“I do,” he disagreed. “You didn’t do it. I know that now.”
Madoc grazed a kiss along Took’s jaw. It was glazed with a starburst of little scars, like threads under his lips. “Because you know I love you and I’d never hurt you?” It was a promise as much as anything else—a pledge.
“Well, yeah, and because you were in New York,” Took said.
For some reason that didn’t sting. It was such a typicallyhimresponse that it just made Madoc chuckle against Took’s throat.
“Heartwarming,” he drawled as he worked his way down to the still pulse point in Took’s throat. He bit down roughly on the thin skin, careful not to graze the old wound with his fangs, and felt Took clutch desperately at him.
Hunger clenched in Madoc’s groin, a hot drag of lust at his balls and cock, but he tried to ignore it. The justification for this was that it was what Took needed, not just what Madoc wanted.
“I alwayswantedto trust you,” Took said, his voice stiff with the discomfort of honesty. “There was no reason to, though, and that scared me. It made me second-guess myself, because my mind’s not what it was. I can’t trust it like I used to.”
That sounded almost rote, like something he’d learned at someone else’s knee. It pricked at something in Madoc’s brain. There was a familiar cant to the words, but he couldn’t put his finger on it just yet. He flagged it for later attention.
“The minute you looked at this case, you knew there was something wrong,” Madoc pointed out. “Without you, Waring would be dead and Nora Aron would still be in her box. You’re still a smart bastard and a bit of a dick about it. Not that much has changed.”
“And you say you love me?” Took joked awkwardly.
“Yes,” Madoc said simply. He did. Everyone knew it. Even Took knew it, for all he didn’t trust it. He tilted Took’s chin down and kissed him again, words murmured between his lips. “Prickly, smartass, suspicious….”
“Ruined?”
Madoc bit him. This time he didn’t bother to guard his fangs. Took yelped at the sharp little pain and then leaned into it, one hand cupped around the back of Madoc’s skull. His mouth slanted hungrily over Madoc’s, slick with blood and edged with wickedly sharp, still-new fangs. The scrapes they left on Madoc’s lips, along the edges of his tongue, made Took gasp and lick hungrily at the small wounds. It was sweet foreplay, but a dribble of blood wasn’t enough to mend him.
“Did I hurt you?” Madoc asked as he grabbed a handful of Took’s hair, knuckles pressed against the hard bones of his skull, and pulled his head back.
Passion glazed Took’s eyes, his pupils swollen and rimmed with blue as he licked black-stained lips.
“No,” he admitted slowly. “But I don’t… I’ve never….”
Virginity hadn’t impressed Madoc that much for a long time. It was just something that someone hadn’t gotten around to yet. You might as well be excited that someone hadn’t eaten a steak before. But the idea of being Took’s first Kiss was different. The mixture of nerves and lust as Took looked at his throat, his tongue pressed absently against the point of his fang as he thought about it, caught in Madoc’s balls and twisted into a hard knot of lust.
“If you do it wrong,” Madoc said as he guided Took’s head down to his throat, “I’ll tell you.”
Took licked his throat and then kissed the wet spot, lips soft and cool as the desert air. “This is sex, right?” he asked as he gripped the curve of Madoc’s ass in both hands and pulled him closer. The hard jut of his erection pushed against Madoc’s hip, eager under his slouched trousers. “Or am I just… off?”
It was a light question, but there was a hint of real fear under it, the dark undercurrent of “something wrong with me” that bubbled up in him every now and again.
Madoc nuzzled his temple as he considered how to answer the question. He stroked his thumb down to the soft dimple of skin under Took’s ear.
“If you never wanted to bite me again, I’d still fuck you,” he said. “If you never wanted to fuck me again, this would be really awkward.”
He worked his hand down between their bodies and into Took’s trousers. His fingers shackled the hard rise of Took’s cock, hard flesh wrapped in cool satin, and squeezed. Took groaned and bit down.
It did hurt. Took didn’t put enough pressure behind the bite—his fangs tore the skin instead of pierced it—and he chewed around the wound. It didn’t matter. Pleasure crawled hot through his veins. Some Anakim claimed it was a pulse of their old life, a reminder from Enoch that they’d once been human. Madoc had always run cool, even when he breathed, so it was a sweet rush of silken lust. And it was Took.
Took mumbled an apology as he nuzzled against Madoc’s neck. He lapped at the blood that spilled down Madoc’s throat and pressed closer as he sucked hungrily on the wound. Madoc groaned thick approval in the back of his throat as he tipped his head back pliantly, his fingers buried in Took’s dense, sandy-blond hair. It curled damply around his fingers.
He tugged on Took’s cock in time with the ragged, thirsty pressure against his throat. Each time he twisted his fist around the wet, tender head, Took moaned something hungry and half-strangled against his throat.
Under his pants, Madoc’s cock was so hard it ached. The throb of frustration clenched heavily in his balls and spread down his tense thigh muscles and up into his stomach. The ache of it settled behind the familiar sting of the thorn hooked through his navel until he could hardly feel the throb of the old brand.
Took unlatched from Madoc’s throat and lifted his head. His lips were black with blood, and the raw hole in his cheek had already faded to a puckered scar.
“So,” Took said as he licked the blood off his lips. He leaned to brush a kiss over Madoc’s lips. The taste of his own blood came back, spiced with the curse of another vampire’s Kiss. The sharpness of it, pine and snow and the ozone of a storm, caught on Madoc’s tongue like mulled wine. It almost distracted him from the sly curve of Took’s mouth against his. “You want to try and bend me over this bed? Because I’m not sure it can take it.”
Madoc wanted to hesitate, to protest nobly that it wasn’t necessary, that he’d wall his feelings up and play the platonic friend… once, that is, he let go of Took’s dick. It was the sort of thing he supposed a good man would do.
