“Curse? What curse?’ Ryan sat forward, intrigued.
Nikolai squatted down by the wall and got into his story. “Well, my great-gran
dmother was sort of kidnapped away from her home by my great-grandfather. Back in those days, my family operated a little, shall we say, outside the law. She was a Russian witch, everybody said, and she stayed with her Lycan mistress for over fifty cycles, but she never forgave my great-grandfather for taking her from her home and her family. She was a sweet old lady by the time we knew her. She made us call her Nanna, and she told us stories.
He kidnapped her brother too, another witch, or warlock, as they called the males. His name was Ivan. Their family finally came to rescue them, not long after they were kidnapped but by that time she wouldn’t leave. Neither would her brother. She was pissed, though, and never got over it. And Ivan, who was even more powerful than she was, never got over it either. He put a curse on all of my greatgrandfather’s descendants and even on his entire family’s line. ”
“So he cursed children?”
“No, not exactly. It was more to get back at my great-grandfather. He told him all of his descendants would be alphas, and extremely dominant, both male and female. ”
“Seems a strange kind of curse. ” Ryan laughed. “Did it come true?”
“Oh, yes, and it was truly evil! Alphas can’t share territory,just can’t do it. So that meant all the boys and girls born to the family would never be able to live together in harmony. At least not as rulers of the pack. They would always be fighting among themselves, or else become travelers, unable to settle down. That’s been true too, except for Lucas. ”
“For real?”
“Oh, yes,Lucas was the only one who ever really wanted to lead the pack, so he’s our pack alpha. The rest of us are bounty hunters, and voyagers. We never really wanted to settle down. But that wasn’t the worst of the curse. ”
“Really? Whatelse?”
“Well, he said that each of us would know our mates immediately when we saw them and we would have to have them. Have to, like no choice at all in the matter, whether we were ready to have a mate or not. Well, that’s kind of true for most wolves anyway, so he cheated a little on that part of the curse. But with us, it’s even worse. We would know them by their scent and by their looks, he said, and we would fall instantly in love. Painfully and irrevocably in love, so we have to be with our mates at all times or be miserable. You see, Ivan didn’t like being left alone all the time while Gunnar roamed the universe without him. Gunnar had exacted his promise that Ivan never curse him, so he did the next best thing. He cursed all of the descendants. ” Nikolai looked Ryan over carefully. “Although if I had a matelike you, I wouldn’t want to leave him anyway, curse or no curse. ”
Ryan blushed again. “You’d better not let Blayde hear you. He’s kind of jealous. ”
Nikolai snorted. “Kind of? He’s a maniac! He’s going to kill me for coming in here first, but I really wanted to meet you. We have to make it look good in front of the other prisoners too, like I’m in here having my way with you. ” He stood up and sighed. “Speaking of which, I guess we’d better make it look good. I’ll hit my fist and you shout out, okay? Make it sound good. ”
Nikolai smacked his hand in his fist a few times and then jumped back, startled as Ryan let out a bloodcurdling scream like he was being killed. Ryan screamed out, “No, please stop! Please don’t hurt me!” Nikolai got a wicked grin on his face and smacked his hand again.
Another terrified scream and the door burst open and slammed back against the wall. Blayde bounded into the room with murder in his eye, his fangs down and claws descended. He rushed across the room and flung himself down acrossRyan’s body, looking up at Nikolai with fury.
Nikolai backed quickly away and shut the door of the cell before any of the prisoners could see what was going on. Nikolai came back slowly toward Blayde, holding his hands up in surrender, and speaking softly. “It’s okay, Blayde. He’s fine. See? We were only pretending. ”
Ryan, almost smothered under Blayde’s bulk, was trying desperately to push him off and allow him to breathe. “I’m all right, Blayde. Really. It was all an act. ”
The red haze began to recede from Blayde’s eyes. Embarrassed, he stood up and clenched his fists. “I thought…”
Nikolai laughed. “You thought I was enjoying myself with your mate. No, Blayde, I don’t have a death wish, no matter how charming your mateis, and he’s very special, I must say. He’s completely untouched by me. ”
“He’d better be,” Blayde growled. “Get the hell out of here. I’ll be up later. ”
Nikolai left, a shadow of a mischievous grin still playing around his lips. Once the door closed behind him, Blayde turned and held out his arms. “Come here, sweetheart,” he said softly, and Ryan stepped forward into his arms, wrapping himself around Blayde and breathing in his delicious scent. “Are you really all right? It scared meto death when you screamed. ”
“I’m fine. Nikolai was regaling me with stories about his great-grandmother and her brother and the curse. ”
Blayde groaned. “Oh gods, not that again. ” He took Ryan’s face between his hands and stared at him for a few moments, then gently kissed him, licking at his lips and pressing his tongue gently inside Ryan’s mouth. “I missed you, baby. ”
Ryan felt himself melting. “I missed you too. ”
“I brought you something to eat, but I can’t seem to let go of you right now. ”
“It’s okay,” Ryan breathed back at him. “I’m not very hungry. ”
Blayde bent his head and took his lips again, walking him backward toward the mattress and catching him around the waist to lower him to it. With a strong arm around his waist, he hoisted him up to the top of the mattress and then began expertly removing all of his clothes, starting with his pants. “We don’t need these,” he said, easing them down his legs and tossing them aside. He raised his T-shirt over his head and pulled it off. “And this is just in theway. ”
Ryan began to laugh a little as Blayde dispensed with all of his clothing, leaving him naked while Blayde was still fully clothed. “Mmm, I’m going to keep you like this once I get you back home. Clothing is highly overrated for a gorgeous boy like you. Maybe I’ll put you in a thong, like they do with mates back on the home planet. This pretty skin needs to be able to breathe. ” He kissed him again and ground his erection into Ryan’s bare groin. The rough material of his pants caused Ryan to shudder and buck his hips a little. Ryan reached for the buckle on Blayde’s belt, but Blayde caught his hands on one of his and took them over his head. Holding him there, heteased Ryan’s nipples with his tongue, then bit them hard enough to make him gasp. He licked at the bites until Ryan was writhing beneath him and panting for breath.
“Look at you, so beautiful. ” He bit gently at Ryan’s nipples again. Ryan squirmed to get away, but he held him effortlessly. “All those men out there imagining what it would be like to lie between these sweet thighs, but no one will ever know for sure. Only me, sweetheart. This is mine. ” He moved his hand down to cover Ryan’s cock and move up and down his shaft slowly, rubbing his thumb across the head as he reached it, smearing the pre-cum across the broad head. “Say it, baby. This belongs to you, Blayde. ”