Aeron wasn’t sure how to answer that question, and the playfulness left him. He looked down, wondering if he’d be able to stand Jericho’s hands on his body, on his skin. In him.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jericho asked, and Aeron damned the fact that they were mates and that Jericho was obviously able to tell something was up even though they weren’t bonded yet.
“Nothing.” He knew Jericho wouldn’t let it pass, but he had to try. The last thing he wanted was to spill the beans right now.
Jericho snorted. “You really think I believe that? Come on. Tell me. Please.”
Aeron sighed and pulled his foot away. He hugged both knees to his chest, wondering how Jericho was going to take what Aeron was about to tell him and whether he himself was going to be able to actually talk about it. He never had. His friends knew about it, most of them anyway, but he hadn’t had to tell them.
“You know I’m half-werewolf,” he started. He might as well start from the beginning or Jericho wouldn’t understand.
“Yeah. You told me about it, remember?”
“My mother was the werewolf. My father’s tribe, the tribe I grew up with, didn’t want the tribe members to have outside relationships. They wanted to keep the Nix genes pure, or something like that. Anyway, they probably would have closed an eye if my father had fallen in love with another type of fae, or even with a shifter, but with a werewolf? They didn’t. My father tried to leave, but they discovered him and they killed my mother. I was just a newborn, and they weren’t sure how much were there was in me yet, so they kept me. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t want to kill a newborn, I don’t know. I don’t care.”
The easiest part was out. Now Aeron would have to start on the hard one. “I wasn’t treated well, especially not after they realized I could actually shift, just like a full-blooded werewolf. They didn’t kill me or cast me out, though. Instead, they used me as the tribe’s do-it-all.”
“Do it all?”
“I was the one who had to do the stuff no one wanted to do. You know, cook and clean and stuff like that. Skin the animals the hunters brought back.”
“You were the tribe’s slave.”
Aeron shrugged. That was exactly what he’d been, but he didn’t want to say the words. He didn’t want to think about what his life had been before the pride, before Nysys and the others.
“What else?” Jericho asked, and Aeron wanted to look at him, but he was too scared of what he’d see on his mate’s face. He didn’t want the pity he usually got when people found out about what had happened to him, when they realized.
“It happened only once. The elders found out about it and they’re homophobic assholes, so they didn’t allow him to do it again.” Aeron said before he could rethink his decision.
There was a pause, and Aeron knew Jericho was thinking about what he’d said, putting his words together.
“Are you saying you were...” Jericho started, his voice fading toward the end of the sentence.
“I was raped, yes.” Aeron swallowed. The words were out, but he didn’t want to stop and think about them, about what happened. “Like I said, it was only once, and it happened a while ago. I got over it, but I haven’t really had the opportunity to be with someone since then, so I don’t know what I like in the bedroom, or how I’ll react if we try to, you know.”
“You don’t want to talk about it.”
“No. I never talk about it. My friends know, but it’s because the tribes are in contact and the tribe members gossip.”
“I’m not going to tell you that you should talk about it, not if you don’t want to, but I wanted to ask something.”
“As long as you don’t want details.”
“No details.”
“Go ahead.”
Aeron had no idea what Jericho wanted to ask, but he’d said no details, so he hoped it really didn’t have to do with that.
“You’ve never been with a man, right?”
“No, not if you don’t include... that.”
“I don’t.”
“Then no.”
“I know you said you don’t know for sure, but how do you think you’d react if I tried to penetrate you?”
Aeron flushed. The points of his ears felt warm, and he knew they were just as red as his face felt. “I have no idea.”
“All right.”
Aeron frowned and finally looked up. “All right what?”
Jericho didn’t look disgusted, or pitying. He didn’t have the playful edge he’d had when they’d first started talking about going to bed, but he was smiling, and when he reached for Aeron, Aeron let him touch his arm, stroke his hand along it.
“I understand we’ll have to take this slow.”
“That’s all you have to say about it?”
“What more should I say? What happened to you is terrible, and if you’d rather not have sex in any way, shape, or form, then it’s fine with me, but if you do want to give it a try and see what you can handle, then I’m fine with it. Sex isn’t only penetration. There are a lot of other things we can do.”
Aeron swallowed. It was tempting, so tempting. Jericho was his mate, and he wouldn’t hurt him. Aeron knew Jericho would let him do whatever they did at his own pace, that he wouldn’t push for more or for something different.
They could wait, but would it change anything? Aeron had been yearning for touch, for something more than a hug for so long. He knew he was safe and that what had happened wouldn’t happen again. He was strong now. He could get out of anything life threw at him.
He wanted to feel closer to Jericho, to see Jericho naked and to feel his skin under his fingertips, and he couldn’t have that if he let his past rule over his present. He hadn’t really cared until now, hadn’t ever found another man with whom he wanted to do this, but now he’d found his mate.
“Or we can stay here and watch the movie, or another one if you don’t like this one,” Jericho said. He moved his hand away, and Aeron wanted it back.
He grabbed Jericho’s hand and held it, probably too tightly, but Jericho didn’t protest. “You’ll stop if I need you to?” he asked, his voice trembling just a bit.
“Of course.”
“Then let’s go.”
* * * *
Jericho followed Aeron to his room, his stomach churning in anticipation. He didn’t know what they’d end up doing, what Aeron would be able to stand, but he wanted whatever Aeron was ready to give him. It would be the only time they were together, after all.
Jericho had decided to leave the mansion that night. He needed to get to Brad, and he needed to do it as soon as possible. It was the only way he might be able to stop Brad from attacking the pride again.
Aeron closed the door once Jericho was inside, and they stood there, staring at each other. Jericho wanted Aeron to take the first step, to make the first move. The last thing he wanted was to scare Aeron off or to make him feel like he had to do something.
“Shouldn’t we get naked or something?” Aeron asked, amusement tingeing his voice.
“If you want to.”
“It’d be easier.”
“And less messy.”
“So...”
Jericho chuckled. “Are you asking me to get naked with you, then?”
Aeron smiled, and the nervousness that had been present ever since the living room faded away. Jericho knew Aeron was still a bit nervous. He could tell by the way Aeron’s hands trembled as he reached for the first button of his shirt, by the way he was still avoiding Jericho’s gaze. But he was taking charge, and it was the most beautiful thing Jericho had ever seen.
He stared as Aeron finished unbuttoning his shirt with clumsy fingers. He let the shirt fall down his shoulders and slide off his arms. It pooled on the floor behind him as he took a deep breath and reached for his jeans, and Jericho wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay away, not even if he’d wanted to. And he didn’t.
Aeron stopped moving, but he didn’t back off, not even when Jericho put his hands on his hips, stroking the skin just over the jeans waist with his thumbs.
Aeron shivered and closed his eyes, and Jericho leaned down. He brushed their lips together in a first kiss that was slow and chaste, that gave Aeron the chance to back out of it.
Still, Aeron didn’t.
Instead he tilted his face upward, and Jericho took it as the invitation it was and answered it. He pressed their lips together in a short kiss, then another, and another, until Aeron’s lips opened to him without him having to ask for it.
Jericho skimmed his tongue along Aeron’s lower lip, enjoying the breathless sound that came from Aeron at the touch. Aeron’s entire body was trembling now, but Jericho didn’t think it was fear or nervousness, not anymore, not with the way Aeron reached up and clutched at his shoulders.
Jericho slid his hand up Aeron’s back, pressing it between his shoulder blades and pulling him closer, crushing him against his chest. Aeron groaned and tried to move even closer, but it wasn’t possible, not unless he found a way to climb into Jericho.
“What do you want?” Jericho asked against Aeron’s lips.
Aeron pulled on Jericho’s T-shirt, silently answering the question. Jericho didn’t push for a verbal answer, not yet, not for this. He stepped away just far enough to be able to grab the bottom of his T-shirt and pull it off, not caring where it would end up when he let it fall to the floor.
Aeron was in his arms again, kissing him, his tongue delving into Jericho’s mouth without Jericho having to prompt him this time. Jericho let Aeron take what he wanted. He held him close and didn’t try to make a move, smiling when Aeron huffed in annoyance and leaned away.
“I thought we were supposed to have sex.”
Jericho’s smile grew. “That’s what we’re doing.”
“Uh, no. We’re making out, and as much as I enjoy the feeling of your skin against mine, I want more.”
“How much more?”
Aeron shrugged and looked down. It was obviously easier for him to act rather than to talk, and Jericho didn’t have a problem with that, as long as Aeron made it clear whether he wanted or didn’t want something.
Jericho reached between them and snapped open Aeron’s jeans. He slowly pulled the zip down, never looking away from Aeron. He enjoyed the way Aeron’s cheeks and ears flushed. It made him want to kiss him all over just to see if he could get other body parts to react the same way.
Once Aeron’s jeans were open, Jericho looked down. He licked his lips at the sight of Aeron’s cock pressing against his underwear, a wet spot telling Jericho just how much Aeron was enjoying himself.
He pondered if he should push Aeron’s boxer briefs down along with his jeans, but decided not to. Aeron might want to keep that last barrier between them for a while longer, and Jericho had no problems with that.
He pushed Aeron’s jeans past his hips and down his legs, crouching to help him take them off completely. Aeron’s feet were already bare, so it took Jericho only a few seconds to get rid of everything Aeron was still wearing—everything but the boxer briefs.
Once he was done, he looked up. Aeron’s lips were parted as he looked down at Jericho, and Jericho didn’t have to be told how much Aeron was enjoying this position. There were probably images of what he wanted Jericho to do to him running through his head, and Jericho wondered if Aeron might ask him for something specific. He didn’t think that would happen, not today. He’d have to take charge, and he didn’t mind one bit.
He rocked forward and kneeled, smiling when Aeron’s eyes went wide and his breath hitched. He had to know exactly what Jericho was about to do, but Jericho still moved slowly, reaching for Aeron’s boxer briefs, tucking the tip of his fingers between the fabric and Aeron’s skin.
He gently pulled, exposing more skin as he moved his hands lower. Aeron didn’t protest, not even when the head of his cock peeked out, gleaming in the room’s low light. Jericho wanted to taste him, to feel its weight on his tongue.
He leaned forward and pressed his closed lips against the head, stilling when Aeron jerked. Aeron didn’t pull away. Instead, he reached for Jericho’s hair and burrowed his fingers in it, and Jericho could have purred from the way Aeron tugged on it.
He opened his lips, licking at the head of Aeron’s cock, gathering the pre-cum and swallowing it. God, he’d missed this, and for some reason, even just sucking on the head of Aeron’s dick felt better than all the other times Jericho had sucked dick in his life.
He’d never really enjoyed the taste of pre-cum, but Aeron tasted good, and Jericho couldn’t wait to drink more of Aeron down. He sucked on Aeron’s cock, sliding his tongue around, searching for more of Aeron’s taste.
Aeron whimpered and his hand tightened in Jericho’s hair. Jericho reached down with both hands, tearing open his own jeans and fishing his cock from his underwear. He was hard as a rock and ready to explode, but he wanted to give Aeron more pleasure.
He sucked harder, keeping one hand on his dick and reaching for Aeron’s balls with the other. He rolled them, enjoying the weight on his palm, then gently pulled at them. Aeron jerked forward, pushing his dick further into Jericho’s mouth.
Jericho let go of Aeron’s balls and grabbed his hip instead so he wouldn’t push too far. He jerked himself off as he sucked and licked until Aeron was a trembling mess, begging for release.
Jericho grinned around Aeron’s cock. He stopped jerking off and reached up, sliding his finger behind Aeron’s balls, stroking his perineum as he scraped his teeth against the head of Aeron’s cock.
Aeron jerked. “Co—coming,” he stuttered, just in time for Jericho to be ready for it.
He came down Jericho’s throat and Jericho massaged him with his tongue until the last drop. Aeron stumbled and pressed his hands on Jericho’s shoulders. He was breathing hard, and Jericho felt like he was going to die if he didn’t come.
He looked up, staring at Aeron as he grabbed his cock again. He pulled on it, stroking his other hand up Aeron’s leg, over his ass. Aeron looked blissed out, and Jericho felt incredibly smug at the thought that he’d been the one to do this, to make him look like that.
Jericho bit on his lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood as he came all over his hand. He breathed harshly, leaning against Aeron’s legs.
“That was...” he said, his voice rough.
Aeron petted his hair. “It was great.” He reached down to take Jericho’s hand, then stopped and grimaced.
Jericho laughed—his hand was covered with cum. He got up, his legs shaking just a bit, and tilted his chin toward the bed. “You go lie down. I’ll clean up and go back to the infirmary, I guess.”
“Or you could stay here.”
“I could?”
Aeron smiled softly. “Please.”
“All right.”
Jericho went to the bathroom to clean up, and when he came out, Aeron was bundled under the blankets and the room was dark. He raised a corner of the blanket for Jericho to slide under and Jericho ditched his jeans, leaving them by the bed. He wasn’t sure what to do—should he pull Aeron close, or would Aeron hate that?
Aeron solved Jericho’s doubts by sliding closer and taking one of his hands. “I’ve never slept with anyone,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll like it.”
“We’ll find out in the morning.”
“I hope I won’t kick you out of bed during the night.”
Jericho kissed Aeron’s forehead. “I’m sure you won’t.” Because Jericho wouldn’t be there for him to have the opportunity to do that. He hated the idea of leaving, especially after what had happened between them, but he had to. He had to give Brad the possibility to show that he wasn’t as bad as Dominic and everyone else
in the pride thought he was.
Jericho stared at Aeron until Aeron fell asleep, then he stared some more. The house became silent around them and he basked in the sensation of feeling almost complete for as long as he could.
He didn’t know what time it was when he extracted his hand from Aeron’s hold and got up. He put his jeans back on and covered Aeron, pulling the blankets to his shoulders. He had to resist the urge to kiss Aeron, to slide back into bed with him, and with one last glance, he left.
Chapter Four
Aeron was alone when he woke up. He knew it even before opening his eyes, and it hurt. Where was Jericho? Why wasn’t he in bed with Aeron?
Maybe he was in the bathroom, or maybe he’d gone downstairs to get breakfast. Aeron listened for noise, but the room was silent. Jericho wasn’t anywhere close.
He opened his eyes and looked at the pillow Jericho had used. He reached out, skimming his fingers over it, and it was cool, as if no one had slept there. Jericho had been gone for a while.
Aeron pushed away the blankets, blushing slightly at the fact that he was still naked. Last night had been incredibly hot, and he’d hoped they could try it again this morning, or maybe do something else.
He almost couldn’t believe how good it had been. He’d been scared it would feel like when he’d been raped, that he’d end up running away, but he hadn’t. Jericho had been slow and maddening, and Aeron hadn’t thought even once about the past, not even when Jericho had touched the patch of skin behind his balls.
Aeron sighed and got up. He showered and dressed, and there was still no sign of Jericho. His clothes were gone, and Aeron wasn’t surprised, although he hoped he was right and that Jericho had just been hungry and hadn’t wanted to wake him up.
He left his room and walked downstairs. Voices came from the kitchen, and he held his breath as he entered. The fact that everyone stopped talking when they saw him wasn’t a good sign, as was the fact that Jericho wasn’t anywhere in the room.
Aeron looked around, wondering if anyone was going to step forward and tell him what the fuck was happening.
Whitedell Pride 25 - Aeron Page 6
