“What bothers you, Gabriel?” Maximus plucked the miniature whiskey bottle from his hand. He hadn’t even heard the vampyr’s approach. Sneaky like that, it was one of the many things he found sexy about his lover.
With his hands on Gabriel’s shoulders, Maximus turned him away from the crowd below, and left his palms on him after they faced one another. Only an inch shorter than Maximus, Gabriel peered into his silver-blue eyes.
Gabriel ran his hand over his face. “I bumped into Sameya tonight at Dirty Liquor. I….” He expelled a breath. To express his next thoughts would give credence to them. “I believe she’s the one that’ll complete our tri-union .”
Maximus ran the back of his fingers against Gabriel’s cheek. “Naleah….” A vampyr term of endearment that roughly translated into ‘my love’. “You’re vulnerable to sirens. It’s possible she serenaded you.”
“I heard no song.” His cat had felt her the instant she approached the bar and his cock had gone instantly hard.
Maximus wore only a towel hooked about his waist and beads of water ran down his smooth, muscled chest. His wet chin-length, wavy, dark-brown hair clung to his neck. He’d come fresh from the shower, but Gabriel could smell his unique scent. “I doubt you would. It’s not like she’s singing a lullaby.”
“My tiger went crazy wanting out. You cannot imagine her scent. The way it incited my beast. Maximus—”
“We’re already an unconventional couple, Gabriel.” Maximus cupped the back of his head. “What are the chances of our third being another breed totally different from one of ours?”
Gabriel kissed Maximus’s wrist. The odds must be one in a billion. Their mating was rare, so to add another variety would be inexplicable. “You’re probably right. Except….” He sighed. “You’re right.” He pushed his fingers through Maximus’s damp strands and leaned his forehead against the vampyr’s.
“Except your tiger went irrational near her the way it did me?”
Sometimes it felt like his lover could read his mind. “Yeah.”
“We’ll catch her and put this theory of yours to rest. One way or the other. Until then”—Maximus fisted a handful of his hair and wrenched his head back, his dick jerking against his slacks at the vampyr’s aggression—“I’m going to fuck you.”
Gabriel smiled. A hard fuck was what he desired, and he loved that his mate could sense his needs. He sidled closer, kissing the other man’s forehead. “Shall we go inside, Maximus?”
“No.” Maximus ripped his towel off exposing his nudity to Bourbon Street revelers below. “Out here where all of humanity can watch us.”
A heartbeat lapsed between them. Gabriel’s fondness for voyeurism kicked in, and his tiger purred.
“I want you to growl for me when you come.” Maximus nipped his bottom lip and deftly worked the buttons through the holes on Gabriel’s dress shirt. The muggy air kissed his flesh and swirled around him. His shifter senses prickled him with gooseflesh, tingling as if to alert him of being tracked. Crazy notion when they were removing clothing on the terrace and many were below. Of course people would watch!
The vampyr bit his lip again, hard enough to draw blood. He swiped away the hemoglobin with a lick. He employed his fangs when he was in a playful mood, which countered Gabriel’s animalistic disposition perfectly. “I’ll fuck you over the bannister, Maximus.” The urge to mark, dominate and mate continued to twist through him. He’d sink his cat canines into the mating mark on the vampyr’s neck when he came. It was the only way he’d come close to pacifying his tiger’s needs.
Maximus pulled Gabriel’s shirt free of his pants and pushed the garment over his shoulders, following the material’s descent with his palms down Gabriel’s arms. The vampyr liked to touch and Gabriel loved having his hands on him. His lover tossed the shirt over the railing. Commotion from below and someone squealed, “Look!”
They kissed, tongues tangoing as Maximus released Gabriel’s slacks and pushed them to his ankles, along with his underwear. Gasps from below, followed by, “So, hot.” The clicking and bursts of light evidence photos were being taken. Neither of their faces would turn out, a little bit of magic that always surrounded them.
Gabriel wrapped locks of Maximus’s moist hair around his fingers and jerked his head back. He met the vampyr’s eyes. Fuck, he loved this man. The only problem they’d had to being mated was the difference in species. Mating was about paring two individuals together that’d benefit nature. Gabriel would die for Maximus. Yet, they needed their third to make them complete, but the effects she could have on their established relationship could cause everything to go sideways in a hurry.