Page 107

Lucien

L uc took in the sight in front of him.

A pretty fucking flower indeed.

Jamie was sprawled underneath him, looking positively detached, his long, slender limbs akimbo. Those gorgeous dark eyes were heavy-lidded and glassy, his lush lashes fanning flushed cheeks with every dazed blink.

He was absolutely covered in love bites—tiny, delicious bruises decorating his tawny skin like jewels—and the scent of his arousal was permeating the air, musky and sweet, with those lovely hints of cinnamon adding an enticement all his own.

Speaking of which. Luc licked his lips, savoring the essence of his mate on his tongue.

Sweet. So very sweet.

Luc’s demon was torn, both wired up with need and absurdly content to have their mate at their mercy. It was shifting restlessly inside while purring at the same time, a strange combination to have battling within him.

Patience, beast , Luc ordered. We’ll be inside him soon enough .

Luc palmed his aching cock, relishing the way Jamie’s gaze latched onto the sight of it. Oh, but he was a cock-hungry young thing.

Jamie had planned this, the tricky little human. Playing sweet, seductive love songs. Sauntering over and declaring his claim. He’d been aiming to get fucked, to have Luc assert his hold over him.

Luc wasn’t even ashamed, rising to the bait so easily.

It would take a much better man than Luc to deny himself such a gift. His destined. His beloved. His mate.

He’d already been teasing himself just as much as Jamie for the past hour. But it was such a delectable type of pain, with Jamie writhing and mewling underneath him, at the mercy of Luc and his attentions. The sweetest type of pain there was.

He repeated his request, forcing Jamie’s attention off his cock. “Your lube, my sweet.”

Jamie licked his lips—even more reddened than usual, looking pouty and swollen and tempting as all hell—and pointed to his bedside table.

Luc made quick work of it, grabbing what he needed and returning in an instant to kneel on the bed over his mate again. “Tell me, flower, how long has it been since you’ve been taken this way?”

Jamie gave him a lazy, lustful smile. “A while. Too long.” He spread his legs a little wider, absolutely shameless under Luc’s hungry gaze.

Luc gripped his cock hard at the base, too keyed up by far. “No recent ex-paramours lurking in the wings?”

Jamie shook his head slowly, his gaze back on Luc’s cock. “No interest in dating. What’s the point of opening up and growing attached if it’s not going to last?”

“Some would say the life experience,” Luc pointed out, ignoring the horrid inner part of him that was inordinately pleased Jamie had never been properly courted. The same part of him that wished Jamie had been kept locked away until Luc could get to him.

Jamie ran a caressing hand up his chest, over all that glorious golden skin, biting into his swollen lip. “Oh, I’ve had experience ,” he teased.

Always fucking teasing.

Luc couldn’t help the growl that came out of him. Thinking about Jamie with other men made him want to break things. Bones, to be specific. Him and his monster both.

But Jamie only laughed at his reaction, the little minx, before propping himself up on his elbows. “I knew it wasn’t going to last because I was waiting for you.”

Luc and his monster both preened at that—the implication that Jamie’s relationships wouldn’t last because he was meant for them .

Fuck, that was a heady thing. Jamie had known for years that he belonged with Luc.

That he was Luc’s and Luc was his. It didn’t matter what he’d done or who he’d done it with—not that Luc wouldn’t love to tear the heads off anyone who had dared touch Jamie before him, just for the fucking fun of it—because it was all just an empty, meaningless placeholder for the real thing.

“We’ll have to be careful with you, then, flower.” It was a reminder to himself as much as a promise to Jamie.

“Fuck careful.” Jamie spread his legs wantonly. “Open me up, monster daddy.”

Luc choked. “You’re not calling me that.”

Jamie smirked. “You love it.”

What Luc loved was this easy acceptance. This guileless offering up of everything he’d ever wanted. He was so used to seducing, used to using his charm and good looks to convince people they wanted him despite his monstrosity.

His courtship of Victoria had been one long, exhausting game. A battle, really.

But here Jamie was offering himself up on a silver platter. He had been offering himself up on a platter since the moment they’d met, before Luc had even had a chance to speak.

Maybe fate wasn’t always a merciless bitch after all.

Luc slicked up his fingers before draping himself back over his mate.

He took Jamie’s lips, murmuring his appreciation in French, knowing how much it turned Jamie on to hear him speak it.

The kiss was much gentler than his earlier ferocity, soft, velvety strokes of his tongue. A wordless thank-you for this gift.

“Mm. You are being careful,” Jamie teased before gasping as Luc’s thick finger breached him yet again.

Luc worked him over then, mixing sweet kisses with urgent fingers. It was heaven. It was hell. He tortured them both once again.

By the time he had his third finger working into his eager mate, Jamie’s cock was hard and leaking again, darker in color than the rest of his skin, with a pretty reddened tip Luc couldn’t resist circling with the thumb of his free hand.

“Look at that, flower,” Luc crooned. “So ready for me. So willing.”

“Yes,” Jamie whimpered. “So ready. You really need to fuck me, Luc.”

Luc’s restraint was hanging on by a fucking thread as it was. He slathered his cock carelessly with lube, somewhere in the back of his mind aware that even with the prep, he was thicker than the fingers he’d been giving his mate.

“Now, Luc,” Jamie demanded, bucking his hips underneath him. “ Now .”

Luc snarled, diving in for another kiss, deep and bruising this time. He wasn’t sure he had any more gentleness left in him. He lined the thick head of his cock up to Jamie’s softened hole, teasing at the tight ring of muscles, pausing there. “Tell me again,” he ordered.

He wanted to hear it again. Needed to hear it again.

“I claim you,” Jamie told him solemnly. “You’re mine.”

Luc entered him in one steady push, his muscles trembling with the effort to go easy. He didn’t want to hurt his flower, not out of carelessness.

He didn’t ever want to do anything to dim that shining light.

But Jamie was already keening with pleasure at the invasion. “Fuck yes. More. Fuck me. Please.”

Luc slid back before thrusting in again, all the way to the hilt. He tried to keep a slow, steady pace, to be good for his human, but Jamie’s heels dug into his ass, pushing him in.

“Faster, monster. Harder.”

Fuck. Luc had thought he could control himself, that he could be careful. A good, protective mate. But he was wrong. Each whimper Jamie made snapped another thread of Luc’s careful restraint, until he was thrusting furiously, snarling with each push of his hips.

He was lost in that tight heat. Drowning in the glorious sounds Jamie was making. Overwhelmed with the rightness of it all.

“You like this?” he growled, pushing Jamie’s legs back until they practically brushed his head. “Being claimed by a monster?”

“Fuck!” Jamie yelled. “Yes. I like it. I like it so fucking much.”

Luc wrapped one hand around Jamie’s neck, collaring him with his grip. “You belong to me. Body and soul. You and this perfect fucking hole. All mine.”

“Yes,” Jamie gasped.

Luc couldn’t help it. The monster rose to the surface. “ Ours forever, perfect mate. ”

Jamie’s eyes widened at his rougher, deeper tone. Could he tell which part of Luc was speaking to him? But Jamie panted his agreement anyway. “Yes. Yours.”

Luc released his hold on Jamie’s neck and flipped him, pulling that gorgeous ass up and rutting into him. He was losing his rhythm, his impending release building in the base of his spine. Jamie was just too fucking perfect, the tight grip of his ass around Luc’s cock.

Luc wrapped a hand around Jamie’s leaking erection. He wanted his mate coming with him.

He pulled Jamie’s hips back with his other hand, burying himself to the hilt and coming with a deep, hoarse cry, his thighs jerking as he emptied himself into his mate, Jamie’s release flooding his fist at the same time.

He let himself collapse on top of Jamie, pressing them both down into the bed.

“Fuck,” Jamie grunted, his entire body trembling underneath Luc’s. “ Fuck .”

He sounded spent and exhausted and well used.

After gathering his strength, Luc flipped Jamie again and took a moment to lick the cum off Jamie’s spent cock, ignoring Jamie’s feeble protests at the overstimulation.

Jamie gave up quickly, sprawling back and laughing weakly. “Dirty old man.”

Luc lifted Jamie’s legs, once again folding his mate like a pretzel. He was becoming addicted to how splendidly bendy his lithe human was. “I like tasting every bit of you.”

Jamie sucked in a breath as Luc licked his hole again. “What are you doing?” he breathed.

“I was too rough with you…”

Jamie gave a weak moan. “Why does that feel so good right now?”

“My saliva and its healing properties.”

Jamie laughed again, a sleepy, rough sound. “I’m a lucky man.”

Luc’s chest tightened at that. Jamie thought he was lucky, to have Luc as his own.

We’re never letting him go , his monster purred. Never ever.

Jamie’s eyes were closed and his breathing even by the time Luc finished cleaning him, drawing himself up to lie beside him. Luc watched those slow, deep breaths, the rhythm of Jamie’s rising chest.

How fragile he was. How mortal.

Luc didn’t have a high success rate with mortals.

It had been so easy to kidnap Roman’s Danny.

To hurt him. To take his life. The terrifying truth was that every day Jamie was mortal was a risk.

A chance for him to be stolen from Luc. By illness.

By injury. By accident or malicious intent. It didn’t matter how .