by Jana Downs
Cass hissed as Tobias tightened his grip. If the gladiator wanted to get aggressive, Tobias could get aggressive right back. What the hell am I doing? I’ve never been aggressive before in my life! In the house of Flavius senior, all aggression in the servants had been tamped out at an early age. He’d never been allowed to wrestle with his cousins when he’d been younger or anything else that would foster independence. It had been forbidden.
But this Flavius had changed the rules. He’d offered him a home, a job, not enslavement. That meant something, didn’t it? He tightened his grip, and Cassisus groaned. The low noise wrapped itself around Tobias’s balls and squeezed. Holy crap. It was sexy to make his mate make sounds like that. He tugged Cassisus forward until his lips hovered over his.
“Why would it be easier with him?” Cassisus demanded, his eyes boring into Tobias. There was a fire burning in those glacial depths.
“I don’t want to do this to him.” Tobias demonstrated exactly what he meant by pressing his lips to his companion’s. The move was bold, so unlike Tobias that it almost startled him out of the enjoyment of kissing his mate. It felt good, too good to waste.
Their lips caressed one another endlessly. Tobias felt the exact instant the power dynamic shifted and Cassisus caved to his desire and started taking Tobias’s mouth for his own. The gladiator’s tongue pushed its way into Tobias’s mouth and demanded his participation with each bold plunge. Tobias’s whole body caught on fire, and it wasn’t long until he found himself flush against the iron gate, wrapped in the gladiator’s arms and only separated by a few damning inches of metal. He wanted to be touched, caressed, fucked? Maybe. As intoxicating as his newfound power was, that was territory that he’d never explored and was absolutely afraid to.
Cassisus pulled back suddenly, panting. “You’re not what I expected.”
Tobias swallowed and relied on the bars to keep him upright. What had just happened? Why had he stopped? The scent of his mate and the contrast between the cool alloy and Cassisus’s hot skin made Tobias throb.
“II want…” he trailed off, unable to put into words the state he was in. He took a deep, shuddering breath and tried to calm down. The hair that his hands were still tangled in felt like silk around his fingertips, and he had to force himself to let go.
“Wanting isn’t a bad thing, baby, but wanting while keeping me at arm’s length is going to get a little painful for the both of us,” Cass said. The half grimace on his face spoke to the same effect. Fuck. What was I thinking?
“I shouldn’t have come here.” Never should’ve taken myself out of the box I was born into. A little house for myself? What the hell was I thinking? He shook his head to try and clear away the screaming voice that competed with his sanity. This decision-making stuff wasn’t easy. How was he supposed to make them when he’d never had to make them before? No decision he’d ever made had consequences in his life. He just followed the orders of his master and tried to find contentment where he could.
“I think you are scared of possibilities,” Cassisus rumbled.
“Let me go.”
“No, Tobias. I don’t think I will.”
Adrenaline surged through Tobias’s veins along with a healthy dose of anger. “You promised that we’d go at my speed.”
Cassisus’s eyebrow quirked upward. “Did I? Your speed? Were you or were you not just yanking on my hair and demanding that I kiss you?”
Tobias deflated. “Um, I, uh…” Embarrassment singed him. How was it that Cassisus made him so uncomfortable all the time?
“Take what you want, Tobias,” Cassisus said, switching tactics. “You started this. Follow up on it. Take nothing more than what you want. I’ll put my hands on the bars and not move them. Okay?”
“Yyou confuse me.”
Cassisus grinned, the smile not necessarily a sweet one. It was all arrogance and I-know-more-than-you. “Don’t be a mouse on me now, Tobias. Be a man.”
“I am a man!” Tobias protested, his anger firing again.
“Prove it.”
Fine. Just, fine. Tobias’s hands went out as his arms were released and wound them back in Cassisus’s thick hair. He jerked Cass’s head forward and smiled at the wince that the big gladiator made at the action. Mine. The thought came out of nowhere. It felt good to think it, too. His lips met Cassisus’s, and he groaned at the taste. Kissing is good. Really good, but Tobias wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be thinking like that. Distance. Yeah, right.
He pulled back, resting his forehead against the bars and panting against the tightly bound ball of want inside him. This was not going to work. If he stayed around Cassisus, he was going to fall into bed with the cat, and where would that leave Tobias? At the mercy of a cat with more beauty and brawn than is good for any one person.
“You are definitely all man, Tobias,” Cass rumbled, stroking Tobias’s hips where they rested on the bars. “Will you come inside?”
The temptation finally forced Tobias to see how far he’d let things progress. “I want to take this slow. I’ll come back every day until you leave.” It was the closest thing to a promise of commitment as he would give the big gladiator. “Eat, Cass. You will need to keep your strength up.” If the mouse had to force-feed the cat, he would do it. Just until the match. The reminder didn’t make Tobias any less aware of the fact that he was taking care of his mate.
Reluctantly, the cat drew back and pulled the tray of food that Tobias had brought into his lap and began scarfing it down with a hunger that let Tobias know exactly how much he’d missed eating. The slices of summer sausage and Triscuits were a particular hit with the gladiator.
“Don’t leave the fruit, gladiator. You need to have better eating habits.” Really, he was going to have to talk to Master Flavius about this whole eating situation. He understood that with the amount of exercise the gladiators did that what they ate wasn’t terribly contributive to their overall fitness, but Tobias was a big believer in supplying the body with a balanced diet, not just protein and processed sugar.
Cassisus winked before swallowing his mouthful. “Stick around long enough, little one, and I’m sure your good habits will rub off on me.” Leave it up to the cat to make even that seem sexual.
Tobias mumbled something noncommittal and continued to watch Cassisus devour the snack tray that Tobias had put together. He had absolutely nothing to talk to the gladiator about. What does one talk to them about? The games? No. That wasn’t quite right. That would be like Tobias talking about his day as a personal servant. It was a job. Some people like their duties. Tobias considered that.
“So do you like being a gladiator?” he asked after a long, silent pause.
Cass nodded. “I love it actually. There is nothing quite like performing in front of a crowd. It’s the one place I really feel like I’m free.”
Tobias could understand that. In the arena, nothing existed but sand, sweat, and weaponry. The winners became heroes, and the losers were honored for their contributions to the match. If anywhere, the arena was the place where shifters reigned supreme. He sighed. “That sounds nice. Isn’t it an illusion, though?”
“An illusion?”
“Yes. I mean, you’re not really free. You only feel that way because the humans created an artificial environment. It’s controlled freedom and therefore not free.” Tobias was waxing philosophical tonight. He opened his mouth and was surprised when Cassisus stuck an apple slice in it.
“You’re unhappy with the way things are. I get it. Why don’t you ask for a different duty if you’re unhappy?” Cass asked, tossing another bite of apple into his own mouth.
Tobias snorted and nearly lost a bite of apple for his trouble. “I am happy. I like my job. I just had a conversation with Master Flavius earlier that must’ve bothered me more than I realized.” He still wasn’t sharing the exact nature of that conversation with Cassisus, but at least he could work out what was gnawing at the back of his skull. When the master flipped their dynamics and treated
Tobias like an equal, he was sorely tempted to act like one. It was frustrating considering he couldn’t act like one.
“You have a spunky personality under that learned demure attitude of yours,” Cass observed, polishing off his tray of goodies. “Thank you for the meal.”
“You’re welcome. And I’m not ‘spunky.’ I’m just tired.” It had been a long day.
“You could come in here and take a nap,” Cass offered.
Tobias laughed and shook his head. “You’re relentless.”
The unapologetic grin the gladiator gave him said it all. Little by little Tobias felt himself relaxing in the cat’s company. Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he was making it up to be in his mind. Maybe entertaining Cassisus for a few weeks wouldn’t be the burden and stress that Tobias had originally thought. So long as they didn’t touch, Tobias was pretty calm.
“So I suppose we should get to know one another, hmm?” Cass asked, going over to the trunk at the foot of his bed and opening it up. “I mean, I’m not sure how the mating thing works, but I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to know more than what we do for a living. You’re a PA, and I’m a cage fighter. What else makes you tick, Tobias?”
Tobias shrugged. “I’m not sure. I like to read, I guess, and my family is important to me.” He thought about all the things in his life that had meaning. Those were about all the things he had in his life that were somewhat separate than what he did day to day.
Cass straightened with a bottle of wine and two plastic cups clenched in his fist. “Well, what do you know, I’m also a big family guy. My brother is everything to me. You have any siblings?”
“Several. Mostly brothers. I’m not really close to any of them like you are to Faustus.” Tobias watched as the gladiator uncorked the bottle and poured them both a cupful. It was by far the most bizarre way he’d ever been served a good bottle of wine before. Usually the master got him his own glass, or if he gave the family one, they drank out of regular glasses from the kitchen. Plastic was new.
“Oh?”
“You and your brother have a legendary bond. Everyone knows that you’re thicker than thieves. I’m surprised you didn’t mate the same person.” As Tobias said the words his tongue tripped over them as his brain caught up. It was a common saying among shifters to say that two people were so close that they should’ve mated the same person, but after the reaction Cassisus had displayed when Tobias had looked at his brother before made it seem more like a dig than anything.
Again, Cass surprised Tobias by laughing. “You’re not the first person to say that, but the sad truth is that my brother and I are night and day, and he needs a mate that would frustrate him to death, not one who would join and maintain the order of his world. My brother needs to be shaken up.” His blue eyes sparkled as he handed over Tobias’s cup through the bars. “Plus I would be greatly disappointed if fate made me share. It’s been well established that I do not share very well.”
Tobias shivered at the possessive tone in his voice. Just like it had never left, the fire that started in his gut every time Cass said or did something remotely sexy began to burn him. “Er, then I suppose it’s good that you don’t have the same mate.”
“Shall we toast?” Cass asked, changing the subject. Tobias nearly sagged in relief. A playful Cassisus he could handle. A serious, bent-on-seduction Cassisus just seemed too dangerous.
Tobias smirked. “I hardly think these are proper toasting glasses?”
Cassisus’s eyebrow quirked up on the right side. “Little one, I’m a gladiator, and I break delicate shit.”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Tobias picked up the thin brown box that was sitting beside him and handed it through the bars. “I hope you don’t mind. I got you something to apologize for leaving you the other night without hearing your piece.” Tobias’s cheeks heated at the thought. “Apparently the ancients wore beads in their hair to signify their status as being taken. I found this on the Net and thought it was appropriate.”
He actually found himself hoping that Cassisus would enjoy the present as much as Tobias had secretly enjoyed picking it out. He watched as Cass easily tore off the packaging and opened the box. The set Tobias had bought had been simple, but he’d liked the story of Antinious and his human mate, Angelus, since he was a boy.
“Do you know the story?” Tobias asked as Cassisus examined the bead box and the twine.
Cass shook his head. “We weren’t big on bedtime stories when I was growing up.” Tobias wasn’t entirely surprised. The atmosphere of the Ludus was a million miles away from the atmosphere at the house. That was one of the reasons he’d chosen out the history box set. It included a book on Antinious and Angelus’s story.
“It’s one of the cat stories I grew up with. The legend said that there was once a cat shifter who became a gladiator in ancient Rome. I’m sure the book says it better, but the long and short of it is that he fell in love with a slave named Angelus, who was actually the son of a politician. The story is all about them falling in love against the odds and finding freedom together in the end.” Tobias smiled just thinking about it. He sighed. He’d fallen in love with the stories when he was young. He eyed the cat fate had given him for a mate. Maybe he shouldn’t have loved the story so much.
“What kind of cat was he?” Cassisus asked, pulling out the book filer that would install the story on his e-reader.
“A lion, I think.”
Cass turned the bead box over in his hand and made this strange rumbling sound in his chest that might’ve been a laugh. “A tiger would’ve been better. However, I appreciate the gesture. Thank you.”
Tobias sipped his wine. It was sweeter than he expected and slightly smoky. “It’s a bit academic, I know. I’m sorry if it isn’t to your tastes.”
Cass shook his head. “Don’t ever apologize for giving me something. Every gift is a reflection of the giver. Any present from my mate is a treasure. I will learn more about your gift and then comment appropriately about the thoughtfulness of it at a later date. Okay?”
Tobias was perplexed by Cassisus. A normal person would have just said thank you, maybe gushed about it without ever really knowing the true meaning of his gift. Cassisus was proving to be a bit different than Tobias expected.
“All right,” Tobias said, leaning his shoulder against the bars. A change of subject was in order. “So tell me what it’s like to be a gladiator.”
Cass’s smile was easily given, and Tobias kept getting sidetracked by his easy grin. He certainly was a beautiful man. “What do you want to know, little one?”
Before he knew it, several hours had passed and they’d talked about everything from their favorite color to the proper way to defend oneself in a match with a larger opponent. Tobias glanced at the wall clock and found himself reluctant to leave despite the fact he had to be up in a few hours.
“I should let you sleep,” Tobias said, stretching. His muscles protested sitting on the floor so long, but he had been content there.
Cass pressed himself to the bars and reached out, drawing Tobias forward and into easy kissing distance. The cat’s hands on his clothed skin was almost unbearable. The lust that had faded rose sluggishly as if it, too, had been seduced by wine and good conversation.
Cass started purring again as Tobias leaned into him. “I enjoy your company, Tobias. Why don’t you stay? I promise to be a perfect gentleman.”
“Will the perfect gentleman include pants?” Tobias teased. He’d finally started relaxing in the face of Cassisus’s nudity a few minutes ago, but it was still extremely distracting.
“Hmm, clothes suck.”
Tobias just shook his head at the cat’s pouting protest. “Tell me good night, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You promise you’ll come back?” Something about the way Cassisus asked him made Tobias think that maybe Cass wasn’t nearly as shallow emotionally as he seemed.
“I promise.” It was an easy promise to give. After all, there was still a we
ek’s time between tomorrow and when the Ludus would pack up and travel to New Orleans. Spending his spare moments with his would-be mate would be no hardship.
Cassisus sighed. “Then I suppose this is good-bye, Tobias. Sweet dreams.”
“Good night, Cassisus. Sleep well.” Tobias went to pull out of the embrace only to have his movement stopped by Cassisus’s strong grip. “What?”
“I’ve been good. Do I get a goodnight kiss?” Cass asked, his voice a whispered plea. How can I resist that? Tobias leaned forward without thinking and met his lips. He sighed into the gladiator’s mouth as the taste of his mate invaded his senses and stole away every logical thought he possessed. It would be all too easy to slip into the cell and let Cassisus take what they both had danced around tonight. The thought of his mate’s hands caressing him, touching his body everywhere, was something that sent shivers of want up and down Tobias’s spine. Why do I feel so bold with you?
“Tobias,” Cassisus whispered, diving into another kiss. Tobias’s tongue thrust out to parry with Cass’s, dancing in a ritual that was as old as humanity. His forehead clunked on the bars as he chased Cass’s lips back toward the interior of the cell.
Tobias’s eyes popped open at the sudden cold on his face. His lips tingled, and he was panting lightly as he stared at the gladiator who had pulled his head back just out of range. Cassisus’s firm hands were still resting on Tobias’s hips though, an anchor against the want swimming through him.
Cass sighed, the noise long and frustrated. “Go, Tobias. I can’t stand anymore teasing tonight. If we kiss again there is going to be much more than saliva exchanged.”
The threat, promise, was enough to make Tobias take a hasty step backward. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said softly, turning and all but fleeing down the hallway. It wasn’t that he was scared Cassisus would actually follow through with what he said. He was more afraid that his stupid body was all too happy to oblige him and let Cass have his way in whatever manner the cat saw fit.