Seeing Red

by Lyra Evans

  The pain seared into pleasure, and Cobalt replaced the needle with the remaining ring. When he pulled away, he placed the needle aside and took stock of Niko as he was now, marked and claimed and bearing Cobalt’s adornments. Niko squirmed slowly in position, riding the surge of sensation as long and far as it would take him.

  “Look at you,” Cobalt husked. Niko opened his eyes and saw the naked desire on Cobalt’s face, his Soul Stone nearly glowing with some kind of ethereal light Niko didn’t understand. Cobalt’s erection strained beneath his pants, and satisfaction settled in Niko at the knowledge. “Look at yourself,” Cobalt ordered.

  Still heaving, Niko lifted his head off the shelf and gazed down. The sight of his sore nipples, slightly swollen from abuse, throbbing and hot from the sensation of a foreign body in them, nearly ended him. He strangled the sound of his moan, his heart pounding almost visibly in his chest. He hadn’t expected to like it so much, to feel so proud, so hot, so dangerous with them. But he did. He wanted to play with them, wanted Cobalt to play with them, but he wasn’t sure that was advisable. With a tentative hand, he reached up to tweak one gently, but the sensitivity of the skin was at its peak. He flinched from it, the pain enjoyable but likely a mistake. Cobalt reached out and smacked his hand away.

  “Greedy little painslut,” Cobalt said, shaking his head. “Those are mine,” he said, “and I won’t have you endanger them.” He turned and picked up a small tube of something Niko hadn’t noticed. Popping the cap of the white tube, Cobalt squirted out a small amount onto his fingers and reached over to rub it into Niko’s brand new piercings.

  “Right, so you just raided my entire cabin, did you?” Preston’s voice came, tainted with heat and husk beneath the ring of disdain.

  Cobalt ignored him, rubbing the cream in. The sensitive soreness ebbed slightly as he did, and Niko felt the tingle of magic taking effect. He mourned the sensitivity, the intensity of the pain at the piercing site, but Cobalt’s ministrations were pleasant on their own. One nipple at a time, Cobalt tended to him. Then he capped the tube and tossed it aside.

  “They will need treatment daily for a few days,” Cobalt told him, “but that salve healed them almost completely. Enough for me to do this,” he said, flicking one up and tugging on it gently. It stung almost like a pinch but with a depth Niko didn’t expect. He gasped. “Now tell me,” Cobalt said, his expression darkening again, “who owns you?”

  Niko couldn’t think straight, lost entirely to his body’s needs and wants. He ran his tongue along his lower lip. “You do, Master,” he said, low and breathy.

  “Do not ever forget it,” Cobalt said, biting out each word and grabbing Niko by the hair. He dragged Niko closer and into a demanding kiss. Teeth catching Niko’s lower lip, Cobalt bit down and dragged outward. “I’m going to make sure of it. On your knees.”

  He stepped back, hand reaching to his pants to undo the button. Mouth suddenly very wet, Niko fell to his knees, the sharp pain almost unnoticeable next to his hunger. His lips fell open before Cobalt pulled his cock free of his pants. Faced with Cobalt’s big, heavy erection, Niko barely managed to stop himself reaching for it instantly. But he managed to wait, letting Cobalt bury his fingers in Niko’s midnight blue hair again, grabbing a fistful to drag him closer. Niko’s head was forced up against Cobalt’s cock, his lips brushing it roughly at first. A groan tore through him.

  With barely a nod of his head, Cobalt gestured for Niko to swallow him down, and Niko did. He took Cobalt in deep, down to the root, in one motion. Relaxing his throat as best he could, he took Cobalt’s cock and began sucking and licking and bobbing back and forth without instruction. His breathing hitched again, his mind both racing with the pleasure of it and blank all at once. He didn’t move his hands from his thighs, knowing better than to touch himself or Cobalt without permission, but fuck he wanted to. He wanted to pump himself roughly, no need for lube to get himself off, and he wanted to feel Cobalt’s thighs and ass and pull him in even deeper.

  As though sensing this, Cobalt said, “Touch me if you wish. This one time.”

  His hands smoothing up Cobalt’s legs in an instant, Niko spread his fingers wide over his lover’s blue-brown skin, panting through the strokes and sucking at his best. He couldn’t describe how much he enjoyed blowjobs before Cobalt, but he had never sucked cock like this, never hungered for it like this. But he wasted no time thinking on it, instead focusing on easing his throat to take Cobalt to the root.

  Hands in Niko’s hair, Cobalt let Niko do most of the moving at first, but soon he began to roll his hips, bucking and thrusting into Niko’s throat with more force. The head of his cock hit the back of Niko’s throat, choking him briefly, and Niko’s body surged with it. He opened his eyes to look up at Cobalt from his position on his knees. Cobalt was watching him, his pale hair floating about as if in slow motion. Cobalt moved like water and pure sensuality, and Niko let himself just take it.

  The pace quickened, Cobalt thrusting harder and deeper, his fists tugging on Niko’s hair harder and harder. Niko moaned into the thrusting, gasping air through his nose as he could and running his tongue flat along the shaft of Cobalt’s cock. And then, with one deep thrust and hold, Niko felt Cobalt come down his throat. Hot jets of liquid filled his mouth, and he swallowed as he could through the wave of it, eyes falling shut as he did. He was almost disappointed, having wanted Cobalt to fuck him, but Niko made the most of it, sucking Cobalt to completion without releasing his cock until the last second.

  When Cobalt finally pulled back, out of Niko’s mouth, it was to Niko treating his shaft and head like an ice pop. He was still hard, and Niko wondered briefly about that, but his eyes travelled back up to Cobalt’s face to find him still determinately ravenous. Licking his lips and savouring the taste of his lover, Niko teetered between waiting for instruction and touching himself.

  His rebellious side took him, and with a taunting lip bite, Niko wrapped his hand around his own cock and pumped it once or twice. A growl rumbled up from Cobalt’s chest, deep and threatening, and he grabbed Niko by the arm, forcing him to his feet. Niko let go of his cock, mischief in his eyes.

  “You naughty little slut,” Cobalt told him, whipping him around still holding tight to Niko’s wrist. His arm now twisted behind him, Niko pressed back into Cobalt, arching his back to rub his ass against Cobalt’s hips. Cobalt slapped his ass firmly, eliciting a stinging pleasure in Niko, before throwing him down toward the pullout bed. Niko stumbled forward, catching himself atop the mattress, his ass still in the air. “You greedy thing. You want me to fuck you dry, don’t you? Without prep.” Niko moaned, pushing back with his exposed ass again. He did want that, he didn’t care about pain or anything else. He wanted Cobalt in him now. Fast. Hard. Ruthless. But Cobalt wasn’t entirely on the same page. “You can’t take me like that. Not yet.” He leaned over Niko, his cock nestled into the crack of Niko’s ass. He pressed his mouth to Niko’s left ear. “Soon, Pet. But not today.”

  With a sound alarmingly akin to a whine, Niko tried to push back again, ignoring his own body’s noises. He wasn’t needy. He wasn’t. But he needed Cobalt. Another slap to his ass for the attempt, Niko spread his feet wider, forearms pressing into the mattress to improve the angle of his hips. Cobalt drew a finger down his ass, pressing probingly at his hole. His fingertip was slick with something, but Niko didn’t remember him opening lube of any kind. But his mind was too enthralled to think on it long. Soon Cobalt had slipped an entire finger into Niko’s ass, sliding in and out, curving and probing to stretch him. Then another finger, and Niko welcomed the intrusion wholeheartedly. But he needed more.

  Then Cobalt’s fingers were gone and something much larger pressed against his entrance. Niko thrust backward, moving his chest down further. His newly pierced nipples brushed the surface of the mattress and flared with sensation, making him gasp. Cobalt slapped his ass again, a minor punishment to take given the way the head of his cock penetrated past the ring of muscle at his entran
ce.

  Breathing hard, open-mouthed, and moaning more than he ever did, Niko braced through the burn as Cobalt’s cock sheathed fully into him. It slid smoothly, with some minor lubricant, but not enough to spare Niko the burn of stretching. And once Cobalt was in him fully, Niko let himself go entirely. He let himself soak in every inch of Cobalt’s cock, feeling the heat and stretch and slide like it was all he could feel at all.

  Cobalt gave him a few slow strokes to ease him in, then notched up the pace to brutal and punishing in one motion. He thrust hard into Niko, hitting deeper and deeper, his balls hitting up against Niko’s with every movement, and Niko could only brace against the mattress and bedding to take it. And he did. Panting and crying out incomprehensibly with every pounding thrust, Niko burrowed his face into the bedding, so lost in the ecstasy he couldn’t think to do anything else.

  But Cobalt wouldn’t allow him to lose himself fully. Bending over Niko, he reached up and forced his head to the side, one ear pressed to the mattress. The other hand fiddled with a nipple ring, intensifying every sensation coursing through him. Niko opened his mouth, licking at Cobalt’s nearby fingers.

  “Look at him,” Cobalt instructed, and Niko was briefly confused. “Look at him watching you. Show him how much you love taking my cock, how good I make you feel. Show him who your Master really is.”

  Eyelids sliding open, Niko saw Preston still perched at the edge of his loft, his cock hard, stroking himself roughly as he watched Cobalt fuck Niko. Something in Niko was set on fire, searing through the already mind-bending pleasure he was experiencing, and Niko cried out aloud, soaking in the feel of Cobalt’s cock filling him, stretching him, more fully than before. He knew Preston wanted to fuck him, to join in somehow, but he couldn’t. Cobalt wouldn’t let him. And Niko was settled now on the same. Pleasure in him came from denying Preston what he wanted, getting his enjoyment from the one person he allowed to own him.

  And then Cobalt moaned too, thrusting deeper, more erratically, his hands playing with Niko’s nipples just roughly enough to send jolts of stinging pain through him. And Niko knew he couldn’t hold it, couldn’t take it anymore. He felt the wave of his orgasm as Cobalt’s cock battered his prostate. His eyes rolling back, Niko dragged fistfuls of the blanket down along his sides as he tensed, tightening around Cobalt’s cock, his own cock spraying a thick jet of liquid beneath him.

  Cobalt rode out his orgasm, pumping into him with precision verging on pain as he hit Niko’s prostate with every stroke. He pressed his mouth to Niko’s back, sucking on the skin and worrying it with his teeth and tongue as he thrust one more time, deep as he could, to fill Niko with come. His eyes drooping with exhaustion, Niko glanced once more at Preston, who was pumping himself more slowly, his hand slick with his climax.

  Finding a strength Niko could barely believe, Cobalt held himself atop Niko, leaning down to press another kiss to his lips. Niko let his tongue find Cobalt’s and slide over it without urgency. Cobalt’s cock was still buried inside him, and Niko smiled into the kiss, collapsing full on the mattress. He was full and spent and, for that moment at least, he couldn’t think of anywhere else he’d rather be.

  Chapter 24

  When Niko opened his eyes, it was lighter in the cabin than it had been when he last closed them. His body ached in every inch, but the sensation was strangely satisfying. He let himself stretch, a languid move cut short by the realization he was not on a holiday. He was lying on the pull-out bed, wrapped in sheets and alone. It was the empty space beside him that reminded him where he was and what he should have been doing.

  With a sharp turn, Niko looked around the cabin, searching for Cobalt. His heartbeat relaxed a bit when he spotted the Selkie sitting at the small table opposite Preston, discussing something quietly. Cobalt was dressed, drinking from a tall glass of water. His arms were bare, the slight darker sheen where he’d been burned still present but even today less noticeable. The assurance that he was all right and hadn’t disappeared in the night was somewhat undone by the reality that he was talking softly with Preston while Niko slept. As if there was no urgency, nothing pitting them against the ticking clock.

  Getting to his feet, sheets still wrapped around him like a kind of knotted robe, Niko walked over to the two shifters, his face already warped to a mask of frustration.

  “Quite the circle of friends you’ve got,” Cobalt was saying to Preston, his tone cut with disgust. Preston sipped from a mug of coffee.

  “What can I say? They’re a very effective band of villains,” he said without inflection.

  “Having a nice little chat, are we?” Niko asked, hands on his hips. He had aimed for imposing, but the effect was somewhat undone by the sheet-toga wrapped around his waist.

  Cobalt turned to look at him, and his brilliant eyes lit up immediately. The light in them caused a strange fluttering in Niko’s chest, but he tried to ignore it. Cobalt took him in smoothly, his gaze falling to the brand new nipple piercings, and he licked his lips.

  “Good morning, Pet,” Cobalt said lowly. “Preston here has just been getting me up to speed on what you discovered yesterday.” He reached out and pulled Niko toward him so fluidly Niko couldn’t stop him. Pressed up against Cobalt’s side, Niko gasped softly as the Selkie leaned over and flicked his tongue into one of the nipple rings. “Did you sleep well?”

  Heat coursed through Niko, but anger superseded it. He wound around and pushed Cobalt away. “Not considering my reputation and life are still being threatened,” he snapped. “If you were interested in information, you should have woken me.”

  Preston slurped his coffee, eyes pointedly on the wall next to him. Cobalt shook his head. “I attempted to wake you,” Cobalt told him, and Niko immediately deflated. “You would not rouse. I suspect some of yesterday’s activities pushed your body to a breaking point. You needed the rest.”

  Shoulders slumped, Niko glanced between the two of them, his face suddenly hot. He tried not to look down at himself, to take stock of the damage done to him not only by the Sluagh Staff and Cobalt’s claiming, but by the case as a whole. He hadn’t slept well in days, hadn’t eaten nearly enough, and hydration wasn’t his top priority. As he stood there, fingers curled into his palms, he realised even his skin felt dry, rough, and ridged in a way it didn’t normally. Cobalt watched him without judgment as he became aware of himself, and when Niko met his eyes, Cobalt held out his glass of water to Niko. Taking it, Niko drank down slowly and sat himself down on the remaining chair at the table.

  “Eggs?” Preston asked, deciding the danger had passed. Niko looked flatly at him, and the Werewolf got to his feet and served Niko a plate of eggs and bacon without waiting for an answer. Now it was in front of him, Niko could smell the savoury foods and his stomach rumbled loudly.

  Picking up a nearby fork, Niko shovelled some of it into his mouth. “So did he tell you what Phoebe is planning?” Niko asked Cobalt.

  “Not exactly,” the Selkie answered, eyeing Preston. “He informed me she plans to invoke the rite of Astral Roots, which apparently involves having two other Courtiers killed, but—”

  “The rite doesn’t involve killing the Courtiers,” Preston corrected. “It’s just she can’t get it passed while these two Courtiers are still on the Council.”

  Cobalt waved him off. “But he did not explain what this Astral Roots ritual entails.”

  Niko ate one of the fried eggs nearly whole, the runny yolk bursting as he did and running down his lip. He ran his tongue out to swipe it up, and Cobalt watched him intently. Hunger was written on his features. Niko tried not to get distracted.

  “It’s an old law, some centuries old,” Niko said, munching on some bacon. He already felt more even-keeled. “Probably even older. Put in place by one of the first Councils of the Crown after the last war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. That was when the Fae Court was broken in two, and we had two factions vying for the right to reign.” Niko waved a hand in the air, as though to dismiss all the h
istory. “None of that matters now, but the point is the rite of Astral Roots was set into law to protect the people of the Court from the potential abuses of the Crown. The Seelie Court’s leader took over as King, but the Unseelie Court made up slightly more than half of the Council. So if the King lost the faith and favour of the people, the Council could put Astral Roots into action.” He paused, taking a long drink of water. The food suddenly began to taste of dirt in his mouth as he acknowledged again the very real threat Phoebe Linden was. “Only one Courtier needs to trigger the rite. When they do, the entire Council must convene immediately. Anyone not present forfeits their right to vote. And the question they put to a vote is whether or not to seize the Crown. It requires a unanimous vote, and if they all agree, the King or Queen in question is stripped of their title pending a trial. During the trial, they will have to prove their worth as leader and defend any one of their decisions called into question. The Council serves as judge and jury. In the meantime, the person who triggered the rite in the first place assumes all the power of the Crown.”

  Silence followed Niko’s explanation, and he couldn’t blame Cobalt for the reaction. It was surreal to think about. Niko cleaned his plate of food while Cobalt thought, and Preston, for his part, waited in silence.

  “The Council of Courtiers can trigger this rite any time they choose?” Cobalt asked. “And all they require is a unanimous vote to strip the monarch of their power? That seems insane.”

  Preston laughed, a sound echoing a bark, and he nodded. “It does, doesn’t it?”

  “What’s to stop the Council all coming together and agreeing to simply overthrow the monarchy and seize power between them?” Cobalt asked.

  Niko shifted. “It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Niko said. “Astral Roots has never been put into effect. Not since its inception. The key was that the Council always be balanced in perspectives. The unanimous vote and fact that only one of the Courtiers could claim the power of the Crown made it unlikely that an entire Council could ever agree to that kind of treachery. Like I said, the Council was made up of members of both the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, and the two factions have basically never gotten along. Still today, the Council is almost exclusively populated by families that can trace their lineage back to one of those two Courts.”