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“You sure you’re not in love with him?” he asked again. “Even if I were capable of such an emotion, he’s most assuredly not my type. That kind of sweetness leaves an unbearably saccharine taste in my mouth, I’m afraid.” Anger bubbled in Alexei’s chest. “He’s the most perfect vampire to ever exist in the fucking universe, asshole. You would be so lucky.”
He twisted a strand of Alexei’s hair around two fingers. “I want to give you…goodness, Alexei. My friends here are good. We deserve to stay with them. We deserve good things. We deserve a life of our choosing.” He gave the hair a gentle tug. “No more— No more meanies.”
Alexei was so nice to Jay. The nicest in the world. “My perfect vampire,” he crooned. “My perfect kitten. My perfect mate.”
Jay loved it. He loved being filled by Alexei. He loved this physical connection. And he loved Alexei. So, so much. “I love you too,” Alexei murmured, licking at Jay’s neck, at the bite he’d left there. Had Jay said that out loud? “I can feel it,” Alexei told him, still apparently reading Jay’s mind. “I can feel your love for me.”
Its mantra at all times was to touch Jay, taste Jay, claim Jay, love Jay. It made Alexei almost wonder if that obsessive pull to Jay from the very beginning had always been his beastie, lying dormant, waiting only to be awoken.
“I’ve never had a daiquiri,” he said brightly. “Do you think they’d make me one here?” “Not that kind of place, Jaybird,” Soren answered, taking his own seat and pulling Gabe down next to him. “Maybe try a White Russian.” A wink to Alexei with that little comment. “I think that would suit your tastes.”
“I have a different proposal.” “Nothing where Jay leaves,” Soren insisted. Alexei could feel another surge of pleasure run through Jay at Soren’s defense. As if he hadn’t known before just how important he was to these friends he’d found a home with until that home was threatened.
If Jay was messy, or too talkative, or emotionally needy, or wanted to be held all the time, all he felt from Alexei were these warm, delightful washes of affection. It was the nicest, most comforting thing Jay had ever experienced in all his life. Who knew love could feel so good? Who knew it didn’t have to hurt? That you didn’t have to push down parts of yourself just to be accepted?
And then sometimes it was almost…sharp, Alexei’s love for Jay. A little dark, a little possessive, a little obsessive, even. But that felt just as good as the warm, soft love.
There was no annoyance, no frisson of irritation through the bond. There was only amusement (the nice kind), acceptance, love. Jay didn’t care what Alexei said. He was the nicest human in the world. So Jay let go of his hesitations and allowed himself to enjoy the movie like he would if he were alone. Except it was all better than when he was alone because he was tucked under Alexei’s arm, feeling so warm and cozy and safe,
He always wanted Alexei to be touching him, and maybe he’d find it in himself to be even more hornily embarrassed about that fact if Alexei didn’t seem to want that very same thing. If Alexei didn’t seem to like nothing more than just…loving on Jay. Kissing and stroking and teasing him until he was an absolute puddle of goo.
“You’re so handsome” was all he managed to say in defense. He really was. Even though Alexei wasn’t naked. He’d only tugged his own sweatpants down enough to jerk his cock. And somehow, in the moment, that was even hotter? Like he’d been so turned on just putting his mouth on Jay that he’d had to take himself in hand without even getting undressed.
“Roman’s been feeling a little…protective—” “Suspicious,” Roman corrected. “—ever since Wolfe came into town. He may have been…monitoring the situation a bit.” Roman huffed at his mate. “And is it not a good thing I was?” “Yes, yes. You did very well to stalk the stranger, my love.” Danny’s tone was sarcastic,
Roman’s icy gaze met Jay’s. “For someone who is theoretically on our side, he has caused an awful lot of trouble. Are you certain we need him?” Jay wasn’t certain of any of it. He was causing his friends so much trouble. When would they decide enough was enough? When would they want Jay gone?
“We all will,” Danny insisted, his cheeks pink with heightened emotion. “Soren and Gabe have already agreed. You’re family, Jay. Or, um, our den mate, if that’s what you prefer to call it.”
“So much trouble,” Jay mumbled. “I’ve caused so much trouble.” Alexei’s poor, traumatized little alien. How much reassurance would he need before he recognized love coming from someone other than Alexei?
Danny shook Jay’s shoulders gently. “Then trust me when I say I’m happy you came to us. And I mean that in a completely selfish way. Eternity is—I still can’t fathom it, really. And I’m not like Roman. I can’t be a lone wolf. I need people, connections. And not just…surface-level friendships. It’ll be unsettling and scary, in its own way, moving from place to place. I want a community. And I want you to be a part of it.” A brief glance at Alexei. “The both of you.”
Then he shot a shy look over Danny’s shoulder to Roman, who was looking with obvious love and pride at his mate. “And you—you don’t mind either?” Roman cleared his throat. “I heard a phrase recently that resonated with me. ‘Happy wife, happy life.’ If Danny is content, so am I.”
Alexei, absolutely loving the idea of every single person in Jay’s life reassuring him of his place there, spoke up. “Jay’s love language is words of affirmation.” Jay nodded solemnly. “And also all the other ones.”
Soren looked pained for a moment, then threw his hands up dramatically. “Fine. You’re ours, Jay. You and your big Russian. There’s not a day goes by I’m not happy you came here, even if I didn’t know what I was doing when I invited you. And most days, I still feel guilty for leaving you in that place for as long as I did. And I’m looking forward to the future, when I don’t have to think about any of it, and it’s just an accepted truth that we have one another’s backs for the rest of time. Good?” Soren gave Jay a sharp look, relaxing when Jay nodded. “Good. Highness?”
Soren gestured to Jay. “Where are your words of affirmation?” Gabe straightened in place, giving Soren a panicked look. When he found no sympathy there, he smiled tentatively at Jay. “Oh. Um. I think you’re great, little guy.”
Because that was the thing Jay was clearly beginning to realize: Jay may have been codependent, but Alexei was just as bad. He reveled in Jay’s need for him, in their constant physical contact. His beast…hungered…always, for Jay.
Jay had become more comfortable in asking for what he’d started calling “loving time,” in which he laid back and let Alexei worship his body, take him apart piece by piece while telling him all the while how perfect, how gorgeous, how good he was. It was Alexei’s favorite fucking pastime.
“Lucky I met you, then, isn’t it?” Jay fisted his hands in Alexei’s shirt. “You really think so?” “Mm. I do. Because there I was, the nicest human, without anyone to be nice to.” “And you like being nice to me?” Jay asked, almost coy. “Nothing in the world makes me happier, kotyonok.”
“How many ways have I told you I love you today?” he murmured. It was a little game they played these days. A way to assuage Jay’s bottomless need for reassurance and affection and Alexei’s matching, bottomless need to give them to him. Alexei tried to get each love language in at least once every day. He usually succeeded many times over.
Jay couldn’t get enough of what he liked to deem “cozy nudity.” “I’d like to maybe draw later. Oh! Oh!” Jay tugged at Alexei’s shirt. “I could draw you naked. I haven’t done that yet. It’ll be just like that scene in Titanic where Jack sketches Rose but without all the tragedy afterward.”
You’re letting me please you, letting me love on you. And you’re doing it perfectly, kitten. So greedy and desperate. You taste so good, sweetheart.”
“Need to be inside you now, baby.” Jay held his own legs back now, folding himself in half, because he was just that perfect. “Yes. Yes. Always, Alexei.” Alexei sank into his mate, into that perfect heat, and it felt like it always did—like coming home.
“What should we do first, of all your plans?” Alexei murmured against Jay’s lips. Jay tightened his hold, his legs still wrapped around Alexei’s hips. “Let’s just hold each other for a while longer. Does that sound okay?” “That sounds perfect, kotyonok. Absolutely perfect.”
“Why are you so good at that?” he asked in a mumble, leaning back more firmly against Alexei’s broad chest and stretching his legs out into the bath. Jay already knew the answer. Alexei’s favorite answer anytime he asked something like that, about why they matched so well. Alexei didn’t disappoint. “Because I was made for you, kotyonok.”
Jay was learning that Alexei took the concept of fated mates very seriously. He said that logically, the only conclusion that could be made from the whole thing was that Alexei was literally born to love Jay. That Jay was the reason for his existence.
“Do you think we’ll always be this happy?” Jay asked, once he was settled back against Alexei’s chest. Alexei pressed a soft kiss to Jay’s temple. “I do.” Jay smiled. “You don’t think that’s too optimistic of us? Or naive?” “I’ve never in my life been accused of being either of those things, kotyonok. It’s just a fact. We will.” Jay sighed happily. “Because you were made for me?” “Exactly.” “And I was made for you.” “Made for each other,” Alexei agreed. How perfect that was. How lucky. How nice.
