Not Another Hero

by Wendy Rathbone

“Idiot.”

  “I believed you felt what I felt, damn it! So don’t call me that. It’s not fair.” My voice goes gravelly on that last word. Tears smart in my eyes.

  “No, I mean I wasn’t playing you. It wasn’t obvious?”

  “You used me.” I’m blinking fast.

  He shakes his head. “I had no idea the ratings would go up. I was waiting for the computer malfunction. But you—you had nothing to do with all that. I didn’t date you because of some stupid script.”

  “You didn’t?”

  He tilts his head, looking at me like I’m a child again. A look I’m quite familiar with. “Did you think I faked my orgasms?”

  It takes me a moment to comprehend what he’s just asked.

  “Stirling,” he says. “I’m not like you. I don’t do casual. I got angry with you because I thought you knew about me being a scientist. I thought you used me!”

  “I had no idea you weren’t a Hero,” I whisper.

  Our eyes meet. I must look like some soap opera slut to the cameras. Tears on command. But these are real. I know it. And now Drac knows it, too.

  Suddenly, he pulls me to him, kisses me hard on the lips. At first I’m in shock. I don’t do anything. My hands are limp in my lap. My heart appears to have stopped.

  After a few seconds, he pulls back. “Do you not want me anymore? Is it too much now? What I am?”

  I look at him. He’s beautiful, generous and kind. He’s read—and memorized—my poems. He calls me by my real name when he comes. He’s not an evil demon. He’s not even a real criminal. He’s just somebody who loves the stars. Like me.

  “Drac,” I say, knowing this is all being filmed and not caring. “I don’t just want you. I love you.”

  “None of this—“ he spreads his hands about us, “is fake. Reality can be better than fiction. I promise you, Weldon. I love you, too.”

  He’s just said it. For real. He loves me, too.

  Without any hesitation, I grab him by the shoulders and pull him back into the kiss.

  This time I’m not stone. And my heart comes to life, hammering in my chest. Our lips burn as they meet and open. Instant connection is made. I want him. I need him. My cock goes quickly hard. My mind soars.

  The next hour or so is like a dream. We embrace and fumble and struggle to touch each other deep, deeper. To some who have just tuned in, it might look like we’re wrestling, or even downright fighting. But we are gripping, grabbing. We tear at each other’s clothes.

  “Damn,” he says.

  “Fuck,” I reply.

  We can’t get close enough fast enough. He’s hard as steel when I get my fingers around his cock. He thrusts into my grip.

  I kiss him hard. My tongue meets his and tries to lock on. I pull back and dive for his throat, licking downward. I move across his chest, sucking in a nipple.

  His hands fist in my hair, tugging. He falls back onto the couch with me between his legs. I press at his hips with my palms. My mouth goes to his stomach, licking, then I move down to the insides of his thighs, knowing that makes him crazy.

  I suck the soft, nearly hairless skin there, making him buck and squirm.

  By the time I reach his balls, they’re tight and must be aching. My mouth leaves them wet and dripping.

  I make him wait. I make him suffer. By the time I lick up the underside of his shaft he’s throbbing hard and making pained noises that echo about the room.

  I suck him down. It only takes a few bobs of my head before he comes hard. He pulls out, still shooting, and turns me over, but I guess he forgets we’re not in bed. We both roll off the couch and fall onto the floor. Luckily, there are no injuries.

  He grabs my cock and licks his way around it.

  Before I know it, I’m coming down his throat.

  We don’t stop there. The lovemaking doesn’t end. We stroke and caress until we’re ready again.

  At one point, when we are coming down from another orgasmic high, Drac jumps up and starts dancing and hopping around the room like a deranged psychotic. “I’m number one,” he says to himself, repeating it over and over. It becomes a song. “I’m number one.”

  “You’re rating is going to fall rapidly if you don’t stop that soon.” But I’m laughing hard enough from where I’m sitting naked on the floor to make my stomach ache.

  He turns. His grin is all I need to see to make me realize my words are wrong.

  Drac doesn’t need to do anything. No daring rescue attempts, no circus spacewalks, no acting, he just exudes natural Hero-ism. He’s what the PTB has been looking for for decades without ever knowing it.

  Hunter is right. The competition will never be the same. PCF, brains, looks, sexual prowess, he’s got it all. None of us Heroes are a match. And, I fear, by the end of this scene our world as we know it will never be the same.

  Epilogue

  There are portions of our desperate lovemaking session that night we made up that to this day remain blank. I was in a dream, a fog of such love and craving and acute arousal that reality slipped away as easily as light on an event horizon.

  Days later, I cannot bring myself to watch the vid, though it topped the charts as soon as the producers could get it out to the masses. I never watch myself perform on the vids. I thought this time I might make an exception. But every time I think I’ll take a peek, I turn away.

  Drac tells me with a grin, “Why watch a holo when you have the real thing?”

  And he’s right. I do have the real thing.

  Today we’re on the bridge, staring outward through the viewport. He’s set the magnification so the stars are like Christmas tree lights in the night. The stars are like eyes, I think, little bursts of wisdom, of beauty. We are but shadows in their bloom.

  “How could you ever love those lights in the sky and not yearn to know what they’re called, how they speak, what they’re made of?” He leans back in the captain’s gold chair—my chair, damn him—and his eyes flash with the intimacy of knowledge and wonder.

  I’m ready for it now, ready for words and numbers and tongue-tangling theories. I’ve got the right teacher. And I’ve got time. Besides, the projected returns on this recording tentatively titles Science Lessons 101 promise to beat out all the past top holo hits combined.”

  “All right, Drac,” I say, watching the ancient light play in his black hair. I lean against the armrest, the closest I’ll get anymore to my chair until I’ve earned it. The first step is always the hardest. “Teach me.”

  I stare at where the gold mesh of his tank breaks away to reveal the taut muscles of his chest. Then, with an effort, I glance up and out to the undying universe. “Begin with the texture of stars.”

  the end

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  Dear Reader:

  Thank you for reading Not Another Hero.

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  Happy Reading!

  Love,

  Wendy Rathbone

  About Wendy Rathbone

  Read Wendy Rathbone… where imposters and outcasts, princes and lost boys always find their happily every after.

  I have written in all genres: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, paranormal, contemporary, erotica, romance. But I keep coming back to romance as the main focus. Gay romance. Male/male romance. The idea of two men falling in love is irresistible to me. It’s all I write now.

  All my books are available on Amazon and most are in Kindle Unlimited. So if you have the urge, go take a look. See what’s on the shelf.

  Love to you all!

  Wendy Rathbone

  THE SLAVE HAREM

  Wendy Rathbone

  The slave harem is all. If you enter, you can never leave. Contact with the outside world is forbidden.

  With a secret talent for seeing auras of physical and emotional arousal, Ren, a sought-after pleasure slave, is sold to a mysterious master in a foreign land where he will become part of a collection of beautiful men.

  Though the men appear welcoming, there is competition and jealousy among the ranks. And their mysterious master who is heard but never seen elicits more questions than answers.

  One friendly slave, Li Po, helps Ren settle in, but it is the voiceless man, Zanti, who draws Ren’s attention. With his wicked beauty and bratty scowls, Zanti is the least welcoming of them all, and Ren’s training and control are put to the test.

  Gay harem, slow-burn, enemies to lovers. Extraordinary and strange. Hot and cold. This book explores the many levels of sex, lust, loneliness and belonging. And maybe, just maybe, there can be love.

  THE SLAVE PALACE

  Wulf and Locke

  WENDY RATHBONE

  Conquered. Captured. Sold as a pleasure slave.

  After being taken as a prisoner of war, Wulf fights his captors and is sold as a One-Night Thrall to be used and abused, then put to death. He is purchased by a high ranking master of the famous Slave Palace. Why Locke buys him, Wulf has no clue, but something about this master is intriguing. Instead of abuse, Wulf is plied with luxuries he has never known by a man who actually seems to respect him.

  Jaded. Looking for a challenge.

  Eminent Master Locke takes on a bet with his best friend that he can’t train and tame a dangerous One-Night Thrall in ten days. But something about this slave stirs him like no other before. All bets aside, Locke has the urge to keep Wulf, as well as save his life. But Wulf is fierce, unwilling, and his consent papers have been forged. If Wulf doesn’t soon submit to his role as a slave, he will be sent to death as a prisoner of war.

  A sweet, slow-burn love story taking place on an alternate contemporary Earth where owning pleasure slaves is legal.

  LORD VAMPYRE

  Wendy Rathbone

  When Lord Neverelle becomes a guest at Cliffside Keep, Vanni watches helplessly as Damion, the young man he’s grown up with and secretly loves, falls for the alluring and seductive stranger. Lord Neverelle is danger incarnate, and soon takes control of the household.

  Not satisfied with Damion alone, Never uses a vampire trick called “the tempt” to compel Vanni, who is swept into a love triangle that includes fiery passion and nightly threesomes.

  Now Vanni must ask himself, is any of this consensual? And what about Damion—does he really want to be with Vanni, or is it all a sensual play controlled by vampire compulsion?

  M/M and M/M/M romance.

  The Imposter Prince

  Book 1 in The Imposter Series

  Wendy Rathbone

  His love for an enemy prince threatens his very life.

  Dare does not mind serving the spoiled and cruel Prince Darius. Growing up with him, Dare does everything for Darius including homework, bed play demands, and even doubling for him as the prince grows too paranoid to face even the smallest of crowds.

  But everything changes in a single moment when Dare, while posing as Darius, is abducted by the enemy.

  A captive in a new and hostile land, Dare meets another prince who seems just as indulged and rotten as Darius—until Dare gets to know him, until they fall in love. Against his will, Dare must continue to play the role of Prince Darius for real, or risk everything: his love, his land, and his very life.

  His only chance for survival is to keep a secret from the one he loves, a secret that is also killing him.

  A male/male, enemies to lovers novel of mad kings, troubled princes, abduction, fevers, cold dungeons, warm hearths, comfort, wine, and true love.

  THE IMPOSTER KING

  (Book 2 of The Imposter Series)

  Wendy Rathbone

  Their love made them close. Their secret kept them closer.

  Dare and Prince Malory are happily married and in love, but the secret of Dare’s true identity as a mere servant threatens their romantic bliss.

  Messages to the king of Brookfall go unanswered, and rumors of war unsettle both kingdoms. Until one day heralds arrive with bags of gold to ransom Dare and demand his return to Brookfall.

  King Millard, Prince Malory’s father, orders Dare to make the journey to see his father. But Dare is not the true heir, and if they meet, the secret he and Mal have been guarding will be revealed. Also, impersonating a royal means a death penalty offense. Worse, it could mean all-out war between their countries.

  Panic. Despair. Lovers torn asunder. Personal sacrifice. More dark secrets revealed. An ending that will leave you breathless.

  Ganymede: Abducted by the Gods

  Book 1 in "The Fantastic Immortals" Series (A standalone read)

  Wendy Rathbone

  My name is Ganymede, and I have been betrayed.

  Every boy my age dreams of leaving home to embark on a noble adventure, but never does any boy imagine it happening as it did to me. On the evening of my 18th naming day, when I expected no more than a chalice of wine and a few drunken flirtations to tempt my innocence, I was instead sold by my father to the god, Zeus - not because of anything particular I had ever done or said, but solely because I am considered beautiful among mortals, and my father found more value in a few gold coins than in the well-being of his youngest son.

  To be honest, I never believed in the gods, but my lack of belief held no power in Olympus or on Earth. Now under Zeus's influence, I am kept drunk on ambrosia in the sun-lit halls of the immortals, alternately amazed and horrified at the power these beings hold over others, and how darkly they influence the progress of humanity itself. How very much I want to hate Zeus for kidnapping me, and yet he shows me mostly kindness, even on that fateful night when we shared a bed for the first time. Kindness, yes, but also a godly and unyielding refusal to take no for an answer... probably because he could read my ambrosia-fevered curiosity as much as my naive, inexperienced terror. He owns me, after all, just as he owns everything else, so perhaps it never occurred to him that a captive and a slave might not make the best of lovers.

  Throughout my time at Olympus - who's to say how long I've been here, for time on Olympus is not the same as that on Earth - the only thing that gives me hope comes to me in dreams and visions. His name is Sable and he is a magnificent shape-shifter in the form of a giant raven. When he first spoke to me in my mind it was with a resonance unlike any I had ever known - his mind and mine sounding a single note together, a song without words, a promise of freedom, a glimpse of some distant but very real possibility of this thing we humans call Love. But now he is silent. Perhaps I dreamed his voice. Perhaps I have finally lost my mind.

  ZEUS (Conquering His Heart)

  Book 2 in "The Fantastic Immortals" Series (A standalone read)

  WENDY RATHBONE

  When I throw the lightning and summon the thunder, it isn't always out of anger, but often from a love so all-consuming it could only be the effect of Eros himself. Yes, he is beautiful. Of course he is. How could he
be otherwise, with hair the color of sunlight and white-feathered wings that drape to the floor? And he is as ancient as the myth of time itself, an immortal with powers and glamour beyond my ability to imagine. He struggles to teach me wisdom, control, strategy, yet I sit here babbling like a child, for all I can think of is how I might try - at least let me try! - to prove myself to him in some way that will cause him to crave my company and my touch, just as I crave his.

  I do not yet know how to be a god, for I am only 18 and still just a silly boy who has fallen in love with Love himself, while my father Cronus plots and schemes to lock me in his dungeon and make me his slave forever.

  A male/male romance.

  BUYING YOU

  Wendy Rathbone

  It’s one thing to be a beautiful cover model on billboards, buses and magazine covers. It’s quite another to be sold as one.

  Prized for his looks, Dane knows it’s shallow, but he is on his way to having it all. It feels good to be gorgeous, smart and have top designers from around the world requesting him.

  When he returns to his hometown to participate in a small Date-For-Charity auction, it seems harmless enough—until a hooded man walks in and bids higher on him than anyone else. Dane is intrigued but nervous when he finds out the guy has vanished after the winning bid, leaving only a limo behind to whisk Dane off into the night.