Page 73

Gabe

G abe jerked awake to the sound of his alarm blaring. There was a weight on his chest keeping him from sitting up, so he reached out blindly with one hand, grabbing his phone and turning off the hateful sound.

He tilted his chin, looking down at the blond head tucked underneath it. He inhaled Soren’s comforting scent, sneezing when the vampire’s hairs tickled his nose.

“Christ,” Soren said, his voice muffled by Gabe’s chest. “First your obnoxious alarm, then you sneezing on my head. Terrible way to wake up.”

Gabe rubbed his still-itchy nose more firmly against Soren’s hair. “Too bad.”

Gabe thought it was a great way to wake up.

Soren may not have needed the same amount of sleep as he did, but the blond vampire had gotten into the habit of staying in bed with him anyway, either reading or crocheting to pass the time, usually catching sleep for the last few hours before Gabe had to be awake himself.

Gabe sighed happily and ran a hand along the strip of bare skin between Soren’s pajama shirt and pants, the skin just as soft, smooth, and cool as the silk itself.

Wait.

He removed his hand, placing it over Soren’s forehead instead. “Hey,” Soren protested. “What are you doing?”

Gabe frowned down at the vampire. “You need to feed,” he accused. “You should have told me.”

“You weren’t exactly in the best of moods last night, Highness. I could wait.”

“Don’t,” Gabe said firmly. “Tell me next time.”

“Fine, fine,” Soren grumbled. “Do we even have time?” He lifted his head to glance at Gabe’s phone.

“Yeah. I set my alarm a little early.” Gabe didn’t feel the need to share the fact that he’d been setting his alarm earlier every day to sneak extra time with Soren before his shifts.

“All right.” Soren stretched languidly, reminding Gabe once again of a contented house cat. The next moment, Gabe’s breath left him in a huff as Soren abruptly flipped him onto his back, straddling him smoothly in the same movement.

“I want your neck again,” Soren demanded, pale eyes glinting.

“Yeah, um.” Gabe tried to focus on Soren, and not on the way that statement made his cock swell, for some reason. “Where else would you do it?”

“Oh, there are all sorts of places I can drink from you,” Soren purred, walking his fingers along Gabe’s chest, a wide grin crossing his lips. “A plethora to choose from.”

Gabe swallowed hard, his mouth dry. There were so many versions of Soren.

The sweet one from last night. The teasing, sultry one from the club.

The vulnerable, prickly one afraid to ask for help.

And then this one. The side of him that might have terrified Gabe just a year before. Hungry and wicked and…fucking sexy .

Gabe couldn’t help but grab onto the vampire’s hips, holding him in place. “I’m sure we’ll try them all.”

Soren grinned wider, his eyes darkening to black, his fangs peeking out from behind pink lips. “We will,” he promised hoarsely.

Gabe held his breath as Soren leaned over him, moving so slowly Gabe was sure it was deliberate.

So dramatic, his vampire.

Finally, Soren pounced. Gabe winced at the flash of pain, but almost immediately, that… tingling sensation started. The one he’d felt when Soren fed from him at the club. It began at the bite, traveling down his spine, all the way to…

Gabe groaned as his cock filled rapidly. “Fuck,” he breathed.

Soren growled in response, his strong, delicate hands digging into Gabe’s shoulders.

Gabe groaned again. Why did this feel so fucking good?

He had needed to hold himself back in the club, not wanting to go too far in a public place, but they were alone now. He moved his hands from Soren’s hips to the vampire’s ass, grinding against him. Soren was just as hard as he was.

It wasn’t enough.

Gabe frantically pushed his underwear down, groaning in relief as his erection was freed, all the while listening to Soren gulp greedily. He grabbed at the vampire’s silken pajama pants, tugging them down, freeing Soren’s cock as well.

“Fuck, baby.” Gabe lined them up and used his hold on Soren’s ass to grind their bare cocks together, Soren’s copious amounts of precum helping ease the glide. His vampire was making feral little sounds as he drank. Gabe had no idea why those sounds were so fucking hot. They just…were.

Eventually Soren released Gabe’s neck and rose, black eyes gazing down at Gabe. Even like this, Soren’s vampire side front and forward, he was so fucking beautiful.

“Kiss me,” Gabe begged.

Soren grinned down at him, slowly licking the trickles of Gabe’s blood from his lips. “You sure, Highness?”

Gabe took one hand off Soren’s ass, grabbing the back of his vampire’s head, pulling him close and kissing him hungrily.

There was a faint metallic edge to it, but Gabe couldn’t find it in himself to care that he was tasting traces of his own blood.

Not when he felt like he would die if he had to wait another second to have Soren’s mouth on his.

“So needy, Highness,” Soren whispered against his lips.

“Can’t help it,” Gabe panted. “Feels so fucking good.”

“Mm,” Soren hummed his agreement, rocking against Gabe, his movements bringing them both to release in moments. Gabe held him tight as they both shuddered through their orgasms.

“Fuck,” Gabe sighed, their mingled cum cooling on his stomach. “That’s really something. The whole biting thing.”

Soren leaned over him, giving small, kittenish licks to the bite on his neck. “Stay still. I need to close this properly.”

“Magic saliva,” Gabe murmured, maybe a trifle delirious from the combination of blood loss and mind-melting orgasm.

“Yes, exactly. Magic,” Soren agreed.

Gabe wasn’t so out of it that he didn’t catch the irony in Soren’s tone, and he thought back on what he’d told the vampire the night before.

It was true Gabe had never been a fantasy-prone kid.

He’d liked what was right in front of him.

His family. His friends. Sports. He’d taken comfort in the simplicity of the world around him, in things making sense.

He hadn’t seen the appeal of adding a bunch of illogical bullshit to an already confusing world.

But it turned out all that was a lie anyway.

Even without magic, life was unpredictable.

His father’s life had been taken away in one freak accident.

His mother had forgotten Gabe’s existence in a few years.

And magic had appeared in Gabe’s world after all, for better or worse.

His brother was a vampire, for fuck’s sake.

And Gabe had another one in his bed right now.

And it was the best thing that had happened to him in years.

So maybe Gabe should stop reaching for a normal life that didn’t even really exist and accept the one he’d fallen into, fangs and all.

Soren finished his ministrations, lifting himself off Gabe and flouncing onto his back.

“Rinse off, Highness. I’ll let the mutt out.

Then we need to get you some food and water.

Can’t have you woozy on your last shift of the week.

” He gave Gabe a wicked look. “Maybe we can get Jay to make you something.”

“Don’t even— Oh fuck, do you think he heard that? Vamp hearing and all?” Gabe had forgotten about their vampire guest. It was way too easy for him to focus in on Soren and only Soren.

“I didn’t hear anything!” Jay’s voice sounded from across the hall.

“Fuck.” Gabe ran a hand over his face, laughing in spite of himself. Fucking vampires everywhere.

He took a lightning-quick shower before handing the bathroom over to Soren and bounding down the stairs. Gabe still had a good amount of time before work—maybe he could fit in a short run?

Hydration first.

He was interrupted on his way to the kitchen by the sound of knocking on the front door. Gabe hesitated. Should he wait for one of the vampires? But Soren was in the shower, Jay still in the guest room presumably. And there hadn’t been any sign of trouble since Soren had fought Hendrick off.

Gabe peered through the peephole. “Oh fuck.”

Danny had warned him Ferdy could jump the backyard fence. Gabe had been skeptical, given the puppy’s smaller size, but still, he should have told the others not to leave him out back unsupervised.

He opened the door quickly. The man holding Ferdy by the collar smiled ruefully at him. “This one yours?”

He was big and broad, with blond hair and dark eyes peeking out from under a trucker hat, looking like a local in flannel and faded jeans.

“Oh yeah.” Gabe reached a hand out for Ferdy. “I’m sorry, man. He must’ve gotten out of the backyard somehow.”

“Must have.” The guy smiled at him, still holding on to the puppy. “Nice place you’ve got here.”

“Thanks.” Gabe could have told the guy it was his brother’s place, but he didn’t see the point. It wasn’t any of this stranger’s business. And Gabe just…didn’t like the guy’s vibe. There was something off about him.

Or maybe living with vampires had made him paranoid.

“I can take him,” Gabe said pointedly, grabbing Ferdy’s collar. There was a tense moment where Gabe thought, for whatever reason, this guy wasn’t going to let go of the dog.

But then the moment was over, the stranger tipping his hat like some sort of parody of a country yokel. “I’ll be on my way, then.”

“Um, all right. Thanks.”

Gabe locked the door behind him.

“Your stalker is back.”

“Excuse me?” Gabe looked up from the vending machine selections he’d been studying, trying to decide whether bringing Soren home some candy would be a nice gesture or an incredibly stupid one.

He wanted to give the vampire…something. For listening the other night. For making it feel less terrible to come to work. For making Gabe feel like life was full of more possibility than he’d let himself believe.

Candy was probably a stupid way to do that. But Soren liked…sweets. And pretty things. And Gabe, for some reason.

Should Gabe be buying him jewelry or something?