Page 34 of Dark Stars
"This is my favorite!" Alejo said. "How didyou know?"
"I didn't, it just tends to be a breakfastthat goes over well. I almost went with pancakes."
"Blueberry pancakes are my second favorite,"Alejo replied with a grin that widened as Bobby dragged him inclose and kissed him.
Eventually drawing back, Bobby said,"Coffee's over there. How do you like your eggs?"
"Runny." Alejo kissed his cheek, almostshyly, and went to make a cup of coffee. "Did you sleep atall?"
"Not really something I do." He served upthe eggs and carried both plates to the table, poured himself somecoffee, and took a seat. "Did go see my father for a bit, though.He reminded me humans are not as fragile as they seem, and that Ishouldn't worry too much that I exhausted you so badlyyesterday."
Alejo smiled, fond and amused. "I've doneworse to myself more times than I can count. It was nothing a goodseveral hours of sleep couldn't fix, as you can see. Did I missanything while I was out?"
"Jones came over for a bit," Bobby replied,and relayed all they'd talked about.
At the mention of something weird and tensegoing on between Jones and Harold, Alejo smirked. "I'd wagereverything I own that Harold has turned out to be his bloodmate.That's the only thing that gets vampires so tense."
"You really think so?" The chances of avampire finding a bloodmate were…not quite one in a million, butnot far off. Given how old Jones was, if Alejo was right, that'd bea hell of a shock. Bloodmates were a type of vampire soulmate, ahuman of essentially perfect blood, arcana, and everything else,like a puzzle piece slotting into place. If they bonded, they wouldbe a lethal, unstoppable force if they chose. They would also quiteliterally be bound unto death; if one died, so too the other.
Yeah, he could see why Jones was soupset.
He was still going to make fun of them,though, if it was true.
"Guess we'll see. How's the food?"
"Better than mom's, but don't ever tell herI said that."
Bobby laughed. "Don't worry, I know betterthan to draw the wrath of a mother. I'm glad you like it." He roseto clean up, but instead found himself all but thrown out of thekitchen, Alejo insisting he could do the cleaning since Bobby didthe cooking.
So he settled for starting on the boxes andboxes of books that had arrived in his absence, hauling theminside, getting them out, piling them on a table so he could latercatalogue and shelve them properly. That would have to wait untilthis mess with the cult was over, but at least he'd gotten thehauling-heavy-boxes-around part over with.
"You really have an insane number of books.Is there no living room or anything?"
"I'll add whatever rooms you want," Bobbysaid with a shrug. "When it was just me, I didn't really need anyof that. I read, I lounge outside, I dwell in the primordial dark.Usually I'm helping Harold and Jones out with stuff. Uh." He rubbedthe back of his head and laughed sheepishly. "That's not to say youhave to live with me all of a sudden. I just mean while we're here.As long as we're here. I'm sure you'd rather go home—"
"Absolutely not," Alejo said. "I love myfamily. I want to visit. But it's nice being on my own and notunder their constant supervision and worrying and criticizing.Also, I'd just be surrounded by reminders of my backstabbing,shitheel friend. I don't know what the hell I'm doing after allthis is over, but staying with you sounds nice. Or I can get aplace in town until we want to try the whole 'live together' thing.Problem for later?"
"Problem for later," Bobby agreed with asmile, and strode across the room to pull Alejo into his arms andkiss him. "We'll have to get back to work soon, but I think a fewmore hours of rest would be a good idea."
Alejo pouted. "Rest?"
"That was definitely a euphemism forfuck."
Alejo shivered against him, and tugged himdown into another kiss that carried hints of breakfast but mostlyjust tasted of him, sweet and warm and utterly human. "That's whatI was hoping."
Bobby slid his hands down Alejo's body untilhe could grab his thighs, warm and firm through the sweatpants he'dpulled on. Alejo wrapped his legs around Bobby's waist withouthesitation, arms around his neck, devouring his mouth with eagerkisses as Bobby carried him back to the bedroom.
He lowered Alejo to the bed, admiring theview a moment before shucking his own t-shirt and crawling onto thebed to hover over him. He pushed a hand beneath Alejo's tank top,trailing along soft, warm skin, relishing every delicate shiver,tasting the soft, breathy moans that slipped from his mouth."You're going to make it incredibly difficult for me tobehave."
"I thought the whole point of this wasnotto behave." Alejo squirmed free of him and sat up longenough to discard his own shirt.
"Well, well, what have we here," Bobbymurmured, taking in the gleam of gold at Alejo's nipples, thecolorful tattoos spread across his chest and upper arms, variousmarkings of brujería and vodun origin, along with a few that seemedpurely sentimental, like the orange cat curled up fast asleep onhis right shoulder.
Alejo shifted further up the bed so he wassprawled against the pillows, then pulled Bobby back in and kissedhim hard enough to leave his lips throbbing.
Whatever else Alejo was, he wasn't shy inbed. Bobby approved heartily. As much as he wanted to throw himselfinto the fun, he forced himself to concentrate a bit longer. "No, Imean, behave as in stay human."
"You're not human. Why would you have tostay human? And before you say I don't know what I'm saying, I'llremind you I'm a hunter, and I'm used to the unusual. I wasforcefully betrothed to a demon, recall."
