The two impulses warred against each other, and as the seconds passed even Blaine didn’t know which one would win out—which one he should want win out.
Then, very slowly, Marrick smiled.It was a cautious little expression, as if he wasn’t entirely sure the world was going to continue in this way that seemed to please him so much, but it was enough.
He squirmed a little under the weight of Blaine’s feline form, and Blaine didn’t even try to hold back his snarl.He was doing exactly what their human had always wanted.He was pleasing his mate.He didn’t want anything to change, and he didn’t see why it should—not when it so obviously delighted Marrick just as much as it thrilled him.
Any hint of hesitation faded from Marrick’s smile.A look of pure bliss passed through his expression, and, for the first time Blaine could remember, there was no other emotion clouding it.
Triumphant with success, Blaine morphed seamlessly back into his human form.The paws that had pinned Marrick’s arms clumsily to the ground shifted into hands and allowed him to wrap his fingers deftly around Marrick’s wrists and take a much better hold on him.
As Marrick murmured his pleasure, Blaine tightened his grip further, just as he would if it was Luther laying beneath him, as if he needed to hold a lion just as strong he was in place.
Just for the briefest moment, something else flashed into Marrick’s expression.Pain.
Snatching his hands away from Marrick’s skin, Blaine sprung away from him, scrambling backwards on the grass.
Marrick’s reactions were quicker than any humans should have been.He caught hold of Blaine’s fingers just before they slipped out of his range and kept him close.
“I hurt you.”
“No!”
“Scared you then,” Blaine snapped, anger giving him no patience with semantics.
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.Lions can sense pain and fear.You’re afraid.You’ve been afraid ever since you came back to us.”And it had been killing part of Blaine every time he sensed it.
Marrick stared back at him for a moment, holding their gazes locked when Blaine could tell he wanted to look away.Marrick swallowed rapidly, several times before he nodded.“Yes, I’ve been scared.”
“Scared of us?”Luther asked, softly as he approached from his vantage point on the other side of the garden, from where he’d been watching over them.“The way we can shift into—”
“No!”The way Marrick said it made it difficult to doubt it was the truth.
“Scared how then?”Luther asked.
Marrick only hesitated for a moment.“If you’d spent your whole life determined not to let anyone stop you grabbing everything life could offer you, then realised you’d give up on all that, for two guys you barely know, you wouldn’t find them frightening, you’d find them terrifying.”
Luther took a step forward, then another, until he lowered himself down to crouch at Blaine’s feet, right next to where Marrick sat.
“You want to protect me from something, protect me from that, because that scares the hell out of me far more than a bit of rough play ever will.”
“If we hurt you—”
“You didn’t hurt me!”Marrick snapped.He paused for a moment and took a calming breath.Letting go of Blaine’s fingers, he held his hands out, displaying his body.“You didn’t hurt me.I’m fine.See?”
Blaine’s eyes ran over Marrick.He looked perfectly fine, even his clothing appeared to be unharmed by their little tumble, but that wasn’t the whole truth, Blaine knew it wasn’t.“The way I held you hurt you.I saw it in your eyes.”
Marrick swallowed.
“If you lie to us about what really hurts you, how do you expect us to keep you safe from…from feeling that way?”
Marrick looked up and met his eyes.Blaine forced himself to look away from him, just for a moment, just to confirm that Luther felt the same way.When he looked back, Marrick’s gaze was still there waiting to trap him once more.
“But, if you could tell us the truth about what will hurt and what won’t do you any real harm, then…” Blaine took a deep breath and nodded his willingness to try to play the games their pet liked so much.
Marrick merely continued to stare at him, as if not sure what to believe.
“Not just physical injuries.You’d have to tell us what scares you—in the wrong ways—too,” Blaine added.
