Darin had thought that Axoev simply didn’t understand how badly the others were treating him when Axoev wasn’t looking, but now Darin realized he probably did. Axoev had hoped that Darin would willingly leave. It would be easier if Darin made the decision. And Darin had because he just couldn’t take a lifetime of being treated like the scapegoat for the whole village. However, almost losing Axoev put everything into perspective. Darin had overcome adversity before. He’d been teased for being the runt, for being a nerd, for bending the grading curve so far it was practically a straight line down from his score.
“If I got through that, I sure as hell can get through this.” And the first thing he was going to do was let Axoev wallow in his pity party. Darin certainly had spent enough time in those waters. Until Axoev could man up and accept some help, then there was no hope for them.
Darin climbed down, gathered the things from the box, and returned to the swimming hole at the creek. He almost called out to Axoev but stopped short. Something was wrong. His head was bent so low it was practically in the water.
Scared almost out of his skin, Darin dropped his supplies and went running. Just short of tossing himself in he realized Axoev wasn’t drowning. He was crying. The hard part Darin had built around his heart shattered. Had his sharp words been too pointed? He had wanted to hurt Axoev but not this badly. Darin’s intent had been to make him see that there was nothing wrong with them being in love.
Rather than intrude, and perhaps make Axoev feel worse for having been caught doing something that no manly man ever wanted to be caught doing, Darin stepped back. He stood watching, conflicted about the feelings that swept over him. He’d been so scared when he saw Axoev in the pit. He’d known in that instant he loved him and always would. Saving him, fixing his arms, and then being rejected had infuriated Darin. Refusing to be broken by his macho arrogance had turned him heartless for a while. But he didn’t have to keep on with that attitude. Gathering up the items, Darin made a lot of noise as he walked toward the water, giving Axoev fair warning that he was coming.
What stunned him and touched his heart was that Axoev made no effort to hide his tears. Darin was expecting him to face plant in the water to wash away the shame, but Axoev stayed right where he was, his unique alien gaze tracking every move Darin made.
“I brought everything we’ll need for the fire tonight.” Darin had included the blanket.
“That needs to go to Sieg. It’s the leader’s blanket.”
“Well, we’ll do that later.”
“You didn’t get dressed.”
“No.” Darin looked down. “I brought it for later, but I wanted to clean up so…”
“It doesn’t bother you anymore to go bare?”
“Not anymore.” Darin grabbed the soap and entered the water. He took his time smoothing out Axoev’s hair before he washed it.
“Aren’t you going to ask?”
“About?”
“Why I was crying.”
Darin stopped stroking the soap over Axoev’s back. “Do you want to tell me?”
When Axoev remained silent, Darin started up again.
“I love you.”
Darin almost dropped the soap. “I love you, too.”
“I can’t have you anymore.”
“Says who?”
“I already told you what—”
“I know,” Darin cut him off. He didn’t want to hear that crap again. He came around to Axoev’s front. “Stand up.”
Axoev did and managed to keep his arms still.
Darin washed him gently, spending way more time on his ass than he needed to.
“I do not think I can get any cleaner there.”
“I know. It’s just such an amazing ass. So tight and strong.” Darin gave him a love slap then came around to the front. He washed Axoev’s legs then went after the spot he’d deliberately avoided until now.
“You don’t have to clean me there.”
“It’s passion fire tonight. You want to be clean if someone sits on your blanket.”
“No one—” Whatever he was going to say was abruptly cut off when Darin eased his soapy hand up and down Axoev’s shaft. Each pass enlarged him, hardened him, and then Darin grew bolder. He slid his other hand around Axoev’s balls. Cupping them and then working them in his soapy hand caused Axoev to hold so still he almost stopped breathing. “Please don’t pity me.”
“Pity you? No, no. If I felt sorry for you, I wouldn’t even bother to get you ready for tonight. Sieg told me to take care of you, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Darin realized he could continue to go along with Axoev’s notion that he had to give him away. He was pretty certain he could find a way around anything. Even Sieg’s apparently bottomless lust. If Darin told Sieg that he was in love with Axoev, then Sieg would probably let him stay with Axoev. Besides, it wasn’t like Sieg was going to be lonely. When Darin had walked past the other trees, he saw several women gathering primping items from Inin’s storage house.
“How is this to ready me?” Axoev struggled to stand upright while Darin kept right on teasing his cock and balls.
“You don’t want to go off too fast, do you?” Darin peered up. “A new lover will expect you to last. By giving you a release, you’ll be able to go on for much longer.”
“I don’t—I won’t—just finish me.”
“Gladly.” Darin took his sweet time. He kept building Axoev up to the point of release and then held him off. He did this four times. Axoev’s legs were shaking, his cock was twitching, and his entire body felt as tight as a fresh cellophane wrapper on a new game. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Axoev said one word with a torturous pleading.
“Just checking.” Darin grinned up at him.
“You are going to tease me until the fire.”
“No.” Darin shook his head and then redoubled his efforts to make Axoev climax. He would love to add his lips to the mix, but he was too busy watching the emotions flicker over Axoev’s face. It was clear he was thinking this would be the last time he’d get to experience Darin’s talented hands.
“I would be inside you.”
Darin shook his head. “I’d only have to clean you again.”
“I love you. I will always love you.” The confession poured out of Axoev as he surrendered to his release.
Darin had never seen Axoev climax so hard or so long. Fearing that he would collapse back into the water and possibly reinjure his arms, Darin helped to ease him down. After giving him a moment to recover, Darin ensured all the suds were washed away.
“There. Now, let’s get you dried off and ready.” The sun was setting, signaling the start of the fire. Since there was certainly business that needed to be attended to this evening, the men of the clan would be around the fire pit earlier than usual.
“Kiss me.”
Darin shook his head. “I shouldn’t.” He wanted to. Desperately he wanted to, but he knew if he did he wouldn’t be able to stop or keep up his charade. His goal wasn’t to hurt Axoev so much as it was to make it clear that, though Darin might have a label on his head, that didn’t define who he was or what he would do. Axoev believed that since he’d captured Darin he in some way owned him, when the truth was Darin allowed him to think that. No one owned Darin but Darin. Of that fact, he had not one doubt. The trick tonight was in getting everyone else to realize that unassailable truth.
Rather than argue with him, Axoev allowed himself to be dried off, dressed, and primped. Darin then took time dressing himself. He made sure that he pulled his faunsha outfit on slowly and adjusted it repeatedly, all the while giving Axoev a ringside seat. When Darin bent over to check the fit of the straps, he heard poor Axoev groan softly despite the fact he’d just climaxed so hard it was a wonder he was still able to move.
Feeling the fear but moving forward anyway, Darin scooped up the blanket and the other items and walked toward the fire pit. He didn’t rush, but he didn’t tarry. One way or another, everything wo
uld be resolved tonight. Either he would stay with Axoev or he would go to Sieg. Darin had already decided what he was going to do so the question was, what would Sieg do?
Someone had already started a small fire that the men would add to. Darin took the blanket and spread it out in Axoev’s usual spot.
“I can’t sit on that blanket.”
“It’s a blanket, Axoev. Not a weapon or the man you love.” Darin peered at him and lifted his brows. “If Sieg wants it that badly, he can take it afterward. Please sit down.”
Rather than ask for Darin’s assistance, Axoev lowered himself to the blanket with surprising grace considering he couldn’t use his arms.
“See? The world did not end.” Darin plunked himself down on the edge away from Axoev. He kept space between them just like he had the first time he’d come to the fire. He’d discovered that Axoev was surprisingly visual. He enjoyed looking, so tonight Darin made certain he got an eyeful.
Slowly the circle around the fire pit filled with stretched-out blankets and eager men who each brought fuel for the fire. Since Axoev couldn’t toss in a log, Darin did it for him. All gazes followed Darin from the moment he rose until the moment he sat down. He felt oddly exposed. He’d been naked most of the day, yet dressed in an outfit he was actually used to now, he felt naked. It was strange. Darin figured they were looking at him wondering what would happen tonight. It seemed everyone thought they had a say in Darin’s fate when the truth was Darin wasn’t going anywhere he didn’t want to go.
As the new leader, Sieg went last. After tossing in his log, he considered the men in the circle. “I became leader today.”
There was a long beat of silence, and though Darin couldn’t see Axoev sitting behind him, he felt him tense up because he pulled on the blanket, making it shift under Darin’s naked buttocks.
“But it is an honor I do not want.”
Gasps and a general hubbub of disagreement followed this remark.
“I will carry the weapon of the leader only until our true leader is restored to health.”
“You cannot do that,” Nemro snarled.
Everyone glared at him. Darin wondered if Nemro would leave before the trees emitted their perfume. Usually, he departed right after business was done. He only came back to put out the fire.
“He is right. Once you’ve taken the weapon, the responsibility falls on you.” Axoev sounded touched by Sieg’s generosity, but it was clear he was going to cling to his manly honor no matter how much it hurt him to do so. How was it he could let Darin see him cry but he refused to show the men he’d known all his life that he could be vulnerable?
“Since I am leader, not you, what I say goes.” Sieg removed the weapon from his back and placed it at the top of his blanket. “Now that I have said that, there is the issue of the faunsha.”
Darin stood.
The moment spun out. He tried not to shake or show any reaction, but he wasn’t certain if he’d succeeded or not. His heart was pounding, and his mouth was so dry it would give the Mohave Desert competition.
“You gave him to me.” Sieg addressed Axoev then darted his gaze to Darin’s. “He is the most beautiful faunsha I have ever seen.”
Darin’s heart sank. He’d hoped Sieg would see that there was true love between Darin and Axoev. Maybe he would see that if his lust wasn’t blocking the view. Didn’t Sieg have enough people to fuck? Half the village women spent time on his blanket or in his tree. Even though Axoev was the leader, the biggest tree was really Sieg’s. And it wasn’t much wonder when most of the children running around were certainly his.
“Come here.”
Even though he didn’t want to, Darin went toward Sieg. If he refused, it might look bad on Axoev that he had a disobedient slave. As much as Darin thought he could explain everything to Sieg, he would have to do so before the scent invaded the village and made everyone mindless fucking machines. Darin had only experienced the erotic essence once, but he recognized how powerful it was. Sieg would most certainly hunger for Darin, and though Darin didn’t want him, he wouldn’t be able to say no. Not that he wouldn’t try, because he would, and he’d resist, but Sieg was bigger and Axoev had given him the right.
Then and there, Darin decided he had to run. He couldn’t have sex with Sieg. He was handsome, and there were a lot of good things about him, but Darin loved Axoev. He opened his mouth to confess this truth to Sieg, but Sieg cut him off.
“Today, I saw you do something that no other man knew how to do, and that was rescue one of our own from a lighone pit. Hundreds of our finest hunters have fallen prey to those vicious creatures, but not this day. You lived up to your name, He who Dares. By saving our leader, you have earned the right to be a member of our clan.”
Darin stood there utterly dumbfounded.
“For once, he doesn’t argue with his words or his eyes.” Sieg’s smile was kind, and his eyes glittered with suppressed mirth.
“I thought—I thought you were going to claim me for your own.”
Sieg cupped Darin’s chin possessively, and Darin swore he heard Axoev growl like a beast in the background. “You are beyond handsome. None other has hair so bright or eyes so blue.” Sieg’s thumb traced Darin’s lower lip speculatively. “But I have enough holes to fill.”
The remark caused the men in the circle to burst into laughter, including Axoev. Sieg released Darin and nudged him back toward Axoev’s blanket. Darin went to him, but before he could settle in, Sieg called for his attention and Darin turned.
“Hosi has a gift for you.”
Hosi stood. He was one of the older men of the clan, but he was still strong and virile enough to participate in the fire. In his hand he had what looked like a bundled-up blanket but turned out to be a pair of leather pants. Grinning, he offered them out, and Darin took them with trembling hands. To an outsider it would seem so minor, but to Darin the pants symbolized everything he’d been denied. Men wore pants. Literally and figuratively. The women wore long skirts with wide hems that could be pulled up and used as a makeshift basket. Children also wore dresses that were shorter, but not so short they matched what Darin had been wearing. Only a faunsha was put on display for all to see.
“Thank you.” Darin thought he was going to have to spend the next several fires proving to everyone that he was a worthy member of their clan, and he was prepared to wage that war, but it seemed he’d proved that without meaning to. His only goal had been self-serving. “I didn’t save him because I am brave.”
Sieg’s brows rose.
“I saved Axoev because I love him.”
“And just like him you cannot lie even when you are given a perfect opportunity to do so.” Sieg laughed, and the others joined him. “You two will make a good pair.”
Darin frowned as he considered the pants. “I thought your kind didn’t couple up?”
“Sometimes two or three will live together in the same tree.” Sieg pointed. “Did you think everyone had their own tree?”
“Well, yes.” Belatedly, Darin realized he hadn’t really paid much attention to what the clanspeople were doing. Since they could pick and choose whose blanket to sit on, he didn’t think they had family units in the classical sense. “In my defense, you seem to have a rotating door on your blanket.”
Sieg flashed a lascivious grin. “And to think you could have been one of my revolving doors.”
Darin understood what Sieg was saying despite the fact he’d mixed up Darin’s metaphor a bit. It didn’t matter. He clutched the pants to his chest. “Thank you, Hosi. I’m sure they will fit well as you are a master tailor.”
Hosi grinned as he sat a little straighter on his blanket.
“You will not put them on now?” Sieg seemed taken aback.
“They would not be on me for long, so I will wait for morning.”
All the men laughed, including Axoev. When Darin knelt on the blanket and set the pants aside, he finally looked at Axoev. He was happy. Truly, deeply, and thoroughly happy. He stil
l couldn’t move his arms, but he didn’t seem to be as concerned about it as he had before.
“Have you nothing to say, Axoev?” Sieg settled down on his blanket, right in the center so there was plenty of room around him. With the gleaming axe at the top, he would only attract more ladies to his blanket tonight.
“You did what I could not.” Axoev held his arms still, but Darin swore if he could have he would have reached out and stroked his hand down Darin’s hair. “I wished to make him a member of the tribe, but I couldn’t because he was my faunsha.”
“I wish I had known that,” Darin grumbled.
“You wished to know that I couldn’t do something?”
“Well, no, but that you wanted to would have meant you were at least thinking about it.”
“Only a leader can grant inclusion in the clan but not of his own slave.” Axoev shook his head lightly. “That is not allowed.”
“Right. Smacks of nepotism. Or something like that since nepotism is for family members and I’m way too excited to think clearly or find another word.”
“It is done so a leader isn’t swayed by his lust.” Axoev gave Darin a look so filled with lust he practically climaxed on the spot. While he was prepping Axoev for the fire, he should have taken the time to tend to himself.
“And you think Sieg wasn’t swayed by his lust?” one of the men called, forcing Darin and Axoev to look around the circle. It was Pabb, the one who’d helped Sieg drag Axoev back to camp. “He only wants your pretty little creature around to watch you two fuck.”
“As if he has time to look when he is tending to his multiple women,” Darin pointed out.
“He has that talent you spoke of…” Pabb trailed off, trying to remember the word. “Multitasking!” Pabb lifted his finger triumphantly when he remembered. “Sieg can do many things at once like fuck and watch others fuck.”
Enslaved by a Barbarian [Sold! 6] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 11
