Chapter Thirteen
Malachi
His eyes kept darting everywhere, like they couldn’t hold a single focus. I’d never seen anything like it. Dane had his arms over his head, mumbling so low I couldn’t catch a word, and he’d started rocking.
“Dane,”
I said in a gentle tone. “Can you hear me, little warrior?”
I have no idea what to do. He seemed to be completely oblivious to my presence. I pulled out my phone and sent a text then pocketed it. Taking off my shoes, I climbed onto the bed but quickly retreated when Dane let out a high-pitched whine and curled into a tighter ball.
The hard lump in my throat burned and my heart felt like it was breaking.
When a gentle knock sounded on the door, I quickly opened it and ushered my brother in. Giovanni took one look at Dane and cursed. He twisted just enough for me to see his fangs lengthening. “What did you do to him?”
Anger tried to flare but was snuffed by my growing panic. “Nothing.”
My hands clasped at the back of my neck, elbows drawn in close. “He answered the front door to the farmhouse, I got pissed, and hauled him to my room.”
Giovanni moved closer to the bed but still maintained a distance. He studied Dane for a few moments, his focus sharp. “He’s stuck in a past trauma,”
he whispered. “Can’t you hear what he’s saying?”
A slow breath left me as I tried desperately to calm my thoughts. Then I focused.
“If you stay real quiet, maybe he’ll forget you’re here. Don’t breathe… There are four exits… all of them blocked. Think, damn it.”
My body went numb. He was back with Osiris, desperate to get free. “How do I reach him?”
“Are you sure you want a traitor helping with your human? I might accidentally trip and embed my fangs into his neck.”
That was hella bitterness in his voice. Made me start to rethink my view of him. He might’ve tried to take me down fifty years ago, but I’d done my fair share of dirtiness toward him as well. He hadn’t tried anything in five decades, but it was hard to trust anyone when I’d been betrayed so many times in the past. It made me wonder if there was anyone I could trust.
You can trust Dane.
Maybe, but that trust was fragile, newly formed, and I still had doubts about giving it to him.
“Just…”
I swallowed, feeling something wet in my eyes. “Please, brother. Tell me how to fix him.”
Giovanni stood there looking at me as if I’d grown an extra head.
“I know you despise me.”
I spread my arms. “So do this for Dane.”
I’d never groveled in my life. Not when I faced countless enemies. Not when I ruled kingdoms. Not even for my own life when Osiris tried to kill me in that restaurant.
For Dane, I would get down on my knees. The thought should’ve unsettled me. It didn’t, because I knew Dane would do the same for me.
Be honest with yourself.
I closed my eyes. Because I love him.
The words came unbidden, undeniable, and absolute.
“Pull him into your arms and keep talking to him.”
Giovanni cleared his throat. “Keep telling him who you are and that he’s safe.”
“Even if I’m the one who put him in the tailspin?”
It gutted me to admit it. Because of my anger, I’d sent him into a pit of despair.
“Just do it,”
Giovanni snapped then walked out, leaving me stunned and confused. It seemed I had a knack for pissing people off.
But I would try anything to bring Dane back to me.
Cautiously, I approached the bed, easing onto it. Dane became agitated, but I kept moving toward him. “Dane? It’s Malachi.”
His agitation grew as a mewl escaped.
“You’re safe, little warrior.”
I scooted closer. Dane hugged the headboard, his eyes wild. He was breathing short, shallow bursts, his limbs trembling.
“Four…Four exits. Leaves at three. Comes back at-at eight.”
I gently eased an arm around him, the touch still a bit foreign yet also familiar now. His warm skin slid along my arm, caressing me.
“No!”
Dane struggled to get free, but I curled the other arm around him and held him close.
“You’re safe, little warrior. Fight it. Concentrate on my voice. Inhale my scent, feel my strength enveloping you.”
He bucked and twisted, clawing at me with frantic strength, his wild eyes darting around as heart-wrenching sounds escaped him.
As strong as I was, I was having a hard time holding on to him. He was so short and slim he kept slipping through my grasp.
“Dane, stop it!”
He stilled, but everything else remained the same. If he didn’t slow his breathing, he would hyperventilate. Already he was sweating profusely, and his trembling had worsened.
“Dane, do you remember when we met?”
I smoothed a hand down his arm. “I was there trying to find…someone when I saw you sitting there, seeming so damn lost. You looked out of your depth, and something inside of me was drawn to your innocence.”
I began a gentle rock, keeping him folded in my arms, trying to give him a sense of safety. “When you looked up at me and whispered, ‘Sure,’ I knew you were going to somehow change my life.”
I kissed his temple. “A small human was going to rock my foundation, and I was right.”
His breathing began to move into a slower rhythm.
“To be honest, I have no idea what I’m doing.”
I entwined our fingers, amazed at the contrast. Mine were long, powerful, and pale. His were slim, almost dainty, and fragile. No. They were strong, more resilient than he gave himself credit for. “I feel like every choice I make with you is the wrong one.”
His trembling subsided.
“You have to tell me how to navigate through this, or I might end up screwing the pooch, hon. I don’t want to mess up the best thing that’s ever happened to me. If I fuck this up…”
I closed my eyes, seeing just how lonely my road had been, pushing so many people away. People who probably didn’t even deserve my disdain. “I don’t want to go back to my lonely existence. I want you, little warrior. Show me how to live, Dane. Show me how to love you.”
His breath hitched then he buried his face in my chest, openly sobbing.
“I’m right here, sweetheart.”
I held him firmly in my arms, my throat tight and burning once more. “I got you, little warrior.”
My hand glided down his back, and I couldn’t stop pressing kisses to his temple, telling him what he meant to me.
I would no longer struggle with my feelings for him, running hot and cold.
For Dane, I would lay myself bare.
For him, I would learn how to love.
* * * *
For over an hour I lay there holding Dane as he slept. The nightmare he’d been trapped in affected me like nothing else had. I was afraid to let him go, afraid he would slide into another one. And maybe, this time, I couldn’t guide him out.
His head was still tucked against my chest, his arms curled into his body. I ran my fingers through his silky strands as I watched him.
The curtains around my bed hung heavy and dark, shutting out the world like a fortress built just for us. Inside, the air felt warmer, softer, as if even the bed itself understood the need for sanctuary. For the first time in centuries, I wanted to stay here, not out of loneliness but because it felt like peace had found me.
I traced his jawline with my finger, memorizing every detail of his handsome face. But I was also simply fascinated with my little human. I’d never had a high opinion of them. Not when so many had killed my kind.
For so long they were nothing but a food source to me. Even helping Kyson hadn’t changed my view. That’s why our relationship was so dysfunctional.
It was like being friendly with my food.
Now that I lay there, thinking over a lot of things, it hit me how much trust Kyson had placed in me after he was rescued. Trust I didn’t deserve. He’d been more of a bother in my eyes than a…friend.
These revelations weren’t exactly welcome. A vampire with a conscience? Terrifying.
But my feelings for Dane were dredging the lake of my life, and things that should’ve stayed at the sooty bottom were starting to float to the surface.
Things I wasn’t ready or willing to face.
Dane stirred beside me. I lifted my arm so he could get more comfortable. When I lowered it back in place, his beautiful sapphire eyes gazed at me with a hunger so deep I felt its heat slide over my body. He just simply lay there, staring up at me, like he was trying to figure me out.
“Do I have something on my face?”
I cleared my throat when my voice came out too husky.
“Happiness.”
He traced his fingers over my bare chest. The lightest brush of his hand sent a heatwave crashing through me, leaving me undone.
“My dear… warrior, you must be mistaken.”
I’d almost said “human,”
but I wanted to break the habit. At least with Dane.
And Kyson.
“Maybe.”
Dane cuddled closer. “After all, what do I know about happiness?”
I opened my mouth, though I had no idea what to say, but he continued.
“When I was four, my mom died, and then my dad had to raise me. He was good for two things. Drinking and slapping me upside the head.”
My arms tightened around him. “I’m sorry you went through that.”
Despite growing a little soft for Dane, I wasn’t so far removed from my former self. I wanted to hunt his father down and show him—
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was our bonding time, getting to know each other, not the time for plotting someone’s demise.
“Thanks.”
He shrugged. “I’m an adult now. But hey, life goes on, right?”
But some pain runs too deep to heal.
Dane’s fingers skimmed one of my nipples, making me flinch.
His hand stilled. “A no-go zone?”
“No.”
I twisted my lips to the side. “It seems you’ve discovered a ticklish spot I wasn’t aware I had.”
Two thousand years old and I’d just learned something new about myself.
Dane’s fingers circled my other nipple, and a sharp intake of breath escaped me, halfway between a gasp and a curse. “You, my sweet, are ruining the badass persona I’ve bled for and fought to create.”
“I don’t think that’ll happen any time soon, my dark prince.”
As he locked eyes with me, his tongue darted out to lick the hard peak.
I hissed, my breathing growing shallow. I wasn’t going to lay him on his back and seduce him.
Tonight wasn’t about taking. It was about giving—letting him rediscover his power, his pleasure, on his terms.
My fangs lengthened when he bit down gently, his tongue lashing my skin in ways that was turning me inside out. I had never been a nipple kind of guy, but Dane was swiftly changing my mind.
His lips sucked the entire peak into his mouth, and I was gone.
Reduced to a pile of moans.
I caressed his hair, my cock growing hard as fuck. He moved back to the other one, giving it the same attention.
My lips parted, the tips of my fangs scraping across them as my leg slid restlessly back and forth.
It’s about him tonight. His pace. His preferences.
But damn, I wanted to press his back into the bedding and drive my cock inside his body.
Dane moved lower, his lips gliding over every dip and plane. I tilted my head back and sank into the pleasure. His tongue, teeth, and lips were my Achilles heel. I was rendered powerless by his touch.
His tongue slid down the center of my abdomen, circled my navel, and came dangerously close to the head of my cock.
So close I felt tiny puffs of air caressing the heated flesh. As badly as I wanted him to suck me off, this was his night.
“Hold on.”
I gripped his chin and turned it away, panting for control. After experiencing what his wicked mouth could do, I didn’t want to stop him, but…
Tonight is about him.
I clenched my fists at my sides, my nails digging into my palms as I fought to keep still. Every nerve in my body screamed to take him, but I locked my muscles, feeling the strain ripple through my shoulders and thighs as I forced myself to wait.
“Why’d you stop me?”
Dane looked me right in the eye. “That bad?”
A deep chuckle escaped. “That good.”
Before he could ask any more questions, I rolled to my side and kissed his chest.
Dane froze. “Malachi. Maybe we—”
I pressed my fingers against his lips, refusing to hear him protest about his scars. In my eyes, he was breathtaking. A fighter, resilient, surviving the worst nightmare of his life.
That was beauty. That was strength.
And it turned me on. He was so sensual as I stroked his side, so damn responsive. I wanted to devour him in the most pleasurable way. Erase what that demon had done to his body, at least for a few hours.
Because the male had me feeling shit I’d never felt before. My head was a mess, and the only person burning brightly in my mind was him.
He had no idea how monumental that was. How that made me want to take a step back. He’d torn down walls that had been erect for millennia. Just shredded right through them like they had been made of paper instead of concrete.
And now I burned for him, for the person who had just shown up in my life with an innocence that left me breathless.
The scent of his arousal was wreaking havoc on my senses. My control was fading fast, slipping through my fingers, ignoring my feeble attempt at grasping it.
I forwent the slow-burning trail of my tongue and engulfed his cock, giving back just as much as he’d given me. I shoved his legs back, spreading him open like my own personal buffet and savoring every inch of him like he was mine to worship.
“Jesus!”
Dane cried out. He writhed in my grip, twisting that sweet ass of his and kicking his legs like he was paddle boating.
His cock slid down my throat, the hard shaft pulsing with heat. My hands slid up and down his legs, silk under my palms. His scent drove me insane, his touch, his taste, and everything else that was Dane.
I drove his cock down my throat repeatedly, using my throat muscles to squeeze his shaft for that extra edge I know men loved.
Because I loved it too.
If he wanted to bring light into my life, I would drown him in dark decadence. Pulling back my head, only his tip remained in my mouth. Dane kept writhing, cursing, and whining my name.
I suckled the tip while sliding a finger into his ass. He grabbed my hair and pulled, thrashing his head. My goal was to make him forget about Osiris, and at the moment, I was damn sure he’d lost the ability to even think.
Nothing more than a sensual creature, slithering to my command. Watching him fall apart was like watching a flower bloom, one who thought its torn petals made him unworthy of love and desire.
I was here to prove him wrong.
As soon as I added a second finger, plunging it deep, Dane cried out, going rigid as his cum shot down my throat.
The sweetest nectar I’d ever fucking tasted.
My tongue cleaned his cock, letting it slip free after I’d wrung every drop from him. “Don’t you dare fall asleep,”
I growled softly when his eyes began to drift closed. “On your hands and knees, beautiful.”
For a heartbeat I just gazed at him—naked, splayed across my bed, that drowsy just-orgasmed look softening his features.
He was so delicate compared to me, to my world. Yet, he had strength. Not the strength of brawn but of tenacity. He’d survived a goddamn demon, had been resourceful enough to stay off its radar for months.
I’d never met— I had to stop that thought. As much as I admired Dane’s steel spine, I had met another like him, equal in resilience.
Kyson.
Dane turned over, glanced behind to give me a wicked grin. He wiggled his ass like he was daring me to take it.
And take it I would—take his body, his heart, and his insanity. Because he had to be crazy to fall for someone like me, someone utterly irredeemable.
With one hand pressed against Dane’s lower back, I gripped my cock with the other hand, guiding the head to a passion that would ignite like a wildfire.
I rested the blunt tip at his hole, let my natural lube coat and relax his entrance. After three spurts, I eased inside his warm heat. I shuddered when fully seated, his ass gripping my cock so tightly my jaw clenched.
It wasn’t me who moved first. Dane thrust back, his hips swaying as he took my cock inside his body. I squeezed his ass, gripping the globes like they were mine to play with, to mold while watching my dick being swallowed between them.
If someone thought there was a better sight, I would beg to differ.
Dane was so arousing.
So greedy.
He drove back hard, spreading his legs wider, those sexy-as-sin noises filling the room.
“Ride my cock, baby.”
I gripped his ass and used the soft flesh for leverage, thrusting like a man running out of time. Our lovemaking wasn’t slow or soft. It was two bodies colliding, life in its rawest form, chasing relief, knowing the payoff would be explosive.
An intense, guttural groan rumbled out of my throat, mixing with the sounds of skin striking skin. The scent made me inhale deeply, his need mingling with mine.
I loved the tangy, sweaty fragrance.
Dane moved faster, indicating his approaching orgasm. My fingers dug into his hips as I took, savagely, unapologetically. Our movements were more frenzied than in sync.
Just as I felt his ass clamping down on my cock, I blanketed his back, my fangs sinking into soft flesh. His blood filled my mouth, fed me, and shot my own orgasm to the next level.
This wasn’t just sex.
It was everything I feared wrapped in everything I wanted.
I licked the pinpricks and gathered Dane in my arms. He smiled up at me, and I chuckled softly at the exhaustion in his eyes.
“I…”
I cleared my throat. “I…”
Couldn’t say it. Couldn’t get those three simple words to form. My fingers tightened on his back. I closed my eyes.
My fucking hands were actually trembling. My hands.
Dane kissed my jaw. “I…too.”