Blood Lust

CHAPTER THIRTEEN


Sunset couldn’t come fast enough.

He’d worked himself half to death, banging out almost eight thousand words and his gut growled like a grizzly. Down in Seth’s luxurious underworld, he had no idea the day had ended until his lover’s deep voice made him stop typing and save.

“Come here, boy.”

He pushed back the chair as he stood. “Hell, no. I know what’ll happen. And, if you took me into a service station they’d tell you I already need a quart of oil.” Turning, he watched the gloriously naked vampire rise.

“Forgive me, Isaac. I am out of touch with the amount of food a grown man will consume.”

“You supplied plenty for just me, man. But, when your puppy-dogs let themselves in looking for a meal, I fed them.”

Seth went so still it lifted the hair on Isaac’s nape. “They came to you?”

“I guess they came to see you and had to settle for second fiddle.” Something in his lover’s manner made Isaac uneasy.

“You shared your food with them?”

“Yeah. Listen, I’m sorry if it’ll make them sick or something. I just -”

Between one heartbeat and the next, he found himself in Seth’s warm embrace, his lips under the vampire’s. After a long moment, Seth lifted his head. His burgundy eyes gleamed and held an odd softness. “You’re more precious, more wondrous than you can know.”

Dazed with pleasure, he reached up to run his fingers through those shiny, living silk locks. “Can’t follow.”

“They know when I slumber.” His eyes seemed to search Isaac’s. “They came seeking you, and you acted as alpha.”

“Okay, I’m in way over my damn head. That said, this still sounds like I just got taken to meet the fam.” He hesitated, considering what he could confess. “I’m not ready for what something like that means. Don’t even know what I’m doing with this. Us.”

Seth smiled slightly. “If you admit there is an ‘us’, then my heart knows hope.” Kissing Isaac briefly, he added, “In that alone, you have performed a miracle.”

The sun had melted the snow considerably. However, as the temperature dropped following its evening retirement, ice crusted what remained.

Seth refused to allow Isaac to walk. He carried him in his arms like a baby, pressing his face to his wide chest in protection against the rising wind. Wrapped in a warm blanket, Isaac thought this might prove the most pleasant method of travel. Once inside his house, he insisted on standing on his own feet.

The base of his cordless phone network blinked, showing six messages. “Fuck.” Isaac recalled his cell, walked into the hall where it remained charging.

With four texts and nine messages.

Seth said, “Someone misses you.”

While his lover heated a pot roast meal and soup, Isaac called his editor, Marilyn. She answered on the third ring. “Where have you been? You know writers’ lives are not their own.”

“Sorry.” He glanced at his lover setting the table for his meal. “What’s up?”

“There’s an east coast mystery readers convention in D.C. tomorrow.”

Isaac sniffed the alluring aroma of his nuking meal. “How’s that anything to do with me?”

“They lost two key speakers and requested you.”

Perhaps encountering his own ego, Isaac replied, “If they wanted me, they would have booked me first.”

Marilyn proceeded to cajole. “Isaac, this will work well for the company.”

He’d always let his editor kind of throw her weight and bend him to her wishes. Empowered, he shot back, “Meaning you?”

“Okay, okay. Me. Will you do it?”

“Let me think about it and contact you tomorrow.” He hung up, smiling at his power.

Seth beckoned, “Come eat, boy.”

Isaac slid into the booth-style breakfast nook and picked up his fork. “I can’t wait.” He ate, conscious of his lover’s gaze. “After this, I wanna see Poppy.”


He dressed very warmly before they went out to that stable. Sliding back the stable door and flipping on the lights, Isaac crooned, “Hey, baby girl.”

Poppy vocalized and kicked her stall door.

Isaac rushed to her, sliding back the lock and stepping inside. Before he could question himself, he reached out. I’ve missed you.

She put her head over his shoulder and yanked him close.

A little off balance, both physically and mentally, Isaac staggered back to met his horse’s gaze. You understand?

Poppy put her muzzle close to his face and blew softly. Recognizing that as the equine equivalent of a formal introduction, Isaac shuddered. He held her jaw in his hand as they exchanged breath. “I feel like we just met.”

“I understand you saved her life.”

Isaac rubbed her neck, ruffling the heavy winter hair. “I watched a news segment about eighty mustangs captured in Wyoming. The wildlife authorities intended to kill them, classifying them a nuisance to ranchers. Couple animal activist groups tried to help. But, it just became too expensive. The animals had been herded into so small an area they were sick, starving, desperate.” He remembered his first sight of the emaciated, terrified, and huddled captured band. “Knowing nothing about breaking a horse, especially a wild one, I bought a trailer and drove out there.” Poppy used his chest to scratch her face. “I stood at the fence of this pathetically small corral. They asked me which one I wanted, and …”

“Yes?”

Attempting to absorb the reality of it, he said, “I thought, if one of them could trust me, I would take care of them the rest of their life.”

“She heard you. You have that gift to reach across species.”

“Holy shit.” He looked into her big, amber-brown eyes. “She walked from the group and came close to me. I couldn’t understand why she let me load her, or …” Marveling anew, he continued, “Or, why she just let me tack her up and ride her. It was like -”

“She read your mind?” Seth stepped into the stall.

“Okay, this is freaking me out.”

“Why don’t we go for a ride? It’ll soothe you.”

Isaac looked at him. “The smell of you scared her before.”

“No, she just didn’t understand finding it on you.”

He still hesitated. “It’s dark and slick.”

Just the faintest smile curved Seth’s lips. “Apologies. I had not realized Wyoming maintained outdoor lighting and cleared snow and ice for its wildlife.”

He reached out to her. Can you carry us both? Is it safe?

Poppy pushed passed him to stand in the breezeway and bend her neck to gaze back expectantly.

“Holy shit.” Isaac caught himself gawking and closed his slack jaw. “I mean, holy shit.”

“You mount first. I wish to sit behind you, that I may hold you in my arms.”

“Okay, I’m still playing catch-up. Ride without tack?”

Seth gave him a gentle steering nudge. “Yes, boy.”

“I’m not much of a horseman.” Isaac literally dragged his feet.

“I am,” Seth replied. “Neither she, nor I will let you fall.” Lacing his fingers, he offered a leg up. “Let’s go.”

Although it intimidated him, Isaac accepted. He settled astride. His lover grasped a handful of mane from in front of him, and swung up behind with graceful, practiced ease.

Isaac just let her know she could go as she pleased, and Poppy carried them through the ice-crusted drifts with palpable enthusiasm. Her legs broke the light coating, sending chunks and powder flying. He relaxed by degrees, realizing the outing safe and enjoyable for all.

Seth’s arms wrapping his middle, tightened. His hot mouth teased its way down Isaac’s throat, lingering, until Isaac reached up to drag his coat out of the way. “Yes. Take it.”

The sharp pain of penetration gave way to libidinous nirvana. He lost himself to the winter night air on his face, the enchanting lover at his back, and the equine friend carrying them both.