Strictly Incubusiness

by Vanessa Mulberry

  In the far corner was a palace, and beyond that, there was a path to what appeared to be human dwellings. Tynan could see huts down there and smell the smoke of a fire and roasted meat.

  “Park up in there,” Aethelmir said, “but make sure you put a protective ward on your belongings. Some of the humans might help themselves.”

  Tynan stopped in the camp and looked about. It was a miserable place, populated by lost souls: men and women who had gone into the forest and never made it out. Some were engaged in making miniature pieces of furniture out of tiny sticks; others were sewing adorable little dresses.

  He nodded a greeting to them all and was about to set his ward when he sensed there was already magic at work on the outskirts of the camp—invisible bars for the humans cage. The pixies would notice if he undid their spell, but he doubted there would be any alarm if he changed it. With a few carefully chosen words, the spell moved to protect his cart only. The rest of the small camp was now open.

  Next, he wandered over to one of the workers tables and picked up a tiny little soup tureen carved from an acorn. He made a show of inspecting it carefully and then tossed it out into the forest.

  The humans gasped and Tynan smiled and put a finger to his lips to silence them all.

  He returned to the pixie palace a minute later to find Kai sitting on the ground outside its walls. There was an extremely plump pixie sat atop the tallest tower, petting a caterpillar that sat by its feet.

  Kai shifted across and patted the space next to him. Tynan took the seat.

  “Tynan, this is Eredir. Eredir this is Tynan.”

  “He’s handsome,” Eredir said into a tiny megaphone. He was clearly not gifted with the same loud voice Aethelmir had. “You’ve done well. I thought you’d end up with a snide little prince.”

  Kai looked slightly embarrassed at the suggestion. “He’s not exactly my husband.”

  “I’m a b—”

  “Boyfriend,” Kai said hastily. “He’s my boyfriend.”

  Tynan could appreciate that maybe this wasn’t the best time to admit that he was a bounty hunter bringing Kai in for murder. In fact, he realized now just how much he trusted Kai. He hadn’t thought twice about following him here, or worried for his own safety when he saw the human slaves. And that trust had been well placed.

  Kai was annoying, self-centered, vain, beautiful, quite charming when he wanted to be, and yes, eminently fuckable. But he wasn’t Tynan’s boyfriend.

  “But—”

  “But we’re taking it slowly,” Kai jumped in again. “It’s just sex now. Really good, satisfying, deep and sticky sex. Five times a day too. We’ll talk about commitment later.”

  “No—”

  “No need to rush, that’s right dear. What’s for lunch?”

  “Why don’t you let him finish a sentence?” Eredir snapped, voice ringing through the megaphone. He looked at Tynan sympathetically. “He never stops talking. I don’t know how you put up with it.”

  Aware he should say something, and that something should be nice, Tynan said, “It makes the day go quicker.” He patted Kai’s thigh for good measure.

  Kai moaned beneath the touch, and Tynan removed his hand. If he had to hear that noise again, he would bend Kai over the little pixie palace and do what must be done.

  “Shit,” Kai said, squeezing his legs together. “You don’t know what he does to me.”

  “You’re an incubus; I can imagine it well enough,” Eredir grumbled. “Go to ahut and sort each other out.”

  They shuffled off to the human camp, which was now deserted save for a few warm flatbreads left on a work table and some boiled eggs of various sizes and varieties. Tynan snatched the lot up and carried it into a hut. “They enslave people?” he asked, swiveling around to look at Kai.

  Kai was unlacing his leather trousers. “They’re tricksy little pixies, and I don’t condone their behavior, but what am I supposed to do? They won’t enslave you because you’re with me. But if they find out why you’re with me you’ll be fair game, so keep playing along.”

  “I’m big and they’re little. They can’t kidnap me.”

  “Oh, I suspect they can.” Kai picked up a jug of water next and poured it carefully down his trousers. “That’s better,” he said.

  Tynan knew he would spend the entire afternoon listening to Kai complain about being wet.

  “Besides,” Kai said, “they won’t need to overpower you to get you into the camp. You’ll go in of your own accord.”

  “And I’ll leave just the same. Why did you bring me here if it's so dangerous?”

  “There’s something lovely here. I thought you might like to see it.”

  They ate while the food was still warm and then returned to the pixie city. Thankfully they had not yet noticed their slaves were missing, and hopefully would not until the pixie department store failed to get its stock.

  Kai led them back to the palace and they sat down on the grass. He began to fill the pixies in on comings and goings since his last visit, leaving out many of the pertinent details regarding what brought him back to the forest and spinning a web of lies about their meeting. He constructed an, admittedly sweet, tale about them reaching for the same apple in the market, Tynan’s big hand closing over Kai’s, and then their eyes meeting. It was nonsense, and in Tynan’s mind it wasn’t even believable nonsense, but Eredir and his people ate it up.

  “We’ve already discussed the future,” Kai said, hand slipping into Tynan’s and squeezing gently. “Definitely marriage, but no children.”

  “No,” Tynan echoed.

  “Perhaps a pet, though.”

  “We’ve got the horse.”

  “Yes, you do call it that don’t you?” Kai murmured. He lifted Tynan’s hand to his lips and gave him a gentle kiss. “You can pet the horse again later.”

  Tynan swallowed heavily. The damn incubus had no self-control and his was rapidly disappearing too. “I mean the carthorse.”

  Kai nodded. “Right, yes. That too.”

  “You two are made for each other,” Eredir said into his microphone.

  “Really?” Tynan grunted and Kai laughed.

  Eredir shrugged his tiny shoulders. “You’ve got something he wants, and he’s got something you want.”

  Tynan wasn’t sure that was enough to build a relationship upon. But he nodded and didn’t flinch when Kai let go of his hand and slipped an arm underneath his own.

  “We should be getting on,” Kai said. “Can we take the pixie paths? It would help us make the time up.”

  “The paths are always open to my favorite demon and his future husband.”

  “Thank you.”

  Eredir turned his attention to Tynan. “Welcome to our family. We are a much-maligned species, but we are trying to get by same as any other. It is a pleasure to have you in our family, but know this. If you come back here and free the humans again, you’ll be sewing the winter collection.”

  Chapter Nine

  “So far I’ve saved your ass from the wolves, pixies, and I would have taken three from team bandit for you too,” Kai counted, holding up a finger for each deed.

  “Generous,” Tynan replied, without the usual grumpy gruffness Kai had become accustomed too. “And yet you’ve not saved my ears for even a moment.”

  He was teasing. This was a new and potentially useful development. Kai played along. “So I am softening you up. But I bet you still want me to convince you of my innocence.”

  “It would help.”

  “Take the cuffs off I won’t run.”

  Tynan snorted. “Try again.”

  “Wouldn’t that convince you?”

  “I’m not taking the risk.”

  “You know I wasn’t lying.”

  “And I know men change their minds.”

  That was alright. Cuffs or not, they were very close to exactly the sort of place that might change Tynan’s mind too.

  “I think we should stop and water the horse.” Kai reach
ed into the back of the cart for his bag and checked he had remembered to bring oil—a luxury rather than a necessity for his demon ass. It was there, alongside his much-neglected plug, three pairs of underwear and his grooming products. He put it back and indicated a lightly worn path to the left. “There’s a pixie spring down there. I’ll lead.”

  He hopped down and took the reins, lifting them over the horses head so he could lead. Tynan remained in his seat, but Kai could sense Tynan’s eyes were upon him right up to the moment they were not.

  Tynan gasped as they rounded the corner and entered the glade.

  “You like it?” Kai asked.

  “It’s not bad,” Tynan mumbled.

  Kai smiled to himself as he looked the place over. It was as beautiful a place as Kai had ever been, and he had lived in palaces and seen more of the world than he should probably admit to, especially given the things he had done on his travels.

  A spring started at the top of a rocky hill and gushed halfway down before falling over a ledge in the rock. From there it fell into the pool beneath, a crystal clear cascade of water that became a rainbow when the sun came out. Right now it was high in the sky.

  The pixies had dug out a few small tributaries that took warm water to their homes. That was its only use to them: as a source of warm water for their camp. Kai had never quite understood why it wasn’t a sacred place too, given its beauty.

  Warm or not, the water was fine to drink. Kai fetched the bucket for the horse from the back of the cart. He took his bag too and placed it by the side of the spring, just in case. Tynan would not be able to refuse him in a place like this.

  Tynan uncoupled the animal from the cart and took it to a patch of tall grass by the perimeter where it could feed. He took the bucket of water from Kai and thanked him for it. He really had softened.

  Kai went to the water’s edge and began to strip. He was in no hurry, shrugging out of his fur, the vest and then unbuttoning his shirt at a casual pace so Tynan could catch up. When it was obvious he could reasonably spend no more time seeing to the horse, Tynan finally looked at him.

  “Time for a bath,” Kai said innocently.

  Tynan didn’t make a move to get near the water. “Not much point getting clean just to put on dirty clothes.”

  “Give me your shirt then, and I’ll wash it with mine. You can wash everything else properly at the lodge.”

  “Oh, can I?”

  “Yes,” Kai snapped. “You’re a grown man. You can do it your bloody self. I’m not doing your laundry for you every day.”

  Tynan hesitated and then slowly began to undress. “You brought soap?” he asked. His voice wavered slightly.

  He sounded nervous. No, Kai thought, seeing the lump in his trousers, he was eager. Excitedly, tremblingly, eager.

  “What of it?” Kai asked coolly, letting Tynan suffer the way he had. He wanted Tynan more than anything right now, but he wasn’t going to rush this and ruin his chance, not when he was so close.

  “The water’s cold.”

  “It’s a warm spring. And even if you find a cold bit, that’ll still be big, even if it gets smaller.” Kai nodded his head at Tynan’s nether regions and continued to strip himself. “

  He dropped his shirt to the floor and toed off his shoes. This was it now. Just the leather trousers to unlace. Kai turned around, deliberately coy, and quickly had them open and down around his ankles. From Tynan’s position he would get glimpses but not a good look. He’d have to investigate if he wanted to know more.

  The pool was chest depth on Kai last time he had visited it. There was an area behind the waterfall, which had a gentle gradient to it and didn’t get much deeper. Even in that, Tynan would probably not get much more than his navel beneath the water.

  Kai crouched down and lowered himself into the pool. It was warm and inviting, and he felt better without even touching the soap.

  He leaned back and floated on the surface which was the best position from which to display what he was offering. He was hard again, achingly so this time because release seemed so close, but he didn’t touch himself. He wasn’t going to scare Tynan away.

  So he closed his eyes and waited. His ears were just under the water, but he heard Tynan splash as he got in.

  “It’s warm,” Tynan said, wading across to Kai. He crouched down in the water, submerging himself to his neck.

  It was just the thing Kai needed. There was only one thing he could use more.

  Opening his eyes, Kai moved to mirror Tynan’s position. “Worth the detour?” he asked.

  “It’s been better than I’d hoped.”

  “Good.”

  They looked at each other. Kai did not feel awkward, but he could see Tynan did. So he let him get on with it. Eventually Tynan said, “Well, we should have a wash.”

  “I’ll fetch the soap.” Kai half swam, half walked over to his bag and fetched a lump of soap that had been freshly cut from the bar the day he had been arrested. It had a floral scent, though he could not tell what flowers were used in the making.

  He rubbed it on himself as he returned, soaping his armpits and his torso, and rubbing it underneath the water, down around his balls and his ass crack. A quick duck under the water rinsed him off. Tynan was grimier. He took the soap and scrubbed it over his front, but he needed help to wash his back and shoulders. He stood tall as he washed, his erect cock poking just above the surface.

  “Here,” Kai said, taking the soap from him and moving into position behind him. “Let me help.”

  Kai had to stretch, but he was able to wash Tynan’s back with relative ease. With such a large thickly muscled man there was a big canvas to work upon. Kai rubbed on a sheen of soapy water and began to massage Tynan’s back.

  Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a massage if he remained at his back. Not many men who visited the brothel with back complaints had more than a few minutes work on that region after all.

  Kai worked until he was convinced Tynan’s back was as clean as could be. He decided to give Tynan’s ass a good clean too, but though his fingers teased enough to find the tight little hole, he didn’t attempt to go inside him. Something about the way Tynan looked at him told Kai that he wanted to be the one on top when that finally happened.

  Next, his hands moved to the front, though, he remained behind. Tynan was eager, but their circumstances left him coltish too. Kai wasn’t sure that Tynan would want to be able to see what he did. So he pressed himself tight against Tynan’s ass and reached around to wash the front.

  Tynan took the soap from him and scrubbed it around his crotch before tossing it over to the bank, leaving Kai with nothing to do. Kai stepped back a little and let him get on with it. He wasn’t going to force this. He’d run before that happened.

  “Are you done?” he asked.

  Tynan hesitated, and then said, “Help me wash this soap off.”

  There was an unspoken permission there, but Kai always liked to be specific. He did only as requested, rubbing his wet hands over Tynan’s chest, but he did linger on the nipples perhaps a little longer than was strictly necessary.

  He moved down over the hard ridges of muscle on Tynan’s stomach, down, down until his fingertips touched the water. He could be only inches away from Tynan’s cock now.

  “Is this alright?” he asked.

  Tynan took a deep, shuddering breath. He leaned back against Kai and his cock brushed against Kai’s fingers.

  “Would you…”

  “Like this?” Kai asked, hand closing around Tynan’s shaft and giving it a stroke.

  “Yes,” Tynan said, taking hold of Kai’s spare hand. “But would you move around to the front?”

  This was more like what Kai was expecting. “Don’t like the feel of a cock behind you?” he teased.

  “Just shut up and kiss me,” Tynan growled pulling Kai around his body and into his arms.

  Kai had thought he was the one in charge here, but suddenly he was being taken for a ride. Everything
was happening at once, and he was hit by the sensations of Tynan’s hungry kiss and his busy hands, that were currently arranging everything to his satisfaction instead of following Kai’s lead.

  Kai allowed his hands to be moved, one returning to Tynan’s cock, the other to his balls. Tynan’s own large hands were pawing at him now, one pulling him close while the other explored Kai’s cock, rubbing up and down the thick shaft with practiced ease.

  “Do this by yourself a lot?” Kai managed to ask through the kisses, but Tynan had ordered him to shut up, and he soon did, giving way to the passion that was coursing through him. This was the moment to take, but Kai did nothing. He hadn’t expected it to be this quick. Nothing had been negotiated. He accepted Tynan’s hot breath against his mouth, his lips. He took no more than that.

  He would come soon, that was a given, and if Tynan could too that would be marvelous. But he’d still be hungry, and that was unsustainable in the long run. This would have to happen again.

  Tynan staggered forward, so Kai moved back until they were at the edge of the pool. Tynan wasn’t just taking the strokes now; he was actively thrusting up into Kai’s hand and working his own at an even faster pace. Water splashed around them furiously, and suddenly hot sticky strands of seed burst out Tynan’s cock and landed on Kai’s stomach. Kai let go too, shooting his into the pool.

  They were both shaking now, riding out the last of it. Kai clung to Tynan, starving for him and regretting that he’d not fed. Tynan peppered him with kisses.

  “I think we both needed that,” Tynan said.

  Kai shivered against him. “Yes,” he agreed. “I think we did.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Will you take my cuffs off now?”

  Tynan looked up just as Kai sat down next to him on the cart. Had he really just let that happen? Kai’s flushed cheeks suggested he did.

  “You think tossing me off bought your freedom?” Tynan asked, feeling an odd sense of shame for arguing about this. Of course he should remove the cuffs. If Kai ran off immediately then so be it. Tynan had held him captive long enough.