19. Dante

Chapter nineteen

Dante

“ W hat the fuck does that mean?”

With my cock still firmly embedded in Austin’s arse, he hit me with a question I had no idea how to answer. I wasn’t even sure what it meant, although I had a pretty good idea after talking with Mal.

When Austin had placed my hand on his mark, I thought he’d pass out. I hadn’t expected the thunder and lightning that accompanied it, nor had I expected him to light up like a fucking beacon, burning far brighter than he had the last time.

“Let’s get cleaned up, and we can discuss it.” Hardly post-coital pillow talk, but I knew he wouldn’t back down until he had all the answers.

Finally, I extricated myself from him, went into the bathroom, and got a washcloth. He followed me.

“You could have waited for me in bed.”

“I couldn’t. I have an irresistible urge to be near you.”

Did I feel the same way?

“Go back into the bedroom and wait for me. I want to test a theory.”

“Really? The last time you tested a theory…”

“I know what happened last time. You ended up dead, but I no longer think you have anything to fear from me. If I’m right, the bonding removed my urge to murder you while you sleep.”

“Well, that’s good news at least.” He walked out of the bathroom, only to return seconds later.

If he felt anything like I did, he was in pain, and the pinched look on his face suggested he was.

“It hurts, right?”

He nodded. “Fucking right here.” He pounded his chest, and I knew exactly what he meant. Was this a permanent thing, or would it fade with time?

Only one way to find out.

With barely an inch separating us, we cleaned up and returned to the bedroom like a pair of conjoined twins.

How the fuck were we supposed to work with this?

I found my phone and dialled Mal’s number, mildly irritated by Austin’s proximity, but that probably was a symptom of the bonding.

“Dante.”

“What the fuck does the bonding entail?”

His loud laugh almost shattered my eardrums. At least someone found it funny.

“It’s different for everyone. Jason and I had time to get used to being fated mates before we cemented our joining. I’m guessing that’s not what’s happened to you.”

“No, it fucking hasn’t.” I kept my annoyance in check, for my sake and Austin’s. None of this was his fault.

I took his hand in mine and kissed his knuckles. The dull pain in my chest slowly eased.

“Tell me what happened.”

“What? All of it?”

“No, just the pertinent parts.”

Okay, so not the sex, then. Still, I had to give him more information than Austin or I wanted to tell him.

“So we fucked, we both had an orgasm, Austin placed our hands on his angel mark, and the room lit up like the fucking 4th of July, and now, we can’t move a millimetre away from each other without either of us being in pain.”

Mal sucked in a breath. “Wow, that’s some strong bond you have there. You shouldn’t be surprised, though. It was written. Calista said—”

“We know what she said. The prince of darkness, the boy with the light in his heart.”

Suddenly, the glowing skin made sense. It was his heart glowing, creating the effervescent light shining from him.

As much as I hadn’t wanted to believe the prediction, it was becoming patently obvious it was true.

“So what’s your problem?” He shuffled some papers. Was he still at work? I looked at my watch.

It was barely seven in the evening.

“Will it fade with time? With all due respect, we hardly know each other, and to think we can’t even go to the bathroom without each other. Things could get difficult.”

I glanced over at Austin, who was close to tears. It wasn’t ideal, but we needed to find out if it would get any better.

“Give me a minute. I have a book about it somewhere. Anyway, how come you don’t know any of this?”

“I know death and destruction. That’s what I do. Love and heart stuff is not my thing.”

“Gee, thanks.” Austin stalked towards the door.

Fuck, what had I said? I hadn’t meant it like that.

A searing pain hit me, and seconds later, he was glued to my side, a scowl on his face.

Unless we got this sorted, it was going to get old quickly.

I tapped my fingers on my leg. Mal was taking his time. I dared another glance at Austin. Wait, we were both still stark bollock naked. I sat straighter. Austin raised an eyebrow.

“We are not doing it again.” He folded his arms.

“Why not? It could be fun. Don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”

“At least get off the phone first.”

“That’s not a no, then.”

He rolled his eyes. At least he wasn’t freaking out, unlike me. I might seem calm on the outside, but inside, I was a mess.

The devil with a mate? Unheard of and I should know.

“Okay, I’m back. It says here that the longer the bond goes on, the more the effects should lessen yet solidify. Contradictory, to say the least. To me, that suggests the effects are strong to begin with, but as time wears on, you shouldn’t feel them so keenly. You’ll still be bonded, but in time, you’ll be able to go about your normal lives without having to be so close to each other. Oh, hang on, there’s more.”

Mal muttered under his breath as he read, but my gaze once again went to Austin and his nakedness. My cock twitched, despite it being less than ten minutes since we’d last fucked.

“Right. The proximity thing has to do with strengthening the bond. You might want to stay close to a bed.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you likely won’t be able to keep your hands off each other for a while.”

That would explain a lot and my current need to take him back to bed and fuck him all over again.

“What about the ones trying to kill me?” Austin tugged on my arm. “Am I safe now? Ask him.”

“Did you hear that, Mal?”

“I did. The stronger the bond becomes, the less likely that is to happen. As your relationship grows, the angel mark will develop. It’ll change shape, it says here. Has it changed?”

I peered at Austin’s chest. It looked bigger, but I couldn’t say for certain.

“Maybe? It’s not clear.”

“That’s all I’ve got, I’m afraid.”

“So I’m still in danger. Jesus, Dante.” Austin’s eyes flashed.

“Hey, don’t say his name.”

“I don’t know what to suggest,” Mal said. “Have more sex. Grow the angel mark, strengthen the bond until it’s unbreakable. Then you should be safe.”

There could have been worse ways to spend our time, but Austin was worried. As was I. How long would this go on for?

“I have to go, Dante, but let me know how it goes. Talk to you soon and good luck.”

I threw the phone onto the nightstand and sat on the bed. Austin plopped down next to me.

“So what now? Do we have to stay holed up here until it does what it’s supposed to? Can we break it?”

I never thought to ask, but did he want to? More to the point, did I? We hardly knew each other, having only met a few days ago. But I’d heard tales of matings where it had taken place within hours. When you knew, you knew, and I couldn’t deny the attraction I’d felt towards him the moment I’d seen him.

“Do you want to break it?”

Austin shrugged. “I don’t know. Yes? No? I’m so confused. I can’t say I don’t feel something for you, I just don’t know what that is, and now it looks as if we have no choice but to stay together. I don’t know how I feel about that. It’s sudden, you know?”

I knew exactly what he meant, but the closer he sat to me, the more my body screamed at me to take him again.

And by the way he moved his hand up my thigh, edging closer to my hardening cock, I knew we were on the same page.

I launched myself at him, flattening him to the bed, covering his lips with mine. He didn’t falter and kissed me back with abandon, invading my mouth with his tongue.

I placed myself between his legs. He spread them wide, and once again, I drove into him, my arms on either side of his body, supporting my weight.

His hands roamed my face as he placed eager kisses on my cheeks and neck.

“Fuck, Dante. Harder.” I did as he asked until my release hit me like a freight train.

I shouted, thrusting until my balls were empty. I looked down at the sticky mess between us. He’d been as close as I.

“I’m not sure how much more I can take.” He lay breathless on the bed, sweat trickling down his face.

“Me either. Who knew being fucked to death was a thing?”

Wait. Had his mark changed? At first, it had looked like an abstract angel. Now there were other markings. Was that a horn? Surely not.

“Your chest.” I pointed towards it. I wasn’t going to touch that again.

“What about it?” He glanced down. “I can’t see it properly.”

“Go to the bathroom. You’ll see better in there.” I followed him, and together we stood in front of the mirror.

It had definitely changed. “Do you see horns?”

“That’s what I thought. Does that mean…?”

“That we’re inextricably connected? I think it does.” He didn’t sound too happy about it, though, and a pang of disappointment shot through me.

He turned to me, a concerned look on his face.

“What?”

“Don’t be disappointed.” Had he felt that?

“I’m not.”

“I can feel it. Can’t you feel me too?”

I’d been so concerned with fucking him I’d not taken time to concentrate on him, but now I did, I sensed a feeling of resignation.

“You don’t want this,” I said matter-of-factly.

“It’s all so sudden. One minute I’m normal Austin, albeit lucky, and the next I’m the son of an angel, destined to bring light to the devil so he doesn’t destroy the earth. In addition, I’m also being hunted to stop that from happening. It’s been an overwhelming few days, so yeah, I guess I’m resigned to the fact that this is my life now.”

“It doesn’t have to be a bad one.”

“I know. I just don’t know what happens from here on out.”

“One step at a time. We’ll figure it out. At least let’s get showered. Maybe we can go longer than ten minutes this time.”

He smiled. “It’s good sex, though.”

“You’ll get no complaints from me.”

I turned on the shower, and we stepped under the spray, and as much as I wanted to go again, I refrained. Instead, I washed his hair, soaped him down, and let him do the same to me. Not going to lie and say I wasn’t tempted, but we both restrained ourselves.

Finally dressed, we went to the lounge. The food I’d ordered much earlier sat on the table, and even though it had gone cold, we tucked in, ravenous from our earlier exploits.

A loud rap on the door disturbed us.

“Yep, come in.”

Conrad strode in, a serious look on his face.

“We’ve got trouble.”

I jumped up.

“What do you mean? Trouble?”

“Hordes of them, outside the casino.”

“Hordes of what? For fuck’s sake, Conrad. Be specific.”

I instantly regretted my tone, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

“Demons, mercenaries. You name it, we got them. As a precaution, I’ve closed the casino and ushered the patrons into the main room. Used some bullshit excuse to get them in there.”

“Thank you. I’m coming right down. Give me a minute to get ready.”

“I’m coming with you.” Austin slipped on his shoes and went to follow Conrad.

“You’re staying here. I’ll not risk your life.”

“And how far do you think you’ll get without me?”

Fuck. I’d forgotten all about that.

“What’s going on? Anything I need to be aware of?”

It was only fair to let Conrad know.

“We completed the bonding, and because it’s so new, we can’t be any farther than a few feet away from each other without being in agony.”

“Oh, well, that’s just fucking dandy.”

“Do you think we planned it that way?” I glared at him. When had he become insubordinate?

“I’m sorry, boss. I wasn’t thinking.”

“What I want to know is why now? Why have they congregated now?” I deliberated on the question as we went downstairs, Austin sticking close to my side.

“I’ve no idea, but they started arriving about an hour ago. Maybe less.”

Right about the time we’d initiated the bond, but how could they know? Unless it was tied to the angel mark.

They’d known when it was broken. I could only assume they knew when it had merged with mine, for that was what the horns on Austin’s chest must have meant.

The devil’s mark, and once the bond was complete, the mark would be an amalgamation of both, forever adorning his chest.

With it would come its own set of complications, but that was for another day. We had to get through this one first.

We made it to the lobby, and I peered through the glass doors. The lights in the car park illuminated at least one hundred people.

“Sound the fire alarm and get everyone out of here,” I said to Conrad. “This could get ugly, and I don’t want anyone witnessing it.”

“On it, boss.”

The thought crossed my mind to remove Austin from the fray, to open a portal to anywhere but here, but that would cause too many problems. For one, I’d have to stay with him, and we had no idea how long we’d be away. And Austin wouldn’t want to leave his grandpa, even though he could lose his life today. I knew that much.

“Don’t even think about it. I’m not leaving.” His look was one of defiance. Yup, I’d been right.

“Then we need to fight our way out of this. Send a message that it’s over. I just don’t know how to do that right now.”

“Together, we’ll sort it out. You and me. We’re bonded. We’re stronger together.”

It wasn’t a battle cry, but it struck me deep inside.

We were stronger together, and fuck me if I didn’t feel it.

I pulled him close and slammed my mouth to his, kissing him with everything I had.

“Let’s do this.”

I threw open the doors and stepped out into the night. I would burn every fucker to the ground to save Austin.