Chapter 28
Drexley was not around the Darays for long.
After consuming the most delicious things Drexley ever remembered having the pleasure to eat, Ducarius insisted they escape to the sanctity of his private room.
As Ducarius had described, it was gray everywhere.
That did not bother Drexley. It reminded him of Ducarius’s uniform, and everything about his mate soothed him.
“I have no dressing gowns, but Larissa D’Vairedraconis famously provides our entire extended family with mountains of colorful pajamas,” Ducarius explained as he handed Drexley some folded fabric in shocking shades of green and yellow. “You can sleep in these if you wish.”
Stifling a yawn, Drexley set the pajamas on the smooth surface of a long table with a flat panel on it he had learned was a television.
He was tired. But that was far from Drexley’s biggest concern.
In a few tumultuous minutes, his life had changed.
And he had foolishly pretended that if ignored Adney’s coming death, it would push it off.
Drexley had been hopelessly wrong.
But Adney had taught him to be strong and take things in stride. So, Drexley would stitch together the broken pieces of his heart to honor the necromancer’s memory. It would not be easy. Nor would it happen in the next few hours.
So, Drexley focused on what mattered most now. And that was indisputably Ducarius. Their completed matebond was incredibly new, but it was already reassuring to feel Ducarius’s emotions alongside his own. Ducarius’s love flowed into him like a constant steadying wave. It was beautiful.
Despite the devastation and pain of the past few hours, Drexley knew sleep would not come easily.
He was not ready to rest. He wanted to ignite a spark within himself.
To touch his other half and have passion consume them both.
He yearned to experience a taste of Ducarius’s desire.
The thought had no more than crystalized in his mind before it became an irresistible urge he refused to ignore.
Drexley wanted to please Ducarius and be reminded of how lucky a man Fate had made him. He wanted to feel alive. Whipping off his borrowed shirt, Drexley allowed it to fall to the floor. He stepped into Ducarius’s personal space and threaded his fingers into the other sentinel’s tangled hair.
Two questing hands cupped his arse and squeezed. But mixed alongside the rush of lust, Ducarius’s concern bled into Drexley.
“You need sleep, love,” Ducarius insisted. Contradicting his words, he bit gently on Drexley’s jaw.
“We will rest later,” Drexley promised. His shaft was hardening in the strangely comfortable underwear he had on beneath the coarse fabric Ducarius had labeled jeans.
Thankfully, Ducarius did not argue. He slipped his tongue into Drexley’s mouth and kissed him deep and hungrily. Clinging to Ducarius, Drexley relished the heavy thrum of his heartbeat and wiggled against Ducarius until their pricks bumped through the fabric of their clothes.
Ducarius pulled away abruptly. But Drexley smiled. The Skeleton Lord was not putting a stop to their lovemaking. The only thing Ducarius was feeling was a feverish thirst for him. Drexley watched with rapt attention as Ducarius bared his lovely chest and belly.
Moving in a blur, Ducarius planted himself in a nearby chair and tugged at the laces of his boots.
“Drexley, at least take off your shoes and socks,” Ducarius ordered.
Grinning harder at Ducarius’s rising impatience since it matched his own, Drexley hurried to the wide bed and yanked off the footwear. The sneakers were nice and more comfortable than his worn boots. Drexley hoped to wear them again. But his fashion choices could wait until morning.
The socks were snug, and it took a firm tug to get them off, but Drexley soon flung them aside. He sucked in a shocked breath as Ducarius shoved him to the mattress. Sure fingers grabbed his waistband, and Drexley spread his thighs to allow Ducarius to move closer to him.
Ducarius tormented him. His knuckles bumped Drexley’s hard shaft countless times. There was no need to ask if it was purposeful. Ducarius’s amusement and delight coursed through him with each of Drexley’s moans.
Drexley’s efforts to aid Ducarius were in vain. His hands were brushed aside as Ducarius yanked Drexley’s pants and underwear out of the way. Thankfully, Ducarius was careful not to unman Drexley. His prick bounced toward his belly, and a bit of his early seed leaked from the tip.
Their past lovemaking had been consuming, but nothing compared to having Ducarius’s desire fusing with his. Drexley was already reaching the end of his tether, and they had barely started.
“Move. Move up. Get on the pillows,” Ducarius ordered, his voice rough.
It was not easy to convince his limbs to do anything, but Drexley managed to support much of his weight on his elbows. He scooted upward with his eyes locked on Ducarius. The Skeleton Lord whipped off his pants and underwear and crawled onto the bed.
Drexley groaned long and loud as Ducarius came down on top of him. Instinctively, Drexley slid his feet apart and bent his knees. Ducarius’s cock bumped Drexley’s, and he whimpered his mate’s name.
Grabbing two handfuls of Ducarius’s hair, he rocked his hips to get much-needed friction on his shaft. Ducarius worked his arms beneath Drexley and clung to him as they found their rhythm. They were new to being bonded mates, but they were growing to be experts on each other’s bodies.
But it may as well have been their first night together.
Desire was consuming Drexley. His own and Ducarius’s.
Their passion was so beautifully tangled that Drexley did not know where his ended and Ducarius’s began.
His balls were tight against him, and intense tingles coursed from his head to his toes.
He was close. So was Ducarius.
Drexley was mindlessly rushing for his climax. Panting, he moved in a frenzy. His muscles locked. A heartbeat later, his mind blanked and the world went dark.
The next sensation Drexley registered was bliss. Lassitude gave him a sense of relaxation. That was until Ducarius’s annoyance reached him.
“Fucking stupid Fate,” Ducarius grumbled through their mindlink.
“We lost consciousness?”
Ducarius lifted his head and gently pressed his lips to Drexley’s jaw. “Right in the middle of my fucking orgasm.”
“How long will this continue to happen?”
“I do not know, but I will be questioning plenty of sentinels about it in the morning.”
Combing his fingers through Ducarius’s hair, he relished the heavy weight of his mate on top of him. They had to get cleaned up, but Drexley was in no rush to move. Not yet. “It was lovely until the end.”
“Everything happened so fast. But I loved feeling your passion. That was incredible.”
“So are you.”
“I love you, Drexley.”
Closing his eyes to better enjoy Ducarius’s words and the flood of emotion pouring into him, Drexley found the other sentinel’s mouth. “I love you too.”
∞∞∞
Although Drexley was no fan of weapons and eschewed the practice of training, he was no less a sentinel and wouldn’t sleep through Ducarius leaving the bed, so it was hard to sneak out of their bedroom in the morning.
In the end, Ducarius distracted him with a hot shower.
Drexley moaned with pleasure as the water beat into his muscles.
It was nearly enough to have Ducarius climb in with him to soap his gorgeous body. And kiss him everywhere.
But Ducarius had a mission. One he had to tackle alone. So, he teleported to the living room. Which pissed off the men in it.
“What the fuck?” Arvandus groused as the mug in his hand tipped precariously toward the floor.
Ignoring the curses of the other Darays and the vows to make him pay for surprising them the next time they trained, Ducarius crossed his arms.
“Where are Alaric and Chand?” Ducarius demanded.
“In the office,” Victor called out helpfully. “If you’re headed that way, remind them it won’t be long until breakfast. Where’s your beautiful mate?”
“In the shower. Drexley will not be late. Do not worry.”
Cassius frowned as he held Teverild close. The former elf turned honorary sentinel had his cobalt blue gaze fixed on Ducarius as if he could use his anger alone to murder him. Ducarius did not have to ask why. There was a wet coffee stain on his formerly white tank top.
“Oh, that’s right. You’re both sentinels. You can use your mindlink. I don’t know why everyone didn’t get that ability. It’s not fair,” Cassius griped.
“I live with sentinels; I do not think I would want one able to take over my mind,” Teverild’s brother, Vellerynd, commented.
Since Ducarius recognized that a disagreement was unfolding, he rolled his eyes and stalked to the office with so many shelves crammed with books that it rivaled a library. Inside were the Arch Lich, the Lich Sentinel, and the two goblins Chander had given Alaric.
“Duc, how are you feeling?” Chander asked.
“Impatient. I need to talk to you without Drexley around, and he is far too intuitive. He is going to rush through his shower despite my wish that he relax and enjoy it.”
“I had hoped for the chance to ask you my questions,” Alaric remarked.
Chander patted Alaric’s chest. “You’ll get the chance, but not now. Let Duc talk.”
“There are things I think it would be helpful for everyone to know,” Ducarius explained.
“Adney’s realm was…interesting. There was a spell there to drain memory.
It was not as strong as the one at the compound, but in the few weeks I lived there, my oldest recollections were already gone.
Drexley called it home for five hundred years.
But he went from one place that drained him to another. He thinks he has a poor memory.”
Alaric’s jaw flexed, and his eyes narrowed. “Chand, your people are a menace.”
“I know. Asshole necros. Duc, his memory is going to come back.”
“How quickly?”
“Impossible to know for sure, but for some reason having a completed matebond speeds it up. It won’t be long.”
“He loves Adney. I fear it will not be easy for him to learn the truth,” Ducarius said. “Adney was not a fan of sentinels. To him, I was a barbaric weapon-toting assassin who was a poor influence on Drexley. He did not want us together.”
“But Drexley is a sentinel,” Alaric argued. “Why would that not be a good match?”
“Because Drexley does not see himself as a sentinel. Drexley is a scholar. One who thinks training is a waste of time. He does not have weapons, nor does he have any memory of what happened to them.”
“That’s some top-level manipulation to convince a fucking sentinel of all people not to carry weapons or train,” Chander remarked.
Alaric sighed. “Plus, until the past few decades, Adney could have ordered him to do things. I find it impossible to believe a sentinel could change so drastically without orders being involved.”
“Agreed,” Chander said. “I can’t even get sentinels to get through a single meal without acting like children. To have any of you hand over those blades you love or stop training? Yeah, it’s difficult to imagine.”
“Drexley will need us as the truth is revealed to him,” Alaric stated.
Ducarius nodded. “Yes, I want everyone to understand that if he says something against sentinels, it is an idea Adney planted in his fucking brain centuries ago. I do not care if Drexley spends eternity in a library and never picks up a blade again. Those decisions are his, and I love him no matter what. But I also do not want to have to kill another Daray for starting a fight with my mate.”
“Have no fear. It will be easy for every sentinel to understand that an asshole necromancer has manipulated another of us,” Alaric commented.
“Yes, it happened far too frequently,” Ducarius responded, his own scars fresh on his mind.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be here for you both,” Chander remarked. “Albrecht won’t like it, but we’ll ask everyone to be on their best behavior today. The last thing we want to do is overwhelm Drexley. Now, give me another fucking hug. It’s so great to finally have you home. We missed you.”
Ducarius readily embraced Chander. “I missed you too. I fear Drexley will be more comfortable around you, Chand, than sentinels. He loves reading, so I thought I would take him to the Spectra Wizardry library today. May we use your private room?”
“Of course,” Chander replied. “If you want, I’ll come with you.”
“I think that would please Drexley,” Ducarius answered. “It thrills me to know Drexley is surrounded by supportive people who will accept him exactly as he is.”
“Of course we will support you both no matter what,” Alaric replied as he put his arms around Ducarius for a quick hug. “Do not forget that I have questions.”
With a roll of his eyes, Ducarius headed for the door. “I know, but Drexley is my primary concern. By the way, do not be late for breakfast or you will piss off Victor. And Rogue is using his crayons on the wall.”
Chander cursed, and Ducarius swore Alaric chuckled as he swiftly rescued the wall from any more of Rogue’s scribbles. It truly was wonderful to be home again.