Wren was very much pretending he wasn't freaking out inside of his head as he looked at his mate, but he was pretty sure the possessive vampire urge thing was contagious. It had taken him a quick search of the castle to locate Talamayas' magic and he'd found it in a wing that was nearly empty of any barracks for the Sols. A few humans had quarters down the hall, but the room Talamayas had chosen was isolated. A little demon in his head whispered that maybe he'd wanted the privacy, what with his face in a pair of tits.

The red-headed devil was dressed in nothing but a robe, her naked thighs peeking out of both that and the covers. Her hands were wrapped around Talamayas head to hold him and her lips sat perilously close to his forehead. Perhaps he shouldn't have told Ghost he was all right on his own. What exactly was he do in this situation? The woman was a mage, no doubt, a powerful one by the strong, even flow of light magic under her skin, but Wren had never met nor seen her. So she must be young.

Which made Wren that much more upset.

By the time he managed to take a step in the room and close the door so no one saw their master like this, his light magic was fluctuating dangerously under his skin. It's not like she'd be harmed if he shoved her on the floor. Before the thought could properly materialize, a growl of threat had him backing into the door, so low and vicious that Wren knew it would be his death if he attacked the woman.

What near stunned him off his feet was that it was Vice who appeared in front of the woman in a crouch, fangs bared, and only half dressed in a pair of light pants. As soon as Vice realized who he was growling at, he dropped the expression and then disappeared from the bed only to reappear in front of Wren. With a half bow and some seriously drowsy grey eyes, he stood up straight and inhaled the scent of Wren's aggression before he looked back to Tala and the woman.

"Please forgive Helia Cinder," Vice asked with a real bow of his head. "Talamayas came into her room in search of me, distraught and in tears. I tried to help Talamayas, but was unable to console him. Helia is abnormally kind for a Cinder and offered herself without knowing quite how much Talamayas would cling to her. She thought her light magic might help, but really Talamayas is just completely smitten with her."

That was supposed to make him feel better?

"Not romantically," Vice said quickly, a blush coloring his dark skin as he brought his hands in front of himself and fiddled with them. "As the woman who I wish to take as my mate." The words were so quiet no one a foot from Wren would have been able to hear, and Wren lost any and all jealousy.

Talamayas was emotionally brain dead when it came to people, so if Helia was Vice's then he would treat her as he would Vice. Meaning he would get way too close for comfort, and he would love her beyond reason, but Vice was right in saying that not a speck of it would be romantic. Vice and Talamayas had a uniquely close relationship, sharing all of themselves with each other and feeling near identically toward things. As such, who Vice loved, so did Tala. Wren let out a long sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"So you just popped back out of the void with a girlfriend?" Wren asked with an awkward smile, his heart lifting with affection and relief that Stone was safe only after the dangerous jealousy had faded.

"Helia saved me from the void, and she was kind enough to do everything in her power to help me find my way home when my memories did not come with me. More so, she has accepted all of me and given her love in return. I owe her my life and soul." True bliss glowed in Vice's eyes when he spoke of Helia, and it had Wren reaching forward and pulling him in for a hug.

All these years he'd spent as Talamayas' mate, he'd worried that he had taken Vice's place of happiness at Tala's side. Though Vice insisted he was happy taking a step back if it meant Talamayas had found love, Wren had always worried that Vice would never have something that was truly his with how closely he kept to Tala. As much pain as losing Stone to the void had caused Vice, it had also given him a path away from Talamayas to find someone of his own.

"On a scale from one to ten, how miserable do you think she's going to be when she wakes up?" Wren changed direction, and Vice's face pinched in.

"Like a fifteen. Helia is still a Cinder and a grand mage even if she loves me. That" —Vice gestured to Tala smothering her— "is not fun for anyone."

"I don't know. You seem to like snuggling him," Wren replied with a small smirk.

"I do," Vice admitted, a strange expression tilting his lips. "Talamayas gives the best hugs, tight enough to kill a human, but just firm enough that my bones only crack instead of breaking. Plus, he's warm and so much bigger than me that it's like a hen sitting on its eggs. I almost feel like I'm back in the womb."

Wren laughed, good and hard as he dropped his face on Vice's bare shoulder. "I missed you, Stone."

"As I you, Wren." Stone smiled with the words and it really had Wren breathless. Emotion had always been lost to him, and it was good to see him feel.

"It's nice to see you happy and telling jokes, and I'm glad that I can call you Vice again."

"I am happy to be back where I belong, Master." Vice gave him a single head nod of respect. "I also have always had emotions. I was trained not to use them, not made to forget them. Until recently, there was no need of them, but with Helia by my side, I am so happy that I cannot contain that nor my enthusiasm."

"I will look forward to seeing her around then." Wren's words were meant to make him know she was welcome, but Vice's smile fell to clear sadness.

"Helia will not be staying, I'm afraid. With Pyre's debilitating injury, the Cinders need her to lead, and she is loyal to her people and her house."

"Helia is Pyre's heir?" Wren couldn't believe the man would allow his daughter to be with a vampire, regardless of reason. If anything, Pyre should have killed Ghost this morning when given the opportunity, not catered to him in any time of emotional jeopardy. If Ghost faltered it benefited Pyre. "How is that going?" Wren asked, needing a chair for this.

"Pyre's nice." Vice smiled so wide with the words that it was immediately suspect. "He didn't even stab me yesterday. That's a new record, though admittedly Helia and I slept through half of it so I wasn't available."

A groan from the bed cut off that conversation far too soon, and Wren was forced to turn to the now leader of the Cinders as she roused. The moment her eyes fluttered open, Vice had a hand on her chin and tilted her face up to his. It was to keep her from seeing how low Talamayas face had sank on her chest surely, but Helia really smiled when she saw Vice.

"Hey you." Helia touched his face in return, but when she reached to kiss him, she realized how held down she was. That was about when she looked down to where Talamayas was passed out like a rock. "How are you not up yet? I've been listening to these losers talk forever. Don't you wish to see your mate, Talamayas Sol."

Mere mention of Wren had Talamayas awake and creating a whirlwind out of the covers as he moved. Helia laughed as they fell on them, and Vice joined her with a chuckle as he dug them out. Wren, however, was frozen as Tala stood so close that their skin was a breath from touching. Crimson eyes probed his, the dark circles under them showing just how much he'd cried when Wren had walked away without explaining why. Talamayas had thought he'd hurt him, and that he had to worry like that all night broke Wren's heart.

"I'm sorry for the way I left, Tala. I—"

Talamayas lips were on his before he could even properly apologize, and there was nothing soft nor affectionate about him. Pure possession invaded his mouth, hot and demanding as he backed Wren into the wall, the skin of Talamayas' lips sizzling against his. Wren's back slammed into sanded brick as Talamayas hoisted him up, and it forced his breath out of him, but Wren was too busy devouring Talamayas in return to care.

"Do not fuck in my room!" Helia Cinder's voice didn't stop Talamayas from ripping Wren's pants down his legs, but he did heed her, slipping out the door and slamming it less than gracefully as he threw Wren down on the floor.

That was as far as they made it.

Out in the hallway.

On the rough, sand tile.

Wren was right back to where they'd started that day before everything had hit the proverbial fan, and he cried out in pain and ecstasy as Talamayas took him with an urgency he'd never felt in his life. No words could have made it more pleasurable, and the raw lust had them both panting with excitement and need so much that they couldn't form them anyway.

Talamayas thrust into him on his back until Wren somehow managed to maneuver himself onto his hands and knees. The position gave Tala pause, but Wren smiled as he turned back to him with a single finger to beckon him further. Steam puffed in a mist as Talamayas pinned him, crushing him with heat and muscle into the floor and penetrating him so hard that Wren's cries sounded like Talamayas was killing him again. The movements hurt so right though, all of Talamayas' obsession manifested into physical lust as he claimed what had been lost to him for far too long.

Fuck was he hot though.

It worried Wren enough that he lifted a hand up to Tala. The gesture was enough for his mate to drop his fingers into his, and Wren gripped his hand tightly before kissing it, an affectionate gesture that slowed Tala by an increment as he took in the sensation. They both understood that Talamayas was too excited and that it was dangerous if he overheated. Wren intended for him to slow and calm enough to take him at more reasonable pace, but Tala read it as he better hurry up before he blew the whole castle up.

Though Wren wasn't complaining.

It had been a long time since Talamayas had just fucked him, no sadness from Vice's loss clouding his pleasure or making him doubt himself. There sure was a lot to process but nothing that hindered Talamayas from claiming his mate with all of his power and possessive vampiric urges. And Talamayas took him. In hard, penetrating thrusts that had Wren trembling below him as he practically lay on the floor, his ass barely lifted enough for Tala to get the best angle and the rest of Tala's body smothering him with weight that barely gave him enough room to fill his lungs with air as they moved.

Talamayas' low growl of pleasure took Wren right over the edge with him as he tangled all of his his searing fingers in Wren's, dropped his body on top of him so completely that breathing was a joke, and like that, Talamayas burst inside of him. Those final thrusts as Talamayas lost himself to pleasure without anything holding him back had Wren so wonderfully fulfilled that his own climax took him down the spine like it always did, rushing from his groin to his body and back before he made a mess of himself below.

It was about the time that Wren was gasping and begging for air with Talamayas lifting himself off of him, that Wren realized Talamayas had not burned him. It made sense that he would not have tried such when Wren hadn't had his memories, but Talamayas had known the moment that their eyes met that he had remembered everything. It wasn't that Wren truly minded the burns when they healed just as quickly, but it brought Wren happiness that Talamayas could find pleasure between them without it having to end with melted flesh and the scent of charred skin.

Wren groaned with exhaustion as he barely picked himself up to lean on his hands, and he near jumped back into Talamayas from a pair of sandaled feet standing not a few inches from him. Wren whipped his gaze up to find one very disgruntled mahogany eye staring down at him with a normal disgusted twist of his mouth.

"Welcome back, Wren," was all Kopje said as he tried to avoid paying his half-naked state any attention. It had Wren laughing and leaning back onto Talamayas who was glad to catch him and crush him to his chest with love.

"It's good to be home," Wren whispered into the wall of muscle that was Talamayas, sliding his fingers into his and just soaking him in. There was too much yet to be done, and he wanted to truly feel the fleeting moment of peace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Word Count: 2316