Beaumont [Battle Bunnies 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Read online

  He smelled so warm, so masculine. He smelled so perfect. No other scent would ever draw him as fully. No other creature would ever look so divine. From the moment their eyes met and the binding began, Beau became Dario’s everything.

  Dario tilted Beau’s head back and searched his face before leaning down to kiss him again. He could live on kissing Beau alone. Beau seemed to lose himself in the connection as he bowed his body to get closer.

  Dario closed his eyes, letting the ripple of pleasure he felt at the soft press of Beau’s lips creep down his spine and wrap around his groin. Just tasting the sweet man had his cock growing thick in his pants.

  Dario kissed a line from Beau’s lips to his chin, to the tender skin of his throat, time and again, teasing Beau. His hands swept over Beau’s chest, his sides, and down to his hips. Dario wanted Beau senseless with passion.

  “So sensual,” Dario murmured. “So sweet.”

  He skimmed up Beau’s side before reaching under Beau’s shirt, his fingers tracing along the beautiful man’s skin in slow, unhurried strokes. He leaned down, sucking at one dark-hued nipple, teasing the flesh with his teeth and tongue. Beau gasped and then groaned, moving his head to the side.

  Dario could feel the heat inside of him rising to a fevered pitch. He needed to claim Beau now. He slid his hands down Beau’s chest until he reached the snaps on his pants. With nimble fingers, he unfastened them, reaching inside to palm Beau’s thick, rigid shaft.

  “Please.” Beau’s hips shot forward with his plea, pushing his cock deeper into Dario’s hand. Dario hadn’t thought the man could get any better looking, but as he stared down at Beau’s flushed face, he knew he was wrong. Beau was the most beautiful creature Dario had ever seen.

  “Get your clothes off,” Dario said with a feral growl.

  Beau quickly lifted his ass and pushed his pants down his legs before kicking them free. Dario saw Beau start to tremble as he pulled his own clothes off, tearing several items in his haste.

  “Lube, my darling?”

  “I…I don’t need lube.” Dario arched a brow when Beau’s face flushed. “Bunnies—”

  “Bunnies self-lube,” Dario finished. “Yes, I have heard of this, but I still will not take chances with you.”

  Beau’s face flushed as he pointed to the nightstand. Dario reached over and grabbed the lube. He popped the lid and poured a sufficient amount of slick out onto his fingers, and then snapped the lid closed. He dropped the lube onto the bed beside him.

  Beau’s high pitched grunt filled Dario’s ears even as his finger filled his tight little ass. Beau’s body stiffened for a moment and then rippled.

  “Just relax, Beau,” Dario murmured as he stroked around Beau’s sweet little hole and then pushed his finger in again. He added another finger and pressed them both into Beau’s ass as he nibbled at his ear. Dario started thrust his fingers into Beau’s tight ass over and over again, until he felt the little ring of muscles stretch and pulse against his fingers. He teased Beau with his tongue as he readied his mate to receive him, and it needed to be soon. Dario was holding on by a very thin thread.

  “Dario!”

  “That’s my darling.” Dario pulled his fingers free, wetting them again as he stared directly into Beau’s eyes.

  “Now, my darling, I make you mine,” Dario whispered. He pressed the blunt head of his cock to Beau’s entrance and Beau let go of a small whimper.

  “Slow breaths, Beaumont,” Dario said as he began to inch his erection into Beau’s ass. His breath hitched, his muscles locked, and Dario was lost in a world of complete bliss as he slid further inside his mate.

  Dario planted the palms of his hands on the mattress, on either side of Beau’s head. His eyelids fluttered closed. He blew out a long breath before his hips began to move once again. There was no other way to describe the growing madness inside of him.

  Dario opened his eyes and stared down at his mate once again. He started moving, thrusting deeply into Beau’s tight grip and then pulling out until just the tip of his cock remained inside. When Beau clenched his inner muscles around his cock, Dario groaned from the feeling Beau was causing. Pure ecstasy.

  Just when Dario felt sure he couldn’t hold back any longer, he felt Beau go rigid beneath him and the space between them was filled with his hot release.

  That’s all Dario needed.

  Fangs began to lengthen in Dario’s mouth. He struck, sinking his sharp teeth into Beau’s neck. Beau shook, his body jerking against Dario.

  His thrusts became faster, more erratic and wild as he drank from Beau’s throat. Dario could feel his cock expanding, taking hold inside of Beau’s tight body. He closed his eyes and let the pleasure of his mate’s body carry him over the edge into sweet oblivion.

  Dario collapsed onto Beau and then rolled them both so that they were lying on their sides, facing each other. He pulled Beau close to his chest before brushing the hair back from his beloved’s face.

  “My mate,” Dario said with an intensity that should have shaken the walls surrounding them. He inhaled deeply, taking in Beau’s luscious scent. It was mixing with his, the scent changing so others of Dario’s kind would know Beau had been claimed, and by whom. “My sweet darling.”

  Beau’s beautiful dark eyes opened and began to clear with awareness. Dario would never get tired of gazing at his mate. Lifting a finger, he traced the edge of the symbol that graced his beloved’s cheek. Could it be that his mate was part of the ancient prophecy? It would seem so, by the evidence under his finger.

  “Don’t.” Beau jerked his head back and grabbed onto Dario’s hand, holding it away from his face. “Don’t touch it, it’s ugly.”

  “Why would you say that, my darling?” Dario was confused. Beau should have been honored with the gift the fates had bestowed on him and his brothers.

  “Some of my earliest memories are of being held down while the scientists burned that horrible symbol into my cheek.” Beau curled his lip and bared his teeth. The bunny was clearly agitated. “It wasn’t enough to mark me with their lasers, they had to use sharpened, heated sticks to deepen the thing.”

  Dario tucked Beau’s head against his shoulder. He could feel his mate shaking in his arms. “Calm, my beloved. I’m afraid you are mistaken. Those evil beings weren’t marking you, they were trying to remove the mark.”

  Beau tipped his head up and peered at Dario. “How do you know this?”

  “I am a very old vampire, my darling.” Dario brushed away a strand of hair that had caught in Beau’s thick eyelashes. “I am also a prince. It was a requirement during my youth to study the old prophecies.”

  Beau tilted his head to the side and seemed to be thinking. “So that you’d know what to do if a prophecy came true?”

  Dario found Beau adorable and couldn’t resist a small kiss. “Something like that.”

  “Dario?” Beau shifted his hips, separating them—much to Dario’s disappointment.

  “Yes, my darling?” Dario thought maybe if he was gentle, Beau could handle another round of lovemaking.

  “Cover us up,” Beau snapped. “Now!”

  Dario didn’t think or hesitate. He reached down to pull the thick satin quilt over them both. The next moment, the bedroom door swung open and Dario knew why Beau had been so sharp with him.

  In the doorway, leaning against each other, stood Clay and Basil. Behind them, Dominic was carrying Baxter wrapped in a blanket. Bringing up the rear was Vey, who was carrying Bailey.

  Lifting one eyebrow, Dario looked at Beau. The bunny shifter flushed and became interested in the soft tuff of hair between Dario’s pecs. Seeing he wasn’t going to get any answers out of his mate, Dario called out. “I suppose I better invite you in before all of you collapse and I would then be forced to help you.”

  “Thank you, my prince,” Dominic said the words of respect, soothing Dario’s ruffled temper.

  The next moment, Dario had a bed full of bunny shifters and their mates. A small hand cuppi
ng his cheek drew his attention away from the unacceptable situation.

  “When you touched my mark, Clay asked me why I was upset,” Beau explained. “When I said you knew about the marks on our faces, my brothers had to come and find out what they were.”

  Dario turned to stared at each brother. “There is a mind link between all of you?” Dario had assumed Beau’s was just with Clay, and not the others. It was highly unusual to have that kind of connection, but not unheard of. It would explain how they worked so well together.

  “We can all speak to each other,” Bax explained with a shrug. “We’ve always been able to.”

  “Amazing,” Dario mused. “Can you hear or speak to others as well?”

  “Just our mates,” Beau said as a little smile began to cross his lips. “None of the others can talk to you except me.”

  “It reeks of sex in here,” Clay accused, making Beau blush and duck his head.

  A thick, burnt scent of shame overlapped the last traces of their lovemaking and Dario didn’t like it. Nobody would make Beau feel bad ever again.

  “That’s what mates do,” Dario snapped and threw a pointed glance at the duck waddling into the room. “You should try it sometime.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Clay said even as he reached down to pick up the duck. He settled the feathered fowl on his lap as if he did it every day. From what Dario had seen since he arrived on the scene, he did.

  “You wanted to know about the marks?” Dario asked to change the subject and get everyone’s attention off his mating, and maybe Clay’s, as well. The man seemed just as uncomfortable as Beau.

  “None of us can remember a time when we didn’t have them,” Bax said. “We don’t know what they mean. Basil did a lot of research, because at first we thought they might be Japanese symbols, and while we found marks similar, we could never find the exact marks.”

  “That’s because they are not Japanese,” Dario said. “They are, in fact, symbols from an ancient paranormal language no longer used. I haven’t heard it spoken since I was a child, and then only once.”

  Beau stared at him as if he had the answers to the universe. “You’ve heard this language spoken?”

  “It was a very long time ago, my darling, back in the old country. I was with my father and we were touring some of the older paranormal settlements still in existence at that time. We stopped at an estate outside of Paris, not too far from where I was actually born. While my father was in a meeting, I was given free play in the garden.”

  “Free play?” Bax asked. “What in the hell is that?”

  “Time to play where I wasn’t required to be learning something.” At the shocked looks he received, Dario couldn’t help but chuckle. “I was the next prince of my coven. It was my duty to learn how to take my father’s place when he passed.”

  “How old were you?” Beau asked.

  “Five.”

  Beau gasped before snuggling in closer. “Our kits will be allowed free play whenever they want. I want them to just be kids.”

  Reeling from the thought of having children because he never dreamed that would be possible, considering he preferred men to women, Dario tightened the arm he had around Beau’s shoulders. “It will be as you say, my darling.”

  “I’m so proud of you, Beau,” Bax snorted. “You have him trained already and it hasn’t even been three days. Bravo.”

  Beau’s snicker was barely audible, but Dario heard it, as did Bailey, if the smile on his face was anything to go by.

  “My beloved’s happiness is more important than anything. If he wishes our children to have free play, then they will. I would not force them to be anything they do not wish to be.”

  “You say that now,” Clay inserted, “but who takes over your coven after you if you don’t train your kits to be good little princes?”

  “Alberto,” Dario said without hesitation. “He will rule by proxy, as is his right. Besides the fact that I refuse to leave my mate’s side and I suspect he has no plans to move to Europe any time soon, as prince of my coven, I am able to appoint someone to rule in my stead. As Alberto is my brother and has trained for the position, just as I have, he is the most logical choice.”

  “How is Salvador going to feel about that?” Bax asked as he glanced toward Dominic.

  “My brother will not want to go to Europe,” Dominic said as he hugged Bax to him. “Alberto will have to prove not only that they are mates, but that leaving here is the best thing for him, and that is not going to be easy. My brother is stubborn.”

  “My brother is…how should I say this…” Dario smirked as he tried to come up with the most diplomatic description of Alberto’s need for control. “A dominant person.”

  “Can we get back on track here, people?” Clay snapped in a cross tone. “What do you know about the marks on our faces?”

  Dario sent the bunny a little glare. He didn’t like Clay’s tone, but since everyone seemed to be waiting with bated breath, he said, “I suspect that they were placed there the day you were born.”

  “Why?”

  “There is an ancient prophecy that states that, in a time of great need, a caste of warriors will be born, brothers, who will protect those that cannot protect themselves from a threat unlike anything our kind has ever seen. Many will die, but even more will need a shield from the evil that threatens to obliterate our entire species. These warriors will be that shield.”

  Dario carefully pointed to Clay. “They will need wisdom”—He pointed to Bax next—“Courage.” Dario smiled as he glanced down at the man in his arms. “Loyalty.” Beau smiled back at him.

  Dario lifted his head and glanced at Basil. “They will need strength.” He heard everyone hold their breath when he looked to Bailey.

  “I don’t have a tattoo,” Bailey whispered. His mate was quick to hug him at the sadness in his voice.

  “Wisdom, courage, loyalty, and strength will not work without the most important element, young bunny.” It was kind of eerie the way Bailey lifted his head and looked at Dario, almost as if he could see right into his eyes.

  “What’s that?”

  “Heart.”

  Chapter Seven

  Beau watched the bedroom door close as the last of his brothers finally left the room. In the last forty-five minutes, he had learned important answers to many questions that he’d had all his life.

  It turned out that the symbol on his face wasn’t exactly a bad thing—more like a lot of responsibility. Sex was everything and more than he had ever imagined. Dario’s bite had sent him to the moon and back. The urge to keep baring his throat for another nip was becoming distracting.

  Most of all, Beau learned that cum drying on skin itched like crazy.

  Not able to stand it anymore, Beau leaped out of bed, sending the silky covers flying. He paused at the sight of his mate, naked and displayed on the bed. Holy crap, look at that.

  While scratching at his own itchy lower belly, Beau took in Dario’s long legs, covered with a fine sheen of dark hair. Beau decided in the near future he would see if his hands would meet around those powerful thighs.

  A fine line of hair drew his eye from an impressive package to Dario’s belly button. Before he could imagine dipping his tongue into that mini cavern, prominent ab muscles twitched under his scrutiny. Beau counted eight before two dark, quarter-sized nipples caught his attention. Seems his princey was also feeling some of the heat Beau was, as before his eyes, those nips hardened into small pebbles.

  The small patch of hair between Dario’s pecs called to Beau’s fingers. The urge to play and rub his face over his mate’s body was getting stronger.

  Movement had Beau’s gaze sliding back down to Dario’s massive cock, made bigger by the man’s hard-on. Dario’s cock bobbed against his belly as Beau continued to stare at it. How the heck that thing fit inside his body, Beau would never know.

  “Why don’t you come back to bed, my darling?” Dario urged as he trailed the tip
s of his fingers up the length of his cock.

  Beau took a step closer to the bed, but wetness drying between his thighs reminded him he needed to be clean. Scratching his belly, Beau could hardly stand the itching anymore. Was this normal?

  Turning away, Beau called out over his shoulder, “I need a quick shower. I’ll be right back.”

  He managed two steps toward the bathroom when strong arms lifted him against a warm, hard chest. That Dario was so warm still mystified Beau. He thought vampires were supposed to be cold—as in, dead cold.

  “I think we will shower together, my darling.” A soft kiss brushed against Beau’s neck. Goose bumps prickled and he wanted more.

  In the bathroom, Dario twisted the faucet lever of the deep, claw-footed bathtub before stepping into it. Warm water hit Beau square in the face before Dario turned him around so they were chest-to-chest.

  Peering up through water-drenched lashes, Beau saw a smirk on Dario’s face and his black eyes had a mischievous sparkle in them. Oh, ho, his princey had a bit of a sense of humor, after all. For a while there, Beau had worried he was a stiff shirt, only worried about protocol.

  “Are you dead?” Beau thought that was something he should know, with them being mated and all.

  “No, my darling.” Dario thrust his hips forward, rubbing his cock against Beau’s belly. “I am very much alive.”

  The skin on Beau’s lower stomach burned. Beau leaned back and looked down. Reaching down, he ran the palm of his hand over the small bumps that had formed in the last few minutes.

  Looking up at Dario, he asked, “What is going on?”

  “Your body is changing from my bite.” Dario touched a tender spot on Beau’s neck. “Once you’ve taken some of my blood that skin irritation should go away.”

  Beau tipped his head to the side, baring his neck. “Bite me again.” He needed it. The pain mixed with pleasure was like nothing he’d ever felt before. He wanted it again, and again.

  Fire glowed in Dario’s eyes. In a swift move, he turned and pushed Beau up against the wall that ran along the side of the bathtub. The hard tile was cool against the warm skin of his back.