Claiming Marcus (Lords of Discord 1)

“Maybe he’s a slow riser like Winter,” Rafe said. But he sounded worried. Rafe was never worried. Rafe joked and teased.

“Don’t go to sleep, Ethan!” Winter shouted. “You fight it!”

Arms tightened around him, threatened to break bones. Marcus’s voice was strong now, but the panic was clear. “Ethan, come back to me! Don’t leave me, my heart. You promised to open your eyes. Please, don’t leave me.”

Marcus thought he was leaving him. Never.

Things didn’t make any sense to him, but the idea that he’d ever leave Marcus was absolutely ridiculous. He needed to open his eyes, if only to reassure Marcus that he wasn’t going anywhere.

Ethan fought against the cloying darkness trying to pull him into slumber. He was sure he’d never been so tired in his life, but this was more important than sleep. He needed to tell Marcus that he wasn’t leaving him, that he was fine.

When he finally blinked his eyes open, his first sight was Marcus’s pale, tear-streaked face. Sounds of relief and joy exploded around the room, but his gaze never wavered from Marcus.

“There you are,” Marcus said in a choked sob.

“Never leaving you,” Ethan said thickly. Now that his eyes were open and he’d spoken, the last tendrils of fatigue were burning away faster. He felt alive and completely rejuvenated. Old aches and pains were gone. He felt…new.

Marcus helped him sit up on the couch, and Ethan looked around at his companions, surprised by their intense relief.

“What happened?”

“You wouldn’t wake up,” Rafe said. “Lazy just like Winter.” But for all his playful words, even Rafe looked exhausted.

“I remember the drinking part, but that stopped just a minute or two ago. I couldn’t have been asleep that long.”

Marcus touched his cheek, a slight tremble to his fingertips. “Ethan, that was an hour ago. We’ve been trying to wake you for an hour. You scared me to death.”

Ethan lunged at Marcus, wrapping his arms around him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to scare you.”

Marcus held him tightly. “I know, my heart. I know. It’s just how it goes sometimes. I have you now. Forever.”

Ethan was about to ask him if it had worked, but the most wonderful smell hit his nose. Turning his face into Marcus’s neck, Ethan nuzzled him more, trying to get closer to that amazing aroma. He moaned loudly and he didn’t care if the others laughed at him.

“You smell amazing,” he moaned again. “How have I never noticed that you smell so good?”

“Awww…the baby is hungry,” Rafe said, but Ethan couldn’t lift his face long enough from Marcus’s neck to make a snarky reply.

“Feeding time,” Winter chimed in.

Marcus gently lifted Ethan out of his lap and smiled at him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Ethan interrupted him with a cry of pain. There was an intense ripping in his mouth. Ethan cried out again as the pain increased for a second and then faded to a dull ache in his teeth.

“There they are.” Bel sounded quite satisfied.

“What?” Ethan asked, looking over at Marcus.

His lover smiled. “Your fangs.”

The realization hit suddenly, knocking the air from his lungs. It wasn’t just the fangs or the fear that Ethan had come so close to death. It was what had started all this in the first place. The transformation. The rebirth.

He was a vampire.

“It worked,” Ethan said, though the statement could have easily been taken as a question.

“Yes.”

Ethan shoved off the couch and took a few drunk, stumbling steps before he finally got his balance. He ran to the mirror hanging on the wall. His reflection looked the same, though his hair was sticking up in every direction, and there was a definite red smear around his mouth. He still looked like Ethan Cline, occasional college student.

But then he parted his lips and there were a pair of perfect fangs curved down into a frighteningly sharp point.

“Holy fuck,” he breathed. “I’m a vampire.”

“My very sexy vampire,” Marcus said. Ethan shifted his gaze to find his lover standing behind him, a slightly worried look in his eyes as he watched Ethan.

“Thank you, Marcus. Thank you for this,” Ethan whispered. He understood now the risk that Marcus had taken in changing him, and he admired his lover all the more. The gift he’d given Ethan was immense.

“Anything for you.”

Ethan turned and hugged Marcus tightly again, but the hug was brief. He shoved out of Marcus’s arms, giving a somewhat unsteady chuckle. “You also smell really amazing, and I keep thinking about biting you.”

Rafe clapped his hands together and jumped up from his seat. “Well then, let’s get this baby fed. I know just the place to try out his new teeth.”

Ethan winked at Marcus before turning his attention back to Rafe. “All right old man, let’s go do this.”

His new brothers laughed, and Ethan felt at peace. He was home.