by Sam Hall
“Liam made a portal,” Jake said, casting an eye over his shoulder at us. “There’s people from all over to come and see your coronation.”
“My what?” I said.
“Hartley seems to be expending a huge amount of power for this,” Jen said tightly.
“It’s all good. Daddy will get his cut, don’t you worry.”
“Liam didn’t talk to you about this?” Jen asked me.
“Well, no. I mean he mentioned that he wanted to ‘lock me down,’ but I didn’t think it meant a freaking coronation.”
“You don’t have to, you know,” she said, her face uncharacteristically solemn. “You have options.”
But I didn’t, something I hadn’t, couldn’t share with my friends. Everything Aen had said, however briefly, and the way the guys reacted… The bond between us was secret squirrel shit. Jake turned around to watch me, see how I’d respond, all that boyishness washed away once his self-preservation instincts had been activated.
“I’m with Hartley, Jen,” I replied, and whatever the tension was right now seemed to dissipate.
“OK, well, this will be your first gather as part of a court then.” She smiled brightly now. “So let’s go!”
She took my hand in hers, and we walked up to what looked like a glimmery portal to a whole other world.
“Are you ready?” she said, her old mischievous smile back in place.
No, no, I’m not, I wanted to say. The leather of the lead felt slick in my hands, but we entered the hole in reality, and it felt like we pushed through some kind of unseen membrane that popped as soon as our feet hit the ground.
“Oh my god,” I said as I looked around. Everything felt completely different here. The sun was shining, the grass was so green it was almost hard to look at, and while I’d heard air called sweet before, this was the first time it’d actually tasted like that in my mouth as I breathed. It was also kinda silky, like you could feel it against your skin as you moved.
But that was just the backdrop. Around me, as far as the eye could see, were people of every colour, shape, size, and I mean every one of them. The customary United Colors of Benetton were represented, but along with skin colour was fur, horns, tails, paws, claws, fangs, and so much more. I saw people stalk past that seemed barely corporeal, that dripped with water, were part fish, or just came up to my knee. Jake shifted restlessly on the end of the lead, following some for a few steps, their eyes on him, his on them.
“And what do we have here?” said a tall dark-haired man as he swaggered over, wearing a knee-length leather coat, hands encased in black gloves. I watched him tip back Jake’s chin, the quiver of his muscles the only indicator that he resisted the push. “You’re a pretty one. I’d love to mark your flesh until it ran as red as your hair.” He pulled his hand away, his dark eyes switching to me. “He’s your pet?” I didn’t reply. This guy had that same arrogant look of disdain so many powerful people chose to wear. I wasn’t sure if he was someone I needed to curry favour with or could afford to ignore, but the longer his eyes bore into mine, the more I wanted to pull away. His nostrils flared, and he let out an exaggerated sigh. “What will it cost me? Hurry up now, girl. I love the pale ones. They mark so exquisitely.”
I moved up beside Jake, feeling the heat of his body as I drew close. I coiled the leash in my hands, tightening the tension between us.
“Jake?” I said, low to try and keep the conversation between us. “Is this what you want?”
He didn’t reply, his eyes studying mine, communicating so much in that gaze I struggled to parse. He didn’t look happy or unhappy, just tense, stretched thin as a wire and ready to be strummed, but by who?
I want to give them everything I have, and for them to hold that and use that, use me, want me, hold me.
I was overthinking things again. He’d told me loud and clear what he wanted—what I wanted, and I didn’t want tall, dark, and sneery.
“Why are you asking the pet what it thinks?” the guy said. “That’s not what he’s for. He’s for the using, so tell me what you want in return and hand him over. He’s perfect for what I had planned.”
“My apologies, but I’m going to have to say no,” I said. I watched the man’s eyes widen. “We’ve only just forged this relationship, and I need time to feel him out, for me to be comfortable handing him over to others. I appreciate the offer, but respectfully, I’m going to have to decline.”
I felt Jen and Vervain come to stand beside me as the guy responded to the words. There was a slight jerk of his head, as if slapped.
“Do you know who I am?” he said.
“No, do you know who I am?” I replied, not looking away from those piercing eyes. They narrowed for a second.
“No, but I aim to find out.” And with that, he turned with a swish of that very impressive frock coat.
“But not from me,” I said lamely to his retreating back.
“There you go,” Vervain said. “You’ve rejected your first offer. You knew pretty much straight away that this wasn’t what you wanted?” I nodded.
“Smart choice,” Jen said. “That’s Lord Blackthorn. He’s…on the extreme end of things. His whole court is. But enough of that, let’s show you around, then I think a visit to House Belladonna could be in order.” My friend cast an eye over Jake and then nodded, leading the way.
I grabbed at Jake’s arm when he went to follow them, holding him still for a second. His body was still stiff with tension, something that only eased a little when I ran my hand over his body.
“I’m trying to find my way in this, Jake. I know that you want me to be some kind of…” I shook my head, unable to even get the words out, which was kinda ominous. “I don’t really know what you want. Or what I want.” My hands curled and flexed around the lead. “This has all been so damn fast, I feel like my head is spinning.”
I jumped when he touched me. Since the collar had been strapped on, he’d gone through a drastic personality shift, becoming quiet and compliant, so seeing him move of his own accord to run a hand down the side of my face was kinda weird. Nice, but weird.
“Use me,” he said.
“Yep, I know. I get that’s what this…thing is. I’m just still trying to—”
“No, you don’t get it. Use me. You want to work out what you want? Where you fit here? Use me. I’ll try whatever you want, Kira. You like to watch. Watch me. Run me through scenarios, pull me out when you know you’re not into it. Use me.”
The breath felt like it fought my body when it came in, then out. My mouth felt dry as a desert, something he seemed to sense, if his smile was anything to go by.
“You’re blooming something fierce,” he said, a low buzz against my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “Does the thought of making me do what you daren’t make you ache, Kira?”
“It provides a whole lot more clarity, is what it does,” I said, looking up into those green eyes. I’d watched a lot of guy on guy action over the years, now it was my opportunity to direct my own. “I want to see you with another man, maybe a few.”
His grin was that same bright, sharp thing I saw when he was playing, though I guess this was just another performance for him. He fished into the flap of his pants, tugging his rigid length out.
“Helps indicate I’m interested,” he said, with a nod to his dick. “Who do you want to see me with? Someone bigger? A big bear type? Someone slight? Almost feminine?”
I saw a cue of phantom suitors appear beside Jake in my mind, but I discarded them all.
“I think…I want to see someone with a similar body to yours, to the guys.”
He laughed, then shook his head. “You want to see them fuck me, don’t you? Don’t hold out for that. The others, they don’t really flow that way. They’ll use me if they need to, when they want to get closer to you, I reckon. Sometimes they feel sorry for me and help me out.” He tossed his head back. “Doesn’t matter. Slut that I am, I like it all. So anyone in particular we’re finding a doppelg
änger for?”
Did they see the pain in Jake? I wondered. I’d seen Liam use him as a throat to fuck, Lucas get him off, but whatever this was? My eyes trailed over his collar. He wasn’t getting it from the band, not much, at least from what Billy said.
“I don’t want a substitute for one of the guys,” I said, that becoming clear to me now. “I want someone who wants you. Who’s going to dig their nails into your skin, scrabble to get at you, who’ll tear at your pants with urgency.”
“My body type and hot for it.” He nodded. “I know who we should visit next.”
“Everything OK?” Jen asked when we re-joined her.
“Just needed to sort a few things out,” I replied.
“We’re going to Samson’s,” Jake said, something that had Jen’s eyes widening.
“But I thought we’d—”
Vervain silenced her with a small shake of her head.
“She knows what she wants,” she said. “Let’s just keep her safe when she gets it.”
18
“So, what is this place, anyway? Some kind of fae resort or something?” I said.
The girls smiled at each other at that. I guess it was pretty obvious. My eyes scanned the surroundings as we walked, following Jake’s lead, literally. Suddenly, I needed to look at, know all of the things. It was either that or deal with the massive ball of anxiety and excitement that sat uneasily in my belly.
“It’s Heaven,” Jen said.
“What? They named it for the Christian afterlife?”
“No, it’s actually Heaven. Paradise, the Elysium Fields, the promised land, the good place.” My best friend grinned when I looked at her quizzically. “There were three levels of existence, as far as we know—the plane the gods occupied, this world, and the world, world.” I frowned. “We used to have free rein here, apparently. All those tales of gods taking humans to the heavens happened here. Being lured into faerie mounds, being taken to the realm of the blessed where the gods rewarded you for being awesome, the fights between various divine hosts, all here. Depending on your culture or religion and the fae that lived there, it looked different.”
“You say that like its past tense.”
She shrugged. “We used to live side by side with the gods, from what I’ve been told, and when they cut ties, we lost this too, except for pockets of it. It’s what all those power stones are used for, Kira. We’re always trying to buy back Heaven, gather enough power to open it back up. Rutherglen has a small slice of it as well, but you can only access it from the estate at Crewe. Hartley…” She glanced around her, as if seeing the area for the first time. “They pulled in some big favours, or have been sitting on something big for some time. This will get Daddy’s attention.”
When she said his name, it didn’t sound like a cute pet name for her father at all. I watched her shrink back a little, which only added to the fear that I was carrying.
“Why would they do that?” I said, my steps slowing, and Jake turned around to see what the hold-up was.
Jen smiled, her expression instantly lightening before she threw her arms around my neck.
“Only you would ask that,” she said when she pulled back. “They did it for you. This is their big gesture.”
“A damn big gesture,” Vervain said, eyebrows lifting.
“And one you deserve. A million heavens wouldn’t be enough. Now, Samson… He’s not of the same ilk as Blackthorn, but I’m not sure if he’s going to like us around.”
“Yeah?” I looked back over at Jake’s back.
“He’s going to tolerate you,” Jen said. “He’ll have to. But us…”
I glanced at them as we walked. That was a whole can of awkward I hadn’t opened up yet. I was about to watch someone get Jake off to get me off. Vervain noted my expression and grinned.
“Samson, he’s a card-carrying member of the He-Man Woman Hater’s Club. We can wait outside for him to work his magic on Jake, but first, you want to establish some ground rules…”
I knew who Samson was before we even walked up the small path to what looked like a cottage. ‘Heaven,’ or whatever this was, had an odd structure to it. Buildings, tents, tables and chairs, all sorts of structures were set up in a haphazard fashion all throughout this alternate plane, created temporarily from magic I was informed, only to be reabsorbed again before everyone left.
He sat on a bench with his head leaning back against the wall of his cottage, one foot propped up beside him, the other stretched out indolently. He had a mane of rich chestnut hair and grey eyes that took me in, then Jake as we drew closer. He took a long drag from a clay pipe he held, exhaling little circles of smoke before setting it down.
“We’ll be right here,” Jen had said. “I need to catch up with some of the delegates from House Cinnabar, anyway.” She nodded to a group of people wearing stylised clothing made from leather and fur. “Establish the rules, don’t take any shit, and get out of there if it’s not working for you.”
“Yes, Mum.”
“So you’ve come back?” he said, moving towards Jake, not looking at me. A deliberate thing, I was sure. “And all ready for me?” His eyes dropped to the straining flap in the red leather pants. “Good boy, Jacob.”
“Ready for me,” I said, stepping forward, speaking way more firmly and boldly than I felt. Vervain had schooled me on how to act on the way over here. “I’m Kira. I asked Jake to find someone to play with, someone who would be aching for him. He mentioned you. Are you interested?”
Samson’s eyes narrowed down, his expression so completely spontaneous, it was almost shocking to see. People seemed to have their game faces on here. He looked stung, like I’d slapped him, but he paid me no mind.
“You put a woman between us? Is this your latest ploy to resist what the stars themselves know? Jacob…”
I watched Jake flinch under his words and not in a way that seemed conducive to the mood he was going for. I slipped my hand in his and squeezed it.
“Stop talking to him. You’ve seen the collar, you know what it means and why he gave it to me to put on him.” That got the other man’s attention, his eyes spearing straight through me. “Are. You. Interested?”
He shifted as I punctuated the words, making me realise just how tall he was. He towered over the two of us as his arms crossed his chest, the muscles revealed by the hiking up of his shirt sleeves, but he just stared back at me.
“C’mon,” I said, tightening my grip on Jake’s lead, his eyes rolling back as he felt the pressure of the leather on his throat, just revelling in that before stumbling after me. I’d gotten several steps up the path before he called out.
“Wait!”
I did, pausing for a moment as my eyes flicked to Jake, checking his body language, his breathing. That’s what they’d told me on the way over—that topping someone required serious powers of observation, that you needed to read people in ways you’d never done before. His chest heaved, making all the muscles shift there beautifully. I moved in close to him and ran a hand over it, down his abdomen.
“So pretty,” I said in an encouraging tone. “You look so beautiful, Jake.”
“Yeah?” He breathed the words out, ragged and making it clear how close to the edge he was.
“Do you want this? How will he make you ache, Jake?”
He swallowed hard, his eyes darting around as he tried to put thoughts together. I shouldn’t be doing this. They’d told me to keep it all theatrical, keep him in the sub head space, but I needed to know. I wasn’t really a voyeur. I liked to watch plenty, but what I really wanted was to be inside people, knowing how they reacted, what turned them on, how they felt about it all. Just as I dissected people with my lens, I wanted to analyse his reactions to this. For some reason, that was just as big a turn on.
His eyes screwed shut for a moment, his breath getting faster rather than slower as my hands roamed, gently, soothingly.
“Jake?”
“He wants… He wants everything I have. All
my cum, all my thoughts, my responses, my likes and dislikes, all my relationships. He wants to be my entire world. He’s a fucking black hole, and he wants to suck everything I am down into him. But if you want to see someone destroy me, he’s your guy.”
“And do you want to be destroyed?”
Those green eyes flicked open at that, only a slit before shooting me a sidelong look.
“You’ll be my lifeline? Promise me that. Pull me out of here when it’s done, don’t let me stay, no matter what I say.”
“Fuck, Jake…”
“Promise?”
He turned around to face the other man, who’d drawn closer, and took my hand in his as we walked towards Samson.
“I won’t lay a finger on you,” Samson said to me.
“Works for me,” I said. “I don’t want you to.”
“And you keep your pretty little hands to yourself. If he wants an audience to what is inevitable, I don’t mind, but you don’t interfere.”
I remembered Jake’s long list of things he had done to him and shook my head definitively. There it was—the power of ‘no.’
“No fucking way,” I said. “You aren’t having him under those conditions. I’ve seen half a dozen dudes check out what he’s packing on the way over here.” My hand slid down his front and closed over his cock, and he moaned, thrusting and pushing my hand harder into him. “I could find what I want for him within about five minutes, but I was prepared to follow his lead. You and I aren’t touching, but we’re working together on this, to give Jake what he needs. Are you on board with that?”
He laughed in response to that, Samson, but I just waited him out, until the smirk dropped away and what I knew lurked beneath rose up. He ached for Jake, I knew that as sure as breathing, enough to put whatever antipathy he felt for me to one side. My gaze remained steady when he finally nodded.
It was a funny little place, all this magic expended to create what looked like a medieval style cottage. There was an old pump sink, a table covered by clutter, but he drew us up the stairs to a room that spanned the entire top of the building. A heavy wooden bed with a carved bedhead spread before us.
