Chapter 6 Cassius
~Cassius~
“You see this, Cassius? It is not just me.”
I looked up from my plate of ribs and followed Ketheron’s gesture to Lazriel, who sat opposite me, his fingers of his left hand now covered in marshmallow goo.
I shook my head in mock displeasure.
Lazriel grinned. “This was done on purpose.” He gave me a rather heavy-handed seductive look, the kind that was even noticeable to one as deficient as I was in these sorts of matters, as he said, “I enjoy licking sticky things off my fingers.”
Goodness.
“Cassius doesn’t care for mess,” Ketheron spoke, thankfully not registering the dirty subtext with his inability to recognize any sort of sexual context.
He then rose from his seat and began washing his hands in the kitchen sink.
With Ketheron’s back to us, Lazriel’s lips lifted and the mischievous glint in his eye had me tensing.
And then he proceeded to lick his fingers, taking his time, and literally making a meal out of it.
Slow, sensual licks, guttural groans, curling his tongue… and the intense eye contact.
Hades. It had my body responding beyond favorably.
I drew in a sharp breath and shifted my weight.
“He’s hurting. Physicality and connection make him feel better and help to center him.”
Those had been Velra’s words to me regarding Lazriel.
This performance from him was clearly a textbook case of precisely that.
I called my power, just a spark, and flicked it at him. It was enough to snap him out of it. Especially as he watched the second tonic that Warlow had given me materialize on my palm.
As I leaned across the table to hand it to him, I spoke low at his ear, relishing his sharp intake of breath as he felt mine fanning across the side of his throat, “I will see to you. Once Ketheron is settled and asleep. Until then, try to relax.” I eased back and put the vial down right in front of him.
“And consume that immediately. You have just eaten, it is the perfect time, according to Warlow’s dosage instructions. ”
He took a moment to absorb what I had said, and then he popped the cork free and swallowed the liquid down.
He set the empty vial back on the table, staring at the remnants of the fifteen ribs he’d consumed. The water ceased running and Ketheron returned to his chair at the table.
“Good, hmm?” he spoke to Lazriel, as he eased back into his chair.
“Huh?” Lazriel asked, all starry-eyed.
“The marshmallows.” He beamed at Lazriel as he went on, “They are my favorite dessert food. One day, I ate two entire bags. Cassius said that was too much and not dinner worthy, so now we have them for special treats and only after dinner.”
The flirtatious air from Lazriel dissipated at Ketheron’s sweet words, and he chuckled.
“I love it. And I do like marshmallows, more than I thought I would. Actually, Sylas makes this cinnamon toast and I didn’t consider myself to be a fan of sweet things, but that started changing my mind.”
“Cinnamon toast?” Ketheron eyed me. “Can we have that, Cassius? I want to try it.”
I looked over at Lazriel whose smile had faded a little at that recollection of Sylas.
“Well, how about when Sylas wakes we have him over for breakfast to prepare his special brand of that toast for us all?” I told Lazriel, “Velra likes cinnamon too. When she was talking about heading to Vantiqe with Kelsana, she mentioned desiring one of their apparently revered Cinnamon Cloud Muffins.”
“Cloud Muffins?” Ketheron exclaimed. “What is this place?”
“It’s a fusion bar,” Lazriel told him.
“Oh.” Ketheron’s face fell. “I am not permitted to go to bars.”
Lazriel cocked an eyebrow. “Because of the alcohol? If so, there is none at this place.”
“I cannot consume alcohol, but it’s not only that.”
Lazriel frowned at me. “You won’t let him go to a bar with non-alcoholic drinks? What’s up with that?”
“It’s the people,” Ketheron told him. “It’s not his fault. If I get excited I can… damage can occur. To structures and… umm… to people.”
“Accidental damage,” I reassured him. “We will go.”
Ketheron’s eyes lit up. “We will?”
“Yes. We’ll include Vantiqe in our supernatural world exploration mission.”
“Exploration mission?” Lazriel queried.
Ketheron explained, “We’ve been visiting landmarks all over. I mean, when people aren’t crowding them. At night. Off seasons. But it’s been fun—and really informative. I love gathering data and advancing my knowledge base, especially about this pretty world.”
“That’s really cool. Where have you been so far?”
“The Heelor Mountains. Wistering Waterfalls. We’d planned to go to Krestaz next. At first I thought Sanctum Sands Beach, but I think the volcano will be best first—and the most magnificent.”
“I’ve heard that it’s striking. I’ve never been. Sanctum Sands Beach is a lot of fun, more of a relaxing and chill place than magnificence. Just an enjoyable place to spend the day.”
“You will come with us then,” Ketheron announced. He turned to me. “Yes?”
“If he wishes.”
“Sounds like fun,” Lazriel said.
“For now, though, you need to get to bed,” I told Ketheron. “It’s rather late.”
Although his body didn’t require nightly rest, his mind absolutely did.
I’d already noticed signs of him verging on that overtired, overtaxed, hyperactive state as it was.
He nodded, then popped the last marshmallow left on his plate into his mouth, managing not to get any goo on his fingers this time, and then he rose to his feet.
“Goodnight,” he said to me.
I smiled and gave him a nod.
He passed by Lazriel and patted his shoulder. “Sleep well, friend.”
“You too.”
As he headed off to his room, I pushed back my chair and stood up. “I’ll do the dishes. Get ready for bed. Your things from your dorm room are in my bedroom. Make yourself comfortable.”
“My things? When did you—oh. When you claimed you needed to step out for some cooking supplies, saying conjuring them was a shortcut you didn’t care for when it came to preparing food?”
“Yes. Precisely.”
“Devious.”
“Yes, I suppose that could be applied in this case.”
“That’s kind of a turn-on.”
“I’m sure everything at current is a turn-on for you, wild one.”
“And calling me that is escalating it a shit-ton, Cas.”
Cas. I hadn’t thought I’d care for that abbreviation of my name. But I rather liked it from him.
“Room,” I told him, as I gathered the dishes, intending to head to the sink.
He grinned at me salaciously.
And then in a burst of speed he was gone.
I heard my bedroom door open and close rapidly, and I smiled to myself.
I used my magic to see to the dishes, needing the rest of the time to calm myself.
I didn’t want to go in hot when I entered my room. Not when he was already bringing that overwhelmingly.
And not only that. I was also trying to contend with what had happened to Velra and Sylas without displaying that grief and rage outwardly and poisoning those around me who required stability and solace.
But the truth was, the image of Velra’s fallen body was burned into my mind. As was the memory of the agony that had torn through me when the Soul Brand had been compromised when she’d died.
Although I was trying to focus on the fact that they were both alive and healing, the threat that had caused such damage and tragedy was still out there.
They were still in danger. As was Lazriel.
As were all hybrids across the supernatural world.
But Velra and Lazriel in particular had been marked for death.
Sylas and I had even seen that image of Lazriel—actually, alongside Warlow’s—displayed with the intent to murder by that Puritas cell that I had eradicated.
Shortly after we’d left the area beside the now ruined Vantiqe and teleported to the Guardian Compound, I had informed Cornelius of the threat to Warlow.
He deserved to know, especially with what had happened making it clear other cells were now active.
Of course, I hadn’t been able to disclose how I knew the information without implicating myself and Sylas in the murder of many that night.
Fortunately, Cornelius was familiar with working off the radar and hadn’t pushed in that respect.
Several moments passed and I managed to stabilize my thoughts and emotions alike.
Then I made my way to my bedroom.
I opened the door carefully, not wanting to startle an already on-edge wolf-vampire.
It was clear in the very next split-second that he’d had other ideas.
In a blur, the door shut behind me, then Lazriel was slamming me up against the wall, pinning me there with two hands to my chest.
As he stood there bare.
Naked. He was completely naked, just his pendant hanging from his neck.
“Ready to let it all out, Cas?” he rumbled at my ear.
“What?” I rasped.
“You think I don’t see it? You holding all the pain and terror for Velra and Sylas inside, trying to shove it down and push forward?” He stroked my pecs through my shirt. “I’ve got you too, all right?”
“Yes. You certainly do.”
My eyes flashed with my white power.
I saw him register it and let it happen, not making a split-second move that, as a wolf-vampire hybrid with Ancient vampire blood running through his veins, he most definitely had the capacity to achieve.
In fact, an aroused groan escaped him the moment my hand slammed into his chest and my power propelled him across the room and onto my bed.
His back bounced on the mattress and his eyes glowed with stunning vibrancy.
As my gaze swept down his naked body, I noted the cords in his neck straining, even his jaw clenching, indicating that he was struggling to hold back the vampire and prevent his fangs from dropping. His wolf claws had already done so and they dug into the sheets.
He was struggling to keep still, to contain that primal hunger burning just beneath the surface that I could see reflected in his blazing eyes.
With what had happened earlier, he was beyond lust and desire. This wasn’t about merely being satiated sexually. It was soul deep for him, the pain plaguing him. And he most certainly wasn’t alone in that.