“I heard that. Paws off, bear.” Rian hissed and left again. Emmett gulped.
“Rian is going to have his hands full. Those two women are lovely,” Rhys said, grinning.
“Makes me glad I don’t have any sisters. Brothers are a lot easier to deal with.” Duncan punched Emmett in the arm.
“Ma said she would be working with Lachlan to get any more family members transferred to Arkadia that request it,” Duncan said.
“How long were they gone?” Peyton asked.
“Fifteen years. The entire pride moved fifteen years ago. Bethy and Asling were about six at the time. Those girls worshipped their brothers. They must have been heartbroken all this time.” Emmett’s eyes hardened.
“Rian was devastated when they left. He was fifteen when Asling was born. He was both mother and father to her before he left for college. Damian was the same with Bethy. A year later Dylan was born. It was nothing to see Rian walking around town, hanging out with a baby on his hip.” Duncan laughed.
“I learned how to change diapers from helping to watch Bethy and Asling. I can’t wait to see Gavin’s reaction to them moving back to town.” Emmett smiled at the memory.
“All of us helped to raise those kids, But Gavin was closest in age to them. Asling, Bethy, Cecelia and Gina haunted his every step.” Duncan laughed.
“He’s just so easy to tease.” Cecelia admitted.
“When they left, all of us missed them so much. I once heard Ma on the phone asking them to come back.” Duncan shook his head.
“They’re home now. Soon we’ll have baby Dylan back too.” Emmett grinned.
“He’s not a baby anymore, he’s what…?” Duncan counted on his fingers and looked up at the ceiling.
“Twenty? That can’t be right. Baby Dylan is almost old enough to drink legally?” Duncan looked a little spooked.
“Man, we’re getting old.” Emmett sighed. Rhys, David and Daniel laughed out loud.
“We have you beat.” Daniel cackled. Emmett brightened.
“That’s right! I don’t feel so bad now. I’m just a young man in my prime.” He puffed out his chest.
“Come on, guys. One more round and then we’re heading home,” Daniel said, waving a controller.
“Yes!” Peyton jumped up and ran over to his chair and picked up the controller.
David looked at Daniel.
“I think we’ve created a monster.” Daniel nodded. David jerked his head over to the Xbox and raised an eyebrow. Daniel nodded. Rhys felt his heart melt. He knew what they were about to do and he loved them more for it.
“Hey Peyton, is it okay if we leave this here with you?” David asked. Peyton looked at David as if he had lost his mind.
“Don’t you need it?” Peyton asked. Daniel shook his head.
“Nah, we have another one at home. You keep this one and practice. We can log in from the coven house and we can play together. We could really use you on our team,” Daniel explained.
Peyton looked over to Moe, his huge liquid brown eyes begging. Rhys had to turn his head to hide his grin. As if his softie of a mate would say no.
“You know, Peyton, this might actually be good for business. Looks like everyone had fun tonight.” Moe indicated Duncan and Emmett.
“We sure did. It’s hard to find good players anymore,” Duncan said.
“That would be so cool!” Peyton put the headset on and beamed at Daniel. Rhys almost laughed when Daniel had to clear his throat. The little vampire’s eyes had begun to get teary.
“Okay men. Time to kill shit.” David grinned at Peyton bumping shoulders with his brother.
“Let’s kill some fucking zombies!” Peyton exclaimed. David, Daniel, Emmett and Duncan’s eyes widened and they busted out laughing.
“Y’all are a bad influence.” Rhys laughed.
“We know,” they said together.
“God help us from the twins,” Rhys said. The four men looked at each other.
“Which set?” Emmett asked.
“All of you.”
“You do know we have two more sets coming up in the ranks. Landon, Lucas, Matthew and Merrick,” Duncan offered.
“There goes Arkadia,” Moe said, wiping down tables, a smile on his face.
“Rock on!” Emmett said.
Chapter 5
“Peyton, don’t stay up too late.” Moe yelled as he and Rhys walked up the stairs to their apartment.
“I won’t!” Peyton called back.
“He so will.” Rhys smiled. Moe nodded.
“I know, but he’s having fun with friends. It may be a first for him. I’ll just make sure I have extra coffee for him in the morning.” Moe chuckled.
They reached the top of the stairs and Moe opened the door for his mate. Rhys smiled and stood on tiptoe. He kissed him softly then headed to the bathroom. Moe couldn’t keep the grin off his face if he tried. He went over to the bed and pulled the covers down. He was about to head to the kitchen to make a cup of tea when he smelled blood. He took another deep breath and the scent remained.
He walked over to the bathroom and the scent got stronger.
“Rhys, you okay in there?” he asked.
“Yup, fine.”
“I smell blood.”
“Nicked myself shaving.”
“Oh, okay.” Moe started to walk away but something kept him rooted by the door. The scent was too strong for a shaving nick. Without asking for permission he opened the door. What he saw nearly drove him to his knees. His beautiful mate had a straight razor out and was making horizontal cuts across his forearm.
“Baby, no!” Moe raced forward, grabbed a towel, and laid it across the blood-smeared arm.
“Don’t look!” Rhys cried out, his face a mask of shame.
“Why, baby? Why?” Moe applied pressure with the towel to get the bleeding to stop. Rhys just shook his head, unable to answer.
“Do you want to hurt yourself?” Moe asked, desperate to understand. Rhys shook his head frantically.
“It feels good, it’s like I’m letting out all the bad blood that I was forced to drink. I know in my mind that it left my body months ago, but when I see the blood drip, it’s like the addiction lessens.” Rhys wiped his eyes with his free hand.
Moe took a deep breath. He knew better than to tell him not to do it again or that it wasn’t helping. Because he knew that in Rhys’s mind it was helping.
“What triggered it?” he asked, lifting the towel to check the cuts. To his surprise they were mostly healed. His surprise must have shown.
“Vampires heal superficial wounds pretty quickly.” Moe didn’t want to think about the number of times Rhys had cut himself and he missed it due to his accelerated healing.
“I’m glad it heals so quickly. What happened tonight that trigged the need to do this?” Moe asked again gently.
“It was such a good night. So many of our friends were happy, I felt like my heart was about to burst. When we got upstairs, I wanted to rip your clothes off and see how much of your gorgeous cock I could get down my throat. Then all I could think about was the time I walked in on you in the shower and the image of the thick vein that runs down the side of your shaft. After that all I could think about was blood.” Rhys took a deep breath and sighed. Moe was still stuck on the idea of Rhys swallowing his cock down. Fingers snapped in front of his face. Rhys’s mouth smiled, but his eyes still looked sad. Moe shook his head and looked at his mate.
“So it’s not the sex you’re opposed to, just the fear you might lose control and bite me?” Moe asked as a brilliant idea began to form in his mind. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before.
“God no, it’s not the sex. I don’t trust my mouth near your skin.” Rhys looked so dejected.
“So, as long as we can keep your mouth away from my skin…” Moe said and waited for Rhys to put the pieces together. Rhys looked up quickly.
“Damn. Why didn’t we think of this a month ago?” Rhys demanded, standing up, and began to
shuck off his clothes.
“I don’t know, but remind me to kick my own ass later.” Moe in his impatience literally ripped the shirt from his body.
“Fuck that was hot,” Rhys moaned.
Moe dropped his jeans and stood in front of his naked mate.
“Lube?” Rhys whimpered, staring at Moe’s extremely large cock. His tongue darted out and licked his bottom lip. Moe felt himself break out in a sweat from the small unconscious motion.
“Nightstand drawer,” Moe said. Rhys shook his head and then darted out of the bathroom. Moe watched as he rummaged through the drawer until he found the lube. He turned and looked over his shoulder and winked at Moe.
Moe reached down and squeezed the base of his cock to keep from coming. His mate was so fucking sexy. Without wasting another second he went to the closet and pulled out three long silken scarves. He hadn’t had a chance to use them in a long time. When he looked down at the green fabric he realized it matched his mate’s eyes perfectly. Images of Rhys bound to their bed had his hands shaking.
A low, long moan had him spinning around to stare at his mate. Rhys was on all fours, stretching himself. He was up to three fingers and was pumping those long pale digits in and out of his ass at an amazing speed.
“You’re not allowed to come,” Moe said, his voice sounding deeper even to his own ears.
Rhys shivered at the tone of his voice and his hand slowed down.
“Ready?” Moe asked.
“Please,” Rhys whispered.
“If this is too much we can stop, I know that he…” That was as far as Moe got.
“He hardly ever restrained me. I’m okay with this, really.” Rhys turned and reclined back on the mound of pillows. Moe decided to take him at his word. He walked to the head of the bed and looped the silk around his mate’s wrist. He reached between the wrought ironwork of the headboard and secured the scarf to the metal eyehook he had installed into the wall. After ruining one headboard with another shifter lover, he had learned to secure his men and women directly to a wall stud.
Rhys looked at the installed metal eye and raised a brow.
“I like to play,” Moe bent down and whispered lowly at the base of Rhys’s neck, behind his ear. Rhys shuddered.
“I’m glad.”
Moe walked around and secured his other wrist in place.
“Comfortable? Not too tight?” Moe asked.
Rhys pulled at his silken bonds and shook his head. “Just right.”
“Safeword?” Moe asked. Rhys shook his head.
“You would never do anything remotely close to hurting me. I trust you.”
That meant more to Moe than the sex. Smiling, he lifted one last silk scarf. He climbed onto the bed and knelt between Rhys’s legs, which had to stretch wide to accommodate his large frame. It gave him the most perfect view of Rhys’s pink hole and dripping prick.
Rhys frowned. Moe could almost hear the wheels turning as his mate tried to figure out what the last scarf was for.
Ever so gently Moe dragged the silk over Rhys’s weeping cock. Rhys’s quick inhale let Moe know exactly how sensitive his mate was. Lazily he brushed the silk over the engorged head over and over again, each time making Rhys whimper and cry out.
“Moe please! Please!” Rhys begged. Moe looked down and watched Rhys’s starburst clench and relax with each pass of the silk. Moe reached down and picked up the bottle of lube. His mate had stretched himself quite nicely, but he knew he was a big man. He coated his cock as he kept up his merciless torture with the silk scarf.
“Moe, please! I need more!” Rhys screamed.
Moe reached down and tested how stretched his mate was. He wanted his man to know nothing but pleasure.
“You’re not stretched enough.” Rhys shook his head from side to side almost violently.
“Pain helps to keep the blood lust at bay, plus I love the burn. Please, my mate.” Rhys stared up at him, his green eyes practically glowing.
Unable to hold back a second longer, Moe reached under Rhys and lifted his lower body to plunge deep into his mate’s needy channel with one hard thrust.
“Fuck, yes! My mate’s huge cock feels so fucking good.” Rhys moaned. Moe felt his eyes cross. His mate’s dirty talk would have him coming like an untried teenager. He pulled out until just the flared head of his cock remained inside of his mate and thrust again.
“Yeah baby, fuck your mate.” Rhys wrapped his legs around Moe’s waist. Every time Rhys said the word “mate” Moe felt his control slip just a bit more.
“You’re going to feel this tomorrow,” Moe said, thrusting again and again.
“Yes! I want to have reminders of how this cock felt in my ass. Harder!” Moe took him at his word and began pistoning into his mate. Rhys was beyond dirty words now as he struggled to draw breath. Moe drove forward, and his mate’s body pulled him deeper inside with each snap of his hips. Never before had sex felt like this, but in his heart Moe knew it was more than sex. His body recognized Rhys’s as his mate. Together they were complete.
“Close,” Rhys whispered harshly. Moe reached down, and simply wrapped his large hand around Rhys’s leaking cock causing his mate to detonate. Hot streams of cum covered their bodies. Rhys was still shuddering in pleasure when Moe felt his own orgasm slam into him. It started at the base of his spine and raced throughout his body. Buried deep inside his mate he filled Rhys’s channel with his semen until his balls started to ache, it felt that good.
When the final aftershocks calmed down, Moe pulled from Rhys’s body and Rhys moaned low in his throat. Moe looked down at his mate. His soft blond curls looked light brown and were plastered to his forehead with sweat. His eyes were closed but a satisfied smile lingered on his lips. Unable to resist, Moe leaned forward and kissed his lips gently. Rhys’s eyes opened and he ran a tongue along Moe’s lips.
Breaking from the kiss, Moe sat back on his legs.
“I love you, Moe Jones. I love you so damn much it scares me to death,” Rhys whispered. Moe got up and untied his mate. He folded the green silk cloths and put them on the nightstand.
“I love you too, Rhys. You are my miracle.” Moe kissed Rhys’s forehead and went to get a washcloth.
“Aren’t you scared?” Rhys asked. Moe walked to the bathroom and thought about his answer. He got the water warm and soaked a washcloth. He cleaned himself and rinsed out the cloth for Rhys. He walked back toward the bed and cleaned his mate, laying a quick kiss on Rhys’s cock. He went back to the bathroom and threw the washcloth in the hamper. When he returned he pulled Rhys into his arms.
“I’m scared of a lot of things, but never of loving you. Fate herself picked you out for me. Someday I may be a good enough man to deserve you,” Moe whispered.
“I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you! I can’t even claim you properly.”
“Earlier this week we didn’t think sex was possible either, we found a way. Things will work out. You’ll see.” Moe put a finger under Rhys’s chin and brought Rhys’s face up to his.
“I’m hundreds of years older than you, but you make me feel so young.” Rhys grinned.
“You’re not bad for an old man,” Moe joked. Rhys’s eyes flashed with laughter before he jumped on Moe, straddling the man. Moe cursed his mate’s vampiric speed as he found every one of his ticklish spots. Finally when they were both breathless from laughing they curled up together.
“Love you,” Moe said, kissing his forehead.
“Love you too.” This time there was love and laughter in his mate’s eyes, not fear and sadness.
Please help me to give him whatever he needs to be happy. Please give us whatever we need to make this mating work.
Moe prayed to whomever was listening before he drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 6
Rhys walked into the diner and fought the urge to walk right back out. Every member of the Inner Court except for his prince was there eating breakfast. Only Rebecca’s slightly hung-over appearance seemed to mat
ch the dogged expressions of their mates. Sebastian was cuddling Lucian, Kate was laughing with Rian and Damian as they bounced Matthew and Merrick on their knees. Bethy and Asling played with Landon and Lucas as naturally as if they had known the two boys their entire lives. Nic was inhaling a plate of waffles as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Rhys had half turned to go back out the door when he heard.
“Don’t even think about it. Come tell me what drink I am,” Rebecca called out, still face down at her table. How she had even seen him he didn’t know.
“Rebecca, leave the poor man alone, he looks like he’s about to bolt.” Ma smiled at him sympathetically. Rebecca raised her head with what looked like tremendous effort and looked up at him. He sighed. He was stuck. There was no way he could say no to those purple puppy-dog eyes.
Aleks chuckled and adjusted Aidhan on his arm.
“She is still feeling some of the aftereffects of drinking eight double-strength espressos.” Aleks shook his head.
“If y’all would let me have some coffee…”
“No!” the entire diner said at one. She looked at Rhys and pouted.
“They are picking on me.”
Rhys smiled and sat down at her table rubbing her back when she put her face back down on the table’s cool surface.
“I’m used to dealing with hangovers, hair of the dog usually helps, though I’m not sure how that would work with caffeine,” Rhys said. Rebecca raised her head and yawned.
“I’m feeling better, just not one hundred percent awake. Just having the Inner Court together actually helped a lot.” Rebecca stretched her arms up over her head. Rhys sat back and picked up a menu. Moe would be joining him after he made Peyton some coffee and got his breakfast order.
“Doc says now that we know what we’re experiencing we can take steps to prevent it from getting that bad again. Postpartum depression usually only occurs in the first three months, so hopefully we won’t see it get this bad again,” Kate said, then turned to Rebecca.
“What on earth possessed you to drink so many espressos?” Rebecca shrugged.