Page 42 of From the Shadows
Oliver patted him on the knee. “No, this is the you I’m used to seeing.”
It was grudgingly, but Oliver went up a few notches with his refusal to let Diego be an ass.
“Last night, Shay and I…. We….”
“Had sex?” Oliver questioned, his expression neutral.
Diego nodded, too ashamed to say the words aloud.
“Okay, you’ve always been loud and in your face. Tell me why you have such a problem saying the two of you had sex.”
That answer was easy. “Because we didn’t talk about thesethings when I was younger. Sex between men was punishable by death. It happened, but only in darkened rooms and alleyways.”
Oliver patted Diego’s knee. “Yes, three hundred years ago. Times have changed since then. I am not saying it’s perfect, but it’s better. And you’re strong enough to protect Shay if necessary.”
Protect Shay? Hadn’t Diego had that thought not long after they met? Shay had said he was stronger, but last night Diego had a dream that Shay needed protection from something dark that Shay couldn’t fight. He pulled him in close, doing his best to give him the strength he needed. After he did that, the tension in Shay’s body melted away and he slept again. Until Diego’s cock got hard and he was desperate to be buried inside Shay again.
Just thinking about Shay—of plundering his willing, sweet, soft body—was making Diego hard. One thing he learned when the two of them got together was Diego definitely wasn’t shooting dust. Every round made his hunger for Shay even more intense. Each time Shay orgasmed, his load bursting over both of them, Diego was more impressed. He was unaware a human could come that many times in a row. But Shay did it, and even though his exhaustion was obvious, he pleaded for more. Only Diego realizing how much Shay needed to rest kept him in check. And that was a close thing. Shay was like catnip, and Diego was a big old tabby.
“Diego, where is your mind right now?” Oliver asked.
“On Shay,” he answered automatically.
“And may I ask an indelicate question?”
That caught Diego’s attention. “If I say no, would that stop you?”
“Not in the least,” he replied. “Tell me something. Did the two of you exchange bodily fluids during your….” He waggled his hand. “Tryst?”
“Multiple times,” Diego answered, suddenly inordinately proud of himself.
Oliver shook his head and chuckled. “Staying power seems to be a vampire’s stock in trade, if reports are to be believed. I am surprised about Shay, though. That doesn’t seem likely for a human.”
The way he spoke, it seemed as though he found Shay a curiosity. Diego didn’t like that at all.
“Do you have something to say, Dr. Oliver?”
His mouth opened, then closed. Then, a beat later, said, “No, nothing. That wasn’t meant as a dig, I promise. I thought I’d read something….” He got up and went to his computer. “Will you give me a moment to look up some information?”
Diego wanted to say no, to tell the doctor he had too much to do, but he knew Shay would grill him as soon as he got back to the house. “Sure, no problem.”
It took twenty minutes before Oliver huffed out a breath. “Finally.” He turned sheepishly toward Diego and smacked the ancient PC monitor. “Sorry, the computer is old and slow as molasses in January.”
Diego had no idea what that meant, but it was okay. “No problem.”
Oliver printed off a page, then came back to where Diego sat. He held out the sheet of paper, which Diego took from him. He tried to read it, but the words were in a language he’d never seen before.
He flapped the paper, causing it to flutter like wings. “What is this?”
Oliver’s cheeks reddened. “Oh, sorry. I forget not everyone can read centaurian.” Diego handed it back to him. He held it in one hand, then grabbed his glasses off the desk and plopped them on his wide nose. “Okay, this was written about two hundred years ago by one of my ancestors. At the time, he was the head healer for the centaurs. That lasted until he championed this hypothesis. It was ridiculed and reviled at the time, because everyone said the claims were outlandish. In essence, my ancestor said that his research showed that even in small amounts, semen was more powerful than blood for a vampire, because it was the stuff for the creation of life. Blood-tying, at the time, was a phenomenon that no one understood, but he—Angus, my ancestor—said that blood-tying meant a vampire could only ever drink from that source, and that any other blood wouldn’t have enough of any nutrient to sustain a vampire. However, a blood-tied vampirecould get everything he needed and more from the ingestion of semen from the one he was tied to. Of course, at the time, even in the shifter world, there was prejudice against any kind of relationship that wasn’t male and female, so that was off the table and never explored further. It seems that you and Shay give evidence to his hypothesis.”
Diego shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“Okay, let me see if I can explain this better. Angus wrote that semen is one of the building blocks of life. Combined with an egg, it could create a child. But even without the ova, semen is still a power source of life in and of itself. Any vampire who ingests semen from a blood-tied person, at least from what Angus said, is getting pure life essence from their partner.”
Diego did feel stronger, not as unsteady. He actually felt like his old self, full of strength and vigor. And damn it, he was horny, and this time he wanted Shay to ride him. To feel that lithe body undulating on the end of Diego’s cock, watch his blissed-out expression as Diego pumped into him. And knowing that while this was going on, Diego was also being fed?
“Is it safe?”
