Chapter Fifteen

Travis

I scanned the security card at the front of the building and pushed open the door for Sheldon. I prayed that the flat was more or less clean. The first thing Trista did when the dads took the trust fund money was to fire all the help to lower expenses. I was only informed after the fact.

“Nothing we can do about it now. It’s going to be what it is,” my wolf sighed as we made our way to the elevator.

“Is this one of the flats where the elevator opens into it?” Sheldon asked, taking my hand after I hit the button for the fourth floor.

“Yeah,” I nodded, “but don’t worry. You need a card,” I held mine up, “to make the elevator open anywhere except the ground floor. It gives you ten seconds to swipe the card before taking you back down and calling security. Yes, security’s job is mostly listening to people saying that they forgot to have their card out ahead of time.”

“They ever have to do anything else?” Sheldon asked as the elevator chimed open.

“Sweeps or rounds, I guess,” I shrugged, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Nothing like stopping hitmen? Was the building damaged in the war against that hate group?”

“This building was spared, thankfully. Another family lived here for a bit while their house was rebuilt. Sometimes I still find little toys their kids left behind.”

“That’s sort of sweet,” Sheldon grinned.

“Most of us who only own second homes or vacation houses here lent them out if they survived.”

“I’m glad you weren’t over here during the war,” Sheldon said as the light above the door came on.

I scanned the card and a second later the elevator doors opened to a mostly clean flat. A pair of Trista’s heels laid in the middle of the living room, but Sheldon already knew this was technically shared space.

“Those are Trista’s,” I added just in case he wondered.

“Not yours for drag?” he teased, stepping out onto the hardwood flooring.

“Never gone down that path,” I laughed as the elevator doors shut and locked behind us.

“Magi?” Sheldon tried.

“Yes, newcomer?” The hearth magic system responded.

“Do you come equipped with a sound barrier or do you need an upgrade?” Sheldon asked, taking off his shoes and setting them down beside the sliding glass door that led out to the balcony.

Next he put Trista’s discarded shoes there too.

“You can tell him, Magi,” I said when the virtual home assistant didn’t answer.

“Welcome home Travis, is the Lady Trista with you?” Magi asked.

“Not this time. What about those sound barriers?”

“Do you wish to activate them?” Magi asked.

“Yes, please,” I said and made a mental note to add Sheldon to the program later when I found wherever my twin stashed his manual.

Sheldon tugged his shirt off over his head and headed to the kitchen.

“Well, he made himself right at home,” my wolf snickered into my thoughts as I followed him.

“I knew you were hungry,” I teased him, leaning in the doorway as he started unloading all Trista’s box dinners from the freezer.

“Ummm….. Are you going to eat all of those in one go?” I arched a brow.

“Looking for the blood whiskey,” he said.

“Huh?” I blinked.

“Your sister sounds like the sort who’d like a nightcap.”

“So you want to get drunk?” I arched a brow.

“Not exactly,” he said, unloading the bags of frozen fruits and veggies from the freezer.

I bit my lip, so I didn’t tell him to stop making a mess. A little mess was fine. I dealt with Trista all these years after all.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up,” Sheldon said as if he already read my mind without any help from our claiming vows.

“A-ha!” He cheered, shaking a bag.

“I thought you were looking for liquor,” I blinked at the bag of frozen, sliced bananas.

“I was looking for blood that wasn’t currently beating through anyone’s heart,” Sheldon announced, unrolling the open end of the bag.

He sniffed its contents before reaching inside and pulling out a chocolate.

“How did you know she’d hide sweets in the freezer?”

“I didn’t, but I made an educated guess because from how everyone talked about her, I figured she was a bit more of a blood drinker than you were. I was right,” he said, popping the blood-filled chocolate into his mouth.

His eyes drifted closed as the chocolate melted over his tongue. He let out a happy sigh and tucked the bag under his arm as he started loading everything else back into the fridge.

“I just realized something,” I said, crossing the room to help him clean up.

“What’s that?” he asked, tucking box meals back into the freezer.

“Have you ever been into a grocery store?”

“Nope. We get everything from runners or drones. We hunt most of our food or make it ourselves. We even make our liquor ourselves for the most part,” Sheldon said. “What? Am I missing out on something special by not having been inside a supermarket?”

“I sorta want to turn you loose in the sweets’ section now,” I said.

“Do they have blood markets here?”

“Blood markets? I don’t think anyone has blood markets anymore,” I laughed.

“Good,” Sheldon nodded.

“That wasn’t confusing at all.”

“Blood markets were never a thing in our coven. Sure, they hunted people before I was born. Mostly a drink and release program, but blood markets usually mean---” he stopped and sighed. “It’s not important. London is run by two giant shifters. They wouldn’t allow one. It’s fine.”

“The Moonscales are pretty progressive,” I said, double-checking that all the food was tucked back into the freezer before I shut it. “No blood markets, but also no vampire hunting allowed. I think he’d prefer no more wars at all, to be fair.”

Sheldon held up one of the blood chocolates and waited for me to open my mouth. When I did, he slid it inside slowly, trailing his thumb over my tongue and bottom lip on the way out. The chocolate melted away leaving the sweetened blood filling to spill over my tongue. He was right. Trista had been hiding the good stuff from me.

With the bag of chocolates still tucked under his arm, he rose up and pressed his lips to mine. My hand found his hips to steady him as our tongues met between our mouths. I sank into the kiss as one of his hands came up to cradle my face. Leaning into his warmth, I kissed him harder.

Reaching around me, Sheldon sat the bag of chocolates on the counter and ran his chilly hand over my chest and stomach. I growled into the kiss as my dick hardened at the mere thought of his fingers drifting lower and continuing their teasing march. They stopped at the top of my jeans before working their way back up.

My hands slid to cup and massage the full, round globes of my mate’s ass. He moaned against my lips, pressing against me, his dick just as hard as mine was. His hands slid down me again, but this time he pulled away from the kiss to sink onto his knees and make quick work of my fly.

“Magi, engage double-security,” I said, through gritted teeth.

The last thing I needed was Trista showing up unannounced while my pants were around my knees in the kitchen.

“You got it, Travis!” Magi said, cheerfully. “I’ve detected a high level of pheromones. Should I enable pheromone blocking and dim the lights to set the mood?”

“Yes, please,” Sheldon said, tugging down my underwear to join my pants around my knees.

The overhead light died and shimmery lights under the baseboards came to life as Sheldon wrapped his soft fingers around me. My pulse thrummed through my dick as he gave me a few tentative strokes, finding his rhythm. I leaned back against the counter as Sheldon’s soft hand chased away the rest of my thoughts.

Soon his soft, promising lips pressed against the head of my dick and my breath hitched as the pressure of his mouth made me grip the counter. He grinned up at me with hungry eyes as his mouth sank down over my dick. His warm tongue pressed against the underside of my shaft and my eyes drifted closed. Pleasure spiraled up and down my cock following the warm, slick trail his hungry mouth left behind. Bracing against the counter, I ran a hand through Sheldon’s soft hair. He glanced up at me as he slid his mouth down my shaft again, almost making it to the base of my cock.

A groan escaped my lips and I held onto his hair, wanting to touch as much of him as possible. Anticipation shimmied down my spine as Sheldon slid up and back down. My balls drew up close to my body, aching and full, but I could’ve savored my mate’s mouth all over me forever.

His hands slid from my hips and squeezed between me and the counter, cupping my ass cheeks. He massaged my skin, grabbing handfuls of my flesh, as he took in nearly all of me. My breath caught in my throat as everything inside me gave up to Sheldon’s warm, soft mouth. I thrust forward once into him as my warm, sticky seed spilled into his mouth. He swallowed, drinking down the proof of my pleasure, even as I pulled him up onto his feet for a kiss.