Famished for him, even though they’d been together earlier in the day, Renner wanted to take Quintus in his mouth, but Quintus refused.
“This time, let me take care of you.” Quintus finished taking off Renner’s clothing, kissing him everywhere. When he had him totally bare, he urged him onto the bed then climbed up beside him. More kisses followed, and Renner felt he would explode from a combination of longing and fear.
“What if he comes in?”
“Then he does.” Quintus got Renner facedown on the bed and then kissed his way along his back.
“Did you tell him?”
“No.” Quintus parted Renner’s cheeks. “I don’t want to cause trouble.”
“This is going to—oh.” Renner stopped talking when Quintus teased his tongue around his hole. He couldn’t remember ever being so sensitized to another’s touch.
“I want you. I want only you.” Between his murmured words, Quintus teased Renner until he was practically thrashing with need. He found the bottle of greasers on the bedside table and slid one inside.
Just when Renner didn’t think he could take anymore, Quintus rolled him over so he was face up, slid between his legs, but he didn’t enter him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Everything.” Quintus lowered his body over Renner, but he still didn’t penetrate him.
“Please, I want to feel you inside me.”
“I want that, too.” Quintus kissed the edge of Renner’s ear, then licked and bit his earlobe. “But I want so much more.”
“Anything.”
“I want you to bite me.”
Renner shook his head. “If McBride won’t let us stay together, then a bloodbond will kill us when he separates us.”
“He’ll let us stay together if he sees that it’s too late.” Quintus nuzzled the scar on Renner’s neck.
“We should wait until we’re certain.”
Quintus kept right on teasing his neck, making him crazed, but Renner didn’t want to compound his error. No matter how badly his canines itched, he wasn’t going to bite Quintus.
Quintus knew he shouldn’t push Renner to bloodbond, but he thought if they took that final step, McBride would have to let them stay together. From the brief conversation they’d had about Jonas and Ollie, that seemed to be what compelled McBride to not only allow their relationship to continue, but to offer out himself to cover them.
“You’re right. We should wait.” As soon as Quintus spoke, Renner relaxed below him. “Forgive me.”
“I do.” Renner rested his head on the pillow while Quintus held himself up over him. “You know I do.”
“I just—I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t.”
Quintus wanted to believe him, but after the toast tonight, he wasn’t so sure McBride was going to let him go, especially not when gentrymen were at a premium. For all they knew, they were the last two gentrymen left in the entire county of Woven Spire.
“Don’t you like McBride?” Renner’s question was hesitant, almost like he didn’t want to know the truth.
“He’s handsome, and he clearly cares about his men, but…”
Renner lifted his brows, waiting to hear the rest.
“I’m not attracted to him that way.” Quintus sighed and kissed Renner’s shoulder softly. “As soon as you knelt down beside me to comfort me, I knew I wanted you.”
Rather than talk anymore, Quintus fell to kissing Renner. Today, they’d snuggled in his bed because he thought the time to let go had come, but he found he simply couldn’t. As he and McBride stepped out to feed, he chose Renner, thinking he could have him one last time, but that was impossible. Quintus knew it wasn’t fair to Renner, McBride, or himself to try to juggle two men in a relationship. But more than that, McBride deserved better. He should have a mate who truly wanted him. While Quintus found him attractive, the zing wasn’t there, not like it was with Renner.
What made things even more perfect with Renner was Quintus could be himself. He liked to be in charge sexually and Renner liked to submit. McBride would not be so accommodating.
“You’re thinking of him.”
“How can you tell?” Quintus didn’t see any reason to deny the truth.
“Your forehead is all wrinkled up. You look frustrated.”
Quintus lifted up his hips until he had his cock centered against Renner. “There. That has pretty much made you the soul focus of my mind.”
Renner grinned. “I like the way you think.”
“Do you?”
Renner nodded.
Quintus slowly eased his way inside. He wanted to watch his expression, but he also wanted to memorize every feature. Something inside feared that this would be the last time. McBride had tipped his hand in front of all his men tonight. If he allowed one of his men to claim his mate, it would make him look weak. In the new world order, strength and power were profoundly important.
When Renner frowned up at him, Quintus knew he had done it again. He was here with the man he knew he should be with, yet he was thinking of another. Vowing not to think of McBride again, Quintus kissed his mate deeply as he worked more of his cock inside his tight ass. Renner angled himself up to receive him. What cleared all thoughts from Quintus’s mind was the music of surrender that Renner made.
Renner sighed, groaned, growled, and even managed to purr. He was expressive in all that he did. His body relaxed and strained, blending almost effortlessly with Quintus’s. Watching him, knowing that he was responsible for giving such intense pleasure to another, made Quintus feel powerful. That feeling of control was tempered by the fact that if he were a cruel man, which he wasn’t, he could hurt him just as easily as he pleasured him.
“Every sound you make pushes me higher.”
“Me? You’re the one growling in my ear and making me practically melt.”
“Growling?” Quintus had been completely unaware he was making such a rough noise, but he realized he was. “It’s you. You bring out the beast in me.”
When Quintus growled and bit along the side of his neck playfully, Renner surrendered beneath him. By lifting his hands and spreading his legs wide, Renner was offering up his entire body for Quintus. Unlike a true conqueror, Quintus didn’t plunder and pillage without mercy. He took everything Renner had to give, but he gave back even more. Everything he did he timed to give the man below him, the man he knew he wanted to be with until the end of time, everything he had.
Sweat poured off his body and Renner’s, making them slide together with frictionless ease. Each time Quintus went as deep as he could, he thought that was the limit, but they’d rock together until he went just a bit farther. When the moment for release came, Quintus lifted up and looked down at Renner.
His gaze was softly focused, dreamy, and so welcoming it was almost like they’d always been together. Nothing could touch them when they were enmeshed like this. When he looked at him and really saw him, Quintus saw a man who could run the gamut of very sweet to down-and-dirty kinky. He was compassionate, kind, yet he had his moments of utter cunning. Renner was everything Quintus had been looking for.
“I love you.”
Surprise widened Renner’s eyes, but a welcoming joy tilted them up at the corners. “I love you, too.”
Pleased, Quintus kissed him passionately, but he didn’t rock faster. He wanted to drag out the moment of bliss. It seemed to last for most of the night, but eventually, Quintus increased his rhythm as Renner tightened his ass around his cock. Each stroke became more difficult but also more pleasurable because he had to fight to get buried back in his mate.
When Renner wrapped his legs around Quintus, clinging to him as he fucked, Quintus poured everything he had into the moment until he climaxed. After being denied for so long, the release was the most intense one Quintus had ever experienced. His whole body seemed to collapse as he filled Renner.
Renner gripped up on him so tight Quintus couldn’t breathe, and then his head went back, urging Quintus to bite, which he did. Another orgasm tumbled through him, locking him to Renner as they shivered and shook. Nothing in his life could have ever prepared him for the powerful beauty of the moment. Renner was his completely. Or so he thought. But when he felt Renner’s tentative bite against his neck, he arched his head to the side, encouraging him.
Quintus wanted him to stop yet wanted him to continue. It was a lovely confusion of lust and fear. This would be the ultimate step. More than joining their bodies or blending their souls with declarations of love, binding their blood was unbreakable by anything known to man. After a few scratches that heightened Quintus’s awareness of the fragile nature of his neck, Renner bit him.
The shock of his life force flowing out to another prompted him to flick his hips, which set off another profound release. His entire body shook as Renner drank. While he slaked his bloodlust, he, too, twitched and found another release against their tightly pressing bodies. After a long pull at his neck, Renner licked the wound closed.
Rising up, Quintus looked down at him.
It seemed that Renner realized what he’d done. Babbling excuses were cut off when Quintus merged their mouths and shared the taste of their blood. Renner hugged him hard, his fear giving way to happiness. They were completely bonded now. There was no turning back. And again Quintus was left with the frightening notion of telling McBride the truth.
“Are you here to finish what we started in the bathroom?” Caleb’s white dress shirt hung open, revealing his tanned chest. His slacks were black, and even with the generous cut, they somehow managed to display his cock. Dressed up, dressed down, or completely undressed, Caleb was stunning.
McBride’s teeth itched, but it wasn’t just a need to drink pushing all his buttons. It was his unquenchable longing for Caleb. Why couldn’t he just stop the thoughts that drove him to the brink of madness? Tonight, he’d practically shouted his intentions toward Quintus, but in all honesty, he’d felt nothing for him beyond friendship. But McBride believed that once he’d locked himself into a declaration, he had to honor it. Besides, as soon as he wanted him, Caleb would find another issue to put between them.
“I’m here to feed before I go to bed.” McBride had watched Quintus walk over to Renner’s house to feed and get his leg checked while he chose to go to Caleb’s. “Besides Renner, who’s tending to Quintus, you’re the only one left without a mate.”
Caleb bristled but then very deliberately shrugged his annoyance off. “I’ll get my mate. It seems he can’t stay away from me for long.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” McBride laughed lightly. “All the others are in bed. Rather than disturb them, I came to the only man I knew wouldn’t be entwined in another’s arms.”
“I’m not the only one going armless this evening.” Caleb very deliberately slipped off his white shirt and untied his long black hair. Clearly, he knew how much McBride liked to see the strands draped over his strong shoulders.
McBride let a dozen comebacks filter through his mind, but he chose to leave them unspoken. Getting into a verbal sparring match would only excite his hormones. Caleb seemed to be the only man capable of engaging McBride’s lust by infuriating him. However, when he refused to toss back a rude comment of his own, Caleb continued to taunt him.
“Why don’t you just go feed from your future mate?” One sleek brow rose over a dangerous green eye. Caleb was smugly assured that McBride would do no such thing.
“He’s recovering.” McBride felt compelled to add to that comment even though he knew he didn’t owe Caleb an explanation or a justification. He found he wanted to put an end to this once and for all. So he lied. And he very deliberately chose the one lie there wouldn’t be any coming back from. “After claiming him with my body, he was too wiped out to finish with blood. Perhaps tomorrow we can complete the actual ceremony.” McBride paused for a moment to let all that sink in. “We’ll need a witness. I think Jonas—”
“You had sex with him?” Caleb’s voice was hushed and hurt.
“Of course.” McBride peered at Caleb as if he didn’t understand why he’d ask such a thing. “I had to be careful, what with his injured leg, but we managed.” McBride tossed the comment off as if he were discussing nothing more important than the weather. He knew his blow landed when Caleb curled in a bit as if he’d been punched in the belly. It would have been a triumphant moment, but McBride had never felt more like a hateful bully than he did right then. The only other thing in his life that had hurt almost as much was when he’d finally confessed to Caleb that he wanted him no matter what and Caleb had turned away. Somehow, this hurt more because he was deliberately hurting the man he loved.
All the bright vitality seemed to drain right out of Caleb. McBride felt cruel, but he had to put an end to their constant back-and-forth. Nothing would finish things sooner than the idea that McBride wasn’t just putting on a show of moving on but had actually moved on.
“What did you think, Caleb? I was going to sit on my hands pining away for you for the rest of my life?”
“Get out.” Caleb pointed to the door.
“Are you forgetting who I am?”
Caleb clearly wanted to say more, but he realized if he did, he was digging himself a hole he couldn’t get out of. For some perverse reason, McBride decided to help him shovel.