Highness (Jeongcheol)

Seungcheol

Seungcheol had driven fast—faster than he ever had in his life—feeling that pull toward his person guiding him, directing him. He'd been ready to fight. To rip skin and break bones. To use the new strength he could feel coursing through his veins.

And then he was there. A weird, abandoned-looking cabin with smoke coming out of the chimney. He could smell his mate even over the stench of burning flesh. And there was Jeonghan—blood-spattered clothes, soot smudging his skin—having already fought his own battle. Not in trouble at all.

For all the urge to run toward him, Seungcheol found himself suddenly...nervous. Jeonghan had just been through an ordeal. Had been recaptured by the same person who'd tortured him on and off for centuries. And Seungcheol had been no help at all. Had been used as bait, in fact. And was now here too late to do anything but help clean up the mess.

Jeonghan looked at him strangely, his eyes uncharacteristically dull, holding on to what looked like a rusted gas can. "You're unsettled," he said, after a long silence. "I can feel it. Nervous about being bonded to a murderer?"

"What? No." Seungcheol took a step forward. Paused. The new presence inside him was restless, unsure. It wanted their mate where they could feel him, touch him. But Seungcheol wasn't sure Jeonghan would want that.

"I would have killed him for you," Seungcheol offered lamely.

Jeonghan arched a blond brow at him. "Upset I did it myself?"

Seungcheol's mate was feeling prickly. Defensive. Seungcheol could hear it in his words and also...feel it. A current of emotions running from Jeonghan to Seungcheol. It was hard to pick everything out—Seungcheol was barely used to labeling his own emotions, let alone someone else's—but little bits of clarity came through.

Guilt. Apprehension. Hope.

Seungcheol fought to find words, wrestling with his very human concern and his new, less-than-human instincts. "No, I didn't— I don't—" He stopped, unable to finish the thought. He found there was only one thing to ask. "Can I hold you?"

Jeonghan's face softened, almost imperceptibly, as he nodded, setting the gas can onto the ground. Seungcheol rushed forward, wrapping Jeonghan up in his arms, tucking his vampire's head under his chin.

Fuck. That was so much better.

They should just...always be touching. The knots in Seungcheol's stomach untied themselves. The beast inside him settled. He breathed in deeply, inhaling Jeonghan's clean, cold scent.

Jeonghan was stiff at first, unyielding. But slowly the tension in his body eased. After a long moment without speaking, all of Seungcheol's attention on the feel of the small, warm body in his arms, Jeonghan giggled—that familiar, delightful sound. "You, uh, really like touching me, don't you, Highness? I can feel it."

"What?" Seungcheol asked, confused. He wasn't hard. He'd been too keyed up to feel anything but relief to have Jeonghan in his arms again.

Jeonghan giggled again. So lovely. "Inside," he clarified. "I can it feel through the bond."

"Oh. Well..." Seungcheol was glad Jeonghan couldn't see his blush from his position under his chin. Seungcheol had just been learning to share his feelings, and now he didn't even have to. Jeonghan would be able to sense them, whether Seungcheol intended him to or not. Seungcheol found he didn't mind it nearly as much as he might have in the past. He couldn't think of anyone else he'd want inside his brain like that, but Jeonghan...

Jeonghan was different.

"I was supposed to tell you love stuff," Seungcheol found himself blurting out.