Chapter 39
Soft fingers brushed his hair back from his sweaty forehead, tucked the short strands behind his ear. Cullen remained unmoving, his eyes on Leviathan’s sweaty collarbone.
He’d lost track of how many times they’d gone, but the sun had gone down a long time ago.
The room was cast in those lovely shadows that called to his own; a few of them moving across the blanket, teasing their legs.
Cullen paid them no attention, saying nothing as Leviathan traced the shape of his face with his fingertips.
Over and over again, as if he were lost in the action.
They had spent the entire day in bed. The entire day wrapped up in each other while Leviathan made him admit over and over again that he was happy here, that he liked it.
That he liked him. Cullen had choked it out over and over again until they had been the only thoughts to pulse through his mind.
Leviathan had not given him more than a few moments at a time to attempt to gather his thoughts, to tell himself that he was lying, that he was only doing this for survival.
It was never enough time, and he was sure Leviathan knew that.
And now that they’d finally stopped, he found that his voice was too hoarse to speak, and his body too weak to pull even a few inches away from Leviathan.
Close enough to still hear his pounding heart.
Close enough to smell the sweat on his skin and that sweet scent that clung to him.
Close enough to share a breath. He swallowed hard, his mind finally starting to clear, but he could still not find his voice.
So the minutes passed in silence until Leviathan finally spoke.
“Why lie?”
It took him too many seconds to finally meet his gaze. It was soft again. Warm. Sated. Cullen wasn’t sure he had ever looked sated after their nights together before. It made a new ache spread through his chest.
“Tell me.” Leviathan urged quietly.
Didn’t he understand? Or was he not human enough for that?
“I…” His voice cracked, so he cleared his throat and tried again. “I don’t want…to like it.” He admitted weakly. “I don’t want…to be a demon.” He looked away from him. “But I do and I am and…” He hesitated. “It’s hard.”
A heavy silence. And then another gentle brush of his fingers before he took his face into his hands and pressed a kiss to his lips.
“I will make you forget,” he whispered against his lips. “That you were ever human.”