Page 50

Chief Aiken Oakley

Valor

The forest was dark but Valor had no problem seeing as he weaved through the tall trees.

He removed his hood and hurried to start a fire to ward off any curious foxes or wild boars.

The flames licked toward the sky as he studied the dancing embers that flickered as restless as his thoughts.

He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting and meditating before he heard him.

Several silent steps later, Zorion appeared from around the trunk of a spruce tree.

He didn’t give Zorion time to speak before he was shoving him hard against the rough trunk, colliding in a clash of need and urgency.

Their breaths mingled in the cool air as Valor crushed his lips to Zorion’s, gripping his clothes, tearing, desperate to feel Zorion’s hot skin against his.

Zorion groaned into his mouth, his fingers threading into Valor’s hair, tugging just enough to make his nerves spark.

Valor inhaled, drinking in the intoxicating mix of Zorion’s natural scent of sweet cedarwood and amber.

He nipped at Zorion’s jaw as he dragged his lips down the long column of his throat, reveling in the full body shudder he got in response.

“The way you moved today,” Zorion panted in his ear. “I could barely keep my eyes off you.”

Zorion slid his hands down Valor’s torso before slipping beneath his waistband and grazing his fingertips along his hardness before seizing it in a punishing grip.

“Fuck.”

A growl rumbled deep in Valor’s chest as he sealed their bodies together, grinding his hips with urgency.

The air was thick with the scent of pine, earth, and their lust.

The firelight cast beautiful shadows across Zorion’s handsome face as Valor kissed his scars.

“You are all fuckin’ mine, Rio.”

“Then take what’s yours.”

Zorion gasped as Valor bit down on his shoulder, not enough to break the skin but enough to make his knees buckle.

He reversed their positions and pressed his body flush against him. His chest heaved, muscles tensed, his restraint hanging by a fragile thread.

“Tell me how much you want this,” Zorion murmured.

Valor gave him a devious smirk, gripping the nape of Zorion’s neck. He pulled them until their mouths met again, slower and deeper.

“Not only do I want it…I’m going to take it.”

A sigh escaped Zorion’s soft lips as Valor swapped their positions.

The grip on his cock tightened, and Zorion’s calluses added to the friction as he began to stroke him faster. It felt so damn good that a dizzying lightheadedness overtook him as his eyelids slid closed.

“When this war is over, Rio,” Valor gasped as his balls tightened. “We’re gonna go someplace remote, and I’m gonna take you in every way I want…and you’re gonna fuckin’ let me, and you’re gonna fuckin’ like it.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Zorion smirked.

Valor jerked, and it wasn’t from his cresting orgasm, while Zorion’s hand froze mid-stroke.

Something powerful hit them at the same time.

A rush. A memory.

A feeling so visceral it stole the breath from his lungs.

His hold on Zorion’s hips tightened as a wave of déjà vu crashed over him, so strong and undeniable that time itself fractured.

This wasn’t the first time he’d said that.

Images hovered at the edges of his mind. Echoes of a scene he couldn’t quite grasp clawed at the surface.

He looked into Zorion’s hooded green eyes and saw the same recognition staring back at him.

Valor’s voice was raw, part wonder and part frustration. “We’ve…we’ve done this before.”