Talamayas thrust into Wren as his mate steadied himself on the wall, every quiver urging him on as he filled Wren and pushed further with each stroke. The moans deepened to gasps of pain, but Talamayas' frustration was making it difficult to slow himself. The only thing that eased the pain of losing Vice and then Ghost was pounding it into the only man he craved more. But Wren didn't much look like he was enjoying it, and the best Tala could manage was fully stopping. Soft and careful weren't in his nature, and he dropped his chin in shame onto Wren's chest as he stilled with him against the wall. Light magic tread his hair from Wren's fingers in his pitch hair, but they didn't lessen his sorrow much.

Perhaps if he were a better man, Ghost would have stayed.

"Tala, don't stop." Wren groaned as he ran his free hand down Tala's bare back, digging his nails into his skin enough that it had Tala arching his hips forward.

"You don't look like you're enjoying it," Tala whispered into his mate's light skin, so pale compared to the golden sand of his people. Not wanting his mate to see his expression, he tucked his face into Wren's long red hair that tickled his pectoral muscles now, and he inhaled the scent of sweat and sex as Tala sagged with more shame.

Wren sputtered a breath of incredulity followed by a slow groan. "The only thing I'm not enjoying is that you're not yourself, Tala. If I wasn't into it, my dick wouldn't be so erect that it's near rubbing against your chin."

Tala glanced down, and Wren's laugh shook them as he assessed his manhood.

"Tala, you have got to learn blatantly obvious physical queues because you're horrible with the emotional ones." Wren dug his fingers into Tala's shoulder so hard that he snarled, but his mate only smiled, flashing desire in his ash grey eyes that met Tala's crimson and sizzled. "Don't push me up against a wall in the hallway, get me riled, and then back out, Talamayas Sol."

"But I'm hurting you," Talamayas spit in frustration, shoving himself back inside Wren to a cry of agony that had Wren's face pressed to his shoulder.

"Talamayas, with the soul binding I share your blood and heal near as quickly as you. And you always hurt me. If I didn't find pleasure in your pain then I don't think we'd be mates." Wren wrapped his hands in Tala's short hair before tugging it gently, and Talamayas breathed in Wren's lust to reassure himself before he braced his hips and moved with urgency and zero restraint.

"Tala," Wren gasped out breath before it flowed into a desperate cry. "Now there is the mate I can't get enough of." Wren's words went straight into Talamayas and squeezed his heart with guilt as much as pleasure. Talamayas didn't deserve Wren, but he was going to take from him, over and over, until he filled him with his pleasure.

Hell, everyone in the castle could hear Wren as he slammed their bodies together, loving the slick sweat that beaded both their bodies, Wren from physical exertion and Talamayas from the fire magics superheating his skin when he got excited. Without their complete soul binding, he'd never be able to have sex with his mate without hurting him too much. His control was shit, and not from any lack of experience as a vampire. The volatility of his magic reflected into his personality and control of his body.

Wren was right though. Each thrust bruised him inside but it healed just as fast as any vampire would, making Tala's complete lack of a functional brain irrelevant to his mate. All Talamayas could think of was fucking Wren until all other thoughts faded, filling his mind and body with the sounds of the man's aching moans and rapid breaths. It brought out a side of himself that Talamayas wish he didn't have, but he was deranged.

Every cry of pain from Wren shot straight through Tala's loins and excited him, reminding him of years of torture, the way Wren had writhed under his fingers, and how his screams had brought him to an unhealthy climax even before they'd spoken to one another. Talamayas hit a plateau, straining but unable to finish until Wren lowered his thrown back head to meet his eyes. The man knew what he needed, and he yanked up his skin-tight grey shirt to reveal his body up to his pectoral muscles.

"Do it, Tala." Wren bit his lips with the words, a sick smile lifting them that near had Tala pouring out into the man.

Tala opened his mouth to breathe Wren in, and his fangs lengthened as he balanced the man on one arm and brought the other up to Wren's abdomen. A whimper slipped out of Wren's lips as Tala danced heat across his mate's muscles, searing a trail of pain up him until Wren's hips were thrusting to get him deeper and beg him for the end. Talamayas couldn't wait anymore, and this position wasn't going to work.

Wren yelped as Tala yanked him to the floor on his back, lifting his legs and shoving himself so deep and hard in Wren that the cry echoed down the hall. And Tala didn't let it stop. With both hands, Tala pressed against Wren's taught muscles and called the flames. The sizzle of flesh had Wren struggling, but Talamayas held him down until he'd burned straight through his skin to the soft muscle below. The long moan of agony was just as elevating as the way Wren's breath choked off when he had no more air to give.

Ecstasy took Tala over, and he thrusted one last time to beat an exhausted plea out of Wren. Talamayas' climax took him so powerfully that his entire body went rigid, and he buried his fangs in Wren's throat as he edged back and forth to empty himself into his mate. Wren shuddered, his entire body convulsing against him, rubbing the burnt skin of his chest against Talamayas before wetness filled the space between them. Wren's shallow thrusts as he finished brought tears to Tala's eyes as he collapsed on the man.

"This is wrong," Tala grumbled into Wren's throat, watching the small punctures close themselves as Wren caught his breath.

"Very," Wren rasped, but he laughed after. "This unhealthy fetish I've developed for your torture is warped to say the least, but I can't help that I get off on you pleasuring yourself using my body. There is just something about being the one outlet that can take away your control and turn you into a rabid beast that excites me." Wren gripped Tala's face, and when Wren saw the tears lingering in his eyes, he rubbed them away with a thumb.

"Wren, are you alive?" Kopje Cinder's gruff voice carried down the hall.

In Tala's rush of desire to fuck Wren into next week, he'd forgotten that the mage was here to borrow Wren for their healing magic tutoring. Tala was about to curse the shit out, but Wren raised a finger to his lips and smirked before wheezing in air more dramatically than normal. It took a few long minutes, but Kopje rounded the corner before freezing mid-step. Tala was over Wren, a hand outstretched on either side of his head to keep from lying on his body, but their hips were still connected with his dick shoved straight into the only hole on Wren's lower half.

"Nice of you to check on me, Kop," Wren said with a mischievous smile, tilting his head back to see him from the ground. Kopje stood frozen like a deer about to be mowed down by wolf, pale as a pasty Cinder could get. Shan coming up behind him and dropping his glaive to the ground scared Kopje so badly that he jumped in place.

"What? Never seen Tala fuck Wren in a completely public corridor like we don't have dozens of magic coated rooms?" Shan teased, his long black hair swinging freely behind his bare shoulders. Shan tapped Kopje's ankles with the butt of his glaive so hard that Kopje was forced to take a step closer to them. "Tala likes everyone to hear him take his mate, for them to know that he dominates the man and that Wren craves it."

"Why the fuck are you telling me these things?" Kopje growled, turning his good eye to Shan to avoid looking anywhere near Tala and Wren's entwined, half-naked bodies.

Scar tissue covered where his other eye used to exist, thick enough that no gaping hole stared into those who faced him, but gruesome all the same. The Zehirs had destroyed the infiltrator complex that Kopje had resided in, crashing the building down on top of the man, and he'd burned away his own eye to stall the bleeding and save his life. The man was a grand mage and an infiltrator through and through, built like a tank with his hair trimmed down on the sides to keep it out of the way during combat, but he allowed enough mahogany fluff on the top of his head that he wasn't bald. Even scarred and unfriendly as he was, Kopje was attractive to the nomad women who gossiped about him within Talamayas' hearing. Something about his square chin, and unparalleled naked body when he bathed. Tala's face crunched as he accidentally thought of the man naked.

"Because implying that my mate would kill or otherwise seriously injure me during intercourse is highly offensive, Kopje," Wren said with a chastising look despite still lying on the ground. "You should have known what speaking those words would get you."

"Fuck you, Wren," Kopje growled.

Anyone else, and Tala would snap them like a twig, but Kopje and Wren had gotten close over the years. After the formation of the Alliance and the dissolution of the old Infiltrator training program, Kopje had settled in the Sol territory. Why, Talamayas couldn't say, but Wren loved having another mage infiltrator around, and Tala loved anything his mate did.

"Have you seen Tala?" Kopje kept talking, flicking his good eye back to Wren. "If he was human, he'd injure himself taking a piss. Probably burn his own dick off if he didn't rip it off on accident."

Wren laughed so hard that Talamayas had to pull out as his mate rolled onto his stomach. They hadn't undressed completely so Wren's mage robes covered his ass, and it was easy for Tala to tuck his dick in his pants before he scarred the mage. Kopje averted his eyes as Wren stood and set his outer robes to the side before heading into the washroom. Water turned on, and Kopje paced the hall under Shan's watchful eye as he waited.

Tala kept his distance because he knew Kopje was scared shitless of him, like most mages were. Even so, if it came to life or death, Kopje trusted both Tala and Wren and would fight side by side with his people. That was all that truly mattered. The Sol men loved training with Kopje in the dessert, learning how to combat the most powerful of mages as well as infiltrators, and Kopje actually enjoyed their company as much as bettering his combat efficiency. The nomads and Sols alike talked fondly about the grand mage who'd taken up residence here or else Tala would have kicked him back into the desert.

"Sorry to delay our departure," Wren's voice dragged Talamayas eyes up with a possessive growl. "Now, now, Tala. I need to help train new healing mages with the numbers we lost when the mage houses split down the middle over the Alliance. If you're worried that Kopje will steal me away, just have Shan hold him, pull his pants down, and show him how much larger your dick is. That'll sufficiently scare him for life."

"Wren, that is not funny." Kopje hissed through his lips. "The day I see Talamayas' dick that close, is the day I skip off into the void. I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to see it eventually with how you two fuck like rabbits, but I want it to be at least yards away and stuffed in your ass, you hear me?"

"Aye aye," Wren said with a feigned salute before turning to Tala and kissing him full on the mouth. Tala had him shoved up against the wall so quickly and forcefully that Wren's breath burst onto his lips, and Tala's erection shot straight up to his belt line. "Now, Tala. I have to go." Wren ran a gentle hand against his face, and Talamayas toned down the ferocity to kiss his lips tenderly, exerting the lightest of pressures that had Wren moaning and spreading his legs to let Tala's hips in.

"Wren!" Kopje growled, and Talamayas considered beheading him as Wren's arousal pressed into his. With their bonding, everything recovered as quickly as a vampire's, including his sexual urges and ability to climax without needing much break.

"I'm coming, Kop. Sheesh. I'll be back late this evening, Tala." Wren touched his face, and Tala didn't want to let him go, but Wren did this weekly, at the same time each week, and every time Tala held onto him tighter. Wren was all he had after Ghost had left, and he feared what would happen if he too disappeared. Wren was a grand mage though, an infiltrator like Kopje, and empowered by their blood bond.

Something just had him on edge lately.

Tala released Wren to his life outside their castle walls and headed off with Shan. Whenever Tala was alone, he took the time to work closely with his first general in securing their borders and making sure everyone was happy, healthy, and present. Tala's people loved seeing him as much as he loved caring for them, which was why he didn't fully comprehend why he loved torture so much. He'd never dream of harming a single one of his people, but when it came to Wren, he never got enough of hearing the man scream.

First on the agenda was checking in with the generals who ran the day shifts, and Tala sparred with a few and helped them work on their form and focus alongside Shan. Exertion was a great way to get his mind off Wren, and only the strongest could last the day without breaking down, so they offered the greatest challenge. After wearing himself down, Shan and he stopped in with the nomads who had taken shelter in the lowest and coolest levels of the castle. They were having a particularly bad spell of sandstorms this year, so most of them had retreated into the confines of the protective stone walls. Every time he asked if they wanted for anything, they practically brushed him off, telling him they didn't need babysitting and to find something useful to do.

It was their way of telling him that they were okay while retaining their sense of identity as drifters, so Tala never took the words to heart. Aaron and Rinslet led the nomads who gave blood, and he found them gambling over a game of poker in the eastern chambers where the Sol's fed. Aaron was practically naked, and Rinslet was giggling over her cards, always the winner with her baby doll eyes and a poker face that could beat Shan. When Tala inquired, they wanted for nothing either, though they had taken in a few new volunteers for blood providing and asked who was in need now who would be best for introduction to the process.

Definitely not Tala. Plus, he drank all the blood he needed from Wren. That was what half the blood binding was for, because a human bound to a vampire would grow jealous and petty if they had to share. Shan said he would be in later to feed from someone new, and they headed out into the sands for the final checks on the border. That ended up so uneventful that Talamayas was ready to curl up and die in a corner when both he and Shan sensed someone further into their territory.

The faint aura of light magic threaded through the sands, so dim Tala expected them to be dead or dying, but instead they found a boy crouched in the sands. They got so close as a few meters away, but the wind was whipping to and fro with such ferocity that the human could not see much past his own face. With the cowl over his head and the cloak to keep out the sands, he was dressed for the desert, but he'd clearly misplaced himself. This wasn't the season to be wandering, and if he were in any of the nomad clans, he'd know that.

Which meant he was an outsider. It had been some time since they'd had an infiltrator.

A flicker of red flashed from beneath the hood, and Shan was already circling while reaching back to his glaive. The boy sat oblivious and turned his head so that Talamayas was able to see him fully through the sands. Grey eyes shone from under long red hair that peaked out of his hood, and Talamayas held his hand up to stop Shan. His general halted his advance but kept his glaive ready in hand as Talamayas maneuvered around the kid to Shan's side. This boy was a Song, something that should not exist after Tala had wiped out their entire people.

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