Page 19 of In the Dark

“We’re mates,” Kelvin answered as calmly as he could. “This is how it will be with us. The need to be near one another. To kiss. To touch. To fuck.”

He saw Key swallow and Kelvin reached out to him, but Key knocked his hand away. Kelvin could pick up some of his thoughts and he needed to look into it because when vampires mated, this didn’t happen. Key was worried, scared of how his body reacted, but he liked it too, and wanted it again.

Kelvin pulled Key toward him and waited. Key swallowed again, but this time didn’t pull away. Kissing him softly, Kelvin paused and when Key did nothing, he kissed him again.

“I don’t know you,” he captured the murmured words with his lips.

“Your body does. It knows I won’t hurt you unless you ask me to. We’re mates.”

“Mates.” Key kissed him back and sighed. “I should kick you out.”

“You won’t.”

“So sure.” Key pulled his head back and stared at him.

“Sure of you. Of us.” He slid his lips over Key’s again. “One night.”

“One night? I get the feeling that one night wouldn’t be enough.”

“Probably not, but let’s have one night and see where it goes.”

“No biting.” Key stopped moving and shook his head. “Can’t believe I said that.”

“No biting. Promise.” He wanted to, but that would complete their mating and he couldn’t do that. Not with the laws in place. He wouldn’t risk Key that way, and Key was already on Maxim’s radar.

Kelvin’s phone rang, and he was tempted to ignore it, but the ringtone was Gray’s. He moved away from Key, who groaned in frustration, and picked it up. “What?”

“Disturbing you?”

Kelvin looked out of the window to see a shadow on the roof of the building opposite. “Yes, as you can no doubt see.”

“Maxim was here again, so I came out to have a look. The building is tagged.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“You weren’t meant to. It’s one of those tags that only reacts to a certain type of light. Not sure how long it’s been there, but Key is being monitored, and after the attack, I believe they will come for him. They know what your position is, what you do. A mate is a weakness they will exploit. How much does Key know?”

“Not enough.”

“Tell him everything. He needs to know it all.”

Kelvin glanced at Key over his shoulder, then back at the shadow. “He’s not too responsive.”

“He seemed very responsive a minute ago.”

“And then you called.”

Kelvin heard the chuckle before the call ended and stared as the figure disappeared. Fucking Gray. Turning to face Key, Kelvin ran a hand through his hair. “We should talk.”

“I don’t want to talk.”

“I need to tell you about mates and vampires and—”

“Go on then. Ruin the buzz I had going.” Key sat on the sofa and crossed his arms over his chest. “And here I was trying to kick you out. Oh, maybe I should go back to that.” Key pointed to the front door. “Fuck off.”

“Key, just hear me out and then I’ll leave if you want me to.”

“Really? You’d go? Just like that? Let me count up how many times I have already asked you to go and yet here you are. Still in my apartment, having not left.”

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