Chapter 2 #2
I take a deep breath and tell myself it’s not lying if I walk out there and tell him that I signed up for a delivery service. I mean, I’m technically delivering it to him, so it’s more of a grey area than a total untruth.
And, it’s for the greater good.
I close my eyes and exhale before walking out to the living room. Cielo hasn’t moved, his entire body frozen in place.
I can’t help but chuckle softly as I approach, his eyes the only thing moving. They catch on the vial, and his mouth parts slightly.
“I didn’t mean for you to literally not move. I’m not the boss of you,” I say, and Cielo blinks and turns toward me with a wince. I reach out and touch him softly, feeling his skin ripple beneath my fingers.
“Careful,” I say, and his rainbow-colored eyes meet mine. I see flecks of purple and green floating through his wide orbs, and my fingers tighten on him. I hope it’s just enough to reassure him that I’m here. That I’m going to take care of him.
He makes a low hum in his throat, and then his gaze shifts to the vial in my hand. His ears flutter, and his tongue snakes out and licks his lips.
“Yeah, so here.” He stares at my outstretched hand, and I have to reach out and take his, placing the vial in it.
His gaze meets mine, a curious stare, and I shrug.
“I signed up for a delivery service while you were out. It gives me cum. Daily.” He trills in the back of his throat again, and I shake my head.
“It’s fine. It’s not expensive. It’s basically free. ”
I wince, and he cocks his head slightly, a question in his gaze, but then he looks down at the vial and groans.
Within seconds, the cum is gone, a purr escaping him as he laps at the inside of the bottle, looking up at me sheepishly as his skin shimmers. And then he flops back, his eyes closing. It’s a look of complete satisfaction, and for a moment, I swear I see his wounds knitting together.
“Good, yeah?” I ask, and he nods, one eye peeking open. “Feeling better?”
He nods again, and I grin widely and puff up a little. He likes my cum. Not that he knows it’s my cum, but still. He likes it.
It’s an odd sensation, someone enjoying that part of me.
The Vyastil in the clinic enjoyed it too, but I can tell this is different.
Cielo savors my taste. I can see it in the way his eyes close as he drinks it down, the way his ears flutter as he swallows.
It’s as if he’s never had this before in his life, which I know can’t be true, considering how addicted they all are.
I think about asking him, but I have a feeling he’s been interrogated and harassed enough for a lifetime, and this is something I can let go of.
My phone pings, and I glance down at it, seeing Everest’s name appear on the screen. I tap on it and see a quick message.
Everest: Can I come over with Rathyn? And also, do you have milk?
I glance over at Cielo, debating if I should even bother asking if he’s okay with visitors, then shrug it off.
Me: Yes to both, though Cielo’s still recovering, so you probably shouldn’t stay long.
I know Everest has been beside himself since Cielo was banished to Earth. But he’s worried about his friend, and the least I can do is let him see that Cielo’s okay.
Besides, I have a feeling Cielo will appreciate seeing Everest again.
“Everest and Rathyn are headed over,” I tell him as I set my phone back down. “I hope that’s okay.”
He stares at me, and his hand moves up, signing yes.
“Yeah, I figured you’d want to see them. They’ll be here in like…shit. Maybe twenty minutes?”
Cielo glances over at his pink jacket, which is draped over the back of a chair, and my chest constricts. God, he’s so fucking cute. I never thought I’d say that about a monster, but something about him is different.
His hand moves up to his hair, and he fiddles with the braids. They’ve come undone, and his long fringe is hanging messily around his face.
“Oh, let me fix this for you.” I reach out and brush a few strands away from his eyes, and he leans into the touch.
My chest aches for him. “I can help you clean up before they arrive.” He nods, and I give him a gentle smile.
“Okay, sit up as best you can, and I’ll get you all nice and pretty again. ”
When I finish, Cielo is looking much more put-together. I thank my cum for that and my attention to detail when cleaning him up. The blood that was caked to his skin has been scrubbed clean, and his hair has been neatly styled in two Dutch braids.
He looks happier, healthier.
My cum is magic. Who knew?
I glance over at Cielo, and his fang peeks out as he smiles at me. His arms shift in his pink jacket, pulling it tightly across his shoulders.
Fuck, that thing is way too cute on him.
And god, the way his ears fluttered when he put it on? It did something to my insides. I felt like I was melting, which is not something I do.
Not ever. Not for another man and not for a monster.
But something about Cielo is…there aren’t really words for it. From the moment I saw him, I felt a strange sort of pull toward him that’s been impossible to ignore.
He makes me want to wrap him up and cuddle him, to hold him tightly and tell him everything will be okay. But it’s more than that. It’s almost like an instinct. The longer I went without seeing him and Everest, the more I obsessed about where he was and what he was doing.
And now he’s living with me, but the feeling hasn’t subsided at all. In fact, it’s only gotten worse.
I glance down and realize my phone has been blowing up the entire time I was getting Cielo cleaned up.
Fan-fucking-tastic. Luca’s told Gia and Amara I have a Vyastil at my apartment, and now they’re demanding to meet him.
My entire family is so goddamn nosy, and this is bound to be a disaster, but they’ve invited themselves over for dinner now, and I have a hard time telling them no.
I can throw together a pasta that will placate them, but I’m a little worried about the chaos. If Cielo needs time alone, he can lie in my bed while we eat, and Gia and Amara can fuss over him another time. But keeping them away from him will be like a full-time job.
“Everest and Rathyn should be here any minute,” I say. “And I hope you don’t mind, but my cousin and her wife want to meet you.”
He gives me a tired look but nods. I have a feeling he’s lying and trying to make me happy. I want to call him on it, but I also know he probably needs this little bit of dignity.
Before I can say anything else, I hear a knock on the door. “That’s going to be Everest.”
Cielo perks up immediately, which makes me feel better as I walk over and let them in. Everest looks terrified, and Rathyn is very much his stoic self, holding something large and bulky in his hands.
“Hi. So good to see you. Come in, come in,” I say and step aside, letting the two of them move into the small living room. Everest doesn’t even hesitate. He rushes over to Cielo the second he lays eyes on him, kneeling beside him and touching him gently.
The connection they have is special. I know they’re just friends, but still…it makes my chest pinch in an uncomfortable way.
Rathyn looms over me, and I stare up at him. His tail is wrapped around his thigh, his claws poking out of his fingers. “I have a gift.”
He holds it out to me, and I take it in my arms, grunting as I’m bogged down by the weight of it.
“What is this?”
“A machine. Espresso.”
“Are you serious?”
Rathyn shrugs. “Everest told me it is customary to give gifts when being invited into someone’s home.”
I feel oddly touched as I set it on the counter and peer inside.
It looks fucking expensive. I glance over to tell Cielo what Rathyn brought, but he’s busy with Everest, and it seems rude to interrupt them.
Especially since he looks practically relaxed for the first time since he showed up through the portal.
“This is really nice, Rathyn. Thank you,” I say, and he nods.
“I did not want to buy this, but Everest insisted.”
I raise an eyebrow, the bluntness rolling off of me after years of living with Luca. “Yeah?”
“Yes. Cielo enjoys lattes.”
“He does.”
“I do not enjoy these, but my Everest insisted.”
“Well, I think he’s going to appreciate it.” I attempt to lift it out of the box, and Rathyn makes an off-key hum as he reaches out to help me.
“Humans are very weak.”
“We are,” I say, “when compared to you.”
He sets the machine on the counter, and I work on moving the odds and ends I have littering the space so I can plug it in. When it turns on, Cielo’s high-pitched song meets my ears.
“He is happy,” Rathyn explains as though I can’t tell.
“Yeah, he is,” I say, peering over at Cielo, who looks at me and grins. Everest’s gaze catches mine and widens when he sees what I’m doing.
“Oh, I brought beans. Rathyn, give them the espresso beans,” Everest says, waving his hand slightly.
Rathyn nods and reaches into his cloak, pulling out a surprisingly large bag of whole beans. The scent of it fills my small kitchen, and Cielo makes another happy trill. It’s a wonder how such a small thing brings him so much joy.
Humans should be more like him, I think as I set the espresso beans on the counter and then look at the machine. For an Italian-American, I am tragic when it comes to espresso machines, and I have no idea how it works.
When I need my caffeine fix, I either sneak into Gia and Amara’s place, steal from Luca, or stop by the café before opening the shop. I hate that I’m hopeless, but luckily, Gia’s coming over soon and she can help.
When I glance over again, Cielo’s giving me a sad look, his mouth turned down. It takes me a second to realize he’s pouting, and oh my god, it makes me want to read the damn manual just so I can make him happy.
“I promise I’ll have Gia set it up,” I reassure him. “We can have a latte later, though, don’t get offended if she gets snarky about it. Our family comes from Italy, and she has big feelings about drinking espresso after breakfast.”
Cielo blinks at me, and I’m fairly sure he doesn’t understand most of what I’m saying.
But he seems satisfied enough, flopping back down against the cushions, though he’s mostly sitting up now that Rathyn and Everest are here.
I can tell he’s still in pain, but I have a feeling that trying to explain to me in the ASL he knows will be too complicated for him right now.
Luckily, I have a solution to that today.
I take a breath and turn to the other Vyastil in the room. “Would you, ah…check on him?”
Rathyn stares at me and blinks slowly.
“He’s picking up sign language pretty quickly, but he hasn’t learned enough for complex conversation yet, and I want to make sure he’s actually doing okay. He seems fine, but I’m also not sure he’d tell me the truth if he wasn’t. He doesn’t seem to like admitting he needs help.”
Rathyn hums low in his chest and eventually inclines his head in a single nod. “I understand. It is a mark of Vyastil pride to heal ourselves. I will ask him. Has he consumed cum?”
I try not to flush. I’m not going to tell him I’ve been jacking off in a bottle for Cielo. That’s a little too much, even for me.
“Yeah. I’ve been able to get him some. He refused to take it directly from me, though.”
Rathyn hums again but says nothing, which is disappointing. I was hoping that since Cielo hasn’t explained why he won’t take it, Rathyn might know.
He turns on his heel and walks over to where Cielo and Everest are, and perches himself beside Cielo, who attempts to sit at attention. Rathyn stops him quickly, singing something to him in their language, which makes Cielo instantly relax.
It’s clear this is a private moment because after a tender touch to Rathyn’s cheek, Everest stands up and wanders over to where I’m pretending to fiddle with the machine.
“How’s it going here?” Everest asks. He reaches out with nervous hands, touching a few of the buttons before adjusting the settings, and I realize I probably won’t need Gia after all. “Is he…I mean…is he doing okay?”
I let out a puff of air and shrug. “As best as he can be, considering what happened to him.” I swallow thickly. “His wounds are bad.”
Everest bows his head. “That’s my fault.”
“You didn’t do it,” I point out and hope that it’s true because it doesn’t seem like Everest at all. He cares about Cielo, and the way he was sobbing when he brought Cielo to my car that night is not something he can fake.
He shrugs. “I have a big mouth. A big, dumb mouth that always gets people into trouble.” He bites his lip, then glances at Cielo and Rathyn, who are speaking rapidly. Cielo looks a little more at ease the longer the conversation continues. “I should have known better.”
Reaching out, I squeeze his arm, then hear a loud growl coming from the couch.
“Knock it off!” Everest snaps, his glare darting over toward Rathyn. “He’s my friend, and he’s allowed to give me comfort when I need it.”
“Do not forget who you belong to,” Rathyn says simply. He turns away, but for some reason, it still feels like he’s watching me.
“Sorry,” Everest breathes. “He does that. He won’t tear off your arms or anything, though.”
I blink and then blink again. “Is that, like, a real threat?”
Everest grimaces as he leans his hip against the counter. “I mean, I haven’t seen it happen, but I get the impression he would if he felt like someone was trying to encroach on his territory. Vyastil tend to be very, very possessive. Cielo killed a dude for beating my ass.”
My eyes widen. Cielo? My Cielo? Well, shit, he’s not mine, but it feels like he is, and I can’t help the thought.
Whatever the fuck that means.
“Good lord.”
Everest shrugs. “I appreciated it at the time, but yeah. They can get a bit…intense. Don’t panic if Cielo gets a little clingy.”
I don’t tell Everest that I won’t mind that at all. It’s kind of my vibe. Instead, I wipe my hands on a kitchen towel, then pull the bowl of pasta dough toward me that’s been resting.
“Want to help?”
“Homemade pasta?” Everest asks, his eyes wide.
“And veggie noodles,” I explain. “My cousin—she lives next door—she’s making a couple of other things, too. Figured it’s a good night for a feast.”
“I think I love you,” Everest says. “All Rathyn eats is freaking moss.”
“You do not love him!” Rathyn calls from the other side of the room.
This time, Everest doesn’t yell at him. His eyes go soft, filled with hearts, and he sighs.
Shit, I want that. I really, really fucking want that. I just don’t know if Cielo is the kind of being who will be capable of letting me in.