Chapter Ten
What are you doing you fucking idiot? Time and place. Time and fucking place. Put him down!
Bombarded by his angry second side, Viktor slid his fangs out of succulent flesh. He licked over his fangs, the rest of his teeth, around his lips, and then swallowed one last time – all before looking at the man still slumped in his arms.
“Did you take enough?” Ant was blinking a little faster than necessary, and he was paler than he’d been a moment before, but he wasn’t fighting to get out of Viktor’s hold or screaming for him to let go.
“I’m so sorry.” Viktor was still panting hard, for a totally different reason this time. Ant’s blood was invigorating every part of his body – some parts more than others. “That was crass, crude, and unforgivably rude. Are you all right?”
“I think so.” Ant looked around their immediate space. “Able didn’t bite you this time which was an improvement, don’t you think?”
Considering Viktor could hear the dog growling, he wasn’t sure how much of an improvement it was or how long it would last, but he nodded. “We’re mates,” he said bluntly, in case Ant needed a context for his erratic behavior.
“I know. That’s why I gave you my blood.” Ant peered around Viktor’s shoulder. “What are you people still doing here? Normally you can’t wait to leave one of my classes.”
“You don’t normally have a vampire charge in for a feast when you’ve finished, Doctor Channon,” someone called out. “It’s educational.”
“I know you mentioned you were tired, Doctor Channon,” another male voice added. “But I doubt you’ll get any sleep tonight either.” There were some chuckles but finally the door closed and the sounds receded.
“Great. So all I needed to make my lectures interesting was bring in a vampire.” Ant sounded exasperated. “Never mind them. They’re young enough that they haven’t had life slap them around the face yet, but old enough they think they’re funny. Can I ask you to put me down now, or is there some vampire tension still going on? Only my back is starting to ache. Does that normally happen when you feed from someone?”
“You’re meant to hold onto me,” Viktor said gruffly as he went to put Ant down. “If you’d held onto my arms, or shoulders, or even around my neck if you can reach that far, then it takes the bending backward pressure off your back.”
“Ah, yes, that makes sense. Pick me back up again and let me try it.”
That wasn’t a hardship. Viktor hadn’t wanted to let go of his newly found mate in the first place. He just thought he should, seeing as they were in a lecture hall. He picked Ant back up, the way he held him before, amused by the look of concentration on his mate’s face.
“So if I put my hands here and here.”
Viktor had to close his eyes for a moment as Ant gripped his arms.
“Or here…”
One hand found it’s way around Viktor’s neck.
“But then you’d be bent toward me, so that wouldn’t work…”
“It will work.” Please hurry. Gods. Viktor was going to embarrass himself if he wasn’t careful. It wasn’t Ant’s hands that were causing the issue. It was the way his bottom half pressed against him and wiggled as he moved. Viktor didn’t think his cock had ever been as hard as it was in his life.
“The issue is my bottom half,” Ant said with all seriousness. “With my feet dangling. Oh, but this works.”
He didn’t. Tell me he didn’t, but clearly no one was listening to Viktor’s plea. Ant’s legs were hooked up over his hips – both of them and that meant…
“Our genitals are in line with each other, but that type of intimacy is something a vampire would look for when feeding from a partner, wouldn’t it?”
“It’s nice.” Viktor sounded as if he was being strangled and in a way, he thought he was – strangled by the needs of his dick. Fortunately, or not, depending on how a person might look at it, he was saved from saying anything else when another voice entered the conversation.
“Doctor Channon, is there a reason why you’re climbing that vampire as if he was a stripper pole in a lecture hall?”
“Doctor Pike.” Viktor froze, expecting Ant to unhook himself so they could at least be standing upright next to each other while they faced the new person in the room. But no. Ant just leaned around Viktor’s bicep. “I’m so glad it’s you. This is utterly fascinating, Doctor Pike. I know you’ve done some work on vampire feeding patterns before, but have you ever considered a study on the physical impacts of a feeding vampire on a human? When Viktor bit me – he was just a little bit excited – but when he did I didn’t know about hanging onto his body for leverage, and see, if I have my legs around him too, my back doesn’t ache. Have you researched anything like that?”
The cough was definitely fake and likely hiding a laugh. “I can’t say that I have, Doctor Channon, but some of the faculty were wondering about the suitability of exploring those concepts in a public lecture hall. Most vampires, in my limited experience, prefer to feed in private.”
“Do they?”
Viktor was hit with Ant’s searching eyes again. He managed a nod. “Normally, yes, but today was an…unusual situation.”
“See, I am sure you didn’t have that in your research paper, Doctor Pike.”
Ant unhooked his legs and slid through Viktor’s arms. Viktor might have held on to him a split second longer than most people would think suitable, but… I was so close. My balls are going to be blue.
“You need to consider aspects like unusual situations in your research, Doctor Pike. I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s been bitten in less than ideal circumstances, but there are times when needs is as needs must. Able, come and stop growling. Shall we go, Viktor? Perhaps find somewhere more private? I am very hungry and as I haven’t slept in two days, sleep might be a good idea.”
Viktor was happy to leave the curious Doctor Pike and the rather oppressive classroom. He slid his hand at the base of Ant’s lower back as they turned, and he saw a thin bald man with glasses twisting his hands nervously. Vampire researcher, Doctor Pike, he assumed. Although if the man had been within ten feet of an actual vampire in his life, Viktor would’ve been very surprised. Doctor Pike looked terrified.
“Are you sure you’re all right, Doctor Channon?”
Ant stopped, looking surprised. “Why wouldn’t I be, Doctor Pike? Admittedly, last night was filled with more unusual situations than I’m used to, between the readings, getting shot at, Viktor saving me, and me finding out he was my mate, followed by almost four hours at the police station where Officer Mike took all those details down, and then this morning I had a huge, long talk with my sister about the night’s events, and Viktor of course…
“But the only thing I’m missing is sleep and I’m sure Viktor will make sure I get some, won’t you, Viktor? I read somewhere that vampires are very attentive to their mates. Oh, I think it was one of your studies, Doctor Pike, so there you go. You already know I will be fine. But Able needs to go outside now. His tail is giving me that special wag. Have a nice day Doctor Pike.”
Viktor kept his chuckle to himself, but it wasn’t easy. Ant just swanned past the befuddled doctor as if he hadn’t just handed the man an information dump Doctor Pike would never have expected. Able firmly by his side. Viktor kept pace with him, making sure that physical contact continued. He was sure that need would die down in time, but for now he was just going with it. Perhaps he could ask Ant if he had a copy of Doctor Pike’s papers and find out for himself how he was supposed to act with a mate. It wasn’t like anyone had given him any lessons on it.