22. Isidoro #2
“Thank you.” She dips her head ever so slightly. “For everything. Take care of him when he wakes up.”
The conviction in her words twists something inside me. Julian will wake up. He must. I’ll do anything and everything to make that happen. I can’t lose him, not after everything that we’ve been through.
I watch her climb the stairs to the ground floor, her heels clanking against the stone. My legs take me to Julian’s room, where he still sleeps peacefully among the luxurious silk, as if untouched by time.
Retrieving the sci-fi book I was reading from the shelf, I take my spot by the bed and continue where I left off.
The heroes of the story walk into an underground vault full of secrets, the culmination of this tale imminent.
I hover my bleeding wrist above Julian’s lips as I’ve done every day since I woke up.
It’s second nature by now, the uncomfortable position not bothering me as much anymore.
The air in the room around me shifts, like a storm in the making. I drop the book, my senses scrambling as my body absorbs it first, a soft gasp that could so easily be missed.
Julian’s eyes snap open, a stunningly dark red I’ve been dreaming of whenever restless sleep claimed me. They glow as his mouth finds my wrist, as his teeth sink deeply and suck out the blood, as his tongue licks the incision I made with my claw.
Our gazes meet, his lip curling as I attempt to reposition myself, and his fingers wrap around my hand, keeping me where I am.
“Julian—”
He yanks me, his bloodstained mouth finding mine. He tastes like a mix of us, the combination dizzying, euphoric.
Mine.
I straddle his legs, the need in me too strong to defy. There’s urgency in his kiss, hunger and greed, and they get straight to my cock, straining it hard against his stomach. His hands grope any part of me they can get to, strong and frantic to pull me close as he devours my mouth.
I moan, my body singing, coming alive. He almost died. I didn’t know whether he’d survive. And now that I have him in my arms, I’m not letting go of him, ever. This man is mine and I am his, nothing can stand between that.
“Julian,” I say, pulling back ever so slightly. My pulse throbs in my neck, erratic as my feelings rush to my mouth.
“Isidoro,” he cuts in, clasping my hand and bringing it to his lips.
He places a kiss on my knuckles, his eyes shimmering with specs of bright red when they lock on me again.
It’s breathtaking, so potent it pierces my chest like a thousand spikes, each one striking its target.
“I wanted to tell you back at the lab, but I kind of passed out before I could. I think I might have a crush on you. I shouldn’t, given our past and so on, but I can’t lie to myself anymore. ”
My mouth curves in a smile so high my cheeks hurt. “I wish to extend our peace deal. Indefinitely.”
He chuckles, nuzzling his nose against my neck. “You remember that?”
I cup his face, ghosting my lips over his as I tip his head back. “I thought I would lose you, Julian, and that hurt more than any injury. I’m never letting you leave my side again, ever.”
He hums, eyes twinkling. “Does that mean you like me now?”
“Like is a word too light to describe what I feel toward you.” I never thought I’d let anyone occupy a place as big as he does in my heart, I didn’t plan on it, nor seek it out in the hundreds of years I’ve lived. He’s the first and last one, of that I am certain.
“Is that a yes then?” he flushes and tries to hide his face.
I don’t let him, pushing him down on the bed as I unbutton my shirt and let it drop off my shoulders. “You are mine and I wish to be yours. You are my husband and the king’s consort in title already, so it is time you started acting like it, too.”
He presses his fingers to my abs, roaming up and down my torso as if touching me for the first time. I coil one of my hands around his neck in the way I’ve come to know his body enjoys, pulling a groan out of him.
“Harder,” he pleads, licking his lips. “I like it when you are in charge.”
His confession lights a fire in me, thousands of flames spreading under my skin. I knew it deep down, but witnessing the vulnerability with which he confesses it takes my soul soaring into the skies. “Who would have thought that Julian Corvath-Altamirano likes to be used in bed.”
His eyes flash in bright red, incisors popping. “You are my king, are you not? I aim to please.”
It takes all my willpower to still myself. “You just woke up. You need to rest and recover—”
His growl of protest shakes me to my bones. “No. I want you.”
Air sharply floods my lungs. In a frenzy, I pull the blankets off him, his silk gown tented by his erection.
My pants come off next, the enticing offering before me making me uncharacteristically impatient.
I guide his hands to the headboard, securing them to the metal rails with the belt I just took off.
His nostrils flare and he wiggles left and right, testing his limits.
“Really? Tying me up so you can have your way with me? You think I might run or something?” He arches an eyebrow. “I’d say we are way past that.”
“As much as it turns me on when you try to defy me, I’d rather not risk it. You almost died, Julian. I need to claim you, or I fear my agitated heart won’t calm down.”
“Will you model for me at the show? It can’t be anyone else. It has to be you. I don’t think I can let anyone else wear my design,” he blurts out, the red on his cheeks intensifying. The want in his expression isn’t far behind.
“I thought that was the plan already.” Possessiveness and pride clutch my stomach.
His flush settles in full force. “You’re killing me.”
“I’d rather I didn’t right after mustering up enough courage to ask you to stay by my side.”
His muscles flex under me. He could probably overpower me if he wanted, his strength seems to be back. “Fuck. I’m not used to this you…” he confesses, making a whining noise when I extend just the tip of my claw and drag it up from his navel to his collarbone, ripping the silk sleeping gown.
“Neither am I.” I pause, wondering how to put my feelings into words.
Perhaps I’m old-fashioned for such grand declarations, but this man needs to hear from my mouth what his existence has done to me.
“But I wish to see where this takes us. I can’t fight my attraction to you anymore, Julian, I don’t have it in me.
You are a man who’s not simply beautiful, you are capable, too.
Resourceful, stubborn, a little reckless, strong, reliable and creative.
You are loyal even if you don’t have to be.
You showed me what it means to have someone by my side, and now that I’ve gotten a taste of that, I can’t ever go back to being alone.
Not when fate, albeit in a rather forceful way, has blessed me with a partner like you. ”
“Oh my god.” He tries to hide again, rolling awkwardly to the side and burying his face in the pillows.
Ah, he’s simply adorable. My heart tries to launch for the stars. His desire, his joy is overwhelming, seeping into me from every point where we connect. “Look at me. Don’t hide.”
He does, unable to say no to me in the same way I fear I won’t be able to deny him anything from now on. Red spreads to his chest, little tendrils that point to his heart. I rest my hand on top of it, palm down, listening to his elevated pulse.
His heart is mine to earn fully, in time.
A beast like him cannot be tamed. Not even if you chained him down, or took everything from him, or exiled him to the loneliest corner of the world.
I will repent for that, even if it seems like he’s forgiven me.
He is mine, but I’ll never truly own him, not in that absolute way that I thought I could.
But that’s fine, I don’t need to cage him if he’s willing to stand by my side.
I rip the rest of his gown, exposing his muscled chest, the trimmed happy trail leading to the crown jewel of his perfect body. His fat cock arches up half-hard, the head already dripping. I tug on it, peeling the foreskin back.
His eyes roll back, a mighty groan expanding his chest. “Isi…”
The endearment slots beside my hammering heart. I allow only my closest people to use the shortening of my first name. It diminishes where I stand, what I’ve fought to get here. But when Julian says it, it’s the sweetest, fondest thing, a caress to those parts of myself only he is allowed to see.
I’ll drown him in pleasure tonight. I’ll worship his body until he can’t take it anymore, until he begs me to grant him release only to crave me again before his pulse settles.
“Legs wide,” I order, sliding down the bed until my head hangs above his crotch.
He complies, exhaling sharply as I lick the slit of his cock and let the taste rile me up even more. My dick is still trapped inside my briefs, leaking and angry, the fabric already soaked. But it can wait, my pleasure comes secondary because my focus is narrowed down to this man.
Giving him a deliberately slow and firm stroke, I coerce his cock to fully awake. My lips trace the shape of his flushed head, the skin velvety and slick. He moans, part turned on and part impatient, shaking his hips as if trying to convince me to take pity on him.
“Your gorgeous cock deserves to be worshiped, Julian, before I let it claim what’s rightfully yours.”
“Isidoro,” he growls, warning flashing in his stunning eyes.
“You must learn to be patient. It’s worth it, I promise.”
I torture him with sensual touches, licking the slit, the sides and the veins but not really giving him what he truly wants, not until he’s a gasping mess under me, his body wound so tightly it might just pop.
Sweat covers his stomach, rolling down the dips and peaks of his abs when I finally wrap my lips around him and guide him deep into my throat, the overstimulation almost making him spill.