Page 6

Chapter six

Nash

K ai was asleep when I finally came back to my tent, his back turned to the door and his arms curled around himself. It didn’t exactly look comfortable, the way I’d tied his wrists together and attached them to my bed, but there was no world where I’d allow him to run off while there were enemies hidden in the shadows.

If Koth wasn’t running free and threatening to spring out at any moment, there might be something interesting about letting Kai loose just to claim him. I wanted to hunt him down—I hadn’t imagined the way his eyes lit up when I pinned him to the ground before, the way his hips gave the slightest little thrust forward, like he knew what he wanted even though he wasn’t willing to admit it.

I hadn’t imagined the draw between us—I just wasn’t sure how to make him admit that he was mine .

He stayed with his back turned to me as I entered the room and sat down the tray I’d carried in with me, but I noticed the second he woke. His shoulders tensed, and the level sound of his breathing, the light snoring, stopped completely.

And then started up again, but ridiculously loud.

And obvious.

There was a part of me that wondered if Kai realized he wasn’t a very good actor, or if he really believed the obnoxious sound suddenly leaving his throat would convince me he wasn’t awake.

“Little Mate, I know you’re not sleeping,” I murmured, and the snoring turned into a choking sound that had him coughing and sitting up. His eyes were wide, shocked depths—the sweet color of the sea… but the red that stained his cheeks was more like the sunset.

“I’m…” He coughed again, moving to raise his hands before he realized they were still tied. “I’m not little.” Kai finally spat out, then turned his glare to his wrists. “And I don’t appreciate being tied up.”

My eyes dropped to his restraints—I’d used the softest cloth, so there weren’t any marks. I didn’t say anything, but I was half certain he probably could have broken free if he’d really tried. They were more perfunctory than functional, so I could hear the noise if he attempted an escape.

“Do you truly? Do you hate being here so much?” I asked as I grabbed the tray I’d brought and came to sit on the bed beside him.

“Yeah, I hate it. I need to find my friend, and I don’t like being tied up unless it’s by a hot chick and I…” He trailed off as his eyes caught the motion of my fingers. I brought the sweet fruit up to my lips and took a bite, aware that the juice sluiced down my chin and dripped onto my bare chest. “What’s that?”

“Hm?” I licked my lips and looked down at the tray. It was filled with an assortment of fruit, meats, and cheese. He hadn’t eaten since I’d brought him here, and I had no idea how long it had been before that.

Even if I meant to tease him, I wasn’t going to let my mate starve out of some cruel need to make him bend to my whim. I kept him here for his safety only—I wanted him to give me his affection freely.

“What’s… I’ve never seen fruit like that.” He finally conceded, leaning forward and inhaling. I could tell the second the scent hit his nose, because he let out a small sound and his stomach rumbled.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. Can I—” He started to reach forward with the limited range his restraints afforded him, and I couldn’t help myself. I drew the tray back and felt my lips curl into a slight smirk. “What?” Kai’s gaze went dark. “Are you going to starve me?”

“No,” I said. The look on his face made it clear he didn’t believe me, then it morphed into something irritated when I grabbed a piece of fruit and lifted it up so it was hovering at his face, just out of reach of his mouth.

When he tried to lift his hands again, I snaked my free fingers through the binding, pinning them to his lap. He let out a small sound, and I arched a brow.

“No way,” he grumbled, but even as he said it, he leaned in and snagged the fruit with his teeth, jerking back instantly before he used his tongue to lap it into his mouth. The sight was pure sin, something that would have angered the gods because it was so worthy of worship.

My eyes stayed fixated on his face as he chewed the fruit and made another low sound of appreciation in his throat that went straight to my cock. I realized how easy it would be to lean forward, to run my tongue along his chin to lap at the juice that dribbled on his skin. It would be so easy to press him back on the bed and show him exactly how much I knew his body would respond to me.

Instead, I picked up a slice of meat and held it out to him. He didn’t hesitate this time, though he dropped his gaze so he didn’t have to meet mine as he took it from my hand.

Maybe it was because he wasn’t looking, but his lips wrapped around the tips of my fingers, the heat of his mouth wreaking havoc across my entire body and making my cock jerk.

Because he was so focused on looking anywhere other than my eyes, he noticed the instant it happened. Instead of pulling away, his teeth scraped against my skin as he let out a low sound, and he only scrambled back when I groaned in response.

“I’m… uh.” Kai’s eyes darted between the food, my crotch, and my fingers. He finally took a deep breath and looked back at the plate. “Can I try the cheese now? That’s… that is cheese, right? Not something weird?”

I had no idea if it was his stomach winning out, or his body realizing that what was happening between us was as inevitable as the sun rising. Whatever it was, I picked up his request from the plate and held it out to him, watching carefully as his eyes dropped to his hands and he shrugged his shoulders like he’d had a small conversation with himself.

This time when he leaned forward, I thought he’d be more delicate, careful to make sure he didn’t touch me.

Instead, he nearly took my fingers into his mouth as he licked the food from my grasp, and he watched me with an intense expression as I shuddered and let out another low sound of appreciation.

“It’s not like this back home.” His voice was low when he spoke, hushed, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to say the words aloud.

“The food?” I questioned.

“Uh…” He swallowed, then took the next piece of fruit I offered him without hesitation. “Yeah. I totally meant the food.”

Kai didn’t look at me when he said it, but I didn’t need to have a bond with him to realize he was lying. He was terrible at it.

Perhaps it was the lie that made me feel bold. I brought my hand up and carefully swiped my thumb across his mouth, catching the juices of the fruit that made his lower lip glisten. “Things here are… sweeter.”

He watched me as I brought my hand to my mouth and licked the taste of him from my skin, his breath hitching, his body swaying forward slightly.

“Seems that way. It’s not…” Kai’s lips pinched for just a second, and his fingers in his lap clenched, like he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. “This isn’t really… how things are supposed to be. Not where I’m from.” He dragged his eyes back up to mine. “Not where I have to go back to once I find Rainn.” The second half was said with more confidence, and I had to catch myself from snarling in response.

Going back? He wasn’t going back. I wasn’t sure that he’d take kindly to me explaining that there was no way for him to go back until he took a mating bite. Unless that happened, the magic that created the portals wouldn’t let him return to his world—and the only way that was going to happen would be if he accepted what was sitting in front of him.

And if his friend was truly here, the same rules applied. There was no going back for either of them.

“But… Little Mate…” I finally spoke, choosing my words carefully as I leaned closer to him. “You’re here now . Don’t you think you should enjoy the… sweet fruit… while you can?”

Sweet fruit. Impulses. Desire. Everything that was right in front of him.

He didn’t answer me, but he did part his lips and stick out his tongue again.

Right. Impulses and desire… and temptation. Being patient with my mate was going to be more trying, more testing, than any feat of strength I’d ever shown.