Either way, I could respect what he was telling me, in terms of the two of them. He was right; that end of it was a friendship thing.
So I nodded, softening my light. Shifting my weight, I snuggled my back into his chest.
All right. None of my business. Got it.
I didn’t say anything more for awhile. I just leaned there, feeding him light and waiting for him to get over it. Still holding my shoulder, he gradually relaxed.
I felt it take him a few tries to let it go.
When I glanced up next, his eyes were glowing again. That heat had returned to his expression, but I saw and felt more possessiveness in it that time. When I didn’t look away, he dropped his lips to my ear, that time speaking in a bare murmur so we wouldn’t be overheard.
“I want veto power,” he said.
I felt my chest clench, but I only nodded, once.
“Yes,” I murmured back. “…Of course.”
“Good,” he said. He nuzzled my face. I felt a denser coil of pain leave his light, not all of it separation pain. His voice remained low. “Jorag. Surli. Balidor.”
“All ‘no’ I take it?” I murmured.
Yes. Hard no.
I nodded, barely perceptible.
“…No on Chan now, too.”
I sent him a pulse of warmth, rolling my eyes a little.
He seemed to be thinking. A harder stab of pain left his light. “You sleep with Jaden and I’ll fucking kill him,” he said, softer.
I flinched, looking up.
His jaw only hardened.
“Zero promises, Alyson. Zero…I might even do it in front of you.”
I started to answer, but his fingers exuded a warning pulse.
I felt reassurance there, what might have been an apology.
He didn’t retract the threat, though…and I honestly couldn’t decide if his words had been theatrics, meant for ears other than mine, or if he really meant them. I was still turning that over in my mind when he spoke again, pressing his mouth to my ear.
“What if I picked the person?” he said, a bare murmur. “Would you go with who I picked? Would you trust me to do it for the right reasons?”
I looked up, startled. I honestly couldn’t tell if he was serious about that, either.
Once I met his gaze, however, I knew he was.
“How would I even know?” I said, as soft as him. “Or are you going to tell me?”
“You’ll know,” he said.
I frowned slightly, but didn’t argue.
I felt him watching me minutely as I turned over his words.
Then I nodded, once. “Yes.”
Relief expanded off him. “Really?”
“Yes.”
The pain coming off him worsened exponentially. I felt something else there too, what might have trepidation…or maybe guilt…or maybe it was more jealousy. I honestly couldn’t tell if any of that was meant for me, either.
I was still trying to decide when he lowered his mouth to my neck.
That time he bit me…hard.
Hard enough to break the skin, and to make me gasp, in surprise as much as anything. He was kissing me then, sucking on my skin with his tongue and lips. I closed my eyes, unable to move as he wrapped his fingers around my face and the back of my head, tugging my head sideways so he had more access to my neck. He pressed against me as he did it, his light sensual once more, pulling on me so hard I lost control over mine. I leaned my face into his chest, fighting to breathe as he massaged my thigh, still kissing my neck.
A few minutes later, he pressed his face against mine, still caressing my hair and jaw with the hand that held both.
“I need this,” he murmured against my neck. “Allie…I need this. Can we go over by the pool? Or do you want to stay here?”
I felt my face tighten. I could feel enough to know it was some combination of nerves and desire, adrenaline mixed with pain, worsening that sick feeling in my gut.
I needed this, too. So badly I couldn’t think straight anymore.
We could talk about the rest of it later. Or not.
I turned my head, gazing at the lit swimming pool.
Someone must have cleaned that out, too. It looked beyond inviting, for more reasons than one. Golden lights shone from under the blue water. The edge of the pool itself was surrounded by small, flickering torches in and among the taller palm trees. Even with seers talking around us, I could hear the soothing sounds of a waterfall from the elevated platform that housed a ten-person hot tub. We were still above it where we sat, so I could see the steam rising from the bubbles, dancing across the red and orange lit water in faint, smoke-like curls.
They’d really gone all out for this. I wondered if that was Revik, too.
“Let’s go over there,” I said.
My voice came out gruff.
At his silence I glanced up.
I caught him staring at my face. His eyes shone brighter as I returned his look and I heard and felt a few of the others murmuring, staring at his eyes. I could tell some of them liked it and it unnerved others, but I almost didn’t care.
Well, I did care. Mostly because I could feel some of them getting turned on. I felt some of them wanting him already, including that Mara chick, who I was about to punch in the face.
He blew warmth at me, reassurance.
His fingers traced my jaw, then continued to glide higher, over my skin and lips. He did it softly, sensually…almost lazily. That tension continued to ratchet up in his light even as he did it, until I could scarcely breathe.
I honestly don’t know who kissed who.
I know I couldn’t see straight not long after we started. I found myself curling my arms around his neck what felt like a heartbeat later, sitting astride his lap, gripping his hair with both of my hands. He let out a low sound when I slid closer to him, breaking off the kiss. When his light opened more I raised my head to look down at him.
He was fighting to breathe, staring up at me, his eyes a thousand shimmering green crystals, live wires running in the tiny lines making up his irises.
Gods, he was beautiful.
The next thing I knew, he had me pinned to the cushions by the table.
We kissed harder that time. I tried not to think about how long it had been since we’d even just kissed, but I could feel myself aware of it. The time. Too much time. Too many times, really. I could feel his awareness of it too, even as I fought to control my light.
I think I forgot everyone else until we’d been kissing a few minutes longer. Or maybe a lot of minutes longer. Revik had always been someone who liked to kiss…so was I. We’d joked about mutual oral fetishes more than once. Now it felt like it had been so long we were already acting light-drunk. Or sex-drunk…or kissing-drunk, maybe.
He was the one to slow things down, I know that.
He started using his light more, along with his lips and tongue.
At one point I realized I was reacting to other lights getting too close to ours, especially to his. Too close by a lot maybe, although I couldn’t think about it rationally enough to know if I was overreacting.
I looked up at Revik. I was pretty sure it must have been me who opened the front of his shirt although I couldn’t remember doing that, either…and he had a hand under my dress, wrapped around my ass, but otherwise we were still more or less clothed. He pressed his lower body against mine as I thought it, watching my eyes react.
When I gripped his hair tighter, he lowered his mouth obediently.
We were kissing again before I could remember what distracted me.
I tried to remember what mattered about the rest of the room. Details flitted through my mind, questions. Were the others just watching us, or were they back to their conversations? Were any of them having sex already?
Revik let out a low groan at the question, tugging harder on my hair.
More urgent things lived there, too, but quieter.
Was Tarsi still shielding us? Would she be able to shield Rev
ik enough if one of us lost control? Would we blow it all, just because we couldn’t handle being apart?
“Shut up, Allie…” he groaned, gripping my hair tighter.
We kissed again, and the questions faded, even as he sank his body more heavily into mine.
That anxiety lingered in the background of my light, though.
Revik raised himself off me, that time with a heavier groan. He was unbuckling his belt then, one-handed, leaning his shoulder into mine when he fell forward, losing his balance. He didn’t speak but I felt so much asking and pulling on his light I found myself responding as if he had. I pushed his hands out of the way then, and finished undoing his belt and pants. He groaned again as I did it, pressing into me, and that time I definitely felt flares of heat off of other seers around the nearest table. Some of them were familiar enough with Revik’s light that I gritted my teeth, fighting not to react.
I felt that female Mara again and my possessiveness grew almost homicidal.
Even as I lay there, trying to get my light under control, Revik sat up, more or less naked now, and I felt those reactions spark higher, especially in those sitting near enough to get a good look at him. He was fully extended, which didn’t surprise me, but when he put my hand back on him, I realized he was past the point where I could probably get him to retract.
I sent him a flicker of images instead and he groaned.
“No,” he said, his voice a groan again. He shook his head. “No…I don’t want that.”
He looked out over the table, scanning faces.
I didn’t feel desire on him aimed at anyone else, but I tensed anyway. I was gripping his arms then, pulling him back to me, trying to get his eyes back on me alone.
It’s all right, Allie…this is for you… he murmured. This is for you…
There was another pause while he looked around the table. Feeling some of them react to his stare, I felt that possessiveness worsen in my light.
Revik…stop it. Please…
Torek, he sent. He looked down at me. Are you okay with Torek? Or Raddi…you told me once you thought he was attractive…
Am I okay with them? I asked, alarmed. My mind slid back to our previous conversation, but he’d never ask me about that inside the Barrier, no matter who shielded us. Thinking about what he probably did mean, I wondered if Revik was really suggesting what I thought he was suggesting. Okay with them for what? I sent.
He didn’t answer.
I felt the pain in his light worsen.
I barely could wrap my head around what he might be doing when he motioned towards someone with his head, indicating for them to come closer. I felt my whole body clench, my muscles turning to rock.
Revik was caressing me then with both hands, his light bleeding reassurance.
You wanted this, he sent, soft. You wanted this, Allie…you asked me for it. Let me do this for you. Please…then we can fuck. We’ll fuck for a really long time after…
I felt the pain and misgiving in my light worsen.
Raddi was sitting beside us then, and I felt that pain shift into a kind of panic. I didn’t know which thing Revik was talking about that I wanted.
I didn’t know what the hell he was––
But Revik was already leaning by Raddi’s ear, murmuring to him, talking to him low, cajoling, in Prexci. It wasn’t so low I couldn’t hear him, though, and I realized Revik wanted me to hear, that there was still some element of asking permission in his light.
“My wife wants to watch me give head, brother,” he said, glancing down at me. When I didn’t move, or shake my head to his lifted eyebrow, he looked back at Raddi.
“Are you all right with that, brother?” he said.
Raddi’s light exuded a thick pulse of heat, intense enough that it caught my breath.
Before I could really think about what Revik had said, the other infiltrator was already unhooking his belt, his eagerness turning into a more aggressive urgency, even as the fingers from Raddi’s free hand curled into my hair, clenching there. Once he had his pants undone, he caught hold of Revik’s hair with his other hand.
The aggression in his light intensified.
“Don’t get angry at me if I look at your wife,” Raddi murmured, still clutching Revik’s hair. He leaned his face closer, kissing Revik’s cheek. His hand tightened on me right before I saw him look down, staring at my face before returning his eyes to Revik. “I’m going to look at you too, brother,” he said softer. “…I promise you I will. But I won’t be able to help myself…don’t get angry, please…”
I felt pain on Revik at his words, but he only nodded.
Then he lowered his mouth.
I watched, lost there in spite of the confused mess of emotional reactions that crashed violently into my light. As soon as I realized what he was doing, that he wasn’t just playing around with the idea this time but actually doing it, my pain worsened exponentially, twisting into a more intense jealousy as I watched. A part of me couldn’t believe it, I think. That same part also couldn’t look away.
I’d never seen him with anyone else, not like this.
I’d watched him fuck Kat briefly that time I walked in on them in D.C.
I’d seen his past from the Barrier, including past lovers, and I’d once seen him with someone in the present from the Barrier, too…but I’d never seen him like this, with him doing it right in front of me, his light so wrapped in mine that I couldn’t think straight.
Raddi let out a heavy gasp after a few minutes of having Revik’s mouth on him.
Then I was helping Revik, sliding deeper into his light when he opened, showing him things I’d learned from the Lao Hu…things I’d learned with my light and tongue. I don’t know why I did it…maybe because I was jealous and wanted to be more involved.
Maybe to turn Revik on more, I don’t know.
Or to make him jealous.
Whichever of those things it had been, I’m pretty sure all three of them worked.
He let out a low groan as he fought to copy what I showed him, jealousy pluming out of his light as his hand tightened on mine. A few minutes after that, Raddi was crying out, gripping Revik’s hair with both hands, looking at me. Then Raddi’s light invaded mine along with Revik’s, his pain growing so intense I couldn’t think straight.
Revik shoved him violently off my light.
Raddi retracted at once, but only groaned.
“Gaos,” Raddi said, groaning again. He lowered his mouth to Revik’s ear, speaking to both of us. “Gaos, fuck her, brother. She’s in so much pain…please. Fuck her while you do this to me…please…I’ll do anything you ask…please…please…”
I can’t, Revik sent to both of us. I can’t…I want to, but I can’t…
I slid my fingers around him as he said it, and felt the truth in his words.
It hit me suddenly what he was doing…part of what he was doing, anyway. In addition to the rest, he was using Raddi’s light to calm down his own.
He thought he could use Raddi’s orgasm…along with the contact with Raddi’s light and mine. He thought he’d be able to use both well enough to retract afterwards. He’d preferred this to me getting him off with my hand or mouth.
When he finally came, he wanted to do it inside me. I felt that, too.
He let out a low groan, hearing my thoughts. His fingers tightened on me again, even as he slid his tongue over Raddi.
I don’t want you to jerk me off, Allie…not tonight. Not tonight…
His bizarre Revik-logic even made sense to me in that fogged state, but it also made me crazy. He was also doing it for me, I realized.
He thought of this thing with Raddi as a favor…a gift, maybe.
The pain in my light worsened as that understanding reached me, more than I could stand briefly. Even as I thought it, Revik reached down with a hand, forcing me to let go of him.
Stop, he sent, his pain coiling into me. Please stop…Allie. I’m going to fucking come…I don’t want to come like
that…please…I’m barely holding it now…
So I let go of him, gripping his sides instead.
I watched him with Raddi, feeling that pool of pain and jealousy worsen in my gut. I slid deeper into his light, helping him again…until I felt both of them fighting not to come. I heard Raddi ask Revik to undress me and felt the corresponding flush of anger in Revik’s light. My own jealousy worsened when Raddi went back to stroking Revik’s hair, calming him with his light and fingers and voice.
It was turning me on, though…what they were doing to each other, I mean. I couldn’t deny that much, even if I grew conscious of others watching us again.
I felt coils of jealousy aimed at Raddi too, and not only from me.
But yeah, mostly it was turning me on…by then, it was turning me on so badly I could barely stand it. I found myself pulling on Revik with my light so hard that he groaned, taking his mouth off the other male altogether and leaning his face against his abdomen so he could gasp out breaths. He looked down at me while I watched, his eyes glowing a bright, emerald green, his jaw hard with pain.
Raddi pulled away from him then, his hand on his own cock.
He came bare seconds later, groaning, his other hand clenched in my hair as he got off. I felt his light in both of ours now, even as Revik reacted to the hard flush of desire Raddi aimed at me.
I felt Revik’s light open as Raddi came.
I felt him grow almost submissive in those few seconds, in a way he never had with me…or maybe just in a different way than he did with me. Something about it made him feel strangely young. It reminded me of what I remembered of Revik as a kid in Bavaria, when he’d been constantly abused, pretty much by everyone around him.
It also reminded me of Revik’s light when I’d watched him walking with Dalejem on that pier in Macau. Both sets of memories sent shocks of pain into my light.
Some of that was separation pain…but some of it wasn’t.
I was still fighting with the conflict of emotions there as Revik slid his body back over mine, once more lying between my legs.
I watched him work to retract the hard end of his cock.
He managed it slowly…painfully…right before his light and hands turned on me. Yanking me down under him, he pulled the dress off me, pulling it down off my shoulders, then past my waist and hips and legs. He kissed me as he did it, gently at first and then harder, wrapping his arms around me as he got the dress off me entirely and lowered his weight.
Dragon: Allie's War Book Nine Page 16
