Chapter 14 #2
Daven pulled back until he nearly slipped free, then drove back in, the oil and heat making a slick, slapping sound. Ryneth’s hole bucked against the intrusion, his body betraying him as it chased the rhythm. The air around Ryneth’s throat remained tight. It forced him into shallow gasps.
His body took it like it had been waiting. He couldn’t believe Daven fit.
“Everything you have,” Daven rumbled. “Every spark you’re hiding. Give it to me. Every time you withhold, I’ll take twice as much.”
Daven hiked Ryneth’s hips higher and pounded into him, hard and relentless. Ryneth’s head lolled. He mewled as Daven’s cock hammered his prostate, his own cock leaking against his stomach. Daven’s hand closed over his throat, adding the weight of his palm to the choke as he fucked him into the bed.
Ryneth was gone to it. He clawed at the air as the static built under his skin, the pressure in his teeth rising until it snapped free and hit Daven, only to ricochet back.
“That’s it, aethera. Yield. Come on, baby. Come for me.” Daven drove in hard, burying himself deep.
“F-fuck.” Ryneth’s body seized around him, muscles locking without permission.
The pressure climbed until his body gave in. Until white burst across his vision.
“Good Light…” Ryneth shrieked as his cock erupted, the release splattering against the silk in thick, white bursts. Daven followed, a snarl breaking from his lips as he buried himself to the hilt and flooded Ryneth with his heat.
As the light faded, the air-hold vanished.
Ryneth collapsed onto the bed. His breath came in sobbing gulps as the pressure around his throat finally released.
He was quiet.
For the first time since he arrived on Helion, the constant electrical pressure inside him had gone quiet.
No ache in his teeth. No static crawling under his skin. No hum begging to get out.
The relief hit so hard it made him feel sick. He hated that Daven could do that to him. Hated more that some weak, traitorous part of him wanted it again.
“This doesn’t mean anything.”
Next to him, Daven chuckled then rolled onto his back next to him, crooking his fingers. “Tell yourself if it helps. Come here, aethera.”
Ryneth stared at the ceiling, ignoring the other man until his hand got into his line of sight.
“I said, come here.”
“And I say you’re an asshole.”
“Oh, I like that.” Daven’s hand slammed down onto Ryneth’s chest and curled around his shoulder, rolling him onto his side and into the crook of his arm. “But I’m a little tired right now, darling. You and your delicious asshole wore me out. Shall we continue fighting tomorrow?”
Ryneth winced at the words but still inhaled the other man’s skin. He smelled like sandalwood and rain. He smelled good.
Ryneth’s eyes drooped. The glass had gone dark, but home flickered at the edges of his mind. The Ward. Mara’s voice. Tavi. Them sleeping on the worn down mattresses.
A countdown ticked somewhere distant.
It didn’t feel urgent anymore.
Just far away.
“Sleep now,” Daven murmured.
Ryneth must have drifted off, because he woke to Daven’s muffled swearwords. One of his muscled arms was pressed tightly against Ryneth’s side, pinning him in place against his chest, and on the other, he was reading a message from his multi-slate.
“What’s wrong?” Ryneth asked, voice thick with sleep.
“Motherfucking family’s what’s wrong,” Daven grumbled. “I just got you where I wanted you.”
“Meaning?”
Daven groaned. “Kylix tracked a Concordant shuttle. There are five confirmed captives on board. They’re not sure, but they believe these are the same five Academy disappearances they briefed us on earlier this week.”
“Can’t the Helion army stop them?” Ryneth pushed himself up slightly, taking in the view of Helion at night and the stars beyond the glass.
“If we want a war in the Velaryn Reach, sure. But first we try diplomacy. Yure contacted them through the ship’s holo channel. They answered but refused all negotiation.”
“Why?”
Daven’s jaw tightened. “Because they want to talk to you.”
Ryneth went still. Fear gripped him so fast he couldn’t breathe. This was it. Whoever had bought him that night had come to collect.
“What did you tell him?”
“That he can go and fuck himself.”
Despite it all, Ryneth smiled. “And what did he say?”
“That once the shuttle lifts, the trail scrubs permanently. Concordant runs a ghosting system that rewrites the ship’s location data the second it clears atmosphere. Once they move, they’re gone.”
Ryneth swallowed. “And the five hundred people with them.”
Daven said nothing.
“Milanov approved it,” Ryneth said quietly. “Didn’t he?”
Daven exhaled through his nose. “Yeah.”
The answer sat between them.
Daven clicked his tongue. “Whatever you’re thinking in that big head of yours, baby, stop. It’s not what’s happening.”
“Maybe not,” Ryneth said. “But I know what they want.”
Daven’s hand tightened around the slate. “You are not walking into a trap because they demand it.”
“It’s not like it’s legal,” Ryneth said softly. “But people like that don’t care. If they paid for me, they’ll still come to collect. Hiding in your bed won’t change that.”
Daven looked at him like he wanted to argue. Like he wanted to lock every door in Helion.
Ryneth held his gaze. “Tell them I’m coming.”
His voice didn’t shake. He wouldn’t give them that. If they wanted a body, they could take his before they took another.
Daven stared at him for a beat too long, furious and helpless all at once.
Ryneth pushed back the sheets and got out of bed before the other man could stop him. His legs felt weak. His body still remembered Daven’s hands.
The room still felt thick with sex and heat. The bed behind him was rumpled, the sheets twisted where they’d been tangled together.
For one stupid second, Ryneth looked at it and his chest tightened. Daven had just had him for the first time, and now he might have to walk out of it.
Then he reached for his clothes.
If he died, they’d never know what happened to him.
Would they bring him back to Düren at least?
Would he get to see Mara and the others one last time?