Page 18 of Forbidden (Dark Delights #3)

In the weeks following the attack, Ira threw himself into helping the others clean up the Rink and get it ready for business, and with nothing else to occupy his time, Wolf tagged along for most of it. He helped them paint and install new toilets and sinks in the bathroom. They added a handful of shower stalls for nights when patrolling got messy. There were a few cots in the old storage room in case anyone needed a place to rest or administer emergency first-aid. They’d eventually get the equipment to turn it into an actual med room. Zachary and Angela’s cousins did a great job fixing the water damage over the office, and they hired them again to put on a new roof. Wolf was grateful to be doing something other than pouring drinks for a change, and it meant he got to spend plenty of time with Ira. He didn’t like letting the man out of his sight these days, and it was fortunate that Ira found his possessiveness endearing rather than suffocating.

Ira’s visions no longer knocked him off his feet like they used to, and one night, lying in bed together, Ira confessed that he thought it was because he was eating and sleeping more regularly.

“I don’t know how the guild came to think that fasting helped with the visions, but I think they’re wrong,” he whispered, his warm breath ghosting across Wolf’s chest. “I hope I get a chance to share what I’ve learned with other prophets one day. It seems like they’re all suffering for nothing.”

Ira didn’t have to set aside time to sit and meditate for the visions to happen anymore. He could be in the middle of a meal and he would suddenly pause, fork halfway to his mouth, his gaze distant as all his attention turned inward toward something only he could see. It happened occasionally while he was sparring with the others, too, but they’d all come to recognize that faraway look in his eyes. They’d just wait until he came out of it, sometimes taking his practice sword from his hands if needed. Sometimes he shared what he saw, and sometimes he didn’t. No one ever pushed him for more—except Shadrach, but he and Ira had some sort of antagonistic sibling-energy relationship, anyway. Ira had no problem deflecting his questions, so Wolf didn’t worry about it. In fact, he’d never seen Shadrach defer so easily to someone else, not even Talon. Ira had a way about him that put both humans and demons at ease.

Now, Wolf parked in the Rink’s overgrown parking lot and lifted the stack of pizza boxes from the passenger seat. The sunset cast a shock of volcanic orange and luminescent pinks and purples across the sky as he made his way across the broken pavement, hip-checking the door open and going inside. It smelled strongly of paint, so he set the pizza boxes down on the air hockey table and returned to prop the door open with the standing ashtray the humans had set outside for the vice-loving demons .

By the time he returned inside, the humans had swarmed the pizza. They’d been painting the main room all afternoon. Largely, they were keeping a lot of the Rink intact. The skating floor was their sparring and weapons training space now. Ira insisted that the air hockey table and disco ball should stay. The space, the air hockey table, the Rink as a whole—it would all put people at ease when they saw it, he’d explained. It was nostalgic and fun. As demon hunters, a little fun would go a long way toward reminding them of why they were doing this. It wasn’t out of some solemn, noble martyrdom. They weren’t the Paladin Guild. They were humans and demons coming together to make the world a space that could be inhabited by all, regardless of origin.

It all sounded idealistic to Wolf, but if there was one thing he’d learned since meeting Ira, it was that he shouldn’t ever doubt him.

Malachi and Talon, while ever-present when their humans were around, hadn’t been helping paint. Wolf pointed a finger between the two of them as he stopped beside Ira.

“You two haven’t been helping?”

“Ira claimed Luke and Alex would be distracted by us if we tried to help,” Malachi said, smirking. “Which is fair. I had intentions.”

“Intentions?” Wolf repeated, snorting.

“To be crude,” Luke said, flipping open one of the pizza boxes, “watching him bend over repeatedly in those tight jeans of his would’ve made me work much slower.”

Alex nodded sagely. “Same. I mean, but with Talon.”

“You could’ve hired our cousins to do this, you know,” Angela said, perched on the table with her legs crossed under her. She was barefoot, and a streak of cream-colored paint was dried to her brown knee.

Ira blew a stray lock of hair out of his face. “Yeah, but we’re trying to avoid unnecessary expenses.”

“That reminds me,” Alex said, “Luke, did you contact that Tate woman about the photos you took?”

When they weren’t hunting demons, regular investigative jobs helped to pay the bills. Alex and Luke had legitimate private investigator licenses now. Some of their paperwork on the application was fraudulent, since they needed new documentation about their school and work history. Talon had a halfling friend who created all the fake documents they needed. Ira’s role remained as the prophet. He had an official notebook in the Rink where he wrote things down they needed to research or investigate, usually pertaining to their nighttime demon hunts. They didn’t make much money yet, but they split it equally between the three of them. As far as Wolf could tell, their system was casual but efficient.

“I did,” Luke replied. “She’s coming by tomorrow for them. I think she’ll be very pleased. That should be enough evidence to keep her ex from ever being alone with those kids again.”

“Good. Piece of shit,” Alex murmured under his breath.

Wolf tuned them out, ducking his head and inhaling Ira’s scent, like clean linen and salt. “I’m kidnapping you when you finish eating, seidhr.”

“Oh?” Ira turned his head, blinking curiously. “What for?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Ira brightened. “Really?”

“Mm-hm. You think I can drag you away for the night? ”

Ira glanced across the table at Luke and Alex, who said with a grin, “Sure, but you’ll owe us one.”

Talon let out a low laugh, leaning in to kiss Alex’s head.

Wolf hovered behind Ira while he ate, his hands idly roaming Ira’s sides and back. The velvet box in his pocket was heavy with purpose, and he was impatient to get Ira alone and give it to him. Talon’s dark eyes kept cutting toward him, his knowing smirks barely hidden behind his carefully cool expression. He knew what Wolf was planning, because Wolf had gone to him and asked where he’d gotten Alex’s ring. He wanted one for Ira, wanted to officially ask him to become immortal with him.

As soon as Ira settled back against him and pushed his plate away, he asked, “Done?”

“Yep—ah!”

Wolf dragged him from the stool and frog-marched him toward the door. “I’m stealing this one. Have a good night!”

“You, too,” Talon drawled.

“What are they doing?” Luke asked as they reached the door.

“I’ll tell you later,” Malachi replied.

Out in the uneven parking lot, Ira grabbed Wolf’s hands on his shoulders and pulled them around him. It slowed them down, because it was harder to walk this way, but neither of them cared. Wolf kissed his neck. Stray, wispy curls that had escaped Ira’s bun tickled his jaw. There was a streak of cream-colored paint near his temple. Wolf doubted he knew it was there.

“Where are we going?” Ira asked, looking at him over his shoulder.

“Home. ”

Ira smiled broadly, like the concept of their home still brought him joy. Wolf hoped that was always the case.

“Did you just steal me away for sex?”

Wolf laughed, leaning around him to open the passenger side door. “No, but if it happens, you’ll hear no complaints from me.”

“Good to know, although maybe I should shower.” Ira plucked at his shirt as he folded himself into the seat. “It’s been long and sweaty work today.”

Wolf leaned in, bracing one arm on the edge of the roof. “If everything goes as planned, you’ll have a long and sweaty night, too, seidhr. Might as well wait and have that shower later.”

Ira shot him a dry look. “Okay, but if I smell like paint and sweat, it’s on you!”

Wolf closed the door, chuckling. If Ira thought Wolf had a problem with his sweat, he’d just have to show him otherwise.

The drive home to their apartment was companionable. Wolf rested his hand on Ira’s thigh, and Ira leaned across the middle console to use his shoulder as a pillow. It wasn’t long before they were pulling up in the parking lot outside their apartment. Ira bounded out of the car and rushed around it before Wolf could even get the key out of the ignition. That kind of energy boded well for bedroom activities later, but right now, Wolf sputtered out a laugh.

Ira yanked his door open.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I want to know what the surprise is, come on!” Ira insistently tugged him out of the car. He barely had enough time to close it and hit the button to lock it before Ira was pulling him across the street and inside their building .

In the elevator, Ira leaned against him. “Am I going to like it?”

“I… hope so.”

Ira cast a cheeky look up at him. “Is it your dick?”

Wolf had never heard himself laugh as high and bright as he did now. “No! I mean, later, maybe. But that’s not the surprise. That’s not a surprise at all. You see that all the time.” He grinned suddenly. “You really don’t know?”

Ira smiled lopsidedly. “No. No visions about this.”

That explained his excitement, then. Ira was a hard man to surprise. He was usually three steps ahead of everyone else. Even when he wasn’t, he’d seen pieces of the distant future well enough to learn the steps most of the time. The only time he ever faltered was with personal decisions. Wolf didn’t know if that was because personal stakes were less fixed in time or simply because he saw his personal life less in visions than the big moments.

The elevator door dinged open on their floor.

“Come on, come on, come on!” Ira said, skipping from the elevator with Wolf’s hand grasped firmly in his.

Ira opened the door with his own key—Wolf had made him one right after Ira returned to him—and dragged Wolf inside. He took his time once Ira let him go, closing and locking the door, going into the kitchen for a beer from the fridge and twisting the top off. Ira watched him intently the whole time, practically vibrating with eagerness.

Wolf couldn’t resist teasing. He affected a grimace. “You know what? Maybe we should wait. Now might not be the best time.”

Ira gaped. “What? No way! You’ve already got me excited. My hopes are up. I’ve got to know what it is now.”

Wolf rocked his head in a so-so gesture and took a long pull from the beer. He drank and drank, watching Ira grow more and more frustrated as the silence between them extended.

“ Would you just tell me what it is already! ” Ira exploded.

Some liquid escaped Wolf’s lips as he tried not to laugh, grabbing a hand towel to sop it up off his chin.

Ira took the bottle from him and set it on the counter behind him, then fisted his hands in Wolf’s shirt and reeled him in. “Don’t tease me, Wolf, please?” His plaintive, breathy voice rolled right down Wolf’s spine to pool in his belly.

He ducked his head and kissed him. Ira hummed into it, threading his hands into Wolf’s hair. Kissing Ira never got old. It wasn’t a perfunctory thing he did before the main event with him. He could kiss Ira for hours, until Ira’s lips were swollen and he was panting and begging. Had, on occasion, as a treat. But not tonight. Tonight, he lifted Ira onto the counter and stepped between his legs, bringing their bodies flush and rocking against Ira’s core.

“Are you sure the surprise isn’t your dick?” Ira asked between toe curling kisses. “Because that seems like where we’re headed.”

Wolf nipped his bottom lip and pulled away. “I got you something.”

“Is it your?—”

“Stop asking if it’s my dick,” he said through a chuckle.

Ira grinned shamelessly.

Wolf reached into his pocket and withdrew the small black box. Ira went still, his hands falling from Wolf’s hair to his wrists. Wolf couldn’t resist kissing his bent head as he opened the box.

“Oh my God,” Ira breathed .

Unlike Alex’s ring, which was silver and crusted with diamonds, Ira’s ring was warm, yellow gold with two rows of tiny black opals that ran parallel to the hidden blade. The black opal reminded him of Ira, how he related his visions to a small light in the darkness. Snippets of color within the dark.

“Wolf, it’s beautiful ,” Ira said.

Wolf carefully lifted the ring from the box and slid it onto Ira’s left ring finger. When he tightened his fingers into a fist, it activated the button on the side, and the tiny blade swung out.

“That’s… wow,” he murmured. “You didn’t have to do this.”

“I wanted to,” Wolf said, toying with Ira’s fingers. “I want you to know for sure that I want this—I want you —for all time. I want to give you my blood and share eternity with you. And if you don’t want to live forever, I’ll be yours for as long as you draw breath, and when you’re gone, I’ll find some way to join you in the afterlife.”

Ira’s chocolate brown eyes filled with tears. “Don’t say that. Neither of us is going to die, because we’re going to live forever. Together.”

Wolf beamed. “Good.” He guided Ira’s hand up, kissing each fingertip and then opening his mouth, drawing the blade to the tip of his tongue and licking it. Ira gasped as black blood welled up on his tongue.

“It’ll take me a little time to get used to making you bleed,” Ira confessed, drawing Wolf in for a deep, sucking kiss.

Wolf leaned in, pressing Ira’s legs as far apart as his jeans would allow and rocking against him. “Then allow me to remind you again how much I enjoy it. ”

Ira hummed, wrapping his arms around Wolf’s neck. “Take me to bed.”

“ Yes. ” He hooked his hands under Ira’s thighs and lifted him effortlessly. Ira sealed their mouths together again as Wolf carried him to the bedroom.

He sat at the foot of the bed, and Ira pushed him onto his back, shifting down his body and pushing his shirt up. The blade was still extended on his ring, an exquisite threat and promise rolled into one. He kissed his way up Wolf’s stomach and chest, pushing his shirt up as he went. When he pushed it over his head, he stopped with the fabric covering Wolf’s face, tightening it around his arms and face with pointed deliberation.

“Leave this here,” Ira said firmly, and heat rolled through Wolf. “Don’t move your arms.”

“What if I do?”

“Then I’ll stop.”

A low sound left Wolf, something he refused to call a whine. The button on his jeans opened, and his zipper lowered. Ira’s fingers curled in the waistband of both pants and underwear and tugged them down, leaving them to pool around his calves, his booted feet still planted on the floor. A warm mouth kissed its way from his knee to his hip, licking teasingly before disappearing. He did the same up the other leg next, leaving another lick at his left hip.

His cock twitched, hard and eager. Ira’s warm, damp breath blew over it, and Wolf sucked in a breath. Firm hands hugged his hips, pressing him into the mattress. The juxtaposition of knowing how easily he could take control and forcing himself to remain still so Ira didn’t stop wound the tension tight within him. He liked letting Ira take control, liked the way the man could draw out his pleasure as precisely as a thread through a needle.

Ira’s weight settled on his thighs. Long fingers wrapped around his length at last, pumping a handful of times and smearing his precum down his shaft.

Pain lit up just below his belly button, light and careful, and this time there was no denying his whine for what it was, high and needy. A mouth closed around the head of his cock as the blade dragged through his skin. Ira licked and sucked, never taking him all the way in, just kissing almost like they had in the kitchen. He was gripping Wolf’s cock with his left hand, so he’d removed the ring to make more precise cuts with his right. Was he writing something? Fuck, the idea of him writing his name in Wolf’s flesh sent him to dizzying heights. He moaned aloud, his breath moving the fabric of his T-shirt.

“You like that, baby?” Ira asked, tonguing his slit.

“Fuck yeah.”

Ira left his cock just long enough to swipe his tongue over the blood that beaded from the wounds. Wolf was already healing, and he lamented that he wouldn’t get to see what it said.

“What did it say?” he asked raggedly. He needed to know .

Ira chuckled darkly, a strange sound given how cheerful and kind he was everywhere else. “I’ll write it again. Let’s see if you can follow along this time.”

A vertical line up, a shorter diagonal one back down. Ira’s tongue dragged up his length. Another short diagonal line up, and then a long one back down.

M

A straight line down. Ira sucked the head of his cock into his mouth, his tongue massaging the underside .

I

A straight line up, a diagonal line all the way back down. Another straight line back up. Ira bobbed his head once, halfway down his length and back up.

N

A straight line down. Three short lines across. Pleasure boiled up Wolf’s cock, his release imminent.

E

Ira took him to the back of his throat, and it felt like being struck by lightning. Wolf came without warning, a cry tearing from his throat as his hips jerked, spearing himself down Ira’s throat. His throat squeezed around him, swallowing Wolf’s seed. When he finally backed off, he gasped—and coughed.

Wolf pulled the T-shirt off and tossed it away, sitting up to cradle Ira’s face and taste himself on Ira’s tongue, blood and cum and Ira combined into one heady flavor.

“Sorry, I’m sorry, are you okay?” he asked, and Ira laughed into his mouth.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Totally worth it.” His watering eyes went hooded and molten. “God, you’re hot.” His voice was gravelly, and a wave of possessiveness went through Wolf. His cock did that.

“No, you,” Wolf said smartly. “Did you really carve ‘mine’ into my stomach?”

Ira chortled. “Maybe.”

Wolf looked down. The cuts had healed already, but the blood that bloomed in their place was still there, if a little smeared. The letters themselves were still mostly legible, though. MINE. Wolf shivered in delight.

“I fucking love you,” he murmured, kissing Ira hard.

Ira jerked back. “You do? ”

“Of course.” He laughed. “You’re everything to me. I am yours. Always.”

Ira grinned. “I love you, too.”

Wolf wrapped his arms around him and rolled them over, pinning him down. “Now hold still. It’s time I return the favor. And I hope you got plenty to eat earlier. You’re going to need your energy tonight.”

Ira’s laughter rang out, the scent of blood and sex heavy in the air, and Wolf had never been happier.