“There’s only ever been one person in the entire universe I could count on,” Rin stated. “And it isn’t you.”
Kel flinched.
“Get off of me. Report me to the damn authorities if you want. At least they’ll use their brains and run an investigation.” They’d see right away that Rin had nothing to do with any of this. “A girl is dead and here we are, wasting time. Move.”
Kelevra didn’t. He stared down at him for a long time and then finally said, “I’m sorry I suspected you.”
“Screw your apologizes and screw you.” He fumbled to get free again and after a brief hesitation, Kel climbed off of him. Rin sprang to his feet and headed back the way they’d come, needing to release all the pent-up emotion within him before they called the authorities or ran into anyone else. The alert for the crime scene should have gone out to the other groups, and there was a chance they were already there and had discovered Nila’s body.
“Consort,” Kelevra caught up with him and reached out, touching his wrist, but Rin slapped him away.
“Don’t touch me!” he snarled. “And don’t call me that! You can’t even trust me not to try and murder you. Clearly this isn’t going to work.” Rin kept walking, crunching debris loudly beneath his boots, barely realizing what he was saying, the words just spewing out of him as the anger kept control. “When we get back, the first thing you’re going to do is contact your sister and call this farce of an engagement off. I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last—”
Kelevra pulled him back by the collar of his shirt, pinning him to yet another tree. Unlike Rin, he’d lost some of the anger, at least the part that had made him scary, but there was heat swirling in his hazel eyes still, and a determination there that made his stance on the matter of their betrothal clear before he even spoke.
“Repeat that,” Kel asserted. “I dare you.”
Rin held his gaze unblinkingly. “I would rather die than tie the rest of my life to an egomaniac like you.”
“You aren’t allowed to die,” Kelevra stated. “You’re going to stay mine until you’re old and gray. When are you going to accept that?”
He snorted. “Is that a joke? You’re the one who just accused me of hiring a hitman. So much for buying my trust. Your payment was counterfeit, I don’t want it anymore, and I don’t want you.”
His chest felt tight and it was getting harder to keep his breathing even remotely even. Rin’s vision was a bit fuzzy too, the anger causing dark spots to float in front of his eyes. If he wasn’t careful, he may even end up blacking out, and then he’d really do something he’d regret. It didn’t happen often, but that was because he’d learned how to sense when he was about to snap and get away from whatever was pushing him to that point.
Fight or flight.
With the Imperial Prince pinning him like this flight wasn’t an option.
That left only one thing.
“That’s what this is?” Kelevra frowned, then tipped his head to the side, something seemingly clicking for him. “I hurt your feelings.”
“Quit throwing your weight around and—”
Kel captured his chin, holding firm when Rin tried to shake his head loose. “It’s different from that look in the shower, but it’s also similar. You’re finding it difficult to regulate your emotions.”
“The only thing difficult here,” he said, “is you.”
“You need grounding.”
“Are you even listening?” Rin glared. “What I need is for you to stop this. Stop all of this—What are you doing?”
Kelevra moved one hand to Rin’s hair, the other sliding down to unbuckle the belt and slip the zipper of his fly down. He palmed at his dick through the thin material of the boxer briefs, keeping his touches light but persistent, somehow managing to call it to action despite the fury eating Rin from the inside out.
“Stop it.” Rin ground his teeth as the first sparks of arousal shot through him.
“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings, sweetheart,” Kel said softly. “I suffer from a temper, same as you, and that can get the best of me. That’s all that was. It was nothing personal.”
“It felt personal,” Rin argued.
“Like this?” He let go only long enough to slip his hand beneath the waistband of the briefs to pull Rin’s now fully erect cock out.
He hissed at the touch, cool air blowing against his bare skin. Rin tried to remember they were standing in the middle of a damn forest, potentially with a murderer, but when Kelevra rolled the pad of his thumb around his cockhead he couldn’t help but moan.
“Forgive me?” Kelevra asked.
“Eat me, asshole.”
