Chapter 18 #2
That still, though, didn’t mean that he was going to be able to tell Tobias the truth. Not when Tobias knowing what Alexander truly was might make him leave forever.
“Tobias.” He approached the couch and knelt down in front of him, taking Tobias’ hands in his and smoothing his thumbs across them.
“Being a Damianos – we’re an old and influential family, and sometimes that means that we’re targets because of our wealth and political connections.
Right now, that serial attacker? We think that he’s been targeting me. ”
Tobias went stiff as a board, his breath coming in short pants. “What?”
Alexander gripped his hands harder, trying to ground Tobias.
“I apologise for not telling you sooner, but my… people and I have been looking into it. The victims have all been associated with Oxford, but more so they’ve all been linked to me.
And that’s why I’ve been so protective of you – because anyone with eyes can see how much you mean to me already, and that means that this would-be killer can too.
I don’t want you to become the next target. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”
Tobias gave a pained laugh. “I don’t think I’m in danger from whoever is doing this, Alexander.”
“I do.” Alexander reached up to brush a curl out of Tobias’ tired eyes.
“And I’m sorrier than you could know. It’s– You’ve become so much more important to me in such a short time than I could have ever thought possible.
I need you to know that as long as I’m here, nothing will happen to you.
I swear it. But I’ll need you to listen to what I say so that I can keep you safe. ”
Tobias tilted his head forward until their foreheads were touching. “Alexander,” he said, his voice wavering. “I really didn’t think I’d fall for you. I really didn’t.”
When Alexander pulled back to look at him, there was desperation in Tobias’ eyes. He was shaking like a leaf, and Alexander could only think of one way to get his mind off of the terror that Alexander’s announcement had inspired.
“Come with me to bed,” Alexander pleaded, the words falling from his lips before his mind had a chance to debate the wisdom of distracting themselves from their problems with sex. “Please.”
Tobias nodded mutely, then submitted to Alexander standing and picking him up, cradling him to his chest. He could feel the ridges of Tobias’ spine pressing against his arm, the delicate, mortal fragility of him shaking Alexander to his core.
He took them to the bedroom and laid Tobias out on the bed’s rumpled sheets, smoothing a hand down his stomach and flicking open the button of his jeans. Tobias arched his hips up and let Alexander undress him, until his perfect body was bare and stretched out before Alexander.
“Please,” Tobias whimpered, already hard. “I need you.”
He planted one foot on the bed and tipped the knee of the other one outwards, splaying himself open for Alexander. And that, along with a heated glance, was all it took for Alexander to come completely undone.
Reaching into the bedside drawer, he pulled out a bottle of lube, dribbling it over his fingers and then smearing it across Tobias’ entrance.
Tobias shuddered, from the cold or the contact Alexander wasn’t sure.
As he put a knee onto the bed and a hand onto Tobias’ chest to hold him down, Tobias bit his lip and moaned.
His eyelids fluttered shut as Alexander toyed with his entrance, but this wasn’t a night for slow, passionate lovemaking.
Alexander was filled with the need to claim Tobias, to prove that Tobias was his, that whoever this other vampire was would never be able to take Tobias from him.
Tobias’ tight heat enveloped Alexander’s fingers as he worked one, then two into him.
He took Tobias’ hand and guided it to his knee, encouraging him to pull his legs back into his chest. He knew from the last time they’d fucked that it wasn’t as though Tobias needed much preparation, but Alexander still didn’t want to cause him pain, so he added a third finger and stretched him just a bit more before reaching down and unbuckling his belt, pulling himself free.
“Alexander,” Tobias gasped. “Please.”
He’d never be able to refuse Tobias, not a single thing, not when they locked eyes like that and Alexander saw the desire in Tobias’ gaze, before his eyes dropped to something else.
Alexander followed, noticing Tobias’ eyes linger on the scars across his forearm, more visible now in the light from his bedside lamp.
He longed to pull back and hide them, to stop his lover seeing what Vladimir did to him.
But he would not be ashamed of what had been done to him.
He would not hide from Tobias, not the little parts of him that he could afford to divulge. Not now, not ever.
Lining up his cock with Tobias’ entrance, Alexander pushed into his body, claiming him inch by inch.
Tobias bit his lip and breathed deeply as Alexander seated himself fully, the wool of his trousers up against Tobias’ bare arse.
Even through his clothes he could feel that Tobias was burning up, and when he dug his fingers into Alexander’s biceps and hissed, “You better fucking move,” Alexander lost all control.
He pounded into Tobias’ body as a litany of mine, mine, mine echoed in his head.
This wasn’t elegant – this was a frantic, animalistic claiming, the predatory side of him coming out to stake possession.
But from the way Tobias tensed around him and came within minutes completely untouched, spilling across his stomach and over the cotton of Alexander’s shirt, he didn’t mind.
Alexander followed quickly after, the spasms from Tobias’ orgasm pushing him over the edge as he came so hard that his vision whited out, the rest of the world dropping away.
Panting, he leaned down to kiss Tobias deeply, groaning into his mouth as he pulled free.
Tobias began to unbutton Alexander’s ruined shirt, sliding it off his shoulders and tossing it onto the floor.
Alexander’s trousers followed after he reached down to untie his shoes, the leather undoubtedly ruined as well from scratching against the bed frame.
But Alexander cared about none of it as long as he could keep kissing Tobias, running his hands through the other man’s hair, making sure that he was safe and here and whole.
Naked, he pulled at the covers, sliding them down under Tobias’ body so he could lie down beside him and cover them both with the duvet.
Fatigue was clawing at the edges of his vision, and lying beside Tobias was the only way he was going to be able to get some desperately needed rest. In the morning, he’d figure out how to fix this. For now, though, this was enough.
“You’re mine,” he said into Tobias’ hair, pulling him tight to his chest.
“I know,” Tobias whispered back, tracing his fingertips across the muscles of Alexander’s forearm, lingering on the scars. “Alexander, I know.”