His to Protect by Alice Cain Read Free Book Online Page A

shook his head, trying to dispel the
appealing images of Tyler as his submissive. If he was going to take a human
sub then the least he could do was warn Tyler of what he would be getting
himself into. Adrian's species history was full of stories of alpha male
behavior when it came to claiming a life-mate. Judging by the
already-possessive feelings he was having for this human, his apple hadn't fallen
far from the species tree.
    He lifted Tyler's damaged fingers to his
mouth and laved the flat of his tongue over the tiny, half healed cuts. Tyler
groaned, his eyelids lowering in arousal and his legs moving restlessly as
Adrian bathed his fingertips with saliva.
    "This will help," he said quietly.
"It's not quite as good as Logan's saliva will be at full strength, but
for the moment it is stronger than his."
    "You're a vampire?" Tyler asked, his expression one of wonderment rather than fear.
    "No, sweetheart, I'm something else."
    Tyler studied his face closely. "Can
you tell me?"
    "I can," Adrian said, searching
the young man's face to be certain he wasn't afraid, "but are you sure you
want to know?"
    "Of course," Tyler said without a
hint of fear. "Over the past few days you've proven yourself to be an
honorable, protective man. What…um…species you are doesn't really matter."
    "Not even when I turn into a wolf?"
Adrian asked with a half-forced smile as he pulled Tyler into a loose embrace.
    "You can really do that?" Tyler
asked in a serious tone.
    Adrian nodded. He didn't even realize he was
holding his breath until Tyler smiled and then hugged him closer.
    "At the risk of sounding like one of
the star-struck teenagers I teach…that is so cool."
    Adrian laughed with him, holding Tyler closer
as he marveled at this human's ability to accept things that would have most
people screaming in terror. Perhaps if he hadn't known and cared for Logan,
Tyler would have been harder to convince, but he'd seen enough over the past
few days to realize that there was more to life than what most humans knew.
    Adrian lifted Tyler into his arms and
carried him into the bedroom, inordinately pleased when Tyler didn't insist
that he put him down. Eventually though he had no reason to hold him, so he
placed Tyler on his feet at the side of his bed.
    "Sit down on the mattress so I can take
care of those bruises on your arm."
    "Yes, Sir," Tyler said as he
pulled out of Adrian's embrace and went to do as he was told. Adrian grimaced
as he inspected the increased swelling, the lumps clearly getting worse. It was
just as well that feeding a vampire created a feeling of rapture because it
would have been quite painful otherwise.
    "How long were you a sub?" Adrian
asked absently, not really questioning his assumption. There had been a few
hints over the past couple of days, but Tyler's automatic, and seemingly
unconscious, use of the word "Sir" made it seem obvious.
    "Only a few weeks."
    "Why only a few
weeks?" Adrian asked in surprise. It often
took months to build up the trust required between a Dom and a sub. Even after
the initial training process it was a never ending flow of give and take and
adjustment to circumstances—just like any other relationship. To give up after
only a few weeks seemed strange.
    "I used my safe word too often and my
Dom felt that I wasn't truly a submissive." Tyler shrugged, carelessly,
but thanks to his heightened senses Adrian knew he wasn't as relaxed about it
as he made out. "He was probably right. I don't really like being told
what to do all the time."
    "Did he try to find you a new Dom? One
better suited to your needs?"
    "A new Dom?" Tyler asked, sounding as if he'd never considered the possibility. "Um…no
he just broke off our relationship."
    "Then he was an idiot. Any Dom with
half a brain can see that you're a natural submissive." Adrian carefully
licked over the sore spots, watched with satisfaction as they started to heal,
and then moved to lift Tyler onto his lap.
    "You think so?" Tyler