The words were more for Lucian’s sake than they were for Marcus’ ears, and he didn’t care if they were lost. His tongue twirled, old habits guiding his movements. He knew how to figure out what a man liked. He knew how to listen for the sharp inhalation marking peaked pleasure, or the throaty, sometimes muted grunt that signified appreciation. He’d mastered reading body language—even if it was by touch and not by sight—to understand the intricacies of an individual’s journey towardclimax.
Tonight, he would let Marcus know that they belonged to eachother.
Lucian closed his eyes, distancing himself from the way small stones dug into his knees. Rain pattered upon the overhang, filling the silence. He did his best to drown out the flashes of lightning that breached his eyelids even when they were closed and ignore the distant rumbles that shook his soul. He focused on his tongue instead, learning Marcus’ length for the first time not by sight, but by touch, by taste, and by scent. And when Lucian heard the sharp inhalation he’d been waiting for, he let his tongue play against that spot until Marcus was wound tight and drippingforhim.
Only then did he seal his lips and let Marcus plunge into hismouth.
What they shared didn’t leave Lucian hollow. It didn’t drag him back to his days at The White Lotus, where Director Baylor would watch with partially lidded eyes, reclined in his office chair, as Lucian swallowed his cock while another of Baylor’s boys licked his lips and begged forhisturn.
What he shared with Marcus liberated Lucianinstead.
This was what he wanted. This was his gift to give. Marcus was hischoice.
Just as it was his choice to let Marcusinvadehim.
Lucian let him into his throat, ignoring the sudden seizing of his gag reflex. He let Marcus claim him. And when Lucian’s nose was buried at the base of Marcus’ cock and he smelled the alpha on him stronger than he had before, he reveled in it instead ofdespaired.
Stonecrest had chipped away the worst of the damage done to him and turned him into a functional human being, but it was Marcus who rescued him from whohe’dbeen.
Lucian would neverforgetit.
Another flash of lightning struck, followed by a crash instead of a rumble. Its noise shook Lucian, but he didn’t let it tear him from the moment. The sounds, selfish and near-silent, that tumbled from Marcus’ lips drew him ininstead.
“Fledgling,” Marcus uttered. A hand wove through Lucian’s hair, rewarding him for a job well done. “God, fledgling, do you have any idea how goodyoufeel?”
Lucian knew, and heembracedit.
He aimed to make Marcus feel evenbetter.
When Marcus’ cock next plunged deep, Lucian tightened his throat around it. The pulse of his gag reflex fluttered against Marcus’ shaft, and Lucian buried his face against Marcus’ groin to try to drive him in deeper. Tension coursed through Marcus’ body. Lucian felt it clench in his balls, and he knew that the endwasnear.
“I have cum for you, fledgling,” Marcus uttered. His hand caressed the back of Lucian’s head with urgency. “So much cum. I want you to swallow it. I want it insideofyou.”
Lucian wantedthat,too.
A tremor ran through Marcus’ cock, and Lucian drew back just in time so Marcus shot into his mouth instead of down his throat. The seed was warm and bitter, but it bore the same notes of alpha that Lucian had detected in Marcus’ scent. The taste of that wild aggression made Lucian melt. He sucked at Marcus as he came, his lips kissing Marcus’ shaft in a bidformore.
Marcus gave Lucian all that he could take, and when there was none left to receive, Lucian drew back to lap and suck at the head of Marcus’ cock. Marcus’ fingers tightened, and Lucian found himself separated from the cock he’d drained. He was guided to his feet. Once he was upright, Marcus wrapped him in his arms and kissed him hard. The kiss was brief, but it left Luciandumbstruck.
Nothing should have feltsogood.
Marcus kept him tucked against his chest, holding him there as Lucian came down from the high he’d been on. He hadn’t come, but he hadn’t needed to. What bound them together wasn’t purely physical. Lucian had found release inotherways.
“Next week,” Marcus told him as they parted ways. “I want you to let me driveyouhome.”
“We’ll see what next week brings,” Lucian replied. He couldn’t commit to a yes, even though he wanted nothing more than to do as Marcus told him. “Goodnight,Marcus.”
“Goodnight,fledgling.”
They parted ways, but even as he made his way home alone, Lucian didn’t feel lonely. Marcus was a partofhim.
He felt it even when they wereapart.
17
Marcus
It was far too earlyon a Saturday morning when the phone rang, a ten-second clip of music startling Marcus from his sleep. He scrambled to grab his phone and answered, and he put it to his ear just in time to hear themessage.
