Page 10 of Only You, No One Else

He started to question him when Mark’s hand hovered over the blood still coating the injury Damien’s blade had inflicted. “He hurt you.” The pain was a memory, as was the wound, his skin stitched together by his rapid healing. Mark’s fingers glided over the ghost of the injury, drawing a different kind of sensation. “It was my fault, right?”

He frowned.

“That you didn’t see his blade coming. I distracted you.”

Caster smiled. “Yes.”

Silence, punctuated by their breaths, heightened by the desire hiding behind a mind Mark did not try to fortify, followed the confession.

“What is it?” Caster needed him to voice it, the images racing across his mind too numerous to decipher.

“I want…” Mark took a breath, his eyes still on the non-existent injury he couldn’t stop touching. “Please make it go away.”

Caster’s breath caught. The images of surrender, relief, and unbridled desire floating through his mind made sense now, but they were in sharp contrast with the panic the rhythm of his heart couldn’t conceal. He reached for Mark’s hand, ending its latest distracting pass over his shoulder. “Look at me!”

Brown eyes met his, Mark’s exhale a gasp.

“Tell me what you want.” His eyes started to drift shut, but Caster shook his head, using his hold to pull him tighter. “Ask me. I’d give you the world. But I need to hear the words.”

Mark’s nod was small, his voice a tiny whisper. “I don’t want to think. Please, Caster… make it all stop.”

“You’re sure?”

“For today. For a few days? I’m just so tired…”

Caster couldn’t have resisted the pull if he’d called on all his strength. The tentative kiss from before was gone, its reverence replaced by Mark’s unfiltered desire for his dominance, his control. Caster pulled Mark even closer, reveling in the way his body went slack against his, accepting the assault in a surrender unique in its genuine honesty.

He pulled away with little warning, keeping his hand on the small of Mark’s back to steady him.

When he was sure he wouldn’t crash to the floor, he grabbed his hand, intending to hold on forever. Zeke or no Zeke, Mark was his. “Come with me.”

CHAPTER 7

Mark’s eyes opened in a slow, steady rhythm matching the beat of his heart. His muscles didn’t coil for attack. No darkness, only the contentment that came with the safety of waking up surrounded by Caster’s scent. He closed his eyes again, reveling in the rest he hadn’t known his body needed. His ass clenched, the memory of their desperate lovemaking the night before intensifying his arousal. His wolf crawled to the fore of his mind, the healing elixir he always brought with him warming his body, easing the soreness.

He wanted to stay here forever, never think, never worry, just trust Caster would be there to guide him through the disaster his life had become.

“Good. That’s what’s going to happen.”

He gasped, his eyes popping open to see Caster leaning against the bathroom door, fully dressed. How had he failed to notice him before?

“You were having a really good dream, I think.” He didn’t move, but he didn’t need to. His eyes glided over Mark’s naked form, intensifying his arousal.

Mark moaned, wishing he could touch himself, but knowing it would be a mistake.

“Yes. It would.” Caster pushed away from the wall, his casual movement further adding to Mark’s discomfort. “Get dressed. We need to go.”

He frowned, the question stuck in his mind, and Caster moved too fast for his eyes to follow. Their faces were inches apart in a fraction of a second, the storm in the gray eyes threatening to drown him, and he realized his mistake.

He tried to lower his gaze, but Caster’s tight hold at the back of his neck intensified, a dull ache racing from the contact through his mind. “You question me again…”

“I’m sorry, I forgot…”

The hold tightened, his eyes watered, the pain increasing his arousal. His wolf displayed its submission, retreating to a corner, vulnerable and trusting.

Caster’s tight grip eased to a caress, and Mark couldn’t have contained his moan if he’d had the strength of a thousand vampires.

A gentle nudge urged him to look at Caster’s face. The anger he expected was nonexistent; in its place more concern than he knew what to do with. “Can you feel him? Your wolf?”