“You’re not mad?” Nikolas couldn’t believe it.
“Are you kidding? You can fuck me against the window anytime you want.”
Nikolas grinned and got to his feet. He wrapped Jon up in his arms and hugged him, not caring in the least his pants were down around his ankles and Jon wore none at all. “I promise I will care for you in the future, rajaaka,” Nikolas whispered. “I will not let my loss of control rule me again.”
“Does that mean you won’t fuck me against the window again?”
“I’ll fuck you against the window, the desk, the wall, anywhere you want,” Nikolas whispered, his heart throbbing with joy. “I’ll fuck you anywhere and everywhere you want.”
Jon leaned his head back to look up at Nikolas, his face suddenly serious. “We need to talk first.”
Nikolas nodded. They did. Jon deserved to know how his life was going to change now they had bonded. Nikolas had wanted to explain it to Jon before he left, but he knew Jon needed to understand why they belonged together.
Now that they’d bonded, being separated for long periods of time would cause them both physical pain. Nikolas needed Jon’s blood as much as Jon needed to Nikolas’s semen. It was an exchange of life-giving essence.
“Let’s go upstairs to the penthouse and get more comfortable,” Nikolas said as he pulled up his pants and buttoned them. “We can talk there.”
Jon nodded and straightened his own clothing. Nikolas watched him push a shaking hand through his hair as he glanced absently around the room. Jon seemed disconnected, almost disoriented. He settled down the moment Nikolas wrapped an arm around him and led him to the elevator to his penthouse suite. Neither of them spoke as they rode up, the silence surrounding them like a thick fog.
The moment the doors swooshed open, Jon bolted as if he couldn’t stand the enclosed space anymore. He rubbed his hands roughly up and down his arms. Nikolas stepped up behind him and took over, caressing Jon’s arms.
Jon sighed deeply and leaned back against him. “Why do I feel this way?” he whispered. His voice trembled with anguish. “What’s wrong with me?”
“I am sorry, rajaaka,” Nikolas said. “I did not know the claiming would be so hard on you. I wish I could spare you this but I would not give you up.”
“My name is Jon,” he snapped. “My fucking name is Jon!”
Nikolas could hear the distress in the man’s voice and knew he was close to breaking. “Your name is Jon Brighten. You are twenty-six years old. Your mother’s name is Margaret Payne. Your father’s name was Vincent Brighten. He died when you were a child, and your mother remarried Carl Payne.” Jon turned to look at Nikolas, his mouth hanging open. Nikolas continued. “Your sister’s name is Angelina. She’s married to Benjamin Thomas. They are expecting their first child.”
“How—?”
“Did you think I would not investigate you?”
Jon’s frown was more confused that angry. “But…why?”
“You are my rajaaka. I want to know everything about you.”
Jon pushed away from Nikolas and took several steps back, placing almost the entire room between them. He started rubbing his arms again as he stared at Nikolas. “You keep saying that, calling me that,” Jon said. “I want to know what it means, and you’re not going to get away with some half-baked, bullshit explanation this time. I want the truth.”
“Rajaaka means lover, mate, um…consort. I claimed you when we had sex, made you my bond mate.”
“Bond mate? Claiming?” Jon asked. He looked slightly dazed. “What does that mean? We just had sex. How can you claim me just from sex? You’re a vampire. I’m sure you’ve had sex with hundreds of people. Don’t you guys like, live forever or something?”
Nikolas grinned, amused at Jon’s assumptions, which were like most people’s. “I have had sex with many people, that is true. And I have lived a long time, hundreds of years, in fact.”
“Just how old are you?”
“I was born in 1367.”
Jon’s eyes widened. “Dude, talk about robbing the cradle.”
“I have seen many things in my life, had many lovers, but I have never had a rajaaka before. I will only have one and I have waited my entire life for you.” Nikolas drew in a deep breath, Jon’s scent reaching him even from across the room, wrapping around him like tentacles of desire. “Now that I have found you, I will never be alone again.”
Jon opened his mouth as if he was going to say something then snapped it shut. Nikolas could feel the force of his gaze. Jon’s golden eyes showed his curiosity and confusion, and maybe just a hint of sadness.
“You’ve been alone? Why? I would think the great Nikolas Vaile had people throwing themselves at his feet.”
“That is true, but none of them were you.” Nikolas opened his mouth to tell Jon there was a downside to all of this, but then changed his mind. The man had enough to get used to, for now. He slowly moved closer to Jon, one step at a time, until he stood within arm’s reach.
“None of them were your rajaaka, you mean?”
“Exactly.” Nikolas reached up and stroked his hand over Jon’s cheek, elation filling him when Jon leaned into his soft caress. “None of them were you.”
“Why me?” Jon asked. There was so much doubt in Jon’s voice, it made Nikolas’s heart ache. “What’s so special about me?”
“You called to me from the first scent of your blood. That is the way it is for my kind.”
Jon swallowed hard. “Do you mean you will be drinking my blood?”
“I’ve already drank your blood,” Nikolas said as his fingers trailed down Jon’s neck to the two small puncture marks in his neck. “And I will drink from you again. Now that we are bonded, a few drops of your blood will sustain me far longer than any other blood I could drink.”
“Wi–will it hurt?” Jon whispered.
“Has it hurt before?”
“I don’t remember you taking my blood before. I just know you’ve done it. I saw the marks on my neck.” Jon’s gaze suddenly flickered up to Nikolas’s. “You took my blood during sex, didn’t you?”
“I did. It is very erotic for my kind to take blood during sex. It heightens the feeling for both of us, raises our awareness and the pleasure we bring to each other.”
Jon shuddered as if remembering the pleasure they had both enjoyed mere moments ago. “Will you continue to take my blood when we have sex?”
“If you will allow me to.” Nikolas rubbed his thumb over the pulse beating in Jon’s neck. “I can take your blood without the sex, if you prefer.” Nikolas would do whatever Jon felt most comfortable with but he was hoping for the sex part of things.
“Does it hurt if you take my blood when we’re not having sex?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You are my rajaaka,” Nikolas said. “You would feel only pleasure at my touch. That is why your arms feel like they itch and your body aches. You need me as much as I need you.”
Jon’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
“I pledge to thee my love and faith. I offer my life to thee, my blood for yours. I’ll be your night as you shall be my day. I’ll stay with you forever, my love, my rajaaka. I pledge this oath for all eternity. To the world, may we be one soul.” Nikolas grabbed Jon’s chin and tilted his head back, looking down at the man intently. “Those are more than just the ancient words of my kind. They bind us together. You need to give to me just as much as I need to take from you.”
“I share my essence with you as you do with me. By giving your blood to me, you give me life. I give you life in return every time I make love to you and your body accepts my semen. It prolongs your life to match mine.”
Jon’s eyes widened again, and then he burst out laughing. “So, saying ‘not tonight, dear, I have a headache’ could kill me?”
“No, you would not die from not accepting my essence, but your life cycle would slow to that of a normal human until you passed away.” Nikolas grimaced at the thought. He didn’t want to spend the next several hundred years without Jon.
“Tell me the rest of it.”
Nikolas cleared his throat and continued. “I cannot take the daylight. It would kill me. You will now be my daylight as I will be your night. That means you will bring me calm and peace while I will give you strength and power.”
Jon frowned. “Will I be stronger, like you?”
“And faster,” Nikolas said as he nodded. “You will not take on all of my traits, but you will still take on many of them. You will be stronger, faster. You will be able to withstand much more than you ever have before.”
“And in exchange?”
“You will give me peace, as I said.” Nikolas brushed the brown hair back from Jon’s face, tucking it behind his ear. “As a vampire, I can lose control if I become enraged or get injured. You will calm me, help me maintain my control. You will keep me from hurting anyone.”
“Is that what happened to you the night we met?”