Title: Entwined

Series: Darklight, Book Three

Author: Sean Ian O’Meidhir and Connal Braginsky

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: 06/18/2024

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Female, Male/Male Menage

Length: 85100

Genre: Paranormal, MM romance, reunited with mother, menage sex scene, fae, witches, war, spiders, voyeurism, public sex, telepathy, psychic ability, psychologist, autism

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Description

After learning his mother is alive, Cameron, a telepath, travels across the country to find her, accompanied by Nathen, his neurodiverse vampire lover, and Syn, his best friend and sister of the heart. Once there, they find she is involved in a much larger war of her own and has been trying to keep him out of harm’s way for years.

In their quest to help her, they make enemies, of course, but they also find several new allies. And when they are swept up in fae politics and looming war, the result is an entire paradigm shift that will have far-reaching effects on all their lives forever.

Excerpt

Entwined
Sean Ian O’Meidhir / Connal Braginsky © 2024
All Rights Reserved

Chapter One

Cameron

Cameron lay flat across the warmed, humid tiles, the sweat seeping from his pores and trickling down his naked legs, arms, and sides. The steam room of the Silver Stream Gym, run by his best friend and roommate, Cindy “Syn” Rodriguez, had become his refuge in so many ways. He reminded himself to breathe deeply as the heat initially choked him, but soon the waves of warmth worked magic to soothe.

Cameron’s mind reeled from the “job offer,” from the idea his mother could possibly be alive, and from the evening; though one centering thought remained: Nathen. The curve of the muscles of his arms and chest, his short ebony curls, his gorgeous face with those brilliant blue eyes, and his mouth—that mouth had brought him so much pleasure. He wondered how he had ever existed before he met Nathen, how he ever enjoyed being with a normal human?

His once orgasmless life was dedicated to bringing his partner pleasure without focusing on his own. Now every time Nathen sank his fangs into him, Cameron’s release was immediate, explosive. Every kiss pulled him in and narrowed the ever-present intrusive world in Cameron’s mind.

The voices, thoughts, fears, expectations of hundreds of minds that sometimes threatened his own sanity all melted when Nathen kissed him. Being a telepath was a double-edged sword, allowing Cameron to stay ever vigilant to danger and to help others subtly, though it also acted like a loud radio of thoughts and emotions bombarding him at all times, day and night.

But with Nathen’s kiss and bite, everything evaporated, including Cameron’s own doubts and self-consciousness. His negative self-talk about not being good enough, worthless, a failure—all abolished when Nathen’s tongue rolled around his own. Cameron unconsciously ran his tongue over his lips with memories of kissing Nathen and took a deep, halting breath, sniffing back tears and feeling a little stronger.

His thoughts went to the night before when he escorted his friend Kat, a blood mage, from the hospital to the private ambulance her cousin Theo, a technomage, had arranged to pick her up. Cameron, Nathen, and Syn had hired a couple of hitmen to rescue Kat from a vampire who had abducted her for blood for a mysterious ritual.

Cameron had opened a telepathic link between them. “Kat…I need to know. Can I get addicted to Nathen?”

Kat had laughed lightly as she took Cameron’s hand. “His blood is not addictive, at least not physiologically so. You won’t develop a tolerance or craving for it. But you might develop a psychological reliance on it. The rush it gives? The way it enhances your abilities and senses? I only use vampire blood sparingly when I’m doing a ritual. But it won’t hurt you to use it more.”

Cameron had known he didn’t have much time as they reached the ambulance and he watched the paramedics help Kat up into the bus and make her comfortable. He had given a silent mental instruction for them to wait, which they followed, standing outside the ambulance talking, giving Kat and Cameron privacy.

“That was cool,” Kat communicated, grinning.

“Oh. Thanks. I hope you don’t mind. I just don’t have anyone to talk to about this stuff.”

“It’s okay,” she’d said and taken his hand again, squeezing affectionately even though they had only actually met in person for the first time less than an hour before. “There are other benefits, health benefits. It will slow your aging. I also doubt you will ever get sick as long as you use it,” she imparted, her smooth mocha brow furrowing with compassion.

“I’ve known him only two weeks, and I love him,” Cameron admitted, wiping a tear with embarrassment. He chewed fretfully on his lower lip. Cameron rode the wave of a flash of surface thoughts as they tumbled through Kat’s mind. Memories. One of a ravishing woman of Asian descent, naked, luminescent in the moonlight. Her raven hair trailed down past the backs of her knees and caught on the breeze as she knelt beside Kat. The woman was smiling softly around her fangs when she kissed Kat, sending a familiar sensual rush before she cradled Kat’s head and very gently bit her neck. The other memory passed in an instant, of Kat and a very large and powerful-looking man. They were on the balcony of their home in Greece, the crashing waves below them, Kat dwarfed in the man’s arms wrapped around her as he playfully nibbled her neck. A jolt of arousal ran through him with his own memories of anticipation before Nathen bit him.

Kat smiled with the memories, unaware that Cameron had seen them too. “Then love him,” she had said simply. “We mages are very long-lived and when you’re ready, I will help you extend your life even further. So, there will be no need for the blood of others. But I suggest at least another fifty years or so before we embark on that. You’ll find you look the same as you do now for a very long time. And as painful as it might seem, you will find you two may grow apart. Or maybe not. Relationships mean something different to those of us who do not need to worry about time. But you both are still so young.”

Cameron thought about that for a moment, deciding to file the information away to ponder later. “But can I get addicted to the bite…to his kiss?” Cameron had asked, trying to stay neutral and keep his mind from projecting the fact he had seen two of Kat’s more intimate moments.

“No.” She shook her head. “There’s nothing quite so good as the bite of a vampire. At least not that I’ve found. Think of it this way: Did you get addicted to masturbating when you were an adolescent?”

Cameron flushed scarlet, mentally stammered and looked away. His response to the unexpected question made Kat laugh. “The answer is no. But you enjoyed yourself, I’m sure. It’s a sensation, and a great one. But not something you need to worry about.”

“But how do I know I love him for him?”

“Ah, the difference between infatuation and true love? Time will tell, as with all relationships. Won’t it?”

Cameron stretched out in the steam room, lengthening his muscles and taking comfort from the sage wisdom of his friend. He reminded himself he had been in Nathen’s mind. A pure, kind mind devoid of malice or hatred. Nathen was not corrupted by the things Cameron knew or had seen…or had done. He hated that he had shown Nathen images like how he thought his mother had died, or the rapists and child molesters Cameron had slaughtered after he was sexually assaulted by an ex-boyfriend—an ex-boyfriend that Cameron had accidentally mentally suggested commit suicide. It was something that would forever haunt him. But Nathen had seemed to be able to compartmentalize the images, remove his initial disgust, and step away from emotions. Cameron didn’t know if it was Nathen’s autism that allowed him to sort so well. Being a psychologist, Cameron had learned to separate himself from the lives of his patients. But Nathen had stayed with him, something that still brought tears to Cameron’s eyes. How Nathen could stay with him knowing his secrets was beyond him, and something Cameron marveled at.

Cameron settled into the warmed tiles as droplets of water from the ceiling splashed around the small room. Alone despite it being morning, a busy time for the gym with people getting their exercise in before work, Cameron cheated and passively scanned for anyone interested in the steam room and mentally implanted disinterest so he could have it to himself. It was not a practice he often engaged in because he knew it wasn’t fair, but this morning…

Cameron replayed the conversation with HR over and over, as he had been doing throughout his workout. He knew they knew he was a mage. And he knew vampires hunted mages for their blood too. Cameron had come to the conclusion Impetus had not yet made a move against him because Nathen was his boyfriend. But HR had called and said his mother was alive!

This new piece of information, which he couldn’t even fathom, brought Cameron to the gym. Information so shocking, it had sent him into an emotional spiral, so he came to work out and get some clarity. Since the age of sixteen, when Cameron saw a monstrous arachnoid fae’s scythe-like arm skewering his mother, and he ran, escaping at her insistence, he had known his mother was dead. She had to be, right? He had seen her die…

The muscles of Cameron’s tense back and shoulders ached from the workout he endured. He had always hated going to the gym and exercise in general, but Nathen was chiseled perfection and he wanted to look good for him. The brutal workout had punished him physically, allowing him to turn off his thoughts for a moment. Cameron idly touched the colorful fractal tattoo over his heart, smiling at the memory of the night he and Nathen had declared love for each other and gotten them. He took another deep breath. Centered. Safe. Loved. Nathen… Throwing one arm over his eyes, Cameron frowned as his anatomy betrayed him, though covered with a towel, and he actively scanned to make sure no one would be coming into the steam room.

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NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

Sean Ian O’Meidhir is a psychologist who lives in San Francisco, California. Sean is a hedonist who believes in living for today, living every day to the fullest, and enjoying as much as possible. Sean has been gaming since adolescence and has written about and played hundreds of lives, reveling in the chance to take on new personalities, dramas, even disorders.

Connal Braginsky is a software engineer who lives in San Diego, California. Diagnosed with high functioning autism, Connal sometimes struggles in social situations, but has an inner world that is always incredibly rich. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge about many esoteric things, Connal brings a lot of personal philosophies and interests to writing.