“You were busy tonight,” Marcus remarked. He kissed the corner of Lucian’s lips, and Lucian lifted his head and gave in to him. “We didn’t even have timetoplay.”
“It’s fine.” Lucian rested his arms around Marcus’ neck, holding himself lightly against Marcus’ body. Their back alley meetings had grown to be the highlight of Lucian’s week, but tonight what they shared was different. Tonight, Lucian was there for more than hushed conversation. “There will be other nights, won’tthere?”
“Ofcourse.”
“Then there’s no need to regret this one.” Lucian’s fingers brushed the back of Marcus’ neck. He rested his head against Marcus’ shoulder, bolder than he’d been before. “The only thing I regret is what you went through withAdrian.”
“He’s persistent, but he’s harmless,” Marcus promised. “His words are sharp, but his claws aren’t. I told him no, and he knows that Imeantit.”
“The look in his eyes didn’tsaythat.”
“Then he’s wasting his time. I politely declined his advances. I’m not changingmymind.”
The moon was close to full, but the night was dark. Clouds had rolled in during Lucian’s shift, hiding what few stars there were to be seen and plunging the world in darkness. But the darkness didn’t last—a startling flash lit up the sky, and as Lucian jumped and clung tighter to Marcus, a distant rumblefollowed.
Thunder.
“Are you afraid of storms?” Marcusasked.
“I… a little.” Lucian closed his eyes. He breathed in the scent of alpha from Marcus’ skin, burrowing against the crook of his neck to take strength in it. “It’s not rational. I know that I don’t have any reason to be afraid, but the suddenness of it makes me jumpy—the lights, thenoise…”
“We should get you somewhere safe, then,” Marcus said. “Let me take you home tonight. It’s goingtorain.”
“No, thank you.” Lucian didn’t want Marcus to see where he lived. He wasn’t ashamed of living in subsidized housing, but he did find himself ashamed of his past. It would be simple to trace the apartment building all the way back to Stonecrest, and from there, Marcus could piece together the rest. Lucian didn’t want that. Marcus treated him like he was normal, and Lucian was reluctant to give that up for the convenience of afreeride.
“You want to stay out here?” There was laughter in Marcus’ words, faint, but audible. “The sky’s going to open up any second. We’re lucky it hasn’talready.”
“I don’t mind getting wet.” Lucian pressed a kiss against Marcus’ collarbone through his shirt, then lowered himself slowly, letting his kisses trail down Marcus’ chest and stomach until he’d arrived on his knees. Lucian nuzzled against the front of Marcus’ pants. “Doyou?”
Marcus huffed a laugh. “No. Not when you asklikethat.”
“Good.”
Lucian nosed Marcus’ shaft, feeling him start to harden. The first raindrops began to fall, hitting the overhang with tiny metallictinks. As long as they stayed where they were, they wouldn’t besoaked.
“If I belong to you,” Lucian murmured, his lips brushing Marcus’ erection. “If it’s your cum stored in my balls and your thoughts in my head, then does that mean that my body is as much a part of you as your arm is, oryourleg?”
“That’s right, fledgling,” Marcus told him. “That’sright.”
“Have you heard of phantom limbs before?” Lucian asked. He glanced up at Marcus, but the storm plunged them in shadow so dark that itobscuredhim.
“No.”
“When someone loses a body part, sometimes the person will still feel that limb there. The body mourns the parts of itself that it lost and remembers them, just like we remember a loved one who’s passed.” Lucian lifted a hand, freeing the strap of Marcus’ belt from its buckle. Marcus did not stop him. “So if I’m a part of you, do you feel it when I’m gone? Does your body remember me even when we’reapart?”
Another flash lit up the sky. A rumble followed. In its aftermath, Marcus replied. “Ido.”
“I think my body misses yours in the same way,” Lucian admitted. He undid the button of Marcus’ fly and guided the zipper beneath to its end. “All week I’ve been restless, antsy, just… eager for tonight. To see you. To be here, in this tiny alley. And it’s because I belong to you. Because our bodies miss each other when they’reapart.”
With Marcus’ fly down, Lucian nuzzled against the newly exposed layer of fabric. The smell of alpha was stronger now, flooding his nostrils and waking up the submissive instincts omegas naturally embodied. Lucian closed his eyes. When he spoke again, he wasn’t sure that Marcus couldhearhim.
“And if I’m yours, and everything I am belongs to you, then in a way, you belong tome,too.”
The insecurities Adrian had stirred in him pried him open and left him vulnerable. Lucian half-hoped that Marcus couldn’t hear him make such bold declarations. He wasn’t sure where they stood. Marcus was a patron of The Shepherd, and Lucian doubted that sex meant much to him. But then again, Lucian had been a whore, and once upon a time, sex had been routine. There were times when he’d enjoyed himself, and there’d even been alphas he’d wished would buy him from Baylor and take him home, but he knew now that no john had ever madehimfeel.
Not likeMarcusdid.
“I don’t want you with anyone else,” Lucian whispered. He lowered the elastic of Marcus’ underwear, letting his tongue run up the length of Marcus’ shaft. “I don’t want that. It makes me ache thinkingaboutit.”
