Chapter 31
“I am not wearing that.”
Leviathan made a soft, irritated sound. “You are.”
“I am not–” He broke off with a yelp as his tank top and sweatpants were replaced with a smooth fabric that draped loosely around his torso, the front connected by buttons down the stomach but the collar open in a v that was much too…
low. And the pants that had replaced his own were…
tight. He squirmed and found himself worrying they might tear.
“I…I can’t pull something like this off…”
“Are you insane?” Leviathan snapped, his eyes trailing up and down his body in slow, assessing movements. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so…hot.”
A smile threatened to tug at his lips. “Hot? That’s what the ancient demon lord has for compliments?”
Leviathan’s smile turned more deadly. He stalked forward, making Cullen stumble backwards on instinct, a soft gasp leaving him as he slammed into the prickly rock wall of his bathroom.
Leviathan’s arms came up, caging him in as he leaned in to brush their lips together.
He whispered something in a breathy, soft demon language, the tip of his nose brushing Cullen’s while his eyes burned into his. He kissed him again, softly, and Cullen could feel the promise in it this time. His body instantly responded, a slow heat gathering in his belly as he leaned into him.
Leviathan pulled away, smiling when Cullen moved to follow him. Cullen drew back quickly, his face going red and his gaze falling away from his face. “What…what does that mean?” He mumbled, staring at the soft pulse in Leviathan's throat.
“Hmm.” Leviathan murmured thoughtfully. “The words are too…crude in this language. But roughly translated it means, ‘Of all the petals on all the flowers in the world, you are the only one that holds my gaze’.”
A slow tension started to spread through his body, heat flooding his face and making his hands curl into fists at his sides.
“That’s…cheesy as hell.” Maybe not a lie, exactly, but not exactly a truth either.
If anyone else had said something like that to him, he would have laughed but…
the intensity of Leviathan’s gaze when he’d said it…
the ancient demon language he’d used…it sent a shiver down his spine.
Made him want to feel his lips and body against his–
“Hm.” Leviathan smirked, leaning in again, clearly unbothered by the insult. “Perhaps my tongue is not as good at poetry as it is at other things.” He kissed him again and Cullen’s breaths cut off, his hands fluttering to the front of his shirt as he pressed closer.
“Who…who said it was good at anything?” Cullen mumbled into the kiss, his hands sliding slowly up his chest. Fucking hell. His skin was hard and hot, even through his clothes. Each soft curve of muscle leading into the next–
Leviathan’s hands came up to cup his face, his mouth coming down more firmly on his as the kiss deepened, his tongue sweeping in and quickly stealing Cullen’s breath.
Cullen pressed closer to him, his arms coming up around him and his hands clawing into his back to draw him closer–
He drew away again, backing further away this time when Cullen tried to follow after him. He squirmed at the heat in his belly, at the desire that had made all of him feel tight and hot.
“Aren’t you going to…” He trailed off, unable to say the words, to admit he wanted more.
“No.” He grinned. “Sometimes a little tease up until the big moment can be better.”
“But…I…” He hesitated. His body was feeling a bit impatient, yes, but not needy. Not as if the next pulse of his heart might send him over the edge into madness. He shouldn’t be asking already. He shouldn’t be asking at all…
Leviathan moved a hand forward, his fingers brushing gently against his cheek before it lowered and curled into the open collar of his shirt. “You’ll wear this tonight?” His voice was soft, a gentle request.
He swallowed hard. “Okay.”
Leviathan smiled, his eyes moving over his face before they flickered to the wall behind him. “I’m going to fuck you in front of this mirror someday.”
Cullen sucked in a breath. “How about right now?”
He smirked. “Someday.”
He had avoided looking at himself in the mirror for the past few hours. Had avoided his bathroom completely to hide himself away from those…feelings…that had tugged at his heart when Leviathan had whispered those strange words to him.
But now he stood in front of the long wall of mirrors in his bathroom, his gaze on his legs.
And, slowly, he raised his eyes, letting them slide up his reflection, taking in the dark, too-tight pants and the flowy shirt that didn’t seem right on him even if it kind of looked good. Objectively speaking anyway…
His gaze hit his neck and paused there, taking in the skin that was much paler than before.
Pearl white instead of a light cream color.
The freckle that had been just above his collarbone was gone and his skin gleamed a bit unnaturally, the paleness a give away for the truth of his soul now.
The muscles in his throat were a little more defined and, as he raised his gaze to his face, he saw that that had shifted a bit as well.
Another missing freckle on the side of his jaw, his features a little sharper. As if he’d aged in this realm, by a few years at least. Or time had warped without him realizing…
The thought had him panicking, had him counting on his fingers like a child to make sure of how long he’d actually been here now. Two months, if time had remained the same here. Two months and he was already considering…
He shook the thought away with a wince, his eyes coming up to his reflection again.
His eyes, now very human and familiar, were brighter than he remembered, more energized–perhaps because of the new blood in his veins, perhaps because of something else–and his hair remained the same short, dark, lightly curled tangle it had always been, though he was sure it should have grown out a bit by now. Perhaps he’d stopped aging here…
He could ask Leviathan, he supposed, but would he even get the truth?
No, Leviathan would probably feed him whatever answer he’d like most. He was good at that.
Good at making him happy. Making him smile.
Good at making him like it in this dark, dreary place with its terrifying red sun and its deep caverns that promised death if he were to slip and fall.
The smoke that poured in from the windows and the warm body that was constantly next to him, wrapped around him, inside of him–
“You look so handsome, Cullen.” He jumped at the voice, his face going red as he met Leviathan’s gaze in the mirror.
He was dressed similarly again, his shirt a gleaming, flowy white and his pants dark, though not as tight as his own.
He smiled at him in the mirror. “You look like you belong here now.”
Cullen pressed his lips together unhappily. “Stop dressing us both up like we’re a couple. It’s creepy.”
He chuckled, looking devious. “I could bring you to the party wearing nothing but a collar instead.”
His face went red and Leviathan stalked closer. Cullen didn’t turn to face him, watching instead as he came up right behind him, his chin just above the top of his head.
He was so ridiculously tall. Cullen wasn’t even on the short side but this bastard towered over him so entirely…
“Do you really not like it?” He asked softly, his hand coming up to rest on the top of his arm. Cullen watched the movement, his face growing warmer as he watched it slide down his arm. “I’d like you to wear this, but if it would make you more comfortable, you could wear your usual clothes.”
He bit back the question on his lips, not wanting to give in to the bait. Though if he didn’t, it only meant he would have to…
“I…I like it.” He mumbled, unsure if it was quite a lie or not. “It’s fine. It’s just not…me.”
Leviathan smiled and wrapped a slow arm around his stomach, drawing him back into his chest. The warmth there made Cullen shiver.
“You like it?” He murmured, lowering his mouth to his ear. “What else do you like?”
He fought to keep his voice calm. “Is everything about sex with you?”
“Most things.”
He rolled his eyes, though if he were being completely honest with himself he knew a shit ton of things came back to sex for him. He had tried to hide it with Walker, that slightly too-far obsession with it all, with the need and the wants. But here, with Leviathan…
“Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?” Leviathan asked softly, letting his lips brush his ear. Cullen swallowed hard.
“It’s nothing.”
“Liar.”
His teeth snapped together; he spoke through them. “Stop doing that.”
He made a soft, displeased sound and wrapped both arms around him, his hands running lightly over his stomach. Cullen gave an involuntary squirm as something tightened in his groin.
The snap of his ankle, he told himself again. Walker’s screams and the taste of acidic blood. Countless murders and massacres and thousands of years worth of stories of Leviathan being a calamity on the earth–
“We should go to the party now.” He burst out, shrugging out of his grasp and turning to face him, though he kept his eyes on his chest.
Leviathan studied him for a long moment, his eyes searching his face. Cullen said nothing, though his face burned and his body was reacting again under his gaze.
He stepped forward and Cullen heard himself gasp quietly as his hand came up, his fingers brushing gently along his cheek.
“As you wish, pet.” The whispered words sent a small shiver down Cullen’s spine.