Perilous Partnership (39 page)

“It‟s a gift,” Jean said smugly, unfolding the blanket in the seatback pocket and spreading it over them. Once he had it settled, he dropped his hand to Raymond‟s groin, squeezing lightly. “I could take you out right now and stroke you, and no one would be any wiser.” He ran his hand down the cloth-covered length. “Although you‟d have to be very, very quiet.”

The captain turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, and Raymond was out of his seat like a rocket, flashing a look over his shoulder that promised retribution.

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Jean leaned back in his chair and relaxed for a moment before rising and following his lover.

Pushing inside the cramped space, he locked the door. “Do the spell, because I‟m going to make you scream.”

Raymond barely had time to cast the spell before Jean pulled open his shirt, biting deeply into Raymond‟s chest. Raymond cried out at the sharp pinch, but it dissolved quickly into the pleasure that only came from Jean‟s fangs in his body. He kept expecting his lover to open his pants or to caress him, but Jean‟s hands remained planted on the sink behind Raymond, only his fangs touching Raymond in any appreciable way. The wizard tried to press closer, to rub their bodies together in invitation, but Jean clamped his hands on Raymond‟s hips, holding them in place. Raymond mewled in protest, but he thought he understood. Jean wanted him to come from his fangs alone, the way he had done the first time Jean had bitten him with intent. It was both harder and easier now than it had been then. Then it was all new, and the surprise realization that Jean was making love to him with his fangs had been nearly all it took to make Raymond come. The sensation was a familiar one now, after a year of being lovers, which took away the element of surprise but added a year‟s worth of conditioning that associated the vampire‟s kiss with mind-blowing pleasure.

Closing his eyes, Raymond consciously relaxed into the sensations, letting them push everything else from his mind until all he knew was the pull of Jean‟s fangs in his flesh and the ever-expanding magical connection between them.

Jean tasted the second Raymond surrendered to the moment, smiling against his lover‟s skin as he licked around the place where his fangs penetrated, adding layer upon layer of pleasure. He could taste the rising desire in Raymond‟s blood, and he set out to add to it, calling back up their first connection. Within minutes, Raymond shuddered against him as he climaxed.

Jean could have left it at that. He had gotten what he wanted, but the sight of his lover leaning against the sink, head thrown back, eyes closed, damp spot staining his pants, was more than Jean‟s control could survive. He pulled open Raymond‟s trousers, coating his fingers in the stickiness of his lover‟s release so he could slide them into the relaxed opening behind the wizard‟s balls.

“Jean!” Raymond gasped.

Jean pressed the tip of one finger against Raymond‟s prostate and lifted his head, licking at the bite mark to close it. “Do you really want me to stop?”

Raymond shook his head. With Jean‟s fingers inside him teasing his sweet spot and the magical connection still buzzing between them, the last thing he wanted was for Jean to stop.

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“Then turn around, because you can‟t sit on that sink and lean back enough to let me inside you.”

Raymond turned immediately, shrugging his shoulders so his open shirt would fall down his back enough to bare skin to his lover‟s fangs. He had no doubt Jean would bite him again as he took him.

Jean‟s cock nudged his entrance, prompting Raymond to lean forward and shift his feet, opening himself to his lover‟s inward slide. When even that was not enough, he reached behind himself, spreading his cheeks wider to give Jean the space to take him. Jean‟s cock pushed home, and then his lips found the curve of Raymond‟s shoulder, his fangs penetrating seconds later. Raymond cried out at the overwhelming delight of being taken in love, his body seizing again. “Not yet,” Jean said, squeezing the base of Raymond‟s cock tightly.

“Wait for me.”

Raymond bit his lip, struggling to hold on and wait for Jean to catch up, but the combination of cock and fangs was potent, leaving him trembling on the cusp of release. “Please,” he begged. “Hurry.”

Jean thrust harder, sucked more deeply, his hand releasing its grip on Raymond‟s cock in favor of stroking it. Raymond gave a strangled cry, his climax tingling low in his back. He felt Jean shudder hard against him, felt hot cream coating his insides, and let go, collapsing forward against the mirror.

“Putain! What you do to me!” Raymond said when Jean released his neck.

“Good things, I hope?” Jean purred.

“You know they are. You can taste it.”

“It‟s still nice to hear sometimes,” Jean said softly.

“Yes,” Raymond said, surprised at the vulnerability he heard in Jean‟s voice. “Very good things.”

“Good,” Jean said. “Clean yourself up and go back to our seats. It will take me a little longer, since I can‟t do magic. I‟ll be there once I‟m done.”

Raymond cast a cleansing spell with a flick of his wrist, erasing all the signs of what they had been doing except the two new bite marks on his body.

Straightening his clothes, he leaned forward and kissed Jean tenderly. “I love you. Thank you for insisting we do this.”

“Do what?” Jean asked. “Sneak into the lavatory to make love or go on vacation in the first place?”

Raymond grinned. “Both.”

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RAYMOND slumped on the bed in mind-numbing repletion. The hours since their arrival in La Réunion had been one delight after another, from seeing how well the island had recovered from last year‟s storm to eating fresh seafood at a local beachside restaurant, from walking on the beach hand in hand with Jean to returning to their airy hotel room to make love again. Their lovemaking had been reminiscent of the night Jean lost control without the guilt afterward.

Raymond was sure every sensitive spot on his body had a bite mark or four, and he was pretty sure he had discovered some new places he had not known were sensitive before now. His cock softened slowly in Jean‟s body, slipping free finally, making him wish they never had to be separated. Above him, Jean shifted as if trying to get closer, not that Raymond thought they could be any closer than they were, with Jean collapsed on top of him, having ridden him to oblivion.

“Are you trying to crawl inside me?” Raymond teased when Jean shifted again.

“I can think of far worse places to be,” Jean quipped, lifting his head a little so he could meet Raymond‟s eyes.

“I can think of far better places to be,” Raymond countered.

“I can‟t,” Jean disagreed. “The little glimpses I get when I feed from you only make me want to know more. Your mind must be a fascinating place.”

“I don‟t know any mind-reading spells,” Raymond joked, not entirely sure where the odd turn of this conversation had come from. “Even if I did, they probably wouldn‟t work between us.”

“I know one that would,” Jean said slowly, “and it would work both ways, letting you sense as much about me as I could sense about you.”

Raymond frowned. He was considered something of an expert on arcane and esoteric spells, but he had never heard of anything like what Jean was describing, much less something that would work on a vampire and his partner, at that. “What spell are we talking about?”

Jean rocked back on his heels, licking his way down Raymond‟s chest to his stomach, his groin, and his inner thigh. “A quick little burn right here,” Jean murmured, sucking on an unmarked bit of skin, “in a place no one would ever see, and we could be linked in more ways than you can possibly imagine for the rest of your life, perhaps even beyond.”

Every muscle in Raymond‟s body tensed. “I already wear one man‟s mark,” he said slowly. “When I got free of Serrier, I swore I‟d never belong to anyone else again.”

“This isn‟t like that,” Jean said, hurt that Raymond would even begin to compare the scar on his back with the vow Jean wanted to make. “For one thing, it would be a mutual commitment.”

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“But I would be the one marked again.”

“No one would have to know,” Jean insisted. “Orlando complained the other day that he hated the fact that everyone could see Alain‟s brand. It got me thinking—”

“Thinking that having a wizard for a partner isn‟t enough?” Raymond asked. “You need to mark him like a piece of cattle you‟re afraid someone will steal?”

“It isn‟t about the mark,” Jean repeated. “Not between us. I know you don‟t need my protection. I‟ve seen you fight. Even if another vampire tried to approach you, they‟d never succeed, not even by force. You proved to me
I
wouldn‟t even succeed by force. It‟s about the relationship the mark represents.”

“Then why do we need the mark in the first place?” Raymond demanded.

“Why can‟t we just go on as we are?”

“Because I was hoping the fact that you loved me meant you‟d be interested in discussing ways to deepen our relationship even more,” Jean said.

“If we make an Aveu de Sang—a private one; I‟m not talking about sharing this with anyone, not even our friends—it would mean I‟d never have to worry about taking more from you than you could give. We‟d never have to hold back while we‟re making love for fear of me draining you dangerously. We‟d have a bond that nothing could break or challenge, no matter what.”

“We already have that,” Raymond said quietly. “Nothing you‟ve said adds anything but an onus on you of not being able to feed elsewhere if the need arises.”

“Our hearts would be linked,” Jean offered. “You‟d be able to read me the way I can read you when I feed. Not my thoughts necessarily, but my emotions.

You‟d be able to sense me the way Orlando and Alain can sense each other.

Say you‟ll think about it.”

“What‟s to think about?” Raymond replied. “We‟re perfectly fine as we are now. Why do we have to change things?”

“For the same reason people get married,” Jean said, pulling away.

“Because they love each other and want to make a commitment to each other.”

“People get married because the Church told them they couldn‟t have sex unless they did, and it‟s become such a part of our society that nobody stops to realize they don‟t need a wedding or a marriage license to have that kind of relationship in this day and age,” Raymond retorted. “A civil marriage gives couples certain rights under law, but again, that‟s a societal norm, not something that has any bearing on the commitment between the couple. If you want to make sure you‟re the heir to my estate or that you have the right to make medical decisions for me should I fall ill, then we need to be discussing a

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PACS, but that‟s no more possible than it is for me to be your Consort, and for the exact same reason. If you want a private commitment, I‟ll give you one gladly. I will love you and stand by you for as long as you want me there. I don‟t need anything more than that.”

Jean sighed and rose from the bed. “Maybe I do.”

Raymond nodded slowly, feeling like his heart was breaking. “Then you‟ll need to find it somewhere else. I can‟t give you what you‟re asking for.”

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JEAN stared down at Raymond, heart pounding wildly as the beast within him fought for control. The rejection hurt. He had expected to need to persuade Raymond. He had not expected to be shot down completely. Feeling his control slipping, he turned, grabbing a pair of shorts as he stalked toward the door that led to the veranda and down to the beach. He had to get out before he did something he would regret. Like grabbing the nearest metal object and branding Raymond before he realized what was happening.

The door slammed against the wall in his anger, nearly smothering the small sound from behind him. The despair in the sound was enough to make him turn and look back. Raymond had curled onto his side, back turned, everything in his posture proclaiming his misery, and that was more than Jean could bear. Kicking the door shut again, he strode back to the bed, tearing the shorts off, completely unconcerned that they came off in pieces. He grabbed Raymond‟s hips, pulling him onto his knees. “You don‟t get to do this,” he growled as his hands steadied Raymond. “You don‟t get to drive me away.”

Without waiting for a reply, he pressed against his lover‟s body, needing them joined again. The guardian muscle yielded immediately, the passage still slick from Jean‟s fingers earlier, before he had decided he wanted Raymond inside him instead. Jean‟s fangs dropped as if he had not fed minutes before, but he ignored them. He would not risk draining Raymond by feeding again, and he did not want to taste his lover‟s resistance.

Not that there was any in Raymond‟s body. The wizard bucked back against him with astounding ferocity, almost as if he had a beast to match Jean‟s inside him. “Mine!” Jean snarled as he pounded the willing body beneath him into the mattress. “You‟re mine. Never let you go.”

Raymond moaned beneath him, but Jean was too far gone to care if it was pain or pleasure or something in between. Only his release mattered now, all finesse, all control incinerated by the heat of Raymond‟s body squeezing him tight and the knowledge of how close he had come to walking out on the best thing that had ever happened to him.