Chapter 31
Thirty-One
Winter watched with a bone-deep weariness as the heavy metal shutters descended over Marcus’s windows.
Sunrise was less than an hour away, and he was trapped in his brother’s mansion along with Ethan, Bel and his mates, Rafe, Philippe, and too many other clanmates to think about.
He wanted to be in his own home with his beloved mate, but the windows were still broken out and his front door destroyed.
It was not a safe place to spend the daylight hours.
They’d arrived at Marcus’s less than an hour earlier. He’d been shoved toward a shower, since he smelled like a rancid slaughterhouse, while Bel grabbed Fox to check over his injuries. Sadly, he was one of the only people in the house who didn’t enjoy accelerated healing.
He stepped out of the shower and pulled on a pair of old sweat pants he kept at Marcus’s when Fox appeared in the room.
But his attempts to wrap his lover in his arms were quickly rebuffed.
Fox was still covered in vampire blood and didn’t want to make Winter dirty again.
Not that Winter gave a single shit about that.
But no.
So, after fighting and overthrowing the vampire ruling order and all the other fucking chaos, Winter sat on the edge of the bed, waiting to have the only thing that mattered to him. Fox.
A soft knock on the bedroom door had Winter growling in the back of his throat.
Cockblockers. Every last one of them. One of them was coming to annoy him when they should all be fucking busy with their own mates.
Jerking the door open, Winter had to admit that he was mildly surprised to find Marcus on the other side. His older brother smirked at his foul expression.
“I wanted to catch you before you became preoccupied,” Marcus said.
“Don’t you have a cute twinky vampire who needs you?” Winter grumbled.
“I do, so this won’t take long. There was something I wanted to ask you.
” His brother stepped away from the bedroom doorway and walked over to the hallway banister, looking on the main foyer and the elegant winding staircase.
Winter glared at his back for only a second and then closed the door and joined Marcus.
While all his brothers had the power to be annoying, Marcus usually didn’t do things just to be a nuisance.
He usually had a very good reason for doing anything.
“What’s on your mind?”
Marcus placed both his hands on the banister and frowned, his eyes seeming to stare off at some distant point. “Tonight…when you spoke of seeing the ghosts…”
“Are you sure this is a road you want to go down right now?”
His lips pressed together in a hard line for a second, seeming to think about what Winter was asking. They could all use a break, but not Marcus. He faced things head on. Always. “Did I make it worse?”
“What?” Winter gasped. Of all the things he’d expected out of his brother’s mouth, that was not it.
“Did my requests make it worse for you? I turned you into the family executioner and spy. You used your powers constantly to help protect the family. I asked you to do that for us. Did this make the voices and the ghosts worse?”
Winter was floored by the flurry of questions as well as the guilt burning in Marcus’s watery eyes.
“No!” he said sharply and then repeated with a little less shock in his voice. “No, Marcus. Using my powers or not, the ghosts would have always been there. Nothing could change that for me except for Fox.”
“But the ghosts of the dead…those that you killed to protect our family…”
Winter shrugged. “I won’t lie and say they were particularly happy about suddenly being dead.
” He flashed Marcus a smile, but his brother’s mood didn’t lighten.
“But not one of them was surprised by it. They attacked our family, plotted against us. Everyone who did that knew what the risk was. The Varik Boogeyman would come after them. Their ghosts didn’t generally hang around me. There was no point.”
“I’m sorry. I took advantage of you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I did. You were so damn good at it, and you never complained. It was just easy for me to hand it off to you. With everything…it was one less thing for me to worry about because I always knew you’d handle it. I should have taken more time to consider what it was doing to you. I’m sorry.”
Marcus’s pained words went a long way to healing old wounds and frustrations.
He reached up and placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, squeezing.
“I knew deep down that I could always come to you and say that I couldn’t do it anymore.
I always knew that you’d take that responsibility off my shoulders if I asked.
The guilt is on me as well for never saying anything. ”
“That changes now. We’re spreading things around, rebalancing things.” Winter started to argue but Marcus held up an authoritative hand. “You have a mate now who needs your attention. You can’t go out every night risking your life. He’s a good guy and deserves better than that.”
Winter laughed and gave Marcus’s shoulder a little shove before releasing it. “Okay, you might have a point. We’ll work something out. We need to keep an eye on Aiden and watch his back.”
“He will be protected.” Marcus nodded thoughtfully and smirked at Winter.
“Go see to your witch. I need to check on my fledgling.” Winter started to walk toward the bedroom when Marcus’s voice stopped him one last time.
“And if Fox doesn’t want to wait around for you to wake up tonight, you can tell him that the wolves are usually running around during the day. ”
Winter grinned at his brother. “I bet you can’t wait for everyone to get out of your house.”
Marcus said the one thing he’d never expected from his brother. “A full house is a house full of love.”
And he was right.
Winter slipped into the bedroom to find Fox lying on top of the sheets with a towel wrapped around his waist. His wet hair stood up in all directions and a little smirk was on his lips, but Winter’s main focus was on the collection of bruises that covered his face.
The swelling had gone down some around his eye and lip, but it would be days before he was completely healed.
“Don’t give me that look,” Fox said, pointing his finger at Winter. He waved his hand at his face. “This…is all temporary. I’ll be back to my usual sexy self in a matter of days. You think you can wait that long?”
Winter grinned at Fox because that was what he did when he was with Fox. He smiled, laughed, and groaned. Sometimes he wanted to strangle the man, but that always gave way to more laughing and smiling. Fox was joy.
“I don’t think I can.” Winter slowly stalked closer to the bed, coming to a stop at the foot with his thumbs hooked on the waistband of his sweat pants. “I need my Fox right now, bruises and all. There will never be a time when I don’t need my Fox.”
His lover’s expression brightened, and he held out his hands, beckoning him onto the bed.
Winter was happy to oblige. He shoved off his pants and crawled up the bed.
As he went, he placed kisses along his body.
A soft one on his ankle and then another on his calf.
Inside of his knee. He paused when he reached the towel.
Carefully, he peeled it off his lover, smirking up at him. “You’re better than Christmas.”
Fox’s giggle wrapped around Winter’s heart, squeezing it as he kissed up his thigh. Winter released his own chuckle when Fox whined at Winter’s deft avoidance of his dick while kissing up to his hip and across his stomach.
“You totally missed an important part,” Fox groaned.
“Nope,” Winter murmured against one hard nipple. He licked it, then let his hot words dance over the damp flesh. “I like to save my favorite parts for last.”
“Evil fucker,” Fox snarled. He squirmed underneath Winter.
Those magical hands finally stopped gripping the blankets and started to rub across Winter’s chest. They drifted up and tangled in his hair, pulling Winter to the promised land of Fox’s wonderful lips.
“Missed you so much.” Fox finally kissed him.
Winter moaned into his mouth, thrusting his tongue deep inside. They tangled and fought and rubbed. He swallowed each of Fox’s whimpers. The kiss grew hungrier and more desperate. Winter tried to press even closer, but Fox’s grunt of pain had Winter pulling back, ending the kiss.
“No, don’t. I’m fine, I promise,” Fox said a little too quickly. Winter knew better. There were bruises forming on his ribs to match those on his face. He needed to be careful with his precious Fox for at least a few days.
Carefully wrapping his arms around Fox, he rolled them so that Winter was on his back and Fox was now straddling his waist. “I’m thinking this might work better while you’re healing.”
Fox pressed his hands into Winter’s chest and grinned. “Oh, I like this. I can make this work.” He inched backward, wiggling his ass against the head of Winter’s hardening cock.
“Smart guy like you. I figured you’d have some ideas.”
Lifting one eyebrow, Fox’s smile turned a little more devious. “But we might have to first go through some questions and answers.”
Winter froze. This was not what he was expecting. He just wanted to be buried deep inside his moaning lover. What the hell did he have in mind?
“It would seem you were busy while I was hanging out with the devious Damon,” Fox said in light tones.
“What do you mean?”
“Did you have an important conversation with your family?”
Winter’s heart started up again, and he breathed a little more easily. “I told them everything. The ghosts, the ring, how much you mean to me.” Winter reached up and ran his fingers over the uninjured part of Fox’s cheek. “Though the last part was easy to see. I was a fucking wreck without you.”
Fox closed his eyes, smiling as he rubbed his face against Winter’s palm. “That would explain it.”
“Explain what?”