Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
Rushing outside didn’t immediately reveal a fight scene. In fact, nobody was in sight. No Zander, no giant furry werewolf, and no Victor either.
“Heads up!” Zee yelled, then dashed forward and reached out to catch the half-shifted werewolf tumbling down off the roof. The stretched and torn clothes suggested the wolf man was Zander but it was hard to tell under all the gray fluff.
Terrified eyes locked on me. “Woof!” Zander wheezed.
“Woof?” Zee asked.
“I think he means roof?” We both looked up in the hope of seeing something on top of the cabin, but our angle from the ground hid whatever was happening up there.
“Adam, you got him?” Zee asked me.
He had wings, and could poof up there in a blink. “Yeah, go.”
Zee set Zander on the ground, flung open his wings, and shot into the air.
Zander was clearly not alright. In my limited experience with werewolves—which mostly consisted of Zee’s old client Abe, and riding one once—they didn’t generally like to be half shifted like this. The half-wolf, half-man state left them vulnerable, and right now Zander’s elongated snout was wolf but his eyes were human and showed pain.
“Hey, we got you, alright? You’re safe now.”
Zander thrashed his head and the poor guy tried to speak, but the snout wasn’t meant for forming words. Everything he tried to say came out as snuffles and snorts.
I scooped him up, intending to take him inside, then saw the gaping wounds in his middle. Four jagged claw gouges... just like Cameron. Zander would die if we didn’t get him medical help. I had to get Zee. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
His furry hand grabbed mine and yanked me back down. Big sad eyes begged me to stay. He was scared. Scared of being left alone, scared of dying. I covered his hand with mine. I knew how it felt to face what you believed were your last few minutes on this earth.
“It’s going to be alright. I’ll make sure of it.” I pulled his hand from mine and dashed for the door.
Snapping sounds of cracking timbers shattered the quiet like gunshots. Skidding to a stop on the deck, movement to my right caught my eye. A huge tree came at me, getting bigger as its broken top half fell. It seemed personal, as though this one tree really didn’t like me and would like to flatten the porch with me under it.
“Adam!”
Zee’s shout came half a second before the world turned into a hail of whipping branches and cracking timber. I buckled, driven to my knees, arms over my head, and waited out the pummeling onslaught. When the chaos settled, I lifted my head and shoved broken branches and snapped timbers aside, then climbed out of the wooden carnage.
Zee’s wings flapped, whipping up a storm of pine needles. “Oh my fuck, you scared the pretty right outtah me. Don’t ever fuckin’ do that again. You alright?”
My arms were cut up some, but no broken bones. “I’m fine. Next time I’ll ask the tree not to fall on me.” Reaching out, Zee plucked me from the pile of broken branches onto the large tree limb next to him. “We need to get Zander to a hospital, or somewhere with medical supplies,” I told him, shaking twigs from my hair. “He’s cut up bad.”
“The motel?” he asked.
“If they don’t have medical supplies, Jenny will know where to take him.”
“I got Zander. You help Fancy Fangs. He’s busy pretending to be a squeaky toy for the fuck-off rabid wolf man.” Zee jerked his chin toward the broken tree stump and the storm of splintered wood to indicate the figures wrestling in the gloomy mist. “Be careful, Kitten. I’ve never seen a werewolf like it.”
I nodded. “Victor and I will stop it. Save Zander.”
“Aye aye, General.” Zee saluted, then threw himself off the ruined porch like a shot from a gun. A few moments later, I spotted Zee’s wings unfurling from the clearing behind the cabin. Those sparkly purple expanses of leather whipped the air, and with Zander draped in his arms, he vanished through the canopy, disappearing into the mist.
With Zee gone and Zander out of harm’s way, my thoughts turned to the sounds of snapping trees, snarling growls, and vampire grunts coming from the fog.
A niggly worry tried to nibble at my resolve, but Victor and I had this under control. It was just one werewolf. How tough could it be?
After dropping the last bits of shattered tree to the mulchy ground, I headed for the sounds of fighting. The mist had descended, pouring between the trees and obscuring my sight. I couldn’t see exactly who had who, but the sounds of battle were loud enough to zero in on.
Until everything fell silent.
No more snapping trees or vicious growls.
No scuffling or grunts.
Just a weird, suffocating silence.
My steps suddenly seemed too loud. I stopped.
“Victor?” I whispered.
A blur flew out of the mist. My heart lurched, a scream lodged in my throat. Victor’s hand slammed over my mouth, silencing my yelp.
His cheek brushed mine. His body burned hot against my back. “Do. Not. Move.”
Oh dear.
Victor was no pushover, and the strain in his voice was very real.
He slowly took his grazed hand away but stayed pressed close.
Mist swirled around us. Occasionally it would part like smoky drapes, revealing tree limbs or just more of the forest, but then it rolled in again, blinding us to a way out.
The deep, throaty growls of something big circled us. Big enough to make Victor’s heart race.
I smelled blood... maybe Victor’s. His knuckles were bloody, but I hadn’t yet seen his face. He was hurt, I knew that much.
“Where’s Zodiac?” he whispered against my ear.
“Safe.”
His hand settled on my hip. “On three, run. I’ll meet you back at the motel. Do not stop .”
Our plan was running? I mean, I’d spent a long time running from things, so I shouldn’t have been so surprised. I guess the surprise came from the fact Victor had said it.
I could shift, but it would take several seconds, and I’d flatten the immediate trees and probably Zander’s home too. The mist meant that even as dragon, I wouldn’t be able to see much, and I’d be too big to see our attacker in the trees.
“One.”
The big beast continued to plod around us, gradually closing in. I could growl like that too, but instincts told me to hold back. Generally, two apex predators growling at each other did not end well, and the last thing we needed was another dead werewolf.
“Two.”
The beast stopped to our right.
Mist curled in the air.
“Run!”
I bolted, vaulted a fallen tree and kept on running, arms pumping, legs burning. Victor was faster than any werewolf, he’d be alright.
I’d done a lot of running over the years, but would my short legs outrun whatever this beast was? And I had no idea if I was running toward the track we’d arrived on, or in the completely wrong direction.
Zee had the map on his phone.
Trees leaped out of the mist, into my path. I swerved left and right, hurdled rotten logs and over a stream. The log I’d just jumped looked familiar—it had the same fern tuft as the one I’d vaulted seconds ago. Fallen logs all looked the same, right?
Or maybe it looked familiar because we’d passed it on the way out?
Was I running in circles?
Why was running so hard?!
Wings would have been a real help right about now. Could I shift? Nobody would notice an enormous dragon in the misty woods, right?
I lurched off the path, onto the track, and through the bush we’d definitely plowed through earlier, then slowed to get my bearings. A quick glance back didn’t reveal any sign of the beast on my tail, just thick mist. I waited... panting... holding my thighs to keep my lungs from burning me up, but nothing huge came stalking after me. No Victor either.
He was probably ahead of me.
Might even be back at the motel already.
Keeping my steps light on the mossy track, I jogged back down the trail that would eventually lead to the motel.
It would be fine. Zee had probably gotten Zander somewhere safe by now, and Victor would be there waiting. Once we were all back together and better prepared, we’d return and search for Zander’s stalker.
The motel loomed ahead, cloaked in mist. Quickening my pace, I skidded around the front of the units, passed our parked van and burst into our room, expecting to find Zee or Victor waiting inside. But it was empty.
“You alright?” Duke loomed in the doorway. “Saw you run in like your tail’s on fire.”
“Uh, no, I...” I breathed hard, trying to think around my thudding heart. “You seen Zee or Victor?”
“Just you.” Duke’s whiskered face darkened with shadows. “You all alone here?”
I looked up and squinted around heavy breaths. How had Duke gotten here so fast? Had he been watching the motel or had he been following me? He didn’t seem out of breath... If he’d been Zander’s stalker then he’d have been gasping like me, right? And he’d probably be naked since he’d have shifted, and he wasn’t a dragon—dragons keep their clothes after shifting back, just go with it.
“How long have you been out there?” I puffed, straightening.
Duke invited himself into the room, getting a good look at the huge stacks of Oreos, the double bed, and Zee’s ever-growing collection of scattered clothing all over. “You know .. .” Duke stroked his beard. “For Heroes of the City, you don’t look like much.”
I didn’t know where his weird vibe was going, but I did not have time for it. “That’s kind of the point. Did you see Victor while you were lurking outside?”
Duke raked his glare over me. “Dragon, huh?”
“I don’t have time for this.” I strode for the door. Victor told me he’d be back at the motel. Maybe he was outside somewhere, or at the bar? He could be with Zee and Zander?—
Duke’s growl bubbled behind me, then his big hand snatched my arm, spinning me around. “I’m not done talkin’ to you.”
It takes a lot to rattle my scales. I’m generally a nice person... until I’m not. Smaller than Duke, I had to tilt my head back and glare up while he loomed in my personal space. A quick yank, and I freed my arm. “Listen well, and trust me when I say you do not want to pick this fight.”
Duke’s grin told me the man was a bully, and an idiot, and we’d get back to this conversation. I turned my back on him and hurried out of the room.
Victor wasn’t in the lot. I checked Jenny at reception, but found only her plants, so that just left the bar. But even as I strode toward it, the sinking sense of doubt was getting worse.
The inside of the bar was as gloomy as ever, and busy with the biker gang who apparently didn’t have homes to go to. “Has anyone seen Victor... the vampire I came here with?” I asked, raising my voice some.
A whole bunch of blank faces stared back, and then returned to their conversations and daytime drinking.
Dammit. They would listen! I slammed a hand down on the bar. “Hey!”
The kitchen door flew open and Galbraith stomped out, eyebrows pinched into one long bushy line. “What’s this? You comin’ in here, demanding?—”
“Do not test me,” I snapped back. “Where’s Victor?”
Galbraith’s top lip curled. “Some respect?—”
After taking two strides across the sticky floor, I jabbed at the alpha werewolf’s chest, which felt a whole lot like poking a brick wall—so firm. Looking all the way up, I eventually met his glare. Our showdown probably looked comical to anyone watching. Galbraith was twice my size in both directions, but when his gaze stuck to mine, a flicker of realization softened his gaze, then his snarl faded too. He must have seen something of the real me in my eyes.
The pack leader took a step back.
Duke flung open the bar door. “Kid thinks he can threaten?—”
That’s it. I was done. No more Mr. Nice Adam.
“Threaten you?” I barked a laugh and stepped back too, so the whole bar and its customers could get a good look at little ol’ me. “Don’t worry. Should anyone stand between me and mine, there won’t be threats.” Power fizzled through my veins, and when I next spoke, my voice brought with it a growl born from the depths of my dragon soul. “There’ll be nothing left but ash.”
Galbraith clicked his fingers. “Outside, all of you. Find the vampire.”
The entire bar sprang into motion and bounded for the door, suddenly so eager to help.
Galbraith smiled, but there was no hiding its nervous tick. “Nothing vanishes in these woods. We’ll find him.”
“You’d better.”
Galbraith’s own predatory gaze flashed a warning, but he kept his smile. “I think I like you, Adam.”
He wouldn’t, if we didn’t find Victor.
Making my way outside into the misty lot, I spotted the pack members heading into the woods. A few minutes later, the howls started up, muffled by mist.
Victor would be fine.
He had to be.
As haughty as he was and prone to getting himself kidnapped, he’d always survived.
I paced, torn between going after them and waiting here for him to return like he’d said he would. What I really wanted to do was shift out of my skin and burn the entire forest down. He’d said he’d be here, but he wasn’t. What if he’d never intended to run with me? What if he’d just wanted me out of the way while he distracted the beast?
Damn, I hadn’t told them about the beast.
Too bad. If their beta hadn’t riled me up with all that macho posturing, I’d have remembered to warn them.
Jenny stepped out of her reception office and headed toward me. “What’s happening?”
“Victor is missing.”
“My bestie? Bro. What the fuck?”
“We were attacked. He was with me. He said to run, and I... I did, and now he’s missing and if we don’t find him, I don’t... I don’t know what I’ll do.” Yes I did. I knew exactly what I’d do. I’d burn every single tree in the forest if I had to. And then I’d start on the people.
“Hey.” Jenny smiled softly, trying to snag my vacant gaze. “He’s a vampire, right? They got mad skills. He’ll slay.”
I sort of understood her meaning without Zee to translate. She was trying to be kind, but kindness wouldn’t find him.
“Over here!”
Two figures stumbled from the misty treeline, one slumped heavily against the other.
“Victor!” I bolted toward them. He was hurt. Blood. So much blood. He hadn’t healed. Why hadn’t he healed? I vaulted a fence, dashed over some grass, and only slowed when he reached for my hand.
Our fingers locked. I brought his hand to my chest.
“I’m alright.” He grimaced.
He didn’t look alright. He looked in pain. His face was cut up, his shirt bloody, his hair knotted with leaves. I took him from the pack member, scooping him against my side. He’d never felt so frail. Victor was never weak. He was never broken. He was my rock, my safe place, one of only two reasons I was still alive.
“Adam.” His fingers slipped into my hair.
“You didn’t run!” I snapped. The words shot out of me before I’d had a chance to even think them. “You didn’t run. You said you would... You lied.”
“To save you.” Bloody fingers skimmed down my cheek.
We hobbled on, limping toward our room. Anger and fear combined to make a heady concoction, making me see red. It was too much. He could have died .
“I am so mad at you.”
He pulled me close and bumped his head with mine. “My dear, I am sorry.”
“Are you going to be alright?” Galbraith approached. “Do you need anything? First aid?”
“No, he’s mine.” Another growl rumbled out of me. “I’ve got this.” I needed to get Victor back to our room.
Galbraith raised his hands and backed up. “Alright. No harm meant, Adam. Your demon friend? Jenny tells me she pointed him in the direction of Whiteacre Falls, where the nearest hospital is. He had Zander with him.” The alpha held my gaze, his concern valid. Was I a risk to him and his pack?
“Thank you,” I squeezed out through clenched teeth.
“Zander might not be pack, but he’s kin. So thank you for looking out for him. All three of you.”
I might have said more than a grunt if Victor hadn’t been bleeding all over me. It took an age to hobble up the motel steps and into our room. Once inside, I set Victor down on the end of Zee’s big bed. “I’m going to eat them all,” I grumbled. “Slow roasted.”
Victor’s hint of a smile summoned my own. I rushed him, flung my arms around him and buried his face against my chest, my hands in his hair. “What do you need?”
“You . . . just you.”
I held him, and he held me, and for a moment it was just the two of us against what felt like the world. The only thing that could have made the hug better was Zee, but he was off saving a life, so I couldn’t blame him for that.
“I will never stop protecting you,” Victor whispered, his voice raw.
I pulled away and knelt, resting my hands on his knees so I could peer up into his eyes. “Victor, you know I’m almost indestructible.”
“It is the almost that concerns me.”
He was a fool. I should have been the one protecting him. I brushed his hair back from his face. He turned his head and nuzzled my wrist, fangs emerging. If he waited much longer, with all the blood loss he’d become vicious. It had happened before, and I did not want to see him rabid and starving like that ever again.
“Lie back,” I told him, sounding snappy and not caring.
“I fear I am in trouble with you.” He lay back, propped on his elbows, and when I climbed onto the bed next to him, he settled down properly, resting next to me.
“Yes, you are. There will be groveling and apologies. But first, let’s get you healed.”
After hooking a leg over his, I snuggled closer and tilted my head, exposing my throat. His arm came around me, folding me into his embrace, and those smooth, cool fangs slid into my neck, unleashing a wave of lustful sparks. There was no chance of stopping the moan that slipped free, or preventing myself from clutching him tighter. Being close to Victor was like catching a star—he consumed my body and thoughts, turning me into a thing of pure need.
He was all cut up and needed my blood to heal, so this was not the time to hump his leg, but I was as much animal as man and I’d never stop wanting him, even when he was bloody and bruised. Maybe because he was bloody and bruised.
It wasn’t long before his hand eased up on gripping my arm and slipped between us to clutch my dick.
“If you think this is going to make up for lying to me...” I began, but then his experienced fingers stroked. With his other hand, he flicked open my fly, burrowed inside and found his prize. Skin on skin lit me up like a firework. I forgot how to speak, forgot I was a man, and growled his name like a mating call.
“You were saying?” Silvery eyes tried to pull me into their allure.
“Then you are absolutely right,” I croaked.
“Hm, good. That is my plan.”
He hadn’t taken much from my veins, but it was enough that the cuts on his face had begun to heal. A few smudges of dirt and dried blood remained. I swept them away with my thumb, prompting his smile. He was going to be alright, and that was all that mattered. Relief made me dizzy, or perhaps that was his merciless handiwork.
He nudged me onto my back, spread my knees, and crawled between my legs. When a disheveled, bloodied, scuffed-up Victor Reynard got between your knees, there was nothing to be done but to sit back and enjoy where this was heading. In the next breath, my dick was between his lips and fangs. The cruel pleasure that tore through me had my back arching and toes curling.
I grabbed at his shoulder, probably his hair too, and tried to get some hip action going—chasing more, needing more— but Victor preferred to control things, and he pinned me down. Mercy, I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed this.
With everything that had happened during the past few days, I hadn’t known the emptiness inside was because I’d been putting distance between us.
How could I be mad he’d lied, when I’d been lying this whole time?
“Victor—”
His hand slammed over my mouth. His other hand mercilessly pumped my cock. Whatever thoughts I’d had about confessing succumbed to a rising wave of Victor getting me off. Nudging the point of no return, I grasped the sheets, surrendered the hardest part of me to Victor’s lips once more and fell over the edge, coming down his throat.
Mercy, I was weak for him.
Licking his lips, he prowled over me, then bowed his head. His mouth slammed into mine, his tongue thrust in, and it was all I could do to give as good as I got. He kissed me hard, tasting of blood and cum and everything delicious to the dragon inside.
“How was my apology?” he teased, when the bruising kiss ended.
“Hm...” I licked swollen lips. “It was a start.”
Rolling onto his side, he flung an arm over his forehead. “The werewolves who found me appeared to be rather tense. Did you threaten them?”
“Maybe... a little bit?” I turned my head, caught his smirk, and echoed his grin with my own.
“Measured violence is a language they are fluent in,” he purred, sounding all olde worlde vampirey.
Snuggling closer against his side, I teased the buttons on his shirt. “Victor... what was that thing in the woods?”
“Hm... I will explain what it’s not.” His deep but soft voice rumbled through him and me. “It’s not an average werewolf. More accurately, it may not be a werewolf at all. It’s certainly not of lupine origin. It’s faster and stronger than any werewolf I’ve encountered before.”
Twisting side-on, I propped my head on a hand and admired him all over, from his bloody shirt to the healing bruises on his knuckles. Still coming down from the buzz of him getting me off, it wouldn’t take much to lean in and spark our embers all over again. But we had work to do, so I fiddled with his buttons some more, skimming my fingers over his pale skin through a torn hole in his shirt. “If it’s not a lupine shifter, what are we dealing with?”
“I suspect it’s a loup-garou, but it’s rare to find one this side of the veil since they do not integrate particularly well with humans... So rare, in fact, I remain uncertain.”
“What’s that? A loup-garou?”
“Not so much a werewolf as a shapeshifter that can adopt a lupine form.”
“A shifter like me?”
“Hm, no. You’re a fixed-form shifter, like a werewolf. You have two states, dragon and man. A loup-garou can shapeshift into anything roughly humanoid, and is able to alter parts of itself. It can camouflage itself, for example... or sprout wings, should it need them.”
Placing my hand flat over his chest, I soaked up his steady heartbeat under my palm. “So it can pretend to be a werewolf?”
“It can pretend to be almost anything. But as I said, I am uncertain that’s what we’re dealing with. I only saw glimpses of it.”
The door to our room flew open and Zee’s unmistakable silhouette filled the frame. His wings fizzled away. He cocked a hip, striking a pose. “Hullo, bitches. Did you miss me?” He took a step into the room, stopped abruptly, and frowned. His camo vest had some bloodstains, but those were likely from Zander. “Hold up, did you start a party without me? Was there pegging? Did I miss it?”
“Victor and I uhm...” I began to explain how Victor had needed to apologize.
Victor swung his legs off the bed and stood. “I’d better shower.”
“Hey, wait.” Zee marched across the room—around the Oreo tower—with enough strut in his stride to pull Victor up short. “You’re bloody and bruised. You good, vampire?”
“I am good— well . Yes. I am well, thank you, demon.”
“Because you look like shit.”
“As eloquent as always.” Victor vanished into the tiny bathroom, leaving the door open, and a few moments later the sounds of the hissing shower filled the room.
“I’m not worried.” Zee shrugged, then sat on the bed beside me and whispered, “Should I be worried about him?”
“I think he’s okay, but he got pretty beaten up.”
“Ah, that explains the make-up sex. Are you okay?” Zee reached out and our hands automatically came together.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Better now you’re here too.”
“Kitten, you are never getting rid of me. Like an itchy rash, I always come back.”
He was so silly, but the hiccupping laugh he summoned was welcome. “How’s Zander?”
“Alive, but the first hospital I took him to doesn’t treat Lost Ones, so I had to fly him to a veterinary clinic. It worked out, since he was half furry anyway.” Zee leaned down. His thumb stroked my cheek and he peered into my eyes. “I didn’t want to leave you. Or Fancy Fangs, I admit... I guess... whatever.”
“It’s alright, Zee.” I covered his hand with mine. “Victor tried to be a hero, that’s all.”
“Ugh, of course he did.” Zee rolled his glittery purple eyes. “Did you have to save his perfect ass?”
“Sort of. Yeah.”
Zee snorted. “Least he’s fuckin’ consistent, right?”
“I heard that,” came Victor’s rumble from inside the shower.
“So, stop listening,” Zee sang back.
They were cute when they bickered like an old married couple. Now Zee had returned and Victor was safe again, all the murderous rage and bone-aching worry faded away. The blow job had probably helped too.
“Was the make-up sex worth it?” Zee eyebrows bounced.
“No,” I snickered, and sat up, drawing my knees loosely to my chest. “There will be more of it—at least another two rounds—then maybe I’ll think about forgiving him.”
Victor emerged, stark naked, dripping wet, patting down his long black hair with a towel. A few bruises marked his pale skin, but he was mostly healed. There are naked men, and then there’s Victor, whose nakedness is both so rare and mind-numbingly gorgeous that none can resist it.
“Sweet eye-fucking porn,” Zee tried to cover my eyes. “Adam, look away from the masculine perfection so I can ogle him in private.”
I laughed, and swatted Zee’s hand away. “Hey, no way am I letting you enjoy the show without me.”
“Goodness, it’s as though you two have never seen a naked man before—which I know for you, Zodiac, is unfathomable.” He stopped at the dresser, with his back to us, and there was no way Victor didn’t know how we admired the glorious view. The smooth roll of his shoulders, the curve of his back, and the way his waist tucked in before his ass... I sighed. All rational thought vanished. Gone.
“Adam, you’re drooling.”
“What?” I dabbed my chin. “Am I?”
Zee laughed, tilted his head, and sighed. “I’ve seen swinging dicks, big dicks, small dicks, chonky dicks, double dicks, and all the skinny dicks a porn demon can see. But what I’ll never get enough of is your dick, Your Lordship. Bring it over here so I can get some action before we go right back to saving the fuckin’ day... or werewolves... or whatever the fuck we’re doing in the middle of nowhere because Adam says so.”
“We do not have the time to indulge?—”
Zee poofed behind Victor and plastered his entire seven-foot-with-horns self against Victor’s bare back. His wings bloomed, pulsing purple with sexual energy. “That a challenge?”
Victor’s smirking reflection in the dresser’s mirror revealed he’d known exactly what he was doing by striding in naked, and Zee didn’t stand a chance at resisting.
Zee’s tail looped around Victor’s bare leg, making it clear there was no escape. His hand dropped around his hip, out of my sight, but I could guess where it had landed from the soft parting of Victor’s lips.
I’d already had my share of Victor, so it was only fair that Zee should get his. I was more than happy to watch from the sidelines.
Zee roped Victor’s wet hair in a fist, wringing it tight, and pulling Victor’s head back, he held him rigid. “I know you like it rough, Daddy,” Zee purred, fluttering the words down Victor’s lean neck. “And since it seems you owe Adam some groveling, maybe I can pump it out of you?”
Victor’s smirk twitched, turning snarl-like and showing a hint of fang. “Careful, demon.”
“I always am.”
They were different together than with me. Good different. Zee had learned exactly what fired Victor up, and Victor knew what Zee needed. They bickered and slung insults at each other outside the bedroom, but all that discourse resulted in an inferno between the sheets.
Zee worked Victor like Victor had done with me earlier, but Zee didn’t need to bend him over for them to be physically joined. His allure had already wrapped around Victor, feeding off Victor’s pleasure, and his wings were ablaze, casting shadows that danced sensually on the walls with the soft rocking motion of their bodies.
It was beautiful.
Whatever Zee said when he bowed his head and whispered into Victor’s ear, his words brought a rare flush of red to Victor’s skin, and tipped him over the edge of coming. Those soft, satisfied grunts had me wishing I was over there too, but this was for them.
Victor liked to be in control, but sometimes he also liked the wild, uncontrollable power that Zee wielded better than anyone else. Sometimes he wanted to be held down, or guided, and that was something I had the impression he’d only ever explored with us, even after all his years of experience.
Brimming with sexual energy, Zee kissed Victor’s neck and brought his wings around them both, rocking Victor gently back into his whole-body embrace. He murmured something that had Victor swallowing a knot of emotion. Then flicking out his wings to vanish them, Zee carried a smug smile as he headed into the bathroom, leaving Victor braced and panting against the dresser.
It was an honor to see them at their most vulnerable with each other. They fought and slung insults, and generally treated each other as though they couldn’t care less. But it was all a game. “That was one hell of an apology,” I purred.
“I forget sometimes...” Victor breathed the words, still reeling. “How powerful he is.”
“Fire!” Jenny yelled from outside. “In the forest! Someone! Help, fire!”
“Get dressed,” I barked, and sprang off the bed.
Dashing from our room, I met Jenny in the lot, where she was pointing the werewolf pack toward the forest. It seemed impossible that anything would burn out in the misty, wet forest, but I saw it too—a distant glow, like a burnt-orange smudge in the murky sky.
Jenny’s face fell. “Oh no, that’s Zander’s cabin.”