Chapter 20 #2
Before Ethan could form a thought, he felt Marcus reach for the lube. His head popped up when he heard the plastic cap snap.
“Wait. Are you hard already?”
Marcus answered by grabbing Ethan’s hips and moving him so that he was fully on top of Marcus.
With ease, he thrust up into Ethan, filling him.
He didn’t know if it was a Marcus thing or a vampire thing, but he didn’t care.
Ethan sat up and pushed Marcus’s hands away as he proceeded to ride him hard.
The slapping of their bodies and their pants filled the silence of the room.
Marcus wrapped his slick hand around Ethan’s dick, waking it.
Ethan was sure he couldn’t come again so soon, but he didn’t care.
He loved the feel of Marcus inside of him, the sounds they made together.
Marcus shouted and his hand tightened on Ethan’s dick as he pumped himself into Ethan. The sensations shoved Ethan off the cliff after him. The orgasm was sharp and almost painful, but it was perfectly balanced with the pleasure surging through every part of his body.
He collapsed on Marcus, sweat and cum mixing together between them.
“I’m dead. You killed me. I’m dead,” Ethan panted.
He felt more than heard Marcus’s laugh as his chest shook beneath him. “But it was a very good death.”
“The best.”
Marcus allowed them to lie there for a few more minutes before he started nudging Ethan toward the shower.
When it was clear that Marcus wasn’t joining him, Ethan crossed his arms and refused to move until Marcus admitted that he was trying to sneak in a quick pint of bagged blood while Ethan was in the shower.
“Why don’t you want me to see you drink blood?”
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
Ethan reached over and grabbed Marcus’s hand in both of his. “We can’t have something work between us if you’re hiding a really big part of you. I can’t ever become comfortable with it if I’m never faced with it.”
Marcus gave him a crooked smile. “You’re sure?”
“I’m curious, actually.”
Still looking a little unsure, Marcus walked over to his dresser and opened a small door to reveal a mini fridge similar to that of a hotel. He pulled out a bag of blood and poured the contents into a large glass.
“You don’t mind it cold?”
Marcus wrinkled his nose a little. “It’s not my first choice, but I tend to wake up a little peckish in the morning.
A glass helps to keep the hunger pains at bay until it’s safe to hunt.
” He lifted the glass to Ethan in a toast before he tipped the drink down his throat.
Ethan was a little surprised that he wasn’t disgusted by it.
It looked sort of like tomato juice, but he knew it wasn’t.
When he’d completely drained the glass, Marcus gave a satisfied sigh and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Between the two orgasms and the drink. Marcus was looking healthy, rested, and sated. A man on top of the world.
“Do you actually like the taste?” Ethan asked without thinking and then winced. “Sorry. Are you comfortable talking about it? Would you rather I didn’t ask questions?”
Marcus smiled. “I would prefer it if you ask questions, but a shower first.”
“But—”
Marcus stopped his words by pulling him off the bed and dropping him over his shoulder before carrying him into the shower. He set Ethan to getting the water to the right temperature while Marcus brushed his teeth. As soon as he finished, he kissed Ethan deeply.
There were no questions in the shower because Ethan was completely distracted by Marcus’s devotion to making sure that every inch of his body was properly cleaned. Of course, Ethan had to return the favor to Marcus.
It was only when they were standing in front of the open refrigerator, trying to find something for breakfast at two in the afternoon, that Ethan’s brain started working again and he remembered what they had been talking about.
“You never answered my question!” Ethan declared out of the blue.
“I was wondering when you’d notice,” Marcus said with a chuckle.
Ethan gave him a shove as he grabbed eggs and cheese. There were also some vegetables. Enough for omelets. He set the food on the counter and tossed a green pepper at Marcus. “You can chop that up while you answer my question.”
“Yes, sir,” Marcus teased, but his smile disappeared and his expression grew serious as he started working on the pepper.
“Yes, surprisingly, I like the taste. I wasn’t expecting to, but I’m glad I do.
Bel thinks that our bodies naturally crave what we need.
” He lifted his head and looked at Ethan.
“When your body needs protein, you crave a steak. When you need carbs, you crave bread. My body needs blood, human blood, so I crave it. As such, it makes me also like the taste.”
Ethan cracked a few eggs into a bowl and started whisking them. “If you need blood to live, do you also need regular food?”
“Actually, no.”
Ethan stopped whisking and looked at Marcus. “So you don’t need this omelet I’m making for you?”
Marcus grinned. “Nope, but I want it.” He leaned over and stole a quick kiss from Ethan’s parted lips. “I like the taste of food, so I eat it. Rafe does too, but then he likes anything that gives pleasure. Bel sees food as a distraction from his work. He’s largely stopped eating it.”
“And Winter?”
Marcus gave a little shrug. “I think he eats when it suits his purposes, but I don’t think it’s about pleasure.”
“Damnit!” Ethan suddenly swore.
Marcus froze next to him. “What?”
“I just realized that we missed a chance to send your brother a naked ‘best way to start the day’ pic like he sent you.”
“No,” Marcus said fiercely. “I love my brothers, but they are never seeing you naked. You are mine, and I am not sharing you with anyone.”
Ethan grinned at him and resumed working on the omelet. “How often do you need to feed? I get the impression that surviving on bagged blood isn’t an option.”
Marcus pushed the chopped pepper at Ethan and started working on the other items he’d pulled out of the fridge.
“It’s not. Bagged blood will help stretch between feedings, but whatever it is that’s missing from our bodies can only be gotten directly from the source.
Bel is actually researching what we’re missing and trying to come up with a cure. ”
“What? So you don’t need blood?”
“Maybe. But for now, the goal is to live off bagged blood. To answer your question, if I’m not injured again, I can go comfortably for two weeks between feedings. I have stretched to three, but…”
“What?”
Marcus cringed a little. “My brothers have told me that I can be a bit testy if I wait that long.”
Ethan cackled. “Thanks for the warning.” They worked in companionable silence for a bit as Ethan cooked the omelet. It was only when he plated a section for both of them and they sat down that a big question suddenly hit him.
“How old are you?”
Marcus smirked a little at him. “I was thirty years old when I was last a human.”
“And…?” Ethan prodded, practically bouncing in his seat.
“I have been a vampire for one hundred and seventy-six years.”
“Holy shit! That’s amazing.”
Marcus chuckled and went back to his omelet.
“Wait! How old is Rafe?”
Marcus’s smile dimmed a little bit. “One hundred and seventy-six.”
Ethan lowered his fork to his plate and straightened in his chair. Something tightened in his chest, but he still asked. “And Bel?”
“One hundred and seventy-six.”
He didn’t want to ask, but Marcus nodded, indicating that it was okay. “Winter?”
“One hundred and seventy-six.”
“Why?” A lump was growing in his throat because he knew that the answer wasn’t going to be a happy one. What could make them all choose at once to become vampires? Unless they’d had no choice.
“To protect our mother and to protect the world from her. We waited until Winter turned twenty-three, and then Aiden changed us all on the same night.”
Ethan squeezed his eyes closed, but Marcus was right there, wiping away the tears that slipped out. “Don’t, Ethan,” he whispered. “My brothers and I have no regrets about our decision. It hasn’t always been an easy life, but we’ve had each other. And if I hadn’t, we would have never met.”
Blinking back tears, Ethan turned his face and kissed Marcus’s palm. “I’m glad we met.”
“Me too.”
Ethan dug into his omelet, desperately searching his brain for a lighter topic. “Can you turn into a bat?”
Marcus laughed and choked at the same time, spitting the bite he had in his mouth across the room.
Ethan snorted. “I’m gonna take that as a no.”