Page 29 of His Mate By Vengeance

“Yes, Angel. I think I might’ve blinded him a little in one eye, sorry, but he’s mostly still in one piece.”

“An eye for an eye?” Angelo asked, thinking of the words he’d overheard about Vin’s tattoo in the warehouse.

“Always.”

“He’s a vampire. And you brought him for me.” Apparently, he couldn’t do anything but state the obvious.

“I did.”

“Why? Won’t this alienate you from your own people? From other assassins?” Angelo asked.

“Because I will always give you what you need, Angel. And you needed to know he could never do to another what he did to you. I understand that more than you will ever comprehend.You’remy people now. If anyone ever hurts you, if anyone has ever hurt you, I will end them. Your vengeance is mine now, along with everything else.”

Angelo searched Vin’s face, for what he wasn’t sure. The axis of his existence shifted and resettled in the devotion of that gaze, in the dedication of someone else’s heart. Vin had given him what no one else ever could. The one thing that would mean most to him. And not only that, but he understood Angelo enough to getwhyit meant so much to him. It wasn’t simply vengeance. It was a fundamental need to save anyone else from the same heartbreak he'd experienced. A need Vin shared with him because he wasn’t the conscienceless, shallow killer he presented to the world. He was Angelo’s mate. He was his person.

“I can’t lose you,” he whispered, because with that knowledge came the realisation that letting someone back into his heart would mean he could get hurt again like he had all those years before. It was far too late to save himself from that pain, though. It had been too late since the moment he’d caught Vin’s scent outside the cabin on that first day.

“You’re mine, Angel. I’m not going to let you go. Ever. Trust me.”

Angelo closed the two steps between them and cupped Vin’s face with his hand, stroking the stubble on his jaw with his thumb as he drowned in the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. His gaze dropped to Vin’s soft lips as they stood in silence, breathing in each other’s existence. Dipping his head, he pressed the gentlest of kisses to his mate’s mouth.

Vin groaned and leaned forward, deepening the kiss and taking it from zero to dirty as fuck in less than a second as his mouth slipped open and his tongue lured Angelo’s out to play.

They were interrupted by another muffled moan from the man twisted up in razor wire at their feet and Angelo glanced down at him in annoyance. It seemed he’d been straining at his bonds and sliced himself open even more on the blades pressed tight to his body. His clothing was in shreds and the rancid smell of his blood was an irritating distraction from his mate in his arms.

As Angelo looked down into Bane’s eyes, he saw a dim light of recognition and the satisfying death of any hope the killer might’ve had to escape this with his life. Bane couldn’t have avoided his attempts to find and kill him this long if he didn’t know who Angelo was, and with that understanding came the knowledge of his imminent demise. He’d thought he wanted to make it hurt, make Bane suffer a hundred times over for what he’d done to his family. But now he found he didn’t want to let this waste of existence delay him from his happiness for a single second longer. Vin had already filled the vampire with terror on his behalf, and that was enough.

Stepping back from his mate for a moment, Angelo lifted his foot and spun into a brutal kick to Bane’s jaw. His neck snapped with a satisfying crunch. Vin silently passed him asilver stiletto blade and Angelo slid its length through Bane’s now deathly still temple, twisting it with a precise movement designed to ensure his brain wouldn’t function again. Ever.

“Quicker than he deserved,” Vin observed, but there was no judgement in his voice. There was just anger on his mate’s behalf.

“No. It took far too long,” Angelo said, staring down at the man whose death had consumed his dreams until the day thoughts of Vin had forcefully ejected him from his subconscious barely more than a week ago.

Vin tugged at his hand and pulled him back into his arms. The smaller vampire nestled his body into Angelo’s in a way that made him feel whole for the first time in his life, tucking his head under Angelo’s chin and resting his ear against his heart.

“Feeling peckish?” Angelo teased, as Vin listened to his racing pulse. And wasn’t that something? Angelo couldn’t remember ever teasing someone.

“You have no idea,” Vin groaned, turning his head to press a kiss to Angelo’s naked chest before tracing his tongue in teasing circles in a way that left trails of chills across his skin.

Angelo gasped as the vampire’s sharp teeth closed on his nipple, making him wince in pleasure before Vin took pity and released the abused flesh. “Fuck. I wish I could take you here under the moon surrounded by candles, but the dead body is kind of a mood killer.”

Vin was a blur of a motion as he stooped over to grab Bane’s corpse and threw it like a javelin toward the outer edge of the building. Angelo whistled in appreciation as the body sailed right past the edge of the roof and dropped to the ground far below. It was easy to forget how strong his little vampire was.

“Hope no one was coming back from a run,” he said.

“Enough talking,” Vin said, jumping into his arms and wrapping his legs tight around Angelo’s waist as he crushed their mouths together with no finesse whatsoever.

Angelo moaned as sharp fangs cut into his lips and Vin became even more feral as he licked his blood from them while he ground their bodies together with a relentless motion that felt fucking amazing. Claws raked down his back, leaving a trail of fire. He would’ve done the same to Vin, but he was wearing some ridiculously complicated arrangement of leather straps and buckles. He hissed in frustration as he tried to find the buckles without breaking their kiss.

“Don’t you dare rip that. It’s custom made,” Vin murmured against his lips.

“You’ve got three seconds to take it off then,” Angelo snapped.

He used the time to ditch his sweatpants and was standing naked and waiting when Vin finally let the harness drop to the ground. Taking his cock in hand, he stroked it as his mate’s eyes traced down his body, leaving fire in their wake and lingering with appreciation on the movement of his hand up and down his shaft.

“Take the rest off,” Angelo growled.

Vin smirked up at him. “Who do you think’s in charge here, Angel?” he said, voice dropping an octave.

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