Beyond Temptation

TWENTY-THREE



Malec struggled upright as Avery fainted. He caught her. Ramsey lent his support.



“Better you than me shocking her like that,” Ramsey said.



Malec picked her up in his arms. “She deserves a place alone to work through our revelations. She’ll sleep for some time. But, I can insure she’s working things through in her sleep.”



Ramsey suggested, “A room next door.”



Malec carried her to the adjacent suite. Blood loss and lack of feeding had him weak. Placing her upon the bed, he addressed Ramsey. “I have to go out.”



“Why?” Ramsey asked, bending to draw the cover across her and smooth a long curly skein of hair from her face,



Malec’s vision dimmed. “I have not fed enough, and I lost a great deal of blood.”



“Going out might draw attention to you,” Brom contended. “Not a smart security move.”



Malec swayed on his feet. “I must.” He felt scraped thin, close to passing out himself.



“Don’t you keep emergency stores? I keep protein injections just in case.”



Malec’s heart jerked in his chest. “I’ve always had the means at hand. Never needed to.”



“If whatever you have going on requires this many swinging dicks on patrol, you’re going out waves a red flag at a mean bull.” Brom leaned down, lifted Malec over his shoulder in a fireman carry. “Can’t believe I’m even fucking considering this.”



Malec had little choice as he dangled over Ramsey’s hard shoulder. His vision dimmed and his hearing roared, then waned. He felt the bed hit his back.



A big, warm body settled beside his. He reached for it. Malec’s blood teeth lowered.



Strong arms pushed back. “I don’t want to become a vampire.”



Malec blindly removed Ramsey’s shirt, hearing fabric rip. “Vampire DNA is non-aggressive.” He could smell the other man’s skin. Numerous times Malec had killed, draining a male dry in aggression or battle. “It causes human blood to pattern replacement blood after our DNA. Human blood treats it like a non-aggressive virus until a human is drained dry, and the person drinks the blood of my kind.” He had never encountered a willing male. “At that point, the human body re-maps the DNA.”



Ramsey replied, “You turn me vamp, my first kill is you.”



Without sight, Malec sank his blood teeth into Ramsey’s strong throat, finding the source of salvation through instinct. Instant bliss flooded him. It beat through him, at once an internal caress and a rush over his skin. Vision returned. Brom arched up from the bed.



Malec tasted arousal. Male arousal, like his own and so delicious. He slowed his hungry feed. Sliding his right arm under the other man, he then placed his left over.



“Christ. No.” Ramsey shuddered.



Malec’s metabolism righted itself. He flattened his hand over Ramsey’ chest, savoring the throb of heart and jump of muscle. Dragging the enhanced blood into his mouth, Malec gazed down the length of the other man. Ramsey’s combat pants tented with his erection. He reached up as if to touch Malec, then Ramsey’s hands gripped the bedcover, twisting it, his knuckles whitening. His nipples had hardened and his torso flushed.



On fire, experiencing both of their arousals and tasting Ramsey’s, Malec stroked Ramsey’s chest lightly, flexing his hips. He held his rival, savoring his body in the unexpected moment of shared pleasure.



Malec lifted his head, breaking the contact. Nourishment flowed through him, enriching his tissues, and making him whole.



Ramsey rolled from the bed, breathing hard. “What the hell did you do to me?”



The difference in Ramsey’s altered blood acted like a drug, continuing to spread sexual excitement and strength through Malec. Watching the other man, he noted the flexing of his ridged belly, the fire in his green eyes. “You tell me.”





Ramsey had only nodded when Malec asked him to stay the night. Realizing the man had brought nothing with him but tools of war, Malec provided extra commodities kept for guests and silk gi pants from his own closet. When he held out the garment to Ramsey, he accepted, regarding Malec with direct intensity.



Malec showed his guest to the suite on the other side of the one where Avery slept. They looked in on her as they passed. She slept soundly, peacefully despite what he sensed churned in her brain.



Outside the door to where Ramsey would pass the night, he reached for the knob, then dropped his hand away and looked at Malec. With unexpected bluntness he asked, “Does it always make men’s cocks hard when you take blood from them?”



“That was the first time I have ever fed from a man I didn’t attack in violence or kill in battle. So, I don’t know any more than you.”



His eyebrows lowered in apparent consideration. “Maybe it’s like auto asphyxiation giving you a thrill.”



Malec returned his candor. “I felt it, too.”



Ramsey shook his head. “I’ve had enough surprises for one night. Wake me if there’s trouble.”





Malec returned to his suite, checked the split screens and settled himself in a chair. He had yet to hear from Corman.



That concerned Malec. His blood enemy wandered free. So, he waited, watching. The door opened. He stood and spun.



Ramsey walked through the portal. “I can’t sleep.”



“I won’t.” Malec considered all that occurred. “There’s another chair in the sitting area. Drag it in here.”



When Ramsey sat beside him watching the feeds, the man spoke. “Are you my enemy or my friend?”



Malec turned his head and met Ramsey’s gaze. “I don’t know.”



The other man swiped his hand over his face. “Will you make her choose?”



He wished for his old ways of cold indifference. “No more than I could will myself not to breathe.”



Ramsey gave a sound of acknowledgement. “I hear you.”



Malec pressed, “We do what?”



Brom smiled sadly. “Have a solid answer to that and we hit the Today show.”