Chapter Four
“He’ll be back soon.” Blaine studied Luther’s reaction to his words very closely.
Luther nodded in agreement, but even after a day full of carefully worded statements, Blaine found himself no closer to knowing how Luther really felt about Marrick.
There was only one thing Blaine was sure about.
Luther felt differently about Marrick than he had about any other human that they’d had sex with.
Marrick was more than just a human who’d agreed to play out the tradition of a sacrifice with them. There hadn’t been a single point during the day when Blaine hadn’t been well aware of that.
Luther cared about Marrick the way he hadn’t cared about any other human who had come to them. Blaine tapped his fingers against the arm of the sofa. He wasn’t sure if that fact was even harder to accept than the realisation he felt pretty much the same way about their new pet.
Their pet. Arslan had said they would feel differently about any human they decided they wanted to keep around for more than a few hours, about a human they wished to make their pet—or maybe even make their mate.
Blaine just hadn’t realised he’d feel the same way about Marrick as he felt about Luther.
That was…unexpected. Now that they had finished stalking him and there was time to sit and contemplate the reality before them, Blaine found that there was a great deal to think about.
It took all his strength of will not to get up and stand next to Luther, to look out of the window with him and hunt for any sign of Marrick in the driveway.
Dropping his head back onto the sofa cushions, Blaine stared up at the ceiling and tried not to let Luther see how eager he was for a glimpse of their new pet, even after less than a day apart.
“How much work did you get done today?” Luther asked.
Blaine smiled slightly as he lifted his head. “No less than you.”
Luther crossed the room. Casually straddling Blaine, he settled his knees on the sofa cushions each side of Blaine’s waist and leaned forward to purr in his ear. “Our pet wasn’t the only man I thought about today.”
Blaine slid his hands up Luther’s legs to palm his arse through his jeans. Luther smiled and rocked his hips, rubbing his crotch against Blaine’s rapidly stiffening cock through the layers of denim that separated them.
“What were you thinking about?” Blaine asked, his voice deepening as he leaned up to press a kiss against Luther’s neck.
“Screwing you senseless,” Luther whispered, his lips twisting into an easy smile. “Burying my cock in your arse and making you beg to be allowed to come.”
“Keep dreaming…” Threading his fingers through Luther’s hair, Blaine pulled him down for a kiss.
Luther half purred, half chuckled against his mouth, and Blaine let out an irritable little snarl as he felt his hackles rise. Vibrations danced across both their lips, seeping into Blaine’s senses, making him stiffen further.
“Marrick will be back soon—if you want to master someone, you can screw him,” Blaine offered.
Luther pulled back a fraction. Blaine saw the challenge in his eyes, but before he had time to react, Luther’s hands were wrapped around his wrists and his arms were trapped back against the sofa cushions either side of his head.
Luther was no weaker than him, and his position let him use his weight as well as his strength to good advantage. Blaine tested the hold and found it immovable.
“Maybe Marrick won’t be the only pet I’ll have?” Luther teased.
Blaine bucked hard, putting every ounce of frustration that had built up inside him during the day into the movement.
The strength of the action surprised even him.
Luther’s eyes opened very wide as he toppled backwards.
He landed hard on the hearthrug and barely had time to blink before Blaine pounced and pinned him to the floor.
Luther snarled and writhed underneath him, checking his hold for any hint of weakness. Blaine leaned low over Luther and let his whispered words caress his ear. “You said something about someone having two pets?”
Luther grumbled irritably under his breath, but after a few seconds, the words trailed away as if he was giving up.
Blaine grinned as he lowered his head to steal a kiss.
Luther parted his lips in welcome, but he nipped at the tip of Blaine’s tongue when he tried to take true possession of his mouth.
Just because he was willing to admit he’d lost this round, that obviously didn’t mean he was about to play nicely in defeat.
Blaine felt something inside him ease. He wouldn’t want Luther to be any other way with him, but there was certainly room for someone in their lives who was a different kind of man—someone who genuinely preferred to be the one who didn’t get to be in charge.
Perhaps it was because he knew Marrick would be home soon, but Luther didn’t try to pout for too long. His hips started to rock encouragingly beneath Blaine, rubbing them together as he finally allowed Blaine to deepen the kiss the way he wanted to.
Quickly losing himself in the feel of their bodies moving against each other, Blaine hurriedly tried to adjust his hold on Luther so he could get more friction against both their cocks.
One moment, he achieved the perfect arrangement of limbs; the next, he was on his back with a very smug looking Luther glaring down at him.
Blaine let out a yell of laugher as he saw the simple joy in Luther’s eyes.
So stupid to be jealous of what Luther might feel for Marrick when Luther was still the same lion he’d been in love with for years.
He saw the same emotion reflected back in Luther’s eyes.
No human could change that. His laughter turned into a roar as he rolled them both again, glorying in the strength he felt in Luther’s body.
Half trying to pin Luther down, half trying to get rid of the yards and yards of fabric that seemed determined to keep them apart, he scrabbled at Luther’s body and his clothes in turn.
Claws came out to play. He felt Luther’s nails scratch at his skin in return, as they rolled and tumbled on the rug in front of the fireplace. Flinging out a hand, Blaine managed to halt their progress just in time to stop them from slamming into a bookcase in the corner of the room.
Arslan had pointedly emptied the meeting room of anything particularly breakable not long after they’d joined his pride and started attending the meetings there, but destroying the actual furniture wouldn’t win them any prizes with their leader.
Best not to annoy him, especially when they and Marrick would all need his blessing at some point.
Blaine pushed them back toward the centre of the room but stopped short when he spotted a shadow laying across the rug. He looked up.
Marrick!
Blaine scrambled up onto his feet. Luther was upright a moment later, the last shreds of his clothes falling away as he rose.
“I didn’t hear a car.”
“I rode my bike over. I’ll need it for work tomorrow anyway. Quicker if I just ride straight there.” Marrick pulled two bags off his shoulders and dropped them on the floor by the door. “Don’t stop on my account.”
Blaine tilted his head on the side as he tried to make sense of the statement and failed. Luther blinked at him, still panting a little from their tumbling and apparently no more able to follow their human’s line of thought than Blaine was.
Marrick stepped forward. “It looked like you two were having a hell of a lot of fun before I got here.”
“You’re late,” Blaine told him. It was important to mention that.
If they were to be Marrick’s masters, they would have to address behaviour like that—just as Arslan would.
They couldn’t just think about screwing him.
Blaine ran his eyes up and down Marrick’s body, then reminded himself of the last bit again, though still only with limited success.
Marrick shrugged. “An extra delivery came in just as I was about to leave. Overtime’s overtime.”
While most of Blaine’s blood supply had already been diverted to his cock, he was more than ready to accept that as a reasonable explanation.
Sucking a deep breath of air into his lungs, he let it out slowly as he fought to switch mental gears between what he could do with Luther and what they might both be permitted to do with Marrick now that their human was finally home.
Their pet hadn’t been lying about enjoying watching them play together. He was as hard as either of them. Blaine slid one hand behind Marrick’s head to gently cradle his scalp as he brought their lips together.
Pets needed a gentle hand; Arslan had drummed that into them both. Even if something inside Marrick called to Blaine just as strongly as Luther did, Marrick wasn’t Luther. He wasn’t a lion.
As Blaine deepened the kiss, Marrick rose up on his tiptoes, leaning against him. Blaine quickly settled his free hand on Marrick’s arse, pulling him closer, letting their bodies rub together through Marrick’s clothes.
Marrick slid his hands up into Blaine’s hair. His grip tightened, as if he was clinging to him for support, and Blaine purred his approval into their kiss.
That kiss led into another, and Marrick released his grip on Blaine’s hair in favour of wrapping his hand around Blaine’s wrist. Instinct took over.
For a second, the only idea in Blaine’s head was that Marrick was trying to challenge him for dominance, just as Luther would have.
There was no thought of Marrick’s humanity, or his fragility.
Blaine pushed him back toward the rug, only to spring forward and pull him back close at the last minute, before he could actually tumble to the floor.
Marrick’s hands landed on Blaine’s shoulders as he steadied himself.
“What the hell—?” Marrick looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion.
“You have to be careful,” Luther said.