Chapter 2
Time grew soft, melting around them like taffy.
Ryland held Lothian, stroking his hair back from his face and staring into his eyes.
Lothian looked back, mesmerized by the golden gaze.
There were shadows there, a troubled look he couldn’t quite read.
He tried to think why Ryland would look pained when they had spent the last several hours mating.
Then, his slow mind caught up to reality.
He swallowed, his throat sore from crying out in pleasure.
“You didn’t feed.”
Despite being in rut, Ryland had controlled himself.
His hand stilled on Lothian’s hair and his gaze drifted to the ceiling.
“I wanted to. Badly.”
“But you didn’t.” Lothian’s heart knocked against his ribs.
It was unheard of for an alpha to resist feeding during a rut.
They were programmed to feed and fuck, to pass on their genes and continue their line.
When the vampire population had been failing, scholars had sought a way to increase their breeding stock.
Alphas were bred to be more virile, omegas to be fertile.
Feeding during sex was how vampires bonded.
Usually, a pair waited for their Bonding Ritual before completing the bite, but in-rut alphas and in-heat omegas were often unable to control themselves.
In that case, a Bonding Ritual occurred after the more physical joining.
By not feeding, Ryland had prevented the vampire bond from starting to form.
He had given Lothian an out.
They need not be bound.
Lothian knew how hard it must have been to resist the instinct.
Hadn’t he just failed in resisting his own?
However, before he could commend the male, or even say anything else, another wave of want fell over him.
It had been only minutes since Ryland’s softened cock had slid from him, and he already felt that aching emptiness beginning again.
He squirmed against the bigger male.
Ryland’s golden eyes darkened.
“Already?”
Lothian shook his head.
“It’s never been this bad.”
“Well, then.” Ryland rolled Lothian onto his back.
“Let me take care of you.”
And he did.
He cared for him until the wee hours of the morning.
Lothian was limp and spent, barely able to lift his head.
He had never experienced so much pleasure at once.
He was drunk with it.
Ryland, too, was affected, though he had still managed to keep his fangs to himself all through the numerous bouts of sex.
Lothian lay on the bed, weak, sticky, and sweaty, but utterly sated.
“I think I might sleep for a year.”
Ryland chuckled and tucked a stray hair behind Lothian’s ear.
“Then sleep. I shall have the prince send something to nibble on when you wake.”
Lothian snuggled into the covers, humming.
“That sounds amazing.”
He drifted off almost immediately, slipping into deep dreamless sleep.
Lothian woke sometime later as a cool cloth glided over his body, wiping away the sweat and seed.
It felt heavenly against his heated skin.
He rolled onto his back with his eyes closed, letting Ryland clean him thoroughly.
It was easier that way because thinking about the kindness brought the sting of tears.
“Why are you being so nice?”
Ryland froze in his ministrations and glanced up from his spot on the side of the bed.
His mouth twisted, then flattened into a line.
“This is your first time mating with an alpha. It can be intense.”
That was one word for it.
Lothian nodded.
“Still, I had expected an alpha in rut to be more....” He shrugged and plucked at the coverlet.
Ryland arched a single eyebrow.
“Selfish?”
Warmth flushed Lothian’s cheeks that had nothing to do with his heat.
“That’s what we’re taught.”
Ryland laid a firm hand on Lothian’s bare thigh.
The touch made him tremble, but he met the other male’s gaze.
Ryland had a little line between his eyebrows.
“It doesn’t have to be that way. Most alphas just don’t bother controlling themselves. It is possible.”
Lothian reached out and smoothed his hand across Ryland’s furrowed brow.
“So I see.”
Ryland smiled then and tossed aside the cloth.
“You should eat something before your heat strikes again.” He motioned toward a tray that had been delivered to the room while Lothian slept.
Lothian tried not to think about a random servant of the prince’s seeing him in such a state.
The embarrassment was back, spreading down his throat to his chest.
He hurriedly stuffed a berry in his mouth.
He barely managed a few bites before the heat returned and he was crawling across the bed to Ryland.
The other male opened his arms, drawing him against his warm body and sitting him on his thighs.
Lothian took the opportunity to wrap his fingers around Ryland’s thick shaft where it stood up between them.
Ryland sucked in a breath.
Lothian grinned, a heady power filling his veins.
“You don’t have to be so careful with me, you know. I swear I won’t break.” He kissed the alpha, sliding his tongue between the other male’s lips to taste him.
Ryland had eaten, too, and tasted of fruit.
Ryland pulled back from the kiss and shook his head.
“I know you won’t. But—” He glanced at the door.
“—you didn’t choose this. I am trying to make your heat as easy on you as I can.”
Lothian smiled, stroking Ryland’s cock up and down, rubbing his thumb over the slick slit.
He caught Ryland’s moan in his mouth and swallowed it.
The heat took them again, and this time Ryland was a little less gentle.
His fingers dug into Lothian’s hips hard enough to leave marks.
He nipped Lothian’s lower lip.
He drove himself into Lothian over and over again, until he was buried to the hilt.
Lothian enjoyed every second of it.
Afterward, he slept again.
This time, though, he woke first and spent a few long minutes studying the alpha’s sleeping face.
There was no denying Ryland was attractive, with his high cheekbones, sharp jawline, and full lips.
Ryland’s skin was tan all over, except for his thick thighs, which were a few shades paler and dusted with black hair.
Lothian noticed another scar on Ryland’s knee and wondered what the man did that had him getting injured so often.
Then, he remembered Dante calling him Sir Ryland.
Was he a knight?
It fit the noble man who had suffered so as not to trap Lothian in a bond he didn’t want.
Now, able to think a little clearer in between bouts of heat, Lothian was grateful for the care Ryland was taking with him.
Had it been any other alpha.
He shuddered to think of how that whiny Bartholomew would have handled the situation if he’d been allowed through.
He couldn’t imagine it.
His belly fluttered.
Thank the gods Ryland had been close by.
As if sensing his perusal, Ryland’s eyes opened.
When he saw Lothian looking at him, he smiled.
The first few rays of dawn crept through the curtains and gilded the side of his face.
Lothian was struck by how perfect he looked.
He had not thought himself a vain male, but he couldn’t deny that he was attracted to Ryland’s handsome countenance.
He was feeling more than that, however.
His heart felt soft.
A dart of panic zinged through Lothian’s belly.
He was absolutely not falling for Ryland.
It was impossible.
It was just the rush of hormones in his blood, that was all.
Exhaling, he let Ryland draw him back into his arms.
His muscles were a little sore, but he was once again slick and ready.
As Ryland slid into him, he chanted the alpha’s name, unable to say anything else.
He stared up at the other male, watching sensation and emotion cross his face.
He wished he could read him better.
Just another reminder that he didn’t know Ryland.
For all his kindness, Ryland didn’t know him, either.
Lothian tried to push the thoughts away and let himself get lost in the pleasure of Ryland’s kiss, but a single thought kept echoing through his head.
After tonight, there would be nothing between them but memories.