Page 28 of Hooked by a Hero (Tales from the Brotherhood #4)

“We do not know what condition they are in either,” Caspian reasoned. “Though knowing them, I find it hard to believe that they have built shelters and made an attempt at civilization as we have.”

“I doubt it in the extreme,” Elias said, grinning at the very idea.

“Why, our group is so civilized that you’ve even been taking it upon yourself to bathe and shave when you can,” Caspian continued, working to keep the mood light.

Elias laughed. “Yes, I was delighted when you brought back my shaving kit.” He glanced to Caspian, his smile faltering. “I’ve noticed that you do not appear to need to shave at all. In fact, you have no significant body hair of any sort.”

Caspian’s heart thumped harder. Already, Elias was hinting at the revelations that were as much the point of their expedition as discovering whether they were alone on the island.

“I’ve never needed to shave,” he admitted honestly. “My people are smooth-skinned as a rule.”

“I see, I see,” Elias said, nodding, though Caspian could feel the tension coiling within him. “And what people are those, precisely?”

Caspian let out a heavy breath and rubbed a hand over his face. “Let us put a bit more distance between us and any possibility of being interrupted,” he said, then glanced to Elias with an appeal in his eyes.

Elias looked as though he would argue, but he gave that up and sighed. Rather than letting the unspoken things linger between them and push them apart, however, he reached for Caspian’s hand.

Caspian grinned and took Elias’s hand. He hitched the pack he carried over his other shoulder up higher, then entwined his fingers with Elias’s.

“I wish you would not be so afraid to tell me everything,” Elias said quietly after they’d walked a few more minutes in silence, holding hands. “I…I promise you that whatever it is, it will not change my feelings for you.”

As fraught as those words were, Caspian smiled. “That is an easy promise to make when you do not know what sort of things I have kept concealed,” he said.

“Was it not Shakespeare himself who said ‘Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds’?” Elias said.

Caspian furrowed his brow in confusion. “Is this Shakespeare a friend of yours?”

Elias laughed. Caspian did not understand why. When Elias noted that and lost his humor, he asked, “You truly do not know of Shakespeare?”

Worry filled Caspian’s gut. “Should I?”

Elias merely stared at him for a few moments, then shook his head. “How far do we need to be from the others before we have this conversation that has been hanging in the air between us for weeks now?”

Caspian sighed and dropped his head forward for a moment. When he glanced up, he looked around to assess the section of beach where they were now. They’d walked over a small outcropping of rocks, and the stretch of golden sand in front of them arched, forming a small cove. It would do for now.

“Do you see that stand of trees?” he asked, pointing farther along the beach.

“I see them,” Elias said.

Neither of them said anything more, but both knew the conversation had begun.

They walked silently, hand in hand, along the beach and up to the slightly sheltered area where a trio of palm trees grew.

Once they’d reached the spot, Caspian let go of Elias’s hand and shrugged his pack from his shoulder.

His heart pounded hard enough to make him slightly dizzy as he let it fall, then reached for the buttons of his shirt.

Elias put down his pack as well, but he kept moving to sit, likely expecting that their conversation would be a civilized discussion. He looked up at Caspian once he was seated as if he would say something, but his mouth hung open wordlessly as he watched Caspian undress.

It was what needed to be done. Everything Caspian had to say would mean more if Elias could see his confession as well as hear it.

He unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off, then hesitated for a moment before bending to remove his shoes.

Elias watched him patiently the entire time, and when Caspian straightened and started on the fastenings of his trousers, Elias’s pupils dilated even before he revealed anything.

Removing his trousers in front of Elias felt like the biggest risk Caspian had ever taken in his life.

His breath caught as he let them fall, then kicked them aside, but it wasn’t because Elias now had a full, close view of his soft cock and hanging balls.

What terrified Caspian to reveal to Elias were his legs and the unnaturally brightly colored markings that covered them.

“They’re beautiful,” Elias said as if his breath had been stolen. He dragged his eyes up from Caspian’s legs to meet his eyes. “May I touch them?”

Caspian swallowed hard and nodded, heart racing, trembling slightly.

Elias looked at his legs again, licking his lips slightly, then lifted a hand to rest on Caspian’s thigh.

As Caspian feared he would, Elias jerked his hand back as soon as he felt his skin. “I—” Elias snapped his gaze up in confusion. “They’re not tattoos,” he said, barely audible.

Caspian shook his head. He scrambled for the words he needed to explain, but none came to him.

Elias studied his legs again, resting a hand on Caspian’s thigh once more and not jerking away. He stroked down Caspian’s leg, which was easy, then back up, which emphasized the true texture of his scaly skin.

“I don’t understand,” Elias said slowly, touching Caspian’s other leg with his other hand. “Do you suffer from some sort of skin condition?”

Caspian sighed, his heart sinking at the overly analytical tone of his beloved’s voice. “You know I do not,” he said quietly.

Elias continued to stroke him, testing the way it felt to draw his hand down, then the contrast of how it felt to pull up again. He blinked, then stopped his hand and looked up at Caspian once more. “Sorry,” he said. “Is that uncomfortable? It feels like it must be uncomfortable.”

Caspian shrugged, but his throat was still squeezed tight with the fear of what might happen next. “It’s alright,” he managed to squeak out, even though it wasn’t quite.

Elias returned to studying him. He brushed his hands lightly over Caspian’s thigh once more, then trailed his fingers around his knees to the insides of his thighs, where the texture and tenderness of his skin was nearly identical to that of human skin.

Of course, that soft tenderness meant Caspian was infinitely more sensitive on that part of his body than the outside of his legs, and almost immediately, his cock reacted.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” Elias said again, pulling his hands away. “I do not know if you want…that is, now might not be the time.”

“I have more to show you,” Caspian said, his voice rough with desire and fear. “This is only part of it.”

“It is?” Elias asked breathlessly, his face flushed with heat.

Caspian nodded. He reached out a hand to Elias, then somehow managed to say, “Come.”

Elias swallowed hard, then grasped Caspian’s hand and stood. Their eyes met and held for a long, scintillating moment, then Caspian walked down to the waves, still holding Elias’s hand.

He had to let it go once they reached the edge of the surf.

Elias still had his shoes and trousers on, but more than that, Caspian needed to be free so that he could walk out into the ocean as fast as the breaking waves would let him.

He fought against a few that broke just in front of him, but once he was out into the relatively clear, turquoise water up to his waist, he turned back to find Elias.

Elias still watched him from the shore, although he’d removed his shoes, like he’d intended to follow Caspian into the water but stopped.

Elias stared at Caspian in confusion. Caspian smiled, then turned back toward the ocean and dove into the water.

As soon as he was completely submerged, he willed himself to change, then deliberately flicked his tail out of the water so that Elias could see it.