Page 44 of Axios

But I wanted to touch him, so I moved them and gripped his back, running my fingertips down his spine. With another growl deep in the back of his throat, he gripped my side and flipped me onto my stomach.

Eryx liked dominance, and I liked challenging him.

It had become a game for us over the years—fighting for control. I’d never been victorious in my conquest, but unbeknownst to him, I’d never wanted to be. Just the act of fighting his dominance pleased me.

I adored the animalistic part of him he kept reserved for me; the one that took me hard, yet also took me gently, depending on our mood.

By the way he savagely nipped at my shoulder and pressed his body against mine, I concluded that time would be the former.

I smiled and rested my cheek on the soft bed of grass, waiting for him to continue with his possession of me. But it did not come. Not yet.

His bites stopped and the warmth of his breath tickled my ear.

“You are my heart,” he said unexpectedly. The amount of care in his voice settled over my chest like a warm cloak. “I do not easily confess emotions in the way you do, but know I feel the same. The words I once spoke to you hold true: I will kill any man and turn the whole world to ash for you, my warrior. I fear neither battle nor death, but I fear the day you are not by my side. Never question where my heart lies, because it is forever yours. In this life and the next.”

A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed to help clear it.

We lived such brutal lives, and yet, we’d found a rare calmness in each other. Eryx was the anchor that kept me from drifting out to sea. My safe haven from the storm.

“In this life and the next,” I repeated, knowing they were the only words that encompassed everything I felt for him.

An oath.

Once I was ready, he slowly filled me. His soft whimpers reached my ears as he pushed past the tightness that fought him, one that stopped fighting and welcomed him. The sound amplified my desire.

Knowing I was the cause of his pleasure intensified my own.

He held my hip with one hand and had the other bracing on the ground as he began a slow grind, allowing me to get accustomed to him before going faster.

My fingers gripped the earth, digging into the dirt, as Eryx moved inside my body, staking his claim in a way no other man ever would.

***

When we returned home—carrying a few rabbits that we’d caught after making love—we handed them off to a slave to be added to that evening’s meal before finding Haden and the rest of our group.

Haden, who had always been the biggest of us as boys, was a true sight to behold as a man. A beast formed with rippling muscle, sinew, and an unmatched aggression. When he moved past the younger boys in theagoge—towering over most of them by a foot or more—their intimidation reflected in their wide eyes and gawks.

Little did they know he was still the same dimwitted oaf he’d always been, but the sheer size of him warded off even the bravest of youths.

“You fool no one,” Haden said, smirking. His gray eyes were lighter that day, the color of the sky after rain. He looked to Eryx, having to tilt his head down a bit to look him in the eye. “The rabbits are not all you impaled with your spear, my friend.”

That remark earned him a slap on the shoulder.

“Doesn’t it hurt, Axios?” Quill asked, bounding up beside us. “I have often wondered. Having something put up...there.It seems highly unpleasant.”

My face heated as if I were standing near a roaring fire.

Theon appeared next, his brown eyes crinkling at the edges from where he smiled. “That is absurd. Of course it doesn’t hurt him. Have you not heard his moans in the dead of night when they think us asleep?” Then, to my horror, he mimicked me with exaggerated whimpers, “Oh, Eryx! Right there. By the gods, do not stop. Harder. Oh, yes.”

I could have died in that moment. Perhaps I would have, if not for Felix’s thunderous voice calling out and gaining our attention.

He demanded for us to meet him at the training field, so we walked that way.

Quill and Theon exchanged amused grins before looking at me and winking.

I shook my head at their immaturity. We were men of eighteen, and they still behaved like children. No amount of training could ever take that from them.

Eryx kept pace beside me, failing miserably at concealing his smile. When I was the subject of jests, he took great amusement, especially when they involved my inability to stay quiet during sex. What Theon said was true, and we all knew it. However, I would deny it until my last breath.