Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
“ O kay, hear me out,” Kade said as they climbed the stairs to the apartment for the third day. “Strip research.”
Liam suppressed a laugh but couldn’t stop himself from asking, “How would that even work?”
“Whenever we finish a book, the other person loses a piece of clothing.”
“Have you not noticed how quickly I read?”
“Have you not noticed how hot I am? I look fucking fabulous naked.”
“And that’s supposed to help us not have sex, how?”
“Fine. You’re no fun. I was hoping for something to get me through today.” Kade collapsed into his chair and eyed the books. “Are there more than yesterday? It seems like there are more than yesterday.”
Liam shook his head. There were significantly fewer, and that was worrying him. They had two days of research left at this pace, and he had no idea what he’d do when he ran out of books. If these didn’t hold the answer, where did they go from here?
Kade sighed and opened a book from his pile, then froze. A warm wave of arousal washed through Liam, and Kade slammed the book shut.
“What?” Liam asked.
Kade stared at him, his eyes wide. “When I said I wanted steamier content, I didn’t expect that.”
Liam cocked an eyebrow. “Expect what?”
“Didn’t you tell your friends to do this?”
“Do what ?”
Kade laughed. “Joke’s on both of us then. Anything interesting in that top book on your pile?”
“All books are interesting.”
“Anything I’d find interesting?”
Liam leafed through the pages, then paused, his cheeks heating.
Tucked into the book was a screencap that had been printed out. A very, very explicit screencap.
He recognized the men from yesterday’s covers. The shifter porn star Aran always raved about was fucking the guy from Bonding the Human and that weird knot-summoning scene. The human’s back was arched off the bed, only his shoulders touching, his legs locked around the shifter’s waist. That one frame showed how hard Richard Knotz was railing his mate, how into it they both were.
Liam’s mind unhelpfully supplied him with a mental image of Kade doing the same thing to him.
Kade leaned over to look. “Oh, I love that one. Such a hot scene. I seriously thought they were about to break the bed.” He opened his book again. “I got Hunter and the Hunted Hunter .”
Before Liam could comment on that mess of a title, Kade showed him the screenshot he’d found: one of Richard Knotz strapped to a table, his legs spread open as the human fucked him.
“They switch mid-scene in this. I came so hard I nearly blacked out the first time I watched it.” He flipped through the book, finding yet another screencap, the loose white sheet standing out against pages yellowed by the passing of centuries. Cackling gleefully, he held it up for Liam. “ Cooking with DickHunt: Tossing the Salad. ”
Richard Knotz was bent over a kitchen counter, the human’s face pressed into his ass.
Liam swallowed, trying to get moisture back into his mouth. “I can’t believe I’m asking this, but what’s DickHunt?”
“Oh, man. Meet your new favorite porn stars.”
Liam didn’t bother pointing out that he didn’t have a favorite porn star to begin with.
“DickHunt,” Kade explained. “That’s the fan name for Richard Knotz and Hunter Savage. They’re MateHub’s first true-bonded couple. Their scenes are the hottest things you’ll ever see.”
Liam was confident he could think of hotter things, all involving Kade. He slapped a hand to his face. “I’m going to kill Aran.”
He took out his phone and typed exactly that into the group chat.
Aran
I take it you found my surprise!
Miles
I tried to stop him!
Liam glowered at the screen.
“Are you sending a message to Aran?” Kade asked, thumbing through multiple books enough to show there were screencaps hidden in them as well, though not revealing what they were. “Thank him for me. I’m actually looking forward to researching now. This is gonna be awesome! I hope they’re all DickHunt. Ooh. Or MaxHard. MaxHard would be good too.”
Liam huffed. He didn’t want to know.
Liam
Kade says thank you.
Aran
Damn right he does, and you will too.
As Liam settled into research mode, he highly doubted that. His books had become minefields, no warning for when a… Richard might spring out at him from nowhere.
But he liked the amused, contented hum he was getting from Kade through their bond. Whenever Kade discovered another screencap, he lit up in Liam’s mind, his desire and delight mixing in the most addictive manner.
That didn’t mean Liam was required to admit he was glad Aran had done this though. Nope. Not at all.
He turned the page and blinked at the picture nestled there.
It wasn’t particularly explicit; it wasn’t even full body, no dicks in sight. Just a waist-up shot of the two porn stars clinging to each other, Hunter sitting in Richard’s lap, sweat glistening on their skin as they traded the most passionate kiss Liam had seen in his life.
Kade peeked around a pile of books to get a look. “Right?”
Liam nodded numbly. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was agreeing with, but the answer was yes. Unquestionably, yes.
“ Celebrating the Exclusive Contract ,” Kade said. “It’s the first scene they released after announcing they had a true bond. Check it out.”
Staring at the image, his words failing him, Liam nodded again. He would be doing that. After the new moon. When he could… He shivered at the idea, his cock starting to fill.
“ Fuck ,” Kade groaned. “I retract my previous statement. Tell Aran he’s an evil bastard and no longer my favorite DickHunter.”
Liam snorted. Well, at least he wasn’t the only one suffering now.
He pulled out a book from the bottom of a pile and riffled through it, sighing in relief when no Richards appeared. Kade did the same, and they resumed their research in a less eventful fashion, with the occasional pause when Liam received a request for a sigil.
They managed an hour and a half before Kade got too restless. He was a fast reader, but clearly wasn’t enjoying it. There were three days until the full moon, and Liam wondered how worked up Kade would get. Would he be able to sit still at all?
They’d woken up to another awkward and supremely unsatisfying morning plastered together, but after they got past that part, Kade was fun to hang out with. Yes, he was a complete pervert, but Aran was too, and Liam grudgingly liked hanging out with him.
He was laid-back and easy to talk to. He was also sinfully attractive, with his long, wavy hair that Liam certainly did not want to run his fingers through and his full lips that were not tempting Liam to kiss them. His looks and muscular body had done nothing to alleviate their morning situation. Neither had his distractingly wholesome scent. If anything, he smelled better than before. There was a smoky note to his scent that seemed to be growing stronger. It made Liam fantasize about trailing his nose along Kade’s neck and breathing him in.
But he would not be doing that.
It did make him wonder though… How was Kade handling his inability to smell? Everything Liam had read and learned about shifters indicated scent was a huge part of how they experienced the world. Having that suddenly taken away must have been disorienting. How much did that play into the way Kade acted around him? If he could smell Liam’s magic, would those moments when his instincts seemed to take over be fewer? Would he still crowd into Liam’s space and stroke hands over his neck, or would the harsh scent of magic remind him this had been a mistake?
And more than that, if his sense of smell returned, would it help him ward off whatever lingering trauma he had from the decay spirit possessing him? It was clear he hadn’t fully dealt with that, and scent was so tied to memory. Could they use it to keep Kade grounded in the present when there wasn’t a window nearby to crack?
But that was all theoretical. It wouldn’t affect anything with Kade in his current condition.
Liam shook himself and focused on the book in front of him. His mind had wandered, and he couldn’t even blame it on Kade feeling restless. Though as they sat there, Kade got progressively more antsy, but just when Liam was about to suggest they take a break, the shop’s doorbell rang.
Kade jumped up.
“I’ll get it,” he declared, sounding ecstatic, then sprinted toward the door.
Anything to avoid research, Liam supposed. He went back to his reading.
Time slipped by as it always did when he was immersed in a book. It was a good fifteen minutes later when he finished, and Kade hadn’t returned. Liam sensed him—a vague, shimmering amusement winding through his presence.
Why wasn’t he back? Was something happening in the shop?
Liam was considering checking on him when Kade strode through the door, grinning and pleased with himself.
“We should practice!”
Liam shot Kade a suspicious look, but followed him to the floor below.
Just the thought of using his magic, of channeling Kade’s energy, sent a frisson of arousal zipping through his body. Things would get embarrassing if his dick started associating workrooms with sex.
Not that they’d been having any.
When Kade dramatically opened the door for him, Liam blinked inside.
In place of the candles he’d set out two days before, there was a row of…
“Are those—”
“Candles,” Kade said brightly. “I thought you could use some new ones.”
Liam looked closer. They were indeed candles. Candles shaped like realistic dicks. A whole line of them in every skin tone imaginable, from dark to light.
Despite himself, he snickered. “Did they have to drip white wax over the tips?”
“Obviously. It’s the attention to detail that makes them a masterpiece.”
Liam raised an eyebrow at him. “Do you really want me to light those?”
Kade paled, realizing that would mean watching a dozen dicks slowly melt from their tips down to their balls. “I did not think this through.”
Liam bit back a smile. “Okay then. Let’s get started.”
They tossed the fireball as a warm-up, and Liam marveled at how simple it was to connect to Kade’s energy through the tether, even when they weren’t touching. Without Kade’s hands on him, he didn’t have unfettered access to it, but that was to be expected. From what he’d read about transactional bonds, the mage had an easy but limited ability to use the shifter’s energy.
If transactional bonds were like this, how overwhelming must a true bond be?
“So…” Kade lobbed the fireball at Liam. “You think some mage somewhere knows what we’re dealing with?”
Liam caught the ball. “You can’t tell me this has never been faced before. Aran found a pack in California we think was attacked by something similar, but we haven’t confirmed what. There might be more cases. The only reason Aran heard about them was because the mage who’d tried to save that pack had done her apprenticeship with the teacher he’s studying under. So again, it’s about the line of magical knowledge. If we weren’t connected to that teacher, we wouldn’t even know that much.” He tossed the fireball back before continuing.
“Our knowledge is so scattered, but if we gathered that information and made it available to everyone, we might not be in this situation. We wouldn’t have to hope we received the right training from our teachers. We’d have the collective experience of all the mages in the world at our disposal, no matter our area of study.”
“Why hasn’t anyone done that?”
“Presumably for the same reason shifters haven’t. Tradition. Mages are reluctant to embrace technology—a handful of tech mages aside. And I do get it. To some extent, entire fields of magic have been rendered almost obsolete by technological advances, and that’s likely to continue. But maybe if, twenty years ago, someone had established an archiving project and digitized our records, Elijah could have typed ‘evil decay spirit’ into a search engine and had answers. There’d be no resorting to trial and error like we’re currently doing.”
“You figured out how to trap them though. That has to be a solid start.”
“But we don’t have a clue what they are or how to destroy them. We’ve used binding contracts to contain the spirits in those boxes, but that’s a temporary fix.”
“How do you destroy a binding contract?”
“You don’t destroy them. They must be fulfilled. Oaths have to be honored. That’s the whole point. They’re not supposed to be something you can easily get out of.”
“Right, but few absolutes exist in this world. If there was one you had to break, how would you do it?”
Liam couldn’t imagine any situation where he would want to break a binding contract. “A person’s oath should be their word. If they swore to do something, they should do it.”
“I get that you would never do it personally, but what if someone were forced into a contract and needed out of it?”
“I don’t believe a binding contract would work if someone signed it against their will. The magic binds the spirit of their oath.”
“I’m pretty sure the spirits didn’t consent to being sucked into boxes.”
“Oh.” Liam frowned. “True.” He missed the fireball Kade tossed him. It fizzled out midair as Liam lost his concentration and the magic and energy flowing between them faltered.
How would he destroy a contract? He’d never researched it. They hadn’t put any conditions on the bindings in the boxes. If they did, could they fulfill them? And what would happen to the spirits? Normally, binding contracts released a person from their oath after it was fulfilled. That was no good. They couldn’t risk the spirits being released.
Binding contracts were impossible to destroy by physical means. Chucking the boxes into a fire would do nothing. But could they be destroyed by magical ones if enough energy was put into it? That brought him back around to what would happen to the spirit if the contract was destroyed.
“What are you thinking?” Kade asked.
It was just an inkling of an idea. Liam hesitated.
“Dude, I sensed your brain spinning. You can’t not give me something after that.”
Liam wasn’t thrilled about sharing a theory he hadn’t supported with research yet, but he shrugged. “Hypothetically—and I cannot stress enough how hypothetical this is—I’m wondering if we can destroy the boxes and the spirits with them. Elijah wasn’t able to destroy the decay spirit itself, but if it’s trapped, maybe that would contain it so it could be destroyed.”
He paused, and Kade waited while he considered it.
“I honestly don’t know,” Liam said after a minute. “There are books on binding contracts in the library, some of which have been archived, but I’m not sure they have anything about destroying contracts. It’s just not done. We can check into it, but to make it work, I bet it’d take a ridiculous amount of magic, and it’d need to be done individually. I don’t love the idea of having to trap the spirits one by one, then destroy them one by one. But if that’s the only option, I guess we’d have to do it.”
“Do you want to test it out?”
“Not with as little control as I have over your energy, and not with as half-baked as my theory is. We’d need a plan for how to keep the spirit contained if it gets released while we’re attempting to destroy it, and we should be certain I can control your energy before we try that kind of spell. We can’t risk setting a spirit loose.”
Kade scooted forward. “Then let’s learn how to control it and destroy these things.”
He was oversimplifying the situation and skipping about a dozen steps, but Liam reached out to him.
Like every time before, the moment they touched, Liam was caught in an all-consuming blaze. But after the initial thrill swept through him, he realized he was adjusting to it. It still filled him so full, still made him long to give in to the pull between them and let his magic take over, let Kade and his wolf take over. Get pinned down and fucked until he couldn’t think anymore.
He took a deep, steadying breath and centered himself in the midst of that lust and euphoria. It crackled and sparked around him, but it didn’t devour him.
Anytime he used Kade’s energy, it felt like they were being dragged toward each other, like they needed to get closer. Like the bond or the tether, or both, were demanding it, trying to lure them into deepening it no matter how ill-advised.
Did transactional bonds constantly try to push people together? Was there always this urge to touch and be touched? Did people who expected a loveless arrangement feel this pull? Were they able to deny it?
In the accounts he’d read of transactionally bonded mages, they had sex with their mates frequently, even if they disliked them. Apparently the sex was too good to pass up. This had to be why, but none of them had mentioned how heady the pull was. It threatened to consume his entire being, like he and Kade, their bodies entwined, could burn brighter and hotter than the sun.
For the hundredth time, he reminded himself that was a horrible idea. He trained his eyes on the candles across the room. Not that they helped him keep his mind off things he shouldn’t be thinking.
He channeled a trickle of Kade’s energy, shaping it into a thin thread, then cracked it like a whip.
Every single candle caught alight.
Kade grinned. “That was amazing, but could you put them out before… well, you know.”
Liam chuckled and extinguished the flames before reluctantly dropping Kade’s hand.
“Thanks,” Kade said wryly. “Really didn’t think that through. But that felt more controlled.”
“I’m getting the hang of it. How much will your energy increase over the next couple of days?”
“A lot.”
“And I’m assuming you’ll get more instinctual and hornier as well?”
“Yep. Ideally on the full moon, all I’d be doing is running and fucking to get that extra energy out.”
Liam repressed a shiver. “Given how intoxicating your energy is at its current level, we should consider holding off on practicing for a bit, then pick it up again after that.”
“That’s probably for the best.” Kade didn’t sound happy about it, but they wouldn’t do anyone any good if they ended up fucking while they practiced.
“Okay,” Liam said, standing. “Let’s get back to work.”
Kade stood as well. “Ah, research. The only thing less enjoyable than blue balls.”
Liam snorted and shook his head.
They made their way upstairs, where the piles of books they hadn’t read kept getting smaller and smaller.
It wasn’t until after dinner that the message arrived, but Liam should have seen it coming.
Miles
Ah, Liam, what were you doing in the workroom today?
Liam
I CAN EXPLAIN.
Aran
Sure you can.
Elijah
What's going on?
Liam started to type, but Aran and Miles were faster, flooding the chat with pictures. Aran’s were positively pornographic—his fist wrapped tight around a candle, his mouth opening over one as he leered at the camera, two candles with skin tones close to Liam and Kade’s frotting against each other.
He should have hidden them before he and Kade left for the evening.
Elijah replied with a string of emojis, all wide eyes and raised eyebrows.
Liam
KADE BOUGHT THEM.
Aran
Is your better half in the habit of buying you dicks?
Liam
He is NOT my better half!
I am not half of anything!
Miles
I hate that I'm typing this, but why did Kade buy you dick-shaped candles?
Liam
For practice!
Aran
Practicing what?
Liam
Oh shut up.
You remember I basically have to relearn how to use my magic, right?
It's good, by the way.
Thanks for asking.
After the full moon, we can help with the spirits again.
Elijah
And you needed the dick candles because…?
Liam
I didn't need dick anything!
This was him getting back at me for the book covers from yesterday.
Oh.
Right.
Thanks for the literal porn, Aran.
Because that's super helpful when we can't get off for three weeks.
Aran
First, you're welcome. Second, you absolutely need dick something. And third, this can't stand unanswered. What's your plan?
Liam
My plan?
Aran
How are you going to respond? You gave him porn; he gave you dicks. What's your next move?
Liam
I suggested romance covers.
YOU gave him porn.
Miles
I have an idea.
And then Miles outlined a plan that proved he had spent too much time with Aran over the last few years.
Elijah
You used to be so sweet!
Aran
My baby is all grown up. *sheds proud tears*
He sent a link.
Aran
They have overnight shipping. Send them to the house tomorrow and we'll take care of the rest.
Elijah
Why did you have that link ready so fast?
And why do you know about the overnight shipping?
Aran
A fuckboy never reveals his secrets.
Elijah
You say that like you don't tell us all your secrets.
Liam
In explicit detail.
Repeatedly
Aran
Should I recommend my favorites?
The NOs were quick and emphatic.
Aran
But seriously. I can't believe you're agreeing to this. I like this Liam. Victor may have stretched Elijah's channels, but damn, Kade has loosened you up. Whatever he's doing to you while you two are alone all day, tell him to keep doing it.
Elijah
Could we stop talking about my channels already?
Liam
He isn't doing anything to me!
Aran
He's definitely rubbing off on you.
Liam
He isn't rubbing off on me!
In any way!
He added that second line because he knew where Aran would attempt to take the first. Not that the clarification stopped Aran.
Aran
That's a shame. He's fucking hot. He should rub off on you. You need to get on that. Literally. That is one beautiful dick.
Liam narrowed his eyes at his phone. Did that mean… No. He wasn’t going to ask.
Elijah
Wait. You've seen Kade's dick?
Well, it was nice of Elijah to ask for him.
Aran
Of course. What do you think his profile picture is on the forums? There's a reason I didn't recognize his face. While you were being so warmly welcomed home, I thought Kade looked familiar, but he put his clothes on too quickly for me to be sure. Plus, I'd only seen him hard, so…
Oh god. Liam was bonded to someone who had a dick pic for his profile on a secret supernatural porn site. How was this his life?
Miles
I'm asking this against my better judgment, but does that mean your picture is…
Nope. Never mind. Don't answer that.
Aran
What else would it be?
Hold on. I'll show you.
There was a second flurry of NOs in the chat.
Aran
Your loss.
The lighting on it is perfection.
Liam ignored him. He had no desire to dwell on how many people had seen Kade’s cock. Or the fact that he’d barely glimpsed it himself.
Instead, he spent ten minutes putting in the most distracting order of his life. He winced at the cart total and shipping costs. He might have gone a little overboard, but he hit the Checkout button anyway. The dick candles couldn’t have been cheap, and it wasn’t like Liam went out much. He had money for this.
A short while later, Kade walked in and sent him a look. “What are you planning? I can feel you’re up to something.”
His curiosity was a tangible thing. It brushed against Liam like a cat, but he just hummed innocently.
“Alright,” Kade said. “Keep your secrets. I’m guessing I’ll find out soon enough.”
Yes. Yes, he would.