To Bite A Bear by Amber Kell

“Aden!”
    The joy in Harris’ voice had Rohan grinding his
    teeth. Harris shouldn’t be that happy to see
    anyone but him. He barely resisted the urge to
    snatch Harris out of Aden’s arms as the two men
    embraced.
    “What are you doing here?” Harris asked after
    pounding Aden’s back enthusiastically. Rohan
    reluctantly gave the human points for not falling
    over from Harris’ exuberance.
    “I’ve come to threaten your lover,” Aden said
    casually.
    “Oh!” Harris looked from one man to the other
    with interest. “How did that go?”
    Aden nodded. “Pretty well, I think. I didn’t
    completely scare him away.”
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    Amber Kell

    “Well, that’s good.” Harris glanced at Rohan
    through his lashes as if checking his status. “No
    injuries?”
    Aden patted Harris on the back. “Not yet. Call
    me if you need anything.”
    “Always,” Harris said.
    With one last manly hug, Aden left.
    Harris let out a long sigh. “Well, you wanted to
    meet Aden,” he offered cheerfully.
    “That is true.” Rohan tried to remember why he
    thought that was important. He’d definitely have
    the human investigated. Find out if Aden truly
    had killed a vampire before. Somehow, he
    doubted Aden ever lied about his conquests. The
    man had an air of frightening efficiency. He
    refocused his attention on Harris. “Did you come
    to find me for some reason?”
    Harris shuffled his feet for a bit and looked
    down at his shoes. “I was hoping you might be
    available to go to the theater with me tomorrow
    night.”
    “I didn’t know you enjoyed plays,” Rohan said,
    pleased at Harris’ initiative. So far, he’d been the
    one to make all the moves. To have Harris ask him
    out gave him hope for their future. Not that he
    planned on letting the shifter leave him in this
    lifetime, but it was nice to think they’d at least get
    along.
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    To Bite a Bear

    “There’s a new play opening tomorrow. I did
    some volunteer work on the set design for the
    theater, and they sent me a nice set of tickets as a
    thank you,” Harris rushed his words together as
    he spoke, conveying his nerves over the invitation.
    “I’d love to go with you,” Rohan replied.
    The bear shifter’s smile couldn’t get any
    brighter if he tried.

    * * * *

    Harris smiled as he examined the theater. The
    Chinese theme spread from the foo lions in the
    lobby to the dragons and phoenixes decorating the
    ceiling and walls. An enormous imperial five-toed
    dragon emerged from the ceiling above, carrying a
    light in its mouth that represented the pearl of
    wisdom. Harris loved both this theater and
    musicals.
    “You didn’t tell me it was a musical,” Rohan
    growled.
    Harris patted Rohan on the leg. “Hush, you’ll
    enjoy it.”
    The groan he received made him smile more. It
    was sexier that Rohan might not enjoy the play
    but was willing to sit through it anyway to make
    Harris happy.
    As soon as the lights went down, Rohan set his
    hand on Harris’ thigh and left it there throughout
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    Amber Kell

    the first act. Harris didn’t argue since Rohan’s
    fingers didn’t wander. Harris enjoyed the simple
    evening of going out to dinner and a play with his
    man.
    Could he call a vampire his boyfriend? Or did
    he need to use the more formal blood bonded
    designation? Maybe partner would work for
    human friends who didn’t know about vampires.
    He waited until the intermission when they
    were standing back in the upper-story lobby to
    broach the subject. “So, how do I introduce you to
    people? Are you my boyfriend? My partner?”
    Rohan narrowed his eyes at Harris. “I don’t
    care what you call me as long as you call me yours
    and everyone understands we’re together.”
    He held out his arm for Harris to take and
    escorted him into the foyer to get a drink. “How
    about a soda?”
    “No. But I’ll take a cookie.”
    Harris happily waited beside Rohan as he
    ordered Harris’ dessert.
    “Vampire, you must die!” a man screamed
    from the crowd.