by Alex Jace
“And yet you want it.”
Kit stuttered to a halt, his face going hot. He opened his mouth only to close it again. He was helpless in the face of the truth; he craved this with a force so great it was nearly a compulsion. He wanted Sebastian to take him to bed and claim him for good.
“We made a deal.” Sebastian’s voice was iron. “I promised to wait for you to ask me, and I have. You promised me three days to convince you. If you run, I will find you and I will bring you back. You owe me tonight and tomorrow.”
Kit burst for the deep shadow of the forest. Leaves crunched under his running feet. Sebastian pounced on him instantly, like a wolf. Sebastian seized his arm and dragged him back. Kit yanked against his iron grip, but to no effect; Sebastian just gave him a sharp shake. “Stop that.”
Kit set his teeth. His heart beat very hard against his ribs. There was no point protesting now. Sebastian was so much stronger than him, he was inescapable.
Sebastian’s grip was biting, his tone biting too. “What happened? Liked the show a bit too much?”
Tonight’s dinner had been the final spark that had lit Kit’s terror. Kit had been riveted by the display Sebastian had put on for him—luring the servant into his lap, teasing him, making him beg, finally fucking him on the table in front of all those laughing guests. Kit had been so desperate for Sebastian to do the same to him that Kit had finally realised how badly he wanted this.
Kit shuddered. Didn’t speak. He was afraid of the words that might spill out of him if he started talking.
By the time they returned, the manor house stood empty, the windows a dull glow, like dying coals. The guests must have ended their night’s entertainment and gone home. For a forbidden moment Kit dared to wonder how the servant felt now. If he was basking in a blissful glow like Kit always did after Sebastian finished with him.
Kit could not afford to think like this. He set his jaw.
Sebastian dragged him to his room. It was all in warm wood finished with white paint, but all Kit could see was the huge expanse of that bed with its midnight-blue covers. Kit dug his heels in on the threshold, afraid of what this meant, but Sebastian hauled him in ruthlessly. Kit’s breath came short; the unspoken promise of that bed thrilled him and terrified him in equal measure.
Sebastian pinned him in place with a cold stare. Sebastian’s face was set. “I am going to teach you a lesson.”
Kit could not afford to be taught these kinds of lessons. Sebastian could make him want to beg. He tried to sneak past Sebastian and escape, but Sebastian slapped a hand against the wall, barring his way. “Strip.”
Kit shrank back. “I can’t—”
Sebastian opened Kit’s belt and pulled Kit’s trousers down. Kit gasped; he was not used to such rough treatment. “What are you—”
“Shut up.” Sebastian yanked him down over his knee.
It was sudden and startling. By the time Kit realised what was going on he was already face down over Sebastian’s lap. The world tilted; he clutched at Sebastian for a moment before the dizziness cleared.
His trousers were down around his knees, his bare ass in the air. Heat rushed to his face. This was utterly humiliating. He pulled against Sebastian’s hands as Sebastian held him down. “You can’t—”
Sebastian spanked him. That first hard slap to Kit’s bare ass made Kit jump against his grip with a yelp. A flash of pleasure ripped through him, then the fire died to a deep heat. “Fuck!”
Sebastian delivered another slap. Another. Harder. Kit cursed, struggled, now rubbing maddeningly against Sebastian’s thigh with every tiny movement. Sebastian spanked him again. Again. Each slap jolted all the air out of Kit, leaving Kit breathless. Kit squirmed, trapped and aching, pressure building in his belly. “Take your hands off me, I swear I’ll—”
“I will stuff your mouth with rags if that’s what it takes to make you silent.”
Another searing slap. Kit strangled off a cry, his face burning, hot with humiliated need. He could not escape and part of him liked that.
Sebastian slapped his ass until it was hot and sore, the backs of his thighs as well, punishing him thoroughly until he was stinging all over. It was unbearable. Kit had never imagined he could want this.
“Sebastian.” It came out a plea.
“Hush. I’m not done.”
Sebastian pushed his legs apart, forced a knee between them to hold him open. Kit gasped, clutched. Maybe Sebastian was going to take him here and now. It was simultaneously terrifying and wonderful.
Sebastian uncapped some kind of tube and dripped cool lube into the crack of his ass. Kit yelped again. He had never been touched there. Yet Sebastian touched him now. One bold fingertip slid down his crack to circle the pucker of his ass. It was so intense, so exquisite, Kit nearly came there and then. “Sebastian!” It was a cry of surprise, of desperation. He had imagined pain and invasion. Never this shocking pleasure.
Sebastian ignored him. Just kept circling him there.
The lube was slick, the fingertip was slippery. Kit’s heart kept jolting in his chest. It was maddening the way Sebastian taunted him, not quite giving him the pressure he needed, never pushing inside. Kit clenched up, badly needing more. “Sebastian, come on, come on.”
Sebastian stopped, fuck’s sake, just stopped, the very tip of his finger pressing lightly there. Sebastian said, in that rough dark voice, “Beg me.”
Kit was so shaky, so hot, he couldn’t think. “Please. Please, I need more, I need—ah!” His voice went up several octaves as Sebastian breached him with his finger for the first time.
It was unbearable. Kit’s body clenched, he gripped tight and he nearly screamed as his whole body was racked with pleasure, trembling on the edge of climax. The tiniest movement, the least pressure would push him over the edge. Sebastian waited.
It was overwhelming. Shattering. “Oh fuck, I can’t, I can’t…” Kit was squirming so badly now and he couldn’t help it, he had to move, he was slipping up and down on that tormenting finger, please, please. Until finally he was sheathed fully on it and fuck, it wasn’t enough. He needed to be fucked. Had to have it.
Kit was out of his mind with need. He couldn’t open himself any wider, couldn’t push himself any deeper. He could only beg. “Sebastian, Sebastian, please.”
“What was that?”
“Take me.” The words came out in a rush of terror and exhilaration.
“A little louder. And a little more begging.” Sebastian was getting off on this, the sadist.
Kit could not survive a single second longer without getting Sebastian inside him. “Please, Sebastian, I need you to fuck me. God, I need it. I need… I need to be claimed.”
“You want to serve me. Body and soul.”
“Yes.”
“You want to be bound to me as my servant.”
“Yes.” It was a whimper.
“You want me to claim your body and your magic.”
“Yes.” It was a sigh.
“No.” Sebastian drove that word home like a stab. He pulled Kit off his knee and dumped Kit on the soft bed. Sebastian’s jaw was tightly clenched, his body rigid. “I do not need to drag you to my bed to fuck you. You will come to my bed of your own free will. When you’re certain. When you’re desperate. That is when I will fuck you.”
And Sebastian got up and walked out.
Kit was left spread on the bed, shaking, empty, unclaimed, his heart racing a million miles an hour. He felt so raw. Not just his stinging ass and the unaccustomed invasion, but the rejection. He had offered Sebastian his body, his soul and his eternal servitude, and Sebastian had turned it down.
He turned his face into the covers and tried not to weep.
#
Sebastian needed a drink.
He broke out the emergency Scotch from the cabinet in his study, poured some and knocked it back, a flash of amber in a crystal glass. It burned all the way down his throat. It didn’t help. He had another. That didn’t help either.
/> He couldn’t shake the memory of Kit begging him in that broken voice. He had never wanted anyone so badly as Kit. Staring down at those beautiful green eyes, that copper hair, those sharp, delicate features, it had taken ounce of self-control Sebastian could summon not to fuck him there and then.
Sebastian should have done it. This was an incubus, not a person. An incubus didn’t have feelings. It was put on this plane to be enslaved. It wanted to serve him, was made to serve him. So he should go back in there and put Kit in his rightful place. Under him.
Sebastian had heard that the first time was so intense, so transcendent—that moment of conquest, the rush of power. He would be so powerful once he’d taken his fill. He could reshape the world. And all he had to do was take what was offered. From a frightened fugitive who still flinched when Sebastian touched him.
Sebastian would have to sleep in the east wing tonight, far from temptation. He could not endure another night sharing his bed with Kit. The urge to go back and finish what he’d started was a single fierce ache that beat in time with his heart.
For fuck’s sake. Sebastian needed another drink.
#
The next morning Kit slunk down to breakfast, keeping his eyes low. Sebastian was already at breakfast, looking fresh, rested and unfairly handsome. Where Sebastian had slept last night, Kit had no idea; Kit had woken cold in an empty bed, wishing for Sebastian’s arms wrapped round him.
Kit took the furthest chair from him, not daring to look at him again. He picked up a bread roll, though his throat was so dry he did not think he could eat it.
“Sleep well?” Sebastian said, as though last night had never happened.
“Great,” Kit said icily. In truth, he had not slept half as well without Sebastian beside him. Kit tore at a bread roll, crushing the pieces.
Sebastian put his elbows on the table. “I think it’s time we talked.”
Kit’s jaw clenched. “There’s nothing to talk about.” He stabbed his knife into the butter. “You obviously don’t want me. This is all a game to you. You just enjoy laughing at me.” To Kit’s mortification, his voice cracked on the last words, betraying real hurt. It had never even occurred to him that when he finally asked Sebastian to take him, Sebastian might reject him. Stupidly, he had thought Sebastian would be pleased.
“Look at me.”
Kit fixed his eyes on the tablecloth.
“I said look at me.” Sebastian used that tone that demanded obedience, and Kit reluctantly looked at him. Those pale blue eyes caught his and held them. “I do want you. Of course I do. There’s nothing on earth I want more. In fact, right now I can barely keep my hands off you because all I can think about is stripping you down and taking you to my bed. How you’d be begging and carrying on, and I just. Wouldn’t. Stop.”
Kit froze. He could picture that just as vividly as Sebastian. It made him so hard he couldn’t think.
“And when you’re absolutely sure,” Sebastian stressed that, “that you want to be claimed… that’s exactly what I’ll do. And I’ll make it good for you. I promise. You’ll scream.”
The fresh bread should have been delicious. When Kit bit into it, it tasted of nothing.
“Do I need to prove it?” Sebastian asked him.
Kit just about managed to swallow the bite of bread past the sudden tightness in his throat. He could imagine how Sebastian would prove to him that he was still wanted.
“Come here.”
Kit stared at the crumbs on his plate. He told himself he didn’t want to obey, his stomach wasn’t in knots, he wasn’t aching for Sebastian to touch him. It didn’t work.
“Kitten,” Sebastian said warningly.
The need to obey was a driving compulsion. Kit rose, his eyes low, and went to Sebastian’s side.
“Get on your knees.”
Kit swallowed hard. He had known this was coming. On the first day he had been caught fantasising about sucking Sebastian off; Sebastian had taken great satisfaction from introducing him to that forbidden pleasure. Just yesterday morning Kit had pleaded to be allowed to go down on Sebastian again. It was no use pretending that this didn’t turn him on unbearably. The very thought of kneeling again was overwhelming.
“I’m not going to repeat myself, Kit.”
Kit sank to his knees. He was panting now, his breathing coming quick and fast. He craved this; he could barely hold himself back. His hands curled into fists, his muscles tight with expectation.
“Would you like to suck my cock?”
He could not resist one second longer. His head dropped, his fists clenching. “Yes.”
“Good.” Sebastian stroked Kit’s face, running gentle fingers through his hair. Kit turned his cheek into Sebastian’s palm. Much to Kit’s embarrassment, Kit loved it when Sebastian petted him; it steadied his nerves and filled him with a warm sense of comfort. “I’m going to let you pleasure me, and when you’ve done your job nice and thoroughly, I might let you come. So if you want that, you’d better show me how eager you are for my cock.”
Kit opened Sebastian’s trousers with shaking fingers. Kit was so keyed up with anticipation that he nearly moaned just at his first glimpse of Sebastian’s hot, hard cock; he could barely imagine how good it would feel in his mouth. He nuzzled it helplessly, irresistibly drawn.
“Just a little taste for now. Let’s not get you too excited.” Sebastian twined his fingers in Kit’s copper hair and tugged gently.
Kit licked his cock. The sensation of that hot, silky skin under his tongue made him moan aloud, then the flavour exploded on his tongue and he could barely hold it together; one hard plunge of that cock into his mouth and he would come. He could barely breathe, barely think, he needed so much more. He leaned forward to take it into his mouth, and Sebastian stopped him. “Breathe, kitten.”
“I need…” Kit squirmed, painfully hard. He craved so badly for Sebastian to just ram into his mouth.
“I said breathe.” Sebastian took him by the chin, making Kit meet his eyes. Kit stared up at him, their eyes locking. That intense blue gaze only made him hotter; Kit fought to obey his master. He took a shuddering breath, then let it go. In, then out. In, then out. Until he was no longer on the verge of coming.
“Better?”
Kit reddened. He could not believe how easily he could have gotten off just from that first taste.
Sebastian chuckled. “You’re so easily pleased. It’s adorable. Taste me again.” His fingers flexed in Kit’s hair, and Kit obeyed, taking that big, thick cock into his mouth in one hot slide. Kit’s lashes fluttered shut and he moaned again, utterly overcome.
“There. That’s good, isn’t it.” Sebastian began to rock steadily into his mouth. Kit obeyed his rhythm, though Kit’s nails dug into his palms with the building intensity of his need for release.
Sebastian fucked his mouth lazily, thoroughly, teasing him the whole time about how needy he was, getting Kit more flustered and desperate with each moment. It was unbearable. Kit could not even plead to be allowed to come because Sebastian was keeping his mouth stuffed so full.
“You’re close, aren’t you.” Sebastian cupped his hot face in one hand. Sebastian’s smile was smug. “Just a little longer. See if you can hold on until you’ve swallowed my come.” Sebastian gripped his head and started to thrust faster; the thick length drove in and in until Kit was dizzy with need.
Finally Sebastian growled as he arched, pushing so deep into Kit’s mouth, and spilled hot come onto Kit’s tongue. Kit swallowed him frantically, fumbled with his own cock and with a single jerk he came helplessly, his orgasm crashing over him like a wave, tumbling him over and sweeping him away.
He was so blissed out after his climax that it took him a while to come back to himself. He was still kneeling at Sebastian’s feet, his head on Sebastian’s knee, Sebastian’s fingers in his hair bringing him gently down from his high.
Sebastian traced the curve of his cheek with one fingertip. “You are so beautiful. So eager to please.
If you let me keep you, I would never let you go. Never.”
Kit did not want to be let go. Ever. He shut his eyes and pressed into Sebastian for comfort. The fingers in his hair steadied him and settled his heartbeat.
#
On the third evening, Kit sat tensely in the book-stuffed library by the glow of the banked coals in the hearth, twisting his fingers together.
He wished he could cuddle into Sebastian; Sebastian would soothe his nerves and stop him fretting. But Sebastian had moved away so that Kit would have to cross the library to come to him.
It was their final evening together. The deadline loomed on the horizon. Any minute now Kit’s time would be up; Kit would have resisted Sebastian for three whole days, and Kit could walk free.
Curiously, although the tick of the clock that marked each passing second made Kit twitch, Sebastian was making no last-ditch attempt to persuade him. Sebastian was just watching him, chin in hand. And looking at him, Kit ached at the thought that they would soon be parted forever. That Sebastian would never touch him again. Never put his strong hands on him, his protective arms around him.
Kit shifted uncomfortably with this fever-hot ache beating inside him. He felt heated, edgy. He wanted Sebastian to touch him. Needed it. He hungered for that feeling he only got in Sebastian’s arms, the sense of being wanted, cherished, craved.
Kit fidgeted, laced his fingers, unlaced them, looked at the fire, looked away. The tension built inside him until he was thrumming like a wire strung taut.
It was a relief when Sebastian finally spoke. That deep voice calmed him. “Relax. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I made you a deal and I’ll honour it. I’m not going to keep you against your will. In a few minutes you can walk away.” His smile was slightly bittersweet.
Kit could not relax. Because he was terribly afraid that he could not walk away. “I’m—I’m not scared of you.” Just desperate.
Sebastian’s smile warmed. “What do you need?”
Kit swallowed. He couldn’t seem to think. He needed so much more than he could put into words. “Please touch me.”