Page 79 of Ever Dark Academy: Vol. 1

His fangs were fully out when he broke away. Grayson was breathing hard. The whoosh and shush of his blood and the hammering of his heart was in Ryder’s ears. He felt it thundering in his own chest. Echoing.

“It is actually very dangerous to sleep with a Vampire. We feed even when we’re unconscious if we have a partner nearby,” Ryder whispered, his forehead pressed against Grayson’s.

“Oh.”

Ryder grinned. “I’ll just have to stay awake.”

“Or you can sleep and feed from me. If you like.” Grayson returned that grin.

Ryder shivered. “Dangerous.”

“All of this is.”

He looped an arm around Grayson’s waist and the two of them headed towards Grayson’s bedroom.

RULES

Grayson took a slug of the wine and then kissed Ryder. He loved how the wine tasted as it passed between them. The rasp of fangs against his tongue as he chased the alcohol had his cock stiffening in his pants. He wasn’t the other one in this relationship. They were both other and it was normal. He didn’t have to hide and he didn’t want Ryder to hide either.

He grasped the front of Ryder’s shirt and pulled the Vampire down the hallway to his room. Ryder laughed into their kiss, delighted, evidently, by his enthusiasm. But who could be less than enthusiastic with Ryder? He was perfect.

Grayson’s free hand roamed over the hills and valleys of that massive chest. He slipped along Ryder’s sides and over his powerful back. He dragged his fingernails down the planes of muscle, loving how they flexed and moved beneath his palm.

They were at the door to his bedroom and he blindly felt for the doorknob, but couldn’t locate it. Yet he didn’t want to break their kiss. The tongue and fangs and lips and heat and wine. It was so good. Ryder’s right hand left Grayson’s hip and suddenly there was a click and the door opened. Warm golden light spilled out of the inviting space. Ryder surprised him by pulling out of their kiss to look around. His silver eyes widened then he nodded.

“It’s you,” Ryder said.

Grayson tugged his Vampire inside and shut the door with his foot.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve never had someplace this nice,” Grayson admitted. “Not even when I lived with my mom and stepdad.”

Ryder’s eyes flickered from the crackling fire to Grayson’s face. Interest and concern was written large in those predator’s eyes. Grayson put the bottle of wine down and started to undress. He didn’t want to speak of the past. He wanted to forget it. Especially now. The past would have him freezing up--not because sex with a virtual stranger was dangerous--but because sex with someone he would see the next day and the next and who looked at him like that was the dangerous part.

“The rooms are supposed to reflect their owner’s taste,” Ryder said.

“These were meant for someone else, remember?” Grayson pointed out. “This must be Gregory’s taste.”

“I don’t think so.” Ryder’s gaze swept the room. “It feels like you.”

Grayson thought so too. He’d felt that way the moment he’d stepped inside. Even now, it felt incredibly comfortable and familiar to him. That was one reason he wasn’t experiencing the usual anxiety of being in a new place where he didn’t know the exits. He felt he did know where he was down to the very last inch. And he knew he was safe here. The Ever Dark would take care of him.

Grayson frowned at that last thought. Why would the Ever Dark--if it could think at all--care about him? Then again, why would all those Immortals take him under their wings as they had? They and this place felt like his.

But Grayson shook himself. These fancies were distracting him from what he wanted. Which was Ryder. Naked. Erect. And all his for the taking. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to top or bottom tonight. He knew he wanted to do both with Ryder and lots of other things, too, but even his boundless enthusiasm for the Vampire couldn’t obscure that he was tired. So he might only get a few of those delights before sleep claimed him.

“I want that shirt off.” Grayson nodded towards Ryder’s top. “I’ve been itching to get my hands on your chest.”

Ryder complied with an easy grace. It shouldn’t have been sexy for someone to simply just lift their arms and pull off a long sleeved shirt. But it was when Ryder did it. He ran a hand through his hair as static electricity had mussed it. Grayson stopped toeing off his boots to reach over himself and run his hand through the short sides. Ryder’s hair seemed softer to him somehow than normal human hair and blacker too, like a raven’s wing, reminding him of the flock of birds he had shifted into earlier. So black it was almost blue. His fingers feathered through it and he wondered if there was something of every animal that Ryder could shift into about his body.

“Nice tats. Are those all the animals you can shift into?” Grayson asked as Ryder turned his head into Grayson’s hand and kissed his palm.

“Yeah. Demos calls it my menagerie.”

“Will you show me them all sometime?”

“The tattoos?”

“No.” Grayson laughed. “Your other forms. I’ve seen the bear and the birds. But I want to see the others.”

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