Domini Moonbeam

House of Teeth Series - Modern Fantasy Romances

Ruby and the Wolf. Ruby/Liang - short story. published

Bite to Bruise. Wren/Ever - in editing

Hyacinth in the Garden. Aravi/Hyacinth - editing

Bite to Break. - writing

Defying Gravity Series - Sci Fi Romances

Found Between Stars. Josephine/Atlas - published

Cosmic Dust. Ghazi/Amaya/Tetsu - published

Stargazing Underground. Verona/Iris - published

To The Edge. Stardust/Cosmic - editing

Galaxies Lost. June/Khan/Mehdi - outlined

Everton Series - Contemporary Romances

Doors. Noelle/Levi - published

With a Halo. Kelly/Bennet - published

Don't Touch My Stuff. August/Aurelio - published

Honest Liars - Mobster Romances

“No you didn't.” Asher pulled their shirt up, deciding to clean Darlin up first and then himself. Darlin lifted their arms, the one on their hurt side only going halfway up. Asher was careful getting the shirt off and then tossed it into the corner near the tub.

Darlin frowned down at themself, sticky with bloodsmears but for the area around the bandaged wound the paramedic had cleaned up. “Should I just get in the shower?”

“And fuck up the patch job?” Asher was aghast. He turned on the sink and let the water warm up before soaking the washcloth. They cleaned Darlin up, quickly earning a drink smile and a couple remarks about spongebaths.

Asher was extra careful on the side around the injury, not that Darlin winced or complained.

“So, you know the hot paramedic?”

Asher blinked and then smiled. “Yeah, kinda. I mean we met once.”

“A one night stand?”

Asher snorted, moving to their other side. He was about to reply when he noticed that deep bruises splotching their ribs. They were sallow, not unlike that bruise under their eye. He pretended not to notice, to buy himself a little more time to look at them and figure out what to say. He cleaned their arm from shoulder to wrist and then their hand and fingers–looking at the scabs on their knuckles. Darlin always fought back.

Asher wasn’t new to fights or bruises. This looked like someone had jabbed a couple punches into their side. The only problem was, he hadn’t heard about Darlin getting into any fights recently. Since when did Darlin hide fights from them? They were usually with them.

He was about to ask outright, when he saw it. His gaze slid past their shoulder, landing on their reflection in the mirror. More bruises on their back and there, between their shoulder and their neck, was a nasty looking bite. It had broken skin. “Darlin…” He curled a hand around the back of their neck, pulling them forward into him to get a look at the injury. “What the actual fuck–”

Darlin tensed and jerked back, but he could still see it in the mirror. “It’s nothing.”

“Who did that?”

Darlin’s face screwed up. They took the washcloth from him and gave their face a scrub before tossing it into the corner with the ruined shirt. “I’mma borrow something from David’s room…” they trailed, going for the open doorway.

Asher caught their arm. “Tell me who,” he said.

Darlin wrinkled their nose. “Drop it. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“It was a one time thing.”

“What was the thing?” Asher’s heart squeezed. 

Darlin hesitated, the answer seemingly caught in their throat.

Asher waited.

“It was just a fight.”

Asher wasn’t sure he believed that. “With your roommate?”

Darlin sucked air through their teeth and shook off his hold. “Seriously? Don’t worry about it.” They crossed the hall for David’s room.

“Are you shitting me? Someone bit you!” He followed, looking at that damn bite. If it wasn’t for the bruises, he might have been able to consider this was some sort of roleplay that had gotten out of hand. He could even back off if Darlin said it was what they were into and not his business…but they’d clearly been beaten up.

“Fucking shut up before–”

“What are you talking about?” David was down the hall, brow creased when he followed them into his own room.

“Was it the roommate?” Asher pressed again, attention fixed on Darlin.

Darlin turned around to face them both. “Back off!” Asher was having flashback to when they were teens–and when Darlin had tried to hide that their dad had been knocking them around.

David groaned. “Jesus. You’re both drunk. Calm down and–” He must have noticed the bruises too because his words cut off and Asher could feel his peace-keeper mode snap over to protective. “What happened?”

Darlin rolled their eyes but they were glassy now, looking anywhere but at the two of them.

Asher realized then that they were between Darlin and the exit. It hadn’t been his plan, but he’d cornered them. Swearing under his breath, Ash moved forward, opening a drawer and pulling out a piece of clothing. He slammed it shut and held the shirt out.

Darlin took it, pulling it on.

“The roommate?” he asked again, almost a whisper but plenty loud in the hush of that room.

Darlin’s jaw ticked but they didn’t say anything. They never did. They never had to.

Asher waited until they finally met his gaze. “We’ll get your stuff tomorrow.” And they would talk about this more when they were both sober.

Darlin looked away again. “I can get my own–”

“We’ll get your stuff tomorrow,” Asher said again. “But tonight we’ll eat waffles until you barf and then camp out in the living room.”

Darlin tried to cross their arms only to remember they had fresh stitches in their side and wince. “Fuck…”

“Yeah.” Asher turned, leading the way back out of the room past David and into the bathroom to clean up. He was trying real hard not to think about teeth in Darlin’s skin and how that could have happened and why Darlin hadn’t told them.

-

Darlin scrubbed a hand over their face, still feeling numb and tipsy, but also warm and overwhelmed.

Asher knew and now David knew.

“I can just crash on the couch and you guys–” they said, shame creeping up to choke them just like always.

David frowned. “Why would you get the couch? We pull the cushions off and make a pile on the floor…”

Like always. Like they’d been doing since they were in highschool. Darlin looked away again, feeling raw. Why were they always in the worst situations? “I’m so–”

“Don’t.” David shook his head. “If you’re sorry your roommate is an asshole, then I’m sorry I didn’t notice sooner.”

Their face pinched. “That doesn’t even make sense. It’s not your responsibility–”

“It’s not yours either.” David took a step closer and reached out, his hand curling around the back of their neck to pull them in. Their heads thumped together once and then his arm slung over their shoulder, leading them out of the room and down the hall. “Whatever is happening, it’s going to be okay.”

Darlin raised a curious eyebrow. “You’re drunk…”

He raised an eyebrow and looked back at them. “Am I?”

Fuck. He was such a good drunk they couldn’t tell.

David let them go when they reached the living room. He pointed at the couch and chairs. “You’re on fort duty while I make pancakes.”

“Waffles!” Asher called from the open bathroom.

Vera almost laughed at herself for that pathetic, desperate thought–that somehow he would ruin this and she would be able to do the right thing and leave him. She was a fucking monster.

She kissed him harder, smothering herself on him.

His hands found her sides, fingers fanning against bare skin. The kiss broke, his eyes glassy and dark with lust, but he didn’t move first. There was a question in his gaze. There was always a question.

She pulled at his hoodie. “Take it off.”

Felix’s mouth curved and that smile alone sent a chill through her body.

He shifted up onto his knees on the couch, one leg still between her thighs. His hoodie came off and his t-shirt followed.

Her hand spread against his abdomen, her eyes taking in the ink splashed all over him. He had a large scar up his side, from below the hem of those sweatpants and curving up and around to his back. It disappeared and reappeared through tattoos laid over but never designed to cover up.

Vera leaned up, away from the couch, into his body, her head dropped all the way back to look up at him. His hand cradled the back of her head, his eyes fixed on her. It was that gaze that was always driving her crazy. No one had ever looked at her the way Felix did, like he didn’t want to blink, like he was taking her in and didn’t want to miss a second.

One hand still slithering up his chest, the other curled into the front of his sweats, dragging them down an inch. His smile grew, like that small motion had been the shot at the start of a race, releasing him from his stillness.

His fingers closed at the back of her head, gripping her wet hair. He drew her back from him so that he could bend and kiss her. She heard her coffee table resist the floor when he must have pushed it farther back from the couch. Her mind was slow to register why, until he had turned her to sit on the couch while he knelt in front of it, all while kissing her.

He was still towering over her, crowding her body into the soft cushions of her couch. His hands moved down her sides, squeezing her hips and pausing only for a sheer second at the top of her leggings. That pause was a question. Vera moaned into his kiss, nodding. She lifted her hips and he pulled her leggings off of her, leaving her in nothing but her bralette on her couch.

He kissed her throat, hands exploring her naked hips and thighs, lifting and spreading her legs at his sides.

She shuddered, dropping her head back when his mouth moved down her chest, lower and lower. “F-Felix…” she exhaled.

He was practically between her thighs when he looked up at her. “Vera?”

His eyes were so dark and his voice low. He turned his face into her thigh, dragging his tongue against her skin, making her muscles jump. “Fuck…”

He smiled against her skin. “Tell me what you want me to do,” he said.

She shivered again, all her nerves on fire. He had her spread open in front of him but he hadn’t looked, still holding her gaze like he could wait forever. “What?” she heard herself exhale the word. She sounded weak. She hated it. What was this? It wasn’t like she’d never had sex before, but it had never been anything like this. It was usually quick and rough. Sometimes it was good, most times it was disappointing.

Felix turned his face into her thigh, opening his mouth wide and biting down. It wasn’t just hard enough to make her gasp and arch, electricity sliding up her spine.

Her hand shot down to his hair, fingers threading the strands and twisting to pull his head back.

He moaned when she did, looking up at her with those hungry eyes again. He didn’t pull out of her grip–didn’t move at all–and she realized he was still waiting for her to say something.

Vera held that gaze, nodding down at him. “Make me come.”

His grin was wolfish and she thought of those teeth on her skin again, suddenly hoping that bite left a bruise.

His slid his attention down her body, to her spread thighs and exposed cunt.

She watched his face the whole tile, breathless at his reactions. They were familiar but she couldn’t place them at first. He seemed to study her before he ever touched her, hands sliding up her thighs, closer. He moaned low in his throat. “So fucking perfect…” And then he was leaning in. He kissed her cunt softly at first, making her gasp and tense when his lips brushed that sensitive bundle of nerves.

Her head dropped back, eyes to the ceiling when his tongue explored her. She still had a hand in his hair, holding on but not steering. He moaned again, right into her flesh, and the vibration made her whole body twitch. “Felix,” his name rolled up off her tongue, and he plunged his tongue into her in response.

“Oh! Fuck!” she gasped, thighs flexing. His hands held her spread for him.

He licked her clit, sucking at it, and she spasmed, one arm going up over her head to grip at the cushions of the couch. Her mind felt blank, her thoughts all fixed on the feel of his mouth and tongue against her. She was so close.

His fingertips stroked against her, brushing firmly against her wet slit.

Vera nodded, taking long seconds to remember she had to use her words. “Yes. Fuck. Yes. Inside.” She wasn’t even making sense. What was wrong with her?

One of his fingers pushed into her while his mouth was still devouring her clit. Vera arched off the couch, eyes wide and completely forgetting her fumbling of words. Who cared if she sounded incoherent? Who cared what she sounded like at all?

He pumped the finger in and out, his tongue swirling above.

Her fingers tightened in his hair and it only seemed to spur him on. 

She tensed, shaking on the edge before the pleasure snapped and she curled forward, both hands in his hair now.

Her whole body twitched in aftershocks, her breath stuttering out of her.

Felix stayed pressed to her, slow motions until she was twitching. She was still catching her breath when she watched him slide his finger out of her and then slowly into his mouth, sucking it clean before looking up at her through the mess of his hair. He looked pleased with himself, which she supposed was fair since she felt pretty damn pleased too.

Vera had never felt more wrung out in a good way in her life. Everything that had happened in the last two days seemed far away and barely worth worrying about, let alone worth running to an airport in the middle of the night and catching a redeye home.

Felix smiled, leaning up to kiss her, like he would press that smile from his lips to hers.

He lifted her legs and turned her, laying her down on the couch cushions under him. Her limbs were pliable and her muscles still humming. Her eyelids were so heavy. She should have been asleep a day ago. But now she didn’t want to sleep. She wanted Felix. She pushed a thigh up along his legs, rising until she was pressed against his erection, just the soft fabric of his sweats between them.

He moaned into her kiss, but then he was pulling back.

Vera looked up at him, eyebrow raised curiously when he grabbed the blanket off the armrest. He shook it out and then laid it over her. “Are you tucking me in?” she asked through the shock.

His smile was a full grin now. He leaned over her, kissing the corner of her lips. “You’re going to fall asleep before I even get my shoes on.”

“Then don’t get your shoes on,” she suggested. She could barely keep her eyes open. She knew he was right, but she didn’t care. “You can fuck me even if I fall asleep…”

Felix’s face screwed up in disapproval. “Not my fantasy,” he admitted.

Vera shifted onto her side, getting comfortable in her defeat. “What is?”

“What?”

Her eyes closed. “What’s your fantasy, Felix?”

David turned his head a little to look back at him, eyebrow lifting. “You could fuck me while you bite me,” he said. And then his pulse jumped. “I mean…Unless that’s not how you…” He stumbled over his words.

Porter didn’t rush him. Blood loss had side effects. Even if he wasn’t trapped by the day, he wouldn’t be leaving David until he was totally recovered.

David scrubbed a hand over his face. “Give me a second, kitten.”

He kissed his neck, giving him all the seconds.

David hummed low in his chest and then, to Porter’s surprise, he moved. Not that exquisitely tempting rock of his hips or the roll of his shoulders back against his chest. No, he got up and turned around. It was as impressive as it was surprising. “Davey…” he started to warn, but the shifter grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him. Porter moaned into that mouth, his body already on fire from the new blood in his system and the way David had trusted him.

The hand slid from the back of his neck to the front, the way they both knew he liked, making Porter’s pulse race with excitement. 

David’s pulse was fast too.

Porter broke the kiss to gasp, skin electric with want, but something in the back of his head still fighting to push forward. “Sweetheart…”

“Mhm?” David nuzzled the side of his head, one hand still around his throat while the other moved up his thigh.

Porter’s thoughts blanked again when the shifter slid a hand into his underwear, squeezing him. He bucked into that touch, blood raging through his whole body. But then why was there that warning bell going off? This was perfect. This was everything he wanted.

David pumped him in hand, rough and steady.

He moaned. “Squeeze,” he said, not even caring whether it was the hand on his neck or the one on his dick.

David did.

Porter groaned, eyes shut. He pushed his thigh up, between David’s, surprised out of his own reverie when he realized his partner was only semi-hard. Before he could wonder, he realized it was probably the bloodloss.

David’s heart was still beating fast.

Too fast.

Porter felt like he’d suddenly woken up. David was trying to get him off–trying to do what he knew Porter liked–and like the selfish fuck he was, Porter was going along with it. Shifters regenerated faster than humans but not that fast.

Porter put a hand to David’s chest. His heart was pounding, his breath uneven. He was on the verge of passing out. He pushed him back enough to look up at him, to see those dark, unfocused eyes trying to meet his gaze. Before he could even put a stop to this, David lost his grip on him. His eyes rolled and his body went slack.

Catching him wasn’t hard, he was literally on top of him. Porter turned them, laying David on his back and straddling his waist. “Fuck. Fuckfuckfuck,” he swore at himself.

In a matter of seconds David was blinking awake again, frowning in confusion. “What–”

Porter kept hands on him, trying to ground and reassure him through contact. “You’re okay. Just take a second.”

“What happened?” He tried to sit up and Porter easily held him down.

“You fainted.”

David’s brow crease was back and his mouth twisted in a smirk. “No I didn’t.”

“You did.” Porter was not smiling back. He couldn’t believe he’d let this happen. “I know you’re new to bloodloss sex but…what the fuck?”

David groaned, closing his eyes again and rubbing at the side of his head. “Well, I didn’t expect to pass out,” he countered.

Porter hissed at him once and then moved with vampiric speed, off the bed and to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and grabbed the whole bottle of juice, back to the bed before David had even opened his eyes again. “I can’t believe I let you do that,” he said more to himself than the shifter, uncapping the orange juice. Of course David bought the good stuff, not the watered down sugar water, but the actual pressed oranges. Porter would have poked fun if he wasn’t so preoccupied.

David sat up against the headboard, taking the bottle. “Sorry.”

That one word was like a kick to the chest. “Why did you…” he started and stopped, clicking his teeth in irritation at himself. He kept saying it wrong. He kept making it sound like David had been in the wrong. Porter was the one that knew better. He should have been the one taking care of his partner in that moment, not the other way around. It had been going so well. The bite had been good and David had been so relaxed, he’d even been asking for more and then…

He watched the shifter drain half the bottle of juice and take a few more breaths.

“Do you think I need to fuck like that?”

David’s eyes opened. He looked more focused and sharp than he had since the bite. His heartbeat sounded steady again too. Recovery time on shifters was amazing and he had never been more happy about it than now. “What?”

Porter was on the bed with him again. “You suggested I fuck you but then… Sweetheart, do you think I need you to pin me to get off?”

The pause was the answer. David was choosing words, or considering that he had in fact thought that and maybe it was wrong. “You like it how you like it… and I am very happy to give it to you,” he said.

Porter really fucked this up. David had pushed himself because he thought he had to play a certain role for him. “I definitely have my kinks,” he acknowledged. “But it doesn’t always have to be… We can do it differently.”

David huffed like Porter was making something out of nothing now. “I am a fan of how we do things. Don’t worry about it.” He drank more juice.

“Do you like being the one fucked sometimes?”

David coughed on his drink and gave Porter a deathstare like he’d timed it on purpose. He had.

Porter pressed. “It’s important to me that you don’t do anything you don’t want to do–”

“I wasn’t.”

He was pretty sure the memory of David trying to jerk him off while passing out would haunt him, and that was fucking saying something considering the shit Porter had seen and done. 

“And I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do either. So, we’re good.”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Porter pointed out.

David drained the last of the juice and put the empty bottle on the bedside table. “What question, kitten?”

“You know what question.”

David sighed. “I like a lot of things, but I don’t need them.”

Something about that sentence made him pause. Was he suggested he needed Porter? Enough to give up on some stuff he might like but think Porter wasn’t into?

He touched the side of David’s neck, the wound from his teeth healed over but still red. “In the future, I will take better care of you after I bite you,” he said quietly, like something just between them.

David huffed a laugh, his hand settling on Porter’s thighs. “I do not need you to take care of me.”

He watched him carefully. Their relationship had been built on casual sex–on a certain flavor of sex that might suggest David was the one in charge. Did he feel responsible to stay in that role all the time just because they fucked like that? Was there any aspect of his like where he wasn’t the one taking care of everyone else? “Just because when we fuck, I like you to pin me down and make it hurt…doesn’t mean you have to always be in control of everything.”

“I like how we fuck,” David said again, an edge to it now like he was having to defend it.

Porter slid his hand higher, to brush his thumb against David’s jaw, keeping contact and affection so that he’d know this wasn’t a fight. “I know. I’m saying it’s okay if you want to do things differently sometimes. Like… maybe if you want me to slowly fuck you into the mattress while I bite you next time?”

David held his breath, like he wasn’t sure how to respond. Did he think Porter was teasing him? Or bluffing?

“Or maybe if you want to ride me while you choke me…”

David blushed and looked away.

Porter felt himself growing hard again just at that surprising reaction. “I could bounce you on my–”

David forced a laugh. “Bounce me?” he asked, words dripping in doubt.

He blinked at his lover and then smiled slowly to flash his fangs. “Sweetheart, I think sometimes you forget what I am.”

“How can I forget? You just had your teeth in me.”

Porter stifled a moan at the memory, that blood still hot under his skin. “You know I can lift you, right?”

David scoffed, about to say something else–probably deflect again–when Porter moved. He switched their positions. David had to brace himself against Porter’s shoulders when the sudden shift made him dizzy. It wasn’t fair, of course. Porter was faster because he shifter blood in his veins while David was still dealing with blood loss. He should feel guilty, but he didn’t. He had his back to the headboard and David Shaw was sitting in his lap, looking very surprised to be there. “Porter… You don’t have to–”

Porter squeezed those thick thighs through the soft sweatpants, sliding his hands under them and then slowly lifting the other man. David’s eyes widened a fraction. Porter held his gaze, lowering him just as slowly, raising him up and and lowering again, this time bumping them together.

David’s breath caught, his dick hard. “Fuck…”

Porter grinned. “You like that?”

David blushed again, his heart beating faster.

Porter realized that David might have been fucked before, but it hadn’t been like this–he might never have even imagined this or how he’d feel about it. “We enjoy our favorite way of doing things together…but we can explore other ones too if we want.”

The shifter was quiet for long seconds, a low groan escaping him when Porter brought him down again, bumping their clothed erections together. 

David visibly shivered.

To think, just a couple hours ago he'd been thinking how he needed to end things, needed to push him away for his own good.

David sat up now, one arm propping himself up and his head tipped to the side, his neck stretching. Porter’s eyes caught on that throat for a split-second, a split-second too long, and he jerked his attention away, looking for his pants.

“I thought you’d relax after we fucked but you’re still edgy, kitten.”

Porter bared teeth, not sure if it was at the continued concern or the damn nickname David had started using. Porter hadn’t put a stop to it the first time, because he was face down and the addition of that endearment had pushed him over the edge, but that was two weeks ago and the nickname had made it out of the bedroom into their day to day.

“What do you mean? I wasn’t edgy.”

David laughed, that dry laugh of his that suggested they were on the verge of a fight and he wasn’t the least bit scared. “Okay. Pissy. You’ve been pissy since you walked in last night.”

“No I–” he started and then stopped, blinking at David. They were both still naked, Porter’s shirt in hand but his pants nowhere to be seen. “What do you mean, last night? I wasn’t here last night. I just…” No.

David smirked. “Good morning, kitten.”

It was dawn. When he reached out with his senses, he could feel the sunlight outside the apartment. He had been late getting here last night and he must have lost track of time during…

David’s smirk fell, seeing something on Porter’s face. “It’s okay. You can crash here.” He finally got up, stretching.

“I can’t stay,” Porter said, realizing it even before he understood it. Fuck. He’d fucked up.

“Why? Got a lunch date?” David walked into the attached bathroom, flicking on the light.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. He was so stupid. He’d had a chore from the king last night that took longer than he’d expected. The fight had been ugly and he’d lost blood before healing. He should have gone out to feed but he knew David was expecting him and if he’d gone to eat…that would have taken what time he had and he wouldn’t have made it.

“Fuck…”

“Porter,” David said from the bathroom doorway, not joking anymore. “It’s okay. What do you need? If you want space, you can have my room to yourself. I won’t bother you.”

Porter shook his head. Feeling even more like a douchebag now that David was trying to be so accommodating. He probably had been an asshole tonight too. He had to clench his jaw to buy himself the seconds to choose his words. He didn’t want to be the sort of person that snapped at his partners just because he was upset with himself. He shouldn’t have come over, but that was already done. The sun was up and he was more or less trapped in David’s apartment until it went back down.

He could tough it out. He could sleep and just go hungry until tomorrow night. It wouldn’t be pretty with his body already running on too little, but he’d gone longer without.

“Talk to me,” David said.

Porter bared teeth at him and then groaned and flopped back onto the bed, throwing an arm over his eyes. He was fucked. He could hear David’s pulse like a neighbor with their base cranked up so high that it was thrumming through the walls. “I wasn’t planning to stay the day,” he admitted.

“Obviously,” David agreed, deadpan.

Porter pinched the bridge of his nose. “I haven’t eaten.”

David smirked.

Porter threw a pillow at the shifter but he caught it easily. “I lost some blood earlier and then I didn’t go out to feed so… I’m going to be an asshole until I get out of here.”

David’s expression was unreadable for a stretch of seconds before his eyes widened a little. “Christ, are you hangry?”

Porter got up. “Fuck off.” He found his underwear and pulled them on.

David leaned against the wall. “Don’t you have a blood bank or something?”

“Such luxuries are reserved for the weak…and the princelings,” he scoffed, finally locating his pants, not that he could get out of here now. “I feed myself.” Maybe he could take a walk through the building… chances are he’d find someone willing. 

“Then why didn’t you?”

“What?”

“Why didn’t you feed yourself?”

Porter looked at David and tried not to look at the bed. He failed.

David’s eyes widened. “Are you stupid? You came here to fuck instead of feeding?”

Porter could have said something poetic about feeding his varied thirsts, but he couldn’t be poetic with David’s pulse practically against his teeth. “I thought I’d have time to go after.”

“How? Where would that fucking time come from?” He was really upset, brow creased. “How long can you go without feeding? What’s going to happen?”

It was jarring to see his reaction. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but it definitely wasn’t this. “I’m not going to go feral, or anything,” he reassured, flashing a smile with teeth. “I promise not to try to kill you and your neighbors.”

David pulled on a pair of sweats. “That’s not what I asked.”

Porter rolled his eyes, for some reason how upset David was getting over the situation was taking some of it off of his own shoulders. “I’m not going to die. I’m just… running on empty.” He waved a hand around the words like it wasn’t right but it was good enough. “Headache and…edgy.” Edgy was a nice way of putting it, he knew. 

He already felt the tension in his head, behind his eyes, and that ache in his limbs that made him want to run and chase anything and everything. It wasn’t something he couldn’t control, but it was going to make the rest of the day unpleasant. The headache would get worse, the empty feeling deeper, but he would survive and hopefully not completely blow up his relationship with the shifter in the meantime.

He realized David wasn’t saying anything and looked up, surprised to find the other man just watching him. He still had that crease in his brow.  “How much do you need?”

Porter blinked and then raised an eyebrow. “Why? You have bloodbags stashed in your fridge, lover?”

David didn’t say anything, arms folded over that thick chest and sweatpants hanging low on his hips.

Porter was about to make another joke when he realized what his partner was thinking. He smiled. “Really?”

David frowned. “If you try to kill me…”

Porter’s grin dropped. “I wouldn’t.”

David didn’t look entirely convinced.

Porter would have taken offense if he wasn’t so hungry. He held up his hand. “I swear I won’t.” He dragged his finger over his heart in two slashes. “Cross my heart and hope to die…”

David rolled his eyes. “You’re already dead,” he reminded.

Porter was on his feet in front of David, hand sliding to the side of his neck, thumb stroking his jaw. He felt the shifter’s strong pulse under his palm. “I wouldn’t hurt you.”

David huffed a laugh, his pulse beating just a little faster. “Don’t try to trick me into something I’m already agreeing to, kitten…” He kissed him.

It was enough to make Porter’s thoughts blank, his senses full of that contact and David’s pulse. Would he really let him taste him? Why did he think he was trying to trick him? What had that meant?

Porter nipped at David’s lower lip, scraping it with teeth but not breaking skin.

David jerked back a little, bearing his own teeth in playful warning. “If we’re going to do this…” he said, unraveling from Porter and climbing onto the bed, up toward the headboard.

Porter was more than happy to follow him up the mattress.

“Behind me,” David said, when Porter was almost in his lap.

He paused, eyebrow raised and lip quirking. Again, he knew if he was running on more energy, he’d have a great remark for that… “If that’s how you like it,” he said, settling against the headboard and enjoying the new position. He gripped David’s hips and dragged him back into him, between his thighs. He moaned low at the sight of that exposed neck, dropping a kiss against his spine while his hands roamed bare sides and back.

“I told you…” David said, voice low and steady, not betraying the rising beat of his heart. “If you bite me, I’ll bite you back. This is the best way to keep that from happening.”

Porter’s hands paused. He’d been enjoying this, and then those words sank in. And the earlier trepidation. “Davey…” he kissed his shoulder, fingers sliding up into the back of his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp while tipping his head farther to the side. He thrilled at the way David let him be in control for this. Usually he didn’t want it and they were both very happy with that arrangement, but this was definitely interesting. He curled an arm around the other man, hugging him to his chest to get a look at his face when he asked. “Do you think this is going to hurt?”

The shifter turned his head to look at him, eyebrow raised. “I can take it, Porter. You’re not the first vamp to bite me.”

Porter felt a jolt of something ugly at that–at the idea of someone else running hands and teeth against his skin.

David smirked, leaning his mouth closer to Porter’s. “But you’re the first one I’m not going to rip apart for it.”

Porter would usually have enjoyed the threat of violence but this was leaving a bad taste. He traced one of the scars on David’s side before realizing why, fingers stopping. Bite. Not a clean crescent but a tear. David had fought vampires. He had been bitten before. He thought this was the same as that?

Porter inhaled, on the verge of being pissed when he realized not only had David expected this to be violent…he was letting him do it. He had even put himself in a position so that Porter could hold onto him from behind, could bite and drink without David hurting him back. He was trusting him and sacrificing for him.

For him? Why?

“Kitten?” David leaned back against him.

Porter jarred back to himself, hands back to wandering skin and head dipping to drop another kiss against David’s shoulder–not missing the way the big guy tensed but didn’t pull away. “I would never hurt you,” he whispered against skin, devastated by how true it was when it escaped him.

“Porter… You need blood, so just–”

Porter sucked at the side of David’s throat, making his breath catch. He hummed against his pulse. “I’m going to bite you, but it’s not what you think it’s going to be,” he kissed higher, licking and already tasting him through his skin. He moaned softly, arms around him, chest flush to his back. “It’s not going to hurt. And you’ll never have to fight me off.”

David relaxed slowly into him, dragging a deep breath and nodding once. He dropped his head to the side, onto Porter’s shoulder, offering him his throat.

Porter did not deserve that trust and he knew it wasn’t something David handed out easily either. So why had he given it to him? What had he ever done to deserve it? 

His throat burned with hunger and his chest burned with the need to live up to this moment.

He wasn’t sure he’d ever been more delicate with anyone in his life, kissing and licking, looking for just the right moment. When he bit, David tensed, arching in his grip. Porter kept one arm around his chest, pinning him to him, while the other was in his hair. He drank slowly, pouring pleasure into that bite, his own body shaking at the rich, heavy power in David’s blood. It was enough that a younger vampire would have lost themself in it–would have gotten greedy–but Porter had been greedy for David long before blood was involved. What he wanted was those sounds his lover was making, and the way his hips started twisting.

Porter was hard and pressed shamelessly against David’s ass.

David’s hands grabbed at his arm. If he pulled, Porter would have stopped and let him go. But he didn’t pull, he just held on.

“F-fuck…” the shifter rattled out.