Although, he was pretty sure he should be ashamed to admit it, the simple little scratches called to a part of Marrick the whip had never come close to.
If the whip had made him feel alive, then the lion’s claws made him sure that there was a paradise to be found in the afterlife—and that, for some reason, he was being granted a sneak preview of just how glorious that would be.
Blaine took his hand away.Reaching around Luther’s shoulders, he encouraged him nearer, so they both sat as close as they could to each side of Marrick’s body.
Staring up at the Luther, Marrick watched the different emotions flash through his eyes.For several lifetimes, it seemed as if Luther was either unwilling, or unable, to copy Blaine.But, finally, Luther placed his hand on Marrick’s skin, just as Blaine had a minute earlier.The lines Luther left were even fainter than those Blaine had painted on his skin.But they still sent sparks shooting through Marrick.They still pushed more pleasure, more life, into him than any simple little scratch should be able to.
“Roll over.”
Marrick did as he was told, shuffling over onto his stomach, more than willing to offer his obedience in exchange for the kind of orders that he really loved to receive.Luther sprang off the bed and collected the ties he’d dropped on the rug in his haste to have Marrick’s first wrist bound.The material was quickly fastened around Marrick’s other wrist.His ankles followed.
Then, nothing.
Marrick lay face down on the bed, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do but wait and hope.The silence stretched out.The mattress remained completely steady as all the men on it failed to move an inch.
It was all too easy for Marrick to believe that the lions had disappeared into the ether, that he was all alone in the world.Fear spiked inside him at the idea of the lions suddenly not being there.Closing his eyes very tightly, he waited out the moments until, just when he thought he might explode from sheer need to feel the lions’ touch, a fingertip came to rest at the top of his spine.
With glacial haste, Marrick felt someone trace a line down the centre of his back.He held his breath again, waiting for a claw to break the skin, but the touch was as tender as any he had ever felt.Not even the mildest scratch lingered in its wake.
The fingertip left Marrick’s skin.The mattress rocked slightly as one or both the lions shifted his weight.When another touch came, it wasn’t one finger, or even five.Ten claw tips came to rest on his skin—the claws from two men’s hands twined together.
Eyes still closed, it was so easy for Marrick to imagine how those hands would look, one lion’s palm resting on the back of the other’s hand, fingers crossing and intertwining as they both reached for him together.
Marrick moaned in appreciation as all ten points pressed lightly against his back when he took a breath.As the lions’ hands remained twined together, their claws traced their way down Marrick’s back.
When their hands disappeared from his world once more, Marrick dragged a shaky breath into his lungs.He’d never guessed that lying quietly on a bed could make him so breathless, that it could make his heart race so quickly—or that it could make his cock so hard.
Blaine’s hand went to the back of Marrick’s right thigh.The bed dipped next to Marrick as Luther leaned forward and reached up toward one of his bound wrists.Their claws were still out.
As they laid more light scratches against his skin, Marrick held nothing back from them.Arslan might have a loud roar and an impressive rank in their pride, but Marrick would be cheerfully damned before the guy succeeded in calling the shots when he and his lovers—and, yes, maybe even when he and his one-day masters—were alone together.
Well aware there were times when a pleasure filled moan could do more to persuade a man than any scary roar, Marrick whimpered and gasped, doing everything he could to make it clear to the lions that they weren’t doing anything wrong—that they could be as rough as they wanted with him, and he’d be as fine with that as any lion could ever be.
As another set of scratches slid down Marrick’s back, he felt a hard cock brush against his leg.He grinned against the pillow.He wasn’t the only one who loved this.The sheer fact they liked playing that sort of game with him sent shockwaves through Marrick.
His hips started to rock, just gently, as he rubbed his dick against the mattress.He stilled when Blaine rested his hand on his arse.The lion scratched his claws gently against the rounded muscle, as if in praise, while Marrick continued to hold himself as still as his master wanted.
Blaine’s hand moved away.A second later, Marrick felt a rough tongue lap at the lines the claws had left in their wake.Marrick moaned into his pillow.Luther’s chuckle caressed his skin there.He sounded so happy, Marrick smiled with him as the lion lifted his head away for a moment before lowering his lips to other lines that they’d already placed on his skin.
Blaine soon followed Luther’s lead, leaving as many licks and kisses on Marrick’s skin as he had scratches and joining in Luther’s chuckles as Marrick started to squirm under their teasing.Looking over his shoulder, Marrick managed to catch glimpses of them as they began to steal kisses from each other as they tried to lap along the lines of the same set of scratches.
“Please.”
Blaine looked up.
“Please.”Marrick couldn’t think of another word.He was pretty sure no other words existed, and while that was the case, being too proud to beg would have been a pitiful waste of time.“Please.”
Twisting his head, Marrick stared back at the other men.Their breaths were just as uneven as his.There was something in their eyes he’d never seen before—something they’d been hiding from him.Blaine lowered his lips to Marrick’s skin once more, lapping at the small of his back as his claws trailed very gently over his buttocks and down to the sensitive skin just next to his hole.
Marrick’s muscles twitched as he fought to remain entirely motionless.Stillness didn’t become any easier when Luther followed Blaine’s lead and slipped his hand between Marrick’s legs to palm his balls.His claws weren’t out, but that didn’t matter.Marrick knew they could be.Against all logic, that just shot more adrenaline through his veins.Marrick squirmed.His cock achieved just a little bit more friction against the sheet beneath him.Without any warning, every muscle in his body tensed.He yelled out his pleasure as he tossed his head back.
Pushing his dick desperately against the blankets, he helplessly rode the mattress as his orgasm tore through him.
He’d come from nothing more than their claws and tongues dancing over his skin.Come without thought, come without permission.When he managed to look over his shoulder, Marrick wasn’t sure what either shifter would think of that.But they both simply stared down at him, fascinated and victorious in equal measure.
“I didn’t know humans could do that,” Luther admitted, keeping his voice to a whisper as if worried a louder sound might somehow spoil the moment.“Not just from…”
“Shocked the hell out of me, too,” Marrick muttered into his pillow as he dropped his head forward.A second too late, he realised that he’d just confessed that no other men had ever tripped his switch so easily.
