Love's Nudging Read online

  “Bricius is a myth,” he whispered, his eyes darting around as if hoping someone was near to help.

  Except his eyes moved too much for the colored contacts he wore, and one slid off enough for me to see his real eye color… And they were red.

  “Shit, a zakasac who’s a reflector can slip past Nero and Dimitri,” Danek hissed, realizing what I did. “He doesn’t even smell as one or hit any warnings that he’s not a vampire.”

  “Why are you here for Markham?” I demanded of the guy. I realized we couldn’t force him to answer if he was a reflector, but we could at least interrogate him in a better setting. I dragged him with me, not wanting anyone to see him.

  But of course Mark came out of the dorm just after I did. “Father? You’re alive?”

  “Yes, I have been looking for you all over, Markham,” the zakasac lied. “This man has mistaken me as—”

  “But you know Bricius,” Markham interrupted. “You asked him to protect me. He knew of your work.”

  “He’s not your father, but he must be an ancestor,” I said gently. “Your grandmother said you had three in your family.”

  Markham’s eyes went wide as he caught on, slowly nodding. “You can’t question him because he’s a reflector, but since I am too I can pull it off of him. It’s in Father’s notes that we can sort of dampen each other. I don’t know how though.”

  The zakasac realized there was no getting out of this and made a desperate attempt to break my hold by clawing up my arm so I’d release him. At the same time he tried to dive for Markham except I hadn’t let go, shocking him.

  “I’m almost twenty thousand years old,” I drawled. “I’ve long since been immune to you idiots.”

  “Wow, okay, so you’re even older than I thought,” Markham whispered, rubbing his hand over his head, looking a bit shocky. I knew it wasn’t the age so much as the situation and announcing my age.

  I handed the zakasac over to Danek and moved my arm around Markham protectively but also to comfort him. “There is no shame in skipping this. He wears the face of your father, and no one would be able to ignore that.”

  “No, I’m fine, we need answers,” he muttered.

  “Yes, but others can get them.”

  He shook his head. “I want them too. I’m okay.”

  He wasn’t, but we ignored the lie. We dragged him over to ops and called people in to help. Nero was mortified that he didn’t know or realize that certain zakasacs with gifts could slip his gift. He apologized dozens of times, and only Verge seemed to keep him together.

  Mark ignored all of it though, studying his ancestor. “I think I need Helios and either Marissa or Matteo since they would be able to see if this is working fastest.”

  “I have the aura gift as well,” Karel told him. “And you want Helios to walk you through the steps of using his gift? You think it will be something you have to drape over him to cancel out that you’re both reflectors?”

  Mark slowly nodded. “Yes, that was the way my father described it in his journals.”

  “Makes sense,” I agreed, glancing at Nero. “How about you go with some of the younger warriors to take out the nest? Give them a chance to beef up their skills one at a time while you all control the flow. Maybe take some pre- and post-trans for education?”

  He slowly nodded. “Yes, plus those who could use practice with their gifts. Sounds good.”

  Sounded like a distraction when he was upset. That was sort of the point, and it would give us a chance to speak more about the security in place as clearly there were holes that needed to be plugged.

  We spent the next few hours doing exactly that while my friends and Helios spoke with Mark about how they used their gifts. He listened carefully and focused to implement the same with his own gift, glancing at Karel to see if it worked. Hours of it and he never gave up, stubbornly trying again and again and again until even Karel looked ready to bang his head against the wall.

  “You are so sunk,” Danek mumbled under his breath. “You love him like I have never seen you love anyone.”

  “He is unlike anyone I’ve ever met,” I admitted, keeping my voice at a level Mark wouldn’t hear. I didn’t want to distract him from his task but also, he wasn’t ready to hear this from me. “But yes, I am. I am so very sunk, and I want him as I have never wanted anyone.”

  Danek was quiet for a while. “Do you think it this place? The timing and the place along with ancients making the jump to mate?”

  “No, I think it fate and him,” I answered immediately. “We have seen other ancients settle down and find their mates. Yes, it’s always shocking, and people wonder, but we’ve all seen people find mates. One shocked mating doesn’t mean the whole herd groups up.”

  “True.”

  Another hour and my heart hurt to watch Mark struggle so much, desperate to figure it out not only for himself, but all of us. That pressure was eating at him, and I didn’t like it.

  “Take a break,” I whispered gently, waiting until he nodded. I pulled him out of the conference room and brought him to Helios’s office. Mark looked so defeated as he let me guide him to sit on the edge of the desk. “I’m proud of you.”

  “For failing?” he chuckled darkly. “Low expectations, Bricius.”

  “No, for not giving up. You’ve been going for four hours, Mark. I think everyone else in the world would have already given up or smashed the guy’s head in.”

  “I want to, but if we torture him, we’ve admitted we can’t get the answers, and he could tell us anything just to make it stop.” He rubbed his forehead as he spoke, and I didn’t like how upset he was.

  I moved between his knees, cupping his cheek so he looked at me. I kissed him deeply, smiling when he moved his hands to my hips as if that was just where they belonged. “You have too much pressure and not enough motivation.”

  “I’m open to suggestion,” he sighed.

  “I’ll give you a blow job if you get it to work.”

  He chuckled. “You’d do that anyways, Bricius.”

  I would, but I liked the amusement dancing in his eyes instead of only worry and upset. “How about a whole day of spoiling? Anything you want, when you want it, and however you want it?”

  He licked his lips. “That’s a good start, yes.”

  I bit back a smile. A good start? Wow, wasn’t he just getting demanding with me. Then again, if he didn’t value himself that way, know his worth, he wouldn’t have caught my attention as he had. I raised an eyebrow at him. “How about a donation to your favorite charity? You can stack wood in the bed of a pickup, and I’ll turn it all to gold and you can give it to your favorite charity.”

  His eyes shined with joy. At his very core he had a heart of gold, so part of me thought that was what drew me to him and how I knew he would never be selfish with my gift. “And?”

  I smirked at his pushing. “And some punishment. For every minute you can’t get it to work, I will spank you once. Five minutes and you lose some clothes. Once you’re naked, I’m going to plow you in front of my friends until you pass out, leave you like that as we handle the situation, let them enjoy their fill of staring at you.”

  He gave me a look like I’d never seen before, equal parts scared, shocked, and of challenge… With just a hair of intrigue and heat. Interesting. Very, very interesting.

  “One minute is too soon, as the moment you smack my ass I’d be pulled out of my concentration.”

  “Fine, five minutes, and if you’re not focused for it to work by then, it will help you reset.”

  “Okay,” he agreed after a moment, standing and backing me against the wall with his larger frame. “But when I get it, you’ll blow me in front of all of your friends before I plow you until you pass out. Plus, I get the rest of what you offered and I want a day of me getting to do whatever I want to you. Not you spoiling me but me exploring how I want and you will let me.”

  “Fine,” I agreed, my cock throbbing in my jeans as I stared into his gorgeous e
yes. “Anything else?”

  “Yes, if I get it done because of your help, I’ll call Grandmother and officially announce I’m allowing you to court me,” he breathed in my ear. “She’s going to have a lot of questions for you, as she told Henrik again she wants me to be the heir and she doesn’t believe you will agree to be mated to the King of Denmark.”

  “I will if it’s what you want. If you want it, I will stand by your side. It won’t be forever, simply one human life span or whatever. I could do anything for that short amount of time. That is completely worth having you forever.”

  He licked his lips and stared deeply at me. “Well then, I better get to work, and you might want to stretch yourself because I’m already on edge emotionally. I won’t be gentle.”

  I snickered as I brushed my lips over his. “You never have to be with me.”

  “Sometimes I’ll want to,” he breathed, kissing me before turning and leaving with renewed purpose. Hot damn.

  I just hoped it worked because I didn’t like the idea of punishing him for failing at something he was trying so hard at even if it was for play. It was motivating though. After the first five minutes I let my hand fly and cracked him loudly on his ass. It did snap him out of it though as he growled and stretched as he focused. Another six rounds of that and he was already missing his sweater and undershirt.

  “There,” Karel blurted, studying the zakasac. “Whatever you just did right then made his aura waiver. That’s the right path.”

  “Thank fuck,” Mark whispered, his breath shaky. I understood the frustration and then relief. He was basically standing at a door he desperately needed to enter with an endless supply of keys, trying to find the right one over and over again without any clue even as to the color or shape.

  Another twenty minutes and Mark had it, Karel nodding and promising he was getting the guy’s real emotions… Along with Mark’s.

  Mark ignored that last part and focused on the zakasac with an evil smile. “Now you’re in deep shit, mother fucker. We’re going to go grab dinner, but I would seriously consider your options because I don’t care that you’re my ancestor. You came to impersonate my father and pour salt in that wound, use it against me. Plus, I have a lot of anger and unresolved feelings when it comes to my parents.

  “In other words, I would love to watch the ancients restrain you while every post-trans uses you to work on their sword handling or, fuck, watch you burn in the sun to teach the pre-trans. But not let you die.” He leaned in closer. “In other words, I won’t stop Bricius and his legendary temper, but I will promise him lots of what he wants most the more inventive he is at torturing you.”

  I wasn’t shocked when the guy swallowed loudly, believing Mark as I did. “And if I cooperate?”

  “Now that we know you’ll be telling the truth or not, you cooperate and I’ll behead you in one shot, you have my word. Think it over.”

  I didn’t think it a long debate but just in case… “Danek, you brought the skinning knives, right?”

  “Of course,” he chuckled. “You said we were going somewhere rural, so I figured good hunting. I heard there was an overpopulation of deer, but it’s been a while since we’ve had a good zakasac hunt and skinning.”

  “Warn the others.”

  “Points for arrows that dismember?” he added, smirking when the chained up asshole looked moments from fainting.

  “No, because after we hunt, we’ll do it again and teach the kiddies here. We want him intact so he can heal from the skinning.”

  “I’ll talk, I’ll talk,” the guy blurted, so terrified I didn’t need Karel’s aura gift to see that. “Please, fuck, I’ll talk. I didn’t even want to do this anyways! There are lines even most evil wouldn’t cross, and killing our own families after deceiving them in such a way is a whole other level of evil. Humans are ants, and hiding and catering to them when they’re idiots is not the same as betraying your own blood.”

  Well, good that some of them had some stopping line, but then again, he had agreed to do it. Probably because of whatever threat against him if he didn’t, but he’d still made the choice.

  But there was no way in fuck I was letting Mark be the one to kill the man who looked exactly like his father. There was a limit as to how far anyone should ever push themselves, and I was pretty sure that was leaps beyond it.

  9

  I was lost in my own head during dinner. We’d come in at the very end, so it was just our group now that the last stragglers had finished and left. Bricius had muttered a few times to push me to eat instead of simply shove the food around. I nodded and tried, but couldn’t seem to stomach it. Now that I’d figured out how to dampen another person with a reflector gift, I was left to process what had happened.

  I had truly thought it my father for a moment. For those couple of minutes before Bricius had explained, I had thought it him and assumed my mother and brother were alive.

  Only to lose them again.

  “I’m ready,” Bricius told me. “But then you will eat.”

  “Pardon?” I asked, glancing up and about swallowing my tongue when he stood next to me completely naked. I blinked at him before my brain caught up, then I shook my head. “I’m too all over the place.”

  “Because you feel as if you lost them all over again,” he said gently. “Karel saw the deep grief in your aura. I know. I know that pain, having experienced it before only to find it was a lie. I traveled for weeks only to find out it was a lie, and it hurt so much worse.” He easily yanked me to my feet, cupping my cheek. “But you are not alone to handle it. Let me help you. Give us what we need, Markham.”

  I didn’t need any more encouragement than that. I pushed him onto the table and attacked his mouth while digging my fingers in his ass to keep him where I wanted him... Keep him with me. I kissed him until we were both breathless before biting his neck harder than I should. Releasing his neck, I flipped him over as I undid my jeans.

  His ass was stretched and slicked up, but right then I wasn’t sure I was in my head enough to check as I should have. The moment my cock was out I shoved it in him rough enough that we moved the long table. I bit his neck again when he moaned, grabbing onto the sides of the table for leverage.

  Then I used every ounce of my strength to fuck Bricius with everything I had, letting out all my hurt and emotions in a more productive manner than I could have come up with right then. I felt him orgasm at least twice, but I wanted more—more of him, more of this moment, and more comfort.

  I put all of me into what I was doing, swallowing down the desire to scream in pain and instead fucking him. I pushed down the tears and instead put that into fucking him. All of it. Every emotion swirling inside of me, all the pain I’d pushed down since they’d died, the hurt, the guilt—all went into what I was doing.

  I finished with a roar, feeling the table break as I pounded into Bricius and catching him so he didn’t fall. I kept thrusting though, not able to stop until I was sated. I wasn’t sure once was going to be enough, but at least it should get me back into my head.

  “Now I’ve officially seen everything,” one of his friends chuckled from my right.

  I gasped for air as I hugged Bricius to me, glancing at the guy. He simply nodded to Bricius, and I realized he was passed out. I flinched, looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t injured.

  “Dude, you fucked Bricius into passing out?” Wally asked with wide eyes, Roarke standing next to him. He smiled when I blinked at him. “We came in to snag some dessert and caught the tail end. How long have you been going for?”

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “I got lost in my head and him.”

  “Over an hour straight,” Danek chuckled. “And damn, you might have topped my best time, and you’re just a babe.”

  “How long has he been out?” I checked, worried I’d been screwing someone while they were passed out. That was a line I wasn’t okay with crossing.

  “He hung on until you finally finished,” he pro
mised, giving me a wink. “He enjoyed it. He really enjoyed it, but payback might be a bitch.”

  “Fair enough,” I muttered, gently pulling out of him. I cleaned him up and redressed him before handing him over to Danek who gave me a confused look. I ignored it and focused on Karel. “Let’s get this done.”

  “Wait, what?” he asked, shooting a worried glance at Danek.

  I rolled my eyes. “He wants to protect me from this, but he can’t. He can’t protect me from life, and I’d be an asshole if I let him. Hell, it’s my ancestor. Why should he be stuck trying to protect me from that? He’s not God. He’s one man, and legend or not, he can’t do it all. I can handle it. I don’t want to, but I can.”

  “You’ll be a good mate for him,” Danek praised.

  “Let’s back off that talk when I just agreed to date him,” I drawled.

  Karel came over to me, clapping me on the back. “Yeah, sure, Markham, because I didn’t catch your aura when you glanced at Bricius. You keep telling yourself he’s not what you want.”

  “I’m going to give you so much shit,” Wally threatened.

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “Right, because I did that to you?”

  He opened his mouth but then closed it. “No, you were always supportive, and Roarke said you were the first to pull him off to the side and threaten to kill him if he didn’t get his shit together and make me happy.”

  “Actually, he said he had the means to make me disappear, which I didn’t know was a valid threat at the time,” Roarke muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought it was adorable from the post-trans, and here it was a real possibility. Damn.”

  I smirked at Roarke. “I warned you it was. You should thank Wally for working on that dickhead cockiness. Confidence is great, but being cocky can make you stupid.”

  “I don’t disagree,” he said after a moment. “A lot of it was defense mechanism.” He gave me a knowing look. “Sound familiar?”

  I nodded and left the conversation at that, heading for ops so we could get this done. I walked right into the conference room and sat down across from my restrained ancestor. “Bricius agreed to give me ten minutes to get everything out of you before he breaks my promise because he’s seriously pissed you look like my father and upset me. Tell me everything, and I’ll take your head before that.”