“More powerful?” Dedrus knew Veylo was irrational, but it seemed absurd of him to believe that Veylo could challenge the greatest minds the Almighty had ever created—the ones responsible for developing the Christ.
Kinzer nodded. “It’s like he’s trying to outdo the Almighty.”
“That sounds like Veylo. Mad with irrational, wild, impatient ambition. You have any idea how close he is to finishing it?”
“Close. Very close. I didn’t have a lot of pull with the Raze. I just supplied them with bogus intel from the Leader about our underground operations. Veylo never let me in on his secrets. He’d tell Janka things here and there, but kept him at arm’s length, so I’m sure that he was never going to tell me shit. Janka was in charge of properties. Veylo needed a lot of space, a lot of land for whatever he was working on. He also helped set up a lot of operations that worked to transport materials between realms.”
“You think he’s transporting heavenly minerals to Earth?”
“Definitely.”
“Why didn’t we just take that to the Council? Veylo would have been executed immediately.”
“The Leader wanted us to find out what Veylo was working on. If we exposed him too early, someone else could have just picked up where he left off, and we’d never have a chance to stop them.”
“What do you think it is?”
“No clue. Janka was having a hard time figuring it out. I think Veylo tried to confuse him about it. He went on all these wild goose chases. Initially, he thought the Almighty had charged Veylo with the Christ.”
“No. No way,” Dedrus said. “The Almighty wanted him back in Heaven, but He’d be insane to give him that much power.”
“Later, Janka suspected that Veylo was trying to rework the Morarkes. Evidently, some of the materials he was transporting were Morarke corpses.”
“And?”
“Another dead end. Veylo was dismantling them entirely. Janka never figured out what he was up to. Janka would think he was onto something one day, and the next, he’d reach a dead end. He’d tell me about them, though. That’s what surprised me when you guys mentioned that he’d told you about the Antichrist. Janka told me all the pieces he was working on with Veylo, but never anything about that.”
“He probably just wanted to make sure Veylo wouldn’t be able to torture it out of you.”
“You’re right. If he’d said anything to me about it, and they’d…done what they did, I would’ve told. I’m not proud of that. But when it came down to it, Janka’s life mattered more to me than all of creation. I would’ve told. Janka knew that.”
That was what Dedrus loved. That passion. It wasn’t intelligent. It wasn’t reasonable. It was what it was, and it was beautiful.
“What about the guy who outed you?” Dedrus asked. “You have any idea who it is?”
“I don't, but when I find him, I swear to our fucking Leader, I'll—” Choking on his words, Kinzer rested the sword on his lap and pressed his hands against his now-trembling face.
Dedrus scooted across the couch, wrapped his arm around him, as he’d wanted to do all along.
You’re horrible, he chastised himself. You know why you’re doing this. Don’t.
Another part of him wanted to be there for Kinzer. He wanted to ease his pain, to provide him with some relief from the horror he'd experienced at the hands of the Raze.
Kinzer threw his arms around Dedrus, squeezing tight. His body quivered.
Dedrus wanted to feel Kinzer’s lips on his, to taste his delicious immortal flavor. He wanted to feel Kinzer’s cock inside him, filling him, as he had on so many of the nights they’d spent together.
It isn’t right.
Kinzer pulled away, freeing Dedrus of his guilt. He sniffled and wiped the back of his hand across his nose.
“Sorry,” Kinzer said. “It's just…”
“Don’t. You have every right to be upset.”
Upset. That’s a trivial word for what he’s been through, you idiot.
Dedrus scanned Kinzer’s body, admiring his massive biceps, his brown eyes, and his black waves of hair. Even with the wounds and tears that still tainted his face, he was beautiful. Dedrus wanted to press him back against the cushions, rip off his clothes, and provide him with the ease he deserved. But no! He was just wanting it for himself, and he was pretending that it was to serve Kinzer’s pain.
“I loved him so much.” The words cracked through Kinzer’s lips. His cheeks and forehead shivered. Tears filled his eyes. “I know we had so much time, but it wasn’t enough.”
The sting in Dedrus’s chest intensified. His cheeks flashed red as anger washed over him—anger that he loathed because it made him feel like a terrible, selfish creature.
He set his hand on Kinzer’s back, his palm stroking softly across the blue fabric of his polo. He wanted to say, “You’ll find love again.” He couldn’t, because he knew he’d really be saying, “Please find love in me.” He thought of saying, “Everything will be alright.” No. He couldn’t make that kind of promise. “It’ll take time,” felt appropriate, and yet, as an immortal, Dedrus never perceived time as a generous gift as much as a twisted, agonizing punishment.
“I wish I could think of something right to say about this,” Dedrus said, “but I can’t. I know how much you loved him, and I know how much he loved you, and I can’t imagine how hard this is going to be for you. But I’m here. As your friend. I don’t know if that means much, but I know the feeling of having something so perfect and wonderful torn away from you.”
Kinzer’s gaze met his. His eyes were sad.
Does he know what I’m talking about?
“Tell me you’ve found someone,” Kinzer said.
“Of course,” he lied. “I’m just being overdramatic.”
“I figured as much. Considering where you work, I'm sure you get a lot of offers.”
It was true, but not the way Kinzer was suggesting. There were nights when Treycore dragged some pathetic mortal back to ease Dedrus’s pain. Those nights were the loneliest. Though he could bring himself to climax, it was an empty relief that just stirred the cruel memories of those moments filled with so much more.
Dedrus hugged him again. “Let’s get to bed,” he said. “You need some sleep.”
Kinzer nodded.
“We have plenty to sort through tomorrow. You can have my room. I’ll just sleep here.”
Dedrus released him.
Kinzer picked the sword up off his lap and stood. He reached his hand out. “Come on. It won’t be the first time we’ve shared a bed.”
The upward curl of his lip let Dedrus know that Kinzer was more than interested.
Dedrus’s dick swelled. “I don’t think I can.” He wanted Kinzer so bad, and if he put himself in that position, he was sure he wouldn’t be able to resist making a move—especially if Kinzer initiated something.
“I'd rather not disrespect you like that,” Dedrus said.
Kinzer’s hand fell, bouncing against his jeans. His head drooped.
“Then I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Dedrus smiled. “‘Night, Kinzer.”
Kinzer knelt, offering a light peck on Dedrus’s lips.
Don’t tease me with a taste!
“Up the stairs, first room on the right.”
Kinzer walked up the stairs, headed down the hall, and slipped into Dedrus’s bedroom.
Dedrus had hoped that Kinzer’s exit would provide some relief.
It didn't.
He ached for him. His thoughts dwelled on Kinzer’s lips tickling his nipples, his gaze appreciating his body, his tongue delighting in his body’s grooves. He wanted to run upstairs and throw his arms around him, to hold him for the night, and tell him that no matter what happened, he’d be there for him. He wanted more than that, but he wouldn’t press his friend. He wouldn’t dare cross that line…even if Kinzer insisted.
Spreading his limbs across the couch, he rested his head on a lace pillow at the
end and rolled so he was facing the cushions.
He closed his eyes.
A few moments passed before something pressed against his ass.
He flipped over and hopped to his feet, ready for a fight.
Kinzer stood before him, holding his hands out, as if showing a cop that he was unarmed. “Whoa, cowboy. Chill the fuck out.”
“Sorry.” Every hair on Dedrus’s immortal body stood on end. “You freaked the shit out of me. Did you need something? Another cover? Pillows?”
Kinzer wiggled his thumb behind the waistband in Dedrus’s khakis.
“Yeah. I need something.” He pulled their pelvises together.
His hot breath rushed across Dedrus’s lips, settling in the bristles across his cheeks. The warmth combined with a rush of blood that surged to his face made him feel like his cheeks were about to catch on fire.
Kinzer pressed his lips against Dedrus’s.
Amidst the creases in Kinzer’s lips, Dedrus felt the smooth, subtle dip where Kinzer’s cut was healing.
He trailed his palm over the rough fabric of Kinzer’s polo. As he reached the smooth flesh of his neck, curly black hairs pricked his fingertips.
Kinzer opened his mouth wide. Dedrus eagerly reciprocated, tilting his head and allowing their lips to seal together. A swirling sensation gathered at the base of his spine and rushed to the crown of his skull.
Guilt nagged at his thoughts. He couldn’t do this. Kinzer didn’t really want him. He was just vulnerable and ached for a physical distraction from his grief. It would be wrong to take advantage while he was still recovering from Janka’s death.
Kinzer’s tongue flicked his.
He wanted Kinzer so bad, but not like that. Pressing his hand against the dip between the bulbous, jagged pecs before him, he broke their sealed kiss.
“What?” Kinzer rested his hands on Dedrus’s hips.
“This wouldn’t be right. I don’t want to disrespect you.”
“I know. But I want you to.”
Kinzer wrapped both arms around Dedrus. Spinning them around, he pushed Dedrus back against a painting that hung on the wall.
Kinzer’s eyes glistened with that gleam—the one that was so familiar to Dedrus.
Dedrus couldn’t control himself. His lips returned to their passionate embrace. His fingers found their way under Kinzer’s shirt, feeling about fervently, savoring the dips in his torso.
The wooden frame of the painting dug into Dedrus’s back, scraping along the wall before dislodging from a nail and breaking free of its frame as it hit the floor.
Kinzer gripped the hem of Dedrus’s shirt. Dedrus threw his arms over his head, allowing his friend to pull it off and toss it behind him. Kinzer’s fingers went right for Dedrus’s khakis, unbuttoning and unzipping at lightning speed before they were at his ankles. Dedrus kicked off his shoes, letting them roll across the wood-paneled floor. He stepped out of his pants. Kinzer tossed them beside his shirt.
“Ooo. Lookie, lookie,” Kinzer teased.
Dedrus glanced down at the white bikini briefs he wore. Deep arches in his torso dipped down either side of his hips, disappearing under a waistband. He blushed. “Shut up. I didn’t think anyone was going to be looking.”
Dedrus tucked his thumbs into the waistband and slid them down his thighs. Kinzer grabbed his wrists.
“No, no,” Kinzer said, sliding them back up. “I like them.” He knelt so he was eye level with a monster bulge in the briefs.
Dedrus giggled like a schoolboy, but being that he’d been alive since before Earth’s creation, he wasn’t fooling either of them. This was fun, frisky—like the good old days. Dedrus couldn’t enjoy the moment without immediately remembering that this encounter was finite. Unlike the old days, when he knew he could return to his lover at any time, he had to soak up every drop of goodness from this experience.
Kinzer pulled the front of Dedrus’s briefs down. His cock and sack sprang forward as if they were reaching out to attack.
“Been a long time since I’ve seen this guy,” Kinzer said.
Been a long time since I’ve gotten any.
It hadn’t been that long. He and Treycore fooled around on and off, whenever they needed to de-stress. But Treycore was so big that Dedrus never let him go inside him. He’d fucked a few mortals that he’d met at the bar or that Treycore brought back to the house, but he’d never let them penetrate him. After all, most mortals’ cocks couldn’t even reach an immortal’s prostate. For a long time, Dedrus had desperately wanted someone who could just slide into his ass and fuck the shit out of him. He knew that Kinzer would do just that. Kinzer knew how rough he liked it. Kinzer knew exactly how much teasing and pain he required.
Kinzer tucked the waistband behind Dedrus’s balls. It pushed his sack forward as if presenting his nuts to Kinzer.
Stop it! Stop this!
He couldn’t. The promise of this intimate encounter with someone he cared so much about was too much for him to fight. He didn’t want Kinzer like this. He wanted Kinzer to love him…to want to be with him. However, he was willing to take whatever Kinzer was willing to give.
Kinzer’s tongue swept up the middle of his scrotum, stirring about, massaging between his balls.
The cool air conditioning rushed through Dedrus’s curly, brown pubes, freezing Kinzer’s saliva. His balls shrank. His sack wrinkled.
The cool air amplified the intensity of the heat of Kinzer’s breath, making his length swell even more.
Kinzer’s tongue tickled the base of his shaft, barely licking, just teasing. He wrapped his hand around his friend’s girth and squeezed, his lips rushing just barely halfway down the head of Dedrus’s cock.
“Please!” Dedrus enjoyed the excitement. He wasn’t even as aroused by Kinzer’s actions as he was by the anticipation of what was to come.
Kinzer slid his lips back, freeing them from Dedrus’s flesh. He gripped Dedrus’s hips, twisted him around, and pushed him forward.
Dedrus spread his arms out. His hands pressed into the wall like he was about to do a pushup.
Kinzer slid the briefs down Dedrus’s thighs, exposing two tight, c-shaped cheeks. He removed them, adding them to the abandoned clothes behind him. He massaged Dedrus’s ass-flesh, his thumbs sliding through the crack between them, pulling them apart.
Kinzer’s hands were so warm, so smooth.
Dedrus wanted Kinzer’s pelvis to use his cheeks like a hacky sack.
Dedrus shifted his pelvis so his ass pushed closer to Kinzer’s face, inviting him to savor it in whatever way he desired.
Thoughts of Janka itched at Dedrus’s conscience, but a twisted part of him didn’t care. He wished that Janka could see him now—to feel that same pain he’d felt when he’d lost his chance with Kinzer. It was a terrible thought. He scolded himself for having it, but it didn’t make it any less true.
With his tongue, just as he had done with the base of Dedrus’s cock, Kinzer tickled his way around Dedrus’s hole. Dedrus wrapped his fingers around his dick and jerked back and forth. Kinzer released one of his cheeks and snatched his wrist.
“No!” he ordered.
Dedrus glanced over his shoulder. Had he done something wrong?
“I want you to get off without touching yourself.”
Excitement stirred in Dedrus. He’d forgotten how playful Kinzer could be. As Kinzer released his wrist, Dedrus placed the hand back on the wall. Kinzer’s thumbs pulled Dedrus’s cheeks back apart. He pressed his lips against his hole. He kissed softly at first. Like he was warming it up. His tongue stroked up and down and whirled about in a frenzy.
An intense rush of energy, like hands caressing up his back to his neck, swept through Dedrus.
Kinzer’s lips retreated. He kneaded his thumbs against either side of Dedrus’s hole. He was slow, deliberate.
Why is he teasing me?
“I want you in me so bad,” Dedrus said.
With both hands, Kinzer pressed his index and middle fingers tog
ether and pushed them into Dedrus’s hole. Leaning so that his face was millimeters from Dedrus’s crack, he spit a thick, juicy web of saliva inside and massaged it against the walls of his ass.
Dedrus contracted the inside of his hole, as if he was thirsty and this was the only way he could hydrate.
Kinzer’s fingers pulled out.
A clinking sound hit Dedrus’s ears as Kinzer unfastened his belt and slid his pants down to the white socks that covered his feet.
A stiff, vein-covered erection poked forward.
Kinzer sprang to his feet and stuck the hard-on between Dedrus’s cheeks.
With one hand, he gripped Dedrus’s waist. With the other, he stuck the head of his dick against his saliva-lube and forced his way into Dedrus’s hole.
Stinging. Burning.
It felt as if someone was jamming a knife inside him.
It was painful, but erotic. The more it hurt, the harder he became.
Unlike humans, who Dedrus found tended to favor pleasure, immortals found greater satisfaction in the dance between ectascy and pain…in exploring the complexity of their creaturehood through blissful—yet at times—excrutiating sex.
White feathers ripped from the flesh between Dedrus’s shoulder blades, stretching out, just as Treycore’s had done earlier. He lifted his leg off the ground, struggling to position himself so Kinzer would have an easier time assaulting him.
It was like a butcher knife reaching for his intestines.
If Kinzer hurt this bad, he couldn’t even imagine how painful it would have been to have Treycore in there.
Kinzer’s arms crossed as he pulled his polo over his head and tossed it with Dedrus’s clothes. He wrapped his arms around Dedrus, beneath the inner edges of his wings. Trailing his fingers around Dedrus’s torso, he caressed them across his abs.
His nose tucked behind Dedrus’s ear as his lips offered soft kisses against his neck.
He thrust back and forth, seemingly without regard.
“Fuck!” Dedrus cried, his feathers shaking feverishly.
It was so painful, and yet, he wanted more. Kinzer sure did know how to fuck him.
“Fuck me, Kinzer,” he pleaded. “Harder!”
He didn’t know if his body could actually handle harder, but he needed it.
Clipped (The Clipped Saga Book 1) Page 7
