Page 16 of Those That Defy the Realm

CHAPTER 6

HENRY

Life hardly returned to normal after I left the Northern Isles, with Ty and Rory hiding out in my apartment and Antares spending some nights here too; it's been chaotic and cramped to say the least.

The memory of Solstice night feels like some sort of fever dream, although it’s certainly had a lingering hangover. I’ve never had a sex marathon before but that is the only way I can describe my night with Ash. By the late morning, when the winter sun finally broke the horizon, we were sweaty, covered in way too much cum and feeling a level of sated I didn’t know existed.

By the time we’d returned to the common lodge, we’d hit the reset. Only friends. Not friends that had completely banged each other’s brains out, as one delivered a crash course in gay sex to the other who’d only just realised he might be bisexual. Or pansexual.

I’ve still not come to a conclusion on the label.

But I’ve thought about it a lot. Not in a freak out, mid-life crisis kind of way. Just a ‘how did I not know this about myself?’ kind of way. It was good. So good. Being with a male.

Sex with females has been great too, and I know I don’t want to give that up. But with Ash, I loved the feel of his masculine physique, the slight scruff of his end of day stubble. The way his cock slid over mine.

Fuck, I’m getting hard just thinking about it.

A soft moan fills the air, a feminine one. Maybe this is why sex has been at the forefront of my brain since we returned. I can’t get away from it.

“Do they ever take a night off?” Antares rolls his eyes from the couch perpendicular to the one I’m lounging on.

A loud cry of pleasure comes from the spare room before I can answer. It’s true, Ty and Aurora are insatiable for each other. They managed to finally admit their true feelings for one another on Solstice and turned up the next day, mated and completely inseparable.

“I’m sure you’d be the same if you were newly mated,” I say.

“Oh definitely. I wouldn't be leaving the bedroom for the first year, at least.” Antares laughs. “But I’d find somewhere private. Maybe with thicker walls.”

“It’s not like they have much choice,” I remind him. I’m positive they’d rather be completely alone to enjoy their bliss. Sadly, even though they’re now mated, they’re far from safe. Ty’s old pack will have even more reason to kill him now. And would possibly kill Aurora too if she refused to accept another bond—one that might be forced on her, I might add.

Ty’s old pack really are a bunch of bastards of the worst kind. The worst of our kind anyway. It’s not an excuse but the war which forced our species to live in secret really allowed the laws to break down and for dickheads like Adicious to gain control.

We’re working on a plan to take him out.

As masculine growls join in with the female sounds of pleasure, I decide I’ve had enough. “I’m going to bed.”

“Fine, leave me alone out here to deal with this.” Antares scowls. Seeing as my apartment has only two bedrooms he is having to sleep on the sofa.

“You could leave.”

“Nah, I really pissed the pack off this time. I need to give it a few more days.”

I tut in response, shaking my head as I move towards my room. “Fine, have a bath or something instead.”

“Good idea,” Antares replies. “I could use a soak. And hopefully they’ll be done in an hour or so.”

We head into our respective separate rooms, putting an extra door between our ears and the mated couple.

I’d brushed my teeth and showered earlier, so I shuck the joggers I’m wearing and go about the process of removing my prosthetic. It’s muscle memory at this point, so my mind wonders once more to the wolf who won’t leave my head.

We hadn’t even swapped numbers before I left. Which was probably for the best. With him held by treaty in the Northern Isles and my life here, what would be the point in allowing any kind of feelings to develop.

Especially as I had a suspicion that Ty and Rory would be asking me to join their pack should they succeed in claiming their lands back. I’ve been a rogue since I was turned, not taking any blood bonds or binding myself to a group of vampires. I didn’t want the commitment, or the obligation. Plus, the pack here in the capital is another set of thugs powered by resentment and anger over having to live underground.

At the end of the war, I already knew I wanted to do more. Not give in to the lives forced upon us. Quickly, I’d realised that going into academics would be the way I could have influence over the narrative and hopefully, one day, help turn the tide on the vicious hatred towards vampires. The Royal College University in the capital is the most prestigious on the continent, it has the best researchers and the biggest archives.

If I take up a position in Ty’s and Rory’s pack, I guess I’ll eventually have to move to Froan. An opportunity I did not see in my future a few months ago.

The thought of Froan makes me think of Clara.