Taste the Dark

by Tibby Armstrong

  Akito jerked once, then bowed upward with a silent yell. Lyandros’s arm hairs stood on end at the inhuman posture. He was out of bed and across the room without knowing how. Diving for Akito, he wrapped his arms around flailing limbs, attempting to stop his tribute from doing himself harm.

  “Wake up,” he repeated, ignoring Akito’s nails along his naked back. “You are safe. It is but a dream.”

  Though he spoke the calming words, dread weighted Lyandros’s middle. Whatever nightmare Akito experienced had at one time been all too real. Before this night was through, he intended to know what fed this darkness within his tribute. Whatever the Morgan had done to Akito, it had been beyond the mere invasion of his mind.

  “Come back to me, Akito.” Gentle rocking accompanied his command, and Akito relaxed a fraction. “Come back, now.”

  “I’m sorry,” Akito said, his breath heating Lyandros’s chest. “Please. I’m so sorry.”

  Lyandros took a calming breath, relieved Akito had awakened. “Sh. I am not angry with you.”

  The line of Akito’s back gradually relaxed, and he settled into Lyandros’s chest. The sleep-soaked haze had left Lyandros fully, and he realized his body had begun to rouse in other ways. Comfort turned to sensual awakening.

  Akito pulled back, running a shaking hand along his brow. Wetness darkened his lashes. “I’m all right now. You can go back to bed.”

  Stubble rasped his thumb and forefinger when he gave Akito’s chin a gentle tweak. “It is not your place to tell me what I can and cannot do.”

  Glancing toward the bed over Akito’s shoulder, Lyandros considered moving them there. But, no. He reminded himself that extenuating circumstances didn’t mitigate a punishment. He had said the man would not share his bed tonight, and he would not. Yet, neither did Lyandros wish to leave Akito alone. Not only would that be cruel, it would be denying himself something he very much wanted—to be with the man he held in his arms.

  “Lie down,” he said, loosening his hold.

  Akito complied and Lyandros lowered to one elbow. He smoothed Akito’s hair back. An ember popped in the fire, and ash cascaded in a quiet shoosh.

  Lyandros searched Akito’s face. “All right now?”

  “Yeah.” Akito nodded. “Thanks.”

  Slowly, gaze questioning, Lyandros lowered his lips to Akito’s, giving his tribute every opportunity to resist or turn away. The kiss, dry and soft, began as a tender brush of lips. Akito sighed, the last tension leaving the line of his back. Muscled arms drew Lyandros down. He settled one leg over Akito’s for balance, his naked thigh brushing the heat of Akito’s sex. Akito lifted his hips, encouraging the friction.

  Lyandros lifted his head, affirming he hadn’t gone too fast or too far with a repeated, “All is right?”

  In tacit permission, Akito exposed the column of his neck.

  Lyandros murmured his approval, nuzzling and suckling the skin over a fluttering vein. His fangs pulsed in their sockets, extending with an aching slowness echoed by the lengthening of his cock. He took his time, savoring the delicate elixir of flesh and blood, his sucks and pulls designed to bring Akito’s blood to the surface.

  A bruise formed, a purple-black shadow darker than the rest, that Lyandros nicked with his fang. Lyandros fisted Akito’s shaft, his tongue darting to claim the welling drops of moisture. In sips and licks, he encouraged the licorice-bright magic of Akito’s essence. The sensations, fed back to him through their bond, eroded his composure until his motions became fragmented with lust. Dim awareness that he might be progressing too quickly forced Lyandros to pull back. He slackened his hand and lifted his head.

  Akito lifted his hips with a groan of petulant protest. “Don’t stop.”

  “The last man to behave thus in my arms wore a cage as a reward for his cheek,” Lyandros admonished, a smile tugging at his lips.

  Akito sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re killing me.”

  Lyandros ignored him and pretended to consider the matter. The weight of Akito’s member, its wide heat nestling in his fingertips, brought life pumping to Lyandros’s veins. He remembered the heady triumph of conquest and afterglow’s sleepy satisfaction.

  “It would have to be tight. Like my fist,” Lyandros said, squeezing lightly for emphasis. “So you would feel me here, even when we are apart.”

  Akito moaned. “Yes. Please.”

  Silken heat slipped through his palm, and Lyandros worked up a rhythm, adding, “Something that would prevent you from touching yourself when I am not with you.”

  Akito arched.

  Ruddy nipples beckoned, and Lyandros sampled the pebbled flesh with his lips and tongue. He increased the pressure, pulling and rolling Akito’s nipple between his teeth. Akito sucked in a breath and released it with a juddering exhale. Lyandros bit down on one of Akito’s nipples, just hard enough for his fang to pierce the skin. Akito surged upward, his muscles tightening, a telltale precursor to orgasm.

  “Fuh—What the h—” Akito choked out his broken protest, laying back. “Shit.”

  Lyandros loosened his hold and lifted his head. “You have not yet earned your pleasure.”

  “Gods. Just tell me what you want.” Fists by his sides, Akito spoke through clenched teeth.

  “Obedience,” Lyandros whispered hotly along the shell of Akito’s ear.

  “I can do that.” Akito nodded vigorously. “I can.”

  Lyandros had no doubt Akito believed every word he said. That, however, remained to be seen. Standing, Lyandros took his tribute by the arm and pulled him to his feet.

  “I believe you deserve the chance to try.” Lyandros steadied Akito when he wobbled. “Come with me.”

  He led his tribute to the bath. Turning on the tap to the over-large tub, Lyandros began to fill it with water. Over the splashing, he heard Akito’s still-ragged breaths as he went about gathering fluffy white bath sheets from the armoire. Creamy soap and a jar of oil with a bejeweled stopper in his hands, Lyandros approached the tub.

  Akito licked his lips. “You want me to bathe you?”

  Lyandros smiled, a wicked grin he flashed with feral intent. “No. That was this afternoon’s test. Which you failed with your refusal, I might add.”

  Arms crossed over his naked chest, Akito frowned. His cock bobbed prettily with the motion, a jeweled drop sliding down its tip. Oh, yes, this would be good. Much better than Lyandros could have imagined.

  Lyandros jerked his head in the direction of the nearest vertical surface uninterrupted by door or window. “Present yourself to me. Hands against the wall.”

  Akito faced the wall and looked over his shoulder, leaning forward to provocatively stick out his posterior. Lyandros eyed him appreciatively. His tribute was a study in alabaster skin illuminated by the silvered moonlight that streamed through a high, arched window. Turning off the tap, Lyandros approached Akito with languid, predatory strides.

  He ran an appreciative hand down Akito’s muscled flank. “Very nice.”

  Akito shuddered, his head bowing so his hair curtained his face.

  Lyandros pulled at the bottle’s stopper, and it released with an audible pop. Viscous liquid heated in his palm, slicking his skin and dribbling through his fingers. “Spread your legs and bend your knees.”

  Akito did as instructed. Lyandros hummed approvingly.

  Fingers curling, he massaged Akito’s balls, cupping them with care. Sliding from side to side, he used the fleshy parts of his palm to spread the oil all around Akito’s heated recesses.

  “If you come,” Lyandros whispered, leaning in to nip Akito’s shoulder, “I will take you into the gardens tonight and tease you until you scream for release.”

  “Zeus.” Akito breathed the curse, his legs shaking until it was questionable whether Lyandros’s palm was the only thing preventing him from toppling to the floor. “What if I want you to fuck me in that swing?”

  Oh, the cheek.

  “Noticed that, did you?”

  “Yeah.” Aki
to nodded, the wings of his shoulder blades expanding and contracting with his gasping breaths. “You’re kind of obvious when you want something.”

  Lyandros pressed his cock along the cleft of Akito’s ass. “You mean like how I want this?”

  Words escaped his tribute for once, and Akito only nodded. To be fair, Lyandros hadn’t exactly hidden his interest in the fae king’s sensual outdoor playground. He might not want the court to watch, but he had little aversion to sex games en plein air. In fact, one might even say they were among his favorite pastimes.

  “Brace yourself,” Lyandros commanded.

  In no mood to gentle this claiming, needing it as badly as he needed the air he breathed, he breached Akito in one swift thrust that brought them both up on their toes. Akito rocked forward, then pressed back, deepening Lyandros’s entrance into his body. Lyandros’s balls swung forward, their slap adding to pleasure’s thrill. This joining was everything he had wanted and, he hoped, what Akito needed.

  Where darkness had reigned in the bedroom, pleasure ruled them both in the bath. Grabbing Akito at the hips, Lyandros surged forward in a rapid fire and merciless claiming. He needed to mark this man as his own in every way possible. Long after they both parted, each of them would remember this moment.

  Palms slipping audibly on the marble, Akito caught himself as Lyandros came. Shouting his tribute’s name, he gripped hard at the sweat-soaked hips beneath his palms. Pleasured and sated, he fell forward, his chin on Akito’s shoulder, his nose buried in Akito’s hair. It was a long while before he realized Akito trembled beneath him. Thinking something amiss, Lyandros raised his head and withdrew from Akito’s body.

  A hand at Akito’s shoulder, Lyandros turned his tribute. Akito stared up at him, dark lashes framing his eyes. Blood welled from twin slices in Akito’s lower lip, the place where Akito’s incisors would have rested if he were to bite. Running his thumb along the tender spot, Lyandros gathered the crimson drops.

  Akito’s nostrils flared, and Lyandros gazed at him with dark intent as he brought the pad of his thumb to his mouth and sampled the essence there. Magic sparked against his tongue, the taste of ozone and anise a sweet temptation he knew he would sample further before the night was finished.

  Lyandros laced his fingers through Akito’s and gave a gentle tug. “Let us bathe.”

  Ignoring Akito’s imploring look, Lyandros turned toward the tub. Akito followed, clearly crestfallen when Lyandros ushered him into the water with a love tap to his buttocks. Slipping in after him, Lyandros settled into the tub’s recesses and adjusted Akito’s position. Arms looped around Akito’s waist, Lyandros picked up a soft sponge to sluice water over Akito’s chest. He ran the sponge down the vee of Akito’s pectorals to the gentle ridges of his abdominals, and appreciated the play of water over flesh. Moisture curled on the air, forming an exotic curtain perfumed with soap and Akito’s musk.

  Lyandros nuzzled Akito’s ear as he dipped the sponge to his tribute’s cock. “If you can last, you will be rewarded.”

  Akito twisted, gazing up at him with steam-dampened lashes. “And if I can’t?”

  A grin broke from Lyandros, and he felt his gaze darken. “Even better.”

  “Why better?” Akito slipped further under the water, becoming languid when Lyandros wrapped the soft sponge around his cock.

  “Because then I shall be required to punish you using the abundance of your failures.” Dropping the sponge and encircling Akito’s cock with his hand, Lyandros set to work, leaving the rest of his dire warning to his tribute’s imagination.

  Chapter 20

  It had taken Akito five minutes to fail Lyandros’s test, and five hours for the Justice Giver to carry out his punishment. Limbs taut, tied to the bed spread eagle, Akito cried out for what seemed like the millionth time. He’d been milked ten times over of every ounce of seed his body had possessed, but the last dry orgasm shook his limbs as hard as the first.

  “No…more,” Akito panted. “Please. Can’t.”

  Sitting next to him, Lyandros ran the pad of his index finger over the sensitized tip of Akito’s cock and gazed at him through lowered lashes. “You know you will if I decide it, yes?”

  Akito’s answering vigorous nod was no lie. He knew now that anything and everything Lyandros required him to do would be easy compared to the endurance test he had just undergone. Yet, oddly, he found he didn’t regret the punishment. Only its end. “I’m clear on that. Yeah.”

  Lyandros searched Akito’s face, and Akito returned his interest, memorizing the curve of the bottom lip that had sucked and teased his cock for hours. The swollen pout there was a sensual reminder of the pleasurable torture. His neck and thighs throbbed where Lyandros had nipped him to heighten Akito’s orgasms.

  On the first sharp penetration, Akito had seen stars. On the last, he’d seen a whole damned galaxy. Dusky circles under his eyes painted the Justice Giver tired, but Akito had no doubt fatigue wouldn’t keep Lyandros from doing his duty if he deemed Akito in need of further instruction. Lyandros had even tried to carry out the session in the fae king’s lurid gardens as he’d promised, but they’d been barred by the guards from leaving the room.

  Seeming to find what he sought in Akito’s countenance, Lyandros leaned over and undid the strap around Akito’s right ankle. Next, he freed Akito’s right wrist. Akito reached to undo the others, and was rewarded with a tweak to his cock. He yelped, reflexively covering himself, and Lyandros tsked.

  In a flurry of motion, Akito found his wrists pinned over his head.

  Lyandros loomed over him, brows thunderously low. “Tell me what you did wrong.”

  Akito dropped his gaze, his blush heating his cheeks. “Presumption.”

  Lyandros considered him for a long moment.

  Akito chanced a peek upward through his lashes and quickly looked away. A delicious tumbling worked at the pit of his stomach. Would Lyandros punish him for the misstep? The feeling of dark anticipation, devoid of dread, was so contrary to everything he’d experienced prior to knowing the Justice Giver.

  “I like it when you dominate me,” Akito blurted.

  “Well, that should make things easier for you.” Grip tightening, Lyandros leaned down to nip Akito’s lip before releasing his hold. “But I do not do it because you like it.”

  “Would it be so bad if you did?” Akito muttered, scowling.

  Lyandros, withdrawing, smacked Akito’s flank for his rudeness. “There’s more where that came from if you keep it up.”

  Akito started to laugh despite himself.

  Another slap landed, and he jerked upward. Apparently, Lyandros had been holding back last time. “Ow! That really hurt.”

  “I am sure it did,” Lyandros said darkly. “Apologize.”

  Akito struggled to sit up, but was thwarted by the remaining bonds. He pondered his predicament, and Lyandros relieved him of the problem by reaching over him. The straps fell away, and Akito pushed himself up along the nest of silken pillows.

  “Akito?” Lyandros prompted when he remained silent.

  Massaging his wrists to bring back full circulation, Akito considered the tangled sheets and blankets with a shrug. “Am I supposed to say I’m sorry when I’m not?”

  Lyandros sat back on his heels, a gusty sigh broadcasting his weary agreement. “I suppose not and, in truth, I am too worn out to correct you. So, please behave?”

  Akito grinned, realizing he’d won a point. “All right, but only because you ask so nicely.”

  Growling playfully, Lyandros lunged for him.

  Akito, issuing an unmanly squeak, attempted to dive off the other side of the bed. Catching him by the waist, Lyandros dragged him backward.

  “Go to sleep, brat,” Lyandros said, arranging them both so he spooned Akito’s back.

  “Sweet dreams,” Akito answered.

  Lyandros grunted, tightening his arm in acknowledgement.

  Outside the sun blazed. Daylight had broken long ago, but inside everything was
cool and hushed behind the thick curtains. For a long while, Akito stared at the play of the breeze against the drapes. The Justice Giver was a study in contradictions, alternately stern and tender. Upon contemplation, Akito found he didn’t mind the sex or the dominance. Still, there was this chafing he couldn’t quite identify. Something that made him rebel against the relationship.

  Sleep slackened Lyandros’s arm over his torso, and Akito turned over to stare at the ceiling. He rolled his head, studying the sleeping vampire. The light outside had faded, but he didn’t recall sleeping. Sitting up carefully, so as not to wake Lyandros, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and searched the now-dim room for the robe Lyandros had worn during their session the night before. It lay draped over a white chair.

  He tiptoed to the robe and shoved his arms into the sleeves, releasing Lyandros’s spicy scent. A quick jerk at the tie saw him covered. Lamplight or candlelight shone under the door to the living area, beckoning. Quietly opening and closing the door, he went in search of something to drink. His belly rumbled as he looked around the warmly lit room, and he realized he hadn’t eaten much of anything since his arrival in Faerie.

  Nyx popped up from a supine sprawl on the settee, his hair a mop of tousled strands. Akito’s heart made a leap for his mouth, and he swallowed it back down.

  “Hey,” they said in unison.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” Akito added, stepping into the room.

  Nyx stood, all arms and legs and sleepy movements. Akito loped over to him for a loose-limbed hug. They drew apart, Nyx taking with him the scents of paraffin and windswept fields. Fresh and exotic, and full of magic’s bright pull. Nyx’s grin was the same and, yet, very different.

  Akito combatted a disjointed feeling of déjà vu and returned the smile. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I could ask you the same.”

  Akito shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

  Every time he’d started to enter the dream state he’d been startled awake by the feeling he might scream. The sound caught in his throat, clogging it even now, and he swallowed audibly. Searching for something, he let his gaze skip around the room and noted Isander’s absence. The King Ruler must have been asleep, too. “I thought you were staying in Isander’s room?”