Page 26 of In the Dark

“Ya do, do ya? Good thing I don’t give a fuck what you think. And calm down? When do you think I’m going to calm down over this? When I’m running for my life because you fucked up while fucking me and mated us and your stupid fangy friends want to kill me because—I repeat—you dropped fang and mated us!” By the time Key had stopped he was shouting and Kelvin was reconsidering his life choices.

“What can I say to help?”

“You can get dressed and leave me the hell alone.” Key grabbed Kelvin’s jeans off the floor and flung them at him. “I want to forget you exist, get drunk, and find a human to fuck.”

Kelvin’s head snapped up, and he hissed. “No one touches what’s mine.”

Key blinked, then tilted his head. “What’s yours? Hello!! Which century do you think we live in? I don’t belong to you. I will never belong to you. Now get dressed and go. I need a long, hot shower to wash you off me, and I want it now.”

Kelvin shoved his legs in his jeans and pulled them up. Grabbing the rest of his clothing and his boots, he left and reappeared in Gray’s office. Gray looked him up and down, then snorted. “You reek of sex. Why are you here and not fucking him?”

“I mated him and he threw me out.”

Gray paused, his fingers hovering over the keyboard. “You did what?”

“I know. I’ve messed everything up.”

“By law, I have to report this.” Gray leaned back in his chair and spun around until he was facing Kelvin. “The law states if you know of someone, male or female, who mates a human, you must report it and who both individuals are so enforcement can detain them.”

“I’m enforcement.”

“That isn’t going to help you.” Gray rubbed his face and sighed heavily. “You fucked up, Kelvin. I can smell him on you.”

“I’ll shower.” Standing, Kelvin was about to leave when Gray stopped him.

“No. It’s like your scents are mixed together.” Gray frowned, closed his eyes, and inhaled. “They’re wrapped around each other, mingled in a way that makes them one, but I can scent both.” Opening his eyes, Gray stared at him. “Everyone who comes close to you will know.”

“This doesn’t happen when two vampires mate.”

“I know, and it’s been such a long time since a vampire and human mated, that we may have forgotten about this. It’s probably a way to stop the human being fed on or a mark to let others know who he or she belongs to.”

“I… shit.”

“Has his scent changed?”

“I don’t know. He wasn’t happy with me when he kicked me out.”

“You need to go back to him. If Maxim gets close enough to scent him…”

Gray didn’t need to finish what he was saying. It was clear enough already. His mate was in danger. More danger, and Key was going to be so pissed with him.

Chapter Eleven

“Bastard,” Key muttered to himself as he scrubbed at his skin, trying to wash every tiny trace of Kelvin away. The man knew how to fuck, knew how to make Key have the best orgasms in his life, but beyond that, he was a bastard. And worse? Key missed him already.

“Bastard,” Key muttered again.

Once he was clean, Key switched the shower off and stepped out, grabbing a towel and scrubbing his body dry. He went back into his bedroom and saw the rumpled state of his bed and set about stripping it. Wasn’t having those sheets on with his scent all over them. Nope. He was having nothing to remind him of what had happened.

One problem.

He couldfeelKelvin. There was no other way to describe it. It was like a sensation at the back of his head, a low murmuring in his ears but not his ears but alsoinhis head. It was confusing and felt like some form of violation, knowing Kelvin could probably hear his thoughts.

You fucking bastard!

That will teach him. Key chuckled to himself and, grabbing the sheets, stormed into the kitchen, shoving them straight into the washing machine. Out of sight and all that. He went back to the bedroom and grabbed some sweats, pulling them on, then realized something.

The time and the date.

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