Epilogue
Nicholas
One Month Later
Sunlight roused Nicholas from sleep, a rare treat in Irongard. Stretching, he reached behind him for his mate, finding his spot empty and cold. He sat up, blinking into the sunlit room.
It wasn’t unusual for Gabriel to wake up before him.
Nicholas normally slept late when doing so in Gabriel’s arms. But he never abandoned him while he was still sleeping.
Abandoned may have been a strong word, but Nicholas had become spoiled by having access to Gabriel’s affection, his blood, and his cock upon waking.
Even now, his own cock wept for Gabriel beneath the thin sheet.
A note rested in the space he left behind, written in his ancient penmanship. Nicholas smiled, reaching for it.
Breakfast and dessert await you on the shore. Join me.
He’d signed it: Al Khadeh.
Nicholas bit his sleep-swollen bottom lip, recognizing this for the incentive that it was. He jumped out of bed, hurrying to the bathroom before sprinting for the balcony doors naked.
He peered over the edge, snow flurries landing in his hair.
Below were the rocks that he’d sailed toward that gruesome night of his change.
He spared the view a quick glance before rounding the corner and hurrying to the other end, where a thin strip of sandy shore could be found.
His breakfast was nowhere in sight, but Nicholas knew where it waited, and it was worth what needed to be done to reach it.
He’d leapt from lower heights over the past month, but not yet from this high up. He was ready, if only because he was ravenous.
Nicholas backed up against the wall, giving himself a running start. Without second-guessing, he ran for the ledge, placing a foot on the stone railing before pushing off.
Time slowed as he descended with grace, the ocean water rippling peacefully under the morning light, his markings shining under the blinding sun. He landed in a perfect crouch, shin-deep in the sand. Silent laughter bubbled up from inside him, exhilaration and pride leaving him breathless.
On the other side of the cliff, unseen from Nicholas’s vantage point, hid a small recess.
Gabriel said it reminded him of a cave. Along the sand, strawberries created a trail.
Nicholas plucked them up one by one as he went, conjuring ice water to rinse the sand off before tossing them into his mouth.
The last strawberry fell from his hands when he reached the entrance to the alcove. Gabriel reclined on a blanket, one leg spread open and bent, hard cock in hand. It was already slick, precum the color of milky water trickling over his working fist.
“I was beginning to think you weren’t hungry,” he said with a sly grin, eyes flashing black and gold.
“Starving,” Nicholas whispered, or maybe he’d whimpered it, falling to his knees before Gabriel.
Gabriel chuckled. “Good morning, Al Sayyid. You did it.”
“Inta hob hayati,” Nicholas replied, bidding him ‘good morning’ in return. Gabriel had been teaching him his language. But little did he know, with the help of Hamza, Nicholas would be teaching him a lesson in return.
“I did it. I fucking did it!”
He threw himself on top of Gabriel, rolling them off the blanket and onto the rough floor. Nicholas straddled him. “Can you believe it?”
“Yes, Habibi. I can.” He swiped a finger over Nicholas’s smile, the digit hot like fire, calling forth his ice.
Their stiff cocks rubbed, and Nicholas glanced from their erections to the vein at Gabriel’s throat. “Which is my breakfast, and which is dessert?”
“Depends,” Gabriel crooned. “Which part of me are you craving more?”
“All of you,” Nicholas breathed.
The sun didn’t reach inside their cave, but Nicholas had never seen his mate more clearly. God, he loved him, so much it sometimes pained him. It felt like his heart would explode from his body under the weight of all the love it contained for him.
“And as your master, all of you is what I plan on taking.” He’d become a demanding little tyrant, never letting Gabriel forget who was in charge. His lips twitched as he watched Gabriel’s gaze darken.
Nicholas suddenly found himself pinned to the wall, his back scraping against the jagged rock. “Oompf.”
Gabriel leaned in close, his words a soft breeze across Nicholas’s lips. “Must I constantly remind you that I am the stronger one?”
“Yes.” That was definitely a whimper.
Gabriel tightened his hand around Nicholas’s throat, hiking one of his legs up and around his hip.
“I have over two hundred years on you, Habibi. Don’t let the titles fool you. I’m perfectly capable of mastering you.”
Nicholas broke free from his hold, shoving Gabriel onto his back. Gabriel flipped them, caging Nicholas’s thighs between his own and securing his wrists above his head. Nicholas panted, skin rippling black before returning to its natural state.
Gabriel’s laugh was arrogant, wholly unimpressed by Nicholas’s beast. “He won’t hurt me,” he said. It was true; the part of his beast that was somehow separate from him adored Gabriel.
“Now, do you surrender to your submissive?”
Nicholas couldn’t move. Gabriel’s hold became more restricting every time he tried, and he was on the verge of coming from his show of dominance.
“Feed me,” he begged.
Gabriel shifted, allowing Nicholas to circle his legs around his waist while he kept his hands secured above him. He lowered onto him, the tip of his cock accurately locating Nicholas’s slick hole.
“With pleasure,” he breathed, sliding in as he bared his neck to his mate.
With their blood needs and arousal tended to, Nicholas and Gabriel stretched out on the couch, reviewing old surveillance footage, searching for something they might have missed.
The violence in the city shifted after the night the church went up in flames. The number of missing had been reduced to what was typical within a large, crime-infested metropolis. Men no longer disappeared in droves, and with Kyrin gone, the Armenians ruled the black market in peace.
They’d expected a new war to begin. One amongst themselves and their new enemy. But there were no signs of the hooded man. It was as if he’d vanished into thin air.
Nicholas and Gabriel remained vigilant, scouring the city almost nightly for signs of him. Hamza participated in the search as well.
A motorcycle sped for the house, and with a curse, Gabriel stood, mumbling about putting on some clothes. Facing his brother sometimes felt like going into battle, and being naked put him at a disadvantage. With plans to meet Mateo, Nicholas was already dressed.
He chuckled, stepping over the sleeping dogs to answer the door for his brother-in-law while Gabriel stalked upstairs.
Hamza pulled up a couple minutes later. It was still morning, so he greeted him as such, making sure he whispered loud enough for Gabriel to hear, but low enough that his intentions weren’t obvious.
“Inta hob hayati.” He hoped his breathlessness didn’t sound contrived.
Slightly deviating from the plan, Hamza pinned him against the foyer wall, growling with just enough volume for his words to make it upstairs.
“You’re the love of my life, too. I’m sick of this hiding, and I’m sick of seeing his brand on you. When are we going to tell him the truth about us?”
He leaned in for a kiss, just as Gabriel leapt from the top of the stairs, crashing into him. They went flying into the front door, the brass cracking down the middle.
Gabriel hissed, teeth, claws, and markings coming out to play. His shirt hung unbuttoned around his shoulders, and his pants had yet to be zipped.
Hamza’s laugh shook his shoulders, giving way to a boisterous rumble. Gabriel frowned, loosening his hold on him to glance over at Nicholas.
Nicholas stood with his arms folded, glaring at his mate.
“What’s the problem, Gabriel? I thought inta hob hayati meant ‘good morning.’ How long did you think you could get away with this? And does jesmi melkak really mean thank you?”
Now free, Hamza adjusted his clothes. “No, kid. It means my body is your property.”
Nicholas gaped at Gabriel. “So every time I thank you for something—”
“You’re actually telling him that your body is his property,” Hamza said helpfully. Gabriel scowled at his older brother. He was having too much fun with this.
“Well, it’s the truth,” Gabriel said unrepentantly. “But my body is your property as well, Habibi.”
Nicholas gave him a look that promised payback.
“I must say, brother, I didn’t think you had it in you. Are you trying to take the fun-one trophy from me?”
Gabriel rolled his eyes.
“He can’t be trusted,” Hamza said to Nicholas. “Come to my place, I’ll school you.”
“You will do no such thing,” Gabriel snarled. “And not that I don’t love it when you show up unannounced, but why are you here?”
Hamza turned serious, heading for the living room as if expecting them to follow. He stopped at the drink cart, filling a tumbler with scotch before handing it to Gabriel. “You’re going to need it.”
“Enough with the dramatics. What’s going on?” Gabriel downed the brown liquor anyway.
“I heard from Rayyaan.”
Nicholas removed the empty glass from Gabriel’s clenched hand before it shattered.
They hadn’t been able to talk to Marcus since that night.
He’d texted them a whole week later, saying Liam lived, but that everything else would need to wait until he was acclimated.
All texts and calls had gone unanswered since.
“He wants to see us.”
“When?” Nicholas asked, anxious about how that meeting would go. Between seeing Liam, hearing what Marcus had to say for himself, and worrying about how Gabriel would react, he was nervous.
“Now.”
“We don’t even know where he lives,” Gabriel said. He knew of Marcus’s place nearby, but had always known that wasn’t his main base. It was a shell. A place he could go to when needing to be close to Gabriel.
Hamza held up his phone. “I have his location.”
Gabriel scoffed. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re the person he called.”