Blazing Glory (4 page)

“Understand this, Blaze. I don’t
like forcing the unwilling. If you want me to stop, I’ll stop and leave you the
hell alone. If you want to die so badly, then I won’t get in your way.”

Levi’s words hurt in their simple
honesty. Blaze swallowed. Before Levi Black came back into his life, all he’d
wanted was to die. Reading the letter sent by the City Council and knowing he’d
put more people in danger because of his mistake nearly drove him to the brink
of suicide.

Blaze may have his pride, but the
last thing he wanted was to involve more people in his mess.

“I want you in me, Levi.” It was a
painful admission, but Levi was the only man who seemed genuine in his
intentions. To Levi, Blaze wasn’t a novelty or a freak. He was simply a man
Levi wanted, and it looked liked Levi wanted him badly.

“Good. I want you over that table.”

Blaze shuddered at the command in
Levi’s voice. He didn’t resist as Levi laid him on his back over the dining
table. There was a surprising gentleness to Levi, as if he was afraid Blaze
would break under his hands.

The press of the polished wooden
surface felt erotic against his bare skin. He let Levi spread his legs apart.

“Hold on, let me get the lube.”

Blaze craned his neck to see Levi
cursing and clumsily fumbling through the pocket of his jeans. He smiled at the
sight.

Catching him looking, Levi snarled,
“Smirk all you want, pyromancer. You won’t be smirking once I start pounding
into you.”

Just imagining Levi’s long, thick,
glorious length moving inside him made Blaze shift uncomfortably against the
table.

Gathering the remains of his
dignity, Blaze asked, “You always carry spare lube around, bear?”

“Huh?
Nah.
Just for this occasion.”
Levi returned, his form
looming above Blaze. He skimmed his large callused hands over Blaze’s inner
thigh, making him sigh. The gentle gesture was at odds with his personality,
Blaze thought, groaning when Levi’s fingers curled around his steel-hard cock.

“I want you to know one thing
before I fuck you, Blaze.” Levi’s eyes looked directly at him, making him
shiver slightly. “I’ve spent months looking for you. Months of hell wondering
if you were really alive.”

“Just so we can kill the Biter?”
Blaze asked, quite aware of how ridiculous it was to have a conversation with
his legs sprayed open lewdly like a whore. He began to close them, but Levi
easily shoved himself between his legs, his hand pressed firmly against one
calf.

“For a fucking wizard, you sure are
dumb.”

“What the hell?”

“I hunted you down to claim you,
asshole.” The intensity of Levi’s gaze and the cold, hard iron in his voice
told Blaze the shifter was completely serious.

“Claim me?” Blaze choked.

“As my mate.
You’re mine, Blaze. You belong to me and I belong to you. Don’t tell me you haven’t
felt anything.”

The denial on the tip of Blaze’s
tongue faltered and died away. How could he lie to Levi, when Levi had been
nothing but honest to him? How could he deny the mind-numbing and heart-racing
desire that took hold of his body the moment Levi entered his threshold?

After the fire, didn’t something
linger and whisper in his ear night after night? Didn’t he wonder why he
continued on living, despite how much he told himself he wanted to die?

“Then claim me,” Blaze responded
recklessly.

Seeing the hungry look in Levi’s
eyes stopped him cold. Blaze wondered what the hell he just did. That pure,
concentrated look of lust bothered Blaze a little. How could one man, let alone
a shifter he hardly knew, look at him with that much need and longing in his
eyes?

When Levi’s finger ran across the
tight muscles of his asshole, any second thoughts lingering in his mind
vanished. Keeping his legs apart, Levi traced the ring, his finger cold and
wet.

“Fuck me, Levi. Fuck me good.” The
desperate sound of his voice shocked him.

Levi smiled down at him, and the
slightly sharp edges of his teeth glinted in the light, making Blaze remember
there were two entities that claimed Levi’s soul. The bear existed right
alongside the man, and while Blaze trusted the man wholly, he wasn’t so sure
about the animal.

“Feel that, Blaze? You’re so
fucking tight for me. It’s like your ass is beginning to feel my cock.” Levi
inserted one finger in and then another, scissoring his way for his entrance.

Blaze answered with a needy and
pleading moan.

“Touch yourself while I fuck you,
Blaze.”

The authority in Levi’s voice was
absolute. Besides, Blaze had no complains. He began to pumping his half-erect
cock, stirring it back to life.

“You’re not allowed to come unless
I tell you too, understood, Blaze? Or I’ll
turning
you
over on your stomach to spank you.”

Blaze nearly came at that erotic
image. “Fuck
you,
bear,” he managed, saying nothing
more when Levi gripped his legs and nudged his cock a few inches in.

“You have a dirty mouth, Blaze.”

Blaze groaned, his hand on his cock
quickening. Remembering Levi’s words, he slowed down. Panting, he glared at
Levi above him.

“What?” Levi asked, not budging.
“You have something to say?”

“Fuck me already,” Blaze whispered,
voice strained. He added a “please.”

“Much better.”
Levi shoved into Blaze’s ass inch by inch until he was buried hilt-deep.

The brief ache Blaze felt earlier
melted away to pure, hungry pleasure. He moaned, preventing himself from coming
on the spot. Gods, the bear was magnificent, standing there above him.

“Fuck me, please,” Blaze whispered.

Levi withdrew, only to slam into
him again, thrusting so deep it wrangled a groan from Blaze.

The dual pleasure of his own
throbbing cock and Levi’s well-aimed thrusts nearly sent him over the edge
several times. He cried out as his pleasure mounted and spread through the rest
of him like an approaching firestorm.

“Please, Levi. I’m coming,” he
heard himself croak.

“Not until I come,” Levi warned.

Blaze was hyperaware of everything.
From the sheer strength of Levi’s arms, easily lifting his legs, to his hungry
cock that sent his senses spiraling and reeling.

“Don’t worry. I’m close,” Levi
grunted.

Levi’s entire body glinted with
sweat, and Blaze could spy old scars trailing his skin. Blaze stared up
hungrily at Levi above him. One day he’d liked to feel the rough texture of
those scars against his mouth.

There was nothing quite like being
pounded furiously against his own dining table by Levi Black. The wood creaked
with each of Levi’s thrust. He rendered Blaze’s entire body captive and set his
heart racing and his lungs struggling desperately for air.

One final thrust into him made
Levi’s body still before waves of pleasure rolled off him, reminding Blaze of
his own tormented pleasure. “Levi, please.”

“Come, Blaze. Come for me,” Levi
coaxed.

Blaze instantly came at those
words, his cock loosening strings of cum all over Levi’s bronzed chest and
belly. His orgasm spread from his cock and his entire body convulsed and
screamed with pleasure.

He unleashed the gathering
firestorm inside, and it roared and spread with merciless fury across his
entire body. Every inch of him felt singed, but it was pleasant, lovely burn.

After a few
moments, Levi spoke. “Hunt this undead bastard with me, Blaze. Then we can come
back here and fuck.”

Finally relenting,
Blaze agreed.
“Fine.”

Chapter Five

With their limbs still tangled
around each other and with their heads still not firmly screwed in place,
neither Levi nor Blaze registered the front door being torn from its hinges
until Levi picked up the creature’s scent.

The smell of wilting flowers and
week-old rotting corpses made that moment exactly why he hated having a
sensitive nose.

“Wake up, Blaze. Zombie incoming,”
Levi snarled.

Blaze was a trained professional
used to tackling with the supernatural, and he easily untangled himself and was
on his feet in seconds. Levi approved of his quick reaction time, which was why
he knew Blaze fit him as his partner both in bed and at work. He could imagine
working side by side on cases with Blaze.

Zombies in Lyon City weren’t like
zombies in the movies. They didn’t lumber or dragged their undead feet around
like sitting targets. From Levi’s meager knowledge, he knew the power of an
animated corpse was based on its animator. If that animator had enough juice,
he could force and stretch the muscles of his minions to its limits until they
broke down completely.

He needed a pyromancer like Blaze.
Fire was the surest and best way to kill the undead.

The zombie in front of them wasn’t
run of the mill. Despite its flimsy appearance of peeling gray flesh and
jutting bones, it barreled at him with a speed that could rival other powerful
shifters.

Levi grabbed one of his shotguns
from the ground. It roared to life in his hands, tearing a large hole in the
creature’s chest.

The zombie continued to move, and
Levi shot off its arms and legs. Even limbless, it continued to crawl toward
them like a snake.

“Bloody hell, it’s still moving?”
Levi asked.

Another gun went off, completely
blowing off the zombie’s head. Blaze emptied more shots into its chest before
it finally stopped. The sound rang painfully in Levi’s ears.

“Take out the head and heart for a
sure kill,” Blaze said.

A series of low moaning sounds came
from the door. Raising his nose, Levi smelled the overpowering stench of more
rotting corpses and nearly gagged. The hairs on the back of his neck stood. The
zombie they just blasted didn’t just bring backup, it brought a mini army with
it.

“There’s a lot more of these
assholes. I doubt we can kill them all.” Levi aimed his gun directly at the
incoming zombie’s head. It fell back with a thud. Levi wasted another bullet to
its heart. Its legs twitched like a determined insect but eventually stopped.

Blaze nodded in understanding.
“There’s a fire exit at the end of the hall if they’ve covered the elevators.”

“Can’t you just fry these
bastards?” Levi took down another, relieved when Blaze took the one behind it.

“You want me to set fire to the
entire building?”

Blaze had a valid point. Levi
hadn’t thought of that.
Pyromancers
were deadly, like
any
elementalist
, but even
elementalists
gifted with destructive powers had to abide by the rules of nature.

Still, being naked with their backs
pressed against a wall in the living room, they weren’t in the best position.

What truly bothered Levi was the
fact that he didn’t sense the zombies until they were right at Blaze’s front
door.
Fuck. That only meant the Biter they were dealing with
didn’t just have a ton of magical juice. It also had brains enough to conceal
the presence of its minions. In Levi’s experience, it was one thing to hunt
down monsters of little intelligence, but it was much harder dealing with
beings capable of formulating plans.

“Then again, I’m not sure if anyone
in the building is left alive.”

“What the hell do you mean by
that?” Levi demanded.

“Zombies are mindless constructions
with no thought or human desire left in their heads. They can feel bottomless
hunger, though. Even under the control of a powerful animator, they’ll
eventually revert to their baser emotions.”

It wasn’t the most comforting
thought. “Nice to know,” Levi said dryly.

“Well, you’re a bear, aren’t you?
Instead of whining, why don’t you clear a path for us?” Blaze challenged.

Levi blistered. Blaze had a mouth
on him, a damn fine mouth, but he was right. Bears weren’t as subtle as other
shifters, like wolves or avian shifters. They weren’t nimble or small enough to
avoid the public eye. The supernatural community may have signed peace accords
with the government in Lyon City, but they were still a minority that had to
abide by human laws. If Blaze was right and there weren’t any humans left alive
in the building, Levi wasn’t bound by those restrictions.

He wasn’t certain why Blaze wouldn’t
use his flames if he wasn’t bound by the same restrictions either, but now
wasn’t the time to debate.

“Fine.
Cover me while I shift. This won’t take long.”

“I got you, bear.” Blaze reloaded
the gun, but Levi knew it was the last of his spare magazines. Blaze tucked one
of his knives in his belt, but Levi was going to make sure he wouldn’t need it.

Without the obstruction of clothes,
the change came easily, and Levi welcomed it. Levi was descended from a line of
pure bear shifters, so discarding one form for his other wasn’t painful or
hard, like it was for bitten half-breeds.

His first priority wasn’t just
survival, it was also getting Blaze safely out.

Rearing on his hind legs, Levi let
out an ear-shattering roar. His thick paws lashed out at the two on coming
zombies zeroing in on Blaze. They let out surprised, inhuman protests, and he
was satisfied when they made visible humanoid-shaped dents in the wall.

Blaze stared up at him, eyes wide
with surprise. “Fuck, Levi. You’re impressively huge.”

Levi lowered himself on all fours,
growling at Blaze.

“I don’t understand, bear.” Blaze
cursed when Levi swiped an annoyed claw at him.

To make his point, Levi swiveled
his head to the zombies gathering by the doorway. They must’ve taken down at
least a half dozen of the creatures, but there seemed no end to them. Levi
lowered himself flat on the ground, exposing his back to Blaze.