High Stakes

•VII•

The vampire had stayed with Lucien until he fell asleep, arms wrapped firmly around his waist and chest pressed tight against his back, as if absorbing his heat. Lucien hadn't felt him leave, maybe because the bed remained just as cold as when he'd lain there. But he'd felt him come back, at dawn, his large form pressing the mattress down as he'd sat on the edge of it, newly returned from whatever it is that vampires do in the night.

He'd lain silently, watching Sanctum casually undress, the strong muscles in his back rippling when he removed his shirt. And Lucien had been unable to control the flush of heat that flooded through him at the sight of it.

The vampire had stilled, turning his head to the side so that his profile was stark against the fire still roaring in the hearth. His breaths came heavy and irregular.

"If you don't calm down, I'm going to have to fuck you, Lucien," he'd said.

And Lucien had immediately grown hard at the threat.

"Roll onto your stomach."

Lucien had eagerly complied, rolling over just as he'd felt the blankets slide from his nude body, a cold hand palming his ass. His hips were hoisted in the air, before Sanctum's icy fingers had gripped onto the nape of his neck to hold him steady, face turned to the side to keep him from suffocating in the mattress. And then the vampire had bitten his own wrist, allowing the viscous blood to stream between Lucien's cheeks.

Sanctum had fucked him so hard he'd thought he couldnt take it, slamming into him with such an intensity that it would have been painful had the vampire's blood not been there to heal any damage. It had been so intense, in fact, that Lucien had come without either of them having lain a finger on his cock. He'd cried out, in both pleasure and surprise, the vampire quickly following suit with a curse of his own.

"You're going to ruin me," Sanctum had said, laying atop Lucien's back in the afterglow, panting heavily.

The vampire had once again cleaned him up, changing the sheets before climbing back into the bed where they now lay, facing one another while Sanctum reached over and brushed his claws through Lucien's hair.

Lucien couldn't help but think about the last time he'd been in this bed, unwillingly, being threatened by this same vampire who now treated him so tenderly. He absentmindedly reached up, tracing over the small punctures on his neck where the vampire had tried to bite him. After he'd promised not to.

Sanctum stilled. "Again, I am sorry for that, wolf. It's been...a long time since I've lost control like that."

"How long, exactly?" Lucien asked.

He was curious. Despite this newfound intimacy, Lucien realized that he knew next to nothing about this male that he'd allowed inside him.

"I'm an Ancient, Lucien. I've been alive for nearly eight hundred years."

Lucien balked. He'd assumed, but somehow hearing the truth of it still shocked him.

"And I've been a vampire for all but twenty-nine of those years," Sanctum continued. "I hardly remember what it was like to be human."

So he had been human once. Lucien wondered what had happened to make him the way he now was, and more importantly, if he had retained any of that humanity after all this time.

"Who turned you?" Lucien asked quietly.

"Someone who was much older than me, wolf. Someone whom I've tried very hard to forget."

"He still lives?" Lucien prodded.

But the vampire didn't elaborate, and Lucien thought he saw a hint of apprehension in Sanctum's gaze before he changed the subject.