Free His to Protect by Alice Cain

all the man was having the time of his life. He
loved dealing with bratty subs. With Logan's hormonal fluctuations as he slowly
changed into a vampire he was probably the exact type of challenge Gavin thrived
on.
    "Anaedra dropped by earlier,"
Gavin said in a low voice. It was clear he hadn't been any happier with his
visit than Adrian had.
    Adrian nodded. "She's looking for
information."
    "That's what I thought," Gavin
said, shaking his head tiredly. All of the years they'd been dealing with the
woman who called herself a goddess and they still had no idea what she could or
couldn't do.
    The only thing they knew for certain was
that she was dangerous, her decisions seemingly made on a whim, her reactions
often over-the-top or inappropriate. If dealing with a newly made vampire was
like dealing with a woman with a severe case of PMS, then dealing with Anaedra
was like dealing with a newly made vampire with PMS on steroids carrying a
machine gun and a rocket launcher.
    The word "volatile" took on a
whole new meaning when applied to Anaedra.
    "Any leads?" Gavin asked. They
knew there was a chance Anaedra could be listening in, but they'd long ago realized
that she had a rather short attention span. She'd probably done a round of the
Alateeka brothers, stopped by to bitch about them to Lilly when she got no
useful information, and then promptly moved on to something else.
    "Same technique as
the others. At least this one survived."
    "And with the alert, hopefully more
will as well."
    Adrian nodded. He hated the necessity, and
he sure as fuck hoped there weren't any more attacks, but at least they might
reduce the risk. The vampire earlier tonight had been saved because the man who
loved her had gone to lie beside her while he waited for her to wake up.
Thankfully he'd known enough about his lover to call the right people and get
urgent help before the sun went down.
    "Did Tyler wake up?"
    "No," Gavin said with a shake of
his head. "Can't say I'm surprised. A guy who
screams like that during orgasm uses an awful lot of energy."
    "Get out of my house," Adrian said
with an exasperated shake of his head.
    Gavin just laughed, knowing the words weren't
truly meant. "Go crawl into bed beside your sub. I'll keep Logan out of
trouble."
    Adrian wanted nothing more than to do just
that, but it wasn't really fair on Tyler. Adrian had a job to do, a sacred
calling. He couldn't offer Tyler anything more than a quick roll in the hay.
Hell, he couldn't offer him a future, couldn't make any promises, he couldn't
even give him the stability he most likely wanted. As relationships went, Adrian
was fucking useless.
    Gavin watched him almost as if he could hear
Adrian's confused thoughts. Eventually Gavin shook his head. "Don't think
so hard. Just go hold him."
    It was selfish and unfair and probably
misleading, but that's exactly what Adrian did.
     
    ~*~
     
    Tyler woke surrounded by hard, warm muscle.
There wasn't any confusion. He knew exactly where he was and who was holding
him.
    And he knew exactly what he was doing when
he wriggled closer and rubbed Adrian's hard cock with the cheeks of his ass.
The hard pinch on his nipple had him gasping in surprise.
    "Behave, little brat."
    "But I want—"
    "I know what you want, Tyler, but I can't offer you anything in return."
    Tyler rolled over, ignoring Adrian's
attempts to hold him still. If he'd truly wanted to immobilize him, he easily
could have.
    "What is it you think I expect?"
    Adrian shook his head but didn't stop
holding him close. Tyler took that as a good sign.
    "I can't give you the future you
deserve."
    "What?" Tyler asked feeling a
little bit shocked. "I don't remember asking for a ring. Hell, you offered
to train me as a sub. I know how this stuff works. I'm not expecting anything
more from you than a few weeks of kinky fun."
    He wanted way more than that, but if Adrian
only had a few weeks to give, then Tyler planned to build happy memories to
last him a lifetime. There was something