“This is your rut.” It was nearly a kiss, Bel’s fury soft against his mouth.
Nicodemus gave the tiniest shake of his head. “Not yet. Right now, this iswant, Bel. I want you. Please.”
Bel urged Nicodemus’ chin up higher. “You didn’t want me before.” He no longer seemed furious, speaking roughly against the hollow of Nicodemus’ throat, a place unexpectedly tender. “You were smart not to.”
“Do you imagine me when you are in the Realm?” Nicodemus did close his eyes, the dark and their shared hot breath rendering his glasses useless. He skated a hand up Bel’s chest to his throat, and then to the rope of his hair. “Did it affect you?”
“Nicodemus.” Bel’s teeth were not the kind of warning he possibly thought they were.
“Ah,” Nicodemus sighed. “You hid from me. I didn’t know what this was.”
Bel growled and pulled back, dropping his hand. “You still don’t.”
Nicodemus shivered and reached out, pleasure sharp in him when Bel was again drawn forward and Bel’s breath was hot beneath his ear. But he would not take, so Nicodemus risked another touch, curious about Bel’s chest. “All your other indulgences…the things you must have done. There is a lot I know nothing of. You could teach me. Or tell me.” He shifted his legs apart helplessly. “You could give me everything. Or take it, if you want to call it that.”
“I will hurt you.” Bel bit out each word.
“How?” Nicodemus asked, genuinely curious.
Bel’s hands landed heavily over his ribs, pushing Nicodemus back against the wall and holding him there. “I told you to try not to want here.”
“Yes,” Nicodemus agreed shakily, wishing to learn the press of Bel’s thick thigh between his. “You also said it is want that will be used against you. But you don’t need to feel that. I’m here for the taking, Bel.” He was fiercely glad he had not needed this from strangers, that he had not ever thought to ask it of them. “Please want me.”
Bel was strained. “I do.”
Nicodemus jerked back in surprise despite himself, horns knocking against the wall. Bel lifted his head. The light was dim, but red was reflected in them now. Nicodemus swallowed. “You would never let me want like this again?”
It was what he had yearned for without admitting it, down the length of the second-floor hallway and across the kitchen and from a chair in a corner of the sitting room while the others laughed.
Bel’s eyes widened, flames glowing brighter. “Nicodemus?” he demanded with a frown, and shook his head as if trying to clear it. “I can feel…. But you don’t know me as I am.”
Nicodemus was not actually a lamb, lost or otherwise, even if he could not stop clinging to Bel’s coat. “Then show me.”
“You would run,” Bel insisted, putting an ache in Nicodemus’ chest. In Bel’s voice was a want to eclipse his.
A chill went down Nicodemus’ spine. He frowned as more of the cold seemed to slip beneath his clothes to pebble his skin.
The fog had crept up from the river, hiding nearly everything but a few glimpses of candlelight from the rooms above them.
Bel spun around to stand in front of him.
I know what you are. The reassurance came sweetly, breathless in a way Nicodemus would not have liked even if the voice had not seemed to come from within his own mind.
But Bel heard it too. He did not turn away from the fog, as if he saw more than Nicodemus could. “I know you do.”
I can show the asterion. It had been pleased before with just Nicodemus. Now it seemed delighted, if confused.What a beast thou art, with a bellyful of hunger. If I touch him, will you hurt me truly?
“I’ll hurt you anyway.”
Bel didn’t even raise his voice.
Itlaughed. Nicodemus ducked his head, turning away from that and the damp touch of the fog.I will come for him once you have gone.
“Or you could let me kill you now,” Bel offered. “I would take my time. Make it interesting for both of us.”
A feast. It was practically a hiss.
“He is, but not for you.”
