16. Daniel
Daniel
Pain. Intense pain in his neck, and a jarring fall to an unforgiving floor.
Slippery fluid on fingers that were too weak to apply pressure.
Screaming. Someone he desperately loved, screaming his name.
Chaol? No. Someone from before.
Family.
Brother.
Nicolas.
He turned his head, and there he was. Nicolas. Held back by the hooded Ashmedai. Screaming Daniel’s name, struggling to get to him. Everything blurred, then darkened.
Nicolas was the last thing he saw before it all went dark.
Daniel woke with a pitiful sound, muffled against Chaol’s chest. His face was wet, and he panted breathlessly, clinging hard to his demon.
The house around them was quiet, dim light sneaking in through the edges of the heavy curtains.
It was sometime early in the morning. They couldn’t have been asleep for long.
“It’s okay,” Chaol murmured, mouthing at Daniel’s jaw with just enough teeth for the pain to ground him in the now. “It was just a dream.”
No, Daniel thought, it was a memory. He turned his head, capturing Chaol’s lips and kissing until his shuddering subsided and he thought he would be able to speak.
“I remember,” he rasped. “I remember how I died.”
Chaol softened, thumbing the wetness from his cheeks. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Daniel nodded slowly. “You remember I told you we went to rescue a couple of kids the paladins had kidnapped?”
“Yes.”
Daniel nodded again. “That’s when it happened.
They expected us. One of them had a gun, and I didn’t duck out of the way in time.
It hit me here.” He touched the place on the side of his neck, expecting to feel slippery blood, or at least a scar, but there was nothing.
The skin was as smooth as it always was.
There was no evidence he’d taken a bullet there.
Chaol growled, brushing his fingers over it.
“It must have severed an artery. I think it went all the way through, so maybe even more than one. All I know is I bled out fast. The last thing I saw was my brother trying to get to me.”
Chaol hummed a quiet note of understanding. “I’m sorry it happened that way.”
“Me, too.” But it all worked out in the end, hadn’t it? He was back, and this time he had Chaol. And as far as deaths went, it wasn’t a bad one. He’d died mercifully fast, on a quest to help the innocent.
Chaol’s hands were idly exploring his body, distracting him from the fading adrenaline of the memory.
He rolled onto his back, and Chaol followed, sweeping a hand across his chest and rolling one nipple between his fingers.
He groaned, taking that hand and pushing it under the blanket, down his abdomen and to his rapidly hardening cock.
Chaol chuckled, taking his length in hand and pumping it slowly. “You’re insatiable.”
“Aren’t you?” Daniel said breathlessly, splaying his legs wide as Chaol’s curious fingers cradled his sac and moved further, to his puckered entrance.
“For you? Always,” Chaol rumbled, pressing a dry finger inside him. It should have hurt—would have hurt, if he was human. But the pain barely registered, prickling like heat instead of ringing an alarm bell in his head.
Daniel barely had the sense of mind to reply. “Good. Because I want you to fuck me.”
A low growl spilled from Chaol as he lunged forward, kissing Daniel hard and sliding on top of him. Daniel wrapped his legs around Chaol’s narrow waist as their bodies lined up, already anticipating the burning stretch of Chaol sinking inside him.
The head of Chaol’s cock pressed against his hole, but Chaol hesitated. “I should go find some lube.”
Daniel scowled. “You better not.”
Chaol grinned. “I don’t want to hurt you, darkling, even if you can handle it now.”
“What if I want you to hurt me?”
Chaol closed his eyes with an agonized expression. “You can’t say shit like that.”
“You can either get inside me right now, or I can flip us over and make you.”
His eyes sprang open as white bloomed across his skin, like he was having trouble controlling himself.
It was Daniel’s turn to grin, tucking his hands behind his head. “I think maybe you like the sound of that.”
A cocky smile spread across Chaol’s face. He leaned in, one hand ghosting up Daniel’s chest to grip his throat. “There are very few demons out there stronger than me, you know.”
Daniel felt like he was flying. “And I just so happen to be one of them.”
“You are.”
“And you like that.”
Chaol’s eyes darkened with hunger. “I certainly don’t hate it.”
Neither of them moved, sharing mirrored smiles in that exultant moment, and then Daniel grabbed him, twisting and flipping them over.
Chaol let out a yelp of laughter, clawing at Daniel’s arms to free himself, bucking his hips to throw Daniel off, but it was no use and they both knew it.
Chaol laughed right up until Daniel pinned his wrists above his head with one hand.
When he reached for his cock, it turned into a groan, and as Daniel sank down on him, tight and dry, it became a harsh, subvocal growl.
Chaol threw his head back against the pillow, his body tightening like a bowstring. “Oh fuck, you’re so tight.”
It felt so goddamn right, pain burning through him like electricity and sending pulses of pleasure through his body as he took Chaol as deep as he could.
Chaol’s skin was bone white, riding the edge of his transformation, his sharp teeth bared.
Like a marble statue, he was the most beautiful thing Daniel had ever seen, and somehow he had the privilege of eternity with him.
Opened up on Chaol’s cock, they stared at each other, basking in sensation. Curious, Daniel brought his free hand up to grip Chaol’s throat the way Chaol had done to him. With another growl that sounded like a purr, Chaol tipped his chin back, letting Daniel’s hand fit over his neck.
“You love this,” Daniel whispered, and night dark eyes met his. “You love that I can take control and do whatever I want, don’t you? You like giving in and accepting what I want you to have.”
Chaol had said he was strong. Maybe he’d never met anyone he could give himself over to in this way. Maybe he’d always been expected to seek his own pleasure with selfish lovers who did the same, unable to trust anyone to put his needs first.
Studying Chaol’s face, Daniel moved his hips, finding a rhythm as Chaol’s eyelids fluttered in ecstasy. Yes, he loved this, and Daniel loved giving him what he wanted.
He moved at a slow and steady pace until Chaol was writhing beneath him, bucking his hips in an attempt to hasten his rhythm. Daniel quieted him with a deep, sloppy kiss, teeth clashing and sucking on each other’s tongues as pleasure mounted between them.
“Danny, please, more,” Chaol finally begged, his hands tightening into fists.
“Okay, baby.” He released Chaol’s arms, and he sat up at once, changing the angle and wrapping Daniel in his arms. Like this, Daniel’s cock rubbed up against Chaol’s abs with every thrust.
Now, they worked in tandem, with Chaol rutting up into him as Daniel rocked down.
He could have kept going for hours, but Chaol’s teeth sank into his shoulder, and claws pricked against his back as Chaol filled him with molten seed.
The heat building slowly between them crested, exploding under his skin, and he muffled his cry in the curve of Chaol’s neck, painting their stomachs with cum.
In the aftermath, they clung to each other, sweaty and boneless.
Fingers carded through his messy curls. “You’re perfect, my darkling.”
A besotted smile curled Daniel’s lips, and he raised his head as the color returned to Chaol’s face. He brushed Chaol’s cheek softly. “Do you know your skin always gets really pale when we have sex?”
“Do you know you make it very hard to control myself when we have sex?” Chaol rejoined.
Daniel chuckled. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”
Chaol’s eyes softened. “Not at all. Maybe if you were human, because my claws and teeth would do more damage.” He lifted one hand, revealing bloodstained fingertips from where his claws had punctured Daniel’s back.
“But you’re not human, and you’re right, you can handle it.
Even if my first instinct is still to protect you and be gentle with you. ”
Daniel licked the black blood from his index finger. “I don’t need you to protect me or be gentle with me. I just need you. Every bit of you. The part that wants to protect me, the part that wants to sink your teeth and claws in, all of it. I want it all.”
“You have it,” Chaol whispered. “I don’t understand it, but I’m yours. I think I was the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Daniel kissed him. “Good. Because I’m yours, too.”
Chaol’s sigh sounded like relief. “I’m glad. Even if we have to get up and face the music eventually.”
“Not just yet,” Daniel said, snuggling closer. He wasn’t ready to face the world and all its questions yet. “I want a few more minutes of this.”
Chaol’s arms tightened around him.