He’d gone with the flow despite the fact he was curious—of course he was—and he hated that he’d just been touching the blood of some faceless, nameless stranger. But if this was going to be his future, he needed to start adjusting now, while there was still time for him to take things slowly and learn to adapt.
“You can’t say things like that without thinking them through,” Baikal warned.
That only made his confusion grow.
“Isn’t this what we agreed on?” Was Void telling him he didn’t like him being amicable? “You said—”
Baikal shoved him up against the shower wall, his mouth crashing down on Rabbit’s in a brutal kiss that didn’t last nearly as long as Rabbit would have liked.
“Tell me you’ll be my Possessio,” Void demanded, pulling back just enough to speak. He rested his forehead against Rabbit’s, the contact hot and sticky.
“I’m not a fan of that title,” Rabbit reminded.
“Tell me anyway,” he insisted. “Say it this once and I promise I won’t ask again.”
That was…interesting. Void didn’t make promises lightly—he manipulated his words to fit his agenda, sure, but this was pretty clear-cut no matter which way Rabbit tried to spin it.
“I’ve never wanted a Possessio before,” Baikal admitted then. “A life partner was something I figured I’d have to consider years from now. But I want you, little bunny. I want all of you and I want you to want all of me. This is the closest you’ve come to that. Even last night, you only changed the terms out of fear of your mother.”
“I want freedom,” he corrected. “I want to have choices.”
“I can let you do that.”
“To you, decision and choice have the same meaning.”
“Don’t they?”
“A decision is something you can make when youhave a choice,” Rabbit said.
“So then decide and choose to tell me you’ll be my future Possessio,” Baikal stated.
“Why should I?”
“Because if you do,” he nuzzled their noses together briefly, “I’ll allow you all the choices you want. The only one I won’t give you is the right to choose me. You don’t have that, Rabbit. You don’t get to tell me no or say you won’t be mine.”
“And everything else?” He should be more afraid, should be rethinking all of this, and figuring out a way to escape from the Brumal Prince and his possessive grip on him. But Rabbit was very good at adapting, and the way he saw it, what was done was done. Anything short of finding a way to go back in time and stopping Void from seeing him a year ago would be a waste of energy.
“I’ll stand by what I agreed to,” Baikal told him. “Come on, little bunny, it’s already a done deal anyway. Just say it. For me.”
Rabbit wanted to sleep with him again, wanted help overcoming whatever trauma he’d been hiding from and enduring. Wanted to not have to be scared of his own damn mother or the things she was capable of.
But that didn’t mean he was sure about forever with Void.
“Convince me,” he said earnestly. “Convince me that’s something I should want and I will.”
“Negotiating again?”
“This thing between us has always been transactional,” Rabbit reminded. “Even if I’ve always been on the short end of the stick.”
Baikal stared for a moment, considering, and then the corner of his mouth tipped up ever so slightly. “All right. I’ll make you want it. I’ll help you see that being mine is the best thing that could have ever happened to you. But, Rabbit.” He licked the curve of his ear. “There’s nothing short about my stick. Here. Let me show you.”
Chapter 27:
Void shoved him down onto the bed and swung a leg over him, straddling his narrow waist. Outside, the windows showed an inky night sky and within moments, the lights in the room began to dim.
Baikal was using his power, tendrils of smoke seeping out to snag at the light orbs and encase them in their darkness.
Rabbit’s throat went dry and he swallowed, some of his earlier anticipation dying as that familiar cloying panic started to take root. “Keep the lights on.”
