Chapter 57
“Where are we going?”
“To a place I have not gotten to show you yet.” Leviathan turned to give him a crooked smile, not slowing his pace, though he was practically dragging Cullen at this point. “What with all your tantrum throwing.” He murmured.
“I have not been throwing tantrums.” He muttered, irritated. He yanked against his hold, hissing when Leviathan’s hand curled tighter around his wrist. “Slow down!”
To his surprise, Leviathan stilled and turned to him; Cullen couldn’t help an automatic step back as he moved closer. Leviathan’s lips twitched as if he wanted to laugh.
“Weakling.” He teased, swooping down to grab him around the waist. Cullen let out a cry of shock when he raised him off the ground and slung him easily over one of his wide shoulders.
“Levi!’ He objected, mortified. “Put me down!”
“No.” He drawled. “I don’t think so.”
“You bastard!” He hissed, smacking at his back. “I’m not a child!”
Leviathan shrugged, jostling him. “Then stop pouting like one.”
“I am not pouting.” He fought the urge to cross his arms and prove his point. “This is a very big turn off, you know.”
Leviathan made a soft, considering sound and then their clothes vanished.
He gasped at the suddenness, his face heating.
Less than a second later, Leviathan’s hand was on his ass, squeezing lightly.
He winced, his face growing even hotter when his claws scraped against him.
A little sizzle of magic moved around them; Cullen relaxed a bit when he felt the claws shrink and vanish, though Leviathan’s hands remained large and strong against him.
“If it’s such a turn off,” Leviathan murmured, sliding his fingers to his entrance, “Let me help keep you entertained while we walk.”
“Hang o–” He broke off with a gasp as one of those long fingers pressed into him, his hands clawing at his back when it curled inside of him. “Levi…”
He ignored the whispered plea, his fingers teasing him gently as he walked.
Cullen squirmed, trying to find his voice, but failing quickly, giving himself over to soft moans instead, his hips rocking back and forth against Leviathan’s shoulder.
Slowly, he forced his eyes open, letting them take in the tail that swung delicately behind Leviathan as he walked and the rough scars just inches away…
He smiled deviously and stretched to press a kiss between them, a little thrill shooting through him when Leviathan sucked in a breath.
He said nothing though, continuing his light teasing as he walked calmly through the palace. His pace remained slow and even, though Cullen could feel that his skin was growing warm. Could hear that his pulse was starting to race his own.
Cullen remained silent as well, his face burning and his body growing far too worked up from this gentle teasing. He could have shouted with relief when they finally walked into Leviathan’s bedroom, the door slamming closed behind him with the flick of one of Leviathan’s shadows.
Cullen expected to be tossed onto the bed–but Leviathan brushed past it without a glance, heading across the room.
“Where–” Leviathan slammed his fingers deeper into him, making him break off with a breathless groan.
A door opened and the scent of blood hit him hard.
Cullen gasped, his mouth watering and that wave of darkness sweeping over his mind just like it always did.
Leviathan came to a stop, his hand moving away from him; seconds later he had put Cullen back on his feet, his face unreadable as he let go of him.
Cullen spun away without a word, his face burning, but froze when he saw the room they’d walked into.
It was a wide cavern with a low ceiling.
Dark and warm, the air moist and the scent of blood overwhelming.
Across the room a huge pane of glass took up the entire back wall, revealing the starry sky.
And just a few feet away, a large pool of dark blood filled the space on the floor, the liquid still and fresh and…
welcoming. Cullen felt his throat move in a hard swallow.
Darkness pulsed through him, wrapping around his mind like a shroud, pulling him deeper and deeper…
Cullen.
The word was a command, pulling him back to the surface. Slowly, he inhaled, breathing in the strong scent again, and turned to Leviathan in surprise, his face pinching with worry.
But he was smiling, looking quite pleased with himself. “I will train you not to lose yourself to the darkness later, pet. But, for now, how do you like my bathing chamber?”
He swallowed again, blinking slowly. “You bathe in blood?”
A soft sound of amusement left him. “Occasionally.”
He exhaled slowly. “It’s…a lot.”
“I know. That’s why I waited until I knew you were mine.”
He hesitated. “Where does the blood come from?”
A short, hesitant pause. “Let’s not get into all that. Do you like it?”
Cullen hesitated again, staring at the dark, inviting liquid, every human part of his mind screaming at him no no no. He should run. He should run away screaming and never come back.
But…
“Yes.” He admitted quietly, his eyes dropping to the floor. “I like it.” He felt Leviathan’s mind prodding at his, searching for the truth. Cullen let him see that it was the truth. That this was intriguing and hot, even if all the good parts of him were telling him to get the hell out of here.
“Come.” Leviathan took his hand and led him towards the edge of the pool. Cullen stumbled after him, swallowing hard as he fought another wave of darkness.
They paused at the edge of the pool, Leviathan stepping into it with one smooth move.
Cullen watched with wide eyes as he sank in up to his waist, the blood leaving dark streaks across his skin when he turned back to help him in.
Cullen hesitated, eyeing the pool nervously, and Leviathan gave him a wicked smile, tugging him down so that he fell into his arms. Cullen cried out, clinging to him, though no part of him had touched the pool, not with all four of those massive arms cradling him.
Leviathan only chuckled and turned, moving across the pool to the far side of the room, where that giant glass wall loomed.
He tensed as the pool grew deeper, a soft gasp leaving him when his toes hit it. It was warm. Hot, really. As if it had just been cut from the body of a living person.
He tried not to think too hard about it.
They moved deeper and deeper and soon enough his entire lower half, still nestled in Leviathan’s arms, was soaked in the hot liquid. He couldn’t deny it felt good. Great, really. As if it had dived into his skin and relaxed the muscles that it touched, like a warm hand rubbing at him.
“It’s nice. Isn’t it?” Leviathan asked softly.
The pool rose to his chest, wrapping his torso in warm liquid. Muscles he hadn’t even realized were tight relaxed in his back.
“Yes. It’s nice.” Dark. Evil.
But nice.
Leviathan paused at the other end of the pool, the glass wall just inches away from them across a short strip of rocky floor.
He turned and sat, startling a gasp from Cullen as they sank deeper.
He shifted uncomfortably as the blood came up to his shoulders, his human instinct making him shy away for a moment before he relaxed again, resting his head against Leviathan’s shoulder.
The minutes passed and neither of them moved or spoke. When the pool grew even warmer, Cullen felt his eyes starting to slip closed.
“You’re tired.”
“Mm.” He murmured, nuzzling against him. “It’s been a long night.”
“And here I was thinking you would have wanted to play a bit with my tail.”
His eyes slowly blinked open. Just inches away from his face, the sharp tip of Leviathan’s tail flicked up through the water. He inhaled slowly and reached for it, taking it gently just under the tip and pulling it towards him.
“Knowing you, you mean something perverted by ‘play’.”
He grinned against his hair. “Maybe.”
He laughed shakily. “You’re insane.”
“Isn’t that what you love about me?”
“It is.” He whispered, running his fingers over the blood-slicked scales. “What does it feel like?”
“Having a tail or your touch on my scales?”
He hesitated. “Both.”
“It’s like an arm.” He murmured. Cullen gasped as the tail shifted, curling around his wrist and squeezing.
“I can feel it and move it at will. Grab and squeeze things.” He took it from his wrist and let it slip under the dark surface.
Cullen tensed as it ran over his stomach, down between his thighs.
“I can feel myself between your thighs…”
His throat gave a hard bob. “Isn’t it weird enough that we’re bathing in blood right now. Do you have to add tail stuff?”
Leviathan chuckled and pulled him to his knees, forcing them to either side of his hips.
Cullen drew in a slow breath, his hands moving to rest on his shoulders as he looked down at him.
Skin to skin like this, that firm thing between his legs, Cullen found himself shivering.
The tail slid up against his bare spine, making him gasp.
“It’s sharp.” He hissed, squeezing his shoulders.
“I can change that.” He murmured. Magic shifted the air; when the tail slid against him again, the tip of it was no longer sharp, but dull and round. Cullen froze, his eyes widening.
“Levi… Seriously, don’t do anything crazy.”
“Nothing crazy.” He promised breathlessly, two of his hands stroking his hips.
Cullen sucked in a weak breath, squirming in his lap until Leviathan made a soft, needy sound and yanked him up against him, one strong arm keeping him in place against his chest while two others moved around him, grabbing him by the ass.
“Hold still.” Leviathan whispered. “It won't hurt.” Cullen gasped as he spread his cheeks, his face burning as Leviathan opened him up and began to rub at his entrance with the now rounded tip of that tail.
“Stop!” He choked out, burying his face in the crook of his neck. “It's too…it's weird…”