12. Alex
Chapter 12
Alex
A week slipped by like the pages of a book flipping in the wind. Alex returned to the old factory once, but there was no sign of the mozgoran. No doubt it was long gone. Why would it return when it knew its hiding place was compromised? Alex kicked himself for being so careless. If he’d approached the factory smarter, he might have been able to take the demon by surprise and end things right then. Instead, he was back to square one.
Only now, he was sleep deprived. The nightmares were relentless, his guilt gnawing at him like ragged teeth in the night. Each night, at least once, he awoke gasping for breath, blood and pain reverberating through his mind like ripples on a water’s surface. He managed no more than two hours of sleep each night, and he knew it was taking a toll. Nathan was giving his haggard appearance worried looks during the day. His hair was a mess, dark bags hung under his eyes, stark against his pale skin. No amount of coffee in the world could replace the sleep he wasn’t getting. He felt betrayed by his own mind.
More than anything, he missed Talon.
He reached for his phone almost every hour. Talon could fix this. Talon could help him sleep. Talon, Talon, Talon. The name echoed in his mind. He saw his face in his dreams, but it was never the real one. The one in his dreams never called him ‘little bird,’ never treated him like he was something to be cherished.
No one had ever treated him like that before—at least not that he remembered. His parents might have, but he didn’t remember them well enough. It seemed almost cruel that it should be a demon who evoked these feelings in him now.
It should’ve been easy to push Talon away. Instead, it was the worst thing he’d ever done in his life.
Training and patrols seemed like Herculean tasks, his body growing tired far faster than normal. He was twitchy and irritable. Every time he closed his eyes, he caught himself drifting off to sleep and startling awake.
Exactly one week after he last saw Talon, he left HQ after a nightly patrol and drove in a blur. He thought he was going home, but when he pulled into a parking spot, he looked up and realized his body had driven straight to In Extremis.
‘ You’re perfectly safe here ,’ Talon had once told him. And he felt it, as he dragged himself from the car and trudged to the door.
The white-haired bouncer opened the door without a word, and there was no hesitation in Alex as he went inside the dark, demon-infested club.
The pulsing music felt too loud to his ears, the chaotic streaks of light painful to his tired eyes. He slunk through the club with purpose, bypassing the brightly lit bar—brightly lit compared to the rest of the club, that is. His eyes were on his destination, his heart in his throat. He didn’t know what he’d do if Talon wasn’t there. He needed him to be there.
He spied leather-clad shoulders, and all the tension drained from his body so fast that his knees wobbled. Talon was sitting in his usual booth, clutching a bottle in one hand and looking at the dark screen of his phone on the table. Was he waiting for something? For… Alex? It seemed like a fanciful notion, but the hopeful seed had taken root against his better judgment.
He was almost upon Talon before the demon turned. His dark eyes widened slightly, and he turned just in time for Alex to smack into him. He banged his knee against the wooden edge of the booth, but he didn’t care. Tucking his face into the warm curve of Talon’s neck, he relaxed for the first time in a week, going boneless in the demon’s strong arms.
“Little bird,” he groaned, his pleasure at this surprise audible to Alex and Alex alone. His arms tightened possessively, and Alex’s only thought was yes . “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Alex didn’t expect to come, but he didn’t know how to put that into words. Instead, he pressed closer, straddling Talon’s lap and fitting their bodies together like puzzle pieces. With their chests and bellies lined up, Talon’s thighs under him and his arms around him, his exhaustion hit him like a freight train. It didn’t matter that the music was loud and the club was smoky, the sticky air heavy with perspiration, blood, and alcohol. He finally felt like he could sleep .
“Please,” Alex murmured, feeling the way Talon angled his head to hear him better. “Talon.” How did he put into words what he wanted? How could he explain how alone he’d felt all week? The nightmares were worse than ever. Talon was the only cure.
“Oh, little bird.” Strong fingers wrapped around the back of his neck, protective. “I had no idea keeping my distance was doing you such harm.”
“I—haven’t been able to sleep without you.” His face burned at the admission.
“And did you go after the mozgoran? I told you I would go with you, but that was a week ago.”
Alex nodded, mindful of the way Talon’s grip tightened on the back of his neck in response. Angry, or just worried?
“And?” Talon asked.
“I saw it. It got away.” His eyes burned. He was so tired . He felt like one raw nerve, everything hurting more than it should. Tears were perilously close to falling from his eyes, and he had no idea how to stop the quavering emotion from welling up within him.
“Okay. Hold on to me. I’m getting us out of here.”
Nothing happened for a moment, as Talon tucked his phone away and raised one arm. Alex tilted his head to see what he was doing. Gesturing with some bills toward the bartender—what was his name again?—and leaving the money on the table by his half-drunk bottle. Then both arms returned to Alex.
“Here we go.”
The cacophony of the club disappeared in an instant, leaving his ears ringing. There was pressure in his ears, too, and he stretched his jaw to pop them as he sat up in confusion, looking around.
They were no longer in the club. They were sitting at the foot of Alex’s bed.
“As much as I enjoy having you in my lap, little bird, I think you should do whatever you humans do to get ready for bed. It’s late, and you look exhausted.” One finger traced the dark curve under Alex’s eye.
Alex couldn’t stop the instinctive dread he felt at the prospect of going to sleep—or laying down and attempting it, at least—and the unhappy emotion was reflected in his gaze, because Talon tilted his head, studying his face intently.
“Have you been having nightmares?”
Alex swallowed hard. He tried to duck his head, but Talon’s strong hand caught him under the chin, guiding his gaze back up to his. “Of course. They’re worse now ever since I saw…” He thought about the moment his flashlight had shined across that sickly grinning face and shuddered.
“You should’ve called me, you stubborn thing,” Talon said, his hands divesting Alex of his shirt. “Do you know how often I checked my phone waiting for you? It’s become a compulsion, constantly tapping the screen to see if I have a message. Staying away like you wanted might’ve been the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” He twisted, throwing Alex down onto the mattress and kneeling between his legs to unlace his boots and yank them off.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked as Talon tossed one boot and then the other over his shoulder.
“Undressing you. You’re going to get in the bed and sleep for ten hours.” Talon grabbed his belt, opening the buckle and then his jeans. He didn’t tug them down immediately, though. First he unclipped something from Alex’s hip. “Do you see this?” He raised one of Alex’s holy knives.
They’d been sheathed on his belt the whole time? Alex could’ve sworn he removed them when he took his sword off. In Extremis didn’t allow weapons. Why would the bouncer have let him go inside with them?
“What? But—I didn’t…”
Talon took the second knife off his belt and dropped both over the edge of the bed. “You look horrible, little bird. Bad enough you swayed even the stoic Storm into letting you pass.”
Alex’s face twisted indignantly, and Talon softened.
“It also means,” he paused, hesitating, and then forged on, “that the demons of In Extremis trust you enough to let you walk among them with weapons that can kill them. You might be the only paladin they trust like that.”
Alex frowned. “What? They don’t know me. That’s just because of your influence, right? You opened a tab at the bar for me that time, had the bartender give me water.”
“I did that once,” he said. “Only once. Demons, they gossip. We’re old; we get bored. And it seems you’ve been the subject of the grapevine for a while. That you’ve somehow earned my trust is a big point in your favor. I’m a hard one to please. Everyone saw you go into the back room with me the night we met. They saw us kiss. And tonight, they saw you throw yourself into my arms.”
Alex felt fragile, a small thing threatening to shatter. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning you aren’t the enemy to them anymore. Just like you aren’t to me.”
He peeled Alex’s cargos down his legs, leaving him only in boxers, and Alex crawled up the unmade bed and collapsed on the pillow, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Now, you’re going to have a long, dreamless sleep,” Talon growled, crawling up his body, “and when you wake up, I’m going to make you come so hard all you can remember is my name, because you’re mine , and I take care of what’s mine. Yes?” He pressed his forehead to Alex’s, who shivered, almost naked and completely vulnerable with Talon’s weight pressing him into the mattress.
Alex’s heart was pounding far too hard for him to sleep, but he nodded nonetheless. “Yes.”
“Good.” Talon kissed him, long and deep, and then stood, undressing slowly. Alex turned onto his side, watching with idle interest as Talon bared his pale, muscular body without an ounce of modesty. When he was down to a pair of black boxer-briefs, he crawled over Alex and fit up against his body.
A small sound left Alex as Talon’s heat soaked into his bones. Lips pressed against the back of his head.
“Sleep, little bird. I’ll be here when you wake.”
Alex closed his eyes and succumbed almost immediately.
As promised, Alex’s sleep felt as deep as an ocean trench, dark and dreamless, floating in languorous, warm nothingness. There were no nightmares, no monsters waiting to spill his lifeblood, no haunting images of his eviscerated family. No evil Talon laughing with the mozgoran while Alex bled out at their feet.
He woke slowly, boneless and well-rested at long last. A warm body was plastered against his back, and he took a steadying breath as he came to terms with his situation. He barely remembered going to the club last night and throwing himself at Talon, but he was grateful for it, nonetheless. He wouldn’t have survived much longer without sleep. And now, in the harsh light of what was probably mid-afternoon, based on the way the sunlight hit his bedroom window, he was forced to finally face the truth.
Talon, in his own way, cared about him. And as strange as it was, Alex felt the same pull toward Talon that Talon claimed to feel toward him. It was the only thing that made sense. He’d had nightmares in the past, yes, but none so detrimental to his health as the ones he’d started having after he rejected Talon. Something about Talon soothed him, called to him. He felt more at peace here in the demon’s arms than he ever had in his life. That had to mean something, didn’t it?
“You’re thinking very hard for someone who just woke up,” Talon murmured in his ear. The arm under Alex’s head curled, and Talon’s hand pressed flat against his bare chest. “If you send me away again, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
From someone who professed to be so dedicated to Alex’s happiness, his threat fell flat. Curious, Alex turned his head and asked, “What would you do?”
There was a pregnant pause, which was all the answer Alex needed. Talon wouldn’t do anything that might turn Alex against him. That would negate his whole plan to get Alex to accept having him in his life.
“I’m not going to send you away,” he said, sparing Talon from having to think of an appropriate response, and he felt the demon relax. “I still don’t completely understand any of this, but I’m tired of resisting it.”
“Not exactly the glowing statement of commitment I was hoping for, but I’ll take it,” Talon said cheerfully. His other hand trailed down Alex’s body, toying with the waistband of his boxers. “I can definitely make it worth your while.”
“Hey.” Alex angled himself back so he could look Talon in the eye, and Talon paused at his serious tone, his fingers tracing designs in the soft skin just below Alex’s belly button, curling in the trail of body hair that led below his boxers. His cock twitched at the touch, but he ignored it. “I’m serious. Thank you for being here for me. I’m used to handling shit on my own. I don’t understand why you care or why we can’t seem to stay away from each other, but I’m glad you’re here.”
Talon cocked his head in that curious way of his, like he found Alex particularly interesting—which, Alex supposed, was true. “What about your paladin friends? The squad you patrol with?”
“They’re okay. They’re… like work friends, though. We don’t really spend time together outside of guild stuff.”
Talon hummed. “They don’t see you like I do. I see your loneliness, your anger. You don’t have to be lonely anymore, and I can take your anger when the burden is too much for you to bear alone.”
Alex stared at him, his eyes burning. “You can’t—just say things like that,” he said breathlessly. What kind of demon would be so selfless—and for him ?
Talon beamed at him, looking triumphant. His hand slipped below Alex’s waistband, wrapping around his already hard length, warm and dry. Alex’s stomach dipped at the touch, and a breathy sigh left him.
“C’mere,” he said, tugging Talon on top of him.
Talon shifted away just long enough to divest them both of their boxers, and then it was skin against skin all the way down. A low, inhuman growl pitched out of Talon as their bodies lined up, his fingers catching under Alex’s knees and guiding his legs up and around his waist. He felt vulnerable like this, opened up for another—a feeling that only intensified when Talon’s strong, possessive hand wrapped around his throat. But there was no danger in the touch. He felt shielded, protected, despite the embarrassed heat flooding his face.
He’d never been naked like this with anyone before, and his throat bobbed nervously under Talon’s palm. The demon didn’t miss it, of course. He leaned in to kiss Alex’s rosy cheek, then licked the other, startling a laugh from him.
When Talon kissed him, it felt like he was trying to devour him. His tongue pressed inside Alex’s mouth, their lips crushed between their teeth, and Alex moaned, overwhelmed. In response, Talon gentled the kiss, circling his hips in a way that dragged their cocks together. Alex gasped, one hand flying down to cup Talon’s ass through the sheet that pooled around them.
“Do that again,” he entreated.
Talon nipped his chin, then planted his elbows on either side of Alex’s head, watching his face with eerie, unblinking intensity as he rolled his hips again. Alex was ensnared in the black vacuum of his gaze, pleasure building in his gut with every rhythmic thrust of Talon’s hips. He kept waiting for more, for Talon to do something with his hands or mouth, but he didn’t. The depth of his gaze felt more intense, more intimate, than anything else Alex had ever experienced. Slowly, Talon guided him toward the edge, letting the pleasure build from a trickle to a roar. Alex couldn’t look away, wouldn’t even dream of it. His gasps and moans filled the air between them, and Talon watched him all the while, like the only thing he hungered for was Alex.
It was when Talon’s breathing grew ragged, his head sagging so their foreheads touched, that Alex finally found his release. Seeing Talon lose his perfectly wound control, watching his face twist with exquisite agony as his muscular body drew tight with his impending release. Alex’s thighs clamped down around his waist as he came, his back arching. He shouted as he spilled between them, and Talon moaned, long and low, ducking his head to bury his face in Alex’s chest. He bit down on Alex’s pectoral as he shuddered through his own release, and Alex barely felt the pain, too high on endorphins for it to register. He carded his fingers into the back of Talon’s hair, giving it an affectionate tug as they both came back down.
Talon raised his head, his hair wild and his expression smug, and kissed him, long and deep. Fingers curled around Alex’s head, like he was something precious.
“ Mine ,” Talon growled against his lips, and Alex clung to him, making divots in the muscle of his back, because the word sounded right .
“Yeah,” he confessed, shuddering. “I think I am.”