bow, kiss his hand, or suck his neck. I know what I wish I had done.”
“Me too.” Arvyn huffed out a sigh. “What do we do now? You’ve got all those problems in your coven, and we can’t let that Yakov think you’ve gone into hiding somewhere. You said you wouldn’t take me to the coven until we’d claimed each other, but…”
“You don’t feel right about doing that until Ra is with us either,” Kirill finished for him. “I know how you feel, and I’m sure a lot of people would think we were being silly, but it’s almost like we’d be cheating on our mate if we claimed each other without him, even though we’re mates/beloveds too.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to claim you.” Arvyn waved at the lump in his crotch. “But I got such a feeling of sadness from him, like we’d truly upset him.”
“Ra?” Kirill flashed him a sideways glance. “I was too busy trying not to fall to my knees to see it. When did you notice that?”
“Just before you snarled at him. His whole body slumped when he realized I was nervous about going anywhere with him, and he got a really sad tinge in his scent, like he’d been expecting rejection and yet he couldn’t hide how much it hurt him when it did happen. But I didn’t mean to be like that.”
“The same as I didn’t mean to snarl at him. Maybe next time we see him, we should use our mouths for other things instead of talking because that seems to get us in the shit with him.” Kirill looked back at the bed they were sitting on. “Did you want to get some sleep? I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been horizontal in over a week and I’ve… we’ve still got to face the coven tomorrow.”
“What about your feeding?” Arvyn wasn’t sure what the polite way to ask was. “Did they… did you… how often do you need to take blood in your diet?”
“One of the perks of being an older vampire is that I only need to take blood about once a month. I am getting close to my limit, and I’ll need to take blood soon, within the next week, but I’m okay for now. Because I’ve now tasted your blood and Ra’s, blood bags aren’t going to work for me anymore.”
A warm flush ran through Arvyn’s body just thinking about feeding his mate. “I could feed you in the meantime.” He held up his wrist. “I don’t feel bad about doing that, even though Ra isn’t with us right now.”
“Oh, beloved,” Kirill groaned, taking Arvyn’s hand and brushing his lips along the inside of his wrist. “I would love nothing more than to feed from you, but that will bind us together for life.”
Arvyn frowned, trying desperately to ignore the delicious tingles running from up his arm and through the rest of his body. “How is binding different from claiming?”
“It isn’t. But beloved, I wanted our claiming to be something you’d remember always.” Kirill pulled his mouth away but still held Arvyn’s hand. “Wherever I bite you that first time, my fangs will leave a mating scar whether we’re naked or not.”
Arvyn was starting to think he was developing a fever his body was running so hot. Only the memory of Ra’s sadness stopped him from flinging himself over Kirill’s body and claiming him. “Then You’d better bite my neck.” He withdrew his hand from Kirill’s and reached for his shirt, pulling it over his head and off in one easy move. “My wolf will feel a lot happier if other paranormals can see the scar.” He tapped the side of his neck.
“Oh, gods.” Kirill ran his hands over his face. “You sure know how to tempt a man.”
“If taking our blood is the tie that binds us in your world, then you’re already bound to me and Ra,” Arvyn persisted. “You’ve taken a drop of my blood, and a drop from Ra, so you’ve already claimed us, we just don’t have the marks yet. You notice I said yet because I’m more than happy to be marked by you now. In fact, I insist.”
“You insist?” Kirill’s eyes flashed red and Arvyn could see his sharp fangs.
“Equals, remember.” Arvyn grinned to soften his words. “If it makes you feel any better, you can remove your shirt too and I can bite you when you’ve finished taking what you need. That bite will scar as