Free All Knight Long, Book I: One Warlock's Love Story by Shad O. Walker

me!”
    “The neighbors will hear,” Giovanni warned. “Take it done a notch.”
    Zander made a quick gesture with his hand, and the leather strap of the necklace that he had given to Tau began twisting and tightening around Tau’s neck.
    “Zander, stop!” Giovanni yelled. Tau pulled at the necklace to try keep it from strangling him, but Zander’s magic was just too strong. Hung dashed across the room and slashed at the necklace several times with his razor sharp nails, finally cutting the cord -- and Tau’s neck several times in the process. The ruby and its leather cord fell to the floor. Tau reached for it despite the fact that blood was pouring from his neck, but Zander was too quick. He made another slight gesture with his left hand, and the ruby flew across the room and right into Zander’s palm.
    “But that gift acknowledges our bond,” Tau said, as if he couldn’t begin to understand Zander’s anger.
    “There is no bond. You are a liar,” Zander replied coolly, as he stomped off toward the bathroom to get dressed.
    “I’m sorry that I cut you,” Hung said to Tau, looking at the blood spilling from his neck.
    “How about you stop checking his neck out like that?” Giovanni scolded Hung, sounding more like a jealous boyfriend than actually concerned for Tau’s safety.
    “You were only trying to help,” Tau told Hung.
    “I think you two had better leave. This is magical business, and I need to help Zander work through this,” Giovanni said.
    “Leave now? The sun is up, and I’m a vampire, remember? I don’t do sunlight. And I thought you said we were going to have sex all day.” Hung pouted. “Why have I got to leave? He’s the one that lied.” He pointed over at Tau.
    “This is serious,” Giovanni explained. “Zander has never been away from home, and he can’t find his family. He’s out of control, and there’s no telling what he might do. I need to calm him down.”
    “I should be the one to help him,” Tau said, sulking a little.
    “Look, Calvin and Hobbes, you found your soul mate and started the shifter mating process last night, but Zander feels like he got fucked and lied to last night. I’m sure that you are a great guy...” Giovanni snorted as he cast a spell over the cuts on Tau’s neck to speed the healing. “But there are still a lot of things about the supernatural world that Zander doesn’t understand.”
    “So, now why do I have to leave?” Hung asked again.
    Giovanni sighed. “I have to help Zander. He barely knows how to use his magic, and he’s an emotional wreck right now. A warlock’s magic is directly tied to his feelings. He needs me right now. You can have me later. Now go get dressed.”
    Hung eased over to Giovanni like he owned him, grabbed him by his hips, and pulled him close. Then, with all of the practice and natural seduction of a vampire, he leaned in and pricked Giovanni’s neck with his right canine tooth and lapped several sips of blood. When Hung had satisfied his thirst, he walked out of the room without so much as a word. Giovanni swooned.
    “As nasty as that was, it is obvious that you two were made for each other,” Tau commented.
    “Look Simba, you need to stay out of my business and worry about your own man problems,” Giovanni snapped.
    “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. How can Zander not see what we have? Maybe I should have taken things slower and told him about my intent to mate, but I know he’s the one. We shifters mate on instinct. I know that is was more than fate that guided us to the same place at the same time. It was something more primal than that. I sensed him as soon as I walked in the club. Everything about Zander feels right to me.” Tau picked up the sheets from the floor in a feeble attempt to straighten up the destroyed guest bedroom.
    “I’m sure that he feels it. It’s pretty obvious that you two have... a thing.” Giovanni smiled wryly. “This is all just a lot for him to take in right