35. Deacon
It’s the work of a moment to pull out and flip Vasile onto his back. Once he’s there, I pause, drinking him in. He already looks a mess, flushed and breathing hard, hair all tangled and smudges of dirt on his face, his chest, but—
He’s mine .
I kiss him again—if I could have my way, I’d never stop—and he wraps his leg around my hip and tugs me closer. When I slide back into him, he groans into my mouth and pushes back on each and every thrust.
“Never again,” he breathes when I lift my head. I grab his hips for leverage and when he moans, his eyes flutter shut.
“Never again, what?”
“Never leaving you again.”
Tears prick the back of my eyes. Fuck. I ignore them, though, in favour of moving faster, or trying every way I know how to tear moans from Vasile’s throat.
I might not be able to keep us here , in this perfect, wonderful bubble of time, forever. But I can give him everything else he wants. Anything it is in my power to give.
Vasile cries out when I move again, changing the angle. His eyes shoot open, the expression on his face helpless and full of pleasure.
“There! Deacon, fuck…”
I grin. I’d laugh, but every time I hit his prostate, he moans and tightens around me. His pleasure echoes down our bond so strongly it’s like I’m the one who’s being fucked.
My claws come out, pricking his skin, and Vasile only moans more loudly. His fangs flash in the starlight and my stomach twists in anticipation of him biting down again, of us truly claiming each other.
How have I waited this long? Even the week since I last saw him is too much time, too much time apart, too much time where we weren’t so completely joined to one another…
I take Vasile’s cock in my hand, careful to shift my hand back first, and stroke him slowly. He sobs his pleasure, and he’s a slick, velvet heat against my palm. I lower my head and suck on one nipple until he tries to twist away, then turn my attention to the other.
“Deacon,” he whines, my name on every other breath. That’s what I want. I want him to know nothing more than me, than this. “Deacon, Deacon , please—”
We’re both close to the edge now. Vasile’s legs are still wrapped around me. He’s shaking, tugging me closer, and when I lower my head, he exposes his throat.
I kiss pale skin, and he arches, fingers digging into my shoulders hard enough to bruise.
“Wherever you want,” he manages.
“Then you’ll do me?”
He lifts his head. His eyes glow in the darkness. I know better than to think he’s hungry for blood.
No, that hunger is all mine . I grin in response, and our next kiss is clumsy, both of us too frantic, too desperate to complete our bond.
I bury my face in his throat again. One of Vasile’s hands moves, cradling the back of my head, his fingers stroking gently through my hair. I roll my hips, and he swears, bucking against me.
My wolf surges forward, just bleeding through enough that my mouth fills with fangs. I graze them over Vasile’s skin. He shivers, heart thumping, his feelings flowing down the bond more easily with each second.
Anticipation. Desire. Need. Love. A touch of nerves, but I’m sure he can feel my own.
“Deacon…”
I follow my nose to the spot where his scent is strongest. It’s a little high up, but I like that. Everyone who sees him will know he’s mine.
Vasile whimpers when I break the skin, coppery blood flowing into my mouth. Our bond shudders, reaching out but not quite clinging on.
I lift my head, swiping blood from my lower lip with my tongue. “Do it.”
He doesn’t take as long to choose a spot as I did, and I don’t know if it’s because it doesn’t matter as much to vampires or if he already chose a place long ago. Either way, his fangs slide in lower, and more neatly, too, just above my collarbone. I moan when I feel him drink.
He looks up at me, fangs sliding free. His lips are stained red.
Blood trickles down my chest, but I don’t care. I kiss him again and he grunts into my mouth when I tighten my grip on his cock, stroking more firmly. We pant against each other’s mouths as the bond twists between us, growing stronger, so strong I don’t think it can ever be broken again.
Vasile goes over the edge first. He screws up his face and cries out my name when he comes, and I don’t stop moving—I don’t think I can —until I come too, spilling deep inside him, marking him with my scent every way I know how.
He grabs my face with both hands and kisses me hard, licking into my mouth. We both groan when the bond snaps into place. It does so with a rigid finality that makes me grin.
“We did it,” I say against his mouth, and Vasile hums. I’ve not pulled out, but he manages to roll us so I’m on my back, and he’s rocking down on me.
Fuck. I’m still hard, and when I touch him, I realise he is, too.
He sits up, one hand planted firmly on the centre of my chest. I’ve no intention of moving, but even if I did, I don’t doubt his strength, not for a second.
Still, how could I move? He’s riding me like he wants nothing more than this.
I watch the roll of his body, the way his dark hair cascades around his shoulders, a mess of tangles from where we’ve been writhing around on the ground. I thrust my hips up and he presses down harder, frowning at me.
“My turn,” he says, and I chuckle. I throw my arms out wide and lie pliant in the grass, happy to let him indulge his every whim.
He feels so good, still so tight and slick around me. The hand he’s not using to hold me down presses against the mark he left on my throat, and I’m surprised at the sound that escapes my throat when he does, the way pleasure jerks through me, forcing my hips up, my cock deep.
“Holy shit, Vas.”
“That’s going to make things much easier,” he purrs.
I laugh and he leans down so we can kiss again. At this angle, he grinds back against me, and I grab his arse, digging my fingers in. “Who’d have thought we had this much energy left in us?” I murmur against his mouth.
He nips my lower lip. “I could keep going all night, lupul meu. If you’d like?”
Oh, of that I have no doubt. But we have time. And, more importantly, beds. Somewhere. I can’t think about that right now.
He smirks at whatever he sees on my face, whatever he feels from the bond. When he sits up again, I watch him, let him use me how he wants, knowing he’ll give me what I need when he feels he’s ready to do so.
We’re both close again when he whispers, “My mate,” then leans back down and sinks his teeth into the spot he’s already marked. I cry out when he does, pleasure shooting through me like a lightning bolt, and I come hard, gripping Vasile’s hips again.
He’s not pulled his fangs out before I do the same to him. Vasile jerks against me—careful with his fangs—and I feel the wet heat of his cum spreading across my stomach.
It takes us some time to catch our breath. I rub my hands up and down Vasile’s back as we do, but eventually, he climbs off me. He settles by my side, resting his chin on my chest so he can examine my face.
“It worked, then,” he says.
I snort. “Yes, it worked. Mate .”
His eyes glow, and his fingers trace lazy patterns over the mess we’ve both made on my skin. It won’t be long before we’re at it again. I should’ve left Orion a message saying I’ll need at least a week, but then I wasn’t certain Vasile wanted to mate when I came here.
I can call him whenever we end up in one of our rooms. Or not. He’ll figure it out.
I catch Vasile’s left hand in my own, threading our fingers together before I kiss the back of it. He’s so—
Oh. I push up into a sitting position and Vasile does too, frowning at me.
“What’s—”
“Wait here.”
I kiss his protesting mouth before I shift and dive into the underbrush. We kind of ended up running in a circle, so our things—my clothes, his cape—aren’t far. Sure enough, I come across them quickly and scoop them up, then head back to where my mate is waiting.
I remember where to go, but it wouldn’t matter if I forgot. Vasile’s presence is like a beacon in the darkness. The bond tugs me towards him, and if I thought that was a hard instinct to ignore this past week, I know I’ll never be able to ignore it again.
Vasile raises an eyebrow when I dump the clothes at his feet and shift back.
“What, we’re done already?” he asks sardonically.
“Funny,” I reply. I kiss him because I can, because he lets me, and his expression softens when I sit back on my heels. I snatch up my trousers and dig into the pockets. I can’t have lost it. I—
My fingers close around the velvet bag, and I move quickly and pin Vasile to the ground again. He doesn’t struggle, just lifts his chin. I examine the bite mark I’ve left behind.
It’s still red. Still fresh. It won’t take a day before the scar begins to develop, and my stomach heats at the thought.
“I got you this,” I say. “Although, I never told you that at the time, did I? I said I saw it and thought of you, but that wasn’t completely true.”
“What do you mean?”
I take Vasile’s left hand and press the pouch into it. He sits up, forcing me to straddle his hips, and there’s a hitch in his breath when our half-hard cocks rub together. I grin. “Open it.”
He does, eyes widening when he tips the ring out onto his palm. I give him a second before I take it, then slide it back onto his thumb where it belongs.
For a long moment, Vasile is silent, staring at it. His eyes shine when he looks up at me.
“Deacon…”
“I had it made,” I admit, though surely he knows without me saying; surely he figured it out. “I knew we wouldn’t do the rites anytime soon, but I wanted you to know how I felt. That you were it for me. Forever.”
“ Deacon .” Vasile surges up and kisses me, throwing his arms around my neck, and I taste salt, but I don’t know which one of us it’s from.
It doesn’t matter. We part, and Vasile lets out a faint laugh before he presses our foreheads together. His fingers slide through my hair, and my lungs are full of the scent of him.
“I love you, lupul meu,” he whispers into the space between our lips. “You’re never getting rid of me again.”
I huff a laugh. “Like I’d dare, my vampire. You’re never getting rid of me, either.”