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Then Eric had turned and noticed Ivan, had seen the way Ivan did not look through him, and had stepped forward to speak to him.

Ivan’s reaction had been immediate and part of his usual routine.  He’d jumped away from the approaching spirit and shrieked at him.  Partially due to fear of attacks and torture, and partially in an attempt to scare the ghost away before it could possess him.

The spirits who possessed Ivan had a terrible habit of attempting to push him out of his own body. That was always the most frightening part. That they would kill him to regain their lives.

In his shock at all the yelling, Eric had fled.

Ivan had then sat on his bed, heart pounding at the encounter, and no more than an hour later did another spirit arrive, and this one would not be cowed by Ivan’s screams.

Soon, he was not merely screaming to get rid of the ghost, but because of the pain the spirit was putting him through as it had punched, clawed, bit, and slapped at Ivan, attempting to force itself inside of Ivan’s body.

The spirits passed through most people, but they could touch Ivan

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all they liked, and despite his vampire strength, the will and strength  of a ghost seeking to return to life was always greater.

Fortunately for Ivan, he’d requested that his room be  soundproofed to prevent his nightmares from disturbing the rest of the  family during their sleeping hours.

Perhaps meeting Eric had been something of a miracle. Any other  ghost would have taken him and tossed him out of his body in an  instant had he shown any sort of weakness to them.

Not Eric.

“I’ve missed you,” Ivan confessed, and he leaned down, allowing

his head to rest on Eric’s shoulder.

This time Eric was the one to shiver. Ivan was still attempting to figure out how a bodily reaction in a dead spirit was possible. Eric passed through every other body that he tried to make contact with.  Perhaps his physical reaction was simply because Ivan was the only person he could be physical with.

Ivan was disappointed, though not shocked, when Eric did not return the sentiment.

Eric protected Ivan from the other spirits, and for a time, Ivan had come to see Eric as something of a friend.

Ever since coming to this land and meeting Eric’s twin brother,  Ivan was no longer sure what they were to each other.

Ivan used to lean against Eric like this often, and the other man would put his arm around Ivan’s shoulder, inviting him closer, apparently stunned that he could still experience physical pleasure through touch.

Ivan decided to stop being a coward and give it a try. He put his hand on Eric’s thigh and kissed his neck. His throat worked as he swallowed, and his strong jaw went tight. If someone were to walk into the clearing, would they see Ivan holding onto nothing, pressing his lips against air? He wasn’t sure because no one had ever stumbled upon them during these moments.

There hadn’t been any moments like these ever since Ivan arrived

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at this pack.

Eric inhaled sharply, and Ivan could feel the man’s thigh become  stiffer as his body reacted. His cock lengthened and became hard.

Again, Ivan did not know how this was possible, because this was  definitely a spirit sitting next to him. Ivan heard no pumping of a  heart, scented no blood beneath Eric’s skin, and yet there was  apparently enough blood in his spiritual body to form an erection.

Ivan reached for it when Eric took him by the wrist. His grip was  not strong, but the signal to stop was loud and clear. And  disappointing.

Ivan hated how the rejection made him want to weep, punch,  snarl, and kick. All of those angry emotions running through him at  the same time could not be healthy for him.

Eric stood up. He did not need to brush any dirt or blades of grass  from his legs, because, although the imprint of his body was on the  ground, nothing came back up.

“I need to be going,” Eric said.

Ivan was angry and in no mood to be accommodating. “Where  does a spirit
 
need
 
to go?”

“I hear my brother coming. I’ll talk with you later.”

Ivan spun around just as Eric turned his back on him and began to  walk away. Where he was walking to, Ivan did not know since the  man vanished from sight midstep.

Ivan bent his head and rested his forehead on his knees. His body  still pulsed and hummed with how close he had been to Eric, but Eric  was denying him again.

Ivan willed away his erection. The task of making himself flaccid  was becoming more and more difficult with every time that Eric  refused him.

At the age of forty, young for a vampire but still old enough to have some experience, Ivan had had a few partners in his life. That, however, was before his condition had been discovered by others as  Ivan could not keep it secret any longer, and suddenly no male wished

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to come anywhere near the insane, screaming prince.

Eric was Ivan’s first lover in nearly twenty-two years, and he  wasn’t even alive. Spirit or not, Ivan enjoyed taking advantage of  their lust for each other.

Ivan had told himself that if Eric was simply using the sex as a form of payment for the protection against the other spirits, he didn’t

care.

That bargain had been in the beginning of their love affair. Ivan was shocked that he would be so hurt that Eric would no longer wish to be with him.

He wished he understood why.

Eric had been correct, though, when he stated that his twin brother was approaching. Perhaps he was simply putting off the sex because there were more people around here than there were when Ivan had been living as a prince. More people, no soundproof walls, and a better chance of being caught.

Perhaps Eric’s rejection was simply another way of protecting  Ivan. This time from humiliation rather than physical attack.

Eli walked at a leisurely pace. Though he looked completely identical to his dead brother, short and dark hair, strong body and wide shoulders, the differences were clear.

For one, this man was wearing clothing, and his cheeks were not pale with death. Ivan could also smell his blood flowing through his veins and under his skin as his heart pumped in his chest.

Ivan sighed at the sight of him and returned to staring into the pond.

It was not that he disliked Eli, but Ivan would rather the company of Eric than of his twin brother.

Eli seemed to be the only person in the pack who believed that  Ivan might actually have a connection with spirits, and he had a particular interest in Ivan ever since he began speaking of his dead brother.

There was still that twinge of doubt in his voice whenever he

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spoke, as though he worried that perhaps Ivan truly was crazy and that

he should be careful with his words around him.

Ivan hated being spoken to like a child.

“Hey, Ivan. How’s it been going?”

Ivan prepared himself for the usual polite questions that came before the cautious inquiries.

“Very well, thank you. And yourself?”

Eli shrugged, and then he sat in the exact same place Eric had just vacated. “Pretty good. Pretty good. Have you seen Eric today?”

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Chapter Two

Eric watched from the sidelines as his brother spoke with Ivan. It was a pain in the ass having to strain his ears like he did just to be able to hear them. He’d lost pretty much all of his werewolf senses after he’d died, and now he felt like he was half-deaf compared to before.

Really, they weren’t sitting that far away. Eric used to be able to hear from that distance no problem, now it was like he had human ears or something. He didn’t know how they survived as a species if this was all they had to work with.

He could always make himself invisible, which was a neat trade off, and just walk up behind them to listen to what was being said, but the problem was that it didn’t always work on Ivan. That was Ivan’s trick for being able to see the spirits around him.

Those were reasons enough to stay hidden behind the bushes and trees, watching as his brother conversed with Ivan with ease, his eyes lit up as Ivan spoke, his body tense with excitement.

Eli had a mate, and Eric was pretty sure his brother wasn’t the kind of wolf who would want to bring in other lovers to that relationship, but how well could he know that? A lot had changed since Eric had been away. His brother was certainly not the man Eric remembered him as.

He was a recovering alcoholic, hardly the fun, upbeat person he used to be, but at least he had his mate Chris to help him. Eli was definitely a little more like himself whenever his mate was around.

Eric sighed. He was just acting jealous. Jealous that his brother, his still-alive brother, could sit next to Ivan and speak with him as

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normal people did. Should anyone walk into this clearing, they would  not see Ivan speaking to himself, or kissing the air like a psychopath.

Ivan was beautiful, too. Eric wanted nothing better than to go to  him and kiss him. The vampire was a stark contrast to his brother’s  darker, more tanned form. Hair that was so blond it was practically  white, a lean build, and pale skin.

Eric had to look away, trying to push away the desire he felt. He  really was no better than those spirits who had abused Ivan for all  those years. Even now he could see them, surrounding the pond in a  wide circle. Surrounding Ivan.

There were only five of them that Eric could see, and they could  see him, which was exactly the reason why none of them made  themselves known to Ivan or attacked him.

A ghost might not be able to manipulate the normal people and objects around them, but they could damn sure attack each other.

Eric had attacked them violently enough before that they had finally learned their lesson. This was the reason they stayed away, and why he could not go too far from Ivan.

It was also the reason why Ivan had fallen in love with Eric.

Since Ivan was a tortured man, vampire in this case, alone in the world with hardly anyone except for his demons for company, it was to be expected that he would grow attached to Eric as his protector.

Eric wouldn’t stop protecting him, but it was wrong of him to string Ivan along, no matter how good it felt, how alive he was when they came together.

Ivan was alive, and Eric was dead. He needed to accept that fact and allow Ivan to move on with his life.

Eric sat down and wrapped his arms around his knees with a sigh, still listening to the conversation and watching their exchange. It was innocent. It always was.

Maybe if Eric still had a life to live, moving on for him wouldn’t be such an impossible thing to do.

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* * * *

Ivan returned to his new lodgings. They were small compared to what he was used to but much more peaceful. The quiet used to put a sliver of unease into him. Now he welcomed it.

Eli had been persistent, as usual, in his questions about his brother. Ivan answered as best as he could, assuring the other man that Eric was not in any pain, and that he passed on his love to Eli and his new mate, but every time Eli came to Ivan, it was as though he expected different answers, and Ivan no longer knew what to tell the other man.

Ivan had never had to deal with jealous family members before, but he supposed it was to be expected, considering Ivan had a link with Eli’s twin brother and Eli did not.

The soft knock at his door, cracking through the silence despite the small sound, made him jump. “Enter,” he called.

Vlad opened the door and poked his head inside.

Ivan smiled, genuinely happy to see his younger brother.

Vlad, however, looked at Ivan as though he were getting ready to scold a small child. “I heard you went out to the pond by yourself again.”

Ivan bit down on his lips. He loved his brother, appreciated how protective Vlad could be of him, considering Ivan’s history, but he despised being treated like a child.

“I was not alone.”
 
For the most part
.

Vlad appeared hesitant, like he was afraid his words could send  Ivan into a downward mental spiral of screaming and fear and scratching and punching himself.

Ivan had only ever done such things to himself to force the spirits out of him or because they were forcing him to hurt himself.

“You were…with the ghosts?”

“There was one spirit in particular there, yes.” As usual, however, that spirit had come and gone in quick succession. “Then Eli came

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