Chapter 17 #4
His reaction hit Daven like a jolt. For one ugly second, something almost sadistic bloomed in his chest. He had him now.
All of him. Every scrap of Ryneth’s attention snapped straight to him and stayed there.
Daven watched the shift happen in real time, the way those narrow shoulders locked and that blond head went still against the backdrop of the great glass windows.
Fragile in all the ways that mattered, stubborn in every way that made Daven want to keep him.
He still couldn’t name what twisted low in his gut, but he knew one thing with perfect clarity. This man was his.
“What do you mean?” Ryneth asked, the words coming out breathless. “Are you talking about Tavi? Daven, don’t. Don’t fuck with me about this.”
Daven’s mouth tipped up, but his hand tightened on Ryneth’s hip. “I’m not fucking with you.” He held his gaze. “I got confirmation just before we got home. The hospital flagged his file. He’s now in top-tier private coverage.”
“He’s not your brother,” Ryneth snapped.
“Not yours. You had no right.” But his pupils were blown, his mouth still soft and unsteady from everything Daven had just done to him, and his whole body had gone tight in a way that gave him away.
He was furious. He was shaken. And he was touched by the gesture, whether he wanted to admit it or not.
Daven slid his hand to Ryneth’s throat and wrapped his ringed fingers around the fluttering veins.
He didn’t have to squeeze for his cock to throb at the pulse beneath his fingers.
The tight beat under his hand and the heat wrapped around his cock settled low in his body with an ugly satisfaction, the kind that had less to do with winning and far too much to do with how right Ryneth felt there, pinned under his hand and full of him. “Well, I fix things that are mine.”
Ryneth’s throat worked under Daven’s hand. “I didn’t ask you to.”
“No,” Daven agreed. He leaned down and bit Ryneth’s lower lip, hard enough to sting. “You didn’t have to.”
Ryneth tried to shift his hips back, to break the angle, but Daven didn’t let him. He followed the movement and drove deeper, dragging a moan out of Ryneth that sounded almost angry.
“You think this is charity?” Daven whispered. “You think I did all that because I’m kind?” He pressed in until Ryneth had to feel every inch of him. “No, aethera. I don’t do charity. I put my time where I want a return.”
Ryneth’s eyes flashed. “In what?”
“In you.” He pressed his forehead to Ryneth’s. “I love the way you fight me. I love that I can’t seem to stop wanting it. Whatever this is, whatever the fuck happens every time I get near you, my body has already made up its mind.”
Ryneth stared at him. “That doesn’t give you ownership.”
Daven dragged his hand down Ryneth’s chest and pinned his wrists above his head. “No,” he said, grinding into him once. “It gives me the truth. And the truth is, my body already decided you’re mine. So stop fighting me for one second and feel it.”
Ryneth’s breath shook. “So that’s why you upgraded Tavi’s care? You think you can buy my loyalty?”
“I don’t need to buy it.” Daven’s thumb brushed over his jaw. “I just needed to take away your excuses.”
Ryneth swallowed hard. “You don’t get to use my little brother.”
“I’m not using him,” Daven rumbled. “I’m making sure he lives. Because you want him to, baby. Because you love him. And because you do, I protect him. For you.”
He dragged out the movement. Ryneth let out a string of muffled swearwords.
“You want me to stop?”
Ryneth didn’t answer.
Daven leaned closer, mouth at his ear. “Say it,” he murmured. “Tell me you don’t want this. Tell me you don’t feel full with me inside you.”
Ryneth’s fingers curled against the sheets. “I hate that you did that,” he breathed.
“I know.”
“And I hate that you’re the one who can.”
Something in Daven went still.
That landed harder than any easy win. Ryneth still looked furious, still sounded like he wanted to fight him, but he’d given him the truth anyway. Given him the part that mattered.
Daven’s grip tightened at Ryneth’s waist. “Good,” he said softly. “Then we understand each other.”
He didn’t thrust. He didn’t need to. He just stayed there and licked a stripe up Ryneth’s earlobe. “Tomorrow I’ll make my statement. Will you let me, baby?”
When Ryneth didn’t push him away, didn’t tell him to leave him alone, Daven felt the shift.
This was the Ryneth Daven knew best, all sharp mouth and stubborn fire. Daven suckled on Ryneth’s lobe and nipped at the tender skin before licking his way down to his throat. Light, this man made his teeth ache, made his entire body thrum with need.
But tonight, he would control himself. Because Ryneth was worth the war it would take to keep him.
And tonight, with Helion’s lights burning through the glass around them, Ryneth had cracked for him. Had given him enough to act.
For Daven, that was enough. Tomorrow, he’d make sure no one on Helion could mistake what Ryneth was to him.