He fell forward as the summoning circle evaporated in an instant, and Ivan caught him, crushing Nix tightly against him, so tight Nix could barely move.
“Everyoneout,” Ivan barked. “Now.”
Nix was frozen in his arms, fearful and giddy all at once. He couldfeelIvan again. Could feel his angry, broken, bitter pieces, his obsession and devotion. It was like a balm against Nix’s own recent hopelessness, his fear and desperation.
He might have lost this.
Hehadlost this.
He could hear the shuffle of people leaving, the murmur of voices, but he couldn’t see. Ivan was blocking his view, and he wasn’t letting up his hold.
Nix tried to smile. “You missed me, huh?”
“I told you I need you.” Ivan’s voice was harsh and reprimanding.
Now Nix did smile, his lips curling against Ivan’s throat. “Well, there’s need, and then there’sneed.”
“This is the latter.” Ivan withdrew just enough to meet Nix’s eyes. “I’ve been taught my whole life that love gets you killed. I never wanted it. I wouldn’t have known how to reach for it if I did. But with you—” Ivan swallowed hard, his hands like claws against Nix’s body. “It doesn’t matter if it kills me. Because I refuse to live without you.”
“Oh, but, Vanya,” Nix sighed, something warm and fluid running through his chest. He lifted his hand to Ivan’s cheek. “Baby. I keep telling you—I’m an incubus. Loving me isn’t going to get you killed. Loving me is going to make you invincible.”
Invinciblemight have been a bit of a stretch. But Ivan’s lifespan would be linked to Nix’s, and that was quite a long, long time for them both to live.
“I don’t fucking care.” Ivan dropped his forehead against Nix’s. “Just don’t leave again.”
“Never,” Nix soothed, running his fingers through Ivan’s hair. “Never ever.”
They spent a long moment like that, breathing each other’s air, and then the magic of the bond began to take its toll on them both and Ivan let out a pained groan, pushing Nix down onto the carpet, tugging at his clothes. “Off,” he growled. “Get these fucking things off.”
Nix could have disappeared them, but Ivan seemed to be getting some of his frustration out in the act of tearing them off him, so he let it be.
It wasn’t long before he was naked, spread out on the carpet. Ivan’s eyes roamed over him greedily, as if Nix had been gone for centuries and not mere minutes. Nix should have been preening under his gaze—he did so love to be appreciated—but his entirebody was trembling, the newly formed bond between them setting him alight.
Tremors racked Ivan’s body as well, but his words were firm. “You’re mine, demon.”
“I’ve been yours since the moment you summoned me,” Nix told him. “Big mistake, there. You were never getting rid of me.”
His joke didn’t even garner a smile, but that was hardly a surprise, as Ivan had begun to busy himself with a new way of getting his frustration out—biting at every inch of Nix’s skin he could reach.
It was like he was testing the limits of Nix’s demon strength, trying to mark him up against all odds. He rolled Nix over, biting at his shoulders, his spine, his lower back. He spread Nix’s cheeks and licked at his hole, softening him until he could spear him with his tongue. He ate him out thoroughly, muttering steadily over Nix’s moans. Oaths about keeping Nix forever. About how Nix was his. About how he was going to fuck him every day for the rest of eternity.
Nix was pretty sure he’d broken Ivan. But if this was him broken, Nix wasn’t sure he was ever going to put him back together again. The manic possessiveness was exactly what Nix himself needed to soothe the horrible pain of their brief separation.
He’d never felt so wanted. So needed. So perfectly desired.
The carpet was rough against him, and he could smell the blood from the earlier meeting saturating the air. But Nix wouldn’t leave this room for all the world. This could be his new Void. He could be stuck here in this godforsaken mobster restaurant forever, and as long as Ivan was with him, he wouldn’t care. They could lose their minds together, slowly meld into each other, until their souls weren’t only connected, but one entity.
Maybe this wasn’t the healthiest relationship in the history of the world.
Ivan rolled him back over, biting at Nix’s inner thigh. “Stop. Thinking.”
“I’m thinking about you,” Nix told him, sighing his pleasure when Ivan continued to bite at him viciously. “You’re always fucking me in your suit. Get naked.”
Ivan could easily have argued about how the doors were unlocked. That any of his men could come in at any time. That he didn’t have Nix’s handy power of making his clothes reappear at will.
But he started stripping, his brow furrowed. “I feel— This is—”
“It’s the bond,” Nix soothed. “You’ll feel better after we consummate it.”
