Supporting most of his frame, he let just enough of his weight rest on Ryland to ensure his pet would be able to feel every movement—not just feel his master’s cock inside him, but feel skin moving against skin and the heat of his master’s body enveloping him.
Ryland continued to murmur his pleasure, but they were slow sleepy sounds now, as if his connection with his master now provided quiet contentment, rather than the waves of ecstasy that had shot through him as he’d come.
Arslan didn’t want to stop either, but as slow and careful as all his movements were, each one still pushed him closer to the edge.Even a lion couldn’t last forever.
He thrust deeper inside Ryland and barely held back a roar as his orgasm tore through him, and he spilled inside Ryland’s body for the first time.
Ryland gasped.His eyes fluttered open before dropping closed again as Arslan fell still.
Arslan let a little more of his weight rest against Ryland’s body as he offered a soft lick to his shoulder.He forced himself to pull away far enough to separate their bodies but couldn’t convince himself to move any further than that from his new pet’s side.They remained in contact, allowing him to feel every breath Ryland took as they lay there, sensing every little change in his mood while his body half-covered Ryland’s smaller frame.
“Hush,” Arslan whispered to him.“That’s right; rest now.”
He couldn’t ever remember feeling so protective of any human who had come to them, or of anyone at all—not even the lions in his own pride.He laid one more gentle lick on Ryland’s neck.The boy made a sleepy sated noise and curled slightly on one side, arching his back as he invited Arslan to spoon behind him more comfortably.
Arslan smiled against Ryland’s shoulder.He’d been so right to keep an eye on him.He stroked his hand over Ryland’s skin again.Even stretched out in front of the fire, he had that very slightly cold feeling humans always seemed to possess.Arslan moulded their bodies more closely together, automatically seeking to keep his pet warm and content.
A sudden bang on the other side of the room made Ryland jerk and gasp.Arslan reached over him and set his palm on the far side of the rug, instinctively protecting the boy with his own body as he turned and snarled at the disturbance.
Chapter Two
Ryland lay very still as Arslan half-rolled over him, covering Ryland’s body with his much larger frame and effectively pinning him down against the rug in front of the fireplace.As the half-roar Arslan had let out faded from the air, Ryland regained some semblance of control over his own body and closed his eyes.
Moments passed.Even after Ryland pulled himself together enough to re-open his eyes, he kept his gaze on a small patch of rug just a few inches in front of his face.He had zero inclination to look up and face the world.
Perhaps, somewhere in the back of his mind, he’d been aware that they weren’t as alone as he and Arslan tended to be in his fantasies.Except, of course, for that one daydream where the professor called him down to the front of the lecture hall and…
Ryland closed his eyes again.There were important differences between that fantasy and this reality.He wasn’t at the university; he was in the lion’s den.It wasn’t his fellow students watching him; it was an entire pride of lions.And he wasn’t being called to account for letting his mind wander during a lecture; he was pretty much whoring himself out so he could finish his degree.
His mind raced in a dozen different directions, but there was one thought that stood out from the others, clear and pure.It wasn’t fair.All he wanted to do was stretch out in front of the fire and drown in afterglow with the professor.It wasn’t fair for reality to intrude on such a simple, honest desire.It wasn’t fair that he should have to face the fact that Professor Arslan wasn’t actually the only lion he’d agreed to be thrown to that night.
Unable to close his eyes any tighter, Ryland bit his bottom lip to keep back the sudden and overwhelming need to shout expletives at the sheer injustice of it all.
“Everything’s fine,” Arslan said.He sounded pissed off at the return of reality, too.
Ryland hesitated then, considering that line of thought very carefully, as his heart raced faster and faster.He had no actual reason to assume that Arslan believed himself to be indulging in anything more significant than a quick screw on the rug in front of the fire—just a bit of fun with someone willing to do it for cash.Ryland had no proof that Arslan had ever felt anything other than reality as they lay together.Ryland dropped his head forward to rest his temple against the rug again.
When the professor pulled away, Ryland forced himself to stay where he was, resigning himself to staring at the carpet and waiting for whatever would happen next to happen.It wasn’t as if he could turn back now.It was far too late for that.
Even though he didn’t move, he was still very aware that the entire world changed around him.The pleasant ache in his muscles stopped feeling pleasant.It felt far more like weakness that he couldn’t afford.
The comforting weight of Arslan resting against him quickly became little more than a distant memory.With each second that passed, the heat from Arslan’s body faded a little further from his skin, too.
The warmth from the fire couldn’t compete with that of a lion who had been pressed intimately against him.A shiver ran down Ryland’s spine.Whatever magic had let him lose himself in the sheer rightness of being with Arslan was truly gone now.His head felt hollow, as if he had lost something that had been right on the edge of his reach.And he still had the rest of the evening to get through.
A hand touched his shoulder.A gentle tug demanded he rise.Ryland turned and sat up, hoping like hell that Arslan wasn’t going to order him to stand.He wasn’t sure he could if he tried.Lifting a hand, he pushed it through his hair and tried to make his brain work through a fog of confusion.Apparently, ascending into a fantasy world wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.Reality was a real bastard when it came back and bit down hard.
Arslan crouched down just in front of Ryland.Tucking a knuckle beneath Ryland’s chin, he coaxed him to look up.Ryland put off the moment for as long as he could, but even naked on a hearth rug, Arslan was too imposing a presence to consider disobeying for long.
As Ryland met Arslan’s eyes, Arslan stroked his fingers through Ryland’s hair.
A question flickered in the professor’s gaze, and Ryland desperately tried to work out what it was, just in case he might be called on to answer.But his thoughts scattered as an unexpected noise from the back of the room made him jump.
“They can’t hurt you,” Arslan promised, not looking away from Ryland for a moment.“They’re just foolish cubs—harmless.”
A little grumble of discontent came from one side of the room as someone heard what he’d been labelled.
“Something to say, Luther?”Arslan demanded, still not breaking eye contact with Ryland.“Speak up.”
