Merlin lifted him out of the crib, surprised at how heavy he felt from only a few days before when they’d gone through this little ritual. There didn’t seem to be any bulk in his bottom, so as usual, Annika had been right. Idris was willingly going along with this potty-training thing. Merlin had no memory of having done this when he was younger, but he must have. And he did remember one father smacking a hybrid son who had leaked on his trousers. Nothing like that would ever happen in this place, yet Annika was very keen on Idris becoming diaper-free as soon as possible. She had such a sweet way of getting what she wanted, and no one argued with her.
He put Idris on his feet and pulled down his pajama bottoms and training diaper before balancing him on the toilet. This was totally disgusting work, not that Idris seemed to notice or mind. He sat there, kicking his legs and babbling about something unintelligible before finally letting go of his stream. Fortunately, it all went down where it belonged. It didn’t always play out that way. Merlin jiggled him a little before taking him off, because he wasn’t going to get any closer to the source of the pee than that.
“Are you hungry?” he asked, taking the toddler by the hand to walk him back to the crib.
“I want bottle!” The kid had a way of practically screaming his words, as if already anticipating a fight.
“No, Idris. You can have a sandwich.” The boy’s face scrunched and he looked ready to holler. “Annika says so. Remember how we always obey the Queen?”
Idris’ expression fell and he sniffed back his nascent tears. “’Kay.”
“Good boy.” Merlin led him into Dafydd’s sitting room, where there was a mini-fridge. Everyone had one, actually. He couldn’t deny that his standard of living had increased a thousand-fold since coming to live under Alex’s roof.
He took out a container of pre-cut tiny sandwiches and sat himself and Idris on the floor right there. “Here.” He handed over one with cream cheese filling. Idris took it with both hands and started stuffing his face. “Careful… Don’t choke.”
Idris grinned at him, his teeth covered in food, reminding Merlin that after this, they’d have to go back into the bathroom to brush. He suppressed a sigh. How had his life turned this much? Things he never would have thought he’d be not only asked, but willing to do had become second nature to him. It all came back to Annika. Her dominion over him should have caused him resentment. And it had at first, his body responding automatically while his mind had rebelled. Now, the fight had fled, leaving him with almost a sense of inner peace. It was sort of like being under Dracul’s rule, except this one felt…right, and there was no fear associated with it. He was sitting on the floor catering to a toddler and was content to do so.
He didn’t want to lose this feeling, ever.
* * * *
Christos looked back with fondness on his time spent at the food shelter. He’d only thought it had been boring. Compared to watching the club in full swing, it had been captivating. This was excruciating. He simply couldn’t understand the appeal of all that noise and the spectacle of mostly naked young men gyrating around, up and down poles. Sure, it had been impressive the first few times he’d observed it. Now, it was humdrum. And rich men making drunken fools of themselves held no appeal at all as a form of entertainment.
No, slinging food onto plates and seeing the effect it had on needy youth was far more satisfying and rewarding. In fact, the more he watched, the more he realized that the disparity in this world between the haves and have-nots hadn’t changed much. Alex’s club was Versailles by another name. At least Christos’ mountain home had the benefit of restraint, although it also reminded him that he was sitting on a big pile of wealth himself and had done nothing meaningful with it.
Mateo, however, was obviously enjoying himself. A grin was plastered on his face and his eyes glowed from obvious happiness—and not only from the light cast by the television. He’d paused his viewing only long enough to take his meds and suffer a medical check-up by Demi. That hybrid was too clever by half, giving Christos a quick look that held the promise of untold horrors if he dared to hurt this vulnerable boy. He ignored the warning, if only because he would do worse to himself if he did what he wanted with increasing urgency.
That was the other reason why he was remembering his time spent at Our Safe Place with increasing nostalgia. Then, he’d had Mateo on his mind nearly constantly, like an unreachable itch that needed scratching. Now that he was in a position to satisfy that urge, it only made it worse. Lying next to the human was a whole other circle of hell. And that was true even if the kid hadn’t tossed that verbal bomb between them earlier. Watching it arouses me. Doesn’t it do that to you? Actually no. It was Mateo’s proximity, his unbridled joy and the clear scent of his arousal that was driving Christos mad. They could have been watching The Weather Channel for all he cared and his cock would still be painfully hard. Thank God he’d had the good sense to toss the edge of the comforter over his lap. It hid the obvious, although given the sly glances from Mateo, he didn’t think he was fooling him.
Needing a distraction, he asked, “Are you hungry? I can go get some food from the kitchen.” He had a half-formed idea of jerking off along the way. Yeah, like that’s going to help.
Mateo surprised him by rolling onto his side, facing him. “What if I said I had a taste for something else?”
Please don’t say for my dick.
“Like your dick.”
Ah fuck! He turned his head and gave what he hoped was a stern look. “You really need to learn a new refrain. This song of yours is getting old.” He nearly took his words back immediately when he saw Mateo’s expression.
The boy flopped onto his back again. “Why are you so mean?”
Affronted, Christos barked, “I am not mean.”
“Yes, you are. You lie here with me watching all of this porn-light stuff then deny me any release.”
He gaped with outrage. “First of all,” he ground out when he managed to take in a breath, “this was your choice, not mine. I’d rather watch that princess crap of Annika’s than the ridiculous bacchanalia going on downstairs. Second, we both know that you’re only trying to get me to use you as a form of misguided payment. I will not be another exploitative man in your life. Which reminds me… Sergeant Jefferson was at Our Safe Place earlier, asking about you.”
“Oh?” Mateo sounded alarmed. “What did he want?”
Christos regretted lobbing that information as part of his tirade. “Nothing bad,” he soothed. “He was worried about you, that’s all. He hoped to find you there and was pleased to learn that you were safe.”
After a few moments, Mateo said, “That was nice of him. He was a good guy. I kept expecting him to hit on me, even when he said he was only trying to help. He never did. Maybe he’s not gay.”
“He’s gay all right, because he was hitting on Alun, of all people.”
“I have no idea who that is.”
Christos cringed. Of course not. Mateo had so seamlessly integrated into his life that he forgot that he wasn’t acquainted with the whole family or privy to their affairs. He needed to watch out that he didn’t say anything inappropriate.
“He’s a family member who helps out with serving the food. You would have run into him if you’d been there prior to that day we met.”
“I see. Well, that’s nice. Jefferson deserves to be happy, I guess. We all do.”
“He is obviously a good man. Gay or straight, only bad people prey on the vulnerable.”
“Which brings us back to…us.”
“There is no ‘us’, Mateo.”
The human blew out a breath. “Fine, be that way. If you think this is all about my rewarding you for helping me, you are being really insulting. I don’t suppose it’s ever occurred to you that I’m being the predator here.”
Christos gave a short laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”
“You think so. Look.”
Against his better judgment, Christos turned to give his full a
ttention to the boy. The sight that greeted him dried his spit. Mateo had pushed the covers away and tugged the waistband of his pajamas past his crotch. His slender cock was fully erect, bobbing a few inches above his perfectly flat abdomen. A pearl of pre-cum glistened at the slit. Christos gaped like a landed fish. His balls cramped and his dick jerked like a dog straining at its leash.
“See how much better I’m feeling.” Mateo practically purred. “Tell me your cock doesn’t want to come out to play.”
“Sweet Jesus, put that thing away.”
“Why, because you think that’s what’s best for me? I bet I’d get a really good night’s sleep if you fuck me, and everyone knows that sleep is the best medicine when you’re sick.”
The little brat actually fluttered his eyelashes at me.
Christos nearly swallowed his tongue. When he found his voice again, he said, “I’m not going to fuck you,” with as firm a tone as he could manage.
“Oh.” Mateo pouted, making those lips even more tempting. “If it’s a matter of condoms and lube, I bet there’s lots to be found in this place if you know where to look. I ran out of my stash and couldn’t afford to buy more. That’s why I was offering a blow job and not more when we first met.”
That cold reminder of their situation was a blessing. It helped quench Christos’ increasing thirst for the boy, although it did nothing to decrease his appetite for his blood. More enticing than anything else was the lure of that which hummed through Mateo’s veins and the quick throb of his pulse. Christos couldn’t help licking his lips at the thought of sinking his fangs into the human’s neck.
And that was what gave him the perfect solution. He wanted Mateo yet didn’t want to exploit him. If it were about serving his own sexual needs, there was no way around that problem. Seeing that the boy himself was aroused and obviously interested in sex gave him a loophole. If this became exclusively about Mateo’s pleasure, then there was no harm in it. Christos would be only giving and taking nothing in return. Okay, point of order… Making the boy come would be immensely satisfying, but that was collateral damage. It couldn’t be helped. It only took a millisecond for him to be convinced of the rightness of his actions.
Pleased with his plan, he surprised Mateo by reaching out and clasping the boy’s shaft with a firm grip. The gasp he elicited was most gratifying. “When was the last time someone gave you a blow job?”
Mateo’s eyes widened before slinking down to half-mast. “Some guys get off—”
Christos quickly put his finger on Mateo’s lips to shut him up. “I don’t mean as a transactional act. When was the last time someone sucked your lovely dick simply for the pleasure it would bring you both?”
The human shook his head slowly, as if to say there hadn’t ever been an occasion when sex had been a mutual and spontaneous act. The idea that Mateo might never have experienced a sexual encounter that hadn’t been for survival broke his heart. He’d thought giving him a safe job and place to heal was the best he could do for him. Maybe he’d been wrong. Pleasure for pleasure’s sake might be a far better gift.
“Allow me to make you feel good. Everything is for you tonight, Mateo. I want nothing in return. I won’t accept anything in return. Do you understand?” When the boy nodded, Christos took his finger away and maneuvered to loosely straddle Mateo’s body. “Don’t hesitate to tell me what you want, what you like, what you don’t like.”
Mateo nodded again, then said, “I would like you to kiss me.”
Christos hesitated. Damn, that was not a good idea. It was too intimate and personal. This was supposed to be almost a clinical act, medical with a big dose of compassion thrown in.
“No one ever really has,” the boy added.
That was probably a lie, although also true in the sense that no man had likely kissed him because it made Mateo happy.
In the end, his internal war was short-lived with an inevitable outcome. He leaned over and, bracing himself with one hand, pressed his lips against the boy’s. He’d intended to make it light and quick. But the moment he felt that soft, warm skin against his own, he was lost. A quick peck, or twenty, was out of the question. A hunger for something more overcame him. He slanted his mouth to slide it back and forth, deepening the pressure with each pass. Mateo remained pliant under the gentle assault. When Christos gave in to the inevitable lure of tasting some of him, the boy didn’t hesitate to open on a soft sigh.
The treat was oh so delicious, almost as good as blood. He worked his tongue around every nook and cranny of Mateo’s mouth. The boy almost shyly entwined his tongue with Christos’, leading to a slow wrestle that somehow left them both panting when Christos finally pulled back. He didn’t go far, however. His self-restraint didn’t hold. He peppered Mateo’s cheek and jaw with kisses before descending to his throat and resting at the base of it. With closed eyes, he pressed his nose and lips against the jugular and simply breathed in the tantalizing scent that lay right beneath the thin layer of skin.
Mateo shuddered and his cock jerked within Christos’ grip. “W-what are you doing?”
“Something wicked, more perverse than you can imagine,” he confessed. Getting a hold of himself, he pulled back to sit on his heels. If he didn’t create distance between them, the temptation to do more would test the limits of his strength.
Mateo looked at him with blown pupils and a provocative grin. “It didn’t feel like it.”
“You have no idea.”
Because the impulse to do it again, and more, was strong, he forced himself to concentrate on what he held. Mateo’s dick was hot and hard but also satiny smooth and almost alive in its vibrancy. Beneath the shaft, the boy’s small balls curled up tightly. Christos used his other hand to cup and roll them. He was rewarded with a long, low moan from Mateo. Pleased with the results, he did it again while jerking the boy’s dick slowly. How fortunate they were to have landed on a planet with beings with such similar biology to their own. He knew what to do with this treasure, how to make this experience satisfying for Mateo.
When he pulled the tight skin to the tip and ran his thumb through the slit, Mateo arched into the touch and fisted the sheet beneath him. Naturally Christos repeated the motion, over and over. He quickly learned this particular human’s body. There were always individual differences and preferences to take into account with a new lover—not that he’d taken many. It wasn’t hard to do this time around. Mateo gave away everything with an unbridled joy that delighted Christos. How could it not? It seemed that this boy was wholly sensual, his body open to lots of different touches. A stroke here and a pinch there elicited amazing sounds and movements. The underlying message each time Mateo moaned or twisted was ‘more, more, more’.
Christos was happy to give him what he wanted, appreciating every reaction, enjoying watching as Mateo’s arousal ratcheted higher. Each time, however, when it appeared that the boy was on the verge of coming, he felt a disappointment that it was ending so soon. If he could, he would keep at it all night. He repeatedly gripped the base of the shaft hard, to quell the orgasm. The first time he did it, Mateo pounded the bed and grunted in frustration, so Christos eased back.
“Don’t you like that?”
“I love it.”
The sincerity behind the declaration was obvious to him, so he edged the boy a few more times with his hand before deciding it was time to get to the part he’d promised right from the start. Scooting back, he leaned over and took only the cockhead in his mouth. The salty tang of pre-cum hit his tongue, and now it was his turn to moan. It had been a long time since he’d had the treat of tasting that which reminded him of blood—salty with a hint of bitter. It wasn’t quite enough to quench his thirst but it would do. He continued to work the shaft and balls with his hand while feasting on just that bit of cock.
Mateo thrashed his head. “Take me all the way down. Please!”
Christos wanted to prolong the pleasure for them both, but the boy had been terribly sick and still was. It wouldn’t
do to set him back in his recovery and have to explain to Harry the how and the why of it. So, he did as the human demanded, letting go of his grip on the dick and swallowing it down to the root. He pressed his lips against the boy’s pubic bone and, once again, he inhaled what he could of the fragrance beneath the skin. Then he squeezed his balls at the same time he worked the shaft with the muscles of his throat.
Seconds later, Mateo cried out and bucked into Christos’ face. There was no chance that the boy could dislodge him, even if he truly wanted to. Using his head alone, Christos kept him in place, riding out the orgasm until Mateo collapsed boneless beneath him. He let go of his balls but took longer to release his dick, slowly pulling back until only the head remained. And before he let go of that, he scraped his teeth against it and was rewarded when Mateo shuddered once more. A tiny bit of cum hit Christos’ lips. He licked it like a cat with cream.
He sat back on his heels, satisfied to a degree that surprised him. As new as this experience had been for the boy, so too it was for him. Sex had always been a relatively quick, mutual release that was as selfish as it had been generous. He couldn’t think of an occasion when he’d been intent on only giving without any expectation, or even desire, for something in exchange.
“There. Think you can sleep well now?” he asked.
“Ugh,” was the only reply he received.
Grinning, Christos swung his leg over and grabbed the remote as he settled against the headboard. He turned off the TV, plunging the room into darkness that was only relieved by a light from the hallway shining under the door.
“Hey,” Mateo said in a sleepy voice, “I was watching that.”
“Not anymore. It’s late and you’re still sick. Cover up and go to sleep.”
“Do I have to?” He sounded like a child, reminding Christos that he practically was.
Final Dance: Part One (Alien Blood Wars Book 8) Page 11
