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The Vampire District 6

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Vaughn Carson has been in the hands of vampires for weeks, and
with no rescue in sight, he knows he's on his own. This would be a

much scarier thought if it wasn't for the incredibly handsome
vampire noble Daren Fenrir, who nursed Vaughn to health after he
fell sick in the dungeon and brought him to stay in one of the

luxurious rooms of the mansion.

Daren is clearly in lust with Vaughn, and while he feels the same,

he's hesitant to act on it, or to respond to Daren's sudden and
intense kisses.

Daren claims to only want his missing brother returned, and he
will release Vaughn when he is convinced that Vaughn poses no

threat to the rest of his family. Vaughn's defenses lower and he
and Daren become closer, giving in to their lust, but unbeknownst
to either of them, a group of human hunters are closing in, and

they are not Vaughn's friends coming to the rescue.

Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Fantasy, Vampires/Werewolves
Length: 41,814words

HELD HOSTAGE BY THE

VAMPIRE LORD

The Vampire District 6

Marcy Jacks

EVERLASTING CLASSIC

MANLOVE

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HELD HOSTAGE BY THE VAMPIRE LORD
Copyright © 2013 by Marcy Jacks
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62242-892-2

First E-book Publication: May 2013

Cover design by Harris Channing
All art and logo copyright © 2013 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be
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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance
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PUBLISHER
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Letter to Readers

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by Marcy Jacks from BookStrand.com or its official distributors,
thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

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HELD HOSTAGE BY THE

VAMPIRE LORD

The Vampire District 6

MARCY JACKS

Chapter One

Vaughn finally escaped from the bedroom that had served as his

prison. It had been such a simple plan that when he’d finally done it,
he felt like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner.

Vaughn had done everything from trying to break down his door

to faking sick, and he’d almost even lit the room on fire from the
fireplace before he’d been caught, and the fire put out, never to be lit
again. But this had been a little too simple. Daren, one of the vampire
lords who liked coming into his room to question him and push his
buttons, had done something so completely outrageous that Vaughn
had tried to attack him in a fit of rage.

Vaughn had done everything he could to keep his temper in

check. He did remember that, despite the three meals per day and the
nice bedroom that looked like it was meant for another vampire noble,
he was still a prisoner.

Well, that went out the window when he and Daren had started a

fight, which, of course, the vampire won, because he was a vampire
and cheated by using his inhuman strength, as well as by putting his
fangs into Vaughn’s neck and drinking from him until he passed out.

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8 Marcy

Jacks

Vaughn had been so angry when he’d woken up, so enraged, that

he’d thrown the breakfast tray that had been placed on the nightstand
next to his bed at the locked, solid wood door.

Daren had basically made it his job to deliver Vaughn his meals,

so it could only mean that the guy had actually had time to leave,
prepare the meal, and then come back again before Vaughn had
woken up, and that only made him even angrier.

Considering he’d had blood taken from his body, he shouldn’t

have been strong enough to do it, but then he picked up the nightstand
and hurled it against the window.

The crash had shocked him, as well as the sunlight that had then

spilled inside of the room. He hadn’t seen the sun in days, and he was
thrown off by the light.

Then he acted. Vaughn cleared away the glass and climbed out the

window. He was on the second floor, but there were ledges and heavy
vines growing along the wall that he was able to grab onto. He
realized just how they weren’t made to hold the weight of a full-
grown man when he was halfway down, and the vines broke away
from the wall.

He fell flat on his back, but the soft bed of grass caught him, and

nothing felt broken, so he got up and started running.

He couldn’t believe he was actually out. It was a damn miracle.

All of that effort, and he’d never bothered to try and break the
windows. He’d just assumed that because he was in a vampire
mansion they would be shatterproof as well as tinted.

Well, that was a lesson learned. If he made it back home he could

even tell Hawke, the team leader of every hunter and warrior back in
the West Village, about that little weakness.

Vaughn had made it to the trees, but he’d stopped dead in his

tracks the second that thought had crossed his mind.

If he did that, and the humans came together and attacked this

house, then using that information, they might hurt or kill Daren.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

He shook the thought from his head. Stupid. It was stupid to care

about whether or not the vampire who’d held him hostage lived or
died. Daren had refused to let Vaughn go, no matter what Vaughn had
told him.

But the vampire had never tortured him for information. He’d also

never denied Vaughn food, or water to bathe in. Aside from the few
near fights they’d gotten into, including one that had ended with them
both on the bed, Daren had been downright civil.

No. It was stupid of him to be thinking like this about a Goddamn

slave-owning vampire. Daren had even drunk some of Vaughn’s
blood, and he was never going to forgive the paranormal creature for
that one.

Besides, he had to get back to the village and check on his dogs.
Vaughn started moving again, determined now to get the hell out

of here before the vampires released their own guard dogs or
something.

Or something was exactly what crashed into him, and Vaughn

found himself wrestled easily to the ground, and a sharp pain licked
up his back, starting right where he’d first landed on it before
traveling up his spine at the speed of light.

He screamed, and the vampire guard in his black protective suit

suddenly pulled away from him.

Vaughn couldn’t see who was behind the mask, but somehow he

got the feeling that he was being stared at for deception through those
round black goggles.

“Either kill me or bring me back, but I really am hurt, you

asshole!” Vaughn yelled. He tried to get up, but the movement
brought a lance of pain to his spine, and he went back down hard.

“Fuck,” he said, drawing out the word so it sounded like fuuu-

uuuk.

“Turn around,” said the vampire, who sounded suspiciously like

Daren did.

Vaughn wanted to curse again. “What?”

10 Marcy

Jacks

The voice was stronger now through the material of the mask, and

this time Vaughn knew without a doubt that it really was Lord Daren
Fenrir beneath the mask.

“Turn around so I can see the injury.”
“You were the one who gave me the injury, asshole,” Vaughn

said, glaring at him. He did as he was told anyway because it was
some of the worst pain he’d ever felt, and the fact that it was in his
spine made it only worse.

It mortified him when Daren lifted the blue cotton T-shirt he wore

to have a look at his skin, and he felt his face go hot when the man’s
gloved hands started to gently poke and prod from place to place.

Daren was still wearing gloves to protect his skin against the

bright and hot sun, but Vaughn still had to struggle just to keep from
shivering in delight at the touch.

He hadn't had sex in a while. That was all this was. Living as a

free human meant it was difficult to come by partners he would be
interested in, and Vaughn hadn't so much as touched himself since
arriving in the vampire mansion.

Daren's touch, however, since the day Vaughn was pushed down

on the bed and he felt the other man's stiff cock pressing into his own,
not to mention the kiss that followed in the meeting they had after
that, did something to him that made his skin pebble up with goose
bumps.

It also made his cock and balls unbearably heavy and

uncomfortable in the pajama pants he wore. He was glad he was on
his stomach, and that would keep the vampire from noticing Vaughn's
arousal. For now.

Well, it wouldn't matter if he was able to see it or not. Vaughn

eventually had to get up and turn around. And if Vaughn did manage
to convince his dick to go down a little by then, vampires could still
smell blood and sense a quickly beating heart. If Vaughn didn't calm
down, Daren might get it into his head that Vaughn actually wanted
this.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Would he bring him back just to try and kiss him again? Fuck.

Would Vaughn even have the strength to say no to him if Daren
propositioned him?

He doubted it. He was so fucking horny, and Daren leaning above

him and touching him wasn't helping.

Vaughn really should have thought his escape through a little

better. His clothes had been taken from him sometime after his
capture. He couldn’t remember it because he’d been knocked out at
the time, and before Daren brought him into that much nicer bedroom,
he’d basically spent his time in a damp basement developing a fever.

They had most likely been taken because the vampires didn’t want

to risk that there were hidden pockets with weapons stashed in them
somewhere, but regardless, Vaughn should have known he wouldn’t
get away.

He wasn’t even wearing shoes for God’s sake. At least he was

wearing normal cotton pajama bottoms instead of the silk ones he’d
originally been presented with. They had been downright
embarrassing. He’d demanded a real shirt and pants at one point, but
he’d been stuck with pajamas.

Definitely not traveling clothes.
“Your back feels fine,” Daren eventually said.
“Are you a healer or something?” Vaughn asked, still angry and

humiliated, for the reaction from his stupid cock, and that he'd been
caught so easily. Even if he hadn’t stopped like that, he would still be
on the ground right now.

“No, but I don’t feel that anything is broken. Can you move your

toes?”

It would be so much easier for Vaughn to hate the vampire bastard

if he wasn’t always so…so…civil.

Vaughn wiggled his toes. “Yeah.”
“Try shifting your legs a bit. Don’t kick me,” he added, a warning

in his voice.

12 Marcy

Jacks

If Vaughn did attempt to kick him it probably wouldn’t do much

anyway.

He shifted his legs and felt the movement just fine. It didn’t pain

him either. “I think I’m okay.”

Great. This just meant he was a giant pussy now.
“I think your back is bruised. I won’t be able to say how badly,”

Daren said, and he got to his feet. “I’ll help you to walk back.”

“I can walk back on my own,” Vaughn snapped. He moved a little

too quickly after that because then the muscles in his back spasmed
again, but he refused to let that stop him. At least the pain was enough
to immediately make his dick stop pulsing and go back to sleep.

When he was standing upright again, however, he couldn’t keep

the pain from showing on his face.

“Let me carry you.”
“No,” Vaughn said. He didn't want to think about how his body

would react if he let Daren touch him, and he took a baby step
forward. Then another. With each step the agony lessened, but it was
clear this wasn’t going to be walked off before making it back to the
house.

Daren said something behind him, but his voice was so low, and

with the mask to also muffle his words, Vaughn couldn’t tell what
he’d said.

Still, the man came up and walked beside him.
Vaughn still didn’t want to touch him, but he knew the hint when

he saw it. Daren was going to let Vaughn use him for balance, and
even though he didn’t want to, he had to.

Vaughn put his hand on Daren’s shoulder, but that was all he did.

Thankfully his dick barely twitched, and his blood only became a
little warm, likely because of the pain he was still feeling.

“Guarding your own land now, huh?” Vaughn asked. He was so

angry and in enough pain that he had to talk about something. Making
little digs at Daren for his and his brother’s lack of any personal

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

guards was the only thing he could think of, and it made him feel a
little better.

“I have always been trained to defend myself. Not to the extent of

an assassin, mind you, but I do know how to hunt and track and kill.”

Fucking perfect. Vaughn really was going nowhere. It had been

fifteen days, and it was clear to him by now that his friends must have
thought him to be dead, or they would have tried to rescue him
already.

Unless they thought the trouble would be too much. That was

something else Vaughn had agonized over at night. An epic search
and rescue couldn’t be performed for every man or woman taken
against their will. It was unrealistic, especially when the vampires
always had so much power on their side.

Hawke was a good leader, and there was no way the guy would

casually toss Vaughn aside, but by now Vaughn was beginning to see
that the man wasn’t coming for him.

Strange to be sad and happy about that at the same time. Sad to be

stuck here, sure, but happy that he wouldn’t be the reason that his
friends, the people he considered his family, would risk their lives for
him.

People did die in rescue missions, after all. That was the last thing

he wanted.

“To answer your question, however, no. I am not acting as a guard

for the mansion,” Daren said.

Bullshit. “That looks like a vampire assassin’s daylight uniform to

me. Your guys wear them all the time.”

Vaughn knew this for a fact because a group of them, all wearing

the same thing, had even attacked the West Village. Hawke, Vaughn,
his dogs, and pretty much every spare man and woman had fought
back so well that all of the assassins had been killed—well, one had
survived, but he was on their side now—and no human had died.
There were injuries, to be sure, but it was such an enormous victory
for the village.

14 Marcy

Jacks

The best part came when the bodies were being looted. New

weapons were brought in, poisoned darts, and because every vampire
assassin who had been killed had all been wearing the same uniform,
those had also been taken. Hawke had spoken about using them
should any of the men ever go on specific missions.

He wondered how that was turning out.
“We have some guards and assassins with us again,” Daren said,

clearly fighting to keep hold of his patience. “My brother’s personal
bodyguard is also a werewolf, but you are correct. There are not
enough of them. I tell you this because you will remain a prisoner
here, so it’s not like you can use that information against my family.
You don’t even know where this house is.”

He didn’t have to rub it in so damn much. Bastard.
“This would be much faster if you would just let me carry you,”

Daren said after ten more baby steps.

“No,” Vaughn insisted.
It was kind of surprising that he was even being given a choice in

the matter.

After another minute or so, a tall man with the kind of muscle that

made Vaughn think he would be snapped in half if he mouthed off,
jogged over to them.

His skin was tanned, and his hair was red-brown instead of just

being on fire now that they were out in the open sun, so he couldn’t
be a vampire.

Maybe this was the werewolf. “My lord, are you okay?”
“Does he look like he’s limping to you?” Vaughn snapped.
The huge man lifted an eyebrow at him. It matched his hair and

eyes.

“I am fine, Marrok,” Daren said. “There was just an accident.”
And now the vampire was covering for him. Vaughn never knew

what to make of any of this behavior. He would assume it was
Daren’s way of apologizing for sticking his teeth where they didn’t
belong, if vampires weren’t soulless to begin with.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

“There are already servants cleaning the wreckage,” Marrok said,

and because he wasn’t asked to help, the man took it upon himself to
walk with them, on the other side of Vaughn.

Now he was really starting to feel like a prisoner again.
“Good. Run ahead and tell them to also prepare another room for

him. He can’t stay in his old one now that there is no window. They
will also need to take steps to make sure he can’t get out again either.”

“Yes, my lord.”
Marrok didn’t do anything so slave-like as get on his knees and

touch his forehead to the ground right before Daren could step on him
and walk on by, but he did bow his head a little before rushing off to
do just that.

“Not going to put me in the dungeon again?” Vaughn asked.
He could’ve sworn the man actually sighed under that mask. “I

told you, I would like to keep this civil. Not all vampires are the
creatures you believe them to be.”

“Right, because that huge guy calling you a lord and bowing to

you doesn’t give off the impression that you have a thing for power.”

Now Daren did put his hands on him, and Vaughn stopped cold as

he felt those steely fingers digging into the flesh of his shoulder.

Here it came, the punishment he knew was just around the corner.
Daren squeezed him hard, and there would in all likelihood be

little marks left behind from the pressure of his fingertips, but he
didn’t puncture the skin or throw Vaughn down for a beating.

The proof that the vampire’s calm nature was all a trick designed

to lower Vaughn’s guard and get him to spill secrets about his village
didn’t come. Daren lifted Vaughn into his arms instead and started
carrying him bridal-style. There was a minor jolt of pain in his back
from the sudden movement, but other than that his body relaxed into
the position, and he felt nothing at all but humiliation as he was
carried.

Humiliation and a healthy dose of lust.

16 Marcy

Jacks

“What are you doing?” Vaughn demanded, doing his best not to

yell or struggle in case the man dropped him on his aching back.

Don't get hard. Don't get hard. Don't get hard.
“Deal with it. You’re talking too long, and it’s hot outside.”
“It is not. You’re just a vampire, and the sun is killing you, not

me. I happen to like the sun.”

Daren said nothing, but Vaughn had to admit that it was faster

now that the vampire was carrying him.

He consoled himself by thinking that he was at least causing

Daren as much discomfort as Vaughn felt, and he did his absolute best
to not look up at the other man as well.

There would be nothing worse than if Daren would look down and

see the raging blush that was no doubt on his face. Every woman in
the village had always told him that he was a blusher when he got
embarrassed.

“Stop pouting. You’re embarrassing yourself.”
Great.
Daren brought him back into the large vampire mansion through

one of the side doors. It was weird how his very skin seemed to
breathe a sigh of relief once he was back inside of the air-conditioned
space and not out in the hot sun. He hadn’t thought he’d been out for
that long. Come to think of it, he was pretty thirsty now, too. He
hadn’t even thought about water or food when he’d escaped.

Now he couldn’t stop thinking about the breakfast that he’d

thrown across the room, and his stomach started to growl.

Maybe Daren hadn’t heard it.
There were servants performing their duties, sweeping, mopping,

dusting, and from some of the smells, also cooking. It didn’t go
unnoticed by Vaughn how quickly Daren walked. He didn’t even stop
to take off his mask, and it was clear that he didn’t want Vaughn to
see the servants as they did their slave jobs.

He’d said something about that before. It was the reason why

Daren delivered Vaughn his meals. Not only was there a shortage of

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

staff, but he’d also thought that seeing human slaves would make him
angry and lash out.

There was no help for it now, but Vaughn composed himself.
Daren brought him up the curved stairway, and he walked past the

guest bedroom where Vaughn had been staying. The door was still
shut, and probably still locked as well. He only brought Vaughn one
room over before entering the door.

It looked exactly the same with the exception of the color of the

sheets and the brickwork around the fireplace. There was already
someone inside with a power tool who was putting bars in front of the
windows.

It was such a depressing sight, and it took the man only another

minute before he finished.

“Anything else, my lord?” the slave asked. He was clearly human,

but the odd thing about him was the smile on his face, as though it
pleased him to work for vampires.

“Take the pokers from the fireplace. They shouldn’t be in here

while he is a guest.”

The servant bowed, putting some of his back into it, unlike the

werewolf, and did as he was told before leaving.

“Anything else, my lord?” Vaughn mocked, and then he snorted

when Daren placed him gently on his new bed.

“I’ll bring you something else to eat. I take it you didn’t finish

what was brought to you earlier?”

“I threw it at the wall.”
That seemed to make a muscle in Daren’s neck jump. Then he

turned around. “I’ll get you some more breakfast. Try not to waste it
this time.”

“If that’s your way of apologizing to me for keeping me hostage

and then putting your fangs into my neck, then you’ve got a long way
to go.”

Daren actually stopped at the door, and the most surprising thing

was when he half turned with a little smile on his face. It showed off

18 Marcy

Jacks

his white teeth, as well as one of the fangs that had been inside of
Vaughn’s neck.

“I notice in that small list of my offenses, that you didn’t mention

when I kissed you before putting my teeth into you.”

There was a lamp on the nightstand, and Vaughn’s hand reached

for it almost on instinct. He hurled it at the other man, but Daren was
out the door and had it shut behind him before the lamp could hit its
proper target. It crashed into a dozen pieces that scattered on the
carpet.

Vaughn could’ve sworn that he’d heard the vampire laughing as

he walked away.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Chapter Two

Daren had laughed when the wild human had thrown the lamp at

him and missed. He did not laugh when he checked on the other guest
bedroom and indeed saw the tray of food had been thrown, its
contents ruined and splattered across the wall like some sort of
morbid painting. The sadness Daren felt at the sight could only have
stemmed from the time and effort he’d put into making sure each dish
would be to Vaughn’s tastes, a way for him to apologize for taking
the man’s blood without his permission, and now it was clearly
ruined.

Vaughn had spirit, all right, and Daren set off to the kitchens to

have something else prepared. Perhaps Daren was only so attracted to
him because he was a wild human. Clearly, behavior like that could
not have come about if Vaughn had ever been another vampire’s
property. They would have squashed it out of him.

Or killed him.
This had to be it. Daren was attracted to the freedom the man

represented. To be sure, he looked appealing enough, and Daren
couldn't keep his hands off of him, but there was definitely nothing
Daren had never before seen in those soft brown eyes and short, pale-
blond hair. There were calluses on the man’s fingers, suggesting that,
despite being a free human, he did still work, and his skin showed
some signs of burning over the years. Marrok had called it a tan, but
Daren could not see the difference.

No, it was the fire that came into those eyes whenever he and

Vaughn spoke that made him seem so much more attractive than he
was. It was that same fire that called to Daren, that also heated up his

20 Marcy

Jacks

own blood and made his cock hard and ache for him when he pushed
him onto the bed.

He was just glad Vaughn hadn't noticed he was semi-aroused by

the time he left the room. Vaughn might have tried throwing
something heavier at him. The first time Daren had seen the man,
naked and ill from being put into the cellar for too long, his body
producing a vast amount of sweat, he had not felt any lust then as he
did now.

He’d taken the man out of his poor conditions because he wanted

to follow in his brother Tristan’s example. Their father had treated the
slaves poorly, and had no qualms about selling them or killing them
whenever they had become ill and could not work.

Daren had been only a third son. Not the youngest, but hardly

important, and he’d kept his head down and done nothing when there
were clear problems in his own home.

Then his father and eldest brother had been murdered, by the very

pack of werewolves that Marrok used to work for, and Tristan had
suddenly been put in charge.

Daren hardly cared a whit when Tristan had given the order to

have the werewolves killed. The only reason why Marrok had been
spared was because he had been off at another house, previously sold
before the werewolf uprising could begin. Daren hadn’t much liked
him when he came back, but Tristan did, and together they had
something that kept Daren’s older brother sane while he cared for the
servants.

Despite Vaughn’s mocking, they really were happy. Daren had

never seen one of the humans smiling before, but Tristan built them
new housing with electricity and hot water, mostly provided for with
the solar panels, and they were still there. More food rations were
handed out, and medicine was another thing he would not overlook.
Despite the fact that all of this cost more money and took away more
resources that they were slowly running out of, Tristan continued to
do it.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

It made Daren notice how much better production was. The

humans were able to perform their duties better, and they certainly
looked healthier as well. When news reached them that the wild
humans were starting a revolt, and the other vampire nobles no longer
wished to do business with them, there were open discussions from
the humans, some of whom were starting to speak to Tristan as an
equal, that they would lay down their lives to protect the Fenrir house
of vampires.

Even if that house currently only consisted of three brothers, one

of whom was still missing because of Daren’s mistake.

He’d hoped that if he followed Tristan’s example and showed the

man some kindness, then perhaps he would lead them back to
Frederik, or at least offer some clues to his whereabouts.

Tristan had been proud of Daren’s decision, but Daren soon

realized the truth. The human knew nothing of where Frederik could
be. It had been a long shot, but he’d still hoped for something.

The problem was what they would do with Vaughn now. He

would never consent to becoming a servant. He was too proud for that
and would escape the moment he was able to, rushing off to tell the
rest of his village where this house was.

They would come and attack it like they had the lake house,

stealing what they could and burning it to the ground. The mansion
wasn’t exactly close to the lake house, but neither was it far away, and
now that many of the other noble houses of vampires had shown their
true colors, they could not be counted on for help should there be
another attack.

Daren could not release Vaughn back into the world like he would

a small puppy. Vaughn was no such innocent animal. He would leave
and come back with an army.

It was sick that this strength attracted him so much. Perhaps he

should start putting something into the man’s meals to calm him
down.

22 Marcy

Jacks

He quickly threw away that idea. Tristan would never shut up

about it if he heard that Daren had been drugging their guest.

Tristan had asked Daren to appeal to Vaughn’s better nature. To

get to know him so that the man would understand their position and
not be so hateful, and that was what Daren was going to do.

Perhaps he really should not have kissed the man. He couldn’t

help it. Vaughn had been there, and the familiar fire was in his eyes,
his mouth so pink and inviting. Then the man had wet his lips, and
that had been it for him.

Vaughn hadn’t much liked that, it seemed, but Daren did manage

to get everything back under control, sort of. By the time he’d pinned
Vaughn down, his human heart had been beating so quickly that
Daren could smell his blood, as well as his lust, and he leaned down
to bite him. It was only meant to be a quick taste, but of course, he’d
drunk his fill.

There were some new guards now to replace the ones who had

been lost under his father’s care, but there certainly were not enough
to make up for those who had been killed, and they were all humans.

No more vampire assassins, and apart from Marrok, no

werewolves either.

It was difficult to find help such as that when anyone could be

traced back to the noble families who had tried to have Daren and his
brothers murdered.

The servants no longer gave him odd looks when he entered the

kitchens. They barely batted an eye when Tristan came to prepare
himself a snack either, and he was the lord of the house.

At first they had been clearly uncomfortable by their vampire

lords’ preparing their own lunches and snacks, but Tristan had been
adamant. Learning small tasks would not kill them, and now that most
of the human males had become guards and were in training with
Marrok, there weren’t enough servants for such things anyway, and
he did not want to stretch them too thin.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Daren somewhat preferred it this way anyway. He found he

actually enjoyed the cooking as well as listening to the lessons that
some of the servants had given him on the subject.

That, and he felt much more comfortable eating something he had

prepared, considering the murder attempt from the other vampire
families had been attempted by hiring someone to poison their meals.

Daren prepared something quick and simple so he could get back

to Vaughn as fast as possible, but still hoped it would be extravagant
enough to impress a human who lived in a free village off in the wilds
somewhere.

It was a simple French toast with maple syrup and powdered

sugar, along with a bowl of cream that had ripe blueberries the
servants had picked floating inside, and a glass of orange juice.

He swore that if the stubborn human threw away this food, then

Daren would make sure he ate nothing else for the rest of the day. It
was difficult enough to get food now that trade with many of the other
vampire houses had been cut off.

He took the tray back to the guest room. It occurred to him too

late that he should have perhaps taken the time to change out of the
assassin’s daylight uniform, but with nothing that could be done about
it, he unlocked the door and let himself inside.

Vaughn stood at the window, a hand on one of the bars that had

been installed. He stared at the lawn outside and only briefly turned
his head to look at Daren when he entered before returning his gaze to
the outside.

Though his back was straight, Daren had caught sight of his eyes.

There wasn’t even a glint of his usual fire in them.

“I brought you another breakfast. Please eat it this time. You

punish the servants by throwing it away since they are the ones who
clean it up, and they see it as an insult to waste the food.”

“Sure,” Vaughn said, and he didn’t look back at him.
Vaughn had said that he liked it outdoors. He had been awake for

some time now, his fever long over. Humans were not the same as

24 Marcy

Jacks

vampires. The servants came and went in and out of the house as they
pleased for certain chores, but their entrances were always blocked off
by multiple doors to keep sunlight from streaming in to where a
vampire might be lounging or standing.

Perhaps the key to gaining some of the man’s trust was to simply

let him bask in the sun once in a while.

“If you eat all of your breakfast,” Daren said. “I will take you

outside for some exercise.”

Vaughn’s shoulders shifted as he laughed a little. “Bribing me

with playtime now, huh?”

“Well, I will have to supervise you like you were a child.” Daren

winced when the words left his mouth. Insulting the man was not the
best way to earn his trust. He had to say something quickly before
Vaughn retorted. “But I would like to show you the horses. You said
you enjoyed the sun, so I will do my best to provide it for you.”

When Vaughn looked over his shoulder at him, this time their

eyes met and held. “You would really do that for me? Even though
you hate the sun and it makes you sweat bullets?”

Daren bristled at the insult. “I do not sweat like that under the

sun!”

The sun made him get nervous and perspire a little, to be sure. He

was a vampire, so that was to be expected. But his body did not
become drenched like Vaughn would insinuate.

The man had the audacity to laugh. “I didn’t mean it like that!”
It was ridiculous how long it took before Daren understood, and

that only made him even angrier.

He crossed his arms and moved to sit in one of the reading chairs

next to the empty fireplace. “Just eat your breakfast,” he muttered.

“You’re going to just sit there and watch me?” Vaughn asked, his

blond brows rising up almost to his hairline.

“If it will mean that you do not throw another tantrum and destroy

good food, then yes. It means nothing to me if you go outside or not,

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

but I would still not wish to see you ruin something that others do not
always get.”

That had been the wrong thing to say, apparently.
Vaughn scowled at him and marched to the nightstand where his

food was. The tray had little feet attached to the bottom so that
Vaughn would be able to lie on his bed with the tray neatly over his
legs.

He did not lie back and make himself comfortable. He put the tray

on the bed, but he sat on the edge as he looked over what was there
for him. “You serve something like this to a prisoner, and you want to
lecture me about going without?” He looked back up at Daren, his
distrustful scowl still in place. “You have no idea what it’s like to go
hungry.”

He did, actually. One of the punishments his father liked to hand

out whenever Daren and any of his brothers, save for Gregory, the
eldest who was now as dead their father, failed a test, mouthed off, or
caused trouble, was to deny meals and blood for the day.

Granted, Daren supposed that a day without food and blood was

still nothing like what Vaughn had experienced. Daren had always
known that the day would come to an end, and unless he’d done
something to warrant it the next day as well, he always knew he
would be eating and drinking after a certain time.

A starving human out in the wild, struggling to survive and keep

his freedom, would not have the luxury of knowing when or where his
next meal would be.

Daren allowed his eyes to roam over Vaughn’s well-sculpted

body. He was of an average size, Daren supposed. Vaughn certainly
had height and muscle, so he must have been well fed at least.

Daren looked away, thoughts of the time when he and Vaughn

had fallen into the bed in the other guest room coming to mind. How
good the man’s heat had felt, their breaths mingling as they were
pressed together after another scuffle. Then the surprise of finding

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Jacks

himself aroused by it, as well as Vaughn, right before the other man
demanded in a cold voice that Daren leave him alone.

Daren shifted his position on his seat to better hide the reaction of

his body. He really needed to stop thinking about such things.

He noted the way that Vaughn picked at his food before the man

took a bite. It was interesting to see how he cut the bread with the side
of his fork instead of using the butter knife.

Before, Daren had not placed any forks or knives on Vaughn’s

plates for fear that he would take them and attempt to use them as
weapons. He saw no problem with that now since he was in the room
and watching the man’s progress.

Yet he ignored the knife, as if he saw no reason to use it.
Daren would have been denied meals for a day if he’d done

something like that.

Despite that, Daren watched eagerly as his cooking was stabbed

with the fork, brought up to Vaughn’s nose, and sniffed.

He bristled at the insult. The food was hardly burned, and he had

not drugged it despite the urge to do so. There was no need to treat it
with suspicion.

Vaughn then swirled the bread in the syrup on the plate before

bringing it to his open mouth. His tongue reached out just a little, and
Daren caught sight of it right before the food vanished.

At least Vaughn had been raised with enough manners to know

that he should keep his mouth closed when he chewed his food.

The next five minutes was a joy to watch. Daren never thought he

would gain so much pleasure from observing someone else eating the
food he’d prepared, but there it was. He couldn’t take his eyes away
as Vaughn cut away at more of his French toast, sliding it along the
plate to get more of the sugar and syrup before eating it. Next he lifted
the small bowl of cream and blueberries, and right when Daren
realized that he’d forgotten to put a spoon on the tray, and was about
to get up and retrieve one, Vaughn put the lip of the bowl to his
mouth and started drinking the cream out as it was.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Daren had to sit back down in shock. He would have gone two

days without food or blood for eating like that.

Vaughn noticed he was being watched when he started scooping

the blueberries out of the bowl and placing them on what remained of
his French toast.

“It’s good,” he said, and then he looked back down at his plate, as

though he couldn’t believe it was that good.

It was only French toast.
“I mean, I thought you were giving me good food before, but

this…” he trailed off, and then lowered his head even more so that it
became difficult to make out his features.

From the sound of his voice, it was almost as if the man was

fighting not to tear up.

What had Daren been bringing him before? While Vaughn had

been ill, his body could handle nothing more than broth and milk.
Luckily, the illness had quickly passed before any damage to his
magnificent body could occur, but what had Daren been preparing
after that?

Ah, yes, plain, unflavored porridge with a glass of milk for

breakfast, fresh bread with butter and cheese and wine for lunch, and
for dinner he would receive dried meats and cold vegetables with
water.

Never anything extravagant. Not until after Vaughn had kissed the

man and drank from him. Then he’d prepared something different.
Something he was certain Vaughn would enjoy. It had been porridge
again, but flavored that time with cinnamon and apple slices inside,
with a bowl of fresh mixed berries and cream on the side.

But Vaughn had thrown it away before trying it.
“Have you never had this before?” Daren loved French toast and

made it a habit of eating it whenever possible.

Vaughn shook his head. He continued to eat, but he still would not

look up at Daren.

“No. What is it?”

28 Marcy

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Chapter Three

“You sure this is a good idea, Hawke?” James asked as he lifted

the vampire assassin’s uniform with one hand, holding the garment
between his pinched thumb and finger, as though he was afraid that if
he touched it too much, he might just turn into a vampire himself.

“It’s the only thing I can think of to at least see if Vaughn is in the

area. I have to try it,” he said, snatching the uniform back.

After several vampire assassins had tracked Hawke back to the

village and attacked in an effort to take Will, a vampire himself and
now Hawke’s husband, the village had, of course, retaliated.

Save for Noir, who was also now a part of their little mixed

family, every single assassin had been killed, and whatever weapons
and possessions they’d been carrying on them at the time had been
looted, their uniforms included.

The problem was that not all of the uniforms were fit to be worn.

Some of those assassins had gone out in a pretty damn bloody way,
and despite the black color of the uniforms and masks, too much
patchwork could still be noticeable if someone were to look close
enough and ask questions.

That was certainly not a risk Hawke was willing to take with the

men and women who fought in his village.

There were about four uniforms that could be used, and that was

only after certain things had been switched around.

One of the assassins had been killed by taking an arrow to the

right eye, which had destroyed the black goggles that were standard
for every mask and also filled the mask with blood that even Will
claimed he could still smell after a thorough washing.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

But that was all right, because the body of the uniform was

perfectly intact, and it was paired with the mask from another
uniform, whose previous owner had taken no fewer than a dozen
arrows to the chest.

It was due to this swapping that four uniforms were in good

enough condition to be used, but only Hawke would be going, along
with two other people. Julian and Frederik.

The fact that James wasn’t on that small list was what clearly

bothered the other man, along with most of the rest of the village.

“Quinn would probably light a fire under my feet if he heard me

talking this way about his brother, but are you sure you want to bring
Julian? He’s not exactly trained for stuff like this.”

“Neither are any of us. Not at first. We all had to learn the same

way he did, by going out and doing it.”

“Yeah, but we also learned by taking small hunting missions, and

no one was allowed to leave the village without at least knowing how
to reload a gun blindfolded, or make a bow and arrow out of the stuff
we could find in the woods.”

That was also true, but, “Julian is an ice mage, and you told me

how well he can fight. If we get caught, I’m confident that his powers
will be a big help to us, and Frederik actually does have some official
training. He knows the way to his old house better than anyone. I’ll
need him especially for this.”

Frederik was the main ingredient in this mission. He might even

be able to help Hawke and Julian rescue Vaughn and get out of there
before anyone noticed them. That was what the fourth uniform would
be for.

“C’mon, Hawke—”
“Julian might also be able to tell us if the mansion we’re going to

has the same vampires as the ones who drove him and Quinn from
their house on the mage border. Maybe that will tell us something,
most likely not, but the fact that the vampires are moving around so
quickly makes me worried. We wasted all of that time questioning

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Quinn, wondering if the mages he was with were the ones who took
Vaughn when we really should have been focusing our attention on
the vampires.”

“And no one gets that better than me, Hawke,” James said.
Hawke believed him. What choice did he have but to believe the

larger man when James had been so in love with Quinn that he’d
nearly died for the man back when the both of them had barely been
speaking to each other. They were together now, and planning to
marry as soon as possible. That was another reason why Hawke
wasn’t choosing James to come with him, but it wasn’t the most
glaring reason, so he saw no point in mentioning it.

“The fact of the matter is that you’re too big. Seriously, I mean,

it’s not like you’re a hulking giant or anything, but even the muscles
in your shoulders would be enough to give you away, assuming you
would be able to fit into the uniforms at all.”

James was one of the larger men in the village. He had the kind of

muscle that did make Hawke envious on occasion, but that same size
was also a hindrance on missions that required stealth and invisibility.
The man stuck out too much.

Vampires tended to be on the slender side. Usually. There were

tall vampires and short ones, just like human beings, but Hawke had
never seen one with the kind of muscle that James sported. Not even
for an assassin.

Assuming James could get into a uniform, one look at him and the

enemy would know that something was up.

“It’s better for only three of us to go. The more people in on this

will just make more opportunities for something to go wrong,
especially with the limited uniforms. I’ve been in small groups before,
and I prefer them.” Hawke made sure that the tone of his voice
brooked no argument.

James’s jaw clenched, and he exhaled loudly through his nose, but

then he finally consented. “All right. What would you have me do
while you’re away?”

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

“Stay with the others, keep watch over the village, and while I

will do my absolute best to make sure that no army of angry vampires
follows me back, if they do, it would be great if you were leading the
men so that we could attack them in the woods before they found the
village.”

James smiled at that, and clearly Hawke had touched on the one

thing the man had been worried about.

It had been a couple of days now since James and Quinn had

made their intentions known throughout the village, and Hawke had
agreed to give them some time alone to further strengthen that bond
before asking James to return to his duties.

He was eager for it, it seemed. That was a good thing.
“You should tell Quinn,” Hawke said, recalling Will’s less-than-

pleased reaction when Hawke had told him about the mission he was
about to go on. Will worried, of course, and that was followed by
promises Hawke knew he shouldn’t have made to the man, which was
then in turn followed by a lot of fast and furious sex, since Will also
knew that Hawke should not make the type of promises he was.

The ones that involved coming back alive no matter what. They

were both realists, however, and they knew the possibility existed,
hell, the likelihood, that one day, Hawke, for all of his speed and
strength, might very well vanish the same way Vaughn had.

Despite that dark, looming cloud over their heads, Will never gave

him an ultimatum. Hawke didn’t know what he would do if his
husband ever did attempt to keep Hawke from going out on missions
such as these, and he was grateful every day that he never would have
to find out.

Will understood.
James nodded. “I’ll tell him, but I think he knows that we’re

planning for something big.”

Of course he did. Quinn was with James, so it would be difficult

for him to keep many secrets. Quinn was also a fire mage, which
would have been amazing if the man was trained as a warrior. Which

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he was not. At best, however, Quinn had offered to be one of the last
lines of defense for the untrained women and children, offering to
burn any vampires who ever came into the village and threatened its
people.

It made Hawke kind of like the guy.
“Well, just get him prepared. The next big vampire mansion on

the list is nearly three days away from here, so expect to be out there
in the woods keeping guard for at least six.”

“Right,” James said, and then he turned around and left. Off to

spend whatever spare minutes he had with his new lover.

Hawke finished stuffing the assassin uniform into his bag, along

with the few other essentials he would be needing for a trip like this.
He’d lied when he’d told James that he preferred the groups he
worked in to be small. In truth, he would rather there was no one else
there at all. He worked better alone, thanks to the enhanced speed,
strength, and reflexes Will had somehow given him when the vampire
had used his healing magic on him so many years earlier.

But even he knew when some missions required at least one other

person. Two others in this case.

Hawke wanted to go and find Will. He was probably helping out

Lilly again with making small potions and medicines. The list of
magical potions he could now make thanks to Quinn and Julian’s
teaching had immensely helped out the village, but Hawke doubted he
would find Julian tending to the sick.

The man was probably trying one last time to get into Hank’s

pants before he set off on his dangerous mission. Frederik was no
doubt spending the last of his time with Owen and their small son.

Hawke wanted to take a page out of their book and get Will alone

before he left. Each mission he went on always seemed more and
more perilous, now that he had something more to live for.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Chapter Four

The only thing that kept Vaughn from running the moment the

door was opened for him and sweet sunshine poured onto his face was
the fact that his back still ached like crazy, so he knew he wouldn’t
get very far.

That, and the way that Daren continually hovered over him, as if

he was waiting for Vaughn to run as well.

Okay, so those were two things, but that didn’t stop him from

scoping out the land, searching for places where he could hide when
the time did finally come.

He had to admit, it was really nice property. The grass was a

healthy deep green, no weeds in sight, and it was perfectly cut. Save
for the odd trees that were lined up in places that made it obvious they
hadn’t been planted there, and some flowers that Vaughn had never
seen grown in the wild, it was all one long, grassy hill.

The sore thumb to it all was the rectangular building in the back.

It was new, from the look of the wood and framing. There were many
windows, which also appeared new, and it made Vaughn wonder
what it could possibly be there for.

Maybe it was a torture house. Vaughn shivered.
“Are you cold?” Daren asked from beneath his mask. “I’m too

hot.”

“I’m not cold, and you’re only hot because you’re a vampire.”
He closed his mouth the second those words left it. He turned

away when Daren looked at him.

Yeah, that didn’t come out sounding right.

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“What’s with that building over there?” Vaughn nodded to what

was basically a sore on a picturesque property. “I’m curious about it.
You waste all this good land growing only grass, and then
there’s…that.”

Daren didn’t answer right away. “The servants live there.”
“Slaves,” Vaughn corrected. “Call them what they are. You keep

slaves.”

Daren didn’t answer, but Vaughn knew better than to take it as

some kind of victory. A man didn’t change the thinking of another
just by getting a little testy.

“Where are we going, anyway?” They were walking around

nothing in particular. If Vaughn didn’t know any better, he would
have thought they were just out for a leisurely stroll or something.

“You asked for exercise, so I am giving it. Sunlight and all.”

Daren was silent for a moment. “And the property is not wasted by
growing grass.”

Vaughn rolled his eyes. He should’ve known a fight would come

from this. He and the other man could do little else but argue, it
seemed.

He swept his arm out across the vast property. “This is good,

healthy land, and I’m assuming that to keep it like this you have to
have people tending it, fertilizing, and watering it regularly. Do you
have any idea how much food you could be growing here if you just
ignored all the damn grass? You could probably feed a whole
village.”

“Is there not a lot of food in your village?” Daren asked.
Fuck. He’d given away too much information.
Vaughn took in a deep breath. Ever since Daren had brought him

that nice meal earlier and explained what everything was, Vaughn felt
the need to at least be a little nicer. While he and Daren had spoken
on civil terms, having an almost friendly conversation for what was
probably the first time, an epiphany had come to him.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Vaughn was being kept against his will in a vampire mansion. He

was being given a nice room, food to eat, and wasn’t being tortured to
death or anything. He wasn’t being tortured at all, unless the boredom
counted. It occurred to him that he should make good use of his time.
If one of the vampires who owned the house felt the need to be nice
and civil, then he would do the same. He would use this situation to
his advantage and maybe try and find out as much as he could about
the people in charge, while at the same time trying to convince them
of the error of keeping human slaves.

For that reason, and only that reason, Vaughn answered Daren’s

question.

“Some nights there isn’t enough to go around, no. Or it can seem

that way, anyway. The only time our village, most villages, actually,
can make bread is after we’ve stolen the flour from another vampire
noble’s house.”

There was one village that Vaughn knew of that had its own mill

and could produce its own flour, but very rarely did it have any extra
that they would bother selling or trading.

“I’m sorry for that,” Daren said.
“Just not sorry enough to do something about it.”
“Humans put themselves in this position. They started the war that

reshaped everything, not us.”

Vaughn couldn’t stop himself from lashing out. It was like a

phantom had possessed his arm and fist, but even if he could have
fought against the reaction that followed, he wouldn’t have.

He punched Daren in the side of the head. His knuckles actually

caught on the goggles that the man wore, and he heard a small crunch,
but he didn’t bother with sticking around to see if the man was okay.

Fuck him. Vaughn wasn’t about to be lectured on why he

deserved to starve as a child while running and hiding his entire life
because some vampires thought he deserved it.

The pain of his bruised back instantly started flaring up again

when he made his break for it. He ran for the trees. He had no idea

36 Marcy

Jacks

where he was, but if he could just find some water, a stream, and
follow it, he knew he would eventually make it back to a human
village.

Possibly.
He didn’t make it to the trees. His feet were still bare and, even

though the grass looked perfect and soft, he stepped on something that
shot pain clean up his leg and brought him down.

A sharp rock. It had to be. He tried to get back up, but the second

he put his foot back down, the pain lanced up his foot and leg again.
This time it seemed to add to the pain that was in his back.

He’d heard about that. How the feet could impact everything else.

This was not the time for him to be finding out about how that
worked.

The pain was so immense, in his heel especially, that Vaughn

could barely move. It must have been a sharp rock. Vaughn didn’t
have delicate feet or anything, but from the pain he wouldn’t be
surprised if it had lodged itself in his skin.

Vaughn couldn’t even bring himself to hobble or crawl as he went

back down with a defeated yell. He rolled onto his back and clutched
at his foot, but that only made it worse. He instantly let go and
grabbed at his hair instead and tried to get his breathing under control.

It hurt so much that his eyes burned from the pain. What the fuck

had he stepped on?

A shadow passed over his face, and he opened his eyes and saw

Daren standing over him. The man had a hand over the left goggle,
shielding it, and Vaughn knew he’d broken it.

“Go away,” Vaughn moaned. It wasn’t like he was going

anywhere like this, and he just wanted to be able to suffer in peace.

Of course, the damned man couldn’t do as he was asked, no

matter how pathetic a position Vaughn was in.

Daren went down on his haunches, and he offered Vaughn his free

hand. “Come on. We’ll get you looked at.”

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Vaughn stared at the gloved hand with sheer contempt. He wanted

to be stubborn and not accept it, but lying here suffering as he was
wouldn’t help him get out of here.

Daren’s hand was solid when Vaughn took hold of it. He stayed

on his good foot, keeping the other propped up even as Daren put his
free arm around Vaughn’s waist. “Hold onto me. I’ll take you to get
your foot looked at.”

“I’m fine,” Vaughn muttered, but he hopped along and kept most

of his weight on Daren anyway.

“No. You’re not. I can smell fresh blood coming from you.”

* * * *

Daren took off his mask the moment he entered the safe area of

the mansion, where sunlight wouldn’t touch him. He all but tossed
Vaughn into one of the chairs as he moved to the nearest looking
glass and surveyed the damage.

There were no small shards of the broken plastic in his eye or in

danger of lodging in his eye. Aside from a deep burn that marred the
skin but, miraculously, also missed the retina itself, he was unharmed.

He breathed a sigh now that he knew he wasn’t about to go blind

in one eye, and then turned his attention to his prisoner.

His anger was suddenly on full force as he rounded on the other

man, but then that same anger melted away as if it had never been
there at the sight of him.

Vaughn had his foot clutched in his shaking hands, and his head

thrown back so that he wouldn’t have to look at it as he pulled what
looked like a rusty nail from his heel. Blood squished between his
fingers and under his fingernails, and there were clearly tears of pain
streaming down his cheeks.

“Stop that! You’ll make it worse!” Daren admonished, and he

rushed to the other man to have a look at the damage himself.

“I have to get it out!” Vaughn snapped.

38 Marcy

Jacks

Daren ignored him as he got down onto his knees to survey the

damage.

He hadn’t bothered looking at what Vaughn had previously

insisted was a rock, because Daren had been too preoccupied with
making sure no sunlight made it between the broken cracks of the
goggles in his mask.

If he’d known that the man had stepped on a nail, likely left or

dropped after the construction cleanup for the new house for the
servants had finished, he would have carried Vaughn back into the
house instead of making him walk. Or hop, as the case was.

How had it been missed? How had it gotten so far away from the

construction site?

There was no point in dwelling on it now. It was done.
Vaughn had stepped on it in such a way that it had gone into his

heel at an angle and poked out of the back of his foot. It was now
partially out from where Vaughn had been pulling it, but if it wasn’t
treated, there would be such an infection that it would make his
previous fever seem like a trivial cold in comparison.

“I bet the rust is flaking off as you pull it out,” Daren said, gently

handling Vaughn’s foot as he examined the nail.

“You have a better way of getting it out?” Vaughn asked through

clenched teeth. He was still making an effort to not look down at his
foot. Daren couldn’t blame him for that.

He sighed. “No.”
Without giving Vaughn any warning at all, he grabbed the nail by

the head and yanked it out.

The scream that Vaughn let out filled the entire room. Servants

actually rushed in from where they had been doing their chores to see
what all the noise was about.

Good, at least this way Daren wouldn’t have to go searching for

them.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

“Bring clean warm water, soap, bandages, and whatever healing

salve we have left in the house. Something to prevent infection will
also help. Go, now,” he commanded.

One of the maids had been holding a basket of laundry, and she

put it on the ground as she hurried off with the others to do as they
were told.

Daren thought perhaps he could use something in the basket to

wrap Vaughn’s foot with until the bandages came. He turned to check
on the other man again, and for the second time in less than an hour,
was punched in the face by him.

It was a weak hit, considering their positions didn’t allow for

proper fist fighting, but it had still hurt.

“You son of a bitch! You could have warned me! Jesus Christ!”
Vaughn reached down to clutch at his still-bleeding foot, but

Daren slapped his hands away.

“Knock it off!” Vaughn yelled again.
“If you grip it, you will only make the wound worse and not

better.”

“Fuck you,” Vaughn said.
Daren sighed, but at least the stubborn human did as he was told.
He did not stop clenching his teeth and breathing hard through his

nose, however. “Are you in a lot of pain?”

“Yes!” Vaughn snapped.
Daren was quickly losing his patience. “You were the one to

attack me and run away! In your bare feet!”

“I wouldn’t have if you’d just kept your mouth shut about how

everything is the fault of the humans!”

“You just won’t see reason!”
“You’re holding me hostage!”
The sound of someone clearing their throat behind him had Daren

groaning. He turned his head just enough to see his elder brother,
Tristan, standing in the doorway. He had a single brow raised and was

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holding a jar of the ever-popular health salve in one hand, and a clean
rag in the other.

“I was told there was an injury to be seen to?”
Daren got to his feet and moved to where his brother stood, taking

the items from his hand. “He stepped on a nail out on the lawn.”

“A nail?”
“Likely from the construction of the servants’ new house,” Daren

said.

“Ah, well, regardless, that sounds painful.”
“It is,” Vaughn interrupted.
Tristan looked pointedly at Daren this time. “What happened to

your eye?”

Daren brought his hand up to the burn and turned away. “Caught

some sun outside. Nothing too serious, though. I’m not the one
bleeding all over your floor.”

“Yes, I could smell it as soon as I got to this wing of the house.”
Together they moved over to Vaughn, who watched the both of

them with the most suspicion Daren had ever seen. The man clearly
thought, simply because he was bleeding, that Daren and Tristan
would turn into ravenous monsters and suck him dry.

Stupid, foolish human notions.
More servants came, each arriving with more supplies that would

allow Daren to work. He refused to have anyone touch Vaughn, not
even Tristan. Daren wanted to be the one who cleaned his wound,
who gave him his shot to prevent the infection, and who massaged the
healthy salve onto his foot.

When Vaughn sighed pleasurably as the salve began to work,

Daren’s cock twitched. That could easily have been a sexual sigh had
the circumstances been different. It wasn’t until that sound left
Vaughn’s mouth that Daren realized he was holding onto the man’s
bare foot and massaging a slick substance into the skin.

The salve worked to stop the bleeding, but the puncture was too

large for it to heal all the way.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Some things could only be truly healed with time. Or magic. This

would require time.

Daren began wrapping Vaughn’s foot with the bandages that had

been brought, until there was a healthy amount there that would
prevent dirt from finding its way into the wound. “This is waterproof
as well,” Daren said as he finished with the wraps. “I’ve done my best
to make sure that no water will get under the bandages, but it should
simply bead off when you are in the shower.”

Just thinking about Vaughn in the shower had his treacherous

prick stirring again. God, when was the last time he’d had a man in
his bed? Daren was the type who enjoyed males and females, but
there was something about Vaughn that made him crave the attention
of a strong male body more than he’d ever thought possible.

It made his skin heat simply thinking about it. And all this from

the man who’d punched him twice so far.

Vaughn wiggled his toes and made a circular motion with his foot.

“It feels good. You’re good at this.”

It was hardly meant to be a compliment, Daren knew this, but that

did not stop the heat from rising up his neck.

He glared when he realized Tristan was looking at him, brows

lifted and a catty smile on his mouth.

“Shut up,” he said.
“What?” Vaughn asked.
“Not you,” he said, then sighed and rubbed his face. “I will take

you back to your room.”

Vaughn didn’t argue or hesitate, though the sour look on his face

was hint enough that he didn’t much want to go back.

Tristan just had to speak up again, still looking at the both of them

with that calculating expression. The ass. “I trust you can get him
back to his room without any more injuries on either part.”

Daren grumbled at him under his breath, something he never

would have been allowed to do if his father or eldest brother were still

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alive. They would have skinned him alive, figuratively, if he’d
showed such disrespect.

It was for that reason that Daren could not remain angry at his

brother for very long. Tristan allowed him freedoms he’d never
known before, so it was difficult to complain about anything, even
when the man was being an ass.

“I’m sure we will be fine,” Daren said, and he wrapped an arm

around Vaughn’s waist while Vaughn held onto his shoulder for
balance.

Now that he was paying attention, he couldn’t not notice how slim

and strong his body felt. Daren already knew of the handsome body
Vaughn had beneath his clothes.

He needed to stop thinking about this.
“If you’re going to lock me up in that room again,” Vaughn said

as he limped along. “Do you think I could have something to do? It
gets boring as hell in there by myself until you come back to keep me
company.”

Daren’s ability to keep control of himself was proven when he

didn’t turn to look at the other man as they walked. He wanted to look
into Vaughn’s eyes to try and determine the meaning behind that.
Was Vaughn waiting impatiently for his return every day? Could he
be as fortunate as that?

“I’ll have books and other small things brought to your room for

your entertainment,” Daren said.

“Great.”
That was not the gratitude he’d been expecting.
Daren brought Vaughn back to the guest room, and he noted that

while he and Vaughn had been away, more changes had been made to
the luxurious space. It appeared almost bare and much more open
than before.

Some of the chairs had been taken out with the exception of two

of them and the love seat closest to the fireplace. The coffee table

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

remained, but with the exception of the one nightstand, every other
table and surface had been removed.

There was no carpet in this room, but there had been rugs. Daren

could recall that much, and they had both been removed as well,
allowing him to see that what remained of the furniture had been
bolted to the ground.

Marrok had likely set this up while Daren had been out. Daren had

no doubts that if he checked, he would also find that the adjoining
bathroom had also had some adjustments made.

Vaughn sighed at the sight of his living space. “You really want to

make sure I don’t throw anything else around the room, don’t you?”

Clearly, he’d noticed the bolts holding the furniture down.
There was no point for Daren to deny that he’d had a part in this.

Vaughn would not believe him at any rate, and if Daren had thought
to do this before, he would have. He might find Vaughn attractive, but
the man had proven himself to be violent on more than one occasion
when he felt angered or threatened.

He said nothing to him and helped him back to his bed. Vaughn

lay back and tenderly lifted his foot up onto the mattress. Daren
quickly made sure there was a pillow waiting for Vaughn to rest the
injured limb on.

The other man had clearly not expected that. “Thanks,” he said.
“You’re welcome,” Daren replied, and he stepped away from the

bed and folded his hands behind his back. This may not be the same
room as before, but he could still remember what had happened the
last time they had been in bed together.

“Why are you keeping me here?” Vaughn asked quietly.
Daren wet his lips and looked down at the man. The fight was

gone from his eyes. It was a shame to see him so saddened by his
circumstances, and the answer could not bring any harm, so Daren
decided to be truthful.

“You are here because we don’t know what else to do with you.”
Vaughn frowned a little. “What?”

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“My brother and I are attempting to turn over a new leaf, as it

were. Our father is no longer in power, and neither of us sees just
cause to keep things the way they used to be under his rule. The
servants are treated respectfully enough and fed well. They are
provided with medical care when it’s needed, and now they have
proper housing. Tristan wants to prove to the humans that we are not
all the same, and I am in agreement with him.”

Vaughn never took his eyes away from Daren, and he could

practically see all the thoughts swirling around his head through those
soft brown eyes.

“If you want to prove how nice you both are then why can’t you

let me go?”

“Because we do not trust that you will not give away our location

to your village. The humans have been attacking more and more
houses as of late, and as you know, this one is particularly vulnerable.
We cannot let you go, but we will not purposely mistreat you either.”

One of Vaughn’s blond brows lifted skeptically, and God, Daren

wanted nothing better than to touch the man as some of that suspicion
came back into his eyes. Did Vaughn have any idea how desirable he
was when he was thinking like that?

“Why kidnap me in the first place? I don’t get it. And I wasn’t

exactly treated that great when I was brought in. I remember all that
stuff that happened.”

Daren shifted on his feet. Guilty as charged. “In our defense, and

in defense of the men we’d hired to survey the wreckage of the house,
we did not expect they would take any prisoners. They brought you
back, assuming questioning was in order, and while I will admit to
feeling no remorse the first time I saw you in the holding cell, that has
since changed. I agree with my brother now, wholeheartedly. We
cannot continue to treat humans poorly, simply for what may or may
not have happened hundreds of years in the past.”

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

“Who were those guys anyway? The bastards weren’t exactly

gentle when they took me, and I can only imagine what happened to
my dogs.”

He had dogs? Well, given his personality, Daren supposed the

man would be a lover of canines. “They were freelance. Vampires for
hire. We have been having some difficulty finding permanent workers
ever since the other vampire families attacked us.”

“Wait, they attacked you?”
Daren nodded. “I’m sure not all of them are responsible, and the

guards we allowed to stay have remained faithful, but many of the
assassins either returned to their former masters, or left to find
freelance work elsewhere.”

Daren was surprised by Vaughn’s laugh. “Christ, you can’t even

trust your own kind, can you?”

Daren couldn’t stop the small growl from leaving his throat. “I

believe I have told you enough about myself. I will take my leave of
you and return with your evening meal at a later time.”

It was incredibly foolish how disappointed Daren was when

Vaughn waved him away, completely uncaring that he would not see
Daren again for several hours.

He had to remind himself that Vaughn felt none of the things for

him that Daren felt.

“Sure, just please don’t forget to get the servants to bring me

something to do. I’m dying of boredom in here.”

Perhaps there was some small victory in the fact that Vaughn felt

comfortable enough to speak with him as an equal now. That was a
step forward, at the very least.

In fact, Daren thought he could do something better than simply

having a servant fetch some books for him to read.

“I will return later. Rest well.”
“Yes, mother,” Vaughn said.
Daren smiled on his way out.

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Chapter Five

The first place he went was to one of the barns. His brother

thought him to be insane for constantly going outside during the
daytime when he’d nearly been burned once already, and had to bring
back their fleeing guest twice, but Daren wanted to get as much done
as he could.

In truth, with Vaughn in the mansion, he was too excited to sleep

anyway, especially now that he had his new idea.

Ever since the werewolves rebelled and left, Marrok had come up

with the idea of using real guard dogs to protect the property. Guard
dogs were not like vampires or werewolves in that they could not be
bought off, and so a few choice specimens had been purchased for the
land.

They weren’t Cerberus dogs by any stretch of the imagination, but

German shepherds had a history of being loyal and good in
confrontations. The only problem was that there were only two of
them, and so they had to be bred.

Another problem was that they didn’t seem too keen on following

orders. It was understandable in the female. She was still nursing her
pups. The male, well, even Marrok couldn’t make it leave the
female’s side.

Tristan had put up with it because he liked the dogs, and so they

continued to be fed. Up until Vaughn had mentioned his own dogs,
Daren had thought it was a wasted purchase where they had been
swindled for their time and money.

The male wouldn’t let him come very close to look at the pups,

who had their eyes open, fur fluffed all over the place, and were

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

making little squeaking noises as they explored the clean stall where
they lived, but Daren thought he could at least show them to Vaughn,
and perhaps he would appreciate it.

He had a ridiculous fantasy that, after he showed the puppies to

the other man, Vaughn might actually allow Daren to kiss him again.

His cock twitched at the thought, and Daren put his mask back on

and decided it was better if he left the barn now. What he wouldn’t
give to have someone come to his bed tonight, but he knew that he
couldn’t simply call forth one of the servants. He’d learned his lesson
after what had happened between Tristan and Marrok, and then later
Frederik and Owen, and Daren did not much want to be on the sort of
path that excused his use of another person, whether they claimed to
be willing or not.

He only wanted Vaughn. Perhaps he would not desire the man so

strongly if he wasn’t so certain that Vaughn wanted him as well and
was simply too proud to admit to it.

Thinking such things only made the ache in his balls worse, and

there was only one thing he could do that would take care of the
problem at this point. Daren rushed into the mansion and to his
bedroom. He needed a shower.

* * * *

There wasn’t a clock in Vaughn’s room, so he wasn’t sure how

long he slept, and other than the fact that he was fairly certain it was
dusk outside, that was his only indicator that his ten-minute nap had
turned into a couple of hours.

There was even a pile of books and some thin boxes on the coffee

table that had not previously been there. Someone had actually come
into his room while he was sleeping, and he hadn’t woken up for it.

It was understandable why he hadn’t woken up, considering the

dream he’d been having. Fuck. No wonder a servant wouldn’t want to

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wake him. What if he’d been calling out? Or making sounds? Christ,
even if he’d had a noticeable erection?

The pants he wore weren’t sticky, but his body still tingled with

an aching want from what he’d felt and experienced in that dream.
The man he’d been with, who’d kissed and licked at his neck and
whispered into his ear as hands ghosted over his chest and skin had
been dark. Everything had been dark, really. Nothing was clear, but
Vaughn would be lying to himself if he didn’t admit that he knew
perfectly well the man in his dream was Daren.

He sighed, angry at himself for another opportunity to escape

being lost because his cock was taking over his dreams now. He was
only half-hard when he woke up, but just thinking back on what he’d
seen and felt made the tingling pick up, and the desire to touch
himself and finish was so strong that he could barely contain himself.

The only thing that stopped him was the paranoid fear that there

might be cameras hidden in the room watching him. If there were,
then they might have already seen something, but Vaughn didn’t want
to go on with the show with possible eyes on him. He wasn’t an
exhibitionist.

He kicked his feet over the side of the bed and lifted the injured

foot to gingerly test out what was happening beneath the bandages.
He didn’t want to ruin the wrapping, so he gently touched on the spot
where he knew that giant rusty nail had punctured through.

There was pain, clearly, but not as much as he thought there

would be. The bandages felt more like a hard plastic cast, but inside,
the parts that touched his skin were soft and allowing the flesh of his
foot to breathe.

He then got up and walked a couple of steps. Again, still tender,

and if anyone were to look at him then he was sure they would notice
the limp, but he could still get around without any help.

The first thing he did in the hopes of taking his mind away from

his sex dreams involving the very man he should be loathing, was

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

walk over to the coffee table to check out what had been brought to
him.

When Daren had said he would have books brought over, Vaughn

had secretly hoped that what the man would bring would involve a lot
of pictures, considering how shitty his reading skills were.

He could remember his father trying to teach him when he was

young, but then the man had died, and there had been no one else to
take up the role as teacher.

To Vaughn’s disappointment, they were full-fledged novels. Some

were thick and others were thinner, but the text on each page looked
incredibly small. It almost hurt his eyes just looking at it.

He looked at the cover of one of the hardbacks and slowly

sounded out the words.

He was shocked to realize that, despite how new the book looked,

it was actually a reprint of an old human classic. Treasure Island.

He’d never read it before, but from his understanding it was

supposed to be some kind of fun adventure story with shipwrecks and
pirates. He didn’t know whether to think it was the strangest thing in
the world that vampires would actually read human literature to the
point where they would reprint it.

Maybe it reminded them of the time when they were still human

themselves. The vampires who hadn’t been born that way, at any rate.

Vaughn flipped through the other titles. Nothing he recognized,

which was not unusual, considering his lack of reading knowledge,
but he wouldn’t be surprised to find that the rest of them were human
classics as well. Jane Eyre. Tom Jones. There were others, and while
he was glad that Daren had kept his promise, he knew he wouldn’t be
doing much reading. He wouldn’t be able to get into the story for any
of them if it took him a half an hour to read each page.

He moved on to some of the other items. There was a chess board

complete in its box, which hinted that someone would be coming to
play with him, but there was also the case of pencils, and the bigger
black book turned out to be a sketchbook.

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Those were what surprised him the most. Good pencils were hard

for him to come by because they weren’t exactly number one on the
list of items that needed to be looted whenever Hawke went out and
stole from vampire travelers. Usually Vaughn had to remind him
more than three times to bring back paper and pencils whenever he
could, and the stuff he did bring back, while usable, wasn’t always
that great.

These, however, were perfect. Each pencil in the case of twelve

was already sharpened to a perfect point, and all were the same size,
meaning they were brand-new. Vaughn had trouble reading, but he
was able to read well enough on the side of each pencil stick how
hard or soft the lead was.

He could have a lot of fun with these, actually. It surprised him

that sharp pencils would even be brought to his room, considering
they could be doubled as a weapon if he really wanted to use them as
such.

Just to be on the safe side, he took only one pencil out and closed

the metal case. Vaughn hobbled over to his bed and hid the case under
one of the pillows. This way, if someone were to see the pencil and
note that it was a mistake for him to have it, only the one would be
taken from him.

When he finally managed to escape from this place, he would

definitely be taking those pencils and the sketchbook with him.

He played around with the sketchbook to start off with, marveling

at how much nicer the drawing turned out when he had real white
drawing paper to use instead of lined notepads.

He knew he wasn’t good, but he liked the cartoons he came up

with, and usually he could entertain the children in the village with
them. It was especially fun to make an image of Daren with tiny bat
wings on his back and an overly angry face as he chased after an
image of Vaughn, whom he couldn’t catch.

He scratched it out the second he finished with it. Better the man

didn’t see that one, and it might’ve been saying some things about

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Vaughn’s predicament that he didn’t want to look too closely at it
anyway.

Vaughn entertained himself like this for another hour before

getting up to stretch. God. He needed a bath, and all those doodles of
Daren weren’t helping him in the least. They’d gone from cartoony to
full-on figure drawings. Vaughn was basically just trying to imagine
what the man looked like under his clothes.

He began stripping out of his clothes on the way to the bathroom,

but he didn’t just dump them on the floor. Years of being careful to
put his clothing only on clean surfaces before he’d bathed himself had
taught him to do that, and he hadn’t forgotten what Daren had said
about punishing the servants with work.

If Vaughn threw his clothes on the floor, and a servant walked in,

then they would pick up the clothes and take them away to be washed,
on top of all the other chores they probably already had to do.

He was shocked to see that his new bathroom was actually bigger

than the last one. That had been unexpected. He wondered what
vampires needed so many bathrooms for, and why they all had to look
so nice. He could practically see his reflection on every surface.

He didn’t bother with checking to see if he could break the mirror.

He’d tried that in his last bathroom, only to discover that the glass
was shatterproof, and he didn’t feel like putting in the effort.

One thing he really wanted to do, however, was use the shower.
Bathing in the village was generally done with small tubs that

were filled with cold water from the well, and boiling water in nearly
equal measures, making the bath water always lukewarm. Vaughn had
once gone to another village where the village leader had actually
installed pipes for indoor plumbing, but his was the only house to
have hot water from the tap.

Vaughn had been a guest there with his father at the time, as they

attempted to teach the man how to better handle his dogs.

It had been the only time Vaughn had ever enjoyed a hot bath, and

it had been amazing.

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He’d been bathing whenever he could ever since waking up in this

house, but with his foot wrapped up the way it was, regardless of who
said it was waterproof, he didn’t think it was the best idea to
submerge it under water for so long. That, and he was curious about
the shower itself.

Previously, Vaughn had avoided using the shower because of the

whole fear of being watched through a hidden camera thing. He felt
less exposed while his body was in the water, but surely this wouldn’t
be any different? If he let the water run hot enough, the steam would
prevent anyone from really seeing him.

That thought in mind, Vaughn got to work. He’d by now gotten

used to working the taps and getting the water to the temperature he
wanted, so it was just a matter of turning the nozzle that made the
water spray out from the shower head.

He stepped into the water right away, stood under the hot and

strong spray for about two seconds, and then closed his eyes and
turned his face into the water.

It felt good. Almost as good as the hot soaks he’d been treating

himself to ever since waking up in this house. When he got back to
the village, he was going to have to try and convince Brian, the leader
of his village, to start putting some effort into indoor plumbing.

It wasn’t like standing in hot rain, because the pressure of the

water made it so much more than that, and when he turned around and
let the spray beat down on his back, it was like there were a hundred
small hands giving him a massage.

The result of that was the way the knots in his muscles seemed to

let loose. Vaughn moaned.

Screw it. He didn’t care if anyone was watching him through a

camera at this point. Vaughn turned back into the spray and ran his
finger through his hair, shaking it out before letting his hands move
down his face and neck. He trailed his fingertips over his chest and
nipples. They were already hard, but his dick was what ached between
his legs as he imagined someone else with him in the shower,

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

touching him. It had been so long since he’d last been with anyone,
never mind touching himself.

When he finally put his hand on his cock and began stroking

himself, he freely let his mind wander to Daren. There was certainly
nothing wrong with a little healthy fantasy, but just the man’s face in
his mind as Vaughn worked his prick brought an incredible sizzle to
his body, and he was forced to put his free hand out on the black-tiled
wall to keep steady.

Damn. He should have done this a long time ago.

* * * *

Daren turned the skeleton key to Vaughn’s room and let himself

in, balancing the tray of food in one hand as his eyes scanned the
bedroom.

No one inside, and Vaughn hadn’t answered his knock.
Daren was quiet and careful of his surroundings when he padded

over to the nightstand and placed the man’s meal on top. He could be
hiding somewhere, though the room was so bare at this point that
there were hardly any places he could be.

Daren did quick stock of the bedroom. He could hear shower

water running, but on the off chance that was a trick, he checked
under the bed, then behind the curtains, and then behind the sofa.

Those were the only places he could be in this room, and when

Vaughn turned out to not be there, Daren became satisfied that the
man really was in the shower.

He’d never taken a shower before, and the door was partly ajar, so

it was only natural for Daren to be cautious.

He noted the books and games that had been brought into the

room for the man to use. The pencil made him frown.

Servants were not taught which items could or could not be used

to hurt other people because it never occurred to them to do such
things, as far as Daren knew, at any rate.

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When he’d asked one of the servants, Isabel, to bring something to

keep their guest entertained, she’d naturally thought of the many
things that nobles enjoyed doing with their free time, and drawing
was among them.

He didn’t see anything else, so it was likely the only pencil. He

found the sketchbook and opened it.

Even though he was sure that some of the crossed-out cartoons

were making fun of vampires, and possibly him in general, they still
made him chuckle. The man had some talent, but it was clear as well
from the lack of polish that he did not spend his days practicing his
gift.

If Vaughn was given the luxury of that time, then Daren had no

doubt that the man could become a master.

When Daren flipped the pages and saw the male figures that had

been drawn, he was sure his guess had been spot-on.

Again, they were rough, but he could still very easily make out the

muscles of the chest, stomach, and shoulders. The facial expressions
weren’t a spot-on match, but the darkly shaded hair, long and tied
back, made it clear that Daren was looking at himself.

Vaughn had been drawing him naked.
A sound from the bathroom caught his attention, and Daren

quickly put the book down and moved to investigate the noise.

The heat of the bathroom was even stronger as he moved closer

and pushed the door open just a little more to have a look inside.

Another moan, and though he would have liked to pretend the

man’s foot was simply aching, the blurred figure behind the glass
doors of the shower, hips moving and hands between his legs, told
Daren the truth.

He didn’t shut the door all the way. He merely returned it to its

former position, hoping that would keep the other man from noticing
there had been a disturbance.

It was a gross invasion of privacy, but Daren couldn’t bring

himself to move away. He stood leaning against the wall next to the

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door, listening to the small gasps and longer moans from the other
side.

His eyes moved to the coffee table where the books were. Where

the sketchbook with naked drawings of himself were.

Was Vaughn thinking about Daren as he touched himself? Just the

idea of that sent a jolt of pleasure to his cock, but then as it swelled
with need, which was only encouraged from the sounds on the other
side of the door, that quick pleasure turned into an aching need.

He’d taken a cold shower before having a long nap just to be rid

of this feeling in his body, and now it was back with a vengeance, and
all on the idea that Vaughn might actually desire him.

The thought that a wild human who wanted nothing better than to

slit Daren’s throat in his sleep would also think about him as he
touched himself should not have excited Daren the way it did.

Another moan, this time longer and louder than the ones before it,

sounded through the warm steam that slowly wafted through the crack
of the open door.

He was close. Daren could just imagine the other man in his mind.

His hips would speed up right about now as he thrust into his fist.
Daren suddenly had a yearning to know what Vaughn’s cock looked
like. Was the man cut? How would he taste?

This wasn’t going to end well. Before Daren was even aware he

was doing it, he unclenched his fists from where they had been
clenched at his side, and he started palming his swelling dick through
his pants.

The sounds of Vaughn’s gasps became harder. Daren could just

picture the other man gripping himself, trying to draw out his pleasure
and keep it going for as long as possible.

It was good that Vaughn made as much noise as he did. It allowed

Daren to be somewhat lenient on himself as he bit down on his lip and
groaned through the pleasure he felt. He could still remember how
soft Vaughn’s lips had been when he’d given in and kissed the man.
The following fight had been more than worth it.

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More memories assailed him, and he could no more fight those off

than he could the memory of kissing Vaughn.

The first time they’d fallen into bed together, also after a near

fight, Daren had been taken in again, and grown almost instantly hard
at the feeling of a strong and free man beneath him. Vaughn had
ordered him out of the room, and Daren had tried to forget it, but now
it was clear that neither of them would.

He groaned again, and just as he was about to lose complete

control of himself and shove his hand under the waist of his pants to
finish himself off, Daren’s voice sounded on the other side of the
door.

“Is someone there?”
His voice was not accusing. Actually, he sounded somewhat

frightened, as though he were about to be caught doing something
wrong, when it was Daren who had nearly been found out with his
dick in his hand.

Daren’s entire body burned as though he stood out in the morning

sun. As quietly as he could, he moved for the door to the room and let
himself out. Locking it behind him with a loud click that he knew
Vaughn would be able to hear if he’d left the bathroom to check on
what he’d heard in time, Daren practically ran to his wing of the
mansion, and to his room. He wouldn’t be able to look at the other
man again. Not until he’d composed himself, and just as importantly,
done away with his erection.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Chapter Six

Vaughn had been somewhat creeped out for the rest of the night

after he’d gotten out of his shower. He could’ve sworn that the noise
he’d heard had come from outside of the bathroom, and that it
sounded suspiciously similar to the noises he himself had been
making when he’d jerked himself to completion.

So he hadn’t gotten off in a while and that made it easy for people

to sneak up on him. It was dangerous, and now he’d learned his lesson
and was going to make sure it didn’t happen again. Until he returned
to the village where he could masturbate in peace without having to
worry about people watching him or listening in.

That was what he got for lowering his guard. It wasn’t cameras he

had to worry about. It was servants who somehow knew when to
come and go at the worst of times.

It had to be a servant. Daren had been bringing Vaughn his meals

lately, and while there was something on a tray for him on the
nightstand, the pencil was still on the coffee table. If Daren had seen it
he would have taken it.

Still, he was kept awake for several long hours after that, and it

had taken him forever to get to sleep.

When he woke up, he felt like he’d hardly slept at all.
“Get up.”
Daren sounded like he was in a bad mood, but that wasn’t enough

to scare Vaughn out of leaving the warm covers of his bed. He
groaned and rolled over, pulling the quilt right over his head.

Usually he was an early riser. Pretty much everyone in his village

was. That was something that was just sort of built into them when

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everyone had a chore to do if they wanted to be fed in the mornings
and at night.

Oddly enough, being a prisoner was making him lazy. He didn’t

have his dogs to train and feed, and without them waking him up
every morning demanding their breakfast, his internal clock was
getting messed up.

That, and he didn’t feel like getting out of bed for the pushy

bastard.

Daren was determined. He grabbed the quilt and yanked it clean

off of Vaughn’s body. Vaughn curled up under the sudden onslaught
of cold in the room, and he opened his bleary eyes to see Daren,
wearing the assassin’s uniform without the mask, staring down at him
with annoyance and disbelief.

“I thought free humans did not spend this much time in bed?”
Vaughn turned his head just enough to get a look at the windows.

The tint was black, which told him that there was absolutely no light
outside. “Christ, what time is it?”

“Five in the morning. I thought you would be up by now.”
Sometimes he was. But Vaughn’s days, his normal ones, never

began until five forty-five, or even six. This was early even for him.

“It’s early. Go away,” Vaughn said, and he slapped his hand over

his eyes when Daren began turning on the lamps.

“It’s late for me. The sun will be up soon. Hurry and get dressed.

Even the servants are still up and about.”

“Slaves,” Vaughn corrected. “And they’re only awake because

they have to be. They work in a vampire’s house.”

“Just get up,” Daren said, and Vaughn thought he heard a sigh in

his voice.

It was clear the man wasn’t about to leave him alone to sleep in,

so Vaughn did as he was told.

There was a change of clothes folded nice and neat on the chair

beside the coffee table—he wondered if Daren had put them there or

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

another servant again—which still held onto everything he’d been
given last night. Even the pencil was still there.

Vaughn tried not to look at it as he picked up the clothes, but

Daren decided to make a mention of it. “I will allow you to keep that
pencil, but only because I’ve seen some of your work. If I find it
missing, I will assume you’ve hidden it with the intention of attacking
someone with it. If you want it sharpened, then you will return it to
me and I will do so for you.”

If Vaughn’s eyes still weren’t so damn bleary, he would have

assumed the man was blushing when he mentioned that he’d seen
some of Vaughn’s sketches.

Well, whatever. They weren’t good enough for the man to know

they were of him anyway.

“Why can’t I sharpen it myself?” he asked, yawning loud and

long.

“As if I would give you a blade to sharpen a stick into a pointed

edge with. Letting you keep the pencil is bad enough.”

That made sense to his foggy brain, and he yawned again. “Oh,

right. Give me a minute.”

“Just one,” Daren said.
He was being a particular ass this morning. He had his arms

folded and wasn’t even looking in Vaughn’s direction as Vaughn
limped to the bathroom to get ready. Once he splashed some cold
water on his face and cleaned his teeth, he was wide awake and ready
to go and do whatever it was Daren wanted him to do.

The clothes were plain. Another T-shirt and jeans, but they were

new and there were no thin parts in the fabric or holes in the knees.
He added the clothes to the list of items he planned on stealing when
he finally managed to escape. He would also like to take the quilt with
him, but that would only add more bulk to his pack and probably
make it easier for hunters to find him.

He came out of the bathroom and was surprised when Daren

thrust a pair of thick socks and wide plastic sandals at him.

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“What—?”
“It’s still a little cold outside, and I don’t want you stepping on

another nail or a piece of glass. Just in case,” Daren said. “Besides, I
doubt you would be able to run very far wearing those.”

He was right. The sandals were old and flimsy. They would

probably break apart if Vaughn tried running in them, but it was clear
to him what kind of gesture this really was.

Daren must have put some serious thought into what he could or

couldn’t give Vaughn for footwear. Socks and sandals weren’t exactly
something that he liked the idea of, but they would keep his feet
warm, and the sandals looked big enough that he could wear them
without irritating his bandages.

“Thanks,” Vaughn said, and he put them on, noting the way Daren

returned his arms to their folded position and looked away again.

“You’re welcome. How is your foot?”
Vaughn flexed it again. “Still hurts a lot, but I doubt it’s infected.”
“Good. I’ll change the bandages and apply more salve after we

return.”

There really was a light blush on the man’s face. It had been hard

to notice it before, but there it was. Seeing it, and knowing for sure
that it was there, was all the confirmation that Vaughn needed to
know that there really had been someone in his room last night, they
had heard what he was doing, and it had been Daren.

But the man had been making sounds of his own.
Jesus Christ, weren’t they a real pair.
Vaughn cleared his throat and walked past the other man to the

door. He knew it would still be locked, so he just waited there. “All
right. Great, thanks. I’m ready, so can we go?”

Daren then led him outside, and the entire time Vaughn

contemplated what he was going to do about his new situation. Daren
wasn’t on some master-servant power trip. He felt genuine lust for
Vaughn.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

After what Vaughn had done last night, he would be lying to

himself if he didn’t admit to the same. The thing he didn’t want to
admit was that he was starting to think he should just do something
about it.

* * * *

Daren had grown up believing that the sole purpose of twilight

was to warn the vampires of the coming sun. He loved that time of
day, because it was the only time when he could ever be outside while
it was even remotely bright.

In his youth, he, along with Frederik and Tristan, had played

games to see how long they could stay outside during that time when
it was neither night nor day, before the heat of the sun and the fear of
the light had forced them indoors.

Their father had been furious when he’d found out about their

little game, and after the punishment they’d received, none of them
had ever played it again.

It was only one of those strange coincidences that Vaughn would

bring up the coming dawn while Daren was thinking about it.

“I’m surprised you even want to go outside right now. I mean, the

horizon is already that dark-purple color. Aren’t you hot?”

“Yes, but I like this time of day,” Daren admitted.
“Really? Why?”
Maybe he wouldn’t have told him the story about the foolish

games he and his brothers used to play, had it not been for the sheer
disbelief that sounded in his voice.

“I didn’t know vampires played games like that,” Vaughn said.
“Even we are young at one time.”
“But your older brother never joined you guys?” Vaughn asked.
Daren sighed. This was getting too personal. Nothing good could

come from opening himself up to the other man like this. He almost

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didn’t answer. He was torn, really, but then he made his decision and
spoke.

“Gregory was the one who found us. We asked him to join us, he

was our brother, and instead he was the one who told father.”

“Harsh,” Vaughn said.
“Especially after we received our punishment.” Those words left

his mouth before he had the chance to really think about them, and he
cursed under his breath.

Vaughn was silent for a moment, but Daren knew the question

would come.

“What was your punishment?” he asked.
Daren sighed. Now that he knew what sort of life wild humans

were leading, and how other vampire families treated their servants,
he knew that if he complained about going a night or two without
food and blood he would simply look weak.

“Nothing so harsh as what you have lived through, I’m sure. Here

we are.”

Daren opened the door to the barn where the horses and other

animals were kept. It was mostly horses, however. Animals that were
considered dignified for the nobility to keep on their property.

Vaughn hardly paid any attention to them, however. He

immediately noticed the three cows in the back. They were already
being tended to by some human servants, and there were a few others
who were cleaning out the horses’ shoes.

“I didn’t know vampires farmed their own food,” he said.
“Of course we do, though I doubt as much as your village needs to

since much of what we get is purchased from the tenants who work
the land. The animals graze in another field behind here, and the barn
itself keeps it hidden from view should anyone look out the east
windows.”

“You really are spoiled if you think that watching animals grazing

through your windows spoils the view.”

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Several of the workers visibly stopped what they were doing at

that comment to stare. Of course, they returned to their chores rather
quickly after they realized what they were doing.

Tristan was a thousand times more lenient on the servants than

their father and elder brother had ever been, and Daren didn’t believe
he himself had ever been overly harsh, but they were still not used to
hearing anyone, let alone a human, speak to the family in such a way.

Well, Daren was not about to prove to either them, or Vaughn,

that he was anything like his father.

He simply waved away the accusation. “It was my father’s idea to

build the barn in a way that it blocked the field. Not mine. Anyway, I
have something to show you.”

“The horses?” Vaughn asked, looking at the animals with interest.
Likely he was thinking of how fast he could harness them and ride

away from the mansion.

“Not them, these.” Daren led Vaughn over to what appeared to be

an empty stall, carefully watching the man to make sure that he did
not trip over anything and fall as he limped over.

Daren leaned over the stall to have a look at the puppies and their

parents within, and he motioned for Vaughn to do the same.

When he came over and saw what was inside, the light that came

into his eyes made it all worth the effort.

“They’re gorgeous!” Vaughn said as he surveyed the parents and

the puppies who were now looking back at them.

You’re gorgeous, Daren wanted to say, but he kept his mouth shut

about that. “I remember you saying that you like dogs and that you
kept some at your village?” he asked, just to be sure he got it right.

Vaughn nodded. “Yeah, I was always just good with them. We

trained them to help with hunting and defending some of the men who
patrolled at night.” Vaughn abruptly stopped talking, and he looked at
Daren with something akin to panic in his eyes. “And I really should
not have told you that.”

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Daren laughed, eager to make the other man feel better. “It’s not

as though the noble houses had not guessed that you humans would
do something of that nature. That’s what these dogs will be one day.”

“You’re breeding them to be guard dogs?” Vaughn asked.
“Yes,” Daren admitted. “Because of the lack of guards there has

been on the property as of late.”

He was surprised when Vaughn actually hissed. “Are these the

only dogs you have?”

“Yes. Why?”
“Well, you probably should’ve started your pack off with adults

then. You’re going to be waiting a while before these puppies are old
enough to defend you.” Again, he quickly stopped speaking. Then he
sighed. “I really need to keep my mouth shut. I shouldn’t be telling
you stuff like that.”

Daren laughed again. “No, I imagine not, but I won’t sell your

secrets to other families if that will make you feel better.”

“Thanks a lot.” Vaughn’s words were filled with sarcasm, but he

smiled when he said it. “So you wanted to show me your dogs to
make me feel better about being your prisoner?” he asked, leaning a
little farther over the stall as one of the smaller pups wobbled forth on
its new legs to have a sniff at them.

“Yes, but also, should you desire it, you may have one as well.”
Vaughn looked sharply at him. “What?”
Daren looked into the stall before gazing back into Vaughn’s

handsome eyes. “Pick one, and it will be yours.”

Vaughn’s mouth dropped. He made several attempts to shut it and

speak, but it took him a moment before that worked in his favor.
“How long do you intend to keep me here?”

Daren couldn’t keep the disappointed frown off of his face as his

peace offering was refused. “It’s not meant to be a permanent thing.
You may take it with you when you leave, of course.”

“You intend to let me go?” The half laugh in Vaughn’s voice only

made the knife go deeper.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Daren didn’t want to let the man go, but he and Tristan had since

spoken about this. Vaughn was not like the servants, born and raised
to work for vampires. He would never be content to stay, and forcing
the issue would be caging him.

Daren couldn’t stand the thought of caging such a magnificent

man, even if that meant he could not keep him.

“Eventually. You understand, however, that such a thing will take

time, and it simply will not be done today. Or tomorrow, for that
matter.”

Vaughn was looking at him with curiosity in his eyes now. He

was listening, and that was the best that Daren could hope for, under
the circumstances.

“All right, that makes me feel like you at least have an estimate.

When do you think you can let me go?”

Daren wet his lips and turned so that he could lean his back

against the stall. “The other vampire nobles want us dead, so unless
there is an immediate threat that will require my brother and I to leave
this area right away, not until Tristan and I are both convinced that
you will not tell the people of your village where our house is, or how
grossly understaffed and underprotected we are.”

Vaughn’s eyes widened. “You would just let me go? If you

trusted that I wouldn’t say anything, it would be as easy as that?”

Not easy. No. “Yes,” Daren said.
“Huh.” Vaughn looked back down at the puppies. The mother was

yipping at them to get away from the stall where both men were
standing, but so far neither she nor the male were growling at either of
them, showing their teeth, or had their hackles raised up.

The damned ingrates treated anyone else who neared them as

though they were the enemy.

Finally, Vaughn smiled. “So, you’re going to give me a puppy to

keep me entertained until you let me go? If I didn’t know any better,
I’d say you were trying to romance me.”

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Daren looked sharply at the other man, and it was clear by the

blush on his face, and when he turned away, that he regretted his
words.

Daren thought about what he’d heard and seen only hours earlier.

His blood hummed with need, and he realized how close they were
standing to each other.

“Would it be so terrible if I was romancing you?”
Now Vaughn was the one to stare at him.
Daren wouldn’t back down from this. Not now. He couldn’t.
“I’m aware that I was perhaps…hasty when I kissed you that time,

but I would not have done so if I had thought there was a chance you
would have rejected me.”

“Why wouldn’t I reject you? You’re a vampire and you’re still

keeping me against my will. Don’t get me wrong or anything. The
accommodations have been nice, and it’ll be something having to get
used to not having all the food you always seem to have ready,
but…well, I don’t know how else to say it.”

“Hmm,” Daren said, and he continued to think about the best way

he could make his offer. “That does make sense. I do see your point. I
wish you would see mine. My older brother, despite his shortcomings
and cruelty before he was murdered, was not always that way. I never
blamed him for the terrible things he has said to myself, my brothers,
or even the servants. He was a product of the man who raised him to
be in his image. I am not. Neither is Tristan, or Frederik.

“The humans here are slaves, that is still true, but you have seen

the men and women who work under my brother’s roof. They are not
starved or beaten. They are properly cared for and have come to enjoy
their work. Let me assure you that this was not the case when my
father was in command.”

“They wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t been raised to want to

serve, or beaten into submission by your father,” Vaughn said, and he
turned to look back down at the puppies and their parents, because
that was the safest place to keep his eyes, no doubt.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

“You are correct. I cannot deny you that, but Tristan has offered

them freedom. Oh yes,” he said when Vaughn looked at him. “We are
not the uncaring creatures you take us for. I might have been more
blind to it at one time, but Tristan never was. He has since offered
every servant in the house the chance to leave, to find free human
villages, or travel to other districts. He even offered them the supplies
they would need for such journeys. No one left.”

“Because they wouldn’t know how to take care of themselves,

regardless of whether they found other people,” Vaughn said.

“Yes. We knew that, but still the offer was made. If there were

some who were willing to take the chance, who thought that life with
Tristan as their ruler was unbearable, then the choice was there for
anyone brave enough to take it. Because no one did take it, the men
and women have been offered lessons to learn how to read and write,
arithmetic, and Marrok has also been teaching them survival skills in
case anyone was to change their mind.

“I call the servants who work here servants, and not slaves, for

just that reason. They are free to go whenever they choose and are
being given the education needed to care for themselves should
anyone make that choice. This is what I have been trying to tell you.
I’m sorry for the manner in which you came here, that was a mistake,
but my brother and I are not the dangerous vampires you have been
brought up to believe we are.”

“I—” Daren had never seen Vaughn look more conflicted, and he

wondered at what the man was thinking about. He hoped he was
getting through to him, but he had to keep talking if he wanted
Vaughn to believe him when he spoke about his feelings.

“We care for our families and for these people. We do not want

other vampire nobles to attack us and destroy everything that is here,
the servants included, and we don’t want humans from free villages to
attack us and ransack the house either.”

Daren stepped closer to Vaughn. The other man didn’t even notice

until Daren was almost right on top of him, and he backed up two

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steps before he was forced to stop by a wooden beam that was behind
him, trapping him.

The servants who had all been working in the barn quickly got up

and left. They knew when a situation required privacy, it seemed.

“Vampires are an extension of humans. I am capable of feelings

that are just as powerful as yours. I was in your bedchamber last
night. I know what you were doing, and I know who you were
thinking about as you did it.”

He prayed to God that he was right about that, at any rate.
He watched as Vaughn’s Adam’s apple bobbed as the man

swallowed hard. He wanted to lean in and lick his tongue across that
delicious-looking neck. He could still remember how the man tasted
when he’d bitten down on him, and not just his blood, but his skin and
sweat. He wanted that taste in his mouth one more time.

Vaughn’s heart was beating fast now. Daren could hear it. He was

a vampire, and being so close to Vaughn ensured that he heard the
organ that pumped blood throughout his body.

“I—”
“I’m going to kiss you again,” Daren said. “If this is something

you do not want, tell me to stop, and I will leave you alone. Someone
else will deliver your meals and your change of clothes. You will
never see me again for as long as you are a guest in this house. If you
do not stop me, this will go further, because I have to have you.”

His cock was already straining against the material of the damned

assassin’s uniform he was wearing. His own pulse was pounding and
fast as he awaited Vaughn’s verdict. Desire and fear coursed through
him in equal measures.

Vaughn swallowed again, and he wet his lips with his pink

tongue, and only then did Daren realize that he was standing so close
to the other man that their noses were touching. Their chests were
pressed against each other, and it would take only the slightest
shifting of hips to bring their groins together, and he would know for
certain how Vaughn felt about this.

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Chapter Seven

For a vampire, he really did have the softest lips on the planet.

Vaughn had already tasted the man once before, but that had been so
fast, and he’d been so angry after the fact that it wasn’t like he’d been
going with it, enjoying it, and categorizing how it felt.

He was now. He had his hands right up in Daren’s hair as the

other man pressed himself against Vaughn’s body, and, Christ, it was
good. Their clothed cocks rubbed together, and it was better than even
when Vaughn had been touching himself, skin on skin, in the shower
last night.

It almost made him laugh. Daren thought he’d revealed something

to Vaughn by admitting he’d been in the bedroom last night. Little did
he know that Vaughn already knew.

Pleasure sizzled through him as heat built up inside of his body.

No one had ever been this passionate with him before. Of course,
Vaughn had enjoyed more than his share of quick tumbles in bed, but
those could hardly be counted as passionate. Men who wanted sex
and a willing body, who were also occasionally afraid that they were
coming on their last days of life, if they happened to be going out on a
mission, always wanted it fast and rough.

This was different somehow. Vaughn couldn’t quite put his finger

on what precisely was the difference, especially when Daren thrust his
tongue into Vaughn’s mouth for him to suck on, but it was definitely
there.

The best part, the part he hadn’t even realized he’d wanted so

badly until it happened, was when Daren slipped his hand beneath the

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

waist of Vaughn’s jeans and stroked his palm along his cock. Vaughn
wasn’t wearing a belt, so that made it easy for Daren.

There was something else he wasn’t wearing, and Daren chuckled,

a husky, sexy sound in Vaughn’s ear.

“You’re bad. I distinctly recall leaving you undergarments.” He

gently grabbed hold of Vaughn’s cock and stroked it hard once before
loosening his grip.

Vaughn groaned. “I saw them.”
“What was wrong with them that you chose not to wear them?”

Daren asked. He bit down gently on Vaughn’s ear, and he
experienced a moment of panic when he felt the sharp prick of his
fangs against the soft flesh, but Daren didn’t bite down and take his
ear off like he would have expected a bloodthirsty vampire to do.

Because he wasn’t a bloodthirsty vampire at all.
“Nothing at all,” Vaughn said with a growl, and he grabbed Daren

by the collar of that black bodysuit he wore and forced him down for
another kiss.

Daren moaned into his mouth, and this time when he tried to take

command of their kiss, Vaughn was having none of it. He pushed
back, fighting to get into the other man’s mouth, and wouldn’t that be
something to brag about if he’d managed to put his tongue inside of a
vampire’s mouth?

He wasn’t afraid to do it, either.
Daren eventually relented, and Vaughn moaned when he was

inside. The man tasted just as he did when Daren had been in
command of their kiss. He tasted normal, good, like a man. He didn’t
taste like blood or death, and he wasn’t overpowering Vaughn or
forcing himself onto him. There was nothing frightening about this at
all, though it was incredibly exciting, and why the fucking hell hadn’t
they been doing this before? God only knew that Daren had been
giving him enough hints to it. Now, all Vaughn could do was scold
himself for being an idiot while he moaned through their kiss and
thrust into Daren’s hand.

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“You taste good,” Daren said when they pulled away from each

other. “You feel good, too.” He pulled his hand out of Vaughn’s pants
and opened the button and pulled down the zipper.

Vaughn’s relief when his cock suddenly had a little more

breathing space lasted all of two seconds before he was straining
against the front of his jeans, even with the added room.

He was going to come just from the feel of that alone if he didn’t

do something soon. “Get these off of me,” he commanded.

Daren did as he was told, surprising Vaughn when he didn’t so

much as grumble about it or make some mention of who was in
charge. On this playing field, it seemed that they were both equals.

Daren had only just shoved Vaughn’s jeans down to his knees

before he sank down and opened his mouth to him.

Vaughn bit down on his lips to keep from moaning out loud, and

that barely worked. “Mphh! Ah!”

He grabbed ahold of Daren’s black hair and gripped it tight. The

man grunted but he then sank his mouth down lower on Vaughn’s
cock.

He’d done this before, and he’d mastered it. Vaughn could barely

take his eyes away from the other man as he marvelled at how deep
Daren could take him. Vaughn wasn’t so full of himself that he
thought he was enormous when erect, but definitely big enough that
he had never had anyone attempt to deep throat him before. That
usually led to gag reflexes and other unpleasant things.

Not here. Vaughn had his cock between a vampire’s lips, and he

wasn’t so much as a little concerned that the other man might choke
and bite down on him. Daren had total control, and Vaughn happily
closed his eyes, leaned his head back, and thrust into that warm and
willing mouth.

Yeah, he’d definitely been too stupid for not taking Daren up on

his obvious lust before now. He needed this.

Too soon, Vaughn could see the end coming as the familiar

pooling and surging in his cock and balls started. He knew that he and

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Daren were supposed to be enemies, but it was the fact that he was
getting to know the other man, to respect him and maybe even like
him, that had him moaning out a warning.

“I’m coming. Ughn! Fuck, I’m coming. Stop!”
Daren didn’t stop. He took hold of Vaughn’s hips to hold him still

and put even more pressure on the suction of his mouth as he bobbed
back and forth.

Well, that was as good a no as Vaughn was ever going to get

while Daren’s mouth was otherwise preoccupied, and if he wanted to
taste Vaughn so much, then he was in no position to deny the man.

Vaughn released himself within Daren’s mouth with a satisfied

shout. Daren did not stop working him with his lips and tongue until
Vaughn was done yelling and leaning limply against the wall.

“Was hoping to make this last a little longer,” Vaughn said, his

voice foggy as though he was just now waking up from a nice nap.
“We might’ve scared the puppies.”

Daren rose up onto his feet and took Vaughn’s chin in hand. He

ignored the last thing Vaughn had said about the dogs as he kissed
him.

Vaughn only got a hint of the man’s tongue before he pulled

away. “You and I are not even close to being done,” he said. There
was a possessive growl in his voice before he kissed Vaughn again.

This time the man full-on pushed his tongue into Vaughn’s mouth,

and there was a taste on him that hadn’t been there before. It was
shocking to realize that he was tasting himself.

He’d never been kissed immediately after someone had gone

down on him.

Well, no, that wasn’t true. He had been, but no one had ever

actually sucked him to completion before and had the taste of his cum
in their mouths. There had always been a slight difference, but this
was something else entirely. It was erotic and wonderful, and it made
his dick stir with interest, even though it had been so recently
satisfied.

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It was selfish like that. Wanting more already.
Yeah, Daren had been right. This wasn’t over by a long shot. He

reached around and grabbed onto the swell of the other man’s ass, and
he tried to dip his fingers into the crease. The uniform hardly made
that possible. It was so damn tight on the man that it was hard enough
just to get a good grip on him.

“Take this thing off,” Vaughn demanded.
Daren had the audacity to grin at him. It showed off his white

teeth as well as the two fangs on either side of his mouth. “I would
prefer it if you took it off of me.”

Vaughn looked down at him, the black material, and the many

buckles, and snap-on buttons that kept the zippers hidden. The thing
was made to not be able to come off easily for the protection of the
vampires inside. “I wouldn’t know where to start to get it off you,” he
admitted.

Daren laughed. “That’s a good point. I hadn’t thought of that.”
He reached up and started on one of the buckles, and then another

before stopping and cursing.

“What? What is it?” Vaughn asked, panic rising up inside of him.
“We can’t do this here,” Daren said. “I didn’t exactly bring lube

with me, and it’s getting much too hot in here. The sun is already up.”

“What?” Vaughn looked around, and for the first time he noted

that, yes, there was pure yellow sunlight streaming in through the
open windows in the roof. Likely they had been put there for the sake
of the human servants, as well as the animals who would rather be in
the sun than in total darkness for their entire lives. Vampires clearly
weren’t meant to be in the barn during the daytime, and while the sun
wasn’t exactly lighting the place up with brightness, and there was no
direct sunlight near them, Vaughn could understand Daren’s
discomfort.

“I can’t believe I didn’t notice the sun coming in,” Vaughn said.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

“I am more shocked about that than you are,” Daren replied, and

he pulled on one of the seemingly hundreds of zippers on his body,
reached into the pocket, and pulled out his mask.

This one was different from the one that Vaughn had ruined when

he’d tried running away and had stepped on a rusty nail instead. It
would actually protect his eye, which was still a little discolored.

“Back to my room?” Vaughn asked, pulling his jeans back up

over his ass while Vaughn put the mask back on.

“No, my room,” Daren said.

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Chapter Eight

The only reason why Daren wanted Vaughn in his bedroom was

because he didn’t feel like escorting the man back to his prison and
locking him inside, rushing back to his room to get the things they
would be needing, and then going back again.

This way was quicker, and if Marrok found out and tried to scold

him for his decision to bring Vaughn into his room where the
windows were not barred, the door would not be locked, and all sorts
of other things were not in place to handle a prisoner, then he could
stuff it.

Daren could always keep an eye on the other man like this, and

just because they would be sharing a bed for an hour or so didn’t
mean that he would allow Vaughn to try to manipulate him into
spending the night or something.

Despite how amazing that would be. Even he knew that couldn’t

be risked, Vaughn would have to be returned to his room after they
were finished in Daren’s. Daren was still not yet convinced that
Vaughn would not tell his human friends how vulnerable Daren’s
family was the moment he escaped.

He would like to believe that. The way the man pressed his body

against Daren’s every time they so much as stopped in the hallway of
the mansion for one more kiss made it difficult for Daren to keep his
wits about him, but he knew he must stay on edge.

Daren’s bedchamber was not much different from the guest room

that Vaughn was spending his time in. Aside from the added furniture,
none of which was nailed down, the television, as well as several

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

other items he possessed that would make it known to anyone that
someone lived in this room, there was no difference at all.

Most of the bedchambers in the mansion were of the same size,

with the exception of the master chamber, which Tristan now slept in,
and some of the smaller guest rooms that had no adjoining bathrooms,
which used to belong to Frederik, Daren, and Tristan before the
deaths of their father and eldest brother shifted power in the house.

Now Daren lived in this larger chamber, and Frederik would have

his own larger room as well, if he were alive and willing to come
home, that was.

He immediately pushed the thought of his missing brother out of

his mind when Vaughn kicked the door to his room shut behind him.
There was a skeleton key sitting in the lock, and he quickly turned it
to allow them both some privacy before pouncing on him again.

Heated moans left their mouths as they all but devoured each

other. This was exactly what Daren had yearned for ever since
Vaughn’s fever had left him. Even before then, when he’d first seen
the human, shivering and ill in one of the old cells in the basement, he
knew that Vaughn was exceptionally handsome.

That hadn’t turned into full-on fisting his cock in the shower lust

until the man had come to his senses, however, and the fire had first
entered his eyes. Thank God that Vaughn had finally decided to
accept him. Daren wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand to
simply lust after him from afar.

Vaughn shocked him when he grabbed Daren by the hips and all

but threw him down onto the bed. Vaughn climbed on top of him
before leaning down for another kiss, and then their bodies were
pressed together at the hips.

Daren groaned into Vaughn’s mouth, and he couldn’t help but

thrust his hips against the other man, creating a delicious friction
against their dicks. He was ready to explode, but he couldn’t. He
wanted to at least keep some control of himself, but it was difficult.
Vaughn was already as hard and willing as though he hadn’t had an

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orgasm five minutes earlier, and that knowledge only served to make
his blood run hotter.

“Oh! Damn,” he moaned when Vaughn pulled away from his

mouth and began sucking on his neck. It wasn't as good as if Vaughn
put his mouth on Daren's aching dick and balls, but it was pretty damn
close. “I—I like that. Keep doing that!” Daren said hotly as Vaughn’s
wet mouth kissed and sucked on the sensitive place on his neck, and
their hips continued to grind onto each other, faster this time.

“Fuck!”
“Was always curious about that,” Vaughn said, and his voice was

a low, husky whisper, but Daren still caught his words.

“Curious about what?” Daren asked, and he gasped.
Vaughn’s cheeks were pink and his lips a little puffy when he

smiled, but Daren could tell the blush was from the lust he felt, rather
than any embarrassment. “About whether you would like it if I was
sucking you there. That’s where vampires like to bite, right?”

Daren was suddenly a little worried that the man might want to

take some kind of revenge on him for biting him and drinking his
blood without Vaughn’s permission.

That fear must have shown in his eyes, because Vaughn started to

laugh.

“I’m really just curious. I wonder if you would like it just as much

if I were to start sucking on your thigh? Right where the artery is.”

“Oh God, yes, please,” Daren said, and he was immediately

embarrassed when those words left his mouth.

Not embarrassed enough to hold still or hide his face, or anything

ridiculous like that. He sat up, pushing Vaughn onto his knees so that
he could started working on the belts and buckles and zippers and
snaps of his uniform.

It never seemed to take this long to get the thing on and off before,

and Vaughn was naked long before Daren was, and he was back to
kissing and licking Daren’s throat, which only proved to be a
distraction.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

A wonderful, pleasurable distraction that made his fingers shake.
“Fuck! Damn this stupid uniform!” Daren cursed, and he lost all

of his patience as he just started to tear it off. Luckily, most of the
straps had already been undone, so there was only a snap or two as
perhaps one of the buckles broke, and another zipper was ruined.
Nothing that couldn’t be fixed.

Vaughn’s eyes were wide and bright, and he actually giggled at

Daren’s enthusiasm.

Daren pulled the man down on top of him, gripping him tightly by

the ass so that he would stay there, and they were finally skin to skin,
their weeping cocks pressed against each other and oh! This was
heaven.

“I want to fuck you,” Vaughn said, his lips mouthing along the

lobe of Daren’s ear, and his words were hot and breathy.

Daren’s eyes widened. He’d imagined himself taking command of

the situation now that they were finally in bed together, but he
doubted that suggestion would go over very well now that they were
finally here.

Despite Daren’s words, he knew full well that Vaughn still saw

himself as a prisoner in a vampire home. It was right of him to think
such a thing, because it was the truth, so long as there was so little
trust between them. If Daren made any demands, he ran the risk…

No. There was no risk. It was a certainty that Vaughn would end

this now and walk out. Daren could not make his fears known that he
had never taken another man inside of himself before. In fact, the idea
of having a cock in his ass, especially considering how big Vaughn
was, did worry him a little. That would definitely hurt at least a little.
Vaughn would not believe him anyway, but Daren did not want this to
end either.

He swallowed quickly and stamped down any worries that he had.

He was a vampire, and he was strong by nature. There would be pain,
but his body would adjust quickly. He had nothing to fear. Vaughn
gave him no reason to fear him.

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“Daren?” Vaughn asked.
Oh, right, he still had yet to respond. He swallowed hard and

nodded. “Yes.”

Vaughn raised his head and looked down at him. His amber eyes

were clouded with impatient lust. “Where do you keep it?”

He clearly meant the lube. Daren pointed to his nightstand. There

was a small dresser there where he kept it, as well as some other
things he used to entertain himself.

Vaughn shuffled across the bed and went to it, yanking the small,

dark-wooden drawer open. He found what he was looking for quickly
because he was back almost right away.

He also had a catty smile on his face.
“Saw some magazines in there that looked fun. Didn’t know

vampires would print that kind of thing.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Daren asked, watching intently as Vaughn

opened the cap and squeezed some of the contents onto his fingers.
His legs spread in response, already so eager despite his fears.

Vaughn shrugged, and that damned smile never left his face. “I

would’ve just thought that, you all being so prim and proper would
look down on it. I’ve never even seen a dirty magazine before. Is it
any good?”

Vaughn didn’t realize how close to the truth he was when he

mentioned how prim most of the nobles were.

In fact, they were so prim that many vampires, himself included,

would have denied to their dying day that they had such magazines
hidden in their drawers. The only way to obtain such things was to
buy them from traveling merchants, who carried the publications and
sold them, as well as their own silence, for a steep fee.

Daren didn’t even know who it was that published the magazine,

nor was he aware of how many times per year a new one came out,
other than it wasn’t very often.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

He had three different copies in his drawer, and he thought about

the many nights when he’d been alone, wishing he was not by
himself, and using the pictures to keep company with.

“They are very fun,” he said, and they had been, to an extent, but

the idea that he could share them now with someone else made their
appeal seem that much more worth it.

“You’ll have to show me. I’m kind of interested to see vampire

porn,” Vaughn said, and he lifted Daren’s knee up and onto his
shoulder, spreading the other one farther out. He pressed his lubed
fingers against Daren’s hole, and Daren forced himself not to tremble
at the new situation.

He’d touched himself there plenty of times out of curiosity, and

never had he been able to get more than a pleasant tingling sensation
out of himself as a reaction. Having someone else’s fingers against his
pucker, however, circling and gently pushing in before pulling back,
never entering more than beyond his dull fingernail, certainly made
his body tremble.

“Later,” Daren said, and when Vaughn didn’t pull his finger out of

Daren’s asshole, he pushed back against it and felt it slide deeper
inside of himself. “I'll show you later,” he said again, this time
gasping the words.

“All right.”
Daren had to admit, this was nicer than he would have thought it

to be. Whenever he’d tried putting his fingers into himself, or even
the dildo that Vaughn hadn't seen, the positioning had always been so
awkward that he could never get comfortable or find much pleasure in
it.

Vaughn was able to put in his long fingers as deep as they could

go. It burned having them there, even with the lubrication, but there
was no pain at all.

Then Vaughn’s skillful fingers found Daren’s prostate. The touch

deep inside of him was shocking. It jolted his body, his dick and balls
especially, and he moaned out loud, clutching at the sheets on his bed

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so tightly that he heard a rip in the fabric. It was a challenge not to
come right there.

Vaughn was saying something to him now, but Daren could

barely make out his words. He only nodded his head and continued to
say yes, just in case the man was asking him a question.

Whatever it was that Vaughn wanted, Daren would make sure he

got it, so long as he never stopped touching that sweet spot inside of
him.

Vaughn thrust his fingers slow but hard at the same time,

mimicking what was to come. Daren cursed and swore as sweat built
on his body, and he tried to push back against Vaughn’s hands,
making them go deeper.

Vaughn complied with his unspoken request once, shoving his

fingers inside so deep and hard that Daren’s hips were nearly lifted
off the bed.

Then the man’s fingers pulled back until they were completely out

of his asshole, and Daren felt empty and cold without them.

He looked up, about to ask what the other man thought he was

doing when Daren had been so close to coming, but Vaughn was
suddenly leaning over him, practically bending him in half, and Daren
felt the tip of the other man’s cock touching against his stretched
asshole.

He shivered with anticipation, for the first time, now that they

were so close, seeing that there was a glisten of sweat on Vaughn’s
forehead. “Ready?” he asked.

What a foolish question. Daren put his hand behind Vaughn’s

neck, and he brought the other man closer for another long, sweet
kiss. Vaughn paused in what he was doing long enough to enjoy it,
and when their mouths parted, Daren gripped the back of Vaughn’s
hair.

“If we do this, you will belong to me,” he said. The tone of his

voice left no room for discussion. If they fucked, there would be no
turning back, not for Daren at least. He had to let the other man know

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

that if Daren let Vaughn take him like this, then he would never be
able to release the man.

Vaughn frowned at him. It clearly had been a mistake to say it.

Daren had been so worried about what would happen if he made any
demands on the man while they were in bed together, but he couldn’t
seem to keep his mouth shut when it came to this.

Better the man know and have the chance to walk out. It would

break his heart, and he would finish off on his own if Vaughn left, but
Daren would still do it.

Vaughn scrutinized him for all of ten seconds before thrusting his

cock deep inside of Daren’s asshole.

He moaned, shock, discomfort, and pleasure all mixing into that

one sound that escaped his throat.

Vaughn hardly gave him any time to adjust, but Daren didn’t need

it. He just wanted to feel more of Vaughn’s thrusting dick inside of
him, as well as the slap of the man’s hips against his ass, along with
the erotic sounds that such movements made.

“I’m yours,” Vaughn said, his words shocking the hell out of

Daren even as he had a difficult time controlling the pleasure that he
felt. “But I decide how long you can keep me for.”

“Don’t stop,” Daren said, having no response to what Vaughn had

just said. The man’s voice brooked for no argument, but Daren
couldn’t figure out what the man could possible mean by that, not
while he was being fucked so spectacularly into the mattress.

Vaughn’s hands were on either side of Daren’s head, and Daren

reached out above him to grip the sheets, trying to find something he
could hold tightly onto that would keep him steady and prevent him
from being fucked clear across the bed.

Since Daren was stretched out and bent in half at the same time,

Vaughn took the initiative to lean down and kiss him. It was not a
gentle kiss. It was passionate, like their last ones had been, but also
possessive.

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Daren thought he understood Vaughn’s strange choice of words

then. Vaughn would allow Daren to take possession of him, but
Vaughn would also be doing the same to Daren.

Vaughn also had no intention to stay. The realization caused an

ache in his chest that even good, hard sex couldn’t chase away. Daren
might want to demand that Vaughn never touch another man while
they were together in this house, but once Vaughn was sure that he
would be set free, then he would go and seek out that freedom with
someone else.

He closed his eyes while he moaned and thrashed beneath the

other man so that Vaughn couldn’t see the hurt that was right there,
and probably easy to see in his eyes. He’d been told before that he had
very expressive eyes.

He should have known better. This wasn’t going to be enough.

Daren was going to want this constantly now that he’d had it. He was
going to want Vaughn to bend him over as much as the other man was
willing and able to do, and Daren was going to put the other man onto
his stomach and take him as well. Hard and fast, just like this.

So long as Vaughn only considered this meaningless sex, then

Daren would never risk revealing his heart to the other man by doing
something as suggestive as making love to him.

God, he was such a fool.
His grim thoughts put him at risk of going soft while Vaughn still

pounded inside of him. His body moved faster, and his amber eyes
squeezed tightly shut, just as Daren’s had been only a second ago,
indicating that he was close.

He gasped and threw his head back, moaning loudly like he was in

heat. Daren concentrated on that, and the beauty that he saw there as
he reached down and stroked himself.

“Fuck me. Make me come,” he commanded.
“Yes,” Vaughn said, still not looking at him.
Then his hips began to jerk hard, yet slower than before, and with

a deep moan, Daren felt warm cum spurting inside of him.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

That was all it took, knowing that Vaughn had just fucked him

and taken his pleasure from him, and Daren spilled himself onto his
stomach and chest.

They both lay gasping together for some time. Realistically, it

could not have been for very long, but it felt like hours. The only
thing that kept Daren from getting a cramp in his raised leg was when
Vaughn released his ankle, allowing him to slide it down the man’s
side.

His warm skin felt good against Daren’s leg, so he hooked his

heel around the man’s thigh, which was also nice.

Vaughn was the one to break their fragile peace. “I guess I should

go back to my room now,” he said, but when he tried to pull away
Daren stopped him.

“The day is still young,” he said.
Vaughn only looked at him.
“You will not be returning to bed at this time, correct?”
Vaughn shook his head. “No, I guess I am up for the day.”
“Well, I am not yet tired or ready to go to sleep for the day. Stay a

while longer. We can speak some more, learn about each other, and
perhaps I can convince your body to perform a third time.”

An adorable red flush crept up Vaughn’s neck, and he nodded and

settled in beside him, the both of them sharing their body heat as they
basked in the pleasure of what they’d just done.

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Chapter Nine

“Not good. Not good,” Hawke said, shoving his binoculars back

into his pack and cursing the stupidity of some men.

“Who are they? Should I take care of them?” Julian asked.
“I would like to know who they are as well,” Frederik said, and he

reached into Hawke’s bag without his permission and yanked out the
binoculars to have a look at the group of men, warriors from another
village, as they travelled through the trees wearing their camouflage
gear. They were heading in the same direction Frederik was leading
them in. Toward the nearest vampire estate. If they hurried, they
would be there by tonight before sundown, but it looked as though
those men were heading in the same direction.

Hawke knew those men. Sort of. He’d never spoken to any of

them personally, or the man leading their group. He couldn’t even
recall what their names were, but there were five of them, and he did
recognize them from one of the richer neighboring villages that Brian
sometimes dealt with.

Hawke’s father had sent out a messenger to the other villages,

asking for a hold to be put on the attacks while Hawke went out on a
mission to a nearby mansion to check and see if there were any
human prisoners being held hostage there.

There weren’t many free human villages in the vampire district.

Hawke was even willing to bet that there were some small ones he
and Brian didn’t know about, but each village who had been
contacted had sent a reply back, and all of them had said that they
would put a temporary hold on any and all attacks until the West
Village contacted them again.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Why those dipshits were out here, clearly ready for a hunt and

surprise attack after Hawke had been assured there would be no
human interference, he had no idea.

“They have weapons on them!” Frederik said through clenched

teeth. He all but slapped down the binoculars, the only pair that
Hawke had, and rose up to his feet.

It was clear he wanted to march over there and stop the group of

armed, vampire-hating men, and considering Frederik was a vampire,
that was a monumentally bad idea.

Hawke grabbed ahold of Frederik’s arm and pulled him back

down, glaring at him. “You stay here. Julian and I are going to go and
talk to them. I bet it’s a misunderstanding.”

“What sort of misunderstanding would have them out here when

their orders are to stand back?” Julian asked.

He was an ice mage and used to living on his own with his twin

brother. He wasn’t yet familiar with the realities that were involved
with living inside of hidden free human villages.

Sometimes Hawke himself wasn’t aware of all of the social rules

required to survive. Things certainly were changing for his village
since it started inviting vampires, fae, and a few mages to live with
them.

The other villages weren’t exactly adopting the same lifestyles,

but for the people in the West Village, circumstances had been
pretty…well, strange lately, to say the least.

“Just don’t tell them you’re a mage. You and I are going to have a

calm conversation with them. We’re going to tell them where we’re
from, and we’re going to ask them to pull back. It’s not like they
could have been following us. They’re ahead of us for God’s sake.”

Frederik nodded at that information, and Hawke inwardly

breathed a sigh of relief that he’d at least gotten that through to the
man.

“What if they turn out to be mercenaries and they do attack us?”

Julian asked.

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“Then Frederik will be right here with our guns to help us pick

them off. You have been practicing your shooting, right?”

Frederik pulled one of the rifles out of his shoulder bag and

started loading it with the skill of a man who’d handled guns his
entire life. “I have. I won’t miss either, if need be, so don’t worry
about wasted ammunition.”

Hawke signaled for Julian to get up and follow him, and together

they jogged through the trees, getting close to the group of five
warriors.

“What if we startle them and they attack us, thinking we’re the

enemy?” Julian asked.

“We need to make sure we don’t startle them then.”

* * * *

In the end, Vaughn and Daren made love—no, had sex. It was

only sex—two more times before the vampire could take no more,
was too tired, and finally passed out.

That was what it looked like to Vaughn, at any rate. The man

snored, not loudly, but there it was, and he wouldn’t be roused, even
when Vaughn took him by the shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.

There wasn’t even a groan and a shrugging off from the other

man. He continued to sleep.

Vaughn was torn between thinking about how calm and almost

innocent the other man appeared when he was sleeping, and how
funny it would be if Vaughn simply left the room and went back to
his own to spend the rest of his day. Hell, maybe he could even limp
out to the barn again to see the puppies. He hadn’t yet picked out
which one he wanted.

Those wouldn’t be the funny things in that situation, however.

What really made Vaughn smile while thinking about that was the
look on Daren’s face when he woke up and realized that he’d fallen
asleep, leaving Vaughn entirely alone. Of course, Vaughn could only

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

imagine what that shocked look would be since he wouldn’t be
around to see it, but it would be amusing to give the other man
something to sweat over when he realized that Vaughn wasn’t in the
same room.

Would Vaughn’s room be the last place they would search, or the

first?

He could just picture the scene. He would be lounging in his bed,

practicing some more lewd drawings of the vampire sleeping next to
him when Daren finally burst in. His eyes would be all wide and
panicky, and Vaughn would simply look at him, feigning ignorance.

“Oh. What’s wrong with you? You look a little pale. Is everything

all right?”

Priceless.
Instead, Vaughn didn’t get dressed or leave the room. He left the

bed at one point when nature called, but then he took the time to be
nosy and have a peek at what a vampire kept for personal possessions.

It was all surprisingly normal. At least Vaughn thought it would

pass for normal, as far as what a rich noble vampire would keep in his
room.

There were some photos framed on the bookcases. Some of the

people he recognized as Daren and Tristan. The others were also
likely vampires that Vaughn had never seen before. He assumed they
were family photos by the stiff way the group all sat next to each
other.

That photo in particular couldn’t have been taken more than a year

ago. There were others, but most of them had only three people in the
shots, all ranging in different ages depending on how old the photo
was, but the men, or boys in some cases, were all around the same
ages.

One was always Daren, and the other Tristan. The other boy

smiling in the picture, Vaughn realized, was the older man in the stiff
family photo, but he was smiling as well. Clearly these three brothers

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got along well enough, and Vaughn wondered where this other man
was.

Then it hit him. This was Frederik. The missing brother that

Tristan and Daren had been questioning him about ever since Vaughn
had been captured and brought here.

Vaughn and Daren had spoken to each other between bouts of sex,

and aside from learning about each other’s favorite color and foods—
Vaughn had been especially shocked to learn that not only had Daren
been serving him his food, but also cooking it as well—their
childhoods had come up.

Daren had said that Frederik had run away to be with his lover

shortly before Vaughn and the men he’d been with had attacked and
taken their lake house. That was why the mercenaries hired by Tristan
had taken Vaughn and brought him back for questioning.

Daren had also told him more about their tyrant of a father, and

how he was raising the eldest, Gregory, to basically follow in his
footsteps.

Marrok had been apparently having some kind of secret affair

with Tristan, and when that had been found out, their father had
locked Tristan away, and before selling Marrok to another house, had
ordered him to be lashed within an inch of his life.

When Daren explained that while he was saddened and sickened

by the loss of his father and brother and the way they had been taken
from him, he did not miss them, Vaughn couldn’t help but
understand.

Considering how happy the three brothers appeared in all of their

photos, save for the ones with the entire family, he couldn’t blame the
two remaining brothers for wanting the missing third one back.

Feeling like he was invading something private, Vaughn stopped

examining the photos. He looked over his shoulder at Daren, who was
still sleeping like the dead, naked and gorgeous on top of the messed-
up covers of the bed they’d shared. It was hard to picture him, a
vampire, as a child.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Vaughn had never seen a vampire child before, and when anyone

spoke of vampires, they were usually described as heartless monsters.
Their feelings were never taken into consideration. Neither was their
side of the story. Vaughn was seeing things here that he’d never
thought to have existed before.

Sure there was Will, Hawke’s husband, but he was different in the

fact that he’d run away from his life of privilege, and was also a
healing mage. Added on top of both of those was the fact that Hawke
adored him and loved him, and if someone received Hawke’s seal of
approval, then he did so for Vaughn as well.

Noir was another vampire recently with the village, but he was

also only a half vampire and a former slave to boot. Again, he had
Hawke’s approval, and Vaughn respected his friend’s opinion enough
to be able to give those vampires the chance they rightfully deserved.

It was strange that Vaughn had always thought that Will and Noir

were just born different somehow, and that they weren’t real vampires
because of those differences. For Daren, there was no excuse that
Vaughn could give him. The man had even drunk from Vaughn’s
neck before without his permission. He was a full-fledged noble
vampire, and Vaughn was falling in love with him.

Christ. He was so fucked.
There were other things in the room. Books of varying styles.

Many were old human literature. Hardbacks with yellow and fragile
pages. Westerns. It was another odd thing to learn. Daren was a fan of
Westerns written before the time of the last Great War.

There were also records. Real music records, and he found the

record player on a small table near the chess set.

Vaughn wanted to put something soft on and go back into bed

with Daren, perhaps lulling himself to sleep with the music, but he
didn’t know how to work the record player, so he left it alone.

He climbed back in with the man. He was tired after the things

that they’d done together, and even though he had no intention of

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sleeping the whole day away, he thought maybe a nap would do him
some good.

It wasn’t as if Daren was awake so he could laugh off the way

Vaughn curled up against him. The man had said in a snarling voice
that after they had sex, Vaughn would belong to him.

Vaughn had no idea what the man was talking about. Vampires

didn’t mate, so the belonging bit could only have been Daren’s
superior noble way of trying to make sure Vaughn stayed a prisoner.
Even after he was given the choice to leave, and Daren had promised
him that one day he would be given that choice.

Vaughn was no one’s property, especially not Daren’s, no matter

how much they both enjoyed the sex. He meant it when he said that
he would be Daren’s if that was what the man wanted, but eventually,
he was going to leave. He had to. There was no way Vaughn could
stay here forever and keep sane. This was a vampire mansion, for
God’s sake, and the owners were raised to be noble. And while he
might be changing his mind about the way that these vampires treated
their servants, Vaughn didn’t think he could ever feel comfortable
living here all of the time. Not if Daren would only ever see him as a
lesser being. Christ, sometimes eating such good food three times a
day made him uncomfortable, knowing that his friends were lucky to
get in two good meals.

There would never be a real relationship here, and despite how

much Daren had shown himself to be a man with true feelings, there
could also be no equality, not while the vampires ruled and enslaved
other humans. Vaughn was going to take what he could get, enjoy it,
and let that be the end of it.

Fuck. He was going to have a hard time drifting off with thoughts

like this flitting around inside of his head.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Chapter Ten

When Daren awoke in the middle of the day and found Vaughn

sleeping beside him, he smiled.

That smile left his face when he realized his door was open, and

Marrok was peering in, glaring at him.

Ah, so that had been what woke him up. He must’ve heard the

click of the lock from the other side. There was always an extra key
somewhere that the head of security, in this case Marrok, could use in
case of an emergency.

Judging from the snarl on his face, he must have gone to check on

their prisoner in his room, found him gone, and then went looking.
The fact that Daren’s door had been previously locked would also
have sent off some warning bells to him.

Daren grabbed the side of the blanket, realizing he was still naked,

and he covered his hips with it. He doubted Marrok could see much of
Vaughn’s body, considering the man was lying on his stomach next to
him.

Marrok gestured angrily for Daren to get out of bed and come

outside of the bedroom.

Daren rolled his eyes and did as he was told, disentangling

himself from Vaughn’s arm, which had been slung over Daren’s
chest. At least Marrok had the good sense to exit the room, silently
shutting the door behind himself so that Daren could grab a pair of
pants.

He left the daylight uniform on the floor and picked up the jeans

that Vaughn had been wearing. They were only a little tight on him,
but they smelled just like the man. He didn’t bother with a shirt, and

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before leaving the room he made sure to fold the quilt over Vaughn’s
naked, sleeping form.

He was touched that the other man hadn’t left him immediately

after Daren had fallen asleep. It was what Daren would have done,
had the situation been reversed.

He made sure to be as silent as possible just in case that had been

a mistake on the other man’s part, and he woke up angry and
demanding to be let out of the room.

Daren shut the door quietly behind himself, and the look on

Marrok’s face was one that Daren had never seen directed at himself
before. It was odd.

The man had his arms folded over his massive chest. His glare

was intense, and he appeared ready to start tapping his foot
impatiently on the floor.

Daren yawned. “What time is it?”
“Nearly six in the afternoon.”
“You woke me up this early for what? The sun wouldn’t even be

down yet,” Daren said, his body cold and yearning to go back to his
warm bed where his lover slept.

Marrok’s glare only deepened. “Every servant in the entire

mansion has been searching for the prisoner—”

“Vaughn,” Daren corrected with another yawn.
“Vaughn. They have been searching for Vaughn for the last two

hours. You were last seen in the barn outside, nearing dawn, with him
before the servants left you alone, and then suddenly neither of you
are to be found. Your brother has been worried sick, and now that I
have found you, in your room of all places—”

“Keep your voice down. I don’t want him to wake up,” Daren

said, and he made sure that his voice conveyed just how little he
appreciated being spoken to like this.

Marrok was unapologetic. It was a reminder to Daren that the man

was no longer a slave, but now an equal, as well as Tristan’s lover.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

His loyalty was to the safety of the family, but first and foremost
came Tristan and his happiness.

Not that Daren could blame him for that, but it was times like this

when he wished that Marrok would allow himself to let loose a little.
He was no longer a slave. He didn’t have to work himself like one.

“I’ll apologize to my brother when I next see him. I’m actually

shocked that Vaughn slept for so long, for a day dweller.”

Marrok raised one of his large red-brown eyebrows at him. “You

are certain he was in here with you the whole time?”

“I imagine it was because I tired him out,” Daren said, and his

backside chose that moment to give a soft, aching throb of pain as he
was reminded of all the ways Vaughn had taken him. Vaughn had
also complained that Daren had woken him up much too early that
morn, so that could have also had something to do with the fact that
the man was sleeping so late now.

Or maybe he really had spent some extra time out exploring. He

was going to have to ask.

Marrok’s tanned face darkened as he blushed at Daren’s lewd

comment. It was one of the things that Daren enjoyed about his new
brother-in-law. How easy it was to embarrass him. The man took
himself too seriously.

“I do not want the details, but it would have been nice to inform

us of your intentions to take Vaughn out of his room for the remainder
of the day. Isabel went to bring one of his meals to his room and
found him gone, and then everyone was in a panic. Tristan feared that
the human would have taken you as a hostage.”

“He’s still recovering from getting a nail shoved through his

heel,” Daren said.

“Not the point,” Marrok replied.
Daren raised his hands in a gesture of defeat. “All right. All right.

Please go and tell my brother that I am well and not a hostage
somewhere.”

“Or dead,” Marrok replied.

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Daren winced, imagining his brother fretting over the possibility

that the last of his family was dead or dying in a ditch somewhere.

“Or that,” he said. “You are also right, that I should not have done

this with him in here.”

“There are many things in your bedroom that anyone could turn

into a weapon. Your shaving razor, the glass from the windows, the
pokers for the fireplace—”

“I understand. My bedchamber isn’t prepped for holding a

hostage. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Marrok nodded. Then he looked at Daren up and down. “You are

not hurt? You have been exposed to him, undefended for a long time?
Are you quite sure—?”

“Yes,” Daren said, cutting him off, but there was no snap in his

voice. He was actually rather happy about this new turn of events.
“Quite.”

Marrok gave him another of those raised brow looks, likely for the

stupid smile that Daren had on his face, but it must have been
infectious because he, too, smiled as he shook his head.

“I will relay this news to Tristan and have him call off the search

party. There are servants out in the woods looking for you, just so you
know.”

Now Daren really was starting to feel bad. “I will apologize to

everyone for giving them extra work. Vaughn is here, he has not
harmed me or made any attempt to escape, and he has been with me
the entire time.”

Marrok nodded. “Again, I will tell this to Tristan, as well as—”

He blushed again, and this time the color went all the way into his
ears. “I will also request that, should he wish a word with you, that he
call on you at a different time so that you may, uhm—” He actually
coughed and pulled at the collar of his suit jacket.

The man really was too easy to embarrass, and Daren was in much

too playful a mood to show him any mercy.

“To what? Continue having sex with my lover?”

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

Marrok grumbled, and he turned to walk away.
“Have a servant bring our meals to my room, please? I’m sure that

Vaughn will be hungry. He hasn’t eaten anything all day.”

Marrok turned to look at him over his shoulder, but he kept right

on walking.

Daren grinned, his mood still in high swing, and he turned and

went back into his bedchamber.

Unfortunately, Vaughn had been woken up by the sounds of their

voices. He was sitting up in bed, his hair mussed up and looking like
he’d spent a lot of time having sex recently. The blankets were pooled
around his narrow hips as he sat on the bed with folded legs, and he
had his elbow resting on one of his knees.

He had a particular look on his face as his eyes moved up and

down Daren’s body. He wasn’t smiling, but there was a slight curl to
his lips.

“What?” Daren looked down at himself, searching for whatever it

was that was making Vaughn look at him like that.

“You’re wearing the jeans I came in here with.”
Oh. He’d forgotten about that. Daren smiled, his playful mood

only increasing as he stalked over to the bed. “They smell like you. I
happen to like how you smell.”

“Do you? That’s a new one. I don’t think anyone’s ever told me

that before.”

Daren climbed onto the bed and crawled over to where Vaughn

was sitting. When he was within reach, he began planting kisses along
Vaughn’s jaw and neck. “You have a wonderful scent.”

“It’s all the scented soaps and shampoos you keep stocked in my

bathroom,” Vaughn said, his voice lowering with the lust he no doubt
felt. He had to feel it, too. Daren could hear his heartbeat and scent his
blood as it heated. “There’s nothing like that in my village. Plain
bathwater, that’s what we get. And we’re lucky if it’s even warm.”

It made Daren’s heart ache to hear that, but he put his hand around

the back of Vaughn’s neck, feeling the soft hairs there as he continued

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to kiss and suckle the man. It was the only way he knew how to make
Vaughn feel better.

“You could always stay here with me. All the hot showers you

could ever want, and I could join you in them,” he said.

He immediately felt the way Vaughn’s body went stiff, and Daren

hurried to say something that would brush off the absolutely stupid
thing that had just left his mouth.

“You could come and go from the mansion whenever you like. I

could even give you a key to my room. I would like being surprised
with your presence.”

Vaughn laughed, and that was certainly much better than having

him think that Daren had no intention of ever letting him go.

“I think if I was ever caught sneaking into your house, that

werewolf bodyguard would sniff me out and break me in half.”

“Not if I told him not to,” Daren said, and he sucked back a little

harder on that spot on Vaughn’s neck where the pulse was at its
strongest. His dick twitched with anticipation and the promise of more
sex. He even scraped his teeth along the skin, and apart from a gentle
shiver that passed through Vaughn’s body, there was hardly a
reaction.

“Don’t bite me,” Vaughn said, and there was a clear warning in

his voice, despite how eager his body remained.

“I have no intention of drinking from you,” Daren said, and he

pressed his hips closer to Vaughn’s. His cock was already throbbing
and aching something terrible in his borrowed jeans, and he wanted
nothing more than to sink inside of the other man’s asshole and take
him long and hard. Their bare chests were almost pressed right up
against each other, and Daren could just barely feel the other man’s
hard nipples against his hot skin.

“Why are human necks so unresponsive?” Daren asked, looking

up accusingly at Vaughn. “If you did this to me I would be a puddle at
your feet.”

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

“I’ll keep that in mind for later,” Vaughn said, a little smile on his

face. “Right now I would like it if you got out of those jeans and
started riding me.”

Ah, he should have seen this coming. Just because they’d shared a

bed, a few times in one night, did not mean that Vaughn was in the
right place of mind that he would want to be sharing his body.

Daren had to be gentle about this. They were still working on the

whole trusting-the-vampire-who-drank-from-me thing, so he didn’t
want to come off as demanding.

Any more demanding than he already had been, that was.
“Actually, I was thinking that after last night, we could try

something different today.”

Vaughn blinked at him. The rosy lust was still on his cheeks, and

his eyes remained half-lidded, but it was clear he had come out of the
haze of sexual need just a little at Daren’s words. “Different how?”

“Well, I was hoping that this time, I could be on top.”
He said it with a smile, doing his best to convey that there was no

pressure here, and that he would understand if Vaughn wasn’t ready
to do that.

When the other man didn’t answer right away, and continued to

look at him, it was clear that such would be the case.

“You don’t have to. I’m fine either way.”
“It’s just that…well, I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s not

that I—”

“I really do understand,” Daren said, cutting him off. Because he

truly did understand, and if Vaughn was forced to put it into words,
then that would only make things even more unbearable and awkward
for them both.

Vaughn was still a prisoner in this house. If this was the only form

of control that Daren could give to him, then he would willingly give
it.

“So long as we’re both enjoying ourselves, then the position

doesn’t matter, right?”

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Vaughn smiled, and Daren caught the small, relieved sigh that he

let out as well. “Yeah.”

“Good, now before my brother comes in here to yell my ear off,

let’s get back to what we were doing before, shall we?”

Vaughn smiled, and just when Daren leaned down to kiss him, the

tinted window to his bedroom shattered, bathing the room in bright
light.

There was only one window in his bedroom, and while it was not

directly in front of his bed, it was still large enough that the sudden
onslaught of sunlight startled him more than anything.

Even with no direct sunlight on his skin, the room felt overly hot.

The sun was not yet setting, but it was on the side of the house that
would have it facing his windows, and that was enough to have Daren
jumping off of his bed and onto the other side where he would find
some shelter.

“Fuck!” he yelled, and he could hear the distant screams of the

servants in the hallways and all throughout the house.

Vaughn was beside him in an instant. “I need some clothes.”
“What?”
“I need clothes! Your house is under attack!” Even as he said it,

he was already slipping the T-shirt he’d been wearing last night over
his head, but Daren was still wearing his jeans.

Daren knew that, but the fact that Vaughn was still naked had sort

of slipped his mind as he worried about too much sunlight touching
him and setting him on fire. Vaughn was not a warrior. He’d
explained as much, but running out of here naked, where more danger
awaited, was definitely not the right answer.

The only reason why Daren even allowed him to leave the relative

safety behind the bed was because there were no more shots sounding
through his window. Whoever was outside, they had moved on to
other areas of the house.

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101

Daren pointed out where his closet was, and Vaughn ran for it. He

still ducked down as he moved past the window, which was smart on
his part.

He came back with a button-down shirt for Daren to wear, as well

as a pair of dress pants and two pairs of black socks and the running
shoes that Daren used when he was exercising.

They quickly dressed, and the entire time Vaughn told him of his

plans, and who he thought was outside. “It’s got to be a group of
humans.”

“They have been getting more dangerous as of late,” Daren said,

thinking of the lake house and his missing brother.

“Just call your guards or assassins, or whoever the hell it is that

you’ll have defending this place, off of them. If they’re from my
village, then I should be able to get them to back off.”

“Are you out of your mind? No!”
Vaughn looked at him. His eyes were hard, and there was cold

determination in his amber eyes. “I’m not some thing that you own
that you can tell what to do. If those are my friends out there and any
one of them gets hurt because of me, I swear to God I will never
forgive you.”

Anger bubbled up inside of him, and he could barely contain

himself as he shot back, “And if, when they’re busy shooting out the
windows to my home, they happen to hurt or kill my brother, am I
supposed to forgive that?”

Vaughn finished dressing and moved toward the door. “Then we

need to make sure that doesn’t happen. Come with me or keep hiding
here. I’m going to try and stop this.”

Daren really had no choice, so he hurried and grabbed the assassin

uniform that was still on his floor and quickly put it on over his
clothes. He was going to have to go outside and try to deal with this.
The mansion was under attack from humans. Wild humans had never
traveled this far into the vampire district to launch an assault on a
noble vampire’s home before.

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Cabins and lake houses, and other properties that were closer to

the borders were one thing. This was completely unheard of, and
Vaughn wanted to risk death and go outside? What if those humans
were not his friends after all? It also wasn’t unheard of for wild
humans to kill servants and slaves, human or otherwise, who
attempted to defend their masters.

Daren’s only concern now was making sure that Vaughn got out

of this situation alive, regardless of whether or not the man decided to
run away with those humans and never see him again. Daren would
rather Vaughn choose to leave him, and at least be alive somewhere in
the world, than be dead.

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103

Chapter Eleven

“What the fucking hell are those guys doing?” Julian asked the

question with the calm air of someone who was watching a foolish
spectacle unfold from a safe distance, with no intention of getting
involved.

The fact that he was holding a bow in one hand, and an arrow

between the fingers of another as he surveyed the scene, said
otherwise.

“They’re attacking my family’s house!” Frederik said from

beneath his mask. “And after they said they would back off! That’s all
we need to know!”

Hawke didn’t want to admit to it, but Frederik was right. These

humans were clearly out working on their own, and despite Hawke’s
request that they back off, which they had agreed to do after what had
seemed like a calm and quick chat where the men’s only crime had
been a misunderstanding of their orders, here they were.

They were amazing at keeping silent and to the trees, that was for

sure, because even though Hawke had watched them turn around and
walk away, here they were, arriving ahead of Hawke and his men, and
attacking Frederik’s former home by shooting out the windows.

“Why aren’t your windows bulletproof?” Hawke asked. They

hadn’t been shatterproof at the lake house either. He’d thought that
was a prerequisite when building a vampire house.

He couldn’t see Frederik’s face because of the mask, but it was

hard to miss the way the man’s fists clenched as he watched the
humans circle the house, shooting out the windows. Servants ran out

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and away from the gunfire, and to the credit of those men, they didn’t
pick off the humans who were fleeing for their lives.

“No band of humans has ever attacked one of the noble mansions

before. My father never thought it would happen so he never
commissioned the windows to be bulletproof as well as tinted.”

“Great,” Julian said, and he raised his bow, pointing it at one of

the men who was reloading his rifle. “Should I take him out?”

“Unless you can kill all five of them with that bow before they can

point their weapons over here and start shooting at us, I wouldn’t
recommend it.”

“I’ll turn them into ice cubes then,” Julian said, lowering his

weapon.

“Well, do something before they end up killing one of my

brothers!” Frederik said through what sounded like clenched teeth.

He was right. They couldn’t just sit here in the bushes, watching

and waiting forever, and Hawke no longer had any doubts that if he
was to confront those men a second time, they wouldn’t make up
some story before turning around and pretending to go home. They
would attack and maybe even kill him. They still had to be careful
here.

“Their secondary weapons look like bow and arrows. I doubt they

have a whole lot of bullets on them, and I only see three guns for the
five of them. They’re wasting the ammunition, so let’s wait until they
put them away and switch over before we attack—”

“Who the hell is that guy?”
Julian’s words had both Hawke and Frederik suddenly looking up.

Another human had come out of the house. It was easy to tell who
was and wasn’t human by the fact that they were so exposed to the
daylight, but this guy was taking something of a risk wearing dress
pants like that.

He was also heading toward the attackers, yelling at them and

demanding they stop. Then one of them pointed his gun at Vaughn
and started approaching him.

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105

It was Vaughn. Clearly he thought that he could reason with these

guys one human to another, and he wasn’t aware of the danger he was
putting himself into.

“Fuck! Cover me!” Hawke yelled, and he grabbed his bow and

ran out of his hiding place. The whole “sneak in, rescue Vaughn, and
sneak back out” plan had officially gone to shit.

* * * *

The last thing Vaughn wanted to do was startle the men who were

still firing bullets through the last of the windows that were still intact,
so he made sure to keep his hands raised as he approached and called
out to them.

“Hey! Stop! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He

shouted, even though he knew full well what they were doing.

It was the plan that was always talked about but Vaughn had

never seen put into practice, because attacking a vampire mansion
was so unheard of that he was sure it had never happened in all the
years he’d been alive.

Still, around campfires it was the one method that always came up

when warriors and other men spoke of ways to win in a fight against
the creatures who enslaved them. Shatter all of the windows during
the day, giving the vampires fewer places to hide and forcing a
confrontation.

The men did indeed stop shooting at the mansion, but then they

pointed their guns at him, and Vaughn realized too late that these
weren’t freedom fighters he was dealing with. They were mercenaries
who would kill anyone, regardless of their species, to make a profit.

Fuck, he thought, fully expecting to die even as the man holding

his rifle on him approached. If Hawke’s mother were here, she would
tell him that he’d just pulled a too-stupid-to-live moment that she read
about in her romance novels.

“Turn around and get down on your knees.”

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“Look, I’m human, okay? These aren’t dangerous vampires

you’re attacking and—”

The gunshot that punched a hole in the grass inches away from his

foot made Vaughn jump back.

“I’m not going to ask you again,” the man said.
If he got on his knees and turned around, he was a dead man.

Vaughn took in a deep breath, knowing that each one could very well
be his last. “No.”

The guy quickly glanced behind himself and sent a signal to the

other men he was with. They nodded and went back to what they
were doing, so confident in their leader’s ability to handle it that they
stopped paying attention to them and got to work surrounding the
giant mansion.

“Your choice. Hate to have to kill one of us,” he said, and he lifted

his gun.

Vaughn closed his eyes. Oddly, the only face he saw behind those

closed lids was Daren’s.

There was a noise of surprise and a loud crunch followed by a lot

of grunting and screaming. Vaughn opened his eyes and was shocked
to see not only Hawke, wearing a vampire assassin’s uniform except
for the mask, but also Daren.

Even covered head to toe in the exact same uniform, with the

mask this time, Vaughn could tell it was him because of the shape of
his body. He’d know it anywhere by now.

It looked like they had both tackled the man at the same time. One

man must have gone for the legs while the other had jumped out at the
gunman’s torso, because he was now a helpless heap on the grass and
looked like a gruesome human pretzel.

The other humans he’d been with heard the scream and turned

around to run back.

“Hawke, Daren!” Vaughn said, warning them and trying to help

them both up so they could get the hell out of there.

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107

The second the other mercenaries lifted their weapons, bright-blue

light shot out from somewhere in the well-kept shrubs. It turned into
ice, and one man was frozen solid from the hips down. His arms were
also affected as they were encased in a heavy block of ice that also
trapped his gun. He couldn’t move, and he screamed louder and more
horribly than even the guy who’d been holding a gun to Vaughn’s
face.

“What the fuck?” Vaughn yelled, just as Daren finally got to his

feet, grabbed him by the hand, and started running back to the doors
of the mansion with him.

“Wait!” Vaughn said, trying to pull back. “Hawke!”
“He has weapons! You do not!” Daren said, and his voice

sounded angrier than Vaughn had ever heard, even when he was
being questioned about the location of his brother. Daren dragged him
over to the side of the house where one of the servants’ entryways
was, and they hid inside of the brick doorway.

“Don’t move from this spot,” Daren demanded, and he actually

pointed his finger at Vaughn when he said it. Vaughn nodded, unable
to do anything else.

Now that he wasn’t out in the open, his entire body started to

shake. Jesus Christ, he almost took a bullet to the face, and Hawke
was here, too, but who the hell were those men that were shooting at
them?

Hawke did have a weapon just as Daren said he did. He lifted his

bow, pointed an arrow, and let a shot fire off.

It missed as the man he’d been aiming for did a quick duck and

roll, and then he pointed his rifle.

Even as Vaughn watched the entire thing with his heart

hammering in his throat, he still jumped when a loud bang sounded
from somewhere above him, and the other gunman fell over from the
impact of having the side of his head shot off.

The shot came from the house, so Vaughn felt nothing wrong with

looking up to see who had done it.

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Marrok was there, an angry look on his face as he pulled back the

handgun he’d been pointing out of one of the shattered windows. The
man was one of the only men on staff to protect Daren and Tristan.
More shots sounded after the last two standing men, who were
running away, but they were coming from other broken windows.

The few men that there were left protecting the house had been

taking their positions to get better shots, it seemed. The assholes could
have done something before to help Vaughn, though he was fairly
sure that Marrok would have saved him if he’d been in position and
had seen what was going on. The man’s first priorities were to making
sure that Tristan was all right.

Vaughn continued to watch as both Hawke and Daren on the

ground raised their weapons and shot arrows and bullets at the two
retreating men. They both ran into the woods, but one was forced
back out again by a man in another assassin’s uniform tackling him
out.

There was a struggle, and Hawke and Daren wasted no time in

rushing toward it to help.

Four down, and only one man escaped. Realistically it wasn’t bad,

but considering Vaughn had nearly died, he wished they would have
captured or killed them all.

He jumped again when Marrok’s heavy, booted feet landed on the

grass just a few feet away from him.

They both looked at each other.
“Huh, didn’t see you there. Get back inside where it’s safe,” he

commanded, and then rushed off in the same direction.

The danger was over now, so Vaughn was pretty sure that he was

going nowhere. Still, the part of him that had nearly been murdered
refused to leave his spot of safety, but he never took his eyes away
from Daren. He had to make sure the other man stayed safe as he
helped to bring down the struggling human merc.

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It took Hawke, Daren, the mystery assassin, and Marrok to make

the guy stop struggling. Marrok had to pull something out of his
pocket, and he used it to tie the man’s hands.

The weird part came when Marrok and Hawke just stared at each

other. Daren and the other man in the assassin’s uniform did the same,
but Vaughn didn’t get worried until Daren, who appeared to be
speaking to the other vampire, embraced him tight, and the two
walked off into the shade of the trees.

He was just about to go after them when someone spoke. “Hey,

are you Vaughn?”

He looked up, and there stood a man, again wearing an assassin’s

uniform, but who clearly was not a vampire assassin, staring down at
him.

Vaughn got to his feet, feeling strange for crouching there for so

long. He didn’t know this guy and didn’t want to speak with him as he
hurried over to where Hawke and Marrok were. He prayed to God
that the guards inside of the mansion wouldn’t think he was one of the
mercenaries and shoot at him.

He heard the guy behind him mutter something about gratitude,

but Vaughn didn’t care. All he cared about was getting to Daren and
keeping a fight from breaking out between Hawke and Marrok, both
of whom were glaring at each other.

“Hawke!” Vaughn yelled.
Both men turned to look at him as he ran toward them, but Hawke

was the one who stepped forward with the huge smile on his face and
opened his arms.

Vaughn ran into them like he would with a brother, and it seemed

that neither could contain their happy laughter as they embraced.
Vaughn felt his back being slapped by the other man as Hawke both
expressed his joy and anger at the same time.

“You’re the luckiest son of a bitch in the world! You know that?

Fuck, you scared us, you damn bastard.”

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“You weren’t as scared as I was when I realized where I was!”

Vaughn said, laughing back.

Hawke’s expression became serious, and he sent one last

suspicious glance over to Marrok before putting his hands on
Vaughn’s shoulders. “Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?”

Even as he asked, his deep-blue eyes moved up and down

Vaughn’s body, as though searching for something that could be
wrong, any signs of abuse and torture.

“No, I’m great. Daren has been taking good care of me. And this

big guy is Marrok, by the way.”

Marrok grunted and crossed his arms. The bastard could have

made an attempt to be friendly, but then Vaughn supposed that would
ruin the badass werewolf image he needed to be a guard for Tristan.

Hawke took all of that in and turned back to Vaughn, clearly not

convinced. “Uh, are you sure? What’s wrong with your foot?”

Vaughn looked down, only now realizing that he was favoring the

foot that he’d stepped on that nail with. He’d thought it was just a
little itchy, but now that he was paying attention, he realized that what
he felt was a full-fledged throbbing pain.

“Shit,” he said, bending down to take off the shoe he was wearing.

He’d basically stuffed his foot into the running shoe, regardless of the
bandages, after he realized humans were attacking the house. When
he managed to pull his foot back out, even the bandages that had
hardened into an almost-cast were crumpled and ruined, and blood
was pooling from the wound he’d just reopened.

“Fuck. I guess I need more salve.” He had been a little too

distracted to bother with that change of bandages that Daren had
offered him.

“What happened to you?” Hawke asked.
“I stepped on a nail earlier. It was an accident,” he said when it

looked as if Hawke was about to open his mouth and argue. Vaughn
thought it was better if he didn’t mention that the accident happened
when he was trying to escape. It was probably better if they all had a

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nice and calm conversation about that so no one else would get shot at
today.

He had to go and find Daren first to make sure he was all right. He

still wasn’t back yet from wherever he’d gone with that other
vampire.

“Fuck, man. We all thought you were dead for a while. First we

thought the mages took you, and then we were coming here to make
sure the vampires didn’t kill you.”

The look on Hawke’s face as he explained showed just how

worried the other man had been, and Vaughn was sorry that he was
the cause for that worry.

“Wait a minute, what mages?”
“He means my brother.”
Vaughn jumped again as that same man from before was

apparently standing behind him, having walked up when Vaughn
hadn’t noticed.

“Jesus Christ, don’t do that to me!” he snapped. “I was just shot

at, and I don’t want anyone sneaking up on me.”

The man raised his hands a little, but he was smiling. “Sorry,

sorry, but you did ask.”

“He’s with us now,” Hawke explained. “I’ll tell you more about

the mages later, but we have a couple of new members to the village
that you haven’t met yet. Frederik was actually the one leading us
here to see if we could find you. The point was to get in and out
without being noticed, but that’s not happening now.”

“It wouldn’t have happened even if those humans hadn’t made

their worthless attempt of an attack. I would have noticed that you
three were not vampires even while wearing those uniforms,” Marrok
said with a particular haughty sniff. Apparently the werewolf thought
it was insulting that a couple of humans figured they could pull a fast
one on his watch.

Maybe he would have been able to smell the difference with that

wolfy nose of his.

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Then another thing that Hawke said finally computed in Vaughn’s

brain. “Did you say Frederik?”

Hawke looked at Marrok, who glared back down at him.
Marrok was the one to answer. “Both of the young masters went

somewhere private and more shaded where they can speak.”

Frederik, the missing brother who had finally returned to them.

That man was the very reason why Vaughn had been kidnapped in the
first place. He wanted to go to Daren and see him, tell him he was
happy for him. He’d seen the two men hugging each other, so that had
to mean that everything was all right now.

“I need to go and see Daren,” Vaughn said, looking at Hawke.

“I’ll be right back.”

Hawke’s eyes bulged. “Are you serious? You’re going to go

running to the guy who held you hostage all this time? I’m surprised
Frederik is talking to him, considering what that guy did.”

“Hold your tongue, human. You have no idea what you’re talking

about,” Marrok snapped.

Hawke glared back at him.
“I’m sorry, Hawke, but we can talk about this later. Please don’t

kill anyone, Marrok,” Vaughn said, and he rushed through the bushes
as fast as he could with his bad foot before anyone could stop him,
hearing Hawke yell behind him.

Vaughn was pretty sure that the only reason why Marrok was

even allowing him to go to Daren while the man was with his recently
missing brother was because of the way he’d found them this
morning, or evening, whatever.

He was going to have to tell Hawke exactly what had happened to

him while he was with Daren as well if he wanted to keep any more
humans from coming here and attacking the place. Although if
today’s attack by those men proved anything, it was that he couldn’t
completely keep Daren safe simply by getting his own village to back
off. The majority of humans in the world would still be at war with
the vampires.

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It was darker in the trees than it was out in the open. The sun was

just on the horizon, and the canopy provided almost complete
protection from the little sun there was left. It was easy to find Daren
and Frederik after he started noticing the raised voices. Or raised
voice, as the case was.

“I don’t care! You had no right to do that!”
That wasn’t Daren’s voice. It had to be his brother, but that was

strange, considering the happy reunion they’d just had. Vaughn
followed the sound, and he thought he heard Daren’s voice, but he
wasn’t speaking loud enough to be heard. Frederik, however, was still
fuming, and Vaughn got a good look at his face when he got close
enough to see him from the edge of the clearing where they stood.
Despite the lack of trees, the sun was so low that the shadows were
long, and both brothers were still protected as they spoke.

Daren’s back was to him, and Frederik was too busy being angry

at his brother to realize they had an audience. Neither man noticed
him, and considering how much Frederik was chewing out his Daren,
Vaughn thought that might be a good thing. Maybe he should go. This
sounded personal, after all.

“You fucking bastard! Do you have any idea what you put all of

us through? Owen could have been killed, and you knew, you knew,
that he was carrying.” Frederik all but snarled, pointing his finger
right under Daren’s nose. “One of the servants had to come and tell
me what you did so I could go and get him.”

Vaughn frowned, and he had an internal struggle over whether or

not he should rush over there to Daren’s defense, but it was the odd
conversation that the two men were having, plus the way that Daren’s
shoulders were slumped, that kept him still. He no longer thought he
should go. This he had to hear.

Did that other man just say that someone named Owen was

carrying? Carrying what? And why did that matter to Daren?

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Now that he was so close, he could hear Daren’s voice. It was low

and damn near broke Vaughn’s heart to hear it. “Frederik, I really am
sorry. From the bottom of my heart. I—”

Frederik punched his brother across the face, sending Daren flying

backward where he landed on his ass in the dirt and twigs.

That was all Vaughn needed to see before he rushed into the

clearing. “Hey, stop that!”

Both men turned to look at him. Their eyes were only briefly wide

before the despair came back to Daren’s face, and anger returned to
Frederik’s when Vaughn knelt down at Daren’s side.

“So it’s okay for you to take lovers who aren’t vampires, but when

I do it you sell them? That’s real nice, Daren.”

Vaughn tried to help Daren up, but the man kept on shrugging him

away.

Vaughn glared back up at Frederik with as much anger as the man

had been feeling toward Daren, and he shot to his feet when Daren
refused to get back up with him. “Cut it out! The entire time I’ve been
here all I ever heard about was how Tristan and Daren wanted you
back, how they were worried about you and missed you, and you
fucking hit him? What the hell is your problem?”

“Vaughn,” Daren said, and he felt the man put his hand on the

back of his leg, but Vaughn ignored him as he glared at the man’s
brother. Vampire or no vampire, he swore that if the guy put his hands
on Daren one more time, Vaughn was going to kill him.

Frederik was not shamed by Vaughn’s words, and he wouldn’t

back down.

He leaned over a little to look down at his brother, and Daren still

had a hand to his cheek. Getting punched by a vampire, regardless of
whether he already was a vampire, must’ve hurt like hell.

“I love you, Daren, and I’m glad everything’s okay now, but it’s

going to take more than an apology before I forgive you for selling
Owen like that.”

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Chapter Twelve

Vaughn watched him go, probably back out to where Hawke was.

Hawke had said that there were new members in the village. Jesus!
That asshole was one of them?

Vaughn knelt back down to be at eye level with Daren. The man

continued to hold his gloved palm to his bruised cheek, and he
wouldn’t look Vaughn in the eye, which only made him even more
worried.

“Daren?” he asked, touching the man’s hand gently and pulling it

away so he could see the damage on his face. There would be some
definite swelling and a black eye if they didn’t get some salve on that
right away. Even that might not help all that much. “Did you really do
what he said you did?”

Daren jerked away from Vaughn’s gentle touch, and he rose up to

his feet and looked away from him. His fists were clenched, and his
body was tight. “Go back to your human village. They are here for
you, and now Tristan and I have the proof we need that you are not a
threat to our house.”

“What?” Vaughn got up quickly.
“My brother is now a part of your village. He would not allow

anything to happen to Tristan, regardless of what he thinks of me. If
those humans are willing to protect him and his new family, then they
would not attack our family mansion. Hawke’s defense of us against
those other humans proves that he also was not the one to give them
our location. I know not where they would have gotten it from, but it
was definitely from elsewhere.”

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117

“Daren, shut the hell up about that and start making some damn

sense.”

“Your brethren are here to rescue you. I thought you would want

to return home with them.”

“I…well, yeah, I guess I would be.” Fuck, Vaughn hadn’t even

thought of that. Hawke hadn’t come here for some friendly visit. He’d
come to bring Vaughn back.

He could just imagine how ridiculous the conversation would be if

it had been just a “hi, how are ya?” kind of thing.

Hey, Vaughn, good to see that you’re still alive. Just stopping by.

We’ll be heading out later. Okay, enjoy things here with the vampires.

Yeah, that didn’t sound right.
“Then go with them and leave me be,” Daren said.
“Why the hell are you trying so hard to get rid of me?” Vaughn

snapped. “And will you look at me for God’s sake?”

He grabbed Daren by the shoulder and forced him to turn around.

He didn’t expect Daren to grab him by the arms with those iron-
strong hands of his and back him up into the nearest tree. His fangs
were out, and he was hissing angrily in Vaughn’s face before he bit
down hard on his neck.

Vaughn froze as the pain of the bite struck him hard. A paralyzing

fear came onto him next as he felt Daren’s lips, tongue, and mouth
move as he sucked back on Vaughn’s blood and swallowed it.

He’d promised that he would never do this without Vaughn’s

permission, but here they were, Vaughn forced against a tree, with
Daren’s knee between his legs and holding him still. Daren took
another long mouthful, and Vaughn started to feel just a little dizzy.

“Stop it!” he yelled, pushing against the man’s chest.
Daren bit down harder, ruining more of his skin and taking in

more blood. He pressed their bodies so tightly together that Vaughn
couldn’t move at all between him and the damn tree.

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“You fucking liar! You promised you would never do this!” he

yelled, pushing back against him with all the strength he had, but it
wasn’t enough.

Daren put a hand to Vaughn’s throat, and his heart seized up, but

instead of choking the life out of him, Daren held him steady as he
pulled his fangs out of Vaughn’s neck.

He didn’t even bother with licking the wound, or his lips, and

Vaughn had to see his own blood on Daren’s damn mouth.

“Go home, Vaughn,” he said, and he had the eyes and voice of a

dead man.

A blinding rage consumed him, and Vaughn threw his fist out and

hit the exact same spot that Frederik had.

It didn’t have the same effect as Frederik’s punch because Vaughn

was a human and so completely weak. Daren turned his head a little
under the force of the assault, but that was it.

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Vaughn yelled. “Stop feeling sorry for

yourself and stop trying to get rid of me!”

Daren glared back at him, but at least that was better than the cold

stare Vaughn had been getting previously.

“My brother ran away from home because I sold his lover, who

had been a pregnant fae slave, to a mage who wanted nothing more
than to chop the man up and turn him into a potion after stealing his
child. Frederik loved that man, and I ignored that and handed him
over to someone dangerous.”

Vaughn wasn’t sure he caught all of that. He knew there was an

important confession in there but his brain seemed to stop working
once Daren mentioned a pregnancy. “His…pregnant…what?”

Daren wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, but that still left

a smear of red on his mouth. Not as much as before, but it was still
there.

“Yes, well, apparently fae males can become pregnant, and mages

seek them out to use their skin and hair for their potions. I thought the
slave, Owen, was going to be a threat to my brother, and while I did

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119

not know of the mage’s intent with him, I still handed him over to the
man. Apparently that mage is now dead, for which I am grateful, and
Owen and the child are doing well. Frederik told me that much before
his…anger got the better of him.”

Vaughn just stared at him. “I can’t decide what’s more shocking.

That you sold your brother’s lover, or that the guy was pregnant.”

Daren groaned and rolled his eyes. “Technically, I received no

money for the transaction, but I did give him away while Frederik had
been helpless to stop it. And the pregnancy thing had been a shock to
me as well at the time.”

“So why did you sell him? Because he was a slave?”
Vaughn took careful note of the way Daren’s face turned a bright

red. His lips and jaw were tight as he answered. “I did not tell you
this, and it shouldn’t matter regardless, seeing as how my decision
was the wrong one, but when I discovered for certain that Owen had
been having an affair with my brother, it had been right after he had
been poisoned and nearly killed.”

Vaughn thought about that. During their talk, in between bouts of

sex, that had been one of the things that Daren had mentioned. The
attempt on all remaining Fenrir brothers’ lives by the other vampire
nobles.

“Okay, so you thought he might’ve had something to do with it?”

Vaughn asked.

Daren wiped at his mouth again, and Vaughn’s neck throbbed

with the reminder of the bite he’d just received. It took some effort
not to lift his hand up and touch the wound.

“Yes, there was that. Also, Tristan’s love affair with Marrok, and

their forced separation, was what caused the werewolf servants to rise
up and kill my father and older brother. I did not wish to see a repeat
of that tragedy.”

Vaughn only needed to think about that for a few seconds before

he understood. “So, you were afraid that if this other slave, Owen, had

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your brother’s half-vampire baby, he would use it to try and
manipulate your brother?”

“To some extent, yes.”
“And because you had also seen what happened with Tristan and

Marrok when they were forced apart, you decided that forcing
Frederik and Owen apart was the right thing to do.”

Daren stayed silent for several seconds, clearly having no answer

to what Vaughn had just said.

“I suppose there is no other way of seeing it. When you put it that

way, my judgement certainly comes under question.”

“You think?” Vaughn asked.
Daren glared at him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Vaughn snapped. “I’m pissed off at

you now.”

Daren clenched his fists and looked away. “That is

understandable.”

“I mean, you have a clear history of making shitty choices. You

sold your brother’s lover and then lied to me about it when I asked
questions, and you talked about how much better things were here
compared to other vampire houses. You drank my blood, twice now,”
Vaughn said, watching the way Daren winced and wiped one more
time at his mouth.

“I am sorry, for everything,” Daren said.
“I can see you’re feeling very sorry for yourself, but I don’t know

how sorry you really are.”

Daren’s head snapped up. “How dare you?”
“Give me a break. Don’t just let your brother walk away like that.

He’s probably going to go and talk to Tristan, make sure everything’s
okay here at home now that the attack is over, and then from the
sound of it he’s going to go back to the village with Hawke.”

And that other guy. More vampires and now more mages were in

the village. Things sure were changing. It made Vaughn wonder how

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121

the other free human villages were taking that news, and if they even
knew about it at all.

“He said he loves you, and clearly you were both happy to see

each other before, but if he goes back and you both just ignore each
other because you’re too ashamed to do anything when he’s around,
then how are you supposed to fix this?”

“He is my brother. He has heard my apology and now knows that

I will do whatever it takes to make my actions right again. He needs
time, not for me to force myself onto him and his new family,
demanding their forgiveness.”

“I’m not saying you demand it, but you don’t even know where

my village is. How are you supposed to contact him? There’s not
exactly any messenger that I know of who delivers parcels between
vampires and humans, and there aren’t any radio towers out where we
are, let me promise you that.”

Despite the fact that he’d just had a recent drink of blood, Daren’s

face became as pale as the white sheets on his bed.

“You are right. I know not how I or Tristan would keep in touch.

We might very well never see each other again after this.”

It was an unfortunate truth, but it was there. Why Vaughn cared so

much that he wanted Daren to see it, he wasn’t sure. Maybe he just
wanted the other man to stop hiding from himself already.

“I’ve never really been in a long relationship where, you know,

something like this has happened,” Vaughn said. “But I do once
remember, when we were in a different village, one of the men made
a pass at Brian’s wife. He’s our village leader.”

“Does this have anything to do with getting Frederik to forgive

me?”

“It might. Shut up and listen,” Vaughn said.
Daren’s answering smile certainly made Vaughn feel better as he

spoke.

“Anyway, Brian completely lost his shit over it. I can’t even

remember what the guy had said, but even though things got settled

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with a fight that Brian won, things between our villages were still
pretty tense. Messages wouldn’t always be delivered on time, and it
was a pain in the ass trading goods for a while. It didn’t get settled
until the man who did it wrote Felicia an apology letter.”

“Wrote her an apology letter?”
“Don’t sound so disbelieving. I wouldn’t have thought it would

work either, and we were all pretty sure the guy only wrote it because
his village leader had ordered it, but Felicia read it, and the next time
there was a visit she came along and was so happy to meet the guy
who wrote her such a nice letter. When she forgave him it was like
things really had gone back to normal, and everyone was okay again.”

“You’re saying I should write Owen a letter of apology?” Daren

looked and sounded as though he was seriously considering it now
that the idea was in his head.

“Might be better if you did that instead of telling Frederik how

sorry you were. This way the both of them can really get, in your own
words, how sincere you are. Maybe it will work, maybe not. I don’t
know, the letter thing might’ve only impressed Felicia so much
because she’s a woman, but I’m just saying that if you want your
brother’s forgiveness, you’re probably going to have to get it from his
lover, too.”

This was probably the most profound advice that Vaughn had ever

given in his entire life. He almost couldn’t believe that it was all
coming from his mouth, but there it was.

He only hoped it would help. From the shine in Daren’s eyes, he

could tell that, at the very least, his advice was appreciated.

“I will do this right away. I’m assuming that your friends will not

be leaving here right away, as dusk is already here.”

Vaughn looked up at the dark-blue-and-navy sky. There was a

distinct lack of light up there, some of the stars were already peeking
out, and the insects were starting to come out and chirp.

“I guess they will at least be staying for the night. This will

probably be the first time anyone in my village has gone on a mission

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to a vampire mansion and done that before. While the vampires were
still in the house, that is,” he added, thinking of the lake house.

“You have been here for some time now,” Daren pointed out.
“Yeah, but I was your sort-of hostage at the time.”
They walked back silently together, and Vaughn was glad to see

Hawke back near the house, having what appeared to be a fairly civil
conversation with Tristan and Marrok. It was now dark enough that
none of the vampires present needed to wear their masks to keep from
burning.

“One of those men definitely got away,” Hawke told him. “And

Frederik wants to spend the night to help with the cleanup. Do you
feel safe here for one more night?”

There had been a time when Vaughn had given up believing that

rescue had been coming for him at all, so it was odd hearing those
words out of Hawke’s mouth.

He would feel safe for another night. In fact, he wanted this night.

Knowing about Daren’s past with his brother hadn’t been a deal
breaker for him. Hell, the man was a vampire noble. It would be
ridiculous to assume that he’d never sold and bought people. That was
the life that he’d lived. Now it was just a matter of deciding if he
would ever return home or not.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he said.

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Chapter Thirteen

The cleanup took a fairly short amount of time, considering the

number of servants there were on staff to help with it. Daren was glad
for that much. He would rather spend what little time he had left with
his brother and Vaughn before they were gone from him forever.

On the entire mansion, roughly half of the windows, and all of

them on the west side, had been destroyed. The glass had been cleared
away, and plastic sheets had been taped over them. Until the tinted
windows could be replaced, every broken window was to be covered
by heavy curtains to keep the sun out.

Considering the trouble the Fenrir house was having with many of

the other vampire families, that was looking to be a long time.

The human, Hawke, was naturally suspicious of being inside of a

vampire home, eating at their table food which had been prepared by
human servants, but it was Vaughn’s conversation and good nature
about the entire thing that had seemed to allow the other man to relax,
even a little.

The look on his face when he bit into his food was priceless. “I’ve

seen this before. When I was younger. What is it?”

“Lasagna,” Vaughn answered, digging into his plate. “Good,

right?”

It reminded Daren of the time when he’d had to explain to

Vaughn what French toast was. Hawke had been a former servant in
another vampire home. The infinity tattoo on the back of his hand was
proof of that, but it saddened Daren to think that these men had never
even had the simplest of dishes before.

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125

The topic of food made Tristan pause, as though worried that it

would turn into a heated argument over what vampires had compared
to what humans, free and slave, did not.

Instead, it opened a cheery conversation between Hawke,

Frederik, and Vaughn, where they explained that the ice mage sitting
with them, Julian, had been making ice cream from the milk of their
cows, thanks to his magic and a recipe from Frederik.

“It was actually Daren’s recipe,” Frederik admitted, staring down

at his plate. “I just remembered it.”

That he could recall their time together with any fondness at all

gave him so much hope, even if Frederik was uncomfortable with
speaking directly to him.

Daren left the table as soon as he was able. He didn’t want his

presence to ruin Tristan’s time with Frederik, and he wanted to work
on the letters that Vaughn had suggested he write immediately so they
would be ready in time.

He’d been working, scratching out lines and crumpling up his

papers before starting over again, for about an hour before there was a
knock at his door.

He turned at his writing table in time to see Vaughn step inside

and shut the door behind him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, pushing his papers to the

side.

“Happy to see me, are you?”
Heat bloomed over Daren’s face. “I am always willing to see you

if you need. I just did not expect you to want to see me.”

Vaughn leaned against the door, his arms folded, and he sighed

before stepping forward. “I need to speak with you.”

Of course he did. Daren could already guess what it would be

about, and he got to his feet. “I am listening.”

Vaughn’s arms remained crossed, but there was something in his

stance that suggested to Daren that it was not because of any

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defensiveness on his part. He did, however, seem rather timid, and
that made Daren worry.

“Is something the matter?”
Vaughn’s tongue came out to wet his lips. Daren had barely

caught a glance of it, but his immediate inappropriate thoughts and
aching cock were almost enough to make him lose his focus.

“I was talking with Hawke. I asked him about how things were in

the village, and whether or not the dogs were being taken care of, and
he assured me that everything was okay without me. My friends
missed me, but now that Hawke can tell them that I’m alive, I don’t
think there’s much of a need for me to go back.”

Those words were certainly enough to make Daren stand up a

little straighter. “What?”

Vaughn took in a deep breath. After being around the man so

much, and seeing how confident he’d always been, even while being
held hostage in a vampire home, it was disconcerting to see him like
this.

“I also spoke with Tristan, and he agreed that, so long as you’re

okay with it, that I can stay here.”

Daren took a step back. He tried to speak, but he could hardly get

his mouth to work, and he got the impression that it was simply
hanging loose.

Vaughn, apparently, took that as his answer, and he nodded. “That

means no. Okay, I, uh, will leave you alone to your writing.”

Daren reached out and grabbed Vaughn by the shoulder before he

could turn away from him, and he clutched the man tightly. “How can
you think to simply walk away after striking me speechless with a
declaration like that?”

That fire that Daren loved so much returned to Vaughn’s eyes.

“Well, do you or don’t you want me to stay? I get that we’ve only
fucked a few times and that it doesn’t mean anything, but—”

Daren cut the man off with a kiss. Vaughn, of course, was so

angry that for the first two seconds of it, he attempted to push Daren

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

127

away before he started pulling him closer, clutching at his shoulders
in an attempt to press their bodies together from top to bottom.

He was hard, and so was Daren, painfully so, and he wanted

nothing more than to keep thrusting against his lover until his cock
was well spent.

Their arms wound around each other as their mouths opened and

tongues met. It was a mistake to be moving in this direction when
they still had so much left to talk about, but Daren found himself
caught in the moment, and he didn’t care as he pulled Vaughn toward
his bed. Their bed, if Vaughn meant what he said and wanted Daren
for the long term.

Their clothes came off quickly, and Daren slid down Vaughn's

body to worship him and put his darkly covered dick into his mouth
and suck on him hard.

Vaughn groaned, and his fingers carded through Daren's hair as

his hips began canting forward.

“Love it. When you. Do that,” he said though hard and puffy

breaths.

Daren loved doing it, but he was too eager to get to the main

event. He lifted his head just enough so that the tip of Vaughn's cock
was still in his mouth, and he swirled his tongue around the head,
taking in the drops of pre-cum that were forming there.

Vaughn's grip on Daren's hair was becoming damn near painful,

and though he didn't mind, he still pulled back, releasing the other
man's dick from his mouth with an audible pop.

“No,” Vaughn groaned when Daren reached over for his

nightstand where the lube had been put away. “What are you doing?”

Daren handed it to Vaughn with a quick kiss. “I think you like it

too much when I blow you that you forget what we were really doing
after only a few seconds.”

“I really like it when you blow me,” Vaughn said with a big,

stupid grin. “I'd like it even more if you finished me off.”

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“I'd rather you finished off inside of me,” Daren said, but he was

surprised when, after a few seconds of hesitation, Vaughn opened the
cap, took hold of Daren’s fingers, and began coating them.

“What—?”
“No questions. Not right now,” Vaughn said, and when he lay

back, he pulled Daren on top of him. “I'd rather your cock inside me
tonight.”

Daren grinned and accepted what was happening. Vaughn clearly

recalled Daren’s suggestion earlier, before they were both interrupted,
and Daren could barely contain his excitement as he pressed his
fingers against Vaughn's pucker.

“You're not going to regret this,” Daren said.
“Mmm,” Vaughn moaned, that little smile still on his face.
Vaughn was tight. His asshole clenched around Daren’s fingers

like he hadn’t done this with another man in a good long while. Or it
could possibly be his first time as well.

He wouldn’t let himself hope for that. He just wanted to listen to

the little satisfied noises that Vaughn made as he thrust one finger,
and then two, and then three as far as they could go, stretching the
man wide. He pulled his fingers out, added more lube, and then put
them back in, wanting to be absolutely sure that Vaughn would be
well prepared for this.

Watching Vaughn’s pleasure was almost as good as if Daren was

taking pleasure himself. Then the man’s amber eyes widened, and his
mouth dropped as his back arched just a little.

“Right there. Oh, fuck, right there!” he said, his chest heaving as

he started to gasp.

“I hate to torture you like this, but I think that’s my signal to

stop,” Daren said, and he pulled his fingers out of Vaughn’s pucker,
listening, only a little smug, at the sound of Vaughn’s disappointed
protest.

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129

“If you keep leaving me hanging like that, I'm going to start

hating you,” he threatened, reaching down and grabbing the base of
his dick, groaning even at that touch, just to keep from coming.

“Almost, Vaughn. I’ve got you,” Daren said, taking more lube and

pouring almost the entire bottle onto his cock. It was cold at first, but
his skin warmed it.

Vaughn spread his legs wider apart as Daren took himself in hand

and pressed his dick against his lover’s waiting hole.

He tried to be gentle and slow when he sank in, but Vaughn’s

thighs went tight around his hips as the man moaned and beckoned
him closer, and Daren lost all control as he started thrusting hard and
fast.

“This…this is fucking great!” Vaughn said right before he

groaned and bit down on his bottom lip.

Daren couldn’t agree more.
This was not making love. This was sex based off of desperation,

because Daren only realized right then how much he needed this man
in his life, and how much he did not want him to go in the morning
with his friends and Daren’s brother.

Neither of them hardly seemed to mind a bit. Vaughn put his hand

behind Daren’s neck and pulled him closer so that they were chest to
chest as they moved against each other, their flesh slapping together
as Daren's balls bounced against Vaughn's ass.

This position gave Daren a close look at the bite mark he’d

created on the other man, and it was his shame that made him turn
away from it and press his mouth to Vaughn’s in a kiss.

“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling away briefly to gasp out the words,

but he couldn’t stop moving as heat and pleasure built up inside of
him. His balls felt tight, and his cock was rock solid inside of Vaughn
as the other man squeezed his asshole around him, which only made it
that much better.

“It’s okay,” Vaughn replied, bringing him down for another kiss.

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Did he even know what Daren was apologizing for? There were

so many things that they were hard to name off the top of his head at
this point.

Vaughn’s grip on him became tighter, and his moaning became

louder, which only spurred on Daren’s movements as he felt his peak
coming on, and he quickened his pace to get there in a hurry.

“Harder,” Vaughn said, pressing his head back against the

mattress, and Daren complied, and they both moved against each
other so quickly that there was no rhythm whatsoever, but nothing
had ever felt so good or so right as this.

Daren came with a long shout that he tried to muffle by biting

down onto the sheets of his bed. Vaughn had nothing to do that with,
and Daren wouldn’t be all that shocked to discover later that the entire
house had heard them.

He didn’t care either.
Daren continued to thrust inside of him, and he didn’t pull away

from Vaughn’s warm body when he finished and his cock was spent.
He didn’t want to either. He collapsed on top of the other man,
savoring the feel of him and not wanting to let him go.

“I really am pathetic,” he said.
“Why?” Vaughn asked, and he started to lazily run his fingers

through Daren’s long black hair. That felt nice.

He was pathetic because he was in love with Vaughn. He’d been

in lust with him for some time now, and he’d been aware of that, but
now that he could put a real name to this, love, he didn’t know what
to think.

Daren shook his head. “No reason,” he said, and he pulled away

from Vaughn’s body and rolled onto his back, exhaling loudly
through his mouth as he stared up at the ceiling.

Vaughn got up onto his elbows and looked down at him. “I meant

what I said. About staying. I want to be here with you. Forever. I
never want to leave you.”

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131

God. It was so hard to keep the emotion out of his voice that those

words inspired.

“And I believe you when you say that. For now.”
“For now?” Vaughn asked.
Daren wet his lips. His throat was suddenly dry, but he wasn’t

about to leave the bed. “I will let you sleep on it. If, in the morning
when your friends are preparing to leave, you happen to change your
mind, I will not hold it against you and I will not try to stop you.”

Vaughn frowned at him. “You say that like you think that’s

what’s going to happen.”

It was going to happen. Vaughn would never be happy being here,

all tinted windows and constant reminders of their different status,
regardless of how many puppies Daren gifted him with. That
reminded him, he was going to have to make sure that Vaughn took
one when he left tomorrow. At least that would give the man
something to remind him that his time here hadn’t been all bad.

He grinned at the other man, pretending that his fears didn’t exist,

along with the painful pounding in his chest. “Perhaps I can spend the
rest of the night convincing you to stay?”

Vaughn smiled wolfishly at the prospect of having more sex, and

they came together again. It wasn't hard for Daren's cock to become
hard again with Vaughn's perfect naked body so close to him, his
hands touching Daren's chest and nipples. It was slower that time,
with Daren riding Vaughn’s hips as though they had all the time in the
world.

Words were later spoken, and Vaughn even made plans with

Daren. Tristan had apparently decided that, with vampire nobles and
free humans alike out for their blood, the mansion would be a safe
place for anyone from the West Village to come to should they be in
need of supplies, shelter, or food, and Tristan would provide those
things so long as there was some protection from the West Village as
well.

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Daren listened to these things, completely amazed by the new turn

of events, but he was still convinced that Vaughn would wish to
return home and see his friends by morning.

It was one of the few times when Daren was grateful that vampire

and human sleeping patterns were so different. Despite sleeping
almost all day, after all the excitement and many rounds of sex,
Vaughn was still the first to fall asleep as the night went on, but by
the time he’d finally drifted off, it had been barely two hours before
dawn.

Daren had taken the time to tuck the man under the covers before

he returned to his writing desk to finish his letters to his brother, his
brother-in-law, and his lover. With dawn coming, and the early start
he’d had to his night—not to mention all the sex—he, too, was having
trouble keeping his eyes open, and he needed to put his words down
on paper while he had the chance.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

133

Chapter Fourteen

When Vaughn woke up the next morning, he found that not only

was Daren not in bed with him, but he was also not even in the same
room.

That both shocked and worried him, but it wasn’t like Daren

would be the one leaving this morning, so he wasn’t too concerned
about not seeing him again. The man was at least going to have to
hand over those letters he’d been working on to his brother. He would
want to sulk, but it was going to have to wait until then.

It was hard telling the time by the sun when in a vampire house

because of all the lack of sunshine, and because of that, Vaughn’s
internal clock was off.

For that reason, he was pleased when he looked at the clock on the

nightstand and saw that it was still relatively early in the morning.
Hawke, Julian, and Frederik were all probably getting ready to head
back to the village by now, loaded up with the food and supplies that
Tristan had been showering them with since dinner had ended.

Vaughn had no intention of going with them. He’d thought about

it, and he’d made his choice, and he was still as firm on that choice
now as he had been last night. Hawke, while not entirely happy with
it, had accepted it, and now the village had a house of noble vampires
on their side who would offer them their support whenever they
needed it, so it wasn’t like the rescue mission had been a total waste.

Vaughn quickly borrowed some more of Daren’s clean clothes

and got dressed. He hurried downstairs to find Hawke and Julian
packing up their supplies and getting ready to leave. Frederik was

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wearing the assassin’s daylight uniform again, but he didn’t yet have
his mask on.

Guess the goodbyes were happening indoors.
Both Tristan and Daren were standing nearby, and Vaughn came

down the stairs just in time to see Daren putting two letters in
Frederik’s hands. The man was clearly shocked as he stared down at
the folded and wax-sealed white paper.

Their following hug was an awkward sort of affair, but even

Vaughn could see there was more there than that. What Daren did
couldn’t be forgiven in a day or two, but it was clear from the hopeful
look on Frederik’s face as he put the letter into one of the many
pockets that were on his uniform, that he was much happier now than
before.

Vaughn was pretty sure everything would be all right between the

brothers, and now that there would be open trade and communication
between this house and the village, there would be more chances for
them to talk and heal.

Tristan was the next one to give his brother a long hug goodbye. It

was during that when Hawke finally looked up and noticed Vaughn
standing there.

“Haven’t changed your mind then?” he asked, and Daren turned

sharply. Apparently he hadn’t heard Vaughn coming either. The only
person who didn’t appear shocked at his arrival was Marrok, but that
man probably saw and heard most things that went on around him.

Vaughn came down the last few steps. “No. I think I’m good here,

and Tristan wants me to help train those dogs of his so Marrok won’t
have to work as hard.”

“No dog can do my job better than I can,” Marrok muttered, his

large arms folded over his chest.

Tristan smiled and patted his arm, offering his reassurances.
Vaughn only had eyes for Daren. The man wasn’t exactly running

into his arms like he would have hoped, considering all the things
they had spoken about last night.

Held Hostage by the Vampire Lord

135

His eyes were wide, and he seemed shocked and all. He looked

more like he didn’t believe what he was seeing, as if the lack of travel
gear he carried wasn’t hint enough.

Vaughn hadn’t packed anything. Not the clothes he’d come here

with, or the sketchbook and extra pencils that were still hidden under
his pillow in the guest room where he’d been staying, because he had
every intention of returning to them.

Hawke sighed and shrugged. “Can’t say my mother will be too

happy, but now that we have this connection, Brian will probably
want to contact you. We’ll have to keep it quiet from the other
villages right now. The most they all think we have that’s odd about
us is the fact that Will’s a healing mage, but they don’t even know
he’s a vampire.”

“That will certainly be a fun conversation when it goes down,”

Julian said. Vaughn was learning that the guy had a perpetual
sarcastic grin on his face. “Remind me to be far away when it
happens.”

“Right, well,” Hawke started, and he had that somewhat sour

expression on his face that told Vaughn all about how his friend was
trying to keep a lid on his annoyance. “I’ll give Carl the route to this
place, and he’ll likely be the one playing messenger for the next little
while if anyone wanted to keep in contact. Just do me a favor and
keep your men from shooting any approaching humans,” he said,
directing that last part to Marrok.

“So long as they don’t shoot at us first, then no human has

anything to fear from us.”

“Great, well, Vaughn.” Hawke and Vaughn pulled each other

close for another brotherly hug. Vaughn could hardly believe he
wasn’t going with them, but at the same time, the idea of leaving
Daren here scared him so much more than the thought of staying.
“You take care of yourself,” Hawke said.

“I will,” Vaughn promised.

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Jacks

“If he fucks up and mistreats you, you know you can count on me

to get over here and back you up, right?”

“Don’t say that!” Vaughn said, laughing as he shoved Hawke

away.

But Hawke wasn’t done. “All I’m saying is that if I don’t get a

messenger with some news from you every, let’s say, four weeks or
so, I’ll assume something’s wrong and have to come down here and
kick some ass.”

“My brother won’t mistreat him,” Frederik said. “He’s learned his

lesson.”

Daren’s face turned bright red at that comment. Was he aware that

Frederik was defending him?

“Can we go already?” Julian asked, a whine in his voice. “I’m

pretty sure that by now Hank’s forgotten I exist. I need to go and
remind him before he sulks himself to death.”

“And you would hate for that to happen, wouldn’t you?” Hawke

shot back, though he shook his head and smiled as he slung one of the
bags over his back, and Frederik put the daylight mask over his face.

There were more goodbyes, and Vaughn felt a twinge of unease

when his best friend was finally out the door, leaving him behind
here, but when he turned around and saw Daren staring at him, he
knew he’d made the right choice.

“Don’t look at me like that. I told you I wouldn’t change my

mind.”

“I think you and I should get out of here and leave them alone,”

Tristan said, touching Marrok’s arm before yawning. “I’m tired.”

“I will take you to bed then.”
Even when they were both gone, Daren hardly seemed to notice.
“It’s not too late to change your mind. Even with your injured

foot, you could catch up to them.”

“I probably could,” Vaughn said, but when he moved, it was

toward Daren.

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137

Once they were standing close enough, Vaughn got a good look at

how bloodshot his eyes were. He was clearly tired, and afraid, but
there was only one thing that Vaughn could take care of at the
moment. “I want to stay here with you.”

“Why?” Daren asked.
“Because I was wrong about you. You’re an ass sometimes, and

I’m serious now when I tell you that I don’t want you biting from me
without my permission again, but I was still wrong. You’re a good
person, and I like being around you. Ignoring the fact that your family
and my village working together could also be very beneficial, I want
to be with you.”

Daren’s jaw became firm. It was something that Vaughn

recognized he did when he was trying to be stubborn. “If I told you
that I was in love with you, and not simply lust, would you still wish
to stay? I do not want you for a casual bed partner, but as someone to
be mine and mine alone. I meant that the first time we were together. I
do not believe you completely understood my intentions then, so I
want you to understand them now.”

“You want me to understand that you’re in love with me?”
“Yes. So once again, if that makes you uncomfortable, it’s not too

late to go after your friends.”

Vaughn laughed, and so much happiness and affection for the man

in front of him swelled inside of him that he could hardly contain it.
“You really are stupid.”

Daren appeared angry for only a split second before Vaughn

kissed him. The man could be angry later. He’d just told Vaughn that
he loved him. Vaughn hadn’t even been aware of how much he
needed to hear that until he did.

He felt Daren’s reaction to their kiss against his thigh as they

pulled each other close, and if this didn’t stop now, they wouldn’t
have the chance to make it back to Daren’s bedroom.

“You want this?” Daren asked as they pulled away from each

other, his eyes desperate. “You accept it?”

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“Of course I do,” Vaughn said, laughing some more and pressing

one more chaste kiss on Daren’s soft mouth before continuing. “I said
forever and I meant it. I wanted to be here with you because I feel
something for you, and I wanted to see if you felt the same. Knowing
this…” He trailed off because he couldn’t think of the proper words to
describe how he felt.

“Do you love me as well?”
“I wouldn’t have stayed if I didn’t. Christ, just knowing that you

do, too, means so much,” Vaughn said, and he cupped Daren’s face
between his hands and just drank in the sight of the man. “I love you,
too. I know that doesn’t fix everything, and we’ll still have to talk a
lot and find out how to deal with this new arrangement between, well,
us and my village, but I do love you, and the rest I know can be
worked out. I don’t even know when it happened that I started to feel
it, but it’s there.”

“It’s there,” Daren said, repeating Vaughn’s words and grinning

just as brightly as before. “We will need to speak some more. I have
to say that we are fairly good at communicating, but only after we
have had a lot of sex first.”

He was right. The only times when they had ever really spoken

about serious issues had been right after sex. “Then we should get
upstairs and start talking right away,” Vaughn said.

Daren took his hand, and together they rushed up the stairs. “First

order of business,” he said. “Is that you are staying in my bedchamber
from now on. You are my hostage no longer, so I see no need to have
a spare room for you.”

They had the rest of their lives together, so they might as well

begin enjoying them as soon as possible.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marcy Jacks lives and works in Ontario, Canada, where she is

fervently pursuing the writer’s life while writing about lots of
gorgeous guys. She loves hearing from readers, and you can reach her
at

authormarcyjacks@gmail.com

For all titles by Marcy Jacks, please visit