Natural Beauty (The Cubi Book 5)

by Meraki P. Lyhne

  “I think the Sire will love him to the end. He’ll sit with him, hold his hand, hate every minute of losing a lifelong partner. It hurts us, too, you know.”

  “I didn’t say I thought it didn’t, but regular breeders aren’t so lucky. We aren’t loved to the end, we’re moved to labor, and we become the punishment feeding when someone steps out of line.” And yeah, Alex sounded bitter at the fact.

  “There’s a Kingdom where aging breeders are just killed.”

  “What?” Alex asked, and the feeling of being a slave came back full force.

  “In my old Kingdom, some were, others were kept as labor slaves, although we call it something else.”

  “Why kill them?”

  “Because a life in pain isn’t a life.”

  Not what Alex had expected to hear. “What kind of pain?”

  “Any kind. It’s not like we just heard them together and plow them down, you know.”

  Alex looked into his glass again, once again trying to find a safer subject.

  “How’s your ass?” Kaydon asked.

  “You just fed, right?”

  Kaydon closed his eyes. “You’re my friend, not a piece of meat.”

  “Sorry.”

  “What did you come back for?” Kaydon asked softly. And Alex sank back into the despair of not knowing himself. “Okay, don’t hate Gordon, but…” Kaydon paused to sip his wine. “He told me about what you guys have been talking about.” Alex snapped his head up, feeling a bit betrayed. “His human friend is pissed, and Gordon doesn’t know what to do since we’re in the human world. He asked me to help you because he’s seen you smile genuinely around me.” Kaydon smiled, but it wasn’t the self-secure and cocky one Alex liked. It was careful, and whenever people smiled like that around him, he felt broken. Inefficient. But he understood Gordon’s reason to back out.

  “Did he tell you what I need help with?”

  “Not in so many words.” Kaydon put his half-empty glass on the table and folded his hands, looking at Alex. “He said you needed to figure something out before you could truly be happy.”

  “Did he tell you how I needed to figure it out?”

  “No.” Kaydon took Alex’s glass and placed it on the table. “But know this. When you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll be here to listen, whether it’s convenient timing or not. I’ll be there for you because that’s the kind of friend I am, and I know you’re going through a tough spell right now with…okay Gordon explained in detail the earful he got from your dad.”

  “And?”

  “And I was born a Cubus, what do I know.”

  Alex chuckled. “Yet most of you have dealt with my kind for so long you’ve seen it all.”

  Kaydon smiled. “Ah, there’s that.”

  “And what do you suggest?” Alex asked.

  “First of all, trust.”

  “I trust you.”

  “No you don’t,” Kaydon said, grinning.

  It kind of felt like a slap in the face.

  “Why do people keep telling me what I should think and feel?”

  “I’m not trying to, Alex, I just know you don’t trust me. And how could you? We’ve known each other for a week, and most of that time spent with me has been you dosed out of your mind, which you hate afterward, and then we’ve had a beer in the bar and tried to look civil about it.”

  Alex had nothing to say to that because he had to admit that Kaydon was absolutely right. Why did he come back? Was the Cubi really the lesser of two evils considering the life he’d returned to? Yes. But if he didn’t go back to his parents, what would life be like then? Didn’t matter, he realized, because who knew how long it would take to get over the shakes?

  “I didn’t mean to ruin the mood, I’m sorry.” Kaydon took his glass and emptied it. “I understand if you want to be left with your thoughts.” Kaydon got up, and Alex fought the urge to stop him. “Thank you for the wine.” The door opened and closed softly behind the big Incubus, and Alex finally let a tear spill down his cheek.

  Kaydon was right. Alex didn’t trust him, and he hated that he didn’t. One sentence kept running circles in his head, though. Whether convenient or inconvenient, Kaydon would help him because he saw Alex as a friend.

  Alex bolted from the sofa and out the door, remembering to close it behind him. He caught up with Kaydon halfway through his own door, and he turned with a surprised look on his face.

  “What is a friend to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean…I know my place as a breeder, I know how to get along with the ones I must feed, well most, but Sire Seldon took care of that.” Alex was rambling, and he knew it. “I mean, some came and fed on me because I was there, and then we shot the breeze or a game of pool, but…that’s what friends do, too, right?”

  Kaydon smiled, and this time it was the genuine kind. “Come on in.”

  Alex entered, and the place really had that homey feel to it. He turned and gaped when he found a broadsword encased in glass on the wall behind the door. Next to it hung chainmail, a shield with crows on it, and a big ass pelt. “What’s that?”

  “My Viking armor. Nol-Elakdon has a thing for his childhood warriors, and we were a group, a hird as they’re called in Danish, who put on epic battles and shows as a part of his summer games.”

  “Cool.” Alex touched the wooden frame, encasing the sword. “So you can use it?”

  “I can, but not in this tight space.” Kaydon looked around the apartment about the same size as Alex’s.

  Alex chuckled, reaching out to touch the chainmail, but then he pulled his hand back, thinking it wasn’t his to touch. Instead, he put his hands in his pockets and looked around the place, finding more Viking paraphernalia.

  “You wanna try it?”

  Alex turned to look at Kaydon who pointed to the chainmail. “No, it’s okay.”

  “I made it myself. I have another two, but they’re in oil bags at the moment.”

  “You made them?”

  “Yeah. I like keeping old crafts alive. It’s my hobby. Do you have a hobby?”

  “I like…playing pool.”

  “Doesn’t make it a hobby unless it’s something you want to do several times a week.” Kaydon pointed Alex to the couch, and he took a seat while Kaydon went to the kitchen. He returned with two glasses and a clay bottle with runes on it. “This is a hobby of mine, too.” Kaydon poured two glasses of what could be mistaken for an amber, white wine. “Mjød, or mead in English. It’s the drink of the Norse gods.”

  “Hobby? You made this?” Alex took the glass and sniffed it. It smelled spicy and had a tinge to it when he sipped it. But it was sweet, too. “What’s it made from?”

  “Herbs I gathered myself and honey. I kept the bees, too. This is my favorite bottle. It won a prize two years ago.”

  Alex smiled at the proud expression. “A prize for taste?”

  “Yup. At the summer games, Nol-Elakdon tastes them all and gives points, and the winner gets to put the crest of the Great House on all the bottles he has of that batch.”

  “Wow.” Alex sipped the drink again, and he had to admit he was far more partial to it than Bourbon and what not. “This is really good!”

  “Thank you.” Kaydon beamed.

  Alex’s eyes kept going back to the broadsword and chainmail. He tried to picture Kaydon in it, yet his mind kept putting Heimli in it.

  “We have a famous photographer who has a big Viking beard.”

  “Doesn’t suit all,” Kaydon said, rubbing his chin.

  “Well, Heimli’s one hot Incubus, I can promise you that.”

  Kaydon raised his brows. “An Incubus with a Viking beard here? You got a picture?”

  “Uhm, I forgot my phone.”

  Kaydon left the couch and returned with a laptop. He handed it to Alex who did an internet search for the photographer, and of course he had a website with professional images of himself.

  “Holy Frey, he’s hot. If Nol-Elakdon cros
ses his path, he’s gonna fuck him for two days straight.”

  Alex chuckled. “Is that why you want a beard?”

  “We all dress to impress the King that week, and he takes one or two to bed with him every night. That week is when he empowers most, and some of us get more than one.” Kaydon lifted his bottle, grinning. “This baby…uh.”

  “I wish I could see you in full Viking mode.”

  “Really?” Kaydon turned to look at his costume.

  “Not that you have to change or anything, I was just…wondering.”

  “I have some video footage from the games.”

  Alex felt excited. “Here?”

  “Sure. Wanna watch one?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Okay.” Kaydon left the couch and placed another bottle of mead on the table. “Also one of mine. Pour us one while I put the DVD on.”

  Alex did and sniffed the new drink. It smelled spicier. He waited for Kaydon to return before tasting it. The big guy sat again, smiling at the screen showing a crude chapter list. He then took his glass and held it up. “Skål, my friend. This is what friends do, and we clink the glasses. The toast, skål comes from a time where we drank from bowls, skåle, and we showed trust by slamming the bowls we drank from together hard enough for the mead to spill over into the other bowl and mix. No one was trying to poison each other then.”

  Alex smiled, loving that Kaydon had managed to find a subject that didn’t have to do with Alex’s insecurities regarding having chosen to go back to being food for the Incubi. Kaydon managed to make Alex relax and enjoy himself. He shared his interests, stories about his life in Nol-Elakdon’s Kingdom, and he shared his love for a pretty well-tasting craft of mead brewing.

  And it hit like a horse’s kick.

  Alex woke up feeling very thirsty. He was fully dressed but being spooned, and someone snored softly in his ear. And a huge cock pressed against him.

  Mead. They’d had a lot of mead. Alex tightened his ass, but the soreness was a serious decrease from the morning before so they hadn’t fucked. Once he got his brain up and running, he found he hadn’t actually forgotten anything from the night before. He remembered Kaydon offering to help him home. That was after they’d tried to count the doors by memory to know how many indentations in the wall Alex had to count before he was at his own door.

  The memory made him snicker. Oh, man. Alex had felt so comfortable with Kaydon that he’d finally just asked if he could sleep at his place. Kaydon had offered him the bed and then stretched out on the couch. Even with a mead-fogged brain, Alex had come to the conclusion that Kaydon was trying to accommodate Alex’s fear or insecurities, depending on how much Gordon had divulged or just alluded to.

  Alex had insisted that Kaydon, the bigger of them, wasn’t supposed to sleep on a couch he didn’t fit on. Alex would take the couch. But no, the old Incubus wouldn’t allow a guest the second-best accommodations. Finally, Alex had asked if they couldn’t just both sleep on the bed.

  “I might hold you in my sleep,” Kaydon had said.

  Alex had smiled and said okay. In his drunken condition, he’d been okay with it. Now he had a hunger boner pressing against his ass, and the need to run away. He was thirsty, so he had a pretty good reason to get out of bed, yet he stayed. He wanted to push himself.

  Kaydon made a noise and pulled Alex a bit closer, his pelvis thrusting against Alex’s ass gently a few times before he fell back into deep sleep. And Alex stayed where he was. His thirst had gone down a tad since he could actively accumulate spit. After a few minutes, his focus was mainly on his dry mouth, so he tried to get out of Kaydon’s arms unnoticed. No such luck.

  Kaydon sat halfway up. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I said it would be.” Alex climbed out of bed, and he was still dizzy. “I’m just getting some water.” His eyes fell on the clock radio. “Besides, six-thirty is way too early for me after mead.”

  Kaydon shuffled backward to recline against the headboard, and Alex hadn’t noticed it being hand carved with Viking designs until then. “Could you fill the pitcher and bring back?”

  “Yeah.” Alex did and returned to the bed, perching on the edge and drinking greedily. He then handed it to Kaydon, and he drank almost the rest. He placed the pitcher on the bedside table and moved in to make room for Alex. He wondered if he should huddle closer again. He wanted to, but he didn’t know how Kaydon would take it, and he didn’t know if the big Incubus was too hungry. “Did you make this, too?” Alex asked instead and touched the tree.

  “No, my best friend did. He was human.”

  “Did he…” What was the Viking thing called?

  “Feed me?”

  “Hmm?” Alex looked at him. “I can’t. I’m still sore.”

  “No, no, your question. Was that whether he fed me?”

  “Oh.” Alex blushed. “No, it was whether he was also doing this Viking stuff.”

  Kaydon chuckled. “Sorry. Yes, he was. We met at the games. He just showed up one day and asked if he could join. He had it all, clothes, tent…he even had merchandise. He thought it was a regular Viking market.”

  Alex wanted to know more about him, but he didn’t want to ask now. He was still tired, and maybe also a bit drunk. “You’re gonna have to tell me that story some time.” Alex climbed into bed and lay down on his side, facing Kaydon. The Incubus smiled and blinked slowly a few times. Then his breathing changed. Wow, that was like flipping a switch.

  Alex had never been capable of that. He’d always lie and wait for his eyes to grow heavy, and while doing that, he studied Kaydon closer. The night Alex had first met him, his dark blond hair had been neatly brushed back and to the side. Now it was almost in his face. He looked so handsome.

  A lock of hair fell into Kaydon’s face, and he scrunched his nose at it. Alex smiled and reached over to brush it behind Kaydon’s ear. He opened his eyes sleepily and put his hand on top of Alex’s, stroking it. As he nodded off again, Alex shuffled closer. Kaydon then surprised him by moving closer, too, but down. He moved Alex’s leg to drape over Kaydon’s waist while Kaydon snuggled his face against Alex’s chest. It was almost as if Alex ended up clutching the big Incubus protectively.

  A content sigh escaped Kaydon, and he was off to sleep again. Alex smiled. Getting used to non-sexual physical contact would not be a problem if he felt in control like he did at that moment. In only a few minutes, Alex fell asleep again, smiling.

  A few hours later, he woke up to Kaydon clutching at him and rutting against his leg. Kaydon groaned and pulled Alex closer, rubbing his face against Alex’s chest.

  “Kaydon.” Alex untangled himself, and Kaydon fell onto his back, shivering.

  Kaydon grabbed his hard-on and stroked it through the straining fabric of his pants. “Sorry.” Kaydon opened his pants and groaned in relief when his massive cock sprang free. “I had a very good dream. Interesting dream.” He laughed, getting himself somewhat under control.

  “What was it?”

  “About us on a ship. A Viking ship, actually, and you had Viking clothes on, too. We’d sailed out and just enjoyed the tranquility of the bay, and I sucked you off while you lounged out front. Then I fucked that wonderful ass of yours. That’s about the time you woke me up.”

  Alex chuckled. “Sorry.”

  “Do you like sailing?”

  “I’ve only ever been in a dingy to fish on a lake.”

  “Oh, man, I’d love to take you sailing.”

  “You said you sucked me off in your dream,” Alex said, watching the grin on Kaydon’s face as he nodded. “Do you like that?”

  “Hell yeah.” He smacked his lips. “Damn, that dream felt so real I can still imagine the taste of you.”

  “That’s just your hunger speaking.”

  Kaydon pouted theatrically. “Don’t burst my bubble…it’s a wonderful bubble.”

  Alex had felt wonderful sleeping with Kaydon in his arms, yet now he was a bit nervous. Mainly because his ass was still a bit sor
e, and Kaydon wasn’t the next on the list to fuck him raw again. “How hungry are you?”

  “A dream like that? Uh! But I’m okay. I’m in control.”

  “Good…” Alex had no idea what he was about to do, but he felt in the mood for being spontaneous, and he hoped that if he was somewhat in control, he could like it. Finally, he reacted to his ideas and shuffled out of his pants.

  “Okay, no, bad idea,” Kaydon said, moving away from Alex. “I’m not allowed to feed from you today.”

  “You’re not, you’re sucking me off.” Lust spread in Alex at the sight of Kaydon’s body language freezing, and his eyes darkening. Kaydon wanted to, that much was obvious, and Alex wanted to see if being the one in control could make him relax the way sleeping with Kaydon in his arms had. Why did it make a difference if he was the one being held or the one holding? Was it some sentiment of feeling weak? He’d heard Cubi talk about those sentiments before as ridiculous and human, and that no Incubus would ever feel above or more powerful from being the one holding a Succubus. But it was a masculine trait to want to protect. Was it that simple? Was it simply Alex’s weak sense of his own masculinity after a lifetime of man up comments from his old man?

  Well, Alex was going to try to figure that one out, and at that moment he was going to do that by straddling Kaydon’s broad chest and shove his dick into his mouth. Best part, the Incubus looked like a kid in a candy store as he shuffled back to recline against two pillows and the hand carved headboard.

  As Alex’s dick got closer to his face, Kaydon opened his mouth, stuck his tongue out, and closed his eyes. He was panting and shivering in expectation, and Alex thought he looked absolutely gorgeous. His dick jumped in excitement when Kaydon whimpered and groaned at Alex running only the head of his dick across Kaydon’s tongue. It felt amazing, and the hot bursts of air as Kaydon panted, somewhat patiently waiting for Alex’s lead, heightened everything.

  He groaned and rubbed the glans slowly across Kaydon’s outstretched tongue, marveling at the sight and feel. He’d once seen a horse being held in check before a race—watched its muscles twitch and shiver as if every one of them was ready to burst into action if given permission. Kaydon’s expression looked like that. And knowing that he was in control of Kaydon’s mouth was a high that made every cell in Alex’s body feel heated, and his dick stood rock-hard and drooling.