CHAPTER 4
APRIL
Well.
I suck in a deep lungful of the cold night air, trying to clear my mind. My khui is thrumming mercilessly in my chest, making my entire body sensitive and overstimulated.
I was trying to have a reasonable conversation with Dawn when Chalath showed up at the door and started barking out questions at us.
He pissed me off and I've been steaming over his rudeness, because he acted like I'd been the one who somehow made resonance happen.
Like I was planning on seducing Valmir away from his bromance buddies.
It didn't matter that I told him this wasn't my plan.
He didn't give a shit. It pissed me off so much that I was raging to Dawn about him, changing my rants from how shit Valmir was to how shit Chalath is.
Then the cat guy showed up at my door again, and my anger boiled over.
Except this time, it was Valmir. Seeing him there made some of my frustration turn to arousal, which pissed me off.
Am I going to be visited by every gladiator on the beach?
Who next? The Ghost of Christmas Past? Doctor Who?
It doesn't help that I'm amped up and aroused, and when Valmir palms his enormous, hard dick in front of me, it turns me on and makes my mouth water.
I'm not even disgusted that he asked to shoot his load on my door.
Maybe Yesterday's April would be revolted, but Current April is fascinated and ever so slightly appalled.
Just ever so slightly. But I need to play it cool.
"You want to jerk off on my door like some nutjob?
Go punch your buddy Chalath in the face. He's a dick."
I expect him to say no. He's friends with the other gladiator. They have some weird hierarchy about when to fight and when not to, and me demanding that he punch his best friend should close everything down.
Instead, he lights up as if it's his birthday and races away as fast as his bent-over body will go.
I...might have just fucked up.
Grimacing, I shove my boots onto my feet and throw my coat on, racing out after him.
The gladiators have been warned not to start fights, and I just demanded Valmir punch Chalath for no reason.
I'm going to get in so much trouble for egging this shit on.
It should not be nearly as hot as it is, either.
Like, damn. I snapped my fingers and Valmir raced off to attack his buddy? That's a heady feeling.
Almost as intoxicating as whatever my khui is doing to my body. I have to remind myself that I loathe the man. That he's been nothing but awful to me and to everyone since we arrived. That I don't want him or anyone else, and that whatever I'm feeling right now is fake as hell.
But I still run to see what he's going to do.
There's a huge crowd by the main fire pit, with several smaller fire pits strung out in a line so everyone gets a warm seat and gets to feel like part of the group.
Everyone is gathered around and eating. Someone is dancing to a drumbeat, and Flor and I'rec are seated in the place of honor at the front of the crowd, seated upon two stools taller than all the others.
Both of them are wearing a few beaded garlands over their furs while a kid leans over Flor and paints her face with bright colors.
Everyone looks like they're having a blast, passing around food and drink, and it's so packed that I don't immediately see Valmir.
Someone topples. There's a scream and the loud thud of a fist hitting flesh.
Found him.
I race forward, pushing through the crowd just in time to see Rukh and Vordis pulling Valmir off of Chalath. He swings at the other cat-alien again, and the other red a'ani — Thrand — dogpiles onto him.
Fuck, why is this so hot? I'm a sick, twisted puppy to get off on the sight of another man being jumped. It's just...he did it for me. Because I asked. Because he wants to please me.
Chalath sits up, rubbing his arm over his bleeding face.
"What the fuck was that?" Liz shouts, storming forward. "What have we told you taters? And at the Ding-Ding Feast of all fucking things? Can't you play nice?"
"He started it," Chalath says with a glare at Valmir.
"He was mean to my female," Valmir snarls back.
"Wait, wait, waaaait," I screech from my spot in the crowd. "I'm not your female!"
"Not yet," Valmir says in that sly voice I hate so much.
Liz turns on me, her eyes blazing. "You started this, April? You want to share with the class what's going through that rock you call a brain?"
That I'm getting turned on because Valmir hit a meanie and now he gets to jerk off on my door? "No," I say sullenly. "I don't."
"No feast for you," she declares, stabbing a finger at me. "Go to your hut and think about what you did. All three of you."
"Why me?" Chalath snarls. "What did I do?"
Liz doesn't back down. "I've met you, buddy. I'm sure you did something."
I huff, hands on hips. "I didn't want to feast anyhow.
" Feasting is honestly the last thing on my mind right now.
I'm extremely aware of the differences between Valmir and Chalath now that they're standing closer together.
Valmir has lighter fur, with a grayish tabby marking.
Chalath has a blue nose and blue skin underneath his striped fur, and his features are more blunted.
Then there's the tail. Valmir's is currently swishing right now, the very epitome of an agitated housecat. It's almost funny.
Almost, except I'm painfully aroused at the moment and my khui won't shut the hell up.
Liz makes a shooing motion at us, and I guess we're all supposed to slink away and ruminate on our sins. I bite back my glare and return to my hut, because I'm not in a social mood anyhow. Maybe I can rub one out and ease some of this tension before my roomie comes back from the feast.
But I don't take three steps into the darkness before someone jogs up to my side.
Valmir.
"Go away," I say.
"No." He walks faster, turning around so he can jog backward and face me as I march towards the hut. "I did as you asked. You set the rules. Now I want my reward."
I power-walk even faster, trying to push ahead of him. "What reward?"
"You know." He moves somehow faster, keeping ahead of me and staring me down.
I do know. Heat flares through my body. I race past him, rushing to my hut and ducking inside before he can get there. I shoot him a triumphant look from the doorway, pleased I won this ridiculous contest between us.
He follows me, stepping onto the platform, but makes no effort to come inside. Instead, he just leans against the thick rock wall of the hut and eyes me. "Do you renege on our deal?"
"Renege" is such a final word. It makes me pause, and pausing is my downfall, because now I'm thinking about what Valmir is asking. "You really want to jerk off on my door?"
Valmir's expression grows cloudy with frustration. "I don't want to, but I need to. I don't understand it myself. It's just something I feel I must do." He rakes a hand through his mane, making it spike up like a lion's. "Even now, not having my scent on it is driving me mad. It's taunting me."
"And jerking off will make it better? Is this a cat thing?"
His eyes narrow at me. "Does it matter?"
I guess it doesn't. I think back to the confrontation by the fire, and it warms something deep inside me despite myself. "Did you really punch Chalath for me? I thought you guys were friends."
"You set the rules, and I'll obey them."
Why is that so incredibly erotic? I pull the curtain even further back from the hut doorway, leaning against the frame. I point at the opposite side. "You can mark it there."
With a feral growl, he tears at his layers of clothing, pulling his tunic free from the thick belt that bands his waist. He flings it over his head, revealing broad shoulders and a muscular frame, and more of the grayish striped markings.
They dance over his sides, highlighting firm abdominals, and when he rips his belt off, they seem to flex in response.
I'm entranced by those patterns on his skin.
At least until he drops his pants and reveals everything else.
Then I have something new to be fascinated over.
Even though it's dark and shadowy out, I can make out the thick length of him.
He grips himself, stroking his hand down his shaft, the head peeking out from his fist. Is he striped there, too?
It's so shadowy, I can't tell. "Hang on," I blurt out.
"I need to get a candle so I can see better. "
"Hurry," he rasps, his hand working up and down his shaft. He doesn't even pause.
I race back into my hut and scramble for a candle.
There's one in a hollowed-out hoof, the interior filled with tallow, and my hands shake as I practically shove it into the coals in the firepit to get it lit.
Why am I so into this? Who can say, but I'm totally invested in what happens next, that's for damn sure.
With candle in hand, I stampede back to the doorway and return to watching.
Valmir does not disappoint. His big hand works up and down his shaft, manipulating his foreskin and dragging it back and forth. The head of his cock is flushed a deep pink and he moves his hand furiously, his khui thrumming almost as frantically as mine.
This should not be sexy, I tell myself. This should not be sexy. This should not be sexy.
But I'm completely aroused and breathless at the view of him pumping into his hand.
I catch sight of some sort of pattern that disappears under his hand.
I move the candle closer, determined to see.
They look like flushed pink circles of some kind, and they are spaced out in even patterns all along the length of his shaft. "What are those from?"
"Don't...know..." he grits out, still jerking.
"Are they tattoos?" My fingers itch to touch, to stroke, but I clench my free hand into a fist. This should not be sexy. This should not be sexy.
"Don't know," he repeats, impatient. One hand grips the door frame, and he aims the head of his cock toward it.