“Like this?”Declan dropped the glamour, quelling the flurry of anxiouswhatandwhyin favor of dancing the tips of his claws along the back of Antonio’s neck.
“Yeah.That’s– That’s fucking incredible, actually.”Antonio's breath caught on the words, and Declan’d be lying if he said he didn’t like the sound.
Declan grinned.He didn’t even put the teeth away, just leaned into that ridiculously comfortable chest, Antonio’s face tucked against him, all of it right and good and settled, even if he refused to grind against the man.
“You may not think so if I weren’t a fan of cutting them.”
“Youcutthem?”
“Oh, aye.Proper raptor claws.Wickedly curved, razor sharp.Six inches, uncut.”
Antonio snickered, and, voids, the feel of his amusement mixed with the drag of his fingers over Declan’s spine nearly broke him.“How does anyone get anythingdonelike this?”
“At a guess?They don’t spend near twelve hours apart from their bond of less than sixteen.”Declan’s traitorous body curled closer, his jeans doing little to conceal his reaction.Antonio’s gym shorts certainly didn’t.Not then, and not when Declan tangled his fingers in Antonio’s hair and tugged at some of his curls.Tugged again.Each answered with an eager twitch of the man’s cock and another hitching breath.“I’ll be the first to admit I’d rather not try the twelve-hour separation again for at least a couple days.To see if it settles.”
“I could bunk with you for a bit?”Antonio offered.A note of pleading in his voice.A flicker of dread in the bond.“On a cot or something, I mean.”
“I would like that,” Declan agreed, propping his chin on Antonio’s shoulder, eyes closed.Every bond needed to touch.It wasn’t true interest.Declan wouldn’t take advantage.“Stars and pitch, if the best Faerie can muster is a cot, we’ve bigger problems than the Council.”
They’d have a world collapsing around them, was what they’d have.Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.There were other things to worry about, such as the rising sound of conversation nearby.Aisling and two others.Her business, no doubt.
Declan, grumbling, started to pull back from Antonio enough to not be grinding on the man in the presence of hismother, not to mention whatever fae she decided to allow in the library.
“Mother has visitors, it seems.Prepare to hear me called ridiculous things.”
The voices stopped abruptly, as did the footsteps.
“Good afternoon, boys,” said Aisling, her voice faint.
A soft, whispering giggle, unwantedly familiar, followed her words.Nae.That meant–
“How sweet,” Tsuri said, their voice liquid and musical.“But perhaps we shouldn’t interrupt.”
Nae and Tsuri.AndAisling–
Antonio froze, bloody nearshook.Panic crashed through their bond, scraped raw and bitter.Curdled, twisting, iced-overterror.
He was to protect Antonio.That was the deal.It was what Declan wanted to do.Allowing him to be damaged again through his fear was harm, too.
“You’resafe,” Declan whispered, voice gone quiet, near silent.His arms tightened on Antonio, unwilling to release him just yet.Not when the man breathed easier when held close.“I swore it.I swear it again.On myname, Antonio.”
Antonio didn’t respond.Not verbally.Just a small, tight nod.And he breathed, finally, if a bit unsteady.
“Has he ever brought one home before?”Nae asked, presumably to Aisling.
For the love of– No.No.
“Tsuri,” Declan said, calm as he could make himself, which was very calm indeed.“Nae.What a surprise.Mother didn’t say you were the business she had this afternoon.”
“Nae’s been scheming.The minx.And I snuck along.”Tsuri had always had the most beautiful voice.When it curled with fondness, as it did when they spoke of Nae, even more so.Something sickly twisted through the bond, risked taking root.“Introduce your human?He’slovely.Just in time for Yenah and Charil’s biannual too, you’ll start a fad.”
As far as the first of those in Declan’s sphere to meet Antonio went, Tsuri and Nae were among the better options.If nothing else, Tsuri had been pleased at the idea of bonding Declan, before their family interfered and paired them with Nae.And Declan had long suspected Nae of being a touch more radical than Tsuri’s Monarch cousins would approve of.Her friendship with Hyacinth, Tsuri’s non-monarch cousin, spoke to that.
All that did nothing to quiet Declan’s irritation at Tsuri’s words, nor at Nae’s answering, “Especially with thosetattoos.You don’t see those here.”
Supportive in the way of their kind.Itrankled.Had Everil felt the same cold, violent anger in those first days, when people talked around Bo?Declan imagined he must have.
“I’m fine,” Antonio said, as he pulled his hands from under Declan’s shirt, leaving only a pathetic yearning in their wake.“Can wait in the room while you catch up with your friends.”
