Chapter Nine
Ace barely registered the sounds of footsteps in the hallway, coming towards his cell. After the first day of his confinement, which he had spent resting and healing after the beating that Steel and Kyle had given him, he had spent the rest of his time lost in dreams about his mate. Even when Steel and Kyle were pummeling him, he didn’t fight back. Ace knew that he had brought about his misfortune through his own deeds, and all he was sorry for, all he could worry about, was Devin. Knowing that his mate couldn’t feed from anyone else, was driving Ace insane.
Every time he closed his eyes he imagined his beloved mate slowly starving to death, but he knew there was nothing he could do. All Ace could hope for was a chance at seeing Pearson just once before they killed him. Pearson wouldn’t let his mate die, and maybe with the mate bond severed, Devin could find another wolf shifter in the Washington pack to care for him. He wasn’t sure that the idea would even work, but before he died Ace was determined that he would try and get his mate safe and looked after once he was gone. It was all he had to live for.
So when the door to his cell opened, Ace didn’t even look up from where he was hunched over on his bed. He was fully resigned to his fate, he wouldn’t fight it. He just wanted the chance to do right by Devin.
Hmm Devin. If Ace didn’t know better he could swear he could smell that delicious fragrance of oranges and frangipani in the air. There was some rustling and a quiet murmur of voices and then the cell door slammed shut again.
Too tired to even care about what that interruption might have been all about, Ace stayed where he was. He knew food wasn’t due for at least an hour or two, and if Pearson had come in, then the man would have made his presence felt. He wasn’t interested in dealing with anyone else. Ace just wanted to think about his beautiful Devin. His gorgeous mate who looked so pretty and yet so strong, kneeling at his feet. The scene in Ace’s mind seemed so real it was if all he had to do was reach out and touch…
“
Amatus
,” his vision said softly and Ace was stunned to find his hand was fondling real hair – specifically, his mate’s silky blond locks.
“Devin! What…how…fuck, you’re really here.” Ace knew he wasn’t making any sense, but his mate was with him, in his cell, in the flesh and without thinking about it, he scooped Devin up off his knees and crushed him to his chest, burying his nose in Devin’s neck as though it contained the secret of life itself. Devin smelled like home.
He was in heaven. There was no other word for it. For three days Ace had steeled himself against the possibility of never seeing his mate again. The hardest thing he had ever done in his life was walk away and order his mate to stay at the diner. There was no way he had wanted Devin involved in a mess of his making. But he was a mated wolf shifter and his wolf had been darn snarky at leaving their little cutie behind. Now both man and wolf were happy that Devin was in his arms.
“
Amatus
, angel, please. You have no idea how happy I am to see you too. But…I am sorry… I need, badly…I hate to ask…I need my Master.” Devin’s soft words were brushed against Ace’s ear, and for a moment Ace struggled to understand. Lifting his nose out of Devin’s delectable neck, he looked hard at his mate, seeing him properly for the first time in days. Now he was paying attention he could see the flashing red in Devin’s eyes and felt the shudders of tension running through his mate’s body. Devin was strung out as tightly as a spring and clearly hanging on to his control by his pointy white fangs.
“Your blood urge,” he said softly, hating the guilt and shame on his mate’s face. Devin nodded and Ace looked around quickly assessing what he could use to help his mate’s situation. Bondage and pain. The cell was not an ideal set up for their first scene, but Ace would make do with what he had.
The cell was a small single room, with nothing more than a bed and a chair in it. There was one small door that led to an equally spartan shower and toilet and a barred window, that Ace deduced would be the perfect height for tying his mate to the bars if he had to.
Ace looked back at Devin’s face, worried at the tension he saw etched there. He gently tilted Devin’s chin and placed a quick, chaste kiss on the lips he longed to devour.
“Don’t ever be ashamed of your true nature, mate,” he said softly. “Let me handle this as best I can, although I confess I had dreamed of something far better for our first scene together. It is me that is sorry.”
“Go with your instincts,
amatus
. Just being with you helps more than you know.”
“Okay, strip,” Ace said decisively, his plans made. He watched, his dick pulsing in his jeans as Devin stripped off gracefully, not a hint of shyness in his delicious body. If anything, the man was excited, his cock already hard with a drop of pre-come ghosting the head of it. When Devin’s butt was revealed, Ace changed his plans. He had been longing to spank that ass from the first day he saw it and he figured now was as good a time as any to do it.
“Come and drape yourself over my knees,” Ace said firmly. A flicker of surprise raced over Devin’s face and was just as quickly gone, the man a perfect mask of submissiveness. With fluid movements, Devin arranged himself over Ace’s broad thighs, his dick resting between Ace’s leg muscles. Ace ran a firm hand over Devin’s marbled back and inwardly cursed the fact he hadn’t thought to remove his own clothes first.
Reminding himself that he needed to tend to his mate’s needs Ace raised and then brought down his hand hard on Devin’s ass. Setting up a quick, but irregular rhythm, Ace alternated between solid hits that were hard enough to sting his palm, and lighter repeated touches designed to give a low burn, rather than a sharp bruise. Devin lay passively at first, but as time went on, and Ace didn’t let up, Devin started to move, to gasp and moan, trying to raise his backside so that he could meet the continued slaps.
Just as Ace had dreamed, Devin’s skin took the blows beautifully, pinking and then reddening where different slaps overlapped. In a short time his mate’s ass and thighs were completely covered in a radiant color and his usually cool skin was hot to the touch.
When Ace could see some of the marks becoming purple he stopped. He spent a moment indulging himself in running his hand over the sensitive skin. Pushing with just enough pressure so that Devin could feel it, and the underlying burn, Ace worked the skin until he felt Devin settle and the tension, while still there, quietened and Ace guessed it would be more manageable. But with Ace’s practiced eye, it was clear his mate needed more.
“Let me help you get on your feet, boy. I need you to stand for this next part.”
Devin wasn’t clumsy on his feet, but he did stumble a few times, and Ace wrapped his arm around the slim waist as he helped the man over to the wall with the window.
“Put your hands up and grasp the bars, we are going to have to improvise here. Do not let go.”
“Yes, Master.”
Devin’s soft acquiescence and his use of the word Master, as though it was a caress, shot through Ace’s body like an arrow, lodging firmly in his balls. Stifling a groan, he removed his belt, testing it for thickness and weight. It wasn’t ideal. Too thick to provide much in the way of stinging pain, which Ace feared his mate craved, but it was all he had to hand.
“Your safe word is red. If you need me to stop and change tactics, use the word yellow. Understood.”
“Yes, Master. Red for stop, yellow for different.” Devin’s tone was firmer now and Ace’s sharp eyes noted the shimmer that ran through his mate’s body. Praying to the Fates he could give Devin what he needed, Ace lifted the belt and struck in a clear straight line diagonally across Devin’s back. Working quickly, Ace applied the belt as best he could – using the end to apply as much sting as possible and crisscrossing his welts, knowing that where two lines intersected would provide more sensation for his vampire.
“Thank you Master, don’t stop,” Devin groaned.
“Not going to boy,” Ace grunted, putting as much effort into his swings as he could. Pulling on his years of experience he made sure that every lash was laid down one inch down from the next, allowing the burn to radiate from every welt. Just ten minutes later, Devin was struggling to hold onto the bars, but Ace was thrilled that he continued to hang on tight.
Unfortunately that wiggling ass was tempting Ace’s control with every second. Finishing a final welt that ran straight across the swell of Devin’s pink buttocks, Ace dropped his belt and snicked open the button on his jeans.
“Have to fuck you, mate,” Ace said, stepping up behind that heated ass. The sensual heat coming off of Devin’s body made him groan.
“Yes,
amatus
, fuck yes.” Devin moaned in reply. Then he leaned his head over his shoulder and said with a small smile, “Lube in my pants pocket.”
“You’re an angel,” Ace said, his answering grin the first to grace his face in days. Quickly he found the couple of single use sachets in Devin’s front pocket, slinging the jeans back on the floor. Less than two minutes later he was sinking his cock into the most delicious heat he had every encountered, his mate’s sinful moan urging him on.
As the two men found their rhythm Ace ran hard hands over the welts on Devin’s back and ass, causing Devin to moan and writhe even more.
“Soon,
amatus
, please soon,” Devin wailed.
“Wait for me,” Ace grunted, stepping up the pace. His balls felt tight, and the tingling in his spine signaled he was close. As he felt his orgasm reach the point of no return he flicked out his claws and ran them straight down Devin’s back leaving a set of gouges that flared brightly against the welts.
“Now,” he said as he scratched again, deep and sure. Devin screamed. Ace could smell his mate’s spunk as it hit the wall, Devin’s inner muscles milking his balls dry. Ace allowed himself to sag against his mate’s body, confident that his strong vampire would hold him up. The heat from Devin’s skin was intoxicating, but there wasn’t a hint of tension left in the man’s body. It would seem the blood urge had passed for now, at least.
When he had got his breath back under control, Ace carefully pulled out, gathering Devin in his arms and gently carrying him over to the narrow bed, settling them both on the mattress with Devin on his lap. He gently nudged the plaint man’s mouth into his neck.
“Feed,” Ace ordered softly and was rewarded seconds later with the slight pain signaling twin fangs were now embedded in his neck. As had happened the last time, Ace felt an overwhelming sense of calm hitting both him and his wolf as his mate fed. His wolf adored the way that they could provide for their mate in this unique way. Ace kept up a steady rhythm of stroking up and down Devin’s back, the heat already cooling as Devin’s body started to heal. Ace was happy though. This was the sort of aftercare he had dreamed of sharing with another, with an added zing.
When Devin lifted his head, and licked the slight wounds closed, he nuzzled back into Ace’s arms. Despite a possible death sentence hanging over his head, Ace had never felt so complete and so at peace. He nuzzled Devin’s soft hair, soaking in the man’s scent and thanked the Fates for this chance to be with his mate one more time. But all too soon he knew he was going to have to have a discussion with his mate. Devin had to know how serious things had gotten. Pearson’s reluctance to see him was not a good sign, and Ace knew that.
“I am overjoyed you are here, little mate,” Ace said. “But I don’t understand what made you come. Things are not looking good for me right now.”
“That’s part of the reason I should be here,” Devin said firmly. “I did try to follow your orders, I honestly did. But when the urge hit me, and I was so incredibly lonely without you…I remembered how wolf shifters gave a lot of respect to the mating mark, and figured it had to be worth a chance to see you.”
“They’re considering my death, precious. The fact that I haven’t seen the Alpha at all is not a good sign. I plan to tell Pearson about you, if they will let me see him, so that you can be cared for, but you have to accept that under pack law, I could be killed for what I did.”
Ace didn’t bother to sugar-coat his words. Devin was a man, a strong man and he needed to hear the truth. Ace had never regretted his actions against Teric more than he did in that moment. To be torn away from his mate now would be worse than death, and Ace gripped Devin tighter in his arms as though to prevent that from happening.
“I spoke to the Alpha too. I had to, to get them to let me see you,” Devin said slowly. “
Amatus
, I don’t think you quite understand what it means now that we are mated. If you die, then I will too. That is the way of our kind. Our life threads are entwined because vampires live longer than any other species. The moment you die, I do too.”
“But…but…surely if the mating bond is broken by my death, then you would be free of me. You could take another master.”
Ace couldn’t believe it when Devin shook his head, his violet eyes sad but resigned.
“No,
amatus
. I have fed from you – my true mate. My body now is attuned to yours. I will never be able to feed from another, and you are now the only one who can help me curb the blood urge when they come. With our life force entwined if anything happens to you, then I feel it. When you die, my life force expires as well. I explained all that, well, at least I thought I did. Isn’t it the same with mated wolves?”
“Not quite like that, no. A mated shifter will usually pine to death if their partner dies, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Not if the wolf has support from pack and family members. It is hard, but it is possible to live after a claimed one’s death. That is how mothers survive the death of a mate – if they have cubs they focus on that and hopefully, usually, the cubs provide enough incentive for the mothers to live.”
Ace let his words trail off as the full horror of what he had done, hit him like a ten ton truck. His nerves were swamped with fear and his panic grew. He had been resigned to his own death. If the Alpha demanded it, then it was pack law and Ace would have submitted. Given up without a fight because despite his issues with other species, Ace was a loyal wolf to the core. But he never dreamed that he would be sentencing Devin to the same fate. It was more than his heart could comprehend and all of a sudden Ace could barely breathe. He started to choke, his throat closed up, his gut cramped and his eyes filled with tears.