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Finally, Mathias wrapped one strong hand around Carson’s aching cock, stroking with perfect, restrained power—too tight, too slow, too good. Dry friction burned sweetly at first, each deliberate drag pulling broken gasps from Carson’s throat. His thumb teased the slick head in lazy circles, spreading the leaking moisture while his other hand pinned Carson’s wrist above his head.

Carson writhed beneath him, mind fracturing. I should stop this. I should run. Yet every stroke made his resolve crumble further. His free hand clutched at Mathias’ shoulder, nails digging in as pleasure-pain twanged through his nerves like taut strings ready to snap.

Mathias shifted lower with predatory grace, broad shoulders parting Carson’s thighs. Cool lips brushed the inside of one knee, then trailed upwards in a chilling path of open-mouthed kisses and teasing nips that left numbing trails across sensitive skin. “So responsive,” he praised, voice thick and hypnotic. “Every inch of you sings for me. Let me hear it.”

A rough tongue traced the crease of Carson’s hip, then lower, lapping at his balls before engulfing his throbbing length in wet, searing heat. The sudden contrast tore a raw cry from Carson’s throat. The graze of fangs along his shaft sent white-hot lightning shooting up his spine. He fisted his free hand in dark hair, torn between pulling Mathias closer and pushing him away.

The feeding came without warning—a sharp, intense pinch high on the inside of his thigh. Pain and pleasure fused into one devastating wave. Carson’s vision whited out as an orgasm ripped through him with shattering intensity, his cock pulsing hard in Mathias’ hand while the vampire drank deeply. Every nerve sang with bliss so intense it bordered on agony. His body convulsed, hips jerking helplessly as wave after wave crashed over him, the high leaving him shattered and gasping.

Mathias groaned around him, the sound quietly rough and deeply possessive, drawing out the release until Carson was boneless, trembling, utterly undone.

When Mathias finally pulled back, lips glistening darkly, he crawled up Carson’s trembling body and claimed his mouth in a deep, copper-tanged kiss. “Exquisite,” he breathed against swollen lips. “My soul mate. The other half that quiets the sun’s whisper...for now.”

Carson clung to him, basking in the high that lingered, addictive and sweet, making his skin buzz with the need for more. “Again,” he demanded, voice hoarse, fingers digging into Mathias’ shoulders. “Don’t stop. I want all of it.”

Mathias stilled, forehead pressed to Carson’s. His heart thudded once, hard, against Carson’s ribs. “You don’t know what you’re asking, love. We’re dancing on the edge. One slip and I could ruin you. Turn you, or worse—bind you as a Renfield. The ritual...three nights of blood and essence, binding souls in euphoric torment. Most don’t survive whole. I’ve lost too many through the decades. I won’t lose you.”

But even as he warned, Mathias’ hands roamed, possessive and tender, stoking the fire anew. Carson felt the snare tighten around his chest, that invisible rope pulling him deeper into this unreal world of shadows and ecstasy. Fascination burned bright—Mathias’ strength, his guilt-laced hunger, the forbidden bond that made the vampire tremble.

Then horror crept in, cold as Mathias’ skin. This wasn’t just sex or infatuation. It was ruin wearing pleasure’s face. Cravings gnawed at him during daylight hours. Friends who forgot nights. A life unraveling thread by thread. If he stayed, how much of Carson Holden would remain?

“I don’t care,” Carson gasped, hips rolling up shamelessly, chasing more sensation. “I want the pain with the pleasure. I want you to break me and put me back together. Please, Mathias...ruin me.”

Mathias groaned, a sound of pure surrender laced with dread. His fingers tightened bruisingly on Carson’s hips as conflict warred across his face.

“You have no idea how much I want that,” he rasped, voice shaking. “And how terrified I am that I’ll give it to you. I fear for your soul, but deep inside, I know that battling the overwhelming pull of the bond is useless. I want you far more than any human could know.”

“Tell me more,” Carson whispered, voice trembling with equal parts terror and desire. “Show me everything.”

Mathias’ worn groan was surrender and warning both. “As you wish, beautiful one. But remember—this path has no safe return.”

***

Mathias’ voice had grown quieter, each word pulled from a well of old pain as he described the wanderer’s blood flooding his mouth—the metallic heat chasing the gnawing rat, the guilt that clawed at him even as ecstasy sang through his veins for the first time since waking burned and broken under the sun. Carson listened, heart hammering, one hand still pressed to the cool plane of Mathias’ chest where a faint, stolen heartbeat now thrummed in unsteady rhythm with his own.

“The camp came later,” Mathias continued, a rasp threading through the satin of his tone, hypnotic even in confession. “Small camps of the lost—sires guiding whelps, dams like Gina holding the young ones together against the Sun’s Jealous Call. She mutters louder with age, promising peace if we’ll only step into her light. I’ve felt her tug for decades, but never like this.” His fingers traced idle patterns along Carson’s side, blunt nails scraping lightly, igniting taut strings of passion that pulled tight and quivered low in Carson’s belly. “Not until you.”

Carson shivered as Mathias rolled them again, the vampire’s heavier frame settling over him with perfect alignment. Cool skin met fevered heat, and where they touched, warmth surged—borrowed life flaring bright between them. Mathias’ mouth found the hollow of his throat, lips brushing, breath a numbing chill that raised gooseflesh and made Carson arch helplessly.

“An ethereal link,” Mathias murmured against his skin, the words vibrating straight into Carson’s blood. “Soul-deep. Your scent, your taste—they quiet her for me. Grant this dead heart rhythm when we’re close.” Callused hands roamed lower, one wrapping around Carson’s aching cock with that too-tight, perfect grip, stroking slow and deliberate. “But such links are perilous, love. Feed too deeply, share even a drop of my essence, and you court Renfieldism—the mind unravels while the body craves only this.”

Their lips met for a brief caress that left Carson’s trembling, wanting more. “Exquisite,” Mathias breathed, the word a command and a caress. “You are my soul mate, Carson. The missing piece that makes me feel alive again.”

Mathias stilled, forehead pressed tight to Carson’s, his restarted heart thudding once, hard. “Beautiful one, I hear your desire to know more. I understand the draw to know more, to experience the breadth and width of what I can offer. But the turning ritual entails three consecutive nights of draining and sharing, leaving our souls bound in euphoric torment. Most turns don’t survive intact. I’ve seen whelps driven mad, lost to the sun or worse. I won’t risk that with you. Not when this link already pulls us both towards destruction.”

Yet his hands never stopped moving—possessive, tender strokes that stoked the fire higher, binding Carson tighter in the snare of scent and sensation. Fascination bloomed in Carson’s chest: this ancient, tormented creature who fought his nature for him, who offered ecstasy wrapped in warning.

Then horror crept in, icy and sharp. This wasn’t romance or simple lust. It was addiction wearing pleasure’s mask—cravings that haunted his days, memories that fractured, a life quietly unraveling. If he surrendered fully, how much of himself would survive the fall? Friends forgotten, work abandoned, sanity traded for the high only Mathias could deliver.

Still, even as dread coiled tight in his gut, Carson’s body betrayed him, arching into the next touch with a broken moan. The snare held fast.

“Tell me the rest,” he breathed, terror and desire twisting together. “Show me what I’m risking.”

Mathias’ groan was pure surrender laced with dread. “As you wish...but know this path leads only deeper into the ruin.”

***

Mathias