Dark Miracle

He was also so hard he thought he might burst.

The rimming always felt best in the dream, so Rhys decided to start there. Best idea anyway if he was going to make love to Szeren, as there didn't appear to be any lube sitting out. He leaned down, admiring his smooth, firm, muscled glutes. Szeren really did have the best ass. Pressing a gentle kiss to one taut cheek, Rhys heard Szeren suck in a breath as he moved in and pulled his cheeks apart.

"You okay?" Rhys asked. It wasn't until the question was out that Rhys realized that he'd used telepathy to speak to his lifemate for the first time.

"Oh yes, don't stop." Szeren thrilled at the brush of Rhys's mind against his on their private mental pathway. He pushed back against Rhys's hands, and Rhys obliged him, spreading his cheeks again and leaning forward, this time drawing the tip of his tongue over the tiny, puckered opening to a great groan from Szeren. Secretly, Rhys was expecting it to be bad, to have to force himself to keep doing it, but the total opposite was true. Szeren wasn't human; his body didn't perform human biological functions, and that meant that this was far more pleasant than Rhys could've anticipated. His hesitation disappeared after that first uncertain lick, and Szeren had to bite back a growl as Rhys curled his tongue and drove it into him, eyes going wide at what he discovered.

Szeren tasted incredible. Beyond the taste, which made Rhys throb with wanting to mount him and take him hard, Szeren's body was literally made for loving. The more Rhys rimmed and licked, the more Szeren's body released pearls of a thick, viscous fluid. Clear to whitish in color, the fluid was amazingly slick, slippery, and had a light, slightly salty, lemony flavor. Easing a finger inside his lover, Rhys wasn't surprised when he slid in and out as easily as though lubed with oil. He reached under Szeren and stroked him slowly.

"Go slow, keeper of my heart. I want this to last," Szeren said, roughly.

"Does it feel good, Szeren? I don't want to hurt you."

"You couldn't hurt me, Rhys. And it feels unreal."

Rhys carefully continued to stretch his lover with his fingers, leaning over Szeren to kiss his neck and his shoulders.

"Roll over on your back," Rhys said."I want to see your face while we make love."

"Let's start this way," Szeren said."It will be easier for us both, I think. After we've gotten comfortable, then we can change positions."

"I don't know if I can last that long, baby," Rhys said.

Szeren laughed."You're nineteen. Your recovery time should more than make up for it."

"I should be rough with you for that," Rhys said,"but since it's your first time..."

"Being kind to the virgin?" Szeren asked, amused.

Rhys bent down and kissed the nape of Szeren neck, hugging him tightly as he whispered in his ear. "Yeah, because I expect you to be just as gentle with me when it's my turn."

Szeren went very still."So that's how it's going to go?"

"We're a versatile pair of guys, don't you think?"

"I love you, Rhys."

"Take a deep breath, baby."

Rhys probably could've been gentler entering him, but once he did Szeren's natural lubrication and the way their bodies fit together made it perfect. Szeren opened his mind, encouraging Rhys to get a feel for what it was like from his side. Rhys nearly faltered in his rhythm, because experiencing the incredible clutch of Szeren's body along with the beautiful sense of fullness and the repeated stimulation of his prostate was really too much to take all at once. Which is why as soon as he got himself under control, Rhys pulled out, flipped Szeren onto his back, and went back to it, demanding that Szeren do it again, only this time with Rhys able to see his eyes on top of it all.

"I need to take blood,ainaak enyem," Szeren said. His teeth had elongated to fangs, which were sexy as hell in Rhys's opinion, and he'd called Rhys "forever mine," which made him feel all warm and tingly inside.

"Do it," Rhys said, panting and sweating. "I'm so close, Szer. So close."

Szeren brushed Rhys's long, dark red hair aside from his neck and licked over his pulse once. Then as he felt Rhys begin to swell within him as his climax struck, Szeren bit, penetrating Rhys's body as surely and completely as Rhys penetrated him. Rhys cried out, arching as his seed and blood both flowed freely into Szeren's body, and the heat and warmth of it coupled with the frantic, erratic pumping sent Szeren hurtling into exquisite bliss. The taste of Rhys was unlike anything he'd ever experienced, and he knew as he felt his body react that he'd never get enough, never tire of the taste of his lifemate. Szeren erupted, his own seed spraying between their bodies as he swallowed mouthfuls of Rhys's hot, sweet blood. Licking the tiny pinpricks closed, he lengthened a fingernail and slashed his chest, bringing Rhys's mouth to where his blood bubbled up.

Rhys dipped lower first, licking up a pearly rope of Szeren's release, then firmly attached his mouth to the slash on his lifemate's breast and suckled. The sight of Rhys's mouth smeared with cum and blood made something go funny in Szeren's head and he roared, a sound full of dominance and ownership. Rhys shivered and sucked, swallowing the sweet, tangy wine that was Szeren. Like his body, his blood had a light citrus flavor that made Rhys's head spin, and Rhys couldn't imagine sex without this exotic, erotic, passionate act included. When he'd taken enough for a full exchange, Szeren eased him back, closing the wound, and licking at his mate's mouth to cleanse him.

"I love you," Rhys said, softly.

"I love you,sivamet."

Sivamet, "my heart" in Szeren's native language, never failed to warm Rhys when Szeren said it. Rhys's eyes were full of questions, but instead of asking them, he sought his answers in Szeren's mind, and abruptly relaxed. He hadn't hurt his mate, and it had been as good for Szeren as it had been for Rhys. Other questions intruded, though, and those he did ask out loud as they lay in the big bed, casually stroking and caressing each other.

"So... What are we going to tell Aidan?"

Szeren frowned. "He knows. At least, he knows that hearing your voice brought color and emotion back to me, which is something only a lifemate can do. When he came to fetch me back-"

"When you were being incredibly stubborn and moody?" Rhys asked, interrupting. He propped his head up on his hand and grinned at his mate. Szeren ran a hand through Rhys's hair, marveling at the stunning beauty of it, of how there were actual strands of black side by side with strands of deep red.

"Yes, Beloved, when I was being stubborn and moody. He said I needed to take you before Mikhail, and he was right. As much as I hate the thought of our bond being questioned or scrutinized, I fear we will have no choice. I am the first to call a male to mate, and as far as I know, the first to successfully bind a male with the ritual words."

"Who is Mikhail?"

"The Prince of our people, our leader. We will go to him this night and you will meet him and most likely his second, Gregori, our greatest healer."

Rhys's face was a picture of fear as he sat up and looked at Szeren. "What if he doesn't believe us? What if he doesn't believe that we're mated, or that the binding worked?"

Szeren drew Rhys to him, unable to bear any kind of discomfort in his mate. "Mikhail is as psychic as you are,sivamet. He will sense our bond, as well as our telepathic pathway. He is a fair man and would not let prejudice get in the way of saving a soul."

Rhys nodded, still not sure of the reception they were going to get from the leader of the Carpathian people. After all, no matter what Szeren believed, people reacted strangely to gay relationships, and no matter what else they called it, he and Szeren being together, fated or not, was a gay relationship, a gay marriage, in fact.

"Relax, keeper of my heart," Szeren's voice was soothing in his mind."We will deal with whatever we have to, but nothing will separate us. Nothing can. The binding is unbreakable."

Rhys huffed out a breath and nodded. "All right. Can we go now? I know you want to find your family's heirloom-"

Szeren laughed. "For some reason, killing myself doesn't hold the same fascination that it did a few days ago."

Rhys stared at him. "That's what you wanted the sword for? To kill yourself?"

"I told you how close to turning I was,sivamet. I let Aidan take my blood as a precaution, but I would never want him to have to hunt me. It is a terrible thing, to have to hunt a male who was once a friend."

"But you won't turn now, right?" Rhys's worry was clear on his handsome face.

Szeren shook his head, pressing a kiss to Rhys's soft mouth. "No, Beloved. But we must have Mikhail's reassurance that our bond is true, that my soul is wholly bound to yours and that I cannot turn. That way no one will question the truth of what we share or the validity of our mating."

"Can we see him tonight?"

"We will certainly try. Come, shower with me and let me call to Aidan. I am sure his lifemate is beside herself wondering if I claimed you or not."

****

Szeren roared with laughter as Rhys drove the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport convertible up to the gates of the Dubrinsky estate. While his young mate passed his international driving permit test with flying colors, he hadn't ever had to drive with Szeren in the passenger seat, his big, hot hand kneading Rhys's thigh as he down-shifted. Rhys swatted Szeren's shoulder again, laughing, too.

"You're going to make me wreck Aidan's car," he said, an accusing tone to his voice.

"I'll buy him another one," Szeren said, his hand sliding up Rhys's thigh and squeezing.

"Just how wealthyare you, Mr. Kizevicius?" Rhys asked, one eyebrow raised, as the wrought iron gates swung slowly inward.

"Very," Szeren said, leaning over to kiss him and knocking the car into neutral so that the high performance engine coughed and stalled embarrassingly.

"Szeren!" Rhys exclaimed. He wasn't really upset; it was impossible to get upset with Szeren when his kisses were so hot and wet, and when Rhys's entire body sang at the contact.

"Mmm," Szeren murmured, rubbing Rhys's slightly swollen lower lip. "Start the car, Kid. We can't sit out here and make out all night."

But instead of Rhys laughing, or restarting the car, or even kissing him, Rhys just sat there, his hands on the racing steering wheel of the Bugatti as he stared out at the night and the forest surrounding Mikhail's home. Szeren went on instant alert, scanning for the taint of the undead and calling to Aidan to see if he'd found anything while hunting. He hadn't, and was concerned that Rhys again seemed to be the focus of such unease.

"Szeren? You have come with a guest?" Mikhail's voice was clear and strong in Szeren's mind, and Szeren sighed.

"Yes, Mikhail. If you are able, I have great need of you. I believe I've found my lifemate." Szeren took Rhys's hand, lacing their fingers together.

"But this is wonderful news! I sensed the lightening of your soul immediately but I didn't dare hope," Mikhail said, and Szeren could feel his Prince's honest happiness for him."Of course I have time. Come in, come in. You have her with you?"

"Not exactly," Szeren said, hedging."I have the human psychic Aidan hired to help find my family's sword with me, Rhys Rasmus." Szeren could practically feel Mikhail's confusion."Please, my Prince, if you will allow us to come in, to speak with you, I promise things will become clear."

"Very well, Szeren. I must warn you, though, that Gregori comes. He is... concerned about you, and wished to be present should you return to speak with me."

Szeren sighed."I would expect no less from your second, Mikhail. I have the Daratrazanoff House sword to deliver into his hands when he arrives, so seeing him will be a pleasure. I have your sword, too. May I bring them both inside?"

"Leave them for now, Szeren. Just come in and bring your human guest."

Szeren turned to Rhys. "We've been invited in. Mikhail's second, his... guardian, I guess you could call it, will be arriving soon, so please don't be alarmed by him. Gregori takes his job of guarding the prince very seriously, and well he should."

Rhys nodded. "Szeren, there's something... someone... out there. Watching me. I can feel it. Please, take me inside."

"Of course." He got out of the car and went to Rhys's side, putting an arm around him and pulling him in close to his body. "You know that I would never allow anything to happen to you, don't you?"

Rhys nodded, but Szeren could feel his desperation to be inside, out of the night.

They were greeted at the door by Mikhail, who stared openly at the sight of Szeren and Rhys standing arm and arm, wrapped around each other, but quickly recovered. "Come in, please, and welcome to my home," he said.

He led the men to the great room where Raven waited, warning both she and Gregori as they approached."Tonight, it seems, we are going to deal with something that we as a race have never had to deal with before, so please be respectful and open-minded. I must insist that you think before you speak, as this is a delicate set of circumstances, and it's going to be difficult to deal with for every single person involved. The important thing to remember is that a true lifemate bond saves a male from death. Let us please remember in the case of Szeren Kizevicius, saving his soul would also save the last member of a line we believed to be completely extinct, the last of those with the gift for shaping the products of the earth into the forms our race requires for survival."

Gregori's hard voice cut across time and space as he responded to his Prince."What is going on, Mikhail. You've shielded your mind from me."

"I would prefer you deal with it when you get here, Gregori," Mikhail said. He turned and looked at the two men now seated on his couch. Szeren's posture was that of the newly mated, very possessive and dominant as he kept an arm around Rhys's shoulders, though his face was also defiant, as though he dared Mikhail or Raven to challenge his right to what was so obviously his. Rhys, for his part, was much younger than Mikhail had originally thought. No more than a teenager, the human sat pressed up against the Carpathian swordmaker, the fingers of one hand laced through Szeren's as his other hand rested gently on Szeren's thigh, slowly running back and forth in a soothing gesture.

Gregori stalked into the room, silver eyes flashing angrily as he looked for the potential threat and assessed just exactly what it was that was going to require his mind being so open. He froze when he saw Szeren and Rhys. His reaction had been brief, a few hundredths of a second really, but Szeren caught it nonetheless, and his face tightened.

"We've come before you, Mikhail, because I believe something truly unprecedented has happened, and I want your verification of what I believe to be true."

Mikhail nodded. "You believe Rhys is your lifemate."

Szeren never broke eye contact with his Prince. "I do."

"Have you spoken the Ritual Words to him?" Mikhail asked, sitting down next to Raven.

"I have," Szeren said.

Gregori hovered, still standing, until Mikhail looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Sit, Gregori." Gregori stiffly moved to a chair and sat, his lips pressed together as he said nothing.

"You are correct," Mikhail said, a small smile on his lips. He reached for Raven's hand and pulled her against him. "He is indeed your lifemate, though how such a thing is possible, I am not sure. I can see and feel the strength of your bond, even though it is not yet fully complete."

Szeren frowned. "It isn't?"

Mikhail shook his head. He looked at Rhys. "Do you understand what is happening, young one?"

Rhys nodded. "I do. I've dreamed of Szeren for eight years, a recurring dream where I never saw his face... but when I met him earlier tonight, I knew immediately who he was, and that-" Rhys blushed brightly, looking down, and then back up at the Prince. "I knew when I saw him that he was mine."

Mikhail nodded. Szeren was still frowning. "Will turning him fully complete the bond?"

Gregori surged to his feet, though at a look from Mikhail, he sank back down to his chair. "You intend to convert the boy?" he asked, the question coming out in the cold, dispassionate voice of a healer.

Szeren stared at Gregori, his own eyes going just as cold and flat as the slashing silver of Gregori's eyes. "Of course. He is my lifemate. He must be converted so that we can spend eternity together."

Gregori looked at Mikhail then, as if expecting the Prince to say something, and he did, but it was only to answer Szeren's previous question.

"I agree that you must turn Rhys as soon as you are both ready, but no, converting him has nothing to do with your bond. The bond involves the ritual words and the acceptance of mind, heart, and body. It seems to me that you both have already accepted each other in mind and heart. Were you waiting until after you turn him to be intimate?"

Szeren wasn't entirely sure how Mikhail was able to ask that question with a straight face, but then he realized that as the vessel of their people, the one who linked all Carpathians, Mikhail was privy to every bit of personal knowledge, every scrap of intimate information. Rhys was about to open his mouth and tell Mikhail that they'd alreadybeen intimate, when Szeren spoke inside his mind.

"You've been intimate with me, sivamet. I have not yet taken your virginity, and that is probably the last step towards completing the bond."

Rhys's mouth snapped closed and Mikhail smiled. Szeren looked first at Gregori, then at his Prince. "Yes. We thought it wiser to wait until after Rhys was converted for that sort of full intimacy."

Mikhail smiled. "I cannot tell you how pleased I am that you've found each other, Szeren, Rhys. This is truly a great gift, a miracle! Rhys, I know you are a powerful psychic... do you know your lineage? Are you perhaps mage, or one of the lycans? You have the wrong coloring and temperament to be of the jaguar race."

Rhys goggled at Mikhail. "I- I don't have any idea. I never knew my father and my mother has no gifts."

Raven sat forward. "I was just thinking about how much he resembles Shea." She smiled at Rhys and Szeren. "My sister-kin. Mikhail's brother, Jacques, is mated to a wonderful woman who was a doctor but researches now for us. Rhys's coloring is very similar to hers. I know she's been doing a lot of work with genealogy. Maybe after you complete the conversion and verify the bond, you could speak to Shea, see if she has any ideas about what race your father might have been?"

"Excellent idea, my love," Mikhail said, kissing her.

Szeren stood, drawing Rhys up with him. "We need to get the swords from the car for you and for Gregori." Holding hands, the two men strode from the room.

Gregori waited until the door closed behind them before he turned to Mikhail, his eyes glowing in the darkened room.

"This is a disaster, Mikhail!" he hissed.

Mikhail's eyebrows went up and Raven frowned.

"Why, Gregori?" Raven asked. "I think it's a miracle, like Mikhail said. For Szeren to find his lifemate just when he was ready to walk into the sun... That's answered prayer!"

"Males do not mate with males!" Gregori insisted. "Our species is on the verge of extinction. We already do not have enough couples capable of producing female children to provide hope for our unmated males. How is this going to help anything?"