Page 10 of Forbidden (Dark Delights #3)

One night, three weeks after they found the Rink, Wolf walked into In Extremis with an uncharacteristic pep to his step. He’d fucked Ira in the shower before dropping him off at the Rink for his scheduled training session with Alex and Luke—though Ira maintained it was torture rather than training. Wolf approved of whatever they were doing. Ira’s visions weren’t knocking him off his feet these days, and his appetite had increased exponentially. He didn’t even make jokes about Wolf feeding him anymore. They’d fallen into a comfortable routine together. Ira trained hard and slept hard, they fucked hard, and life was good. Life was better than he could ever remember it being.

He should’ve known there was another shoe on the horizon, waiting to drop.

Xyra looked grim as Wolf rounded the bar. Carding her fingers through her blue hair, she said, “She wants to see you.”

His good mood plummeted like a stone. “Fuck off, are you kidding?” he exclaimed. “I just got here. ”

Her serious expression didn’t change. “She knows about your prophet. I don’t know how. She asked me about him. I told her I’ve never seen him and don’t know anything about him.”

Wolf sighed. He’d expected Lilith to learn about Ira eventually. She owned the club, after all, and she had ears everywhere. Those who were loyal to her far outnumbered those who weren’t, and they were all too happy to rat out their brethren to curry her favor.

Xyra studied his face intently. “What are you going to tell her?”

Ears everywhere , he reminded himself, glancing out at the dance floor. There were half a dozen people sitting right in front of them at the bar, and all the demons had better hearing than humans. He couldn’t know how many of them might run to Lilith with information to curry her favor. The only people he truly trusted weren’t here tonight.

“As little as possible,” he murmured, and Xyra nodded.

It was best not to keep her waiting for long, so he reluctantly peeled himself away from the bar and went to the half-hidden door in the back.

At the top of the stairs, her office door was closed. He knocked, and her voice rang out from within. Steeling himself, he opened it and stepped inside.

“You asked to see me?”

She looked exactly the same as last time, in skin-tight black clothing with blood-red lips. She stood, gesturing for him to sit in the leather chair across from her. The urge to recoil was strong, but he forced himself to close the distance between them and sit stiffly. There were halflings throughout the city who would hunt him and Ira down if she so much as snapped her fingers. He’d have to play this cool—give her enough to sate her curiosity without putting Ira in danger. It would be a fine line to walk.

“Do you recall what I said at our last meeting?” she asked, strolling around her desk in her towering stilettos.

“Yes, I do.”

“I told you to tell me if anything about the situation with Talon and his people had changed.” She stopped in front of him.

He didn’t raise his gaze. “I remember.”

“Then why ,” she grabbed him by the face, her nails digging into his jaw, “am I hearing from someone other than you that the holy men have got themselves some kind of base?” Her pearly white teeth were bared.

Wolf didn’t move, thinking fast. “It’s no secret that the humans are private investigators now. They’ve been looking for somewhere to do their work for a while. I didn’t really think a decrepit old building ranked very high on your list of priorities. The place is a dump, and they’re barely making ends meet.”

“Oh, you’ve seen it?” she simpered saccharinely, and he knew he’d fucked up. “Did you possibly go and visit with a holy man of your own?”

Wolf winced.

Lilith nodded, releasing his jaw and leaning back against the desk. “Tell me about him.”

Wolf struggled to suck down a breath that didn’t want to come. “He’s… just another holy man. Not even a paladin. He just worked for the guild.”

“What, like a pencil pusher?”

He nodded.

She smiled, but it set Wolf’s teeth on edge. “Why are you lying to me, Wolfie? You know I don’t like being lied to. And things always get so messy when I get angry.”

He gripped the edge of his seat hard. “I’m sorry. I—want to protect him.”

“Then tell me the truth.”

Wolf sighed. He had no choice. “He’s… They call him a prophet.”

“A prophet,” Lilith repeated gleefully. “Like, visions from the Big Guy?”

“Yeah.” He grimaced. “He means no harm. He doesn’t even know how to fight like the others. He just doesn’t want to go back to the guild.”

Her head tilted, the curtain of her dark hair swaying with the movement. He couldn’t interpret what the cold, calculating look in her eye meant. “Why?”

“They’re—not so good, as it turns out.”

Lilith barked out a cruel laugh. “No surprise there. The hypocrisy runs deep in those circles. Were they mean to him?” She affected a pout.

“Yes,” he said bluntly. “They tell their prophets to starve themselves for their visions. It’s unhealthy.”

“Why do you care?”

“I like him.” There was no point in denying it. She already knew Ira and Wolf shared a connection. He didn’t know what her informants had told her, but trying to lie again would only dig his hole deeper than it already was.

“You like him,” she repeated.

It was dangerous to give her this kind of ammo against him, but he would protect Ira no matter what. “I do.”

“Has he told you anything about the future?”

He shrugged one shoulder, mindful not to give anything away with his expression. “Not much. He says he only has a small picture.”

“Come on.” Her voice was velvety smooth. “Nothing?”

He had to give her something. She wouldn’t accept nothing. “He helped the others find that building for their day job. Seems like they’re spending all their time there, fixing the place up. You might see less of them here at the club.” That should please her.

“Really?” She seemed intrigued. “Nothing about us? The demons or the club?”

“Not that he’s told me.”

She hummed. “Bring him here. I want to meet him.”

“No.” It was a thoughtless, instinctive response. He didn’t want Ira anywhere near Lilith. She would tear him to pieces. If not literally, then figuratively. She was cold-blooded and manipulative. If Ira didn’t bend to her will like all the halflings did, she would make him suffer. Wolf would rather die than let Ira get a paper cut .

Her crimson eyes sharpened. “You’ll bring him,” she said calmly. “Or I’ll hang you in the back room and flay the skin from your bones. And when there’s nothing left of you but a pile of meat, I’ll hunt him down and do the same to him.”

She’d done that and worse to others who disobeyed her. She could suspend him indefinitely in a hell of his body’s own making. Flaying him wouldn’t kill him. Only a holy blade could do that. She’d just make him wish he was dead, and he would be powerless to stop her from doing whatever she wanted to Ira.

He couldn’t let that happen.

Seeing the quiet despair on his face, she relaxed, smiling again. “Bring him to me tomorrow night,” she said firmly. “Midnight. Or I’ll make you wish you could die.”

He nodded jerkily.

Lilith turned away without another word, sauntering back around her desk. “You can go. Don’t forget my warning.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he rasped as he fled for the door as calmly as he could, his mind racing all the while.

He couldn’t let Ira go anywhere near Lilith, but keeping him away would only make her angry. Maybe it was just simple curiosity driving her decision to meet him, but Wolf couldn’t risk that she had some more sinister motive. The leader of the halflings had to know there would be real power in having a prophet in her pocket. Wolf couldn’t let Ira become a pawn in her wicked games.

He was so lost in thought that when he stepped out into the club, he ran right into a familiar figure.

Shadrach grabbed his arm to steady him as he frowned at the tension on Wolf’s face. “What’d that bitch say to you, Wolfman?”

Wolf glanced behind him. The door had already fallen shut, and the pounding music would mask their words. They were far enough away from the patrons, too, that they wouldn’t be overheard.

“She wants to meet Ira.”

“Ah. And you’re understandably wary.”

“I’m not just wary , I’m completely against it,” he hissed. “But I can’t tell her that without pissing her off.”

Shadrach tilted his head in agreement. “She is a tricky one. What’s the plan, then? Squirrel him away somewhere?”

No, he couldn’t do that unless he also never showed his face around the halflings of LA again. Hiding wasn’t the answer. He shook his head. He didn’t know. Ignoring her would just make things worse. Letting Ira meet her was too dangerous. There were no good options. He’d rather eat glass than let Ira in the same room as a monster like Lilith.

“I don’t know. I can’t think straight right now.” He needed to see Ira, needed to lay eyes on him and reassure himself that he was okay. Ira hadn’t even been in harm’s way tonight, but that didn’t stop the urge to see him.

“You want me to take you to him?” Shadrach asked, sounding begrudging but not unwilling.

Wolf blinked, surprised by the generosity. Shadrach didn’t normally involve himself in the affairs of others. That he would offer to teleport Wolf to Ira without asking anything in return was a kindness he hadn’t expected.

Shadrach rolled his eyes. “Don’t look so surprised. I do nice things sometimes.”

Wolf resisted a smile. “I probably shouldn’t. I have a shift.”

“It’ll take ten minutes. You tell me where to go, and I get to see this supposed base of theirs.” Shadrach rubbed his palms together gleefully.

Ah, there was the selfish motivation. Wolf’s equilibrium returned.

“Ten minutes. There and back. Xyra can hold down the fort a little while longer, right?” Shadrach held out one hand, palm up in invitation, and Wolf took it, rattling off the skating rink’s address so Shadrach could find it.

The world blurred around them, and when they came to a stop, they were outside the Rink, with its dented and rusted metal walls and craggy pavement.

Shadrach took one look at it and cackled like a hyena. “This is it? This? This is a dump!”

Wolf didn’t bother to argue. It was , really. For now, as Ira liked to say. Everyone said so when they saw it for the first time. The inside already looked a lot better than it had, and they did more work on it everyday. The outside would probably be last, since it provided a certain amount of urban camouflage.

“Just come on,” he said, marching toward the glass door.

“I don’t know why you guys won’t just kill Lilith, anyway,” Shadrach remarked as he trailed after him, straightening his suit jacket. “She’s just a halfling. It’s not like she’s any stronger than any of us.”

“You know why. She has too many followers. They’d riot.”

“Then her followers can die, too,” he said flippantly.

Wolf shook his head. “You might be good, but you can’t kill a few hundred halflings on your own.”

“I’m not on my own. There are a handful of you already banding together. Who’s to say there aren’t more who would gladly turn their backs on her if given the chance?”

“Like it or not, Lilith has done a lot for the halflings in the city. She’s given them places like In Extremis to be their darker selves. She brings in the blood-spiked drinks and the willing humans to feed on. The drugs, the money, the weapons. If you get rid of her, all of that falls apart, and the halflings would hate you for it.”

Shadrach scoffed, and Wolf rolled his eyes. Shadrach didn’t like to admit it, but even he enjoyed some of Lilith’s innovations, like the club. Her enterprise was a house of cards—delicate enough, yes, given that she was ‘just a halfling,’ like Shadrach thought. But if it all fell down, everyone would suffer in the fallout.

Cool air hit him as he strode in—they’d finally gotten the air conditioner fixed, which was good news—and the tension drained from him at long last when his eyes found Ira.

His curly hair was pulled into a bun atop his head, and his brown skin gleamed under the ambient lighting of the training floor. He held a sword above his head, his arm shaking with effort, but he fell from the defensive pose as he saw Wolf. Talon and Malachi, standing at the half-wall and watching the humans train, turned as Wolf and Shadrach entered.

“To get rid of Lilith, someone would have to step up and take over everything she’s in charge of right now,” Wolf said. “I hear she’s even some kind of liaison for Hell. If they ever need to send a message to the halflings on Earth, they contact her.”

“Seriously?” Shadrach asked. His dark eyes trailed around the room, glittering with amusement. “This place is adorable. I love that you kept the eighties lighting. The disco ball really gives it that extra something .”

“I’m not a part of her inner circle, but that’s the rumor,” Wolf replied distractedly. “So if you kill her, who takes over? They’d fall behind you or Talon, maybe, but neither of you wants to lead. Hell, I don’t blame you. But until somebody can fill the void she’ll leave behind, Lilith stays. No other choice.”

“What happened?” Talon asked.

“You’re supposed to be working,” Ira said, leaving his sword on the floor and rushing over. “What happened? Is something wrong? I haven’t seen anything, are you?—?”

Wolf wrapped Ira in his arms, feeling settled for the first time since Xyra told him Lilith wanted to see him.

“I’m okay,” he rasped in Ira’s ear. “I’m okay now .”

“Something’s wrong,” Ira guessed. “Tell us.”

Wolf sighed, pulling away just far enough to cradle Ira’s face in his hands. “Lilith knows about you. She’s not happy I kept you a secret, and… she says she wants to meet you.”

The color drained from Ira’s cheeks. “I don’t suppose she’d take a simple no for an answer.”

“Not so much. I received a very colorful threat for trying.”

Ira’s expression darkened. “She threatened you?”

“It’s fine?—”

“It’s not fine! She can’t do this.”

“She can,” Shadrach said drolly. “Or rather, she thinks she can. No one really ever tells her no.”

Ira clenched his jaw, his gaze going distant—not distant like a vision, but deep in thought. “So I have to meet with her.”

Wolf growled, and Ira shot him an exasperated smile.

“You can’t argue after you just basically told me I have no other choice.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Wolf said.

Ira smoothed a hand over his hair. “Well, we can’t kill her yet,” he said, mostly to himself.

“What do you mean yet ?” Shadrach asked, looking gleeful. “Are you saying Lilith dies?”

Ira hesitated. “I don’t know exactly. I just know she won’t always be a problem.”

Shadrach looked thoughtful. “Then how do you know we can’t do it now?”

Ira’s gaze went distant again. “The glimpses I’ve seen… suggest someone else does it.”

“Who? ”

One corner of Ira’s mouth quirked. “Spoilers.”

Shadrach let out a groan, his head falling back. “Buzzkill.”

Ira shook his head with an exasperated smile and returned his attention to Wolf, contemplative. “She didn’t say I had to meet with her alone , did she?”

He hesitated. “No. There’s no way she’d let me stay with you, though.”

“Then we take someone she can’t boss around.” Ira turned, casting a beatific smile at Talon, who did a double-take at the attention.

“Wait, what?”

“He’s right,” Wolf said. “She can order me away. Threaten Ira if I don’t comply. She can’t use that leverage with you, and she knows you can own her ass if she tries.”

Talon brightened with understanding. “Oh. You’re right. She’ll be pissed for sure, but she can’t really order me to leave. I don’t take orders from her, and she knows it.”

“Aw, come on,” Shadrach whined. “I want to piss her off, too. Let me do something fun.”

“Having both of us in the room would feel far more overtly threatening than just one,” Talon said. “You can hang out downstairs, and I’ll call you if we need you.”

Shadrach blew out a gusty sigh. “I never get to have any fun.”

“You’d really do this?” Wolf asked. Warmth bloomed within him. He and Talon had been friendly for many years, but Talon was offering to do something incredible for him. He’d avoided facing off with Lilith for a very long time, and now he was doing so to protect Ira, someone Wolf cared deeply about. He would owe Talon a great debt for this .

“I would be happy to,” Talon said, uncharacteristically soft.

Alex drifted closer, tucking himself under Talon’s arm, and Talon kissed his hair. “I’m glad, Talon. I don’t want anything to happen to Ira.”

“Nor do I,” Talon agreed, “hence my offer. Reluctant as I am to be in a room with Lilith, arrogant and self-important as she is, this needs to be done. She can meet with Ira, and I can make sure she plays nice. We’ll make sure she knows this won’t be a regular occurrence, too. You’re not at her beck and call, and she needs to understand that.”

“I’m coming, too,” Alex said. “Not into the meeting, but to the club.”

“So will we,” Luke added, looping his arm in Malachi’s.

Wolf ducked his head to hide his smile. He’d never felt like he belonged to anything before. He’d been on friendly terms with people like Talon, Xyra, and Malachi, but in the end, he’d mostly been alone, watching the slogging passage of time with resigned apathy. Now, humans and demons alike were rallying around him to help protect him and his human from a common enemy. He was so unnaturally grateful for all of them that he was lost for words.

“We want to come, too,” Zachary said, and Angela nodded fervently.

“Absolutely not,” the three humans chimed together.

The last thing Wolf wanted to do was go back to In Extremis, but it was best to act normal for now. Missing a shift would just irritate Lilith. Shadrach teleported him back to the bar, and as promised, they’d only been gone about ten minutes. Less than his usual break was supposed to last.

Talon and Malachi offered to join him at the bar tonight in solidarity, but Wolf turned them down. It was a nice offer, but he thought their presence would do more harm than good. Lilith had made her threats; she’d leave him alone for now, unless he ignored her order to bring Ira tomorrow night. He’d be fine on his own.

He noticed, as he got to work, that Shadrach didn’t go far. He didn’t stay overtly close, but he stayed in the club for Wolf’s whole shift, sitting in Talon’s usual booth by himself with an expensive bottle of scotch, his dark eyes trailing around the room but most often, Wolf noticed, watching him. Keeping an eye on him. Wolf was oddly endeared by it, and when he wasn’t thinking about Ira, he was pondering Shadrach’s change of heart. Had Ira’s prophecy about the human in his future intrigued him that much?

At the end of the night, when the last of the customers were ushered out of the building, Shadrach cheered Wolf with the bottle and disappeared.

“Since when are you two friends?” Xyra asked, picking up a chair and hanging it upside-down on its table.

Wolf didn’t know how to answer that. “We’re not, I don’t think.”

Were they friends? He’d done what Talon and Malachi had offered to do, hanging out and sticking close. Or was it because Talon had offered to do it? He and Shadrach had always had a sibling-like relationship, antagonizing and helping each other in turns. Maybe he’d really done it for Talon.

He felt more settled as he, Xyra, and Storm left for their cars together—they didn’t let him stay behind alone anymore, after what happened last time. They pulled out of the parking lot one after another, and Wolf turned toward the Rink—and Ira.

When he arrived, pulling in beside Malachi’s red Mustang, he found Talon leaning against the wall by the door, cigarette dangling from his lips.

Wolf chuckled as he approached. “Did they make you come out here?”

“Mm-hm,” Talon replied. “The place is already a dump. You’d think a little smoke wouldn’t be a big deal. How was your shift? Any more trouble?” His eyes gleamed with danger at the prospect.

“No, it was all good. Shadrach stuck around and kept an eye on things.”

“Did he? That’s a little surprising.”

“It was. I think all of this has him more interested than he wants to let on.”

Talon smirked, digging in his pocket and offering Wolf his pack of cigarettes. Wolf took one and lit it, leaning against the wall beside him.

“Thank you for agreeing to go with Ira to see Lilith tomorrow night,” he said after a few companionable moments of quiet. “I’d rather he stay the fuck away from her, but…”

“But she won’t let that happen,” Talon finished. “He could be valuable. He is valuable. That’s why the guild is so reluctant to let their prophets go.” He hummed thoughtfully. “It does present an interesting notion.”

“What does?” Wolf asked.

“The prophets are the seat of their power. If they didn’t have the prophets, would the guild fall?”

“They could still hunt demons even without the prophets,” Wolf reasoned. “The way these guys do.” He gestured to the wall behind them.

“But they’d be flying blind. Patrolling without purpose and killing whatever they happen across.” An amused smirk lifted the corners of Talon’s mouth. “And apparently these guys now have a prophet. One who believes in whatever cause they’re creating here. That has to mean something.”

It did, indeed, but the implications were far above Wolf’s pay grade. He turned his focus away from it. “One prophet leaving won’t be enough to bring down the guild, though. You’d need to remove them all somehow.”

Talon nodded slowly. “Maybe that’ll happen. I have a feeling Ira knows a lot more about our future than he lets on.”

Wolf chuckled. “Some, yeah. Probably. He doesn’t tell me everything. I think he worries sharing too much might change things.”

“Maybe it could.” Talon shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh. “I wanted Alex no matter what. I had no idea getting him would set all of this in motion.”

Wolf didn’t know what to say to that. Did Talon set all of this in motion by tempting Alex away from the guild? Or was all of this preordained?

“Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Wolf said, folding his arms and staring out at the line of cars in the uneven parking lot. “But I think Ira would say everything is happening the way it’s meant to. He knew about the Rink before he saw them actually finding it the other night. He already knows what it’s going to be, and the moment he realized it was time to actually go and get started on it, he was so excited . Like this was the beginning of something he’d been waiting ages for. ”

Talon hummed.

“Whatever this is—whatever it’s going to be—it’s going to change things. If it means being with Ira,” he gestured at Talon, “and being with Alex, isn’t it worth it?”

Talon smiled, a rare, genuine thing he usually reserved for Alex. “Yeah. Hell yeah, it’s worth it. And I think you’re right. I think they’re—we’re—building something here, and it’s going to be unlike anything we’ve seen before.” Talon tossed his cigarette butt into the empty ceramic planter beside him and leveled a smile at Wolf. “If I had to band together with anyone, I’m glad you’re among them. And I like your human.” He chuckled. “He keeps things interesting.”

Wolf laughed, tossing the remains of his cigarette with Talon’s. “He definitely does that.”

As soon as they got home, Ira wrapped his arms around Wolf’s waist and tipped his head back to seal their mouths together. Wolf hummed, crushing Ira against him and chasing the taste of him. He’d gone far too long without his human, and Ira seemed to feel the same.

“She could’ve hurt you,” Ira said, their lips grazing.

“But she didn’t.”

“Yet.” Ira scowled, and worry lurched through Wolf.

“Have you seen—does she?—?”

Ira shook his head quickly. “No, no, nothing like that. I just… she could hurt you, and nobody in that club would do a damn thing to stop her.”

Wolf opened his mouth to respond, but Ira’s expression hardened into something fierce and bloodthirsty .

“But I would,” Ira said. “I’d kill her if she laid a hand on you. You know that, don’t you?”

Wolf softened. He didn’t doubt for a moment that Ira could do it if he really wanted to. Hell, if he said the word, Wolf had a feeling Alex and Luke would recruit Talon and Malachi and help Ira get the job done. “I can’t remember the last time someone cared so much about me.”

Ira straightened his shoulders haughtily. “Well, get used to it. I’m here to stay.”

A shiver of delight went down Wolf’s spine. How quickly his life had changed. Ira appeared and shoved his way right to the forefront. Wolf couldn’t imagine life without him now.

Wolf crowded him against the wall. “Promise?” he asked, pressing his mouth to the side of Ira’s neck.

Ira angled his head back to give Wolf more room. A soft smile played around the edges of his mouth, and he curled his fingers around the back of Wolf’s neck. “Hand to God, which you know is a big deal for me. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” Wolf squeezed him tight, and Ira groaned dramatically at the treatment. “Come on, I want to get the bar smell off. And you smell like paint.”

“So, shower,” Ira deduced, turning them and backing further into the apartment. Wolf staggered after him, unwilling to release him long enough to walk normally to the bathroom. Ira laughed breathlessly. “You and me, naked and wet in the shower. You drive a hard bargain.”

In the bathroom, while Ira struggled to turn the water on, Wolf undressed him, thumbing the button on his jeans loose and slipping a hand inside to cup his rapidly hardening length. Ira moaned, planting a hand on the wall for purchase. He shed his shirt, kicked off his shoes, and then turned, his jeans sagging low on his lean hips.

“Your turn,” he told Wolf. Ira peeled Wolf’s shirt off, leaving a trail of kisses across his collarbone.

Wolf drew him in for a deep, drugging kiss. Ira’s palms flattened over his ribs, sliding around his back and down, loosening Wolf’s jeans and pushing them down his hips. Wolf made quick work of the rest of his clothing, kicking everything into the corner and wrapping Ira in his arms once more.

“I’ve waited so long for you,” Ira said, with a dreamy quality to his voice. “I won’t let anyone take you away from me. Not her, not anyone. I’ll kill her if she tries.”

Lightning burst under Wolf’s skin. The holiest of holy men wanted to commit the ultimate sin—for him. What a heady notion.

“Seidhr,” he growled, crushing their mouths together. He lifted Ira up, and Ira clung to him, wrapping his legs around him as Wolf carried him into the shower, pressing him against the cool wall and rutting their cocks together.

“Oh, God,” Ira groaned, long and drawn-out.

Wolf set Ira down only so he could fall to his knees on the tile and nuzzle the base of his hard length.

“Wolf,” he breathed, even as his fingers tangled in Wolf’s braid and his hips flexed eagerly.

“It’s been too long since I’ve had my mouth on you.” He mouthed up the side of his cock and sucked a wet kiss to the tip.

“I wholeheartedly agree.” Ira grinned in that bashful way of his, like he still couldn’t believe this was happening. His hair was weighed down by the water, straight and dripping. He pushed it away carelessly, like he didn’t want it getting in the way of his view of Wolf.

Wolf sucked him all the way down to the root and back up, watching the way Ira’s mouth fell open with a shocked gasp. He pulled off to say, “Give me some of that.” He pointed at the bottle of lube in the corner.

Ira drizzled some over his waiting fingers, and Wolf sucked him back down, finding an easy rhythm as he worked two fingers inside Ira’s tight body. He could do this for hours, cataloging the sounds Ira made. The acoustics in the shower were delightful, and the sight of a wet and naked Ira arching with abandon to the pleasure Wolf was giving him was almost enough to send him right over the edge, completely untouched. His cock was hard as rock, throbbing between his legs.

When Ira’s sounds tapered off into needy whimpers, his fingers tightening tellingly in Wolf’s hair, he stopped, removing his mouth and fingers and standing.

“Bed,” he said.

Ira’s gaze was heavy-lidded with lust. “We didn’t wash up.”

“We’ll wash properly after we’ve gotten thoroughly dirty. I don’t want to wait any longer.”

Ira huffed out a laugh. Wolf shut the water off and guided Ira from the shower. They dried quickly, exchanging hungry kisses until the towels were falling to the floor and Ira was climbing Wolf like a goddamn tree, wrapping his arms and legs around him and plundering his mouth with his tongue.

“Tell me I’m yours,” Ira murmured between kisses as Wolf carried him to the bedroom .

“You are,” Wolf replied. “You’re mine. Forever, no matter what.”

“That’s—I never really—” Wolf sat at the foot of the bed, letting Ira straddle his lap. “You were such a distant concept for so long. I never really expected to wind up here. My visions always come true, like you said, but it seemed like such a crazy… dream , really, to think that someone would want me like that. And you do .” He cradled Wolf’s face like he was something precious, his soulful brown eyes glassy. “I just found this, found you, and I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t,” Wolf swore. “I’m not going anywhere. You’ve seen our future, you know it’s true.”

Ira nodded, but he still looked discomfited.

“Come here, seidhr, kiss me.”

Their mouths met, slick and hot, and Wolf laid back, dragging Ira on top of him. He let himself get lost in the taste and feel of him, the sensation of his agile tongue, the warmth of his lean body. He was loath to let him go even when Ira lunged toward the bedside table for the lube. Wolf pushed himself up the mattress to recline against the headboard, eagerly drawing Ira back on top of him when he returned.

Ira’s lube-slick hand wrapped around his neglected cock, and Wolf moaned into his mouth, gripping his thighs as Ira pumped him in a slow, tight grip.

“That feel good, baby?” Ira asked, keeping his movements slow and sure.

“ Yes ,” Wolf groaned, rolling his hips up, tunneling his cock through Ira’s fist. “You’re teasing me.”

Ira smiled. “What, you get to spend ages teasing me but I don’t get to do the same?”

“Demon,” Wolf reminded him cheekily .

“Then you can handle it,” Ira said, ducking down and sucking a mark into Wolf’s hip. When he raised his head, he waited, studying the mark as it slowly healed and disappeared. “That’s incredible,” he murmured.

“The same would happen to you now,” Wolf said. “Now that you’ve had my blood.”

Ira’s face flushed as their eyes met. He angled his hips into place and slowly sank down, his heat engulfing Wolf inch by decadent inch. He held Ira’s hips in an iron grip, resisting the urge to slam up into his body. Ira was setting the pace, and Wolf would never do anything to hurt him.

“God, you’re big,” Ira moaned as his ass finally met Wolf’s hips.

Wolf rumbled out a laugh, his hands stroking any part of Ira he could reach, soothing and teasing in turns. “I don’t think you really mind.”

Ira laughed, slowly moving his hips back and forth. His brows drew together in exquisite agony. “Not at all,” he said with a gasp.

Their bodies rocked together, unhurried and luxuriant, their hands and mouths exploring as they climbed higher and higher toward that distant peak. Wolf buried his fingers in Ira’s hair, holding his head the way he wanted it as he showered him with hungry, sloppy kisses. He trailed his affection in nips and licks and kisses down Ira’s jaw and neck.

And then Ira wrapped a hand around his throat, pinning him to the headboard with a wicked smile. Wolf went pliant, as shocked as he was turned on by the sudden aggression from his careful human. The grip wasn’t cutting off his air, and he didn’t feel threatened in any way. Ira’s thumb stroked almost delicately across his jaw. There was something dark and possessive in his eyes, something that Wolf recognized in his own feelings for this human.

“You’re mine,” he declared, and Wolf shuddered. Yes. “You’re mine, and no one gets to fucking touch what’s mine. I don’t care what the future holds. I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”

Wolf whimpered, a sound he barely recognized as his own. He fucked up into Ira’s tight channel, desperately chasing his release. “Ira, Ira, seidhr.” He was so weak for this human, and he wouldn’t change a thing.

“I’ve got you, baby,” Ira said, the words filled with dark promise. Yes, he belonged to Ira. Had always belonged to Ira. He just hadn’t known it. But Ira did. Ira knew it. He’d guided them both here, where they were meant to be, and he was right, Wolf was his. He felt it in his bones.

Ira kissed his way down Wolf’s neck, sucking a mark into the meat of his shoulder. When his teeth sank in, Wolf’s orgasm hit him like a truck. He cried out, his fingers digging bruises into Ira’s hips.

Ira moaned, and Wolf’s spend further slicked the way. He didn’t stop moving, circling his hips and grinding back onto Wolf’s twitching cock.

“Seidhr, fuck,” Wolf groaned.

“Touch me, please,” Ira gasped.

Wolf wrapped him in a tight fist, letting Ira fuck himself into his grip and back on his cock.

“That’s it, seidhr, take what you need.”

Ira threw his head back, helpless little “ ah, ah, ah ” sounds falling from his bloodstained lips. His damp curls were wild, his eyes hazy with pleasure. Wolf wanted to memorize the sight for all time.

He squeezed his eyes closed as he came, one hand flying down to grip Wolf’s wrist for purchase as his cock bucked, his seed splashing Wolf’s stomach.

Shuddering with aftershocks, Ira collapsed against him, panting. Wolf growled in contentment, wrapping his arms around him and peppering whatever part of him he could reach with kisses.

“I am, you know,” he said, breaking the silence.

Ira lifted his head, his soulful eyes questioning.

“Yours.”

Ira’s face split into a grin.