But Revik was pulling on me again.
"Show me," he said, his voice more contrite. "Please. You promised."
I moved deeper into his lap, letting my hands slide down his back. That time, I focused on his left side, under the lowest of his ribs, a few inches from his spine.
"It's harder to find on us," I told him, kissing his jaw. "...That's why no one probably found it on you," I added, pulling on him lingeringly with my light, feeling him react even as his head tilted back, resting on the back of the couch. "It's pretty far from the surface of our skin, so you have to really feel it out..."
As I spoke, I found the spot I was referencing with my fingers, and he let out a cry, even as his arms clasped my back. Sliding light through my fingers, I pressed harder at the cluster of nerves there, and the cry turned into a drawn-out groan, from deeper down in his chest. I felt him abruptly on the verge of coming and clenched my light around his, stopping him, even as he let out a lower sound, pulling me hard against him.
"You really are fucking killing me..." he said, closing his eyes. "Between the men who obsess on you and my own damned light..."
He clamped his arms tighter around my back when I continued to explore that nexus of nerves and light. Then his hands were on me, on the same side of my body. His fingers moved deftly over muscle, skin and bone. I felt light in his hands as he read me, looking for what I'd done so he could copy it.
When his fingers found the same spot on me, my back arched involuntarily, and I caught hold of his hand.
"Wait..." I managed. "Wait...please. I won't last if you do that..."
"Ye of little faith," he murmured, kissing my throat.
I felt a more pleased flicker in his light, though.
I gasped out a laugh when he clutched me tighter, but I was already in his light again, fighting to get him to retract, using all of my light to tug on his. When he understood what I was doing, he relaxed into the couch, still caressing my side.
He pulled me down to kiss me, and by the time I got his body to pull back, both of us were sweating and he was groaning again, tugging on my hips to position me over him. When I angled down on him, his arm tightened on my back and shoulder. I found myself gripping his hair, maybe in some misguided attempt to control him.
It felt like months since we'd done this...or maybe I still wasn't used to him at all yet, at least not like this, not with all of his light. Within seconds, I found myself tensing to avoid losing control, even as I pulled on him harder.
"It's different," I managed. "...You feel different. Is it different for you?"
"Yes." His eyes closed. He caught hold of my hips as he changed the angle of his body, arching into me harder. "Yes..."
Pain blanked out my mind, and I pulled away, almost leaving him entirely.
His body went soft under me as I pushed him again to let me control things, but I could feel his pain worsen the more he fought to relax. Within minutes, we were moving together harder, and he groaned again, right before his arm forced me all the way against him.
I realized he wanted to extend and stopped him, tightening my hold on his light.
He cried out in frustration, right before his fingers found that spot on my back, digging into the cluster of nerves even as he flooded so much light into my skin that I let out a yell. I came involuntarily, crying out again, and he groaned, extending into me as I felt another flood of that emotion, whatever I'd felt when we were riding up on the elevator. His eyes glowed brighter as he slowed, just long enough to dig his fingers into my side again.
I came again, even more intensely that time...and for a long moment some part of me went away, losing touch with the room.
When I came back, he was watching me, pain in his expression. I pulled his hand off me before he could do it again, still struggling to breathe.
I was going to have to get better at controlling his light, now that I’d shown him that.
He laughed, sweating as he leaned his face against the back of the couch.
Somewhere in that, he'd pulled me down beside him, pinning me to my back. A memory hit him, of me lying there before, of feeling pain on me as I opened my light. Holding me down with one hand, he grabbed the back of the couch with the other. I felt that other thing in his aleimi again, that shocking openness as the light unclenched in his chest.
His eyes glowed brighter, right before his fingers dug back into my side. He put more light into his cock, making me lose control again.
His pain hit me harder as I was coming down off that.
I felt purpose behind his light though, and behind his body. I realized what he was doing as he continued trying to coerce more of my light to open. His arm wound around my back, and I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever felt that much pain on him, except maybe when we woke up from that coma-like sleep. He gripped my hair as I thought it, fighting to get me to open more.
I tried to help him that time, but when I did, he only gave a low cry, shaking his head.
"Let me do it," he begged. "Please...you can't help me with this..."
Relenting, I angled my body towards his instead, losing myself in sensation. His reaction was intense...and immediate...his pain slamming into me until I couldn't breathe. I dug my hands into his back and arm, wrapping a leg around him as he held me down forcibly. That time, he massaged that cluster of nerves again and again, until my light turned to liquid, until I really did lose all sense of where I was.
I felt him lose control completely, somewhere in that, but he still held me tightly as I let myself go into it, until it was no longer pain, but...something else.
When I came back, he was still spasming over me, his eyes shockingly bright with light, his body moving involuntarily. I felt love on him, a flood of heat difficult to feel in its entirety, even as the rest of him turned densely affectionate, his fingers caressing my arms and hands as he kissed my face and neck.
For a long couple of minutes, I could only lay there, trying to wrap my head around what I felt in his light. He kissed me through it, leaving himself open enough that he must have felt me scanning him again. He stroked my face and hair and body, his tongue warm on my skin. He pulled on me for affection, for anything I would give him, until it grew so strong I found myself fighting tears, barely able to breathe. I felt another surge of pain on him during those moments that emotion overwhelmed us both, mixed with that deeper intensity of love.
When that turned into another erection, and his hands tightening on my hips, I let out a choked laugh. I laughed harder when I saw the images accompanying his thoughts.
"Now you want a shower?" I murmured, fingering hair out of his face. "Now you decide I smell like vomit...?"
"Only a little," he said, smiling back.
His light was still so soft I couldn't stop touching him. I wrapped my leg further around his waist as he resettled against me. He propped his jaw on a palm, looking down at me.
"...Both of us smelling better is just a bonus," he said. "Really, I was thinking about sex against the shower wall, if you want the truth."
"I gathered that," I said, caressing his side. "Are you going to tell me what that was, first?"
"Which part?" he said.
I laughed, tugging on his hair. "You," I said. "The you part. Your eyes are still glowing. Your light is all over the place. You tried to coerce me into group sex down there, and you’ve never tried to coerce me into anything sexual before...even when you were Syrimne." I kissed his mouth, still pulling on him with my light. "You're like...I don't know. A searchlight right now. A really horny, ethically-challenged and emotionally volatile searchlight..."
"You know we're still re-bonding, right?" he said. Avoiding my question, he kissed me again. "...Your eyes are glowing, too, by the way. I can't tell you how much that turns me on..." He slid his fingers into my hair, caressing my face with his. "...Honestly, I'm not even sure why. It's beautiful, but it's more than that." Smiling ruefully, he shook his head. "It makes me possessive, too. More so, I mean. Like I
need another reason..."
Diversions aside, I knew what he meant. I had a similar reaction when his eyes glowed. It was even more intense when I watched him use the telekinesis.
I caressed his arm again, looking at the tattoo as I shifted to my side.
"You do feel different," I said again. Letting him know I wasn’t giving him a free pass on the diversion thing, either, I made my voice chiding. “...You’re going to have to tell me pretty soon, you know, husband. Whatever it is.”
He closed his eyes, resting his head against the couch's back cushion. "I will, Allie. I just can’t right now...but I will.” Gasping a little when I started caressing him again, he let his body grow heavier on mine. “As for the rest of it, I think it started before,” he said after a pause. “...even when I was still working for Salinse. I think my connection to the Dreng slowed it down some, but didn't stop it entirely. I remember worrying that I was getting more irrational around you, not less. And I was thinking about sex pretty much all the time..."
"And now?" I said, stroking his chest.
"It's worse," he admitted. "I have to watch it, Allie...I've been fighting a stronger reaction to Jaden than maybe I've been telling you." Pausing, he added, "I don't like him. I'm pretty sure you knew that. But truthfully, it's more than that."
"How much more?" I said cautiously.
He shrugged, his eyes flat.
Watching him for a few seconds more, I let the bewilderment grow audible in my voice. "Revik, I never figured you gave Jaden much thought at all. Everything was so different back then...Jaden feels like forever ago to me now."
"You lived with him for six years, Alyson." He raised his head, his accent prominent, his voice holding more than a thread of irritation that time. "I was there for all of those years, remember? You get jealous of prostitutes. What if you'd been hanging around while Elise and I were married, watching us get it on every night...?" Feeling me tense, he nodded, as if I'd just made his point. "...And we were only married four years, by the way. Most of the last two, I was away...fighting a war." His jaw hardened as he looked up at the ceiling. "Honestly? I can barely stand to be in the same room with the son of a bitch."
I found myself thinking about his words. If he was feeling possessive, that actually explained a few things. I resumed stroking his skin, kneading his muscles with my fingers. After thinking a bit longer, though, I smacked him sharply on the chest.
He looked up, surprised.
“You need to get over it,” I advised him. “Seriously. We just got up in front of all of our friends, the gods, Tarsi...whoever else...and promised we’d stop acting like children. We’re married. I’m never leaving you. I’m never cheating on you again. You’re an idiot to think otherwise, and you know it. People are trying to kill us, husband,” I added sternly, smacking him again. “...The world is dying all around us. We can’t afford to act like this anymore, okay? You need to trust me. I need to trust you. We need to get over it, Revik...”
When he raised an eyebrow at me questioningly, I smacked him again, harder that time, and he laughed, catching hold of my wrist.
"Okay, okay,” he said. “I agree.” I heard relief in his voice and smiled, even as he yanked me closer to him. “You keep getting more and more violent with me," he said, his German accent prominent again. "Should I be worried about this?"
"This from a man who tried to bully me into group sex earlier...” I reminded him, struggling to free my hand so I could hit him again. "...And who keeps secrets from me. Secrets everyone else in the hotel seems to know.” I writhed out of his hold, half-smiling in spite of myself. “Is this about that stupid Lao Hu clothing? Because if you’d just told me, I would have ditched that stupid dress right off. But no. You let me parade around like that for months..."
“I told you. I’m not going to tell my wife what to wear.” His smile crept out again. “Besides. It was great masturbation material..." he added, laughing again when I struggled harder to free my wrist. "I didn't have to try to conjure anything..." He laughed again when I fought to hit him, jerking my other arm free of his hands. "...Speaking of which," he added, his eyes on my face again, right before his voice got gruffer. "...I may not make it to the shower."
"This turns you on?" I said. "Me trying to smack you?"
"You stark naked and writhing against me, with that light in your eyes?" he said, smiling. "Yeah, wife...it turns me on." He pressed his body against mine.
I smiled at him. "I thought I was barf girl?"
"I'll survive," he said. "...For this one, anyway."
"This one, huh? You sound pretty confident."
He nodded, pressing his erection against me, closing his eyes for longer than a blink when my pain worsened. "Gods, Allie...you have no idea how much you don't need to worry about me." He released my wrists, twisting his body so that most of his weight fell on mine again.
Feeling another pulse of that pain on him, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Can I give you head?" I murmured. "Before, I mean." Kissing his throat, I nuzzled his neck. "You can't yell at me for teasing, though. Just this once, you have to let me...and if you're good, I'll let you do the same. You can use rope and everything..."
Pain ribboned off his light, slow and liquid that time, even as he pulled me tighter against him. "Yeah," he said softly in my ear. "You say shit like that to me, then complain because I’ve got issues with you and other men..."
"Why? You’re the one I’m offering to molest!”
Revik laughed. "Really? Is that what that is? An offer?"
"What do you think it is?” I said, my voice a little sharper. "I'm allowed to play a little with you, aren't I? I thought you liked it sometimes..."
"I like it a little too much," he admitted, caressing my neck. "Truthfully, it still makes me jealous as hell when you do that."
"Jealous?" I said, bewildered. "What for? It's you I'm doing it to..."
"You're a lot more confident now," he said. As I opened my mouth to protest, he clarified, "...About sex, Alyson. You used to be more shy. Even at the rebel compound, you were shy. You just didn't say no very often. But you got embarrassed easy."
He tugged my thigh further around his waist, entering me without waiting for my answer. I let out a gasp when he angled to the end of me, then went all of the way in, extending without preamble. I clutched his back and his bicep as his eyes closed, fighting to control my light while I watched his face. I felt his pain worsen as he stared back at me, as he watched my expression change when he arched in further.
“But I’m hearing you wife,” he added, his breath short. “I swear I am...”
“You’re just choosing to ignore me,” I told him. Even so, my breath stopped when he slid into me deeper, closing his eyes briefly. I let out a low gasp. When I opened my own eyes, he shook his head, his eyes serious.
“No,” he said. “No, I’m not. I’m not ignoring you. Really.”
I laughed, I couldn’t help it, and he smiled.
"You like my arms?" he said, his own breath short. "I felt you. On the submarine..."
"I like a lot of your parts," I said. "But yeah, you have sexy arms...and hands," I added, as he closed one around my breast. "I like your feet, too..." I gasped when he arched into me harder, his eyes on my face. "...Gods, Revik...baby...aren't you going to let me play with you at all? I asked nicely..."
"Not yet," he said, grunting a little as he rocked into me again. He closed his eyes when my pain worsened, tautness flickering across his expression. "...I need to build up my mental fortitude first..."
"Your mental fortitude?"
Fighting back another laugh, I bit my lip, falling silent when he arched into me again.
"I need to fuck out some of my jealousy, wife..." he told me, his voice short. "...Jealousy and whatever else. Before you get mad and start hitting me again...”
I laughed again. “Whatever else?” I said, cocking an eyebrow at him.
His eyes looked serious when I met his gaze.
He didn’t answer me, though.
I could feel where his energy and light were going, even before he caught hold of my hips, angling into me harder. His eyes half-closed when he did it the next time, and then he had a foot on the floor by the couch, his hand holding me down as he gripped the back of the couch with the other, that time for leverage. He lost himself as the motion grew more intent, as his hand gripped me tighter the longer he went. I found myself holding him back, and then both of us were sweating, fighting to get him further inside me.
His eyes still shone with that inhuman stare as he lost control.
Even so, in those few seconds before that denser heat began to blur my vision, I wondered again, as I looked at him, what it was that he wouldn’t tell me.
9
PSYCHOPATH
BALIDOR FACED THE silver-eyed seer, his surface mind close to blank.
Keeping his thoughts away from the range of the lead Lao Hu infiltrator’s lower aleimi formed only one of the precautionary protocols he’d drafted for his infiltrators, when it came to dealing with this particular prisoner.
He’d made a list, essentially, with that one being pretty on the low-priority end, all in all.
It fell well after the two-way collar, the organic and dead-metal chains, the gas triggers, pressurized floor panels, DNA encrypted locks and the multiple-layer construct over the cell itself, much less the one they’d designed over the detainment area as a whole.
Even so, anyone caught in here who forgot to shield their thoughts, in addition to the rest, would be instantly pulled, and never allowed in this particular cell again.
He wasn’t taking chances with this one. Not even deeply remote chances.
He already knew he likely wouldn’t be able to let Dehgoies in here at all. Balidor himself had questioned Ditrini only a few times at this point, given everything else they’d had on their plate, but he’d picked up enough already to know Dehgoies wouldn’t be reliable. He’d probably kill the Lao Hu infiltrator if he listened to even a random sampling of his surface thoughts through the collar’s one remaining open frequency.
Allie's War Season Three Page 97