Page 21 of Lore and Lust
“It’s time!” Oliver squeaks, smiling from ear to ear and turning to Gael. “Are we ready?”
Gael looks directly at Haruka, his gaze suddenly intense. “Veryready.”
“Por favor, señor,” Nino begins, his expression stern. “No coquetee en frente de su prometido. Esasqueroso.”
Without another word, Nino stands and leaves the table. Haruka briefly glances at a scowling Gael before standing, offering a polite nod and following Nino out of the extravagant dining hall.
When Haruka catches up to him in the hallway, he grins, pleasantly surprised by Nino’s assertive behavior. “I did not know you spoke Spanish? Do you think Gael understood you?”
“I don’t know,” Nino fumes. “I understand a lot of Portuguese but I can’t produce it well, and I didn’t want to upset his fiancé by saying it in English. What anasshole. Why is he blatantly flirting with you in front of this male that he’s about to bond with? We’re here forthem.Because they’re supposed to be in love.”
They turn down an empty corridor in the castle and Nino stops to breathe, running his hands into the top of his wavy, coppery hair. Haruka leans with his back against the wall beside him. “I mentioned before that bonding is not always about love. A vampire can have a multitude of intentions and hidden agendas when wishing to activate a bond.”
“That’s disgusting,” Nino says.
“You are a romantic—”
“And you’re not? You don’t believe in bonding for love, Haru? Because you feel innately and naturally drawn to another vampire?”
Nino’s intense gaze is expectant, making Haruka pause. He shifts his eyes away. “I—I’m… not sure.”
“Is this how things are for you?” Nino asks. “Vampires wagging their fangs at you, creepily staring and making lewd remarks in multiple languages?”
Haruka breathes a laugh. “Yes. But today has been particularly unpleasant… You cannot imagine how much more unbearable it would be if I allowed my aura to rest outward—”
“But that’stheirproblem, isn’t it?” Nino says, his voice rising and echoing in the chilly hallway. “Not yours. You shouldn’t have to physically contort yourself to have some semblance of a normal life and interactions. Everyone should just fucking controlthemselves.”
Nino stops. He presses his back into the wall opposite Haruka so that they’re facing each other in the narrow space. He lowers his head. “I apologize for my language.”
“You can swear in my presence.”
“But I don’t want to.” Nino closes his eyes. He leans his head back into the wall. “Everything about you makes me want to be better. Just being around you… IknowI can do better.”
The hallway falls silent, save for the nearby echoes of vampires moving back into the main ballroom for the certification reading. For the briefest moment, Haruka has a strong urge to step into him. He doesn’t know what he would do afterward, but something deep inside him is urging him forward—drawing him toward this warm, amber and honey vampire.
He stifles it, then stands from the wall and turns. They need to head to the ballroom. “Please do not try so hard to alter yourself,” Haruka says. As he speaks, Nino lifts his head and opens his vivid eyes. “I feel that you are lovely now. Just as you are.”
A warm smile brightens Nino’s handsome face, like the sun gradually peeking over a cloudy horizon. It makes Haruka’s stomach flip, so he shifts his gaze forward.
“Come,” he says. “You must listen to me read this tedious document.”
Snickering, Nino pushes himself off the wall to move beside him. “I meant to ask you… Elsie and Oliver said something about tonight being ‘the third.’ What did they mean by that?”
“Remember from the reference book that almost all bonds become activated sometime after three attempts, if all other factors are in line? So tonight will be the third time that Oliver and Gael have engaged in some form of intercourse while also exchanging blood.”
“Oh,” Nino says. His face sours as if he has swallowed something distasteful. “I don’t know why, but I assumed they were virgins—like we were watching their first time.”
“You are disappointed by this?” Haruka grins, raising his eyebrow. “You wish to watch from the beginning? Perhaps they are the type to use recordings—” Haruka’s breath catches when Nino playfully bumps into his shoulder as they walk.
His friend smiles. “You think you’re funny?”
Twelve
It’s dark. Only the light of the moon pouring in through the large window illuminates the space. It practically glows—soft, blue and ethereal. Nino watches the heavy snowflakes descend from the night sky, but he sucks in a breath from Haruka’s warm tongue dragging up the length of his neck.
Nino’s chest tightens. The ache in his groin and belly flashes with heat. Haruka slides his long fingers up and into Nino’s hair, against his scalp. He bites down into his flesh and Nino moans from the pleasure of his incisors piercing his skin.
Haruka pulls, gently sucking against his neck. Nino can feel the warmth and wetness of his tongue as he feeds. Knowing that he’s providing for and nourishing this divine male—this elegant, enigmatic creature—makes Nino’s heart swell.
