Chapter 21
twenty-one
EVEREST
Iwake up to find Rathyn standing over me, holding something draped over his arm. Is that…
“Clothes?”
He normally doesn’t like me in clothes.
He nods, a grunting trill erupting from his throat as he holds them out. Pants and a shirt. They’re mostly sheer and won’t leave much to the imagination, but they’re different from what I wore before.
Swinging my legs over the bed, I stretch my back, worn out from the orgasms but feeling good. My hole is sore, and my prostate feels a little…abused. In the best way, but still.
I’m exhausted, and I have no idea what this is about. Until I do. Until I remember how, before the mating herb, Rathyn had caved so easily last night. He folded like wet spaghetti.
Walking around the bed, I ignore my full bladder to lean in, pressing a hand to his cheek as I kiss him. He rumbles his delight against my lips, his tongue curling around mine, his piercing clinking against my teeth.
The more we do this, the more I think about letting him pierce mine. Especially with his nice Vyastil herbs that heal me up almost immediately. It might not be so bad.
“We’re going to Erethar, aren’t we?”
He sighs. “As you have insisted.”
“I do. I do insist.” I feel bouncy and excited. I wish to fuck I could share all this with Zane. If he weren’t also being a butthead, he could be doing this right along with me.
I wonder if his extension was approved. Or if he’s been forced to show up to the clinic to get sucked. God, I need to talk to him. For all I know, he could be a companion to someone else.
I make a mental note to ask, but not now. I want to focus on this first. It’s a little selfish, but sue me. I haven’t gotten to be selfish much in my life.
“I’m going to use the bathroom and get some breakfast, then we can go.”
Rathyn stares at me, a glint in his eye. “I will assist.”
“Oh my god, no blow jobs—”
He backs me against the wall. “Yes, my Everest. At least two before we leave through the portal.”
I groan, but in reality, it’s not a hard ask.
Rathyn gets his fill. Oh, who am I kidding? He gets some of his fill, then allows me to shower, shave, and get dressed. He adorns me like the last time, and my cock aches from the metal sound pushed through my slit.
It makes sitting at the counter to eat my breakfast feel a little…interesting. Not unpleasant. Not entirely. And I think maybe when we’re in Erethar, I can let him have more of me. It’s fun to fool around in his world, too.
Sliding my dishes into the sink, I glance out the window and catch sight of Rathyn’s hair blowing in the wind.
I can’t see him, but I move over to the terrace door and find it slightly open.
He’s leaning against the wall, holding his hand out, and when I pass the threshold, I can see he’s got something huge crawling along the top of his hand.
My heart leaps in my chest. I’m not really a bug guy, but Rathyn seems entirely unbothered. As I edge closer, I realize it’s a sphinx moth. I feel him become aware of my presence, but he doesn’t take his eyes off the fluttering wings as the moth comes to a stop at the tips of his fingers.
“Do you have those in Erethar?”
He hums deep in his chest. “We have…something like it. Pollinators,” he says.
I’m not sure moths are pollinators. I’m not even sure what moths do except chew holes in your clothes.
“It’s pretty.”
“It is.”
I slide up beside him and wrap an arm around his waist. He makes a pleased, purring sound as he nestles close without disturbing the bug, his eyes still fixated on it.
“I think it likes you.”
“I do not think it’s capable of such a thing,” he says, but his voice is soft. Tender. Different from what I’m used to hearing. For a moment, I picture him baby-talking a puppy, and that does things to my insides.
I shove that away very quickly. “So. I’m done with my shower.”
He finally turns to look at me, shaking his hand just gently enough that the moth flutters, then takes off toward another terrace. Rathyn’s gaze is fully on me now, pinning me. Then his hands lift and curl around my shoulders as he backs me against the wall.
“You smell delicious, my Everest.”
I close my eyes. I’m starting to develop a boner response every time he says my Everest so possessively. Old me would have fought him and argued about how I didn’t belong to anyone.
And I still believe that.
Technically.
But fuck if it doesn’t do things to me to think of myself as his.
It’s contracted, yeah. I owe him cum—and I’ve come to terms with that.
But I’m also now very aware that how Rathyn handles me—how he feels about me, the things he lets me do to him—are all very different from the other companions and their monsters.
“You are thinking very hard,” he says as he drags a single claw down my temple.
I swallow thickly. “Mm. About you.”
His hand trails down my body and cups me through the threadbare fabric. My cock is hard, straining against the adornments, the tip overly sensitive from the long post inside it. I groan, and a smile flickers over his lips before he leans in and kisses me slow, deep, and heavy.
I let myself get lost in it, even though I know this kiss has no real conclusion. I can’t get enough of it—the taste of him. The feel of him.
I’m like a cum slut at the door of the clinic, but only for him. And I will be damned if he ever actually knows the truth. I hide that deep in my mind, and he’d have to poke around into dark corners and long shadows to find it.
“What was that for?” I ask, slightly breathless when he pulls away. That kiss was more than his usual morning greeting.
His fingers move into my hair, claws slightly extended, dragging over my scalp without breaking the skin. “I will not be able to do that with other Vyastil watching.”
Right. Of course not.
“Are we going to your home after we get there, or—”
“I must speak with a few of my subordinates. You will wait for me,” he says, commanding.
I shiver. I don’t always like it when he talks to me that way, but sometimes I really, really do.
His fingers thread with mine as he pulls me inside. We skip putting on shoes because they don’t seem to wear shoes at all, and I squeeze his hand gently as we walk down the familiar path from the apartment to the portal.
It’s easier to cross through this time. The world shimmers and my stomach feels like it’s being pulled up through my throat, but then I’m on solid land again, the air thick and sweet.
His hands find me, making sure I’m steady before he trails a touch over the chain between my nipples. It’s over the shirt, but I can still feel every passing of his fingers.
Blinking, I glance around and realize we’re not in the same place as before. Fuck, I wish I knew how this whole portal thing works. Can you just, like, put an address in somewhere and whoosh, you go wherever you want?
I open my mouth to ask, but realize that’s probably not a good idea. There are Vyastil here, staring at both of us, and I realize a second later, there are no human companions anywhere.
I feel very…seen.
“Uh…”
“You will wait here,” Rathyn says. He beckons over a Vyastil that looks a lot like Cielo, only this one’s hair is a very rich pink and much shorter, falling in a braid just below the shoulders.
Rathyn speaks to him for a long moment, then he takes my wrist and guides me to a plush-looking chair beside a window. “I will be a while. Do not leave this building.”
Like somehow I’m going to take my life into my hands and wander around Erethar without Rathyn to guide me?
I’m a little annoyed at the babysitter, though.
The pink-haired monster is standing a few feet away from me, stealing occasional glances at me, then looking at Rathyn like he’s terrified he’s going to rip his arms off.
Which, apparently, is a real threat.
I’m not going to let that happen, of course. But I’m not going to poke the bear—or the monster—as it is. Not today, anyway.
Rathyn stares down at me, then drags a quick touch against my jaw before spinning on his heel and marching out of the room. Three of the six Vyastil follow him, and I’m left with the pink-haired one and two very stiff-shouldered Vyastil with various shades of blue hair tied back in severe buns.
“So…” I say aloud.
The pink-haired one jumps.
“Do you have a name? Sorry, wait. Do you speak my language? I know not everyone does, and I don’t mean to assume.”
Pink guy swallows thickly, and his gaze darts in the direction Rathyn left.
“Relax. He’s not going to tear out your tongue for talking to me.” Probably.
I offer my most winning smile, and the pink-haired Vyastil sucks in a breath, taking a step back. Okay, maybe not the right move. “Well, anyway. I’m Everest. I’m Rathyn’s companion. Sorry, I don’t know if he has some title I’m supposed to use, or—”
“Rathyn,” the blue-haired one on the left says, then he says a word in his language I can’t even hope to pronounce. He takes a step closer and eyes me from head to toe. I don’t love that. “In your world, it would mean—”
“Commander?” I supply. I knew that already. He’s not the leader of the whole Vyastil military, but he’s very high-ranking.
He tilts his head to the side, then looks over at the other Vyastil. “Not as primitive as some of the other companions.”
I suck in a breath to tell this fucker off because if any of us seem primitive, it’s because they like to drug us into compliance until we’re dick-suck-zombies.
But saying that won’t help human-monster relations. “Anyway,” I say again, “he’s my…companion. Or whatever.”
Blue hair flicks a gaze down to my nipples, then to my cock, then back up to me. There’s a glint in his eyes that makes me feel…weird. “He’s made that abundantly clear.”
Yeah, I don’t like this one.
“So,” I say to the pink-haired Vyastil, “you’re—”
“He won’t speak to you. He’s a guard from Outerlands.”
“What the fuck is that?” I blurt.