by Marie Harte
Ryen laughed, surprising them both. “So, what say we clean up and get out of here? I don’t know about you, but I can’t handle being locked up.” He waited.
Dreyk nodded. “I think we’ve fixed your uncontrollable rages.”
“Oh yeah.” Ryen sucked in a breath when Dreyk grabbed his cock. “But we should probably make sure I’m good. Maybe you should suck me off in the shower.”
Dreyk raised a brow, amused, and released Ryen. “Or maybe you should suck me?”
“As my master commands.”
“Dick.”
“Asshole,” Ryen retorted. He stood and pulled Dreyk to his feet. “And speaking of assholes... When are you gonna lick mine?”
“Ryen, keep talking like that and we’ll never get out of here,” Dreyk said, aroused again. Normally quick to recover, around Ryen he felt perpetually horny.
Ryen knelt and kissed the inside of his thigh. “I like the way you think.” Ryen licked his lips and took Dreyk’s heavy shaft in his mouth.
Everything else paled next to Ryen’s tongue and the wainu stealing Dreyk’s weakening resistance.
16
Several hours later, Ryen inhaled a deep breath, overjoyed to feel the sun on his face. Though Tekar wasn’t nearly as pretty as the eastern section of Mardu, its aggressive and lawless citizens made Ryen feel at home.
He wore an outfit similar to Dreyk’s. Rak-hide trousers, a short netter’s jacket over a linen shirt, and weapons belt. He also wore a new pair of glasses Dreyk had found for him. No visor, but a dark eye-camouflage that allowed him to see while masking his unique eyes. Feeling the Melan pistol and Easfran dagger at his side added to his security, though not nearly as much as having Dreyk by him.
Casting another side-glance at the male walking next to him, Ryen wondered how his life had changed so drastically in just a few short weeks. Since his rescue from Blue Rim, he’d fought to retain his sanity. Protecting Anin had helped, but he’d had no time to see to his needs or let down his guard. Then they’d been recaptured, and his handler had been beyond irritated in meting out revenge.
Erin’s rescue had been right on time. Had she not shown up, Ryen feared he might have killed every living and breathing body in that hellish lab and died while doing it. Instead, Dreyk had hauled his ass out of the building and blown Blue Rim to pieces.
Another mark in Dreyk’s favor.
Ryen smiled.
“Hell. You’re smiling again. Your sister’s going to think I drugged you.”
“Your seed has that effect.” He laughed at Dreyk’s discomfort.
“It’s not supposed to have that effect. You’re in better health, no doubt. And you’ve put on some muscle in the short time you’ve been with me.”
“Easy, buddy. I was just kidding.” Was it just him, or did Dreyk look guilty? “Okay, what aren’t you telling me?”
“Look, don’t read anything nefarious into this.”
“Nefarious? Must be something pretty bad if you’re pulling out the big words.” Ryen joked, but he felt anxious. He didn’t want his incredible happiness to end. Yet a part of him insisted it wasn’t real, that Dreyk was too good to be true.
Dreyk remained silent, so Ryen stopped them on the street. “Dreyk?”
“It happened that first night on the pier, when you fought the barbarians.”
It? What it? “We fought too, as I remember.” Just the start of a budding sexual relationship. Ryen recalled his confused attraction. “If I’d known that would have led to stellar sex, I’d have— Fuck it. What are you hanging your head about? What did you do?”
“I didn’t realize I was hanging my head.”
“I know you.” And he did. As understanding dawned, Ryen relaxed. Whatever Dreyk had done might annoy him, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing that had ever happened to him. For all that Dreyk aggravated and bossed him around, he’d always done it with the intention to help, not hurt.
“Yeah, well. That night you pissed me off. I took you down and made you drink some sarfa, to put you out.”
“Sarfa? That shit increases arousal.” The little bastard. “What did you do to me?”
“If you weren’t such a stubborn drun, I wouldn’t have had to do anything. You weren’t healing right, and you wouldn’t let me help you.”
“So that’s why I woke up feeling so much better. What did you do, bleed on me?” He narrowed his gaze. “You fucked me. In the ass?”
“No. I, ah, I fed you my semen.”
Ryen blinked. “You made me suck you off while drugged?” Had anyone else admitted to this, Ryen would have pounded him into next week. Yet the enormous weight of conscience that sat so heavily on Dreyk’s shoulders forced Ryen to consider that the circumstances must not be what they seemed.
Even stranger than this news, an odd sense of respect for Dreyk grew; Ryen had never considered him so devious.
“I’m not a rapist,” Dreyk growled. “We pleasured each other. You wanted me before I’d drugged you. The sarfa was to ensure that you took everything I gave you. Swallowing my, ah, fluids, healed you from the inside out.”
“Too bad I don’t remember it.” Ryen inwardly smiled at the guilt on Dreyk’s face. His scar whitened, as it normally did when the male was annoyed with something. “You know, you can make what you did right.”
“What I did was right,” Dreyk insisted. “I healed you, didn’t I?”
“How would you feel if the same were done to you? ‘For your own good.’”
Dreyk flushed. “I’d be fucking pissed. What the hell do you want from me? I helped heal you, you giant ass.”
“You owe me.”
“What?”
“Some payback.” Ryen shrugged, concealing his excitement at the prospect. “You took a night from me. You owe me one in return.”
“A night?”
“Yeah, a night where you’re completely mine.”
“Sure, whatever.” Dreyk seemed relieved Ryen wasn’t angrier.
“Seal the deal.”
Dreyk swore at him in several languages.
“Once you seal the deal, no going back on it. That’s against Mardu custom, yes?”
“You are such a controlling asshole. Fine.” Dreyk put out his hand and they shook. “I owe you one night. The deal’s sealed.”
“Perfect. Remember Dreyk, I’ve always been a controlling asshole. It’s in my nature. Submitting to you in bed is something else entirely.” Something I can’t live without.
Dreyk gave him one of those looks he still couldn’t figure out. A glance filled with emotion that spoke so much without a word between them. They continued walking down the road in companionable silence.
“We’re here,” Dreyk said and turned to Ryen before they entered Rafe’s—Cheltam’s—dwelling. “I haven’t mentioned this before, but I want you to know I’ll keep what we shared private. It’s up to you if you choose to take our association public. You know I have no issue telling everyone we’re together.”
Ryen started, not having thought about that. He’d been so consumed with happiness and lust he hadn’t thought about how others might see him and his lover. To some, like his deceased handler, same-sex relationships were evil, impure.
He narrowed his gaze. Then again, Dreyk hadn’t said relationship. “Association?”
Dreyk shrugged. “Call it what you will. I know what we shared.”
But do you really? Hell, for that matter, do I? Ryen had just learned how to live in peace. He had yet to truly test himself around others. Now that he understood sex with Dreyk could heal him, not just physically but emotionally, should he try to experiment with other males? Was it truly a gender issue, or was it that special something only Dreyk possessed?
“Ryen?” Dreyk waited, a frown on his rough, sensual mouth.
“Let’s go, associate. I want to talk to my sister.”
Dreyk muttered under his breath and opened the door. He didn’t seem pleased with Ryen, and his annoyance gave Ryen the boost he’d been n
eeding.
So, Dreyk knew what they’d shared, hmm? Then maybe he wouldn’t mind explaining to Ryen what that meant, in detail...
17
Rafe of Mardu smiled at his wife and winked. When the woman was on a tear, she could set him off with just one kiss. But when he saw the joy sparkling in her magnificent eyes, his whole world made sense.
“Glad to be seeing your brother again?”
She twined her arms around Rafe’s neck and kissed him with fervor. Squirming over his erection, she deliberately teased. “I’m so happy, Rafe. And I’m going to show you how happy after they leave.”
She whispered what she planned on doing, and his forehead beaded with sweat.
He lifted her off him and glowered at her smirk. “Do you really want me to sport a hard-on when Dreyk’s coming? He’s got a thing for me, you know.”
Erin left his lap and fixed them both a drink. “We all have a thing for you, darling.” Her gaze narrowed. “In fact, just yesterday, Mearla at the club was telling me how much all the ladies miss you. You have quite a reputation downtown.”
Rafe coughed. “But that was all before I met you, honey. You know I’d never look anywhere else but at you.” When she released a dose of pheromone into the room, his erection swelled to massive proportions. “Shit. Cut that out.” That a Xema warrior should be so lacking in control around his woman... Her wicked grin made him laugh. “I love you despite you being a pain in the ass. Just wait until we’re alone again.”
Dreyk’s signal at the doorway distracted him.
“I’ll get it,” Erin offered. She wore sturdy trousers and a tan, sleeveless shirt. Boring clothes. Still, the woman had been created to appeal to every male in the System. She could wear a sack and men would be panting after her.
“Fine, but no kisses or hugs.” He loved Dreyk like a brother, but Rafe didn’t like other men to be affectionate with his mate.
“Can I hug my Ryen?”
He ignored her sarcasm. “Only Ryen.”
Erin left him and returned with Dreyk and her almost unrecognizable brother. In the few days since Rafe had last seen him, Ryen’s demeanor had done a one-eighty. Though he still possessed that huge frame and dangerous mien, his stance seemed normal, not as aggressive and battle ready as he normally was. And damned if he wasn’t smiling.
“Dreyk.” Rafe stood to take his friend by the arm. “You’re looking much better.”
A glance at Ryen showed Rafe had mistaken his calm. Just as feral as he used to be.
“Ryen.” Dreyk disengaged from Rafe. “Why don’t you give your sister a hug? She won’t bite,” he said with humor and pushed Ryen forward. At his touch, Ryen seemed to shake free from his tension.
Erin and Ryen shared a hug, and Erin led him to the chairs at the back of the room. She forced him to sit and began blathering about Anin and the latest news of Eyran science.
Dreyk sat across from Rafe’s desk without being asked and graciously took the drink Rafe handed him. “So how goes the Ebrellion kidnapping?”
Rafe sat, wondering about the strangeness in the air. By no means empathic, his kind, the Xema, possessed psychic gifts that enabled them to better size up and deal with potential opponents. Dreyk continued to release pulses of energy in odd bursts—typical for the large male—while Ryen emitted bursts of stress that cautioned Rafe to be wary.
“We haven’t found a single Ebrellion since your encounter a few days ago. They must have passed back through the void. The gangs have quieted, though Dog made a play for Olla that didn’t turn out well. Luckily, in the confusion with all the women and girls returning, I convinced Dog to forget he ever saw her.”
“Good move. New mates don’t take kindly to interference.” Dreyk looked over his shoulder, and Ryen glanced up.
Ryen’s lip curled before he gave his attention back to his sister.
Rafe didn’t believe what his senses, and his eyes, told him to be true. “You’re shitting me.”
“I’m sorry?” The warning in Dreyk’s tone forced him to guard his words.
“Ah, I was just agreeing with you. Erin and I don’t like being apart much. I can’t stand another man around her, and she hates whenever I deal other women.”
Dreyk’s eyes crinkled. “Well, my offer to help you two conceive is always on the table. It would no doubt be a huge sacrifice.”
Instinctive possession ruled Rafe before he could tamp it down. In an instant, Ryen stood behind Dreyk, his fingers curled over the back of the chair.
Erin raced behind him with a stunned look on her face. “I didn’t even see him move.”
“Problem?” Ryen asked in a low voice.
Dreyk shrugged. “Nothing. Just fucking with Rafe’s feeble mind.”
“So long as that’s all you’re fucking with,” Ryen grumbled in a low tone. He turned and dragged Erin back to their seats with a final glare at Rafe.
Dreyk coughed to cover his laughter.
Rafe wanted answers but didn’t think he could get them with Ryen so near. “Erin, honey, why don’t you show Ryen around? I don’t think he ever saw more of the house than that spare room in the back. If he’s going to work for Cheltam, he’ll need to know where everything is.”
“Great idea.” Erin beamed, no doubt at the idea her brother would eventually work with them.
Rafe just hoped he wasn’t jumping the gun. Ryen still seemed anxious, but he was treating Erin with brotherly affection.
“The only other person here is the cook, Ryen,” Rafe told him.
“I’m not worried about the cook. I smelled him the moment we entered.” Ryen shared a look with Dreyk before leaving.
Rafe waited a moment before he said, “Now how about you tell me how you bonded with Ryen. Just a few days ago he wanted to rip your head off. Now he’s your mate?”
Dreyk sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“With you it always is.”
“All I know is that Ryen’s rages are gone. Test him without me present and you’ll see. He’s only aggravated with you because he can sense your hostility.”
“Yeah, hostility to you fucking my wife.”
“I was kidding, Rafe. You know that. I only offered to help heal her reproductive organs, not actually impregnate her.” Dreyk smirked. “That’s more your department.”
“I know.” Rafe rubbed the back of his neck. Erin had mentioned babies again last night. Damned if he didn’t want to please her every request, but the thought of what she’d have to do to get there... “I’m just not ready to see you coming down her throat.”
Dreyk snorted. “You’ll never be ready for that. If it’s any consolation, I healed Ryen the same way. He’s mine now, Rafe. I won’t ever want another. I’m part Xema too, remember?”
“How did he take the news?”
Dreyk shifted in his chair, and Rafe knew. “You drun. Remember when we had this same conversation? When I mated Erin and didn’t tell her?” Rafe laughed long and hard. “At least I never worried about Erin ripping me a new one when I told her.”
“Ryen won’t either,” Dreyk said testily. “He’s just now adjusting to a new way of life. I don’t want to throw everything at him at once.”
“Bullshit. You’re scared, same as I was.”
“It’s not the same.”
“It’s exactly the same.”
Dreyk stood and paced from one wall of the study to the other. “You don’t understand.”
“So make me. Because this isn’t like you. You make everyone around you march to your tune. You have since I’ve known you.”
“It’s all about control.”
“So what? Everyone has control issues. You think it’s easy being mated to a woman who can crush my larynx with her little finger? She’s carried me to safety and put me on my ass a number of times.” Rafe glared. “Embarrassing. But I love her. That’s my reality. So, why can’t you tell Ryen you mated him? Maybe if he knew you loved him he’d settle in more easily.”
“I didn’t say I
loved him.”
The defensiveness of his tone said otherwise. Funny, but Rafe wouldn’t have pegged Dreyk as afraid of anything. He’d lived for a thousand years and destroyed bad Creations as easily as breathing. By Flor’s Dagger, the male had even defeated Ebrellions.
“You didn’t have to. It’s written all over your face.”
Dreyk clenched his fists. “I can’t afford to feel this.”
“You feel emotions, Dreyk. Come on. You love me; you love Erin.”
“That’s different, and you know it. Ryen is...special.” A Creation. “Like Erin, like me. Except I’m not like anyone else. It’s taken me years to control myself. Yes, Ryen seems stable, but he has so much passion under that surface. I’m afraid if I let him in too far, I’ll lose what hold I have on myself.”
“What?”
“I’m not normal.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Rafe tried for humor, but the somber look on Dreyk’s face took him aback. “Come on, Dreyk. It’s honest emotion. What’s bad about love?”
“I’m really not normal. I can do things that I shouldn’t be able to do, even for someone like me. Like a Creation,” he added in a quiet voice.
“What kinds of things?” Rafe rounded the desk and perched on the edge. “Things like teleporting? Like healing? I already know that.”
Dreyk shoved his fingers through his hair, obviously not liking this discussion. “Things like blacking out. Like coming to surrounded by bodies, by dozens of bodies,” he whispered, as if remembering. “Like tasting meat you haven’t eaten but crave. Like molding your bones and muscles into something else. With no control over any of it when the hunger hits you. That sweet hunger that’s so tempting to indulge.”
Okay. Dreyk was starting to scare the shit out of him, especially when his eyes darkened then turned completely black. Rafe could feel static in the air. His sense that Dreyk was a friend vanished as someone he didn’t know took form in front of him.
“I can’t let this out again,” Dreyk said, speaking in a choir of voices. “I worked too hard to bury it deep. It’s all in there, inside me.”