23. Lane
TWENTY-THREE
LANE
“Is it too soon to move in together?” Lane asked Rowan the next morning in bed.
He’d been tipsy when he’d arrived home from the bar, and hadn’t wanted to bring up anything as important as turning into a vampire with a less-than-clear head. Upon waking, starting from the beginning, like he’d suggested back in Rowan’s office, seemed like the best bet.
Rowan ran a hand over Lane’s bare chest. “You tell me. Would you like to move in or would you prefer your own space?”
“My own space has a certain appeal.” A picture of himself running a little magic shop and having a studio apartment by the river came to mind.
Starting a shop wouldn’t make sense if he’d be out of magic soon, but the rest…
“A little separation from Arcadia could be nice for both of us. Don’t you get tired of being so close to work all the time? ”
Rowan’s brows rose. “Not at all. I like having people around and my coven close. A few members live in the rooms down the hall, like Felix.” He paused.
“I was isolated for long periods of time during my first hundred years, and it scarred me. I don’t like being alone.
I need personal space and breaks from work, but knowing people are a few doors away comforts me. ”
Lane’s heart clenched. “I’m happy you’ve given yourself that.”
“Me too.” His smile was small and tentative. “Building this home was an important step, and I’d never give it up completely, but I don’t need to be here every moment of every day. I’d love to stay over at your place, if you had one.”
Lane’s face split into a grin. “I’ll look around and see. It all depends on what I end up doing with my time. When I’m not in bed with you.”
He rolled on top of Rowan and pinned him. Rowan arched into it, exposing his neck, and Lane kissed it.
“What would you like to do with your time?” Rowan asked, shivering beneath Lane’s touch.
“This.”
He huffed. “Fucking me is hardly a full-time job.”
“You sure? I heard you were pretty needy. My boy has to know he’s loved. Reminding you only once a day seems inadequate.” Lane captured Rowan’s mouth with his, swallowing a moan as he rolled his hips.
After a few heated moments, Rowan broke away. “As much as I love this, I’m serious.”
Lane pulled back. “I don’t know what I want to do yet.”
His heart thudded, and Rowan’s attention sharpened, likely picking up on the changed rhythm. Now was looking like a good time for Lane to share his decision. Why was he so nervous?
“I could open another shop. It’s work I enjoy, and I imagine I’d find enough customers in a city this size. But I want you forever. I want to be a vampire, and if I’m going to reinvent myself, I’d rather leave past pursuits in the past. Pick something new.”
Rowan ran a hand through Lane’s hair. “You’re sure you want forever?”
“Yes.” He kissed his needy vampire. “There’s no doubt in my mind, Rowan. In this one life I have, you’re who I want. Everything else pales in comparison. Mere details. Trappings that come and go.”
“I want you too, Lane.” Rowan studied him closely, stern in his concentration. “I want you so damn much. But trappings can matter. I want more in your life than me, and I know you do too. I’m not saying you won’t find new pursuits as a vampire, but I’ve been looking for another way.”
“Another way?”
Rowan nodded eagerly, expression painfully hopeful. Shit, is there another way? Lane climbed off Rowan, and they sat up.
“You remember Onyx, the demon?”
“How could I forget.”
Rowan snorted. “He tends to leave a lingering impression. Onyx is mated to my friend Nico, the apothecary. I can’t wait to introduce you to Nico properly.
But first I should explain…” His cheeks darkened.
He was adorably flustered, and Lane’s pounding heart doubled its pace.
“Nico and Onyx are bonded by eternal mating magic. Fated mates. Their souls are destined for each other.”
“You can’t be serious.”
Rowan’s smile grew. “I’d never heard of such a thing before meeting the demon either, but there’s no doubting it’s true. Nico is tied to Onyx and remains a witch even though he’ll live forever. I spoke to Onyx last night, and he believes the mating spell could work for vampires.”
Lane grabbed Rowan’s hand. “I’m sorry, what?”
Rowan rushed into an explanation of binding souls and how vampire transformation was similar to mating, but mating removed all the pitfalls. Mating was equal and couldn’t be forced. Once Lane understood, it sounded perfect. Like this was made for them.
Could mates be chosen, not just fated to Eternal beings?
“Would you be willing to try?” Rowan asked in a dazzling rush. “It may fail, but if it works, you’ll be my witch forever. A fellow immortal. We’ll have a bond, shared emotion, but no power held over the other.”
“Shared emotion?”
Some of Rowan’s excitement dimmed. “It’s not mind-reading, but we’d sense each other’s feelings through our bond. That’s how it works for fated mates, and there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t be similar for us.”
“You’d be all right sharing your unfiltered emotions with me?”
“More than all right. Even when I have trouble showing it, I’m not afraid of you seeing what lies beneath my mask.”
“Then yes.” Lane grabbed Rowan’s cheeks and kissed him, frantic and sloppy. “Yes, I want to be your mate. I choose you, Rowan. I’ll look after each piece of you.”
Rowan’s grip tightened. “Do you want to do it now or do you need—”
“I don’t need more time. I was ready to become a vampire, to trust someone else to sire me for you. To have no bond beyond our relationship, if that’s what you needed to feel safe in keeping me forever. This is worlds better. I can’t believe you’ve found another way. For me.”
Rowan’s eyes flared bright. “I’d do anything for you, Lane.”
“Then be a good boy and make me your mate.”
Rowan melted under the command. “Yes, Lane. I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will, sweetheart. This isn’t guaranteed, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It works, or it doesn’t, there’s no failure, but honestly, I can’t think of anyone better to do the impossible with than you.”
Rowan’s lips parted. “Or with you, Lane.”
They kissed until Lane was lightheaded. “Make me yours, Rowan. Be my mate. I choose you.”
His fangs lengthened. “I’ve been practicing the spell in my head since I learned it.”
“Of course you have, you perfect man.”
Rowan tried so damn hard, and knowing others had criticized him for his earnestness fractured Lane’s heart. He’d treasure what others had cast aside. The loss was theirs.
Strange, melodic words fell from Rowan’s lips, like no language Lane had ever heard. It was lyrical and gorgeous, more like a song than a spell. The air came alive with it, Lane’s skin tingling with electric heat.
He pressed his forehead to Rowan’s, drinking it all in, rolling his hips, their hard cocks trapped between them. Lane felt so close to Rowan then. Naked in his body and soul, with Rowan an open book beneath him.
When the musical words faded, the charge in the air intensified. Damnation, this might actually work.
“My mate,” Rowan murmured, rolling them so he was on top, and kissed Lane’s neck. “I want nothing more than to be bound to you.”
“Yes,” Lane moaned, arching into him.
Rowan’s fangs pierced his flesh, and Rowan sucked.
The spot seemed to explode with pleasure.
Ecstasy shot through Lane’s blood, throbbing to the beat of his thundering pulse.
It zipped down his spine and landed deep in his core.
His cock pulsed, and he came on a cry, spilling between them as he clutched Rowan for dear life.
“Lane,” Rowan growled, hunger deepening his voice.
He bit Lane again. Pleasure spiked, then ebbed, and Lane went nearly boneless.
Something prickled at the edge of his senses. As Rowan licked the wounds closed, Lane was overcome with an urge for closeness so powerful he couldn’t breathe. It was foreign and familiar, not quite his.
“R-Rowan,” he stammered. “I think I feel you.”
Rowan shivered. “You do?”
“Yes. Holy Hell. You want this so much.” Lane flipped them, Rowan’s pliant body yielding to his touch. “Let me give it to you.”
Rowan nodded, tilting his head to the side. “Bite me. It won’t hurt. Please, Lane. Claim me.”
Lane nipped his skin, sensing Rowan’s desperate longing grow. Lane’s heart strangled, and he bit, breaking skin, and drank.
Rowan groaned. “I feel you, too, Lane.” He tangled a hand in Lane’s hair, his hips bucking wildly. “You’ve got me.”
You’re mine, Lane thought with fierce determination.
Rowan whimpered, his release erupting between them. Even though Lane’s body was sated, pleasure overwhelmed him, and he gasped. Rowan’s pleasure coursed through Lane’s body as if they were one, the shared sensation dancing along Lane’s nerves until they were both spent.
As pleasure faded, the sense of connection remained. They were bonded, more closely than vampire and sire, more intimately than anything Lane would have dreamed a reserved man such as Rowan would allow, and nothing had ever felt so right.