Five to Love Him (Phoenix Immortal: Hive #1)

24. HIVE

twenty-four

W e were the luckiest of all the hives, had the best gleaming one anyone could wish for. Leo trembled and shivered at our every touch, and the feeling of his goose bumps under our fingers was addictive.

We lifted him into the lap of one, the friction of his heated skin against ours more erotic than anything we could have ever dreamed up. We made sure to keep an eye on him. The past should stay in the past, but the memory of that room we had been locked in, of what had happened, it loomed like a shadow. The best we could do was ignore it and make sure Leo never knew anything even remotely as painful as that had been.

That was why we would be going very slowly. We wanted everything at once, wanted to experience every way in which a hive could enjoy pleasure with their gleaming one, but giving Leo time to adjust to being intimate was paramount.

In our arms he was falling into pleasure, allowing us to hook his leg over our shoulder so we could kiss his knee and all the way up his thigh. We ignored his erection, his cock flushed and dripping precum. Instead, we trailed our tongue over his balls while we sucked at the skin in the crook of his neck and grazed his nipples with our teeth.

He made a brief, high-pitched noise before falling quiet. It was only when we stopped licking his balls that he breathed out, his fingers twitching as if he wanted to touch himself.

We knew it would be over then. He was overstimulated, not because we had made a particular effort to do so but because he had no tolerance, was still getting over not having been touched in too long.

“Let us take care of you, Leo.”

We took his hands, braided our fingers with his, and kissed the inside of his wrist. His head was lolling back against our shoulder, and where he sat between our splayed legs, he’d be able to feel our erection. He’d be able to see it, though when we kissed his belly below his navel and stroked his instep with our thumb, he arched his back, a sob of pure ecstasy tumbling from his lips.

“We don’t have to do much. You are doing all of it, and you’re about ready to cum.” We blew on his straining cock.

“Ah!”

“The tiniest thing will make you wild.”

“No, no, I…are you…what are you going to do? Please? Can you do it? It’s too much, hive, please.”

We would have to talk to him about whether we were allowed to deny him. Since we hadn’t yet, we weren’t going to.

We allowed him to recline in our arms, spread his legs between two of us while settling between his with another.

“All right,” we told him. “But open your mouth, let us kiss you. Yes, like that. We’ll kiss you with two now, Leo.” We sheathed his cock, doing our best to go slowly. He hummed into our mouth, the kiss uncoordinated, better at smothering the desperate noises he made than anything. “You taste good, in both places. We’re taking you all the way, but we wonder whether this will be enough.” Lifting our head, we focused on his cockhead with our tongue while stroking across his skin, and sure enough, he cummed in our mouth. “Yes, oh, like that. Yes, Leo, you taste so good. We could bottle your taste and sell it as a delicacy, but we want to keep all of it to ourself if you’ll allow us.”

He was incoherent, utterly so, his sounds satisfied as we finally pulled off and stroked his sweaty skin. His eyes were unfocused, and his skin was heated despite the sheen of moisture. We kept him warm in our arms while getting him a glass of water from downstairs and running a bath. The tub here on the second floor wasn’t huge, but it would allow for one of us to slide in behind him and let him rest some more before washing him.

At the same time, we had to get ready to meet the other hive and make it to our interview, so we washed up with two while the water ran and while we held the water glass for Leo and watched him drink.

We were ready to leave when we lifted him into the tub. He was boneless, still hadn’t spoken as if the exhaustion of feeling everything we’d given him had lulled him back to sleep.

That was fine. He could sleep as much as he needed. We left the house with two while stroking his hair, darker now that it was wet. Leo had closed his eyes as he was resting against us. He’d mumbled something about where the towels were, our gleaming one caring even when he needed our care.

Outside, with two, it was as if the sunlight was burning away some of our worries. We headed back to the subway station, able to look at the route with different eyes now. The streets were clean, and while the summer sun had bleached the color from some of the lawns we passed, flowers dotted the world with reds and whites, with pinks, purples, and yellows.

We spent extra time memorizing the subway schedule while looking around in the master bathroom where Leo’s toothbrush sat in a blue cup by the sink, all alone. We made fresh coffee, found some black tea, and went about pulling back the curtains and preparing breakfast for him and us.

“That was…”

His voice drifted just as the subway arrived and we got on.

“It will get better. We promise.”

He closed his eyes on a happy sigh, and we turned on the hot water again so we’d be able to spend a little longer in the tub with him.

***

We met the other hive, who had come with two as well and were at the Moonlight Diner before us this time.

The bell above the door twinkled, sounding as bright as our mood, and a server welcomed us with a cheerful smile.

“You look happy,” the hive said as we slid into the booth across from them.

“Is it that obvious?”

They shrugged. “We like watching people, so yes. Your night went well, didn’t it?”

We nodded. “We know you have a gleaming one, but we are sure ours is better.”

They chuckled. “We’ll disagree, but that’s fine. You know, he worries about our work a lot. He knows what we do for Hawthorne. We met him when we were working with the Black Shuck last year.”

Our brows rose, and we dropped the sponge with which we’d been washing Leo. “You know the Black Shuck? We think we saw him once. He talked to us.”

“He’s not a bad person. Oh, he’s scary, but we saw him help someone.” They shook their head, looked at their crêpes and beans on rice respectively. “You know, working at the hospital, you can’t always help. There are patients there who suffer beyond what they should have to. The Black Shuck helped someone like that.”

We shuddered, held Leo just that much tighter. “Our gleaming one’s grandmother—she raised him, so she was a parent, really—she had cancer. He hasn’t told us much about it yet.”

The hive shrugged. “Something like that is rough. But he has you now. We think all hardships are easier if you’re not alone.”

We looked at the lonely toothbrush in the lonely cup by the sink again.

“For singulars, you mean.”

They shook their heads and reached for our hands. “No, hive. This is true for all of us.”