Julian's Reluctant Love

The Vampire District 7

Julian’s Reluctant Love

Hank Monroe has lost a lot in his life. After accidentally killing his brother during a battle with the vampires, he has never been able to
properly hold a gun or a bow since. He's worked hard to drive everyone away, and he's made it no secret that he hates everything
paranormal.

Julian Rossi, despite being an ice mage, just cannot seem to stay away. He's fallen for Hank at first sight, and he's determined to show
him that not all paranormals are bad, and that he might just enjoy having a relationship with one.

Despite his efforts, Hank finds himself slowly warming up to the other man's advances and finding that he enjoys being with other people
again, but when Julian is taken from him in a vampire raid, Hank must pick up his gun and go after him. Will he have the courage to pull
the trigger to save the new love of his life?

Genre:

Alternative (M/M or F/F), Fantasy, Paranormal

Length:

35,903 words

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Chapter One

Hank Monroe could hardly believe it when Hawke, that vampire Frederik, and the ice mage

Julian returned from their rescue mission without Vaughn, the man they were supposed to be rescuing.
Hank had taken one look at all three men as they entered the clearing where the small houses of the
village were hidden, and he promptly turned around and left before he could hear any bad news.

Hank hadn’t been much of a favorite around the village lately thanks to the attitude he’d put up

after, well, there was no good excuse. Regardless, it was for that reason that he didn’t want to mourn
the loss of a man he’d considered to be a friend in front of anyone.

First his brother Josh’s death, then James fell in love with someone who wasn’t Hank, and now

someone else had been taken because the paranormals had to claim another victim.

And the people in this village wondered why he was so slow to accept the paranormals who

lived here.

He slammed the door to his small house, and the force of what he’d done was so strong that the

damned thing went crooked in its hinges, and that only made him want to smash something even more.

Great. Fucking perfect. That was the third time that door had broken because of his temper, and

no matter how many times he fixed it, the wood was just too old, and the door needed replacing.

Oddly enough, it was the sight of the door, crooked, wrecked, and useless, that made him break

down sobbing on the pile of blankets that he used for his bed.

After everything that had happened to him, the death of his brother, James’s rejection, and now

the knowledge that he had one less friend in the world, the broken door was the straw that broke the
camel’s back.

He really was a piece of work.
He couldn’t make himself stop crying, even when he heard his door being shoved out of the way

and someone entering his sad excuse for a house.

“No need to cry just because you’re glad to see me and all.”
It was that ice mage, Julian. Christ, the man was back from his mission for barely ten minutes,

and he was already here to annoy Hank because he was attention starved. “Go away,” Hank said. He
didn’t even have the energy to think up an insult or a comeback to Julian’s strange comment. Someone
had died. Now was clearly not the time for either of them to be doing this.

Instead of saying something stupid, which the other man always seemed to think of as being

witty, Julian surprised him by getting down on his knees to be at eye level with him. It was a strange
new view of the man, considering Hank was at least two inches taller than he was. His hand was
gentle as he took one of Hank’s wrists and pulled his hand away from his face so they could both have
a clearer view of each other.

For the first time ever, Hank saw a look of concern on the other man, rather than that playful

teasing expression he always seemed to be wearing. His dark-brown eyes were the softest Hank had
ever seen, and the way his equally dark hair fell into his eyes, combined with that puppylike
expression, almost gave off the impression that he really cared.

“Blondie, why are you crying?”
Wasn’t it obvious? Unless it really wasn’t. “Is Vaughn dead?”
“No. I saw you running away before we had the chance to say anything to anyone.”
The relief that washed over him was indescribable, but he still had questions. “Where is he

then?” Hank asked, quickly wiping at his eyes and feeling like an utter fool for jumping to conclusions
like that.

“New plans are being made,” Julian said, and he actually sat down next to Hank in the mess of

blankets. “Frederik’s brothers, one in particular, have taken a liking to Vaughn, and Vaughn has
apparently decided that he wanted to stay with them.”

“What?” Hank could hardly believe it. “But Vaughn has friends here! He has responsibilities!

His dogs!”

The fact that Vaughn would leave all of that behind to live in a big mansion with vampires of all

things twisted Hank’s insides, and his sadness came over him again, but this time he didn’t cry.

“What’s wrong? I thought you would be happy?” Julian asked.
Hank shot to his feet. “No! I’m not happy! Why would I be when Vaughn left us all behind to be

the servant to a bunch of vampires. They hunt us and kill us, and he wants to live with them?”

Julian got to his feet, and he had such a look of understanding on his face that seemed so

misplaced that Hank wanted to scream and shout, do anything to make the guy really understand.

“I was there, and I spoke to him for a little while. He’s not there to be a servant. He’s in love

with one of those vampire lords. I personally didn’t see why, as the guy seemed to be feeling pretty
sorry for himself the entire time Hawke, Frederik, and I were there. But Vaughn said he was a good
sort of vampire, and by the end, right before we left, everything seemed to be getting better.”

“That’s great. Good for him,” Hank said.
“You don’t mean that.”
No. He absolutely didn’t mean it. Everyone Hank considered a friend was either dead, or had

left him. After some reflection, he thought he could understand why. His own actions after Josh had
been killed hadn’t exactly been the greatest, especially after Hawke brought Will, a vampire, home.
Then they had even gotten married, and more vampires had come, then some mages, Anderson had
turned out to be a werewolf, and now there was a member of the fae in the village, too.

He didn’t know what to think about all of that sometimes. Was everyone forgetting that the

paranormals were the very reason why they were all in hiding like this?

Julian cleared his throat, and for the first time since Hank had met him, he seemed a little unsure

of himself. It was almost nice, knowing that the man could be put off a little from that good mood he
always seemed to be in.

“I wasn’t aware that you cared about the man so much. Were you…lovers?”
Hank’s entire body felt as hot as though he was standing in the middle of a sauna. “Not that it’s

any of your business, but no. He was…just someone…we were friends, all right. We talked from time
to time and that was it.”

Looking back, Hank wondered why Vaughn ever really put up with him. Carl would follow

Hank around whenever he’d been in the mood for a prank, but the kid was young and always looking
for some good trouble to get into. Vaughn was the only man around Hank’s age who didn’t outright
avoid him.

Maybe it was because Hank liked dogs, like he did. Josh had also liked the dogs that Vaughn

had trained also. Maybe Vaughn had only ever hung out with him, spoken to him, and listened to his
worries and troubles, because he felt he owed it to Hank’s dead brother.

“Oh, okay.” Julian immediately perked up. “Well, in that case, you’ll be glad to hear that the

vampires are also on our side.”

“I already know that.”
“You think I’m talking about Will, Noir, and Frederik. I don’t mean them, I mean Frederik’s

brothers. They’re having some trouble with the other vampire nobles, and they don’t want to be
attacked by any more humans. Add all that up with the fact that their youngest brother now lives here,
and you can sort of see where I’m going with this.”

He did see. “You’re saying those vampires want to help us?”
“I didn’t get all the details. I was too busy thinking about your pretty blue eyes and when I would

get to see them again, but basically, yes. Hawke is off telling his dad about that right now. Tristan, the
vampire in charge of the mansion, basically offered the property up to the entire village should we
ever need to pick up and go, like right away. He said it could be the base of operations for the West
village if we ever needed it, and in exchange, the village will do its best to keep other humans away
from there. The place was attacked by a bunch of mercenaries right when we arrived, so someone
isn’t doing their job right somewhere.”

“Well, I suppose that is a good thing,” Hank said. He was still somewhat reluctant to offer any

gratitude when those vampires could easily turn around and betray the entire village, starting by
bleeding Vaughn dry.

“Hawke also mentioned something about making sure that Vaughn stayed in touch. He’s going to

send a messenger out. Probably Carl, since I guess he’s the fastest one aside from Hawke and pretty
good about keeping hidden. You two can exchange letters and everything. See? You can still be
friends.”

“You’re trying much too hard to cheer me up.”
“But it’s working, right?” Julian asked, that big stupid smile back on his face.
It was infectious, and Hank smiled as well. He hated to admit that it sort of was working. “Well,

I guess I should thank you for telling me this before I embarrassed myself in front of the entire
village,” Hank said.

“Any time, beautiful,” Julian replied, and suddenly he was standing so close that Hank could

feel the man’s body heat.

A quick flash of memory came upon Hank without warning. It was of James, standing right in

that very same spot when Hank confessed his feelings and kissed him, and the guy had broken his
heart by leaving for Julian’s brother.

He cleared his throat and stepped away before Julian could take it a step further. “I don’t know

why you keep on trying. I already told you I’m not…looking for anyone right now.”

Julian knew the reason why, so Hank didn’t have to say it. Thankfully, the other man also

decided not to repeat it, but he wasn’t giving up either, it seemed.

“Look, I know you don’t really like paranormals, and I can’t say that I blame you. I’m not a

pleasure mage or anything, but I would like to give it a try with you. I think I can really help you take
your mind off of your problems.”

It took Hank point zero one seconds to realize what Julian was offering him. “So, this isn’t about

you following me around because you happen to like me or anything. You just want to fuck me?”

“Don’t say it like that,” Julian said, and his feet actually shifted a little. For the second time

since he’d ever met the man, that confident persona that he always seemed to have on him slipped
away to reveal something a little more fragile.

Then the confidence was back as Julian turned his dark eyes up and smiled, revealing his

perfectly white teeth. “All I know is that I do like you, and I know you’re a red-blooded guy with
needs that you currently aren’t getting fulfilled.”

The little bastard.
His anger must have shown on his face, because Julian was quick to raise his hands. “Whoa,

relax. I’m not saying anything about you. What I’m saying is that I do like you, and I would like to get
to know you better, but until you’re comfortable with the personal aspect of that, I’d be more than
happy with the physical.”

Again with the grin on his face. He was perfectly serious. Julian was right about one thing, Hank

was a red-blooded male like anyone else in the world, and he had temptation standing right in front of
him, offering himself, no strings attached.

He would be lying to the world and to himself if he tried saying he wouldn’t be doing it just to

try and forget about James for a little while. It would be nice to have someone else with him other
than his right hand when he felt the need come up, and he wasn’t exactly getting any offers from
anyone else.

“All right. You want to fuck. Then let’s fuck, but that’s the end of it. It goes no farther than that,

and you don’t get to tell anyone we’re doing this, either.”

“My lips are forever sealed. Unless you want me to open them up again for other reasons, which

I’d be more than happy to do.”

Chapter Two

Julian was finally, finally, getting his chance with Hank. He’d had his eye on the man since he

first came to the West village. A free human village that was hidden near the border of the werewolf
district, but oddly enough didn’t just have humans, but all sorts of creatures. That alone had been
enough to make him relax and think that perhaps his twin had hit the jackpot when he’d come to live
here and taken one of the humans as a lover.

Julian’s suspicions of the place hadn’t lasted, and now he had one mission in the world, and that

was proving to Hank that he could be a trusted member of this society they were all building.

And getting into the man’s pants. That was also a mission, one that he was succeeding with at

this very moment.

He’d managed to get the man to lie back down on the clump of sheets and blankets that he

clearly used for his bed before peeling down his faded jeans and taking the man’s cock into his
mouth.

He didn’t mind that their first time together wouldn’t be on a mattress. Free humans only owned

what they could steal from traveling vampires, or the vacation homes they broke into when the
vampires themselves were not home.

Not everyone got a mattress to sleep on, and neither did Julian, so his only concern was making

sure that there would be enough material beneath their bodies to keep them both comfortable when
they got down to the actual sex.

Hank’s voice, however, was pure pornography, and it went straight to Julian’s cock as the man

fisted his hair and thrust into his mouth. His hips moved quickly, but it was hardly a frantic pace, so
Julian was still able to keep control of the situation just fine.

For someone who had wanted to keep this a secret, he sure was being vocal.
“Oh God, that’s nice. Should’ve done this a long time ago,” he moaned.
Yes, they should have, and if Julian had his way, he was going to make sure that Hank wouldn’t

be able to resist him again after this.

He abruptly pulled his mouth away when the sound of Hank’s pleasure became louder, and when

he felt the man’s cock swelling even more in his mouth. Julian pulled back even when Hank tried to
keep a firm grip on his hair.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his blue eyes wide, as though he was scared that Julian was

about to put a stop to what they were doing.

Like that was possible at this point.
“Unless you have the stamina of a Greek god or something and can be ready two seconds after

you finish, I’d like you to not come just yet.”

Hank’s face turned red. The blush went all the way into his ears, and Julian couldn’t resist

kissing him. Thankfully, the other man didn’t complain or tighten up with their lips touched. The kiss
was surprisingly soft, and Julian found himself leaning into it, pressing his tongue gently against
Hank’s mouth, if only to see what he would do.

The man opened for him, and Julian wanted to sing his praises to the high heavens. Hank was

totally going to deny that he was enjoying this later on, but for the moment, that was all right.

Julian quickly kicked off the slacks he’d stolen from that vampire mansion when he’d spent the

night, but not before pulling out a tube of his very own special blend of lube from the pocket.

Hank seemed so content to just have Julian lying on him like this, kissing languidly, that he was

almost sad to have to pull away. He had to if they were going to get down to the meat of this issue.

“Top or bottom?”
“What?”
He was so cute, his eyes blinking all owlishly and confused. “Do you want to fuck me or have

me inside of you?”

“Oh, uh, I’d rather you top,” Hank said.
That was surprising. Not that Julian really cared how it went, but he kind of pictured Hank to be

the sort of man who wanted to take charge in situations like this.

Julian hid his surprise by wiggling the small glass vial in front of Hank’s face. “Then off with

your jeans. I’ve got a real treat for you.”

Hank did as he was told, and quickly, shoving his jeans the rest of the way down his legs and

kicking them off where they lay forgotten on the floor next to Julian’s clothes.

He didn’t make any move to take off his shirt, and neither did Julian. Getting completely naked

was not in the cards for their first time together. That was all right. They could do that later.

Julian pulled off the cork to the vial with his teeth and poured the slippery liquid onto his

fingers, and he could already feel the warm tingle as it started to work. The stuff was so slick it felt
like dish soap, but it was anything but.

“What is that?” Hank asked, leaning up a little to see what Julian was doing.
“My own special recipe,” he replied, hooking an arm beneath Hank’s knee and lifting it over his

shoulder. The tight-lipped frown just got deeper on the man as his embarrassment over this position
became apparent.

“I thought mages were only good at the one spell they specialized in?” Hank said.
“It’s not always just one. Sometimes it’s two, and even rarer than that is three, but it’s debatable

on whether those guys are actually mages, or just really weak warlocks.”

Julian pressed his fingers against Hank’s asshole, and it took only a little coaxing before he

could get one inside, and he waited a moment before trying with the other, stretching the man with
only two fingers.

Hank’s spine stiffened, then he sighed and relaxed.
“Wait for it,” Julian said.
Hank opened his mouth, clearly about to ask just what he was waiting for, and then Julian had

the pleasure of watching his pupils dilate right before his hands gripped the sheets beneath him, and
he moaned and gasped. Hank thrust his ass against Julian’s fingers and moaned out loud. It was one of
the most beautiful sights Julian had seen in a long time. Ever, in fact.

“What—what is—holy fuck!” Hank reached for one of his pillows and stuffed it over his head.

He made quite the sight doing that, humping against Julian’s fingers while yelling into his pillow.

“This is one of my other cool talents,” Julian said. “It’s something I picked up when out living

on my own with my brother. Sometimes we would need medicine, or things like that, but we didn’t
always have the money or items to trade for it, so he and I had to learn how to make our own
potions.” Julian reached up and took the pillow out of Hank’s hand. “I want to see your face when you
moan like that.”

That was enough to draw another long groan out of the man. His perfect chest was rising and

falling as he gasped, and his nipples were a dark pink and budding so spectacularly that Julian

wanted to lean up and pull them into his mouth. It took so much willpower that he deserved a medal
just to stick to the task at hand.

“Then there was all that time alone. Sometimes I had to get out of the house just to keep from

going insane, and when I went to a brothel and a pleasure mage showed me something like this
existed, I thought I would die from how good it felt.”

Julian thrust his fingers deeper and felt the little bud he was searching for against his fingertips.

Hank threw his hands over his mouth as he cried out, trying to stifle the sound, but his eyes remained
wide as he stared at Julian.

“I took his recipe and added a few things of my own, mostly spices. You’d be so surprised to

learn how much of any potion made by a mage is nonmagical. What you’re feeling is probably five
times better than what I felt. I’m shocked you haven’t come yet.”

Hank groaned. Maybe that was part of the issue here. The pleasure he felt was so intense that he

had no words to describe it.

Julian could live with that.
Then, just when he’d really started to think that he’d taken the words right out of Hank’s mouth,

he started to speak. “W–what’s in it?”

“There’s lube, a mixture of some other things that I won’t name, but also chili powder.”
“What?”
“I know, right? I wouldn't recommend using the stuff without a mage to tinker with it, but that's

some of what's in the recipe. Try telling me your prostate doesn’t feel insanely hot and tingly right
now. Feels good, doesn’t it?”

Hank nodded.
“It works both ways, you know. I could be touching myself with this stuff, coating my dick in it,

and that alone sometimes made me come. I barely had to stroke myself. Just a few small movements is
enough to practically make the stuff vibrate, but it doesn’t. That’s impossible. It just feels like it is.”

That was the main reason why Julian preferred his own recipe to what the pleasure mages

offered. The spices he added, mixed in with the other ingredients he could collect from the woods,
were enough that they gave pleasure without actually causing pain from any burning. The tingling
sensation did produce a soft vibration-type feel, when the potion was mixed right. Julian could feel it
in his fingers, and he knew that Hank felt it deep inside of himself as well.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hank said, then his breathing and heaving really started to pick

up. Julian knew what that meant.

“Don’t let yourself come. If you come now it all ends, and I know you want my cock in your ass

now.”

“Fuck!” Hank reached down and grabbed himself by his dick and balls, preventing himself from

orgasming.

“Very nice,” Julian said.
Hank glared at him. “Fuck off and just do it.”
“I prefer to take my time with things like this. Besides, you’re so Goddamn gorgeous like this,

my fingers inside of you, your body so tight and flushed, and I don’t think I’ll be lasting for very long
once I finally do get inside of you, so I want to draw this out for you like this for as long as possible.”

Julian took it to mean that Hank could find nothing wrong with his logic when he said nothing at

all to that.

“When I do put my dick inside of you, and you’re already so tight, the lube is going to work its

magic on me, too. You’ll also be happy to know that I’ve been pretty practical with it, too. It’s made
to also act as protection. Pleasure mages wouldn’t be worth much if they went out catching diseases
everywhere, so that was the one part of the recipe that I never messed with.”

“Oh God, stop talking and just hurry up and fuck me!” Hank yelled.
There was no way that no one outside these thin walls didn’t hear that, but Julian didn’t care.

Hank asked him not to tell anyone, and he wouldn’t, but he could hardly be blamed if he was the one
letting the cat out of the bag.

Hank was prepared enough at this point anyway, and Julian was also starting to feel a little

impatient. He removed his fingers and lined up his cock. Just grabbing it and lining the head up with
Hank’s stretched pucker was enough to send a jolt of pleasure through his body.

“Fuck,” he said with a laugh. “Hadn’t realized how much I was teasing myself with all that

talk.”

“Do it, or I swear I’ll hit you,” Hank threatened, and the look on his face suggested that he really

meant it, too.

“I like that you’re fiery,” Julian said, and he pressed the head of his dick against Hank’s pucker

and pushed inside.

The man was so tight that it was slowgoing, even with his superslick special recipe lube. It was

almost like torture having to take his time as the length of his dick was squeezed by Hank’s hole as he
sank in deeper and deeper, but it was so worth it. Hank arched his back, and his hands went to
Julian’s waist before sliding beneath his shirt to the curve of his back. His blunt fingernails scratched
at Julian’s skin, and it was fucking wonderful.

Then he was finally, blissfully, and completely submerged inside of the man. “Can’t believe I

finally have you,” he said with a gasp.

“Fuck me,” Hank commanded.
Julian did. He hadn’t been lying to the man before, either, when he’d warned him that it would

be over with soon once they finally got down to it. Already Julian could feel his orgasm coming on,
and he was fighting to hold it back even as his hips moved in such a desperate and offbeat rhythm that
it was like his brain had left the building and his instinct to have sex had entirely taken over.

His own lube working against him, tingling all around his cock as he surged back and forth,

wasn’t exactly helping things either.

“Touch yourself. Come for me,” Julian said, overcome with the inexplicable and desperate need

to make sure that Hank was the first one to reach his pleasure.

He didn’t need to say anything because when he looked down, Hank’s fist was already wrapped

around his engorged cock, and he was moaning loud as he worked himself.

Julian didn’t think it was at all possible, but Hank’s asshole tightened even more around his

cock as Hank suddenly began shifting and moving erratically beneath him, wrapping his legs around
Julian’s thighs and squeezing his body tight as he came, and warm cum spurted between their bodies.

Thank God. Julian stopped fighting the need of his own body and just let himself go. The release

of pleasure was by far the greatest he’d ever experienced, and he had to press his mouth down onto
Hank’s in a fast and probably sloppy kiss just to keep himself quiet.

Even that barely worked.
When they were both done, breathing heavily, and Julian’s bones definitely felt like they were

made out of straw, everything seemed to go back to normal.

Julian felt himself being shoved off as Hank brought his hands up and pressed them against

Julian's chest.

He grunted when his half-naked body landed on the cold wooden floor instead of the warm

sheets and blankets. Hank sat up quickly, and he was already reaching for his pants.

“Thanks, you can go now.”
Julian grinned from his spot on the floor, and he didn’t move. “You’re just trying to kill my buzz

and make me think that what happened didn’t matter. Not going to happen. That was awesome, and
nothing you say or do will make me think that you didn’t like it either.”

“You’re right,” Hank said, though he didn’t look at him. “I liked it so much that now I need to

have a bath before I can do anything else for the rest of the day.”

“Told you.”
“Do you want to get out already? You came and did what you wanted to do, so there’s no reason

for you to be here anymore.”

Julian shrugged and got up. He reached for the pants he’d been wearing, and they only required a

slight brushing off to get the dust off of them.

When Hank pushed himself up to stand, presumably to show Julian to the door, his face flushed a

little in embarrassment as he looked down as what he’d touched in his makeshift bed.

The vial of lube. It was still half-full. The last of the contents hadn’t spilled out, due to the angle

it had been resting at on the crumpled sheets.

Hank grabbed it, corked it, and held it out to him, his face still red, and those blue eyes still

playing the avoiding game. “Here.”

Julian put his hand on Hank’s but only to gently push it back to him. “Keep it and think of me

when you use it. I bet you can still feel it working inside of you. I know I can still feel it.”

Hank’s fist clenched around the vial, and his face went a shade darker.
It was too much fun getting him flustered like this.
Julian laughed, put his pants on, and left the small house before Hank could chase him out. He

was definitely coming back. Hank might not want to admit to it, but there was something between
them, and Julian was nothing if not persistent when there was something he wanted.

Chapter Three

“Wow, that was you he was with?”
Julian huffed at the disbelieving tone in his twin brother’s voice. “Don’t sound shocked or

anything.”

“I’m not trying to insult you,” Quinn said, launching another fireball into the daylight sky. “It’s

just I thought for sure he wouldn’t go for it.”

Julian sent out a quick blast of ice, and it consumed the fireball as it arced in the air, and it came

down with a heavy thud in the grass below.

It was good for mages to be able to practice their magic, especially for fire mages like Quinn,

whose powers were much more dangerous and harder to control.

Mages weren’t immune to the elements they controlled, meaning that if Julian wasn’t careful and

didn’t practice, he could wake up one morning and find that it was snowing in his bedroom. That was
about the worst that had ever happened to him, and he’d woken up before he could give himself
frostbite.

Quinn, however, was a different story. Fire mages could be dangerous because their powers

could cause much more damage when left unchecked. If Quinn didn’t release the fire he created from
his hands fast enough, he could burn himself.

This entire village had used that against him when they’d kidnapped him and chained his hands.

Because of that, Quinn couldn’t conjure too much heat, not without directing it into the metal that
contained him and severely hurting himself.

Luckily, nothing too dangerous had happened, aside from a burned-down barn, which Quinn

insisted had been an accident caused by one of the humans. For that reason, Julian had decided no one
needed to die for the injustice that had happened to his brother.

That, and there were the small matter of James, Quinn’s new lover whom Quinn promised he

would protect. Then there was Hank, and Julian was almost willing to let a man as handsome as that
get away with anything so long as it got him another round in the sheets.

“He’s just shy. Give me another one.” Julian loved target practice. It always cleared his head.
Quinn conjured enough heat to create another ball of fire, and he quickly reared back and shot it

high into the sky, shaking his fingers out from the heat when it was gone.

Julian lifted his hand, aimed, and let the cold fly.
He didn’t understand how it was that Quinn could be a fire mage and still not have gotten used to

the heat of fire. The cold almost didn’t bother Julian at all anymore, but he supposed that was the
difference when it came to certain kinds of magic.

Again, his aim was spot-on, and Quinn’s fireball turned into a ball of flying ice. It came down

heavy like before, and it even had a little frozen meteor tail behind it. It was kind of cool.

“So if he doesn’t want to even be near you, how are you going to convince him to have sex with

you again?” Quinn asked. “He doesn’t exactly seem like the type that’s easy to get along with.”

“That’s true, but every good thing in the world requires effort. Are you going to give me

something else to shoot at or what?”

Quinn shook his head at him, but then his eyes went wide. “Hey, that’s something you can do

with him!”

Julian had no idea what Quinn was talking about. “Shoot fireballs?”

“No, idiot,” Quinn snapped. “He can’t go out hunting or on patrol because he’s a lousy shot. I’ve

seen him practicing on the targets here with a bow and arrows when no one else was around.” Quinn
nodded to the painted targets, which they were both casually ignoring as they worked on their own
brand of target practice.

Julian didn’t know that. “When did you see him trying to shoot with one of the bows?”
Quinn shrugged. “Shortly after you left, actually. I don’t really have anything to go by, but I got

the impression that he’s been out there trying more than once. His hands kept on shaking, and he
seemed pretty frustrated. He looks like the kind of guy who would be out with the others, if not going
on missions, then at least hunting.”

That was definitely true. Hank was built all right. He had wide shoulders and decent muscle

tone, and his height gave off the impression that he would be a monster in battle. He probably was,
when it came down to up-close hand to hand, but he never went out on missions. Julian had magic on
his side, sure, but he wasn’t exactly made for going out and doing any sneak attacks on vampires, yet
Hawke had picked him to go along to try and bring back Vaughn.

As for trying to teach Hank how to properly hold and shoot a weapon like a bow, well, that was

going to be a tad tricky. Julian was a master, he liked to think so, of hitting his targets with his ice
shots, and he was fairly decent at shooting guns and bows, but all three were completely different and
required different skills. He might be able to teach Hank how to better handle his weapon, but in
reality they would probably end up making fools out of each other.

“What are you thinking?” Quinn asked.
“I’m thinking I have more questions about the man now than before. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“Always here to help. So if he doesn’t pull his weight around the village, then he must be doing

something. I mean, everyone here has a chore they have to do, and I’m sure he does, too, but I don’t
ever really see him doing much of anything.”

“Some people do more than others. Your only job right now is to make sure the traps are

maintained, and so far, aside from that one mission Hawke brought me on, the only thing I’ve done for
anyone around here is make sure they have ice for their drinks.”

“And you made ice cream,” Quinn reminded him.
“That was pretty amazing. Maybe I’ll make Hank some. He hasn’t tried it yet.” Julian grinned as

plans formed in his mind to get Hank to spend more time with him, time that would lead to more sex,
which in turn would help to show the man that he could not, in fact, function properly without Julian at
his side.

He would butter him up with ice cream and then help him with his target practice. If he

happened to learn more about the man along the way, then all the better.

“Do you think it has something to do with his brother? The one who died?”
Julian winced. Quinn was his only family, and he’d damn near driven himself insane when he’d

thought his twin was dead somewhere in the woods. He couldn’t imagine what that was like for Hank.
“That’s actually a very real possibility. The people here could just be giving him some space, but I
don’t think I’ll come right out and ask him something like that.”

“Yet,” Quinn said, smiling.
“Yet,” Julian agreed. “Give me something else to shoot at.”
Quinn did, and they spent the rest of their time shooting each other’s targets.

* * * *

Hank should have known better than to think he was done with the other man when Julian jogged

over to him, that usual happy grin on his face that reminded him of one of Vaughn’s dogs whenever
they were about to get a treat or something.

It had been two days since they’d last been together, and even though Hank had sworn that was

all he’d wanted from the man, and had promised himself he never needed to do it again, his cock gave
a familiar twitch at the sight of Julian, and it was damn near throbbing when they were finally in front
of each other.

His stupid dick only saw Julian as someone to go to bed with. It couldn’t comprehend the fact

that this was a paranormal. Mages could be human, but they were still dangerous.

“Hey, Hank, how’ve you been?”
“Why are you always so damn cheery?” Hank replied. “You’re living in the vampire district in a

village full of humans who are suspicious of you, and the vampires took the house where you and your
brother lived for your entire lives and chased you away from it. What’s to be so happy about?”

Julian shrugged. “It was just a house, and my brother is here now, and he’s happy. That’s the

important thing. And not everyone here is suspicious of me. I think they’ve mostly gotten used to the
idea of paranormals being around, plus, I’m pretty charming with the ladies. I think they like having
me around.”

Hank was not at all jealous by what Julian had just told him. Not in the least.
“So,” Julian said, bouncing from heel to toe. “Have you been using my special lubricant? I’ve

made more if you want.”

“You don’t give up, do you?”
“I’ll take that to mean you have been using it.”
He had been using it. In fact, even though he told himself he wouldn’t, he’d still used it. When

he’d given up on that goal, the new one became making the lube that tingled so much that it felt like
there was a vibrator on his dick last as long as possible.

That plan had also failed when he used up the last of the vial the very same day he and Julian

had sex. Within hours, actually. Things had been quiet in the village lately. There were no known
immediate threats that needed to be worried over, and even though Hank had tried a time or two to go
into the barns and do something, or even help with the laundry, he was either shooed away for using
too much bleach, or the farmhands had stopped talking when he was around, making it way too
awkward to be there.

For those reasons, Hank tended to have more time on his hands than the average villager. It was

his own fault for being a prick for so long, and for purposefully shirking the duties he did have, but he
still wished he could get back into the swing of things. Too much time meant that he spent so many
hours thinking about Julian and when they’d been having sex.

“Have you been telling anyone that we were…you know.”
Just when Hank thought that smile couldn’t get any wider, he was proven wrong again. “No,

have you?”

“Of course not,” Hank said.
“You’re so defensive,” Julian said, though his tone wasn’t accusatory. “Your arms are crossed,

and you’ve got such a sour look on your face. It was bound to happen that someone would hear us

going at it. They know you were with someone, which was probably shocking to them considering
you’re such a sourpuss, but they don’t know it was me.”

That might actually explain why the other guys, Carl, Oliver, Terrance, and anyone else who

worked with the animals who still occasionally gave Hank the time of day, had been so quiet when
he’d asked to work with them. They knew he’d taken a lover and didn’t want to bring it up in case he
exploded on them.

To be fair, if someone had done something as friendly as pat him on the back and say they were

glad he was moving on, or that Josh would be happy for him, he likely would have lost it on them a
little.

“So, see you tonight?” Julian asked.
Hank blinked. “That was...pretty forward.”
“Were you expecting flowers first?”
Right, that had been a stupid thing to say. “No.”
“Then I’ll see you tonight. Meet me on the target field. We can get to know each other better

there.”

“It’s dangerous going there at night,” Hank said. He was a shitty shot, but he still knew the basic

rules. Going out in a place where some of the villagers practiced their shooting, regardless of what
time it was, or who was and was not supposed to be there, was a stupid thing to do.

“We’re not actually going into the field,” Julian said. “Just meet me there anyway. I’ll have a

surprise for you.”

Unless it involved getting Julian naked, Hank wasn’t much interest in surprises.
Still, “I’ll be there a little before sundown.”
With that, Julian grinned, waved, and then turned around and ran back to wherever it was he’d

come from.

Like Hank, the mages were both a little all over the place when it came to their contributions to

the village. Having ice drinks was nice and all, but it wasn't required for survival, and everyone in
the village already knew how to start fires and keep them well fed and safe without Quinn around.
Basically, they were used as spare helping hands, and in Julian’s case, an occasional team member
for raids and missions.

Hank envied him that part. He wished he could go out and hunt and kill vampire slavers, but that

had been out of the question ever since…

Well, all that training and hard work had officially gone to shit, and it had only taken one bad

shot.

Despite that grim thought, the idea of spending a little quality time with Julian, and having the

man give him another orgasm, was enough to brighten his mood, and he found himself smiling as he
went off in search for work that needed to be done.

Chapter Four

Hank didn’t know why he bothered with showing up. He tried telling himself all the reasons why

this was such a bad idea. Sex was never just sex. There was always someone who wanted something
more, and Hank knew full well that was what Julian wanted.

Still, he went to the shooting range that had been set up for Hawke and everyone else who was

useful to the defense of the village to practice with their bows. Guns, real guns, were rarely used for
practice because bullets were so hard to come by. There were the paintball guns, but even those
required someone to make paint pellets for them.

Things always were tricky around here.
Needless to say, Hank was fairly shocked when he arrived on the scene and there were three

torches lit, burning bright, and together they made a triangle around Julian, who was sitting on his
knees on a folded sheet with a basket in front of him.

“We here to have a picnic?” Hank asked, though he grinned at the idea. The thought of food

always made him feel better when he was in a particularly foul mood.

“Kind of. You’re going to try my ice cream today, and then we’re going to play a game.”
Only when Hank got close enough did he see the way that Julian’s hand was resting on the

basket, and there was a cold mist radiating from it as he kept the contents cold.

Hank shook his head. “You’re not going to stop pestering me until I try the stuff, are you?”
“Have you ever eaten ice cream? I’m about a thousand percent positive that this isn’t the same

stuff the rich vampires get, but it’s pretty damn good. Especially with Frederik’s recipe. One bite of
this and you’ll never be in a bad mood ever again.”

“I’m not in a bad mood right now.”
“Good, then you have no reason to refuse me when I give you this. You’d better like it, too. This

is the premium stuff. The rest of the village hasn’t even tried it yet.”

Hank watched Julian’s hands as they opened the lid of the straw basket, and he pulled out a

small plastic tub, probably big enough to hold about a liter of ice cream. There was even some frost
collecting on the side of the plastic, and Julian brushed it off before he opened the lid.

His eyes kept moving to Julian’s hands, and all he could think about was how dangerous they

could be with those ice powers. If Julian wanted to, he could bring a snowstorm down on the village,
or turn whole people into ice cubes. He could still remember what it felt like when his entire leg had
been frozen solid after Julian had sent one of his ice blasts at him.

It had been the weirdest thing that had ever happened to him, but not the most terrifying, all

things considered. To be fair to the man, Julian had thought that Hank was the enemy, hell-bent on
destroying his brother.

At one time, that had almost been the truth. Hank had hated Quinn because the man had been a

suspect in Vaughn’s disappearance, and also because, despite the danger, James had been so
interested in pursuing a relationship with the guy.

Yeah, he’d been jealous. And stupid. He knew that now, but still…
“How is this stuff any more premium than what you’ve been giving to the other villagers? It’s

not like there’s many ingredients around here that you can spare for something like this.”

“As of now there is,” Julian said, and he pulled out one spoon and one wooden bowl, and then

he started scooping the ice cream inside. “When we were spending the night at that vampire mansion,

I snagged a couple of things,”

“You what?”
“This sheet we’re sitting on, for one. Feels nice, right?”
Hank put his hand down, and it really did feel soft against his fingers. “Yeah?”
“I swear the thing has a thread count of two thousand. So when morning came and we were all

packing up to leave, I folded it up into my bag, and voila. We now have a nice, soft picnic blanket.”

Hank didn’t particularly care about stealing from rich vampires, especially since that was

basically how every free human village survived, but there was something that bothered him. “Won’t
you ruin it? Putting it on the ground like this?”

“I made sure that we would be on a nice and soft patch of grass. These sheets can feel nice, but

nothing would feel good if I were to put this over a bed of rocks.”

That made sense. “So what else did you take?”
Julian’s pink lips turned up in the most devilish of smiles. “I also took it upon myself to liberate

some of the ingredients they kept in their kitchen. Felicia thinks I’m amazing now because we have a
huge stock of salt, sugar, pepper, onion powder, that kind of thing.”

Julian lifted the spoon filled with ice cream to his mouth, opened his lips, and the spoon

vanished between them. When he pulled it back out again, there was still ice cream on the utensil,
however.

He held it out, offering it for Hank to do the same. He would rather put his mouth on Julian and

taste the ice cream that way, but he also couldn’t help but feel a little playful himself at this point.
“Don’t tell me that you put onion powder and salt into this. I don’t think that goes well with milk.”

Julian laughed. “Everyone told me you had a sense of humor. Glad I can finally see it.”
Everyone only knew about Hank’s sense of humor because of the way he’d gone overboard

when playing his pranks, or making things difficult for the paranormals that had been captured.

“No, I didn’t put onions or salt into the ice cream. I did however, put the shaved vanilla and

chocolate that I stole into it.”

“What?” Hank looked down at the spoon and squinted in the firelight. It was true, while the ice

cream looked mostly plain, there were little flecks of chocolate, and what was probably the vanilla.
“I can’t believe you did that,” he said, laughing.

“Try it. It’s really good.”
Hank did, and Julian was right. He pulled the spoon out, keeping his lips tight so that all the ice

cream stayed in his mouth, and he rolled his tongue around, letting it melt.

“It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted,” he said. Now that he thought about it, Hank

couldn’t remember if he’d ever had ice cream before.

He licked his lips again, trying to get at all the sugar and vanilla that had been left behind on his

mouth, and Julian leaned forward and kissed him.

The move caught him completely off guard, especially when the man gently thrust his tongue

forward. As though his body was on autopilot, Hank’s mouth opened, and he could taste the other man
as Julian moaned.

It was a quick sort of kiss, however, and Julian pulled away only when Hank had shut his eyes

to let himself get into it.

“That was the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Hank’s body overheated as his own words were thrown back at him, and Julian laughed and

smacked his shoulder. “You’re glaring at me something fierce, Blondie. Relax. I wasn’t making fun of
you.”

“Hmm,” Hank said, not entirely convinced. “What are we doing here anyway?” he asked,

looking around.

With the torches surrounding them, and the sun almost completely vanished by now, it gave their

little spot decent warmth and lighting, but the rest of the field was pitch dark, and the chirping of
several insects had began. This was hardly a private spot to be in should anyone from the village just
walk by. The shooting range wasn’t exactly far away.

“I thought we could make love under the stars,” Julian said, taking another bite of his ice cream.
Hank gave him a look. “We are not making love. That’s not what this is.”
For the first time, Hank noted a trace of uncertainty in Julian’s dark eyes. It lasted for a fraction

of a fraction of a second. That was so little time that Hank questioned whether or not it had ever been
there. Julian smiled at him again. “That’s fine. We will be eventually, once I can get you to stop being
so stubborn.”

“Do you want me to leave?”
“Don’t forget that I’m the one with the ice cream, and I have it under good authority that you

have a sweet tooth.”

James had probably been the one to tell Julian about that. The bastard. “I’m staying, but not

because you’re feeding me ice cream.”

“Of course not,” Julian said, and he scooped up some more of the frozen treat and brought it to

Hank’s mouth. Before each bite, Hank made sure to take hold of Julian’s wrist, just to keep from
being completely spoon fed like he was an infant or something.

“I figured we would come here so I can teach you how to shoot.”
Hank promptly choked on the ice cream in his mouth when he gasped and swallowed at the same

time. He clutched at his throat, as if that would suddenly put air back down where it belonged, and
Julian scrambled up.

“Shit!”
The man pounded on his back. Clearly he didn’t know what to do, and it hurt like hell, but Hank

didn’t move, since, with each painful smack of the man’s palm, he felt some of the ice cream
dislodging.

Then he could breathe again, and he inhaled long gasping breaths. Julian collapsed on his ass

next to him, and he was breathing hard, too, as though he was the one who had suddenly gone without
air. “Christ, don’t ever do that to me again.”

“Why would you bring me here to learn how to shoot?” Hank demanded. He had to clear his

throat a bit, but otherwise his voice came out strong and clear.

Julian blinked at him. “I just heard you were having some trouble with it, and I thought I’d help

you out. I’m not exactly a bad shot myself.”

Then no one had told him why he was such a shit shot. Well, there was always that for good

news.

“We can’t do it tonight, obviously,” Julian said. “I just thought I’d bring you here to get you used

to the idea. Or shoot it down, if you didn’t want to do it.”

Hank lifted a brow at the man and smiled. “Shoot it down?”
Julian scratched his cheek. “Huh, well, pun not intended. Wish I could’ve thought of something

better. So what do you think?”

Hank thought that every time he held a weapon in his hands he started to shake uncontrollably,

and he hated that about himself.

“You know, I used to be a pretty decent shot.”
“Really?”
Hank nodded. It had been a while since he’d received the attention of a handsome man, and even

though he was still wary of what Julian was, as well as the things he could do, it was still flattering to
have someone look at him and listen to him with this kind of interest. “Never as good as Hawke or
something like that, but I could take out my targets well enough.”

“So what happened? Did you injure yourself?”
“Basically,” Hank said.
Julian looked very much like he wanted to follow up on that, and Hank was grateful that the man

decided not to. He’d already said too much.

“Your ice cream is starting to melt.”
Julian cursed and put the bowl back in the basket. He closed the lid and put his hands over the

top. A faraway look came into his eyes, and suddenly more cold mist wafted from it.

That was actually pretty cool.
“I had this all planned where I would be so suave and romance the hell out of you. I’m guessing

I didn’t do so well on that front,” Julian said, appearing mildly humiliated that the night hadn’t turned
out the way he’d wanted it to.

The last person to ever put any effort even remotely like this into something for Hank had been,

well, no one. He’d never had anyone special before, and all his lovers before had always been quick
one-night stands back when he used to travel outside of the village, and James certainly wasn’t going
to fill that void. That didn’t mean that Hank couldn’t enjoy the company of a handsome man who was
sitting right here.

“I think you’re doing all right so far,” he said, then reached out and put his hand behind Julian’s

neck. The small, soft hairs that were growing just beneath his hairline tickled as Hank gently pulled
him forward. Before they kissed, he noted the way Julian’s mouth turned up in a smile.

This was a complete mistake. Hank knew that on a logical level. The village was having some

peaceful days because Hawke and a few other men, Julian among them, had just finished killing a
group of human mercenaries, and then convinced one of the smaller, less powerful vampire houses to
join them in the cause for human rights.

There were still slavers out there who wanted to hunt, kill, and capture whatever free humans

they could find, and even though Hank was not a warrior anymore, he knew the dangers of letting the
mind wander and become distracted.

But he just couldn’t resist this. It had been so long since someone was with him. The fact that

Julian was good looking, and just didn’t know when to quit, definitely gave off a sort of charm that
Hank was finding increasingly difficult to resist, and when he pushed his tongue forward and felt the
crease of Julian’s lips right before they opened, an electrified jolt of pleasure shot right through
Hank’s body.

It wasn’t love. He wasn’t ready for that yet, but now he was willing to admit that, whatever it

was, he still wanted it.

“You said you made more of that lube?” Hank asked after pulling away. Their bodies had

become close during that kiss, however, and their faces were still so near to each other that their
noses were almost touching.

“Lots more,” Julian said, and he suddenly launched himself forward, pushing Hank back down

onto the soft bedsheets that the other man had stolen from the vampire mansion.

Their bodies were pressed tightly together, and their clothed dicks rubbed nicely against each

other in a way that had Hank spreading his legs and moaning for more.

Whatever those pleasure mages had taught Julian during his visits, he’d been an apt pupil,

because he always seemed to know what to do to Hank to get his complete and total compliance.

“Take your clothes off and turn around. Was going to bring out some toys for us to play with, but

there’s no way I can wait now.”

Hank was glad to hear it, because he couldn’t wait either.

Chapter Five

In the end, Julian didn’t get to pull out any of the straps he’d brought with him, or the deck of

cards with the fifty-two different positions for gay sex. That one had been another souvenir he’d
snagged over the years, and it had served him well a time or two.

Ah well, there was always the next time.
Their romp next to the shooting range had been fast and over with before its proper time, but it

had been so worth it to make the other man come for him like that. Julian actually had to gag the man
with his own T-shirt just to keep him from screaming out loud.

The last thing either of them wanted was for someone to come running toward the range with a

weapon, thinking that some human was being murdered over here.

Considering the way Hank had immediately passed out after everything was said and done, there

had been a second or two when Julian had actually become worried about what would happen if
someone had heard them, just to investigate and see Julian leaning over Hank’s body.

That would have been awkward to explain.
In the end, he’d managed to wake the man after letting him rest for about five minutes. Hank had

shocked him by not brushing off their encounter together as something that was never going to happen
again, like he’d tried doing the last time they were together. He’d also wrapped his arms around
Julian’s shoulders and cuddled up closer to him.

That had definitely been unexpected, and the only thing Julian could attribute it to was the fact

that Hank was just so tired after what they’d done.

They couldn’t spend the night there, however, so they were eventually required to clean up after

themselves. Julian had given Hank some more of his special lube to use if he couldn’t wait for them to
be together again. He’d also folded the insanely soft sheets up into a neat square and put that into
Hank’s arms as well.

“Lie on this when you use my lube,” he said, purposefully keeping his voice husky as he

whispered hotly into the taller man’s ear. It was partly for the erotic effect that he wanted Hank to
have all of these things, but also because the man didn’t have a mattress, and Julian at least wanted
him to have a nice set of sheets.

“You’re going to think of me every time you touch yourself from now on,” Julian said. “Just like

you’re going to think of me every time you come to the range for target practice.”

“Ah, now I know the real reason why you brought me here,” Hank said.
“Damn right.”
That had been three days ago, and Julian was more than antsy for the other man, but he made a

promise to himself that this time he would wait for Hank to make the first move.

If Hank came to him, then regardless of whether or not the man continued to lie to himself about

what was going on between them, Julian would know for sure. Whether Hank came or not, he would
at least have that.

As it was, he was stuck sitting in another quick meeting that Hawke was having with the other

warriors in the village. There was a map on the wall behind him, and he was busy pointing out spots
that hadn’t been checked on in a while, and putting the men into groups of two or three before sending
them out on rotation.

Julian inwardly crossed his fingers, hoping that he would get to stay behind to protect the village

itself, seeing as how he had been going out hunting and performing his guard duties out in the woods
for the last three days.

His prayers were not answered. He was put on rotation with Hawke and no one else.
That was odd. Sure, Hawke usually went by himself, or with only one other person when he felt

he had to, but ever since Julian had come to the village and taken up guard duties, he’d never been
sent out with anything less than two more people, regardless of whether or not Hawke was around to
babysit him.

Maybe it just meant that people were starting to have a little more faith in him. He could handle

that.

With those thoughts in mind, Julian thought that perhaps it wasn’t so bad that he wouldn’t be

seeing Hank around the village today. If he continued to prove himself to the village, then he would
have to prove himself to Hank as well, and that was always welcome.

Julian gathered up his gear. He didn’t know why he had to bother with carrying around a bow

with a quiver of arrows when he was perfectly capable of taking out his targets with his ice magic,
but he never wanted to cause any trouble with the apple cart, so he did as he was told as he and
Hawke went out on patrol.

It was hard keeping up with the man, and after less than an hour of chasing after him, he had to

come to a stop, gasping and panting for breath as he lost the man yet again in the trees. He was like a
monkey with the way he was able to run across the branches like that.

“You sure you’re not a mage and just aren’t telling us about it?” Julian asked, clutching at his

knees as he gasped for breath.

Hawke suddenly appearing in front of him, landing hard on his feet, had Julian shouting out loud

and falling back on his ass.

Then he started to laugh. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“I’m not a mage, and you should be keeping better track of the things around you to be scared

like that.”

“Yeah, well, sue me.”
“I won’t need to. Vampire slavers will either capture you or kill you, and that will teach you a

lesson just fine.”

Julian grumbled and sat up. Hawke always knew how to spoil his fun, always being so serious

as he was. Julian couldn’t even argue the fact that any vampire capturing him wasn’t all that likely
with his powers to protect him, considering Hawke always seemed to have a comeback to whatever
he was about to say.

“They might have poison darts. They can get you and kill you or put you to sleep before you

even know they’re there,” Hawke would say.

And of course, Julian knew he was right.
Julian got to his feet and brushed himself off. “Well, until you turn into a vampire slaver, I don’t

think I have much to worry about from you.”

Hawke shook his head. “I was running ahead to make sure there wasn’t anything or anyone

around us. I don’t want to be distracted or put either of us in danger for this.”

That had Julian a little worried. “This?”
“I pulled you out here with me to have a talk, about Hank.”
Julian sighed. “Jesus, is that all. You had me thinking for a second that you wanted me alone out

here to kill me in secret and bury my body somewhere.”

Hawke lifted a dark brow at him, and through that beard of his, Julian could see the way his lips

twisted as he fought not to smile. “Kill you in secret? I wasn’t exactly hiding it from the others that I
was bringing you out here alone with me.”

Julian waved away the other man’s words. “I’m sure you could’ve made up some story about

vampires ambushing us or something. You’re, what? Next in line to be running that village? I’m sure
no one would’ve questioned you.”

“Hank would have, and I’m not sure what to think about the way you casually dismiss the

possibility that I’d want to kill you for no reason.”

“I’m mellow like that, and as for Hank, well…” Julian trailed off and shrugged. He didn’t know

how to describe what it was he and the other man had right now. “How did you even find out about
that, anyway?”

Hawke gave him a look. “Everyone else is, for the most part, choosing not to see it because they

want to stay out of his business. He had a rough year and lashed out at a lot of people, no one wants to
make any assumptions, but that aside, my father and I tend to figure out what goes on around the
village.”

Julian wasn’t buying that for an instant. In his experience, very rarely were guys that in tune with

the emotions of other people. “More like your mother noticed the way I’ve been seeking him out and
put two and two together, then told you both.”

“That’s not the point,” Hawke said with a sigh, which told Julian that he was right. “I just want

to make sure that you’re not fucking around with him with the intention of dumping him later.”

“What?” Julian almost fell back on his ass. It was too ridiculous. “Uh, I’m the one taking the

risks here, just so you know. I’ve been wondering whether or not he wants more than sex, and have
been perfectly content to just accept that if that’s all he wants from me.”

“You’re serious?” Hawke asked. His arms were crossed, but he had a look of absolute disbelief

on his face.

“Why are we having girl talk about this? Seriously, is it any of your business anyway? I get that

we all live in your village and all, but I don’t see how this concerns the safety of anyone.”

“I’m more concerned about him.”
“I was under the impression that you didn’t like him,” Julian said, and now he folded his arms.

He could put up a stubborn front when he needed to, too.

“He’s been a pain in the ass lately, but it’s not like I despise the guy or anything. I know why he

does the things that he does, and to be fair to him, he has been behaving himself lately, even if he
hasn’t apologized to Will yet.”

“Your husband? What did he do?” Julian asked, suddenly worried that he wasn’t going to like

what he was about to hear. Will was both a vampire and a healer mage, and Hank wasn’t exactly
making it a secret about how much he hated paranormals.

“It was before he and I were married. Before we were even together, but that’s not the point.

When Will was still a captive, Hank got a couple of the guys together, and they would have yanked
out his fangs with a pair of pliers if I hadn’t been there to stop him.”

Julian winced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah,” Hawke said.
“I’m surprised you care so much if that’s something that he did.”

“Like I said, I understand why he’s done the things he has, and even if I’m still angry with him

for what he nearly did, Will has forgiven him, so it’s not like I can shirk my duties even to him at this
point.”

“Okay,” Julian said. “You don’t want me ripping the guy’s heart out. Noted, I won’t, but I can’t

say that he won’t do the same for me.”

“Do you really care about him that much?”
Julian nodded. “I do. I’ve only told this to Quinn, but that first time I met him, after I blasted his

leg with ice, I think I fell in love with him right then and there.”

Both of Hawke’s large black brows went up nearly to his hairline. “No shit?”
“Yeah, but I swear that if you try telling anyone that, I will totally deny it.”
Hawke shook his head at him, like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
But this raised more questions for Julian than answers. If everyone really did, supposedly, care

for Hank, why was he always by himself? Julian hardly ever saw the man with anyone at all.

“Look, the only thing I really know about him is that he was in love with James at one point, but

James is now obviously with my brother, so clearly that didn’t work out. I’m betting that’s not the
reason why Hank has such a hatred for paranormals.”

Hawke actually smiled at him. “You’re in a village filled with humans who have been running

their whole lives. I was a former slave in the house where my husband used to live, and everyone in
the village has either lost someone at some point, been running from something, or been a slave
themselves. The people in the village who have families, and that includes Frederik, Owen, and their
little boy at this point, all know that the day could come when someone in their unit could either be
killed or taken away. We all have stories. None of them are very nice, but Hank’s is especially
tragic.”

The man definitely had Julian’s attention now. He waited patiently for the guy to continue.
Hawke cleared his throat. “Look, everyone in the village already knows about this, so it’s not

like I’m giving away some big secret, but do me a favor and don’t tell Hank that I told you about it
anyway.”

“Why tell me at all if you’re so worried about it?”
“I’m betting that he already thinks you know. Even still, he doesn’t like talking about it, so don’t

bring it up to him unless you feel there’s an important need to. I guess if you really were pursuing a
relationship with him and trying to teach him how to shoot, it might end up being talked about in your
conversations together.”

“How did you know I offered to teach him how to shoot?” Julian asked. Now he was getting a

little weirded out.

“I get information from more places than my mother,” Hawke replied.
Fuck. He was going to have to be more careful around this guy.
“All right, what important thing do you think I need to know to get Hank to like me?”
“It’s not about getting him to like you back. He was in love with James and only tried so hard to

have something with him because of that. He’s not the kind of person who would just offer to sleep
around with people he wasn’t interested in.”

That was good news for Julian. But it also made him feel incredibly sorry for Hank. He’d loved

James, and, well, he knew how that turned out, but at the same time he wasn’t about to fault his
brother for his happiness.

“So what’s the real story here that you feel I should know about?”
“I’m telling you this because I want you to take it easy on him. Don’t push him into something he

might not be ready for. I meant it when I said that he only goes for people he has feelings for, but after
everything that’s happened, I wouldn’t put it past him to be just looking for a distraction.”

That definitely wasn’t good news for Julian.
“Okay,” Julian said. There was nothing else he could say to that. He barely knew what to make

of all of this right now.

Hawke sighed and rubbed his face with both palms. “Hank actually used to be on the team of

men and women who guarded the village.”

Julian didn’t know that. “Really? I mean, I guess it makes sense, considering his size. He did tell

me that he used to be a good shot, too.”

“He did?”
Julian nodded.
“Did he happen to mention what it was that changed that?”
“No, we sort of drifted away from that topic,” Julian said. “What happened? I was thinking that

maybe he’d injured himself somehow.”

“Not himself, no. What happened was, he used to have a brother named Josh, and he died a little

over a year ago now.”

Sympathy for Hank swelled inside of him. “I’m sorry to hear that. Though I had heard he had a

brother who died.”

“You’ll probably find it interesting if I tell you that Josh and James used to be an item. They

were together almost their whole lives,” Hawke said.

“James, as in my new almost brother-in-law?”
Hawke nodded. “Everyone knew it was pretty serious between them. Their relationship was

also how Hank and James knew each other so well. Probably also something to do with Hank’s more
recent feelings for James, though I don’t completely understand that.”

“Why not?” Julian leaned up against one of the trees and regarded the other man as he continued

on with his tale.

“This was an accident, and like I said, everyone in the village knows about it, so don’t go

getting the wrong idea when I say this, but it was Hank’s bullet that killed Josh.”

“What?”
Hawke nodded. “There was a small group of vampire slavers, and Hank and Josh were on

different teams, but they were both still close enough that Hank and the men he was with could hear
the shot being fired and all the yelling. They went to investigate. The slavers were trying to round up
Josh’s group, but they were fighting too hard, and by the time Hank arrived, everyone was either dead
or dying except for Josh. He was being dragged away.”

“Oh fuck,” Julian said. He already knew where this was going, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to

hear it, but he had to.

“The men Hank was with vouched for him on this, but apparently Josh and the vampires who

were taking him were already pretty far away, and they were running fast, even with a hostage. Hank
chased them for a bit before he pulled out his rifle and made a shot. I expect he thought he would hit
one of the vampires. He used to be one of the better shooters we had, but that day, maybe it was his
panic that made him not think about how much the vampires were moving or something, not to mention

Josh was probably struggling like hell.”

“He missed the shot,” Julian said. It wasn’t a question. It was obvious that that was what had

happened, and Hank had killed his own brother while trying to save him.

“Yeah,” Hawke replied. He rubbed his face again. Clearly it was hard for him to have to say

these things, but he kept going anyway. “Maybe it would have been better if Josh had been killed right
away, but he wasn’t. The bullet hit him in just the right place where he was able to hold on for three
days, and it nearly killed James seeing him like that, but blood loss and infection got to him. It didn’t
help that the vampires had also forced their teeth into him for a drink before Hank could get there. He
hasn’t been able to hold a gun right ever since, and no one wanted to put pressure on him when he
gave up being a guard. Whenever he lashed out, everyone understood, even if it has been recently
becoming a bit too much.

“He has every reason in the world to hate paranormals, so I do think he feels something for you.

He has to for him to look beyond your magic and be with you, but I swear to God if I ever find out that
you’re just using him for your own selfish purposes—”

“I’m not,” Julian quickly said. “That’s not what this is at all.”
Hawke nodded. “Not that I’m entirely convinced by that, but I will accept it for the moment.

That being said, if he decides he wants to put a stop to what you’re doing, then you let him stop. I
don’t want to hear about you pressuring him into something he’s not ready for. Got it?”

“I got it,” Julian said. He hadn’t been pressuring Hank, had he?
He guessed he would know for sure when, or if, the man finally decided to come to him, but now

Julian didn’t think he could wait for that. He wanted to go and see the other man as soon as possible.

“James forgave him, too? I mean, Hank was in love with him at one point, you said,” Julian

asked.

“James has forgiven him, but because of their history, I could hardly blame him for not seeing

Hank that way. I have no idea why Hank would even want to go after his deceased brother’s lover,
but everyone is different, I guess.”

“Yeah…look, I understand what you’re telling me. I promise that I only have good intentions.

I’m not after a quick fling.”

Now the only question was, whether or not that was what Hank wanted.
“Good,” Hawke said, then he turned around. “Let’s finish our shift and head back. We’ve spent

enough time talking, and I want to make sure the perimeter is secure.”

Chapter Six

It was always a good time to practice shooting whenever the other warriors weren’t on the

range. That usually meant they had to be out on patrol. Hank preferred it this way. He didn’t want to
see any pitying looks when he tried to pick up a weapon and fire it. His hands, his whole body really,
shook badly enough even when he was just holding a paintball gun. He hadn’t so much as touched a
real rifle ever since that day when he’d made his final shot.

The day shift would be ending soon. Hank had heard that Julian had gone out with Hawke, and

they would be returning soon enough for the night watch to head out and make sure that the village
remained safe and hidden from vampire spies.

Hank was really just hoping that he would get to see Julian again. Their odd relationship moved

quickly as far as the sexual terms went, but when it came down to the two of them just being alone
together and spending time with each other, that had been moving at a snail’s pace, which was made
all the more obvious by the way that Julian hadn’t come to see him in days.

It was his own fault really. As per usual, his gruff demands had pushed someone else away, and

he had no one to blame for that but himself.

After their intimate picnic, and the sex that followed, Hank figured it wasn’t such a bad thing to

want something more. Julian had said he wouldn’t be able to come to the shooting range without
thinking of Julian, and the man was right.

It was a nice change for his hands to be shaking while he tried to steady the paintball gun

because he was having trouble keeping his lusty thoughts at bay.

Still, it was enough for him to stop trying and lower the gun. He’d fired off at least a dozen

shots. Only three of them had hit the painted target, and all were far from bull’s-eyes.

Sadly enough, that was an improvement over how he used to shoot up until a few weeks ago.

“This is as good as it’s going to get,” he muttered.

“Just a little more work and I think you’ll have it down pat.”
Out of sheer habit, when Hank rounded on the voice, he lifted his gun and pointed it in the

direction of the possible threat, even though he knew who it was.

Julian eyed the paintball gun with wide eyes. “Did I really scare you that much?”
Hank lowered the weapon. “Yes, don’t sneak up on me like that,” he said, suddenly a lot more

annoyed than he should have been, considering he’d just been thinking about how much he would like
to see Julian today.

The bastard grinned at him. “Sorry. I thought for sure you would have recognized my voice, but

maybe I’m going through puberty or something. You know, getting that deep tenor I’ve been hoping
and wishing for at long last.”

Hank chuckled. “You’ve got to be the biggest fool in the world. I seriously could have hurt you

just now if I’d pulled the trigger.”

The only thing that had stopped him was the fact that he hadn’t pulled the trigger on any living

thing, whether it was an attacking vampire, or game to be hunted, since Josh’s death. He’d since left
that to the warriors in the village.

Of course, Julian wasn’t taking him seriously, and he raised one dark brow at Hank, his brown

eyes flicking down to the paintball gun that was leaning against his hip now and pointed safely down.
“Hurt me with a paintball gun?”

“If I’d pulled the trigger before getting myself under control and got you in the face, or even

worse, in one of your eyes, then yes, you would be very hurt considering you’re not wearing any
protection of any kind right now.”

Julian’s eyes brightened. “Is there something we can wear for this? Having a paintball fight

sounds like it would be fun!”

Suddenly, Hank wished for nothing more than to give Julian that fun he craved so much, but he

knew better than to offer the other man something like that. “We don’t make toys out of guns, even
these kinds. It would be too easy for one of the kids, or even one of the more immature younger men—
like you—to pick up one of these thinking it had blanks or something in it, and then shoot and kill
someone. No matter how much padding you wear, a bullet will still kill.”

He knew that better than anyone.
He half expected Julian to make some kind of complaint and attempt to get his way. Instead, the

man blushed a little and looked away from him. He brought one hand up to scratch at the back of his
neck, probably because he wanted somewhere to put his hands. “Right, that makes sense. Sorry.”

He was being really…careful all of a sudden.
“So what brings you out here? Come to finally give me some pointers? I already know how to

line up a shot. I just can’t…” Hank trailed off and shrugged. Everyone, and now Julian, already knew
about his little shaking problem whenever he picked up a gun or a bow. He didn’t feel the need to
voice that out loud.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t give you a few pointers,” Julian said, and that casual, happy grin was

back on his face as he walked over to Hank and leaned down to pick up the paintball gun.

“Come here,” he said, moving to Hank’s former position where he’d been trying to hit the

unmoving wooden target.

Hank did as he was told, curious to see where this was going. He was surprised when Julian

moved out of the way and put his arms around Hank, placing the gun in his hands, and then in a move
that felt almost like a hug, wrapped his arms around him. Julian kept a gentle hold on Hank’s wrists,
and with that position, he lifted Hank’s arms.

“Show me how you aim and shoot,” Julian said, and he suddenly stepped about two feet away

from Hank and looked at the nearest target.

Hank sighed and lifted the gun. Even before he managed to get the middle red dot painted on the

target in his line of sight, it was like he lost all control over the nerves in his arms, torso, and legs.
His body began to tremble.

Fuck. He’d hoped that it wouldn’t happen when Julian was here watching him. But he supposed

that hoping for something like that, just because he was trying to impress the man, was both stupid and
unrealistic.

He took in a deep and calming breath, knowing that he was taking much longer to try and line up

the shot than anyone else in the village would, but he didn’t care.

When he finally pulled back the tip of his finger against the sensitive trigger, he at least managed

to hit the wooden target, and the paintball even splattered a nice orange splotch on the outer red
circle, but he still didn’t hit right where he wanted to.

Hank blew out a breath and lowered his weapon, anger and annoyance bubbling up inside of

him. “Look, I really don’t need you here watching me do this. I know how to shoot just fine without
any lessons from you.”

“No, you’re just getting pissy because you don’t want me to watch you miss,” Julian said.
Hank rounded on him. “Fuck off. You think that because I let you fuck me a couple of times

means we’re dating or something? I don’t need you giving me pointers or thinking about how fucking
bad I am at this.”

Julian lifted a brow at him, but unlike everyone else who Hank had snapped at or played pranks

on over the months, Julian didn’t shake his head at him and walk away.

Instead, he stepped forward, and like before, he wrapped his arms around Hank’s middle and

took hold of his arms. Together, they lifted the gun.

“Take aim and shoot.”
“This is so stupid,” Hank said. His body felt hot with the way that Julian was pressed up against

him, and the whole situation was humiliating.

Still, he did as he was told, lining up the red dot. He allowed his arms to—not rest against

Julian’s, because that definitely wasn’t what was happening, but Julian put enough strength into his
hold that he still managed to keep Hank’s arms steady, which oddly enough worked on the rest of his
body as well.

For the first time in a year, Hank was holding a weapon without shaking over it. He pulled the

trigger, and this time the orange paintball exploded right in the centre of the red dot. It was a near-
perfect shot.

Hank couldn’t believe it. Julian leaned up and pressed a kiss to the side of his mouth, and he

was still too stunned to so much as acknowledge the kiss.

“I knew you could do it.”
Hank felt cold when Julian pulled away from him. “But that makes no sense. You were barely

touching me.”

“Then maybe it was all your doing,” Julian suggested.
“I doubt that.” Hank looked down at the gun, which wasn’t even a real gun, and thought about

what Julian said.

Maybe there was something about having some support beneath him to keep him steady that did

make sense. His hands were always so steady before that he’d never needed to lean on anything, even
for the longer rifles that he’d hunted with over the years.

“Do you want to try again?” Julian asked.
He did. So much that it nearly hurt.
Hank allowed himself to lean against the shorter man, and Julian held onto him, keeping his

hands steady with only the lightest of touches. Hank fired off ten more shots, and each orange
paintball splattered right where he wanted them to.

By the time he decided to call it quits, and only because the shadows had gotten too long as the

sun was nearly gone from the sky, he felt so good that he thought he might burst from the happiness
swelling within him. All the while Julian was singing his praises, patting him on the shoulder, and
telling him how well he was doing.

Hank put the gun down, rounded on the other man, and grabbed Julian by the shoulders before

crushing their mouths together.

There was a squeak of surprise, but Julian stayed right where he was and brought his arms

around Hank’s neck.

This was good. This was right. Had the sun not still been casting some light on them, he would

have asked that Julian take him right then and there.

Their tongues briefly met again and again, and Julian began to laugh through their kiss after Hank

pressed himself up against his hip, and his erection became obvious.

“You should probably take this with a grain of salt. You’ll still need to practice to get yourself

back to where you were before.”

Of course he was right. Likely, the moment Hank tried shooting a weapon again without him for

support, he would start trembling again, but that didn’t matter to him at the moment.

“Don’t ruin my buzz,” he said before pressing another openmouthed kiss onto Julian’s lips.
They clutched each other tightly, like they were really two men in love, and not just a couple of

guys who spent their spare time fucking. Hank was all right with that. He wanted Julian around now,
and he was more than happy to have the man in his life.

Julian moaned, and it soon became clear to the other man where exactly this was going when he

pulled away.

“Not that I don’t want to get right down to it now, but, uh, maybe we should take this back to

your place. I wouldn’t mind having you indoors this time.”

“Good idea,” Hank said, and he leaned down to pick up the paintball gun. He rushed it back to

the cabinet where all the nonlethal weapons were kept and made sure to lock it before he took Julian
by the hand and rushed back to his small house with him.

He no longer cared if anyone saw him holding Julian’s hand. Let them think what they wanted.

He welcomed it, even.

Sadly, there weren’t that many people outside or in the area of his home as he ran back with his

lover in tow.

“Eventually I’ll have to play that sex game with you that I was talking about the last time. We

still didn’t get the chance to do that,” Julian said with a laugh.

Hank was kind of curious about that, but he didn’t think he had the patience to wait on the other

man for sex games right now. He was turned on enough without any help.

He pushed open his door and all but slammed it shut again before taking Julian by the shoulders

and backing him into it with a loud bang that rattled the walls of the house.

He had a hair of a second to wonder if maybe that had been too much and if he’d hurt the other

man before Julian grabbed him by the ears and forced him down for another long and drawn-out kiss.

Hank hadn’t kissed many men in his life, but of the ones he did, Julian ranked near the top, and

he moaned as he felt the man’s cold fingers brush up under his shirt and scrape along his hot skin. In
fact, the temperature made him jump a little.

“Your hands are cold.”
“Sorry, I guess I’m a little excited.”
Whether he’d meant that as a pun or not, Hank couldn’t say. He didn’t much care either, but it

still made him laugh a little. “I don’t mind. It actually feels really nice.”

Julian’s grin turned lecherous. “So long as you don’t mind, maybe I can do a couple of things

that you might like.”

“Such as?” Hank asked, and then gasped and jumped again when Julian pressed a kiss to his

neck, followed by a cold touch of his fingertips against his nipples.

Julian had to quickly snake his arm around Hank’s waist to keep him still. “I learned that playing

around with hot and cold can feel really good against a sensitive body,” Julian said. His voice was

low and husky. Hank could feel the movement of the man’s lips against his throat as he spoke.

“Of course, the pleasure mage was using toys at the time. One guy had this whip, looked kind of

like a cat-o’-nine-tails. God, I wish I could remember what it was made out of. He told me when I
asked, but I was a little too preoccupied to remember.”

Hank just bet that he was.
“Anyway, it tickled my skin, unless he wanted it to hurt, but he also kept a bowl of hot and cold

water nearby, and whenever he dipped the whip into one of the bowls, it would get either hot or cold
depending on the water, and it always felt so damn good.”

As if to prove his point, another jolt of cold rushed out from Julian’s palm, and because it was

resting on Hank’s lower back, he hissed and lurched forward, closer into Julian’s arms, and the man
quickly took advantage and kissed him.

His hands remained always cold enough to shock and jolt against Hank’s warm skin, and he had

to admit, he liked this. A lot.

“Show me what else that mage taught you,” Hank demanded when he pulled away.
Julian grinned. “See, magic can be lots of fun if you let it.”
It hadn’t been a mage who was responsible for Josh’s death, so maybe it was okay for Hank to

let go of his prejudice against magic. It was hard to deny that there could be some fun to be had when
Julian touched him like this.

“I do see. Now what were you going to show me?”
Hank had prepared that amazingly soft bedsheet and wrapped it around the other blankets and

sheets that he’d kept in the corner, so that it almost looked like there was a real mattress. Or maybe
just an overly large pillow. Either way, Julian took note of it, grabbed Hank by the hand, and walked
backward until they were right next to it before climbing on.

Chapter Seven

“Take your clothes off,” Julian said. “All of them this time. We’re getting completely naked, and

I don’t want to hear anything about it.”

He half expected Hank to put up a fuss at his command like he did the last time. Twice they’d

come together so far, and both times neither of them had gotten completely naked. Julian wanted that
to change right now.

Aside from a raised eyebrow, the man grabbed the bottom of his shirt and lifted it above his

head and arms, revealing his gorgeously muscled chest. Julian’s heart leapt for two reasons. The first
being that he couldn’t believe he was finally going to see what Hank looked like with nothing on, and
the second was just how stunningly beautiful the man was from the neck down. Every part of him was
amazingly handsome, but just the sight of him was making Julian feel both self-conscious and jealous.

“You okay?” Hank asked.
Julian had to shake himself out of his stupid thoughts and bring himself back into the present.

“Yeah,” he said, and then cleared his throat when his voice came out sounding high and squeaky.
Goddamn, he’d had sex with the man in front of him twice already and he was nervous? “Yeah, just
thinking.”

“Good things, I hope,” Hank said, and his smile melted Julian’s insides.
“Very good things. Do you have any more lube left?” Julian had gotten into the habit of always

giving Hank the last of what was in the vials he made, so unless Hank had been using it again without
him, there should be something in this small house that they could use.

Thankfully, Hank reached around and under the makeshift mattress, pulling out one of Julian’s

vials. It was as full as it had been when Julian had given it to him.

“I wanted to save it for the next time we came together,” Hank said.
Julian breathed a deep sigh of relief that he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding. “I’d wanted to

wait for you to come to me, but after today I just had to see you,” he admitted. “I take it this means you
wanted me to come to you?”

Hank blinked those wide blue eyes down at him. “It never occurred to me that you would want

me to be the aggressor. Otherwise I might have come to see you almost immediately after. You have
no idea how hard it is to not touch myself with this stuff now that you’ve spoiled me with it.”

Julian laughed and pressed a kiss to Hank’s pink lips. He let his hands roam over the man’s

perfect chest, letting his nails scratch gently over his nipples, and he always made sure to keep his
fingertips just a little cold whenever he did that.

The resulting shiver that passed through Hank’s body, and the goose bumps that followed,

brought a pleasurable throb to Julian’s cock as he felt himself swell and harden in his pants.

“Speaking of being the aggressor,” Julian said. “I wouldn’t mind it so much if you took the lead

tonight.”

“Really?”
Shit. Maybe the man didn’t want that. “Unless you don’t feel comfortable doing it. I don’t mind,”

Julian said quickly.

Was that something about Hank and his former lover that they alone had shared? Julian had

wondered why Hank would want to bottom for him when they’d first started doing this. Maybe this
was the reason.

“No, no, I’ll do it. I guess I just sort of convinced myself that you would always want that

position. You’re kind of handsy with my ass.”

Julian laughed. “That’s my new favorite word now. Handsy. I think I can say that ten times, and

it’ll never get old.”

Hank just shook his head. Julian thought he heard the man mutter the word fool, but he didn’t

want to spoil their moment by calling him on it. Julian peeled off his shirt, and then reached for
Hank’s belt and began to undo it.

Hank positioned himself onto his knees, his hands on Julian’s shoulders, and he looked down

and watched as Julian undressed him and pulled his jeans down, revealing his dick.

It practically sprang out the second that Julian got the denim off of him. It was long and hard, the

head swollen and dark.

He had the sudden urge to put his mouth around it and start sucking on him until Hank came,

yelling his name.

He reached for it, but then Hank quickly pulled back. “Not that I don’t think your cold finger

trick isn’t cool or anything, but if you put your ice-cold hands on my dick, then I think that’ll be a
couple of steps backward.”

“I’m not that mean. I wouldn’t tease you like that,” Julian said, and this time when he took

Hank’s cock in hand, the man didn’t pull away from him.

His entire body did shiver, however. “You said you wouldn’t make your hands cold,” he said

through clenched teeth.

“I’m not. That’s my natural touch you’re feeling.” He stroked the length of Hank’s prick, up and

down, keeping his grip nice and hard, and gradually his palm started to warm up.

“See?”
Hank hissed.
“Lie back for me,” Julian commanded.
Hank’s blue eyes were half-lidded when he blinked at Julian in a near-drunken manner. “I

thought…you wanted me in control?”

“I can have you top me, but that doesn’t mean I have to give you complete control of me.”
Just to make sure that Hank did as he was told, and quickly, Julian leaned down and pressed an

open kiss to the tip of his dick.

Julian doubted that Hank could have moved faster to lie back on their soft, makeshift pillow

even if he’d tried. He got onto his back, kicked his jeans off the rest of the way, and aside from the
socks, he was almost completely naked.

It still wasn’t good enough for Julian. He wanted to see all of him. He gently took ahold of Hank

by the calves, and after pulling off his socks and tossing them behind him, he put Hank’s legs onto his
shoulders before leaning down. He breathed warmly over Hank’s dick, and when it jumped a little in
response, his own cock did the same thing.

He chuckled.
“Are you going to stare at it or—”
Whatever Hank was about to say was cut off when Julian thrust his tongue out and licked up the

entire length of his dick. That familiar shiver worked up his body, but now it wasn’t from any cold
sensations that Julian was putting into him.

That would come later.

“Fuck, yeah. Put it in your mouth,” Hank said, and he lifted himself up onto his elbows to look

down and watch as Julian did just that.

He couldn’t put Hank completely down his throat. That was a nifty trick that he’d never been

able to master, no matter how easy the pleasure mages he’d been with had made it look. He used his
fist to stroke and pump the bottom part of the shaft that he couldn’t get his lips around, but he also
made sure to apply just enough pressure to make sure that Hank wouldn’t be able to come like this
either.

Still, the sound of Hank’s pleasured moaning, and the feel of his thrusting hips beneath him,

pushing his dick forward and back inside of Julian’s mouth, was enough to make his own dick throb
and ache to the point where it was nearly painful. He found himself humping against Hank’s mattress,
or large pillow, whatever he was going to call it, just to give himself some friction to work with.

He really hoped that the material wasn’t the kind that stained easily.
“Fuck, you’re good. I love fucking your mouth,” Hank said, and that only made it worse for

Julian as far as keeping himself under control.

He moaned, and the vibrations from his mouth around Hank’s cock made the other man shout and

buck, and then Julian really had to hang onto him to keep him from coming.

Hank actually reached down and started to push him away as he tried to get out from beneath

him. “Let go. I want to come. Let go!”

Julian pulled his mouth away with a wet pop, but he didn’t dare release the base of Hank’s dick.
“You don’t get to come until you’re inside of me,” he said. Julian reached up with his hand and

let his fingertips trail down the muscles of Hank’s chest and abdomen, making them just cold enough
to produce another moan from the man. “I want you deep inside of my ass before you get to come. Not
a minute sooner than that.”

He gripped Hank’s dick and turned his fist again and again, watching with delight as Hank was

almost lost under the new sensation.

“Holy fuck,” he moaned, collapsing onto his back.
Julian only wanted this to be good for him. He wanted to show the man in the only way he knew

how that he could be what Hank needed. Right now he was going to show Hank that he could be a
generous lover, if he hadn’t already gotten that message across. Over time he hoped he could
convince him that he was also a decent friend at times, and maybe they could have something more
than this together. Maybe Hank would want him in his life if he could just prove himself.

When convinced that Hank wouldn’t come if he was released, Julian took hold of the lube he’d

made and he poured it into his hand, feeling the warm tingling start up almost immediately on his
palm. He grabbed Hank by the cock again, swatting away his hand when he tried to reach down and
lazily finish himself off.

“I’ve got you. Don’t worry,” he said.
“That feels good,” Hank moaned as Julian squeezed and stroked him, still keeping enough

pressure on the base of his dick to keep him from coming too soon.

Julian no longer cared about getting off. He would like to, but right now his main concern was

making sure that Hank had a good time.

Julian stopped what he was doing, and then he reached around behind himself, thrusting his

fingers into his asshole to get ready. It had been a while since he’d let anyone inside of him, and he
only hoped that this wouldn’t get awkward if he felt too much pain from the penetration.

“Thought you would want me to do that,” Hank said. He had a smile on his face as he ran his

hands up and down Julian’s sides. Hank stared at him like he was the handsome one in bed, instead of
just a short and scrawny man in comparison to his bulk.

That was the most flattering thing anyone could have ever done for him.
“I just want you to enjoy yourself. Focus on you.”
“Not very nice of me if I don’t try to return the favor,” Hank said with a soft gasp.
“You will. Don’t you worry. Right now this is all for you. I am your devoted servant, and I want

to make sure you get the very best.”

Hank’s eyes flashed at that, and Julian worried that maybe he’d overstepped the line by calling

himself a servant to someone who fought every day of his life to keep from becoming a slave.

Instead, he smiled quite wolfishly. “That something else those pleasure mages taught you?”
Julian thrust his fingers a little farther inside of himself. He was just about ready. “Oh,

definitely. You have no idea how much of a turn-on it is to have someone wanting to do every exact
thing you say in bed. I’ll show you how amazing it is. If you want me to ride you, then I’ll ride you.
Slow, fast, hard, you name it. I’ll do it without touching myself if that’s what you want, and I won’t
come until you say so. I can even blindfold you if you want. That’s always fun.”

It was strange how quickly Julian got over the weird fact that he was having a breathy

conversation while he fingered himself, but Hank didn’t seem to mind.

“I’ll take your word for it on the blindfold,” he said.
Julian wondered how long it would take to convince the man to try that one out. It had always

been a favorite of his, and he wanted Hank to have every pleasure imaginable.

Finally, he could take no more teasing himself, and he withdrew his fingers from his pucker.

Julian had never been able to do more than graze his own prostate, and after stretching himself like
that for so long, little pearly drops of his pre-cum were forming along the slit of his cock, and he had
to have Hank inside of himself.

“Tell me how you want me,” he said.
Hank’s face was pink with embarrassment and desire. He guessed that whatever other lovers the

man had had in the past had all been pretty vanilla if that was all it took to make him blush, and Julian
wasn’t exactly hard-core either.

“Like…like what you said earlier. I want you to ride me.”
“Always a fun position,” Julian said. He released Hank’s legs so that the man could properly lie

down. Hank took the initiative to grab a couple of pillows and place them under his head so that he
was at the right kind of angle to watch.

Julian poured a little more lube into his hands and spread it on his hole before hooking his legs

over Hank’s hips.

“Wanted this from the minute I laid eyes on you,” he said, completely without thinking.
“You’ve had me enough times already,” Hank said.
He had, but this was different, and not just because of the switch in positions, even if Hank was

still the one beneath him. Something had changed here. Maybe it was Julian’s new understanding of
the man, but there was definitely something different about this.

He grinned down at the man and brushed off his words. “Minor details,” he said, and

positioning Hank’s dick, Julian allowed himself to slowly sink down onto it.

Even with his special super slippery lube, it still burned, and not because the lube was made to

warm up. The stretch was painful. Hank wasn’t a small man by any means even when he wasn’t erect.

“Are you okay?” Hank asked, and Julian opened his eyes—he hadn’t realized he’d shut them—

to see the other man staring up at him with worry on his face.

That worry was almost a little hard to see, considering the blushing he was doing, and the

grimace as he was clearly struggling with himself to not simply grab onto Julian’s hips and ram into
him.

The man was actually showing concern for him while Julian was trying to have sex with him. It

was very sweet, and suddenly, a lot of the pain that Julian felt dulled away.

“I’m fine. It’s just been a while since I let anyone do this to me.”
“We can switch positions if you like.”
It was comments like that that let Julian know that Hank really did care about him, even if he had

trouble admitting it.

“No way. I’m stubborn like that, in case you didn’t know. You’re already halfway inside of me

anyway,” he said, and then let himself sink down just a little more.

Julian watched Hank’s face intently, paying special attention to every little move and twitch,

especially in his body, so that he could see just how much pleasure the other man was feeling.

Hank bit back a groan, and his jaw tightened as his fingers gripped Julian’s waist so hard that he

would probably leave marks later on.

Julian had a comfortable strap for that sort of thing. He was going to have to get it for the next

time they tried this position.

Hank’s head fell back, and he gasped and thrashed as Julian began shifting his hips back and

forth even before Hank was fully inside of him. The motion helped him to overcome the last of the
pain as he started to feel pleasure, which, in turn, only spurred him on to move faster.

Fuck, the noises that Hank was making and the shifting of his hips beneath Julian’s body weren’t

helping matters. Every time they’d come together it had always been a fast, over-with-in-minutes sort
of affair. Julian wanted this time to be different. He wanted to make Hank beg for him.

He squeezed his anus around Hank’s cock and purposely slowed down his frantic thrusting.

When that wasn’t enough to get his body under control, he reached down and grabbed his cock,
forcing himself not to come just as he’d forced Hank not to only moments before.

“What are you doing?” Hank asked breathlessly. His eyes were glazed over, and he was gasping

now.

“The night is very young,” Julian told him, shifting on his knees so that he moved achingly slow

up and down Hank’s cock. With his free hand, he brought forth some of his cold magic and started
playing along the dip in Hank’s stomach before sliding his palm across each of his hard nipples. A
trail of goose bumps was left behind his hand as he moved it around. “This time, I’m going to make
sure that you’re begging me before I let you come.”

“Thought you were going to be my sexual servant?” Hank asked, and it was hard to tell through

the lust in his voice if that was a teasing tone in there.

“I will be. I said the night is young,” Julian said, and then ground his ass down hard on Hank’s

cock. “We take our time now, and after we’ve finished and both recovered, we go for another round.
You can tell me to do whatever you want, and I promise I’ll do it, but until then, we have to go this
route.”

Hank groaned and threw his head back. “You fucking tease.”

Chapter Eight

Hawke had wanted to go and have a word with Hank, maybe clear the air a little after all that

had happened in the last year. Will had suggested it, and Hawke had agreed. Hank had definitely
gotten better at controlling his anger and hate ever since Julian had arrived, and he was willing to
speak to the man to see if maybe that wasn’t entirely on the surface.

Hawke couldn’t blame the people in the village who were still afraid of paranormals, vampires

in particular, but he at least hoped that Hank knew better, and that maybe he would finally apologize
for what had almost happened with Will.

Hell, James didn’t hold anything against the man, and it was his brother who had died because

of that accident a year ago. Not to mention that Hank had been downright hostile toward Quinn for a
time. There had been a time when it appeared that things might come down to a fight between them,
but it hadn’t.

If James could forgive, then so could Hawke, but only after he spoke with the man.
The noises he heard coming from Hank’s small cabin were enough to make Hawke turn right

around and head home.

Right. It seemed that Hank and Julian were still in the middle of coming to an understanding of

their own. He wasn’t about to interrupt that for anything.

Will looked at him strangely from the journal he was writing in. He’d taken to making his own

grimoire of sorts, and filling it with the recipes for all sorts of healing potions that even a mage could
make with their lack of magical talents. Not just that, but it would also have recipes for regular
medicines, along with specific plants and what each one did, as well as what they could cure.

He was doing pretty well so far with the information he was collecting from the people of the

village, and Felicia was helping him as well.

Next to him was another blank book that contained the list of his patients, along with what ailed

them. There was a whole chapter devoted to Owen’s fae pregnancy, along with the birth, while
Robert’s pregnant wife and her symptoms only warranted a couple of pages.

A fae male pregnancy wasn’t something that a healer mage worked with every day, and Will had

wanted to make sure he had all of the details.

“That was a fast talk,” Will said, closing his books and setting them aside. He pulled back from

his writing desk and stretched his hands above his head. Hawke immediately thought of the noises that
were coming from Hank’s house, and how he would like to have Will making those same sounds.

“He’s, uh, sort of wrapped up in something right now,” Hawke said, stepping closer. “Are you

about due for a break? You’ve been writing ever since you woke up.”

Sometimes it was a bit of a pain having opposite sleeping hours as his lover, but they both tried

their best to make it work. Will had been awake at least three hours before sunset, and because
Hawke had worked a morning shift, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to stay awake the whole night
with his husband.

That was enough to make him want to spend every minute that he could with Will before he

inevitably passed out.

“Oh, I really shouldn’t, but—” Will stopped himself and looked at him, and then he smiled, as

though he understood what Hawke had been worried about. “I’ve got more than enough time for you.”

That was why Hawke loved this man so much.

He moved closer to his husband and leaned down to kiss him in his chair. Will’s lips were soft

and pliant as ever, and his hand was warm as he cupped Hawke’s cheek.

“It’s been a couple of days since we’ve been together,” Hawke said, letting the hint out into the

world for it to land where it may.

Will’s hand trailed down to his neck and chest. “I guess it has. Unless there are other things for

you to take care of…”

He trailed off, and Will’s warm amber eyes flashed with desire. Hawke’s dick pulsed in his

pants, which suddenly felt just a little too tight for his taste, and he wanted nothing better than to get
out of them and put his husband in a similar state of undress.

He’d just gotten Will to his feet when something outside of the window caught his eye, and he

froze.

Will had by now gotten used to the signs that Hawke exhibited whenever there was something

off. “What is it?”

There was always a curfew in place during the night. After a certain time, it wasn’t permitted

for anyone to be out wandering around unless they were on patrol. This was something that the
resident vampires found annoying, but had accepted for the obvious safety reasons.

They didn’t want to be mistaken for intruders and shot at.
The guards who were out were also not supposed to be walking so close to the houses that they

could practically climb through the windows, and through the thin lace curtains of his tiny square
home, Hawke had definitely heard and seen someone before they rushed away.

He put his hands on Will’s shoulders. “Lock the door behind me and don’t let anyone you don’t

trust inside while I’m gone.”

Will was a vampire, but because of the healing he’d done to Hawke when they were boys

together, Hawke was the stronger and faster of the two. He was also trained to hunt and kill, and Will
knew better than to argue whenever Hawke thought there was a threat nearby.

Sometimes it turned out to be nothing, but Hawke was not about to make a habit of taking that

risk just because he was about to get lucky. The change in shifts hadn’t happened that long ago. Was it
possible that someone or something had made it past the patrol and into the village while everyone
was switching over for the night?

Hawke was grateful when he heard the familiar click of the lock behind him when he stepped

out into the cool night air. Not that the flimsy thing would help very much if vampire slavers had
tracked them back to the village, but it was something at least.

The thing that made the hairs on the back of his head stand up was the torchlights.
There were always some lit during the night for the guards whenever they were on patrol.

Hawke had lit them tonight while he was on his way to Hank’s small house.

More than half of them were burned out and still smoking. “Who’s out there?” he called, and

then reached for the leather holsters at his hips that housed his very sharp and very deadly knives.
There was also the gun under his arm in its holster as well, but he didn’t want to draw it just yet in
case it was just some of the kids out playing a stupid game.

There was a flurry of movement behind him and the sound of feet running quickly through the

rocks and twigs.

Not one of the kids then. Hawke spun around and let the knives in his hands fly. The first one

caught an unknown man right in the throat, and he dropped with a sudden gasp, clutching at his wound

before dying seconds later.

The second knife missed its target, but there were three of them coming. Before Hawke could

pull out his gun, a hard fist smashed into his forehead, and he was knocked backward. Lights out.

* * * *

“I’ve never felt this way for anyone,” Hank said. The words escaped his mouth when he didn’t

mean to speak them out loud.

Thankfully, Julian was sleeping, snuggled up close and warm in Hank’s arms.
They’d both made a complete mess of Hank’s neat and tidy sleeping space and were now

cuddling together in the complete disarray of sheets and pillows. Hank had taken the stolen, and very
comfortable, set of sheets that Julian had taken from the vampire mansion and thrown it over their
bodies. It was a cool night, but not so cold that their body heat and the thin sheets couldn’t combat it.

If anything, the temperature felt perfect. Everything was perfect. Hank was in love.
He grinned at the thought. He’d never thought he would be in love, and then there had been what

had happened with James not too long ago, which had only ended in disaster.

Maybe he hadn’t really been in love with James. Maybe it was just a mix of lust coupled with

the fact that he’d wanted James’s forgiveness so badly that he’d convinced himself that if James was
with him, then everything would be all right in the world.

If anything, his attraction to James had been completely unhealthy, and looking back on how he’d

acted, and knowing what he had the chance for now, he was glad that his advances hadn’t worked out.

Considering he’d been so mean to Julian’s own twin brother in all of that, he was surprised that

Julian was even giving him the time of day.

Hank had once accused James of only being attracted to Quinn because of some vague

resemblance to Josh. Looking at Julian now, he could see how very wrong he was. Neither man
looked anything like Hank’s brother. Both were too short, for one thing, and while Josh and Julian
both had deep-brown eyes, when Hank was looking into Julian’s eyes, he noted the difference in the
shape, the thickness of his brows, along with the little flecks of gold and green that were closer to the
pupil.

Hank had never looked his own brother so closely in the eyes before, but he was more than sure

those little details weren’t there.

Yeah, he’d been jealous that James had turned his affection on someone other than Hank, and he

was going to have to apologize for that. Soon.

He just never would have thought he would owe so much to one stubborn mage. He kissed

Julian’s forehead.

Then he heard a crash outside, one that was very near the front door to his small home.
It was so loud that Julian was jolted awake, and he brought his hands up to rub at the sleep in his

eyes. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Hank said, and he quickly pulled out of Julian’s warm embrace, reached for his

pants, and then headed for the door.

“Stay here,” he said.
Julian yawned, stretched, and nodded, clearly not worried. Hawke was going to have to speak

with him about always being prepared if Julian was going to make it as a guard.

Hank, however, was not as prepared as he himself thought he was, otherwise he would have

known better than to just open his door so wide like he did in the middle of the night.

The bright flash of pain that exploded behind his eyes as he was knocked in the face with

something hard sent him flying backward. The wood of his floor made a loud crashing sound as his
body came down hard on it, and suddenly he was the one fighting to stay awake.

“Hank!” Julian screamed his name, and though Hank’s eyes were open and he was still

conscious, everything around him almost appeared as though it was on the other end of a very long
tunnel and just so far away from him. Everything went in slow motion, but he couldn’t convince his
limbs to start moving again so he could get up and help.

That was the least of his problems when some pale-faced vampire that Hank had never seen

before got up into his face and grabbed him by the arms.

Slavers. Fuck. How had they gotten into the village? How had they even found the village?
They were going to take him and Julian unless someone did something to help them, but through

the haze of fog and echoing sounds, he heard enough faraway screams to know that he and Julian were
both on their own.

Then, before the vampire could yank him up, he saw a flash of bright blue pass over his eyes,

and cold air made his exposed skin pebble up. The vampire’s mouth opened in shock as his entire
body turned into an ice cube. It would have been funny if Hank wasn’t so out of it. He could even see
the man’s fangs through the clear ice. The guy needed to brush his teeth more, that was for sure.

Julian was fighting back. Hank didn’t know whether or not to think that was good or bad. If he

fought back, then the slavers might just decide to kill him right there instead of taking any risks of
being slowed down. The best thing to do was always cooperate as much as possible until an opening
for escape, or the chance to turn on the enemy without them noticing, presented itself.

Julian didn’t seem to know that as more vampires flooded through the small door of Hank’s little

house. Julian blasted two more, transforming them into overgrown ice cubes, but he wasn’t fast
enough to prevent another one of the vampires from lifting something to his mouth and blowing at dart
in Julian’s direction.

From the sound of his shocked, angry yell, the vampire hit his target.
No! Hank shifted and tried to move. More control was coming back to his body, and he was

starting to get a pounding headache as his vision cleared and his eyes widened. “Don’t touch him,” he
said. He wanted to shout the words, but they came out sounding slurred, like he was drunk or
something.

Another heavy thud sounded behind him as Julian toppled over. Vampire poisons were fast.
Hank wanted to cry. Was he poisoned? Or had it been a drug that had made him pass out? He

could barely shift his body to see, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to see it.

“Don’t touch him,” he said again when more vampires came in to inspect the scene. One put his

hand on the ice cube that was currently holding Hank trapped. His arms were starting to go numb from
where the man’s thick ice hands still held onto him.

The vampire was dead, having suffocated in the block of ice. There was no light in the man’s

eyes, and Hank dearly wished that he could say the same about all the rest of them.

“What should we do about this one?” asked one of the vampires who was staring down at Hank.
“Leave him. There’s no way we’re getting that ice off fast enough. We’ve got a mage here

anyway. The Romonoffs will prefer having that in their house over another human.”

Chapter Nine

Hank still wasn’t able to come to on his own. If anything, he continued to float in and out of

consciousness against his will. He felt like a man on the verge of drowning. He was always right
beneath consciousness, but no matter how much he tried and struggled, he couldn’t break through the
surface when he was needed the most.

He didn’t open his eyes again to full clarity until what seemed like an eternity later.
That healer vampire, Will, was kneeling above him, and the soft-blue glow around his hands had

just gone out as he finished doing whatever it was he was doing.

“That should take care of the damage to your head, and the frostbite you were getting from sitting

under that dead vampire for so long.”

Oh. Will had been healing him. Right.
Hank shot up and was on his feet in a second. He was still in his house, and his floor was

soaked with water, but the vampire who’d had him pinned was still covered in ice, and there was
still no sign of any sun about to rise in the sky.

“How long was I—”
“An hour,” Will said. “We think it might’ve had something to do with that one mercenary that got

away  when  Hawke  and  the  others  were  at  Frederik’s  brothers’  house.  Maybe  the  man  recognized
Hawke  and  where  he  was  from  and  sold  the  location  of  the  village  to  the  vampires,  but  we  don’t
know  for  sure.  Robert  is  dead.  Dorian  and  several  other  guards  who  were  on  the  night  watch  are
either injured or presumed dead.”

“Or taken,” Hank finished, and he grabbed a shirt and threw it on before he stormed past Will

and out into the cold night. Maybe it only seemed so cold because the chill of Julian’s ice was still in
his veins.

“What about James? And is Hawke around?”
“James was on the night watch, and he didn’t come back yet,” Will said, following closely

behind Hank.

As he marched through the village, Hank saw the destruction around him. The vampires had set

fire to some of the houses they’d raided, and men and women were rushing in and out of those burning
houses to collect whatever belongings they could save before it was too late. Even Quinn was
helping, though he could do little more than the same. Some women yelled at him to just use his magic
to put out the fires. Guess they didn’t know the magic he had didn’t work that way.

Felicia was tending to the wounded with Lilly, and Brian was nowhere in sight.
Hank stopped in his tracks. Will was not with Felicia and Lilly as they tended to the sick. That

was where he should have been, unless— “You didn’t answer me before. Where is Hawke? And
Brian for that matter?”

The look Will gave him was pained. “They took him. I don’t even know if he’s alive because I

saw blood on the ground, but they have him. Brian, too.”

Hank advanced on him, and he didn’t stop until Will was backed up against the wooden wall of

one of the houses that was not on fire.

“You let them take him?”
Anger flared in the smaller man’s eyes. “I didn’t let them do anything! They took him, and I want

him back, alive, as much as anyone else in this village.”

“Yeah right, you fucking vampire. How do I know it wasn’t you that sent word out to those

slavers that we were here?”

Hank was letting his anger get the better of him again. He knew that, but he couldn’t make

himself stop, even as he brought his palms up to rest on either side of Will’s head, trapping him in
place.

“He wouldn’t have done that, because he married my son.”
Hank blinked, his rage washing out of him at the sound of Felicia’s ever-motherly voice. He

didn’t move his body, but he turned his head just enough to get a good look at the disapproval on her
face.

Her usually well-kept braid was frayed, as though someone had been yanking on it. Now that he

got a closer look at her, he saw that there was blood on her lip, as well as the beginning of red
swelling around her mouth, as though someone had hit her.

That only made him angry all over again. “Who did that to you?”
“One of the slavers did, as they were trying to take me along with my husband. If William hadn’t

come and surprised the man from behind, I would be among the missing.”

Hank lowered his arms, and suddenly he couldn’t look either of them in the face. “I’m sorry. I

just…I thought…”

“You’re worried. I get it. Let’s just move on,” Will said. His voice was hard, but it sounded as

though there was genuine understanding in his words.

Hank really was a dick.
“Why did you come and get me?” he asked.
“I sent him,” Felicia said. “Most of our guards that we have left are too injured to go out and

search for their village leader and my son, not to mention James, Dorian, and the other woman and
children that they took. I asked him to go and round up anyone who was able to still move quickly on
their feet and carry a weapon. I saw you trapped in your house, and I specifically sent him to heal you
before he ran out of energy.”

“Wait, you can’t just heal the injured warriors?”
“I healed some of them,” Will said quickly. “I took care of anyone whose life was threatened

first before going to you, but with the way you nearly blew up on me there, I’m thinking that there
wasn’t enough power left in me to take care of your head injury all the way. It was enough of a pain in
the ass trying to get the ice man off you by myself.”

Hank pushed away the blush of shame he felt rising up. The important things were laid out in

front of him. Will had no more energy left to heal the warriors in time to give chase, so Felicia had
ordered him to collect anyone willing and able to go out for the rescue.

It was a grim reminder that, while she was small and slim, Brian had married the woman for a

reason. She was probably the only reason why the village wasn’t even more chaotic than usual.

“Who will be going?” he asked.
“Frederik volunteered quickly after I offered to watch his son because Owen was one of the

taken. Oliver is willing and able. Noir was also one of the taken, so Anderson is insisting on going.
He will be leading the dogs to help with tracking the vampires’ movements while in his wolf form.

“Then me.”
Felicia nodded. “Then you. I know you have not been on active duty, but you are trained and,

considering who we are sending, some people who are not as proficient at fighting…” she said,

trailing off.

He didn’t need to hear any more. He just nodded. “I understand. I will do my best,” he said,

speaking in the tone and using the words he used to use back when he considered himself a soldier for
the cause. Christ, he was going to have to get over his fear of holding weapons again really fast, and
he didn’t have Julian there with him to keep his hands steady.

“Everyone we could get together on such short notice is waiting by the back of the village at the

shooting range,” Felicia said. “The vampires snuck in through that route after taking the guards
hostage or killing them. Oddly enough, they broke open the lockbox that had the paintball guns inside,
but they left the other one with the real weapons alone.”

“They probably thought it was filled with more toys like the last one had been,” Hank said,

though that information was hardly very uplifting considering that the weapons inside that particular
lockbox weren’t kept hidden because they were barely better than the toys that were locked up next to
him. It was filled with pellet guns, one good bow, and two real handguns.

“Are there any other weapons?” Hank asked.
“Some,” Felicia said. “Enough for everyone going on the rescue mission, and for the people you

manage to bring back. They can still hold guns and bows if they’re not too injured.”

“Good point. All right, I’m going.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to catch up to them?” Will asked, but Hank didn’t stop and look at

the other man. Now more than ever he realized that, vampire or not, Will was still vulnerable. He
wasn’t a fighter, and there was fear in his voice. It sounded like about as much as Hank was holding
onto for Julian.

“You both just told me that Hawke and Brian are with Julian. Not to mention Noir and several

other men. If they’re conscious at all, then they’re not going to make it easy for the vampires to get
away.”

* * * *

Julian was totally screwed. He’d woken up to a numb sensation in his arms, and then realized

after a moment that they’d been tied so tightly behind his back that it was actually cutting off the blood
circulation.

It was probably also to keep him from killing these men with his ice magic like he’d done to a

couple of their friends.

Julian only wished he’d gotten more, but that wouldn’t be possible so long as he was like this.

He couldn’t safely use his powers when his arms were numb and he couldn’t even see his hands.

Now he understood how Quinn must have felt when he’d been taken and put into shackles.
He lifted his head and tried to look around. He didn’t feel like he was being carried or dragged

anywhere, but there was a lot of yelling going on in the distance.

Had someone gotten away? Were the vampires giving chase?
Good. It was still dark outside with the exception of a half moon, so unless Julian had been

passed out for days—and despite how horrible he felt, his body wasn’t giving him that impression—
they’d only been gone for a few hours at the most.

He started shifting around, trying to sit up from the cold ground he’d been dumped on, and he

couldn’t contain his groan of pain as his arms flared up with heat.

He needed to get all of those ropes off of him.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Julian looked up quickly and saw who he was with. “I wasn’t aware I was with other people.”
Dorian narrowed his eyes at him. “They’re slavers. They take as many as they can and burn

down the rest. That’s what they always do.”

“Where is Hank? Is he here?” Julian asked, twisting around in case he could see his lover

somewhere.

“He wasn’t in the group,” Dorian said. “It’s just us.”
“Us?” Julian looked down and saw who else Dorian was referring to. There was at least seven

small children, all under the age of ten, chained up and huddled together for warmth while the
screaming and shouting went off in the distance. They were awake, at least, but they were clearly
scared out of their minds.

Owen was passed out and tied up in a similar way to Julian, and he was lying on the ground not

too far away. Probably because he was a fae and they feared the powers he may or may not have,
which was the reason for the restraints. Julian also recognized Noir, who also hadn’t woken up from
whatever had been forced into his system. He was in chains instead of being tied with ropes. So they
knew he was a vampire and would be a real threat if he woke up. James didn’t look like he’d been
drugged so much as he had the shit beaten out of him, and his face was swelling and bruised as he lay
unconscious on the ground. There were some other humans that Julian recognized from the village, but
he still didn’t know their names by heart yet. Mostly young humans, people who would be able to
provide a lot of good blood for the vampires to drink for years to come.

“We have to get out of here. Who the hell are they yelling at?”
“Hawke was the first to wake up. He was banged up pretty bad, so I’m guessing that he wasn’t

passed out because of a drug. He picked the lock on his chains, got his father loose, too, and now
they’re both out there giving those bloodsuckers a run for their money.”

“They’re buying time for us to try and get out of here,” Julian said, and he shifted closer to the

children. Their hands were small and weak, but unlike the adults, their hands were also chained up in
front of them, and he was willing to bet that enough of them together could undo his tight ropes.

“Hey, I know you kids are scared, but do you think you can help me get out of these?”
It took some coaxing, but he finally managed to get them over to him, and he could feel their

small nails working at his heavy ropes.

“You’re going to go and join the fight?” Dorian asked.
“Something like that, but first I’m going to try to freeze the metal of all your chains enough so

they’ll break. We can scatter, and those vampires will have no one to bring home to their masters.”

As soon as he said that, of course, the worst thing in the world had to happen. Some of the

vampires chasing after Hawke had apparently decided to stop and come back.

* * * *

It was hell on earth for Hawke to keep the vampires chasing him away from his father, and to

keep them from capturing him as well. He was fast, but so were they. He swore they were even
enjoying themselves as Hawke made them chase him through the trees while his father ran ahead.

He was going to try and make it back to the village. Hawke kind of doubted he would make it.

He wasn’t as young or as fast as he once was, but having him out there creating a trail that could be
followed by both humans and dogs would only help them out in the long run.

His worst nightmare came true when one of the vampire assassins yelled out orders to his men,

and they suddenly backed off of him.

They were giving up and going back to the hostages that they still had. Not good. Not good.
At least it meant that Brian would be able to get back to the village and tell the others what had

happened and where the assassins came from, if they didn’t know already, but Hawke had to chase
after the assassins now. He couldn’t let them take those kids.

When the children themselves started screaming, and he heard Dorian’s enraged yelling, he

knew that he was going to lose people tonight.

Chapter Ten

Hank never thought he would run into Brian. Literally. The man was out of breath and panting.

He looked about ready to fall over, but the dogs were happy to see him, and it took precious seconds
to get them to quiet down so Hank could speak. “What happened? Where are they?”

Brian pointed. “Not too far that way. Hawke is trying to keep them distracted so they don’t

travel anymore, but I think they stopped chasing me because they’re going back for the hostages they
still have.”

“Is Owen all right? Was he alive when you left?” Frederik demanded.
Anderson’s wolf let out a low whine. He’d been running quickly despite his bad leg, and it was

clear that he wanted to know what happened to Noir.

“They’re all alive last I checked. We couldn’t get everyone else out of their chains before the

vamps saw what we were doing and tried recapturing us.”

“You should head back to the village,” Hank said. “Things are pretty chaotic over there, and we

can handle the rest.”

He didn’t want to say it, but he also thought that Brian could use the rest and maybe some water.

Sweat was dripping from his face.

The look the older man gave him for the suggestion, however, could have killed him on the spot

if glares had that kind of power.

“Give me a damn gun,” he snapped, then reached out and took the nearest one offered to him.

“Felicia will have everything under control. You’re out of your Goddamn mind if you think I’m not
going to be in that fight. They should be another ten minutes away from here if we run fast enough.”

Hank was surprised when Brian actually pushed himself to move on, grumbling all the way

about stupid kids. He was getting on in his years, but that didn’t mean he was about to be left behind.
Hank only hoped that the man didn’t drop dead from a heart attack or something while he was trying
to save Julian.

The farther they ran, the louder the noises up ahead were getting. The worst part came when

there were even some gunshots in the distance. The dogs ran ahead now that the location was
practically in sight, and Anderson followed them.

Hank pumped his legs harder than he’d ever done in his life. He could just picture the scene in

his mind’s eye, of himself arriving too late because he wasn’t fast enough, and finding Julian on the
ground, bleeding out from a bite to the neck after one of those vampires had been too rough with him.

He wasn’t about to let that happen.
A group of children, all crying and screaming, suddenly rushed out toward them through the

trees. Brian stopped and gathered them up into a huge group hug as they went specifically to him.
Hank took note of the way they still had small shackles locked around their wrists, but they were
clearly broken along the chains, and there was ice clinging to some of the links.

Julian. He was still alive.
There was no choice for it now. Someone had to bring the children safely back to the village,

and Hank knew it should be Brian.

He knew it, too, apparently, as he nodded and waved the lot of them off. “Go!”
They took off running again, and Frederik was right at his side. “Go for their throats or hearts

wherever possible!” he yelled as they all ran. “That’s where they’re at their weakest.”

The man didn’t need to tell them that. Even the men who weren’t built for guarding the village

still knew the basic weaknesses of vampires.

Still, it was nice to have the information repeated. Oddly enough, Hank felt just a little calmer

when he heard it, and the thought of having to fire his gun didn’t seem nearly as frightening.

Then he made it to the dark clearing where Hawke was struggling with a vampire. Only one

vampire. There were two other dead ones lying around. Owen and James were still unconscious and
tied up, but there was no sign of the dogs or Anderson. Hawke was strong, but vampires were just as
strong, and maybe even stronger than he was, and he was clearly struggling with the man he was
fighting with.

Frederik ran forward and yanked the unknown vampire off of him, and together they wrestled the

man down and, with one of the knives that Frederik had brought, stabbed the man in the throat.

Hank ignored them and went to Owen. He knew that getting caught up in a mob could be almost

as dangerous as the battle itself, and there were more than enough people handling that vampire
already.

He started working on Owen’s binds first after making sure that none of the wounds James had

were life threatening. The sight of James so broken and beaten made Hank see red with rage, but he
had to keep it together.

While he worked on untying the men, he continued looking around for any sign of the other

hostages.

He didn’t see Noir among the dead bodies, or Dorian, or Julian. The only thing that kept him

from losing his shit in a blind panic was his concentration on the impossible knots that kept Owen in
place.

He was more worried for Julian than James. Maybe that was because he could see James was

right here, and he now knew the man was safe and would live, but something told him it was because
he really did have feelings that were stronger for Julian than he’d ever had for James.

“Do we know where the others are?” He called out when Frederik pulled away from the dead

vampire he and Hawke had just taken care of to go and help Hank with Owen. Hank quickly moved
out of the way for him and looked to see if there was anything he could do for James. The man was in
chains, and Hank couldn’t be removing them anytime soon.

All the while Frederik was speaking to his unconscious lover as though Owen could hear him or

something, practically begging forgiveness as they worked to get the ropes off of him. Oliver, the
poor guy, looked like he was about to puke at the sight and smell of so much blood, and he clearly
didn’t know what to do with himself.

Hank could have thought he would be used to it by now, considering how the entire village

lived.

Hawke was panting for breath as he leaned down and put his hands on his knees. He had a

bruise forming on his face as well, and he spat blood onto the ground.

“The rest of the vampires split up after they decided it wasn’t worth it to chase me around

anymore,” he said. “Anderson and the dogs are chasing after them, but there’s a creek near here that
branches off. They could vanish, and we’d never find them again if we don’t catch them.”

Hank knew exactly which creek the man was talking about, and he didn’t even wait before

rushing off into the woods.

Oliver yelled after him, but Hank wasn’t about to wait for anyone to catch their breaths and

follow.

* * * *

Hawke groaned and took one of the rifles that Oliver offered him. Frederik had Owen lifted in

his arms, and there was a desperate look on his face. “Hawke, I’m sorry. I can’t—”

“Don’t be sorry. Just get him back to the village for some medical help and go check on your

son. Oliver will take James, and I will chase after Anderson and Hank.”

His expression was filled with gratitude as he rushed off with his still-unconscious husband in

his arms.

“Can you catch them?” Oliver asked before Hawke could rush through the trees in the directions

he’d last seen the dogs go after they started chasing the vampires.

Hawke didn’t want to say that he doubted it, but he also had to be at least a little honest. “I don’t

know.”

* * * *

Hank knew he was on the right track when he saw one of the large dogs that Vaughn had trained

so well dead beside a pine tree. It had blood in its mouth, and its spine was angled strangely. It had
gone down fighting. There was another dead dog several yards ahead, and then one more that was
down for the count, but only because it was injured.

Hank checked on it real quick, noting the way its stubby tail wagged slowly as he patted its

head.

There was shouting up ahead and the sound of more barking, and Hank promised to return for the

dog before rushing off.

He heard the sharp whine as another one of the dogs was kicked away, and then Hank came into

a clearing and saw what had been happening.

There was only one vampire, and it lifted the hundred-pound dog over its head and threw it

away with an angry roar.

Julian was on the ground at his feet. His hands were chained up behind his back, and there was a

rope tied around his head, acting as the gag.

Julian looked up, and for whatever reason, their eyes met. Hank lifted the rifle he’d been

carrying with him and pointed it at the vampire.

His entire body started to shake. The worst possible thing to happen and it was happening.
Even though the vampire was still several feet away from Julian, Hank’s body trembled so much

that he didn’t pull the trigger for the fear that he would somehow hit Julian anyway.

Memories flooded into his mind of himself in a similar position over a year ago, pointing his

weapon and firing. He could still remember the sound the bullet had made when it punctured Josh’s
chest, as well as the scream he let out, and the smell of his blood.

Then it was too late for Hank to do anything as the vampire was already upon Julian and

reaching down to pick him up.

Fuck! He couldn’t squeeze the trigger! He couldn’t!
Hank didn’t react, so Julian did. Just as the vampire reached down to grab him, Julian twisted

his body around and kicked at the vampire’s legs. It must have caught the man off guard because his
feet went clean out from under him and he landed on his back.

Hank started running for them as Julian attempted to wiggle out from under his captor. The

nameless vampire assassin swore out loud and reached for him. He grabbed Julian by the legs and
pulled him back before straddling him.

His punches were quick and dangerous. If that vampire lost any more control he could end up

killing Julian like that. The only thing good about them was that the vampire was so focused on what
he was doing that he didn’t even notice Hank rushing up behind him.

He was going to kill the son of a bitch for ever thinking he could take Julian away!
Using the butt of his gun, Hank smacked the vampire on the back of the head. It clearly stunned

him, which made Hank think that this particular vampire assassin wasn’t very good at his job.

He tried to scramble away, but Hank stomped his booted foot down on the guy’s chest before

pointing the business end of his gun at the man’s face.

It definitely got him to stop struggling. He even raised his hands a little, as if that would save

him from what was about to happen.

“I can give you information in exchange for my life,” he said.
“I already know you work for the Romonoff family,” Hank said. “Considering what you just

tried to pull, you'd better have some amazing information for me to not kill you.”

That had been the wrong thing to say, apparently. Speaking to the vampire at all had been the

wrong thing period, because it was just a distraction.

Hank almost saw the blade sliding out from its hiding place in the vamp's sleeve too late, and

everything went into slow motion as he made to stab Hank in the thigh with it.

His hands were still shaking. It seemed this was something he was always going to have trouble

with, but considering it was a point-blank shot, he felt fairly confident that his bullet would kill the
vampire beneath him.

It did. The force of the weapon pushed against his shoulder, and the bang put a ringing in his

ears. Not to mention there was also the disgusting side effect of having vampire brains and bits blown
all over the place.

Now his legs were starting to feel a little weak, but it wasn't because he'd been hit with the

knife. No, he'd pulled the trigger in time to avoid that. It wasn’t just the shaking either. He actually felt
like he was about to fall over.

Hank hurried to put down his rifle before that could happen. He sat cross-legged and put his

head between his knees. Everything was swirling quickly around him. He’d killed a vampire with his
gun, but this was the second time in his life that someone close to him had been taken, and he was
required to make a shot.

It made him think that maybe if he’d used the same tactic before like he’d done now, Josh might

still be alive.

It made him think all sorts of things that probably weren’t good for him.
Something soft pressed against his side, and Hank was snapped out of the spell that had taken

him to note that Julian was now right beside him, leaning against him, as though he was trying to offer
Hank a hug or something.

“Jesus, Julian!” Hank hurriedly reached for the ropes that bound the other man and started

pulling at them in an attempt to untie him.

He was tied up almost as tight as Owen had been, and eventually Hank was forced to abandon

the knots so he could pull the gag out of Julian’s mouth first.

“Are you okay?” Hank didn’t give him the chance to answer as he pressed kisses to his lips,

jaw, nose, and eyes.

“I’m—I’m fine,” Julian replied through the many kisses.
Hank noted the small cuts that were on his lips from having rough rope forced between them,

and the feel and sight of them made him wince.

“Hold still, I’m going to try to get these off you.”
“Please do,” Julian said with a humorless chuckle. “This is the second time tonight I’ve had my

arms forced behind my back, and the feeling is starting to leave them again.”

“I saw the ice on the chains from those kids you freed,” Hank said. His fucking fingers wouldn’t

stop shaking no matter how much he tried to steady himself.

“The kids untied me, and I froze their chains until the metal snapped under the smallest bit of

pressure. I left their shackles on because I didn’t want to freeze the metal right on their skin.”

That had been smart, but no matter how much Hank tried to put his mind somewhere else, his

hands continued to tremble, and he was making slow progress on the ropes. That wasn’t good.
Especially if there were still other vampires out there who might be closing in on them right now.

“Hank? Are you okay?” Julian asked.
No. He wasn’t okay. He tore his fingers away from the ropes and slammed his fist down onto the

ground. “For fuck’s sake! I can’t get them undone!”

“It’s okay. I can walk, and my arms can hold out for a bit. We can find a knife somewhere back

at the village.”

Hank had to put his arms around the other man and hold him close just to get the shaking under

control. He could never be a guard going out and doing missions ever again if this was his reaction
after he’d just prevented Julian from being kidnapped or killed.

All he could see in his mind was that vampire walking toward Julian, and Hank had been so

close to pulling the trigger, potentially killing his lover the same way he’d done to his own brother.

“I’m such a fucking coward,” he said, feeling like he was about to cry. It would have been great

if he could have just gotten the ropes off of Julian’s arms so the man could hold him back, but that
wasn’t about to happen at the moment.

“No you’re not,” Julian said, and his words were a warm breath against his neck.
That served to calm him only a little, but definitely not enough to make him stop his ranting.
“I couldn’t pull the trigger. I had him in my sights, and the shaking wasn’t so bad at first, but I

couldn’t pull the damn trigger. I was so fucking scared that I’d shoot you instead.”

Then he really did break down and start to cry. He couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t so much as

shed a tear since the day that Josh finally passed away, but now it was like someone had left the
water tap on behind his eyes, and he couldn’t stop himself.

The harder he tried to get himself under control, the worse the tears became. Julian was good

about it. Even though he had been the one to be kidnapped and was currently sitting on the cold, hard
ground with his arms tied tightly behind his back, all Hank could hear out of him was soft and
soothing words of comfort, along with the occasional press of Julian’s lips to Hank’s hair.

“Everything will be okay. I didn’t die. I’m here with you,” Julian said.
“Christ, you almost weren’t,” Hank said. He wiped his eyes, which didn’t help at all with the

flow of tears, but he decided he was done crying on Julian’s shoulder right now anyway. He got back
to work on trying to untie him.

He didn’t know what scared him more. The fact that Julian had almost been taken and killed, or

that Hank loved him so much and those things had happened anyway. It was just proof that no matter
how much he might love someone, he would never be able to protect them all the time.

He heard the soft sigh that Julian released. “Hank, I know about your brother.”
Hank’s fingers went still against the strange-looking knot that he was just finally starting to get

loose.

“What?”
“Please don’t be mad. Hawke explained it to me, right before he basically told me he would

kick my ass if I ever hurt you. What happened was not your fault, and I know that words aren’t exactly
important, but you should forgive yourself.”

“I—” Hank didn’t know what to say to that. On the one hand he was pissed as hell that Hawke

had put his nose into Hank’s business, but on the other it was a shock to hear that the man cared
enough to want to keep him from getting his heart broken. Was there even a reason for him to care?
Was Julian giving off some sort of hint that Hank wasn’t aware of that he might feel something deeper
for Hank?

“Are you mad?” Julian asked.
A small laugh burst from Hank’s mouth. “Sort of, but not at you. How can I be? You’re alive,

and that’s what matters.”

“Well, while you’re in such a good mood, I guess I’ll come out now and give you a hand.”
Hank and Julian looked over, and now Hank felt his anger bubbling up once the other man was

in view and walking toward them.

“How long were you standing there?” Hank asked, narrowing his eyes.
Hawke shrugged. “Does it matter? The perimeter is secure, and you both looked like you would

need a little privacy anyway.”

There was no telling how much he had seen, but at least he was keeping it to himself.
“Did any of the guys give you a blade so we can get these ropes off of him?” Hank asked.
“No, but I did take one from the corpse of one of those dead vampires,” Hawke said, and he

produced a mean-looking thing that looked like it could cut through human bone with ease.

“You didn’t happen to see Anderson running through here, did you?” Hawke asked as he started

slicing through the ropes.

Hank paid special attention to how close the blade was coming to Julian’s skin. He didn’t want

the man to have any more cuts on his body that he didn’t need.

“I last saw him and Noir being dragged away by the other vampires,” Julian said. “They split us

all up after they heard the dogs coming. Is there a stream of water near here? I can almost feel the pull
of it from my magic.”

“Yes,” Hank said, and finally the ropes were cut clean through and spilled down behind Julian,

who sighed once the circulation no doubt started to flow through his arms again.

Julian flexed his hands and made circular motions with his wrists, popping them even, and he

sighed. “But?” he asked.

Hank couldn’t resist hugging him again, knowing how close he was to losing Julian to that very

stream if the dogs hadn’t slowed down the vampire who had been trying to take him. “They’ll use the

stream so Anderson and the dogs can’t track them.”

“Jesus,” Julian said, and he shivered, clearly understanding what Hank was saying.
“Yea, but it doesn’t matter anyway. They belong to the Romonoff house,” Hank said.
“How do you know that?” Hawke asked.
“I heard one of them saying it before I passed out.”
“I heard that name, too. I guess they’re a powerful family?” Julian asked.
“Very,” Hawke replied. “We’ll have to regroup and wait for Anderson to come back with or

without Dorian and Noir. I doubt he’d give up anytime soon, bad leg and body of water or not.”

“I wouldn’t either,” Hank said, and then his face went flaming hot when he realized what he just

said.

“Aw, blondie, I knew you loved me.”
Hank shifted and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I do.”
He watched the reaction on Julian’s face as he became aware that Hank was serious. Fuck. He

shouldn’t have said that. Of course it was too soon, and Julian had just survived his first attack on his
new home.

Hawke was the one to speak first, however, and he sounded about as uncomfortable as Hank

felt.

“Look, this isn’t the place for you both to be having this conversation. Let’s head on back. One

of those dogs was still alive, and I’d like to get it looked at, and tally the injured from the dead.”

Hank quickly got to his feet. “You’re right.”
He offered his hand to help Julian up, and he was relieved when the other man took it.

Chapter Eleven

The walk back had been pained and stressful. Julian was still not at a hundred percent after

using so much of his energy in the night fighting to save those kids and protect Hank—which he’d
failed to do—as well as stay alive.

Not to mention the fact that they were all basically walking in the dark with no light but the moon

to guide them, knowing that a huge attack had just taken place, and the possibility of more vampires
jumping out at them still existed.

Hank pretended as though he hadn’t confessed his love for Julian while he helped him walk back

to the village. Hawke basically pretended that the both of them weren’t there as he carried the
enormous dog in his arms.

Julian wasn’t about to let something like that fly for long. Hank had told Julian that he loved him,

and Julian had every intention of letting the man know that he felt the same way, but only after he was
sure that Hank had meant what he said, and that it wasn’t a confession brought on by fear and the heat
of the moment.

The village was still in shambles by the time they got back, and it was clear that there would be

no time for an emotional talk for a good long while as they helped with the cleanup.

Julian found his brother and quickly embraced him. The poor man was standing above James’s

body, looking for all the world like he was scared that the man wouldn’t wake up ever again, and
he’d started to cry almost as hard as Hank had when they hugged.

“I thought I wouldn’t see either of you again,” he confessed.
Julian shushed and quickly reassured him that all was well, and that their small family was safe.

James was alive, and so was he. To Julian, the most important thing was that Hank and Quinn had
survived mostly unscathed, especially when he heard that one man had died.

Robert. Julian hadn’t really known the guy all that well. The man had made it a habit of avoiding

the paranormals who’d lived in the village, but whenever they had been forced to speak to each other,
he’d always been polite, even if a little wary of him. Apparently he also had a wife who was heavily
pregnant.

Julian felt the most pity for them.
The fires that had consumed some of the houses had been put out, but most of them couldn’t be

saved. Because of this, anyone who had even remotely enough spare room had to take in the families
who had no roofs over their heads. Some slept in the barns, but only because they were already
comfortable in them.

Hank didn’t have a large living space by far, but he still offered his house for Frederik, Owen,

and their small son to stay in since theirs was one of the houses to be destroyed.

Owen was still unconscious from the drug that had been put inside of him. His body was having

a hard time with it, and so he wasn’t waking up, even though James had already opened his eyes.
Even if the man was still groggy and useless toward the cleanup effort.

That meant that Frederik was in charge of caring for him, as well as his infant son, and could

also not be counted on to help with the cleanup efforts any time soon.

There were others who could not be counted on because someone always had to take care of the

little ones, but with the combined effort of everyone else in the village, by morning everyone who had
been injured had been cared for, and what could be salvaged from the ruined houses had been.

Hawke and Brian were bleary-eyed, and clearly everyone was in need of some sleep, but for

some it wouldn’t be over yet for a while.

Preparations were made for some of the men to care for the animals in the barns in shifts so that

everyone could get their sleep, and Julian was grateful that he was picked to rest first. He was beat.

Hank was also on the list to get some sleep first, and they only had about two hours before they

had to wake back up and head out.

There was still the matter of tearing down the burned houses. Julian wasn’t looking forward to

that. He wondered how the village was planning on salvaging the blackened wood. Probably by
breaking it all down and throwing it all into the main campfires that were burned whenever there was
a meeting.

Without thinking about it, Julian had started walking toward Hank’s house instead of the little

cot that he slept on in the barn.

Someone probably already had that space by now for themselves, but it wasn’t as if he couldn’t

find some clean hay to make a bed out of.

Hank had said he loved him, but was now the right time to be discussing something so emotional

when they were both practically dead on their feet? Was it even okay that he wanted to spend his few
hours of rest with the other man when no boundaries had been set?

“What is it?” Hank asked, putting his hand on Julian’s shoulder. Julian jumped. He was so

exhausted that he wasn’t even aware that Hank was right behind him.

How stupid of him. Of course the man would be following him when Julian was walking in the

direction of his small house.

“Uh, nothing. I think my brain just stopped working. Tired, you know?”
Hank smiled at him and touched his face. Even though Julian was pretty sure he had bags on his

eyes and a long, pale face from everything that had happened last night, not to mention he must smell
—and he was vain enough to care about that sort of thing—Hank looked at him as if he was the
loveliest thing on the face of the earth.

“I do know,” he said, and then he reached for Julian’s hand, hesitating only a little before lacing

their fingers together. “Let’s get some sleep. If you want, we can talk after when everything’s calmed
down?”

The uncertainty in Hank’s voice was what got to him, and all the doubt that Julian felt melted

away. “You really meant what you said out there, didn’t you?”

Hank’s face turned a bright pink as he frowned, clearly trying to hide it. “I did.”
Because Hank was so damn tall, Julian had to take hold of him by the back of the neck with his

free hand, and he pulled him down for a kiss.

His lips were rough, and there was the strong taste of salt and grime from working with those

burned houses, but it was by far the sweetest kiss Julian had ever had. “I love you, too, blondie. From
the minute I laid my eyes on you.”

Hank’s blue eyes widened. “R–really?”
“Yeah. Why do you think I tried so hard to get your attention?”
“You blasting my leg and trapping it in a block of ice was your way of getting my attention?”
Julian laughed. “Not then. I mean more recently, when I kept trying to get into your pants.”
The pink color on his cheeks deepened. “Oh. I guess I just thought…”
He trailed off, but Julian didn’t need him to finish. Hank thought it was meaningless, and looking

back, Julian understood full well how he had come to that conclusion. It was both of their faults,
really, but knowing that he’d been unintentionally hurting the man he loved put a lance in Julian’s
heart. “Oh, sweetheart, come here.”

Julian wrapped his arms around Hank’s shoulders and held onto him tight. He was pleased when

Hank hugged him back, and then he even laughed a little.

“I think that’s the first time you’ve ever called me sweetheart.”
“You never really seemed to like blondie, though I always thought it was a cute name for you,

and fitting.”

“You can call me whatever you want. Let’s get out of here,” Hank said, and he pressed another

chaste kiss to Julian’s lips before taking his hand and rushing to his small house.

They’d both clearly forgotten that there would be other people inside. Frederik had taken some

of the bedsheets and pillows and made a spot for Owen to sleep. Frederik himself looked like he
passed out from exhaustion, and cradled in his arms was his son, who was wide awake and looking
around with quiet interest.

Frederik had taken the liberty of putting more sheets over the two small windows in the house to

keep the light out, but he didn’t so much as stir when Hank opened the door, letting some of that light
inside of the small space. It wasn’t direct sunlight, but it was still a sign of just how tired the poor
man was.

“I forgot about them,” Julian said as the door was shut quietly behind them. He was somewhat

disappointed that they couldn’t have sex.

“I need to be honest with you,” Hank said. “I think I’m too tired to give a good performance

anyway. I’d even settle for taking a bath with you, but that would hardly be romantic either, since we
both actually need one, and we wouldn’t be able to fool around as we’d like.”

Julian squeezed his hand, grinning. At least he wasn’t the only one thinking about what a shame

it was that they were going to have to wait for their happy-ending sex. “I’ll settle for falling asleep
beside you,” he said.

Hank looked down at him, and then he smiled. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Frederik had left a lot of the sheets behind for them to use, so even though the floor felt a little

harder than usual beneath them, they were both able to peel off their clothes, leaving boxers and
underwear behind to keep decent with a baby in the room, and snuggled together under one of Hank’s
blankets.

When the larger man opened his arms to him, Julian sighed and gratefully sank into them, resting

his head on Hank’s chest. He was warm and comfortable, and Julian’s eyes became heavy and started
to shut even though he’d wanted to stay awake for a few minutes longer. He couldn’t help but think
that the last time they were in bed like this was shortly before those slavers had raided the village and
come for them, taking him away and leaving Hank behind, possibly dying from that hit he’d taken.

Hank must have been reading his mind, because his arm squeezed Julian just a little, but it was

something he desperately needed.

“I’ve got you,” Hank said, his voice equally tired yet still reassuring him as he stroked Julian’s

back. “I’ve got you.”

Chapter Twelve

It felt a little weird for Hank to be so happy and basically be going through the early honeymoon

stages of a new relationship when most everyone else in the village was so grim.

It would be another day before either he or Julian could take a bath, and another day after that

before they could bathe together and have all the fun they’d been promising each other.

For Hank, it was insanely hard for him to not strip Julian out of his clothes and ravish him in

some private place during the brief moments they had alone, when they were both pretty much
undressing each other with their eyes every spare chance they had.

There was a funeral for Robert, and the entire village attended that. His wife was understanding

of the fact that Will, Frederik, Noir, and every other paranormal in the village also wanted to pay
their respects, even though she knew her husband had always been afraid of them. She explained that
he’d changed somewhat since Will, the first vampire to make his home in the village, had arrived, and
that if he had lived, he soon would have been one of the men who was friends with Owen and Julian,
and everyone else who was not strictly a human.

Worse news still arrived when the dogs that had run off with Anderson finally started to return,

one at a time, two days later. Though they had gone that long without being in the village, they
appeared well fed, likely from surviving off the small animals they had hunted, but they were clearly
exhausted and needed rest.

Anderson did not return until another day after that.
He was naked, and there were bruises and the odd scrape on his body, along with all the dirt

and grime from traveling so much in his wolf form. His stomach was sunk in from a lack of eating,
and he nearly fell over as he stumbled back into the village.

Will was the first to run to him and treat him, since he’d come back during the night. Anderson’s

bad knee was swollen, but Hank could tell that the man was only crying because of the pain he felt at
not being able to catch the vampires that had taken his lover.

Things had remained grim for some time after that, and all Hank could do was hold onto Julian’s

hand and thank God that he’d been able to save him before he’d vanished forever.

That had been two days ago. Things in the village were finally returning to normal, but there was

now talk about sending a rescue mission after the vampires who had taken both Dorian and Noir since
everyone knew that they had come from the Romonoff house.

The problem was that house was almost in the very centre of the vampire district, and no human

had ever launched an attack so far into vampire territory and come back.

It was all very fucked up.
There was also talk about rebuilding the houses that had been burnt down, along with repairing

the damage done from the fire to the other houses and even the barn.

There was only one barn left after a fire had already destroyed the last one. The village had

been lucky to not lose it, but then there was another problem to contend with before those issues could
be dealt with.

The vampires, at least from the Romonoff house, knew where this village was. It was now a

question of whether or not they should stay and continue to fight off any attacks, or pack their things
and move to a new location.

“I don’t care where we are. I just want to be with you,” Julian told him.

Hank was sitting on the bench with his lover, an arm slung over the man’s shoulder, looking out

over the shooting range. Julian had just given him another lesson, and Hank thought that his little
shaking problem was starting to improve, but he was still a long ways away from getting back on
active duty, if ever again.

“I feel the same about you,” Hank admitted. “But at the same time, I can’t blame Anderson for

not wanting to just pack up and leave. If that had been you who was taken and you still weren’t
found…” Hank couldn’t bring himself to finish that sentence. It was too horrible to even contemplate.

Anderson was firmly against the village simply leaving while Noir had been taken. Dorian had

no family, so he basically had no one to speak for him, but Anderson was also using him as an
example. He argued again and again that if they managed to escape, just to return to the village and
find everyone was gone, then they might possibly never see either man again.

“No matter what you decide to do, I’ll be right beside you. Stay or go. I’m here for you.”
“Christ, Julian,” Hank said, and he had to fight off another round of blushing that never seemed

to stop in these last couple of days. He wasn’t used to people saying such romantic or profound things
to him, and every time that Julian did, he was reminded of how lucky he was.

“All right, all right. I’ll stop embarrassing you, but I do mean what I’m saying,” Julian said. “At

this point I don’t think there’s anyone in the whole village who wouldn’t run through hot coal for
you.”

“I doubt things have improved that much,” Hank said. “But I have to admit that things definitely

feel pretty good lately. For me at least.”

Hank had taken a page out of Frederik’s brother’s book and written apology letters. Frederik

had explained to him, back when the man was still living with his husband and son in Hank’s small
house, that that was what his brother Daren had done after he’d given Owen away to a dangerous
mage.

Owen had apparently read the letter and forgiven the other man wholeheartedly, but Hank had

wanted to throw up a little when he’d heard that had happened. Sometimes he forgot that even
someone born as a paranormal could still be treated poorly or made into a slave. He was sorry
something like that had happened to Owen, and he certainly never wanted that for Julian.

It made him think about how he’d treated Hawke’s husband, as well as Julian’s brother. He’d

written the both of them letters, and ever since, Will had definitely been more welcoming of him.
Hawke was still cautious, but that was all right. Quinn, however, had told him that apologies weren’t
needed, and that had only made Hank feel even worse.

Still, he was getting better, and it was nice not to be looked on as the village fuck up.
Julian leaned back on the bench and started shifting around, as though he was looking for

something.

When he turned to look back at Hank, he had that familiar light in his eyes, and a lewd smile.
Hank laughed. “Again? Really? It’s broad daylight outside.”
Julian shrugged. “It was when we were having our bath this morning, too.”
“A lot of couples have been sharing baths to conserve water, so it’s not like anyone would have

thought anything, even if they’d seen us,” he added quickly.

“What if they had seen us? I think it would’ve been pretty obvious what I was doing to you,”

Julian said, and he leaned close, reaching his arm out and resting his hand on the other side of Hank’s
hip. Julian was practically on top of him, but they weren’t touching.

His words alone were enough to make Hank’s cock stir with interest as he was reminded about

that particular scene. The bathing tubs were all pretty small, but Hank and Julian had managed to
make themselves fit without having to stand up.

Though at one point, Hank had done just that anyway when Julian had insisted on getting to his

knees so that he could properly put Hank’s dick into his mouth.

He’d been wet and cold, a little afraid of being caught, but it had also been incredibly fun.
“I doubt anyone saw us because we kept the tub hidden behind my house. No one had any reason

to go back there.”

And with his tiny shack on the outskirts of the village, the odds of someone just stumbling by

were pretty slim.

Julian would not be deterred, however, and Hank could have sworn that he saw the man licking

his lips before he swooped in for the kiss.

All was officially lost at that point. There was no way Hank could resist that soft mouth begging

to be taken. It was just a reminder that, even though they’d had each other that morning, that there had
been so few times over the last few days, and Hank was clearly still desperate for Julian’s touch.

He had to yank his mouth away, otherwise he wouldn’t have had the willpower to separate

himself from Julian’s mouth.

He started shifting around on the bench, the same way Julian had so that he could make sure

himself that there was no one around who was going to see or interrupt them.

The entire time, Julian got busy lifting Hank’s shirt just enough so that he could get his hands

beneath it and scrape his ever-cold fingers over Hank’s hot flesh.

“God, I love it when you do that,” Hank said, grabbing ahold of Julian’s wrist, but not to stop

him, and when he was satisfied that they were completely alone, he pulled Julian toward him and
crushed their mouths together.

He thrust his tongue forward and was met with some resistance as Julian attempted to take

control of the kiss.

Hank wasn’t about to have it. He wanted Julian to top him, but for the kiss, Hank wanted to make

sure that he left the other man breathless.

He shifted up and onto his knees, grabbing Julian by the waist and, while never breaking the

connection of their mouths, he lifted the other man up just enough before pushing him onto his back.
Hank climbed on top of him so they were chest to chest and kissed him again.

Julian moaned into it, pressing his body up against Hank’s, and he put his hands into Hank’s

hair, as though he was afraid that Hank would try and pull away again.

Like he could do something like that at this point.
It started off slow, but when Julian opened his legs and pushed his hips up, Hank thrust back to

meet him.

His cock quickly went from being just half-hard, to rock solid and pulsing for some real

attention as he groaned and thrust back against his lover. Julian lifted his knees and hooked his ankles
around Hank’s thighs and…yeah, this wasn’t going how he’d planned it.

Now Hank was forced to pull away, and it took everything inside of him to keep from

continually thrusting against Julian’s body until he came. “Wait, stop,” he said, his voice breathless,
more so than even he’d thought possible.

Luckily, Julian sounded pretty much the same. “What is it?”

“We need to slow this down. I know I say this all the time, but I would really rather we actually

enjoyed ourselves a little here.”

Julian smiled up at him. He always looked like a pleased cat whenever he grinned like that.

“Thought you were enjoying yourself?”

Hank swatted him on the arm before shimmying down Julian’s body. “You know what I mean.

Hold still.”

Julian didn’t exactly do as he was told when he propped himself up onto his elbows to get a

better view of what Hank was up to, but that was all right. Hank didn’t mind being watched, and he’d
certainly enjoyed looking at Julian’s mouth when the other man had been busy trying to please him.

He undid the button of his jeans and pulled down the zipper before hooking his fingers in the

waist of his pants.

“Oh yes,” Julian moaned when the material slid over his skin, leaving him completely bare at

the middle.

Hank reached for Julian’s dick, which was already long and hard. The head had turned into what

looked to be a painful color, and it made Hank glad that he wasn’t the only one who was so desperate
for it after such a short period of time.

“You’re not wearing any underwear,” Hank admonished him, and he bent down, sticking his

tongue out to lick at the slit of Julian’s dick. The man’s hips jumped at the touch.

“Thought you would appreciate that,” he said, then groaned through his teeth when Hank pulled

the entire head of Julian’s cock into his mouth, paying special attention to the bit of skin that was just
beneath the head itself.

He did appreciate it, and Hank hummed to show the other man just how much he did.
“Holy fuck, that’s nice,” Julian said, and his hand found its way into Hank’s hair again.
He had to admit that he liked the feeling of Julian’s long fingers threading through his hair and

gently scratching at his scalp. There was something pleasurable about that while Hank was doing this
with his mouth.

Then when Hank hummed again, he felt a small jolt of cold against the roots of his hair and the

skin of his head, and he jumped back with the shock of it.

“Sorry,” Julian said. “Didn’t mean to do it that time, I swear.”
Hank felt the top of his head, which was still freezing cold. There was a part that felt like

someone had slapped a slushy snowball at the very top of his cranium. He brushed it away, but the
cold still lingered a bit.

“Well, that was an attention grabber.”
Julian laughed, and before he sat up, he kicked his jeans off the rest of the way. Then he started

to work on undoing Hank’s button and pulling down the zipper of his fly with those nimble fingers.

Just having the man’s hands so close to his dick, and the material of his jeans brushing against

his cock as his pants were pulled down, served only to make Hank harder than before.

He actually hissed a breath of relief when he was free of a pair of jeans that, minutes before,

hadn’t felt that tight at all.

“I’ve got another way to grab your attention,” Julian said.
Hank was halfway through rolling his eyes at the lame joke before Julian took him in hand and

opened his mouth to him.

Hank nearly bent right over the other man as he was expertly sucked and fondled. Julian didn’t

just use his mouth, but he still had a pair of hands, and he remembered to use them even as he bobbed
his head back and forth.

At first Hank hissed in a breath, afraid that Julian would think now was a proper time to bring

forth his magic over cold and ice when he began to gently massage Hank’s testicles.

Julian liked using cold as a stimulant against the skin, Hank knew this now, but there was no

sudden frosty shock that made his genitals shrivel up. It was just his warm and wet mouth and the
amazing touch of his hands.

“That’s nice. Keep doing that,” Hank said, and he held onto Julian’s shoulders as he began

thrusting into his mouth.

Hank purposely kept the shifting of his hips slow and steady, enjoying the buildup of pleasure

instead of just rushing toward the peak of it. Then he felt Julian’s other hand reach around behind him,
and his thin fingers tickled along the crease of Hank’s ass before plunging within.

The touch of Julian’s fingertip against his asshole was enough to make him jump and almost lose

complete control of himself.

“Julian, I want you to fuck me, please,” Hank said, and he held on tightly to his lover’s

shoulders, hardly knowing whether he should thrust forward or back as Julian continued to tease him
on both sides.

Then something occurred to him, and he swore loudly. “Fuck. I don’t have any of that lube you

gave me. Julian, babe, stop. We need to go and… nrghh!…get some before we can…holy fuck…”
Hank trailed off, unable to form proper sentences as the torture continued.

It wasn’t like Julian was shoving his finger inside of him. He knew better than to do that without

any lube, but just the feel of his fingers tickling his asshole like that was enough to make his knees
shake.

The good kind of shaking, and not the sort that came over him whenever he held a weapon in his

hands.

Julian pushed his face down so far that he deep-throated Hank’s erection. Hank saw stars.
Holy shit! When had he learned how to do that?
Just as quickly as Julian went down, however, he came back up. His lips were pink and

glistening from what he’d just done, and Hank’s dick was wet with his saliva and still throbbing and
desperate.

“We have to get some more lube,” Hank said, still blinking the bright lights out of his eyes. “I

think I still have some back at the house.”

“I have more right here,” Julian said, and he reached into the breast pocket on his shirt and

pulled out a vial. It was smaller than the ones he usually carried around, but the vial was glass, and it
clearly had the same stuff within that they had both been using before.

Hank couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “You mean to tell me that you’ve been carrying that

around in your shirt pocket? Just where everyone can see like that?”

“No one could see it. It was in my pocket,” Julian said.
“But it was out in the open!”
“What? Afraid that someone would have seen the outline of the vial and known that you and I

were doing it?”

The question was said in the usual teasing manner that Julian handled these things, but Hank still

groaned. “I don’t know why I keep getting embarrassed by the things you do sometimes.”

“Because behind your tough-guy exterior you’re secretly a shy, delicate flower,” Julian replied,

and he removed his shirt before pulling off the tiny cap to the vial and pouring the lube onto his
fingers.

Hank thought that was a good time to get completely naked as well. Naked was always good

when Julian was around.

“The recipe this time is a little different,” he said, and he gently pushed against Hank’s chest

with the hand that didn’t have any lube on it.

Hank took the hint and lay on his back on the bench and lifted his hips. “Oh? What’s in this

stuff?”

It was definitely still slick when Julian touched his asshole and began massaging the lube against

his pucker. “It’s not going to tingle you. This stuff is more water-based than what we’ve been using
before. No heat and no vibrations. I guess you can say that means the recipe has changed a lot, but I
wanted this time to be different.”

“Different?” Hank asked, and then he sighed when Julian thrust two fingers inside of him.
“I wanted you to only feel me, and not the effects of something else,” he said, and when Julian

looked down at him, his dark eyes were half-lidded with lust and wanting that made Hank’s flesh
tense up, and goose bumps appeared all over his body.

Julian took hold of one of Hank’s legs and put it over his shoulder before he continued what he

was doing. “When I make you come, you’re going to come because I’m the only thing that’s making
you feel good. I’m going to ram my cock into your prostate, and your body’s going to feel like it’s
never felt before without the help of some potion.”

“Holy God,” Hank said, and he was forced to reach down and grab at the base of his cock just to

keep from coming right then and there. Julian’s voice had become sex for the ears, and the more he
spoke, the more turned on Hank became. “Yes, do it. I want you in me.”

Julian smiled at him, and he pulled his fingers free from Hank’s asshole, but he also made sure

to hook them a little before removing them, which only served to heighten Hank’s pleasure.

“You have no idea how gorgeous you are, especially like this,” Julian said. “I wish you could

see yourself. If I could have, I would have taken one of those big mirrors the vampires had and put it
up in your house before fucking you against it, that way you could look at both me and you.”

While keep a firm grip on the base of his cock, Hank gave himself a teasing stroke. “Like what

you see, do you?”

“So much,” Julian said, and he leaned down and pressed an openmouthed kiss to the head of

Hank’s prick.

Hank exhaled slowly through his mouth. His cock jumped as he watched Julian make love to

him,  but  he  wasn’t  ready  to  let  this  end  just  yet.  Strangely  enough,  a  lot  of  the  excitement  he  felt
stemmed  from  the  fact  that  he  would  be  doing  this  again  and  again  with  Julian  now  that  they  were
together  and  open  about  what  they  felt.  Hank  had  no  fantasies  that  it  would  be  easy,  especially
considering  the  odd  world  they  both  lived  in,  but  he  was  willing  to  do  whatever  it  took  to  make  it
work.

“You’re pretty nice to look at yourself,” Hank said, but their relationship had become more than

lust, and he wanted Julian to know that, even while they did things like this. “I love you.”

He’d lost count of the times he’d said those words over the last few days, but each time he said

it, the words didn’t get any easier to say. Julian had told him that he didn’t mind, and that it meant

Hank would never utter those words out of habit, and that they would always mean something, which
was exactly how Hank wanted it.

Julian looked up from what he’d been doing, and there was a thin buildup of saliva on the head

of Hank’s cock.

“I love you, too,” he said.
Hank smiled. “Good. Now get up here already before I lose control and ravish you.”
“Ravishing sounds fun,” Julian said, but he lifted Hank’s other leg over his shoulder anyway and

put himself into position.

He fumbled with his vial, and it looked like he was putting the last of the lube on his fingers

before he stroked himself, coating his dick.

Hank watched as his face tightened and eyes fluttered as he fought against the pleasure of

stroking himself. “You ready?”

He was always ready. “Yes.”
Hank reached for him, and Julian leaned down so that Hank was bent in half, and their bare

chests were touching. Hank felt how hard Julian’s nipples were, and he brought his hands up between
them so that he could run his fingers across them and pinch them.

Julian hissed in a breath when he did that, and Hank felt the head of his dick pressing up against

his pucker. “You drive me crazy when you do things like that,” he said.

“That’s the idea,” Hank replied as Julian sank inside of him.
He was always amazed with how easily his body accepted the other man.
He hadn’t told this to Julian yet, but while he was not the first person to have ever been inside of

him, he was definitely the first to give Hank an orgasm while he was performing the act.

Hank only just thought of that small detail now. It was odd the way certain things came to him at

the strangest times. Maybe it was a sign of just how special Julian was. Or he could just be that good
in bed. The other man was likely to take it as a compliment no matter how he looked at it. When he
and Julian had their next conversation, Hank was going to have to tell him that.

But then that was the farthest thing from his mind as Julian expertly found his prostate, and he

moved like a pro, making Hank sing for him.

“Don’t come yet,” Julian said. “Keep holding onto yourself. I want to see you pleasured a good

long while.”

Maybe this time they would both actually last beyond a few short minutes. With anyone else, that

wouldn’t exactly have been a sign of the best performance, but for the two of them, who were
constantly so desperate to get off once the fun barely had a chance to start, it was more than enough.

Still, Hank did his best to do as he was told. It was difficult for him to push back against

Julian’s hard thrusts, considering his position, and the bench was starting to feel a little painful on his
back, but he loved every second of it. This was his favorite position by far because it allowed him to
be almost entirely consumed by Julian’s heat, while giving the other man all the freedom he needed to
get as deep as he could go.

At first Hank held onto the other man tightly, but then he was forced to grab onto the edges of the

bench just to keep himself from being fucked clean off of it.

“Just like that. Don’t stop, Julian. Don’t stop,” Hank said. It was a fight just to keep from yelling

the words out, but he managed it. He failed, however, in the battle to keep the pleasured noises that he
made from being overly loud.

Julian had once told him that he could release deafening roars whenever he wanted to. Now was

going to be one of those times because it was just so damn good.

He couldn’t hold back, and he didn’t want to either. Hank let go of his dick and felt the slow

building of pleasure suddenly surge higher than ever before. He gasped and cried out, attempting to
push his body back against Julian’s frantically thrusting hips as the other man sped up.

“Fuck! I’m gonna come!” Julian yelled, and he squeezed his eyes shut, and Hank was able to

watch as a bead of sweat formed and rolled down the side of his head.

He grabbed the other man’s ears and brought his face forward for a frantic kiss as Hank felt his

balls tighten up and his cock swell even further. He came with a loud yell that he tried to contain by
biting down on Julian’s shoulder, shooting his cum over his bent stomach.

Julian continued thrusting hard and fast, like he was a machine instead of a man, and his sole

purpose was to continue thrusting inside of Hank’s body.

Then he, too, came. Julian’s body tightened above him as his thrusting became harder and

slower. Hank felt the warmth of his semen spilling inside of him. Julian always did seem to come
forever when it came down to it.

Julian collapsed on top of him, and Hank was able to hold onto him, stroke his back, and enjoy

the warmth and the glow of what they’d just done for all of two minutes before the discomfort of his
position started making itself known in the form of a cramp.

“Julian, babe, not that I don’t want to stay like this forever…” Hank said, pressing a kiss to the

very top of Julian’s dark head of hair before he shifted beneath the other man.

Julian took the hint and got off of him, but when Hank was able to straighten his body out and lie

back on the bench properly, he opened his arms to Julian again, and now the other man was using him
as a warm body pillow. The postcoital cuddling was back on now, as far as they were both
concerned. Hank didn’t mind. He liked this part.

“So,” Julian said. “Do you think the whole village heard that?”
Hank groaned. “I was doing just fine pretending that we were being quiet as mice, thank you

very much.”

Julian laughed before stretching up and planting a kiss on Hank’s jaw. “You know, now that

we’ve gotten the hint out to everyone that you and I are spending some alone time over here, I think
we’re safe from having anyone walk in and seeing us.”

Hank chuckled and held onto his lover even tighter. “That’s why I love you. You’re a glass-half-

full kind of guy.”

“Yeah, and you're never getting rid of me either,” Julian said.
“Same goes to you. You're stuck with me now. Forever.”
“Wouldn't have it any other way.”

Chapter Thirteen

Dorian woke up several times as he was carried off. He always felt groggy, and the voices he

heard always seemed so far away, even though he could tell that he was on the shoulder of one of the
vampires carrying him.

They must have decided to keep him indefinitely drugged to avoid a repeat of the escape

attempt. He really hoped those kids got away, but as for Owen, James, Noir, or even that mage who’d
busted the chains on those kids with his ice magic, he had no idea.

He didn’t find out again until a bucket of what felt like ice water had been dumped over his

head. It pulled him into consciousness, but when he tried to move away from it, to breathe, he
couldn’t.

There was something over his eyes, mouth, and nose, and it felt like someone was holding his

head under a water fountain. He’d tried holding his breath, but the water had already gotten up his
nose, and somehow it only served to make things worse.

He started to panic and thrash. Drowning! They were drowning him!
His couldn’t move his hands or feet, but then the water blessedly was removed, and the rag

pulled away from his face.

Dorian coughed and sputtered for air, and he spat out more water as his airways started to clear.
After being in the dark for so long, the room he was in seemed unnaturally bright. Then his focus

came back, and he started to see and hear the things that were going on around him.

He hadn’t been put under a water fountain, but he was tied down on what appeared to be an

ironing board that was propped up by cinderblocks. His feet were only a little above his head, and
there were jugs of water all around him. They were full, and just the sight of them made him feel out
of breath, and the fear that he would stop breathing again came back to him.

He started gasping, but no matter what he did, he felt like he wasn’t taking in any air at all.

Dorian tried to keep his head lifted. He didn’t want to put it back down, even though the strain on his
neck was starting to become brutal. He was going to suffocate if he had to lie flat again.

“Look at what you’ve done! Get out of here! Right now!”
“My lord, we need to interrogate him for any possible plans the humans have to launch an attack

against you.”

“My father never gave you any orders to do this, you fucking lunatic, and what did you think you

would get out of him when you begin drowning him before he’s even awake! Be off with you! Get out!
All of you!”

Dorian watched with bleary eyes as the man, who must have been a vampire, dressed in a finely

tailored suit, all but chased the five trained assassins from the torture chamber that he was in. The
heavy door slammed behind them as they went, and Dorian immediately began shifting around, and
struggling with everything he had inside of him to get loose.

The ropes were expertly tied, and it seemed that the more he struggled, the tighter they became.
With a yell, he thrashed his body from side to side until the board he was tied to tilted over, and

Dorian landed painfully on his side on a concrete floor. At least he’d managed to knock over one of
the water jugs, though he knew that wouldn’t help him.

“Stay calm.”
Dorian looked up, only just noticing that there was someone else in the room with him. Noir. He

was tied down in a similar way, feet propped above his head, and more water jugs surrounding him.
His face and body were dry, however. They hadn’t even started on him. “Easy for you to say. You
didn’t have that done to you,” Dorian snapped.

He tried to move around some more, but he was completely helpless as he was. Now that he

was on his side, he was like a turtle trapped by its own shell, thanks to the stupid ironing board.

“Where is everyone else? Where are we?” Dorian demanded.
Noir sighed. “This is the Romonoff house. The house of my family.”
“What?”
“Play your cards right and you might escape further harm. That one vampire, I don’t know if he

is a cousin or a brother of mine yet, but he seems sympathetic. Work with that and you might escape.”

Dorian couldn’t believe that Noir was telling him this. They never particularly got along well,

mostly because Dorian didn’t trust him, being a half vampire, but still, he was willing to do whatever
he needed to do to keep these people from forcing him to breathe water.

“Wait, what about you?”
“I’m a half-breed vampire with the infinity tattoo on my hand. They won’t let me go.”
The door opened again, and Dorian looked up.
That vampire had returned. He had pale-green eyes, and they widened as his perfect mouth

dropped at the sight of Dorian on the floor.

He quickly grabbed a towel from a stand near the door, and Dorian panicked and tried to worm

away as he approached.

“No.”
“Don’t fear me,” the man said, holding his hands out, as if to show Dorian that he held onto no

weapons. Then he quickly righted the board and undid the ropes that had kept Dorian’s hands tied
down. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.

Dorian quickly sat up. He waited, but the man didn’t untie his legs.
He probably thought that Dorian would try attacking him if he released him all the way. The man

was right about that.

He offered Dorian the towel, and with some reluctance, Dorian accepted it.
“I would release your friend as well, but with him being a vampire, and the two of you free in

here with just me, that would not be very wise.”

Dorian just worked on scrubbing the water off his face. The towel was the softest thing that

Dorian had ever felt in his life, but by the time he finished, his face felt scrubbed raw.

When he pulled it away, the vampire was looking at him in the oddest way, like he was studying

Dorian’s every feature. Sitting so close to the other man, Dorian supposed that he was handsome
enough, and he’d heard stories about how lonely some of these noble sons became in their big
mansions.

Could it be that this guy…?
Dorian remembered what Noir had said about playing his cards right, and he decided to be nice.

For now. “Thank you for making them stop.”

“I do not support the methods some of my father’s men use to gain their information. No matter

how many times I tell them that the information they get will not always be correct, they refuse to
listen.”

Now Dorian couldn’t stop staring at him. Aside from the paranormals living in his village, he

didn’t think he’d ever heard a vampire talk this way about the treatment of humans before.

The pale-green eyes looked back at him. “What is your name?”
Dorian swallowed. “Dorian Grey.”
The vampire quirked a brow at him.
“It was a joke my mother thought was funny, and my last name isn’t spelled the same anyway.”
“I think it’s a lovely name,” the vampire said. “Certainly much better than Robin Romonoff. I am

the oldest son of my father, and I give you my word that I will do everything in my power to make
sure this treatment stops immediately.”

So he was a Romonoff. Noir was right. If he could just work this man’s clear attraction to him,

then he might escape from this place relatively unharmed.

“Nice to meet you.”

THE END

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