“You can freak out all you need, sweetcakes.Honestly, that’s fine.”Sage looked mildly dazed.“I just don’t want to be the cause of it.”
Will hadn’t considered that, hadn’t considered that his inability to do normal stuff did that to Sage.It’s—theydid that, Ed and the others.I’m like this because of them, and because of how I am, Sage thinks he has to be careful.
It was information he’d have to mull over, but Will knew if he did that right now, he’d have to stop what he was doing.He didn’t want to stop, didn’t want to let the moment go.
“I’ll be fine.”He bit his lip.“I’ll say stop.If I have to stop.”
“Yeah.Yeah, okay.We’ll do that.”
Sage unzipped his pants, and scents filled the air.Will could see the wet patch on the font of Sage’s boxers, and part of him wanted to stop what he was doing and go over there so he could lick Sage, taste him, but the fear of failing at that made him stay right where he was, where he could control everything better.
This, touching himself, could hardly go wrong.He was almost there, and Sage…Sage shoved his underwear down to reveal a dark pink cock that was fully hard.
Sage started stroking himself, shuffling sideways so he could lean against the wall there.Small bird paintings in square white frames hung on that wall.The image of Sage getting himself off with the inky touch of his raven’s feather brushing his abdomen against the backdrop of larks and robins seared itself into Will’s mind.
When Sage tilted his head back, his neck straining.His blue eyes caught the light, and they looked brighter.In that moment Will knew he wanted to fall in love with Sage, badly.
He wanted all the warmth and fuzziness, the bird wings tickling the insides of his heart, and he wanted Sage to have that too.Tears began leaking out of the corners of Will’s eyes even as the pleasure rose within him.Was his heart even still a place where ravens could roost and sing their love songs?
Will came, and a deep, bone-shattering cry clawed its way out of him.
“Fuck,” Sage said.
Will forced his eyes to stay open, forced himself to keep looking at Sage, even though his vision wanted to white out with the intensity of the orgasm.
Sage’s cock pulsed, and ropes of cum gushed out of him.His eyelids were at half-mast, pupils blown, and his lips were a deep rose pink.He trembled and sagged against the wall, the back of his head nearly dislodging the robin painting.
They just stared at each other.Sage looked so soft.They had made a mess of the floor and the bed, respectively, and Will knew he should care about that.He didn’t.
“Will you… Can you come lie down next to me?”he asked.
Sage’s nod came instantly, and he hurriedly pulled his pants up before moving toward the bed.
Sage kept looking at Will, and he smelled so good.Will wanted to rub up against him until he smelled like him all over, like sunshine and smiles.
Sage lay on his back, but his head was turned toward Will.Will wiped his hands clean on his pants, then shoved them off rather than back up.He got into Sage’s space and put his head on Sage’s shoulder and his hand on his chest.He could feel Sage’s heartbeat under his fingertips.
“I’m not sure what to say to you, but you’re beautiful, sweetcakes.”
“I’m broken.”
The words clawed their way out of him like the misbegotten nightmares that had kept him awake all these years.Sage’s breathing didn’t change, nor did his scent, but he didn’t respond.The silence stretched so long that Will thought they had gone past talking.
“I don’t see you that way,” Sage eventually said.“It doesn’t take a genius to guess something bad happened to you.I just don’t see you as broken.”
Will curled against Sage.He’d have to tell him eventually.All of what had happened to him.Sage had a right to know, so he could walk away.
I might as well tell him now.Will closed his eyes.His throat felt like it was studded with glass shards.
“I was given by my original pack…to a pack of four loups-garous.So they’d stay away from pack territory.I was payment for them leaving.That happened four years ago.I was allowed to go to the farmers’ market for herbs, and I met that brownie.She gave me this look…and she just knew.She said there was this vampire lawyer who’d helped her, and she gave me the address.One night—” Will’s throat felt like sandpaper, almost like his body was trying to stop him from talking about any of this.His fingers curled tighter around Sage’s T-shirt until he couldn’t feel the beating heart underneath anymore.“I snuck out one night.Out of the pack leader’s bed.”
Sage’s breath caught.“They…assaulted you.”
“I just had to survive.They’d have killed me if I hadn’t—I… At some point, I stopped fighting them.I had to survive.I’m so sorry I let them—”
“Oh, Will, sweetcakes, you have absolutely nothing to feel sorry for.”Sage was crying.Will heard it in his voice.“Can I hold you right now?”
Will nodded, and Sage drew him into his arms.They cried together for a ridiculously long time, and halfway through that, Will started giggling.
