Chapter Fourteen #2
Sleep-roughened tones and harsh stubble danced over Mads’s neck with a whisper of a moan.
Rich tanned skin, belying European and mediterranean ancestry, swallowed him in thick arms that never displayed through the stuffy suits he always wore.
Marquis was a beautiful man. Just as Baron had been, but Baron wore his beauty like armor, a way to disarm and conquer.
It was a shallow veneer hiding rot beneath.
Marquis wore his beauty like a treasure, showing only what was necessary.
The rest? Oh, the rest was a treat that Mads could happily claim belonged to him.
The covenmaster kept up with his body, spending time climbing, hiking, and swimming in search of wandwood when he wasn’t in the workshop carving and working away.
Flat teeth nipped at the back of his neck; sweet breath still tinged with mint hovering lightly about.
Mads wanted to roll in the aura of his fragrance, encompass himself in it, wallow in it, and sleep in a nest made of his clothes. Maybe he would later. Maybe not.
“I can tell.” Marquis breathed deeply.
“Are you mad?” Mads pressed back against Marquis, his body flushing in a rush of warmth from head to toe.
“No. Vans promised me he’d drive you and tell you the gate code.” Marquis nuzzled.
“Gate code? I climbed over the gate… What?” Mads spun around and caught Marquis’s irritated expression.
“Did he even make sure you got in okay?” Marquis sighed.
“No. To be fair, did you know he’s a germaphobe?” Mads furrowed his brow and pouted.
“Not at all. He’s extremely sex-averse. You being in heat likely made him uncomfortable.” Marquis nuzzled the hair atop Mads’s head, the length on top growing close to needing a haircut.
“I must apologize later. I didn’t understand when he was trying to tell me.” Mads relished the warm sensation of breath against his scalp.
“Not at all. He’s helping others heal in a way he might not be able to. His peace is made by avoiding intimacy. It makes him happier.” Marquis said it in a way that made it seem final, inviting no more questions. Mads could read between the lines.
Since Marquis was nearly bare, save for his boxers, Mads struggled in his arms to slip out of his shirt. Bare chest to bare chest brought them closer together, their hearts beating fast.
Their mouths crashed, Marquis cupping Mads’s face as he shifted his hips, kicked off his shoes, and shimmied free of his jeans. Cool air touched his smooth skin, the one bonus of being hairless, the silken touch against the world. Mads was insistent, though.
He pushed, making Marquis stumble back toward the bed.
Their rising hardnesses brushed one another through their undergarments.
And underwear had changed a lot, for the better.
Marquis’s boxer briefs swelled, the outline of his cock rising to greet Mads’s hand.
The firm warmth of it made Mads shudder. “I want this inside me.”
“And I want nothing more than to put it inside you. I’ll take you to paradise and keep you there until I drive the fire from you, my love.” Marquis stepped back, hands wandering to Mads’s hips.
The bed Mads had picked out had a wonderful height; the mattress held with a generous, reinforced lip. The footboard low and strong. Every aspect that Mads considered for their new bed was designed for them and them alone.
When Marquis hit the edge of the bed, he fell back, drawing Mads with him. He spread his legs to pull Mads up to straddle his hips.
Marquis rolled and tugged, moving around the bed to cage Mads in with his arms. “I’m all yours. You have me as you wish.”
And Mads would. His mouth practically watered to taste Marquis, to suck and lick, to be fucked. “My mind is mush…”
“That’s no good. Let me give you a little clarity,” Marquis said as he slid down, kissing his way along Mads’s body, his warm breath leaving cold spots as he abandoned them downward.
Mads groaned with pleasure and closed his eyes.
Panic flickered in his chest every few seconds, but the bond he shared with Marquis, settled as a familiar bond, snatched his magic by the core and centered it between them.
As if they were one, the pleasure flowed, a humming self-confidence and intense desire radiated from Marquis.
No pity. No sadness. Joy. Pure and unbridled.
Love, overwhelming and endless. It made Mads’s eyes sting, his body shuddering.
And in an unbridled moment of sensation, his heart swelling as magic flowed, he opened his mouth to beg Marquis to touch his aching cock. “Mar—”
And with flawless grace, Marquis dipped his head, hands moving to tug his underwear away. Warmth and wetness engulfed Mads’s cock, skilled tongue swirling its way down to take him to the root. “Oh ffffuck!”
Mads couldn’t focus his eyes as he opened them in utter shock and bliss. A surge of pleasure made his cock swell, his orgasm threatening to shoot up his spine.
“Oh. Oh f-fuck.” Mads swore and shuddered in a violent display. Everything seized for a single beat before his cock kicked and emptied down Marquis’s throat.
Marquis groaned with absolute bliss, grasping onto Mads’s hips to keep him steady. And like any good alpha confronted with an omega in the throes of passion, he was ready to ravage.
Mads flipped under him, raising his ass.
Slick met cool air and warmed under Marquis’s weight.
With barely any effort, Marquis had his hands down, fingers gliding through ample slick, the noise mingled with their frantic breaths.
And, if magic had a sound more than the hum that penetrated his body with some sixth sense, it’d join the chorus with song.
Gentle, wet noises accompanied the stretch of his hole, one finger then two. Mads bit his lip and whimpered, breath shuddering. The gentle rock of them searched out his spot, lighting him up from within.
Marquis didn’t need to speak, to ask him if he was ready, to make him beg, he knew Mads that well. It’d been but a brief affair in the grand scheme of things, but Mads was always Marquis’s. He wasn’t a whore or a plaything. He was loved.
As if to remind Mads of just that, Marquis whispered as he leaned down to plant a featherlight kiss over his lips. “I love you.”
Mads nearly came on the spot but lost his composure as Marquis slid inside him with a fluid motion, sheathing perfectly.
Such pressure, fullness, warmth. It took all the filth from the act.
Mads wasn’t sure why, but he whimpered, fighting tears as pleasure and angst fought within him. “Please forgive me.”
“There is nothing to forgive. Thank you for coming back to me.” Marquis situated his hips and rocked them ever so gently. “Because if I have to forgive you. If I have to assign value to what happened, I have to believe that any of it meant anything to you. Forgive me for not knowing sooner.”
Mads hissed out a pleasured sigh and hooked a leg over Marquis’s hip. The gentle rock of bodies turned into thrusts and rolls that lit nerve endings on fire. Heaven wouldn’t have been the paradise he knew in bed at that moment.
Mads let go of his angst, his stress, and anger. And together they came, Marquis pulsing deep within him, hand stroking Mads’s cock to a sharp finish.
Refractory period? Never heard of it. And like that, they were at it again and again until morning burst free with violent rays forcing through their bedroom window.
Then sleep.
And with the fires of heat, all sins had been burned away.
A new chance. A new life.
And the potential for more.