Page 46 of Soren

His orgasm hit him hard and suddenly, a cry escaping his lips as electricity shot up his spine and he coated their stomachs in his cum. Gabe wasn’t far behind, his hips stuttering, and Soren gasped at the sensation of Gabe’s cum filling him up. Gabe kept grinding into Soren, thighs trembling, as if he couldn’t bear to leave his body just yet.

Soren understood the feeling.

They lay together, Gabe blanketing Soren’s body with his own, for what felt like endless moments afterward, Gabe’s head on Soren’s chest, Soren stroking his dark curls gently. The tension and fear of the last few hours had finally left Soren’s body, and he felt soft, pliable.

Vulnerable, a voice in his head taunted.

He pushed it aside. Gabe’s weight felt comforting, like a big security blanket. Soren was done listening to that fearful, cowardly side of himself. Because there was another, deeper-rooted voice whispering the same word over and over again in his head.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

He’d known it for longer than he’d wanted to admit. Soren had heard the stories. He knew what it meant when a vampire was inexplicably drawn to a human. What it meant when the scent of a stranger suddenly smelled like home.

Soren had a mate.

But if Soren turned Gabe, if Gabe became his equal in strength and power, would his human still stay this sweet? Or would he start seeing Soren as something…smaller. Weaker. Something to own. His pretty possession.

Gabe’s words from the kitchen came back to him.I wish I were stronger. I wish I could protect you.Had Gabe really meant that? Even if Gabe being stronger meant he would no longer be human?

Soren opened his mouth to ask but stopped himself, glancing down at the head of dark hair on his chest. Gabe’s breathing was already the deep, even pattern of the sleeping. Soren should let his human rest. For now, it wasn’t Soren that needed protecting anyway.

He would keep his mate from harm.

He’d let the situation with Hendrick go on far longer than he should have. Soren had become complacent. Too grateful for his freedom to try and mitigate the cost. It had seemed worth it—the pain and humiliation of giving in to Hendrick’s need to dominate, his need tohurt—in exchange for Soren having a life of his own.

He’d made a pattern of avoiding Hendrick as long as possible, until he was inevitably caught, suffering the consequences until Hendrick got bored, and then carrying on as he wished. Overall, Soren had thought he’d had the life he wanted. More or less.

Sure, a snide voice in his head remarked.Lonely. Wandering. Never getting too close to anybody.

Had he really been fooling himself all this time? Letting Hendrick push him around, convinced somewhere inside himself that he was stilllesserjust because some dysfunctional group of vampire rejects had told him so?

It was too late to regret it. Soren refused to cry over spilled milk. It didn’t matter if he should have dealt with it sooner.

He’d deal with itnow.

Soren sighed, pressing a kiss to the forehead of the large, sweet human draped over him.

Soren had someone worth protecting now.

It was hours later when Soren finally brought himself to slide out from under Gabe’s warm weight. He tucked the covers up around his human, bending over to give him another forehead kiss, since there was no one else around to see how fucking sentimental he’d apparently become in the last few hours.

He paused by the bed after finding a clean pair of Gabe’s underwear to put on. It was beyond tempting to crawl back under the covers and press himself against Gabe’s steady heat—the man was like a goddamn furnace—but Soren didn’t have time for that right now.

Soren needed information.

He closed the bedroom door quietly behind himself and padded downstairs to the living room. Ferdy was on the couch, his tail thumping lightly at the sight of Soren in the doorway.

“Spoiled pup,” Soren murmured, walking over to give the mutt a head scratch anyway. He was pretty cute, even if he was an awfully needy creature. Feeding, watering, walking, affection.

Caring for mortal creatures was a full-time job.

He sat down on the couch, dialing a number he was surprised to find he still remembered by heart. A soft voice answered after one ring. “Soren.” There was warmth in the simple greeting.

In that entire hellhole of a vampire den, there was only one person Soren even slightly regretted leaving. “Jay.”

“Is everything all right?” Of course Jay would know something was up. Soren never called just to chat.

“Everything’s fine, Jaybird. Just wondering when you last laid eyes on Hendrick.”

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