“So you wanted to stay near your blood source. Big fucking deal. You’ve had the benefit of the strongest blood of our kind and you’ve piddled it away fucking around. I love you, man but it’s time to grow up.” Case leveled somber green eyes in his direction. “Are you that worried about traveling to meet the prince?”
Zeroing in on Case, Alek hissed. “Stay the hell out of my head. You want to know something, ask.” He could have motioned to the waitress for a drink but what the hell, there were some vamp powers worth embracing. He pulled a glass of alcohol out of thin air and took a big gulp. “Don’t ever restrain me again.”
“Don’t act like an asshole and it won’t be necessary.”
Setting his drink down, Alek sighed heavily and settled back into the chair. “No, I’m not worried about the royal family. Hell, his wife is half-human and will always do crazy shit.” Air whistled through his lips. “You don’t know what it’s like.”
“I know what a vamp’s lust feels like. I enjoy it and so should you. It’s part of what we are.”
“Male cats don’t go panting after each other. It’s-it’s not normal.”
Case laughed so loudly a few of the club’s patrons turned to stare. “We aren’t normal in any sense of the word.”
The addiction to the prince’s blood pulled at Alek, shattered his control again and again. It pushed him into the arms of any available woman just so he could prove his manhood. The weakness would never allow him to take a mate. He was unwilling to divulge his dark secret—his desire to take a man, namely the prince. Have him in every way.
Alek had seen mated male cats take sustenance often. They always went for men and then they’d go home to feed their mates. How did they deal with it, fight the carnal urges that damn near drew him over the edge? What made him different? This wasn’t part of the beast’s nature. His craving came from his blood-lusting relatives. Goddamn vampyres.
“On that thought, I need to feed my mate. Let me say this. Tres understands my sexual urges and accepts them. You’ll find the right mate one day and she’ll accept all that you are, Alek.”
“I’d never let her know.”
“Then you’ll never have happiness. If that’s how you choose to live, so be it. I’ve done all I can.” His friend sniffed loudly, wrinkling his nose. “And you do smell like a lion today. You need a bath, my friend.”
“Fuck you.”
Case left him sitting where he’d found him—alone in a corner.
He decided to leave tomorrow to itself. Tonight, he wanted to relax. The prince was off somewhere chasing his mate but he’d fed Alek well before he left.
His cock was full and he’d bed the first female who showed up ready, willing and able.
Alek sniffed the air while his eyes roamed the room in search of a candidate to take to one of the back rooms of the voyeur club. A few couples languished in softly lit booths while jazz quietly wafted from hidden speakers. He wondered which of them would end up in one of the many two-way mirrored rooms tonight watching others being pleasured and giving pleasure.
A familiar scent filled his nostrils.
Law and Dace were here. He’d been told to expect them. They’d all been summoned to join the prince in his search.
The prince’s brothers spent most of their lives in Europe and were considered master vamps. They lived totally on blood, ignoring their beasts completely. They were adept at hiding in plain sight. This close to home they must not be concerned or he would have never smelled them.
He decided to follow the trail, which led to one of the back rooms. Hell, he’d surprise them and maybe they could grab something to eat together. He hadn’t hunted in the vampyre way in a long time. Too long.
The hallway he traveled was empty. Alek stopped in front of the room housing Law, Dace, a few humans and a full vampyre whose scent he didn’t know. Strange. Masking his odor, he vanished to materialize on the other side of the door.
Before he could move the stranger had him at knifepoint from behind. The lights were dim but he could see two human couples lounging sleepily on the sofa. Dace glared from a small bar in the back.
Law was the first to speak. “You’re living dangerously tonight.”
“We flashed by you and thought we’d stop later and catch up.” Dace’s low laugh was sinister as he eyed the humans. “We were grabbing a feed first.”
Alek remained motionless with the knife pressed into the skin of his throat. A cold trickle of blood slid down his neck as the stranger used one hand to pat him down as if it were a cheap stickup. When the hand came around and grabbed his cock, he made his move.