Chapter 18
Eighteen
Zamir
"You have to go back."
"What?" I pushed Muffin's head up so I could sit, and glanced over the back of the couch to Nolan, who was coming out of the kitchen with two bottles of water. "You want me to go back? After the way the hea—Zephyr treated you?"
Nolan smiled softly as he squeezed himself onto the couch on Muffin's other side, though it didn't reach his eyes. He handed me a water bottle, and I took a small sip.
"Zephyr needs every bit of help he can get. I sensed it today, the issue the Sanctuary is having. Your leaving will only make it worse."
I sucked my bottom lip into my mouth, chewing on it as I thought. As annoyed as I was at Zephyr, I didn't want any of my friends to get hurt.
"Will you tell me? How do you two know each other? What happened between you?"
It was strange that Nolan had known not one but two people close to me, but it also made sense. He'd lived for thousands of years, and traveled all over. The supe population wasn't that big in the first place.
"I met him when he was fifteen. He wanted to escape a bad situation, and he asked me for help. We were supposed to meet up later that evening, but he never showed."
My brows furrowed. "Wait. He didn't show up, and he's mad at you?"
Nolan sighed, a deep exhale that came from deep in his soul. "In our... conversation today, I discovered that he had shown up, but he believed that I hadn't."
"What?" I asked, even more puzzled.
Nolan hummed. "The person he was running from, they must've discovered what he was up to. They used some spell to keep us both from seeing each other. We could've been standing right in front of each other and never realized it."
"Fuck," I mumbled as it all clicked into place. "So all these years, Zephyr has believed that you broke your promise."
Nolan nodded, his eyes on Muffin's silky head. "I understand why he dislikes me."
"But he knows now, right? That you weren't at fault? That you waited for him?"
"He does. But it's not easy to let go of the centuries of resentment."
"Centuries?"
"Hmmm. I met him about two-and-a-half centuries ago."
Wow. I'd known Zephyr was old, but I hadn't realized he was that old. That explained the gray in his hair. I'd always thought it was because of how much worry we caused him.
"He won't always hate you," I said, and wished I was more confident.
"Hmm... Maybe."
I sighed, hating this chasm between two of the most important people in my life. Zephyr Morrigan had saved my life, like he'd once hoped Nolan would save his. I could understand his hurt, his pain.
If he was trying to escape someone bad, someone who'd discovered his plans, I couldn't imagine what they'd done to him after they stopped him.
My thoughts flickered to his prosthetic, and I swallowed. He'd never told us how he lost that arm...
"You okay?"
"Mmhmm," I murmured as I pushed all thoughts of Zephyr and his past out of my mind, at least for the day.
Nolan and I had gone from an impromptu decision to move in together to me bringing a packed bag to his place, all in a single morning. It was a lot.
I placed the bottle that I'd barely taken a sip from on the coffee table, then nudged Muffin until she sighed and climbed off the couch. Nolan watched me with a soft look as I climbed into his lap, and he wrapped his arms around my waist.
"I guess this means we'll have to postpone moving in together?"
"I'm sorry," he murmured as he moved one hand from my back to my cheek. He traced the bow of my upper lip with his thumb, and I sucked the tip into my mouth, biting gently.
"It's not your fault. And I guess it's not Zephyr's either. You were both blindsided. Hopefully, he'll feel differently in a few days."
Nolan hummed, his breath hitching as I sucked his thumb deeper into my mouth. I kept my eyes on his and watched them darken as I wrapped my tongue around his thumb, as I scraped my teeth against his smooth skin.
"Zamir..." He trailed off, and my lips curved around his thumb. I hummed, and his eyes flashed with desire.
He pulled his thumb out of my mouth, and I opened my mouth to protest. Before I could get a word out, his hand slid under my ass, and he picked me up as he stood.
I grabbed onto his shoulder, and he stalked to his bedroom. He closed the door before any of the fur babies could get in, then placed me on the edge of the bed.
"I love it when you do that," I said as I lay back on the mattress, and his lips curved in a smirk as he started unbuttoning his shirt. I licked my lips as his hands moved down his torso, revealing his chest and the tattoo that I had yet to ask him about.
"What does it mean?" I asked, and his brows furrowed. "Your tattoo?"
He glanced down at himself, as if he'd forgotten he had it, and then laughed. The tattoo was simple, line art of an abstract design that I couldn't make sense of.
"Nothing, actually. A friend was learning to tattoo, and I let him use me as a practice board because I healed too quickly for the tattoo to stick, and he needed to practice on human skin. But then I had the brilliant idea of adding my fire to the ink the way I did to alcohol, and well, it stuck."
I'd stopped listening after the part where he mentioned he'd let some guy touch him all over, draw on him. I knew he'd had a long life, and I didn't doubt he'd done a lot more intimate things with a lot of people. And yet this was what made my stomach twist. Why?
"What's wrong?" Nolan asked as he finished unbuttoning his shirt. The lapels fell to the side, revealing his toned chest that shimmered when the light hit it just right.
I shook my head. I didn't want to ruin the mood with my stupid jealousy over something that had happened who knew how many years ago.
"Zamir," Nolan said, voice insistent, and I sighed.
"It's nothing. I'm being stupid, okay?" I grumbled, and he stared at me for a moment before he climbed onto the bed. He straddled me, then covered my body with his, the heat of his chest sinking into me as he cupped my face between his palms.
"Tell me."
I glanced away as my cheeks heated up, and puffed out a breath. "I don't like that someone else got to put their mark on you. Like I said, I'm being stupid."
Nolan stared at me, and the longer he stared, the darker my cheeks got.
He sat up, grabbed the hem of my turtleneck—I really needed to update my wardrobe now that I wasn't trying to hide every inch of my torso—and whipped it off, threw it over his shoulder, and leaned down to kiss the spot right over my heart.
My skin was still covered with his marks, and he trailed his lips over one of the streaks, following it to my neck.
"Trust me," he murmured as he sat back up. "I understand. I wouldn't like it if I saw someone else's marks on your skin either."
Nolan
Zamir blinked, swallowed hard, then reached up to run his fingers over my tattoo. If he asked me to, I'd burn it off my skin with my own fire without a second's hesitation.
"I guess I'll have to touch and kiss it enough times that you only ever think of me when you see it," he murmured, and my breath got stuck in my chest. His face was still red, but his eyes were determined, and I felt a smile bloom on my face.
"I guess you will."
Zamir gazed up at me for a moment, then bucked his hips, flipping us over so he hovered over me. His curls hung forward, and I reached up to wrap a loop around my finger, running my thumb over the silky threads.
Zamir moved lower, his legs between mine, and leaned forward. He trailed his lips over my tattoo, and I sucked in a breath when I felt his hot, wet tongue lick at my skin. He dipped down to suck at my nipple, then pulled away when I started to arch up into his mouth.
He licked, sucked, and bit at the tattoo, and I knew already that I'd never look at it the same way. From now on, I'd remember this moment every time I saw it in the mirror.
Zamir stopped, and instead of up, he moved lower. His fingers trailed over the waistband of my pants, and he glanced up. I nodded, and he shot me a quick smile before he pulled my pants and underwear off, humming as he eyed my hard length.
He wrapped his hand around my length, and then he took me into his mouth.
I swore loudly as the wet heat of his mouth enveloped my cock. I gripped the sheets in tight fists as I focused on staying still, on not pushing deeper in.
Fuck, he felt so good.
I'd lived a long time, done a lot of things, but never had the simple act of being in someone's mouth brought me so close to a climax.
But that was because this wasn't someone. This was Zamir. My mate.
His lips tightened around the head of my cock, and his tongue pressed against the head of my cock as his hand pumped my length, his other hand trailing up and down my thigh.
I grunted as he took me in deeper, and slid my left hand into his locks, my right still curled into the sheets. I tried not to hold him too tight, tried not to push deeper inside him, but it was a lost cause.
Zamir didn't seem to mind. In fact, he pressed back into my hand, as if asking me to take control, to move him the way I wanted to.
I blinked my eyes open and met his, and he nodded as much as he could manage, his dark eyes warm and needy.
I swallowed hard, then tightened my grip in his hair and took over. I didn't push too deep, but I moved his head over my cock as I shifted my leg between his. I pressed up, and he groaned around my length as I pressed my thigh into his hard cock.
Zamir rubbed himself against me as I fucked his mouth, and the scent of our desires filled the air, our groans and pants drowning out every other sound in the world.
My climax came out of nowhere, crashing into me as I held Zamir in place, as I spilled down his throat and filled him with my cum. His fingers dug into my hips as he swallowed every drop, his hips moving over my leg as he chased his own orgasm.
The moment my vision cleared, I grabbed his hips, flipped him onto his back, pulled his pants and underwear off, and lowered my mouth over his length.
I took him deep, squeezing my throat around him as he shouted my name.
His fingers sank into my hair, but he didn't try to control me.
He held on as I moved over his length, as I teased him with my tongue.
I hummed at his salty taste, and he whimpered, his fingers tightening in my hair.
"Fuck. Nolan," he whined, dragging out the second 'n,' and I tried not to feel too smug about the way his voice broke.
It wasn't long before he shouted my name and came, and I swallowed every drop of his cum, sucking on his length until he was drained.
He whimpered, and I pulled off his length, then covered his body with mine as I hovered over him and waited as he slowly opened his eyes.
"Hey," I murmured, and his lips curved up, his brown eyes hazy and wide.
"Hi," he whispered, and I smiled, then ducked down to kiss him.
The kiss was soft and gentle, and when I felt wisps of my life force slip from my mouth to his, I smiled.
"Was that okay?" he asked as soon as we parted, and I knew he wasn't talking about the sex.
"Yes, Zamir. You never have to ask," I assured him, and he gazed at me, as if he couldn't believe me.
"Just like that?"
"Just like that," I repeated, leaning down to kiss him again.