“Avoidance—”
“I get it. That doesn’t change my mind.” Rabbit had put too much effort into keeping those horrible memories buried. He wouldn’t allow anyone, not even Void to drudge them up again now. “I’m finally starting to function like a normal person again. Please. Don’t ruin that for me.”
“You think needing to suck my cock before a performance because it’s covered in mint-flavored lube constitutes as functioning, Rabbit?” His touch turned delicate, fingers trailing back to stroke the short hairs at the base of his skull. “I have a friend who likes to take people apart because he finds it interesting, and even he functions better than you do.”
“Why do you think that?”
“He’s in control of himself, always,” Baikal said. “Berga doesn’t let anything take control of him, not even his own emotions.”
“It sounds like he just doesn’t have any,” Rabbit drawled. He should be more caught up on the part about taking people apart, but he wasn’t. It wasn’t like the Brumal and what they potentially did in the shadows was any sort of new commodity to him.
“You’ll change your mind when the two of you meet.”
He stiffened. “I don’t want to meet any of your friends, Void. This is already close enough for me. I don’t—”
“You’re mine,” he cut him off. “When I’m king, you’ll bow before me, same as everyone else, and then I’ll drag you up before the entire Brumal and declare you my Possessio. The whole planet will know better than to mess with you, including your mother.”
A spark flickered to life inside of him, and damn it, Rabbit thought it might be hope.
He couldn’t afford hope.
The last time he had…
“And if I don’t want to be known as your possession?” Rabbit may not be Brumal, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand how their hierarchy worked. The Dominus ruled, and the Possessio was whomever they decided to spend their life with.
“You’ll be my husband, too,” Baikal revealed, “don’t worry. I was going to wait to bring it up. I knew hearing it would freak you out.”
“It has,” he confirmed. Yesterday he’d been trying to wrap his head around staying with Void long enough to have intercourse. Now he was being told in no uncertain terms that when he’d said forever, Void had meant it in every sense of the word.
“You’ll adjust.”
“You’re so certain,” Rabbit said. “You’ve been so sure of yourself since the beginning. Is that because you grew up always getting what you want without having to lift a finger? People just bow and cower and hand you whatever you want, isn’t that right?”
“It’s not wrong.”
“I don’t want to marry you.” He blindly grabbed at Baikal’s wrist, going for the hand still at the back of his head. “I don’t want the title Possessio. We aren’t even dating!”
“Do you want to date first?” Baikal sounded like he actually hadn’t considered that before. “Would that make the transition easier for you? Or is it the title itself after all? If I were Kelevra, I could give you Royal Consort, but I’m not Imperial and the Brumal doesn’t recognize consort as an official designation. What’s wrong with being called my possession anyway?”
“I’m not a thing,” Rabbit stated.
“You’re paying too much attention to the wrong part, little bunny.”
“Oh?” He scowled. “Enlighten me.”
Baikal brought his mouth to his a second time, pressing his lips lightly against Rabbit’s. When that caused Rabbit to gasp, he slipped his tongue inside, lapping at the roof of his mouth before sucking on his bottom lip. He nipped him just before pulling away.
“The important part of that sentence,” Baikal whispered, “is the wordmy. To be frank, I don’t care if it’s Possessio, boyfriend, lover, or husband that you’re called. If you’d prefer I only use the first amongst the Brumal, I can do that for you. When we’re alone, you don’t ever have to hear the word if you so wish. There’s really only one thing I’m unwilling to budge on, tiny obsession, and that is the classificationmine.
“Although,” he shook Rabbit’s hold off his wrist and then reached down to palm his hip, “since you were so open to the idea of marrying Arlet after graduation, I’ll admit, I might take offense if you refuse me when I ask the same of you.”
Rabbit swallowed the sudden lump in his throat.
“Trying to come up with another escape plan, little bunny?” he asked darkly, but Rabbit gave a small shake of his head.
“Trying to figure out what the actual hell is wrong with me.”
“Because?”
