I don't own The Night World or seek to profit from the ideas or characters that belong to another. The Night World belongs to the wonderful L. J Smith. I thank her for creating such a wonderful series that I can borrow for the use of my characters.
The characters in this story are fictional and any similarities to living people are accidental. As this story contains sex between males, you need to be of legal age to be reading this story and if you don't want to be reading about sex between young men you might want to stop now. Feedback is very welcome, as is anyone who is keen to pre-read or edit for me. All can be sent to chaotic_child@hotmail.com I hope you all enjoy!
Author's Note: Thanks for all the generous feedback. Apologies for the long delay of this chapter and thank for your patience, internet problems and life meant this took a back seat. But here it is the chapter you've all waited patiently before. Also thanks to the reader who gave me the idea for the attic and to take the fight to the country, this was originally in Glasgow. Enjoy the ride!
CHAPTER 5
I was jostled awake not long after dawn by a hard prod in the back. I felt my own fidgety shifting had woken my soulmate up for the second night in a row as I tossed fitfully from another of my uneasy dreams.
I felt him lean over me and saw both my hands were gripping the sheets in tight fists. I could see my claws were out and I had ripped the sheets and my own hands up with the same claws as they stabbed into the mattress, clawing my own nightmares.
I felt him sigh and get out of bed to fetch a damp facecloth from the ensuite bathroom attached to this room. He crouched naked in front of me and began to firmly coax my fingers to release my stranglehold of the sheets.
He used the cloth to clean up my own blood and self inflicted cuts, cuts that were already healing as he cleaned them. I felt him shift as he knelt on the floor his fingers moving to stroke my face comfortingly.
He kissed the side of my neck and shoulder nuzzling against my ear. I inhaled the familiar smell of him a unique mix of falcon, cold alpine air, and grass with a distinctive peppery undertone. I felt him drop the cloth on the floor and stroke his fingers through my hair.
As always if I was anywhere near the smell of him and his warm, hard body my own body responded, as I felt his own react. Because I was touching him the soulmate bond was enveloping us in a cloud of hazy blue mist and I could feel his emotions, see his thoughts and I knew he could see the nightmare as the images still flickered through me.
It was the same reoccurring dream I'd been having off and on for the past two days. It was a natural response to the disastrous events we had faced with Michael and the larger looming war with the Night World.
I was running through a house that bore a perfect resemblance to the house of Michael's friends and was trying yet again to get to him before the gun shot went off.
I felt Chay's awareness of me in his head and his need to comfort me, stop the problem.
I felt my own purr as I slid my hand down to wrap my fingers around the wrist of his free hand, my fingers stroking his pulse. I felt his own matching desire for me in his mind, in the tensing of his muscles, his rocketing pulse and I could smell sex on him from earlier on that night.
Without reaching down to stroke his cock I could smell and feel his own arousal and knew he was hard too.
I felt him nuzzle my neck humming a tune that was nearly a soothing purr; I recognised it as an old Finnish lullaby I'd heard before, as he chased the dream out of my head.
In so many ways Chay is the falcon that lives in him and in his own way is ruled by his instincts, in his savage drive to protect or defend his territory, his devotion to and passionate need of his mate.
But there is willingness in him to be coldly ruthless to get what he want, to get his prey. He is far more patient, precise and merciless then I am.
I could hear him think me reckless, hot heated and impulsive. The falcon he is hunts by using sheer relentless power, fear and merciless patience to exhaust his victims, he's far more intelligent than I am, the thinker and planner.
He thought I was taking what happened to Michael and this war we are in too much to heart and far too personally, this war was not going to end well. He thought the pragmatic thing to do was to move on to the next thing.
But my own preoccupied thoughts had strayed from his, I'd released him from our mingling thoughts but not for long, he never let me deny him for long.
He shifted pushing me over as he moved back up onto the bed and slid in next to me. He wrapped himself around me and pressed his lips into the hollow of my throat still humming the same old wordless tune. I felt his leg wind through mine, his foot stroking my calf.
I felt his fierce focus on me and was surprised to realise my own arms had wrapped around him with my fingers tangled in his hair as. I didn't remember doing that, it was so instinctive to touch him and respond.
I felt him pull me deeper into his mind, into his own memories. He distracted me with his own memories of flying as a falcon letting me feel and experience it through him.
I felt my own purr and his hum as I offered up my own treasured memories of running and stalking as a lynx, such was the way we distracted and comforted each other.
I must have dozed lost in our memories and the song he was humming because when I next opened my eyes time had passed and Chad had drifted back to sleep, I could see the approaching dawn through the blinds.
I felt the edgy restless urge to run to shake loose the thoughts and feelings still haunting me. Locked in the shape of a lynx I'd be beyond it, a lynx doesn't dwell on anything except prey, shelter, sex, danger and the odd bit of play.
Carefully I wriggled away from him untangling my limbs from his and couldn't help watching him for a moment. His fair hair was loose and mussed, his pale skin still flushed a bit pink, face and body relaxed in sleep.
Pulling on my furry dark shifter pants and shirt I didn't bother with shoes, I wouldn't need them as a lynx, I padded to the bathroom down the hall to piss and then padded out of the house. I jogged to the big park a mile up the road, most safehouses were close to a big park with a small forest of trees and ours was no exception.
Once I was hidden by the trees I dropped to the ground and shifted feeling that familiar rush of pain and elation as I became the lynx. On all fours I trotted even further into the trees and began to run.
When I'd run my skittish nerves to exhaustion I sprawled out on the leafy ground under a willow tree to catch my breath.
I lazed, drifting as I listened to and smelled the sounds and scents of scurrying animals as they attended to the never ending business of finding food, defending territories and raising young. I even heard a couple of early runners doing their bit to stay fit even at this early hour.
One sound and scent caught my attention more than the others as I opened my eyes and glanced up to see the gyrfalcon landing on a branch of my willow tree. He folded his wings and watched me with those fierce dark eyes. I felt his hunter's pride, the satisfaction that he'd found me and the annoyance that I'd left without him.
I yawned feeling my ears flick at him knowing he could feel my amusement with him. I felt the sudden push-pull release of shifter energy as he shifted, to me it looked like his form wavered and flickered like a desert mirage or the heat haze above a road on a hot summer day, leaving the human sitting on the branch.
He jumped easily to the ground clothed in his white feathered shifter clothing and simply waited as I still watched him, amusement, affection and a slight annoyance of my own colouring my own body language and emotions.
"Why didn't you wake me up? You know I can't sleep without you." He grumbled.
I yawned again as I considered him, I got up and leisurely stretched out my strong supple cat body. I sauntered up to him, and I nudged him, rubbing against him affectionately. Being deliberately annoying as I knew he hated it, I licked the back of his hand with my rough tongue.
Sneezing violently I laughed as only a feline can as the exasperation, disgust and affection fought it out in his expression as he wiped the back of his hand against his pants.
I rubbed against him again purring as I deliberately leaned all my weight on him, he didn't move except to lock his legs and drop his hand in the short ruff on my neck, stroking the fur there with those lean killing fingers of his.
Without warning I darted away from him feeling him fall against the willow tree in surprise at the abrupt loss of my weight against him. I growled at him playfully and unable to resist a challenge Chay smirked back lunging towards me; the game was on as I took off.
Alternating between human and falcon Chay chased me through the trees. There was a point where I lost him, he simply disappeared and that concerned the human and lynx equally, he was too good a hunter to lose me with the simple distraction tactic I'd used.
I crouched in the shelter of some bushes, still a lynx, my senses were better as a cat, and I strained my eyes, ears and nose to pick up any trace of him. I even checked the trees above me and soulmate cord, still nothing, not good.
Without warning a shadow dropped not out of the tree above me, but out of the tree behind me, and pounced on me easily bowling me over.
For a few minutes the pair of us wrestled on the forest floor, still human against cat, until I managed to wriggle free and dashed off again, realizing he let me, he was too skilled a killer and hunter. Scrambling to his feet I felt the grin, the hunger for the hunt that was singing through him, as he chased after me through the trees.
Getting far enough ahead of him, I was faster as a cat then he was as a human, I hid behind a thick oak tree and shifted, calling back my human form. I allowed him to approach my tree and saw him stop; he cocked his head clearly listening, sharp eyes scanning the area.
Before he could get a lock on me I jumped out from my hiding place, using my momentum to pounce on him. This time I bowled him over, I felt the instinctive, experienced tensing of his muscles as he automatically readied to defend or kill and abrupt release of that terrible energy as he recognized the feel and scent of me.
I smirked at my falcon as I pinned his sprawled body to the grass, he smirked back at me, his colour high, hair wild and dark eyes smoky with lust, flashing with the wildness of a hunt.
I quirked a challenging eyebrow knowing my green eyes would be reflecting the same heat and wildness. His own body was also stirring with the feel of me pressing against him and I couldn't help rubbing against him, marking him with my scent as my own cock hardened.
Chay's smirk stretched quickly shifting into that rare grin of his, as he titled his head back offering his throat and his body. He was so proud, so pleased that I'd managed to beat him it gave him hope that I'd survive this war.
He might have lost but any time he managed to push me, especially if sex was a bonus he felt he'd won and behind the properly lowered gaze I caught the gleam of triumph in those hot dark eyes. He might have been in the submissive position but he knew he owned me.
I couldn't resist his vulnerable pale throat and neck as my mating instincts drove me to mark and claim him. I leaned down to bite and suck at his neck drawing soft whimpers from him. They had my thick cock pulsing with a need to be in him.
Arching up against me he pushed his body against me and let out a particularly loud moan. Then his strong killer's hands were gripping my shoulders as he began raining kisses on my upper chest and shoulders. Pushing back against him I ground my erection against his, running my hot mouth up his neck and jaw towards his lips.
I teased him kissing his cheeks and jaw, just brushing my lips across his soft lips, then moving away to continue the same brushing kisses.
He grunted in frustration, grinding his own thick cock back against me as he grabbed my hair. He used his grip to drag my lips to his own and kissed me hard, trying to force my mouth open as our hips ground against each other.
For a moment I continued to tease him and refused to open my mouth but I let him in. I moaned as I was assaulted by the heat and almost violent aggression of Chay's mouth, teeth and tongue as the man tried his best to eat me.
We both moaned as I quickly took over the aggressive kiss, it didn't take long before I couldn't take it anymore and with a curse I snapped.
I pinned his trembling body to the ground roughly grinding my cock into him again, my wandering hands stripping off his clothes, as they stroked and grabbed at sleek, straining muscle covered in smooth, velvety skin.
Chay was muttering in a mix of Finnish, English and Ojibwa as he scattered little sucking kisses over my face, neck and collarbone as his own hands all but ripped my clothes off. I heard his pleased sigh as I felt his hands run over my skin.
"Fuck me!" He ground out as we broke free of another hungry kiss.
"Trying to tell me what to do?" I growled rubbing my body against him, my hand wrapping around his cock to stroke him teasingly.
"It isn't what you want?" He asked and the arrogant smirk was back as he pushed his hips forward, thrusting his cock into my stroking hand.
I groaned as his cock pulsed in my hand and I felt his own free hand wrap around my own cock.
I grinned down at him watching as those smoky dark eyes flashed with lust and demand as he squeezed my hard, thick cock.
"Harder, faster!" I demanded as I tightened my own grip on Chay's cock, stroking in time with him as we both obeyed our bodies pleas for a fuck.
I squeezed his cock as I lowered my head and sucked hard on his nipples as we jacked each other. He hissed at the pleasure pain shooting from the sucking, nipping pressure of my mouth as I shifted back and forth between his nipples.
I felt him nearly faint with the waves of pulsing pleasure that fed from his nipples to his cock and from my hand stroking his cock. I felt him get close to shooting his load in the trembling of his body and the more frantic pace of the hand stroking my dick.
I shifted lower trailing kisses, sharp nips and my tongue slowly down his body and felt him tense then begin to squirm as he realized where I was heading. I grinned against his lower abs as I felt the helpless insistent push of his free hand against my shoulder as he sought to get me where he wanted me.
I smelled the sharpening, heady scent of sex and desire pouring off him and heard the sharp intake breath as I finally pushed my way between his legs. I blew on his cock and dragged my tongue up its length teasing him as he attempted to thrust it at my mouth.
I laughed and gave in taking his cock in my mouth; I sucked and licked at his cock, slowly swallowing the entire length. I heard his moan as I began to play with his balls, running my little finger across his hole as I used my mouth to play with his cock.
"I want you!" He managed to grit out squirming underneath me as I sucked his cock feeling him start to fuck my face.
I heard my own growl as I shifted, moving further down him as I pushed his legs further apart and pushing them over my shoulders. Anticipating what I was going to do he whimpered rolling his hips up so that I get at the small, pink treasure between them.
I released his cock and he couldn't help the unhappy groan, but it quickly changed to a moan as I bent my head trailing my tongue across his hole.
Slowly I sucked and licked at the small, tight hole until I could push my tongue in and out with enough speed and depth to have him withering underneath me cursing at me as I used my hands to play with his balls and stroke his thighs.
When I thought him excited and wet enough I moved back up his body, watching his burning eyes lock on my mouth as I liked my lips, I liked the taste and smell of him.
I made sure to rub thoroughly against him, grinding my cock against him. He arched against me as I nudged against him, pushing my cock against him with steady pressure until I felt the head pop through his tight sphincter.
He was moaning mindlessly into my neck I began to push the rest of my cock into him. I sucked hard at the vulnerable tendon running up his neck marking him and holding him down in place for my cock.
I felt my balls rest against his smooth ass and I groaned at the feel of the tight, hot clasp his body had on my cock, there was nothing like it in the world.
Holding still for a moment to let him adjust to the invasion of my cock, I slid a hand down to stroke his cock. When I felt him begin to strain against me, his thighs gripping my shoulders as he pushed up against me with a little moan to urge me to fuck him , I did.
His strangled moans were encouraging me to thrust harder and faster, fucking that tight ass I love as I slid my hands underneath him, unable to resist the desire to grab at and squeeze his ass.
The encouraging and increasingly desperate noises Chay was making only pushed me as he was pushing back against the hard thrusts of my cock as I jacked him in time to my thrusts.
With a heated curse I locked my teeth in his shoulder, tasting blood and I dug my fingers into his ass massaging the muscles. I felt Chay's own feverish clutching of my shoulder as he abruptly screamed his body tensing as his cock jerked once, twice, then I felt his warm seed coat our stomachs.
His ass clamped around my cock squeezing me as tight as his limbs were doing and I felt my own balls draw up, my own hot seed roaring up my cock as I growled, clutching him against me as my cock released into him.
Collapsing on top of him I released his shoulder, pulled my teeth and cock out of him as I licked at the bite I'd left in him.
It was a while before either of us had the energy or the will to move. But as dawn began to announce itself we roused ourselves pulling our clothes back on and we began a slow, ambling trek back to the safehouse.
Once there we quickly showered necking and touching each other with tender care as we cleaned up. Feeling pleasantly worn out and sleepy, we crawled back into bed naked.
We wrapped ourselves around each other as the soft blue haze closed around us I felt him pull me deeper into his mind than usual, into his own memories. He distracted me from falling back into my nightmares; even after all we'd done tonight, he still wanted to keep me away from dark thoughts and I felt the hum of the same wordless Finnish tune.
We both drifted, and to our surprise our devious soulmate connection took us back to the beginning, memories neither of us looked at much.
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4 MONTHS AGO
CHAY
From where I stood in the crowd of yelling, jeering Night Worlders, I could see a cat in human form hiding in plain sight. Aside from him, the one I watched, I could see a tiger, a lioness, a cheetah and a snow leopard scattered about the old concrete warehouse but he had caught my interest.
The mingled scents of Night Worlders with damp concrete, blood and rotting wood was an odd one, almost unpleasant, even for a predator like me.
I could see his tattoos which tried to trick me he's a werewolf, but I wasn't fooled, I could see the cat in him, but I wasn't sure what cat it was yet. It's in the lazy, predatory prowl, the broad muscular shoulders and arms, the sleek build and swift reflexes.
His cat is there in the short tawny blond hair that holds a gloss closer to a pelt then mere hair. His cat is there in the large almond shaped green eyes that tilt up at the edges meeting his high, sharp cheekbones as they peek out from under his fringe.
But it is his expressions and the energy he carries with him that made him unique even for a cat shifter and drew me, along with his looks, to him like a moth to a light bulb.
One expression is a faint smirk that teases and quietly mocks, conveying he's playing with me and knows everything about me but he hasn't even looked directly at me. The other is a slow lazy grin that laughs and promises he knows a secret I don't. Then there is the savage dominant energy to him, the reckless, impulsive edge. I can see the potential for a volatile, explosive temper as he reacts with a snarl to the violence around us.
I know I'm gay and have known since I put vague feelings and desires into a coherent word and explanation. But the sudden lust and curiosity I had for him defied my own experience slight that it was, I'd never felt anything like it.
The bloody event we were watching was a Night World boxing match at The Black Dahlia a Night World owned nightclub in a dockside warehouse in Glasgow. I had arrived at the half time of a fight between two vampires, one lamia and the other made. I had tracked my mark a made vampire there and was keeping an eye on his movements, looking for my moment to strike.
It was between the first and second fight that I saw him, the cat, a lynx I decided; the next fight was between Damien a powerful Scottish lamia who held the Night World amateur middleweight boxing title and Conor an Irish werewolf.
The rules for the boxing match meant it had to be a fight using vermin rules, so no tricks, no dirty fighting or race advantages were allowed in the fight. So it meant whoever won did so from boxing skill and experience alone.
The lynx had come out of the door that led from the changing rooms, talking to Damien as they walked to the ring. I recognised the lamia from a couple of previous fights I had witnessed and the posters around the warehouse.
The lynx sat in the front row closest to the corner of the ring the vampire was heading for, next to a short auburn haired witch. As Damien sat on his stool, sipping water, the pair got up and went over to talk to their friend.
I growled drawing the attention of a group of lamia next to me as they turned and eyed me in amusement. I hissed at them, letting them see the full force of the cold menace I give out at will. They flinched, shifting away from me uneasily. Inwardly I smirked, it was petty, but hey it amused me, but I still wanted to growl.
A female, a coyote shifter, had appeared from the crowd, she was tall enough and lithe with it she was only an inch shorter than the lynx and had long dark hair with the dark eyes and dark complexion of someone from Mexico.
She kissed the lynx on the cheek and squeezed the shoulder of the witch, she gestured to Damien as he readied himself in the ring.
I wondered if she was the lynx's girlfriend, as she talked to him and the witch, she draped an arm around him and he let her, allowing her the liberty to touch him with one of his slow flashing grins.
I felt disappointed and possessive, even thought I was inexperienced at the game, I recognised my own jealousy, I wanted him with a hunger, interest and possessiveness that surprised me.
Then I remembered the old warning my Ojibwa uncle gave, he had a small gift for foresight and told me the spotted cat was my hope and threat.
I eyed the lynx curiously and with some wariness was he the spotted cat Sakima had warned me of? I wasn't sure, perhaps its better I keep my distance. I can't have men getting too closer, they will realise what I am. It was a violent, lonely existence I lived, but the Night World wasn't a safe place for a half-breed.
But I couldn't help myself, despite my best efforts not to my attention kept drifting between the red-haired Vincent who was my mark and the lynx I wanted.
I cursed as near the end of the fight my target left with a piece of blonde female ass, clearly a witch by the black dahlia earrings and necklace. Stuck on contract to take him out, I had no choice but to follow and leave the lynx behind still feeling that odd mix of curiosity, lust and caution.
LIEV
"I know you think I'm talking shit but I swear to you he wants you." Tien whispered in my ear.
I scoffed and arched an eyebrow whispering back. "You and your instincts."
Tien's violet eyes flashed at me. "Hey, I may not be an animal like you, but don't knock my instincts, I'm never wrong! My ancestors had a touch of foretelling and I have it in this generation. They were right about Damien and they're ringing in my ears."
We were sitting on a wooden park bench playing a pair of runners taking a breather as we did guard duty and watched the house across the road from us, scanning the surrounding area for trouble.
It was just after 9pm on a Friday and the air was cool but still smelled of summer. We waited for Mikasi and Damien, who were inside the safehouse with our target who was attending a meeting. Our target was a prominent Night World lamia who had become a double agent for us.
It was our job to escort our vampire to and from meetings with some of the Night World's most important leaders, our own orders came direct from Lord Sebastian.
I smirked at him. "If your instincts are talking to you then they are in agreement with mine, I'm sure it's a hint telling us to watch my back."
"Trust me every instinct I possess tells me so, as do my own eyes. He watches you with hunger and I don't think he wants to kill you. I bet he's your soulmate." Tien insisted.
I glanced at the Night Worlder he was referring to and inwardly sneered.
There he was an ice prince temporarily unfrozen to hunt prey and I knew he was hunting, as I watched his cold eyes scan the lit street.
We were in an inner city suburb of Glasgow and he leaned against the wall of a block of shops up the opposite end of the street, apparently waiting for fish n chips.
I took in the patient, deceptively relaxed pose as he leaned back against the wall of the shop. With a predator's eyes even way down the street I could see the subtle alert tenseness all but humming underneath his fuck off aura.
I could admit to myself in the privacy of my own mind that he was a pretty ice prince despite his fuck off aura with that silky looking fair hair and pale skin; someone with his cold colouring shouldn't have such dark eyes or such a mouth.
They were the eyes and mouth of someone proud, passionate and hot headed, pride he had in spades but he was cold blooded and arrogant it was stamped all over his body language. I had seen him at a nightclub the previous night react to being hit on with a callous rejection.
I hadn't heard the words but I had seen the almost cruel expression on his face as the vampire had leaned against him and the immediate ashen look on the vampire's face said it all as he was shoved him away. The vampire had been a male and he was cute, he'd had the changing Redfern eyes to go with that blonde hair, I'm a sucker for that combo, I'd have risked the fangs and done him.
This Night Worlder didn't look like the kind of guy who would ever come within a mile of passion or the impulsive and a sudden demon that was the predatory cat that lived in me stirred. I suddenly wanted to ruffle his icy calm and hunt him, play with him much like a cat plays with a mouse to see what he'd do before I ate him.
But he was a killer and wasn't gay by the look of it, I couldn't be thinking that way, I was a predator myself, so I knew what I saw and felt.
I had a bet going with Damien that he was Demon, a deadly assassin we heard about through the Night World grapevine, and I was pretty sure he kept popping up near us with almost eerie precision to kill one of us or our target. It had become nearly familiar to look up and find him somewhere nearby.
"He's not gay, you saw him last night, there's no way what your saying could be true. Any guy going near him risks having his dick cut off" I protested wondering why I was doing so when it was impossible.
"Just because he wasn't interested in one guy doesn't mean he's not gay. I saw him reject a girl too so don't give me that. Look if he was going to kill you he'd have done it already. I admit he does have Night World all but tattooed on his forehead and has a nasty attitude but I know what I see and feel." Tien was saying.
"I'm never wrong!" He insisted again.
I opened my mouth to respond but saw the door open and Damien appeared doing a quick, expert scan of the area and my hunter instincts expanded to full throttle, all thoughts of the falcon stopped as the job took over.
LIEV
As soon as I stepped out of the Damien's SUV I put my back against the car. I felt uneasy every hunter instinct I possessed warned me that trouble was waiting for us.
"I don't like it tell Julian to stay in the car." I told my leader feeling him do just that as he used telepathy to warn the other vampire.
We both eyed the surrounding terrain with the tense keen awareness that told me eyes and ears were there.
"Unfriendly eyes are on us." Mikasi confirmed her soft Mexican accent stronger than usual as she got out of her own car, an old battered green Mini with a tuned up new motor.
It was a strategic move on our part to take two cars that way we had two getaway cars and two possible diversions as well.
She stood next to me, her lithe body tense and all but humming with the need to shift and hunt.
Tien got out of the car after her his hands balled into fists, body as tense as the rest of us. He might not have had the instincts and fine tuned senses as the rest of us, but he was good at taking the hint from the rest of us and he did have a brown belt in karate as well as his own strong battle magic so he could defend himself or attack if need be.
"I feel it too." Damien admitted as the four of us did a slow, thorough scan of the area and came up with nothing.
"I vote we get him inside and then do a physical search of the area, I don't want enemies creeping up behind me." I suggested as another scan with eyes, ears and nose brought nothing but that uncomfortable feeling of unfriendly attention.
We were at an old Elizabethan era gentlemans country estate situated an hour outside Glasgow. It felt like we were out in the middle of nowhere and the large lawn, garden and small forest park that went with the place stretched out as far as our eyes could see.
It was early evening but the air was still warm with that curious blend of summer and autumn smells but the wind had that early bite of autumn to it. I could smell rain and eyed the growing dark clouds.
We actually weren't far from my own family's ancestral castle it was only another hour and a half to the north. So this area felt like home to me, I knew and felt it like the back of my hand, but still despite the familiarity I felt watched by unfriendly eyes.
Impatient with us and not one to take orders well Julian got out of Damien's SUV. We were here because a Night World country weekend was being held and Julian was hosting it under his guise as a double agent to do some snooping.
As he had a seat on the Night World Council his position was a good one and a Night World Councillor was never expected to appear without a small entourage and if that entourage were also body guards then that was acceptable, naturally we were that entourage.
Julian was the owner of this property and a French lamia, an old one at over a century but he'd stopped his aging in his early 20's so he looked young until you saw the cold, hardness in his topaz eyes that came from the cold ruthlessness that had allowed him to claw his way to a seat on the Night World Council.
"What's the hold up?" He demanded rubbing a hand across the dark stubble on his shaved head. "I'm not paying you to let me sit in the back of a car while you posture about in a driveway."
I ignored his snarled protest as I pushed him to the ground and kept a tight hold on his shoulder, keeping him between me and the SUV.
"You were told to stay there for your own good." Damien replied coolly. "We feel your enemies and felt you might want to stay in the car and keep your skin on, since you're paying us to protect it."
"You could have simply told me that." Julian snarled at us swarthy skin flushing with annoyance and anger.
"I would think stay put is telling you." Damien replied in the same cool tone, his dark blue eyes flicking to the silvery blue of an angry or hunting vampire.
I knew him well enough to know that cool casual tone barely masked his slow burning temper and intense dislike of the vampire, a pissed off Damien wasn't pretty for anyone.
Julian sensed Damien's seething anger and merely muttered a string of insults in French but he stayed where I put him.
"Let's get him inside." Damien instructed us and we obeyed.
"I'm on scout duty. I'll head out now the three of you can handle it on your own." I said as I let the vampire squatting near the ground up.
Damien nodded and we formed a protective circle, putting the shorter vampire in the middle we headed for the grand three story white monstrosity of a house in front of us.
I watched their backs doing further scans of the area but again came up with nothing holding the rear as I followed them to the door. Once there I checked the area making sure there was nobody around I returned to the SUV and clothed in my shifter clothes, I shifted.
I spent the next couple of hours doing a thorough search of the entire property and I wasn't helped by the start of the rain and wind.
Half way in I smelled Mikasi join me and between the pair of us we mapped and turned the place upside down as we looked for any threat to Julian. We found nothing unusual and continued on our way only wanting to get inside, the cat in me didn't appreciate being a sodden, cold mess.
Both Mikasi and I met up a final time shifting back to human to compare notes. Despite what we'd seen, we still felt watched but we'd found nothing, frustrated and confused we decided to return to the house for something to eat and a rest, before trying again.
Just as we turned back towards the house the ambush came. Cloaked by a complete invisibility spell we didn't smell, hear or see them until they surrounded us, threw off the spell and attacked us.
I growled hearing Mikasi echo me as we moved to cover each other's backs as we found ourselves confronting a group of Night World enemies, two vampires, werewolves and a witch in the pouring rain, wind and darkness.
I recognised Vincent the red haired vampire was Lily Redfern's second and the two Irish werewolves Conor and Felan his lackeys, I didn't recognise the others. I threw out a call to Damien through the telepathic pathway he always left open on a job as I shifted and threw myself at Vincent.
But before I hit him the two brown Irish `wolves shifted shape and intercepted me, attacking me before I could get to him. I growled at them, getting dual snarls back for my effort as I fought them off, but not without losing a chunk of flesh from my right flank and a gash across my left foreleg.
I heard another growl as Mikasi joined in protecting my back to stop the two wolves from tearing us apart. There was nothing we could do as the rest of our enemies began to melt back into the trees.
With snapping teeth, raking claws and short lunges I ignored my own pain, we managed to keep them at bay and tried to get to our escaping enemies, but it was a bit of a wasted effort as despite our large size for the animals we both were, the wolves were larger and outweighed the pair of us combined.
They were merely playing with us, we realised it, they realised it, but we were only holding on till Damien and Tien could get to us. But the Night World always throws a curve ball at you when you least expect them.
Something fast and white dropped from above with a scream that stopped my heart and froze my blood striking at the fleeing red haired vampire. It took me a stunned moment or two to get my eyes to realise the darting white blur was a gyrfalcon, it had dropped out of the sky and slashed open the vampire's eyes with a vicious swipe of its talons.
As the vampire screamed throwing his arms protectively over his head, blood streaming down his face from his slashed eyes the gyrfalcon flew at him again, slashing open his throat. There was another scream from the vampire as the falcon shifted and a blur of white clothed man was pouncing on him.
Damien arrived at a dead run with Julian at his heels barely breathing hard. A dead run at vampire speed is fast, considering he'd covered half a mile in under two minutes. In fact the entire fight so far had happened that fast. They threw themselves into the fight after only a moment spent sizing up the problem facing us.
But I paid for my distraction as the wolf I was facing, Felan I recognised from the missing ear and scar down his muzzle, sprang at me latching onto my ear and ripping. I screamed infuriated and in pain as he took my ear with him. I slashed at him, ripping open his shoulder as I threw myself at him.
I shifted shape, shifting to my halfway form, a weird mix of lynx and human, wanting human hands, claws and teeth, as I managed to get a strangling hold around the werewolf's throat, wrapping my legs around his furry wolf body as I clutched hard.
I tucked my head against his neck, felt him struggling to throw me off and rip at me with his teeth. He did manage to slash and scratch me with the claws on his forelegs. But my grip was too strong for him to throw me off.
I knew what I was doing and had the strength of a shifter at my fingertips. I used my clawed fingers to rip open his throat and ignored his howl as hot slippery blood tried to loosen my death grip around his throat.
After what seemed like an endless struggle he stilled, dropping to the ground as he went limp against me. I hung on grimly, wanting to make sure he wasn't faking. But he didn't move beyond a dying whimper and I let go looking around for Mikasi. I glanced at her and saw her off to my rear left, she was a still, unmoving mound of grey coyote. Blood ran from her open muzzle and a dozen bleeding slashes coated her fur.
Pushing the dead wolf's weight off me I rose to a crouch, checking her and was relieved when I felt a pulse, a faint one, but a pulse. I looked around for the other `wolf that had taken her out and my heart nearly stopped as a tall white shadow stalked towards me.
His fair hair was a tied back neatly but his dark eyes were burning with a cold, deadly fire and it was at that moment I felt a sick recognition, the falcon assassin.
Vincent was a still dead shape on the ground, his throat and eyes slashed open, blood a deep pool around him as a branch lay buried in his chest.
The assassin kept comning towards me and I tensed eyes locked on my enemy, I stayed in my half way form, claws and teeth being good in a fight, gathering strength into my muscles in readiness to launch myself at him.
He lunged over me and landed on the werewolf behind me with another of those terrible triumphant falcon screams.
It took me a frozen second or two for my heart to recover and my instincts to realise I wasn't attacked, I was hurt, but still alive and my apparent ally was now bent on killing my enemy.
But blood loss and pain had finally caught up with me and I felt shifting shape was a good idea. But I hadn't the energy to do so, a frightening and disheartening thing, the effort left me slumped on the ground a panting, bleeding mess.
Despite my weakness, I struggled up again as assassin or not, I felt I had to help my temporary ally and tried to rise. But the pain and weakness wouldn't let me and I found myself sprawled on the wet grass. But not before I saw the assassin rise up from the ground like a bloody wraith, there was something terribly wrong seeing something so white covered in blood, dirt and gore.
He stalked towards me and I tensed waiting for the killing blow I knew was coming and finally managed to find some extra energy, some last reserves of strength that allowed me to shift back to lynx. Most of my injuries instantly healed but I was still weak from the effort needed to shift and heal.
I edged away from him, but he kept coming and by the time I realised he was herding me, I felt myself back up against the rough wet bark of a tree.
I growled flinching as he grabbed for my furred shoulder and felt instead of a killing blow warm energy. Faintly gold in colour it flowed from his grip into me and I realised it was healing me as the warm energy poured in, healing the rest of my injuries and bolstering my flagging energy.
It was enough that I managed to shift back to human, his grip on my clothed shoulder tightened, warm energy still flowing between us as I saw his free hand come up to touch my face and felt the world explode.
I wasn't sure which of us was more shocked as white hot blue lightening zapped us, ripping open a channel between us as our individual worlds exploded.
A blue haze drifted over our vision and I felt him, another mind, soul and body on the other side of the channel being ripped open between us. Images and feelings flashed between us as it forced us together and into each other's minds.
I dimly felt that our physical selves had wrapped themselves around each other and we were kissing, the flow of energy from him to me had stopped.
I couldn't help the daft thoughts that went through my head. Tien would never let me hear the end of this; his skin was so warm, so velvety smooth, his muscles sleek and supple underneath it he was a total stranger, yet he smelled and tasted like home, like he was mine and I felt myself purr.
I felt even more stupid when I realised he could see and hear my thoughts and feelings, just as I could see his and I flinched. I felt him flinch as well, neither of us was used to being this naked but neither of us could stop the constant flow of thought, feeling and images.
Neither of us stopped the almost feverish kissing or the touching, his own thoughts weren't helping as almost helplessly we pulled each other to the ground.
We still clutching at each other as I ripped out the tie holding back his hair, feeling soft, silky hair fall between us, still kissing him with reckless abandon. The rain and wind continued to buffet us but neither of us felt it or the damp grass as we rolled across it.
The heat and hunger kept escalating as his thoughts flashed between us, he'd watched me, and he wanted me, they dared to try to kill me, his need, his hunger and inexperience, a confusing, yet inflaming mix.
Images and sensations flashed between us as the lightening kept throwing them at us, pushing him to the ground and pushing between his legs, him pushing my pants down, a hand wrapping around my hard cock.
Downy soft pants as I pushed them down trying to get to the heat and darkness of him. He sucked my fingers, the heat and softness of his mouth, the swirl of his tongue, his hot fingers rubbing my hard cock, stroking, precum, his or mine, both, on my cock. Then my wet fingers were touching him where my dark desire really wanted me to go.
So hot, so tight, somehow I managed to be gentle and ignore his begging as he pulled at my shoulder, tugged on my cock, trying to make me fuck him.
He was more caught up in this wild ride then I was, but I had to protect him, he wasn't as used to fucking as I was, in fact I could feel his inexperience.
But he wouldn't let me wait or protect him, before I realised what he was doing he was already rolling us over, straddling my lower body and impaling himself on the head of my cock. I tried to slow him down as I grabbed for his hips, but he wouldn't let me, forcing more of me into him as he slid down my cock.
Both of us moaning as I felt his hot, tight insides clutch me as tightly as his limbs, felt the soft lips running over my face and throat.
Then I was rolling back over feeling him under me and the fucking started as instinct took over. It was a far rougher, harder ride then I wanted for him but there was no stopping the rough wild strokes as I fucked him.
Fear and worry over his strangled little moans and the trembling body under me, they seemed bad signs but the blue haze let me know he was enjoying the wild ride I was giving him and had joined in. He encouraged and begged for more, for me to go faster, as his fingers dug into my shoulders, those long legs wrapped around me to pull me against him, holding me to him.
The mutual scream as we suddenly came together with almost no warning, our cocks pulsing so hard it's a pleasure pain as the hot cum explodes out of us.
Time stalls and we realise we've collapsed zoned out as we drift in and out of each other, caught on a mix of sexual high and the heady rush of energy from his healing, the connection between us and the aftermath of a good fight.
I can hear my team searching for me and somehow they can't find me, despite Mikasi and Damien's noses, must be some magic of the connection between us.
We look at each other, we need time to sort ourselves out, we are not ready for this yet or others to know. We separate, the separation almost painful as it breaks the bond between us.
We fix our clothes and attempt to neaten our hair, hoping our appearance can be explained by the fight alone, but sex is an obvious scent even Tien could pick up. I can only hope the rain and wind will wash most of it away and hide it.
He quickly shifts to gyrfalcon and hides in the trees above us, I can still feel him through the silver cord now binding us together. Confused and as bewildered as I am, I haven't a clue what freight train just hit me but a bad feeling tries to tell me but I push it away, not now, not now, not now.
CHAY
I think I was in deep shock something that was unfamiliar to me. I sat in a tree shivering inside my falcon staring in confusion at the pouring rain as I tried to work out what had just happened.
Even inside the body of a falcon my body felt sore and ached in places I didn't know I had. My brain and heart felt the same and yet I felt my own smile. I wondered what had possessed me to jump into that fight, I was still gathering information on Vincent and hadn't been ready to kill him, I needed to get to his associates and now I couldn't.
Yet witnessing that ambush and seeing the lynx get hurt had triggered some buried savagery that lived in a dark corner I didn't know I had. Sure I hunted and killed, but those were skills Sakima and Hawk, my mentors and guardians, had taught me, experience had honed those skills.
But I rarely killed in a fit of wild rage and wasn't sure what I thought of such a feral side of me. I had heard of the soulmate principle before and I knew when they were alive that my parents shared the same bond but I hadn't been around anyone else who was had a soulmate.
I wasn't sure what I thought about it and yet I did, he was mine, something in me began to thaw and an empty part deep inside didn't feel so empty or ache anymore. I felt fear and caution wondering if he was the spotted cat Sakima had warned me of.
The fact he was my soulmate soothed my frantic thoughts, there was a reason and a method for my earlier wild madness. I found I could cope with that and began to gather my tattered will and customary composure.
I had healed him the stray thought nearly drained all my blood into my talons; I swayed feeling myself pale as a dizzy wave swept through me. I gripped the branch I was perched on with my talons making sure I didn't fall out of the tree.
For a moment fear and anger swamped me as my usually calm mind freaked out on me, I had healed him. I'd just betrayed what I and my guardians had tried so hard to hide from the Night World.
The Night World Council had a policy of exterminating half-breeds and the parents of what they saw as abominations. They had managed to get my parents, but not me, thanks to my uncles who managed to keep us moving, we never stopped long in one place moving between Canada, Finland, Russia and England.
Working for the Night World was their idea as they believed hiding me in full view of the Night World was the pragmatic thing to do as it kept the enemy close.
While I knew from Liev's memories that he was a Daybreaker and probably wouldn't betray me, I was still troubled I'd betrayed years of guarding myself in a rash impulse to help him.
I shivered not sure I liked what I was becoming, now I thought I understood Sakima's warning better and I still wasn't sure what I thought about having a soulmate.
"What in the hell happened to you?" Tien demanding voice woke me from a deep, dark dreamless sleep.
I opened my eyes to find him standing over me a steaming mug coffee in his hands.
I had only a vague memory of meeting back up with my team, cleaning up and disposing of the bodies, it appeared the witch got away.
I remember walking back to the house in a state of dazed, disbelieving shock. The rest of the evening had passed by in a hazy blur that told me the shock was still my shadow as I performed my role as a guard and member of Julian's entourage on auto pilot. At some point I must have showered and fallen into bed, but I didn't remember that, my mind as blank on the subject of how I'd gotten to bed.
"What no merry met, blessed be?" I taunted him as I indulged in a leisurely stretch pleased with the slight ache of well used muscles and healed injuries.
He glared down at me folding his arms across his chest and I felt like a bastard, I knew he never went in for all that cooing witch preaching I heard so many witches use.
"Again, what the hell is wrong with you? You're not usually this much of a cranky bastard." He said accusingly.
"It isn't obvious by looking at me that I got clawed and chewed on?" I replied with a glare being deliberately sarcastic and dumb as I rolled over on the bed and sat up not able to stop the nasty attitude.
"I'm not talking about the physical you're already healed from that. Your aura is different, you were off all night, your body was there but nobody was home." He persisted.
I ignored him my expression a clear fuck you and fuck off.
"Fuck! Just drink that I can't be fucked putting up with this from you." He swore at me eyes still burning with his irritation as he slammed the mug of coffee he'd brought on the bedside table.
He stalked off like an irate storm cloud and pulling the door shut behind him with a resounding slam. That seemed to be a hidden trigger that set me off because I was laughing so hard tears were pouring down my face.
I wasn't sure why I found Tien's attitude and bad temper so funny, but I needed the relief of laughing, releasing the humming tension I was wearing like a suit. When I'd recovered I drank his tea, feeling I owed him that much and I again felt like a heel for the way I'd acted towards him.
But I wasn't ready to talk about that fight my mind shied away from what had happened, I wasn't really surprised that he knew something was different in me, but I wasn't ready to look too closely let alone talk about the silver cord binding me to the other, the falcon assassin.
I ignored the quiet, still voice deep inside me that whispered of soulmates, I wasn't ready to face that or the fact that I'd fucked someone I classed as an enemy. I didn't even want to acknowledge my own growing need for him but it insisted on breaking free of my control.
Even Damien and Mikasi picked up something was wrong with me but they'd both been to loyal and polite to say anything to me about it, not so Tien, Tien and tact went together as well chalk and cheese.
With effort I managed to push aside my thoughts and got myself shaved, dressed and food into my hungry stomach. It was time to focus on the game, Julian's guests were beginning to arrive and I couldn't afford to be distracted.
LIEV
[Where's Tien?] Damien silently asked.
I looked around the dining room and couldn't see him as the three of us were stationed behind Julian at the back of the room. The long room was large enough that a table sitting 12 stretched along it with room for a wooden sideboard, us and the other assorted footmen and bodyguards belonging to Julian's guests.
[I saw him slip out half an hour ago I assumed he went for a piss.] I replied doing another scan of the room as I kept an eye on each of the 11 guests.
All but three of the 11 guests were male and most were vampires, either lamia or made vampires. The remaining guests were witches and one was a black leopard shifter.
I found my eyes lingering on the leopard, judging from the little looks he kept slanting me and his wandering hands whenever we ended up stuck in the same room alone, I was pretty sure sooner or later the shifter would try to get into my bed.
He was black, his skin the colour of bitter dark chocolate and normally I'd be drawn to his enigmatic dark eyes and smooth dark skin. His head was shaved to a number two and his full lips, the big muscular body, not to mention the big cock I'd felt when he'd brushed against me would have me licking my lips, eager to fuck him.
But something stopped me the fact I wasn't interested should have bothered me, considering I loved variety in my fucking partners, but I wasn't bothered.
Soft, silky hair, a sleek muscular body and warm flushed pale skin wrapped around me seemed branded on my nerves and heart. My body itched to rub against him, my fingers and cock wanted to feel him and it was an urge that hounded me around the clock.
I was going crazy from it I knew my bad temper was steadily increasing in the snappy way of a frustrated horny guy. I knew I was distracted and I worried that my preoccupation with him could cost me and cause me to make a big mistake.
My worry seemed to become reality as I let Damien know I was going to look for Tien and I slipped from the room. A quick, thorough search of the ground floor we were in turned up nothing, so I tried the next floor and still found nothing.
Concerned for Tien I felt my instincts kick in, they weren't happy, letting me know something terrible had happened to my friend and team member. As I climbed to the next floor and began searching I felt a presence behind me, eyes on my back. I was being followed as something dangerous stalked after me.
I glanced over my shoulder sharp eyes and ears probing every nook and cranny of the dimly lit hallway I was walking down, I used my nose as well. I saw nothing, just felt that every hair on me quiver with a warning that I being stalked.
I wasn't sure what to do keep pressing forward in my search for Tien or head back the way I'd come looking for my stalker. A scratching, scrabbling noise from up ahead made the decision for me and I stalked forward, shoulders stiff with the feel of eyes on me.
I pushed open the door to my right and got a loud startled squeak for my trouble as two rats froze at the sudden opening of the door, then they were gone, fleet shadows darting for the dark corners in the room.
I quickly scanned what turned out to be a good sized linen closet and turned starting to shut the door when a shadow shot out of the hallway. The force of his lunge threw me up against the shelves as he grabbed for me with one hand and yanked the door shut with the other
I could see perfectly well in the dark and I had a brief moment where I could saw his face the ice prince had disappeared out of his expression, replaced with smoky dark eyes flashing with a mix of anger and lust, wild hair and ragged breathing. I felt he was angry over the jaguar of all things and found room to be amused by his jealousy.
Then his lips slammed down on mine as he forced me against the shelves, at the touch of his lips the lightening zapped us again, burning open the path between us and throwing us violently into the blue haze of our merging minds.
I don't remember when I started kissing him back or started clutching at him with the same reckless hunger he was letting loose on me. I felt my hands slide under that soft white shirt of his as my fingers sought out his warm skin and sleek muscle.
I didn't have enough hands as my hands moved around him to slide down the back of his pants and grab his ass. I moaned feeling the soft muscle under my fingers, using my grip to pull him tighter against me as I ground my cock against him.
I heard him echo my moan as his own hands stroked and scratched at me as his hands pulled open my jacket and ripped my shirt to get at me. His warm sucking mouth trailed along my jaw and throat, latching onto and finding the sensitive spots that made me pull him harder against him and grind my cock against him.
Then he was sliding down my body pulling the slacks of the suit I was wearing with him and his warm tongue was running up my thigh as he pushed my legs apart. He licked up my cock swirling his tongue around the head, teasing me for a moment as he licked back down it and then he was swallowing my cock.
I moaned as he slowly took more and more of my cock into his mouth and throat on every tight suck. He used his hands to play with my balls, stroking my ass and thighs with his free hand.
Already mindless with hunger and the empty need I'd been haunted by, I was helpless as he sucked on my cock, picking out what I liked from my mind and not showing his inexperience at all.
I pulled at his shoulders and he finally allowed my cock to slide out of his mouth as I pulled him up off the floor. I all but ripped his white pants off and threw him against the door as I pounced on him.
Those same strong, sleekly muscular limbs I remembered so well wrapped around me, as he pulled me against his warm body I pressed him against the wall and pushed my cock into him. I felt him grunt and tense as the head popped through his tight ring of muscles and I buried my mouth against his throat.
I nipped and sucked on the tender skin there pushing more of my cock into him as he stayed tense, I felt the pleasure pain I was causing him but I couldn't stop now, not when I felt the warm tight grip of his ass around me.
We both moaned at the feel of me buried inside him, I shifted my grip to his shoulders, using my body weight, the strength in my hands and his own tight grip on me to keep him pressed against the wall.
Every nerve I possessed sang and hummed as I rubbed myself against him, pinning him against the door with my hips and cock as I fucked him. Somehow our shirts rode up so our hard abs were rubbing against each other, I shifted him higher so my abs would rub against and stroke his cock as I thrust in and out of him harder, faster.
A whimper rewarded my efforts as the legs wrapped around my hips tightened, clutching at me as he let me fuck him. But we were both hungry and desperate, the thoughts and sensations we were experiencing flowing around us through the blue mist weren't helping and I only managed on more hard thrust before I was cumming. I muffled my scream in a hard, brutal kiss that he returned and then he was cumming against me.
Long minutes passed when there was nothing but our harsh, laboured breathing and the long kisses we couldn't stop exchanging. I shifted back, withdrawing out of him as he released his death grip on me and I moaned as he slid down my body.
We pulled away from each other with real reluctance as we used my underwear to clean ourselves up and fixed our clothing. As soon as our bare skin wasn't touching the bond between us broke, making us both wince at the severing pain as the bond between us returned to the silver cord marking the bond between us.
We avoided eye contract, not sure what to say to each other or how to handle this thing between us and I opened the door, took three steps out and felt a crushing, stabbing pain in my chest as I began to fall into darkness.
LIEV
I came to sprawled flat on my stomach with a splitting headache, a case of the serious dries and the throbbing ache of bruises.
I managed to force my eyes open and realised I was in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar room. I had the uncomfortable feeling that time had passed, I wasn't sure how much, but I felt it in my lethargic, heavy muscles and the weakness that throbbed through me.
I felt the heavy sleeping weight and warmth of a naked body sprawled next to me, an arm and leg lying across me. The smell, flow of blue haze between us and feel of his skin against mine felt so familiar I relaxed, not even bothering to summon the energy to roll over and look to know it was him, my soulmate.
My search of the room brought me to Tien and Damien's concerned gazes as they both rose from a chairs next to the bed; Damien sat back down as Tien leaned down to touch my neck and forehead, checking my pulse and temperature.
I wondered why the hell they were so worried and weary looking, shadows and fear lined their faces. Tien looked as bruised up and dazed as I felt, clearly he'd been to war at some point in the evening.
At least you've found Tien and he's okay a mocking inner voice informed me. Tien offered me a drink of water and I accepted sitting up with his help to greedily swallow the sweet cool water. My movements woke the body lying in the bed with me, I felt him scramble up as he ran gentle fingers over me, checking with touch that I was okay.
Dark dreams and images haunted me, mine and his, giving me the answer to what the hell had happened. I saw a wraith and a black leopard tearing each other apart in a feral, vicious fight that left the leopard in a bleeding, dead heap.
Strong, warm arms scooped me up from the ground cradling me against a hard chest he carried me in a frantic search for help. Tien appearing from nowhere looking dazed and bruised a second frantic sprint for this room.
The same fingers currently touching me had pressed against me as energy flowed between us. I heard a desperate voice pleading with me not to die on him and finally naked skin pressing against me as he slid into bed with me, energy flowing more steadily between us, a tuneless hum from the soft lips pressing into the hollow of my throat conveying a curious mix of freedom, comfort, and protection.
"Do you know remember?" Tien wanted to know putting the empty glass I handed him on the bedside table.
"You've been out cold for two days." He advised as he and Damien watched me with dark worried eyes.
"I remember bits." I admitted shocked at the gritty, raw sound of my own voice.
My soulmate ignored us simply wrapping his arms around me in a tight relieved embrace. I felt his low shiver running through him, as if he was cold as he buried his face against my neck.
I managed a nod rubbing a soothing hand up and down his back, enjoying touching him and purring to comfort him as I let him clutch me. Somehow during the long hours where I lay unconscious and he'd sought to save my life, the soulmate bond had settled, gentling between us, as we'd settled into each other and accepted.
There was a long comfortable pause between us all. Tien and I exchanged a long stare his conveying his relief I was safe and alive, mine an apology for the harsh words that passed between us when we last met, a demand and promise for the story of his bruises and disappearance.
There was an even longer measuring look between Damien and I, this adopted brother of mine and I felt his own wordless relief I was okay.
A cheeky grin spread across his face as he glanced from me to my soulmate.
"Damien owes me 20 quid and you owe me an apology. What'd I tell you? I'm always right." He commented with smug satisfaction violent eyes as Damien started to laugh.