by Flynn Eire
“I don’t care!” I fisted my hair and tugged on it, losing the tie holding it back somewhere in the process. “Helios is staying. He’s not leaving. This changes everything. And he just told me he likes it here, likes the idea of having a life, and I gave him the idea of having work and being happy. He’s going to find someone and settle down here, right in front of me.”
The man blinked at me a moment before raising his cell to his ear. “I’m going to have to call you back.” He grunted and then ended the call, tossing his phone on his bed. “Rune, I thought you said things were over between you and Helios. You haven’t mentioned him in weeks.”
“They are over. I mean, it is over—whatever it was. He was leaving. I forgave him, but we didn’t even…” I trailed off and waved my hands around. “You know.”
“No, I don’t know,” he sighed, sitting down in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. “You kept telling me to stuff it because I was his friend when I brought it up. And when he asks me about you, I tell him to ask me about something else because you’re a patient. So no, I don’t know anything, and to be honest, this isn’t really my area of expertise. I’m not a mating counselor. I work on deprogramming people, traumas, and abuse.”
“Well fake it,” I snarled. I waited until he waved me on to give him the full story and then told him everything, about Helios saving me with Ben and Dean, everything I’d been thinking, how I still had feelings for him, and all of it.
When I was done, Cadric chuckled softly and shook his head. “Rune, you don’t need me to tell you what to do. You already know what you want. You want him. I suggest you tell him that before it’s too late. Be honest. Lay down some rules about using his gift and always being honest with you. He didn’t know certain things about you that he does now. Helios is a good guy. He won’t make the same mistakes twice.”
The question was could I grow a set and do that?
7
I was pouting as I headed back to my room after dinner. I had been one of the first there and the last to leave, waiting for Rune to show up. Where had he been? I thought telling him I was staying would have gone differently, and while sure, he was shocked, I hadn’t seen any hopeful signs from him we could reconcile. I thought maybe at dinner I could hint I was still planning on pursuing him after he felt more at ease with the work he was doing with Cadric.
I didn’t want to put more pressure on him, I wanted to be there for him.
But no, at the command station he’d been shocked, like oh shit now I have to see him every day still kind of shocked. And then he didn’t show up to dinner. Didn’t that say it all? What if he was trying to figure out a way to get transferred to another camp instead of going downstairs to eat?
“You are such a moron, Helios,” I muttered to myself as I reached my floor. “You really fucked this one up big time.” I rubbed my chest over my heart as I made it to my door. Part of me wanted to go search for him, but that would be too pushy again. He asked for space and he deserved that much from me.
I opened the door, after digging my keys out of my pocket, and stepped inside… Only to wonder if I was in the right room.
“Rune?”
“Oh, hi,” he greeted as he stood up and turned around. “Sorry, you were taking a long time and then I remembered you put in a request for someone to take a look at your laptop so I thought I would while I was waiting. I wasn’t snooping.”
“Um, thanks?” I took my keys out of the door and tossed them on the dresser, doing a double take as my foot connected with the wood to close it. “How did you get in here? You don’t have a key?”
“Oh, I picked the lock.” He cleared his throat and pointed to a few files on my desk. “I brought your files. I signed them.”
“You could have slipped those under the door,” I hedged as I moved closer. “Why pick the lock and let yourself in then, Rune?”
“Because if I had to wait in the hall I knew I would chicken out,” Rune blurted in that sexy but adorable way he did things. His eyes went wide and he hurried to turn around to my laptop again. “Let me just make sure I’ve got the right scans running because this part will take several hours and I didn’t even ask if you needed to use it tonight—”
I stepped up behind him and slid my hands to his hips. “Screw the computer. Why are you here, Rune?” He muttered something I couldn’t catch even with our vampire hearing, and I couldn’t take the suspense anymore, flipping him around and boxing him in against the desk. “What was that?”
“I wanted to try your gentle idea again,” he breathed and then licked his lips. I watched his pink tongue move around those perfect lips as his words sunk in.
And then he could have knocked me over with a feather. “Are you saying…” I trailed off, not wanting to push him towards what I hoped he meant.
He nodded, closing his eyes. “I just think that now that I’ve had more time working with Cadric, I could—”
“Yes.”
“—be more open to different types of activities now. And you said you were still interested in me for whatever I needed and I guess I need to see where I am and if any of this is helping really, so—”
“Yes, Rune.”
“—I’m not sure if you are still interested but I do trust that now you know my full story you won’t force me to tell you things or screw with my mind or lie to me again—”
“Rune, yes.”
“—and I hope that to be the case because I trusted you before so—” He opened his eyes and scrunched his eyebrows at me. “Have you been saying something?”
“I’ve been saying yes,” I growled as I slid my hands under his shirt. “And no, I won’t ever lie to you. If there’s something I can’t tell you because I’m Wyrok, I will simply say that and hope you understand.”
“I would,” he agreed as he raised his hands above his head. I went with his indication and slipped off his shirt, drinking in his naked chest. All his extra training had toned him better and put a little bit more muscle onto my Rune.
“And while I’ll never consciously use my gift on you again, we both know at times of heightened stress, it can happen, especially with a gift like mine that influences people.”
He bit his lip as he lowered his hands. “I guess I can see that. Mine’s not like that.”
“What is yours?” I felt like a dick for never having asked.
A sultry but shy smile crossed his lips as he took in a deep breath. Then he slowly ran the fingertips of his right hand over my chest. I felt little shocks coming from him, radiating throughout my body.
“Oh, we are going to have so much fun if you allow it, love.”
“I didn’t want to let you back in if you were leaving,” he rasped, pulling his hand back. “But then you said you were staying and wanted to have a life and I thought you might find happiness here with someone else and I’d have to watch that—” He shook his head and looked like he swallowed something bitter. “The idea was like torture, Helios.”
I cupped his cheek and forced him to look at me. “I meant what I said to you and everyone in the command center before, Rune. It wasn’t a ploy. No one at this camp has even caught my eye besides you. No one comes close to being as beautiful as you are. They could all be naked in front of me and I would still seek you out clothed and beg for you to spend time with me.”
“I don’t want to call you Reynell or have you be my Master.”
“Good, I won’t be offering that this time.” I brushed my lips over his, barely even touching them together. “But I want you to be mine as I’ll be yours. If you’re not ready for that after what I’ve done, I’ll prove to you I’m worthy of your trust again. I swear it to you. You don’t have to push yourself because you think I’m going to move on. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not moving on to anyone. I only want you.”
“So we can go slow?”
I saw so much blatant relief on his face I knew I’d agree to anything—even a turtle’s pace if that was what Rune needed. “Li
ttle, baby, tiny steps.” I kissed a new spot along his chin for each word and then slid my hand down his shorts. “But you asked me for gentle and gentle I will give the perfect man I was waiting for at dinner to talk to and here he was in my room.”
“Oh, I didn’t think you’d be—” Rune let out a deep moan as I touched his cock and I didn’t get the rest of what he was going to say.
It must not have been all that important.
“God, I’ve missed you, love,” I whispered as I kissed up his neck, moving my other arm around his naked back. I teased his cock, smiling when he shivered against me and his breathing started coming out uneven. “Is it better than last time?”
“Yes, easier.” Then he grabbed my wrist and leaned back. “Wait. I want something else. Can I ask that?”
“You can ask for whatever you want.” I nodded, but swallowed back my nerves. I had no idea where this could go given some of the things Rune used to want.
But the smile he gave me let me know I’d given him the right answer.
“I want to see you do it. I think that would make it way better.” I wasn’t sure what he meant until he yanked down his shorts and kicked off his shoes before climbing up on my bed. Then he leaned against the headboard and spread his legs wide, knees bent, glancing around as if mapping out the area. “Yeah, like this. Can we do it like this?”
“Uh-huh.” I about swallowed my tongue at how gorgeous he was, naked and asking if I wouldn’t mind touching him in my bed at that second.
Hadn’t I just been begging anyone and all powers that be for something like this every damn day since he’d yelled at me?
I practically dove into the bed and between his legs, kneeling there as I stroked his dick, glancing between it and his face as I rubbed his thigh with my free hand. Then I moved lower and cupped his sac.
“I like gentle,” he panted after a few moments, squirming under my touch. “I really like gentle, Helios.”
“Love, are you going to come for me?” I raised an eyebrow, teasing him even as my heart raced. This was such an important moment for him I was pretty sure I’d give my left nut to make it happen for Rune.
“Yeah, I think so.” Then I saw fear fill his eyes like the last time we’d tried gentle… And that was the last thing he needed.
“Can I play with your sweet hole, Rune?” I asked as my fingers traveled lower. “God, how many nights I’ve dreamed of what it would be like to touch you here. To taste you before I push inside you.”
His eyes went wide and the fear was gone. “You want to rim me?”
“Yes,” I hissed as my fangs came out. “Fuck, I want to lick every inch of you, love. I want to taste you in any way you’ll let me. I want to make love to you for weeks on end.” I moved my hand faster, still being gentle, but as long as he wasn’t thinking with his brain, I wanted to ride that wave. “I want to go down on you in the shower every morning before begging you to let me take you. I want us to have lunch outside so you can ride me when no one’s around.”
“Okay,” he breathed. “I’d like that.” His sac drew up against his body and I felt my eyes burn. We’d never gotten that far before. His reconditioning with Cadric was really working.
But after a couple of minutes like that, he seemed to stall out, not being able to push up the next hill of pleasure and make it to the finish line. I saw the fear come back and I swallowed down a growl. No! I was not going to let him—us—fail at this. I moved his leg down to the bed and straddled it, so I could reach his face, kissing him gently as I kept my hands playing with him.
“I’ve never kissed anyone while their fangs were down,” he panted when we broke apart, squirming worse under me. “Why are they out, Helios?”
“You turn me on that much, love,” I lied. I didn’t want to put that much pressure on him and announce everything in me had already decided Rune was mine. Now wasn’t the time for that. “Does seeing them turn you on?”
He shivered and nodded. “Yes. I don’t think it was my abuse or whatever that had me liking when people bit me. They never drank of course, but I liked being bitten.”
“Next time, if you invite me back,” I purred as I kissed along his neck, running my fangs against his skin. “Love, I want to taste your cum so bad. I bet it’s as sweet as your skin. Can I lick it off you? Will you allow me that gift?”
“Oh fuck!” he bellowed as he came, his seed shooting all over my hand. I sucked in a harsh breath and sat up, wanting to see this—and about ready to sob in joy for him. I was glad I’d thought to change my position because I would have kicked myself later if I’d missed seeing the beauty that was Rune in the throes of an orgasm.
He was magnificent. His body came off the bed slightly, and he didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, settling on fisting the sheets as ropes of cum shot from his cock. It went on for longer than I would have thought, and I smiled… Rune really needed the release.
When he was done, he sagged into my bed with a big grin on his face, blinking up at me as his chest heaved, a thin layer of sweat on his perfectly toned muscles.
I wasn’t sure what I should say so I went with what was in my heart. “So you like gentle now, huh?”
He nodded, licking his lips and taking a few tries before he could speak. “I like gentle with you, Helios.”
“I love anything with you.” I leaned over and kissed him gently before sitting back again and licking his seed from my hand. Heat filled his eyes, and in a flash, I was on my back with Rune on top of me.
“You said I could blow you if I came this way before.”
“No, not tonight,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around him. He frowned even as I smiled. I rolled us back over and kissed down his body. “Tonight is all about you, love.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m going to show you what else there is to being gentle if you’re okay with that.”
“I trust you, Helios.”
My eyes burned at his words—they were music to my ears. I swallowed down his half-hard cock and it filled right back up in my mouth. I brought Rune off a few more times that way, pleasing my man until he fell asleep in my bed. All was right in my world as I crawled up next to him and pulled the sheets over us, snuggling against the one person who’d been able to steal my heart in all the centuries I’d lived.
* * * *
But then I woke alone the next morning. When I realized that, I sat up, feeling the cold sheets from where Rune had been, and glanced all around. I jumped out of bed when I saw a note by my laptop.
Your laptop is fixed. Don’t shut off the weekly auto-clean again. Your system was clogged with temp files, cookies, and crap. If you have any more problems, bring it to my department, but I’m going to close your ticket.
Rune
I read it three times. That was it? All that we shared and he left me a note about my fucking computer? Oh hell no. I darted out of my room, not caring I was naked, and hurried to shower. Then I dressed and was downstairs for breakfast ten minutes later.
Unfortunately I walked in to witness Rune—across the cafeteria—laughing at whatever Wally and Mark were saying—the two post-trans who just about drooled over my man and batted their eyelashes at him anytime Rune was around. It ruffled my feathers to say the least. I was over there in the blink of an eye and taking Rune’s tray from him.
“Hold this,” I ordered and shoved it in Mark’s hands. Then I wrapped my arms around Rune, cupping the back of his neck as my other hand squeezed his ass possessively before claiming his lips. I kissed him with all the longing and desperation I felt at waking alone. I obviously startled him because he didn’t immediately react, but then when he did, it was hesitant, so it was time to get some answers. I broke the kiss and stared into his eyes. “You were gone.”
He cleared his throat and nodded. “I needed to go for a run.” Rune glanced around at all the people staring and my heart sank into my stomach.
“Are you embarrassed that we’re together? Or just no
t sure we’re together?”
“What?” he gasped as his eyes darted back to mine. “No, no.” He sighed and took my hand, pulling me away from everyone. We walked out the side door and onto the patio that was there for grilling afternoons and barbeques. Once we were alone, he let go of my hand and started pacing, stopping only to open his mouth but then closing it again and shaking his head before walking.
Something was really going on with him and my heart started to race uncontrollably. I caught him in one of his turns and grabbed his shoulders. “Hey, just start simple. Did I do something wrong last night?”
“No, you were wonderful,” he whispered, staring at my chest and worrying his lower lip.
“But?” He only did that to his lower lip when he was still holding something in.
“But it kind of made me wonder if you’ll always see me as the victim,” he admitted, pulling away and rubbing his arms. Then he started pacing again. “This is so stupid. Who has issues with getting two blow jobs? And they were my first and they were awesome. But I wanted to blow you, be a partner. It was my first time trying that and you told me no, like I’m not. I don’t see how that’s any different than you being my Master or being maybe a Dom. But then of course it’s your body, you have the right to say no if you didn’t want me to.”
I bounced his ramble around in my head and caught up after a moment. Then I moved back in the way of his pacing and snagged my arm around his waist, smiling. “I’m not your Master, not your Dom, love. Last night something special happened. You overcame something big, and I wanted the night to be all about my Rune and his experiencing gentle. It was a pamper night for you. Couples do that and it’s not about one being in charge. I could have a hard day at work and you would do the same for me.”
“Yeah?” His eyebrows shot up as he studied me.
“Yeah, and I hope you do. I’d love you to take care of me like that sometime. Yes, part of it was because you had been a victim that we were overcoming your past, but you’re not always a victim, Rune. I don’t see you like that. Do I have to take what’s happened to you into consideration? Yes, of course. But that’s true of anyone. It’s not like I feel like I have to consciously stress over every word I say with you. I saw those twits flirting with you and handled it my way, not how I thought I had to because you’ve been abused.”