Page 22 of The Maestro's Mates
Pavel blinked several times. Justin wasn’t sure he’d heard the question. He shook his head and locked his gaze on the vampire.
“What?”
“How long have you been a gargoyle?”
Pavel stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing, the low, rich sound pouring out of him like water from a dam. Justin stepped back in shock. He hadn’t expected this reaction. After a few seconds, though, Justincouldn’t help but smile. Something had been released in Pavel, and it was wonderful to see.
“I’ve always been a gargoyle, young one.”
“Oh, I’m sorry…” Warmth rushed to Justin’s cheeks as he apologized. “I thought that…”
“You thought I was some kind of strange stone were-creature.” Pavel’s laughter had stopped now, his face settling back into its perpetual near-scowl, but there was a glimmer of humor in his eyes now. “No. This is how I was born.”
“Are there…are there lots of gargoyles?”
“Not anymore.” Pavel stepped closer to Justin, and his scent reached Justin’s supernaturally enhanced nose. The gargoyle smelleddelicious, a mix of musk and dry desert stone, and Justin suddenly needed to get closer, to bury his nose in the man's armpits and take a deep breath.
“There were at one point,” Pavel continued. “When I was young.”
Justin couldn’t help but ask more questions. The two of them had already decided not to pursue the mating, but a part of him desperately wanted to know more about the man.
“When was that?”
“Over three thousand years ago.”
Justin’s mind reeled. Pavel had seen so much of life. No wonder he didn’t want to be saddled with such young mates. They would be like annoying flies to him, buzzing around with inane questions and concerns.
“How old are you?” Pavel asked. “You look all of twenty-two, but a vampire’s age can be misleading.”
“I’m twenty-seven. I was turnedfive years ago.”
Pavel shifted, starting to cross his arms but stopping as the motion exposed his dick. He shook his head.
“I can’t burden you two with this,” Pavel said under his breath. Without Justin’s vampire hearing, he wouldn’t have been able to make it out. There was a sadness in his words that made Justin’s chest ache. He stepped in closer to the maestro.
“I’m sorry if finding out we’re your mates makes your life harder.”
Pavel was frozen now, and now that they were closer, it was like there were magnets in each of their solar plexuses pulling them together. It took real effort for Justin not to wrap his arms around the man. A struggle shone on Pavel’s face, and Justin assumed he was wrestling with the same thing.
“It’s not your fault.” Pavel’s dry tone communicated he didn’t entirely believe his words. If Sebastian hadn’t revealed the fact they were mates, Pavel could have kept ignoring it.
“I’m still sorry.” Justin was right in front of Pavel now. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the man’s lush lips, barely obscured by his beard.
“I said, there’s nothing to…” As Pavel trailed off, a flicker of lust crossed his face.
Justin couldn’t take it anymore. He closed the gap and pushed their lips together.
He never should have done it, but resisting was so exhausting. This…this was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. The contrast was crazy. The plump softness of Pavel’s lips set against a lightning bolt of electricity running through them as they touched. It was too intense.
And thetaste. Pavel was sweet and smoky, like a fighung over a cedar bonfire. Justin was instantly hard, his pants tight around his cock, which had gone from limp to firm in less than a second. He moaned into Pavel’s mouth as the gargoyle wrapped his hand around the nape of Justin’s neck, pulling him in even closer. The man was so fucking strong.
How would he ever give this up?
A deep laugh rang out from elsewhere in the elevator. “That was easier than I thought it would be.”
Chapter 10
Sebastian
