CHAPTER FOUR
“Leaving so soon?”
Darius didn’t move. He simply raised a questioning brow as he glanced at the place in the shirt where Asher had stashed the wagers a few moments prior.
Asher sighed, “I got what I came for, and I highly doubt you would want me to stay now anyway.” He glanced just past Darius to the slightly open window, then back once again to settle on the male standing before him.
“I wouldn’t advise it. I have wards that would fillet the skin of your body if you tried. The only way you are leaving here is if I allow it.” Pushing from the frame, he brushed past Asher and entered the main body of the room.
“It would be best for both of us if you just let me leave.” Asher watched the male as he moved. The handsome male who he’d been so intimate with earlier was watching him with assessing eyes. Something on Darius’s skin snagged his gaze. The tattoo shimmered, the ebony ink almost appeared to be glowing. It was almost as if the dragon on the male”s skin was moving.
Darius gritted his teeth, letting a soft growl pass his lips, and the glow of the tattoo seemed to instantly dim. “It is funny you think that you hold any sort of threat over me.” He pulled a robe from the chair by the bed and tugged it on, covering the image of the dragon, then secured it at the waist.
“It is funny that you think you can stop me from leaving. I know about your wards. I could feel them as I entered the building. But I would rather leave without hurting you or anyone else, especially after the time we just spent together.”
“Oh, Levi. I could stop you, and I would. But you’ve answers to a few questions I have, and maybe if you answer them truthfully, I will let you go. In fact, it is only because of what we did that I am even allowing you to live. I bet Levi isn’t even your name. Is it?”
Asher shook his head and shrugged, “It is someone”s name, just not mine.” He could see his aura shimmer in a muted red, Darius was angry, but he could also see he was in control of that anger. Having the ability to see such things gave the assassin an advantage when on assignments. The behavior of a person”s aura acted as a visual cue to Asher. Intense color and tone of the aura showed its owner was, for now, in control of their feelings. Sharper, more vibrant colors told Asher their emotions ran too close to the surface, and they would react with very little provocation. Having caught him red-handed with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, Darius may appear to be standing before him, cool and unaffected, but Asher knew better.
“Let’s play a game, shall we?” He didn’t wait for Asher to reply before continuing, “I ask a question, and you answer it. If I believe you, we will move on to the next one. If I don’t, then I kill you. What do you think? I mean, if you don’t want to play, I could kill you now, but after having a piece of that fine ass, I feel it would be a crime not to offer you a lifeline.”
Asher laughed a little, “How about you ask me three questions, and I will answer them truthfully. After that you let me go?”
“Without the slips you stole from me.”
Asher shook his head, “No, with the slips and a promise to return the next time I am in Summer.”
Tilting his head to the side as if lost briefly in contemplation, Darius let his eyes roam over Asher while he weighed the offer, “Alright, that is a deal. So let’s start, shall we? What is your name? I am guessing it isn’t Levi though I have to say I didn’t think it suited you. Perhaps strike that off your list of aliases; it isn”t very convincing.”
Asher laughed again, a warm chuckle. Even in this situation, he found the male totally delicious. “My name is Asher, and for the record, I think Levi suits me perfectly. You are just being a little tedious because you caught me.”
It was Darius who laughed now, “Tedious? No, but I believe having caught you stealing from me, I have every right to be a tad peeved, don’t you?”
Asher shrugged, “Only if you want to act like a spoiled child. I am sure I am not the first person to penetrate your inner sanctum.” He smirked at his choice of words.
Darius’s lips tugged into a rueful smirk, “Darling Asher, no one has ever penetrated me or my inner sanctum. Not even you. You were invited into my room so we could fuck.”
Asher watched as the male rested back against the foot of the bed, his ass perched on the mattress as he leaned his weight back on both hands. His eyes assessing, head tilted as he bit on his bottom lip. A moment later, he lifted a hand and crooked a finger beckoning Asher to him.
Without hesitation, Asher walked forward, only stopping when he was between the male”s parted legs, the robe now gaping and showing a generous amount of skin, “That was question one. Do you have another for me?”
“What? Not so playful now, huh? If I wasn’t so sated, I would be wounded at your eagerness to be rid of me. But as you wish.” He gripped the front parting of Asher”s tunic and pulled him closer. His lips brushed Asher’s ear as he continued, “Have the Guild sent you?” His lips traveled from his ear down the column of the assassin’s neck to graze his shoulder. Then without warning, Darius bit down hard, sharp canines sinking into flesh and drawing blood.
Asher’s eyes widened, but his closeness to the male before him hid his surprise. He was sworn to protect the Guild, and that protection meant denying its very existence. The pain of Darius’s bite was nothing. He had endured so much worse at the hands of Silas, the Guild”s enforcer.
“Please remember, delicious kitty, I can tell if you are lying. Your blood allows me to detect lies you may tell now that I’ve tasted it. If you are, it will be the last lie to ever pass your lips.” Darius flicked the tip of his tongue out and licked away the blush of blood on his lips, a soft moan whispering past his lips before catching the fleshy lobe and the earring between his teeth.
Asher’s breath hitched as he leaned closer, his hand fisted on Darius’ robe. One on his shoulder and the other slipping around the back of his neck, his fingers teasing through the male”s hair.
“Yes...I am from the Guild, but I would be interested in knowing how you know of them.” His fingernails scraped over the soft flesh as he shivered at the electric frisson between them.
“Ugh, no, little kitty, I ask the questions tonight,” and as to punctuate his words, his teeth nipped a trail down the column of Asher’s neck. Hooking into Asher’s tunic, he tugged the neckline to the side as he continued to leave a trail along his collarbone, his tongue lapping lazily over the weeping bite mark.
Asher groaned, gripping tighter on a fist full of dark locks at the base of Darius’s head, pulling it back and away from the wound. “You have one question left then. I really do need to get going, as per our deal.”
He could feel his body reacting to the teasing, and as tempting as it was to give in to this male, Asher had a job to do, and the Guild came before everything, including his personal wants or needs.
“You are no fun, Asher,” he purred. “But I do like how your name rolls off my tongue, almost as sweet as your cock.” Darius smirked. The male swept his tongue over the seam of his lips, taking the assassin’s blood with it with a husky moan.
Asher took a deep breath. Many things drew him to this delicious male, and for the first time in forever, he wished things were different.
“My last question seeing as you are so eager to leave me....” His plump lips protruded in an exaggerated pout. “Why did you not take your wagers? You understand regardless of the name on the slip, your soul is tied to them. The name doesn’t matter. Levi or Asher, both are you, and you owe me.”
That caught Asher’s attention. Was the male lying? Leaning back a little, he could see his aura was the same. Nothing indicated Darius was being deceitful.
“I wanted an excuse to come back. If I had been successful in retrieving what I came for without you seeing me, you would have had no idea who took them. I could have come back, and we could have possibly enjoyed each other”s company again.” Asher held the male’s gaze allowing him to see the truth in his eyes.
“Mhmm, I see. You thought if you stole from me once, you could come back and do it again, only next time it wouldn’t be someone else”s wager slips.” His head tilted as he contemplated Asher’s words. Once again, his tongue dipped past his lips to ride over the rim of the bow of his top lip. “I taste no lies in any of your answers, my little thief. So I guess you are free to go.”
Asher was no fool. He may have been caught once, but he wasn’t letting this male cloud his judgment again. He leaned forward and brushed a light teasing kiss over Darius’s lips. It was a gentle caress, one he hoped showed the male all the things he wished they could have but would never be able to.
Darius cupped the back of Asher’s head and deepened the kiss. A soft moan passed between them as his tongue dipped past their parted lips to stroke along Asher’s.
But as much as he wished to climb over the male below him, he knew he had to end it. Asher pulled back just enough to break the kiss, but he was close enough that as he spoke, his lips brushed over Darius’s, “Drop the wards, Darius.”
The male looked up into Asher’s eyes, and after briefly searching for something in them, he smiled. The air around them became static just for a second before settling, and Asher could sense he had done as requested. Leaning in, he stole one last kiss. It was hard, it was quick, and it was a goodbye.
Forcing himself to step away, he moved to the window and climbed up onto the frame. He was about to jump as Darius spoke.
“Come back to me, my little kitty.”
He smiled at the request. A slight tug in his chest almost forced him to turn, but he fought it. Without a word of reply, Asher leaped from the window. In mid-air, he evanesced to the outskirts of the city and then spent the next few minutes jumping from place to place to cover his tracks before finally stopping halfway up the mountainside that overlooked the city of Cliffell.
He cast one last glance in the direction of where he had left Darius. With a sigh, he turned and disappeared into the night.