Page 109 of Caller of Crows
Altair waited until the room was completely silent and everyone's attention was focused solely on him. Then he motioned with one hand towards Mordyn. "Go on then," he told the vampire. "You can take over this nonsense meeting."
With a grin, Mordyn jumped up from his seat and began to speak, but Sven was barely listening.
Altair had just announced to everyone within the coven that Sven was hismate. The weight of those words was not lost on Sven, nor was their meaning. Altair had publicly claimed him.
And suddenly Sven's throat tightened and his chest felt so full he couldn't breathe. Not because the prospect of being mated scared him—no, he was rather fond of Altair—but because this was the first time Altair had used a word to describe their relationship other than ‘property'.
They had fucked before, hell, they'd even shared tender moments, but despite the passion and raw desire between them, Sven hadn't quite dared to believe that Altair really cared for him the same way Sven had come to care about Altair. He hadn't dared to believe that the vampire saw him as anything but his possession.
But the term ‘mate' implied so much more, didn't it? It implied trust, commitment, and partnership.
And when Altair sat back down next to him, Sven couldn't stop himself from grabbing the collar of his jacket and pulling him into a bruising kiss. He could feel the surprise radiating off Altair as he kissed him, but it didn't take the vampire long to respond to Sven's needy attack. One strong arm came around Sven's waist as Altair's mouth opened beneath Sven's. The taste of iron flooded Sven's senses when Altair licked his way inside his mouth. Sven moaned, pressing himself against Altair, his cock already growing hard just from this single kiss.
Beside them, someone cleared their throat and Sven drew back, suddenly realizing that the whole coven was watching them. Even Mordyn had stopped speaking.
Several dozen pairs of eyes were fixed on him and Altair, varying degrees of awe, amusement and acceptance showing on their faces.
In response, Sven lifted his chin in challenge and allowed his lips to curl into a smirk. "What?" he said nonchalantly. "Never seen two people kissing before?"
Mordyn snickered as laughter spread among the vampires. "This is exactly what I've been talking about," he addressed the coven, and suddenly Sven found himself wishing he'd listened to Mordyn's prior announcements because he had no idea what the vampire was on about. Fortunately, Mordyn didn't leave him guessing for long. "Sven's got Altair wrapped around his little finger," Mordyn said. "So I vote that he takes Altair's place in tonight's game."
"I never take part in the games," Altair cut in.
"We only banned you because you always win," Mordyn pointed out. "I think Sven playing for you is perfectly acceptable. What does everyone else think?"
Sven blinked at Mordyn and looked around the room, surprised to find that every vampire seemed to agree. "Really?"
"Of course," Mordyn said with a huge grin.
"Wait," Sven said. "What is this about? I thought this was a meeting."
"It is." Mordyn smiled. "But when you live as long as a vampire, you realize that life's too long for boring meetings, so we make ours more interesting. To keep the club going, we need to organize a special event to draw in patrons once a month. Nobody ever wants to be responsible for it, though, so that's where we came up with our Monday Madness Meetings. We play a little game, and the loser ends up having to arrange next month's special event."
"Sounds fun." Sven had to admit.
"Isn't it?" Mordyn grinned. "Since Altair doesn't play, he usually serves as the judge."
"They're all cheaters," Altair supplied.
Mordyn shrugged. "It's only cheating if you get caught. So the game's goal is not to get caught by Alt or his crows."
"That is not the goal of the game," Iskander spoke up. "And if we're playing with a mortal, it would be the honorable thing to do to ban all use of vampiric powers."
"Of course," Mordyn said. "We'll pick a mortal game and stick to mortal rules."
Murmurs came from the crowd and one vampire yelled, "Let's play Trivial Pursuit!"
"No," another called out, "Trivia Crack!"
"Or Cards Against Vampirekind."
Mordyn laughed at their suggestions, then turned to Sven. "Let me give you a piece of advice, never play trivia games with vampires. Fuckers just want to brag about how many historic events they've lived through, and once they start talking, well, they don't shut up." He made a face. "Ever."
Someone threw a bottle at Mordyn, which he ducked expertly. "Are you already drunk or is your aim always shit?" Mordyn teased the offending vampire.
Sven was starting to think he'd bitten off more than he could chew here. He looked at Altair questioningly.
Altair stroked his chin thoughtfully, as if considering the best option. "Monopoly," he said.
