“Bas?”
I noticed that his eyes had gone from their visual red to the cloudy grey that meant he needed to feed in order to see again. A light smile met me as I walked over and wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Good morning,” Kroven nodded.
“Good morning.” I cooed back, pulling him in for a kiss. The brush of his fingers against the small of my back made me shiver, my dick coming back to life even though it’d been through new and wild ventures last night. It felt good to feel so confident in being close to him, especially since I was still naked and he had, unfortunately for me, thrown on his underwear when he’d woken up before me.
I felt something cool on my back, his fingers too warm to be the culprit. Coming out of the embrace, I noticed his phone was wrapped around his grip.
“Early calls this morning?”
Kroven sighed, nodding. “It woke me up this morning, and I ran into the bathroom to keep from waking you.” He tossed his phone on the bed. “That was Wallace Watson. He wants me to come to D.C.”
Certainly wasn’t expecting that.
“What?” I ran a hand through my already disheveled post-sex hair. “Why?”
“To report on the state of the protestors outside the blood centers.” He huffed, crossing his arms. “You remember me mentioning a sangamar named Exo?”
“I do.”
“Well, Exo apparently is partnering with Watson to make some sort of official board comprising of the largest Orb species to bring forth to Congress so we can have more of a voice on our rights. Exo wants me to meet with Watson for a potential spot on the board.”
“And…is that something you want?”
“Fuck no,” Kroven blew out hastily. “But I can’t not go. Exo and I…have a complicated history.” I added ‘ask Kroven about said history with Exo’ to my growing mental list of questions and let him continue. “I don’t have to join this Orb council, but I do have to hear Watson out. It’ll be good for me to update him on the status in person. I can swing by a few of the blood centers on the way to the airport to canvas the size of the crowds and if they’ve increased.” He paused to reach for me and I stepped forward so that he could pull me the rest of the way into his arms. “And I was wondering…if you’d want come with me.”
My eyes flared in surprise, but not because I hated the idea. Work was slow for me, with the protestors still affecting theamount of sangamar that felt safe coming to the blood centers, which was still at a resounding zero.
“Wow.” I said nonchalantly. “You really want me to go?”
“Only if you want to,” he stated, rubbing my back. “I certainly wouldn’t mind having you with me. I thought it might be good for Exo and Watson as well, since you know first hand what the protestors have been screaming into the void.”
That was true. I could see how my insight might be valuable to both of them, especially if they were trying to assemble this board in favor of Orb rights. But the fact that Kroven had even asked me to come simply because he liked having me around enthralled me most.
“I’ll have to check and see what my schedule is at the blood center, but yeah, I’d love to go.” Genuine happiness formed in the crescent shape of a smile on my face. “When are you supposed to leave?”
“As soon as possible.” He nodded. “But I can delay it so you can get everything in order with work.”
“Why don’t we stop there on the way? You mentioned scoping out the protestors anyway, so we can hit two birds with one stone.”
Kroven laughed, pulling me against his chest for a quick kiss. “You humans and your sayings.”
Laughing with him, I stroked a path across his pecs. “What do you say to a shower together before we get going?”
“Exactly what I was hoping you’d say.”
Thankfully, this apartment had been renovated before Thayer and I had moved in, something he’d said he was willing to pay extra for, which meant that our bathrooms were not only a decent size but the showers had been upgraded to walk-ins. Kroven and I were able to fit inside the glass doored sanctuary without having any difficulty.
Warm water soothed our post-sex muscles, an innocent kiss turning into one that seemed eager to take my breath away. Myhands were wrapped around his neck again, holding onto him while his hands kneaded into the flesh on my hips and back. Kroven seemed to be moaning more than usual at my touch, and I briefly wondered if it was because he didn’t have his eyesight to rely on at the moment.
A thought raced through my brain, one I naively hadn’t thought about while hooking up with a non-human that needed to feast on blood in order to keep living. Breaking our kiss, I decided to take the plunge and run it by Kroven.
“If you want,” I said, clearing my throat of my invisible nerves. “You could…bite me, since you’re not home to—”
“No.” The stern way Kroven yelped his response made me step back in the shower. There was this ashen look on his face, like the fact that I had suggested such a thing made him absolutely disgusted. “I’m sorry. I mean, no, but I appreciate the offer.” Kroven nodded, reaching for me. I reluctantly let him pull me in, and I was very glad he couldn’t see the hurt on my face. He must have felt the tension in my body though, because he stroked my cheek with his palm. “That’s not something you ever need to worry about,blomsjett.”
There was more to tell, that was obvious. And the newly acquired nickname did nothing to soothe the steel forming in my mind. What puzzled me was that Kroven wasn’t sharing whatever he was trying to bury within himself. After what we’d done last night, I thought there’d be no remaining barriers between us. We’ve only just started dating, I reminded myself. Just because we’d fucked didn’t mean our insecurities or trauma disappeared. I gave Kroven a smile, even though it was lost on his foggy eyes, and enjoyed the tactile exploration of our bodies as we cleaned each other with copious amounts of bubbles and affection.
