It was possible that Cai was keeping enough emotional distance to have only a peripheral sense of Rand's feelings. He might not even have an actual view of what Rand was doing. Now that he was here, Rand wasn't sure he could take it all the way. It wasn't just cold feet. If the Dom he was supposed to meet wanted to do a public scene, he wasn't sure how he'd handle that. He'd told Anwyn whatever it took...had he lost his mind?
He ordered a soda and consumed a bracing swallow. Using his one free hand, he rubbed his leg, an absent massage to ease the twinging the cramped cab ride had caused it. The thing kept flaring up at inopportune times, but Rand hoped tonight wasn't one of them.
Turning from the bar, he surveyed the lounge.
You'll know the Dom I've assigned to you when you see him. She might have missed on that one. There were a lot of males in here with the Dom vibe happening, and...
There he was. The male he was immediately, instantly sure was Wolf.
And suddenly, Rand wasn't sure of anything.
Aching for and craving Cai's touch for two weeks, remembering every single thing the male had done to him and made him do, had led to a lot of very uncomfortable nights and days, and a lot of jacking off. So much that Rand had reached that empty point where he hadn't had the heart to do it anymore. Even though his cock stayed in a semi-alert state, as if waiting to spring to full life at Cai's command.
Well, it was wide awake now.
Wolf was as big as Rand. He had polished charcoal skin, and muscles that rippled like an onyx statue, liquefied and come to life. His eyes were light-colored, almost silver when he turned his head and they caught the room's illumination. The firm line of his mouth enhanced the sternness of his carved, granite features.
But there was one quality that overrode all the others, became the ice cream substance to the sundae, while all the rest was chocolate sauce, whip cream and cherry.
Wolf was a vampire.
It made sense, so much damn sense. Anwyn's cryptic answers hadn't been evasive in the wrong way. Well, okay, there had been that note of female satisfaction underscoring the words Wolf is exactly the kind of red flag you're seeking.
But Rand had to hand it to her as a Domme--she'd apparently known holding back that vital tidbit of info would result in this flood of feeling inside him, strong enough to be like a beacon to another vampire, wherever he was.
She also knew that if Rand had interacted with a mere human, someone he wouldn't view on the same level as another shifter or a vampire, he couldn't let himself go as much. That wasn't going to be a problem now.
The wolf in Rand sat up and was ready to fight, the type of fighting that would mean blood, yes, and some pain, but that would all be part of the pleasure. He almost bared his teeth, feeling his beast surge to the forefront when Wolf locked gazes with him.
The male wore a pair of dark, shiny pants and boots. Nothing else. The pants were a second skin that were going to get a hell of a workout when he moved. The waistband was low, below his hipbones, so every abdominal muscle showed. Since the pants tucked into the boots, Rand saw the crop stuck in one of them. This Dom could do exactly what Anwyn had suggested. Fuck a sub's ever-loving brains out.
Wolf lifted a hand, crooked a finger at him and pointed to the floor at his feet. The light in his eyes said he knew exactly how Rand would respond to that. Rand didn't disappoint. Sitting down the drink, he presented his middle finger. Then he silently spoke two words, mouthed in best Cai-fashion.
Fuck. You.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wolf grinned like a lion about to tear apart his dinner. He jerked his head in the direction of the private rooms, turned and strode away. Rand was right. Those pants were getting a hell of a workout. His own cock was hard against his jeans, his muscles twitching with adrenaline. Let's do this.
If Cai didn't reach out, if Rand had to absorb the hurt, face the truth that he was facing loneliness again, then this would be a hell of a balm for it.
At least for tonight. Because as Rand well knew, good sex only lasted that long when it didn't offer anything to the heart. But he'd take it. Hell, Rand better get used to it, if Cai decided not to tune in ever again.
Warring with mixed emotions, he crossed the floor, and went into the room where Wolf had left the door standing open.
Spartan. Not much in there but a wrestling mat, some manacles on the wood floor, the attached chains draped from the ceiling. A padded bench was anchored close to them.
"Before the night is over," Wolf said, in a voice so deep the vibration resonated inside Rand's chest and--holy hell-- made his nipples tighten, "I'll have your ass over that bench and be fucking you until you bleed."
Rand bared his teeth again. He bent and took off his boots, then surprised the male when he began to unbutton his shirt, shrugged out of it, and opened his jeans to remove them. He was way too aware of Wolf's scrutiny as he stripped himself to the skin.
"I fight better this way," Rand said, straightening, pleased his voice sounded just as steady. "How about you? Can you even breathe in those pants?"
Wolf knew the warrior code. Evenly matched, evenly weaponed. Though when he set aside the crop, removed his own boots and took off the pants, Rand rethought that. Holy mother of God. Cai would have said holy fucking mother of fucking God, fuck it all.
If Rand did get plowed with that thing, he hoped one of the items Wolf had close to hand was enough lube to grease a truck through a key hole. Wolf's white teeth flashed at his expression.
"Want to give up now, whelp?"
Wow. Anwyn might have prepared Wolf for Rand being "other," since obviously some vampires could pick up traces of what was humanoid but not human, but she wouldn't have let slip exactly what Rand was. Therefore, he had to conclude Wolf's choice of male insult was fortuitous chance. He also had to remind himself of something very important about the fight that was about to happen.
He had to lose.
Must. Lose. Must. Lose.
Rand snorted at Wolf's insult. "I think the weight of that thing might unbalance you. Want to tie it to your leg before we get started?"
Wolf chuckled, and he was in motion. Rand met him, barely remembering not to shift as he would in a fight with another shifter or creature who lived in a world where shifters, vampires and Fae were realities. But it was hard, because the wolf wanted badly to come to the top and take over.
He learned a couple things fast. Wolf was more than just an intimidating Dom and a big bastard. He was combat-trained. Rand was a good fighter himself, and had some training, but he relied a lot on experience and his strength. Wolf had matching strength but superior skill, and quickly gauged Rand's weaknesses. He started whittling away at them, taking over the fight. That was when the gloves really came off.
Rand's next punch brought blood, and the two males landed against the bench, nearly tearing it free from the floor. Rand briefly wondered what it would take for anyone to interfere with what was happening in here. He suspected only if Anwyn thought the property damage was tallying up too high. Since the bench was the only thing breakable, beyond the walls themselves, Rand figured all was good.
Wolf flung him back toward the mat. Rand rolled away, flipped and went in low, bowling the guy over at the legs.
Anwyn's wisdom increased Rand's debt to her. A human Dom might have had Wolf's combat training and a decent level of strength, but there was a difference between a man trained to be a predator and a male who actually was one. When his own instincts kicked in, Rand didn't have to rein it back the way he would have if Wolf was human. Rand could let all of it come out. The frustration, the need, the giant ball of emotions he'd been sitting on for weeks.
He did note that, no matter how dirty the fight was getting, the one thing Wolf wasn't taking advantage of was Rand's leg. Anwyn had pried that one out of him on her follow up call, when she'd insisted on knowing if he had any physical issues that should be considered. Since third marks were considered pretty invincible, he had to conclude Daegan or Gi
deon had given her the heads up about it.
Wolf wasn't holding back in any other way, so Rand didn't feel coddled. But he wanted to make damn sure of it.
He wrenched the guy's arm on the twist a little too enthusiastically and got a solid slam in the face with Wolf's elbow that had him seeing stars. Wolf flipped him in that split second of disorientation and had one of the manacles locked around his wrist. Rand whipped the free chain at him, but Wolf dodged, swept his legs and secured another manacle on his opposite leg. Then he was at the wall, drawing up the chains, limiting his mobility.
Rand yanked against the bonds hard enough to send a sprinkling of dust off the ceiling. Wolf's gaze swept over his taut body, all Rand's bunched muscles. "Fucking beautiful," the Dom murmured.
Stay human, stay human... But so much in Rand's head was wolf right now, calculating, studying. Except the erection that was big enough to split skin. It was all human.
Wolf closed in on him again. Though Rand put up a hell of a fight, he was now working with one free arm and leg, the other two limbs restricted by the shortness of the chains.
The vampire ducked under a blow, spun him toward the bench. With that incredible burst of speed that vampires had, he had Rand over the bench and his other arm and leg locked in manacles, but he wasn't done yet.
To hold him in place, Wolf tossed another crisscrossing of chains over his back and locked Rand's torso to the padded surface. In a couple more expert moves, he had Rand's arms spread out, pulled forward and down, the chains hooked to rings in the floor. Then he bound Rand's ankles to more bolts in the floor on the other side of the bench, keeping his thighs spread.
Wild animal panic speared through Rand, a reaction to being so quickly and securely restrained. He could fight the chains, break a couple. Or he could use the safe word he'd been given by Anwyn.
If he did, it would be over.
His human side might chicken out and do it, but the wolf wouldn't. The wolf didn't even know what a safe word was. To guarantee that he would see this through, Rand needed to let more of his mind go to the wolf.
The problem with letting his mind go to his wolf was his wolf didn't play the denial games with his head that his human side did. The wolf knew what he really wanted, and it wasn't in this room. Empty need and lust curled around something a lot more painful.
Which was aggravating, since Wolf was basically 100% fantasy material.
Well, hell, that was the point, right? Give himself to the fantasy, let every physical and emotional reaction loose, let it emanate from him like sonar waves. But if he did, his heart might crack in the process, those waves going flat before they reached anyone's radar. One particular person's radar.
"All right there?" Wolf murmured. The hand he had on the back of Rand's neck was suddenly a little less hard. He was in control. It had been primal play, Rand told himself. He didn't know all this stuff, but Anwyn had given him a BDSM 101 kind of thing. Primal play was a rough and violent--within certain limits--form of tussling. The way animals did it.
Proving that they were still working within a structure, Wolf had picked up on Rand's distress and checking in with him, helping him out. But not too much, because as Rand managed a jerky nod, Wolf gave him that diabolical grin again.
"Good. Because I am going to fuck your ass until you scream."
Reaction clutched inside of Rand when Wolf moved between his spread thighs, that giant dick making not-so-incidental contact with the inside of one. Up high.
"And I'm going to use your pretty, pretty mouth to lube me up," the Dom continued. "So you better do a very good job, else this will get a might uncomfortable. You'll be walking up on your toes for a week."
As he spoke, his hand trailed down Rand's back to his buttocks, and between his thighs to caress his balls. He did a brief side trip, running down Rand's injured leg, gauging the tension there. It was fine. Rand didn't want him focusing on that.
Wolf didn't concede the point until he seemed satisfied the binding wasn't causing the leg the wrong kind of distress. Then one finger played at Rand's rim with clever skill, making Rand writhe, his cock leak pre-come. Get lost in the physical. Let it happen.
"Look at all those fucking gorgeous muscles. Thought you about had me there, whelp. You're a hell of a fighter. With a little more training, you could have kicked my ass and our positions would be reversed. A little punishment for that first, I think. You're trapped in your head, aren't you? I can help you with that."
Moving back into Rand's view, Wolf sauntered over to another set of controls that rolled back a screen, revealing a wall full of very adult toys. The male pulled an Indiana Jones style whip from the offerings. In the same instant hard-on inspiring motion, he snapped his wrist and five feet of braided rawhide slithered and cracked, with a noise loud enough Rand felt it in his balls.
Can't do this. Will do this. Can't not do this...
Wolf moved in front of Rand and stroked a hand over his hair. Gathered it up only to release it, letting it spill forward over Rand's shoulders. Cai liked doing that, too. Rand closed his eyes, but then they snapped back open when Wolf took a handful of his hair and yanked his head up. His monstrous dick was only inches from Rand's flashing gaze. Before he could stop himself, Rand had licked his lips.
"Yeah, you can't help yourself," Wolf said in that ball-tightening voice. "But what gets me off is seeing how pissed you are, how much you'd like to be free and fighting me, at the exact same moment you're imagining sucking me off."
In one menacing note, Rand telegraphed the most creative curses Cai could have dreamed up. Wolf's lips split in a dangerous smile. "Let's see how much more pissed off I can make you, whelp."
He coiled up the whip and left it lying in the small of Rand's back as he moved behind him. Footsteps, and the sound of another screen rolling back before Wolf returned, standing between Rand's knees.
Rand sucked in a breath as the male gripped his cock and balls with the confidence of long practice. He cinched them into some kind of tight harness. Really tight. Rand grunted as Wolf pulled it in another hole.
"Going to turn that bad boy blue. You aren't coming until I get my rocks off three times with you, at least." Retrieving the single tail and positioning himself in front of Rand, Wolf cocked his head, crossing his arms across his massive chest. "If you want me slick before I fuck your ass, you'll do two things. You'll use your mouth, as I said, and get me good and slippery. Do it well, and I'll be kind, add a nice spicy warming lube to your efforts that'll ease my way but keep the burn."
He held up two fingers. "Second, you'll ask me for the privilege, addressing me properly. "Let me suck your big dick. Master."
Rand had another Cai-ism to answer that. Wolf's gaze lighted and he caressed the single tail he'd wrapped around his wrist and forearm and was clasping in his other big fist. "Just the answer I was hoping to get."
He circled behind Rand, and went to work. Cai had paddled him with a brush, used his bare hand on him. This was a burning sting that built in intensity, making Rand jerk and dance in his bonds, roar when the popper hit his balls, his tender inner thighs. The stinging sensation spread, making his skin more sensitive, so when Wolf started to cover the same area again, everything went to flame.
Rand's cock was screaming in agony in the harness because he was so damn hard. It was that thing that Cai had discovered in him, that the pain and the animal could be brought to the top, arouse Rand even as he suffered. That's what he wanted to do for Cai, with Cai. Sometimes to Cai. Wouldn't that be a hell of a fight?
Wolf traded the whip out for a metal paddle that was the hairbrush on steroids. It had raised edges from the holes drilled into it. And they cut skin. Bloodletting had been a key part of this scenario when Rand discussed it with Anwyn, though Rand's mind was in such a chaos of lust, rage and helpless emotion, their conversation was a long time ago and far away.
He strangled on his cries. When Wolf paused an eternity later to reach beneath him, let the harness out a hole and c
aress his balls, Rand almost groaned in relief.
"See, whelp?" Wolf whispered. "I can be your demon or your Daddy. All you have to do is call me Master."
Twice more Rand refused. The punishments became more severe. At one point, Wolf brought that cock close to his face, teased him with it, put it to his lips. He let Rand lick the tip, taste the thick fluid at the top. Then Wolf went around back and rubbed that tip against his rim. Rand couldn't help but lift his ass, strain for it, even as it felt like his chest was going to explode. His body wanted all of this...and his heart was breaking, just as he'd feared.
If Cai wasn't feeling him, hearing him, or reaching out to him, he might shatter. He was going to shatter. Rand had thought he could go all the way with this, to deal with the silence. But he didn't know if he could.
"Ready to be fucked?" Wolf said once more. Now he'd picked up a violet wand and was testing it on a metal spatula, the crackle sending up blue sparks. "No, don't call me Master yet. I know you were about to. Wait until I put this spatula against your balls and add the wand to it. Nice little jolt. Don't want you ruining all my fun."
He came back to Rand's face, but he squatted, touching his jaw, his thumb sliding along Rand's lips. Wolf became more serious, his deep voice even lower. "It's okay to give it up, baby," he murmured. "You're a tough bastard, but if he's not smart enough to claim your ass, I can give you what you need. All it takes is one little word."
Master. All he had to do was call him Master. Anwyn was right about Wolf being one of her best. He'd figured out it was Rand's trigger. Each time Cai had used the word, or Rand had spoken it, it had held such special significance on both sides. But his cock was impossibly hard, his body was aching, his heart was going to explode. He couldn't take anymore. Didn't matter if the rest of him was screaming no, there wasn't going to be anything better than this waiting for him if Wolf let him loose. Might as well get an amazing fuck from a guy straight out of a firefighter beefcake calendar, so the night wouldn't be a total loss.
He might not be able to look at himself in the mirror later, but he'd be headed back to West Virginia in the morning. Back to Fane and the second-best choice of lives he'd been offered.