deep drag on purpose, feeling a spark of satisfaction when Pavel’s gaze immediately dropped to his lips and then tracked the movement of his throat when he swallowed.

“You’re supposed to be working yourself up to marrying me,” Pavel corrected after a dazed moment.

“Or,” he shrugged, “I decide right now that isn’t going to happen and leave you to my brother and his super scary boyfriend.”

“Don’t do that,” it was the sincerity in his tone that got Zane to drop the attitude. “If you were going to let me die, you would have allowed it earlier. Admit it, Doctor. You don’t want me dead. You like me. Whether that’s enough to want to spend the rest of your life with me or not, that’s still to be decided. But you do like me.”

He stirred the drink and opted to lay all his cards on the table. “Yeah, yeah I think I kind of do. So?”

“Then,” Pavel leaned against the island, “you’re willing to spend these next couple of weeks with me? Get to know me? Realize that you’re—”

Zane held up a hand. “If you say ‘mine’ I’ll toss the rest of this drink at your face.”

“You are mine though,” he insisted. “You’ve always belonged to me. I suppose now it’s my job to convince you of that fact. It’s lucky we have two whole weeks to accomplish that goal, don’t you agree?”

“I’m not staying here with you for fourteen days.”

“Of course not, gorgeous.” Pavel walked away, heading toward the winding staircase, leaving Zane to get up and follow if he wanted to continue the conversation.

“Hey!” he called after him and grabbed his drink, taking the stairs two at a time to keep up. “Slow down, you’ll ruin your stitches.”

“My wound is fine,” Pavel argued. “I have an impeccable doctor.”

“Where are you going? If Ledge was here tonight, would you have insisted he play your doctor instead?” Zane knew it was petty and childish, but he asked it anyway. Mostly because Pavel was right. Aodhan and Titus had given them an ultimatum and Zane had accepted. Even if he’d done it at the time just to get them off his back, it was still a done deal.

Besides, he really did need a way to turn Lyra down, and marriage was the best idea he’d heard so far.

He did want to get to know his fellow Retinue member better, whether that led to the two of them tying the knot, or him realizing they actually weren’t compatible. Understanding where Zane would stand in the family hierarchy was as good a place to start as any, especially since he already knew himself well enough to know he would never settle for being anyone’s second choice.

“I won’t be a choice ,” he corrected, out loud, even though it had to sound strange out of context. “I have to be everything or nothing at all.”

Pavel entered a room on the left and Zane quickly stormed in after him, letting out a startled sound when suddenly he was shoved forward onto a king-sized bed covered in gray silk sheets.

“What—” He tried to get up but was forced back down, his stomach flattening on the bed as his knees were forced out from under him.

Pavel worked his hand down the back of Zane’s pants, delving his finger between his cheeks to poke and prod at his tight hole. Ignoring his curses, he pressed until he got some purchase and then shoved his finger past those defenses, chuckling as Zane hissed.

“Relax,” he urged, pressing open-mouth kisses to the back of Zane’s neck. He kept him down with his body splayed overtop his, but used his free hand to tug his shirt collar open to give him access to more of his bare flesh. “I lubed my hand. Can’t you feel it?”

Zane clenched his teeth as that finger was fucked roughly in and out of him, only growling when a second joined it. “This isn’t talking.”

“We can talk later,” Pavel decided. “You’ve kept me waiting for weeks, gorgeous, don’t you remember? You can’t honestly tell me you didn’t see this coming.”

Honestly…it’d sort of slipped his mind with everything else going on.

“You’re injured,” he tried to argue, but of course, the other man wasn’t hearing any of it.

“I’m fine,” he repeated, curling those fingers deep inside of Zane and then dragging them out at a slow, torturous pace that had his hips rising off the bed of their own accord. “Just like this ass.” He let out a whistle. “So fine. I want to see it.”

“Stop—” Zane was hauled back onto his hands and knees just long enough for Pavel to strip him of his pants and underwear. Then he was shoved back down. When he growled a third time, he was tutted at like a child.

“There’s no hard surface to hit your head against this time,” Pavel pointed out. “I listened to your complaints, didn’t I? I’m being…gentle.” He speared three fingers into him at once, biting down on his shoulder and laughing when that had Zane crying out in pleasure. “Have you been touching yourself and thinking of me?”

Yes, he had.

But Zane would never confess something like that.

“Being stubborn again?” Pavel didn’t seem to mind. “That’s okay. I love when you make me drag,” he pulled his fingers out and rammed them back in, “it out of you. Want to know how I passed the time we weren’t together?”

“You mean when you weren’t following me around like a creep?”

He nipped him beneath the jaw for that but didn’t punish him further. “I touched myself a lot. To pictures of you. Videos of you. Sometimes just to you. Like that time you stayed late at the library last week? You chose that spot in the corner on the third floor on purpose, didn’t you, gorgeous? Set it up nice and easy for me.”

If Zane had gotten the fleeting thought that the woods outside that particular part of the building could add ample coverage for a stalker, so what? Didn’t mean that’s the reason he’d chosen to sit there.

Or at least not the only reason.

“It’s quiet in that area. No one visits the chemical science wing.” They really didn’t. He’d seen maybe one other student and a librarian assistant the entire seven hours he’d been there.

“Could you feel my eyes on you that night?” Pavel asked. “I thought I saw you blush. Did you know what I was doing while you sat there pretending to be all demure and unattainable?” He ran the tip of his nose up the length of Zane’s neck and sniffed, scissoring his fingers all the while. “I fucked my hand, kind of like how you’re getting fucked by it now. I came so hard I almost passed out. My spunk might still be painted across that large oak tree. Should we go check later?”

Zane shivered at the imagery, but it brought something else to mind as well, something less lust-inducing. “You just want me for my body. Just want to sleep with me and—”

“Hush,” he stated harshly, tone instantly causing Zane to snap his mouth shut. “Good boy. No, gorgeous. You’ve got it all wrong. I love your body. I’d live inside it all day and night if I could. If you’d let me.”

Absolutely not.

“But that’s not the only reason I want you,” Pavel reassured. “You’ve said something like this before. Let this be the last time, hmm? Let me put those doubts to bed, the same way I’ll be putting you to bed later. You might not have been paying attention to me all these years, but I can’t say the same. I’ve been watching you, studying you. Learning your every move, and tick, and,” he ran his hand through his hair and then grabbed a fistful, yanking his head up, “desire.”

A whine slipped past Zane’s lips, but it wasn’t one of protest and they both knew it.

“I know how self-centered you are, how manipulative and calculating you can be. I love that about you. I love knowing that you’ll do anything and everything it takes to get what you want. It makes me even more excited about becoming one of those things. Once you covet me, you’ll be possessive even more than I am now, isn’t that right, Zane? You don’t like sharing your things—your real things. If Kazimir had told you he wanted to fuck you and Nate both, it wouldn’t have mattered. Because he didn’t matter. Me? I want to matter, baby. Make me matter.”

Something came apart inside of Zane’s chest hearing those words. Words so similar to the ones he’d thought himself a million times over.

All he’d ever wanted was to matter. To be important. To be something someone couldn’t throw away, consequences be damned.

Pavel’s hand slipped out, but he didn’t leave him empty for long. His cock bumped up against Zane’s entrance a second later and he flattened himself over Zane’s back even more, keeping him in place as though afraid he was going to try to break free now that he was about to get dicked down.

It wasn’t necessary.

Zane was still too caught up in Pavel’s voice, whispering sweet nothings in his ear as he slowly pushed into him, filling him up inch by inch.

“I’m going to teach you how precious you are,” Pavel said. “I’ll prove it to you, over and over again. As many times as you need until you believe it. Until you believe me. You’re the only thing I’ve ever truly cared for. The only thing I’ll ever desire. I’ve claimed you, Zane Hart. You’re mine. And I’m never letting you go.”

As soon as he sank fully inside of him, Pavel flicked his hips and pulled back, pounding forward hard enough to send them both reeling. He fucked him in sharp, measured thrusts, building the pleasure in Zane’s gut higher and higher with each drag of his cock against his inner walls.

“Pavel.” Zane clawed at the sheets and spread his thighs wider, howling when that had the other man driving in even deeper, deep enough it hit that place where it made him feel impossibly full and almost uncomfortable. “Pav.”

“What, gorgeous?” he brushed his lips against his cheek and then bit at his earlobe. “What are you begging me for?”

He didn’t even know. It felt like his mind was splintering, like there was something he should be remembering but was just out of reach. The only thing he could focus on was the feel of Pavel over and inside of him, the hot gusts of his breath against his skin, and the briny smell of sweat.

The words precious and desire and claimed.

“Do you want to come?” Pavel took pity on him and spelled it out. “Go ahead. We both know you can come from this alone.” He grabbed his hips and drove into him, growling when Zane screamed. “Come, gorgeous. Come for me, bashert. Come so I can fill you up and breed this warm hole—”

Had he always been into dirty talk? Zane couldn’t recall.

It sent him over the edge now though, and he gasped and twitched as his dick spurted beneath him, ruining the silk comforter. His hole tightened around Pavel’s cock, only making the sensations more intense with every inward and outward pull, until he was practically a mewling mess.

Just when it was starting to become too much, Pavel buried himself deep one more time and reached his own orgasm, forcing Zane down as he pumped him full, keeping him plugged even once they’d both stopped twitching.

Zane’s eyes were already closed when he finally felt the other man move, though he didn’t pull out or go far. After the day he’d had, he was ready to call it a night and was busy trying to come up with a way to convince Pavel not to go for another round when suddenly his mouth was being covered.

His eyes snapped open and he fought against the cloth being held tightly over his nose and mouth, but he was no match for Pavel, especially not in their current position.

Pavel shushed him. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. I would never hurt you. I just need us to go somewhere and I know you’re going to be stubborn and fight me on it. This is the best way, for both of us.”

He glared, but his vision was already starting to get cloudy and his muscles were starting to loosen.

“You were complaining about how I didn’t take your bait this past month, remember, gorgeous?” Pavel said, lips close to Zane’s ear as he started to fade, like he wanted to be certain he caught each and every word. “You should be happy to know that’s not true at all. I was simply finding a way to get back at you while still following the rules. That’s what a good boyfriend does, wouldn’t you agree?”

Pavel rubbed his face against Zane’s, and just as he was about to sink into oblivion, he heard the crazy Retinue member whisper, “I’ll always play your game, Doctor. Always.”