Hold my Reins (Monster Match season two)

Chapter 10

ten

L ynck’s arm around his shoulders was an unfamiliar but comforting weight, but Rox didn’t want to push him away and walk on his own. Leaning into him felt nice. His body was warm, and Lynck wouldn’t let him stumble on the soft sand. Nor would Lynck trip him for a laugh.

Soft waves lapped against the shore as they walked. The silence stretched, tempting Rox to ask a direct question, even though sometimes it was better to wait. While Lynck had agreed to tell him about his herd, it didn’t seem to be an easy topic.

Perhaps it was too much for whatever they were.

“A herd is a family, but what humans call extended family and centered around the women. My grandmother and her sisters were the leaders.”

“What happens to the men?”

“They join their wife’s herd.”

Rox glanced up at him. “And if they don’t have a wife?”

Lynck smiled. “Then they either join a herd of like-minded men, or they seek permission for their mate to join. It depends on the herd and the numbers.”

“Did they kick you out of home?”

Lynck was silent for a moment. “No.”

That wasn’t the entire truth, but Rox didn’t press as it was obviously a sore subject. “Can I ask if you spent more time on two feet or four?”

Lynck laughed. “It’s very hard to build a village with hooves instead of hands.” He lifted his hand. His palm was the same soft gray as his lips, and on the back of his hand, his hair was white and dappled gray like his back. “It depended on what we were doing. Fishing and farming are easier on two feet. Defending our home was on two and four—I’ve ridden another kelpie, armed with a bow and spear.” He exhaled as though the memory hurt. “It wasn’t a conscious thing, but a question of which form served the purpose.”

“That sounds cool. Like sometimes a motorbike is better than a car.”

“I will trust you on that because I have driven neither.”

“But you’ve been in a car?”

“Yes. Of course I have.”

“How am I supposed to know?”

Lynck flipped the question on him. “Have you ridden a horse?”

“No. And until a couple of months ago, I’d never seen a horse in real life because I grew up in the city.”

“A kelpie isn’t a horse, though we appear similar in the same way donkeys and zebras seem like horses but aren’t.”

“Oh.” To Rox, they all looked like horses. But to some people, all engines were the same, and they couldn’t tell a boxer engine from a V8. “Aside from the ability to shift, what makes a kelpie different from a horse?”

Lynck stopped walking and dropped his arm, leaving Rox alone. Rox realized they’d walked well away from the main area of town. They’d walked closer to the forest, and the shadows had deepened as the sun slipped lower. He faced him and lifted one of Rox’s hands. “I am not a horse or a human. I am a kelpie, a monster. Though it is easier to say I am a horse shifter, as humans can grasp that idea.”

“I’m trying to understand what that means. And who you are.”

Lynck tilted his head. “But you do not need to understand those things if?—”

“If we’re just fucking,” Rox finished. He knew that. “Is that all you want?”

For the first time, he wondered if they were on the same page. What if only he wanted more and Lynck was being polite?

Lynck studied him, face fixed in concentration as if Rox was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Then he lifted his hand, cupped Rox’s cheek, and placed a soft kiss on his lips for an answer. “No…though it should be all I want.”

Rox rocked forward onto his toes, needing more. “What do you want?”

“To walk along the beach and kiss you goodnight. To invite you around for dinner and bore you with my violin.”

“I don’t think that would be boring.” He’d grown up listening to his mother play the piano and teach others on the side before she’d started teaching him. At fourteen, he’d quit for a year to assert his independence, but he’d begun playing again when she’d been too sick. Now, music was a connection to her. As well as her recipe book, he’d also kept her music books.

Lynck’s eyes were dark. “Is that what you want?”

That had been his problem for the last decade. What did he want?

Not what did he need to survive? Or what did his mother need him to do so they survived? He’d quit school and gotten the apprenticeship to bring in extra money. Sure, he enjoyed pulling things apart, and he was good at it, but he’d wanted to do mechanical engineering. She’d wanted him to go further than he had, to follow his dreams.

What were they?

He’d existed in a nightmare of finding rent and paying for meds and getting her to doctors’ appointments. And he didn’t begrudge that time and effort, but it had been a lot. And his father hadn’t given a fuck—Rox hadn’t expected his father to care about Mom, but he should’ve cared about his son.

Instead, he was a fucking useless man who only cared about himself and the way things reflected on him. Helping his teenage son, who wasn’t going to a private school or living in the right area, meant admitting that not everything was peachy. Maybe if he’d put his hand in his pocket and paid even the bare minimum of child support…

Rox exhaled.

What did he want?

He wanted more than scraping by and someone needing something from him, but he also didn’t want to be on his own the way he’d been for the last six months. He wanted more than hooking up and moving on and piecing together a plan on the fly. He wanted a partner and love, and all the things he knew were possible, even though he’d never seen his mother have any of them. She claimed to like her space too much to share it with anyone when Rox had asked.

After numerous boyfriends and flings and one-night stands, Rox had reached the conclusion that it was him. He wasn’t good with people.

But maybe it was the men he’d been with.

The ones who expected him to be something else or for him to fit into their life or fantasies. And when he resisted, they labelled him as difficult, obtuse, prickly…

He stared up at Lynck. Who wasn’t human at all.

A monster—that many hated even existed—was asking what he wanted out of this, like he had an equal say, and his thoughts mattered, so he needed to say something.

“I want to keep seeing you. You’re interesting… No, that came out wrong. I don’t want to see you because you’re a monster. Shit.” He ran his fingers through his hair. He was going to fuck this up before there was anything to fuck up. “I like you, and I want to get to know you, and if that involves walking on the beach and listening to you play, that’s cool.” His cheeks heated, and he shoved his hands into his pockets, trying not to feel awkward.

“They are things I like…partly because running and other athletic feats are part of the kelpie mating process. What do you want?” Lynck asked again, as if Rox’s first answer wasn’t good enough.

He glanced down, his teeth worrying at his lower lip. “I should have that all worked out. But I don’t. I spent so long getting by and caring for Mom, and then I didn’t find myself while traveling either.” Did he even exist? If he vanished tomorrow, would anyone notice?

“You found yourself here.”

“Yeah.”

“So there must be something here that called to you?”

Rox shrugged. “I like the idea of living somewhere different. Of living in a town instead of a city, something with a bit more soul.” Where people didn’t slip into the shadows and disappear. “I didn’t want to take any mechanic job; it needed to be in a place where I could see myself building a life.”

“So, why did you select sex on the app?”

Rox laughed and scuffed the toe of his runner in the sand. “Because that’s easy. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have met you. If you want more, why didn’t you change what you wanted?” He flipped the question back at Lynck.

“I’ve thought about it, but most humans don’t want more from me. I thought it was because I’m a monster, but I wonder if it’s because…” Lynck shut his mouth.

Rox tilted his head. “What?”

What was Lynck hiding?

Lynck glanced away, his gaze on the water. “I can’t go home.”

“Oh. Can I ask why?”

“You just did.” Lynck smiled.

“Is it because you’re gay?”

“No. There was a battle, and I hesitated when I should’ve fought. The kelpie I was riding was killed, and I was captured.”

“But you got free because you’re here.”

“I did. But going home, not only to my herd but through the portal, is too dangerous.”

“Because you escaped?”

“Yes.”

Rox guessed that wasn’t the full answer, but he didn’t need to learn everything now. “I’m sorry you had to fight and that you were caught.” Even though he didn’t fully understand what that meant, it was a terrible thing for anyone to go through.

Lynck’s ears twitched in acknowledgment. “It is the past. I have made a new life here. But perhaps other humans sensed that I was holding back.”

“Or they were dicks.”

Lynck laughed. “Some of them definitely were.”

Rox lifted his eyebrows. “So a kelpie first date is going for a run?”

“It is.”

“You have long legs?—”

“I hate running on two legs, and you run more than me. But it is not a race.”

“What is it for?” What was the point of racing if not to win?

“To see how well we run together.” Lynck considered him for a couple of heartbeats. “Do you want to run?”

As first dates went, assuming that is what this had become, it wasn’t the strangest one he’d ever been on. “Why not?”

Lynck stared at him as if he’d sprouted ears. “You want to run with me?”

Rox smiled. “I’ve got my runners on.”

This had not been part of his plans for tonight, but it was a detour he wanted to take.

“Then run.”

His heart kicked over. “Are you going to chase me?”

“Are you going to run away from me?”

“That depends on how fast you run.” Rox took off at a jog. He glanced back to see Lynck stamp his hoof once before following him.

Rox ran a little faster, planning on slowing in a bit to let Lynck catch up. In his next breath, Lynck swept him off the ground, and Rox yelped, not expecting the kelpie to catch up so fast. They tumbled to the sand, Rox landing on top of Lynck, staring into his dark eyes. “You caught me.”

“I did. Did you not want me to?”

Rox kissed him. “I thought you were going to chase me for longer.”

Lynck’s hands slid to Rox’s ass, keeping him close and grinding against him. The way Lynck moved against him, his cock and his tongue teasing his body and ramping up his pulse. His dick throbbed, trapped in his jeans.

If they weren’t on a public beach where anyone could walk past, he wouldn’t want to stop. Rox pressed his hand into the sand and pushed himself up, which only pressed their hips closer together. “We probably shouldn’t do this here.”

“We aren’t doing anything.”

“Yet.” Rox rolled his hips, not wanting Lynck to stop.

Lynck leaned up and kissed him. “I should walk you home.”

“You should because then I can invite you in. We’re both too gritty for this to be fun.”

“I’m not using your tiny shower.”

“Oh, you’ve got something better, do you?” His dick throbbed, wanting to feel Lynck naked against him again.

“I do, and you can see it when you come around for dinner.” Lynck didn’t let up, rocking Rox’s hips. The way his fingertips kneaded his ass cheeks…

Rox bit his lip. “I don’t want to wait that long. We can date and fuck…or is that too much of a human thing? Do you have sex or just run?”

Pain flickered across Lynck’s face. “I was taken before I became an adult. Teens only ran and played. We worked on our skills to become good mates.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” There he was, being all horny, while Lynck had trauma from being captured and never knowing if his herd even survived the attack.

“You wanted to know… I wanted to tell you. To understand. If you don’t ask, how will you learn about monsters and kelpies?” Lynck kissed him again, but with less heat. “We both had our teen years cut short and were adults before we needed to be.”

“Yeah.” Not that Rox had ever put it in so many words.

“We don’t need to rush this.”

The hard length of Lynch’s cock pressed against his, with far too many layers of clothing between them. But it wasn’t a polite, disinterested brush-off. It was Lynck putting the brakes on and wanting to slow down and take a breath. Which was probably the smart thing to do, to see if they had something more than the chemistry of lust. But Rox liked the burn of lust. “How can you say that while grinding against me?”

“I like the way you feel and the way you look at me like you’re waiting for me to flip you over and fuck you.”

Rox smiled. “I mean, I’d be happy with just getting our pants undone. Sand and penetration don’t go well together.”

Lynck somehow kept hold of him while pushing up so they were sitting, Rox’s thighs draped over Lynck’s legs. If it wasn’t for one of Lynck’s calves hooking behind his back, he’d have fallen over.

“Is this better?” Lynck ran his hand over the fly of Rox’s jeans.

“That depends on what you do next.”

Lynck flicked the button open and undid the zipper. Rox glanced along the beach, but they were alone in the dusk. No one would notice his dick was out unless they were right up close. Lynck’s warm fingers wrapped around Rox’s shaft and stroked.

Rox smothered a groan at the tight grip and the way his thumb worked over the crown. Despite the distraction, he got Lynck’s pants open and pulled his cock free of his underwear.

He scanned the beach again because if someone came past, it wasn’t going to look good, and he didn’t need some kind of public indecency charge when he’d only just arrived in town.

“I suspect my hearing is better than your eyesight, given the growing darkness,” Lynck said as if reading his mind.

Rox stroked Lynck’s length, still not sure how that broad, flat head had managed to press inside him. A shiver raced up his spine at the idea of riding his kelpie.

At the idea of tasting him.

Of sucking his dick until he came, flooding his mouth. Would he even be able to swallow that amount of cum?

He fucked Lynck’s hand with a sudden desperation, each thrust becoming slicker. Lynck captured his lips, and his hand cradled the back of Rox’s head, holding him in place. Between his tongue and his hand, Rox didn’t stand a chance.

He came, his groan muffled by Lynck’s mouth. Lynck’s hand cupped the head of his cock, catching his spill, and for a heartbeat, Rox expected Lynck to lick his fingers. Instead, he wiped his hand in the sand, erasing the evidence.

Rox hadn’t even considered how best to deal with the mess. That was a problem for after…though he wouldn’t be able to catch Lynck’s cum as neatly. He glanced down, the shadows thick between them.

“I’m half tempted to make you wear it,” Lynck murmured as he wrapped his non-sandy hand over the top of Rox’s hand so they both jerked him off.

And Rox was half-tempted to agree. “I want to lick you.”

“You want to fall back on the sand so I can fuck your mouth?”

“Yes.” Right now, he’d agree to anything.

“That might be a little obvious.”

Fuck obvious—he didn’t care. He just needed.

Lynck swept his thumb over the blunt head of his cock, then lifted it to Rox’s mouth. Rox sucked the bitter cum off Lynck’s thumb.

Lynck uncrossed his leg, and Rox fell backwards, catching himself on his elbows and expecting Lynck to follow and fuck his mouth as promised. But Lynck stroked his own dick, pulling twice before spilling onto the sand in several thick pulses, producing far more cum than Rox had ever seen a human spill, and that included in porn.

“I like the way you watch me.”

Rox snapped his gaze up from Lynck’s dick. “I like what I see.”

Lynck leaned forward, offering his slick fingers. Rox sat up and opened his mouth, letting Lynck fuck him with cum-coated fingers until he’d licked them clean. Which did nothing to calm the lust flowing through his veins.

Lynck’s ear twitched. “Someone is walking their dog this way. We should pretend to be enjoying the view, not each other.”

With their clothes done up, they lay on the sand side-by-side, fingers threaded together, watching as the stars bloomed in the sky.