Author: Merula

This is a fusion of GW with a series of books by Christine Feehan called the Dark Series.

Dark Bond + Part Five

"What's happened?" Quatre snapped as Duo bolted for the door.

"Heero's injured!" Duo found himself on the floor a moment later, Quatre on top of him.

"You can't go outside now! Are you crazy?"

"Heero's hurt! He's not answering me!" Duo shoved at Quatre, sending the were across the room. "I have to go!"

"You go and you'll die." Quatre moved fast and positioned himself in front of the door. "Stop for a minute and think, damn it! He's your lifemate- can't you feel that he's okay?"

"He's not okay!" Duo snapped back.

"Is he dead?"

"No." Duo admitted.

"Where is he?"

"The graveyard. He buried himself in the earth..."

"Which is where you should be. Go rest..."

Duo felt like throwing Quatre through the window. "How can I? He's not responding to me... What if he doesn't wake up?"

Quatre rolled his eyes. "Oh now you finally start to worry about his well-being. If you had accepted the bond you could've been with him. But no, you chose to be a thick-headed idiot and now Heero is alone and injured."

Duo snarled in reply.

Quatre crouched low to the ground and bared his fangs.

"Stop it!" Another voice cut across the tension in the room, the tone commanding and yet exasperated. "Do not let the fact that Heero is lifebonded to Duo instead of you cloud your reason little brother." Irea stood in the doorway, one hand on the frame, a sheet wrapped around her.

Duo looked back at Quatre, feeling the anger rise inside him. He wanted Duo's lifemate... He snarled again.

"Duo!" Irea's voice was compelling. He turned to look at her and suddenly felt her mind push at his. "Go to sleep!"

How did she....? The command was powerful but Duo struggled against it.

"Sleep!" She cajoled again, pushing harder. Duo had no choice but to obey. He sank to the floor, eyes closing, lips still set in a snarl.

"That was too close for comfort," Irea sighed as she looked at the sleeping Carpathian stretched out on the floor. She turned to her brother. "Help me move him up to the bedroom before the sun comes through the window."

Quatre lifted Duo over his shoulder. "I was handling things just fine."

"Oh yes," Irea mocked. "I think he was only going to tear your throat out. Duo is Heero's lifemate. You must accept that."

"I know it," Quatre headed upstairs. "I knew I wasn't the one for him, but I had hoped that his lifemate would... want him..."

"If you don't think Duo wants Heero then you are less observant than I give you credit for, Quatre." Irea opened the bedroom door for him. "I'm just glad he is worn down from this evening's events, otherwise I would never have been able to get him to sleep."

"The gifts of Father's people are strong in you," Quatre sighed as he put Duo down on the bed. "You're lucky."

"I'm sure you inherited something from the Carpathian side." Irea ruffled his hair and then went to close the curtains. "You're still very young, little brother."

"Should I go and try to fetch Heero?"

Irea shook her head. "Too risky. Maybe one of us should keep a watch on the graveyard though..."

"Which job do you prefer?"

"I think it's safer for all concerned if I stay here with Duo."

Quatre frowned at her. "I wouldn't hurt him!"

"I'd rather you be removed from temptation." Irea raised her eyebrows. "Shoo."

+

Heero woke up and winced. Despite his time in the earth, the wound in his chest was still a bit raw-feeling. He explored it with his fingers. Nearly healed- only a little more than a scratch now. Painful, but not serious.

He reached out to his lifemate and found the other asleep, his mind drowsy and welcoming, but when Heero tried to gently push him to wakefulness something pushed back.

"Irea?" He sent, recognizing the push. "What are you doing?"

"I apologize- but he was distraught when he realized that you couldn't make it back. I feared he'd do himself harm. I thought it best that he stay sleeping until you arrive. Can you make it back on your own? Quatre is near to you if you require assistance."

Heero relaxed. He hadn't thought of it, wounded and tired as he had been, but of course Duo would react that way. Thank god for Irea. "I'll be there soon. I'm fine," he sent and opened the earth. He got rid of the dirt and grime with a thought and then surveyed his surroundings.

The graveyard was dark, but Heero could see the jackal that sat in the shadows of the tree. "Time to go home," he told Quatre, and shifted into his owl form. The wound on his chest was still there in this shape, but not so bad that he couldn't fly.

The jackal watched the owl soar into the sky and then turned to make his own way home.

Heero went as fast as he could, wings pumping to move him faster through the air. He was worried. Duo had been concerned about him last night, had not seemed to truly think about the foe Heero had been facing beyond that moment of recognition.

Duo's father had become a beast. A vampire. Heero did not regret killing him, but he wished that he could've spared his lifemate that pain.

How would Duo react? Would he despise Heero for this? Would he use it as yet another reason to keep himself apart?

He reached out to his lifemate's mind again, needing the reassurance of his presence, even though the other was sleeping peacefully. He hoped Duo could forgive him.

Heero landed by his front door, safely behind his wards. He shifted back and before he could open the door, Irea did it for him.

"You're hurt," she said, reaching out for the wound.

"I'll be fine." He shrugged and headed towards the stairs. He stopped with a sudden thought. "Duo didn't harm you last night did he?"

Irea shook her head. "No. He was distraught at your absence, said that you had lost consciousness." Heero noticed that she looked pale and tired. "I'm very glad you woke up," she confessed. "I could not have held him much longer."

"Thank you, Irea. Quatre should be home soon. Go rest, please." Heero started up the stairs, mind reaching out to wake his lifemate.

He felt the other stir, confused over his tiredness, then the sudden shock of memory: "Heero?"

"I'm right here, love." Heero opened the door and stepped in. Duo was out of the bed and in his arms a moment later.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Heero pulled his lifemate closer, enjoying the feeling of Duo's arms around his neck, the way the other was clinging to him.

"Don't do that again!" Duo scolded. "You worried me! You just fainted and then Quatre wouldn't let me go to you..." To Heero's surprise, Duo growled.

"Don't be upset, love. Quatre and Irea were only trying to keep you safe."

"You needed me! And I don't need keepers! I need to be with you!" Duo insisted, his arms tightening around Heero's neck, pulling him closer.

Heero returned the tight embrace, wincing as his wound pulled a bit. A moment later, Duo pushed away, his hands tugging Heero's shirt open.

"You're still hurt!'

"It's not as bad as it seems. It's mostly healed..." Heero protested as Duo dragged him to the bed and made him lie down. Duo's fingers traced over the slash mark that bisected his lover's chest.

"Did you put the saliva on it?"

"I would have, but I passed out before I had a chance to do anything." Heero protested. Duo huffed and climbed up on the bed beside him. "The earth alone helped. It's really better than it was..."

Duo didn't reply. He straddled Heero's waist and bent his head. His mouth moved over the wound gently, and Heero closed his eyes. He'd have to get injured more often if it meant this kind of attention from his lifemate.

"Don't you dare," Duo snapped, having caught the thought. "We are not repeating any of this. I will not sit by while you fight again."

He let his mouth move over Heero's skin, closing the wound. Too close- the wound had been right over the heart. His father had nearly robbed him of someone else that he loved- and all because Duo had been too cowardly to accept the bond.

He gritted his teeth for a moment. Quatre had been right about that.

Quatre- who loved Duo's lifebonded. Wanted Duo's lifebonded.

He let his tongue caress the last part of the mark. Heero was his. No smug clan bastard was going to take Heero from him. He lifted his head away from Heero's chest, once the wound was completely healed, and frowned at his lifemate. "If anything else happens, other vampires, hunters, anything at all- I am going with you."

Heero flipped them over, pinning Duo to the bed beneath him. "Love, you can't go fight now, not unless you agree to the bond. It's too dangerous. You are too close to changing. If we're disturbed again, I'll take Irea or Quatre..."

Duo reached up, pulling Heero into a fierce kiss, bruising his lips and making Heero's blood ignite.

"No," he mentally growled. "You will take me. I am your lifebonded. My place is at your side."

Heero paused, elation racing through him. Did this mean Duo agreed to the bond? That he could...

"Yes..." Duo pulled Heero closer, banishing their clothing with a thought. He moved his mouth away from Heero's and tilted his neck back, exposing his throat.

Duo waited for a moment for the feeling of Heero's teeth in his throat, but nothing happened. A faint feeling of panic rose in his heart. Didn't Heero want him?

"Duo, are you sure?" Heero's voice was slightly strained. "Please... don't tell me I can and then change your mind..."

"I won't. I'm yours..." The words were barely out before Heero's mouth touched his throat, his fangs sinking in.

It felt so very good...Duo tilted his head back more, giving Heero better access.

Heero caressed his lover, making Duo gasp beneath him. He wasn't going to give Duo another chance to think about this. He needed his bonded to be safely his- the bond between them would help muzzle Duo's beast, would keep his lover sane.

Duo tried to follow Heero's caresses, but his lover was overwhelming him, his blood was on fire, his mind submerged in the passion Heero was stoking between them. Soon all he could do was respond...

Fingers teased him, opened him, found the spot that made him scream and touched it over and over, even as the other hand teased and caressed that other part of him. But even as they brought him closer and closer to the edge, they refused to let him fall over... this was torture... why was Heero torturing him? Another finger joined the others inside him and he arched up against Heero's body pleadingly.

"Duo...lover... let me in?" Duo couldn't remember the words he needed, but he opened his legs wider and then...oh. Heero was sliding inside...

Heero closed his eyes for a moment. Duo's taste was in his mouth, his body was clenching around Heero and he nearly lost himself in it. But he couldn't- not yet.

"Duo..."

Duo tried to move his hips, Heero was inside but he wasn't moving... Duo needed him to move...

"Duo..."

"Heero, please... move!"

"I will, lover, I will... but first..."

"Anything, just please..."

"Say it with me..." Heero began to speak in Duo's ear in the ancient language of the Carpathians, musically, cajolingly... "I claim you as my lifemate, I belong to you..."

"I claim you as my lifemate, I belong to you..." Duo repeated, and was rewarded with Heero's hips rocking against his, just once. "More, please!"

"Keep going... I give to you my protection, my heart, my soul and my body..." Heero continued reciting the words of the oath, and Duo repeated them, rewarded every time with a touch or a kiss.

"You are my lifemate, bound to me eternally and always in my care..." Duo repeated the last line and then his own hips were finally allowed to push back and Heero placed his throat against Duo's lips.

Heero closed his eyes as Duo drank from him. The bond between them was now complete and unbreakable. He could feel the change in it, feel how much stronger it was- nothing could take Duo away from him now.

Not even Duo.

[part 4] [part 6] [back to Merula's fic]