Macauley’s head was tilted towards the ceiling as he held his mate in a grasp that probably made it difficult for him to swallow, but the pleasure from Adres’s bite was seeping through his every pore. He’d connected his mind to his to give him encouragement and to show Adres just how much he needed him as well. But he never pulled out as Adres fed, and now he could almost feel his satisfaction… and his craving for more. For something else.

His mate wanted to mate.

There was no refuting what Adres was thinking when all of his shields were down and Macauley was inside him. Literally. He struggled to keep his eyes open and his focus sharp, but it felt so fucking good. The flat of Adres’s tongue laving over his skin, his soft lips sucking on his flesh, and his jaws working to force more blood to the surface was by far the most intimate, erotic act he’d ever done. Nothing his brothers told him could have prepared him for this feeling.

He eased out of Adres’s mind, stripping away some of the ecstasy, but it was too much for him to balance when he was so overwhelmed with pleasure. Adres keened with disapproval when Macauley withdrew from his core, but he kept him close to let him know he was still with him.

Adres swallowed gulps at a time, and though Macauley could feel himself getting weaker, he pulled his wolf closer to the surface so he could give his mate a little more. When Adres had said he was ravenous, he hadn’t been exaggerating. His appetite was insatiable, and there was no mistaking how turned on he was. Macauley began to rid Adres of the rest of his clothes. He pulled at the drawstring on his pants and shoved them down his hips.

Adres grunted with his mouth still latched onto his throat as Macauley grabbed two handfuls of his ass and used it to grind their pelvises together. Adres’s uncut cock was peeking out of his briefs, the skin pulled back and his slit glistening with pre-come. Macauley just refrained from throwing Adres down and rutting against him until he smelled like his come. It was animalistic and cavemanish to even think it, but it was all he knew to get closer. To mark Adres in some way if he wasn’t prepared to take his bite.

Adres pulled his fangs out and bathed Macauley’s throat with his tongue until he was moaning and thrusting against him. They were drunk off each other’s pheromones as they stumbled against each other, their hips moving as if they were independent body parts. He guided his inebriated mate towards his bed and was relieved when he put up no resistance as Macauley lifted the thick comforter for him to get in. Adres turned his face into one of Macauley’s pillows and inhaled a deep breath before rolling over onto his back, his gaze cloudy and hot as it roamed over Macauley’s chest and down to the obscene bulge jutting from his towel.

Macauley tore the cloth away and let it fall to the floor. He massaged his balls with one hand while he held his cock in the other. Every part of his body buzzed from Adres’s bite. Henry had warned him about how potent the elixir could be, but he didn’t think it’d feel like some kind of heroin. Addictive… and highly lethal.

He already wanted more.

Adres hissed and spread his legs wider, his small briefs doing nothing to conceal his erection. Macauley was wondering if his mate would ever let loose of his ironclad control and enjoy what they had of their bond, no matter how small and fragile. He bit his bottom lip as he ate up Adres’s body with his eyes. He was flawed and imperfectly gorgeous. His chest had many near-fatal wounds that looked to have healed long ago. And his thighs were toned and muscular, flexing as he writhed over the white sheet.

“You like what you see, vampire?” Macauley stroked his dick from base to tip as a long trail of pre-come leaked from the head he clutched in his fist. Fuck. The pleasure was so extreme Macauley had to brace one knee on the bed.

“More,” Adres begged, his own dick leaking slick that pooled in the creases of his abs.

“More what…” Macauley smeared his palm along Adres’s stomach, gathering the slickness and using it to lube his cock. He gave himself a long, slow stroke that fired his blood to a fevered height. Oh my fucking gods.

Adres made a pained face, his throat tense, his back stiffening as he clutched at the sheets. “Nu-mi face asta.”

His mate’s expression was one of pure rapture, and he’d put it there. Macauley liked him speaking his native language; he liked the way his breathy words made him feel. Whatever Adres said, or called him, sounded sexy as fuck to him.

“Did you ask for more of this… huh?” Macauley stroked faster. “Is that what those words meant? Or do you wanna sink your teeth inside me again and drink while I—”

Adres’s mouth dropped open, a guttural cry escaping his lips as he arched his back and shot his seed onto his stomach. He slammed his dark eyes shut as more landed on his throat before pouring over onto his belly. Macauley inhaled, his nostrils flaring as his mate’s many flavors flooded his bedroom.

The last of Macauley’s control snapped as he ripped Adres’s briefs away, his cock springing towards him as if it was glad to be set free. Pearly liquid continued to leak from his slit when Macauley covered Adres’s sated body with his own.

He shuddered at the first feeling of his mate naked and saturated, covered in come beneath him. His orgasm was right there as Adres spread his legs for him. His body was pliant and limp, but his grip around Macauley’s waist was powerful as he thrust his cock under Adres’s balls. The slick that leaked from his cock made the glide more sensual.

Macauley grunted as his sac tightened. His canines itched to drop and claim, but he would not bite his mate before he consented fully. He sucked on Adres’s jaw as he slammed his hips forwards and released against Adres’s taint, drowning his balls and cock with his come until it leaked down his ass and over his hole.

Adres locked his ankles around Macauley’s back, his heels digging into the base of his spine, but he still had enough room to slip his hand between them and massage his seed into him. Adres’s soft moans made him rock his hips as he inched his fingers lower.

“Futu-i, Macauley.” Adres was getting hard again as he raised his ass off the mattress to meet his stroke.

Macauley licked Adres’s slack mouth and bit at his lips, tasting traces of his coppery blood and a flavor sweet like dark fruit. He couldn’t resist dragging his tongue over one of Adres’s fangs, which must have been an erotic zone because he hissed as his cock jerked against his stomach.

“Kiss me,” Macauley demanded, chasing Adres’s mouth when he tried to turn away.

Adres’s eyes were as shiny as black diamonds, his cheeks flushed with a hint of color, and his thick hair disheveled from where he’d thrashed against the pillow. He was beautiful in his own unique way, made just for him.

“Vampires don’t… I mean… I do not kiss.”

“Well, I do.” Macauley nudged the side of Adres’s cheek with his nose. He smelled like blackberries plucked straight from the vine, and he bet he tasted even sweeter. “Now kiss me.”

Adres shook his head. “You refuse to take no for an answer, young wolf.”

Macauley smirked. “Soon, you’ll no longer be able to say no… to anything I ask.” He fumbled Adres’s sac in his palm as he spoke, keeping him high on his scent. Macauley lowered his head when Adres faced him with quivering lips.

“What do I—”

“Just do what feels natural, handsome,” Macauley whispered in his mouth while working his hand between Adres’s legs. He pressed his middle finger against the sensitive nerves behind his balls, watching his beautifully shocked reaction.

Adres parted his lips wider, his tongue sneaking out to play. His touch was timid and hesitant and so fucking endearing. His mate needed a lesson on how to kiss. Macauley teased Adres’s tongue before he slanted his mouth over his. He moaned when Adres’s nicked his bottom lip enough to draw blood that he sucked on with passion.

Adres was too far gone to stop now. He had come so far out of himself that he no longer recognized who he was, and he didn’t care. Now, he was kissing, with tongue and teeth and vigor. He couldn’t get enough. Then Macauley touched him in a place that had been unexplored. A place that had him crying out and digging his fingernails into Macauley’s back. He prayed to the gods he did not die this way. “Nu-mi face asta.”

“That’s twice you’ve said that.” Macauley panted, massaging Adres’s tight hole. “What are you saying?”

“I said… ungh.”

“No… that wasn’t it.” Macauley pushed two fingers into him, making him arch embarrassingly hard as he clenched around the thick digits and sucked them in deeper. Holy fuck. His dick was granite, his balls full again and on the verge of release. “Say it.”

“I said, ‘Do not do this to me, beloved.’”

“Do what… this?” Macauley pushed his fingers deeper, and Adres thought he was going to levitate off the bed the pleasure was so blinding. He bowed over in surprise, curling towards his big alpha as he made him feel things he shouldn’t in places he never thought possible.

Adres had never been made love to before. He’d never been touched in his most private places. Though he wasn’t unsullied, either; he’d sown a few wild oats in his youth, but as the eldest horseman, it meant his life was not his own to enjoy. Whenever he’d indulged in the past, it’d never been about touching, kissing, and certainly no penetration was needed. But when it came to his cherished, it appeared that things were quite different.

“Mai mult, Beloved… more… more.”

Macauley held the back of his neck while he plunged his thick fingers in and out of his sensitive hole. It was so much, yet he couldn’t stop begging for more. He hitched his leg higher up Macauley’s back, the position making him look like a sex-drugged animal in heat. The new angle caused Macauley’s knuckle to rub against a spot that had him tilting his head back.

Futu-i!

Adres was defenseless, his guards and shields completely down as Macauley rocked his hips in the same rhythm he fucked him with his fingers. Macauley growled against his throat and pleasuring him faster with his hands, delving deeper and sending Adres’s mind to another dimension. His cock thickened, and Adres threw his head back and bared his throat as he erupted for the second time. The sounds coming from him were inhuman as Macauley bit down over his jugular and spilled his seed over his stretched hole.

He didn’t pierce his skin, but he clamped his teeth into his flesh hard enough to make Adres wish he did. His legs fell to the bed, and his arms lay limp at his side as Macauley bit down harder, his groan morphing into a possessive growl.

Had he just submitted?

Adres lay there motionless with his cheek flush against the pillow, his pulse pounding and his thighs spread wider than an eagle’s wings, he knew without a doubt that he had.

Then why did he not claim me?

Macauley sucked the healing bruise on Adres’s neck before he buried his face in his throat. “I won’t claim you until you fully give yourself to me.”

I did. Adres had given all he’d been able to. The parts that weren’t locked away by evil. He supposed he’d been right all along and what was left of his soul hadn’t been enough for his beloved.

“What you did was natural, Adres.” Macauley rolled them onto their sides and folded his strong body around him, manipulating Adres’s weak arms and legs until he was in the position he wanted him in.

“I should shower, or—”

“No,” Macauley barked, tucking Adres under his throat. “You smell wonderful.”

Adres wasn’t going to argue. He laid his cheek against Macauley’s hot skin and listened to the steady pounding of his heartbeat.

Macauley yawned loudly. “It’s almost morning. Sleep. When we wake up, I’ll tell you about my brother’s trip to the Monstrous Reef. He’s sure he can find us the answer we need to lift the curse.”

My gods. The Monstrous Reef. Macauley had sent his youngest brother to the dangerous reefs and beyond, to enter the fairy lands, all to save him. Will they really help me again?

Adres didn’t have time to fret over it as he was too satisfied and relaxed to fight the warmth and the pull of slumber.