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“Away from this place” didn’t mean as far away as Gabe had thought.

Soren was only moving them to the other side of the lake.

They sprinted toward their destination, Soren keeping his hold on Gabe’s hand.

The tension in Gabe eased as they ran, his hand in Soren’s, and he couldn’t help but laugh in delight.

It felt amazing to move like this. They were so fucking fast . Gabe had always used running as an outlet, but he’d never exactly been a speed demon. Now though…

They reached the other side of the lake in mere seconds. It was amazing.

Soren stopped by one of the pine trees on the edge of the shore, pressing Gabe back against the trunk with one hand to his chest. “You should feel very special right now,” he purred, leaning in and licking a stripe along Gabe’s neck.

“I don’t usually abide sex in nature .” He lifted his head and wrinkled his nose in distaste. “But I’ll make an exception for you.”

“We don’t have to,” Gabe managed, ignoring the way his hard cock was aching behind his zipper. He’d been fully erect since the moment Soren had kissed him. His new state apparently made him easy as hell. “We could find a motel or something. I can wait.”

Soren smiled at him, the love in his eyes so palpable it took Gabe’s breath away. “I know you can, Highness,” he said. “But your vamp isn’t the only one dying to get its hands on its mate.”

Soren kissed him again. There was no gentleness in it this time. Soren plundered. He claimed. He took . He sucked Gabe’s tongue, bit at his lips. Gabe groaned, palming Soren’s ass with needy hands.

Soren broke the kiss. “Take these filthy clothes off me,” he ordered breathlessly.

Gabe complied, hastily undressing first his mate, then himself. Soren attacked his lips again the moment they were both naked.

Gabe’s hands traveled from Soren’s pert ass down to the backs of his thighs. He lifted him easily, wrapping those slender legs around his own hips, reversing them so it was Soren’s back against the tree.

The new presence inside Gabe was vibrating with satisfaction. This was what they needed. Soren, in their arms, wrapped around them. Skin on skin. Touching and being touched.

The smell of smoke and ash was still in the air, but underneath that was Soren’s cool, soothing scent. Gabe breathed it in as best he could without taking his lips off Soren’s, his hard cock rubbing against his mate’s, precum leaking over them both.

Gabe groaned, his hands moving back over Soren’s ass, his fingers dancing along his cleft.

Wait. Fuck.

Gabe released Soren’s mouth, dodging back when Soren tried to reclaim his lips immediately. They were missing some essential items.

“We don’t have any, um. Fuck, we can just—” Gabe looked around them, as if maybe a local lube peddler would pop out from behind one of the trees.

“No,” Soren cut him off with another kiss. “You will fuck me, Highness. I need you inside me. Now. Immediately. Fucking yesterday .”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Gabe said helplessly.

“I can take it,” Soren promised. He tugged at Gabe’s right arm, leaving Gabe to hold him up with one hand. Gabe was strong enough now that it wasn’t even a strain. Soren took Gabe’s index finger into his mouth, hollowing his cheeks and sucking hard, laving at Gabe’s digit with his tongue.

“Fuck,” Gabe hissed, his cock jerking.

Once Gabe’s finger was properly soaked with spit, Soren guided Gabe’s hand back to his ass. “Open me up, Highness.”

Gabe moaned, pressing his finger against Soren’s hole, rubbing and circling gently, his breath catching as his digit slipped inside.

He took his time with it, watching the different expressions flit across his mate’s beautiful face.

Gabe could feel the urgency humming underneath his own skin—the need to claim, to get his cock where it belonged—but it was easy enough to ignore, with Soren looking so damn enticing, rocking against Gabe’s finger.

Soon enough he had two fingers scissoring, and Soren was panting. “Enough,” he ordered breathlessly.

Gabe shook his head. “Not yet. You’re not ready, baby.” He withdrew his fingers, ignoring Soren’s whine of protest. He wrapped the same hand around Soren’s leaking cock, gathering the precum and mixing it with his spit, easing three fingers slowly back into his mate.

Soren keened, pushing back against Gabe’s hand. “If you don’t fuck me soon…”

Gabe kissed him to silence the threat.

Impatient, impulsive vampire.

He waited until his three fingers were going in easy, and Soren was cursing his name with every other breath. That was it. Perfect. Fucking perfect.

He’d waited long enough.

Gabe slicked his cock up with more of Soren’s precum, pushing the head against Soren’s entrance. “Is this what you want, brat?”

“Fucking finally,” Soren breathed.

Gabe slid inside his mate slowly. Excruciatingly slowly. He groaned as the heat enveloped him. “So fucking tight, brat.” He gave Soren a minute to adjust, his muscles trembling with the effort to stay still, then started fucking his vampire in slow, even thrusts.

“Harder,” Soren panted, fingers sinking into Gabe’s curls.

“Your back,” Gabe protested. Soren’s bare, silky skin was pressing against the tree.

Soren shook his head, tightening his grip in Gabe’s hair. “I can take it. I’m not fragile. Fuck me harder.”

So Gabe did. He set a brutal pace, giving in to the beast inside him, thrusting into his mate with abandon. Soren moaned long and low, encouraging his ferocity. He tugged at Gabe’s hair, tucking his head into Gabe’s shoulder, groaning and whimpering and whining in that delicious way he did.

Gabe gasped as sharp teeth bit into his neck.

Soren was drinking from him. Vampire to vampire.

“Fuck, baby,” Gabe groaned, pounding furiously into Soren. It felt so fucking good. It wasn’t the same tingle of pleasure-laced venom he’d felt as a human, but instead a deep, primal satisfaction at having his mate claim him this way. The beast inside him roared in delight.

Gabe was too lost in pleasure to know how it happened, but he… changed . His fangs dropped, his vision sharpened. The moment Soren lifted his head, Gabe reciprocated, biting into his vampire’s neck with a growl.

Fucking hell. Soren’s hot blood filled Gabe’s mouth, and it tasted just as good as Soren smelled. Pleasure raced down his spine, and he lost it in an instant, flooding Soren with his cum, his hips stuttering, his vision whiting out as he rode the waves of his orgasm.

He barely registered Soren bucking into him, the wetness of Soren’s release covering his stomach.

Heaven. This was heaven.

He only allowed himself a few gulps of Soren’s blood, not knowing yet how much was too much, but that seemed to be more than enough to appease the beast. They had claimed their mate. It was content for the moment.

Gabe kissed and licked along Soren’s neck as they both came down from their merging, Soren’s fingers combing gently now through his curls.

He kept Soren there against the tree, not willing to take his cock out of Soren’s warmth yet.

The trauma of the day was catching up with him, and he needed this connection.

Needed to know Soren was still here. With him.

Forever.

Soren was scratching along Gabe’s scalp, humming in delight every time Gabe shivered. “You turned for me,” Soren said, now for the third time.

Gabe paused his kissing. “I did. But also for—for me too though.”

Soren leaned back against the tree to meet Gabe’s eyes. Gabe felt a wave of self-consciousness rush through him. But this was Soren. Nothing bad had ever come from Gabe being vulnerable with him.

“I’ve let fear rule so much of my life.” He brushed a piece of Soren’s golden hair out of his eyes. “I wanted to know what it felt like to make a choice based on something a little more…hopeful.”

Soren sniffed, clearing his throat. “You can’t take it back, you know.”

“I know. Maybe I’m a little more open to magic in my life now.” Gabe grinned. “Plus, I’m like, super strong. I bet I could run an ultramarathon no problem, right?”

Soren’s brows lowered, the other vampire scowling at him. Gabe laughed, wincing when the action jostled Soren on Gabe’s oversensitive cock. “Maybe we shouldn’t have this conversation with my dick still inside you.”

He withdrew his softened cock slowly, easing Soren gently to the ground. Soren looked up at him, still flushed and nude and so unbearably beautiful. “I just don’t want you to regret it. Regret me.”

Gabe reached for his hand. “I couldn’t. I won’t .”

Soren arched a brow. “What about feeding? You think you can drink human blood?”

Gabe shrugged. “You can teach me. Maybe we could go dancing one night, find a pretty thing to share together?”

Soren did his best to keep his expression blank, but Gabe could feel the rush of want through the bond.

Gabe grinned. He’d had a feeling ever since their night out together that Soren might like something like that.

Not an actual threesome—they were both too possessive for that, apparently—but some flirting, a little innocent touching, a pleasure-filled feeding.

That would be…exciting. For both of them.

Soren looked to their pile of clothes skeptically. “We should probably rinse these off in the lake. And then…” He smiled at Gabe, that gloriously manic grin Gabe had learned to love. “Take me home?”