Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
T here was a part of Leofric, a small, feeble part, that considered letting Cosmo mount and fuck him in the stable wasn’t the wisest course of action, given that his family was just inside and they all might be attacked by a dark sorcerer at any moment.
But that part of him died as Cosmo seized Leofric’s hips and thrust his cock deep. Cosmo didn’t have the biggest cock Leofric had ever taken, but he felt every inch of it as Cosmo fucked into him. The spit on Cosmo’s fingers—and then again on his shaft—was a far cry from the delicious, sultry slickness of oil, reminding Leofric of some of his earliest adolescent fumbling, desperate and painful and hurried.
Leofric had liked the burn of it, even then. He’d liked the sting. Now, he loved it. Craved it. Needed it. Wave after wave of pleasure-pain shot through Leofric as he canted his hips, bowing his spine to offer himself to Cosmo, to give everything he was, everything he had, allowing him to take what he wanted. He was so glad Cosmo had come that he would deny him nothing. If this were his punishment for the things he’d said, he would take it joyfully, and beg Cosmo for more.
His hardness had waned, slightly, as Cosmo forced him open and invaded, but as they fell into a rhythm together it returned in full force, bobbing rigidly between his thighs. Cosmo’s grunts and brutal thrusting pace couldn’t have been more different than the slow, exploratory erotic torture he’d exposed Leofric to on the mountain. That had been nothing like any lovemaking Leofric had ever known, and this was different again. He was being fucked with the fury of a god, and as tears stung the corners of his eyes, he used his body to thank Cosmo for this furious and terrible blessing. Like a hurricane, an earthquake, or a great flood. You must thank the gods for that as much as you thanked them for a full harvest, or a sunrise.
The scent of sweat and leather and horses and fucking overpowered Leofric, sending him deeper, deeper into the world Cosmo made for them both. With a firm hand between his shoulder blades, Cosmo pushed him down, closer to the ground. He could tell Cosmo was close, his breaths short and erratic, his thrusts off rhythm, the grip of his fingers frantic.
Leofric wanted so badly to turn around to look at Cosmo. To see the fury on his face, to see the fire burning in his eyes. To see his freckles, and the savage smirk he loved so well. But when he tried to turn, Cosmo tightened his hold on Leofric’s hair and gave it a yank. It was a warning, keeping Leofric’s head in place, his cheek pressed to the ground. Leofric was reminded of those old stories where the hero’s fortitude was tested, where he must perform a feat without looking over his shoulder at whatever might be lurking there.
He was not to look, just now. But he wanted to, more badly than he’d ever wanted to look at something in his life. Like he couldn’t believe Cosmo was really there unless he could see with his own two eyes. Leofric struggled a bit; he couldn’t help it, bucking and twisting and writhing.
A resounding slap filled the heated, moist air around them, and Leofric was so startled by the sound it took a moment for him to register the pain. Cosmo had wound up and smacked Leofric’s ass with an open palm, hard. Very hard. Leofric cried out even as he felt his cock throb with want.
The slap brought him back to himself a bit, desire flowing from the stinging imprint of Cosmo’s hand. The slap was an order, and Leofric followed orders. Obediently, he stopped struggling and surrendered himself entirely, not even minding the way the straw on the floor poked into his cheek where it pressed against the ground.
Besides, by now, he knew Cosmo. Knew what he liked. Knew what he needed, and sure as sunrise, soon Cosmo looped a thin, wiry arm around Leofric’s chest and pulled him up, and back, pressing his front to Leofric’s back to grind deep against his ass. From this angle Cosmo could hit deep and hard, and Leofric let himself fall back, weak in Cosmo’s arms. His climax galloped toward him, threatening to overtake him and run him down as Cosmo reached around Leofric’s front to take his aching cock in hand. Leofric knew better than to try to touch himself, but he needed to do something with his hands, so he reached one up, and back, cupping Cosmo’s skull and the silky softness of his fragrant hair. He did not have to look. He could feel, he could smell. With his mouth open and panting it was like he could taste Cosmo on the air around them. Leofric knew a fissure of alarm as he realized the two of them were heating up. Literally. Cosmo continued to jerk him, hard and fast, and Leofric could almost imagine the smoke from where the friction burned.
Cosmo had one hand braced upon Leofric’s shoulder, his palm growing hot as the sweat poured off both of them, their bodies growing slicker and wetter, their skin more fevered.
“Do it,” Leofric blurted.
Cosmo faltered, just for a moment. “What?”
“Burn me,” he breathed. “Do it. I want you to. Please. ”
“I—what? Why?”
“Because you want to,” said Leofric. “I can feel it.”
Cosmo buried his face in Leofric’s hair, the thrusting of his hips slowing to something far less brutal, but no less deep. “You will run from me, again.”
“No,” said Leofric.
“You will,” Cosmo insisted, his voice cracking as he said it.
Leofric covered Cosmo’s hand with his own, the one that rested on his shoulder, growing warmer and warmer with every passing second. He squeezed Cosmo’s fingers. “Please. Let me show you that I won’t run from you, ever again.”
Cosmo’s entire body shook, with fear, or want, or perhaps with the effort of holding back the power that so clearly wanted to burst out of him. He pressed a tender kiss to Leofric’s shoulder, soft and sweet, before he unleashed himself. Leofric braced his hands on the ground to push back against Cosmo, meeting him thrust for thrust as Cosmo pounded into him, fucking hard and fast, slinging his hips against Leofric like a rutting beast. One hand slid down to grasp his hip, and the other grabbed his shoulder. It was right, he thought suddenly. Cosmo’s hands heated further with every passing second, and it seemed to Leofric that the cock inside him warmed too, though mercifully not quite as much. He had no interest in being cooked from the inside out.
Faster.
Harsher.
Hotter.
Cosmo quaked like a rupturing volcano, and it was like Leofric could see sparks flying all around them as the points of connection between them ignited. He could imagine Cosmo’s palms like red hot brands where they gripped his skin, searing the flesh. Oh, how he wished he was granted permission to look.
At first, Leofric barely felt the pain, and he came with his cock untouched, spurting onto the rushes upon the stable floor, waves of ecstasy smothering anything else that threatened to take hold of him. He was not a soldier, nor a husband, then. Not a father, not a brother, nor even a man, any longer. He was Cosmo’s, and that was all he was.
His eyes rolled, pleasure and pain now warring as Cosmo’s fingers burned into his skin. His cock pulsed fitfully as his climax went on, and on, and on, and each pulse carried in pain, and out pleasure, like waves, sucking him out into a turbulent sea.
Eventually, the waves washed him to shore again, and he came back to himself, lying face down on the stable floor, covered in sweat and straw and cum and bruises. He half expected to find himself covered in soot from Cosmo’s fiery heat. Gingerly, he shifted to a kneeling position, searching for Cosmo, who no longer pressed against him. Cosmo had moved off, searching through their torn and discarded clothing for something to put on. Leofric could not keep the grin off his face as he watched Cosmo take Leofric’s tunic and pull it on over his tousled hair.
When his face emerged from the neck hole, Cosmo was smiling, but it faltered when he saw Leofric staring at him from the ground. Leofric stood, wiping his face on the back of his hand and crossing the stable in three quick strides to pull Cosmo into his arms. He ignored the mounting pain in his hip and shoulder, and the stickiness between his thighs. Cosmo fell against his chest, melting into the embrace, and Leofric kissed the crown of his head.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Cosmo nodded against his chest. “I think I’m still cross with you,” he said.
Leofric chuckled. “You think?”
He felt the smile, Cosmo’s teeth scrape against his pec. “Difficult to be certain.”
“ Mmm ,” Leofric agreed. “Well, keep me apprised.”
“Oh, I will,” said Cosmo.
“I never doubted.”
At once, Cosmo went rigid in his arms. He shook off Leofric’s touch and backed away. “You did doubt, though,” he said. “ You did. ”
Leofric sighed. He closed the distance between them again and made to kiss Cosmo’s frown.
Cosmo cupped his face in both hands. “Stop,” he said, firm, gentle. “Please.”
Leofric stopped, winded, and shamed. “I don’t know what to say,” said Leofric. “I never know what to say.”
“You don’t have to always say the right thing,” said Cosmo. “But please, I need to know what happened.”
“What do you mean?”
Cosmo took another step back. He wrapped his arms around himself. “I am not your enemy.”
“No,” Leofric agreed. His hands twitched at his sides, wanting to reach out, to pull Cosmo into his arms again. “I know.”
Every word was like pulling teeth, and with each second Cosmo’s anger mounted. “You blamed me, for your son being hurt,” he spat. “You left me on a mountain.”
Leofric hung his head. “I know.”
“You, whose honor is everything .”
“I know.”
“You know,” said Cosmo, frustrated. “You know. Well, I suppose that’s something.”
“Cosmo, please?—”
“You know what? Nevermind. It’s plain that no matter what you won’t?—”
“ Cosmo. ” Leofric’s voice came out like a croak. “ Please. ”
“Please what?”
“Just—give me a second, please.”
Cosmo let his hands fall to his hips. “I’m waiting.”
Leofric looked wretched, staring at Cosmo like all the words had fled his mind.
Cosmo waited, and waited, and waited, but Leofric did not break the silence. “Alright,” said Cosmo. “It’s very late, so.”
He turned on his heel and walked back toward the house. He was about halfway there when Leofric could part with the words at last. “It was my fault that Hamalcar died.”