After seeing the pale perfection of his skin, I was overcome with a sense of self-consciousness. The scars that covered my body were not pretty. But when he looked at me, all I saw was desire.
“Well, hello, gorgeous,” he said, echoing my earlier greeting to him in his fox form.
“Hey, no fair! Find your own pet name!” I teased as I moved back to the bed.
“Honey? Sweetie? Light of my life? Love of my heart?” he asked with growing saccharine sweet words.
“Oh goddess, just stop already!” I laughed.
He pulled me down to kneel on the bed and kissed me soundly. Our bodies were touching from knee to chest. I felt his arousal, heavy and heated against my body. My own rested against his hip, already leaking pre-cum.
His strong fingers wrapped around us both and I was shocked into silence by how exquisite it felt. He cupped our cocks together and began stroking us together.
“Fuck!” I moaned, throwing my head back at the feel of our bodies stroking together. It wasn’t just the feel of his hand, but also the feel of his cock, hot and pulsing against my own. It just seemedrightsomehow.
He started moving faster, adding a curl at the end of each stroke so that he danced over the tips of our cocks. Both of our cocks were so wet from pre-cum his grip moved easily as he stroked us together.
He was panting now as his hand began moving faster. I could feel a shudder washing through him. I reached out to add my hand tohis stroking. The two of us stroked our cocks together, both of us panting and desperate.
“Luke—I—Fuck, I’m going to—” was all he got out before he shuddered, his cum painting my stomach and cock. The burning feel of his cum threw me over the edge, then it was my turn to be painting his body.
We collapsed against each other, our foreheads together, our breath hot as we struggled to control our breathing. I lazily continued to stroke him, his body rolling from little aftershocks whenever I curled over his tip.
He finally grinned and pulled away to grab a wet cloth from the bathing room. He used it to clean us both up, then tossed it into a hamper. I fell back on the bed, all energy drained from me. He laid down next to me, tossing a strong arm across my waist. I sent a sated look his way.
“I like how my name sounds on your lips,” I whispered.
“Luke Alexus. Luke Alexus,” he grinned and repeated. “Luke Alexus.” He breathed the final word into my ear, making me shiver.
“I’ll say it as often as you want. You are going to absolutely wreck me, Luke Alexus.”
This was a wreck I could live with.
Chapter 25
Rhuyin
A few days after Hel confirmed our status, Elex, Luke and I were eating breakfast in the Mageian wing when Tik wandered in. He looked nervous, but that seemed to be a permanent feature for him. I don’t think I’d ever seen the kid at ease.
“Does anyone know where the temporary administration area is?” Tik asked hesitantly. “I’ve got to deliver this application paperwork today.”
Everyone had assumed Tik was eighteen when he arrived in Nymphaeum because the Legions never sent anyone younger than that to the Machi, so he had automatically been included in the first Touchpoint.
When Lottie found out he was only sixteen she had flat out refused to allow him to pursue or be pursued by any of the Somas at the Touchpoint.
“They are too old for you. If they are really a match for you, they will still be there in two years,” she’d said sagely, ignoring Tik’s pleas. It had taken a lot of reassurance to convince Tik that he could still be useful in Illyria, even if he wasn’t Bonded yet.
“Is that your application for the Stonecutter’s Guild apprenticeship?” Luke asked.
Tik nodded, and I let out a small sigh of relief. Tik was a good kid, but he didn’t belong in military training, in my opinion. He was too damn young.
“We’re headed to the library. That’s on the way,” I said. “Why don’t you come with us? I can point it out to you.”
Luke smiled at me like I’d given the kid gold. I hadn’t done anything special, in my opinion, but I felt his gratitude flash through the bond. I liked Tik; he was a good kid.
“I’m meeting Hel at the infirmary, so I’ll walk with you,” Elex said and I bit back a sigh. He had done absolutely everything inhis power to keep Luke and I from being alone together, but I bit back any comment I might have made. I didn’t want to make things hard on Luke with his family.
Ten minutes later we were in passing the Tower headed toward the exit that would lead us to the library. As we came around the corner someone in a wheelchair sped across our path, a familiar head of brown hair tangled across a sweaty face as she pushed the wheels of her chair.
