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Jay took a moment to think, playing with the ends of Alexei’s hair now.

“Candles” was what he came up with. He’d seen enough romantic movies to know that was the very thing when trying to set a scene.

“Lots of candles. Like a million of them. No overhead lighting at all, just soft, flickering candlelight.”

Alexei’s half smile deepened. “Candles.”

“And flowers!” Jay exclaimed, accidentally tugging on Alexei’s hair with his enthusiasm as he got into the idea. “Big bouquets everywhere. With red rose petals on the bed.”

“You do watch a lot of movies, don’t you, kitten?”

Jay flushed at the dig but stuck to his guns anyway. “It should have been romantic,” he argued, afraid he was coming dangerously close to pouting. “It should have been me . It was—it was—” He struggled to find the right words “—it was so rude of Wolfgang, to do that without asking.”

Alexei’s smile grew tender, his eyes unbelievably soft as he stroked Jay’s cheek. “He said he thought it would make you a little less…conflicted, if the deed was done.”

“But now I’m angry!” Jay scowled in demonstration, pointing a finger at his furrowed brow. “And I hate being angry. He’s not going to bully us into going.”

“I’ll go with you to the den, Jay. If it’s necessary. I don’t mind, even if we have to pretend…”

“No,” Jay said firmly. “Taking your human life away is one thing. I’m not letting him take it and then drag you into such a terrible place.

” He twisted a strand of Alexei’s hair around two fingers.

“I want to give you…goodness, Alexei. My friends here are good . We deserve to stay with them. We deserve good things. We deserve a life of our choosing.” He gave the hair a gentle tug. “No more— No more meanies.”

Alexei hugged him closer. “All right, kitten. No more meanies.”

He nuzzled at Jay’s neck again, his warm breath tickling Jay’s skin enough to have Jay squirming. “Hungry,” Alexei groaned.

“Oh.” Jay moved to get up, to fetch his supplies, but Alexei’s arms tightened into a cage. Jay tapped at Alexei’s shoulder. “Gabe brought us some blood. Let me go and I’ll grab it.”

“Not hungry for blood,” Alexei murmured, nosing along Jay’s jawline. “Hungry for you .”

“Oh. Oh .”

Danny had told Jay about this once: the heightened craving he’d had for Roman in the beginning (and still had, as far as Jay could tell). Was Alexei feeling that same pull?

Jay’s beastie started purring, immensely pleased with this turn of events.

Alexei lifted his head from Jay’s neck, his pretty eyes looking dazed and heavy-lidded already, like with the serious discussion out of the way, his need for Jay had gone from zero to a hundred. “Where’s your lube, sweetheart? Need to open you up, baby. Need to be inside you.”

Yes, definitely zero to a hundred.

The dirty words sent a rush of heat through Jay’s body, mixing strangely with the lust he could now feel radiating off Alexei through the bond.

“Um.” Jay tried to focus on something besides his own hardening erection.

Lube. Lube? He had a bag on the floor, from when he’d bought supplies before, still not put away because he was trying to embrace casual messiness.

Jay pointed at it, since Alexei didn’t seem inclined to release his hold, and Alexei folded over with Jay still in his arms, grabbing hold of the lube and settling them both back onto the couch.

“Naked,” Alexei grunted.

Jay rushed to comply, but the act of getting undressed without letting go of each other—because Alexei still seemed completely unwilling to release Jay for even a moment—had Jay giggling. That soon turned to gasping when Alexei’s thick, impatient, talented fingers got to work opening him up.

He didn’t treat Jay like glass this time. Jay wasn’t sure if that was because it wasn’t his first time or because Alexei could sense through the bond how eager he was or just that Alexei was that hungry for him that he couldn’t go slow.

Either way, it wasn’t long before he was lining that big cock up to Jay’s entrance, and then Jay was sinking down slowly.

Oh God. He was full. So very, very full. Perfectly full.

When he was seated all the way, his bottom brushing against the soft hairs on Alexei’s strong thighs, Alexei stroked his cheek, looking awed. “Want to try it, kotyonok? Try moving your hips for me.”

Oh, right. Because Jay was on top.

But Alexei helped in the beginning, guiding Jay’s movements with his hands on Jay’s hips.

“Perfect,” he praised, as if Jay was doing it all on his own.

Even in his newly turned state, Alexei was so nice to Jay.

The nicest in the world. “My perfect vampire,” he crooned. “My perfect kitten. My perfect mate.”

Jay watched in fascination as his own cock bobbed with every move of his hips.

He angled himself so the leaking tip brushed against Alexei’s warm stomach instead.

Oh goodness, that was nice. He did it again and again, even as Alexei’s hands traveled from his hips to stroke Jay’s back, his neck, his nipples.

Jay could feel this deep, almost obsessive satisfaction coming from Alexei, at filling Jay up, at being connected in this way. It pulsed with each one of Jay’s whimpers, his little moans.

And Jay loved that he was making them both feel so good, but he wanted…he wanted something else. “Take over?” he pleaded breathlessly.

He worried for a second that Alexei would be disappointed in him, but his mate’s eyes only darkened further—not all the way black, not yet—and he let out this sexy, growly-type sound that was new. “You want me to help you move, sweetheart? You want to relax and let me do all the work, hm?”

Jay nodded frantically, not even embarrassed because he could feel how hot Alexei found it. Alexei’s hands moved back down to Jay’s hips, squeezing there, and then he was pressing Jay down at the same time Alexei’s hips pumped up, hitting that one wonderful spot, and ohhh. That was nice.

That was good. That was so good.

Jay’s body went limp with pleasure as he moaned, and he wrapped his arms around Alexei’s neck, slumping against Alexei’s broad chest. He tucked his head into the crook of Alexei’s shoulder, inhaling that wonderful vanilla scent, and let his mate move them both.

He lost himself a little then, feeling so wonderfully loose and pliant and a little unmoored, overwhelmed with the intensity of their combined emotions flooding through him, but Jay was brought back to awareness with a start as sharp teeth sank into his neck.

Oh. Oh . Alexei was biting Jay. He was drinking from him.

“Oh God. Oh my goodness,” Jay moaned, waves of dark pleasure rocking through him.

He came, startling himself with the force of it, throbbing and shaking and barely in control of his own muscles. Which is fine , Jay thought dreamily, because Alexei is moving my muscles for me .

Alexei groaned into Jay’s neck—a low, growly sound—and slammed Jay’s body once, twice, three times more before Jay felt the warmth of Alexei’s release flooding into him.

He twitched with the sensation. Jay loved it. He loved being filled by Alexei. He loved this physical connection.

And he loved Alexei. So, so much.

“I love you too,” Alexei murmured, licking at Jay’s neck, at the bite he’d left there.

Had Jay said that out loud?

“I can feel it,” Alexei told him, still apparently reading Jay’s mind. “I can feel your love for me.”

Jay made an incoherent mumbling sound in response.

Alexei pressed a kiss to his neck. “Was—was that okay, sweetheart?”

“Sex is always okay,” Jay sighed happily. “I think I want to do it all the time.”

Alexei’s answering chuckle made his chest vibrate against Jay’s body. “No, kotyonok. The bite.”

“Oh.” Jay somehow found the strength to lean back and make eye contact, a little sad to see Alexei’s face had already returned to its human form. Jay would really like to meet Alexei’s beastie. “Very okay. It’s…um…” He could feel himself flushing. “Biting is a form of intimacy between vampires.”

Alexei smiled at him, the tiniest spot of blood—Jay’s blood—still lingering at the corner of his lips. “My cock is still inside you and you’re blushing over a bite?”

Now Jay’s cheeks were absolutely on fire. “I’m just— It’s another…first. For me.”

That intense sense of satisfaction pulsed through the bond again. “Good thing too. You taste so delicious no vampire would give you up after a bite.”

Jay squirmed with pleasure at the nice words, and Alexei hissed, raising Jay by the hips and moving him off his softening cock.

Jay tried not to pout, but he wasn’t quite successful. “I wasn’t ready yet.”

Alexei laughed lightly, but there was a new tension in his brow. “Sorry, kitten. But I think I might need that blood now.”

Right. Because it may have been intimate, but vampire blood wasn’t going to give Alexei the nourishment he needed.

So Jay fetched him the blood and watched his newly turned mate feed.

Alexei’s beastie was just as pretty as Alexei himself, even if the black covered all the multicolored goodness of his eyes.

Jay found himself wishing they had time to stay in this apartment for the next month or so, to learn these new sides of each other and explore this bond.

But they had plans to make. People to call.

Meanies to chastise.