The temples, the arenas, the…
No, it can’t be.
He pulled one of the photographs off the wall. As he studied the familiar crumbling columns, and the large, rectangular pool that sank deep into the earth, a jolt of sensation struck his otherwise lifeless heart.
It was his bathhouse.
The one where Vasilios had turned him.
The same one he’d projected Leo to that first night.
This was not a coincidence. Something bigger was at work, and when he rounded back and saw Leo pushing himself up into a seated position, he knew this human was somehow involved.
Reacting purely on instinct, he was across the room and pinning Leo to the couch with no other thought than to extract the truth from him. With his fingers wrapped around Leo’s throat, he watched him with distrustful eyes, concerned for his own safety for the first time ever.
When Leo coughed and reached for his hand, Alasdair glared down at him, wanting nothing more than to end this new emotion of uncertainty by snapping the man’s neck. But he knew that he wouldn’t.
He was angry. He felt oddly…betrayed.
When their eyes locked and Leo’s mouth opened, Alasdair shoved the photo in his face and demanded, “What is this?”
Leo clawed at his grip, trying desperately to break free, but he was relentless in his pursuit for the truth. He wasn’t going to free him until he knew what the fuck was going on.
“I…I… It’s research.”
“Research?” Alasdair hissed, his face close enough to Leo’s that he could taste the other man’s breath when he gasped. “You said you didn’t know who, or what, I was.”
“I don’t.”
“Don’t lie to me,” he thundered, his fangs piercing through his gums.
Leo’s eyes flicked to them, and his heart pounded. “I’m…not,” he said, his voice faltering as he pushed the words through squashed vocal cords.
“Then how do you know of this place? No one knows where I was turned. Yet you have a photo of it taped to your fucking wall.”
The legs trapped between Alasdair’s scissored apart as Leo tried to shift out from under him. But he widened his own and trapped Leo’s between them. Then he pushed him deeper into the tattered couch cushions.
“It’s for the exhibit,” Leo rushed out. “A place we were researching for our exhibit. That’s all. I didn’t, don’t, know anything more.”
The words rang of truth, but the coincidence was too much for him to accept. He didn’t believe that, out of all the destinations, all the ancient ruins, the one place Leonidas was studying happened to be—
“That’s where you were changed…turned into a vampire, isn’t it? That’s what you meant a minute ago?”
Alasdair focused on the man trapped under him, and found that he wanted to tell this stranger everything about himself. But he didn’t dare.
This, what he was doing right now, was dangerous. No matter how many times he told himself that, though, he couldn’t bring himself to leave. He felt drawn to Leo in a way he’d only ever felt once in his life, and that realization solidified what he’d been thinking all along.
Leonidas Chapel wasn’t merely a mortal. A mortal couldn’t, and wouldn’t, capture the sole attention of his kind without some kind of…power. Whatever he was, Alasdair had never seen the likes of him, and for that reason alone, Leo was perhaps the biggest danger of all.
LEO KNEW THE smart thing to do was to shut his mouth. But, as he looked up into the fierce face hovering over his own, he wanted to know more.
Alasdair was unlike anybody, or anything, he’d ever come across, and every part of him demanded he learn as much as he could before he vanished—or, worse, decided to kill him after all.
With a tentative hand, he touched one of Alasdair’s high cheekbones, and when he flinched, Leo yanked his hand back.
“How old are you?” he asked, finally voicing the one question he’d been wanting to ask since he’d realized exactly what he was. “You have to be close to—”
“I’m old,” Alasdair said.
“Well, you look no older than your mid thirties.”
The sound Alasdair made was derisive as he shifted his body over the top of his, and it was all Leo could do not to pant. Yeah, he had a vampire practically strangling him, but the weight of Alasdair’s lower body brushing over his cock counteracted the fear coursing through him.
“You’re the one who has been studying me. Why don’t you tell me how old I am?”
Leo stared up at the serious face and the luminescent eyes looking down at him. Alasdair’s emotions were riding him, and he was reacting based solely on his instincts. Instincts that were telling him that, for some reason, little old him was a danger. Alasdair felt threatened and was flexing his power. Something that both terrified and, oddly enough, turned Leo on.
“I’m not studying you. I… We have been working on an exhibit for the museum. That’s just one of the locations we were recreating as a place people used to socialize. For meetings and…well, you know. You were there—can you please let go of my throat?”
Alasdair released his grip and placed his hands on either side of Leo’s head. Then he cocked his head to the side, much the way an animal does when it’s watching its prey try to squirm away, and Leo began to do just that. He tried to move under the body holding him down, but when Alasdair’s brow rose as if his attempt was ridiculous, he quit moving altogether.
“Then you don’t need me to tell you how old I am. You already know.”
Leo glanced at the photo in Alasdair’s fist, now a scrunched-up remnant of its former self, and thought about the date of the image. Ancient Athens 47 BC, and it’s now 2015. So that makes him—
“You’re over two thousand years old.”
“And you know too much.” Then Alasdair vanished.
Leo angled his head and saw him standing in front of his research wall again, his back to him.
“Do you not find this odd?”
Leo stood and pressed his fingers to his forehead. Ever since he’d met Alasdair, his entire world had become a little odd. As in fucked up beyond all things sane.
“Yes. But I never knew your kind existed. So, I mean, is this… Do you find this odd?”
Alasdair turned and regarded him carefully—as if seeing him for the first time. Then he answered, “I do.”
Leo waited, figuring there had to be more than that. Then, realizing what Alasdair was about to do, he sprinted across the room and reached out to grip the vampire’s wrist as he faded, with him in tow, right out of his office.
NO HE FUCKING didn’t.
When Alasdair appeared at the foot of Vasilios’s bed and Leo fell at his feet in a heap, he looked down at the human, completely perplexed.
What does he think he’s doing? And how did he know to grab me at that precise moment? With those and at least ten other questions running through his mind, Alasdair nearly forgot where he’d ended up until the male whose bedroom they were in spoke up.
“Well, well. This is a pleasant surprise.”
Alasdair tore his eyes from Leo long enough to look at the male he’d come in search of. Vasilios was lounging in the center of his monstrous bed, and as usual, clothed or naked, as he currently was, he commanded the room like a king on a throne. When Alasdair took in his bronzed torso and the black silk sheet draped across his waist, his cock stiffened, and his feet wanted to move him in his sire’s direction. It was the same reaction he’d been having for centuries.
“I was not expecting to see you today, Alasdair, though we do need to talk. What brings you to my bedchambers?”
It was obvious from the tenting of the sheets that, although Vasilios hadn’t expected him, he certainly wasn’t opposed to his being there. As the familiar surge of lust ran through him, Alasdair was about to answer, but Leo moaned, recapturing his attention.
“I see, you brought your yielding with you.”
Vasilios’s biting tone brought his eyes back t
o him. He’d removed the covers now, and Alasdair watched him closely as he climbed out of bed.
“I have to admit, this is the first time I have ever felt cheated of your attention. I don’t much enjoy the feeling.”
Alasdair kept his eyes on the male headed his way, but as he got closer, he couldn’t help himself from looking down to the thick cock that proudly jutted out from its owner. The same one that had pleasured him so many times over the years.
“Should I be concerned?”
“Concerned?” Alasdair asked, even though he knew exactly what he meant.
Vasilios trailed his eyes over him, and as he stood there under the other vampire’s inspection, Alasdair was torn between the desire to go to him and another, more complex one—the desire to crouch down over Leo and protect him.
Protect him? From what? Vasilios?
The idea was preposterous. He would never defy him in such a way. But as the Ancient got closer, the urge intensified.
Vasilios shifted his gaze to where Leo lay and said, “Yes. Concerned that your obsession here will make me have to hurt you. Is that what you want? For me to hurt you?”
Alasdair didn’t know what he wanted. His mind was all over the fucking place. He wanted answers—he knew that much.
Back in Leo’s office, he’d thought the smartest thing to do was to come here to get them. He’d thought to explain all that happened with Leo to his sire and see if he knew anything of it. Perhaps Vasilios had knowledge of what Leo was or why he had the ability to do what he could do.
What he hadn’t counted on was the human latching on to his arm and coming with him.
Now, there they were, in the presence of the oldest and most powerful vampire in this realm, and he could only hope Leo remained unconscious. The mood radiating off Vasilios was ferocious, and the idea of telling him anything other than what he wanted to hear was quickly dissipating.
Stepping around Leo, Alasdair ran a hand through his hair and walked towards his sire. When he stopped opposite him, he wrapped his fingers around Vasilios’s stiff erection and said, “I’m still recovering from the last time you hurt me. I’m not quite sure my body could handle another of your punishments.”
Full of confidence, as always, Vasilios fucked his cock through the tight fist surrounding it. “You look fully recovered to me. Though it is hard to tell through all of your clothing, agóri. Time to lose them, nai?”
Before he could answer, Alasdair’s clothes were gone. One thought and they were a mere memory on the floor. Hunger flared in Vasilios’s eyes as he devoured the sight of his naked body, and the flame that ignited their green depths excited him. It always did.
Hundreds—no, thousands—had wanted to be owned by this male over the years of his existence, and only one ever truly had been—him.
“Flawless as always,” Vasilios praised, bringing a hand up to trace his fingers down the center of his chest. “Do not fret. I left no scars. You are still the most exquisite thing I own.”
Those words normally wouldn’t bother him. Alasdair knew whom he belonged to. This time, however, he thought of the expression on Leo’s face when he’d explained on the night of the Walk that his brood now saw him as his property.
“Alasdair?”
Alasdair groaned as familiar fingers curled around his shaft. He closed his eyes, letting his head fall back while he ordered his mind clear of the human who, for right now, was passed out cold on the floor.
“Ah, and there your mind goes. Wandering back to him.”
They stood as close as they could possibly get without being inside one another, and when Vasilios stroked his fist up to the head of his length and twisted his wrist, Alasdair grunted and returned the gesture.
“Mhmm. Thinking of your golden-haired boy. The one you have yet to claim with this magnificent cock of yours.”
Alasdair ran his tongue over his top lip, the words and Vasilios’s touch making his gums tingle. He hadn’t come here for this, but when Vasilios bent his head and grazed his teeth along his collarbone, Alasdair knew he was only minutes away from being fucked.
“You make me hungry, Alasdair. Standing here so hard and aroused. And though I should be offended you’re busy thinking of another while I have you in my hand, I’ll forgo that to feed from you.”
Alasdair’s breath caught and his hand stopped moving when Vasilios cupped the back of his neck with his free hand.
“After all, why should I be jealous of such an inferior being? It seems so petty for someone such as myself when there is no comparison between us two.”
The lips talking could be so cruel at times. Yet, at others, like now, they could deliver the most erotic experience imagined.
“Wake him, omorfo mou agóri. I want him to see whom you belong to before you use this to lay claim to him.”
Alasdair did as he had been told, reaching out to Leo’s mind and waking him. Then he positioned himself on the bed and waited to be of service.
LEO’S MIND WAS a hazy mass of confusion when he finally came to. He wasn’t sure what had possessed him to grab Alasdair back in his office, but a certain look had flashed in the vampire’s eyes, and he’d known he was about to bolt, or vanish.
Now…where the hell am I?
Wherever he was, he’d never been there before. He was sprawled across a hardwood surface, and the sooner he got up and moving, the better. He needed to find Alasdair. He wasn’t ready to be done with their previous conversation, and if he was willing to continue having it after his life had been threatened, then the least the vampire could do was stick around long enough to explain why he’d thought all of this was odd.
As his eyes adjusted to the light of the room, the massive claw foot of a wooden bed frame came into focus, and he froze.
A bedroom, he thought. I’m in a bedroom…but whose?
He was about to sit up and look around for the mercurial male, when a deep, throaty growl of satisfaction rang through the room. The sound was so erotic that the sensual cadence of it enveloped him and seemed to stroke its way down between his legs. Leo’s cock throbbed in response, and he palmed the erection swelling inside his pants.
Fuck. Where the hell did that come from?
He closed his eyes, squeezing his fingers around himself as he willed his dick to behave. But right when he thought he had control over it, he heard that growl again, followed by a voice.
“Parta. You know how you want it.”
Jesus, that’s hot. Take it? Take what? Leo thought, scrambling up to his knees. And…that voice. He’d know that coaxing, powerful voice anywhere.
He slowly raised his eyes over the elaborately carved footboard, and when he saw long, white fingers curled over the top of it, his mouth fell open in astonishment.
What was happening only a few feet away from him was something he had only ever imagined in his dirtiest, horniest dreams. Alasdair was—Christ…fuck. He was completely naked, and Leo blinked a couple times, trying to decide if he was hallucinating. But when a harsh curse echoed throughout the room, and the fingers on the wood flexed, Leo knew he wasn’t. His eyes flicked up to watch Alasdair toss his head back and snarl.
I definitely did not dream this up, he thought, transfixed by what was going on. He wasn’t sure his brain had the capacity to conceive such an animalistic vision.
A large hand smoothed over the back of Alasdair’s dark hair, and as it gripped the back of his neck and held him in place, Alasdair’s eyes collided with his. The glow in Alasdair’s seemed to ignite a fire inside Leo, and his cock went from under control to a pulsating reminder that, God…he really loved men.
He then looked at the second occupant of the bed, but there was really no need. He already knew who he’d see—and he was right. There, situated on his knees, with his cock balls-deep inside Alasdair, was Vasilios. And the sight of him naked and fucking Alasdair had Leo’s dick weeping in response.
Mhmm. The low hum of gratification vibrated through his mind as Alasdair braced his arms against
the wood to hold himself in place. Come here, file mou. You know you want to.
Of course he fucking wanted to, and Alasdair knew that. But, as the invitation penetrated his brain, Leo shuffled away. When his back hit a wall, Alasdair’s fangs, those razor-edged fangs of his, slid down into place. Vasilios cursed violently as he gripped Alasdair’s hair and then twisted his head to the side.
Like a beast being brought to heel, Alasdair growled, and Leo winced at the force being used. But Alasdair bucked back against the other vampire, clearly enjoying it. Vasilios aligned his chest with Alasdair’s back, and when he caught Leo watching them, his eyes flashed bright.
Oh, mother of God. If he’d thought Alasdair could hold his attention, this guy must be a fucking hypnotist.
A conceited smirk crossed Vasilios’s mouth, reminding Leo he could hear his every thought. Then his fangs punched out of his gums, and Leo couldn’t stop himself from cupping his erection through his pants.
He knew what the vampire was about to do. Knew it as if he’d announced his intention out loud. Then he did it.
Vasilios parted his lips and struck, sinking his teeth deep into Alasdair’s neck, and the roar that ripped out of Alasdair was one of sublime ecstasy.
Leo frantically unbuttoned his pants and pulled the zipper down. He needed to get his hand on his dick, and he needed it right fucking now.
As he wrapped his fingers around the painful hard-on, he spread his legs and jerked up through his fist. His own groan of pleasure escaped his mouth as he masturbated to the unrestrained mating taking place on the bed, his heart pounding like a fucking jackhammer.
What does it feel like, he wondered. What does it feel like when they bite one another?
Come here, Alasdair’s voice invited inside his mind, and the command for his body to do what it had been told took over.
After getting to his feet, Leo walked over to the side of the bed where the two were entwined. His eyes roved over the naked tangle of arms and legs, and then a firm hand clamped onto Alasdair’s shoulder to haul him up to his knees.